Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Nick Drake Sketch

Nick Drake Sketch

I made this sketch last night while my mother was doing overtime work at home. This is an edited image. The drawing was photographed because there's no scanner. Then I used poster edges in photoshop filters. This was copied from a color picture of Nick Drake. I finally have a Nick Drake drawing! ^__^

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Music: Ryan McAllister

To celebrate Christmas, I am sharing Ryan McAllister's music. He's just released a Christmas single called "My name is Blitzen" which can be downloaded for free.

Ryan McAllister is a Canadian musician who was the lead singer of the band Dakona. I loved their song "Good" that's why when I found out they split I still followed his music. There are other free singles on his website and Bandcamp page so you can check him out. In the meantime, here's my favorite song:



Merry Christmas!

Life Everlasting

When the longest of rest only makes you more weary
When the Brightest of suns only makes you feel cold
When the blackest of nights comes in to surround you
There will be a light and you got to grab hold

There’s a place in the life everlasting
Where the Father will sit by the side of the Son
And after this desert has dried up the water
The river will flow and the river will run

When the song that you sing feels worn out and tired
When the baby that’s born already feels old
When the blackest of nights comes in to surround you
There will be a light and you got to grab hold

There’s a place in the life everlasting
Where the Father will sit by the side of the Son
And after this desert has dried up the water
The river will flow and the river will run

Until the moon turns red
Until the kingdom comes
Until justice shines it’s light over everyone
Until it all goes right in a world gone wrong
You got to hold on

There’s a place in the life everlasting
Where the Father will sit by the side of the Son
And after this desert has dried up the water
The river will flow and the river will run

I know you’re tired cause you’ve come so far
Still you’ve got a long way
You’ve got a long way to go

© Ryan McAllister

Thursday, December 22, 2011

The Hobbit First Trailer

I bet everyone's seen this already, but I can't help it. I want my own post, too!



Ahhh Fili and Kili! I remember being excited for Karl Urban in The Lord of the Rings, a New Zealand actor who played Cupid in the Xena and Hercules TV series. Now it's Dean O'Gorman's turn as Fili. He was Iolaus in Young Hercules. Then there's Kili. Too bad Aidan Turner had to leave Being Human to shoot the Hobbit. I loved his chemistry with the other two characters.

Don't you think Richard Armitage's makeup looks too pretty for a dwarf? They should have made his nose bigger or something. :)

Seeing Elijah Wood's back gave me goosebumps. Seriously.

A song and Gollum's voice!

December 2012... But because there's Metro Manila Film Festival every December, I expect it to come out January 2013. Sad.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Profile Test



I tried to remove the background in this photo.

Photographed my sister while she was texting. An emergency light was used as light source.

Friday, December 2, 2011

What is an eskimo pi?

What is an eskimo pi? Mathematical Strategies Revealed is a book by Queena N. Lee-Chua. For the most part, it gathered inputs from students, teachers and others to talk about Math Anxiety and the ways a teacher can improve Math appreciation from students. The book also gave real world applications of Mathematics.

I bought the book because my dad currently teaches Math and because, well, I miss Math. The last time I had Math classes for my masters was in March 2010 and I'm still undecided on whether to continue with thesis. My adviser wanted me to study fractals, and behold I find this little book which discussed snippets of it. It's very intriguing, this fractal, and I envy miss Queena for being adept in this subject. FYI, I also found and bought a book by the man himself, Benoit Mandelbrot titled Gaussian Self-Affinity and Fractals, but I don't know if I could understand that.

Here are some quotes from the Eskimo Pi book:

  • People who fear math either disregard it from the three-dimensional world or refuse to see how it surrounds, permeates, and penetrates our world. What is factual, however, is that the application of math becomes a natural human process through both instinct and acquired knowledge.
  • Do you ever notice that there are fewer "great leaps" in science now than, let's say, 50 years ago?... Look at the population of scientists now, the few that there are. Even from this handful, the majority is focused on "commercial science" and not breakthrough science.
  • Suzanne Miller says that math anxiety often results when students try to randomly learn just the "math facts" as separate bits of information. When they have no landmarks, they must recall each math fact independently. If information is forgotten, a student has no strategy or structure to recover or reconstruct it... Without a solid foundation, math becomes painful and is avoided.
  • It is always a big discouragement to students when the teacher doesn't seem to have a grasp of what he/she is teaching.
  • If I were a Math teacher, I would not stop educating myself.
  • Teachers should be able to teach certain things not found in textbooks.
  • Math is truly humanizing if it helps people to recognize what their minds are capable of -- the ability to hold ideas firmly while still being open to all sorts of creative possibilities.

It also included the Math Teacher's Ten Commandments by Donald Edge & Ellen Freedman

  1. Thou shalt accept the challenge of teaching math and educate thyself in every way so that students will learn.
  2. Thou shalt recognize that some students fear or dislike math and be compassionate and understanding when teaching.
  3. Thou shalt convey to students that their self worth is unrelated to their math skills.
  4. Thou shalt adapt teaching strategies to meet the different learning styles of students.
  5. Thou shalt respect all student questions as you would have them respect yours.
  6. Thou shalt pursue the response of "I still don't understand" through different avenues until there is understanding.
  7. Thou shalt not ask a class "Do you understand?" Instead, thou shalt determine what each student knows and does not know, and address student problems individually.
  8. Thou shalt identify students in need of extra help and make certain they get it.
  9. Thou shalt actively involve students in class, assign daily homework and quiz frequently, knowing that student discipline comes from teacher discipline.
  10. Though they may at times seem few, thou shalt count thy blessings.

Other books on my shelf:

I've recently read The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. It's my first Doyle book. And the verdict? I couldn't put it down.

Currently reading: The Stand by Stephen King.
I've seen the TV mini series back in high school, but I can't remember most of it. Unfortunately for me, the book I have is the extended version: more than a thousand pages. =(