Monthly Archives: September 2013

Alda: The Wake

Alda Evan Tan, rest in peace.
Alda Evan Tan, rest in peace.

Danny New on guitar and later violin.
Danny New on guitar and later violin.

Collin and a guitarist whose name I did not get, sang songs in tribute to Alda.
Collin and a guitarist whose name I did not get, sang songs in tribute to Alda.

Darren Teh, brother of Kevin Teh/Broken Scar (Alda's best friend) sings.
Darren Teh, brother of Kevin Teh/Broken Scar (Alda’s best friend) sings.

Alda apparently sold off all his other basses, including a cool double bass, ending up with just her. I don't remember her name.
Alda apparently sold off all his other basses, including a cool double bass, ending up with just her, Scarlet. (Thanks to the administrator of the Pray For Alda Evan Tan Facebook page for the reminder of the bass guitar’s name.)

Peter Hassan Brown, scene veteran, always ready with guitar and folk tune in hand.
Peter Hassan Brown, scene veteran, always ready with guitar and folk tune in hand.

Alda played bass for Soft Touch as well, Peter's band!
Alda played bass for Soft Touch as well, Peter’s band!

Esty Richard, vocalist for Once Upon A Time There Was A Sausage Named Bob, has a powerful voice!
Esty Richard, vocalist for Once Upon A Time There Was A Sausage Named Bob, has a powerful voice!

Jared of Once Upon... oh heck we'll just call it by what they like to call themselves when they don't feel like being wordy - Bob The Sausage.
Jared of Once Upon… oh heck we’ll just call it by what they like to call themselves when they don’t feel like being wordy – Bob The Sausage.

Elliott, a drummer from a long time ago, who played with Alda in Shelley Leong's Band and Cosmic Funk Express. Alda always had a drum buddy who would form a tag team. Elliott had not been seen around when he suddenly came up and played a song, waving to people (but we all struggled to recognize him in his new hair!)
Elliott, a drummer from a long time ago, who played with Alda in Shelley Leong’s Band and Cosmic Funk Express. Alda always had a drum buddy who would form a tag team. Elliott had not been seen around when he suddenly came up and played a song, waving to people (but we all struggled to recognize him in his new hair!)

Collin, left, plays guitar while Aldwin shows us where Alda's musical talent comes from. Except that Alda doesn't actually sing!
Collin, left, plays guitar while Aldwin shows us where Alda’s musical talent comes from. Except that Alda doesn’t actually sing!

C. Loco on the left. Not sure if that's Slyde on the right, but it does not look like him!
Slyde on the left and C. Loco on the right. Bald brothers!

Aldwin on the far right holds an iPad with lyrics, while Zona Marie in the middle sings along. I didn't catch the name of the girl on the far left. Zona also tells the most heart-wrenching stories of good times with her brother.
Aldwin on the far right holds an iPad with lyrics, while Zona Marie in the middle sings along. I didn’t catch the name of the girl on the far left.

Zona also tells the most heart-wrenching stories of good times with her brother.

Collin proposes to Joanne, while Danny plays guitar in the background. They met in the course of planning out fundraisers and other ways to help Alda's condition.
Collin proposes to Joanne, while Danny plays guitar in the background. They met in the course of planning out fundraisers and other ways to help Alda’s condition.

They got engaged and now he's taking her away.
They got engaged and now he’s taking her away.

The crowd at Alda's wake.
The crowd at Alda’s wake.

Adam Lobo and the crew.
Adam Lobo and the crew.

Aldwin, Alda's father, on the right, with a priest who says some prayers.
Aldwin, Alda’s father, on the right, with a priest who says some prayers.

Dragon Red, acoustic, with Adam on the left and Amil on the right, played earlier, but then jammed with Esty here.
Dragon Red, acoustic, with Adam on the left and Amil on the right, played earlier, but then jammed with Esty here.

All pictures taken at St. Ignatius Church, on the 13th of June 2012, at Alda Evan Tan’s wake ceremony, with a Sony Alpha NEX-5, a E-mount 16mm F2.8, an LA-EA1 adapter and an Opteka 85mm F1.4 in A-mount.

I did not get to go to his funeral, regrettably.

With this set of pictures, it should be closure – there aren’t any more pictures relating to him after this.

