Randomania

One of my favourite flash cartoons on the internet has to be David Firth's 'Salad Fingers'. While all the episodes take the meaning of weirdness to a whole new level, I LOVE IT..(not that being weird is a bad thing, right?). Being a solo artist, Firth boasts creativity allover his Salad Fingers episodes. The eerie music in the background, which he claims is based on samples from Boards of Canada, sets the vibe the cartoon emits very different from anything I've seen out there.

Here's the first episode called 'Spoons': An introduction to Mr. Fingers as he pays a small child a visit. And if you're in the mood for something peculiar, watch all seven episodes.

Firth's work is featured on the website: www.fat-pie.com. There you can find his other cartoon series, all guaranteed to be weird. A word of warning, tho..some of the episodes may leave you in sorrow for hours. So if gloomy cartoons doesn't sound like your cup of chocolate, avoid the 'Spoilsbury Toast Boy' and the 'Milkman' series.

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Has any of you ever felt that some of Pink's and the Veronicas' songs are suspiciously similar? Well, not only are Pink's 'U+Ur Hand' and the Veronica's '4ever' written by the same guy (Gottwald), the songs have pretty much been constructed with the exact same chords. Check out this cool vid on youtube.. Pink VS. Veronicas

Despite not being a big fan of pop music, I actually like both these two songs. Plus I think Pink's cool anyways..

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I think I'm used to the fact that I don't look like I'm from Thailand but I don't really know why I always get mistaken for a Korean. I'm saying this because lately I've been having random people on the streets coming up to ask if I'm Korean. Then when I say I'm not.. they just piss off.. Weirdos!!

Anyhoooo, I was just watching this US TV-series called 'Monk' by Andy Breckman, starring Tony Shalhoub. I had been seeing the ad on TV for the series so I thought I'd give it a try over tonight's dinner. Five minutes in and I found myself hee-hawing on the couch.

The story follows Detective Adrian Monk (Shalhoub), who has an extreme case of an obsessive-compulsive disorder. The funniest bits are when he breaks into his super anal rituals haha, among other funny things he does. I wonder what it'd be like to have to really work with a person like him.

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Tonight's dinner: Porterhouse with Tofu Rocket Salad (fusion cuisine, no?)

The Polaroid Project by Cake

Having artistically gifted sisters, I have been lucky to always enjoy the various interesting art pieces around the house, finished and/or in the making. In this particular occasion, I would like to talk about Cake's lastest experimental project; The Polaroid Lift & The Polaroid Transfer.

This first piece, seen on the left is a Polariod Lift imposed on woven fabric. As you can see, Cake is waiting for it to dry. Upon close inspection, the creasing effect the film has produced gives the piece a subtle motion to the texture, almost like a rising of red smoke. The colouration of the film still reflects the original photo, which was of a flower. The dark bluish bits up top and bottom right corners were derivable from the background of the picture, when the photo was taken.

The same technique has also been experimented with plain pieces of paper, which according to the artist, allowed for better control over the placement of the film. This was evident in the finished pieces through a more furrowing effect.

Another technique explored by Cake was the Polaroid Transfer. This can be said to be a more simplistic approach, where the top layer of a Polaroid image is peeled and placed on plain pieces of paper (left). A different impression was achieved by the Polaroid Transfer, with a more classic feel, due to the deterioration of the colours on the original film when processed with the Vivitar slide printer, as well as at the time the film was pressed.

To take things further, Cake tried the Polaroid Lift on different materials. One of my favourites has to be what she has done with the lil saucer and the espresso cup.





On both the saucer and the cup, the vivid flower images and the seamless placement of the film give both pieces a true-to-life effect.

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The 'lifting' of the Polaroid

The film is carefully placed on paper

I admire your gift, sist..

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On a seperate note, dad was telling cake he took Mali for a walk to see the soldiers on the streets. I can just imagine her walking with her ass going side to side looking up at each of the soldier's faces..This is what she is probably busy doing now..

Hey! Its that guy!

