Scoop Dreams

Folks, I've moved (reason in previous post).

http://kelvin.scoopdreams.net

Go there to read the reason, at least the links are functioning there. Damn
this email entry service.

Ever since I started using Vox as my main blogging engine, it has for the
most part held up pretty well, and its features are really nifty.

However, there were several instances where Vox would throw a Javascript
error in my browser, and I would be unable to compose, edit or view properly
the blog. This entry is made by emailing the Vox server - for the past two
days I have not been able to compose via the normal means.

Usually, I would take this kind of situation with some measure of calmness,
compose my entry on Writeroom or Darkroom, and then head off to bed - and
attempt uploading the entry the next day.

Not this time, not this time. I've had it with you, Vox, and I am getting my
data out and closing my account. I wouldn't normally do this, blogging is
not a large part of my life, but something special today happened -

I read this article["A
Call for Revolution Against Beta Culture", Jesus Diaz, Gizmodo].

Jesus made a strong opening line -

I'm tired of this. This sense of permanent discomfort with the technology
around me. The bugs. The compromises. The firmware upgrades. The "This will
work in the next version." The "It's in our roadmap." The "Buy now and
upgrade later." The patches. The new low development standards that make
technology fail because it wasn't tested enough before reaching our hands.

and I was taken aback at the very start. Didn't the 'beta features' stuff
kept us geeks totally excited? Be it over the Windows 7, the latest OS X
release, hardware such as iPhone and gaming consoles? Heck, even Gmail
hasn't left Beta yet!

Jesus Diaz brings up examples of circa-90s technologies such as CRT TVs and
radios that work till today - and contrast it to modern day gadgets. I
counted the dead in my cupboard: 3 iPods, 2 cameras, 4 wireless routers, 3
notebooks, and god knows how many cellphones.

I used to think - hey, if a gadget spoils it just gives me an excuse to get
a new one - how cool is that? In light of today's economy, and the way we
spend our hard-earned money chasing after the latest and the greatest -
suddenly it seems very, very wrong. I'm standing with Jesus on this one, and
making a stand right now :

1. Stop giving us gadgets that are unstable and don't last a reasonable
amount of time. I rather cut back on the so-called 'new features', and have
something that works, and works well, and will serve me for a good time to
come.
2. If corporations are intentionally creating lacklustre products that
doesn't last, in order to drive consumers into maintaining product cycles -
that is totally wasteful. Our natural resources are dwindling at an
astounding rate, and toxic waste from electronics dumps are causing harm to
our environment. By giving us a product that can last, corporations are
doing their part to save the planet for future generations.
3. Software coding and hardware engineering quality have dropped
tremendously over the past two decades. We used to create solid software
that never fail, and engineer devices that never break - nowadays everything
seems to be in a permanent state of instability. Remember :
- iPod batteries that didn't barely manage to last a year?
- Windows XP SP1 and Vista that gives a BSOD every now and then?
- Government e-services that is horrendous to use, and is down every
now and then for maintenance?
- Apple MacBook / Pros that heated up like crazy and is prone to
warping, discolorations, etc?
- ... and the list goes on and on.

So, I'm changing my philosophy towards tech. What used to be "go for the
latest and greatest", is now "go for the most stable, and the
longest-lasting." For a start, I'm dumping Vox, this unstable platform. I've
already got my own server, and I've installed wordpress. My experience with
Wordpress has been rock-solid, and if any hiccups happen, I can dive into
the code and solve it.

Farewell, Vox, I sincerely hope you can get your act together. People's
memories are in your hands.

This site is now officially dead. If you want to find my blog, you can do so
by going to http://kelvin.scoopdreams.net.

It might be a dream come true, but lately at nights, Singapore seems to take
on the cool air of a Brisbane autumn. And it is exactly in this lovely
weather that me and some pals were sitted around the coffeeshop table
talking about life again.

One of the Coffee Table Knights have just lost his job, the layoff being on
the wall for awhile, and the execution hastened when the company found an
excuse vis-a-vis the economic situation now.

