Punkster. Photographer. Parchitect.

The new Macbook and Macbook Pros

2008-10-15T03:37:00.006+08:00

It's out! The new Macbook and Macbook Pros. Made from a single piece of aluminum, it's slimmer, lighter (Macbook pro is slightly heavier), feels extremely well built and shows off a new LED-backlit screen. The multi-touch trackpad is now made of glass, is bigger, and the pad is also the trackpad button itself. Internally, expect a big update too. The Macbook now comes with a new integrated graphic processor - the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, which promises a 5x performance boost! The Macbook Pro comes with an additional NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT processor which speeds things up another 2.3x! However, this is only activated when the applications require it, meaning better power management too. The only thing that bugs me is the unavailbaility of a non-glossy version for the screen. I always liked that better. Watch the video here.

Heroes Season 3 returns with a vengeance!

2008-09-30T16:25:00.004+08:00

I've always been an avid follower of Heroes, the TV series. After Season 2 was abruptly cut short due to the writer's strike in the US, Season 3 returns stronger than before with a much tighter script, more action and plenty of surprises to keep you at the edge of your seats! What more can you expect with a theme like "Villians"? Heroes Television gives one of the best update of Season 3 with many spoilers to whet your appetite for more. Some interesting revelations in Season 3 include the return of Ali Larter as Tracy Strauss, the last and still surviving triplet sister of Niki and Jessica. We also hear of a certain the "Big Bad" who might turn out to be the ultimate baddy so far! There is also Level 5, a place in "The Company" where many villians with extraordinary powers are kept imprisoned until Sylar frees them. With the different characters starting to take sides against each other, it's really starting to sound like X-men on TV, only this is infinitely better. Enjoy the promo trailer if you haven't!

Much ado about Venice

2008-09-29T14:59:00.006+08:00

I was recently in Venice for 2 weeks to set up the Singapore pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2008: "Architecture Beyond Buidlings" architecture showcase. It was a great experience to be there and I certainly learned much through the whole process of working in this project. There is a whole story of how I even got to be involved in this and I will leave that for the next post. But for now, let me leave you with some frames of this beautifully textured city in Italy.

Great friends are priceless

2008-07-05T02:48:00.005+08:00

Friends, they make all the difference in this world. When you are down and out and feeling like you are walking through the deepest darkest valley of your life, these are the people who help to shine some light on the path ahead with their encouragement and support. That light might not exactly be the one at the end of the tunnel, but it is all you need to keep you going. Some of you know that I had did not clear my final year thesis for the second time. It was a little hard to swallow the reality of it when I saw my results slip. I was discouraged, disappointed and frankly, just really tired. A dear friend helped put together the above video to encourage me and remind me that there were people around me who believed in me and are supporting me through it all. To Meiqi and all who took time to record down your encouragements, and the rest of you who encouraged me in your own little ways, I am thankful and encouraged. Thanks for the love shown. :)

Photo Essay: "A Certain Comfort in Freedom"

2008-07-05T02:37:00.003+08:00

There is a certain comfort and freedom to do the most outrageous things when we are kids. Somehow we know that our mum or dad will be nearby to make things ok again if anything went wrong. We throw caution and safety to the wind and go on the most daring adventures. As we grow up, we learn to take less risks and stay within the comforts of our usual routines. That does not need to be so. I believe that accountability to close friends and personal mentors liberates us and gives us the wings to fly again.

Photo Essay: "2008 and Beyond!"

2008-06-05T02:23:00.001+08:00

Ice cream never looked so cool

2008-05-29T01:36:00.005+08:00

If I were ever to open an ice cream shop, I wouldn't mind a bit if it looked like this. Isn't that just beautiful? The Rono Ice Cream Store is designed by Hiroyuki Miyake, a Japanese designer whose firm is named after him. Born in 1975, Miyake graduated in 1997 from the Osaka University of Arts, department of interior design. After working for Takara Space Design Corp., he spent two years in UK learning English before starting his own firm in 2005. Besides doing interiors, Miyake has also designed some rather interesting furniture. Find out more at hiroyuki miyake. More pics after the break.

Change Starts With One Person

2008-04-16T01:22:00.005+08:00

What an incredibly powerful message.
I couldn't have said it better myself. Watch till the end and you will know what I am talking about. Will you do something to change the world today? It takes just one person to cause a ripple that has the potential to reach far and wide. Would you be that one person?

A great beast of a camera!

2008-04-16T00:56:00.007+08:00

This is the next prosumer non-DSLR camera to look out for. The soon to be released Nikon Coolpix P80. To me, this is what makes a great do-it-all camera - Exceptional zoom, manual controls, image stabiliser, super macro mode at 1cm and low noise at high ISO sensitivity. If Nikon can somehow bring some of the magic they did for the D3 and D300 with respect to noise into this little baby, this is going to be one heck of a camera. Oh, and did I mention that it has wide angle (27-486mm, that's 18x!), a large 2.7 inch monitor and video capture at 30fps? Throw in Nikon's proprietary Face-Priority AF, In-Camera Red-Eye Fix and D-Lighting, together with 52Mb of internal storage and you have one of the most comprehensive camera ever built. Seven years ago when I was first introduced into the world of digital photography, I dream of such a beast. It has finally come into being. Now, if only Canon could come up with a similar make but with an extra swivel screen. That would certainly be the icing on an already very sweet cake.

The Moment of Truth Revealed

2008-04-11T19:39:00.008+08:00

You know how there are some moments in your life when you read or hear or watch something and then it all becomes clear to you? I've had the blessings of having a few of these so far in my life - the first when I came to really know this person called Jesus Christ. Today, while watching 2 videos, something clicked in me so strongly I almost thought I saw my future write itself out in front of me. Between these 2 videos, they sum up 2 things that I hold very closely to my heart - creativity and education (what I like to see as helping others get in touch with their own creativity and potential).

The first video by Sir Ken Robinson inspired and fuel my passion for creativity. The second, a presentation by Dave Eggers took it right out of my mouth. Some of you might have heard me speak before of this dream to open some form of tuition centre with an emphasis on personal attention before Dave Eggers with his 826 Valencia project, literally put out in reality what I have been pondering about in my mind all this while. It's not just his idea. It's how he did it that my heart so resonates with. Watching it made me speechless. I would have cried except that I was too full of excitement and joy and encouragement. For a while now, I thought maybe I was just some crazy guy trying to make a difference without even knowing if any of his ideas made any sense. Today, I know IT IS POSSIBLE. And I promise you, IT WILL HAPPEN. Check out "Once Upon A School" to learn more about what I am talking about.

Even now, as I write this, I just can't stop thinking about it. It's like one crucial piece of the jig-saw puzzle has been finally found. Incidentally, my thesis project due really soon has got very much to do with this idea, but on a larger scale. I don't know how else to explain this, but I finally see some light in the midst of these endless days of darkness! Thank you Huimei, for it was at your blog that I first watch Robinson's video which led me to search the rest of TED.com This is really significant for me. I can't wait to see where this brings me. What a revelation! What a great God we have! No matter how tough it might get, I'm going to do it anyway. Cheers!

Champions come in all sizes

2008-04-11T11:02:00.004+08:00

Minichamps specializes in making miniature replicas of real cars. They are a company which I believe was started in Germany but now is also in the UK. I've always been amazed at the level of detail that goes into one of these miniatures. The level of precision just speaks volumes of the passion this people have for what they do. I like how this print ad for them is both a little cheeky yet endearing at the same time. You can never go wrong using little kitties can you? Think Shrek 2 etc. You can find more variations of this theme after the break but personally, I think the Jaguar one brings out the idea the best! Great stuff!

Doing It Anyway

2008-04-10T13:52:00.003+08:00

Life's too short to dwell on the what ifs and how longs and should Is and why mes. Do you have a dream? Run with it. You never know till you try. What if you don't succeed? Do it anyway. What if you are the only one who believes in it? Do it anyway. What if it matters to no one except yourself? Do it anyway. The reason is simple. There is someone who knows, who cares, who is rooting for you, who is running with you. His name is Jesus. Do it anyway. I'm feeling a little like the "what if I had"s and "why didn't I"s these few days. The lyrics of this song encouraged me and lifted my spirit in a very special way. May it speak to you too. Lyrics after the break.

ANYWAY
http://www.martina-mcbride.com

You can spend your whole life buildin'
Somethin' from nothin'
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway

You can chase a dream
That seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway

(Chorus)
God is great, but sometimes life ain't good
When I pray it doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

This world's gone crazy and it's hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway
You can love someone with all your heart
For all the right reasons
And in a moment they can choose to walk away
Love 'em anyway

(Repeat Chorus)

You can pour your soul out singin'
A song you believe in
That tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang
Sing it anyway
Yeah sing it anyway

I sing
I dream
I love anyway

Photo Essay: "It's not my fault the candle blew out..."

2008-04-04T17:31:00.006+08:00

One of the joys I find in photography is being able to capture candid moments of life that we would otherwise miss or forget. Frozen in time, these snap shots capture the essence of a moment of joy, sadness, goofiness, determination, or simple mundaneness made extraordinary just by looking at it differently. Of course, it helps to have crazy friends.

A thousand pictures paints two words

2008-03-31T23:36:00.010+08:00

Do you see what I see? Charis Tsevis is a visual designer, living and working in Athens, Greece. He runs his own studio under the name “Tsevis Visual Design” with his beloved wife Eva and their colleagues both for domestic or foreign projects. The images above are part of a collage that he created in Dec 2007. He does this by writing out his own script using the following software to complete the job - Synthetik Studio Artist, Adobe Photoshop and Apple QuickTime Pro. The final image is ready to impress you after the break. Click on it for the full-sized version in all it's glorious detail.

More examples of Charis' astonishing work can be found at his Flicker site.

Ken Lee..... Tulibu dibu douchoo

2008-03-31T03:31:00.004+08:00

This seriously cracked me up! And now, I've got this song stuck in my head... "Ken Lee..... Tulibu dibu douchoo!!!!! Ken Lee... Ken Lee meju more...." Oh, I should warn you not to have any food in your mouth before you hit the start button. Click on to read more about this precious singer.

Valentina Hasan, 29 years old, is a contestant in the second season of the Bulgarian show "Music Idol". She performed Mariah Carey's song "Without you" in fake English during her audition. Seems like she is from the village of Zvezdelina, in the Kardzhali Province. Valentina's married and "Hasan" is her husband's surname. She currently lives in Spain.

Life in a day of an Architect

2008-03-28T17:12:00.004+08:00

Life as an architect/ architecture student can get pretty daunting sometimes. Here's something that allows the rest of you to appreciate what we go through a little more. Enjoy.

Here In Your Presence

2008-03-20T12:43:00.007+08:00

I was introduced to this song about a week ago when one of my band leaders sent me a link to a rather good piano tutorial. I decided to introduce the rest of you to it because I just heard it again today on my brother's computer and I realised that given that I played it at most 3 times in the past, I could recall most of the lyrics when I heard it again! I thought, "There must be something to this song!" As I heard the chorus play out again, I felt affirmed by God's word - that we become new in Him. Recently, my pastor shared about what God was teaching him, that God wants to do something NEW in our lives. Hearing the words of the chorus "Here in Your presence, all things are new..." just set my heart ablaze with renewed hope in Him. May you be blessed as you listen to words too. Click on for the lyrics. [+]

HERE IN YOUR PRESENCE
by New Life Worship (Desperation Band)

Found in Your hands, fullness of joy
Every fear suddenly wiped away
Here in Your presence
All of my gains now fade away
Every crown no longer on display
Here in Your presence

Heaven is trembling in awe of Your wonders
The kings and their kingdom are standing amazed

Chorus:
Here in Your presence, we are undone
Here in Your presence, Heaven and Earth become one
Here in Your presence, all things are new
Here in Your presence, everything bows before You

Bridge:
Wonderful, beautiful, glorious, matchless in every way
Wonderful, beautiful, glorious, matchless in every way

Bambooing On...

2008-03-19T20:36:00.005+08:00

I chanced upon this article on a dear friend, Eejay's blog and could really identify with it. There are times in one's life when you feel that you are just going nowhere and each step you take results in you slipping 3-4 steps behind. I'm feeling that way this season of my life. It's not that I have been dealt with great hardship or sickness or anything like that. The struggle is more internal, having to press on to push through and complete what I had started in my architectural studies. It's not that I have no passion for it. I do, but there is some mysterious great inertia that is just holding me back. The experience is as if all sense of discipline had decided to leave me, and a great horde of procrastination trooped in to squat upon my heart. It's like I have fallen ill and need a great dose of determination to boost my health.

Well, I am not sure how many of you can identify with what I am saying, but if you can and are going through the same thing, may this little story bless you and encourage you to press on and not give up. [+]

The Fern and the Bamboo

One day I decided to quit...I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality.... I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.

"God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"

His answer surprised me.

"Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"

"Yes", I replied.

"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.

In the second year the fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.

"In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. The same in year four.

"Then in the fifth year, a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern, it was seemingly small and insignificant.

But just six months later, the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.

"Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots? I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you.

"Don't compare yourself to others." He said. "The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern. Yet they both make the forest beautiful.

"Your time will come", God said to me. "You will rise high"

"How high should I rise?" I asked.

"How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return.

"As high as it can?" I questioned

"Yes." He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."

