Paris Again - The Arrival

So I am here in Paris again, for the third time. First time was 2008 with Christina (she was still my girlfriend back then, and now she's my wife). Second time was with my mom in 2008. This time its 3 years later, in 2011. 


I left London to end my 5 months working visa in dneg. I am here on holiday with my wife, and we'll be here for a week. After that I will return to London to catch a flight back to Singapore on the same day.


This is the first time I am booking any hotel stay for 7 days at a stretch - my longest hotel stay in a country so far. I booked the hotel as a package with the train, through the Eurostar website. 

The night before, Christina and I had a rough time packing all our stuff. My suitcase was smaller than hers, but I had 5 months worth of stuff to squeeze into it. She was already finding it hard to press all her stuff into her suitcase. In the end we could just barely squeeze our suitcases close.

When I reached Paris, walking out of the train station, the first group of people I encountered was a group of girls loosely scattered across the arrival area of the station, collecting donations for poor and homeless children. They were teenagers from about 12 to 17 years old. Christina and myself were quite lost and we had our hands full, so we had to turn them down. We ran into 3 of the girls, all asking for the same thing. They all ask if we spoke English. 


The first girl showed me a list of people names on a piece of printed donation list, and tried to explain to me about the objective of the fund-raising. I got past by apologising and saying we were in a rush. Second girl came as we went down the escalator to the basement. There was a group of them at the end of that escalator. 


This girl asked if I spoke English, then showed me her donation list and asked me to sign without saying anything about money. I felt she was persistent and misleading me into thinking it's simply a petition by signing my name. However, when I took a closer glance at her paper I saw the column stating the amount donated. I said sorry with a declining smile and waved my hand "no". She physically tried to stop my by using her hand to push against mine in the middle of my waving action to stop my advancing forward. It was more of a gesture than a really obstructive force to keep me from going, but I felt it was far too aggressive for fund-raising.


The third girl was with the second girl. She approached us only after about 6 steps away from the other girl. She said "Hello" to me. I waved my hand with an apologetic smile. She looked indignant, like she was offended, like "I only wanted to say Hello". Then she repeated her "Hello", like 2 times, each time louder and more pissed off than before. I kept saying sorry and smiling but waving "no" to her. On the third time I said a firm "hello" in a matching loudness with her, with a smile while looking directly at her. I was trying to show that I was not ignoring her, but I was also not going to make a donation just because she was trying to intimidate me. She jabbed me in the upper arm with the non-writing tip of her pen and said "hello" again, with the loud and offensive tone. That was just when I got far enough for her not to be able to reach me any more. Her jab was not injuring but the force was firm, and I could feel it for about 8 seconds after.


I was quite surprised by the whole incident. Why were children who were so aggressive allowed to raise funds at Gare Du Nord, a major railway station in Paris? Were they taught to be so aggressive in their manner of approach? It would seriously affect tourists' impression of Paris and its people right? I was seriously doubting if there was a non-profit organisation behind the girls asking for donations. I also doubt they would just let me go if I told them I've already made a donation to another one of their peers earlier on. 


After we exited the station, a man tried to approach Christina asking if she spoke English. She said "no". He asked "Can I hug you?", she said "no" again then she ignored him. He continued to ask if he could help her. She continued to ignore him and he left after a while.


We finally found the official taxi stand, with a long queue. When we joined the queue we were greeted by an old lady asking for English Pounds to spare. I was wondering why she was specifically asking for pounds? If she was really in need, why is she selective about what people give her?


This was a totally different experience from my last 2 trips. We were left alone most of the time, and I do not recall any encounters with the locals that even approaches the intensity in persistence like what I had just encountered. It is just 3 years since, and I felt it is really different from how it used to be.


I know the state of the economy in Europe is quite bad, and I am wondering if all this is the result that is affecting society.


The taxi ride and booking in to the hotel was pretty un-eventful. The hotel is L'Empire, which was just behind the Louvre and just a street away from the Metro station called Louvre Rivoli. The hotel room was really nicer than I expected. It was clean, nicely furnished and had very friendly and professional staff. 

