Most of the pictures posted in my blog were taken using my Sony WX5, Nokia n73 and 7610 handphone.
If you have any comments pls leave on my cbox.
30 January 2010
Canon commercial fight!
Anyone been to cinema recently? If yes, i think you will probably notice the Canon commercial. There are two versions featuring the Canon DSLR camera.
The first version starred Japanese actor, Ken Watanabe. This version features a lot of beautiful sceneries; mystery forest, misty mountains, animals... Basically saying Canon is capable of capturing beautiful nature per se, until Ken Watanabe cannot sleep? Haha. (Starting of the commercial shows Ken lying then sit ups looking excited.)
The second version starred our favorite rock star, Avril Lavigne. (Yay!) In this version however, does not have beautiful sceneries. That right, this commercial only feature Avril Lavigne beautiful face and her music, which is kind of outstanding for a camera commercial. However, comparing between these two commercial, the one that really got my attention is Avril Lavigne's version. Kudos to her song! The lyrics complement perfectly with the commercial. "This moment is perfect. Please don't go away. I need you now. And I'll hold on to it. Don't you let it pass you by ". True, take a shot and keep the perfect moment forever.
The song is call Innocence, by Avril Lavigne of cause. Below is the full song. Her rock is always full of feel and adrenaline.
Wow Apple launching ipad soon. I think other music players like iriver, sony, even ipod itself must stand one side already. Imagine a giant iphone, 9.56 x 7.47 inches with a slim 0.5 inch thickness. 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy full touchscreen display. Awesome!
What can you do with ipad? Information take from Apple.
Other features includes Videos, Youtube, Calendar, Maps, Notes, Contacts, Spotlight search, Home screen, App store, ibooks. Visit Apple to read more.
Revolution time! Time to add some colors to my plain white looking chicken mee sua. Can you guess what color i add? Hint: this color symbolize healthy.
Green for vegetables! I have decided to take a step further to enhance my tasteless chicken mee sua. With the original taste of vegetables, my chicken mee sua is no longer tasteless. One thing to note, vegetables must not be cook for too long, or else its nutrition will be lost and its natural taste will also be bland. Take note!
Today our ingredients: 1) Chicken breast 2) Shanghai green (buy from supermarket) 3) Mee Sua 4) Light soya sauce, pepper, sesame oil (for marination)
Shanghai green was recommended by my mom. She says its easy to cook and the natural taste is crunchy and abit salty. Take caution to wash the vegetables throughly before cooking.
The cooking procedure is same as our normal mee sua: 1) Marinade chicken breast, 2) Cook Chicken breast 3min, 4) Cook Mee Sua 2min, 5) Then add the Shanghai green and cook for 3min. Remember vegetables must not be cook for too long to retain its nutrition and natural crunchy taste!
If you did the steps correctly, you should have a very beautiful Chicken Breast Mee Sua with ShangHai Green! Haha. This is the best formula i develop so far. The vegetable complement the tasteless and dried chicken breast perfectly. (First time try out so i only use 2 stalks of vegetables. And yes, i do not like to cut the vegetables to retain maximum nutrition.)
If you do not like vegetables but just want to add some color, you can try adding onion greens. It does not do much to enhance the taste though.
Yesterday i had a peculiar dream, in my dream i dreamt of a song. In my dream i could hum the whole song melody, vaguely with the words. But when i wake up, i realise i didn't really know the song, not even the name of the song. All i could remember now was the first sentence was "因为爱着你的爱". Then just now i google, then i found the song. The song is call 牵手 by 苏芮 (Julie Sue). Frankly, i never heard of 苏芮 before. But i must have heard this song somewhere, hence it appeared in my dreams haha. I find this song very nice and touching, how about you?
牵手（苏芮）
After browsing, i realised i got heard before some of her other songs, also very nice one. Sit down, relax, and enjoy~
Non Techy friends read this! I'm gonna share with you guys how to download videos directly from websites, like Youtube, Vimeo, etc. There are a couples of ways, right now i will start off with the easiest and no brainer method hehe. Prerequisite: Mozilla Firefox. We will be downloading videos using Firefox. If you are not using Firefox, download it here.
