Picture This #2 - Mistaken Identities

Hey everyone! Do check out episode two! Will be talking about Mistaken identities along the street!

Thanks for your support yo

Picture This #1 - Auto-Flush

It's been a really long while and I've finally freed my hands off Skyrim! At least I think I did...

ANYWAYS, Please take a look at the latest and very first upload on my YouTube Channel (www.youtube.com/orhcehfilem)
Picture This is a commentary series about different things that get on my (and hopefully yours as well) nerves.

Got something that gets on your nerves? Why not share it?

X'mas Decorations @ Orchard Road - 02/12/11

Hey guys,

Just sharing some clips which I took whilst walking around Orchard Road.
It was an impromptu thing, so I didn't have any tripods or whatsoever haha

Cheers

SONY A77 AF on video S mode

Yes yes, I know... Almost a month of no activity and the first thing that I blog about is some geeky tech shit. So what? I'm really excited about this one!

So anyways, I've managed to get the SONY a77 DSLT to run it's video S mode with autofocus.

This unlocks a few windows of possibilities since the official release mentions that AF was not supposed to happen for A, S and M modes.

Let me know what you think.

Personally it's exciting, yet scary at the same time. With the knowledge of an upcoming firmware update (got that rumor from sonyalpharumors.com), this could either mean that the video AF get implemented or on the horror spectrum, removed!

Nature has plans for you

So my bro wasn't feeling well and I had to get food for him on my way back.

"pork porridge" he says.

And pork porridge I got. But I sure didn't order this!

Worst part of it is that the rain got lighter the moment I decided to take a bus back...

SONY Alpha 77 Video Test

   
Have been a lil' busy because of the mid-terms, which is still on-going by the way.

Anyways, I've recently bought a new camera!!! And yes, that would be the greatly anticipated SONY SLT-A77.

So basically what's so cool about this is that aside from the option for you to do videos with full control of your aperture and/or shutter speed, you can also choose to go for a full auto mode which allows you to shoot with a constant phase detection autofocus (google: Phase detection vs Contrast)

Been trying out the video capabilities of the camera for a while already and I must say, I love it! Here's a quick run-down:

1. Continuous AF

While it can be a lil' tricky to get used to. It is pretty useful once you get the hang of it. Best used when you have centralized action and wanna maintain your focus on it. There's a tracking option as well.

2. Picture effects

Most awesome would be the fact that I can throw in a picture effect ie Toy Camera and the resulting images look very much like it has gone through a quick round of post processing! Just check out 2:30 onwards and you'll see what I mean.

3. Stabilization

Being an in body stabilizer, I benefit from it regardless of the lens that I have on. This, paired with the DIY Fig Rig that I've built, creates a pretty useful setup for 'handheld' shots.

If there's anything you'd like to know regarding the camera, feel free to drop a comment and I'll try to test it out for ya.

This post confirms my ownership of the site and that this site adheres to Google AdSense program policies and Terms and Conditions: ca-pub-2866524040148739

Slowing Down - MacRitchie Reservoir

Went down to MacRitchie Reservoir two days back.

Last time I went there was about a year ago when we had to participate in a 10km run around part of the reservoir. Aside from that I suppose I've visited the deeper regions of the reservoir about 5 times in my 20 years to date.

Still, I can't say that I was well prepared for the journey. It was sort of a last minute decision to go for the treetop walk and to be honest, I started regretting it about a quarter way through; I was carrying various stuff including my macbook (don't ask me why I brought it along, it's not for the monkeys).

Anyways, the video is a simple compilation of some footage which I took whilst walking around. Deliberately lowered the speed of most of the stuff as I wanted to show that MacRitchie is a nice place to go and just... Slow down... Get in speed with mother nature...

Thought it would be an appropriate thing to share since we're currently living in a society where everyone is always rushing for things to be done... Sure, time is money, but money isn't everything. Learn to appreciate the little things in life and we'll all be happier as a whole I guess.

Cheers

Future leaders of the country

I am... Somewhat concerned of the type of people we will be having for 'future leaders' in their respectful line of works.

This happened just yesterday, while I was on my way home. The bus passes by quite a few junior colleges so it's pretty normal for the bus to get crowded with students.

I overheard two of the students talking to each other, presumably about their mandarin oral examinations. I have to say... It was disturbing for me.

So as it turned out, student A was having trouble with the "open conversation" or topic debate part of his examination. The topic? Wet markets vs supermarkets. The duration? 5 minutes.

He said that he had to pause for 2-3 minutes...

You know what's worse? "aiya I'm also not from china what..."

