Back in the game It felt really good to be out and about, wheeling and dealing like a producer should. Most times, I have a producer to weave all the loose bits of preproduction together, but when I take on a direct client, these tasks fall on me. My hat’s off to producers who can throw together a production two days after job notification and confirmation, both of which occuring on the same day! It takes a special breed to be producers; I am definitely not one of them. There is a shortage of freelance crew in the market at the moment, and I almost had to push back the shoot by two days. Almost. It was nice to have heard so many familiar voices in the span of one day. Felt like I’d been away for a long time. Posted in The Crunch       Tomorrow, a new chapter I have not looked forward to any given day with enthusiasm for a long time. But tomorrow is one such day. Tomorrow, a new chapter begins. Posted in The Crunch       Tomorrow I have not looked forward to any given day with enthusiasm for a long time. But tomorrow is one such day. Tomorrow, a new chapter begins. Posted in The Crunch       On the house Lugging my laptop and a stack of notes, I shuffled, bleary-eyed, into the coffeeshop and sat at my usual table. The regular guy who worked the night shift was already looking on expectantly for my order, not that he had to, any way; the staff at this establishment knew me by face, and would know what beverage to make me at a mere nod of my head. “Maggi mee and an iced coffee,” I said. It was 4:30 am and I was ravenous. This coffeeshop served up a bowl of instant noodles with an egg and a hot dog for two dollars, 24/7, for night creatures such as myself. “We’re out of Maggi mee,” he replied, not quite unapologetically. The look of disappointment on my face was visible. “Just the coffee then.” Moments later, the staffer ambled over with my drink in one hand, and a packet of nasi lemak in the other. “I didn’t know you guys sold nasi lemak here.” “We don’t. These are for the night shift staff.” He placed the packet on my table. “It’s four in the morning and you’re thinking of having Maggi mee?” Then he tsked, implying how poor a choice that was as far as nutritional values went. “Here. My treat,” he said, and refused my offer to pay for it. Posted in Dailies       Status quo ‘Something has changed,’ she said. The status quo was no longer tenable. Because even as she has lost her bearings, she clearly saw where the road ahead would lead to, and chose a higher path. Posted in Projects: The Connivance       “Your emotional world…” “Your emotional world is too small to fit any one else into. You don’t think for two persons; you think of only one.” “Yourself.” And it is exactly why he fears to ingrain himself into any one’s life. “Myabe you just haven’t found the right person. Maybe you’re the sort who will mellow only later in life and then find a companion. If that is what’s gonna happen, I hope you will find me again.” Because he will end up destroying all the things that he holds dear. Posted in The Moleskine Entries       Status quo ‘Something has changed,’ she said. The status quo was no longer tenable. Because even as she has lost her bearings, she clearly saw where the road ahead would lead to, and chose a higher path. Posted in Projects: The Connivance       I made it! 8 chin-ups, 43 sit-ups, 10.2-sec shuttle run, 216 cm standing broad jump (spring koyak today…). 2.4km timing? 12 min 29 sec. I missed by 9 seconds… … for silver, that is! Still, I’m getting $100 out of this. Good riddance, Remedial Training! Posted in Dailies       Loneliness Loneliness was the momentum that propeled them together and will be the ghost that roams the darkened room in their hearts. Posted in Projects: The Connivance       Passing through The words and thoughts we used to trade are scattered around these streets, lingering on in the corners where ambiguity lurks, and are afloat on these plastic chairs longing for some warmth, some respite in this rain-soaked night. We were here, sitting among pub-hoppers sobering up between spades of greasy bites as they tethered between catatonia and giggling fits. I look across at the table where we had sat at. Devoid of people, our table still looks as sad. We were there, crossing the road, taking the first step towards the entanglement of our fate. You were awash in the warmth of these street lights. Trailing two steps behind, I avoided the glance you threw over your shoulder and studied your shadow instead. Here and now, I look for the footprints you had burnt into the asphalt of my mind and wonder what had changed. Posted in On The Road, The Moleskine Entries       Una Palabra (A Word) Listen to this haunting song here. Una Palabra Carlos Valera Taken from the album Los Hijos de Guillermo Tell, Vol. 1 Una palabra no dice nada y al mismo tiempo lo esconde todo igual que el viento que esconde el agua como las flores que esconde el lodo. Una