finally, another entry after 3-4 months of hiatus! now that i'm free from school for the rest of the year, i gonna use this holiday to do a LOT of 3D and drawing training.

so me n my mates watched A Christmas Carol, and honestly, i was a bit skeptical about first, but i decided just to go along anyway.

and it's really, really, good! no kiddin' here. I never watched the trailer, and i never thought that the whole movie is made by 3D animation! i was simply amazed by the peculiar yet effective and realistic use of lighting, as if you can feel the coarse rug and the soft robe. there was some error in the animation, but i'm simply amazed at myself for being able to pick out the faults and the minor mistakes. i guess i AM improving here. But the english accent used here is like...ANCIENT, making it really tough to make sense. I'm expecting 80% of non-english speaker to say the movie SUCK just because they don't understand what they hear.

but that's not all, the message conveyed is the true treasure of the movie.

The movie is about an old accountant (i think), Mr. Scrooge's life every Christmas season. He is the MOST stingiest oldie you would find throughout your life; forget being a cheapskate, his refusal to pay 100% of a service is NOTHING next to his belief of "a smile shouldn't be given for free". Actually, i'm not sure if he still have the entry of 'free' in his dictionary. And when you don't even give out a smile, it should be obvious enough that he is self-centered and prone of negative remarks from his neighbours. His infamy can make babies stop crying just by staring at them behind the wall (lol). Anyway, 3 spirits approach him on the Christmas eve night, and Mr. Scrooge realize what's wrong with his life.

One thing that i reminded of when watching this movie is about repentance, self control, and loving others. Some of us may find Mr. Scrooge a detestable man, but few of us realize that we might as well be called 'Mr. Scrooge' because of our actions or words. We need to realize the weigh of our actions to other people. I remember seeing a phrase off a book that's saying "The best way to show that your love is giving your time and attention to others. By giving your time for others, you are giving a portion of your time, your life, to that person and will never get it back". Mr. Scrooge never gave attention to others, he kept everything for him, his wealth, his time, and himself. As a result, the entire town dislike him. The bible said on Galatians 6:7 (NKJV); "...for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap."

This drives me to watch my action towards others even more careful, and so should you. If you want to be blessing for others, then you need to have the right Lifestyle first before others could be blessed. The characteristics of those who have the right lifestyle are stated in the bible in Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV); "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law." (And if I have to add, these also mean 'sincerity'). Now ask yourself, would you dislike someone who have these characteristics? I don't.

If we have the opposite of it, stated in Galatians 5:19-21 (NKJV); "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murderse, drunkenness, revelries...", it's no wonder that people will dislike us. The bible also say that we have to be the salt and light for others, and that tells us to be blessing for others, giving impact to people's life.

We should question ourselves, whether we have become blessing or pest for others. How would you feel when hear people say negative comment about you? What if those negative comment came from your own family? We are social beings, it's true that some of us are not as 'sociable' as others. I, for one, am not the sociable type of person, more on the quiet side. But years ago, I began to notice that the struggle I'm having is not about getting attention from others, but it's about letting go the weight called PRIDE that has been holding me back from approaching other people. Throughout my years in Melbourne, I learn how to let it go little by little. It's really tough, but I keep on trusting the Lord that whatever happened to me on the way, He had something in mind for my own goodness (Rome 8:28).

And repentance, it's a complete 180 degree turn-around from your old ways to a completely new one. Note that this takes a long and painful process, unlike what's portrayed in the movie. Mr. Scrooge was a detestable and hated individual on Christmas Eve, but he completely changed on 25th December. A new expression is carved on his face, and people are amazed at his change, some are even confused. He is no longer a 'Zacchaeus', but a generous person. And i believe, he have impacted the entire town and their Christmas celebration is much merrier since then.

Galatians 6:8 - For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

Now, it's YOUR turn! and be blessed~

....and with more NERDY SHENANIGAN!!

NERDY JOKE WARNING! i warned you already

FEATURING THE EPIC FAIL DEATH STAR!!!!!!11!!one!eleven!!!

some notable comments from above links, each followed on each other

- First... Wash your pants.
Second... Buy some new shoes.
Third... You forgot your sign:
Will Destroy Planets For Food
- Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of embarrassing yourself for all eternity on the internet.

-One might say he's looking for attention in Alderaan places.
- It's as if a million souls cried out at once just to laugh at this guy

- "The shaft leads directly to the reactor system. A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the station."
If he's not careful, and if his pants aren't ray shielded, he could blow...
- We should be able to get a reading on those pants, up or down. Why would he have his zipper up? Unless...IT'S A TRAP!

