I read his comics blog every work day for almost 3 years now.
Three years ago, Boey posted a link on Craigslist to his comic blog. Each blog entry is a simple line drawing comic about his work, friends and love life. Since he post a blog entry everyday, on some days the comic might be funny, on other days, thought invoking and, still on some days, boring.
It was from one of the blog posting I read about his styrofoam cups. Boey is an artist and draws on styrofoam cups when bored. Then he started showing the cups at Art Festivals and scored an interview on Orange County Register. That was when he hit big time!
From the article, I learned his work could be found at Marion Meyer Contemporary Art gallery in Laguna Beach. On this Thanksgiving weekend, I was in Orange County to spend time with my brother and his family. Not a shopping person, I talked my brother and his family into seeing this unique art work on Black Friday.
There were about 10 cups on display. The details on each one was amazing! This was like graphic art, souped up to fine art. Most of the cups had whimsical design, but a few were darker and more serious. Quite a treat for me, especially having seen some off the cups on Flickr.
There was a painting by Robert Mah in the Marion Meyer Gallery which we enjoyed very much as well. It was a landscape painting that had a hint of Chinese landscape painting. Using only black coloring, the brush stroke were more obvious compared to most chinese painting, but it did had the same mystic feel.
After the show, we went to Thai Nakorn in Stanton for dinner. The best thai food I had ever had. Read my review on Yelp about it here.
--
Update 11-30-09
I emailed Boey and told him I made a trip to Laguna Beach to see his styrofoam cups. He repiled asking if I made the trip for that purpose only. When I answered yes, he said he felt sorry for me, because he did not leave his best work with Marion Meyer. He also told me to email him in advance on my next trip south to Orange County and he would show me his best work over coffee. Sigh...I think I have low standards. I thought the cups in Marion Meyer were quite good already.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Friend from Taiwan/New York
WCT and I went to grad school together. We were all part of the late night gang, working from 7pm to 3am in clean room every day. A special bond was formed while we were working crazy hours in a stressful environment.
After graduation, WCT went to work in New York for GE Labs. He also started a family and keep non-engineer hours. Given the time difference, we did not contact each other very often. But every time he came into town for business, we would make an effort to get together and catch up.
We last saw each other in April in San Francisco. He was contemplating about a teaching position in National Taiwan University. I learned on this visit he is currently an associate professor at NTU's Electrical Engineering Department.
There was a lot of change in his life over the last several months which we shared over dinner at a mutual friend's house and drinks at A Perfect Finish.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Santa Cruz Archery
Growing up, I loved reading stories about Robin Hood and William Tell in western folk stores. Chinese history also have its fair share of famous archer: 后羿, 李广, 花荣.
However, the only time I had shot an arrow was years ago at Formosan Aboriginal Village in Taiwan. So, when I found out there was going to be an archery lessons in Santa Cruz, I eagerly signed up.
We met at UCSC and drove to DeLaveaga Park. The route we took to the range took us through some residential neighbourhood in Santa Cruz on the east side of Highway 1, then we drove along a very narrow and winding road to the archery range. At the range, we went indoors and met with Henry and Randy. They are both members of Santa Cruz Archers, as well as our instructor for the lesson.
Since an archery range can be a dangerous place if rules are not followed, we were quickly taught three commands. "Archers to the line", when we were allowed to pick up our bows and straddled the firing line, "Clear", when we were allowed to pick arrows out from the ground quiver and start firing and finally "All Clear", when all arrows were fired and we were allowed to retrieve our arrows. There was also "Hold" command, which meant stop shooting and released the draw.
Next we learned the standard archery technique. Before he started, Henry made a point that there are excellent archers who do not follow any of the techniques we were going to learn, so all techniques he taught us were optional.
The standard stance we learned involve standing feet parallel to the firing line, then moving the fore foot a feet inches back. The left hip should be over the left ankle. The right hand holding the bow (I am left handed) with the first three fingers and the last two fingers curled and relaxed. The right arm should be slightly bend and turned away from the bow so when the string was released, it would not hit the arm.
We used aluminum arrows with plastic feather for this shoot. The arrows had a plastic cap with a notch on the back and we would slide notch into the string. There was a small bead on the string which guide where the arrow should be notched. We were using a modern recurve bow for this shoot, and there was a small notched on the right side of the bow, just above the handle where the front of the arrow rested.
As beginner, I was given a 20lb bow, which means drawing the bow open required 20lb of force. When drawing the bow, the middle three fingers were used and the string should be drawn fully until the pointer touches the mouth, and the back of the left hand fitted on the jaw. In the anchor position, the body should be relaxed, except the upper back.
The release was basically letting the string slipped forward while sliding the left hand backwards to act as a counter weight. Modern bows are fairly delicate and releasing the bow without an arrow could break the bow.
