absolutwillie

Month: October 2009

  • Jack-o-Lantern

    my first (ever) Halloween pumpkin: before and after.

  • missing home

    epic fail pictures

  • huh? say what?

    and before you know it, it’s friday. what happened to my week? (besides Aunt Debra‘s beeped-up annual visit… i suspect she’ll be around for a wee while.)

    well, work. i’m still getting into the swing of things – and the frequent tests have me at my wits end, frankly. it’s quite a skip from kindergarten to “real school”, i tell you. not to mention the report cards! i’m pretty sure my biological operating system was engineered to crash whenever presented with one of those. i quite literally get the shits. naturally the itty bitty committee has a field day with this…

    Aaarrgghhh! AND today is pumpkin carving day, which means tomorrow is the halloween party – and i’ve never carved a pumpkin before, and i don’t have a costume!

    honestly, if i had hair, it’d be in clumps in my white-knuckled fists right now.

    *breathe*

    okay, i’m spazzing out here. time for a snack… gaaack! look at the time! only half an hour left and i still have 6 report cards to agonize over!!

    oi vey.

    here’s a song for ya – have a better day, okay?

    a fanvid of Sam Sparro’s Black & Gold:

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-UIAl0EIqg&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&w=320&h=265]

  • list: daily sources of sh!ts and giggles

    i thought i’d share 10 of my favorite sites (that aren’t on my blogroll) for sh!ts and giggles:

    – Overheard in New York, for a different kind of eavesdropping.
    – The daily Squee, for that warm and fuzzy feeling.
    – Failblog, for proof that some people do make worse decisions than I do.
    – Engrish, because I’m surrounded by it.
    – It Made My Day, for little moments of WIN.
    – Awkward Family Photos, for some oddities.
    – The Impossible Cool, for iconic style inspiration.
    – The Sartorialist, for today’s style inspiration.
    – Tuneage, for some new music to chew on.
    – DeviantART, to see what some awesome creatives are up to.

    and there you have it.

  • squee: cute overload

    one of my favorite sources of daily smiles: dailysquee.com

    dreaming of kittens - owen

  • coming attraction: a single man

    Tom Ford made a movie!!
    Naturally, I have to see it.
    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tCxRO67gyk&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&w=320&h=265]

  • snap survey: school scam

    from cool cats to rug rats: what was the naughtiest, most rebellious thing you did in school?

    (answer under comments, please)

    Posted by ShoZu

  • matt alber sings "end of the world"

    wow. tom posted this video over on my new life – and it is positively dreamy!

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTvJdpkdLiw&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&w=320&h=265]

  • if you can't find the book you want…

    you’re probably shopping at the:

    thanks Ma ;0)

  • my weekend: the Wang Yeh boat burning festival

    those who follow me on twitter (or glance at my twitter update-feed to the right), know by now that i finally got to experience DongGang’s famous boat burning festival. the triennial event is touted as being one of the biggest of it’s kind – which i tend to believe quite easily. according to the Taiwan News, roughly 100,000 people flocked to my old town to participate in its 300 year old tradition.

    The eight-day festival opened with a mysterious and complicated ritual on the beach of Jhenhai Park. Five Wang Yeh gods joined the one enshrined at the temple for a four-day procession around DongGang before they boarded their wooden ship on which they “sailed” around the fishing port’s streets to expel evil spirits and plagues.

    On the seventh day, the temple offered the gods a feast of 108 Chinese dishes accompanied by fine wine and liquor to thank them for warding off evil during the processions over the previous week.

    The ritual culminated on Oct. 17 when the elaborately carved wooden boat was set on fire to symbolize the Wang Yehs setting off to heaven, taking with them the evil spirits and diseases they absorbed during the processions.

    to give you an idea of what it was like, here are some random snaps (also collected from friends) and videos:


    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yft-qFgK2T0&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&w=320&h=265]
    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X5HY-bV_rM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&w=320&h=265]
    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk92T5vZ2wQ&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&w=320&h=265]
    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6yhgbFVbmw&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&w=320&h=265]
    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k4gXu3pUH4&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&w=320&h=265]
    what i didn’t expect – and was really interesting – was the deafening silence right after the boat was lit. according to tradition, no festive sounds were allowed, lest the Wang Yeh turn around to see what the commotion is about. so after days of fireworks, local opera, gongs, bells, bands and whatnot – there was nothing…

    creepy, but cool at the same time.