Kalailicious

I’ve moved to blogger!

Ka Lai Lou — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 06:16:44 +0000

The new link to my blog is: sweetsweats.blogspot.com

Thank you!

Let’s go back to Macau: Part 4

Ka Lai Lou — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 22:27:57 +0000

MACAU IS DETERMINED TO PRESERVE its traditional heritage and culture. I’m showing you here the Lou Kau Mansion, one of Macau’s world heritage sites. One of these big mansion was owned by the rich and power at the time. The house caught my attention because it was owned by someone with the same last name as me! It is open to the public with no admission fee.

Interior

A sign in the house that said studying/ reading is best to empower oneself as a governor.Obviously someone in the family worked for the government.

A traditional Chinese chair with calligraphy writing in the background.

Stained glass windows on the second floor.

Outside of the mansion are shops and food vendors. A popular bubble tea place is COMEBUY originated from Taiwan. I especially like its honey aloe drink.

A line at COMEBUY.

This is the oldest and first official post office in all of Asia.

A typical street sign in both Chinese and Portuguese.

A window from an old building.

An old school tin mailbox.

This guy is all over the place in China and we called him “Kwan Gong”. He is a legendary general/ warrior from the old periods. It is believed that he keeps people safe from accidents and evil spirits.

A typical scene in the seafood section of the food market.

Seafood imported from Portugal.

Hope you enjoy this one, and feel free to leave comments!

Graphics Japan: 46 Leading Graphic Designers edited by Kazumasa Nagi, Koichi Sato, and Masatoshi Toda

Ka Lai Lou — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 05:33:57 +0000

THIS BOOK CAUGHT MY EYE when I visited the visual art center. Its first edition was published in 1987.

Graphics Japan edited by Kazumasa Nagi, Koichi Sato, and Masatoshi Toda

“One after another, graphic design talents continue to burst forth from Japan, where the hot competition and rivalry can only be described as phenomenal.

From the acknowledged masters to the young upstarts, this book features the best and latest works from forty-six designers all currently battling for public acclaim. Each contributor has taken four to six pages and within the books format selected has own works and executed his own layout- a trial concept in editing. Kazumasa Nagai, one of the leading authorities in the Japanese design world, edits this book along with Koichi Sato and Masatoshi Toda, both men at the cutting edge of the upcoming generation of designers. These three present the designers they see as the elite of Japan’s graphic artists. The first generation of Japanese designers includes Yusaku Kamekura and Yoshio Hayakawa; followed by Ikko Tanaka, Katsumi Asaba in the third; and Masatoshi Toda, Tsuguya Inoue, Makoto Saito and so on in the fourth…

Each group in turn has fostered a fresh crop of young talents, while their own scintillating ideas continue to appear in various forms of visual communication throughout Japan; in posters, advertisements, editorials, packages, environmental designs, etc.”

Some of the stuff are very daring and bold considering they are 20 years back. The influences are from a variety of past western art movements as well as innovative local style.

Exhibition Display Design and Shopping Bag by Takenobu Igarashi

Fashion Building Posters by Tsuguya Inoue

Posters by Shigeo Fukuda

Posters by Tadanori Yokoo

Food Company Posters by Hieo Mukai

Book Designs by Etsushi Kiyohara

Hope you enjoy this one!

Home outside of Home: Visual Art Center

Ka Lai Lou — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 02:02:43 +0000

IT REALLY HAS BEEN A WHILE since the last time I went back to the art center to visit Mr. P (Michael Piechocinski) and Ms. Walsh (Jane Walsh). The Visual Art Center (VAC) is located in Albert Einstein High school. They have been very influential mentors of mine ever since high school. They always make me feel like home whenever I do go back.

A picture with Mr. P and Ms. Walsh

Let me take you on a tour around the art center.

Parts

Student work

Art work from the recent end of the year art show

A collection of student sketch book journals

SO, FOR THOSE OF YOU from the VAC, you might have heard about the flood last summer. All the names on the “Wall of Fame” are all gone, because the wall has been removed and replaced. Mr. P wants me to spread the word out to all y’all alumni to come back and leave your mark (again).

I call this “Wall of Fame.” Mine is on the top left.

THERE ARE MANY ASPIRING YOUNG artist in the current senior class. Check them out.

Adam Boothman

Aaron Fellows

Feel free to leave comments!

Let’s go back to Macau: Part 3

Ka Lai Lou — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 21:12:32 +0000

MACAU TRULY IS A MAGICAL CITY. I want to show you a nice spot in Macau apart from the crowded streets of tourists. It is in Taipa where some of the older Chinese houses still remain. It is one of the places in Macau where the early Portuguese explorers settled, and they co-exist with Macau locals for many years.

Macau tower and this is a bridge that connects the main part of Macau to Taipa.

A colorful alley somewhere there.

A Chinese temple

The famous pork chop buns/ noodles from Tai Lei. I heard from the locals the food isn’t as good anymore, but the flavor from the pork chop is still awesome to me.

A ground level roof?!

Exploring a Portuguese building

Last but not least… Siu Mao!

Part 4 coming soon…If you enjoy this post or have any general questions, feel free to leave comments!

