From here to there - Lapide

2010-02-16T00:53:00.004Z

Gong Xi Fa Cai 2010! Chinese New Year celebrations in Birmingham

2009-09-30T08:57:00.000Z

Let's play Tetris!

2009-07-18T10:02:00.009Z

I didn't know him but I felt I had lost a brother. There has been many unexplained deaths of innocent people whilst in the custody of the Malaysian authorities. The latest was Tan Beng Hock.

Tan Beng Hock, a political secretary for the opposition party, was invited by the Selangor MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) to assist in their investigation into constituency allocations. He went to the MACC Headquarters at around 5.40pm on 15th July 2009 but never came back. His body was found on the 5th floor of Wisma Masalam at 1pm on 16th July, less than 20 hours later. The MACC office is located on the 14th floor of the same building.

Justice for Beng Hock

Video by Media Rakyat:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVA6zp5ZzqI

JUSTICE FOR BENG HOCK (a website dedicated to the memory of Teoh Beng Hock)

2009-07-16T19:20:00.002Z

My deepest condolences to the family of Teo Beng Hock, 30, who was found dead on the roof of the building next to the MACC building in Shah Alam where he had been taken for interrogation by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. He was due to be married the next day. What is going on in my country? More unexplained deaths in police custody. How many more?

Read more here:
http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/24436/84/

2008-11-12T21:47:00.003Z

FEATURE
The Independent

Birmingham Post

NEWS

Birmingham Post

Daily Telegraph

Express and Star

Guardian

2008-11-10T18:27:00.004Z

FEATURES
Active Magazine

Daily Express

Daily Mail

Daily Telegraph

Financial Mail on Sunday

Financial Times

Metro

Sunday Express

The Independent

The Sun

The Times

The People

Sunday Times

BUSINESS
Birmingham Post

Daily Express

Daily Telegraph

Daily Record

Financial Times

Guardian

The Independent

The Times

SPORTS

Dagbladet

Daily Mail

Daily Mirror

Daily Record

Daily Star

Daily Telegraph

Evening Mail

Guardian

Mail on Sunday

News of The World

Scotsman

The Sun

The Times

Sunday Mirror

Sunday Telegraph

NEWS
Birmingham Post

Daily Star

Daily Telegraph

Express and Star

Financial Times

Sunday Mirror

The Times

2008-09-20T15:37:00.051Z

Latest cuttings

Osbaston House - Mansion Murder Mystery

Tuesday, September 2, 2008
The Times

Monday, September 1, 2008
Daily Star

Guardian

Daily Mail

The Sun

Daily Telegraph

The Times

Independent

Daily Mirror

Sunday, August 31, 2008
Sunday Expresss

Sunday Telegraph

Sunday Times

The Observer

Mail on Sunday

Daily Star Sunday

The People

Sunday Mirror

News of the World

Saturday, August 30, 2008
Daily Mail

Daily Mirror

Daily Star

Daily Telegraph

The Independent

The Sun

Friday, August 29, 2008
Birmingham Post

Daily Express

Daily Mail

Daily Mirror

Daily Star

Guardian

The Independent

The Sun

The Times

Metro

2008-08-29T13:58:00.003Z

I love aerial photography!

me in a Robinson 22 helicopter

2007-09-08T16:37:00.000Z

Popped into London on a day trip and chanced upon a guy, Andy 'Sandy' Robertson building sandcastles on the banks of the river Thames. He was sculpting out a living room for the RNLI as part of paying them back for pulling him out of the river last year.

For more pics, click here.

2007-07-28T09:47:00.000Z

Hi,

I've been away for awhile so I've not updated the blog. I have updated my main website www.lawrencelooi.com but browsers will need Flash components to be able to view it properly. Thanks in advance for dropping by!

2007-04-25T23:01:00.000Z

Been awhile since I debugged codes..have managed to put up selection of sports pics on the new site after a long while looking at codes.

2007-04-17T22:03:00.000Z

Hurrah! After much hard work, finally got my own site www.lawrencelooi.com, up and running. Been awhile since I did web design but it sure feels good to have started the ball rolling

Now to carry on with the other pages..

2007-03-29T02:05:00.000Z

Finally got round to fixing / upgrading the galleries which didn't seem to load the pics. Have also posted portfolio for 2005 & 2006. Happy viewing. :D

2007-03-05T21:56:00.000Z

Big disappointment over the weekend as my team lost 1-0 in what was billed as the 'Biggest game' of the 2006-07 EPL season, Liverpool v Manchester United. Oh well, hope they fare better to claim victory in the Champions League.

