Of the London Riot

Everyone sensed that something was not right in the social hierarchy in England for quite some time. The rising unemployment, recession, the opening of the borders both to the European Union allies and immigrants from South Asia and the Caribbean over the years has definitely spelt resentment amongst the local. The crumbling state of the Health Service - the beloved NHS - for instance is symptomatic of this decline.

The rise of the ultra Right - the British Nationalist Party in England for instance - across Europe stem from this uneasiness. This has culminated tragically recently with the killing spree in the peaceful capital of Norway. The shift in the ethnic content in Britain will over time take it toll. They had been tolerant in the past, in accepting refugees from the Commonwealth, maybe out of guilt on their Colonial past. But now, they have asylum seekers from North Africa, Yemen, from all over the world. One have to realise that Britain is a nation of limited internal resources. They overcame this by colonisation before. Unfortunately, that is one no longer an option. They will not be able to cope with immigrants in the long term.

Despite this thought, the extend of the rioting came as a surprise. What started as a contained protest, has I was sure being capitalised by other parties as an excuse to riot and raze. It was a mean to vent their anger and frustration. The majority of them joined in for a bit of fun, little did they realise that the gaze of the world is upon them. It was a major embarrassment to the Cameron cabinet especially this coming a couple of weeks before what was meant to be a celebration in counting down a year before the 2012 Summer Games starts. This unwanted publicity would have dented some of the preparation as well as the confidence of the World in London hosting the Games next year. Have the authority taken their eyes of the ball in dealing with the current riot? Whatever it is, I am sure they would be more than capable of making a success of the Olympics.

On a more serious note, I wish all my friends and fellow Malaysian in the UK to stay safe during this uncertain times. May Allah watch over them in this Holy Month of Ramadhan. InsyaAllah.

Bangsar Village Decor

Just returned from Bangsar Village and I was pleasantly surprised at how much the place was transformed in within a week. Both the Raya stalls - amongst the most expensive in KL, so enter at your peril - and the Raya decor were up.

I was rather confused with the overall theme there though, as it was more of a mash-up of colours rather than a coherent one. Or maybe I was just analyzing too much. After entering a couple of the stalls, I came up with the conclusion in the first paragraph. Things there were just damn expensive! A pair of sarongs for RM1700! Righto! I'll give that a miss.

Trying to figure out if those were snoflakes I think it wasCloser look at the stallsThe current trend seemed to be square boxesThe usual stuffings - cookies

The gift idea this time around was also not as creative as in previous years. They were pretty simple, and I noticed that the trend now is to give a hamper containing biscuits and drinks, rather than dates. Hmmm! Usually the trendier place would be Bangsar Shopping Center down the road. Maybe I'll give it a visit in the next few days.

Project for The Week

It looks like I may have just get on with some project I have been scratching my head on. I have always wanted to dabble on a bit of still life at home, using either natural light or a simple strobe setup. While I was out earlier, I picked up a couple a few A1 papers as background, dust off a couple of my camera tripods and went to work.

After the rig was set, I picked up some of my boys colorful toys, my pen and other gadgets, and started photographing them. May be I need to work a bit more on the lights and subject matter as the actual photographs seemed to come out OK from the camera. The editing part appeared to be more time-consuming than I realised, but I got somewhere in the end.

The background being folded backI may need to invest on another light source but for time being, this would do. Better make sure that my boys were occupied as they love to "help".

Trying things out!

My webhost, SquareSpace has just implemented the new slideshow system for the website. I thought I would give it a go. See what you think. This series was taken suring a trip to Genting last year.

It looks like my SmugMug script below looked a bit better on all account. What do you think?

Desk Clear-up

So, after the boys were settled in school, Anita went out for some shopping with her Mum, leaving me alone at home. Had plenty of chores though, and I planned to clean up my desk. There were full of junks and the old receipts were everywhere.

Managed to get my act together, and sat down, going through each of the papers and drawers one by one. Found old letters, photographs and certificates from the meetings I have attended over the years. The shredder machine would be working overtime later as some of the documents were quite sensitive, especially bits from my research data. Those would need to be disposed of properly.

Apple does make some nice boxes. Shame that this would need to go into the bin as well.By the time I was done, it was time to fetch Irfan from school. Another chore needed doing later though - to buy stamps for my Hari Raya cards. I'll probably do it later when I go out to Pasar Ramadhan. I would fancy taking my camera out to shoot some Raya decor though.