The L-oh-rama

Coldplay's Lighting Simulation

2012-02-16T23:53:00.000+08:00

This is a light + graphic effect simulation to the tune of Coldplay's Charlie Brown.

The LED wristbands, glowbands were also simulated which were on the audience area. The quantity of the glowbands were minimal as to not weight down the frame rate.

The lighting is programmed on a grandMA on PC 6.6, visualized on the grandMA 3D software. Graphic video is from Resolume Arena 4.

Lighting equipment list :
1) Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1500 x 6
2) Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 1200 x 10
3) Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300 x 4
4) ETC Source Four 19 degree x 4
5) Large Film Lighting x 4
(Trying something like this http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/images/pa/71_stagesetup.jpg )
6) Glowbands

Enjoy !

Honest Flight Announcement

2011-10-22T15:56:00.000+08:00

Before Takeoff

Hi,

This is your captain speaking from the flight deck. We are currently delayed for take off as there is slight "technical issue" *cough* the co-pilot is late *cough*.

Our destination today is subject to the availability of fuels on board and the airport that welcomes us. Just some info for We are currently no.15 for departure because the airline forgot to pay the airport tax. Please be reminded that you are not allowed to operate electronic devices throughout the flight. Nope, not even airplane mode. Please sit back, relax and enjoy the flight while I navigate the journey with the Google maps on my ipad 2.

During Flight

HELLO ! I KNOW THE SPEAKERS ARE LITERALLY CREAKING AS I MADE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT WHERE IT SOUNDS SO LOUD THAT IT CAN EVEN WAKES A DEAD MAN UP.

For your info, we are currently cruising at an altitude of... oh never mind.. We are actually on level 16 of Angry Birds. We're still trying to get through this level with 3 stars achievements. Now that we have reached the cruising altitude, we will turn down the cabin lights for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendances. We will be selling snack box for you at the special price of Rm 12 (which only cost RM1.20), so grab yours now ! If you are sitting at the aisle seat, take a good look at your neighbour, because they will be giving you either the cock or the ass in your face when they are going out to the lavatory. So sit back, relax and enjoy the flight while we at the flight deck trying to break the record for Angry Birds.

After Landing

Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at the destination which might or might not be your preferred destination. While we are still taxing at the runway, please unbuckle your seatbelt, switch on your phone, stand and grab your overweight hand-carry luggage in the overhead compartment and rush to the nearest exit, although we wont be opening the door just yet. Please do not leave behind your kid behind as we prefer material possession. Any items left behind will be shared equally by the flight crews. We hope you have enjoyed the flight with us as we certainly do. Till next time if the company has not bankrupt yet, we hope to see you !

Catch-22

2011-08-03T23:23:00.001+08:00

Currently reading : Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

I was at McDonalds the other day for lunch, as it was lunch hour the whole place was swarming with anxious and hungry people queuing at the counter, or waiting for that fat kids at the sauce counter trying to pump as much chilli sauce into the tiny platters, before trying to put on as much platters as possible and juggling it on their hands back to his seat. Everyone's body language was very negative, most of the people were folding their arms across their chest, as if trying to put a fence around them and said "Hey dude, I'm just here to get my Big Mac. Don't talk to me or don't even make eye contact with me."

As I was observing the people around, there was one person who caught my attention. Nope, she's not that slutty-looking girl, neither was the bubbly-looking girl who was giggling with her friends about some jokes I suppose. She was wearing a long black gown with an inverted W logo. She's the staff of the McD where she cleans the tables after the customers finished their meal, or finished spilling the sauce all over the tray or table. Oh, there was something about her, she's pregnant, the type where through my inexperienced eyes, is around 6-7 months.

Now that Raya season is approaching, I'm sure that she wants this year Raya to be celebrated with new shirts, new dresses, or at least full meals on the table. However, there was this young man, after finishing his meal, took his tray and disposed off the rubbish and put the tray back with the rest of the trays which were stacked together. The pregnant lady looked grateful for the young man course of action, however she was left with nothing else to do but to wait for other customers to vacant their tables with the trays for her to clean up.

But have you wonder, if everyone cleans up their own tray and put the tray back on the proper place, what will the pregnant staff do then ? If all the cars are equipped with Touch n Go card or Smart Tag, what will the toll cashiers do ? How will they celebrate their Raya season, especially with an impending small one on the way waiting to be fed ? As my mind ponder all the imaginations and scenarios that might or might not happen, I walked away from the table, leaving my tray at the table...

p.s. : Seasons after seasons have changed, leaves have fall and renew, and I have just started to write again. There is no more excuse about work, outstation, or whatever. I'm gonna try to blog from time to time as time permits.

Foursquare for Douchebag

2010-06-24T10:42:00.001+08:00

If you're a Facebook user (of course you are, who am I kidding right ?), chances are not too long ago you were screaming to your friends (in facebook, of course) to stop sending you all those apps invites (read: farmville). But now, since I use less and less of facebook and more of twitter, something annoying comes in the form of foursquare.

First of all let me tell you my definition of these terms:

Twitter (read: twitter) : A cool way to tell all your friends (followers) what smart phone you are using by the mean of using the appropriate apps (Twitter for iPhone, Twitter for Blackberry), what you are doing, what you are feeling (please don't), cool cool stuffs that you encounter, or simply telling jokes in 140 words or less.

Foursquare (read: lame) : Show people what a douche you are. Simply LAME.

First of all, I am not your parole officer, so I DON'T CARE whether you just checked in to starbucks or you just become a mayor of the North Pole.

Secondly, don't you think checking-in to your own house is pathetic, dangerous and it's like shouting to everyone pleaserobme.com when you check-in to another place.

Thirdly, everyone is a self-important prick to some degree, but frequent foursquare posts (especially you link foursquare to twitter to facebook) show that you are a shameless self-important prick. A douchebag.

So in conclusion, no one cares where you've been (maybe some stalkers), how often your'e there. You may even spend a lot of time in your local McD, it doesn't make you the mayor of McD, it just makes you fat.

Guangzhou - All those years learning chinese, paid off ! (part 2)

2010-03-14T19:21:00.000+08:00

Destination : Guangzhou

Purpose : Work-related

Duration : 3 days 2 nights

Remark : Awesome !

CMCC China Mobile. (At first I thought it was some kind of anti-corruption agency)

The local taxi. Some newer taxi have a touch screen at the back.

Toll ! The toll here were extremely expensive. And the road was "not good". The drivers here are crazier than KL drivers. They like to honk, very much. No kidding.

Went to this Expo. Imagine PC fair in KLCC (except this one with sound and lighting systems), then double it up. We even have to go through metal detector at the main entrance.

PR Lighting. One of our main supplier.

The other side of the Expo halls (Yeah I know I put "s" on hall) which is inter-connected.

Sunset at around 5 something.

Guangzhou trade center. A lot of expats here.

Then we were off to a restaurant where the supplier buy us dinner. Lots of dishes. Weird but tasty foods. After-CNY-diet-plan FAIL.

Anyway, the main purpose of our visit to Guangzhou was for this LED Seminar.

All those VVIP (incl. the lighting designer for Olympics 08, Sha Xiao Lan and some local politicians) sit here like the last supper except there were like 30+ people on that table.

The whole ballroom packed with people from all over China and from some other countries.

Then we were brought to their office. On the way there we were escorted by the police. Very exaggerating.

See, I told you the way they do things very Kua-jiong (exaggerating).

Next time even more kua-jiong I guess.

Their "showroom".

The company CEO giving speech

Lighting show ! Awesome !

This is their slightly "smaller" architectural lighting showroom

Spelling error. What Up.

At night, explore the Guangzhou city. It was cold and foggy. It doesn't seem like the China that I imagined. It was more like Hong Kong (but Guangzhou is geographically near to HK). Their Metro rail was so efficient and advance than Malaysia's LRT.

Went to this hotel in downtown to "use the toilet", found this shoe-polishing machine

Guangzhou McDonald is serving grilled chicken sandwich

MH 377 to KUL, weather foggy. Turbulence, a bit. Booo.

Guangzhou - All those years learning chinese, paid off ! (part 1)

2010-03-14T18:19:00.005+08:00

Destination : Guangzhou

Purpose : Work-related

Duration : 3 days 2 nights

Remark : Awesome !

Visa, check. Ticket, check.

Early morning at KLIA,"people mountain people sea"..

Woohoo ! IFE (in-flight entertainment) with personal video screen !

Oh, they were showing New Moon on CH 1. I actually haven't watch New Moon before. Why does the actors have to open their shirt most of the time ? (I actually switched channel after around 30 mins, can't tahan)

Hello telephone, goodbye peace..

Money sucker !

Guangzhou Bai Yun Airport

Apparently, we are VIP and the hotel we stayed in was... 5-star hotel. Woohoo..

We got goodie bag which looks like Emporio Armani "lookalike".

My hotel room, note the see-through bathroom..

View from the hotel room window. Our hotel was located outside of town. Hence the countryside view.

How to Excel at the Workplace

2010-01-08T17:25:00.001+08:00

Following up with my new year resolution to update my blog regularly, so today I want to talk about my job. There are a few types of scenarios which will happen in a day. Let's see my daily schedule.

9am - 10 am : Check office mail, gmail, hotmail, latest headlines from around the world wide web, facebook and twitter.

10am - 12pm : Autocad (draw schematic diagram for lighting, sound system depending on projects.)

12pm - 1pm : Refer to 9-10am.

1pm - 2pm : Lunch time.

2pm- 2.30 pm : At showroom to play around with the lighting and sound system. Play some david cook's song on those speakers, bliss..

This is the showroom

Can you believe this 60+k lighting controller...

have a game inside ? (Btw, the high score was by me, now the high score is 23000 plus)

2.30pm - 3pm : Finishing the layout diagram.

3pm - 4pm : Microsoft Excel - prepare bq.

4pm - 4.30pm : Give bq to manager to approve.

4.30pm - 5pm : Amend bq.

5pm - 6pm : Refer to 12pm - 1pm.

Okay, that might look like I'm very free. But the fact is, if I need to rush project deadline, then I have to stay back and work on it. Without OT pay !

Okay, here are some tips to Excel at the workplace:

1. Make your table really messy. Stack a lot of paper, books, magazines (work-related of course), catalogs, drawings, and whatever that can fill the table. This will make you look like you are really busy and serious in your work.

Another catch to this is when your boss comes around and ask documents from you, you can quickly locate it and give it to him. On the other hand, when your colleague (the one that you don't like) asks for some document, you can act by searching high and low in the stack and pretend that you couldn't find the document. You will give it to him later when you find it. (yeah right)

2. Whenever you are browsing facebook, keep your left hand at the keyboard, specifically at the Alt+Tab keys. So, whenever the boss "patrol" your area, you are ready to switch to that excel file that you are "working hard" on previously.

3. Set your wallpaper as a screenshot of Microsoft Excel file.

4. Be resourceful and always think how, it's the little thing that sets you apart from others.

Anyway, work should be fun and enjoyable. So, enjoy your salary ! hahaha...

Disclaimer : Lawrence is not to be held responsible in the event of dismissal by the company if you try to follow this guidelines.

2010

2010-01-05T14:48:00.003+08:00

Well, it's been a while. My last post was dated September last year. As in tradition every time during new year, we will do our new year resolution where around Mac we will completely forget about it. Looking back at my 2009 resolutions, I am proud and glad that I have achieved around 50%. It's not much but better than not doing any target and achieve nothing. So, for this new year, I have also wrote down my targets for 2010, and hopefully this time I'll get to achieve all of them.

