Days of Being...

We are not alone

2012-01-14T11:09:00.007-08:00

2012 Wish List

2012-01-07T03:54:00.003-08:00

2012

2011-12-31T18:48:00.015-08:00

Dear 2011,

You will be gone in five hours. I have been thinking of writing something about you. Yes. Thinking about it. Not writing about it. Thinking about writing about it. I want to make a list of the great things that I have been done with you. Here it is the list:

1. Making crazy no/low budget films
I have been on many different film sets this year, these experiences were much different than filming in Hollywood (I guess). I believe the process of student making films are the most creative ones. As demonstrating the idea of what Jonathan said, student filmmaking: poor man process + the art possible. We totally dived into it this year. I still could not forget that night: Helping out to film on Granville Island's parking lot. We have been dragging the lights/power cables throughout the windy night with pouring rain. I was so scared that one of us would be shocked by the electricity. Luckily, we were all safe. That's the coldest night I remember in 2011: shivering, walking around with running nose, ... ewww... so much fun.

Other than that night, I have been making my film with my fellows from 9pm till 2am, an outdoor shoot. That was an incredible lucky night for me because of the weather and the great people I were working with. Thank you for your (you know who you are) tolerance for taking so many bus rides and standing the cold and rain at night.

I felt more connected to the crazy film students at Emily Carr, those who were not scared of electric shock / rain / wind / height / got caught / breaking cameras, those who really enjoy making films. We might not met the industry standard. That's the most exciting part to see in our films: crossing the line, out focus, under exposed, dirty background...and so on, things you cannot see in Hollywood films.

2. Writing papers
I have been bad this year. About writing, as you could see my record of writing this blog. There are not too many entries. Reasons? I don't know, too much work? No way. Too much reasons of not writing things down are my reasons. Anyway, I have been writing a very special paper since I could not get any interviewee to interview. I made a twist of interviewing myself - such an ignorant act. Talking to myself is a bit normal, but when I started writing about it. I felt like... I am Woody Allen. Luckily, my teacher liked it and I felt relieve in such a hectic semester. Most of the papers I wrote in this semester were not as great as they were, because I always wrote them in last minute. Now, I wrote this down and hope I won't do this again.

3. Facebook
I spent too much time on it. From now on, I have to stop myself from being too addicted to you, facebook.

4. Lost
I have been losing things lately, which I do not understand why. A pair of expensive headphones, an umbrella, water bottle... were all gone. They seemed disappeared in just a week. At the end, things in your life will be gone, maybe I should just let it go.

5. A Chinese Banquet
I could not believe I still have chance to eat such good food with 11 people sat together on a round table. Thank you Little Linus’s birthday invitation. At the same time, I missed having a long dinner with my family.

6. An Eight-speed Raleigh Twenty
Thank you Alissa for making an 8-speed bike for my birthday. Although I never ask for it =P I actually feel good when I could ride my bike back from school and figured out I could get on that little steep slope. The investment of this bike had been accumulated to $300 and will be up on the coming month. Just one question, When can I own a car / an electric bike?

7. A job
Not for me. But a job for you. I feel happy and proud of you.

8. A Cat Tree
That changes my cat's life. Now she enjoy most of the time being high.

9. Writing the night before 2012
Finally, this year came to an end. This 2012 ball is for my friends and family. I don't think you understand what I drew. Just get whatever you want to get from it.

Wish you a merry 2012. See you next year!

I.D.

2011-12-20T00:09:00.009-08:00

This is my second year Video art class project. Thank you for the 5 persons who participated in this project, who inspire me all the time.

I.D., a short form for “identity”, a symbol that represents the meaning of identity. Similarly, elements I received from three of the ﬁve people are symbols. I also received a photo of me and my sister when we were young. All elements seem like codes that reveal my identity. On the other hand, I recognized that identity appeared in a ﬂuid form rather than a ﬁxed object. It is because there are multiple meanings interacting with each element. This made me wonder whether a symbol, languages or a still photograph can speak for themselves. Do we share the same thoughts when we are looking at the same symbol? Do our point of view changes according to different culture backgrounds? Is this song meaningful to you when you are reading the lyrics that have been translated? The above thoughts remind me of “punctum”, a term that introduced in Roland Barthes’s Camera Lucida:

Barthes refers to punctum as the element in a photograph that pricks or wounds the viewer. Punctum is not something that generally interests someone, such as a beautiful sunset or, most currently, a collapsing building, which might invoke a recollection of 9-11, thus a national identity. In locating punctum, Barthes wishes to locate only what he himself could see, not what others saw. Punctum was his way of forging individuality; it occurs when one least expects it. It is a small, overlooked detail. “The punctum, then, is a kind of subtle beyond – as if the image launched desire beyond what it permits us to see…”(C.L 59).

Barthes states that the importance of the punctum plays an important role that the meaning of a same photograph would be read differently according to different experiences of the viewers.

In this project, I am going to use punctum as an idea to remake elements came from these ﬁve people. Although meanings have been attached to each element when I recieved them, my mind gives a different interpretation from them. For me, experiences are usually appeared in a form of dynamic and personal depiction. Therefore, I would use videos to juxtapose with those still images/text , these juxtaposition could vary with different images/text. This process of remaking and remixing the represention of one’s identity demonstrate the complication of our mind, body and experiences. Symbols, languages and photographs represent our world ideally that generates a hypereality, to give us an I.D.

Sex, Blood and Mastabation

2011-12-16T12:20:00.004-08:00

Last night, I went to the media show host by Lawrence, a second year film student. Sitting at hall 301, watching films with sex, blood and mastabation made me feel bad. If the goal of filmmaking is to make some ridiculous, outraging, graphical uncomfortable scene to catch people's attention, why not be a porn movie director? Show your work in somewhere else. Am I conservative? Am I stubborn? I don't know, I have no context of why film students in this school would produce such work.

I don't mean to say that's someone's fault. I just hope that we could take some ethics or critical studies classes and understand what's the meaning of visual representations. As a film producers, let's not waste our resources on filming your process of mastabation and screen them in front of us without any warnings.

Friday Feminism

2011-10-28T14:38:00.006-07:00

I am frustrated with this class. Teacher keep talking about buying local food, supporting local, planting your own food. Stop buying food from corporation. Yes, you are right. And I told her about the poor have no choice. They cannot afford to make their own meal, they need to eat a cheap meal in KFC, because they do not have enough time or money to prepare their meal. Teacher said nothing and do not acknowledge what I am talking about. The conversation went back to slow food movement, buy local food. She told us a story about teaching her son to buy local food, here it is the story she told: I went to the grocery store and pick up a bottle of water, my son looked at the label and said,“Mom, it said made in France.”, she then told him to put down that bottle of water and told her son, “we need to support the local”. After listening to her story, I have a question in my head. What do you mean by local? For me, local product means product produced by my home, but where is home? Vancouver? Hong Kong? China? United States? Are we supporting the local business by just looking at the label?

I do not know how to react in this class. Sitting in this class seems like a wrong decision. We need someone who understand the others to teach us the concept of feminism. But not someone just finished a master/pHD degree of feminist studies and have no knowledge on how the rest of the world is working. In conclusion, I would say, we are privileged and now we are studying feminism. You do not know that you are privileged and you talk about change. The answer is buying local food, slow food movement and spend more time with your family rather than just working all the time. At last, she said, we are the one who can choose how we live our lives.

Welcome to North America.

5 second Reading

2011-10-07T08:17:00.004-07:00

A project of ﬁlming a 5 second reading.
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
11 am to 1 pm
Second ﬂoor, ECU Library
Read me your favourite quote/line/words in any language. You will be recorded by the film camera that runs for 2’ 45”. After 2’ 45”, you will be digitalized in HD format.

A wise man

2011-10-06T21:23:00.007-07:00

Are you a mandarin speaker? My teacher, Mr.T asked me today. This is the first time they care about what language do you speak. You might want to know why they asked you that. Normally, they would not care what language you speak. You just need to know how to speak English, good English. The reason of why they care was because there was a guest speaker, Lu Sheng 盧晟, who is a Chinese director, came to our school and give a talk about his recent film Here, There. To be honest, this is the first time I hear about him, since I grew up in Hong Kong, I do not understand the film industry in China. But today, when I saw his film trailer, the way how he talk, the way of how he explain what is cinematography reminds me of a wise man speech. I figured out I miss talking to a wise man. In here, this school, I have learn how to do a good presentation. I have learn how to have an ego. I have learn how to talk big . But I figured out I have learn nothing about how to be wise afterall. I listen to what Lu Sheng said in 30 minutes, I felt like I learn a lot. I felt like I should not enrolled in my recent cinematography class. I need advice from a wise man.

開到荼蘼

2011-08-04T19:19:00.011-07:00

Last night, I had a wonderful time with my friends from school. We sat beside the seashore at Vanier park. And I, have been sitting on a pointy rock for an hour, like a torture exercise. Luckily, the wonderful blossom distracted me, my mind has been dominated by the visionary sense and made me forgot about the punishment chair. The screen of my digital camera became another distracting scene to separate my body from reality. I hope you enjoy this moment, when the blossom ends.

Plate 26

2011-08-02T14:22:00.007-07:00

This art piece by Jenny Holzer captured my attention for a long while. This is the art that make me think about life. "Some never cook because they have nothing to eat". This sentence is as powerful as an image of a starving children. These words triggered images in my mind and generated feelings like a needle poked into my heart. I have heard stories from my father about the great famine period in China. The tastiest food for him are usually associated with a story of how hard he tried to obtain the food. For example, one the most delicious food he had in his life was the snake in the water he caught with his friend during the time when they were starving for days. Similar to him, my memories are usually associated with food I ate, but of course, my stories are plain compared to his. Because I am lucky to born at a place without war. Everything is so easy to get, and most of the time, I forgot what were things that made my life so precious.

This summer, I tried to write down my thoughts about the food I ate and the art I liked. Check it out if you feel hungry for food or hungry for art.
ieate.wordpress.com

Thank you

2011-07-21T21:46:00.001-07:00

Are You Happy?