Other equipment used, besides the bow and arrow, was an arm guard to protect the fore arm from the released string and a finger guard, so that while drawing the bow, the string would not cut into the fingers.
As we were all beginners, we started with blind baling. We shot at bales of hay with no target at short distances. Randy and Henry helped correct our stance while we shot. Since there was no target, we were asked to shoot in the same manner so all the arrows landed near each other to form a grouping. I am happy to report I had decent grouping on my first few tries.
After several rounds of blind baling at short distances, Henry moved the firing line to about 20 feet and put up paper plates as targets. Turns out, due to parallax error, we needed to aim away from the target for the arrow to actually hit the target.
My first shot at the target was left and high by a large distance! I corrected my aim for my second shot and was able to hit the edge of the paper plate. But I missed again on my final shot in the first round.
We did one round of shooting at paper plates when Henry decided to make things interesting. He pulled out a bag of balloons. We were going to pop the balloons with our shots!
I went to the line and starting firing. On both rounds, I was able to pop a balloon on my second shot. However, my first shot and third shot were way off.
The lesson ended with a pop! Shooting arrows were surprisingly a lot of fun. Henry told us the range is open to public every Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4pm. Equipment rentals are only $3. In spite of the distance, I think I will come back...
However, the only time I had shot an arrow was years ago at Formosan Aboriginal Village in Taiwan. So, when I found out there was going to be an archery lessons in Santa Cruz, I eagerly signed up.
We met at UCSC and drove to DeLaveaga Park. The route we took to the range took us through some residential neighbourhood in Santa Cruz on the east side of Highway 1, then we drove along a very narrow and winding road to the archery range. At the range, we went indoors and met with Henry and Randy. They are both members of Santa Cruz Archers, as well as our instructor for the lesson.
Since an archery range can be a dangerous place if rules are not followed, we were quickly taught three commands. "Archers to the line", when we were allowed to pick up our bows and straddled the firing line, "Clear", when we were allowed to pick arrows out from the ground quiver and start firing and finally "All Clear", when all arrows were fired and we were allowed to retrieve our arrows. There was also "Hold" command, which meant stop shooting and released the draw.
Next we learned the standard archery technique. Before he started, Henry made a point that there are excellent archers who do not follow any of the techniques we were going to learn, so all techniques he taught us were optional.
The standard stance we learned involve standing feet parallel to the firing line, then moving the fore foot a feet inches back. The left hip should be over the left ankle. The right hand holding the bow (I am left handed) with the first three fingers and the last two fingers curled and relaxed. The right arm should be slightly bend and turned away from the bow so when the string was released, it would not hit the arm.
We used aluminum arrows with plastic feather for this shoot. The arrows had a plastic cap with a notch on the back and we would slide notch into the string. There was a small bead on the string which guide where the arrow should be notched. We were using a modern recurve bow for this shoot, and there was a small notched on the right side of the bow, just above the handle where the front of the arrow rested.
As beginner, I was given a 20lb bow, which means drawing the bow open required 20lb of force. When drawing the bow, the middle three fingers were used and the string should be drawn fully until the pointer touches the mouth, and the back of the left hand fitted on the jaw. In the anchor position, the body should be relaxed, except the upper back.
The release was basically letting the string slipped forward while sliding the left hand backwards to act as a counter weight. Modern bows are fairly delicate and releasing the bow without an arrow could break the bow.
Other equipment used, besides the bow and arrow, was an arm guard to protect the fore arm from the released string and a finger guard, so that while drawing the bow, the string would not cut into the fingers.
As we were all beginners, we started with blind baling. We shot at bales of hay with no target at short distances. Randy and Henry helped correct our stance while we shot. Since there was no target, we were asked to shoot in the same manner so all the arrows landed near each other to form a grouping. I am happy to report I had decent grouping on my first few tries.
After several rounds of blind baling at short distances, Henry moved the firing line to about 20 feet and put up paper plates as targets. Turns out, due to parallax error, we needed to aim away from the target for the arrow to actually hit the target.
My first shot at the target was left and high by a large distance! I corrected my aim for my second shot and was able to hit the edge of the paper plate. But I missed again on my final shot in the first round.
We did one round of shooting at paper plates when Henry decided to make things interesting. He pulled out a bag of balloons. We were going to pop the balloons with our shots!
I went to the line and starting firing. On both rounds, I was able to pop a balloon on my second shot. However, my first shot and third shot were way off.
The lesson ended with a pop! Shooting arrows were surprisingly a lot of fun. Henry told us the range is open to public every Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4pm. Equipment rentals are only $3. In spite of the distance, I think I will come back...
Friday, November 6, 2009
Golden State Warriors vs LA Clippers
On this Friday evening, A had an extra ticket to the Golden State Warriors game. The warriors haven't been very good lately, but it was a Friday evening and I had no plans. So, it's off to Oakland for "a great time out".
