August 2012, month of Olympics (London 2012) and finally I can see some public holidays coming soon…

July is one of the months I wish to get over it as soon as possible because it is a long month with no public holiday at all, hence not giving me any excuse to take extra break from work. I also do hope July to end very soon so I can finally watch the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games which was over few days ago, and that indicates a goodbye not to the Olympics yet, but to the month of July. Finally, the month is over and now I’m ready to welcome August!

I’m a bit excited on what I’m about to go through this month. After a quick browse through of my calendar, aah, lovely…I started to see some public holidays coming soon beginning August. The first of all would be the Hari Raya Aidilfitri, celebrated by the Malays and on that break two weeks later, I am going for trip to Vietnam with my dad. I’m looking forward to that trip eventhough the destination isn’t that much thrilling. Not long after that, there would be the National Day holiday on the last day of the month, and it’s on Friday! Awesome…3-days of continuous break from Friday to Sunday on that particular weekend.

August is still the time for Olympics, held in London for the 30th edition this year. After just few days of the sporting event, China emerged to the top of the current medal table, while Malaysia (my country) still fails to grab any (not even bronze) in any sports contested. There is still a bit of hope as there is another one to two weeks to go before London 2012 ends. I’m giving my support to the Malaysian athletes and hope that they do their best and win at least a medal (gold would be awesome) in London 2012.

So, generally, August 2012 is the month of best-of-the-best showcase of sports through the 30th Summer Olympic Games; London 2012. We’ll see thousand of athletes from the young to the experienced competing with each others in unity and harmony, showing  great sportsmanship while being watched worldwide,..thanks to the hardworking group of media in charge of broadcasting the games. Hmm…so I would dedicate my blog’s header of this month to Olympics AGAIN…yes, again, since my previous month’s blog header is also about the same thing. This time, it came with different image that I find it to be very spectacular and would be awesome to be placed above my blog.

The image used as the background shows one of the most fantastic moments from the opening ceremony of London 2012 when fireworks exploded over the Olympic Stadium. (That image is not mine and is from http://sports.yahoo.com/photos/olympics-london-2012-opening-ceremony-slideshow/). The image is reduced in opacity to make way for what’s in front of it. What’s in front is a copy of a wallpaper which had been used before on the London 2012’s official webpage but I tried to make it more interesting (previously, it’s all in dull cyan colour only) by adding red and blue colours (colours in the flag of Great Britain, the host nation of 2012’s games), while the text ‘www.vincentloy.wordpress.com’ (my blog’s address) and ‘August 2012’ (name of the month) remains in black colour for a kind of formality and separation from all the other things present in the header relating to the theme of Olympics this year; London 2012. What do you think of this month’s blog header? There is another copy of the header below. (Click for larger and clearer view)

Blog’s header of this month…something about blogging.

‘Blogging’ is not found in the English vocabulary, but then it becomes a recognizable term that describes the activity of the people writing blog which becomes a popular culture nowadays in this modern world. I am part of the ‘blogging’ world and I am producing the blog’s header for this month based on that. ‘Blogging’ now somehow replaces the culture of writing diary which is quite popular in the past. I myself did wrote diaries, back when I was in early term of secondary schooling. I wrote for about two to three years. Then, I stopped a year to concentrate on my SPM (last year in secondary school). Then, I started to follow the popular culture of blogging by starting my own blog on my first year in university, back in 2008…and this is the blog.

At first, I had a hard time to think of what to put in for my blog’s header for this month to replace the previous one that commemorates the 100th anniversary of the sinking of Titanic in April 1912. There is no big event or things going on in this May, and that delayed me on creating the new header. Finally, I thought of, why not creating a header based on the culture of blogging. Ahh, and there comes my work for that 18cm x 5cm header at the top of my blog, which I have to work on a new one every month. That’s an extra work for me as a blogger to provide a new refreshing header appearance to my blog’s readers every month. Below, you can see another copy of my header of May 2012. Click on it for larger version. Anyway, the header is already uploaded to the top of the blog.