mirada no dice nada y al mismo tiempo lo dice todo como la lluvia sobre tu cara o el viejo mapa de algun tesoro. Una verdad no dice nada y al mismo tiempo lo esconde todo como una hoguera que no se apaga como una piedra que nace polvo. Si un dia me faltas no sere nada y al mismo tiempo lo sere todo porque en tus ojos estan mis alas y esta la orilla donde me ahogo, porque en tus ojos estan mis alas y esta la orilla donde me ahogo. ________________________________ Translation A word does not say anything And at the same time it hides everything Just as the wind that hides the water Like the flowers that mud hides. A glance does not say anything And at the same time it says everything Like rain on your face Or an old treasure map A truth does not say anything And at the same time it hides everything Like a bonfire that does not go out Like a stone that is born dust. If one day you need me, I will be nothing And at the same time I will be everything Because in your eyes are my wings And the shore where I drown, Because in your eyes are my wings And the shore where I drown Posted in Words       07.11.08, 6:17pm Posted in Photography       06.11.08, 6:49pm Posted in Photography       The runner’s high A sea of synthetic red flashes by before my eyes, an unending scroll put beneath my feet as some joke of cosmic proportions to test my mettle and to break my spirit. I push on. And on. And on. My mind, overwrought with misery, is purging. It bleeds freely from my pores, crying without shame, as if it thinks it can expel these thoughts and worries if I run fast enough. But they are in my eyes and on my skin and infecting my legs. I clench my jaw and heave for more air. For the first time in my life, I feel it. I am it. I am the runner’s high. Posted in Dailies, On The Road       The cellophane fish It was an image that, while he had not seen with his eyes, was an indelible one in his mind. A fish made of cellophane. He imagined it had a gaping mouth, perhaps like that of a goldfish, its scales aglow from the feeble light housed within its hollow stomach. A tail styled, perhaps, in the form of sinewy waves this fish would never get to ride. He imagined the wide smile on her face as she held it up high, exuberant and intoxicated by the sudden pleasures of revisiting a tradition abandoned long ago in the fading years of her innocence, when the one beloved protagonist in her life was younger, healthier and happier. He imagined that, as she clutched the lantern in her hand, she had quietly wished things were different, and that, unbeknown to her, the cellophane fish represented the irretrievable years she had spent with her grandmother, the furry creature that had robbed her heart and, by association, the time they had spent together. Posted in On The Road, The Moleskine Entries       Only a concept ‘I am only a concept,’ she said. ‘Not a person.’ And upon hearing that, his heart wept. Posted in On The Road, The Moleskine Entries       Jumping ship After taking a hard look at the across-the-board offerings from both Nikon and Canon, I can safely make three statements, that: One: Canon is clearly losing its edge. Two: The popular saying, that Nikon cameras are designed by photographers while Canon cameras are designed by engineers, is very true indeed. Three: I am ready to jump ship. Posted in Photography       I came so close! There’s nothing more frustrating than having made three attempts at passing the Individual Physical Fitness Test and still fail. First attempt: 4 chin-ups, 36 sit-ups (far from my standard), 10.9-sec shuttle run, 209 cm standing broad jump. 2.4km timing? Like fuck: 14 min 08 sec. Passing timing is between 12:41 to 13:00. The consequence of failing is that I have been going for remedial training back in camp. Twice a week—once weekday, once weekend—for four weeks. Second attempt, taken while I was back for reservist last week: 5 chin-ups, 43 sit-ups (closer), 9.57-sec shuttle run, 220 cm standard broad jump (surprisingly, as this has always been my weakest station). It was a very good day. 2.4km run? 13 min 35 sec. Frankly, I wasn’t expecting to pass. Third attempt, taken just earlier this evening: 6 chin-ups, 45 sit-ups (my usual), 11.2-sec shuttle run (skidded and skittered like a panicking cat), 221 cm standing broad jump (go, me!). As for the 2.4km run? Well, just by the title of this post, you already know I failed. By THREE FUCKING SECONDS. Three! Pui! Excuse me while I go drown my sorrows in a pint of beer… Posted in Dailies, On The Road       WordPress + iPod touch = Awesome! On the heels of the first-generation iPhone, WordPress released its very own blogging client application for iPhone and iPod touch. I was very intrigued by what WordPress had come up with but was never able to try it until now. The verdict? The WordPress for iPhone app rocks! If you are someone who blogs frequently, iPhone or iPod touch + WordPress is a fantastic combination. Having