Greetings from Siem Reap

Its close to 1700 now at Siem Reap, Cambodia, and instead of going for a sunset shoot at Phnom Bakheng, the crazy rain - imagine gusts of strong wind and a constant stream of water flying everywhere - has kept me indoors.

One of the people at Mandalay Inn, where I'm staying, said that yesterday the rain and winds were so strong, the bamboo tree in their front yard toppled. They were fixing up the tree and tying it to a support in preparation before the rain came, and I'd say they predicted well enough.

However, the rain which is supposed to last only a short period of time, has been going on for about 45 minutes and looks like it will not abate yet.

So far, Siem Reap looks like a really nice backpackers' destination, but the dust is crazy - imagine your cameras coated in dust, filters coated in dust, and face coated in dust.

Also, Mandalay Inn is really value for money. The place is very clean, and despite being sparsely furnished, there's a television with cable, and the bathroom looks fine.

Anyway, I went to Artisans D'Angkor and Tonle Sap Lake today, and will be uploading photos when I'm back.

Hoping the rain will pass before the dinner & traditional show!

Rest in Peace, Michael Jackson

Goodbye to the greatest singer who ever lived. Its so sad, how he was living near the end of life. Just seems to mirror Mozart's life, one of the greatest composers who ever lived.

Do take a look at LIFE's Special Edition on MJ.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

The second movie in the Transformers film series, is possibly one of the exceptions in the movie industry.

It is simply, much better than the first!

Fast paced, with witty humour, and great acting from Shia LaBeouf made Revenge of the Fallen a great movie to catch.

People to watch out for would be Sam's (Shia LaBeouf) crazy mother, who really acted nuts very convincingly, his new roomie in college, and the sector seven agent who makes a comeback. Three very cheesy and entertaining people.

Megan Fox was as usual, an eyecandy with little acting skills. The above-mentioned three acted way better than her, and contributed to the film a lot more too. However, if you do like her, watch out for the film's start. She is straddling a motorbike, and the camera is below her so you can almost see up her panty shorts. Almost. Its fortunately (or unfortunately) dark in the right places. So, remember not to enter the theatre late. Otherwise, look out for tops with breasts about to spill over.

You should definitely catch this film, especially since many new autobots and decepticons are introduced. Jetfire, a seeker, is super cool. I just didn't really like how Optimus Prime discarded him near the end. The story is also fleshed out very smoothly, with stunning fights between the robots, especially Megatron and Optimus Prime. I just wish sometimes they didn't seem to blend in together cos it looked like a big hunk of multi-coloured metal tumbling around.

Oops, I shouldn't say too much. Remember to watch it!

Widgets

Is it just me, or are widgets getting really cool?

A cheesy version of CounterStrike:



And this you HAVE to play - a super fun mini version of Sonic the Hedgehog!



Really brings back sweet childhood memories (:

Farewell? and Journalists

After many, many months of guilty contemplation, I have decided to sell off my Leica CL.

Its not him, its me.

I just cannot, for my sake and his, get used to handling a rangefinder. Yup, I am an single / twin lens reflex nut. And incurable. So for his sake, I hope he finds a better owner than me, someone who will have the time to bring him out and take some genuine street shots.

): I can't believe I posted the sale too. But its okay, at least I got the guts to admit he needs a better home.

Okay, I sound crazy here, but getting attached to your camera gear is VERY easy. I have had yet to sell any away and gah, it hurts.

Well anyway, let's move on to something more fascinating than my attachment to inhuman objects.

Look what I found!

An article on Journalists' Secret Lives.

Politico feature writer Helena Andrews says she’s “not the regular Washington wonky reader.” Her first stop is Entertainment Weekly’s online News & Notes. From there, it’s GoFugYourself.com, a celebrity-skewering blog that Andrews calls “quite possibly the most awesomely bitchy and brilliant blog in the history of the world.” It puts her in the right frame of mind, she says, to write about pols.

I don't know you, but she's cool.

There are some other cute tidbits, like this one:

CNN’s John Roberts fell in love with motorcycles as a kid—he tried making one by attaching a lawn-mower engine to his bicycle. It worked. Years later, Roberts is the proud owner of two Harley-Davidsons.

