OK...evidently I'm not very good at regularly blogging. I shall try to be a bit more active this year. I hesitate to promise I will blog regularly since I may not have the time to, as much as I want to. Being a student again isn't quite the walk in the park that an undergrad degree was. *sigh*
Anyway, I'll probably post some design stuff too, if I get around to doing some in what little spare time I seem to have these days.
Brain already melting from C coding overload since Dec 2009! >,<
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Sunday, July 27, 2008
My Flickr Personality Mosaic
Someone's pointed out that I have a blogging frequency of once every 3 months now. I suppose that's a good improvement from one every year? haha
This is a pretty interesting use for flickr's users photo database : a flickr personality mosaic, customised to your own personality/answers. So here's mine :
1. What is your first name? *guess*
2. What is your favorite food? Italian Food
3. What high school did you go to? BBGS
4. What is your favorite color? Blue
5. Who is your celebrity crush? David Tennant
6. Favorite drink? Coffee
7. Dream vacation? London
8. Favorite dessert? Tiramisu
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Web developer
10. What do you love most in life? Freedom
11. One Word to describe you: Dreamer
12. Your flickr name: Kimchi Gang
Want one of your own? Then just head on over to fd's Flickr Toys and make good use of the Mosaic Maker toy...
This is a pretty interesting use for flickr's users photo database : a flickr personality mosaic, customised to your own personality/answers. So here's mine :
1. What is your first name? *guess*
2. What is your favorite food? Italian Food
3. What high school did you go to? BBGS
4. What is your favorite color? Blue
5. Who is your celebrity crush? David Tennant
6. Favorite drink? Coffee
7. Dream vacation? London
8. Favorite dessert? Tiramisu
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Web developer
10. What do you love most in life? Freedom
11. One Word to describe you: Dreamer
12. Your flickr name: Kimchi Gang
Want one of your own? Then just head on over to fd's Flickr Toys and make good use of the Mosaic Maker toy...
Sunday, July 13, 2008
WIHMOH part 2 : Digital Art & Urban/Street Art
Part 2 of my "When I Have My Own Home" segment (& self-reminder system), I'm not much of a fine art connoisseur. I know my da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa' from Munch's 'The Scream', but I don't really fawn over these kind of artwork. But what I DO know how to appreciate are the more modern artworks...more urban if you may.
But before anyone starts thinking I'm the arty farty type that wears a beret & talks about impressionist ideas or what not, I definitely can understand the appeal of postmodern art. Or rather, the kind where you actually need the artist around to actually explain what in the world that piece of art is to begin with. There's a few on rotation at CitiLink Mall in the area linking to The Esplanade Theatre, nicely shielded behind display windows.
I've always been fascinated with urban or street art. Graffiti. I suppose stickers kind of fall under urban art too (as in self design/drawn stuff & NOT those photo booth stickers where people pose silly poses & act cute). I also mean graffiti as in the stencil or spraypaint type & not someone's profession of "fuck you....." directed at someone that's scrawled on the lift walls or bus seat - that's plain vandalism.
And since discovering deviantART with some meddling around in Photoshop 7 (which I still use), coupled with a case of "getting and feeling old" crisis, I've some to like digital art. This includes pixel art. It's amazing what you can whip up on Photoshop beyond the usual photo airbrushing and tweaking. You can make a webcomic, or a forum signature...or just art. For pixel art, I'm amazed at the level of detail one can squeeze out of boxes the size of this dot inside the parenthesis ---> (.) with shietload of patience and imagination.
Famous artist wise from the world of contemporary art, I'd say the only one I've liked so far is Chiho Aoshima's work. I first heard of and encountered her work on a trip to London in 2006. She had a piece of art titled City Glow, Mountain Whisper featured at Gloucester Road tube station as part of the London Underground's "platform for art" program (which I think is a fantastic way to make art more accessible to the public, rather than confining artworks only to galleries or museums).
For urban art, I just like the grittiness about it. It's not arty farty or high brow. Though I'm sure it could be, if anyone wanted to give street art a chance...just that it wouldn't have that air of anarchy about the (usually) unknown artist and the chosen location - public property/spot. Street art also has a feel of spontaneity about it. Like someone saw the spot (the so-called "canvas" or "medium") and decided "this looks like a good spot for something..." and then he/she actually went on to create something in the spot, even if it's considered illegal to "vandalise" the spot. Like in this example from Neatorama:
So my grand plan is that rather than having some boring generic picture/painting of, say, a flower or a print copy of some famous painting, I'd get prints of stuff done by the fantastic and creative people on deviantART. In addition, I'd get pieces done
by street/urban artists if they are available in transportable form and I can actually afford it. There are some truly awesome stuff on display at both deviantART and flickr. Finally, I'd get Chiho Aoshima's stuff...if I ever am able to realistically afford indulging in such a purchase (her stuff doesn't come cheap!).
