Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Love From Penang

To my lovely cousin Nana and my dearest friend Stella, 

You gals have save me tonight and many stressful nights ahead in this coming May!! 

Thank you for the candies and chocolates and thanks for understanding me and my needs for sugar whenever I am stress. :D

the chocolate that came all the way from NY

yen, the last time i count, i still have 33 sweets in the bottle. :D

THANK YOU GIRLS!!!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Creative Malaysian Blogger Award

Gonna say a very BIG thank you to my colleague, Huey who awarded me this award! 

Thank You!

(anyway, do check out her blog/website. She got lots of handmade stuff on sale. Love her stuff!)

So now that I have expressed my gratitude, let's continue with the rules. Nothing is free and no winning comes without some sacrifice. So, since I've been awarded, I need to continue with the rules set...
  1. Put the logo on your blog or post
  2. List your 5 sources of inspiration
  3. Nominate 5 other Malaysian blogs which demonstrate some form of creativity
  4. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post
  5. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog, and if possible, make sure they follow these 6 steps too!
  6. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received your award
*************************

The logo

My source of inspiration
  • Music : Plays the most important role in all my creative process! Well, normally when i am lost, I will load up itunes and blast my room with all sorts of music while i think of the concept and ideas. There are times, when I would stare at the mesmerizing visualizer in iTunes to look for inspiration for my motion stuff - no i am not joking. Seriously i can stare at them for at least 30mins. 
  • Movies : Since I am in multimedia, my work involves movies production too. So there is no reason why movies shouldn't be in my top 5 list. :P In fact, it is my lecture's advice. WATCH MORE MOVIES! Movies are my companion while i work on my work and to keep me awake as i work through the night till dawn. And normally I work a whole lot better when Pride and Prejudice is playing - i know it is not the world best CGI movie nor is it the most interesting movie, but i just love Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy!
  • Internet : One of the best source of inspiration! I normally spend a lot of my time over at DeviantArt looking at other people's artwork and also through people's comment on my artwork to get myself inspired and stay creatively connected to the world . Besides that, blogging and reading other people's blog can be just as inspiring too! and not to mention, Facebook can be pretty inspiring and fun. 
  • Long Hot Shower : the best place to think as well! ahahha just when the hot water is  streaming down from my head to my whole body, that's when I feel all fresh and all my stress washes away with the water and that's the time I seek for fresh new ideas! Oh I have a friend who once shared with me his way of seeking his inspiration is by sitting in the toilet, like The Thinker by Auguste Rodin and I couldn't agree with him more. Sometimes, the worst time and place, can be the most inspiring one. :P 

imagine him sitting on the toilet seats doing his business
  • Friends and Family: Last but not least, my family and friends are the most important people in my life. With their continues support and love, my compassion and loves in art comes from them as well. And whenever i am stress, emo and lost, they are always there for me to rant and listen to me. Thanks! 
Now, here's the list of my nominees for this award : 

  • Under18Carbon - my friend from uni. One of the most creative person in my class and I love all his vectors and respect his patience in doing them. His vectors are really really superb! You just have to check out his gallery especially if you love cars (lamborghini to be exact) and guitars!
  • PotatoNation - he's my cousin bro. What can i say.... his graffiti art speaks volume and his latest being the backdrop for AVIMA (Asian Voize Independent Music Award) 2009! Love his graffiti and what he do! if you are in Penang, and stumble upon any graffiti artwork with a green monster, that's his work. Good luck bro! Keep up the good work!
  • Ind Elwen Tinuviel - my best friend since high school. Her work is simple, minimalist but NICE! love her fashion design especially! 
  • RyanScent - my photography kaki and also a colleague of mine. She specialized in couple and fashion shots and they are good. Do remember to check her blog.
  • Qilayout - another coursemate of mine and like me, he's an apple fan but even geekier and more fanatic. haha But most importantly, he's creative too. Love his card designs which you can buy from foldees.com. Check out his site too! 
I guess, i have come to an end of my post. I have to get back to my work that is pilling up....

Wish me luck and hopefully I won't die of stress just yet ....




Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Make me stronger

I had probably the crappiest week of my life last week. No words can be put together to describe my feelings and emotions........

There were just so many stressful matters to deal with last week in school - dealing with the stupid arguments between groups due to the lecturer's "smart" plan to make us argue with one another that leads to hatred, and then there's some bitching stuff. I really hate to deal with all these stupid childish things. Then I thought a 1 week break away from school will come to a good use for me to escape from the mundane, go back to hometown and hang out with family and close friends, stays positive and forget about all the f*cking things that is going on in school..... Don't get me wrong, I still like what I am studying, I just hate dealing with childish-bitchy people.

We all know we don't always get what we wish for and God can sometimes be very cruel to test our strength and power of endurance. Instead of escaping from the mundanity and enjoy my 1 week break, there was even a bigger test awaits me when I reached Penang.....