I left the forest, realizing that God will never give up on me. And He will never give up on you.

Never regret a day in your life.

Good days give you happiness; bad days give you experiences; both are essential to life.

--Author Unknown

The Art of Coffee

2008-03-18T22:39:00.004+08:00

Art certainly comes in many forms. I've always been fascinated with how coffee makers decorate their lattes. This certainly takes it to the next level. And may I add, like I've always said, it doesn't take one to be involved in the art, design, music or media industry to be creative. Creativity is in everyone. It's how you tap into it and make it part of your life that really matters. Enough said. Go do something creative today!

Photo Essay: "These Shoes Aren't Made For Walking"

2008-03-15T02:29:00.003+08:00

My friend Jack got married end of last year and asked me to be his unofficial photographer. I was terribly sick that day, but still managed to make it down for the dinner. While there, I captured this. The paige boy had decided to lose his shoes as he ran off for some barefooted prancing around. Cute.

Lego Architecture

2008-03-15T00:25:00.004+08:00

What do you get when you bring a group of architects together, throw them a pile of white lego bricks and ask them to just have fun and engage spontaneously with the materials? A huge amount of creativity!

The Building Asia Brick By Brick project done in collaboration between Andrew Maerkle of Art AsiaPacific and Wei Wei Shannon of People’s Architecture seeked to to promote awareness of architectural preservation in Asia where much urban development occurs at the expense of historically significant or unique buildings. In raising awareness, the project hoped to get people to look at their environments critically.

I was personally quite impressed with the end results of many of the projects. It just proves that we can certainly come up with more creative alternatives to the heavy-handed tear down and rebuild approach that many developing countries are taking, in the name of economic growth. I also noticed that the goals of the Building Asia Brick By Brick project was very much similar to what we do in re:act! Perhaps we could get Lego to sponsor the next Design My Place or YUP project? That would be great wouldn't it?

Read more here

Multi-touch Supersized

2008-03-13T00:49:00.006+08:00

Is this the future of minority report-like interfaces to come? For now, it just seems like a big iPod Touch screen to me. But kudos to the inventors for creating some nifty multi-touch abilities here. The program seems to work even with many people doing different things. I've always wondered why desktops can't be more like that. That way, my mum can check her email while I carry on working on Photoshop or Autocad. We can use separate mouse and keyboards and the computer will know how to process each simultaneously. Talk about multi-tasking. Is anyone from Microsoft or Apple hearing me?!

Read more here.

A Dose of Steve Spangler Craziness

2008-02-18T15:35:00.006+08:00

Well, it's certainly been a long time since I updated. Here are some things that have caught my eye and in some way, inspire me recently.

Steve Spangler teaches teachers, and people in general, how to create unforgettable learning experiences with humor and attention-grabbing science demonstrations. He has appeared on the Ellen Show 3 times and each time he never fails to bring out the fun and excitement in learning more about science. My favourite is the Vortex Ring Air Blaster. Check out his website for more info! If only science lessons in our schools were this interesting. You know what, they can be! If any of you teachers out there are reading this, let's hear your thoughts in the comments page. Are we being too idealistic about this? Is Steve's idea and approach towards science education too impractical and impossible to implement in our schools? (wow, I actually managed 2 'im's in a roll!) I think not. What say you?

Check out Steve's appearance on the Ellen Show here and here.

A Great Weekend Ahead

2007-11-30T08:56:00.000+08:00

There are many exciting events happening in Singapore this weekend and throughout the month. First up is Nick's Talk this Sunday. Also, the Singapore Design Festival 2007 opened two days ago on the 28th of Nov and will be on till the 8th of Dec 07. Organised by the DesignSingapore Council, it is a biennial even to celebrate and promote design as a propeller of the new economy in Singapore. Many local and international creative personalities will be featured and this is the time to go catch all the interesting exhibits and talks. Especially if you are still a student on school holiday, make use of this wonderful opportunity!

Next up is what all bargain-hungry and tech savvy Singaporeans have been waiting for - SITEX 2007! And since the end of the year is approaching, it also means that for most of us, it is BONUS time! Well, if you have been waiting to get that 22-inch widescreen display monitor or that slim digital camera you have been eyeing, SITEX 2007 is the place for you to go this weekend. Except of course, be prepared to squeeze with more than the 600,000 people that are expected to throng Singapore Expo Halls 5-6 over the next few days. Well, what wouldn't Singaporeans do for a good bargain?

Photo Essay : "Blueprint of the future"

2007-11-30T08:42:00.000+08:00

You Singaporean ah?

2007-11-23T03:03:00.000+08:00

Is this what it means to be Singaporean? A light-hearted look at ourselves. :)

Designed My Place

2007-11-14T16:16:00.000+08:00

I just finished the Design My Place Urban Creativity Workshop over the weekend. It was nothing short of an amazing experience for the students, the facilitators, the organisers, and our supporters. It was very encouraging to see at the end how well received it was not just by the students, but also by our sponsors from URA, our supporters from Design Singapore and other guests that we invited as part of the jury panel.

My greatest thanks and appreciation certainly goes to Khoo Peng Beng, our Chief Facilitator/ instructor/ teacher/ Akido instructor, without whom, the whole workshop would have been less energetic, less inspiring, less passionate and less successful.

My greatest learning from this entire episode? It was heartwarming to see so many like-minded people coming together to support such an initiative to bring architecture to the people. More than that, it was our way of encouraging creativity and firing up passion within the hearts and minds of the next generation. At the closing of the entire workshop, I shared with the students the KEY to exploring and making good design. Read on.

Kreative - That's kreative with a capital K! Wouldn't it be boring if we always spelled creative with a C. The K symbolises the uniqueness that each of us embody. Recognise that you are unique and special. Contrary to what you may believe, you have something unique to offer creatively that nobody else in the whole wide world will be able to.

Excellence - In everything that you do, put your best foot forward. Live out a spirit of excellence not just in designing, but also in every area of your life. That's the only way you can live out your life to the fullest of its potential. That's the only way you can be the best designer that you were created to be.

You - This refers not to yourself but rather, to the people around you. Design is not just about achieving your creative vision. It is also about how your design influences the people around you. It is about how people use your design and experience it. It is also about giving back to society and to the community. It is about seeing things from other people's perspective and emphasizing, and meeting real needs.

I thought I'd end by saying this. Creativity is not the gifting of just the designer or the artist or the performer. We are all gifted with creativity and we use it and express it in different ways. Creativity is the domain of anybody who bothers to think differently, intelligently and beautifully. Do something creative today. Enjoy the pictures.

Photo Essay: "What Lurks in the Shadows"

2007-11-05T14:02:00.000+08:00

Make a date with Nick Vujicic

2007-11-04T07:37:00.000+08:00

On the morning of 4th Dec 1982, something miraculous happened in Melbourne, Australia. Nick Vujicic was born into a Christian family, his father, a pastor of a local church. The only shock was this - he was born without limbs. The doctors had no explanation for this and did not even expect it. It was a trying time for Nick's parents. They asked God all the WHYs and HOWs and questioned if God was a loving God, how could he ever allow something like that to happen, especially to a couple who loved God deeply. Naturally, they didn't think their son would survive long, but here's where the miracle was only starting to unfold itself. Nick was a healthy baby despite the lack of his limbs.

In time, Nick's parents and Nick himself overcame the fear and anger in their lives. Today, Nick is a 25-year-old motivational speaker who speaks in both Christian and non-Christian venues. He has a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Financial Planning and Accounting and loves to swim, fish and play soccer.

I tell you seriously, I had goose bumps all the way reading his testimony which you can find here. So often, I question my purpose in this world. I wonder how in my weaknesses, God can use me. I grumble and complain - if only I was more like this or have more of that. I failed to realise that if God allowed things to happen, He only knew better. I failed to see that God was moulding me and preparing me so that he could use me in a way that only I could fulfill. I chose to see the humanly unsurmountable challenges in my life without knowing the reality of God's power and victory in overcoming them. As I read Nick's testimony, I knew in my heart - If God is able to use a person like Nick in such drastic circumstances, surely I am no exception.

I leave you with this excerpt from Nick's testimony that totally flamed my heart.

Romans 8:28 - "And we know that in all things God works for the best for those who love Him."

That verse spoke to my heart and convicted me to the point where that I know that there is no such thing as luck, chance or coincidence that these "bad" things happen in our life. In;

James 1:3&4 - "...know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

I had complete peace knowing that God won't let anything happen to us in our life unless He has a good purpose for it all. I completely gave my life to Christ at the age of fifteen after reading John 9. Jesus said that the reason the man was born blind was "so that the works of God may be revealed through Him." I truly believed that God would heal me so I could be a great testimony of His Awesome Power. Later on I was given the wisdom to understand that if we pray for something, if it's God's will, it'll happen in His time. If it's not God's will for it to happen, then I know that He has something better. I now see that Glory revealed as He is using me just the way I am and in ways others can't be used.

Nick will be coming to my church to speak at our Youth Service on 2 Dec 07. I believe his sharing will touch your life. I would like to take this opportunity to invite all of you who reads my blog to come and hear him. Even if you are not a Christian, I believe that listening to his sharing will change your perspective on life. Let me know if you can come!

Now seat back and watch this. May your heart be touched.

Really Tuckshop

2007-11-03T09:45:00.000+08:00

Last night's design sharing was a blast in more ways than one! For one, we had to blast our voices over the mike so that everyone could hear us. It's tough trying to share amidst a crowd of hungry packers more interested in their calamari rings and crumb coated chickens. I felt like I was back in the classrooms of one of the sec schools I used to teach at as SH tried his best to get the attention of the audience yet trying hard not to sound offensive.

"EXCUSE ME. CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!" (in a loud voice).

"Sorry, sorry..." (sounding desperately apologetic suddenly).

"THE PRESENTATION IS STARTING SO WE WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF WE COULD HAVE YOUR COOPERATION. Err... Sorry to disturb your dinner, really, sorry sorry!" (In his head thinking: rats, why everyone so noisy... should have brought a loud gong to get their attention. Perhaps I could do an impromptu lion dance?!)

Ha ha, so I digress. Find out some interesting bits on the presentations after the break. Oh, and there are pictures too!

In summary, the presentations were rather interesting. We had Dean sharing about some small projects in Jakarta; Sern Hong sharing his thesis project - the pirated city (no, not the pirated cd); Raymond redefining play for us; and Hsia Pin giving us his take on the anti-monument, which was based on the scenerio that if our beloved MM were to pass on, what kind of memorial would be fitting for him. I bet Hsia Pin went home a little worried that night. I remember him jumping ever so slightly each time his phone rang after the presentation. I thought I saw some bright red dots flying around, but then again, it could have just been the alcohol, or the fact that Mr Marshmallow Man was messing with my brain! (see pics later.)

Hsia Pin was sporting enough to bring his band down to play a short gig for us after the presentations. Achor's Door, fronted by Adrian (who didn't have an encore song) entertained us with songs from Lifehouse, Steven Curtis Chapman and the Smallville soundtrack.

Overall, we had a pretty good turnout today. It would have been great if there was a way of getting some discussion and interaction going between the presenters and the audience. But then again, who were we kidding fighting with the hungry growls of the dinner-time monster. Still, it was an interesting experiment and we thank God for Dean and his team who didn't mind us intruding that night. I pray we didn't scare away any of your regular customers!

Incidentally, I noticed that TUCKSHOP supports the Ice Cream Chefs! (I wrote about them here) I liked the way TUCKSHOP put it on their menu - "Because like us, they put in lots of love and passion into what they are doing." (paraphrased) That summed up the night for me. It didn't really matter much that the night was more of a blast than we could expect or plan for. What mattered was the spirit behind the whole sharing session - a gathering of passionate people coming together to make something meaningful happen. And that, I must say, produced the most beautiful symphony. Enjoy the pics.

A stroke out of the ordinary

2007-10-27T01:44:00.000+08:00

Layer Tennis is the designer's version of a heated match between 2 opponents where each takes turns to serve, volley, smash, hit home etc. in order to win the coveted prize of designer of the moment. Its beginnings are in photoshop tennis whereby over a fixed period of time, a person starts by submitting a digital drawing which then changes hands and evolves as different people apply their creative take on what they think the image should really look like. After about 5-6 rounds, the image is finally completed, often looking quite unlike how it started, but a lot more interesting.

Layer Tennis takes this to the next level whereby 2 accomplished designers each takes 15min turns to challenge each other to come up with a clever, witty reply to the previous picture. The key to winning is to have some connection with the previous picture, yet interpreting it in a fresh and critical yet witty way. The change of the word from photoshop to layer suggests the possibility of using other software like Illustrator and even Flash as deadly tools in this online digital bloodbath. Believe me, it's really great stuff to watch. And the live commentary is often a blast to read too. I wonder if this could work with architecture design, in which case, each person takes turns to sketch out his/her vision of a building according to a theme. You'll find an example of a Layer Tennis match after the break.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

DIY Rubik's Cube

2007-10-27T00:57:00.001+08:00

Now, don't you think this will make a really cool Christmas present? You could mass make a couple and give it out to all your friends! It would be a great hands-on project to do with that special person of yours too... if you have one, that is. Ha ha. Aside from that, KS, Daniel, Narash, what say you??? Sounds fun doesn't it?

