to Nadia

May your journeys be fruitful and full of fun

Mine and mine alone to bear

"The weighty resolution is at one with the voice of Fate ('Es muss sein!'); necessity, weight and value are three concepts inextricably bound; only necessity is heavy and only what is heavy has value.

This is a conception born of Beethoven's music, and although we cannot ignore the possibility of (or even probability) that it owes its origins more to Beethoven's commentators than to Beethoven himself, we all more or less share it: we believe that the greatness of man stems from the fact that he bears his fate as Atlas bore the heavens on his shoulders. Beethoven's hero is a lifter of metaphysical weights."

- The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera

Fight

Everybody fights. Everybody. The trick is to find your own battlefield. Then you will realise the fight has been going on for a long time. And you will find your role in the war. Maybe you are a general. Maybe a foot soldier. Maybe a trail-blazer. Whatever your role is, you will feel, deep inside, the fight is yours. And you are found.

I am a deminer

So, what do you do?

Bankers, IT programmers or maybe retailers. Regardless, we are just trying to make some money to survive this madcrap society. But it warms my heart to read about someone who makes his living to benefit the rest of his kind.



In rural Cambodia, there is a man called Aki Ra who removes landmines hidden beneath the ground. Did he pick this job? Or did this job pick him? Regardless.

whatever

2 seconds

2 seconds to change a man's life.

A noisy fly and other friends

I don't normally do this, but this hits me at a level equivalent to Narnia, so I gotta bitch.

Yesterday I went to a church wedding. Now I believe in God, but he's not Jesus. So there was a mild conflict of interest as I spent a hazy Saturday afternoon in His House. But my friend was exchanging marriage vows and what-nots, so I shelved my discomfort aside and came to offer my best wishes. Afterall, the previous church wedding I attended was a warm rosy affair, and I imagined this the same.

How wrong I was.

First of all, the pastor was very very annoying. He pretended to be the star attraction of the event, rather than the couple about to marry. In his monotonous mumbling voice, he delivered a lecture on love, loving and lovingness and all and it was so dam nauseating. I counted the word love a total of 3000 times in his speech of 30 minutes. Like a fly dancing around in a pile of decaying flesh, he kept zipping and zapping and yapping non-stop. And the worse part was, the trophy speech he delivered, a girl translated it into chinese for the sake of all those who mercifully missed it.

Real thoughful. I can't speak for everyone in the audience, but I had wanted him to Nike the solemnization. The bleddy fool refused to just do it.

We waited and waited and waited. After a whole 60 mins, he reluctantly exited the centre-stage. Finally the wheels creaked and the event went its way to a photo taking session. A quick snap of people close to the bride and groom for memorial's sake, ya? It should all go pretty, till the order of appearance flashed onto a powerpoint slide across the church wall. If I remembered correctly, the order went a little like this:

1. Groom's relatives
2. Bride's relatives
3. Groom's chuch friends
4. Bride's church friends
5. Groom's colleagues
6. Bride's colleagues
7. Groom's other friends
8. Bride's other friends

Naturally I fell into category no. 8. I confess, I'm not really close to the bride. But some of my friends knew her for 10 plus years, and they helped with her wedding and they still fell into no. 8 (Bride's other friends). Again, I don't know how they feel, but I'm really glad to see where I stand when it comes to this friendship.

Thanks for the clarification. I believe this is how racial discrimination got started.

no way

many faces

What is this User Guide meant for?

I have chosen. My life, my drawing, my writings, my runnings, all are meant for talking to the child inside. He, who has so much things to say, but knows not how to say. Madness, I know. This sounds like madness. And sometimes, I do wonder if I am schizoid :b. But I am me. So that's that.

"Sometimes an uncontrollable feeling of sadness grips us, he says. We recognize that the magic moment of the day has passed and that we've done nothing about it. Life begins to conceal its magic and its art.

We have to listen to the child we once are, the child who still exists inside us. That child understands magic moments. We can stifle its cries, but we cannot silence its voice.

The child we once were is still there. Blessed are the children, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

If we are not reborn - if we cannot learn to look at life with the innocence and enthusiasm of childhood - it makes no sense to go on living.

There are many ways to commit suicide. Those who try to kill the body violate God's law. Those who try to kill the soul also violate God's law, even though their crime is less visible to others.

