The Adventures of Daniel Kwan

If your iPhone is just showing a blank white box in its Camera Roll when you take a photo, here’s how you fix the problem.

1. Find this file on your computer and delete it:
f1b43d3b3ecf259a3626c13a8b0cebd8ba513117.mdbackup. Just do a search for it. It should be at the following:

Mac
Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/[gibberish]

PC
C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\[gibberish]

2. Plug in your iPhone and Restore it from iTunes.

After the process is complete, your iPhone should take and save photos normally again. Kudos to jkeegan for figuring this out and posting it in Apple’s support forums.

I had a lot of respect for Japan, and I thought the Chinese government and people have been overdoing their demand for an apology from a modern Japanese nation which had nothing to do with the war. But are Japanese politicians actually supporting films that deny the 1937-38 Nanjing Massacre, aka Rape of Nanking, ever occured?!? You gotta be shitting me! I wonder how the general public in Japan feels about this.

I started watching anime series a few months ago. I’ve watched some on and off in the past but never an entire series, except for Golden Boy which only has six episodes. Not sure why I decided to start again but I chose only those that were well drawn and ranked high on ratings lists. My opinions and ratings of the shows in the order I watched them:

Golden Boy
About a perverted guy (okay a regular guy) who has a different job every episode, meets chicks and gets horny. That’s basically it, but it’s hella funny. (4/5)

Naruto
This show about child ninjas is super popular so I started watching it, but it’s stupid. It’s clearly for little kids, like 7-year-olds. I watched about four episodes and couldn’t take any more. (2/5)

Fullmetal Alchemist
Set in a world where people use alchemy, especially the military, these two kids tried to bring their dead mother back to life and failed. The story goes on from there. Very interesting, and I liked it until I watched the awful movie. (4/5)

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
This eccentric high school girl, who doesn’t know she has a special power, starts a club for finding mysteries or something. I guess this show is cute, and it kept me interested enough to watch through all 14 episodes, but afterwards it felt like a waste of time. (3/5)

Neon Genesis Evangelion
Even though it went from a giant robot flick to total abstract psycho weirdness, the characters, backstories, psychology, politics and everything make this a compelling series. And it’s the best anime series I’ve watched so far. I’m glad they’re remaking it into movies right now. (5/5)

Cowboy Bebop
It’s about bounty hunters and has spaceships so I should like it, but I’ve watched two episodes so far and I’m bored. Is there gonna be a plot later on? This anime’s supposed to be a classic but it has the most uninteresting chase and fight scenes, and no story so far. (2/5) (3/5) [Update.]

On my to watch list: Great Teach Onizuka, Ghost in the Shell.

Yeah that’s right, I can totally draw. Check out that awesome taxi. Yes it is a taxi. Got bored at one of the Starbuckses (Starbucki?) at Wujiaochang so I started drawing in their guestbook. But then I kinda liked what I drew so I ripped out that page and kept it. It’s now on Lisa’s wall.

I don’t just draw fruity stuff, I swear. On the next page I drew an ogre but I didn’t take a photo, and I let Starbucks keep that page. I drew a gargoyle last month. Maybe I’ll post that later.

Since I’m learning some Chinese (mostly from Lisa) while I’m in Shanghai, I made a website for anyone who wants to learn whatever I’m learning. There are much better websites for learning Chinese, but I bet they don’t teach you stuff like 楼主脑残! Unless they do.

The site is ChineseVocab.com. I almost got chinesevocab.info instead because I assumed .com was taken, but it wasn’t. And now it’s mine, mine! Hahaha! Or in Chinese, 哈哈哈!

This is the most pointless post because if you’re an Indiana Jones fan, you already know the teaser trailer for Crystal Skull debuted yesterday. And if you’re not an Indy fan, you probably don’t care.

But if for some reason you are a fan and you didn’t know the trailer’s out, well, the trailer’s out! I see that secret U.S. warehouse from the end of Raiders where the Ark of the Covenant was stored. Sweet.

My favorite activities with Lisa.

• Eat.
• Make fun of others.
• Watch movies.

Lisa’s favorite activities with me.

• Drink coffee.
• Listen to talk radio.
• Play The Sims 2.

Feel free to affix whatever you affix to fortune cookies.

Cartoonist Hugh MacLeod / gapingvoid.com has some tips on how to be creative. Looks like they’re for people working in or aspiring to work in creative industries. Here are a few I like:

1. Ignore everybody.
4. If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being “discovered” by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.
7. Keep your day job.
11. Don’t try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether.
16. The world is changing.
18. Avoid the Watercooler Gang.
34. Beware of turning hobbies into jobs.
36. Start blogging.

He goes on to explain each of the 36 points in depth. I haven’t read through them yet but you can go ahead.

Here’s a video of the fireworks in my area on CNY’s Eve and last night.

On the fifth night of Chinese New Year (counting from CNY’s Eve), people go pyro again and set of another barrage of fireworks and firecrackers. They shoot fireworks every night but especially the first and fifth nights.

Why the fifth night? You see, Tao gods come and visit whoever sets off the biggest explosions, and the fifth day is when the God of Fortune (yíngcáishén) comes over. People don’t care about the God of Health. The God of Health is a stiff and tells people not to play with fireworks.

I made a mistake in a previous post. I said people in China celebrate Chinese New Year for 10 days and don’t work during those 10 days. They actually celebrate for 15 days, and start their time off from the day before Chinese New Year until the eighth day of the lunar year. So it’s actually nine days if you count weekends, but it also varies by employers.

LOLOLOL!! Okay before anyone’s mistaken, let me just make clear that the above video is not me! It’s someone named Steven Lim from Singapore. Found it through Alvin Lim’s blog. His page has more info.

That video got me surfing on YouTube and led me to this techno remix of the infamous Leave Britney Alone:

Gonna make that my new ringtone.