Wednesday, August 19, 2009
perspective and concept
popped by the mamak for a quick dinner yesterday, an inconspicuous joint called al-esfan. u can count this a quirk of the waiters there: they never get your order right. until u wonder, by default, just what and how they'll fuck up this time. just like the last time. and the next.
so it was yesterday when exasperation gave way to interest, when second-guessing the blue-shirted vacant-eyed drones with a stoic refusal to write things down became a game, that i finally figured it out - that that's it! that's the whole idea. u never know what u're gonna get. it's a freakin usp. an esp even, given that it's a 360 experience between bemusement and amusement.
a change of perspective - voila - a concept mamak.
as with all things u, or is it just i, never notice in passing. like the counter, for instance. only noticed it last week, when i took a photo. dynamic film mode with outdoor wb at iso400, and suddenly it's beaut visual merchandising. through new eyes, it's a pleasing riot of colours, sweets chocolate gum lozenges cigarettes. and yet, it still took me between last friday and yesterday to take a closer look.
i saw tubes of bold, deep red. fresh cola mentos. wtf? i rotated it, and some thai copy stared back at me. #1, how exotic. i bought one. of course subconsciously, it was #2, the irony of cola mentos, becoz who could forget the viral proliferation of dietcoke/mentos fountains? a wiki check brought up many other flavours: cinnamon, wintergreen, raisin, peach, plum, strawberry/lemon yoghurt, 2 variations of licorice. i'm suddenly astounded, after being turned off by boring mintmintmint so long ago. so it was also #3, the myriad ways of flogging a dead horse until it lives again.
what's next, tequila mentos?
so it was yesterday when exasperation gave way to interest, when second-guessing the blue-shirted vacant-eyed drones with a stoic refusal to write things down became a game, that i finally figured it out - that that's it! that's the whole idea. u never know what u're gonna get. it's a freakin usp. an esp even, given that it's a 360 experience between bemusement and amusement.
a change of perspective - voila - a concept mamak.
as with all things u, or is it just i, never notice in passing. like the counter, for instance. only noticed it last week, when i took a photo. dynamic film mode with outdoor wb at iso400, and suddenly it's beaut visual merchandising. through new eyes, it's a pleasing riot of colours, sweets chocolate gum lozenges cigarettes. and yet, it still took me between last friday and yesterday to take a closer look.
i saw tubes of bold, deep red. fresh cola mentos. wtf? i rotated it, and some thai copy stared back at me. #1, how exotic. i bought one. of course subconsciously, it was #2, the irony of cola mentos, becoz who could forget the viral proliferation of dietcoke/mentos fountains? a wiki check brought up many other flavours: cinnamon, wintergreen, raisin, peach, plum, strawberry/lemon yoghurt, 2 variations of licorice. i'm suddenly astounded, after being turned off by boring mintmintmint so long ago. so it was also #3, the myriad ways of flogging a dead horse until it lives again.
what's next, tequila mentos?
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
yogya through my lens [jul09]
actually started a lenghty verbose report. then rewrote with a new approach. it Was my lx3's virgin expedition after all.
- and there was much company!
day1: 04jul09
we landed at adisucipto to an abrupt sundown, way past dinnertime. our first dinner was also my first encounter with words like tempe and sapi and bebek. first thing u notice about indonesian meals, is u can always go overboard on spiciness. and first thing u notice about yogya, is the cramped roads and narrow roadside stalls on narrow pavements. the good thing about this is i guess, a healthy tolerance and respect for others' personal space.
- 3 beautiful pots of different chili
- signage of our quaint guesthouse
- DIY yumcha with sosro teh celup
what i didn't shoot: toyota territory - 9 out of 10 vehicles are toyotas.
day2: 05jul09
woke insanely early, crossed into jawa tengah for borobudur, and ironically witnessed the dawn at a petrol station. borobudur is a Massive structure. everywhere u point your lens, it's stone. playing out my noobiness, i shot many bland angles and static compositions - stone & sky, stone & trees, stone & mountains - and tampered with the various settings until my battery started blinking. it was barely 8am. fuck. it gave out after 4 shots at prambanan, a visual counterpoint to borobudur. 1 is a vast horizontal expanse of a single structure, and the other is a cluster of narrow temples with tall roofs, amidst earthquake ruins.