2011-07-18T21:32:00.008-07:00

Having extra time at home would not make you a more productive person. Lately, I have been getting the syndrome of "Not knowing what to do" (this syndrome applies both "in present/in future"). My time schedule had shifted from waking up in the morning to waking up at night. This habit frustrated me the most as I used to be a morning person. I was usually energized in the morning. This worries my partner, as I knew she cares a lot whether I am happy or not. Or wether I know what I am going to do in life. I worried her when I answered "Eat" and "Sleep" when she came up with a question about "Things that you have done that made you happy before you die" Later, she felt better when I gave her some right answers: going to study, having a cat... ... Later that night, she forwarded this poster to me. It's such a weird and tautological (thank you Omar to introduce me this word) poster. It drives me crazy when I try to understand the logic of these arrows and circles. Maybe there is no logical way to explain whether you are happy or not.

Change something. At least for now.

A Good Counselor

2011-07-05T00:52:00.008-07:00

I made it. This is the first scholarship in my life. And this is the first honor in my life. Both of them are meaningful to me. Not because of the money I got. It is because I felt at some point I have proved that Art can make money. Or doing what you like and what you believe can make money. But beware. This money cannot make you happy. This money is very little when compared to what you are going to earn from a job. This money reminds me of nights of struggles on working things out. This money reminds me of how many times of questioning about myself, about why I am an ESL student? Why I am not a Hong Kong student? Why make a big deal of English as your second language? This money reminds me of conversations with my colleagues and teachers, chunks of weird conversations still left on my brain, telling me, just go and do it. I have figured out building trust with myself is the hardest thing to achieve. Sometimes I think I would be a very good counselor, because I have to analyse problems and counsel myself everyday. I know this sound strange, but I can tell you are also the one who counsel yourself everyday.

PS. Thank you Christopher Foundation.

Yes. Maybe. Maybe not.

2011-06-30T12:47:00.014-07:00

I have had a hard time to concentrate on writing this blog. Thoughts are always there, but I just do not have the mood to capture them in words/drawings/videos. Not so productive recently even though I have to live on my own. Is it suppose you would have more time when you are alone? Yes, it does. Then, logically thinking, does it mean that you can work more at your own time and be more focus on your work? No, it doesn't. Not for me. Maybe you are a people person? No, I don't think so, sometimes I got frustrated around people. Maybe you should try going out and talk to some people. Yes. Maybe. Maybe not. How about doing some Volunteer job? Yes. Maybe. Maybe not.

Recently, I just found out how complicated human thoughts could be. It reminds me when I was working on my last editing project. I tried to think BIG and pick a topic about democracy, and I am too naive to think that it is just a right for us, it's a right thing to do. The more I dig deep into those youtube videos, the more I get lost. Democracy is a complicated term and act. It could be defined in a certain way in different context. Luckily, I managed to finish my final project even with lots of questions facing in class. You should not put the tank man in the cut/Martin Luther King's speech is too dominant... At the end of lesson, I have learnt that even promoting democracy needs censorship. That's why certain activist would get caught and some would not. Honestly, I think the world needs more feeling rather than just thinking. But of course, at the end, your feelings might came from your thoughts. Hope this video can inspire some parts of your brain.

Happy Birthday

2011-05-09T13:52:00.006-07:00

Today, Google celebrates Roger Hargreaves's 76th Birthday by posting these lovely illustrations on their homepage. Google, you made my day! I have always been in love with children's book. Every time I read them, I felt like I am living in a colorful world without worries, no stress, but only with these weird, funny looking features. They are soft and fluffy. I wonder what's the life of a children book's illustrator is like? Do they think like a child or act like a child? Can you be one if you are not an optimistic person?

Meeting Harry

2011-04-24T00:59:00.004-07:00

I found a note, it reminds me of seeing Harry last year.
I forgot all the details. Helpful or not?
Ask yourself about why you choose Film as your major before you make an appointment with your advisor.

ESL

2011-03-25T16:51:00.007-07:00

What is ESL stand for?
Egg Smell Lousy? no.
Eagle Snake Leopard? no not at all.
Europe Seoul London? well, pretty close. something is wrong there.
Tell me what it is.

Well, your teacher will tell you what it means. You don't need to rush to understand the meaning now. Wait until you study overseas. Overseas? what do you mean? The sea that's not our sea? Overseas, seas over where? Do you mean the ocean over somewhere? Well, you will know later. Teachers there will tell you what that means. They will show you what ESL means. But how? They will know, oh, no, you will know later. Let me give you a badge to wear first, to get use to knowing who you are.

Welcome to the club. Let's celibrate!

To Japan

2011-03-20T22:49:00.007-07:00

I don't know when Japan will recover from the Tsunami and the melt down of the Nuclear plant in Fukushima. But I have faith on Japan, I saw the beautiful side of human beings in the news. I felt there is hope for us to rebuild our planet. Although it is sad to see the bright side of us when disasters happened, I remembered there is a Chinese idiom said 置之死地而後生 It means after things go to an end/death, there will be life. Therefore, things will turn well again after the chaos. Please stay strong everyone, especially people in Japan.

I have never been to Japan, I cannot find a reason to be there before. But now I guess I did.

Miranda July

2011-03-09T21:20:00.006-08:00

I have been taking video art class for more than three months already. I have struggles everyday of thinking about what video art is? Is it about telling a story? Is it about long boring focus or out focus of an object? Is it about politics? Is it about something that is supposed to be poetic but in a way that no one can guess what it means? Is it about technical aspects? Is it about how to edit your footage? Is it about super intriguing visual illusion? Is it Man Ray? Is it Andy Warhol? Is it Nam June Paik? Is it Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster?

I am going to show my work to class tomorrow. This reminds me of showing my writings in the creative writing class. Watching this video made me laugh, it answers all of my questions about what is video art. I guess I should do a presentation about Miranda July in my class because I really love her work. But then I pick Pierre Huyghe. After 5 years, I was still struck by his Celebration Park Exhibition that happened at Tate. Here you go, a promo for No One Belongs Here More Than You. (should definitely click this link to see how great she is!)

Save us

2011-02-28T01:49:00.005-08:00

There are several images arise in my head everytime when I see people using an ipad:
1. Ten commandments tombstones with Moses
2. 神主牌 shén zhǔ pái
3. 算盤 Suanpan with 財神 Chinese Money God

If it is not the above images, it would be this one - Jesus the Messiah, save us from wasting paper.

Emily Carr at ECU

2011-02-26T21:44:00.008-08:00

Lately, I have been reading three books about photography. They are inspiring, most importantly, they are not a lengthy book. To be honest, I am not fond of a lengthy book as I am impatient to words. Check them out if you are really interested in photography:
On Photography by Susan Sontag
Why hasn't everything already disappeared? by Jean Baudrillard
Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes
These three books sure did trigger tons of questions to my art practice. In this digital era, everyone got several gadgets in their pockets that could create images at anytime. Should I call those images jpg files? Or should I call them pixels? Or should I call them numbers? Welcome to a visual era. An era that allowed us to produce images endlessly. The definition for photography will soon be redefined. The above library card image produced by ECU Library nicely fit on this topic.

At a Glance

2011-02-15T12:49:00.011-08:00

Don't miss the chance to see Ken Lum’s talk at Vancouver Art Gallery today at 7pm. His exhibition, At a Glance was held from February 12 to September 25, 2011 at Vancouver Art Gallery.

He is one of the Canadian Artists I appreciated so far since I landed on Vancouver last year. Not just because he is Chinese. It is about his work that speak about races, identity, immigrants... issues that are related to subaltern.

It's too bad that I have an evening class today. I guess it's time for me to get a VAG membership because of this exhibition. Check out his book and get a discount on Chapters (yes, the big corporation, the big bookstore - Chapters) - if you are a student like me =)

Trenta

2011-01-19T02:17:00.006-08:00

Whenever I walk into a coffee shop, I would tell the cashier,"Can I have a Grande Americano?" She would look at me funny and with that funny look, I figured out "Oh, I am not at Starbucks!" But please don't make that funny look to me, although you look down on Starbucks. I suggest Oxford dictionary to include "Grande" and "Venti" into their dictionary. In order to become a trend-setter dictionary, it should also include the up-coming word - Trenta. If Trenta deserved to be in the dictionary, OED should also add "Big Gulp". And for easy memorization, Trenta means a cup that is bigger than your stomach. How about Big Gulp? Ummm... Big Gulp would be a cow stomach (which a cow has four stomachs). When I order a cup of coffee in Starbucks, they will yell to the Barista, "Grande personal Americano." At first I don't understand what they meant by "personal", I can only think of, "Do you mean my coffee is personal, personal secret, personal interest or personalized Americano - a cup of coffee that belongs to me only?" Finally, I figured out the word "personal" means you bring your own mug!!!! I have to figure out how I could get a personal Trenta Americano in the future.

老夫子

2011-01-12T23:05:00.006-08:00

Recently, I have been using sina 微博 (like twitter but in Chinese version) to connect with my friends in Shanghai. I am amazed by the dynamics of different Chinese dialects, variety of photos and news being shared in that space. Technology is incredible, because of technology, I could now share my childhood memories in this virtual space. Ta da... Old Master Q comics! I think I would like to call it 老夫子 (as it feels more close to me). That's my favorite comics book to read when I was young (although the publisher always repeat the same stories in various different issues to trick us). The stories in《老夫子》 are philosophical and smart. I am happy to see someone set up this Old Master Q comics website, so that I could reread them again and release some stress from life.

The reason of why I suddenly think about 老夫子 is because of this fashion post I found today in sina 微博, I still don't quite understand fashion, maybe 王澤 understand this long time ago.

Goodbye Mr Szeto

2011-01-05T01:29:00.019-08:00

Sad news happened right at the beginning of 2011 - Szeto Wah was died on the second day of January. Mr Szeto is a well- respected teacher, a democracy activist, a man who loved his country with all his heart, although his country won't agree of what he did is right and keep rejecting him from going back to his own country.

