Donald Duck jokes

No Donald Duck jokes were made last night. Hahah. Enough of them for now. Time to get back on track and draw. Heheh.

Dinner at 15 Minutes

Friday! Whee! The weekend is upon us! WOO!

Last night, after looking for a HDD at Sim Lim Square and also saying hello to Wilson at Epic Gear, I had dinner with Ray, Jerry, Teck Loong the Hobo and Zenn at 15 Minutes at Lasalle.

I have been here numerous times ever since that first visit with Jerry a while back.

Jerry tried the sausage dish. I sampled the two types. Great stuff.

I have had the burger a few times. Great stuff. Great fries, patty and all. This was Zenn's burger with an egg!

Ray's pasta.

Slipping standards

There is an artist who I know whose standards are slipping. It is quite evident that he is getting worse with every new piece. A few of us have noticed it. However, he is a two-faced Janus, not a pleasant person either. So, no one will tell him.

Battlefield 3

 

 

 

 

Battlefield 3

 

 

 

 

When I first started Battlefield 3 (2011), I seemed to have forgotten all the lessons of Battlefield 2 (2005) from some years back.

In the fury of battle, I would respawn at the wrong spots, I would stand and gaze at the situation at the wrong spots.

I was averaging a Kill Death ratio (K/D) of 2:14 or thereabouts.

In meeting engagements in a fire fight, I would find that the other player would always shoot faster and more accurately. This was, of course, also due to my lack of skill, slower reflexes, poorer hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity.

I had also played an engineer with the rocket launchers (SMAW and RPG-7) or the MANPAD (Stinger or Igla). With the use of anti-vehicular mines, I was able to amass a few kills without a firefight. Relatively few though.

For 73 hours, I had tried different approaches, from driving vehicles to laying mines. Eventually, I managed to find that I could aim pretty accurately with the M320 grenade launcher.

That was when I was able to amass kills. By the 102th hour, I had chalked up another 1000+ kills and restored my K/D ratio to 1.0. I had over 700 kills with the grenade launcher there. I was able to place grenades accurately at long range with the M320.

Now, my K/D ratio in games would range between 2:1 to 7:1, the latter ratio was not uncommon.

I am glad that I had persevered. My gun kills have also improved. I positioned well and not merely from ambush positions. While the preponderance of kills had come from the M320, I would still get assault rifles kills.

Ninety-Nine Castles: Castle on cloud nine!

Ninety-Nine Castles: Castle on cloud nine!: Quick pure color sketch to start contributing to the blog!

Kun Rong's two-hour speed painting of a castle. The colours, the forms incorporated, the multiple levels, the other towers and sky bridges and the moat. Magnificent!

Middle Road

 

Battlefield 3 parity

I started the game at 0:0 parity. 101 hours later, I managed to reach a 2042:2042 parity. I had started off badly, often getting 2:14 or thereabouts.

Last night, I managed a 44:6. It took a hundred hours to restore this.

Drawing

A great weekend. I spent nine hours drawing on Saturday. I drew with Jake, Kun Rong, Jerry, Marc and Annabella. I completed a number of odd, quirky pieces!

On Friday evening. I browsed for a bit and met Psy Fig at Kinokuniya. Then, Kun Rong came as did Jake and Jerry. We were at the Food Republic at the Wisma Atrium afterwards.

Melted

I spotted this installation piece outside the Singapore Art Museum when I was with Dione and Kun Rong last Saturday. I was on my way to find Jerry, Jian Long and Jake, the Three Js at Nafa.

I will go meet Jerry and Kun Rong at Ngee Ann City this evening! Whee!

Dinner at 15 Minutes

I met TL Hobo for dinner at 15 Minutes at LaSalle last night. Great dinner, we caught up over many things. Sadly, Zennkey was unable to make it.

I also visited Wilson at Epic Gear.

Soaring above the petty

One has to forge one's own path. The petty will always be vicious and full of their anger. Let them clutch onto those angry, petty views.

Let them rage. Perhaps, after venting, they will be liberated and perhaps willing to change for the better.

