I recently had the pleasure of meeting a fantastic local artist. His name is Siu Kui Cheng but is known locally as Shaw. I first discovered Sius’ work through his paintings which hang on the walls of the Ming Teh restaurant (my favorite Chinese restaurant ever). His paintings are wonderful expressions of life and imagination, but his story is truly an interesting one.

Siu was born in Canton, China and first studied the traditional Chinese art with Fong Kuomg Pai. He left Canton in the early 1970s and moved to Hong Kong where he worked in the public relations department at the Hong Kong Bank. During this time he practiced his art and painted portraits of dignitaries such as the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir David Trench; Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sir Cho Yiu Kwan; also Ho Sin-Hang, President of The Hang Seng Bank, and its General Manager Quo-wei Lee, and many others. Some of these portraits are held for display by the Chinese University of Hong Kong.  Also during this time Shaw was commissioned by the bank to paint the New Year scroll of the “God of Wealth”, which has since become a staple image in homes in China and North America. When I asked Shaw about the scroll and if he had a copy of it, he simply replied “No, it was commissioned work I did for someone else, not something I did for myself.”

Morning Clouds Over Wetlands

From Hong Kong Siu moved to France and continued his art studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and then moved on to Canada where he currently resides in Fort Erie, Ontario, right across the border from Buffalo, New York. It is here in Fort Erie that, for me, the story becomes most interesting. When I asked why he chose Canada to make his home he explained that he loves being surrounded by nature and that it embraced him, that Canada had pristine wilderness and had all of the modern amenities that allowed him to build the life he wanted here.

After moving to Fort Erie, Siu and his wife Julie then bought the shell of a burnt out restaurant on the Niagara Parkway and rebuilt it. Together they opened the Ming Teh restaurant in the late 1970s with Siu as the chef and Julie managing the business. At this point Siu essentially stopped painting, for 16 years!, while he and Julie built up the business. His cooking philosophy is that food is must be prepared to feed the mind, body and soul. Cooking is good for the immune system, intuition and instinct and it was important that these elements were addressed in the preparation of his dishes. Siu put his creative spark into all that he prepared for the restaurant and quickly built a loyal clientele. He spent time learning traditional recipes from as far back as the Zhou Dynasty (1066 B.C), he traveled back to China and through Europe to learn more about the art of cooking. Although he still claims he is not a cook, the photographs of Hollywood celebrities enjoying their meal that are on the walls of his studio tell a different story. It is easy to see that, even if it was not obvious to Siu, he put all of his passion and creativity into his food instead of painting. The restaurant is now run by their nephew and niece and they are carrying on in fine tradition.

Eternity Of Change

Rich with eastern symbolism and philosophy Sius’ paintings blend his traditional Oriental heritage with a unique western style. He uses a mixture of oil, water and egg tempura paints which create a distinct texture and give his work an infinite depth.

American Girl

His portraits are beautiful depictions of the people and places they represent, his landscapes are dream like and every object in his still life has meaning. We spoke at great length about how the world influences his work and that his goal was to promote the idea of unity, eastern and western cultures blending, this he says, is because the civilized world is getting smaller. His painting are reactions to our connections with nature, and he draws on that connection to bring them life and color.

Ritual Bouquet

After retiring from the restaurant business and deciding to paint full time again Siu set out on a journey to relearn and study some of these classics by traveling to Japan and Europe and spending time in the many of the galleries and museums there. His inspiration is unique and he finds it everywhere, but his great love of nature is prominent in many of his paintings. I was fascinated by his portrait of a Swiss poet, that he painted after only ever reading her poetry. He had never met her because she had passed away years before Siu was even born, yet her words moved him to paint the image of a beautiful blonde haired blue eyed woman with the snow covered Alps as a backdrop.

Mountain Village Widow

He also spent time studying at an art school in Russia. Like most art schools a portfolio of work is submitted for review and an interview is conducted by the mentor with whom the student wishes to study. In Siu’s case there was one painting in his group of submissions that got the attention of  the school. It was his portrait of the “Mountain Village Widow”. It was in this painting his instructor saw amazing similarities with his own work. He immediately invited Siu to stay and study with him.

Recently he has taken to painting with traditional Chinese Ink on rice paper. These works have amazing detail and texture, and he has even started to combine the inks with watercolor painting. Convinced by his friends he is also practicing Chinese calligraphy, which he believes is like meditation because the focus to create the letters is based in the whole body not just the hand and arms.

Eternity

Siu has mounted successful shows in Toronto and Paris and he has been featured in Artist Magazine. The Knox family has also taken an interest in his work.

In his spare time Siu enjoys playing the piano, reading and studying philosophy, walking and spending time with friends.

This is just a small example of a a very large body of work, I spent the first whole hour in the studio just looking at different paintings that Siu has done over the years. I hope to update with some other pictures in the near future and I also hope to be able to provide information on upcoming exhibits, but in the mean time if you want to see more you can take a trip to the Ming Teh to view the many works which adorn the walls there… and have a great meal. I can also provide contact information for Siu, just send me your email address through the contact form and I will put you in touch with him.

Persimmon

For me this day was amazing, I got to do something I have been wanting to do for a long time and I really hope to be able to do more. I forged the beginings of a new friendship and am very excited to follow Sius’ future works.

To Siu and Julie, my sincerest thanks, this was a day I will not soon forget.