Without you, we, Hong Kong people would not have the flame in our heart to fight for the victims in 1989. I don't think what I wrote would better than two of the famous writers below. Mr. Szeto, I wish you could read this on your way to heaven.

異人其萎

司徒華先生即使在生，也是一位古人，他的擇善固執、千金一諾、對誠信和善良的信仰，令他不太像現世的中國人。

他相信道德、勇氣、謀略，認為在一個荒謬的亂世，缺一不可。他的道德來自他的職業操守，勇氣來自抗戰和貧窮過來的憂患，而謀略──一些人叫做政治智慧，來自他早年和共產黨有往來。他把共黨的一套和組織力，最終用於與共產黨對抗，這套絕門秘技，在香港沒有幾人懂得，司徒華是香港的一位奇人。

他早年對政治熱衷，是因為理想。在司徒華身上，可以了解當年為什麼那麼多人奔赴延安。司徒華一身兼備瞿秋白、周恩來、潘漢年三種人格，浪漫而忠厚，大勇而富魅力，然後是對人性軟弱和陰暗面的了解。

其人、其事、其字，幾十年來，許多人指司徒先生「偏激」。但是當他離去，罵過他「偏激」的，方知道自己的平庸；罵過他「頑固」的，方識自己的懦弱；不滿他「霸道」的，始了解自己的鄉願。他只不過對人世間的事有許多鮮明的看法，但在一個以全無觀點為穩重的社會，司徒先生的稜角每被視為異端。

明乎此，即可冷眼對今日據說是「不分黨派立場」，包括特首，對司徒氏身後的讚頌了。如果今日捧他的政敵是真心，那麼在他生前對他的詆譭即是謊言；如果他生前罵他「反華反共」是真話，今日對他的「肯定」即是虛偽。司徒華先生對此洞若觀火，他對中國政治的污穢和卑劣知之甚深，他的逝世，演變為「哭司徒」的某種「香港情懷」，以他黑白分明的性格，對於混雜其中的一些哀悼，他不會希罕，且嗤之以鼻，這是香港進入一個沒有司徒華的政治世代時，許多人不會有的睿智和頓悟，他的身影遠去了，一天絢爛的文采，在香港這片狹小的地平線上，他生前孤獨而不寂寞，死後卻是一個雖有許多隨眾、卻又是絕後的人。

陶傑
____________________________________________________________

一半哀傷一半敬重

一月二日晏起，當我們準備遲來的午餐時，電視播映了司徒華（ 1931~2011）肺癌病逝噩耗，心裏難過當場沒有胃口。華叔已七十九高齡還患重病，但仍奮勇搏鬥了一年多，一度抖擻精神寫回憶錄，最感動大家的，就是這份不管任何事都不輕言放棄的「堅毅」精神。

作為正義民主鬥士，成立了教協、支聯會、民主黨，也發起過不少運動，當跑的路跑過，當盡的力盡過，一生無悔無愧無憾，連政見不同者也尊重他的風骨。致力「平反六四，爭取民主」，交棒後繼者，「功成不必我在，成功自然有我」，歷史上一定有華叔的名字。他提醒從政者兩大忌：金錢糾葛和男女關係，以免自毀政治前程，不愧是「黨鞭」。看看下台的或「危殆」中，都因質素低不自愛。

華叔遺願：死後火化，骨灰一半撒大海中，北望祖國大地；一半撒歌連臣角花園中，與香港土地人民融滙一起。

忽有點感悟，人生是一半水一半土，一半天意一半人為，一半同志一半對手，一半努力一半等待。也許並不完美，但面對大是大非，「堅毅」是重要的，也是不容易的。華叔一路走好，我們一半哀傷一半敬重。

李碧華

原文刊登於蘋果日報二零一一年一月五日副刊

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T00:13:00.003-08:00

My Grandfather

2010-12-31T11:38:00.007-08:00

This artwork is one of the Vancouver Biennale projects produced by Wang Shugang, called Meeting. I saw this on yesterday while biking around the downtown area. The exact location of this piece of work is at Cardero Park. There are eight bronze figures of Chinese squatter painted in red.

I was wondering what is the artist intention of making this piece of art? Here it is what the sign said:
First exhibited the G-8 summit meeting in Germany in 2007 where world leaders held a “meeting”, the placing of the figures in static positions with cupped hands is not without irony nor historical and cultural significance.

I don't get the idea of what it means, maybe I should look for the context. What happened in the G-8 summit? Well, personally, this artwork reminds me a story when I was young. As my grandfather who lived in Macau (also, mainland China), he used to visit us in Hong Kong. Because his eldest son, which is my father moved there long time ago. I rarely see my grandfather on my father side. But I got a great impression of him, everytime I saw him, he would asked us to bring out the Chinese ink brush and the "suen" paper and taught us how to write Chinese calligraphy. Writing Chinese calligraphy in ink is as rare as seeing my grandfather from Macau. It only happened once in a few years. I have heard enough stories told by my father about his father. There are three significant things about my grandfather. He never work in his life. He is a great artist. He treated his friends nicely. I always wonder, are they the reasons why my father doesn't like people to be an artist, to do art, because art can hardly made money to let your family enjoy life. I understand how hard my father's life was when he was young, it seems like all the Chinese overcome that period of time. Moreover, he had a father who never work in his life.

When I was staring at these men yesterday, I remembered my grandfather had a habit of squatting when he was tired. One time, while he was visiting us, he squatted outside a store in the mall when he was waiting for us to finish shopping. My father complained to him that he should not squat in public. Grandfather said nothing but told my father that he was tired. Now when I grew up and looking back to that incident, there are so much feelings coming through me. There are so much to speak about this squatting gesture, there are so many stories behind, behind both my father and grandfather, behind both you and me.

one minute friend

2010-12-20T23:21:00.008-08:00

I was done with my school work two weeks ago. All of a sudden, my burden was dropped from my shoulder. What am I going to do without school? Sleep. no I can't. Write something! I figured out this blog has been abandoned for a long time. What should I write? I am still in the lazy mode. I have been playing the sims, browsing the facebook, playing the zookeeper game, bookmark all of the cultural theory links provided by Randy, reread all of my creative writings, doing some design job, arguing with my brother about being a capitalist or communist or socialist, making and writing Christmas cards, watching youtube video - watching this particular moment... you would become my one minute friend after playing this video.

Journey

2010-12-13T16:46:00.004-08:00

JOURNEY from goldiewhy on Vimeo.

This is my final Editing project. Special thanks to Randy, your lecture is an inspirational one. And of course, we are all being watched - quote from one of my favourite artists, Ken Lum in his ECU forum.

2010-12-13T16:38:00.002-08:00

Fill in the blanks

2010-11-23T00:42:00.008-08:00

Matthew G got his face tattooed with a pair of glasses. Questions raised on my mind:

What is he doing?
Why a pair of glasses?
Ray-ban?
Save money on buying a pair of real one?
Having fun?
Being creative?
Being different?
Make some noise?
Get some comments on his you-tube video?

I don't have any tattoo, I wonder what's the meaning of having one? (Try to get one then, he said.) Make sure you follow the procedures below:

First, watch Matthew G’s video.
Then, fill in the blanks:

Mark ____________ on my _______
Mark ____________ on my _______
Mark ____________ on my _______
Mark ____________ on my _______
Mark ____________ on my _______

Editing II

2010-11-19T07:36:00.003-08:00

My second Editing Assignment. My lecturer. My animals.

Anthropomorphism from goldiewhy on Vimeo.

Editing I

2010-11-15T19:46:00.003-08:00

Look what I have done on my first Editing project! I would say this is more like an individual project, well, you know what I mean... ;) Enjoy!

Sunday Afternoon from goldiewhy on Vimeo.

quit

2010-10-29T06:56:00.002-07:00

A quiet voice in my soul tell my tired body
to quit
this entire
this entire
repetitive
voice
tell my tired body
to
quit
this
entire game

Four Weddings and a Funeral

2010-10-06T23:02:00.005-07:00

This is the most beautiful poem that I have ever heard of. And of course, this is one of my favorite movies.

Orient

2010-10-06T21:33:00.005-07:00

Happy Mid Autumn

2010-09-22T09:49:00.003-07:00

明月幾時有？
把酒問青天。 不知天上宮闕， 今夕是何年？

我欲乘風歸去，
唯恐瓊樓玉宇， 高處不勝寒。 起舞弄清影， 何似在人間！

轉朱閣，
低綺戶， 照無眠。 不應有恨， 何事長向別時圓？

人有悲歡離合，
月有陰晴圓缺， 此事古難全。 但願人長久， 千里共嬋娟。

蘇軾

Bright moon, when did you appear?
Lifting my wine, I question the dark night sky.
Tonight in the palaces and halls of heaven
what year is it, I wonder?

I would like to ride the wind, make my home there,
Only I hide in a jade room of a beautiful mansion,
As I could not bear the cold of high altitudes.
So I rise and dance and play in your pure beams,
this human world — how can it compare with yours?

Circling red chambers,
low in the curtained door,
you shine on the sleepless.
Surely you bear us no ill will —
why then must you be so round at times when we humans are parted!

People have their griefs and joys, their togetherness and separation,
The moon has its dark and clear times, its waxings and wanings.
Situations are never ideal since long ago.
I only hope we two may have long long lives,
So that we may share the moon's beauty even though we are a three hundred miles apart.
Shui diao ge tou by Su Shi

A Transformation

2010-09-19T23:22:00.008-07:00

Have you ever count how many paper cups you use in a day? I figured out I have been using too many paper cups (from Tim Horton, Starbucks, Beans around the world, Petit Ami ...) since I moved to Vancouver on last year/since I was consuming coffee twice a day. If I was using 2 paper cups each day, that means in a year, I have been using 2 x 365 = 730 paper cups. I slowly figured the math out not because I am an environmentalist, I think I am more like a practicalist. I decided to keep the paper cups as my drawing containers. But then, after one week, there are too many containers piled up on my desk. I had to get rid of them. Yes, recycled them (very green)... Well, the fact was, dump them as trash. Therefore, from now on, I decided to bring a coffee mug to go to school.

