relaxing sunday - ピンキーわくわく旅ストロ　

this is a very lovely and pretty comic of a pink monkey.  the monkey is travelling to a new city and has some funny incidents:

this pinky monkey in fact is a commercial character for a candy brand in Japan, the character is fancy and coulourful, very pleasant and welcoming!

Dream Hotel Bangkok

We talked about Dreams for Ourselves earlier on, and this week, let me introduce a “dream comes true” real life experience to you.

Oh, don’t take me wrong, what I am going to share about is not another billionaire story or another “make a million in one month” example.  Relax, what I am going to introduce to you, is a new and hip hotel in Bangkok, calling the “Dream Hotel“.

A really fancy name, right?  You will be even more fascinated when you have read their self introduction:

Float upstairs to Dream’s 100 guest rooms. From the moment the elevator door opens you’re in a world dedicated to dreams…indigo blue corridors of soft washed lights that leads you to your room. Ethereal lighting seeps from the under the bed…the illusion like you are floating on a cloud.

Sweet Dreams. It’s what we’re about.

Woo, what a good script and nice tag line!

This dreamingly stylish hotel is located about 5 minutes walk from the Asoke Skytrain and Sukhumvit Subway Stations.  Since its opening in late 2006, this cozzy and stylish boutique hotel has set up a new trend of hip design hotel in Bangkok.  The Hotel is not large in size and thus offers its clients friendly and personal services. 

From now on until March next year would be the best time to visit Bangkok, with the overall temperature lower than the peak summer season.  Wanna have dreams and live in dreams?   A trip to this dreaming hotel maybe a dream comes true.

Dream is actually not far away, only that we have to find the right way. 

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Dream Hotel Bangkok

Location
10 Sukhumvit Soi 15
Klongtoey Nua, Wattana,
Bangkok

Phone
66(0) 2 254-8500

relaxing sunday - Kogepan (the burnt bread)

This Sunday, I would like to introduce to you one of my favourite Japan comic characters, the Kogepan (meaning “the burnt breand”).

In contrary to the “pretty bread”, the Kogepan is burnt and could not be sold.  It is an outcast from the bakery shop and it is not welcome by the customers. 

The Kogepan, due to it’s outcast position, it is a bit sad, lazy, not active, don’t care, self-pity…..  Yet, it is able to make fun of its own situation and it always make fun on the “pretty bread”. 

When everybody is focusing on successful and self-improvement, let’s see how this “natural born failure” faces its life.  Very funny and interesting piece of work indeed, which makes us think a lot. 

sophie’s gallery

cat in North Poing, Hong Kong
Oct, 2007

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Halloween Night in Hong Kong

 
(me in the pumpkin mask)

The Halloween Night in Hong Kong is really a hot and enjoyable event for everybody, even for a local like me.

This is actually my annual event: every year during the Halloween night, no matter it is a weekday or a weekend, I usually hold a party in the Lan Kwai Fong with my friends.   

The Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong, apart from its fame of night life, bars and discos, becomes the ultimate playground of all ghosts and monsters during the Halloween night.  So, it is highly popular and extremely crowded.   If you would like to get a nice table inside one of the bars overseeing the street outside,  making early reservation is a must.  And, if you wish to get into the Lan Kwai Fong to participate into the event, do arrive there well before 8:00pm, afterwards, there will be crowd control measures imposed by the Police and you would need to spend a long time walking round and round before you could find your friends or settle down.

The peak time of the event is always around 11:00pm to 1:00am.  People playing around are obsessed with the imaginary world: one would find all sorts of ghosts, monsters and characters in the famous story books easily.   Werewolves, sexy angles, Batman, Spiderman,  horror film characters, Chinese dolls, etc., are walking around the streets and attempting to scare other people.  I love taking pictures with all these characters. 

 Next time when you are planning for a trip to Hong Kong, coming by during the Halloween would be a good idea!   

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A Fancy Dreamland: “Asteria Land” by Alice Chan

Alice Chan, a modern, chic and fancy Hong Kong illustrator. 

You may find her work quite familiar since her creations have been adopted by many big brands like Levis, Anna Sui, MTV, Sportmax, etc.  Her work could also be seen in lots of trendy fashion magazines and  many window decorations.

Alice’s drawings are very decorative and stylish.  Those pretty girls are with big eyes, pretty faces, modern outfits and accessories.  The colours she used are always fancy and cheerful.  No wonder she is a favourite of so many fashion brands.

You can’t imagine how gorgeous and interesting Alice’s website could be.  Do wander around Alice’s website and have fun.  There are some comics drawn by Alice and I am sure you would like them.

And here is Alice’s blog, for those who are obssessed with Alice’s pretty creations, you would certainly like reading her blog and know more about her.

One more thing I wish to mention about Alice is that she herself is a very pretty girl, just like the character she has created.  Let’s see a photo of her under her Levi’s project:

 (Alice, on the right.)

Alice is now having an exhibition in the Stitch Tokyo of Shibuya, Japan, from 5 Oct 07  to 10 Nov 07.  If you are getting around in Tokyo, do not miss her exhibition.

Turn Right? Turn Left?

What do you see? 

Do you see the girl turning clockwise? or anti clockwise?

Answers:

A) Anti-clockwise.

B) Clockwise.

C) It becomes clockwise from anti clockwise after a while, but mostly anti-clockwise.

D) It becomes anti-clockwise from clockwise after a while, but mostly clockwise.

E) It varies from time to time, sometimes clockwise, sometimes anti-clockwise.

F) I could control it clockwise or anti-clockwise.

What’s your answer? 

Explanations: 

In fact, every one of us sees things very differently.

For those who see the girl turns in clockwise, they use their right brains more.

For those who see the girl turns in anti-clockwise, they use their left brains more.

For those who see the girls turns in  anti-clockwise, but change to clockwise suddenly, their IQs are normally higher than 160 !  (oh?!  I am one of those?!  Haha!)

It seems that this little test could reveal whether we use our left brains or right brains more frequently.  For most people, the left brain controls the languages, logic and mathematics, while the right brain controls the emotions, colours, sounds and abstract images.

The existing education systems all over the world focus on the “left brain” training too heavily and have ignored the “right brain” developments.  For the right brain developments, most people believe that come from “talent”.  We just seldom notice that it is the education system which has created such results. 

Nowadays, more and more studies have drawn and called for our attention to the importance of “right brain” developments.  More training in the art appreciation, creative thinking and emotional balance has been used to supplement the traditional language, mathematic and knowledge based education system. 

A more balanced thinking approach, resulting in a more balanced society, would be a blessing for us all.

relaxing sunday - magegoma

here is a cute cartoon created by the san-x of japan,  named as mamegoma.  this character is very popular and there are lots of toys and accessories sold in japan as well as in hong kong. 

i couldn’t stop laughing when watching this lovely comic piece, haha!

sophie’s gallery

Another pretty and lovely drawing done by my friend. 

The baby girl is “walking” much faster than her “lazy bear” toy.  Very funny!

Thanks a lot, my dear friend.  Your drawing is great!

relaxing sunday: short cartoon from Yannick Puig

Yannick, a young Spanish CG Artist, has created this lovely and imaginative cartoon piece in 2005.  I wish you enjoy it too.