PacEvoluTion

Latest work

2008-08-15T07:40:00.001-07:00

FantaZodia

OK, so I'm not very good at Figure drawing. As a matter of fact, I suck. So I thought which would be the better way for a suicidal task if I paint 14 of naked bodies, which Zodiac elements in it? So this is the result. It was quite difficult to squeeze all 12 into 1 canvas (which was donated by my colleague) and to make each piece has their own color scheme and yet make the whole thing coherent. So this is the best I could come up with. Still got a long way to learn...

Sanity

This is a reflection of the day I had today. Mostly I was at the blurring edge of sanity and insanity. This is also the third self portrait that I did of myself.

As my friend Elena (who is a really great artist) said: "Pacey, your arts make too much sense! Sometimes you just need to fuck what the world think and do what makes the most sense to you". And today, for the first time, I felt I did just that...

FLOAT Competition

2008-08-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

Float is NUS annual competition where the students use recycled materials to build 14-footer lorry size Arts exhibition (coupled with a mechanism and dance performance). Sounds fun? I’ve been joining in 2.5 competitions and been helping out here and there as seniors mostly.

I came back Hall at about 11pm while it was raining on Thursday. I was hesitating about coming back, but I guess it was fated in a sense that I have one day off from work. So I took the whole day off, and spent the night in hall helping them. To my pleasant surprise, I’m still of some use. I got the honor to attach the last piece of prop onto the Float (cos not everyone is confident with metal wire construction). I also got to body paint the lead dancer. And I helped finish one piece of costume for the display. It’s sort of like “Project Runway” moment when I have minimal materials and 2 hours to finish a piece to walk down the runway.

Here are the highlights of the FLOAT competition

Beautiful Costumes - The joker, the king and the queen
KE Finale
Body Painting - My masterpiece

Narrator - The story teller
The last piece of prop that was attached by me (done by others)
My Project Runway moment - Before
My Project Runway moment - After
KE Float - Beautiful Joker
KE Float - Knight Helmet
With my roomie and the FLOAT
The committee who put it all together
All FLoaters f Different years
Kent Ridge Float - Magical Shoe House - The well-deserved Winner
Eusoff Float - Christmas House elves
Shear Float - Rhapsody
Raffles Float - Musical Forest

Creative Materials - KR Float - Needle wheel
Materials: Cardboard, Bicycle part, Stirrer, Can bottoms, bottle cap, Plastic Bucket, Wooden Clip Hangers
Out of focus thread: A real fanCreative Materials - KR Float - House decorative
Materials: Computer keyboard pieces (This was originally Shear's idea last year) , Origami paper, Cloth, Fruit wrapper, Spray bottle
Creative Materials - KE Float - Knight
Materials: Can drinks Cans, cardboard, book binder
Creative Materials - KE Float - Lamp
Materials: Fruit carton, Bottle Cap, Can bottom, Egg carton, Rope
Creative Materials - SH Float - Piano
Materials: Yogurt drink bottle, Bicycle chains, Cans, RopeCreative Materials - EH Float - House pillar
Materials: Old carpet, cans, newspaper
Creative Materials - RH Float - Bee hive
Materials: Cardboard, drinking cups
Creative Materials - KR Float - Shoe house
Materials: Cardboard, Metal wire, Sandwich box, yogurt bottles, chocolate box
Creative Materials - KE Float - Chain mail
Materials: Cooper metal wire weaved together

Latest Artwork

2008-08-03T06:47:00.000-07:00

I know I havent posted anything artsy lately, mostly because I was uninspired and also too busy with work. So here are my latest work for those who still love to follow this blog :)

Tranquility
First up, we have Buddha, my teacher. I played a bit with texture and tried to make the painting looks like a real bronze statue.

Youth
This is my first piece in my up and coming series: "True beauty". The series will go beyond cliche conventional concept of beauty and try to redefine it. This piece conveys the beauty of youth regardless of age.

Fall in Love, Boston
Fall is coming in the US. And I miss the foliage dearly. I also love to see the fall in New England. So what is more appropriate than a landscape of Boston, looked through the wooden window of Singapore?

Black Arts - White Lies
is the new theme of my revamped website, aiming to be launched next month. The site will focus mostly on design skills and effects, avant-garde rather than informational. There will be a lot more database and programming involved too. I cant believe in the mid of my busy schedule I still have time to do it. So stay tune ok.

My new logo :)

Jean's Registry of Marraige

2008-08-03T05:42:00.000-07:00

I took these pictures last last week during Jean's ROM. So i thought I share their happy moments

Malaysia: Genting - KL trip

2008-07-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

Screw the orders. I had a lot more stuffs in between but I'm too tired to think now. So here it is, our family Malaysia trip. I was scared of security and it was heavy so I took the photos entirely on the cell phone camera. Well if it's good, Nokia's technology is wonderful. If it's not, go buy Sony Ericson and give me. We went Genting - Casino and entertainment place, and KL - capital of Malaysia

Shanghai photo documentary - First day

2008-06-07T07:29:00.001-07:00

OK Finally this is the first (and last part) pf my Shanghai trip. This was the first day when we just touched down and it snowed. We were so excited.

Fast train
This is an express train from Airport to center City. I was really impressed with this oneUntitled
This is m colleague Terence. I just like his expression on this one
Peaceful Suzhou

Jump
Happy Cluster
We were still sitting in the same area then. These days each person one floor, sad...
It's a bird? It's a plane? It's...ermm...
Snow!
Actually Kevin looks so gay and "Sounds of Colors"ish
Pattern
Can guess what it is? It's a drain covered with snow

Something very China

Light
A tear in a cover of a pathway for passenger, letting snow and light piercing through
Winter Sonata
Or Korean beauty and the beast
Rooftop
I actually climbed up a very slippery rock to get this view from top down. Anything for a good photo that is
Like a flower in the snow storm

Snowflake

Shanghai photo documentary - Second day

2008-06-07T05:11:00.000-07:00

OMG OMG OMFG it's been months since I posted something. I'm so very sorry. Lately I've been busy as hell. A lot have happened. I've grown a little more. (For update go to my the other blog). SO here there are, the second day of our Shanghai trip

Friends and Breakfast

Snowfall
The beautiful snow view from our Hotel Window

Lost passenger
Tombstone
Ok I know I'm kinda morbid, but I'm obsessed with Death and the expression of Death itself. And what could be more appropriate then a picture of snow falling on a lonely tomb standing by a tree bracing the cold?
Searching
Gigantic floating restaurant
The empire
OK, can you tell the symbols in this picture? The king (my boss). His queen on his left. His mistress oh his right. The servant. The good officer. And lastly, the evil officer, ME. Muahahaha
Zhen Huang miau
OK shut up I know my Chinese sucks.
Pinkie and the Gloves
Errrrr...
(Can you believe I got the moment RIGHT WHEN IT HAPPENS. Genius photographer indeed)
Censored
SMILE!