Once installed, open Firefox. (Follow 3 steps below and refer to picture) 1) Go to this link to download Video DownloadHelper. Yes, we are going to use Video DownloadHelper to download videos directly from websites, using Firefox. 2) Click "add to firefox" and install it. (Ignore the warning message.) 3) Installation is done in seconds, it will prompt to restart Firefox. Restart!
After restarting Firefox (not restart computer), a pop up will indicate that you have successfully installed Video DownloadHelper. Congratulate yourself, cause the hardest part is done! Close the pop up. There's a Video DownloadHelper website too, if you got time, read it. If not, close it. :)
Now can you see the Video DownloadHelper ICON on Firefox? Cannot see nevermind, refer to my picture! The interesting about this icon is that when there is no video available to download, the icon will be grey dead.
Now lets go to Youtube and test it. Did you see the Video DownloadHelper's ICON became alive, spinning with colors? That indicates video is available for download.
DO NOT CLICK ON THE ICON. Click on the arrow beside the ICON. A drop down link will come out for you to download. (There may be few links came out, its the same video but different quality format. MP4 is better quality than FLV.) Click on any link to download. A downloads will pop up. Easy? Internet Explorer and Google Chrome users need to use external program to download videos, which i will share later. :)
PS: FLV video formats cannot be played using Window Media Player. I recommend VLC player for playback of most video formats. Download it here.
How to merge several videos. Using Window Movie Maker
How to merge several video clips into a big single video? Actually its very simple and easy. Share with you guys how i did it. I use Windows Movie Maker for this. By right its already preloaded into your computer. Never mind if you do not know where to find it, cause i don't know neither.
Lets do the easy way and search for "Windows Movie Maker". Your computer search engine will source it out for you. :) Remember to drag the shortcut into your desktop for easy access in future.
Open Window Movie Maker. It should look similar, unless different version. Different version also never mind. :) So now we import all the video clips that we wanted to merge. I use two videos here. Simply just drag and drop all the videos into the empty space. (Or alternatively you can use the File > Import Media Items.
The next step is also very simple. We will drag the video one by one into the timeline space below.
Your movie maker should look like this now.
Ok we are done! Save and thats it! Now the two video clips have merge into a single video and play as one. Some version the save is indicated as "Publish Movie". (Look at the above picture for the button.) Enjoy!
Got one nice movie coming soon, The lovely bones. This is another novel made into movie. Don't expect to see 100% of the story bring into the big screen, but based on the reviews from US, they said its touching. So you may want to read up the book before the movie is release here haha. (Wish i got the time for reading). Heres a brief synopsis of the story:
The Lovely Bones is a 2002 novel by Alice Sebold. It is the story of a teenage girl who, after being murdered, watches from heaven as her family and friends go on with their lives, while she herself comes to terms with her own death. The novel received a great deal of critical praise and became an instant bestseller.
Trailer
I haven't watch the movie, but i already like the song instantly when i saw the trailer. I made a ringtone for it, if you like it, download it here. (click on the small "here")
We are getting more and more adventurous! Today we tried our very first slalom trick; Fish. We spaced the "cones" further, so that its not very hard for us haha. We had a few rounds of parallel turns before doing this. Actually Fish turned out easier than we expected. We all managed to Fish across beautifully after a few attempts. As we try Fish, we felt that somehow it helps in our parallel turning. Right now i can only parallel LEFT turn, i got problem with parallel RIGHT turn. Even though i can use abit of cheats to turn right with a wider angle, i still hope to master parallel RIGHT turn some day too. :)
Just recovered from flu, so decided to stay at home today. Sad, indoors on a Saturday. But thought of tomorrow roller blading, so ok. Tomorrow must have good energy haha. The best meal i could thought of eating when i'm sick, was my own chicken breast meals. No oil, no salt, plain plain tasteless, perfect taste for a sick person. :)
Mom bought guotiao, so i decided to incorporate into my chicken breast meals. So basically you will need:
1) Chicken breast 2) Guotiao (you can buy from supermarket also!) 3) Onion green 4) Light soya sauce, pepper, sesame oil (for marination)
(1st step)Start the marinade, using Light soya sauce, pepper, sesame oil. Its our usual practice already! After boiling water, add the marinaded chicken breast. Let it cook for 3min before adding guotiao. (2nd step)Wash the guotiao before adding into the pot. The reason why we wash the guotiao is because guotiao came with a coating of oil, so that guotiao will not stick together. Now we wouldn't want to eat freaky oily chicken breast guotiao right? So, wash it before adding to the boiling chicken breast. (3rd step)Cook the chicken breast guotiao for another 3min and its done. Finish it by adding some onion greens. Now the meal is not completely white. Got some green for appearance haha.