He looked forlorn, with the chief question of how to bring food to the table
in the next few months hovering above heads like a dark, stormy cloud. The
job climate is not looking good, and speaking to certain financial world
friends of mine, it is just the beginning of troubles for Singapore. Next
year's going to be where all the ramifications set in.

After all that has happened in the short space of two months, I wonder if
the people's faith and trust in corporations have been shattered. Bum 2, as
we call him now (the original Bum happens to be yours truly), is wondering
if he should embark on the chore of a job hunt, or pack his backs and go for
studies. He is also wondering if he should start his own small business, and
forever throw off those manacles that come with a 9-to-5 job.

It could be wistful thinking, but deep in my mind, I was wondering if this
spells the end for huge, wasteful corporations? I considered the
pre-Industrial Revolution economies of the world, where the world is
predominantly made up of small businesses. The hardworking blacksmith, that
keen tailor, that lone journalist writing the town's paper. How wonderful it
would be, if everyone was master and owner of their own trade and business.

The Industrial Revolution changed everything - power was delivered to groups
of people working in concert to drive production and growth. Only
corporations were able to purchase the machinery that allowed them to
capitalize on economies-of-scale. Upon analysis, the reasons why
corporations arose during the Industrial Revolution was :

- Expensive machinery was able to be purchased only by groups or
organizations
- Knowledge transfer technologies and methods were sufficient to make an
organization greater than the sum of its parts
- The world became increasing consumers of material goods, and is not
content to just live in a small town. In short, ambitions grew, the world's
the oyster now.

However, looking at right now, time could be ripe for the comeback of small
businesses. Increasingly, people are more and more empowered individually.
Knowledge, even specialized knowledge, is widely available on that gold mine
we call the Internet. No doubt material goods still makes up a large part of
our consumerism habits, but more and more, information and intangible goods
and services are being sought after. In short :

- Knowledge, which used to be expensive, is now available, via modern
channels, for cheap or free.
- Purchase patterns is slowly but surely shifting away from material
goods, which required expensive equipment, to information and intangible
services, which require just a good brain on the head and a smile.
- Corporations are possibly facing consumer backlash, people might prefer
now to shop at the small grocer, compared to heading down to Carrefour. They
think these big guys have been greedy for too long, and now the little folks
need the break they deserve.

What transpired on that coffee table:

- *Bum 1 : *It's not gonna be easy, mate. You'll survive, it's hard to
die, but to grow big is another issue. A whole different challenge lies
ahead if you want to take that business idea of yours from conception, to
execution, to growing beyond that critical point where it starts becoming a
small firm.
- *Bum 2 : *Is it that hard?
- *Bum 1 : *You have no idea, I languished in the early days of the
business, working out the core business model, making failed sales
presentations, coming back and spending nights poring over what I have done
wrong. Then you constantly got to stay ahead of the game, keep on learning,
keep on innovating. It gets lonely too, without colleagues, and more
importantly, it gets frightening, when you have yet to clinch a sale and
it's towards the end of the month. Your bills are still gonna come, whether
a client's payment is in or not.
- *Bum 2 : *But you seem to be fine towards the latter half of the 2nd
year, in fact I remembered you could afford a quite a fair bit of new toys.
- *Bum 1 : *Yes, but it was a roller-coaster ride through and through. I
had a few mentors, who told me to persist and hang in there - it's all about
perserverance. However there were nights where you lay on your bed wondering
if it was the right move, whether you should send out your resume tomorrow.
- *Bum 1 : *However, after being in business, and being an employee for
close to two years now, I am resolute that running your own business gives
you the most satisfaction in your life, especially if you are doing the
things you love to do. A job will give you security, colleagues, lunchtime,
and a measure of progress - until it decides that you have outlived your
usefulness. A job also means that you have to sacrifice control over 10
hours of your life every working day, contending with bad management and
practises, and putting in more work than your paycheck actually is. What
irks me the most about working for someone - your efforts, however valiant,
are stymied by the fact that you have absolutely no control over its
rewards/execution.
- *Bum 1 : *If you run a small business, you know that every minute of
effort you put in, you'll get one minute worth of returns - whether it is
client satisfaction or monetary payments. However, the same goes for every
minute of rest you take - you don't get anything for that. In a corporation,
you could be working two weeks on a proposal that is eventually is going to
be thrown out of the window. If you run your own business, you know that
proposal is going to matter somehow, at the very least.
- *Bum 1 : *So what I'm saying is this - you have full control. You reap
the fruits of your labor, and it's yours. And as you bring the business up,
you also bring in like-minded individuals. You are able to set the culture
of the business to what you perceive to be best - whether arguments are
going to be resolved over a beer in the pub, or be stored deep down in guts
only to be lashed out at meetings.
- *Bum 2 : *Hmm... that's quite a bit to take in.
- *Bum 1 : *I'm saying, old chap, that if you are brave enough, setting
up your business is going to be the singularly most rewarding thing you have
ever done in your life.

