Brian and Stewie Live from the 2007 Emmys

The Black Dress Part 1

Photoshoot at Taman Sejahtera, KL with Joyce on Sunday (16/9), presenting:

The
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Genting Here I Come

* This post has been edited to reflect a very different opinion from the original because I changed my mind about it. Easy as that =) If you didn't get a chance to read the original, don't worry, you didn't miss anything

Some of you may not know, but my church camp is this weekend. It's great 'cause this is one of the most free-er camps for me. Every year I would be rushing to plan the camp or design the booklet or plan worship... but this year is special - I'm not involved heavily at all, except for just leading worship in one session. No complains there.

There are 2 things that really stuck to my mind from last year's camp which I would like to share.


1 I took a gamble and designed a very different looking booklet last year. Usually booklets would be an A4 folded in half and the cover would be colored paper while the insides would be normal white A4 paper right? I took that idea and threw it out the window. What came out of that was entirely self printed and self made, 'mini booklets'! It was the size of a quarter of an A4 folded in half. The cover was printed in color on glossy paper.

The final product looked great! And I was quite proud of it. The whole idea was to give you just enough information in a mini sized booklet so that you can stuff it inside your pocket during the camp. All of the usual camp information was inside except one omission that would bring the most complaints in the end - empty pages to write camp notes on.

My rational was that if you are one of the very little minority that wrote notes down during camps, you would already have your own note book specially for such a task, like a dear friend who use to attend my church had (she had this note book where she would whip out every Sunday to write down notes from the sermon, it was pretty cool, it had pictures and stuff...). And for the ones who don't usually write notes, would appreciate the portable size of the 'mini booklet'. Apparently not a good enough rationale -_-"


2 It was the second night, and to be honest, I wasn't on my best form. Somehow, these are the moments that God really shines through for me. Anyway, I was doing the worship and as we proceed deeper into worship, things started to get really heavy, and I mean that in a good way.

You know when you're in a worship session and there's just this amazing sweep of the Holy Spirit as the session continues on? and it just keeps getting more and more powerful, that everyone eventually gets so drawn into worshiping God, that you'll begin to see the craziest things happen?

like people who don't usually jump, jumping? people who are quiet, end up praising God at the top of their voices? people who are usually totally in control of themselves, start crying? Yeah, it became something like that =)

So as all these things begin to happen, you know me, I didn't end up just standing there... I was jumping! And as I jumped, I started to move about, from the left to the right (it was quite a big area)! I mean it was awesome and I was so excited at that moment...

In my head, it was great. I've never been in a session like that, where I was the worship leader, and got to see things like that happen. I mean, pastors were crying as well!

I believe that the church really came together that night, giving God all the worship and praise that He deserves. And it was really obvious that the God was moving in our midst. That experience is permanently stuck in my brain, no doubt about that.

* the second picture is just a random picture of me and my dad during the outdoor games, didn't have any picture of the worship session that night.


The whole camp was amazing, and knowing that this year we'll finally have everyone attending is making me feel really excited! I think we're going to have a super time together.

Shaking The Hips of Relationships [UPDATE]

I am having such a terrible headache now as I type this. I'm sitting in my room, with the windows open, hearing the rain perfectly outside, realizing that this sentence has too many commas and I have really no life. What am I doing sitting at home with my one off day in the whole week, not doing anything, not going anywhere, I know I'm sick (I got a slight fever yesterday), but at the same time it's just so depressingly depressing.

Listening to Wreck of the day will get you in the right mood. So what's on your mind Joshua?

I was browsing through my address book one night this week, and realized how lonely I have become.

You know where in every class there's always a bunch of cliques, there's the cina gang, where they're so cina-fied that they much prefer to talk Chinese all the time, rather than speak English with someone like me. Then there's the English speaking girls where they think of themselves very highly and their so close to one another where you know that there's no way that a guy can be in that group. Then there's the ones who comes to class alone, leaves alone, eats alone.

There isn't a single guy in my intake that's like me. An English speaking banana that happen to grew up on western culture.

It's just not my fault that I didn't sucked on the teat of Hong Kong drama serials when I was younger, learning how to be 'Chinese' just because I'm yellow.