More here:
Come Together For Alda
Moonshine: A Fundraiser for Alda Tan
Rockafellas Come Together
Earth Hour 2012, Pray For Alda
What Do These Bands Have In Common?

Introducing Glaring Notebook: Pressed For Words

7 years, 8 months and 18 days after, I finally change my blog skin again, this time not at all even to a new blog skin but to a new blog system!

I coded my previous blog engine from scratch, and used the ideas as a base to build the Xfresh.com blogs – having cool widget-insertion features like <BlogFriends /> and <BlogCalendar /> for your skins, and Xanga-style following, and Livejournal-inspired history navigation. Or at least that’s how I remember it. Many famous Malaysian bloggers started on URLs like http://expectation.xfresh.com/ – wouldn’t you like to know who?

Xfresh.com is now defunct, but the true stories are beyond my earshot.

Anyway, what brought about this change, to WordPress? Well, my blog was no longer accessible, with a HTTP 500 (and previously I’d find the hosting company to be not very helpful – but then I understand well why a HTTP 500’s detailed error isn’t shown publicly.) So I downloaded the MDB (Microsoft Access file) and used MDB Viewer Plus to export the tables to CSV files.

My blog entries and titles had commas, so you could tell there would be a problem splitting the text. Fortunately, as I am a Grammar Nazi, I tend to type spaces after commas, so I could replace the “, ” with intermediate text e.g. “@@@@@” and then split the CSV file, then replacing it back.

The decision for WordPress was simple – the most plugins and the most ubiquitous blog system. I needed to get the fuss out and had no time for the kind of Content Management Systems where you’d have to build parts yourself. I had no time to code myself. Heck, my blog was down for a week and nobody cared to ask.

So then there were a few ways to get the CSV in – an outdated plugin, or convert the CSV to RSS, and then import. However, I found the most native would be WordPress’ own Import and Export functions. It would export a WXR (WordPress eXtended RSS) file with an XML extension, including blog entries, comments, authors, categories and the like.

I then made a simple Android app (I tend to write utilities in my mostly-used language, whichever is convenient) to read the blog entry and blog comment CSVs and write them out as a WXR file. I should’ve validated the XML earlier and saved many hours trying to figure out what was wrong when it would not import my custom WXR file!

And so, you’ll see my blog posts and comments mostly carried over, intact, with redirects for /default.asp?id=### going to /?p=###. The older blog entries reference /oldlinks.asp but heck with that, and there are some mislinks, but I’ll see what I can sort out when I have the time. I pulled an all-nighter and only finished importing at 2pm so I won’t be working on this for a while.

I also ported the old subpages (Guestbook, Jokes, Modified Lyrics, Plugin Player Models, Quotes) as posts with those categories. Thus my main navigation has been downsized to categories. I can’t seem to hack the dates though, so Plugin Player Models and Quotes are within the first page of entries for now.

Maybe someday I’ll put something in an About Me on a widget on the right. A *gasp* Facebook widget or Twitter feed or Instagram feed?

I also hacked the Twenty Twelve theme that came default with WordPress. Blog entry fonts are 125% scaled and there is a familiar tint in the background. Oh, and the theme promises mobile layouts, and you get RSS as WordPress gives you. ShaolinTiger, this is for you, more than 6 years after the Nikon D3 debuted (I think I said I’d implement RSS when Nikon comes out with a full-frame digital SLR.)

I still do this, though, because it is my preferred way of archiving and being all historian, especially with the music scene. If you want your pictures immediately, we could always come to a agreeable stipend – otherwise for those on a budget of zero, you can wait.

Andrew Netto, the PJ boy LA


25th May 2012: Andrew Netto Live! in Inked & Approved.


This is the PJ Live Arts Centre!


Opening for him was Singaporean stand-up comedian, Sharul Channa.


She was awesome, witty and punchy. The way comics should be, countering hecklers well.


Her impression of the Indian woman after marriage.


Then came the ever-unmarried-with-tales-to-tell Andrew Netto!


I usually shoot his stand-up skits from ground level, so it was nice to be able to use the upstairs seating to shoot this!


This is actually a HDR image – 3 separate exposures blended.


Andrew is always on the ball with current events, using them as fodder.


Accents galore!