More February cuts

SPORTS
Birmingham Evening Mail

Sunday Mirror

FEATURE
Daily Telegraph

STOCK
Sunday Telegraph

Independent

2007-02-20T01:34:00.000Z

WEATHER
Daily Telegraph

Daily Mirror

The Times

Canariasahora.es

News of The World

SPORTS
International Herald Tribune

Estadao.com.br

Daily Express

News of The World

The Sun

Mail on Sunday

Daily Star on Sunday

FEATURE
Financial Mail on Sunday

Daily Mirror

Daily Star

2006-12-10T12:40:00.000Z

More cuttings from October-December. Whoppee, I'm off on annual leave now.

FEATURES

Guardian

Financial Mail on Sunday

SPORTS
The Times

The People on Sunday

Daily Mirror

Daily Express

News of The World

Birmingham Evening Mail

2006-11-16T18:29:00.000Z

International ridicule - Malaysia Boleh?

"Malaysia's first astronaut to do what no one in space has done before"
- what a shocking headline.

Link to article here.

Why are we wasting our effort and time conducting stupid experiments in space? Did we overpay the Russians and they felt obliged to put our 'astronaut' so that he can perform daft experiment in space? Ooh, how I envy our astronaut, after being put through rigorous experiments, what does he do in space? Attempt to play "batu seremban" or "five stones", which is described as throwing one of the stones one at a time in the air and sweeping another off the floor simultaneously catching the one you threw earlier on and so forth.

So apart from spinning 'gasing'(traditional Malay top) in space, Agriculture Ministry parliamentary secretary Rohani Abdul Karim told parliament on Wednesday the astronaut would also do batik painting and make teh tarik, (Malaysian tea).

In the event the Ministry runs out of ideas, here's a couple more suggestions:
1) Do the Joget (folk dance)
2) Wayang Kulit performance (shadow puppet)
3) Konda Kundi
4) Lat-tali-lat-ta-li-tam-plom! - (similar to A-E-I-O-U form of selection method)
5) Galah panjang
6) Sepak Takraw
7) Congkak
8) Police and Thief (might need to include the cosmonauts)
9) Pop gun (Refer Lat the cartoonist)
10) Fly the Wau (either inside shuttle or outside, optional)
11) Guli (marbles)
12) Skipping on the skipping rope

and the list goes on and so forth...

2006-11-16T18:14:00.001Z

FEATURES

Guardian

The Times

Daily Star

SPORTS

Times

Sunday Mirror

The Sun

Sunday Mercury

News of The World

Daily Mirror

NEWS
Daily Mirror

News of The World

The Sun

2006-09-29T21:24:00.000Z

Hello all,

Been really busy with work. In the meantime, enjoy my colleague Stephen Pond & his missus trip around the world.
Visit their blog Rebeccaandstephen.blogspot.com.

2006-08-27T01:58:00.000Z

Got a txt from my sis Viv while I was covering the Liverpool v W Ham game that another auntie passed away! My dad's 2nd sis who was in a coma passed away. Hope dad's ok. Rest in peace 6 ku ma.

2006-08-27T00:43:00.000Z

Some newspaper clipping that I managed to find and keep. Thanks to Independent & Times for byline, :)

SPORTS
Independent

Independent

Financial Times

Birmingham Post

Sunday Mirror

The Times

The Times

NEWS

Anti-terror raids
The Times

The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph

The Sun

The Sun

The Scotsman

Daily Mirror

Independent on Saturday

Guardian

FEATURE
Metro

STOCK
Financial Times

2006-08-16T21:31:00.000Z

My Aunt Celina (my mum's 4th sis) passed away today after her courageous battle against breast cancer which had spread to her lungs. I will miss 4-yi who always took the effort with Unc Jim to liven up every festivities and celebrations with their amazing DIY, cooking and games. May her soul and all departed rest in peace.

Love,
Thai.

I ask of those who visit today to say this prayer for her:

For One Who Died After a Long Illness
Most faithful God, lively is the courage of those who hope in You. Your servant suffered greatly, but placed her trust in Your mercy. Confident that the petition of those who mourn pierces the clouds and finds an answer, we beg You, give rest to her. Do not remember her sins, but look upon her sufferings and grant her refreshment, light, and peace. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

2006-08-10T03:00:00.000Z

Have had a very busy week. Couple of late night jobs. Finally got a chance to do my first Champions League game and what better start to photograph my favourite club Liverpool vs Maccabi Haifa at Anfield!

Shame I got stuck in awful traffic else would've been able to do some outside stadium pics. The game kicked off 15 minutes later because they were still letting supporters into the ground. Anyways, I was glad we managed to get a 2-1 win thanks to Mark Gonzalez scoring the winner on his debut.

Liverpool's Champions League campaign kicks off!

New Liverpool winger Mark Gonzalez gets off the mark by scoring on his debut!

Click link here for actual article

2006-07-31T01:40:00.000Z

Took two days off last week to get to Nottingham for Guns N' Roses concert with cuz Bongo. It was awesome and really enjoyed the show. Didn't take much pics as I wasn't there on assignment and only brought my camera phone. I remember when I used to do impressions in class during my secondary school days with my best pal Sanjit, hahaha..