I'm not sure if it's an issue with not knowing what the issues are regarding the topic of wet markets vs supermarkets, not being able to speak in your mother tongue or thinking that speaking in your mandarin is only for the mainland Chinese. Either way, it's just bad... Especially knowing that these are the "cream of the crop", the "smart thinking people"... Right?... Right?

And student B could still "yalor" to everything student A says...

Is there something I'm missing here? If there's something I should know about please let me know :D

Hawking Punggol and Sengkang

So apparently there have been talk about 'hawker centers' that will be built around the new residential areas in Sengkang and punggol.

Personally, I'm all for it, provided these are true blue hawker centers and not some silly excuse for one.

I'm looking at the one located just 5 minutes' walk from compass point. Sure, the place may be non-air conditioned, there is also a wet market right behind as well.

But the only thing where it fails is price. The rent is so high that it is offset by the food prices. To sum it up, it's a food court disguised as a hawker center.

That said, I hope that the land does not end up being leased to high buffers like kopitiam ie buangkok. It's bound to become another compass point case study.

We need good food at good prices!!
(btw the Yong Tau Fu dish below costs just $3)

Throw Your Blackberry On The Ground

So apparently, the news reported that a Blackberry server crashed few days ago, sending lots'a users into the mobile cold zone without internet, email and their beloved BBM.

Countries affected were South Africa, India, some in the Middle East and some other countries that doesn't include Singapore (Yipee).

So what does this mean? Get an iPhone, or something non-BBed. Why? You can go all angry-villager on the telco when they fail, most of the time resulting in free days that you can exploit :)

CHEERS! I'M BACK

Alphadslr.com 4th Anniversary (XMM shoot)

Thought I should share some of my stuff here Enjoy!

General Anesthesia? *vomits*

*Transfered from my Tumblr*
Hi guys,

sry for the long break… too many things happening (good things) and I haven’t really got the time to sit down and write. apologies on that.

as most of you would’ve seen from the last photo, my right arm is bigger than an x’mas ham. that’s the result of my recent surgery…

boy… surgery sure was a ride! first, i had to register my name n stuff at the day surgery centre. shortly after, they directed me to the holding ward where i’d change into the operating attire (funky lookin’ i might add) and clear my systems.

“sir what is your full name and IC number?”

“do you know what operation you’re going for?”

“mr. bruce lim, can i ask you what time did you stop eating from?”

“what time did you stop drinking from?”

“do you have any metal in your body?

“are you wearing any contacts?”

“are you wearing any jewellery?

“do you have a flu, cough or runny nose?”

“have you passed urine, sir?

yes… they asked me all those… A LOT OF TIMES!!! And the worst is, I get more nervous each time they asked!

Finally they told me that I’m going to the operating theatre… dumbass of me to say that i could walk there on my own… barefeet! of course, the nurse ignored that statement and wheeled me to there (pretty far away, i might add)

Things were cool in the theatre… A caucasian doc administered the anesthesia and he was cool… said something bout “gonna do the michael jackson, only difference is that he’s not with us anymore…” well that sure put my mind at ease… (actually i might have remembered it wrongly but the point is that he made an MJ joke that they understood)

stupid sam told me that the GA would be administered like a gas… well, maybe that was the case for everyone else but not me man! i knocked out even before they put anything on me… think mine was administered via IV instead…

so i closed my eyes and the next thing i knew, 3 hours had passed and i was being wheeled out… Apparently, they had trouble waking me up so I had to stay in there for a lil’ while longer :\

Was fine when I waited for the doctor… Til I started eating… somehow, i started feeling giddy and shortly after puked…

I continued vomiting for a while until i finally reached home… boomer much?

Yellow piece of jackie chan

I have a confession to make,

I am a racist. I like to poke fun at people of the other races.
I do it to my friends mostly, or at the very least, to people who can't hear or see what I'm doing.
They're not targeted at creating hate or anger, nor are they aimed to hurt anyone.
Hell, my friends laugh at my typically small beady eyes (chinese).

Being a racist has made me somewhat sensitive to potentially racist messages. Every gesture that someone makes, a glance, a finger, a snigger, a whisper into his friends' ears, they all get picked up by me. Yes, go ahead, call me paranoid I don't care.

Finally, the training in Australia's over and we're brought around Rocky for our Rest n Recreation.
The very first night, we decided to head over to the very popular 'Bush Inn Bar and Grill' to try our hand at steak the size of our heads. Unfortunately, that didn't happen; the placed was having an event (probably related to the race night) and we weren't let in.

