Month: February 2007

Categories
Silly Me

1 Litre of Blood (A Visit To My Dentist)

You've been warned!

Yesterday, my dentist’s assistance called if I wished to have a routine checkup. Impressed by the proactiveness of my dentist, I promptly agreed to a 9.30am appointment. The truth is, I am still traumatised by my “routine” extraction of my wisdom tooth back in 2003 that took like an hour till Doctor Goh was exhausted and about to call in another dentist as an emergency.

Four years have passed and the clinic now equips with a large LCD TV that shows the X-Ray results instantly. The patient records are stored in a server and the good doctor now has a tablet PC with him. After all the greetings and long-time-no-see, I told him that I currently do not have a dental benefit. So, need not to say, all the cosmetic and non-essential procedures are out. He asked if I have seen other dentists and I told him that I have not. He took a closer look at the X-Ray results and said: Good news! No cavity. Just polishing and scrapping. I almost leaped in joy and screamed: Yay!

The polishing has a salty aftertaste. The scrapping though, I felt like time has frozen. Before the start of scrapping, Doctor Goh has already warned me that this could be “sensitive”. Working from the inner side of my teeth at the lower jaw – right to left, then the outer side, and then the same for my upper jaw, I had an image of a download progress bar right on top of my head. After a 12.5% completion, Doctor Goh announced that he has to up the power of the scrapper to 10 and asked me to protest if the pain was too much (like I could with all the tubes inside my mouth). “Uh-oh, this is going to hurt,” I thought to myself and true enough, the “download progress bar” moved a bit faster but the pain was barely bearable. From time to time, the good doctor asked if I was okay and I bet he couldn’t see the tears behind the shade that I was asked to wear. When he scrapped the inner side of my upper jaw, I felt drops of hot blood dripped onto my tongue. What a gruesome sight. No wonder the nurse did not look too happy.

I have no idea how much blood I have shed during the procedure, right after the procedure, and even now. I met up with Mark for lunch and I couldn’t even chew the meat inside the porridge. Just before I left the operation room, Doctor Goh looked at me proudly and said that not many patients can withstand that level of pain. I looked at him with my teary eyes and said: sure, it was like a good massage. Then he gave me some good advice. If I am to see him more often, the scrapping will not be that traumatising.

Uh-huh …

Categories
Experience Sharing My Hobbies Oil Painting

First Experience With Oil Painting

Consultants are as such: we try to learn something fast, repackage the information, and sound as though we know the topic in depth. As you can see, my first oil painting is still amateurish and this article is definitely not about how-to-paint-oils. But rather a sharing of the fun experience I have when I temporary converted the common bedroom into a humble painting studio.

As shown in the picture above, I have a humble setup painting from “life”. To give you a better appreciation of what are the items for, I have created two larger images with some labels on them.

An easel is a stand that holds a canvas or a board. Traditionally, easels are made of wood. I chose a modern folding one. If you pay attention, easels are commonly used in the shopping malls for advertisement.

Since I am not going to spend an insane amount of cash to paint on canvas, I use oil painting tablet and have it stuck onto a board with double-sided tape. A good light source is important because light brings out the colours of the subject. I made a simple view-finder (aspect ratio must be maintained) to help me in sketching.

I have oiled my palette with linseed oil before first use and guess what? I oiled the wrong side. Moving on, we have the paints and lots of brushes. Dippers are the small tiny containers to hold the turpentine (to make the paint thinner) and linseed oil (to thicken the paint). Paper towels are useful in cleaning the brushes between colour switching. Some paint with a palette knife while for me, as of now, I use it to scrap the paint off the palette at the end of the painting session.

Categories
Drama Movie Reviews

Clerks 2 – Humour With Characters You Grow To Care

Spoilt by a good number of potentially entertaining movies now showing, my Movies Review Squad saved me the headache and picked “Clerks 2” (Me: Why Clerks 2? Him: It’s funny … Me: Ah-huh. Him: … and it is rated R(A). Me: ON!). “Clerks 2” is a sequel to a 12 years old movie, full of at times gross jokes and at times jokes based on the current entertainment news, and with characters you grow to care as the story unfolds.

Bulk of the movie is set in and around a fast food restaurant in one day – Dante Hicks (Brain O’Halloran)’s last day of work leaving his best friend Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson), his boss-cum-friend Becky Scott (Rosario Dawson), and New Jersey behind for a new life. “Clerks 2”, suffice to say, tells a story of friendship, romance, and dreams in life all mixed with 80% jokes and trash talking and 20% quality dialogues between the characters. Many comedies leave the audience nothing when they walk out of the theater (somehow “Hitch” came into my mind). There are something about these characters that make them stick into your mind after the movie ends.

Related Link: Clerks 2’s Behind The Scene Clips.

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

A Review of Books of Oil Painting For Beginners

Sunflower by Louise DeMore

It is beautiful oil paintings like the one on the left that inspire me to pick up this new hobby (“Sunflower” by Louise DeMore). I have a belief that every hobby needs 10 years to mature and to turn into something more serious. If you pick up guitar as a hobby today and keep practicing it on a regular basis, 10 years later you should have decent skill to please a crowd (if that is the case, please come back to this site and tell me that I was right). Same theory applies. If I pick up oil painting now, in my 40s, my friends should be proud of hanging my paintings in their homes. By 50s, people may start collecting my paintings. Who knows?

