cminh's Xanga

Of Clear Blue Skies & Cotton Candy Clouds

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:50:53 GMT

Was driving around a lot today, and couldn't help but notice that the skies have cleared up so much. Unlike the hazy past few weeks, the sky was a clear blue today. Filled with white fluffy cotton candy clouds. Its times like these that makes me wish I had my camera with me everywhere I go. Or at least, have a phone with a better camera.

The sky was still a vivid blue while I was approaching home at about 7pm, and after that inspirational trip to Singapore, felt that I needed to snap.

Something.
Anything.

Got home, changed, grabbed the camera bag, got the sister to tag along, and started trekking down to the intersection of Jaya One. Sat down on the divider and started snapping away.

Kinda happy with the results, but should have cleaned the lens BEFORE snapping. Not AFTER! :(

Since the magical hour was still applicable, the sis and I ran over to Jaya One, and started searching for a place to start snapping. We found our way to one of the rooftops, plonked the tripod down, and snapped a rather uncluttered skyline. As with the other image, my editing skills still have much to improve.

Bergembira di Bandar Bersejarah

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:45:09 GMT

I'm turning a quarter of a century old this year, and I have numerous friends around my age getting hitched. A good buddy is moving into that zone in October. Thought it would be nice to go on a road (day) trip with the high school buddies, and take loads of pics along the way. And that was what we did! AWESOME! :)

Introducing, the couple. Alex and Dorothy, who met when they were in Uni in the UK, and guess what? At a Church conference. Hmmmm...are you thinking what I'm thinking? :) It was a really casual trip. Where we went all over Melaka, and snapped whenever, wherever, however we wanted to.

Doesn't this look like a castle in the middle of a bamboo forest? Or do I just have a vivid imagination?

Oh not to forget that it was a major makan trip as well. We really ate non stop. We were a little hobbits. We had 3 breakfasts, 2 lunches, tea, and dinner. Nearly had space for supper. NEARLY!

Chicken Rice Ball Om nom nom nom

Melaka was great fun. And its a great place to take pics. We spotted another couple having their pre-wedding shots as well.

Stuff's 5 years old!

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:06:42 GMT

For a 5 year old's party, last night was a night of might and mayhem. We know who provided the might AND mayhem eh. Big thank you to @kenWei316 (Stuff's Editor) for the invites, the free booze (and OJ on the rocks) and a whole lot of entertainment.

Emcees for the night, Natalie and Ean from Hitz.Fm kept the audience pumped up with the silly stage games, loads of lucky draw prizes, and poking fun at winner's names. (Kinda glad they didnt draw my name card from the box. It wouldn't have been worth the humiliation to win a wireless keyboard and 2 mouses/mice)

Ken's got this "I've got a take-over-the-world-plan scheeming in my head" look.

There's this one person, that was so famous by name (which totally describes how he looks) but have never met before. Finally had the privilege of meeting @simonbotak. No guessing how he looks like eh.

@simonbotak and @hueisong before the mayhem began.

I was actually there on official work matter as well. My client Dell, won the Reader's Choice Award for the Best Desktop. So had to take photos of Dell's representative, Tony accepting the award. :)

The organisers didn't do too bad with the party. There were ample booze to make sure the crowd was kept happy. Green bottles and red labels filled the table tops. Rowdy guys wanting to win the next lucky draw prize and pretty chicks filled the dance floor.

@wernshen and his Guitar Hero rocker chick friend, Wei Yu

Lowyat.net's editor having a jolly good time with his friends.
@melkoo & @ciaomella had their fair share of fun as well!
@eddyhan having an intimate moment with @melkoo
Bumped into my junior from high school, Dannie! :)
The DJ-ians, Lim Yen and Jane
This is the, "I can't believe I won a mouse" look.
And this is the "I wanna snap some chick's pic" look.
It was a night of bumping into friends. Here's Ken with my college mate, Wendy & her fiance Jason.
Rocker chics Natalie and Sarah Lian showing the crowd how to be a Guitar Hero.
@lokgotz giving his stamp of approval for their stellar performance.
Who says you can't cam whore with a DSLR. @hueisong and I. And yes, I still need to go for smiling classes! :p
Bumped into yet another high school junior of mine. Vivien standing far right.

Its been quite some time since I've gone partying. Just having OJ on the rocks is not all that fun eh. But all in all, Stuff's 5th Bday Bash was a blast.

