merme

Art isn't like maths. Where you can say 'oh you forgot to put your x there' or something.

So after being in an art education for like about 5 years (GOOD LORD it's FIVE YEARS!) I've come to be less stressed out about advice as I used to be.

Back in TOA, lecturers would be banging on about how important figures are. In UWE, lecturers say remove that figure and do the background instead, background and mood is more important. (And that in books its better not to draw too much features on the human figure as it would clash with the reader's imagination lol.)

When I show artwork to my bf, my bf says make it more realistic, more intricate designs. When I show a friend of mine, he says make it more simple, more contrast, bolder less complex.

So in the end, I wonder why did I ever get so stressed out about other people's definition of beauty. I still do think other people's advice are helpful, but in the end it's 'just an opinion' (as my classmate said) so you're the one who needs to decide what's good for you. I'm sure each advice suited a certain purpose (or taste), so take it with a pinch of salt.*

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Footnotes:-

*Examples of different advice for different purpose:

1. TOA = figures are important because the college is gearing you up to work in a studio, with storyboarding and other things like that. Their idea is to make you as versatile as possible in advertising/design/game industry in Malaysia. So if you can't really do it, the lecturers tend to get stressed because they think it's the main reason you are there.

2. UWE = backgrounds and moods are more important, because they are gearing you up to work for editorials, book covers, and even children's books, mostly with distinct styles so the emphasis is to be different so people will hire you for you. I remember my lecturer looking at anime style and saying 'I've seen these guys before' (not to me though lol).

So the most important aspect of it all is, does it suit your purpose?

http://www.remindblog.com/2009/11/03/remind-spread-1/ I just read this webcomic today, called reMIND, which I was surprised how awesome the story was. It has really nice mood too, and the environment scene... I've book marked it and I'm looking forward to reading more from it. Those who are interested in a good webcomic, this is one of it. It's sort of a desolate-ish, mystery, sci-fictiony, hmm.. I'm not sure how to categorize it but it's great.

Another webcomic which I really like is http://taeshidiary.tumblr.com/ , it's actually a comic-blog about everyday stuff (or rather the artist's own personality and quirks). The drawings are quite simple but I do like the watercolour effects, but most importantly I was drawn to portrayal that people with low-self esteem, guilt complex and worrywart behaviour that I recognize I used to have. It's good to laugh at yourself, wondering why did you do that.

And if anyone has some great webcomics to recommend me I'll be delighted.

After reading a fake story about how a guy died from overwork and was left unnoticed in the office for 5 days, I was thinking about Japanese's 'karoshi', which means death from overwork. Although the story was fake, I knew that people do die from overwork, so I went to search to check out what sorts of incidents happened. (Sounds morbid I know).

Surprisingly, I found a game called 'Karoshi: Suicide Salayrman', which is pretty morbid where the goal is to kill yourself. It's more like trying very hard to commit suicide. The gameplay itself was alright, the morbidness for entertainment reminded me of Stick Death (animations about unexpected deaths) and Tamagoth (beating and feeding poison to your tamgochi instead of showering it love and care). Not too great graphics, pretty simple, found it generally challenging but I managed to finish it.

I just wished that the game Karoshi had more things that was more in common with actual deaths from overwork. It feels more like suicide game with craters and spikes. You don't find that things in the workplace. I was hoping for more like time-management game that is so stressful and if you work too hard your character has a limit and it dies. I thought that would be more suitable for a Karoshi game. I mean, it could actually be a positive game that way, keeping your character in check making sure that he doesn't die from overwork. And maybe some quotes from Mr Dalai Lama about how man uses up his health to chase wealth, and then uses his wealth to repair his health that he had squandered while chasing wealth. It would've felt more special that way really, almost insightful, and maybe make the gamer pause and think for awhile.

But right now it's just a quick, simple game about committing suicide. And that's just fine, but it's just nothing special really. The connection between karoshi and the game itself is a tenuous one, which was my biggest disappointment. But in terms of puzzle wise, it is pretty decent, so it's alright for a casual gamer such as myself.

"Western parents are concerned about their children's psyches," Chua writes. "Chinese parents aren't. They assume strength, not fragility, and as a result they behave very differently.... That's why the solution to substandard performance is always to excoriate, punish, and shame the child. The Chinese parent believes that their child will be strong enough to take the shaming and to improve from it." 

Source: http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/are-chinese-parents-really-the-best-parents-2438574.html

Good God, I thought it was some ancient military way of bringing up kids or something. I understand if it's just basically being firm with discipline, but the story seems closer to emotional abuse. Saying hurtful words and throwing back a card into your child's face for the sake of their own 'betterment' so that they can grow above it?! =____= What sort of purpose does that serve? So that your child will feel inadequate and never good enough so that they will keep trying harder? And have your child believe that their worth is in their achievements and they must be perfect, nothing less? And that it's ok for people to be hurtful towards them, as long as it is for 'their own sake'?