Many years later, I finally get to see Axl Rose with a totally different line-up. Great start to the show with 'Welcome to the Jungle' although he only came on stage after 10.10pm but who cares? GNR's been known to be late for their concerts and that's what you'd expect of a massive rock band. We were quite in front, probably about 8 rows to the front of the standing area although 'Bongo' went all the way to the front, which he later told me that he couldn't hear the songs properly from where he was, but from where I stood, it was just great. Only drawback was a wandering drunk sweaty smelly shirtless dude looking for the beer stand, hahaha...

Was great to get to see and hear them play tracks such as (not complete list and in no particular order):
*Mr Brownstone
*Patience
*Sweet Child O'Mine
*November Rain
*Outta Get Me
*Paradise City
*Live and Let Die
*Nightrain
*My Michelle
*I Used to Love Her
*Knockin' on Heaven's Door

and 2 new songs which I don't really know what it is...and a couple of solo performances from various members. Ushers kept my ticket stub though. :(

Guns N' Roses Nottingham 2006 ticket

Axl Rose on camera phone

2006-07-17T09:00:00.000Z

I was at the Royal International Air Tattoo held at RAF Fairford and will put up a couple of pics later. In the meantime, here's the latest vector thrust version of the Mig-29 that is capable of hovering like a helicopter and attacking from any angle. Impressive!

See other pics HERE!!

2006-07-13T23:08:00.000Z

This has been one my more interesting assignments lately. It was a feature about Noel Martin for the Berliner Kurier, a German tabloid paper similar probably to the Mirror and I met up with Kevin flew over from Germany over the weekend to do some football piece earlier.

It was about Jamaican-born Noel Martin, who became paralysed after racist neo-Nazi skinheads threw concrete through his windscreen causing him to crash his car. It gave me an insight into this man's happy life which was abruptly disrupted having to depend on professional carers round the clock. He now plans to end his life on his next birthday on 23 July 2007 as he is too ill to carry on.

2006-06-25T23:22:00.000Z

I spent Saturday lazing in the park, had a Caribbean lunch consisting of chicken jerky with rice and peas and not to mention a can of ginger beer. It's good to switch off from work and not think about it for a day!

2006-06-18T23:28:00.000Z

Thanks Dan for the heads up in the Guardian...

Flower named after Cherie Blair..Rosa Cherie.

Guardian 17 June

Birmingham Post & Mail

2006-06-15T00:05:00.000Z

Finally got to do some cricket this summer and it was great to be sitting there soaking up the sun!

2006-06-10T22:04:00.000Z

I missed the England game today as I was doing fan celebrations + models and juggling to send out other photographers assignments! Also missed out on Argentina as the car broke down again. Time to send it to the scrap heap. *&)@@!!

2006-06-10T22:03:00.000Z

British trade unions taking out full-page advertisements to encourage people to boycott Peugeot & Citroen cars because of the imminent closure of their factory plant in Ryton, Coventry.

2006-06-10T22:02:00.000Z

Epitome of all things English?
Englishman and his fish and chips as World Cup fever begins.

2006-06-10T21:54:00.000Z

Finally a major boxing match held in the West Midlands after a few years hiatus because of an incident involving boxing hooligans in 1996. Scotland's Kevin Anderson in action against Young Muttley from West Bromwich. (L-R)

2006-06-07T00:41:00.000Z

HP Sauce workers march in protest of factory closure and job losses over the weekend in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Click here to see usage on Korean EMPAS site.

2006-06-05T00:31:00.000Z

Finally managed to do something with the backyard sometime last week. Have lost track of time and space managing the picture desk while my pic editor Steve went on leave.

Here's what I found in my back yard while trimming the garden with hand shears. Technically not my backyard as it's my landlord. A baby frog!

2006-06-05T00:20:00.000Z

Was at a Wing Chun seminar last Tuesday. Part of my fitness plan to get back in shape and healthier me! Click on pic for gallery.

2006-05-27T10:56:00.000Z

Aargh..I didn't get to save last month's newspaper cuttings as I was out of the office when they chucked them away!!
oh well..

Leave you here with a nice happy feature that we did on the 0123456 phenomenon: The Correlative Baby??

Baby born on the 4/5/6...can't remember the full details of it..but the birth facts make up the sequential numbers of 123456. Usage by European media. Will post UK media usage later.

2006-05-22T09:42:00.000Z

Harlem Globetrotters, Birmingham, UK Tour

2006-05-17T21:29:00.000Z

What a long week! Seven working days in a row not to mention weekend of madness. Covered a charity football tournament comprised of celebrities as well as their pre-event arrival + post event arrival which meant red carpet arrivals. Doesn't help when the laptop crashes after copying all the pictures into it!!! hahaha..

Anyways I've added a new gallery of old pics.....from last year February.

