Rabu, September 24, 2008

Where's My...

New Nikon D90 with the appropriate lens Nikkor AF 80-200mm f/2.8 D !?!?!?!

How long should I wait for a new SLR body?

And a new lens?

Actually, all I have to do is visit a camera store -- either in Kemang, Pasar Baru, Bendungan Hilir, or Gunung Sahari -- to obtain that lens.

But I prefer to wait before buying a new lens.

I want a new body!!!

I Miss All The Adventure

You know what I miss from all the field work?





The view of amazing landscapes, created by God.

Senin, September 22, 2008

I Felt Like Cheated!!!

Crap.

I just paid IDR 138.000,00 for DIGITAL CAMERA WORLD October 2008 edition at Aksara Kemang while I paid just IDR 110.000,00 for its August 2008 edition at Periplus Plaza Senayan. All of it because I thought I could save IDR 2.000,00 buying WIRED October 2008 at that hype bookstore!

I just felt being swindled.

But maybe not.

You see, taking into account the amount of time I spent reading at Aksara (that is, while being seated somewhere) versus standing up inside the Periplus booth at Plaza Senayan -- plus the parking fee -- I saw a little bit of relief.

The cost run like this:

Shopping at Aksara Kemang:
WIRED Magazine IDR 76,000.00
DCW Magazine IDR 138,000.00
Parking Fee IDR 2,000.00
--------------------------------------- +
TOTAL IDR 216,000.00

Shopping at Periplus Plaza Senayan:
WIRED Magazine IDR 78,000.00
DCW Magazine IDR 110,000.00
Parking Fee IDR 12,000.00
--------------------------------------- +
TOTAL IDR 200,000.00

Ouch.

Even though I paid flat rate parking at Kemang and a time-based rate at Plaza Senayan, plus assuming that the October edition of DIGITAL CAMERA WORLD October 2008 cost as much as the last one, it was obvious that I'd better off shopped at Periplus Plaza Senayan!

Please remind me to check this month's price of DCW magazine at Periplus!

If the above numbers are true, coming this November I'd be shopping at Periplus instead!

Selasa, September 16, 2008

Cross-Franchise Actors, More To Come?

Tahun 2009 ini kita akan menikmati konklusi dari saga John Connors dalam TERMINATOR SALVATION.

Uniknya, bermain sebagai John Connors adalah Christian Bale (Batman Begins dan Dark Knight)!

Wowowow! Bale sebagai Bruce Wayne dan Bale sebagai John Connors? Memangnya ke mana si bengal Edward Furlong? Is he dead?

Lalu aku berandai-andai: Mungkin gak ada aktor lain yang juga tampil lintas waralaba?

Jawaban: Ada! Harrison Ford dalam serial Indiana Jones dan Star Wars!

Lebih spesifik: Kalau yang lintas platform? Misalkan Terminator dibuat dan dikembangkan untuk movies sedangkan Batman berasal dari komik lalu ke serial televisi (Adam West!) baru kemudian ada versi layar lebarnya. Pemeran utamanya adalah Christian Bale.

Bagaimana kalau...

Brandon Routh (Superman Returns, 2006) selain sebagai Clark Kent/Superman bermain dalam sebuah film layar lebar dari tokoh game!
Mungkin sebagai Luigi? Itu, saudaranya si Mario dari Super Mario Bros.?
Brandon Routh berkumis lebat memakai overal kuning?

Ahem...

Senin, September 15, 2008

RAWs Are Pain In The Ass!

(Or: How I Spend My Previous Weekend)


Actually, let me start by saying that I wouldn't be sure if it's the hardware or software's, but it seemed that every time I put my machine into "multiple" multitasking mode, I ended up rebooting it. Like when I opened up two word documents, one spreadsheet, a couple of window browser (with at least half a dozen tabs each) PLUS Winamp, my machine died. It just simply shutdown itself -- just like what'd happen if you press the POWER button for like ten seconds.

For a second, I was staring at columns of numbers. The next second, the screen went blank. Blip. Just like that.

