PixelFucker Blog

On Friday night my work colleagues and I decided to go see the newest Hollywood flick, I Robot staring Will Smith. This movie’s said to screen in Thailand a day or two before other countries. We reserved 15 seats the furthest rows possible in order to be able to see the screen clearly. The movie’s pretty all right for me. Since I never really had a chance to read the classic book, which was written by Isaac Asimov, I can’t really tell if the story has been twisted or not. But over all, I liked the film and I can care less about what other critics may say.

Also I got belated B.D. present from a friend of mine today consists of a series of 6 illustrated books by a great illustrator, Jimmy Liao. Such a great present and will be a great keep for me.

Sound of Colors


A Garden in My Heart


Love in the Cards


Pourquoi


Mr. Wing


Blinking Seconds





What I have learned today:

1. “.tk” is a domain name for Tokelau. You may also get a free domain name at www.dot.tk

2. Because I’m going to get a DSL soon, I read up a few articles and info on the net. This one is quite a good read, Cisco's doc on DSL

3. On the way home, a friend of mine phoned me and told me that he bought a new DVD. The thing is when he was about to buy a DVD there were 2 choices for him, 5 and 9. He didn’t know what are the differences between the 2. So he ended up buying 9 as it’s more expensive so it should be better. I told him that main difference is just the capacity limitation.

Came home, I researched some more to get the full list of currently available sizes:

▪ DVD-5: single sided, single layer, 4.7 gigabytes (GB) – Common in Thailand
▪ DVD-9: single sided, double layer, 8.5 GB – Common in Thailand
▪ DVD-10: double sided, single layer on both sides, 9.4 GB – Sometimes you see this 2 sided disc in Thailand.
▪ DVD-14: double sided, double layer on one side, single layer on other, 13.2 GB – Very rare in Thailand market.
▪ DVD-18: double sided, double layer on both sides, 17.1 GB – Very rare in Thailand market.

4. While doing the research on that DVD thingy I came across a list of abbreviations for numbers. I think it’s quite useful as you will know how big it actually is when someone say “This disc holds 2.4 exabytes (EB)” :)


▪ Kilo (K) = 1024 (2 to the power of 10)
▪ Mega (M) = 1,048,576 (2 to the power of 20)
▪ Giga (G) = 1,073,741,824 (2 to the power of 30)
▪ Tera (T) = 1,099,511,627,776 (2 to the power of 40)
▪ Peta (P) = 1,125,899,906,842,624 (2 to the power of 50)
▪ Exa (E) = 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 (2 to the power of 60)
▪ Zetta (Z) = 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 (2 to the power of 70)
▪ Yotta (Y) = 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 (2 to the power of 80)

I’m about to say good bye to the old 56k and the annoying modem connection sound forever (I hope). As TelecomAsia (Thailand) suddenly changed its name to “TRUE” and also have special promotions for high speed internet which will eventually allow me to surf the net unlimitedly with up to 256kbps for meeker 590 Baht/month (Approx US$15). I know it doesn’t sound a lot to those who live in USA and/or other civilized countries, it will indeed be a blessing to how I surf net at home for sure.

I ordered the service about a week ago and they said they are able to arrange a technician for line installation (free new telephone line with extra 350 Baht as labor cost) in a week. But since the billing system will be PRO rate that means I will pay the first month in full yet only able to use for 15 days. Being a stingy that I am, I decided to let them install on the 1st of next month.

What I have learned today:

1. Google, a company that never ceased to amaze me, has recently added a new service (http://answer.google.com/answers/) allowing net users to ask any questions and get relevant answer(s) back within 24 hours for US$2.50. I think the fee is rather expensive but hey I think people this system could work. I think I have seen this kind of implementation a few years back but don’t quite remember what site was that.

But for me, just the knowledge readily available within the google search system itself is more than enough for my simple brain.


2. It’s not possible to post direct links to my website (pixelfucker.net) on Pantip.com,the biggest Thailand online community, due to the fact that the URL contains the “F” word. I can only use the IP based temporary URL given by my host provider only.


3. The place where you can request an ISBN (to write and publish a book you need one) in Thailand is The National Library.

Last night I had a chance to review myself as I decided not to do much after posting a blog. I laid down and thought of various projects which have yet to complete. There are quite a few things which still need to get done because I hate starting up a thing and unable to finish it. Putting Himapan project aside, first and second thing that came to my mind were the comic project and the bliss board game project.

The comic project:


Since I was a child, I was always dreaming of becoming a great comicker someday. That dream is yet realized! At the time (around 1980s), I was still a child, I used to draw and scribble along page gutters of my school books. As some of my friends may know, my parents are of traditional Chinese folks. They didn't seem to think that using the blank spaces around school books is a good idea. They insisted that being an artist's not a good idea. As there are more striving artists than successful ones. They wanted me to aim for more "concrete" careers like an Engineer, a Medical doctor, a Teacher or something. I tried to accept their idea, but in the back of my mind drawing comic would be the thing I'd choose.