A Transformation is a work by Kendra Stalder. She transforms the paper cup beautifully into a sculpture. Kendra’s work definitely gives a new life to the paper cup compared to my idea of reusing them as it is (a paper cup is a paper cup is a paper cup).

Paper cup, please forgive me for not being creative enough and send you to trash.

Story

2010-09-19T16:51:00.005-07:00

It has been written
but never been told

will you be interested
to hear

will you be bold
to tell

it has been born
but no one knows

Course II

2010-09-13T22:36:00.006-07:00

My cat, Mimi asked me to check out this course the other day. She felt disappointed because the instructor would not allow her to be in the class. Don't worry Mimi, I would bring the best photo of you to show the class for sure.

Course I

2010-09-12T13:28:00.003-07:00

This is a course provided by Vancouver School Board that I recommend you to take in this fall. We should become an expert on this field - the art of complaint.

Locker

2010-09-08T22:23:00.000-07:00

Tamilians

2010-09-01T21:50:00.012-07:00

There was a boat full of Tamil people came to Canada illegally, these people are now considered as refugees. Yes. They are called Tamil refugees. No. They are not refugees. They are terrorists. Terrorists? with families of terrorists - even pregnant women? Yes. They are members of Tamil Tiger. The Smugglers that shipped these Tamil people are group members of Tamil Tiger, therefore all of the people on this boat should consider as terrorists - members of Tamil Tiger.

According to this logic, can you consider all of the people who live in Canada are Canadian since we all live on this piece of land at the same time, and we all are not terrorist because Canadian are not under the" Axis of Evil". So, what should we do to the Tamil refugees/terrorists? Can we settle them down in Canada? Can we send them back? What should we do? We should call the court and see how the laws said... oh, we don't have any laws about this issue... why don't we make up one now and make sure all terrorists are out of our country! That's a brilliant idea!

Tamil people on this boat have so much hope that they could be safe, they risked their lives to see if they could find some hope in Canada. They paid money to the smugglers to build a boat for them to escape from the massacre happened in Sri Lanka. The smugglers design a boat for these "travelers", so that they could have a more comfortable journey. I believe these specially designed boats gave Westerners a notion that they are not "real" refugees because they don't look poor enough to be refugees. According to our history or our media, refugees should have that poorest look and should not have technology to build that boat.

This Tamil boat reminds me the story of Noah's Ark. Unfortunately the Tamil people is not as Lucky as Noah. I guess Ken Lum should add one more boat on the roof of Vancouver Art Gallery. The red, the yellow, the black, the white are all there, has Jesus mention in the Bible that he would also love the "terrorists" yet?

My Tenancy Act

2010-09-01T18:54:00.003-07:00

Summer Life Drawing II

2010-08-14T00:34:00.000-07:00

Fire works

2010-07-29T00:01:00.003-07:00

Thank you

2010-07-23T00:14:00.004-07:00

Josef Frank

2010-07-17T12:27:00.005-07:00

This is a Google homepage on July 14, 2010. I couldn't help myself, I need to take a second glance of this beautiful illustration. So I kept pressing home to revisit Google homepage. Thank you Google, for introducing us such a great designer - Josef Frank.

I Served the King of England

2010-07-15T14:34:00.004-07:00

I miss those days that I could watch two movies in a night. Those were the times when I went crazy with the International Film Festival. There are gems in there, for sure. But most of the time, gems are hidden in sand. I haven't seen that many many when I grew older, when I got a job. The excuses of not seeing a movie could be "very time consuming", "actoring are not good enough:, "another hollywood story" or "another boring French movie". Maybe watching too many good movies was not good for me, this spoiled me to become a picky monster. But still, I got a habit of buying movie discs. I got many of them at home and I couldn't help myself of not buying them. I guess it's time for me to watch them all (well, at least one at a night) Watching movie should be a simple thing, like listening someone to tell you a story.

Last night, I have watched a good one. It's called I Served the King of England. This movie is based on the novel (with the same title) written by one of my favorite writers, Bohumil Hrabal. The movie starts with this wonderful line of script, "It was always my luck, to run in bad luck." Jan Díte continues to tell his story.

Laughter

2010-07-12T00:37:00.007-07:00

I almost forgot how summer used to play an important role in my life (well, at least in the first half of my life). Summer means you are living with a two-month long break, staying in a 24-hour air conditioned room, deciding which flavor of ice-cream to get into the cone, and attending an unlimited day-dreaming session... Being a student again in this year means I could live my life again (to live like the first half of my life again?). I have been wandering around the downtown area more since I got my bike. Yes, wandering around means doing nothing particularly or walking around without any destiny or purpose. Yesterday, I found out there was a piece of art work called "A-MAZE-ING LAUGHTER" by Yue Min Jun located near the English Bay area. I remembered my visual culture class have introduced this piece but I never have a chance to see the real thing because I don't think I know it's just locate in this area. I felt happy to see Yue's work, not only because of those laughing faces, but also Yue is one of my favorite Chinese artists. I walked around and saw people tried to mimic the expression of those sculptures, it seems like they are the miniature of this art piece. I have never imagine a sculpture could interact with viewers in this way. All of a sudden, I was inspired by this laughter.

Reading China in Canada Day

2010-07-02T00:02:00.010-07:00

Finally, I have finished watching this heavy, heart-breaking documentary. It's called China: A Century of Revolution, directed by Sue Williams. I highly recommend you to watch this documentary if you are one of the following:
1. you don't like Mao
2. you don't understand what Chinese are thinking
3. you are born and raised in Hong Kong
4. you found Chinese are disturbing you in your country
To be honest, I feel ashamed for not knowing much about the Chinese history earlier in my life. On the other hand, I feel sad to know more about the history of our country. I now understand what's the meaning of life, I now understand why I am so lucky compared to those who have lived through the war, the Cultural Revolution and the famine period. When I saw the Chinese told their stories in this documentary, it's still hard for me to imagine how complex human lives could be. It's still hard for me to imagine how they could survive all those hard times - times that they have been being both physically and mentally tortured by the peer around them.
Living in those days, you never know the answer, you never who is in charge, you never know what's the right thing to do in life, you can only live in this moment, going with the flow. Maybe that's the hint of the answer, maybe that's the meaning of life.

Go out

2010-06-28T14:09:00.003-07:00

This is an 1951 advertisement for Woman's Day magazine designed by Gene Federico. This advertisement again proved that a good design could last long enough to create its impact even on today.

Go out. Go green. Go bike.

goldfish

2010-06-19T12:32:00.007-07:00

曾叔叔，睇金魚是不用坐船的。我還是不跟你起錨了。
Uncle Tsang, I don't think we can see the goldfish in the sea.

政制改革方案辯論
TV Debate on the Constitutional Reform Package

Summer life drawing I

2010-06-14T23:46:00.003-07:00

Day dreaming I

2010-06-14T23:41:00.003-07:00

Act Now

2010-06-12T23:45:00.008-07:00

I guess the Hong Kong government should consider promoting their "Act Now" campaign like what the nude bikers did. (Well, in order to reform Hong Kong into a "World Class" + "International" city) Let's refer to what the bikers said - it was the only way to get attention. Please, Mr.Tsang, ACT NOW and don't waste our money on those useless advertising campaign.

Crave

2010-06-08T16:32:00.006-07:00

Thank you so much Louisa! Thank you for sending me this magazine all the way from Hong Kong. I am touched by receiving anything which smell like, taste like or look like Hong Kong.

Although I don't think I could afford to eat out at those luxurious restaurants, I appreciated the fact that this beautifully design magazine was made in Hong Kong. Yes, no more BC Mag, no more TimeOut layouts. It won't hurt if you just spend $20 (HK dollars, not CAD) and learn something about Gastronomy (wait, what that means?) Come on! Food culture! Try something new other than Eat Drink Man Woman. After reading 80 pages of crave, now, my goal is to buy a Lavazza Matineé espresso machine from Lane Crawford. Then say goodbye to the barista in Petitami.

A day to remember

2010-06-03T18:47:00.005-07:00

Vancouver events for the 21st Anniversary of the June 4th Tiananmen Massacre

March
7:00pm: Gather at Granville Street/6th Avenue, then march to the the Chinese Consulate

Candlelight Vigil
8:00 pm: Outside the Chinese Consulate at 3380 Granville St./16th Ave, Vancouver

Join us.

民主行和燭光晚會
民主行 - 6月4日星期五 7:00pm, 溫哥華市固蘭湖街夾西六街集合
Granville Street/6th Avenue, 沿固蘭湖街遊行至中國駐溫哥華總領事館前

燭光悼念晚會 - 6月4日星期五 8:00pm, 溫哥華市固蘭湖街3380號
中國駐溫哥華總領事館前3380 Granville St./16th Ave, Vancouver

My 100th post

2010-06-02T01:39:00.003-07:00

They sacrificed
their young bodies
their young lives
to fight for their mother

21 years later,
where is their mother?

This video was produced by Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union

Our Goddess

2010-05-30T22:32:00.002-07:00

Foxconn and the Tank Man

2010-05-27T00:02:00.009-07:00

Ninth worker falls to death at Foxconn's Shenzhen plant in China

I was very upset to see the above news. I google "Foxconn" and figured out the first page of their website seems like promoting the idea of "one world", but then, when I closely focus on the left corner, I saw "speed", "quality", "flexible".

These three words seem like a curse to the Chinese workers. Everyone expected the factory workers in China work with speed, produce quality products and receive flexible wages or working with flexible time. I feel so sad about the fact that even the management people themselves are Chinese, they treated their own people like a machine. I have witnessed so many times that people over the top pushing deadlines among the workers. It seems like people with power (and with poor time management) have rights to violate the basic human rights of the workers.

Have we ever think about we are the one who murder these Chinese workers? We drove tanks to push over them so we could meet our goal - "speed, quality, flexible,speed, quality, flexible, speed, quality, flexible, speed, quality, flexible,..."

My self portrait

2010-05-23T17:11:00.002-07:00

Transient from goldiewhy on Vimeo.