Having experienced the "real" world for the past 7 months, I realised and experienced what they call office politics, boss's expectations, and delivering results (and many more actually). On the other hand, from my job, I get to go to quite a number of nice places, from the resort in the Sentosa Island to the rooftop of the Gardens. Next year, I believe greater things will come (hehehe).

Recently I've heard a quote which is, "Don't plan to be successful, plan to do successful things." which inspires me a lot. So as with most of the people, I too have set my resolutions (which I will not disclose here), and in this year, I will try my best to keep updating my blog and balance between work and life. Till next time.

Company Policies

2009-09-13T19:48:00.003+08:00

One day, I would like to form my own Audio Visual consultant firm, maybe find a few partners (so I don't have to come out with too much capital). I think the name "L-novation Sdn Bhd" or "L-novation private limited" would make a good name. But more than that, I would like my employee to work with me in a team, where the purpose of work is to feel GOOD about life. So, this would be my to-be company office dress code and leave terms.

OFFICE DRESS CODE AND LEAVE AMENDMENTS
New Policy: Effective from February 2020

Dress Code
It is advised that you come to work dressed according to your salary. If we see you wearing Prada shoes and carrying a Gucci bag, we assume you are doing well financially and therefore do not need a raise. If you dress poorly, you need to learn to manage your money better.

Sick Days
We will no longer accept a doctor's statement as proof of sickness. If you are able to go to the doctor, you are able to come to work.

Annual Leave Days
Each employee will receive 104 Annual Leave days a year.
They are called Saturday & Sunday...

Toilet Use
Entirely too much time is being spent in the toilet. There is now a strict three-minute time limit in the stalls. At the end of three minutes, an alarm will sound, the toilet paper will retract, the stall door will open, and a picture will be taken. After your second offense, your picture will be posted on the company bulletin board under the Chronic Offender's category. Anyone caught smiling in the picture will be sanctioned under the company's mental health policy.

Lunch Break
Skinny people get 30 minutes for lunch, as they need to eat more, so that they can look healthy. Normal size people get 15 minutes for lunch to get a balanced meal to maintain their average figure. Chubby people get 5 minutes for lunch, because that's all the time needed to drink a Slim-Fast.

Thank you for your loyalty to our L-novation Sdn Bhd. All questions, comments, concerns, complaints, frustrations, irritations, aggravations, insinuations, allegations, accusations, contemplations, consternation, and key frustration form should be directed elsewhere.

Clay Paky Light Show

2009-08-19T21:55:00.004+08:00

Enjoy this light show, the lights were all Clay Paky Alpha Spot 300 HPE, which my company have one in the showroom, incredible brightness with incredible speed. Hopefully, one day I'll get a chance to program incredible light show like this.

RCF Seminar

2009-07-28T18:37:00.002+08:00

RCF is a speaker brand from Italy, where my company invite a really tall guy with really strong Italian accent to teach us how to implement the RCF sound system whether in the concert, theater, or your bathroom (no lah, not in the bathroom, but I've always wanted to listen to some songs while I'm doing my business). So, it was held in Cititel Mid Valley hotel (the lunch was great!).

The whole function room was full of speakers

This is the speakers that usually being used in the concert

The Yamaha digital mixer. The faders are motorised, so it will automatically going up and down depending on your stored presets. Damn steam I tell you.

After the seminar then we proceed for happy hour

The seminar teach us how to design sound system so everyone in the crowd can hear the music

Just looking at this screen makes me feel like having an IQ equivalent (or more than) Albert Einstein

Do you know why the concert ticket on the front row is so expensive (even though standing ) compared to the seated row on the back ? See the diagram, the front row got the loudest and the sub woofer (which is usually put just under the front of stage) is nearer to them.. fuuh..

Birokrasi

2009-07-14T18:15:00.004+08:00

Now that the government has decided to revert the teaching of Science and Maths in BM, I am proud to say as a 1Malaysians, I had wrote 1song in 1BM (i know i overused the 1 thingy).

Anyway, have you ever went to some jabatan whatsoever and then had to spend like the whole day (or sometimes a few days) to get something done. This song is all about it, about waiting in frustration to wait for the pegawai to get our things done.

The song is called "Birokrasi", you can listen to it on MySpace or (if myspace is too slow) you can download it from MediaFire. Oh, you're welcomed to give some comments. Have a good day !

d.s. : now that the pegawai got my stuff done, Singapore here I come !

Mybank oh Maybank

2009-07-03T18:07:00.001+08:00

Guess what I got in my e-mail.. It was an urgent message from Mybank. (No, it's not a typo, it's MYBANK, not Maybank). Apparently they have blocked my account and they need me to sign in by clicking the link they provided in the e-mail. It's quite funny considering I only have account with Maybank and I 've never have any account with Mybank.

Notice in the lower left hand corner, where the link is supposed to bring me ? It pointed toward a bogus (BOGUS, not BAGUS) address where I assumed look nothing like Mybank but look exactly like Maybank. It's where they steal your login ID and password and they gonna clear your accounts like a crystal clear crystal.

But then, I think maybe someday I'll read in local newspaper about their bank accounts magically send money to a foreign accounts.

Economics

2009-06-16T00:12:00.001+08:00

It is the month of August, on the shores of the Black Sea . It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. It is tough times, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.

Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town.

He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter, and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one.

The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the butcher.

The Butcher takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the pig grower.

The pig grower takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel.

The supplier of feed and fuel takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the town's prostitute that in these hard times, gave her "services" on credit.

The hooker runs to the hotel, and pays off her debt with the 100 Euro note to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there.

The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything.

At that moment, the rich tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms, and takes his 100 Euro note, after saying that he did not like any of the rooms, and leaves town.

No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is doing business.

So, I am...

2009-06-12T17:37:00.003+08:00

Working now. Well, just some update so my friends won't keep bugging me to update my blog (no lah just kidding). Currently, I'm working in a sound and light company as a lighting engineer. You know those in those concerts that you attended, where the light beams moving everywhere and the light blinking. Then there is big table at the back of the audiences with consoles with loads of button that you never seemed to understand. Well, NO, my job (currently) doesn't involve going to concert wearing t-shirt with the wording "crew" printed behind and having backstage pass.

But, my job is to teach the people who go to those concerts and control the lighting consoles how to program and run the light show. But at the moment, I myself is still learning the trick of trade, which means I got to play with the 5-digits price lighting consoles and another 5-digits moving heads. Oh, there were loads of speakers, microphone and amplifier in the showroom, so occasionally the technician switch ON the speakers and amplifier. WOW! Damn! I like it.

I actually enjoy going to work, which contradicts with what many people tell me. I don't know about them but I enjoy doing what I'm doing right now, which is playing around with expensive stage lighting. Oh, and occasional facebooking too (from office haha)! I might not be blogging as usual as I used to, but I'll try to blog something interesting.

Talking about interesting, whenever I heard Mariah Carey's song, then I'll try to imitate her voice or singing or falsetto or whichever come closer. To her annoyance, she will asked me to stop singing while covvering her ear. Thank God she didn't record a video then post to youtube. Anyway, as I was surfing around, I found this Korean which was singing to Mariah Carey's song Touch My Body. He/she is singing in the studio somemore, damn! Anyway, this is better than William Hung or that Ken Lee song. Check it out!

Learning Guitar to Get Laid

2009-05-10T17:59:00.003+08:00

This is a must watch ! Don't say I didn't share good thing with you..

Looking back at myself, let me check whether I commit those "skills" that were mentioned in the video..

1. Pick in the wallet - Check! (I even have 2 picks in the wallet somemore! Haha)

2. Learn to play 4 chords - Check! (I know more than 4 chords lah..)

3. Play the popular song - Check!

Wonderwall, sap sap sui.. Actually, I have a story to tell.. I learnt guitar when I was Junior 1 or 2. Then During Junior 3 in STTSS, you know some people they bring their guitar to school and you know, try to impress the girls with their guitar skills. Though they are not really good at it, I think I'm better. Anyway, back then the pop songs are like Robbie Williams - Betterman, and some other songs that I couldn't recall. Then the girls asked whether I can play Jay Chow - Qing Tian, then I was like qing what ? But back then without youtube or this video to teach me how to get laid, I took my own initiative to learn that song and voila ! Story ends.)

4. Muted string/ Tap the guitar - Sometimes.

If you don't know how to play guitar yet, just go out there and buy a Kapok guitar and watch this video and ~~act like you know how to~~ play guitar. Enjoy !

3DDP Section 13

2009-05-06T13:12:00.005+08:00

Ladies and gentlemen,

before I start my presentation, I would like to tell a joke.

Recently, Russian scientists dig 100m deep underground and found copper wire cable which dated 1000 years back. They conclude that their ancestors had been using copper wire cable to communicate over 1000 years ago.

Not to be outdone, the American dig 200m deep and found fiber optic cable which dated 1000 years back. They conclude that their ancestors had been using fiber optic cable to communicate over thousand years ago.

In Singapore, they dig 500m deep but found nothing. They conclude that their ancestors, for the past 1000 years, had been using Wireless technology.

Well, if you sleep during the class and you're unfortunately is my classmate.. well, watch out when I pull a prank on you..

Laugh at other groups since I've finish my presentation

What the ?! Watch movie somemore !

Sometimes we need to say goodbye

2009-04-30T11:50:00.005+08:00

Don't get me wrong though, I mean say goodbye to classmates.. Not that I quit blogging.. I've got good stuffs coming up..

iPick

2009-04-09T19:57:00.004+08:00

This pick is expensive because it has an i in the name. (just like all the apple products)

The purple pick is for playing bass with jazz style, the blue Ernie Ball is for acoustic guitar with nylon string, the black pick with curved is for playing bass with speed, and the small black one is for guitar.

I usually use the purple pick for bass and the black pick for guitar

The setup shot

Google Romance

2009-04-01T00:01:00.002+08:00

Good news for all the lonely people out there ! Behold the new Google Romance.

When you think about it, love is just another search problem. And we’ve thought about it. A lot. Google Romance™ is our solution.

Google Romance is a place where you can post all types of romantic information and, using our Soulmate Search™, get back search results that could, in theory, include the love of your life. Then we'll send you both on a Contextual DateTM, which we'll pay for while delivering to you relevant ads that we and our advertising partners think will help produce the dating results you're looking for.

With Google Romance, you can:

Upload your profile – tell the world who you are, or, more to the point, who you’d like to think you are, or, even more to the point, who you want others to think you are.

Search for love in all (or at least a statistically significant majority of) the right places with Soulmate Search, our eerily effective psychographic matchmaking software.

Endure, via our Contextual Dating option, thematically appropriate multimedia advertising throughout the entirety of your free date.

Testimonials :

User A: “Finally I’ve found my Soulmate! Thanks, Google Romance!”

User B: "I never thought I’d be writing an online dating testimonial. Until I met User A…”

Learn more: Take the Tour, Press Release, FAQ.

Top ten things to do during Earth Hour

2009-03-24T13:56:00.004+08:00

In Sabah, especially during the 90's, thanks to our dearest Lembaga Letrik Sabah, we as Sabahan did the earth hour thing like every month, and we didn't kaypoh, we didn't create a website specially for earth hour, we didn't ask some artists and celebrities to do advertisements on tv about it. And the thing is, we usually did it for more than 1 hour. Then if the next day we have to pass up homework, we can just give this excuse - blackout, teacher.

Anyway, jokes aside (it's quite true anyway), the L-oh-rama in support of the earth hour, will switch off the light for one hour from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm. But then I know loads of people who can't even survive 5 minutes of blackout and then go on to call the YB, the electricity company then complain in their blog and write in to newspaper.

