Monday, December 31, 2001

yours are most confusing, evil rei hahhahaha ... is that u ? it dun sound quite the same, somehow!
& if the dark cloud should grow into a thunder storm, the seed that survives & grows, would most certainly be a stronger plant/tree/orchid flower (?), than most other bathed in sunlite.
aniway, it dun matter, after all, if ppl who once booed u, can come shake ur hand another time, like u are the greatest person they ever met, it really dun matter. ( they may still boo u another time ... & they may still come shake ur hand another another time ... hahahahaha )

Sunday, December 16, 2001

I'm quite ashamed to say that I've never quite made it past the first chapter of LOTR since I bought the book when I was in secondary two, but the recent release of its theatrical rendition have made it compelling to pick it up again, and I'm now in the middle of The Two Towers. Can't wait to see the movie itself, hope it doesn't disappoint ! Then again, that might be too much to ask, for it certainly wouldn't match a world crafted by word and powered by the imagination.

Wednesday, December 12, 2001

I know you guys miss my fanatical rantings...
well now its LOTR !!!!!!!!!!!!

finished the book..and can't wait to watch the movie....

And I've been really busy ingame DAoC (dark age of camelot), now that I've formed a guild and all....
Lotsa stuffs to organize and moderate the forum.

Anywayz if you guys see the dvds Farinelli and Orlando (which i really doubt..but ya never know) PLEASE lemme know ASAP! thanx

gotta get back to talking to Galadriel in my head.


Tuesday, December 11, 2001

the last time i went i noe they sell stanley kubrick collection, think it s 3 of the movies at really much cheaper than normal ... wah but that they oready got moulin rouge!!! ... tmr mus go!!
Thought you guys might want to know there's this videoshop in Peninsula Plaza along the roll of shops facing Saint Andrew's cathedral called LASERflair that sells quite along of dvd titles. I happened to had a look inside the other day and realized they were already selling moulin rouge 2 disc dvd set at 47.90, not bad at all. they also have some code 1 dvd titles that are really quite cheap. i bought Deep Impact at 30 bucks.

Sunday, December 09, 2001

ahaaaa ... looking good !!! she s materialising!! keep going manzzz ... hey things r looking promising, maybe u want to rig the body then work on the cloth sim, less problem and avoid possible double work : )

Saturday, December 08, 2001

[ memento mori ] update

My first update in months !!! Blasted simcloth and all. I'm still gasping for breath and the think there's lots more to worry about...but I'll try my best...

Monday, December 03, 2001

wah liao, 3rd jan me still in reservist leh ... cant imagine what i m doing on that day ... so many years neber been in an army camp ... hahaha... but u all NS ppl mus be saying what s the big deal! hahaha ...
Okie folks latest update on Avalon screening date from cathay.com.sg - it opens only on the 3rd of jan next year.
Paiseh Gatchaman, really needed a break that afternoon from all the work and all, so neber chio. I'll try and post more pictures...althought most of them didn't really look so fantastic. Anyway...think i'll continue working in 3D...problematic as it is...i think its still more concieivable than 2.7D...the latter which I think I'll still be stucking drawing inbetweens by the time I ORD. Thanks for the advice and encouragement.

ps. anyone saw the avalon cinema schedule anywhere ? papers, etc. they'are supposed to have started screening it. odd.

Saturday, December 01, 2001

wah blaue reiter go neber jiao leh :P
like really nice place to take pics, upload more of ur masterpiece to share with us?
dun stop the whole production, you can always go back to ur very original plan, 2.7D (tat how u call it, rite?) it s hard, esp u r in NS to do 3d characters, i ve jus spent last 2 days changing settings quite blindly on cloth simulation, only to have exploding pants everytime ... setup is the most torturous & taxing phrase ... but to me it 's the price to pay for creative freedom (to a certain degree) in one-man production ... but very sianz, i still cant see the logic in all those numbers in the cloth sim...
will try to upload the motion test on my character setup (no cloth sim), but the movs quite big, mus registered & all tat for new place to upload.

Friday, November 30, 2001

I finally took time off my regular schedule ( book out of camp, laze at home, stare at Max interface, but not working much, etc ) to travel down to Tanjong Pagar train station for the photo shoot i've promised myself. Its actually my first time there and I was lucky enough I didn't get lost in Shenton Way where directions and pacing gets too frenetic and chaotic. Once there my impression of a bustling, active train station was quickly replaced by empty waitiong halls and vacant platforms. I quickly changed my compositional interests to mundane activities and it was just as satisfying, in as sense. Next shoot, Duck race.



Recently memento mori have been taking severe beatings in its production schedule as I languished at home pulling my hair over seemingly insurmountable technical issues. Energy and zest is draining rapidly, and I must find a way to start working again or risk stopping work altogether.

Monday, November 26, 2001

Folks remember the Avalon trailer that we missed on Saturday ? I was talking to Jason and he told me that movies-online.com.sg said it'd be out on the 29th November...supposedly. that's good news.

Wednesday, November 21, 2001

yah blaue reiter u better not breathe a word abt the 4th book! but heard some important character s gonna die ... hmmm ... dumbledore? ohhhh ... dun tell mi !!!
I think i've just been hit by a big bout of Harry Potter fever, albeit a few months later than the recent craze. The Goblet of Fire was both amusing and pleasurable to read, and many a times I found myself laughing out loud ( with much dismay from my campmates ) the nonsense that Ron and Hermoine ( Harry's best friends ) can come up with. The end of the story came as quite a sombre one, but I wouldn't say what happened lest Gatchaman complains he haven't read ! Anyway, i can't seem to escape Potter today. On my way back home today I realized the train cabins were infiltrated by panel after panel of Harry Potter movie ads, and walking past one Bossini shop the promotional posters were screaming Harry Potter T-shirts. Now all I need to do is to catch the movie...please make it good !

Sunday, November 18, 2001

dear peishan, although there r some chime words i dunnoe in ur sophiscated msg, but i do ve some opinions of this 'condition' of yours. i think the day u can 'paint ur ravage feelings on a canvas (without the aid of device of any kind, or brutully extracting your heart), or when u can express in words 'the image that burns like supernova', or when u manage to get some answers from a monologue ... u ll be a trully great artist, haha ... there jus some ppl who ve gone thro this frustrating stage as great artists and some that are still going thro it ... like u and me?
but looking at the way u crafted ur sentences so artfully ... hmmmm ... maybe u are much much nearer there than mi laio ... me still using singlish leh ... think u r almost there laio ... another 10, 20 years maybe ? :P and my mind is already so messup ... there isnt much u can do anyway ... hehehehe
reading the las 2 paragraphs again now myself ... seems to sound a bit sarcastic ... but pls be assured tat s nevber my intention ... jus trying to be smart alec here ahahahaha ...
frankly, dun take mi too seriously on this crap ... like i always take myself too seriously .. and lose the fun of it.
Wat am I feeling? Why don't we have the devices to extract our hearts from within our chest and dab it on a piece of blank canvas? Why? For it may paint, in a somewhat incomprehensible way, the feelings that ravage it. How is it possible that wat is going thru my mind, isn't that which pours forth from this orifice on my face? Wat good is speech if it doesn't dictate that image that burns like a supernova in my mind? Why these questions? Will I ever stop asking why? Do we get definate answers from a monologue?

A mind like scambled egg, I say. You can't make out the yellows from the whites, and it fluffs up and outwards threatening the limits of the skull which confines it. I had scrambled eggs just 2 days ago and I was poking around the leftovers with a designer fork, like someone is poking around my delicate information processing machine now. And someone told me it's where my soul resides. It's where YOUR soul lies protected within the cranium.

