LIVING IN A WORLD OF ART

For this blog post, we are supposed to not only open our minds, but to open our eyes and see how God actually helps us by setting an inspiring environment so we can think creatively. Before we proceed to the environment that I CHOOSE to live in, I'll first tell who I am, to see whether I'm really that interesting to be analyzed after all.

This is actually our VRC assignment, a mind map to represent ourselves. The trick is to look at it from far away  (works better for those with poor eyesights) and you can just see a colourful butterfly. But as you move closer, you'l find out that the butterfly is actually filled with my personality.

1. the non-smoking sign means that i don’t smoke

2. the chinese word means “Dragon”..I loveee dragon, it makes me feel strong

3. Crescent and star means I’m of course a Muslim.

4. Cloud means that i love to watch clouds……when the traffic is congested

5. Starbucks means i love Starbucks

6. Oasis means i love the band.

7. Dumbbell means that i love working out

8. Eye with thick eyebrows, i guess that resembles my physical

9. Tiger because i support for Harimau Malaya.

10. Guitar because i love music

11. CD because i don’t download movies!

12. Money sign because yea, we all need it.

13. Dat lonely guy means that I’m an introvert, I love being on my own.

14. Film reel means I wanna be a filmmaker

15. Chelsea logo means I love Chelsea

16. Fedora hat above it means I loveee fedora

17. 17 September means my birthday (whoaaaa it’s unintentional that the part about 17 september is at number 17)

18. Blackberry logo means I’m a Blackberry user

19. 110 speed limit sign means dat I’m not actually someone who drives above dat unlike other teenagers as long as i’m not rushing.

20. Batman because i love the movies. I don’t really like batman, but i need sumtin simple and i guess batman logo is the simplest.

21. Cats because i love cats.

22. Honda logo because…datz my car.

23. Same goes to WXL 9770, my car’s plat number

24. MMU logo for MMU student

25. No Drug sign of course i dun take drugs

26. Ball, I lovee football

27. Nikon, a Nikon user

28. Fly Fm, the radio I listen to everyday.

29. Swords, so sometimes I can eel strong

30. Piano means, apart from I love to TRY to play it, I just want it as a texture

31. The man on top is me as I’m always thinking

32. Love sign means I’m pretty comfortable in a world where there’s love

33. Infinite sign represents someone.. :)

34. The butterfly symbolizes 2 thing. 1st, I wanna be one, evolving from cocoon, slowly crawl to become something beautiful. 2nd, the butterfly is each one of us. we have lots of attributes, we like this and hate that, but those are what draw patterns in our lives, those are what make us beautiful….

What kind of environment am I living in so I can become a creative person?

well, the scope is kinda big to discuss about environment. however, I can show you the condition of my workplace when I was doing the photography assignment.

I HOLD A PHILOSOPHY REGARDING UNTIDY ROOM LIKE THIS

"IF YOUR ROOM IS TIDY, THEN YOU ARE EITHER NOT DOING IT RIGHT, OR YOU ARE NOT DOING IT AT ALL"

Notice that in that room, my employees are torch light, a mirror and a cellophane tape and not even a soul is present. Yeap, if we are talking bout the environment that makes me creative, this is the kind of environment (not the messy part), I love to be on my own when I'm doing creative works. Maybe this is also related to the fact that I'm an introvert, thus being on my own is my comfort zone. I must admit that I'm not that much of a team player. I'm fine with following orders and doing things together, the only thing that I'm uncomfortable is that the feeling that I might burden my teammates because whatever a member of the team is doing, the whole team will pay the price. Therefore, doing things my way is a preferable method to me because I'm afraid I will let people down. 

NOW, LET'S TALK ABOUT MUSIC AS MUSIC ALSO PLAYS A PART IN THE WAY I THINK

If we are talking about music, I'm not saying that I only listen to songs that have meaning. As for me, if the song is good, then it's good. However, for me to judge music according to the instrumental part only, I rather listen to rock songs with crazy riffs. I think songs like these, besides providing a buffet to the ears, also prove the capability of rock bands to come up with something creative rather than just some mainstream music that are only limited to certain chords to charm listeners.. To cite some of the bands that provide these kind of music, Oasis, Radiohead, Muse, Metallica and Placebo are among my favourites. 

