Smith-Machine Upright Row

This is one of the best exercise to put some size into the deltoids. there are many variations of the upright rows. There is the heavy upright rows whereby you use momentum to lift it up and lots of swaying and dropping of the weights and definitely not for the beginners. It's also known as the cheating upright rows. Not too often on this one though cause too much means too little. Then there is the common upright Row with the U-Bar. Be strict and take it slow. Then there is also the dumbbell upright row. But this video here is a safe as well as strict version of the Upright row. By using the Smith Machine, the whole motion is very limited and you can concentrate on just using ur strength on ur shoulders and need not worry bout the ur spine placement. Of course, special attention is needed as well because nothing is safe until you are careful and aware.

Always remember to be strict and BREATH. Breath Out when you lift the weights and Breath In when you lower it. Start the exercise from the 1st position which is the weight at the bottom. Let your shoulders dangle a little at the bottom to stretch it. Slowly lift it up to just below your chin. Hold for 1 1/2 second count before you slowly lowers it down. Make sure you flare your elbows sidewards. Try not to use too much weights on this exercise so you can make sure you are just using the deltoids. Remember to bent your body slightly but make sure you don't hunch ur back. chest out always and bent ur knees a little.

Smith-Machine Front Shoulder Press

One of the best exercise to build the 3d shoulder is the Front Shoulder Press. It targets on the front deltoids but you have to have a proper sitting to get it in place. The Smith Machine is perfect for this role as it helps to lock down the movements so there is not much swaying motion caused during the press. A good 90° angled chair makes it a perfect pair. but one with a high leaning back for the head is the best of choice so you can concentrate all the movements on the deltoids.

Never lock your elbows at the peak so you don't risk injuring them. and remember to set ur position correctly with both elbows pointed downwards at the bottom of the movement. This will make a 90° angle on both side of the limbs. Always flare it sidewards when you lower the weight.

As usual, the most important point of this exercise is not how many or how heavy but the SQUEEZE! make sure you squeeze it at the peak of the motion. Breath in as you lower the weights and Breath Out to push it back up. Make sure the bar stays in front of you and don't sway your body unless it's for press till failure's last few reps.

Smith-Machine Incline Bench Press

I've always love the smith-machine cause it lets u pump harder. u will know u can hook it anytime u can't press further so I usually tend to add extras. But since I've not been working out for the past 3 mths so I won't wanna risk any injuries to my joints. I had 27.5 kgs on each side and along with the bar which might add another 10kg o so.. i'l say less so I don't make it sound like im trying to show off.. lol.. anyways.. tat is around 65kg.

so I start off the sets with a 80° Incline. 3 sets of 8 reps. move down to 60° 3 sets of 8 reps. another step down at 40° of 3 sets / 8 reps and one last incline sets of 20° 3 sets / 8 reps before I moved on to flat bench with the same amount of reps/sets. I just love playing with steps... hahaha... its fun and u get to pump the whole upper to middle region of the pecs.

Merdeka cum Puasa cum Raya cum Weekend Sales

Another reason why i dont like going out during the weekends but if it's not cause my peanut butter stock's about to deplete, don't think i'll be going out at all today. lol. the crowd is huge and parking space is a hazard. Miri is well known for it's traffic at the shopping malls cause Bruneian usually come down to do their shopping. some of them come down just for the clubs and drinking sessions.

Today's the worst cause Merdeka is nearing, in two days time exactly so lots of promotions and sales going on around so the locals are out for their shopping as well. but well, sales and promotions here are nothing to be going all excited about cause it's not really a sale at all. RM0.50 + -. sometimes a little more here or there but most of the good sales are on stuff which u don really need. So I figure no point to squeeze with the huge crowds.

And since it's almost Raya and it's the Ramadhan month where Muslims world wide fast before their New Year. And hence we have the Raya sales going on around as well.. Imagine the craze going on...

but anyways, I did went out to get myself 1 loaf of wholemeal no sugar bread and a tub of peanut butter.

Check out the crowd and I'm only in there along with the long queue to buy 1 tub of peanut butter

After almost 3 months non gym active

Im not too sure what is my body fats percentage nw but i know definitely not 3% as before I started my hibernation :P Just went for my medical check-ups 2 days ago and the results came back all perfect with tip-top health conditions according to the doc :) And I still eat lots of wholemeal bread and peanut butter. No doubt, I MISS gym so I made a visit to my friend's gym in Miri where i used to work out after i came back to Miri to see some old friends.

