Birthday Present Cum Way Too Early

This year, my present came way too early .... about 19 days early and it's not even within the vicinity of my birthday month yet ... anyway, it's from the movie bunch and surprise surprise, it's a DvD !!! Some of the hints given were that it's one of my favourite movie of 2007, it's not a documentary (not that any documentary caught my attention anyway) and it's not Hong Kong film (a major deal cos there are at least 2 Hong Kong Movie that's likely making their way into my top ten list)

Well, I am not going to open it until the actual day ... so I will be guessing what it is till then ... anyone care to throw in a few more hints ?

oh have fun reading the birthday greetings ...

It's getting Longer and Harder

No, I am not talking about the length of the clip (or length of any other things that you might think of .... : ) actually I wasn't thinking had any dirty pun when I came up with this Post Title but after when I start writing this post, I realized it could mean more than one thing ... other than the point I wanted to make about the video clip length & editing process

Lost ? haha Don't worry about it ... I am just rambling to myself

anyway, the second video for Peter Chan exclusive interview was just posted ... the longer and harder bit referred to the editing part. At first, I thought it's going to be easy ... the front n back bits are already done for the first video and for the second video, I thought I could just modified slightly from the first one ... but it turn out to be so much harder than I could have expected

the last time I worked on the clip, it took me 5 hours (yeah 5 hours of my life that I can't claim back and not paid for!) and this time round, it took me slight more than ... 8 HOURS !!!

actually come to think of it ... I am not sure why I took longer than before ... the length of this clip is shorter compared to the first two and yet I spend more time cutting it, extracting the audio (which took so much time! 6 mins per clip, a trick I found out was that it's faster to rip the whole audio clip out and lock it to which ever clip u want) and trying to save more file space ...

the auto shut down and inability to read titf files didn't help with the morale either ....

I feel so tired right now I could just fall asleep and sleep thru my dinner .... (and I didn't have my lunch yet cos my Sister's Maid ate my leftover pasta that I cooked the other night but that another story)

haiz there still another one more to go and although I am expecting it to be even shorter, I got a feeling I might just spend more time editing it ... at least I know what will be on my third clip liao ...

Enjoy the clip ...

Missy Donut @ Plaza Sin

The New Fad in town ... the Donuts are trendy again ...

Consumed >

Goodies > there just something abt this type of Japanese style Donuts that make me wanna eat them again n again ... or maybe it's my gluttony
Yuckies > not exactly a healthy snack for someone who is "trying" to lose weight
Cost > $1 to $1.6 per donut or 6 for $6
Returning (?) > always tempted when I passby one of their outlets at Plaza Sin
Weblink > http://www.missydonut.com/

A Thousand Kisses Deep, one good rendition and remembering another good song by the Killer

There was movie playing in the Sat Afternoon ... starring Nick Nolte call A Good Thief which wasn't really interesting until a husky voice sang this song ... now I know why U2 made such a big hooha abt Leonard Cohen ... do check out the song out ..

and later on .. on the radio ... perfect 10 was having this stripped version of songs .... rendition which sound good !! first up ...
Nelly Furtado doing Gnarls Barkley's Crazy

of cos the original here

Last song buzz for the day for me ...

My ??? Online DVD purchases : Third Batch of DDD

Bloody Black Friday ...

I intend to only get 4 dvds at 3.99 each ... and just to tell my frens abt it and shock shock ... the orders that came in .... adding up to the 16.95 shipping rates ...

My last (unexpected )batch ... should be quite cheap ... 4 movies for around 30 sin dollars ... around 1 movie for 8 bucks ... which I thought was quite worth it ....
.... Enjoyed Wimbledon and Patch Adams ... Haven't caught The Interpreter before but I heard that this dvd contain a feature which the director explained about the difference between widescreen n pan n scan ... and why he prefer one format over the other .... and Intolerable Cruelty ... hehe the Coen Brothers movies had not been my favourite yet but there George Clooney so worth a spin at least once

oh ... since Shaiful had asked me ... I managed to calculate the rough estimate for each indivdual will have to pay ... in US $, so feel free to check with me how much you should set aside ... (cant give a S$ estimate as I don't know how much will the bank charge yet)

My ??? Online DVD purchases : First Batch of DDD Shipped

just before I could try to change the "Children of Men" dvd for Stefan becos of the price drop due to the Black Friday Event, my ddd account page just reflected that the first batch had been shipped ... with except Backdraft which is on backorder.

10 to 20 Working Days before I Kao Peh to them ... (ETA 7 Dec to 21 Dec 2007) ... Let's pray together now !!!

