I was clicking around at adobe.com when I discovered this. Adobe had a Delicious account. And you can find all sorts of adobe resources from all around the world on the link.
Del.icio.us is definitely one of the best web 2.0 sites around. You have to sign up for an account! Here are my bookmarks on delicious.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Book Review: My Japanese Sketchbook
Cloe Fontaine tries to paint a glimpse of Japan with her watercolours. The sketches were done during a visit to Japan in 2001.There are four chapters that contains art of objects from everyday life. These are architecture, customs, sceneries and modernity. Cloe Fontaine appears to like textures and patterns as that seems to be the recurring theme in her paintings. There are paintings on the different patterns of bamboo doors, garden designs, etc.
At the end, she takes on the popular manga culture by putting in some character through her watercolour sketches.
With sketchbooks, I prefer those with far shots and lots of architectural drawings. While this book has some, the focus is more on individual objects and elements.
Visit the link beside to read more reviews on Amazon. If you buy from the link, I get a little commission that helps me get more art books for review.
Country-specific Amazon links for this book:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.fr | Amazon.de
Check out other books reviewed on this blog, with pictures:
Art book list | Design book list
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
Monkey business at Holland V
The following is a story from The Straits Times, 260307. Please read and answer the question at the end.
- Story starts -
Oh nuts! A tasty treat was just not enough to coax this monkey down from its unlikely perch in Holland Village.
The animal, believed to be a Long-tailed Macaque, kept seven policemen at bay in a stand-off lasting around two hours on Saturday.
'The police were having a hard time catching the monkey,' said Ms Crystal Toh, a sales supervisor at Pets' Station, a shop in the area.
'The officers came into my shop and asked for any equipment that could help catch it.'
The monkey mystery took residents by surprise, with many wondering where it had come from.
Mr Lin Kok Seng, 72, a fruit seller at the Holland Village market, said: 'It had been jumping around the air-con units of the neighbouring shophouses since Monday.
'I have been selling fruits here for the past 35 years, but this is the first time I have seen a monkey in this area.'
Finally, police managed to lure the creature down to a sloping canopy outside a shop, where a hiding officer nabbed it. Crafty monkey.
- Story ends -
Question: If 1 monkey takes 7 policemen 2 hours to catch, how much time would 5 policemen need to catch 3 monkeys? Please show the relevant steps in arriving at your answer. (5 marks)
- Story starts -
Oh nuts! A tasty treat was just not enough to coax this monkey down from its unlikely perch in Holland Village.
The animal, believed to be a Long-tailed Macaque, kept seven policemen at bay in a stand-off lasting around two hours on Saturday.
'The police were having a hard time catching the monkey,' said Ms Crystal Toh, a sales supervisor at Pets' Station, a shop in the area.
'The officers came into my shop and asked for any equipment that could help catch it.'
The monkey mystery took residents by surprise, with many wondering where it had come from.
Mr Lin Kok Seng, 72, a fruit seller at the Holland Village market, said: 'It had been jumping around the air-con units of the neighbouring shophouses since Monday.
'I have been selling fruits here for the past 35 years, but this is the first time I have seen a monkey in this area.'
Finally, police managed to lure the creature down to a sloping canopy outside a shop, where a hiding officer nabbed it. Crafty monkey.
- Story ends -
Question: If 1 monkey takes 7 policemen 2 hours to catch, how much time would 5 policemen need to catch 3 monkeys? Please show the relevant steps in arriving at your answer. (5 marks)
The transition is complete
To quote Steve Jobs,"The transition is complete."
These are the new PCs that have replaced the Macs.
Here are some info for the geeks. The HP computers are running on Intel Core 2 Duo 6400 2.13ghz with 2gb of ram. Graphics card is the Nvidia quadro Fx 3500. Yup, these new machines are "screamingly fast", to quote Steve Jobs again. It is fast, but WindowsXP is noticably less smooth and slick than OS X.