That's looking in from the front entrance

Our room. All the rooms are named after Napolean's generals.

The whole Eurostar package included 2 return train tickets from London to Paris and a hotel for 7 days. All in all it cost me £1,360. 

FL Studio Merchandising Design Contest: Won 2nd Prize!

What a big surprise! I opened up my email and I saw a receipt from Image-Line software, makers of FL Studio. 

I went into the contest forum thread, and I found that I won the 2nd prize!

First prize by AndrAKondrA had 167 votes, winning 25% of all the votes:

This image is from the forum where there was a button to click to vote ;)

2nd prize was my entry, scoring a 148 votes, winning 22% if all votes:

This image is from the forum where there was a button to click to vote ;)

The entry by gamecat666. It won 3rd prize with 111 votes, bagging 17% of all votes:

Winning the 2nd prize in this contest means I would receive 300 IL Virtual Cash. 1st prize wins 500 IL Virtual Cash and 3rd prize wins 100 IL Virtual Cash.

There were comments on the voting page that 3D renders are more eye catching on computer displays and more likely to attract voter's attention. However the concept and layout/composition may not be the best in the context of a t-shirt design or a mug. My piece was used as an example, because my cables were "cut-off" by the boundary of my rendered frame, thereby making it not the best candidtate, design-wise.

Also, with regards to designing for the print-medium in mind, some people also commented that photo-realistic renders, even they look attractive, would not be so suitable for mugs and t-shirts, if the designers had actually had experience doing designs for t-shirts.

The moderator commented that the designs could be used in posters for example, and they might work with us to request for modification to make the designs more suited to their purposes.

I absolutely agree with the fact that 3D spoils the market, in a way. The glossy finish and realistic shading do have the effect of covering up a weaker concept. Any piece of deisng with a nice 3D render is a design with a good execution. It would carry an average design through to become above-average. 

Only people who're trained in design can tell if a design is strong or not. It means that with their strong foundation, they will always have an edge over 3D software users who do not have fundamental knowledge in image composition, lighting principles and colour theory. That is why I believe being a 3D (CG/VFX) aritst, one should also be very aware of those foundation in art and aesthetics.

Thank you for your support, voters!

Bought an Expresso Coffee Machine!

YC spotted a good coffee maker that was selling at www.amazon.co.uk. It was the Delonghi EC152 Pump Espresso Coffee Machine, selling at only £59.95. Due to the fact that my wife HAS to drink a cup of coffee in the morning, I thought this could be a good thing to have. Therefore I asked my wife over instant messenger, and she said "ok let's buy it!"

An expresso maker in Singapore would cost about SG$300 at least.

So I've placed the order. With the date of my departure being barely more than a week away, I hope Amazon makes a timely delivery.

Submitted Entries for Image-Line Merchandise Design Contest

I've finally finished it! Submitted what I've worked on for the last weeks. If you read my blog entry just a few posts back in my Patrick's VFX blog or the Journey into Music blog, I submitted 2 ideas for merchandise: a coin bank and a candy jar. 

While I was still working on it more than a week ago, YC happened to see it and commented that they weren't so attractive. As in, he probably would not want to get one if he saw it at an online shop.

On Friday evening I purchased FL Studio and I told YC about it. YC saw it that the prize for the competition was the sole motivating factor for my purchase of the software, so that I could start posting entries at the forum. 

Since last week, YC was already telling me to try and come up with something else. So last Sunday, I began to build the model of a headphone. Initially I had no idea at all what I was going to do. I had a vague idea that I was going to do the Fruity Loops logo again, on the headphones or something. I also thought of using the fruit as the source that the headphones were plugged into.

On Wednesday I submitted the coin bank and candy bar entry. On that night, YC tried to help me brainstorm for design ideas. I think he was itching to stretch his creative brain muscles. We came up with strange things, from lava lamps to trees bearing the fruity logo as fruits. 