My ??? Online DVD purchases : Second Batch of DDD

Finally .. Hairspray is out for sale liao ... now completing the second and final batch of dvds purchases ...


and my Second batch ... to fill up the shipping rates

My ??? Online DVD purchases : First Batch of DDD

Can't wait anymore ... seeing that a lot of items that my friends wanted are being listed as out of stock and the orders more or less firming up ... I got the first batch to go .... due to the shipping rates, it's cheaper if I ship them by two batches

anyway here the dvds my friend gotten


and dvds that I got for myself

My ??? Online DVD purchases : DDDHouse order Reached

My First Package from DDDHouse is here ... the package look rather cheapo, doesnt even come with a box but hey

It was well packed and the dvds came in good condition ...
everything look good...

hehe my Election 1 & 2 ( 1 Disc and 2 Disc version ) all came together for a mini photo shoot .. hehehe

and what my dvd package should have been

Overall, I am happy with the condition that my dvds came in but I am rather unhappy with the sudden removal of Perhaps Love Dvd from my order... I really felt like sending them an email to tell them off but was rather happy with the condidtion of the rest , I will let it rest ...

Will I buy from them again? Not so sure about it ... I think I really need to stop buying dvds from a while ....

More Vids that I edited for MX

The Second Video that I edited for MX ... a one on one interview with Peter Chan for his upcoming film, The Warlords ... it will be in three parts .. the first will be the director talking about this film, then the second clip (schedule to be screen next week) will talk about the cast n the character they played and wrap it with the last clip which I got no idea what it will be yet ... hmmm maybe I will work something out like what King Hu did with A Touch of Zen

So what do you think ? Personally, for my own weird reasoning, I am less proud of this than the first one ...

and I posted another video for the Rock Press Conference ... it's a re-edited video which I touched up most of the in between moments ... it just bugged me too much to see the first cut that I got to do it tho no one asked me and I don't think anyone really care about it ... (come to think of it ... I will be editing the video above sooner or later ... maybe after I submit the second video first)

actually there was supposed to be a video montage of The Rock answering questions that are irrelevant to the movie "The Game Plan" but was pretty funny. However one comment woke me up and for the near future, it won't be out (or worked on) ... at least till I have submitted all the Peter Chan's interview video first

as for the Ekin Cheng Video that I mention during my last post on the first video I did for Mx, I didn't do it in the end ... anyway Stefan did it and U can find his video posted here ... of course he is a faster worker compared to me

My ??? Online DVD purchases : DDDHouse order Shipped & DDD to buy list

After checking my DDDhouse account these past few days ... it's finally shipped ...

Updated (a while later) : DAMN >.. i just checked my email and got one from DDDHOUSE and it mention that ""DVD-Perhaps Love (Golden Limited Edition)" out of print and removed from this order"

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ... that the main reason why I bought Dvds from them in the first place !!! if they let me know earlier .. I would have cancel the whole purchase .... argh ... darn... now have to buy from the rather expensive Commercial Press liao which heng heng their new shop just restocked

DDD

on the other hand .. the DeepDiscountDvds 20% sale is going on .... and I'm doing a mass order for my frens ... it's seems that the order is getting bigger and more n more ppl are expressing their interest to buy ... (and no, I am not getting a commission or extra discount for this ... just wanna help get cheaper dvds than those found in our overpriced stores)

Currently ... the highest buyer on my list is ...

Shaiful with 7 !!! (Updated on the 14th Morning)
Hairspray
Little Shop of Horrors
Fame
Love Me If You Dare
The Crime of Padre Amaro
Pan's Labyrinth
Shortbus

Stefan with 5
Shaun of the Dead
Following
Children of Men
Backdraft
Rounders

Shaney with 2
Bogie & Bacall: The Signature Collection
To Kill a Mockingbird

Ah Kong with 1
Amelie

Monica with 1
Entourage - Season 3, Part 2

the best part is ... I don't even know what to get for myself .... but I'm having fun taking order for others ....

are you going to apologise?

hmmm apologize by timbaland & one republic

IT's a funny thing ... this song was from One Republic but when the bigger star Timbaland remixed it ... it sort of became his song and One Republic is just being featured in it ...