Well, for one hour, this Saturday 28 Mac 2009, 8.30 pm if you care enough for this earth, then switch off the light for one hour. Then you ask, what can I do without the light ? Well, lucky enough for you, The L-oh-rama have some tips, not those lame get a flashlight and read a book tips (hello, it's not like you can read a book anyway), tips for you to make that one hour a fun-in-the-bun time.

So, here's the top ten things to do during Earth Hour:

10. Eat all those ice-cream in your freezer, it's gonna melt anyway.

9. Dig out your guitar for an acoustic music night, practise without looking at your hands. Oh, singing is optional, even if you sing out of tune, nobody will know it's you.

8. Reject the idea, string yourself in Xmas lights, and walk around as a glowing sculpture.

7. Play Tetris or Snake on you handphone until your thumbs hurt.

6. Write your deepest secret in dark.

5. Don't forget fitness. Practise naked yoga.

4. Build a fortress out of cushions and blankets (DON'T take candles inside!)

3. Gather a few friends and tell ghost stories.

2. Go to bed early. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.

and the No.1 ...

1. Consider getting some help if the results of No.2 only took one minute.

There you go, the top ten tips for you to do during the Earth Hour, I hope you'll have fun-in-the-bun. (While saving our Earth, don't forget that too.)

Free to Fall

2009-03-21T19:07:00.004+08:00

In case you thought that I won 500k GBP and then went on to vacation and abandon my blog, NO. Anyway, I want to talk about some local indie band. Okay, I want you to imagine an all girl band.. What's the first thing that came to your mind ? Male audiences would be inevitably drawn by that strange attraction they have for guitar-slinging girls; while female audiences often supported girl bands for the sense of empowerment they give in breaking into the beer-guzzling, masculine world of rock.

Not Spice Girl you moron.. They play their own instruments, 1 drum, 2 electric guitars, 1 bass, 1 keyboard. They are called Free to Fall.

Free to Fall consists of Jane C - Vocal/keyboard, Adeline (i call her les paul, because of the guitar she's using.. haha) - Lead guitar/backing vocal, Yin Har - Lead guitar 2, Jane S - Bass/backing vocal, and Ker Shin - Drums.

Recently they won the Malaysia Revival Songwriting Competition which their song is awesome. Go check it out at their myspace.

This is the songwriter cum bassist where she play a 5-string bass which I think is like 5 tonne and singing at the same time. Kinda reminds me of Paul McCartney of The Beatles, though he's a lefties.

This photo might be valuable one day

She is the drummer which based on her body size, you wouldn't have guess it. But she plays some good beat though.

Support your local band. Go check them out.

Look , I won 500,000 GBP !

2009-03-10T10:11:00.005+08:00

One fine day, as I was checking my mail, suddenly I came across an e-mail from Visa Card / Msn International Mega Jackpot..

What's that ? I've won 500,000 Great Britain Pounds. My goodness.. I'm RICH ! And to think that I didn't even own a Visa card. So, I just have to fill in a few details about myself..

___________________________________________________________________
===================================
CONTACT CLAIMS ADMINISTRATOR
===================================
NAME: Mr.David Fernando
Email: vcard.team2009@hotmail.co.uk

Visa Card® / Msn® Promotion Department
Do email the above Claims Administrator, at once with all the claims
requirements below.To avoid unnecessary delay.They are needed to proceed.
Claims Requirements:

1. Full Name: Lawrence The Great
2. Address: Beside Paris Hilton's house, Beverly Hills 90210, US of A.
3. Nationality: Earth
Sex: 10 (if you watched Mr. & Mrs. Smith you'll get this..)
4. Age: 18
Date of Birth: 31st Feb 1887
5. Occupation: FBI secret agent, bedroom rockstar
Martial Status: SYL (single, young & loving)
6. Cell Phone: 010-001010011
7. State of Origin: Sabah bah..
Country: Boleh land
8.Winning No: No. ONE
Email Ref No: I know nothing about this.. YOU tell me..

PROCEEDURES / RIGHTS AND PRECAUTIONS
Kindly indicate your payment option and Contact the Claims Administrator
with all your claims requirements well filled @
vcard.team2009@hotmail.co.uk
*Mode of Payment*
(i).Bank Transfer
(ii).Delivery of Prepaid Visa card® Valued 500,000.00GBP by a registered
Courier Company.

Cheers,
Secretary,(Mrs.Dora Lazmon)
Visa Card® / Msn® Mega Jackpot
2008 - 2009 Microsoft Corporation.All rights reserved

__________________________________________________________________

So, the Visa Card company don't even have their own email address ? I mean the multi-national credit card company have to sign up with hotmail for a free email address ? What the fish..

Ok.. this is obviously a scam.. And I feel like making fun of this thing while at the same time, teach all the innocent people out there who thought there is such thing as "free lunch" in this world.. As much as I want to send this "Winning claim" to them and see what are they gonna reply me, but I got many things to get busy with such as assignments, and practicing the songs for prom night. Oh, me with my unimates might perform at proms which ironically is other uni's prom night. Don't worry, we will not play my song.. haha..

Artsy Fartsy : Broken VW

2009-03-05T17:45:00.001+08:00

Project Writever : Random screeshots

2009-02-28T00:15:00.001+08:00

For the past few weeks, I've been listening to the Rolling Stones top 500 songs of all time and The Beatles especially to find some new inspiration. It's hard for me to get new inspirations for making new songs when listening to some pop crap people produce nowadays. Anyway, one fine day, as I was watching some live Beatles performance in black and white in youtube, I came across some stupid comments. Refer to the screenshot that I've attached to see the moronic act that I said.

Well, it's well known for a fact that youtube commenter are bunch of idiots.

Anyway, moving on, on another fine day, I came across some live and death moment.. in my messenger..

Last but not least, I've composed and recorded a song (in my own self-made "studio" and some borrowed guitar). Now, I need some honest comments and opinions, so please check out my song at http://www.myspace.com/luminarytone .

Good day, mate ! (hmm.. why suddenly all british slang, must be influenced by the beatles..)

Because our head is full of ohms law

2009-02-26T03:36:00.001+08:00

Been busy with tests and stuffs, and I couldn't connect to photobucket. So gotta do with the blogger default image upload thingy. Here's some photos with my course mates.

Valentine is overrated

2009-02-16T18:43:00.001+08:00

On the eve of valentine's day, I was eating at mamak stall at wangsa maju, and there were loads of people going around asking couples to buy roses. Then I saw a couple sitting at the mamak eating then the flower seller came and ask the boyfriend to buy a rose for his gf. Then, he bought it and gave to his gf. I mean, mamak, roses, valentines, something's wrong with this combination. And mind you they were selling the flowers around rm 12 which is a mark up of 400%. Anyway, I went out with some friends over the weekend and here are some random photos.

Then after Nelson left, and eph with xian went their own way, while having dinner with syaiful, we were talking about this former schoolmate of us who were in the FHM dec issue cover. Then suddenly someone walk over to our table. Guess what, it was her.

Rock on !

p.s. all the photos are here --> click me.

25 things I dont want to know about you

2009-02-13T04:52:00.000+08:00

If you noticed lately in facebook, people were tagged to write a note about 25 random things about you, then they have to tag another 25 people, so it's like a pyramid scheme where in no time, pinky and the brain would have conquered the world. Anyway, here are some of the things that I compiled from random people who posted about 25 things about them which I couldn't care less.

1. I don't think I am pretty (some teenagers probably..)

2. I think my friends are really pretty

3. I think i am crazy

4. I talk to myself. alot. too much sometimes.

5. Secretly want to throw explosives into Yeoh's house.

6. Has the weirdest mood swings.. Not just weird.. Terrible!

7. My imaginary friend says hi.. =9 (say hi to him/her for me..)

8. I can be drunk just drinking Cola, no joke.

9. Asparagus is really gross because it makes your pee smell badd. (good to know)

10. Feels that Love confuses people and misguides them. But it compensates with having the perfect person for your heart. (yes it confused people and Lawrence is confused and compensate it by writing this but it makes Lawrence more confused)

11. has a laptop named jamie and an ipod named oliver aka ollie. just because i think jamie oliver the chef is hott

12. loves her friends to death. and would shoot the person who ever tries to hurt them.

13. has a giraffe plush toy that i call captain shortieee.
14. I was 86kg at June 2006.

15. I like to tape my thumbs to my hands to see what it would be like to be a dinosaur.

16. Writing 25 random things of myself is somehow too less, I can write more. (oh please, for pete's sake, DONT)

17. I'm still waiting for Digimon season 6.

18. Actually, I do love swimming. I just hate to be seen in a swimsuit.

19. There was a time when I used to hate looking into the mirror.

20. I was fat in middle school. The wake of that horror has yet to subside.

21. I can't grow hair on my arms.

22. Dolphins are cute.

23. I cried when Spock died in Star Trek II.

24. Sometimes I think pee smells like Cheerios.

And the best for the last..
1-25 : I dont know myself :-D

The best way to make money online

2009-02-10T00:02:00.000+08:00

You know how people usually said that "oh, you can earn easy money from the internet" and "you know ah, I got a friend who got 3000 USD every month doing "internet business.."" and stuffs like that especially now in the midst of recession, where people look for part time job/business everywhere. Sit tight ladies and gentlemen, let us see one by one what's the best way to earn money.

Create a blog then earn money from advertising - not really plausible. Unless you're as famous as Kennysia, or as bitchy as XiaXue, or as ~~plasticky~~ beautiful as Dawn Yang, I dont think you can earn much from blogging. According to Newton's 3rd law of motion, in every force applied, there'll always an opposite force. In simple english, once you're famous, there'll always be someone who's jealous and try to tarnish your image.

Spam mail - Epic fail. Unless you can create some story better than "His majesty Prince Sarkozy of Migeria died and you're his next-of-kin. Once you've wired some faith money into an oversea bank account, then you'll inherit his kingdom, his canoe and his plumpy young wife." Oh, and you can get caught and throw into jail as well.

Pyramid Scheme/Multi-Level-Marketing - 99% fail. Unless you're the one starting it, or the second person to join and your face thickness is 3 inches, and you're ready to lose all your friends and families, then Maybe you'll get rich. But then by the time you're rich, you've lost all your integrity, respect and friends and families. Oh, and you might get caught and thrown into jail as well.

So then, what's the best way to earn money you say..

The BEST way to make money online is actually Teaching Other People How To Earn Money !

If you go to the Borders, MPH or any bookstores, under the "Investment" or "Finance" section (where you'll find the least hot chicks, the best place to find hot chicks in bookstore is in the "Fiction"and "Romance" section. But make sure their mother is not around. Oh crap, A.D.D. kicks in. Okay, let's get back to our main topic).

Under the "Investment" or "Finance" section, you'll find a lot of books entitled "How to make money.." written by someone in his late 20's wearing a suit one size bigger than their own size, saying how they get to retire at the age of 29 by doing business online. Well, I suspect most of their income come from the book sales. (No, I didn't buy those books, I just read it in the bookstore, yeah, I'm a cheapskate like that.)

It's like the Gold Rush 150 years ago, everyone thought that there lots of gold beneath the land. So, a lot of people rush to dig and dig and dig. But they didn't make any money because there isn't much gold to start with, they were just imagining it, they were just dreaming.

Guess who made the most money back then ? The people who sold these dreamers the digging tools. Now the same thing is happening again, it's really hard to dig money from the internet, but it is easier to sell the "digging tools" to the greedy people that want to make money online. A google search will get you to thousands of books and courses sold online that teach you to "Make money online".

So, now you know the best way to make money online, so go out there and break a leg (literally).

Rain

2009-02-06T00:02:00.001+08:00

One thing about Malaysia is, you can get really hot weather in the morning, then in the afternoon, it's raining cats and dogs. And the thing about kay ell, when it's raining, all the roads jam, practically grid lock. Because of flood, banjir, sui zhai, whatever it's called in other languages. Yeah, the capital city of Malaysia flooded each time it's raining for few hours. Really Malaysia Boleh.