On another note, I've been finding drawing and just getting creative rather hard to come by recently. What the hell has happened??? I used to draw almost all the time, make my own custom bookmarks, decorate my files my own way with magazine/newspaper cuttings...and now I can't seem to come up with any good creative stuff (by my own standards). Has being in the rat race all these years in a corporate environment really have stamped out what little creativity I once had??? O,o
But before anyone starts thinking I'm the arty farty type that wears a beret & talks about impressionist ideas or what not, I definitely can understand the appeal of postmodern art. Or rather, the kind where you actually need the artist around to actually explain what in the world that piece of art is to begin with. There's a few on rotation at CitiLink Mall in the area linking to The Esplanade Theatre, nicely shielded behind display windows.
I've always been fascinated with urban or street art. Graffiti. I suppose stickers kind of fall under urban art too (as in self design/drawn stuff & NOT those photo booth stickers where people pose silly poses & act cute). I also mean graffiti as in the stencil or spraypaint type & not someone's profession of "fuck you....." directed at someone that's scrawled on the lift walls or bus seat - that's plain vandalism.
And since discovering deviantART with some meddling around in Photoshop 7 (which I still use), coupled with a case of "getting and feeling old" crisis, I've some to like digital art. This includes pixel art. It's amazing what you can whip up on Photoshop beyond the usual photo airbrushing and tweaking. You can make a webcomic, or a forum signature...or just art. For pixel art, I'm amazed at the level of detail one can squeeze out of boxes the size of this dot inside the parenthesis ---> (.) with shietload of patience and imagination.
Famous artist wise from the world of contemporary art, I'd say the only one I've liked so far is Chiho Aoshima's work. I first heard of and encountered her work on a trip to London in 2006. She had a piece of art titled City Glow, Mountain Whisper featured at Gloucester Road tube station as part of the London Underground's "platform for art" program (which I think is a fantastic way to make art more accessible to the public, rather than confining artworks only to galleries or museums).
For urban art, I just like the grittiness about it. It's not arty farty or high brow. Though I'm sure it could be, if anyone wanted to give street art a chance...just that it wouldn't have that air of anarchy about the (usually) unknown artist and the chosen location - public property/spot. Street art also has a feel of spontaneity about it. Like someone saw the spot (the so-called "canvas" or "medium") and decided "this looks like a good spot for something..." and then he/she actually went on to create something in the spot, even if it's considered illegal to "vandalise" the spot. Like in this example from Neatorama:
So my grand plan is that rather than having some boring generic picture/painting of, say, a flower or a print copy of some famous painting, I'd get prints of stuff done by the fantastic and creative people on deviantART. In addition, I'd get pieces done
by street/urban artists if they are available in transportable form and I can actually afford it. There are some truly awesome stuff on display at both deviantART and flickr. Finally, I'd get Chiho Aoshima's stuff...if I ever am able to realistically afford indulging in such a purchase (her stuff doesn't come cheap!).
On another note, I've been finding drawing and just getting creative rather hard to come by recently. What the hell has happened??? I used to draw almost all the time, make my own custom bookmarks, decorate my files my own way with magazine/newspaper cuttings...and now I can't seem to come up with any good creative stuff (by my own standards). Has being in the rat race all these years in a corporate environment really have stamped out what little creativity I once had??? O,o
Sunday, April 13, 2008
WIHMOH part 1 : Movies/TV Shows Collection
I'm going to start my own "When I Have My Own Home" segment in this blog. To make things short, it'll just be called "WIHMOH". This will feature things/ideas I'd like to "implement" in my house...when I do get a place of my own. As in really my own, not a rented room or someone else's house (e.g. parents' home).
First up will be my collection of movies and TV shows, as I'm a *ahem* mass media enthusiast *cough**cough*couch*cough*potato**cough**cough*. I have some box sets or DVDs already in my possession now. But they are seriously all over the place. Firstly, I'm not the most organised of people and my stuff tends to either get lost in my mess or I forget where I put something because I neglected to put it with the rest of the similar stuff. Though I have a compulsion to rearrange CDs/DVDs in their rightful alphabetical order in the shop shelves - which I sometimes do actually rearrange...a disorganised person with an obsessive compulsive behaviour to organise shelf displays...wonderful.
