Back and Running! To a new direction…

Posted by Emory on July 16, 2009

This is a LONGEST POST I’ve ever done so far…

New beginning, or should I say a new start of a new year half. It’s already been a painful experience, but today I’m going to blog out many Many MANY things in one go. Hopefully I will maintain my blog more this time. Due to many current events that happened to my life, I’ve grown a bit. Not to say much because the world is still a tough place to live. I’m not bragging much on it, but it is.

APRIL 09

Computer Issue:
The beginning of the worst months of my life. My HDD (Hard Disk Drive) died on me. Curse you Seagate!!! I’ve been so bad luck in HDD’s ever since the beginning of my life with computers. First Western Digital, next Maxtor, then now Seagate? I hate these companies that are BIG at making HDDs but fail to make the durability of the HDDs.

I know that Maxtor was bought over by Seagate. And now the worst became the worstest… (Pardon my English here) I did have an experience of my Maxtor HDD failed on me 2 times, even after service!!! The first time is my HDD completely stopped. But I was able to recover half of the data. Then I sent it to servicing, after a month later, the HDD came back with a little bug inside. Now that HDD is placed under my computer table, at my Kuching home, left there unattained for it to rust and maybe next spring cleaning, I’ll try to rescue it. See if it works again.

Western Digital failed on me once too… That was when I’m using that little bugger to store my works inside it. Having it lost gave me a freaking panic!!! Good thing my friend was there to help me rescue the data for the first time. Then the next few incidents with Maxtor was routine work.

Although your burial is not as USD1.4 Million expensive, I’d rather toss you into the can and keep the casket… Enough with the Hard Disk Drives!!!

Work:
Darn, it’s been tougher month this month too… I can’t believe that my boss actually raised the bar till I can’t work properly. Toughest challenge here is to make myself even better. Because I’m not an art student to say for first, I admit I still have problems drawing people figures so perfectly that they resemble the Vitruvian Man’s scale… I can’t just become like Akira Toriyama in one night!!!

My friends told me that I’ve improved so much already. I’m not sure. It seems that I wanted to be better, I just don’t know how. Haih…

MAY 09

Myself:
This month I learnt a lot emotionally. First off, a string of bad luck fell upon me, and I am sorry for those who I made upset. I’m sorry that I was selfish enough to disregard everyone’s feelings. I just can’t think right and it was my fault. I’m sorry things didn’t happen they way it should be. I’m sorry ya?

Mostly people will think what is going on here, I would like to remain it private for the best.

Computer Issue 2:
I’ve been using Ubuntu since my HDD failed on me. Seems like there is no signs of life for my HDD now. All sign points to dead. My reference data are all gone, songs, movies, videos, idea references, texts, information, photos, all… gone to the depths of oblivion if it wasn’t for that wretched Seagate. Now all I have is a 4GB Pendrive envo USB to get my system running again.

I’ve been using Ubuntu 9.04 Jackalope on my EEE. It runs smoothly since I’m not running any other software other than Firefox 3 (That keeps crashing), Pidgin Messenger (A very nice multi-IM client), and some video and music playback softwares. Most notably VLC after installing it.

I had to create a virtual USB that can boot the Ubuntu Live CD, then install it into the 4GB pendrive. And after installation, voila! A temporary usable OS in a stick. Yes, In a stick, pop it and lock on! The only thing I can complain on is the only 1GB of space left for me to use.

JUNE 09

Gaming Industry:

First off, Nintendo. It’s been a good run for Nintendo after their launch. With the success of the Wii and DS lines, they are indeed “printing” their own money out of these products. Introducing new ways of gameplay to consumers is the next best thing. But sadly their throne is about to be taken away by some of the new gameplay methods made by the “other people”. Only the new Nintendo Wii Motion Plus is introduced.

The Wii Motion Plus will add more sensitivity in tracking. Being even more responsive than the Wiimote. That is pretty a good step, I hear many people complain about the lack of accuracy when using the Wiimote. But anyways, there is a glove that holds the Wiimote and Motion Plus together, it enhances the grip of the Wiimote also but it made it fraking UGLY!!