So all the way to the weekend I continued to model and develop the model. I had some problem trying to model the mesh. I had 1 that is bump mapped, and I had 1 with circular holes and another with hexigonal holes cut into planes.

On Saturday night, I went without sleep for the full night trying to light, texture and develop the look for the single shot I am rendering. 
Some technical details pertaining to CG and 3D which described my process of modelling and rendering the image are included in the similarly named post on my VFX blog here: http://patrickvfx.blogspot.com/2011/10/submitted-entries-for-fl-studio.html.


That was 30 Oct morning, London time. Contest ends 30 Oct. I was not very sure which time zone, so I finished it by Sunday 9am, my local London time.

After submitting it, I decided to run the rendered image through an Android app by Autodesk called Pixlr-o-matic. Its available from the Apple App Store too. Here are the amazing results and variations.

Many of  them are useable and totally changes the feel of the image right? I was quite amazed at what mobile apps can do these days. So after I got these variations out, I quickly logged on and submitted a few more just to show the potential of the render.


I got a reply that said "damn kids throwing their 3D around these days". I think it was meant as a joke :). Another person replied "I want one of those, would you actually make them and how much can I buy them for?". Thats a great compliment to my work! 

The design contest was primarily a DESIGN contest. Probably the most important factor for judges  to consider would be the element of design. So I am prepared that the people evaluating the entries would throw my image out the door (including the fruity coin bank and candy jar). 

My very lousy connection at home prevented me from replying them.


After my last 2 entries (coint bank and candy jar) that had links to a video clips of animated turn table, 3D entries in the forum started to include turntable video links. Copycats! Hah! ;)


There are not activities in the forum, so we'll just wait for the results and see.


I had an idea of smoke coming out from the logo and cable, but I did not have time to do it. I think I'll continue to work on it and maybe post a post-contest entry in the forum, just to show how I meant it to be. I've just got to be disciplined enough to carry it through.

Bought a Kindle Touch

Bought an Amazon Kindle Touch together with YC today. He was buying it for a friend, using his account. I am tagging onto his order (and I'll pay him when it arrives in Singapore). 

At present Kindle touch can only be purchased on a pre-launch basis, and only in the United States. It will only be released on 19 November 2011. I was a bit hesitant on buying it, because we will be leaving the UK on 18 November. In the end we decided to go ahead with it anyway. 

YC paid Amazon.com, and I will be in charge of paying a forwarding company called comgateway.com to get the product shipped over to our office in dneg Singapore. After this we will both split the cost.

I have lots of ebooks that I read when I travel, before I sleep, and when I am doing work, for referencing stuff off books. I do have my 4.3" Galaxy S II smart Android phone, and the 6" Galaxy Tab smart phone/tablet that have kindle application and ebook reading applications. However they are LCD based, which are not too easy on the eyes. LCD displays drain battery faster, and they tend to turn off after a while. Kindle has very long lasting batteries, and its e-ink display guarantees the same reading experience as reading from printed paper.

I hope this can be a huge convenience booster for me. 

Tune in to Yourself, Tune out the World

Just saw this neat piece of animated GIF getting re-blogged by somebody on the daily articles update on http://headliner.fm.

It's a fun image :)

What do you think of when you see this?

I can think of a few:

- just shut up, I don't need to hear your talk

- don't listen to what people say, believe in yourself

- broadcast (or the media) makes the world a smaller place (brings people together)

The first thing that came to mind, for me, is the title of this blog: 

When you tune in to yourself, you tune the world out

Sure we all need to get in touch with ourselves some time. Be honest with ourselves, sort out our feelings -- have a little "me time", as I once heard a friend say.

However, there are some people who are constantly plugged-in to themselves, and the result is that they tune out what's happening to the people around them, and the world around them. In the end they get so self absorbed with their own issues that they get left behind and disconnected with reality.

Another image from the same page:

This is part of a huge collection of images called "y u no [xxx]" visit http://knowyourmeme.com for more details

I am guilty of this more times than I am willing to admit. I believe many of us are not even aware when it happens. Of course we may burn out when we become tired or when we care too much. Thats when we need a break, go to a place where its just me and myself.

