Thursday, April 30, 2009

Vancouver

Candy n I, Summer 2008.


Dear Miss Sweets,

I miss those good o'Vancouver days with u.

Much Love,
Kt

北原照久玩具博物館

Went to the Japanese Toy Exhibition at City Plaza in Hong Kong. There were tons of toys from the 1930s to 1960s. The toy collector, Teruhisa Kitahara's, pieces ranged from plastic masks to tin toys to comic covers to toy packaging and posters. Quite an eye opener.

The Melody of Tears

Illustrations by Korean artist Bomroya

The Bar at The Fringe Club

Opening by Ama
She has a beautiful soulful voice, which reminded me of Shirley Kwan's.

Cheezstereo, Korean indie band

Bomroya painted while Cheezstereo was performing.
She gave out two quick paintings.



The music was awesome but it seems like people here in HK has a diff way of enjoying music in public. Looking forward to more music happenings.

Cheezstereo's band members are cute in a nerdy way and high on energy. Loved their collaboration with Bomroya! Check out Cheezstereo's Myspace here. Their CDs were sold out by the end of the night.

Went on Bom Roya's website but too bad it's only in Korean, and I couldn't comment on her blog till I register. I tried translating the page using Babel Fish, but had to give up on the registration after a couple attempts.

Mong Kok




Never really liked Mong Kok.
It's a place full of the teenage crowd.
Got a friend staying at Mong Kok,
he got me walking through streets which allowed me to see these nice typefaces on old buildings.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Gates from Hong Kong

Been walking around the alleys of Sheung Wan.
Quite enjoy looking at these patterns on the folding gates.
(As well as the signage and stencillings. )


I think this is one of the standard patterns.


This one look the same bit slightly different.
The material used suggested it to be a newer design.


The little cut patterns serve as little holes to give light to the interior.
Functional while looking pretty.


The Poon's metalwork.
This has to be the one I like the most by far.
Love the position of the mirror.

There are just so much to look at when you've got the time. I also love the tin mail boxes and gates (non-folding ones). The old mail boxes are part of HK's identity now.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Birthday Card

Haven't been doing much hands-on things lately. Was going to buy something small for my tutee's birthday. He's only in grade 1, and they are not using mechanical pencils or bics yet. So I've decided to make him something-- he's one of my favorite students! I want the card to be beneficial to his learning, so I've included some new terms for him.


I realize he really likes monkies (and he looks like one too)!
So a monkey is a must!



Made my own envelope to go with it.


Surprise! A pop-up cake!


This is what you get when you open up the card.


Used graph papers and lined papers throughout the card.
Had a lot of fun :)

First.

Poster, 42cm x 59cm


First freelance I got in Hong Kong. Rush job (next day), cheap charge. Not used to the metric system used here. I didn't charge a rush fee for various reasons, but my client told me he has NEVER heard of such thing through his 12 years of working with graphic designers and had accused me of making this up. This makes me wonder. No wonder people here work so fast. I don't think this is a good thing at all. This make the respect for graphic design work go d o w n.

Toshiba's Timesculpture Commercial

Toshiba's commercial for their upscaling TVs is pretty impressive.




TIMESCULPTURE (2008) -- 1:01 minutes
Production Company: Hungry Man LTD
Director: Mitch Stratten.



The Making of Timesculpture


No tracks or dollies seen throughout the video. 200+ Toshiba Gigashot camcorders were set at every angle, each capturing a series of snapshots, which were then put together into a sequence of overlapping loops. This particular technique in the commercial, viewing looping action in 360 degrees, has never been done before. To get this stunning effect, enormous time was spend on this project-- the processing of the footage from the 200 cameras alone took 4 weeks, 24/7.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

HELLO.


Haven't been blogging for a while.
Have been doing lots of travelling: England, Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Brussels, Amsterdam, the Philippines and Hong Kong.
I had now been in Hong Kong for a couple months now.
What started as a visit is slowly becoming a stay.
I love HK although I am still trying to get used to a lot of stuff.
I don't feel like a local at all.

I miss Vancouver's vintage/antique shops a lot,
and today, I finally found 2 stores I like (not love yet) at Sheung Wan,
both selling secondhand goodies.


they've got a bunch of chandeliers
and a couple tear-drop ones.
very sad but elegant.


things are messy but somehow organized.
they've got a tram among those toy cars.
i love browsing through these "junks" in the shop slowly.


lots of lovely printed materials!
my heart pounds hard.
i get excited in seeing things like this.


I chuckled when I saw this vinyl record with these guys on.
I wonder would it play well like the black ones.
I love the type on the black one.


I got so carried away I forgot to ask the price of this clock.