- He better pull his zipper up before someone fires a proton torpedo into his thermal exhaust port. But if he really wanted to have fun, he would have put the laser hole over his crotch
- "Our ships can't repel firepower of that magnitude!"
- Some sort of complicated device that splits the pee into six streams, only to recombine and then wreak devastation on a poor urinal.


and time for the obligatory demotivational image!


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

....and so, problem solved! seriously, this is what i'd call a miracle, 2 of my problems just solved in matter of days, where it usually take weeks to finish.

and time to share stuff i overheard today!
*and possibly couple days back as well*

----------

Girl: "I heard an Apple store is opening there soon."

Friend: "So, like, that's all they sell? Wow! not even any oranges?"
----------
Boy: Hey, what was Pythagoras's surname?
Girl: "Isn't it Theorem? Pythagoras Theorem, right?"
----------
Boy: "Pfft, this person thinks Martin Luther King is Michael Jackson?"
Girl: "Huh! Everyone knows he's that 'sting like a bee' boxer."
----------
Girl studying wars: "What's socialism?"

Friend: "Paris Hilton is a socialist, but that's got nothing to do with war. Maybe socialism is someone who's socially involved in war."
----------


i only got 2 words for you people


 

nay, i lied, after several months, turns out that i couldn't finish the huge update i planned, so i scrapped that idea...



i've been feeling a bit down lately....i can't contact 2 of my really close friends, of which 1 of them is studying for exam, and i can understand that.
the other one, however, is a bit of mystery (to me at the very least). it started a few days ago, everything was alright, then suddenly on the next day, that person didn't come up to msn, and i wasn't bothered with that. but when it kept on going for a few days, until the whole week, i began to worry. then i found out that, that person, is very pressured from the assignment. i read that person's blog, and i don't like the sound of it. i even began to question myself whether i'm the cause of it, but i decided not to blame myself anymore.

and until now, i'm yet to be contacted by that person. all i can do here is just to pray for that person.

believe me, if i can do something, i'd go over there and help with the assignments, no matter how much it costs.

S.G, if u read this, let me do something to help you.

yes i'm too lazy to update my blog.

but i assure you, i'm gonna post something big next, i'm just preparing for it

=p

Any real guitarist will tell you that Guitar Hero has nothing to do with any real-world instrument. Disney, surprisingly, has created an educational and inoffensive spin that uses a real guitar as a controller.

I mean...seriously. Ever since Guitar Hero came out, I've been laughing my ass off every time I saw any kind of video on youtube about people, being retarded musician wannabe, scoring a OMGNOWAY-worthy amount of score to show-off their apparent "ultimate rocker" guitar skills on....a retarded, string-less, 5 cute'n'colourful buttons on the neck, guitar with this weird moveable latch around the area of the pickup.


Funny Demotivators



Disney, however, did a pretty....dunno, good job for making a Guitar Hero clone that's different than Guitar Hero. Just go watch the video, it explains everything. But then its still not a good enough excuse to learn guitar. Its still retarded.

...and I hope Konami sue Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, really. They blatantly copy everything

......for a damn good reason too.

specifically, the government, not the country as a whole. We've always known China as the country who breach copyright law, in fact ANY kind of copyright, cheap labour, oily food, shopkeepers who NEVER give you a bargain, and the Great FireWall of China. AND YOU CAN NOT DISPUTE THOSE FACTS I STATED ABOVE BECAUSE THEY ARE VERY MUCH TRUE.

....but i don't really care. However, this time, they have stepped over the line.

now i'm not speaking as a....citizen of China, or as someone who ever got a positive attitude towards China, but i'm speaking as an Artist. one who would spend months of his life to share his passion about art in general to those people of the same intention, and this include Chinese artists, ANY kind of artists. However,  THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT AS OF DECEMBER 14 HAS BANNED DeviantART.com FROM THEIR INTERNET PROTOCOL FOR A STUPID REASON AT THAT TOO.


i will continue this rant some other time, i just don't feel like wasting my strength ranting against ignorant country like CHINA.

.....is revenge really THAT important to you? not only you just prove yourself weak, i can't believe you even thought of paying back what those people had done to you. it doesn't make you any better than those people.

you are worthless. i despise you for your own good.

one of reasons why i don't want to go to america is the existance of the thing called 'Thanksgiving Day." its dumb. but as usual, there's gotta be a positive and negative side of stuff. and these are the reasons why i LIKE thanksgiving day.

