A Strange Place To Lie Down and Rest

30 April 2008 | Hisham | | Recent News
 

On the way back from the Sungai Merab area, where the PLUS highway intersects with the ELITE highway right by the exit to Universiti Putra Malaysia, the traffic slowed down considerably. This was strange because I've never experienced a traffic jam of this magnitude before at this particular location.

Which leads me to believe something's up front.

Highway blues

The road curves downward before climbing back up, and I lost sight of the road before me.

Closer

Then finally, TA-DAAHH!

On its side

But don't worry. The drivers were fine although they looked a bit dazed crouching on the far side of the wreck, waiting for assistance to arrive.

 

A New Baby For Hanim and Awie

28 April 2008 | Hisham | | ACS Memories, Recent News
 

Young Aisyah has a new brother! Abdul Qayyum bin Mohd Zawawi was born to Hanim and Awie at 0715 hours on the 22nd of April. We went a-visiting the newborn and his family and took a photo. Irfan tried to wink at the camera and he's almost got the wink down pat.

Almost.

 

Irfan Takes Atok's Pictures

28 April 2008 | Hisham | | Family Pics
 

As told previously, Irfan likes to use the camera (that is wondrously chimaeraed into the phone by wizards) to take pictures of everything.

Some weeks ago, we went to Sitiawan and lo and behold, there was a kenduri at the Seri Manjong stadium that was organized by the new state government which gave the old state government a run for their money during the recent elections.

During the speech by the local representatives and politicians, Irfan took a couple of good photos of his grandfather.

.

.

 

So what IS a Role-playing Game Anyway?

28 April 2008 | Hisham | | ACS Memories, Role Playing Games
 

I have a Role-playing Games category right over there at the left sidebar on the front page of the site. I'm sure there's a lot of visitors to this site that will probably shrug and say, "I dunno", or half-heartedly answer, "Something like Dungeons and Dragons?"

Well, Dungeons and Dragons is a role-playing game (RPG is the popular acronym attributed to it), true. But it's more than just D&D and we'll get to that later.

 

The Gallery Is Upgraded

27 April 2008 | Hisham | | Artwork, Hishgraphics.com
 

After a long time of uploading images and hard coding the html (and later php) files into the Hishgraphics Gallery, I've now deleted the old setup and replaced it with a proper Coppermine Gallery CMS. It took some time to get the hang of the system, but I think I have it down enough to get by. There are still a bunch of stuff from the old gallery still not updated to the new place, but I'll fill it up as time goes by.

Sorry, I don't intend for the gallery to be a community site - that's what this blog is for - so comments and ratings are disabled. Just enjoy the stuff I got on there.

Dark Finale and Symphony of Light
 

Twenty Eight Weeks

24 April 2008 | sila | | Family Pics
 

Monday marked the 28th week of the pregnancy. We are now 70% of the way! Another 12 weeks or so to go!! Time seems to just be flying by. The shirt isn't snug over the belly, but believe me, there's a pretty big one under there!

Sila at 28 Weeks
 

Pictures of Lily

12 April 2008 | sila | | Family Pics
 
Lily in the fruit bowl

Pictures of Lily

By The Who:

I used to wake up in the morning
I used to feel so bad
I got so sick of having sleepless nights
I went and told my dad

He said, 'Son now here's some little something'
And stuck them on my wall
And now my nights ain't quite so lonely
In fact I, I don't feel bad at all

Pictures of Lily made my life so wonderful
Pictures of Lily helped me sleep at night
Pitcures of Lily solved my childhood problems
Pictures of Lily helped me feel alright

Pictures of Lily
Lily, oh Lily
Lily, oh Lily
Pictures of Lily

And then one day things weren't quite so fine
I fell in love with Lily
I asked my dad where Lily I could find
He said, 'Son, now don't be silly'

'She's been dead since 1929'
Oh, how I cried that night
If only I'd been born in Lily's time
It would have been alright

Pictures of Lily made my life so wonderful
Pictures of Lily helped me sleep at night

For me and Lily are together in my dreams
And I ask you, 'Hey mister, have you ever seen'
'Pictures of Lily?'

 

Springtime, Finally!

12 April 2008 | sila | | Family Pics
 

YAYYYYYY! I think the snow is over (knock wood)! The daffodils finally bloomed, and our party-crashing lilacs (or hyacinths?) have crashed the party again! Check them out:

Cheery daffodils
Happy sunny yellow goodness
Purple Party People

Seriously, the daffodils blooming always makes me smile! :-)

 

Steampunk Star Wars

12 April 2008 | Hisham | | Star Wars, Trawling The Net
 

Via Boing Boing, I came across Sillof's Workshop that displays awesome custom made figures... of classic Star Wars characters in steampunk forms.

Unbelievably awesome and of fantastic quality. I wish they were selling this en masse in the stores. Also, I can see an awesome alternate-universe Star Wars RPG campaign running based on these figures with Rebels and Imperials and Jedi with steampunk tech at turn-of-the-20th-century Earth, with clockwork droids and balloon-powered speeders and such.