We have to pay attention to what the child in our heart tells us. We should not be embarrased by this child. We must not allowed this child to be scared because this child is alone and is almost never heard.

We must allow this child the take the reins of our lives. The child knows that each day is different from every other day.

We have to allow it to feel loved again. We must please the child - even if this means that we act in ways we are not used to, in ways that may seem foolish to others.

Remember human wisdom is madness in the eyes of God. But if we listen to the child who lives in our soul, our eyes will grow bright. If we do not lose contact with that child, we will not lose contact with life."

- Paulo Coelho, By The River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept

whose fault is it?

The Singapore Dream or The Singapore Plan

Singapore Dreaming is a dream child of both Colin and Jocelyn, and it started from a piece they wrote in 2000 about their own lives. It struck a chord, floated around the inter-connected web of rumours and attracted others to come forth and tell their own Singaporean stories.

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An Inconvenient Truth

See more here

who will wash his face?

2 men went into the forest to put out a fire. After the fire was no more, they walked towards a stream. One man had a clean face, while the other's was smeared with black. Now, who will wash his face?

The one with the clean face? Or the other man?

The Truth

Robert J Ringer said, "people say they love truth, but in reality they want to believe that which they love is true."

Golf memberships, again

Golf memberships are good for you

i find that hard to swallow

Foul-weather friends

Another charming web-comic.

This strip is talking about foul-weather friends, namely people who turn up and show concern when you are in distress. I consider myself as one of these. Not that I'm proud or anything. But deep down inside, I suspect I actually like misery. People with problems. I admire them, cos when they overcome it, they become something bigger.

So I'm drawn to people with problems, like a shark to blood. I think I'm evil. Hahaha.

a reason for PS3, perhaps?

The PS3 has been rumoured to launch at a price of US$600. For such a hefty sum, the console had better come with a sentient AI, a mini-nuclear power supply and time-travel capabilities.

However, I am willing to lower my expectations a little if in-game battle scenes of FF XIII really look this awesome.

Do me a Crouchie

Hey, my own strip. Whew. This is hard. I sketched this on paper with a pencil, scanned into my PC and drew everything over Photoshop. Took me a total of 8 hours.

This really is hard

Digital coloring is hard

Digital coloring with Photoshop is hard. It's a different cow altogther from normal rendering.

You are not going to believe this

Pictures of the Transformers movie have leaked onto the almighty web of interconnected rumours. For one, Optimus Primey is gonna have a huge makeover from his simple cartoon look of the 80s. Here's his face.

And his front in robot mode.

The back of this monstrosity.

And how about this? Bumblebee up-close. He looks like a... looks like a... like a freaking CT with his gas-mask on, if you ask me...

And to add insult to injury, this is the ultimate nemesis, Megatron. This is so great. I think the Autobots are gonna die laughing, while we are gonna to watch the movie and die cursing.

Evil guy

Copper again!!

It's like what they say... You gotta dance to your own music, even if you are the only one dancing... God I love this strip... Oh, and guess what, no dialogue!

Copper

A great strip. I love his voice, kinda like Peanuts. Childish yet kind. Get more here.

Animal attractions!!

very funnny!

2nd try

This is my second try at drawing a strip. It's much better than my first try. Now what I need is just some freaking dialogue...

Then and now

This is one of my favourite web-comics, Penny-Arcade. It was started by 2 guys, Tycho and Gabe, and the strip talks about video-games and generally trivial stuff. They started in 1998 and the very first strip was indeed a piece of crap. However, 8 years on, their art and writing has improved tremendously and now, others are emulating their style.

The first strip.


The strip now.

Frog

A man was crossing a road one day when a frog called out to him and said: "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess".

He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket. The frog spoke up again and said: "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week."

The man took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket. The frog then cried out: "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you and do anything you want". Again the man took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket.

Finally, the frog asked: "What is the matter ? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess, that I'll stay with you for a week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me ?"

The man said, "Look I'm a software engineer. I don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog is cool."

What is courage?

It is the ability to look at yourself and ask, who is in charge here? And then, you decide. Ya, I think that's it. Courage is seeing the fact that you can choose.