PS: Find out Steve Jobs favourite quotes on youtube.com
These are the new PCs that have replaced the Macs.
Here are some info for the geeks. The HP computers are running on Intel Core 2 Duo 6400 2.13ghz with 2gb of ram. Graphics card is the Nvidia quadro Fx 3500. Yup, these new machines are "screamingly fast", to quote Steve Jobs again. It is fast, but WindowsXP is noticably less smooth and slick than OS X.
PS: Find out Steve Jobs favourite quotes on youtube.com
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Eyewitness
I was clicking from links of blogs to links of blogs when I found this. The credit caught my attention because it's by Xinyao, who used to intern on and off at TNP. I've also worked with her during the Chron days.
There are nice photos on the site. Take a look.
But the best photo essay/photo journalism site is still from Mr Sanguine. When you combine great write ups with great photos, that's when you give depth to the story.
There are nice photos on the site. Take a look.
But the best photo essay/photo journalism site is still from Mr Sanguine. When you combine great write ups with great photos, that's when you give depth to the story.
Nostalgia
I found this list on http://justxiaobin.wordpress.com
And now we're writing about the past on blogs. How time flies. In another 20 years, there's going to be another new list.
- List starts -
You grew up watching He-man, MASK, Transformers, Silver Hawk and Mickey Mouse. Not to forget Ninja Turtles, Care bears, My Little Pony and Smurfs too…
You grew up brushing your teeth with a mug in Primary school during recess time. You will squat by a drain with all your classmates beside you, and brush your teeth with a coloured mug. The teachers said you must brush each side 10 times too.
You know what SBC stands for.
You pay 40 cents for Chocolate or Strawberry MILK every week in class.
You watch a very popular Malay dubbed Japanese drama on RTM1 about schoolgirls who possess powerful skills in volleyball called Meoro Attack.
You find your friends with pagers and handphones cool in Secondary school.
SBS buses used to be non-airconditioned. The bus seats are made of wood and the cushion is red. The big red bell gives a loud “BEEP!” when pressed…
Bus fares barely reached 50 cents.
There are colourful tickets for TIBS buses. The conductor will check for tickets by using a machine which punches a hole in the ticket.
Envelopes were given to us to donate to Sharity Elephant every Children’s Day.
You’ve probably read Young Generation magazine. You know who’s Vinny the little vampire and Acai the constable.
You were there when they first introduced MRT here. You went for the first ride with your parents and you would kneel on the seat to catch the scenery.
Movie tickets used to cost only $3.50. (if we did watch movies then.)
Gals are fascinated by Strawberry Short Cake and Barbie Dolls.
You learn to laugh like The Count in Sesame Street .
You longed to buy tibits called Kaka (20 cents per pack), BeeBee and Ding Dang / Tora (50 cents per box), that had a toy in it and it changes every week.
Not forgetting the 15 cents animal crackers and the ring pop, where the lollipop is the diamond on the ring.
You watched TV2 (also known as Channel 10) cartoons because Channel 5 never had enough cartoons for you.
Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, The Three Investigators, Famous Five and Secret Seven are probably the thickest story books you ever thought you have read. Even Sweet Valley High, Malory Towers. And R.S.Stine and Goosebump series were probably the scariest story you ever read.
KFC used to be a high class restaurant that serve food in plates and
lets you use metal forks and knives.
The most vulgar thing you said was asshole and idiot and THE MOST EXTREME WAS ’super white’… you just couldn’t bring yourself to say the Hokkien relative.
Catching was the IN thing and twist as the magic word.
Your English workbooks was made of some damn poor quality paper that was smooth and yellow.
There was once the craze over Tamiya cars and toy dispensers where you had to slot in a coin and twist the knob, while your other hand anticipated the toy to appear. 20 cents for colourful rubber balls and 50 cents / 1 dollar for toys in plastic egg shells.
The only computer lessons in school involved funny pixellised characters in 16 colours walking about trying to teach you maths.
Waterbottles were slinged around your neck and a must everywhere you go.