There is a question though, of how long DVDs will last. The format is still going strong now, as with music CDs, and DVDs are definitely more compact than the ill-fated Laser Discs. Blu-Ray is still in its infancy. So I hope DVDs will still be the dominant format for movies and TV shows by the time I get round to having my own home...wherever that might be.
So here's what I'd (ideally/eventually) must have on my "entertainment shelf" for movies and TV shows...there'll be a separate one for video games and another for booka (I'm going to need one helluva shelf since these are just the "must haves") :
[X] Indiana Jones trilogy boxset *
[X] Star Wars trilogy boxset **
[ ] Star Wars prequels boxset
[X] Blackadder boxset
[ ] Young Indiana Jones Chronicles boxset
[ ] House complete boxset
[ ] Heroes complete boxset
[ ] Gilmore Girls complete boxset
[ ] Doctor Who complete boxset (2005 revival series)
[ ] The Lord of the Rings trilogy (circa 2001-2003; Peter Jackson's version) boxset
[ ] The Chronicles of Narnia trilogy (I assume they are making a trilogy only) boxset
[ ] The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
[ ] 24 complete boxset
[X] Stardust
[ ] Infernal Affairs complete boxset
[ ] Ghost in the Shell : Standalone Complex boxset
[ ] Ghost in the Shell : Standalone Complex - 2nd Gig boxset
[ ] Fullmetal Alchemist boxset
[ ] Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood boxset
[ ] The Matrix trilogy boxset
[ ] The Italian Job (1969)
[ ] 12 Angry Men (is there even a DVD version of this in existence?)
[X] Gladiator (2000) ***
[X] Gone In 60 Seconds (2000) ***
[ ] Mystery Men
[ ] Dead Poets Society
[X] Mr Holland's Opus
[ ] Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy boxset
[ ] Harry Potter (the whole lot...methinks it'll be 8 in total) boxset
* Due to recent developments and actual completion of Indy 4, this boxset's technically been screwed up...dammit
** Due to George Lucas' very capitalist business plans which involve re-releasing Star Wars as re-done "Special Edition" and then the re-release of the originals as a "Limited Edition" and the obvious eventual re-release of a final(?) complete 6-part Star Wars saga boxset, this plan will eventually evolve to my wanting a full 6-part boxset (because anyone who knows me knows I'm a big Star Wars geek)...but I'm still keeping the 3 "Limited Edition" DVDs with the original trilogy.
*** Note to self : These ones are not physically in your possession at the moment. Possibly lost.
First up will be my collection of movies and TV shows, as I'm a *ahem* mass media enthusiast *cough**cough*couch*cough*potato**cough**cough*. I have some box sets or DVDs already in my possession now. But they are seriously all over the place. Firstly, I'm not the most organised of people and my stuff tends to either get lost in my mess or I forget where I put something because I neglected to put it with the rest of the similar stuff. Though I have a compulsion to rearrange CDs/DVDs in their rightful alphabetical order in the shop shelves - which I sometimes do actually rearrange...a disorganised person with an obsessive compulsive behaviour to organise shelf displays...wonderful.
There is a question though, of how long DVDs will last. The format is still going strong now, as with music CDs, and DVDs are definitely more compact than the ill-fated Laser Discs. Blu-Ray is still in its infancy. So I hope DVDs will still be the dominant format for movies and TV shows by the time I get round to having my own home...wherever that might be.
So here's what I'd (ideally/eventually) must have on my "entertainment shelf" for movies and TV shows...there'll be a separate one for video games and another for booka (I'm going to need one helluva shelf since these are just the "must haves") :
[X] Indiana Jones trilogy boxset *
[X] Star Wars trilogy boxset **
[ ] Star Wars prequels boxset
[X] Blackadder boxset
[ ] Young Indiana Jones Chronicles boxset
[ ] House complete boxset
[ ] Heroes complete boxset
[ ] Gilmore Girls complete boxset
[ ] Doctor Who complete boxset (2005 revival series)
[ ] The Lord of the Rings trilogy (circa 2001-2003; Peter Jackson's version) boxset
[ ] The Chronicles of Narnia trilogy (I assume they are making a trilogy only) boxset
[ ] The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
[ ] 24 complete boxset
[X] Stardust
[ ] Infernal Affairs complete boxset
[ ] Ghost in the Shell : Standalone Complex boxset
[ ] Ghost in the Shell : Standalone Complex - 2nd Gig boxset
[ ] Fullmetal Alchemist boxset
[ ] Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood boxset
[ ] The Matrix trilogy boxset
[ ] The Italian Job (1969)
[ ] 12 Angry Men (is there even a DVD version of this in existence?)