Here are some other definitions of courage:

I wanted you to see what real courage it, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.

Lee Harper, "To Kill a Mockingbird"

to be nobody but yourself, in a world which is doing it's best, night and day, to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting.

e.e. cummings

Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared.

Eddie Rickenbacker

Joe's rant

Hey, I'm not a lumberjack, or a fur trader....
I don't live in an igloo or eat blubber, or own a dogsled....
and I don't know Jimmy, Sally or Suzy from Canada,
although I'm certain they're really really nice.

I have a Prime Minister, not a president.
I speak English and French, not American.
And I pronounce it 'about', not 'a boot'.

I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack.
I believe in peace keeping, not policing,
diversity, not assimilation,
and that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal.
A toque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch,
and it is pronounced 'zed' not 'zee', 'zed' !!!!

Canada is the second largest landmass!
The first nation of hockey!
and the best part of North America

My name is Joe!!
And I am Canadian!!!

Do not fuck with this spider

Once again, 2007 feels like a good year.

Transformers, more than meets the eye

2007 is going to be a good year.

HK uncle loses it

You got pressure, I also got pressure, ok! Don't anyhow play play ah...

The Japanese Kid ad

Ah, the one Edmund was talking about.

Canon in D, electric guitar style

oh boy oh boy oh boy

6 hit combo!!

I keeeel you

I walk alone, I walk alone

I walk a lonely road, the only one I have ever known
Don't know where it goes, but it's home to me and I walk alone
I walk this empty street, on the boulevard of broken dreams
Where the city sleeps, and I'm the only one and I walk alone

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
Till then I walk alone

I'm walking down the line, that divides me somewhere in my mind
On the borderline, off the edge where I walk alone
Read between the lines, what's fucked up and everything's all right
Check my vital signs, and know I'm still alive and I walk alone

And all the roads we have to walk are winding
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding
There are many things that I would like to say to you
But I don't know how

Who are you?

Are you the boy who refuses to grow up to face the cruel society and its rigid rules?
Are you the dreamer who still hangs on for a chance to change the world?
Are you the man who has seen the pains of life and touched the face of death?
Are you still the man whom darkness comes to every once in a while?
Are you the man who hears the cries of the hearts of others?
Are you the man who fears what you can do?
Are you the man who lusts and lusts and lusts?
Are you the man with the sickest of desires?
Are you the beast that emerges from the deepest of the rationale to haunt the innocents?
Are you the man lost in the world of logic?
Are you the dumb and deaf who cannot hear what your heart tells you?
Are you the coward who hears but pretends his heart is not above the lure of money?
Are you the man who sabotages himself because he feels unworthy of success?
Are you the man who runs and runs and runs?
Are you the man with the greatest gift from God?
Are you the man who's going to waste the gift?
Are you the man walking on the lonely road?
Are you my worst enemy or my best friend?
Are you the one who hurts others because you fear they might hurt you deeper?
Are you an angry man who suffers at the greatest injustice in the world?
Are you one who feels unworthy?
Are you the man whom everybody misunderstands?
Are you the man who doesn't give a fuck to those who misunderstands?
Are you the man who always tries too hard?
Are you the man who always says always?

Some sicko gadget

ah yes, the memories are good

Exchange

I've not been blogging for a long time. Partly it's because I've been busy with work, book and going out. But a huge part is I have nothing to say. When you are on a journey, it's better to enjoy the view. Comments are meant only after you've reached the destination.

And right now, I am going onto another journey. I'm going to draw digital comics. It's gonna be tough, and it'll eat a lot of my time. Frankly, I presume I have to give up something in exchange for the time I need. Maybe I'll watch lesser of the shows I love so much. I'll be more selective about the books I read. And I'll have to choose the right occassions to go out. Sure I'll lose some joy, but I feel it's going to be worth it.

So I'll do it. Then I'll come back again to bitch about it.

Anyone will do

My talent

I am talented in working hard.

Why Macs stay virus-free

The ball! I swear I was going for the ball!

Imperfection

A few months ago, I picked up this book about learning how to draw comics. The author brought out an important point that I like a lot. Look for the imperfect line. Keep drawing lots of imperfect lines. Don't press too hard. Just keep drawing until you feel the shape is there. Then you apply the final touches. But the final touches are just what they are. It's the imperfections that matter. The sketches of life. They form the details. The finished look are merely a shell of the finest details.