Thanks STUFF!

For more pics, click here to view my Facebook gallery.
p/s: there were actually a few more pics that mysteriously disappeared from my memory card. Which up till now, I'm still kinda upset for losing those pics! :(

The Reds go marching on!

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:21:35 GMT

It's been a long long while since I've written anything. And I sort of promised our reader(s) that I will take more effort and actually write a proper post *clears throat* and not a one liner and call it a post.As you might have already known, the Red Devils were in town for the Manchester United Asia Tour 2009. Playing in Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea and China. With Malaysia being their first stop, it was a great opportunity for the team to show off the brand new kit as well.To be really honest, I didn't fancy the new kit so much when I first saw the "preview" images. But after a while, hey, it doesn't look that bad eh. It's still too expensive for me to get one now. I've not been buying the kits for quite a few seasons now. :(
Federico Macheda - Johnny Evans

Michael Carrick - Ben Foster

Darren Fletcher - Wayne Rooney

Nike being one of our clients, I had the greatest privilege to help out at the Nike Man Utd press conference, where I got to see the great Rio Ferdinand, Darren Fletcher, Nani and Darron Gibson up close but not too personal. At the press conference, found out a few things.
#1 - Rio Ferdinand is not on Twitter, and he is quite a funny fella.
#2 - Darren Fletcher being a Scot, speaks clearer English than Sir Fergie.
#3 - Nani can hardly speak English. Boy, its time to learn. Summore want to change Maths & Science back to BM la!

After the press conference, I rushed down to Bukit Jalil for the training session. Nothing much happened, but it was a good opportunity to get to see the players in person. Now, there is a Man Utd legend that every Man Utd fan would know, and Nike organised a coaching clinic with some school kids. The clinic was conducted by none other that Bryan Robson. Though I did not get any autographs from any of the Man Utd players or former players. It was a great experience all together.As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a few thousand for you to slowly digest. GLORY GLORY MAN UTD!

Check out how short some of the Malaysian players are compared to the Man Utd players.
Observing one minute of silence in respect of the victims of the Jakarta bombing
Macheda scoring the 1st goal of the Rematch on Monday
Yes, Malaysian players were always on the back foot, chasing after the ball.

For more pics. Click here to view my Facebook gallery.

I went, They inspired, I painted

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:54:59 GMT

Clear Skies - Arcrylic on canvas

@eleanorng & @yu11us asked me to join them at a friend's art pad on Saturday evening. Saw a few artists painting, and that inspired me. I had a few canvases lying around, and thought, I might give it a try. This is the resulting experiment. Not too bad for a 1st timer eh! Will see what else I can cook up! Thanks for the inspiration guys.

Earlier this week, I asked on Twitter, which of the seven days in a week, do you hate most. Mine was Blue Monday, and Where-was-the-weekend Sunday. Well, I'm going through the last few hours of the latter, and not looking forward to the former.

Spending quite a lot of time on Twitter and My Brute this weekend. Checkout this really simple Online RPG fighting game. http://cheemster.mybrute.com

Well, sigh, gonna end Where-was-the-weekend Sunday with an exciting FA Cup semi-final game between Manchester United and Everton! Have a good Sunday evening! And welcome Blue Monday :(

Oasis - Wonderwall (Live in Singapore 2009)

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 05:23:23 GMT

Apologies if the video seems to be abit shaky, as there was this sibeh tall ang moh standing in front of me so I had to put my hand way up high for that 3 mins plus. I think I was much better off that poor Plus One. She could hardly see anything with the sea of heads in front of her.For those who didn't had the opportunity to head down for the gig. Here's one of three videos that I took. As all these were taken in HD, it takes me FOREVER to upload one video. More to come!

Videos were taken with the Panasonic Lumix LX3 thanks to www.markteo.com

What's the story? Morning glory!

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:58:46 GMT

I'm actually typing this on the way back to KL. Yesterday's Oasis concert was nothing short of pure awesomeness. If only I had mobile web access, this would be posted up right away. Sadly, by the time this gets posted, it would have been many many many hours later. Inspired by cyber-red, here's my own haiku:

What's the story? Morning glory,
The British boys were around,
And boy did they rock the house down!

Packed was the freaking stadium,
But hot it was not,
Unlike our very own Stadium Negara with no air, no air!

