Meet Sexy Philips

I have purchased myself a new set of speakers.

PHILIPS MMS430

This piece of speaker is the weirdest looking, yet sexiest I have seen within its price range.

The black piano finish on the speaker grills, plus the black and silver color accent match my laptop color theme seamlessly.

Now, I could blast my favourite MP3s while I write my blog entries for you beautiful people out there.

Music promotes creativity, no?

Midnight Hunger Attack

Side Note: Been extremely busy lately. Hence, shorter updates. I might travel down to Malacca for a brief trip tomorrow. Hmmmmm....

It was waaayyy past midnight that usually some odd hunger pangs would attack my innocent stomach.


BEE HOON GORENG TELUR MATA

The good thing about living in KL, you have Mamak places almost everywhere, open at ungodly hours.

Anyone wanna go Mamak with me any time soon?

Play Balls

So we were at Sunway celebrating Chun Chow's bithday not too long ago. Obviously Sunway was a huge place, and there were plenty we could do to kill time for entertainment. Not that we have that much time to kill in this oh so very hectic life, but hey, if we never make a pause and truly enjoy the moment, it will just pass us by and left untraceable.

So, what did we do?

SUNWAY ICE SKATING RING

Hmmm, just a sudden thought came to my mind... "when the devil goes ice skating"..

No, we did not end up ice skating with me embarrassingly tripping and flopping all over the places That is the last thing that you wanna see happening to me, right? Right?

We chose to do what boys would do. We went to the snookerium next to the bowling alley, picked up cue sticks, and started to poke on round balls. I think it must have been years since all three of use came together in a place and played pool.

CHUN CHOW

FREDERICK

Lets have a little history lesson. Once upon a time there was this gang of college students who were bored to death by their oh so ordinary college routine life. Of course, the three of us were in that group, and then that Frederick started everything.

He introduced us to pool and snooker, and ever since then, it has been part of our extra-curricular regular activities. We have been doing so, kind of a hang out activity, for over two years.

THE CENTER

AIMING FOR THE BALL

At the end of our college lives, we went separate ways, and rarely could we meet up for a nice round of snooker/pool. yahoo pool doesnt count ok

Having this rare opportunity to gather the original circle of friends together during Chun Chow's Birthday celebration, of course, the first thing we thought of was to pick up the cue stick, and relive the old times. Gosh, it has been quite a while, quite a while indeed. It felt good, to feel like old times again. Good times.

All American Food

Side Note: It has been a while since I last blogged about food, food and food only !! Just got my macro filter, now I can take close-up shots. Oh what joy !!

And so I am now in KL, and much have I explored. I remember when I was young, there was this ridiculously odd advertisement of a guy stuffing into his mouth a supposedly oversized Mozza Burger by A&W in the TV, with a facial expression only possible during intense orgasm.

That orgasm burger eating advertisement was stuck in my head for many years passing by when I was still a young kid, until A&W was finally opened in Kuching for real during my secondary school years.

I thought to myself, gosh it is finally time to try out the oh so famous A&W Root Beer and and and...... the ORGASMIC MOZZA BURGER !!


THE INFAMOUS A&W ROOT BEER

DOUBLE CHEESEBURGER

First time trying the burger many years ago, it was not as orgasmic as it was advertised on TV, sadly, but hey, it still made it to one of my favourite food lists. Unfortunately, A&W closed down all their branches in Kuching few years back, due to many reasons that I was too young and ignorant to care about.

Obviously people in Kuching still love McDonalds and KFC very much, over any other food chains. But hey, during the short operating period of A&W in Kuching, I did enjoy their food, though I admit things could have been better.

Now that I am in KL, A&W is still around, and almost everywhere. Of course, I must revisit it.

MOZZA BURGER

Unfortunately, from my brief observation, it does not seem like A&W was doing well. Probably the main problem is due to the marketing and advertising strategy, I am sure not that many advertisements in TV on A&W can be seen these days.

But hey, I still find the Mozza Burger quite good, and ohhhhh the root beer... as chilling and thirst quenching as ever. Served on huge heavy authentic American beer glasses, this is just something you do not get elsewhere.

ONION RING

So what do you guys think of A&W? Has everyone lost interests in this food chain, or not that many of you ever liked it to begin with??

I still cannot imagine how that guy seemed so orgasmic eating that Mozza burger.

On Extreme Busy Mode

Hello beautiful people reading this humble blog...