Anyway, I was out the other day and it was raining chickens and ducks. Lucky that I've got my deessluurr and my water-resistant bag, and I was able to capture some street photography.

@ Pavillion

CNY @ Tony Roma's

2009-02-03T05:37:00.003+08:00

The usual suspects, Wilson, Kegan and Nelson (pic below). Kelvin didn't come because of food poisoning.. haha..

Nelson. Here is him giving a piece of his chicken to his brother. Everyone says "aww.."

There was this Indian Tony Roma's staff, came to us with 4 bottles of different sauce, then said a lot about the sauces in very thick Indian accent, while doing this smiley with the 4 different sauces, the only word that I understand was "spicy" and "sauce", the smiley was nice though.

Artsy-fartsy photo is a must

Then after lunch we watched Underworld:Rise of the Lycans. Not too bad, I rate it 7/10.

Chinese New Year

2009-01-28T01:45:00.002+08:00

The year of ~~xoxo, gossip girl~~ Ox.

Eating yee sang

Scoop it up, then put it back down. While simultaneously saying something good like "prosperity, good health, good business, blah blah blah.."

Although it tasted a bit weird (it was raw), still, everyone finish it.

Celebrate with course mate

Oh, got myself a black leather shoe, and it kinda looks like the LV leather shoe minus the holes. Of course, this one is cheaper by a mile.

Happy Niu Year everyone !

Youth 09 - Indie label fashion show

2009-01-22T12:35:00.001+08:00

After the battle of the band, there was fashion show showcasing a few local and some Indonesian designers.

Then there was a break and these 2 kids come up the stage and perform. They were playing music by using those nintendo (the old skool one, not the touch screen), it sounds like techno+super mario theme song kinda tunes. You know what I mean.

The kid in red was so hilarious, he was head-banging, like so damn high, then his spectacle flies. Then the crowds like roaring (I think sarcastically), and he was like can't see anything. Then he tried to cover his kemaluan (embarrassment), he head-bang even harder.

Anyway, the fashion show then continued.

That's all for Youth 09 !

Youth 09 - Battle of the band

2009-01-20T03:10:00.002+08:00

In the Youth 09, there was battle of the band where majority of the bands participating played hard rock/metal. One thing about this battle of the band was, I think the place was too big. It kinda lost it's original essence. In my opinion, BOTB or any gigs, it's usually hot, crowded, small, but that's gig. My friends participated and they were playing on friday, but I didn't go because I dozed off in my room. What kind of friend am I ? Anyway, as I was saying, in this BOTB, (according to my friends) there was no judges or whatsoever. Lucky I didn't go for Sunday session.

The stage, see how big the "garage" ? The audience was so far away.. No feel lah like this..

Out of many bands participating, this one was particularly good.. See, they have a keyboardist, unlike other where all you can hear is distorted guitar sound..

Vocalist's voice was good as well..

Light and shadow

Then there was this big canvas and marker pens that anyone can write down lyrics, doodles, feelings, or secret. Accidentally, I found this one :

After the BOTB, it was fashion show from indie labels.. As expected, quite a lot of leggings like those on Lookbook.

Crystel

and her younger sister, Chloe

Youth 09

2009-01-18T05:05:00.001+08:00

Last week I attended youth 09 @ PWTC which was an event for all the young people out there who has nothing to do on weekend. Okay, maybe not. Maybe the organizers have more noble cause for our lovely country, Malaysia (yeah right..).

Some "celebrities" came and made some lame jokes..

Shake it baby.. shake it..

I joined a photography competition where the contestants will be given a theme then in 30 mins, they have to come back and upload only 5 photos to be judged (which means NO photoshop). The format of the competition was like in FIFA world cup, you know, 1 vs 1, then the winner proceed to the next round. And the thing is, most of the contestants were carrying their Deessluurr with flash and accessories like Arnold Schwarzdontknowhowtospell carrying his machine guns in Terminator 3.

Something like this..

The theme on the 1st round was RED.

I passed the 1st round, then the theme for round 2 was ACTION.

Passed 2nd round again. Then at the booth where we checked the result, I overheard somebody with HUGE deessluurr like I've described above checking his result, then turns out he didn't get pass 2nd round. I overheard him saying something like "hmm.. my opponent must be as good as me.." hmm.. I dont know, maybe bigger camera with accessories hanging around does NOT equal to great photos.

For 3rd round, the theme is TASTE. I was like so confident and rushing to this stall that I know sell some cupcakes where I bought a cupcake then shoot it. But then I didn't get through to the next round. (hmm.. I think my opponent is as good as me lah.. haha..)

Cosplayers with graffiti wall..

Cosplayers cam-whoring..

Some testimony from 8TV presenter..

Dude, where should I pee ?

2009-01-14T00:00:00.003+08:00

It never fails to amaze me when I use a public toilet and find guys who still do not know the proper urinal etiquette. This unspoken code of bathroom ethics has been passed from generation to generation, yet some men are still ignorant of it and break this code from time to time. But fret not, here at The L-oh-rama, I will teach you these etiquette for the sake of scruffy.

Where

This may come as a surprise to some people, but which urinal a man chooses when he goes into a toilet makes a world difference. Let's imagine with me for a while, if in a toilet there is only a man using it in the stall A and there are 4 stalls. Then, came a man who directly proceed to do his business in stall B. Well, it's a well-known fact that using a urinal next to another man when you don't absolutely need to means you want to have "intimate relationship" with him. If this isn't your intention, sit tight and keep reading.

For example, if a toilet has 4 stalls and you're the only person inside the toilet, you must choose the stall furthest from the entrance, next to a wall if possible, let's called this stall A. The next man who comes in must then choose the next available stall, keeping one stall in separation, which would be stall C. If a third man comes into the toilet while the other two is still using it, he must wait until stall A or stall C is available, unless it's a dire emergency.

In a worst-case scenario, one which you are forced to use a urinal next to one that is already occupied, you should always choose stall D to minimize the number of consecutive wangs.

Although the four-stall configuration is the one you'll most likely to encounter, a more general approach is necessary when using toilets with different configurations. A more convenient way to sort out this problem is to use a simple formula derived from the following sequence:

stall position = n+(n-1)
= 2n-1

e.g, You're in a toilet in a stadium where there are 10 urinal stalls, there are already 4 people using the stalls according to the rules as stated earlier. Which stall should you use ?

s=10, n=5

stall position = 2n-1
= 2(5) - 1
= 9

Therefore, you should use the 9th stall. Simple maths.

It's Beautiful up there

2009-01-11T06:12:00.002+08:00

At 30,000 feet, without annoying ringtones, crying babies. Bliss.

Fluffy clouds

Going through bad weathers, which means turbulence which I kinda enjoy

Went out of the bad weathers and clear sky once again

I think this is near Port Dickson

The river totally made this photo rocks

As the old saying, "Takeoff is optional, landing is necessary."

I have like tons of photos from youth 09, I'll blog about it soon with all the photos. In the meantime, here's one for you..

NYE at home

2009-01-08T14:53:00.002+08:00

I spent my New Year's Eve at home, pathetic ? Not really, it wasn't that bad after all. One thing about New Year's Eve, as KinkyBlueFairy puts it "It’s always crowded, jammed, and basically the night - people who don’t usually party ALL go out to party." Thank God the view from my hostel overlook KLCC and the surrounding (and some electric cables). So, when the clock ticked at 12 am, I just grab my deesluurr (my pronunciation for DSLR) and shoot some fireworks.

Then during the next day just before dusk, I saw this scene which looks like something that you see in those movie about doomsday and such.

The Parable of Football and ISP

2009-01-06T10:15:00.000+08:00

Project Write ever, is another project of L-oh-rama where I will write something really random whether it's something to do with real life or just pure fiction. I hope it can sharpen my writing skills and my command of English. I also hope that this will last for some time, and not just another "hot hot chicken shit"(hangat-hangat tahi ayam) project.
____________________________________________________________________

The Parable of Football and ISP

The most famous sports in the whole wide world, football (or soccer to some) is very much like Internet Service Provider(ISP). You see, in football, the game is played by footballers passing the ball between players and the ultimate goal is to put the ball in the goal. On the other hand, ISP works the same way, it passes the data from one point to another until it reaches the user which is the purpose of the ISP.

In Malaysia, our football team sucks. Oh wait, our ISP sucks too. Slowmyx and Celcom 3G where in my case is the latter. Malaysia football team do not pass the ball quick enough or well enough, where the consequnce is the opponent gets the ball. Celcom 3G, do not transfer data quick enough or well enough where the consequence is the connection Disconnected every 5 minutes or so.

If you look at Malaysia football team, they were sponsored by Nike. The players were wearing Nike boots which were identical to Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo yet they didn't kick half as well as them. When you subscribe to Celcom 3G, they have this Cingular Sierra Wireless AirCard thingy which I think is some imported stuff. Yet it kept disconnected every 5 minutes or so. Great tools do not mean great playing skills or great service.

Malaysia football team receive quite some publicity. I remebered last time when they just launched their new Nike jersey, they had some big event going on in Bukit Bintang. And don't forget they are also the usual suspect in the local media. Nowadays, in every shopping mall that you visit, you will never miss some Slowmyx or Celcom 3G promoters offering this and that for a special price in limited time only, yet you see those promoters everyday. Big publicity does not mean great playing skills or great service.

So, the conclusion of this parable is Celcom 3G sucks. Malaysia football too. This new year, let's hope for better football team, and faster internet service.

KK from the air

2009-01-03T01:36:00.001+08:00

KK is indeed a beautiful place, in fact I think KK is underrated. It might not be the cleanest or the most efficient or whatever, but it's the people here, the islands, the sunset here, ~~hot chicks~~. Anyway, as I was saying, KK is a beautiful place with loads of ~~hot chicks~~ I mean with friendly people. I think it's better for me to cut the crap and just show you the pictures. (Beware : your geography knowledge will be tested kao kao.)

It all started at the airport (Of course lah, duh..)

Flying over the Terminal 2 and heading 23 deg North (runway heading)

Flying over the Tanjung Aru town, at bottom left you can see Tanjung Aru Plaza, Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Hotel at just below the wingtip

Banking left towards west. Are those corals down there ? They are oh-emm-gee so effingly awesomely beautiful. (Pardon my overdramatic caption, I guess I watched too much Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill)

Sutera Harbour on the middle to the bottom part of the picture, BKI (Kota Kinabalu Airport) at the middle right. Contrary to popular belief, there is only 1 runway (not 2) and 2 separate terminals, they both share one runway. Not that MAS get to use a highway-like runway and AirAsia use cement road. Haha. That would be Hilarious.

That's Crocker Range hiding behind those clouds

That 3 islands is called Tunku Abdul Rahman Park, which consists of 3 islands called Pulau Manukan, Pulau Mamutik, and Pulau Sapi. The ~~bitches~~ beaches there are effingly amazing.

That's all lah !

Adieu 2008, it's been nice knowing you

2008-12-31T22:12:00.002+08:00

Another 365 days has just passed, and looking back it feels like the time is like a jetplane carrying all the memories away and move away really fast..

I'm gonna be 22 in 2009, yet I still feel like a kid, buying some sweets and pisang goreng by the road side..

Looking back at 2008, there are loads of things that I've done and even more things that I haven't done.. yet. But the journey continues, it never stops..

Along the journey, I've encountered loads of things that sometimes shocking..

Sometimes rewarding..

While along the journey, I've also met loads of new people..

Wrote my own song..

From now on, for the new year, everyone deserves a new start, and there is only one way..

