It’s been in the news since last year that China has been censoring internet into the country. So, thanks to a website called greatfirewallofchina.org, I am able to test whether the subject matters of Hishgraphics blog entries are forbidden to be view from within China. Apparently, we’re not blocked! Yay! (Or, who knows, perhaps because of this post we will be before long, heh.) Greetings to everyone reading from China! Peace, y’all!
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Retro Review: Vejur Returns To Look for Dad
My first foray into the world of Star Trek consisted of a single page ad on a comic (might have been a Gold Key comic) for Star Trek The Motion Picture, back in 1980. It had a picture of the new refitted Enterprise (no bloody A, B, C, or D) with a photo line-up of the characters along the bottom. My first thought was (probably) how great it was to be part of this team, exploring the unknown in the 23rd century (it said 23rd century right there on the movie ad) in such a sleek starship. I don’t remember when I learned that the movie was based on the TV show, or if I learnt it before or after I saw the movie ad. Anyway some months later, I bought the novelisation of the movie, which I believe might be my first ever movie novelisation bought. Tok & Opah […]
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Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
Who watched and caught a glimpse of the Easter egg in the trailer for Zak Snyder’s new film 300? It’s been all over the internet now so if you’re online most of the time you’d probably have seen a screen capture of it in the last couple of days. Twenty years ago, plus change, Alan Moore wrote a 12 issue mini-series for DC Comics called Watchmen. It was one of the books (along with books such as Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman) that elevated the generally considered lightweight storytelling medium of comic books into serious literature. Twenty years ago, plus change, Alan Moore wrote and Dave Gibbons drew these panels: Last week, it was discovered that this image was slipped into the 300 trailer at 1:52 on the time stamp: Zak Snyder who directed 300 is now slated to direct Watchmen for release in 2008. The image was […]
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I Thought I Could Build An X-Wing, At Ten
I seriously did think back in the earlier years of the Eighties I could build a fully functional Incom T-65 X-Wing space superiority fighter given the proper parts and tool. I thought that it would be cool to pilot the ship to school. I even picked out a landing spot, right by the Standard Three classes behind the principal’s office. Needless to say, I never actually did build the fighter with my 10 year old hands. However, within the last decade or so, everything I achieved personally has had the “if I put my will into it” stamp on it. I had believed that if I put work into it, I could create passable digital art – and it worked. I had believed if I put work into it with a little help from friends I could create websites using HTML and CSS – and again it worked. The same […]
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Did It or Did It Not Exist?
The stormy clouds of the gas giant were where the rag tag fugitive fleet was undergoing refuelling operations last week in Battlestar Galactica. But Captain Kara “Starbuck” Thrace patrolling the skies of the planet in her Viper caught a glimpse of a Cylon Heavy Raider and chased after it. Without invoking spoilers, the question would be whether she was hallucinating or not. If she wasn’t then a whole set of new variables can be introduced to the outcome of the episode, entitled “Maelstrom”. As the viewer, we saw Starbuck’s point of view of the bloodied child in the cockpit. We also saw the silhouette of the man in the room outside her cockpit as she was flying deeper into the storm. Let’s not get into the dream sequence. (I hope the paint was non-toxic.) The shots of the Heavy Raider were for the most part in her point of view… […]
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Another Suitor For Lily
Young Tiger Lily Belle, who just meowed her way into Sila & Vin’s household, already has suitors apparently. You can get the details from Sila later, about the poet and the two-timer. I would like to suggest another candidate for Lily. A powerful sandcat. From Arrakis. The Shai-Hulud: From here.
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From the Tenth Floor At Night
Atok Irfan took some fantastic night photos from the balcony of the tenth floor here, something I couldn’t have done without a tripod. You can see the Menara Maxisegar and the Menara MPAJ in the first picture. Click on the thumbnails for larger images. Thanks to Irfan’s grandfather for the beautiful photos.
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Ubuntu Adventures: Survivors of the KDE Desktop
Last time I wrote about the Linuxification of the home PC, I mentioned that I turned my Ubuntu into Kubuntu by installing the KDE desktop. It turns out I prefer the old GNOME desktop and the Nautilus file browser more, so with the command line in Terminal, sudo aptitude remove kde-desktop and POOF! A KDE holocaust. Lots of K thingamajigs were culled and removed from the operating system. We’re back to the regular Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake. Here is how my desktop looks like now: However, I did retain a couple of KDE applications which I can’t do without, survivors of the culling so to speak. Amarok Still a fantastic music organizer and player. I spent a couple of hours earlier this week reorganizing my tunes on Amarok, ensuring the ID3 tags for each music file aren’t screwed up. I used EasyTAG to edit by batch the ID3 data, and […]
Continue readingOn the Topic of New Daughters…
Gary and Amy both went out and gotten for Stephen a new baby sister! Welcome to the world, Madeline. Don’t worry about it; you’re in good hands. You have the best parents and brother to take care of you.
