Yah everyone's talking about the Earth Hour. Will you switch off the lights for the sake of saving energy? Or just another trend to follow? Is it really helpful?
Please vote on the side and comment on what you think about this event.
Photo/Video editing is one of my personal hobbies during University years. It was the time where digital camera’s and camcorders started to become relevant and popular. I bought my first digital camera back in 2000. It is a Fujifilm Finepix with 2.1 Megapixels. It was very old fashioned and bulky but at that time it was king. The N73 I’m currently carrying has higher pixels then this.
I bought a Panasonic camcorder 2 years later. It was an analog camcorder using tape, but able to transfer to pc by converting it into digital signal. It wasn’t too much of a hassle trying to upload the videos into your pc, but you have to get ready a bigger hard disk for it…
The direct transfer of 10 minutes video takes a whooping 1 GB off my then only 40 Gb laptop. It takes a lot of trial and error before I could figure out how to choose the video format that gives the best video quality with minimal capacity.
I would normally take video shoots when I’m on vacation or special occasions like church camp and parties. I will then edit it by cutting out the non relevant parts and inserting some music to make it less boring. After that I would burn it into a cd/dvd and store it in my ‘memory lane’.
Never in my entire life would I think of making and directing a movie/ drama. I’ve done some photo editing and video slide shows before, but not to an extend of this.
The idea of a video project came out from Jessie, our Sheffield Chinese Christian Church recreation committee. She had an idea of filming a story about a boy’s life journey towards knowing and accepting Christ. She came out with a script instantaneously. There were 5 to 6 scenes in total, some were taken off, some added in later. The casting was done rather quickly without questions ask, as most of church brothers and sisters are willing to participate.
So the final decision is up to me - whether I am able to direct, film and produce the video.
I was scratching my head on such a long script. First off, I haven’t done such filming and directing in my life before. Second, the current video software I used had a lot of tendency to hang and crash during editing. Third, the editing software wasn’t as flexible to cater for such filming requirements.
Anyway, we started with a ‘one-off’ approach, i.e. film first, edit later. While the filming was ongoing, I was able to test on new and available software. And yes, during the progress, I did manage to find more user-friendly and stable video editing software.
The filming wasn’t easy also, as some of the script was either ‘unfilmable’, or it doesn’t come together well enough. Most of the time, filming session becomes brainstorming session because a lot of suggestions and ideas were proposed last minute.
Nevertheless, we are having a good time doing this project. Although I did make some mistakes, I really appreciate the patience and support given by brothers and sisters, and God up most high.
So why the title Footprints? At start the title is actually ‘no title’. I can’t really remember how it comes about, I think it was a title I saw on a Christian album CD covers. As our story is about a life journey of a boy, guided by God, I think Footprints is very well representing the title of our project.
Prologue
It started off as a prologue stage show before the video comes in. We plan to start and end with a stage performance because it will bring a so call ‘life’ to the show. Here is where Ricky, the main cast was introduced, together with his family and his attempt to commit suicide, and was sent to hospital under coma.
Casts: Gary as Ricky Algene as Ricky’s Sister Ruth as Ricky’s Mother Yichuan as Ricky’s Father Sam as Doctor Sam
For your information, - The ‘Sleeping Pill’ is actually Fish Oil supplements. - The doctor is really a doctor, and a humorous one. - Beep sound was actually Nokia hand phone message beep, repeat at countless time. - They forgot to remove their name tags…
When I ask my friend to bring back few bottles of Dr Pepper from the UK, they will say: ‘Oh? Cough medicine?’ That’s what Dr Pepper taste like. A carbonated syrup originated from the US. It has very high dose of caffeine enough to keep you awake all day. It keeps me going during my studies. I used to consume one bottle per day during exam week. I like to keep the bottle and refill it with water to preserve the taste and bring it along side me. And I like to take pictures with it=)
Most of my friends don’t really like it because of the weird taste. Like I said before, it taste like cough medicine. To think back, I don't remember having cough or sore throat in the UK before. Maybe Dr Pepper is really a cough medicine? That’s why it’s called Dr – Doctor right?