Don't get my wrong, I don't hate Chinese culture, it's just not my culture, it's not me.

And that is just my college. It has well translated into other areas of my life. Trust me, college is not the worst thing right now.

My social life has taken such a down turn that it looks like bloody sinking sand. The more you try to escape, throwing the sand in all directions, squirming trying to get out, you just get sucked in faster. Maybe there is some truth to what she said, "you're trying too hard". Maybe.

But then what's there to do if you don't try? People, friends or no friends, aren't just going to love you just like that. You have to entertain, you have to keep their interest, you have to find reasons for them to love you and give it to them, if not create new ones damnit. Frustration is not a stranger in this sense.

I think I am quite lost right now without someone you could talk to unconditionally (Friends comes to mind, wishful thinking I know) or maybe it's the emptiness having no one to look up to, left me constantly meeting other's needs but neglecting my own. So I end up writing all of this in a blog and risk offending everyone I know that reads this.

Truth be told, I have not felt peace or just simple joy for a very long time now. The kind of thing you adore while looking at groups of friends who are the epitome of what real friendships are. Wonderful company, put on display with no price tag, destroying all hopes for the ones who don't have them.

Of course, at the end of the day, there's no way to put it all in black and white, people are people. What's real is the gut feeling you have.
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My Response, 17 Sept
To begin, I would like to say that I did not expect to get this amount of response when I typed this post. Really took me by surprise.

For those who managed to wade through my post that was made out of broken sentences (my expo writing lecturer calls it fragments) and understood what I was writing... for those of you who did read between the lines and understood my predicament even more... for those of you stayed beside me and listened... for those of you who sent me smses... thank you.

Each one of your messages have been just inspirational for me, and I am also pleasantly surprised (and touched of course) by some who dared to go out of character just to show their love and care for me. The amount of love in just those 19 comments did soften this hardened heart.

Closure
There's just so many feelings and thoughts going through my mind at one time, I don't think many can relate to that. The things talked about in this post is just the tip of the iceberg of what's on my mind, and hardly the more depressing of the lot. It gets a lot more messy. Life as a student, life as a church leader and the people that surrounds these two lives - it gets crazy, very easily.

But there has been one up in my whole week of downs, all the things that have been written - your responses, your messages, your acceptance, your encouragement, your love - has relinquished some of the lingering doubts and depression.

I will never be able to accept the imperfection that is life, but your love gives me hope, and with hope, I know I can survive another day.

Love you all

The Man Of A Thousand Name Combinations

Happy 22nd Birthday Marcus, let us always remember that no matter how old we get, we'll always be able to geek our hearts out with one another, hopefully that'll keep us young. Life is constantly changing, sometimes for the worst, sometimes for the better, but always push, always pull, always never letting people be close no matter what. But it doesn't matter. To a timeless, never ending friendship. Cheers!

p.s. Actually only 26
Aarcus, Barcus, Carcus, Darcus, Earcus, Farcus, Garcus, Harcus, Iarcus, Jarcus, Karcus, Larcus, Marcus, Narcus, Oarcus, Parcus, Qarcus, Rarcus, Sarcus, Tarcus, Uarcus, Varcus, Warcus, Xarcus, Yarcus, Zarcus - Happy Birthday to all of you

Quite The Feeling

Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple and Founder of Pixar

Vanessa Hudgens Goes Naked, Disney Looks To Be Competing With Hugh Hefner

Come on, we all knew this was coming sooner or later... The High School Musical(HSM) star decided to shed her clothes for her boy, Zac, but you know how all these stories end right? Full story here.

Dear Zac Efron,
The whole world is seeing your girlfriend now and your mom is going to find out you're screwing your co-star. Don't freak out, it's going to be ok. It's a great time to learn how to share. And for your parents, I hope they weren't hoping for you to be abstinent. But at least we all know now that you're not gay. Could you also please send a message to Vanessa - Great job on being a role model for children!

p.s. If you were hoping for me to post the pictures, sorry to disappoint, but I'm not interested.

