Banner Design

I'm try to make use of some thecnique that I had learnt from the past tutorial. So my first assignment is to design a new banner for this blog. Not a perfect one but this is the final result.
Comment are most welcome!!

Flying without wings

Flying without wings
Originally uploaded by lowbihong

Another photoshop practice following the PSDTUTS's tutorial. Kind of statisfy with the result although the resolution is not that good.
Hopefully I will get time to create my own design one day :p

梦该醒了

昨晚，作了一个梦。

梦境与现实的差距，我竟傻得不愿意从梦中醒来。

害怕留不住那画面。

原来，我还是一个不懂事的小孩。

原来，我还被回忆牵绊。

原来，我一直选择逃避。

原来，我看不见我的未来。

原来，那只是一场梦。

梦醒了。

路该怎么走呢？

Penang should think small to grow big

"YOU can take a Penangite out of Penang but never the Penang out of a Penangite, " wrote Soo Ewe Jin in his commentary titled "Penang should think small to grow big".

Ya, you should read this article if you are Penangite and care about your home town. I cannot say the writer had provided the best idea or solution about how Penang should get develope along with it World Heritage status, but he did point out the eager of us to see Penang shine.

I had the chance to visit Edinburgh and Guanajuato, both listed as World Heritage City, and I can feel the excitement living in the city like this. The city itself can tell the story. However, what make the city so attaracting is the people who live in it. How they teasure it and the effort to make it the best place to live in. And I do believe Penang have the same quality. What it need is the awareness, and to have a great vision to get a balance between developement and protection.

This is how the article end

"If Guan Eng gets it right, the resulting inflow of the right industries and the people will turbo-charge the existing businesses in Penang. People will get to eat genuine char koay teow and not just from shops in a mall in Damansara claiming to have the best Penang char koay teow.

And everyone will be happy to be living and working in a Unesco World Heritage Site."

This is my dream too. To live and work back to my home town in the future.

2 inspiring story to share

Come across this 2 sites, showing amazing photography projects. I found it very inspiring and meaningful, so I will share the link here, and I hope you too can feel the story behind the photos!

1.Days With My FatherBy Phillip Toledano. A series of photos capturing the days between the photographer with his dad after her mum passed away. The photos are beautiful, and the story are sad and touching. I can feel a strong bond between the son and the father.

2.wisdombook.org
By Andrew Zuckerman. A project to record the experience of a group of people who have make their mark on the world. Their experience is the wisdom, the greatest gift for next generation. I love the portrait shots, all done in white background. Beside the clean feeling, it focus strong on the story teller and make them stand out sharply. It tells a lot by just looking at these portraits.

Web Design In Photoshop

I found this amazing tutorial on wed design in a website call PSDTUTS.
So I give it a try step by step and do some modification that fit my style and this is the result.
What I lack now is the knowledge to slice this PSD file into HTML+CSS.
Ohh....I start thinking of designing my own website with all the technique that I have learned here!!

你给你的孩子们一双翅膀了吗？

在网上发现了这个屠妖节的广告。
看了，鼻子一酸。怎么了？自己竟被它感动。
广告里，看到的是贫困，但注重教育的一对父母
一个肯为梦想而努力的小孩
3大民族互相扶持，鼓励的社会



自己一个人在国外留学已经快5年了。想起了还在马来西亚的父母及家人。我不知道自己可以飞得多高，多远，但很想对你们说一声谢谢。谢谢你们给我这双翅膀。是你们给我继续走下去的勇气。

Sick

"Ah-choo!!".....a sneeze and I knew it, something was wrong with my body.
So, this morning my nose is flooded.
I hate this feeling.
Hope that I can get rid of it soon.