To chase my dream..

To learn to take risk, even though I'll get hurt in the process..

Or get busted..

But I believe in the end, the journey is the destination..

Many ways to do with a one way sign

2008-12-30T10:22:00.000+08:00

It's Christmas day and I found a one-way sign in my church compound. So, what do you think a typical narcissist will do with it ? Camwhore.

Look ! I've found a wallet.

Jump !

This is 1Borneo. Parking was pain in the ass. Had to park at Alammesra and walk through this "desert".

People always leave...

Now that I'm in KL, gotta change my slang

Simulate Semenanjung slang.. haha..

Christmas at Gaya Street part 2

2008-12-27T00:12:00.001+08:00

The third night of christmas at gaya street was okay. Though boring at times. It was quite a huge difference from last year. Anyway, photos.

There were even more people on the third day

There was this christmas deco with baby Jesus, Joseph, Mary, 3 wise men and a few ~~lame~~ lambs

Merry Christmas Everyone !

Merry Christmas 2008 and Happy New Year !

2008-12-24T14:22:00.002+08:00

This Christmas,

This guy,

Gene Autry (1907-1998)

collaborate with this guy

Lawrence L (1987-present)

and
This is the result
(you gotta listen to this)

Christmas at Gaya Street

2008-12-24T13:30:00.002+08:00

Each year at KK we have a christmas celebration at gaya street where people can come together watch some performances and jalan-jalan along the gaya street to buy some foods or some china imitation LV bags. Anyway, it was held over 3 nights, which I only went for the 2nd and 3rd night. The 2nd night was oh-emm-gee. Damn Boring with a capital B. It was all boring chinese christmas carol songs. The previous year was awesome so maybe I was over-expecting, or maybe they were just plain boring. So, I only took photos of the decorations.

This is gaya street with all the stalls selling variety of items

What's Christmas without christmas tree and lights right ?

To quote from a chinese proverb, "people mountain people sea"

Loves the light and the bokeh

A lantern and an angel

Merry Christmas everyone !

It's Christmas Season

2008-12-15T23:05:00.002+08:00

It's that time of the year again, it's the Christmas season where all the malls will be decorated with shiny and twinkling christmas lights and huge christmas trees. So, here are some photos of decorations from 1Borneo.

1Borneo kinda feels like MidValley.. hmm..

I think the theme is something to do with fairytales and wonderland.

Loads of fairies..

Fake depth of field

Have a Merry Christmas everyone ! Hope you get what you wish for from santa, or anybody.

Road trip part 2

2008-12-08T01:23:00.001+08:00

Sekumpulan kawan-kawan ingin melihat proboscis monkey dan kelip-kelip di Klias, Beaufort, maka mereka pun pergi ke Beaufort untuk menikmati keindahan alam semulajadi. Bak kata pepatah, sebuah foto bernilai seribu perkataan, maka biarlah foto-foto yang "bercakap".

Okay, seriously that sounded really like"straight translations". Anyway, here's the photos.

We have to walk some distance to get to the place which is called Klias wetland

Guess what ?! They have a satellite in the middle of the mangrove forest

This is the place where we hang out while waiting for time for our boat ride and eat. Oh, we were offered drinks and kuih muih during tea time and dinner as well which is included in the fees.

This is the fresh water river where we went for monkeys and fireflies sighting. And that's the boat which we used

It kinda looks like a scene from those movie like "Anaconda", or any movies with huge crocodiles and snakes

Breath-taking scenery

I love sunset, especially sunset at Sabah

Here comes the monkey

"(shouting) Eh ! Tu the monkeys there ! Where ?! Where got oh ?!" Then the next moment...

The monkey flew off.. This photo is not "photoshopped", the monkeys were really quick and this was an "accidental exposure"

Proboscis monkey in action

This is a firefly.. which the photo i found on the world wide web

The fireflies were awesome, they were blinking synchronously on the trees and it makes it looks like a christmas tree decorated with christmas lights. If you want to see a photo of fireflies here, I'm afraid I have to disappoint you. Either my camera or my skill limit me from capturing those beautiful blinking fireflies. But I guess this is one of those stuffs that you can't experience it just by looking at photos, you need to experience it yourself to feel the real deal.

Price : We were quoted RM 80 per person by the agency which includes boatride for monkeys and fireflies sightseeing, tea time and dinner (which was really good). But when we arrived at the location, we were quoted RM 55 and further reduction to RM 50 as we were in a group.

Here's the "nature lover" gang.. haha..

Road trip part 1

2008-12-04T21:10:00.001+08:00

What happened when a bunch of friends want to create a blog together-gether ? Well, the Monkeyz n Monyetz blog was created. Then, what happened when a bunch of friends went for a hunt for monkeys and fireflies ? They go for a road trip.

So, the plan was like this, we depart just before noon to Beaufort to eat the "Beaufort mee" which according to my friend is really famous and tasty. So, off we go !

From KK to Beaufort

A dramatic change of scene from the usual hectic and polluted city scenery

River ! erm.. more like a river polluted with poo.. LOADS of poo..

Eh ! Cow oh ! So sakai lah we all

Then we stopped at a roadside stall to buy some drinks

If you think only LA has the golden gate bridge, well, we have it here in Sabah

This one is at Beaufort, and it was raining cats and dogs and elephants there..

Some artsy-fartsy shot out of the car window

Then we arrived at Beaufort just in time for lunch, guess what's the first thing that we saw..

Flood ! And we were shouting like sakai and jakun inside the car like we've never saw a flood before.. haha..

That was a saloon on the left hand side and a tailor on the right hand side of the green building

This is Beaufort

Then we went for lunch at a kopitiam

This is the infamous Beaufort mee

They have some tall "structure" as well

Of course, I never forget to JUMP !

AK 5110

2008-11-28T23:23:00.000+08:00

AK 5110 is a flight no. of mine which should depart from KUL at 7pm which just in time for me to capture sunset from 30,000 feet. But then, the ehem-ehem airline retimed the flight to 10.30 am which means flat out sky (photographically speaking). Anyway, I took some photos because I can't sleep onboard, you know, I have ADD.

The early bird

Speeding on the runway at the speed of 140+ knots. That was the observation hill which is only commonly known to avid plane spotters.

Soon, the compressed metal tube took off

Flying over Kota Warisan

At flight level 330 or 33,000 feet. The cloud was just awesome

During may and jun this year, I took a freelance work for TuneHotels KK. And here it is published in the AirAsia inflight magazine.

There was less than 100 people onboard (full capacity is 180), so I got the whole row for myself

Trying to take some artsy fartsy photo

I'm still perfecting the art of camwhoring at the toilet mirror

I wrote about putting advertisement on the overhead bin in the plane before, guess what, AirAsia has already started putting advertisement.. in front of the passenger's face, literally..

Running around and snapping some photos

That's Sibu for you, at least according to the co-pilot

This one I'm sure it's Labuan, the land where the car, chocolate and booze are super cheap

Descending and preparing for landing

The new KKIA terminal at the right and the soon to-be (oh wait, it's already been) demolished old terminal

Using the airbrake to stop at my lovely hometown.. Home sweet home..

Roman Holiday part 2

2008-11-21T03:03:00.001+08:00

Right after I arrived at KLIA, the first place I visit was the Anjung Tinjau of course ! The first thing I saw at the tarmac...

The lonely boy..

Then I managed to capture my favourite aircraft, Boeing 777 which was preparing for a long haul flight to somewhere.. This photo managed to tell the story of how busy the ground crew were preparing the aircraft before it can leave the ground.

The triple 7 started the pushback.. In case you are wondering whether aircraft can go-a-stern (common joe pronounced it gos-stan) or commonly known as reverse, NO it can not. It's always being pushed by a small tow-truck.

Ready to face the world, the economy recession, the global warming, bla bla bla...

KLIA night view

Then I turned the focus knob to manual and turn everything out-of-focus, and guess what I get ?

It kinda reminds me of the gossip girl entry frame..

Roman Holiday

2008-11-21T02:11:00.001+08:00

Each time during the end of Nov, Lawrence will go back to his hometown which is the lovely town (or city? I'm not sure) of Kota Kinabalu. For your information, Kota Kinabalu is in Sabah and Sabah is in Malaysia. AND Singapore is NOT Malaysia. Anyway, it all started with the packing, which in the past I've spent around 3 hours to pack my stuffs and wondering whether I need to bring this and that back. Which in the end I ended up paying blood-sucking airline for overweight baggage. So, this time I'm determined to pack light and hopefully will not be charged with overweight baggage.

My table before packing and clearing up

My table after packing and clearing up, the time taken was only 1 hour! Hooray for Lawrence!

Then off I go to KL Sentral to take bus to KLIA to spend a night there admiring those huge metal tubes, and the colourful runway lights. There I was in the bus, with my camera, and a few passengers sitting in front, so what will Lawrence do ?

Camwhore! The emo look

The crazy-face look which the camera refused to focus on me

The checking-out-the-girl-across-the-aisle look

Long exposure shot on the way to airport

Will be continued...

p.s. : This post was written in KLIA using KLIA wifi and KLIA's electricity. haha..

p.p.s. : The title of this post "Roman Holiday" was inspired by the movie Roman Holiday.

C3 @ CHC

2008-11-19T04:42:00.001+08:00

The band CCC or C3 or Christian City Church from Australia came to CHC KL for a one night only concert. So, I do not want to miss out this chance, I took my camera and off I went with Vincent. Well, I didn't take much photos, but I somehow managed to press the shutter a few times, so I can post to my blog. The concert was awesome, Joe Pringle (worship leader) has really great voice. 2 hours felt like really short, but I guess when you are enjoying, the time felt like flying past you by at Mach 2. Anyway, here are some photos..

Don't you feel it looks like the iTunes, iPhone, iTouch interface ?

Joe Pringle the worship leader

The guitarist

The stage

That's all !

Album art designed by me

2008-11-14T11:55:00.000+08:00

This is my attempt at designing an album cover.

I personally think it's quite nice.

Light show - Jason Lo

2008-11-12T11:38:00.002+08:00

In the midst of the exam season, I managed to deviate my attention and playing around with the virtual light controller. I realised that the last time I was daydreaming when I made a light show for Coldplay - Yellow and I expect they will hire me to become their lighting designer for their next world tour.. who are you kidding lawrence ?

Anyway, this time I put my attention into something local, nearer, and realistic than Coldplay. This time, I made the light show for Jason Lo with his song, "Operator the line is dead". I hope Jason Lo will start making music again, and do some tour or concert, and he can hire me as his concert lighting designer. Hehe.. Oh yeah, here's the video, enjoy!

________________________________________________

On another note, I found an indonesian band which got me hooked now, the band is called Alexa. This is one of their song, called Jangan Kau Lepas. The music video is quite amazing I have to say (compared to those of Malaysian artists,ugrh..), and quite touching near the end where the old man was playing violin to the photo of his wife. That just makes you go "ohh.."

Random updates

2008-11-07T04:12:00.002+08:00

Being in the final exam season, the thing that REALLY distract your attention the most is the computer (and facebook). In order for me to concentrate on my studies, I put a really cool wallpaper on my computer (by cool i mean really potong stim kinda wallpaper).

On another note, I've finished recording a song, on my computer using Acoustica Mixcraft. It's a really great software for indie artists. What happens next, she will decide.

The best has yet to come

2008-11-03T23:20:00.001+08:00

Been busy lately, thus the lack of updates. However, I can assure you that better things have yet to come..

Been busy doing some recording of my own song, oh, and the final exam too.

Now The L-oh-rama is a clothing line

2008-10-27T02:15:00.003+08:00

Now, Lawrenz Loh has his own clothing line (one more thing to strike off on the to-do-list before you die) which is called The L-oh-rama. It's already up on sale now here.

