Correcting Photographing

I will feature something different for this post and that is my behind-the-scenes editing all my photos. The thing about photography is that what comes out in the photos is not all that, plainly speaking, truthful. It takes some adjustment of angles and lighting as well as eliminating certain props in the background to make it look 'perfect'.

Back in Year 2 of my university life, I have this class called Cognition and Perception. In short, we learned how our cognitive processes are carried out which influence our perception and vice versa. Our perception is a funny little bugger as it can trick us into 'perceiving' the wrong image (under certain settings of course).

Ok, enough jabbering. Here's a photo I took yesterday.

As you can see, Superman here looks like he's actually flying off to the sky and mind you, there's no photoshopping going on here.

Now, let's look behind the scenes and see what's really going on and how I made it looked as the figure is really flying.

There's a LEGO pole stuck to one of his leghole. See, this is how I take photographs that involve figures levitating above the ground. Sometimes, such attempt is difficult and some accomplices might be needed to take a really nice shot.

Now, I know this feels like cheating but that's what going on with most photography. The real full image is not always what it seems to be. It requires a good cropping skills or taking from a certain angle to hide the unwanted props. This has more to do with psychology than you think because by shielding certain items from a picture, it could totally change our perception of the image. For instance, the first photo of this post really does look like Superman figure is actually flying.

Thus, next time if you want to take a nice photographs but you have ugly props lying around, just position your minifigures so that when you shoot later on, you can crop out the unwanted bits. Of course, the angles help you out as well to hide the props.

With that, I bid you adieu. 

Project Throne: Arachnid Throne

With the third episode of Game of Thrones out, it's time that I released my third throne as well. Introducing:

Arachnid Throne

Name: Arachnid Throne
Regalia: Vermilion Tooth (5 in total)
Totem Animal: Spider of Light, Spider of Darkness

Description:

Obviously, this throne is based on our friendly neighborhood creepy crawlies - the spiders. The pieces, however, derive mostly from the Atlantis set - Monster Crab Clash, as evident with the appendages. I was cleaning my drawer one day when I found my old set from Atlantis. So, I put a good use to them and created this lovely monstrosity. 

The pieces mostly consist of black with hints of orange bricks here and there. I decorated with a bit of brown bricks as well to make it more interesting and frightening. Yup, I'm going for the "Aaaah, spider!" design.



From certain angle (like this one), the throne looks like a torture device. Again, the scare tactics. The appendages enhance its fear factor as it looks like the seat is about to eat you up.

While we are on the subject of fear, the Five Vermilion Tooth are the insignia of the throne. Those who possess the Tooth (Teeth?) would expose an individual's true fears. Strength of the power increases when the Tooth are used in unison. However, all of them are embedded onto the throne so using them mobile is a problem.

That brings us to the throne itself. Since the Tooths are sort of part of the throne, the person sitting on the throne will be able to reveal the fear of those nearby, using it to her/his advantage. That being said, the power cannot be abused as the two spiders on the throne keep an ever watchful eye on the person wielding such power. The light one controls the emission of the power while the dark one keeps tabs on it and consume whoever abuse it. Due to its frightful nature, not many people are willing to venture to sit on this petrifying seat.

Below are pictures of the throne when it is enclosed:

With that, I conclude this post and I will say this: The night is dark and full of terror.

Memento Mori

Life is like a living organism and we, humans, are the tiny cells that made up its biological structure. The only difference between us and the micro jelly is that we have a thing called brain that allows us to walk, talk and...desire.

With that as an opening, my post for today will be centered on, as indicated on the title, Memento Mori. The sophisticated-sounding word is Latin in origin and it simply means "remember that you will die" (Wikipedia, 2014). Yup! It's going to be a morbid post but in spite of the melancholy, there's much to learn from this term.

I first learned of the term from, of the places, Marvel Avengers Alliance (a Facebook game). It's one of the weapons players could collect. From then, it kept bugging me that I didn't know what the term meant yet I always forgot to check its meaning until a few day ago, thanks to a quick search on Wikipedia. I was hooked on it the moment I understood its meaning. See, I have an affinity towards the concept of death (I'm morbid like that) - from how we fear the unknown to how we fear what we would leave behind.

Before I get carried away, let's talk more on Memento Mori. What caught my attention was that the term refers to how the inevitability of death will come sooner or later and no matter what, we need to face it (even if it scares us sxxx-less). That leaves us with my picture below.

See, the thing about death is that, even with your impeccable beauty, your immense wealth, your notorious fame and your glorious achievement, none of them can be brought upon death's doorsteps. All you will leave behind when Death visits is the bones on your body. Those superficial materialistic items are left for the world of living to enjoy.

That, however, does not discredit all the things that you have done in life. On the contrary, with death ever looming around us, it gives us more the reason to do what we can to feel satisfied about the short life that we possess. True, you can't bring the materialistic stuff to your grave but we shouldn't center ourselves on these stress-laden items to begin with (trust me, most of them emit more stress than pleasure). Of course, if you are the pessimistic type, be happy that death is always nearby.