Here's an everyday gym life at X-Gym Permyjaya, Miri

Tiong's working hard with the bicycle crunch

A lot of the members working on chest today with ample space and variety of benches

Friends with support and motivations

Step by Step

Like life, all things have to be done in order and with patience. We have to take each an every steps with detailed considerations. I just love the chin-ups cause it's the best back exercise which aids in our biceps mass as well as the lower back. It take practice to master a good chin-up. took me many weeks to finally be able to chin-up 12 reps of 3 sets.. I started off with just 2 reps and I felt like dying even with 1 set. lol so be patience and enjoy the chinning :)

Ending of one story bring the beginning of another

Another chapter in my life's about to begin. Initially, I've no idea where I would be. Well, there were two offers and I'd say, whichever comes 1st since it's not hard to choose from since both choices would bring me to a place where I can start all over again. I might not be producing any shorts anytime soon cause i'd have to settle down and settle my relocation affairs. But no doubt, I'll still be writing.

I'll be in a place where I'll have more resources and manpower so producing would be much easier on one hand but time would be another problem arising. But using that as an excuse is such a irresponsible reason because time is created by man themselves. If I'm willing, I'm sure I can. Now all I have to do is let it flow and get use to the new life and schedule.

Karate Kid 2010

A lot of us watch films, and that's it... treating all films merely as just an entertainment tool. But little do we realize that films are like books where the author tries to deliver a message through his / her pen and words. As of films, what more could i say ... it's visual and yet it's hard to crack into that thick skull of ours. There is so much to learn from a good film. Production crews and film students learn new method or different approaches to producing a film. Actors and actresses learn what should and shouldn't be done on screen and how to get characterizations... and the viewers have the most out of it... the subtext value which every film tries to deliver. Even pornography has its educational value... if not, mankind would be lost.. hahaha... (not trying to encourage pornography k!!)

Anyways... lets get back to Karate Kid. Mr Han (Jacky Chan) teaches Dre (Jaden Smith) kung fu so he could take care of himself along the way, Mr Han learn to get back on his two feet, Dre beats the bad guys and lesson learn... to most ppl.. then there are those who look deeper as to Dre learn to respect others and not to take advantage of situations and not to exploit it. Mr Han learns to stand up again and be strong. Mom learns to accept son... and that's it... curtain down and lights turn on... everyone leaves the hall and go back to their own lives... BUT WAIT! hold on a second.... rewind ... didn't we all got sucked into the film and feel the pain of a mother trying to connect with her son, the frustration of a teacher trying to crack into the stubborn head of a student to teach him the value of life, the agony of a villain being beaten and learn his lesson when his students turns against him. now where did all that knowledge went after the show has ended? along with the dark hall?

Now let us ask ourselves what is the lesson learnt from all the films we've ever watched? I don't wanna go through a list so lets just stick to Karate Kid, a great film with great educational value on humanity delivered. When we go home, what do we do? where do we put our shoes, clothes, bags, belongings? do we expect any1 in particular to pick it up for us and arrange them? after we cook.. well, for those who cook... do we throw all the wrappings and any discharge, wash the utensils, clean the kitchen, or just leave it be and let someone else to take care of it?? and after meals... do we clean the table, wash the dishes, throw or keep the left overs or just leave it there for people who loves us but is being exploited or under appreciated to clear it away? ... list goes on and on.... but the one question is.. have we all been inconsiderate and exploited the good will of others? have we even thank those people who clean away our mess? I know, I know... I'm not a saint.. but I do my best to keep track.. nobody's perfect... but have you ever given it any thought?

Let's look deeper the next time we watch a film apart from the entertainment value.. im sure the author, writer, director does a great job at delivering.. but let's put our mail box out and start receiving :)

The Walk all down and ONline

The Walk from Cheng Tzuu Bong on Vimeo.

After a couple's day work.. well, not too long.. all n all, from pre to post production, i figure not more than 5 days.

