tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91704073502356093522024-02-18T20:57:43.293-08:00The Life of a Green Violin PersonA little something I use to rant and express opinions. Hopefully in a funny, entertaining way.
Welcome to my continuum! It's in my head, please excuse the mess. =DGreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-77253460086482719772011-06-12T06:02:00.000-07:002011-06-12T06:02:36.952-07:00Massive Quest of Self-Improvement<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">I've finally decided to start up my blog again! The reason why I haven't been posting is because of my ridiculous time management skills (read: ridiculous). Hence, one of the reasons pushing for this quest of self-improvement.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">As you all know (or not really) I have Asian parents. They are typically perfect people, and they give me the Family Lecture sometimes, not because I'm not perfect, but because I'm not efficient enough I think.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">Yeah, comparing myself to a machine, I'm actually rather obsessed with the idea of efficiency. It feels so good when you get twice the work done in half the time. I feel like I should be in a science-fiction movie or something just for saying that.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">Anyway. Back to ridiculous time management. Before this I was pushing all my lecture revision from uni to weekend. And god knows they pile the lectures on in university. So I don't actually have time to waste and do fun/stupid/random things on the weekends. Now I'm trying to work out a system where lectures are revised on weeknight and such. See, systems engineering :D</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">So I also aim to be a domestic goddess. I will learn how to wash clothes until they glitter like Edward Cullen. I will learn how to cook and bake fabulous fattening things. I will learn how to make people insanely jealous of my immaculate dwellings when they visit me. Because as of now, my skills in those departments are bacteria-sized.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">So, um, cooking. Being Asian, I can make fried rice and stir-fried noodles. Probably with soya sauce as the seasoning.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/05/phaidon/image/7_567-table-type-soy-sauce-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/05/phaidon/image/7_567-table-type-soy-sauce-.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This is my magical elixir.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">I'm going to keep observing people cooking, and help more in the kitchen. I want to be able to go beyond using soya sauce. I want to cook stuff full of love and tastiness, the type of food that lives in your stomach and makes you feel great to be alive (with a working digestive system).</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">See, high Asian standards there XD</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">Also, I have found out that I have a semi-wandering mind. Goes everywhere, gets lost a bit, then stumbles back all beat up. No more, yessirree. I'm going to start doing stuff immediately. No thinking about other stuff. I go around everywhere with a rubberband on my wrist now so I that I snap it whenever I catch myself wandering. Crazy, but it works. The easiest way to stop procrastination is to actually realise you're wasting precious seconds of your 10000-day life, from my experience.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">Also I read the 8-minute rule: most household chores eg taking out the garbage, storing leftovers etc takes only about 8 minutes. That's equivalent to sleeping in for 8 minutes, or standing around waiting for everyone to get ready, or a few TV commercials. I get lots of 8-minute gaps in my day, that's perfect for doing all the stuff I think I never really have time to do (get some domestic goddess house chores out of the way).</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"></span><a href="http://www.incrediblehorizons.com/images/brain.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://www.incrediblehorizons.com/images/brain.gif" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I am the boss of my own brain, bitch.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">Anyway, I will probably post from time to time documenting my shenanigans. Here's a summary for those who were too lazy to read:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">"Up my efficiency, and become good housewife material."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">...Not that I plan to be a housewife in the future, but yeah, food skills ok?</span></div>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-53607888585594413842011-03-08T04:25:00.000-08:002011-03-08T04:27:06.142-08:00I May Be On To Something HereI have realised that keeping a blog is a rather narcissistic little thing, where you just write mostly about your thoughts to the whole wide world, as if someone cares to read them. But you do it anyway, mainly because you know your blog will not reach that wide an audience, and it feels good to rant.<br />
<br />
Or at least, that is my opinion.<br />
<br />
But the point of this post is not narcissism, it is because I think I have finally figured out some part of what people call the "Law of Attraction". Even though I am a sciency-person who has been taught to accept, question and discover based on evidence, I am rather interested in how this works. The theory behind it is whatever you think will materialise somehow in your life. I say, the best evidence is personal experience, so give it a go and see if it works for you.<br />
<br />
Tricky...very tricky. The Law isn't as simple as that. If I could have whatever I wanted I wouldn't have to study anymore right now. XD Therefore my explanation is this: Life's a bit of a bitch and wants you to put in effort for what you want.<br />
<br />
Also, you cannot just keep on wishing and wishing desperately for what you want. Like when I was a kid I used to whinge a lot for what I wanted; did I get it? 95% of the time, I didn't get anything. Nada. So just like how people cannot stand you whinging, Life also can't stand you being desperate for something and will purposely not give you what you want because you just reek of self-pity. Like I said it's a bit of a bitch.<br />
<br />
So the deal that works for me is: I can't be desperate. I should know what I want out of life (I mean, everybody has to have some sort of direction). Then, I have to make sure that I have an idea of what I have to do to achieve that, i.e. Know My Shit. I'm pretty sure it's everyone's experience that when you know your stuff and do it well, you're confident and won't spend time worrying about how you'll mess up later. Like if you're prepared for an interview, all you have to worry about is your luck in getting selected. If you're not prepared then there's really no point worrying about the luck. In short, just do what you have to do and don't worry about the probability of your thoughts or wishes materialising.<br />
<br />
Well I did put this into practice as often as I could throughout the past 1-2 years of my life, and even though results aren't phenomenal, they're not too bad. Sometimes I was surprised that stuff I asked for came true, especially intangible things like opportunities to do something. And quite amazingly they usually came faster after I'd thought of them for a while, but decided not to sweat it and let things be natural.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure by what mechanism this law works; it could be that it increases your confidence by forcing you to accept and confront worry, it could be that you have a sense of purpose and this makes you more alert to opportunities, but whatever it is, it works, and that's the best part, really.<br />
<br />
Now have a go at it, whoever is reading this. If you have done so, you can post a comment below or into the cbox on the left to tell me of your experiences. If you have not and think that I am spouting nonsense, well, one try can't hurt you can it?GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-67273854145095851422010-12-21T22:23:00.000-08:002010-12-21T22:30:47.221-08:00"Getting Used To It"Will today's post be preachy? Will it be funny? Will it be *le gasp* SERIOUS?<br />
<br />
I don't know, but I like building suspense. XD<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">So anyway, today I went for driving class. Now the instructor was real interesting cos he was supposed to teach us all about the fan belt and engine and all that sort of stuff, but he didn't. Instead, he handed me the wheel and told me to drive. I was like "Oh my god I'm so nervous what if I crash this itty bitty car or ram into a post and totally bend it?! Wait the thought of me bending metal is actually cool. OMG OMG."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">So it was a manual car which means clutch, brake and accelerator. I kept messing up the clutch, didn't know when to press it halfway or fully or how to step on the accelerator properly while on the clutch, and the instructor was ,"Up clutch! No not all the way! Not so down! Feel the pedal feel the pedal oh no you've released it all the way oh great now the engine has stopped start it again please."</span><br />
<br />
And I kept turning the steering wheel too much, I blame those PS2 Underground racing games I used to play. I always twisted the car too much, but then at least I didn't have the prospect of death or injury to worry about. I mean the worst thing that could happen was that I would lose the race. @_@<br />
<br />
All in all I went ten rounds around the track and it was loads better after that. I actually had fun! I kept imagining Spock driving though, I don't know why. And how he'd have that poker face of his on. I hope that expression didn't end up on my face, when I get nervous my facial muscles become stupid and freeze there.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://caffeinatedtheology.com/wp-content/uploads/spock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://caffeinatedtheology.com/wp-content/uploads/spock.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><br />
Actually, I do think I looked somewhat like this, gah.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">The instructor told me, "You see, don't be nervous, otherwise it's just giving yourself stupidity in advance befor you actually do anything. When people say things like that a little light bulb goes off in my brain and I have this moment of epiphany and confidence where I say "OH YES THAT MAKES LOGICAL SENSE."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">So I thought about it, and yeah, many times we are scared of new things simply because we have had no prior exposure to it. It takes getting used to, and then we don't feel that it's scary anymore. If anything, it becomes routine, and we become better and better at it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">I think most technical skills are like that--you HAVE to repeat them to learn them well. I like doing things with my hands, so that involves driving and also drawing right now. Geesh, it takes me forever to realise this sort of epic truth to life. Had I known/realised this earlier, I wouldn't have sweated so much about my violin (which basically involves a lot of technical skill) and instead put more patience into repeating movements until I got it right. I didn't have so much patience though, so I actually griped a lot and nearly burnt the instrument on a few occassions.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">"Son, I am disappoint." (which is what my dad would say if my family were Vulcans and if I was actually a guy.)</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Fh-JsyYU-e4YeOUO56lA8DszJ65gkPK_xFKczh1Vi08nd2vz3sVaErMQ2qS8bAwRkhvK4PUdKSidt632cIa7D1T31IycD2racOISc8sJ-WIoWPvfsDNg-CCuf1XHabZkVWnQp-doRsM/s1600/son-i-am-disappoint.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Fh-JsyYU-e4YeOUO56lA8DszJ65gkPK_xFKczh1Vi08nd2vz3sVaErMQ2qS8bAwRkhvK4PUdKSidt632cIa7D1T31IycD2racOISc8sJ-WIoWPvfsDNg-CCuf1XHabZkVWnQp-doRsM/s320/son-i-am-disappoint.gif" width="256" /></a></div><span style="color: #351c75;">So anyway more thoughts on this drawing thing. If you also draw, do tell me, what gets you drawing? What makes you want to improve?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">For me, it's this sort of thing where I usually measure myself against other people's standards (WHICH IS NOT A WISE THING TO DO SO DON'T DO IT) Unfortunately this results in me feeling that my art is "not good enough" so I usually don't draw much, which is counterproductive. =.=</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">But after a while I figured that measuring myself against other people usually ends up in me measuring against my previous standards because what this means is that I want to surpass my previous level of drawing. So in reality I am measuring against myself. And that is a better form of encouragement because it makes me do things like draw a human body everyday, with reference to muscles and figuring out where they go on skeletons and stuff.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">I used to hate learning all the muscle systems and stuff, but now it makes more sense to me because I see how they give the human body its form. That small logical part of my brain appreciates it too. So basically I'm just repeating and repeating those forms everyday. It's a small step, but a step nonetheless. Like I said this is technical, so it has to be done many times. In other words, practice~</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Enjoy your day. =)</span>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-5658358354863841222010-12-10T22:59:00.000-08:002010-12-10T22:59:41.481-08:00Because I Needed to Talk to Someone and the Internet Was My Best Bet<span style="color: #0b5394;">Hermitty life. I swear, I'm a bit of a hermit. Ever since my holidays started I've been spamming myself with drawing. I don't go out much, maybe except to swim and take photos of random caterpillars eating my father's plants. O_o</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">My art life has become rather active lately. =) I'm almost filling up my sketchbook which I started drawing in 2008, and I've finally discovered the powerful tool that is...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">REFERENCE IMAGES.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">I was rather stupid last time when I used to draw because I never used reference (I don't know why, was it some foolish pride?) so I hate all my drawings from that time, they look rather spsastic at times haha.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">I'm sorry, this IS going to be a ramble about my relationship with art.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Then I realised there's no shame in using reference (heck, almost everyone uses it) and I became addicted to reference images. I visit <a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/">http://www.gettyimages.com/</a> for most of them... Deviantart has some pretty nice ones too.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">I also recently purchased a book on drawing anatomy. It's wonderfully detailed and includes all muscle groups and the drawings are oh-so-pretty. I'm not sure if I want to go that much into detail just yet, I just want to make figures look convincing, y'know? And I'm staying true to this rule:</span><br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: #990000;">"The human body is NOT made up of straight lines!" (This is one rule I have broken quite a lot of times)</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cdhb.govt.nz/waitlist/images/stickman/stickman.