The Haze

The haze situation in Cheras, as of this morning and afternoon, was reasonably pleasant with only a slight hint of its presence. But when 6pm came, things changed for the worst. The haze was thick and brought visibility down to like 3 km! The surrounding condominiums and buildings opposite my own condo unit were showered with thick haze. And the further buildings seem to have "disappeared"!!!

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This picture was taken from the left side of my condo unit, 17 floors up, at 7pm. A normally easily visible KLCC and the KL Tower have gone "missing" in the thick haze. The furthest building I can visibily see is around 3 km away.

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At a glance, the ambience does resemble a typical evening at Genting Highlands where instead of 37C worth of dusty haze, is 16C worth of cool fog and midst. Unfortunately, this ain't the case!

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Opposite view from my unit is Leisure Mall, which is now almost hidden in thick haze! I think its the worst of haze condition so far.

SIGG Water Bottles

SIGG, "The Original Swiss Bottle", is recognized world-wide for Swiss quality and craftsmanship that comes with nearly 100 years of heritage and experience. Produced from a single component that is seamless and has no comparable weak points, SIGG bottles are tremendously durable and virtually unbreakable.

In June 2006, Backpacker magazine conducted a relentless field test of leading water bottles brands. With the services of a 100 pound cannon packed with golf balls, they were able to destroy all of the targeted bottles – except one! Following the bottle barrage, they dubbed SIGG "The World's Toughest Water Bottle."

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As tough as they are on the outside, it's the inside of SIGG bottles that make them so special. Due to SIGG's special, proprietary internal coating, these high-tech bottles are resistant to fruit juice acids, energy drinks, alcohol and virtually any consumable beverage. Because the liners are taste and scent neutral, you can enjoy any beverage you'd like – without any lingering smell or taste of the last beverage you drank.

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The composition of the liner also reduces the chances of bacteria build-up. And because the liner is virtually baked into the inner walls of the bottle, it will not flake or chip even if dented on the outside.

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There has been a lot of press concerning plastic water bottles (polycarbonate) leaching harmful chemicals into the container's ingredients. It's extremely important to note that SIGG bottles exceed FDA requirements and have been thoroughly tested to ensure 0.0% leaching – so they are 100% safe.

In Malaysia, the SIGG water bottle (1.oL) is retailing at RM129 each.

July 28 is just around the corner and guess what's #1 on my birthday wish list?

A SIGG WATER BOTTLE. :)

TV3 - Inspirasi Konsert

Again, for some funny reasons, I can't seem to move the pictures around. So, the sequence is, again, in reverse order.

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This was the TV3 concert I covered while of my other fellow friends were shooting the Japan Super GT 2009 at Sepang. Given a choice, I'd take Japan GT anytime! Anyway, this was TV3's 25 years anniversary concert themed "Inspirasi". As usual, like their monthly Jom Heboh concerts, it was attended by Malays with maybe 1 or 2 foreign visitors who'd probably get a shock seeing how the crowd behaved. And I am not making this up and neither am I being biased because I actually interviewed one of the visitor.

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The concert, being a Malay concert, had all Malay local artistes lined up for the evening. Some names I know, some I don't know and some I don't even bother to know.

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Here are some pics that should tell the whole story.

Fireworks at the end of the show. I think the budget was the main reason for the rather "thin display".

The finale, all the artistes came out for a final good night.

Hmm, this is Awie!

Faizal Tahir

Malaysian veteran singer, M.Nasir.

The Malaysian "divas". From left is Adibah Noor (in white), Ning Baizura, Noryn Aziz and Jacklyn Victor (of Malaysian Idol fame).

The crowd and the stage.

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I have shot TV3 concerts for some years now and I always, and mean ALWAYS, see fights. Somehow, the people just can't stay polite and keep peace while enjoying the concert. Somehow, they just have to irritate each other and start a fight. You kacau me, I kacau you! Not just once but a few times in ONE show!

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This is what I mean "gangsterism" among the youths! The police, and I mean POLICE and not the RELAs, had to come and literally "arrest" the boys!

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I have also covered many Hong Kong, Taiwan and international artistes' concerts here in Malaysia and we don't see such rowdy behaviours. Yes, there were "naughty" boys too but not to an extreme of a "police arrest"! In fact, only the RELAs were on duty. Somehow, the TV3 concerts require the presence of the police force. That tells us something, doesn't it?

Not sure who they are. In fact, I don't know 60% of the artiste line-up.

Veteran singer, Jamal Abdilah. Married and divorced 3 times. And I thought this only happens in the Western celebrity culture. Malaysia Boleh!