1. you get to eat a freaking huge turkey.
2. you can get stuffed with turkey.
3. even MORE turkeys.

i don't like "Thanksgiving Day" for a reason, and don't you ever flame me for having a freaking opinion. people over there just don't get thanked enough. they don't get thanked for their good works, and they don't get thanked for saving people's ass from humility. the only time they ever give thanks about something, is on this day called "Thanksgiving Day." can you imagine the stress level for not being thanked after inventing something that can make human life easier? i can't, and i don't want to be in that imagination.

biased and ridiculous opinion aside, lets start the REAL argument. WHY......would they make a separate day every year called Thanksgiving Day.....when it can happen EVERYDAY?

i just happen to come across a new PC PowerPlay magazine last week in Borders, i just took a glance of it, and kinda got hooked with its content, so i bought it last Monday. I immediately skip the games bit, which is unusual to me, and head straight to the computer components/hardware section for me to read about.

see, the thing is, i've been contemplating on what kind of components should i be getting for my soon-in-the-future desktop PC (read: next month)? after i spent part of my weekend on the internet looking for components, turns out that i can either spend $2000 or $2500 for my desktop PC, having the best possible, optimal quality parts for its money value. i was happy enough, although i could change some parts and consider the cheaper alternatives, but up to that point, its really what i've been imagining for a few months. even my lecturers said that the specs are good enough to do my 3D projects.

later on, in the magazine i bought, i saw a double page spread of this...lunatic company called AlienWare, singlehandedly claim themselves as the best desktop PC suppliers in the world for 3D projects and gaming. so i thought "ok, lets see how much this piece of c**p really worths." i'm asian, i'm quite the bitch when it comes to how-much-stuff-priced. i looked at the double-spread page, and see the numbers $8119 underneath the image of the computer, along with the system specifications on the side of it. i feel challenged.

so i give it a shot, see how cheap i can get a computer with the same system specifications as those....so-called AlienWare.

here are the specs: AMD Phenom X4 9950, 4GB 1066MHz DDR2, Asus AMD 790FX, AMD RADEON 4870x2 (2GB), 2x 1TB 7200rpm SATA, Blu-ray writer, DVD 20x DL DVD-RW, Alienware Approved 1000W, MS Vista Ultimate, MS Office Professional, some weird computer cases along with fans and liquid for cooling, $300 worths of gaming keyboard/mouse.

of course they don't write down the price for every single parts they listed, espescially the part about "some weird computer cases along with fans and liquid for cooling". so i just choose the MOST EXPENSIVE one you can possibly get from my price sources. as for the keyboard/mouse, i choose my keyboard n mouse just for the sake of reference. and you know how much i get?? $3299 (excluding the monitor and speaker, which you can get the best ones for....below $500 for both)

i don't really think i'm that excited to spend more than $3500 just to get the awesome cases and some fancy coolings for my computer. heck, i might just use that money for my university fee, that should cover up a lot of stuff.

Ever since i played Super Smash Bros Melee on my friend's Gamecube, i always wished for an all-star game like that, but made by Final Fantasy franchise.

....and they're making it now!

but the thing i just realized is probably they decided to add Cloud into the game just for the sake to make all the fan go crazy about the game and buying it for sales increase. but then, its meant to be for fans in the first place anyway. but who knows, i don't know whats going on in Square-Enix's head honchos about this.

stuff i noticed: alternate costumes, even MORE refined CG animation, i see improvement from Advent Children. non-flat hairs like in FFXIII (dude, seriously, they make hairs flat like cardboard and flap it around to look realistic), villain vs hero settings, and SEPHIROTH. with the latter, what could go wrong??

YES i know i haven't post anything here for AGES, here's what i've done in last few months.

- MOVED TO NEW APARTMENT! w00t! now i live by myself~~~
- finished my 3D short animation assignment. hopefully i pass this one
- finished my 2D after effects animation, i think i did ok
- GET MY INTERNET BACK ON (few hours ago)


i'm quite tired lately, but really fun, me n my friends go to this place, and amazing stuff happens, this includes miracles.

i just finished commenting on yunie's rant, and now i wanna sleep.....

i've finally moved to city, and....these first few days really give me a lot of experience in a form of HEAD PAIN and PRESSURE

got sooo many stuff to take care of, phone line activations, internet (which i decide to take care next month...i think) and my 3 assignments which seems to never ends. and it really tells me that the 'freedom' i wanted....ain't exactly what's on my imagination. but this is wat i asked, and i shouldn't complain.