All shots with the Sony Alpha 900, Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2.0 ZA SSM and Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA.

My Plugin Player Models (for Quake 2 and Unreal Tournament) and Quake 3 Maps

Last updated 1:06 AM 22nd September 2013 +800 GMT

These Transformers plugin player models were mostly made for a Total Conversion for Quake 2 called Transformers Quake 2. The broken preview/review links have been struck out, but I have just uploaded the ZIP files to my server (Polycount, a site for plugin player models, seems to have lost most of its content.)

Blast Off (blastoff.gif, 6620 bytes)Blast Off (468 KB)
Polycount Preview
Swindle (swindle.gif, 6406 bytes)
Swindle (830 KB)

Polycount Preview
Polycount Review
(Unreal Tournament
version)
Superion (superion.gif, 7128 bytes)
Superion (523 KB)

This model was not submitted to Polycount, for some reason that I don’t remember.
Silverbolt (silverbolt.gif, 7688 bytes)
Silverbolt (490 KB)
Polycount Preview
Planetquake’s Quake 2
Model Of The Week
Skydive (skydive.gif, 6277 bytes)
Skydive (474 KB)
Polycount Preview
Planetquake’s Quake 2
Model Of The Week
Slingshot (slingshot.gif, 6456 bytes)
Slingshot (441 KB)
Polycount Preview
Planetquake’s Quake 2
Model Of The Week
Air Raid (airraid.gif, 5239 bytes)
Air Raid (501 KB)
Polycount Preview
Fireflight (fireflight.gif, 6316 bytes)
Fireflight (778 KB)
Polycount Preview
Bonecrusher (bonecrusher.gif, 6839 bytes)
Bonecrusher (535 KB)
The author invites anyone
to finish or remake
this model.
q3albdm3 (q3albdm3.jpg, 10640 bytes)
q3albdm3 (149 KB)
Okay, so this isn’t a
model but a simple
Quake 3 Arena map.
q3albdm4 (q3albdm4.jpg, 9788 bytes)
q3albdm4 (301 KB)
Okay, so this isn’t a
model but a rampy
space Quake 3 Arena
map.
q3albdm4a (q3albdm4a.jpg, 7115 bytes)
q3albdm4a (326 KB)
Okay, so this isn’t a
model but a rampy
space Quake 3 Arena
map.
q3albdm5 (q3albdm5.jpg, 5256 bytes)
q3albdm5 (365 KB)
Okay, so this isn’t a
model but a maze-like
Quake 3 Arena map.

Quotes

Last updated 12:08 AM +0800 GMT 28th February 2005, imported from a static page to a WordPress blog entry. I can’t seem to hack the date correctly though so this is on top.

Divine Revelations:
“Shame on you making noise in church! Can’t you see I’m trying to sleep?”
“God is not on my side because I am not on his side.”

Self-Defense:
“I will not tolerate such baseless accusations… even if they are true.”
“Either I’m completely honest or I lie too well to tell.”

Narcissistic Vanity:
“Geeks are good-looking; it’s just that their intelligence overshadows their attractiveness.”
“If you didn’t beat around the bush, I wouldn’t have wanted to know what lies behind it.”
“I don’t mix business with pleasure, but it was pleasure doing business with you.”
“I’m taking advantage of a system that hasn’t taken advantage of me.”
“I’d rather remove their innocence than spare their innocence.”
“The darker it is, the more powerful the effect of the flash.”
“I’m not good-looking; I just need less makeup to look good.”
“I’m embarrassed of my past because I feel I’ve improved.”
“I’m not into nature, but I like the birds and the bees.”
“Money can’t buy happiness but it sure can buy pleasure.”
“If I wasn’t full of myself, I’d be hollow inside.”
“You can be up when I get down on you.”
“I don’t need charm. I mean no harm.”
“I don’t care that I’m lackadaisal.”
“Just did it. It was disappointing.”
“Sarcasm turns me off. Yeah right.”
“I suck when looking for cracks.”
“A screw is tighter at first.”
“Free rides on me!”
“I’m 50% bisexual.”

