A Cousin's Wedding > Freedom!

Her's is a story of a classic over-achiever.

She gets straight A's in school, gets her ABRSM Grade 8 in Piano, goes through the University with not much of an effort, found herself jobs and flew all over the world.

She braved the colds on a god-forsaken island in Russia (off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan). She spent time in Europe, and the UK. And in general stay out of the country most part of her life.

It puzzles me all the time, as she does not look the adventurous type, and my guess is, she was running away so she can enjoy more freedom.

Smart minds loved to have the space to roam, to soar without the confines of rules and regulations, or fear the consequences of breaking unwritten rules of the house. We come from a big family with a lot of traditional baggage; her family house is always quiet, except, of course, when I visited them and introduced noise.

So, she has gotten married yesterday, I was the self-appointed photo-documentor for the family, so I brought my camera along and took some pictures (300 in total) of her and my extended family from my mother's side.

She was blissful, he wasn't (and I am not referring to her husband) as they walked down the aisle.

This post is to commemorate her blissful attainment of such freedom. Double-clicking the picture on the right will download a copy of my photo essay of this happy event.

Congrats! May God Bless You with 5 Children, and enjoy life to the fullest!

Yes, I Was There.

I spent a day in Esplanade, Singapore's version of Sydney Opera House, admiring the public installations put together by a group of young Singaporean artists.
What really surprises me was the fact that they allowed Breakdancing and Rollerblading at the Basement of Esplanade.

Try doing this in KLCC's Symphonic hall, and you'll end up in the lockup, awaiting bail. Such is the difference between the people living on either ends of the causeway.

But it was indeed a pleasant afternoon. And I took the above picture (with me in it) as a proof of my existence.

Rosa Parks: Think Different

Let us all observe a moment of silence for the passing of a Hero.

Here's something about her [taken from Apple Computer website]:

Born Rosa Louise McCauley on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama, Parks was the first child of James and Leona Edwards McCauley; her brother Sylvester was born in 1915. The family later moved to Pine Level, Alabama, where Rosa grew up attending rural schools.

When Rosa completed her education at Pine Level at age 11, her mother enrolled her in Montgomery Industrial School for Girls. From there Rosa went on the Alabama State Teacher's College High School, although her grandmother's illness and subsequent death prevented her from graduating with the rest of her class.

Rosa married Raymond Parks in 1932. Raymond supported Rosa's desire to complete her formal education, and she went on to receive her high school diploma in 1934. The couple worked together in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) programs. Rosa became a secretary and later a youth leader of the local branch of the NAACP; she was preparing for a major youth conference at the time of her arrest.

The incident in Montgomery transformed Rosa Parks into a national figure and a major role model as well. She went on to work for U.S. Rep. John Conyers of Michigan. After Raymond's death, she co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development. She also co-authored four books "X'Rosa Parks: My Story" (with Jim Haskins), "Quiet Strength" (with Gregory J. Reed), "Dear Mrs. Parks: A Dialogue with Today"s Youth" (with Gregory J. Reed), and "I Am Rosa Parks" (with Jim Haskins).

Hundreds of American institutions paid tribute to this remarkable woman during her lifetime: Mrs. Parks received a number of honorary doctoral degrees, countless plaques, awards and citations, and keys to several cities. Among her honors were the NAACP's Springarn Medal, the UAW's Social Justice Award, the Martin Luther King Jr. Non-Violent Peace Prize, the Roger Joseph Prize from Hebrew Union College, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

My Mobile Phones > Past and Present

Yes, my mobile communication past began with a Motorola StarTac (this is the 10th anniversary of the phone's existence). That was back in the mid Nineties, it was a black coloured clamshell blocky phone that has a horrendously huge battery charger cum docking station where you can charge 2 batteries at the same time.

Yes, those were the days when you HAVE TO take extra batteries with you if you plan on spending the day out.

Later, I was given a StarTac 8400 International mobile phone, that was a pretty good flip phone with very nice and "big" display. Those days, that was state-of-the-arts.

