I am your father

Darth Vader, one of 22 hot air balloons flies over at the start of the Putrajaya Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Thursday, March 18, 2010. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

 from BigPicture

a bike for twins?

so... how do you ride this thing?
I saw it on my way to work today..

Riding this bike with someone would either bond the relationship or end up in a huge disagreement, lol.
It reminds me of Nathalie's works, yellow (not quite bright but..) and all...
what a strange bike...


After googling, I found out!
It's called side-by-side tandem bike.



It kinda looks fun and silly at the same time.. lol

and.. apparently invented by an Australian distance cyclist named Hubert Opperman.

so people are throwing feces now?
disgusting!

In the past week, four people have been robbed after withdrawing money from downtown bank machines by a team of thieves who furtively squirt feces on their clothing and then distract them by trying to clean up the mess. In the process, their cash disappears.

Toronto Police warn of feces squirting scam [link]

alexa meade

Alexa Meade, Timmy, Acrylic on Flesh, 5 feet 9 inches, 2009

Alexa Meade, David, Acrylic on Flesh, 2010

Alexa Meade, Portrait of a Self-Portrait, Acrylic on flesh, 5 feet 9 inches, 145 pounds, 2009

Alexa Meade, Jaimie in Process, Acrylic on flesh, 2010

It's a LIVE PAINTING! 
This is so surreal.
The boundary between painting and the reality is magically blurred by Meade's brilliant live painting.
Meade is 23, based in Washington D.C.
I'd definitely like to see her works live.
The only thing about this painting is that you cannot purchase them or keep them other than in photographs.

from her web

Alexa Meade has innovated a Trompe-L’Oeil painting technique that can perceptually compress three-dimensional space into a two-dimensional plane. Her work is a fusion of installation, painting, performance, photography, and video art.

Rather than painting a representational picture on a flat canvas, Meade paints her representational image directly on top of her three-dimensional subjects. The subject and its representation become one and the same. Essentially, her art imitates life on top of life.

Meade’s approach to portraiture questions our understanding of the body and identity. Meade coats her models with a mask of paint, obscuring the body while intimately exposing it, creating an unflinchingly raw account of the person. The painted second skin perceptually dissolves the body into a 2D caricature. The subjects become art objects as they are transformed into re-interpretations of themselves. In turn, the models’ identities become altered by their new skin, embodying Meade’s dictated definition of their image to the viewer.

Meade’s project plays on the tensions between being and permanence. The physical painting exists only for mere hours and is obliterated when the model sheds its metaphorical skin. What endures is an artifact of the performance, a 2D photograph extracted from the 3D scene. The photographic presentations create a tension between the smoothness of the physical photographs and the tactility of the painted installations captured within them, blurring the lines between what is depicted and depiction itself.

images [link]

butt cover

RearGear butt cover from Etsy

This is just so adorable.
It's hung from the tail which covers the un-pretty area for dogs.
haha..
It just makes me laugh...

Christopher Wahl

Portrait of Ariel Garten by Christopher Wahl

This is how I want to get my portrait done, if I get it done. :-D


Bonus...

Portrait of Jack Black by Christopher Wahl

 Jack Black is AWESOME!!!
 He's my third fave actor followed by Leonardo Dicaprio and Johnny Depp.


*images from Christopher Wahl website [link]

en plein air

Mitchell Fenton's En Plein Air series.
I was mesmerized at his colours and brushstrokes.
He's done numerous Rocky Mountain series but personally I like he California and Ontario ones the best.
The colours are simply mind blowing.

California En Plein Air Series, 8"x10", oil on panel

Ontario En Plein Air Series, 8"x10", oil on panel

Mitchell Fenton [link]

I paint en plein air with oils on small wood panels while traveling. My set-up is very portable enabling me to hike into many remote areas. Back in the studio, some panels are chosen and worked up into larger canvases. I work in many parts of Canada - the West Coast, the Prairies, Ontario and Eastern Canada, but mostly in the Canadian Rockies.

There is a strong tradition of landscape painting in Canada. When I first began painting the Canadian Landscape, I went to Lake O'Hara because of the many paintings I had seen from this area; work by John Singer Sargent, J.E.H. MacDonald, Lauren Harris - just to name a few. Lake O'Hara was spectacular; I have been back 7 times! Although there are many places in Canada I have yet to explore, I think I will be back to the Rockies many more times.

Our history is shaped by the land we live in. We are all connected to it.

long long long weekend

Victoria Day weekend at HFC was incredibly busy.
Overwhelmed by families, the entire site was jam packed.
The gallery alone accommodated 5093 visitors during HarbourKIDS weekend (saturday-monday).
After a nice long drink with Robyn, I was happy to say the weekend was over.

photo [link]

cheers!

Germany vs China

Yang Liu
She studied at UWE at Bristol, UK and graduated with Master degree from University of Arts Berlin.
Since 2004 she has established Yang Liu Design in Berlin.
Liu exhibited Differences of German & Chinese (Unterschiede von Deutschen und Chinesen) 2003-2007 at German Ministry of foreign affairs (May - June 07).

blue = western        red = eastern

How to express yourself

the lifestyle: independent vs dependent

the attitude to punctuality: exactly on time vs 15 minutes range

people relationship: simple vs complex

feeling express: one side vs double sided

How to line up

how to think about oneself

on weekend

at party

sound in restaurant

during the travel

the standard for beauty

in front of problem

transportation

daily life of the old

the status of leader

how to treat younger

post from here

10 photorealistic paintings

 Eric Zenner

 Yigal Ozeri

Dan Witz

Diego Gravinese

Just amazing.
It blows my mind to see such meticulous paintings.
Wish I can see it in person to really see them.
This reminds me of Mike Bayne's photosrealistic paintings.

more 10 photorealistic painters here

A new header!
I've wrapped my name around 100 beautiful English words according to Dr. Beard.
Dr. Beard’s list is posted on AlphaDictionary.com
The list is composed of words that sound beautiful, not the meaning because there are some words that are beautiful by definition (ie Untoward: Unseemly, inappropriate)
This other site also has other beautiful words by a British survey like Cherish, Lullaby, Sunshine and Sweetheart and some funny words like Flabbergasted and Giggle. It didn't have my favourite though, Hullabaloo! Such a funny word.

spam

After endless clicking, I was led to Spam Wikipedia page and discovered there is actually a cookbook for Spam! It was quite interesting to read all about Spam and how 'spam mail' got its name from Monty Python Sketch singing "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, baked beans, Spam, Spam, Spam and Spam". There could not be more Spam on the menu!!!

SPAM advertisements here. No wonder spam mail got its name. SPAM is EVERYWHERE!

I loved eating Spam as a child and I still do sometimes, and yes I do feel guilty eating them. After learning how 'mysterious' this canned meat can be, I had to control my craving for this sweet and salty pork shoulder ham.

SPAM spells out as:

Something Posing As Meat
Specially Processed Artificial Meat
Stuff, Pork and Ham
Spare Parts Animal Meat
Special Product of Austin Minnesota



Now I feel sorry for my body having eaten Spam just two days ago, and same effect goes for KFC too.
It's just not fair that all the yummy food are mysterious or unhealthy. According to Wikipedia, "about 3.6% of Spam's mass is salt" and "is high in saturated fat and sodium". I do not like salty food.

Also surprising to find out that South Korea is one of the top consumers of Spam as it was introduced during Korean War by the US military.


mmmmmm...... I think I feel like Spam today... damn it!

a funny spam website here.