decalcomanie

new release: Clazzi – Infant

Alicia — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:09:52 +0000

Finally, after two great singles comes the first album of DJ Clazzi, of Clazziquai Project fame. While slightly reminiscent of CP, his solo work has lost a lot of the lounge/jazz influence and is more dance/trance/house in atmosphere. All of the songs are collaborations with various artists such as Sunny Hill, MYK, and Seulong of 2AM, which makes for a nicely varied album. I’m in love with pretty much every song on this album, and can’t recommend it enough!

Clazzi – Where’s Dance (With 진실 Of Mad Soul Child)

the ‘blad

Alicia — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:23:26 +0000

I have wanted a Hasselblad for years, but the price has always kept me from ever exploring the option. But since starting to shoot film more or less exclusively, I wanted to try medium format again (I sold my last MF camera a couple years back), and I managed to find a pretty good deal, so I jumped.

It was so worth it. I love how it feels in my hands, the lovely aesthetic, the loud whoomp of the shutter. The backwards viewfinder, square format, and slow focus took a bit to get used to, but now I easily use it as a walk-around camera. Below are a few of my favorite shots so far, and the rest can be found at my flickr.

happy new year!

Alicia — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:40:35 +0000

It’s a little late, but happy new year to anyone that still actually reads my blog. Haha.
I finally changed the layout, to a much more minimalistic one. As always, I make some not-really-resolutions (because I’m not so resolute about them) for the new year.

Take more pictures
Blog more regularly
Comment more on blogs & flickr
Start my research project for school
Read more books

I’ve been traveling and shooting up a storm, so please look forward to posts about my new cameras and my trip to San Francisco!

Where does all the lost time go?

Alicia — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:36:57 +0000

The problem, I’ve found, with living in Hawaii is that it never changes. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it’s a little bit hotter or cooler, but overall, things are pretty constant. And so, hours turn to days, days into months, and BAM! Suddenly, you look at your calendar and half a year has passed. It’s something that I love when I’m waiting for something, but very much hate when I want to savor something just a little longer.

I wish I could say that I spent all of that time doing something cool and exciting, but nothing spectacular has happened, really. A new semester of school has once again kicked my butt pretty heartily. The weekends are spent hanging out with friends, new and old. I finally started getting back into photography so my poor flickr account will be seeing a little more action hopefully (I finally just got all the pictures from Japan developed, for shame!).

On a photography-related note, I decided to be crazy and buy a Hasselblad 500c/m. I’m selling off my digital cameras and probably a few film ones to fund the purchase, but I’ve been lusting for this thing since I started shooting film seriously. SO, once it gets in, we’ll see if it lives up to the hype.

Anyway, just an update to let you know I’m still alive…

challenge master post

Alicia — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 07:07:54 +0000

This is the master post for my challenges. I’ll be updating the lists periodically, and adding links to any posts I make about what I’ve watched read.

50 Book Challenge
1. Out by Natsuo Kirino
2. Jemima J by Jane Green
3. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
4. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
5. Something Blue by Emily Giffin
6. Baby Proof by Emily Giffin
7. Love the One You’re With by Emily Giffin
8. The German Woman by Paul Griner

50 Movie Challenge
1. 사랑한다, 사랑하지 않는다 (Come Rain Come Shine)
2. Gigantic
3. Little Miss Sunshine
4. The Borrower Arrietty
5. Candy Rain
6. 天使の恋 (My Rainy Days)
7. Mongol
8. Limitless

CHALLENGE!

Alicia — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 23:28:07 +0000

I know I said I was going to post about Japan next, but I’m taking forever to upload pictures, and I still have half a roll in the camera so it’ll… be a while.

Right now I’ve got way too much free time, so I think I will start two challenges next month: 50 book challenge and 50 movie challenge. I already watch a ridiculous amount of movies, so that shouldn’t be hard. However, I’ve fallen out of the habit of reading, which is a shame because I used to be a huge bookworm. So I think I’m going to go get myself a 5-year library card and start up again. To keep me motivated to both read/watch & blog, I’ll try to post a weekly update with recommendations of my favorites.

Let me know if you have any recent (or not) books/movies you think are good to start with!

Taiwan: May 20 to May 24

Alicia — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 22:58:43 +0000

The 20th was a pretty eventful day. I went to Bao’an Temple, the Confucius Temple, and Chiang Kai Shek memorial. Unfortunately, I was using slide film that day, and my metering was off, so the pictures didn’t come out too well, which is a shame. Bao’an Temple in particular was gorgeous. Later that night, I met my friend and we went to her uncle’s noodle shop. His place is kind of famous because they use shaved noodles instead of regular ones. It was really cool to watch them make it. After this, we went to Shilin night market.

