Enchanted by Walt Disney

Today I sold so many items in eBay, and by the time I finished and out of the Post Office, it was already almost 5pm. This is terrible, but I haven't had the first meal yet, i.e. didn't have anything to eat for the whole day. Well, after I eat at Sunnybank Market Square, did a bit of window shopping at Garden City shopping mall mainly for the walking exercises, and went back to Sunnybank Plaza, I watched a movie. This is because I didn't have anything to do for the rest of the day. And my sister is still in Noosa until now, she will be back tomorrow before 12pm, so she said.
The movie I chose to watch was Enchanted. I didn't really expect so much from the beginning, because the preview was not that good. The preview only showed a little bit of the music played in the movie and when there were singing, they were stopped, because it is supposed to be funny that In the Real World, it is not that much musical. In a way, it is good because it saved the music for the movie itself, and most of the music not being shown in the preview.
Anyway, I wouldn't be here if the movie was not good. The movie was very good.
The leading lady, Amy Adams, playing as Giselle, is very good and she just makes the movie come to life almost every time she is around in a funny way, in animated way. As most of the things happen there usually is done in animated way, they are hilarious when done with the real people. My favorite scenes were when there were musical and many many dancers in the classical Walt Disney dancing, and the animals doing what Giselle instruct them to do. One of the character also did a very funny scene when it was trying to let the Prince know about the poisoned apple. I couldn't stop laughing most of the time. And I haven't laughed for a Long time. Today, and yesterday with movie The Golden Compass were the best days I've spent. And I am very glad because of that.
The music and songs were very good, and I think they are mostly the work of Alan Menken, if I am not mistaken. His music and songs have been very entertaining to me which include the music and songs for Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast, the movies.
I hope you will enjoy this movie.

The Golden Compass

Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2.0GHz and NVidia GeForce 8600GT

Computer is my world. As I mentioned in other titles, I sell on eBay. I use my camera to view and edit photos and videos, listen to music, play DVDs, chat to my friends in Brisbane and overseas, e-mailing, blogging, playing games, getting flight information, finding out exchange rates, read news, find a particular topic, do banking and the list goes on and on. I can't live without my computer, and now, the initial reason for getting a computer is, for Computer video games :)
I have always enjoyed computer games since Sierra produced its King's Quest graphic adventure games, King's Quest VI. During my days at university here in Australia, I played a lot of computer games and followed on Computer games for a while.
Only during my last days of University, somehow I stopped following up on Computers games. But now I am starting to play Computer games again. Oh boy, it's a lot I have to catch up in the world of Computer games. I didn't know that Warhammer 40k Dawn of War Game of the Year (GotY), Titan Quest and Age of Empires 3 were good.
I bought the computer on 10 October 2007. It's a 2.0GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core, which is not the most up to date Intel chip, only because the price is low now, and works well for playing any games available in the market.
If you want to play games, you will need Graphics card. I bought the slightly overclocked MSI GeForce 8600GT 256MB which is a slightly better than average graphics card , now at AUD$116 at Umart in Brisbane. So far, it has been playing games superbly. I am so happy with my new computer.
Around this time I also bought Logitech X-540 5.1 channel Speakers for $99 from EB Games in Sunnybank Plaza. I now have a Home Theatre system in my own room. I can play great DVD Video.
At this time, I also bought a TV card, now I can view TV and play PS2 in my room. Nothing is better than this.
On 25 November 2007 I also replaced my old Acer 19" non-widescreen monitor with an Acer 24" AL2423W Widescreen monitor. It has 3 year warranty, from Officeworks for $549. I think I should be happy. And I can watch DVD much better too with this widescreen monitor.
During my business in eBay, I hope I can enjoy my time with my Computer System as I have lots and lots of free time at the moment.

Canon IXY 810IS Digital Camera

My not so long ago purchased camera was broken and I bought a new one on 8 October 2007. Well, it's a mixed feeling not sure if I can describe it clearly because I am still not sure what it is even now. First, the old point-and-shoot camera had a little defect on the LCD screen. There is a quite noticeable crescent shaped mark on the LCD screen, you can't miss that defect and there is no light from behind that mark. Plus, the model is a little old then, however the camera still works without a flaw in terms of creating flawlessly beautiful photo (the defect is only on the LCD screen, but not in the digital photos produced). So far, it is still OK for me to use that camera. However, one day suddenly my lens camera stopped coming outside, i.e. it is stuck, cannot pop out, with an error code. I looked it up on the Internet how to fix it, but although I followed the instructions, which are quite brutal instructions actually, by making the lens come out and goes in with force, it made the camera to become worse. I was very worried even to hand it to the camera repairer (Anderson camera repairer in Capalaba), because I believe the camera is beyond repairs, I may have damaged the lens also, which is, I think, worth most of the camera value.
So, during this vulnerable and confused moments, I ordered another camera from a Chinese seller in Japan, in eBay. The product has ok price, about AUD$370 including shipping, which another person might find this is a small price compared to the shops here in Brisbane, RRP AUD$499-AUD$549. This camera is with Canon Japan Manufacturer warranty, so if it breaks, I will need to send it back to Japan or I can repair it by the repairer in Brisbane paying out of my own pocket, whichever is cheaper.
Here is another, somewhat disappointed and confused moment. I felt that the Canon IXY 810IS is inferior to the IXY 700, in that the picture 810IS is grainier than IXY 700. This could be caused by possible numerous cause. The lowest ISO setting is now 80, instead of 50 in IXY 700. There are many more automated features in 810IS that would compromise/cause the lower quality 810IS, including the face detection, smaller build which means the sensors packed is smaller too and the Image Stabilization feature would probably cause the grainier pictures too. It could also be caused by the contrast setting that results brighter grainy dark places.
But whatever the cause of this is, I am pretty sure I don't have the ability to make this camera perform any better. If caused by hardware I am hopeless, if caused by software I am pretty much hopeless too. All I can do is download the software from the Internet and update, because I don't have the facilities to build the software (or hardware) from scratch, let alone to come with another solution (it would be quite impossible, otherwise I might just build my own company making better cameras than Canon and be a millionaire, hehe).
At points in time, I found also, that I wouldn't want to go back to use my old IXY 700 because of the defect and plastic protected LCD screen. My new camera has a glass protected LCD screen which is much more protective to the behind screen.
In brief moments, I thought also the quality of the picture is almost the same.
Depending on lighting conditions. I found that too much sunlight would result the dark places look darker and therefore grainier, as my friend Steven Wong would probably refer it to me.
Plus, I saw the old photos of IXY 700 again, and they do have grainy dark places too! Now I don't really know anymore. Is this camera better, or worse?
One thing for sure, the video recording of IXY810IS is better, because it has larger area (640x480), has Image Stabilization and Face detection. Why haven't I been happy I wonder? Is it the shock or... my lack of money for spending for a product that I already have... I am not sure and probably both, and probably not too. What a confusing time.
Anyways, this camera works superbly for my selling in eBay, in fact, too good for the photos of the products I sell. I definitely need this camera for selling on eBay. I need excellent quality. This is the only thing that I do most of these days. And I need a camera anyway.
Amongst this totally confusing and a possibly (because I don't really know even now) disappointing time, I hope I can find this camera useful.
I hope I can find the courage one day to go to Anderson Camera Repairer and fix my IXY 700, because I am pretty sure that it costs about the same as buying a new IXY 810IS. How sad.