When xxxx, then yyyy

When you feel freedom is more precious than money, you are leading a luxurious life

When $0.2 is not being accepted as money when you buy a $4.5 bun, it's totally acceptable

When you roll your eyes coz you are not feeling good in the morning, someone can just accuse you of being mean to them 

When posting your Facebook profile pic with a pairs flag to mourn the dead, you are a hypocrite

When you post anything on Facebook, you are subjected to everyone's judgement

Since when humans are that naive and unreasonable, fuck u all Homo sapiens

Drafted on 18/2/2016

randomness (depressed and stressed version)

I have no idea what I will be what I am going to do how I am going to die

What do I choose to struggle with?
I chose to struggle with uncertainty, insecurities over routine and boredom

Check list of daily routine:
go to bathroom
brush teeth
face scrub (optional)
wash face
apply toner
apply serum
apply moisturiser
get dressed
have breakfast

think about daily routine
check facebook, email, twitter whatever x 1000000

oops already lunch time
coffee after lunch
yoga (optional)
stretching
dealing with mental stress
day dreaming
time to do my nails, have a massage or write a blog

pole class
dinner
check facebook, email, twitter whatever x100000
shower, wash hair
blow dry hair
zzz

and I felt like I did nothing

and currently overhearing two girls bitching about some "so fake and so unprofessional" friends in english.

why am I still alive when I started to hate everything around me

Drafted on 18/2/2016

Rip. Mod. Fab maker movement

We do always have comments about stuff that we ate or bought: I like this, BUT... 

I like this cake, but I wish there were more bananas.

I like this dress, but I don't really like this green.

Instead of mass producing one size fits all, now with technology, we can produce one size fits one. By scanning the product, modify it (the more banana, the different green) on CAD or some tools available, print it on a 3D printer. Sounds like a dream, but I would like to give it a try and make it. Without relying on others, but myself. Because no matter how hard you try to explain to the cake maker or tailor, you can never get it quite right due to the lost in translation. 

Just watched this one hour video from autodesk which is pretty amazing: 

http://au.autodesk.com/au-online/classes-on-demand/class-catalog/2012/class-detail/the-seven-technology-trends-of-design-how-rip-mod-fab-changes-everything#chapter=0

And this is back in 2012... I wonder how it is right now. Will be going to visit autodesk in less than a week, I'm pretty excited about that too. 

So most of us are at the red spectrum, in order to be the leader in the industry, one has to start investing at the "impractical" arrow area. 

Digital- RIP MIX BURN <music>

Analog- RIP MOD FAB 

ATOMS ARE THE NEW BITS <Chris Anderson>

----

This diagram represents sth like car, if you want 2x better performance car, you have got to pay over 4x more (not 2x!)  and according to Moore's Law, the price will decrease by half in 18 months, which gives the next two curves. 

While for cloud services, and infinite computing, you pay same amount of money for 2x more performance, and with Moore's law, the price decreases in half, see the following diagram for explanation: 

Back in 2012, there are already 75+ materials 

The last example, demonstrates an automated car, where combines laser scanning, social network etc, and can sense traffic lights, where the old lady is crossing the road etc. 

Wonder how it is nowadays already, and when will this becomes practical.. Expected... Required.

Btw, people are already using one's own stem cells to print a kidney :0

5 ways of technology (should be 7)

1. Reality capture (laser scanning)

2. Cloud data (move people to data)

3. Infinite computing (Moore's law)

4. Simulation

5. Digital --> Analog 

And the human centred computing 

Note to self

After 1.5 years, I am carrying two smartphones (one iPhone and one android) every day instead of one stupid Nokia. (Haha) 

How much time do I spend on my phone? Maybe I should ask how much time I am NOT on my phone. 

So maybe I should use it more wisely 

(Well... I already don't play games on my phone, mostly browsing...) 

Time to date myself again 

Photo fr. Berlin-artparasites https://www.facebook.com/berlinartparasites

Life without a smart phone 2

Another week or so has passed, I figured I can do more of the followings when I do not have a smart phone around me:

1. Read: Last year I have this plan of reading more books, and due to my "3-minute passion", I started for a month or so and gradually died. I did still keep a book in my bag after that month, but it kinda just added weight for my bag but being totally unproductive. Then last month, I finally finished the book, planning to share some reviews on that later

2. Exercise: working out does take a lot of time, i.e. taking running courses twice a week in happy valley is a luxury (traveling to happy valley back and forth around 1.5 hours, shower 45 mins plus the actual class 2 hours, adding up to more than 4 hours. multiply it by 2... 8 hours per week). In addition to that, I have to add additional weight training session in the gym to train my quad muscles.