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Best Text Message I Got Today
Not 2 minutes ago I received the best text message today. Heck, it even might be the best text message for the last couple of weeks. It conveyed a sense of joy. I can’t stop smiling now. The message was from Teik Sing and it read: Baby Ashley-Joan was born @ 3.54am, 2.89kg, 49cm. Congrats to Teik Sing and Michelle. Now the fun (as well as the barf and poo cleanup) begins. We’re both almost at a full circle, man.
Continue readingMarvel’s Civil War in 30 Seconds
[[image:nextwave11.jpg:Warren Ellis you sly dog you….:left:0]]Civil War was announced as the Marvel Comics crossover event for 2006-2007. Written by Mark Millar and pencilled by Steve McNiven, whose art I admired since his Sentry story arc on the New Avengers and two issues of Ultimate Secret it was going to be a total revamp of how super-powered heroes will be regarded by the government and the general public in Marvel’s Earth-616. Superhero Registration Act and whatnot. I thought I wouldn’t read too much into it and get the book once it’s been collected into a trade paperback. However, issue #7 was released and it’s difficult not to hear the online rantings of almost everyone if you’re a comic book fan. Anyway if you’re not physically, psychologically or radiologically allergic to spoilers (SPOILERS! Once again in caps for your attention) check out this Civil War in 30 Seconds post from Chris’s Invincible […]
Continue readingKneel Before Bill Cosby
So there I was watching Superman 2 (the theatrical Richard Lester version, not the brand new DVD release of Richard Donner’s version) and I just realised that when the good General said the iconic line, “Kneel before Zod!!!” he really meant kneel before Bill Cosby, which is pretty cool.[[image:zodcosby.jpg:Shenanigans in Perry’s office:center:0]]
Continue readingA Couple of Checks and He’s Seaworthy
No fear of taking a leap into the deep end of the swimming pool: check No fear of submerging his entire body and head underwater with eyes open: check Ability to stay afloat without using any flotation gear: check Moving on and in the water under his own power: check No problems breathing while all of the above are occurring: check It’s official. Irfan is now ready to explore the undersea realm. (Well, not really seaworthy yet… but he really can swim.)
Continue readingNot Really The Eye of Sauron
The Eye on Malaysia is its name and we went for a trip to Taman Tasik Titiwangsa for a look and for a ride. Well, Everyone else took the ride. Ain & I did not because Irfan didn’t want to take a ride on it. We thought we might go later and at night to see the city skyline after dark, which might be beautiful. Unless there’s a citywide blackout. In which case, the lack of a pretty landscape might be the least of our problems. Here’s the Eye on Malaysia, which seem to conceptually rip off the Millennium Wheel (or the London Eye). Welcome to Malaysia. Leave your originality at the door, thank you very much.[[image:eye01.jpg:It’s plainly labeled:center:0]] You can hardly contain the excitement of riding the giant, vertical metal merry-go-round. I’ve never heard anyone referring to it as a Ferris wheel at all which saddened me.[[image:eye02.jpg:The Expeditionary Force:center:0]] […]
Continue readingNot Usually Found On Roads
So the other night I saw something on the road – placed squarely flat on the asphalt – that I’ve not seen before on any roads. It was because we had to drive to Ain’s sister’s house at Taman Bukit Kinrara. We took the Middle Ring Road 2 westbound. The traffic suddenly slowed and moved as like treacle for a kilometre. Then I saw the thing I’ve not seen before on roads. The stretch of road coming downhill from Cheras bent to the right, squeezing between the Giant Supermarket at Connaught and the great big Chinese cemetery. There were people – drivers who had stopped – standing near it, and they too were standing on the road and not on the curb – not that there was a curb by the side of the road. The thing on the road wasn’t big nor small, but it was noticeable enough under […]
Continue readingStunt KitKat
Since the arrival of Tiger Lily Belle (Lily, to those closest to her), Vin and I have hardly been able to take our eyes off of this little cutie. She sleeps on the bed with us sometimes, but normally on Vin’s side. We play with her and pet her, and enjoy her loving company. She’s an amazing little creature! She rarely meows, unless she wants something. So she’s not a chatty katty (which makes doing conference calls from home really easy). She’s really careful with her claws and hasn’t so far preyed on the furniture (knock wood), she likes to come and curl up with us, she sleeps with such abandon that she can comfortably lie in the weirdest positions as long as parts of her are on one of us. Vin and I are both crazy about her! Plus she is a sucker for the bunny on the string. […]
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