Back to Blog 6 – Photography – The most intriguing hobby

To make long story short, please allow me to sum up my feelings.

I bought a new DSLR, a Nikon D5100, beginner camera, not long ago, weeks after it finally released in Malaysia. The camera came together with a 18-55mm kit lens, which cost me RM2300.

Then i got the chance to join a photography beginner workshop and happened to be given a chance to shot photos at real human model. she’s pretty, and i felt shame for taking bad pictures.

Although the camera came together with a Nikon camera bag, I had decided to spend RM380 for a Crumpler Camera Sling bags, in the end, its definitely money well spend, since im now more confident carrying my camera everywhere, with my bag together, at least, a camera bag that doesn’t looks like a camera bag.

hmm, then i waited for the released of new Nikkon lens 50mm 1.8g, its a fast lens. I tried to get the best price from the net, through forums and stuff, in the end, after numerous asking around, i finally settled with a purchase from Foto Selangor at Pertama Compleks for RM650. Its damm cheap.

Then i took my camera to work, and spend the friday evening after work tried out the lens at downtown Petaling Street. Took tons of picture, learned that i cant set the same f/stop for every shot. Then i learned that i must stay steady with the camera, else its easier to get blur. I blame my amateur technique, I blame the lowlight, (since its dark, evening), i blame the moving subject, and although the picture looks nice to my amateur eyes, i get feedback that some picture being out of focus. I cant deny the fact that its really out of focus.

I’m going to get better. Snap more picture. haha. ok, so now, very happy with the new lens. I’ll keep you up to date once i learn more about this hobby.

Oh yeah, this is the main reason why i stopped buying figures. But then if Hot Toys release Batman / Joker 12 inch, i cant guarantee i won’t spend.

Time will tell.

My Indepth Opinion on the Current Arsenal team 01-10-2010

Ok, I just revamped the blog layout yesterday, it is kind of darkish now, pretty dull, I know, but I like it a lot. I knew it consist of wall of text at the main page; I’ll try to fit in some picture to make it less boring. The reason which why I haven’t done so, is because, I can’t seems to find the way to showcase that I embedded with my post. Until I manage to do that, I’ll cool with it for now.

To start off the post, I’m gonna talk about Arsenal Football Club today, one of the two club I support, where the other one will be the now Championship’s Leeds United.

I’m not gonna touch on my thoughts on the current Leeds United’s battle for promotion, but instead, I’m gonna focus on Arsenal’s 2010 trophy hunting attempt.

Arsenal FC, once hailed as the invincible, Arsenal’s “Untouchables” go undefeated for the entire season to win the Premier League in 2004. Fast forward 6 years later to this very moment, will we Arsenal fans, get to see the light once again?

Let’s do a point to point analysis, the untouchables build on the basis of a steady and strong back four, fortify by a steady goal keeper. The attacking flair is almost there, the French pair of Henry and Pires terrorized the defenders, while Cecs Fabregas working its magic with a very very young age. Well, I’m not any kind of expert in football, but here are my opinions:

Goal Keeper.

Our keeper is not as steady as 6 years back, Almunia, doesn’t really convince me enough, way too many mistakes. He never really looks comfortable stepping up for Lehmman (I may have the spelling wrong somewhere), he lacked the confident of David Seaman, as well as the arrogant of Mr. Lehmman, he don’t have a strong character, or at least, he don’t project a trustworthy impression, and I doubt his defender trust him much, enough said.

Fabianski, shown some promise through out his career, he is young, still early in his goal keeper career. He makes some major major high profile mistakes, (such as the one in the Champions League game with Porto), still, he may deserve more chance to prove himself. Why, u may ask. Well, he is young, he will learn through mistakes, people compare and claim Almunia and Fabianski rubbish, but they forget that Almunia is indeed way older than Fabianski, Almunia, spend much of his younger career, in the Arsenal reserve understudying, Lehmann, while Fabianski, do not have that kind of privilege, people looking for redemption after a disappointment (Almunia) in the form of Fabianski, he face huge expectation for him to step up from Almunia demise, he failed somehow horribly last year. After the recent CL Partizan game, he shown promise for saving the penalty, (although I do not think that save is imminent, it technically end the game, but it is not game changing, Arsene Wenger and the media might just exaggerate to sing the praise). Just give the lad another chance.

ok, Lets talk about the Arsenal, remaining goal keeper, Vito Man-one (I knew wrong spelling) seems to be a very good shot stopper, (from the few games he started) although again, with the pressure at hand, he made some mistakes, but hardly career threatening, he deserve more chance. And the Polish’ Wojciech Szczesny, ya he can rant all he want, but he is behind the pecking order right now, never seen him play, he might too deserve his chance.

