Took a 70 minute canal ride around the city, got a lot of great reference photos- hoping to take a tour of/sneak into some tall buildings tomorrow, to get some rooftop/superhero angle shots.
Red Light district! Lololol
I also found the PERFECT Sofie’s house:
More pics coming soon! It takes forever to upload from this stolen wireless. >_>
After having dinner at a delicious Thai restaurant, my bro and I headed over to Boom Chicago, comedy improv club. I remembered them since befriending Heather Anne Campbell, an extremely talented and hilarious lady who was part of the cast during their Vienna show.
During the show, I was picked when they asked the audience if anyone had a business card. They gave me a short interview, asking what my job was, what was this business about Lady Gaga on my shirt (I was wearing this one. XD) Then,one of the actors impersonated me as if I were a Dutch politician. (Dutch politics were the theme of that night’s show.)
As if my entire evening hadn’t already been made by that awesomeness, on our way “home” to the hotel (which is very close to the red light district) I saw some strippers poledancing to Lady Gaga songs in a brightly lit window. I am truly among my people here.
Tomorrow we’re having breakfast at a place called “PANCAKES!”. No, I’m not exaggerating, that’s really their name… exclamation point, and all. XD
Hopefully I can catch an orchestral concert or a ballet while I’m here. A Nightingale research trip just wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the Concertgebauw. More updates soon!
Today was much better than yesterday. Yesterday, I was hacked, and my aunt died. It was overall a pretty bleak, stressful 24 hours.
Today, we bought a motorbike (omg, I’ve wanted one since I was like… 3 years old) I finished Chris Crocker’s album art:
Also, Ingrid wrote me some Tyzula flashfics (fast slash fics! lulz) to make me feel all better. I also discovered that House of Mouse is kind of HYSTERICAL.
And I now have a totally fresh, up-to-date install of WordPress/Comicpress, I’m working hard on the next page of Sister Claire, as well as artwork for a Freen in Green interview. I also got a commission from another musician needing album art. I’m very excited to be working with Ingrid on Nightingale, too. There’s a LOT of great things to look forward to. =)
Here’s to more good days coming up soon. <3
In case you’ve been wondering what I’ve been up to lately, and why I’ve been so quiet…it’s because I’ve been working hardcore with my band to get our cover/music video done in time for the Sega Allstars Racing contest! Starring Smoker (Yamino… aka ME!) the vocalist, Aptiva (Trav) the guitarist, Mint (Trekker) the drummer, and Adam as…. Adam. Mysteri is our keyboardist (also played by Trav, and not appearing in this video). The cover photo also has guest stars Bentley Jones (original writer of “So Much More…”) and Sonic! I trust you know him already. XD
I think it came out pretty good, considering I don’t really know ANYTHING about movie editing and we all had crappy webcams to work with. The song is what we spent the most time on, honestly. XD If you like it, you might also be interested in checking out our blog: http://freeningreen.wordpress.com/
We LOOOOOVE comments. XD
I have far too much stuff to post about my Hawaii trip all in one post, so I’ll be dividing the posts up to one a day this week, divided roughly by category. Today’s theme: Hula and Hawaiian music!
Hula Girls from Yamino on Vimeo.
I had the pleasure to walk in on this free hula event, which featured highly talented girls of all ages showing off their hula dancing skills. They are all trained by the same teacher, (the woman playing ukulele and singing in the back) and they compete in nationwide Hula competitions. Cool! (Also, check it out… Not really related, but… Hawaiian Roller Derby Girls!?)
There’s also a very strong sense of cultural pride in this ancient tradition, one of the few that has survived the sad watering-down of the Hawaiian culture due to tourism. There are still many places where you can find more “honest” luaus held by locals that don’t have all the kitch of the touristy ones, and if you are given the chance, you can see some local girls (and sometimes even boys- hula is NOT a girl’s only tradition, despite what a lot of non-Hawaiians think!- showing off their skills in preparation for competitive events and historical celebrations.
This is a video of a hula celebration we stumbled across on our first day on the Big Island.
Hula Girls from Yamino on Vimeo.
This is a video of a hula celebration we stumbled across on our first day on the Big Island.
I think it was in memory of the last Queen of Hawaii. The famous Merry Monarchs played, while a group of young girls performed the hula. The cutest one was this TINY little Japanese-Hawaiian girl, who looked very unsure about what she was doing most of the time, and kept looking to her mom in distress. Aww. There was one older girl who was very smug and had a feisty attitude- when her father (who had been bragging about her to us throughout the performance) told her to smile more, she stuck out her tongue at him. XD
On the subject of Hawaiian musical culture, I bought a few CDs while I was visiting, to round out my family’s Hawaiian music collection. I noticed they don’t have ANY Hawaiian ladies, just IZ and the Cazimero Brothers, who are admittedly probably the most famous contemporary Hawaiian musicians. I wanted to support some lesser-known, but still very talented sistas: Raiatea Helm and Brittni Paira.
Anytime I travel to a foreign country, I try to pick up some local music, particularly in support of women musicians. We girl artists gotta stick up for each other! For that same motivation I made the logo and will soon be making the website for Kimly, the musician friend of mine who I recorded with in LA two weeks ago. I’m looking forward to getting the final cut of our song, so I can post it here! =)
Also, this is unrelated, but too awesome to share. My New year’s resolution will be to do everything I can to make my life more like a Bollywood Music Video.
ASL ON A PLANE from Yamino on Vimeo.
I made this all on the plane to Hawaii, even though the guys sitting next to me probably thought I was insane.
I’m here in Kona! OH MY GOD. SUNLIGHT. I haven’t seen it in half a year! I’m not even really exaggerating, in Belgium I became a night-owl and I slept all day (which was just as well, because right now it’s freezing, grey, rainy, and WINDY) and so it was perpetual night time. Then even in Southern California it was grey and rainy the entire time, although admittedly MUCH warmer. <3
I also have some new artwork I sketched up on the plane. Claire in Arthur de Pins style, Lady Gaga, some hot Indian whose hair loopies are TOTALLY NOT INSPIRED BY KATARA, OMG. Some random island girl, Airplane Boy? A zombie/shaman/ninja character I made for a roleplay a looong time ago, some hairy dude, a Naga (HAHA I’M PUTTING IT ON DEVIANTART. THAT PLACE NEEDS MOAR NAGAS) and Pele, the Hawaiian Volcano Goddess, riding on a lava flow. And yes, I realize now I spelled "Goddess" wrong. D:
My camera was dead until I charged it this evening, so I couldn’t upload any amazing photos, but believe me, there are some AMAZING things to see here… like the insane plants that look like they’re from another planet!? Seriously, there is so much strangeness on Hawaii that the touristy magazines and things never tell you. I plan on sharing all of this as I explore.