Death has always been a mystery that haunts mankind due to the suspense that it gives off as no one knows what will happen when Death is at our doorsteps. Is there truly a light beyond the darkness or is there a fiery pit of fire filled with agony? Some claimed that they had seen it but how valid were their comments? To add to the matter, the whole materialistic objects that we desire so much in the living world cannot be carried over to Death haunts alot of people these days too.

For me, like the cells in our body, I believe that we are merely carrying out our duty to expand and maintain the bodily functions before we die off and replace by a generation of another us. Life seems simpler that way.

LegoBrickLife on FB

With my photos accumulating, sooner or later it becomes really hard to keep track of all my photos. I have a dream of making them a scrapbook one day (the nice pics anyway). Plus, I want some publicity (guilty is charged).

Hence, I created this Fan Page on Facebook called, as you may well know - Legobricklife
Link: https://www.facebook.com/Legobricklife

Image is as followed (for now):

As of now, I have only posted a few of my large collection (as my Instagram followers may know). Do check it out when you have time and like it to see more of my pictures :)

Project Throne: Imperial Throne

Game of Throne (GoT) Season 4 hit with a smash with its first episode and I just can't wait for the next one and HOPEFULLY, a certain child king would finally die (unless they do a major plot twist, deviating from the book to which I would be react angrily).

Thus, in celebration of the new season, I mentioned that I will build a line of thrones. Last week, I posted my Throne of Harvest Moon and for this post, I will feature my new throne: Imperial Throne.

Name: Imperial Throne
Regalia: Crimson Jewel (on top)
Totem Animal: None

Description:

With the amount of red and gold pieces on this thing, I'm sure it's quite obvious where I got the inspiration from.

Based on a Chinese Empress/Emperor throne, the seat is decorated with orange and red items while speckled with gold ornaments. I realized I had a lot of unused orange and red pieces so I thought I might as well utilized them to build something. What perfect creation to make than my latest personal project in conjunction with GoT.

In traditional Chinese culture, the colour red or anything similar is craved as it symbolizes prosperity and good luck. This is evident especially during Chinese New Year whereby all things are decorated red or bright and it is preferably to buy new clothes in the aforementioned colour.

In the center of the throne, you can see two lanterns lookalike which I drew inspiration from a Chinese New Year festival. Another thing is that some part of the throne looks like a firecracker ready to be ignited. Again, same source of inspiration.

The Crimson Jewel is perched on top of the throne. Legend has it that it infused immense strength and power to the owner akin to that of a mighty dragon. Fierce, durable and powerful. Anybody who dares to oppose the ruler will cower when the Jewel is in sight.

Since the throne symbolizes prosperity, the ruler who usually sits on it has an opulent lifestyle as wealth is unlimited. However, she or he can also be consumed by the hunger for more wealth as well as power which if not carefully, might lead to a devastating end.


And that's my second entry to my current project - Project Throne. I have another one standby for next week and I will strive to build more thrones, just because I love the series so much. Till then, Hear Me Roar!

Selling Pretzels

Tada! You're looking at the new pretzel boy in Sunway Pyramid. I took the part time job offered by my friend's mum aka the boss just to pass the time until I find a permanent job to settle down with.

As you can see, it's Wetzel's Pretzel. By far, it's the only kind in Malaysia and we serve you 'hot fresh pretzels' (yup, that's our tagline).

What I can tell you about the pretzels is that we always keep it fresh. So you can ensure that it's hot, fresh and fluffy :3

Of course, every job somehow drains the energy force out of you as evident by my lack of sentences in this post. I need the money but I do enjoy working there as compared to elsewhere (for a part time job anyway). Well, c'est la vie.

However, do drop by and comment on our pretzels if you are happened to be in Sunway Pyramid.

I'm going to hit the hay now so byyyyeee~

Full Throttle Into April

It took me a while to do my review of March as I somehow always occupy myself with something to do.

Anyhow, as an opening, I finally finished my internship! That would be my biggest achievement in the month. I would the whole internship journey was...interesting. Arduous and slightly straining of course. I even extended my interning days to assist the company but...you know what, I'm just glad I'm done with it and now I can pass my Degree Course. Refer to my past posts to get some understanding of what I went through. Click here: boss

For the first quarter of March (still in my internship period), me and one of the student helpers visited Kuala Kangsar for career fairs. That was my first time visiting there and it was nice to travel out to SOMEWHERE throughout my interning days. I do enjoy visiting all the places unbeknown to the ever eager tourists (though I can't say I'm not a tourist myself).

