Good bye Moyes, move on Manchester United

It's now official - David Moyes is sacked by Manchester United.

I could see it was coming for sometime now as rumours has been circulating - his days at Old Trafford was numbered. It's sad to see him go but I believe the timing is perfect - United has 4 more games to cool down before the end of a torrid season.

For the players, they could do themselves a bit of favour in earning some respect by winning the remaining games. The paying fans deserve it!

My collection: Been a United fan for some time now.

Was it right to give him the sack?

They did this a lot of time at other Premier League clubs but sacking a manager 10 months into a job is not the United way.

But while some may disagree, I will sit on the other side and say that sacking him was a no brainer. 

Failing to qualify for the prestigious Champions League for the first time since 1995, losing in all 3 domestic competitions, failed miserably in his attempts to sign top players, and worse of all losing big to the club he previously managed. Losing to Everton means that someone is doing a better job than he did during his days at Goodison Park, and that he fared poorly at Old Trafford.

What this also mean is that the board was left with little option but to cut their losses.

Moyes's last game in charge was a 2-0 loss at his former club Everton, which confirmed that United would not compete in the Champions League next season. It was a pain watching that game; United moved the ball very slowly and when approaching the opponent penalty box, they lacked creativity. They were vulnerable to counter attacks and the defense was in disarray numerous times. It was sooo not United!

Start afresh

People say when you are at rock bottom there is only one way: Up!

Let's start afresh and bring back the glory to Old Trafford. This is one of the biggest clubs with great tradition and it takes some beating to write them of completely.

Alex Ferguson is a big gap to fill but there are many coaches out there who can do great jobs. GLORY GLORY MAN. UNITED!

TheGreenMechanics: Goodbye David Moyes. In Malaysia we say 'Selamat jalan Moyes'.

Change in website Template

Many months/years later I'll have something to look back on in terms of how my old blog page looked like. Obviously this post has no tangible benefit to anyone other than for my own future reference.

I've grown tired of reading not-so-bright fonts on a dark background and I decided to change the appearance of the webpage to a simpler template. Dark font on white/bright background suits my mobile devices screen better. And on bigger screens, reading is much more at ease.

Old page, prior to 2012.

Header photo shot during sunset at Magellan Sutera man-made beach.


New page, Jan 2012.

Header photo (Mt. Kinabalu) shot from a suspension bridge in Telibong, Tuaran.

More pictures are available at my dedicated photo page.

United Move Clear

What a week of football for the BPL - to United fan that is!

Nani doing his trademark celebration after scoring a screamer.
Photo credit: soccernet/AP

Check out the other selected results from this week's fixtures (those that concerns the potential title contenders - M.United, M.City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspurs):

All of the other teams in the "Big Five" dropped points except for United.

For my English speaking friends and readers, that sums up my excitement for a fantastic week for Manchester United FC and the fans from all over the world.

Untuk rakan-rakan peminat bolasepak di Malaysia, izinkan saya kelentong sikit a.k.a trip macam pengulas sukan terkemuka Haji Hasbullah Awang, hehe.

90 minit pertemuan United dengan Chelsea yang dijangka menyajikan persembahan menarik nampaknya akan diingati sebagai yang sebaliknya. Apa tidaknya, lihat saja fakta-fakta berikut:

1. Rooney gagal menyempurnakan sepakan penalti
2. Torres yang berdepan dengan gawang kosong memilih untuk menguis bola ke kiri (blunder of the season lah kiranya)
3. Berbatov nampak masih 'berkarat' selepas gagal menjaringkan gol pada jarak 5 meter dari gawang dengan penjaga gol Chelsea sudah tertewas.
4. Dua gol United kelihatan offside tetapi ini tiada bezanya dengan jaringan Terry musim lalu di Stamford Bridge yang menyebabkan Chelsea menang tipis 1 - 0.
5. Rooney sepatutnya menjaringkan hattrick atau 4 gol.
6. Torres, seperti Rooney sepatutnya menjaringkan hattrick.