Blip.tv which hosts the video above, is a relatively new portal that in my opinion has better quality videos than Youtube and the likes. Think of Youtube as the camera on your camera phone which you use to capture quick and spontaneous happenings, and blip.tv will be more like a proper amateur mini DV camera with proper sound recording and smooth unpixelated video quality. Read on...

According to their makers, blip.tv's mission is to "make video creation easier by taking care of all the problems a budding videoblogger, podcaster or Internet TV producer would run into. (They'll) take care of the servers, the software, the workflow, the advertising and the distribution. Your focus should be on creativity."

So far, they seem to be delivering on that promise. What I like is that they actually have some really good episodes out there, made by budding film or tv show makers. Let's hope that as they grow bigger and more popular, the quality content still remains. Check it out for yourself.

re:act Design Sharing Session

2007-10-26T17:04:00.000+08:00

Want to find out more about architecture and design? Or perhaps your idea of spending a good night out is listening to a bunch of passionate individuals talk about the "a" word? Look no further, wait no longer, hesitate no more! Come join us next Friday at this cool place called TUCKSHOP. I guarantee you will have an enjoyable time.

Poster design by yours truly.

*Update: I've included a photo and a map to TUCKSHOP for those who are interested. After the break.

Photo Essay: "No storm in this tea cup."

2007-10-24T13:51:00.000+08:00

Nokia shows off

2007-10-19T01:43:00.000+08:00

Here's one that is more credible. Nokia shows off their new S60 touch interface for mobile devices. It supports haptic feedback (physical response like a short vibration when you press a button), has a platform that enables impressive graphical effects and a support for flash video on internet browsers. Finger and stylus input capability is standard, together with built-in proximity and light sensors that will allow stunts like switching off the alarm just by turning the phone over. That can't be good for those of us who need at least 5 snoozes before we wake, can it? Perhaps the phone could be configured to give a small electric shock when you turn off the alarm. You'll never be late again.

An apple a day is here to stay

2007-10-19T01:15:00.000+08:00

Just how much do the Chinese companies adore Apple and its iPhone? Well, let's just say it's enough to get many of them on the iPhone look-a-like bandwagon. They say that imitation is flattery. In the case of these China companies, imitation is an art. And one that they have perfected to a T. It makes one wonder, why can't they who invented paper and gunpowder put their creative juices to better use? If you ask me, with the number of people China has, they have enough geniuses to produce at least 10 companies that can rival Apple. Perhaps they choose not to. For now. But watch them in the next 10 years. You might find yourself in overnight queues to be the first to lay your hands on the latest 苹果 handheld personal communicator. Who knows? More pics after the break.

Design My Place

2007-10-12T15:10:00.000+08:00

This is a poster that I did for one of the upcoming projects that I am involved in with re:act aka Really Architecture. This is a society that some of my friends and I set up to promote architecture that is socially conscious and relevant to Southeast Asia. We are sort of a group of people trying to do good with our experiences and skills. You can find out more at our blog and website (though the website hasn't been updated in a while). The workshop that we are doing this round is with AEP students from different JCs. It will be a 3 day non-residential workshop where we teach them to map out their neighbourhood in interesting yet relevant ways and to finally come up with a collective vision for the neighbourhood after making all their observations and studies.

Thiswassupposedtobeaseriousblog - The Youtube Update

2007-10-08T16:40:00.000+08:00

2005 Miami U. Cheezies a cappella: Facebook Song

If you have been reading the papers recently, you would have noticed quite a few articles talking about how much time people at work waste on Facebook and other internet related sites (go read Sumiko Tan's column in the Sunday Times). Remember how on MSN, we used to spend time staring at the screen, waiting for the all too familiar ring which signalled a message by someone, (which we really liked because it meant we were important and people still remembered us). Well, now on Facebook, we have apparently discovered more ways to prop up our self-esteem by superpoking everyone in our friends list, sending people fish for their aquarium, giving our friends vampire bites (which is about the most irritating thing on Facebook), and drawing strange kiddish pictures on their superwalls, all for one insecure reason - that those people would kindly do the same for you and add to your online status. (See above Youtube video.)
(Read on for other more Youtube gems.)

I really do think that Facebook is a great online application to link up with old friends. But I draw the line when it starts making me feel jealous of the other person who has 200 more friends than me, or more posts on his/her superwall or more booze sent to him/her etc. Of course I have since repented and scrubbed my mind clean of any symptoms of Facebookjealousitis.

Just before writing this entry, I wandered into dangerous territory again by signing in to my Facebook account. In all, I had 10 vampire invites, 5 likeness requests and 3 zombie invites. Add to that 4 posts on my Funwall that consisted of one asking me to support the Action for Singapore Dogs society, one with a Carrie Underwood MTV and another which i deleted before bothering to read more. Lesson of the day: Like most online applications, Facebook is not immune to SPAM. Yes, even good intentioned spam by your friends IS considered spam! Here's to all my lovely friends (and I really do consider you my friends) who keep forwarding me stuff that other people have forwarded you: DO THINK TWICE before you press the send-application-to-all-friends button. I have absolutely NO APPRECIATION for all that. I have no intention of turning my profile page into one of those facebook accounts that look more like an advertisement board of spam rather than one that tells people what you are about. Oh wait, maybe that IS what you are about!

Ok now, I'm normally not so fed-up in my posts, but it's kind of frustrating to see Facebook turn into a spam generating machine when used irresponsibly. And I guess it shows too the insecurity of our inner souls and our constant desire to want to feel accepted. Resist it I say! Anyways, this was supposed to me a Youtube update, so enjoy these other gems I found recently.

Sony Bravia Bunnies

This is a great advertisement that is not just beautifully executed, but also managed to get the public involved in the process. In doing so, it become more than just a great ad. It became a wonderful experience for everyone who saw the giant rabbit take form in their city etc. Inspirational. Updated: Here are 2 pics I found that show a little of the process of making the ad.

To round up, an insightful interview with Mohammad Yunus who started the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, providing microcredit to the poor. A true groundbreaker.

Muhammad Yunus on poverty

Watch more on Muhammad Yunos who won the Nobel Peace Prize this year here and here.

Thiswassupposedtobeaseriousblog - The Extraordinary Discoveries Update

2007-10-05T03:39:00.000+08:00

Every wondered how the world looked like from the inside of your mouth? Well, wonder no more. You can now do so yourself using 'The SmileyCam" made by Justin Quinnell. And if you are wondering, yes, that's the inside of his mouth you are staring at. The SmileyCam is really a pinhole camera small enough to put in your mouth. It is a 22 exposure colour negative pinhole camera which can be processed at processing laboratories. One more reason to keep those traditional film processing shops from shutting down. Justin has an entire book of 60 photographs taken this way which you can order from Amazon if you are that crazy about it. The pics are surreal, somewhat hilarious and wacky in a way that makes me want to just slap him on the head with a giant toothbrush. I can just imagine a new toothpaste ad. using this from-the-inside-perspective idea. More pics after the break.

Remember the show The Avatar? Well, Season 3 has finally arrived! In this latest installment, Aang wakes up on a Fire Nation ship spotting a good crop of hair. Find out what happened since his last fight in the season finale of Season 2. ~~More after the break.~~ Update: I had intended to embed the videos of episode 1 here. Sadly, they are no longer available due to copyright violations. Oh well.

Brushing my teeth with a dead spider

Louis (Getting to know Dad)

Nailbiting

Thiswassupposedtobeaseriousblog - The Tech Update

2007-10-05T02:27:00.000+08:00

Here's something that really caught my eye and made me go WOW! That's really cool and a lot more affordable than an iPod Touch! Of course it doesn't do half of what an iPod Touch does either. This is a range of designer USB flash drives from mimoco called mimobot. Thumbdrives have never looked this good if you asked me (those with DIY Burt thumbdrives might disagree though). I actually think they make perfect christmas gifts if you are really rich - a perfect combination of function and form, and are pretty much collector's items! I could well do with one! (hint hint!) These toys are available in 512Mb, 1, 2, 4Gb versions and ship from the US of A. They don't exactly come cheap though. The 1Gb versions go for about US$49.95 and the 2Gb ones, US$69.95. That's about S$80 and S$110 respectively, without shipping. Not too bad if you ask me.

Moving on to something else I would like for Christmas, the newly released Canon 40D.
(Read on for reviews on this new camera.)

Here's a pretty comprehensive review of the 40D by Camera Labs. Conclusion - "The new EOS 40D improves on its predecessor in almost every respect. The resolution has a slight, but measurable increase, the continuous shooting accelerated from 5 to 6.5fps, the AF system and weatherproofing improved, and both the viewfinder and screen enlarged. The EOS 40D also features Live View, anti-dust, interchangeable focusing screens and full PC remote control. Oh, and the ISO value is also finally shown at all times on both the secondary LCD screen and in the viewfinder. If you value these performance enhancements, it could be worth upgrading from the 30D, but if you skipped a generation and are still using the 10D or 20D, there’s enough here for most to justify a purchase." - Camera Labs

Here's another beast that was just released recently, the Nikon D3. Scott Kelby had the chance of spending a few days in the field with it and wrote about his experience with it on his blog. Scott is also the President of NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals and the editor and publisher of Photoshop User Magazine, Layers magazine (the how-to magazine for everything Adobe®). You will find many interesting tips on photoshop at his blog too.

Photo Essay : "A Cookout like no other"

2007-09-30T11:28:00.000+08:00

Thiswassupposedtobeaseriousblog! - The Food Update

2007-09-28T03:00:00.000+08:00

I was wondering whether to do a one time super update, but I think that would make this blog post far too long for any of you to read, so I decided to break it up into a few posts and tag them properly. Ok, first up, after my initial try at cooking Carbonara, I decided to experiment with it another day, and try to improve on the first recipe. This time, I made sure I took a picture of it. Well, so it doesn't really look like the one in the previous picture. Somehow after mixing the cream sauce in, the whole thing looks kind of gooey. I used streaky bacon instead of back bacon this time, a bad mistake. Streaky bacon might be good to fry on its own in strips, but once you cut it up, it falls apart too much! (Read on more more food recomendations!)

Still on the issue of food, I have been telling some of you about this ice cream shop that I discovered about 15 min walk from my home. Well, I finally went to find out more about it. I have not been there myself, but I think their promotional video looks pretty exciting.

The place is called Ice Cream Chefs and it is located along East Coast Road at Ocean Park (besides St Patrick's Sec). Their concept is pretty similar to Cold Rock at Holland Village - choose your flavours, add your mix-ins and watch them combine it into one lovely concoction! I tried Cold Rock the other day and it was indeed heavenly. (I think I had Pistachio and cheesecake with tim tams and brownies.) Let's plan an ice cream outing soon! For those interested, Ice Cream Chefs is opened Sunday - Thursday 1-10pm, and Friday - Saturday & Eve. of PH: 1-11:00pm. Check out their website here.

Oh, and in case you have not noticed, Blogger has ended a video loading application similar to their photo posting one. About time isn't it? Now you don't have to bother yourself with all that copying and pasting of code from Youtube and others.

Lunch-time Adventure

2007-09-15T14:38:00.000+08:00

Having stayed at home for the past 3 days to "piah" my dissertation paper, I got really bored and decided to try something interesting for lunch. I have grown quite sick of eating rice with soup, mee with soup, kway tiao soup etc. That has pretty much been my diet at home since my mum thinks I should eat "healthy" food since I am still trying to get better from my cough. Don't be mistaken. It's not that I don't appreciate my mum's cooking. It's just too much of a good thing for now. The idea of ordering from Thai pan downstairs didn't seem too appealing either so I decided to be adventurous and cook something for my self. I had a certain craving for Carbonara. Short of paying over $10 for a plate of delicious pasta at Cafe Cartel, which incidentally is one of the best I have tried, I decided I shall try to make it by myself.

I don't profess to be any kind of master chef, though give me Google any time and I can follow instructions pretty well. Read more about my cooking experience after the break.

Here's a recipe I found on Yahoo Answers.

From someone called, iliketorideigohago...
(clicke here for other variations of the recipe)

This is the BEST dish ever - my mother calls it my 'signature dish'.

INGREDIENTS:
Right - you'll need eye bacon (about four slices per person) or streaky bacon (whatever your preference). Streaky has a lot more fat, so will be a lot more salty.
2 x egg yolks
Parmesan Cheese (grated) (about half a cup)
Cream - around 350 mls
1 or 2 garlic cloves
Portabello Mushrooms - about 3 large per person

Pasta - fresh and long works best, as it absorbs the flavours.

METHOD:
Cut the bacon in to strips - about 4 or 5cm long, and 2 cm wide.
Put bacon in to medium heat pan (with a touch of olive oil in the bottom) and leave to get crispy.
While bacon is cooking, put raw eggs in to bowl or jug and add parmesan cheese. Mix together.

As the bacon is getting crispy, put the water on for the pasta.

Turn the heat down on the bacon once crispy, and add the one or two (finely chopped) garlic cloves. Once garlic has cooked, add enough of the cream to cover the bottom of the pan, and let simmer.

When the cream has reduced sufficiently (it needs to be fairly thick, but not completely reduced), add the portabello mushrooms (your choice -leave them whole, or slice thinly) I prefer to slice them.

Cook until mushrooms are done and add plenty of cracked pepper.

Ensure that the pasta is done at this point, and drain and put in to warmed dish. take the parmesan / egg mixture from before and mix in to the warm pasta. make sure you mix quickly, otherwise the raw egg will cook and bind to the pasta.