My life has taken a dramatic turn. I am afraid things will get rather messy in the coming days, hence I shall not be spared with much time on my own. Therefore, do expect a little bit of silence, and off-the-beat updates. I will still blog, maybe a little less frequently, but I will keep things short, and highlight only the important details. Much still needs to be done, and time, not much I have.

DO YOU SEE 4 CHANCES, OR JUST PLAIN EMPTINESS?

I think sometimes, we all just wish to take the easier path down the road, and wonder later when everything is over, what if things have been done differently...

Decisions, decisions. We just have to make them, no matter how difficult they are, and live with the consequences.

Birthday Chun Chow

During the long weekend, a quiet but dramatic plan was placed in motion, involving a small circle of my closest friends. Frederick made a trip all the way from Malacca to KL just to meet up with us, and complete the circle. It was Chun Chow's Birthday on 19th May, but we made an early celebration since almost everyone would be swarmed by work and life's what nots. Hence we made a spontaneous celebration with Chun Chow at Sunway Pyramid on last Saturday. Tonnes and tonnes of great times awaited us there.

BIRTHDAY BOY, CHUN CHOW

FREDERICK

I guess I have been away in Perth for so long, coming back to Malaysia now, meeting up with people whom I have been hanging out with since college days (so many freaking years ago) was somewhat, refreshing. Life has been a bitch, I am sure everyone agrees with that, but yeah, life seems to be less painful when you travel it along with good friends. We have had countless moments of fun times, so many uncontrollable laughters and yeaahhh... it was just kind of sad at one point of life that we all went separate ways to pursue education/career.

Anyway, I am currently back in Malaysia now, just flown to West Malaysia, and the physical distance between all of us original members of that circle has been greatly reduced. I am foreseeing more frequent future meet ups and fun times. I am looking forward to those times.

CHUN CHOW & FREDERICK

So it was planned for Frederick's visit to be a small surprise, since Chun Chow was gonna think that from the old circle of friends, I was the only one there in KL at the moment.

A lot of planning was involved for quite some time before the actual turn out on Saturday, I managed to get both Fred and Chun Chow to go to Sunway Pyramid, and when everything that you have planned for (no matter how small the scale of the plan is) comes together, and the pieces fit perfectly into a beuatiful picture, the joy and satisfaction that comes out of it was purely indescribable.

It was one beautiful moment being remembered for the rest of our lives.

CARLS JR BURGER???

Since me and Fred have not tried Carl's Junior before, hence we had our lunch there to check out the oversized burgers. I know there must have been countless reviews written about this place, mainly describing their burgers. To me, I strongly believe that, for just burgers, the pricing was seriously over the extreme edge.

Though the serving portion was considered huge, even in stark comparison to the size of standard burgers served in Perth (or anywhere in Australia) it can be sadly concluded that this fact does not justify the overly hiked pricing.

THE FACE BEHIND THE FRIES

DOUBLE CHEESEBURGER

Sorry, I was too hungry I had to eat off some of the fries before taking this picture displayed above.


I had the Double Bacon Double Cheese Burger. When I opened the food wrappings, the burger appeared to be one of the most horribly looking burgers I have ever seen in my life. Even the roadside burgers selling at RM1.20 is presented in a much stylish way. Alright, I am being cruel here, but hey, paying such hefty price for a meal does warrant it to at least look good, no?

Taste wise, I think the beef patty inside could have been done better. It was rather dry, and sadly, a little plain.

I have not exactly tried the Burger King in Malaysia, but I would assume the quality of the beef patties used in their Whopper would be the same as produced in Hungry Jacks (aka Burger King) in Perth. If you want a GOOD beef burger, the Whopper beef patties KICK ASS. No kidding here.

It was on the whole, a hearty meal, and we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.

Moving on, of course, with a camera in hand, more camwhoring would be expected from us, right?

Here goes:

ROBIN & CHUN CHOW

ROBIN & FREDERICK

I know some people are fans for large celebrations and gatherings. To me, a simple and toned down get-togethers beat everything else hands down. It only truly matters, if people really want to be there for you, and be genuinely happy for you. There is no point engaging a large number, but people coming together not having better intentions, but just to have fun. Hanging out with people you truly know, and shared your lives with... is something really irreplaceable.

No of course, we did not just walk around and eat. What else did we do at Sunway Pyramid? Find out soon !!

Babes in Stunning Red and White

I am happy to tell everyone that I have landed in this gigantic city, Kuala Lumpur last night, and everything has worked out wonderful for me here so far. I am currently staying at a dear friend's place, and will be hunting for my own as soon as I can.