Shaolin monks in action

2006-05-17T21:19:00.000Z

Skyline of Birmingham in the evening

2006-04-30T01:44:00.000Z

Newspaper cutting from Wolverhampton Express and Star of Katie Melua

I attended a live session as she was performing for staff at Heart FM last week. Although her songs were pretty depressing, she has a great voice and was very pleasant in her manner.

2006-04-09T17:48:00.000Z

Cheeky monkeys!

My cousin, Shen, took this while he was back in Malaysia for a visit. What I like about it is how the three orang-utans almost depicted the 'See, Hear, Speak no evil' theme. Shame the middle one didn't close its ears.

2006-04-08T19:42:00.000Z

Operation Dead Duck - Pics used in Saturday's UK Dailies:

Daily Telegraph

The Sun

Daily Express

2006-04-07T23:02:00.000Z

Assignment of the week: Dead Duck Discovery

A State Veterinary Services worker collects a female mallard duck in Birmingham, United Kingdom on Friday morning, 07 April 2006, before taking it away to be tested in labs in Stratford-upon-Avon as the deadly avian flu virus H5N1 was confirmed in a dead swan which was found in Scotland earlier this week. Calm is urged so as not to turn the drama into crisis as restrictions on the movement of poultry, eggs and other poultry products have been implemented.

I'll still be eating poultry and eggs but I'll make sure it's thoroughly cooked!

2006-04-05T00:10:00.000Z

Changes to the galleries - I took out the slideshow and put up a new interface for the last four galleries.

2006-04-04T09:41:00.000Z

Thanks for the comments and tips Louis. I've tweaked the tattoo gallery but will do the rest when I get the time. In the meantime, enjoy!

2006-04-02T23:31:00.000Z

Met up with Dan P and we went to the 13th Tattoo and Bike Convention at the Carling Academy in Birmingham. Picture slideshow seems to have a bug with some of the pics not showing up. No time to debug now..need to get some zzz..

Click HERE for pics.

Some pics are not for the faint-hearted, be warned!

2006-03-30T00:22:00.000Z

Here's a gallery of Penang which I took in February when I was up there overnight to shoot coconut smashing activities the day before Thaipusam.

Click here!

2006-03-29T01:01:00.000Z

Kuala Lumpur, February 2006
Also just added a gallery of pics of various places in Kuala Lumpur in February 2006, when I went home to visit my folks. Apart from the first three pics in the gallery, the rest were taken on Tuesday, February 21. Some people do last-minute shopping, I went last-minute shooting, (shooting pictures, that is) as I didn't really go about town to take photographs. So I visited the bits of the National Mosque, Railway station, Merdeka Square, KLCC Petronas Twin Towers and a Buddhist Temple (pics in earlier blog msg). All this while trying to juggle lunch with a friend as well as needing to pic my sis up from her work place. What a hectic day!

Click here for gallery.

Kuala Lumpur skyline on a hazy day.

2006-03-27T00:44:00.000Z

Warwick Castle
Pictures from last weekend's visit to Warwick Castle can be seen here. All images have been resized. Click here for slideshow of selection of images.

2006-03-26T10:58:00.000Z

I was up in Sheffield on Thursday and was able to meet up with some old friends there. Most grateful to 'Bash' and family for letting me crash over Wednesday night. Bashie and his daughter.

Fatherly Love

2006-03-26T10:18:00.000Z

I had many little projects in mind to photograph while back home in Kuala Lumpur in February but this was one of them 'spur of the moment' events. It was done after squeezing in lunch with a friend, while wanting to do some last minute shopping before flying off and also before fetching my sis from her workplace all in the same day!!

Dharma Realm Guanyin Sagely Buddhist Monastery, Kuala Lumpur, February, 2006
A newly restored Buddhist temple in the heart of Kuala Lumpur city, the Dharma Realm Guanyin Sagely monastery on Jalan Ampang, boasts an impressive selection of bronze Buddhas up to 16 feet tall. A branch of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, which originates from America, the temple will be officially opened on March 18, 2006. In a multicultural society such as Malaysia, one can find an array of temples, mosques and churches in the city.

Enter the temple and come face to face with a bronze ‘Guanshiyin Bodhisattva’ with a ‘Thousand Hands and Thousand Eyes’ statue approximately 3.3 metres tall. The devotees believe that although the statue depicts a thousand hands and eyes, it is believed that they are infinite. With his infinite hands, he pulls living beings out of the sea of suffering and sets them on the other blissful shore. With his infinite eyes, he beholds all living beings and rescues those who are in difficulty or danger. Made specially and shipped from the Fujian province in China, the giant statue is covered with gold leafing and weighs a tonne.

The main prayer hall located behind contains three other giant bronze statues of various Buddhas. Syikamoni Shakyamuni, Medicine Master Buddha and Amitabha Buddha. From afar, each of the three Buddhas look the same but look closely and one will see that each one is holding a different object, a chalice, lotus flower and pagoda respectively. The statues are approximately 5 metres tall and weigh between 4-5 tonnes each.

