august 2009
Finally got my Brawn GP showcar model from Toronto Motorsports and I LOVE IT! The detail is fantastic, and despite the whining from other fans, I think this year's cars look so much more elegant and refined than in recent past. I'll post some pictures of it once the sun comes up.
Also decided to try my hand at digital painting this week, especially since I slacked (the Janeway one especially, doh) and was playing with the brushes the last couple images. I definitely need more practice with posing and anatomy. Always interesting to see how the concept turns into the final pic.
Electric wonders!
Also decided to try my hand at digital painting this week, especially since I slacked (the Janeway one especially, doh) and was playing with the brushes the last couple images. I definitely need more practice with posing and anatomy. Always interesting to see how the concept turns into the final pic.
Electric wonders!july 2009
Even the borg have standards:
After which the Tribble consoled himself by genuinely believing that "he wouldn't want to belong to any club that would accept him as a member anyways."
After which the Tribble consoled himself by genuinely believing that "he wouldn't want to belong to any club that would accept him as a member anyways." 
"... Katherine, Sir,Katherine Janeway"
The biggest of dreams start with the smallest of steps...
...I don't think this is what Borland had in mind when they came up with the CodeWarrior brand:
In other news, best of wishes to Massa -- he's lucky that the incident with Barrichello's rear spring didn't send him to meet his maker. And BGP better get their gears in place before Valencia if they still want to have a stab at both championships (though the constructors is looking further and further out of reach).
A show of one of the most amazing aquariums I have ever seen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7deClndzQw&feature=channel_page
In other news, best of wishes to Massa -- he's lucky that the incident with Barrichello's rear spring didn't send him to meet his maker. And BGP better get their gears in place before Valencia if they still want to have a stab at both championships (though the constructors is looking further and further out of reach).
A show of one of the most amazing aquariums I have ever seen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7deClndzQw&feature=channel_page
Starting to draw again but am thinking of putting up my scraps (non-comics) up on deviant art. Go check if out if you are interested.
Would you like to play [thermonuclear war]?
Would you like to play [thermonuclear war]?
I think I'm going to stay up an watch the sunrise this morning.
Taking a break these next couple days, so I decided to go check out Toronto Motorsports for a Brawn GP model that I've been meaning for a couple months now. It took about three hours to get there on the TTC (round trip) and to my dismay (and in contradiction of their online page) they were unfortunately out of stock. It was still worth it to go though, not only because of the wicked amount of F1 models they have in store, but also because I rarely get to see Toronto any farther east than Jarvis (seriously) and walking along the east end of the waterfront trail at Port Union was pretty incredible.
A wicked place to chill for a couple hours on a sunny afternoon. You can also work on your skipping technique as there's tons of flat stones along the shore. (Original pano was 8k x 1k!)
Port Union/West Rouge is on the opposite end of the trail to Port Credit (in Mississauga), which I passed last year on the way to Niagara, and is equally beautiful. It is definitely more suburban with the standard pre-fab homes, but the area is nice, the air clean, and there is plenty of green space. The waterfront area I passed had a nice little water park for the kids to chill on a hot day, and the trail was clean and smooth (which can't be said of other parts of the waterfront trail). I still find that there is (really) nothing more satisfying than being able to just sit/read/draw/reflect at the lakefront on a beautiful day with the cool wind blowing inland, rustling the leaves on the trees. When you are there, in the moment, it feels like you are viewing the most intrinsic parts of nature itself and you can't help but to sit in awe. It's very zen indeed.
If I could still park my bike downtown, I would definitely ride the lakeshore trail as often as I did last year.
Flora, flora, flora. These flowers are everywhere!
A wicked place to chill for a couple hours on a sunny afternoon. You can also work on your skipping technique as there's tons of flat stones along the shore. (Original pano was 8k x 1k!)Port Union/West Rouge is on the opposite end of the trail to Port Credit (in Mississauga), which I passed last year on the way to Niagara, and is equally beautiful. It is definitely more suburban with the standard pre-fab homes, but the area is nice, the air clean, and there is plenty of green space. The waterfront area I passed had a nice little water park for the kids to chill on a hot day, and the trail was clean and smooth (which can't be said of other parts of the waterfront trail). I still find that there is (really) nothing more satisfying than being able to just sit/read/draw/reflect at the lakefront on a beautiful day with the cool wind blowing inland, rustling the leaves on the trees. When you are there, in the moment, it feels like you are viewing the most intrinsic parts of nature itself and you can't help but to sit in awe. It's very zen indeed.