Britpop's finest : Oasis. I even make an essay on Noel Gallagher for my English SPM paper regarding the person I admire the most

Another British superband, Muse. I regard this band as the definition of creative for rock bands as they often experiment with new sounds parallel to the enhancement of technology.

JUST TO SHARE, THIS IS BY FAR MY FAVOURITE SONG EVER

AND TALKING ABOUT THE SIMPLE CHORDS I MENTIONED EARLIER. THIS IS BY FAR THE SONG THAT I HATE THE MOST

NOW, WE TALK ABOUT ANOTHER FACTOR THAT INJECTS CREATIVITY IN ME

LANGUAGE/LITERATURE/WORDS/QUOTES

I'm a type of person that takes words seriously. Quoting Bee Gees' song, "It's only words, but words are all I have to take your heart away"  I really believe in the power of words, how words are so strong that it can determine whether a hope is sparked, or a hope is lost. When I listen to songs, I listen to the lyrics and they all suddenly make sense. There's this quote or tweet on twitter that I found. It says

WHEN YOU ARE HAPPY, YOU LISTEN TO THE MUSIC

BUT WHEN YOU ARE SAD, YOU UNDERSTAND THE LYRICS

I want to quote probably my favourite quote ever regarding religious belief.

“I would rather live my life as if there is a god and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is.” - Albert Camus

-SIMPLE WORDS, BUT DEEP AS THE GRAVE-

Same goes to movie quotes. I'm someone who easily remembers movie quotes, and often use them in my everyday speech to make everything a lot more dramatic. I remembered once cut-and-pasting movie quotes that I think may change the way people think. Let's see if I still have them.

"Life's simple, you make choices and you don't look back"

WHAT ABOUT SONG LYRICS? THERE MUST BE SOME LYRICS THAT REALLY AFFECT MY LIFE, RIGHT?

(Hahah I actually think that the thing that I love to do, which is writing has helped me a lot in creating this blog because everything that I wanna say pretty much I've written about it earlier. I made a blog post once about this matter.)

SONGS THAT REALLY AFFECTS ME IS

FRANK SINATRA - MY WAY

And now, the end is here 
And so I face the final curtain 
My friend, I'll say it clear 
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain 
I've lived a life that's full 
I traveled each and ev'ry highway 
And more, much more than this, I did it my way 

Regrets, I've had a few 
But then again, too few to mention 
I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption 
I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway 
And more, much more than this, I did it my way 
[ Ly
Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew 
When I bit off more than I could chew 
But through it all, when there was doubt 
I ate it up and spit it out 
I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way 

I've loved, I've laughed and cried 
I've had my fill, my share of losing 
And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing 
To think I did all that 
And may I say, not in a shy way, 
"Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my way" 

For what is a man, what has he got? 
If not himself, then he has naught 
To say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels 
The record shows I took the blows and did it my way! 

Yes, it was my way

The lyrics ask us to do things according to our own rendition. To win or to lose always gets the silver medal, what golden is that we do things that define us. Let us be laughed at as we fall because when we are up there, nobody deserves to take even a small credit as everything is our own effort. This song also teaches us to remove regret as a way of life as no matter what happens, what past is past and we are human, we can't possibly get all the goods in this world, but we can try to be a better person ourselves.

FOR OTHER CONTENDERS REGARDING MOST INSPIRING SONG LYRICS, FEEL FREE TO VISIT THIS BLOG POST I MADE LONG AGO (BUT IT'S IN BAHASA MELAYU)

MOST INSPIRING SONG LYRICS

and of course I love poetry as well. :D

like this street poetry that I watched during Creative English class

and I straight away fell in love with the words of Sarah Kay

and this one is good as well!

next up is my most favourite thing in the world

One of my idols once said,

"If you just love movies enough, you can make a good one. You don't have to go to school, you don't have to know a lens from a bag of sand"

- Quentin Tarantino -

I really love movies. It's like if i watch one movie until the day I die, it will still be a life well spent. I watch movies not because I have free time, I watch them because I need to be told a story, a story worth sitting 2 hours in front of the laptop or in the cinema. I don't buy pirated dvd as well, as I think that in case one day I become someone that I want, a filmmaker, I won't want people to do the same over my works. Don't do onto others what you don't want to be done onto you.