Let me introduce to you my first few pieces of "artwork". First in line we have Retro Love fitted T-Shirt. Design based on the theme "Retro Love" which carried the classic retro elements such as the retro colours. For stylish weekend comfort anytime, this classic style is sure to impress even the most discerning t-shirt connoisseur. Made in the US of A.

Front

Back

Next we have The "L" golf shirt. Comfortable, lightweight yet stylish. Suitable for casual wear whether it's for a round of 18-holes on the golf course, or just simply to chill out and be cool. Throw a blazer over for country club mingling. The attractive "L" design sure is an eye-catcher and give a good first impression to anyone, anywhere.

"L" golf shirt

For those who speak of uniqueness, this is a must-have on your list. Introducing Fallen Angel Ringer T. Design inspired from the movie City of Angels.

Front

Back

Of course, we (which means only me) at The L-oh-rama do not forget to cater the women market. Introducing the Retro Love Women's Tank Top. Sporty and sexy, wear our women's tank top to beat the summer heat or workout in cool comfort.

For more products, head on to The L-oh-rama couture.

Around The L-oh-rama

2008-10-23T20:07:00.002+08:00

I've just updated the labels for the posts in my blog, so that it'll be easier for you to find specific categories. Here you go :

If I have Amnesia
In case I've got amnesia in the future, you gotta remind me and bring me to read all these posts so I can recover my memories.

Artsy-Fartsy Foto-Grafi
This is just a showcase of ~~how talented Lawrenz is~~ some artsy-fartsy photos.

Talk Cock Sing Song
Posts which I write about anything and sometimes I might include some nice songs.

Laugh (even though you don't think it's funny)
Funny and sarcastic posts

Happenings
No, it's not some paranoid thriller showing in the cinema. It's some events that I've managed to attend whenever I managed to move my butt.

30 000 feet
Posts about the aviation industry, photos from aircraft spotting under the hot sun..

You suck at Photoshob
You know you suck at photoshop, because I'm awesome. That's why I took some time to teach you photoshob so you won't be so suck at photoshob.

Politikus
Posts about the ever entertaining circus cum politics in the democratic country of Bolehland.

Have fun reading The L-oh-rama.

If Coldplay come to Malaysia

2008-10-19T00:15:00.001+08:00

Let's say if someday Chris Martin tells his band members, "hey, we gotta try the nasi lemak at Kuala Lumpur (pronounced with heavy British accent), and we can do a concert there to cover our flight tickets and the nasi lemaks by charging them ticket ranging from RM 150 to RM 600. Heck, I think the money is even enough for us to buy some Bentley. So, what do you guys think ?"

Well, if Coldplay decided to have a concert at Malaysia, and you can't afford the astronomical ticket price, then you are lucky that you are reading The L-oh-rama, because you still can enjoy the concert (NO, I'm not giving away any free tickets) by watching the light show that I created. If all things go well, I might even be the lighting engineer for their ACTUAL concert. Haha. Anyway, here's the light show, Yellow from Coldplay.

"There's no excuse not to watch this video, please you know, if you watch this video I'll buy you an ice cream."

My second light show

2008-10-12T03:00:00.001+08:00

Here come my second light show. Song by Fall Out Boy - Sophomore Slump or comeback of the year. Video length is only 1 min 18 sec. Video is quite laggy. I personally think that this light show is comparable to those light show during Coldplay's concert (if not better) especially on the latter part of the video.

Time spent creating light show : 3 hours 30 minutes
Time spent editing video and sound : 30 minutes
Satisfaction watching MY OWN designed light show : PRICELESS

My first light show

2008-10-11T12:55:00.001+08:00

Ok, here you go my first light show using the Daslight Virtual Controller 2. The hard part about making this is actually NOT about making the lightshow, but it's finding the proper software to capture the video. Anyway, the light show looks great on my computer, but in the video, it looks laggy and slow, I'm gonna keep looking for a better video capture program, but for the mean time, I'll just settle for this one.

Song : Jack's Mannequin - The Mixed Tape

This is better than The Sims

2008-10-09T23:40:00.002+08:00

For the last few days, I've been keeping myself busy with this software which is better than The Sims 2 or The Sims or whatever version they have. Like in The Sims, this software have 3D objects. But this software is a real thing, I mean professionals use it everywhere. Behold, the Daslight Virtual Controller 2.

When I went to concert that have loads of lighting rig, I was always amazed and intrigued with it. And I always wonder how they did it. But now, I can even create concert with amazing lighting in my own PC. How cool is that ?

It might looks complicated, but it's not once you get hold of it

After get hold of the software for a few days, I managed to create a little light show, but currently I only have a few screenshots to share. Once I got the video for my light show, I'll upload it here.

This was created with 16 LED Par64, and 9 moving heads. (I sound like a total geek here)

You can download the demo version of the software here. Demo version means you can do everything except connecting the REAL lighting rig to the PC.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

2008-10-04T01:11:00.001+08:00

People always say that life is like a movie, well I think it is. Except all those melodramatic scenes. Anyway, during the 2nd day of hari raya, I met up with a couple of my old friends from secondary school. Although it's not our complete forces(most of our forces are still in Australia and other places..), but it's a great time anyhow. People always say that a photo is worth a thousand word as well, so let the photos do the narration.

2005

2008

(L-R) Wilson, Kelvin, Nelson, Xian, Kegan, Lawrence

I've got a habit of adding bubble speech.. hehe..

Taken at the carpark at 1U.. haha..

2005

2008

Laura and Wilson, they were not in the carpark photoshooting.. haha..

One word to describe : kick ass.. ( i know that it's two words)

New Advertisement Idea

2008-09-30T23:05:00.000+08:00

You know whenever you take a flight, you ALWAYS have our carry-on luggage. And when you board the plane, the first thing you do is squeezing your luggage on the overhead bin. Well, I think what I'm gonna reveal next might make the world a worse place to live.

Since the oil price is very much a burden to aviation industry and there are a lot of airlines declaring bankruptcy, they really need to squeeze every cent of profits and cutting down every penny of expenditure. Well, fret not, Lawrence is here to save the day.

I guess since pretty much EVERYONE who board the plane whether voluntarily or involuntarily will look at the overhead bin at least TWICE per flight, then why not put some advertisements on the overhead bin ?

Like this..

But if you realised, that a lot of people love the window seat, usually people will stare out of their window and look into wing, and voila, there we have another advert spot.

What a beautiful.. day

And if you realised that there are a lot of aviation enthusiasts out there, they buy expensive camera and lens and go to airport (outside the terminal) under the hot sun to capture aircrafts landing and taking off. That's why Airliners.net exist. Under this circumstances, I say the airlines company can squeeze a few more penny by transforming an aircraft into a flying billboard.

Oh wait, AirAsia already did it..

This, is the latest flying billboard in Malaysia, what's with the nose and the "Your Choice Bank" ? Obviously somebody forgot to ON the spelling checker.. haha..

By the way, I want to wish Selamat Hari Raya to all who celebrate it.. I'm gonna miss the pasar ramadhan..

Is it okay for men to read CLEO ?

2008-09-21T02:12:00.003+08:00

It was during my secondary school period, where I did not go to tuition classes (I've never taken a single tuition class ever.. haha..) after school like everyone else. So, I have my whole afternoon for myself which I either sleep (most of the time) or read some magazines. Then, I found stacks of "girly" magazines with big wording "CLEO" and a beautiful lady on the cover. Beside the beautiful lady, there were loads of topics that caught my attention. I gotta admit that I'm a sucker at understanding women, relationship, commitment and stuffs like that, therefore I thought reading a women magazines will help me understand them better.

Before I wrote this post, I've conducted my own little survey using facebook chat and msn by asking my female friends "Is it okay for men to read CLEO ?".

This survey showed how popular CLEO is in Malaysia

Interviewing Xian

See, I told you so ! Even girls themselves think that (men) made that extra little effort to try to understand the women by reading CLEO.. haha..

I still remember when I was back in KK, during the first week of each month, I would ask my sister, "Eh, are you going to buy this month's CLEO ?" and then she will go "See lah, why ? You want to read is it ? You pay half lah !". Ok, that conversation is exxaggerated, she's not that mean.

Anyway, as I was saying, ALL of the women that I surveyed said that it was cool and okay to read CLEO magazine. You might be curious, what do men think about men who read CLEO ? Too bad, I did not go around and ask "Dude, recently I read this ~~shit~~ magazine called CLEO, what do you think about it ?" and then he will go "CLEO, what was that ?". So, I spare myself and my friends some hassles by not including them in the survey. Plus, who cares what they think anyway ?

When I was in form 5, I read this article in CLEO about how men are not sensitive to women which I forgot the exact title. In the article, it said that how men do not compliment women enough, and there was a line which goes something like this : "Your eyes are so round that I want to dive and swim in it". Being a naive teenager, I used the line on a girl, and guess what, it works ! That's where I know CLEO is a Godsend to me. Haha..

As I the survey has shown that CLEO is quite popular in Malaysia, thus I believe that I'm not the only one who read CLEO. And it's the 21st century, the line between men and women are diminishing, women can do what men can do, and I believe, men can read what women read too.

I want to thank all those people who have given your valuable opinions on this topic, until next time.. haha..

3 DDP Section 13

2008-09-16T20:37:00.002+08:00

Last week we were told to dress smart for a class photo shoot, I guess maybe because it was our final year, thus the need to take some memorial photo. haha.. Guess what, they charged RM12 for a 10x8 inch print, but for the sake of memory, I bought it anyway.

We took 3 formal shots and 4 candid shots, which at the time of writing, I've only got the formal shot. After the photographer finish doing his business, a friend of mine whipped out her camera and us being narcissist, we started doing our pose..

Hahaha.. ~~Lawrenz~~ Bender is Great !

Choki Choki

2008-09-11T02:25:00.001+08:00

If you are born in the 80's, growing up during the 90's, I guess this is something which make you go "Oh yeah, I remember that !" ~~or "Oh my God, Lawrence is so cool".~~ Anyway, what I'm talking about is those junk foods that you love to eat during your childhood time, which during that time you want to eat those as your breakfast, lunch, and dinner but then your parents restraint you from doing so.

I'm talking about Choki Choki. According to the official website, "Choki Choki Paste : Spread it on bread, spread it anywhere you like and spread the fun!". But then, as a kid who were growing up eating this junk food, I disagree. To get the best eating experience from Choki Choki, you need to :

1. Tear off the upper part
2. Put it in your mouth
3. Suck it
4. Then use your finger to push the rest of the chocolate paste upward toward the upper part
5. Enjoy the awesome taste of the chocolate paste inside your mouth

It's so tasty that I want to rename it "tasty-cle", but then I think again, never mind..

p.s. writing about this made me feels old..

If I were the President

2008-09-06T16:45:00.001+08:00

With Sept 16 approaching, the date for "takeover" by "someone" is near. So, I switch ON the genius switch (btw the genius switch has no OFF switch), wondering what would I do if I were the President (or Prime Minister) of Malaysia. I know a politician can not just good on talking cock, but must have substance as well (which sadly the current PM has none). Incidentally, I found a quiz on "If I were the President".

Being the President is indeed a tough job (yawn)

In this quiz, I've to choose 3 advisors which I chose a famous celebrity for her funding (no money no talk !), Will Treehugger aka Al-Gore, and Dr Teresa Thermometer (what a name).

The budget 2010 for Malaysia. I've got headache doing this, maybe the job of the President is indeed really hectic.

Anyway, here are some of the changes that I will make when I got into Putrajaya :

1. No Smoking in the public places. Smoking is NOT COOL and there are better ways to die than cancer/lung disease/heart disease.

