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from left to right: watercolor (with pencil), watercolor (with pencil + equalizer turned on), ink.
I kind of prefer the first one.
please click on each picture to view the details and let me know... much appreciate!
I lost my natural sense of coloring ever since I attended some art classes a few months ago D:
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
Haruki Murakami is my favorite author.
I collect all his books (all english versions, most chinese versions, some japanese versions) and read and read and read. For nearly two decades now.
But.
A year ago I couldn't continue with reading "After Dark" after a few pages.
It's the Australian version of the book cover.
It's freaking distracting and severely put me off!
Murakami's stories are superb mood pieces: mundane, strange, surreal, psychological, metaphorical, metaphysical, existentialism, lonesome, magic.
so.
why a photo of an ero chick on the book cover?
I'm so not a fan of the australian versions of the current batch of most of his bookcovers.. are they trying to sell them to men with oriental chicks fetish? *shudders*
It's so misleading!
So I had to paint over the cover.
See the black acrylic paint with the minimalistic eerie texture? The jazz and black coffee in the witching hours feel? Now that suits the mood perfectly =D
And I happily read the book.
Last night. close to midnight.
Sipping black coffee with Curtis Fuller's old jazz tune "Five Spot After Dark":
Setting the mood.
Then listened to the Portrait of Jazz (selected by Murakami) cd while immersing into the Murakami world.
After Dark.
story took place and time between midnight to 7am.
the witching hours where dreams and realities swapped places, the line between physics and metaphysics blurred.
a young jazz trombonist orders a chicken salad at 11:56pm.
at midnight, statics appears on an unplugged tv set in a darken room.
a loveho named Alphaville.
a pencil, with an eraser, stamped with the name veritech.
4:09am. feeding stray cats in a small park.
a cricket running away from the past.
a deserted mobile phone ringing from a 7-eleven dairy shelf.
soon the morning comes.
Hope there's no major plot spoilers :D
Highly recommended.
"After Dark"'s gotta be near my current top favorites of Murakami's books.
All time favorite is "Hardboiled Wonderland and The End of the World".
I like "After Dark" more than his some of his other books due to it's short and concise, everything wrapped up well (as far as metaphysic is concerned).. it's a bit like Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express remains my top favorite film, 'cause it's short but so concised. It's not that I don't like long novels/movies. I like things wrapped up nicely sometimes ^^
Unlike "Kafka on the Shore", too ambitious (although they're all interesting ideas) and too overly trippy-wtf.. "Wind-up bird chronicles"- kinda similar "problem".. plus certain scenes a little too gruesome for my taste ^^; That aside, I still enjoyed "Kafka on the Shore" and "Wind-up bird chronicles" a lot.
Speaking of Wong Kar-Wai <- my favorite film director!
Reading Murakami definitely makes me think of Wong Kar-Wai's films;
while watching WKW's films makes me think of Murakami's stories.
Both like the element of mood, jazz/cool music, dopplegangers, and loneliness/isolation.
Bits of After Dark and its execution makes me think of WKW's Chungking Express + Fallen Angels + Days of Being Wild.
I hope these two collaborate one day in a film project.. with actors Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Ninomiya Kazunari :D Nino can be Tony's younger self, his son, or doppleganger; both WKW and Murakami love the concept of dopplegangers.
That's my ultimate movie wish list heheh.
Sorry for the long ramblings, had to do it lol.
I'm going to read "After Dark" again.
*boils water for black coffee*
take care and catch up later!
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
(yup the nino chan butai poster is in the background as well as other arashi stuff lol)
I played around with the hue and saturation after scanning it in.
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
Gackto VS Arashi! On 4th July! His birthday!
don't ask me how old he's turning, we in twitter assuming his age has to be around 501 lol.
Have been tweeting about him non-stopped since yesterday, when I found out that he's gonna be in VS Arashi!! Lots of reminiscing!
I was in the Gackt fandom around 2000~2003!
I dropped out of the Gackt fandom when he got a bit too moon crazy + costly
My first CD of Gackt: "Mizerable", it remains my all time favorite song of his!