Shanghai photo documentary - Third day

2008-03-04T22:08:00.001-08:00

Tall guys
Lines
Snow Cinderella
On the street

Winter Stage
Old hotel

Ghost steps
The symbol of Shanghai is a gigantic D...

Shanghai by night

Shanghai by night

Your highness

Ya-da!

Shanghai photo documentary - Last day

2008-02-04T03:52:00.000-08:00

Hi, it's been quite some time. I've been as busy as hell, sorry about that. These are the photos from Shanghai trip. I wanted to post the whole thing but there are way too many and I'm lazy. So we shall go in reverse order. These are the ones taken on the last day of the trip.

Little boy and the snow
Big boy and the snow
"You, yes, you!"

Highway blue 1

The man in the subway
City of the mist 1
Highway Blue 2
City of the mist 2
Bloody snow

Beauty and the beastBusy street
City of the mist 3
City of the mist 4
Untitled
Sky tower 1
Sky tower 2
Sky tower 3
Sky tower 4
The end...

Winter in Maine

2008-01-01T05:10:00.001-08:00

It's winter in the US now.
It's been a while since I last painted a landscape so I thought I'd paint one. Guess what is the canvas? I was running out of canvas and canvases here are too expensive, therefore, I used a piece of plank wood ($2) in IKEA as my canvas. Of course it required a coat of background color and the paint dried like twice as fast, but it turned out well. I guess after I finish all my canvases this will be my new source of material.
This is where I want to be now, in Maine, where the snow covers the whole world. I also played around with the technique commonly used by Monet in his landscapes painting. Of course I will need to go a long way in order to reach his level. But this is a start.
So, enjoy "Winter in Maine"

Click on the pic to see the larger version with all the stroke details and water reflection, etc.

Seasons of Love

2007-12-29T11:09:00.001-08:00

This is my latest painting, my second attempt at painting without model or references, painting that is semi-abstract.
Since the new year is coming and 2008 will be all about LOVE (read my resolution entry in the other blog and you'll understand), I decided to paint something mushy and lovely. This is a clock, made out of a pavement of stones. The middle is a puddle of water, reflecting the colors of the sky, my forever love subject in paintings. The clock is split into 4 quarters of 4 seasons. For each season there is a heartshape pattern that fills it. For spring it's the sakura petals all over. Summer is filled with cherries. Fall is of course covered by falling leaves. Winter is represented by Snowflakes. Zoom in by clicking on the pic, if you cant see these details

My room is starting to be filled with paintings. Anyone wants to buy some???

Christmas Photohunt

2007-12-29T10:31:00.000-08:00

Last week on Hari Raya Holiday, I and Fushan went for a little Xmas hunt. Here are the photos that I took. Enjoy the festivity!!!

Fruit Market
Lost in the crowd
Focus
Was playing around with the camera. With very slow shutter speed and very steady hands, if you suddenly switch the zoom focus you will achieve this effectCrossroad
The shopping crowd crossing the street
Baby "What the fuck is this bitch thinking pushing me in the middle of the road?"

"Go Mommy go!!!"
Give me a greenlight
Innocent
Spitting in public

Bugis
The other photographer
Devoured
National Library

Untitled 1
Untitled 2
The photographer 2
Couple 1
Couple 2
Friends
Photographer 3
Beautiful stranger
The ordinary life
A man driving tourist boat is taking a break and having fishball noodle
Standing tall
This is the famous statue that always goes into Singapore's commercial. I think the guy name is Robinson, you know, the one who found Robinson Department store. Singapore is one huge shopping mall
Rush hour
I was standing in between the escalater, using a very slow shutter speed so the people are blurred as they moved

Ornaments
Jewels
China town
Fulerton
The bridge 1

The bridge 2
The bridge 3
Chasing cars
Merlion
Light

The bay
The photographers
We never said anything. Just happened to have itchy hands at the same time. MRT station door reflection of 2 itchy photographers who just don't know how to stop taking photos
Rush hour 2
Hate it when people pushing through the train.
Handles
Snow fall

Teddily ever after
Huge Xmas Tree
Live, Laugh, Love

Me :)
Fushan

New Paintings

2007-12-25T01:55:00.000-08:00

Eye of Nature
My first attempt at "Abstract" painting. It's called the eye of the nature. I used the eye as the central element marked out by the streets. Then I use the 5 elements of nature: earth, trees, metal, fire and water through the bomb hole, dying forest, construction site, forest fire and flood. I'm always fascinated with the idea of the blood-tear so I added in a little road-kill. Hope you like it :)

Hikaru (Light)
Another self-portrait. I just wanted to paint this as a contrast to the old "Darkness" portrait of mine. This is to mark a point where I'm happy and I want, need and deserve to be happy. So there it is, hikaru, shining light.

377A
This was painted a few months back while I was still doing the media law project. You know in Singapore there is a law that ban gay sex called 377A (I kid you not, read the law a the government website here. It's under Unnatural Offenses. They say "sexual choice is not a right. Therefore gay right is not right." in the Strait times, official news media of the country. Whether it is a choice a lot of people still argue, but to me, to be able to live with your choice is a right of people. I was at the smoking corridor of Arts in NUS where there is a No smoking sign, and I thought a sign like this would be interesting. Why did I paint this? As my classmate has beautifully put it "I'm not pro-gay. I'm just anti-injustice".