And Bum 1 goes on to advise Bum 2, taking in consideration his character,
personality, dependents. Not dictating anything, just offering perspectives.

And while Bum 1 is now an employee, rest assured it's not going to be for
long - he's just taking a walk, peeking into other people's gardens, seeing
what should be done, and what not to do.

Bum 1, as sure as the weather changes from the tepid tropicals to the cool
hemispheres, is bidding his time, learning and growing. He will be master of
himself again, and time, oh time, that most precious commodity a man can
ever have, will be his to wield once again.

LIFE was one of the world's few magazines with a heavy emphasis on photojournalism.

However, it ceased publications last year, citing changing demographics, lack of interest, and the Internet as the reasons... and it is now reborn thanks to Google.

LIFE goes on.

It is really first-rate photographic work up there, and a personal favorite would be on the Vietnam War (under Events).

It seems like Google is really delivering the goods today, wonder what else they are going to release.

EDIT : If you liked the photos in the Vietnam War series, I recommend you a photojourn book, which is astounding in depth and quality.

Vietnam Inc.

Philip Jones Griffiths

It's official, I'm soooo in love with Google right now.

To some people, it could be a frivolous reason to get all excited about - the big G has just enabled themes on the Gmail service!

Candy - my fav theme. it's girly, but check out that totally retro logo.

For those who are still on Yahoo, or -shudders- Hotmail, you might want to consider migrating to Gmail. It's hands down the BEST WEBMAIL SERVICE on the planet right now.

Now, dear Google, since you've given us themes on Gmail, how about doing that for Google Reader too? I promise I won't ask for anything else this Xmas, pretty please?

From this article :

Marijuana has been used for over 5,000 years.
No one has ever overdosed on marijuana.
Aspirin has been used for 108 years.
Approximately 500 people die every year by taking aspirin

see? even suits smoke it.

Ah, fond memories of my weed-smoking days: joints, bongs, subs, cookies even. And now everything is justified - it was a terribly painful period of my life (uni studies), and I needed the painkiller.

Ever since an evil she-troll who digs song lyrics like

Tongues on the sockets of electric dreams
When the sewage of youth drown the spark of my tears
       - Golden, by Fall Out Boy

took the music server away (an old PowerBook G4 1.5GHz), I have been living with the songs last synced on my iphone, and frankly, it's getting repetitious.

It's a good time to re-kindle the on-off love affair with net radio... and here it is, the perfect setup.

Screamer + JazzFM = Listen Heaven.

Okay, I'm treating Vox like a memory dump now, as a backup of some sorts in case all my digital data gets wiped out.

Putting up favorite photos that I have shot over the years. Still have many on traditional film that carried over when I was shooting in the late 90s with an Nikon F3HP (note to self: re-stock silica, and digitize soon!)

EVENTS AND PHOTOJOURN

Chingay_04

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This set of 3 photos were taken while on assignment for a magazine, covering the last Chingay to be held in the day - Chingay 2002. After so long, the 3rd picture ranks as one of my most loved, it was chosen to be the cover picture for the article.