How it tasted? I still find the guotiao to be abit oily, even though i ate dry not soup. So remember not to add any oil or salt into the soup. Tasted like those fishball guotiao soup selling outside. The onion is optional, can't really taste out the fragrance of onions. For the best tasteless meal, i go for mee sua. :)
Today i would like to share with you guys how to rotate a video. Have you ever tried using your handphone and take a portrait video, but when you upload to computer you realised the video became inverted landscape view? Take my example below:
Not cool right?! Using a simple program will solve this problem, simply by rotating it. I use VirtualDub. Virtualdub is a free and easy to use program that you can use to edit your videos. After you have downloaded and installed, drag the video into Virtualdub.
You will see 2 screenshots of the same video. The left represents the original video. The right represents the preview of how the edited video would look like. Right now i haven't do anything, so the left and right are still the same. (Notice the video is still inverted landscape.)
I would go straight into how to rotate the video. Feel free to explore the rest of the editing functions.
Press "Ctrl + F", a "filters" screen pops up. Click "add" on the right column. Scroll down and click "rotate". Then choose the angle you want to rotate. (In this case is 90degree right)
After you have done that, you can see that the preview on the right has changed. Now the video is portrait mode again! So save the video and enjoy! Easy right?! :D
Hoho i bought a nice lime color shoelace at 77 Street Far East Plaza for my FR2. Cost $1.90, got other colors like purple, red, yellow, orange, white, black... I like purple too, but many people using purple too, so i chose lime color. Hows my FR2 look now? Nicer?
I went to Hvper to ask them help me install slide pad on the inside. They were "stunned" and said i'm the 1st to ask them install slide pad on the inside. The installation process was not very smooth. At the starting, the guy got a problem aligning the holes to fix the slide pad. He spent around 10mins to drill and re-drill the hole as the alignment was not correct. He was drilling and drilling until sweating, i saw liao i also sweat. I was thinking, simple drill hole also cannot do? But i easy going, since they said they never done this before. Finally he got the hole big enough to align and install the pads. Never mind about the alignment of the left and right pads are not straight. You can compare the height of the white slide pads, they aren't symmetrical. Never mind la, can use can already. The guy before drill also anyhow align one. I would advise anyone to ownself d.i.y if you got a hand drill. If i got a hand drill i would definitely d.i.y.
When the slide pad is fixed. The guy tried to put back my liner, he was having a hard time also. When he finally did it, my insole was made into 2 piece!
Its ok, since its just the insole. Next time if i want to install anything, i think i better do it myself. I replaced my insole with a sports shoe insole lol.
Its Sunday! Sunday = Skating day! Today i got Prata and Joe0. Nowadays we skate near the end of East Coast Park area. Reason being its more secluded for us to try stunts without banging into people. Actually i got a lot of stunts i wanted to learn, but try always fail. Never mind, keep trying one day will succeed. What stunts did we try today?
Prata doing the heel-toe. (One blade on heels, one blade on toes) I can't do this leh grrrrr....zzz
Heres a clear pic.
Joe0 trying parallel slide. She liked parallel slide after watching a video on Youtube. Today she tried and fell many times. But shes starting to get the feel of it.
Me turning... (Video taken by Prata. His video quality is quite clear man!)
Crispy today tried my Seba FR2. But she still prefers Fila rollerblade for comfort.
I'm still helping my grandpa with his garung guni and delivery. Its getting boring already. Wake up 7am, sweat and dirt. Today i went to deliver wasted metals to sell. They used a vehicle with a big magnet to suck the metals from my lorry, then pack them together.
The metals became a square cube waiting to be process.