I met up with A at his office. Going to the game with us was his co-worker Brian. We took 237 east then 880 north. A and Brian were Warrior's season tickets holder and they had done this trip many times. They avoided traffic at the stadium off ramp by exiting at 98th street, then taking San Leandro Street to the BART parking lot.
Friday evening traffic was a little worst than we had expected, so we missed the opening tip off, but as we were getting to our seats, the Warriors were on a mini-run. There was a 3 point shot and a lay up scored by the Warriors and the score was tied. The Clipper called a timeout, and I went to get some food as I had not have dinner.
Big mistake! While I was waiting in line for food, I saw the Clipper slowly increase their lead to 10. By the time I got back to the stands, it was the beginning of the second quarter and for all practical purposes, the game was mostly over as Clippers increased their lead to about 20.
The Warriors had no answer for the Clipper's center on defense. The Clipper guards: Baron Davis and Eric Gordon played well. Offensively, the Warriors looked confused and did not have much ball movement. Ill-advised, long jump shots were taken without much setup. It was not a pretty sight. Before the game we knew the Warriors were not very good, but thought the game itself would be close since the Clippers were not very good too. Given this performance, I can only wonder what would happen when the Warriors played some of the better teams in the league.
We tried out best to enjoy the game. There was break dancing performance, Philippines dancing performance, dunking performance, pizza giveaway and a whole slew of activities to keep the time entertaining. We did not leave until the game was over.
On the way back, on KNBR, we heard coach Don Nelson called the game "embarrassing" for the Warriors. Sadly, I had to agree. With the various entertainment option the Bay area had to offer, combined with the cost and distance of attending a Warriors game, I would not be back until something changes.
Game review by SFGate.com here.
I met up with A at his office. Going to the game with us was his co-worker Brian. We took 237 east then 880 north. A and Brian were Warrior's season tickets holder and they had done this trip many times. They avoided traffic at the stadium off ramp by exiting at 98th street, then taking San Leandro Street to the BART parking lot.
Friday evening traffic was a little worst than we had expected, so we missed the opening tip off, but as we were getting to our seats, the Warriors were on a mini-run. There was a 3 point shot and a lay up scored by the Warriors and the score was tied. The Clipper called a timeout, and I went to get some food as I had not have dinner.
Big mistake! While I was waiting in line for food, I saw the Clipper slowly increase their lead to 10. By the time I got back to the stands, it was the beginning of the second quarter and for all practical purposes, the game was mostly over as Clippers increased their lead to about 20.
The Warriors had no answer for the Clipper's center on defense. The Clipper guards: Baron Davis and Eric Gordon played well. Offensively, the Warriors looked confused and did not have much ball movement. Ill-advised, long jump shots were taken without much setup. It was not a pretty sight. Before the game we knew the Warriors were not very good, but thought the game itself would be close since the Clippers were not very good too. Given this performance, I can only wonder what would happen when the Warriors played some of the better teams in the league.
We tried out best to enjoy the game. There was break dancing performance, Philippines dancing performance, dunking performance, pizza giveaway and a whole slew of activities to keep the time entertaining. We did not leave until the game was over.
On the way back, on KNBR, we heard coach Don Nelson called the game "embarrassing" for the Warriors. Sadly, I had to agree. With the various entertainment option the Bay area had to offer, combined with the cost and distance of attending a Warriors game, I would not be back until something changes.
Game review by SFGate.com here.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Gold Star Gymnastics
I ran into Nathalie at the break room at work a week ago and saw her heat up dinner at 5pm. "Wow, early dinner!" I commented.
Nathalie told me she was taking gymnastics classes at Gold Star Gymnastics that night and wanted to eat something early so she would not throw up while doing various tumbling exercise. Then she asked if I wanted to try the lessons. "The first lesson is free", she said.
I had to work late that evening, so had to decline the invitation, but promised I would try the lesson next week.
This Thursday, I reached Gold Star Gymnastics at about 7:45pm and was given a waiver to sign, then changed into workout clothes in the bathroom. At 8pm, a lady rounded up about 10-12 people to begin the class.
We started by running around a big exercise mat followed by stretching of the hamstrings. Then we practise fall. A common gymnastic injury is when a person falls, he uses his hands to balance himself. The weight on the wrist and elbow may be too much and bones can break. We learned to fall backwards, roll backwards while keeping our hands on our sides.
Warm up continued with jumping on a trampoline, followed by doing a seat drop on the trampoline. This involve jumping on the trampoline, then in mid air push the legs horizontal and keeping the hangs on the side, then drop butt first on the trampoline. With the bounce, get mid-air and stand up. There was a more advance move of doing seat drop in one direction, followed by seat drop in another direction which I was unable to do. The final warm up was inch-worm.
