Minty's Sky

Goodbye 2011

2011-12-31T01:31:00.000-08:00

Seriously I still don't understand how time works - it just went by so quickly! 2011 has been really a great year for me; so many ups and downs and shit happened, but hey life goes on! When you hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up. Hopefully this is what will happen in 2012. Looking back 2011 it has to be a year for my studies. I had a big comeback (woot woot!) on my grades since it went downhill after PMR. LOL. Not to mention I effing nailed all my classes to a point people nicknamed me as the Maya (3D program) God. HAHAHA. Here's hoping I will maintain the drive for studies and keep improving and have better artworks to share with everyone. I wish everyone stays healthy for the upcoming year nevertheless. Goodbye 2011 and hello 2012!! Partayyy and work hard bitches! When life gives you lemon, just sell it and buy yourself a drink!

This is my last artwork of 2011: guess the portrait?

I tried to approach the same drawing style back in March. Clearly a failure

My Suicide 03.29.1967

2011-12-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

One of the better soundtrack I've heard in awhile. So beautiful! So good that I have to upload it to youtube myself!

The score is from a recent movie I watched awhile ago called The Artist. The movie was beyond words. Definitely check it out. I think the 'public version' is available online now. Not bootleg. Whoops. This is the movie trailer. The trailer is so good it pretty much sums the movie.

So this is me showing my support for the movie - Hope you win big for the upcoming Golden Globe and Oscar next year! You deserve it!

My 1st Visit To ILM Studio

2011-11-19T04:36:00.000-08:00

There's a new movie out now everywhere else besides U.S. - The Adventures of Tintin, by Steven Spielberg. Fortunate enough, my pal Cory was invited to a private screening over at ILM (Industrial Lights and Magic) - the visual effects studio behind almost every major hollywood blockbusters - Ironman, Transformers, Captain America, Avengers, just to name a few, and he asked me to be his plus one. So so so stoked!!

I've been really excited about this ever since I saw the teaser trailer

The entrance to the ILM theatre~ That's the Jedi Fountain. How George Lucas was that huh?

Darth Vader: another Lucas icon

What an eye opening visit! Too bad we can only take pictures around the entrance. Back to the movie - it was a really good movie. Best adjective to describe the movie? It's very Steven Spielberg! LMAO. A lot of lens flare shots, 50s jokes (which I really enjoyed - its all about retro peeps! Haters gonna hate!), Sharks, Indiana Jones vibe and etc. Just the last one makes a movie hella good already. The CG part just blew my mind away, like completely. I like how every scene was transitioned beautifully from one to another - that really takes a lot of effort to make sure the visual flows. Action sequences were really well constructed too. The good thing about Spielberg is, you are always quenching to find out what is going to happen next - because he is just that good at building up the anticipation. I like how the graphic sticks to the original designs of the comic version of Tintin. That really takes a lot of studies. Jamie Bell did a great job breathing life to Tintin too because I can see Tintin as a real life human instead of just an animated character. I've seen The Polar Express but this one is a way better Motion Capture than that one was. So to sum this trip up - go and watch Tintin already!! Definitely gonna be a contender for Oscar's best animated feature next year. Won't be surprised if it wins.

(P/S: I wouldn't mind working at ILM at all!!)

Sunday Portrait

2011-10-30T23:01:00.001-07:00

I just don't feel like doing any academic-related work today - So I did this. Guess the sketch?

Vegas!

2011-09-26T02:21:00.000-07:00

2D Hand Drawing

2011-09-25T02:23:00.000-07:00

Like it but don't love it. Can be better

Drive

2011-09-22T01:23:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot lately as of what to blog. Seems like I just ran out of topics or too much happening lately that's ~~unbloggable~~ not worth a mention. Anyway, saw this movie Drive recently and it kills me if I'm not blogging about it. Hmm, so where do I begin with?

One of the screenshot: Perfect poster

Two words: Ryan Gosling. I am willing to pay my ticket for any movie starring Gosling. No kidding. Fortunately, I got my passes for the pre-screening and I ran to the theatre after my class ended early. I was so worried not getting in like the past 40 3 screenings therefore I made Leo queued there 2 hours before the movie started. It worth every second he waited for. LOL

It's such a stylized movie that every shot can be used as a photo, super super cool cinematography. It's such a simple story but the lighting and used of angles made the movie super awesome. Not to mention how minimal the dialogues were, and perfect score and soundtracks. It was such a throwback to the 80s film noir. (love the use of shadows!!! So so inspiring)

Highly recommended for movie lovers who understand film language. Not so for the regular audience ~~like cch~~ because you guys are gonna effing blame me for making you peeps to stay in two hours for a movie like this. (Rating: 9/10)

(P/s: Second watch was even better because I captured more stuffs that I missed during the first watch. Don't cha just love to have a friend who works in a movie theatre? I got a life size Drive poster that I'm about to hang on my wall!!)

Pier Hyde

2011-09-11T19:06:00.000-07:00

feel like my photography skill got rusted. Ughh. Be my judge?

Intense Semester

2011-09-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

Class just started ~~last week~~ today and I can feel the intensity already!! Woot woot. Went for the infamous 'perspective' class today and geez it really sounds like a lot of works and time consuming. But oh well I'm up for the challenge! One more day of classes tomorrow for Introduction to Animation (hand-drawn animation/ or 'cartoon' for those that can't understand) and Maya class (3D) and I'm done for the week. Gonna get my perspective homework done right now so that I can 'chill' for the weekend.

Pacca ;)

Wilfred

2011-09-03T13:32:00.001-07:00

to be continued

不善于沟通

2011-08-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

最近开始发觉自己其实唔系好善于沟通
譬如话
同室友坐系同一厅我地居然可以零交流是我的问题吗？
或者我真系习惯左自己一个人住暂时未能适应
又或者我系个大闷蛋同我倾计好嘥气？

查实我依家系做紧夹心人唉自己拿来衰

好友鬼鬼搭住我度室友原先都ok geh
鬼鬼并唔系无品或态度差只系室友觉得他好似白吃白住却系事实
虽然鬼鬼偶然会帮补添买食用品但室友同我仍然觉得他好似无么贡献
再讲
鬼鬼系我geh好友过去两周真系玩到癫
影真打开眼界
绝对系 ‘如何用一蚊玩尽全世界’ geh 最佳人选
穷到隆都仲可以晚晚去蒲交际能力叫人咋舌

话番转头其实真正的导火线系源自今朝鬼鬼问我地
他geh阿哥可唔可以搭住一晚 haha
我本身系无问题个人非常认同因果或者我前世真系欠左他
但系室友就当场黑脸将个波扔返俾我
sigh

好明显地我geh答案系yes
但系就觉得室友好似恼左
唉
whatever啦
今朝有酒今朝醉
明天才打算明天吧

Lifes Instructions

2011-08-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

I came across this post while I was stumbling upon. Feel like sharing:

Life's Instructions

1. Have a firm handshake.
2. Look people in the eye.
3. Sing in the shower.
4. Own a great stereo system.
5. If in a fight, hit first and hit hard.
6. Keep secrets.
7. Never give up on anybody. Miracles happen everyday.
8. Always accept an outstretched hand.
9. Be brave. Even if you're not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference.
10.Whistle.
11.Avoid sarcastic remarks.
12.Choose your life's mate carefully. From this one decision will come 90 per cent of all your happiness or misery.
13.Make it a habit to do nice things for people who will never find out.
14.Lend only those books you never care to see again.
15.Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all that they have.
16.When playing games with ! children, let them win.
17.Give people a second chance, but not a third.
18.Be romantic.
19.Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
20.Loosen up. Relax. Except for rare life-and-death matters, nothing is as important as it first seems.
21.Don't allow the phone to interrupt important moments. It's there for our convenience, not the caller's.
22.Be a good loser.
23.Be a good winner.
24.Think twice before burdening a friend with a secret.
25.When someone hugs you, let them be the first to let go.
26.Be modest. A lot was accomplished before you were born.
27.Keep it simple.
28.Beware of the person who has nothing to lose.
29.Don't burn bridges. You'll be surprised how many times you have to cross the same river.
30.Live your life so that your epitaph could read, No Regrets
31.Be bold and courageous. When you look back on life, you'll regret the
things you didn't do more than the one's you did.
32.Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.
33.Remember no one makes it alone. Have a grateful heart and be quick to acknowledge those who helped you.
34.Take charge of your attitude. Don't let someone else choose it for you.
35.Visit friends and relatives when they are in hospital; you need only stay a few minutes.
36.Begin each day with some of your favorite music.
37.Once in a while, take the scenic route.
38.Send a lot of Valentine cards. Sign them, 'Someone who thinks you're terrific.'
39.Answer the phone with enthusiasm and energy in your voice.
40.Keep a note pad and pencil on your bed-side table. Million-dollar ideas sometimes strike at 3 a.m.
41.Show respect for everyone who works for a living, regardless of how trivial their job.
42.Send your loved ones flowers. Think of a reason later.
43.Make someone's day by paying the toll for the person in the car behind you.
44.Become someone's hero.
45.Marry only for love.
46.Count your blessings.
47.Compliment the meal when you're a guest in someone's home.
48.Wave at the children on a school bus.
49.Remember that 80 per cent of the success in any job is based on your ability to deal with people.
50.Don't expect life to be fair.