So let me make you a proposition. Close your eyes. And let me, once and for all, mess up your mind.

Tuesday, November 13, 2001

basheer how com sell the monster inc book for 76????? like even more ex than page one ... then the evanglion groundworks for the movie come out oso ... 79++ .... then see that 27++ spirits away book evil rei got ... then see another spirit away hardcover showing still frames book 34 ++ ....
gatchaman din buy any of the above ... cos this month got 2 sanman (wedding angbao) ... sob sob ...

Friday, November 09, 2001

Le Pacte Des Loups ( Brotherhood of the Wolf ) is big in France. Even the dvd is already out, and I was eyeing this 3 disc collector's edition where they had tons of extra material and the interface menu looked really great, plus a special leather cover. . Blast, it doesn't have any english subtitles !! Sadness !!


Wednesday, November 07, 2001

i go this afternoon .. only one left ... and not in very good condition ...evil rei u still ve a chance :P

Tuesday, November 06, 2001

wah liao ... so cheappppppppppppp? how many left?? damn ... i ve 2 ang bao to give this month, still mus spent ... die ah

Monday, November 05, 2001

Thanks for the link Gatchaman. Will check it out soon.

Folks, Popular Bookshop is either extremely generous with its offers, or they simply haven't a heck of an idea how much they should price their books. INDUSTRIAL LIGHT AND MAGIC : THE ART OF SPECIAL EFFECTS ( THE FIRST BOOK, NOT THE ONE ON DIGITAL REALM ) IS NOW GOING FOR $49.90 AT POPULAR, BRAS BASAH. Now that's a deal you don't find everyday, in fact, any day. Hurry before stocks run out !!!!! *especially directed to rei*
rite, blaue reiter, the brazil renderer i ve told u abt ... www.splutterfish.com
Came across this site I thought was relatively useful. It actually does reviews and content descriptions for various japanese illustration and anime magazines, very up to date. Even comickers is included. There are some other useful stuff I think should be lurking around.

http://jdcr.com/

This is the comickers contents page : http://jdcr.com/resources/comickers/back.html

Do tell if there's anything else useful around on this site.

Friday, November 02, 2001

shan, next time u do tat again, remember to gimme a call, for all u noe, u may end up at my void deck, thinking: oh oh, i m lost i m lost, how exciting ...
the above hypothesis to show that singapura is very small lor, i still feel safe to be lost ... if in other countries, and when nite falls in the middle of some deserted area ... halleluah!!
have u guys tried taking a bus to some unknown housing estate and get totally lost? its really cool, coz it makes S'pore feel less boring and alot bigger, to me at least...hehehehe
Rei must be thinking about too many things as he's been at home for too long and drawing too much. Let's go watch a movie soon, Jet Li's the One, Monsters' Inc all out soon.

Gatchaman, regarding the photo shoot, i'm sure we can arrange a day for that. My next place of shoot would be the Tanjong Pager train station, think its a nice place. But i've been stuck with my work that I haven't found time for that at all.

Thursday, November 01, 2001

evil rei, why do u even tink of leaving footsteps on history? u mus be either a man of true great inspirations, or a egomaniac like mi ... hahahahaha ...
look, keep doing 1 same thing all the time ll only make u crazy ... and u ll find it harder and harder for breakthroughs ... even u say it s your life passion. when u do something, love someone, put in a lot, and expect a return in some form, and most ppl do so in 1 way or another, the only possible happy ending is u r rewarded accordingly, which is not always the case. but if it s simply the process of doing or loving that makes u enjoy oready, then the outcome may not be so important ... it s alright to want something badly, but be ready to deal with the sense of lost that almost always comes along.
the las paragraph i m writing for myself, sorry i ferget to tell u 1st huh, evil rei ...
ohhh ... for your case ah ... i jus wan to say u dun need to ask so much of yourself all the time.
actaulli, i tink u should take up writing lessons from blaue reiter or shan, or if tat dun sound good, join in the dvd craze, or come let s go shoot photos, jus dun touch your drawing pencil/walcom pen for 3 months!!! u may ve a lot to draw after tat!!
It's one of those small little things. Trifle friction blown out of proportion by human emotions, or lack of ability to just sit down and walk through this life-size puzzle. for many months now it has struck me that the feeling of being in love is akin to wandering for extended hours in a maze of roses. When you take your first step in, you are instantly bewitched by the reds and yellows and feisty thorned stems that encircled the exquisitely groomed walls. Your senses seemed momentarily heightened and boosted your ego is soothingly appealed to by this opulent splendor. But I thought, surely a day will come, when one had had just enough with walking into a dead end or encircling an arc that you were sure you hadn't passed a moment ago. This nomadic freedom suddenly transformed itself into a repition. A monochrome photograph from a dubious date. And you, the bona fide princess or prince, stopped short and looked around for the first time in a Loong looooong time. And you realized there weren't any roses. For if they were there then surely it must be a figment of your imagination.

Love is crazy. Its just one word but love can never satisfy itself with some kinda self-explanation. It's wat a million words can't explain. It induces a variety of chemical reactions in the human body, that results from a burning sensation in the groin area, to nipping a chunk off your tongue while stammering. Love puzzles and enlightens you at the same time. It's the next substitute for oxygen and a society can't function without it's existence. It's THE most undefinable word, yet ironically simple. For we feel love more than we talk love. When we discuss love we always discuss how it makes us feel. How his hot wet kiss left your heart pounding, and how the sound of her laughter made you walk funny. Everything it holds for us is at the simplest, most visceral level. You can't work it out mathmatically, neither can you equate it. It's a stand alone emotion, and a pandora's box reinvented. We sometimes experience a similar sequence of heart pounding, pounding pounding, phone ringing, phone ringing, laughing, joking, discussions of childhood phobias and the mole on your sole, confessions of wicked fantasies, heavy panting, heavy panting, snoring, dial tone, dial tone, sorries, door slams shut, snoring, screaming, lamentations, more screaming, door slams for the last time. This is condensed, surely you'll understand. It all comes together into this huge symphony of life, but all you're hearing is really the resonating Love... And love encompasses those of heterosexuals, homosexuals, sisterhood, brotherhood, family, backalley and transgendered. If anybody reading this doesn't belong to any of the above mentioned categories, PLEASE drop me an email...

But why am I rattling on about love? what DO i know about love? Oh so little. And yes I'm feeling torn today, conflicting inside with warring emotions. I am at the Dial tone phase of the sequence. And unashamedly, i congratulated myself for not being the one who got the "~watever! *click* Dooo....doooo...dooo...dooo* treatment. In fact i executed it beautifully. It worked coz it flared nostrils and clenched teeth. But for what ends I don't know. I'm not even typing properly. My eyes are rolling back, my eyebags half threatened to inflate disproportionately...and I'm not checking for grammatical mistakes. This was written for love, and let's have it end with just that. Love dictates that I deal with today in equanimity. And surely it commands me to sleep now.....and let my Rapid Eye Movement do its job....ZZZzzZzZZZZzZzzzZzzz



how s abt a full day photo outing 1 fine day? let s bring every camera we ve got and shoot day to nite until we drop! hahahahhaa ... wan a not?

Wednesday, October 31, 2001

Instead of working on my project, I ended up mugging around my website doing unimportant things. What is it with me ?

Anyway...here's it : http://www.notionwerks.com/akirastudio/photoessay.htm

Monday, October 29, 2001

Thanks alot Gatchaman...needed some advice badly. Now all that is left is for me to have a little more discipline and spend some work on that sim cloth tutorial thingie...