那些日子

第一次听到这首歌，是第一季的超级星光大道。林宥嘉用他那忧郁的歌声深情唱出，很快就被他所吸引。后来才知道原唱是淘晶莹。袁惟仁的词曲，不管是男生还是女生，都唱出了歌里的无奈。





你还穿着那些华丽灿烂的衣服吗
或者不需要那些外在证明自已了吧
回想那些单纯 其实有点残忍
现实拒绝我们的认真

你还带着那些美丽的回忆睡着吗
还是不需要那些假象欺骗自已了吧
时光总是短暂 心里藏着遗憾
遗憾变成我们的牵绊

我知道 认识你 爱上你
了解你 看穿你 并不简单
可是 离开你 失去你 忘记你
我又该怎么办
尤其时常在梦中 有你作伴
总教人在梦与醒之间两难

我知道 原谅你 放纵你
包容你 疼爱你 其实不难
宁愿 背叛你 隐瞒你 报复你
我也比较坦然
在这虚幻城市中 无人陪伴
我只好在爱与恨之间离散
我只好在爱与恨之间选择离散

不是说好,要永远在一起的吗?
可是,你已经离开了,好久,好久
到底怎么了呢?

醉了

头有点疼。是昨晚喝多了吧。

看到两位前辈醉倒在地上，或许多喝一杯我也会像他们一样。
可是，理智制止了我。
身体是有点不听使唤，脑袋却是清醒的。
想要忘却的，却如潮水般不断的涌上来，怎么挥也挥不走。
我就是这样的一个人，永远有一条隐形的绳子捆绑着自己，一直不敢越轨。
我不可以醉。
醉了，我会控制不了自己。
醉了，我会给人家添麻烦。
醉了，我会让人担心。
醉了，我怕我会变得更脆弱。
醉了。。。

可是
醉，到底是怎样的感觉？
醉，真的会让心情好一些吗？
醉醒后，明天会好一些吗？


今早，回到研究室，
发现，醉的代价是一副找不回的眼镜，一台不知放到哪儿的手提电话。

醉了，日子还是要过。
醉醒了，要面对的还是同一个自己。

醉了可以不要醒过来吗？

面具

The Mask
Originally uploaded by lowbihong

每一个人都带着一幅面具，试图去隐藏一个自己不愿去面对的另一个自己。

那个懦弱，脆弱，可恶，可恨，可憎的自己。

他讨厌带着面具的他

更讨厌脱下面具后的他

望着镜子，他何时才能提起勇气去面对

面对那藏在面具之下，丑陋的自己

什么时候才能，才能抛开面具？

面具太沉重，把自己压得好累，压得透不过气

一种陌生的感觉，连自己也认不出来

可是，面具下的"它"却是那么的不堪一击

心里拼命地拉扯

拉扯

陈绮贞

陈绮贞，或许你没有听过她的名字。不过她的歌曲却有独特的感染力。
「华丽的冒险」这个专辑伴我做过无数次的日子。
今天又是这把悠悠的歌声伴我度过了一整个心情很蓝的下午。

华丽的冒险

长长的路的尽头是一片满是星星的夜空

这一趟华丽的冒险没有真实的你陪我走

长长的时间的旅程充满太多未知的诱惑

说不清对你承诺过的一切

还有多少没有实现过

不愿放开手

不愿让你走

疯狂的梦没有了你

还有什么用

不愿放开手

不愿让你走

不愿眼睁睁的看你

走出我的生活

华丽的冒险，一个未知的旅程。

The US made a history. How about Malaysia?

Obama won. In the presidency election yesterday. The first black president in the history of United State of America.

"It's been a long time coming, but tonight... change has come to America,"said the elected president in his victory speech.

I cannot say America had a clean history of racism, and there was murder threat posted by those white racist during the presidency campaign. But they make it, the people in US has made a history, elected a president without looking at his skin color but his ability to lead the country.

I hope the same thing will happen in Malaysia too. Someday in the near future. But what happen recently in Malaysia worried me.

The appointment of Low Siew Moi as general manager of the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) has caused a serious debate, not about her ability to seat the pose, but her skin color, being a Chinese. Why do those people have dout that a Chinese won't do a good job in helping bumiputera?

Zaid Ibrahim stated out his opinion that the obsession with the Ketuanan Melayu doctrine has destroyed something precious in Malaysians.