- borobudur: dominating the landscape
- stairs, sunlight, and fresh morning air
- the mighty stupas at the top tier
- ancient comic strips (slabs?)
- zen moment with a stone buddy
- prambanan: stabbing into the sky
what i didn't shoot: a graffititown we passed called magelang(?). shops with tree trunks protruding through the roof. breakfast in the land of indo mi. macro of old grimy fingers crafting an intricate silver brooch. homemade cooler: a pail and a garbage bag. sculptures in a museum courtyard, in equidistant rows like tombstones. dramatic sunburst above a war museum's conical roof. guns, lots of guns. a flagpole indoors, reaching up to a circular skylight. crone barbecueing satay on makeshift mini grill, at said war museum's gates.
day3: 06jul09
traipsed off to ngasem bird market. apparently birds used to be a status symbol, third after a horse and a keris, but the place has evolved to include fish, turtles, geckos etc. - making it kind of a giant pet shop plaza. the market spills into a sprawling complex called tamansari, which covers a fucking dense neighbourhood surrounding a hill and the water castle ruins - which feels kinda like malacca's a famosa, just on very high ground. everywhere u'll see ornate doorways to underground tunnels, which lead to... we didn't explore all that, sad to say. lunch at a charming cafe, then my battery died. again.
- taste the rainbow?
- crateful of crawly crickets
- cd sleeve/wallpaper/poster: take your pick
- life in an unlikely place
- tunnel vision
- music, intrinsic to yogya life
what i didn't shoot: a tank of sucker catfish all in a row like floating angels. a shirtless, seasoned batik painter. view of slow, patient traffic from a horsecart. malioboro, shopping precinct. a stall owner resting his kretek cigg on a stool and staking a private niche on the crowded walkway. an entire street of bakpia pathok bakeries, each brand differentiated by Only its number.
day4: 07jul09
with a flight in the afternoon, we had no time to go gallivanting. lepaked around our guesthouse, a rustic suburb(?) called sleman that's totally devoid of streetlamps. we'd only been back in the evening, so we finally had the chance to see its open fields in daylight. found gastronomic heaven I SAID GODDAMN in a nondescript warung. and as we left, the trip was completed with an apt souvenir - the band vierra playing in the background. i'm still listening to it now.
- rumah palagan by day
- intrepid shooters unfazed by the sun
- warung kepiting dogen, in the middle of nowhere
- shyng-spotted: a flower in a flower
- paddy... or lalang?
- abstract shadow play
what i didn't shoot: my gang. i finally realized i've an impressive knack for not shooting people (which drives mom nuts sometimes). so here's an obligatory group shot...
to end: windows
found an interest in this theme a while ago. windows and doors make interesting subject matter - and i think it's simply becoz it's natural to wonder "what's on the other side?" we all gotta start somewhere, so here's a collection of yogyan windows.
- under the eaves of rumah palagan's neighbour
- unfinished brick, recycled curtains
- blue and black, prob the same wood
- tamansari tunnels echoing behind wooden grilles
- i imagine it's real menacing in the nighttime
- verdant
more at: flickr | shyng's | cheeheng's pt1, pt2, pt3 | yenc's | sm's facebook.
- and there was much company!
day1: 04jul09
we landed at adisucipto to an abrupt sundown, way past dinnertime. our first dinner was also my first encounter with words like tempe and sapi and bebek. first thing u notice about indonesian meals, is u can always go overboard on spiciness. and first thing u notice about yogya, is the cramped roads and narrow roadside stalls on narrow pavements. the good thing about this is i guess, a healthy tolerance and respect for others' personal space.