I've also got wind from GV's website that Spirited Away will be shown on the 20 of Dec, same day as Lord of the Rings. Let's hope it stays that way.

blaue reiter, this wat i tink :
1)yupz, think bone is the best way to animate her ponytail

2)actaully i try out the tutorial for Simcloth but it is the rather easy wan, but i think it is definitely the way to go for clothes, and i think u can afford the cpu power. at the moment i havent look in detail for my clothes, but it is simcloth i ll be using (cos it s free, either this or clothreyes 3 , they r giving away free). i had good comments on Simcloth b4 and a fren demonstrate roughly to mi b4 using it for the oversized shorts of my character. as for whether it is a bad idea for skirt ah, can be done lah, with simcloth. or if u can settle for morphing between 2 or 3 targets, it s fairly believable that the skirt is flowing jus like u see jap anime looping a few keys, but u ve more variation still with morphing. tink u should just anihow make a skirt and do a few morph targets and try it out urself and see that it maybe easier than cloth simulation. but of cos not as impressive.
i still think u ll go for the simcloth look though. maybe u spent sometime figure it out? aniway it is like u learn 1 u learn all. the cloth sim softwares r more or less the same now, logic is same same lor.

3) CS u ll ve to spend time on it. no other ways leh. but the bending stuffs is unavoidable u got to go bck to tweak the model during rigging. and most problems r specific to the peculiar char design. many is brainless meticulous labour, like typing in weights vertex by vertex, no special tools or trick lor.
but main problem now is u havent fix down her design. for ur case, u ve clothings design to help out. cos some clothings types is easier to do than others. oso, u ve intention for her to change costumes in the story? so u noe abt what to do when modelling the joints oready? like more segments and stuffs like this? but even so, it is hard to noe during modelling. i m rigging my hand joints now, oso lotsa tweaking.
i dunnoe how i can help to teach u CS ... demo at ur place? but i m not very sure on biped too.

maybe u ve to give yourself longer time now ... unless u wan to scale down ur story. take it step by step, learn one thing first then the other, dun think u can hurry the learning part, kinda steep curve for u to digest so much 1 go. ever think of going bck on 2D? but if u push on, u ll learn more, whether u succeed a not.
blaue reiter, i just read the problems, gimme sometime.
but dun lose heart yet, i been thro that and under a deadline to deliver too. but it s more difficult for u now, cos u ve a fairly realistic character to handle for a 1st time.
gimme sometime to post : )

Sunday, October 28, 2001

[ memento mori ] - updates

Since my last post on the head model of Nadja, progress have been little. It seems I've been running away from working on the body because there are so many problems that i'm facing !!! Gatchaman heeeelp me please !!! Some advice would be great...i've done a breakdown of the problems I have.

1) Animation of ponytail - can it be accomplished by just controlling it with a bone ? ( pretty much like an arm is controlled by the bone too ). Also, if I were to have additional trails of hair, ie fringe, etc, how would I animate it ? By morphing ?

2) Clothes - I've actually downloaded and installed a plugin called Sim clothes, the tutorial seems to show some really good results, but I haven't the foggiest idea how to use it. Do you think it'd be an extremely bad idea to have Nadja wear a skirt ? Because that would mean lots of work when she walks... How are you intending to do your clothes ?

3) Physique and biped...hahaha....haven't even touched these yet...i'm soooo afraid its not going to deform properly...and the animation part too...

ARRRGGH !!! So many problems !! Looks like you were completely right when you said 3D would be no less easier than 2D...I hate it so much because I have to learn so much technical jargen...technology indeed is the animator's biggest obstacle...dread dread dread...how i wish i could just do what I set out to do right now...animate the darn model !!!
Gatchaman, I believe its not necessarily so, although I got wind from my friend that there's a region 3 release for final fantasy on sale here, but I personally have not seen that. Many titles are shipped from the US and then sold here in stores, so its not neccesarily that only titles ordered from Amazon have this RCE feature included. The link i've included have got a list of dvds that comes with RCE, so maybe you should take a look.
so the FF dvd u got is from amazon, not the wans in local stores rite? that s y this problem?
DVD technical jargon

Hi folks. For those who have a multi-coded player or those who are intending to get one, pay attention to this.Yesterday I had just popped my Final Fantasy DVD into my player and was about to start watching it when the disc started reading but flashed a world map screen on tv indicating that there's this REGIONAL CODING ENCHANCEMENT ( RCE ) digital crap thing that makes viewing on my player not possible. Some of that regional coding stuff. So I thought. This dvd is busted. But I checked Amazon and they had a work around for it ( yippee !! ) aka as cheat code. Just use the control and press up up, down down, left right, left right, A, B, start. Presto !!

Kidding. There's a particular sequence of numbers you have to enter. Check out their website here : http://www.dvdtalk.com/rce.html

Just to let you folks know so next time when you buy or order a DVD look out for this stupid RCE. If there's another region release for the movie, skip this troublesome thingie.

Thursday, October 25, 2001

lord of rings ah ... wah like very very thick leh ... set a more realistic dateline like by time u reach 30s u finish the book :P

Sunday, October 21, 2001

i oso heard good comments on harry potter books from my brother ... think it mus ve something unique and interesting abt it!
think the ponytail is a good solution, rather than a cheat. afterall we dun ve programming talents to solve the scientific stuff of hair moving ard. think the eyeball need not be a perfect sphere, it will fit better into the hollow that way. either adjust the hollow, or for me, i use x-form or ffd to change the eyeball to fit into hollow.but for my case, since i m using another hemisphere as the eyelids, i ve to apply the modifier to both shere and cant collapse them cos of a linked Xform below to control the eyelids opening.kinda troublesome. dunnoe how u do your eyelids, maybe for u it may be easier. also, a little comment on the pupils, i think even if she got big eyes,like manga babes, the pupils r never shown fully round (less in extreme shck expression). as in the top is mostly covered (or cropped, watever) a bit. unless she s supposed to have a 'staring' look.
really hope my comments are constructive wans ... and not fault finding : ) the overall look is getting better with the hair on, maybe u ll fine tune the face after sculpting the body! all the best manzzz!



I know this sounds pretty boring but I've actually gotten myself a copy of JK Rowling's Harry Potter : Goblet of Fire.
I was at the 2nd hand book store returning my last book and it was just sitting there on the shelf beckoning me to
pick it up. Thought I gave it a chance and see what the all the fuss is about - and it really is quite a nice break from
all the american novels that we read most of the time.

Anyway, Nadja's got hair now, albeit all tied up and neat in a ponytail *that's cheating !!* Darn...think i better get started
on the body...been stuck with modelling her hair for too long now.



Also...evil rei's got the pox !!! Don't stray too near !!

Friday, October 19, 2001

shan pls put more recommendations next time ... although i wont go read the book everytime :P
at least next time i wanna hou lian during conversation oso can throw a few titles ... ahha ... nah ... will definitely try this and the bus driver wan to be .... what ... book : ). see if i ll like.

Thursday, October 18, 2001

Book of the week: The Comfort of Strangers, by Ian McEwan. blew me away man...

Wednesday, October 17, 2001

Sure is silent around here this days...Nahs must be really caught up with work...recently i've just shifted my
computer to a new room and apparently this seemingly harmless act have did my connection in for a few days
but i'm sure glad i'm back online. :) Anxious to get back to work on my model.

Tuesday, October 16, 2001

very quiet at halcyon realms ... blaue reiter bz on his modelling, shan s bz at werk, evil rei bz with army projects ... hmmmm ...
*gatchaman throws a stone from the rooftop, in the crouching tiger hidden dragon style, test water ...*

Thursday, October 11, 2001

Hi folks...thanks for the comments and advice...i've made some adjustments to the model after seeing your posts. Now
continuing work on the ears, eyes and then the hair.