In reference to Mr. Spaceman Spiff's blog on 19.09.06, I came across this book the other day as I was killing time at Borders. The book's title is 'Hey! It's that guy!' by Tara Ariano. Quite self-explanatory, really. I flipped through the book and was chuckling by myself for each of the actor's page, the title would be 'Hey! It's that loud, angry, belittling, hard assed drill sergeant', or 'Hey! It's that loser, who always wears thick glasses.' A useful guidebook to have lying around in your living room.

Amazon's got this interactive online reader, which let's you have a look at the sample of the book here.

I didn't end up buying the book, but I bought something else instead; Ricky Gervais' 'More Flanimals', the second of the Flanimals series. The book is pretty much a picture book with hilarious guide to the evolution of Flanimals, the Flanimal kingdom and Flanimal behaviour (hehehe) among other Flanimal facts. Let me introduce you to some of the species.

This here is Horosi Horasi a.k.a. Razus Razus.
He is of the Scrabulatory Skruntling specie and
is known to be the fastest Flanimal on the planet.
He is capable of reaching 50 mph because he
possesses legs that go absolutely mental.

Next, this guy is Glonk. He doesn't do much

I have no idea who this is.

But yea.. also bought a few more books. Might talk about them another time. Among them, John Burdett's 'Bangkok Eight' since I'm really enjoying 'Bangkok Tattoo'.

k..I'm off to meet more Flanimals.

Anatomy of the Chicken (wing)

Ok..I have always wanted to talk about this. There seems to be a lot of confused people out there about what chicken drumsticks and what chicken wings are. As a chicken lover, I feel it is my responsibity on behalf of all the chickens to get this clarified.

(The following bit's probably not gonna be of use to those of you, who already know the difference between drumsticks and wings.. so piss off until the next blog..I'm joking you can stay.)

So you know when you go to Nando's, TGIF or KFC and you order some chicken wings and you find that there are also chicken drumsticks but you eat them anyways? Well, they actually are wings..upper wings, to be precise. You see, I think a lot of people think upper wings are drumsticks because they are shaped like drumsticks but smaller (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Upper Wings (drumettes)

Now, chicken drumsticks are actually what look like chicken drumettes but bigger (Fig. 2). They seem to be a lil less popular than chicken upper wings (may be because upper wings are generally more tender and come in a convenient bite size).

Fig. 2: Chicken Legs (drumsticks)

Kapich? No? May be this diagram from Wikipedia will help

So next time before you go 'Hey, I asked for wings but they gave me drumsticks..', spare a minute or two to figure out your chicken.

Pfft..and you think you know your chicken..



Next week: chicken crop... (check out the egg by the ass)

Thailand under martial law

As a lot of you have already heard, the Thai military force has taken over the country for now. With the constitution revoked, the coup leader, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin has declared martial law. H.M. king Bhumibol was personally informed of the nation's situation by the general, together with the chiefs of the armed forces.

I was able to call home this morning and learnt that the situation is under control. The military intervention has been carried out cautiously, with memories of the bloodshed from 15 years ago for everyone to keep in mind.

Personally, I see General Sonthi's action as an heroic act, as the coup was to help end the political and even societal turmoil that has been going on since the beginning of the year, not to mention the intense conflicts Thaksin had created within the country during his political term. Unlike in 1991, I think this time the army's action was carried out, purely for the sake of the people and to save the country against its Prime Minister, who thinks running a country is like running a big corporation. Well, he can run but he can't hide.

Another thing I thought was smart about this movement was the fact that it was executed without prior knowledge to outsiders. One of the reasons the 1991 revolution went ugly was because the exact date of the overthrow was declared, which resulted in the gathering of crowds from different institutions (mainly uni students), and those who just wanted to test out their long kept away firearms. But with this occasion, although there are tanks and humvees rolling the streets of Bangkok, everyone has been calm, while supporters nearby watch peacefully.

Well, I just hope things turn out well without violence and Thaksin will be able to, for once think about the people of Thailand, rather than how to make more money, at the expense of the country's democracy. The king is tired of you, Thaksin...

Long live the king..


*Pictures were obtained from www.reuters.com

A Fever You Can't Sweat out

The first time I listened to 'A Fever You Can't Sweat Out', I was taken back by the band's use of instruments pop punk/synth rock bands don't normally even think about using. This is only true for the second half of the album, tho. The 'Panic! At the Disco' album was pretty much divided into two halves, with an electronic intermission in between (rather plain and too long for an intermission and starts off like a cheesy dance music from 'A Night at the Roxbury').