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" n4="true" src="http://www.cdhb.govt.nz/waitlist/images/stickman/stickman.gif" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This guy breaks this rule all the time.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fitnwell.net/anatomy.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="293" n4="true" src="http://www.fitnwell.net/anatomy.gif" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">This is excruciating detail.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">The guy writing the anatomy book, Peter M. Simpson, said that it's way better to draw figures from a skeleton than to use blocks and cylinders. That's cos with a skeleton you know where the muslces are attached to and so you can add appropriate bulk to your figures. It's not the same with cylinders because like I mentioned, the human body isn't made up of straight lines.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">After I read that I thought, "Well there goes 5 years of drawing technique out the window." So basically I'm trying to make the transition to skeletons now, it's actually quite helpful though I can't for the life of me figure out where muscles go.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">As I spend more time with my pencil and paper I realise that there is a lot about art which I can't do yet (Pretty backgrounds, foreshortening, beautiful colouring) and wow, it's overwhelming. I don't think I'll get that serious about art, but anyway I'll probably do it one step at a time. Well with the very small steps I'm taking I'll probably become decent in maybe in 15-20 years' time. XD</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75;">I've also met two entities which are the bane of my existence: hands, and couple sketches. Can't draw them to save my life. I end up laughing at myself. You know how Nelson laughs at Bart in the Simpsons? Yeah. I'm Nelson, then I'm Bart. : D</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://feedthecats.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/the-simpsons-nelson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="http://feedthecats.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/the-simpsons-nelson.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">And drawings of couples? Immensely awkward for me to attempt. I end up giving them ridiculous expressions that look more comical than anything else. Just can't take them seriously. But since the best way to overcome your fears is to face them head-on, I'm spamming my sketchbook with a lot of hand dawings and the occasional couple bit (I still can't draw too many without laughing).</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">And the reason for wanting to draw couples? It's cos I'm a girl and I see stuff through a special mushy lens sometimes and cannot resist making cute little sketches of people being happy together in their own little world DAMNIT.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">All in all, art is slowly becoming a more central part of my life, and I appreciate that very much. I don't know how far I want to go in terms of technical skill (like a professional illustrator, that's pretty far), but hopefully much further than now. Definitely</span></div>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-63205359734161919122010-11-13T08:25:00.000-08:002010-11-13T08:25:00.064-08:00Father-Daughter Bonding, Star Trek Style!<span style="color: #38761d;">My father is quite an...odd man. Oh, I mean odd in a good way, the interesting kind of odd.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Today he realised that I had two science experiment planning papers to go next week, so he asked me and my sister in the car, "How would you get rid of birds in an area so that they won't poop on the cars parked under the trees? And don't kill them."</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">Well it was after dinner and my brain wasn't functioning, so I was practically just going "Uhmmmm..."</span><br />
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.wilsonbuilt.com/wb_blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/060606-crows_big.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" px="true" src="http://www.wilsonbuilt.com/wb_blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/060606-crows_big.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">And this, my friends, is the problem.</div><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">Then my dad went into this impassioned speech about how this was just like an experiment.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">"Point 1, you observe. When do the birds come? Do they nest? What do they do? What is the volume of excreta they pump out? What effect does this have on the urban people?"</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">"Point 2, you analyse. Look up some literature. Do the birds like only one type of tree? What do they eat? What drives them away?"</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">"Point 3, you do what you have to do. See, crows don't like ultrasonic sounds, so just build an ultrasonic device and play it during the evenings when they come. Easy, dude, easy."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">I didn't know what to say, so I just nodded enthusiastically and said, "Yeah!" My dad picked a very strange point to illustrate a concept...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;">Then after that he went into another speech of why science is so important, and how it's based on Logic! and how Logic! underpins the mechanics of science and how you must always think Logically!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #4c1130;">"Science is the mecahnics of this world, and art is its colour!" Ah, he was really on a roll now.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Well since he was in full Logic! mode I couldn't resist saying, "Quite Vulcan of you, eh, dad."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">And he said, "Yes! I'm going all Mr. Spock on you now. You see, why did they put a Vulcan on the Enterprise? Human beings have all the science and technology and yet there are still problems. The Vulcan on the ship was laughing at them, damnit."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">I remembered Spock and Bones used to insult each other all the time and I was like "OMG YES."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">"And who created the Vulcan?"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">"The producer of the show, Gene Rodenderry?"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">"Yes, that's why Star Trek's interesting! It's like a human looking at human behaviour from a different perspective."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">In my mind I was going, "OMG DAD I KNEW THAT YOU WERE A CLOSET TREKKIE YOU JUST DIDN'T WANT TO ADMIT IT BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T WANT PPL THINKING YOU WERE A GEEK."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">And because I was pretty much hyped from then on, I mentioned casually, "Oh, and doesn't Bones hate the transporter?"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">"Yeah, he doesn't want to disintegrate and then reintegrate into something else."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">That really brought out the geek/nerd in me. I remembered reading something about teleporting stuff. You had to take the properties of all the atoms, and then transfer it to an intermediate series of particles before transferring it to atoms at your desired location again. Something like that. Apparently scientists at Vienna have successfully transferred photons in this way under a river from one side to the other, pretty cool stuff.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3576594.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3576594.stm</a> <<--Here's the link to the Vienna article.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">So the only thing I could do was think, "OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M DISCUSSING STAR TREK PHYSICS WITH DAD."</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.popsucker.net/images/popsucker/theflyopera.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" px="true" src="http://www.popsucker.net/images/popsucker/theflyopera.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><span style="color: blue;">And then my dad recommended this horror sci-fi movie called "The Fly" about a guy who tries to teleport himself this way, but a fly got into the machine and their DNA mixed so the guy became a fly-mutant thing. I'm going to watch it, just for the sake of old sci-fi.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">My father concluded with this sentence, "And that's why you should always remember Mr. Spock. It's Logic! It helps you get by." I swear my dad is a secret Spock fan, he just makes it look like I'm the only one in the family who likes that pointy-eared hobgoblin.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">...But now that's not a secret any more. O_o</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">I think if my dad and I were in Star Trek he'd be some wiseass Romulan (they're like Vulcans, but only more emotional) and I'd be some weird little Vulcan kid who tags along and asks him stuff all the time.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Tonight was a major geeky-nerdy moment. Seriously. So to balance things out, I'm going to say "Grey's Anatomy was good! Aww Christina and Owen got married!"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">You see, I'm making a reference to a popular TV show here, so I am maintaining what little street cred I have. =D</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Have a pleasant journey in your part of the space-time continuum! (aka, your Life.)</span>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-39652599219490489802010-11-06T08:48:00.000-07:002010-11-06T08:48:44.329-07:00Old People.<span style="color: #0b5394;">Today's post is going to be a little...sentimental? Yes, perhaps that's the word. well, my dad invited some of his friends and a real special guest over to our house for dinner today. That guest was his ex-headmaster, when he was at primary school. So yeah, he's quite old now, in his 80's.</span><br />
<br />
He's a Christian brother so we call him Brother Harold. He's Australian but doesn't reside there. He came to Malaysia to meet up with his students, and so...that's how he wound up at our house.<br />
<br />
For an old dude, he's sure cheery. I had this snippet of a conversation with him:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Me: Well, at least Australia isn't as cold as the UK.</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Brother H: Ohh, but English people are nice. Walk into a shop and they say, "Hi, how may I help you, love?" Well, no one calls me 'love' in Australia!</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: #990000;">He's very alert. Apparently he still insists on planting his own vegetables for consumption. And when he got a bit breathless, he asked my dad "Why is this happening to me? It's never happened before."</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: #990000;">My dad said the polite equivalent of "Dude, you're 80-something..." and the Brother just laughed. I had a chance to talk to him and I found myself laughing so much because he kept cracking little jokes. At first I was apprehensive because I don't really have elderly people as friends (well it was more because I'm just nervous making conversation with unknown people) but it was real nice talking to him.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">You could tell that he had led one of those full, satisfying lives, because he was so genial overall, and also because practically all his ex-students asked him over for dinner as well. =)</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">*Sigh* I don't know, I think old people are quite interesting, mainly because they have so much life experience. Perhaps it's because they know that they are nearing the end of life, but they seem to live more in the present instead of worrying about the past or future. They're generally more relaxed and have a better senese of humour I think. Brother Harold is just the kind of old person I want to be when I'm old. =P</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">Ohh a Famous Old Person I want to meet is </span> </span></span></span><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><br />
</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.atpictures.com/images2/leonard-nimoy/LeonardNimoy_Grant_11128908.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://img.atpictures.com/images2/leonard-nimoy/LeonardNimoy_Grant_11128908.jpg" width="233" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Leonard Nimoy! The original Mr. Spock.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">I'm not really sure of his personality and stuff, but from the snippets of actual things he's said and what he's said in interviews, I think that conversation with him would be really interesting. Fascinating, as Spock would put it.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">Oh, he's had stomach surgery recently! And this is what he had to say: </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirSQWD1GhZvrek0otSH1rnMG9EZ98wVYDnRurNoxpG3-De-r9iRzSzw43ZCAKd_haaWZAW5CkN0avG4kuFWe9JD5CkIJeDRLuh8o-ilsTZ0p30IKw78AXznVlAaqcQz_2R0NCHjJdt6S-f/s1600/nimoy+tweets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirSQWD1GhZvrek0otSH1rnMG9EZ98wVYDnRurNoxpG3-De-r9iRzSzw43ZCAKd_haaWZAW5CkN0avG4kuFWe9JD5CkIJeDRLuh8o-ilsTZ0p30IKw78AXznVlAaqcQz_2R0NCHjJdt6S-f/s400/nimoy+tweets.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I'm telling you, old people have a sense of humour.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <br />