People usually get attached to the idea of being a self, ‘I’, ‘myself’, ‘my’ name, ‘my’ body and even ‘my’ mind, Buddhism believes that there is a continuous stream of consciousness, but denies any existence of a solid, permanent self anywhere in that continuous stream. Therefore, ‘I’ doesn’t really exist.
I believe the physical form of ‘myself’ exists in a way similar to all of the substances on earth. We all live in a transient state. Clouds blow away by the wind and change its shape. Water evaporates and can change its state into steam. Smoke coming out from a chimney can turn into substances that diffuse in the air. Waves travel through the shoreline and change the pattern of the sand. Our urban space transforms everyday according to different time.
The state of ‘I’, ‘my’ body will only exist in a short period of time. At the end, ‘my’ body will die, ‘my’ body will decay, ‘my’ body will turn into nutrients to nourish the land. We all live in a transient state. A self exists nowhere and in no way as a permanent body.

Obedient or Rebel?

2010-05-20T12:39:00.007-07:00

After watching this video, I am glad to know that there is a teacher like Miss Ng, who became a good demonstration to her students. I believe that there won't be a single teacher in Hong Kong would have the courage to speak out democracy in public. I am not blaming them not to speak out. On the other hand, I understand their situations. The reason is teachers were basically considered as a civil servant. If teachers started challenging the government laws, that means they are not loyal to their employer, which loyalty was the most important factor that determine whether you could stay in your position or not.

It's time for us to say NO to our ridiculous government. We need to have courage to tell the Chinese government that democracy is not bad, democracy could be as good as a weapon to protect our motherland. Democracy doesn't mean anti-government, democracy doesn't mean Americanization, democracy doesn't mean weaken the power of the government. Democracy is a way to give the power to the right people to do the right things. This power is not assigned only by the government but also monitored by the people.

--------- News from The Standard ---------

Tang gets democracy lesson from teacher
Diana Lee
Thursday, May 20, 2010
The Standard

A teacher who chastized the chief secretary and other government ministers for not voting in the May 16 by-election has been hailed as a heroine by a netizen army of 8,000 who have called on other teachers to follow her example.

Ng Mei-lan, who teaches English language and liberal studies at Belilios Public School in Tin Hau Temple Road, North Point, accused Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen of setting a bad example to students when he visited the school to discuss constitutional development.

Ng, one of two teachers to question him, told Tang she found it difficult to explain to students the decision by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam- kuen and other top officials to boycott the by-election when the school's liberal studies taught students that voting was part of their duty as citizens.

"It seems that you have set a counter-example to students. If in 2017 we are allowed to elect our chief executive by universal suffrage, what should our students do," Ng asked, drawing applause from the 700 students present.

She also held a banner saying "I want the right to vote for the chief executive" in Chinese.

Tang said independent thinking is also part of a citizen's duties.

"One should not just blindly follow suit," he said.

About 10 students put questions to Tang including one who asked whether he expected to be elected chief executive in 2017 under universal suffrage.

"I believe today is not about whether I will run in an election or not. We are talking about elect
ions for all of us," Tang said.

Ng declined to be interviewed after the meeting.

But at least one facebook group was set up with more than 8,000 members praising Ng and calling on other teachers to teach their students in such a manner.

Speaking to the press later, Tang said the government would use any means - including unconventional or creative ones - to get the community to support the constitutional reform package.

A government source said this could include asking principal officials to hand out leaflets in the streets.

Meanwhile, the Alliance for Universal Suffrage dismissed suggestions it would hold a secret meeting with officials from the central government.

Alliance spokesman Fung Wai-wah and Democratic party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan reiterated that details will be announced once a decision had been reached.

Questioned on their right to hold such talks after 500,000 voters returned five legislators who resigned and were re-elected, Fung said the 14 lawmakers in the alliance had been directly elected in 2008.

Away from the flock

2010-05-17T10:37:00.003-07:00

Will the sheep die when she is away from the flock?
Will you be a follower or the one who rebel?

XXX TF XXX

2010-05-13T22:00:00.004-07:00

Wow, a Tom Ford Lipstick! I keep imagining what is it like after I put it on my lips, will I look like Tom Ford, or will I have as much money as him after I apply this magic, luxury lipstick on my lips?

Will there be ...

a Barack Obama lipstick/

a Steve Jobs lipstick/

an Arnold Schwarzenegger lipstick/

a Lee Ka Shing lipstick...

in the future?

XXX it costs only $45 XXX

Shanghai Expo

2010-05-08T22:03:00.005-07:00

Last week, I got a phone call from my mom in Hong Kong, she asked me to watch the opening of the Shanghai Expo on TV. She said I could learn alot about design from watching those pavilions (which were design by different countries) I was surprised that I heard this news from my mom, which she had no knowledge on what's going on with a World Expo before, not until Shanghai become the host this year.

Now, I got more interest to dig out the news about the Shanghai Expo because of my mom.

Jonathan Glancey's article: Shanghai architecture Expo: an empty experience?, gave me an idea of what people expected to see in a World Expo?

So, what's the purpose of a World Expo? Is it a show or an art show? Could people enjoy a show without any entertaining elements like laser beams, videos, food, music and performers?

This article also reminds me of the discussion about the Crystal Palace in Paloma's class.

Gordon or Jamie?

2010-05-08T21:12:00.005-07:00

I was wandering around the bookshelves in Chapters the other day and was attracted by a book cover - Gordon Ramsay's Family Fare. I wondered when did Gordon changed his image from a crazy chef in "Hell's Kitchen" to a family man. It seems hard for me to accept him as a family man, wearing a checker shirt, cooking a homestyle meal without making an angry face.

Is this a marketing strategy to confuse the consumers? or to favor the consumers? What if you found out the cookbook you just bought is not what you want - oh... this is not Jamie Oliver!

Paul Davis

2010-04-29T20:53:00.002-07:00

Safety and Comfort: A Walk with Paul Davis

An awesome chart from my favorite artist.

Unwrap

2010-04-28T12:23:00.002-07:00

Unwrap from goldiewhy on Vimeo.

Unwrapping refers to removing the outer cover or wrapping. She unwraps a gift on her birthday. He unwraps the package of his new book. I unwrap the foil cover of my chocolate. We unwrap the plastic, the foil, the paper, the ribbon and throw them away. We unwrap the orange peel, the onion peel, the banana peel, the potato peel and throw them away. So many things are unwrapped by us each day but no one care about the cover, the wrapper, the skin, things that we are “supposed” to throw away. To unwrap also means to reveal something hidden under a cover. People are usually curious about what is hidden underneath the cover. This is the reason why people would analyse every sort of social behaviours and try to find out the meanings behind. Those meanings were usually based on the measure of the majority group and most of the time, the minorities were being ignored, liked the wrappers that we were “supposed” to throw away.

Banksy Effect

2010-04-25T09:50:00.005-07:00

When I am reading this news, once again, I start questioning, "What is art?", "Is it all about money?", "Is it all about fame?", maybe I should ask this man from Sotheby. I love to imagine what's the facial expression on these two men when I read this:

"When we saw the painting we could not believe it," said Duncan. "It is the size of a double bed, for a start. We had to insure it, so a man from Sotheby's came over to see it in my loft. He said to me, 'This is surreal. I have just been valuing an 18th-century portrait in a stately home, but it is not as valuable as this.'"

Maybe art is all about story telling?

What would you do with this £200,000 if you are Simon Duncan?

Sometimes, you don't need to find answer to explain how this world run.

Read more from guardian.co.uk

420 Weed Day

2010-04-20T23:32:00.005-07:00

I learned something new in this city as I passed by the Vancouver Art Gallery today. I was surrounded by the smell of weed and people with Bob Marley black T-shirt.

I have never seen people in Hong Kong smoke weed in public. This is the first time I saw so many people smoke weed all together in a public space. I found out news about 420, which is quite "shocking"...
Thousands smoke pot at the Vancouver Art Gallery
Thousands of marijuana enthusiasts celebrate '420' in Vancouver
420 Meaning: Thousands Gather to Promote Marijuana, Many More Just Smoke It
and...
Los Angeles offers marijuana friendly hotel

maybe I should smoke a joint on next 420 and celebrate this special day.

Be an artist

2010-04-19T21:04:00.009-07:00

Finally, I am done with my foundation year at Emily Carr. I couldn't believe time gone by so fast. The first day of school seems like happen on yesterday. I remembered the day that I was so afraid to talk to people at school, the day that I was frustrated of why we had to use lens to study Art History, the day that I complained why my English teacher gave us so much readings, the day that I was confused by all those art terms...
Now, I feel more comfortable to be in this school, I feel more comfortable to talk about Art with people, I have learned not to be a too practical person like Chinese (well, that's what our culture shaped us), I feel like Art is not that ridiculous...But then, things in my mind changed again because of the piece of art I saw on last Friday at the opening night of the Foundation show. The title of this piece is called Swine Yes, is called "Swine", not "pig head" or "animal farm". How do we define the term "Swine" (if you have wrote enough paper in this year, you figured out defining something is really helpful), I decided to use urban dictionary to define this word. The reason I used Urban dictionary instead of Oxford dictionary as my reference is not because I am not "academic" enough or I am the person who won't believe the authority, it's because I believe that the term "Swine" is closer to our daily life which it could be term used as a name of a flu and even a term used to describe certain group of people! This link will tell you more about the definition of "Swine"

Looking at this artwork, I got frustrated again. I asked the pig: Do you feel sad that someone display your head after you died? Do you feel sad that she just put your head inside a plastic bag and label "Swine" beside your head? What's the point of putting your head there? Does she mean that we are all pig heads? Sometimes, I feel like I am a person who is very conservative... why I couldn't accept art like this? But the fact was, I really want to know her concept or the purpose behind her work. Someone might argue that art is very subjective, it all depends on what you see, there is no need to explain. Okay, I try to keep my mouth shut, I kept concentrating on looking at this pig head. I feel sorry about his head being cut in half and display in front of us as art, I feel sorry that I don't understand art.