Some of my DVD collections. I still have more though, just to brag :)

Movies are stories told in fashion. My sister used to tell me this story about this fairy and this guy, in which the fairy was often asked by the guy to grant him his wishes. It was such a fascinating story based on how she told it, when the fairy cried, she cried and I felt sorry for the fairy, I don't mind listening to it over and over again. Until one day she became bored of telling the story thus she told me "once upon a time, there lived a fairy,and then she was dead. THE END"

It seemed to me like my sister was fooling around, but as of today, I'm 18 years old, I realize how important it is to tell a story...not just for the sake of telling the story but to feel the story, and that's what movies provide. Besides telling the story, movies actually lure us into a world where we are guided in a road trip where everything is rendered via sheer imagination and I'm still fascinated by that. I even made a page on Facebook named MovieGuppies so that movie lovers can share what they have in common.

My favourite genre will be crime/thriller I guess as it usually feeds us with suspense and unexpected twists at the end. I don't discriminate on the nationality of the movie. All I can say is if the movie is good, it's good regardless of where it comes from. However, I do have a candidate for each genre. For the sake of knowing the environment that makes me creative, I'll show the candidates. :) 

CRIME THRILLER

INFERNAL AFFAIRS....definitely the cream of the crop for me. This brilliant movie lures me into falling in love with Hong Kong crime thriller. Besides wuxia and Kung Fu movies, Hong Kong is also an expert in making crime thriller movies as they are often subjected to Triad society.

DRAMA

A FEW GOOD MEN...For drama secton, I think this movie ties with The Shawshank Redemption as a personal favourite to me. This movie is brilliant with deep script. Courtroom drama at its best

ROMANCE

DEFINITELY, MAYBE...How cliche it is to put Titanic in this section although yeap, Titanic is also a personal favourite. However, I think this movie deserves better from the audience as the father-daughter relationship has anchored the movie well in a journey towards finding true love. Another movie that I fancy in this section is definitely (500) Days of Summer.

HORROR

NANG NAK...this Thai masterpiece came out when I was...4?5?6? No wonder I remembered being so scared watching this. However, even 4 or 5 year old boy would feel the sadness of a wife missing her husband until she swore to come back from the dead only to remain the soulmate of her husband. A beautiful movie...and a scary one as well. Thai is really good at horror, apart from Korean and Japanese

WAR DRAMA

TAE GUK GI...South Korean at its best. A depiction of brotherhood in time of war. I haven't watched Saving Private Ryan yet, but this one is definitely one of the great contenders in war drama.

EPIC

TROY...among my favourite movies ever. The type of movie that really makes me think "how did they do it?" With a decent script and spectacular cinematography, it really hurts that Troy doesn't win much in award ceromonies. It surely deserves it.

WELL, I CAN'T POSSIBLY LIST ANYTHING RIGHT..HAHA SO THESE ARE SOME OF THEM

ALRITE THEN, I GUESS IT'S A BYE NOW. IT'S TOO LONG ALREADY

HOWEVER, IT'S GOOD TO KNOW THAT THE LONGEST POST IN THIS BLOG IS ABOUT MYSELF. WE SHOULD ALL KNOW EACH OTHER WELL ENOUGH :)

IN THE CASE OF PC VS TABLET, THE JURY FOUND THE DEFENDANT....

So I heard PC is a turn-off now?

You ungrateful child..  -_-'

....Apparently, this is the hit in the market right now...

TABLET, I've never actually owned this thing. I just can conclude that this is the anorexic version of PC. Yeap with a few plus here and there, and we can make calls as well. But hey, I always tell my friends that it's not that I have a phone that has clock, I have a clock that I can use to make calls. The lecturer has shown us an article regarding how the sales for tablet are predicted to rocket until it can look down on the PC sales from the moon, with a cynical grin. Do visit this link for the article.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/tech/article/the-pc-is-dead-long-live-the-tablet/

You, friend....is a sad story

However, it's undisputed that tablet is here simply to make things easier. Relating this to innovation, tablet has managed to increase the practicality of PC. The obvious upgrade of course can be evaluated via its physicality, it's slim and portable, thus connecting users to the world not only in the room where the plugs and the complicated cables are, but everywhere around. Size does matter, it always has been that way. Tablet isn't just a mimic of PC, it's far better. I remember this quote from I-don't-know-who in I-don't-know-when and I-don't-know-where...