Before the show started, balloons were distributed. And everyone, including the adults, rushed for them. The father would take 3 balloons, 2 for his kid and one for himself. I mean, haven't they seen balloons before? Why would city folks go to the extend of "fighting" for balloons? Gosh!

Our "spiderman" up there, 40 feet above ground, fixing the molefay lights.

Huge amount of power was consumed that evening. The source...industrial generator sets.

The clowns

The crowd

The inflatables

Street artistes at work on their graffiti

The "Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad" also known as the "clock tower" in front of Dataran Merdeka. A view that I have not shot for more than 10 years. I remembered when I started photography as a hobby some 18 years ago, I always drive down town shooting these old buildings.

EAW KF750 speakers used to give rear coverage for the people at the far back area. Personally, I think these aged KF750 performs far better than the newer ESS line arrays used as front of house at this concert.

TV3's sound engineer at the Yamaha PM5D digital mixer for FOH mix

The entire stage at 6pm

The ESS (East Sound System) line array Front-Of-House system. They sounded ok but I think it was a little "hard". Maybe the sound engineer preferred "harder" sound.

The music director's keyboards station. Not sure who she was but it was a lady. No, it was not Jenny Chin.

The drummer. Forgot his name!

The Yamaha M7CL digital mixer for stage monitors mix

The ESS power amps for the line array FOHs

Well, that's about it. That was my evening at TV3's Inspirasi Konsert Ulang Tahun Ke-25. I still think shooting the Japan GT would be more fun!

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Sigh.

Moments at Michael Jackson's Memorial

I watched the live telecast over Astro's CNN coverage of Michael Jackson's memorial service at the Staples Centre. At first, I didn't get good signals from Astro due to the rain, so I watched it over CNN's website on streaming video. But later, reverted back to Astro when the rain stopped.

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It was a super slow 2 hour plus event. And the replay the next day got everything told in less than 60 minutes! Should have watched the replay instead. But then again, nothing beats the suspense and thrill of watching a live telecast and knowing that its happening there over in US, exactly as you see it on TV. That is also why I only watch football matches if its "live" and if its "the finals".

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Anyway, a few things brought me to tears while watching MJ's memorial last nite. The pushing in of his coffin by his brothers was somehow heart moving. I mean, its Michael Jackson's body lying inside there, alright!

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But I was especially touched when his 11 year old daughter, Paris Jackson, gave the short but super touchy speech and when she said her daddy was the best daddy in the world, it brought me tears. This were her exact words, "Ever since I was born, daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. And I just want to say that I love him so much", and she burst into tears.

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I mean, the world has never heard from this girl and when she speaks, she moved the world to tears! How powerful. Watch the video HERE.

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When Brooke Shileds gave her testimony, she concluded with the lyrics of "Smile" and she teared. Then Michael's brother, Jermaine, sang the song in full.

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Awesome lyrics, super meaningful. He almost couldn't finish the song. Again, brought me to tears.

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But I think, the best part, at least in my opinion, was when the pastor (I think it was Pastor Lucius Smith) closed the event with a prayer and mentioned this, "the King of Pop will now have to bow his knees to the King of Kings". And that's God, our Heavenly Father! Rest in peace, Michael.

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I woke up at 12 noon this "morning" and I am still awake now (its 4:30am). I think I better hit the sack now and hopefully get back to my "normal" sleeping routine!

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Good night, Malaysia!

A Satisfied Event

I actually wrote quite a lot about this event but somehow for don't know what reasons the entire text just disappeared! Anyway, it was a good evening. Everything went well. Most of all, the client was happy and have their thumbs up! It was an awards nite for their Presidential Directors of an MLM company.

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The pictures are in reverse order and I can't seem to rearrange the order of the pictures! Don't know wuts wrong with Blogspot. Anyway, here they are. All images taken with Canon IXUS70.

The distributors buying products like there is no tomorrow. I think easily some few hundred thousand Ringgit worth of sale was made that nite.

The crowded hall at MAEPS.

My DJ console overviewing the stage.

DJ of the evening! Haha...

The LCD projector monitors and video selector.

The hall with 181 tables!

Hall D of MAEPS (Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang).

My two projector screens at the back foyer area.

My "Wall-E" looking LCD projector!

Speaker amplifiers from SoundStandard.

MLA line arrays.

My workstation for the evening...the DJ console!

Allen & Heath GL3300 overlooking the stage area.

Tribute To Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

Today is a special day. Farrah Fawcett (Charlie's Angels in the late 70s) died. My fighting fish, Sally, also died early this morning. And about 10 hours ago, marked the death of The King Of Pop, Michael Jackson. He was 50.