There is another new addition to the controls. Introducing, Wii Vitality Sensor!!!

Yes, now you are going to be playing games with your pulse! Imagine a game that you uses your pulse to control many things!!! Or the game needs you to cool down in order to escape from horrifying in game death!!! Many people thought that Nintendo is starting to lose their magic and came out with something very rash! Well, investors may go WTF?! Nintendo lacked introduction to the application of that device in gameplay… The only gameplay I can see for it is like for the Wii Fit. Which Ironically is a hit, but an exercise device? I’d rather go out in the blazing sun!

And also, new games for Wii and DS. Only one game caught my eyes dearly. That game was THE BEST JRPG game I’ve ever played in a Gameboy. With awesome gameplay, puzzles, story and treasures!!! YESH!!! Treasuresssss… The game that I’m talking about only had 2 series, a prequel and a sequel. Now, back with another hit but in the DS this time,

I will have you Golden Sun DS, I so damn will…

Now Sony. It’s been a blast seeing Sony still can maintain it’s place after notable games started to become multiplatform. Games like Grand Theft Auto 4 and Final Fantasy 13 already ported to multi consoles. And developers really getting a pain in the arse trying to develop games for the PS3. Seems like there is a new hardware to ‘keep’ things alive. Introducing, the motion sensor by PS3.

Yes, it looks like a thing with a glowing golf ball stuck on top of it. Anyways, the tracking is 1 to 1 tracking, meaning it won’t be so irresponsive when swinging that thing all around the place. Sadly, that thing is not the final design. Seems like Sony likes to tease people with odd controllers, even the PS3 banana controller!!! good thing they stick to the old normal controller design.

As you can see… The movement is absolutely gorgeous! Perfectly made for REAL HARDCORE GAMING EXPERIENCE for the PS3. The input method is actually tracking the whole thing wirelessly and with Sony PS3’s EYEtoy, It looks good! I hope Sony really can pull new hardcore gameplay into life.

I almost forgotten about this little fella. Introducing a new line in the PSP family.

This is actually a redesign of the PSP line. They made this PSP UMDless… Meaning there won’t be the disk you need to pop into the player. How do you play the games then? Download them via the PlayStation Network. It will have internal memory of 16GB for those downloadable data. Movies, Music and also Games in one tiny little thing. Many people wanted another analogue stick. Maybe Sony’s waiting it for something else. (PSP2?)

But the winner of all this E3 is not Sony or Nintendo… You betcha…

Microsoft is going pretty far fetched this time and it win many people’s hearts! Firstly, I’d like to talk about Alan Wake.

Sorry for the poor video Quality… If can, watch this video in a new window by clicking on to the YouTube logo and remember to click HQ.

Alan Wake, a game that is made by Remedy (The team that brings you Max Payne series). The game took a LONG time for the developers to make it to people’s houses. It’s pretty lame that it took much development just to make the game look like that. I hope the storyline is good enough to beat GTA4. The game is a good concept. Same as many horror games like Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and also Fatal Frame, this is made by Westerns… I hope it brings the Stephen King out to creep people out. (No, it’s not based on any works by Stephen King…)

The other thing I want to talk about gaming is. I bet most people already knew about it…

Microsoft Project Natal

What is Natal? Project Natal is actually Microsoft’s version of motion tracking and this beats the hell out of Nintendo and also Sony. Why? It’s full body motion tracking, including voice recognition, 3D depth vision (because it has 2 cameras), and also facial recognition.

This is the most advanced technology being made for households. There are many uses to Natal, (I’ll cover that on my Microsoft post soon) Movies, Games, Music… It’s basically changing how a household would become in the next few years. Gaming consoles is not just for gaming anymore. With many people synching it with the internet. The future is starting to appear one by one. It’s really nice to live in this era where technology changed so fast. And Microsoft’s vision has made that happen with the risk of the first Xbox. It’s not just a concept unit. People really started to make things for Natal!

This is an actual game! Just not in stores yet. Talk about AI in the future. A personal avatar inside your living room, talking to you, reminding you. It’s basically a TV version of Tamagotchi. Good for lonely people who lives alone. (Otaku’s may rejoice after Japanese companies start to abuse this project for something… Else…)

With that, I end this post on gaming. The future is here.