The temple is open in the early morning until the late evening and admission is free. It offers various mantra chanting, meal offerings and other various Buddhist activities. Devotees are also able to offer light incense to express their veneration for Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and also as a reminder for good conduct. The Temple Abbot is the venerable Heng Jang.

2006-03-21T02:10:00.000Z

How time flies when you're having fun! Another weekend just gone by. Spent this weekend down at Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. It was to celebrate (in advance) Simon & Lauren's birthday on Tuesday. I'll keep this short and sweet, Happy Birthday folks and many happy returns. Gonna miss my travel buddy! Remember Wales, Prague, Peak District..in no particular order...hahaha...

More pics of the lovebirds here.

2006-03-21T00:07:00.000Z

I've just been to a place today that I would classify as spooky. Passing along Lower Braile High Street made me feel as though as I was on a Hitchcock movie set or The Omen. This place had so many crow nests and crows flying about, my imagination was running wild, hahaha...

2006-03-14T23:58:00.000Z

St. Patrick's Day this weekend! Lots of lil' green things, people and building. Even Selfridge's turned green as part of the local council's drive to promote Birmingham & St. Patrick's Day.

To see actual pic used on Korean site, click here

2006-03-13T00:27:00.000Z

Doggone tired!
What a long and tiring day. First I had to drive down to Cheltenham to do some Cheltenham Festival preparation pics which starts on Tuesday. There was hardly any people around the race course doing anything significant when I got there so I had to wander around looking for something interesting on the huge grounds! As I was driving back, the hand-me-down vehicle that I have got now, decided to just keel over its engine. Just on a main crossroad in the city centre and in the middle lane, the car stalls! Luckily for me, traffic was stationary and a kind soul helped to push the car into a side road.

I managed to get in touch with a buddy from work, Dave. Off we went in search of a pair of jump cables to jumpstart the car. He discovered that a cable to the alternator was loose and promptly fixed it. I barely made it back to the office before it decided to misbehave again. Now at this point, I have pictures from this morning to sort out, a car to jumpstart again and I was also down to cover the 115th Cruft's Dog Show, Best in Show category tonight!!!

So I ditch the car, get a lift from my boss to the NEC Arena, get the pics and try to send them in. As luck would have it, the servers in the office do not pick up my calls and I can't wire them in!! So I miss my deadline and my pics are, of course, late. Poo..

Actual picture link on the Daum website here

2006-03-09T02:44:00.000Z

My health plan from the weekend:

Two apples, one lime and a bunch of bananas.

2006-03-08T00:58:00.000Z

I was lucky that Vincent was able let me tag along for some shoots while I was back in Malaysia. Here are some pics of MotoGP 'winter' testing at Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia, February 2006 that we went to.

Valentino Rossi (ITA)(Number 46)

Nicky Hayden (USA)(Number 69)

Tony Elias (SPA)(Number 24)

I've never photographed MotoGP before and this was the first opportunity to do so. Rossi's pic is quite soft and not so sharp, unfortunately. A word of advice to those who's never been. Always bring earplugs whenever taking pics of motorsports!

2006-03-07T22:38:00.000Z

Nice to know that even when you're on holiday, sometimes your file pictures still get used. :)

Guardian

Daily Mirror

Financial Times

2006-03-03T09:44:00.000Z

Last night at half past midnight, a policeman knocked on the door. It was regarding my housemate who lived downstairs. The PC explained that he was picked up for a misdemeanour and held at the local station for showing a rude sign to them and was thought to be under the influence of alcohol. The PC wanted to find out more about his mental background. So I woke up the whole household as they lived there longer and possibly knew more about him than I did. As he is mentally challenged, (to what extent I do not know), he was let off without a caution and sent home. The next morning, I told him about the police knocking on our door asking questions about him and all I got was 'I don't know' replies from him! Not even an apology for the inconvenience caused to the other people living there. How retarded is that!!! Not to mention he supposedly works as a business analyst for a gas company!!!

2006-03-03T00:58:00.000Z

By the time I got home, Chinese New Year(CNY) was pretty much in full swing. I hitched a ride with some friends heading down Singapore and met up with relatives & friends during the first week and came back to Kuala Lumpur for the remainder of the holidays. Didn't do a lot of CNY pics. Did cover two days of Thaipusam, a Hindu festival, with a day in Penang and Kuala Lumpur each. So much for my beach holiday.

Thaipusam in Penang

Thaipusam at Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur

Chinese New Year, Singapore

Deity for the Year of the Dog

2006-02-27T22:38:00.000Z

Boy, time really flies when you're having fun. After three and a half years away from Malaysia, coming home has been quite a shock for me. Plenty of new development of housing estates and shopping malls!!! It was good to meet my family and friends again after such a long period, though I didn't get to meet up with everyone. To those that I couldn't meet up with, there's always next time! Anyways, it's back to the grindstone in Birmingham for me now. Will post some pics soon.