Unbrushable Prudish Ego:
“I may not have the best sense of direction, but you shouldn’t mess with a guy who can solve a Rubik’s cube in 2 minutes.”
“I don’t have a short attention span; my attention just gets diverted… a lot.”
“All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, and I’m just following the trend.”
“All compliments paid go to my head so you might regret what you said.”
“Tomorrow is another day, and that’s the best day to do it.”
“Is it a small world, or are we getting too popular?”
“When the going gets tough, the bluff gets going.”
“I’m not cheeky; I just have a lot of cheek.”
“Like a funnel, I am open and yet narrow.”

Too Smart An Insult:
“If you’ve got nothing to do, don’t do it here.” – in memory of school’s belated disciplinary teacher, Mr. Lee
“Employees have one S, a boss has two S’s and a business has three S’s.”
“Work is where rebellion is broken. Work is where nobody is outspoken.”
“I don’t withdraw money with an ATM card. I withdraw it with a knife.”
“If nobody was a hypocrite, all of us would have nothing to say.”
“It’s hard to define maturity when there are so few examples.”
“Mess with me and I’ll rip your balls out of their sockets!”
“If you gave me a dime for my worries, would I give change?”
“I’m a pharmacist, prescribing drugs that I’ll never use.”
“I may be a free agent but I don’t do anything for free.”
“Am I stating the obvious, or is it reverse psychology?”
“I have a long fuse, but it’s stretched very thinly.”
“Chill because antifreeze is poisonous and can kill.”
“I’m not perfect; my faults are just harder to find.”
“If you’re the only one left, you’re always right!”
“Why pay attention when you don’t pay anything?”
“A robot is more advanced than a broken record.”
“I will draw the line here. I just need a pen.”
“Predictive text input does not help grammar.”
“Reverse psychology may backfire.”
“Everybody’s snake makes oil.”
“The key is to look sincere.”
“Space should be respected.”
“Make like my nose and run.”
“Make like a duck and sit.”
“What can go wrong won’t.”

Humbly Self-Depreciatory:
“What me bitter? Why, I’m so sweet, that just by looking at me you could drop dead from diabetes the very next day!”
“What’s the point of saying there are many more fish in the sea if you live in a desert?”
“It’s not that I don’t have a life; I just don’t know what to do with it.”
“If I’m God’s gift to women, I’m sure they’d be looking for my receipt.”
“Puberty didn’t hit me in the face; it kneed me in the groin.”
“Men are from Mars, women are from Venus, and I’m from Earth.”
“If you think I have a big head, wait till you see my mouth.”
“Fornication is a sin only because I haven’t done it.”
“I guess I’m an egghead to scrambled egg lovers.”
“The truth is out there. So are bigger fishes.”
“Circle my forehead to show 3 O’ clock.”
“I see imperfection in my reflection.”
“Am I thinking what you’re thinking?”
“Impotence is not hereditary.”
“My greatest debtor is time.”
“I’m a kid at height.”

Patheticness Measured:
“If my life was a sitcom, the only way you could tell if I was making a joke was if you heard canned laughter in the background.”
“I have such a running nose, I’d shove a tampon up it if it didn’t look weird.”
“I wanted to be a dark poet but all my attempts at poems rhymed.”
“I don’t plead temporary insanity. I plead permanent insanity.”
“I can be considered a homie only because I stay at home.”
“I’m a phone directory – I help short people look taller.”
“Sometimes my brain can predict what I am going to say.”
“My mind’s in the drain because I don’t have a gutter.”
“I feel so good, you’d swear I’m on anti-depressant!”
“I’m intolerable to those who seem to tolerate me.”
“Don’t ask me how my day was just to feel good!”
“I hardly show my easily impressedness.”
“My chickens hatch before I count them.”
“The saddest day of my life is my last.”
“I make perfect sense… to myself.”
“The weather is always above me.”
“People benefit from my doubt.”
“To make a short story long…”
“The doormat keeps the keys.”

Electronical Etiquette:
“Reading this email means that you agree to the terms and conditions hereby stated.”
“When I figure out how to randomize signatures, you won’t be reading this crap.”
“ON THE INTERNET NOBODY CAN TELL YOU’RE SCREAMING!”
“Abbreviations on ICQ: They go ASL? I go WTF?”
“I never go offline. I just get disconnected.”

Gamer Ideology:
“Celebrate, habitate, anticipate, approximate, estimate – ashpyiate or jugulate? Dynamite to immolate and decimate!”
“Computers have limits. Limits don’t sell computers. Limit-pushing games do.”
“I don’t pay to learn; I play to earn.”