According to him

“It makes us lose our sense of balance and fairness. When a certain Chinese lady was appointed head of a state development corporation, having served in that corporation for 33 years, there were protests from Malay groups because she is Chinese,”

“A new economic vision is necessary, one that is more forward looking in outlook and guided by positive values that would serve to enhance cooperation amongst the races. This will encourage change for the better, to develop new forms of behaviour and shifts of attitudes, to believe that only economic growth will serve social equity, to aspire to a higher standard of living for all regardless of race.

“We need to meaningfully acknowledge that wealth is based on insight, sophisticated human capital and attitude change. A new dynamics focused on cooperation and competition will spur innovation and creativity.

“Some might say that this is a fantasy. I disagree. How do we go about transforming the culture and values of the bumiputeras so that their ability to create new economic wealth can be sustained?

“By changing our political and legal landscapes with freedom and democracy.”

Ya, that is the problem of our country. But when someone speak out the truth, this is what he get

Perlis UMNO liaison chief and former Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said “Zaid should repent. Otherwise he should get out of the ‘rumpun Melayu’.if Zaid continued to question the Malay supremacy concept, then he should no longer be a Malay as a Malay should be defending the Malays and not running them down.”

Home Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, who is incidentally an UMNO supreme council member, as saying that Zaid was “a traitor to his own race and should apologise for his remarks.”

What can we hope for, if our country is still lead by this kind of politician?

A big disappoinment. I hope for change after the Mach 8 political tsunami. Although it had changed the political stucture in Malaysia it could not change the racist thinking rooted deep inside some Malaysian.

I hope. Like what Obama said before he end his speech.

"while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we cant, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can."

Ya, Let's pray, Malaysia can change. Yes We Can!