(There is a special post for Michael Jackson soon after this post…)

JULY 09

Now with many research, I ended up with Sama-sama, together, with Samsung! A new brand in my lists of good products. I was aiming for Hitachi, but Samsung is there for my rescue and so as my wallet’s. I formatted the HDD with a USB Pendrive. Yes, A pendrive. I never formatted a PC with a pendrive before. Usually I’d just pop in the CD and let it run like the wind! It was tough learning things for the first time, but after a while IT’s ALL GOOOOOOOD!!!

Running XP again, with 160GB Samsung HDD. I’m so damn happy now.

Now let us swoosh back in time again…

DOWNLOADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!

Work:
I think it’s time I get a proper job and i think it’s best to change temporarily. It’s actually nothing much but I’ve decided that this is a good change. I can’t even keep my comic job because it is so unstable. Suddenly you meet the standard, the next it was raised till higher up! Talk about sudden changes. I’ve had it with people messing up my plans. This is not what I’ve expected and I’m getting tired of topping myself. I do want to have this job as my career, but it’s best to stabilize my own life first before I jump into the bandwagon again if I know what’s good for me.

I’m so looking forward to this new job. It seems challenging, facing people everyday and selling magazine subscriptions to them. It will be a good change and I’ll fight hard for this to earn back what I have lost for all those time up till now.

Anyone wants a magazine subscription? I can toss you a pretty nice deal! (More on that next month… ) I’m so FREAKING excited over this job. I hope I get to see the rest of Malaysia with this job. : )

Books:

Nuff said… I’m getting this book!

And that’s all I can update for now. Next up? Microsoft or Michael Jackson?

Insomnia and Sickness

Posted by Emory on March 29, 2009

Just as I was scrolling my list of MSN contacts, I came across a person’s blog which I never knew how he ended in my Contact list. But I was curious, thinking it may filled with self-camwhore-portraits. Instead I found a blog by a fan of Korean music. In the blog, a Youtube clip caught my attention and I without any hesitation, clicked on that music video.

Somehow I liked the song.

?? Wheesung - Insomnia

Well, the song is nice… but it was not an original song by him. The original version is by a black guy who likes to ask “What’s Your Flava” to “Fill Me In” in “7 Days” so by the time you see him “Walking Away”, you will know his “Rise and Fall”.

Back with a different look from the last time I saw him…

Craig David - Insomnia

Craig really changed a lot. And this song, produced by Timbaland Productions is good music! I now start to think that all Timbaland Productions are real real good quality dance music!

Anyways, recently I’ve been sick. I had a visit from the dance fever-land. It’s good to be well again. I had to postpone my appointment with my editor to last Wednesday to hand up my work. and I had to pick up the slack I made… FINISHING 4 PAGES WITHIN 24 HOURS!!! That was the record of the year and I didn’t have enough sleep to begin with!!

Sometimes these rushing experiences really give some thought for myself. How I can organize my time to finish 4 pages in one day! At least now I know I can do 1 page within 6 hours of my time. I think I’ll start do 2 pages per day. But with having the weekends off for brainstorming and drafting. I also have conversation with my editor lately on my future as a freelance mangaka there in the company. The editor wants me to go another level this year (So do I). I hope the last few comics I complete will end my Fairy Tales chapter and start with a new story with ultra strong fresh mint characters! I won’t spill anything just yet. But I hope by May, I can start this Project ‘O’ which is going to be a mainstream humor ultra super duper kawaii killarz comic!!!!111oneoneone…

Last last Saturday was a day that I could not forget. What seems to be a good day but it turned out to be a total disaster. Here are some before after pictures to prove my point.

What is now…

What was that day…

Another angle on it to see how this is “why so serious”.

See if you can spot where the drain leads to. That black little hole at the end is where it goes…

Either our place is easily flooded or tsunami just hit us here in KL…

=____=… Good thing I live uphill…

Great news! (Or on the contrary) There is another new Harry Potter book! It’s an official book and I just spotted it in Ikano’s Popular Bookstore!

