The Angel of Eternity - 永遠の天使

TGS

2012-01-10T17:11:00.000+08:00

Crazy old me has decided to visit Thailand this weekend.

Going to check out the cosplay community there, enjoy some good food and hopefully take some nice pictures as well. I made a To-Do list so I hope I can cover all the things during the 3-4 days visit.

No new shoots as I am busy clearing up things for Chinese New Year. See you around! :)

Life in 5 minutes

2012-01-09T22:21:00.003+08:00

Enjoy~

End of the Year Before...

2012-01-07T00:39:00.000+08:00

2011 went past us in an instance. Friends, love, career... everything changed at a drop of a hat.

I hope everyone's New Year and Christmas celebration went well, mine was simply indescribable. Towards the end of the year, I was involved in a number of shoots so here they are in chronological order:

Code Geass: WORLD END

Album: Here

Inazuma Eleven: Team Japan

Album: Here

Macross Frontier: Star Date II

Album: Here

Ouke no Monshou (Crest of the Royal Family)

Album: Here

No. 6

Album: Here

Vocaloid: Christmas Fun

Album: Here

Gintama: The Return (Or Not)

Album: Here

Vocaloid: Blame of Angel

Album: Here

Inazuma Eleven: Aliens Academy

Album: Here

And not forgetting photos from Comic Fiesta 2011!

Album: Here

I decided not to put up any description here since I already wrote about each shoots in their respective links.

So that's all for now, see you in the next update! :)

Christmas

2011-12-25T08:02:00.001+08:00

Merry Xmas, everyone!

My normal routine will resume after taking a short break this weekend. Have a great and fun time ahead~

Time passes really fast, 2011 is almost over...

Comic Fiesta 2011

2011-12-15T00:03:00.001+08:00

It is that time of the year again! This would be my seventh time attending the annual ACG event, with the venue being the modern and fully featured Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

As what I had written on my recent DeviantArt journal entry, I look forward to meeting up with my local and foreign friends again. After a year of near-continuous photoshoots, I could use a break myself!

Date: 17th & 18th December 2011

Official Site: http://www.comicfiesta.org/

Since Comic Fiesta is near Christmas and New Year, here's an advance greeting from myself to everyone. Have a great time over the coming two weeks, cheers and take care!

AFA - 4th Round

2011-12-13T15:22:00.000+08:00

(Long overdue update) So I was back in Singapore again for AFA 2011. Apart from meeting up with old and new friends, I went around town to do a few shoots! There were of course a few things happening like the sudden bad weather, loss of transportation and so on. All in all, things work out eventually.

For AFA itself, it is more of the same old, same old. A lot more new folks around, and the place's even more crowded than before. So that is why there's not many photos, although I spent most of the second day at the Regional Cosplay Championship area.

The most epic thing about AFA, were the epic dinner sessions. XD

Event Photos: Here

So anyway, here are the shoots I did while I was in Singapore for the week:

The first shoot I joined was with my friends from the Philippines! There's a few other series being cosplayed too, so it was pretty run and random. I am glad that they had fun during the whole trip.

Album: Here

I joined them again for another shoot the next day. They were cosplaying the series Fairy Tail, which is a fun series to read if you are not into the serious stuff.

I brought them to the Suntec Sky Garden, because they asked for a location that is close to the AFA event. Well, the place's nice but we had to leave early because of the incoming rain.

Album: Here

A shoot with an old friend! It's been a while since we last had a shoot, so we fixed up a short session in Orchard Road.

Since this is a night shoot, usually you will expect it to be challenging. But because the location's pretty well-lit, the shoot went well. :)

Album: Here

This was my first time working with Irene, and it was really a pleasant experience. She's good at posing, and was receptive to my suggestions.

Yeap, this is the bandaged version based on the figurine re-released for the third and final version of the series Shakugan no Shana. She looks good as Shana. ;)

Album: Here

"We Still Don't Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day."

Anohana

One of my favourite anime series for this year (aside from Madoka), it was a pleasure to work with Chocy-Xin and her boyfriend Jay for this shoot.

We had to split the shoot into two due to unforeseen circumstances, but we had some great help and the lighting for the second part was very bright and nice! Alas, all good things must come to an end and we bade farewell before I depart for the airport.

Album: Here

There's a few more shoots I did after I came back to Kuala Lumpur, but that'll be time for me to write about that in a future update. Till next time! :)

Interviews

2011-11-06T00:23:00.000+08:00

I was recently interviewed by 3 very different groups of people (photographer, cosplayer, online magazine) for their websites, and I am thankful for the chance to be featured. Answering interview questions was never my forte, so I hope this time I did a better job.

CosplayPhotographers.com

The first interview was conducted by Richard T. Bui, a friendly cosplay and wedding photographer from San Francisco, California. You can view his site, it is new but already looks good! :)

Cosplay Blog... with a Brain!

The second interview was conducted by Yunie, a friend of another cosplayer that I know of (Etaru). Her blog is different compared to a lot of other cosplay blogs around (which is good), so check her site out! :)

The third one will be out soon, and I have been asked to do some articles for the magazine... hope I have the time when the opportunities appear. Okay, end of update. Back to my books...

5 more days to AFA... See you there!

Exhibition

2011-10-10T09:57:00.001+08:00

I am one of the 39 photographers whose works are exhibited at the PhotoMalaysia 4th Annual Photography exhibition, held at the Nikon Centre in Berjaya Times Square. To be honest I am happy to be selected for this, as it would be my fourth time my photos have been on display to the public.

During the recent official opening ceremony, I had the chance to interact with the other photographers who came from various backgrounds. We shared ideas and thoughts, and I learnt a great deal about how the rest approach their photography. I always believe that in order to do well in your chosen field, you have to diversify and pick up a few things here and there.

So here are the photos which I submitted for the exhibition. The Sengoku Basara shot was awarded the "Honourable Mentions" category (I won a Marten camera strap) and printed on display, while some of the rest were placed on a digital slideshow. You can check them out if you drop by the area, the exhibition will run until the end of October.

In other news, I also went for the Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival event held at the Mid Valley Exhibition Centre. I met a few of my friends there, as well as bought myself a few new things including a Lastolite TriGrip reflector. There's a good offer for it so why not? XD

I have to say I made a few new business contacts from this event, maybe some new friends too. I guess that's ultimately better than trying to nail the perfect shots from the bevy of beautiful models promoting the camera wares there.

Till next update, folks! :)

RIP Steve

2011-10-06T08:26:00.001+08:00

"I want to put a ding in the universe" - Steve Jobs

The End of the Age of Dreams

2011-09-29T15:54:00.000+08:00

And then... I wake up.

It has been a long while since I last updated here, and now that I am finally done with my backlogs I can talk more about the last few shoots that I did recently, prior to my self-enforced break.

My first time working with Celine and Yume, the photoshoot was fun! Maybe the weather wasn't really that ideal (HOT), but at least it doesn't rain. We had the shoot in Kuala Lumpur itself, at a park next to the Tugu Negara. After the shoot wraps up we decided to talk a walk up to the top to have a look at the national monument. The place hasn't really changed much in all these years, but there are more tourists this time.

Album: Here

This shoot is more of a personal request since I realised Shine would be able to portray the character (Kuroneko aka Black Cat) well. It is also one of the rarer solo shoots that I did in recent months.

We shot near the northern part of Putrajaya, and ended it at The Gardens in Alamanda Mall. The food there is slightly above average, but at least the place's quiet!

Album: Here

I started watching Bleach when it came out as an anime back in 2004. Although I stopped watching it due to the later filler arcs, I continue to catch up with the storyline online.

So its a surprise when Cutie (yeap, another first for me) cosplayed the Shinigami captain Soifon. She did a great job, although it will be a long while before she comes back from the UK. Anyway, its fun to work with her as she's easy going and smiles a lot. :)

Album: Here

We see, we drive around, and we got lost.

It is my fault, because it was my first time driving to the port city of Klang with Byou and her sister Luwen. Eventually, thanks to a few calls I made to my friend, we manage to find the fantastic location which is famous for the old trains and their carriages. A lot of wedding and photography folks been there to do their shoots, so it's our turn now!

Towards the end of the day, the evening light was awesome... I wish everyday's like this.

Album: Here

I remembered that some of my friends have done their shoots at Cyberjaya's MMU in the past, so I suggested the place to Arisa and she's okay with it. Linkin joined the shoot too as he is her driver, haha.

Yes, we finally worked together after months of discussions and last minute changes. Glad it worked out, hopefully we'll have the chance to work again in the near future.

Album: Here

Only one word can describe this shoot: Epic
After months of planning by the organizers, we head up the mountain (Genting) towards a huge, abandoned structure where the cosplayers re-enacted scenes from the Sailor Moon series. The shoot has two components - Photoshoot and Videography.
The best thing about this shoot is nobody was sweating it out, but it got really cold towards the end of the day! Special thanks to the head organizer Venus for making this shoot possible, as well as Allen and ZCdave for the logistical support.
Album: Here

I decided to drop by Shine's shoot near Jalan Raja Chulan (the same spot where I did the TouhouVania shoot many weeks ago) since she invited me along, though I am not the main photographer this time round. I took a few shots before stopping as I was tired from the Sailor Moon shoot the day before.

Album: Here

After hearing about Animangaki from my friends, I decided to drop by. I haven't been to a school-based event in a while, the good thing about such events are the cheap food and parking!

I had a very relaxing time during the event because the crowd's smaller and I carry around the minimum of gears (my other friends brought their softboxes and studio setups). Still, I ended up taking a lot of photos so it took me a while to get everything sorted out. Overall, the event's quite nice and well-organized so maybe I'll pop by again next year. Well done, committee members of Sunway University College!

Album: Here

Spring's nice.

An old shoot, I was invited by May (yeap, the cosplayer on the left) to take photos. We went to two different locations, there's no bad weather and the shots turn out okay.
Ended with a nice dinner at Suzy's Corner~ Nice steak *yummy*

Album: Here

Last but not least, I had a shoot with Jun in Putrajaya once again, borrowing our friend's Mazda MX-5 Roadster to complement the session. The shoot was pleasant and we didn't encounter any crowds since it is a lazy Sunday morning. We wrapped things up pretty fast since I nailed the shots that I wanted, so we spend the next few hours catching up on things.

Album: Here

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That's all for now. There will not be any further updates until after the Anime Festival Asia event in November. I'll be heading to Singapore during that time, so once more I will be in the company of my wonderful friends from all over South East Asia. It's good, so till next time folks!

Panasonic LX5 - Version 2.0

2011-08-29T16:59:00.002+08:00

You must be wondering why I am blogging about this digicam out of the blue. Here's the link!

Basically, Panasonic has a history of updating their flagship digital cameras with new features and functionalities. They did it for the LX3 (their old flagship model) and now they are doing the same for the LX5. The new firmware promises better low light performance, white balance as well as AF speed. That's good news!

So come September 13, I will update my camera, and hopefully be motivated to do some street shooting again! It's really good to have, light and powerful.

To end this, I would like to wish my Muslim friends Selamat Hari Raya!

Malaysia - Part IV

2011-08-24T12:28:00.001+08:00

Here are some more shoots that I managed to complete recently, and had time to edit the selected shots. Most of them are friends that I worked with for the very first time!

The first shoot in the long list of backlogs is from the series Koumajou Densetsu: Scarlet Symphony. I was invited by friends from MMU Cyberjaya, so we went to some abandoned buildings in KL for a very straight-forward shoot (minus the dogs that is). It went well although I fell ill that day and had to cancel a fashion shoot the next day.

Album: Here

First time working with friends from Klang, Subang and Penang! Okay, it was a relatively short shoot but everyone had a great time. There's also an army of photographers roaming around the location that day, some photo event/workshop that has a bunch of models mingling around too.

Album: Here

Second time working with Sakura, but first time working with her group. We went to a new location (to me) and the shoot went smoothly. However, because I was tired from the Harry Potter party the day before, I don't think my output's that good. Hope they like the shots though~

Album: Here

A "dual" shoot with Shine, with her cosplaying Anarchy Stocking and the gender bend version as well. A totally indoor shoot, I tried out some conceptual stuffs although most of them felt off to me. :X

First time working with Linkinstreet and Kaezar Kaze, very friendly bunch of photographers!

Album: Here

Night shoot at Putrajaya. First time working with Alex from ARC Photography, his shots are great and he is friendly too! I didn't take many photos though because I was tired from an earlier trial photoshoot at a tennis court and work.

Album: Here
End of the entry for now! I realized there's a lot of "firsts" happening recently. For example, although I had contributed a few articles to Cosplay Gen (magazine) in the past, this is the first time I was featured on its website for an interview!

Link: http://www.cosplaygen.com/hexlord-cosplay-photographer/

My next update will be on the other shoots still residing in my backlog folder, as well as the other shoots this coming few weeks + AniManGaki 2011 at Sunway University. See you around!

Good Times

2011-08-17T22:27:00.003+08:00

All good things come to an end. :)

Indonesia

2011-08-09T16:49:00.001+08:00

Only one word can describe my recent trip to the country of Indonesia. Amazing.

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Day 1 - So the moment the plane left KLIA for Jakarta, I had a ride of my life. Okay, it was rather bumpy (even more so than my flight to Manila last year) but everyone on board was rather nonchalant about it. Eventually I got used to the ups and downs of the plane.

I arrived at the airport with none of my friends waiting for me (they were actually late) so I went around hoping to find a wifi hotspot. No such luck, so I got myself a pre-paid card and sat at a corner to wait for my friends after calling them up. The airport's really crowded with tons of tourists, police and taxi drivers milling around even though its a weekday.

