Photography, life and everything in between

Archive for September, 2008

I will be in Penang during Hari Raya

So contacting might be a little difficult as I will be at the mercy of any free wi-fi I can find. Hopefully there will be something fun to do there. I do need the R&R, life in KL can be very stressful.

Until my return, pleasant dreams~!


Best scene in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

This I feel is the best scene out of the whole anime Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei


Enjoy~~ ^_^. I like this how it builds up to the point where she goes absolutely ballistic. Till then pleasant dreams.

A brief comparison.


I just saw this on the DPreview website. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, Sigma had release an update to their old Sigma 24-70mm with a newer, smaller and faster version

It seems since they can’t compete with the Nikon and Canon version in terms of performance, so they seem to want to fight on the size and price front. Although they claim their version has all the wiz-bang that Nikon and Canon are touting. Another difference I can see from their new and old version is that the old version touts it can do macro at 1:3.8 level. 
Another weird thing though with the new Sigma version, is that the filter thread size is 83mm! Which is the biggest one I have ever seen! Most filters owned by people are 77mm, let’s hope the performance is as good as they make it sound. 
Though you shouldn’t brush off their version as well. Take a look at Nikon’s version of the lens


As you can see, it’s rought 50~60% of the size of the Nikon version. While of course it doesn’t have the Nano coating stuff along with the obvious weather sealing and I have a feeling the new Sigma version will extend out just like their old version. 

But we can be sure that their (Sigma) version will be much cheaper. But I’ll hold off judgement till I see a performance report on whether the Sigma version is really worth getting. 
So until then, pleasant dreams

Adobe Photoshop CS4


Another new annoucement from photokina 2008. I had just recently gotten the hang of Adobe photoshop cs3 and here today they have announce a new version. Adobe photoshop cs4.

Here is the official annoucement from the www.dpreview.com.
Basically this version will be able to make full use of OpenGL through the use of a 3D engine. When did photoshop become a video game? In any event, I’ll try and get an “evaluation” copy soon for the Mac to give it a try.
Though I am a bit curious about it’s purported “tab” feature. I’ve always found myself wanting tis feature when I was manipulating a lot of photos. So until then, pleasant dreams

Given the choice…

Recently I was asked a question by a friend, “Which would you take? A good short life or a Long and miserable life?” He asked.

I replied in a “As a matter of fact” tone, “I prefer a short good life. In fact, I’ll be more specific then that, I rather have a good life for the next years to live out my dreams and I will be willing accept my imminent death by any methods without fear or regret, hell I would even choose to die by cancer which would result in me dying a horrible death. As I long as I get to live my dreams for ten years which is to see the world. Given the choice I would even sell my soul to the devil as my life is already so miserable thanks to God”.

The expression on my friend’s face was simply priceless, the sheer look of horror on his face. He thought I was joking but I was dead serious. I would even sign the papers right now if it gave such conditions!

I have found that living a long life is not what it’s cracked to be. I have found that having a fun life is more important then “living long”. Hence why I will never settle down, I rather die young right now if someone told me that the rest of my life is boring and always stuck in Malaysia. It’s not worth living if it’s going to be long and boring. But then if someone offer me to live long and happy, I would also reject it. A fun life is always best lived short.

It’s not that I don’t value my life, no wait. I don’t value life that much anymore after what I have been through. I find that for all I have been through I do believe I deserve better, but it seems hard work alone doesn’t get me anywhere. Hence now why I do things so recklessly in my own social circle. I don’t give a rat’s ass how other people value my life, you’re not living it. You don’t know what I have been through and I don’t want to hear your sob story about your own suffering. That belongs to you so keep it to yourself, I want to live a joyous life and if it means it will be a short one then so be it!

I am fed up with all this objectives of saving up for what? the future? Please I do not intend to live more then another decade or 2 if my life is going to be crap. This is how I go about living my life now, I know it is crap hence why I am now living it to maximize all my personal joy and I don’t intend to live long. So until then pleasant dreams!


Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.4G

Oh I so hate how Nikon takes it’s sweet time to release a new long overdue lens. From what i understand this baby will go for Rm1800!? What the F***!? 
So until then, pleasant dreams, I will tonight~~

I have returned (cue Star War’s empire music)

Well I’ve been back since yesterday to the grind of life.

First tip upon returning is when they guy operating the damn projector keeps telling you that the projector’s weird green color cast is due to it warming up, don’t freaking believe them! The damn bulb is broken and they just don’t want to pay to replace it even after you had paid them Rm500 for it! 
This is what you get from Labuan, lots of lying bastards who do not want to pay a penny to maintain their equipment. I almost wanted to take the chair and smashed it over the guy’s head for outright lying to me. This was on my brother’s wedding dinner and the dang stupid projector’s lightbulb was completely shot, the only color working on it was green and the focus knob had broken off. 
Also another important tip, the wedding photographers are crap in Labuan. Guess they feel like they don’t have to give it their all since they are zero competition in the business. Almost makes me want to jump into the business just to screw with their life. 
So until then, pleasant dreams!