Rising (Sculpture Design)
Weijia called me during lunch seeking for help conceptualize a design for a sculpture that they need to do for their faculty. So these are my 2 ideas based on their concept and description. One of these days when you stop by NUS and see an ugly piece of rock next to other ugly pieces of rock, it might have been my idea, which has about 1% of my input to it.
Till we have faces (Masks design for Hall Play)
These are the actual result of the design I had a few months back. They are painted directly on the surface of the masks using oil paint. Pretty?

Liu Ting's birthday Outing

2007-12-08T20:10:00.000-08:00

So we went out on Saturday for a fun day out and to celebrate Ting's bday. It's been a while since I have a true off Saturday and we step out of air con concrete buildings. So it was all fun and nice. Here are the stupid pictures we took

Birthday girl
Welcome to Bali

I SCREAM!!!

Friends

Ugly Betty moment
The sea

Good old friendsGay shots
Havent had these in a while. Haha don't get us wrong he has a girlfriend and I'm "so good and so single"
Malaysia's next top doctor
Natural (I actually like this one, very natural)
Paparazzi
Playing with the sand
Birthday cake
Since it was a day out so we did not buy any cake. Instead I had this brilliant idea of drawing a cake in the sand and let Ting blow out the candle and cut it

Kodak moment
as named by James
"Look at Pacey's stupid face"
They do have this couple aura, don't they? You've gotta see the one I piggy back her, we look like married couple. Conclusion: Kelly looks good with any guys. :p
Roomies

Cinderella
See, CJ is like the gayest attached straight guy that I've even known. Muahahaa.
Self shot photos time
Struggle for life
There's a fish that got caught by the people and they then decided to let it go. Kinda intense seeing it struggling for its life. It did get back to the sea in the end

Random shots of friends

Running girl
Just feel that this one is really nice, very natural and very human-nature kinda shot. Agree?

There are more but I guess I have to wait for the others to send me. What a day!

My room my room

2007-12-06T06:14:00.000-08:00

OK, let's take you all around my new AWESOME room.

First, look at the HUGE space I had (doesn't count the bed and the other side)

Of course, this is my study cornerMy book shelf cum arts place cum worship place. See the Chinese calligraphy? It's my name. Haha
The door and the fan
Guan Yin. This is the highest cleanest and tidiest place in my room already. Can't find a better place. I have to use a short glass for offering but since it's my nicest cleanest tidiest glass I shall use it to offer
Nice lighting

Even the mirror is better for gelling hair, getting dressed and...dumb bells curls :p
Pacey, the bitch and the wardrobes (Gosh I have so much clothes)
My little home gym corner. With the space now I can do push up in 3 different directions
And my food corner and my bed. It's near the window so it's cooling and stuffs too

That's my room. Care to move in with me??? Hahaha...upon approval ok :p

My roomie finished a 42km Marathon

2007-12-04T07:15:00.000-08:00

My latest design :)

2007-12-03T01:25:00.000-08:00

For a gift package
Nice huh?

Une rose bleue

2007-11-20T09:20:00.000-08:00

I finished my HYP presentationtoday. So I thought I'd paint something nice. Since another one o my favorite gales is aging soon, I decided to paint something for her. She always love blue roses (and promised to plant some on my grave when I die). So I painted one for her. I named it in French, une rose bleue. Seems like I associate all my favorite gales (except for Cat) with flowers. Trang for red rose, Q for her name, Weijia for sunflower, Kell for Lilly, and this gal for blue rose. Muahaha. Is any other flower aging soon too???

So here it is, presenting to you, Une rose bleue

Alive and painting

2007-11-08T02:25:00.000-08:00

I felt so happy and alive today. Feel like I could do anything. So I went out and bought...a plant!!! I named her Asha, meaning Hope, which is the one thing that I need in my life right now :) Something new is on the way huh, the happy Pacey.

Also I was inspired so I decided to paint. I painted one of my most favorite gals, you know the one that likes to drag me around and lick me all over and chew stick. Roll down to the end of the post of see her picture yah :)

Molly

Dexter

2007-10-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

Dexter is back and he's darker than ever before.

Watch it if you can, it's the best criminal + psychological thriller ever

Sunshine

2007-10-24T08:26:00.000-07:00

The latest Oil on canvas painting for a very special friend (among the top 200 in my list of favorite gals). It's called sunshine (because she has proudly named herself "Fat sunshine"). The corner of the painting is a dark and sepia tone of our mundane life and the sunshine just makes everything blue and clear and vivid. It's like my way of saying "You've always brightened up my sky" :)
And for that, I thank you. And Happy Birthday to you, obasan :)

Cute animals

2007-10-21T07:43:00.000-07:00

I drew 2 cute animals today. I mean, Pacey and cute are just wrong, but I tried. See it here :)

Baby tortoise
For a kid Flash educational game

Kanga-rules
An illustration for our group presentation for Law class. It's Law -> Rules. Stomping the rules, get it? Muahaha I'm so lame

Uncensored

2007-10-21T07:40:00.001-07:00

The backgrounds I did for my class presentation on Censorship. All pictures are a bit white so that the text can stand out :)

Happy 25th birthday James :)

2007-09-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

New CD

2007-09-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

These are the cover for the CD I just compiled to help me relax my fucked up mind. Check out the songs and if you are currently needing some musical therapy I can lend it to you. No sales though, scared of copyright infringement. Muahahaa...

Front

Back

FALLing in Love...

2007-09-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

This is my latest Tshirt creation to celebrate the Fall and to celebrate love :)

In front:
So you can see the word "Fall" is both a verb and a noun. The rest are falling leaves

At the back:
Well, it speaks for itself

Shall I wear THIS to school?

Arts is the cure

2007-09-23T18:51:00.000-07:00

It was a rather depressing week with bad news flying all over the place as if I'm some sort of garbage dump. First my Dad had a tumor (and my Mom refused to tell me until she knew it was not cancer). Then my ex flying over for eye lasic (Supposed not to be bad news, but at times like these it is). And I didn't finish my assignment on time for submission. Also, I wanted to meet my HYP professor this week but the entire week I did nothing so I didn't have the gut to meet him.