"If you want to impersonate something, make sure it's better than the original"

 (because after all, Charlie Chaplin got 3rd place in the Charlie Chaplin impersonation contest.True story)

It's believed that tablet will be the replacement for PC in 2016, which is only 4 years from now.  I must repeat again what the lecturer wrote in his slideshow, NOTHING IS ORIGINAL ANYMORE. But there must be room for improvements. This is what tablet brings forth to the audience. Something that tends to look similar, but far more advanced. As years grow, technology grows as well, becoming a complex mind that seems to think of its own. This is the reason why more sophisticated innovations are produced more these days. The old gadgets are used as reference, while engineers and designers of these newly-born products dedicate their time in thinking not to create something new, but how to improve something to be better. Tablet has proven to be an in-thing to the market now, (6, 821 million smartphones and tablets will be purchased by the end of the year, accounting for 70 per cent of total devices sold in 2012, and by 2013 the number of tablets sold will have passed 1 billion.) surpassing not to say non-practical, but old-fashioned PC. After all, sometimes, we just don't want to be doing our works at home, right? :)

SO, IN THE CASE OF PC VS TABLET REGARDING THE ACCUSATION OF STEALING CONCEPTS AND VIOLATING COPYRIGHTS, THE JURY FOUND THE DEFENDANT (TABLETS)

NOT GUILTY

BECAUSE INNOVATION IS NOT CONSIDERED PLAGIARISM :)

RESEARCH ON CREATIVITY : HONG KONG CINEMA

Hmm, so here's the thing. This post is supposed to be the week 4 post, aye? However, I misunderstood what the lecturer meant by saying "this is your assignment" I thought he meant that this isn't a blog post, thus students need to do it separately like in Semester 1. We have the journal and the Types Of Media assignment. I did this one in Microsoft Words. After knowing that it's a blog topic, I tried to find a way to upload the file here......which turned out to be a failure..

The file is 18 pages long, if I just copy paste the whole thing, a mess will be created.

Therefore...

THIS IS MY HUMBLE REQUEST TO THE LECTURERS. I'M REALLY SORRY FOR THIS INCONVENIENCE. HOWEVER, DUE TO THE FACT THAT DOCUMENTS CANNOT BE UPLOADED IN BLOGSPOT, I MADE A SPECIAL WORDPRESS ACCOUNT TO UPLOAD MY DOCUMENT THERE. I HOPE THE LECTURERS CAN VISIT THE LINK PROVIDED AND DOWNLOAD THE MICROSOFT WORDS FILE TO GET THE BLOG POST FOR WEEK 4.

I'M TERRIBLY SORRY

AND THANK YOU :)

IMPROVISE WORKOUT ROUTINE : USING MORTAR AND PESTLE

Mortar and Pestle, a traditional helper that is soon to be entirely vaporized by blending machine. While mortar and pestle is slowly losing its purpose (since I rarely see mum use this anymore...also considering the fact that I rarely go to the kitchen...I mean, I go there often, but not until the "cooking perimeter"), our lecturers wanted to spark the innovative thoughts inside our heads, trying to improvise this traditional tool, into something else that is applicable in our daily routine. Thus, considering the weight of both mortar and pestle. I've summed up that it may be an appropriate tool for...

WORKOUT!!WORKOUT!!WORKOUT!!WORKOUT!!WORKOUT!!WORKOUT!!

HOW TO DO?

Many thought wrong regarding the fact about working out. They tend to think that the heavier the weight, the bigger their biceps will grow. This is a myth, as same as how masturbation makes u taller (just sharing information). In order to tone your biceps, you must use the weight which is appropriate for your body to support. 