Soon enough, my friends (Orochi and Vienni) found me and we happily went along our way to my hotel. The trip took around 2.5 hours due to the heavy traffic so we spent time catching up on things. Luckily the hotel's very decent despite its age, the staff gave me a free room upgrade and threw in a few extra incentives. All's well and good!

Ended the first day with 'supper', met with some of my Indonesian friends at Grand Indonesia. Didn't stay up that late due to my tiredness, I was already snoring in bed the moment I arrived back at the hotel after the gathering...

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Day 2 - Woke up, had a really nice buffet breakfast at the cafe. A bunch of Partai Demokrat people mingled around, seems like they had booked a good part of the hotel for some event over the weekend. Everyone (hotel staff, taxi drivers, etc) were very polite and accommodating so far.

Decided to check out Plaza Senayan while waiting to meet up with another group of friends. So I took a Blue Bird cab to the shopping mall, a really comfortable ride although the traffic can be a bit scary in comparison to Singapore or Malaysia. The mall has metal detectors like those you see at the airport, and coincidentally I discovered Kinokuniya there! I ended up buying a book.

After an hour or so, my friends show up and we headed to a nearby stadium for the GARO photoshoot. Finally get to meet Richfield again, as it's been a while since our photoshoot during AFA last year. I was then introduced to the cosplayers, photographers, helpers, and Mark Musashi. Mark is well known in the tokusatsu community for his various movie/game/television roles, so initially I was feeling a bit stressed working with him. He proved to be a very down to earth and friendly person, so the stress went away pretty quick!

In addition, I get to meet Naoki Drachen in person as she dropped by for the photoshoot. She's friendly and cute!

After the photoshoot, we went for dinner at Blok M. The dinner's held at a Japanese restaurant where I was introduced to some of the CLAS:H crew members/organizers and the remaining judges for the event. The only judge left that I was not introduced to was Kaname so I greeted him and presented him my name card. In return he asked me to try some sweet delicacy that he brought along from Japan... everyone has tried it except for me!

Dinner ended late, with a lot of chit-chats and laughters. It was soon time for me to head back to the hotel, but I am already looking forward to CLAS:H itself...

*********

Day 3 - Woke up early again as I was meeting a friend for breakfast. Spent the time catching up before heading to Balai Kartini, the designated venue for CLAS:H.

The place seriously reminds me of the venue for Comic Fiesta last year. Same kind of lighting, same size too! But thankfully the crowd is smaller, so I was able to roam around easily and meet up with the local cosplayers to trade name cards.

Most of the action took place within the performance area though, so I covered the stage together with a few other official photographers. The stage was well lit so I had no problem with getting the exposure right, but the fast and furious action sequences by the cosplayers proved to be a challenge. When they say some of the props will get broken due to the stunts performed, they are not joking!

The emcee's great. His name is Choky Sitohang and he's really good at engaging the crowd, drawing laughs at all the right moments. Just pure wow. And Mark also engages the crowd in his own charismatic ways.

In conclusion the event's really fun, so well done to the organisers for a good job. After saying goodbye to the winners and the other participants of the cosplay competition, I head off for dinner with another group of friends and thought "Well, that's about it. Just a short shoot with Naoki tomorrow and off I go back to Kuala Lumpur."

Well, it's not that simple I guess. :P

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Day 4 - Naoki asked me if Kaname and Team Drachen can join in the shoot. I was like "ok!" and pretty soon the shoot involved a few more photographer friends with other cosplayers joining in as well.

I reached the location early in the morning. Called Kota Tua, this classic looking part of the city was actually Old Jakarta aka Batavia itself! Wow, talk about past history lessons being useful here. I befriended a few of the locals there and took some photos of them, then wandered around before settling at Kantin Mega Rasa, a haven for Jakarta photographers.

Long story short we had some delay in getting the shoot started, and I was left with only an hour or so before I had to take a cab to go to the airport. But Lady Luck smiled upon me as both Naoki and Kaname were ready in the nick of time. Lots of funny moments, too bad all good things come to an end as I bade farewell to everyone...

... and here's the end of the long entry of the trip. I really love the food there (buffet rocks) and my friends there have been hospitable to me. Photos are at the respective links below.

Trip photos - Here

CLAS:H - Here

GARO: II - Here

Final Fantasy: Advent Children (Special) - Here

Coming up next... pretty much nothing apart from a few shoots, so stay tuned!

CLAS:H - Cosplay Live Action Show Hybrid

2011-07-13T15:47:00.003+08:00

Official link: http://www.clashcosplay.com/

I will be attending CLAS:H, deemed as Indonesia's first International Cosplay Show
& Japanese Idol Music Concert, next weekend. It's going to be my first time visiting the country, and I look forward to it as I have made quite a few Indonesian friends over the past few years.

Apart from seeing first hand how the local events there are like, I hope to try some of their speciality food as well. Maybe it's time to put my macro lens to some good use, haha!

Anyway that's all for now, so if you are going for the event let's trade name cards. See you there!

PS. For once, I am not attending an overseas event as a VIP... :P

Cosfest X.1 Photos

2011-07-04T08:54:00.000+08:00

More shots can be found: Here

Been feeling unwell lately due to the bad weather as well as everyone around me falling ill. An unfortunate side effect of this was a shoot cancellation... quite a rare thing to be honest.

Anyway hope you guys like the photos! I will try to post more updates, and to be more active on the blogsphere~ :)

Cosfest X.1

2011-06-27T11:31:00.001+08:00

Back from Singapore's biggest cosplaying event, I had a mixed feeling about it.

It was fun, it was good, I get to meet up with my friends again. Some I have not seen even during the past few times that I was back in Singapore.

On the other hand, well. Basically I have been attending this event since 2004, so the appeal of events kinda died off for me. Or perhaps I am still tired from my short trip since I had to contend with moving my gaming stuff back to Malaysia.

Photos to come soon~

Return to Singapore

2011-06-18T09:07:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone, once again it's been a while (busy as usual) but recently I went back to Singapore for a short family trip... squeezing in some time to attend a small event as well as to complete 2 shoots.

Japanese Arts Fiesta (JAF) was fun despite the event being relatively small. I was invited to attend by a few friends who happen to be part of the committee. Media pass and everything. :P

Quite a few number of my Singapore friends happened to drop by and we spent most of the time catching up. There's a lot of new cosplayers around too, they all look young and probably are.

The older generations are still hanging around though... maybe for old times sake.

Album: Here

The Toradora photoshoot went pretty okay even though it rained and a few other cosplayers could not make it for the shoot. The shoot was also a good chance for a mutual photographer friend Joel to hone his photography skills.

Album: Here

I had another great shoot with Evie and Fariz. Evie, if you all remember, was the Luka and A.B.A. cosplayer that I worked with before. She's also a good friend of mine so it's fun too!

The shoot was pretty short because we were all tired after JAF and I need to fly back to Kuala Lumpur later in the evening. Well, except for Fariz... he never seem to look exhausted at all haha.

Album: Here

Anyway, I will be back again for Cosfest on the 25th and 26th of June, and will be bringing my new name cards to the event. Feel free to ask me for a card or to make a swap. See you there if you are attending!

PS. The next few days are going to be super busy with shoots, will update on that when things settle down.

Malaysia - Part III

2011-06-09T18:48:00.001+08:00

Once again, another overdue entry... work + shoots kept me occupied as always. But its already June, and the deluge of cosplay events (Cosfest/CLAS:H) is upon us once again!

Here are another set of shoots done over the past 1-2 months. It's not many due to my existing commitments but I'll make do. :)

Yeap, a series based on gangsters in Japan. We had a short shoot in town (more precisely, at the Pavillion shopping mall area) and since it was done at night I went back home pretty late.

Oh, and I used only a single 50mm. Should have brought a few more stuff along...

Album: Here

There was a weekend when I had no shoots, so I decided to join my friend's shoot at KLCC. PC Fair was also held during the same weekend/place so I took the chance to pick up a new thumbdrive. I made a few new friends, mainly youngsters who are new in the cosplay scene.

The shoot was fun, although one of the security guards there told me not to use a reflector. Since he didn't exactly stop the shoot, we just carry on...

Album: Here

"A Hero Need Not Speak. When He Is Gone, The World Will Speak For Him."

Perhaps one of the most talented armour cosplayers around, Gixxer85 was featured on CosplayGen for his self-made Halo cosplay. He offered me a chance to shoot his cosplay so I accepted his offer!

I also got to know a dude called Hangmen13 who hails from East Malaysia. One day, I shall visit the East and see the sights there myself!

After the photos were posted up, I was asked by the people from the official Xbox Halo Waypoint site to allow them to feature Gix on their website. I said okay, he said okay... good to go!

Feature: Here

Album: Here

A very beautiful love story, I have to thank Shine for introducing me to it.

The shoot was really hot, and was held at the Tasik Perdana Park. Another first for me, I didn't realize the park is close to the National Museum of Malaysia. Last time I was there, it was more than 20 years ago...

Album: Here

My 7th Shana shoot, and probably the final shoot for the bandaged version. Since it is a new abandoned location (to me), I find the area rather refreshing to shoot at. Well, minus the mosquitoes of course. XD

The weather's decent and the evening light was pretty nice, but I didn't retain the colour during post processing. Trying to get the feel right once more...

Album: Here

My first time working with the talented Venus, our original plan to scale Batu Caves had to be cancelled due to her tiredness. We did however find another alternate location nearby, thanks to Anthony (Blur) for driving us around.

A lot of crazy things occur during the shoot but it was good to let loose once in a while... haha.

Album: Here

Another evening to night shoot, the result was great due to the sunset and Putrajaya's lighting at night. We even went to a pretty looking bridge to get shots with the futuristic looking structure as the background. Special thanks to Misao, Yuan, Sky, Kids for their help in logistics and equipment support.

Cappy makes a good Sheryl. Hope to see her do more versions in the future!

Album: Here

And finally to wrap things up, here are some photos I took during C2Age. C2Age is the first major ACG event held in Kuala Lumpur for this year so a lot of people took the chance to cosplay or to meet up over the weekend.

I am not exactly used to events held at shopping malls though, maybe because of all the curious onlookers. It didn't help that some of the cosplayers were misbehaving but I guess it's because they are young? We all do foolish things during our youths eh...

Album: Here

That's all for now, I will be writing about my recent trip to Singapore (yes, it's a short one) in my next update. For now though, I have to prepare for another round of shoots this weekend.

Have a good day, everyone!

Malaysia - Part II

2011-05-23T17:23:00.002+08:00

Well, here's the second part of the shoots I did so far. Another busy period but I was having a long term break too, so everything works out well in the end.

The Black Gold Saw shoot was a short one because Shine wasn't feeling very well. We had to stop a few times to let her take a few breaks here and there.

First time using this new location, it was really big and the area looks like it was straight out of a post-apocalyptic movie! Seems like Malaysia have a few of such places around, although you have to look diligently for them since there was not much information found on the Internet.

Album: Here

A Naruto shoot at the Bukit Jalil Park (again), I brought only my macro lens since I wasn't feeling up to the weather. Good thing the shoot was a load of fun with all kinds of joking around, but the biggest surprise was Hani appearing at the last minute to cosplay as Rock Lee.

Rock Lee has some of the most epic expressions in the series, and Hani pulled it off well.

Album: Here

A crazy shoot because we spent the whole day at Genting Highlands, battling heavy rain, car accidents, last minute location changes, and even getting ourselves locked out because the car keys were left in the car boot with a broken boot latch.

Eventually we managed to get the keys back, and had a very late dinner. I suppose I wasn't in the best of moods by then...

Anyway, the Dynasty Warrior shoot was okay. There were some miscommunication problems and we almost got lost, but the photos are pretty satisfactory.

Album: Here

This was the other shoot we did in Genting Highlands, it was getting dark so we had to wrap things up pretty quick (this was before we had the 'car key' problem), but this particular spot looks really atmospheric. It was damn cold though...

Album: Here

Putrajaya! A great place for photoshoots, though certain areas are very much overused.

The shoot was hampered by heavy rain in the afternoon, so we waited till early evening before shooting until nightfall. After that we proceeded to an abandoned structure nearby for some shadow works and low light photography, pretty cool and dark/creepy!

Album: Here

Lastly, a special shoot based on the relationship between two individuals in the series Gundam 00. It was a hot day but the light's near perfect and we had a golden glow sunset towards the end of the day. The location's perfect as well, because as I told a close friend of mine, Putrajaya is one of the very few places in the world that suits the series.

PS. Buzz words from the shoot: Leng Zhai (Ryeain) and Suci Leng Lui (Byou). LOL!

Album: Here

Third and final part coming soon! C2Age was just recently concluded, so I had the task of sorting out photos from that event. I'll be updating my Facebook page with the selected shots once I am done.

Till next time!

Malaysia - Part I

2011-05-19T22:43:00.002+08:00

It's been another busy period for me ever since I came back to Malaysia, my home country.

Almost immediately, I was invited to a few shoots before and after the Chinese New Year celebration. They kept me really occupied, but it was fun nonetheless and it's fun to hang out with friends again!

My first shoot since my return was with a cosplayer friend whom I worked with before, Byou. To be honest this is her first time doing this kind of cosplay so I appreciate the trust that she has in me.

It was also my time visiting this abandoned location... unlike the ones in Singapore, this place looks really messy. A result of the constant throwing away of rubbish and other things, I guess. The shoot went smoothly mainly because she has some pretty good ideas that worked really well.