Everytime when I saw an artwork like this, there is one question raised from my mind: What is an artist's responsibility when they make art?

Last week, I saw a film made by Emily Carr students called "reality TV". The film shows a group of men participated on torturing a victim. But of course, this film is fake, the director framed it like a reality TV show. There are torturing scenes with sounds of yelling and crying in the film. Then, they discussed about there are many people that involved in war had been overcome this type of torturing... I couldn't stand watching the whole film and I walked out. On my way home, I was thinking: Why they made this film? At the moment of watching this film, I could feel the evil inside human being. I wonder if this film is art, that means everyone could view this differently. This movie could circulate anywhere and create different impact, what I concerned was, what if someone read this as a kind of game or someone read it as a right thing to do to others? What's the responsibility of being an artist?

If being an artist means you can do whatever you feel like, if being an artist means you should create an art piece that make as much noise as possible, if being an artist means doing something controversial, if being an artist means you have to choose the above paths...

I would rather not be an artist. I would rather be honest to myself.

Movie Trailer

2010-04-14T22:49:00.007-07:00

Old Man and the Sea Trailer from goldiewhy on Vimeo.

This is my movie trailer project for “Design with image and time” class. This class have been a disaster for me because the school kept switching teachers, not until the 4th week, Kara took over the class. I think this semester seems like a chaos for me, I couldn't get into the Friday's animation class and my only choice was taking “Design with image and time”, although the title of this class is so confusing, I still have to take it, I really want to see how they are going to teach you design with image and time... and there we go... I got my first movie trailer done. “The Old Man and the sea” was assigned by my teacher and I have to make a movie trailer for it. This project was not new to me, as I have done something similar long time ago, I remembered my design teacher yan asked us to design a film title for a movie. I have picked ”Leon the professional” and I have done everything manually (computer is not that popular at that time) I have to admit that I really enjoy working on movie trailer, type, graphics or even making a movie. I guess because I am the generation who is raised by watching TV.

I went to the Emily Carr Students‘ film screening tonight. I could not stand the torturing scenes in "reality TV" and I decided to leave. This film recalled my memory back in the time during the Iraq war, I have seen a youtube video that have been circulated to my colleague’s email. I remembered while I was working in the office and my colleague shared that video with us, it's about a hostage's head being cut off by one of the soldier. I am shocked at that time not only because I saw something that scared me off, but also, the whole ridiculous situation - I was working in an office, sitting on an office chair, watching this with some people who were not involved in the war at all, and it seems so wrong for me to see this and I don't know how I should react. I went back to my seat and I was freeze for a few minutes then I kept on working. All I wished at that day was that no one is going to forward that video anymore. We have had enough of violence, we have had enough of see people suffer but you could do nothing, we have had enough torture in life, we don't need to emphasize this through the camera anymore.

Emily Carr Foundation Show

2010-04-13T22:02:00.007-07:00

My foundation year has come to the end. I have been doing good in this year. I guess I have done better than I expected. Today, I have submitted my work for the foundation show together with a statement about this year. This morning, I was not prepared in writing the statement. Then, within 20 minutes, two sentences came up on my mind. I am impressed by my words. If you want to find out what I have written, you should come to Emily Carr Foundation Show opening on this Friday, April 16, at 7pm.

My 16mm film project Unwrap has been selected to show in the Media Room (Room 121) at around 7:15pm. Join us if you love moving images.

KFC Double down

2010-04-10T18:24:00.005-07:00

Will you try this? Double chicken, double bacon, double cheese...yummmm... double happiness. This burger for sure would lead you to heaven. Double down will launch on 12 April 2010 in the states. I am so addicted to it, even looking at the picture, I have an urge to try. The photo of fast food usually drive me to a fantasy world...and in reality, they taste like... yuck. Read more about this crazy sandwich with tons of sodium:
How to have a heart attack: KFC's new sandwich, the Double Down

Environmentalist

2010-03-21T11:54:00.013-07:00

Finally, I got an acceptance letter from Emily Carr. I would be a Year 1 FVIM student on next year. FVIM is the short form for "Film, Video and Integrated Media" program. It seems like a lot of stuff to learn. Still, this program seems a bit abstract for me right now, I wonder how could a student learn so much stuff in 3 years? What are we suppose to learn from school?

Last week, my visual culture teacher Paloma introduced an article called "What Is Education For?" by David Orr to us. This article is quite inspiring and yet raised lots of issues in my head. I believe Orr is an environmentalist, how do we define this term? Well, I look up on Wikipedia and the Oxford dictionary: noun 1 - a person who is concerned with the protection of the environment. 2 - a person who considers that environment has the primary influence on the development of a person or group. It's interesting to see that most of the names under the notable environmentalist list are westerners, there is only one Asian name there. Does it mean the value or concept of "environmentalism", which now considered as an ethical studies should imply to every countries? Although I totally agree that we should consider our environment, I don't think developing countries could jump so fast to suddenly become a green city. But now, the Western world said we should imply the green studies, sustainable to all sort of schools, business... and skipped the most important part - to understand the root, the fundamental factors, to understand different cultures of the world and see how different cultures play different roles on the environmental issues. I think everyone should have a big picture on what's going on in the rest of the world before implying any sort of environmental policies which based on the standard of the Western world.

Ironically, the countries that the environmentalists are living in, are the wealthy countries. Everyday, tons of waste have been produced from these countries which they have been enjoying the excessive usage of limited resources in the world for so many years. People in these countries could afford buying a car, most of the time, a car could only serve one person. And now, all these car owners urging the world to consider the environment, while they are still enjoying living in big houses and driving their SUVs to work.

Hong Kong Street View

2010-03-13T09:02:00.009-08:00

Finally, Hong Kong Google street view was launched on March. From now on, if I miss Hong Kong, I could Google the place I miss. This is a place I used to live for more than 20 years. I couldn't believe the sun and the sky are so beautiful in the street view picture.

If there is anyone who wanted to know more about Hong Kong culture, they should check out the Google street view. There is no junk in Hong Kong, the only junk there is located at the harbor and it is a tourist spot. Maybe there is one inside Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defense, too. Instead, taxis, buses, trams and people are everywhere in Hong Kong.

Logorama

2010-03-11T09:13:00.008-08:00

Last week, my teacher Kara Pecknold in my "design with image and time" class (well, the name of the course are quite long and vague) showed us this witty movie, "Logorama". This movie won the best short film in the Oscar Awards. I think it's worth to watch it, especially if you are a designer. I remember the days that I have to create 50 logos for just one presentation. I wonder why make 50 but not just 5? This movie is quite inspiring. I could not believe the impact of a logo can be so powerful, not until I saw the pringles men and Mr Mcdonald walking around.

Nowadays, most of the clients tend to flavor a logo with fancy decorative fonts, a logo with stars, a round shape logo, a logo with movement. It seems like no one cares about the form, the functionality and the concept behind a logo anymore. Maybe a fancy, funny, funky logo could truly represents our modern life. We all live in this wonderful dreamland, enjoying the excitement brought by these brands.

I wonder what Paul Rand would think if he saw this movie.

Alexander McQueen

2010-03-07T09:56:00.008-08:00

I don't know the news of his death, not until today. Today, I read that Alexander McQueen won the top fashion design award in England. I found no surprise to honor this genius designer, but when I continue to read the news, I am shock to know that he was died last month in his home. I feel sad to hear the news, although I am not so much into fashion, he is one of the fashion designers that draw my attention, especially his Kate Moss Hologram show His creativity inspired me. His iconic work would never died.

Bansky

2010-02-16T11:41:00.006-08:00

I don't understand the culture of street art. I don't know why people would paint on something that don't belong to them. They painted not only on the wall but also on the bench, the phone booth, the parking meter, the bus stop, the garbage can, the billboard, anywhere they liked. I don't see what's the intention of people who painted on everything in the public spaces.

To show their anger? To rebel? To show their talent? To mark their territories? To get famous? To make noise? To speak out something without getting in trouble? To make art? To do what they want to do? To question the authorities? To make money? To become Banksy?

I guess Bansky is the only graffiti artist I like, but still, I don't like graffiti, maybe Bansky is the one who changed my mind? Will I still like graffiti if every one draw like him on the street? Am I too stubborn and too conservative of not accepting the street art? Or am I too rebellious of not loving the stuff that most of the people like?

Lately, I have been raising too many questions in my head that I don't know the answers.

Happy Tiger Year

2010-02-14T12:22:00.005-08:00

Today is the second day of Chinese Luna New Year, wish all of my friends and family have a fruitful year. Kung Hei Fat Choy (means wish you be wealthy in Cantonese) to you all! Wish you be happy, wealthy, pretty and healthy.

I guess it's time for me to make another New Year's Revolution. It's funny to know that I got two New Years to celebrate a year.

G dbye

2010-02-11T07:43:00.001-08:00

Origami Street Fighters

2010-02-05T14:38:00.010-08:00

This is a stop motion animation project by Emily Carr 2009 Foundation year's students: Jennifer Chiang, Rosanna Lam, Omar Linares, Seol-Ah Park and Fernando Ortega.

I really love their idea of mixing Origami and street fighter together. It's interesting to know that those cute little Origami creatures could be so violent. Both Street Fighter and Origami are the classic culture of the Japanese entertainment, they remind me of all those sweet childhood memories.

Thanks Seol-Ah for posting this on facebook. I really love it. You guys done a really good job!

Olympics

2010-01-31T13:31:00.005-08:00

A woman kissing a Greek Statue, this billboard is underneath the Granville bridge. There is another version with a man kissing a Greek Goddess. I found this interesting and I have no clue on who is the person that paid to put up this billboard.

Winter Olympics will start on February in Vancouver. You can see words like "GOLD" "GO world" "Olympics Line" everywhere, on the bus, on the poster, everywhere. Countries flags are all over Granville street. Yes, countries flags, countries flags that represent you, you, you and you.

I am sick of Olympics promotion, except for this one. A woman kissing the Greek Statue, I never feel tired watching this on my way to school and my head keep creating stories behind it. Imagining myself kissing a statue and holding his hand.