Now add the bacon / cream / mushroom mix to the pasta and mix around (toss).

Grate some parmesan on top, and cracked pepper - and voila!

IT'S AWESOME!

So I went down to the convenience store at my place which didn't turn out to be that convenient at all since I could not find everything I wanted to get. No cream, no parmesan cheese. After some deliberation, I ended up buying a packet of Linguine, a packet of white button mushrooms and a bottle of Prego's mushroom and herb sauce, costing me a total of $11.55. (Now, maybe I should have just gone to Cafe Cartel.)

By the looks of what I managed to buy, I had some improvisation to do. Digging through my well-stocked-by-mum fridge, I managed to find some nice bacon streaks and a big packet of what looked and smelled like parmesan cheese and started cooking away! Chopped the garlic, sliced the bacon, sliced the mushrooms, boiled water for the pasta, put in some butter, put in pasta when water was boiling. PRESTO! It is done! Ha ha. Not quite lah. Anyways, I managed to almost burn the bacon since I think I put the fire too big Also, the cream sauce end up being a little too thick for my liking. Oh, and yes, the pasta was kind of a little tough (not enough boiling time).

I wished I had taken a photo of the final product for all of you, but I finished every bit of it before I could spell B-L-O-G. Loved the bacon. Anyway, the pic above CLOSELY resembles it I promise. And did I mention I made a small mess of the kitchen? Ha ha. I've cleaned it up, and left no evidence lying around. I'll cook it again for any of you if you dare to try...

Photo Essay : "Fishy Business"

2007-09-12T13:17:00.000+08:00

A new apple Touches down

2007-09-07T07:27:00.000+08:00

Introducing the brand new iPod Touch. It's everything we expected and pretty close to what the rumours said it would be. 3.5 inch wide touchscreen, cover flow, iPhone's multi-touch interface, WIFI, possibly bluetooth, Safari web browser, iTunes store over WIFI and Youtube functionality. Apple even has a special tie-in with Starbucks which allows you to preview and buy all those cool songs they play at your favourite coffee place, though they made no mention of this service ever reaching the world outisde of the US of A. How typical of Apple. They should realise by now they are an International product! We pay as much but have no access to iTunes store and Starbucks music. Pity too that with such a gorgeous screen, the iPod Touch maxes out at 16Gb. Not for playing DVD movies I guess.

Go watch Steve Job's keynote speech. It's quite hilarious how he enthuses about everything - especially when he talks about being able to buy a song and pay 99 cents more to use it as a ringtone. Most phones today allow you to do that by just playing an mp3 clip that you can put together from a simple free-to-download audio software. How is paying 50% more for a song I already paid for, just so to convert it into a 30sec ringtone, anything but a rip off and not cool or amazing at all. Don't get me wrong, I love apple products for their attention to design detail and user experience but this sure looks like a scam to me! More gorgeous pics after the break.

Photos from apple.com

Superhumans?

2007-09-05T22:45:00.000+08:00

The 7 year old surgeon - Akrit Jaswal

Remember in school, how some people just stood out because they were overachievers? They topped the school every year, did the maximum subjects available and somehow managed to come in tops in most of them. These are the people who kept you wondering if they had a life or if they spent every second that they had mugging away. Well, the young kids in the following videos certainly give the word overachiever a whole new meaning.

What amazes me most about these true-life stories though, is the potential that each of the young kids have. Imagine... that and more lies within each human being. It makes you wonder what the human potential is really capable of, if all limits were taken off. Scientists tell us we use between 3-5% of our brains only. What would 100% be like? I'm sure the effect would not just be mental but also physiological. Perhaps all that is being shown in the hit TV series Heroes isn't that far fetched after all. If you believe in God, this must sure be evidence of his awesomeness. Wow.
More gifted kids after the break.

The Boy Who Sees Without Eyes

The Four Year Old who Ran Forty Miles

Having fun with clay

2007-09-05T10:30:00.000+08:00

Martin Klimas, a German photographer certainly knows how to work his clay. This series of photographs by him, entitled Still Life, involves him breaking lots of clay models and capturing the essence of their explosive process in a freeze frame. In doing so, he manages to create a great sense of movement and power in his still shots. I appreciate the fact too that many of the models used are figurines of Chinese martial arts exponents in some sort of fighting stance. That combination of fragility and power captured in a split second certainly makes for a visual and emotional feast! Read his interview and see more pictures of this work at The Morning News Gallery and at his personal website. Enjoy two more pics after the break.

Facebook

2007-08-29T12:37:00.000+08:00

I've recently got really interested in this social-networking website, Facebook. It's very much like Friendster, only I think it's so much better. While Friendster got sort of stagnant in offering new services and platforms to generate new interest for subscribers, Facebook seems to have hit the jackpot by building into its architecture a way of allowing 3rd party applications to be written for it.

So I went to open an account of Facebook after deleting many emails sent to me by people who wanted me to "be their friend" on many other pseudo-social-networking platforms, many I've never heard of before. And guess what? I really like it! It's interface is quite intuitive and it doesn't take long before you get the hang of everything and are adding all kind of funny stuff onto it. The best thing about it? Looking for old classmates and friends that you have not seen in years and checking on how their photos to see how they look like now. Ha ha. Yes, we used to have Friendster for that, but somehow, it's much easier to do so on Facebook and I managed to find many more people than I did on Friendster!

I've pieced together a little history of this website that I adapted and summarised from Wikipedia. Read it after the break.

In February 2004, Wyliena Guan founded "The Facebook" while attending Harvard University, with support from Andrew McCollum and Eduardo Saverin. By the end of the month, more than half of the undergraduate population at Harvard were registered on the service which allowed them a convenient way to keep in touch with each other. It quickly expanded to MIT, Boston University, and Boston College. This expansion continued in April of 2004 when it expanded to the rest of Ivy League and a few other schools.

In May 2005, Facebook raised $12.7 million in venture capital from Accel Partners. On August 23, 2005, Aboutface Corporation sold the domain name facebook.com to Facebook for $200,000. The website moved to this new domain name and dropped "the" from its name. As a part of the move, the site was overhauled to make profile pages more user-friendly. Then, on September 2, 2005, Zuckerberg launched the high school iteration of Facebook, calling it the next logical thing to do.

On Aug 22, Facebook introduced Facebook Notes, a blogging feature with tagging, embedded images, and other features, also allowing the importation of blogs from Xanga, LiveJournal, Blogger, and other blogging services. This newly added feature also included the common blog feature of allowing readers to comment on users' entries. On September 11, 2006, Facebook became open to all users of the Internet, prompting protest from its existing user base. Two weeks later, Facebook opened registration to anyone with a valid e-mail address. On May 14, 2007, Facebook launched an API that allows the development of applications to be used on the site, known as Facebook Platform.

In September 2006, serious talks between Facebook and Yahoo! took place for the acquisition of the social network, with prices reaching as high as $1 billion. In October, after Google purchased video-sharing site YouTube, rumors circulated that Google had offered $2.3 billion to outbid Yahoo! Peter Thiel, a board member of Facebook, indicated that Facebook's internal valuation is around $8 billion based on their projected revenues of $1 billion by 2015, comparable to that of Viacom's MTV brand and based on shared target demographic audience.

Photo Essay : "Support the Yellow Ribbon Project"

2007-08-28T13:23:00.000+08:00

CANON Onslaught

2007-08-21T18:37:00.000+08:00

Back (L-R): EF 14 mm F2.8 L II USM, EF-S 55-250 mm IS and EOS 1D Mark III

Front (L-R): EF-S 18-55 mm IS lens, EOS 40D, PowerShot SD870 IS, PowerShot G9

So it's official! After a whirlwind of rumours and a few slip ups from Amazon, Canon recently announced it's next range of cameras that are guaranteed to keep those Canon fans' tongues wagging for a while. Top of the line is the brand new 1Ds Mark III with a whopping 21.1 megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor with DIGIC III technology and a 3-inch wide screen. Yes, that's right. 21.1 MP! Now who on earth would need so much pixels in a camera? Someone with US$7,999 that is. That's like S$12,000? Or 4,800 plates of chicken rice. Enough for a life time or two.

What I am more interested in really, is the much anticipated EOS 40D (above). The previous upgrade to the 20D - the 30D, was kind of a disappointing half-grade.This time round, Canon might just have a winner on its hands! 10.1 Megapixels, 6,5fps, 3-inch screen and Live View! Now, we just have to wait to see how it does on the noise levels. The 40D introduces one very interesting optional accessory - a vertical grip with built in WiFi capability and ethernet and USB ports to boot. And it costs US$1,200? Now that's about how much I bought my 350D for a few years ago!

Also new is the PowerShot G9. Canon has brought back shoot-in-RAW and up the megapixel count to 12.1. Yes, there is also image stabilizer, a 3-inch screen, 6x optical zoom (35-210mm, 35mm equivalent), 25 modes of shooting and face detection technology. It's relatively compact (106.4 x 71.9 x 42.5 mm) and weighs all of 320g. If I had an extra $1,000 to spare, I would sure get this as a compact replacement. All it needs to make it perfect is a wide angle lens. Oh, and I still miss the swivel screen. Then again, that's why we have the PowerShot S5 IS.

Other releases from Canon include the PowerShot SD870 IS (shown above), SD950 IS, SX100 IS, A650 IS, A720 IS and three new lenses - the EF-S 18-55 mm IS, EF-S 55-250 mm IS and EF 14 mm F2.8 L II USM (all three shown above).

Check out Digital Photography Review for more info and pics.

"Cough Cough!"

2007-08-21T11:59:00.000+08:00

I've been sick and trying to get well while writing my dissertation. Actually, I went to the docs last Wed and told her I needed to get well quick. She gave me some medicine which I thought included some form of antibiotics. I lost my voice on Friday but decided to finish the medicine first.

This morning I went to see her again. After doing the normal check-ups, she said, "I think I better give you antibiotics."

"Huh...?!" (I thought to myself.... )

It was then that I realised that I had been taking normal flu medicine all these while. Something like panadol, but maybe stronger. And all along, I was thinking, "Let me finish this dose of antibiotics before I see her again." Arrgh. I should have gone right back on Friday!

I pray I get better in time for this Sunday's Singapore Bay Run which I am going in support of the Yellow Ribbon Project. I will be there with my guys, all proudly flashing our yellow singlets (not so proudly actually, don't like the design) and running/ walking all of 6km with guess what... Yellow Ribbon Balloon Hats! We did a practice run last Sunday, and I must say, it was quite a sight to behold! Let's hope that is good enough to draw some media attention to the Yellow Ribbon Project. Below is a sample of how we might look like this Sunday. Now, imagine about 20 of us running in cadence with that. How cool is that?!

If you are interested about the Yellow Ribbon Project, click here to find out more about their activities in Sept.

Ma ma always said it was better to have a longer neck.

2007-08-14T13:36:00.001+08:00

I've not posted any original photos in a while and that's because I've not been taking any. I miss going out to just walk around and capture things that catch my eye. I'm not really the wait one hour for the dragonfly to land on the flower in front of you kind of photographer. Nothing against such photography. I appreciate macro photography very much, especially those that have to do with nature and spiders (yes I have a strange fascination with spiders.) I'm just not so patient. I'm more the candid shots kind of person. More the shoot and run kind. Ha.

Anyway, I was going through my old photos and I realised that one theme which has cropped up quite frequently, whether intentional or not, is that of lamp posts and power lines. To me, they form an interesting pattern of lines and meshes when juxtaposed against a sometimes clear, other times dramatic sky. These pipe-like structures seem to swing up in a sort of lyrical way, and form some sort of conversation with the other elements around it. Perhaps they may speak to you in a different way.

More pictures after the break.

View the entire collection here.

HAPPY 42ND BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE!!!

2007-08-10T00:49:00.000+08:00

Taken at yesterday's NDP Celebration.
Don't you think the water drop graphic has a really cool retro feel to it?

There seems to be something really "uncool" about nationalistic pride these days. Somehow, we have grown up thinking that feeling for our country and nation is something bad, perhaps even something to be embarrassed about. People think - if you are pro-Singapore, you are pro-PAP and that makes you a subservient lackey of the government. What a mouthful and so far from the truth. In the process of learning to be critical and not just "Yes men", we might have turned into skeptical, convenient and maybe even heartless bystanders of this place we call home. In my growing up years, I have often shared with the people around me (often to many too-quick retorts of "That's just gah-men propaganda lah...") that there is much to be thankful for here in Singapore.

Be thankful for the government. They have successfully turned Singapore around from a miniscue primitive fishing port to become one of the greatest success stories of the modern world. "Huh? Where got success? You mean suck cents ah? The gah-men never upgrade my flat! COE so high, now somemore increase GST? Gah-men think we very rich ah! @#&*!!^" Well, what about the fact that you own your own house? That your children have an almost guaranteed opportunity to be educated? That you can travel from Tampines to Raffles City in 25 min WITHOUT a car? These are things that many around the world don't even come close to enjoying.

