murmurbird

Back to murmur

2011-05-01T20:09:00.002-04:00

Hello murmurbird. After a year of interval I'm planning to murmur again, shortly... I just need to buy a new scanner :) that's it! See you soon chirp chirp!

See yaaaaaa!

2010-05-28T07:29:00.002-04:00

Murmurbird is flying back to Japan today. Of course, she will visit US as often as possible! So, see yaaaaaaaaaaaaaa for a while!

Closure

2010-05-23T00:14:00.002-04:00

I enjoyed Shrek Forever After :)

It gave me a good closure... sort of.

Power of love

2010-05-21T16:47:00.003-04:00

I found today that one of my friends is going back to his country, Greece, to work and to be with his girlfriend. That really made me think about the power of love...

Packing

2010-05-19T11:22:00.001-04:00

When you're packing, it's sometimes hard to decide whether to take something with you or leave/throw away.

Pot

2010-05-15T22:17:00.000-04:00

Back to the basics with pencils.

Mother's Day

2010-05-09T22:26:00.002-04:00

"Did I see my mom today?"

ITP flashback draft

2010-05-06T18:27:00.000-04:00

Drafting and sketching my idea...

Water Canary

2010-04-25T20:49:00.003-04:00

Today I did some quick logo sketches for my friend's project, "Water Canary." Hope these gave him some inspirations...

Sleeping in a box

2010-04-24T21:21:00.003-04:00

My fiance left Skype and went to bed. He was sleeping in a box on my desktop for about 7 hours :)

Lazer cat

2010-04-19T21:24:00.002-04:00

Inspired by art hound & Audrey May Erickson...

Oops my dog ate my thesis paper

2010-04-13T23:18:00.002-04:00

Only to remember that my dog is in Japan! haha =P

ITP Spring Show 2010 poster

2010-04-12T00:01:00.003-04:00

Murmurbird and three other colleagues made a poster for the upcoming ITP Spring Show 2010. It was a fun project :) A pink monkey is an icon on Tom Igoe's book, "Making Things Talk".

Nail art illustrations

2010-04-09T00:48:00.002-04:00

Work in progress... illustrations for my thesis project. It's all about nail art!

How Squidward made my day

2010-04-07T23:47:00.006-04:00

As a huge fan of SpongeBob SquarePants, it sucks to say that Squidward actually made my day. I was recommended to check out this site, and it just happened. Damn, is he gorgeous or what? Thanks, Lawrence.

Happy Easter 2010!

2010-04-03T22:49:00.002-04:00

Murmurbird celebrates the Easter weekend with a bunny and her five nail art chips!

Murmurbird and Me

2010-04-02T21:31:00.001-04:00

Oscar's Flower Show

2010-03-31T23:04:00.003-04:00

Today Murmurbird went to see Macy's Flower Show. It was so beautiful and smelled so good! There were real birds flying in a cage! Inspired by the show, Murmurbird decided to make a flower out of party dresses celebrities wore during the Oscar red carpet. This flower should cost millions of dollars... :) Can you tell which petal is which dress?!

20-hour nap

2010-03-30T01:06:00.002-04:00

I slept for about 20 hours yesterday. I had some time to eat meals between my sleep, but I must've been tired as hell...

Reflection

2010-03-25T21:31:00.003-04:00

Murmurbird is back from short break... now it's time to keep up with the post again.

Resting

2010-03-13T06:14:00.001-05:00

Resting before a long flight.

Dark Blue

2010-03-11T23:17:00.003-05:00

Today was one of those days Murmurbird felt endlessly dark and depressing. She was eating sushi, and she felt as if a damon was trying to grab it from her.

Probably because Murmurbird finally figured that she lost part of her today....

She was looking for a way to return to where she was, wandering through dark blue jungle, only to realize that it's not happening. Forever.

Big hips

2010-03-08T20:17:00.005-05:00

"Some people have big hips", murmured Murmurbird while waiting for the light to change.

Dissolution

2010-03-03T21:04:00.002-05:00

A lack of sleep dissolves my thinking.

Hinamatsuri (Girls Day)

2010-03-02T23:54:00.002-05:00

March 3rd is "Hinamatsuri (Girls Day)" in Japan. Murmurbird is missing pretty dolls and homemade feast she used to have at home.