What's Up?

2011-08-26T01:30:00.000-07:00

So much going on in life right now!
- movies watched this month: The Change-Up, Final Destination 5, 30 Minutes or Less, Fright Night, Planet of the Apes, The Debt, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, Warrior, 50/50, The Help, Glee movie (I think I might gonna pay to watch One Day just 'cause...)
- Learned Sake Bomb (LOL)
- boys night out! *woot woot
- Met John Madden!!
- Met JOSEPH GORDON LEVITT!! ARGH Right in front of me! *another check on my dead wish list (honestly I'm ready to die if I bumped into Brangelina one day in Cambodia or something)
- tried Pakistani food (which is naan and tandoori chicken HAHAHA)
- pizza night
- obsessed with Ancient Aliens
- super obsessed with Wilfred
- really felt like a nerd now

So agreed with RegularJoe:

- "The universe isn't made of atoms... it's made of tiny stories"

Sometimes it's not about what you do, is how you interpret/see/watch/listen and so on

Self Discovery

2011-08-24T00:54:00.000-07:00

You know when they say, who you're mixing with reflects who you are in person. Well now I realized this is so true. I've been hanging with a lot of random people these days and I kinda have a better understanding of myself, in terms of what I want and what I need.

Let's begin from the surface - I know I love movies - to an almost obsessed level. I like to voice my opinions over every effing movie I watched. It wasn't that obvious (maybe it is to some people) back home because we don't get good movie coming out every week. Here, I'm having a blast just attending all these random screenings of my choice. I love interpreting stories and what's not. Having my girl, Chelsea, moviebuddy/roommate/(fill in the blank) now is all I could asked for.

From movies, I realized I'm a person who preferred to have conflicts. Well get this straight, conflict doesn't equal to argument. I just don't see myself in a place like Utopia where everyone is just peace and calm and nice to everyone else. Anyway like that will ever happened.

You might think I am a person who's really good in talking but that's just the few things people assumed about me. I find it really hard to express myself, like my true feelings, even to my closest friends. Sometimes, I don't think people get what I was about to tell, so I would just shut down how I really feel and just go with what people think I am feeling. I don't think its really a bad thing because sometimes the truth hurts.

Owh and, as most people would think I am a street smart guy, I kinda begin to realize I'm more towards a nerd. Haha. I can spend my entire day in the house facing the computer reading facts that no one gives a shit but felt so content about it. I did try outdoor activities, skateboard? WTF. HAHA. But that clearly is not my thang. It was fun to try out new stuffs every now and then but I guess I'll just stick to the TV and theatre. You can take a boy out of the cinema but you can't take a cinema out of the boy. LOL

Well about stories that I've been getting drunk and fucked up a lot lately, well, that's partially, or should I say half true. I do drink but not like I'm getting fucked up every night. I think its good to loosen up once in awhile but I don't think I am able to do it everyday. It kinda loses the idea of drinking isn't it? Kudos to my friend who can think of a million way to get wasted and partying hard though. I envy his freewill of not worrying about the future but i guess that's just not how it works for me. I'm not ready for mankind evolution I guess. Haha

So to conclude my little self discovery - I am a shy, not outgoing, chilled geek who people nicknamed the walking fandango. Period.

Chasing Pavements

2011-08-21T21:41:00.000-07:00

I've made up my mind,
Don't need to think it over
If I'm wrong, I am right
Don't need to look no further,
This ain't lust
I know this is love
But, if I tell the world
I'll never say enough
'cause it was not said to you
And that's exactly what I need to do
If I end up with you

Should I give up,
Or should I just keep chasin' pavements?
Even if it leads nowhere
Or would it be a waste
Even if I knew my place
Should I leave it there
Should I give up,
Or should I just keep chasin' pavements
Even if it leads nowhere

I build myself up
And fly around in circles
Waitin' as my heart drops
And my back begins to tingle
Finally, could this be it

(I can't get enough of ADELE!! She just inspired my next work)

Wonderful Week

2011-08-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I do something productive. But again, what is productive? Emo aside, this full week has been a blast. My roommate Chelsea is back from Florida, we hang out and had so much to catch up with each other. So glad that Olivia got accepted to the RA job at the same time!(I'm more excited because she finally left the apartment)

On the other hand, Leo is back too! Got to admit, none of my friend can cook to begin with, so not only he can cook, he cooks like a pro too. He never ceases to surprise me with all his hidden talents. HAHA

So 'much' done this week - ~~hangover, hangover 2, hangover 3, ... hangover 5~~ we went for a special screening for the movie 'The Debt', (kudos to myself for finding those tix FOR FREE) and we had a Q&A session with the director, John Madden himself right after. It felt so surreal to meet a real Oscar nominated director. The movie was great. Love love love Jessica Chastain. And owh, the guy in Avatar, Sam Worthington is in the movie too. Check it out when it comes out later.

Can't wait for school to start nonetheless. Till then I will just hang it here and hum to the Lazy Song. Don't judge me. That's holiday.

(P/S: Thanks to Facebook, I just realized this is officially my first one year living in the State. Living up my teenage dream!!!!)

Capt. America 2.0 & More

2011-08-08T01:07:00.000-07:00

Challenge of the week:

Complete this by Tuesday

Update V2: Don't think will be able to get it done by Tues. Really taking time on this one

2. finish reading 'One Day' by tomorrow
3. clean up my place + 1 threadless submission (Tuesday)
4. Final Destination 5 + 1 threadless submission (Wednesday)
5. Warrior (Thursday) + grocery shopping

That's the plan for this week so far.

悠闲假期

2011-08-05T22:43:00.000-07:00

时间飞逝话甘快暑假就来放完全世界都问我做左D咩其实真系答唔出
真觉得自己好似废材人就系矛盾－有野做时就懒懒行无野做时就稳野做
原先geh plan系稳暑工－有啊见十份有九份都feel到好似会请硬我甘到最后都系无答复
算, 画画咯应该容易稳工D 又唔系话无水准点知死画烂画准备portfolio geh同时已经俾人截左胡
都算参加比赛咯总有D胜算瓜胜系胜统统都系胜在先输在后真系想爆粗

就系如此气馁geh时候 D好友们个个好似失晒踪甘稳个人打气仲难过捞月
D倾得下geh就无拉拉sot过我未开口吐苦水已经有一堆苦水哒落我块面度
sot D都仲有失惊无神问我觉得他为人系点认真地思考甘回覆，可能耐左D 点知他一句‘你好似敷衍紧我’ nia ma 激得我啊
都算打起精神最后geh冲刺帮我个design拉票稳晒一堆旧同学来vote 心酸到可能自己都有D唔岩平时都无mat打招呼无段段叫人家帮手系有D awakward 但系我总算系扯烂块脸吧敷衍下我唔洗死瓜

真失败过去的三个月好似真系么都无做过除左每个礼拜睇几场free首映 which对某D人甚至乎大部分人来讲，都觉得: 睇先zek, so? 有奖拿啊？这少少geh成就甘都俾抹杀左

好纳闷啊真该反省其实系我geh问题吗？
希望系假期完之前可以稳到份工塞住D八婆geh口但系我这个已经好幸运geh废柴还会有上天geh眷顾吗？

Random Update

2011-08-02T19:21:00.000-07:00

Howdy everyone! Not sure if you are aware but I deactivated my facebook account recently. Reason? None. Just feel like detoxing from facebook addiction I guess. Two screenings coming this week but I can only attend one because both take place same date with only an hour gap. Ugh. Currently reworking on my blue valentine painting and this is a glimpse of what I achieved after 4 hours.

So many mistakes in my original painting! Gosling face was flat and weird hair/neck/mouth. I feel so much better with this one. Will upload the 'finish' painting once I'm satisfied. You know what they say, an artwork is always unfinished because there's always room for improvement. Guess I figured that by now.

UPDATE:

SO MANY MISTAKES!!!!!