- 3 beautiful pots of different chili
- signage of our quaint guesthouse
- DIY yumcha with sosro teh celup
what i didn't shoot: toyota territory - 9 out of 10 vehicles are toyotas.
day2: 05jul09
woke insanely early, crossed into jawa tengah for borobudur, and ironically witnessed the dawn at a petrol station. borobudur is a Massive structure. everywhere u point your lens, it's stone. playing out my noobiness, i shot many bland angles and static compositions - stone & sky, stone & trees, stone & mountains - and tampered with the various settings until my battery started blinking. it was barely 8am. fuck. it gave out after 4 shots at prambanan, a visual counterpoint to borobudur. 1 is a vast horizontal expanse of a single structure, and the other is a cluster of narrow temples with tall roofs, amidst earthquake ruins.
- borobudur: dominating the landscape
- stairs, sunlight, and fresh morning air
- the mighty stupas at the top tier
- ancient comic strips (slabs?)
- zen moment with a stone buddy
- prambanan: stabbing into the sky
what i didn't shoot: a graffititown we passed called magelang(?). shops with tree trunks protruding through the roof. breakfast in the land of indo mi. macro of old grimy fingers crafting an intricate silver brooch. homemade cooler: a pail and a garbage bag. sculptures in a museum courtyard, in equidistant rows like tombstones. dramatic sunburst above a war museum's conical roof. guns, lots of guns. a flagpole indoors, reaching up to a circular skylight. crone barbecueing satay on makeshift mini grill, at said war museum's gates.
day3: 06jul09
traipsed off to ngasem bird market. apparently birds used to be a status symbol, third after a horse and a keris, but the place has evolved to include fish, turtles, geckos etc. - making it kind of a giant pet shop plaza. the market spills into a sprawling complex called tamansari, which covers a fucking dense neighbourhood surrounding a hill and the water castle ruins - which feels kinda like malacca's a famosa, just on very high ground. everywhere u'll see ornate doorways to underground tunnels, which lead to... we didn't explore all that, sad to say. lunch at a charming cafe, then my battery died. again.
- taste the rainbow?
- crateful of crawly crickets
- cd sleeve/wallpaper/poster: take your pick
- life in an unlikely place
- tunnel vision
- music, intrinsic to yogya life
what i didn't shoot: a tank of sucker catfish all in a row like floating angels. a shirtless, seasoned batik painter. view of slow, patient traffic from a horsecart. malioboro, shopping precinct. a stall owner resting his kretek cigg on a stool and staking a private niche on the crowded walkway. an entire street of bakpia pathok bakeries, each brand differentiated by Only its number.
day4: 07jul09
with a flight in the afternoon, we had no time to go gallivanting. lepaked around our guesthouse, a rustic suburb(?) called sleman that's totally devoid of streetlamps. we'd only been back in the evening, so we finally had the chance to see its open fields in daylight. found gastronomic heaven I SAID GODDAMN in a nondescript warung. and as we left, the trip was completed with an apt souvenir - the band vierra playing in the background. i'm still listening to it now.
- rumah palagan by day
- intrepid shooters unfazed by the sun
- warung kepiting dogen, in the middle of nowhere
- shyng-spotted: a flower in a flower
- paddy... or lalang?
- abstract shadow play
what i didn't shoot: my gang. i finally realized i've an impressive knack for not shooting people (which drives mom nuts sometimes). so here's an obligatory group shot...
to end: windows
found an interest in this theme a while ago. windows and doors make interesting subject matter - and i think it's simply becoz it's natural to wonder "what's on the other side?" we all gotta start somewhere, so here's a collection of yogyan windows.
- under the eaves of rumah palagan's neighbour
- unfinished brick, recycled curtains
- blue and black, prob the same wood
- tamansari tunnels echoing behind wooden grilles
- i imagine it's real menacing in the nighttime
- verdant
more at: flickr | shyng's | cheeheng's pt1, pt2, pt3 | yenc's | sm's facebook.
Friday, August 07, 2009
yogyakarta: a preview
u can't capture too many details in the periphery.
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
feeding habits
i notice every time i eat,
i look at the clock.
instead of looking at the time
to see if it was lunch.
even in the middle of the night,
i look at the clock.
before having my suppersnack
with maybe a sudoku.
i look at the clock.
instead of looking at the time
to see if it was lunch.
even in the middle of the night,
i look at the clock.
before having my suppersnack
with maybe a sudoku.