Life will be a little bit hectic from now onwards, could be a little bit traumatic as well if things do not go exactly as smooth as I have planned (often they do not, heh) and I will just have to go along with whatever obstacles standing my way. I seriously hope things would turn out fine, and head back to my ordinary life routine soon.

ONE RED, ONE WHITE

Anyway, despite my urgent and tight schedule, I managed to make a stop at Sunway Pyramid to catch up with a great friend, and together with another great friend we spent quite a chunk of the day there. This was my first time coming to this newly renovated and apparently expanded version of Sunway Pyramid, and I almost could not recognize the place at first glance, considering the last time I came here was many, many years ago.

Nevertheless, Sunway has always been a favourite spot for me since ages ago, due to the interesting fact that it conveniently houses almost everything under the same roof, bowling, archery, snooker, arcades, movies, shopping, food, ice skating, well, almost ANYTHING. It is impossible not to find something rather fun to do there.


MOVING IN CLOSER

As me and my friends had time to catch up on each other, and had a stroll along the shopping areas, we came across this bridal promotional fair happening at the lowest ground floor. Coincidentally I brought my camera along with me (when would I not, heh) and together with my trusted friends, we went on nearer to the stage and we started snapping pictures of the two models on stage at that particular time. They appeared to be undergoing cosmetic and costume preparation, performed live by their respective artists on stage, in the center of the public exhibition space.

Fortunately there was not really a crowd nearby, hence I could move in a lot nearer, and snap clearer pictures considering the fact that I do not currently own a tele lens with me. I have only the standard lens which has got very limited zoom.

Ehon has commented on my previous entry about "playing with aperture". I believe what he meant was to have the aperture opened as huge as it possibly can, to get that dramatic bokeh (blurry background) effect that non-dslr users crave so much. I have used the maximum aperture for every single shot for that entry, and believe me, to obtain that bokeh shots with the lens I have, you will need to get really close to the subjects, which obviously I could not. Not having a tele lens sucks, thus I shall grab one off first thing after earning some cash from work which will start soon, very soon. Sigh, photography is such a painfully expensive hobby to invest in.

THE ONE IN RED

I have to say something here, or else everyone will keep saying the same things about my shots. A good photograph is not all about bokeh. There is a lot more to be considered, the composition, the exposure balance, color accuracy, and a few more key elements.

Obviously a lot of people have been brainwashed and some people would literally think that a picture that distinctively distinguishes a good camera from the normal ones, or a good photographer from the others, would be how much blurry background/bokeh that could be observed in the photos. This is so blardy annoyingly not true, and if a good photographer chooses to achieve, or to exclude the bokeh in the shots, he must have a very good reason.

THE ONE IN WHITE

Back to the models in red and white. I am more comfortable taking pictures indoors, but of course, having a tele lens would have helped me achieved better shots (and for some of you bokeh suckers, more bokeh) but like what I have been told many times, work with what I have in hand, and stop complaining about something that I do not have.

Go around things and try to balance things up. I believe I have not entirely accomplished that, but I certainly have tried. My main concern was an even lighting on the faces of the models (thanks for the elaborated tips Luxferi) and natural skin tone. Obviously there are other significant parameters to be observed as well, but I shall just improve on as I go along progressing with more experience.

WITH ARTIST/DRESSER/DESIGNER

I have to admit, the girls modelling for this event were pretty !!! The decorations placed on, above and around the bodies seemed to have weighed them down a little, restricting their movements to pose, but nonetheless I believe they did what they could and they still did rather well. It is not an everyday chance to be there and have a camera ready when this sort of events popped out, so I was very fortunate. I should have stayed on longer, and asked for the numbers to have a chat with the models since the whole event seemed very informal but me and my friends were kinda in a rush, hence we left the scene abruptly.

The main complaint I have would be the set up of the stage. The background was dodgy, cluttered with so many unnecessary mannequins and useless ugly junks, which the overhanging escalator did not aid any bit in improving the backdrop atmosphere. I would have preferred if the stage has a plain mono colored walled backdrop, or anything similar, but having so many elements around and everywhere made the scene very messy.

ONE FOR THE ALBUM

The lack of lighting support, such as spotlights, just made things worse, since the models were not brightly lit to be brought into the center of attention. Of course, like I have mentioned, the show was kind of informal, and the models get to interact with the audience, which was really, a cool concept to begin with.

