Dodges and Burns

Actually, I am not sure if this is for real but it did marveled me when I saw it.

When I did simple check on National Geographic Magazine’s website, I didnt see the cover on the archives. So, it is possible that this is actually a face cover created by someone using Photoshop or something. Still, it is something fun to look at…

Paris is one of the most beautiful city in the world. It really intrigued me how the people actually planned the city layout and how they beautify it.

The above photo was taken from the top of Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile during my trip to Paris. What makes this photo special is how the Eiffel Tower is being illuminated in blue with 12 golden stars to celebrate the French presidency of the EU.

The photo itself was taken using my old camera, Fujifilm Finepix S5100 as I have not upgrade it to my current dSLR. Nevertheless, I find myself grateful of this camera of mine. And just for the record, I am still keeping it with me. Though, most of the time, the camera is being used by my sister.

The original movie was really a great one. I remember watching it many time on TV.

When I saw the movie poster in the cinema not so long ago, I really have my doubts about the remake. But when I got the chance to watch the movie, I still watch it as it has one of the most beautiful actress that I have ever seen, Crystal Liu Yifei. Apart from her, Louis Koo and Kara Hui also starred in this movie.

But a while after the movie started, I realized I was wrong to give it a pass just like that. The storyline is an interesting love story between a human and a demon. The human, Yu Shao Qun (played by Nian Chai Chen), is a young government official who was on a mission to help a village at the base of Black Mountain to find water. He met with the beautiful Nie Xiao Qian (played by Liu Yi Fei) and Yan Chi Xia (played by Louis Koo) during his mission and he fall in love with her. A very complicated love story ensue and one must watch the movie to fully understand the beauty of this story.

What makes this movie different from the original is how CG is being used to make the story interesting.

Liu Yi Fei

Decided to show this photo from last year’s camp.

The annual camp for Buddhist youth has been a big part of my life and it would continue to be a part of my life for many years to come.

The photo above was taken during the preparation for the water war event when it was actually raining heavily outside. Being young, most of them are not afraid of a little rain and I asked one of the committee member to cup his hand to hold the water, knowing that the water would drip from overflowing.

And by using a large aperture, I blurred out the committee member but keep the hand and water sharply focus. I like the way the photo turn out.

What would you get when you combined Angry Birds and Star Wars. I never thought both could be mixed but I was shown otherwise. I came across some pretty amazing photos in Bite.ca just now and I know I must share it here.

Angry Rebels Group

Angry Rebels – Chewie and Han

Angry Rebels – Luke

Angry Rebels – Leia

Angry R2D2 and C3PO

Angry Yoda

Imperial Pigs Group

Imperial Pigs – Lard Vader (my favourite )

Imperial Pigs – Emperor Crackaline

Imperial Pigs – Swine Troopers

Imperial Pigs – Boarba Fett

I guess you have fun as much as I did. I didnt upload all the photos here, so, if you want to see more, click here and here for the original post

Energizer Night Race 2011 is my 4th competitive run even though I am not a fast runner. For me, as long as I can finish the run, I am happy enough already.

Before the race

at the pit stop

beside the track

at the start/finish line

just before starting the race

Abit about this race if you are not familiar with it. Organized by Energizer (sucks big time – you would understand why in a short while), it is the first run that is being held in Sepang International Circuit. Yes, you read it right. SIC, the place where all those F1 cars drove around the week before, is the venue. Being someone who prefer running in new place every time, I signed up a while after the registration opened. I managed to convince a few friends to join me and I am happy that they did. I meet alot of friends this time, HX, ML, Penny, Gneleey, Kean Hua, Yong Wei, Mayz and Ms Tham. Glad to see you all

Okay. Now, for the pros of the race:

1. Good t-shirt.
2. to be able to run on a race track which is a good experience.

That’s all that is good about this particular race… Really!

As for the cons, here are the list:

1. Parking fee of RM10 per car – this is robbery in broad daylight. Shouldnt it be covered in the participating fee? You can deny the fact that you are not involved as you are the organizer and you should have negotiate with the SIC to waive off the parking fee.
2. Unclear instruction by the organizer – where to go, where to wait… all sort of question pop into a runner’s mind
3. Incompetent emcees – the guy at the starting point were just saying the same thing again and again with the slight variation but the lady emcee during the time when everyone is trying to get their finishing medal and goodie bag is horrible. She used improper language every time she speak into the mic and treat our fellow runners like idiots.
4. Inadequate volunteers around the race – in fact, apart from those in the medic tent and water station, I see non of them around. This definitely spell disaster from the start and yes, disaster strike a short while after flagged off. Without volunteers around the track, some of the runners CHEATED. They used shortcuts to walk across the grass and I got one thing to say to these people who cheat => You cheat no one but yourselves. And it is definitely unfair for those who dont cheat.
5. 1 water station on the whole track – I couldnt believe how stingy the organizer is on the water station. One water station at 4.5km to cater to most of the runners. All other marathons have 1 water station every 2km but since runners (11km) runs the track for two rounds, you could have setup another water station at 2.5km. You are darn stingy!
6. No timer to tell how long has it been after the race start – Yeah, most of us wont be able to win the race but that doesnt mean we dont care about our timing. As a frequent runner, I want to see if I have improved my time when I finish the race. But unfortunately, a timer was put out very much later.
7. Should have given out the timing chip thing for 11km runner as well. We are paying big buck and yet, you want to save abit on your money.
8. Insufficient counters to hand out finishing medal, goodie bag and cert – Even though you know that you have 10,000 runners in the race, yet you just prepared limited counters to give our these stuff is plain stupid. The worst is for the 11km category. There are about 5,000 of us but the counter being prepared was like a few only. Most definitely not enough even though it is still possible if you dont check every runner one by one… Just give the finishing medal, goodie bag and any other things that you have and move on… To make runners lining up is plain stupid and make people uneasy.

These are some of the things that I managed to observe and I do think that Energizer has hired and incompetent team to organize this race. If Energizer want to do damage control, best for you to do it fast.

Suggestion to Energizer:

1. Full refund of our entrance fee
2. Send us our finishing medal, goodie bag and certificate
3. Public apology