Christmas 2011

Ah, Christmas is almost over. I guess I'd just like to blog about what I did this year for Christmas.

I stuffed myself silly with the freshest, meanest durians in ss2. Meet Sekn, our VIP. Without him, I simply cannot expect to be served the premium 'Musang King' for the RM 15 I paid for the durian buffet. Of course, durian gluttony comes with an undesirable side effect - high calories. I was so full I could hardly walk. Sigh..

I arrived just in time for the Christmas church service at Pantai Baptist Church, Jalan Gasing. The sermon was a little different from the 'usual' sermons of the birth of baby Jesus. Met up with some ex-OCF friends, and had some refreshments. Quite a short service - just over an hour.

Lunch was at Chawan Cafe, Cita Mall, Subang. Of course, this nasi lemak is two times more expensive than Murni ss2. Had to sit through a very long chat (yes, I was warned), before finally leaving the place around 4pm.

Tonight I was assigned to go to Mont Kiara to shoot an event for JCM Agape, a Japanese church based in PJ. They invited a bunch of folks who had impaired vision to join them for the event. It was held in the community center of the apartments, so we had to bear with the heat and humidity for a while.

I guess what struck me was the sincerity and the eagerness of these visually impaired people to sing songs of praise to God. And they could sing and play musical instruments pretty well too (eg. piano, harmonica, guitar), sometimes even better than us who have normal, healthy eyes. As the Japanese pastor pointed out - they may not see in this world, but God has opened their spiritual eyes. God has blessed some of them with families and kids with normal vision, but others are not so fortunate. This is definitely a Christmas event I will remember.

Yikes, its midnight. That's all for now folks. For those in the US and UK who're still celebrating Christmas, enjoy the rest of the day.

Cheers !

No Pok

I realise this post might be a bit sensitive in nature, but please bear with me

I went for dinner one evening with my brother and housemate to PJ State. We wanted some good ol' Hokkien Mee from a shop we went to a few months ago. But after we reached the shop, I realised something was amiss. The tau keh nio was wearing a cloth on her head. A family that would typically not go to a Chinese stall was sitting nearby. There was a picture frame with some calligraphy in it.

It then dawned upon me ..

...No Pok...

Oh well, we ordered our usual Hokkien Mee nonetheless. It did taste a bit different compared to the original because of the absence of lard and pieces of crispy pok fat. 

Today I had lunch at D' Fish Cafe, formerly known as Chan Tong Kee. I immediately noticed the fine print on the menu cover - Halal certification pending. I then asked 'Do you still serve pork here?'

The waiter responded without hestitation..

Sorry sir, no pok

Not again ! My heart missed a beat.

So then, I ordered my usual dish - ying yong. So instead of pok, it was replaced with chicken. It still tastes as good as before. I guess the owner decided to upscale his business to attract the folks from all walks of life. Of course with the renovation and halal certification, comes an increase in price. Instead of the usual RM 5.80 with a cup of cold chinese tea, the current price is RM 6.60. Sigh... inflation...

I guess I can kiss good bye to my Char Siew and Siew Yoke combo from Chan Tong Kee. *Sniff*

Pok is getting scarce in KL. I can't expect to get it at our 5 star hotels, and only certain outlets in shopping malls serve it (eg. the 'hawker center' in the basement of Lot 10, and its friggin' expensive).

I wonder in the future ...

Can I still get lap cheong with my favorite claypot chicken rice?

Can I still get the fantastic char siew from Toast and Roast?

Will the heart-attack-inducing bak kut teh still be easily available?

And the horror of horrors...

What will happen to my favorite kolo mee without pok ?

Frankly speaking, it seems that the future of pok in Malaysia is bleak despite our PM desperately preaching 1 Malaysia to the Rakyat. I hope I can still have my favorite bowl of kolo mee (along with the rest of my favorite Chinese dishes) in the near future in peace... with pok.

Cheers.

Lincoln College

Over the last few weeks, my boss assigned me to shoot for Lincoln college. They're on a massive (aka. pricey) advertising campaign which is similar to other Malaysian colleges.

These images are meant to be placed on massive billboards that you see along the highway. There were supposed to be 30 of these, so these designs are still in the preliminary stages.

They've also designated a train along the Kelana Jaya line to be placed with their college advertisements. These ads are supposed to be placed on the partitions that separate the passenger seats.

Brochures

Their webpage:

Why have I decided to highlight these? Well, I guess this is the first time that my images will be publicly viewable, although I guess not many folks will know that I shot these images.

I have also faced a lot of challenges during the shooting process. For example:

1. You've got to make do with what you've got. The 'models' consist of current Lincoln College students, so if they aren't that photogenic, you've still got to make the shot happen.

2. What you shoot may not be what the customer wants, so be prepared for repeat shoots.

Some other stuff is not appropriate for me to disclose them here, but suffice to say, I learnt a lot from it.

Cheers.

Note: The final content for these advertisements may differ from what is shown here.