[X] Gladiator (2000) ***
[X] Gone In 60 Seconds (2000) ***
[ ] Mystery Men
[ ] Dead Poets Society
[X] Mr Holland's Opus
[ ] Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy boxset
[ ] Harry Potter (the whole lot...methinks it'll be 8 in total) boxset
* Due to recent developments and actual completion of Indy 4, this boxset's technically been screwed up...dammit
** Due to George Lucas' very capitalist business plans which involve re-releasing Star Wars as re-done "Special Edition" and then the re-release of the originals as a "Limited Edition" and the obvious eventual re-release of a final(?) complete 6-part Star Wars saga boxset, this plan will eventually evolve to my wanting a full 6-part boxset (because anyone who knows me knows I'm a big Star Wars geek)...but I'm still keeping the 3 "Limited Edition" DVDs with the original trilogy.
*** Note to self : These ones are not physically in your possession at the moment. Possibly lost.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Benny Lava & the butter chicken takeout
The world's all abuzz about China right now. But I think that we should take note of India too. After all, Bangalore is being heralded as the "Silicone Valley of Asia" by tech pundits - a title that high tech Tokyo doesn't have a claim to (as far as I know).
And we have the movie making machine that is Bollywood. Free of the strikes & unions that are now plagueing Hollywood, Bollywood produces more movies annually than Hollywood does. & that's considering 1 movie can stretch to 3 hours plus! But, of course, Bollywood doesn't specialise in sci-fi blockbusters. Their speciality is the classic "boy meets girl, they fall in love, parents object, but love prevails" all this is inclusive of lots of breaks to break into song and dance. Usually in a field where trees are available for a little "peakaboo" dance routine between the boy and the girl to the accompanyment of a dance chorus for the boy and the girl's side each numbering in the dozens. Gene Kelly can sing in the rain all he wants but he's gotta do it solo in Hollywood. In Bollywood, that street would be filled with male dancers to back Gene up.
When people who don't understand Tamil/Hindi try to make heads or tail of the song in relation to the story (without the aid of English subtitles), we get translations like "My loony bun is fine Benny Lava"...seriously. Which in turn makes for the latest "in" video over at YouTube Land.
And since we all love them cute Indian accents (else Russell Peters wouldn't be as popular as he is...thanks also to YouTube), ads set in India make for a good laugh. Especially when it's someone trying to make a home delivery order from an Indian restaurant in Mumbai to Singapore. "Singapore...butter chicken...parcel! Hmpf!" 8P
And we have the movie making machine that is Bollywood. Free of the strikes & unions that are now plagueing Hollywood, Bollywood produces more movies annually than Hollywood does. & that's considering 1 movie can stretch to 3 hours plus! But, of course, Bollywood doesn't specialise in sci-fi blockbusters. Their speciality is the classic "boy meets girl, they fall in love, parents object, but love prevails" all this is inclusive of lots of breaks to break into song and dance. Usually in a field where trees are available for a little "peakaboo" dance routine between the boy and the girl to the accompanyment of a dance chorus for the boy and the girl's side each numbering in the dozens. Gene Kelly can sing in the rain all he wants but he's gotta do it solo in Hollywood. In Bollywood, that street would be filled with male dancers to back Gene up.
When people who don't understand Tamil/Hindi try to make heads or tail of the song in relation to the story (without the aid of English subtitles), we get translations like "My loony bun is fine Benny Lava"...seriously. Which in turn makes for the latest "in" video over at YouTube Land.
And since we all love them cute Indian accents (else Russell Peters wouldn't be as popular as he is...thanks also to YouTube), ads set in India make for a good laugh. Especially when it's someone trying to make a home delivery order from an Indian restaurant in Mumbai to Singapore. "Singapore...butter chicken...parcel! Hmpf!" 8P
Saturday, December 16, 2006
SFF PC Rig & Console Gaming Area Project : Start
Well, it's been back to work and back to reality now. And work = busy busy busy, while reality = my laptop's dying...or choking it's way to death anywayz. So I'm now working on a self-assigned project : finally build my own PC. Rather, a Small Form Factor PC...from Shuttle.
