Happy New Year 2010!

From Murmurbirds. This is a traditional Japanese greeting postcard "nengajo".

Japanese Vending Machine

Yay, murmurbird is back in Japan! Among many things on her to-do list during her stay, she has a long wish list for Japanese food and sweets she's missed so bad... so here's a special vending machine tailored for her sophisticated taste. She will probably need 10 different vending machines like this.

Now available at Murmurbird's vending machine:

1. Japanese green tea
2. Onigiri with salmon
3. Cream Soda
4. Oden
5. Shoyu-based Ramen
6. Sushi, especially yellow tail and toro
7. Tirol Chocolate
8. Fresh fish from Tsukiji Fish Market
9. Toasted mochi
10. Takoyaki

Christmas Tree

Murmurbird helped kids with a last minute Christmas decoration.

Why ITPGuestbook doesn't work for birds

Murmurbird decided to check out ITPGuestbook web app on iPhone to see what other birdies are doing at the ITP show.

Only to find out her nails prevented her from touching the screen.

Oh, poor murmurbird...she went back to the old map.

Mochi ice cream

I had a mochi ice cream today...looked like a soft snow ball.

Stripes and Mac

From a pure observation. A man with striped T-shirt and a Mac.

Holiday Season

Welcome to the holiday season, when New York turns into a temporary North Pole with Santas.

...or a fir tree forest at night...

...or a shopaholic heaven.

2-days off from blogging

Murmurbird is taking a short break from blogging due to a bloody amount of work this weekend. She will be back soon! Stay tuned...

Windy

Today I witnessed an egg rolling (or flying) with heavy wind.

Feelin' dumplin'

One of my classes went out after the final class to have soup dumplings at Joe's Shanghai Restaurant in Chinatown. They were amazing. I'm feelin' dumplin' now.

Popeye got nerdier in 2009

With an iconic character Popeye as a logo, Google is celebrating E.C. Segar's birthday today. I thought of what Popeye would look like in 2009. In 2009, Popeye is a lot nerdier, like me!

Qurious TV for Boxee

Today my ITP team presented a concept called "Qurious" that runs on Boxee platform. Qurious is an application that enriches the television watching experience. Qurious knows the actors, songs, products, and topics of whatever you're watching, and helps you learn more. The concept was well received, and we got a lot of great feedback. We will be showing this at ITP Winter Show 2009.

Here's the archived live streaming video from the beta launch event.

Watch live streaming video from boxee at livestream.com

Sleeping Kangaroo

When I saw a picture of a kangaroo sleeping peacefully (see below pic)... I wish I could sleep like that. I am holding on to the good sleep until my finals are over in a week.

ITP Tirol Choco

I was eating one of my favorite Japanese mini candies Tirol Choco and thought of making ITP versions. Mustafa, there is one special flavor for you! No, they are not on sales =)

For those who don't know what the actual Tirol Chocos look like...here is a photo of product examples. There are seasonal flavors (i.e. Xmas Soda) as well as permanent flavors (i.e. Tirol, Milk). Browse through their collection for more examples!

Big Screens 2009

Congrats to all hard-working people of Big Screens 2009! Everything was extremely well done and inspirational.

Still sick in bed, but with work...

I wish I could just focus on the wish list...

Down with Cold

I've been down with cold for the past few days... hope it goes away soon.

Acrylic Practice

I finally got a set of acrylic paints to play with. It's been a while, if not years, since I touched the acrylic, so I decided to practice painting with them today. This was an okay job. I could do better! Be patient.

Good Bye Tokyo Tower

Good bye Tokyo Tower...for now!

Sleeping Dog

While at home I had a chance to quickly sketch my dog, Lily, who was asleep on my bed. She looked so innocent.

Cats 2

More studies for today.

Color Studies

For some reason, I wanted to use different colors and experiment with them. Here are some of the studies...

Interstella 5555 - Something About Us

"Something About Us" was stuck in my head all day today.

Cats

Felt like drawing cats today...

Happy Watery Birthday?

My friend Marco (it was his birthday) gave me a blue bird water whistle for murmurbird =) Here's the murmurbird with her new friend, Ms. Aqua.

Tim Burton-ized Dog

I went to a preview of Tim Burton's exhibition at MoMA today. I was so inspired by Burton's drawing that I decided to draw a piece in tribute to his distinct drawing style. I used my dog, Lily (see her picture below), as a model and Tim Burton-ized her. Hehe =)

Smoke and Skull

I feel dark, blurry and sad today.

City of Circles

I realized there are so many circular objects on streets in New York.

Here are colorful candies with white letters on them.

This one used to be a circular bread with a huge hole in the middle, but someone made it to a crescent moon.

A mysterious apple

I found a mysterious apple with a silver hull and red and green stripes. It didn't smell like an apple, but it was glittery and mesmerizing. So I took it to Mr. White who lives in Central Park, and asked if he knew anything about it. I said, "Do you know if I will be as glittery as this apple if I eat it?" Mr. White said, "My little dear, this is a special kind of apple that is not meant for eating. Humans use these apples to decorate trees in winter. I don't know why, but that's what they do." I was very disappointed by that, so I left my apple at Mr. Bear's place and took a long nap.

A Nerdy Run

I ran at the gym thinking about PHP and XML code with some interruption from random TV shows and iTunes music library. It was a very nerdy run.

Mass produce me

I need my duplicates so I can get my work done!

Rain! Rain! Rain!

It's been rainy for the past few days in New York. But hey, I know how to have fun! :D

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!! (jump)"

Water on the Moon

NASA discovered water on the moon today. My fellow SpongeBob must be suuuuuuuppppeeer excited to build his house there!

Thank you

Thank you all for the get well messages! This is my thank-you dog, bowing down.

Rest

I've been sick all day today. I needed to rest.

Sulky

My dog Lily explains how I feel today.

Hello Go!

Google launched a new open source language called GO with a weird creature, which immediately reminded me of a few characters. I had to draw them. Welcome, Go, to 2009.