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Dragon Red launched their Resureksi album at Black Box, MAP, Solaris Dutamas, on the 15th of October 2010.

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Amil is a good MC!

Incidentally, Adam and Slyde are both MCs. So that's 3 MCs and no deejay!

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The back door of Black Box.

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Naked Breed started the set with a rockout.

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Two Sides To A Story. Long time no see!

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Wake The Night.

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You can tell they are heavy!

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Ash, for Velvet Aces.

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These guys rock and roll...

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...in that order.

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Rolling Sixers were next. Man I love it when the lights are all different colors from all different angles!

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Left: Khai burning fretboard; right: Eddy and his funky harmonica mike.

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Roshan of K-Town Clan.

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Like a judge!

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C. Loco, brother of Slyde.

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Tech the co-emcee.

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Deja Voodoo Spells.

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Shreddus maximus!

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I am starting to really bite into their second album, Bite.

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We all pray to the guitar god who has played with the likes of Steve Vai, Herman Li and Marty Friedman!

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Guest vocalizing is the order of the day.

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Wakaka Crew breaks into the scene.

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And then, it was the flaming pyrotechnical Dragon Red!

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Manshaan on drums.

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Amil on guitar.

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Slyde on rap and now, the occasional growling.

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Adam is the crooner, shouter and the most uh... facial personality of the band.

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Camero (which is a glamor name for Kamarul, LOL!) on bass.

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Looks like Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath here, who coincidentally plays bass too!

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Pyros go boom!

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That was not all, though. There was Beat The System, a potent mix of rap and metal!

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Finishing the night brutally was Endzeil.

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I finally got to see my favorite bouncer buddy in rock concerts, shoving some of the most brutal metal in my ears!

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Slyde joins in.

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BWRAAARHRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

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Admittedly I don't have long hair to headbang with anymore, but I still conserve my energy for Dragon Red!

Now I know some people have written articles in magazines that dismiss nu-metal, but hey it's still enjoyable and very much a guilty pleasure of mine. So when people bring you down, what do you say?

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Yeah!

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Oooh! On the inside of the album, on the last page of the album sleeve, is my picture! It was taken at the back of Adam's house (which is ironic since we planned to travel far for the band shot but as we got in the cars we found it to be a fantastic location!)

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I didn't blog about this picture earlier, though.

More pictures here:
Dragon Red's first album launch
Five Parts Metal

I find it funny that I tend to prefer metal albums that have this vintage sound, as opposed to remasters and later works by the same metal band but with a modern sound.

For example:

Black Sabbath

I prefer the first four albums with Ozzy Osbourne, excluding Ronnie James Dio and Tony Iommi's newfangled obsession with synthesizers. Sorry Ronnie, you rocked too, but that's Heaven And Hell now, not Black Sabbath. (RIP Dio.)

Black Sabbath - Paranoid (the sound is a fair bit more amped up)


Ozzy Osbourne

I've just started getting into his solo stuff, since I wasn't before although I had his songs - I never knew why I veered towards certain songs and thought some other songs just sounded... cheesy. Then I read up on Randy Rhoads after rediscovering Mr. Crowley on Guitar Hero: World Tour and I found out I preferred the earlier sound from Randy's time! (RIP Randy.)

Ozzy Osbourne - Mr. Crowley


Metallica

There is just something so greasy and grimy when I hear the thrash metal from Kill 'Em All, and to a lesser extent, Ride The Lightning. Musically I still enjoy the stuff up to the Black album but... I like how the first 2 albums sound, best. (RIP Cliff Burton.)

Metallica - Jump in the Fire


Megadeth

I now sit on their side of the fence in a Metallica-Megadeth argument. Though again, I prefer their early, un-remastered stuff, from the searing hot leads in Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? to Rust In Peace. Countdown To Extinction onwards had this modern sound which I didn't quite like. (RIP Gar Samuelson.)

Megadeth - Good Mourning/Black Friday


Oh, and have you heard the first album from The Scorpions? Totally nothing you've ever heard before. Unless your name is Adlin "Metalpedia" Rosli.

5th October 2010: The FEYST 2010: Indie Youth Festival made its round to Black Box, MAP, Solaris Dutamas on a Tuesday night, where I could just walk over right after work!

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Jasmine Low of Go International was the emcee and organizer. This night featured acts who she brought to Australia as a random sampling of Malaysian independent artistes!

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I finally got to see Ray Cheong and was utterly blown away. Here was a solid blues/funk shredder with blistering solo instrumentals, and songs which are in the key of John Mayer, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimi Hendrix, and...

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...fingerstyle guitar-slapping acoustica!

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Izzy does sing as serious as she looks in this picture. Though she does make some good corny jokes.

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Liyana Fizi is so tall she makes me dizzy.

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Ady Suwarty is a solid R&B crooner, the kind that should be selling out stadiums and causing undergarment changes.