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This picture was taken at Suntec City on New Year Eve 2001, for an end of year article for a publication. Though it didn't make it to be the body pic, it was published. Like it because while everyone was flowing around, the ice-cream stand was sharp and became the anchor element that makes the composition good.

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A true old-time herbalist residing in Pulau Ubin, he was to be one of the features on a series of articles i was writing about olden day professions survivng in Singapore. Unlike the rest of the people featured, this guy couldn't care less about the camera. I was there chit-chatting with him, and he just ignored the camera totally, which gave me this pic with a totally natural pose.

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This was an article on rickshaw riders in Singapore, and in the day, when there are no customers, the rickshaws are parked around the Smith Street Centre in an orderly manner, while the riders take a break. What made the 2nd picture stand out was the old man in the far background - he was a rickshaw rider, and he was looking at the tool of his trade. There was a certain jadedness in his look, which the picture probably doesn't communicate very well, but I can remember clearly, hence the favorite.

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This was taken under very special circumstances in 1998 - I was an illegal immigrant in Johor at that time. This was the photo that gave me a story idea - the children you see are Orang Laut people, translated as Sea People. They sparsely inhabit the coast of Malaysia and the Riau Islands in Indonesia, and I had to cross over illegally in a speedboat in order to get to their village (which was otherwise inaccessible). Apparently they had never seen a digital camera before (I was using a Sony Mavica then, carrying around a bajillion floppies.), and it was tremendous fun for them to be able to see their ownselves immediately (things we take literally for granted now). Oh I loooove working with kids!

PH127

This was taken during a wedding shoot for a client. Now, when most couples get married, after the groom charges into the bedroom to unveil the bride and sit on the bed taking well-wishes and posing for pictures, most of them are too flustered/excited/scared and literally just sit apart on the bed like some zoo exhibits. This particular couple was very comfortable, and very in love, and their hands naturally found each other...

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Ah, my good friend James, and his lovely wife Trina. You know how you seen wedding albums of seriously dramatic poses, in nice backgrounds and everything - you've seen one, you seen them all. By virtue of me being his pal, I was able to take some light-hearted simple shots, and what turned up was this simple picture. Yet no poses, no pretenses, just two persons in total innocent love. A far cry from the usual mass-produced studio shots, but much more genuine.

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This was a photo that was taken while writing an article focusing on historical buildings in Singapore. I could not enter the building to find out what was it for, and that lady refuses to tell me why she was outside. But the fact that she was sitting on the right, and that wooden door was on the left, made it a nice picture of contrasts and aesthetics. I like it purely because of that.

PORTRAITURE

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That cute lady you see down here is Huimin, one of our friends in Brisbane. She asked me to take a graduation cover shoot, and it turned out she was absolutely lovely to work with. Naturally photogenic, initially she was very camera shy, but as the shoot progressed through the day, her fun side started emerging, allowing the second photo to be taken. I love that photo, the dynamicism of the shot, her i'm-on-top-of-the-world pose yet a totally fun smile.

Tasmania_070

Ah that supermodel-ey friend of mine, Hasmidah. While Huimin was camera shy, this lady practically wanted to hog the camera! -laughs- She was in Perth studying, and I was in Brissy, and we congregated in Tasmania for a backpacking trip. This picture was unedited, and it was absolutely the perfect lighting up in Cradle Mountain. This lady, have star potential. I was just chatting with her, and suddenly I decided to take a picture, and she just naturally gave that smile and that half-turned pose. And that deep blue Tasmanian sky behind her? Absolutely engaging.

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This is one of those photos I often set as my desktop wallpaper - especially in times of work stress. ;) It was a picture of a rather elderly lady friend of mine in Australia, and she just loved sitting on the bench and watching the ocean.

Looking at this picture just makes you straightaway imagine that you are sitting on the bench beside her, watching the azure scene, hearing the waves crash, and tasting that salty wind. Aaaahhhhh....