Anyway, that's minor details. So i spent 2 days for Arts therapy. I painted 2 Tshirts, 1 for Fushan and 1 for James. Image below. I also had my freaking hair cut. Somehow with me having a haircut is always so melodramatic, it's like removing a part of me and my depress tumor. I took some nice photos at the mid autumn festival here. I also filled Roger's wall with my photos. Arts is both creation and destruction at the same time. So oh well, at least he has a nice wall and I have a nice world :)

Enjoy the images

Shadow wall
This is the wall of my bed room. This is like a reflection of myself right now, fragmented into pieces and stitched together. It's just the pieces of where I've been and the people who have made an impact on my life. Took me 5 hours and Roger said "Actually it's quite breath taking". I have always wanted to do something with the boring wall in my house but my Mom wouldn't let me. So well, now is the time for my soul to be free

Lanterns
Nostalgic, isn't it?
Burned out candle
Lantern and the moon
Santuary
Kids and fireworks
The blur is on purpose

Kids and fireworks 1
Infiniti sign
Kids and fireworks 2
Spark!
PacevoluTion shirt
I thinkI should mass produce these to sell :)

Darkness

2007-09-15T19:02:00.000-07:00

Darkness
I'm not engulfed in darkness. I'm darkness itself...

This is the result of a long day, a lot of confusing thoughts and a bit of alcohol. I finished it at 4am in the morning.

Oil on Canvas
21cm x 29cm

Till we have masks

2007-09-09T09:07:00.001-07:00

This year Hall Play is gonna be pretty grand. And I'm the co-director. Well, mostly I will deal with artistic direction for props, sets, costumedesigns, lights and sounds and that sort of stuffs. We have another director to deal with the cast (Since I'm not so free and the play is very languagely cheem, so...)
It's called "Till we have faces" so I thought, what if we let all of them wear a mask. It's like no one is of real skin (except for the 2 lead characters, one is so innocent she doesn't even have a mask, one is so ashamed she decides to even hide her mask under a thick veil) So well, here are the initial designs of the masks.
All designs are drawn in Photoshop so maybe with brush and oil color the actual masks will be nicer.
The play will be in theater coming Feb 2nd :) A few days before my 23rd birthday. Muahaha

The Fox - Earthly wisdom
The character is like the king's adviser, who is wise and logical. Therefore, I used straight lines to indicate logic and earth/yellow color on white base to indicate his down to earth quality
Bardia - The dedicated warrior
The hero character of the play. I decided to use black and blue for the traditional values of bravery, loyalty and boldness (sort of Chinese Mask master colors) The design is thick and bursting out like flames to convey his strength and dedication.

The king - Fragmented Beast
The bloodthirsty, angry, cowardice king. Using metaphor of a broken mirror, I broke his face into small sharp pieces with red and black. Black for darkness and red for blood and danger. The gold lining brings out his royalty as a king.
Argan - Foolish evil
A minor character, who is a prince that is hunting his brother to get the rightful inheritance of the throne. He's dangerous but also foolish at the same time. So reminded me of a clown, also with dark sharp dagger like design, it conveys his danger.
Priest - His holy mischievousness
The priest who is more powerful than the king since he speaks words of Gods. White and silver base for Holiness, fine red curvy lines for mischievousness and hidden danger. Also, the design is as opposed to Fox as to contrast the character.

Trunia - Youthful prince
The other prince, who is lively, flirtatious but at the same time honest and proud. The green brings out his youth and his humor while the yellow base conveys something very human, very relatable.Redieval - Innocently envious
A pretty princess who is foolish enough to cause a lot of troubles. She envies her own sister. But she did no harm on purpose. So purpose is the base for innocence, foolishness. The curvy green lines remind us of ivy, for her self-contradictory, twisted thoughts and envy.
The Maid
Temple staffs
Guards

So there are the 10 masks designs. They will go through quite some changes before being finallized. Maybe when the props designs and all other designs are done I'll post them here too.
Again, the play is coming in Feb, so make sure you get tickets before they run out :)

Till we have faces

2007-09-02T08:50:00.000-07:00

In an effort to prove my complete and utter failure to produce arts lately, I inspired to put on some arts work from HBO's Original series: "Six feet under", taken by their series designer and artist.
In case you don't know what "Six feet under" is about (you must have lived in a cage for the last 10 years), it's about a family who owns a funeral business. The family is distorted and dysfunctional. Each and everyone is damaged and destroyed psychologically and emotionally. Every episode they have to provide their service to a dead person. And through facing death everyday of their lives they come together to live and celebrate lives. It's dark and twisted and full of black humor, but it's full of Artistic and cynical realistic views.
Here are the artworks from Clair Fisher, the youngest daughter of the family, who is a photographer. It was made by a bunch of close ups of the face, tore it off and then paper mache' back into the face. The actors then wear the masks and get their photo taken. It provides a multi-dimensional and truthful assessments of humans. Even with our own skin everyday we are hidden behind our mask, the mask of what people see us and think that we are. We are always hidden behind our own fear, anger and emotions.

David Fisher- The middle son, funeral director, gay, Christian, internalized homophobia and emotionally damaged

Nathaniel Fisher - Oldest son, liberal, sentimental, irresponsible and childish
Ruth Fisher - Mom, control freak, conservative
Claire Fisher - Youngest daughter, smoke crack and have self-destruction tendency, dark and depressed outlook of life.
Brothers

FLOAT

2007-08-19T04:51:00.000-07:00

My group of friends
Wedding bouquet (I made this one)
Our whole FLOAT
The medal lady
The shoe (I sticked the inside with Ming En, bit by bit one. See how tiny they are?)
The stair case with cardboard and computer chips
The roof railing by yogurt bottle and card board
The flood lights by noodle bowls and CDs
The clock (I only sticked the number and the white lining, the rest Miao Poh and OKS did)
The best roomies ever :) (Can you see the HOT and COOL on my arms? Guess the joke about icy and sunny colors of Hot and Cool?)
I painted their face with this year logos
All the dancers of the Float
Kissing my precious baby (I contributed about 2-5% of this thing)
My Omnis group

Remembering Chestnutties :)

2007-08-04T06:07:00.002-07:00

HAPPY 20th Month Anniversary (coming Monday 6th Aug). I cant believe it's already been a year. Many have happened. Things have changed. But I cant help but laugh looking at our silly photographs. So here you are, the funny pics we took on our Hershey Chocolate Factory trip. We were one hell of a family, weren't we?