It’s a simple-illustrated header with a very clean white background which is in contrast with most of my previous headers which are in darker tone and backdrop to correspond with my blog’s black theme. So, this new header in white captures much more attention, and I would like to highlight the fun of blogging to my blog’s readers through the use of playful font of words and arrangements in the design. Those words scrambled all over in one piece on the right side of the header are all associated to ‘blogging’ that reminds people that ‘blogging’ is more than what it is actually. That whole header kind off represents my mind, full of stuff, which is a bit kinda messed up. But then, there is one huge portion of white empty space in that header that represents part of my mind, of what I see, of what I hear, of what I smell, of what I touch, of what I taste, and in overall, of what I experience, that is being brought out (cleared out) of that header and presented through my posts below. This kind of symbolism sounds great, right? Haha…

Blogging for me, is part of a journey, a journey that grants me experience and memory when I grow. I believed this aspect would be seen similarly with the other bloggers around the world. So, my blog’s header for this month is in dedication and honour to the blogging society. It’s not easy to blog actually. You had to have the passion and effort to make it. And so, I appreciate all the hard works by the bloggers out there. Enjoy blogging and one day, you would find yourself contented on what you have written or produced from your blog. That’s a very good feeling.

Earth hour was over just now, and it’s now April! It’s April Fool…

Another new month arrived, it’s April 2012 now. Few hours ago, the annual Earth Hour event is held all across the globe and I do join in the global initiative. The event had been criticized for being too commercialized, but I think the message carried out behind the movement is still pure and encouraging. I see not many Malaysians are switching off their lights just now, and I’m a bit disappointed. Perhaps the reason behind it is that there is not enough advertisement over this global event here in Malaysia.

It’s over. The next Earth Hour event would be on 30th March 2013. Let’s hope for more support and participation to this global movement next year. We are now stepping into the fourth month of the year. My blog header of the month is dedicated in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of R.M.S. Titanic which sank on its maiden voyage en-route to New York from Southampton after hitting an iceberg. Titanic was the biggest and the grandest ship at the time it was completed, and its sinking is one of the most terrifying maritime disasters in history.

What’s making the ship appeared so famous even until to these days is an epic romance and disaster film created based on the ship. The 1997 ‘Titanic’ film directed by James Cameron is incredibly a stunning movie that captures the attention of the world and has been the world’s highest grossing film of all time until it is beaten by ‘Avatar’. Few days later, the movie would be released back to big screen in 3D in commemoration to the centennial anniversary of the sinking of the ill-fated ship. So, my blog header’s theme for the month is very straightforward; showing the ship in the backdrop sailing over the beautiful ocean at its glory moment, with few words of memory to the ship on the right. Clean, simple yet meaningful header.  (Another copy of the header below)

Today is the first day of April, which means today is April’s Fool Day. Do you plan to fool someone today?

If yes, have fun with your pranks, but remember not to carry it out beyond the limit. 

If no, let’s have this ordinary day with joy and happiness as well.

Happy April’s Fool Day! Enjoy the month no matter how hard this month would turn out to be! All the best!

March, in dedication to Earth Hour

Another new month comes again, and as usual, my blog would be accompanied by another new header! What’s the issue raised from the header this time? Ahhaaa…that must be the Earth Hour! Well, you can also view the header below.

Have you ever wonder why I choose black colour as the background for my blog permanently? Have you wonder why I would place a header with a black backdrop as well at the top of my blog’s page? Wouldn’t that makes the blog so boring, plain black, and dull? The reason is very environmental-friendly, with similar objective with Earth Hour campaign. The answer is because a website with majority of the page in black colour would help to reduce electricity usage, and that is correctly proven. Hence, my blog does save electricity in that way, while being a bit different from other brightly-coloured sites.

The header carries a very simple but clear message. My blog is dedicated in supporting Earth Hour, which takes place every year on the last Saturday of March, when people supporting the event would turn off lights from 8.30pm to 9.30pm for an hour. For this year, the last Saturday for March falls on the last day of the month, 31st March 2012. My blog is definitely supporting the event, and has already supported it for many years! Do you? I raise the question, as to indirectly invite others to join in this global movement as well!

While turning off the lights for one hour certainly doesn’t contribute much to the planet, this global event serves as an act of awareness to general public on the need to love the planet of Earth, where we are all surviving in. For this one whole month, please bear with me on this dark and gloomy appearance of my blog, as though my blog itself has turned off its unnecessary lights. The new header plays an important role for that. Anyway, have a nice month everyone! Will continue writing about Earth Hour once it is approaching much sooner.