Apa-apa pun 3 matalah yang penting dan ini telah mengekalkan rekod 100% United dalam kempen musim ini. Musim masih panjang tetapi siapa mungkin yang tidak cemburu dengan permulaan hebat seperti ini?

Come On UNITED.....all the way now!

A Split Decision

I am not talking about jury's decision of any kind.

It's about my decision to separate my hunger for 'green' and my passion for photography that lead to my setting up of another blog. That's specifically for my expensive hobby - photography. I have to split the two, that is.

If you have the time please visit my photography page at JDfloyd-pictures. Thanks.



Please read/view here for the full story.

Till then, happy shooting and let's enjoy our hobby.

The TOWERS - a Second Chance

"It's 7.01pm by my watch..."

I shot these iconic towers not too long ago during year-end holiday with my family. It was somewhat touch-and-go kind of result, a.k.a not very impressive.

To say that I did not have long enough time to get some decent shots would be too lame an excuse. I guess it was a combination of many things such as lack of experience, creativity, time, weather and equipment that caused this sort of stuff.

When you are travelling with certain kind of itinerary - with photography being low on the pecking order - I guess a compromised pictures quality has to be deemed acceptable. Luck plays quite a big role especially when travelling during wet season.

A second chance? Yes! Especially when we are talking about paying another visit to these spots later this month. Later this week, to be exact.

For me this should be a very good opportunity to better my personal achievement since 3 months ago. Fingers crossed that I'd be blessed with fine weather, and with some inspiration from fellow shooters hopefully I can achieve something more decent.

The less popular Maxis Tower beside Petronas Twin Towers

Kuala Lumpur Tower is essentially a communication pole.

Panoramic view the national capital from KL Tower

When it is hazy, you would not get the view you are after.

Alternative view of the famous Twin Towers.

Evening fountain at KLCC.

Without tripod, you have to crank up the ISO to something like 3200 to get a reasonably usable image.

Water Lily

There are many types of water lily and one that is in this article is the ‘unwanted’ lilies. You can find them growing in the wild but save your horses for a trip to the mountains and caves, for that trip to some bird sanctuary you’ve been itching to go, and head instead to the drains of Donggongon in Penampang. Drain sounds a little less than interesting place to shoot flowers, no? Think about the kind of affluent that the drain might be carrying, the little produce of the less-than-responsible people doing their business there. You know, those squatters, perhaps.

So, getting your feet in the ‘fertile’ drain may not be your first option. Forget about setting up a tripod for a macro and close-up shot down there. Go for hand-held method, crank up the ISO and dial the shutter speed to 1/300s to 1/500s to beat the camera shake. Shoot when Mr Sun is not shining directly on the flowers; a good day would be during cloudy morning. This will give you generally more saturated colours – according to some literature I read somewhere. But that make sense, because the camera metering system will be more at ease as the lighting is less tricky.

Okay, I said no tripod. If you are serious about getting the best result, just ignore what I’ve just said and get yourself half soaked in water. Believe me, you’ll get better images than the samples you see here; miles better!

Don’t worry if you are a beginner – coz I’m a beginner myself. And I keep shooting no matter what.

It all start with a banana-heart shaped bud

The green petals slowly turn to its eventual colour, pink.

Lens fully extended to 200mm.

There’s no way you can tidy up your background if you don’t get your feet into the water.

Cropped

Like us, the lily will grow old and die eventually. New buds will shoot up and entertain the spectator with new blooms.

Other alternative is to take a walk in the park in Tanjung Aru and get to shoot a different species of lily. Such as these:

Now where’s the bigger version of this shot. I can’t be kidding with this tiny thumb-size pic, can I?

Ahaa! Sea of lilies. This was more than a year ago when I’ve just bought my D90 and still struggling to fiddle with the cam features.

Happy Shooting...!!!

Hazy Sunset

Been away for a while now but not because blogging has taken a back seat. Put the blame on the terrible haze instead, alright. Many would agree that the current haze brings a lot of harmful effects to our health.