Only problem was I didn't know where to start...since I've never tried cracking open/upgrading my PCs before. Not that all my previous 3 laptops are upgradable for anything other than RAM / HDD / Combo Drive. And long time ago I had a tower case CPU, but it wasn't really "mine", so can't go around gutting it.
Well, research was available at the library. Gotta love the Singapore national libraries: imo, they are well stocked and their library services/system's great. Example: I can search online from home for a title and if it's in another library, I can arrange for it to be brought over to my local library and I can pick it up from there...all for the nominal charge of SG$1+.
Anyway, I *think* I'm pretty much done reading the theory and precautions and steps, so I'm now in the "Components Search" stage. So far, the monitor's taken care of with a sweeet 20" widescreen LCD monitor from Dell during a recent local "IT fair" (more like "IT market"), I got a 18x DVD Writer with DVD-RAM support from Samsung and a set of 2.0 speakers from Creative - namely the Gigaworks T20 that's got great reviews from IGN.com and PC Advisor UK. Plus they look nice...and kick arse without the mesh cover. hehe :)
The Dell LCD coupled with the T20 and hooked up to my PStwo using S-video cable's great! RE: Final Fantasy on 20" with awesome sound (for a 2.0). Can't comment yet on the DVD Writer, tho I was a bit miffed that there's no region unlocking firmware available for the Samsung S182D...forgot to check on that, otherwise I'd have stuck to my original preference for the LG H10N (tho that's 16x only and same price). BUt I suppose sourcing for a 3rd party software is a workaround to that.
Will need to get a keyboard still, but otherwise I'm going to recycle my trusty FREE Logitech MX510 gaming mouse coupled with my Barracuda Neu-Edge mousepad.
The masterplan is to set up an area in my room where my video game console & PC will be...sort of all-in-one. I'm planning to get the Wii sometime down the road and I might be swayed to get the PS3, especially once Final Fantasy 13 is out. But the idea is that I don't have much space to work around and it'd be handy to have them all in 1 spot with 1 display. So, I present to you, my future gaming/home entertainment/PC area :
OK...I admit, it needs some clearing up...and a table before I can even start assembling the PC. 8P
But stay tuned as I work on my project. Will post/update with my work log from time to time...or at least I hope to do that. heh
Only problem was I didn't know where to start...since I've never tried cracking open/upgrading my PCs before. Not that all my previous 3 laptops are upgradable for anything other than RAM / HDD / Combo Drive. And long time ago I had a tower case CPU, but it wasn't really "mine", so can't go around gutting it.
Well, research was available at the library. Gotta love the Singapore national libraries: imo, they are well stocked and their library services/system's great. Example: I can search online from home for a title and if it's in another library, I can arrange for it to be brought over to my local library and I can pick it up from there...all for the nominal charge of SG$1+.
Anyway, I *think* I'm pretty much done reading the theory and precautions and steps, so I'm now in the "Components Search" stage. So far, the monitor's taken care of with a sweeet 20" widescreen LCD monitor from Dell during a recent local "IT fair" (more like "IT market"), I got a 18x DVD Writer with DVD-RAM support from Samsung and a set of 2.0 speakers from Creative - namely the Gigaworks T20 that's got great reviews from IGN.com and PC Advisor UK. Plus they look nice...and kick arse without the mesh cover. hehe :)
The Dell LCD coupled with the T20 and hooked up to my PStwo using S-video cable's great! RE: Final Fantasy on 20" with awesome sound (for a 2.0). Can't comment yet on the DVD Writer, tho I was a bit miffed that there's no region unlocking firmware available for the Samsung S182D...forgot to check on that, otherwise I'd have stuck to my original preference for the LG H10N (tho that's 16x only and same price). BUt I suppose sourcing for a 3rd party software is a workaround to that.
Will need to get a keyboard still, but otherwise I'm going to recycle my trusty FREE Logitech MX510 gaming mouse coupled with my Barracuda Neu-Edge mousepad.
The masterplan is to set up an area in my room where my video game console & PC will be...sort of all-in-one. I'm planning to get the Wii sometime down the road and I might be swayed to get the PS3, especially once Final Fantasy 13 is out. But the idea is that I don't have much space to work around and it'd be handy to have them all in 1 spot with 1 display. So, I present to you, my future gaming/home entertainment/PC area :
OK...I admit, it needs some clearing up...and a table before I can even start assembling the PC. 8P
But stay tuned as I work on my project. Will post/update with my work log from time to time...or at least I hope to do that. heh
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