So we decided to walk around to look for food. First person we met at the cross-junction? A young man running past us yelling jackie chan every once in a while, turning around to see if we were angry or not. Soon after that dimwit crossed the road, a black car drove by and rolled open a window. This witch of a woman popped her head out and yelled JACKIE CHAN! It's my first drive-by racist attack and it sure didn't feel good to be on the receiving end of it.

Worst of all, it wasn't even funny! Get some fresh material at the very least, Jackie Chan's old!

That aside, I've heard of cases more violent and it does get on my nerve. Sure, it's human nature to be protective against things that are of a different nature to us, but isn't it going a lil' bit too far when you call them 'yellow pieces of shit' n throw coins at them? Take into account that you're possibly having a bad case of colour deficiency n the fact that aussie coins are huge!

Comon' people, positive racism! That's what I stand by! It's impossible not to have a set of ideas about different groups of people but let's keep the hostility out of each other yeah?

Hitting the jackpot

Yeah, I'm still in Australia with a week to go before returning to the motherland. But that doesn't mean that I must blog about life in the outback.

Instead, I'm going to share an observation that I made whilst on holiday with my parents in genting highlands.

As some of you would've known, I just turned 21 this year and therefore am of legal age to walk into casinos in Malaysia. Needless to say, my parents took me on a tour of the areas as I'd they were regulars.

What caught my interest was the rows and rows of slots machines lined along the halls of the casinos, or rather, the people playing them.

Sure, it might be fun when you roll off 50RM and walk away from the machine 150 richer, but I'm pretty sure that's just beginner's luck. Of course, that's not the point.

The point is, I noticed that most of the players were simply seated with their soulless fingers on the same button throughout. You just couldn't help but notice that lifeless look on their faces...

At the end of the day, it's almost like life on its own innit? Sure, the jackpots in life sure sound sweet, like the person who won the lottery twice or the lucky woman on oprah. But doesn't it look kinda sad when all you do is sit there and wait for a miracle to happen? Why not do something and make the miracle much easier to arrive?

Don't mind me, I'm just ranting...

Walalaby

*emerges fron cave* YAaaaaaahH!!!

Gee I haven't been typing much since the arrival of new games on my ipod.

Lotsa shit have been going on, most prominently a series of events related to the military...

As most of my frends would've already known by now (becauae they're in it too), i'm going to australia soon. It's going to be a 3-week collision course towards a hell filled with demons called footrot and heat rash, pfft!

It's not really the chionging part that irritates me. I'm more concerned about the silly pre-activities involved. sure, we're gonna need 10 pairs of socks... right... why not make evryone of us buy a pair of that underwear that keeps you clean for 6 weeks (trust me, there is such a thing)? It's as interesting as how everyone's favourite superhero pronounces it i guess... "walalaby"

That aside, boy am i glad that my 2 years' national service is soon coming to an end. why? i think i'm starting to show symptoms of "Militarenia"!

Just last week, While attending the commissioning parade my pal was in (congrats disa!), I couldn't help but take notice of the dressing (marching neatness in layman) of the now officers.

And it doesn't happen only when i'm in a military installation. The other day, while shopping at UNIQLO (again, i know) i went home with a pair of coated bottoms. Guess what caught my eye? The sign which says "cool and military". I don't have to tell you which word drew my interest, do I?

Having said that, I've taken up the necessary measures to suppress the disorder. First up, a holiday! I'm currently seated at starbucks enjoying a cup of creme brulee machiato, and free wifi, typing this post on my ipod. what else can be better (don't be a smartass and tell me what's better. It's just a figure of speech!)

alright, my cup's emptying soon and the attendant seems to be looking at me, not in the gay way. I'd better sign off and go watch a movie now.

CHEERSsssssSCxzsXsS

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

A not so cheerful song

And not a songful cheer. Well at least that's that's my opinion on the 'official' cheer presented alongside the current youth olympic games.

Much controversy has been surrounding the tune - who sang it? who wrote it? who even approved it?

It's not hard to see why. The words are, as the majority of youths put it, retarded; oh yeah, oh yeah just won't cut it in terms of marking our presence in the stadium.

A good example to look at would be S.Korea with their simple yet catchy cheer (in case there's anothet cheer out there, I'm talking about the goal ole ole cheer). It has Korea written all over it, it's easy to learn yet not fiddling with stupidity.

A recent news article quoted Mr. Ken Lim (great job on the YOG theme song by the way) saying that if he were to do the cheer differently, he would have takrn two lines from a singaporean song, for example "we are singapore, we are singapore". I think it would've made a much better cheer. Heck, I'd take the whole part of it and perhaps change the last line a lil' to make it more cheer-like.