tried just about every blogging client to use on my Sony CLIÉ, and finally giving up because none of them were any good, the WordPress app is like a breath of fresh air. But having said that, there is one thing about the app I hope WordPress will improve on. If your iPhone or iPod touch is not connected to a network, and you tap on a recent post, a dialog box pops up saying “No connection to host. Editing is not supported now.” What I’d like for the app to do is to store published posts locally, so that I can tap on a recent post and see it the way it was published, in a Viewer mode. Then, if I want to, I can choose to open this published post for editing. This is how my desktop blogging client—ecto 3 for Mac—works, and it’s be nice if the WordPress app did likewise in a true offline mode. That aside, I think I’ll be using this app quite a lot. Writing a post on a handheld device has never felt this pleasant before… Posted in Mac, Tech       Look what Santa Cow brought Eddie showed up at half past six. “When did you arrive?” I asked as he pulled a chair up. “Last night. I’m flying back Thursday morning.” In his hand he held a carrier, in it four photography magazines and books I had asked him to help me bring from Shanghai. As he set the carrier on the table, he fished out a plastic bag. It was wound up, wrapping whatever it held within tightly, the way it would when you didn’t want its content known or seen. Like bootleg software. Or porn. I briefly registered a flash of Best Denki’s big red logo as he held the bag out to me. “This is for you,” he said. Plastic crinkled loudly as I, while eyeing him suspiciously, reached into the bag. I pulled out a plastic box. A plastic box with something expensive and shiny and cool in it. “For everything you’ve done for us,” he simply said. I didn’t know what to say. Posted in Dailies       Suddenly The train had barely pulled out of the station when her text message came in. Suddenly, he no longer had a destination. Emerging from the station, he stopped and wondered where he could go. Behind him, the vestiges of an argument he had had with her only moments ago. In front, a home he felt no compulsion to go back to. They—his parents—had been arguing. He had been arguing with them. He and she had been arguing. All in the same evening. Clutching his laptop bag, and dressed for the next day, he stood rooted to the same spot for the longest time, suddenly homeless. For the third time that evening, he wondered if it would be better if he simply disappeared.        A macro lens for your camera cellphone For photographers who are using Canon’s EP-EX15 eyepiece extender, I had recommended, in a previous post, that they remove the two plastic lenses inside the EP-EX15 so that they can still benefit from having an extended eyepiece without having the view of their viewfinder reduced by 30 percent. So, if you’d done exactly that, you’ll have two plastic lenses lying around that can now be put to very good use with the camera in your cellphone. While mucking about my room today, I chanced upon the two plastic lenses sitting in their box, long neglected. Out of curiosity, I took the lens that is convex and held it up to the lens of the camera in my cellphone. Whaddaya know? Instant macro! Four inches is about as near as I can get the camera on my Sony Ericsson W760i to focus on a subject; unlike the K750i I was using previously, the W760i does not have a macro mode. With the convex lens from the Canon EP-EX15, I can get a macro shot when the W760i is one inch away from the subject. Of course, at such a near distance, you’ll have to watch out for the shadow of your cellphone getting into the shot. The other downside is that you have no way of knowing for sure if the focus is sharp, as the W760i lacks AF confirmation. And if you’re wondering how to carry this delicate piece of plastic lens around wherever you go, worry not: the lens fits snugly into the plastic holder that comes with a CompactFlash card, of which you probably have heaps of lying around. Now all I have to do is to make a holder of some sort that I can quickly snap onto my cellphone…        Sony brings sexyback Introducing the Sony VAIO TT, the latest range of Sony’s ultra-portable notebooks. Standard specs found in all TT models such as 11.1″ widescreen LCD with XBRITE-DuraView, webcam, Bluetooth, fingerprint sensor, HDMI out, and a bundled pair of noise-canceling headphones (nice touch, Sony), while the highest-end model—the VGN-TT90US—sports 4GB RAM, 256GB Solid State Drive, and Blu-ray Disc playback/recording. The VAIO TT, an Intel Centrino 2 11.1″ ultra-portable, is also available in Premium Carbon, Burgundy Red, Grace Gold, and Silky Black. What’s more, the Sony VAIO TT Premium Design range is really appealing to the woman in me… There are three motifs in the Premium Design range: Royal Ornament (top), Fragrant Flower (bottom left), and Noble Textile (bottom right). These models are currently available only in Japan. More info here on Sony Japan’s VAIO page and Sony USA’s page.        