Chinese New Year mood returns…to the blog as well!

It’s now one more week to Chinese New Year! The mood of celebrating new year 2012 back two weeks ago is over, and now the highlight is on the upcoming Chinese New Year celebration! Half of the first month of the year is gone, and we are about to enjoy another festival, which is the new year of dragon for the Chinese! My Chinese New Year mood is back and I wish to bring it to my blog here as well!

I have seen lanterns hanging over some of the streets, but it is much lesser than previous years. I have only seen the Chinese New Year decoration in Pavilion KL and IOI Mall and all I can say is that the former one is far better and awesome, especially with its gigantic long dragon exhibit hovering over the atrium of the mall. That is so impressive. Then, lately, I heard a news that another dragon exhibit of that similar size is being put up outdoor over the sky at Jonker Walk, Malacca. Wow, one at KL and its twin is at Malacca. Cool… I see a lot of dragon-themed decorations this year since it is the year of dragon!

(Picture above shows the dragon exhibit in Pavilion KL, this picture is taken by myself)

(Picture above shows another dragon exhibit of similar scale under installation at Jonker Walk, Malacca….picture in courtesy of Gan Tian Loo)

I have created a new header for the last half of this month replacing the previous one with a new visual representing this latest Chinese New Year season. You can clearly see an outline of the dragon with superimposed images of things symbolic to Chinese New Year (from left to right: firecrackers, lanterns, lion dance, angpau (red packet), mandarin oranges and an auspicious red paper over at the top covering the head of the dragon outline). Those images contribute a very festive atmosphere, all contained within the outline of a dragon, representing this year of dragon based on lunar calendar. What do you think of this header? Creative isn’t it?

One last week before the Chinese New Year arrived. Many Chinese would be rushing to buy new year stuff, ranging from biscuits and cookies, drinks, mandarin oranges, clothes, and even decorations for their respective house. Few more stalls selling decorations, firecrackers and fireworks are added to night market recently, but I didn’t buy any, since my dad would say it is waste of money, and buying firecrackers are like burning own cash. Haha…quite true actually…

Pavilion KL today would be certainly crowded over the limit, as a famous Taiwanese star, Jay Chou would be in the mall this afternoon to promote his latest movie ‘The Viral Factor’ which the film mainly took place in Kuala Lumpur. I wish to go, but then it must be very hard to even get to the mall today, since yesterday I failed on getting there also for similar reason. Nevermind, I would still go for the movie, and also many other movies coming out soon during this Chinese New Year season.

 

Happy New Year 2012 everyone! It’s a whole new year!

There is nothing more to say than most importantly, wishing everyone a Happy New Year 2012 first!

It’s a whole new year and it’s time to say goodbye to the holidays and get ready for work/school ahead! But for me, I’m still in my holiday. 2011 is now a history, a year of the past, has ended and it’s time to say goodbye! 2012 is now the present, the current year, just begin and it’s also time to say hello or welcome to 2012!

Actually for this month of January, I felt a bit lost, or uncertain. Anyway, forget about it first. It’s a new year, and I should be enjoying it! This is the year when I’m going to turn 21, and finally legal for so many things (entering casino, eligible to vote in election, etc). As we age, things are getting much tougher and challenging in our lives, and so I am geared up to deal with all of that.

For January 2011, somewhere almost by the end of the month, I would be going for an oversea trip to India, which is during the Chinese New Year when my father could take the longest break. Ahhaa…yes, it’s Chinese New Year too, and 2012 is the year of dragon! I started to see Chinese New Year’s decorations all over shopping malls already, since it’s now less than a month away only. So, it is like every month in Malaysia would not see the absence of festivals since this is a multi-cultural nation. By the time of Chinese New Year, I would be updating a new header to represents the auspicious festival…

But right now, the header of my blog for the month, and for the whole new year as well, as you can already see above over at the top of my blog (or even just right above this line of words), is very direct and simple, yet I find it beautiful enough to be put as the header to represents January 2012. A black background with bright sparkle clearly indicates a celebration mood over a new year, and those sparkle appears something like fireworks, which is a must in welcoming a new year! Yeah, fireworks! I love fireworks! Going to have a post soon as usual every year to compile all the famous 2012 new year fireworks display from cities around the world! So, last but not least, I took this opportunity to wish everyone again, Happy New Year! May you enjoy year 2012 to the fullest and live to the best! Hello 2012!