I don't hold out much hope for them though.

Sailing on a ship of fools

Will we be sailing on a ship of fools in four years' time where populism and mob prejudices rule?

Refusal to understand

It is a wonder when someone refusal to understand is astounding. A means of concocting rationales against what was blatantly laid out before him.

The process of changing one's belief is gradual and requires someone to be the introspective sort..

"You can't do it easily is his point. The process of changing one's belief is gradual and requires someone to be the introspective sort (not sure how you describe that sort of personality). So what one does should be to help the process not push the person further to the other side. That's why crabtree talks about reframing issues and changing behaviours which would in turn help make a person question his or her own usual consistent outlook."


Fouridine Ang

Another call from GMI Corporation

Woo. GMI Corporation is very early this morning. A lady with an accented voice called and I said, 'Oooh, your fiftieth call, isn't it?' She said she didn't think so and continued talking and talking. I had left the receiver on the table then. Haha!

I wonder what this GMI Corporation is. I did a check online and found two firms with such names but they wouldn't be that kind that would send someone doing blind direct marketing.

Of xenophobia

The xenophobia in our society is very disturbing. Everything, from rubbish to rudeness, is blamed on the PRC (Chinese citizen). I see that in Facebook on the walls of people I know,  I see that in forums. I see it expressed on many levels. What level has our society descended to? In an society made of immigrants, we cannot tolerate them.

Marc is thinking of hiking again this Sunday! EEP! I'm not that young anymore. My recovery will take a while. Haha.

A wonderful hiking trip. Photos and trip descriptions will follow later. Tired.

Nationalisation

People who scream 'nationalisation' at everything either appear to know very little history, being ignorant, or choose to be myopic. It is troubling to see folks clutching onto opinions that remain unchanged in light of either more education or new information proving those views wrong. This is conservatism at its worst. Blind adherence to an entrenched position.

With regards to nationalisation of public transport, these people shouting 'nationalisation' should look at examples implemented worldwide and do a comparison between privatised and nationalised systems. There are reasons why nationalisation, communism and other forms of state control don't work for various enterprises and why the mechanisms of the market work for others.

Cannot be helped at all

" Some people are just so resistant to logic that they cannot realistically be helped at all though, sad fact of life.."


Wilson Tay

The end of all things

As the world's first demotivational speaker, it falls upon me to tell you that the weekend has started and will end in less than 48 hours. Start counting...

And for your weekend reading? The Heat Death of the Universe. WOO!

From Wikipedia:

" The heat death of the universe is a suggested ultimate fate of the universe, in which the universe has diminished to a state of no thermodynamic free energy and therefore can no longer sustain motion or life. Heat death does not imply any particular absolute temperature; it only requires that temperature differences or other process may no longer be exploited to perform work. In the language of physics, this is when the universe reaches the maximum entropy. The hypothesis of heat death stems from the 1850s ideas of William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, who extrapolated the views of the theory of heat as mechanical energy loss in nature as embodied in the first two laws of thermodynamics to processes in the universe."

Exploration with gouache

I will continue my exploration of the painting of forests with gouache. This has allowed incredible nuances to be expressed which were difficult utilising watercolours.

I would be expecting a series of 16 gouache paintings this year hopefully.

This will be followed by possibly A2 or A1-sized pieces.

The world's first demotivational speaker

Evil Kun Rong just inspired me. I shall be the world first Demotivational Speaker! I shall say things like, 'You have no hope, please give up!'

Pictures at an exhibition

This evening, I will head down to LaSalle to find Jerry. Ray and Kun Rong should be at that exhibition which has a few of Jerry's pieces.

I met Siu Hean, Jerry and Kun Rong at Kinokuniya last night. Sadly, there wasn't much time left for browsing as we had arrived very late.

We also bumped into Psy Fig! Haha. He was going to queue for an iPad.

Of the exodus and formation

The exodus, an apt term, and subsequent formation was initiated by a quarrel. The negative circumstances would then be the seed of some anew. The recruitment of something akin to that of a cult to some followed. This was, of course, the secret history, known only to some. Even if this sacred knowledge were known, most would prefer to steer clear which would be the wisest course of action. Negativity was, of course, part of the formulation.