Then I bought an Audiovox mobile phone, which I upgraded to a Kenwood branded Nortel mobile (they are so rare I can's find photographs of them on the Web).

Anyway, I quickly upgraded to the Panasonic GD90, which was stolen when I was waiting to board a 170 SBS Bus at the bus stop outside the train station in Johore Bahru. On the same day I lost the phone, I replaced it with a Motorola StarTac V (in my humble opinion those days, Motorola is a phone maker, as Omega is a watch maker).

That phone stayed with me for approximately 6 months, and was stolen in my office in Tampines.

Then, I jumped onto the Nokia bandwagon and bought the most expansive of the lot, the Nokia 8850.

That phone became my main mobile communicator and remained by my side for almost 3 years, till Bluetooth became essential. I bought a Tungsten, and paired it with a Ericsson T39m. It worked like a charm until I caught the PDA phone bug, and bought an O2 phone.

That was the worst phone I ever owned. I ditched it and bought the black Sony Ericsson T630.

And then, that was stolen again.

Jumping back to the Nokia 8850 for help, the screen died on me, and I bought a really cheap Nokia 8250 as a temp mobile.

So, last week, I bought the phone I am using now: a Sony Ericsson Walkman phone, the W550i.

It does everything I need it to do except 3G. Since real 3G applications and contents are not out there in the wild yet, I guess I can wait for the W900 to surface.

To date, I have lost 3 mobile phones that cost in total RM7,000.

GOSH! Have I spent so much on mobile phones alone?

My 15 Minutes of Fame

We launched the Asia Pacific YoYo Championship 2005 in Sunway Pyramid last week. With a turn out of about 15 members of the press, we made the announcement that the event will be the largest of its kind in the world, in terms of number of participants.Since I am going to produce a documentary about the YoYo Community of the Asia Pacific, the event gives me great insights into the minds of these people who lives by the thread that clings on to a tiny piece of spinning discs.

I followed the entourage onto the Hills (Genting Highlands) where they performed to a small crowd, and was impressed by the routine they did.

If you can find the time, drop by Genting Highlands on December 9, entry is free.

20% More... PIXELS!

I was busy trying out some broadcast software when my alarm clock reminded me that the special event at Apple was over. As if possessed, my fingers instinctively type the URL and the new PowerBooks were staring squarely at me, on my "old" PowerBook's screen.

20% More Pixels.
Optical Digital Audio Output
Faster System Bus
Dual Layer DVD 8x Writer
2x more Video RAM
Dual Link DVI

Same CPU Clock Speed.
Same Price.

Hmmm... I will wait for the next upgrade.

But if you need a PowerBook, now is the time. The end of the PowerPC Era is near.

Yamaha Presents: teroni-on

Yes, it is now official: the Tamagochi Generation has grown up.

This oversize Tamagochi is not your RM45 plastic toy that yearns for your tender loving care.

It's a musical instrument!

Question is, will you give up 10 years of your piano or violin training to play this monophonic instrument?

I am feeling the 5G iPod Gravitational Pull...

i woke up to the alarm clock reminding me to find out what on Earth is Steve's "One More Thing..."

and as expected. it was the video iPod. and the moment i read the news, my first reaction was: "Thank Goodness I did not buy the Nano!"

I have 9,000 songs on my 3G iPod (now playing happily) and I need space to put the rest of my library into the player. 60GB is great news, and video!!!?? that's fantastic news!

Now I won't need to lug a folder of DVDs when I travel. Yippie!

submission: the housemate

Me, over 15 years ago.

After previewing to friends and foes around me, I have made all necessary edits to make the final cut of my short film more logical till the wee hours of the night last night.

So, this morning, I had to go get my passport size pictures and photocopies of my NRIC... but it started raining cats and dogs later in the afternoon and I was feeling lazy, to go to the photo service centres to have my pictures taken... that was when an idea struck: why don't I make my own pictures?

Digging through my pile of things, I found a stack of 4x6 HP photo paper and printed a picture of mine on it.