Be thankful we are a small country with minimum resources. The fact that we are so dependent on the economies of the world also means that we are more knowledgeable about them, that we are more mobile, that we have to and can be more connected to them. Precisely because we are forced to move out of our tight little constraints of this tiny red dot on the map, the world has become our playground. We have been blessed with the opportunity to experience cultures and environments that people in much bigger and resource-abundant countries are not even aware of. Our multi-cultural, multi-racial, multi-religious background allows us to be naturals at adapting to another culture overseas. We know how to appreciate diversity yet hold on to our heritage because that is what we try to do every day in this garden of an island.

Speaking of gardens, let's be thankful that while we often think of ourselves as one hard concrete jungle, truth is, there is much greenery around us. Walk around the streets in Shanghai or Beijing and you will realise that trees are grey, not green.

True, there are many things that could be be better, but since when did we become such perfectionistic whiners who care only that we can be number one in everything? Better still if someone does all that for us. Are we proud of Singapore? It's hard to be proud of something if we did not put in effort into creating it. You might have tasted the best banana cake in the world, but as long as your experience is just limited to the tasting, the greatest pride and satisfaction belong only to the person who baked it. We OWN this land. The people here, they are family. Shouldn't that mean something? Isn't that something worth investing in and caring for?

Yesterday, as I watched the fireworks explode into the sky on TV, and saw people from different walks of life celebrating together, something moved in me. I thought about what they were happy about. The skeptical side of me rationalised that perhaps they were caught up in the moment. They were experiencing an emotional high from the climax of all the festivities that were going about. But as I pondered further, I hope they were celebrating too because they were proud to be Singaporeans. That when they recited the pledge, they did so with conviction for what we stood for as a sovereign nation. That when they sang the National Anthem, it wasn't because they were forced to do so since primary school, but because it was worth declaring again that as a nation, we will not bow to adversity but press on to even brighter days.

I am proud of Singapore. I am proud to be a Singaporean. So what if our flag is not as cool as the union jack which has found its way to become some sort of a fashion inspiration? Our flag flies high where it matters - on our HDB balconies, across the bay swaying from a Chinook, as a 120m x 80m human weave at the Padang and most importantly, in our hearts as a reminder of how unique and special we are. You might have heard this before, but allow me to say it again. Singapore IS a miracle. I don't mean to say that we have created this miracle. No, we ARE one by the grace of God. Treasure it. Be thankful for it. Choose to live it.

Click on second icon from the right to view fullscreen.
Photos courtesy of my brother.

The new iMac

2007-08-08T15:34:00.000+08:00

Apple introduced it's new iMac yesterday together with revamped editions of its lifestyle and work productivity suites and a revised look to its photo web gallery on .mac.

The new iMac comes in a new aluminum casing with black high quality plastic trimmings and a lot more glass. After previous criticism on its products not being very environmentally friendly, Mr Jobs seems only too happy to reiterate the fact many times over that the new iMac is made from aluminum and glass which are highly recyclable. I'm not too convinced about that story. Being an environmentally responsible company goes beyond just using good-looking metal and glass to make your project attractive. It involves a re-look at the entire manufacturing process and a commitment and strength to change certain practices that are harmful, to ones that are not just environmentally harmless, but help to promote its healthy existence. Having said that, the new iMac is certainly one good-looker. Though perhaps, you might want to change that blue apple theme on your desktop to a sleeker graphite-based colour. More on the iMac here.

The new iLife'08 suite features a revamped iPhoto with a brand new "Events" feature that aims to help you manage your photos better and also some new photo editing tools, obviously technology taken from its bigger brother - Aperture. iMovie is an entirely new architecture on its own and makes creating home movie clips even more intuitive and flexible, certianly worth checking out.

The revamped iWork '08 suite features minor upgrades for Pages and Keynote, but the real gem here is Numbers'08, their brand new spreadsheet program. Thanks to apple, we now have a spreadsheet software that is not just concerned with crunching numbers, but also with how we present them. Something that Microsoft should have paid more attention to, with Excel.

Finally, the Web Gallery at .Mac features some really smooth browsing animation. It's just like your very own online iPhoto. Kudos to Apple for making the user experience so much more fun and enjoyable and for a lack of a better word, COOL. Yups, the coolness factor of it's products just reached a new high. And we are not even talking about Leopard yet. Enjoy.

More Meat, More Meat!

2007-08-06T11:01:00.000+08:00

Call me a Youtube nut if you want. Truth is, it is full of amazing, amusing stuff which sometimes border on the mind-boggling. Here's one.

This is how Samsung celebrates its 10,000,000th mobile phone sold. What a display. Perhaps our NDP organising committee could learn a thing or two from them. Then again, it would take a group of really crazy industrious people to perform something like that. That would mean, Koreans or Japanese. I really believe these are 2 groups of really innovative, humourous people with ermm... too much time on their hands sometimes? Just take a look at this.

Presenting the Algorithm March. Amusing is all I can say about it. Yet, strangely addictive. I can imagine doing it for an ice-breaker. Ha ha. Wouldn't that be interesting now? KS just told me he wants our G12 to learn it. Ermm... no comments. He did take the words out of my mouth though, "It's so silly, it's fun!"

Finally, here's a blog site, bLog by Pixels that I came across recently. If anything, I love it for its food reviews! And most of the food places are pretty accessible to me to! Anyone wants to join me to make your own ice cream?

I realised my blog has pretty much degenerated into a bunch of posts of amusing Youtube videos and some sprinkling of interesting design. Ha. I guess I need to put more meat into it soon. Not literally. ... You know what I mean...

Gum Revision

2007-08-06T10:07:00.000+08:00

I went through the design of the logo again and revised it a little. This is a version that I might use for a nice big poster, where all the detailing of the line pattern can be appreciated. Certainly not for a small crest on at polo t though. Before you start thinking I am this amazing graphic designer, most of the logo was put together from pre-designed artwork taken off istockphoto. This was a really quick job which required a quick solution.

By the way, Gum Gum probably means "Good together", or "Can click together". Then again, it could be someone with a penchant for repeating words in a sentence. In that case, it would go something like this, "Hey dude, do you have and chewing gum gum with you? I'm starved!" or "What's wrong with your gum gum? It's chao ji red lah. Better go see a gumtist." Or so I think...

Gum Gum Ho

2007-08-04T01:27:00.000+08:00

I just finished this design of 2 logos for my brother. He is involved in this year's NDP as a mentor for the NDP motivators. These are students from various ITEs in Singapore who help bring up the atmosphere during NDP by motivating the crowd through cheers and actions. The logo is for their T-shirt, or rather my brother's cluster who decided to give themselves a rather interesting name, "Gum Gum". The main logo goes on the front of the T-shirt, while the other one in the background goes on the back, just below the collar.

Mentos & Carlsberg - Lethal Combination

2007-08-02T18:31:00.000+08:00

Not quite another guy trying to duplicate the mentos & coke experiment. Ouch!

Honourgradables

2007-08-01T17:52:00.000+08:00

The flu has got me down. Dry throat, slightly sore, body aches, mucus filled nose and that bland taste on my tongue. Yucks.

Meanwhile, need to write out dissertation. Deadline is looming.

Meanwhile, some pics from a good friend's recent graduation ceremony at NUS.

And the sun still shines

2007-07-30T14:51:00.000+08:00

Yes! I did it! Here's how it went.

10.00am - I left my house for East Cost Park where the race was held, just beside the East Coast Food Centre.

10.05am - On the way to the underpass, I felt the bicycle seat shift about halfway backwards. If there was a speech bubble above my head then, it would have said, "WHAT ON EARTH?!!!!"
I immediately turned around cycled home and grabbed the alan key from my desk to tighten the bolt after adjusting the seat. (Just before I left home earlier, I had this prompting to bring it along but decided that I wouldn't need it. A price I paid, for not listening to the prompting in my heart.)

10.10am - Left home AGAIN for East Coast Park. As I rode past the security guards at the entrance for the 3rd time in 10 min, I was wondering what they might have been thinking.

10.20am - I reached the race transition area and entered along the row of white tents. I kept wondering, "Do I need to register???" There was no sign at all. Only a counter that said INFORMATION. And then something really foul hit my nostrils with a vengeance. I looked up and there it was... A river of thick grey mud that extended all the way from the tents to the bike transition area - a whole 60m of earthworm playground. I swung the bike over my right shoulder and began the endless trudge through wasteland. I could here the "ooze" each time my now half-grey running shoes stepped in.

10.25am - After treading as gingerly as possible, I found my bike rack only to discover that some "champion" had conveniently plonked his bike and stuff at my rack. If you ever read this Mr 2384, that was very rude and inconsiderate of you. You deserved to be spanked! It was too much of an effort to move his stuff so I just took his rack instead. I laid out my stuff and started to run through in my mind the sequence of things I needed to do as I reached the bike transition area after the swim. The weather looked rather promising.

Taken at the beach as we were making out way to the swim start point.

10.35am - Meiqi finally found me and somehow managed to sneak inside the transition area. Halfway down the bike lane, she lost her left slipper in the mud and I went over to help her. (Btw, meiqi has a rather amazing way of sneaking into places. The last time, she found her way into Tekong during my BMT parent's visitation weekend. Without a ticket. It's her gifting I tell you.)

10.40am - We join up with Huimei and walk over to the Swim Start Point.

10.45am - My bro and Eunice joins us.

10.50am - The wind starts to blow really strongly. The Swim Start stand falls over. The air filled inflatable start point arch bends backwards almost 90 degrees. The sea marshals seem to be calling people out of the sea.

Spectators braving the strong wind for some warm pop corn.

Just look at how the inflatable arch is bending backwards!

11.00am - First drops of rain come down. The horizon is a gloomy portrait of dark stormy clouds.

11.10am - Rain gets heavier. We hurry to the food centre to take shelter. The race is stopped for the time being.

11.30am - My actual race start time. It is still pouring. And we are at the hawker centre eating carrot cake and orh luah. A lady comes over to advertise for some swim marathon and we end up 100K-ing her.

Taking shelter at the East Coast Food Centre

11.45am - Rain subsides and there seems to be people gathering at the start point again. I walk over and do some warm up strokes in the sea. I'm somewhat thirsty by now and walk over to the bike transition area to find my water bottle.

12.05am - I meet Yong Howe and he says that the race has been converted to a shortened biathlon. Cycle and run only. I go look for a race official and find Alex. True enough, the organisers have cancelled the swim and halfed the distance of the swim and run as they need to open the roads by 3pm. The amended route is as such - Run from Swim Start point to bike area, cycle 2 loops (20km) followed by run 1 loop (5km).

12.15pm - I decide not to carry on. No point further dirtying the bike and shoes with all the mud and over such a short distance. Still can make it in time for Youth Service. I pack up and cycle home. Yong How's giving me a lift to Expo.

Yes, I did it! I made it all the way to the start point after one and a half months of preparation! Though it was a little of a bummer because due to the bad weather, I was glad I made it all the way. Am I disappointed? Not really, actually. I'm quite confident I would have completed the race. Many people asked about the money, whether got refund, so wasted etc. To me, it is a non-issue. It was all part of the "price" that I paid to prepare for this race. And I think I have already gained more than my money's worth in terms of the experience of training for the race, doing something that I enjoy, and also something that I can enjoy doing together with my brother. For once, I actually experienced a bond that I never did feel before with my bro. THAT is priceless. I learned much about preparing physically for such a race, about the equipment needed, about power gels and accelerate and about tri suits and tops and etc.

I kind of understood what it really meant that the journey mattered more than the end result. It really did. I know my being is different now, than it was 6 weeks ago. I have overcome certain mindsets and understood more about myself and my potential in God.

I shall live to race another day. And many others. Would anyone like to join me?

That's what walking in mud does to you. And the camera bag. Eeew.

Me and Daniel.

Me and Yong Howe.

Eunice, me, Meiqi and Huimei.

It's a beauitful day

2007-07-29T08:10:00.000+08:00

And so I will be running the Osim OD (Olympic Distance) Triathlon today at 11.30am. After one and a half months of training, this is the day. And I have to be down with a slight flu - throat irritation and blocked nose. Still, I thank God for the great weather. The sun is up and it looks like it should stay for a while.

I woke up at 7am though the alarm was set for 8am. Cooked myself some breakfast and did some preparation. Huimei came over to collect the camera and go for her run. She, my bro and some other friends will be there for the flag off. My Dad came out and before he left the house, said a short prayer for me. Obviously still in the mood for yesterday's TCS Walk, he went...

"Lord, we pray for Joe as he goes for his walkathon..."

(short silence followed by outbursts of laughter from the rest of us.)

Ha ha. Oh well. I'm glad the family is around. Makes it so much easier to put forth your best. I hope to finish in 3h 30min. And then, go see doctor to get medicine. Till then, wait for the good news of my results!

I want my Joovcuh Lookada Tuv!!!

2007-07-26T11:17:00.000+08:00

Yes, this is how our next generation of children are going to start speaking if we are not careful here in Singapore. Imagine in 20 year's time. "Sir, would you like to take the Eeecoupteh or the Cooteher?" (replies) "I don't know! I just want to get to my Hudub!" Don't get it? Watch on.
[Warning: Not suitable for young primary school kids who have yet to learn the basic foundations of the English language.]

Kayvan Novak, who appeared in Syriana as the character Arash has started his own TV series in the UK called Fonejacker, which is what you are watching above. There are more episodes at Youtube. Just don't fall off your seat watching them!

