BOOK REVIEW Masakazu Murakami - Kumogakure Onsen

At some point on our life, there must be a need for solitude. To wander aimlessly without any destination, to soak whatever life has offered for us and to be completely honest with ourselves. Some people achieve solitude in by taking meditation and some other prefer to travel on their own. Masakazu Murakami is the second type of people.

On his book Kumogakure Onsen, Masakazu-san share his period of solitude. He travelled through the Onsen (hot-springs) in Japan, taking photographs of the Onsen and the cities where the hot-spring located. There is nothing special about the subjects that Masakazu photographed; the roads that he took, people taking a bath and steams overflowing the cities. His choice of using black and white film as well as the way he photographed the subjects however signifies what he has gone through.

The images in the book blends the banality of reality with an idea of restlessness, one of the main reason why one decides to be on their own. Even the faces of the subjects that he photographed did not convey any sort of emotion, creating this question that do people come to Onsen to have spiritual healing?

Overall the I feel the book has been able to convey the idea of restlessness and the need of having a relationship with solitude. The photographs have been edited in such a way that it truly depicted that what Masakazu felt. The editing is superb and the even though some details were lost, I can still feel the emotion that Masakazu wants to convey.

Like the steams the Onsen produces, one’s restlessness will also go away eventually. It would probably take some time but it will. This book has shown why a period of solitude is necessary to find oneself, to calibrate our compass and to realize that time would eventually heal.

Bottom line: A book on solitude, restlessness and mists.

Photography: 3

Concept of book: 3

Photography - Edit/sequence: 4

Production quality: 4

I am using the cphmag rating scale which you refer to here

Lightcraft and Silent Scenery Album Launch

Update: It seems that Junk Magazine have fully adopted this writing without even acknowledging me or Azhana (yeaa they acknowledge her by saying she provided additional info). My comments for this matter; please don't do it again Junk, it is rude and will make your magazine loses credibility; and secondly when you get "additional infos" from other person, just make sure that you have understood what the infos are all about, for example Lightcraft bassist went MIA not actually the name of the bassist is MIA. It was a great day for a great event for music, two took place in Malaysia and another in Singapore. Leave all the Asia Awards and Fest to the other music fans and journalist. I am here to write a review regarding an event took place in The Annexe Gallery. Lightcraft and Silent Scenery, two well known indie bands in Malaysia, are deciding to release their album together, a debut for Silent Scenery and sophomore for Lightcraft. Along the night there are also performances from other great names such as Leaders on Sunday, Lurks (last minute replacement for Telebury) and Inspirative coming all the way from Thailand.

Being fashionably late, the event kicked off at 8.30 PM, started by Leaders on Sunday, self proclaimed crunk band which are motored by 3 of their member Rushdi, Shariman and Nabil. The guys give out an upbeat set for all the people that have been waiting, at one point during their show the MC tell out that the band were formed because one of the member girlfriend is ditching him because she attracted to some underwear model.

Second on the bill is Inspirative, hailing all the way from Thailand this band had already make head turns during their check sound sessions. It's unique and fresh, like how tom yum soup will make you warm and then continued with mango rice which are cool and soothing. The band played mostly their instrumental track with one (or is it two?) tracks with lyrics. This band really is the black horse of the night providing the great mood swing.

On the third, there is one of the main show of the night, Silent Scenery, equipped with a celloist the band which describe themselves as emotronic, rocked out with the audience. At one time the vocalist Kit, said that the band will play differently than the other band as they would not stopped between songs, strangely they did, but it was forgiveable as they started to explain about the event and how they met with Lightcraft and planning the event together.

Next on the stage is Lurks being the last minute replacement for Telebury, they really are not dissapointing. Sounded like Depeche Mode or some might say Joy Division, they are the most rocking out band of the night. Again the mood of the audience is being changed drastically to a bit dark, I guess it is quite needed to ensure that the audience is still in the place and kept interested.

Lastly come the star of the show, although this event can be said that it is a collaboration between Lightcraft and Silent Scenery, most of the audience were clearly waiting for Lightcraft on stage. They come out with almost their original formation with the exception of Efry on bass. The sound of Lightcraft although still very British, are being added with more complexity and maturity especially on the track All In My Mind and The Girl Who Went to War. Imam being the front man are clearly very nervous on that night, however, that did not make their performance become any less entertaining.  There are quite a few surprise on the night especially when they are trying to play their first Indonesia song, which surprisingly great sounding and also when the audience asking for the encore which come answered by playing I Don't Know What It Is.

Finally the event ended, tired but amused the audience went back to their homes, sharing the experience which are clearly could not be found in Genting or Singapore. and yeah.. did I mention we get a free muffins?

Pictures:

Cheers

Gorilla (Monster) Pod, a review

Ever since I bought my new digital camera, I always found difficulty to take timed pictures which include myself on it. This is mainly because : first, I didn't have a tripod, second,We were unfortunate enough to take pictures in a place that didn't have elevated flat surface and lastly I didn't trust random people easily to take pictures with my camera (because sometimes the pictures would turn out to be bad) Then one day after reading an article in lifehacker, regarding a tripod which you could use ANYwhere and attach itself to almost anything. The tripod itself is called a gorilla pod (even though I didn't see the resemblance between the tripod and gorilla (it look more like a monster to me)), it is bendy, small and lightweight thus essentials for photographer who is always on the go.

Finished with the article I went to the product website, found out that the price for the tripod is USD 25 (with international shipping, the total would be USD 45) for the packaged. The "eco-packaged" is priced cheaper due to the lack of packaging (USD 22), and both comes with 6 different colours.

Then yesterday, I went to the Sunway Pyramid and see that there is a promotional fair of digital photography and video recording with brands like Nikon, Canon, Samsung and JVC presents. Interested I went to the one of the booth and realised that they have the original gorilla pod, priced only for RM 50 or USD 16. To make the review short I bought it, and tried as soon as I got back.

The first impression I got when I have the Gorilla Pod that felt light yet sturdy, of course because of its ability to bend, it somehow looked very bizarre and creepy in some kind of way. Then I attached the clips onto my digital camera and begin to play around with its "tentacle". The very first position that I tried is of course the normal tripod position and found that it is very stable on the flat surface.

Next position would be more difficult like attaching it on my chair's handle, very stable as well

Well after this I'll try to attach my camera on it, but I don't dare enough to put it in my chair handle, thus I put it on my water bottle, and then again it was stand there like it was climbing it, very stable.

The tripod also comes with safety precaution for those worried about their camera. It included the lock to securely attached your camera which can be seen in the picture below.

In conclusion, I was very satisfied with the product and believe that USD 25 is already a good price. It is very secured and strong when it is attached to any surface, Joby also provide the Gorilla Pod for DSLR and DSLR zoom for those looking one (of course different price). The only drawback with this tripod that I found is that sometimes it is hard to turn the lock or to detach your camera from the tripod, other than that it is top notch.

Cheers