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The hospital pronounced him dead at 2:26pm on Thursday, June 25 (US time). Apparently, he suffered a cardiac arrest at his home and was immediately rushed to the hospital. He was not breathing when he arrived. The doctors failed to revive him despite trying for almost an hour.

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Rest in peace, Michael.

Japan Super GT 2009

It is sad to acknowledge that I won't be shooting this year's Japan Super GT 2009 in Sepang. I have been shooting JGT for the last 3 years and to watch others having the fun this year would be a real drag. I feel disappointed when I see my friends' Facebook pages flooding with images from Sepang, the setups, the practise runs, the crew, the photographers in actions, etc.

I was almost devastated when I was informed a few months ago that our Japan GT client, Hankook, is not hosting any events this year during the race in Malaysia. Normally, Hankook will bring in their Hankook (tyres) distributors from Asia to Malaysia in conjunction with the JGT here in Sepang. For the delegates, there will be tours, seminars, dinners and of course, the race day itself. I enjoyed the "Safari Tour" where the bus makes two rounds at the Sepang race track with the super cars rushing in and taking over from the back. Its really adrenalin-rush! But Hankook cut its budget this year, I heard and thus, no hosting of events. But I think the Porsche Hankook team is still in the race this season.

Nevertheless, I will still be shooting. But shooting a dull and boring local TV3 live concert at Dataran Merdeka! Boring local artistes compared to hot Japanese babes. A boring stage setup compared to shinny super cars! Boring local music compared to the loud roars of the super engines! Sigh.

Action started on Thursday with all the teams coming in, setting up and getting ready at their pits. Yesterday was the practises. Today is qualifying. And today is the day ALL the hot Japanese babes aka umbrella girls come out in droves, parading in their skimpy team outfits, attracting immense attention from hordes of photographers rushing for a good shot like they've never seen a gorgeous babe before. And I must say that this is, like it or not, where most of the fun is. The cars are secondary! haha..

Photo forums are beginning to be flooded with pictures of the girls and cars. Tomorrow, we will see the actual race and the pinnacle of all action...both the cars and the babes! The focus will be more on the cars tomorrow since its the actual race day.

Here are some of my friends in action at the Japan Super GT 2009 in Sepang.

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[The pictures have been taken down because the photographer(s) who supposedly took the pics say that I am not allowed to use his/their images unless I have his/their permission. I didn't see the matter as so serious since these are just general pictures of people at Sepang and some are even my friends. These images are not some "high profile copyrighted" images of some superstar or anything like that. But since the "apparent owner(s)" of the images are making noise, I will take them down to make everyone happy. I apologise for making the rightful photographer(s) uneasy over the matter. Happy shooting, boys!]

OK, gotto run off to my boring concert shoot now. Have a great weekend. :)

Babyboss Junior Photographers

I received a call this afternoon from CMG boss, asking me to cover this Saturday's TV3 25th Anniversary Concert at Dataran Merdeka. The show will be a live telecast over national television. Must be a big do!

So, as usual, I contacted my junior photographers to see who can come along and practise shooting live concerts. The engagement only pays for one photographer, thus the junior photographers that come won't get paid. Instead, they get a chance to shoot a live concert and build up their portfolio.

A good portfolio is important for someone who plans to come out in the near future as a fulltime professional photographer. A good portfolio will elevate his / her market value and allowing him / her to command a better fee.

But somehow, all my juniors were not available. Sandra Wong will be in Malacca this Saturday. Brian Lee is also in Malacca this Saturday. Angie Ong is now in New Zealand. Ee Yin has a movie date this Saturday. I think Christine Wong will also be in Malacca for something. Thank God Mabel Kuan said yes when I contacted her!

Actually, I don't really need someone to "follow" me during a shoot. I don't actually need an assistant or anything like that. But it would be nice to have a company and someone to chat with during shoot. And of course, he / she gets to "practise" in real action!

I still remember a few years ago, when all my current senior photographers were still juniors and following me around shooting concerts and stuffs. But now, they have all moved up and are now fulltime professional photographers making a living taking pictures.

L-R : Sandra, Caxton, Paul, TVXQ poster, me and William.

Sandra is still our junior photographer. Caxton and Paul are now senior photographers. William has always been independant. Shooting in a team is always more fun and less pressure as the work load is spread out to the few of us instead of just one photographer. The risk of camera failure is also not too much of a concern as there are other cameras to cover.