2006-01-30T23:57:00.000Z

Touchdown! Finally arrived home on Sunday night at around 2310. My dad, sis & brother-in-law were waiting at the KLIA arrival hall to pick me up. So good to be home after three years abroad.

2006-01-27T23:00:00.000Z

Rafalution continues with the return of Robbie 'God' Fowler.
A player with great experience and a heart for the club that no amount of money can buy. Welcome back Robbie. I'm returning home for a short break and Robbie Fowler returns to Anfield. Great timing!

2006-01-23T00:52:00.000Z

Well..looks like it'll be a long week before my long break. Went to help out KO at the Badminton Championships with the editing and captioning so that's my weekend gone. Glad I did though I only covered the Men's Singles using the Canon 400mm (wished it was the IS version but no it wasn't). Spent most of the time watching the game and editing the pics. This is my favourite pic that I took for the week. Too bad they shrunk it to put on the web. :(. Looks good on the office desktop. *smug*

See Daum site here

2006-01-22T00:46:00.000Z

Some football cuttings in the papers from last week's game.
I love my sports and it's great when my pics get used.

Financial Times

Looks better with colour though.

Birmingham Post & Mail

Lee Hendrie scoring with a header for Villa against West Ham.

My friends who know me well will know how passionate I am when it comes to football! 1 v 1, 2 v 2, 20 v 20, come rain or shine, I'm no Beckham but I'll kick a few balls.
It's been three years since I've played with my 'Taman' gang and I'm sure I'll meet up with some of the old 'kaki bolas'for a game or two. Only six more days till I'm home sweet home.

I have been covering the Badminton Championships in Birmingham for the last three days but I'm off tomorrow and it's the Finals. Bad thing is I don't get to cover the finals but good thing is, I'll be seating on the edge of my seat during the Men's Doubles as our Malaysian pair of Lee Wan Wah and Choong Tan Fook take on the Danish pair of Jens Eriksen and Martin Lundgaard Hansen.

2006-01-20T00:59:00.000Z

Back at the Yonex All-England Badminton Championships! So good to meet up with friends that I made last year from all over the world. Unfortunately some couldn't make the trip because of other commitments. Went there on Tuesday for a photocall and covered some of the final qualifiers today. Shame that a couple of our local Malaysian lads didn't make it through but there are still enough of them to keep the flag flying.

General view of the tournament:

Racquets undergoing 'servicing' - being restrung, etc.

2006-01-18T01:51:00.000Z

Boy oh boy! I'm so excited. Ten days till my flight home to Malaysia for the Chinese New Year holidays. Haven't been back for three years so obviously I'm very excited and counting the days till my flight. Also only eight more working days, hahaha! Hello Cheras!

2006-01-12T21:20:00.000Z

Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 Shoe Yellow Black

My 2006 fitness plan in the form of a pair of trainers.

Classic looking yellow and black shoes made famous by Bruce Lee in the movie, Game of Death. Well, almost. He wore the Tai Chi version, which doesn't have the front rubber piece and has a thinner sole compared to the athletic Mexico 66.

2006-01-08T23:57:00.000Z

I mentioned a few weeks ago about a fellow photog in Malaysia who have started his new wedding photojournalism business. He's just launched his blog as well. Louis's Blog. So if any of you need a wedding photographer that offers more than the standard wedding pics, he's your man. If you do use him, mentioned Lawrence. In return, he'll find me a wife, hahahah..

2006-01-05T02:36:00.000Z

Gosh, finally managed to put eight pics on the British Press Photographer Association (BPPA) site. Feel free to visit and feedback. Thanks.

2005-12-31T20:11:00.000Z

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Goodbye 2005, thanks for the memories! Overall a great year for me with some minor hiccups. Hopefully 2006 will be spectacular!

2005-12-29T00:56:00.000Z

R.I.P. M Moorthy
'Muslim Burial for Malaysian hero'.
I didn't know him but I feel sorry for his family. Picked up this story from the BBC. This hero was a practising Hindu until recently, apparently. When he died, the religious authorities came to claim his body for burial against his family's wishes after former colleagues and religious authorities claimed he had converted to Islam. This follows the High Court ruling that it cannot interfere with the Islamic courts in matters of religious conversion. The family were not allowed to appeal at the Shariah court to dispute his conversion as they were not Muslims.

Where's the logic in this?

2005-12-28T21:52:00.000Z

Came upon this add in the Daily Sport while doing my usual rounds of flicking through dailies for cuts (pics we send out). Been wanting to comment on this a few weeks ago but finally managed to get round it today. The Daily Sport is described on Wikipedia as a tabloid newspaper published in the UK with soft pornography making up most of its content.