1) BEGINNER BICEPS WORKOUT (REPLACEMENT FOR DUMBBELL)

For beginners that are just starting out, take two pestles and hold one for each hand. Look forward, and open your legs a little bit. Without having your shoulder swaying, cleanly lift your hand up until they are at the same level of your biceps, then put it down. Do it again, 10 reps for 1 set. Since pestles come in various sizes, you can the size of the pestles to gain more efficiency. But well, Since doing this will take years for your biceps to grow, you might as well get yourself a pair of dumbbells. :) 

(pictures coming soon)

2) BEGINNER TRICEPS WORKOUT 1

Take a pestle with suitable weight and put it behind you back. After that, with the pestle still in your hand, lift the pestle up above your head (up, not forward) and bring it back down. Repeat this for around 3 sets of 10 reps until you start feeling your triceps. The key is lifting it up and not forward.

(pictures coming soon)

3) BEGINNER TRICEPS WORKOUT 1

Instead of using pestle, now we are going to use the mortar. The concept is as same as the first workout. Only this time, we are using both hands. Lift a mortar with both hands and put it behind your back. After that, lift the mortar up above your head, remember, not forward. 3 sets of 10 reps util you start feeling your triceps

(pictures coming soon)

3) STEEL BALL WORKOUT

This exercise is similar to the steel ball workout routine only this time, we are using mortar. The idea is to bend your body 90 degrees with your hand holding the mortar at its mouth while it's still on the ground. Then, while holding the mortar, lift it up and at the same time your body returns to straight position. Release the mortar and grab it back while it's in the air. Return to original bending position and do 10 reps for each set.

(pictures coming soon)

4) DIAMOND PUSH-UPS 

As we know, push ups are actually the best way to tone your body. As the effect will take place on most upper body. Mostly chest and biceps, also back muscle. However, to gain more efficiency, there are a variety of push up types that specify the part of body that needs to be enhanced. As for triceps building, diamond push ups is considered the best. In order to do this, you will need a mortar. Flip the mortar so that the mouth will be at the bottom, so the mortar will have a wider base area, hence making it stable. After that, find a high spot so you will be in a downright position. Place both your hands with palms down close to each other on top of the pestle. After that, do your push-ups by opening your shoulder as you go down. Come up again. Do at least 20 push ups for 1 rep, if possible.

(pictures coming soon)

5)  NORMAL PUSH-UPS ( TO TARGET CHEST/ BICEPS/BACK BODY)

Doing this routine is just as same as doing normal push-ups. What changes is that the efficiency of push-ups will increase if the hands are placed in a higher spot, so the body can go further down. S-shaped push up tool is a precise tool for this kind of exercise. However, if S-shaped is absent, what you need to do now is to have two mortars with the same size. Flip the mortars so the mouths will be at the bottom. Put both further apart according which type of muscle you wish to tone (further will target chest, closer will target biceps). Next, find a higher spot to be in a downright position while placing your hands, palms down on the mortars. After that, just do your push ups, at least 20 push ups for 1 rep, if possible.

(pictures coming soon)

NO DUMBBELLS?

NO EXCUSE

NO PROBLEM!

INNOVATIONS : HIGHWAY TO HELL??

when people doubt themselves or they think that they are not able to accomplish, I always tell them...

"when you've started thinking like Japanese, only then you'll know that nothing is impossible"

before we move further towards a thorough understanding regarding innovations that failed to demonstrate practicality, let's take a look at some of Japan's most peculiar gadgets.

SOLAR- POWERED BRA

Here, we are looking at a solar-powered bra. This bra can generate enough energy to charge a mobile phone or an I-Pad! The whole solar thing is actually quite magnifying....but why bra?

SO SINCE PRACTICALITY = NO

INNOVATION = NO

STANDING SLEEPER

the theory is...if the bench is full and you are really tired, then this is what you do. But can we really sleep well standing? Of course not.

SO SINCE PRACTICALITY = NO

INNOVATION = NO

MACHINE GUN GUITAR

and this baby right here is........whoaaaa

PRACTICALITY = WHOAAAA

INNOVATION = WHOAAAA

DO I WANT IT = YEAAAAAA!!

MAN- PILLOW

ahahaha, loner much, aye??

PRACTICALITY = FOREVER

INNOVATION = ALONE

you know people right, how stereotypical a person can be. When a thing easily breaks down, they'll say "CHINA", but when they see bizarre or strange gadgets. What do they say?