Achievement - half marathon done, felt amazing especially I didnt hurt myself after the run and it's enjoyable. Coming up end of march 15 km race with some hill slopes and maybe a 1000m swimming in the sea (which I have zero confidence in achieving)

3. Blogging: havent been blogging for years coz
(1) dont know what to write about
(2) too busy with just texting and I think I have enough typing every day
(3) just being lazy and dont want to touch any device (aka laptop) other than my smart phone
now- just type whatever, just write something, anything and forget about the results and doesn't matter how crappy it looks

4. Just looking at "stuff": when you don't have your smart phone around you or when your friend sitting opposite to you is busy with her smart phone, you are forced to either play with your fingers or look around. Looking around gets interesting coz you probably haven't been looking around for 7 years after you got a smartphone (at least I am), you start to pay attention to people around you, some stores that you may pass by every day but you don't even know they existed, the flowers on the pedestrians which are pleasing to look at and more.


No more addiction on meaningless stuff:

1. Gaming: every day I used to spend 15 minutes on finishing "tasks" on a particular game to earn gems for "buying" new gadgets for the virtual me. Another 30 minutes on a puzzle game to earn something else so I can get better gadgets to gain a higher score among my friends. Saved 45 minutes plus.
You may say - do it while you are waiting for a bus - NO, coz you can spend that time reading instead

2. Whatsapp: so you have 10+ group chats in your whatsapp which 60% of the conversation is not related to you. You may say "I don't read them", but you do "skim through them", that took more than 30 minutes each day plus your brain need time to switch from one thing to another.
Yes - you are multi-tasking
No - a lot of them are meaningless that you can just cut them out of your lives, or minimize them by using email where they cannot see when's your "last login"

3. Instagram: Instagram has been a big part of my smart phone life, you get more information on what's going on with your friends, what they have just eaten, style.com updates, new product information etc. I used to save the images which I find interesting, restaurants that I planned to go... I saved tons, but didnt really go back to the images and investigate into them coz I'm too busy saving new ones.

.. and more

Does losing a smart phone make you more self-absorbed? You are not thinking about what other people/work? Maybe that's what everyone owning a smart phone need - to think more about what you really what to do every day.

Less distraction, more focused.

Just devoted my stretching hour to this blog post...

PS those friends who still reach out to me without whatsapp, <3 p="" you.="">

Life without smartphone 1

First post after my iPhone got stolen

Been using iPhone for more than 7 years, the smartphone world taught me a lot, helped me made new friends, allowed me to connect with old friends etc. I felt extremely occupied and busy with a smartphone, I lowered my head on the train, in the bus line, in the bathroom...

I had a 64GB phone with 17000 + photos and videos, tons of handful apps, lots of memories.
2013 is not a good year for me and 2014 chinese new year wanted me to leave the smartphone world.
Whatever reason it is, I would like to treat it as fate
Friends asked me when I'm gonna get my smartphone back and be in the "modern world", I say as long as I could resist taking money from my pocket to get a new one.

Life without smartphone:
1. Felt like a hero, friends are amazed how you can live without a smartphone in 2014
2. Felt lonely, you got no one to "talk" to during your train rides (not to say the games that you have been playing and earning the "gems"/"coins")
3. Felt distant, while having a face-to-face group gathering with friends, they share photos into the "group chat" infront of you, but you cant download them
4. "Handicapped"- you have no idea where to place your hands now
5. Observe more of the "real world" - you start to pick up your head, you are forced to look around to find interesting things to look at, forced to listen to the people around you
6. "Too much" free time - reading books, writing blogs (ah-ha), daydreaming

Now I still see more pros than cons, till next time.

PS i got a nokia 206 as my temp phone for now, for real.

30-minute yoga routine for beginners to practice at home

I have gone through many youtube videos on yoga routines and I really like the ones from Tara Stiles, an American model turned yoga instructor. They are clear, easy to follow and not too difficult nor too easy for me. Below are the ones that I practiced today and they can actually go together as a 30+ minutes routine. Enjoy.

(What I usually do is place the laptop on a chair or sofa)

Step 1: Morning Yoga for Flexibility

Step 2: Weight Loss Yoga for Beginners

Step 3: Weight Loss Challenge for Beginners

Step 4: Weight Loss Yoga Challenge - Fat Burn

Mad World and Donnie Darko

Gary Jules - Mad world

A really nice video, if interested, you can view the 1982 version of the same song performed by Tears for Fears.

Tears for Fears- Mad World (1982 version)

and the song is associated with the movie called Donnie Darko, haven't watched it yet, but I would put it in my to-watch list

Donnie Darko- Trailer

Are we living in a Mad World, what does that imply to our real lives...

 RIP Alexander McQueen

RESPECT

British fashion icon Alexander McQueen commits suicide days after death of his beloved mother

Read more @ DAILYMAIL UK (click)

 JK Rowling is more than just Harry Potter

“The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,”

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.


