Muscle and Fitness War 2009

Muscle and Fitness War is a body-building competition organized by an NUS sub-club. This year it was held at Vivo City this afternoon.

There were lots of BIG guys there. They have really big muscles, so big that you might think it is a bit out of shape, or too big to be naturally beautiful. Anyway, they have their own standard of judging the muscle beauty, although I cannot fully appreciate it.

Just to share some of the shots I took today.

This is one guy I think looks more natural and more acceptable, but he only came in the 5th place in the above 170cm catagory.

This is our 1st runner-up from NTU. His muscles look more like fibres than muscles to me.



Here is our champion. Every single piece of muscle on his body is perfect. There is no body fat. Looks great.

Anyway, congratulations to all the winners. It is a reward for all that effort and commitment and sacrifices they have made for the sport of body-building.

In terms of photography, I like the photo of the champion because the sun came out and shone directly on him at the golden hour. His body is literally 'glowing' :)

More photos can be found here:
Muscle and Fitness War 2009 Part 2
Muscle and Fitness War 2009 - Part 3

Pay Freeze or Pay Cut

The National Wage Council today recommended the wage guidelines for the next 6 months. The recommendation is to freeze pay or make pay cuts to help business keep their operating cost low and keep jobs.

The current financial crisis is the 3rd crisis I have ever encountered so far in my life and it is the worst of the 3. Comparing with the current crisis, 1997 Asia Financial Crisis, 2000 Tech bubble burst look so trivial.

Chinese New Year is just around the corner, so wish everybody to have good life in the coming year of the Ox and survive the current crisis, and become stronger :)

Crisis Deja Vu

The STI has been going down for the last week? I didn't really keep track of it. The current financial crisis has so much similarity with the Asia Financial Crisis back in 1997. Business vanished over night, people lost their jobs over night. All the good things vanished over night. Bungalows were selling at half price. STI went all the way down to 800+ points. At that time, one of my investment guru friend advised me to buy some if I had some spare cash. Unfortunately at that time I was saving up for my postgrad studies overseas. If I had bought some, I would be laughing to the bank now, even after STI had droped more than 50% from its peak of 3900!

The 1997 crisis was because Asian companies and governments borrowed too much, expanded too fast & furious. The current crisis is because some western countries borrowed too much.

It seems like the old wisdoms are still the best. Always be prudent in your finance, have savings (not necessary in the form of savings account savings though), and a positive cash flow at all times.

The current crisis is bad. It may take us years to recover, but then a word of caution here is that once we recover, we might get into a hyperinflation period, as a consequence of the inflating money policies the US FED is adopting right now. In fact, what do you expect other than inflation if the FED keeps printing money. Wealth is NOT created by printing money but by improvement in productivity and efficiency. Printing money from thin air is NOT counted as wealth creation, rather, it is wealth destruction.

Be prudent, and shop around for good value goods, this crisis may present you with some good opportunities. :D

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