Category Archives: Pictures

Trapped In A Box

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The theme for today’s picture blog is Trapped In A Box.

Friday, 4th March


An innocuous Japanese stuffed toy shows where he needs his Tee-Pee.

Saturday, 5th March


The fishtank, also known as the Xfresh Headquarters, undergoes renovation. We vacate the place and stick an “Out To Lunch” sign. My idea. 🙂


This was my desktop.


We moved to the small conference room upstairs. Major fire hazard. At least we are warm and cosy inside, with the heat of monitors to keep us from cryogenic preservation.


The cameraman makes a cameo.

Sunday, 6th March


My old strings were rusting, so I got yet another Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky set. Yeah those that have the smooth bending light .009 strings and have three heavier ones from the .046 end. But hey, check out the light that shines through, under the bridge.

I went freeloading at Fitness First, Wisma Consplant with Leech.

“Er, I’m here for my free trial.”
“Who referred you?”
“Some guy named Aaron… he said he’d call back on Friday to confirm but he didn’t.”
“Oh he’s not in today so why don’t you just come in? Here’s your visitor pass. Feel free to explore the facilities.”

And so, I walked in with no identification whatsoever.

I tried the treadmill, finding 5 kilometers per hour to be a drag. 10 was proper haste, while 14 was a good run. I stepped aside to the side to max out the speed and see how fast it could go, when a guy tapped me on my shoulder… shocking me.

I thought it was a guard about to tell me off. “Oi jangan main main niii… nanti jatuh baru tau…”

It was Yit Weng, thankfully. We then met up with Leech for Body Combat class, a class of uncoordinated men and women kicking and punching air. It also featured the fat screeching voice dude with a top that exposed his unsightly belly. I say top and not shirt because it was feminine. Well, at least you know that after a while, these people will look better, right?

Leech: “My friend says he’s been here a while, and they’ve only seen him get fatter.”

I looked at Leech, and she was flushed red. She looked at me and said I didn’t sweat. Which really, was because of a loose shirt that fooled everyone! On a side note, I think I sweat less than the average guy and thus do not stink when I’m overnighting. Yes girls that means you can bring me home.

I then went into the sauna with the only guy I knew was straight – Yit Weng. Just in case. Even if he wasn’t well we’d be too embarrassed to face each other in the office, yes? I only felt the heat on my nose. I didn’t feel as sweaty as the other dudes looked, but a touch of myself (er… I mean, I touched myself… er, I mean, I felt my hand) proved that I was indeed damp. We sat a full ten minutes and I came out unsatisfied. Is that what you call hot? My mom’s Perodua Rusa is almost as hot inside, with the engine being in the middle and all. The only sign that I’d been in a sauna was that my lips were very salty.

So Leech and I went for an un-hot flaming hot peri-peri at Nando’s for a long chat that will remain undisclosed. Timely indeed that Hanna and Nabila would call and land in Subang Parade themselves, where I took this picture of a lamppost near Secret Recipe (ISO settings 50; it’s not as dark):


An ATM machine runs on Windows 2000 and has a corrupted file.

Monday, 7th March


This was what was left of the server room behind the Xfresh Headquarters. The racks have since been cleared off, leaving a nice security-camera-less room to chill in.


The floor panels can be opened! How cool is that? It would make a nice place to stash your weed.


Shaz and I went to watch Hitch. Major inspirational movie. Anyway he forgot to look up an exit in the One Utama parking lot!


We reversed, drove around to find a guard to open it, and found this poor sod trying his luck. No sir it does not have an automatic sensor. A guard finally opened it for both cars. 🙂

Tuesday, 8th March


Aini Nadia, beloved Xfresh Street Surfer, gets trapped in the back of the Xfresh Street Surfers Proton Arena… with the keys.


Um gee, how do we open this? Clockwise or anti-clockwise?


Freedom!

Wednesday, 9th March


I did it again. I bought another car.


An all-American Corvette Z06. In blue.


With red leather seats.


The Transformer Alternator, Autobot Tracks, looks sleek but his legs aren’t as poseable as Meister‘s.


Look who’s the poser now.

Thursday, 10th March


Shisha! Ask me for videos of me playing the malfunctioning robot. We were at bird-shit-land Rasta’s in Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, smoking up what was still legal and apparently not proven unhealthy yet.

Saturday, 12th March


Well I’ll be. Something smaller than a Reduced Size Multimedia Card. The TransFlash, a wee 64 Megabyte midget that fit in Jerry‘s Motorola E398. Obviously my RS-MMC wasn’t in the picture as it was in the camera taking this picture, yes?

