Hong Kong Disneyland HDR

Sorry! I know I've been lazy and not posting much these days, but Contest Junkie blog is keeping me awake at night, and I don't have much time with other stuff.

Back from a enjoyable trip to Hong Kong and Macau a few weeks ago. Everything was nice, especially food, but overall, things are more expensive in Hong Kong & Macau then in Singapore.

While in my stay in Hong Kong, I noticed the sky is always blue throughout the day, and I was thinking:

"Oh great, I can do a HDR!"

Then..

"Oh this angle looks good for a HDR! Wait, where's my tripod?!"

"Sh*t! I need to hurry up and move on to the next location!"

A combination of a tight schedule plus No tripod means I won't get to shoot my HDR photos! But when as I arrived at Disneyland, I was like "WAH! seriously blue sky, good for shooting!". I was so excited about the blue sky that I even told my mom (who knew nothing about photograpy) that I could do a damn good HDR with this blue sky. Then the usual problem: never bring tripod.

Then I noticed a curved seat near the water fountain and I rekon I could do a HDR if I keep really still....

And the result?

Not the best, but up to standard for posting.

Picture processed like a HDR, but layered back (about 8 layers?) some of the original photos to make it less "fake". I not too sure what exactly hit me, but I no longer enjoy making fake HDRs. In my case, it will be: NO glowing edges, NO inaccurate brightness of subject with reference to background. (chim? I not sure what I'm saying either)

For my next post... how about pictures from a cosplay event taken recently? Leave me a comment, cheers!

Movie Review: Despicable Me

First of all, I would like to thank omy.sg for the invitation to this great movie! Check out the crowd!

I had a great time on 5th July at the Despicable Me 3D preview at The Cathay. I had not actually thought it would be so good and amusing at the same time. My first impression of the movie as I had seen from the trailers was just another mediocre cartoon flick with nothing but loud noises and 3D effects. However, this very movie proved me wrong. It is not a lame show and in fact, has been made so well that it is full of surprises and humor. I don’t think anyone could do more justice to this story of an aging evil genius named Gru battling against a younger and much supported villain, namely Vector.

(Spoiler alert!) Gru, as mentioned earlier, is a genius villain who cherishes in whatever is wicked and cunning. He stays in a black dreadful house amidst a peaceful suburban vicinity. In fact, this creepy house is where he covertly carries out his evil plans with the help of his accomplices, namely a horde of tiny yellow minions who follow Gru’s orders exactly and a very old professor named Dr Nefario who invent things as the way Gru wants.

After being upstaged by a younger villain named Vector who has stolen one of the Egyptian pyramids, Gru brings out his mastermind plan of stealing the moon. In order to get this plan to action, he needs to get a loan from the Bank of Evil. In order to get the loan, Gru has to steal a shrink ray gun from the Chinese to show the bank president that his plan will work out. However, he stumbled upon Vector who stole the shrink ray gun back from Gru. Vector turns out to be the son of the Bank president who has no intention of giving support for Gru’s plan and infact wants his own son to steal the moon. To get back the shink ray gun, Gru tries several attempts to break into Vector’s fortress highly secured with surveillance cameras and booby traps until one day he meets 3 cookie-selling orphans who can help him get back his gun. On the other hand, Gru unlike anyone else, finds pleasure living a lonesome life rather than living a family until he adopts the 3 little orphan girls who melt his frozen heart and make him realize how peaceful a family life is.

Finally, that is where this genius curmudgeon faces the biggest dilemma of career-versus family problem. On one hand, he has to fly out of the earth to shrink the moon and take it; on the other hand, he still has to prove to his little girls that he is a great daddy by getting in time for the dance recital.

In my opinion, the movie has done its justice and is suitable not only for kids but also for the adults too. You should have a second thought if you think this movie would turn out to be a common stereotype.

My rating? 4/5

In short, this is no typical movie, with predictable storyline. I would highly recommend this movie to audience of all ages in need of a good laugh. Watch in 3D for best enjoyment!