Colorado: A paradise for skiers and snowboarders

Ka Lai Lou — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:03:36 +0000

THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS IN COLORADO are absolutely gorgeous. A paradise for skiers and snowboarders. (I caught the last bit of snow there since it was already spring time.) As a beginner in snowboarding, the height is a little intimidating. But hey, I made it down twice!

Here I come!

This is actually my second time snowboarding, and it is exhausting!

CASA BONITA IS A FUN restaurant where kids love. The place is full of bizarre rooms and caves.There’s an arcade and a mini theater. It’s kinda whimsical in a way.

Mexican food

Can you believe there’s a waterfall INSIDE the restaurant. How awesome is that.

THE CSU JAPANESE CLUB has inspired me to spread the word out about the Japan disaster. Below I present to you a series of prints I did to correspond to the event. The series is to help raise awareness to help the victims in Japan, which is displayed in the senior exhibition at UMBC. Each print depicts a scene relating to the earthquake and tsunami.

Fundraising event for Japan’s March 11 disaster at CSU.

Each crane represents a blessing to the victims.

A paper plate lithography series for the Japan disaster: “311″. You are correct, they are inspired by the Swiss graphic designer Josef Muller-Brockmann.

I hope you all enjoyed this, feel free to leave comments.

Let’s go back to Macau: Part 2

Ka Lai Lou — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 02:15:30 +0000

MACAU IS A WONDERFUL CITY with a lot of Portuguese influence. The culture is fused with rich Chinese and European traditions. The most most most famous landmark that represents Macau (besides the casinos) is the facade of St Paul Church. It is the only part of the church that remains standing after a fire many years ago! What a miracle! Before you arrive to the facade, you will go through a street where you are constantly being fed with almond biscuits, candies, and beef jerky samples because the stores want you to buy their products. No one goes hungry in Macau, no joke.

Ruins of St. Paul

This is a very local, old school dim sum restaurant. This place might not seem very appealing from the look, but the food is definitely amazing. One word: hot.

A local dim sum place

Portuguese Magic Fountain

A family gathering here at Dumbo, a Portuguese restaurant in Macau.

Portuguese food and fine European wine

Local dessert store. Love the durian flavored ice cream~

Famous water show at Wynn

The cutest thing. meow~

Siu Mao getting comfortable <3

Part 3 coming soon…If you like Macau or Siu Mao, leave a comment!

Let’s go back to Macau: Part 1

Ka Lai Lou — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 18:10:37 +0000

It has been, wow, eight years since the last time I was in Macau. The place where I live has a new addition to the family. His name is “siu mao” = little kitten . None of us knew if the kitten was a male or female at the time, so it was decided that he has a unisex name.

Obviously, the first thing to do is to visit my grandma in the “Gao Oh” village.She lives in this village her whole life, and she is 92 years old! She misses my mom a whole lot. People think we look alike, it that supposed to be a compliment or what…I don’t mind because she is the cutest elder I know!

Here is where my grandma likes to hangout. She likes to watch people play Ma Jong. The cuties to my right are my lovely cousins <3

Can you guess this is actually indoor? This is the food court inside the Venetian Casino in Macau.

And an artificial “river” mimicking Venice. People on the boat actually sing for you.

Last but not least, Macau’s most famous Portuguese egg custard! nom nom nom…

Part 2 coming soon…

New York Spring 2011

Ka Lai Lou — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 00:45:23 +0000

Alright, I might as well share some of the stuff I did in New York!

My friends acting silly with the “Walk” signs. They look different from country to country.

Statue of Liberrrrty of course!

St. Patrick’s Cathedral is extremely beautiful.

Wall Street and the bull!

Picasso’s at MoMA!

The Shanghai gang. Little Italy, New York.

At the same soup dumpling restaurant where we met Michelle Phan. She was actually eating at a table behind us.

Mi Amigas

It has been a while…

Ka Lai Lou — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 23:35:52 +0000

I’ve been sick for a couple of days, so that gives me a little time to reflect.

I started this blog for a class years ago, and I have almost forgotten it until today. Now, I have decided to start a blog to document the moments of my life and the things that I like.

I’ve been reading this book called Craft Inc.: Turn Your Creative Hobby Into a Business by Meg Mateo Ilasco. I got a little bit of inspirations from the success stories in the book. There are artists and crafters that turned their likings into business, real business. The author shows step by step on how to set up a business relating to all kinds of art and crafts. One thing that I learned is to start a blog writing about things, things that I believe in. So I am going to document my process of making youtube art tutorials and sharing my thoughts here. I don’t know where this will take me or who will be reading this, but I hope something good will come out of it.

I have always meant to start a youtube channel about painting and art tutorials. A lot of my friends who have seen my art have asked me how did I do it. I can’t really explain it to them, I really have to show them. Painting or drawing is not something that I can show someone on the spot. These requests have always been in the back of my head. I had a pretty busy schedule as a college student, and I couldn’t find the time to start a video at my house since I live on campus. Fortunately, I graduated just weeks ago, and this self-motivated project will keep me busy for a little.

I am also very much inspired by Michelle Phan, (I met her at a Chinese Restaurant in Chinatown New York recently). She is very nice and approachable. I have to admit I really like her make up tutorials.

As soon as I recover from my cold, I will start filming. In the meanwhile, I will continue on my research for my first video.