After much beer, we saw a Vertical Horizon

Beerfest Asia ‘09 was great for a number of reasons. It was great because I was there with with some of the best friends anyone could have in the world. It was great because there were just so many kinds of quality beer to be had for cheap. It was great because we had VIP seats that were blessedly spacious and populated with all manner of good-natured, fun loving people.  It was great because our seats were right in front of the stage. This last reason was particularly important because…

Yes Virginia, that last reason went directly from great to AWESOME when Vertical Horizon stepped up there and began to belt out song after song. Old favourites like ‘You’re a God’, ‘Grey Sky Morning’, ‘Everything You Want’ and songs from their older albums to new offerings like ‘Save Me From Myself’ from their upcoming album. Frontman Matt Scanell was at his charismatic best, interacting heavily with the crowd, and we lapped up all he had to offer.

Special mention to Jack & Rai and the E.I.C. Singapore’s a tough crowd to play to, but you guys did well. Splendid job opening the night, you guys had us completely psyched up for more.

Pictures are up in my gallery and I’ve posted more samples below. I’ve disabled full-size images in this album till I figure out what’s wrong with my watermark module but the standard-sized ones ought to be large enough for your eyeballs.

-Marc

The Size and The Shape of Things

A look at the progress of the disease so far:

Canon 450D - $1100
Canon 50mm f1.8 - $100
Canon 17-55mm f2.8 IS - $1100
Crumpler 7 Million Dollar Home - $150
Crumpler Industry Disgrace - $20
Digicab 30L Dry Cabinet - $100
Velbon UP-400 Monopod - $55

Additional symptoms expected to show up before New York:

Canon 70-200mm L f4 IS - $1200
Canon 100mm f2.8 macro - $800
Canon 580EX II - $700
Any bloody good tripod - $500

Hmm, I think I’m terminal.

-Marc

As Sharp as a Razor

My new lens is, that is.

Bought myself a second-hand Canon 17-55mm f2.8. Cost me $1100 and I admit that I’m feeling a little bit burnt in the pocket region but holy shit does this lens deliver!

It has a constant aperture of f2.8 and image stabilisation so it’s real boon for people who shoot in clubs like me.

So my ‘entry’ kit has more or less been completely replaced by this point and I’m next aiming to round off my collection with a dedicated macro lens, probably a 100mm f2.8, and a telephoto zoom, probably a 55-250 f4-5.6. I can already tell that photography is going to be a very expensive hobby.

I’ve just about finalised my trip to NY. I tell you, Google Maps is invaluable for the modern traveller. With that app, I can plot out all the points of interest in a particular city/region and access it anywhere from my iPhone. So I’ve been surfing tourist websites and NY based blogs and have mapped out everything from fried chicken stands to the Guggenheim.

-Marc

The Vice Guide to North Korea

This is an awesome site that details, in video, the bizarreness that is North Korea.

From banquet halls where food is laid out at empty tables (just to show tourists that North Korea has food to spare) and a luxurious subway system that has a total of two stops to inspirational banners that say “The Way to Peace is through the Point of a Bayonet”, the guerrilla videos show that life in Pyongyang is far removed from the realities that we are accustomed to.

There’s even a segment where the two American film-makers are lectured on how North Korea actually roundly defeated the evil “Imperialist Aggressionist Forces” of the USA during the Korean War, and that the rest of the world is just misinformed. Classic.

It’s shot within North Korea by a bunch of very brave people who apparently got around the ban on video cameras by using a modern point-an-shoot and a ton of memory cards. Definitely worth a look.

-Marc

January

She stands on the street corner
too much make-up, too little clothing.
Searching while waiting to be found.

Your eyes meet and, for a second, you connect.
she smiles; almost shyly, nearly sweetly
revealing something truer beneath her rouged skin.

She shares that much of herself with you,
an enticement that’s also barbed.
Whatever else she has to offer
won’t be quite so cheap.

Thick Skinned

Some people just keep coming back for more, even when they’re told that they’re not welcome.

I don’t care about your sob stories. About your implications that no-one else can help you, that the project’s due in a few hours and that your final grade rests heavily upon its performance.

I don’t care about your promises of food and drink. They have never materialised and I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for them to do so. Yes, I’m no longer in NUS. Does this mean that your friendship with me is contingent on convenience? How strange that you don’t award me the same privilege.

What I do care about is that I’ve heard neither head nor tail from you between requests for help besides a random SMS advertising your new business. Get a clue lady. You obviously don’t understand what it means to be a friend.

I’m not a fucking charity. I’m not a fucking edit-robot. And you are definitely not. my. friend. So get the hell out of my life. I certainly won’t miss you. Go on, get going. Don’t let the screen door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.

-Marc

Significant Figures

Bonuses: 165 million USD

Bailout:    170,000 million USD

How’s that for some perspective?

Of course, even with the perspective shift, the bonuses still hardly sound ethical given that the division being rewarded is widely regarded as the cause of the current financial debacle. But do consider that they are also contractually-mandated payments. I mean, if AIG was clearly acting against the law here, the US Government would have been able to find a more straight-forward way to ‘retrieve’ their misspent funds other than that cumbersome 90% tax they cooked up over the weekend, no?

How’s this for more perspective: the bailout is not a gift - it is a federal loan that the government expects to be paid back in full. If AIG thinks that it’s best  to pay these ‘retention bonuses’ to retain employees who probably have the best knowledge of how to undo the tangled web they’ve woven (seeing as they’re the ones who wove it in the first place) I say more power to them.

All the hullaboo feeding this eruption of popularist outrage is beginning to turn unhealthy, in my opinion. Yes, people are angry and disappointed and understandably so with the unemployment rate hitting record highs and with everything else turning into shit and hitting the fan in the US of A. Yes, this scandal and all the screaming for blood over it acts as a timely release valve, letting off steam before the collective psyche snaps.

But consider that if finance wonks are vilified to this extent, with death-threats and punitive taxes etcetera continuously hurled in their general direction, just who is going to do the dirty work clearing up the mess? Who would want to render a service to the public that simultaneously sets them up for crucifiction? Just look at the kind of flak that Edward Liddy took in front of congress:

“After Lynch ran through a series of allegations about AIG in which he used the word “you,” Liddy responded:

“You have generously used the word ‘you’ in that construct. As I mentioned, these contracts were all put together before I was at AIG. I would not have done these contracts this way. And this whole arrangement would have looked - if it existed - would have looked a whole lot different.   So I really do - I take offense, sir, at the use of…”

Lynch interrupted to say, “Well, offense was intended. So you take it rightfully, sir.”

Holy unrestrained rancor, Batman! Hello? Why is Liddy being victimised for something that was done before he stepped in, out of retirement, to try to salvage the saveable portions of AIG’s otherwise bloated, toxic carcass? No, I’m not saying that he ought to be awarded the moral highground just because he’s a volunteer and I’m not blind to the personal gains he stands to make if he achieves his goals but lay off the knee-jerking for a bit people!

These are extraordinarily difficult times. Just like lancing a boil, solutions will sometimes be painful or distasteful before offering relief. Don’t fret; the money being doled out is AIG’s to give for they’ve merely borrowed it, not received it as a gift from above. They’ve not done much to earn the public’s trust, but they’ll need that in order to set things right again. After a decade of disastrous de-regulation, it would be incredibly ironic if the economic system were to be done in by breathing-down-the-neck oversight.

-Marc

I’m Hot

The only upside to being deathly ill with a fever is that the pounds just melt away.

=X

-Marc