Where the Wind blows

2007-07-25T03:38:00.000+08:00

This advertisement won top honours in the recent 2007 Cannes Lions, which celebrates the best and most creative in the advertising industry. "Evolution" for Dove, by Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto, was a double Grand Prix winner, winning in both the Cyber and Film categories. Personally, I think the idea is not a new one. Search under "photoshop makeover" in Youtube and you would find many other such clips. The beauty, perhaps, is in its execution and the appropriateness of its message at a time like this.

This other ad, I absolutely loved. It was one of the Gold Lion winners, also considered for Best Ad in the Film category. Subtle, yet telling a powerful message too. Go ahead and watch it.

What a breath of fresh air.... or wind. Great storyline, a good dose of drama, beautiful execution and amazing direction. When I was in Secondary School, our English teacher would let us read short stories. One of the things that I remembered of some of the best stories I read was that you never could really tell what was going to happen in the end. And just when your imagination takes over and you have the ending all played out in your mind, the story hits you with a final twister and you think, "Wow! Let me read that again." This ad made me want to watch it all over again. If we could be this creative, how much more our maker.

Credit where it's due: The Wind. Agency: NORDPOL+ HAMBURG Creative Director: Lars Ruehmann Art Director: Bjoern Ruehmann/Joakim Reveman/Matthew Branning Production Company, City: PARANOID PROJECTS, Paris Country: FRANCE 2nd Production Company, City: PARANOID US, Los Angeles Country: USA Director: The Vikings

Thanks to American Copywriter.

Interesting Web Environments

2007-07-23T18:02:00.001+08:00

In this increasingly competitive commercial world we live in, it matters how you advertise yourself (your professional skills) or the products you are selling. Marketing matters. And these people do it wonderfully, online. User experience is the key word here. These are examples of people thinking out-of-the-box and presenting themselves or their products in a simple, yet excitingly imaginative way.

Let's start with one of favourite apparel brands, UNIQLO. I first got acquainted with them in Shanghai when I was there for a short trip. I ended up buying 7 T-shirts from the shop at Raffles City (the one in Shanghai, not Singapore) and they have since become my favourite place for interesting T-shirts. Click on "Uniqlo Explorer" and watch your web world turn into a colourful mosaic of their clothing selection. You can even select to view the products by categories and watch as the jumpers/shirts/dresses drift up dreamily.

Stephen Gates is a designer and a 2nd generation Creative Director. He maintains a regular blog on design and advertising related stuff while not slaving away at his next project. The site here is his online resume which is not too flashy, but yet demonstrated to prospective employers his proficiency in his trade.

Aaron Jasinski's portfolio of painting works and original music compositions just made me want to click my mouse button again and again. In fact, I was so intrigued with his music portfolio animation I kept hitting the relod button on my browser so that I could watch the coloured circles unfold again and again. There's just something extremely lyrical about them!

Finally, is this incredibly addictive site by the makers of affordable, practical and handsome looking furniture - IKEA. Everything just unfolds before your eyes. Enough said, go experience it for yourself. (Now is it just me of did I hear the Ikea box whisper, "Transform!")

Procrastination and the internet

2007-07-23T12:20:00.000+08:00

Now why does this all seem so familiar? Ok, stop reading right now, get off the internet and go start on that project that is long overdue.

Cartoon by Dave Walker.

Does ironing my own clothes make me an ironman?

2007-07-23T11:34:00.001+08:00

Ok, So, who says I am not Ironman material???! Ermm... actually, I don't think I am. I do have a brother who has completed one though, if that counts. So what's this all about? Well, in less than 6 days, I will be taking part in my FIRST Olympic Distance Triathlon! That's right! I signed up for the OSIM OD (Olympic Distance) Triathlon this July 29th 2007 and if I have to drag my body over that finishing line, I will drag my body over that finishing line.

Actually, it's not that I am unprepared for this race. My kind brother came up with a training program for me about one and a half months ago and I have been trying to follow it faithfully as much as I can. Here's what it looks like.

It's been an interesting past few weeks, with a quite a few first time experiences. I ran my first 10km in 5++ years, I cycled my first 50 km on a road bike (not including overnight cycling trips), I swam my first 30 laps in the pool, comfortably in freestyle throughout and I ate my first packet of powergel (yucks!). And you know what? I kind of enjoyed every bit of it!
Strangely, besides the slight strain in my left knee, I am still pretty much the same size, shape and weight. Do I have exercise-resistant blubber or what?

I must say a big thanks to those who have been encouraging me on so far - my brother for getting me interested in the first place, Huimei my training partner for this season, Sook San for your support and kind words, Eunice for keeping me away from Pocky and Ezra for lending me your bike. Here's my report card so far (the parts in blackened out are what I did).

Meanwhile, I am still on my quest to find my six friends - Abby, Abigail, Abbas, Abnilieus, Absent and Abu. I call them the Abs Family. Go figure.

3d Hong Kong

2007-07-22T03:22:00.000+08:00

Overview of the 3D map done by Edoshi.

Being an architecture student, I am always intrigued by the different ways people use to represent their city. This is a project from Hong Kong that I was really impressed by. You can think of it as Sim City Hong Kong if you would like. Now, wouldn't it be great if you could point to the places in there and then a real time picture of the area pops up? Technology has certainly made the world smaller. You don't have to be at a place physically to know and experience it. My guess however, is that if you google earth Hong Kong and point to the same place, I doubt it would look as orderly and pristine as it does in the simulation. Nevertheless, it's worth checking out here. Though it's just a graphical representation, you can navigate the area, zoom in zoom out, find out information about different buildings, bus services in that area, etc. It's not just decorative. It IS a virtual map of the area. Have fun playing around!

Blown away by the level of intricate details rendered.

Check out the reflection at the side of the building! WAH!

Photo Essay : "Daddy Moo, Is That Yoo?"

2007-07-21T00:05:00.000+08:00

What do you think would be a suitable caption for the above picture? Send in your entries today! Winner gets a free lunch from me!

Get creative! Write your entries to the above question here under the comments section!
31 May 07 | 4:20 am

AND THE WINNER IS... "Daddy Moo, Is That Yoo?"
Yes, after much deliberation, I have finally picked the winner to my first photo caption contest! I was looking for something funny, something with a wicked sense of humour, something that got me cracking up the first time I looked at it and made me laugh quietly to myself each time I thought of it. Well, this was the closest to that I could find.

Actually, there was one that DID get me cracking up the moment I saw it. I loved Charmaine's "Family Luncheon in the Park". Only, it should have been "Luncheon on the Grass". You probably didn't know it yet, Charmaine, but you were making reference to a painting by Eduard Manet, a painter who caused much public scandal during his time with his painting of a nude woman lunching casually with two fully dressed men. I thought it hilarious considering the photo as 2 naked cows with a fully clothed man. Ha ha. Nevermind if you don't get my humour. You can find the picture in the post below.

Here's the picture of Manet's "Luncheon on the Grass". See the resemblance? Ha ha. Mooooo.

Read more about the painting here. Mind you, it is 208 × 265.5 cm.
Not small at all.
By the way, who is zapple90??! Shall we have luncheon on the grass? Ha ha. :)

Animator vs Animation

2007-07-19T12:16:00.000+08:00

I thought this was quite clever. And entertaining. And amusing. Something to entertain you while I work towards posting more regularly.

I try to make myself invisible

2007-05-22T04:38:00.000+08:00

Many things happened over the weekend. I was at a church camp as logistic support and it was a blast. I enjoyed myself thoroughly making sure that everything was prepared for each session of the camp. The perfectionistic side of me gained satisfaction in seeing that all I had planned for came to pass. It was a fun time of anticipating possible problems and making sure they didn't happen. It might sound like I am making a big deal out of a simple camp, but from my experience, that's the way to make good logistic support - make a big deal out of everything. Look into all the details, try to cover every possible angle, and then add that human touch. Sweet.

I've come up with a list of what you should do to make good logistic support.

1. Know what your logistics are. Make a list and count everything (except disposables) so that you can ensure nothing is lost at the end of the activity.

2. Do not take short cuts in packing or keeping equipment. It pays to pack your stuff neatly and orderly, even if you are going to use them again the next day. This helps cultivate a sense of respect for your equipment and also develop a culture of caring for your equipment among your team. This is especially applicable to wires and audio/ video equipment. You DON'T WANT anything to be tangled up. It will just be a waste of time untangling them.

3. Anticipate, anticipate and anticipate. This could be the one most important word in logistics. You need to always think of what the trainer, activity or session might require and then work towards ensuring that all these needs could be met in the shortest time possible (immediately if possible) and without much hassle. This calls for serious planning.
Eg. When setting up speaker system - How many mikes are needed, are the wires long enough if the speaker wants to walk further out.

Would you need a mike stand? Where do you place it? Would it block someone from seeing the screen?

How many electronic equipment need to be set up? Where is the powerpoint? How should you arrange your extension cords to maximise the power supply available.

Is the table big enough for everything to be place on it? Where would the speaker be standing? How can you place the projector on the table such that he still has place for his laptop and other materials etc.

You probably should be able to think of many more of such questions to ask yourself.

4. Follow your instincts. When you face a situation whereby you wonder if you should prepare for extra equipment just in case something happens, DO IT. Most of the time, it would seem that things would still go on fine... until the dreaded happens and you kick yourself for not being the wiser.

5. Try to be as invisible as possible. Some people don't understand this. The ultimate aim of logistic support is really to provide the support as seemless as possible. This means that when the speaker or trainer or activity leader needs something, it is right there for him before he even needs to ask for it. And when he is done with it, it magically disappears so that nothing gets in the way of him doing his thing. Movement of equipment should be done in the quietest way possible without anybody noticing.

6. Give the human touch. When preparing for this camp, we took the effort to do up the registration counter, even setting up a stand decorated with flowers and with a box of sweets to greet the participants who came in. A small gesture but certainly goes a long way. During breakfast, soft music was played in the background of the dining hall to welcome the campers. Where possible, background music becomes a brilliant way to transit from one session/ activity to the next.

7. Lastly, have fun. If you have a team working with you, give clear instructions so that together with your team's initiative, tasks can be completed in the fastest time possible. Enjoy your service with you team. Encourage them constantly and appreciate them.

As I type this, I am preparing to fly off to Shenyang, China for an overseas Service Learning trip. More on that when I return. I've got to be at the airport at 6am so I've got to rush. Anyways, I am still looking for kind souls who are willing to help find this trip for me. I get to extend fundraising till one month after the trip. Pls help if you can. :)

Joshua Teo

Photo Essay : "A Cake Called Yummylicious"

2007-05-18T12:08:00.000+08:00

Chocolate Chip Cupcake from
cedele bakery.
One word - YUMMYLICIOUS!

My First Time

2007-05-18T11:31:00.001+08:00

I taught my first photography lesson to a friend 2 Tuesdays ago. No, I am not a professional, I don't even consider myself a serious hobbyist, but I thought it would be fun to share whatever knowledge I had with someone who was just starting out.

We spent some time seating in front of the comp looking through photos I had taken before that I considered successful shots and went through a crash course on how to use his Canon 350D. After that, we took off downstairs my condo for some real-time action! It was really refreshing for me to walk around with my camera looking for interesting things to capture. I haven't done that in a looong while, not since GCYC Conference last year I think!

After a while, we were taking secret pictures of people which we termed "candid shots" but I admit if I showed them to you, you would think we were more like stalkers! Ha! There was this one with a VJ boy and his gf though.... now don't let your imagination run wild! They were just sitting on a bench talking! Ha ha. Anyways, back to our pictures. Although the sun was fast disappearing, we managed to get some interesting pictures. Here are some of mine. Enjoy. :)

Photo Essay : "Work Machine"

2007-04-21T20:43:00.000+08:00

This was the state of my room while I was in the midst of working through my Design Thesis. I have never been so stressed out by any one project and there were many times I even entertained thoughts of just throwing in the towel. Imagine that.

Well, I pulled through of course, thanks to the many friends who lent a helping hand... and legs and head and whichever other part of your body you had to use to help me finish my model and panels. I guess my words will not be enough to express how grateful I am to all of you. Your help gave me much encouragement to persevere on and finish this race.

And yes, I must thank the one person whom I trusted this project to and whose miraculous hand I saw in every single part of this project. Thanks a lot, GOD. You're the best!

Photo Essay : "Unstaged"

2007-04-08T20:43:00.000+08:00

On first look, you might not think anything special about this photo. But it sort of summarised the entire mood of the trip for us. Spontaneous, comfortable, enjoyment, good company, and a great warm family time. This goes into the books as one of the best family holidays ever. Great scenery and lots of opportunities for us to enjoy the fellowship. We were laughing at each other's jokes and taking care of each other. What a blessing.

Hosanna in the Highest

2007-04-07T02:10:00.000+08:00

Wow, this song, "Hosanna" is taken off Hillsong United's latest album - All Of The Above. While I heard it's not a live album this time round, this was recorded at their EncounterFest 2006. For those of you who do not know, Hillsong is a church in Australia whose music and songs have impacted Christians worldwide with their distinct sound and simple yet beautiful lyrics.

What impressed me about this video was not so much the song itself (though i think it's beautiful) but the person who wrote it. That's the lady you see singing in the video. Her name is Brooke Fraser and she's been one of the key song writers in the hills team for some time. In fact, she's got 2 solo albums (commercial albums, not under Hillsong church) to her name too. Those who listen to Hillsong will be more familiar with names like Joel Houston, Marty Sampson, Reuben Morgan etc. Yups, and they are all lads. Nothing wrong with that, but it's really refreshing to see someone different take the stage. While I probably do not know enough of Brooke to give her my full endorsement, this is indeed one accomplished singer-songwriter. Here's why.