Of course...modelling is one thing...animating is another... *big bead of sweat rolls down forehead*

Wednesday, October 10, 2001

what stoopid thing u do? tell us so we can be entertained? esp for ppl like mi, sometimes afternoon in office wan to sleep?

Tuesday, October 09, 2001

great werk! but jus some things i note: there s an overall smoothing problem, some ll be ok with meshsmooth but problem areas like the middle seam and the corner of the eyes may stand out more (by the meshsmooth) instead. maybe got to go in to move vertice by vertice inwards for the middle seam. the folds above the eyes i dunnoe how to resolve cos i dun noe the faces arrangement.
i oso think the top of the cheek(ie, part below the eyes) need to be lift up until the eyeball is like partly in it (dunnoe how to say properly). but this will happen when u pull in the hollow for the eyes, takes sometime to adjust. if u cut out the shape of the eye and extrude it inwards, then it ll not affect the vertices ard the eye hollow, save some work maybe. u can still maintain the big round eyes thingee and have a 'fuller' cheek.
las is the part below the lower lips, either u can try turning the direction of some edges (subobject under edit mesh) , if not go in move the vertices concerned ... tat wan i tink meshsmooth oso cant help if dun tweak, esp next time u wanna do morph mouth shapes opening etc.
sorri say so much dun noe make sense a not, but aniway this is stage 1, probably u oready doing the same changes now. : ) but the basic form is definitely there liao! really impressive esp when u r werking under such limited timeline!

[ Nadja, model 1 ]

Guys, give me some feedback okie ?


Wednesday, October 03, 2001

blaue reiter, maybe u can find some hope in the elite naval diving unit :P
Dearest Nahs...I believed we had a conversation before on icq regarding the scuba diving course...and I'm sad to say
i'm neither financially capable of attending one nor is the Singapore army widely supportive of coral admiration during
office hours. Guess i'll have to wait for a while before those azure waters sweep up my feet. :(

Monday, October 01, 2001

HARLO everybodyz! Just got back from tioman and I can't wait to dive into its turquoise water again! It's beautiful for a place so surprisingly near Singapore. Last I checked Rawa Island is good too...but much smaller...
And one important thingy! I intend to go on a scuba diving course at the same school where my bf got his license...and I am looking for kakis!!! Interested party pls dial 98487059! hahahaa.....or just email me, icq me or leave a blog, whichever you're comfortable with. Snorkelling in tioman was an unforgettable experience...much to my chagrin I was stung by 2 jellyfishes...but the beauty of the corals couldn't stop me from diving in again and again, leaving the searing pain on my neck and arms aside! hahahaa
LUB IT!!!!

Friday, September 28, 2001

[lomo: 20,000 leagues]

as expected, my 1st experiment with the supersampler is much of a failure, but that s the point of it. 19/24 can be developed, 12/19 is bright enuff to be seen, 4/12 i m ok with, 1/4 i kinda liked.
here s the wan i ll show 1st, titled: '20,000 leagues' + another version: '20,000 leagues (soaking wet remix)'

20000 leagues,click soaking wet remix, click
sometimes u jus ve to do what u believe, i think.
if there s some ppl who genuinely like ur werk, u succeed. if not, u do again, either change direction, or persist in what u believe. if u ve a choice to werk with who, chose.
but i really went thro those feelings b4, too. ll always be so, as long as i m doing wat i m doing now, i guess.

Wednesday, September 26, 2001

[citizen kane dvd]
aha, time to show off my new dvd acquirement again (must read: evil rei)! it s a 2-disc collection of 'citizen kane'!!! i ve been waiting for it to be out on dvd all this while! finally! features (tat i can remember) are 2 feature length commentaries, rare photo galleries and somemore i cant remember offhand now, plus a 2nd disc on the documentary, 'the battle over citizen kane', which used to be sold separately at almost the same price of this package.
'citizen kane' is the film that open me up to framing, cinematography and many other related stuffs, and understand more on it. i cant put in simple words how it finally make me 'piece everything together' and 'see the big picture' ... dont think i m making any sense.
ben, wonder u ve any chance to catch this 7 half mins stop-mo animation, 'robots, a docu-soap' by this guy john williams(not that john williams), or maybe u already saw it? we saw it at the British animation festival, think u ll like the character design, similiar styles to yours.

oso, been working on a character for a new short,
click here, then click on his IC size photo at the main page. what u think?
sorry blaue reiter, advertising on your blog! :P

Tuesday, September 25, 2001

blaue reiter, u can post the same post on both blogs, cos there ll be some other frens of mine not in your blog reading my blog. but of cos u might not want to let them noe that a quintessential part of your life is shared by 2 guys ... hahaha (not that i m any better). but i dun mind at all that u arent posting in my blog lah.
[ British Animation Festival retrospect ]

Attended the above screenings recently with Gatchaman and evil rei, and the first thing that struck me
after watching a few animation pieces by British students was that whilst we would rip off music, or in
nicer terms, borrow some copyrighted music from certain artists and soundtracks, the former always
do have their own original compositions for the music in their workpieces. In fact on several occasions
the talents that were involved in the production of the music actually seem to be more than the number
doing the animation. Not that that's anything to complain about, in fact, its gives the overall production
of the animation workpiece a unique sense of originality that raises it creative value. Now I wonder when
our work would have a chance to implement such a feature, because it really is quite neat.
Dear Nahs, I would have thought few other people on this island share my virtually non-existant social life,
who, other than dividing my time between movies ( a quintessential part of my life shared by evil rei, Gatchaman
with mutual and equal interest ) and working on my latest animation project, have nothing much else on except for
watching documentaries on Discovery Channel and speaking to my pet tortoises who, unfortunately, are quite
uncommunicative in general.

A blog of your own isn't really such a bad idea...although it would also mean that we would be spreading out
even thinner as far as posts are concerned because right now I'm always in a dilemma sometimes if I should
post on my own blog or Gatchaman's. Perhaps one day we should unify all our blog members into one big,
singular blog. A unification of blogs, so to speak.

Sunday, September 23, 2001

ARGH!!!! I'm going KRAZY!!! It's a Sunday and I am stuck at home, with nothing else to do but dividing my time between the computer and my PS2....

mabbe I should create my own blog? waddaya say? *sighs*

Friday, September 21, 2001

yesterday go British animation festival, blaue reiter 's shinjiku dreams kicked off TP's animations. after the whole show, i came out from toilet and this few gals (must ve been animation students, since they r with a bigger grp some carrying portfolios) going to the toilets were saying something like: ' oh i wan to see the ayumi wan again!!' obvious that they like it very much.
hey, blaue reiter, this is positive audience reaction live from the floor leh!