Then of course there are the people who just don't bother. It is an attitude, a way of life for them. So what does that make them? Permanently disconnected? I am sure some of these people are aware of things happening. That does not make them disconnected, but most of the time they simply choose not to respond to them, and just withdraw into their own world.

I pray that I will not develop an attitude of indifference and a hardened heart. That does not make the world a better place, I am only a single person. But it will make things better for people around me. Then I can reach out to the world.

I am... Captain Woo

 

When I was coming to London in June this year, I had the chance to sign up and credit my KrisFlyer account. I made a mistake in the Salutation section, and now I am known to them as Captain Woo!

I noticed my mistake immediately after I made it, but I've clicked "next" in the particulars sign-up page, and I found no way to amend it thereafter (yes, I really did try to change it back!)

TedTalk

http://www.ted.com/

This was introduced to my by Tiffany a month ago. This site is a huge treasury of people giving inspirational talks, and people in the peak of their careers sharing their precious insights. All these video clips now available to us, to stream over the internet. Amazing!

I shared it with my sister and now she's hooked

These are a few of the clips I've watched so far:

and this:

New Follower to my Blog!

My sister just became the follower of this seldom read blog! :)

Looks like she is impressed by all the strange, incoherent and random stuff that I wrote. She is now thinking whether or not to start one of her own.

All the best sis!

FL Studio Fruity Edition

I've finally done it. For the first time ever, I've purchased an original music creation software all by myself.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a software pirate. :)

I've owned music creation software before. But those are either lite editions, packaged in a bundle with other things (like a hardware MIDI interface); or educational versions that somebody passed to me. I've also owned  (and still own) Sibelius, which was an educational version jointly acquired (and co-owned) between 5 people from church. Church use is considered to fall under acedemic licensing. 

In the end it was about 84 Euros after tax, and I ended up paying about £73 after tax.

Of course with the software I can do more music, and have posting access to the forums on the Image-Online website.

Arrival of Another Purchase

Another of my purchases arrived today.

I bought this together with the Klipsch Image S4 from ebay.co.uk. This was a  case for the Klipsch. I am going to use that to house my Klipsch Pro-Media ear-phones now that I've sold the Image S4. Anyway the Image S4 came with its own tin case, so I was going to use it  on the Pro-Media anyway.

The amazing thing about this guy is that it costs only £1.65. When I bought it, they were shipping it from Hongkong, China. They said to give it about 11-26 days for delivery. Now it is in my hands, on time. I am wondering how much it costs for them to make this together with the delivery. It does not seem that it is worth the effort to price this item at £1.65. They must be making some money.

Of course I am not complaining, but it is still amazing, how low they must have produced stuff like that.

A Stella Surprise

I never ordered this!

Today's Monday, start of the week.

I arrived at my table to a huge surprise!

I thought it was someone else using my table as a temporary storage, or someone's stuff wrongly delivered to my desk.

Then there's a note:

A personal note from "Le President"

Wow. In all those times I was conscientiously "checking-in" to Foursquare places, (to the irritation of my wife), I never thought anything like that would come out of the illogical obsession of tapping and declaring your location.

Here are the rest of the pictures I took, a closer examination of the surprise gift!

This is very new to me, that product branding would make use of the new social media to publicise their brand. I can tell you it certainly works, because I cannot see myself drinking all 7 bottles of cider. So I've given them out to my room-mates at work. That's certainly spreading the joy and the good name of the product! 

Cheers, Stella Artois :)

To end this on a mysterious note, there is one thing quite puzzling about it all. I am currently the mayor of my own office at Double Negative, but I am also the mayor of the Golden Gate Dessert House across the street. On top of that, I am also the mayor of the 3 mobile store down the street beside Curzon cinema. So how did they know I was working at Double Negative and not at the other places where I also have mayor-ship in?