Look for the imperfect line, the imperfect phrase & the imperfect person. They are a lot bigger than the end-result.

Adobe launches free Photoshop

"We give up." goes Adobe's answer to piracy of its trophy software, Photoshop.

Adobe is launching a free edition online, supported by brands who want to get in the act. Brand placements, they say.

So now, when you copy Ctrl+C, Xerox is behind you.
When you cut, you cut with the finest of Gillette's blades.
When you paste, it sticks with Super Glue.
And when you clear, you erase all traces with Tide.

Nothing is sacred anymore.

Love your smell

25 days later

I have not written anything for 25 days. Things happened. Journeys traveled. Distances breached. Maybe one day, I will sit down in calm and write them down. Afterall, the road is long.

Rumours

The mills have been grinding non-stop on the latest video-ipod designs. Look at that. Touch screen technology. Screens that stretch across the entire device. Cool. Now just pray it's real, boys.

Can you smell my BO now?

"Get away from me, or this ball goes around your neck!"

The lawyers have it easy

Here's an actual e-mail exchange between 2 lawyers that circulated over the all-knowing internet.

-----Original Message-----
From: Dianna Abdala
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 9:23 PM
To: William A. Korman
Subject: Thank you

Dear Attorney Korman,

At this time, I am writing to inform you that I will not be accepting your offer.

After careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that the pay you are offering would neither fulfill me nor support the lifestyle I am living in light of the work I would be doing for you. I have decided instead to work for myself, and reap 100% of the benefits that I sow.

Thank you for the interviews.

Dianna L. Abdala, Esq.

-----Original Message-----
From: William A. Korman
To: Dianna Abdala
Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 12:15 PM
Subject: RE: Thank you

Dianna --

Given that you had two interviews, were offered and accepted the job (indeed, you had a definite start date), I am surprised that you chose an e-mail and a 9:30 PM voicemail message to convey this information to me. It smacks of immaturity and is quite unprofessional. Indeed, I did rely upon your acceptance by ordering stationary and business cards with your name, reformatting a computer and setting up both internal and external e-mails for you here at the office. While I do not quarrel with your reasoning, I am extremely disappointed in the way this played out. I sincerely wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

Will Korman

-----Original Message-----
From: Dianna Abdala
Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 4:01 PM
To: William A. Korman
Subject: Re: Thank you

A real lawyer would have put the contract into writing and not exercised any such reliance until he did so.

Again, thank you.

-----Original Message-----
From: William A. Korman
To: Dianna Abdala
Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 4:18 PM
Subject: RE: Thank you

Thank you for the refresher course on contracts. This is not a bar exam question. You need to realize that this is a very small legal community, especially the criminal defense bar. Do you really want to start pissing off more experienced lawyers at this early stage of your career?

-----Original Message-----
From: Dianna Abdala
To: William A. Korman
Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 4:28 PM
Subject: Re: Thank you

bla bla bla

First try

Photoshop

It runs on whisky

Great mod.

Comics

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, talks about comics and how different parts of the audience responds to them.

Gag Lovers: This group looks for classic cleverness in their comics. They don’t care that much about art, as long as it isn’t distracting. Nor do they care about the comic’s relevance to their life. “Funny is funny� would be their motto. They’re about 20% of the population at most.

Visual People: This group cares so much about the look of a comic that the writing becomes secondary. The people in this group would never admit that their sense of humor is influenced by the art, but their lists of favorite comics will always be the ones that are the most artistically accomplished. They’re about 20% of the population too.

Relevance People: This group cares the least about the art and cleverness of a comic. They look for comics that are relevant to their own lives. They want to know they’re not alone in their peeves and viewpoints. This group is the largest, probably 60% of the population.

If you substitute the word "comic" with "ad", I believe his comment still holds water.

You can make your ad funny. You can also make it look great. But you must make it relevant to the reader. Only then will you stand a chance of engaging them. And remember, people like comics and hate ads. It's double the challenge.

