(via everystockphoto.com)Round and round it goes.

My mom got pissy with my dad over something trivial on Mother’s Day. Then I got pissy with my mom over something else. Next time I know, my mom is not pissy with my dad anymore. One minute they were yelling at each other, the next they were being all civil and polite. I like to think that I have a hand in making them all nice to each other - I think I drained my mom’s anger. Heh.

Oh yeah, the Ooi family is unique like that. We blow our fuses very easily with each other, sometimes in quick succession, but it all goes away very quickly too. I think I prefer this than us holding back the anger, allowing it to simmer to dangerous levels. Better frequent explosions which are smaller and relatively harmless, than a humongous fireball right?

So I discovered Videoegg 2 days ago, and now after more research I discovered Vimeo. The easiest way to describe it is that, like Youtube it’s a Flickr for videos - there’s tagging and there’s a community where you can have contacts and such. Compared to Videoegg which is extremely streamlined and purely for videohosting.

The quality of the videos uploaded to both sites is good, and is comparable to each other. Though Vimeo’s embed code displays the video at 400×300 compared to Videoegg’s 320×240, resulting in a slight loss in quality which is not that noticeable. They make up for it by making the original file available for download as you can see below.

Both these services produce better looking videos than Youtube. However, both cannot beat it in terms of traffic and exposure. So if you want to be the next Internet celebrity like lonelygirl15, you still need to use Youtube.

Me? I am using video to enhance the content here so I’m going for the better quality service.

Sample video from Vimeo below - it’s a slightly re-edited version of the one you’ve seen in my previous post.

Night out at The Deen from Marcus Ooi on Vimeo

Hayden Panettierre.
Italian.
Blonde.
Hot.
5′1″ (155cm)
Born in 21 August 1989, which would make her only 17 this year ! Holy smokes! That would make her being voted one of the sexiest women alive in British FHM kinda wrong, wouldn’t it? But is it so wrong that it’s right? Hahah! Erm, guess not.

sixsteps @ flickrHere’s a little something extra for you Asian men with white fever (ok me too). I want to be Masi Oka in this picture. Well, we can keep on dreaming. She’s currently dating some dude from “Laguna Beach”. *dejected sigh*

Save the cheerleader! Yatta!

UPDATED 14th May 2007 12:27am - added video

I got a new camera this weekend, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ7. It’s so new that not many websites have got proper reviews of it yet. I based my decision on Steve-Digicam’s review of the LZ5.

What appealed to me were: the optical image stabiliser (as opposed to software-correction), the fast power-up and low shutter lag, and the burst mode for taking photos in quick succession. Plus the ability to shoot 640×380 videos at 30fps. These are all qualities that are a big step up from my Fujifilm Finepix E500 which I had been using for the past 2 years.

These are also the capabilities which will help me take better photos in low-light environments, like say inside a club. I specifically chose a camera which runs on AA batteries, allowing me to use rechargable Ni-MH which last longer than the slim lithium ion batteries. Battery life is crucial when it comes to shooting 6-hour raves.

I took it out for a road-test last night at my favourite haunt The Deen. I kept to ISO400 and slowed down the shutter speed to compensate for the low-light. Below are the results.

The above are usually the kind of photos that I’d take in a club and I never use flash unless I’m shooting people. I really liked the low noise-artifacts and minimal blurring, unless as an intended effect. Granted my trusty old Finepix isn’t too shabby in this department but the smaller shutter lag and burst mode on the Lumix allowed me to take more photos in the same amount of time. And I got a lot more usable shots than normal.

Next up are shots using flash on people (click through for larger versions). I wasn’t short of helpful strangers, including this group with the girls who kept posing for me. Don’t these photos make you smile?

But the coolest guy of the night has to be this older fella. He rocks!

The third test was low-light video recording. And I must say the Lumix trumps the Finepix in this department. The image is very smooth (thanks 30fps!) and bright enough to not require correction. But I need to learn to make it look better on Youtube, so no video to show for now. Found an alternative video-hosting site called Videoegg which doesn’t compress the videos to oblivion. Woohoo!

Overall, I’m very happy with my new purchase.

Technorati Tags: clubbing

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For more “lolcat” pictures - pictures of animals, usually cats with funny slogans in broken English, check out “I Can Has Cheezburger?“

Neil Strauss’ “The Game” - Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists. A female friend of mine saw this book and immediately thought of me. She even offered to pick up a copy for me. At first, I was chuffed. Then I realised it’s not because I’m a great pickup artist but because she think I have no skillz. “I thought you might be after an ‘educating’ read.” Damn I’m hurt.

From the Amazon link above, I saw this other book - The Complete A**hole’s Guide to Handling Chicks. Check out the bullet points:

• How a five-dollar date can get you laid
• How to stop being friends with girls and start getting them in the sack
• Where you’ll have the best odds of finding a one-night stand, and how to get rid of the chick the next morning
• How to trick a woman into thinking you’re classy, even if you have holes in your underwear
• Why fat chicks always try to keep you from banging their hot friends, and how to finally stop these evil creatures
• How to stop your wife from nagging you into an early grave
• Why it’s possible to watch six hours of football, put the moves on your neighbor’s hot daughter, and leave the toilet seat up in the same day

Awesome.

Our family doesn’t celebrate Mother’s Day, at least not in the usual way that a lot of other families do. The gifts, the big lunch or dinner somewhere nice, or doing nice things for her and all that. If we do go out, it’d be just a normal night out without any additional significance to it. And I’ve used this as an excuse a lot, and that is “everyday is Mother’s Day“. Heh.

But it’s true - why should you wait till Mother’s Day to be nice to her? Do it everyday!

However, this Mother’s Day I’ve thought of buying my mom a gift for the very first time. It is not a gift for her per se, but a gift of charity made on behalf of her. And I’ve chosen Oxfam as the charity to donate to.

I like the way Oxfam organises their “gifts”. Strictly speaking, you are still contributing to their pool of funds but they’ve illustrate it in a way which shows you how that donation helps out a community. From the Oxfam site:

Are you sick of giving socks, bath salts, or token gifts? Yes, trying to choose gifts for some people can be quite an ordeal - and that’s why we’ve developed Oxfam Unwrapped. It’s a unique collection of gift ideas that help you give something special to your friends or family and give something extra special to people who haven’t got much at all.

For example, “buy” a $60 food-pack and you can feed a child in East Timor for a year. Or buy two chickens for $20 and you can help a community grow a viable and self-sustaining food source or business. Or buy a $76 investor’s pack to contribute to their micro-financing services which they provide to the poor around the world.

There’s even a quirky one called “Get Granny a Lawyer“.

I showed my mom the available choices and she chose the investor’s pack. If the idea intrigues you, head over to the Oxfam Shop to have a look.

I think a donation to a charity is a great Mother’s Day gift. If not Oxfam, then consider an alternative or favourite charity close to wherever you are. It’s not everyday that you get to do nice things for complete strangers. Afterall, you can have a fancy dinner every other day, and honestly how many more trinkets and jewellery does she need anyway?