chang*

we all know them, either on a first-name basis or from the peculiar smell emanating from their homes. even if you avoid each other like the plague, you will still learn things about them over time. i have had the fortune of having neighbours who have added to the quality of my life. here are 2 stories i want to share.

on my left, and no longer living there, used to be an indian family. there were two boys around my age. the younger one was really friendly and he always had a smile ready. the older one was a real trouble-maker, according to my mum who got her correspondences from the mother of those boys. apparently, he was involved in gang activities and after he enlisted, he went absent without official leave and was later arrested. you get the idea.

because that son of hers was such a punkass, the mother always seemed to be angry with him. all day long we would hear shouting matches. it was like the crescendo of one of those tragedies on vasantham central with the volume amped up. it did not help matters that in order to provide for her 2 sons and her aging mother (who is no longer around), she had to work the graveyard shift at seagate. imagine coming home bushed from work and having to face more problems. even a fakir on his bed of nails would crack (the only reason why they are so zen-like is because they lead hermitic lives).

one fine day they moved away. there was no warning. they just disappeared. a while later we found out why, in the form of death threats (a nasty note, some hell money and a piece of the white patch the chinese wear on their sleeves while in mourning). the new family, who just moved in, got a bucket of red paint splashed all over the front gate, courtesy of the loansharks that the previous family borrowed from. my dad, being the great man of the house that he is, started telling us it’s no big deal and the loansharks were just trying to scare the neighbours into divulging information regarding their debtors’ whereabouts. he said it like it happened everyday. it was amusing. upon hindsight, i am just glad the loansharks didn’t hang a rotting pig’s head from the gate. that would have been quite a sight. we would have gotten the abattoir’s blues.

last i heard, that family had fled to malaysia, which in my opinion is far worse than being chased by loansharks.

the second story involves a filipino woman, a wooden stick and a deaf family. it was about 2 a.m. and i was lying in bed when i was rudely awakened by the incessant sound of knocking next door. at first i thought it came from the left (goody! the loansharks are back), but it turned out to be from the right. being the great man of the block that my was father is, he threw open the door and went out to investigate. i then heard him give a lady a scolding. apparently, the knocking was produced by a drunk neighbour whacking the gate of her own house with a wooden stick. she had forgotten her keys (or mistook it for peanuts at the bar) and was trying to get one of her family members to open the door. in fact, i am still truly amazed at how long it took for her family to hear her. maybe they all had their shure in-ear isolation earphones on, plugged into their ipods. maybe they didn’t want to hear her.

“where got people mother already then still go ‘cheong’ (paint the town red, oh! oh! RED!) and come home drunk at this kind of ungodly hour one? seow zha bau! (crazy woman)” – the response of my amused mother.

for more on my thoughts, click here.

i have got to admit – after shooting russel wong yesterday, i have become a sucker for playing with light and shadows. above is my brother’s ‘mighty mouse’.

in fact, i took it a few steps further. the cardboard box that my macbook came in has been transformed into a homemade mini ‘studio’ with a proper surface and backdrop. go ahead and laugh. i couldn’t help it.

all these when i still have so much homework to do.

for more posts on photography, click here.

stepping into an idyllic neighbourhood of bungalows in holland road, i found myself thinking – how many photographers actually live like that? most of them barely scrape by, let alone make enough to afford a landed property on prime land. how did this guy got it going for him?

today i met and photographed russel wong – celebrity photographer – for an upcoming feature in ‘art jam’, a student-run magazine. together with weili and desiree, our editor, we arrived at mr wong’s place to be given a reception by one of his dogs (he has 4, i heard). as we were walking towards the house, the three of us came to a prediction that our host would either be (a) extremely diva-like and full of himself or (b) jovial and willing to entertain. the dog was followed by the domestic helper who led us into a cool, shaded sitting room. where was the man himself? not a very good start.

russel wong then sauntered into the room without a smile. his face remained impassive even during introductions. it was as though the interview was unwelcomed but necessary business that he had in a moment of folly agreed to and would thus have to follow through with. desiree handed over a copy of the magazine for him to look over while weili set up his laptop. i tried to make small talk. his eyes narrowed, humourless, at everything i said, making me feel smaller by the minute. i knew then it was going to be a really long afternoon.

and a long afternoon it was. long because that guy really had a lot to say in response to our questions. as he spoke he began to ease up. clearly, he enjoyed sharing his life experiences as well as his take on various issues. a lot of things he said made perfect sense inspite of the fact that he tended to veer off topic sometimes. but i suppose when you are a celebrity, you get to do that a little. i am not going to reveal too much of what was discussed during the interview. you will have to wait for weili’s article in art jam for that.

as the interview progressed, i started getting anxious. i kept wondering – how in the world am i supposed to photograph an internationally-renowned portraitist and do him justice? after the interview, we stepped into his studio and i told him that i would like to make a ‘classic’ black and white image of him with strong side-lighting and he was gracious enough to help me with the studio lights. i have to admit, i felt really amateurish with my entry-level dslr with all the expensive equipment he had lying around. what then surprised me as i started shooting was his willingness to throw in a few tips which i found greatly improved the pictures. after all, he is the master and those were pictures of him. you won’t see the pictures here. my editor was quite adamant about that.

after the ‘formal’ part of the interaction was done with, mr wong seemed to take on more of (b), and dropped most of (a). i suppose he is a person who gradually warms up to people. i was glad things ended on a positive note.

visit russel wong’s website by clicking here.

for more posts on photography, click here.

a trickle today.
a torrent tomorrow
what is also known as
the democratisation of sorrow

the demonstrations in burma witnessed its first casualties today. 4 dead monks so far, with about a hundred, supporters included, injured. there have been calls from all quarters for dialogue, but how do you get the man with the gun to speak in a civil manner with one barely-clothed, especially when he feels like he has every right to dominate?

this imbalance of power can be seen time and time again through the course of history – hitler’s campaign against the jews, the violent british crackdown on passive indian resistance, idi amin’s reign of terror over certain helpless ethnic groups in uganda, etc. these records, written with the blood of the oppressed, bear testament to the horrors man can unleash. what is happening in burma today is no different.

if this is any consolation, there comes a time when oppressive regimes will have to give way to the people. problem is, at what cost?

for more on my thoughts, click here.

despite the fact that the internet is boundless in its breadth and depth, there were times when i simply thought that well, there was nothing more to do online after performing my usual net routine.

today i discovered an online community called ‘stumble upon‘. think of this as a facebook or friendster for people who love ‘channel-surfing’ the internet, and in the process discovering new sites. after signing up, you will be asked to list your interests, following which you will be able to see a list of like-minded people and related websites already on the community. think of it as a domain where people with similar interests congregate to share websites with each other.

you will also be prompted to install a ‘stumble upon’ taskbar which is available for mozilla firefox and internet explorer only. the taskbar facilitates ‘surfing’ as well as rating sites – all with a click. also, others in the community will be able to view your favourite sites when they check out your profile page.

man now i really have no excuse for having nothing to do online.

for more mac+tech posts, click here.