My guess is that I have insufficient RAMs in my machine, or the machine died every time the processor's temperature climb up passed the threshold, or even when the computation made some internal jam inside the circuit, or just some Windows problem that usually -- as many of us familiar with -- crashed for no apparent reason.

I tried to open only the programs I want to run at one time (no more multiple multitasking) and no other, but the machine just died out the same. But there are periods where I could just open as many Office documents as I need and a couple of browser's windows and a media player yet the machine run smoothly.

So that it was in the described condition when I finally decided to convert almost all of my RAW files into the standard JPEGs. I tried using the IrfanView to batch processed my .NEFs but when I opened up all the pictures later I lost all of the EXIF datas. Not that there is compromise to the image quality that I am aware of, but lacking of data as improtant as EXIF was just unbearable. I thought that maybe this was just IrfanView so I decided to use Picasa instead. Much to my dismay, the .NEF's conversion to .JPG result just the same, there is no EXIF data other than "Picture Taken With Picasa 2.0"! Another image editing software was used but the data was still missing after the conversion. That's when I finally decided to use the Nikon's PictureProject, the proprietary software that came in a CD within the camera's bundling package.

It turn out that after the RAW conversion to JPG format, the EXIF datas were still embedded! Hooray!

Then it was logical that I decided to make it easier for me to batch process all five hundred and fifty pictures in that one folder. In the PictureProject imported photos, I selected all the pictures and made the command to convert them into JPEGs -- in excellent quality.

That was when my machine started to mess with me again. Everytime I batch converting multiple selected photos, the machine just went flop without warning. I tried to lower down the amount of photos for conversion yet the thing just kept on shutting down. Flip, the screen went blank and the low humming of the fan stop. I started the machine again and kept lowering the number of processed photos but the machine died each time. This happened again and again untill I managed to guess that the optimal amount of photo conversion without the machine turned off is nine files.

Imagine it, hundreds upon hundreds of photos being processed in a batch of nine files. Add the factor that it took about a quarter of- to half a minutes to convert one file. Basically I ended up doing nothing because I must check the proceedings every a couple of minutes just to make sure that the machine kept on processing and not shut down.

But even after that precautios effort, the machine died a couple of times.

And after another frustrating routine of powering the machine ON again, I came to a conclusion: If RAW processing is just like this, I might as well stop saving pictures I take in RAW. This will lessen the time consumed on backing up my photos and that means I can do another project right after downloading all the pictures to be stored temporarily into the machine's harddrive storage.

That means less one step in my work-flow.

That's why I came to a conclusion that I won't be shooting in RAW format again unless I was going to spend time later on tweaking the photos THEN saving it as JPEGs! And I won't be shooting RAW if I can help it.

Because the conversion process took time and the RAW format images are two to four times as large as the JPEG's stored in drives; it can only be seen after installed additional .LIB files or plug-ins; and different type of the same brand have different format of RAWs!

Other than that reason (i.e. for later tweaking), shooting in RAW format are just causing Pain in the ass!!!

P.S.: My bottom and my back is killing me because of all the sitting and almost no excercising. Cr*p! No wonder, it took me about five hours to finish converting about nine hundred .NEF (Nikon's RAW format) files.

Sabtu, September 13, 2008

A Female Autobots!?!?

Menyusul kesuksesan The Transformers (2007), beredar rumor tentang karakter-karakter baru yang akan muncul di dalam The Transformers 2. Salah satu yang paling menarik tentunya adalah kemunculan sebuah Autobot perempuan (betina?), dengan konsep model seperti ini:




Yang kubayangkan adalah Megan Fox mengenakan sejenis jumpsuit ketat dengan warna senada memacu motor ini mencoba menyelamatkan si chickensh*t Shia Lebok(!) -- or whatever his name is -- dari kejaran Starscream (Decepticon yang di ending film terlihat terbang tinggi menembus awan).

Ehem ehem. What about this idea, Mr. Bay?

Memang fantasi tentang robot perempuan dari dulu selalu menarik - terutama bagi laki-laki. Mungkin ada yang salah di otak kami ini? Entahlah. Daya tarik tema seperti ini begitu besar bagi kami yang mungkin tergolong ke nerd, geek, atau sekedar kutu buku and/or AFC.

