Author Archives: 2konbla

Punny Royalty

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This morning, I had a revelation.

Some mornings, I miss the company bus, and I head on down to my favorite Chinese kopitiam for some char siew pau (roasted pork bun) and teh susu panas (hot tea with condensed milk at the base.) I usually say “teh” to order. However, the waiter asked what I wanted to drink again, and for some reason, I said teh tarik (pulled hot tea with condensed milk.)

The teh tarik came in a bigger, transparent plastic mug. Teh susu panas however usually comes in a cup with saucer and a little plastic spoon to scoop the condensed milk from the base (heaven!) or to stir it. *

So, I took a sip of the teh tarik… and it tasted the same, and yet felt different. I then realized why – the thickness of the cup made a difference! I definitely paid more attention to the flavor from the cup due to its thinner lip. The spoon’s lip was much thinner and I could taste it. I would scoop some condensed milk from the base, and go “mmm condensed milk… and then some warm tea.”

With the teh tarik mug however, it was just “mmm warm tea warm tea warms my throat and my tummy.”

I felt like a sommelier (wine expert). Now I understood why wines come in different cups! Perhaps now I shall go on a search for a thin-lipped metal cup for my fix of free office coffee.

* This is why I hate Old Town Kopitiam; their teh susu panas does not come with the conventional condensed milk. Blasphemy!

Walked Into A Catwalk

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19th April 2008 – I was at Sungei Wang Plaza and stumbled upon a fashion show!


Man, I miss my Minolta 70-210mm F4 beercan.


This was all with the A700.


After a while though, it gets repetitive – you see the same models everywhere at every catwalk.


Such that I wonder, if the models ever feel like robots, merely carrying out the clothes to show… and it’s not like the group of guys who finally get to bring out their expensive telephotos actually care for what is what brand.


Minolta 50mm F1.4 with the 1.4x teleconverter for a soft effect. Also note what happens to the out-of-focus highlights!


Stopped down to F7.1 controls its gauziness.


Ah, heck.

More Random Squibbles About Albert

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I have a cup at the office. I wipe it dry and store it at my cubicle every time.

Every time I don’t, and I leave it to dry at the pantry, it will end up at somebody else’s desk. People like my cups! There was one that I won at a Canon Expo, which sat at the cubicle next to mine, for quite a while. I didn’t bother claiming my cup (since I had another free cup at home, so I brought that…)

My second cup made its rounds too. One particular colleague has certain traits, which as of lately, somehow have been noticed in me. It is scary – I wonder if these traits were contagious!

Speaking of contagious, Sunday was not a good day for the flu-fearing like me. I met one too many people who had just gotten off a plane. I don’t know if I am fortunate that we don’t have a complex ghetto hand greeting, or unfortunate that we still shake hands on reflex. Often, I’d find out that they got off a plane after shaking hands.

Nevertheless, I monitor my body temperature – it is interesting to note how you get a bit warmer after waking up, or eating. Or how you can seem rather warm when sitting under a cold air vent and seem alright 30 minutes out of the office.

I bought a book.

I don’t read, really – sure, I buy KLue and ROTTW religiously every month, and read them when I can (possibly, 2-12 months later.) However, I can’t even remember the last book I properly picked up and read. Lord Of The Rings, back in 1998, possibly… I got halfway through the book I think.

I didn’t know I would consume any book until I found this paperback at Borders, Berjaya Times Square – I stood there reading it until almost 10pm. I knew then it was my destiny to buy this book one day. However, I did not cross paths with it again when I started looking – it was not in Borders or MPH! Popular had it… in Penang. I then found it in Times Square, Pavilion.

Scar Tissue, by Anthony Kiedis

His autobiography is pretty much sex, drugs and rock and roll, but written poetically – he is after all a poet. Interestingly, the first half is a lot of Hillel Slovak and a lot of drugs, with probably a quarter of the book for his childhood. A major bonus would be the insights to the lyrics of the songs, and pictures, some of which were uncensored. I’m only up to the point where John Frusciante quit the band, but I know if I pick it up again I will not be able to put it down.

It also helps that the Red Hot Chili Peppers was the first band I ever declared to be my “favorite”. The book realigned my taste for their first three albums – I didn’t pay much attention to the pre-John Frusciante stuff until this book.

And in other news, I am excited about this week’s Moonshine!

What: Moonshine: A Homemade Music Show X Junk Lo-Fideo
When: Thursday 10pm, July 16th 2009
Where: Laundry Bar, The Curve
How Much: Free but buy a drink! Or if you don’t drink, buy me a drink or members of Rhapsody a drink because they have been so gracious to return!
Who: Bite Me Butterfly, The Wongs, Laila, Rhapsody

OMG Rhapsody! I was very sad when this superb jazz/funk/soul/pop group broke up, and now they are back and I feel a bit braver to face the world now that I can pat my favorite Buddha-headed singer and derive spiels of joy from it. Oh and of course Bite Me Butterfly with hot sizzing Sicilian/Malay vocalist Naj! (Laila does not have any hot chicks though, they’re pretty much Laila’s Lounge without the former vocalist.)

Things I do with my feet and other random things

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I hold doors open.

What else can you do when any regularly-touched door handle is a possible vector for viruses and bacteria? A well-planted foot secures the door in place, and ensures good exercise and healthy stretching.

I walk.

Another way to keep fit while being purposeful, is to walk to your destination. I don’t wait for the bus from my office to the LRT station anymore – instead, I take a leisurely downhill walk through the park. It’s a rather photogenic park, too!

I can’t remember the third one which would’ve made this post have a proper point but as you can tell this is text-y filler. I’ve got a load of pictures to give to paying people so bear with my hiatus for a bit!