After cutting the pictures to size, the pictures looked convincing.

By 4:30pm, I was already on my way to Astro with the package in my bag.

1 day before deadline: I have submitted my entry.

Wish Me Luck.

Happy 20th Anniversary!

Life was a lot simpler back then. I woke up early, skipped breakfast and drove 2 hours to work.

Yeah, 2 hours is on a normal day, back then, Samy hasn't gotten the highway done up yet, but even now, the place is still jammed packed -- Samy still hasn't gotten it right yet.

I drove along Old Klang Road, hitting the old town junction, and drove along Jalan Gasing to work.

Life as a technology journalist wasn't that bad. We attended seminars and learned new things everyday, bitched about people and competition, and played a game or two if you were hustled to be a victim, and had coffee at the coffee place near our office.

It was a simple life.

Good to see that all are happy and well.

Happy 20th Anniversary, in�Etech!

Completion! for now...

After three whole days of moving, rearranging and carrying super heavy stuffs without breaking my back, my place finally took shape.

The new Final Cut Pro studio is finally tied-in to my MIDI system along with all the audio gadgets. And I have finally gotten the video camera in the vocal booth working so I can monitor the voice talent from my studio upstairs.

The next few days will be spent tuning the acoustics of the room and generally finding ways to keep sound from straying out of my place. I am probably the noisiest house in the whole area, so keeping the dBm low is key to peaceful living in my neighbourhood.

Anyhow, the above picture shows a small part of the room, here you'll see my PowerBook, the PowerMac G4 Cube, a Juno 60 keyboard controller, the Akai sampler, loads of sound modules and the classic Roland R8 drum machine, along with my Joemeek tube microphone pre-amp.

Call me hardcore, but this set up is modest among professional musicians.

....................................................................

Today I finally put GarageBand to a test in a real world scenario: while working on 7's audio project, I decided to give the software instruments a try. With the latest drivers installed, GarageBand detected my Tascam 224 as a 2 in/2 out MIDI interface, so, I gave it a go with the music arrangement.

Though I prefer my Akai Grand Piano samples over GrageBand's built-in offerings, the voicing was respectable. Tones and timbres are rich and I could get away with simpler arrangements without using pads to cover up sample flaws.

On the project, I recorded multiple tracks of vocals and I attempted to comp them into one nice track, this, I find an extremely difficult task to complete in GarageBand: compared to other software such as MOTU Figital Performer or Digidesign ProTools, both of whith I've used extensively.

For an entry level software, it's a pleasant surprise when I noticed the inclusion of pitch corrections. To have this feature in ProTools, you'll need to buy a plug-in, but the feature is a built-in function, so, it'll be super easy for you to create the Cher trademarked "Believe" effect in GarageBand.

Just make sure you sing as well as she does.


But then again, God is fair, isn't it?

Major, Major Makeover

I have that 3-month itch again: to re-decorate my house.

I have been doing this since my secondary school days -- I will move things around, and basically change the position of everything in the room every now and then.

Two days ago, while looking for my missing passport, I felt that itch again, so...

I am still at it, the house is in a mess... but I managed to put some of my Macintosh collections on display...

In one of the cubicles, is Apple's Newton 2000 PDA.

Also, you'll see the ColorClassic, the Macintosh SE, and the PowerMacintosh G4 Cube.

Scattered around are some old Sony Walkman and MD Walkman...

This is still work in progress, and I am dead tired.

Sigh... I am getting old...

14 Days: No More, No Less.

Fourteen days after I sent in my iPod, I have decided to give our friendly AppleCare people a call, since they did not call me to tell me if JerryPod is back in order (and they promised to call).

Since they didn't call, I assumed the stock hasn't arrived yet.

After waiting on the line for a short while, the guy picked up the phone and told me the impossible: the stock has arrived.

But why didn't he call me?

I had to pay him and say think you while he made me wait? what if I didn't take the initiative to call him?

Bloody hell.

God needs to punish people like these.

As for the mode of punishment, I suggest lightning strike.