The first half features synthesized beats and sounds, as well as some acoustic riffs in the background. The cool thing about it is in most tracks from this half, the synth bits would kick in when you least expect it. Like in 'The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage', what seems to be the bridge of the song suddenly became this upbeat cheesy electro beat, which I could almost see Jim (from American Pie) stripping to. And yes, their track names are damned long. Kinda cool, tho.

Now, the second half is where it gets really interesting. Old school instruments like the Vaudevillian piano, the accordion and the horns add a lil bit of magic to the sounds. I particularly liked their use of the strings in 'But It's Better If You Do' and 'I Write Sins Not Tragedies', featuring plugged violins and I think what must have been either violas or a cello.

My favourite track, tho was 'There's A Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven't Thought Of It Yet', simply because it's got the Jazz essense to it. Well, how can it not? The track starts off with the drums doing the swing. Then, the voice comes in, accompanied with the perky piano. Not only that, there're bits in the song, where all instruments and vocals would stop so the drums can solo..Jazz sttyyyyllleeee..Definitely my favourite song of the album.

Let me just talk about the track names just a bit. According to Wikipedia, most tracks on the album reference works of Chuck Palahniuk (he wrote Fight Club!!), who is said to be the band's collective favorite author. More about that here.

All in all, despite it being a lil draining since all the tracks are upbeat together with high vocals, 'A Fever You Can't Sweat Out' is a pretty interesting album. Another creative piece of work with a different choice of instruments used within the genre. Have a listen:
http://www.purevolume.com/panicatthedisco

A space invader located

There aren't many cars on the road, nor pedestrians on the streets. It's another fine Sunday afternoon and I'm on my way to Baillieu with three chapters of economics in my bag, waiting eagerly to puzzle me.

Empty seats on the tram allow each passenger plenty of personal space, which is an incentive for a tram voyage on a Sunday. I had chosen a window seat, as usual. Being a martian, I find my eyes panning out the window for some fine Venusian specimens, naturally.

'Man, I wanna go sit in the park and read my Bangkok Tattoo..It's such a nice and sunny afternoon...' A sigh. 'But tomorrow's test is 15% and I don't wanna mess that up..'

'eh..' My eyes got my attention. I think they have spotted something and it's not a fine Venusian.
'It's one of them.. a small one but he's definitely one of them!' I smirk. 'What's he doing so low down there?.. I gotta go check this out.'

I reach for the tram cord and hop off. After just a few steps, I'm standing outside a secondhand bookstore, looking down at him..


..with a smile on my face.

http://www.space-invaders.com/

*My discovery of the lil invader is dedicated to my blog mentor, Khun Candidette, Khun Spaceman Spiff, and Khun Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator.

"Whatcha lookin' at??"

Nice day today, innit?

Finally... the sun's out and I think it is here to stay for a while. At least until the next winter (hopefully). Everything seems so much better when its nice, bright and warm. Everyone's in a good mood, especially guys. You know why? Because if we were to test for a relationship between the amount of sun there is and the amount of clothes on a girl's body, the result would be a significant negative correlation (check out fig.01).

And it's nice to see the birds are out to play on a beautiful day like this. I think I saw some blue tits today. Or may be they were great tits. Yes, I think they were great tits. A lot of them (I'm still talking about birds).

I saw something else funny today. When I was walking out of Melbourne Central, there was an eggplant just lying there on the footpath. I'm not sure what it was doing there or where it came from but it was there. I actually started laughing at it 'cause it looked so lost....and funny. Didn't have my camera with me so I took a picture with my phone instead (people there must have thought I was weird).


Wonder what it's doing now... may be someone adopted it.

The Bell and the Hammer

'The Bell and the Hammer' is one of those few albums I hear the first time and know it's gonna stay in my iTune library forever and ever ever. With all the differnt species and breeds of music there are these days, Indie is probably the genre 'This Day & Age' will fall most comfortably into.