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How can I leave out a picture of My Favorite Person (TM) ever? It was the first time I actually decided to shoot in black-and-white, dialing the camera to total BW settings. Usually if I want BW, I'll just post-process it in Photoshop. Using just natural lighting streaming from full-length glass windows in our apartment - what turned out was a series of photos that were least to say, stunning.

ANIMALS

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When we got back to the log cabin from an evening walk and opened the door, Hasmidah and I gave a horrified scream... we were under attack! A pack of wombats, numbering about 10, were raiding all over the cabin - on top of our backpacks, on the dining table, in the kitchen sink. The food that we have set aside for dinner was totally gobbled up, and our backpacks were in danger of literally being torn apart. We had a hard time chasing these little fellas out, they seemed to like us (or rather our food) alot. On account of them being SOOOOOOOOOO cute, i gave them quite abit of our food, considering that we could buy more the next day. Now, from that photo above, wouldn't you agree they kinda look like Ewoks? and how can anyone hurt an Ewok-like rodent, ooohh yoou fuuzzzyy wuuuzzyy liiittlle thhhiinngg.

Nz_094

Seagulls, seagulls everwhere. Not a drop to land on your head you pray. There was a seagull colony (do we call them colonies?) in New Zealand, and these birds with their beady eyes were literally throwing a rave party on the sun-kissed decks. There must be hundreds of them, and this makes the cut as one of my fav pictures because it's sharp, the details are excellent thanks to the lighting, and it's a nice composition with two of these fellas inside.

Nz_160

Trekking through a coast area in New Zealand (forgot the name of the place - South Island, East Side, starts with K), Bel and I almost stepped on a sleeping seal. YES! These idiotic mammals were tanning all over the place, and this was one of them, she/he was just lying down there. I did went up and prod it to make sure it wasn't dead, and it didn't even stirred (it was breathing though, I checked.) Again, they are just so darn adorable, that's why the pic made the cut.

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This was taken on a lurching ship during a whale-watching trip in Queensland. Several people threw up on that trip (thanks Pauline, for reminding us what we ate for breakfast), and i fired so many shots, but this was the only one that turned out nice. For one thing, you could never tell when the whale was gonna surface.

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Most people get their dogs from the pet shop, or the pound, or from friends. Not my silly mutt Cookie - she has a heroic rescue story to tell!! A native of Pulau Ubin, she was born sometime in the Chinese New Year period of 2006 to two of the dogs that I was feeding - Razor (a ridgeback, rare breed) and Shylock (a white-brown mongrel, with a steady personality). From the litter, 5 puppies were born, but Cookie was the Chosen One, destined to bring horror and pain to our lives. These two pictures were taken while we were at the Ubin village, and Cookie had already begun to feel a little bit sleepy, snug in my camera bag sleeve. ;) She totally ignored that young lady who was coo-ing to her for about half-an-hour, and at that point in time, I knew this dog was going to have a totally independent streak. I should have heeded the early warning signs, that Cookie will ignore all your orders and charge straight at our food as she grew up. But she was tamed by...

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... my beloved lady-of-the-ladies at home, Baobei. This photo was taken just about a month before Baobei died, and her fur needed to be shaved because she was developing a skin condition (from old age). How I missed her, she was always lying on my bed, and keeping her eyes on me. Before she died, she was in my room waiting for me to come back home from work. Once I saw her, and gave her a ruffle on the head, she gave a sigh and died on the spot. Shit, tears come to my eyes again writing this... but I know she's doing good up in doggie heaven. Baobei, we love you then, now, and forever always. And that's the reason this is one of my most treasured picture.

LANDSCAPES

The thing about landscape photos is that... basically it's just aesthetics. I'm just gonna state the place, and leave it as that.

Tea Plantations, Cameron Highlands

Byron Bay, Queensland, Australia

Sunset over Tioman

New Zealand, it looks like this almost everywhere.

Tonga Crossing, New Zealand

I had fun with this one. Imagine you are trekking up at 6,000 feet, the sun scorching down on you, and a backpack full of chocolates weighing your every steps down. You look up, saw a plane (yes there's a plane in this photo, however small), and you just know you got to get that shot.

