It's beginning to look a lot like....

Apologies for the long silence. Rather than go into detail on the extremely busy last 2 months, I might as well jump straight into Christmas!

The tree is *still* up, re-decorated with the usual silver and glass decorations...

the roast is in the oven...

the bread is being toasted...

Bottle of wine left to breathe...

I think we're all set!

Time warp

Eh? How come its November already? What happened to October?

2010 Formula One Singapore: Need for Speed! (Part 3)

The final installment is of course on the actual race. Sadly I didn't manage to secure tickets to the actual day event. Its a really big pity because I would have loved to get shots of the pit, the wheel changing, the damaged cars returning and of course the one catching fire.

We did manage to get an invite to a suite at MBS though, which was about twice the size of my house complete with soundproof media room, personal sauna, steam room, gym etc. The hotel also provided free flow food and drinks, and out of the full length windows was a stunning albeit far-off view of the circuit stretch at Padang all the way to the Marina floating platform.

So we sat there for 2 hours watching the cars zoom by outside the window and on the television.

One interesting thing was watching the crane lift and clear Kobayashi's car after it smashed into the side guards and got rear ended by Senna!

Had a brilliant time. Must somehow get tickets for next year's race too!

2010 Formula One Singapore: Need for Speed! (Part 2)

(continuation)

Although we went there around 3.30pm, the actual qualifiers only start at 10pm and last an hour. Other than amusing yourself with the pre-F1 races (like the MBW and Porsche ones), and visiting the Singapore Flyer for those in Zone 1, there are also numerous concerts around the various zones. This one was obviously for ladies only...

The food the year at Paddock Club was catered by Jean Georges. Last year apparently it was Nobu.

I unfortunately didn't have time to eat much, but I really loved the starters especially this foie gras special.

That's the man himself...

There's also lots of free flow drinks and a Johnnie Walker lounge that's open to everyone at the Paddock Club. SQ also had one, with sample first class, business class and economy seats there.

Finally at 10pm they started to flag off for the qualifiers and cars started exiting the pit lane.

What's great about Paddock Club is that you are directly above the pit and get to see all the action when the drivers come in for tyre changes, repairs etc. Apparently it takes an average of 8 seconds to change the entire set of wheels.

This was Webber in the pit lane...

and his team mate Vettel speeding by...

That's it for the qualifiers!

2010 Formula One Singapore: Need for Speed! (Part 1)

So sorry I haven't blogged for a while. Been swamped with work and the like. Anyway I had such excellent fun at last weekend's 2010 Formula One in Singapore that I just had to blog about it, mountain of work not withstanding.

Was lucky enough to get tickets for the Paddock Club on Saturday's qualifiers.

This year the Singapore flyer is part of the circuit, and Zone One passes get free unlimited rides on it! I think not enough people know about it, which is a *really* big pity. Taking the flyer was much cooler than I imagined it to be, and it offered really excellent views of both the circuit as well as the whole of Singapore. I would have loved to have taken it a second round at night, but just didn't have the time...

In the shot below, also taken from the flyer, you can see the grid girls lined up for the flag off for the Porsche qualifiers.

We met Sir Jackie Stewart! He's got 3 world championships and is now the patron for RBS.

He even gave us a garage tour and we got up close and personal with the computer systems and equipment, and got to touch the frames of the cars. How cool is that!!!

That's David Coulthard - former F1 driver, BBC F1 pundit and now team consultant for Red Bull Racing.

We also got to do the Pit Lane walk. Don't be deceived by how empty it looks. 5minutes later the place was so packed you could barely move, much less take any photos. Anyway that's the champion's garage below. I should have taken more photos of his car...

There's a simluator there as well, its like a cross between Daytona and bumper cars, but waaaaaaay better. You drive the actual Singapore F1 circuit and the car simulates the actual feel especially when you hit the sides!

And here's Tay Ping Hui in it!

to be continued...

Messing around with my photos

So when I am bored, I do what every one my generation (and younger) does and surf the internet. It's so easy to find out and learn new things nowadays when information is just a Google away. Lately I've been reading up on post-processing techniques for photographs, and all the interesting things that can be done in Photoshop. There are lots of easy tutorials out there with step by step instructions.

Here's some of my work... You should be able to click on the pictures to see the larger version. The original photos were taken using my Ixus on a pretty cloudy day. Post processing wise, I just tweaked it slightly using Photoshop's "auto levels". It change too much from the off-camera original, so I didn't bother showing those.