One 'supposedly' local lass helping to put Malaysia on the map. ;)

2005-12-28T21:28:00.000Z

FRONT COVER OF INDEPENDENT (UK National Daily)
I got my first front page on a UK daily national paper today. Today's front page of The Independent.

Vitamin D

2nd front cover on a paper, the first being the Stoke Sentinel. Well pleased. :D

2005-12-28T01:14:00.000Z

Yeah..that's right, playing RISK & Mahjong on Christmas Day. We decided to call it quits after playing a few hours of RISK without anyone any nearer towards world domination. After all, everyone (13 of us) was waiting to open their presents under the Christmas tree.

One of my presents was a Smart Fortune Cookie, a novelty gift to help answer tough 'Yes' or 'No' questions, courtesy of my cousins, Bongface & Poobear - you know who you are.

Oh Wise Cookie - reveal your wisdom

Ask the cookie, shake it, answer revealed, up to you to follow it..etc.
And here's what you get if you mocked it:

Cookie's Reply:

Anyways, in true Chinese tradition (though a season early), my cousins and I, started our mahjong session. One of the luckiest ever rounds I've ever played in my entire life - not that I play a lot...probably twice a year since I was 15?

One of my lucky rounds, though I forgot to take a pic of my best round where I delivered my knockout blow winning with the first draw - a 'Chee Moh + Tei Wu'?

Dave & Poobear calculating the booty

For those who don't know what RISK is - it's a classic board game about world domination. As for Mahjong, it's kind of like Gin Rummy played with tiles but with lots more added twists.

2005-12-27T19:05:00.000Z

2nd day of Christmas and I'm back at work. Birmingham felt like a ghost town when I returned last night, though I'm not complaining about it, hahaha. Bloody taxi fare home cost £8.00 from town thanks to the non-existence of public transport but thanks to my lucky mahjong round the night before, there was enough change for a meal, heheh.

Well, Christmas has come and gone and 2006 is just around the corner. Time to reflect on this year's achievement. I must say that 2005, so far, has been a very positive year for me compared to the crap previous four years. I've already started on listing out some goals for 2006.

- Eat as many different things when back home in Malaysia during the Chinese New Year photos.
- Snapshots...
- Rent a car and travel around Peninsular Malaysia.
- Return to fitness (unaccomplished goal since 1999 (ever since working life began).
- Conversation Mandarin & Spanish - two languages? Well, if I try for two, who knows, I might actually remember one!

What happened over Christmas? Here's a summary - hibernation for a few days before Christmas, followed by Christmas Eve dinner & Christmas Day lunch!!! Photos to follow...

2005-12-26T19:04:00.000Z

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

2005-12-18T00:15:00.000Z

Yippee! I'm technically on holiday from today until the 26th! Although I did cover the Villa v Man U game this afternoon. It wasn't even snowing or raining but boy, it was freezing. Couldn't find my gloves when I most needed it as well. Any longer in the cold, I would've struggled to find my ****..hahahah..

2005-12-12T10:33:00.000Z

I was in Aston on the weekend for a magazine feature with Kiyoshi, who was helping me out. We were standing outside a house composing a photo and two black men in a silver mercedes pulls around the corner and gives us a shout:

DUDE: King Kong!
ME - not bothered, ignores them.
DUDE: Kong, u got Kong?
ME: Huh? What???
DUDE: King Kong, u got him?
ME: thinking to myself, this fool on drugs or what?
DUDE: U selling DVDs?
ME: No. U?

DUDE drives off in his shiny motor, I walk along carrying my imaginary stack of DVDs.

So every Chinese / oriental person is either working in a takeaway or selling DVDs on the roadside?

Anyways here's a photo of someone's garden sale, hahahah...

2005-11-28T23:30:00.000Z

I want to try to visit Mostar next year if possible. The war-torn Bosnian city unveiled a statue of Bruce Lee on his 65th birthday where it is intended to remind people of Lee's lesser known values - "loyalty, friendship, skill and justice and erase the city's tarnished image as a place of bitter ethnic rivalries between Bosnians, Croats & Serbs.

Then again, I want to explore many other places too!

2005-11-28T23:05:00.000Z

It did snow today in Birmingham!

People in Kings Heath going about their daily routines as the first snow descends.

Quite disappointing though as there wasn't enough snow and it soon melted away into muddy puddles.

2005-11-27T23:33:00.000Z

Stock shot..tee hee..

2005-11-25T21:48:00.000Z

After a hard night's work.

2005-11-24T03:19:00.000Z

Just got news that my 7th Aunt passed away early this morning. I used to remember that she would pinch my cheeks everytime she came for a visit when I was a little boy and made me give her kisses on the cheek. Hahah..i used to grimace at that and tried to run away. Rest in peace, 7th ku ma. I'll miss you. Thai.