With the 1st day (The Awakening) Finally realize if I keep on writing pieces which requires a lot of crew and cast, i'm just giving myself the opportunity to procrastinate. Why wait and dream when you can create. So I sat, stand, walk and took a nap on it and finally came up with a draft. I started writing.... and calls it the walk... y the walk you may say, why named it the walk...well, it talks bout the spiritual walk of humans nowadays who are constantly caught in a dilemma of making a choice to either submit to temptations or to act logically ethical. I like writing piece like these and most of the time making it more of an art film like short films. It may not make sense to many but its the few ppl who understands which makes it special. cause then i would knw who is watching with the eyes and who is really feeling it :P

The walk talks about making the right choices, walking the right path. Tells us that even if it's the very last minute or it may cost us something of value, making the right choice can make a difference and cause a great impact to the outcome in the future.

Anyways, I had the pictures imprinted in my mind how i want to shoot it. and renting a budget motel is all i can afford since i've not been working for the past 1/2 year since i left Kuala Lumpur. But i've no idea of how the layout of the motels gonna look like since i can't just budge in and tell them that im going to shoot a short film in one of their rooms. they are going to charge me extra for that... lol.. so I have to cross my fingers and yellow pages..

2nd day I went out to find the gels / filters... seems like a big disappointment cause non of the stationary / art / graphic shops sells it and they asked me to get it off from the glass tinting shops.. lol.. nope, they don't have it either.. so i went to buy colored transparent book covers which school kids use for their project covers.. (Proves to be too thick) lol.. anyways, I went all over town and found myself an inspection lamp and got some light bulbs. that settles the lighting.. I borrowed my brother's tripod. I went home after that and started sketching the storyboard.. just in case

3rd day I got a piece of large display board as my reflector. and finish off the storyboard...

The shooting starts on the 4th day.. Initially i planned to check in 12 sharp but cause i had to rely on my brother to fetch me over since i don't want to leave my car there. anyways, after waiting and stuff, he finally came and dropped me off around 1 something.. I started shooting even before I dropped off my stuff along the hallway. But only realized that I was standing underneath a CCVT the whole time which shooting. hahaha... anyways, I wrapped the hallway so what is left is the room scenes.

The room is a bit smaller than i expected and the interior is well, not the friendliest u can get. But I managed to get it all done. Initially it was a bit hard since I have to handle all the equipments all by myself while trying not to keep in character whenever i call for action myself. I've to watch out for unwanted things not to be in the scene *I F*** up a little.. hahaha... there were a couple of scenes where I've didn't spot properly. oh well, learned a valuable lesson :) anyways, I've to climb up and down to get the "Bird's eye view" take my own reflector to adjust the reflecting light source, have to press the focus (lucky my sony dcr - sx40 has a auto spot focus so all i have to do is press where i want it to focus and run to the last position for it to focus on) hahaha... so there were a lot of cardio involved.

I think the hardest part was trying to get the lighting cause I only found out then that 1 inspection lamp is not enough to get the lighting done... lol.. but i tried and give it my best shot with the ... emm.. so called filter... lol... I finished shooting everything around 2am but i had a good 1hr rest to recharge the battery. I downloaded the footage and started editing while waiting for it to fully charged. I wrapped the day at 3am.

woke up early on the 5th day and took my breakfast.. well, don't guess 4 slices of rye bread with peanut butter. I continued on the editing and covers whatever which was not shot like some close up scenes to get it sync. I recorded the footsteps again with my boom mic cause the original was a bit noisy since the motel was still under renovation. I was picked up by my brother around 12noon. and continued to finish off the editing till 8pm.... 5 days hardwork paid off and here I present to you, the 1 man crew / cast production... the walk

Canon EOS 550D_rebel t2i

Reviews can be found at

dpreview.com

trustedreviews.com

cameralabs.com

Well, i've been browsing through a lot of machine and there have been a lot of speculations regarding the new found technology in the DSLR on HD video mode. for a indie filmmaker like myself, owning a camcorder machine would most definitely burn a deep hole in the pockets. So I have to look for the alternative solutions as to shoot a short film in which a higher end results. Previously, there is the phone camera style, that didn't go so far as the limitations is still very depressing. then there is the digital still camera which is not too bad but couldn't get the kick out of it as the higher ends machine cost a bomb and there is not much to play around with the cheaper ones... then comes the handycam which im using now (Sony DCR- SX40). It's a good machine but yet, the crave for better effects still stings and the control of the dept of field is a hassle. It's not so user friendly as its all digitally controlled and it's not easily accessible. you have to pass through many functions to get to it and get out of it. I've always been dreaming of getting a higher end Camcorder as the likes of Sony Ex1, Canon A1s, Panasonic AG-HMC152.... but all these beautiful machines cost a bomb :'(

