Sam's Sanity Diary

Around 2013-2016, I did quite a bit of what most Malaysians call, for the lack of a better term, political comedy. What I learned from it was, most of the time, people aren't into it. And I noticed the best time to do it is right before elections. After elections, it's just not really worth talking about the dumb things politicians do or say. People just aren't that interested. I never figured how why but I recently did, so I'll share it with you. Most of the time, when we say look how stupid this politician is, look how bad this situation is, look how ridiculous our country is, we're just complaining without providing a solution. Nobody wants to be reminded how fucked up everything is. They came to the comedy show to escape from that.  And even when we do provide a solution, it is a comedic one and not a practical one. And this is true most of the time, except right before an election. Like a week before election, yes, we are still ranting and raving about how stup...

Some days, I feel like I'm worthless and I can't contribute anything to society or to even to my family. I know how to drive a car, automatic or manual. I know how to ride a bicycle. I know how to speak, read and write in English and Bahasa Malaysia, and to speak in Cantonese and Mandarin somewhat, and I know a few words of Japanese and French. I know basic html. I know how to edit and color correct videos in DaVinci Resolve. Not enough to be a professional editor, or colorist, but enough to put make videos look decent. I know how to put a PC together. I know how to read guitar tabs, and how to set up and tune a guitar and I can play Tears In Heaven and Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out. I know how to write jokes, not enough to be a full time comedy writer on a daily or weekly show, but enough to write a joke from time to time and entertain people.  I know how to sharpen a knife and a chisel and do some basic woodworking. With the right tools, I am quite sure I can ...

Okay, this post is about video and audio equipment and it's going to get geeky and I apologise for that. Years ago, if you wanted to record yourself on video, you could either use your phone or a camera, but neither one is perfect. If you moved at all, the footage would be shaky unless you put your phone/camera on a gimbal, but then that whole contraption would be heavy and bulky and attract way too much attention. Then someone figured out that you could just use an action camera, particularly the GoPro Hero 7 Black. It was tiny, waterproof camera with great electronic stabilization that could record in 4K. But it overheated easily, so you mostly shot in lower resolutions and even then, it would sometimes freeze up for no reason and you would lose your recorded footage. If only there was an action cam that was more reliable. And then there was. DJI came up with the Action 1, which was reliable but didn't have a wide enough lens. Then they made the Action 2, which was wide and h...