Album: Here

A bit out of the norm, I was invited by Hani and Zend for a photoshoot in the middle of the city. I would say it is different because this shoot is based of a Western comic series rather than the conventional Japanese anime/manga/game series.

So it was a short 1 hour session where we all had good fun even though it was really warm at the location (a car park). Hopefully there will be another chance to shoot something different again.

Album: Here

So after the previous shoot was done, off I go to the train to meet up with Shine and friends for a shoot at the earlier abandoned location again. It was my first time working with the popular cosplayer known as Fishy, nice lady. :)

Challenging shoot because of the heavy rain, rendering the place dark and creepy. Thankfully we went as a bunch so nobody got 'scared'. I think the only scare here would be the wet floor!

I was lucky enough to bring some lighting equipments so I was able to salvage some shots, although a small number of shots were made using natural light. There is a time and place for everything, and I do mean everything.

Album: Here

A shoot that was more of fun and games among friends, the searing heat made the shoot short and sweet. We went to the Bukit Jalil Park, mainly because most of the cosplayers find the place convenient to go to. Next time, I'll bring a fridge to a similarly warm shoot. :P

Album: Here

Back to the very same place once again. The smell's gone though the floor remained sticky and the weather's hot.

This was the second last bandaged Shana shoot, and Jun's first, so I opted for a naturalistic feel to the photos. She likes them but I felt I could have done better. But anyway we ended up at Subang Jaya's Empire after the shoot for some hearty Japanese meals. Yummy.

Album: Here

Second time working with Shine, and also the second time I am doing a night shoot in Malaysia. Well, it is technically not a 100% night shoot because we started earlier from late afternoon onwards, which is a good thing because the security guard at the park told us that the place closes at 8pm sharp.

Some of the shots were made at ISO 6400, crazy stuff because my camera is not one of the full frame bodies. AF accuracy was severely reduced too, due to a total lack of light.

But all's well ends well. Next time, I will be more prepared...

Album: Here

Phew, that's all I have for now. Looks like I am fast catching up with the latest updates, so keep an eye out for the second part soon!

GOD EATER

2011-05-10T21:57:00.002+08:00

"Oh, just to live my life again, to treasure every little moment then,
satisfied, I'd leave you all behind, accepting of my fate.
But I am full of grief, to leave this life so incomplete.
My dream is coming to the end."

- God and Man

My last shoot in Singapore was actually the third in a series of shoots organised by these amazing cosplayers. Each of these shoots took place at different epic locations.

Why epic? Great cosplay, huge weapons, among some of the reasons. Also, it is because the locations we used are rather unknown to the general public, ruins and all. It's pretty hard to find a seven storey tall abandoned office/factory, but I was lucky to have found it and after an early recce trip by my friends it's good to go!

I'll be back in Singapore once in a while (for shoots, meeting with friends, shopping, family stuff), but for now my 20-year stay in Singapore has come to a rather happy end.

Album: Here

Next up, life in Malaysia and the shoots I did so far... stay tuned~

The SG Photo Derby (Part II)

2011-05-08T22:14:00.000+08:00

And here's the second batch of shoots I did in Singapore...

CLOVER - First time working with Angelion on a series from Clamp. Nice weather, pity about the wet grasses though. For a relative newcomer to the cosplay scene, she did a pretty good job with this cosplay. She's friendly too, very easygoing with a love for singing.

Album: Here

Hakuouki: Shinsengumi Kitan - Despite never having to play the game or watch the anime, I have... quite a substantial amount of information on the series.

Anyway, it was a hot day and we stopped early. The shoot was okay, and I get to use the Canon 5D Mk II for a short while. The camera's not bad, although the lens supplied could have been better.

Album: Here

Sandplay - Well, what can I say... I love Miku and I love to work with Yang. The studio shoot was also a great learning experience for both me and Shane, because usually I don't get to operate the big lights for my other works.

Album: Here

Kuroshitsuji: Alois - I managed to secure a bar for this shoot. Interesting time since a bunch of friends dropped by later and make it into an informal gathering. Lots of laughs but the shots turn out pretty okay in the end~ :)

Yang's Alois is near perfect!

Album: Here

Kenka Bancho - I was there as a helper, but I took some shots too!

It was also the last time I visited the abandoned factory in Kranji. I had some pretty memorable shoots there, so I felt kinda sad on that day. Heh.

Album: Here

Defense Devil - It was a last minute invite, but I gladly accepted it since I will be working with a few of my old-time friends.

Good thing too, since the location we used to do the shoot was closed a few days later to make way for a new arts gallery situated there. A bummer for many photographers and cosplayers.

Album: Here

Angel Sanctuary: Kurai - My final shoot with Yang. Guess that all good things come to an end.

Album: Here

Once in a while I get to do a trial shoot, this is one of the instance. Spent the time on getting a few shots while waiting for the train to show up... well it did, when we least expected it.

Album: Here

Well, that's all I guess! Actually I have one more shoot to talk about, but I'll leave it to another entry in the future. You might also noticed that I kept my comments short and sweet this time round... guess it is because I already mentioned quite a bit of stuff in my photo albums.

Onwards, to great justice!

The SG Photo Derby (Part I)

2011-04-28T15:29:00.001+08:00

The month of January was filled with craziness as I had a photoshoot almost every other day before preparing for the move back to my home in KL. Here are the first batch of shoots that I did:

Final Fantasy XIII - It's an honour to be working with some of my old-time friends once again. It was raining heavily that day so we had to relocate to another location, but as it continued to rain on we decided to throw caution to the wind and shoot normally. It went pretty well I guess.

We ended the whole thing pretty late at night... but it's alright, as long as everyone like the end result.

Album: Here

Resonance of Fate - I miss my gaming days very much, so when there's a chance to shoot a series based on a Tri-Ace game, my answer is in the affirmative.

Originally meant to take place in two different locations, we ended up with just one because of an unforeseen factor. We made it up by having a Japanese lunch instead, heh.

Special thanks to Erving Go for accepting the invite to join in as a photographer for the shoot... was nice to catch up with him since he's in Singapore for a family trip.

Album: Here

Kannagi - I was introduced to the series by someone I used to know, and I quite like it because of the main lead character (Nagi). She's a bit different from the usual tsundere characters... although I can't really explain why though.

Anyway, I thought I won't have the chance to shoot this series, until Crestryn (whom I worked with previously for a few Vocaloid shoots) wanted to get a video shoot so I asked if I can combine a short photoshoot with video as well. Thanks again! :)

Album: Here

Iroha no Uta - A shoot with a good friend of mine, it was kinda short because of the sudden burst of rain. I also forgot to bring an umbrella too, so we were stuck at the location for quite a long time... but its fun to catch up on things. :)

Album: Here

Alone II - Manman wanted to try something new so we had a concept shoot in some abandoned area in the western parts of Singapore. Manman really is a good model to work with.

We started late but most of the shoot's objectives were met by the time night falls. The place's really creepy at night so it is a good thing to leave early.

Album: Here

K-On! Don't Say Lazy - Roamed around Clarke Quay for this shoot, which I invited Serene to cosplay as Mio once again. Shane came along for the shoot too, which is nice because it's a good learning experience for him photography-wise.

Album: Here

Code Geass: C.C. - Indoor shoot at the hotel. Special thanks to Emi for the invite, as well as paying for the food and lodging.

As a bonus, her sister and sister's boyfriend showed up to help a bit with the shoot, and finishing up the extra food. I think I ate too much pizza that day...

Album: Here

Macross Frontier: Star Date - Second day at the hotel was spent shooting this series. We had a buffet breakfast before having both an indoor and outdoor shooting session. It was rather relaxing, despite having to bring so much stuff for the shoot.

Album: Here

.hack//G.U. - Max and Elie, cosplaying characters from the popular RPG game for the Playstation 2/3 series. Pretty cool stuff!

The shoot went without much issues... well, except for the very windy conditions that is. Winds so strong, that my flash and stand nearly flew away a few times.

I also see another photographer having a shoot there with a beauty dish. Now, this is something that I may obtain the next time I pay a visit to the camera shop. :P

Album: Here

That's the end of the first part! Forgive me if I left anything out because it's been a while since that time. Anyway, stay tuned for the second part, coming soon!

End of 2010

2011-04-21T09:15:00.001+08:00

Another long delayed entry, apologies for that as I was busy catching up with my family as well as my new job in Kuala Lumpur.

Here are the last few shoots that I did for 2010.

My model friend asked me to do a casual shoot for himself and his girlfriend, so I was happy to obliged. Yang dropped by to help with the styling and makeup.

Album: Here

A shoot with Yang and Manman at Fairy Point Hill's abandoned building, featuring characters from the Soul Eater anime/manga series. Special thanks to Shinji and Fariz for the help during the trip to the location.

Album: Here

Later that day, I went with Fariz to the other side of Singapore to shoot this unique version of Vocaloid cosplay. It was my first and only time working with Yasuu and Akairi, they are a real cool pair to interact with. Friendly too!

Album: Here

A shoot with Elaine at Millenia Walk prior to the STGCC event. It was really short and sweet, much thanks to Leonard (Invinc) for the help too!

Album: Here

I had a shoot with Yuki for her Neir Replicant (Or Neir Gestalt, depending on if you play the PS3 or the Xbox 360 version) game cosplay. She's a very nice girl, would love to work with her again.

Album: Here

Kairei's Granado Espada cosplay is spectacular, and she wanted a shoot so it was merged together with Yuki's. Really nice, especially the wings.

Album: Here

An old cosplay friend invited me for this Christmas shoot, so I accepted the offer. Unfortunately, half of the group had to withdraw leaving us with only two cosplayers, but we made do with what we have. It's fun still, though the day was very hot.

Album: Here

And lastly, a shoot with my Australian friends who were in Singapore for a visit. I think we had loads of fun during this period of time, lots of crack and some funny stuff happening during New Year's Eve as well. What a way to end 2010, heh.

Album: Here

So here we are in 2011... next update's about my shoots in January, though it might be split up into two or three entries. Till then!

STGCC/EOY/CF

2011-03-24T20:29:00.007+08:00

An entry long overdue due to work, life and lots of photoshoots. I would like to apologise for the lack of updates on my blog.

2010's STGCC event felt like a rather hohum event. I guess it is because of its close proximity to other events in December. Anyway, there are many amazing cosplayers that showed up during STGCC so I didn't feel like any time was wasted.

Album: Here

Although there's some improvement over the previous year's event, I felt that EOY 2010 could be better. Some of the cosplayers and photographers hung out around the outside areas as the interior felt crowded and there's not many places to move about.

Album: Here

The last ACG event for 2010, Comic Fiesta 2010 changed the venue back to Berjaya Times Square. Only this time it were to be held at the hotel grounds, so I was expecting something similar to the Sunway convention area.

I was wrong though, the crowd was crazy! Still, I met up with some of my Malaysian friends, although most already know that I would be moving back to Malaysia eventually (which I did).

Album:

Day 1 - Here
Day 2 - Here

Coming right up, the last few photoshoots for 2010. Stay tuned. :)

Burst Angel - The 2nd Impact

2010-12-10T01:21:00.005+08:00

Time sure passes by quickly. It's going to be nearly a year since I first worked with Yang, and before long I would be moving back to my hometown.

This was our first shoot since DOGS, and it felt different. Maybe because I am have finally completed my studies? Who knows? :P

Hope you like the shots, been getting a lot of inspiration from photo and fashion magazines lately as well. Been catching up on a lot of reading, felt relaxed as well.

Album: Here

Coming up, STGCC/EOY/CF. Then it's all over for 2010.

Till next update. :)

Makai Kishi Garo

2010-11-25T21:27:00.004+08:00

Richfield and Su Gwan, two of the most epic cosplayers that I have ever met.

Album: Here

I also posted some photos on my Facebook page, do drop by if you are interested in the updates that I posted once in a while. :)

AFA X

2010-11-21T01:15:00.004+08:00

It's been a while!

Photos from the recent Singapore ACG event: Here

And now, back to work!

Sept/Oct Update

2010-10-10T10:45:00.001+08:00

Hello everyone. Currently taking a break until mid-November due to exams and a few odd projects, I have already completed all of my shoots and have uploaded them to my Multiply gallery. Two of them were taken during my Sydney trip.

RG Veda - The first manga that I read seriously, this series from CLAMP left a deep impression in me with its unique artwork and memorable characters. You can say that I have been a long time fan since 1993!

So basically when I was given the chance to work with the awesome Australian cosplayers, I took it and thus the shoot was held at Sydney's Chinese Garden of Friendship. The place looks pretty awesome, even though you have to pay to go in and there's a quite a number of tourists roaming around.

Album: Here

07-Ghost - Held on the same day as the RG Veda shoot, it was a good chance to work with one of the WCS finalist groups. Because we are all not natives of Sydney (they were from Brisbane and I am from SG/MY), going to the St. Mary's Cathedral was a first time experience for us.

The shoot was short but we managed to get a few decent shots due to the amazing lighting there.

Album: Here

Black Rock Shooter: Dual - A two-in-one shoot, showcasing both versions of the black-haired heroine.

This is my second time working with Crestryn, so we had a number of discussions prior to the shoot itself. Everything went well in the end despite the rain earlier that day.

Album: Here

Vocaloid: VN02 - For my sole October shoot, we went to NTU on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Not many people were hanging around, so the area's relatively quiet.

Because we started pretty late, the level of lighting dipped after just an hour or so of shooting. We wrapped things up quickly and left before the entire place turned dark.

Anyway, the VN02 costume is much love and it's DIY too! Wow.