Born in Wellington, New Zealand on December 15, 1983, she was only 19 years old when her debut album "What To Do With Daylight" catapulted her into the charts with four number one radio hits and sales exceeding seven times platinum. That's over 100,000 albums in New Zealand alone! This year she will be 24 and her new album, "Albertine" was released in Dec 2006, produced by Marshall Altman, a recording artist and former Columbia Records A&R director who recently hit success producing Marc Broussard. Her studio band were a bunch of good-hearted and super-talented fellows who have played for stars including Jane's Addiction, Gwen Stefani, Alanis Morrisette, Lionel Richie, Jewel, John Mayer, Sarah McLachlan and more. Albertine has since gone 2 x Platinum in less than 1 month since its release.

So what's this gal's connection with Hillsong? After the success of her first album, Brooke Gabrielle Fraser moved to Sydney and has been attending Hillsong Church since then! She is a worship leader there and collaborator on the Hillsong United series of worship albums. She did the vocals on the song "None But Jesus" on the United We Stand album but I'm not sure if she wrote it.

Back to the latest Hillsong United Album, All Of The Above. While the album is not available in Singapore yet, you can find a write up of the album here. I was reading The Story Behind All Of The Above on the Hillsong website and listening to Hosanna at the same time when I felt goosebumps all over my body. It was the part where Joel Houston was talking about "the i heart revolution" project which is "ambitious, and time consuming, and large, and everything that would be required and expected in the pursuit of trying to create something significant". Wow. To create something significant for God. That brought back to my mind, dreams that I once had. A desire to be used by God significantly for His glory. I seem so far away from that now.

It's funny you know. I felt God reminding me that the key to the big things is in the small things. What's significant to Him is our relationship with Him. Our heart for Him and for His people. As you listen to this song again, may you be filled with the passion to return to Him and worship Him for who He is. Hosanna in the highest.

Photo Essay:"Beauty like a fairy"

2007-04-06T01:33:00.000+08:00

Ok, I want to start a series of landscape shots that I took during my travels in China. If you have been there to China before, you will know the sky is nothing like that in Australia. No luminous blues with dramatic puffy clouds almost every other day. Most of the time, you see grey skies and lots of mist, especially when you are in the mountains. Remember how Chinese brush paintings look like? Well, in real life, the scenery is not much different. Muted colours that present themselves in different shades and grades. More subtle if you ask me. There were times, like when I was in Beijing when we had really good sun. That proved a bonus for us when we climbed the Great Wall there at Si Ma Tai. Really breathtaking.

For now, here's a pic from our family trip to Chong Qing. If I remember correctly, this is part of Xian Nu Shan or Fairy Mountain at the outskirts of Chong Qing.

Magic Balls

2007-04-04T19:26:00.000+08:00

This was so fun to play with I couldn't resist putting it up for all of you to try. WARNING LABEL: Do not try playing more than 3 times. You might end up spending the whole night doing nothing but this! Don't say I didn't warn you! :)

Photo Essay:"A Glowing Beauty"

2007-04-02T14:52:00.000+08:00

Ahh... my favourite 12 Apostles picture. On hindsight, I wonder why I didn't experiment with many more shots of this when the sun was just right. Normally, I would have been firing off like nobody's business. (This is actually a cropped shot. The origianl was a portrait shot.) My only regret? I did not take this at a higher resolution and with less noise. And that I didn't have my 350D with a sharp wide angle then. Well, you get some you lose some. This shot certainly taught me the importance of being at the right place at the right time and being prepared with the right equipment and camera settings to capture that once in a life time image.

Photo Essay:"A missed opportunity turned around!"

2007-03-31T03:31:00.000+08:00

Here's another of my favourite blue sky white puffy clouds memory of Australia. This was taken near the carpark of the entrance to the 12 Apostles along Great Ocean Road. We had staked out at the carpark that morning to try and catch the sunrise over the famous rock formation only to realise that the sun rose from behind. Bummer. Still, I managed this shot which I like very much. You can see that the sun was already quite harsh at that time (the cloud details are kind of blown out). Anyway, do remember if you are there next time, that a better time to photo the rock formation would be just before sunset. That is when the sun will bathe it in a warm wonderful glow. Look out for that pic next! :)

Blazing new speeds in printing technology

2007-03-30T01:24:00.000+08:00

Could this really be possible? This printer designed by the people at Silverbrook Research is going to change the way we use printers forever. Look at the insane speed of printing! What you are looking at is something clost to 30 pages of photos a min! Take a look at the other video links here, especially the wideformat printer demonstration. You will be left speechless. If it is all real that is.

According to them, Memjet technology is a patented breakthrough in print engine components that delivers the benefits of ink and laser technologies at radically new price/performance levels. Memjet technology is comprised of four tightly integrated components: page-width printheads, driver chips, ink and software. Instead of having the printhead zip across the page as in traditional inkjet pirnters, Memjet technology's printers have printheads that take up the whole span of the printer are lined up with ink nozzles right across and are able to fire out ink droplets smaller than one picoliter (one millionth of a millionth of a liter). For an A4 desktop printer, that's 70,400 ink nozzles shooting out more than 2.5 million ink dots per square inch of paper in a single pass. Is that amazing or what?

Not only that, this technology is also supposed to bring the price of printers and printer supplies to a new historic low. Silverbrook's A4 desktop printer's individual color ink cartridges hold 50ml of ink, and will sell for less than $20 each, the company forecasts. Silverbrook also says that the price of the printer will be under $300. US dollars that is.

You can find out more about this amazing new technology here. Meanwhile, it still remains to be seen if this is just one gigantic hoax or a printing revolution in our midst. There is nothing heard about print quality either. For now, archi students just have to send their submission panels 2 days earlier to get them printed out in time.

Which reminds me... time is running out for my Design Thesis submission. God help me!

Photo Essay: "A Sunny Outlook"

2007-03-28T04:21:00.000+08:00

Here's one of those that didn't need much post-processing. I was in Sydney for the Hillsong Conference and after that, my brother and I took a road trip back to Melborne together with our cousin and her friend. Somewhere along the way, we stopped by a beautiful beach for a walk and there we spotted this lone lifeguard post peering over the ocean. The sky was the most beautiful blue and again with my G3, this time with a wideangle attachment and CIR polariser on, this shot was borned. I just love how the sky looks Down Under.

Photo Essay : "Retrofeeting"

2007-03-27T04:58:00.000+08:00

My family came to visit me when I was on exchange in Shanghai. Halfway through, my dad's shoe threatened to do a "crocodile" on him and we had to find a cobbler to fix it. After lunch at the nearby noodle shop which impressed my family with its cheap, fresh springy and tasty noodles, we stopped by the cobbler just a stone's throw away from my apartment to do up the shoe.

It was somewhere in the late afternoon and the sunlight was just washing beautifully against the wall and the cobbler's face. The way the cobbler wore his cloak like shirt made him look like some master craftsman out of a wuxia show. The texture of the wall behind him provided the kind of background to complete the look and immediately, I took out my trusty Canon G3 and with the aperture wide open at f/2.2, started snapping away.

Though I own a Canon 350D DSLR now, I often still go back to using the G3. I realised that on many occasions, having the swivel screen and live preview was instrumental in getting me the shot I was looking for. I could take pictures holding the camera at waist level. and not be intrusive about it especially at close range. I normally turn off the fake shutter sound on the G3 so that all you hear is a very soft "click". With the 350D, especially on multiple shot mode, the world would have been looking at me. There in lies the beauty of prosumer digicams. It's a shame and perhaps an atrocity to some that the latest G7 actually dropped the swivel screen for a more compact camera. I hope Canon wises up and brings it back in its next incarnation of the G series.

Here's a shot of us waiting for the cobbler.

As you can see, I'm not a stickler for "minimal post-processing". I say, it all depends on the photographer's vision. There are times when I think it best to leave the picture as natural as possible. Other times, I feel that digital post-processing brings a whole new angle of creativity to photography. I typically shoot having in mind how the final product would look like. I try to frame my shots so that minimal or no cropping is necessary. When I really cannot decide, I take it at highest quality, and frame it loosely so that I can play around with it ont he computer later.

I'm no pro though. In fact, much of my post-processing work is often done on Picasa 2.0. I think it's a superb program that will be excellent if the people at Google would just update it with more refined features. There you go. Thought I'd share a little on how the pictures you see on my blog come to be what they look like. Enjoy.

Can you resist not clicking?

2007-03-25T02:44:00.000+08:00

I thought this was a really interesting experiment in alternative ways of navigating a webpage. The people behind DONTCLICK.IT have created a website where you move around without clicking your mouse button even once! Wow. Imagine a clickless web environment. Not that it is necessarily any better, but it certainly could be a viable alternative! In our society where the mentality is often "If it ain't broken, don't bother to fix it", I thought this was like a breath of fresh air. Nevermind, we might never find a use for it. Who knows though. I am interested and excited to see what the creators might come up with in future phases. Oh, I do hope there are future phases. Well done!

Now, if only I can find some way of incorporating some of these into the blog... Hmmm...

Photo Essay : "Holy Surrender"

2007-03-22T13:46:00.000+08:00

I took this at my church's annual conference last week. The people you see with their hands raised up are pastors responding to the speaker's invitation for prayer. Their raised hands are symbolic of them bringing their lives before God in surrender and also to receive of His blessings.

The speakers at the conference were outofthisworldkindof inspiring and I learnt so much from just the 3 days of being there. You know, we all have a purpose and a destiny in this life that we live. Some times we lose our way and start to question why and how come and what if. Well, for me, this conference was nothing short of a great revelation for me. A revelation of the destiny I have been called to. Are you searching for a purpose in life? Are you trying to make meaning out of the challenging circumstances that life has brought your way? I want you to know that there is much hope. Drop me a message and I will tell you why I am so convinced of it.

Photo Essay : "Ghost of Techno Past"

2007-03-21T22:52:00.000+08:00

These days, technology changes so fast, the moment you buy something, it almosts becomes obsolete in the next one year. I remember the time I was deciding on the specs for my desktop computer one and a half years ago. I chose to go for 120 Gb, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb video card and Pentium 4, 3.0GHz Intel processor. At that time, mine would have been considered kind of above average specs. Today, in a short 1.5 years, I have upgraded to 2Gb RAM, external 250Gb harddisk, and a 22-inch widescreen LCD. I am thinking of upgrading to a 256 Mb video card or better in the next week.

It's no wonder Singaporeans flock to each Computer Fair every year. For the record, we have about 3-4 mega fairs each year - COMEX, SITEX, IT Show, PC Show, whatever you can call it, we have it. And without fail, each fair will attract in droves, Singaporeans looking for the next upgrade. Have we become addicted to upgrading, to having the best gadgets, to buying the next big thing in this technology race of "if you have the biggest, the brightest, you are above the rest." It certainly brings a new meaning to the phrase, "Size matters." Yours is only 29 inch? Have you seen my 42 inch? Ha.

Let's face it. We do take pleasure in showing off our new toys. We feel good when people come to our house and go "Whoa..... so big your plasma TV. How much you buy one?" "Oh, no lah. not much. Less than $3,000." I take it as an investment. Singapore going HD mah. Gahmen say one Must keep up with the times. (Btw, HD stands for High Definition. You mean you don't know???)"

"According to research company GfK Asia, the number of plasma TV sets sold locally reached 8,000 units for the third quarter in 2006, almost four times the 2,223 plasma TV sets sold in first the six months of the same year. Local operators expect the sale of HD-ready products to grow throughout 2007. The segment market for LCD TV also experienced a boom for the same period, reaching 13,114 units. The high demand for HD-ready products is due to price reductions and not programme quality and technology capability." (Enterprise One Focus Issue 0308)

That's quite a staggering amount of plasma displays if you consider that these are usually the bigger sized screens. What's stranger is the fact that we are buying them up not because there are better shows or more HD content available. We are buying them because they are cheaper! We are really just blindly following a trend!

Now, imagine, if all these money were used to help fund school-building or education programs in poverty-stricken villages overseas, or to help improve the living conditions of the poorer elderly in Singapore, wouldn't it be a more worthwhile investment than paying for something which has the chance of becoming obsolete in at most 5 years?!

While they are stuck in their poverty cycle, we are stuck in our own consumerist cycle! More advanced hardware requires better and more expensive software which then feeds the need for better hardware. Can we live with less techonology? Are we really any better off with more? We all have experienced at one time of another, the horror of losing our handphone or pda or laptop. A horror we would have never known 15 years ago. Now, I'm not saying society should not progress. The question is, "Are we still in control of this progress?" I am quite doubtful.

So I've decided that I must intentionally learn to be more contented with what I have. Don't just live within your means. Live below your means. A wise man I know once said, "Live simply so that others might simply live." Wise words indeed.

10 Signs you are a photoshop addict

2007-03-21T11:03:00.000+08:00

Those of you who are photoshop junkies like me will probably find this funny. (Click on image to read. And read it from bottom up for the best effect.) If you don't quite understand what you are reading, it's ok. You are spared from endless nights of staring into the LCD screen applying filters, making selections and crating layer masks. Ha ha. Oh well.