Snow Day II

2010-02-26T17:51:00.003-05:00

Another snow day! It's been snowing since yesterday morning.

When I looked up, there was a shower of snow.

3am and I

2010-02-24T03:10:00.001-05:00

For some reason, Murmurbird could not go back to sleep after napping for 4 hours. It's past 3am now. Birdy is awake all night.

Love Sequitur

2010-02-22T13:28:00.000-05:00

Murmurbird's colleague Jelani is a talented animator and a poet. Today she found one of his stunning digital poetry that explored the narratives with simple sound, "murmur", and line drawings. Thought of sharing it here. Murmurbird's favorite is the breathing part.

Saturday Breakfast

2010-02-20T10:20:00.000-05:00

If my dog was here, it would be like this on Saturday morning.

Confession

2010-02-19T22:38:00.001-05:00

Murmurbird has to confess and tell you why she hasn't been updating her blog...

Murmurbird is playing with DOGS.

Well, they are not real. Ms. Murmurbird is addicted to an iPhone app "TouchPets". After adopting her first female dog, ShuShu, several days ago... she's been obsessed with it. She's feeding the dog, cleaning, teaching fetch and tricks, and all other stuff that you normally do when you have dogs.

The most absurd thing Murmurbird did today, which indicates the level of her addiction, is that she BOUGHT ADDITIONAL DOG FOOD FOR $3.99!!! Geez, spending the actual money on virtual pets was the last thing she could think of....

Awww.... how lovely

Shushu is chewing a tasty toy! How cute!

Got a ribbon!

The first breakthrough was when Shushu learned to get on top of the agility ball.

Chewing a healthy bone.

Oops

2010-02-17T23:46:00.001-05:00

Oops... Murmurbird unintentionally did not update this blog for 4 days!

Did the small birdie told you about her new nails?

La la la - she got the fake strawberry cake stickers!

Sorry, Mr. Icecube. I will keep you busy!

Tree of Hearts

2010-02-13T13:40:00.000-05:00

One day before St. Valentine's Day, murmurbird discovered the Tree of Hearts with aroma of sweet kisses and hugs.

Snow and Chocolate

2010-02-11T03:49:00.000-05:00

Murmurbird had a snow day in New York, so decided to check out the Chocolate & I, which is a week-long festival of chocolates and all sweet stuff on the earth.

They had an intriguing tasting palette featuring chocolates in different densities, from 70% cacao to 85% cacao chocolates, as well as roasted cacao bits(yummy), powdered chocolate, and raw cacao beans which taste like a child of coffee beans and almonds.

On Thursday, there is Food for Art. Art for Thought exhibition with several ITP students and alumni. ITP alum duo Che-Wei Wang and Taylor Levy have an interesting piece called Chocolate Timepiece, which drips melted chocolates into plates that represent days, hours, minutes and seconds.

See this? Mmmmm edible clock!

Marco, who is one of the organizers, has another edible piece - a broken, or rather melted, earth. A hungry murmurbird kindly asked Marco if she could get a bite of New York. It was rejected ;P

And there was, of course, hot chocolate!

The Map of “How I got to my thesis idea”

2010-02-08T00:36:00.000-05:00

I spent most of my day thinking about my future project... so I thought it's worth mapping out my thought process.

Proud to be a bird

2010-02-04T23:16:00.000-05:00

Murmurbird is proud to be a bird today.

You know why? Because a French artist Celeste Boursier-Mougenot made a film of an installation in which 40 birds played the Gibson guitar. It's awesome.

Check out the BBC UK's article: "40 wild birds play a Gibson Les Paul guitar"

The Cookie Chewer

2010-02-03T23:04:00.000-05:00

Murmurbird decided to bake cookies.

It was a pretty simple recipe of mixing ingredients and baking with a microwave! Cookies turned out well... birdie is "The Cookie Chewer" today ;)

Mt. Snow II

2010-02-01T18:18:00.000-05:00

At Mt. Snow, murmurbird found an airport.

She also found a game where she can eat as many marshmallows as she wants.