Apple Helps By Not Helping, Free Ringtones For Your iPhone [UPDATEx3]

Just recently, Marcus and I had a long debate about the custom ringtone feature in the iPhone, or rather the lack of it. When released in June, many people were disappointed to find out that there was no way you could use your own favorite MP3s as your ringtone. You were pretty much stuck with the couple of generic ringtones Apple provided with the iPhone.

But recently, there were a couple of unofficial solutions that surfaced. Namely iToner and iFuntastic on the mac and iPhoneRingToneMaker for the PC (notice how apps on Windows usually come with these less than inspiring names...sheesh). But with the whole 'pay another $0.99 for your very own custom ringtone' announcement Apple made last Thursday, it was clear Apple wasn't going to let us use our own MP3s as ringtones, but we had to pay for the privilege to use them as ringtones.

I can see that it's meant to protect the recording companies and Apple does mention that it's much cheaper than paying for ringtones outside, but come on, it's just too much to expect people to pay double for the rights to own a song to listen to and to use it as a ringtone.

Let me just state that those apps that I mentioned earlier to enable custom ringtones, they don't work anymore with iTunes 7.4. So hence the whole debate with Marcus.

But... I found out today that someone has defeated the system, proving to us that it's not as hard as we thought it would be. Superb news for everyone who has a iPhone.

The complete and ridiculously easy guide to putting custom ringtones on your iPhone

Ok, for those of us who have no use for the guide, let me explain to you why this method is so freaking awesome.

First, it's simply just choosing the song (aac format) you want and changing the extension to .M4R. Once you sync it with your iPhone, it'll be treated just like a 'official' purchased ringtone.

Second, this is just to simple to be a complete mistake. Many believe that this is a deliberate decision by Apple to make the recording companies happy, while leaving the back door completely open for the user. Only time will tell whether this is true.

Some might argue why Apple can't make it officially free, but you have to remember that the entire existence of the iTunes music store is based on all those companies contract with Apple. Companies not happy = iTunes music store die. I sure hope that one day, we'll have a super easy way to do this, 'cause even now, its still not completely fool proof, as more and more readers report problems and complications over at Macrumors.

[UPDATE]
So far there are a couple of new developments:

• only works with unprotected, aac files
• must be edited to be a certain length
• problems deleting files out of iTunes

Once again, why this is cooler than the rest of the earlier apps that was released - this method is basically preparing the songs to trick iTunes into treating it as a purchased ringtone. That alone makes this method so much more better than the rest.

[UPDATE 2]
Well, it was fun while it lasted. Apple seem to have broken this method too with their latest iTunes update, version 7.4.1. Read Here

[UPDATE 3]
It's baaaccckk... Check it out here It's basically renaming the file from M4R to M4A and adding it back to iTunes. Looks like 7.4.2 will soon be out

Looking up the skirt of the iPod Touch

I have never been so excited about an iPod before, not even when the video iPod was released, but this, this rawks my socks. This is really really good news for us in Malaysia because we don't need to wait any longer to have Apple's MultiTouch interface at our finger tips. More great news for you guys today. According to my sources, the iPod Touch should reach our shores by end of this month. This is despite the online US Apple store stating "shipping by Sept 28". As noted earlier it should cost RM 1,299 and RM 1,499 respectively.

The iPod Touch's specs:

• 8GB or 16GB
  
• Revolutionary multi-touch interface
• 3.5-inch widescreen color display
• Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
• Safari, YouTube, iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store
• 8mm thin

Now, the thing that is on everyone's minds: How different is it from the iPhone?

• There is no email client on the iPod Touch
• There is no Maps application on the iPod Touch
• There are no Stocks or Weather widgets on the iPod Touch
• There is no built-in camera for the iPod Touch
• The iPod Touch has a differently styled “Dock,” with a reflective surface — akin to the Dock that will debut with Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
• While the iPod Touch isleeping, the user can tap the home button twice to bring up touch controls on the screen — a feature the iPhone currently lacks
• The iPod Touch has a separate Contacts app — it’s built into the Phone application on the iPhone
• The iPod Touch has separate Video and Music apps, whereas the iPhone has a single “iPod” app that contains these functions
• There is apparently (and obviously) no microphone on the iPod Touch, though it will be interesting to see if such audio-in capabilities could be enabled via a third-party device.
• The iPod touch’s headphone jack is on the bottom of the device
• The iPod touch lacks a built-in external speaker
• The iPod touch’s screen appears to be of a slightly higher quality than the iPhone, with 163 pixels per inch to the iPhone’s 160 pixels per inch.