Sunset over Cradle Mountains, Tasmania, Australia.

My favorite-st photo!!! Aaahhh the serenity of the place, the mirror surface of the lake. the twin peaks ablaze with the fire of the setting sun. I could stare at this shot for the longest time and not get bored. Seriously, everyone have to go to Tasmania at least once - that place is AMMMAAAAZZING.

MISC

Random shots that I have no clue whereelse to slot them in.

no idea what cells, cancer perhaps?

Took it at Bel's lab using one of the high-powered microscopes. Now, this is MACRO!

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Had to do a still-life for a photojourn class assignment. This was it, nothing much to look at really, but just that it was a really nice chessboard, and the studio environment hastily setup in our garage one day before the assignment was due was improvisation at its max (2 Ikea table lamps, 2 flashes, 2 styrofoam boards, and lots of taped up printing paper).

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Taken in City Link, Singapore, waay waaaaay back. It was supposed to be for an article on the sterility and business atmosphere of Singapore, but that article was canned. I still like this shot - to me, it represents everything that Singapore stands for. White-washed, faux avant-garde decor, throngs of people, and transactions taking place in the middle of everything.

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Was crossing some sand dunes in Tasmania (forgot the name of the place, heck it was just sand everywhere), and came upon this junction where all kinds of footprints intersected. At this point in time, Red Riding Hood would probably ask the bird "Gosh, Grandma! What big feet you have!!"

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From one of the legends of jazz vocals - Nancy Wilson. Her voice tells stories, brings songs to life. Aahhhhh...

12_Hello Like Before

Nancy Wilson

Been browsing through my old photos while I was transferring them to another computer. So nostalgic...

[1997] at a wedding party with a friend...

[1997] ... which i totally got drunk at and had to be carried out!

[1998] with some friends at Starbucks Far East Plaza... my gawd has star bucks been around that long

[1998] the token family portrait.

[1998] me and irnisah rehearsing for a play. we are supposed to play this really nasty couple.

[1998] at the Music and Drama night, in the musical Jekyll & hyde

[1999] river fishing in Brisbane!! that was the first fish i ever caught.... ]

[1999] ... which led on to THIS whopper!

[1999] at the Pre-U Seminar, we were the total gangsters.

[1999] with the rest of the Dance Society members.

[1999] she's a teacher, not mine. but heh, she's cute.

[1999] runner-ups in the '99 Ericsson Floorball Carnival... my knees hurt!

[1999] Remember those days when Neo Prints were the craze?

[1999] our last performance as an a capella group before we mugged for our 'A' Levels. Group name? A

[2000] our History teacher Joy Lim came up with this great idea to have lessons at Botanic Gardens.M

[2000] So pro!!! :)

[2000] Pinky, James, Rudi and me. Pals forever!

[2003] snowboarding @ mt buller in victoria

[2003] my housemate, Kenneth, and myself. lotsa fun kicking each other's butts in PES while drunk.

[2003] mom came to visit in Brissy - shocked to find I had ponytail. called me a hoodlum.

[2004] took the ladies out on a road trip to Springbrook National Park...

[2004] ... and this was their awesome ride! My 1963 Classic VW Beetle.

[2004] my first solo skydive. Unforgettable experience.

[2004] tasmania trip with hasmidah. What a place!

[2004] celebrating Juleen's birthday in Bel and my new apartment. ponytail gone (bel's nagging)

[2004] bel and me and the tiger cubs at the back.

[2004] backpacking in NZ, climbing the TOnga Crossing with some new friends.

[2005] with my nephew Yen Hao in Genting. Yaaayy!! Let's go shower!

[2006] with Bel having a lovely, lazy time in Tioman.

[2006] at Dbl-O, Sebastian my mafia member, and Bel looking exasperated at us boys.

[2007] Lina and me (drunk, as usual) at St James.

[2007] Halloween w Michelle at Zouk. She had the grossest stik-ons ever, and I was the Hulk.