Mungkin kalian ingat tentang video clip Aerosmith yang "Falling in Love is Hard on Your Knees", aku rasa itu tentang seorang pemuda yang menciptakan fembot. Yup, fembot dan bukan robot perempuan (atau bahkan robot betina). Bahkan di internet kita bisa menemukan forum tentang fembot seperti yang ada di sini, atau sebuah tulisan yang mengulas kenapa kita (laki-laki!) begitu tertarik dengan fembot.

Anyway, mungkin perlu diperjelas, fembot itu secara penampilan luar mirip dengan manusia (perempuan), sedangkan karakter baru Autobot itu (kalau benar dimunculkan) adalah jelas-jelas hanya sedikit menyerupai wanita. Yang dulu sempat muncul dalam pikiranku adalah: apakah dia digilir oleh para Autobot? Atau dia "gula-gula"-nya Optimus Prime?

Apakah sebenarnya pertempuran Decepticon dan Autobot itu selain merebutkan energy cube, juga merebut/mempertahankan satu-satunya robot perempuan (betina?) di planet Cybertron? Apakah ini juga menjadi semacam analogi bagi kita di bumi, bahwa wanita adalah sumber masalah? Ingat Kuda Troya?

(Arguably, is the REAL problem just because of the male EGO?)

Jepang sudah memproduksi boneka perempuan yang memiliki tubuh idaman para pria (dan wanita juga). Kepala boneka ini bisa dipertukarkan. Bahkan dada mereka (kabarnya) sangat mirip dengan dada perempuan bila diremas (and they even jiggles too)!!!

Tak lama lagi kita akan menemukan (bukan robot perempuan yang bisa berubah jadi sepeda motor) dalam kehidupan sehari-hari, robot perempuan atau fembot seperti yang sudah ada di Kanada (lihat video):




Ha ha ha!

Rabu, September 10, 2008

Let Me Quote You: Perhaps DEATH Is Proud

from a New York Times article which can be found fully here.

What can one do? Go home, love your children, try not to bicker, eat
well, walk in the rain, feel the sun on your face and laugh loud and
often, as much as possible, and especially at yourself. Because the
only antidote to death is not poetry, or drama, or miracle drugs, or a
roomful of technical expertise and good intentions. The antidote to
death is life.

which I found really true.

18 and Life

"Ricky was a young boy,
he had a heart of stone..."



I didn't know it before - but now I do - how I could even headbanging to the sound of hair-metal!

And even did air-guitar acts!

That quote was from Skid Row's 18 and Life and you sure are familiar with the melody, that is if you grew up the way I did, listening to rock and metal bands alone because nobody in your house seemed to enjoy the melody of the guitars, the heavy riffs, distortions, screaming and high vocal pitch, agressive drummings, etc.



You see, sometimes in those adolescent years I felt kind of lonely because not many people I knew of were listening to rock bands.

Ah, that's not the point here.

I mean that while listening to Skid Row's album -- I played 18 and Life and I Remember You again and again -- I felt kind of nostalgic. And I was daydreaming of being a young boy (like Ricky) and being angry at the world that let me struggle to get through life even since a very young age.

"He had no money, oooh no good at home.
He walked the streets a soldier and he fought the world alone."

Now that was something that I thought I could relate to. Not in the way that I must be working so I could eat. I felt that somehow I was being alienated in my early years, as a kid, a teenager, and first couple of years in the college.

I am being nostalgic.

Imagine that: Me. Nostalgic.

Gee...

I must be old.


Posted by Picasa

Selasa, September 09, 2008

Terminator: Salvation

Just like any other sequels, I have heard for a long time that there will be a fourth(!) Terminator movie.

After The Rise Of The Machines, I thought that those Holywood execs won't be making another sequel because in my personal opinion, that TROTM was a flop.