[via iPhoneatlas.com]

So if you're about to buy a PSP or Creative Zen or any other media player, seriously check this one out. But why PSP? Because if you're buying a PSP more for the multimedia(music, videos, photos,, web browsing) side of it, the iPod Touch is a much better choice...

Get more information, watch the demo videos and see the high res pictures here

The Results Are In

and not happy...



Ok, for the ones I got A, I'm damn happy. Finally can see A's in my subjects again. My time in KDU was something like "pass also very happy aredi". But the tak puas part is the ones I got B.

Intro to Mass Comm I got 70. It's actually more like 70/90. I didn't take one quiz which was 10% of my overall grade, and it was because I was sick when my lecturer announced the date of the quiz. Not one of my classmates told me about it, and so in the end, I couldn't take the quiz (!!)

For Visual Comm, it's also something like 77/90. My missing 10% is because of my design journal which I couldn't pass up on the day of submission, so since I had an exam the following week, I decided to concentrate on the papers. My lecturer calls me up after my papers and ask me where is it, I was like "I didn't know I can still pass it up 2 weeks late??" So I guess now I know what she meant by her last words on the phone - "wasted"

Sad sad... 4 A's technically, 2 A's 2 B's in reality

New iPods Released Today [UPDATED]

[UPDATE: changed the pictures and cleaned up the post's earlier messy formatting]
Apple's "Beat Goes On" event has ended just a few minutes ago and the shocker giler part of it - they refreshed the entire line and added one new iPod model. It's Sofa King Amazing!!

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iPod Shuffle
Colors have changed to more lighter tones, less garish in my opinion. Finally... a nice green color model. Apple also has added a Product(RED) version of the Shuffle. Yay!

• still 1GB
• still $79 (RM349)

What it means to us Malaysians: Nothing much. Just that we have new colors to choose from and that cheap parents will still have an excuse to buy these lower end iPods for their kids. But I'm not a cheapo parent I hear you say? What models would be great? Read on.

iPod Nano
Changed the colors to match the new Shuffles. I guess the sad part is that all the mockups weren't 'fake'. Now it stands shorter and wider, like a Creative Zen. But honestly, it still looks infinitely better.

• comes in 4GB or 8GB, $149 and $199 respectively
• same materials as the current gen, aluminum
• super thin... it's thinner than the previous model
• finally, plays video as well, big 2" screen
• brand new UI
• silver only for the 4GB model, 8GB has all the colors

What it means to us Malaysians: I can hear Creative's CEO go *shit* It plays videos now, much larger screen, new UI and price went down somemore... This is going to be selling hotter than hot cakes, and I know InTech is just going to find some fault with this, because they simply have now taste. We're looking at RM560 for the 4Gb and RM699 for the 8GB. Just for comparison sake, the old 8GB black model was RM1,399.

iPod Classic
iPod classic is basically the video iPod but with the old white and black 'plastic' material swapped for aluminum.

• comes in 80GB ($249) or 160GB ($349), uses harddisk
• better battery life: 40 hours music, 7 hours video
• 80GB is thinner than the previous 30GB, 160GB is thinner than the 80GB
• brand new UI

What it means to us Malaysians: It is cheaper than the previous video iPods but with so much more space, is thinner and lighter, and its made of aluminum (not so many scratches). Should be around RM899 for the 80GB and RM1,299 for the 160GB here.

iPod Touch
What is it? It's the iPhone without the phone!

• 8GB($299) or 16GB ($399), uses built-in flash memory
• completely multi touch interface
• same gorgeous screen as the iPhone
• thinner and lighter
• view photos, listen to music, lookup contacts and calender just like the iPhone, all touch
• comes with the same Safari browser thats found on the iPhone. It means we can surf the 'real' net on this thing! Totally unexpected...