I say, give Vito Man-one and Wojciech Szczesny a start, give them a chance to prove themselves, if they shine, then good news for us, we get our self some steady sold goalkeeper, even if they fail, they will know that they are not good enough and will stop ranting about first team opportunities. As for Almunia, I sincerely believe it is time for him to go, its pretty good joke for even people to suggest that Almunia should be England solution to the Goal keeper problem, as for Fabianski, let him fight the spot with Vito and Wojciech Szczesny, the winner gets all, the loser stay put. We knew Almunia quality, and it’s a long shot into the moon to now give a chance to the other three GK. Alternatively, buy a new GK and pray for the best.

Defender

Let’s start at the heart of the defense, Vermalen seems to be pretty solid, hardly make any mistakes, he is not the tallest center backs you see, but his leap is good and he timed his jump perfectly. I can’t wait for tomorrow’s game against Chealsea, Vermalen vs. Drogba, hopefully no more Sanderos’ish memories. Partnering Vermalen at the heart of defense is the options of injury prone – Djourou, newly signed, Laurent Konchieny, and Squillaci. So far, LK seems solid, very good in tackle, hardly gets a foot wrong, winning almost all the header against Roman Palychenko (yaya spelling) in the Carling Club, Totemham game. Squillaci is good in the air, pretty experience, but not the fastest CB around, which shown with good evidence in the recent few games. No comment about Djourou, hardly see him play. One thing to note, is that, it is a completely new lineup in the heart of defense, Gallas, Silvestre and Campbell all gone, so it definitely need a lot of time to for AW to find out his best center partnership, my bet will be on Vermalen + Squillaci, nonetheless, it shows a lot of promising.

At the side, Glitchy is never Ashley Cole, he is fast, but we hardly see him booming forward the Ashley Cole style, his cross is not particularly good, but he is good, one of the best, in my opinion. Glitchy not at his best last season, injuries as well as defensive frailty means he can’t play his own game going forward as much as he like. Also, with the likes of Arshavin roaming the left side of the midfield, Glitchy need to cover the defensive holes left by our Russian Maestro. Unless, there’s some sort of formation of game style change, else, Glitchy will always be Glitchy, but I do see plenty of light, with the upcoming (cross finger) solid center defensive partnership, I would like to see Glitchy going forward a little bit more and let Arshavin or whoever play at the left, to drift into the middle.

Sagna is posses, good stamina, good work rate, covering spaces, good fullback, but just like Glitchy, he is suffer with additional defensive pressure due to the weak link at the back (CB & GK) last year. This year, I hope Walcott share what Beckham teach him about crossing with Sagna, and same with Glitchy, with a solid center two + goalkeeper, Sagna can get forward more.

Now, here’s the trump card, Eboue, his forward run is a joy to behold, he dribbles like Messi, once a while, he makes us fans, excited, he can play full back, as well as midfield, I see him more effective as an impact sub with his speed, energy and enthusiastic.

Kieran Gibbs and Traore, serve as the backup for Glitchy, so far, Gibbs is ahead and I am seeing Traore leaving Arsenal pretty soon. With the continuous speculation of Glitchy leaving Arsenal, with numerous parties interested (Juventus, Real Madrid), Kieran Gibbs will have no problem filling in the void.

Midfield

This is the bane of Arsenal, Cecs Fabregas, enough said, he is one of the best in the world, his vision and passing showcase what we call, an art. If he is able to temporarily forget about Barcelona, stay injuries free, ignore the media, and focus on the game then, we are a step more closer to the trophy. Alex Song, just like his Africa counterpart, he cover spaces, he enforce the midfield, he protect his defender, he can only get better with more games under his belt. Just finger cross that he stay injuries free.

We get Walcott on the right, and Arshavin on the left, both posses pace, and acceleration, Arshavin is a very gifted technical player, he twist, turn, and can strike with both his foot, from distance, with power plus accuracy. He looks lazy; hardly defend, but that just make him even more deadly, more like a silent killer, I would say, little contribution but bag, he score. Walcott, is probably the fastest sprinter (50M) in the Arsenal team, his acceleration and pace is top notch, but I doubt his brain able to access all the information on the field with equivalent speed to make a viable decision. He always seems to have problem fitting in a good cross, paper said he learned from Beckham recently, and I hope the best. He did score several goals this season, he looks sharp after the World Cup snub, I said, if he cant cross well, just make a decent shot and we pray for: 1) a goal, 2) a deflection that lead to a goal, 3) a deflection that lead to a tap in, 4) a shot that also act as a cross / pass, 5) and many many more. Walcott should be greedier and have his eye on the goal.