Boys loved to play soccer with small plastic balls in the basketball court.
Teng-teng, five stones, chapteh, hentam bola and zero point were all the rage with the girls and boys too…
Science was fun with the balsam and the angsana being the most important plants of our lives, guppies and swordtail being the most important fish.
Who can forget Ahmad, Bala, Sumei and John, eternalized in our minds from the textbooks. Even Mr Wally & Mr. Yakki. What abt Miss Lala??? And Zaki and Tini in Malay Textbooks?
We carry out experiments of our own to get yourself badges for being a Young Zoologist/Botanist etc.
Every Children’s day and National day you either get pins or pens with ‘Happy Children’s Day 1993′ or dumb files with ‘Happy National Day 1994′.
In Primary six you had to play buddy for the younger kids like big sister and brother.
We wear BM2000, BATA, or Pallas shoes.
Your form teacher taught you Maths, Science and English.
The worksheets were made of brown rough paper of poor quality.
You went to school in slippers and a raincoat when it rained, and you find a dry spot in the school to sit down, dry your feet, and wear your dry and warm socks and shoes.
School dismissal time was normally around 1 pm.
There would be spelling tests and mental sums to do almost everyday.
Your friends considered you lucky and rich if your parents gave you $3 or more for pocket money everyday.
You see Wee Kim Wee’s face in the school hall.
You freak out when the teacher tells you to line up according to height and hold hands with the corresponding boy or girl.
Boys like to catch fighting spiders. Collecting and battling erasers was a
pastime for boys.
Autograph books were loaded with “Best Wishes”, “Forget Me Not”, and small poems like
“Birds fly high, hard to catch.
Friend like you, hard to forget”.
Class monitors and prefects loved to say “You talk somemore, I write your name ah!”
There were at least 40 people in one class.
Large, colourful schoolbags were carried.
You brought every single book to school, even though there was one thing called the timetable.
And now we're writing about the past on blogs. How time flies. In another 20 years, there's going to be another new list.
- List starts -
You grew up watching He-man, MASK, Transformers, Silver Hawk and Mickey Mouse. Not to forget Ninja Turtles, Care bears, My Little Pony and Smurfs too…
You grew up brushing your teeth with a mug in Primary school during recess time. You will squat by a drain with all your classmates beside you, and brush your teeth with a coloured mug. The teachers said you must brush each side 10 times too.
You know what SBC stands for.
You pay 40 cents for Chocolate or Strawberry MILK every week in class.
You watch a very popular Malay dubbed Japanese drama on RTM1 about schoolgirls who possess powerful skills in volleyball called Meoro Attack.
You find your friends with pagers and handphones cool in Secondary school.
SBS buses used to be non-airconditioned. The bus seats are made of wood and the cushion is red. The big red bell gives a loud “BEEP!” when pressed…
Bus fares barely reached 50 cents.
There are colourful tickets for TIBS buses. The conductor will check for tickets by using a machine which punches a hole in the ticket.
Envelopes were given to us to donate to Sharity Elephant every Children’s Day.
You’ve probably read Young Generation magazine. You know who’s Vinny the little vampire and Acai the constable.
You were there when they first introduced MRT here. You went for the first ride with your parents and you would kneel on the seat to catch the scenery.
Movie tickets used to cost only $3.50. (if we did watch movies then.)
Gals are fascinated by Strawberry Short Cake and Barbie Dolls.
You learn to laugh like The Count in Sesame Street .
You longed to buy tibits called Kaka (20 cents per pack), BeeBee and Ding Dang / Tora (50 cents per box), that had a toy in it and it changes every week.
Not forgetting the 15 cents animal crackers and the ring pop, where the lollipop is the diamond on the ring.
You watched TV2 (also known as Channel 10) cartoons because Channel 5 never had enough cartoons for you.
Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, The Three Investigators, Famous Five and Secret Seven are probably the thickest story books you ever thought you have read. Even Sweet Valley High, Malory Towers. And R.S.Stine and Goosebump series were probably the scariest story you ever read.