Just Plain Wise Multi-sided Philosophy:
“It’s not what’s outside that matters; it’s what’s inside that counts. So what if my wallet’s leather?”
“Rules weren’t meant to be broken. Rules were meant to be broken when nobody enforces them.”
“Maturity is not about having the perfect perspective; it’s about having all perspectives.”
“There is only so much one can wring out of a cloth before it has to be laid to dry slowly.”
“Dark figures are not suspicious, they are just more likely to become roadkill at night.”
“What you don’t know can’t hurt you so if you don’t know anything nothing can hurt you.”
“The pen is mightier than the sword, but they didn’t have guns and nukes then.”
“The glass is not half empty or half full; the ratio of air to water is 1:1.”
“A gift’s value multiplies with the number of people you can give it to.”
“The problem with sarcasm is that you’re supposed to take it literally.”
“If the eyes are the window to the soul, then the mouth is the door.”
“The secret to successful lying is knowing how to gain their trust.”
“Don’t add fuel to the fire because you’ll have to eat the burns.”
“It’s easier to trust people with your wallet than your secrets.”
“Gambling isn’t against my beliefs; it’s just against my odds.”
“I’m not becoming psychic; the world’s becoming predictable.”
“The nearer the oasis, the more likely it is to be a mirage.”
“Humans were given two ears to hear both sides of the story.”
“Before filling the buffer, you must first clear the buffer.”
“Everyone’s happier than they say and sadder than they look.”
“Whatever’s written in stone can be cut away with diamonds.”
“If you’re up in the sky, a meteor will hit you eventually.”
“If customers were always right, only shops would be left.”
“There is only one thing you cannot live to regret doing.”
“If knowledge is power, I’ll give you a nuclear warhead.”
“Money can’t buy happiness but it sure can buy pleasure.”
“Being liked by people is just as hard as liking people.”
“A winner knows how to make a loss seem like a victory.”
“Being yourself is an excuse for people not to change.”
“5 minutes is not a measure of time but an expression.”
“Being tough makes one a target in a different way.”
“I eventually fall from the wall which I stand on.”
“Not wanting to follow does not make one a leader.”
“The file is either write-protected or read-only.”
“You’re rich by what you save, not what you earn.”
“It’s easier to make a hit when you have a bomb.”
“Tolerance is the art of not getting worked up.”
“It’s a longer way down when you’re at the top.”
“Positive thinking attracts negative attention.”
“Love is blind, but you need your eyes to see.”
“News, like peanut butter, should be spread.”
“The copy may look better than the original.”
“Entertain the thought that entertains you.”
“Heavy metal is not as noisy as repetition.”
“Programmers work with logic, not fantasy.”
“Time makes avoidable things unavoidable.”
“Don’t cross the sea until it has parted.”
“It would be fairer weighted than median.”
“Fantasy is often confused with ambition.”
“I’ll climb down when the wall crumbles.”
“Truth is like the corners of a circle.”
“Meditation is just placebo medication.”
“Perfection in perception is deception.”
“There is no spoon, we’re eating steak.”
“Heat me up so I can fit another mould.”
“There are unisex toilets in every home.”
“The truth is sealed behind many lips.”
“A tree can’t grow without its roots.”
“Honesty is the best copy-protection.”
“A shadow is never left in the dark.”
“I’m not humble, just pessimistic.”
“Talk is cheap, but so is booze.”
“Balloons cannot fly to the sun.”
“Hate is too easy to propagate.”
“Rainbows never hurt anybody.”
“Love is not as blind as hate.”
“Not free if it’s not free.”

Musical May


19th May 2012: Fireflies And Something Something, at The Bee, Publika. Two emcees and Faiz Rosli (far right), from the original bunch of people who ran Fireflies And Something Something back at Jamasia.


The ever individualistic So I’m Jenn.


Silent Scenery, post-rock.


Ryota Katayama, with a unique melancholic voice.


Free Deserters rock out.


Sheryl Goh, most often known as the female vocalist for An Honest Mistake.


The Metaphor brings on instrumental rock.


Charis Ow, YouTube superstar and blogger.


Lightcraft! I haven’t seen this British indie rock band in ages.