Album: Here

Onto non-cosplay photography stuff! My company recently brought us to the Universal Studios (Singapore) for a day of family fun. Each of us got a free ticket as well as a bunch of retail/food vouchers for use within the theme park.

Album: Here

The right-side photo on the collage above was taken using a Panasonic LX5. Yes, I finally got myself a digital compact camera for casual snapshots and for times when I felt that bringing my DSLR would be a hassle. The image quality is very nice and the responsiveness of the camera is pretty good too. I have posted some shots in the link below, hope you will like these 'test' shots.

Album: Here

***********************

So that's all for now at least until the next update in December. See you guys around, and keep on shooting (photos, that is).

Back from Down Under

2010-09-25T01:11:00.003+08:00

A rather 'short' recap of the Sydney Trip: Here

Animania Photos: Here

PS. The trip's really fun!

August Photoshoots Update

2010-09-17T17:48:00.002+08:00

Had a Rozen Maiden shoot in the heart of the Toa Payoh town, was a really sunny day but there's a lot of decent covers nearby so it was quite bearable. I never really worked with most of the cosplayers except for the leader in this shoot, but they are pretty friendly.

Album: Here

Yang asked me out for a shoot before the Natsu Matsuri event, so I met up with her at the Xiao Gui Lin near the Bukit Gombak MRT station. Probably one of the rare places in Singapore with some kind of China feel, we took advantage of the many rocks and the cliff background to produce the shots. It's not too bad but I was feeling sleepy due to my late night editing the day before.

Album: Here

The day after Natsu Matsuri, I met up with my cosplayer friend who did the Listen! ED version of Mio Akiyama from the series K-On!!

We had two helpers (her boyfriend who is known for making some epic armour cosplay, and a mutual friend of ours called "Yui" heh) who made the shoot very manageable. We went up to the Pinnacle@Duxton, well known for its nice view of the city as well as a rather clean feel. The shoot went well, except for the water spout incident. Haha.

Album: Here

A few months back, there was a group shoot involving the different characters of the game series Guilty Gear. However, because of the size of the group we ended up shooting at a generic location in town. Because I wanted a gritty feel to the series, I asked Evie if she's free to do another shoot in an abandoned location. She gamely agreed to the shoot, and it went well thanks to the help of her boyfriend who carried the reflector and bag.

A lot of people didn't believe that most of the shots were made without the use of a flash. Initially I had wanted to shoot using the flash, but the presence of several concentrated beams of light in the location led me to use them instead. Result's pretty decent although I would have preferred the location to be bigger.

Album: Here

It's time to visit the Final Frontier (aka Tuas) again. We were lucky to get some really decent weather because the last few times I was there, it was raining cats and dogs!

The area we shot look less desert-like than before. I guess in about a year or so, the entire location will be remade into an industrial zone much like the ones in Loyang and Changi. But I love the place anyway, it felt vast and peaceful.

Album: Here

Bad weather turned this concept shoot into an indoor one, so we had the shoot in Yang's house. Not too bad but the room's really small so framing's really important.

During the shoot, we also joked about people owing money and what the three would do in such situations. Well, random stuff can be fun sometimes.

Album: Here

I'll be writing about my Sydney trip soon, so stay tuned! :)

The KL Trip

2010-09-09T18:00:00.000+08:00

The time that I have spent recently in Kuala Lumpur proved to be a rather interesting, tiring but ultimately fun experience. Instead of a usual week of relaxation, I decided to challenge myself by having a shoot every day. Although that didn't really happened, I completed six shoots in total... each presenting a unique set of challenges that I tried to tackle as best as I could.

Here are the results of the week long 'marathon'. I would like to thank Misao, Victor, Razrig, Lavena, Kikyo, Ayase, Mbek, Teri, Bunny, James, Reno, Mieko, Byou, Huko Yee, and Cappy for their assistance and willingness to take part in any of the shoots shown below.

Also, a special thanks to Solomon Freeman who have kindly loaned me his D3S, lenses and SB-900 during the two night shoots that I had. The day shoots were done using my usual gears.

DGM Lavi: Here

Post-Mortem: The old train station has its own fair share of photoshoots, but the main attraction of the place (the Heritage Hotel) was closed a few months back, so I utilised the dark corridors to get the 'Bookman' effect. :P

In addition, we somehow created a Korean drama feel for Reno... this is what happened when Lavi's without his hammer, haha.

Macross Frontier: (To be updated)

Post-Mortem: A last minute change that turned the evening shoot into a night one, we still had it at Putrajaya due to its amazing night lighting that gave the city a character of its own. Victor was nice enough to pick up Kikyo and Ayase from the Mines Wonderland, while Misao drove me, Solomon and Mbek to Lavena's house to pick her up. We reached the location on time, although additional preparation delayed the shoot a bit.

I really like the D3S, it is a very capable camera if a bit too heavy for my liking. Noise level's pretty clean even until ISO3200, there's a lot of details that can be extracted during post-processing. Sadly, the zoom mechanics for the playback seem to be a bit archaic for my taste, but overall it is still good.

One thing that I learnt from the shoot was the fact that the humble reflector can do magic sometimes. Heh.

Note: The photos are not ready yet due to a delay in editing, apologies for that.

Pandora Hearts - II: Here

Post-Mortem: More laughs than seriousness, we spent quite a long period of time catching up on things after getting the necessary shots. There's a lot of random stuff that happened during the shoot as well.

Bukit Jalil Park is a very quiet place, seems like nobody goes there except for cosplayers. :P

Town Lolita - Mieko: Here

Post-Mortem: Gotta love Melaka... for the food, the historic architecture, and the relaxing riverside. Mieko was fun to work with, and the place really suits the lolita feel... we even went into a church to take some shots!

I missed out on the epic chicken rice balls though. There will be a next time!

Chang An Huan Ye - II: Here

Post-Mortem: We went to the Thean Hou temple for the shoot. It seems like the place's a regular for photoshoots as there is a marriage registry there, and a regular stream of tourists. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my flash, but we carried on and I am glad Byou like the shots. :)

Durarara!! Here

Post-Mortem: Having a night shoot for DRRR, especially in Kuala Lumpur, seems like a daunting thing because of the recent spat of crimes in the city. I took a gamble in using a rather quiet car park to do the shoot because it was my first time going to that place.

As this shoot took place on the same day as the Chang An shoot, Byou was pretty tired but she soldiered on till the end. Huko Yee is pretty friendly too, it was my first time working with them actually.

One of the local cosplay photographers, Razrig was kind enough to ferry us around the city, as well as bringing everyone back to their respective homes after the end of the shoot. Good job, dude. :)

And finally, before I head back to Singapore I decided to drop by a local ACG event organised by the students of the International Medical University (IMU), which was located pretty close to my house. It was a really small events, but it looks like everyone had a good time there.

GAMP 2010: Here

Ended the whole epic trip by watching Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on the bus trip back. The movie felt a bit boring though, so I am curious if the Deathly Hallows will be an improvement.

Hope you enjoy reading this entry and looking at the photos, as I wrote this while waiting for my plane to Sydney tonight. I will be at there for the entire weekend (plus a day or two) to attend Main Animania, so till next time folks. :)

July Update #2

2010-08-27T22:10:00.002+08:00

After nearly two weeks since my return to Singapore, I finally have some time to write about the shoots that I did before my trip to Kuala Lumpur.

The Trinity Shoot - Due to my busy schedule, I suggested to hold three photoshoots within the same area, within the same time.

Crazy, isn't it? Even though it felt really tiring, I managed to complete the shoots and edited each shoots in a different manner. It was also a fun day because the cosplayers that I worked with (Vanda, Yang, and Angeline) are very nice people.

Burst Angel: Here
Shana V: Here
Lucky Dog 1: Here

ARIA - Another crazy photoshoot, mainly because we went to the beach really early in the morning (6AM) to prepare for the shoot. Sadly due to the rain the previous day, there weren't any decent sunrise for us to grab some shots but we went ahead with the shoot anyway. A very wet experience!

Album: Here

Kuroshitsuji - We had this photoshoot on the other end of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, because usually most of the time people had their cosplay shoots on the main side (near Gleneagles hospital).

We encountered curious onlookers, random gardeners, young children, and black swans. Yeap, the swans were pretty cool with random people hanging around them.

Album: Here

Chang An Huan Ye - One of the Chinese novel series with many elaborate outfits, Yang and Ah Jia invited me to the shoot at the Chinese Garden. Quite frankly, I lost count of the number of times I have been there to shoot.

The shoot finished early due to the weather and also due to the fact that we were hungry. The photos turned out well though, and would lead to another shoot of the same series in Kuala Lumpur...

Album: Here

Tainted Memories - And last but not least, I had a conceptual shoot with a friend of mine which is about loss of love, betrayal and the embracing of madness.

Some editing tweaks enhanced the mood perfectly, although my friend recruited another friend to do the main editing. I contributed with an alternate edited version, hope you all enjoy it. :)

Album: Here

Stay tuned for the next entry, which will be about my trip up North. Till then!

C.C.

2010-08-04T11:35:00.006+08:00

Album: Here

Cosplayed by Yang.

Initially I had wanted to blog about several of July's shoots, but only one series have been completed so far. The rest will have to wait until I return from my KL photography trip this weekend or if I have the time to post them up while I am there.

This shoot (which took place a week after TGX) went pretty well despite the torrential rain earlier that day. After many shoots with her, I feel that we work well together. A blessing indeed. :P

Anyway, till next time. Have a happy National Day celebration for Singaporean readers this weekend. :)

July Update #1

2010-07-30T13:10:00.005+08:00

It has been a really unbelievable month, with so many events and shoots occupying my time that it made June look like a cakewalk (which it isn't) but I finally have a bit of time to do a quick writeup.

Cosfest IX

My 7th time attending the event, I can't help but to feel a bit nostalgic. Maybe because a lot of things happened over the past few years, both good and bad. Anyway, met up with friends from both Malaysia and the Philippines, made a few new friends, and even get to pose with the epic Franky cosplayer from the series One Piece. He's cool! ;)

Day 1: Here

Day 2: Here

The Games Xpo (TGX) 2010

Nothing much to write about the event, apart from the fact that it was crowded and boring in general. But the cosplayers did a good job once again, even if the location doesn't seem suitable for most of the series being cosplayed.

Day 1: Here

Day 2: Here

July photoshoot updates to come soon, hopefully! :)

June Update #3

2010-07-20T07:30:00.008+08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, been busy (as usual) with a few shoots and cosplay events coverage.

Yang, seen here cosplaying as Pandora from the classic anime series Saint Seiya. I was surprised that she cosplayed the earliest version of the character, as well as learning that she cosplayed as Athena in the past too!

Link: Here

Finally, a Pandora Hearts shoot featuring Vincent Nightray, Echo and Sharon Rainsworth. Had a blast of a time working with Yukiharu, Janice and Germaine during the shoot as we joked around for most part. I hope there will be more shoots of this series in the future!

Link: Here

Delayed for many months, this shoot was finally underway! Special thanks to Krisgage and Suki-luna for their equipment and direction support, it helps a lot especially when the shoot continued into the night.

I learnt a few more things about flash lighting, especially in terms of positioning and adjusting the strength of the flash output. It was a fun experience, although tiring as well.

Link: Here

June photoshoots done, events next!

June Update #4

2010-07-01T13:12:00.000+08:00

Besides Starfest, there were 3 other events held during the subsequent weekends of June. Although not everyone turn up for these events, but there were a lot of photographers and curious onlookers!

One of the longest running events apart from Cosfest and EOY, Streetfest has changed its venue this year to Plaza Singapura. In the past, there were more J-rock related cosplay although the focus have somewhat changed to more general cosplay series. As usual I have a very busy time that day, doing two photoshoots in the morning and covering the event as much as I can later in the afternoon. I fell ill the next day, took me a while to recover.

Album: Here

*SCAPE is a new building located next to Orchard Cineleisure that caters to the youth. An event was held on the 19-20 June to officially open the building.

Originally I didn't want to drop by, but I changed my mind after Yang got interested in the event. Arrived there early only to find a small number of cosplayers wandering around. There were a few good ones though, so I didn't count the trip as a waste of time.

The location's generally not that bad for shoots, especially for series that are urban-based. I was told that there's a nice rooftop as well. Anyway, I left the place after catching a few stage performances and bidding farewell to Yang and the rest.

Album: Here

Finally, Japan Fiesta 2010 (held at Orchard Central) was the event with the least number of cosplayers because many people are still preparing for Cosfest IX. The most interest thing about the event was the Japanese and Korean cosplayers showing their stuff on stage.... some pretty amazing performances there. You can check them out at the Youtube links I provided in the Multiply album listed below.

Album: Here

*phew* And that's all I have for the June updates... I still have some things to write about for this month (July) so stay tuned to the next update!

June Update #2

2010-06-15T15:45:00.007+08:00

When Yang returned back to Singapore, we planned a few more photoshoots and here are some that we have completed so far. :)

A night shoot based on the pairing of Shinichi Okazaki and Reira Serizawa, we wandered around the streets of Orchard to get the necessary shots. I must admit its a tiring affair because the shoot took place on a weekday (meaning right after work). But nonetheless, it was a fun learning experience so more night shoots in the future!

Album: Here

A Kuroshitsuji mini-shoot held before the Starfest event, it begun raining heavily right after we began shooting. We didn't go to the City Hall building in front of the Padang as it was closed due to the upcoming Youth Olympic Games, so the shoot was also cut short.

After the shoot, we went to the event but the event was relatively so-so. There's a lot of photographers and cosplayers, and I spent more time talking to friends than getting some shots.

