Chinese calligraphy has been a mystifying concept to me. First noticing its “ethereal” and “meditative” value for life in Zhang Ziyi’s movie, Hero.

Calligraphy has also led to the development of many forms of art in East Asia, including seal carving, ornate paperweights, and inkstones.

For a few years, after taking on a few Kanji lessons moreso did I learn how important each brush stroke is to each character, each stroke following a strict sequence. Not following the order will result to lack of education and dedication to learn the craft of communication.

According to Stanley-Baker,

“Calligraphy is sheer life experienced through energy in motion that is registered as traces on silk or paper, with time and rhythm in shifting space its main ingredients.”

This artform has taken its place in modern art and I give great regards to those who dedicate themselves to it. The craft looks so simple yet exquisite. Each delicate brushstroke sets of a variable of “reflective” atmosphere. No wonder, I found the videos from RaggedyBird’s Youtube channel so enchanting and relaxing. The music used are very meditative, sometimes yoga-like accompanying the smooth brushstrokes.

RaggedyBird also provides Chinese Art Materials and Supplies if you are interested to start a journey into the Chinese Arts. Ink stones, ink sticks, brushes, xuan paper, seal stones and seal ink, brush rests, water bowls, brush hangers and alot more besides. Amazing Chinese art products are also available from the online store.

I am no painting afficionado. I tried. I guess my skill lies more on the digital rather than on traditional artworks.

From just a few hours, Riusuke Fukahori has garnered a lot of links from Google from his newest creation of amazing 3D fishes. This creation is astounding as each 3D painting consists of multiple transparent layers. Liquid resin is poured into wooden container and then painted when it becomes solid. By repeating this process, the artist is able to create realistic fish with lifelike vitality.

Here is a video of how the artist did this beautiful piece of art. A note, due to copyright issues, the video poster required to take down this video clip. The video will be kept running for 72 hours before permanently disabling video at midnight 14/01/2012.

I bow down to his majestic skills. *bows*

The ones I like are of moleskine brands so they can be pretty expensive. Yet, the paper used are very conducive for creative artwork, which artists really love.

To my utter delight, I stumbled upon a Fashionary giveaway from Quietgirl blog.

Fashionary is a great item for fashion and clothing enthusiasts, professional fashion designers and hobbyists. I am no fashion designer afficionado but I do like clothes and anything that has to do with a bit of sketching and doodling. Also, based on screencaps I find the insides quite amazing. Who knows, I might get the inkling to design my own stuff. <3

I hope I get to win!

If you want to join, learn of the contest mechanics by clicking here!

After all the photo teasers, articles, fake videos, an official trailer has FINALLY shown up!

The trailer looks awesome. I just hope it would not be a rip-off of the best scenes to create hype for a so-so movie.

August 25 2012 will be a special day for all anime fans. Regardless if they passed the phase of being an otaku (like me), Rurouni Kenshin has earned its own pedestal among one of the most popular anime series EVAH! It had been questionable to me why of all the series out there, this one never got a LIVE version.

Granted, given its complex basis of historical heritage, it is a hard movie to render. There will be very high expectations for this one as expected from a classic anime entwined with a historical and epic proportions.

Let us wait and see for further developments. I am so excited!

With the Special Participation of Dokissaten Maid & Butler Café
Featuring the Live Performance of Similarobjects
and DR. SKETCHY’S Anti-Art School Manila
December 8-10, 2011
LRI Design Plaza, 2nd Flr, Nicanor Garcia St., Makati City

For more details, visit their Facebook Event page here.

More than an exhibit, TECHNOTEAPOT is a glamorous tea party that features live performances, stylized refreshments, exclusive works and merchandise from talented partners and participants, and elegant service courtesy of the events company Dokissaten Maid & Butler Café.

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Avalon.ph will be there showcasing our various novelty products like Oracle cards, Moleskine, Fashionary and others. Drop by and say hi!

Now that I want to see. I’m a fan of moleskine!

So what could possibly a bunch of codes or symbols do with a designer perspective?

Well, symbols had always been a memoir of our creative veins. Unconsciously, symbols are a start of intelligence. Alphabets, numbers, punctuations… everything is a representation of culture and denotes who we are within the vast variety of lice.

This could be an awesome tool to integrate uncommon symbols into your work and be snobbish about it. *evil grin*

As an example, I doodled a stick figure of a man holding coffee.

Shapecatcher.com

Pressing ‘Recognize’, I came up with these symbols:

Shapecatcher.com

And so, Shapecatcher is an easy tool to remember a character we would like to use for design or inspiration. With so many symbols we would forget a stroke or too. More so for me, it is a way to gain access on symbols I may not know about and be part of my moodboard and such.

It’s a fun tool to just doodle something and see what you could possibly come up with.

Try it! It’s cool!

It broke my heart really.

Not to be daunted, I researched online for solutions. There were various solutions but most related to specific MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-841S device or disabling DLA Software from your machine. Unfortunately, the solutions were not appropriate for me.

With perseverance, I found the solution which worked for me.

The CD is needed to start the game, not for the game itself. The solution for this is to figure a way to bypass the Disc authentication process.

So for those having the same issue, you can try doing these:

1. Fully install SIMS 3.

2. Search online for a ‘SIMS 3 no cd crack’. I found one here: http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5041165/Sims_3_Patch_to_1.3.24_and_crack. Download this crack then unzip. It will contain a TS3.exe file.

If the specified link above does not work, search for another one.

NOTE: Use cracks at your own risk! I will not be held liable for anything that happens to your machine. I am just telling you what worked for me.

3. Copy TS3.exe file.

4. You have to access the folder where SIMS 3 is installed on your computer. In my case, ‘in C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin. Paste or overwrite TS3.exe file you’ll find here.

NOTE: It is strongly suggested to rename the original TS3.exe file. In case the crack won’t work, the game wouldn’t be incomplete of its required files.

5. Create a shortcut for this on your desktop.

6. Access your shortcut and play!

Hope that helped. :D