And in case you don't know what LLAP is, it's "Live Long And Prosper". Lol it sounds kinda like what Chinese grandparents would say. Longevity and wealth...two things essential to Chinese well-wishing.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">So go out and appreciate an old person today!</div>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-43428131649090582532010-10-27T02:59:00.000-07:002010-10-27T03:14:38.733-07:00Lucky Shirt? Lucky Shirt.<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">So today I had my Bio and Maths paper 3 exams. Double whammy, dudes. However, I came psychologically prepared because I had my lucky shirt on. *Ahem* here it is!</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsGw-H8h6x03WKtHWaTfxhvxD-CoAI_XocOdVbDG5bfn0O6c0gKkUytRkZlO3qk1rfubm77Ql7Oj9oRMwkoQKrSOSM3ghpfNHpotVzfY-Rcc2yOude0vb4VmQnfOWKHQTB8jP4A-jp02iO/s1600/lucky+shirt.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsGw-H8h6x03WKtHWaTfxhvxD-CoAI_XocOdVbDG5bfn0O6c0gKkUytRkZlO3qk1rfubm77Ql7Oj9oRMwkoQKrSOSM3ghpfNHpotVzfY-Rcc2yOude0vb4VmQnfOWKHQTB8jP4A-jp02iO/s320/lucky+shirt.JPG" width="210" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Heh. I know. Look it's cartoon Spock! Just the kind of shirt I'd consider lucky. Well, it is lucky, because I thought I'd never be able to find a Star Trek T-shirt in Malaysia. (There is a depressing lack of Trekkies here...)</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">But believe it or not, while my sister was stalking fashion trends on the Internet, she actually found some Malaysian girl wearing this shirt. Turns out Pull and Bear was selling them, so I hopped over to get one. Literally. I think I was skipping down the mall after I'd bought it.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Anyway, about being psychologically prepared. I think I've been pretty much eating and drinking my Bio and Maths papers for the past one week's preparation, and I was still nervous. But wearing this shirt just made me feel so...secure. Like I could take on anything. I don't know, maybe it's just because Star Trek works as anti-depressants for me or something.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">And I suppose when you have a serious-looking Spock plastered over your front in a quiet exam hall, you kind of concentrate and try to be logical as well. So I think I did alright, concentrating and answering all the questions. I felt...peaceful? Yeah, quite serene actually. (Was I meditating?!!)</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75;">My football-crazy friend came in a Manchester United jersey, and my eco-friendly friend came in a green shirt. So I guess a lucky shirt isn't lucky because it has magical powers, it's lucky because you like it and it calms you down. It kind of reassures you that you can even answer weird questions if you just tweak your brain to think sensibly.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Hmm I think this luckiness doesn't just apply to clothing, it applies to anything that lands you in a relaxed and peaceful state of mind. I'd been drawing when I took study breaks, and that really helped because I happen to like doing it. It's good to have a hobby, mmhmm.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">For today, I'd suggest to readers to really find out what totally relaxes you and puts you in that meditating sort of mind. It should be something that you can keep coming back to, and something that you really enjoy doing. Perhaps it's these little things that keep human beings sane.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Farewell, internet! Gonna draw something fluffy now.</span></div>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-1237732143929847322010-10-20T05:07:00.000-07:002010-10-27T03:14:25.064-07:00And Life Continues on the Earth's Axis.<span style="color: blue;">Huh. This is an update on my personal life. I know, *so* exciting, right.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Besides the fact that I have exams (which I must be on my toes for), I have recently found drawing to be very therapeutic. Especially since I've been figuring out how to draw poses and stuff like that. Pretty frustrating though, I always feel I can never draw as well as I want to. But oddly, after staring at the picture I've finally done, there's a sense that it's somewhat complete. It's weird. Really. I never know whether to be pissed or happy with my art.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Anyways, here's some gay Spock/Kirk funny-ass comics for your viewing pleasure: They made me laugh like a hyena on drugs or something. Oh, and there's some Spock/Uhura too. I hope to do funny-ass art like that someday. =D</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">NOTE: I DIDN'T DRAW THESE COMICS. NatNatTOS did. BUT I WISH I DID. ^_^</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://natnattos.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d30wyho">http://natnattos.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d30wyho</a><br />
<a href="http://natnattos.deviantart.com/art/Mind-Tricks-179996737?q=gallery%3ANatnatTOS%2F26601679&qo=12">http://natnattos.deviantart.com/art/Mind-Tricks-179996737?q=gallery%3ANatnatTOS%2F26601679&qo=12</a><br />
<a href="http://natnattos.deviantart.com/art/Prompt-Vulcan-Orgasm-Pinch-182572201?q=gallery%3ANatnatTOS%2F26601679&qo=5">http://natnattos.deviantart.com/art/Prompt-Vulcan-Orgasm-Pinch-182572201?q=gallery%3ANatnatTOS%2F26601679&qo=5</a><br />
<a href="http://natnattos.deviantart.com/art/Amok-Time-182400838?q=gallery%3ANatnatTOS%2F26601679&qo=6">http://natnattos.deviantart.com/art/Amok-Time-182400838?q=gallery%3ANatnatTOS%2F26601679&qo=6</a><br />
<a href="http://natnattos.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d30rl6j">http://natnattos.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d30rl6j</a><br />
<br />
Anyhoo, I have some papers to practice on and some hair to colour. Toodles!GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-61414673004439365092010-10-06T01:51:00.000-07:002010-10-27T03:14:19.630-07:00Review: South of the Border, West of the Sun<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/1115/southoftheborderwestoftff6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="320" src="http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/1115/southoftheborderwestoftff6.jpg" width="206" /></a></div><span style="color: #38761d;">Today's blog post will be a book review by a Japanese author, Haruki Murakami. (I haven't finished <em>Catcher in the Rye</em> yet.) I was first introduced to this author by my friend Amanda, (</span><a href="http://www.pieproduction-wondermilk.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #38761d;">click for her blog</span></a><span style="color: #38761d;">) when I was a wee lassie in Year 9. (Ok, maybe not that wee lassie.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">I started off with <em>Kafka on the Shore </em>and even now I do not fully understand it. Mr. Murakami is well known for his use of surrealism that ties in with his themes of human life, emotions and the philosophy of existence.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">My friend lent me this shorter novel of his (it's only 200 pages) so I finished it in a few days. I have read some other Murakami novels since Kafka, and this would be the latest.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">It chronicles the life of Hajime, a child born in 1951. Being an only child, he had only one friend, Shimamoto, a girl. But they lost touch when he moved away. Growing up into his teens and then his twenties, we see Hajime gain a better grasp of how his life is progressing, but yet we see his selfish side, in a few chapters where he wounds his high school girlfriend emotionally.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">Upon graduation he gets stuck in a dead-end job, aimless and directionless in his life for 8 years, until he meets Yukiko and marries her, settling into family life with two daughters, running a jazz bar.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">Then one day, Shimamoto comes back. The book explores his feelings and his inability to forget his first love. All this paves the way to infidelity, and at the same time, some self-discovery. I have noticed that most of the Murakami novels I've read deal with self-discovery, and how you don't really know yourself until you learn from experience.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Also, most of the protagonists in his books are average, decent males who are searching for something, some inner fulfillment. This somewhat fits Hajime here. As a female teenage reader, I can't really relate to Hajime's mid-life crisis, but I do suppose it is an artistic expression of what goes through men's minds at this point. These days divorces are so common and to me, having an artistic impression of infidelity somehow makes the irrationality of human emotional motivation easier to tolerate.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Hajime's selfishness is highlighted well, and is clearly seen in a short conversation with his wife, where she points out that he assumes he knows what she is thinking and that he has never really asked her a question about anything. You'd think that she would be outraged, but instead, she just takes the blow, quietly stating to him that she feels the pain but nothing else.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">I think that deep down, Hajime is afraid of being alone, maybe alone with no one but himself for company. He describes a "force" within him that he cannot overcome. The force of a selfish desire for his first love, perhaps? Someone he may never have. Here I think again of Buddha's words, "Desire is suffering."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">While this book does not have much of that ethereal glow that I savour while reading other Murakami works, (I have read about a Sheepman, and fish raining from the sky) I found it enjoyable, because you could see the feelings point-blank. Sometimes the misty metaphors that he uses in other books take a while to adjust to an interpret. It seems like a straightforward story, but because of the way in which Hajime's feelings are described, like something blurred, something which lurks incessantly, it isn't that simple.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">In conclusion, I was able to feel Hajime's desperation, and was relieved that he found some closure at the end of the book. Murakami's language is simple--even in Japanese (I read the English translation), but the things he conveys are not. <em>South of the Border </em>reads a bit like a dream, yet at all times you are made aware of reality lurking behind it. Then Murakami asks you: <em>what is reality?</em></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Wow, I've been rambling on. I can't stop soon enough when I talk about books. This isn't a serious review, though, I just want to expound on my thoughts on the book. Try a Murakami sometime. You may be surprised, or you may be disgusted, or you may love it, but I think it would be a unique experience.</span>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-5880329220841004012010-09-28T02:45:00.000-07:002010-10-27T03:14:12.896-07:00Time Keeps On Slipping<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/futurama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/futurama.jpg" width="312" /></a></div>Alright, alright, I've ripped the title from a Futurama episode. If you do not know the awesomeness that is Futurama, I suggest you go Google it. Right. Now. And watch a couple of episodes too.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Anyway, time does keep on slipping because there are a few weeks left to the A2 exams right now. I am prepared, but things seem to escape my mind nowadays, squirming a bit to get out? OMG stay in stay in information.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">And this is not a good time, but my right hand itches to draw. So. So. Badly. To somewhat escape my boredom I have taken to drawing little Star Trek cartoons in the edges of my past-year papers.</span><span style="color: #38761d;"> I was so bored I tried doing a Kirk/Spock moment. Yes. ST slash. If you want to see my doodles, cbox me and I'll move it here for fun and laughter. Well more likely laughter, my own drawings are so bad sometimes they make me laugh.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Anyways, I'm really thankful I can doodle at least. It's fun! I used to be really suckass at drawing, and I'm not so hot myself even now, but I never thought I'd be able to draw. I think art saves my sanity sometimes. Granted, I'm not as talented as some brilliant! artists out there, but yeah, drawing is just for fun. After all, Matt Groening (creator of Futurama and the Simpsons) said he couldn't draw his own characters very well, and look where he is. =D</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.marieb.com/PIC_LORDBYRON.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.marieb.com/PIC_LORDBYRON.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigCFx99ItLCEE1niR6l1MjZkUrNatEqKu6la6ypxLJ4GDwvVAkuFy13XZHse8FhXsGwjvLVGvphShycW1el_KGIMn-ydF1w3aiBSpLQkWYm5uV4MoHQr8WGy8sZqG-v2lEsVMqULIu1w6T/s1600/my+brain.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Sometimes I wonder what my life would've been like if I'd been an art student. Like, really artsy-fartsy, dissecting literature and quoting Lord Byron and studying art history. Probably I would have more time for drawing, and maybe I would have more time to practice too! I suppose I do enjoy expressing myself, but for some reason I've always preferred the sciences. (Maybe because it appeals to that small logical part of my brain, lol.) Art subjects...are too subjective! Nothing is right or wrong...<span style="color: red;">but then I suppose 99% of life is like that!</span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigCFx99ItLCEE1niR6l1MjZkUrNatEqKu6la6ypxLJ4GDwvVAkuFy13XZHse8FhXsGwjvLVGvphShycW1el_KGIMn-ydF1w3aiBSpLQkWYm5uV4MoHQr8WGy8sZqG-v2lEsVMqULIu1w6T/s1600/my+brain.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigCFx99ItLCEE1niR6l1MjZkUrNatEqKu6la6ypxLJ4GDwvVAkuFy13XZHse8FhXsGwjvLVGvphShycW1el_KGIMn-ydF1w3aiBSpLQkWYm5uV4MoHQr8WGy8sZqG-v2lEsVMqULIu1w6T/s640/my+brain.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Anyways, this is my brain right now. Pretty much self-explanatory. =D You guys should try a brain portrait sometime; it's really fun!GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-79631352511930821592010-09-14T23:15:00.000-07:002010-09-14T23:16:56.895-07:00Brave New World: A Dystopia of Pleasure?<div style="color: #38761d;">Today's post will be a book review about the novel "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. It's a pretty iconic book, and if you haven't read it yet, please give it a shot. I'm just going to post my thoughts about it, and its underlying message.</div><div style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</div><span style="color: red;">I have never liked literature because of the way I was taught it (memorise, memorise, memorise) but maybe that will change as I'm slowly returning to my habit of reading.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://jael12.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/brave-new-world-book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://jael12.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/brave-new-world-book.jpg" width="210" /></a><br />
To give an intro, Brave New World is set in the 2500s, where everyone lives under a "World State" and is perpetually happy. Humans are divided into five classes: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. Gamma to Epsilon classes perform more menial work, and Alpha and Beta are more upper-caste.<br />
<br />
No one is born the normal way; everyone is "manufactured" via IVF through sperm and eggs. Sometimes eggs are "Bokanovskified" so that they produce batches 96 identical individuals(for Gammas to Epsilons). Promiscuity is promoted and everyone is encouraged to "have one another". No one ages. At sixty you still look young. The word "mother"is a swear word, and "father" is a joke. The idea of marriage, family, and passionate relationships are over.<br />
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Kids are conditioned by having subliminal messages pumped into their ears during sleep. The first part of the story deals with life in this society. We are introduced to Bernard Marx (who somewhat questions the civilisation) and Lenina Crowne (who is a typical female).<br />
<br />
The second part deals with Bernard and Lenina going to a Savage reservation in Mexico (where people still live lives much like the native American Indians in my opinion). They find a white man who was born there; he is John, known as "Mr. Savage" when he returns to London with Bernard, along with his mother, Linda, who has actually aged without the chemicals to keep her young.<br />