Kit Kat Kids

"Stay away from me, kids."Jump
Pacey's favorite gay moments :)

On top of the world (Deliang took this one)

Food
One thing about us is that our house has never been lack of food. I sometimes cook huge Vietnamese dinner. We also have Adrian's cake weekly. I love those days...

And the Aftermaths
And what do we do when we were too full and no one wanted to finish the food? We draw card and see who has the smallest, just to decide who will eat and laugh ourselves silly.

I miss those days, guys :)

Fly, dreams, fly

2007-08-02T18:44:00.001-07:00

My brother is into airplane, so he saved all his money to buy airplane models and assemble them and afterwards paint them with my oil painting colors. He made a mess in the room but these are the end results. The best thing about kids is they always dream. Take a look :)

Kelly

2007-07-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

My hometown (part 2)

2007-07-19T22:27:00.000-07:00

The sand, the sea, the sun, and me :)

Family

Brothers and the village
The island :p
Abercrombie and beach :)
Landscape

BrothersThe sea water was so clear I just had to take it
Superpower
Shadow in the water

RMIT United - Beauties and the Beasts series

2007-07-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

Vô thường (Extraordinary)

2007-07-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

This is my latest oil painting. I think I'm getting hooked with oil and canvas.
This is a gift for a great friend, someone who has chosen to stay when all things failed, someone who has taught me the meaning of many different things in life, the meaning of love (and life without love). It's a painting of a night-blooming cereus under a back yellow light (cereus is a type of flower that only blooms at night and is pure white (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphyllum_oxypetalum )) I painted the flower because obviously it was her name (duh) but also, just like it, she was there during the darkest hours of my life, and I'm thankful for it (and I'm sorry I aws a jerk back then).
Just like it, she's someone very out of the world, very pure and unworldly, almost unconcerned and undisturbed. And I guess only a painting of a flower in her name can say how much I really appreciate her friendship. Only regret is, if only my painting skill has been better :)

Theme park

2007-07-07T17:46:00.001-07:00

It's been quite a while since we last visited a theme park. So this time the 4 of us (I, my bro and my 2 cousins) visit one in HCM city. It was fun although the rain sorta spoiled it.
A few photos:

My hometown (part 1)

2007-07-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

It's been like a month since these pics were taken. I was just sort of lazy and busy. Sohere you are, the shots of my family in my hometown. First is at one theme park on an island and then are the shots at the beach and all.

I wondered...

Big family

The cable car to the island

Falling into VinPearl :p
Another family shot
Princesses

Youngsters
Animal show

Cyclo
Cool
The mommies (the lady in pink is my aunt and god mother)
Vietnam's next top models
With Mom
The sisterhood of the fall
No sitting and eating on the grass (so they stand and eat and sit and drink) My lame idea
What? Do you mean it's not real???
Snack commercial
Night time
Musical fountain
A shot at being a cowboy (and failed miserably) I look kinda sexy huh :p

Stay tune for part 2, will be uploaded this afternoon

Da Nang - Hoi An

2007-06-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

Below are the photos I took at another town, the last of my trip

The ancient town of Hoi An
Japanese bridge
A place of the ancestors
A leaning tree
Japanese lantern
The cyclos
Ngu Hanh Son (Mountain system of the 5 elements)
A temple on top of one mountain (You literally have to climb up high to meet Buddha)
Another temple - The resting and studying place of the monks
From on of the caves looking up
Stone gateway
The tower on top of the mountain

Another temple at the other side of the mountain
Father and Son
Direction of the sun
On the beach

Playful with a coconutKite
Hot air balloon
Hot air balloon and the cold air guy :p
Night on the beach
Day at the beach
Blue guy, blue beach, blue sky, everything blue
I love these baskets
Staring at the sun

Beach boyPlaying with my shadow
Can you tell that I was so damn bored
Abercrombie & Fat :p
The shore from up above

Hue- The city of Kings

2007-06-21T20:18:00.001-07:00

These photos were taken in Hue, the kingdom of Vietnam in the 1800s-1900s period. It's a very poetic and a very ancient city indeed. I really love it. Cylop did enjoy the site, too. :)

A woman passing by on the street
The pond of lotus near the Imperial City. The city is full of these
The bridge to Imperial City
The guard tower of the royals
Imperial City
Yellow lantern hanging high (Like the red lantern hanging high novel. Lame)
Me trying to be the intellectual guy
At a ruined site (I love ruined and nostalgic stuffs)
The reading room of the king
The garden of the reading room
Back door
Beating the morning drum (to let all the officials in to meet the king)
Ringing the bell
The Imperial City from Guard Tower
One of the nine canon at 2 sides of the 2 outer gates leading to The City

The national school (used to be just for officials and their children)King Khai Dinh's tomb
One of the towers in his tomb
The officials to be ready to protect the king
The writings of another king to grief this king
The inner place of the tomb (They said don't take pic but I smuggled :p)
The main building for the tomb
The gate
Very nice carving
The outer gate to King Minh Mang's tomb

The tombThe back door
Thien Mu Pagoda
Thich Quang Duc's Car (He's a monk that burn himself to death to protest the war and the previous government ban on religion freedom during the Vietnam War)
A Tu duong house (A place where all ancestor of a family is buried so that their children in the same surname can visit and pay respect)
Huong River (The poetic symbol of Hue. A lot of love songs are written about this river)
A kite (Very rare these days that they still have a kite made by paper and glue)
The beach of Hue
Sunset on the rice field
Truong Tien bridge (Another symbol of Hue that has a very significant historical and literal meaning)

The amazing cave of Phong Nha

2007-06-21T08:02:00.000-07:00

I have to wear helmet and shades to survive the long drive from the city to the place