I think, I need to do one about Singapore's journalists. Although I'm not sure if their lives might involve more than just working, and overtime.

Steve McCurry

Today I attended a talk by Steve McCurry, an award-winning photojournalist.

For those who have never heard of Steve, the Afghan Girl photo on National Geographic was taken by him.



Here he is, in what seems to be a favourite shirt:



Apologies for the ugly photo, its the best I could get from my seat... without blocking anyone's view.

He wasn't imposing, or impressive in the flesh, just a normal person. Perhaps that helps in the field of photojournalism? I'm not quite sure.

So anyway, what did I gain from the talk? Nothing really. Although his photos were stunning, he didn't seem keen on revealing much information. And luck seemed to have played a major part in him getting the shots. He also evaded many questions during the Q&A, but I'll attribute that to him being unwilling to share trade secrets.

But anyway, here's what part and parcel of being a photojournalist is like.

Photographing 'situations, where you discover real life as it unfolds'.

What's important - light, composition, and the human angle.

Sometimes when there's no news, you cover 'weather, features, slices of life'.

There are also 'times worth risking personal safety' - Steve gave an example of taking a shot of Indian porters passing breakfast outside of the train - and he was hanging out of the train to take the photo, with an assistant holding on to his legs.

Its about 'capturing people unaware', whether it be sleeping or playing.

Also, Steve likes taking photos in the rain. 'Love when its raining, how people react'.

Then there was a photo of people of some religion (I forgot) who were mutilating their backs which were bloody and all - and they didn't mind him taking their photo instead of attacking him or something. So people can turn out to be friendly and normal, not what you expected.

Steve also said he doesn't take photos of unwilling subjects, as there will be negative energy which disrupts photos etc. But I assume not all of his photos were taken of wholly willing subjects alone.

He added that he 'found most people very happy to be photographed'.

Maybe that's because its a different society? Or due to his skin colour... fame... we don't really know. I mean, try photographing people in Singapore for awhile and you'll find that most locals here are suspicious instead of willing and happy.

Carpet

Today Cappu baby seizured twice.

Look at the little carpet.



Poor baby looks dead tired ):

Sunrise at Changi

Today, I did what I thought I'd never do in the right mind:
Wake up @ 0500.

Of course, I only did it because YS was meeting me picking me up, and as a result he had to wake up even earlier than me.

This is a reason why morning runners should all have running buddies.

Anyway, after a nice drive along the almost empty highway, we reached Changi Beach. Boy was it DARK. Dark dark dark dark at around 0630. So, while walking on the beach I stumbled upon a few things. Including a white cylindrical object I hope and pray was not an urn.

And fortunately YS called out before I stumbled onto this couple in the darkness, happily hugging it seems:



Fortunately again, it was not R21.

Soon after, they left with my intrusion. And the sky began lighting up.



If you're a horizontal person, you'll prefer this:



Just to give prior warning, this will be a long and photo-heavy post.

'Cos I finally have the time to go through my photos!

Onwards!

A photo with seagrass:



I like taking photos of seagrass



Till I looked upwards and saw the pink cloud! Giant and pink like a huge puff of cotton candy which exploded into the sky.





Check out this beaut!



I love how both the skies and sea contrast, blue on one side and goldish pink on the other. Almost as if I used my fabulous Singh-Ray Gold-N-Blue Polariser, which was resting in my bag at said moment.



An awesome sky above the trees lining Changi Beach:



Then I looked around, and saw a man fishing.



Here he is, without his fishing rod.



Then I looked upwards again (you get the gist?)



But while I was stoning and complaining about the lack of a SUNrise since the skies seemed to be lighting up of their own accord...

This photographer from a huge group which appeared out of nowhere started making his way to front.





That wily man had spotted the sun!



Which was quite disappointing and partially covered by clouds if you ask me.

By the way, why did I wake up at 0500 for this?!

Then I calmed down and took a position nearby and started shooting. The ugly sun.




and the lovers sailed off into the sunrise.



This one reminds me of a photo I took in Canada. Which knowing me, haven't uploaded or processed for the matter:



And here's my favourite out of all the photos I've taken:



See the plane and the sun? Nice!