2010-01-27T21:59:00.022-08:00

after it dries

D Y E

Y O U R

O W N

C O L O R

D I E

T H E

C O L O R

Y O U

O W N

before it dries

2010-01-27T21:22:00.008-08:00

My English class asks me to close read a poem that I like the most in "Open Text". I pick Rob Budde's before it dries.

Chemistry, Aspects of human society, Justice, Color - they are all of my favorite subjects.

Coming soon

2010-01-24T00:23:00.016-08:00

I went to a symposium held in the Audain Gallery this afternoon, it was part of the Coming Soon project.

The location of the Audain Gallery is in the West Hastings Street. This is a special location, a location which is near to East Hastings. East Hastings is a famous place in Vancouver. I have been living in Vancouver for five months now, I used to know nothing about this area, but now, I have heard enough stories about it. I have wrote an essay based on my experience walking around East Hastings at night, I have visited there many times because of many reasons, China town is one of the reasons. I liked to hear people's Cantonese conversation in the market, I felt so close and yet so far away from Home. The way they speak Cantonese is much different than the Cantonese I speak. Maybe these people have moved here long time ago, they were still living in the style of the 60s or 80s of Hong Kong. That means many years ago, they immigrated to Vancouver, they bought their lifestyle from Hong Kong and continue living like they were in the old days. It's interesting because it's like the time of old Hong Kong have been frozen in this area, but these people interact with the local Canadian and create an unique community. I believe it's a very complex community - East Hastings and Chinatown, Art Galleries and Drug Dealers, Homeless people and prostitutes, they all melted together in this area.

The symposium today discussed many of these issues. The artists made art to raise our concern about this area. She did research, he made posters of No No No, he worked as a downtown Ambassador. There was an audience raised a question, he asked, how about the people around this area who lived differently from us, who doesn't speak English, what can we do to communicate and interact with them. No one know the answer, or everyone knows but they don't know how to answer this big question. His question reminded me of this incident, which happened at the time when I entered the Audain Gallery to attend this symposium:

I asked her where was the washroom. I thought she was going to show me where it was. But instead she brought me to two security guards, the guards showed me the direction. Then the lady told me that she was so sorry because she didn't know English. I don't think she needed to say sorry to me because she did't know English. I wanted to tell her that I am the same, I don't know much English, too. There is nothing to sorry about if you don't know English. I was wondering the stories behind her the whole time while listening to the artist's talk.

I could still remember her smile, her smile was so warm. She was the cleaning lady working in this Gallery. Even she didn't know English, she didn't know what was going on in this Gallery, I could feel her kindness, her smile speaks a lot to me even we communicated without words. I made this art based on my experience of meeting her.

Rules are good. Break them.

2010-01-21T12:21:00.018-08:00

In yesterday lecture, teacher G analyzed the grading system. He said students who worked hard and followed all the rules in school would normally get a B. Students who got an A were usually the ones who worked closely with professors, work hard and break the rules, they would not follow all of the instructions. Students who got a C are those who just made it. I am usually the one who "just made it". When I was young, I usually got a C in my grades. I am not the best and I am not the worst. Like I won't qualify to get into heaven, on the other hand, I won't end up in hell. All of the comments the teachers gave me were, "Goldie is a steady worker." or "Goldie needs more effort." Yes, one line of text, and this explains why I got a C. It seems like being in the middle fits me very well, as I am the middle child, too. I used to hate myself to be in the middle, as I get older, I don't care anymore. Because I figured out it's funny that most of the people in the world lived in the "middle", too. But most of them won't like to be in the "middle". Terms like Middle class, Midlife crisis, infernal world are not very attractive, it seems like being in the "middle" is a curse, a curse that you have to suffer in this "middle" stage. I guess that's the reason why people doesn't like the idea of getting a C. But why don't we use another perspective to see things? In Confucius, the middle way of living is the core principles of how to live in a harmonious way.

The proposition of the views, “middle and peace”, “golden mean”, “middle and constancy”, and “middle and adherence”, makes the concept of “middle” the core of Confucianism. “Middle” is not only the subjective condition of a person, i.e., his internal , underplayed emotions , but also the standard and rule of his outward words and behaviors in the real life in the society . These two aspects are united. The internal “middle” is the prerequisite of “middle” in words and behaviors. The “middle” in words and behaviors is the externalization and display of the internal “middle”. - from Confucius Institute online

We strike to get an A, the attitude is good, but don't give up when you get a C, think about this as a learning process, getting an A is not fun, I have learned that getting an A- is really a great experience, it drives you to run for a better grade. Although I don't know how to take away the minus there. The minus there is like something that was incomplete. It's enough talking of "A, B or C", I don't see the reason why people like to know about the others' grades. Asking the others' grades is like ask people how much money do they earn or how much money do they have in their bank account.

I don't like the idea of a teacher acting like a God, who tell you how the grading system work, how you can get an A and be qualified to get into the faculty of Heaven. I wished a teacher would use a different way to interpret why we have to break the rules, why getting a B is fine and it's not like the end of the world. Because there would be many "the end of the world" scenes waiting for you after you leave school, in your career life. For me, it's fine to make mistakes, it's fine to be silly in school, just make sure you enjoy the process, to learn from your mistakes.

"Rules are good. Break them" Tibor Kalman said. Most of the students are lost because they don't know that there are no rules, no formula, no guides to guarantee you to get an A in an art school. Art is very subjective. If your teacher doesn't like your work, it doesn't mean the others won't like it. People didn't like Van Gogh's work when he was alive. I think if you work hard, enjoy the process, learn from others, you will definitely get what you want. If you really won't sure about why you get that grade, you have to talk to your teacher to see what had happen. Then, you will be more clear on what to do.

I didn't do very well at the beginning, I remembered when I read the first chapter of the western art history book, I was so lost, I don't know what it was about, what is a Narmer plate, what is the meaning of "depict", "context", "ambiguous", "protagonist", "discourse"...it's hard for me to understand. Everything is so new to me, poems, poets, stories, history of art... it's good to learn new things, this keeps you busy and keeps you not to think about your home that much.

By the way, for the foundation students who want to get into the faculty of Design in the second year, it's better to work hard in the first semester and get a GPA of 3.3. If not, students needed to submit a portfolio to see if they are qualified to get in there. Good luck, students!

What is Art?

2010-01-17T00:46:00.006-08:00

Art is everywhere. I could see Modern art, Aboriginal art, Paintings, Furniture design, Antiques...through the windows on my way back home. Art. What is Art? This question keep playing in my head everyday when I walk along the Granville street. Is a successful art piece measure by its popularity? By its size? By its price? By which galleries that they are going to display? By a review of an art critic? I am now studying in an art school, everyday, I talk about art, I create art, I create meaning to the piece of art I have been created. I have to analyze everything to the point that I don't believe those words I created in school are coming out from myself.

My channel in school:
I saw three detergent bottles on my way back home. Their sizes are enormous,almost like 4 feet tall. I can easily recognize what they are by their shapes. The yellow one is car detergent, the red one is laundry detergent and the pink one is for washing dishes. All of them are mass produce products to serve our daily cleaning tasks...

Channels from my family:
My mom will said,"Oh! See how funny they are, three big bottles, I wonder how many days would last if I have such a big bottle of detergent." My sister will say, " Hahaha, sister, look! these bottles are huge, wow, how do they made this...so funny! let's take a picture!" My father won't say anything when he saw this. My brother will say, "The design of these bottles is really neat, ummm..., I should use the shape of these bottles to produce more products like air cushions, wallpaper, mouse pad, vases... if these products are successful, I will be a millionaire"

Channels with Alissa:
Alissa said, "Oh! I like this art, this make us think what is it about art. He made three large detergent bottles and made us think what is art. Art is not just about enlarging things like these three bottles of what he did."
I said,"Wow, see these bottles. How come this is art? Enlarging three bottles? Wait... ummm... maybe it is art? or not? It's funny that someone will make three bottles, plastic bottles... ummm... If I put these at home, I don't think I have space for other stuff, my house can only store three bottles!? What will they do to these bottles after the display time? Who will buy this art? Can they recycle these large bottles? Let me take a picture and talk about it on my blog...

I think the channels above are very insightful. That's what art is about. Art is everywhere.

Complain, complain, complain

2010-01-07T08:01:00.004-08:00

I read Central Saint Student's blog yesterday and found out an interesting link from pppp. It's about Complaints Choir Worldwide,"This project was initiated by Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kallleinen in 2005. The First Complaints Choir was organized in Birmingham followed by the Helsinki Complaints Choir" I am happy to see the young people in Hong Kong still complain through different creative ways. The old generation always criticize that the young generation only know how to complain but not know how to shut up and get things done. I don't agree with the old ones, because I am the one who like to complain. I know most of the people think that complaints are negative, why not shut up and accept the bad times? But for me, complaints are different. I like to hear different voices, I like to understand why that person is complaining and see how I could help.

We don't have complain in Chinese culture, the old generation believe that everyone should be tough and bear the hard times in your life. Maybe the old generation don't want to spoil the young? Maybe the old generation got treated badly when they were young, so, they think that no one can get good things in their life without working hard? Maybe the old generation had overcome the war and think that the young should experience the bitterness in their life, so they would grow up and know what life is about?

I think my generation had overcome alot, too. I joke with my friend that I could tell my grandchildren that I had witness SARS, the colonial period in Hong Kong, 911 economy crash, Laid offs, the born of the internet... are these stories powerful enough to convince my grandchildren not to complain when they had hard times in their lives? Well, I think I would enjoy to hear their complaints.

This video reminds me of Mrs. Tung, she used to be the Hong Kong Chief Executive's wife, not any more. I remembered one time she complained Hong Kong people only knows how to complain, complain, complain (yeah, she said three times in the news) But Mrs. Tung didn't know that she demonstrated our complain culture nicely through her act. Yes, Yes, Yes, Complain, Complain, Complain.

Rolling Bench

2010-01-03T11:53:00.003-08:00

We definitely need this bench in Vancouver.

