Shrimpy September Swallows

 This is one of the rare moments when I can really do nothing but sit, chew, and thank the gods for letting me come into this delicious world.

Today's lunch came straight out of my imagination (and whatever ingredients I happened to have, which isn't much, really). It is a spicy shrimp and bacon pasta! It's very orange, yes, but due to aforementioned circumstances, I don't actually have anything greeny to add in. Hence it is a lovely analogous palette of bright oranges, translucent pinks and blushing coral. And it's deliciously spicy!!!! ^O^. I can't begin to tell you how delicious this is. Perhaps to people who don't like spicy food, this will be something of a rocket bomb to the tongue. Perhaps the reason why I am sniffing right now is a mixture of the dish being oh-so-good and oh-so-spicy.

I didn't use any premade sauce, even though I do have some. But I relied on the salty bacon and juicy tomatoes to provide the liquids. And I helped it a bit by adding Tabasco. Bwahahaha.

I once watched Man Vs. Food and Mike was munching on something meaty and saying 'I don't ever want this mouthful to end'. That pretty much sums up all there is to know about this meal :D.

The bacon provides the right amount of saltiness, and the garlic and onion slivers give the fresh shrimp a lovely boost. You could most definitely make this yourself! It's so easy, and the bacon could be substituted with sausages or chicken ham if you want something halal. But the outcome will definitely be mouth-watering. 

Hope your lunch is as delicious as mine! Cheers to good food everybody! \ ^O^ /

Braidy Bunch

Hello Saturday! It's been pretty dull all day today. It's been dull for ages now, since I've been just holing up in front of the computer for countless weekends now. Can't even remember when I last went down into the city for window shopping. There is that one other reason I want to get down to the city centre, but that's a reason I shall further digress into in another post.

I got so bored I braided my hair over and over all day today. I started in the morning, trying to learn how to do a basic braid (which I managed after trying for half an hour). I continued practicing with little  sections, then one big fat one at the back that didn't quite turn out so well. It's so funny how just early this year I was deliriously happy over having no-fuss, relaxed hair. So easy to maintain! No faffing about with hair irons and pins and hair dryers. But now that my hair's growing out and returning to its wavy locks, the one thing I want to do right now is get the straight bottom to be wavy too so I don't look like a retard. I'm really trying to refrain myself from just attacking the bottom with a pair of scissors.

Though I think it grows a lot faster than most people's, I guess my hair is not quite long enough for the fanstastical hairstyles I see all over the net, even the simple ones. Have to keep waiting but it just feels slower now that I'm watching it and wishing it to grow faster. And what with it being thick, coarse and frizzy, taming my hair is one of my daily strifes. 

Because I don't want to leave this post as a wall of text, and because I don't want to go a-googling for a picture of a pointless potato, here is a picture of my two messy braids. Aren't I adorable? =P.

Happy Saturday night, everybody!

A Walk In The Park

Teehee. A very apt post title, I must say. Let's take a walk in the park! The park of memories. The park of nostalgia, of rock.

Rock? Yes. I said rock. I meant Linkin Park, actually.

red demon

It's not everyday one can remember how one comes about knowing something, be it a book, or music, or a movie. But somehow I remember quite well how I got to know Linkin Park. Back then I was a kid besotted with Westlife, and the closest thing I knew about rock was...Michael Learns To Rock. Which is not a very rock-ish thing, lol. Shaddap, I was young, I didn't know any better. And even then I thought real rock was noisy and scary (yeah, I was young =P). 

webkinzinsider

When Papercut first came out on tv, my sister and I used to quickly change channels everytime the MV came out, lol. Cause we knew it was going to be all noisy and freaky XD. And I remember after that the MV for Crawling came out and one fine day we decided to "hey, let's not change channels and sit through this." We sat through it, alright. I think we enjoyed it a bit, cause after that we started watching the One Step Closer MV, and later we even started watching Papercut. And then suddenly my sister got the Hybrid Theory album and we started listening to Linkin Park, like it or not. Lol.

red demon

I think Linkin Park made rock music accessible to n00bs who have the impression that all rock music involve dark, undecipherable screamo lyrics and crazy electric guitar and drum shyt, with being satanic thrown in to boot. Of course, there are so many different sub-genres of rock, but Linkin Park's music give new ears something wonderful. You listen to them, like them, then feel compelled to look for more awesome rock music. At least, it did for me. Haha.

Hybrid Theory has a special little place in my heart, the way Westlife's first album does XD. One of those albums I can listen to and sing along without realizing I actually memorized most of the lyrics. 

brokensuicide

They've gone so far with their music. And one of their best albums, for me, would be Minutes To Midnight. It's a different take on their original style, but what captured me was the lyrics. I never took much notice of the words when I first listened to the album. But then sudden unforseen circumstances occurred, and when they did I surprised myself by crying when I listened to songs like Shadow of The Day, and Valentine's Day. Perhaps the lyrics weren't even meant the way I interpreted them to be, but somehow I felt I could relate to them, that the words meant a lot more to me than they had in the past.

Anyway, their new album, Living Things, is very nice indeed! And most Medal of Honour fans are hyped up as anything for their upcoming MV for Castle of Glass. I even know some people who took great pains in doing a special photoshoot and making a short clip in style of it. Check it out! 

TGIF everyone! Have a rockin' weekend :D.

Hiatus in Huts

It's the middle of September, and I'm busy how most students will be when they've been thrown a whole felony of assignments all due at around the same time and demanding the same amount attention for each.

