Closing a Book's Chapter

After two years of using BLOGGER as my blog, I am finally moving.

Yes, I'm moving to i.ph, a blog host I find better and easier to use, with better tools to boost too, with its own section of photo hosting, and gives someone like me with little background on html and web codes to have more artisitc freedom with the existing templates that they have.

Anyway, I won't be leaving this blog totally since I will still use it to host my comics drawings and any other thing related to my comics. But all of my rantings about life, personal things, poetry, football and photography will be hosted on my new site.

So if I'm on your blogroll or in any way connected in your site, please update your links to my new blog which is here:

http://artkitekto.i.ph/

I'll see you there!

The Fullerton

Built between 1924 and 1928, the Fullerton Building was named after Robert Fullerton, the first Governor of the Straits Settlements, and was opened on 27 June 1928. Its first tenants included the General Post Office, the Singapore Club and several government departments.

In 2001, the building was re-opened as a high-end five star hotel. It was totally refurbished on the inside but its original exterior has been preserved.

The Fullerton Hotel Singapore has 400 rooms and suites which either overlook the atrium courtyard, or face downtown Singapore's skyline, the Singapore River promenade or the Marina Bay. The hotel's 199-square metre Presidential Suite even has its own elevator, and a glass-enclosed veranda.

Designed with the business and leisure traveller in mind, The Fullerton Hotel has a 24-hour financial centre with the Bloomberg Professional service that provides financial reports and world news, and 15 meeting rooms equipped with conference facilities.

The hotel has a 25-metre outdoor infinity swimming pool, fitness centre and a luxury spa. The hotel has five food and beverage outlets, which include Jade, a restaurant serving modern Chinese cuisine; Town Restaurant, an all-day international dining restaurant; The Courtyard, which offers afternoon tea and lunch choices at the hotel's atrium; San Marco at The Lighthouse serving modern Italian cuisine on the top floor of the hotel; and the stylish Post Bar which serves a wide range of signature cocktails and wine. Ballroom and conference facilities are located at the basement.

The Fullerton Hotel has won major travel and architectural awards such as the Condé Nast Traveler Gold List award and the Architectural Heritage Award from Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority.

More images HERE.

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I already purchased a new scanner last weekend (finally) so I have already scanned and uploaded a bunch of strips for my webcomics. The latest is what's shown above (under the site logo) and it will automatically update itself every Monday. :)

Art in split second

We all know the value of time. Even a factor of a minute is gold especially if like me, you commute by bus or train. And it's frustrating to see your bus or train went off just before you reach the loading platform. Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back.

Beauty is relative with time. The finest wines are getting better as they age, while women are at their loveliest at youth. Flowers bloom with seasons, and trees shed at fall.

Sometimes though, beauty come and go without us noticing it, within our everyday lives. It happens in a split of a second, and then its gone. Beauty that dies as soon as it bore life. Thanks to imaging, we can freeze time and capture moments.




More of this set of images HERE.

No Place I'd Rather Be

What I like about Singapore, apart from the almost 0% crime rate and very efficient public transport, is that they really treat their National Day the biggest day of the year. They look forward to it, prepare for it, and the government spend insane money to celebrate it (Even making a 30,000 people capacity floating stadium at Marina bay just for it). People from all walks of life here talk about it with enthusiasm, and with their family celebrate the culmination by watching the National Day Parade, an extravagant show that Singaporean anticipate year after year, with glee marked on their faces. Sadly, I don't see that kind of enthusiasm back home in the Philippines. Many people don't even know the date of our independence day. And I think I'm not mistaken that there are many more people that can identify Manny Paquiao than people who knew how to sing the National Anthem correctly.

Anyway, this 9th of August, Singapore will once again held its 42nd birthday, and I am writing this not because I'm already becoming a Merlion patriot, but because I want to share you this year's Singapore National Day Parade song. The reason is that it's one of those songs that let you thing of your roots, especially if you're like me, are plying your trade overseas. This simple but beautiful song--sang by Kit Chan-- speaks about the longing for a homeland, even after seeing the four corners of the globe.