KFC used to be a high class restaurant that serve food in plates and
lets you use metal forks and knives.
The most vulgar thing you said was asshole and idiot and THE MOST EXTREME WAS ’super white’… you just couldn’t bring yourself to say the Hokkien relative.
Catching was the IN thing and twist as the magic word.
Your English workbooks was made of some damn poor quality paper that was smooth and yellow.
There was once the craze over Tamiya cars and toy dispensers where you had to slot in a coin and twist the knob, while your other hand anticipated the toy to appear. 20 cents for colourful rubber balls and 50 cents / 1 dollar for toys in plastic egg shells.
The only computer lessons in school involved funny pixellised characters in 16 colours walking about trying to teach you maths.
Waterbottles were slinged around your neck and a must everywhere you go.
Boys loved to play soccer with small plastic balls in the basketball court.
Teng-teng, five stones, chapteh, hentam bola and zero point were all the rage with the girls and boys too…
Science was fun with the balsam and the angsana being the most important plants of our lives, guppies and swordtail being the most important fish.
Who can forget Ahmad, Bala, Sumei and John, eternalized in our minds from the textbooks. Even Mr Wally & Mr. Yakki. What abt Miss Lala??? And Zaki and Tini in Malay Textbooks?
We carry out experiments of our own to get yourself badges for being a Young Zoologist/Botanist etc.
Every Children’s day and National day you either get pins or pens with ‘Happy Children’s Day 1993′ or dumb files with ‘Happy National Day 1994′.
In Primary six you had to play buddy for the younger kids like big sister and brother.
We wear BM2000, BATA, or Pallas shoes.
Your form teacher taught you Maths, Science and English.
The worksheets were made of brown rough paper of poor quality.
You went to school in slippers and a raincoat when it rained, and you find a dry spot in the school to sit down, dry your feet, and wear your dry and warm socks and shoes.
School dismissal time was normally around 1 pm.
There would be spelling tests and mental sums to do almost everyday.
Your friends considered you lucky and rich if your parents gave you $3 or more for pocket money everyday.
You see Wee Kim Wee’s face in the school hall.
You freak out when the teacher tells you to line up according to height and hold hands with the corresponding boy or girl.
Boys like to catch fighting spiders. Collecting and battling erasers was a
pastime for boys.
Autograph books were loaded with “Best Wishes”, “Forget Me Not”, and small poems like
“Birds fly high, hard to catch.
Friend like you, hard to forget”.
Class monitors and prefects loved to say “You talk somemore, I write your name ah!”
There were at least 40 people in one class.
Large, colourful schoolbags were carried.
You brought every single book to school, even though there was one thing called the timetable.
Naruto and Death Note
These are the only 2 anime I'm following at the moment. I must say that I'm glad that the Naruto fillers have finally ended. I have already lost count of how many fillers there were. I used to collect Naruto comics but decided to sell them off as I was running out of space in my room to house them.
I only got to know about Death Note anime due to the publicity of the movie, which was based on it. In fact, if I remember correctly, while I was working at The Chronicle, someone brought the manga in to write a review about it. At that time it didn't catch my attention because of the cover.
I don't know how different the manga is from the anime but the anime is pretty good. If you like Infernal Affairs, you would like this too. It's more of a pyschological thriller than an action thriller.
I only got to know about Death Note anime due to the publicity of the movie, which was based on it. In fact, if I remember correctly, while I was working at The Chronicle, someone brought the manga in to write a review about it. At that time it didn't catch my attention because of the cover.
I don't know how different the manga is from the anime but the anime is pretty good. If you like Infernal Affairs, you would like this too. It's more of a pyschological thriller than an action thriller.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Top govt salaries far behind private sector's
This was the headline in today's Straits Times.
What? You mean the ministers are not earning enough? That is no doubt what's on most people's mind.
Channelnewsasia also carried similar news.