More Than Meets The Eye

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The Sony Ericsson k700i is the new Sony Ericsson T610. The same crowd bought it.


GSC Cinemas open in Berjaya Times Square! There, at the third floor.


I am now the proud owner of a Mazda RX-8.


Gotta love the mesmerizing taillights.


Okay, so it’s a left-hand drive but heck, I got it cheap.


Oh, and it’s small for a Transformer Alternator.


Of course, considering that the Rubik Cube it sat on is the biggest, at over 150% of an originally-sized cube, it isn’t that small after all. From left: Corinne got me this early birthday present; the normal-sized cube, the 133% sized cube, and the 150% super-sized one.


What a poser. I mean, literally, with superb articulation and detail.


Meister, really, is Jazz in a rebranded disguise.

This, an 8-in-1 card reader, and the excellent Power Of Soul: A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix have satiated my purchasing tendencies for this month, I hope.

Of Sugar And Spice

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I can cut down on my Teh Tarik to lower my sugar levels, but what can I do about a broken heart?

It was about time Davina joined the blogging bandwagon. Yes, that hippie vegetarian who is always on the cartooniest sugar high. The funky never-looks-the-same Jamiroquai and Beatles fan, about 6 years before I discovered them. The one who will undoubtedly win the Albert’s Funkiest Friend award. And so, I’ve updated my links in my About Me! page.

Friday: Starbucks Mont Kiara

I went for the second half of the KLue Starbucks Music Series.


Ronnie Khoo, of the band formerly known as RUSH and now known as Furniture, Wednesday and also Ciplaq (or however they spell it.) I missed most of his set waiting for my food.


Bedsheet Wonders, two guys on acoustic guitar, had arrangements so obviously electric. They were more on the British sound, which made me notice that this Music Series was more… focused around the tastes of KLue writers. They all seem to like British self-slitting melancholia and alternative indie. I, on the other hand, only properly like Black Sabbath of all those that come from the UK!


Her Reverie had a more American indie sound to them. Three guitars, no disappointment; Sui Lin was backed up with the percussionist’s elaborate arranged vocals, and the guitarists took turns to solo.


I haven’t seen a guitarist use a guitar slide live much, so this was cool. The other guitarist also played a harmonica, but they weren’t playing the blues.


I think that owners of Volkswagen Beetles have a sense of collectiveness. I bet it wasn’t even a Beetles gathering. If I had a Beetle, I’d park next to a Beetle for the fun of it. And so, a chain of Beetles would form, as everyone knows that classic Beetles attract attention.


Even mannequins love a little tease.

I’d love to blog about the hitz.fm Birthday Bash, but it seems that I have lost all capability to blog without the aid of pictures to distract you from my uncreative prose. Despite my camera being in a locker where we were always one buck short, enough pictures were taken that I was certain I was going to crash my Mercedes in a tunnel.

Make Dunno

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Many years ago, 2002 to be exact, a group of friends and I were in KLCC. We felt like eating McDonalds, so we took the LRT to Masjid Jamek.

A blur girl later scolded me. “Why didn’t we just stay in KLCC? There’s a McDonalds there what.”

I later SMSed her. “Huh, there’s one in KLCC? I don’t know where it is, but my friend says it’s between the Pizza Hut and Starbucks.”

Now the joke was that then, Pizza Hut, Starbucks and McDonalds did not exist in KLCC.

Starbucks opened on December 19th, 2002.


Spot the McDonalds in the center food court.

After almost 7 years (Suria KLCC soft-launched on May 8th, 1998), KLCC is blessed with a fast food chain which is value for money and cheap. Alas, it came too late, as KLCC regulars like Shaz and myself fell in love with Burger King, their greasy triple whoppers and refillable coke. And then there’s the flexibility of mixing your drinks ala Shannon‘s 25% Sprite, 75% Coke.

Sorry Ronald, you came 4 years too late. My allegiance is now with Cosmo Restaurants, not Golden Arches.

Haven’t You KLue?

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I did not steal these glasses from the IMAX theater. My colleague did.


Behold, the new wing of Avenue K! The place has a certain educated middle-class art savant appeal about it. Some walls are unashamedly black. This isn’t Starhill.


There was an art exhibition of sorts, where one of the exhibits was this trippy fractal. In the background, spacey synth music played. I recognized it as Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here. Doesn’t saying that you know Pink Floyd make you loads cooler among your music elitist friends? Any rocker can know Jimi Hendrix, but David Gilmour and gang? And so, my MSN nickname is “So, so you think you can tell heaven from hell?” (It’s the first line of the song.) Yes I intentionally picked that line because it looks like it was inspired by Constantine.