After warm-up, we formed lines to do forward rolls and backward rolls. My lack of arm strength quickly became obvious. Also, I was not used to being upside down. After each roll, I quickly lose orientation and needed a few seconds to gather myself.
The instructor pulled me aside to do backward roll on a decline mat. This way, I do not need to use as much force roll myself backwards as gravity helped do some of the pulling. I was able to do the skill several times, but the dizziness got worst.
The next exercise was cartwheel. I was too weak to try doing the drill. The instructor pulled over a stack of mats and had me do semi-cartwheels by putting my hands on the stack and jumping over the mats. She had the students worked on a roll followed by a handstand turn. I could not do a handstand, so I was reduced to doing a hand push up with kicks of the legs in the air.
After these exercise, the instructor pulled a big roller mattress and have the students do running flips. The students ran towards the roller, then bend down to pushed themselves onto the roller with their hands. At this point, I was feeling very sick and did not participate in any of the drills. I started watching my fellow students and found most of them were doing quite well. A few were even able to do the flip without the rollers! I later learned that many of the students were former gymnasts and just wanted to continue working out gymnastics moves. Compare to them, I was clearly out of shape.
After the running flip exercises, it was a free for all period. I saw some people worked on floor exercise moves, working on back flips with rollers. The gym also has a setup for working on jumps. I saw more than a few students ran down the running track, jumped, twisted and turned in mid air, then land into a pool of foam cubes. A fellow student saw me watching and encouraged me to try. I politely declined as I was still fighting the urge to throw up.
After 45mins of free exercise, we gathered again on the mat for conditioning exercise. There was a body crunch followed by rolling on the sides, and clapping push ups.
Nathalie came and checked with me to see how I enjoyed the class. It was fun trying something new, but clearly I am not ready for many of the exercises and definitely not ready for the rolls and flips. I would need to work on those skills before returning.
Nathalie told me she was taking gymnastics classes at Gold Star Gymnastics that night and wanted to eat something early so she would not throw up while doing various tumbling exercise. Then she asked if I wanted to try the lessons. "The first lesson is free", she said.
I had to work late that evening, so had to decline the invitation, but promised I would try the lesson next week.
This Thursday, I reached Gold Star Gymnastics at about 7:45pm and was given a waiver to sign, then changed into workout clothes in the bathroom. At 8pm, a lady rounded up about 10-12 people to begin the class.
We started by running around a big exercise mat followed by stretching of the hamstrings. Then we practise fall. A common gymnastic injury is when a person falls, he uses his hands to balance himself. The weight on the wrist and elbow may be too much and bones can break. We learned to fall backwards, roll backwards while keeping our hands on our sides.
Warm up continued with jumping on a trampoline, followed by doing a seat drop on the trampoline. This involve jumping on the trampoline, then in mid air push the legs horizontal and keeping the hangs on the side, then drop butt first on the trampoline. With the bounce, get mid-air and stand up. There was a more advance move of doing seat drop in one direction, followed by seat drop in another direction which I was unable to do. The final warm up was inch-worm.
After warm-up, we formed lines to do forward rolls and backward rolls. My lack of arm strength quickly became obvious. Also, I was not used to being upside down. After each roll, I quickly lose orientation and needed a few seconds to gather myself.
The instructor pulled me aside to do backward roll on a decline mat. This way, I do not need to use as much force roll myself backwards as gravity helped do some of the pulling. I was able to do the skill several times, but the dizziness got worst.
The next exercise was cartwheel. I was too weak to try doing the drill. The instructor pulled over a stack of mats and had me do semi-cartwheels by putting my hands on the stack and jumping over the mats. She had the students worked on a roll followed by a handstand turn. I could not do a handstand, so I was reduced to doing a hand push up with kicks of the legs in the air.
After these exercise, the instructor pulled a big roller mattress and have the students do running flips. The students ran towards the roller, then bend down to pushed themselves onto the roller with their hands. At this point, I was feeling very sick and did not participate in any of the drills. I started watching my fellow students and found most of them were doing quite well. A few were even able to do the flip without the rollers! I later learned that many of the students were former gymnasts and just wanted to continue working out gymnastics moves. Compare to them, I was clearly out of shape.
After the running flip exercises, it was a free for all period. I saw some people worked on floor exercise moves, working on back flips with rollers. The gym also has a setup for working on jumps. I saw more than a few students ran down the running track, jumped, twisted and turned in mid air, then land into a pool of foam cubes. A fellow student saw me watching and encouraged me to try. I politely declined as I was still fighting the urge to throw up.
After 45mins of free exercise, we gathered again on the mat for conditioning exercise. There was a body crunch followed by rolling on the sides, and clapping push ups.
Nathalie came and checked with me to see how I enjoyed the class. It was fun trying something new, but clearly I am not ready for many of the exercises and definitely not ready for the rolls and flips. I would need to work on those skills before returning.
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