THEM JAPANESE!

another story worth telling is about the failure of Atari Jaguar. Gamers must be familiar with Atari, the company that brought forth the game called Pong. First of all, this is Atari Jaguar.

hehe, kinda ugly, isn't it? :3

so, what's the case with Atari Jaguar? Listed as one of commercial failures in video gaming, It was initially designed to surpass the other major contenders of that time, Sega and Nintendo's processing power. However, due to lack of quality, a setback in the hardware that made programming difficult, an unfriendly controller design, and a number of crippling business practices on the part of Atari senior management, Atari Jaguar was put on its knees and remained one of a major innovation failures. However, what has become of Atari Jaguar?

IT BECOMES A DENTIST EQUIPMENT!!YEAYY!!! :D

Creativity is never wrong. Imagination is never wrong, it may be unrealistic, but it won't be wrong, same goes to art. However, what led to the downfall of Atari Jaguar and other innovations' wall of shame-rs? This is because the marketing can be wrong, business strategy can be wrong. I've filtered it down to 3 reasons that I think must be eligible in the product in order to sustain a commercial value in it. Let's analyze these three questions.

1) IS IT PRACTICAL?

Can it be used? If it can be used, is it easy to be used? Is it heavy? Is it portable? Can it be brought anywhere? Does it look nice? Can the look be enhanced? Does it break down easily? Does it lag?  Why does it lag? How often does it lag? If we charge the battery, will the phone lag!? Why does Blackberry always lag!??? (this is getting personal...I'm a Blackberry user and we all know how often Blackberry lags)

So these questions must be asked for a product to enjoy success in the market. Why do handphones become a hit? It's because it can be brought anywhere, and it's not like we only want to call people in our home. We have SMS already, but why does Blackberry Messenger manage to bulldoze the market? It's because BBM only requires BB pin, not the contact's number. Thus, if the person one is chatting with is slightly annoying, he can always remove the contact without having to think that "she has my number!!! :O" Practicality is the utmost important feature in product. This is why naughty teenagers use Google Chrome instead of Mozilla Firefox. The Incognito Window. ;) (dirty minds are clever minds) Practicality. Steve Jobs threw the first Iphone in the water to see how much it weighs. Personally, I don't think that innovations are meant to be original, they are meant to enhance, simplify, and make the products more practical.

and that's what practicality is all about...

2) WILL IT SELL?

Does it look like other product? Does it have slightly more functions that its contenders?If it does, can the price be way more than the contenders? If it doesn't, should the price be lowered? Can people accept changes? Are people actually ready to accept changes? Can the product bring changes? In other words.............Will it become a trend?

We are back to honour the late Steve Jobs, the pioneer of Apple. Apple is currently the most valuable company in the world....for selling things that other companies have sold wayy before it. However, how could this happen? Simple, because it sells. It commercializes the products, making people to have the idea that this has never been done before. All the apps, the slim and sexy figure of the Iphone and how smart the phone is which often be described as "smarter than the user", those are commercial points that Apple have in order to surpass other companies in the market. It's true though, sometimes to indicate how ostrich and dumb a man is, we say "I think your phone is way smarter than you"

3) WILL IT STAY?

Are you in to visit, or are you in to stay? Are you paying rent, or buying the house? Are you here to follow, or are you here to lead? Are you in to participate, or are you in to takeover?

Many companies have fallen, because they can't keep up with how fast the world rolls. Usually, the most common is the telecommunication companies. See how Nokia seems to lose its touch? But Nokia isn't quite a perfect example for this, Nokia has been in the scene far longer. If you want to know what really symbolizes practicality, Nokia 3310 is the symbol of practicality. We often brag about how rough and tough Nokia 3310 is. With the internet people making memes about it. Nokia rocks and will always do. However, have you ever been to the handphone stores and heard someone says "Can I take a look at that Alcatel,  Better pinch yourself, it's a dream. Thus, in order to ensure the success of the product, the production team must always be aware of the surroundings and the changes in the society. They must be fast to take action before being surpassed by other ambitious companies. The philosophy is simple... (of course, talking is always easy :3 )

YOU'VE GIVEN WHAT THE SOCIETY WANTS, NOW GIVE THEM BETTER AND LET THEY NOW FOLLOW WHAT YOU WANT

well, not that easy though...it's actually hard.haha