All in all, it was a rather impromptu live show session, and me happened to be there was purely by chance. It was definitely an awesome way to welcome me to Kuala Lumpur, a great way to start my life here. I will do my best to settle down as quickly and as smoothly as I can, and when I have done so, you guys will have more regular and well-arranged updates from me.

CHUN CHOW (click) And THE ONE IN RED

Until then, do expect long pauses and unintended silence at this humble space of mine.

Take care folks, and have a great weekend !!

Daniel Liew Dot Com

Yet another fellow Kuching blogger was currently making a trip back to this hometown after being away studying for a long, long time.

His name is Daniel Liew and he should not be of any stranger to most of you, since he has been very active around the Malaysian blogosphere recently, with his blog upgrade to www.danielliew.com. Aahhh, I wonder when will it be the day that I get my own domain name. Not anytime soon I suppose.

DANIEL LIEW from http://www.danielliew.com/

The original plan was to meet up on Saturday night and have a drink or something. Coincidentally I was looking for Samantha as well, and was gonna drag her along. However, on Friday afternoon, Daniel texted me and asked if I was free for a movie in the afternoon. Sorry Samantha, this came to me quite unexpectedly, but I shall do something to patch up ya?

I was not doing anything in that afternoon, hence I tagged along to watch Iron Man. Yes, I know I am extremely late, spare the complaints. I know of some people who watched Iron Man SIX freaking times. Goodness....

And so I met up with Daniel.

I felt like I could connect easily with this dude, though this was the very first time I met him. We were born in the same year, we were both doing Civil Engineering, we have quite a handful of common good friends, and most importantly, we are Kuching bloggers.

DRINKS @ BING!

Daniel seems like the guy who possess a great stretch of ambition, and would pursue with sheer determination to accomplish what he sets out to do. I do admire this trait, and have a deep respect for people with similar quality. He is currently undertaking Masters of Engineering by research at UTM.

I should get myself around more of these people, since my own driving motivation and will/determination to push myself have been somewhat falling and depleting over the years of stressful engineering studies. We always look for inspirations from people around us, no?

BING! @ PADUNGAN

After watching Iron Man, we headed to Bing! at Padungan for a round of drink. Since Daniel has not been there, I was the one suggesting the place. *a whack in my head* What a dreadful place to take good pictures !!! I have had a tough time steadying my hands under the horribly crazy almost no light atmosphere during the meet with Feli and Kristen (click) not too long ago. Oh well, that could only mean one thing, I must tell myself to do better this time !

And Daniel was the unlucky victim for my second experiment of portraits under extremely low light. He was such a sport !!! But yeah...

So I have got Daniel camwhoring for me. Muahahahahahahah, and like usual, all the pictures will be plastered all over my specifically dedicated entry for the bloggers I have met. Thankfully Bing! was very empty at the time we were there, hence the freedom to move around and do whatever we want. Else the uncomfortable eyes staring at us would be very unpleasant.

Lets begin, shall we?

DANIEL IN DEEP THOUGHTS

DANIEL EMBRACING THE LIGHT

SLEEPY DANIEL

I personally love the Daniel Embracing the Light photo. There was just something about the exposure balance across the entire frame that made the whole thing "glow" with something magical. To be honest, hugging the roundish lamp thing was Daniel's idea to begin with. Hurr hurr...

So what do I think of that Iron Man movie? I think the story line was quite well developed, in comparison to many other superhero movies. They explored the roots and origins of the main actor very elaborately, and this can easily connect the emotions to the audience. I must mention however Robert Downney Jr has always been one of my favourite actors, since I first watched him on TV in Ally Mcbeal. Yes I know I am old.

I am very glad to see him back in big screen. The acting and casts of the movie was rather well carried out too.

DANIEL LOOKING....

NO MORE PICTURES !!! HMMPPPHHH

There was however one thing I could not quite get out of my head. The main character knows that his life is directly dependent on the piece of high-tech battery-power-generating circular thing he places on his chest. If that piece of thing is so blardy important, and his life depends on it, why would he not build another, or few more backups/spare replacement copies? This is purely illogical.

That minor point aside, I believe it was a great movie. I am sure Daniel would agree too.

All in all, it was an awesome afternoon, and definitely well spent. So Daniel, if I happen to be in Johor, or you in KL soon, we must catch up again ya? Maybe next time we should drag Hak Jeng along with us.

If you guys have not come across Daniel Liew (click) before, what are you waiting for, go check out his blog now !!