But that is a fact. Singaporean civil servants salaries are indeed lacking behind private sectors. It's common sense if you have studied business or follow the business world. My advice, always, for people when they say they want to earn lots of money is not to be a civil servant. The salaries are pegged to the guidelines. There's only so much you can earn.
You definitely can earn much more in the private sector especially in companies who matches salary with performance. You have to work for companies which actually matches your achievements to salary.
If you were to ask Jack Welch if salary increases were enough, he would say no. If you only increase salary, other companies can easily increase theirs too. So what is it to prevent the talent drain the government is taking about?
What? You mean the ministers are not earning enough? That is no doubt what's on most people's mind.
Channelnewsasia also carried similar news.
But that is a fact. Singaporean civil servants salaries are indeed lacking behind private sectors. It's common sense if you have studied business or follow the business world. My advice, always, for people when they say they want to earn lots of money is not to be a civil servant. The salaries are pegged to the guidelines. There's only so much you can earn.
You definitely can earn much more in the private sector especially in companies who matches salary with performance. You have to work for companies which actually matches your achievements to salary.
If you were to ask Jack Welch if salary increases were enough, he would say no. If you only increase salary, other companies can easily increase theirs too. So what is it to prevent the talent drain the government is taking about?
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Brad Bird at WonderCon Video
Ah, the wonders of Youtube. If you're a fan of Pixar, you'll most certainly like this. I found these on upcomingpixar.blogspot.com
To watch the rest of the video, you can do it at Upcoming Pixar or Youtube.
To watch the rest of the video, you can do it at Upcoming Pixar or Youtube.
Pop pop pop
There are 3 packets in Pop-secret. I have no idea where JonBob bought this. Anyway, he left it for the night crew.
Here's the result. Not too great. It was in the microwave for a bit too long.
Here's the result. Not too great. It was in the microwave for a bit too long.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Tina Root
Who? I have no idea who she is too. Happened to hear her song, Yellow, stream through Pandora.com. I really like it. If you check out her website, you'll be able to find her whole album there available through streaming too.
Pandora.com is one of my favourite sites for the reason that it streams random free music. You definitely must check it out. My favourite search keyword there is "The Eames Era".
If you like that, you might want to check out Last.fm too, a Web 2.0 music streaming website.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Mutations on Ice
I can't help it. That's the first thing that comes to my mind, mutations on ice. There are things man and fish shouldn't share.(Pix source)
Disney's promo header is so misleading.
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
This is the best newspaper comic book compilation I have.
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes is the collection of 10 years of comic strips. There are 3 books housed in a slipcase.
On each page is the date the comic was published. And the comics are arranged chronologically. You can follow the funny story arcs and the see how the comic has evolved over the decade. Book One has 14-page introduction written by Bill Watterson himself.
All the comic strips are printed on high quality paper and all Sunday panels are in colour. It's seriously a tome and it weighs like one too. The hard cover is sturdy and professional and the binding is perfect.
If you're a fan of comic strip, you should probably get this collection.
Visit the link beside to read more reviews on Amazon. If you buy from the link, I get a little commission that helps me get more art books for review.
Country-specific Amazon links for this book:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.fr | Amazon.de
Check out other books I've reviewed also, with pictures:
Art book list | Design book list
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Venom
I missed the NBC exclusive HD Spider-man 3 trailer. Darn!
Anyway, if you do a search on the Internet, you can find leaked screen shots of venom. I can't wait for the movie to come out.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Adobe to announce Creative Suite 3
This beautiful colour wheel of icons was taken off John Nack's blog at Adobe. He's the senior product manager of Photoshop.
Meanwhile, Adobe is gearing up for the release of Creative Suite 3. According to Macworld, it will be via a live webcast on March 27.
If you're wondering which version of software we're using in the office, it's version 8, aka Photoshop CS. Our Adobe Illustrator is CS2 however. Our page layout is done by some other software called Coyote, so to be upgraded to another called Hermes. Nope, I don't think they are as good as QuarkXPress or Indesign. My criteria of good is simply the ability to save time. There's only one criteria.
