My own pair of Monsfrobs!

Named after my alter ego -Tzaremus Comidel!
Support local design. Get them @ RuggArts!

Bloesem

(Guusje)

(junecrafts)

(KStudio)

Bloesem is a blog that I like very much and visit often. (On top of Sandra Juto and My Funny Eye)

Shoe Painting!

Lovely customised hand-painted shoes!

Personalised too!

via RuggARTS

DIY project

My couch was due for a make-over. Letter cut-outs from $2 black felt (DAISO) + $4.90 x 3 white cushions (IKEA) = A new look.

Lovely site

vintage pencil leads

clothes pegs

illustration of twigs

I stumbled upon this weblog recently when I was surfing around to perk up my mind-numbing day in the "sweatshop". Lisa Congdon is an artist and collector and she decided to start this project of posting photos of her collections or drawings, if the "collections" are imagined, one piece a day for the year 2010. I am not much of a collector myself, more of someone who prefers to clear out stuff (makes me feel like I am shedding my burdens, literally!) and so I am amazed at what she has. More to come of course, and I look forward to seeing what she has in store. Her drawings are lovely too.

Seagull 4B-1 won!

The top flips open and becomes the window to the viewfinder.

Ok, so I did go check out the only Seagull camera dealer in Singapore. It's a 40-year old wholesale dealer located in a 70s-style office in the Bugis area. It's really appropriate that they deal with antiques like Seagull because the entire office had this "trapped in time" feel to it. Picture steel office desks with attached drawers, swivel typist chairs and giant typewriters (yup, didn't see a single PC). After some advice from the patient lady (who is probably part of the family-owned business), I decided to get the 4B-1, which is the most basic model and the one I had originally set my eyes on. Main reason is because of the multiple exposure factor and additional 6x4.5 format, both of which are not available in the other 4A series models, despite the latter being deemed "higher-end" due to the more number of "elements" (essentially one more layer of lens to enhance image sharpness). But given the medium format factor, images delivered will definitely be sharper and more vivid than 35mm and not to mention the flat digital format. Online reviews and the lady seem to think that the difference in image quality between 4B and 4A models is negligible unless it comes down to really minute details. Damage? S$210, which is about twice the price from a China-based dealer minus shipping cost but comes with warranty and life-long service. It really bumped the Lubitel out of the ring with the pricing, service (no servicing for Lubitel in Singapore) and looks. Seagull looks like the real deal, with its all-metal casing and parts, except for the lens. The chunk of steel weighs nearly a kilo!

Seagull or Lubitel?

To some, if not many, people, this is a no-brainer. "Of course Seagull. It's cheaper and very well-made." is something I hear/see very often. A Seagull, even the higher end ones in the 4A series sold on the ultra-atas (expensive) lomography.com, is still a couple of hundred dollars cheaper than the crazily-priced Lubitel 166+, which I last checked to be S$580. I like Lubitel 166+ because of its light weight and flexibility. It can shoot both 35mm (can do sprockets!) and medium format (120mm), and has an in-built film winding system (no need to grope around in a film changing bag). So it's like buying a Seagull, which can only shoot 120mm, AND a Lomo LC-A+, which shoots 35mm. Buying both cameras would of course be more expensive but then I would have 2 cameras (yay). So how? I really don't want to import a Lubitel and pay GST, which will bump up the price by another 7%, although shipping is free. I found a Singapore dealer who brings in Seagulls and will take a look at them before deciding. And if he is selling them at a decent price, i.e. not far from what the could-be-dodgy China dealers are quoting (one website says S$100), I guess I will opt for it. I like both Seagull and Lubitel for different reasons but buying one would mean eliminating the other and hence the agonising decision-making process.

Oh and why either? Because I want to play with medium format and more importantly, I want control!! Holga and Chelsea are fun but I don't get to be boss.