things left to do this month.....4 fully rendered fully working fully integrated weapon models (a BIG pain on the ass), scenes for my after effects animation, and animation-ready scene for my short film....

the PAIN! ITS TOOOOO MUCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

and 2 new (to melbourne, been knowing them for years) buddy-wuddy coming to Melbourne and i promised them to take them around......i've got to shut my big mouth and stop giving me more time shortage.......well...not that i dont want to >_>;;; i already planned to take 'em around, but didn't plan to have time shortage at THIS times of october

now if you excuse me, i gotta go to eat my first meal of the day....at 5.22pm

EPIC

i really don't get it.....i feel that something's wrong with me, like there's some sort of alter ego inside me, another personality that disturbs my mind.

its always like this, whenever i draw something intently, i always screw up. but whenever i draw something just randomly like not focused, not serious, not with all my heart, always turned out to be like what i wanted.

k, i have an assignment which due tomorrow, Friday....which is today by the time i post this entry. its already 2.02am anyway but who cares?

basically what i need to do is to make a character and render it. simple? yes.
i started doing it around 3pm and finish around...1.45am. pushover no?

but as usual, i make simple things complicated. and not just complicated, [insert swear word with ~ing suffix here] complicated. then it goes really, REALLY crappy when i got to the point where i tried to composite the character onto a scenery background. after i did the whole composite crap, i came to realize that i merged ALL of the character layers in order to move it to the composite, save it as a .psd, and to top it off, CLOSED IT so no one can mess around with it, THEN i realize that i'm such a jackass of a monolithic proportion.

thanks to that, my character doesn't have any feet, and i can't even fix anything now. the finished quality is...slightly above my intended standard but not good enough....i don't have any power to re-make it again either. i'm such an idiot


MENTAL NOTE OR WARNING FOR ALL PHOTOSHOP USER:    MERGE LAYERS FUNCTION ARE GAY AND EVIL. AVOID IT AT ALL COST!!! 

so i thought to get a haircut today. and i got one before the apartment inspection.



and the barber guy turned me into ROCK LEE


and then i went QQ after getting on the train


and the drummer guy said that my hair looked like a catwalk guy who people seem to oftenly question their gender


and whatever, that doesn't change the fact that i look like a freaking ROCK LEE


and if there's a time for me to swear, i think this would be a good time, but i'd rather just to suck it up and walk with it.....*sob*

in 3-4 hours, there will be several indonesian famous people coming to Melbourne....for tomorrow's event (of which i'll explain someday), and i'm going to be part of the event, playing bass.

ok, i thought i should practice the routine for tomorrow. then when i realize i need to make an improvement from here, and i know that i don't know this thing about MODES, and i'm not gonna bother myself to explain what it is, but i know to learn it perfectly gonna take AGES.

i know ALL chord-number substitution, heck that's where i grew up on while playing bass, all 12 notes with their chord-number formation. but i never really thought that MODES is different, but works the same.

aah crap, i should've learn this last year

yesterday: a drunk woman sitting down in front of me, RIGHT in front of me, holding the neck of a wine bottle, and bitching on the phone. every breath she exhale stinks, not just wine, but i bet my money its a combination of several smelly stuff. i said to myself: "ok matt, stay calm, no sudden movements, she might smells worse than Jake (lol) in his old coat (while actually she IS), but at least she's still conscious." it was around 3pm. she got DRUNK at 3PM? seriously, wtf?

and today, just when i'm just standing around on the platform waiting for the train, listening to my ipod, i heard a not-so-familiar voice, but quite a familiar-tone of bitching. and when i looked around, its her. drunk. AGAIN. when the train comes, i walked a bit further and get into the train. by that time, she's about 20-30m away from me, but still in the same carriage.

and boy i never see this one coming. i got my earphone stuffed snuggly into my ear, and my ipod volume is....relatively moderate, just enough to hear the bass, and i can still listen to her bitching, even though its still softer than the music. i thought...ok, she's starting to annoy me. so i just cranked up the volume just a bit. then she shouts like an idiot who just realized that they're holding a dead rat and shoved it inside their back a retard, flaming at her phone, and i leave the train at Oakleigh station.


yes, i'm still keeping my calm, just a bit close to the limit. i was thinking to flame back at her, but then i thought i'm just looking for trouble if that's the case. its been quite an awkward week really. anyway, 2 more t-shirt design to be done! one of them gonna be a parody of the dark knight, and the other one gonna be a monkey!

note: i HAD to use 'bitching' for the lack of better words to describe the situation. really, you've got to be THERE to know how bad that was >_>;;;