Her speech moved me. It's like watching a movie, what she said is like she's saying that to your face. I've been struggling about my goals in my life, people ask me to stop thinking about it and go with the flow. I'm lucky enough to have a flow for me to follow, a model to "success" is clearly placed in front of me. However, I do not see myself in love with "success". "Success" in my family dictionary linked to reality and money, to be able to support oneself and the next generation is success. The question is: are we living just to stay alive?


I'm picking some of the phrases and add a personal touch to it. The post are all words, read as you may.


"There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you."
About responsibility, people at my age, living with parents, still sort of relying on them and blame them. They love you and allow you to blame them in order to make yourself feel better. But then, when's the time that one really takes responsibility to his/her own actions? I would admit myself not taking enough responsibility, and I still do not have that sense of responsibility yet. Fussing around, wondering how I can take it up, the date has expired and I'm still in a comfortable cocoon. 


Parents, unconsciously protect their children, sometimes too much. I remember when I was young, I asked them to let me trip. I tripped, I was no longer innocent, I fell, then my instincts turned my head to my parents for help. They are shelters, always ready, but when will I be ready for myself? They will be gone one day, the ultimate person I can turn to is myself. Not that I do not trust anyone else, but it's the truth. 




"Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. "
Do you accept the failure model that set by others? Losing a job, not getting a job, not graduating from a degree seemed to be the current model of failure. Accusing the post 80s HK people with "failure" and blaming on the previous generation. Social consequences, maybe, but stereotyping, no. At least not in my dictionary. 




"I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged."
"You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I ever earned."
"Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes."
People once told me I can never truly understand how difficult life can be. I won't suffer from hunger, don't need to chase after money, however, that doesn't mean I do not know the difficulties in life. Mine may not be the same as yours. I tend to forget about failure, as it is painful, I do not wish to recall, it is human instincts. I do not wish to reveal, I wish to forget. That experience is out of my control, I can only make a decision of the consequences by my action, which is usually tends to be selfish. 


"And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know.

I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do."

I guess no one will object me if I say HK government do not exercise imaginations. They tend to stay in their comfort zones. It's almost a culture. That's why the society is deteriorating, rotting and rusting. I'm not qualify to make judgements since I'm not a lot better than they do. But anyhow, I'm not serving the millions of citizens, and they should have higher aspirations than I do. 

"Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives. It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people’s lives simply by existing."

"We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better."

That is what I've constantly heard from my lessons in design schools. We do not need another hero, but how much can imagination tie to reality? Proposals after proposals in the academia, lacking practical sensibility. To be innovative, you have to think 10+ years ahead, which current people won't be able to visualize the "success" and see its benefits, so the proposal is abandoned. 

"so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters."

I have fear of suffering from pain and poverty, so I may choose the path to success. But I have this chance of not worrying about food and being able to chase after dream, where is my dream? Year by year, I'm diluting my dream with "success" and it became so opaque that it's hard for me to visualize anymore. The older I get, the less courage I have to chase after my dream since the more responsibility I'm having. I wish... and I will do...

Big and bold speeches are beautiful and touching, but they are speeches: experienced by others and somehow fantasized by listeners. It is truly inspiring, but how much can you do about life? 

Aiyayayee Photos I Love

I'm picking up stuff from everywhere I found interesting with similar mood.

Flower dance:

"Fuller combined her choreography with silk costumes illuminated by multi-coloured lighting of her own design."

Dance by Loie Fuller called 

DANSE serpentine

but it makes me think of flower. What does it make you think of?

Then, it leads me to the following photos:

from Playing Fashion Magazine

from Madeleine Vionnet Puriste de la mode exhibition... Dying to see this exhibition... in Musée des Arts Decoratifs  PARIS!!!! But I'm nowhere near Paris and it's ending today... sob

Talking about fashion, I really love the dresses shown on Lily Cole from The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. 

I guess I start to like Lily Cole 

from Gary Bigeni's ss09/10 collection

This weird image is attractive haha

from Style Bubble

Sonia Rykiel for H&M bra, Emma Cook satin ruffle shoes

from Little Bird

from The Year in Pictures

This photo is called "The Wave" but it's actually clouds

"this picture, taken in January 2009 at Las Olas Beach in Maldonado, Uruguay, shows a rare roll cloud. These clouds form when a downdraft from an advancing storm front causes moist warm air to rise and then cool below its dew point. When this happens uniformly along an extended front, a roll cloud may sometimes form."

Can't wait to travel...

Small is the New Big

I have left my blog for months but I still got people following me on twitter so I feel like it's time for me to start again.
Have been working for a boring job and studying, so there's not much time left for MYSELF per se. Anyway, here I go on some innovative and actually more .. on detailed observations

I kept being told "DETAILS" is essential to be essential to design and I started to realize that it's true. In this globalized world, we tend to take things for granted and missed the minor stuff that is happening around us...