For the first set below, you can see from the original on the left that the colours are still pretty washed out. What I did was to adjust the colour levels and apply a mask so that the colours on the statues in the middle "pops out", without affecting the background.


The lomo effect is pretty popular nowadays. I think the iphone has an app that automatically makes your shots look like it was taken with a lomo camera, but I found an easy tutorial online that allows me to tweak my normal looking photos. I quite like the final product on the right below! It looks quite suitable for this particular shot. Definitely a lot more dramatic looking.


The last set shows a few special effects combined together. Here's the dull looking original:


... and here are the 2 edited photos. First I added a reflection in. (Yes I know the photo's not the best for making reflections of, but I didn't have a better one handy) I would have liked to make the ripples more spaced out, but there seemed to be some limitations using this particular method.

For the one on the left, I added in a graduated blue sky. Actually it could have been done better, but I was too lazy to redo it. For the one on the right, I made it into a lomo picture after doing the reflection.


Which version do you think looks better?

Frivolous Stuff: My Kelly Moore bag!

I love my new Kelly Moore bag!

A friend of mine posted a link to it on Facebook, and it was love at first sight. I spent days staring at its beautiful form online, looking at it from all angles and imagining how I would pack my stuff into it. I could so see myself carrying it about town or while traveling, with my SLR safely hidden away in this nice stylish bag. When I finally dragged *Shinta down to the shop (TKFoto at Funan) and held it in my hands for the first time, I knew right away that I would be getting it. You can read more about how I got permission to purchase it here.

So here it is! I chose the heather gray version which I figured would be most versatile and fit most of my outfits(although *Shinta thought the mustard yellow was nice). The material is a man-made water resistant material which reminds me a little of fake leather that is not fake enough to say that its pretending to be leather(go figure)... Most importantly, unlike all the other camera bags out there which are bulky rectangular nerdy (man) bags that scream "I am a camera bag", this one boasts a nice slouchy hobo shape with enough structure to stand on its own.

The flap over the bag contributes mostly to its looks rather than serving any real function because the magnetic clasps for it is too weak to be of much use. It doesn't matter if the bag is not stuff too full, because there's a full zipper securing it.

Side, front and back slit pockets are too shallow to put a lot of things, but they can hold a few small items which is pretty useful.

Purple lining wouldn't have been my first choice, but it can't really be seen from the outside so it doesn't matter. The bag has a bit of padding, and 2 removable velcro dividers. The position of the dividers is not adjustable by much (unlike say the Crumpler), because only part of the lining has the velcro strip.

I've already used the bag once and I love it! My D20 fits nicely inside, with sufficient space for my 70-200mm lens and my compulsory knick-knacks like my wallet, blackberry, staff pass, handphone... There are 2 straps for the bag, so you can hold it 4 ways (on the arm, shoulder short, shoulder long, crossbody). Suits all needs and habits!

Frivolous Stuff: Camera Bags

You see, the fairer sex needs the perfect handbag for the perfect occasion. For example, what we look for in a work handbag is different from what we need from a casual weekend bag, which of course is totally different from evening handbags.

And even within the world of a certain type of handbags, different situations call for the need of different functions. eg A weekend handbag for a quick-and-short-meet-up-with-friends is not the same as a handbag for a spend-the-whole-day-shopping-with-friends situation.

So this time, the trouble was trying to get *Shinta to understand why I needed another camera bag. The object of my desire this time was a Kelly Moore bag designed specifically for ladies.

~début~

*Shinta: (in stubborn tone, not willing to give in so easily) I don't see why you need another camera bag...

KK: (cautiously, trying to decide approach) I don't have a bag like this... It will hold all my camera things nicely...

*Shinta: Didn't we buy you a Crumpler specifically for your camera stuff?

KK: I will use Crumpler when I need to bring out all my heavy duty gear. This one will be when I just want to bring the main SLR only.

*Shinta: Why can't you use your Crumpler still? Or my Lowepro?

KK: Because the Crumpler and your Lowepro are heavy duty bulk camera bags. I need something for when I go shopping or travel for work and don't want others to know I am carrying a SLR.

*Shinta: (considers for a while) But you have (many) casual shopping bag(s). Why can't you put your camera in that? You can use your little Lowepro...

KK: (quick to retort) Because that's a shopping bag. It can't carry/protect the camera properly. And the Lowepro won't fit inside my other bags with my wallet and blackberry and sunglasses and handphone and...

*Shinta: (interrupts) But this one won't protect it as well as the Crumpler!

