beyond the edge

I also miss drawing and writing and a whole lot of stuff that doesn't have anything to do with science. Bah.

I've been intending to rewatch Gundam Seed this break, but I think so far I've seen half of episode 3, 2 minutes of episode 8, 3 minutes of episode 33 and that's it Orz

My computer keeps blue-screening on me. Sad.

This is a picture I drew 4 years ago and have always been intending to colour but never got around to it. It's Pendillius sitting on a chair with one leg LOL



It's a fairly simple colouring job. Mainly I was trying to get the hang of using watercolour-type hues. I love the brushes in OC but I'm so dependent on PS's pen tool =( And I don't have a version of Painter that is in English and works. I actually really want to colour using Illustrator but...........even the thought of it is daunting. Maybe in the summer holidays....

But in the few days left I'd like to colour another picture...so, I'm asking you, yes, all two of you who actually read my journal LOL, to help me decide which one =D

You'll have to log in to vote, unfortunately ==;;;
[Poll #1426772]


( Random rant )

Spent the last few days being an utter fangirl over Kung Fu Panda XDD

Well, I didn't really like the namesake panda, who reminds me a lot of the pig in Journey to the West...lazy, silly, disrespectful, cowardly...and can't see his toes whatever formation his stomach is in XDDD

Master Shifu (which translates hilariously to Shifu-shifu in Chinese LOL) is the AWE. The absolutely glittering piece of very expensive metal in a very glittering film XDD

It is sad that 1 in 10 reviewers don't know what Master Shifu is. (I didn't either...I thought he was a racoon XD) He's a red panda! Red panda!! Not "Master Racoon" or "mousy-looking Yoda" thank you very much!!!

It's obvious that the producers and scriptwriters have a fine level of appreciation for Chinese culture, and enough knowledge of the wuxia (martial arts films/books) subculture to be poking gentle fun at it. Without any disrespect, of course.

It's a movie of opposites brought into harmony, which is quite a wonderful achievement.

A movie about China produced by Hollywood, but nevertheless overflowing with subdued oriental values and expressed in a way easily perceivable by western audiences. That's not to say everything adhered to some tight representation of Chinese culture, but it mixes western and Chinese ideas in a way that does not conflict - at least not as much as, say, Disney's Mulan.

It is a movie full of predictability and unpredictability. Respecting its origins, it draws from a range of well-used wuxia cliches, but always brings the audience up short with a surprise interjection or a sudden change from what usually happens.

It's a highly comical movie, but somehow still manages to be more emotionally moving and developed than.....oh, I don't know, something twice its length and five times its cast *cough*Narnia*cough*

The interaction between Tai Lung and Shifu produces an interestingly profound subplot of thwarted dreams and over-indulgent love. The selection of Tai Lung as a smooth-voiced smiling gentleman (well, almost...at least for two minutes XD) makes him much less a two-dimensional villain than a prodigy fallen from grace.

The vivid palette and fluid use of very Chinese motifs and objects (like chopsticks, bamboo flutes, Taoist symbols) are complemented by a beautiful soundtrack decked with traditional Chinese instruments. The most poetic moment of the movie is a Japanesque sequence of beautiful fluttering petals.

Fortunately, unlike Disney, it doesn't try to ram its final message down your throat. It is, of course, a "be yourself" message (seems like Hollywood stills fails to come up with anything else), but dressed as "don't try to become who you cannot be - become who you are best at being". The final fight, after Po (our panda) realises this, is sure to send everyone into stitches.

Because Po is best at being big, fat, wobbly, food-loving and very clumsy XDD

Definitely a recommend. And +10 points because people are idiots for trying to boycott this.

Honestly...whining "our national treasure" is getting "exploited" just amounts to an admission that China can't produce anything of the same calibre. And it's not as if China lacks the money or the talent, if it sets its heart to look.

If anything, the movie is more like a free promo for Chinese tourism/culture study industry =__=;;;;


================== I divide, aye ==================

*Cough* Since when was Krawk Island this strong? =__= We've been clean-sweeping everyone except Mystery Island. Admittedly we still have two of the strongest teams to play, but last year Darigan and Shenkuu totally made us eat dust =0=;; I remember even Haunted Woods took a good chip out of our score. Maybe...maybe it's because this year we got rid of the freeloaders who joined simply because of Pirates of the Caribbean! Thank god there was no sequel!

Also I remember a rumour from last year that a group of very good YYB players from one of the helpsites were originally on the HW team (who won first year), and who were playing on the DC team last year (DC won last year) and last year a rumour floated around that they were going to join KI this year. Wow...the power of a small number of people....? =/

No one ask me about exams. Damn "I-only-want-to-see-what-you've-learnt" parasitology. What's the point of inundating us with the life cycles and morphologies of 30 different parasites and then asking about......................the management of Strongyloides stercoralis in Australia.