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The third part of the book deals with the Savage living in London and the struggles he faces with this "Brave New World". I won't say more here, except that in order to truly appreciate the many layers of this world you have to read the book yourself.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://recordbrother.typepad.com/imagesilike/images/brave_new_world_cover_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="312" src="http://recordbrother.typepad.com/imagesilike/images/brave_new_world_cover_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <span style="color: #0b5394;">My opinions on this dystopian world:</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">--It has some elements of early 20th century advancement, such as mass production, being written in 1932. Perhaps the most eerie one is the "baby in the bottle" way of manufacturing people and then putting them on an assembly line, where they have alcohol put into their bottles to dumb them down and exposed to heat or cold so that they can be adapted to future job conditions.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">--Consumption and capitalism seem to play an important part. Deltas are conditioned to like certain things so that they would spend more on them, supporting the economy. Not very unlike our current world, where we have to "keep up with trends" and new products are always grazing the surface of the market.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">--People are brainwashed since young to like their place in the Alpha-Epsilon caste, and there is always a "soma" drug to keep you happy should you ever feel unpleasant emotions. Everyone is happy. This is something the Savage questions. Given my never-ending quest to truly understand and live with human emotions, I couldn't help but be interested in this part. A world where everyone is happy?</span><br />
<a href="http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/2846337/2/istockphoto_2846337-ridiculously-happy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/2846337/2/istockphoto_2846337-ridiculously-happy.jpg" width="213" /></a><span style="color: #0b5394;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">It is ideal, but then we would lose some semblance of humanity. For what is there to work for, if everything you want is given to you? If happiness is something shaken out of a pill-box?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">There is a part when the Controller reads a paper by Bernard describing a suspicion that the ultimate goal is not a stable Society, but perhaps some expansion of human intelligence and consciousness.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">But then, he shakes his head and says "This cannot be published."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">After reading the notes at the back of the book, I found out that Aldous Huxley was actually quite interested in this human intelligence and consciousness expansion. I am, too, after reading about "Boltzmann brains." These are supposedly random events where a conscious entity supposedly "pops up" in the Universe. But I digress. Wikipedia it if you want, it's something abstract that you can wrap your mind around.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="color: #38761d;">All in all, I enjoyed the book, and am impressed at the scope of Mr. Huxley's imagination. It leaves me a little shaky because it reminds me of human beings' propensity for evil, and that some small parts of the book may already be showing up in our society, like consumerism. Maybe that's why I like sci-fi--it's full of "what ifs" and predictions of the future of humankind. Good as food for thought.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: red;">I know this is a long post, so thanks for putting up with it. I have a huge stack of other sci-fi and general fiction that I'm trying to finish. The next book review I think will be about "Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger. I'm looking forward to it.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
At the risk of sounding like I'm spreading educational propaganda for young kids, Reading is Fun!GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-74360003652227802010-09-10T10:04:00.000-07:002010-09-14T23:17:33.747-07:00Utterly Perplexing Emotions and Star Trek Fluff.<span style="color: purple;">Hello world! Today I will rant about my emotions. No, it's not about some boy. No, it's not about schoolwork. It's basically about...well, me. (Oh lordies another narcissistic post.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;">I don't know. I do think emotions are the queerest little things that reside in your body and pop up suddenly. They interfere with everything you are supposed to do. They throw you off whack, and they're so incredibly distracting. You know, like "I don't feel like being hardworking and studying for my exams today."</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;">And "I wanna eat so much and get fat even though I know I shouldn't." This one, friend, is LUST. FOOD LUST.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1vLcTmsOnM2vJg_DyoXZy7yrlJBAM18jeoYCVuAezHPebqXxZocm56UM6hiEXeJo1yidIznOYJHGSb5UyZ0ZDDoDqFEOOrrM5ikAd8DmpyyHn2h0IoZrWm9LGseHStmZb2HW4CctDKUmo/s1600/food+whore+cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1vLcTmsOnM2vJg_DyoXZy7yrlJBAM18jeoYCVuAezHPebqXxZocm56UM6hiEXeJo1yidIznOYJHGSb5UyZ0ZDDoDqFEOOrrM5ikAd8DmpyyHn2h0IoZrWm9LGseHStmZb2HW4CctDKUmo/s320/food+whore+cake.jpg" /></a></div><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><i><span style="color: red;">Ah I could just gobble you up so bad ya sexy thing. This pic is courtesy of <a href="http://www.foodwhore.tumblr.com/">http://www.foodwhore.tumblr.com/</a></span></i> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;">And then, there's the Inferiority Complex. Oh mothership, I hate the Inferiority Complex. You think you're pretty damn good at something and then you find someone who does it a kajillion times better then you. Then you start wondering what sort of cosmic force would want to bring so much misery to you by rubbing your pathetic failure in your face.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;">You can tell I've had a lot of experience with Mr. Inferiority Complex.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: blue;">Well, ever since I became a Trekkie I've looked to Spock for an answer. (Yes this is how bad my fandom is. So sue me.)Well you know I took a leaf out of his book and tried to not give in to these pesky emotions too much. Because emotions are what make us human, neh?</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: blue;">So I'd feel bad for a bit. Then I'd let the feeling sink in. Then I'd close my eyes and just let the feeling pass. Y'know, don't fight the feeling. Let it be.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: blue;">Surprisingly, the feeling went. There was some sort of funny calm left behind, like when you stir your bathwater and it makes little ripples.</span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://greenbabyguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/baby-in-tub1.jpg" width="320" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: red;"><i>For the sake of irrelevance I shall put a pic of an adorable little kid sitting in bathwater. Heh!</i></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: purple;">So for a while the technique worked. Everytime I felt like an angsty teenager I'd let the feeling pass and return to my little bathwater calm place.</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: purple;">Then I started doing that for EVERY feeling. Even the happy ones. So I would be all "Yay!" and then suddenly all calm and introspective. I was kinda killing the happy feeling there. So, not the perfect thing to do.</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: purple;">I don't know. I seem to bounce back very fast from extreme feelings of anger/frustration/sadness/happiness. It's mostly good, but sometimes not so good.</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: purple;">So finally I've decided to just keep being curious about these emotions of mine. You know, treat it like a game, or an experiment. Because they're actually pretty interesting if you observe them after a while. Sometimes you laugh at yourself for even feeling that way. Sometimes you think you're an absolute idiot. But whatever it is, treating yourself like a lab rat actually does help you to see things clearer.</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: purple;">And I do like my little bathwater technique. I just have to make sure that when I'm really happy, my face will stay like that little baby's in the picture.</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: purple;"></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: red;">Oh yes, and that Star Trek Fluff in the title? I've actually done a little fluffy couple picture in the ST universe, and the bigger version is <a href="http://entwineddarkness.deviantart.com/art/On-Board-the-Enterprise-178645860">here.</a> I know, I don't draw fluffy couple pictures. Or use Photoshop. But there's a first time for everything.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQiCGqIXwmb-P7u07l5yTizbWEJNLVEjroCKiV4UPnsUueeXtDh3YkQPh_r-EFBn-Rk1pqv-pYDQ5t6aoWte1SnwVlTYvuJ_YdBMsZPsc64WJaWrXFf4a8gYJJ2d3pjeREpgz6a5tND0D9/s1600/on_board_the_enterprise_by_entwineddarkness-d2yd010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQiCGqIXwmb-P7u07l5yTizbWEJNLVEjroCKiV4UPnsUueeXtDh3YkQPh_r-EFBn-Rk1pqv-pYDQ5t6aoWte1SnwVlTYvuJ_YdBMsZPsc64WJaWrXFf4a8gYJJ2d3pjeREpgz6a5tND0D9/s200/on_board_the_enterprise_by_entwineddarkness-d2yd010.jpg" width="120" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: red;">If you have deviantart and want to give me constructive criticism, please do so. If not, and you want Mr. Inferiority Complex to visit me, you can post a snide comment in the cBox on the left. Or a nice one. Or you could leave a message about bathwater.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: red;">Ta-ta for now, faithful cyberspace. XD </span></span></span></span></span></span></div>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-34864079157008608372010-08-30T21:01:00.000-07:002010-09-14T23:17:27.687-07:00How To Swear Without Swearing.<span style="color: #990000;">Are you prone to large amounts of swearing and want to swear a little more creatively?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">Do you have a no-swearing bet that you have to fulfil but still want to swear anyway?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">If so, then this article is for you! Today I will discuss ways to swear so that people don't realise that you're swearing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Disclaimer: Author is not responsible for any insanity/social repulsion due to this article. Use tips at own risk.</span><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #134f5c;">1. Swear in another language. No, not Swahili. Or any other human language for that matter.</span></strong><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;">Instead, why not opt for an alien language? Taking a leaf from Star Trek's Klingons, a famous Klingon insult is: </span><span style="color: #134f5c;">"Your mother has a smooth forehead!"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;">Why not put it in Klingon: <strong>Hab SoSlI' Quch! </strong></span><strong><span style="color: #134f5c;"></span></strong><br />
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WARNING: Do not use this on Trekkies, apparently it is bad enough to start a war. The last thing you need is a fan jabbing you in the eyes with his pointy ears.<br />
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://teesbox.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/klingon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" ox="true" src="http://teesbox.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/klingon.jpg" width="186" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Now you know why smooth foreheads are so insulting.</em></div><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;">And if service is slow at restaurants, or if the darn salesgirl cannot get you shoes in size 37 1/4, you can say this: <strong>Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam. </strong>(Today is a good day to die.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Ah, and not to forget Vulcans! However they are a more...civilised race and I can't find many authentic language insults. However, I did find many intelligent Vulcan ways of putting standard English insults! These were taken from <a href="http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11028572">this forum</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red;">English: Die in hell. (Dunno if this is accurate.)</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><strong>Vulcan: Decease in a highly exothermic environment.</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">English: I fart in your general direction.</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><strong>Vulcan: I release flatulence at the likely coordinates of your position.</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">Why don't you dudes figure these ones out:</span><br />
<strong>1) You seem to be an entity that is entirely composed of the posterior opening of the alimentary canal. </strong><br />
<strong>2)I wouldn't mate with you if you were the last sentient in the galaxy and I was deep into the most powerful Pon Farr ever experienced.</strong><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Don't know what Pon Farr is? Click </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pon_farr"><span style="color: black;">here</span></a><span style="color: black;">!</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/xihd/trekxihd0470.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="134" ox="true" src="http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/xihd/trekxihd0470.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Live long and prosper, you mother*censored*. I swear this was the message in the movie.</em></div><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><strong>2. Make up your own swear words.</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;">Think about it, if you do make up your own swear words no one will understand them except you, and you get the satisfaction of swearing too!</span><br />
<br />
