Last Suzuki Night Market

    Random walking around.  This time, I managed to grab some snacks to eat after dinner.

 

Random lining up for food.

Yes, lines are this long all the time.

Izakaya Chuji

    I am going to jump right into an explanation of what an izakaya is.  An izakaya is a Japanese style fusion of a restaurant and a bar.  It is known for serving food together with drinks and the other way around.  Older times in Japan, an izakaya was a favourite watering hole for the salaryman after work and is well known for its cheap food that is served with a lot of alcohol.  These days, that has changed, whereby you may find many independent women, youngters and families who frequent izakayas.  A mark of an izakaya would be the distinctive double akachojin (literally, red lantern) that stands on both sides of the entrance to the establishment.  From what I read, there will always be a few very close by to the train stations in Japan.

    There is one izakaya styled restaurant that Crystal and I used to frequent up until recently.  Izakaya Chuji has claimed to be the oldest of Izakayas across Aussie.  These points do not pique my interest one bit if the establishment is just so-so.

Izakaya Chuji, on Lonsdale st.

Il Dolce Freddo

    Interested in some Italian Designer ice-cream in the arvo when you're all hot and sweaty?  Hehehe.. Although Melbourne these days is pretty chilly, there are some scorching moments.  A short walk down to Lygon Street and viola!  The creme of the crop, Il Dolce Freddo!

IL DOLCHE FREDDO

Papa Gino's Italian Restaurant

    When Melbournians think of Italian eateries, they think of Lygon Street, because this is where the collection of Italian food can be found.  There are a few Greek corner restaurants that serve one of the most tantalising souvlaki (Greek lamb kebabs) as well as a wide variety of choco cafes such as Koko Black, and my personal favourite, Brunetti!  It is about a good 15 minute walk from where we live to Papa Gino's, an Italian restaurant that we frequent. With a great scenery and lots of restaurants along the way, by the time we arrive at the restaurant, we've build up quite an appetite.

Papa Gino's on Lygon Street

Meiji Japanese Cafe, Again

    It would appear that we really do have a thing for dining out, especially for a place with really good food for a relatively low price.  Here's more shots of when we paid a visit to Meiji again.  Click here for the Flickr album.

Meiji Japanese Restaurant

Meiji Japanese Cafe

    Saturday night, nothing much going on.  Been a tiring week primming for a better looking body so that we may fit into clothes and look better in them.  Dieting is always the main thing to look out for these days when it comes to health =)  I'd figured, since I eat out a lot due to me not having much kitchen utensils to cook, I'd start shooting some food porn.  This way, I'd have good practice ninja-shooting the insides of establishments and inanimated objects.  I'm new to blogging about food, but here goes...

Meiji Japanese Cafe

     Quaint little Japanese restaurant to eat at should you ever be down Little Bourke Street, aka Chinatown.

Portraits that I dugged up

    Here I am, awoken after 15 minutes of sleep in the wee hours on a Saturday morning. I have posted these on FB, but I think it looks nicer here thanks to the direct link to Flickr. Oh gosh, I'm one of those attention seekers now who post the same bloody thing all over the god damned place to get their name out. Honestly, I'd rather keep a low key and only showcase my talents for those concerned, ie prospective employers ;)

Suzuki Night Market Walk Walk

Queen Victoria Market by day,

Suzuki Night Market by night.

    It is about 15 -20 minutes walk and it's good to sweat it off after din din.  It starts around 1730 until late at night, but it's always good to head there early because it's really packed and crowded.  And unending amount of food and drinks as well as entertainment.  There's also lots of crafts and other weird stuff like fortune telling and massages =P

Junkie XL, 24th May 09

This is my second time catching Dutch musician Tom Holkenborg AKA Junkie XL. First was at the legendary UMF10.

The work and collaboration that this guy pimps out is just amazing. I particularly like his remixes in the Animatrix OST as well for Ayumi Hamasaki. That was when I first heard of him actually. =)

JXL's Official Media page.

That night I heard that DJ Monk of Rabbit in the Moon was in town spinning and recording for his DVD...but I didn't manage to catch him.. Elusive as ever. Should RITM ever perform near you, be sure to catch their performance.. It is fucking amazing.

Anyway, here's the flickr for the shoot that night.

Fuck More
Very Naughty Funk.


Today
Funky stylist.


Eveline, Jason, Kien, Ethan, Raymond and Kendrick.


Tom Holkenborg AKA JXL


I don't know why, but it is surprisingly hard to get a sharp and frozen action shot that still is able to take in a decent amount of ambient lighting.