So I have to do this twice for 2008…..

I will be traveling back again to my home town for the second time of the year. I’ll be honest with you, while most people would love to go home but I actually dread the idea. Why? Let me list the many reason why I hate making the perilous journey back.

  1. It’s about a 3 hour flight and knowing Malaysian airlines there will always try to have you seated next to a screaming baby, the louder the better. Fortunately this time I will punch the parents instead of putting up with it. 
  2. Also my hometown can be considered a wonderful paranormal site where it seems that while time moves on in other places but my hometown seems to stays in the constant of crappiness, never changing as if time had forgotten that this place even existed. Always technologically backward and 50% of the island resident really freaking believe that the earth is flat. (I kid you not, I have relatives who thinks Dinosours are made-belief since they never seen fossils before, although I know a few living fossil on that island).
  3. While we are on the topic of paranormal activity, I have notice that while everyone on the island is incredibly lousy at math but when they compare the winning lottery numbers and the numbers they bought, they have an astounding ability to dervied from their number to the winning number with an insane ability to do multiplications, divisions, logrithmatic and even quantum physics to an equally insane level of accuracy.  
  4. The minute your relatives know you are back (especially if you are technically inclined) they will call you up to either borrow (the term is to ask for handouts) money which they will never pay back or ask you to help fix their old Intel 486DX4 100mhz computer that has been collecting dust since they broke it after pouring a bucket of water into the CPU casing to cool it down (there are a lot of backward freaks over there).
  5. The people on the island are willing to spend a month’s worth of food to buy 4D lottery ticket. 
  6. People over there compare how great they are by the number of children/grandchildren they have. Even if they can’t feed them, they just keep making them in hopes of winning some sort of sick tribal contest of how big their manhoods are.  
  7. Books are actually banned on that island since it seems you can’t find any bookstores!!!! Except for newspaper stand where people will check whether they have won the lottery only and use the remaining part of the newspaper to wipe their asses when they use the toilet.
Those are few of the many reasons why I hate going back to my home town. I really wish right now that a black hole from another universe would suck me and transports me to a dystopia like world or a possible post-apocolytic world ruled by aliens. I would have more fun there. This is the reason why I limit my trips back to my home town. 
UPDATE: Drat, the collider didn’t create a blackhole that could destroy the planet today.  
Also due to the low technological level in my hometown, I will be out of contact during the time I am there till I can build myself a boat and escape the island or at least until the day I will fly back. 
I would rather spend a day shooting photos in a warzone like Iraq then be there, it would be a lot more fun. My hometown is the perfect place only if you want to die in the most boring place on the planet. I would actually like to recommand my hometown as the next shooting location for the next silent hill movie. They wouldn’t need so many special effects or CG this time, instead this time they wouldn’t have to make it look like your trap and died there, the person would simply just commit suicide due to sheer boredom

A little fun with a minor color tweak.


I was bored that day and decided to look for some artful (does such a word even exist?) inspiration.

So until then, pleasant dreams~~

For some reason……I miss

I miss the fact I could right now drive myself down to Komtar/Prangin mall in Georgetown and be back in an hour before anyone knows it.

I miss the sights and sounds of the many shop along Penang road.

I miss the weekend mornings where I would be walking along Heritage road and admiring all the shops with their antique architecture.

I miss the fact I could be in my apartment in noon, look out the window and know the sunset would be beautiful where I could then go to Genting Hill for a fantastic sunset along with delicious dinner.

I miss the fact I could drive all the way from Bayan Lepas to Georgetown in under 15 minutes without encountering toll every 3 minutes

I miss the fact I didn’t need a touch and go card.

I miss the fact I could simply go down to Sunshine market in five minutes for breakfast and morning paper.

I miss the fact I don’t encounter traffic lights every ten seconds

I miss the fact I don’t need a map book in Penang

I miss the fact that if I miss a turn I don’t have to worry as I can always find a U-turn not far to correct my mistake.

I miss the feel of the wind against my face when I am at the beach ( 5 minutes from my place).

I miss the joy of hanging out with my friends and going out to TT.

I miss the soothing sounds of the bamboo tree swerving in the wind outside of my apartment complex.

I miss the feel of the cool icy touch of the air on the helicopter pad at the top of Komtar Tower.

I miss the fact I could go to any shopping mall in Penang Island and not worry about what time of the day it is or the condition of traffic as it would only incur a small amount of delay (unlike here which can incur a delay of half a century)

I miss the sight of grass flower as the morning sun shines it’s yellow light through its flower casting a beautiful shadow along the ground.

I miss the touch of beautiful sight from the top of Penang hill as the sun rises over Pulau Jerejak.

I miss the smell of salty air mixed with a hint of fish at the fishing village along the coastel highway in the wee early morning hours of the day.

I miss Penang

Pleasant dreams~~


Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.