Album: Here

Starfest 2010: Here

***********

There will be more updates to come, been a bit busy clearing out the remaining backlogs I had with Yang as well as with other cosplaying friends. Till next time! :)

June Update #1

2010-06-02T08:10:00.007+08:00

Last year, I had a photoshoot with Shuki (who was cosplaying as Al Azif from Demonbane).

This year, it is a K-On! shoot with her as Azunyan! XD

It's quite hard to get hold of her due to her busy schedule, so I would like to thank her for accepting the invitation to the shoot as well as the helpers for their hard work.

Album: Here

Spent some time hanging out in town while waiting for my friends so that we can watch Prince of Persia. The movie's not too bad, a bit too rushed for my taste but competently done. At least it's quite entertaining!

Album: Here

Finally, I made an important update on DA. This might be my last update for now, as there will be a lot of upcoming events and shoots to cover during the next 1-2 months. Till next time, folks! :)

May Update #4

2010-05-28T12:30:00.010+08:00

One more update to go before ending the month of May, although there might be a few stuff to write about (I'll leave it for the June updates instead).

One of the last few shoots I had before the exams period, it was actually months in the making because we weren't able to find the time to have the shoot. But finally, we did and the results turn out okay despite the sudden rain. It was my first time working with Jing, and my 4th time with Kula (the last one with her was back in 2007, that's a long time ago).

The location that we used is simply gorgeous, and gave us a feeling of peace high up in the sky. I will definitely go up there again, one of these days.

Album: Here

After a long time, I finally had the chance to attend a photographer's gathering in Arab Street. The sheer amount of the cosplay photoshoots kept me busy, so I took the chance once I have some spare time.

It was a fun gathering despite the rain (again), so I hope to attend more of these in the future.

Album: Here

And finally, I went for the Navy Open House recently. As it was my first time attending this yearly event, it was an eye opener for me. Apart from the searing heat, the event was well organised and there's an ample number of drink/food stalls available.

I even had the chance to go aboard some of the docked ships and venture into the depths, finding out that the corridors and cabins are really, really small. The seas are rough so in anticipation there are many amenities available such as gyms, relaxation rooms and even a place with washing machines!

I highly recommend the open house next year for those who are interested. :)
Album: Here

May Update #3

2010-05-26T23:22:00.007+08:00

I had two more photoshoots with Yang before she went back to China for a short holiday. :)

It's been a while since I went to Fort Canning, so I suggested to Yang to have the shoot there. It was fun (one of the workers recognised the series that she was doing), although there's a lot of mosquitoes flying around.

The photos are a departure from my usual style of photography, aiming at a darker, mysterious feel. Belial is an enigma, indeed.

Album: Here

Portraying Yang's Shana as both strong and vulnerable in my photogoraphs is a challenge for me. Since the both of us weren't that satisfied with our past shoot, we had another shoot at one of the old abandoned locations that I found. It went pretty well, the weather's just right... not too hot or not too cold.

Thanks to Mikyo (who provided the necklace) and Lexis (who provided the prop) for making the shoot a success. Owe the both of you a drink. :)

Album: Here

PS. Final May Update coming soon!

May Update #2

2010-05-25T11:03:00.006+08:00

Here's another round of shoots I did for this month.

A photoshoot based on the 4-volume series by Kaori Yuki. A compilation of twisted fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, I quite enjoyed reading it. Yang and Xiao Lu also did a great job portraying their characters.

Album: Here

Had another Katekyo Hitman Reborn! shoot, this time with Kiwiwi-chan as Superbi Squalo. We went back to "Area 4" (the location of some past shoots) and the shoot proceeded well although the weather's pretty humid.

Album: Here

For this shoot, I joined my friend Nouffer for a shoot at Changi Beach. Originally we were supposed to be at the Tampines Biking Trail, but the location's currently under renovation for the upcoming Youth Olympic Games. Anyway, it was another fun shoot but the lighting's really challenging.

Album: Here

More will come soon, stay tuned. :)

May Update #1

2010-05-21T23:28:00.007+08:00

Some of the shoots which I did recently before the exams mugging period.

WAWA (which is Chinese for Doll) was an idea conceptualised by Yang, so we spent a day to get the shoot done. We had fun although we ended early due to tiredness. :X

Album: Here

I am very fortunate to work with Deliri again for a photoshoot based on one of my most favourite manga of all time, RG Veda. As the Queen of Kendappa, she portrayed the character with dignity, grace and beauty.
Album: Here

Final April Update

2010-04-30T10:15:00.005+08:00

During my recent trip to the Philippines, I took part in a cosplay photoshoot organised by Kynkyn and her cosplayer friends. It was a fun shoot and they even gave me a buko pie (a traditional Filipino pastry style, young-coconut (malauhog)-filled pie) as a birthday present. Thank you all for this wonderful surprise. :)

Album: Here

The weekend after the trip, I took part in two photoshoots that deal with alternative fashion. This was the first of two, so I hope that you will like something different from me.

Album: Here

Second April Update

2010-04-15T09:24:00.007+08:00

Had an awesome time last weekend, visiting for the first time the nation called the Philippines. Good food, great friends, awesome locations, the positive things seem to be endless. Of course there are negative points but that's no different from Kuala Lumpur or even Singapore, so overall I had fun.

I also attended Ozine Fest 2010, an ACG event held at the SM Megamall in Manila. The event was very similar to the ones in both Malaysia and Singapore, so I didn't feel out of place at all. I was also asked to be one of the judges for the individual cosplay competition as well as to give out prizes, so it felt pretty surreal in a way. :P

A full blog coverage of the trip to come soon on DeviantArt, as I am still in the midst of clearing the backlogs, emails and online messages. Apologies if my replies seem rather slow lately.

In other news, here's a sneak layout preview of my article on CosplayGen:

More previews at http://www.cosplaygen.com

Last Night, Good Night

2010-04-06T22:52:00.004+08:00

A Hatsune Miku cosplay by Angelryn. The photoshoot was fun. :)

Album: Here

First April Update

2010-04-04T11:34:00.007+08:00

Recently, I went out with the blogger guys for an outdoor figurine shoot at the Mandai Orchid Garden.

Located near the Singapore Zoo, the Garden might be closing down towards the end of this year. It is a sad thing because the place truly looks beautiful and there's a peaceful feeling too. The guys had a great time exploring around although figurine photography is a challenge due to the high positions for most of the flora there.

Anyway here are some photos taken on that day, most of my shots felt random due to the random weather. Hopefully there will be another outing, this time in the urban heart of the CBD.

Album: Here

Photos by the rest:

Scorchnroses
TheBanzaiEffect
Yuki-To
Zh3us

PS. In other news, the full interview's up! Here

March Update

2010-03-23T11:04:00.005+08:00

Angel Sanctuary: Rosiel

Inner Realm

Some shots from a new photoshoot location, it's indeed a place lost in time...

Also, I have been featured by my friend Leon who runs a blog that talk about toys and figurines. Do drop by and leave a comment, he's a pretty friendly dude!

Lastly, less than a month to go before my first trip to the Philippines. I can't wait to meet with my friends there, and to try out their tasty food delicacies.

February Update

2010-02-23T11:05:00.005+08:00

I was recently informed that two of my cityscape photos have been selected for Ngee Ann Photo Exhibition 2010. Unlike previous years, my submissions this time have been purely non-cosplay related and focused more on architectural and general landscaping works.

The exhibition will be held from the 9th to the 19th of April 2010, at Ngee Ann Kongsi 97 Tank Road, Singapore 238066. Drop by if you have the time, it opens from 11am to 7pm everyday.

In other news, have been very busy with life/work as well as my FY project. There will still be periodic updates here and there. :)

One month's done...

2010-02-09T11:44:00.013+08:00

Nunnally (Code Geass R2 - Mutuality)

Shana (Shakugan no Shana - Contract of Fate)

Feature: January was a pretty interesting month for me as I get to work with Yang, a very talented cosplayer. She's a very quiet lady, but as you can see from the two photos above, she is very versatile and I do enjoy working with her.

So what's next for me? Well, I am not letting any cats out of the bag (figuratively speaking) so do keep checking out my galleries listed on the left for more updates.

Happy Chinese New Year!

PS. I need to update the sidebar more often...

Musings #1

2010-01-20T15:05:00.003+08:00

"Hmm, I had a scary thought this morning as I realized how many more people blindly flock to whole-day classes in trivia like Adobe Lightroom, but would never even consider taking an hour-long seminar in something far more critical like lighting, lights, scrims and reflectors."

- Ken Rockwell

You know what, I actually agree with him.

The Moon King

2010-01-05T21:36:00.004+08:00

The Moon King, originally uploaded by Hexlord.

My last shoot for 2009: Here

Costume was based on the illustration by the famous Yoshitaka Amano.

Happy New Year, everyone. I will be presenting more works for this year so stay tuned. :)

CF 2009

2009-12-26T00:03:00.004+08:00

Recently, I went back to Malaysia to attend Comic Fiesta 2009, one of the country's largest ACG events.

Here are some photo/video coverage of the event:

Day 1: Here
Day 2: Here

TBE Article: http://www.thebanzaieffect.com/articles/hexlord/black-rabbit-shooter-comic-fiesta-2009/

I am here waiting for you

2009-12-09T22:40:00.001+08:00

Odin Sphere

2009-11-29T16:55:00.004+08:00

The Tale of Odin's Daughter, originally uploaded by Hexlord.

Full album at: Here

It was a short shoot, nonetheless everyone's happy with the result produced.

Welcome to the Macro World

2009-10-20T11:05:00.002+08:00

Album: Here

Photos taken using the Tamron 60mm f2 IF Macro Lens, a small and versatile equipment for close-up photography.

Cosplay 100

2009-10-04T21:47:00.001+08:00

Cosplay 100, originally uploaded by Hexlord.

"Great love and great achievement require great risks."

Macross Frontier: Siblings

2009-09-24T17:57:00.005+08:00

Remembrance, originally uploaded by Hexlord.

This shot of mine was recently featured on Cosplay.com. The lighting was fantastic and there's a sense of serenity at the location of choice.

Album: Here

The Shakugan no Shana Photoshoot… with a twist

2009-08-30T07:49:00.008+08:00

The epic Shana (Contract of Fate version), cosplayed by Nakuru.

Article is now up at The Banzai! Effect: Here

Album: Here

Turn Back The Pendulum

2008-07-24T17:40:00.004+08:00

Album: Here

A cosplay photoshoot held at one of the most remote parts of Singapore. Despite the rain earlier in the day as well as some logistical problems, we managed to pull it off somehow.

Samantha

2008-06-05T17:24:00.014+08:00

I had a chance to work with this wonderful lady recently. Even though it was her first time modeling, her poses and expressions are very natural... effortless even.

We took our time going around to a few places, and experimented on several themes. It worked well and the only thing left is to choose the best of the lot. The lack of time seem to hold me back from completing my task though, but it's fine I guess. I am already looking forward to our next shoot.

Welcoming the calm night...

2008-05-28T17:25:00.003+08:00

I have been rather tired lately. The shoots (editing and otherwise), the catching up with friends both old and new, the events that I am helping out with...

I have been thinking, do I feel a certain sense of exhilaration after achieving something that I have been planning to do for quite some time? Or do I feel a certain dissatisfaction and work on them further? I guess its a little bit of both for no true photographer would ever be satisfied with his/her own works.

On a lighter note, I welcome you readers to a newly revitalised blog. I have since moved on to the Nikon DSLR system after the camera in the previous entry have problems with the LCD screen.

It's been a while, folks... Welcome, 2006!

2006-01-06T09:44:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone!

It is finally the year 2006. Already more than halfway into the first decade of the new millennium.

Seems like the New Year celebration came and went without any major news, apart from the spraying foam controversy that sparked letters, blogs and what-have-nots from concerned/outraged men & ladies.

What a way to start off the new year right?

Anyway some updates of my life:

The Camera

If anyone had noticed, I have bought a new camera, the new Panasonic Lumix FZ30. *watches as his wallet grew a large hole*

This is basically a "bridge" camera, meaning that it is a near-SLR camera, with a fixed tele zoom lens (Up to 12x optical!) and manual controls. I am still learning how to operate it well, but I had already put it to good use at the CF event in KL and also at some gatherings and photoshoots. Looking forward to more events and shoots!! XD

As for my two sisters, one of them got the LC43 that I have been using for the past 1 year, and the other got a Lumix FX8 from her boss! O_O;;

Xmas Eve Party

For Xmas Eve, I went to Aries' house for a party. It was fun although I was feeling rather tired, but I still managed to fix her PC problems and then watched a really hilarious show (Wun say what show is that) with everyone. Reached home around 3 plus, and promptly felt like crap for the rest of Xmas itself... X_X

PS. Aries' family birds are very pretty ^_^

The New Year Eve Photoshoot

Something different for a change... I met up with Cherry, her guru Jonny and Reichi for a RE photoshoot at Punggol. Basically we visited the Matilda House, and going to the house is actually challenging (Dirtied myself and all that), not to mention the fact that the place felt kinda eerie even though nothing bad really happened (except for my shoes!! *Sob*).

Jonny is a pleasant surprise. He is a cosplayer but seems rather knowledgeable on all kinds of matter, despite his mild-mannered behaviour. That is why he is Cherry's guru XD.

Well anyway the shoot was kinda successful, so we headed down to the Harbourfront for the next shoot (which is about Gundam Seed). Too bad the rain started to pour heavily so we decided to hang around the place and do some window-shopping.

