Category: Photography

Categories
Photography Politics & government

[538] Of Philip A. Cooney and Exxon

He resigned from the White House. And then, he is hired by Exxon.

Charming. More at NYT (reg. req.).

p/s – another photo from my walk last week.

There is really nothing about the photo but somehow, I like it.Well, actually, when I was at that particular spot, there was this ethereal feeling. It was dark there in the woods despite the brilliance of the sun. A few beams of light penetrated the woods’ canopy with dandelion (could be just dust) everywhere.

Maybe, like Elfland or something which later, reminded me of Neverwinter Nights, and then later, Ashenvale and ultimately, World of Warcraft.

pp/s – Help. I’m addicted to Warcraft. Anyway, Catacomb Crusaders! (You will need to play WoW in order to appreciate the humor, not humour)

Categories
Photography

[536] Of boredom

I went for a little walk today in the evening and managed a couple shots.

This is my favorite.

Categories
Activism Photography Travels

[533] Of MF2

I was in San Francisco about two weeks ago. There was a conference, or sort of, about Malaysia called the Malaysia Forum, organized by Malaysia Forum at Stanford. I know, it is hard to imagine why Malaysia Forum that was held at Stanford was organized by Malaysia Forum at Stanford. There is an actual challenge to figure out the connection. But then again, the obvious link is not really quite obvious, like in psychology where everything is about sex. Well, to be fair, wherever Freud is available.

The forum was not bad. I can’t say I was disappointed nor can I say I was impressed since I didn’t set anything in my mind beforehand. However, one thing that caught my mind in first hour on first day I was at the forum was the lack of Malay. If my memory serves me well, there were only five Malays – me, Syamsul the Recom.org founder, Omar with an interesting perspective on Islam and the Malay culture, one person that I didn’t quite get the face and Bakri Musa. If you count Hishamuddin Rais, that’s six but I don’t count socialist in. I do however, count MCP in. MCP is indispensable to the society. Totally dude.

Putting socialist cum MCP aside, it’s a perplexing scenario indeed. Out of more than 80 attendees, less than 10 were Malays. It might be entirely possible that the composition actually describes the Malaysian population in the Bay Area and its environs. Then again, I came all the way from Michigan. Who knows.

Too bad, the Alliance doesn’t out-zerg the Horde on Destromath anymore.

Nevertheless, I actually enjoyed Malaysia Forum. I got to meet new people and somehow got myself into a new project. The project looks interesting but only time will tell.

Till then, goddamn, I need to find a job near the Bay Area! The Malaysian community over there is so vibrant.

Also, sambil menyelam minum air!

Transamerica Building! w00t!p/s – via Laputan Logic. Google Sightseeing.

Categories
Environment Photography Politics & government Travels

[531] Of oui versus non

The European Union is in such a mess right now. One would believe that the main pillars of the Union would strongly support the roof. Apparently, that is not so.

Right now, the French are having a referendum to ratify a new EU Constitution that would bring EU members closer. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on which side one stands, according to the April 30th issue of The Economist, 20 polls revealed that France is set to reject the European Constitution. Add in the error, result could go either way. Wikipedia as usual provides a fine explanation of the drafted Constitution.

The final result will be as close as 2000 US presidential election. Whatever the result maybe, I do hope it will be an oui.

I do think the formation of the EU and the subsequent activities to strengthen a central government takes away the autonomy each member enjoys. I prefer a decentralized system while idea of a super state scares me. Somehow however, charms free-flow of capital and labor is too great to resist. Of course, in the EU, free-flow of labor does not quite exist yet given that the newcomers are currently being barred from the Schengen zone. Still, sooner or later, it will be a reality and hence reestablishing the great free trade era prior to the 1930s.

The reason why I support a stronger European Union is that I would like to see a counterweight to Pax Americana; I admire the US as much as I admire any other great civilizations in the past. Fact is however, a unipolar world will never be safe.

Another main reason why I support the EU is because of ASEAN. If Europe one day is united under one banner, perhaps ASEAN should pursue almost the same path as the EU is taking right now.