Mt. Snow

2010-02-01T08:46:00.000-05:00

This weekend I went to the Mt. Snow. It was awesome to be in -4 degrees world.

Our lodge was behind the airport, which was completely frozen and shut down. The airport terminal was so tiny... it was a house.

Nature creates mysterious circle...

On our way back to New York we stopped by at the Mass MOCA museum. I must say that the place is gorgeous and full of inspirational work. My favorite spot was a kids room called "You are what you eat", where things are made of sweets and candies. It's everyone's dream!

Ohhh marshmallow jelly fish! Cherrios coral leef! I would swim here all day.

There are sculptures outside. These trees are upside down.

Another favorite spot is a bridge connecting two buildings.

Snow in New York

2010-01-28T08:11:00.000-05:00

It was snowing when I woke up. It's nice if I didn't have to go to work.

Progress 2

2010-01-25T22:14:00.000-05:00

Some progress made. I will start adding colors tomorrow :)

Work in progress

2010-01-23T06:43:00.000-05:00

One of things I always wanted to do but didn't execute is to draw an illustration for my grandfather's alphabet poem. My grandfather, who passed away a decade ago, was a chemist who researched about traditional colors in ethnic dresses. Not only he had good eyes for colors, but he also had a talent for writing poems. He loved literatures, especially poems by Goethe, and wrote quite interesting poems during his spare time. Sometime before he died he wrote an alphabet poem in English that truly represented his character, humor, and love for his family.

After holding on to his poems for years I finally took a pencil to start drawing his world. This is the first, but probably not the last illustration for the poem. This will be an experimental illustration. I didn't want to draw things too literal. I had an idea of making the poem into playing cards.

So here it is... the work is in progress, but I'm getting there. Design and composition of cards are inspired by Japanese playing cards called Hanafuda. I will be posting my progress every day from now on. I'm excited!

Honey Ginger Tea

2010-01-21T21:53:00.001-05:00

I have a new routine of drinking honey ginger tea every day as part of an attempt to improve my body's poor circulation.

cold

2010-01-20T21:03:00.000-05:00

Thank you, jetlag.

Panda project completed

2010-01-20T02:00:00.000-05:00

With small adjustments from yesterday, I finished the panda illustration. It will be 510mm x 360mm on a glossy paper! Yaay :)

Panda preview

2010-01-18T23:51:00.000-05:00

A sneak preview of my Panda illustration.

Back in NY

2010-01-17T10:33:00.000-05:00

I'm finally back in New York with a huge jetlag and some new items for the new semester. Murmurbird postings will be in full force from now on...!

Pandas in preparation

2010-01-08T13:05:00.000-05:00

I was asked to draw pandas. Here's one of sketches I did...I will draw more and decide what to finalize. The only requirement for this drawing is to have pandas in a business meeting with one of pandas say "speak up" to the rest of the group.

Visiting Bandai

2010-01-06T09:50:00.001-05:00

Today I visited Bandai, a company famous for producing Tamagochi and other digital toys. It was very exciting to see so many fun gadgets and toys...!

Happy New Year 2010!

2009-12-31T19:45:00.000-05:00

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

Japanese Vending Machine

2009-12-26T13:44:00.000-05:00

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:

Japanese green tea
Onigiri with salmon
Cream Soda
Oden
Shoyu-based Ramen
Sushi, especially yellow tail and toro
Tirol Chocolate
Fresh fish from Tsukiji Fish Market
Toasted mochi
Takoyaki

Christmas Tree

2009-12-24T01:27:00.001-05:00

Murmurbird helped kids with a last minute Christmas decoration.

Why ITPGuestbook doesn't work for birds

2009-12-20T22:53:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-18T04:06:00.001-05:00

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

Stripes and Mac

2009-12-17T01:13:00.000-05:00

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

Holiday Season

2009-12-15T23:07:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-13T09:10:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-11T00:38:00.000-05:00

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

Feelin' dumplin'

2009-12-09T18:44:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-08T21:15:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-08T00:43:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-07T08:31:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-06T00:42:00.000-05:00

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

2009-12-05T01:09:00.000-05:00

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

Still sick in bed, but with work...