If I could still park my bike downtown, I would definitely ride the lakeshore trail as often as I did last year.
Flora, flora, flora. These flowers are everywhere!june 2009
Ended up watching a movie called The Ramen Girl which, despite the cringe-worthy acting (mostly by Brittany Murphy), is somewhat redeeming in highlighting the desire of Japanese people for perfection in even the most simple aspects of everyday life. I think we can all learn a thing or two from that. Anyways, the movie made me hungry, so I thought I'd try something new... like making ramen noodles from scratch!
The dough, essentially just flour + egg + water + salt.
After resting for about 30min, you roll it out. I didn't have a rolling pin since I don't bake much, so I ended up using the handle of the wooden spoon as a makeshift rolling pin.
Fold the flattened dough over itself and slice it up. Slice it up good! (I happened to slice it up far too thick)
Alas, the noodles were too thick post-cutting. Dough is more difficult to cut than I had originally expected.
Final result with a soy-sauce base, the noodles were almost udon-like (since they were so thick and they expand while cooking) but it was frickin' delicious. Also more nutritious (though not by much) than the packaged ramen noodles. Given the proper utensils, I think I would have rolled it out thinner and sliced it up much thinner.
And noodles aside, F1 is in a bit of a turmoil as of late with the whole showdown between FIA and FOTA leading to a potentially new FOTA-backed series next season. I'm just going to put my two cents in by saying that any sort of Formula One championship would not work without the support of the manufacturers (Ferrari, Renault, Toyota, etc) nor would a fair and regulated series evolve without the intervention of a third party with orthogonal and sometimes questionable interests (ala FIA and Max Mosley). F1 nowadays is also fairly entertainment-driven -- perhaps a testament to the change in the audience's taste and evolution of the sport -- but a reality in which someone like Bernie is necessary to keep the sport "valuable" in the eyes of sponsors. In the software world, this would almost be equivalent to a showdown between the engineers and the marketing/management, with the ultimatum given by the engineers to spawn off their own company, which if you think about it, is pure hogwash. Hopefully, everyone will come to their senses before next season and we won't see rehash of the FISA-FOCA split. (That way we can see Jensen fight for his second world championship next year. :)
The dough, essentially just flour + egg + water + salt.After resting for about 30min, you roll it out. I didn't have a rolling pin since I don't bake much, so I ended up using the handle of the wooden spoon as a makeshift rolling pin.Fold the flattened dough over itself and slice it up. Slice it up good! (I happened to slice it up far too thick)Alas, the noodles were too thick post-cutting. Dough is more difficult to cut than I had originally expected.Final result with a soy-sauce base, the noodles were almost udon-like (since they were so thick and they expand while cooking) but it was frickin' delicious. Also more nutritious (though not by much) than the packaged ramen noodles. Given the proper utensils, I think I would have rolled it out thinner and sliced it up much thinner.And noodles aside, F1 is in a bit of a turmoil as of late with the whole showdown between FIA and FOTA leading to a potentially new FOTA-backed series next season. I'm just going to put my two cents in by saying that any sort of Formula One championship would not work without the support of the manufacturers (Ferrari, Renault, Toyota, etc) nor would a fair and regulated series evolve without the intervention of a third party with orthogonal and sometimes questionable interests (ala FIA and Max Mosley). F1 nowadays is also fairly entertainment-driven -- perhaps a testament to the change in the audience's taste and evolution of the sport -- but a reality in which someone like Bernie is necessary to keep the sport "valuable" in the eyes of sponsors. In the software world, this would almost be equivalent to a showdown between the engineers and the marketing/management, with the ultimatum given by the engineers to spawn off their own company, which if you think about it, is pure hogwash. Hopefully, everyone will come to their senses before next season and we won't see rehash of the FISA-FOCA split. (That way we can see Jensen fight for his second world championship next year. :)