Watch it for yourself below.

Skycraper Nightshooting

I was having a meeting last Friday at Clifford building around Raffles Place that lasted to early night. When I came down, the stark silhouette of the tall buildings against a dark royal blue sky interests me. It's a good think that i brought my handy Nikon D40 (I prefer this over my D70 when I'm mobile since it's small and light) so I took some shots. I could've made things brighter, but not having a tripod limits me to around 1/15 shutter speed and 4.5 aperture setting.



More of these shots HERE.

Tales of Two Churches

The above image is that of St. Andrew's church. An Anglican church said to be founded by Sir Stamford Raffles himself. This is a very famous church located in downtown Singapore, flanked by modern buildings from side to side. Being a famous landmark, the church has been photographed from all sides countless of times so turning an original photo is a challenge and the least I want is to turn out another generic image the same of the many tourist that visits the city. I discarded the photos I took from the church's facade and just look around until I found this spot just outside the gate. It still shows the church but with the tree it becomes more dramatic. Most of the time, trees at the front acts as distruction, but I think it worked on this particular piece. And the fact that it is in silhoutte gives the viewer more focus to the church itself. It also seem to lead the eye upward, to the apex of the church's lit tower, which for me is the one strong focal point of the structure. It also, together with the dark atmosphere, helped camouflage the other buildings surrounding that would be distracting to the view.



This is an image of another church (a catholic one this time), the church of St. Teresa in Kampung Bahru. I go here to reflect and meditate. I like going to this church because it is a bit secluded (but really far from my place) and there's a sense of serenity when you're on its grounds. I took this photo just as dusk sat in, giving that royal blue colour to the sky fading to a darker hue above. Again, I didn't put the whole church in the photo, instead concentrated to what I think represented it most.

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This is a bit late but I wanted to thank both Ipanema and Carey for including me in their "Thinking Blog Award" list.

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I also wanted to apologize to (few) people who has been reading my comics and didn't see an update for two weeks now. My scanner has been broken and haven't scanned the new pages. I was supposed to shop for a scanner last weekend but my son's birthday took place. hopefully I can get a new (and better) one this weekend, so I can upload a new one this Sunday night.

Happy Birthday

I wish I Could
(Collin Raye)

Looking out my window
See you playing in the leaves
It's amazing how a little boy
Means all the world to me
When I tell you that I love you
I love you more than words can say

Smile, say cheese pretty-please
I wanna take your picture
How'd you ever get so big
I gotta take your picture
Hold on to the memory before the whole thing slips away

I wish I could save these moments
And put 'em in a jar
I wish I could stop the world from turning
Keep things just the way they are
I wish I could shelter you from everything
Not pure and sweet and good
I know I can't, I know I can't
But I wish I could

When you kiss me for no reason
It goes straight to my heart
When I feel your arms around me
I almost fall apart
It's time for bed you whisper
Daddy, we forgot to pray

I wish I could save these moments
And put 'em in a jar
I wish I could stop the world from turning
Keep things just the way they are
I wish I could shelter you from everything
Not pure and sweet and good
I know I can't, I know I can't
But I wish I could

And when I watch you sleeping
All my worries fade away
A little bit of heaven glows on your angelic face

I wish I could save these moments
And put 'em in a jar
I wish I could stop the world from turning
Keep things just the way they are
I wish I could shelter you from everything
Not pure and sweet and good
I know I can't, I know I can't
I know I can't
But I wish I could

Above is a song by Collin Raye that has since became my unspoken anthem when I became a father four years ago. Being blessed is a very profound thing. And each passing day since then I've learned things so insightful I've never even thought of before. like becoming happy with a single smile, or how a simple hug could mean the world, or how telling stories or watching a small person pray at night can make your heart flutter.

FERGUS RAYE, a very happy birthday, son. Your birthday is always a special day to celebrate the gift of "YOU" to the world. Thank you for being a catalyst, an inspiration and educating me how simple things could mean so much.