Archive | PermalinkValley Orchid

It's not much to look at, but there's something that barely looks like an orchid in the picture below. No, I don't know which species it is, only that it's yellow. And yes, there's a water-filled valley beneath it. This is my second piece using Painter Classic, scratched out with dry media mostly. Using the program is more difficult than I thought.

Oh, by the way, check out this amazing colour-based optical illusion. It's quite amazing, especially the third one.

Archive | PermalinkArise, New Graphics Tablet!

The other cool stuff I bought the same day I bought the table is this Wacom Graphire 3 graphics tablet. In fact, I've been wanting it for many years now that when I finally have it in my hands, I didn't have the heart to remove it from its box and plug it in for FOUR DAYS. This morning I finally did it.

After getting the tablet up and running with my computer, I proceeded to install the bundled Painter Classic software. When I finally ran the program, my blood went cold. All the colours were screwed up! It took me about 30 minutes before I decided to increase my monitor's setting from 16-bit to 32-bit colour.

Only then did I let out a sigh of relief. I grabbed the stylus, played around with the controls a bit; then tried playing with different brushes and tool on different layers; finally wiped the slate clean and proceeded to paint this:



My first Painter-made art ever. My technique is still way out there. It's gonna take some more practice to get myself up to speed with the new tablet and software. Ultimately, I believe that my work will go much smoother and faster on the computer.

Addendum: I just remembered that I had Open Canvas prepared for action in my computer. So, a mathematical equation came to mind. Graphire3 + Open Canvas + Hisham's Tired Imagination = ...


That's one of my favourite DC superhero from the late 80s and early 90s, Animal Man.

Addendum 2: This is so much fun I can't stop myself.

Archive | PermalinkIrfan's Birthday Present from ABC TV

Apparently ABC has a birthday surprise for Irfan's 3rd birthday this year. They'll be airing the Lost second season opener on September 21st. Hooray! More answers to our questions already, like the fates of our intrepid (or suicidal) mariners Sawyer, Jin, Michael and (especially) Walt.

Archive | PermalinkTales of the Prototype and the Table

Last week, we printed out some of the prototype pages for the first ever Hishgraphics e-book. To be honest, prior to this I do have a fair amount of doubts about the project. In my mind, I estimated that perhaps this would have a 20-30% success when it's eventually released into the wild.

(Read more at your own risk)

Archive | PermalinkBaen Free Library

There are many reasons why I love the intarweb. One of them is free cool stuff you can get from various sites, and legal too. Baen Books is a publisher of science fiction books, and it has now jumped onto the freebie net goodies bandwagon by unleashing upon its readers the Baen Free Library.

Check out the free science fiction stories written by professional authors. You can read in several formats which is kind of cool. Cause if say, HTML format gives you an allergic reaction, you can always switch to RTF. I'm just gonna pick out which story to read. I'll go get my dice now.

Archive | PermalinkRingu As An Animated GIF

I can see this happening at a mamak stall or a university cafeteria, in full view of all the patrons going WTF?!?

Thanks to Vincent "Dino" Gong, Evil Administrator of the Unofficial ACS Sitiawan Alumni Forum.

Archive | PermalinkOMG! The Site's Been Sashed?!?

Wha-? How? Sashed? What do you mean? How did it happen?! Should we tell someone?!?!

See the little diagonal banner with the link at the top, right hand corner of the page? That's a sash. I came across it while trawling the net and thought I'd try it on for size. Don't get used to it, it's just there for experimental purposes and won't be there indefinitely.

To savour the tale of how I discovered the code, how to reproduce it, how many Bothans died to bring us this code, and to see a screencap of the front page (in case the little diagonal banner with the link of top is banished from the land by the time you read this) check out my entry at Chris Curtis Dot Org.

Archive | PermalinkThe Cliff In My Mind's Eye

So after drawing a dozen or so robots and a couple of cyborgs for a freelance client, I thought I'd take a break and draw a quick pencil sketch of this seaside landscape which real estate value would no doubt be way over my head should the location exist. I figure this would be a fantastic place to cook fried noodles. Anyway, enjoy.

The art, I mean, not the fried noodles.

Archive | PermalinkToday's Breakfast

Using whatever ingredients left in the fridge, I came up with this earlier today, took a picture of it, gobbled it all down, and now in my belly it will find a new definition of pain & suffering as it is slowly digested over a thousand years. Click on the above thumbnail for a larger image.

Archive | PermalinkBaseball Anyone?

What could be more American than baseball and apple pie? Why would a Malaysian girl even give a hoot? Because baseball is Vin's obsession. (He likes apple pie too, and blasphemously, I don't, but that's a different story altogether). During the spring and summer months Vin eats, drinks, lives, and breathes baseball. During the off-season, he keeps track of the trades and developments in the Major Leagues. We started dating in August of 2000, and by the fall of 2001 (the first full baseball season, spring-summer of 2001), I could read a box score. And Vin and I had a long-distance relationship.

Many baseball widows would probably reprimand me for encouraging this obsession but (un)fortunately for me, baseball means more than just something Vin is unnaturally fixated on. We met at a baseball game. What? What was I, the least-interested-worst-possible-athletic person in the world doing at a baseball game?

(Read more at your own risk)

Archive | PermalinkGalactica's Fear Factor?

In conjunction with the much anticipated second season of Ronald D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica last night, I will put to you the somewhat retarded question:

Isn't Tahmoh Penikett (Helo of BSG) a spitting image of Fear Factor (and dont forget Newsradio)'s Joe Rogan? I can't get the image of Helo creating a stun gun out of a garage door remote out of my mind... with Dave Foley and Andy Dick running past him in the background.

Archive | PermalinkJLU -The Cadmus Arc

I've been a comic book reader ever since I can remember. One of the best spin offs from the DC Universe would be the DC Animated Universe, beginning with Batman: The Animated Series. The current series set in the same universe is the Justice League Unlimited, based on the Justice League of America comic book, where dozens of heroes pull together to keep Earth safe from evil from both within and without from their space station, the Watchtower. Sounds cheesy? Not if you watch it and catch the excellently written dialogue and tightly storyboarded animation that comes with it. JLU has become one of my favourite animated show ever. Here is a review of 3 of 4 of the Cadmus arc episodes, "Question Authority", "Flashpoint" and "Panic In The Sky.".

(Read more at your own risk)

Archive | PermalinkStar Wars Episode III - Backstroke of the West

I present to you screencaptures from Star Wars Episode III - Backstroke of the West by way of winterson.com blog. There's not much I can add to this, except for a whole bunch of loud belly-achin' laughs.

"The front is a lemon avenue flying straightly"? Comedy gold. We need the original actors to redub the movie reading off this subtitle.