Can You Tell Me?

I encountered something strange today. I have a photo approved at ShutterStock. Looking at it at my home computer, the background looks clean - it is white. However, when I look at it at my office computer, it looks ugly. The background is not white, but with patches of gray or something on the left! Ok, the same photo may look different at different monitors. And it is only 'accurate' on a 'calibrated' monitor, while neither my home monitor nor my office monitor is calibrated, but so far I have never had any issues with my home monitor. It is not the best, but then what looks good at my monitor must have looked good at the reviewer's as well; otherwise, the photo would not be approved in the first place!

But for this one, I am a bit confused. Below is the photo in question, do you see some strange patches in the white space on the left of the orange?

Breakout - Extreme Dance Comedy

Got my ticket for the Korean extreme dance comedy of "Breakout".

According to the brochure by Esplanade, this performance is

"A story of 5 prisoners who are clumsy but appealing. When a mysterious ancient sacred text drops into their prison one day, it inspires the desperate prisoners to pan a daring escape into the outside world where they could have a brief taste of freedom. Fiercely loyal, and valuing friendship above all, these hilariously funny escapees are hardly menacing. Come meet the most loveable prisoners in the world!"

In addition, it is also

"a comedy performance blend with hiphop music and breakdancing"

"a newly designed nonverbal extreme dance comedy"

"performed by Korea's award winning and top quality leading BBoys"

Looking at the trailers they show on their TV ads, I am having high expectations of this performance, hopefully it will not disappoint.

The ticket is selling fast. I wanted to get the ticket for 14 Feb (Sat) 3pm performance, but then the last few sold out while I was still hesitating! I also wanted to get the S$78 ticket, but then for that category, only left with some not-so-nice seats (in terms of angle). At the end, I had to settle for a $38 ticket, and on the 4th floor, and I think the seat is a bit far back. A bino will be a must, I reckon.

Anyway, looking forward to this performance. It will be the first time I watch a performance at the Esplanade after don't-know how many years after it was first opened. Time to cultivate some 'culture' into myself :)

You can find my review of this performance here:

Breakout - The Extreme Dance Performance

Photo Marathon at ShutterStock

A new year has started, so has a photo marathon at ShutterStock. Participants will update their number of approved photos at ShutterStock.

I have been very lazy in the past, as there was hardly any pressure for me to submit me, as the money generated is just some side income. Now there is some 'competition' here, you can see how hard other photographers work. When you see someone have a couple of hundred photos in less than 9 days into a new year, you will feel a bit ashamed of yourself. You're propelled to submit more, to get more photos approved, to get more downloads.

Take a look at the number here:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pZEgM338rPYCsgk-Q1h7-Aw&hl=en#

Take it as your inspiration to work harder :)

葉問 Yip Man (Ip Man)

Just finishing watching Donnie Yen's latest movie Ip Man. It is a story of a great Chinese kungfu master, the master of Wing Chun, also the guiding master of famous kungfu star Bruce Lee.

The story is set in before and after Japanese invasion in China. Before the Japanese invasion, Ip Man was only a great master without any students. He was a wealthy man and had a comfortable life. The only thing in his mind was to perfect his kungfu strokes.

After the Japanese invasion, he was more or less forced by the Japanese to arise his own nationalism in the bottom of his heart. Then he started to get more involved in the society and social issues, started to teach students of Wing Chun.

It is a touching movie. I have not seen such a good Chinese movie for many years. It is better than Red Cliff, better than Painted Skin. Better than lots of other crappy stuff. Highly recommended.

However, it is great as a movie, it does again raise the hatred between Chinese and Japanese. The unhealing scar of the Japanese invasion of China in the last century is like a ghost that keeps coming back to haunt the people in these two countries. I admire the courage of the Japanese actor Hiroyuki Ikeuchi (池内 博之) for acting in the movie as the Japanese general who was beaten by Ip Man. I am not sure whether the Japanese will view it as an insult to the country and people.

Fang Da-Tong 方大同

A new pop-star, Fang Da-tong. You may have not even heard of him half a year ago, but now he is THE man in Hong Kong pop music.


香港“叱吒流行榜”颁奖

方大同兼得男歌手与唱作人两项金奖，加上作曲人大奖及一首金曲奖，共获4奖

Deception Point

Title: Deception Point
Author: Dan Brown

Deception Point is written by Dan Brown, the same guy who authored the controversial novels The Da Vinci Code & Angels & Demons. This book is not controversial as it is not like the other two books that centred around the dark side of the Catholic church. This time, the story revolves around a presidential election in the United States.

This book retains the style of Dan Brown. Just when you think you can predict the ending of the story, you are able to 'uncover' the bad guy, the master mind, then the story twists & turns, and the truth comes out almost completely opposite of what you had thought. Dan Brown is a cunning author, he always misleads his readers, giving false hints here and there along the way, bringing you right into the trap he has set up for you. By the time you realised, you are already deeply in his trap. Luckily in this case, no harm will be done, except you feel you have been fooled :)

Anther feature of Dan Brown's books is he will 'teach' you lots of historical, or whatever knowledge. They are presented as scientific facts, good only for his novel. In my opinion, those 'facts' should be verified independently before you consider them as facts, as there are so many jargons, technical terms that may scare anyone off.

It is novel worth reading, highly recommended.

Product Shoot

Goals for 2009

Ok, today is the very first day of the year 2009. It is time for new year resolutions.

What should I set my goals on this year?

Well, maybe just a simple goal: to have 800 photos at shutterstock! It is only 343 photos away from that goal now, and it only amounts to 1 approved photo a day on average. Yes, it is an achieveable goal, and let me work on it.

For last year's goal, I am actually short of 43 photos :(