Earth Hour (well almost)

I tried to get my family to commemorate Earth Hour today. If Changi airport can turn off non-essential lights for one hour from 8.30pm to 9.30pm, so could we, I thought.

And since I wanted to turn off everything except the fans, had to work out what to do in that one hour and decided that we would have a later dinner than normal, by candlelight. I made a shepherd's pie and a simple salad, with a pear cake courtesy of Chocolate & Zucchini for dessert. She makes the cake for tea, I reserved it for dinner just so I had something to round off the meal (lengthen it out a little more).

Well, my mother had a good time arranging the candles on the dining room table and we brought the food out just in time for lights' out. Peeking outside the house, however, it was only too apparent that the majority of the neighbourhood were blithely going about their normal household routine as opposed to helping save the planet. The family ate dinner; my sister told us how her husband, currently in Sydney, realised that he was the only one not observing Earth Hour as all around him, buildings were dark. We finished eating quite quickly, well within the hour. Washed up by candlelight and the light from the house next door.

After tidying up - there was nothing much to do. No TV, no internet surfing available. The family sat around, restlessly. We have lost the gentle art of conversation. My father went to his room and a thin slit of line was seen below his door. Finally, 9.31pm came and the lights went on.

Ultimate in photo recognition

Flower Market, Ile de la Cite
Originally uploaded by Taking5

Got the following message in my flickrmail the other day:

"Hi,

I am writing to you from SilverKris Magazine (Singapore Airline Inflight travel magazine). We would like to use one of our photo in our magazine:

www.flickr.com/people/taking5/

We will using it about A4 size. We pay $200 for this if is agreeable to propose this image to our client and approved by them.

Do you want us to credit your name or not?

Regards,
Geoffrey Lim
Art Director
Silver Kris"

Simply thrilled! There was a mistake in the link but subsequent checks indicated that the photo was one I had taken in the Flower Market, Ile de la Cite, France.

This is certainly not the first time when someone has asked me whether they can use my photo (click the "Flickr" tag on this post to see my bragging posts) but I've never really been offered money before. There was one happy moment when I was contacted by Lonely Planet (Lonely Planet!) but I don't know whether they eventually used the photo because it was taken on an old digital and was not very hi-res as a result. So this is indeed a Moment to Remember. I don't even know if I can bring myself to cash the cheque, or whether I will just frame it up to see forever.

My New Eee PC 1000HE

This handsome photo of Orlando was taken on the built-in camera for my new Eee PC 1000HE and I'm loading it up from my handy little ultraportable.

Of course, I touched up the photo as it turned out a bit dark.

Becoming Jane

Well, I watched "Becoming Jane" on cable the other night. Honestly, I am not sure about it. Anne Hathaway is a pretty girl but somehow she doesn't look very English (despite the name). Maybe she looks too modern? Or perhaps the eyebrows? Whatever it is, she looks like a changeling amidst her brothers and sister Cassandra.

The story centres around Jane's relationship with a young Irish lawyer, Tom Lefroy (played by James McAvoy). We all know the end - it doesn't work out. But in the meantime, we are invited to draw parallels between the Jane-Tom and Lizzy-Darcy romances - Jane initially prejudiced against Tom, but after that drawn by his charm (ok that doesn't sound so much like Darcy). Plus another suitor who has an aunt just like Lady Catherine de Bough.

I did enjoy the exchanges between Jane and Tom. But there are elements that don't ring true - somehow it is hard to picture Jane attempting to elope. She is a vicar's daughter, after all. More importantly, I would have liked to see a little more of Jane's artistic development and her relationship with the other members of her family - aspects brought out so well in "Miss Potter", the movie on the life of Beatrix Potter. But see this note about the production which supposedly provides more insights on the film.

All in all, a pleasant movie about a failed romance but nothing much about the deeper influences that resulted in a young woman, from a pretty ordinary family, becoming one of the most enduring and celebrated writers of all time.