i turned around, the future was now.

August isn't completely over yet, but I'll be really busy for the next little while, so I figured I'd post this month's top 15 on my playlist early. Miguel for the past couple of days has been introducing me to a lot of music I don't normally listen to. I won't lie. He really opened some doors for me. One of the artists he intro'ed me is Sam Sparro. This boi is sick. I've been really feelin' his song 21st Century Life today. Not to mention the craziness of his video. I love it. I had this song on repeat all afternoon, and it upped my productivity level almost 200%!

Another few songs that I had on repeat for more than a day were Viva La Vida and the Halo 2 theme song. I really like that Coldplay song, but the music video is really retarded. It kind of ruined the song a bit for me, actually. Ne-Yo's new singles are pretty hot right now, and John Legend's too. Can't wait til the new albums come out. Anyway, if you have any suggestions on new music I should check out, feel free to do so. I'm open to anything.

Music of the month for August:

1. 21st Century Life - Sam Sparro
2. Miss Independent - Ne-Yo
3. Green Light - John Legend feat. Andre 3000
4. Viva La Vida - Coldplay
5. Closer - Ne-Yo
6. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
7. Life is Wonderful - Jason Mraz
8. Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend
9. Black and Gold - Sam Sparro
10. Lovers in Japan - Coldplay
11. Hot Mess - Sam Sparro
12. Round Here - Counting Crows
13. 1979 - Smashing Pumpkins
14. Heart of Life - John Mayer
15. Halo 2 (Mjolnir Remix) - Martin O'Donnell

rollercoaster of love.

The last time I went to Canada's Wonderland was about 2 years ago, and it wasn't all that thrilling. I remember my high school days, we'd go once or twice every summer driving from Kingston. It was fun then, but I guess it lost its thrill as the years went on.

To be honest, I wasn't eager to go this year. But I figured, "Hey, I'll hang out with good friends and I'll have a good time". And a good time I had. Actually, no. Not a good time. A bitchin' GREAT time, son!!! All I have to say is... Buh. Hee. Muth. That is such a f-cking stupendously amazing ride that I could spend a whole day on that thing. Behemoth made it all worth it. It was almost orgasmic!! Haha, okay, maybe not that extreme..

What's even better is I recorded it all! Even that girly scream (don't know who it came from, but it could very well have been me)... I wanted to record Italian Job too, but the guy saw me pulling out my camera and told me to keep it in my pocket. So I recorded the rest and compiled it into a nice video... First with the Behemoth, then Sky Rider, then Vortex, and ending with Wild Beast (previously known as Wilderbeast). I missed the first drop on the Wild Beast cause the setting somehow got changed to picture mode. But I got some nice crotch shots of myself. Good thing I didn't wet my shorts...



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papiroflexia

Ugh. Really shouldn't've eaten that McDonald's... It felt so right at the time. Now it feels so gross. Not eating fast food for another month, at least... Pretty excited to post a couple of banner concepts I animated for this health insurance company in the States. Unfortunately, neither of the concepts were used. As soon as the current ones go live, I'll post the unused concepts.

I have nothing for you this weekend, except for this cool animation from Joaquin Baldwin's portfolio, whose animation I found through Motionographer.com. If only it were that simple to change the world...




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bowlin bowlin bowlin. keep that strike a comin.

Went out bowling Saturday night after some Kenny's Noodles for my bro's birthday. Except the birthday boy didn't come after dinner.. We were going to see Tropic Thunder, but they were pretty much sold out by the time we got there. We ended up going bowling, which I haven't gone on a regular basis since last fall. And for the first time since then, I wasn't sucking! I almost broke 100!! My first game, I got 100, and my second I got 98. True story.

I know I know. You're probably thinking "100? I can bowl that blindfolded with a broken arm and leg !" But since last summer, I've been bowling shit. It was a celebration if I got over 50... But Saturday night, I was mildly on fire!! Barely triple digits, son!! Oh, and do NOT do a full backswing with a 15 pound ball if your hands aren't big enough to get a firm grip! It can get dangerous, as everyone at the alley witnessed... Also true story.