So beautiful, so catchy, so awesome, so silly (the pv and gackto in general, despite being a super-talented-genius lol), and oh so dramatic on stage as always: the dance the gackto-heart-clutching-swaying dance <33
Joking aside, I truly love his creative talents, musical talents (compose/write own songs, multi-instrumentalist), and honey-deep voice! <- although sometimes too dramatic, like when he sang 12gatsu no love song.. in japanese, english, chinese, korean, martians... sorry sorry, I always can't help poke fun gackto's way 'cause that's how I show affection to him <3
Afterall, the dude himself is awesomely funny and has great unique sense of humour!
I used to catch Domoto Kyoudai because of Gackto just to hear his funny stories and commentaries, not Kinki Kids :D
oh and love his numerous Gundam impersonations (another fandom crashing since I heart old school Gundam lol)!
And who could forget his four-day-buta-curry making starting off with kaku-niku shopping? XD
Here's an utaban clip from 2000, btw Taka-san and Nakai looked so young!!
oh and for those who don't know, he was in taiga drama Fuurin Kazan in two years ago.. his dramatic acting really suits the character, although he truly resembles manga/anime characters more than anything...
Enough ramblings, guess I'm just glad to see Gackto again, I truly miss the silly dude/alien-vampire <3
I might have to start buying your CD again for old time sake lol.
Guess we shall find out who wins in VS Arashi.. you or my current love Arashi <33
Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Gackto!!
ps: catch up / reply later
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
this is done using white pencil on black paper.. 'cause when reading the book, the image I get is all black and white (and trying hard to imagine non-blond Nino!Bruno with Sho!Guy xDD)...
seriously.
book!bruno whined a little too much sometimes, not as bad as emo!harrypotter but ^^;
still, emo psychotic intense whiny mama boy?
Nino would nail it perfectly!
he'd even make bruno more likable 'cause we know how charming our little monster can be <3
After watching the first 15 minutes of Alfred Hitchcock's adaptation.. I decided not to continue with it for now because the image of Bruno from that actor is too strong/overpowering!
It's awesome and captivating (hey it's hitchcock) but I had a hard time substituting Nino as Bruno xD.. maybe I'll continue a year later or something lol.
One more day, one more day until July; I can get my normal internet speed back.
So will catch up with neighborhood and dl Arashi shows then!
Catch up and reply later!
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
I grew up in the late 70s and 80s (only slightly older than Ohchan lol).
Charlie's Angels was on the TV.
My cousin sisters whom I grew up with, three of us used to 'role-play' Charlie's Angels.
I was the smart brunette one lol.
It was silly. But we were mere pre-schoolers lol.
Black and white Ultraman was also on TV,
so was "Once upon a time.. space", one of my brother and my fave animations.
銀河鉄道999 and 宇宙戦艦ヤマト were on video tapes.
Kimisawa, a Japanese shopping mall back then, was still in Damansara Jaya.
A time when there's only one Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant and only one A&W in town.
Going to these two "restaurants" were like family weekend outing event.
Michael Jackson's "Ben" was on one of our family cassette tapes.
We also had "Off the Wall" album on cassette tape.
"Rock with you" was my fave fave song on that tape, I was a kiddo.
At the time, there were also "Saturday Night Fever", The Bee Gees, Stevie Wonder, The Carpenters and many more; including old school showa japanese songs and HK songs (old school Samuel Hui, and those TVB dorama songs composed by 顧家輝) among the many cassette tapes / vinyls my family owned.
I can't call myself a hardcore fan of Michael Jackson, but I grew up listening to his songs.
He was part of my happy childhood memories.
I was just getting into elementary school when "Thriller" was released.
I can recall the whole song and arrangement of "Billie Jean" in my brain.
That killer bass line. The beat. The intensity. The moon walk.
Of course, MJ went on to release "Bad" and created more hits.
But my faves songs of his still remained from the "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" albums.
Perhaps old school MJ reminds me of my own happy childhood growing up in KL.
A time and space that I long to return, but could never return, except when I close my eyes.
So thank you, MJ, FF; thanks for the happy memories. R.I.P.
PS:
I was reading digg.com on one of the MJ thread..
I like this comment by EtherealSOC:
"The greatest performer who ever lived.
It's strange, but I'd be happier if he died at the age of 80, old and broken and giving society enough time to view his work through the passage of time and eras. I'd even be happier if he died at the height of his fame, in the late 1980's, and he would have been immortalized as a hero of epic proportions.