Pieces of Shanghai, Day 6        Pieces of Shanghai, Day 5        Pieces of Shanghai, Day 4        Pieces of Shanghai, Day 3        Pieces of Shanghai, Day 2        Pieces of Shanghai, Day 1        I can see! I dropped my MacBook Pro five months ago on a shoot. The MBP slipped out of a briefcase that was closed but, unknown to me, unzipped. As I lifted the briefcase and turned to walk away, the MBP slipped out and fell onto hard cement flooring, landing on its top lid. The drop whacked the screen hinges out of alignment. Subsequently, the 15″ LED screen developed three hairline cracks that converged in the middle of the screen, like an upside-down Y-shape. At this convergence point, and also both at the top and bottom of the screen, pixels began to slowly die day after day. A one-inch strip on the left side of the screen also died. Several months later, the black blob grew so much it became difficult to get any work done on the MBP without resorting to using an external display. Apple cited S$1,300 to replace the broken display, the reason for the high price being that Apple will replace the entire top lid assembly—everything from the lid hinges on—instead of merely replacing the LED screen. While the top lid of my MBP was pockmarked with dents at all four corners, my priority was getting the screen replaced. A quick search on eBay turned up listings of a brand new replacement LED screen that could be purchased for approximately S$360 before shipping costs. I had fully intended on purchasing one from eBay and replacing the screen myself (a decision I would be glad I did not make later). Yesterday, at Sim Lim Square, I chanced upon a computer repair shop that had just brought in a new batch of replacement screens for the MacBook Pro. It was quite a stroke of luck; I had gone only to window-shop, and since the LED screens for the MacBook Pro were hard to come by (the same store did not have any when I made an inquiry two months ago), I was not expecting to find one. The shop owner quoted S$450 for the repair. ‘And we can do it right now for you,’ he added. I said yes immediately. The repair procedure generally went well. The only time in which the repair person struggled was when it came to separating the screen from the front bezel; these two components were taped together all around with double-sided tape. Apple’s industrial design for its products, with a seamless and unblemished appearance in mind, generally results in very little assembly points that are accessible for repair work. Take a quick look around the exterior of the top assembly of the MacBook Pro and you will not find a starting point to begin a disassembly except for two screws, hidden from plain sight and obscured from clear access, at the bottom of the front bezel. Observing how the repair person had to pry the two parts away from each other very carefully, I concluded that Apple must have thought it would be easier and quicker to replace the whole top assembly without running the risk of prying and damaging any of the individual components. So if you need to have your computer repaired (knock on wood), I would recommend a visit to Vital Computer at #04-36, Sim Lim Square (Tel: 6883-1488). However, I would strongly recommend that you insist on either the store owner (who worked on my Mac) or a senior tech to perform repair work on your computer; the impression I got from casually observing the store as I waited was that the junior techs could be quite novice. While I was waiting, a customer walked in with a MacBook Pro that could not start up any more. Later, I overheard the tech assigned to the job, when asked by the owner why he had not begun work on the MBP, replying rather helplessly that he did not know how to reinitialize a Mac, a procedure which really should be common knowledge to even the end user. The other observation I made was that the techs thought nothing of using a screwdriver to pry components. Using a stainless steel screwdriver to pry plastic or, worse, soft aluminum that the chassic of a MacBook Pro is made of is definitely not best practice, is a move that gives me the chills, and is something I would not think of doing myself unless I had a plastic prying tool such as these. All techs should use these. Customers do have an emotional bond with their gadgets and would wish to see as little cosmetic blemishes arising from repair work. To be fair, the store owner did tell me that it was very difficult to separate the screen from the bezel and that he reassured me that he was ‘going to be as careful and gentle as possible’. An hour later, I had a brand new screen. After almost half a year of staring at a black blob, having to arrange application windows around it, and just about going insane, I am so chuffed to be looking at a pristine screen again.