My sister calls me a Mohibi sometimes. Now it's supposed to be an awful insult from her, but every time I hear Mohibi, you know what I think of?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dailyhaha.com/_pics/mohawk_wearing_baby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="http://www.dailyhaha.com/_pics/mohawk_wearing_baby.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">A Mohibi= Mohawk wearing baby. You can't get mad at someone who compares you to such an adorable thing.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">So try it out. Call your annoying little sibling a Mohibi. Your dog. Your cat. Your gerbil/hamster/pet snake.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Because secretly, we regret the fact that our mothers never made us into cute Mohibis when we were young.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Kid, be proud of your hair.</span></div><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><strong>3. Just swear without words.</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;">Ah we have the Italians to thank for this one. Very eloquent. Express your anger using a simple shaking of your hands, and various twirling motions! Image below from <a href="http://www.wonkette.com/">http://www.wonkette.com/</a></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.wonkette.com/images/2006/03/italian%20hand%20gestures.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" ox="true" src="http://img.wonkette.com/images/2006/03/italian%20hand%20gestures.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span style="color: #134f5c;">Make sure you swipe you hand from under you chin appropriately. Otherwise it'll look like you're trying to tickle yourself to make yourself laugh. Which can look pretty desperate and give others the impression that there is no laughter in your life. Hmm...there IS laughter in your life, right? *raises eyebrows*</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IqeWzlDkPVM/R7a46wHhcDI/AAAAAAAAAQo/vFDcK59GxeM/s1600/speak+itallian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IqeWzlDkPVM/R7a46wHhcDI/AAAAAAAAAQo/vFDcK59GxeM/s320/speak+itallian.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Ahh, who doesn't know this gesture?</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">All in all, maybe sometimes swearing is too much trouble. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">And now I will leave you in peace. Have a nice day! </div>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-67607190960487630302010-08-19T03:31:00.000-07:002010-08-19T03:31:28.887-07:00Buddha Says.<span style="color: #990000;">I have not been the most religious person in my life. My visits to various Buddhist temples mostly involve some Chinese New Year prayers. I don't read the sutras everyday. I don't really go vegetarian.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">But one thing Buddha says is VERY true. Its "Desiring is suffering."</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #38761d;">But I mean, isn't it human nature to desire? We want to be so much better than we are now, to move forwards, to evolve and such. Then I realised it probably meant personal desire, materialistic desire.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Like how we want new cars, clothes, items, gadgets. I think so. I have seen so many fashion blogs and wishlists--sometimes I wonder what is the drive behind people that causes them to shop and buy and consume and use all these garments, all these accessories.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #38761d;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #38761d;">It's good to look presentable, but why do we keep chasing these fashions? Since they probably repeat every decade or so.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #38761d;">I've faced cases where I wanted things really badly. It was 'suffering', you could say. You want it so badly that you find yourself sucked into a vortex and you cannot come out because your oxygen tank is at the very bottom of that vortex.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #351c75;">For me, the things I have wanted are quite intangible. For example, more friends. Having grown up a painfully shy kid, I suddenly wanted to mingle more for fear of missing out.</span></span><span style="color: #351c75;"> I guess I musnt've been terribly good at it, because sometimes I make friends whom I cannot keep. I'm not horribly close to people from my primary and secondary schools, though sometimes I wish I had been. It's difficult for me to maintain friendships by calling people if I don't see them every day.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Probably explains why my Facebook wall is so randomised. The people I know are random and all over the place. Friends come, and go.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: red;">Also, having grown up with a pathological fear of the opposite sex, there was probably a point when I would have traded my left kidney just for some male attention.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: red;">Heck, my left kidney and a slice of my liver. Perhaps I was 'suffering' whenever I'd see a dude with a chick and they were all so happy and la-la-land and all. It was a bit of a 'wallflower' moment, a bit of a 'why not ME???' moment.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">I think, screw it. We only want the things that people have. We want the attention that someone else is getting, and we know it. I listened to Buddha. I tried to stop wanting stuff and just let my personality develop.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">And at the end of 16 years or so, you have this semi-sarcastic, random, sci-fi crazy chick who is writing internet poop. You know what, I kind of like her. I suppose if you cannot like yourself you can't really expect other people to want to befriend you. And maybe once you feel at peace with yourself then other people won't see your insecurity. Ergo, much easier to talk to others.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="color: #741b47;">When I stopped wanting I felt a bit better. And strangely, now I do somewhat have what I want. Buddha, you are one cool dude.</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="color: #741b47;">Pardon this somewhat narcissistic post. I like writing things out. At least I hope that this internet poop will benefit/entertain/make you laugh with pity in some way. </span> </span></span></span>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-15292077518887158272010-08-03T07:32:00.000-07:002010-08-14T08:57:51.404-07:00Some Things I Learnt After Talking To People.<span style="color: blue;">OMG, like hi, readerrsssss!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Pardon the beginning. I believe we should keep things interesting. So. Helllooo!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Anyways when I was young I hardly talked to people. Wasn't the most sociable Asian bugger you'd meet. Heck, not the most sociable bugger you'd meet.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">But that's changed now. I'm still not wildly and fanatically popular, but people actually smile at me now when I walk down corridors. And we know each other's names. =D</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">But anyways, here are some valuable things I learnt in Social Skills 101, that apply to anyone in any conversation.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><strong>1. If the bugger is not interested in what you are saying, SHUSH.</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">I learnt this the hard way. You know, me being a sci-fi chick and all, I try to talk about rockets, space guns, Star Wars, robots, pointy-eared men aboard huge ass spaceships, more robots, things like that.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">But if the girl/guy you are talking to is really not interested, don't continue talking. Even though it gets you hyped up. Even though you feel that you are gonna burst into a nice bout of verbal diarrhoea.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Because people don't like verbal diarrhoea.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">The only thing people hate more than verbal diarrhoea is actual diarrhoea.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">So bowels aside, if the bugger doesn't give a hoot about robots, he/she isn't going to be hooty about it no matter how hard you try. If you still keep on trying, here is how the convo would be like:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Youlin: Hey, I thought that movie was pretty spiffy. You know, guy stuck on moon, with only a computer for company, going crazy...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Sister: OMG, I like so totally dig that new Maria Sharapova perfume! It's like bathing in her sweat!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Youlin: The poor astronaut though, he couldn't contact his family, and he was just a tool of the corporation...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Sister: And you know what? It's only RM 158! Imagine spritzing on some Sharapova sweat everyday! Mmm. Fresh fresh fresh!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Youlin: Mmm yes. I hear her perfume has fruity citrus zest too. So anyways, what do you think of Star Wars?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Sister: OMG I love Maria Sharapova's fruity sweat/perfume! Star whatta? Oh Stars! Like Maria Sharapova! She's MY star.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">At this point Youlin's verbal diarrhoea is probably being replaced by actual diarrhoea.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">BTW, visit my sister's blog here: <a href="http://www.compulsivelychanel.tumblr.com/">http://www.compulsivelychanel.tumblr.com/</a></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.vtennis.co.uk/Images/Tennis/Maria-Sharapova/maria-sharapova-modeling-pictures/maria-sharapova-modeling-pictures-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="http://www.vtennis.co.uk/Images/Tennis/Maria-Sharapova/maria-sharapova-modeling-pictures/maria-sharapova-modeling-pictures-2.JPG" width="241" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><em>Maria Sharapova, sometimes I hate you. And yes, I've purposely put a photo with cleavage so that more male visitors will come to my blog. Shameless, I know.</em></span></div><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><strong>2) Perverted jokes are a good gauge of who you would hang out with for a long time.</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">When you were young and still unexposed, you may have been like me when you heard a perverted joke:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh! Get it away! Go away! How could you even think of that?"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">As I got older, I found them to be funny.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Then, quite funny. Wasn't too long before I started cracking a few of my own too. Usually involving space and double meanings of words. I'll leave you to figure that out.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">I needed some victims to listen to my jokes, so I tried them out on my friends. Now here's the interesting part:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">The ones who don't cringe at your terrible jokes are the people who can actually tolerate you. Who can stand you. Who will stick to you like two-month old porridge sticks to your digestive system. Because they let you be you.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">I have a friend who actually sang about a "place in France, where the naked ladies dance". Loud. In public. You know what, I'm still here. Still listening to it.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.wordtravels.com/images/map/France_map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="http://www.wordtravels.com/images/map/France_map.jpg" width="297" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><em>Now France may seem a little more interesting to you.</em></span></div><br />
<span style="color: #741b47;"><strong>3) The phrase "He/She's So Hot/Smexy/Cute" is really useful.</strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #741b47;">No, dear readers, this ain't about flirting. This is about the magic phrase that can spark friendships, forge them out of seemingly nothing. Next time you see an attractive male/female passing by/on screen, don't squeal to yourself.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #741b47;">Squeal to other people instead. Preferably like this:</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ucQNZeWTWYchkJmcDs05Pr2CS2L8cv6gUEcB7mI1U0vhbQxhp5ICiCuFa8WHAN9ZfP3Rb9j9Gfg0We4BjvgVghMsBXrBXHoMIVkI0POIaS9vt0fIYaoBhSFf4VTjMf49_ELAYHQrLk6N/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ucQNZeWTWYchkJmcDs05Pr2CS2L8cv6gUEcB7mI1U0vhbQxhp5ICiCuFa8WHAN9ZfP3Rb9j9Gfg0We4BjvgVghMsBXrBXHoMIVkI0POIaS9vt0fIYaoBhSFf4VTjMf49_ELAYHQrLk6N/s320/images.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: red;">You've got to get so close, they can smell what you had for breakfast.</span></em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Chances are, some people will be disgusted by what you had for breakfast or who you're actually finding hot. (I have yet to find someone in real life who appreciates eybrows like I do, even though people generally like what I have for breakfast.) </span></div><br />
<span style="color: #741b47;">But never mind that. If you happen to attract the attention of someone who agrees with you, than ki-yippee-ya-hoo, you could probably end up talking/squealing the whole day. The phrase "Matt Bomer's hot." has reinforced a few friendships for me. Not only that, Matt Bomer can lead to talking about Kryptonite and the latest laptops in the market as well as a very sorry comedy film. Oh yes, Mr. Bomer is a good lead.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #741b47;">Not to mention you could make a crack about "Boner" as well. Refer to point 2!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #741b47;"><em>P.S. I am sorry Mr. Bomer.</em></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #741b47;">You don't know who Matt Bomer is? Google! And then come back and squeal with me online, via the cBox on the left.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #741b47;">And one last thing:</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://shirtlesshotmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/zachary_quinto_shirtless_teaser.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" ox="true" src="http://shirtlesshotmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/zachary_quinto_shirtless_teaser.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">ZACHARYQUINTOEYEBROWSPAM.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">Squeal with me if you agree!</span></div>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-82453392270632148872010-07-21T03:51:00.000-07:002010-07-21T04:53:51.955-07:00Because Space Fashion Isn't Really That Far.<span style="color: blue;">Hola mamacitas! And also those who aren't mamacitas.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Today's post will be an attempt by me to blog about fashion! For years, this subjct has bemused me, and even now, it mocks me. Because hell hath no fury like my mother when she sees me wearing plain clothes.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Not to mention the amount of designer brand-mentioning I hear these days forcing me to actually google some brands to find out what they have to offer.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Sometimes I find that the clothes shown on the runway aren't actually wearable in real life though. Unless you're Lady GaGa or something. That woman has earned my respect for trotting about in those porcelain shoes of hers.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">My expereinces with porcelain always result in it breaking.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">So anyway, those shoes were from Alexander Mcqueen. Have found more of his quirky shoes online:</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://shessmart.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/alexander-mcqueen-shoes-gaga.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" rw="true" src="http://shessmart.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/alexander-mcqueen-shoes-gaga.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">These aren't called 'crabhammers' for nothing.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL30Gw0SO02Y3mx7whfoCpULMGQ87Wsx5hi4XYVRZUOwiU6Ev9LDV-YodrQKFjFcd7qNVRXQN_q6bhmoioPJ8-ihIYUlhU2KaDhy6NhL3P6JUK4QLI1ifiXzNfiirqeEsI5YJ4SkKtjSI/s1600/Alexander+McQueen+SpringSummer+2010+shoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" rw="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL30Gw0SO02Y3mx7whfoCpULMGQ87Wsx5hi4XYVRZUOwiU6Ev9LDV-YodrQKFjFcd7qNVRXQN_q6bhmoioPJ8-ihIYUlhU2KaDhy6NhL3P6JUK4QLI1ifiXzNfiirqeEsI5YJ4SkKtjSI/s320/Alexander+McQueen+SpringSummer+2010+shoes.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">This is so shiny it could rival the sheen of any spaceship.</span></div><br />
