Northern California: Part II

12 January 2006 | sila | | Family Pics
 

Eureka!! We finally arrived there!! To Eureka, California that is. We drove the 5-6 hours north on highway 101 until we reached Eureka, and we checked into our hotel with great relief. It was pitch dark, we were tired and hungry, and it had rained the entire drive.

The next morning, we woke up to sunny skies and beautiful weather. So we got together with Jeff (Vin's buddy from La Porte High School, IN) who lives in Eureka, and he took us to see the sights.

 

The Crew of the Wild Gundark

11 January 2006 | Hisham | | Artwork, Role Playing Games, Star Wars, Wild Gundark
 

Never let it be said I ran the Wild Gundark game without having at least one group illustration done for the team. Clockwise from top left, Groo McShae the Duros sensor tech, Similiv Zalimort the Kerestian first mate, Captain Nisa Dyaton the pilot, Aleic Karnsky the gunner, N4-M8 the mercenary and Wayang Kulit the Jawa droid tech specialist. Click below to view the image.

The Crew of the Wild Gundark
 

Northern California: Part I

10 January 2006 | sila | | Family Pics
 

For Christmas, Vin and I went roving again...this year we flew to San Francisco, and stayed in Northern California for 8 days.

Part I will cover the first few days we were there - these are the days we spent in San Francisco proper (we arrived in San Fran Tuesday morning December 20th, and stayed until Thursday December 22nd early afternoon). The rest of the time was spent driving up and down the Northern California Coast.

 

Opah Irfan's Wayward Purse

09 January 2006 | Hisham | | Family Pics, Recent News
 

We only noticed it when Ain got off the car to buy some drinks in Kuala Kangsar. It was on Ain's seat, hidden beneath her when she sat. It was a small coin purse labeled Adamas Goldsmith. Wondering when Ain bought the purse, I took it. Irfan saw it and said, “Opah punya.” And within it was Opah Irfan's driver's licence and identification card!

 

Death In The House

08 January 2006 | Hisham | | Family Pics
 

We arrived in Sitiawan two nights ago with Emma and F in tow. Today we head for Pasir Mas. However, upon arriving at Irfan's Atok's house we were told of two tragic deaths in the family.

 

A Skull Island Travelogue - A Kong Review

05 January 2006 | Hisham | | Movie Review
 
Kong is King

Last night we finally saw Peter Jackson's version of King Kong. Upon reading initial articles that said that the movie was too long and were boring during the beginning and had pointless scenes aboard the Venture part of the movie, I thought "I'll take whatever you dish out." I would enjoy what I could and get it over with.

To my surprise, the movie did not bore me to tears at all. Sure there were the trademark lingering close up shots of actors' (and one giant CG alpha male silverback's) faces that inundated Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I did not think there were any pointless and unengaging scenes in the movies. Everything added to the storyline, and the overall atmosphere of the movie.
 

Chronicles of the Wild Gundark Part III

02 January 2006 | Hisham | | RPG Actual Play, Role Playing Games, Star Wars, Wild Gundark
 

Concluding the saga of the Wild Gundark crew:

Quickly, the person on the other side of the comm told Nisa to meet them in Landing Bay 239 back at Medeus. “We'll be waiting there at noon local time tomorrow.”

Then the Fifth House woman cut off the transmission abruptly.

The confused N4 remarked, “Could someone please explain the situation to me? Who is this 'Duke' and who was that organic who ceased functioning outside the ship just now?”

Ignoring the newcomer droid, the worried Groo asked, “You think that communiqué was really bad for our health?”

A grinning Similiv replied, “Probably, Greenskin... but we wouldn't want our lives to be boring now would we?”

Finally after much contemplation, Nisa grimly said, “OK! We have a meet, but get ready for anything this time. We have about 12 hours till the meet, and I want to be alive for it.”

And now the conclusion:

Chronicles of the Wild Gundark

The world was known as Daver Kuat, third planet from its sun, a standard terrestrial life-bearing world. Unlike its sister world Kuat, which was a great big mess of thousands of ships surrounding it, orbital traffic here was light. On the farthest side of the planet from the sun, there was an island. Upon the island was a mountain. At the side of the mountain, there was a cave, spewing fiery smoke from it. Right outside the cave on flat ground was a YZ-900 light freighter. Six beings within this ship were considering their next move, now that the passenger who promised to pay them for passage had disappeared.

And they seemed to be right smack in the middle of the local politics of the Noble Houses of Kuat, which was known to be pretty deadly.

 

Irfan Goes To MIAT

01 January 2006 | Hisham | | Family Pics
 

Today Irfan's youngest aunt, his Cik Su F, enrolled in MIAT. In three and a half years, she will be graduating with a Diploma in Aviation Maintenance Technology (Avionics), with a bunch of skillset that should be more marketable in the aviation industry than my old Licenced Aircraft Maintenace Engineer (Yeah it's LAME, I know) with Rotorcraft Airframe and Engine specialisation. Irfan was there. Some pictures were taken. Here they are.

 

Second Hishgraphics Book In The Works

29 December 2005 | Hisham | | Hishgraphics.com
 
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - After The Flesh

Many moons after the release of The Secret Library, I've now finished writing a 12 page children's book, a much simpler one this time. It's about a child that imagines camping out on his or her bed with a blanket. There will be rhyming. There will be animals. And the best part is the idea hit me after playing make-believe campout on the bed with a blanket.

Still have to revise the text and proofread before I start illustrating and laying out the book.

So.... anyone knows what rhymes with "sasquatch"?
 