2005-11-23T09:47:00.000Z

Oh what an exciting start to the day. Got myself a cheque presentation to do..great......zzz

2005-11-21T19:19:00.000Z

Severe weather predicted for chilly UK

Heavy fog in Moseley, Birmingham.

Severe weather is predicted for the weekend with as much as 20cm of snow in some parts of the country. Visibility in Birmingham has been very poor today and is not expected to improve because of thick fog.

2005-11-20T18:53:00.000Z

Wally's hat & my new Glühwein wine mug (£2)

What's with the picture? In a little corner of the Christmas Market, near the wine stall, Kiyoshi pointed out that there was a bunch of people with Santa hats which would make some interesting pics. We went over, got talking with them and 'Wally' decided to buy Kiyoshi & I, a drink. Never turn a drink down, eh? Wally was German and very intoxicated with wine, ranting about strange things. His mates could only apologise profusely for his behaviour. Anyways I decided to return the favour which wasn't too smart on hindsight..never ply a drunk with more drinks. To cut a long story short, Wally got excited chatting to his friends, smacked his hands on the table which sent my drink over, breaking the mug. He was sorry and decided to give me his hat. Wally insisted that I keep the hat on my head and wanted me and Kiyoshi to follow him, which we decided, enough was enough and made excuses to leave. Wally got aggressive and would not release his grip on my coat. Luckily, his mates restrained him and distracted him while we made our escape to the frankfurter stall which was near closing like all other shops.

Pretty interesting evening where things could've gotten nasty but I ended up with Wally's hat and a mug.

Glühwein - hot red wine that is popular at Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market). The market sell ornaments, advent calendars and other Christmas items.

Merry Christmas Wally and danke schon for the hat! Hohoho!

2005-11-20T00:24:00.000Z

I went to the Weihnachtsmarkt (German Christmas market)market this evening. Last few days have been unbelievable cold but nothing like a cup of hot red wine at the Gluhwein stall to raise the spirit. :)

Frankfurt Market at Victoria Square, Birmingham

Stalls

City Hall

Merry-g0-round

Paying for the hot red wine

Some German revellers with some locals

Wine stall

German revellers in their Santa hats

Couple enjoying their meal.

2005-11-18T07:31:00.000Z

Heheh..two buddies are appearing on the Malaysian Fear Factor series on NTV7 as well..

Pic taken from Fear Factor website.

One of them's 'Tetek' in the middle. The other one appears in another series airing in December.

2005-11-18T00:52:00.000Z

Newspaper cutting in the Independent on Friday, Nov 19, 2005.

Steve checking the bounty on his head on Crimestopper's UK's Most Wanted website.

2005-11-17T23:30:00.000Z

One of my photo buddies has launched his site. Look up www.louispang.com if you're looking for a wedding photographer in Sabah...i'm sure he'll fly to your destination if the air fare's paid for..LOL..

p.s. I don't get any commissions either.

2005-11-16T23:14:00.000Z

New photos for the week.

Christmas lights and tree at the Bullring in Birmingham.

Old photo that I took in February this year London's Chinatown during Chinese New Year of a red Vespa scooter.

Metro restaurant feature

2005-11-11T00:56:00.000Z

MPH 05 Live Motoring Theatre at National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Birmingham on Nov 10, 2005.

Spyker C8 Spyder T

(from L-R) Tiff Needell, Jeremy Clarkson & Richard Hammond

Cars being driven under JCB excavators

Rage buggies racing around the stage

Jeremy Clarkson burning Japanese rubber tyres that produce red smoke

Jeremy Clarkson with 3-D glasses and a Lotus Exige

2005-11-11T00:34:00.000Z

Was out at the High St on Wednesday. Saw this chap with his broken skateboard pacing up and down while waiting for the skate store to open. Must have been one hell of a hardcore skater.

2005-11-07T17:29:00.000Z

Some cuttings for the week...

Mail on Sunday 6/11/05

Birmingham Post 7/11/05

Diario de Noticias (Portugese Press)

Daum (Korean Press)

Aussie media

2005-11-06T20:03:00.000Z

I was at Villa Park on Saturday for Aston Villa v Liverpool. Liverpool won 2-0 thanks to a penalty converted by Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso slotting it home three minutes later. Not a good weekend for the Midland teams as all three suffer defeats home and away..at this rate, there might not be any Premiership teams in the Midlands next year!!!

Reds fan holding aloft a scarf

Crowd of 42,551

2005-10-20T22:14:00.000Z

My deepest condolences to Malaysian Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, on the demise of his wife, Endon Mahmood.

Rest in peace.

2005-10-19T22:50:00.000Z

Think I left my Stoke Sentinel & Nottingham Evening Post cuts in Sheffield, but here are more recent newspaper cuttings.

Guardian

Independent

Times Higher Education Supplement

Metro

Birmingham Post & Mail main page

2005-10-17T22:51:00.000Z

Something from the weekend. National Wedding Show.