<div style="border: medium none;"><span style="color: #38761d;">So anyways, I've always felt that way-out designs are quite similar to some of the old sci-fi clothes. You know, the hopelessly unfashionable ones. But modern fashion has made those sometimes very garish designs much better. Of course, we also discovered CGI and tight velour for sci-fi heroes and heroines. Let's see:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.carrellistudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="614" rw="true" src="http://www.carrellistudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/e.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="border: medium none;"><span style="color: red;">Tell me that marble-like texture of her skin and shellacked hair doesn't look out-of-this-world. Not only that but that shimmery fabric and mini-cut is reminescent of the 60s, where sci-fi was creatively explored.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.manions.com/archive/articles/Lost%20in%20Space_files/image002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" rw="true" src="http://www.manions.com/archive/articles/Lost%20in%20Space_files/image002.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>"Lost in Space", a 1960s TV show. Just look at the shine. The SHINE!</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">Another fashion item is the high-shouldered jacket. I have enormous respect for people who can pull it off. I mean, I'd laugh at myself if I wore one. I'd be going "OMG like pointy shoulders lol!"</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.tedbakerblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/sulli-for-blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" hw="true" src="http://www.tedbakerblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/sulli-for-blog.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Pointy shoulders never looked better on anyone.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://openbooksociety.com/wp-content/uploads/HLIC/02faacc00168e34e17ae9bdfa03f21dd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" hw="true" src="http://openbooksociety.com/wp-content/uploads/HLIC/02faacc00168e34e17ae9bdfa03f21dd.jpg" width="243" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Well, this is Zapp Brannigan from Futurama, a sci-fi cartoon series from the creator of The Simpsons. Note: not shoulder pads, but shoulder hoops. Hoopla!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I am also aware of his abnormally short whatever-he-is-wearing, but I don't have an explanation for it yet.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://saturnneversleeps.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/image-533x800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" hw="true" src="http://saturnneversleeps.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/image-533x800.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: orange;">Here is Miss Jupiter with her orange storm. And pretty funkeh shoulderblades--erm--shoulderpads.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">Some of the wierdest, most minimalistic designs (note minimalistic meaning minimal cloth) come from the movie "The Fifth Element" with Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.avitable.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/leeloo_front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" hw="true" src="http://www.avitable.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/leeloo_front.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I wasn't kidding about minimal was I?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirOoqOGd-DvYRrYE9clxpWLXtX9degEmC-gnibCt3Fsk8TqXMBweUTnYeJzA2l96XWU4GO11djxemcy4GwCE7LMXDIXchJGO746uHLdjUWI3eqRaDAQBQ0NxUlbeTqjm8OO38diclvB8c6/s1600/The_fifth_element.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hw="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirOoqOGd-DvYRrYE9clxpWLXtX9degEmC-gnibCt3Fsk8TqXMBweUTnYeJzA2l96XWU4GO11djxemcy4GwCE7LMXDIXchJGO746uHLdjUWI3eqRaDAQBQ0NxUlbeTqjm8OO38diclvB8c6/s320/The_fifth_element.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This guy from the movie is like a futuristic LaFayette(from True Blood) who sings and has really poofy hair. Yay!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">To wrap it up I've found some pretty awesome sci-fi (koff it's just Star Trek) art which matches with fashion too:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Te8Abd1tb9D_Cv7XrxIazZSCYEnI4gwA8LoIyqlZHNxkEoJRj_I_S2HJ5GmbKOIrV3XY_HZ2DynwOYwsDvtXrwh12WmxNP1Y3bE27K-cFZ5a2MR1r6NFymMA7eVMkR1f0gPfEKDeuPuz/s1600/Star_Trek_Fashion__by_CrudelyDrawnSky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" hw="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Te8Abd1tb9D_Cv7XrxIazZSCYEnI4gwA8LoIyqlZHNxkEoJRj_I_S2HJ5GmbKOIrV3XY_HZ2DynwOYwsDvtXrwh12WmxNP1Y3bE27K-cFZ5a2MR1r6NFymMA7eVMkR1f0gPfEKDeuPuz/s640/Star_Trek_Fashion__by_CrudelyDrawnSky.jpg" width="481" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">No, I didn't draw it (though I wish I could!) It's by Annie Wu. Her website is <a href="http://www.anniewuart.com/">HERE</a>. Click! You'll like it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">She's made LadyKirk and LadySpock look really (for lack of a better word) hot. This picture makes my inner girliness surface just for a while. I mean, I find myself saying, those are pretty snazzy boots on LadySpock. Mmhmm LadyKirk's eyeliner looks good too.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Ye, LadySpock looks like cyber Morticia Addams. A very fashionable one at that. And LadyKirk's rocking that pixie cut.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1E9Kx8_pLzD4DgwNgTRIImeo7XK3l9F4_5DmC2Wbk3BZlRwplMWFQsS0r1UeA5ydpBhW1MHhniJGetwLiU19ZxYYr24XvfLGJVGijrf-rC_op5ooDpvx-RO_CCB39gKR_fCdeFWhyphenhyphenrB67/s1600/Spock_and_Uhura_by_Griffinfly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" hw="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1E9Kx8_pLzD4DgwNgTRIImeo7XK3l9F4_5DmC2Wbk3BZlRwplMWFQsS0r1UeA5ydpBhW1MHhniJGetwLiU19ZxYYr24XvfLGJVGijrf-rC_op5ooDpvx-RO_CCB39gKR_fCdeFWhyphenhyphenrB67/s640/Spock_and_Uhura_by_Griffinfly.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: red; text-align: center;">Retro Spock and Uhura! Coolnessess. Look there's still that shine in Uhura's outfit, and Spock with grizzly facial hair! MmmMmm.Very hippie, in my opinion. Hey, but who's complaining? Oh yeah Uhura looks like Shingai Shoniwa from the Noisettes. Poofiness lol.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: red; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">Artist is </span><a href="http://griffinfly.deviantart.com/" style="color: red;">HERE</a><span style="color: red;">. Clickety click again.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75;">So looks like these days you can be a geek for pretty much anything. You could be a science fiction geek, or a fashion geek, but maybe it's the best when you find out you can be a little bit of both.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75;">Channel your inner geekiness people. Let it all hang out.</span></div>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-41859476369025907952010-07-01T08:23:00.000-07:002010-07-09T05:57:54.164-07:00I Have Found My Girly Thang.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.buzznet.com/media/jjr/headlines/2009/03/taylor-lautner-kristen-stewart-shopping-spree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" rw="true" src="http://cdn.buzznet.com/media/jjr/headlines/2009/03/taylor-lautner-kristen-stewart-shopping-spree.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><em>Obviously Taylor Lautner's found his girly thangs.</em></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><span style="color: blue;">Lord and Buddha and whatever other deity knows that I'm not the most fashionable kid on the block. Heck, I'm not even the most fashionable organism within a one-metre radius. When I was a kid, my grandma locked up all of my 'good clothes'.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Which basically was 95% of all my clothes. So I had to rotate the remaining 5% like no tomorrow. Traumatic. Especially when I had to wear a green shirt with red pants (Asian Santa's Elf much?)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">When I acheived garment liberation at the age of 12 (I finally wrestled the key from her), I was happy. I pulled on whatever I wanted to wear everyday.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">But recently, some FFFs have been talking to me.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Fashionable Females in the Family.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Like my mother. While driving me to the college, she was talking to me and then she suddenly noticed my very plain head.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">"Youlin, why did you not use those absolutely cute hairclips I bought for you?"</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://d200fahol9mbkt.cloudfront.net/item/17101/hairclips_folksy_003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" ru="true" src="http://d200fahol9mbkt.cloudfront.net/item/17101/hairclips_folksy_003.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<span style="color: red;">Dude, I forgot. I actually forgot.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Oh well. Here I am, a kid who strives to do well in school and respect the Parents at the same time. And I don't complain when they ask me to do stuff. The only thing I'm doing wrong is forgetting to wear some absolutely cute hairclips.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">"Tsk tsk Youlin. Disappointing. What is the point of me buying them for you?"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Sometimes words fail me. Even though I do like those hairclips. But woman, they're just hairclips.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple;">So anyway lately I had to do a quick rescue operation to save my femininity. Or female-ness. Girly-ness.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple;">Guys, I feel myself slipping. Into the realm away from the typically girly things. Into the Unknown!!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple;">I'm not one to stereotype, but someone pointed out that there are some things that a typical girl would take an interest in. </span><span style="color: purple;">Ok. Not someone. It's my mother.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple;">She says I cannot keep wearing lumberjack shirts and discussing physics with her. And no tough army skirt with that random T-shirt. And a little bit of floral would do me good.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple;">Normally I'd tell my mother to please let me be me. But you know what? Sadly, I've found this hole within myself. This hole which I must fill with a bit of girlyness. Because secretly, I kind of like pink. Because secretly, I like little bows and ribbons and going all English Countryside Lass. Because secretly, I enjoy people <strike>playing with</strike> styling my hair.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple;">Yes, underneath my tough, sci-fi hardened exterior, I'm floral and fluffy, Hmm. Very fluffy.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">I needed something to represent this girlyness, so I resorted to stalking the discount-filled halls of the nearest shopping mall. Something that wasn't too pink. Something that wasn't desperately plastic. Something that would still allow me to wear lumberjack shirts and quote Spock AND be girly.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">And then I found it. My girly thang. It was like an epiphany. Like when I found out Maggi Noodles were actually from Holland.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.kaboodle.com/hi/img/2/0/0/d7/f/AAAAAgHsWR4AAAAAANf1dw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" rw="true" src="http://www.kaboodle.com/hi/img/2/0/0/d7/f/AAAAAgHsWR4AAAAAANf1dw.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Yes, this is it. My girly thang. Hair bands. I swear as soon as I put one of them on, I feel fluffy. I feel some sense of liberation.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">I even found one to match my lumberjack shirt. And to test it out I did the Vulcan hand salute while wearing it. I swear, I felt Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto watching me.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="http://www.gossipsauce.com/files/gs_zachary_quinto_090508_m.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" rw="true" src="http://www.gossipsauce.com/files/gs_zachary_quinto_090508_m.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><em>Now imagine him with a hair band, Chinese, female and very much younger. That's me!</em></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">I swear, hair bands felt right. It felt right with my geekiness. My nerdyness. My inner girly cravings.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Now I'm off to buy them in every conceivable style and colour. Whee!</span></div>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-68712212219960676072010-06-29T08:16:00.000-07:002010-07-09T05:56:25.427-07:00My Role Models are Big and Funny Guys<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">Once, I was a broken blogger who was fresh out of ideas. I stared at the empty screen, unmotivated.</span></div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">Then I discovered <a href="http://www.tremendousnews.com/">http://www.tremendousnews.com/</a>. It's a funny blog, written by the great Dee, who wants to be a screenwriter. He's tremendous, in his own words. Not only that, after I read it, I discovered that I could identify myself with him.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">No one has seen Dee's face yet as far as I know. But he says he's a 30-year old man with moobs, who lives in his parents' basement, who cry-dances to various songs. And stalks Alyssa Milano.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">Well, I'm a 16-year old girl with jiggly thighs, who spends 90% of the time in her room, and with self-esteem that oscillates between ridiculously high and ridiculously low. And stalks Zachary Quinto. Yes, some similarity there.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: blue;">In fact, my self-esteem is so ridiculously high I actually imagine this conversation occurring:</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: blue;">Zachary Quinto: Oh look, you've got that South-east Asian girl following you on Twitter. The one with the jiggly thighs.</span></div><br />
<span style="color: blue;">John Cho: Like totally, dude. Didn't she <strike>stalk</strike> follow you first though?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">It's so ridiculously high I imagine people like to talk about my jiggly thighs. When actually it's only my family.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Scratch that. Only me. And I'm talking to my blog about it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Well anyways folks. Follow tremendousnews on twitter. Fan him on facebook. Read his blog obsessively like I do. Because to anyone who has experienced the pain of jiggly body parts, this is something you can read while half-crying and half-laughing. Also if you've expereinced the pains of Twitter and Facebook. The man is wise to the social media. Wise, I tell you.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Courtesy of my friend Lina I have sought refuge in the antics of Gabriel Iglesias. Yes, another big and funny man. He does stand-up comedy. With no rehearsed lines. Just spouts out the stuff. In fact, he's not fat, he's FLUFFY! Here's a link to a youtube bit of him if you have not heard of him:</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SsBS9tRdH4">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SsBS9tRdH4</a><br />