Lombok

I really really didn't want to come back to Singapore (and to reality). We spent 6 wonderful days in Lombok, a most beautiful, peaceful and friendly island east of Bali in Indonesia. The first 3 days were spent trekking up Mt Rinjani, a 3,700-ish metre volcano dominating the Lombok landscape. We did not take the longer trek route to the summit but opted for the crater rim -cum-lake shore itinerary. At the 2,600m high rim, a most amazing view of the crater lake with a "anak" (baby) volcanic cone rising from the middle of the lake was revealed to our gasps in awe of the mountain's majesty. (Photos from Holga will follow shortly.) The hike to the crater rim was arduous, at least for me, for I was the weakest and most unfit among the four of us. Thank God for Sze Yao who gallantly volunteered to carry my pack uphill, for without his help, I would have taken double the time and slowed down our progress. The hike up offered a whole range of mountain experience, starting from the tropical rainforest at the foot (Senaru), then progressing to temperate rainforest (think Pacific Northwest, with lichen coating the mist-shrouded trees with a ghostly white hue and moss hanging from the branches), to the drier, yellow savannah bush landscape further up and finally exposed steep gravelly slopes as we clamoured (crawled for me) up the rim. The first night was spent camping at about 2,000m, with the wind howling incessantly throughout the night (estimated temp of 7-10 deg) and occasional rumblings from the volcano. Hired porters provided great service, from laying our tents with a thin padding to cooking hot chicken soup, which we slurped down eagerly and warmed us to the toes. We were supposed to spend the second day hiking down from the rim to the lake shore, some 1,000m down a precipitous trail. Upon closer examination of the near-vertical plunge, massaging of our wobbly knees and advice from our trekking guide Osman, we decided to abandon the plan and spent our second day going downhill, which proved to be even more trying than the ascent. I was covered from head to toe in brown dust as we half-slid ,half-skidded down the steep sandy slopes. At the end of the one-day trek downhill, my legs felt disconnected from my body as my muscles were no longer able to control any movements.

After a night's rest at the foot of the mountain, we trudged on during the third day to visit some waterfalls, which Osman had kindly offered to bring us, following our forsaken attempt to hike down to the crater lake shore. The waterfall was quite spectacular, with spring water gushing down with a deafening roar from a height of 65m, being the highest waterfall in Lombok. We had an enjoyable and much needed dip in it since we hadn't showered for nearly 3 days.

The next leg of our trip was meant to be a reward for our strenuous "mountaineering" efforts: we booked ourselves into a small beachside resort - Puri Mas, located at Sengigi on the west side of Lombok, which afforded a panoramic view of the turquoise waters of the Lombok strait separating Bali and its lesser-known sister island. We also took a day trip out to the Gili islands off the Lombok mainland (Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air), where we snorkelled in clear, deep waters and had a lazy lunch at the small and rustic Meno island. Apart from colorful coral fishes, we also spotted a couple of puffer fish. Unfortunately, we failed to encounter any sea turtles, despite repeated assurance from our snorkelling guide Kris, most likely because of the colder-than-expected currents, which instead brought throngs of small jellyfish (yes, ouch).

Everyone we met were friendly and welcoming, possibly because we are tourists and the Lombok economy is heavily dependent on tourism for income. At the same time, we all felt that the local folks, despite being less wealthy in monetary terms, were a genuinely happy bunch very much at peace with themselves. As Kris put it with a charming grin, "Here, I'm on holiday everyday".

Photos from iPhone - pardon the poor quality (Holga ones, with views of the crater lake, will be posted shortly. Hopefully, they will turn out well...)

Camp

Lots of sweet pineapples and 3 days worth of nasi/mee goreng

Gullies carved by lava streams. The top is the crater rim, where views of the lake and anak volcanic cone come to the eye (not captured here). It's an almost vertical trail, some 1,000 metres, from the rim down to the lake shore, which we did not attempt after much consideration.

Mist-shrouded hillscape.

View inside the beachside resort Puri Mas

Cottage porch

Garden inside the resort

The tropical heat produces lush and colorful flora. Everything from the sink to our beds were decorated with strewn flowers freshly plucked from the manicured gardens.

Row of rustic Sasak (indigenous people) cottages. I stayed in the middle one.

