Harry Podder and the Big Apple

Rest in Peace

hal9209 — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 04:03:49 +0000

Flowers left outside of Apple store in New York City, Oct. 5, 2011 (Credit: Sarah Tew )

Last night upon hearing the news, I post a few messages on Facebook about it. Then I stopped doing everything I usually do on a typical night. I didn’t watch tv shows, listen to music, read ebooks, watch YouTube, check Facebook, or eat dessert. All I did was holding onto his proudest creation, reading people’s remarks about his passing. I got teary eyes reading the President’s statement, then Walt Mossberg’s article recalling his past dealing with him, and finally news of fans worldwide leaving flowers and candles outside the stores leave me overwhelmed. I went to sleep with a heavy heart.

Goodbye Steve, thank you for everything.

Lobster Roll

hal9209 — Wed, 18 May 2011 03:34:35 +0000

Since the last time I blogged about food (which is last Fall – soo long ago!), there were quite a few obsessions come and gone – fast food pasta, the Meatball Shop, bubble tea, etc etc and the last two weeks comes yet another obsession – Lobster Roll!

It all started with the infamous Luke’s Lobster Bar started a food truck last week. I heard of Luke’s Lobster Bar for a while and I have yet made it to their storefront in East Village. (Which is odd because East Village is my stomping ground!) So when their food truck started rolling in midtown in various locations each day, I was determined to catch up and finally try their infamous Lobster Roll! During their first week, they parked in various locations in midtown, none of them ever close to my work, except one day when I was out, they parked it at Lexington Ave! I was upset obviously, but nothing I can do, it’s not like I can take a 2 hours lunch because I want to chase around a food truck! So over the weekend, I broke down and walked all the way to their East Village Storefront instead.

It is a tiny little store with a few high stools (it is called a bar after all!) with nautical theme decoration along the walls and a simple menu with 3 choices of rolls – lobster, crab and shrimp; various combo between the 3; soups and drinks. You can have it to go, to walk, or eat here. They allow half a roll with half price, so I ordered a half lobster and half crab roll. I also ordered lobster bisque. The roll comes with, as you can see from the pictures, more lobster and crab meat than I can ever imagine! Granted $16 (for a full roll, so here is actually 8+ 5 since it’s half & half) is expensive, but imagine you order that much lobster in a real restaurant! How much would that cost you? Anyway, they have a really simple approach to it with just enough mayo, lemon butter and whatever secret spices with it, but nothing overcome the natural taste of the lobster and crab meat itself. The bun is soft but not too soft, just the right amount. It is a perfect little heaven for seafood lover like me! And as for the lobster bisque? Well well, the lobster meat chunks in the soup are bigger than the crackers that come with the soup! It is so good that it completely ruined Hale & Hearty’s lobster bisque or any other places’ lobster bisque for me!!

Then this week, while trying to find out if Luke’s Lobster truck is anywhere nears my work, I found out that Luke’s actually has a competitor! There is actually another lobster roll place that has a food truck “rolling in the deep” as well! (Oh yes, I couldn’t resist putting that in!) The competitor is the Red Hook Lobster Pound, which as the name suggested, located in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Given the location, I would probably have a chance to try their food unless their truck comes to midtown. And somehow, maybe they know that I was dying to try their lobster roll, they did come to park on Lexington Ave today!

I rushed out to catch the truck once I found out the location from Twitter. Now there are a few differences between the roll from Red Hook Lobster Pound and Luke’s. Red Hook’s doesn’t allow half a roll, so you have to order the full roll. However, their lobster roll has two style to choose from – Maine or Connecticut. Maine style is the one that most people are familiar with, chilled lobster meat with mayo on it. Connecticut style has warm lobster meat with butter. Now that’s something I never heard of, so obviously, that’s the one I ordered! Their lobster roll has just as much lobster meat in it, with just the right amount of butter and some shredded lettuce and scallions on top, also pickle on the side. It is different than the lobster roll that I was used to, but equally tasteful!

As for which one’s lobster roll is better? I seriously can’t decide because they are both equally good! You have to try it yourself.

Luke’s Lobster Bar
93 E. 7th Street

Red Hook Lobster Pound
284 Van Brunt Street | Brooklyn, NY 11231

One month with iPad 2

hal9209 — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 22:26:21 +0000

It’s been a while since I blogged, and I can’t really explain why. Maybe the muse is gone, maybe Facebook and Twitter combined took away the need to blog, or simply I have nothing to say. Nah, not that, I have a lot to say, I just can’t put them down in word anymore. Something’s changed, and I don’t know what. It doesn’t matter cos this post is about something else, and I should start talking about that!