And now for a random link – proof that Michael Jackson had a skin disease, lupus, that screwed with his pigmentation! (Thanks Greg for hte heads up.)

http://floacist.wordpress.com/2007/06/10/vitiligo-photos-michael-jackson/

How about some more Transformer links?

5 Reasons Megatron Should Have Fired Starscream Years Ago

The Greatest Megan Fox Pic of Our Times (boy gives Megan Fox a flower, she looks annoyed)

And…

Boy wins date with Megan Fox

Finally, one for the road:

Bonus! Rob’s Transformers 2 F.A.Q.s!

For The Win

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Jen Ong! At 135mm F1.8 on the A900. (Corrected her name. Eep, my bad!)


At F8 ISO200, plus two Broncolor lights, which were meant for F22 ISO100 at full blast, hence the overexposure (and attempt to recover it in RAW.)


But first, we rewind to how I got around to such pictures. It was the Sony Alpha 230 pre-release preview at SonyStyle!


New accessories!


And, of course, the funkily-designed A230.


The A330 was plugged into a Sony Bravia via HDMI to show what Live View looks like on a real big screen! (Pardon the obstructions and motion blur caused by the product manager panning.)


And that of course, led to a little studio session.


There was a competition also – I wanted to submit this picture. I thought it was rather cool that her elbows grazed the frame almost exactly.


Because I could submit more than one picture… this one won. This is how the JPG looked…


…and this is my RAW reworking.


So, I bought a 2.7″ LCD screen protector for my new Sony Cybershot W190!


Thank you Sony, and for the 5 people who voted for me (er, why didn’t you vote for yourselves when you could?) Oh yes and thank you Jen, and thank you George for setting the lights as they were!


Looks like my Canon Powershot A520 is going to be an infrared camera soon! (And look at the difference 4 years makes in screen size!)

Downtown, Not

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What went down in Uptown?


I am just missing some red. (I don’t know who shot this.)


Contemplation.


The Tamron 90mm F2.8 Macro on the A900 is such a refreshing change of pace – 90mm is close to the classic 85mm focal length for portraits. Feels right, they say.


So what do you do when you’re too close? Pick a different way to crop it. Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8.


Abandon the typical adornings of the head and get in on the face.


Beware flourescent lights, they cause gradients at high shutter speeds (1/500s, this one.)


Portrait or landscape orientation often determines the context of the picture, so use orientations wisely.

Guess which were from the Tamron, and which were from the Zeiss!

KJ, YO!

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From a long time ago, 21st October 2007, to be exact – KJ, Fazri and I shot KJ doing what he does best – yo-yo-ing all over the front of Pavilion.


Also thanks to Shaz who came by and held my HVL-F56AM flash to be triggered wirelessly from my (then) A700, on a setting of 17mm F13 1/13th of a second, ISO100.


Shots were taken on a cheap tripod in its shortest position.


Finally, I used Photoshop 7 to merge the layers, using layer masks and a paintbrush to quickly ‘erase’ into layers, non-destructively.

All pictures can be clicked on for bigger versions.

GIFT of GIFs

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And now for some classic GIFs from Quiksilver Revolution 2.0 at Sunway Lagoon one January 26th 2008 ago!


Double-time! (Manual crop to give a smooth zoom effect.)


Ride the waves!


Land fail.


Another fisheye crop with a little flare.


A crop and rotate from the wave-rider.


Escape from the tower using rope and pulley.


Nope, you won’t avoid the water up there!

VER REV

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January 26th 2008: Quiksilver Revolution 2.0 at Sunway Lagoon!


Rudimentary crowd shot. If not for the girl in bikini you wouldn’t know this was a waterpark.


Likewise here. I am really not sure what is the purpose of a white top if, once wet, you can see the bikini underneath anyway.


“What would be your ideal vacation?” “HMMM…”


“Oh you want to interview me?” “Look, a plane!”


Down at the bar I bumped into Diane…


…and Suzanne.


I wonder if this swimsuit inspired the Borat swimsuit.


“Psst I think that guy over there is checking us out.”


Wave pool!


In case you’re wondering what’s with the colors, my Cosina 70-210mm F2.8-4 1:2.5x Macro was used for today’s set of telephoto pictures.


…with the additional 2x teleconverter for longer reach on my (then) A700.


Escape!


I picked the best color channel to make a black-and-white.


And now, on to drier things.


“Yep, it does say “Made in China.”“


Jamiroquai might’ve been inspired by this some.

Escapes 1 Year

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On the 28th of June 2008, I was at Urbanscapes 2008. Yes they were exactly a year ago, so here we go!


Camwhoring time, clockwise from top-left, with Shazeea, Liyana, Khai-Lee and friend, Ayu!


Diane, Ling, Kristyn, CP in clockwise order from the top-left.

Yes, I was trying to be consistent in pictures once, with the Kermit pose.


Top to bottom: Yin, Emily, Zain HD of RandomActs, and his flash mob looking for Adrian.


Muid Latif meets my Vivitar 24mm F2.0 DIY tilt-shift lens.


Sarah meets my Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon DDR 35mm F2.4 M42 lens.


Left: pinkpau asks, “Why do you have this tendency of taking unflattering candid pictures of me, Albert?”
Right: “Why do you STILL have this tendency of taking unflattering candid pictures of me, Albert?”

(I swear, she’d look alright, but the moment I press the shutter she’d have an unflattering expression.)

And yes, the picture on the right is from the 27th of June 2009 – Urbanscapes 2009! So yes, that is how backdated I am. 🙁

Related entries from Urbanscapes 2008:
(Not) Afraid To Shoot Strangers
Urbanesque