Shaken but apparently not stirred
Here are the things that shouldn't be flashing across your mind when the ground is shaking. These were the three thoughts that were on my mind when the vibrations were felt.
"What the hell is the neighbour downstairs doing?"
"Oh great. This is me spending too much time in front of the computer."
"Ok, maybe it's not me that's wobbly. It could be the ground. Let me place my handphone in a vertical stance and see if it shakes."
Apparently, there was a Richter scale 6.6 earthquake in Padang, Indonesia. That's 430km away southwest of Singapore as I have just found out from Channelnewsasia.
This reminded me of documentary on earthquakes in Japan that I have watched before. Even in the event of a Richter scale 1 earthquake, the buildings were shaking like jelly. That's just frightening. I wonder if there are any documented videos shot in areas where Richter scale exceeds 6.
"What the hell is the neighbour downstairs doing?"
"Oh great. This is me spending too much time in front of the computer."
"Ok, maybe it's not me that's wobbly. It could be the ground. Let me place my handphone in a vertical stance and see if it shakes."
Apparently, there was a Richter scale 6.6 earthquake in Padang, Indonesia. That's 430km away southwest of Singapore as I have just found out from Channelnewsasia.
This reminded me of documentary on earthquakes in Japan that I have watched before. Even in the event of a Richter scale 1 earthquake, the buildings were shaking like jelly. That's just frightening. I wonder if there are any documented videos shot in areas where Richter scale exceeds 6.
Monday, March 5, 2007
The roads are dangerous
The roads are pretty dangerous when you have maniacs driving against traffic to evade police cars and road blocks. This graphic was re-rendered because we didn't have the graphic rights to Apple Daily. This is the story.
Before I read the story, I thought the bus driver was blind to not have seen the truck carrying steel rods in front. Actually the bus was tailgating. This graphic was re-rendered also because we didn't have the graphic rights.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
O'Shea Stunner
1-0. Liverpool lost at Anfield.
Man U's really great at scoring late. They've done it again, this time with O'Shea. People in the office were shouting and cheering. I had to rush out of the art department to watch the replay. The goal's really great.
Every match Man U plays now will be more exciting for the fact that they are trying to edge over Chelsea for the EPL championship trophy.
I'll say that they'll win the championship trophy. Man U's pretty consistent.
Man U's really great at scoring late. They've done it again, this time with O'Shea. People in the office were shouting and cheering. I had to rush out of the art department to watch the replay. The goal's really great.
Every match Man U plays now will be more exciting for the fact that they are trying to edge over Chelsea for the EPL championship trophy.
I'll say that they'll win the championship trophy. Man U's pretty consistent.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Movie Review: Babel
First off, I must say that I'm not a fan of depressing movies. Babel is a very depressing movie.
That's not to say that it's bad. It's brilliantly directed. The script was great. Babel is about three related stories told on a different time plane. I won't spoil the movie by revealing the ending. Anyway, it's not a Six Sense kind or ending, it's more of a Crash kind.
If Babel wasn't the movie title, I would have called it Murphy's Law. Everything that could go wrong with Brad Pitt went wrong. By the end of the movie, you'll feel as emotionally drained as Brad Pitt's character himself. And you'll feel even more drained because you've watched the movie and know the ending unlike Brad Pitt's character. Was that a spoiler?
When the kids came on the screen, all that was in my mind was "Don't let anything happen to the kids!". That kept flashing whenever the kids were on screen.
But of course something did happen to the kids. Yes, I know the movie had to go that way.
I wonder why I felt that way, but I just did. Maybe it brought out the powerlessness and vulnerability of people so well in the movie. All great movies should have the viewers develop an emotional attachment to the characters. I must say that Babel did a pretty nice job at that.
So if you haven't watch it, you should give it a try, especially if you like Crash.
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