† Joy of Halloween Party In Glasgow †

31st October... Its Halloween again where supernatural and spooky stuffs are in fashion. I'm sure many youngsters in the western countries are celebrating Halloween by attending costume parties.

I still remember years ago, I've attended a Halloween party when I was studying in Glasgow and it was totally awesome.

Searching for costumes, masks and make-ups really tested one's creativity. Here we have Royiez and Zin showing off their masks.

MONSTERS INTRODUCTION
There were too many monsters disguised by my university friends and I only publish a few interesting ones here.

On the left, we have Zin who disguised as the "Dark Orgre Magi" while on the right, Ash disguised himself as the "3-Eyed Bahamoth Witch", holding his sphere of fate and a turbo broom that provides a maximum traveling speed of 15km/hour.

The left photo shows Tong, the "Desperado Gay Devil". His cute little wing has made him filled up with adequate amount of gayness. As on the right, thats "Count Christo Lucipher" by Christopher. I wonder how Christopher could stand inserting such big vampire teeth in his mouth the whole night.

"Casper and Friends Duo" by IzaacRio and Royiez were really funny. Because of their last minute decision on selecting which monster character to disguise as, they ended up choosing this casper mask plus a lab coat in a rush.

And thats me, disguised as an "Asian Vampire". I still remember I've used up so much of the Gatsby wax to set my hair up and I ended up had a hard time washing off the wax from my hair.

Halloween party was totally awesome where we get to express our creativity. Of course the most important thing about it was that we get to party together in a big group because we rarely find the chance to do so.

† All About Halloween: 31st October †

Halloween is a popular festival in the western countries celebrated on the night of 31st October, usually by the children and youngster dressing in spooky costumes, going from door to door collecting candies. Halloween’s theme is often related to scary and spooky stuffs such as zombies, ghosts, werewolves, vampires, witches etc...


Black and orange are the traditional colors of Halloween. There are also elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins and scarecrows, reflected in symbols of Halloween.


In the ancient time, Halloween was celebrated as a traditional festival by the Irish and Scottish. Interestingly, the celebration was somehow containing some elements of death. It was believed that the border between our human world and the spiritual realm of death become thin on the day of Halloween, allowing spirits to pass through (Its very similar to Chinese’s Ghost Month where the door of underworld will be unleashed and spirits will go to the human world).


It was believed that both harmful and non-harmful spirits will visit the human world and thus in order to avoid those harmful spirits from disturbing them, the people must disguise themselves as harmful spirits such as wearing costumes and masks.


Halloween is sometimes believed to be associated with the occult. Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the "liminal" times of the year when magic is most potent for example, Catalan mythology about witches and black magic.


Halloween has nowadays becoming a popular festival among the youngster and during the night of festival, most youngsters will make up and disguise themselves as all kind of ghosts and monsters.

† Naked Wood: Natural Trend of iPod Gadget? †

It seems that an organic new trend has becoming more and more popular among the electronic gadgets nowadays. Earlier you've seen the Bamboo Asus Laptop, and now here we have a few interesting designs of wooden iPod and iPhone gadgets I've found from Etsy.



Of course when we think of gadget, we'll often think of high-tech shiny metal, aluminum, and definitely not wood. Maybe this is one of the reasons that wooden gadgets start to pop-up everywhere.



Its similar to the concept of 'soft-toys ain't cute' by Mori Chack. Since everyone think that gadgets are made of metal, so here we have a wooden gadget for everyone.



These wood logs may look simple and decent but they are in fact quite expensive. These docks may cost range from $60 to $100.



Such design is truly eye-soothing and I think this trend goes well with the green movement. Most importantly, such wooden gadget design has provided an expression of the beauty of the nature.

† A Pet-Friendly Home †

Many pet owners would love to keep their pets in the house but are those pets happy to be kept in the house? Or rather these pets would prefer to stay outside and have their own freedom and living spaces? Better Homes & Gardens and Asahi Kasei have provided some creative and innovative ideas of designing comfortable living spaces for indoor pets.


The resting area is designed in such way that it greatly reduces the traffic flow in the house. The pets will automatically move to the corner of the house enjoying their personal sleeping cushion.


Food store, is designed in the form of drawer so that the drawer can store a bulk whole of pet food.


This feeding drawer is an interesting design where the pet food can be placed inside the drawer and prevent the messy pet food to be exposed outside.


Another feeding drawer for the pets. Can be easy to manage and when the pets are done, just slide the drawer back.

† The Best Of Classical Collection †

I'm just so happy to find this CD collection known as "The Best of Classical Collections" when I was doing some random shopping in Popular bookstore.

Its a 6 music CDs classical collection of the famous classical music composers Beethoven, Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Chopin.

Too bad my favourite Brahms is not in the list and I really wonder why is that so. Most songs are really good especially Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major, Op. 24 "Spring". However its sad to have found out that Mozart's Oboe Concerto in C Major, K. 314 has been missed out from this album.

I think this is really a worth-buying album to collect if you're a classical music fan and it only costs me RM59.90 (roughly RM10.00 for each CD).

† Slow Internet Speed Affects Malaysia Economy †

Foreign investors think twice before making their moves in Malaysia. Why? The internet speed is too slow!! Here's 2 articles that mentioned the same issue:

1. New Straits Times - Aussie Firms Deterred By Malaysia's Slow Internet Speed"
   
2. BERNAMA - Aussie Firms Concerned Over Internet Speed In Malaysia"

And after a few days, Malaysian government admits about the slow internet service in The Star. I really hope the day will soon come when Malaysia's internet speed can be fixed and improved.

† Musically Impressive: Nodame Cantabile Anime †

Nodame Cantabile is truly a worth watching anime associated with classical music. I've watched this anime for at least twice and I never get bored of it. The drawing is not as good as many other animes, but the storyline is in fact heart-touching and most importantly, the author really knows a lot about classical music which I really much appreciated.


This is a hilarious animated comedy love story between a handsome-good looking guy who came from a musically talented family and has been selected to be the conductor of the orchestra named Shinichi Chiaki and a kiddie-looking lady with no habits, who can't cook at all, live in a forever messy room and doesn't shower for days named Megumi Noda, a.k.a Nodame.


This is one of the scenes showing how messy Nodame's room can be. Chiaki was one of the the first to see such 'God-like' dirtiness with his own eyes when he first met Nodame.


Even under such messy and dirty environment, Nodame still enjoys every moment of her piano playing.


The romance between Chiaki and Nodame is really funny. There are a few parts where Nodame trying hard to impress Chiaki by making many attempts such as baking cake or preparing bento for Chiaki but ended up got scolded by Chiaki.


For example, Nodame trying to attract Chiaki through making up but her make up skill was so bad that she ended up looked like a Japanese ghost.


The most important element presence is the classical music. There are so many classical music pieces being performed by the music orchestra in this anime and some of these pieces are really popular. Other than orchestra pieces, piano pieces are also frequently played in the anime.


My dad has always been a classical music fan since young and he often listen to many classical music when he's resting at home. A rock music person like me would never take the initiative to learn about classical music but the tune of those music has been crafted into my memory. That is why every time when I watch this anime, I tend to give "Ohhhh!! So this is the song!!!" or "I see!! So Mozart was the composer!!!" kind of shout outs.


Many funny scenes can be seen in the anime. What is shown in the picture above is my favourite: the violinists trying to be stylish by doing such move but they ended up got scolded by Chiaki.


This anime is truly worth watching as it teaches many people to appreciate classical music. But most important of all, it provides knowledge about classical music as well as remembrance of many talented musicians from the past.