It’s been about a month since I have the iPad 2 and it still amazes me. I didn’t have the original iPad so this is all new to me. What I noticed is that I read a lot more. Not ebooks (I will get to that later), not magazines, but just online contents. The iPad changed my way to consume the Internet! The iPad makes us realized that the computer, no matter if it’s a desktop or a laptop, is not really the optimized way to read the Internet! I guess I am a semi-power user for the internet, I subscribes to a ton of feeds in my Google Reader. My Facebook and Twitter accounts are overloaded with contents from friends and people that I followed. I am, essentially, having an information overload for quite sometime now. The effect of that is information tune-out. The feed counts on Google Reader go up to thousands, most tweets and stream on Facebook weren’t really read.

The iPad, by giving a new way to present information, changed that trend. The app Reeder on the iPhone helped me to keep up with the feeds on Google Reader but it doesn’t really help me to consume the content any faster. The iPad version of Reeder changed that. By having a larger real estate, a side bar view, a pin and zoom into a “stack” of feeds, it helped me really go through the feeds instead of ignoring them. Flipboard do a similar job to the contents on Facebook and Twitter for me. By having a very different presentation, I somehow pay more attention to the information. Taptu, Hitpad helped me to explore even more contents that I normally probably wouldn’t get to read. Even video contents, showyou and YouTube app help me to explore way more than the web.

And that’s just the ready available online contents, I haven’t got to ebooks, magazines, comic and everything else…

Walking Dead

hal9209 — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 20:31:36 +0000

This season I really didn’t find any compelling new shows for me to follow.The only new shows I watch regularly are Nikita and Better With You. None of them can get me watched obsessively like 30 Rock or Glee. Just when I almost give up, a new show eat its way in! Walking Dead, as far as I know the first zombie TV show (yes I am aware that UK has Dead Set, but it’s more like a one-shot mini series~), is as serious a drama as you can get. It’s not your usual zombie flick where human characters are just zombie snack with the most cliche personality like a slasher filck. The original comic series has been running on 7 years and you know there are huge character development for every characters that a 2 hours horror movie can never mention up to.

It looks great so far, from the cinematic way they shot it, to the developing plot so far. I do have a concern, not to this series specifically, but the zombie genre as a whole – unlike the vampire world, zombie world is almost always completely hopeless. It never ends well no matter how great the struggle or how hard the characters tried. It always ends in the extinction of human race and most likely the entire planet. Vampires know the rules, they don’t expose themselves and they don’t change people into them en mass. Zombies, not so much, it is a disease that consumes everything until there’s nothing left. The depressing nature of a zombie world could be too much for people.

That being said, I am still looking forward to how this series will progress. You have to agree that the poster art is brilliant! Just look at the imagery of a lone ranger riding a horse into an empty Atlanta with a row of empty cars escaping the city, how poetic!!

Foursquare to the rescue

hal9209 — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 01:40:54 +0000

I have to admit that I was in a post-new apartment, post-new office, post-new Mac, and post-birthday month blue the entire October. I was pretty much all by myself, rarely go out of my apartment, and just watch tv shows and read books. I didn’t hang out or talk to most of my friends, just being quiet the whole time. I guess once all the excitements die down, everything seems to be the same as before, and it was a big let down. Once I also found out that the two impossible possibilities are no longer options, I just simply retreat. Practiced the “outside bad, inside good” philosophy.

What changed all that and get me out to the real world again is that the Foursquare landscape become so competitive that I am losing my mayorships left and right. As obsessive as I am, I know that In order to get them back I have to go out! I have to get used to the awkwardness of eating alone in restaurants if I want to get even more mayorships to replace the ones that I lost. It is the silliest reason and yet it helped me! it is this silly game and competition that get me trying new restaurants and new places again!

Year in review continues (2)

Macaroon discovery

hal9209 — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 00:41:02 +0000

I’ve never taken the liking of macaroons because to me it’s nothing special. All the ones i had was very much feels like two pieces of cookies with filling in the middle. But I guess I never really tasted an actual good macaroon until recently! And boy once I did, I know why it’s popular!

The place that completely changed my view on macaroons is La Maison Du Macaron on 23rd Street and 6th Ave, kind of across from the fame Apple reseller Tekserve. I have never notice the store before until it was mentioned in Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. So after some online digging, out of curiosity i went there one afternoon and the rest is history, I am officially addicted! The macaroons here is so soft that it melts in your mouth! With many many flavors to choose from, plus other pastries, instantly I know i will forever come back for more! In addition, the place is cute as a button! the place has actual couches and chairs with decorations that make the place completely homey!

I can’t really tell you which flavor is the best cos I haven’t try them all yet plus they all tasted delicious so far! but Rose and Caramel Fleur de Sel stood out in my memory~ Well, enough reading, do yourself a favor and go there! Their address is 132 west 23rd Street (6 & 7 avenues)!

New Addition

hal9209 — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 03:10:59 +0000

Once you switch to Mac you never go back. It certainly is true in my case. I got my Powerbook G4 in 2005 and within months I have gone exclusive and ditch my PC desktop. A year later I got the white 24″ iMac. Four quick years passes by and with my move to the new apartment, a new addition to the Mac family is warranted…

Introducing the Quad-Core 27″ widescreen iMac:

As you can see I ordered the one with the multitouch trackpad. In most cases I don’t even need my Magic Mouse, i believe the only scenario i would require the mouse would be when I handle photo manipulation in photoshop or iPhoto. I like using the trackpad a lot more than a mouse, not to mention the added benefit of using it as a handwriting Chinese input device when the international keyboard setting is turn on.