2009-12-04T08:54:00.000-05:00

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

Down with Cold

2009-12-03T09:24:00.000-05:00

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

Acrylic Practice

2009-12-01T02:00:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-28T18:58:00.000-05:00

Good bye Tokyo Tower...for now!

Sleeping Dog

2009-11-26T12:15:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-25T04:15:00.000-05:00

More studies for today.

Color Studies

2009-11-25T03:26:00.000-05:00

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

Interstella 5555 - Something About Us

2009-11-25T03:24:00.001-05:00

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

Cats

2009-11-24T00:58:00.000-05:00

Felt like drawing cats today...

Happy Watery Birthday?

2009-11-22T23:23:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-21T21:28:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-21T01:47:00.000-05:00

I feel dark, blurry and sad today.

City of Circles

2009-11-20T01:03:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-19T03:48:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-18T01:35:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-16T23:09:00.000-05:00

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

Rain! Rain! Rain!

2009-11-15T02:08:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-14T00:26:00.000-05:00

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

Thank you

2009-11-13T09:43:00.000-05:00

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

Rest

2009-11-12T18:47:00.001-05:00

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

Sulky

2009-11-12T01:21:00.000-05:00

My dog Lily explains how I feel today.

Hello Go!

2009-11-11T01:31:00.000-05:00

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.

Yellow stuff

2009-11-10T00:02:00.000-05:00

Later that day, she found a paper tower with a bunch of yellow stuff. They were greasy and tasted funny. As she was tackling the third "stuff", she realized there was a large black feather nearby. What kind of bird can possibly have such a large feather? She wondered if the sticks belonged to this unknown friend. "I hope I'm not in trouble."

When she discovered her blend

2009-11-09T09:18:00.001-05:00

The next morning she flew to a big city called New York. How do other birds breathe here? She finally rested on a tree near a cafe, and there she discovered her blend.

There was a bird who had a heart-shaped spot

2009-11-08T21:05:00.000-05:00

She left her group one day, hoping to discover a whole new world. She landed onto an old brick house. An old, old ivy vine, gnarled and decayed at the roots, climbed halfway up the brick wall. It was the most beautiful thing she ever saw in her life.

Imagination is Everything

2009-11-07T23:10:00.001-05:00

Inspired by a famous quote by Albert Einstein.

Happy Grid

2009-11-06T23:23:00.000-05:00

Paul Klee is one of my all-time favorite artists. I love his painting, etching, drawing...pretty much everything! For some reason I felt like painting on a grid like Klee's today. It turned out to be a very happy grid.

Falafelsaurus

2009-11-06T00:31:00.000-05:00

I had a huge falafel sandwich for lunch today, and it was taking over my mouth. Thus, the Falafelsaurus was born.

Swimming

2009-11-05T01:13:00.000-05:00

I felt like I was swimming in search for the unknown island today.

Ideal and Reality

2009-11-04T00:37:00.000-05:00

Inspired by "After Man", a book by Dougal Dixon about a zoology of the future, I drew two homo sapiens that represent my past 24 hours. Thanks, Eyal, for finding the book :)

ITP is...

2009-11-03T00:20:00.000-05:00

I just had a chaotic week at ITP, but it was inspirational.

At Union Sq

2009-10-31T11:18:00.000-04:00

I woke up early this morning to run and workout at the gym. On my way back, I stopped by at the Union Square Farmers Market, and saw a labrador in a costume :)

There were, of course, pumpkins...

..and gorgeous grapes. I've got grapes called "Mars".

Pumpkin Girl

2009-10-31T00:32:00.001-04:00

A pumpkin girl has magical power...

A bird cannot fly today...

2009-10-28T22:15:00.000-04:00

A bird's wing is broken, so she cannot fly today...

Fly Away

2009-10-27T23:03:00.001-04:00

I am so exhausted from presenting BeeMe today. I just want to fly away, and forget about the work on my desk.

Things That Keep Me Going

2009-10-26T23:05:00.001-04:00

There are things that keep me going. Good food, snacks and drinks are some of them.

Beginning of A New Tradition

2009-10-26T01:05:00.000-04:00

Out of the blue, I just decided to make a new blog, murmurbird - one murmur a day.