有没有。。。

如煙　　曲/石頭　詞/阿信

我坐在床前　望著窗外　回憶滿天　
生命是華麗錯覺　時間是賊　偷走一切

七歲那一年　抓住那隻蟬　以為能抓住夏天
十七歲的那年　吻過他的臉　就以為和他能永遠　

有沒有那麼一種永遠　永遠不改變　擁抱過的美麗都　再也不破碎
讓險峻歲月不能在臉上撒野　讓生離和死別都遙遠　有誰能聽見

我坐在床前　轉過頭看　誰在沉睡　
那一張蒼老的臉　好像是我　緊閉雙眼

曾經是愛我的　和我深愛的　都圍繞在我身邊
帶不走的那些　遺憾和眷戀　就化成最後一滴眼淚

有沒有那麼一滴眼淚　能洗掉後悔　化成大雨降落在　回不去的街
再給我一次機會　將故事改寫　還欠了他一生的　一句抱歉

有沒有那麼一個世界　永遠不天黑　星星太陽萬物都　聽我的指揮
月亮不忙著圓缺　春天不走遠　樹梢緊緊擁抱著樹葉　有誰能聽見

耳際　眼前　此生重演　是我來自漆黑　而又回歸漆黑
人間　瞬間　天地之間　下次我　又是誰

有沒有那麼一朵玫瑰　永遠不凋謝　永遠驕傲和完美　永遠不妥協
為何人生最後會像一張紙屑　還不如一片花瓣曾經鮮豔

有沒有那麼一張書籤　停止那一天　最單純的笑臉和　最美那一年
書包裡面裝滿了蛋糕和汽水　雙眼只有無猜和無邪　讓我們無法無天

有沒有那麼一首詩篇　找不到句點　青春永遠定居在　我們的歲月
男孩和女孩都有吉他和舞鞋　笑忘人間的苦痛　只有甜美

有沒有那麼一個明天　重頭回一遍　讓我再次感受曾　揮霍的昨天
無論生存或生活　我都不浪費　不讓故事這麼的後悔

有誰能聽見　我不要告別
我坐在床前　看著指尖　已經如煙

太多的事情，太多的故事，太多的理由，太多的理智

有没有。。。那麼一种方式可以让一切变得简单一些？

雨天

秋雨，已下了整整两天了。绵绵细细，嘀嗒嘀嗒的打在窗上，思绪也随着雨声的节奏起伏。
雨天之后换来的是晴天，可是迎接秋天的却是冷冷的冬季。

看不到尽头的乌云，雨还是一直下着。

雨天-孙燕姿

站在十字路的交点
该怎么走
我却只剩回头
除了你给的伞我再也没有
别的借口
去拥有你的什么
你能体谅 我有雨天
偶尔胆怯 你都了解
过去那些大雨落下的瞬间
我突然发现
谁能体谅 我的雨天
所以情愿回你身边
此刻脚步 会慢一些
如此坚决
你却越来越远
牵手和分手来自同一双手
做回朋友
我却为何不懂挽留
你能体谅 我有雨天
偶尔胆怯 你都了解
过去那些大雨落下的瞬间
我突然发现
谁能体谅 我的雨天
所以情愿回你身边
此刻脚步 会慢一些
如此坚决
你却越来越远
是否太晚 路已走远
我的眼眶泪太满
走不回你身边
你能体谅 我有雨天
偶尔胆怯 你都了解
过去那些大雨落下的瞬间
我突然发现
谁能体谅 我的雨天
此刻脚步 会慢一些
如此坚决
你却越来越远

今天将搭上最后一班旅途。愿这会是一场美好回忆。

未来的两年

今天，对着电脑白色的银幕，望着那显眼的标题”研究计划”发呆。头脑一片空白。虽然只是申请延长奖学金，形式上的一篇文章，却让我不知所措。

未来的两年，我看不前方。就把现在的生活延长两年？就让时间决定一切，随大队从大学院毕业，找分工当个上班族？还是，我还有什么选择吗？未来，我要成为怎样的我？

混乱的思绪已不是围绕在研究课题上，而是遥远，模糊的人生十字路口。

我没有答案。IPod传来的是戴佩妮的歌声，歌声背后的歌词又把我的思绪拉得更远。

淡水河边
词曲:戴佩妮

淡水的河边
还没吃完的餐点
热闹的烟火还没上演
飘流中的船
往返了多少遍
回忆的帆却停在那一年
熟悉的冬夜
独自呆坐在岸边
听熙来攘往的笑声蔓延
有些情绪呀
我不想遮掩
有一些人我不想遇见
我很狼狈的
将我的脸偷偷收起了
我很浪费的
将你的好通通放开了
我很惭愧的
将你的手交给他了
我怀疑我能做什么
当我颓废的难过着
我很狼狈的
将我的眼紧紧闭上了
我很浪费的
将你的话通通忘记了
我很惭愧的
将你未来让给他了
你能够为我做什么
为我快乐因为我值得
为我快乐

窗外
词曲:戴佩妮

走出这间房子的冷清
窥探这个城市的风景
依然厌倦着拥挤
不敢深呼吸
漂浮的云有惆怅的倒影
走出整个秋天的屋顶
以为就此告别了凉意
依然推不翻过去
走不出寂静
白色的脸有黑色的投影
我望着窗外夜雨一直下
心开始有点慌
怕弄湿了眼眶
我站在人海不停地遥望
等待着一道曙光
照亮未知的方向
嗯......
Na......
未知的方向

累了。把自己拉回现实。指尖在键盘上敲击。写了一片连自己看了都觉得陌生的文章。
我还是找不到答案。。。

右手边-光良

作词:光良 作曲:光良

静静地坐在你的身边
还会有多少这样的时间
我要迎着这窗外的光线
牢牢的记住你微笑的侧脸
我说了离别不会伤悲
这是我对你唯一的欺骗
因为我最喜欢你的双眼
那么美 不适合掉眼泪
你要好好的去飞
不需要对我想念
我会默默地留下右手边的座位
有一天 当你看过世界
再决定你降落的地点
而我也会继续地
奔驰在这长长的街
左手边是我的心
右手边没有谁
为了你再寂寞我都可以成全
因为我相信
说过了再见
一定会再见

Players of Character

I ran across this article, and I think you should read it too, if you are searching for an answer, how to have a success career.