As for the iMac itself, my old white 24″ iMac was already gigantic enough, the new one is even bigger! The screen is absolutely gorgeous! As for the speed and performance, I haven’t really push it or try any heavy-lifting yet, but launching applications are way quicker than my four years old machine. Now I am not gonna go through the list of what’s better, because that would take forever, I rather want to take the time to describe my new set up.

Everyone asked what am I going to do with my now old white iMac. My answer is to use it as a TV. I don’t have a TV anymore after I moved, and even before that I rather used it. I get all my TV and movies online and I uses Plex, the awesome Mac Media Center software to handle everything. With Plex 9, I basically turned my white iMac as a thin client. All the shows and movies are streamed from my now main Quad-core iMac. Plex is smart enough to pick up the progress of whenever you left off no matter which machine you were using to watch the show. Now the white iMac is facing the couch, while the Quad-core is my main workstation on my desk, and with the Plex iPhone app, this setup is a dream come true!

Scott Pilgrim vs the World

hal9209 — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 04:14:00 +0000

When I first saw the preview of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World I knew it is a must-see movie of the year. The tagline for the movie is an epic of epic epicness is totally right! I love this movie! Most people didn’t even see the movie and they are totally missing out. I guess I understand why most people can’t seem to get it. It is a movie adaptation of a comic book that take it’s inspiration from video game, it is a genre-bending movie that could be action, romantic comedy, fantasy, or a teen flick. I mean how confusing is that? but that’s the genius of it all! It is out of this genre-bending, medium-crossing that make the movie interesting and connecting to the video game generation that grow up in the 80s!

The film has a simple plot – Scott Pilgrim must defeat 7 evil exes of Ramona if he want to continue dating her. The premise sounds completely juvenile, and I think just like the ridiculous title of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it somehow free up the creative process as a result and create something awesome. The movie really make the comic book it based on become alive! Almost every frame can be trace back from the original comic. It is a faithful adaptation that was unfortunately, misunderstood. The best part of the movie is the sense of fun, it is just fun from top to bottom, from the logo of the studio to credit!

I think the biggest problem the film has is casting Michael Cera as the lead. He is perfect for the role because the character is essentially him, if u read the comic, u would agree it really is him! i mean come on, the character is a slacker in Canada!! but that is exactly the problem! Cera has been playing essentially the same character over and over again in all of his movies that I think audience just get tired of it! I wish this is actually his first movie, if it is, maybe more people might like it, instead of avoiding it just because the perception is that, Michael Cera is playing the same old character again. But in the end I have to say I can’t imagine anyone else can play his character because it is so him, and his lazy-ass-clueless-passive-agressive delivery is to the perfection!

Seriously, go see this movie, it’s fresh and new, it’s way better than seeing the same old sequels of the summer!

P.S. I went to their promotion at the Apple Store, here are some pictures:

The Second Short Life of Bree Tanner

hal9209 — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 03:23:00 +0000

I must say I quite enjoy this extra book in the Twilight Universe. It certainly add another dimension to Eclipse and show us behind the scene of what’s going on outside of Bella’s point of view! The most frustrating aspect of the Twilight series (also its strength) is that it was mostly told in Bella’s point of view, She might be sweet and brave but she’s definitely not the smartest person in the world! Therefore it’s great to not be in her head and see the “world” differently.

The book centered around Bree Tanner, a side character in Eclipse that pretty much no one would really remember. After you read this book you will feel so sorry for the ending of Eclipse and you will hate the Vultori even more. I like how the book finally confirmed our suspicion that the Volturi “encouraged” Victoria and her army. What I loved the most is of course the end where through Bree’s point of view, we saw the interaction and the kindness of the Cullen clan.

From what I read I know that this book come along because of the development of the movie Eclipse. So I hope when they are making the next two movie, it might spark her with idea to write another book or two about other characters in the Twilight Universe.

A side note: This is my first e-book purchase via iBook Store. It’s painless and totally readable on the awesome iPhone 4 screen. Of course I wouldn’t mind it if I have an iPad to read it as well~ :p

The Last Airbender

hal9209 — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 03:43:00 +0000

I have lost faith in M. Night’s ability to make good movie a long time ago. I keep hoping he will prove me wrong by delivering a kick-ass movie. The trailer of the Last Airbender does look awesome, and the fact that this is an adaptation rather than a pure original story makes me feel better about the prospect of this movie. Yet I have to say, I was fooled again! The universe of Last Airbender is fascinating to me. The movie did successfully recreated that world, however, character-wise, everyone is pretty bland. Dialogues are boring and it just couldn’t keep me interested. Sorry M. Night, you have done it again, a movie with fascinating concept, and yet, the delivery falls completely short!