If you have time, you should watch this TED video, IDEO has always been a loved company in my perspective and I would like to share them with you. (life is not just about fashion, you can always get inspired by other stuffs, to me it's music, gladwell, TED and IDEO)




I'll try to look into the details of fashion and see where I can get inspiration from these, just don't confine yourself I would like, I'm absolutely a fashion victim but my suggestion is be open and explore

xoxo
hLn

A. Magazine.

A. Magazine.

There are two edgy magazines with wonderful concepts are as simple as ONE LETTER
A & V

They are both somewhat oversized-magazine-with-an-angle-shaped-LETTER. It's not easy to hold it with one hand and read it on a train I must say, but it catches your eye and you feel like it's unique in some way. I just saw the newly release A magazine curated by Proenza Schouler, featuring Chloe Sevigny, available in Page One.

Do check out their Haider Ackermann online also.

Now I'm switching to my main topic: A Magazine curated by Jun Takahashi, designer of UNDERCOVER. A#4

This is actually collaborated with a Japanese multimedia artist Madsaki, who deals a lot with notorious-tattoo-like-mirror graphics. Madsaki had collaborated projects with Hysteric Mini (20th anniversary project), and adidas etc and graduated from Parsons BFA. Just from his website, I'm not very much impressed by his work, however, when collaborating with Jun Takahashi, there seems to be more conceptual ideas and more elaborated execution of work. I have always been fond of black and white detail-oriented, line-composed graphics and of course with fashion integrated in. YUM.





Another artist that work with Jun Takahashi in A magazine is the legendary Terry Richardson. The photos are of course, very Terry Richardson, just more nude models wearing Undercover stuff in a weird way, not much a surprise for me.



The magazine also includes Jun's creation for new employment ad for Uniqlo: "Need your Mushy Brain", playing a pun on the words “need” and “knead”, and errrr actually I'm not crazy about it.


I think I love the part with Madsaki most.

Here is the video with how the whole magazine looks like inside out



Just a wee-bit more about Uniqlo:
Here comes Jil Sander for Uniqlo: +J



Why? Coz Jil Sander is sold to Japanese firm Onward Holdings Co. Ltd. who owns the designer’s former fashion house and retains commercial rights to her full name. SAD!!!!! I regret that I didn't buy Jil Sander as much before to support the brand and help sustaining it.

When? NOT ANNOUNCED yet...


hLn
Photo credit: Freshnessmag.com

Bang Bang BANGS

Bang Bang BANGS

My Dear friend A, got a cute-fringe-little-red-ridinghood haircut.
So I dedicate this video for her for cutting her bangs herself, which I think she will not even after this video



Watch it here.


This video also teaches you how to put your long long hair up in a simple but neat way. Enjoy

hLn

My Abbey Road Featuring Videos

My Abbey Road Featuring Videos

I'm not sure if I have been to Abbey Road in London, maybe I did pass by...
That's why it's kind of a mixed feeling when I watch the following videos
I'm not born in the years when Beatles are great hit, nor the legendary Michael Jackson, or I'm just far behind the trend of pop music at that time.
Anyway, here are the videos that I like and they just happened to be surrounding Abbey Road...

A nice video with people walking on Abbey Road throughout the day... The band has got some nice songs, I'm considering getting their album.
Blame Ringo - Garble Arch (A Day in the Life of Abbey Road)


Which then leads me to Beatles great hit
Beatles At Abbey Road


Then reminding me of Damien Rice's Live performance with my favorite song of his
Damien Rice - Rootless Tree (Live from Abbey Road)


Abbey Road Studio is a place I want to visit next time when I go to London, they have a nice website layout, but it takes a while to load. Featuring the LIVE music happening there.

Just a wee-bit more:
Last but not least, another video featuring Marilyn Minter called " Green Pink Caviar".

"I was shooting stills of models with long tongues swirling and sucking bakery products from under a pane of glass. I wanted to make enamel paintings along the idea of 'painting with my tongue' (YEAH!!). My makeup artist shot some short videos during the shoot just to see how it would look. The low definition videos looked so good that we made plans to do a professional high definition video. This made sense to me as I have made both billboards and produced a commercial advertising a painting show in 1989."

- Marilyn Minter



I find it amazing. Some of you may find it disturbing or yucky, but to me, it's a moving graphical sensation. I didn't find the pictures as awesome, since many of the commercial cosmetics/fashion photographs are like this. However, with motion and sound, things can be so different, you can almost feel it and opens up imagination. I guess I have to go forward with video blogging?



Photos from "The Year in Pictures"









well... actually they are stunning enough

hLn