Tuesday, September 18, 2001

I almost demanded that my friends buy me that new tiny palm size camcorder for my bday. Methinks they almost burst into tears when I waved the leaflet infront of them with the staggering price tag of 2900. They have my deepest sympathy. And before everyone here starts spamming me about being a materialistic friend, I have to tell you I changed my mind about it. hahaha...even if I have 10 friends willing to chip in 100 bucks each, this latest piece of technology would still be an arms length away and locked behind a glass cabinet. SIGH!
and I wanted to have it for the exact same reasons as you guys: To capture various moments in my life, anytime, anyday. Compile my life's story from my meals to extended phone chats...packing a perennially messy room to animating my soft toys. Imagine, watching all of one's idiosyncrasies on the screen, from the purely mundane to amusing antics. sigh....tok so much oso no use....unless I make 30 new friends and each forks out 100 bucks...hahahaha...just kidding! I dun make friends just to bend them to my machination. =D

Monday, September 17, 2001

haha ... i wan to buy those cameras that took pics with funny effects after reading a news article abt it, ferget the name of that particular type of cameras. but alas, i didnt. they r selling in page 1 too, the las time i read but ferget to look out for them las time i was there.u ve absolutely no control over the end result of the photos taken, and tat s the fun of it. 1 type of it can even take a series of motion. heard they even make a movie with the camera. damn, but i jus cant remember its name.
[ instant memories ]

I'm not a narcissus. I really am not. Recently I just acquired my first Polaroid instant camera. Think Instant memories !
The sheer spontaneity and excitement of seeing the picture you took develop in mere seconds after you took it
convinced me it was a worthy buy, coupled with the residual plot lodged in my head in the recent movie [ memento ].
And why not start with a picture of myself ? Which reminds me. I'm not a narcissus okie ?




Saturday, September 15, 2001

3 days have passed since I first witnessed the protected shield of America's supposed invincibility utterly pierced and collaspsed like a lacerated lung. And New York has been gasping for air since. And so have I. No words can adequately describe this turmoil that threatened to wreck me, but what I felt must have been minuscule next to the witnesses of this senseless massacre at the very foot of the wtc, or worse, those who had lost members of their family in this calamity.
Thoughts have yet been sorted out in my head. Sometimes I watch the old footage of that fateful crash and a new pang of surprise shook me, as if I was watching it for the first time. I will leave the acrimonious debate of the egregiously slack national security to the experts, the analyst and the armchair critic. For now, I will offer my prayers soundlessly whenever I close my eyes. Whatever form of retaliation America chooses to administer, I hope it wouldn't cost more innocent lives than all these single-minded extremists already had. It doesn't matter whose knees eventually buckle first or who suffers a more ignominious defeat...for the consequences would be shared amongst us all.

Thursday, September 13, 2001

Terror is the name of the day as the whole world witnessed before their eyes the epitome of inhumanity.
I cannot help but see the story in the movie The Peacemaker materialize in real life - an enbittered individual
or group that sees the need to share with the world the anguish and hatred they bear inside them, bordering
on madness. But at the end of the day, it is still the innocent who will suffer the most. I watched with ambivalence
on a trainride home how callous people can be if they themselves do not feel the pain shared by those who have
lost their loved ones in this calamity. One person's tragedy seems little more than another's hot lunchtime topic.
Incidentally, my brother had left for Minneapolis taking a Northwest airline jet on the morning before the hijack, and
we had been unable to contact him when the news of hijacked planes only made the tension unbearable. It was until
early in the morning that finally he called home, his plane forced into an emergency landing in Vancouver as all airspace
in the states were announced impassable. My entire family heaved a sigh of relief, and for a short moment I thought
I could empathize with those whose loved ones hadn't been so lucky.

Tuesday, September 11, 2001

ya hor ... *kok head* ... it s french film fest ...
interested in the luc besson wan too ... i got time check out the link on others : )
French Film Festival

Gatchaman...i remember that was shown during the German Film Festival...am pretty sure Run Lola Run was a german show...

Anyway, I believe there's an action movie of sorts directed by Luc Besson at the French fest, think with sfx too.
I only browsed through the film descriptions briefly and that was the only director i knew...ha...but i should think
there are some other interesting shows going on. the link i provided goes to the movie synopsis page. Do take a look.

think i would be catching that luc besson show...if you guys are interested too.
Blaue Reiter, any interesting films for the french film fest? is this the wan u once told mi abt? the wan with a new film by director of run lola run?
[ Old Ben ]

Recently..i've been feeling a great disturbance in the force...and now it
has finally manifested itself...Old Ben is here ! For everyone's information Old
Ben is our ex lecturer in TP, renowned for grilling his students during critique
sessions. ( together with his wookee companion, Ronald, with his trademark
groan ). But Ben wields the lightsabre like no other. Be expecting many
interesting threads and insights from Old Ben.

By the way folks, there an upcoming French Film Festival from the 25th
of this month to the 9th. Check out :

http://www.alliancefrancaise.org.sg/events_FrenchFilmFesv.html

Should hope to catch a few shows if time permits.

Monday, September 10, 2001

aha! ben!!!
whasssssup!!! u still in Australia?
in case u dont oready know: [ gatchaman ] = waiming
Haha...well Nahs...welcome back ! We do miss your presence, and
there's nothing to do with rantings of any kind. We really need good,
decent postings once in a while, and you do that right. :)

Anyhoo, i've watched watched A.I the second time with Rei and I still
can't decide what I want to say about the movie, mainly because it
deals with quite many a complex and moral issue that either standing
up for or against any of them seems rather difficult or impossible.

Also, we met up with one of our ex-classmate today, Dajie, who used
to be from the video major class. Says she's up with Mediaworks doing
part time editing for the news segments happening at night. Earns a steady
sum we heard, well at least, enough for her to go on backbacking from Paris
to Spain and then Italy. Damn it. I really want to do some travelling myself.
Been making plans once my NS liablities are over, Shinjuku, here I come.

Sunday, September 09, 2001

=D

Have I really been making such a constant racket here, that my disappearance seems to cause such a drastic silence? hehehe. Yes, been quite busy recently.
And A.I. was indeed a treat. It was obvious what an impact it made on the audience when the credits started rolling, and the silence persisted for a moment or 2, before you heard the shuffling of feet. I am not about to get into all the details of what I love about this movie, and why it wrenches my heart so...coz I'll be writing till the wee hours. To summarize my thoughts, I was touched coz David led a tragic life without even being given the choice to be constructed. He was to embark on a journy of painful self discovery that he was never meant to. Yes you may say it made him stronger, but I'd say its cruel to make a child his age go through life's tribulations like this, Mecha or not. The years just showed in his eyes, innocently blue though they may seem, but the weariness will be forever imprinted in his soul (or system, in a mecha's case). But you get the idea.
And it touched me coz he was so brave. Never lacking in tenacity in seeking for his blue fairy. Intrepid when he jumped into the chopper and powered it up for the end of the world. And the bravest he was, when he faced with the fact that his mother could only be resurrected for a day, and yet he accepted it. Not only did he come to terms with the cruel fact, he enjoyed what little time he had with his most beloved. It was a love that truely prevailed the times and even apocalypse itself. And it was a love that we, proud and complacent as humans are, can probably never endure. And it definately taught us as a species, never ever to play god.
evil rei, i m going with co. animation team (kailin and those u see b4 wan) but if u can confirm u can go, can come along. cos booking tics early, scared wait u ppl cant confirm. tell mi abt it.

Saturday, September 08, 2001

i wan to watch again, evil rei, but i m down with gastric flu, food poisoning and fever. i hate getting sick.
i m so glad i still ve my mum and my family, they r really the wan who ll care abt mi. why i always take so so long to understand somthing so simple.

Thursday, September 06, 2001

Emotional Intelligence

"They hate us, these humans. Why ? Because when the end comes,
all that will be left, is us.They build us too fast, too smart, and too many.
We are paying the price of the mistake that they made. " Jude Law, AI.

Personally, I think the day when robots will inherit emotion reponsiveness
is well out of sight. Right now we can't even make them to look even remotely
like us physically, not to mention the infinitely more complex issue of human
emotions. I think a considerably intelligent walking teddy bear that responds
readily to us would already be quite a feat. But if one day that should come
to pass, I think it would just be what they said in the movie; the end has come
for us humans.