So this is where DSLR comes in with it's range of fabulous HD Monsters at a reasonable price and best part of it... you don't have to buy an expensive adapter or converter just to get that awesome dept of field compositions.... :) The lens don't come cheap but hey, who says u can't make a film with just one lens :P

Canon, a name not foreign to the likes of Photographers has now coming to the favourite list among the budget filmmakers with it's latest baby, the Canon EOS550D / Rebel T2I which is reasonably priced for the power it provides. I've read a lot of written reviews and even video logs on this Machine and it's all very positive. The only set back is that the battery tends to heat up which makes it not suitable for events or wedding shoots. but You won't really shoot a film up to 1hr on each take, do u? hahaha... but hopefully canon will solve this issue cause it would be a major + if the battery last longer :) Let's cross our fingers on that.

And definitely, this is my next dream machine :)

Finally done after editing 1st draft.....

After retiring from the Malaysian Industry to fly home so I can be a filial son after being away for 13 years, I got a little bored and missed my love.... acting, writing, producing and directing... im a greedy fellow eh :P having more than 1 love.... anyways... So i've been writing all this while but lack the manpower and resources to shoot anything... and furthermore, budget is a problem as I'm still unemployed.. thankfully, i've a little side income now and then and i've saved a little.. barely... anyways, I figure there is no point writing something which i can't shoot at the moment and give myself a chance to procrastinate... so I went out and had my creativity walk.. hahaha... and right then, an idea popped in my head......

So I went home, started planning the plot and started on the 1st page that very night.. and finishes off the next day.. 2 pages.. well, its not the best of all scripts but easy enough for me to understand and work on.. so I worked on the storyboard the next day and pick a hotel out of the yellow pages... (Its Miri after all) anyways, one of my friends stayed there previously and I think its not too bad.. and I went around to search for the best option for a cheap lighting and found an inspection lamp with cost me RM15 and the bulb RM2.90 (Make that RM3 then)

so all set, I packed everything into my trusteed Huge Red Bag and took off to the location...

I checked in at the hotel around 1pm, that cost me another RM60 and I got a loaf of Rye Bread with a take away peanut butter from home so another RM3.60. Right after I made sure there weren't anyone at the hallway, I took out my Sony Handycam DCR - SX40 and did a handheld.. lol. that took cared of everything.. but only then i realize there was a cctv above me ... hahaha.... of well..

So I started shooting in the room.. it's the 1st time I've forgotten to take my snacks .. cause i was busy rushing the shoot as i've only the budget to pay for a night... and trust me, 1 man crew is not easy. I've to adjust my focus and find framing myself. and I've to watch out for lightings and conti all together. and even set up the whole set and tripod and props... but everything went smoothly... well, not all.. but still, it's a smooth sail shoot..

I think the hardest was to try to adjust the framing and focus while getting the reflector to catch the lights and act at the same time ... but other that, i figure it's a great experience... I wrapped around 2am cause both my battery ran out and i had to charge. So I downloaded everything into my laptop and started editing some of them to try to catch any error shot.. so practically, I did half of the editing there and managed to walk up 7am to clear everything before I checked out.

Man, was i burnt. I didn't edit that morning.. but ended up editing that night till wee hours in the morning and well, took me 2 days to finish editing it.. along with the sound effects and subtitles.. well, i've already done the 1st rough draft... so now i just need to check if everything is sync :)

stay tune for more :)

The Making of THE WALK from sony Ericsson W610i

Read on As the world come to know Ramly At War Begins

....Awesome great reviews on Ramly At War Begins by Cinema Craze...

.... I think with a lot of time, more resources, a bigger budget, and a feature length, director Juliane Block is capable directing and creating a modern martial arts masterpiece.....

and my name was mentioned too :P

....Bong Cheng Tzuu is stellar in this performance as this conflicted brother torn between his loyalties as a gangster and two his worthless brothers, and he's faced with an inner turmoil throughout the story that could mean death for everyone put before our eyes.....

.... Juliane Block is a marvelous director and I hope "Ramly at War Begins" proves to be very successful for her in the future. In spite of my hesitation going in to "Ramly at War Begins," Block composes a short film that is action packed, superbly directed, well written and features a variety of kick ass action and solid performances.....

If you have not watched Ramly At War Begins.. u have not lived life.... click on the link below to live on :P

RamlyAtWarTV

Ramly at War Begins on Cinema Craze