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The other benefit if bringing along a junior is this...you get to have your own pictures taken professionally. Many times in concerts, we get to mingle around with the artistes. And if you ask a non-photographer to help you take your picture with the artiste, you are likely to get very disappointed with the shot! Its either not in focus or camera shake or something!

This picture of me and Rain was taken by a non-photographer who does not even know how to hold a DSLR. The image is not sharp! But I had no choice as I was the only photographer allowed inside Rain's room.

The setting up at the studio before shooting the Babyboss Pictures "family portrait".

Back Row (L-R) : Paul Kok, Sandra Wong, Dr Yung, William Lim

Front Row (L-R) : Christine Wong, me, Caxton Chow

This group picture was taken a few year ago, so its a lil outdated. A few new juniors are not in the picture. I think maybe its time to have a new Babyboss Pictures photo session!

Church Camp 2009

It has been almost 3 weeks since I last blogged something here. The last 2 weeks, I have been either very busy or just plain lazy. Last weekend, I was at my church' annual camp. The few days before it, I was busy preparing for the camp. And the few days after it, I was busy with some business deals.

Other than that, I was just too lazy to write anything. All I did with most of the remaining time was just day dreaming, thinking about how things would have been if I had taken the left turn instead of the right. Or how my life would be if certain things have worked out. I don't exactly regret over things that have happened but sometimes I do wonder how it feels to be on the other side of the hill.

My new church is now almost 1 year old and we hosted our first church camp this year at Fraser's Hill. At the mention of the name, one would instantly relate the place to cool weather and fresh air. Well, there isn't much to see in Fraser's Hill, its actually quite a boring place. Weather was not exactly that cooling but at least I get to escape from the immense KL heat for a few days! Approximately 60 members participated in the camp, with only about 10 from the English congregation.

We stopped by at Ulu Yam for lunch and when we got off our cars, we were instantly greeted by the familiar heat we have in KL. The wind blowing onto my skin was literally hot air. But thankfully, the food was good.

The "loh meen" was superbly tasty and was totally gone within minutes. Murphy took the last drop of the gravy!

Fried chicken wings were great too and definitely deserve a mention here. Also gone within minutes.

The worship team. All musical instruments and sound system were brought up from KL. Very dedicated sound crew. This is the first time in a church event where I didn't have to touch any equipment. All I did was just preach the Word and relax.

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I remember how I used to be so busy last time with transporting the equipment and stuffs and setting up at the hotel, sound checks and practises. But now, we have someone else doing all that work. :)

That's what I did, preached the Word of God. I spoke at the 1st session of the camp, on the topic of "United For God's Purposes".

But the majority of the campers were from the Mandarin congregation and I spoke in English. So, I had my senior pastor Rev Dr Jason Loh to do the translation for me. Because of his enthusiasm and experience, there were times where he spoke ahead of me and more detailed than me!

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But nevertheless, we brought the message through. I shared from Ephesians 4 : 1 - 13, Unity In The Body Of Christ. I was speaking on how each member of the church plays a different role and coming together as one in the Body of Christ. How some of us will do more glorious work while some will do "not so glorious work" in the ministry. How some will command loud applause while some may not even be noticed.

At the end of my sermon, I made an altar call for those who want to "come back" right with God and rededicate their lives to Jesus. I wasn't sure if God wanted me to lay hands and pray, so I waited. And then, after a while, God said, "Now, go lay hands on them and pray for them".

And so I did. By that time, I could see that some of them were already in tears. God was already soaking in them. I have not been praying for people at altar calls for some time now. The last one I did was at Influence Conference 2007. I was on "sabbatical leave" the whole of 2008! But it was a great feeling again to experience God's mighty hands at work through me. Its good to be at service again.

It is always important to wait upon the Lord for the "right timing". By the time I laid hands on the people, they were ready to "rest in God's presence" and slain under the power of the Holy Spirit. It was a tremendous time, even for myself. As God worked into their lives, I myself was touched.

Our faithful Kurzweil SP88...Daesi's baby!

Leisure time at the nearby Jeriau Waterfall, some 5km away. Babyboss junior photographer, Mabel Kuan was the official photographer of the camp. She supplied all these pictures you see here.

The group picture. Everyone from En Dian (Chinese) and Revival One (English)...well, almost everyone. Some were stuck in the toilet due to food poisoning!

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Just a note, never come to Shazan Inn!!! The rooms are lousy! No aircond but I can understand lar...Fraser's Hill cold mar. But fan pun takde!!! At least Genting's First World Hotel budget budget also got fan! The only thing I was thankful for was the free wifi at the hotel's lobby.