The album starts off with 'Always straight ahead'. A song about a girl, who is afraid to fall in love, even though that's what she dreams of. In terms of the instrumentation, this song's got creativity written allover it. The shimmering harmonies at the start sets a serene vibe, which goes on for eight bars and then the coolest bass line comes in with the rest of the band. About this point, the beauty of the hi-hat comes out to play. I loooovvee it when bands pay attention to the hi-hat. It just shows how delicate they are with the way they make music. Another interesting thing about this song is each instrument jumps out to the front at times, throughout, just to say 'hey! look what I can do!'. As for the beautiful lyrics, it makes me feel sorry for people, who fear to love for whatever reason. It's quite sad...

The rest of the album offers glowing melodies , with gorgeous lyrics. Songs like 'Of Course We've All Seen the Sun', 'The Bell and the Hammer', and 'Second Star to the Right' are full of radiant piano and guitars , not to mention the soothing voice of the lead singer. 'The Bell and the Hammer' is definitely one of my favourite discoveries. See what you think: www.thisdayandagemusic.com

Anyways, today I bought a new book. Probably the first fiction I've bought in a long long time. The blurb reminded me of this other book, 'The Damage Done: Twelve Years of Hell in a Bangkok Prison' by Warren Fellows. That book was about this Farang guy, who was convicted of trafficking heroin between Thailand and Australia, and checked himself into the 'Bangkok Hilton'. The fact that I couldn't put that book down got me buying 'Bangkok Tattoo' as it instantly gave me the same sort of vibe. Here's what it's about:

'In District 8, the underbelly of Bangkok's crime world, a dramatically mutilated body is found in a hotel bedroom. It looks bad. It gets worse for detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep when the self-confessed murderer is the most successful 'working girl' at The Old Man's Club, a brothel owned jointly by Sonchai's mother and his boss, Police Colonel Vikorn. And it gets deadly when Sonchai, in an effort to get at the bizarre truth, is forced to run the gamut of Bangkok's drug-dealers, prositutes, bad cops, corrupt military generals, and the pitfalls of his own melting heart.'
-John Burdett

You see... Bangkok=sex and hookers?? Yea, may be. But don't other cities have all that too? But then I guess there's nowhere else, where you'll constantly get people coming up to you going 'u go spaycial sho? u want massaad? I take u...wely sheap...'. But that's only if you're a tourist. Anyways, I think Bangkok, or even Thailand holds this sort of reputation because people in the country's industry don't know how to blush. They are way less than embarrassed with what they do. Where else in the world can you find a living pingpong shooting machine? Or whatever else those girls can do with their poons.

I look forward to the upcoming nights, as I'll be taken to the Bangkok underworld, seeing bad cops and hookers (seeing as in seeing them on the streets!!)... may be I should take 'The Bell and the Hammer' with me too....

10.09.06: Transmission Begins

One of the many dishes to come.. Chicken breast w/mushroom white wine cream sauce~baby rockets~fries~and beans

Before

After

I just love it when my chicken breast is juicy and tender. I think the trick is to butterfly it, pan fry both sides quickly then chuck it in the oven for like 12-15 mins at around 180°C. That way, you don't get the 'oh, it's so tough and dry' chicken breast, which despite it being a good source of protein, is so damned hard to swallow.

A generous amount of extra VIRGIN olive oil when panfrying usually contributes to the tenderness (extra virgin meaning the olives were of the purest form of being virgins when they were pressed..hehehe and thus, being more superior than those olives used for the only 'virgin' olive oil).

Another important thing is the quality of the chicken meat stays nice and juicy only if you can finish it in a meal (please refer to 2nd picture). Say you can't finish it and want to keep it in the fridge for the next day's lunch. It is likely your chicken mushroom white wine cream sauce will be tough and dry, and you will only have yourself to blame (not to mention how soggy your fries will be..but then again most people can finish the fries even if they are full).

So it might be wise to make sure when you obtain your chicken breast(s) at the market (or supermarket..whatever) that the size of the breast(s) are of good standard... by that, I mean not too big, not too small and that it(they) is just enough to make you happy (being too ambitious or too picky with the breast sizes usually brings problems because you won't be able to find any).

Ok..enough nonsense for the day...
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