<br />
Check out all his other links too!<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.aux.mtu.edu/rozsa/greatevents/images/current/GabrielIglesias.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ru="true" src="http://www.aux.mtu.edu/rozsa/greatevents/images/current/GabrielIglesias.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">Here's some fluffy in your face!</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">Oh I love Gabriel Iglesias. He's a reminder that in our sad sad sometimes degraded world, there is always a big and funny guy you can watch and laugh along with.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">Plus he makes me feel better about finishing those last few Oreo cookies that I swore I would not touch. (He likes cake too!)</div>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-2396204447327357932010-06-28T02:06:00.000-07:002010-07-09T05:56:37.121-07:00Doing Bad Things To You<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Alrightly guys, it's time for another chapter of my banal life which I aim to make interesting!</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><span style="color: #cc0000;">Today's post will be about True Blood. Yes, the summer vampire series.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">I feel like a hypocrite because of my scathing hate for vampires (It's Twilight's fault, seriously), but I do indeed like True Blood.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">I had such a bias towards vampires that I kinda cringed whenever they came on screen because they were so pale. And up till then the only really pale fellow I'd seen on screen was Robert Pattinson. So, eeeh.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://postemserie.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/anna-paquin-tru-blood-sookie-stackhouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ru="true" src="http://postemserie.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/anna-paquin-tru-blood-sookie-stackhouse.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><span style="color: blue;">But one thing I thank True Blood for is for having a lead like Sookie. Sure, she's a typical blonde waitress. But she's plucky. And doesn't have a permanent expression of nonchalance on her face (hint hint). And she's telepathic and can shoot light out of her hands. And we're left wondering what the hell Sookie is. And she's not thin and sickly with no direction (*koff* Bella *koff*) She can stand up for herself, and she mouths off at Eric. In short, good personality, interesting to watch!</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" ru="true" src="http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm299/kal-el89456/true-blood-eric-borthman-alexander-.jpg" width="238" /></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">Speaking of Eric, yes, I've fallen into one of those hot-guy-on-TV-traps again. AGAIN. I told myself, no, Youlin, but did the brain listen? No. Bad brain. Bad bad brain.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">But I don't think I'd be wrong in saying that Eric is intriguing. He just comes off as a bad-ass vampire at first, but slowly and bit by bit other facets of him are revealed. There's that element of vulnerability present when his maker Godric enters the scene. (For those not in the know, the maker is the one who well, mades the vampire).</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">Also I've found Eric's eyes to be quite emotive during scenes. Never mind that they're slightly red and puffy, if he's pissed off you'd know it. Character intonation is good too.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Plot wise, I like True Blood. Plenty of action, maybe a little slow at times but there's an element of danger and suspense. Not to mention LaFayette and Jason Stackhouse provide comic relief at times.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">And sometimes I get annoyed because most of the vampires in the show speak like they're a hundred levels higher or something. But you know what? They are! I actually like the character concepts for vampires in the show, it has depth at least. It shows all the dirt and grit and it isn't afraid.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">And that theme song is darn catchy. I've been singing "I wanna do bad things to you" to everything. My sister. My iPod. My computer. My dog.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOVoyA4cZ0OTsX6kPXH7OacDr9q8eydMZoHuL4BXxhZyS74AQFXLRT1epcQyE-CWHJwq0BvIdqEnxURotFMcYOkFKTpvvHPlBGDveUeH_xauqJFqRklEONWKu0VL8XozW8tECuSP6YWpWq/s1600/Quinto+Spock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" ru="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOVoyA4cZ0OTsX6kPXH7OacDr9q8eydMZoHuL4BXxhZyS74AQFXLRT1epcQyE-CWHJwq0BvIdqEnxURotFMcYOkFKTpvvHPlBGDveUeH_xauqJFqRklEONWKu0VL8XozW8tECuSP6YWpWq/s400/Quinto+Spock.jpg" width="280" /></a><span style="color: purple;">On an unrelated side note, I've finished another pencil portrait. This time it's Zachary Quinto as Spock. (Sorry, I HAD to draw it) It was fun attempting the rather fleshy nose and bowl-cut hair. Thinking of drawing an Eric Northman next. Link to the bigger version: click <a href="http://entwineddarkness.deviantart.com/art/Spock-V-2-0-168432186?q=1&qo=1">HERE</a>. </span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Okie dokies folks! See ya nother time round!</span></div>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-36450227045139384612010-06-23T03:05:00.000-07:002010-07-09T05:57:31.558-07:00A Geeky Little Poem of Mine.There have been several occasions where I've wanted to be an astronomer/astrophysicist. But ultimately, I guess the only thing that I've liked about space is that I have insane dreams and hopes of flying around in it in a huge beautiful spaceship, exploring other planets. Like Futurama, Star Wars/Trek and The Fifth Element. Sometimes I wonder if I'll live long enough for this to happen.<br />
<br />
So, I've written a little poem which represents something of these dreams, and what I think it would be like if I were an astronomer of some sort.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>The Astronomer</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Those feisty little points of light</span><span style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">that we all call the stars.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Some glow dim, some sparkle bright</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Some are brilliant enigmas.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">When I was young and on a pitch-black night,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">They would be strewn across the sky.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">But with things like telescopes and Einstein's might,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">then only did I start to see why</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">they actually burnt with that certain red</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">or some other bluish hue.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Some even went all the way to black</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">holes that could swallow you.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">On a sort of hungry mission</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">I embraced gravity.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">I chewed on nuclear fission</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">and general relativity.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">I kind of lost myself in</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">that dark abyss called space.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">I used to dream that I could win</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">some fast-paced rocket race.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">But no more, because now</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">I analyse grainy images.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">And then I have to find out how</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">to explain them in the pages</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">of my latest publication.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">There's not much time left for</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">growing my crazy imagination,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">which leaves me a little sore.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">I grapple with the mechanics</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">and solve some complex equations.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">Working like some fanatic</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">bent on finding salvation.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">The computer hums, a huge machine</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">of extensive calculating power.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">Strings of data all heaving and lurching</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">In the background numbers hover.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">I used to dream of purple planets</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">and deep seas of acid green.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">But now as my work would have it,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">there's only my computer screen.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">I discuss object trajectories</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">and gravitational lensing of light.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Some boring yet exciting territory</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">but sometimes when I sleep at night</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">I cast off that technicality</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">and go back to when I was eight.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">In retrofuturistic surreality</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">the Captain enters the stardate.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">I anchor the craft and battle the wrath</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">of evil aliens cruel with strife.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">I hope that before my human death</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">I'll have the cosmic ride of my life.</span></div>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-12227618626818934232010-06-13T06:12:00.000-07:002010-06-13T19:37:09.060-07:00Of FMLs and GMHs<span style="color: blue;">Hello world!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Many of you may be familiar with the website <a href="http://www.fmylife.com/">http://www.fmylife.com/</a>. It's full of the sad, angry, very unfortunate chronicles of everyday life. I read it and I laugh at people's misfortune. Then I feel bad and sympathise. Then I laugh again. If you've never read it, go. By all means, click on the link.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Yes I know I'm such a horrible person. =P</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA6EK_ox64PXzmPI2ml-srNhEOXAn3Mu0vipaZLMutWUH6waY_JBDplx00BCVlLld6WNRrbcMGIGGW4dNBlMBFr5zBte2Q7Y9k4-qtCfpHH9xki1FZabrpIDIy-lfvf8RPhnzbhhVvvZM9/s1600/angry+boy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA6EK_ox64PXzmPI2ml-srNhEOXAn3Mu0vipaZLMutWUH6waY_JBDplx00BCVlLld6WNRrbcMGIGGW4dNBlMBFr5zBte2Q7Y9k4-qtCfpHH9xki1FZabrpIDIy-lfvf8RPhnzbhhVvvZM9/s320/angry+boy.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">You can so tell this guy just posted on FML.</span></div><br />
<span style="color: blue;">Makes you wonder though: How many FML things happen everyday? The website is swamped with tales of not earning enough, bad hygiene, finding out your best friend is pregnant with your boyfriend's kid, finding out your sister is pregnant with your boyfriend's kid, your parents having discussions about YOU on Facebook, etc.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">I swear, it makes my jiggly thighs look really appealing.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Then there's <a href="http://www.givesmehope.com/">http://www.givesmehope.com<span style="color: red;">/</span></a></span><span style="color: red;"> Which is the exact, non bi-polar version of FML. It's so...sweet. So...'awwwww'. It's full of happiness that will stretch your cheeks so much they'll push into your eyes and hurt you.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo5L_ZW1hyphenhyphenkBtHfkwzSK9DAdD-dRHMBtKcbl-8l-7Svg5AoeGBXf4HRnajlYZ1vMIWeWCqy4hKXsjr59jkH72aGCnPaqRVXYYaSRvr08UrNGD1cj950bCaPlZ5VmvFJoLTGMd-uunbTHEc/s1600/woman+happy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo5L_ZW1hyphenhyphenkBtHfkwzSK9DAdD-dRHMBtKcbl-8l-7Svg5AoeGBXf4HRnajlYZ1vMIWeWCqy4hKXsjr59jkH72aGCnPaqRVXYYaSRvr08UrNGD1cj950bCaPlZ5VmvFJoLTGMd-uunbTHEc/s320/woman+happy.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">Sometimes I wish I felt more like this.</span></div><br />
<span style="color: red;">Don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't like happy websites. In fact, I go to them secretly while pretending to the outside world that I'm an unemotional cynical blogger who doesn't care. And then I cry into my pillows at night because I feel for some random person who's had a bit of misfortune but then somethng nice happened to them.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">I think I've gone through 3 soggy pillowcases already.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Then it makes me wonder, do those nice things actually happen? I haven't seen much lately. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places. I mean,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;">Reading the BBC. Oil Spill. Wildlife dead. North Korea and South Korea dispute over a ship. South Korea's rocket failed to launch.</span><br />
<br />