2. Free iPod for everyone, so they can listen to it while using the ~~crappy~~ public transportation. And I will have podcast every week on The L-oh-rama ~~where I can spread my idealism~~ so people can download it and listen on their iPod.

3. Futurama every weekdays 8pm - 9pm on TV3. (that's right, no more bulletin utama)

4. The Simpsons every weekend 8pm - 9pm on TV3.

5. Siti Nurhaliza for The Vice President (Deputy Prime Minister).

6. Replacing the Finance Ministers with briefcase babes from "Deal or No Deal".

7. If AirAsia delayed your flight and the government biz jet is available - it's yours.

8. The option of rolling dice against the IRB (inland revenue board) for Double-or-Nothing on your taxes.

9. I will set up a royal commissioner to find out the truth in the Prison Break.

10. Rename the twelve month of the year Lawren-cember.

I guess that's all for the promises that I can ~~bluff~~ make for the time being, meanwhile keep looking out at the local newspapers, as you might bump into some article like this :

Please do the poll on the right hand side bar on whether you will vote for me or not. Thanks and have a nice day !

Emerge KL 08

2008-09-04T00:31:00.001+08:00

This is my first time participating in the Emerge conference and I've got to admit it's nothing short of awesome. I'm in the Local U cluster, where last year we've got no. 4 but this year, standing proud to become the overall runner-up.

Pastor Kong was awesome, as usual.

The Local U POS (Parade of School) team

The Local U POS (Parade of School) team with their crazy pose

With the bowling event leader, Hon Kiet, and my gold medal.. haha..

During one of the session, Petrina Fung Bo Bo (Hong Kong actress during the 60's) was giving her testimony on how she started acting at the age of 5, and all her life, she has no friend, and she had depression, at one point she even tried to commit suicide, where she said it's very common among the artists to have depression. Until she came to know God, where she felt His unfailing love and decided to follow Him.

MINT cluster, their POS won the gold medal and they are the overall champion as well. Local U was 2nd (overall) with only 3 golds difference !

Anyway, see you next year at Emerge 09 !

Some photos (which were not watermarked) are taken from Emerge KL Photo Gallery.

Emerge 2008 Talent Time

2008-08-31T03:33:00.008+08:00

Emerge 2008 so far was great, although I'm a bit tired, I'm a happy man. Anyway, the talent time was held yesterday. The talent time was divided into several category - vocal, song-writing, band, dance, and free style. Here are a few photos of a few bands that I really enjoyed.

The lighting was great as shown in this photo ( I forgot who's the performer here, haha )

Ambrosia (vocal : Joey) representing Local U cluster !

Hunter from VU cluster in the song-writing category. I really liked the song and I managed to find a video of Hunter performing his song during their semifinals.

This girl has really great vocal, she was competing in the vocal category

This guy was ultra-cool, during the entire song, he didn't even smile for a bit (vocal category)

Not forgetting some artsy-fartsy photo. Exposure 1 second (yeah I can hold my hand steady for 1 second)

At the time of writing, the winner hasn't been announced, it'll only be announced during the Emerge Grand Finale. Woohoo..

Dreaming of First class on the A380

2008-08-28T02:28:00.001+08:00

As an aviation nut, I bookmarked Airliners.net and check for "cool" photos on the site everyday. This week, I drooled over some interior shots of Emirates Airlines Airbus A380. The pictures of economy class are nice, but honestly who really likes economy class ? Frankly, I was having plane-gasm when I looked at those first class suites' photos.

For those aviation illiterate, A380 is the latest and BIGGEST double decker passengers airliners. Here are the photos :

This is Airbus A380 landing at JFK international airport, NY

The first class suite of Emirates A380(with the bed folded down)

Whenever I played Flight Simulator (on my pc), I usually leave it on autopilot while cruising and then go to take my bath, sleep or doing my chores. Well, before A380, whenever you are traveling long-distance, you have to sit down on your seat the entire time and the only thing that you can do is either sleeping, eating or watching some crappy in-flight movies. Let's say that you are a CEO of a multinational company and you forget to take your bath before your flight to New York, fret not, now you can take your bath in flight.

The bathroom for first class suite

The bar for first class passengers. I wonder how those stuffs gonna hold on during turbulence

The stairways to ~~heaven~~ the upper deck

Let's compare with ~~the little red dot airlines,~~ Singapore Airlines, which operates A380 as well.

Fish eye view of the first class suite of Singapore Airlines A380. No sex here please, we are Singaporean.

Double bed, checked, free flow of champagne, checked, BUT no sex allowed ! Only God knows what those Singaporeans were thinking.

Moving on, after being impressed by the Emirates Airlines A380, I decided to pay their website a visit.

The frontpage of Emirates website

So, I remember I have holiday during the month of November, so maybe I could travel to New York for two weeks ?

From Dubai (DXB) to New York(JFK) on the First Class

The price quoted was AED 36530.

Of course, they have this thing called currency converter which converts AED to MYR which showed RM 32081.

Then when I wanted to proceed to confirm my flight itinerary...

Dang, blame the Emirates IT team for their loss of RM 32081 worth of business deal.

How to improve the Olympics

2008-08-22T05:50:00.002+08:00

It's not that I do not like Michael Phelps or something, but it's just seems like something is wrong with the current Olympics. I mean, Michael Phelps got 8 gold medals from swimming alone while for soccer (the most popular sport in the world) the winner only get 1 medal for them to share between 11 guys (plus the reserve) ?

Anyway, do you want to know why Michael Phelps won so many golds ? Because it was all the same thing. It turns out that he can swim real fast when he swims one lap, two laps, four laps - alone, or when 3 other guys go right after him. You want to win multiple medals, fine, join another events. By another events I mean something other than swimming, like gymnastics or judo.

Photos from Mark J Rebilas (check out his site, damn artsy-fartsy olympic photos and great travel stories)

To improve the competitiveness of Olympics, the International Olympics Committee, IOC should introduce the "shame-dal", which is for the worst three athletes in each events. The country with the most "shame-dal" will be kicked out of U.N., stamped "loser" on the passport for the next 4 years wherever they go, lose any war they're currently waging(if any). On the other hand, the winner of the Olympics should get something more realistic, e.g. the citizens can visit another country without visa, the rights to put it's flag on each airplanes in the world, permission to own nuclear weapons etc.

And to determine the best Olympians or the sportsman or whatever they called it, all the athletes will have to live under one roof and complain about one another to the cameras. The athletes with the most complains will be the best Olympian.

The random Lawrenz project

2008-08-20T00:42:00.000+08:00

Not so long ago, I blogged about the random sombrero guy. Well, a few days ago, due to insomnia, I was going through my photo library and found photo of me in simpsons style. Basically, you just upload your photo to ~~sodomize~~ simpsonize me and it will show what you will look like if you are a character in the simpsons.

Anyway, the random Lawrenz project is a project where I'll put the simpsonized version of me into some random photos. Here are a few examples :

Lawrenz spotted during gig with indie band Hujan

Lawrenz during photoshoot with the Beatles

Lawrenz spotted during the Nov 10 2007 Bersih rally

Lawrenz also spotted from the reflection during the moon landing

For the complete collection, just go to my facebook album (you can view even though you dont have facebook).

The magic hour

2008-08-17T21:52:00.002+08:00

Yesterday, as I was doing my freelance assignment at KLCC, I managed to reserve the "magic" hour so I can shoot some photos of KLCC. Since I got my DSLR, I've never pointed my camera to the twin towers as I've seen far too many photos of the twin towers around.

In photography, the "magic" hour refers to the short time frame where the sun has set and the sky is glowing colourfully. Back in my hometown KK, the magic hour is around 6.20 pm (+- 10 mins). However, due to geographical location, the magic hour in KL is around 7.35 pm.

This was taken at KK waterfront at around 6.20 pm

Airplane and towers don't go well together

Narcissism is one of the characteristic of bloggers

I don't know why, but I keep on using this technique lately

Roger that, the magic hour is indeed at 7.37 pm

Done !

Past the magic hour, the sky is pitch black

Emerge Bowling Competition

2008-08-15T18:56:00.002+08:00

Last week I participated in the Emerge bowling competition which was organized by CHC. It was held at Holiday Villa Subang, where I played against my fellow church members from another cluster. I represent the local uni (local u + ktar & utar) cluster against VU (varsities universities), MINT (Monash Inti Nilai & Taylors).

Before the competition began, me and Hon Kiet (person in charge of the bowling team) and another bowler camwhore around the resort.

You don't mess with Lawrenz

Can you imagine I was jumping around before the competition..

Anyway, I left all my bowling equipments at Sabah, so I have to make do with the house ball and shoes. But for the first game, I got like 200+ pin fall and from that moment on, I knew I could take this one out. Long story short, I won the competition, but not without a fight. On the semifinal, I was losing 30-40 points to my opponent (it was 1 vs 1 format) at the 5th frame, but I managed to recover and striking my way to the final.

Angeline was my high school senior at Tshung Tsin, we used to represent our school together last time (what a small world), and Roy, my opponent at semifinal.

(L-R) Angeline, Nickey (cluster leader), the great bowler, and Hon Kiet.

Olympics events you might not know

2008-08-09T02:00:00.001+08:00

The Beijing Olympic 2008 has officially kicked off yesterday. You can expect to see a lot of pictures in the coming days on the mass media.

However, this time for Malaysian, it's more unique as the government has offered RM 1 million for Malaysian athlete who managed to bring home a gold medal.

In mass media, the events that you'll find are most probably are those "boring" events like badminton, swimming, running etc. However, only in The L-oh-rama, you'll read these very low profile events as listed below.

1. 1.1km hurdle driving

Contestants have to drive in a 1.1km long track where there will be tables and chairs lying around (International Olympic Committee has yet to confirm whether there will be humans sitting on the chairs). The fastest driver wins, extra bonus for drivers who don't hit any "hurdles".

Chances of winning (for Malaysia) : 98 %

2. 1 km Bus sprint

In this event, athletes (a.k.a. drivers) have to drive a bus (the size of rapid kl bus) full of people (with a few people dangling on the bus door) along a 1 km track where the fastest athlete wins.

Chances of winning : 89 %

3. 4 km SMS driving

In sms driving event, the athlete has to drive a car while composing a short message which will be provided by the organizer during the day of the competition. The track is 4km long.

Chances of winning : 93 %

4. DVD sellers 4x400m relay race

In this event specially for dvd sellers (especially from petaling street), in a team of 4, will run for 400m each person, extra bonus for athletes shouting "DVD PANAS !" while running.

Chances of winning : 88 %

5. Long spit

This event is almost same as long jump, however, in this event, instead of jumping, athlete will have to spit. The winner is the athlete who spits the furthest with the biggest spit.

Chances of winning : 85 %

Stay tuned and bookmark this site more events and results which will be posted as soon as we get the results "live" from China.

And by the way, if you feel like you have nothing better to do, then please look at the right hand side bar and complete the survey. All the information collected are confidential and anonymous.

Passion World Tour : KL

2008-08-05T00:52:00.003+08:00

The passion world tour at KL was awesome ! A blog post wouldn't do it a justice, it's something that you must experience yourself to know the real feel. But I'll post a few photos here for your viewing pleasure. On another note, when I was queuing up, the official photographer for the Passion world tour approached me and asked me for my portrait. Armed with a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark 3 (worth RM 30k) , and (most probably) Canon 17-40L lens, he shot me. In that moment, I feel like I'm the Top 100 sexiest men alive. Anyway, here are the photos.

We need to exchange our ticket for this wrist band and a poster

A couple of people who are losing their way as they were looking upwards when they walk

Stairways to heaven haha..