I'm not even sure if felony is an appropriate word to use here, though my subconscious tells me it is a very wrong word to use. However because I felt like it on the spur of the moment, and because I've already typed it and am not bothered to go back and change it to something else, I shall leave it as it is.

Please excuse me momentarily as I go about tending to the businesses of reality. Will be back soon.

Here is a fairly bad photo of a mother cat and her kittens to distract you while I'm away. The cats are not mine. Their fur is unbelievably soft though. Imagine yourself giving them imaginary pats.

Now no more mention of Christmas until the day actually arrives. Wait, how did that even come into the picture? Never mind, just don't bring that topic up again. 

*ArnoldSchwarzeevoice* I'll be back.

Multiply the Division

jmusicmaxcaz

Happy September everybody! Up above is the picture I have made a mental note of to work on for my next marker illustration assignment (and probably regret it later =P). And do you know where it came from? No hints. Here's the answer.

the Gazette's latest album: DIVISION.

Okay, I'm going to be honest that I didn't quite like their previous album, TOXIC. I can't even remember most songs, except of course RED (yes, Gazette have this tendency to overdo the caps lock a bit). But I've just procured DIVISION, and listening to it now, I think I'm walking down the nostalgic, lovey-dovey JRock road yet again \^O^/.

The first track just made me think, a la Gazette with caps lock on: D'ESPAIRSRAY. Maybe it's because of the dance-rock vibe of D'espa's Love Is Dead. But it rocked me in a very good way. Still progressing through the album, and may I proudly announce, I did not press the next button, the way I did in their previous album :D.

Their album+tour theme is pretty darn kewl too. All modern and abstract. Their recent single/album covers remind me of couture fashion spreads. With an odd, Japanesque twist to it.

One thing that still gets me, though. Seriously, no one should ever sing in a language they can't pronounce coherently. English on Japanese tongue is already alien on a usual basis, throw in screamo-random-phrases-fast-paced-action and you're bound to get something that rivals Skrillex's dubstep.

Anyway, Skrillex bashing aside, well done Gazette! Thank you for reminding me of the happiness JRock brings to the world. Unlike *some* other singers/artistes I wouldn't really like to mention aloud (*coughhackcoughgacktcoughhackcough*)

Busy busy weeks ahead! Stay cool and don't forget to divide your time wisely, so you may multiply your efficiency and fun times :D.

Redeeming Malaysia

Dear family and friends, 

It's that time of the year when we celebrate the birth of a great nation! We may not be blessed with an amazing government, but what we have is a nation teeming with diverse cultures and traditions, and yet in our hearts we are united.

Something is different today, though. Today, a couple of video enthusiasts are battling on the front line of the Canon Legria video competition, desperate to represent their nation, to prove that Malaysia has something to show the design and film industry. 

In one week, this ambitious men have attempted to prove themselves worthy by filming, acting, video-editing and music-composing. This video entry is completely, 100% original. 

Redemption

Do you think they deserve to win? I don't know, you'll have to watch the video and decide for yourself. But I know, I firmly believe that they do deserve to represent Malaysia. These are high words, but you may watch and see for yourself. In fact, go ahead and watch the other videos that are catching up to this one on votes. Go ahead, make a comparison. The answer will be clear to you.

Voting may just be a tad fussy: you have to register your email, and once verified, you have to log in before you can vote. But the entire process takes less than 5 minutes, probably just as much time for you to scroll down your facebook timeline and refresh for updates. 

If you like what you see, please, vote and share to your friends. Do this for glory to Malaysia! Let's all have one more thing to be proud of, for you to proudly declare, 'That is my country, and I am Malaysian!' :D

That said, happy Merdeka and happy Friday everybody :).

Click here to register, log-in and vote!

Longitude

Longitude

Just a random thingy I did the other week. I was bored and in the mood to draw something. It's weird, though. Back then I got all hyped up drawing and drawing without a care in the world. Whatever I wanted I just doodled down however I fancied. I didn't give a toss about things like composition and complimentary colours and linear weights and what-have-yous.

Of course, looking at it now there's good and bads to just drawing however you want. Of course you want to make it visually appealing, get the message across, evoke feelings and emotions from whoever is viewing it. For that to happen you need to follow some basic rules. 

But then I remember when I was doodling and messing about with my markers and paper and pencils, I was happy. Very happy indeed. Of course there were certain little hiccups here and there, but I felt a genuine sense of accomplishment when I'd completed some drowned-in-colour thing. It was kinda like me, my ideas, paper and music. Nothing in between, nothing that can create some sort of distraction.

Right now when I look back at my old works, I can find fault in every single one of them. Of course, every creator will do so. But at the same time, I can't seem to find that blind, mindless drive to just doodle down everything and anything. I'll start to think about all the rules, and how to break them or bend them in different ways. Not like that's a bad thing, but of course you can see for yourself just how unproductive I've been since I started uni. 

My theory is this: back when I was completely oblivious to the foundations of design and art, I was like some wild monkey with a pencil. I threw everything down without putting much thought into it. Could you say my artwork then was and is shallow? Most probably. Because there isn't a rationale or a reason for it. It exists because I wanted to create it. That's all. But now, with the metaphorical chains of knowledge, I know better than to just go gadding about. I suppose, with more hard work and effort I won't call the knowledge chains, and instead call them steps and ladders to creating more beautiful and meaningful artwork.

It's like the transition of child to adult. When the world was so innocent, and when you reach that certain age, you just look at the old things so, so differently.

Excuse me for the big big wall of text. That's enough rambles for one night I suppose.