I was kept away from a news for the pass 2 months ... and yet I couldn't get angry of those who kept the news from me because I know they love me more than anything in the world and it was the best thing to do as they are worried about how I would be accepting it. 

The news is very unexpected and shocking to me....and since I am quite the emotional person, it was kinda hard for me at first...but I know, I have to be strong to support my mom. I am very grateful as I have a lot of relatives - cousins, aunts and uncles who are very supportive towards my family and me, and also friends who have been very understanding and concern about my recent "disappearance" and me PPK-ing them. I am very sorry, hope you guys understand. 

I am much better now. Don't worry..... I will learn to grow and be stronger....

Monday, April 06, 2009

vroooooooom............my first F1

the sound of screeching tyres,
the roaring of engines,
the short heat wave,
the hot hunks and
the simultaneous cheers from the crowd when the car passes by,
the adrenalin rushing through your body as 2 cars try to overtake one another right in front of you....

you will definitely NOT feel any of that if you are watching Formula 1 from your couch.

YES! i went to the Formula 1 race at Sepang! Got a super duper cheap ticket (at RM20 only) for a Grandstand ticket (which is supposed to be RM500 and above) from school. What a bargain right? Seriously, I did not expect the tickets to be for Grandstand, maybe for hill side or something and I was prepare to get myself tan but I was wrong. I was at the stand where I have a full view of the most exciting corner of the circuit where most of the overtaking took place during the race and it was a hell of an incredible and most awesome sight especially when I am watching it LIVE! Watching it live with my own eyes and cheering along with the crowds beat the feeling of watching a slightly delayed version over Astro. AWESOMENESS!



the heavy traffic jam to Sepang & the dark clouds 


the crowded entrance


the view of the hill side spectators


the grand stand place i was at


my first glimpse of the car passing me by....


and yes! that's LEWIS HAMILTON!!


I know everyone is gonna hate me for the caption! I used to be a Kimi fan, but now he's over at Ferarri :(



the sound of the engines...............



the emergency car on the track

Then later on, i manage to sneak myself into the mall area (the most expensive ticket area) just when the drivers was all waiting for the rain to stop. I had a full view of the pit stop lane and the starting grid and I was at my climax moment! I was right in front of Lewis Hamilton's pit stop and I even saw Lewis Hamilton running from the pit stop to his car which was parked at the starting grid. Probably he was taking his toilet break. ahahha GOSH! it was total COOLNESS just to be standing right there!


all respective teams are getting ready to restart the race while waiting for the officials to make their decision about the race


first class view of McLaren's pit!


can you see Kimi's ferrari parked inside?


that's the champion's pit stop



as we all know, the race did not resume after the break. And since I was still at the grand view area, I manage to witness the prize presentation ceremony....

from left: Nick Heidfeld, Jensen Button, Timo Glock

cam whoring session continues right after the ceremony ended....


and that's me at the starting grid with my headphones on



I WAS AT THE GRAND STAND!


and there's my pathetic-tired-looking smile


the view when everything ended and everyone starts to leave

Leaving the circuit was even a hassle but FUN. The amount of people moving out to the front gate at the same time is nuts and packed of people at every corner and it was drizzling slightly as well. But it was fun when you meet crazy people like these .....


hey-ma-wong-chi (black horse prince) ROFL


I LMAO when i saw him walking by me....imagine a body stuck between a car.....

and out of the crowded crowd, just as I was making my way to get to the bus, I saw Reshmonu! One of my favourite local singer besides Guang Liang and Pete Teo! No one recognise him until i told my friend who went up to him to snap a picture with him and after that, a lot of people was crowding around us. I wanted to take picture with him too, but I am just too shy and tired *blush*



Although the race ended after only 33 laps out of the 56 laps scheduled, the experience at the circuit itself and listening to the roaring of the engines as each car passes by had gave me the thrill and excitement that I've always imagine... in fact, it was even better!

the only thing I regret the most is not having my slr and my zoom lens with me! sigh....i left my precious in Penang and I am really regretting for not bringing it down to KL! 

how stupid of me right?
:(
 kill me!

Friday, April 03, 2009

chiak chow (eat grass)

It has been a hell of inspiring, adventurous and an incredible week for me! I know my title for the post somehow contradicts to the content, but let just say, all good things does not come in a package. there's always a bad apple or two in the whole bag. 

Remember my last post when I mention that I was undecided about the conference? .....

Well... in the end, I decided to go to both the conference.... SuperMotion and Maximum Minimalism Conference! At both conference, I met a lot of inspiring and world top motion graphic artist, designers and animators. Here goes the list of my favourite speakers at the conference.

1. one of today's most important designer - Stefan Sagmeister, 

Mr Stefan Sagmeister uses a mac

I love his speech and how he share his lessons in life as a designer. He's just an amazing, humble man with a brilliant brain and is also not selfish to share. He has a great sense of humour too! Really a great man and a great designer indeed.

