Project 365 No 3: Child at Play

I love taking candid shots. But the problem sometimes are that they never turned out good and faces are always blurry. This is taken of Aszra and I got her just at the right moment. Playing outside her house while waiting to for our Birthday dinner last Saturday. I thought the blurry background is just the right exposure.

Nikon D200, f/7.1, 1/200, ISO 400 at 200mm

Project 365 No 2: Hands That Rock The Cradle

This was taken after my DSLR for Beginner class on 6th March 2011. Went to Aida's place in Sunway Kayangan for late dinner with Ibu, Ayah and Aida's family. So you can imagine how excited I was trying out my new skill. This was taken at a spur of the moment and I loved it. Ayah's strong hand against  Ibu's silhouette...talk about DRAMA. Wish it was less shadowy and grainy.

Nikon D200; 42 mm; f/5; 1/25; ISO 1000

New Project

Ok...I am a novice photographer....with a passion.
A friend in Facebook is doing Project 365 where he would upload a photo a day which sounds a load of fun to me. He is a fantastic photographer, so his pictures are breathtaking. I don't have that much confident yet, so I thought I put up my photos here. I am trying to do it on a daily basis. So I am converting this blog into a photo/rambling record of my life events, thoughts and ideas.... Let see if I show any improvement in a year.

This way, I can still update my blog without writing especially when I am faced with writers' block!

This is what I called...  

Project 365 No 1: Just Hanging Around 

This was taken on our Setapak balcony. Washed and hung Ted's white shirt and thought it looked pretty cool hanging out against the cloudy weather. I had to take about 10 shots before I got these 2 ... changing the position and framing as I go along.   I like the silhouette effect KLCC and KL Tower in the background

Nikon 200; 42 mm; f/5; 1/160 sec; ISO 800

Nikon 200; 42 mm; f/5; 1/250 sec; ISO 800

I Am 39

2011 is my last year to be the so called 30 something. Next year I hit the big 40. Funny that the number 4 is placed in the same tab as $ sign in the QWERTY keyboard. Does this mean that I probably will be rich by next year? ( Just an after thought)

I took leave on my day of birth. Thank God I did cause my car broke down on the way back from Genting and we ended up spending the day waiting for the car to be fix. But all was not wasted. For the first time in a long while, Ted and I spend the whole day together, just being with each other. He showed me KL from a different perspective....inside the KL public transport. We were in monorail, then walked around and again on the KL rail. It was fun and I enjoyed myself. Always told him that I wanted to try the public transport but never had enough courage to do it alone....

At the monorail station near Chow Kit Road  on our way to Berjaya Time Square

Discovered a new eating place in Berjaya Time Square

On our back to Keramat on KL Rail

At the spur of the moment, we went to Hard Rock Cafe that night. Had a quaint dinner, just the 2 of us. Then we sat and listen to a band from Bali... the T-Rex. They were pretty good. We left early before the second set.... even though the night was short, I had fun just spending my time with my Ted.

Oh yeah....almost forgot. I baked my first carrot cake ever. It was a bit too sweet but people at work loved it.

We spend the next night with the Remedy family to celebrate both Mel and my birthday....had a feast of seafood in Jalan Alor!!

A New Hobby....Food For Soul

Last 5th March I finally signed up for a class for a hobby that I have always fooled around with but have no idea what it is all about....photography. I have been fooling around with cameras since I was in school, love taking photos of people and the surrounding. I was even in the Photography Club. Didn't really do much for me, but I was never disheartened. Still took a lot of photos after that but with an automatic camera. I inherited my father's old SLR Nikon camera and loved using it whenever I could. it is still with me but since the Digital era became famous, it has been retired and kept safe in Seremban.

Then Ted flared up my passion for it when he bought Nikon 200 just after we married. He always wanted a DSLR and he knew I love photography.

Lucky for me, the class only consist of 2 students and both of us are novices with passions. So the class was a load of fun and we interacted well with our tutor, Kamell and Azizi, both are professional photographer. The best part, Kamell was using the same camera as I did. So we were taught on the use of ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture sizes so as to get the perfect pictures. He explained them with such eased that all those alien numbers on my camera suddenly made sense. They also thought us the art of taking photos....the framing, the photo lines,  the placement of subjects.