Moving on, the second quarter involved mainly the usual office work and admin stuff. Nothing much went on in this period which would bring us to the third quarter of March. This is when I officially completed my internship and I spent my first day as a free person sleeping til kingdom came. It was a long time since my last sleep-in and I absolutely enjoyed it. To top it off, I scored a pretty well for the research report that I was dreading over in January. All in all, my grades were good.

In the last few days of March, I was even offered a part time job in Sunway Pyramid at this new pretzel outlet called Wetzel's Pretzels. I need to do a selfie on that but it will come soon enough. Do come and visit for those who are staying in Malaysia. It's the only outlet currently in the country.

With the March chapter of my life done and sealed, I am now on a full throttle mode into April whereby it will be filled with the one thing that all graduating university students find as the most difficult task: finding a job that we like.

More on that in my blog next time so drop by whenever you can :)

Broooooooooommmmmmmmmmmm~

My Gopeng Resort

As I implied in the previous post, I visited Cy in the forest resort and reserve where he's currently conducting his fieldwork on the native people. Like most the places we've been to, this place is...and my favourite word...tranquil as well as serene, calm and downright peaceful. Away from the city life, away from the rat race, away from the hustle and bustle.

I do enjoy this peace of mind from time to time after spending too much time in the city. Unfortunately, I could only stay there for 3 days, 2 nights but it was a time well spent and I'm definitely going back there again.

Moving on, the place is called My Gopeng Resort. It lies a few kilometers away from Gopeng town (a small town nearby Ipoh in Perak). Hills and valleys speckled the areas to which some are used for marble mining (the area is full of it). The resort is enclosed with dense forest so do expect rainfall and more-than-friendly-bugs. Still, nature lovers usually don't care about those kind of stuff. Several rivers also run through the forest and in a hot afternoon, you can take a dip in the cool water and just release your tension.

This is a picture of the resort.

Among other things you will notice there is the large amount of pretty butterflies. Most of the ones I saw are the Malaysian National Butterfly - The Raja Brooke. In a few designated spots, you can see them puddling which is an activity whereby the males try to absorb nutrients from the ground (mostly sodium).

This is one picture I took of them but it's kind small so you might have to zoom in.

Then, my favourite itinerary came. Finding the elusive Rafflesia. It is the world largest species of flower and it can only be found around this part of the world. Though the largest ones can only be found in Borneo Island, the ones that I saw are sub-species of them but they were still large nonetheless.

The journey to find these flowers, however, was arduous. It required at least an hour of trekking and traversing through a leech infested undergrowth. I was bitten a few times around my ankles (I didn't wear a long-enough pants). The leeches were pretty harmless so you don't have to worry about contacting disease from them. Otherwise, it's the fatigue that you have to worry about so make sure you pack some bottles of water as well as some energy bars (but don't ever litter).

Luckily, when I arrived, we saw a few flowers in full bloom and glory, a few were just buds, a few dying and another one just about to open. Thus, I was able to make the following collage.

The life cycle of a Rafflesia

One common myth I was like to dispel is that the flower doesn't really stink. People have been exaggerating that the flowers smell like a corpse or something dying and the stench can be smelled from a distance. Honestly, I did not smell anything as I was nearing it. There was a bit of a stench but only if you put your whole face near to the mouth. It's just like how some people exaggerate the smell of a local fruit called Durian.

And as always, there's a LEGO picture involved. It's been a while since I last saw Cy, so we took a photo by a dying and wilting Rafflesia so that we don't disturb or harm the ones in full bloom.

So if you are interested in all the nature stuffs, do drop by this resort and spend a day or two just to take in the great outdoors -Malaysian style.

Rain Rain...Stay With Me

5th April was a very wet day and it's been a long time too since a heavy downpour cascades the area known as Klang Valley. Normally, I would rejoice in this change of weather (as it has been hot and humid for the past few weeks), my mood somehow accords with the gloomy ambiance of the ominous grey sky.

The thing is that some of you may know I just came back from a vacation at a resort where Cy is conducting his fieldwork. Though it's relatively a short visit, I did manage to do and see more than what I expected (more on my vacation on the next post). However, there was a bittersweet ending to it as I had to leave Cy and what's worse was that we had to restrict ourselves. Our societal upbringing is to blame for this.

Don't worry as some of you may find this confusing. It's just a personal lament and rant that I needed to get them out off. Being alone as well as some erratic emotions have taken some tolls to me. I guess I have trouble venting out all these raw emotions and negativity as I actually don't know where I should hurl them in the first place (other than this blog).

On the brighter side of the rainfall, I applied for a part time job at a special need center. While I was expecting a lot of screaming and yelling and tantrum, it was a surprisingly calm morning and I grew fond of some of the kids (kinda wish I had my own). Now, that's another thing that rained my parade.

Well, as I said, it's a rainy day. One way or another, my blog is cloudy at the moment and I intend to stay under the clouds for a while, just to wash away whatever's been cooked up inside my mind that may have long become stale.

In the meanwhile, do enjoy the rain. It can be surprisingly soothing.