Who'd want to see aging Terminator? Even a child can see that Arnold "The Governator" IS OLD. Yet he played and even bare his chest! Arnie seemed really beefed up! (I wonder what did the makeup artist put on his pecs)

Anyway, all I can do is wait for TERMINATOR: SALVATION the way I have to wait for IRON MAN 2 and THE AVENGERS.

60-Second Guide to Planning for Disaster Recovery

0:60 Evaluate Your Risk
Evaluate the possibility of each of the following disasters occurring and how your business would
recover from it: hardware failures, theft, malicious acts, mistakes, natural disasters.

Ask: How much is my data worth? How much would downtime cost my business each day? Each hour? Each minute? How much would my business lose if that data were lost permanently?


0:48 Plan for Disaster Recovery
Risk = Asset (anything that's valuable to your company) x Threat (events that may compromise
your data) x Vulnerability (weaknesses that might allow for the failure of a control that affects the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of your assets). Perform both qualitative and quantitative risk assessments, then choose from four risk management options:
mitigation, acceptance, avoidance, and transference.



0:36 Understand Business Continuity Planning (BCP)
Form a BCP team to reduce the possibility that your business will be interrupted in the event of a disaster. Teams should have the right balance of technical skills, business process knowledge, and leadership to make your organization disaster resistant.


0:27 Evaluate Continuity and Recovery Solutions
Investigate possible technology solutions for disaster recovery: high-availability solutions, including redundant disks, mirrored servers, and clustered servers; uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs); data backup and off-site storage of media; and alternate-processing facilities,
including hot, warm, and cold sites.


0:18 Document and Maintain Your Disaster Recovery Plan
Document your disaster recovery plan in a format that's available to everyone who's expected to play a role in disaster recovery. Train responders. And keep the plan current in the face of your changing risks, infrastructure, and business environment.

0:07 Test Your Disaster Recovery Plan
Test your disaster recovery plan before disaster strikes. Choose from several testing methodologies for your organization's culture and resources, including: desk checks, structured walkthroughs, disaster simulation, parallel tests, full interruption tests, and routine tests.


© 2007 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP

tentang allthematthewsrock.blogspot.com (lagi)

Yup, dari membaca begitu banyak posting aku di sini, kalian tentunya bisa menebak minatku.



Tetapi kalau kalian mengenal aku dari dulu, katakanlah sejak kuliah, tentunya kalian akan mengerti atau setidaknya menebak, ke arah mana tema minatku menuju.

Aku suka membaca. Aku suka musik. Aku suka pertunjukan musik hidup. Aku suka fotografi. Aku suka foto action.

Jadi, aku mencoba menekuni foto panggung. Tentu saja foto panggung pertunjukan musik.

Tetapi rasanya aku kurang berjuang untuk minat yang satu ini. Aku terlalu pemalas. Aku kurang mau berusaha mengejar panggung-panggung yang menampilkan pertunjukan musik.

Itulah yang menjadi tembok penghalangku selama ini.

Aku terlalu malas!

Aku pikir, setelah menyatakan hal tersebut kepada dunia, sudah saatnya aku berubah!

Kalau tidak sekarang, kapan lagi akan berubah dan menjadi lebih baik? Mempelajari dan menjadi ahli dalam bidang satu ini?

Tentunya aku tidak mau mengubah blog ini menjadi "allthematthewssucks!!!" karena itu bodoh. Aku masih muda dan aku masih punya banyak kesempatan!

Ayo Semangat!!!

allthematthewsrock!!!

Senin, September 08, 2008

OMG This Place's Kinda Over-hyped!

I went to my Facebook's Home page when I saw that a friend of mine just joined this RUSTIQUE Grill & Wine group.

YES, the food (supposed) to be great!

YES, the tiramisu taste very delicious!

And YES, the interior is so much -- I didn't know how to call it since I'm not that eloquent enough. It's just own that aura, atmosphere, and look that spelled: E-X-P-E-N-S-I-V-E.

But I -- in my own small, self-righteous mind -- think that this place is just over-hyped. In my opinion, I must disagree with claims that saying this place is one of the best restaurants in Indonesia.

Hell, maybe I'm wrong.

But the stuff there is just overpriced and I just think that all these people (in Jakarta) can live without all that splurging in the incessant spoils.