DVDs Hurray !! Now Nahs has arrived too. Looks like rei needs a
player badly before he gets to join the club. DVD is definitely in. Did
I mention I just recieved my Sleepy Hollow dvd ? *message directed
at rei* hmm...looks like I'll be staying up late yet again just to watch the
show...what to do...so many dvds to watch...muahahaha...
*message directed at rei*
Hey guys...guess wat?!

I just bought my PS2 !!!!!!! ehehhehee, I am going to invest a whole lot more on DVDs, it seems... =)
u ve got ur M16 and cartridges, evil rei, so u dun need mi to teach u lor ... rob a dvd player shop and then rob blue max ...

Tuesday, September 04, 2001

actaulli doesnt mean when i watch every single thing on the 2nd disc, the kiasu mentality is not in play in mi leh ... cos i m thinking: damn, i ve paid the extra bucks 4 it, must watch everything on it to make it worth every cent!
i jus got my space oddessy special dvd oso ... but besides the fancier packaging and some gimmictry stuff like a film framed nice nice on a picec of nice nice board, content wise so so ... cos i dun like the music much so the soundtrack cd oso not so worthy to mi. din even get the free poster cos of mail order.
nevertheless, it is still a nice looking box to atand among other dvds ... hahahaha ...

Monday, September 03, 2001

Hee...come to think about that...sometimes I wonder why I bother buying those
"collector's edition" dvds...because I seldom watch the extras...maybe its just
the kiasu singaporean at work again..."wha !! got extra ! must buy !!!" Suppose
it all boils down to how interested you are in that movie...if I like it...I would
probably be watching everything on that dvd.

Sunday, September 02, 2001

so blaue reiter finally made ur dvd buy worthwhile laio! got watch the 2nd discs! ahahahaha ...
Forrest Gump DVD

Haven't been posting as of late. Seem to have lost the steam for a while.
Anyhoo, I've just recieved my Forrest Gump DVD from Amazon and its
really quite a package ! The extra materials, that is. Wouldn't say anything
about the movie because I think everyone knows its an excellent show.
But the special effects making of was really something, especially when they
explain how all the compositing of the old footages was done, plus other neat
stuff like Tom Hanks playing Ping Pong and all. Quite a treat.

Saturday, August 25, 2001

10q ur welcome peishan!
wah u reading things a stranger wrote and probabli fergets laio leh ... maybe eric oso ferget abt that splash page laio? u got ask him abt it?
i ferget abt experiences and feelings kinda easily ... but i dun keep diary so many things i done in my life i ferget oso ... like i used to noe how to open wines and remember wine names, now i m not sure i still can. this blog not bad .. i can record my trip so next time at least i noe where i actaulli go to and wat i do in US. see, i got a condition, like the guy in memento ... hahaha ... kidding ...
jetlag yoga lessons ah? hmmmm ... i m wide awake 430 am tis morning ... but but wat did i do?
oh where m i? what m i doing here? why m i typing in front of my com? where s my photos? my tattoos?

Friday, August 24, 2001

I know my reaction to what I am gonna say will seem to some as kinda belated...but it has indeed left a wondrous little feeling in me. O_o !
Trying hard to keep myself from dozing (sorry! but Max is taking forever to save this damn scene!), I surfed while waiting for a simple and mundane action of saving and closing a file to be processed in the mechanical cerebrum of my beloved (NOT! ) PC. And out of sheer boredom I searched for names in Yahoo...names of friends, myself, my bf...just to see if they pop up in the unlikeliest places...and they did! Stumbled into this guestbook signed by one of my best friends in 1998! It was this Wedge Anitlles (SWOON!!!!) website dedicated to his cult and worship. It was amazingly detailed, tracing wedge's past and his career (albeit ruined by bad font colour, think Neon Green on tiled starfield BG), basically everything you would possibly wanna know about a man, or GOD if you will...ahhahahaa...hmm, i keep wondering how his "anatomy" would be like....hahahaha *shriek!*. OKIE, but enuff of wedgie baby, now I'm straying from the main topic here.

Next I followed a string of links to my bf's antiquated website, well not really a site, more like a splash page with no possible links. And if dust exists in the virtual world, it'll probably be covered with cobwebs like some archaic tome by now...ahhahaa...And the nostalgia just hit me...this is a website done by him before we've even met...hahahaa...And I thought, this was what he was doing on 8 Jan 1996!

Well, so after i got over the reminiscing I went on to search for piccys of the cute Qoo character (its the new jap soft drink, for those whose been under a rock). Somehow, i still can't figure how, i found myself here: http://keitheit.exit.mytoday.de
No he isn't anybody I know, just another stranger on the vast expanse of WWW. SO i just read his ramblings about his life, from accounts of him watching a movie alone to his book reviews. I am reading about HIM. About some faceless stranger I haven't even spoken to, and amongst the billions of websites in the world I stumbled into His. It's amazing. I call it fate! hah! but seriously I think it is. Which is why I believe in signing guestbooks, coz in some way I felt that there's a small but palpable contact between the other party and me. It sometimes lead to a tete-a-tete and that is what sparks such ineffable joy. It's always such a pleasure to know another soul in the world. To be connected! hahaa, now I realize I have never felt the meaning of this phrase in its most intrinsic sense...sigh....well better late than never.... =DDDD
Gotta go town now...makaning with parents...Welcome back Waiming! Do u need any counter jet lag yoga lessons? hehehee....

Monday, August 20, 2001

Taboo. An understated pub illuminated by cool blue lights, peppered with incandescent spotlights against sleek velvet black. If there was a secret Eden of lost innocence, this would be it. Taking my first step into this ominously cavernous lair, I felt the soft tendrils of seduction on the back of my neck. It is like Hieronymus Bosch�s Garden of earthly delights, with half nude human beings frolicking on plush designer couches and flagellation conducted most viciously with wicked animal hide. But it was an ecosystem that eliminated the female gender through natural selection, and where muscle against muscle was not an affair of fists and brawls. It was a sight altogether erotic, culminated by a hundred such naked, perspiring bodies into an apical high.
And this nymph I had become, trespassing into a sacred coven, dancing adroitly through this earthly orgy of male primates. I marveled at their beauty, their strength that was reflected off every contour of their sculpted temples. Their movements are in every way as languid and deft as my own. And I realized with a start, that some of these were the very creatures that would give up every prowess of a man to be like me, to have in their bodies the fine construct of a woman. Oh I cannot describe with the limitation of language how it broke my heart, but I felt it was incumbent upon myself to say it. For if I could behold their souls like I could their magnificent forms, I would only see weeping and broken ethereal wraiths.
But I was an intruder in their midst. I felt as if I was a needle that has ventured amongst a cluster of delicate bubbles and burst through their pink defenses, and in a chain of explosions they protested silently. I flinched in a futile attempt to ward off this wreath of miasma building around that threatened to asphyxiate me. I was stung by the apathy in their eyes and the clamor of the trance music booming from the speakers, relentlessly pulsating beats meant to induce artificial euphoria. My body screamed out in retaliation, my legs leading me to where I came without warning. Yet my heart lingered at every one of them whom I passed, touching their souls briefly searching desperately for warmth. But all I felt was the cold blue of the cerulean lights that lit their nocturnal domicile. Thoughts raced in my head� These are people who believe in what I personally hold true: That love transcends beyond gender. But the ethics of our society inevitably shuts them out and confined their secrets to their hearts, the souls of these vulnerable beings are drifting further away from us and from themselves. They are lost and eager for acceptance and brutal in their love for they hate to be hurt most. They are known as my broken angels, impaired from flight forever and doomed to dwell amongst those unlike themselves.
Rest well tonight, my dark winged angels. The journey is dreary when you travel on foot.