Reading the tabloids: OMG this celebrity is gay! (Or maybe not really, but we don't care do we?) OMG we saw this celebrity pumping petrol! OMG these two random people are dating because they walk next to each other!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlqvaIOYZdSwYB4JwGC0wTSUra8RzOA-42zXeWVcqoZUUEFnvRna4M5etiNYukSiD-0-MRCy0stpdBPGxdBztE6h7oG8ucSa1vI0ZiovA2sb334623sh4Pu9yD_EIg-JKwtIgyoVxxFX61/s1600/oscar+couple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlqvaIOYZdSwYB4JwGC0wTSUra8RzOA-42zXeWVcqoZUUEFnvRna4M5etiNYukSiD-0-MRCy0stpdBPGxdBztE6h7oG8ucSa1vI0ZiovA2sb334623sh4Pu9yD_EIg-JKwtIgyoVxxFX61/s320/oscar+couple.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">I so totally swear these two are dating.</span></div><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">So guys, do you like FML-ing or are you one of those serene GMH-ers? Or are you like me, trying to be funny because you sadly cannot decide on which side you're on? Cbox me, people. Cbox me.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Now if you'll excuse me, I have some people to laugh at and some pillowcases to replace.</span>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-42402986546316975432010-06-10T01:55:00.000-07:002010-06-13T19:37:09.061-07:00Rocking That Body<span style="color: purple;">Dear readers,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple;">As it may (or may not) have occurred to you, I'm not very fat, though I'm not exactly the fittest person. Just the other day I was wearing shorts and noticed...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple;">Jiggly thighs. Like quivering slices of bacon, I hit them, and they went boing-boing-boing, vibrating with some weird frequency.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple;">Heck, if I hadn't been so concerned about how flabby they were, I might've even had fun jiggling them.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Anyways, I was indeed concerned about them, so I decided to hop onto my mother's exercise bicycle. Mmm it came with a pseudo-leather seat so that I could feel better about it. Setting my time to 30 minutes of fierce biking, I mobilised my thighs.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Oh wow. At first it was easy. I breezed through 50 cycles in a few minutes. I was going so fast, I could've powered my mobile phone for a while. Then I noticed something.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">The "difficulty" wheel was set at 1. 1 out of 8 levels. Dang it, I knew it was too good to be true. Sighing, I cranked it all the way to 6, just to make them muscles suffer. SUFFAH, I tell you.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Oh dear mothership, I felt the strain set in a while later. It built up gradually and ate into the flesh, pulling all those muslces into one massive crying entity. I felt the jelly in my thighs die.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">After a while, I got used to it. However, sweat was starting to form now. All over too. The hands, the legs, the forehead. I started to<em> glisten </em>with sweat. Mmm. Shiny. That was probably the only thing that distracted me from my dying legs. Still, I cycled on, on the bicycle that didn't move. </span><span style="color: #38761d;"><em>Faster! </em>I urged myself. <em>Faster! </em>I pushed as hard as I could, trying my best not to tweak the dial back. I couldn't lose to a bicycle and my jiggly thighs. I just couldn't.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Finally, I stepped off the machine half and hour later. Amid the cocoon of sweat, I could feel the thighs shrink just the tiniest fraction of a centimetre. Still. Better then nothing.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">I slapped the thighs, yelling "Who's da man? Huh? Huh?"</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">"<em>You...are...</em>" they jiggled back.</span>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-22886912617392407912010-06-01T02:53:00.000-07:002010-06-06T10:43:11.308-07:00Science Fiction Should Be More Chick Friendly<span style="color: purple;">Mmmhmm. I love science fiction. I haven't read much of the genre, and I'm not one of those Hardcore! readers, so I'm not totally gone off that end yet. But I must say, I've read my fair share of parallel dimensions, alien romances, and planets orbiting a few suns. I've watched spoofs and movies and I've decided to dedicate a place in my heart to Star Trek. And Star Wars.</span> <br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">But science fiction is such a guy thing. All the books I've read were written by guys. And they do include some pretty hot/seductive/smart/all of these characteristics alien chicks inside. I've not seen much done for the guys, though it may be just because I haven't read so many other books yet.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;">Where is the justice, man? Where is it?</span><br />
<br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: blue;">Though casting Zachary Quinto as Spock was just brilliant and spiffy. Thank you, whoever it was who set off this chain of events. May the Mothership bless your fortunate soul.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">I went googling the other day for retrofuturistic pictures (sci-fi from the 1950s 1960s, sci-fi from the past) and found some really nice ones. But,most of the human pin-up ones were of dangerous sci-fi girls. Here you go:</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: purple;">Disclaimer: I do not own any of these pictures.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://silver-rockets.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/0428_art21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gu="true" height="320" src="http://silver-rockets.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/0428_art21.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><span style="color: red;">There is something fatalistic about the future of humankind that draws me to this picture. Notice how all the astronauts are men. Guess this says something about gender equalities back then.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/26/50052835_5bed3033ad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gu="true" height="211" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/26/50052835_5bed3033ad.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">Pretty and incarcerated sci-fi girl.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7oZ1gCyUYwcjS7wua6ccgEk1fAdC8MQiG0HcL5l4lfGuCdooZfhvRWr9wlljmLsGccaydaPdkqXAv51X2qqWw3efdXHTTDpeXrN0aC0cW2TMgZ-gGW2_TsKPuLa5lyd2QA6FkWD4rG58S/s1600/blog+post+sci-fi+robot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gu="true" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7oZ1gCyUYwcjS7wua6ccgEk1fAdC8MQiG0HcL5l4lfGuCdooZfhvRWr9wlljmLsGccaydaPdkqXAv51X2qqWw3efdXHTTDpeXrN0aC0cW2TMgZ-gGW2_TsKPuLa5lyd2QA6FkWD4rG58S/s320/blog+post+sci-fi+robot.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">There was even a "Sexy Robot" series. Click <a href="http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Hajime-Sorayama-Tribute/161565">here</a> to go to the page.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n19/eldarsuperstar/retrofuture/mcginnis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gu="true" height="351" src="http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n19/eldarsuperstar/retrofuture/mcginnis.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: blue;">I'm sorry, but sometimes I think sci-fi from the past was like the <em>Playboy</em> for geeks.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.plan59.com/images/JPGs/styling_house_of_the_future_00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gu="true" height="362" src="http://www.plan59.com/images/JPGs/styling_house_of_the_future_00.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">I like big futuristic cites and I cannot lie. All you other people can't deny.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">So readers, if you see any dangerous-looking sci-fi guys whom I can have a field day staring at, don't hesitate to paste the link into the Cbox on the left!</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">Though with all the TV shows and movies popping up, I think it's just a question of spending a whole day watching TV to find some. Lazy butts here I come!</span></div>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-79456383131487790692010-05-26T21:10:00.000-07:002010-07-09T05:57:22.212-07:00Brow Wow<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: blue;">I was catching up on Heroes the other day (Yes I like to watch my TV shows 3 months later) and I noticed something.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: blue;">And that something was eyebrows. Specifically, Gretchen's, Claire's and Sylar's eyebrows.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: blue;">I think that eyebrows don't receive enough attention. They are underrated. And yet eyebrows are fabulous! Here I will explain.</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="color: blue;">1) Gretchen Berg (played by Madeline Zima)</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091124094502/heroes/images/a/ab/Gretchen_Berg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gu="true" src="http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091124094502/heroes/images/a/ab/Gretchen_Berg.jpg" /></a><a href="http://tvmedia.ign.com/tv/image/article/990/990458/MadelineZima_1244043937.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gu="true" height="320" src="http://tvmedia.ign.com/tv/image/article/990/990458/MadelineZima_1244043937.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">There's something about Gretchen's character which I like. Can't place my finger on it exactly, but I know those eyebrows must have played a part. I read somewhere that women's eyebrows are sparser than men's so that's why most celebs fill them up.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">But I think her eyebrows look pretty natural. Most fill-up ones don't look that thick.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">I was brought up around thin eyebrowed-women. Heck, my grandma totally shaved hers off and got blue tattooed ones instead. So to see Madeline Zima's refreshingly and relatively thicker ones is actually very heartening.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">2) Claire Bennet (played by Hayden Panettiere)</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nbc.com/heroes/images/cast/Claire-Bennet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gu="true" height="168" src="http://www.nbc.com/heroes/images/cast/Claire-Bennet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">I'm not actually a big fan of Claire in the series. But she does happen to be cute. Not to mention that I've started admiring those brows everytime she comes on screen</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">I mean, they're so...triangular. I've tried consoling myself that mine look triangular too, but when I look at my own, I think: triangular balding caterpillars.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Eyebrows can be a real blow to your self-esteem sometimes.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75;">3) Sylar (played by Zachary Quinto)</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thetvaddict.com/blogpics/sylar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gu="true" height="239" src="http://www.thetvaddict.com/blogpics/sylar.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://images.askmen.com/photos/zachary-quinto/12435.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gu="true" height="320" src="http://images.askmen.com/photos/zachary-quinto/12435.jpg" width="221" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">Now this man has the grandfather of all eyebrows. They're so famous, they've been dubbed Sylarbrows. These eyebrows have been saluted. They have been the subject of lovely poems (ok, maybe I'm lying, but it COULD happen). They have been the cause of my lost productivity (I'm supposed to be sweating over a Chem textbook now). They have been the other cause of my low eyebrow self-esteem.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">And when Sylar raises one eyebrow before he kills someone, I find myself upright in my seat, staring at those brows. <em>How does he do it?</em> I wonder, cursing my facial muscles for being so flabby. </span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">I should be pitying the victims, they way they are being carved like Halloween pumpkins. But no. I'm wondering instead how one man can have so much brow.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">See. I'm right. Sylar's evilness comes from his eyebrows. I'm more heartless already.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">To see how hypnotic his eyebrows are, check out this <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.cabbagesnkings.net/search/?q=zachary+quinto&searchsubmit.x=10&searchsubmit.y=15">blog post!</a></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">Here's also a </span><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.zqbrowsbyroxy.blogspot.com/">blog dedicated to his eyebrows! </a></span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">In this world where humans are obsessed with tweezing, waxing, and shaving our ancestral biological hairs off, take some time to appreciate your eyebrows.</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">Now I'm off to flex those balding triangular caterpillars of mine. So long!</div>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9170407350235609352.post-53980918884706027082010-05-19T07:59:00.000-07:002010-06-06T10:42:57.419-07:00When in America!Sometimes the USA disappoints me. It's not the politics. It's not the economy. It's not the obesity figures. It's the... <br />
TV shows.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;">It's not that they're horrible. It's not that they are overhyped (well, maybe sometimes). It the fact that all my media and entertainment comes from the USA. I watch American movies. Obsess over American actors. I listen to American bands. I avidly follow American TV shows.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;">Ya hear that, fellow Malaysians? I know half or more of you are watching Glee! right now.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Oh, living in M'sia is great, but we miss out on some perks. For one thing, FAST online TV show streaming. If I lived in the USA and maybe missed an episode of Heroes or two, never mind, just log on and watch it on the computer!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">..well, here, apparently I can't because the video is not in my"geographical region".</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Geographical region my ass. Isn't Malaysia part of the geographical region called "the Earth"?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Heck, the way the companies broadcast TV shows here, some go on endless repeat of season 3 when the developed world is watching, like, um, Season 5? My favourite character might have died by the time we catch up.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Another thing: spelling. Now I like America. It's the land of the free. The funny. The interesting. But one thing I've gotta say, thanks to you guys my spelling is screwed half the time.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Since Malaysia was colonised by the British, it's been hammered into me since young that I spell words as 'coloUr', 'neighboUr' and 'cenTRE'. My childhood was great and unconfused, because I hadn't come across American books at that time.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Then one day, I saw: "<span style="color: red;">COLOR</span>". Oh, the horror. My English world was shattered. How could these people not spell it with a "U"? Oh, the mocking I received from that cruel cruel word!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">It didn't stop there. Pretty soon it was "cenTER", "organiZation", and "neighBOR".</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">It was bad. Really bad. For the rest of my life I have been writing half my English in American.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Not only that, but how do you pronounce "schedule" anyway? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">"Sher-dule" or "Scer-dule"? Huh? Huh? British or American?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Now I speak my English half the time in American too.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">Oh well. Seeya folks. I have to go the shopping centre tomorrow with my neighbor so that he can color the walls. Hopefully he can clear his sher-dule for that.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #351c75;">To any USA citizens, sorry if I've offended you. I still like the USA very much.</span>GreenViolin (Youlin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02742361348871952546noreply@blogger.com0