Ended that day by picking up an artbook from Nevar and then going eastward with Cherry. Didn't go to the countdown because of the event that I will explain below! XD

New Year PLUG and Chinatown

Hahaha! My second PLUG outing (First one being at Mount Faber and Labrador Park), so I had to meet up with the people at 8am at Sengkang (Hence the need to sleep early and all that). Luckily one of the guys had a car so they picked me up from Compass Point.

We later headed to Buangkok's kampong areas after a quick breakfast. It was raining so it was hard for us to take photos, plus the mosquitoes are a lot!!! Thankfully the rain stopped soon, and I am glad to make acquaintance with so many photographers.

Went to Chinatown for lunch with some of the photogs, then met up with some friends for a casual photoshoot, and ended the day with me buying some clothes for CNY and them getting a few odd items or two O_O;;

Farewell to my colleague

Had to say goodbye to a colleague who is a nice lady and friendly to boot. She's headed to Vietnam for a year, although she will be back to visit us once in a while. Hope everything will be great there!!

Narnia

You know, this movie struck a chord within me. Was it the fact that I used to own the Narnian books (Before I gave it away to a friend)? Or was it the fact that the show alludes a lot to Christianity?

The show was pretty faithful to the book itself, even though like most Hollywood productions, many extra things were added to keep the audiences enthralled and excited. My favourite scene was where the White Witch shows up at the end, and what a dreadful warrior she will make!! I love her style of fighting and it gives me an inspiration! *jots down on his notebook*

The kids are quite good too, especially Lucy. As for Aslan.. well, there's a scene where you will feel a slight tinge of sadness, even if you have already read the book.

I look forward for the next Narnian movie. Onwards!!

Ending

All good things must come to an end.

I think I have a few more things to write about, but I can't seem to recall at the moment. Maybe if there is a time for me to actually sit down and think about the events that has occurred before, then I might want to blog about it.

So till then, happy new year!!

Twin Edge

2005-11-30T09:55:00.001+08:00

Finally got the mood to blog about recent events! XD

Recently went to Sitex 2005 for a photoshoot. Originally it was meant as a private shoot for the D.Gray Man cosplayers... however, the heavy rain put a premature halt to the shoot, leaving us no choice but to head into the Sitex 2005 event hall to help out Eugene and his fellow STAC comm members. :P

I realised that there weren't many cosplayers on the event itself compared to the Sitex of last year. I wonder if the date of the EOY event has to do with it, since the date was pretty close to Sitex's.

I did manage to see some 'off-duty' cosplayers around but they are more keen on getting some computer stuffs instead. Couldn't recognise Mori!! Then there were some MovieMania people dressed up as Star Wars characters and of course, the mighty Predator (Perhaps the same guy who went for Cosfest 2005?)

Most of us have already pre-registered for the EOY event, and I volunteered to be a helper. Zeph assigned me an interesting role, something like what I did for the Quedam pre-performance dinner. Can you say... Daddy Knows Best? XD

Talking about Daddy, Holly's been calling me Pappa because I was concerned about her stomach flu -_-;; Get well soon okay? Then you can lend me both Radiata Stories AND Magna Carta muahahahahahahaha!

Been reading a lot of photography books, magazines, even had the chance of using a friend's DSLR camera. I think I am hooked!!! As you can see from my past photo entries, I have a long way to go in improving my techniques. Practice makes perfect, I guess. :P

Oh yeah.. one last thing before I go. I always believe that each person has his or her own beauty hidden beneath. Recently, my friend Nightdevil became a swan for a day, and was rightfully given the prom queen title. I can speak for the rest when I said WOW!!!

Anyway here are the photos taken during the weekend. Cya!

Hmmm.. Bicycle On Wheels indeed.

Ferlyn & Daphne!! XD

David and his cosplay posing.

Cosplayers posing for the numerous photographers.

Vivian & Kula looking like they wanted to eat me O_O;;

Yes, Mr Cow's finally back from MooMoo Land.

Other photos are located in this link.

Recent Photos That I Took...

2005-11-09T18:28:00.000+08:00

Been thinking a lot lately.. then I realized that I forgot to upload some of the photos that I took recently! I got a tripod last Saturday, and its worth the money! Sturdy and light, my camera stopped being 'shaky' for a day, haha.

All in all, I have attended a total of 3 photoshoots within the last two weeks! Going to take some photos for LKCRL's official opening this Saturday, and then for the D.Gray Man photoshoot at the end of this month. Sounds fun! XD

Trying out the tripod at a photo shop in Sim Lim.. cool place. Will be back there soon. XD

Took this at Marina City Park.. the place's not bad right? XD

Macross told me this is a good position to take pics, so I just heed his advice and took some shots.

My friend told me this pic's a bit blurred.

A view of the bridge...

The Water of Life

I want this!!! O_O;;

Finally watched the last episode of TRC (for now). I wonder what is that sad song that was playing in the background during the course of the show...

Will be back. I promise.

PS. Gackt is singing the Opening (Redemption) and Ending (Longing) for FF7: Dirge of Cerberus? (Thanks Holly for the information!) XD

Soul Outing (Part 1)

2005-11-02T10:07:00.000+08:00

Good morning!!!

All is quiet on the Western Front.. and on the Eastern Front as well O_O

The office's quiet as a mouse, most of my colleagues are on leave due to Deepavali and Hari Raya.

Saturday night was spent working, but Sunday was spent on a J-Rock/Gothic photoshoot at Fort Canning! Went there cos my friends were talking about it, and made some new friends. ;) Going up the stairs was a real pain though, literally...

Anyway keep it short, here are the pics! XD

Day 1

Raziel being hyper.. :P

J-Rock Cosplayers

Ashley, all ready for the day (Wish I had a hat like his...)

Helena's gothic costume

Pose No. 2

Some more poses...

Shirox

Koyuki, his bandmates and friends (Hope to see you guys soon!)

Once darkness falls, they started singing...

Dinner at Pastamania... quite chaotic!

Bwahahahahahaha!~

Day 2 will be posted soon~~

Anyway, wishing all my Muslim friends Selamat Hari Raya! XD

In The Eye of The Beholder....

2005-10-02T14:18:00.000+08:00

Good day! *shoves away his notes*

Think my body's a wreck now. Aching all over the place.. trust me to stay up so late yesterday >_<

Exams are not over yet but a lot of interesting things have happened recently! Let's see...

Quidam

One word to describe the performance by the Cirque du Soleil. AWESOME.

I was expecting the usual circus performance by the travelling troupe. Boy was I wrong, and gladly so.

It was remarkable how the power of visual cue, sound effects and the incredible agility of the artists can combine to give the audience such a stunning performance, that it has the potential to eclipse anything shown on other media (TV, DVDs, etc)..

Roughly 2 1/2 hours long (With a half-hour intermission), the story of a little girl and her imagination enraptures the audience. A variety of performances showcases her vivid thinking, and draws the audience deeper and deeper.

It is truly a story of fantasy, but not the D&D/Tolkien fantasy, but more of the stuff that children dream of, the type of stories that Ms Block would write about... Quidam is everyone and yet, no one. Strange things to ponder, no? :)

I really love the German Wheel, the Diabolos and the Banquine acrobatics.. really a wow-factor to the show... the clown segment are really hilarious too, kinda Mr Beanish.. :P

The only bad thing was the merchandising which really cost a bomb. And the queue to the toilets during the intermission was really long o.O

I would love to watch it again the next time the troupe drops by Singapore.. XD

Sammi Cheng

Wow, Sammi Cheng dropped by the library on Friday night, and she smiled at me! XD

Too bad she had to leave quickly for a talk (together with Stanley Kwan). She looked great in person! (Too bad Spectre can't make it on that day leh.. )

NLB Family Day

Woohoo... My first aniversary working at NLB! Saturday was a hot day but that's okay.. woke up, then prepared some stuff, left the house after a short while.

I met Fer at Harbourfront interchange for lunch first, then we took the bus to Sentosa. Too bad she couldn't stay long for the event.. :P

We found the location of the event but nothing has started yet! So we decided to walk around the place.. took the bus, walked on the sandy beaches, drink a Super Big Gulp at the 7-Eleven at the Palawan Beach, crossed the swinging bridge to the "Southern Point", tried to look for peacocks at the Cable Car station, and found out that the ferry terminal was still being used for tourism purposes.

The Musical Fountain looked run-down though. Somebody please refurbish that place!!!

In the horizon, lies the Southern Point of the island..

They were unhappy with the fact that their handlers got more attention than themselves.. haha!

Bird-watching XD

The Family Day event was pretty fun lar.. a lot of food, nice weather, friendly colleagues.. made a few new friends too! Too bad I didn't win any prizes, but the performances on the day are quite good. A fire-eater actually performed for us, and the heat when he blew the flame into the air was.. wow, "heart warming" indeed!!!

Some of my colleagues won some prizes from the lucky draw.. one of them got a new revision of the same camera she bought last year.. quite funny leh haha..

End of the day, some of us went to McDonald for a chat, and then later on the MRT, we talked some more. Somehow the topic is on dengue and work -_-;;

End

Well that's about it.. but a few misc thoughts that I have..

* I didn't manage to take any photos of Priyanka Chopra. Really.

* I hope the next time they have the event again, bring a Milo van!!! Loved them since secondary school :D

* Hmmm if only Coco Lee were to come to the NLB... XD

* We Love Katamari. Must.. resist...

* My DVD-ROM drive is crap. Want to change but to which model?

* Maths = #@%#!^*%!#!@(!*^#!@%#^!%#!^%

Ah.. felt much better now. Gotta go... cya! XD

The Tale of the Train Man, and his Hermes

2005-09-23T14:10:00.000+08:00

How true is this story, where a hapless geeky guy likes this young and beautiful lady, and decides to change himself for the better in order to woo her? What a touching premise right? :)

Densha Otoko (The Train Man), is the tale of a young, geeky salaryman (Yamada Tsuyoshi, aged 23) who suddenly finds his life changed when he meets the beautiful Aoyama Saori (acted out by the amazing Itoh Misaki) in a train. In his attempt to stop a drunken old man from harassing her, he earns her gratitude and she gives her thanks by sending him a pair of Hermes cup. Touched, he is encouraged by his online friends (From an online forum no less!) to ask her out and to get to know her better...

So thus began a heart-warming tale where the lovable 'loser' (actually he is not, just that the rest of the society don't treat him nicely at all) began to groom himself and learn to interact with members of the opposite sex calmly. Initially he is beset by so much bad luck, then things began to pick up from there.

However, there are many obstacles he has to overcome, from improving his self-confidence, to grooming, to even dealing with Saori's friends and family. He even had to overcome his over-dependence on the advices of his online friends because when it comes to the crunch, he must stand up and make decisions by himself.

Why do I like the show? Although I am only halfway done with the series (There are 11 episodes, the other half I will try to borrow from Eugene), each episodes have its good point. Witness the shameless usage of the Star Wars Imperial music to announce the arrival of Saori's 'evil' best friend. Or his adventure into Shibuya. Or even the funny scene where he tries to learn how to surf (Saori thinks he is into surfing when he meant web-surfing)

See what I mean? Hehe...

It's an inspiring show. I realises that in a way, each of us have obstacles to overcome. Whether it is a fear of women (-_-;;) or fear of commitment (Haha) or even lack of self-confidence, we have our own Waterloos to fight. I know that somehow the story is too good to be true, but who knows.. maybe it will encourage some of us to take that crucial step forward. :)

Rating: 8/10

An Advent Children Review

2005-09-16T09:56:00.000+08:00

The long awaited sequel to what was probably the most popular console RPG game ever, Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children took place 2 years after the Lifestream managed to stop Meteor from destroying the world. Cloud Strife, now a 'delivery man', is haunted by his past specifically the fact that he is unable to save Aeris (or Aerith) from dying at Sephiroth's hand. And as you all will know, Sephiroth was eventually defeated by Cloud in a final battle that decided who is truly stronger...

Unfortunately things never gotten better after that, so Cloud and his friends continue to search for clues to unravel a new problem known as Geostigma. And that is when all the troubles began...

You know, after waiting for a long time to see what Square-Enix have done to address the remaining issues left after completing FF7, you may think that the movie will answer everything that you have ever wanted to ask. Sadly, this is not the case as the movie is more focused on Cloud, his antagonists (Kadaj and gang), and his own unresolved past.

First, the bad things about the movie. Does Square-Enix ever realise that a good intro is a must? The thing about the first 1/2 hour is that I was literally have a bad feeling about the show, and even thought that they have screwed up big time. The speech by Kadaj at Ajit when he was talking to the children is a real ear-sore to me. And the thing about the voice acting overall is that they are competent but not really fantastic.

The length of the show was also short (1 hour 30 minutes+, excluding the credits), so some parts of the show seem rushed. It would help a lot to have a longer length to cover everything... but I think maybe they want to have an excuse to make another FF7 movie? XD

The other characters who showed up are mostly there as supporting casts and not everyone got equal screen-time. Yuffie rocks, Cid should spew some more colourful words, Barret should have used his Catastrophe, Vincent's cloak is amazing, Tifa is hot, and Cait Sith... where's the big guy? :P Red XIII only spoke once!!!!

Another thing that I noticed but it may not be a bad point is that the style of the movie really tends to follow the general Japanese movie style. Its pretty hard to describe but even a non-fan will sense that the show is made in Japan (It's true anyway haha). Humour-wise, I am not sure which is funnier, the victory theme in the handphone, or Rude's spare specs :P

Now, onto the best part of the film. The battles between Cloud and his enemies are truly to behold. He moves and fights like the unreal warrior that he is, dodging bullets and swords as if it was nothing. From the initial battle at the intro, to the eye-catching battle at Midgar City, to the fast and furious bike race, everything an action fan wanted, it is there.