Smart readers of my website must be asking: is this guy for real? It may not look very real right now but between you and me, I have already invested more than S$160 into acquiring all the basic stuffs that I need to start painting oils (as of now, I wonder if Cynthia has discovered the large painting board, bags of equipment, and an … easel – all hiding inside the common bedroom). I still have not created my first oil painting yet and to tell you the truth, it is a bit scary – given the fact that I hated art classes at school.

One of my friends insists that art in general (including music) cannot be taught. It is either you have the talent or you don’t have it. You may get a teacher to get you going with the basic but the rest will depend on your talent no matter how hard you practice or train. I wish to follow one of the painter’s philosophy – “Don’t worry about talent; it means nothing without perseverance”.

In his recent interview by the Reader’s Digest, Will Smith said: Give me the book, and I do not need somebody to stand up in front the class. I am no Will Smith but I am happy to start off my new hobby with tons of books I have borrowed from the National Library. If you wish to start painting oils, you may wish to get hold of some of the books listed below. One thing I noticed as I moved from one book to another is that there may be contradicting teaching points. Some prefer to use pencil to create a draft and some give reasons why not to do it. Some prefer to use diluted black colour as the underpaint and some say otherwise. Even for brushes, different painters have their preferences. Some are more the old school type while others encourage you to start painting before you learn how to draw. Some insist that all painting must be modelled after real life objects or subjects while some use photographs or even imagination. Of course, another advantage of absorbing multiple books at one go is that there are bound to be some techniques that one author penned them down in details while others did not.

Painting Oils (First Step Series) by Louise DeMore

A wonderful book with examples relatively simple enough to demonstrate the techniques. I especially like her 5-step approach in completing any kind of painting. She likes to use warm colour a lot and the examples look even beautiful to look at. What I like about the book too is that the examples given seems achievable for even beginners to attempt. The author seems to have lots of experience in teaching students.

Oils by Peter John Garrand

Garrand’s book has some interesting tips that others may have missed out such as how to look after the brushes and how to stack the canvases amongst others. The examples though are not that easy to follow. His teaching more encourages people to start painting and go back to drawing techniques if you find that you cannot improve anymore.

Oils for the Beginner by Alwyn Crawshaw

One of the best narration, very well explained, and I felt motivated just by reading the words. Lots of useful information and seemingly achievable examples. Crawshaw has lots of passion and experiences in painting.

You Can Paint Oils by Linda Birch

Beautifully written for absolute beginners. The steps are clear and the example are simple enough. Perhaps Birch has illustrated many children’s books besides teaching painting and drawing, she tends to teach drawing from imagination (compares to others who paint based on a real setting).

Oils by Patricia Seligman

Although this book belongs to the “Step by Step Art School” series, it is definitely not for beginners. Even some of the techniques seem unconventional. The examples, though, are professionally beautiful. One example even gives a “paper-folding” effect on an oil painting. In no way I am going to draw those examples in the very near future, I am sure.

Oil Painting for Beginners by Francisco Asensio Cerver

I bought this book at Kinokuniya because first, it didn’t cross my mind that I can borrow oil painting books from the library and second, it is relatively affordable (S$15.65). It turns out to be a good buy as it is packed with information and examples. And it is always a good idea to have a book within reach to refer to at all time for beginners.

Categories
Music Reviews Pop Rock & Alternative

Daughtry – One of My Favourite “Idol” Album

Thank God. Finally an English album review, and not only that, but also a male artist to grace my website. New readers of my site must have thought that I only listen to Japanese female artists’ music (which unfortunately Koda Kumi will be my next review target as Norah Jones’s new album is a major let down to me).

Chris Daughtry may have disappointed the “America Idol” viewers that he only got to as far as being a semi-finalist, his eponymous debut rock album that he has written and co-written doesn’t. The first week sales of “Daughtry” has beaten the American Idol winner Taylor Hicks’s eponymous debut album.

“Daughtry”‘s opening track “It’s Not Over”, also the first single, is a good representation of what the album overall sounds like. Well crafted verses, memorable chorus, and a twisting bridge. The song is written by Daughtry and several others including Brett “Ace” Young who was also an “Idol” contestant. Daughtry has opened a poll in their band website letting their fans to pick their second single. The fourth track of the album “Over You” happens to be both the fans’ pick as well as the band’s. Personally, I wish they would have picked something different from the first single. Perhaps a slow ballad like “Breakdown” that is solely written by Daughtry himself or the last track “What About Now” would have been nice. Interestingly, Slash is featured in one of the track “What I Want”. The track is a bit short (less than 3 minutes) but is a good one to listen to. “There And Back Again” stands out as my favourite (and not necessary yours) because it is unique. The opening rift and the subsequent melody sounds like the new “Metallica” meets “Puddle of Mudd”/”Nickelblack”.

Music-wise, the sound of the album definitely reminds me of “Puddle of Mudd” and “Nickelblack”. The strength of the album, I would say, is Chris Daughtry’s gifted voice as well as the accessibility of the melody (read: radio-friendly which some of you may see as a major weakness).

There is nothing ground breaking in “Daughtry”. It is yet another “Idol” album that you will keep playing again and again in your leisure time.