Screening, Screening and Screening

2011-07-28T01:15:00.000-07:00

This somewhat has became a routine for me to attend at least a movie screening a week but oh boy I've attended 3 screenings just this past few days - not that I'm complaining. Not to mention how much easier to get into the line without ~~bitch~~ Olivia. *with her cursing every five second definitely was one of the factors we got cut from Captain America. Anyway, cut the crap, below are the movies I watched recently:

Crazy Stupid Love

a cheerful comedy that's less Steve Carell-ish funny but emotionally moving. Great ensemble cast: Steve Carell, RYAN GOSLING, EMMA STONE, Julianne Moore (great great acting, definitely deserves a nom for at least Golden Globe), Marisa Tomei.. very well written script with an effing surprising twisted ending. Love every single bit of it. (9/10)

50/50

Another actor that can do no wrong in my dictionary: Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Diagnosed with cancer at the first 10 minutes of the movie and the entire film centered on how his life turned upside down due to that. This lighthearted movie got it right most the part - actors, acting, story arc, characters, cameras, only one important issue - soundtracks. It wasn't good enough to provoke that kinda sadness or emotion the picture was trying to do. I'm kinda upset about that because it has so much potential to be better. (6.5/10)

30 Minutes or Less

The title serves the movie best - I literally feel like it was just 30 minutes or less. It has some funny moments and solid punchlines but it feels more like short film material than a long feature. A pretty refreshing story nonetheless but I found Aziz Ansari's acting and comedic timing were forced at times. Danny McBride was Danny McBride (as usual) - its all about pussies and dicks. (4.5/10)

Upcoming screenings that I most probably (or hopefully) going next week:
Rise of the Planet of Apes
Final Destination 5
Warrior

If anyone of you reading this has extra passes, you know how to contact me. :P Peace.
By,
A Jobless Student - 'job hunter'/ painter in daytime & moviegoer at night

200th Post - Blue Valentine

2011-07-27T00:33:00.001-07:00

I'm getting good.. This is 3 hours. LOL

Totally didn't save the working file for the one with the background.. So I touch up abit the headshot

Extra sketch : Keanu Reeves

I gave up my tickets for Cowboys & Aliens today to go for another movie - 50/50. I made the rightest decision of the day! It was so so so good. The girls and uncle next to me literally can't stop crying and that made me kinda had teary eyes too. Awrghh. JGL can do no wrong, just like Gosling.

Shoutout to Chunn Hoo : Happy Birthday!

One Day

2011-07-25T00:11:00.000-07:00

Another day another painting. This is yet to be done but I'm just kinda upset everytime when mum calls, her first question will be like, 'what are you doing now? Sleeping?" Not cool mum. Not cool. I woke up everyday 9 in the morning tops. No afternoon nap.

half an hour progress

3 hours

3 and a half (close to 4 actually LOL)

I think I am getting faster with this one.

Captain America

2011-07-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

There are two ways (generally) I get inspired to do a drawing: either I am extremely upset or I watched a movie that leave real deep impact on me. So this is me doing Captain America, literally. Still in progress because it takes the patient of god to do a painting like this. Wonder how others able to do it within 2 hours. FML

2 hours

5 hours

7 hours

Seriously I don't remember I can paint like this. Gosh. Talk about improvement

UPDATE: Done in 10 hours! Not that bad actually

Crazy Stupid Love

2011-07-20T14:55:00.001-07:00

OMG! I wanna be a full time movie goer! I had my tix for Crazy Stupid Love! YES!!!!

(UPDATE: AND FML MY SCREENING FOR CAPTAIN AMERICA GOT CUT! NOT BECAUSE I WAS RUDE!! LOL)

Little Update

2011-07-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

I'm blogging this because I'm a mama's boy and my mum hasn't call me for a couple few days since last week. Here's a list of what I did last week:
1- moved into new apartment
2- housing equipments shopping
3- groceries shopping
4- setting up internet
5- doodling
6- pitching/ brainstorming ideas with friends for upcoming tshirt designs
7- Harry Potter 7 (So glad I paid to watch the movie because my sweater is featured on the entire movie!!)
8- learned to bake a cheesecake
9- set up my own router!
10-cyberslacking

Here's what I planned to do so far for this week:
1- Captain America screening
2- Job hunting at Haight
3- try to put up 3 threadless designs for this week
4- Cowboys Vs. Aliens screening (might not be attending afterall)
5- Put up my resume for a greeting card site
6- Setting up for 9Degree
7- visit the Vietnam restaurant (if Haight mission fail)
8- 50/50 screening (2 months in advance $%^&*%*!!)
9- buy a broom + vacuum
10-Hopefully get my invitation to Crazy Stupid Love screening before the movie opens next week

(P/S: I'm obsessed with attending advance screenings!!)

Bad Influence is Up for Scoring

2011-07-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

Vote for me purleaseeeee.... leave a comment too if you can ;)

My Conclusion Is..

2011-07-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

After meeting up with so many different people around the world (sort of), here is my theory, hypothetically, on:
1. Malays are friendly
2. Chinese are materialistic / fucking think they are the smartest
3. Hispanics are helpful (mostly)
4. White people care most about themselves
5. Russians are mean and egotistical
6. Philippines are lazy and drunk 48/7
7. Thai are warm
8. Japanese are polite
10.Koreans are over patriotic
11.Indians know maths the best
12.Indonesians are horny
13.Arabians are hornier
14.Cambodians are naive
15.Vietnamese only help themselves
16.Brazilians are hot
17.Spaniards are hotter, less intelligent
18.Cubans are stubborn
19.African americans are nice and down to earth
20.Italians are all about money

FML hard.

4th of July

2011-07-05T17:27:00.000-07:00

Beyoncé: 4

2011-07-05T16:54:00.000-07:00

Just watched the documentary "Beyoncé: Year of 4". So inspiring. Not sure why some critics hated that album but I think its her strongest album to date. My favorite song? I Was Here. Check out the lyrics:

I wanna leave my footprints on the sands of time
Know there was something that, and something that I left behind
When I leave this world, I'll leave no regrets
Leave something to remember, so they won't forget

I was here
I lived, I loved
I was here
I did, I've done, everything that I wanted
And it was more than I thought it would be
I will leave my mark so everyone will know
I was here

I want to say I lived each day, until I die
I know that I had something in, somebody's life
The hearts I have touched, will be the proof that I leave
That I made a difference, and this world will see

I was here
I lived, I loved
I was here
I did, I've done, everything that I wanted
And it was more than I thought it would be
I will leave my mark so everyone will know

Touch The Sky is Up for Scoring on Threadless!

2011-07-02T10:55:00.001-07:00

VOTE FAIRLY!!

Bad Media Influence

2011-07-02T00:15:00.000-07:00

Touch The Sky

2011-06-30T23:48:00.000-07:00

Lose the Starbucks competition
Lose the apartment I applied
Not gonna lose you.

Rainy Day

2011-06-28T23:36:00.000-07:00

Window Pane

Conversation

Slide

Fresh Air

Untitled

Can you guess which photo(s) wasn't altered via Photoshop?

Sean Preston

2011-06-24T22:49:00.000-07:00

One of my recent sketch/drawing of Sean Preston aka Britney Spear's son. So adorable!

Sean Preston

Friends With Benefits

2011-06-23T02:33:00.000-07:00

I was invited to watch this new ~~chick flick~~ romantic comedy 'Friends With Benefits' today and owh boy, it was hilarious! (*not to mention I'm watching it a month earlier than everyone else!)

Remember how romantic comedy always end up being repetitive and cheesy? Well expect that not from this one. It was funny, mostly because the jokes were fresh and relevant to our daily lives. I think the director, Will Gluck (Easy A, I love Emma Stone!!!) really has a good sense of humor on cliches/irrational in the same movie genre, like how he did with Easy A. I always think an important key to a successful movie is to be relevant and allow the audiences to connect themselves to the story.

Well ethically I am not allowed to spoil the movie but all I can say is, its definitely a good romantic comedy, lot of laughters, expect to see a lot of skins and awkward bed scenes. Mila Kunis is a perfect fit for the role, and I hate to say this but I think Justin Timberlake is proving himself from time to time again he can be be taken as a serious actor. Still prefer him to sing regardless. Anyway as this might not be the final cut of the film, so I think there will be some cuts and extra footages showing in the exact film. (*just like how they always can come up with something else on DVD damn it)

Movie review apart, just wanna mentioned that it was so much fun doing advanced screening. The theatre was taking shit strictly and make sure none electronic devices were taken into the cinema. (*Metal check FTW) Inside, they warned us again about the consequences of recording and what's not. They even had night vision glasses and cameras while playing the movie to make sure no one gets away with copy of the movie. ARGH. Such professional.

Hope everyone reading this will check out the movie when it opens on 22nd July.

(P/S: Peeps over at Paramount Pictures, if you are reading this, can I get an invitation to the screening of Captain America? I'll make sure I spread good words about Transformers 3 before that. LOL)

Haight

2011-06-19T17:37:00.000-07:00

Have Fun in Paris!

2011-06-19T12:06:00.001-07:00

Big, Ben and Big Ben

2011-06-18T11:57:00.001-07:00

Sunday Ride (Threadless)

2011-06-16T21:56:00.001-07:00

Ok bitches let's get straight down to business.. Anyone reading this who gives a shit about me please sign up a threadless account because you'll need one from today onwards as I am submitting plenty from now on. Here's my first (2nd technically) for you to vote:

Thank you so much. Each vote counts. And please vote sincerely, by that I mean play nice and try not to vote '0'.. 1 is fine

(UPDATE: The score seems going well peeps! Keep spreading)

Tree of Life

2011-06-16T10:50:00.001-07:00

Did this while listening to 'Tree of Life' OST.

QOTD: When you focus on problem, you'll find more problems; when you focus on possibilities, you'll find more opportunities.

Beelice in Blendedland

2011-06-15T23:11:00.000-07:00

Might not as good as the first one but i felt like I need to put this idea out.. might work on the characters in the future.

