'SHIRO-I' CLOUDS

I took this outside my window on 30 June. The whiteness of the clouds caught the corner of my eye - I like photographing sunsets too. They remind me of the giant clouds hiding the floating castle in Studio Ghibli's 'Laputa: Castle in the Sky'. It also looks like someone nuked us!

If you enlarge the picture you can see wispy streams of clouds which makes it look like it's spinning =) It didn't rain though and the clouds morphed into something less fluffy in a few moments. I recall riding at the back of my brother's pick-up truck just after this and spotted the most glorious halo peeking out above a sheet of low lying clouds. Unfortunately I was unable to photograph it.

Laputa: Castle in the Sky or Tenkuu no Shiro Rapyuta.

Made in 1986, written and directed by Miyazaki Hayao of Studio Ghibli.

The protaganists may be children but adults will enjoy it all the same. I thought the movie was sophisticated and well-crafted; visually appealing and no atmosphere was lost even though there were many moments of no dialogue (original Japanese dub). Recommended movie if you haven't seen it yet!

CANDY TINS AGAIN & DORAEMON

Doraemon candy tins! Bought them on impulse, because I collect Japanese candy tins... see my 2 previous posts 'Sakuma Shiki Drops' and the 'Commemorative edition from Grave of the Fireflies'.

The candy featured above is not by Sakuma but Morinaga. Isn't the packaging so cute! My friend egged me to buy both, initially I only wanted the blue one since Doraemon is blue. And no, NO ONE is ever too old for Doraemon =)

Anyhow I wonder if everyone is familiar with Doraemon?

I had a surprise when my American friends or contacts had never heard of this character. My reaction was 'Really?!' since the series is comparable to... Hello Kitty for instance. Doraemon is also listed in Time Magazine as one of the 22 Asian heroes so yes, he is pretty huge and for 30 years already. I guess it all boils down to what the tv channels are showing; maybe the series was too Japanese-oriented and the gags will likely be lost in translation. The manga was created by Fujio F. Fujiko in 1969 and ended in 1996 when he passed away. I've been watching the anime since kindergarten in the early 80s - in my opinion, the best of the lot though they were only about 6.5 mins per story.

About Doraemon:

Doraemon is a robotic cat from the future. His greatest phobia is mice - reason being a mouse ate his ears after he was just manufactured. Also, his prototype is supposed to be yellow. He turned blue permanently from depressing over being an earless cat and was considered as a reject. His sister, Dorami, is yellow and has ears. His favourite food is Dorayaki, a bean paste-filled japanese pancake.

Doraemon was sent back in time to change history and aid 4th-grader Nobita to a better life as Nobita's descendents were beset with financial problems (no doubt this was partly Nobita's fault as he was lazy and often plagued with misfortunes)! Doraemon, being a very righteous and sympathetic robot, comes to the rescue with various futuristic dougu or equipment, from his 4th-dimensional pocket whenever Nobita comes bawling to him for help.

'You're a bigger loser than Charlie Brown! And stop stealing my dorayaki!!'

Most of the time the gadgets are mis-used for showing off, acting revenge on Nobita's bullies or enhancing Nobita's laziness through convenience (an irony). Instant gratifications usually do not turn out right! There are thousands of dougu: teleportation door, camera that makes a 3-D miniature of whatever you've photographed, mood and seasons changers, scenery stimulators etc. The only invention not legal to own is... counterfeiting money machines of course! My favourite one is the food realization machine - just feed the machine a drawing/photo of whatever you want to eat and out comes the actual thing! Wow.

EIGHT TAGGED

I was tagged by Superhouse and Indy Grrrl a long time ago to fill in this questionaire! Here is my delayed response:

The rule is to tag 8 other bloggers after posting yours.