Speaking of which, Dr Pepper in Malaysia is a rare item. I’ve been to Tesco, Giant, Cold storage etc, and can't find any. I guess it wasn’t that popular as most Malaysian can’t get use to the taste.
Last week I was doing my grocery shopping in Jusco Sunway, and to my surprise I actually found it. Yeah, no need to 'Import' from my friends anymore. Compare to other soft drinks like coke, it is more expensive at RM2.50 per can. Anyhow, it's 49p (around RM2.70) in UK so I think it is still reasonable. Hail Cough Medicine! Opps… Dr Pepper! If you can find ‘bottled’ one, please let me know…
I have a feeling that this blog will soon evolve into a food blog since most of my post is about food and outings. I’m not a very good photographer and don’t own those SLR gadgets like most food bloggers do, but I enjoy the part where you try to edit and modify the pictures so that it looks more crisp and shiny. I normally use my Nokia N73 to shoot because taking a snapshot is quick and convenient.
Me and my cousin went for the Miyako Japanese buffet in Sheraton Subang. The buffet dinner wasn’t as good as we expected. In comparison to Jogoya, Shogun and other KL Japanese buffet, the variety here is very much less for the same money you pay for. Worst still, the sashimi is not fresh and the hot dishes are nothing much to brag about, just plan normal Japanese food you can get from a low to medium class Japanese restaurant. Ok, so we vowed not to come again as it is not worth it. Then I discovered that the Starwood Privilege card that my mum gave me actually did 50% damage to the bill we suppose to pay for. In other words, buy one get one free!
We did complain to the manager about the food quality, but he soon convinced us to give them a 2nd chance to try their famous 10 course Kaizaki meal. I did remember that I tried the Kaizaki meal about 10 years ago when Subang was at it’s peak of development before the international airport being taken over by KLIA. Back then Miyako was one of the best Japanese restaurant around KL and Klang Valley. The Kaizaki is one of the finest Japanese set designed by a Japanese chef. We were eager to give it a try and since we have the 50% privilege, we pay them a visit someday after 3 weeks.
So we ordered the set with highly anticipation.
1st course – Octopus, squid and a slice of duck meat starters Very nice presentation, good start good start… but taste mah mah lar…
2nd course – Sashimi salad I’m very particular on the freshness. For such price to pay I expect better sliced raw sashimi, but this one tasted like what we had in the buffet, defrosted.
3rd course – Teppanyaki Lobster Ok, at least we got lobster in the menu. This is the first time I tried teppanyaki lobster, and it was surprisingly good!
4th course – Sashimi Similar to the 2nd course, not fresh and I’m starting to feel bored with sashimi… and wait, no salmon???
5th course – Mushroom broth The broth is actually sweet. I actually like it.
6th course – Fried soft shell crab It was cold… gosh…
7th course – Seafood soup I remembered I had this 10 years ago because it is unique. The soup is inside the teapot and you pour it on a small saucepan and drink it from there.
8th course – Grilled Salmon No wonder I can’t find salmon on the sashimi. It was cooked! With plum sauce! It was sweet, and bitter. Strange…
9th course – Soba I’m not particularly full, but soba as a main course??? I expect something special…
10th course – Green Tea ice cream I don’t feel like taking pictures anymore…
Conclusion: Overall, I don’t think it is worth paying RM160++ for the Kaizaki meal. I am really disappointed because they can’t even do well in the most basic culinary practice – to serve it fresh, and to serve it hot.
Later we found out that the old Japanese chef has left Miyako and opened his own restaurant nearby. That was 8 years ago. The set course was passed on after wards and now taken over by a local chef.
So we have a clue here. We will pay a visit to the ‘nearby’ Japanese restaurant sometime.