Never never never in my wildest dream that i will be a garung guni man! Well, not really is, but sort of helping out haha. My grandpa's driver quitted, so asked me to help him. Since i am forever so free :S , and this is also a chance to revise my car skill, so i said ok! I haven't drive a single time since i got my driving license 2 years ago. And guess what, today i drove my grandpa's lorry! Can you imagine the pressure i felt. Excited until starting keep "die engine". Haha. I drove the blue lorry.
Drove from Bedok to Defu lane to sell away collected papers and cardboards. I must admit i really hate the filth. But i got to revise my driving, thats worth my work.
Today was my FR2 official skate with my usual skate kakis. We skated at a different place today. From Playground (Big Splash) to the end of East Coast Park (exit fort road). No need to rent rollerblade, feeling was very shiok. Now we are waiting for Crispy to get her rollerblade, then we all have our own rollerblades. :)
Skating to the end of East Coast Park was quite smooth sailing. Even joe1 also can skate on her own now. Cool! Last time she kept saying she couldn't learn how to skate, but now she did it. Now we just have to practice more and improve on our speed. Nothing is impossible, just keep practising, one day sure master the skill. I'm believing that too, still trying to master my stunts. And falling... zzz
Got a request from Fit & Free - Body Weight Exercise to link to their site. You can look for their website under my "Favourites".
Browsing through, they said their mission is to: -Promote health through regular exercise and healthy eating habit, -Help integrate exercise to be an essential part of life, -Make exercise affordable in terms of time and cost.
So they got organise Public Group Exercise (GREX), Private Exercise group, Personal Training and also Corporate Fitness Program and Event. If you are interested, go to their website to find out more! :)
Happy new year! On this first day of 2010, we decided to do something special and memorable. Mount Bukit Timah Nature Reserve! Haha. This is our 2nd attempt, luckily the weather was sunny. Same members, six of us, Chris, Prata, Crispy, Joe0, Joe1 and me.
Want to see monkeys? You can only see them near the Visitor Center. No monkeys inside the nature trails. In my opinion, i think the starting was ironically the toughest part of the entire Bukit Timah Nature Reserve hike. I was rather intimidated by the super steep and long winded up slope. I think i can call it "Chiong Sua". Once you completed the what it seemed like never ending slope, the rest was easy.
There were few choices of routes to explore, we chose the longest yellow route. The most interesting part that you can't miss was the secret cliff. There is a pavilion with a signpost that states "Do not enter. Slippery road, cliff ahead". Don't say i told you to ignore the signpost and explore the narrow trail. At the end of the narrow trail, you will come to the cliff. Yes its a real cliff, fall and you die! But you get the best view from here. Best view of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve! Must see!!!
Me and Crispy. (Pic grabbed from Prata)
Prata, Chris, Joe1, Joe0.
Chris and Joe0.
The rest of the trails were just boring up slope, down slope, rocky stairs and trees were all we saw. We were lucky to see a glimpse of a squirrel.
Before we finished our hike, it rained. Without further delay, we proceeded back to Visitor Center. Walking down the steep slope was dangerous, heavy rain and slippery ground. Clothes wet, Shoes wet, that concluded the end of our Bukit Timah Nature Reserve hiking.
Woot! Last night of 2009! This year i celebrated New Year Eve too! Happening man! Yes, same gang, Prata, Chris, Joe1, Joe0, Crispy again. We were deciding to go either Kbox at Marina Square or Leisure Park. We chose the latter cause we felt that a more serene place was more suitable for us. Indeed Leisure Park was not crowded, we had Kbox buffet 6pm to 10pm. Price $52. How the buffet? I say it kinda suck. Even though the buffet had different varieties, but the food doesn't taste good. (At least not up to my standard). They had sushi, beehoon, sweet chicken meat, curry fish, nuggets, dim sum and puddings. First time KTV with Prata, pity he doesn't sing.
After KTV ended at 10pm, we thought of going to a remote place to count down to 2010. We bought Heinken beer, white wine, biscuits and potato chips from 7eleven and walked over to the riverside. Its a dead end near Leisure Park. There were quite a number of people here picnic and waiting for count down too. So we sit there make merry until 2010 came. We saw the fireworks from here. It was beautiful, 10mins of sparkling in the sky. Soon after we went home, to prepare ourselves for the Bukit Timah Nature Hike tomorrow.