It’s November 2011, end is really around the corner! Yay!

Do you know why I always mention ‘end is coming’, even in my blog header itself? I do not mean end of the world. Even if it is, I wouldn’t get much excited about it, right? Haha….it’s another ‘END’! Let me reveal the answer; it’s the end of my degree study in Bachelor of Applied Science in Architecture. I’m so happy about it eventhough it does not end now yet…

Haha…after four years of challenging study, finally it would comes to an end smoothly by this month, when I would settle my very last submissions, archiving, and then off to leave the campus, till we meet again for the much anticipated event; Graduation Day on December 17th 2011. It’s now November 1st, which means I’m still in the middle of doing assignments, the final works before ending the last semester. That must be the heaviest workload as it is already last ones! So…keep going…until I reach the end for a successful completion and graduation next month!

So, how does that related to the imagery I put for my blog header? Ahhaa…let me explain! It’s like a source of light spreading and slowly taking over the darkness, which best symbolises my condition now…I’m in darkness now, tired and very exhausted over all the final assignments, but then, the light (the end, the happiness, the joy) is coming over soon to take over all the darkness that I think very worthy for. The light of the visual appears to be fragmented, as a sign of deconstruction, in which a theme I learnt from culture class and finds it to be very useful. I deconstruct the image of the light to something that suits my meanings. And, yes…that’s it….You might consider me bullshitting…but I’m just having my own interpretation…lol….

I already found a bit of joy in my heart already….but wait, there are still many assignments haven’t been completed. Time to go on, till the end of November! All I hope now is that November ends very soon, and that December arrives, for my graduation and also my birthday! Haha…Uummm….now I realize I have written very few posts for the past month, October 2011…everyone knows the reason…; assignments! I think same would applies to this new month too….Happy November 2011! By the way, how is your Halloween went on yesterday?

It’s September 2011…the month of 10th anniversary of 911

Time to say goodbye to August 2011, and let’s welcome a new month of 30 days, September 2011. The 54th Independence Day is over yesterday, while  the official celebration for it has been postponed to 16th September, to coincide with Malaysia Day. First two days of the Hari Raya are also over, but I’m sure the Muslims’ new year celebration still continues till the end of the holiday by this weekend. So, there are few more days of break to go before my semester continues for another 12 weeks.

12 weeks are equal to approximately three months, and hence, the three toughest months finally begin after the first month (August) of my semester is over. There would be no more holiday after this week other than the weekend when we still have to spend the time on completing assignments. Everything would be getting much more serious unlike before the Hari Raya holiday where all the lecturers and students just have not sufficient mood in doing works. Full concentration would be given to successfully complete the semester for better final result before graduation.

Anything important to be witnessed this month? Ahh, yes…there is. 11th September 2011 marks the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack to United States, with the biggest impact on the Twin Towers of World Trade Center, New York. A decade has gone, and the site is currently undergoing construction for memorial center, park and office towers of the new WTC. Let’s switch to something happy to celebrate on, which is in Malaysia, my nation where the country would organize the official celebration of 54th independence and 48th anniversary of formation of Malaysia on this upcoming 16th September 2011. For the Chinese like me, we would be celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival on 12th September too. Time to eat mooncake, no more playing lantern as I’m not a kid anymore.

My header for the blog of the month is very self-explanatory. It depicts the beautiful night skyline of New York City, and from the left, we see a blurred image of former World Trade Center (twin towers) destroyed in 911 attack back in 2001 which represents the past, next on its right is the image of the present where memorial is paid (columns of light) as a tribute to the victims and as a remembrance, particularly and especially on this month, and the brighter last image on the right symbolises the future of new World Trade Center complex which is scheduled to be completed few years later. My header for the month is on the same intention in commemorating the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack on United States which shocked the whole world and remains as a tragic memory to all of us. You can also click on the image of the header below for a larger view:

Last quarter of the year has arrived, and I wish for a quick time lapse from now till December, so that my final semester would be finally over in a blink of eye. Before I would like to end this post, let me take the last opportunity to wish all Muslims, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri once again! For all, let’s have a good month from now on!