The sun shinning bright outside the cave
A woman and her child rowing in the river
The side of the boat
Kids on the boat
The gateway to the cave
Inside the cave (Lucky I got cyclop, else no camera can take such picture inside such pitch dark caves)
Rock formation
Deep within
Icicles

The frog (really, it's the name of the rock formation)Hair of the fairy
Guan Yin
The imperal cave
Gateway out the cave

I hope you enjoy these pictures. Up next: Hue - The city of kings

Vietnam rediscovered - On the train

2007-06-20T22:39:00.001-07:00

These are a few photos taken through the train window. Hope you guys like it

Dawn falling on the rice field
The landscape of Dawn
Deo Hai van (A hill side railway looking down to the sea)
A farmer
A sharp turn
The uneasy road
White mountain
Planting
Rest in peace (a tomb area of a family tree. I think it's kinda scenic to be buried by the mountain in such scenery. Can I die like that too?)
Buffalos
Next: Dong Phong Nha (The cave of mountains standing layers by layers as if officials are waiting to see the king)

Latest Artworks

2007-06-13T08:04:00.000-07:00

Yo yo
So I'm going to travel North Middle Vietnam tomorrow with my Dad. Muahaha. So not gonna be blogging for a while. These days I spent a little time practice painting. Here are the latest work.
The first 2 paintings are copies from an Artist called Alfred Gockel. If ever I can have a teacher for painting, I would want to be taught by him. His painting is a bit my type, lots of colors and got a bit of meaning behind. The last one is my first ever self-trying-to create painting for a special friend. I hope you will enjoy them

Fun in the sun I (original name by Alfred)

Bass-In Instincts (original name by Alfred)

From Jack
This is a birthday gift for a special friend of mine. It also marks my first attempt to try painting something from real life. There's a meaning behind this painting. On her birthdays I used to give her these black and white puzzles with picture of a boy and a girl (always less than 12 :p). And "From JACK", with a girl holding a ROSE. Ring a bell? Hallo? It reminds us of a time of endless romance and emotions that are as innocent as a newly blooming rose and as passionate as its color red. It's just a little thank you note for the past. Anyway, I won't tell you who this is, so that all of my fav gals will be waiting :p So evil, right. Hahaha

Vietnam rediscovered

2007-06-10T02:52:00.000-07:00

2 of my Sing friends came over for a visit so I got a chance to take them around in the city. Here are a few photos we took at a resort beach in one of the trips

Morning Glory

The beach
Sweet
The basket like home
Crossing the street

The transporter (he carries 2 big baskets of dragon fruits)Nostalgia
Good old sofa
Dining table
Colored glass

We have cable car too :pUp up and away
Sole
Reclining Buddha
I'm tiny before him (literally)
Guan Yin
I'm a believer
Peace
From above
Shadow play
Generations: the adult, the teenager, the kid and the dog :p
A taste of Vietnam
Singaporean can do it too (just badly)

Longing for love

From here are a few very nice photos taken by my good friend, Roger during the trip as well

Cool dudes
WATCH OUT!!!
Family dinner
He got his teeth checked up and cleaned in Vietnam. Seriously
Cafe the Vietnam style

Protect yourself from the sun and the dirt of the cityLonely moon
Do^ (a Vietnamese word for cheers)
Big crabby crab
Pet pigs
Fireflies above my rooftop
On the street
On the bike
She hates the guy with the same expression

Father figure :p

2007-06-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

I love kids, and no, it's not the Michael Jackson's type. Anyway I was attending my sec school teachers' kid's first year birthday and inevitably, I became the official photographer. So here are a few snapshots I love

"What ya looking at?"
"See, I'm walking"
"Mom, what is this "uncle" doing?"
"I love you, Mom"

Lady MamaladeOld school :p
Daddy's girl
Flower girl
They used to call her "baby elephant". I used to be called "Dad" by her -> Daddy Elephant :p
"Flowers, anyone?"
1...2...3...Smile
Kissing a pretty girl
"Mirror mirror hanging on the ... bike"
Daddy's girl goes driving "Hey babe! Wanna go for a ride?" :p
"What do you mean I can't drive???"
"I'll be watching you"

I'm like a proud Dad

2007-05-31T02:55:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures taken at the graduation ceremony of my little Bro. He ranked 7 out of 48 in his class (I used to rank top ten in the entire school) I'm so so so proud. I feel like a proud Dad. Also, this is my old primary school so it brings back memory too. Sigh...I miss being young and innocent

My first oil painting completed!!!

2007-05-26T09:02:00.001-07:00

Nothing cures bad exam result, screwed up HYP and too much belly fat like a good painting. I spent the entire 3 days finish this painting. This is my first time so it's not really that good. But well, I think it's not so bad for the first time either. Well, for now it's just still life and copies cos I think I need a lot of more practices before I can paint something real or inmaginary. This painting was originally painted by a Russian artist H.K. Hope you like it. I'll practice some more as soon as I can find some time. Oh, and as proof that I did the painting, here are a few random photos.

My Mom was like "Is this really your first time? You seemed to be familiar with those stuffs". And when Mom says that, I gotta be proud.

Still Life

2007-05-21T06:01:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! It's been like years since I last attempted something artsy. I'm very busy these days with all the eating and sleeping at home. I loooooooooove Vietnam.
Fruits here are all so cheap. Love fruits so much, too! So well, this is an attempt (a poor one) to turn Monet's stiff life in oil painting to charcoal drawing. Hope you all like it.
Cyclop has been upset these days I'm not using him as often. maybe I should really go out more :p

Tiny little things

2007-04-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

I was bored in my room. Well, bored is not the word. More like rotting. So I took my camera running around. Here are a few photos I took the last few days

It's a snail taken at about 11pm outside my door. The yellow light casting is very strong and the snail is...of course...very slow. Almost static It was there.

This one is an insect (grasshopper?) outside my room when I went out to toilet. Was kinda big and nice, it looks really like a big leaf.