Beelice in Blendedland by ~MintZhet on deviant ART

Belice in Blendedland.. argh.. genius title

2011-06-13T00:06:00.000-07:00

Chapter of Life

Life is filled with multiple chapters that capture the various seasons in life. Some have many colorful and vivid chapters, while some have just a few simple chapters. Just like a book, the various chapters tell of part of the story. To know of the full story, you just have to finish all the chapters of the book. However, it is not that simple to figure out the story of a person’s life for the process of writing the book is a long one.

Just like a book, the story of one’s life needs an author and the author is none other than the person whose life is being lived. A person writes his own destiny, with his own strokes, his own words and his own poetry. The beauty of this is that for every book that is being authored, none are the same. Each book carries the unique sequence of life stories that the author lives everyday. There are no edits, no re-writes and no reprints for the author’s words are the final unchanging truth. This causes the manuscript to be the final published work, which can lead to certain consequences.

One of such consequence is that the book can only be written once. The author’s pen of actions writes out the stories. Some choose to write a story of a deep romance that is filled with beautiful chapters of discovering, falling in and out of love. Some choose to write a tale of adventure with thrilling chapters of waking up in foreign lands and discovering new things everyday. Some end up writing a sad tragedy with chapters of gut wrenching despair. Some end up writing a comedy filled with chapters of laughter and joy. While some, the most desolate lot of all, waste their lives. Their pens never moved, their pages flipped without ever writing a word. These end up with a blank book with a blank page to start and a blank page as its end.

The pages of this book are white as the story has not been written yet. The only thing certain is that the author has the freedom to write his own story. Everyday he flips a new page and writes new lines to fill his story. Writes pages to complete chapters and completes chapters to finish his book. However, be warned that even if one does not fill the book with stories, the pages still turn on each new day.

As each new day beckons, the page is flipped. There lies a pristine new page for another word, another phrase, another sentence, another paragraph, another story to be written. We control what happens or what does not happen. We can fill the book with stories of compassion or excitement or waste it all away. We ultimately determine our destiny, what happens next.

(P/s: Somehow I am scared and intimidated by the person who drew this.)

Pure Imagination (Final Version)

2011-06-10T01:45:00.000-07:00

Practice makes perfect. This is a far cry from the one I posted previously. Here's wishing it will help me to win some much needed money.

Pure Imagination 2.0 by ~MintZhet on deviant ART

(P/S: A click on the link above won't hurt much too. :p)

UPDATE: The first one got disqualified thanks to the watermarks. FUCK

Pure Imagination

2011-06-08T14:11:00.000-07:00

Shauna

2011-06-06T21:30:00.000-07:00

After various rough drafts I decide to do a new one from scratch. DAMN IT.

1st draft - not exactly rough draft since I started to color it but it just doesn't feel right

2nd draft: too 'adult'

Final version

to be colored.. if i am free and feel like continuing

2011 Summer Movie BlockBusters (thus far!)

2011-05-29T22:36:00.000-07:00

I've been checking on my blog stats and realized my most viewed post is still my review for 2009 Summer Blockbusters. Therefore I had decided to do a new one for now. With the summer movies that I watched thus far, here are some of my thoughts on:

1. Scream 4

Brilliantly written screenplay and hell lot of funny punchlines. I had my jump-on-the-couch moments watching it too! If you don't find the movie funny that's probably because you ain't watching enough of horror/scary movies to get its humors. Note: this is not some cheap parody movies like Scary Movies. One takes great intelligence to watch and the other one doesn't. You be the judge.

2. Fast Five

My first thought was, REALLY? ANOTHER ONE? They all looked effing same to me! I guess the studio realized that too. Therefore, instead of putting too much thoughts on storyline and character developments, they just filled the movie with more actions and gravity defied stunts. The result? A no brainer action flicks that's good for everyone!! HAHA. Anyone else thought it was kinda gay when The Rock was fighting Vin Diesel? I DID! *AWKWARD!

3. Thor

One word: overrated! Natalie Portman was the only draw for me to watch this movie. I am not the biggest superhero flick on this planet, nor will I be. And this movie was just ok to me. Weak plot, too organized I guess. And worst part, Natalie Portman is so replaceable! I am still wondering how they fell in love with each other. Love at first sight?

4. Bridesmaids

HILARIOUS! It served just right as a comedy but I think it was draggy at times and slightly too long. Everyone was so funny nevertheless! There is a NSFW blooper floating around the internet which is equally funny! Check out at your own risk!

5. Priest

Motherfucking @#$%;*&;^%#@!!! An action flick with only 3 action sequences? REALLY? They didn't even try to redeem themselves with this one after the shit they pulled out with Legion. Shame on whoever that involved in both projects!

to be continued..

Felix & the Goldfish

2011-05-28T22:11:00.001-07:00

Step by Step Guide To Do An Illustrator Drawing

2011-05-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

1. Draw a rough pose

2. Correct the pose (stabilized the weight)

3. Put in some details - Apply clothes/ features

4. more details (*correct the structure if necessary)

5. refine the lines and get rid of extras edges

6. start to outline the drawing in illustrator.

7 & 8: Scale and put in basic colors (*keeps checking the outlines. Changes are inevitable)

9. Details: Shadows : By this stage all structures should be in a satisfaction level

10. Apply background. Composite.

Chelsea

2011-05-15T02:34:00.000-07:00

22

2011-05-10T00:43:00.000-07:00

Guess age defines how one celebrates his/her birthday. I just celebrated my birthday way toned down compared to last year, which is good ~~I appreciated the effort of the surprise party but I am not really a big fan of crowd.~~ A normal dinner, great chat with best friends Leo and Chelsea. Argh, these two always make my day.

Right at the center of the city. Gorgeous view + Tropical 'drinks' = Perfections

Who knew dinner can be so much fun. Haha. Second round tomorrow with Olivia at In-N-Out! Wednesday with Elise and Rodrigo, Thursday with.. Friday... apparently its a one week celebration. Ops. HAHA. Happy Birthday to myself again!

if the pic above gives you DejaVu that's because:

They were my Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. HAHA

Head Sculpture

2011-05-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

I love it regardless of the grade I had. I have fun doing it. I wasn't sculpting Medusa. Just because she has long hair doesn't make her Medusa. OK?

(p/s: Happy Birthday sis!)

BUSY

2011-05-04T04:28:00.000-07:00

I love how 'occupied' I am with my life now. Love every single bit. Mentioned some time earlier before that I was going to work with Cory on a personal project. And vola~ here it is. Not our best but at least we tried. Working with him was really enjoyable and easy. Here is the video. Finished my fantasy head for sculpture class. Love and hate the class but mostly love because I have the best teacher, hating it because I suck. Will upload the pictures later. So many projects and plans coming up and I can't wait. All the best for me! Till then, pacca~

Blake Lively

2011-04-20T04:40:00.000-07:00

Not gonna ask "Guess the sketch" because no one bothers to reply. Did this on my way home today. I just love drawing Blake Lively. Argh. Improved much?

Now

Then: http://mintzhet.blogspot.com/2009/08/things-i-do.html

Spring Show Project

2011-04-16T15:33:00.000-07:00

Not sure what and how and when you you guys get to see this but I'm now off to work with Cory for our spring show project. Hopefully its decent enough to get picked and get to preview at the upcoming spring show. To be updated.

30 Seconds to Mars

2011-04-10T02:27:00.000-07:00

Rough start of a week but I think it's ending with a high note! Went to San Jose with pals Ivan and Chelsea to watch 30 Seconds to Mars concert. Knew some of the songs before but not really a hardcore fan, however, I think I am now after the concert.. hahaha.

Taking shots before the show. Pumping up!

Our original seats

some random opening act who I can't even remember their band name

camwhore before the concert

This was where we stand before 30 Seconds to Mars hit the stage.

this was how close we dived ourselves in

One of my groupies who I joined to squeeze into the front row. They named me Yoshi. LOL

Jared Leto!

This was how close we were.

Ivan ended up on stage! Bitch!

Not gonna go in details much incase I got misinterpreted as whining here. ~~I shook Jared Leto's hand and he was right in front of me OMG OMG OMG~~ LOL

Bad Day

2011-04-07T00:29:00.000-07:00

Its a bad week for me I guess. Everything seems wrong. Looking forward to the weekend though. Hopefully everything will be alright. I just felt so disconnected with the world, or at least the place I came from. One thing I do learned out of this whole situation is, it doesn't matter what others think of you, its what you think of yourself matters the most. I spent too much time stuck in the past for the past years because those were the glory days of my life. They were. It was a milestone for me but I guess there's a bigger one ahead. So for now, I think I need to embrace the present because I believe the me, is better than myself from yesterday. - Random

R.I.P. Bobby

2011-04-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

WonderCon

2011-04-02T00:23:00.000-07:00

It's friday friday everyone getting down on friday~ ahhh... I hate friday but today is exceptional because I went to the WonderCon!