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The event poster. Hey isn't that a familiar picture?

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It was taken from this blog entry of mine. Without my permission and without any credit. Please, poster designers, you need to ask!

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Rewind to 2008, a past company trip to Redang!

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Ah, days when I had just the A700.

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I would bring the Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye for travel and rarely ever use it.

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What a joy it is to catch sunrise, twice. Though the second time was disappointing because the clouds got in the way.

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And now, for other photographic challenges!

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Thanks smashpOp for this shot!

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I finally found a legit use for 5 FPS - when you don't know when the arrow would launch!

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Then add a fisheye for more fun.

More here:
Tengah Meredang
Mula Meredang
Habis Meredang

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13th March 2010: I went up to Bukit Malawati, in an outing by Sony Malaysia for Alpha users!

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When we reached the hilltop, we were greeted by what I thought were the former four-legged residents.

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They were everywhere!

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So many, and yet some were lonely and deep in thought.

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I found it interesting to observe them - what do animals think about?

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What do they fight about? Protection? Ownership? Territory? They are interestingly communal and yet have a mind of their own. They will follow the crowd but also do their own thing.

So I'm not really sure what makes us humans think we are so far apart from other animals. Animals learn and can be trained, and they can assert ownership over territory. We just have it a bit more advanced to throw in barter trade and the concept of currency.

Animals can make tools - we just do it better.

So we've invented a few languages. Do you ever wonder if animals talking among themselves, wonder what we humans are saying?

What defines humans as being more advanced, anyway?

Now I ask this in seriousness, and I don't want an answer spewed out from a book, but an answer that you yourself have thought about.

Ants can communicate by just touching antennae. Isn't that advanced? Heck they can walk on ceilings!

What about the Vulcans? (A fictitious race from the Star Trek series.) If they can communicate by mind meld (touching one's temples to transfer thoughts, emotions and memories), doesn't that make humans distinctively primitive?

Then how about the Borg? Again, a fictitious race from the Star Trek series, who are cyborgs (half human, half machine) who are all connected together via an electronic network. They share information altogether and if one Borg learns something, every other Borg learns the same thing!

Humans are probably the largest species that is not in random danger of being killed by another animal, intentionally, just because we were annoying. We can kill mosquitoes and cockroaches and ants and they won't know what hit them. What are the chances of anyone being squashed by an elephant, intentionally?

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Meanwhile, this was a stealthy ninja!

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Monkey on your back?

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Like a boss.

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Curious monkeys want to reach out for my fisheye!

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Obviously, trained.

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A random grab shot that worked in so many ways!

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I wonder if they wonder why we stick cameras in their faces.

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Shot with the Opteka 85mm F1.4.

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OOF!

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A baby.

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Cutting queue.

I observed the monkeys - they initially were all at the bottom of the hill, waiting for us to come by bus.

And yet, as I took pictures of them on the railing, they were slowly travelling up the hill. Some would sit around. Some would steal bananas and hop on humans.

And yet, none of them were going down the hill.

So if the monkeys were following each other, how did they all end up downhill? Who started going down?

Following the group is a survival instinct - if you do what the majority does, you think you will be safe. Though following is also not the smartest thing to do - ever joined a long queue to see an empty lane on the right? And there is a person manning the lane, but nobody goes there, for some reason!

So much for human intelligence and being advanced.

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Could it be that we led their exodus up, and we called them to come down with our loud buses?

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Perhaps, they were bored with us, and went on up to the trees. Yes, Bukit Malawati is where this picture came from!

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Ho with his new sports telephoto.

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Apparently, across the sea was Indonesia. (The hazy bit, not the nearer river!)

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And then, we were led elsewhere.

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A self-portrait for the competition where we'd submit our pictures from the trip.

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Rewind to 12th to 15th July 2008, when I was down in Kuching for the Rainforest World Music Festival 2008!

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I'm on a boat! Uh... boat.

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I'm on a bus! I saw this tree too many times.

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Kuching is literally the land of cats!

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Funny thing is, they have really cool garbage trucks that have automated slot loaders...

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...but there is only one cinema in town, and the tickets are manually written! (The show? Wanted.)

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Left: Finally found tuak, pretty sweet stuff! Right: My Minolta 70-210mm F4 beercan next to tin cans in the beercan form factor.

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On to the Sarawak Cultural Village! Scary stairs made of trees.

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They had many houses showing you what each culture was into.

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Up in one of the attics.

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Yeah, he looks wooden.

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The Sarawak Cultural Village is a nice place to just chill and get in touch with nature. See even Yoda likes it!

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Tall, tall, tall houses!

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Then we snuck over to the Damai beach.

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It was pretty much empty except for this girl... until a guard came over and asked where we were staying.

So I made up something about staying with Noel and that I'd forgot my pass.