And hence, I went home with the new JerryPod and retracted my car's radio antennae as I am back to listening to Podcasts in my car.

Speaking of radio, as I was iPod-less for a few months, I have been listening to a local radio station with programming that are not meant for the intellectually challenged, although some of the callers are close to being idiotic, I applaud the station's intent to bring the so-called alternative voice to the public.

Well, the station will officially be closed down on the 15th of October 2005.

Although the station was ordered to close down on August 31, opposing voices made the authority retracted the off-air order. This time around, it's the license holder who is willingly closing down the station.

Do I smell something fishy here, but then again, I might just be imagining things.

So, the public has started a campaign to try to save the station, as follows is an open letter:

..........................................................................

To: Dato Seri Dr Lim Kheng Yaik, Minister of Energy, Water and Telecommunication, Malaysia
To:
1. Dato Seri Dr. Lim Kheng Yaik, Minister of Energy, Water and Telecommunications
2. Media Prima Bhd
3. Natseven Sdn Bhd

We, the undersigned, would like to express our views on Natseven Sdn Bhd decision to make WAFM off air temporarily starting from 15 October 2005:

I. WA FM is a very popular radio station which produces high quality programmes and therefore we feel that making it off air even temporarily would not only amount to great loss to the general public but also detrimental in maintaining competitiveness of the station.
II. We feel that with the established and continuing support from the audiences, WA FM should not have too much problem generating profits for her parent companies though we do not deny there is room for improvement.
III. We also feel that any rebranding and debt restructuring exercises can be and should be performed without disrupting the normal broadcasting function of WA FM

Therefore, we, the undersigned,strongly urge the relevant parties to:

1. Work towards reviewing the decision to temporarily cease WA FM broadcast starting from 15 October 2005.
2. Clarify misperception that WA FM is responsible for the entire debt of Synchrosound Studio Sdn Bhd.
3. Set up and maintain a strong marketing team so as to realize the vast advertising income potential of WA FM.

Sincerely,



..........................................................................
Although I think this is going to ba a futile mission, give them a hand if you think freedom of speech in the public is something really important.

Personally, I think the station's DJ speaks bad Mandarin, and has horrible musical tastes, but it is rather entertaining listening to the so-called experts who called in.

The station is known as Wa FM (in hokkien, "wa" means "mine"), so, you tell me, what's in a name?

Follow this Link to Support Them.

housemate frenzy

Housemate (2005)
Producer: JerryWho
Duration: 11'44"
Language: Mandarin with English subtitle

Finally, I have found the time to shoot a shortfilm to compete in this year's Astro Chinese Short Film Awards. Since I see myself as an expert ghost storyteller, I figured I might as well put together a screenplay based on some of my experiences.

And for people who know me, some of my encounters range from scary to very scary. In order not to cause widespread panic and thus my chances of winning anything at all, I have decided to pick some really mild stories and piece them together into this short piece of work.

This is one project that has taken over 3 years to realize. It began with a bunch of friends from cyberland who are more virtual than reality; we had loads of discussions, and things seemed to be moving forward but suddenly stalled. That was my first taste of people who talk but not walk.

A year later, Astro organised the competion with Canon on the second year, being busy, I was certain I didn't have the time to do it that year, with or without friends. But I kept on working on my screenplay.

Finally, 2 weeks before the September 30th deadline of the contest for the third year, I told myself I better do it, or I will be no different from those people.

So, last Monday, with the help from 7 and MM, we shot the entire principal photography in 4 hours on location borrowed from MM's friend.

Weird things happened as we went along - I had an entire scene missing from footage.

But I finally finished cutting the short on the day after shoot, and did music and effects on the following day. Sound effects work was a long and painful process - scary films call for scary sounds, and I have a lot of those lying around.

I spent the rest of the third day working on the music, I composed, arranged and recorded a new track for the end credit run. It was a good experience as I had to practise my guitar playing and generally reconnect with the musical side of me.

MM recorded two nursery tunes that were transformed into some scary stuffs.

