A Grand Birthday

This past weekend on October 6th, 2018, we celebrated my mom’s 80th birthday. We invited many friends and family to come to Richmond Hill at a restaurant called Emperor’s Chinese Fine Cuisine restaurant for a casual dinner, along with some light entertainment.

Family from Mauritius and around Canada came to join us in celebrating my mom’s 80th birthday. I am super thankful for the great turn out, and we all participated in making some great memories. Special thanks to the performers, who also made the event that much more special. The lion dance from Sammy Cheng was spectacular. The traditional dancers made our venue magical, while Kalen’s guitar performance brought the celebration close to heart. Of course, the line dancers also added a fun and coordinated touch to the dance floor. The beat of Sega music brings out the joy in us all.

With the help of some high tech toys, people were able to record and contribute some wonderful moments. I took the past couple of days to put these media snippets together in this twenty-three and a half minutes long video.

So when you have a moment, sit back, and enjoy. I know that I will cherish this moment and will use this video to remind me of this grand, happy occasion.

Your Internet speed may not be fast enough and you may experience freezes or stuttering when playing the above video. If you have such an experience, it may be better to download the movie first and then play it locally on your computer. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Press one of the buttons below to download the movie of the quality you wanted.


Updated October 16: You can also download all the source media, original photos and videos from here:

Note that the original media will only be available for about 60 days from the time of this posting, so if you want it, then please download it now.

iPhone 7 Manual Camera

Good morning! I woke up before the sun rise and was staring at my bedroom window when I suddenly became curious to how my phone’s camera will perform under these super low light condition.

I downloaded the Manual Camera app from the App Store, and adjusted the ISO, focus, white balance, and shutter speed, took the shot of my bedroom window. I wanted a balance of properly exposed picture but not too grainy. I then shot a picture with the standard camera app which is in full auto. 

Top is full auto and the bottom is with the Manual app

The auto version seemed over processed while the manual version looked more realistic in comparison to the real lighting condition at the time (prior to sunrise). The color of the sky in the manual version is also more true to reality. If you have a chance, play with the Manual app.

This is also the first post that I produced entirely on my iPhone while still in bed. Amazing what you can do with your smartphone these days!