===

Oh yes, the contact info:








Email:
Website:
Office:
Plaza Senayan Level P4 #413 - XXI Complex
Location:
Jakarta, Indonesia


Minggu, September 07, 2008

Let Me Quote You: Not The Camera!

Like what a very logical guy, Ken Rockwell could tell you:

YOUR equipment DOES NOT affect the quality of your image. The less time and effort you spend worrying about your equipment the more time and effort you can spend ceating great images. The right equipment just makes it easier, faster or more convenient for you to get the result you need.

Buying new gear will NOT improve your photography.


The camera's only job is to get out of the way of making photographs.

Rabu, September 03, 2008

Apaan Sih Laki-Laki Ini???

Kali ini aku bekerja sambil mendengarkan album ANGKASA, sebuah band yang baru muncul di televisi tahun ini (AFAIK).

Dan, astaga, musik mereka sangat pas-pasan!

Kualitas bermusik, lirik, tema, semuanya pas-pasan.

Dan mengingat ini hanyalah contoh acak, bila semua band yang baru-baru ini muncul seperti ini temanya, ampun deh!!!

Tetapi sepertinya banyak banget band-band yang muncul di televisi (semua personil atau banyak personillnya laki-laki) memiliki lagu-lagu hit yang mengiba-iba, keputusasaan, dan perasaan tak berdaya menghadapi wanita.

LAKI-LAKI MACAM APA SIH MEREKA INI!

My GOD!!! Sepuluh tahun yang lalu, laki-laki yang membikin band musik lagunya garang atau temanya "cowo banget"!

Sekarang?

Ada apa sih dengan pelaku musik Indonesia? Kenapa sampah dan lagi-lagi sampah?

Masa di zaman emansipasi, laki-laki malah semakin cengeng dan menangisi para perempuan yang "pindah ke lain hati"? Bahkan "jadikan aku lelaki cadangan"?

WTF???

Namanya juga mencari yang lebih baik. Kalau dia pergi, entah si dia tidak puas dengan dirimu atau dia merasa tidak cocok untukmu. All in all, it's your fault. But that doesn't justify all the cheesiness and the crap you called music.

Dan aku pasti sudah gila, mau bertahan mendengar album ANGKASA ini dari single pertama sampai yang terakhir...

Senin, September 01, 2008

"The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder"

Sungguh menyenangkan bila kantorku dekat dengan toko buku impor, misalnya Kinokuniya.

Kemaren ketika menunggu hujan reda, aku berteduh di Plaza Senayan dan untuk tidak membuang-buang waktu bengong memandangi hujan turun, aku masuh ke dalam Kinokuniya.

Dari pintu masuk, aku langsung tertarik pada sebuah buku yang dipajang dengan strategis dan "meneriakkan" judul The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder oleh Vincent Bugliosi.

Isinya?

Bila kalian menekuni ilmu hukum atau tertarik dengan bacaan non-fiksi dan peduli tentang masalah internasional, mungkin akan tertarik dengan penjabaran seorang mantan jaksa penuntut umum (padanan jabatannya di Indonesia) ini tentang bahwa sudah sepantasnya seorang presiden seperti George W. Bush dituntut di pengadilan Amerika dengan tuduhan membunuh 4.000 warga negara Amerika yang dijadikan tentara dan sekitar 100.000 warga negara Irak yang mati sejak masuknya tentara Amerika ke Irak.

Penjabarannya dilakukan secara sistematis dengan maksud membuat sebuah kasus dengan tuntutan yang tidak tergoyahkan dan target vonis: "Guilty as charge."

Seandainya saja ada toko buku di dekat kantorku yang gampang dicapai dan bisa baca gratis seperti di Kinokuniya. Tentunya kalian bisa mencariku after hours di toko buku itu sedang membaca! Berdiri sih tidak apa-apa.

Kenapa ya di Indonesia buku-buku non-fiksi yang menarik sangat sulit untuk ditemukan?

Sesuatu yang aku iri dari kultur demokrasi dan kebebasan Amerika.