Total time taken to work on the project, excluding dreaming up the story: 4 days.

Pre-production was about 25-minutes, the time taken for me to drive from Cheras to my house in PH - the storyline was formalised as I drove home one night 2 weeks ago.

Anyway, the end result was okay, the short has an eerie feel to it, which I guess should be fine.

Wish me luck.

Radio Headphones

I don't know if you can remember back in the 70's FM portable radios comes in the form of a pair of huge headphones. These were quite popular for those on-the-move - great if you want to go skating or jogging.

Years later, with the digital revolution, an MP3 player cum FM radio was released. Evergreen (Japan) released two models in its newest MP3 player line, dubbed the EG-HPM, on September 22nd. The audio player is a neckband headphone type of player, which from appearances looks like it wraps around your neck and the headphone part rests comfortably on one��s ears.

The EG-HPM will come in 256MB (�D12,800 about MYR430) and 512MB (�D14,800 about MYR500). The player will be initially available on Evergreen��s website, and will also be available at stores throughout Japan.

Frankly, I was attracted by this gadget... fortunately the player is only available in Japan, and I won't be going there in the near future (or is it... ?)

Does iPhoto 5 Cut It?

I am not a huge fan of Apple's iLife suite: I prefer Final Cut Pro over iMovie, Soundtrack Pro and Digital Performer over Garange Band, DVD Studio Pro over iDVD and iView Media Pro over iPhoto.

My main problem with iPhoto, is the way it forces my files to be saved in a way I am not happy with, and the speed of the software displaying pictures are not as smooth as iVuew Media Pro. As I am writing this entry, I am finally giving iPhoto another chance - I am importing pictures into iPhoto and see how version 5.01 handles files and refresh rates.

I really hope it surprises me.

.................................................................................

I have imported 650 photographs, the refresh rate of thumbnails has improved, but I don't know if this has anything to do with my 1.25GB of RAM. But the speed has improved dramatically.

My gripe remains, however, is the way it saves files, I am now checking out the ways to keep my files organised in a way that I can find the files easily.

It should organise files the way iTunes does the files, now, it's impossibly difficult to find image files... maybe I need to get used to this...

It copied everything into the iPhoto library, instead of moving the files over. So it duplicated the 1.7GB worth of files on my hard disk, for the newbies, they will probably panic because their hard disk was eaten up in an alarming rate.

.................................................................................

You might want to know my verdict: I will stick to iView Media Pro - moments after I imported the photographs, iPhoto stopped responding.

Photoshop users should stick to the file browser and Adobe Bridge, professionals don't have the time to restart applications and try to fix them.

I guess Apple needs to relook at this.

Low Tech Theatre

The local Chinese theatre scene is a proliferate one; they try their best to come up with some performance on a regular basis.

Their shows are presented in small theatres that can cramp about 50 odd people with a stage that is barely large enough for a class of students.

The sound system is mono, which means sound only comes from one direction.

The lights are hung from rails that look like they will fall from the ceiling any time.

The seats, are plastic chairs you normally find at most Mamak Stalls.

But that didn't stop people from coming. The performers hard at work, and the audience, seemingly fascinated.

I am a difficult lad to please, as I was pampered by high tech stuffs... smokes and mirrors are the bare minimum, stereo multi speakers systems with sub woofers are the bare basics.

So, when I attend these drama performances, I suffer greatly from my high tech background; the low tech approach of the local Chinese theatre angers me because there are ways to make the drama more dramatic with the help of simple low tech innovations.

I blame the people's lack of drive to learn, their inability to embrace technology and the refusal to learn angers me.

But, that's just me.

If you are one of the people involved in Chinese theatre and are reading this (which means you read English), leave me a message.

Let's see what we can do.

14: Apple Malaysia Repair Turnaround Time

FOURTEEN FREAKING DAYS!

Even if you have MARNEE to pay them.

By now, everyone who knows me, and some who don't, know that I have accidentally dropped my iPod (his name is JerryPod) and it is now in Apple custody for replacement.