YES! That's Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds in my camera holy shit! So exciting! I couldn't be there soon enough because I had a class earlier..and word can't describe how I felt about the class.. anyway, it was such an amazing experience and not to mention: Hella exhausting! Definitely get me looking forward to Comic Con which is 10 times bigger than this. Ahhhh, Serena!! You are just as gorgeous in real person.... and Ryan Reynolds is really hilarious too.. ahhh...

Sephora Photobooth!

time to sleep.

The Boy Who Tried Stopping Time

2011-04-01T05:31:00.000-07:00

Trying to figure a better title.

any extra ideas to put in?
Comment?

(Most) Malaysians Need Help

2011-03-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

Not sure if any of you have watched a recent YouTube sensation called Rebecca Black with her adorable song "Friday" (video below) but I find it entertaining. I don't have any ears for music of whatsoever but I can tell she is not the best singer or has the 'talent' to carry a tune. But, people loved it. She must be doing something right. On the other hand, Kok Hong showed me a video of a local girl singing a song about "Welcome To Malaysia". (video below)

First of all, I just need to clear the air, the very moment I am blogging this, I still considered myself as a Malaysian (its hard to believe but I am telling the whole world I am from Malaysia, out loud!) I find it disgusting, that what people wrote to the poor girl video. Does she suck? Yes, big time. Is she degrading Malaysia? I don't think so. You see, if she is the only thing people can relate to Malaysia, well, I guess the problem is not her already right?

Well it doesn't come to surprise that most haters are posting negative comments simply because, she is not a Chinese/ she can't speak proper english/ she has indon slang (WTF?!)/ she is not as pretty as Rebecca Black (LAME)/ she dreamt TOO BIG (was there ever a dream too small? IDIOT!)/ etc etc. DAMN. Hating for all the wrong reasons.

So what if you are Malaysian Chinese. Are you smarter? If yes, what are you doing now to help improve the country? Complaining about everything and call every Malays you meet on the street pigs? Or saying Malays being racist? Why is your leader not doing anything to fix things? Doesn't that make him an idiot too? And you guys are idiots to vote for him at the first place? Oh, and not to forget that 'genius' who keeps writing songs about our government and doing some 'inspiring' shorts, did he contribute anything to the society besides rising chaos within? And you guys still buy whatever shit he sells.

So what if she can't speak proper english? That might not be her fault. Do you think she had the 'high education' level same like you did? If she had, do you think she's gonna be doing the video at all? She might ended up being like one of you who claimed to have the perfect grammar error free fluent english and still talk like .. I don't know, I am not in a position to judge. You can have all your bombastic words in your 500 pages of speech but at the end of the day, you might just be practicing to yourself in front of the mirror. Or show off to your friends once in awhile when you have 'foreigner visitors'. Not sure to you, but that kinda sounds like a loser to me.

She dreamt too big. Wow. She doesn't has the face in the field. If that's the case, what the fuck is Steven Tyler and Susan Boyle doing in the showbiz. For those who don't know who they are, shame on you. Or maybe, your dream is that big it can only content yourself and your delusional future that might not even come. Nuff said.

So back to Rebecca Black. To me, they are the same thing. So why is Rebecca Black a trending topic on Twitter for the entire week and Rosalinda is getting (still counting) all these backlashes from all you beloved Malaysians? People should really take funny and mean the right way.

This is the sad thing. I am really proud of being a Malaysian. I love our inside jokes but sometimes I think there should be a limit of what you say to others. No matter how much I complained about our country (not gonna stop) but I still hold hopes because I know, out there, there are people like me (hopefully) who is civilized enough to be witty and talk shits at the right time instead. That being said, I think I am smarter than you, I'm sorry, just a fact check.

Biggest 2011 Oscar Snub

2011-03-18T03:15:00.000-07:00

This is a drawing I did for my new upcoming blog. It's a project for myself. Inspired by the Julie/Julia project, I will try and have at least one artpiece posted everyday (hopefully it will last for a year). I'm yet to come up with a cool template so its gonna take few days but for now this is something I wanna share.

(Guess the sketch?)

Equity

2011-03-02T16:48:00.000-08:00

Have you ever in a position where you think, "Why so unfair? ... " I'm pretty sure all of us did. Fact is, the world is not fair. If it was, earth would have been in a cube shape instead of round. Make sense much? Below are some of the few examples from my personal experience for the past months:

1.) I worked my ass off to do my finals last semester. Not to mention getting home late and going to school again early in the morning. I was pretty sure just that effort itself scored an A++. My final grade? B+. Okay, I tried convincing myself, it was a tough A to get. SO let it go. Till one day, someone I think should have got a B- told me he got an A for the class. DAMN IT. (He's good looking and nice to me so I'll give it to him. UGH)

2.) There was a bitch who constantly late to classes or just MIA for weeks. (Note: to make sure I'm not saying its racism issue here, this bitch is an asian) According to the school policy, absent from classes for three times cause a dropout for the class immediately. That sounds so terrifying right? But, bitch showed up on last class with all her tears and some shitty final homework she did and the teacher let her got away. Reason? She was dealing with some personal issues that cause her missed those classes. Guess what were those issues? Having trouble to identify which man she slept with the night before.

3.) The same bitch, for yet another class, had issues with showing up on time too. That kinda pissed the teacher off. So she was kinda picky on her which I totally didn't blame her for that. Since this time was a female instructor, her gorgeous face features couldn't be used for 'good cause'. So she came up with this claim sayin' the teacher was being racist. She confronted her and since that she kinda give in because she was trying to avoid complains, or so I guess. So after 5 absences and uncountable late arrivals, she got a B+, exactly the same like me. BITCH

4.) Here's hoping I won't see her again in my new semester, this whore (sorry I just need to upgrade her status) somehow changed her schedule for some God-Knows-Why reasons to be in this current class with me. DAMN. She has been trying to make him (the teacher) to help her for the classwork (everybody does but she did it more often and in a sluttier way and fake compressed tones) and its kinda disturbing for me. So the unfair part here is, everyone got a B/C for the first grade and she got an A. FUCK HER. (Note, she was late for all the classes thus far. That should have been a grade drop according to the 'school policy'. If she were still able to get an A, that means she was an A+. WTF)

5.) Enough bragging about that whore who shall not be named ....~~prisa rianzi (totally google-able)~~ then at this side I have people telling me how good my life is - getting to study abroad, has this kinda money etc etc, which I am so lazy to repeat myself again.

6.) Too many things to tell at once. Maybe next time. ~~I just wanna rant~~

So, the conclusion is, life is not fair. If you want a fair life, get Neutrogena. or Olay Total White. Or something else. FML. Peace.

It's Not JUST A MOVIE

2011-02-26T04:04:00.000-08:00

OK. I just need to clear whats in my mind now. I was gettin' some backlashes lately because some stupid debates over movies. Why am I taking comments for movies so seriously? It's just a movie. Let it go. Well, to me, its my job ~~and I paid for movies so I get a say on them.~~ I'm sorry if you are fans of Transformers, Step Up Series, Vampire Sucks, Little Fockers (Ben Stiller), Jack Black, SANCTUM, and the list goes on, I'm sorry, these movies sucks, BIG TIME.

For most of you, maybe all of you who are reading, watching movie is just an entertainment thing, stuffs you do to kill time. But for some people, movies change their lives. I read an essay recently about how a refugee in Tibet struggled his way to Hollywood to become a director after he watched "Forrest Gump". Crazy much? I don't think so. *incase you think I am just making up stories - the title of the article is "Young Buddhist Warrior"*

For me, I think movies made huge impact in my life. One third of my language are learned from movies. In other word, movies shaped parts of who I am today. This is why I am doing what I am doing now because I think I can relate myself to it, not because how much I am gonna earn doing this (partly). So, for people to tell me I am being too persistent over just a movie kinda pisses me off. If I can't raise my opinion on what I am passionate about, what am I supposed to do else? Lose interest in life and stuck in textbooks with 500 pages full off bones and algebra or rocket science? I am not sayin' other jobs are not cool but that doesn't mean my work is any less cooler.

Also, I am not trying to tell you how right I am on movies and film stuffs. My initial intention was just to warn people of what's nice and whats not. I think bad movies (in this case, Transformers) deserve to have poor box office for not respecting the audience at the first place. Same applies to good movies. In the end, I am not the one who pays for the tickets, you guys can decide what to watch. You don't have to agree with me. This is what makes the world a greater place - diversity.

I apologized if my critics don't get along with yours but that doesn't make you right either. All I am saying is, I know what I am saying because (not that I am boasting) this is what I am good at, or the only thing I am good in. If I can't tell what's good and bad movie, I guess my entire future career is on the edge. So, please, forgive me, let me be right for this one. You guys can have science, maths and law.

"If you don't stand for something, you fall for everyting - Sucker Punch"

Dog Days Are Over (For Now)

2010-12-22T05:56:00.000-08:00

Funny how time passes just like that. Life, indeed, passes in a fast pace too. Faster than you can imagine. Looking back, I have come quite far, or at least that's what I kept telling myself. But then I look into the mirror, tryna think again, what did I achieve thus far? I felt like a loser. Haha. But well, we all are working our way there. Soon.