2. My favourite duo from France who is the reason why I decide to pursue the multimedia field 4 years ago and they are also the reason why I fork out RM380 for the ticket, Kuntzel+Deygas. 


the autograph they gave me and they drew the puddle of water below Cap & Pepe to show that it was a rainy day last Sunday

3. Tokyo Plastic 

Sounds Japan-ish but TokyoPlastic is founded by 2 UK fellow. TokyoPlastic stuff is superb and not to mention Sam (the speaker) is kinda cute and cool too! :D Some of you might have seen their work over at MTV and another most famous and recognizable ones will be the Nokia Music DJ ads. 


   


Check out his studio's website too you will definitely enjoy all the head banging! (if you manage to get to their Drum Machine)


4. Fourth favourite on my list is Supernature based in China. They showcased the best interactive multimedia platform I've ever seen. Their work is amazing and 2 guys out of the 3 founders of the company is actually Malaysian. Malaysia Boleh! If any of you were over at Beijing for the 2008 Olympics, you would've probably seen their amazing project for Coca-cola. If not, check out their website.


from left: Billy, Lin Yew, technical guy, Yeoh

At the end of the conference, I went up to Lin Yew and asked him if I could interview him for one of my research paper, and thank god he said yes and gave me his name card! *jumps in joy*
Seriously, as a Malaysian, I am proud of them and what they do and they are just so humble and not selfish to share their work, unlike Hue Visual Lab, a local motion graphic company who was the worst speaker over the two conference and they are very, very COCKY too! 

5. Director Kobayashi



Director Kobayashi sounds like a name belongs to a Japanese guy... but he's not. Ironically, he's an italian living in UK. The world a mess eh? An italian guy with a Japanese name...(FYI, kobayashi is a name he took from a movie. it is supposed to be his nickname or something). His portfolio includes working as a 2D compositor for Hellboy 2, and "The Golden Compass" and the rabbit Sony ad (fake one) which brought him to fame over the internet. He's a very nice and humble guy. In fact, he was overjoyed by being here in Malaysia for the first time. 



I had a good chat with him



6. Next is Mr Koji Morimoto

a legend 


I have no idea who this guy is until I attended the conference. I know it is quite embarrassing but I guess it is excusable since I am not into anime. :P Mr Morimoto is one of Japan's premier animator. He was there to screen and share 5 of his videos which cost RM600+ on dvd. Those video he screen are not trailers but the full length video. His animation is incredibly good and I wish I get to see his 5 videos again!


7. Then there's Shun Kawakami from Artless Inc.

Shun is the guy with the hat


His typography and his designs are simply minimalist and  yet it is powerful and strong! Don't believe? Try isseymiyake's website, he designed it. After the conference, I had a chance and I went up to him to ask him what is his favourite font, and he said "Grosteque". As I predicted, it is a san-serif type! :D Another amazing artwork of his is the art and sound collection. Have you ever enjoyed a piece of artwork while listening to music, or have you ever listen to music and admire a piece of artwork at the same time? Well, this is what Shun did. I went to his exhibition at National Art Gallery, and it is AWESOME! I spent near to 1 hour at his exhibition space just to admire the art while listen to each piece of music for each respective painting that comes with different meaning. Simply marvelous! and not to mention, the design is in black and white (my favourite!)



art and sound

And there were few others such as Umeric, Troika, Rune Entertainment and Chris Bosse from Lava who designed the famous National Olympic Stadium in China.

Besides just the 2 conference over the weekend, my lecturer organised 2 field trips to Capsquare and National Art Gallery for us to visit the exhibition that was up in conjunction with KL Design Week. My favourite from the 2 exhibitions are: 

1. Aya Kato's Earth Dreaming 


the mesmerizing work by Aya Kato is beyond description

2. Shun Kawakami's "Art and Sound"

and that's me, enjoying the music and art....

3. Heath Nash's recycle products



beautiful right? they are made from trash. can you believe it?

3. Don't Panic corner - which I subscribe to and they were giving away packet of "Don't Panic" special envelope for free, and guess what is inside?


Don't panic, just grab one ....

Yup! that's a packet of condom in there. Practice safe sex it says... and one of my friend grab 6-7 packets of it for safety reasons i guess....LOL

4. and last but not least... the Mari Brand booth...
Aren't they cute?

Those are the good things.....But the main reason why I am chiak chow-ing is because I am on financial constraints and also because I am really tired and my assignments are piling up. After spending RM560 on the tickets to the conference, there are also other stuff that i spend on. Such as public transportation to KL for 4 days (hey although they are public transport they are not cheap okay - around RM30 per day), Aya Kato's book, and my subcription to IDN for a year which cost me RM199..... 

sigh.....

really chiak chow.......

Btw, have you seen PrayStation before? If you have not, see the picture below: 



I know this is a long post but i did not say it is short post right on the first place? :P 

Have a nice day!