And to think we are three-and-a-half freaking hours drive away from Singapore we should be okay right?

The lorry drivers who zoom along the North-South Highway can do 150km/h with their eyes closed right?

So, when Apple tells you, "we will get you a replacement unit in 7 days" is an underpromise-over-deliver strategy, right?

NOOOOO MANNN!!

I called 7 days after I was sure JerryPod has reached the hands of the people at the AppleCare Centre and 10 days after I handed it to a friendly guy at the AppleCentre (who took two days to hand the unit over to the service centre), and the answer was: "Sorry, Mr Who, I have checked the status of the iPod and found out that is out of stock!"

BLOODY HELL!

Out of Stock then keep quiet quiet, also never call me to make me feel better, wait till I call then go check!

This is not good! so I asked the fellow how long more must I wait.

"They said next shipment coming," he said, voice shivering, I was sure.

"Next shipment coming when?" I demanded.

"Dunno... maybe 1 week?" he lied, because I know this: no one knows, not even god himself (I meant Steve Jobs), knows, unless he called Singapore, where the phones were often left to ring on the hook until the voice activated system takes over.

"You sure? One Week?" I asked, "for the record?"

Unknowingly, my journalistic tone leaked and I was sure that freaked him out.

"They said next shipment coming, I'll call you when it arrives, maybe one week," he said, this time not so confidently.

MAYBE ONE WEEK?

So, by now, September 23, JerryPod has been in Apple for over 10 days, and counting.

Our Taiwanese friends takes about 14 days to get their parts and stocks, I wonder if I need to wait longer than them.

And TAIWAN IS FOUR HOURS FLIGHT FROM SINGAPORE!!!!!!

And to remind you, they are just replacing the iPod, not REPAIRING it! how difficult is that?

Take one unit from the shelf and pass it to me and then say "THANK YOU" as I paid them?

Man In Mask

No, I wasn't wearing a white ski mask to match the colour of the iPod and iBook to show support.

But if everyone uses a picture like this on their NRIC, we will all look alike and peace will be on Earth, right?

Then no one will be unique and thus everyone can be anyone? *shudders* this is bad.

But, such is the current status of cosmetic technology: Facial on Demand.

The FoD technology has made every self-respecting Metrolsexual Men (or those who wouldn't admit it) to have their face whitened at home.

At least you know you'll be using some non-animal tested cream that will not make your nose drop like one particular King of Pop we know.

My user experience? Pulling a straight face - yes, I kept that expression on - for 15 minutes and no talking can be a pain in the A$$.

So here's a checklist:

But do I feel prettier? -- Not really,

My face feels cleaner? -- Not really,

Am I whitened? -- Not really,

Sigh... what does this thing really do?

Steve, In Person

A couple of years ago, I was invited by the fruity company to attend one of the last Macworlds supported by the computer company in New York. That was also my last outing as a technology journalist even though I wasn't there on assignment.

The year they launched the first iBook.

After the keynote address, we were herded into a packed room with reporters from all over the tech world. I found myself a nice seat in front of a group of Japanese journalists. While most of us have upgraded to the PowerBook G3, the Japanese were still obsessed with the miniscule PowerBook 2400; almost all the Japanese journalists were using that little wonder.

We waited for a while before the whole group of management team from the company took the stage.

That was the second time I met him, the first was six months before where I visited Cupertino.

The journalists shot questions about the new machines and Steve was talking about the successful launch of the products.

That was when I raised my hand and asked: "Steve... what happened to Mac OS X Server? did it sell well?"

Bwahahaa... I was dead sure I was sucked into Steve's alternate reality force field for a while as I cannot remember his answer. or if he had given me an answer at all.

Anyway, I took pictures of the group on stage. On the Left, is Jonathan Ive, the Aston Martin guy who had a hand in most of the company's product designs.

I had a great time that year, in New York, and I wonder if Malaysia's Status of the Macintosh reporting has improved since the days when we were making headways in tech journalism.

It's a pity the local papers are more interested in AFP or other syndicated news sources nowadays.