I try to go clubbing in every cit I visit if I have time, and Taipei was no exception. I went with one of my friends, her brother, and some of his friends. First was a dark, tiny bar where his friend worked. I wish I could have taken pictures: it was a grunge-ily (?) awesome. After that we went to a club in Xinyi called Room18. It was alright. They had two rooms, one for hiphop and the other for techno/house/trance.

I spent the rest of the weekend in Ilan and Jiufen. Jiufen, a tiny town on the north coast famous for mining, was especially pretty. It was rainy that day, but it somehow added to the atmosphere.

After I got back on Monday, I didn’t do much but shop. I shopped. A LOT. Ximending, Wufenpu, Dunhua, SOGO, Breeze, Mitsukoshi, you name it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that impressed by it. The clothes are cheap, yes, but because the quality isn’t so great. Also, because I don’t speak any Chinese, it was pretty much impossible to bargain, so I didn’t have as much fun as I could at night markets. Actually, what I bought most there were Korean and Japanese cosmetics. Japanese cosmetics are cheaper in Taiwan, and Korean brands aren’t that much more expensive. So I ended up with quite a lot of Skin Food, The Face Shop, Etude House, KATE, and Majolica Majorca stuff.

So, all in all, my trip to Taiwan was pretty fun! I could definitely see myself going back again, although I would learn some functional Mandarin before doing so. You can see the rest of my pictures here on flickr. Next, my crazy six days in Tokyo~

Taiwan: May 16 to May 19

Alicia — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:12:56 +0000

I had actually started writing a new entry for each day of my trip, but I was so busy/exhausted by the end of each day, that I quickly gave up. So here is part one of my condensed travel journal. Most of my Taiwan trip was in Taipei, although I did go to my friend’s house in Ilan, as well as day trips to Wulai and Jiufen. Admittedly, I was too busy shopping to take a lot of photos, but I still took a decent amount.

It was rainy season, so my first two days there were pretty wet. I spent an entire day exploring all of the different underground malls that connect the metro stations together. The next day, though, my legs were killing me, so I spent some time around Taipei Main, checking out the department stores and Bo Ai/Hankou Streets, which are famous for their heavy concentration of camera stores. I spent a leisurely time at Sun Yat Sen memorial, where the locals were hanging out for lunch.

The next day was my trip to Wulai, a tiny hot springs town about a 40-minute bus ride away from the most southern MRT station, Xindian. It was really picturesque. I’m not much of a hiking/outdoor-sy person, but I did take the time to walk up to the waterfall, although there was also a cute little train that takes you up there.

After I returned that evening, I did even more hiking. Just a twenty minute walk from Taipei 101 is a place called “Elephant Mountain” where you can get a great view of the entire city. I didn’t stay until sundown because the mosquitoes were eating me alive, but I got some great sunset shots.

Next installment: food, clubbing, Ilan, Jiufen, and shopping~

vacation!

Alicia — Wed, 11 May 2011 04:13:56 +0000

This Saturday, I’ll be leaving on a 16-day trip to Taiwan (10 days) and Japan (6 days). I’m so excited! This is the first time I’ve been on such a long trip, and the first time I’ve been to Taiwan. I don’t speak a lick of Mandarin, and I’ll mostly be traveling by myself, so this should be interesting.

On this trip, I will be shooting (more or less) only film. I’m bringing my Olympus E-P1 as a digital backup, but I’ve decided that most of the photo work will be done by my trusty Nikon FM and 2 lenses (50mm f/1.8D and 35mm f/2). I was worried about taking the FM, since it is a fully manual camera, and I even bought a Nikon FE so I would have the choice of aperture priority. Unfortunately, the test roll came out iffy, so I’m going with my old favorite. It will be slower, but I don’t really do action shots or anything so no biggie.

I started making up plans, but it looks like Taipei is going to be rainy the entire time I’m there, so I don’t know if I can go hiking like planned. I know I’ll be doing a lot of shopping, and night market exploring, though. Tokyo I’m not worrying about too much, since I’m mostly there to visit friends. I do know that I want to visit Koenji (mori girl shopping area), Disney Sea, and Sweets Paradise (the best pasta/dessert buffet ever). Any other recommendations? Especially for Taiwan..

the little things

Alicia — Thu, 05 May 2011 22:41:58 +0000

My poor old iPod Touch finally died about a month ago, so I went ahead and bought one of the new ones, since it was only a little more expensive than replacing the old one. I’ve actually been having lots of fun with the camera, and trying out different apps. So far, Instagram is my favorite, but Pudding Camera is also lots of fun. Some selected shots of my boring life…

It tends to rain when the sun is shining here, so rainbows aren’t exactly a rare occurrence, but I still try to stop and take a picture when I see one.

The view from my apartment building (4th floor, no elevator for the lose!)

These adorable little birds are everywhere. They don’t like to fly so they get run over/kicked around a lot though.