Here is the article: Cut n paste from ADWEEK

-By Court Crandall

Last week was about as bad a week as I can remember at Ground Zero. We lost two employees. The first was art director Noah Clark, who announced he's leaving to join Crispin, Porter + Bogusky in Boulder, Colo. The second was a woman who made breakfast for the staff and cleaned the office, and who died of lung cancer despite having never smoked a cigarette in her life. (Having worked on the California Department of Public Health account for eight years, I'd be remiss not to mention that her father was a heavy smoker and she believes the second-hand smoke she inhaled as a child ultimately led to her demise.)

Clark interviewed to be my assistant a couple weeks before he was scheduled to graduate from the University of Southern California. Unlike the other finalist for the job, an attractive woman the rest of the creative department was imploring me to hire, Noah was more "boy band": spiked hair, fresh face, jeans that were more fancy than a guy needs to own. But there was something about him that reminded me of myself. And it wasn't the hair. He was just so damn eager to be in the business. There was no pretense, no attitude or entitlement. All he wanted to do was work hard, learn and help.

So I hired him, spelling out very clearly that the chances of his growing into an art director position with us were similar to the word at the end of our agency name: "Zero." He nodded along and said he understood. Then he set about completing every task asked of him to the highest standard possible. Between doing all the so-called "grunt" work, Noah grabbed every creative brief he found lying around the office and looked for ways to help out with layouts, taglines, new business presentations, etcetera. He never asked to be promoted. He never bitched about his day-to-day responsibilities or acted like anything was beneath him. Which is why when a junior art director position opened, I decided it was time to do what a guy named Peter Seronick did for me years before: Give him a chance. So I gave the kid who was Ground Zero the opportunity to join our creative department over all the guys and girls who simply wanted to work for Ground Zero.

In the four years that followed, Noah turned into an award-winning art director who did the kind of work students at VCU and Art Center now point to and say, "Someday." But that wasn't what made him special. The longer you do this job, the more you find that doing good work is the price of entry and it's all the other stuff that separates the folks you really like from the ones you can't live without.

In 15 years of owning Ground Zero, there haven't been many folks who regularly beat me to the office in the morning. Noah was one of them. It should also be noted that he was often the last to leave at night, if he left. I don't say this to glamorize long hours or a sweatshop mentality, but to point out that he typically wasn't burning the midnight oil or the pre-dawn oil to better his portfolio, but to make a presentation look a little better, work on the agency new business materials or polish an ad that was still a little too rough around the edges for his liking. This kind of dedication earned him the moniker "The Cleaner" from Laura Eastman, our head of account services. Like Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction, Noah was the guy who fixed things, no matter how screwed up they might have been when someone dumped them in his lap. When another art director left on vacation, Noah picked up the slack. When another team dropped the meat in the dirt, he picked up the pieces.

Where Noah figuratively cleaned up after the rest of the office, Ana de Paz physically did. She was the other third of the early morning crew, pushing a shopping cart full of groceries down Maxella toward the agency every morning because she didn't own a car. Somewhere between the time I'd drop my keys on my desk and the time I'd check my first e-mail, I'd smell quesadillas wafting from the other end of the building.

As people filtered in over the next hour -- OK, 90 minutes -- they'd almost always visit the kitchen before they went to their desk. And there was Ana, right in the middle of it all -- cutting fruit, flipping quesadillas, telling people to stop eating the tops off the muffins. It may have been my agency, but it was her kitchen. A Guatemalan emigrant, Ana spoke from the heart in broken English.

Whether she was telling our head of planning to put his dirty fork in the dishwasher or a female co-worker she was getting fat, you always knew exactly where Ana stood. And usually, you found yourself wanting to stand next to her. Especially when times got tough. I think it was because she represented everything good about our company. Her dedication, loyalty and hard work reminded me why we built the place and why I didn't jump ship along the way to take one of the high-paying offers at the multinationals. Now, if you had told me when we started that the woman who ran "Taco Tuesday" would become the icon of everything our company stood for, I probably would have laughed. But she did.

Unlike many ad folks who casually throw out the terms "community" and "family," Ana lived them. She fed us. She cleaned up after us and watched over us. Every day.