I think the only time kids can improve from that sort of horrible treatment is that if they fight AGAINST it, and not accept it. It's like how I read about kids in abusive families, those that accept abusive treatment feel it's alright, and become abusers themselves. Those that rise above it become very smart and successful, because they KNOW it's not right. But to use abuse as a way to raise kids? C'mon, this is a bit too much.

And apparently this woman's style of raising kids is coming out as a 'Chinese' parenting style for Western readers? =______= Gosh, I hope readers are not ignorant enough to think that this book represents the whole Chinese community.

I think the only good thing about knowing the existence of this book is how I DO NOT want to raise kids. 

Ending it with a good response from one of the readers:

As an elementary school teacher, I’ve seen both extremes of the parenting spectrum, from the militant to the permissive. I’ve taught children who were raised in a manner similar to Chua’s, and while they succeeded academically, they were often rather stunted socially. They didn’t know how to “be children” and had difficulty relating to and interacting with the other kids. They were also completely unable to handle any sort of perceived failures, as they had been raised to believe that their entire identity and worth lay in their achievements. They expected themselves to be perfect in every way, which is a shame, as such expectations can only result in crushing disappointment.

That being said, the children of permissive parents I’ve taught have fared no better. They are often completely unmotivated to work at anything, as they know their parents will “love them no matter what”. It’s disheartening to see kids fail to meet their true potential, and even more disheartening to see that they don’t care.

In conclusion, I have to say that the most successful, well-adjusted students I’ve had over the years are those who are parented from a balanced perspective. They are encouraged to meet their potential, but not made to feel worthless in instances where they fall short.

Spyglass at Bristol was nice. I was quite nervous because there quite a bit of negative reviews about the place, amongst some positive ones. We went for dinner there, and our starter which we shared was a Sticky Garlic Chicken Wings. I thought it tasted great, but Lin and Emily thought the meat was a little hard. I didn't really find it a problem, but I could've been really hungry to not notice it.

I ordered a Spyglass Burger, which was nothing too fancy. It was filling though despite its size, but kinda regretted ordering it because it just looked so normal. Emily ordered BBQ Beef Ribs, which was absolutely delicious - the meat was so tender, so juicy. I wouldn't have imagined BBQ Beef Ribs to be so soft and juicy, since it says on the menu it was barbecued. Lin had a whole Bream (fish) with charmoula, recommended by the waiter. It looked like it was deep fried or grilled (not sure which), but it had a nice flavour to it. Personally loved Emily's BBQ Beef Ribs though, if I were to go back to Spyglass that's what I'll go for.

From reading lots of the comments of the underage girl scandal, I get that most commentors are angry at the girl for being underage. Basically the sentiment is: If she wasn't underage prostitute, she wouldn't cause the men to fraud the law.

Well, sorry to say guys, but he already done it, so he needs to be punished for it. It's too easy if everyone could get away with 'oh I didn't know she was underage' (or 'officer I didn't know the speed limit!').


( Why I think the judgement is fair )

I made my first sale on Gumtree, which was selling my bicycle helmet. It got me thinking about what makes people buy things.

I came up with these two things:

1. Perceived value - what people see as valuable - whether they are willing to pay money for it. I knew my bicycle helmet was valuable, so I believed I could sell it. (If I couldn't I would've just kept it and not throw it away lol)

2. Trust and safety - I think people don't want to get conned, so to buy something you have to trust the vendor. (As a seller I guess I was afraid too that I'll get conned as well haha). I guess Gumtree felt safe because there was alot of support on how to be safe, which includes meeting up face to face for the buyer to inspect whether the product is good.

Hmm I guess marketing is important too (to help people be aware of things). I mean, if I didn't put it up on Gumtree no one would ever know I was trying to sell something. But it's not the reason that would push people to buy things. People nowadays are being bombarded with ads but you wouldn't buy it unless you thought it was worth it.

Nowadays, my priority is a good quality of life - (i.e. relaxation, hobbies and other things besides work). I used to think work was everything, probably thought it defined who I am and what my worth was (I still think that way, so I get depressed at times if I feel my work isn't that good). But oh well, I started to realize that people are not perfect, and I doubt there's any one that has produced a perfect piece of work. There is excellent work, great mastery of skill and that sort, but I doubt that there's perfection in art.

The article about Drew Struzan's bitterness with the movie poster industry somehow made me wonder why did our lecturer want us to do traditional movie posters. But hey, it was a really good practice, and a wonderful way to hone your skills. But lol, I don't see me doing these sort of posters for a living really, even the great master artist himself has difficulties over it.

I was reading this article, Why The Experts Are Wrong and it reminded me of how I used (am probably am still) sometimes making the mistake of believing too much in the 'experts'. Experts in my case, would be figures of authority, like your lecturers, parents, or some advisor on the internet. Sometimes we forget they're just human.