Niña

2010-12-15T09:25:00.000-08:00

My final project for experimental animation. I love cutting papers. LOL. Just incase you wanna go like, its the same kite lo.. building moving.. blah blah blah, I just want you to know its stop-motion animation and there were at least 600 frames there.

m

Ball Bouncing

2010-12-14T05:59:00.001-08:00

I got a pretty score for this homework.

m

FML

2010-12-12T21:29:00.000-08:00

this is not what I'm gonna submit. REDO~ anyway comment comment please.. Add what/ improve where? I need a lot of suggestions now..

Not even close to complete

Happy

2010-12-12T01:17:00.000-08:00

I was reading an article today about Happiness & Joy. A line caught my eyes real deep:

We learn new things everyday. We learn to be stressed. We learn to be happy. Day by day, if we kept learning to stress, we get better in stressing ourselves; Same goes to happy. So, why are we learning stress instead?

I know things are always easier to be said than done. But, I guess, happiness don't just come by one day and say hello to you. You gotta make yourself happy at the first place. I am in the process of learning that. Need no to be upset for life. Shit things happen everyday. Looking for something to be happy about? Look outside from the window pane, breath-in, fresh air can makes one happy too. Just don't take things for granted. Appreciate every little things, be thankful.

And too from today onwards, I wanna learn another thing - honesty. Apparently real friends tell the truth; so if I think you are ugly I will have no problem telling you that to your face. So be offended and just leave cause you cannot accept the reality that you're ugly. Go find someone else who is willing to lie straight to your face that you are cute. I'm not that kinda liar. Not anymore. You are ugly. 'Nuff said.

(p/s: Im laughing to myself watching 'cater2u' video. Aww)

Most Expensive Experience (To Date)

2010-12-10T18:32:00.000-08:00

It all started with a very lovely morning, I went to class as usual early morning and everything seemed so perfectly fine. Things started to get weird when I got to the class and there were just four of us there. And we wait, and waited; Apparently my teacher had something going on so he was late and we were free to go (according to the school policy or something). My original plan was to go and pick up my film after class but that was too early to get to the lab post since the class ended early. My pal Jana suggested that she fetch me home and we get some rest and she will come and pick me up again in the noon so we can both go to pick up the film later.

This is where the expensive experience comes in: We went into the post lab for about 20 minutes and came back with her car went missing! WTF!? Apparently she parked her car at the street that has time restriction for parking - you know, you are only allowed to park there for certain time. So her car got towed. In just 20 minutes. Holy shit I know.

So she made a few calls locating her car blah blah blah and she found it through the phone - it's somewhere 2 miles away. So we walked there and checked in to get the car. Guess how much she was charged for to claim back the car? $430 dollars!! Insanely crazy~ Reason #43212 not to drive in the City!!!

To add salt to the wound, when she got back the car, there was a ticket (saman) for her too! So pointless! Add that overall she paid about 500 dollar just to get back the damn car. Ughh! I felt terribly bad for her. And awful. And guilty. Ok, words can't really describe how I felt. Its horrible.

I don't know what I can do but I hope she gets better. Maybe I'm gonna buy her a coke. A coke coke not cocaine. LOL

Smoking Time

2010-12-07T17:38:00.000-08:00

Woo~ I figured the title already freaked all of you out. No worries, I am not a smoker ~~yet~~. Well as you all may already know that I am currently busy on my finals and stuffs. I've been working in the lab for the past few days now and I finally realized why most of the animators I knew before smoke like there is no tomorrow.

So here's the thing about doing animation work - apparently a good animator only animates 2 seconds of video a day. Well not in my case but that too explain why my works are a bit choppy at times cause I do 10 seconds or more a day. That leads to why animator needs to smoke. It's like you've been working on this piece of 'art' for more than 3 hours and you ain't seeing anything more than 1 second on the screen. It is so frustrating and at the same time you felt like your time is running faster than it should be due to the fact you're animating 24 frames per second. Breaking that down will be like - you're drawing 24 pieces of pictures for a second of animation. Not that bad right? It is bad.

So for any normal human it is only right to take a break from working on what you're working on if you think its not gonna go anywhere further - as for animators, we (they) go for smoking. LOL. You know, chilling out. Well in my case, I'll just go to facebook and chat and whatever. It makes me feel slightly relief talking to people (if there are people online and bother to reply me) and refresh my mind a bit. Then I regain my energy to continue. I think that is how animators go for smoking before they discover Facebook. But too bad they are already hooked up to smoking. LOL

Haha.'Nuff with the breakdown of why animators smoke shit. I shall just continue my work and hopefully I will post it later tonight if I can finish something up today.

(UPDATE: Her name is Niña.)

Pacca (for now)

2010-12-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

Holy smoke I have no idea what I signed up for till I checked my schedule and realized I am this close to the end of the semester! I am a bit regret for promising my friend to help her on her shoot because I realized I don't really have time for her whole i-am-a-serious-director thing. I don't mind spending one or two hours to film for her but she needs me for 2 days at least. Geez. I felt like a movie star already! Thankfully for my case, I shot mine today for about 4 hours and hopefully it will turn out good (I'm shooting with analog camera - can't tell the result till the film get processed after a week plus. SO gun jiong!)

And then I have to start focusing on my long-on-hiatus animation homework, well, not really on hiatus, just the work is not that good to a level where I don't feel like sharing and it did has a worse grade than those before. So whatever, I'm just gonna stay focus on my final cause the homework is only 5% compared to the 48.33% for final project from overall grade. Ugh.

Another good thing happening now is that my drawing is improving. I just joined the winter show for freshmen with one of my still life drawing, hopefully it makes the cut and win me some cash. *fingercrossed* I thought of joining the spring show with my puppet too but I don't think I can find enough time to sew AND fix everything AND animate it AND make sure its grade A++ kinda work to be eligible to participate. So I'll put that aside till I get my final done.

Basically that is all I am doing now and I won't be back to the blog ~~since its already dying due to the lack of readers~~ till I get most of my works done. I might blog photos of my progress once in a while (hopefully) to update everyone about what's going on here. Till then, its pacca (poka/pakka) for now.

(p/s: the cafe is playing Dido's "Thank You". Love love love that song!)

EggTarts

2010-11-28T22:16:00.000-08:00

You might not believe this but San Francisco has no egg tarts. What?! I know. ~~That's because I don't visit Chinatown it's too far and dirty and no munfa..~~ So I decided to bake myself egg tarts. And I did it!

Fresh from oven

It's a bit out of shape but I think it's really not that bad for first timer. Plus, the taste was really good. Like a tart.

Black Friday Sales

2010-11-27T05:19:00.000-08:00

The long anticipated Black Friday Sales was finally here! Ugh.

So I started my shopping as early as 3 in the morning. Trust me, I am not the earliest. By the time I got myself into an Old Navy store, the queue was already 'tangling' around the store, every level for each departments. Ugh. So I figured maybe I can spend some time here queuing for a 15dollar pair of jeans since I was gonna meet with my friends by 6 after that. I ended up queued for an hour and half for a pair of jeans plus some boxers and undies. Totally worth it. LOL.

Holy shit crowded!

Have you seen aggressive male shoppers? Tons here!

After that I went to browse in other stores like H&M and Gap. The line was crazy. I don't even feel like going in because its just too many people there.

Super long queue: The store was not even opened yet.

Gap (but no gap in the line)

It's almost 6 by the time I was done cursing over the store that lied about 50% on all sales. I wanted to get the damn book so badly but it was way too expensive. So I went right away to the Westfield Mall to meet up with my friends Sarah and Daniel.

Westfield Mall when it opened.

H&M

Tik Tok tik tok.. it was about 9-ish soon after my friends done their shopping at Old Navy (too). We thought we were gonna pass out anytime soon if we didn't get our breakfast, so we headed to Denny's which is located just around the corner. Aww. I love breakfast.

Breakfast at Denny's

And then we kept going on with other stores Adidas, ~~Superdry~~, Quicksilver, Hollister, A&F, Vans, Borders, Nike ... till 11 plus. So effing exhausted~ we just dismissed from then since everyone was getting tired.

It was such a fun shopping day. Ironically we all wanted to get some computer stuffs but we realized there aren't any computer hardware stores in the town at all! (or so we thought.) Well I didn't really get myself a lot of stuffs because I can hardly breath due to overcrowd mostly everywhere near the major shopping attractions. I'm glad we didn't visit any Walmart or BestBuy because I heard its worse in terms of the crowd and queue. Haha. Definitely a very good experience.

Walmart (from google)

Weekend Before Thanksgiving (Part Deux)

2010-11-20T16:13:00.000-08:00

We walked home right after the movie. Along the way, we passed by H&M and it was a long queue outside the store - everyone started to queue for the Lanvin @H&M launch! It's insane. (When I told my sister about the launch she asked me to queue too! LOL)

The reason people are queueing: 9.98USD for an evening dress!