Gigs are of pure awesomeness!
But only if I go alone, and not "alone",
Just so that the focus in on stage, and no where else!

Distraction is what i need,
A target to achieve,
A mission to accomplish.

Short fun trip it has been,
Loving the island more and more,
So lets not look back in anger anymore.

My new found friends! (Plus one's kakis)The Brit boys thick in actionLiam GallagherNoel GallagherAwesome stage man! PURE AWESOMNESSAmazing light display!

All images in this post were taken with the all mighty Panasonic Lumix LX3 courtesy of my good buddy, Mark Teo. Check out his amazing photography at www.markteo.com.

Instant Gratification

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 06:34:19 GMT

Someone on the Lomographyasia Forum posted this really cool idea of using instant film in a TLR. Tried doing it but the results were'nt that great. So what I did was experiment abit further, and loaded the instant film into my Diana F+ instead. The results! Same dreamy Diana effect, but you get to see the pic in 90secs!! The only shot that turned out right from the pack of 10films though. Lots more to learn.

Taken with Instax Mini 7s in a Diana F+, the image still has that dreamy Diana effect.

I've submitted this image in one of the Lomographyasia contest. If you feel like voting for me, click on the image to go the competition page. VOTE FOR ME!!! Thank you thank you thank you!

Sunburst KL 2009

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 06:28:36 GMT

The awesome stage that was built by Clef Well, as mentioned in my previous post, Sunburst KL 2009 was just pure awesomeness. All the bad thoughts and cussing before the festival itself has gone out the window. Only until the very next day. The organisers got themselves into a lot of trouble when N.E.R.D. canceled their Jakarta gig (Sunday) on that very morning, citing that they did not want to experience the same treatment they had when they were in Msia. Apparently their passports were held on to by Msian authorities as the organisers did not have the proper permits for them to perform. Ah, who cares about that eh! As long as they put on a f'kin good show, and I had a f'kin good time! Hell yeah! Now, the organisers were in quite abit of trouble in 08's festival, when festival goers snapped pics of the artists on stage shirtless. So this year, they were really strict with the "No-Camera Rule". Funny thing is, they feel that only DSLRs are capable of taking pics that are worthy to be uploaded on the internet to be of a threat to them, hence compact cameras and every other phone that has a friggin camera attached to it is allowed into the festival! With a stroke of luck, and a few really good friends (who risked their lives), I managed to smuggle my gear in, and here are some of the pics on that night! ENJOY!

Nidji from Indonesia

Local boys - Butterfingers

Instruments from the heaven above! Plus One and DJ Bunga

She complained that her head is already so much smaller than mine, summore must hide behind the television! O_O|||Da man with da master plan! Pharrel from N.E.R.D

Crowd surfing was mandatory as ORDERED by Pharrel.The chicas that were invited on stage....damn you Pharrel!Lets all do the Star Trek Sign!

She aint letting go of you man!

The rock gods themselves!Jonathan DavisFieldyMunkyTwilight Action Girl ending the night - DJ BungaDJ Xu

Waves farewell to Sunburst KL 2009, as I dont think we will be seeing the daylights of Sunburst KL 2010!

Vote Earth!

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:54:54 GMT

Taken from the Earth Hour Website:

This year, Earth Hour has been transformed into the world’s first global election, between Earth and global warming.

For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming. WWF are urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

This meeting will determine official government policies to take action against global warming, which will replace the Kyoto Protocol. It is the chance for the people of the world to make their voice heard.Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness.In 2009, Earth Hour is being taken to the next level, with the goal of 1 billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote. Unlike any election in history, it is not about what country you’re from, but instead, what planet you’re from. VOTE EARTH is a global call to action for every individual, every business, and every community. A call to stand up and take control over the future of our planet. Over 74 countries and territories have pledged their support to VOTE EARTH during Earth Hour 2009, and this number is growing everyday.We all have a vote, and every single vote counts. Together we can take control of the future of our planet, for future generations.VOTE EARTH by simply switching off your lights for one hour, and join the world for Earth Hour.Saturday, March 28, 8:30-9:30pm.

Let's all play our part. I'll be making sure that my family not only switches off for that one hour. But also to be more mindful in their everyday routine to switch off whatever they are not using as well. Join me in this great cause!! And click the banner above to sign up!