Another Fallen Comrade?

27 December 2005 | Hisham | | ACS Memories
 
January 13 Update: A follow up to the contents of this entry can be found here.

I checked this blog's statistics this morning. Hits from search engines are always fun, because you'd never know what random composition of words that make up the searchstring on a search engine can lead someone to an entry on this blog.

 

This Blog Is Worth...

21 December 2005 | Hisham | | Hishgraphics.com
 


My blog is worth $4,516.32.
How much is your blog worth?

Now show me the money! Show me the money!!!!!

 

Mini Reviews: Pulp, Supers and Lemurs

20 December 2005 | Hisham | | Movie Review
 

So the other day I borrowed some DVDs from Awie. Why didn't I buy them? Cause I'm a cheapskate. Here are three movies I saw over the last couple of days and some of my thoughts on it. I saw the first movie in the cinema... twice. I missed the second and the third.

 

A Writing Gig?

19 December 2005 | Hisham | | Recent News, Role Playing Games
 
I wouldn't have thought it possible a year ago. Heck, I would have scoffed at the idea 3 months ago, but upon browsing the RPG.Net Freelancing Forum recently, I decided to answer a call for freelance writers, instead of illustrators.

I submitted the text for the Net.Guide to Spleens to the person in charge and hoped for the best. After a flurry of e-mails, I was tasked to write 2 articles for a book which will be released next spring. The tone of the short write-ups would be akin to that of the Twilight Zone or Twin Peaks, or like Grant Morrison's The Invisibles (A great comic. Go out and read it if you haven't.) The job isn't a earth-shattering one, nor does it pay much but it would be my first professional writing gig, and as they say my foot at the door.

The company I'm writing for is Abstract Nova, publisher of the Heaven and Earth RPG. Here's hoping I get more writing gigs.

 

NASA Faked Moon Landing - The Proof!

16 December 2005 | Hisham | | Trawling The Net
 
There has been quite a lot of debate about NASA faking the moon landings. It even has its own Wikipedia page, quite extensively written. For details on the moon landing hoaxes and their rebuttals.

But here it is in its full glory: the real deal. Once you visit this website, read the text and view the photographs, you will be convinced that NASA did stage an elaborate hoax for sinister purposes.

Click here to witness the proof of this heinous conspiracy.

 

Into the Wardrobe: A Narnia Review

13 December 2005 | Hisham | | Movie Review
 
So I saw The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe last Friday, right after Friday prayers at GSC 1 Utama. I wasn't disappointed. It was exactly as I expected it.

I expected the story to be somewhat thin because the book is in fact thin compared to the other fantasy series written by author C.S. Lewis's contemporary and peer (J. R. R. Tolkien if you don't know). Narnia in the entire first book wasn't quite fleshed out as Middle Earth was in the first 2 chapters of Fellowship of the Ring.

 

South Park Portrait

10 December 2005 | Hisham | | Friends, Humour
 
Brem posted an entry which reminded me of something I posted in the ACS Sitiawan Forums last March. A Flash South Park portrait generator! Appears to be Version 2.0 now. You can access the page from Brem's link as the link in the ACS Forums now also points to the new location. Check out more pictures at Brem's page and in the ACS thread.

Here's me in March:

I broke the dam.
 

Tomorrow's Evolution Freebie

06 December 2005 | Hisham | | Role Playing Games
 
The Game Mechanics

The Game Mechanics have a freebie pdf for Future Player's Companion: Tomorrow's Evolution role playing game supplement named Future Pharma, from the chapter on drugs and pharmaceuticals in a science-fiction setting. Four of my artwork are also featured in the free pdf.

Download it at Free Samples section at the FPC page here.

Additionally, Marc Schmaltz has added me to the contributors roster at The Game Mechanics. The spelling errors on the bio there are all my fault for typing too fast. I've sent an email to Marc with the corrections.

Tee hee. (blush)

 

Hishgraphics.com Joins A Webring

05 December 2005 | Hisham | | Hishgraphics.com
 
Not much sales happening at Hishgraphics Publications, so I'm currently trying out by using another internet marketing tool, a webring. More precisely, the eBooks 4 Kids webring. You can check out the link at the bottom of the index page of Hishgraphics.com, although our status with the webring is still pending. I'll update this post when the ringmaster's reviewed Hishgraphics and approved us.

UPDATE (5 pm, Dec 6): We've been approved! Our link is in the Webring hub at the link above.
Hishgraphics.com

Earlier today, I finally succeeded registering with eBay to see if I can sell other stuff there while passively marketing Hishgraphics Publications there... unfortunately to register as a Seller I need a credit card.

Now I have to look into getting one, for the sole purpose of being an online merchant.

Ugh.

 

Illustration Friday: Blue

04 December 2005 | Hisham | | Artwork
 
Here's an Illustration Friday piece with the subject title of "blue". The young lady, bathed in blue light, is also feeling a little blue. Click on the thumbnail to view larger image.

Blue


A quick and dirty Photoshop painting; no photo references (and it shows... danged shadows in the wrong places). Time taken: About 45 minutes.
 

Family Circus Meets Cthulhu

03 December 2005 | Hisham | | Humour, Trawling The Net
 

Via Boing Boing, I've discovered a bunch of Family Circus comics at the Accordion Guy's blog that has H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos captions placed on it. These are very humourous if you've read Lovecraft and put them into context with the Family Circus. But there was one hilarious Family Circus comic posted anonymously in the comments section that really made me chuckle out loud. (See below.)