I wonder if it's a good thing or not ... on one hand, you get a big star to help push your product to the masses but in the process, what was your, kinda no longer belongs to you ...

sidetrack: Timbaland's sound is begining to sound like a one trick pony ... it's kinda the same for all the songs his mixed ... while it still sound cool now, I wonder how long this coolness will last

compared to this version ... which sound like the original one

which do you prefer ? the original one or the one touched by Timbaland ?

my weird TV

ya ... it's weird

that no sound when i on it ...

but if i leave it on in mute mode for a while, then on it while switching the duo soundtracks ... i might get a loud buzz ... and from there , if i played with the different sound system ... i might just it to turn on the audio ...

after which, i am very reluctant to off it .. cos its going to be the same process all over again

I am getting this for my Nephew Xmas Prez

Tickle me Emo !!! hehehe

TV got No Sound !!!

Darn ... I think I on off the main switch too often already ... there's no sound coming from the TV now !!! tsk tsk tsk ... shouldnt have attempt to gone green if I knew it will give me so much trouble !!!

My ??? Online DVD purchases : DDDHouse order

The Recent Peter Chan's Visit got me scrambling for a Perhaps Love Golden Limited Edition Dvd all over Singapore. After his visit, I went online to seek a copy just in case he return for more promo and found out that it was sold out in Yesasia ... but luckily DDDhouse still got it listed.

I always wanted to try their service but never got to until now ..... was thinking of getting other dvds to lower the shipping cost and pretty glad that Stefan chip in a few ...

I got the double disc Election 1 & 2 and Recycle Double Disc (which I still can't match the price that Loki got at HK) and a Akira Kurosawa documentary ...

My Items
Message From Akira Kurosawa For Beautiful Movies
Re-Cycle (2 Discs Director's Edition)
Election 2 Two Discs Collector Special Edition
Election (Two Discs Collector Edition)
Perhaps Love (Golden Limited Edition)

Stefan's stuff
House of Flying Daggers (Two discs version)
Citizen Dog (2005)
Mon Rak Transistor

Let's see how long it will take to reach me : )

* Updated (8 Nov 07) : It seems that I might have gotten the last copy of the Perhaps Love Golden Limited Edition as when I checked today, it's listed as Sold Out!

Lightning session strikes back

IT's Back !!! yeah ... its time of the month when I can blame my lack of exercise on the constant daily rain n lightning ... yup it's the Lightning Session !!!

I almost didn't want to snap any lightning pictures as 1) my phone batt was running out, 2) it's a very time consuming hobby which often makes my mind wonder and I wasting my time and 3) it's seems like it was just those bright lights with no clear lightning type of lightning session ...

but when I was closing my window as rain drops were spilling in, I was treated to one of the most fantastic lighting show this year .... the whole sky was lighted up with lightning and it branches like the roots of an old old tree

of cos I don't need any more convincing that I should just drain my remaining phone batt for tonight's nature show...
the first one that I got ... It wasn't as huge as the one that got me pumped up to snap pictures but in it's minor ways, it has quite nice pattern to it ...

the best picture of the night was the second one that I caught ... tho it wasn't as great as the ones I saw with my eyes, it' s still quite breath taking to catch one lightning flashing across the skies

a small and minor one ... but still ... worth taking a look

this one got an interesting way of branching out ...

before it flare up ..... the original picture had a bright spot in the middle .... gotto do some contrasting for better viewing to see where it was going ...

What I learned from my lightning catching "Experience" was that what appears as a bright spot might not be just a bright spot ... as you can see here ... with the compare and contrast ... there just a little tail of the lightning caught with this picture ... hehehe I was hopping for more from the bright spot but there all there is

Last Good one for the night... before my hp finally mati

hehehe .... I am very happy with my hp's photo taking ability, specially the Best Picture function which allows me to snaps multiple shots, giving me that extra chance to catch a decent shot of the lightning ... : ) for once, I am glad that it's rainy session

Things found in Bird Nest Caves

Can you tell what those brown brown creatures are ?? Click on the picture to enlarge !!

Yup ... the cave was filled with them !!! I wanted to stop earlier to snap pictures of those creepy crawlers on the barrier but before I could focus on the barrier ... I noticed something ... the floor that I am standing on were filled with them and I was wearing sandals .... hehehe creepy thoughts creep in ... what if one of the many those crawl onto my leg ??

I Quickly walk off until I could find a spot where there are less creepy crawlers on the floor and quickly snap this shot ... hehehe

But it's worth it ... it's pretty interesting to see the Bird Nest Caves which are also filled with Bats ... more pictures coming up ...

It's real after all

All this while, I thought the security cameras located in my estate were just dummies .... it was until I walk passed what I thought was a normally closed door estate store room which happened to be opened today and saw
A working security camera system !!

and a guy fixing it ....
So all the maintenance fees we paid monthly was made into good use after all