Lots of Balinese sculptures adorn the resort, whose Dutch Indonesian owner Mr Marcel seems to be greatly inspired by. He also owns a private home-cum-spa retreat located a 5-min drive away from Puri Mas, where he keeps a range of exotic pets from deer to monkey. We had a somewhat painful massage there, mostly due to the back-breaking hiking earlier.

Rolling waves dashing up the seawall fronting our resort.

Moi and the stone frog and the beautiful sea.

The almost-infinity pool.

We nested ourselves on a bale (raised attap pavillion), sipping mint tea for hours, listening to the waves and the laughing shrieks of the local kids frolicking on the surf. Really really didn't want to be back.

Mt Rinjani

Going off to a 3D/2N trek onto Mt Rinjani in Lombok, Indonesia and another 3Days of frolicking on the beaches, more or less a reward for the anticipated calf-stretching (or maybe back-breaking) hike up the live volcano. So no post from 23-28 Nov. Am praying for good weather (no flash floods => mudslides) and that Rinjani remains calm and not spew fire at us. Hopefully, she had already vented the year's store of anger in May earlier... Unfortunately, we are not going to go to the summit because we decided that the trek should be leisurely and we are not ego freaks who want to conquer anything. So it's up to the crater lake for supposedly amazing views and a nice soak in the hot springs during the 3D stay up there. Holga is coming along (not Chelsea unfortunately cos gotta pack light) and will post photos soon. The itinerary is here => http://www.lombok-network.com/rinjani/lake_trek.htm

Customise your Google search page!

My firm had a newbie this week and he is a rather good techie. One of the fun things he shared with us was Shinysearch.com, which is a portal that allows users to customise (to some extent) the look of their Google search page. Not sure how well known this already is, but it sure beats a boring white screen anytime! Click on images for a larger view.

Mah Own Library Seal

What are the consequences of owning many many books? You start buying books you already own without knowing you already own them. The solution then is to make an effort to sort out your stash. Designing a database has always been something I wanted to do but it is both tedious and time-consuming. But the thought of having my own nice little library (and me being the only member) is always coming back to me, egging me to get on my butt and start building one. Then one day, along came this idea of having my own seal on all the books that I have, just to get my library construction plans going for a start. So I trooped down from my office and went to MRSign and got them to come up with a template. They delivered the product after a week.

Polaroid shot of the seal on a page. The book is branded forever! Muahahaha...

This chunk of chrome steel weighs a lot more than it looks. Just imagine I could kill someone with a wallop on the head.

The customised template

SnowyMonkey's B'day & X'mas present

I am finally giving in after a one-year struggle with myself. I am saving for a Lomo Lubitel 166+ camera, a fully manual twin lens reflex camera originally from Russia (but now probably made in China), that costs about HK$2730 (S$500+). It's cheaper and lighter than a Rolleiflex or the atas German Hasselblad, which are all out of my reach. Well, with my financial status now, a Lubitel is out of reach until I accumulate my birthday angpows at the end of the year.

Specs via official lomo site

Holga has a new friend......

And her name is Chelsea! This is a Golden Half camera which uses 35mm film and produces much smaller frames compared to ordinary film cameras due to its size. Essentially a roll of film with 36 exposures can produce 72 shots or half frames so it's very pocket-friendly and cute at the same time. Its body length barely fills up a guy's palm. And yes, it also has a hotshoe (at the side) for the holga flash or any flash for the matter to be mounted on. I have been carrying around whenever I go out and just shoot randomly, partly because I have a lot of shots to expend! The images produced by Chelsea is supposed to look similar to those by Holga, except that the frames are half the size (probably explains the name). Will of course load some nice shots up once I finish my roll!

Nice artwork on the packaging too. Comes with a roll of film to start straight away!

I got Chelsea from 8storeytree.com which also has a retail presence at Sunshine Plaza #01-32 at Bencoolen Street called Thirtysi36. It's run by two passionate folks who founded Lomotion.sg, the online community forum for lomo-lovers.

Sherman!

Click on image for large view.

Typical Sherman - Current, Funny and Thoughtful. And I was just fiddling with my iPhone 3G and thinking of getting the iPhone 3G-S when my telco contract ends this Dec...Mmm, maybe not.

via JS Online