What it means to us Malaysians: Do you know what this means to us?? It means that we can finally have the freakin multi touch interface, just like the iPhone, here in Malaysia. No need to unlock. No more waiting for the iPhone to have the *touch touch* fun... It'll be out in the US in a month or so, so we should be getting it around then. Singapore is also a viable option for us. The best part? RM1,199 for the 8Gb and RM1,399 for the 16GB. Its the same price as the previous video iPods without multi touch. Superb...

p.s. all Malaysian prices quoted are just educated guesses. The final price might vary a little.

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So there ya go, the new iPods, all coming to Malaysia very very soon. Want more?

• Engadget's live coverage of the event
• Apple's entire iPod range product page
• Apple's iPod Touch page with demo videos, hi-res pics and more info
• Appleinsider's hands on (MUST SEE! live pictures of the iPods)

The Holiday Week

My holidays was between 23rd August - 4th September and I have to be honest here, I didn't do much. I actually spent most of the week working on the Assemblies of God (AOG) Ordination Service which was last Sunday (2/9), doing a couple of videos to be shown on that night as well as the slides. Just think of those award shows and now imagine it is for Pastors and Christian workers =) But I had some highlights in the week, so that's the whole point of this post.

WARNING: This is the longest post I've ever done. Prepare for lots of pictures!


Sunday (26/8)
Joyce invited me to join in for drinks with some of the girls because it was Cherish's birthday and Mary's farewell (she'll be leaving for US on 11/9). Took lotsa pictures but these are just some of the good ones.


Drinks was at Dome, The Curve. It was after their movie.


Mary and Cherish


Joyce, Elaine Ting and Emerlyn


Cherish, Mary and Joyce


Monday (27/8)

My first ever kernel panic on my Macbook Pro (sigh). It's definitely because of Parallels. It happened right after I quit Parallels and unplugged the scanner. Moving along.


Wednesday (29/8)
Jody invited me to make cupcakes at her place with a couple of other guys and gals that I've been slowly getting to know - wonderful people - Sam, Sarah and of course, Pet. On to the pictures!


Pet happy that we're making CUPCAKES!


We had time to kill before the rest arrived, so Jody decided to make cream cheese thingys... and we helped!


Thats Jody right there!


She felt the need to pose violently each time


You can just taste the cream cheese now


Look at all the pseudo cupcakes!


Putting the final touches - it got kinda oily in the end


Jody's dad is the king of Tupperware Malaysia - the tupperking - so no surprise what kind of fridge magnets they got


Was bored after working on those cream cheese thingys, so decided to take more pictures of the fridge magnets


Finished - just before putting it in the oven




If I put a live chicken in an oven...


I think we're trying to say something here


Sarah!


The Grouch!


Pink shite!


Odie's hubby!


Sam!


Getting the icing ready was not easy, but in the end, we ended up with these poorly matching colors


My first design - 2 Hershie chocolate chips for eyes, purple heart for a nose and lots a silver sugar balls for the mouth - You may call him ugly or monster, but I call him... friend






All the cupcakes we did for the night... Beaut!

p.s. Odie, sorry about the water spilling all over the place at the end, we were having a little chat and when we realized, it was too late


Friday (31/8)
On Merdeka Day, we ended up having lunch at 1U (of all places).


Carl's Jr is expensive and not as nice as TGIF's burgers. It's like RM23 for one of their specials and the JD Burger is the same price, with much more succulent meat. For that price, I would rather eat at Friday's.


The pundian


All damn posers... hahahaha...


Look at Hong Liang on the extreme right...


We had to, we just had too...


Melissa and Kok Leong


Hong Liang and Chris


Kimberly.... stop posing so 'hau' can not? =P


The massage train in 1U... Yeah, people were staring


What would happen if Lam married Amanda - He would be sad, Amanda would only know how to shop, and they would have Kimberly and Melissa for kids.


Do I need to explain? Its freaking "know your shape"! Click for the big picture, you absolutely have to see it. We concluded that Chris is 'cherry' shape.


Saturday (1/9)

Had the combined service for Glo and Youth Aflame and it was simply amazing. Got me some gifts as well. Good think you remember your friends dude... haha...