I can't wait to get home and paint and draw.

Club of the Angry

It seems quite apt that Hellboy, Angry Hobbit and Obese Aunty should be natural allies. Obese Aunty had prided herself on her EQ and had pursued at least three persons including Hellboy.

Funny how Angry Hobbit would hide in her ivory tower and then launch a petulant thunderbolt now and then.

Sadly, Hellboy, whom Obese Aunty had a lot in common with, had spurned her. They quarrelled in a way and she had tears for him.

Still, Hellboy, Obese Aunty and Angry Hobbit should form a Club of the Angry.

The Loser Painter should join them since all four are very anti-government.

A deary day. Rain and more rain.

The emergence of blimps or the imperialist middle class in Singapore?

"The stagnation of the Empire in the between-war years affected everyone in England, but it had an especially direct effect upon two important sub-sections of the middle class. One was the military and imperialist middle class, generally nicknamed the Blimps, and the other the left-wing intelligentsia. These two seemingly hostile types, symbolic opposites – the half-pay colonel with his bull neck and diminutive brain, like a dinosaur, the highbrow with his domed forehead and stalk-like neck – are mentally linked together and constantly interact upon one another; in any case they are born to a considerable extent into the same families.

Thirty years ago the Blimp class was already losing its vitality. The middle-class families celebrated by Kipling, the prolific lowbrow families whose sons officered the army and navy and swarmed over all the waste places of the earth from the Yukon to the Irrawaddy, were dwindling before 1914. The thing that had killed them was the telegraph. In a narrowing world, more and more governed from Whitehall, there was every year less room for individual initiative."

George Orwell


This is a quote from George Orwell. I wonder if we will see the emergence of blimps in Singapore, perhaps a military class, mainly ex-military men voicing their opinions in the political arena. Blimps writing in to the papers to say how the ex-military can run major corporations, blimps clamouring for new F-35s or an aircraft carrier for Singapore? No, these will not be in the junta sense as the military types here are more bureaucrats and managers. I think it is not entirely impossible that the blimps are already here. Do you know any blimps?

Hellboy's cartoons

WOO! Hellboy's secret anti-government page on Facebook found. It is full of his anti-government cartoons. No wonder. That is what is keeping him so busy. He does them fast, a few a week at least. It seems that he started it in April 2011, coming to a year.

Sulking

Sulking will not change things. It only shows immaturity. Heheh.

Moebius

Moebius (Jean Giraud) has died. I did remember talking to him once in the late 80s in my university. I didn't bother with an autograph, everyone else just wanted autographs and drawings. I asked him about his inspiration, his ideas and more. He was very friendly and we walked around the gallery which was exhibiting his stuff and talked.

He did say that he was influenced by dreams.

Stamina

It has been five years since the hike to the ruins of the Shinto shrine. I can't believe how time has flown by. Five years older too.

I wonder about my stamina now.

Of the great waste

Hellboy, despite being so pessimistic, does have something of the melodramatic which he so obviously cultivates. His claim of having sold his soul and having no style was simply stage acting. He is wasting his young life if he doesn't paint and render his military visions into something more.

Sadly, his mind appears to be gone.

A long day, especially when there is a meeting and business lunch. I guess I am not one for these things. A headache now.

If I recover, I may go watch John Carter of Mars with Siu Hean.

Preparations for the walk

Items to bring:

• 2-3 litres of water, preferably 3.
• Spare socks (just one pair extra).
• Compass (if you have).
• Torchlight (need not be big, not needed, only for emergencies).
• Raincoat or brolly (I will bring both.).
• Boots or proper walking shoes (you should wear that, if you are wearing track shoes, prepare for it to be ruined in mud).
• Food (well, energy bear, chocolate bar, sandwich, burger, your choice, just a bit for a light lunch).
• Toilet roll (well, usually not necessary at all, you sweat it all out).