I had never seen crowd queueing for a launch before but I knew it's equally crazy back in Malaysia. (Yes, I'm talking about the recently opened Uniqlo store) I think this is rather the same but it was colder here, like freezing cold. It was about 7°C at that time. I picture this is how it's gonna be for me next week when I'm gonna go camping for the Black Friday Sales. Ugh. I'm so excited!

The wet + coldness in late night San Francisco

Ok. Fun time is almost over. I shall get back to my homework and make-it-work. LOL

Weekend Before Thanksgiving

2010-11-20T02:46:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned on the earlier post before, I am having my finals now. Works have been going good, hopefully everything will turn out great. And as for today I finally get a chance to visit the cinema with ~~friends~~ a friend, Chelsea, for Harry Potter (XD) We've been talking about it since last week and it finally opened yesterday. Ugh. I was so excited.

The movie was not bad but we both think its a bit too long. It kinda lack of a more dynamic climax I would say, but nonetheless it didn't really disappoint much. *Spoiler ahead* The 'best' part was when Harry and Hermionie were making out. Chelsea: "it felt so wrong, like, watching video game porn." I felt so awkward because Hermionie was like the biggest prune ever but she was doing all the tongue twisting and shits like that. Totally got me shivered. Ugh. Bluekk.

I tried dressing up ala Harry Potter for the movie. Ha

Powell St. after 11pm

Not a movie that I'm gonna watch again and again. Nevertheless it was entertaining. The animation part was COOL. They had a segment with only animation and .. you should check it out. It's nice.

As for the remaining of my weekend I will stay home and do my puppet and still life drawing. Hopefully every homework can be done by Wednesday so that I can enjoy my Thanksgiving weekend. Aww.. and Black Friday sales.

to be continued... (blogger on strike.. getting a long deserved sleep)

Cinematic Storytelling

2010-11-15T20:35:00.000-08:00

Time flies! (If you are my regular readers you'll realized how often I say that) I am on my finals already. WTF! So many things I wanna do but this time, I actually have a lot of time to make'em happen unlike back in... Long story short - I have 2 animations due for final, a short movie/clip and etc. I'm so excited! I'm most excited about the cinematic storytelling class final project because I love to shoot video and its fun. I have yet to come up with an idea of what to do but I'm sure I'll figure out soon. Below are some pictures from my homework - we need to recreate a scene from a movie of our choice. Mine is, of course, 500 Days of Summer.

If you know that movie enough you will realize the photos above look nothing like the original. Haha. That's because its not. These are some random shots I took for fun. Enjoy.

(p/s: I can't thank Leo and Chelsea enough to help me out on this one. My life savers!)

Laundry

2010-11-14T21:23:00.000-08:00

First laundry since I moved out. Hell lots of clothes! I really like the laundry system in the state. You know, laundry shops open 24/7, bring in your clothes, your dryer sheets, your detergent.. and so on. Put in the coins and wait for 20 minutes and you're set to go. So cool.

(P/s: Yes, I am such a lazy person that I don't even do my own laundry a.k.a. handwash)

Judge/ Be Judged

2010-11-07T01:46:00.000-07:00

Who are we to judge one's right or wrong? If knowing that, voicing your opinion is gonna hurt someone, will you still do it? Why? Are you gonna justify yourself by saying, because true friends always tell the truth? What makes your opinion the truth then? Do you even know what was the truth?

The truth is - it's a mad world we are living in. Shit things happened. The only one who knows the truth are God and ourselves. There is no reason for us to judge others life.

If a friend tell you, he has been drunk and high for half his life; Are you gonna tell him go to hell?

If a friend tell you, he is gay; Are you gonna tell him you're sorry and make him your enemy?

If a friend tell you, he is muslim/ jews/ buddhist/ christian; Are you gonna stop praying for him or wish him well?

Most of the time we think we know what is wrong. Not only we think it is wrong, we think everyone should agree that it is wrong. Why? I think its time for everyone to stop judging one's life. Life is too short to keep an eye on everyone else's. Just follow our intuition and do what we think is right for us. Don't be afraid of getting judged because the people around us are not gonna be there to see things happen. We are in the same learning process, just different path, going through different experiences. We will eventually be in the same place.

(p/s: I might sound like an effing hypocrite by posting this because I do judge people too. I admit. I am learning not to. It's a long process.)

My Favorite Part of My New Room Is..

2010-11-05T00:29:00.000-07:00

... the closet. Like I never felt as organized as this with my clothes before.

And yes, I don't remember me bringing that much of clothes too. But I did. I felt so happy they are finally all out from the luggages and breath the fresh air out here. Poor thing they were all stuck in the box previously due to some ~~space restriction~~ reasons. I felt like bitching about it now but I'm just gonna go to sleep. TIRED.

Lovely Wednesday

2010-11-03T22:06:00.000-07:00

I think I am a little late to blog about the Giants victory! But well, its better to be late than never. There was a parade today to celebrate the winning team of San Francisco. It was a bit intense and chaos at the city as everyone was there to support their beloved baseball team. It was orange and black everywhere.

The event was so huge that it affected the traffic around downtown. I wasn't able to get on any shuttle buses from the school as everyone was stuck everywhere. ThankGod I have no class today or else I'm pretty sure I won't make it on time/ to class. Also in the afternoon, I went for an outing homework that required me to recreate a scene for a movie of my choice. Photos to be uploaded soon. Thanks Chelsea and Leo for helping me out. Appreciate that.

Today also marked the last day I will be staying over with my mum's friend. Therefore, I treated them dinner at a nearby chinese restaurant. I am really ~~excited~~ sad that I have to leave this soon because they were being really nice to me all these while.

More updates on tomorrow. Tired and sleepy now. Pacca.

Rainbow After The Storm

2010-11-01T23:31:00.000-07:00

I swear to You-Know-Who I was this close to give up my dreams last week as everything doesn't go well or as hell. Literally EVERYTHING. I wanna go home so badly. Depressed gao gao. *I am stealing a quote from Pau Pau:*

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Thomas A. Edison

ThankGod I hang in here for awhile longer. I got my exam result paper today. Guess what? Its 100%! WTF! I don't remember the last time I got a 100%! And most of my midterms grades are out today too! 3 out of 4 subjects are A-/A/A+, with only 1 exceptional C+, stupid ~~Analysis of Form~~ class, which by the way, according to the teacher, is the average score he gave to the students in class. If I work my way harder, I would get a B eventually. Or so I hope.

100% !!

And then comes to me moving out soon. Its so ~~happy and exciting~~ sad that I am leaving my family friends here. I wish them nothing but all well in the future, sincerely. I think my next post is either gonna be my muppet making process or the moving out day. Till then, PACCA.

(p/s: I'm getting used to my new name - Mint.)

Growing Up

2010-10-28T19:05:00.000-07:00

This is something funny because just today itself, a lab tech couldn't find my ID/IC when I checked out from the lab today because he had a hard time finding an ID photo that is identical to me. WTF! I thought I just grew some mustache and beard compared to the clean shaved me in the IC photo! And then YewCheong showed me a pic of mine taken years back then. Holy smoke! I don't remember looking so young!

Maybe a year or two ago? or three?

Yesterday.

Time is flying fucking fast I don't even realize it. Sigh.

Lipsync Project

2010-10-27T00:12:00.000-07:00

I took hours to get this done. Not to mention the redo part. So please enjoy it.

Un-wess Y-oo AH Shh-Kawed (Unless You Are Scared)

2010-10-24T19:41:00.000-07:00

My final setting for the lipsync animation. Woohoo~ I've already finished the homework but I think I will redo it. So I'm not gonna upload anything just yet. Hopefully I have enough time on Tuesday before class to remake a new one. ^^

Finding My Feet

2010-10-23T00:14:00.000-07:00

My mum just called me earlier to tell me stop stressing myself out for homework. Haha. So, I'm telling her, here again, that I am having a fun time doing my homework. It's tiring and I got home pretty late for the past couple few days, but, I enjoyed it. So no worries. Even though I'm working against the clock to catch up with the new environment and coping with studies, its OKAY here. I am fine.

(p/s: I'm having this 爱赢才会拼 mode on for my homework now.)

Photography on Hiatus

2010-10-21T01:03:00.000-07:00

This is gonna be a sad news for those who just drop by and see the photos ~~and skip the reading~~ because my beloved Nik has gone for a long deserved holiday. I can't help but to send him in for service because I'm getting a lot of dusts and weird 'bulu-bulu' (I swear its not mine) in my photos and I had to edit them out in photoshop one by one. So I brought him to a camera shop and they agreed to help me with a reasonable price. So yea, no artistic photos for the upcoming two weeks.

Nik

Meanwhile, I'm dying to get two of my animation homework done. I might be able to upload it as soon as this weekend if I can complete them both by Friday. Till then, CIAO. ^^

My "Fanshu" in the making.

Gonna do a lip sync animation with this fella. Imma named it Patrick.

Back To December

2010-10-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

Taylor Swift - Back to December

(We've decided to redo our homework and didn't present it. Sigh.)

Best Team Ever

2010-10-18T22:53:00.000-07:00

I don't care what is the result for this assignment (for now) but I surely think I had the best team ever with me. Period. Thank you guys so much for being so patient with me (I was late for an hour+). Assignment to be uploaded (if it's not totally screwed.)