The crowd

The entrance

The stage

Trying some artsy fartsy style

This photo was achieved by zooming in when shutter was open

Same style as the above

When the concert began, I put my camera away to enjoy the whole thing. So, that's all.

Who the heck is Beau Bristow ?

2008-08-03T02:33:00.004+08:00

I love music, to put it more clearly, I love live music, especially those unplugged and acoustic, where you just chill out and enjoy the vibe from the songs.

(This has nothing to do with Beau Bristow) This was an acoustic performance by the church members of CHC

Songs from album, however, are too "clean" to my liking. I prefer to listen to something where the musicians were playing by the heart (as I do play some instruments and I play by heart, haha) and the vocalist will try to render the song a bit differently.

Anyway, as I attended Connexion student conference at Pj on friday, which after that there was a mini concert by this dude from US called Beau Bristow at connexion BU. He is a singer, songwriter and a guitarist. He's got an acoustic guitar, and a boxful of passbox and effects filter. At the end of the chain was an electronic unit that can record and playing it over and over again. So, in his 1 man band, he can create the sound of acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, drum (by banging his guitar), and backup singer as well. His performance on the night was awesome by the way, though I don't have any video or photos of him performing, I managed to find a video of Beau Bristow on youtube.

In the end of the day, I bought his album for only RM10, where the songs in the album were a bit "clean". But no complaint though, it's very nice and I give it two thumbs up.

Top 5 things overheard in line to see the new batman movie

2008-07-26T23:32:00.004+08:00

5. "Batmobile is not really the same after batman switched it to NGV. "

4. "I've been camping here for one week and this isn't the line for the new iPhone 3G ?! "

3. "I've spent all my money on petrol, so I'm just gonna stand here and look at the poster. "

2 . "Shouldn't you be working, Pak Lah ? "

1. "I read that the repair on the gearbox for the batmobile cost them RM 2 million. "

Syaiful's BIG Two-Oh

2008-07-26T03:44:00.003+08:00

Living in Malaysia, we are very blessed with lots of natural resources, like food, foods and loads of foods. So, when it comes to eating in Malaysia, Malaysians are spoiled with all kind of choices. So, when we decided to come out for a dinner for Syaiful's BIG two oh birthday, we have 4 choices where it were written in 4 pieces of paper and the birthday boy randomly pick one.

Nando's, Kim Gary, TGI, or Gasoline ?

For the 1st pick, we picked Nando's, but then everyone seems not satisfied. Even after we had already made our decision, we were still waiting for Angelica, so we repick for the 2nd time and the 3rd time where at last we made the decision to eat at Gasoline.

So, basically Gasoline is quite a nice place to eat, reasonable price although the portion is quite pathetic, and btw one of the waitress was so hitting on Wilson. Haha. Anyway, here are the photos taken by the waitress.

Happy Birthday Syaiful !

The L-oh-rama V 2.0

2008-07-26T01:36:00.004+08:00

This is the L-oh-rama V 1.0 where it was just a very basic templates from blogger. This is how it looked since the 1st day I started blogging.

But after one year, I decided to revamp the whole layout and templates, and now I present to you the L-oh-rama V 2.0 with extra large photos (for future posts) .

The blog template is from Our Blogger Templates, while the header image is from Smashing Magazine.

Talk cock sing song : CSI : KL

2008-07-23T01:45:00.001+08:00

It was late at nite, I was looking at the astro website, it stated that the current promotion for subscribing to astro is just Rm199. No wonder they called the company astro, because of their "astronomical" price.

Then something came up on my mind, hey, who needs astro anyway, we've got CSI : KL showing everyday at every possible channel, somemore it's free. No need to pay astro bills or whatsoever, just remember to catch the series everyday anytime in the internet, newspaper or tv, the freedom is in your hand.

How to switch head in Photoshop

2008-07-14T23:05:00.001+08:00

Before you even think about of working for Bolehland-Today.net as a graphic designer, you've got to know the most basic photo manipulation which is the old switching rule, in this case is switching the subject's head in a photo.

This knowledge will be very useful if you decided to create a controversy in the country by swapping the P.M.' head with a picture with Anwar. Ok, no more talking cock, straight to the lesson.

First of all, Open the intended image. To make life easier, choose the one where the background colour is very different from the skin tone.

Then, using Magnetic Lasso tool, wrap around the subject by moving your mouse around the subject

Right click on the image, and choose Layer via Copy

Drag the layer just now to the new image where you want to switch the head. Then click on the small icon on the bottom right hand, and a Layer Mask will appear. By painting black colour (using brush of course) will hide the layer, while using white colour will reveal the layer. Simple.

Due to this image being BnW, go to Image-Adjustments-Hue/Saturation and the saturation set to -100

But if you see the image, the neck and the facec are two different tone, so we solve this by using burn tool.

Remember to burn on the Background layer

To finish thing off, flatten image, and

Done !

Blogger wanted !

2008-07-08T01:35:00.003+08:00

Bolehland Today, Malaysia's largest blog with readership up to 100,000 daily seeks the suitable candidates to fill for a few openings in our young and energetic company. From our humble beginning in 2001 with only a blogger with a laptop sitting outside starbucks leeching wireless, we go from strength to strength and now with more controversial articles and more than 100,000 unique visitors daily. We are currently ~~ignoring a few lawsuits~~ and gearing for an IPO (Initial Public Offering) and are in the process of applying for MSC status as Malaysia's largest multimedia company.

Bolehland Today was recently featured in Fast Company's March issue as one of the "50 Most Innovative Companies in the World". Apart from being the blog with the hottest and controversial news, Fast Company says that Bolehland has "defied industry convention and democratized internet".

At Bolehland Today, our employees are our most valuable assets. These outstanding individuals are steering us towards our goal of becoming Malaysia's largest blog. Come join us and take the opportunity to excel as a team, and as an individual.

Vacancies available : (Full time - KL / PJ / Cyberjaya / Putrajaya)

Blogger (10 positions)

Job description : Writes about politic issue in Malaysia
Requirements : Knowledge about blogging and internet is a must.
Have no fear of lawsuit or whatsoever.
Ability to do statutory declaration is an added bonus.
Benefits : Free teh tarik at the police station each time being investigate.

Graphic designer ( 3 positions )

Job description : Manipulate photos
Requirements : Basic knowledge of Photoshop 1.0
Must read Photoshop for Newbie by Lawrence L.
Benefits : Free Macbook ~~(must return back if quit)~~

Please send your complete resume to :

hr@bolehland-today.net (only online application applicable)

Aircraft Spotting @ WBKK 2

2008-06-29T16:37:00.003+08:00

Before I go to KL, I decided to do a spotting trip at the end of runway 20 at WBKK where the sound of aircraft passing through your head will make you ecstatic, the sight of aircrafts flying low will make your jaw drop. Oh, and the scorching hot sun, totally burning your epidermis (skin).

Spot this MH B737-400 as a starter

Then a few AK airbus A320

Behind where I was standing is a horse farm where there were lots of horse shits

There wasn't much traffic that day, so I shot my own shadow

This MASwings fokker F50 was the only traffic in a long time

Then I use my phone to check out the flight schedule using GPRS at flightstats

The schedule at flightstats really helped a lot for me to expect what aircraft will take off or landing

This A330 was flying lower and louder than the rest.. Totally ecstatic

The fencing and lighting at the end of the runway, and an aircraft taking off

The sky at Kota Kinabalu, always blue.. except the day when it's raining cats and dogs lah..

Taking off while the evening light showered upon the aircraft

And on another note, this is how horse do their No.1 business

KK international airport (under construction)

2008-06-29T15:37:00.002+08:00

I've always wanted to shoot the new Kota Kinabalu International Airport Terminal 1, however it is currently still under construction, but I managed to get a few half-decent photos. Anyway, here are the photos...

Taken from across the road

The in-complete terminal

The old(current) terminal. Left or right, choose your path.

This stone (or whatever they called it) has been historic, each time you landed in KK, you'll be greet by this stone. Judging by the bulldozer in front of it, I think they'll demolish it

On another note, the oil station was full of vehicles queuing to pump their cars as there were rumour spreading around saying the oil station will be closed for 5 days, which is bull shit

Make money from the new subsidy scheme

2008-06-19T22:57:00.001+08:00

Everybody knows the petrol is RM 2.70 now, and the oh-i'm-so-smart people at putrajaya thought that, "why don't we give the rakyat rm 625 annually so they will shut their mouth for a moment ?", so that's when the malaysian people wake up early in the morning to q-up at the POS office to claim rm 625.

Basically a 20-30 years old car will worth around RM 1000 plus the most. So, the idea is if I go out tomorrow and buy another 10 cars (each maybe about 500 to 800 ringgit) being sold off by desperate owners because nobody wants them. The cars are ready-for-the-scrapyard kind but just barely good enough for a Puspakom inspection and a transfer of ownership effected to me.

Then I just find a place to store all of these cars (or I could even scrap them and have cash in hand from the besi buruk man) and then armed with only the registration cards of each car, I proceed to take a 3rd party insurance (about 60 ringgit without any NCB per car) and pop in to my friendly POS Malaysia or JPJ office and spend about 70 ringgit to 100 ringgit for each car for a one year road tax disc.

I spend about roughly 150 ringgit for this procedure and now I hold my breath as the man or lady behind the counter proceed to issue a RM625 ringgit postal order in my name for every card presented at the counter...

My yearly cost is RM 150 and I get RM 625 in return. A whopping RM 475 profit that is equivalent to a RM 4750 in fixed deposit for a year. I rest my case...

Seriously, this thing might work IF it is an annual thing, but considering we are living in Bolehland where any decisions can be turned in practically a second by those oh-i'm-so-smart people at putrajaya. So, if tomorrow you really go ahead and then next week the gamen said no more subsidy, I guess all I can say is good luck, meatbag ! Hahaha..

Original idea was from TV Smith

Shooting portraits Strobist's style

2008-06-11T22:37:00.001+08:00

When talking about photography, the price of the equipments are quite turn-off, especially with all the price hike and stuffs. Anyway, since I was hooked up with photography, I have been reading strobist to get tips for some off camera lighting, in simple english means using flash off the camera. However, I managed to think of something that is really brilliant (in my opinion lah), which is using cameraphone's flash to light up the subject, which is me.

It was shot at pitch black room, the only light source was the cameraphone's flashlight

The I-am-at-the-concert lighting

Lighting from the camera right, the slight yellow light was from the light pole outside the window

The I-am-a-bad-guy lighting

After trying all sort of angle and lighting style, I decided to dig up the freezer to look for some interesting subject.

Light was from behind the subject with a mirror reflecting the light from camera upper right

White chocolate

Light was from behind the subject with a mirror reflecting the light from camera left, I absolutely love this shot

Aramaitii at KDCA part 2

2008-06-05T00:10:00.001+08:00

Continue from the part 1..

The costumes from the Ranau tribe

A blonde kadazan barbie

Even long house has electricity. Always blackout though..

Can you spot the pouting ? Haha..

Jump ! Before you leg being clamped

Jump baby jump !

Sausage dog with costume

me climbing yet another staircase

The house of Tuaran tribe

The house of Tambunan tribe

The house of Keningau tribe

A drunk old man

The root of all evil

Aramaitii !

Bus fare to KDCA : RM 6
A bottle of water to quench thirst : RM 2
Captured the moment : priceless

The road not taken..

2008-06-04T15:03:00.001+08:00

I received an e-mail yesterday, it was something that I was wishing all the time. But this time, I don't know why, but I wasn't excited at all. The X-factor just wasn't there, I guess it's a sign that this time it's not meant for me.

And I'm crossing my finger that the other airline will give me the opportunity after what I've done.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.