shanghai noon

Business trip in Shanghai,on a regular weekday noon, surprisingly I found right by our local office, there is such a place hidden in this urban park, People's Park. It's a beautiful place for lunch and taking a break from such a density city.

how people get around in India?

India is a country known for its diversity, these are what you can see on the street everyday...







These pictures were taken during my business trips in Delhi, Chennai, Goa, and Bombay (Mumbai).

can I ride a donkey?

2 pics of hong kong

First one is a snapshot of the game I am playing: GT4. The other one is simply the view from my living room windows at night. Both were taken recently.

no.2

Mianyong
Second large city in Sichuan Province.
Second China city I have been visiting.

how to decorate for christmas?

An architect's way...

street performance in santa monica

It’s a Saturday night on Thanksgiving weekend. The second time I went down to Santa Monica, Los Angeles in two months. Last time, I was there with a little tense because of the business schedule on the next day. This time, on the contrary, with ease and some pleasant companions, I could completely immerse myself in those street performances on 3rd Street Promenade.



Among all, I was most in favor of Seis Cuerdas, the flamenco duo. “How good they are?” Well, I always have troubles describing an inner feeling regarding music clearly. I only can say, "You have to hear them to understand." "…the brothers show an incredible technique, knowing how to mix different sounds, going from flamenco to rock, turning the classic and most pure Spanish music into a new and fresh sound,” ~ from their website.

Vivencias by Seis Cuerdas

I have to add this by the way: this time, I was intended to find them and buy a copy of their CD. We got to 3rd Street a couple hours before the brothers started, and ended up standing in a chill wind and waiting. It was, however, totally worthy!

But, I should have brought a very thick jacket with…

gophers in a vineyard

a small GSAPP CU graduate reunion in Napa Valley
participants come together from: New York City, NY / Sausalito, CA / Sacramento, CA / San Francisco, CA

corpse bride

Honestly, the movie was not as good as what I expected. As for an animation, this one is a bit lack of surprising elements. Perhaps the kind of stop-frame animation does have its limit, if producer doesn’t intent to spice it up much during the post-production phase. Besides that, the story line itself is a bit plain. Audience today is too sophisticated to appreciate such a simple scenario in a sense.
However, I do appreciate the way this movie represent the contrary between the worlds of living and dead. I also like the idea “when your pets die, they go to the same place you go.” But please God; I hope they still are furry instead of all bones.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050922/REVIEWS/50921002/1023

server failure

The server failure started from yesterday seems to send most of architects in my office back to the Stone Age. With the current technology, relying on computer graphic software has grown on architects and designers. The advantage of CG: efficiency and preciseness are the two major factors, which hand-drawn will never beat.

Most cases, except the very early stages, hand-drawn presentations often look like: architects run out of time, and didn’t get a chance to put them accurately in computer. Clients today are not so easy to satisfy. They demand more and more. Three dimensional simulation static images, moreover, short animation clips. Only in some circumstance, sketches are allowed to be in the presentation packages—the office server failure for example.

What can I do during this period of time without an office network? Postponing deadlines, drawing by hand, chatting with colleagues, cleaning the piles of drawings under my desk, scheduling the next business trip, day dreaming my next vacation... By the way, It might be a good opportunity to keep my friends posted about the projects I have been working on recently. Enjoy.