Of course the thing about the animation during the battles is that it looks really unnatural. Some parts are realistic but that's about it... then again this is Final Fantasy no? :D

And... let's not talk about the grand climax that everyone is waiting for. And Cloud's got a surprise for all of us yeah? ;)

FF7:AC is not a perfect film. Compared with a lot of classical, animated, and modern masterpieces, it is hard to say that it is the best film ever made. However, it is better than all the game-movie conversions so far (Better than FF: The Spirits Within) and I guess most of us FF fans will forgive the flaws (Yes, even the ho-hum beginning).

Cloud Strife. He fights for the people who believe in him. That is what makes him stronger. And that is how I feel too :)

8.5/10 (Minus 1 point for the beginning -_-;;)

The Gate Has Opened...

2005-09-13T22:54:00.001+08:00

It took me a while to get a hold of myself. Even until now, my mind is clouded with many things. Perhaps it is best to forget about them for the time being... but my feelings for her remained unabated.

That being said, I recently dropped by Suntec to attend the World Cyber Games 2005 - Singapore National Finals. I met so many of my friends there! The cosplayers, the Unreal Tournament gang, the guys from HWZ/Gameaxis, Spikeout, even Lord Angelus was there! I was actually there to support some of my friends who are taking part in the cosplay competition and also the Halo 2 tournament (Cheng Kai's KnS team).

Among the games being played, there were DOTA, CS: Source, Need For Speed: Underground 2 , Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne, and many more. It looks just like any other normal gaming event. I was hoping that the grand final will be more exciting.. XD

Anyway, back to cosplay. I took a lot of photos, and made some new friends in the process. Some of the cosplayers are really good, especially Maria and Mafuyu.

Lenne the Hunter. Beware her Double Strafing!

Eileen (left) and witch_cat XD

Luel flashing her .. cards.

Yes, Eugene's the man.. he's seen with some babes recently :P

Jodie aka TJ, posing when she should be taking pics instead.. :P

Kula... w00t.

Thanks to Ash for the pic ^_^

Moo!!!!!

Ahhh!!!!! David took this photo of the famous Cassandra Ng!!!!!!!! *nosebleeds*

The event ended happily with the rest of going to Meridien for some nice Korean food! ^_^

* Recently had an enjoyable dinner with Ashley. Talked about work, life, and yes, the ultimate dream ... to have an unforgettable road trip from San Francisco to New York!!! Yeah.. she's back due to some complications with her job, but I am sure she will bounce back soon :)

* Read in the news that some bloggers are being arrested for defamatory and racist remarks on their blogs. Guess a lot of people will be cautious in what they wrote.. except for Rockson Takumi Tan that is.. haha! (http://rockson.blogspot.com)

* My sister's birthday is tomorrow!!!! Happy Birthday!!!! XD

* Got the ticket liao from my company (1 free ticket per person):

* FF7:AC is coming out this week. Enuff said.

Well that's all for now! Time to hit the books again.....

Alive

2005-08-21T10:50:00.001+08:00

Hey, minna-san.

Natsu Matsuri's finally over. The chaos, the days of anticipation, the chase.. it was over and done with.

The day started off well enough. Met with Takumi and Phelliostar, then Vic and her friends showed up. Turns out one of her friend is also Marchecoz's classmate, so we basically talk a lot on our way to the arcade, LJS and finally Tanah Merah MRT station.

SpiderKim, Nightdevil and the rest are already there, and already putting on their yukatas. Some of the other people who are going there helped out with the fixing up of the girls' obis.. then we are off! It was raining by the time we reached the school though.

Lining up at the queue was fun in a way, because many of my friends join up the queue as well! We basically talk a lot and pose for photos, and Lacus finally shows up with Hiyuki, her darling and Daryl. Lacus' really pink!

See? :)

Saw Chibi-Meli and her friend.. :)

Anyway as the queue gets longer, some of us decided to sit down and relax...

AngelZhou (centre) showed up and began to pose for pictures..

Witch_cat, why are you half-sad, half-happy?

The Natsu Matsuri crowd...

Lacus holding a fan! Kawaii...

Taiko performance

JL (right), Fumiryu (left) and Michael (partly hidden) enjoying the day..

Holly (right) and her friend. Megaten games rule!

Thanks Holly for passing me this far-better photo of us posing.. XD

Lacus, Hiyuki (centre) and Kyosuge

Masa (centre) posing with some people...

Vic (left) and Kula

The FF group posing..

The Gamersquare peeps~

So... it is over. It will be coming back next year. Would be looking forward to it. New memories, new friends.

Although some things never seem to change....

Its a Sinner's City

2005-07-19T19:44:00.000+08:00

On a sleepless Singapore weekend, I decided to jio Ben to catch Sin City at Bugis.

Wow. I was literally blasted away by the sheer power, the awesome acting, and the smooth flowing cinematography. They combined together, along with input from the man behind the comic itself, the legendary Frank Miller, to bring us viewers a show of such magnitude, words could not describe it. It is an instant classic, a standard in which future comicbook-based movies must meet in order to be acceptable. Don't let the simple movie poster stop you from watching it, or the fact that it is more of a collection of short stories... Interweaving between each other like a well-oiled snake, it delivers a knuckle punch deserving of a KO.

Michael Rourke rocks. Period.

Real solid stuff overall. It is quite faithful to the comic book version. I think I might get the DVD and watch it again. 9/10, give or take another 0.5 points ;)

PS. I know it is a R21 film, so some of my friends will not be able to catch it. The good point about this is that it is entirely uncut, unedited. w00t! (Unless I am wrong here heh)

Cosplay

I had a great time on Saturday as well, meeting up with some cosplayers and also the Chibi gang (Judith, Eileen, Jeremy, Eddie, Tama-chan, Crux & Shiro) at Parco Bugis Junction. Decided to check out some of the shops selling cloth and other cloth-making materials, a first for me! XD It is a good experience by far.. :)

The whole event was pretty average. The main focus being on youth in general, cosplay was just one of the things being held there. Still, the cosplayers did a really fine job and their costumes are great! SCC's president was there in her Dark Magician outfit.. She was amazing!

(Yeah, I know that most of my comments here apply to Cosfest 2005 as well because they are the very same people cosplaying :D)

Later that day, the whole bunch of us went to Ajinsen to eat ramen (Yummy) and we basically wreck havoc. :P There was the arcade session later but I have to leave early lol...

Bloggers

I heard from my friend ALT that there is a .. blogger convention in Singapore?? More interestingly, famous bloggers like Xiaxue and MrBrown gave talks at the National Library. ALT was one of the people who attended and her pic was inside Digital Life! Now, where is my newspaper....

EDIT: OMG! She's really prominent!!! Check out her blog at http://barffie.liquidblade.com/ XD

(I wish I went.. it sounds fun. Bleh)

Oh yes, I added Emily's blog to my list of friends ^__^. Do check out her blog once in a while yeah? :D

Some minor updates:

* I found out that the latest Harry Potter novel is out recently as well. Might want to drop by to pick up a copy.. but I didn't even have the time to buy Da Vinci Code!!! Badddd reader -_-;;

* Apple got her own Nintendo DS... Mew version! I am happy for her.. then I realised I am not getting one so early.. :(

* My sister got a Motorola E398. It was a great phone, and cheap too! Then again, this could be due to the new 3G phones coming out into the market. Those are really expensive though!

* Alien Hominid... Freaking excellent game! Go get it now!!!!!!!! XD

Felt really tired in the last few days after Saturday. Maybe my work is getting to me... :(

~ The End ~ (For now, until I get into the groove again :P)

The War of Silence - Aftermath of Cosfest 2005

2005-07-11T16:19:00.003+08:00

Wow, all the running around before and during Cosfest 2005 is really killing me >.< My right leg seems to be feeling numb and my left shoulder is aching painfully. Still, it didn't stop me from finishing up what I am supposed to do heh.

If you thought that Cosfest 2004 is packed, then you are wrong. Cosfest 2005 is arguably one of the most crowded events ever! I came around 1pm+ and already the place was jam-packed with photographers, curious visitors and lots of screaming, running fan-boys and girls XD

Eileen and Judith were already there cosplaying as characters from Naruto (Haku and Anbu), and Judith even brought along her sister Emily who was extremely hyper!! XD I then went to look for Team Ignited, only found a few because Lacus and some of the other members were separated lol. Cherry and Peihui was there, said hi to them :)

Shiomi was there as Azuma again, YC Tan was cosplaying as a Dante-lookalike swordsman, Taku doing Kaiba from Yugioh, and Keith going again as Dante.. this time with a new wig. Surprisingly he took part in the competition and made a good effort although he couldn't get a sword (He had to borrow one for the group photo later). I heard from him that he is likely to join a group for EOY. Good show, dude!

Met with Fishy, XY, Ace, Gary and Spikeout at the front of the stage. Yeap, XY and gang are crazy about DesktopX and using the area's free Wi-Fi... lolz!!! Heard that XY got World of Warcraft.. happy playing dude! XD

Burnein absolutely rocks as Ishida! I was like whoa at her bow and from an angle she does look like Ishida XD With all the interests in Bleach going at an all time high, I might want to cosplay, nyuk nyuk. I think I scared a few of my friends when I was suggesting Zaraki Kenpachi.. okay, I know, bad idea heh.

Okay, I was like going o.O at this reenactment of a funny Bleach episode. :P

Eugene cosplayed as a guy from Scryed. Can someone lend me the show? I somehow missed it several years ago. Just like Soukyuu no Fafner, which is a fantastic series! The songs Shangri-La and Separation simply rock!

I have to say I like Lacus' ninja-like attire from GSD. She looks so cool wielding the katana and looking serious when she holds the blade high up into the air. Her Haro ball is simply huge and adorable! I want one for myself! Such huge pink kawaii... XD

Marchecoz looks so cute on the Haro! XD

Here's something interesting. I don't think I have ever seen SpiderKim (left) cosplaying as anybody other than Kyo Kusanagi from KOF, so the fact that he is doing as Kyuzo in Samurai 7 is great! I think he's quite good. Dionne (right) looks great as Kirara (also in Samurai 7) and she's prettier than ever :) If I am not wrong, her friend Michelle is one in the centre, playing as Heihaichi (Thanks Eugene for letting me know who is who in Samurai 7.. he's a real anime nut I tell you)

The man that is the star of the show is... Bokutou no Ryu from Shaman King (left). He was like so uber cool with his 'erected' hair and stylish dressing, I guess his moves and witty remarks endear himself to nearly everyone there lol.

Well all in all, a really powerful event! I didn't get to take every cosplayers, such as Argilla from SMT:DDS (Gaargh!!!), Yoriuchi from Bleach, etc. There were too many things to see and do. But I did take some nice photos of Death Note (Julia as Misa.. again? :P), Rukia from Bleach, and so on. Later on, I went to dinner with Nightdevil, Judith, Emily, Eileen and two guys from the Naruto cosplayers, somehow ending up going to Heeren and Cineleisure with Judith and Miss Hyper.. lol.

What a way to end the day. Shiok ah!

"Are You Ready For The Real World?"

2005-05-26T10:50:00.002+08:00

Haha, this phrase reminded me of the fact that for some people, the Real World is a truly scary, scary place.

Firdaus got a taste of it recently. Well, hope he is able to find a decent part-time job soon.. what's with the economy now anyway? Look like things have not improved and finding a good job is not an easy task. If things improve within the next 2-3 years that would be good XD

Oh, I had a good day yesterday (My off-day what :D) I met Lacus for breakfast at McDonalds (Actually she was late so I bought the Big Breakfast for her first), and then we went to the arcade to try out the games there. Ha! I think I suck at Pop'n Music!! Lacus quite good at that game, plus the Para Para Paradise and KOF game. (I think I am kinda shocked at the part about KOF.. :P)

We later went bowling at Pasir Ris bowl (I suck at bowling XD) and ate some calamari there. It feels kinda soft so the crunchy feeling is not there yah. The park nearby is very quiet and nice, and we spent the time walking from one end to another. We talked about a lot of things, mainly about cosplay and the idea I had bubbling in my head XD Okay it needs a lot of work because she commented that the storyline felt typical. I must work harder then :D

I ended the day by watching Star Wars Episode III. Subtitled the Revenge of The Sith, it brings an end to the prequel trilogy by transforming the powerful Anakin Skywalker into the ominous Darth Vader (cue hissing sound). It also shows how the Jedi are cut down one by one, save for Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. Even the younglings, the children of the Jedi, are not spared.

Thank goodness that scene involving the children was removed.

The show on the whole is an improvement over the first two movie, even though the fight with Darth Maul is rather tasty so to speak ;) Despite the less than perfect acting from the cast, one person that stands out of all this is the Emperor. Yes, the very same guy who acted in Episode 5 & 6 has acted in 1, 2 and now 3. He speaks in a casual, persuasive ways, using the power of words to influence Anakin to slowly accept that the Dark Side of the Force is the only way to save Padme. He even made Mace Windu drop his guard by displaying his vulnerable side... before letting loose with his dark powers.

Technically, he is Star Wars' version of Niccolo Machiavelli. An excellent performance from him. Speaking of him, does any FFX fans feel a sense of deja vu when Anakin was talking to Palpatine during a performance of a .. ball of water? I thought they have Blitzball at Coruscant!! XD

The action sequences in the movie are quite good, although some part feels pretty fake, CG-ish. I was a bit disappointed at General Grevious, shouldn't he put up a better fight? Maybe throw in a few Matrix bullet-time sequences during the lightsaber fight. He died too quickly IMO.. :P The best fight is reserved for the last, when Yoda takes on Palpatine at the Senate and Obi-Wan fought Anakin on the volcanic planet. Looks like Lucas leaves the best for last... maybe I want to watch it again..