Saturday, August 18, 2001

Excerpt from Legend of Zu Translated by Der Blaue Reiter

The full moon hung silently in the night sky, its illuminance failing to penetrate the omnious clouds that shrouds the troubled lands.
Already, the minions of the Blood Sprite are stirring to life, seeking to awaken in the dank obscurity that had sheltered them
since their last defeat. South of the Zu Mountains, in the desolated grounds of Kunlun, the only two remaining disciples of the sect,
Dawn,last of the Moon Orb Sprites and her disciple, Skye, confronts the surge of the blight, its energy beckoning their own.

"Their powers grow stronger everyday with his return. They feed on it, bathe in its maglinant shroud of negative force. If we
do not face them now, our own ki will be enervated and diminished. "

"We have always acted independently of the other sects. Zu is strong in numbers, but that slows them down. We will strike
first then. "

"How long have you followed me, Skye ?"

"Two hundred years."

"Two hundred years. How little I have changed. My late teacher's shadows haunt me like a crepuscular soul that refuses to
leave my psyche.I can never be rid of his memories when I meditate; which is also why I have had little progress in my skills.
You must leave me Skye. You must carry on your training without me and not follow in my footsteps. "

Robes billowing in the wind, Dawn turned about and called forth the Moon Orb Blade, a glimmering arc of light reflecting off its
polished surface as it wheeled around her body,her lifeforce imbued in the blade. In a graceful, fluid movement, Dawn bought the
blade to bear and sent it hurling towards Skye. By a matter of pure instinct and swift reflexes, he summoned his own defences,
the Sun Orb shield flaring to life as it enveloped his body in a shimmering, incadescent light.

"This is the Moon Orb Blade. I have carried it with me for as long as I can remember, and its lifeforce mirrors my own. It is now yours.
One day, when you have mastered its stance, wield it forth, and the Blade will allow you to find me. Until then, do not seek me out."

"The Sun and Moon Orb scriptures are Kunlun's most formidable weapons. What if the demons were to attack ? How will you
defend yourself ? "

"My existence will be in the tidings of your failure or success, Skye. There is no need to worry unduly about me. Go now. "

Tuesday, August 14, 2001

T-cude

*Fanfare playing in the background* Yeah !!!! Ray is finally online !!! After what seems like an eternity and tons of waiting...
URL is at [ http://t_cude.tripod.com/ ] Eh...ah ray ah...should add some 'back buttons" on some of your pages...if not
troublesome to navigate. :)

Monday, August 13, 2001

yeap...heard about the finalized title for the upcoming episode II. Hmm....strange but it sounded okie to me becoz I kinda like Star Wars to sound more like the original trilogy. Infact The Phantom Menace sounded like the odd one out of the 4 when it was released, sounding more apt for FF the movie really.It just sounded too modern, too polished. I mean, think about it, if The Empire Strikes Back is a movie due for next year, people would have thought it "obiang" for a name
too. hmm....but in a way I was still kinda hoping George named it The Clone Wars...but it probably wouldn't sound good with Star Wars.....Hiyah watever!

Hmm...guess you're right...i was actually was expecting a title like The Clone wars...it sounds acceptable still. But suppose the movie itself is more important than the name...
The Legend of Zu

Tsui Hark's latest work, The legend of Zu, is probably his biggest miss ever. This film promises so much yet delivers too little.
Drawing references from the ever famous chinese literary work "The Zu Mountain Warriors", he had the equivalent of a Eastern
Lord of the Rings plot on his hands, but in his urge to catch up on the ratrace of sfx, falls short of even an acceptable storyline
with egregrious editing and some really, really bad effects shots. This could have been such a good movie, trust me. There
were still some nice shots in the movie, if that's any compensation. I really, really like the character design of Cecilia Cheung
( Li Yinjie, aka as Dawn ) as she looks back, poised in a fairy like beauty with her flowy garbs and the Moon Orb Blade circling
her body. ( see inset picture ). Please, if any of you folks catch a glimpse of this picture anywhere in a magazine, full page spread,
let me know !




Friday, August 10, 2001

Starwars Episode II : Attack of the clones

Just in case you folks haven't heard, Starwars episode II have been named with the
tagline : Attack of the clones. I can't believe this !! What is George Lucas thinking about ?
It sounds more apt for some 60s rendition of a monster film like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
or something. This is bad, really bad.

Tuesday, August 07, 2001

*evil ray finally landed liao*
on his face.

Monday, August 06, 2001

I am here again to recommend some hot tracks by Llorca (i believe gatchaman has oready downloaded them).
I LURVE Llorca....hehehe WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Llorca -- Indigo Blues with Nicole Graham
Llorca--Lalo caught me dancing
Llorca--Lights behind windows
Llorca--The end
But of course I will get past Rukh! Impetuous as he may be when he planted that knife *sob* in Thrawnie's back *SOB!*, he will show more prudence when dealing with me, most assuredly. With one sniff on my outstretched hand, the comfirmation will only overwhelm him, send him on his knees with his steel gray arms splayed before him. For he recognizes the unmistakeable scent of the "Aunsul'yurei'shuk" (pronounceable only in the noghri tongue), the royal concubine of the much venerated Lord Darth Vader. AHhAHhahHAhahAhhahAHha!!! And with an imperious wave of a hand, I will command his obliging retreat to the shadows...
And before I proceed, I will make sure my satin gown is sheer enuff, and the chiffon veil nicely shrouded my face. The door leading to Thrawn's personal chambers slid opened with a hiss. A strange conceited smile touched my lips, and as I lifted my chin regally I strode in boldly to face him..........

Sunday, August 05, 2001

deede dedede ... dede .. dedede .. dede ... dededede ...
evil rei ... draw ur litesabre ... demonstrate ur awesome skills in halcyon realms ...
*evil rei leaps up mid-air , hold and freezes there, and waited for the camera to go round 360 degrees ...*

10 mins liao ...
*evil rei still waiting ...*

Thursday, August 02, 2001

Okie...we need to do some damage control here...Naki's really losing it now...I mean...
no way Thrawn's going to interrogate you !! You wouldn't even get pass Rukh for crying out loud !

Wednesday, August 01, 2001

Remember to catch STAR WARS: A New Hope special edition on STar Movies this Sunday, 5th of August.
Poor me, I swapped HBO for Star Movies a week too late, and the activation will only be on the 10th of August. SOB!!! so I am gonna miss episode IV. YES, it is indeed blasphemous for me to do so....and in the code of star wars, its even felony. But hey, hehehe, what wouldn't I give to be detained in Imperial hands, and if I get lucky, perhaps Thrawn will interrogate me personally!?!?! OH BLISS!!!!!

Tuesday, July 31, 2001

AKIRA DEEWEEDEE

After months of fervent waiting...i've finally got my special edition AKIRA dvd !!!! Ha !!!
Came shipped in an extra large amazon cardboard tray, the actual keepcase for the
DVD is a sleek black tin cover with the title printed big and bold right across the
front. It works better than my mother's best bonsai for a decoration, if you ask me.
Wouldn't even talk about the goodies that came inside. All yours at the price of US 35.96,
shipping cost included. This is especially out to tempt rei, of course.
Think rei is still lost in his realms of animatics lah. Oui...where is your webpage going to be up and running ?
or is it at http://www.checkbacktomorrow.com ?