I was bored yesterday so I was playig around with my blue tag. It's kinda fun being back to childhood playing with clay and making things out of other things. This one is a bird

And a dice. I put the 10 cent beside so you all can compare size

This is a rose. Can you tell?

That's it for today. Hopefully next week when I'm more free I'll be able to come up with better stuffs

Hands

2007-03-30T10:08:00.001-07:00

Another installment of the things in my room, simply because I'm just too busy to go out. Sometimes a part of a body, a hand can communicate more than words.

"There's nothing to see here"
"I'm warning you!"
"You. Yes, you!"
"I can't reach you anymore"
"Save me!"
"Longing for a touch"
"Everything is gonna be OK"
"Drowning"
"Fuck you!"

Hope you like it. If you don't, refer to the last gesture :)

A surprised invitation to Latvia

2007-03-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

I and the guys got into this business case competition in Latvia-Europe. Which, as quoted from our dear team leader "I don't know how we got in man". It's like 114 teams from 28 countries and only 22 teams got into this round. It's like an essay, a few CVs and a picture "to creatively represent your team". So this is Adrian's idea and my photoshop proficiency within 30 minutes.

OK lah, in the mean time, brace yourself for the most outragous business case team of all time: THE TETRA THREAT (i sort of came up with the name together with Adrian too)

Self portrait - A dark story

2007-03-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

Warning: Depressing, disturbing images ahead. Considered yourself warned :)

Was too bored, too stress, too depress, too pissed, so I came up with something to destress. Last time I drew my own portrait and a lot of complaints have been filed. So I guess now I'll use photography. Was toying around with the sepia mode. I borrowed a study lamp from my neighbour and took a few shots. Not too bad I guess. Not too good either. But I guess each photo tells a story of its own. Again, it's pretty depressing, disturbing and psychotic. Don't like these content then don't look at the next section.

Silence
Indifference
Grief
Anger

Think I will blow them to poster size and paste out side my door to keep my neighbors from disturbing me, cos I'm disturbed enough...

Pain

2007-03-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

Was just bored and stress so this is what I did: take photos. This is Bryant (the figure) and Gaia (the plant) and their combination of pain

Tet in Vietnam Part 4

2007-03-12T11:21:00.000-07:00

Corners of Vietnam

Hermes' light

Fume

Reflect in safetiness

Sand shadow

Windmills

Calligraphy
Touch of Creation
Fountain
Light Sailing
Pace
Cyclo
Kiss
Strength

Ancient

Warmth
Firedance

Over an island up in the sky

Tet in Vietnam Part 3

2007-03-06T02:12:00.000-08:00

Friends Photos: To continue with the series, here are a few pictures with my friends. In order to be a little more creative. The photos will be matched together with a song that I love from the movie "November rain" with Keanu Reeves inside. This is how I felt about these people. ALways keep my days bright and hopeful. It's called "Touched by an Angel"

And when she walked in the room
After so many years

He looked up and saw her
He was standing at the crossroads

She was moving in slow motion

Everything was the same
Except that everything was different

In that very moment, everyone was silent

And everyone was friendly
For the first time in years

Everyone was smiling
Though their pain was apparent

And the floor was wet and slippery
With the tracks of their tears

And then I see someone standing
At the side of the stage
Not standing in the shadows

I see her face
Glowing in the darkness
In her own angel way

"I have come to make you better
I have come to take you away"

No one slipped and fell
This time, everyone was steady

Someone held my arm
So that I would not fall

For the first time in a long time
Everyone was ready

No one said a word
And that simply said it all

Walking through the room together
In suspended animation

No one saw us go; no one said goodbye

But in my heart, I leave
Great expectations

That you will find the answers
To your questions

And that life will once more
Be a celebration

And that you will be touched by an angel

And that you will be touched by an angel

And that you will be touched by an angel

Celebration

Someday, someday
Celebration...

2007-03-03T07:24:00.000-08:00

Food Photos
To continue on with the series Family, Food, Friend, Fun and F.... yah you wish! This next series is about the authentic very Vietnamese (and very my family kinda food). Enjoy

The famous Pho (Vietnamese Beef Noodle)

Banh chung (Made from meat, green bean stuffing and sticky rice skin. The green color is from the wrap leaves when we boil it. It represents Vietnam as a square earth with animals (meat) and plants (beans) and green and filled with rice (cos we are agriculture nation))Chicken porridge (This is how we cook at my house, dumping the whole chicken inside)
Grilled prawns (Very big and very juicy. At home I eat the prawn head fully scaled also. We don't waste anything from the sea, that's what sea people do :p)
Fish
This is the type of fish that is pregnant and it had chewable bones. So basically you can eat the wholething just like that. And it was fried together with crumb. I like to eat this a lot when I was at my hometown by the sea

Grilled squid
7 giant squids grilled. This is just like 1 of them :p I L.O.V.E sea food. Muahaha
Nem
Another authentic Vietnamese food that a lot of my Singaporean friends refused to eat. Simply because it's ... raw. It's pork with some boiled skin and then wrapped inside guava leaves and some other leaves and leave until the good virus made the whole thing sour (think yoghurt). It's super ultra nice and cool!
Bo luc lac
A typed of stewed beef with onion. The beed is very thick and very sweet :)
Pha lau
Think Chinese has this too. It's pig stomach stewed like about 6 hours in coconut juice and and wine and spices. Very rich in flavour and very chewy
Banh can
Authentically from the south, this is banh can. What you do is have a charcoal stove (yes, I blew the fire by charcoal and woods). Then you ground rice into powder, mix them with water and put them in. After that you put a bit of egg in. Then the whole thing will become like a type of cake, fluffy, very soft and very nice. You eat this with tomato fish sauce and fri spring onion, which is amazing :)

Just for you - The MTV

2007-02-27T22:18:00.000-08:00

Finish this before Chinese New Year but didn't have the time to upload. This is a MTV we did for a project in school (See, told you our stream is the most interesting). We did our own voice recording (yes, I sang as one of the back up voices), our own video taking, I did the directing and the video editing. Another funny product from PacEvoluTion studio

This is an MTV about a love story. :p The theme is of course "Men should stay single". The rest I'll leave you to watch the video and listen to the lyrics.