My free lunch: Chicken Tender + Fries (I am loving the 'monthly meal plan'. Haha)

Gray

2010-10-17T17:03:00.000-07:00

San Francisco has finally started to rain. Bitter. Each photos represent different feelings of mine now. Figure it out if you bother to.

My Usual Weekend

2010-10-16T22:14:00.000-07:00

So most of you would have ask: what are you doing during the weekend? Well, my answer is always the same: I don't know. Probably sleeping and do some house chores. Yes. That has been my routine since I got here.

I usually starts with tidying my room and have waffle and ~~milo~~ hot chocolate for breakfast.

As for today, right after I went to quench my thirst with my beloved Java Chip, I headed straight to the grocery stores to get some junk food and toiletries. It has always been ~~a challenge~~ an exercise walk for me to go to the streets because of the hills I have to climb.

Fresh flowers for Larry, Aunt's late husband.

Much needed shopping therapy. I felt so released.

So after I unpacked all the groceries, I started to clean up the balcony. I'm not a big fan of gardening but I sure not hope the plantings die right away when my ~~landlady~~ aunt come back from her vacation. So I did a little clean up. I'm pretty sure those spiders are going to come and bite me in my dreams because I swept a hell off the spider webs today.

Spider webs: Gross!

Beautiful roses at the balcony.

I started sweeping soon after cleaning up the balcony mess. A little something about me: I did help cleaning up at my own home, just that not as frequent, you know, cause ~~I have a maid~~ homework, social, helping mum in the shop and etc.

The photos above look so 'kerja amal'. I know. haha

By the time I finished cleaning up, I went to bath right away. The dust was killing me. I chilled for an hour before I started preparing for my dinner. Check out what I had for dinner peeps, it's yum!

Rosemary grilled chicken breast. Yum!

Mum: Just so you know, I'm eating vege.

After dinner, I had dessert as reward for myself for ~~getting dumped~~ cleaning up the house. I was watching 'The Graduate'. It's my homework for Cinematic Storytelling class. Dustin Hoffwan was so handsome back then but he is really an old hag now. Haha. Love the movie.

Almost melt the ice cream on the couch. Lucky me.

So that wraps up my usual weekend in Oakland. Does it look fun to you?

A Reunion With (Venti) Java Chip

2010-10-16T21:20:00.000-07:00

It has been such a while since I was spotted a public affair with Java Chip. I kicked myself out to get some fresh air today and meet up with my long lost Java Chip.

All my tears just swallowed in the second I had my Java Chip. Cheers.

Shadows & Chalks

2010-10-12T23:29:00.000-07:00

When there is light, there is shadow.

Forgive me if most of my recent photos are having this lens flare thing (not from photoshop) ~~because I'm superbly obsessed with it~~. I just thought its kinda cool to play around with it. Random shoutout to myself: You' re out of the shadows! Be ready to shine on honey~ DON'T EVER LOOK BACK.

Going to update tomorrow about my video shooting because it was fun today for the ~~supposedly real~~ test shoot. We are going to have a complete one doing tomorrow. Hope we can manage to finish it on time.

Leo on his 'skateboard'

Sarah "Weeee"

UPDATE: I just read some messages I sent years ago and its HILARIOUS. WTF. Reason #438 not to look back. (Maybe once in a while. Haha)

UPDATE #2: Shooting cancelled. Ish

祝你新婚愉快

2010-10-10T13:46:00.000-07:00

好 ~~sad~~ 感触啊～我有个由细玩到大geh表姐今日嫁人我去唔到
好咀丧啊我真系好想去ga
我妈打俾我同我通电之后就pass左个电话俾表姐其实我听到佢把声时
已经好想喊啦点解啊～
我地系青梅竹马由细玩到大我仲记得话过要娶表姐添哈哈
往事只能回味唉
不过无论点都好结婚系件开心geh事应该邓人地高兴唔开心geh post
就留番下次再blog 啦

新婚愉快啊表姐！

My Assignments Thus Far

2010-10-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

I've been spending a lot of time on my stop-motion class assignments lately and I love what I'm learning so far. Hehe.

I' ll be 'collaborating' again with Leo, Sara, Kyle and new member, Garry for next week assignment - pixilation/ chalk video. I can't wait!!!

Sample of great pixilation/chalk animation

A Night in San Francisco

2010-10-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

I don't usually stay in the city till late because it's hard for me to get home due to limited transportation after peak hour. What happened last weekend was, I tend to stay longer than I supposed to because I just can't pull myself out from refining my animation. So I ended up staying in school till 10pm-ish. OMG. ~~The work better scores well.~~ So I had to walk myself to a nearest train station to get back home. Sigh. San Francisco is really a beautiful city nevertheless.

Happy Birthday Jana!

2010-10-01T17:22:00.000-07:00

It's Jana's 21st birthday tomorrow, but she'll be going back to her hometown to celebrate with her friends and family. So we had a small cake for her today (during our class break) to sort of celebrate before her actual big day. Yay!~

Happy 21st birthday Girl!

I Like It

2010-09-29T17:21:00.000-07:00

.. but I don't love it. Done with my first model photoshoot! Geez! Its hard. Haha. I have no idea Yohei was a model until he started to tell me cameras n stuffs. I learned a lot from him. Haha. I shall try his technique the next time I do a shooting. I had fun with Jana. She's just so funny and she made it so easy for me to work with her. Haha. I hope the real film will turns well. Belows are the digital images I had with my DSLR.

89°F

2010-09-28T18:36:00.000-07:00

... and I'm trying to puzzle out my mind for my homework. This week will most likely has no day off for me as I have 4 really time consuming assignments and I don't wanna do bad. Sigh. I will be having my first (sorry Joyce but that experience doesn't count because I sucked badly) model photoshoot. I never really shot pictures of human faces professionally so I am extremely nervous and excited for this. We have to ~~bribe~~ get help from friend/stranger to be our model. It's kinda hard when I literally ~~has no friends~~ couldn't find anyone who is free for me. Grr.

Another interesting assignment is cut out animation. I really love this class. I had a lot of crazy ideas going on about what to do; how things flow and animate but I don't think I have that much of time to do it. It sucks when you know you want to do something but you just couldn't. We watched Tale of Tales (cutout animation) in class today and I was about this close to cry out for the show. It's so thoughtful and deep, I really like how the message was translated in a visual form. It was in Russian but I guess animation is all about the movements and gestures instead of words.

I hope I can upload videos and pictures of these homework by this week. (That means I'm proud of it and not hesitate to show)

(p/s: I never thought deodorant is gonna be useful in San Francisco. Guess I'm wrong. LOL)

UPDATE: The films didnt really work out. FUCK

First

2010-09-23T12:54:00.000-07:00

... self-made tumblr pic.
... time learning to use a chopstick.
... time wrote a check.
... experience in a University.

Pier 39

2010-09-21T23:57:00.000-07:00

That is the location of one of my classes. Well, right opposite to be exact. It's experimental animation class. I kinda have a love-and-hate feelings for this class because its really fun but the homework is really time consuming. Grr. Well, guess I should not put too much pressure on myself. Haha.

(Pics via Nokia X3)

Minty's Sky

Goodbye 2011

My Suicide 03.29.1967

My 1st Visit To ILM Studio

Sunday Portrait

Vegas!

2D Hand Drawing

Drive

Pier Hyde

Intense Semester

Wilfred

不善于沟通

Lifes Instructions

What's Up?

Self Discovery

Chasing Pavements

Wonderful Week

Capt. America 2.0 & More

悠闲假期

Random Update

Screening, Screening and Screening

200th Post - Blue Valentine

One Day

Captain America

Crazy Stupid Love

Little Update

Bad Influence is Up for Scoring

My Conclusion Is..

4th of July

Beyoncé: 4

Touch The Sky is Up for Scoring on Threadless!

Bad Media Influence

Touch The Sky

Rainy Day

Sean Preston

Friends With Benefits

Haight

Have Fun in Paris!

Big, Ben and Big Ben

Sunday Ride (Threadless)

Tree of Life

Beelice in Blendedland

Next

Pure Imagination (Final Version)

Pure Imagination

Shauna

2011 Summer Movie BlockBusters (thus far!)

Felix & the Goldfish

Step by Step Guide To Do An Illustrator Drawing

Chelsea

22

Head Sculpture

BUSY

Blake Lively

Spring Show Project

30 Seconds to Mars

Bad Day

R.I.P. Bobby

WonderCon

The Boy Who Tried Stopping Time

(Most) Malaysians Need Help

Biggest 2011 Oscar Snub

Equity

It's Not JUST A MOVIE

Dog Days Are Over (For Now)

Niña

Ball Bouncing

FML

Happy

Most Expensive Experience (To Date)

Smoking Time

Pacca (for now)

EggTarts

Black Friday Sales

Weekend Before Thanksgiving (Part Deux)

Weekend Before Thanksgiving

Cinematic Storytelling

Laundry

Judge/ Be Judged

My Favorite Part of My New Room Is..