From purely economic point of view, the use of a single currency will lead to an explosion of trade between members of a single-monetary zone. Of course, setting a uniform interest rate will be hard but unification could be done stage by stage. For instance, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand could be the first to use a single currency. These three countries have about the same rate currently and they’re neighbors. And then, if situation improved in the Philippines and Indonesia, then they could be included in the zone. And when others progressed (which is going to take a very long time), they could be invited to use a single currency.

Later, with a population size similar to Europe, perhaps ASEAN would have a bigger role to play on the world stage. And then, we all could play World of Warcraft and kill Onyxia together, including all fractions of the horde too.

p/s – My favorite city is now San Francisco. New York falls to the second rung.

Captured the city skyline from Municipal Pier. The Transamerica Pyramid is clearly visible while the Russian Hill to the left. (or right-side of the photo. I’m still confused about which side is the right/left on a picture.)And I can’t believe that I walked all the way from a Caltrain station south of San Francisco to the Marina Boulevard up in north San Francisco.

pp/s – Star Wars, I love. Go to the cinema, you must! Watch all the episodes again, I will!

ppp/s – I learnt that the UN World Environment Day will be celebrated in San Francisco from the 1st till the 5th of June.

Banners seen in the photos are almost omnipresent in San Francisco. Too bad I didn’t have the time to hang around the city longer. Else, I would certainly want to check it out.

Categories
Books, essays and others Photography Pop culture Sci-fi

[526] Of ten days to Star Wars

In about ten days or so, the final installment of Star Wars will be “in theaters near you”. I was a Star Wars fanatic a long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away. In fact, the galaxy is actually this galaxy. In read all the novels and the so-called technical book filled with pseudo-scientific details of Star Wars. I bought weird Star Wars stuff too and called it collector’s edition. Hence, I know the well-announced TIE-Fighter (TIE is twin ion engine if you are wondering) to the less-known but powerful TIE-Defender; from the exciting X-Wing to its obscure predecessor Z-95 Headhunter and the corporations that played important roles in development of the machines.

I only stopped being a fanatic after the official publisher of Star Wars novels was switched from Del Ray to Random House. Not that I hate Random House but the first Star Wars novels released under Random House was Vector Prime. By coincidence or by design, it has roughly the same storyline as The Truce at Bakura, a Star Wars novels published under the previous publisher. I have both novels in Malaysia; read Truce from leaf to leaf but read only the first few chapters of Vector Prime. I told myself, I’m not going to read this thing all over again. Hence, Vector Prime is practically the last Star Wars novels I have read. I have never touched any Star Wars novels since. Along with that, my fascination with Star Wars Galaxy diminished.

However, I remember someone said, once a Star Wars freak, always and a Star Wars freak. Not true entirely but perhaps, it is, to some extend. One proof is, I’m still excited about Episode III. It is where all the questions will be answered, where all the loose ends will be tied up.

The two other prequels have answered some of the questions. I must express however my disappointment with both Episode I and II. The hype around the two movies was extremely high but when I was inside the theater in 1999 and 2002, I found there is too much fat. Things don’t go smoothly with the dialogue. My taste of a good movie is a movie with witty and flowing dialogue, much like Casablanca.

To come to think of it, movies these days depend too much on motion, appealing to the eyes and rarely to the ears (minus the music but even if soundtrack is considered, many movies lack memorable compositions). In my opinion, all those black and white movies, such as Dr. Strangelove needs attention of the audience to be fully appreciated since the dialogue is complex. Casablanca’s dialogue in particular, is especially complex that I dare say, if one takes the classic from TV to radio, one will still be able to admire it. Not so with Star Wars and most others modern works.

In spite of that and the disappointment of earlier episodes, Episode III looks promising. Critics themselves are impressed by it, claiming there’s meat to it.

Of course, who cares what the critics are saying. If the critics are so good, they should be the ones that direct the movies, not the directors. Regardless what the critics say, hell, I’m still going to watch Star Wars.

Long live and- May the Force be with you, always.