CIMB Future Leadership Program

Recently, we have been engaged by CIMB Group (referred to as "the Bank") to help them manage and run their "Future Leadership Program 2008 / 2009" competition. The grand finale, a game show style quiz, which will be held this Saturday at the Securities Commission, will feature typical game show setups like quiz counters with digital numeric display panels, lighted buzzers, a game host, etc. We will have to design and fabricate the counters and do all the electronics and mechanism for the running of the quiz. The setup will be on this Friday, followed by a dry run of the entire system. Should be interesting.

The competition is opened to under-graduate students from all colleges and universities in Malaysia. They are to form a team of four. Obviously, the participants ought to come from financial services studies, i.e., finance, investment, marketing and business management. A total of nine colleges / universities applied. They are UTAR, Inti, Sunway, Nilai, UPM, Segi, UIA (Universiti Islam Antarabangsa), USM and Taylors. And the challenge has just begun.

All participants were made to wear the "corporate t-shirt".

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What we had this morning was the first round, the Business Proposal Presentation at the CIMB headquarters in Jalan Semantan (Damansara area).

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The funny thing about this place is that there is super limited parking space for cars. Maybe something like 10 cars fighting for 1 parking lot. So, I had to park far far away into Damansara Heights next to someone's huge bungalow.

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But the problem was this...its "no parking" yellow line all the way along the entire road! But due to time, I had no choice but to choose a nice bungalow and park next to it. Later, I was informed by my colleague that police issue summons all the time along that road! Sigh...park liao lar...forget it lar. Kena kena lar!

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Anyway, back to the competition. Every team was given a total of 20 minutes to present their business proposal. The case study subject was given to them weeks ago and they are to do research, form their own think tank and come up with great and powerful strategies that CIMB, as a bank, can use to elevate their market share in the banking sector. The subject title was "Opportunities Of Financial Services Amidst Economic Crisis".

Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) was used and mentioned many times. In fact, the judges were very keen to hear more about the teams' BOS ideas. In a nutshell, BOS is a business strategy written by Professors W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne of INSEAD, a leading global business school. The aim of BOS is not to out-perform the competition in an existing industry but to create a new market space or a "blue ocean", thereby making the competition irrelevant.

One very interesting observation was the mention of Facebook as a tool for the Bank to link themself with customers. Codenamed "Facebook Banking", it is also a platform that the Bank can use to reach its customers as well as prospective customers. Needless to say, updates and promotional news will be channeled through the Facebook network.

UIA spoke about "Diminishing Partnership Concept", a new housing loan concept where the home owner and the Bank jointly purchase the house. USM rallied on "Hybrid Bank Bonds" where returns are higher and safer. Segi says that the Bank ought to be like parents, giving money to companies that need money when they need money!

While the teams do their presentations, those next in line awaits at the "Care Centre" of this CIMB building. And yes, I know, the waiting game is really no fun!

But there was this team that performed exceptionally well, at least I personally thought so. Their presentation was exciting, interesting, interactive, have good ideas, clear points and very practical strategies. They are from UPM. They research shows that 60% of card users are using debit cards. And in the US, the student market spends about US$200 billion a year.

The UPM team presented the "CIMB-V" debit card, a very special student card with loads of goodies like discount privileges at places where students like to go, namely bookstores like Borders, eating outlets, entertainment joints and many more.

While the presentations were made, the other presented teams stayed back at the auditorium to watch and maybe learn something new.

After all the presentations, the Bank's deputy CEO gave a closing address and encouraged the participants to gear up and get ready for this Saturday's grand finale, the quiz challenge at Securities Commission.

The event adjourned after a final briefing from the organiser. I packed my stuffs and started my long walk back to my car. Remember my car? It was parked far far away infront of somebody's bungalow? And as I walk, I began to see white sheets of papers stuck onto cars' windscreens under the wiper blades. It can't be anything else besides SUMMONS!!!

Taking a closer look at one confirms that it is indeed a summon ticket from MPPJ. Every car I walked pass has one sticking on the windscreens. I was like "O SHIT!!!". My car was the last one on the road deep in the bungalows area. [Anyway, this car's road tax expired liao. It says May 23, 2009. Its May 26 today!]

But as I walked on, I noticed that the tickets have stopped appearing on the cars. Maybe because its already into the housing area, cars parked next to bungalows are no longer summoned.

I was happy to arrive at my car and found no white sheet sticking out! But I think I parked my car too deep in and got some fine scratches from the tree's branches on my left side front door. But I think they can be easily removed when polished. Sigh.