There was a long intermission and a change of crowd. Seen on the stage then was a beautiful violin bass!


It was Samurai! They brought a massive crowd of Japanese fans.


The dude on the right is Hiroaki’s father – and boy can he shred! (Hiroaki was from Throne Away, Tokyo Blue and a few other bands I don’t remember in Malaysia.)


Reza Salleh was next. First time I’d ever see just him and Melina on bass – but what an interesting sound that was, to hear just guitar and bass.


He also sang Utada Hikaru – First Love.


Later in the night I ended up at Mezze.


It was the Az Samad Trio!


There was a lot of jazz going on that night. Here’s Kevin!


Zalila Lee.


The place had very cool directional light. All shots up to this point on the Sony Alpha NEX-5, with the LA-EA1 adapter, and the Opteka 85mm F1.4.


On the 21st of May 2013 I was at The Bee again, this time for The Songwriter’s Showcase #3, organized by Very Imaginative People Enterprise.


Jasemaine of VIP Enterprise is also a photographer.


I didn’t catch any of their names this time.


I think she was singing when I suddenly heard accompaniment.


Ian Chow on harmonica!


The Two Chinese Who Barely Made It. Cool band name!


I didn’t know what they were saying in Mandarin – I only understand very little spoken Cantonese and cannot read Chinese.


This band…


…stretches over two pictures.

Shots from this night with the Sony Alpha 77 and the Opteka 85mm F1.4.

Princemark

There, proof that I can talk about Tanda Putera – by the simple logic that I have seen it.

What I liked:
– back then, Prime Ministers and their deputies had hot wives! Sure they may have looked forever young, but they make the second half of the movie much more pleasant
– we see how Ida Nerina can still act despite her fractured spine (making her wheelchair-bound)
– cinematography is generally good, with evenly-lit scenes
– bokeh, of the good kind
– scenes were shot on location – e.g. the Prime Minister’s Office (now Tun Hussein Onn Memorial), The Residency (where Tunku Abdul Rahman lived), the National Mausoleum (with that scene of Razak fretting that Ismail should be buried there). I don’t recognize Razak’s house, though…
– archived scenes of demolished places were used e.g. the original Subang International Airport
– Hussein Onn and Dr. Mahathir look accurate
– the period cars were brilliant on screen
– Malays aren’t depicted as innocent either, during the 13th May 1969 riots
– college kids are still freehair (not wearing headscarves) as it would be accurate for that time
– the movie was made with Tawfik, Dr. Ismail’s son consulting (interestingly, there was a play, which I missed out on)

What I didn’t like:
– Razif Hashim had a deep voice, moustache and glasses, like a Ashton Kutcher-ized version of Najib Razak. However, he played his brother, Johari Razak instead, and some other guy who didn’t have quite the same quality of moustache or Najib’s deep voice, played Najib instead.
– no Indians! Is Kara supposed to be one, since Kavitha Sidhu, who plays her, is Punjab?
– were lecturers allowed to have dyed hair back then? Or would there be a social stigma?
– the Shiok Trading signboard that burnt had an ugly modern font
– some very bad actors spoil it when there is generally good acting
– the CGI is quite awkward and bad (especially the scene where Razak challenges Johari to a race in a lake)
– the green color cast spills over in some green-screen scenes
– Razak and Ismail kept smiling smugly to themselves, as if they didn’t have a life-threatening condition each
– it is not at all explained that Neno (Tun Dr. Ismail’s wife) is in the hospital because “Ismail asked that his wife terminate her pregnancy“. Wait a minute, isn’t abortion legal in Malaysia only if it is a risk to the life of the pregnant woman or threat of injury to her physical or mental health? Perhaps the law was different then.
– no Malay or Indian communists! They forgot Wahi Annuar, Abdullah C.D. (chairman of the Malayan Communist Party), Shamsiah Fakeh, R.G. Balan, and S.A. Ganapathy.
– the women among the FELDA settlers were all headscarf-wearing ladies (I do not know if they were, but given that back then, it was the rarity, I cast doubts on this scene)
– the movie gets a lot of incidences and locations correct (I believe), but it also adds in fiction. The director also calls it fiction. Why not just make it as accurate as possible, then put the disclaimer there? You’re going to get people confused.