Why do I bring all this up? Because it occurs to me that more and more, ours is becoming a business obsessed with skill sets. "Does he know Flash?" "Is she versed in new media?" "Can they build a site map?" No doubt, these are important questions to ask, but so are some others. Like, "Will he treat my agency as if it's his agency?" "Will she put the client's best interest above her own?" "Will the rest of us be better for having spent 10 hours a day with them?" What I'm getting at is that in our quest to find the most qualified applicants, I'm worried that all too often we overlook the best person for the job -- the people like Noah and Ana.

My football team is the New England Patriots, which is currently regarded as the most successful franchise in the National Football League. But it wasn't always this way. For the first 37 years of my life, the Patriots appeared in a grand total of one Super Bowl -- a game they lost 46-10. During this insufferably long period, the various Patriot coaches always said the same thing each draft day: "We're looking for the best athlete available." And so, year after year, the Pats would add more hyper-talented athletes to their roster. And each year, the organization continued to flounder.

Then Bill Belichick came along and changed the philosophy. He said, "We're looking for players of character." It defied what everyone else claimed to be after, but I liked the sound of it: Players of character. Suddenly, 40-yard dash times were overlooked and bench press numbers were deemed irrelevant. It was all about heart. It was about whether a player wanted to help the team win more than he wanted to make himself famous and whether they'd give everything they had to give every time they stepped on the field. And so players like Tom Brady, an overlooked backup college quarterback, emerged and went on to set the single-season NFL passing record. Troy Brown, an undersized eighth-round pick at receiver, ended up playing offense, defense and returning punts in the same season and helping the team win three Super Bowls in six years. (Granted, it should have been four.) By changing the criteria they used to build their team to focus more on character and less on skill, the Patriots turned themselves into a much better organization.

So, as I sit here alone at eight in the morning, my advice to all of you with the power to hire is to find those players of character. They'll be the ones who stay late to make sure the job isn't just done, but done right. They'll be the ones who clean up all the messes you make along the way. They'll be the ones you miss the most when they're gone.

Court Crandall is founder and creative partner at independent Ground Zero, Los Angeles.

After reading this, I start asking myself, what kind of career will I, build up this good character to? Another long quest for me.

Something you should know about corn!

I have found some interesting fact about corn in Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma.

1.Corn feeds the steer that becomes the steak.

2.Corn feeds the chicken, the pig, the turkey, the lamb, the catfish even salmon. All these animal had been made to tolerate corn which is not their natural diet.

3.Chicken nugget is all corn!! The chicken feed on corn. Other ingredient are all derived from corn: modified corn starch that glues things together, the corn flour, the corn oil, the leavenings and lecithin, the mono-, di-, and triglycerides, the attractive golden coloring and even the citric acid all come from corn.

4.All the sodas and most of the fruit drinks have been sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Beer also made by alcohol fermented from glucose refined from corn.

5.Most plans during photosynthesis create compounds that have 3 carbon atoms, corn make compounds that have 4!An advantage compare to other plants.

6.Corn take in more carbon 13 than the more common carbon 12. That's means, the higher the ratio of carbon 13 to carbon 12 in a person's flesh, the more corn has been in his diet!

7.Had corn find it way into agriculture, it would had risked extinction, because without humans to plant it every spring, corn wold have disappeared from the earth. Why? Because, corn depends on human thumb needed to remove the husk, separate the seeds, and plant it. If you plant a whole corncob, they will invariably crowd themselves to death.

咖啡-张学友

词:何启弘 曲:黄韵玲

太浓了吧 否则怎会苦的说不出话
每次都一个人在自问自答
我们的爱到底还在吗
已经淡了吧 多放些糖也很难有变化
不如喝完这杯就各自回家
别坐在对面欣赏我的挣扎
一场失败的爱情像个笑话
热得时候心乱如麻
冷了以后看见自己够傻
人怎么会如此容易无法自拔
一场无味的爱情像个谎话
甜的时候只相信它
苦了以后每一句都可怕
人怎么会如此难以了无牵挂