Then we gonna focus on our other prodigy, Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey, both of them shown great talent. Ramsey suffered from a career threatening injury, and in the middle of rehab. I am sure with his determination, as well as the support from the Arsenal fans and club, he will nurse back to full match fitness pretty soon. He is certainly one for the future. In the contrast of luck, Jack Wilshere is a lucky dude, now in line to join the squad for the upcoming England call up versus Serbia. He play with determination, not the tallest or strongest midfield, he is pretty small by his size compare with his counterpart, but just look at Messi, Rooney, they shows that size really doesn’t matter, another excellent example was maradona, the player, not the manager. The back heel assist for Arshavin to score the first goal versus Partizan in CL, a game ago, suggest that, he may be more suitable in playing a more advancing role just behind the striker. Certainly he won’t be able to play as DM to enforce the midfield with his size.

What about Denilson & Diaby? Denilson and Diaby both are pretty injury prone. Diaby injured at the moment, he resembles the old Patrick Viera, with Zidane style of flair, but he is way too inconsistent, giving the ball away too often, always dribble his way into danger, and put his team under stress. He need to improve and become more mature in his game play. He do have the talent, his dribble is a joy to watch, but I am also suffering heart attack everytime I see him hold the ball for way too long. Denilson, with his Brazillian root, do not seems to offer much attacking flair to the team, nor he is replaying Gilberto Silva, he is like a squad player to me, pretty average, but still, if there’s a manager in the world who can unearth diamond among rocks, then the manager name Arsena Wenger, we’ll see how good Denilson can be, he can, because he is Brazillian.

Now, How about Nasri & Rosicky? Nasri, can be a world beater if he stay fit and find his momentum, we can all see what he can do with the opponent, he single handily create and score the 2 goals against West Brom last week, although he fail to get a third, which resulted in the first lose for Arsenal this season, he is definitely in form at the moment, much like Walcott, Nasri should be more greedy and have his eye on the goal. Rosicky is also enjoying a good run in the first team, sometime playing as starter, sometime starting from bench, he still posses those attacking instinct, even after his horror injury, and I pray for him to stay match fit and he can really be the engine / diamond, impact sub or whatever u want to call him. He haven’t really play as the same player from his day playing in the Bundesliga, now, after the rehab, he deserve the chance to allow him to claw back to fitness to prove what he can do.

Strikers

Bendtner the big dane, tall and strong, good in the air. We all recalled how he scored those vital goals for us, but he just done not enough to prove that he is those top striker with 20 goals per season, he is way too unproductive, he missed to many chances, he always shot wide, but when he do get it right, he score big. Ya, just like some of his vital goals came in the time the club need it, he score big with the Baroness, this kid got “talent”. I still recalled his interview that he forsee himself surpassing Zlatan Ibrahimovic to become the best Scandinavia player at all time, well, we will wait and see.

Carlos Vila, shown talent, he score some beatiful placing shots this season, coming on as subsitute, he is quick but still, I can’t see how this kid being effective in the Arsenal attacking formation, unless he is going to stick to the side to play as a wing. As a striker, he is not scoring enough, I hope he will get more play time this season, so he can really prove himself. I really hope to see him emerge as our own Michael Owen.

Ok, here comes our Dennis_Bergkamp, RVP, not Van damme, its Van Persie, he play with flair, he hold the line for us up front when Adebayor jump ship to Man City, he strike with his terrific left foot, and he injured way too often. Again, he is not nurturing his injuries. And I can’t wait to see him back and partner Chamakh.

M. Chamakh, typical center forward in my opinion, he scored a few goals already, mostly from headers, he lead the line perfectly, and he adapt well into the Arsenal team. As mentioned earlier, I can’t wait to see him, partnering RVP upfront, this will allow RVP to dictate the play together with Fabregas while Chamakh can be our focal point much like how Adebayor done it for us. This is definitely the bargain of the season, coming in free transfer from the Bordeaux, Moroccan international built a reputation as a strong-running, intelligent centre forward. His contribution helped them to the French title and the latter stages of the Champions League.

Manager

Last but not least, I gonna talk about the manager, Arsene Wenger, I trust his judgment tremendously, I feel pretty good with the way how the club progressing, both financially and on the pitch. Although the club suffers from trophy drought for almost 6 years, but I do admit, reaching the semi final of the champion’s league on numerous occasions is no small feat. In Arsene we trust, it’s more like a belief, I would rather believe in something I support rather than opposing it.

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Lets Interview Myself – World of Warcraft Journey

Image via Wikipedia

Haven’t been logging into the blog for quite awhile, in fact the last proper post (excluding those random picture) stand at almost 3 months ago. So, where have I been in the past 3 months? Travel? Alien? Jungle? The answer is, no where.

How your life is resembles in WOW?