Lying Eyes

City girls just seem to find out early,
how to open doors with just a smile.
A rich old man and she won't have to worry.
She'll dress up all in lace and go in style.
Late at night a big old house gets lonely,
I guess every form of refuge has its price.
And it breaks her heart to think her love is only,
given to a man with hands as cold as ice.
So she tells him she must go out for the evening,
to comfort an old friend who's feeling down.
But he knows where she's going as she's leaving,
she’s headed for the cheating side of town.

On the other side of town a boy is waiting,
with fiery eyes and dreams no one could steal.
She drives on through the nice anticipating,
cause he makes her feel the way she used to feel.
She rushes to his arms, they fall together,
She whispers that it's only for awhile.
She swears that soon she'll be coming back forever,
she pulls away and leaves him with a smile.

She gets up and pours herself a strong one,
and stares out at the stars up in the sky.
Another night, it's gonna be a long one,
she draws the shade and hangs her head to cry.
She wonders how it ever got this crazy,
she thinks about a boy she knew in school.
Did she get tired or did she just get lazy?
She's so far gone she feels just like a fool.
My, oh my, you sure know how to arrange things,
you set it up so well, so carefully.
Ain't it funny how your new life didn't change things,
you're still the same old girl you used to be.

You can't hide your lying eyes,
and your smile is a thin disguise.
I thought by now you'd realize,
there ain't no way to hide your lying eyes.
There ain't no way to hide your lying eyes.
Honey, you can't hide your lying eyes.

The Earth is melting

Must not be too thick

A smart use of space. Not bad. Not bad at all.

User requirements

Something tells me Lawrens and Florens will appreciate this.

Beware of forum posters!

The 2 dudes at Penny Arcade ran a game demo of Black and decided it was nonsense. But a guy thought differently and raved about it on a public forum. It would have been the usual forum trolling exchange till this turned up in the PA inbox.

Hey guys,

I interviewed for a guerilla marketing business in San Francisco that targeted web forums.

I was told that if I accepted the job, I was to have at LEAST 50 identities on as many forums as I could muster (they wanted 100 eventually), with a goal of 5 posts an hour. The posts had to be well thought out, and the idea was that I was to establish multiple identities with a history on the forums, so that when the timing was right a well written but subtly placed marketing post could be finessed in. And regular visitors would recognize the post as coming from a long time poster.

They had 12 people working there full time, and were hiring 10 more. You do the math. No wait, I'll do it for you: that's 880 posts a day (if minimum was met). However he said the better ones could do around 8 or 10 an hour. And they had different "verticals" so there was the sports guy, and the games guy, the hentai, excuse me I mean anime guy, etc.

But the most critical point was this: develop and integrate the identity. No random "HEY EB GAMES IS AWESOME BUY THIS" stuff.

Kinda spooky.

Didn't take the job. It was a fucking mill.

False profits

Came across this article about Multi-level Marketing. Author debunks the 10 myths of this legendary form of business structure that supposedly brings about financial independence and spiritual maturity. Riiiiight. MLM BS takes the cake, eats it and shoves it up the big a-hole in the sky.

Lie #1: MLM is a business offering better opportunities for making large sums of money than all other conventional business and professional models

Lie #2: Network marketing is the most popular and effective new way to bring products to market. Consumers like to buy products on a one-to-one basis in the MLM model

Lie #3: Eventually all products will be sold by MLM, a new form of marketing. Retail stores, shopping malls, catalogues and most forms of advertising will soon be rendered obsolete by MLM

Lie #4: MLM is a new way of life that offers happiness and fulfillment. It is a means to attain all the good things in life

Lie #5: MLM is a spiritual movement

Lie #6: Success in MLM is easy. Friends and relatives are the natural prospects. Those who love and support you will become your lifetime customers

Lie #7: You can do MLM in your spare time. As a business, it offers the greatest flexibility and personal freedom of time. A few hours a week can earn a significant supplemental income and may grow to a very large income making other work unnecessary

Lie #8. MLM is a positive, supportive new business that affirms the human spirit and personal freedom

Lie #9. MLM is the best option for owning your own business and attaining real economic independence

Lie #10: MLM is not a pyramid scheme because products are sold

What study does

What Jack needs

"You... You will always need something to fix."

Sarah, to her husband Jack, before she left for another man.

Baseball

Oh, such a beautiful girl... I mean sport.