Now he dies a spectacle, loved by many but destested by many as well, and this spectrum is so wide and yet so polar that it doesn't reflect the kind of creative genius and visionary philanthropist that he became. At his root he was a very sad and scared man, living a twisted existence on the verge of reality, and even more than grieve at his passing, I feel sorry that the world might not understand what it just lost..."
PS again:
my internet bandwidth is exceeded for this month, so won't be able to reply/catch up until July D:
can't wait 'til July.. I can catch up with more old school MJ songs and videos and of course Arashi shows too.
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
Tomorrow is my last day at work.. and also all my work colleagues' last day at work too (we're all been redundant D:)...
so we're just gonna go to the office and head straight to the big farewell party.......
It's gonna be quite sad since many of us have worked there for many many years.....
And... we'll be wishing each other "All The Best"..
"All the best!"
"All the best!!"
and will be quite sad and emotional..
but at the same time, I'll be giggling inside.....
hey, sounds like we're all doing free promotion for Arashi xD
aaah. life.
always so strange.
All The Best, Arashi!!
All The Best, to everyone, especially to my hubby and me!
PS: Thanks Steffi for your text message! I was able to pre-order the limited edition at work today!!
Catch up / reply later!
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
... ^^; to be painted maybe.
It just hit me that in 7 working days' time I'll be out of a job D:
yet, I still can't get myself to face the editing the resume... my tech skills are now so obsolete (company uses old tech) and I have no interests in working for corporations again; and job market is bad even if I wanted to. It's quite depressing facing the resume, I hope I snap out of this mode soon.
Why can't I paint/draw as a living? I'd be more enthusiastic and able to put more selling points in writing an art-related resume... alas I don't have an art degree D:
Anyone willing to hire artist? arashi artist? heck I would even draw kattun if I get paid commissions for it D:
Catch up / reply more later.
It's Nino's birthday eve already!
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
I like the 50s 60s noir feel, in general.
was listening to Kurahashi Yoeko's early stuff while painting, very suitable.
alas, Kurahahsi Yoeko has retired, still so young!
Anyway, Nino!
They better release his butai onto DVD!!
Catch up and reply later.
PS: Honmadance in zaquizsho#9 was psycho awesome!
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
woke up early today getting prepare for work.
entered kitchen.
ANTS!
the kitchen's INVADED BY ANTS!!
THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF ANTS CRAWLING EVERYWHERE!!!
There were trails on the stove, more trails around the sink, and thousands of ants crawling around the bench like it's freaking disneyland DX
They're floating in the water jar, crawling all over the sauce bottles, cups, bowls! Floor! Freaking horror!!
It's the sudden drop of temperature so all these outdoor ants invaded my kitchen DX
I know there's at least a colony of them outside since I saw them climbing on the external house structure..
So I spent hours cleaning up all the surface area spraying with insect killer and disinfection detergent...
Then discovered there's more of them INSIDE THE CUPBOARD!!
ARGH!
So there goes my pots and pans and bowls and plates!!
Spent the whole morning cleaning, rang my manager to take half a day off and he just laughed upon hearing the reason Dx
Dang they don't know how freaking horribly annoying creepy crawly insects are, esp ants, a whole army colony of ants!!
Even now, whenever I see dots/dirt on the floor/table/any surface, my brain automatically "imagining" them moving as ants DX
Bloody ants!!!!! Stay out!!!!!
I need a lie down now.
Catch up / reply another time.
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
Haven't used marker pens for years, getting rusty..
Catch up later. Bad day. and tomorrow long day.
Good night/Good day to all and especially to me lol.
ps: it's freaking cold, there's snow around the area...
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
.. as opposed to free-flow (ie pic#2) I mean =)
I just thought it'd be
interesting to use the same tilting angle and measured proportion of
pic#3~#5 in acrylic for comparison, the mood is somewhat different =D
anyway, catch up and reply soon!
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
can't I be a freelance artist
ANYWAY,
pic#5, puppy-eyed-nino in sumi-e (japanese/chinese ink brush painting/drawing) style.
catch up soon!