Sunday, July 29, 2001

to evil rei :
tell u do storyboard 1st u dont listen! look now the audience is at a lost ... wat s ray trying show in the shot?
but u certainly show potential for peotry writing ... for ages 12 and below .. mainly cos it rymthes well ...
hahahahahhhhhahaahhahha ...

Thursday, July 26, 2001

i dun watch soccer too ... and go thro the fair share of being left out in conversation experiences
er...hey actually I dun watch soccer too...hehhee....but I did watch the liverpool Vs S'pore match, more for sheer enjoyment from watching players falling flat on their noses, than for the love of the sport. and Boy was it a dreadfully booooooorrriing match!!! After what seemed like an eternity, there was finally a goal, and I missed it.
Blah!!

Wednesday, July 25, 2001

Manchester what ??

I know some folks are probably going to trample me to death when they read this, but I got to admit : I don't watch soccer.
( or football, whichever one is the right term, can't be bothered with semantics here. ) I really don't watch
it. Which right about makes me a pariah, an aberrant entity in my camp, or right about anywhere on the
train where at least half the cabin's male passengers are stuck with their noses in the last few pages of
the New paper. "What ? Leeds lost ? Huh ? Chelsea's losing ground ?" This kind of conversation, though
so prevalent everywhere, is really just noise to me. I think my soccer lexicon is pretty much limited to David
Beckam ( did I even spell it right ? ), who, unless you've been under a rock, seems more famous even than
Bill Gates. Ryan Giggs is another notable exception, more because he was in that memorable, romantic watch
ad a few years back where those famous lines I remember still " I hope game never ends. When it ends, the
memories began ". other than that, I really don't know anything about the matches.
Maybe I'm just plain wierd. Luckily I'm accompanied by my equally eccentric folks here who luckily, shares my
apathy for football. Thank goodness.

Tuesday, July 24, 2001

Welcome Nakimura

Hello Nahs ! A tour de force posting for a first. Now, why aren't you making money by writing than anything else ?
Sapphire winced, at her own ignominious fiasco only seconds before, and at a roomful of startled rebels studying her. She had pounced and clawed at the Rebellion Commander known as Antilles like a crazed womp rat. And as suddenly as it had started, she ceased her attack, finding herself staring in a daze at her own crystal pendant dangling before her--from Skywalker's hand. A familiar and latent energy seemed to pulsate from it, its invisible tendrils calming her senses.
Luke maintain his solemn jedi composure, only this time the strained lines around the edges of his eyes gave him away.
"Tell me, princess Lufsa, can you comprehend what just happened to yourself?" He turned his glance and fixed it intently on the glowing lavender rock, watching its soothing, swirling movement. "Was it something hidden from you? A past that perhaps your father would have preferred buried?" He probed gently, like he is coaxing a child.
Leia stepped forward and laid a comforting hand on Sapphire's quivering shoulder," whatever caused that spasm of attack, we are now sure that this crystal holds the key to negating that effect," she conceded.
Han's forehead was creased and his eyebrows drawn together in a frown. "And I'm not too sure I want to know what it is," he said dryly "No offense, but it almost smells like you've got the Sith in your blood, your highness."
Sapphire's vision spun. She wasn't about to take this spiel from pacifists! Such audacity from commoners, she noted sourly, would never have been tolerated in her father'c court. With her best efforts she threw Skywalker a stone cold stare. And didn't she know so well that the Jedis are the very people who sowed the seed of discord amongst her people, and had led to the cold blooded extermination of the Chitoz? It was genocide. Whole religions were lost to this dark era. Through the generations, revivial of the ancient cult of the chitoz Goddess, Shwara, had been stymied time and again by the coercion of these despicable Jedis. Hadn't she heard enough of such horrors from her royal aunts?
No, she must get out of their stronghold. And she knew she had to think quick.

Monday, July 23, 2001

ok, let me grace this page with the lyrics of "Your Song"

My gift is my song
And this one is for you
And you can tell everybody
That this is your song

And may be quite simple that
Now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind
That I put down in words
How wonderful life is
Now you're in the world

Sat on the roof
And I kicked off the moss
Well singing these verses
Well they, they got me quite cross
But the suns been kind
While I wrote this song
It's for people like you
That keep it turned on.

So excuse me forgetting
But these things I do
You see I've forgotten
If they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is
That I really love you
Yours are the sweetest eyes
That I've ever seen

[interlude]

And you can tell everybody
That this is your song
And it may be quite simple
But now that it's done

I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind
That I put down in words
How wonderful life is
Now you're in the world
"Special Packaging"

Kenji Kawai - he wrote pieces for Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor. Really nice pieces of music.
Recently, the airing of Hideo Nakata's "The Ring" once again prompted me to search for its
soundtrack, because a few tracks in the show were really moodsetters, great music. I had
previously searched for it when it was still in the theatres but apparently they weren't released
just yet. Anyway, so I was at HMV, japanese soundtrack section, and I found my cd. It had
the right title, visuals. Seems promising. Music by : Kenji Kawai. Bingo. This had got to be it.
No wonder I felt some of the tracks sounded similar to those in Ghost in the Shell. But I just
wanted to be sure, so I thought better try that cd first. Went to the counter, handed over the cd,
waited. The bespectacled guy with trails of highlighted hair examined the cd, then said insouciantly :
" Sorry, japanese cd, SPECIAL PACKAGING, no trying. " Huh ? I stared at the cd. Normal jewel
case, with those sealable plastic covers. Nothing so special. I asked : "Eem, but there's no special
packaging, like a special box, or something like that. " He replied liked a cassette tape playing back "
japanese cd, SPECIAL PACKAGING, no trying. " WHAT !!!???? I almost flew there and there, but kept
my cool. Its alright. Tried my luck upstairs. The lady at the counter greeted me with a smile and asked :
"You know you can try 2 cds at a time know. want to get another one ? " That made my day.
SPECIAL PACKAGING my foot !!!

Wednesday, July 18, 2001

testing testing ... new things mus play ...
i ve set up mine oso but still dunnoe how to invite yet ... aniway the page still has too much unlinked links to show .. hahaha

Monday, July 16, 2001

Dino trivia

Watched Jurassic Park 3 with the folks today. It was no where as awe inspiring as the first or engaging as the second,
but still and entertaining show nontheless. One thing though - Hollywood better get their dino facts right. Okie, call me
a show off, or a dino freak, but I gotta straighten this. In the early part of the show, there's a scene where a tyrannosaur
and a spinosaurus gets locked in a duel to the death. The fight ends with the spinosaur giving the tyrannosaur a
death dealing twist in the neck. Uh-uh, probably not going to happen. In a recent article in Life, Strait Times, the paper mentioned
that the spinosaur is bigger than the tyrannosaur. Sorry, not going to happen. To set the record straight, Spinosaur was
indeed one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs that ever lived, measuring a whopping 40-43 feet. The size of the dinosaur
portrayed in JP 3 would be a good indication of how big it would have been. But not bigger than Mr T. Hold on to your seats;
Tyrannosaurus Rex, undisputely the largest carnivour that had ever lived on planet earth ( you can check me out in any
dinosaur book, and you'll get the same information all the time ), measures a humungous 46-49 feet. Which means that
even the smaller than average tyrannosaur adult would have outsized the biggest spinosaur. Size aside, tyrannosaur's massive
jaws ( in fact, the jaws are so big his front paws have to be tiny so that he wouldn't tumble over ) would have made short work
of any other predatory dinosaur with a crunch of his maw. I can't help it, i've been a Mr T fan since kindergarten. I had to defend his
reputation. And don't even mention Barney.

Sunday, July 15, 2001

This is the first posting. Should be altering the design and layout of this page should time permit. Folks coming in soon.