Interestingly enough, only a supposed 20-odd percent of people actually liked the cheer. If that is the case, why did they approve of the cheer then? Shouldn't they have known to do some 'beta testing' before releasing a product into the public? Or are they simply content with the fact that old fogeys enjoyed the cheer while the actual youths were left out?

"Come up with a better cheer if you can", that's not exactly what they said but i think pretty much sums that up. Isn't that too late to be doing that now? And now they're coming up with a nintendo wii to award the chosen one. I'm sorry but it just doesn't seem like a proper amount considering how much you would have likely paid the people involved in "you are the one, Singapore'

Makes us wonder doesn't it?

[Rambling via iKaopei]

Blogging from my iPod

Recently got the iBlogger app for ipod/iphone. i really hope that this'll get me the much needed 'motivation' to get back to blogging. we'll just have to see now don't we?

in other news, life in national service has been pretty alright so far. things are starting to smooth out and all there is to really tire us out is the all important NDP.

sure i might often complain about the pointlessness of countless reptition, or the awkwardness of wearing the 'lobster' costume. But hearing the kids cheering on during last night's show made me feel that this is perhaps a huniliation worth going through haha.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Singapore, Next Possible Pugilistic Gathering Ground?

On 16th January 2010, Leon Moore defeated Marbun to claim the PABA Superbamtam Weight Title right here in Singapore. It was a sign of things to come. The organised bout saw a sold out crowd at the Suntec Convention & Exhibition Centre, with an interesting mix of both the young, and the young at heart.

A young guy like me would've thought that the 'old farts' like the 50 year olds know nuts about professional boxing, (actually, neither do I haha). But it so turns out, that this little island of ours used to have quite a circle actually. My dad tells me that back when he was young, Gay World Amusement Park used to be the rage amongst young men. I know what you're thinking but no, my dad didn't see those days when peculiar young men would walk around in tight leather clothes and scream "fuuu" as and when they like. Besides, the term Gay never referred to homosexuality until recent days.

Gay world, as they used to call it, is a now demolished amusement park located somewhere between Geylang and Mountbatten Road. The place housed several interesting stuff, a wide variety at that too; Entertainment ranged from cabarets to even haunted house rides! Most importantly, Gay world housed the grandest indoor stadium in Singapore until the Singapore Indoor Stadium was built, and that's what made the day for most local young men. Regular boxing and wrestling matches would be on show for just 20-30cents per ticket. According to dad, that's about 60-70 bucks in the modern SGD context.

Of course, time had passed and things get old. Eventually the fights stopped happening, fighters stopped coming, even the amusement park had to stop existing...

The news of the PABA bout, made possible by Top Rated Intl Promotions, was music to my ears. With the upcoming Integrated Resorts and possibly tourist pour-in, there'd definitely be a place for regular boxing matches. Now, I'm not much of a boxing fan, personally I don't really follow the rankings and stuff. What excites me though, would be the fact that with a proper boxing culture set up in the lion city, we might see a day when other forms of martial sport are hosted. I'm talking about Muay Thai, I'm talking about MMA!

PRIDE has stopped airing, that's a sad fact for me. UFC just doesn't really cut it methinks, it's just different. If possible, I might even push for something of that sort right here in Singapore... Anything is possible :)

How much do you work out?

Just a random thought.

I used to be quite a skinny kid, back in the primary school/lower sec days... Even got into the school volleyball team for a while..
Training was tough, but it did make me strong and healthy. Then came the upper secondary days when I simply wasn't good enough for the team and got out of training... It started to snowball from there on... I got lazier, and somewhat hungrier as well I suppose. In the next 4 years, I put on so much weight a double chin appeared on two occasions!

Thankfully I'm now in the military, doing my 2-year Compulsory National Service. Training is even tougher than I've ever had, but I'm now at a satisfactory physique (yeah yeah... I'm still bad at running long distances but my overall strength is there!).

I still can't help but think about what might happen after i finish my service. Being the natural laze, I'm bound to shrink my exercise regime. In a few months, muscles are bound to shrink, the belly's bound to swell! Unless I do something about it of course...

Here's what I plan to do:

1. A 30-minute run followed by some static exercises every weekend
2. Big dinners are limited to once a week
3. Buffet trips are limited to once a month
4. Never overeat
5. Drink lotsa water (apparently it helps)

Sounds like a plan? It's not much but it's enough methinks...

What are YOU going to do about your body?