I want bonus marks for even getting the names! Parasitology must have a secret system of naming that involves choosing the least used syllables of the English language and stuffing as many of them as possible into one name. See Ancylostoma duodenale (hookworm) and Trichuris trichiura (whip worm) and Diphyllobothrium whatever (fish tape worm). That 2 hour paper ended up being the biggest load of cow manure I've ever written in an exam.

On the brighter side, I have become an expert in turning people off their food *Sniggers* Can't wait until next semester, where I shall be learning all (again) about bacteria......muahahahaha!! Ten ways to kill yourself by eating fried rice, here we come!


In other news....we lost to Shenkuu?! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! OMG...clean sweep. That's hilarious.

More hilariously...our results against Darigan still hasn't come out. Apparently a lot of scores were lost when the server crashed.......LOL.

Moral of the story: beware the power of the people. Especially the impatient people rabidly clicking "Refresh" after someone posted that "Good work Darigan!" board...which I am still convinced is the culprit XDDDD


In other, other news, I'm surprised that SMH gave Transformers a pretty high score (3.5 is pretty high for such a popcorn movie). Wow.

...And the only reason motivating me to think about watching Harry Potter 5, whenever that comes out, is because they put in the little snip with little Sirius and little Lupin (oh, and James and Snape and Peter and Lily too, but meh).

...But before that...I hope Harry dies XDD

I REALLY HATE IT!!! RAAR.

But what can one do without a website of one's own? *sigh*

Here's part one of a bunch of drawings. I didn't expect it to be so complicated (and glitchy) uploading them!!!!

(In case they don't load, I've posted the DA link, but you'll have to click "Download" to see the big picture.)

My current favourite: Xantes and Kamaeh. As far as the actual picture is concerned, it's ugh, but they're both so cute~~~~!!! Kamaeh's the big(ger) one. They just make your world go all pink and soft XDDD (Stop it with the random Pratchett quoting v0v) [DA link]

I recommend (WARNING: 1000px width) this picture, if only because a_cryptic and I spent so bloody long on it, raaargh. It's dated last year, and it looked nice for about 5 minutes XD I can't believe I bothered with the shadows ==;;;;;;; [DA link]

And finally, an embarrassing fan art of Kira and Athrun =_____=; I like the idea of drawing fanart, but I hate whatever I get out of it arrgh. Unless they're in chibi form XD [DA link]

......That is all, for today.



Oh, and I think we can claim 2 default victories in the next two days against Virtupets and Brightvale *cackles* Fight hard, Jenny! =P

But next week we have the really strong teams, and people are getting too cocky...

Haha...managed to lose 8 levels (and the avatar *cries*) dicing with Count Roo ==;;;;;;;;;

And then Flippee got turned from a beautiful green Uni into a Yurble ==;;;;;;

Well, at least now he's disco, and so I've pounded him ^^

...And forgot to detach the Petpet........

Oh well, Altachucks are a dime a dozen, right? ^^;;;;;


Final exam tomorrow. Can't wait. 100 True/False questions.........

=__________=;;;;;;;;

I don't even know if I should bother studying. Sample questions have nothing to do with the lecture material. I'll probably get the same mark by guessing as by studying the lectures. =_________=

Afflen is now a yellow Nimmo.

*weeps*

Oh well, I like neither Acaras nor Nimmos.......

Alidaran is up for adoption.

I don't think she'll find a good owner. Sorry. Blame the lab ray for turning the male Bori into a female Quiggle......*sigh*

But while I'm saying that...what do you know, she's been adopted within a minute O__o;

By an account juuuuuuust on 4 months. *sigh*

I'm going to concentrate on zapping Afflen for a while.

And I'll go buy that Zafara potion...eventually (should get it before it becomes retired or something stupid like that T-T)

Oooh~ I also (finally) managed to get the Island Mystic avatar yesterday *proud*

On a whim, I've put mucky27 (who's gained 5 levels since she was adopted) up for adoption in exchange for minigelert (who is, surprisingly, a gelert). He happens to be suffering from Neomonia, which is such a common ailment that the treatment costs the price of a codestone, so he shall be going to the healing springs a lot. Does anyone find it strange that it costs NPs to adopt but not abandon to the pound? You'd think the pound should charge you for feeding fees.

Aww...but I liked mucky27, she was very sweet (as far as virtual...identities could be). She didn't get grumpy even once. And she has such good luck at fishing.

( Ooh! Meme! Pretty colours! )