Perhaps they did travel to all the places dishing out complementary cider to mayors who happen to really be the resident employees or mayors who happened to be the on-site, at the location they frequent. So they just walk up to the reception and asked for my name. If the reception finds me in the staff list, then they know they've got the right person. If not, they move on to the next location.

There is another chilling possibility. They could have gotten my details from somewhere else. I've linked the Foursquare account to Facebook. They could have checked my details on Facebook and "tracked" me down too. Well maybe I am just thinking too much. Haha.

If you are really new to Foursquare and don't know what it's about, read up on the Foursquare site! In short, it's a mobile application that lets you tell your phone where you are, and "check-in". Its like making a mark that says you were here. 

So wherever you go, whenever you check-in, your check-ins are remembered by Foursquare. Every check-in earns you points. You can add friends from Facebook or from other Foursquare users. There's a ranking chart that compares your points to your friends'. This resets every week. 

If you check into a place more often than anyone else, you become the Mayor. If you stopped checking in after a while and somebody over-takes you in the frequency of check-ins, he/she becomes the new mayor.

Also, there are badges (or achievements) to unlock and collect. Just using these non-accurate examples, if you check in enough times at pubbing spots, maybe you'll unlock the drinking badge, if you check-in at work on weekends a certain number of times, you'll unlock the workaholic badge, so on and so forth.

Sometimes this year, new features appeared in the application in the form of "nearby offers". These are shops that tie-up with Foursquare and give certain discounts or freebies when you show them you are checked-in there, or if you show them you are the mayor of their shop (which means you hang out there really frequently).

I was really active in  Foursquare, in Singapore. I checked in without fail. Of course there were many of my friends who are checking in faster and more furious than myself. There's this chart that shows the ranking between you and your friends. A few friends like Sherwin and Caleb are consistently in the lead. I wonder how they do it.

When I came over to London, I started checking-in on places here. Slowly I began to lose Mayor-ship of places back home, but I gained Mayor-ship of quite a few places here. 

It seems to me that people from Singapore are more hard-core in their frequency of Foursquare Check-ins. Here in London I can grab a mayorship by just checking in few days in a row. In Singapore it would take weeks of consistent check-ins.

I've slowed down my check-ins in the recent month. I still do it when I remember. but not very much now.

 

A Tribute to Steve Jobs from Dyn

Since the announcement of Apple co-founder Steve Job's death on 5-10-2011 at age 56, there has been a huge wave of media coverage. I've received and read loads of links from many different sources. Some were articles, some were videos.

All of them about Steve passing away and his great contribution to the betterment of our society, the enabling of technology that affect our lives, including the way it's shaping the society and bringing people closer to each other, and, his contributions to the animated feature films and music industries.

http://dyn.com/steve-jobs-1955-2011-our-employees-pay-tribute/

This morning, (it's a Sunday!), from the Facebook page of Dyn (Dynamic Network Services), my free web host service provider, I came across an article where their employees pay tribute to Steve Jobs. It was full of sincere admiration and appreciation for the man who has a great part of his life trying to make our world a better place.

It is something else, because these tech guys actually know what they're talking about, and they actually see the influence and change from a professional perspective, and it sounds so different from the general public and media.

It also helps us see Steve Job's from yet another perspective and understand him just a little bit more.

Give it a read if you have time. :)

Klipsch Reply to my Query

Yesterday I sent an email to query Klipsch if they can do some service and parts replacement to my Pro-Media earphones.


It is a valentine's day gift from my wife earlier this year. Cost about $159 (read my blog here). About 2 months ago, I accidentally left the earphones in my jeans pocket while I put it in the washing machine to wash.


After it came out from the wash, the phones were still working, to my amazement. The play-button that triggers the music player on my phone works too! The down side is that the mic had stopped working. The rubber that cushions the cable entering the body of the earphone has also split on the left side.

Therere I wrote to Klipsch international to ask if it was possible for them to do a parts replacement or maintenace for me, they gave me a short and absolute email saying they do not have repair set up for these.

I will go back to Singapore and enquire from their service centre again, see if I can get a different response from them.