Hairloom. No, really. A dress made of hair.


We now teleport to The Curve, a trendy upmarket shopping mall which has blue lights adorning its sanitized version of Petaling Street. Captain’s log, 17th February 2005.


The last time I had this chocolate cinnamon roll was at the previous KLue Chillout Series. This time round, it was called the KLue Starbucks Music Series.


Sei Hon was your regular folk singer in the key of G Major. For some reason, my exposure to acoustic guitar virtuosos has made my appreciation of heart-felt singing/songwriting dwindle. In less polite terms, I didn’t take any interest in his performance.


Lied was more interesting, with rock-fied guitar chords and melancholic (but angry) vocals.


Qings & Kueens were back in town. The guitarist now sported a most appetizing, wall-paint-color retro guitar. It took me a while to figure out it was an Ibanez Talman Artcore series from its logo, as ‘Ibanez’ wasn’t written anywhere.


Now that’s what I call a fruit shake.


The one-night-only guest, Reza melted hearts again. It seemed that the crowd was anticipating (as much as I was) his finale, that jazzy song with the cute little blues riff. They cheered before that. Tracy, you missed the shiznit.


Reza had a trick up his sleeve. A setlist behind his guitar!

Again, ask me if you want the videos and un-Photoshopped pictures. I have a DVD burner. I am a nice person if you are nice to me.

Are You The One?

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Friday

After the hitz.tv Blast Off semifinals, my friends and I had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. They played Jamiroquai – Travelling Without Moving and the cool camp cover Scissor Sisters – Comfortably Numb. On the ride home, the driver popped Jamiroquai’s Travelling Without Moving CD. How ironic.

Saturday

I headed to somebody’s farewell and her boyfriend’s birthday party. In the background, the same Jamiroquai album was spinning!

* She, for most of the blog entry, will refer to the host unless otherwise stated.

The first thing she said when she met me was:

“Wah I never knew a Chinaman could grow a beard!”

She was, of course, referring to the beard that weirdly curled to my right. Refer to my Friendster picture as it’s not there anymore.

Her (female) collegemates gave her a farewell butt grab as well.

Me: What’s so great about your butt that everybody’s grabbing it?
She: You ask my boyfriend first.
Me: I bet he’d say, “oh you try lah, then you’ll know why everybody wants to do it.” (Uh dude if you’re reading this, it’s our kinda humor, I think…)

We had two guitars and a blues jam.

As I sat explaining how to read tablature, she said, “Albert! Come come you must get drunk! Sleep over ah.”

She got me a glass. Optimists say the glass is half bacardi. Pessimists say the glass is half zappel.

I rolled like a dog wanting a scratch. “I’ll get you some more

Food And Nuts

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Miu Kai: 3-thumbs-up cheese-baked rice among the dishes. It’s different from Kim Gary’s though; it’s not a solid layer of baked cheese but more like condensed mushroom soup poured over the rice. Still very full-filling.


Coke with lemon. Better than the canned mix.


NOOO the guitar fell head first onto the marble floor! Thus, the most impact would be felt right at the nut (the white part as you can see doesn’t cast a shadow in the center part.) So far intonation seems alright to my untrained ear, but tuning problems might occur later…

Rock News

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Friday

I bumped into the-one-annoyingly-eager-to-leave-Malaysia at the hitz.tv Blast Off. Later, outside, I heard some Indians saying how f***ed up the sound was. Suddenly, a crusty-voiced Indian exclaimed, “it was damn f***ed up!” That distinctive voice could only be my celebrity “because-I’m-Indian” buddy, Jayaram. There, he’s finally mentioned in my blog. 🙂

Saturday

I met up Ed and YK at Bintang Walk. YK acquired 5 big Transformers that day. I acquired this:


Reduced Size Multimedia Card my a**. On the left was my new 512MB RS-MMC card; on the right, my old 128MB xD Picture card. The xD was only slightly bigger!

I then headed to The Disco for the gig I promoted earlier.


No, I was not stabbed by any protuding objects here. The Disco has a very nice setting, with a huge window light letting the sun light the stage naturally.


I met Jayaram again; this time, as usual, he was a HELP-ful emcee. Picture has been double-sized to make up for his lack of blog appearances despite the times we had bumped into each other.


Nightshift was an enjoyable old-school thrash metal band. Every old-school thrash metal band should do a Metallica cover and this was no exception, doing For Whom The Bell Tolls.


Brainhead was next with some alternative rock, and their alternative take on Incubus – Drive.