Check out the figures (as well as other coolness such as custom Dune and Gaslight Justice League figures) at the link above.

Addendum: More Steampunk Star Wars concept art can be found in this thread at CG Society Forums.

League of Extraordinary Rebels and Imperials
 

A First To Fall

11 April 2008 | Hisham | | Family Pics
 

Dental entropy?Look who's lost his first baby tooth... today... on April 11... 2008 Common Era.

When the tooth was loose he was concerned with bleeding, but after the tooth fell out in school he didn't seem too concerned. He was proud of it, even. No blood and pain, he made a point of letting everyone know.

I wish he didn't discard the tooth in school though. It's now probably in a waste bin or down the toilet or something.

 

ƃolq ǝɥʇ ɹǝʌo pǝddılɟ ǝʌ,ı

08 April 2008 | Hisham | | Humour, Trawling The Net
 

˙ʞuıɥʇ noʎ ʇɐɥʍ ʍouʞ ǝɯ ʇǝl ¿ɹǝʇʇǝq uıɐɹq ɹnoʎ oʇ ʍolɟ poolq dlǝɥ oʇ ʎɐʍ sıɥʇ sǝlɔıʇɹɐ ǝɹoɯ ǝldnoɔ ɐ ǝʇıɹʍ ǝqʎɐɯ ¿ʇɐɥʍ ɹo pǝʇɹǝʌuı ƃolq ǝɥʇ ǝʌɐǝl ı plnoɥs ¿ʞuıɥʇ ǝldoǝd noʎ op ʇɐɥʍ os ˙uʍop ǝpısdn ǝuıɟ ǝq llıʍ ƃolqǝʍ ǝɥʇ ʞuıɥʇ ı ǝloɥʍ ǝɥʇ uo ʇnq ˙ʎɹʇuǝ sıɥʇ ƃuıpɐǝɹ ǝlıɥʍ puɐʇspuɐɥ ɐ op puɐ ǝsıɔɹǝxǝ plnoɔ noʎ ʇɐɥʇ sı ʇı ʇnoqɐ ǝpısdn ǝɥʇ ˙ɹǝʌo pǝddılɟ ǝq oʇ ʇı ɹoɟ ʇɥƃıɹ sı ǝɯıʇ ǝɥʇ ǝqʎɐɯ ˙ƃolq ǝɥʇ ɹoɟ ǝƃuɐɥɔ ɐ ɹoɟ ǝɯıʇ s,ʇı ʞuıɥʇ ı ʇı ʇnoqɐ ƃuıʞuıɥʇ ǝɯıʇ ǝɯos ɹǝʇɟɐ

˙dılɟ

 

Legion of Three Worlds

03 April 2008 | Hisham | | Comics
 

I've always been a Legion fanboy, having first read the Legion of Super-Heroes back in the late 70s-early 80s. Having started relatively late, all that came before was compressed and presented to me by the Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes mini-series.

After writing last year's Green Lantern Corps epic The Sinestro Corps War, Geoff Johns is back with veteran artist George Perez with something that knocked me unconscious for a minute...

Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds.

Here's a tidbit from the interview at Newsarama:

Newsarama: Let's just start up front and say what people are probably thinking, Geoff. Three Legions! When someone starts reading Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds, is there anything they have to read first? Maybe they should read your Action Comics story that included the Legion of Super-Heroes? Or study up on Legion history?

Geoff Johns: If you want, sure, but you don't have to know anything before you read it. This is Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes vs. Superboy-Prime and the Legion of Super-Villains. Things explode from there, but I’m approaching it like the current Action Comics storyline: You didn't have to read The Lightning Saga before reading that story, and the same kind of thing's true here. So I highly suggest Gary [Frank] and my wonderful Action Comics [laughs], for anyone who hasn't picked it up yet. But no, you don't have to read anything to pick up and understand Legion of 3 Worlds.

NRAMA: But Geoff, you're going to have all three Legions in this story? One Legion sounds overwhelming enough to a new Legion reader, but three??

GJ: But there's a focus on a group of characters. Certain characters will really get the spotlight. A lot of other characters will be in the background. That's what George does. When you have these big epics and you have dozens and dozens of characters, it can get overwhelming, but there's a focus on a group of characters that have their goals and missions that really represent to me the heart of the Legion. And those characters will be getting most of the attention. But everybody will be in there. Just about everybody.

It's like the Sinestro Corps had a lot going on, but it was focused.

NRAMA: So, just like it didn't matter if you knew the name of every Green Lantern and Sinestro Corps member during Sinestro Corps War, you don't need to know anything about the Legion going into this – is that what you're saying?

GJ: If you do, cool, if not, if you’re a DC fan you’ll enjoy this.

OK, all three versions of the Legion will be featured! The two reboots which was done by DC Comics has been made part of the story! I am a happy Legion fanboy! And with Grant Morrison writing the main Final Crisis mini-series... I guess I'll have to spare some cash monthly to pick these up as they get published.

Superman is wearing the ring again!
31st century brouhaha

Wait! What are Jenni Ognatz, Lex Luthor and a GL battery doing behind the Time Trapper?