The original song was in German and was composed and sung by "Wise guys" from Germany. A wonderful Acapella group so please check them out. Full credit goes to them. The translation was (lousily) done by me.

So here it is, enjoy: "Just for you"

2007-02-27T02:30:00.000-08:00

Family photos :)

These are the pictures I took with my family this Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year). I belive I never posted any family photos on this blog before. So well, enjoy :) (Sorry, I'm too busy to blog longer. Just came back Sing and assignments are alr killing me)

Valentine's special

2007-02-04T22:15:00.000-08:00

Forget those countdown to Valentines, those overly exaggerated posters and events, THIS IS what you should see for your 14 Feb, an overly commercialized events where attached couples trying to prove us singles are suckers.
Present to you singles, 14th Feb Poster:

The style is a bit unlike mine since normally I go for ugly beautiful, over colorful and messy aesthetics. This is the first time I try to use copyright as the center of my design.

Hope you like the jokes. Just in case you haven't realized, it's a war call in Lord of the Rings style...

The art of eating DURIAN

2007-01-24T03:25:00.000-08:00

I took these pics a while ago during an outing with Pheng and JE (my 2 honeys). Didn't have the time to post them until now. Anyway, here are the best ways to eat durian

Don't go out and eat during rainy days
Seek for Geylang, the land of durians
Find a place with durians. 3 for 20$, D24 is the code. Look up close at your "target"
Enjoy it as if there's nothing better on earth (including sex)
Give it a wet wild French kiss

Or give it a gentle shy kissAnd get high
Don't forget to smile
Watch out for uninvited guests
Best is still to share it with friends. 3 friends spliting ONE piece of durian into 3 pieces is what i called...

Call a girl on Dream Chat (In case you can't read Chinese, it says "Are you lonely? Call Dream Chat) It's those phone sex operators. MuahahahaThis last one is taken inside another durian, which is not as pretty. You may also know about it as The Esplanade

Amplitude

2007-01-15T08:56:00.000-08:00

Trying to help design Amplitude Poster for my Hall Acapella and Choir. I want to toy around with vector arts so this is the shit that I came up with, happily, gayly and muscially colorful :) The color can make you head spins, ur heart beats faster and ur eyes gone blank. I know it, cos I purposely made it that way.
If you guys do see this around NUS about amount later you know it's mine. If not you know that the idea of a rainbow color poster was trashed :p

First school assignment

2007-01-14T18:04:00.000-08:00

This semester is gonna be a seriously busy one, so don't be surprised if I hibernate from the surface of the earth for like a few weeks. I got 4 modules, 3 of them 100%CA, the other only has 35% exam. And my HYP too. Anyway I chose it that way so I won't complain.
I started off the Sem with a design course. And I already have an assignment. This is my first assignment. We have to come up with a design for a play that is darkly comical, surrealistic and experimental. It is about someone sacrifice his/her life for someone else's future and ended up with broken dreams and a twisted life.
So this is the plot that i came up with:
You only have the beginning: Two brothers have a chance to go to Med school but the family can only afford one to go. It's their parents' wish before they died that they become doctors. The younger brother has passion in Arts. WHile the other one is always good at business
You only know the end: The older guy becomes a businessman. The younger guy becomes an Artist. They both struggle with their life and blame thier brother for their lost dreams.
SO what happened in between? That's what the play is about. The play will play out 3, 4 possible sequences of things that happened in between this beginning and this ending. This is where the surrealism, the dark comedy and the experimental comes in. You decide for yourself what is real, what is dream, what is fact, what is an act...
And this is the poster...

OK, critics session later this afternoon. After the session he always asked: Would you go for such play after seeing this poster?
So what's your answer?

Boston by night

2007-01-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

I took these photos during my Boston trip, but during the madness of packing and going back Singapore I haven't poseted them yet. So now is the time to enjoy them

Harvard Bridge
MIT University park
The square near Havard Campus
Moonlight
"Enter here to grow in wisdom" (They are not very good at being humble, aren't they?)

Quincy MarketLime light and midnight Fame
Dream City
Gateway at night
Goodbye dream city

The white farewell

2007-01-02T19:09:00.000-08:00

These are a few pictures I took during my long walk in Boston. I split them into 2, this post for the day shots when the snow were heavy and the leater post for the night shots at MIT and Harvard after the snow. It was really hard to take the snow since they are too small and they fall really fast. I have to use fast shuttle with high light sensitivity to capture them. And later on the lense was wet and frozen inside so there were a blur artifact too. But well, I can live with it :) I really love the snow. I love it so much I scremed and cheered like hell when it fell down from the sky.

Lowell StationThe train station
Christmas Street (Temple street at Boston)
Snow!!!
Old State House
Stranger's smile
Downtown crossing
Winter plant
Right context
RBG (3 computer primary color Red, blue, green)
Proofs that I've been there

Cute little girl in the snow
Love actually
Snowy City
Snow flakes falling on my Hand
Tourist couple
Confused sakura
(It was kinda warm these last few days so the flowers got confused and bloomed. And now the snow is burying them...Poor thing...)

A ride in the snow (Washington's statue)

Chasing squirrels
Little fairy tales
An apartment
Massachusetts institute of Rock

Luxury Holiday (Inside Prudential building, one of the biggest luxury shopping district)
The first Christian Science Church

Family vacation in Maine-New Hampsire and Vermont

2007-01-02T19:01:00.000-08:00

My uncle :)
Maine, the way life should be, the vacation state
Southwest Airlines
Couple bath
Boston North entrance bridge
Boston skyline

Closing Chapter of 2006

2006-12-24T17:56:00.000-08:00

For the text version of the post, go to http://lonelystar.blogsome.com/2006/12/20/310/ . This is just the photograph version :)

P for Photography:

A for Arts:

C for Chestnutties:

E for Entrepreneurship:

V for Vanity:

O for Obesity:

L for Love…less:

U for Uncle Sam:

T for Taking chances:

I for Identity:

O for Old-time family:

N for NOC:

Thanks for this wonderful year, everyone in my life, friends, family, even strangers I talk to :)