Insulyna gave us crunchy grunge, and a light growly take on Cranberries – Zombie.


Indka from Kuching featured Alex, the drummer from SingleTrackMind and Soft Touch. I wasn’t sure if it was progressive rock.


Zero Gravity threw in Deftones‘ tones, and the energy of KoRn helped with my enjoyment. I particularly the band’s showmanship, especially the bassist’s style.


Ziel played hard rock. Can someone else agree with me when I say the vocalist/guitarist would look like Brandon Boyd, with dreadlocks on?


Republic Of Brickfields played reggae, with a few Bob Marley covers. Peter Hassan Brown (if you’re as underground as you say you are, you’d know the man) was skanking to it, legs kicking the air! Never have I seen so much energy in that rocking (grand?)father. Yes, the metal-lish guitars looked misplaced; were some of them from Koffin Kanser? (I know Aru the vocalist is…)

I recorded videos for most of the bands (512MB maaan, I’m invincible) so ask me on MSN if you want them.

I stayed back to be a roadie. 🙂 We then went to Stadium Merdeka to drop off the snake cables (a giant power extension cord).


Aiyah, nothing to see. Jay Chou ciao already. (It was that night!)


Ever craved Chinese food after converting to Islam? Tupai Tupai serves the bestest lemon chicken and halal versions of Chinese food. It even has big round tables and servings done Chinese style, but with (get this) leather tablecloths. The outside of the wooden-plank-raised place was the woods, where we assume squirrels live.

Friend: Why do they call it Tupai Tupai? Do they serve squirrels here?
Me: Yeah, I’m sure that squirrels could eat the food off the table as they like.

I felt a sense of pride, knowing that Alda and I would carry on the corny humor of Az.

On the way back, a bunch of us rode in the back of a Mitsubishi Storm. *cue Jim Morrison whispering “Riders Of The Storm“* With that, I can now change my Friendster picture to something that attracts less gay guys and girls with headscarves.

Oh, and to mark, who posted a comment in Santa Was A Telekom Engineer:

The PPPoA option is available in the setup program on the CD. I’m not sure if the option is available when you Telnet your router.

Pictures, Addendum

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Saturday, 15th January 2005:


As I passed by the skating rink, I saw a huge crowd amass around this guy and his own dancing partner, getting Good, Excellent and Perfect. Ask me for the video (I only realized I could record video a bit late, and captured him giving up…)


Little did Ed know that this game would be his most dextrous moment of the month.


The world’s tallest men? I think not. They weren’t that much taller than Shaz, and Shaz was not that close to 7 feet anyway. 7 feet sounds credible for your average NBA player, so there should be taller dudes elsewhere! They were probably just out for the RM10-per-polaroid scheme.

Rock And Relax

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It is with great sadness that I close the offer to sell my legendary Fujifilm A202 digicam. Anyway, here goes some random pictures with my new camera:


Help me, I’ve got Transformer acquisition syndrome.


No my favorite high-class roadside mamak (Steak N Goreng next to BB Plaza) is gone! (Or they’ve just been goreng-ed.)

Saturday the 22nd

National Treasure was cool. Nicholas Cage carries his classic accidental hero look. He doesn’t even need an eleven to get uh, an undisclosed amount of treasure.


The young balloon slowly rises to the top, and it shall join its trapped brethren.


I finally checked out Dide’s crib. Look ma, no mosquitos!


There is just something so pretty about these colors.

Sunday the 23rd

Rock Dawg Music Fest at Paul’s New Place (I prefer to call it that) had some interesting things, like Triple6Poser’s new lineup. Ed the drummer did hard rock vocals way better than Khai’s punk-stained vocals. However, the new drummer Alex didn’t do a drum solo.


Justin Guber has a shiny new toy.


I discovered that setting my camera to ISO 400 looked pretty with the lights. From top left, left to right then down: The Blumps, Seven, John’s Mistress, Tempered Mental, Fatal Tragedy and Triple6Poser.


I think this public telephone booth was set up not to shade the caller from the sun, but from the menace of bird poo. Somehow, Bangkok Bank and Central Market is the center of bus public transportation as well as domestic avian flights.

In other news:

I don’t usually do this (promote gigs) because of that uncertainty of going (though I usually end up going) and sounding like a hypocrite. Heck.

Where: The Disco (above Liquid) at the back of Central Market
When: Saturday 29th January 2005, 5pm to 9pm
Who: Republic Of Brickfields, Ziel, Brainhead, Zero Gravity, Indka, Insulyna, nightshift
How much: Pre-sale RM15, at the door RM18

I’ll uh, update my links soon. Promise!