Ethereality News & Weblog

Weblog:
We went to look at a bunch of model homes today in Corona. Elena and I would like to buy a house sometime soon, but since we’re not sure where we’ll settle down at yet, we could only watch with worry as real estate prices keep rising at an alarming speed. But damn some of these models homes are just gorgeous! Interestingly, the ones I liked the most were the cheaper ones–the expensive ones tend to be a bit stuffy for my taste.

Whenever I have to take ultrawide angle shots of interiors like these, I bust out the Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6. I rarely use that lens as it’s too slow for my taste, but for ultrawide stuff, it really pulls its weight. You can see more of the model home photos I took here.

Meats Meier had invited Elena and I to visit Gnomon School of Visual Art in Hollywood a week earlier, so today I rented a car and drove to Hollywood to pay him a visit. I haven’t driven for over four years, so it took a little bit of adjustment on my part. However, driving is just like riding a bicycle–once you learn it, you never really forget–except maybe get a bit rusty.

Finding the studio where Meats resides at wasn’t a straightforward thing–it required some detective work, as the buildings are laid out a bit unconventionally. But found him I did, and he didn’t look anything like I expected. I had pictured him as a plain-looking, soft-spoken, maybe slightly rotund guy in his early 40’s, but the Meats that greeted me was tall, slim, energetic, and had an edge about him. He showed me around Gnomon while I took a bunch of pictures. Here are a few:

You can see the rest of the photos I took at Gnomon here. And yes, that is Meats Meier on a pogo stick.

Weblog:
For the past few days, my mom’s been taking us around L.A., and since her social circle is made up of Chinese friends and Chinese businesses, Elena hasn’t really seen the States through my eyes yet. Everyone she’s met since we’ve arrived had been Chinese, and even the restaurants my mom takes us are Chinese–which kind of defeats the purpose of trying to show her what the States is like. L.A. has become a hot spot for the Chinese, and it’s amazing how entire suburbs can look like it’s been taken over (my mom lives in Alhambra), with Chinese supermakets, auto shops, restaurants, banks, law firms, video stores, beauty salons, book stores…etc. Tomorrow we’ll be visiting Meats Meier at Gnomon School of Visual Art in Hollywood, so Elena will have to play mute and deaf for the whole day, because in my social circle there are hardly anyone that speaks Chinese. My mom showed us Laguna Beach and Pasadena in the last few days. As nice as they were, there’s something missing–I guess I’m just a Bay Area kinda guy. San Francisco is much more romantic in general. You can see the photos that Elena took of L.A. with the Olympus C3030Z here.

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My mom and her tenants adopted a dog recently. Being an alaskan husky and german shepard mix, “Lucky” is a very handsome boy and quite well-behaved–he never barks and is very quiet and friendly. Once he gets to know you, he tends to get a bit too playful though–the previous owner probably didn’t train him to not jump on people. Here’s a pic of Lucky:

You can see more photos of Lucky here.

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We got to spend some time with my favorite aunt:

Would you believe me if I told you my aunt is well into her sixties (second from the right)? Asian women are famous for aging well, but my aunt is in a different league all her own.

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Every once a while, you get a great shot that’s totally unintentional by accident, such as this one of the rearview mirror of my mom’s car. I had the rear window rolled down and was actually trying to shoot the clouds, and when I accidentally pressed the AF button too early, it focused on the rearview mirror, and I thought, “Damn, that looks really awesome with the teal, black, and red colors!” This shot turned out to be much more interesting than the clouds I was trying to shoot.

News:
I’ll be flying back to the States with Elena tomorrow. We’ll be staying in L.A. for a week, then stay in San Francisco/Bay Area for a few more weeks. If any of you wants to get together and hang out while we’re in Cali, just email me–I’ll try to check my email as often as situation allows. Meats Meier invited us to meet him at Gnomon School of Visual Arts in Hollywood, so we’ll be there sometime in the next week.

Weblog:
I’ve got all sorts of things I need to do while in the States. Gotta renew my license, take care of all the paperwork for Elena’s greencard stuff, sort out my bank account and credit card, research business-related stuff, scour the bookstores, go and audition a bunch of studio monitors (I made two test CD’s just for that purpose, filled with a wide range of musical styles–film scores, jazz, electronic, rock, industrial, avant-garde..etc), try out a bunch of 88-key hammer-action weighted midi controller keyboards, clear out my storage containers and sell off a bunch of stuff, meet up with friends, shopping, and I still gotta show Elena around the Bay Area, since it’s her first time in the States. It’s going to be a pretty hectic month!

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I’ve been feeling sluggish lately, so I decided to eat healthier–at least for the next few days. Since I’m generally too lazy to cook, I thought I’d just throw some veggies together and make myself a salad. Turned out making a salad takes longer–with all that washing, picking out bad parts, cutting, rinsing…etc. I must say though, after eating a bowl of the stuff (with Japanese styled salad dressing), I felt like my life expectancy started rising with each bite. Not only is it healthy, but also quite pretty too:

It might not look much, but took me well over an hour to wash, cut, rinse, toss…etc. Yes, I do wrap my keyboard with food wrap–I got tired of food stains and crumbs getting on the keyboard and the constant cleaning I have to do. Yes, that is a vertical mouse–try one and you’ll how much more comfortable it is. Yes, I must rest my forearms on folded towls or anything soft. And yes, I’m a bit odd.

Weblog:
Microsoft has hired Robert Fripp to compose music for Windows Vista. How friggin’ cool is that? I’m a fan of the whole King Crimson circle of musicians, so this was especially delightful for me to find out.

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I watched Fantastic Four last night on DVD, despite the horrible reviews it’s gotten. I kind of feel that it’s my responsiblity to watch any high profile film coming out, simply to have a point of reference so I’m up to date with the current film industry happenings. While I don’t think the films was as abominable as most of the critics said it was, it did make me cringe or laugh out loud for all the wrong reasons during some scenes. The single highlight of the whole film was Jessica Alba appearing in that form-hugging uniform for the first time–proof that God exists.

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Elena’s out of town with her business partner, scouting out new business venture possibilities. We’ve stocked the fridge with plenty of stuff for me to cook while she’s away. I haven’t cooked for God knows how long. I make a really mean meat sauce spaghetti though.

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I’ve been spending a lot of time getting intimate with some of the sample libraries I own, and I must admit, going through the presets and jamming with the patches are almost as fun as actually composing/arranging a new piece. I really need to get a weighted hammer-action 88-key midi controller, as playing highend sample libraries on a synth-action 61-key Triton Le is just not that engaging. I need one that has a healthy number of knobs and sliders, with aftertouch, and not cost an arm and a leg. The CME UF8 seems like the best candidate, although many online forums have people complaining about the quality control–which only makes the fact that it’s designed and manufactured by a company in China that much more worrying. The Studiologic VMK-188 is a much better choice, but costs almost $400 more. I suppose one shouldn’t skim on the quality of one’s main compositional and performance tool.