KK: (slight hint of panic in voice) But this is just nice! I can use it for both shopping with or without the camera.. I can also use it to carry the camera...

*Shinta: (decides to be nice) Ah.. do you mean to say its a "dual-use" bag, whereas your other bags are not?

KK: (sees ray of hope and quickly agrees) Yes! It's dual use!!!

pause

*Shinta: (in a "pretending to be nice" tone) Since this is a lady's bag, does that mean when we travel or go out together you will use this bag for the camera and I don't have to carry it in my bag?

KK: (cautiously, sensing a trap) er... I will use this bag when I go shopping and want to bring the SLR... (continues for the sake of being honest) ... but anyway you carry my ladies handbags for me now anyway, when they get too heavy.

pause

*Shinta: (pretends to consider) But you will use it. And its dual-use.

KK: Yes. Dual use. So that when I travel without you and want to bring my SLR, I can just use one bag instead of two.

*Shinta: Fine.

KK rejoices not so silently

~fin~

A new look!

Yes, I changed the look of the blog. Actually I wasn't intending to make so many changes. But Blogger went to change the templates and once I started I found I couldn't revert back to the old look. So I had no choice but to soldier forward and make even more changes... Oh well.

Killing me softly...

Nothing like a trip to Hong Kong to make me grateful I live in Singapore...

My remaning lifespan would probably be shortened by half if I had to move there...

What I'm listening to...

I can't stand long traveling times in my daily routine, so thankfully I stay a 15min bus ride away from work with 2 buses to take. In the mornings, since the bus frequency is higher and the ride is so short, I don't usually bother untangling my earphones and listening to music.

On my way home however, my timings are more irregular and the frequency of the bus I can take is much lower. The evening crowd is also a lot noisier and younger. So I am more likely to want to listen to music and try to de-stress and block out the world.

On my playlist recently, is Emil Chou 周华健 . Listening to his songs makes me terribly nostalgic! This is the stuff I listened to in secondary school (I had the tapes back then!), and probably the only thing that has ever made me even vaguely interested in learning Chinese.

Here's a youtube clip of one of my all time favorites. I love the lyrics.. We used to write it in each other's autograph books.

Blogging reflections

Was driving earlier today, and started thinking about my blog... I started it back in 2008 because I was bored. I didn't intentionally decide to focus so much on food & travel, although I think probably 80% of the posts have turned out to be such. (Naturally I wasn't going to not blog about them, since it gives me a "valid" excuse to i) eat a lot and ii) travel a lot.)

Anyway the point is... as time passed, my "snippets" posts became less and less frequent. Now that I think about it, the main cause is probably because I have spent less time driving. Yes, I mean driving. Non food/travel posts require thinking and inspiration, unlike food / travel posts where I can usually rely on pretty pictures to carry the story. And also, I decided long ago not to blog specifically about work despite all the interesting fodder material it often tempted me with.

Ideas used come to me while I was driving and I would mentally draft my posts because my brain had nothing else to do. (Ok, start the lecture on safety later...) So since I seem to drive less now, there are fewer such posts.

Something I hope to change.

World Cup: Favorite Moments (Part 2)

It's taken me a bit longer to blog Part 2 because honestly, the matches have been pretty boring. I even stayed up for the England vs Algeria last week, but was so horribly bored by it that I feel asleep.

No Fewer videos this time because it seems Youtube has clamped down on them. Ah well.

6. North Korea's goal against Argentina. Sure they lost 4:1, but still they managed to get a nice one in...

7. The whole 2nd half of USA vs Slovenia. Almost wrote off USA after they were down 2:0 at half time, but they fought back after that to a respectable 2:2. Add on lots of body contact between players and a few yellow cards!



8. Switzerland vs Chile. A good well-fought match (especially since it was after North Korea's sad 7-nil defeat at the feet of Portugal) with lots of excitement.. 10 cards in total!

9. England's goal against Slovenia. No special reason, except that I support them and that sole goal brought them to the round of 16.

10.The last 15 minutes of the Slovakia - Italy game where i) Slovakia scored making it 2-0, ii) Italy scored (2-1), iii) the goalkeeper got a yellow card, iv) Slovakia scored (3-1), v) Italy scored (3-2). Even the commentator who had given up on Italy after Slovakia's second goal was terribly excited when they scored their first goal.

The Travel Bug: Sichuan, Jiu Zhai Gou (Part 2: Waterfalls)

I'm afraid I've put off doing this second part for way too long, and have now lost interest in typing out a long story about it. So I won't! Suffice to say that since Jiu Zhai Gou is know for its water, water + mountains = waterfalls!