We're only halfway through by the way, but don't stop reading.

Here's the typical sunrise shot. Boring... but I kinda like those clouds floating in a row:



Then light bathed Changi Beach in its beautiful glow.



Beautiful glow is subjective. The above photo contains the fishing man. Fisherman. Whatever.



That lil fella between the fishing rod and little fisherman is YS (:

Here he is again!



and again.



Did I mention what a nice guy he is? His camera battery died halfway but he waited patiently while I kept snapping away with indecision.

Let's end with another shot of the beautiful sky (:



Goodbye!

The Taking of Pelham 123

"Did it hit you?" - Denzel Washington
"Shit always hits you, man," - John Travolta
(The Taking of Pelham 123)

This quote left a profound impact on me during the film, and I dug out my phone from the messy dark depths of my bag to type it down.

Life is indeed full of shit, but The Taking of Pelham 123 was a striking film.

Not really an analogy.

Compared to the trailer which was vague and unexplained, the movie was well-executed, and filmed with a blurred edge to give a sense of movement and lapses in time.

Based on a book, The Taking of Pelham 123 starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta, two men past their prime, is also the third version filmed. The first was in 1974, and the second in 1998.

Check out the oldest and current posters:




I don't know about the previous movies, but despite his acting skills, Travolta portrayed his 'hijacker leader' character as a nutcase, and didn't come across to me as an ex 'high-roller'.

There was also a dragged out moment by Washington which could have been shortened, for it somehow made the movie sleepy and boring - a cut when he keeps prolonging his chat with his irritating wife on the phone.

Otherwise, the story was twisted somehow to reflect the ongoing situations in the economy and how Wall Street could actually play with the market.

An interesting film overall (: People, do catch this movie.

Adrienne

My niece, Adrienne, when she still had little hair to speak of (:

Finally, a Photo Update!

I realised this blog has had neither prose nor pictures (: for a long long long long LONG time.

So here's a small dose.

Taken at Jasper National Park, British Columbia, Canada, if my memory does not fail me.




Nikon D80 / Tokina 12-24 / B+W Slim KSM CPL



Despite the lousy exposure, I kinda like this photo, a lot (:

Some points to note for future reference:

Do not hurry while freezing
Take some time to use the tripod you lugged around no matter how cold you are
Let you family continue shivering in the car for you prolly won't be taking this photo ever again
Travel with fellow photography nuts

Anyway, due to some requests, I shall allow comments... and since I have forgotten how to put in comments ): I've put in a cbox under links. Please feel free to post any questions that burn in your throat.

Jeans

I got to surfing raw denim and was really tempted to get an N&F or nudie to start with.

Then I remembered I don't even wear all of my jeans.

Here's a list to help me remember.

Skinnnnnys:
Zara - sunbleached blue
Topshop x2 - gray acid wash drainpipes and regular dark wash
F21 x3 - faded black, faded blue, overdyed indigo high-waisted
Mossimos - faded gray
Mandees - faded blue with silver stripes (what was i thinking?)
Giordano x2 - faded gray and dark gray with faded patches

Flared leg:
Seed - sunbleached blue with pale pinkish stains
F21 - regular dark wash

Men's cut:
Levis x2

Just realised I have 14 jeans... at least counting those I remember.

But no, I am not a jeans addict.

That would require about 50 pairs, in my book.

Piece of Mind

Is there a belief which advocates killing the elderly?

Not all old people, of course.

Just those with no upbringing.

Although, thinking about it, was there 'upbringing' in the past?

Perhaps that gives to reason why everyday there are unpleasant acts performed by the elderly.

Most of them spit, wherever they please.

Block train exits, push their way onto transport.

Yesterday, one sat down next to me, and commenced peeling skin off his palm.

It was a great thick piece of skin. Which meant he had a lot of peels. And he peeled them, one by one, and stuck them under the train seat.

Needless to say, I got off my seat and went to stand elsewhere.

Others litter.

Despite Singapore having laws against spitting... and littering for that matter, they don't care. And despite all the talk about Singapore being built by them - honestly, how many of them really participated in the country's growth.

Food for thought?