Day out at The Esplanade with Nikon D3000

Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay was completed and opened since 1995. Since then, it has been an icon on Singapore's riverside cityscape, joining buildings like Fullerton and other commercial skyscrapers. Till today, never have I wondered about the meaning behind it's name.

An esplanade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk.

Source: Wikipedia

So there's that. Here's a few shots I took while at the Esplanade - both day and night photos.

The interior of Esplanade. The light cast on the right wall changes according to the angle of the roof and time of the day. Really cool design.

My 1st HDR photo attempt.

This is The Esplanade's outdoor theatre. There is two of them I think. This one is the main one that is built right in front of The Esplanade itself. I wish I had more of the sky so it wouldn't be so squished. -sigh-

The Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay. Bathed in orange light.

Marina Bay Sands light show with the mini fireworks around their musical fountain. Very pretty and enchanting.

Most of these shots have obviously been edited. I dont have wide angle lens so I need to stitch them together myself while some of the other shots went through HDR Processing. I only have one camera - Nikon D3000 and I'm using the standard kit lens.

Samsung Galaxy SII Advertisement - Unleash Your Fingers

There was a comment on youtube that says it all: Fuck the phone... Just wanna see this guy finger tut

Dropbox announces partnership with Softbank and Sony Ericsson

This is such sweet news! I'm currently waiting for Sharp to bring their phones to our sunny island's shores but if that doesn't happen fast enough, I was actually eyeing SE's Xperia mini pro. Sharp is under Softbank and SE is well... under SE. Those eyeing phones offered by these companies, rejoice!

Hi everyone! Two months ago, we kicked off our internationalization effort by launching Dropbox in French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. The launch is off to an incredible start, and we’re happy to welcome our new users from all around the world.

But we’re not quite finished yet. All you international users will now have one more thing to cheer about– we’re excited to announce our very first partnership, with Sony Ericsson and Softbank!

Beginning today, Sony Ericsson will sell Dropbox-powered Android phones in ten countries including the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, and Italy. These phones include the shiny new Arc and Play. (Sorry Verizoners, we’re working on it!)

Also, starting in early June, Dropbox will come pre-installed on several Android phones for Softbank customers in Japan, including a brand new 3D phone from Sharp. But Softbank users get a special bonus– you’ll be getting an extra 1GB in addition to the 2GB you normally get from a free account!

With these partnerships, we hope to continue the awesome momentum of our internalization effort by putting Dropbox in the hands of people around the globe. We hope to offer you more juicy mobile news in the future too!

Until then, how’s your Dropbox mobile app been treating you these days?

Source: Dropbox

Seriously Sharp, make your phones come to Singapore faster!

Aitai (会いたい) by Pokota【ぽこた】

I listened to Pokota's covers long time ago but it was always the same few songs. Occasionally I discover new covers that I like from him BUT THIS COVER is different! This song is practically made for him to sing.

From today onwards, Aitai is my favourite Pokota cover.

There are a few others that seems to be more famous on youtube, such as Cendrillion (a duet with Hatanan) Easily one of his best work.

Dancing Samurai is also very popular.

He was even the one who sang it live during the live concert. Song starts at 4:14 if you're not interested in hearing him trying to sound sexy :) pretty successfully too.

Okies, time to head back to doing assignments :(

How to get Japanese phones in Singapore

It's that time again! My 21month recontract period for the phone is up, so it's high time to start looking around for a brand new shiny phone!

Turns out that the recent ones are all pretty ugly. I have a few requirements that phones like iPhone will not satisfy. In desperation, I turned to looking at overseas phones for the first time and Japanese phones look damn good indeed. Okay, so maybe I'm bias. I only liked the Japanese designs so far.

And it seems that there's a lot of people looking for these phones as well. So if you're new to this, how do you start your research and get these elusive phones?

First of all, if money is an issue, it's time to stop looking. Currently, a price offer of $700 is not uncommon. That being said...

Here's a few helpful resources I came across:

DarkMirage's Post - Importing a Japanese Phone

Summary: There's a lot of insightful background information there. Always bear in mind that some of the information is outdated when reading (It's a 2006 post) but it gives a rough background of the situation of phones in Japan and how they make their way here.

Hardwarezone SubForum

Summary: If you're in Singapore, the blogger also recommends a person called "Kuro" on HWZ in the "Exotic & Other Phones" subforum as a reliable dealer for such phones. As of this writing, I don't see much trading going on with him though. I haven't contacted him either since I'm still undecided on what phone I want. I see other dealers there that have some mention of successful good trades and a ton of information worth sifting through.

Softbank Mobile Phones

Summary: On hardwarezone, there are two main brands - Docomo and Softbank. Bear in mind though that not all phones models displayed can be used outside of Japan. It's a nice site to go "window shopping" and note those you like and then research further on from there.

There's one piece of good news I found if Sharp phones are what you are eyeing - models ending with SH. They have released an official statement on their corporate site that confirms their plan of releasing their phones globally. Exactly where and when is not stated. China was the only one mentioned in that statement. Their phones have already made it to US so far. This news was released in 20 May 2011 and there have been no further details since.

Alright that's all for the informative part. I myself am eyeing a Sharp AQUOS Hybrid 007SH which is a very new release. No mention of it (or any other Sharp phones) in Singapore so far... The hype is all in the US -sigh- Personally, my SE Aino is doing fine and I like it so I think I can wait pretty long to see how this plan of Sharp plays out.

This is the white model of the Sharp AQUOS Hybrid 007SH =)

Let's hope Japan picks us as one of the privileged countries!

Super Junior Kibum's image then and now

Yep, definitely changed a lot. No longer has baby face. Or rather he does but the overall look erm... Doesn't look fresh. Can also tell that he got slightly chubbier. But no probs. If he really is set for the 5th album, the stylist will do something about it.

Also when I was trawling through forums, there was a poll on the sentinents of his return. More than half the response were that he a dispensable member of SuJu. The responders were not intentionally negative, just that most felt that SuJu is fine with or without him and that they're still happy to see him back.

The 5th album according to Heechul is to be expected next year. Till then, we can only wait. Even if only for a confirmation of his return.

Super Junior Kibum rumoured to return for 5th album

Heechul on his twitter has confirmed a 5th album for Super Junior. That's not big news. The big news is that Kibum who suddenly went M.I.A. since for 2 years since 2009 is returning for it. This is pretty old news but till today SM Entertainment has not released official statement yet.

The source of the rumours were from Korean ELFs who were waiting outside SuJu's dormitories. According to them, Kibum was spotted moving back to the dorm where he told them that he would be joining SuJu for their 5th album.

I was pretty happy to receive the news at first and I really don't want to be negative but the news is now old... Combined with the lack of concrete evidence, the potential of the rumour is now leaning towards just that - a rumour.