By the year 1995 I thought Computer field is pretty hot. They agreed with me. So I majored in Computer Science. While studying in this field, I started messing around with digital painting and now have some hope to become a comicker like I wanted to. Thinking back on this issue, if I had a chance to go back in time I would have chosen the same thing again. Because I think if I chose to go for comic at that time, I might have been a computer-phobic and I might not have discovered digital painting at all :0. I'm plannign to do this comic thing again after the Himapan project is over-which could be a year or so from now.


The Bliss Board Game:


This is a long overdue project for my personal Bliss, female clothing line, which photon, a friend of mine, will assist in programming. My girlfriend and I are responsible for the graphic part. It's been on hold for quite sometime. Now I want to resurrect it. Photon seems to be busy at the moment but I'm sure someday he will complete it ;)

Let's hope these 2 projects will soon be complete...

While today’s my birthday and I suppose to be relaxing and all, my girlfriend’s sister just sent me a picture of her hand-drawn caricature. So my friend and I came up with an idea of doing an online caricature service. I think we might start it slowly as I still want to dedicate my life for my office work while having enough time to do my Himapan project. Maybe I have to think it through and see all possibilities with caricature illustrations. What do you guys think about this piece of illustration?

To celebrate my birthday and other 2 co-workers who happen to have the same birth month, my boss took the whole company to eat at a fine Japanese restaurant. Too bad the place is a bit too small, so we have to split to 2 rooms with about 10 persons per room.

I ordered a U.S. Beef stake but it seemed like they ran out of American born cow......so I reorder another dish which suppose to be equally good, NZ. Beef ;). Meanwhile, I was nibbling on my friend's dishes. It arrived the second to last, by that time I was already full with other peoples' food. I had all kind of stuff ranging from various types of sushi, rolls, and teriyakis. It was indeed a good lunch. To top it off, my boos paid it all ;) Now that makes the dish even more delicious.

Here are some faces on my table:






It's almost time to leave, and is time to unwrap my present. My co-workers have all shelled out and bought me a book I've been yearning to get....LOTR-ROTK illustration book. The book contains a lot of very well drawn and designed illustrations for the last chapter of one of the greatest films ever made. Some were used in the process of creating the film. Now I'll have something to read or the next few weeks.

Here is the cover scan of the book:



More factual details about the book:
Title: The Art of The Return of the King
Author: Gary Russell
Book Format: C Format Hardback
No. of Pages: 192 pages
Height & Width: 28.7cm x 22.9cm
ISBN: 0007135653
Publication Date: 3 March 2004

Today is my birthday. I'm turning 27. I know it's quite a big number and many may think I'm quite an old man. Sometimes I feel like that. Other times, I think I'm still full of life and must try new things every day. I guess being old(er) has some goods and bads.

One of the good points is that I'll (hopefully) be smarter than last year. Actually last year I promised myself a resolution which is to learn a new thing for every dawn. I'd say I'm 60% successful in keeping that promise. In fact, I feel smarter than the day before...although just a tad bit. Some may not even be useful for other people except me. (^_^)

Let's see what I've learned within these past few days.

1. Yesterday, a colleague at work asked me a question about why her Internet Explorer wouldn't permit her to save a JPEG file except for .BMP extension. I knew that this problem had occurred to me once. So I did some research and realized that the problem's caused by a Damaged or Unknown program file (active or java) is downloaded to the downloaded program files folder. To solve such stupid problem you can simply empty the contents of the "Temporary Internet Files" folder, and then delete any files in the "Downloaded Program Files" folder that are listed as "Unknown" or "Damaged". Quite a nifty trick, eh?

The full solution was provided on the net and can be viewed at: TweakXp.com

2. I was informed that PayPal.com now accepts Thai as a support country. This means I can ebay like I used to while I as in the States ;).

3. This one is from my girlfriend. She taught me that if my teeth are really dirty (because of coffee stain or otherwise) even though you have brushed already, you can just use a few droplets of lemon to wipe the stains out. --This trick has never been proved by me though.

4. To get a credit card in Thailand you must have a steady income of more than approx. 8,000 Baht (That is around US$200).

Anywho...another great news is that illustrations which my girlfriend and I created are now in the process of printing by FontMonster.org. The book will be titled "Freeware" and should be available by the year end. Here's a sample illustration on the book:




'til next blog...

I bet most of my close friends know what I've been busy working on for the last 4 months. Actually it's no secret as the project will soon be known to the public. The project is the main reason for me to start blogging, because by doing so will help me get a better grip of the project especially on how far it's been done. Additionally getting some feedbacks from friends is quite crucial as well ;).

The project is about Himapan creatures. Some may wonder what the hell is "Himapan creatures". To get a better understanding, these are creatures which exist mostly in Asian literatures such as Garuda, Hongsa (Mythical Swan), and many other odd creatures.

The project started because I wanted Thai and foreigners to know more about Thai culture through Thai traditional arts. Although you will not only experience the traditional line art illustrations, but colorized figure paintings, futuristic line art design, along with original photograph and description of each creature will be included as well. There will be a total of 100+ creatures. Each will most likely have 3-5 illustrations. It's quite a big project for me.

But I have a partner who's helping me along with this project. This person can be no other but my long life soul mate ;) Gip.

Here are a few preliminary page layouts:





Stay tuned, I'll have more posted here soon.