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
But... I should really go job hunting, resume enhancing etc considering that I'd be out of a job end of this month...^^;
how I wish my job is art related instead ^^;
ANYWAY,
pic#4 is watercolors, continues with the various styles/medium theme of my 3rd Nino month =)
I actually photocopied my pencil portrait (before shading was done) onto a 185gms paper, then sketched and painted with watercolors from there.. hence it's so quick =D still, the feel is slightly different due to different medium/style used.
note: pic#1 free-flow scribble style, pic#2 paint straight with acrylic, pic#3 is pencil lines portrait (with measured proportions and all) .. ^^
catch up and reply soon!
and yup, I should really start looking at the resume...
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
Nino is a joy to paint <3
@maan - so far, no solid theme yet. The only 'theme' I could think of is using/experimenting as many medium as I could, sketching/painting Nino. First pic scribble style, 2nd pic sketch straight with acrylic paint =)
I hope zaquizsho avi file shows up bright and early tomorrow, can't wait!
ps: catch up / reply soon!
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
sketch date: 20090519
paint (watercolor<3) date: 20090523... paint just dry heh.
watercolor is truly versatile, I can go for the spot paint style, wet bleed style, or solid style... (all my made-up terminologies lol)
I hope I can still remember how to paint acrylic though!
Recently I heart Sho-kyun quite a bit more than usual xDD
yappari Shohmiya heheh <3
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
.. mario brothers lol. arashi brothers <3
The internet connection is very unstable these few days (ie. no access for two nights in a row, very frustrating >"<). Hopefully it's back to normal today!
Have a good day all and catch up later!
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
Finally caught up with The Quiz Show (yup, watched up to ep4 now, Sho kun should be proud lol).
And I gotta say Sho kun's acting has improved a lot <3
(general mild spoilers ahead)
Both ZaQuizSho and UtaOni are about a tv program but the atmospheres (both on stage and backstage) can't be any more different.. ZaQuizSho is psycho! And I really feel sorry for that lau-ka-ling lookalike producer who always get bullied by Yokoyama!Honma, whom I thought kinda look like a grown up Macaulay Culkun until I image-googled Macaulay Culkin xD Yokoyama is waaaay more handsome and smooth looking, so smooth it's quite feminine.
The suspense/psycho kinda gives me Maou vibe but more crazy and sinister.
What with all the suppressed memories, flashbacks etc.
Each guest/contestant receiving the invitation card reminiscent of Maou's red envelope and being punished for his/her own little sin. But ultimately they serve to make Kamiyama remembers a little bit more of his traumatic past/sin(?).
As Maou's red envelope receivers somehow related to Serizawa, those guests/contestants were the people Kamiyama met on that fateful trip.
I had my own little theory which works up to ep3 but ep4 made me did some rethinking.. this is getting interesting!
Anyway, catch up more later, I'm trying hard to sleep.. insomnia for the past three nights ain't good.
Take care all! Shohmiyasu~
I wanted to do two styles:
1) I washed the original pencils art with watercolors but I think I "ruined" it gasp!
2) luckily the backup (I photocopied onto a thinner watercolors paper) spot painting (that's what I call it, don't know the official name) turned out better! Then I looked back at my old paintings from five years back.. and that's how I used to paint xDD aaah coming full circle I always do that... sigh.
Anyway, I love them all five together <33333
Need to catch up with arashi shows soon!
Catch up / reply later!
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
... can't wait until the file shows up!
although I need to conserve bandwidth to preserve connection xD
freaking cold today! mountain's snowing already!
it's like we jump straight to winter from summer, melbourne weather wtf?
anyway, spent the whole of today getting blown away by strong wind traveling to and from city to attend the one day watercolor class.. able to pick up a few techniques but again, it's too basic for me; although it's definitely better than that other "you draw too fast and your drawing is too lively" class xD
after experiencing these few classes (my first art classes heh) I think I will go back to my own experimenting for a longer while, it's more fun and I get more out of it by drawing/painting/experimenting at my own (faster) pace I think =D
still, I enjoyed today's class.
Here are some of the paintings I did today:
(drawing with left hands and eyes closed doesn't quite count lols)
I may watercolor it.. most likely.
and I need to dl vs arashi too lols.
I'm behind on vs arashi, shukudaikun for more than a month now it's impossible to catch up xD (gave up HnA already!)
still haven't dl ZaQuizSho and Sumairu!... at this rate I better wait for dvd lols.
Catch up / reply later! Have a good week all!
Originally posted on ninomiyakazunari.vox.com