Well from the perspective of a landscape photographer, and BTW I'm not one, it is a good time to capture the sunrise and sunset phenomenon in a more interesting and easier way. The sun does not shine too brightly in the morning and you have better chances of capturing the round image without additional tools. Especially good time for people like myself who does not have all the gears and apparatus needed.

Followings are some of my shots recently. The sun currently set at about 6.15pm in Kota Kinabalu but I could take picture of the sun as early as 5.00pm due to the haze which act as softener to the bright sun ray.

A little bit of editing to reduce the highlight.

Pre-sunset in Putatan area. The sun is notably still high over the trees.

View from along KK-Papar highway near Lok Kawi

To view more of my recent captures, visit my flickr site here.
Have a good day, and stay healthy.

The New Pajero Sport

I visited a car road show by EON Automart a couple of weeks ago at Karamunsing Complex lobby. 

On show were a number of Mitsubishi vehicles including the newly launched Pajero Sport. It so happened that I brought along my PnS camera, so, I asked permission from the Sales Consultants and began firing away. The followings are for a treat.

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Sold at RM163,690 for Kota Kinabalu registration, I was made to understand that the Pajero Sport is aimed at rivaling the Fortuner. I chatted with few SCs and they were so engrossed with pitting the Pajero Sport with the so-called overpriced Toyota Fortuner. So, I did some searchings and compared the vital stats here:

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My observation would purely be based on personal opinion, myself being just another car driver whose choice of ride is just as ordinary as other consumers out there. That I am not a car expert or a car mechanic.

Firstly, this Pajero does not resemble the older version of the full-sized Pajero, or a refinement of the later to say the least. It looks more like a combination of the Triton and the Challenger.

Secondly, the term Sport should imply a little bit of sportiness in the build of the SUV such as the Fortuner Sportivo, Sorento Novus and the face-lifted Rexton. If you are expecting a sporty SUV in the new Pajero then expect to be a little bit disappointed. 

Personally I would like to see a different front grille on the Pajero instead of a familiar looking adaptation from the Triton. A little bit of skirting and spoiler would be more appealing. As it is now, the new SUV looks plain and empty, apart from the awkward choice of side step. A refined Challenger would be more sporty.

Value for money? My answer is yes, if you compare it with the Fortuner solely. Some of its plus points are the combination leather seat, 17-inch alloy wheels, better audio system, keyless entry system, chromed-plated door handle and side mirror. And most importantly it is automatic transmission for ease of driving experience for the urbanites. Compare it with Santa Fe and it may have serious competition in value-for-money.

I was hoping for something different from Mitsubishi and I was sorely disappointed at how they emulate Toyota in producing the Pajero Sport. Just look at how Toyota practically modified the Hilux into Fortuner and you’ll understand the similar case of Mitsubishi’s Triton-turn-Pajero job.

Will I buy it? Have it been available when I bought my current SUV a couple of years back, perhaps I’d have seriously considered it, together with Hyundai’s Santa Fe. It would be a serious contender and rival to the Fortuner if it’s priced at around RM150k.

Overview of the Pajero Sport.

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Stylish tail lamp and nice chrome-plated side mirror.

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Minimalist’s dashboard?

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Familiar looking grille

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I would add a spoiler if it was up to me.

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Folding second row seat and the combination leather trimming

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My favourite – the 17” alloy wheel. A bit expensive but it adds to the car sportiness.

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BTW, one of the friendly Sales Consultants I was chatting with at the exhibition was Mr Nazly, or call him Naz. Their office (EON Auto Mart) is in Tg Aru Plaza and you can reach them at 088-255150 or Naz himself at 016-8139381.

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You can read further by visiting their website, http://www.mitsubishi-motors.com/
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New Gear and New Hobby

I have just taken up a new hobby - photography. If you have some spare time and would like to exchange flickr view, please visit my photostream here: Floyd's Flickr Photostream

Some of my recent shots:

1. Likas bay in the evening

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2. Water lilies at Prince Phillip Park, Tg aru

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3. My model is stranded but happy with her newfound Tortoise Island

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Happy surfing. More pictures here.
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