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And suddenly, Noel appeared out of nowhere! (Well, after the guard left.)

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Waifon's pet turtle.

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Kenny Sia tugging on my hair. Wow it still had highlights then!

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Another spy shot of the couple he spy-shot from afar.

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Sigh advertisement-pimpin' bloggers!

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Coca Cola.

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Roxy-Quiksilver!

More here:
Rain For Us
Sunny East Side

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27th September, 2009 - when I set foot upon the new Actors' Studio, on the rooftop of Lot 10!

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Obviously, it was not done up properly yet.

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Inside, it looked like a sauna. Ironically, it was cold!

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Mr. I-just-got-married Phoon Chi Ho!

It was a free Sunday matinee Young Comedians Of Malaysia showcase.

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In the interests of conserving bandwidth, here's a montage of funnymen Kavin Jay (left) and Papi Zak (right).

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And of course, Kuah Jen Han (left) and Oliver Johanan (right).

These guys are gold, all the time, so if you ever see them on a list somewhere, go catch them!

Young Comedians Of Malaysia (Facebook page)

And now, something almost exactly one year before my last blog post, on the 4th of April 2009.

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MissyEllio commissioned me to take pictures of a site she was going to be doing some heavy duty architecturin' on. Yes, that is almost a stock photo of an architect.

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However, we also went around Ipoh to find... emptiness.

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What does she see? Lines and boxes and little plastic people? 3 elevations?

Camera nuts see a Sigma 17-35mm F2.8-4 EX and a brick wall, perfect for pixel-peeping lens tests.

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Oh look brick wall camwhore time!

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More camwhoring - motif being "where's my driver?" Yes, there was a third party.

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I joined in, since I could not resist taking pictures of myself being in a hypothetical band.

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Ah, joy for the stomach! The real thing, Ipoh White Coffee and the works.

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Ah, what sweet memoirs!

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All them lovely faces.

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So yeah, I was down in burnin' hot Cyberjaya, a certain 3rd of April 2010, for the "Memoirs" Photography Exhibition 2010, organized by the Film & Photography Society of Multimedia University, Cyberjaya.

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In the judges' room. Because, y'know, I was a judge. We were fed snacks and refreshments. Like a boss.

Spot the Paul-Tan-dot-org-or-now-Paul-dot-my lookalike!

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Gotta love the effort to spruce up the rather sparse hall.

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My pictures!

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Random passerby!

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Why hello I would like to join you in the experiment corner!

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Then there was a Q&A session where I might've gone off tangent. A bit.

I have to thank Wai Wah for taking all the pictures of us on stage. Thanks dude! Also, congratulations on you winning a prize!

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Serious smashpOp is serious. There's also Steven Leong (of Photographic Society Malaysia).

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Did you know Jason auditioned for Malaysian Idol once?

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The emcees who fed us questions.

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Then it was prize-giving time!

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Clive, another judge, in the middle.

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Caption this yourself. :D

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My first pewter! A token of appreciation.

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That is one heck of a photobook, sprawling the expanses of China in medium format.

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So yeah, the judges submitted 3 pictures each. The bottom-right picture is not mine.

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I'm glad that some people asked me what this picture meant.

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This one has deep meaning to me, but I'd only tell you in person.

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Graduation.

Moonshine: A Homemade Music Show, a certain 7th of October 2010 ago. I had just gotten my Sony Alpha SLT-A55, so these are practically the first shots from it!

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Aiqa Halim! Dig her drawl.

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Stonebay, reminding of the better days of 90's rock.

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Ojie with a more acoustic sound this round.

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Interestingly, Laundry Bar renovated, with some funky art in the back!

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I like how his shirt matches the background, somewhat.

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Next up, green tree-hugging Ferns!

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All smily and with a forgotten side of less aggressive rock.

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Initially I wanted to do a heavily processed process on this series of photos but then I saw this photo and I was like hmmm maybe I won't do it here, because of this shot.

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On the similiarly melodic continent of rock there was Lightcraft.

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Man I hadn't seen these guys in ages!

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Ambient was the theme.

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You may or may not be able to tell which shots were from my A900 and A55 - the A55 was processed with Lightroom 3.2 while the A900 was processed with DxO Optics Pro Elite. A notable difference is how weak the reds were from Lightroom (a more puritan rendition, I'd say) compared to DxO's subjective flurry of red. Lesson learnt from later trying to tune the reds back in Photoshop? Process them all in Lightroom until DxO supports the A55.

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Reza and the soundman.

Oh and here's a video!



Lightcraft, performing "All In My Mind". Recorded using a Sony SLT-A55 with the Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8 ZA and audio is from the built-in stereo mike. Unfortunately with no audio monitor I didn't know it was clipping the vocals so pardon that - I gotta get an external mike. AF is on, with the center AF point used.

Converted from 1080p25 to 720p24 (the overrated 24p magic number.)