Anyway, I wanted to use this post to introduce you to this site called Photoshop TV. They have a weekly video podcast where they teach you new tricks and techniques from photoshop. The picture above is actually a technique that was demonstrated in the most recent podcast - turning a flat poster into a 3D magazine. And that is just the tip of the iceberg! If you have not used photoshop before, you will be amazed at what it can accomplish for you! Download a trial version from Adobe today and let the imagination start flowing!

Entertainment Online!

2007-03-20T15:29:00.000+08:00

Here's something really interesting that I found. Google Gadgets! Basically these are like widgets that you put on your desktop, except now, you can put them on your webpages, blogs etc. While, these were initially developed by Google users (not Google) to put on Google Desktop, it works totally well with blogs too! This particular one is called Live TV Channels. There are quite a few channels to choose from, though I'm not sure why it's called Live TV since these seem to be recorded repeat telecasts. Anyhow, I had a blast browsing the different channels.

Well, enjoy the entertainment. I'm trying to see where I can put this in, into the blog so that it is accessible yet doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. We'll see. You can change the channels. Have FUN!

Photo Essay : "Technology Race!" ( Repost)

2007-03-19T00:56:00.000+08:00

This is a repost of the previous photo. I was playing around with it to see how I could make it more interesting. Not sure if I achieved the effect I wanted though. Supposed to look more "digital" though I think it looks more nightmarish! Ha ha. let me know which one you prefer. Oh by the way, I bought a Dell 22 inch LCD from the IT Show. If you considering getting one, forget the Dell though it's cheaper and looks better (at least I think so). The colour is really bad, And there are some serious banding issues. Go for the Samsung one instead.

Photo Essay : "Technology Race!"

2007-03-14T01:46:00.000+08:00

Crowds thronged Suntec City at the recent IT Show . Singapore's probably one of the few places in the world where every of the 3-4 computer fairs held each year is met with such phenomenal response.

The importance of good preparation

2007-03-12T01:30:00.001+08:00

Ok, I know I have been talking a lot about the Ironman Race recently, but that's only because it has been a really inspiring time for me, seeing my brother prepare, run the race and then finishing it well. This is an account of the race that he recently wrote on his blog. It will give you a much better idea what he went through and what goes on in a person's head as he races.

It was a really encouraging read and as I read till the last word, I could not help but have a new sense of admiration and respect for my brother. The effort and planning put into the race amazed me. It really hit me just how important good preparation is, in everything that we do. If you put in half-hearted preparation, you are only going to get half-hearted results, no matter how much you pray for a miracle. Good preparation is akin to building a strong foundation for good results to be achieved. I need to apply this more in my life. May you be inspired to do so too.

A Salute to All Women

2007-03-09T14:35:00.000+08:00

The following is a speech by Dr Vivian Balarkrishnan, Singapore's Minister for community development, youth and sports and Second Minister for information, communications and the arts. He was there to present 2 awards for Her World's Woman of the Year 2006 at the Four Seasons Hotel on 6 March 2007.

I thought some of what he said was really meaningful. It is true, that God has made man and woman differently and before we go out and shout about equal rights, let's consider the fact that we ARE DIFFERENT. What we are really asking and fighting for, is a recognition that in our different roles, strengths and weaknesses, there are ample opportunities for us to reach the full potential of who we were created to be. Read on. :)

Mr Robin Hu, Vice-Chairman, SPH Magazines
Mr Loh Yew Seng, CEO, SPH Magazines
Ms Caroline Ngui, Group Editor-in-Chief, SPH Magazines
Ladies & Gentlemen

Thank you for the privilege of presenting the annual Her World Woman of the Year Award. I usually get into trouble when I address an audience on the subject of women. So I will have to be careful in my choice of words.

2. Unfortunately, I usually cannot resist saying what I really feel.

3. My starting point, which I hope will be uncontroversial, is that men and women are not the same. Without going into the details of what exactly these differences are, I thought we should spend some time contemplating how the modern world has offered new opportunities for women; what new challenges accompany these new opportunities; and how this affects men and society in general.

More opportunities for women

4. We now live in the Information Age with global interconnectivity. This means that the real winners will be people with ideas and networks – the ability to think deeply and the ability to communicate well.

5. The first consequence is that this has made physical attributes, or the lack of brawn, almost irrelevant. This, obviously, is a plus for women. Furthermore, because women usually communicate better, they have an added advantage. The upshot of all this is that women will continue to have many more opportunities to do well in the future. This is an unstoppable trend, just like globalisation.

6. Although women can probably do everything a man can do, there are still some things that men can’t do, like having a baby. And there is still something unique about a mother-child relationship that makes this the primary foundation of all human societies.

7. The problem then is that while women will have more choices, they will also have to pay a higher opportunity cost if they decide to marry or have children. We commonly hear of unmarried women saying that they have not found someone suitable. In fact, what they really mean is that they have not found someone who is “worth” the price of getting married and having babies with.

8. Our current angst about low fertility in Singapore just one symptom of this underlying problem. It is crucial that we diagnose the underlying problem rather than just treat a symptom.

9. If you agree with me that the real issue is the opportunity costs that women are forced to pay, then I ask you to think about how we can lower this hurdle.

Lowering opportunity costs

10. For example, I believe all women want to contribute both inside and outside the home. It may take the form of full-time, part-time, paid or voluntary work. Women may also have different formulae at different phases of their lives.

11. Whatever their choices, we must systematically find ways to lower the opportunity costs that women will bear as they exercise their choices in the future. Otherwise, all of us, both men and women, will ultimately pay the penalty in the form of weakening family ties, lower fertility and dysfunctional societies.

12. In a sense, everything we have done so far, e.g. Baby Bonus, Maternity Leave, child care subsidies, infant care subsidies, tax reliefs and rebates, flexi-work, work life balance, the 5 day work-week; are all attempts to lower this opportunity cost. It’s not just about money, nor is it something that government can unilaterally fix. I believe we need to restructure our social infrastructure so that we really empower and make it easier for women to exercise their life choices. In the long run, we need to think about how to create a society where the changing and expanded roles of women are adequately acknowledged and supported.

13. Are we doing enough? Probably not. All I can say at this juncture is that we are still searching, and your suggestions will be most welcome.

14. Tonight, we honour two outstanding women. Both have sterling achievements, and made a huge difference to the lives of their families, their friends and to Singapore. Like all super women, they make it look almost too easy. But it is worth remembering that the reality is that they, like all other women, have actually worked doubly, triply hard to achieve everything that we celebrate tonight.

15. And so tonight, we salute all women. Thank you very much.

Photo Essay : "And the gold fell all over the field of snowy swirls; And the ducks came out to play!"

2007-03-09T03:36:00.000+08:00

Well, since I got TWO comments from the previous photo, which, if you ask me is a really BIG thing for me considering it's been ghost town around here for a while, I thought I would reward you guys with another of my food experiments! Presenting to you, "And the gold fell all over the field of snowy swirls; And the ducks came out to play!"

Hmmm. Hungry again? Well, I was trying to remember what went into this dish by picking out the different ingredients I could spot in the photo. I usually make use of what's available in the fridge but sometimes, I do get inspired at the supermarket and buy what I think will work. In this case, it's fried flat noodles with shredded roast duck, ham and white button mushrooms topped with a generous sprinkling of scrambled eggs and lightly seasoned with salt, light soya sauce, white pepper, black pepper, and the all important Italian seasoning.

The italian seasoning is really great as it adds a very unique blend to an otherwise rather Chinese dish. I use it all the time I cook. It's really a mix of oregano, rosemary, basil and sage and comes in a pre-packaged bottle from McCormick. Oh yes, and this is really just to prove that I can cook other things besides burgers. Not that anyone said anything... Ha!

Photo Essay : "Hungry in Shanghai"

2007-03-07T13:29:00.001+08:00

What's a man to do in Shanghai when he is cold, hungry and itching for some hand's on stuff to do? COOK! Haha. That's what I did. Well, from the looks of the photo, it doesn't look a bit Chinese at all huh! It was one of the easiest things to prepare though. Sesame bun from the confectionery downstairs, bacon, white button mushrooms and minced pork from the supermarket nearby and freshly boiled and seasoned mashed potatoes. Oh, by the way, I seasoned the minced pork on my own with sesame oil, salt, pepper, soya sauce, black pepper and some italian seasoning too! Great fun, great taste!

I used my table lamp as a light source and snapped away a few shots before tucking in. You can take my word for it that it tasted as good as it looked. SEDAP!

Anyway, I really relished the time I had in Shanghai when I was there for 6 months on a study exchange. The memories, the stuff I got to explore on my own, the crazy things I did with my 2 other flatmates. I guess you could say it was an education that you would not typically get in school. The world is a lot bigger than what Singapore is. Let's get out of our small little foxholes and live a little!

A lecture in humour

2007-03-05T20:03:00.000+08:00

I think many of you might have seen this before but I thought it was worth a post still. A lecturer at ~~NUS~~ NTU takes time to humour his students by showing them examples of surveys that previous students had filled in. A lot of them seem very fascinated with his mustache! Ha ha, now why don't we have lecturers like this in Archi? Or perhaps archi students just aren't creative enough with their comments! Ha ha. The unexpected joys of being a lecturer. Watch and don't peng san. :)

A whole new world

2007-03-04T22:33:00.000+08:00

I came across this website of a designer called Marie Louise. She graduated with a masters degree in product design from the Royal College of Art, London and now works as a freelance designer who does solo projects and commissioned work. I think her work is very interesting and wacky in a way which is something I always appreciate in a good design work - the humour. Here are some of her projects that brought a smile to my face. Oh and did I mention her products have really cool names toO?

MOP FLIP FLOP (2002)
A fun way to clean!
Material: Slippers with cotton scouring-cloth.
Dimensions (mm): size 35.

MR BRUSHY (2004)
Sit down while clean your shoes.
Material: Lacquered wood with a red brush.
Dimensions (mm): W350, D350, H520.

NÄVER AGAIN (2005)
A stool made of plaited woolen felt.
The technique is traditionally used in Sweden to
plait birch bark but applied here at a different
scale on a different material.
Material: Lacquered plywood with felt in 100% wool.
Dimensions (mm): W700, D700, H320.

SLACKER CHAIR (2006)
‘Slacker’ adds a new flexible sitting experience
as its users have to find their own sitting position.
Material: Cast aluminium frame with a seat
made of polythene pellets in a sack of imitation leather.
Dimensions (mm): W650, D650, H900(flexible).

TABLE OF TRASH (2006)
(one of my favourites.)
A desk literally throwing itself into the waste basket.
I like the idea of visualizing the cycle of trash
and the possibility reusing trash in a constructive way.
Material: Recycled paper reused in the material
‘wellboard’consisting of a craft liner and a
corrugated cardboard in between.
The material is strong, recyclable and very light weight.
The whole table weighs only 4kg.
Dimensions (mm): W1200, D540, H750.

Photo Essay :"The Art of Reflection"

2007-03-04T01:20:00.000+08:00

I think people spend far too little time reflecting these days. Taking time to reflect on our lives allows us to see our lives in clearer perspective and hence tutors us in living out lives intentionally.

My guess is, in today's world where many things have become increasingly subjective, even moral and ethical values, reflection has lost it's meaning. The foundation for reflection to take place - moral principles of what is good, right, worthy and honourable is often seen as conservative and is increasingly being replaced by calls to live life freely (there is no right or wrong, just alternative ways of doing things or living life). Many times too, in the name of progress, whether economically, socially or philosophically.

Yet, it is precisely because we live in such a time that reflection is all the more important. Are you living your life intentionally? Start today.

Photo Essay : "Crossing A Bridge"

2007-02-27T01:42:00.000+08:00

I now personally know 3 Ironmans!

2007-02-27T01:27:00.000+08:00

The team of 3 touched down in Singapore from their amazing journey on Sunday. Does anyone think my brother looks 4kg lighter? If I knew he would lose 4kg, I would have given him some of mine to throw away there. Ha ha.

Hmmm.. Ironman or Ironlady?
(Haha... I just couldn't resist it!!!)

I am an Architect of Man, but a Servant of God

2007-02-25T11:59:00.001+08:00

My new blog, "I am an Architect of Man, but a Servant of God" is up and running. I will be writing on my experiences as a youth leader in church and also blogging my daily devotions.

Check it out here!

Live coverage of Lotto Ironman Malaysia! (Final)

2007-02-24T23:17:00.000+08:00

There were 549 athletes from 33 countries who started the swim this morning.

Of that group, 545 started the bike.

512 of those started the run.

As we hit the 15-hour barrier, we've had 354 finishers.

My brother came in at 189.

That's almost 13 hours of non-stop racing! I think that is a major achievement! I am inspired. To go and take pictures next time. Ha ha ha. (Now what were you thinking!) But seriously, this makes me want to train more for the Osim olympic distance tri. Not just to complete, but to do well. I like that spirit. Excellent job bro!

My brother's results.

Both Yong Howe and Jaclyn are back too! I think it's incredible enough that all 3 of them completed. I must commend them on their perseverance and determination! To the 3 of you, well done! All the training have finally bore fruit! Have a good rest now and we'll see you soon! Thank God for His protection throughout! I just heard that my brother lost 4kg racing! Wah. Only ah...

Yong Howe's race timing

Jaclyn's race timing