The ambient lighting in this rooftop patio is really attractive.






This is one of those times where I wish I had a fisheye =(


Spinning is SERIOUS BUSINESS!


Random pole in the middle of a bar =/

Second Sun @ Buffalo

This would be Second Sun's first performance down here in buffalo. It's about damn time I get to witness some good music being played here. Heh.. First time I saw them was back in the UMF10.. It was awesome!!

Adam White and Antoine Becks make up the duo who are well known for their live performances. First time I heard them was with a collaboration with Paul Van Dyk around 2005. Of course, back then I didn't know about them. It was the song 'Crush' in PVD's album 'Reflections'. When I was in college, I used to spam that song on my MP3 player. hehe..

Second Sun's Myspace Page.

Here's the video of Crush.

Some how I cannot embed the info.. Myeh... oh well..

Here's the link to the Flickr for the whole album.

Here's the link to the Facebook album.

Through the shoot, I had many problems with capturing them from the stage. The bars between the stage and table did not help much. What I wanted was to capture the crowd as well as the 2 guys and it turned out pretty horrible so I dropped them =(

Anyway, here are the best picks of the night. I tried to up the contrast and it worked really well in this case. ^^

I tried my hand at making the contrast stronger and I found that it does make the subjects pop more.

Cory & Stacie


I'm always bad at action shots without my flash, but I'm glad that this turned out decent


Left to right: Adam White & Antoine Becks




I've got free reign and I get to move to any part of the club to shoot. I really enjoyed this freedom to shoot =)




I thought that the lighting and composure of this shot is one of the best in all my shots.
Slowly improving ^^


Jesse holding the fort down in the next room.


Stoutlager & Antoine Becks


Stoutlager & Adam White
Yes yes, I forgot to bring a pen for them to sign my CD.. sigh...

Next gig that I am looking forward to will be Junkie XL.. Huge huge huge..

Stout Out.

Japan Night 09

After being in Buffalo for 3 years, I finally attended my first Japan Night. It was really funny =)

Everyone was really tired and yet there was a lot of energy and smiles to go around. This is what I can say is the JSA community in Buffalo.

For me, it was a long and tiring night.. At the end, I fell asleep in my car at McD at 0530 because I wanted to get some brekkie before crashing. It was really quiet and I felt kind of excited and nervous. At least I did not get a cold.. heh.

So, first off was the show at 1800 followed by the Matsuri and afterparty down at 'Quote'.

Here's the Flickr link for the Japan Night 09

I am currently seeking out all of the videos pertaining to this event. Let me know if I missed any.

Trailer for Japan Night.
'Home is Where the Heart is at'
Yes, THAT is Mari Talai in the opening! ^^


Japan Night Crew


Prologue - Myth of the Raccoon presented by Kyoko Umezaki.


Japanese Joke Clip presented by Ashley Yohn.
Seaweed.....


Smily Joe's Smily Shopping brought to you by Smily Joe and Ebay Jack!
It really does work!


Safety Information for 'Mr. I Want To Have A Good Dream Pillow'.
Brought to you by our safety intructor Maica!
Please bring exact change.


Pokemon Trailer Spinoff.
Featuring Ryosuke Kojima & Kazuhiro Ezaki
Audio has been turned off.
Facebook link here. =)


Sadako's Intermission.
Solo act by Yuki Tanimoto.
I keep thinking...Isn't the floor kind of dirty


Prime Minister Mori's Trailer 1.0
Featuring Takashi Nakamura.
Coming to a cinema near you.


Prime Minister Mori's True Story 2.0
Featuring Takashi Nakamura.
Coming to a cinema near you...This summer.
Do they really eat that black guck on a toast?


Princess Peach Spin Off.
Featuring Layna Stewman & Poor poor Masato Uenishi


Have you found a place where you belong?
Featuring JSA!


Japan Night Shots
The best picks




*Cry face*


Leng Chai! Don't get cheeky with the new classmate!




'I Heart Britney'


Cheeky lil' bugger.


Donut Pikachu.


Gorilla!


Winning performance in the International Fiesta.




New and Improved Pikachu! Vm


Mr. Director.


^____^








It's a guy thing ^^




15 feet ceiling? roflmao


DJ Kid & Wakako


I really like the red glare here... Of course I wouldn't get it if my lense hood hadn't cracked =)




The Doppelganger effect




Ryosuke floating!

Fuiyoh.. That was a really really a lot of work for me... And I got the easy part..

Ciao for now!