Goodbye 2009

2009-12-31T14:05:00.004-08:00

Reading The Top 10 Everything of 2009 reminds me of what I have been overcome this year. It's a miracle for me to go through these things in 2009. After all, I don't think I am the person who love to change. Change usually means unstable, uncertainty, unknown, unsettle, unsure... and I am still adjusting myself so I could take out the "un" in front of those adjectives.

Cropped Circles I

2009-12-30T01:21:00.007-08:00

Everyday I walk by the Granville Street, I step on some circles. They are not normal circle pattern, they are not directional sign, they are not normal circles... What are they? They are circles of countries. They are country flags. For me, the design of a country flag is like a logo. A logo which represents your country. Normally, you won't see a cropped logo hanging in front of a store. I feel frustrated every time when I saw those cropped country flags circles on Granville Street. Because some of them are cropped in a way that you cannot recognize them anymore, maybe this is a "guessing country flag game"? If people got common sense, they won't approved this circle flag idea. As we could see the Mongolia flag and the Australian flag were cropped in a way that everyone would think they were mistakes.

These flags remind me of Rem Koolhaas's proposal for a new European flag It's not an easy task to design things like country flags, money notes or stamps. Since these things represent the image or a country, they circulate around the world. Therefore a bad design does matter.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-23T23:35:00.007-08:00

Sing this song with Frank on Christmas day:
to your friend
to your family
to your girl friend or boy friend
to your boss
to your teacher
to your neighbor
to your co-worker
to yourself

Talk to her

2009-12-20T12:50:00.009-08:00

I got my visual culture research paper back on last Wednesday after I finished my final exam. I was exhausted that day, because I hardly get any sleep at the night before. I studied for a long night with two voices in my head. One said: Just give up, it's okay to go to bed. The other said: You should not give up, you are doing well on your last exam, you should keep going,study more. I guess I should call Sigmund Freud that night and ask for his advice. “Hi Freud, I got two voices in my head...which one should I listen?” That was the question I planned to ask... but he never picked up the phone that night.

Back to my visual culture paper, I felt so frustrated when I was staring at those comments from my grader - R. I got so much expectation on this paper but the result came out not that good. Well, I am not talking about the grade, of course, the grade is not as good as I think...I am talking about those comments, it seems like R need to mark something on my paper to show that she had do her job. I figured out some of those grammar mistakes she marked was not at all wrong. I wonder what had happen to my paper? Is it because I was a second English language learner and I didn't threw out big words in my paper? Or my grammar is really that bad? Or the subject I picked to write is not her preference? (as I picked the Goddess of Democracy statute in UBC as my research image) She has no interest in what I talked about? My paper is too political and too emotional? Many reasons...or many nonsenses that I have been making up in my head.

I need some advice from others. I went to Amy's office and talk to her. Amy is my English teacher, she said I think too much of all those reasons and told me that I should definitely talk to Paloma. I felt better after I talked to Amy, she is so helpful and honest. It's hard for me to talk to people, I need some time to get familiar to someone before I start talking to them.

I was the third person waited in the long line. This line usually was formed outside Rm 272 in the North building, which is Paloma's office. Since her office was occupied by the others, Paloma grabbed some chairs and set up a meeting corner behind the lockers along the hallway. It's my turn to talk to her, "I just want her to look at my paper and I am done..." I talked to myself. But when I started talking to her, I told her that I didn't understand those comments and I explained to her why I wrote this paper.

Everything in this conversation then became very personal, complicated and emotional. I studied Paloma's facial expression, she seemed understand what I meant and glad that I wrote about this issue. I told her I felt like this is a good chance for me to tell people what this statue was about, most of the young generation in Mainland China doesn't know about it, the Chinese Government tried so hard to erase this incident in our history.

A Blessing In Disguise - maybe I should say thank you to R, who wrote such comments on my paper. If not, I won't have this meaningful conversion with Paloma. Paloma, thank you for giving me minutes of your precious time to share this heavy conversation.

Chairs Party

2009-12-06T09:08:00.012-08:00

In first lesson of my drawing class, I have written down what I wished to improve in my drawing skill,it's definitely my proportion of human body in figure drawing and my perspective drawing. I don't think I could drawing anything in the right perspective. For me, perspective is like an illusion, sometimes you think the perspective you drawn is right and your brain tell you it's wrong. That's why I have made one of my collage drawing with all of wrong perspectives. My concept is about illusion, I wonder how many images project on our retina was real, or should I say was matched with those images process by our brain.
This is my final presentation in Lucie’s drawing class. My last piece of drawing was called “The Chairs Party” and everyone started laughing when I told them the title. I put those miniature chairs on my kitchen table and drawn them with my life size chair. Lucie said I still have to work more on the background. She was right, I spend too much time on those chairs and then I figured out they just occupied one fourth of my paper when I was finished. But still, I don't want the background to interfere my chairs. I just use a few strokes to draw the background. If I could improve, I definitely would work more on the background, to find a better way to emphasize my subject.
I really like those set of Chinese Ming Dynasty miniature, the design of the chairs is so clean and simple, you won't see extra unnecessary details which make you feel uncomfortable. As I haven't seen any drawings with Chinese furniture, I want to try putting them in my drawing.
I want to tell the story behind those miniature chairs: They are not antique or expensive ones. I remembered I bought them in Shanghai, after I spent my last Saturday at W+K, after I said goodbye to my colleagues, I bought them from a hand made wooden furniture store. I talked to the guy, who was the owner and he told me lots of stories about his store. His store was near to my work place. I walked there everyday, admiring his hand made paper cut logo sticked on a piece of wood, but I never stop by and looked inside, I am too scared to talk to the guy in the store... not until I found a reason for myself to talk to him. The reason was - saying goodbye to his store.

A Blessing in Disguise II - Media Arts Class

2009-11-25T23:05:00.009-08:00

As you can see from my previous post, there was no solution and no answer from Miss D in the registration office, all I got was a line of text "I am sorry that you have to have this experience,", no extra coupons or discount on school fees (at least when you complain to Sears or Homedepot, they will comfort you and give you a discount), no apologize from anybody, no sympathy, just a hint of "you got right to do whatever you like" and thank you for introducing me this new word "prerogative".

Have you ever experience talking to the machine you when you called the customer service hotline, you feel so helpless when no one could answer your question. The worst case here is, even she answer you, it seems like she was talking to the tornado, the tornado blows away all of her words and remain a chaos in my mind.

I am happy though someone show me a Chinese idiom at the time when I was crying (Oh, gosh I couldn't believe I cry like a kid when I saw the class cancellation email), what's wrong with me? Maybe it's not my fate to meet Sharon, instead, taking Allison M. Hrabluik's class will be my destination. Sometimes, you couldn't get what you want in your life, maybe is a good sign for your future.

I know, this is not MLA style - The meaning of the idiom in English comes from www.cc-borde.org

A Blessing in Disguise I: Q & A

2009-11-25T22:05:00.008-08:00

I really want to take Sharon Kahanoff's class, and her class on Monday and is full already. If I put this on waitlist, I am not guaranteed if I could be in (not until the class date start) But the fact was, I need to move classes around so as to fit in that class. Should I move them all around and risk the waitlist thing (on her class) or just sign up for another class?
The section you were registered was cancelled because there were not enough students in the class to financially validate running the class.
As for what you want to do regarding registration in another Media Arts class, it is ultimately up to you.
If you are willing to completely change your schedule around for one instructor's class, that is your prerogative.(definition: a right reserved exclusively by a particular person or group especially a hereditary or official right)
That being said, because there are a lot more options this term for Foundation, you will more than likely see a lot of movement between classes during the add-drop period.
Generally I advise registering in another section that would be second, or even third choice, as long as it works with your already established schedule to make sure you have all the courses you need, and waitlisting the section you would prefer.

I don't know what I should do, that creates a chaos to me. When is the date that I could drop class. I don't know where is the information because I don't even know I have to do this...
You have been emailed all relevant dates regarding registration back in October. This information is also available on the website. Please familiarize yourself with the information sent in that email, and the info posted on the website (Services > How to Register) as there is a lot of very important information regarding registration that you must know.

I am disappointed on the arrangement and I think even I am the first group to register, it won't help if the class I registered suddenly disappeared.
I am sorry that you have to have this experience.

Goodbye Jacno

2009-11-14T21:52:00.008-08:00

Goodbye Jacno I love stinky toys and your music.

Everything is going to be alright

2009-11-13T21:47:00.011-08:00

A long day of walking. I tried to draw my route using google map, I gave up, it took longer time for me to draw a line than I walk! I should use words and arrow: starting from my house: 2425 Granville Street >Vancouver Art Gallery >Vancouver Public Library >Holy Rosary Cathedral >Main Street >Science Park >Water front >Granville Island >2425 Granville Street ummmm... I couldn't feel how far did I go using words and arrow to show my route. I just have a long walk today, going to Vancouver Art Gallery is part of my visual culture assignment, then, I figured out I have to keep walking around to see what I could write in my research paper (visual culture again!), I got no clue on what to write. When I was walking on the street, I walk and walk and don't know how I could start my paper. I am lost, then, I wander around on the street and find the Holy Rosay Cathedral, I plan to write about this place, but I don't know what I should write. I went in there, it's so beautiful inside. This remind me of the church I used to go when I was small (I studied in a Catholic school before) Inside the church, I saw a homeless guy sleeping peacefully on the floor, he was so smart, that's a perfect spot to sleep - a warm and quiet church. Now, I understand why people said,"Jesus in me, you find peace."
I came out from the church and trying to figure out how to get home. Although I got a map, I don't know how to read it, from left or right? top or bottom? No clue again. I just remembered I have been here before and I saw that round shinny disco ball - the Science Park! It should be close to my house? I start walking around that big white bun - the BC Place and I am on the bridge! (don't know what it calls) I am happy to see the snow cap mountain again. When I walk along the Granville bridge earlier today, I am stunned by the view of the snow on top of the mountain and the reflection of the sunlight just add a perfect touch on this beautiful painting. (Can I write this scene as my research paper?)
I was on my way back home, I took a perfect picture for myself.