Optional Items

• Sketchbook + pencil/pen/paint. (I do think you will be too tired. No harm bringing.)
• Camera.
• Hat/cap.

Others

• Your socks should have no holes. Don't use unwashed new socks either.
• You should have enough sleep the night before. 8 hours or so.
• You should not have drunk alcohol the night before.
• You should drink some water the night before.
• You may want to waterproof your stuff with ziploc bags. (ie maps, etc)
• Your footwear should be okay. Not brand new or torn.

Not bringing

• Parang.
• Garden shears.
• Cyalume sticks.

Hiking plan - Ruins of the Shinto Temple

Planned route as seen from capture from Google Maps.

Planned route.


Plan

1. 9:30 am. Start Point. Rifle Range Road. Next to sign at Singapore Technologies
facility.

2. Walk to Petaling Hut. Entry Point to jungle.

3. Search for the ruins. Expected arrival at ruins is 12:00 pm, noon.

4. Lunch. 12:00 pm at ruins.

5. Exit at Petaling Hut. 1:30 pm.

6. Exit point Venus Loop. Parking lot. 3:30 pm or so.

Toeing the party line

Some people I know are left-wing loonies, while others are right-wing loonies. And others are UFO, head in the clouds loonies (Let's hope they don't pull a Heaven's Gate, well, maybe, it would be good if they do.), religious loonies and more.

Well, here's a quote from someone:

"It made be possible that there is someone, somewhere in the world doing careful work in the field of climate science. But it's a little hard to believe that such a person would manage to get tenure, at least in an American university. Things could be different here, I wouldn't know. Climate science just seems like one of those fields of academia, like gender studies or education, where the culture is so insular and political that it is hard for reasonable people to rise in their profession without adopting the party line."

This is from an American conservative in a private group on Facebook. The statement reeks of conspiracies and more. Climate-change denial?

What do you think?

Of forests and more

I have been returning to drawing forests. This time, the rendition are for that of painting. I will also draw larger pieces, A3 and above.

Techniques and viewpoints would have to be refined.

Of the hobbit and the fat thespian

I do wonder if this society will grow into one that is most gracious. The rotund hobbit's anger was disturbing to read. Her xenophobia. Her blame on everything but herself.

You could say that she is a product of this system, bred to reek unthinking resentment, educated but aimless. Perhaps, she would find religion while the fat thespian finds hedonism.

Incomprehensible

"What is unknown and cannot possibly be known must therefore harbour eternal truths. What cannot be comprehended must therefore be akin to a snail attempting to understand higher mathematics. That is the complete basis of it, the logic which powers the entire school of thought, the fundamental."

Jake Amun Mandeville, purportedly the great great grand nephew of the noble Sir John Mandeville

Improved

"He is one of those people who would be enormously improved by death."

Saki

Battlefield 3 expansions

Wonderful news. Battlefield 3 will see three expansions this year.

1. Battlefield 3: Close Quarters - due in June 2012
2. Battlefield 3: Armoured Kill - due in Fall 2012
3. Battlefield 3: End Game - due in end 2012

I barely touched my Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 which I really should.

Two more service stars in Battlefield 3

Last night in Battlefield 3, I got the following:

15:11
44:8

58:19 over all. Heh.

I got one service star for the M320 grenade launcher and one for the FAMAS assault rifle. Not too bad. I was also trying out the AN-94 and FN F2000 assault rifles.

So many mad old ladies (MOL) these days. What's the deal?

Horrible websites and ususable voice response systems

It is like many other organisations apparently. Hidden phone numbers on websites, horrible and unusable voice response systems. Banks, government organisations, etc. Utterly unusable. Those IT folks who designed them should be shot.

I wish the government would stop wasting money on these voice response systems.

Raging mad old lady

The mad old lady (MOL) is raging again. You can hear her emotions and tones in that angry voice.

Cleverly hidden phone numbers on websites

I was trying to look for a telephone number to call on the Singtel website to call regarding a faulty line. They have cleverly hidden the numbers. I am still searching.