See the thing on my hand! It’s not entitled “Harry Potter and the Balance of Earth” from Futurama… Neither it is written by J. K. Rowling.

Somehow, people just want to have a piece of the delicious cake which the Harry Potter brand name is worth. I wonder if they are even ALLOWED to use the name Harry Potter in front of their book and design it to look like that. Bloodsuckers…

Just yesterday, me and a group of my friends went to The Gardens at Mid Valley. I just don’t understand why they wanted to go eat at a place that you will absolutely know it is damn pricey, high classed, and yet somehow having that gut feeling that its not really worth it?

More like flying money…

This Thai food restaurant is ABSOLUTELY ridiculous! Somehow they know how to make dishes but not single serving personal dish! And the simple drinks are overpriced and overrated…

Basically Soda without the sweet taste and Pandan cooked in sugar water

I should have ordered Soda… RM5 for the Tonic and RM9 for the Pandan drink…

Fried Rice with Prawn

This dish made my friend unhappy with the service. My friend could not eat meat on that day, but seafood is fine. He asked the waiter to NOT serve chicken to him but add more prawns or something like that. But ended up disappointed and angry. Dish price: RM15.50

Pineapple Fried Rice

This one looked nice. Some of my friends are satisfied with this dish. RM16.50

Steamed Rice with Hot Basil Chicken and Sunny Side

Somehow this being priced at RM15.50 is more or so of another ripoff… The taste is not so great. I had to put the chili powder on it so that it is hot enough to make me sweat as if I’m in a sauna. It felt like I can cook that dish and sell it at RM5.

Some things on the menu when spoken sounded funny in a way. For example, Stewed Beef Noodle, which my friend said tasted like beef cooked in black soy sweet sauce and then placed on top of the noodle, may sound funny when read quickly. Stupid Noodle.

And another noodle which we don’t really understand…

Phad Thai Noodle…

Part Time Noodle? WTF?!

Unless you are having a strong stomach on coconut milk and hot spicy food, not to mention their dish like tomyam soup (very nice!) This restaurant is nice to go. But avoid all weird name single dishes.

I don’t like coconut milk… I had to go to the toilet 2 times the next morning.

Beat Freaks Freeze!

Posted by Emory on March 12, 2009

Lately I’ve been watching America’s Best Dance Crew season 3 online. I don’t have TV here but the internet helps much in a cool show like this available online for us to watch!

Beat Freaks - Week 5 - Magic Week

This is the best girl group in the whole show. The way they dance really makes me want to move! I saw that in Gizmodo and I searched online to find a way to watch this show online. Then I came across the main site in MTV. Which features full episodes streaming in 3 different qualities! (If your internet speed is fast enough then go for quality.) Here’s the video episodes page. ABDC Episodes

The whole ABDC Season 3 was being conquered by another team, The Quest Crew. Who battled out with Beat Freaks to the final 2. It’s sad to watch Beat Freaks ended up in second place. They dance very smooth but Quest Crew uses their full creativity to put on a show. But I still like Beat Freaks!

Oh, I liked the music when Beat Freaks are performing their Magic Act Week, which is called Freeze by T-Pain featuring Stupid bad ass Rhianna hitting bastard Chris Brown.

MTV… Enjoyz!!!

Work, Movies, and Self-help…

Posted by Emory on October 31, 2008

Time do fly when you stay at KL. It’s just like someone whop-ass you to a coma and you just woke up from it. So much happened within 9 months from Valentines. I came here like a stranger to the forest, another side of the jungle I have not yet explore. I can remember the first day counting my time to walk to the office. It took me an hour. I kept going to wrong roads or dead ends but in the end, I found the whole area. I was confused where the office is until I saw the company’s logo in front of me. From the office, I time my way back home. 45 mins of journey, and that was the marking of my journey to the office for most of the time.

Time just fly by and nothing really does impact much. I ran into many sorts of life troubles but good thing there are people to help out through the hard times. My work is tough at first. Not knowing what to do and what not to do. It was terrible trying to figure what my editor wants. Basics are important! Soon I’m having a 3 month holiday back at Kuching. I need to polish what I have learn and do one full story by the end of 09. I’ll make that as my goal next year.