Here are the results of those classes....I am so proud and happy. Finally being able to put up what I see and visualized in posterity, to look at them exactly as when I first saw them.

Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa.... A Disappointment

I was very excited about Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, an epic movie about a descendant of Alexander the Great who finally found home. Sounds enticing, doesn't it? Watching the trailer and listening to the soundtrack did. Like a slice of 4 layered chocolate cake, when you are having a chocolate craving! I bought the ticket online after an on call day that was so tiring, I felt I would not survive the post call day. But I did, knowing that I would finally get to see a movie locally made but with an international budget and technology, not to forget an almost international casts of great Shakespearean actors.

But alas I was a bit wee disappointed. Even though Rahman-Hughes played the character well, I thought the character Merong was a bit unbelievable. In fact the storyline was lame. A wayward seaman who purpose in life was to deflowered every maiden he sets his eyes on, suddenly turned noble and trustworthy to help a Roman prince find his bride? The screenplay was weak but due to the strong casting, I could only say that the movie was OK.

Fortunately, the movie was saved by great CGI effect and set design. Most of the costume looked superbly designed and made, except for Datuk Rahim Razali's unrealistic 'mop' that were placed precariously on his head. The CGI would have been perfect if only they were strict with details (noticed the still palm trees during the thunder storm) The soundtrack in Malay was great too but honestly, the English version sounds like a cut and pasted lyrics of a bad rock songs.

Anyway, overall the project was a good try to create a globally accepted movie full of international standard special effects. It was not bad but then again it is definitely not great! The Malaysian movie makers have a long way to go before they can actually satisfied me. But I heard great reviews from many friends....fortunately, I am accustomed to being the minority.

Stop Wanting

Sometimes I can't express myself verbally well enough. What I need, who I want to be, where I want to go, when I want what I need .... sometimes these get jumble up in my head and when it comes out through my mouth, they just become gibberish, utter rubbish and makes no sense at all, even to me. Someone said before that he doesn't believe anything that comes out through my mouth. If only he knew how much that still haunts me.

But I like to think that I write eloquently. Expressing myself in written words come out smoothly just like tears that I cried when I am sad or even happy.

I believed that I am an independent person, capable of almost anything, efficient when given a task. But all these are  characteristics that can be misunderstood as distance, hardheaded, and workaholic. The fact is I am not.... I may be hard on the outside, but inside, I am a softy.... an idealist .... a hopeless romantic. My heart breaks every time when I try to express myself, it is thought of as a demand, a wimp of fancy that are trivial....

I long to be pampered and adored.... to be held more then a second, not making it the perfunctory duty to do so. I won't ask for it but how I wish that it would be done occasionally, just because it feels natural....because it is right. It looses its magic if asked.

So I will stop asking..... I will build a wall of steel and ice. If I stop wanting it....then maybe one day, I won't need it so much anymore. I am so so so very tired of chasing cars that won't stop even for me.....


By the way....Happy International Woman's Day  for all those women out there who are the pillars of strength in all who they support, never asking for anything in return. Nevertheless, today is the day that you are recognized, seen and heard....even if you are the only one that do.

Everybody's Fine

Most people can't accept the truth. This movie looked at that very subject in the most common situation.... how a family dynamic revolves around the truth and the lies each member carries. Robert De Niro plays a father who after the death of his wife of 40 years discovered that he does not know anything about the lives of his 4 children. Each of them spun web of lies around him so that he would be spared the hurt of knowing the bitter truth about their not so perfect lives.

I can relate so well to this. My family kept a lot of truth away from my mom so that she won't be hurt. Our intentions are good but the truth is....they are still lies. And lies can hurt people too.....

But like I said earlier, most people can't accept the truth. So the question is, do we become bastards telling the truth or do we think we are being kind by telling lies?

Maybe it is not the others.... maybe it is I who can't handle the truth?