8 things I am looking forward to:
1. Launching my proper Lemon Kitscharms dot com site
2. Ridding an acne breakout
3. Tomorrow
4. Getting a new camera - my current one has a stuck shutter =(
5. Finishing some artwork
6. Higher sales
7. Singapore National Day 9 August
8. Vacation in Japan/ Taiwan if that ever happens

8 things I did yesterday:
1. Troubleshooting codes
2. Thinking of doing artwork but didn't
3. Read newspapers - H1N1 virus as usual and Jakarta bombings

4. Wanted to return my library books but didn't
5. Smeared yoghurt, asprin and aloe vera on my face
6. Visit to the postoffice and paid $20 for posting a single shoe (not a pair!) to USA
7. Cleaned some vintage necklaces
8. Bought strawberries & matcha soba from the supermarket & bubble tea on the way back

8 things I wish I could do:
1. I wish I can do an artwork a day without slacking
2. I wish Doraemon exists (since I was a kid)
3. I wish I could gain a little bit of weight
4. I wish I had a studio instead of working in my bedroom
5. I wish I can wish that everyone remain safe
6. I wish I can stop having acne breakouts lol
7. I wish I can worry less
8. I wish I can be abit wiser

8 shows I watch:
1. Old Doraemon episodes
2. Yang Family Warriors (Chinese historical drama)
3. CSI Miami occassionally
4. Whatever my dad watches
5. Don't watch tv
6. Don't watch tv
7. Don't watch tv
8. Don't watch tv

I shall tag these people!

Less Apathy, More Cake

Evelyn Mayfield

Artisanne

The Mum and the Rose

The Johnson Diaries

Hollyrocks

Dustjacket Attic

Ismoyo's Playground

MY PRIZE FROM EVELYN MAYFIELD!

I was so excited to win this beautiful home sign from a blog give-away by Evelyn Mayfield!

Isn't it sweet? Evie thank you so much, I admire the patiently crafted handiwork and my mom loves it too! It shall be hung in my living room so we can boast about it lol. This is made on a plastic canvas with lace trimmings, and it looks much prettier in person too! If you like one, you can purchase it on her Etsy shop on the link below.

Go visit this lady's shop for more handicrafts! http://www.evelynmayfield.etsy.com

WEEE! FINALLY A FACEBOOK PAGE WIDGET

For all Facebookers who have a 'Fan page' or 'Facebook Page' you can now invite people to 'Be a Fan' straight from your site/blog via a widget:

It's on the left side bar of your Page, then just click the 'Add Fan Box to your site' and copy-paste the javascript.

I've added mine to this blog, it's on the right sidebar, it does take a while to load so I've decided to just include fans without the stream. Or you can exclude both and just have a linking button.

For those who wants to create a Facebook page, sign into your Facebook account and visit any page you come across. Scroll to the bottom. You will see a 'Create a page for my business' link on the left sidebar. It's tiny but it's there! A facebook page is useful for sending updates to your fans, and includes albums which you can share to non-facebook audiences.

A WALK IN THE BOTANIC GARDENS

I didn't feel like blogging much and so here are some floral shots I took on 22 June evening, at the Singapore Botanic Gardens! The weather was perfect again; it is a pretty idyllic place despite being located in the heart of the city. Admission is free and open till midnight; unless you are planning to go into the Orchid Gardens exhibit (which is ticketed). I am currently struggling to get some art done but my table is full of vintage jewellery to be posted under my other blog shop (Lemon Kitscharms) and so art will have to wait. Enjoy!

This area is called 'The Bandstand' and it is surrounded by rain trees. In the 1800s this Victorian structure was used by music bands for their performances during Singapore's colonial days.

Pink frangipani

Red-yellow frangipani. And nearby there was the most humongous scary hornet. Needless to say I was scared off!

These are so cute, before blooming their buds look like pink stars =)

There is a swan lake near the entrance and people were feeding the swans. Not sure if that is allowed, but this swan swam close to me thinking I had food too.

Swan Sculpture

White bougainvilleas. They were blooming beautifully.

Peach pink bougainvilleas. These are probably the most common shrubs in Singapore but I like it when they bloom after a dry-sudden wet spell.

Dendrobiums outside the orchid centre. I didn't go into the exhibit since it was near closing hours.

TIME WASTING AT UNIQLO SITE

The Uniqlo site always comes up with such cool widgets!! First it was the Uniqlock. Now it's this Calendar widget:

http://www.uniqlo.com/calendar/

It was fun to stare at the funky time-lapsed bird's eye view of Japan. Talk about great web design and marketing! The best thing is it loads pretty quickly despite being mostly different moving scenes. I feel like getting more Uniqlo jeans now =)

Uniqlo is Japan's leading clothing retailer specialising in low-cost quality casual wear. I love their jeans and guy's tees - I dig the guy's shirts more than what the girls were getting. Like... I saw this Casshan/Casshern (70's sci-fi anime) t-shirt but it didn't come in girl's sizes. Guys get all the fun you know.