I saw a friend from high school tonight, who I haven't seen or talked to in 8 years... We caught up on a lot and talked about life and his little ones... Man, do things ever change in 8 years. Nothing. Nothing at all ever prepares us for the new that's to come. We just kind of have to stand up and face it. But facing it is not enough. We also have to embrace it in the present, in the now. Almost true story.

Belief is a beautiful armour
but makes for the heaviest sword
Like punching underwater
you never can hit who you're trying for
Some need the exhibition
and some have to know they tried
It's the chemical weapon
for the war that's raging on inside
Oh, everyone believes
From emptiness to everything
Oh, everyone believes
And no one's going quietly

Belief - John Mayer [Continuum]

voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?

J'ai dis que je voulais pratiquer mon français dès le mois d'avril, mais je l'ai jamais fais... Alors, ce soir, je vais écrire une passage de blog en français. Corrigez-moi si je fais des erreurs, parce-que c'est la seule façon que je vais me rapppeler.

Je l'ai fais ma mission d'apprendre le langue que j'ai perdue. Avec Craig's List, j'ai rencontré une personne qui vient de Marseilles en France, et à peu près une fois par semaine, je lui rencontre pour parler en français avec lui. Il parle en anglais avec moi, et je lui répond en français, en espoire qu'on va s'améliorer notre langues secondaires. J'espère que mon accent anglais sera disparu dans quelques mois, et que je serai capable d'écrire en français sans erreurs. Mais peut-être que je suis trop ambitieux? Je ne sais pas...

fire in the sky.

As I was biking home from oyster dinner at Rodney's, there was a dark purple cloud looming overhead. A storm's a brewin'. But what really caught my eye was the fiery orange clouds glowing from the horizon. I couldn't help but bike faster to get to the Bathurst bridge (South of Front) to get some shots in. Luckily I had the camera with me and got there before the sun set completely. It felt as if the gods were angry. Yet it was so beautiful...

And with that said, that song by Ne-Yo, When You're Mad just popped into my head. I'm really excited to make my August CD. Got some pretty good ol' school songs I want to burn on it. But I just want to wait til the end of the month in case I hear something new or someone intros me to something better. But to name a few: Smashing Pumpkins' 1979 and Disarm, Counting Crows' Round Here and Mr. Jones, John Mayer's Heart of Life, Common's So Far To Go.

There's a couple of unmentioned songs that I know you'll find incriminating. And I'll admit, I'm ashamed to even have it on my considered list right now, but this is my list, not your list. And my list is full of fun and variety. I'll only mention one as a preview of how bad it gets, haha. Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It by Will Smith. That's right. I said it. The Fresh Prince himself. If you think the song is bad, you gotta check out the video. And don't be judgin' me, cause I know you've danced to this song at one point or another!!

Those oysters didn't fill me up one bit. Nor did that smoked salmon. Time to scrounge for food...


Facing West on the Bathurst Bridge North of Fort York Boulevard


Facing West on the Bathurst Bridge North of Fort York Boulevard


Facing West on the Bathurst Bridge North of Fort York Boulevard


Facing North at Queens Quay and Bathurst.


Facing North at Queens Quay and Bathurst.

nature calls.

I've been biking after work to Cherry Beach for the past two days to read and enjoy the setting sun. Really relaxing... It makes me want to make the most of my summer before the nasty ass snow comes back. Something about the sound of water and birds in the background, it's so soothing. Makes you forget about all the crap that gets thrown at you from the minute you wake up.

Every day, we spend the majority of our time inside a room, office, or vehicle. Always confined within some sort of space. And those times when we're commuting, we're listening to the radio, ipod, or talking/sleeping... Always looking in front of you or downwards at the ground. So rare do we exercise our neck muscles to look up at the sky. The clouds. The stars. The vastness of this world. If we took 5 minutes a day to stare up at the sky and truly focus on the space above us, we'll realize how meaningless our daily routines, our possessions, our money, our "sense of individuality" are.