It’s July, the holiday month for movies!

I can’t believe half of the year is gone. It’s now July 2011, in which for the whole month, I will be enjoying my break before the next semester of my study begins which would be the last as well. The theme for the month would be on movies, because there are many interesting films released recently or coming soon in this month which I wanted to watch.

One of the movies that have been released on June that I still haven’t go for is ‘Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon‘ released in end of June which I knew that I would not able to catch it in premiere or in first few days of release due to its extreme popularity and craziness by transformers-fans. Anyway, I would be watching it tomorrow in 3D and stay tuned for my review for it. The other movie is ‘Attack the Block‘ which is not so famous but received very high rating worldwide on its alien invasion theme. There is also one Hong Kong movie I’m anticipating which is ‘Treasure Inn‘ starred by Cheung Ka Fai and Nicholas Tse and is commented by many people to be very funny and entertaining. If I have watched all these, then I would go for ‘The Green Lantern‘ too.

For this month of July, everyone knows what is the biggest movie of all to be released! It’s the final chapter of the franchise ‘Harry Potter’ based on the novel of same name by J.K. Rowling. ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2)’ would be released on 14th this month and it would marks the end of the movie franchise after ten years of production of eight films under the franchise. The movie would eventually leaves a deep impact to audiences whom had watched the franchise from the beginning till the end with the release of the final movie of Harry Potter. For me, the effect is imposing into my childhood memory when I began watching it as a kid till now, as a young adult, and so I grow up as the franchise progresses, along with the stars in the movie like Daniel Radcliffe. I did not read the novels, and I guess the effect of saying goodbye to the franchise would be much greater for those whom watched all the eight films and read the whole 7 books.

And so, the theme for the header of the month would be based on the release of the final movie of the Harry Potter. What do you think of this new header representing the movie of the month? Even the font used, Lumos is the same font used by the title of the films which I got it by searching through the internet. This is the month of the epic conclusion, the ending of the long magical story between Harry Potter and his friends with the main villain, Voldermort and his allies. The trailer of the film is very interesting, exciting and looks very promising with more action-packed scenes and all the things finally shown off and revealed to its best for the finale. I am definitely going for it, and after that, there would be no more film to be based on Harry Potter unless someone wanted to make a prequel. J.K. Rowling even established a new website at http://www.pottermore.com with something coming soon….what would that be? After this movie, then another one that caught my attention is ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ which is a superhero movie by Marvel that looks interesting even from its trailer already. And…after that, it’s August, another month from now, which would be no longer a relaxing month for me.

Before I end this, do you know that July 2011 is the month with 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays? This occurrence would only happen once in few years (not 823 years as rumored and spread through social networking sites). Anyway, that would means that we have more weekends to enjoy for the month! That is good.

It’s June, middle of the year!

I can’t believe that we are now already in the middle of the year…time flies, as we are getting older (ahh, don’t talk about age, let’s talk about learning more as every second comes and goes, gaining experience for better life onwards). Few years ago, I would have loved the month of June as there is two-weeks mid term break for schooling children and also signifying the end of mid term examination. Now, June has become a month of challenge to my ability in completing the first semester of every year of study in university level.

The upcoming weeks of June 2011 would be certainly hard and difficult for me and my classmates as we would be going through submission of many assignments and examinations. The most challenging one would be the final design submission which includes a number of things from model to presentation board as usual. By the end of this month, it would be a happy and enjoyable moment for all of us after so many tiring days of hard works as we have completed the whole first semester of the final year of study in degree level. The time for graduation is coming nearer.

At first, I am unsure of what to put for the header of this current month for my blog. Then, I found an interesting picture of a computer generated image of a glass structure with squares aiming up towards the blue sky in perspective view. From there, I started to think of enhancing or editing it, through the use of words in parallel with the existing lines and some squares are cut out which show part of the header of previous month as you recognized, as well as a bit showing the  header for the next month which I have created already. So, it is a bit of a teaser or I can say a hint to what might be the header for July 2011 (next month) would look like and what it would be based on? Can you figure it out??? This time around, the header itself is letting my readers to think and question on why would I do something like this, in a very simple yet interesting edit to the image. Here below is the image of the header for the month which you already can see above my blog up here.