8/10! :)

Busy Week!

2005-05-24T22:19:00.000+08:00

Wah lau. As I am writing this, I am having a terrible splitting headache. Urgh, I slept late yesterday and is paying the price for it :P

Well anyway, it is another long weekend for everyone. The good news is that I finally can relax a bit and do some gaming. What about my assignment, some might ask? Ah, the funny thing is that it is not released to me and my classmates yet *sweat* Wah, deadline is coming soon... how am I supposed to work on it with such a short time-frame?!! No choice I guess.... so make full use of the weekend XD

I watched Kingdom of Heaven with Boon Ping last Saturday. It is pretty so-so, and I would give it a 6/10. Why would that be? It is because the show is overtly being so politically correct, that the most basic component of film-making just went by the wayside; I call it "captivating the audience". Ridley Scott focused a lot on the battle scene (which turns out average anyway in comparison to shows such as The Return of The King) and on Orlando Bloom himself, trying to portray his character as truly upright... bah. Even the love story seems cliche.

The only good thing about the show is that it is short, unlike long shows like Alexander, and the portrayal of Saladin, played by a respected Syrian actor. I am not sure the direction of which the film is heading, especially towards the end...

Luckily the ticket is only $7... Raja Princess Rocks!

Sunday With Lacus

I accompanied Lacus to her cosplay photoshoot session with her friend Hysoka somewhere around Liang Court. There were supposed to be more people (they all can't make it) and Shiro was supposed to come but he was exhausted after the Big Walk? Haha, I used to go every year but looks like I missed this year yeah..

The costumes are from Chrno Crusade, and Lacus is Rosette while Hysoka plays a bad guy (Forgot the name). A guy named Garion is the main photographer for the photoshoot, and he brought his powerful camera to do the job ($3k when it was bought???) It was a fun day, and I helped Lacus take photos of herself and Hysoka using her Canon Powershot A80 camera... not bad, only that it uses 4 AA -_-;;

I decided to help her carry her stuff because she does carry a lot of things, would be tough on her because it is already exhausting putting on the costumes and the wig. I think cosplayers are really quite dedicated in their cosplaying, and Lacus is one of the best around.. XD

We later ate at Yoshinoya.. remind me not to go anymore.. it's kinda expensive and doesn't taste that nice.. the jelly drink sucks! :(

PS. Sorry for the night shots, I hope to improve myself the next time okay? XD

Misc Stuff

* I met JapRPG today at Bugis. Congrats to him for getting his job at Tuas! Nowadays I seem to stumble into my friends more often in public XD

* I attended the briefing at my office today for fire safety because I am a fire warden for my office floor... bleh. Not only that, all of us in the office have to conduct tours in the near future... o.O

* What a crappy day. The MRT decides to delay itself at every station, blaring out the same stupid announcement about "track fault". Yeah right, in the end made me late for work.

* I am getting ready to face 'him'. DDS the second time, seems tough and yet seems easy as well. Will I succeed against him??

---- Are You Ready For The Real World? ----

The House of Lacus

2005-05-16T10:18:00.000+08:00

Recently, Lacus invited me to her house along with her other friends to chit chat and to play.. yeap, Katamari Damacy. The rolling feeling that I had a few days ago had to do with it I guess *rolling around*

It is a good thing that the PS2 slim is light. Imagine carting around a Xbox to a friend's place.. -_-;; It took me around an hour to reach her place and somehow I ended up at the wrong block :P

Well anyhow, once I reached there I began to set up the console and soon Lacus was engrossed playing Katamari! I think her sense of direction is a little "mis-directed" (haha).. Animus showed up and continued the game, then I ate the curry chicken cooked by her mum. Quite yummy wor, where got lousy? :D

Her house is pretty nice. It is so huge! XD Her manga collection is quite extensive, but then she's a super manga reader bah.. I saw some soft toys lying around.. mainly GSD and Inuyusha? Lolz...

Apart from Animus, I met Lenne and Skye too! Skye is last year's best singer at KHK and a cosplayer to boot! I am not sure who she cosplay but she is really excited about the new anime Trinity Blood :O

Lacus showed me a place called Hougang Green where she usually gets her cosplay stuff made... it turns out that a few other cosplayers are there too, making outfits for Bleach!! I suggested that Animus cosplay as the manager in Yakitate! Japan.. Afro rocks! :D

(On that day, I am proud to say that I have finally beaten the Fly boss in DDS... yes!!!)

Lacus and gang also practiced a few dance moves for .. hmmm I can't remember for which event yeah.. can Lacus remind me? :D I really enjoyed the day although it was tiring and the aircon broke down.. thank you, Lacus-sama XD

Yes, early in the morning, the Katamari Damacy fever has begun...

Lacus is hooked!! XD

Animus looks so happy yeah :P

Her PC is full of GSD stuff!!

That's a whole lot of manga..

This is the place where the costumes are being made. Lacus loves ice cream leh..

This is proof that Katamari Damacy is too addictive.. this is Lacus playing the game.. at night.

Sunday Addition:

Hmmm.... is Trinity Blood really that popular?

I was with Lacus, Skye and Lenne yesterday at Kino.. and found out that nearly anything related to Trinity Blood are gone. Zero. Nothing. Wahaha, that's fast!

Here's another surprise.. I saw Jimmy and Aaron again! At Kino! Although a different branch... I didn't have much chance to talk much because I was looking for the rest of them inside..

But Sunday is a rather quiet affair on the whole. I spent most of the day resting and cleaning up my room..

Room's Status: Still 80% messy -_-

Movies for the month

Boon Ping is asking me whether I want to catch the show with him.. why not? I suggested that we go to Bedok to catch it instead.. cheaper..

As for Star Wars, I think I will confirm with Ming Li first... then see how.

Okay lar.. take care everyone! :)

Rukia-hime!

2005-05-13T09:34:00.000+08:00

Ah, yesterday Lacus gave me a surprise... she gave me a Rukia figurine to put in my office. Thank you very much Lacus-sama! XD

( Anyway I paid her back.. phew, lucky she never bought the Bleach plushies otherwise I will be in "financial trouble" lolz! )

In other unrelated news, I met Jimmy and Aaron at Kino as well. Jimmy told me that the launch of the Asian PSP is yesterday, but Ben on MSN later commented that it sucks ( He's working there actually )... so yeah man. Not that I got the money right now :(

There are so many Bleach merchandise! I think the large Rukia figurine looks great! XD

Rukia is admittedly, super kawaii when she does that pose.

Until the next episode of Bleach! :D

PS. Hmmm, I got the feeling of rolling.. and rolling! Katamari fever coming again! @_@

Song of the Minstrel

2005-05-03T10:44:00.000+08:00

Wow.. what a wonderful weekend! 3 long days where I can go out, soak up the sun, and partake in other town activities! See movies! Play the arcades! Walk around town while checking out the crowd!!!

.... ah, it didn't happen as I expected. My grandma left for Genting for the weekend, kinda like a last minute decision by my uncle since it is a long weekend and it will a good time to catch up since he is in China most of the time. This meant that I have to stay at home to look after my grandpa as a "standby". Opps, all plans = cancelled. *sweat* Was feeling lousy but I did manage to clean up my house a bit and played some games. I did some reading for my upcoming assignment too.

I wish I could go to Australia. No computer, no high tech stuff.. just days spent idling away!! Yatta!!

I wanted to check out Ben's Nintendog! According to him, the dog is now wearing an affro wig!!! Haha, it will surely look cute! XD Must take photo for this blog.. lolz. Mun Chiew rented a DS from Sammil just for this game!!!! This goes to show that flashy hardware may not have the coolest of games ;)

Affro wigs. Seems I am exposed to it in many different ways. First, Chiba-kun from Beck. Then, it is the manager Ken Matsushiro from Yakitate Japan ( LOL! He's hilarious! ) and now it appears in a game about dogs.. seems like the Japanese have a thing for affro stuff.. ;)

Anime

Yakitate Japan is a simple but funny show about a young boy's desire to make a bread that surpasses all other in Japan. Calling them Japan #1, #2, and so on, Azuma Kazuma has the legendary Solar Hands, which are naturally warm and conducive for bread-making.

At first I didn't have the inclination to watch the show. But I was curious so I watched the first episode, and I was hooked! The Outro songs are very nice, especially the one by Soul'D Out from episode 13 onwards. It is called "To All Tha Dreamers" and I listened to the original version. It has this catchy feel to it and makes you wanna stand up and dance. XD

The characters are really memorable. The sly Kyosuge, the dry-humoured Kageto, the hilarious manager Matsushiro (Wahahahaha!) and the crybaby Azuma.. they made a good impression on me. Wait.. did I leave out Ryo Kuroyanagi?? His reactions after eating the bread is ... wahahaha.. ROFL. You have to watch the series to find out.. :P

Phone

Last week I mentioned about getting the K300i. Now its here and in my hand! Despite having a STN LCD screen (Which looks slightly inferior to TFT), it feels great in my hands. The GUI screen is pretty intuitive and responsive. Pretty happy with it ^^

The only bad thing about the phone is the packaging. Unlike the T310, the manual is small and doesn't cover things in detail. But oh well, this is just a minor gripe.

Personal stuff

- Ashley called me during the weekend. Everything is great according to her, and she will be coming back for a short while, hopefully in June or July. According to her, the colleagues are nice to show her around the place, and her house does have a television and a phone to use.

- Boon Ping is the latest entry to my friendster account. I was pretty surprised that he got an account in the first place! He is going to serve his remaining deferred NS at Mindef, then he is going to Business Times as a full time journalist. I am glad he got what he wanted :)

- I became a "daddy". Anyone wanna know why, please ask me in MSN. Lolz.

- Jimmy is taking part in some Superstar TV program! That's cool! Hope he goes far in the competition like Serena :)

- I spoke to a friend recently and learnt something interesting from him. I didn't really expect it, but yeah it is pretty cool. On other matters though, he's kinda irritating in that he tends to be defensive when I try to be well meaning in my advises to him. Suddenly he will bring up other things, which he never mentions previously. o_O I should be more firm bah.. haha. He's okay most of the time, but sometimes.... arrrggggh!

- Assumption is the root of all evil. Muahahahaha...

- Kingdom of Heaven. Should I catch it at Shaw Towers? The cinemas there are really nice because they reminded me of the past cinemas, really brought a lot of nostalgic memories for me. Huge and crowded and kacang puteh.. heh. Maybe I should consider Eng Wah as well.. :)

- I won the trivia contest hosted by Jaclyn, getting full marks. I got.. a decal. I was too slow and didn't get the FF7 Reunion soundtrack which would make a nice gift. o_O

- The Hidden Blade is not nice according to MC. Okay, that sucks because I was expecting to watch a nice authentic historical film about Japan. :X

- Ex-president Wee has passed away yesterday. I had a glimpse of him before, and had a good impression of the man. May he rest in peace.

- Lastly, to one of my Naruto friends.. thanks! XD

Japanese Banana ;)

2005-04-27T00:53:00.001+08:00

Wahahaha!! I got this funny music from Lacus-sama! XD

"Can I have a Japanese banana, it would be so very nice, want a juicy Japanese banana, don’t want the cherries and rice. We can see that they have so many things, and we are glad that it’s so, but do they grow a Japanese banana, that’s what we’d like to know."

Pssst... it's the Chipmunks in case you didn't know. I used to watch it in the past. ;)

The Angel of Eternity - 永遠の天使

TGS

Life in 5 minutes

End of the Year Before...

Christmas

Comic Fiesta 2011

AFA - 4th Round

Interviews

Exhibition

RIP Steve

The End of the Age of Dreams

Panasonic LX5 - Version 2.0

Malaysia - Part IV

Good Times

Indonesia

CLAS:H - Cosplay Live Action Show Hybrid

Cosfest X.1 Photos

Cosfest X.1

Return to Singapore

Malaysia - Part III

Malaysia - Part II

Malaysia - Part I

GOD EATER

The SG Photo Derby (Part II)

The SG Photo Derby (Part I)

End of 2010

STGCC/EOY/CF

Burst Angel - The 2nd Impact

Makai Kishi Garo

AFA X

Sept/Oct Update

Back from Down Under

August Photoshoots Update

The KL Trip

July Update #2

C.C.

July Update #1

June Update #3

June Update #4

June Update #2

June Update #1

May Update #4

May Update #3

May Update #2

May Update #1

Final April Update

Second April Update

Last Night, Good Night

First April Update

March Update

February Update

One month's done...

Musings #1

The Moon King

CF 2009

I am here waiting for you

Odin Sphere

Welcome to the Macro World

Cosplay 100

Macross Frontier: Siblings

The Shakugan no Shana Photoshoot… with a twist

Turn Back The Pendulum

Samantha

Welcoming the calm night...

It's been a while, folks... *Welcome, 2006!*

Twin Edge

Recent Photos That I Took...

Soul Outing (Part 1)

In The Eye of The Beholder....

The Tale of the Train Man, and his Hermes

An Advent Children Review

The Gate Has Opened...

Alive

Its a Sinner's City

The War of Silence - Aftermath of Cosfest 2005

"Are You Ready For The Real World?"

Busy Week!

The House of Lacus

Rukia-hime!

Song of the Minstrel

It's been a while, folks... Welcome, 2006!