Of the deluded and his dreams

He has dreams. He believes that he has a god-given talent. He has delusions of grandeur. He expected instant results. However, it is obvious that he had not the skills, nor the talent for it.

Telling him the brutal truth will only enrage him and shatter his idealism. The others have been tempted as well but they had decided not to play god.

Not telling him will see him follow the course and probably learn the hard way. Experience teaches. It is probably for the best. Pain and experience.

The irony of things

I had observed that a person that I know had prided herself on her emotional intelligence and had denigrated another person of having very little. The ironic thing was that that person who was denigrated was actually very personable, popular and aware in a group dynamics sense. The second irony was that the person denigrating others was oblivious, vain and utterly proud of her own popularity (or so she thought). That she had no conception could perhaps be attributed to something akin to the Dunning–Kruger effect which 'is a cognitive bias in which unskilled people make poor decisions and reach erroneous conclusions, but their incompetence denies them the metacognitive ability to recognize their mistakes.' The popular vernacular? 'Clueless'.

Battlefield 3 update

Woo! Back into the swing of things. Last night, the K/D ratio in several games of Battlefield 3:

9:3
30:7
23:5
30:9

Total 92:24

This was mainly effected with the M320 grenade launcher.

Of Facebook and such

Facebook is a drain on time, humans being a social animal and that of Facebook being a social platform makes it extremely addicting. I spend too much time on it conversing with friends and sparring with false friends.

I am so sleepy!

Facebook newsfeed

I have 'hidden' or unsubscribed a whole host of people whose posts I have no interest in on Facebook. I have also blocked a lot of game and applications.

This had cut down a lot of the traffic on the newsfeed, making it a lot more usable.

Now, I want to block shared images from a few specific groups which I do not belong in. It is irritating receiving all those 'inspirational' photos.

Battlefield 3 update

In the last two days, my kills/deaths (K/D) ratio on Battlefield 3 was 67:48, the majority of which were M320 grenade launcher kills. This weapon was, of course, known as the 'noobtube' to many kids.

In a series of games over the last two days:

1:5
4:11
3:7
13:11
35:12
11:2

I was initially rather rusty and it took a while before I managed to place my grenades accurately.

Rainy Monday morning. And I am looking at satellite photos of the Brazzaville-Kinshasa conurbation now. Highly intriguing.

Of elevations in painting

Progress. Painting in gouache has been extremely instructive. It is almost time to take it to a new level. Two breakthroughs in painting last year in gouache.

And two more the year before in watercolours in terms of new techniques

Of books to read

There is an ever growing pile of books in my room. I must get down to reading them. Schedule and prioritise.

It's Friday, enough of these musings. Time to focus on work and then painting in the evening.

A fear of doing things

We are going to be a society constrained and restrained by rules, with a fear of doing new things and wondering if they amount to breaking some unknown rule somewhere.

Encumbered by many rules and bans

From the looks of it, conservatives in this society, and I don't mean political conservatives or economic conservatives, will stifle a flowering of ideas. I read a report today and I was saddened and disheartened. It is just plain old stubbornness and a refusal to allow anything by slapping on more rules. It is as if our society is not already encumbered by many rules and bans.

In case you are wondering, I am not a conservative nor a liberal, I am centrist or moderate if you prefer that term.

Intellectual bankruptcy

There is no point in lost causes. Intellectual bankruptcy seems rather the norm here, especially when it comes to the close-minded and narrow-minded.

Okay, time to stop Facebooking. Time to settle more work stuff.

I shall be cutting down on time spent on Facebook. It is not worth it.

Marina Bay Sands

Insensitive

A friend who is not of the art community was incredulous when she heard 'insensitive' being bandied about. It was obviously akin to religious intolerance where everywhere is deemed 'insensitive' when it does not conform to the opinions of the creed, much like the Taliban and Islamists. It is when 'insensitive' is used to stamp out contrary opinions and silence anyone that has a differing view. The sheer ridiculousness and the very real aspect to it, sadly found here, had woken her.

Ironic. Liberal is not a term you would apply to a bunch of the art folks here.