Recently I wanted to watch some movies that can stimulate my mind. Oddly the new movies in the box office sucks big time… And this movie sucked the most of my die-hard-fanship-of-the-freaking-cool-game. Yeah, I’m talking about the movie that gives a pain in the arse…. Max Payne.

The movie sucked big time. For who ever played the game and watch the movie… We definitely rate it worst than any game film made… Well, Doom was worst than this but it’s just above it… Another game-to-movie film that sucked big time.

For those who never played the game, You guys should take a look at it. Although the graphics are not up to PS3 par, but still the concept for the game is packed with ACTION and NARRATION! Which the movie missed out those so far.

Recently I watched Thunderbirds. It was among one of the best kids movies I watched so far. The action does not kill anyone, just because it’s purely a kids movie. No deaths… The animation and effects live up to Hollywood standards. There are a few gimmicks from the original Thunderbirds puppets where strings on hands show up… Or a character walks like a puppet. Funny stuff!

Its really nice where the characters in the puppet version come to live action. They look more cool than having puppets talking. It was the pop show for kids in the 60’s. May things should change too keep up with the trend. But sadly this movie did poorly in the market just because the ’60’s fans’ don’t like them. It’s a good movie for crying out loud! Kids now are not born to learn things at the 60’s!! What now is now… The movie was awesome.

I rewatched many many oldies movies. One of them was Sister Act 2 with Whoopi Goldberg

This is a damn nice musical movie! This is not like High School Musical stuff but this movie is gold! By rewatching it gives me warm feelings of the past. The musics in the movie are amazing! The storyline is good. I never watched Sister Act 1 but I watch 2 first and it was simply good to me. It’s a good movie to watch on saturday nights if there are nothing to watch practically. Whoopi Goldberg really made this movie one of the best classical musical comedy of all time!

Another old 80’s movie I’d like to share was a mere image of a guy catching a bullet while running very fast. Here I present to you, one of the 80’s movies that have good special effects.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is the name of the film. Quite a hefty spelling though. I just wanted to watch this movie just because of the memories of having a very fast running guy catching a speeding bullet. That was pure comedy! The movie had so much special effects, I mostly thought how did they do it. The movies budget doubled but did poorly in the cinema. But the movie had many Cinematic Magics! Damn clever director and writer.

Anyways, I didn’t only watch old movies, I watched a documentary that first captured my attention back when I was in Times Bookstore in Kuching. The title was mesmerizing to me, but the book was too damn expensive. I didn’t know what the book was all about. When I was in KL, I saw the book again, twice! But the book was in chinese so I didn’t care much about it either.

Up until one day, I came across the Youtube video of the book. It was actually from a documentary first, then came the book. I watched the first 20 minutes of the video, and I was hooked! I searched for the full version and all I can tell you is… Watch it, if you can. Good stuff!

The Secret (2006)

Debut

Posted by Emory on September 24, 2008

: )

This is Gempak Bumper issue 213.

: )

And this is in one of the pages inside.

Or 2…

YESH!!! My debut comic is out! I’m so HAPPY!!! WAKAKAKAKAKAKA…

After my 4th submission to the editor, this one was the light and the starting of my career as a freelance cartoonist. I’ve learn a lot from the editor after 8 months and I finally understand the process in making a good comic. Yeah, looking back at the first work accepted now seems like it still have flaws and newbie-ish, but I’m progressing along the way. I can’t rush work in most ways. I need to learn how to work consistently. Although this is the first year and I have a hard time coping with it, but this is life. It’s tough life…

Anyhow, I’m loving it! I’ve been through a lot brainstorming, getting sick, rushing works, late night works, walking to the office to and back… and it’s reaching to the end of the year. Although some of my plans don’t go what I want but I’m moving instead of standing still.

Now for those who already know, Support me ya?! I’ll ask my editor to leave me a copy and keep it in a plastic cover… WAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!!! I need to treasure this copy like gold! Mint mint condition!

In other news,

After months of waiting, months of torture over the last short season. Something’s back!

(Heroes Season 3 - Villans)

I’ve watched the premiere show, Episode 1 and Episode 2…

All I can do is this…

: )