White collar life is pretty dull, working on given assignment is not enough. It requires a lot of initiatives and motivation to smooth talk and prove to others to believe in your skill. In WOW (World of Warcraft) terms it’s more or less, joining a guild, making friends, and securing your raid spot for the guild raid. By taking numerous initiatives, u gain trust and work up the ladder and get promoted. The biggest different between real life and your WOW, well, a game is a game, if u screw your reputation, u get multiple options to regain them, by changing your toon name, by transferring to another server, by joining another guild and pray no one aware of your bad reputation. In fact, in game, who cares about your reputation. But, in real life, it is much much harder to change a name, moving to another country, or joining another company without being refer to, unless u mean joining a role-playing guild from a raiding guild. It is as good as, joining a totally different industry, when your reputation is pretty bad in another.

How bout some WOW background?

Ok. About my wow history, I started playing wow after my brother downloading the wow client back from the local lan shop he worked part time. It’s BC time (Burning Crusade), we end up playing at one of the reknown private server in our country. Fast forward 1 years, I’m decided to start my entourage at US WOW, after a bunch of my real life friends started playing there. My brother joined me briefly after WOTLK, but half a year after that, everyone stop wow due to multiple reasons we can imagine, lagging, monthly subscription fees, etc. A lot of the old friends who used to play wow in BC time, were reluctant to fork out the money to buy WOTLK CD KEY. By July 2010, only 3 of us left in US Gorggonash Server. With the upcoming, Catalysm expansion, all of my friends are getting really excited (past of it due to our great sales pitch about how great the game is, and what they have missed in WOTLK).

So, how to play in Catalysm without buying the expensive CD key?

The answer is WOW – TW (Taiwan), monthly reload card much like the monthly subscription, or you can even opt to play with minimal game card with reducing game time. Unless they gonna charge additional sum for cata, else if they operate their subscription strategy much like WOTLK then, u gonna save like RM250 for the CD key.

It seems perfect, so what is the catch? Oh, the game is in mandarin. If u are not Chinese educated, u bared no choice in playing, because u hardly understand a word. Even for people like me, who grow up under Chinese education, it is still way too difficult for me to understand or digest.

How to solve the problem?

Oh, u can get a language pack to play WOW – TW with English Client, questing in English quest line, as well as able to read Chinese word, typing by others.

So, how far you go?

Well, I’m leveling my current level 63 Mage – Linaslayer, while my brother, play a level 80 Druid and currently leveling another Warlock.

Why not hunter?

Because hunter sucks. Serious, they do fine in PVE, but it’s a bit harder than average in PVP context. Seriously, I play my mage these days, I am only level 63 mage but I have more utility for PVP than a level 80 hunter.

Why Mage > Hunter?

It’s way too early to tell what is waiting in place in cata for both of the class, while I do have a hand into cata beta, I didn’t actually have chance to try the mage. On the surface, mage do offer a lot more utility than a hunter, for frost mage, u get frost nova, ice barrier, deep freeze, even the menacing frost bolt give chill effect which slow the hell out of everything. Hunter? Ya, finally scatter shot gonna be blanket across all spec, what else we get? A hard nerf predator like camoflauge? Compare with the mage new ability in cata, mage get a new cc, also, cone of cold able to freeze people. And finally, with the removal of portal, enough said, Mage > Hunter, I get free portal and u are not.

What aspect in hunter than u will miss once in Catalysm?

Well, it is way too early to answer this, I guess definitely it won’t be aspect of the monkey because monkey is kind of Godly. In truth, I gonna miss the Hunter, gonna catch them all ability, with the changes to hunter stable and the ability to catch like 20++ pet, its gonna be a lot of funs, also opening out hunter to more casual and newbie.

So, only newbie play a hunter?

Nope, if u can play a newbie class the Godlike way then, go ahead, it’s just gonna take freaking lot of effort to play it right.

So what now?

I am looking for a way to utilize my pile of excess gold in the US server

How much do u have?

You ask this question on behalf of the hacker right? No fret, I have 6 digit of excess gold in my US toon. Anyone care to trade?

Last question, will u update your blog a little bit more often?

Not sure, really, people read my blog? I’ll try.

Note: I knew I spell catalysm wrongly.

佐佐木希性感寫真 @ 天天看女優 :: Xuite日誌

佐佐木希性感寫真 @ 天天看女優 :: Xuite日誌.

Woot! Woot! So Cute! So Cute!

個性精靈—許瑋甯

個性精靈—許瑋甯 – Vision Man ,美感,創意 – Powered By SupeSite.

深褐色與紅銅金交織的髮絲線條下。那隱隱透露的白晰臉龐與精緻五官，是融合三個民族的美麗結晶，走在鎂光燈下，擁有義大利、美國與台灣血統的脫俗外型，佐以一副理智的靈魂，我們稱她為個性精靈—許瑋甯。

Woot! Woot! So pretty! So pretty!