You can get really close to the rapids and water (spy the staircase on the rhs?), but I don't recommend putting any body part in. It would be such a shame to dirty the crystal clear waters, and this is a nature reserve after all.

We must have been to about 4 waterfall areas, each one gorgeous in its own right.

Some required a little walking to get too, but nothing more strenuous than a relaxing 20min stroll.

I tried to play with the shutter speed...

... but with no tripod (and even if I had one on me, the hoards of tourists nudging me along the narrow path would have made it difficult to use it) it was not so easy to hold the camera steady.

If you look on the left of the photo below, can you see a face with the mouth wide open? Freaky!

Another attempt at playing with the shutter speed...

Slightly more successful this time!

All in all, I was very glad that I signed up for the trip. Would definately recommend anyone going to Chengdu to make a side trip there, especially if the season is right!

World Cup: England made it!

England is through to the next round!!! Yay!!!

Congrats too to USA who scored a goal in the 91min to bring themselves through as well. (That's a really ugly green though...)

Go Watch! #1: Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3 is good! Especially in 3D.

The plot was predictable but not boring, sweet but not over-cloying or unrealistic. The quirky hilarious moments in the show which had me doubled over in stitches (which is rare for me).

I don't know if its because I was watching it in a different cinema (Cathay) from my usual one (Great World GV) or what, but I found the 3D graphics less headache inducing and contributed to the overall experience in natural subtle ways rather than the "in your face"-ness of Avatar and even (at some points) Up!. *Shinta also found the 3D glasses at Cathay a much more comfortable fit over spectacles.

Go watch x 3!

World Cup: Match Recap, North Korea vs Portugal

0 min: Kick-off
Raining heavily. Poor players

29 min: Goal by Portugal's Miereles!
Nice shot there by Miereles! Loud cheering from Portugal spectators.

46 min: Half time
Don't mind North Korea! 1-nil still got chance...

47 min: Second half kick-off

53 min: Goal by Portugal's Simao!!
Oh dear.. 2-nil is difficult to overcome. But US managed to do it against Slovenia.

56 min: Goal by Portugal's Almeida!!!
3-nil in favor of Portugal. I think they're assured of a win. And 2 goals so close in succession too.

60 min: Goal by Portugal's Tiago!!!!
Oh dear. 3 goals scored in 7 minutes. Maybe North Korea can salvage some pride by making it at least 4 to something other than "nil"?

81 min: Goal by Portugal!!?!!
Who cares by who already! The poor North Korea supporters in the stands look really miserable at the 5-nil score.

87 min: Goal by Portugal!!??!!
Even the Portugal fans are looking a bit sheepish at the 6-nil thrashing. Why is Portugal still attacking? Give them a bit of face... please?

89 min: Goal by Portugal!!???!!
7-nil!!! *faint* *speechless*

92 min: Whistle blows
Finally the pain is over.

World Cup: Legofussball!

You've probably see this already, but just in case you haven't, here's the Lego version of the goals scored in the Netherlands - Denmark game (the one with the own goal).



It's so cute and adorable, and strangely not too far from the real thing!
Compared it with the real one!

World Cup: Favorite Moments (Part 1)

Well these are my favorite moments so far, each for various different reasons... They were beautiful, hilarious and/or game changing.

1. England's conceded goal against USA due to the ball spinning out of the goalkeeper's hands into the net



2. Denmark's own goal as the defender's header reflected off his teammate's back in the match against Netherlands

3. Beautiful goal line save by Denmark's defender, also against Netherlands



4. Japan's hard fought win against Cameroon, thanks partly to a clash in their defender and goalkeeper



5. New Zealand's 93rd minute goal to bring the match with Slovakia to a draw

World Cup Mania!

Life these days revolves around 7.30pm, 10pm and once in a while, 2.30am.

After 2 nights of whining about being unable to watch the World Cup and having missed the England - USA match, *Shinta decided to override my complaints about spending $94.16 and picked up the phone to call Starhub. Surprisingly, the nice Starhub person managed to activate the channels within 10 minutes (usually its one working day)!

So now we're camped out at our usually under-utilised living room, watching more hours on our Samsung TV in these few days compared to the past 5 years. Our previously empty coffee table is now ladened with 2 notebooks (so that we can blog / play WOW / surf Facebook while watching), snacks, drinks and books (to flip through during the boring parts).