This is just a clip of Cherry Beach and how relaxing it was. Just ambient sounds and a beautiful view, nothing action packed. But hey, maybe it'll inspire you to get off your lazy ass and do some outdoor activities and breathe in some almost-fresh Toronto air... haha.


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one more time.

I've been saying I wanted to do all this stop motion stuff. And I've delayed it long enough... That video of Richard and John Thai dancing will be coming soon. I've been cropping individual images out all night. I'm still working on the rest of John's frames, but I finished Rich first so I figured I'd make a short of him as a preview. I can't stop laughing...

Ladies and Gentlemen, get ready to feast your eyes on the Dancing King!! I present to you One More Time by Daft Punk with the Spectacular Richard Ho!

uptown-bound adventure

My goal of biking to Richmond Hill/Markham was fulfilled this long weekend. Made it in 3.5 hours from Queens Quay and Bathurst, to 16th and Warden on Sunday August 3rd. Left my place at around 12:30 and got to my aunt's place by 3:45. I took two 15 minute breaks, and because of the treacherous uphills, had to walk my bike up thrice. The three killer uphills for me were:

1. somewhere between St Clair and Eglinton on Yonge;
2. the stretch between York Mills and 401 on Yonge;
3. and on Bayview between Steeles and Proctor.

Rests were taken at Finch station and at Bayview and Laureleaf. The route taken was mainly on Yonge, in case I got tired and couldn't make it all the way up. According to Google Maps, the route I took was 34.1km. That's was about an hour for every ten kilometres? Hmm.. I was pretty damn slow... Boo. Also according to Google Maps, if I were to walk it, it would take about 7 hours and 4 minutes. Any takers?

I documented (by video) parts of the trip with my point n shoot camera attached to my shoulder. Alas, it came loose closer to Finch station and was reattached incorrectly. So all my footage from Finch station on was pointing too low. Boo.



That's one of the clips on Steeles between Yonge and Bayview. That stretch was a fun downhill ride. But the best downhill award has to go to the stretch North of Lawrence aand South of York Mills on Yonge. I must've been going close to 40km/hr... I was almost catching up to cars! Had my bike gave out, I probably would've died if not severely injured...

Next time, I'll probably record where the uphills and downhills were and do a diagram of it. Make the after-trip a little more fun. By time I got to my aunt's, my legs were dead. But amazingly enough, the next morning, I woke up without the soreness. Probably cause of the dim sum eating.

At the end of the day yesterday, my uncle sent me this crazy video of the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony. Absolute madness.

Stop this Train

I had this thing going since May or so where I made a CD for the songs I would discover for each month. The CD for June never got burnt, this is a bit of a combination of june and July. And with the past two months, i've been listening to music that's a lot more familiar to what I used to listen to. I guess the bit of grounding I needed. I'm tempted to list the whole Discovery album from Daft Punk, but I decided it wouldn't be fair to all the other songs I've been crazy about.

Music of the month for June and July in no particular order:

1. Voyager - Daft Punk
2. Stop this Train - John Mayer
3. Face to Face - Daft Punk
4. Sweet Child O Mine - Guns N Roses
5. Dreaming with a Broken Heart - John Mayer
6. Desert Rose - Sting
7. Nostrand - Ratatat
8. Aerodynamic - Daft Punk
9. Something About Us - Daft Punk
10. Lex - Ratatat
11. Fast Love - George Michael
12. Kennedy - Ratatat
13. Who's Gonna Save My Soul - Gnarls Barkley
14. Fields of Gold - Sting
15. November Rain - Guns N Roses

It's been a pretty eventful week. I have an even more eventful weekend coming up. And my brother's in town for a month! Excitement gallore. Currently working on a stop motion animation of John and Richard dancing from karaoke a few weeks to a month back. Nothing more on Spidey yet. Too many mini-projects on the side, plus the dayjob. Have a good long weekend.

And if you're traveling out of town via bus this weekend, beware of "robotic" unfeeling asian Terminators. Man, this guy is making all of us asians look bad. Have a great long weekend.