It was really interesting going back to school as an adult. Your perspective is much different (obviously) than when you attended as a teenager. What really struck me was in fact how bad some of the professors are at teaching, and I mean bad. For example I had one professor who essentially sat in his office and waited for you to come and ask how to do something rather than teaching the class how to do it as a group. Others had been at it for so long that they just rambled through the material without caring if anyone understood it. Of course the faculty deal with adult students a little differently than they do with the average student right out of high school, I think because we tend to catch them and call them on their shortcomings. So by playing the game you can usually get what you need and they are most helpful. My biggest disappointment in the whole process was that a lot of the courses really seemed like work (ie. a job you had to do but didn’t actually want to) and in my opinion these professors are supposed to inspire you, drive you to want to learn and explore… I found very little of that. That said I still learned a lot, and it was all very new to me, although I had been inside a computer before I had never been inside the microchips that run them. My biggest triumph was overcoming my poor math skills and learning enough to actually do calculus. I had 3 really great teachers in the math department that were really able to get through to me. I also made some really great friends.

So why did I go back to school? There are a number of reasons but mainly I went to work angry for about 2 years and I really didn’t like who I had become. It cost me relationships, I don’t speak with many of my former colleagues or friends, I tried keeping up with them after I left but the damage had been done. I had also been in the industry for 10 years, and since my 5 year plan had not materialized, I figured it was a good time to move on. I wonder sometimes where I would be now if I had stayed but I don’t think it would have been a good place. I also love technology, I had always been the unofficial computer tech in the office so computer engineering seemed like the right direction to go.

What’s next? Employment! Which given the current economic crisis may prove to be more of a challenge than going back to school was. The trick for me will be to find something that uses my broad skill set and keeps me close to the Niagara Peninsula and my family. I don’t function well in large corporate environments, I need small driven groups of people to keep me energized and motivated, that I can play off of and play with. In truth, until going back to school, I had only ever had one job interview. That interview was for the first job I got after graduating from the Film studies program at Niagara College in 1995. After that all of the work I did came from recommendations and a solid track record. As a result I kind of suck at the interview process, I get nervous and tongue-tied and I am not good a selling myself since I have always had my work to speak for me. I have been very selective about the places I have applied to in the last few months, trying hard to look at the employers’ needs and what I have to offer and how well I thought I would fit in their environment. Hopefully the new year will bring with it the job opportunity I have been waiting for, I am very anxious to get back into the workforce and become a productive member of society once again.

What do you do to prepare for interviews? Share your tips in the comment section.

This is the video tour

Here is a video from Common Craft that explains it all very nicely:

Sync in Plain English

I would really like a chance to try this out myself to see how well it works. If you have ever tried any voice activated device including voice dialing which is fairly common on most cellphone handsets these days you will know how awkward it can be talking to a machine. Here is a video from Ford that lets you see the system in action. It looks and sounds pretty good but you still have to train yourself to say the right commands and wait for the computer to respond. For example form the video it appears the rather than just saying “call SoandSo” you have to tell it you want to use the phone and then tell it to call. I still think we have a long way to go before we get to the same place as the crew on the Starship Enterprise.

Ford Sync™ Demonstration

All-in-all you have to give Ford and Microsoft credit for at least trying to make the integration of your digital life safer and easier when you are taking them along for the ride.

So what did I see that peaked my technological interests?

The new line of lithium ion powered yard tools looked really promising. There are 5 pieces, 1. grass trimmer, 2. pole saw, 3. chain saw, 4. leaf blower, 5. hedge trimmer. As expected the battery packs are interchangeable between the devices. According to the documents I was provided, only the grass trimmer comes with a charger and battery. I would also point out that the most expensive part of the system is the battery at $109.99. Of course we have had lithium-ion powered tools for a while now and there is no reason to think that these would not perform as well as your cordless drill.

There are also some new lawn maintenance tools in the form of an electric (battery powered) mower which for a small lawn (ie. a lawn that can be mowed in under an hour) would be ideal. Not having to maintain a supply of gas is a big plus.

As well the new 4-in-1 electric (corded) mower, sweeper, de-thatcher, aerator. I am not a fan of cords nor am I a fan of interchangeable parts, my experience has been that these types of machines don’t do any of their jobs well. That being said for a small lawn that gets mowed once a week and aerated/de-thatched twice a year it may work just fine.

The new focus on the urban gardener also has some innovative products, coconut based mulch and peat moss that come compressed into a small brick that you add water to expand. If you have ever tried to load a half dozen of the bags of either of these into the trunk of your car you will appreciate the smaller package (you could easily fit 6 of each in your trunk along with some new garden tools) it makes ecological sense because you only need to make one trip to the store.

I also liked this premixed over-seeding spread for your lawn. Over-seeding is a great way to help thicken up you grass. This new mix has everything in it you need including some crystals that sparkle when you need to water it.

They also have a whole group of new ergonomically designed garden tools. Shovels with foot pads and more comfortable rubberized grips.

I saved my very favorite for last… Barbecue! We love to barbecue, we use it year round and probably more often than the oven. So it was a great surprise to find world-renowned chef and BBQ expert Ted Reader there cooking up some fabulous BBQ treats and chatting about grilling. Of course Ted was there to promote his signature line of barbecues form Napoleon as well as his cookbook (which I have yet to get) and line of sauces. I am a big fan of the Napoleon line of products, they build quality right here in Canada. We have three Napoleon products in our home, although none of them are a BBQ. So what’s new in the world of barbecue?… Infrared… ok it’s not totally new the barbecue market started including infrared cooking technology a couple of years ago but it has really taken hold this past year. In fact the rotisserie part of my barbecue is infrared but it wasn’t called that when it was purchased 5 years ago. What does infrared do? Very simply it provides a very high heat to sear food so that it doesn’t dry out from the normal convection cooking process. There are many styles of infrared, some are built into the grill others are on the side burner. What I learned is that it makes more sense to have the infrared grilling surface separate from the grill. There may be some who disagree with me on that. My feeling is that I don’t want my barbecue grill compromised by having it be dual purpose. By putting the infrared searing grill where the side burner might be allows you to have a the best of both worlds. Sear your meat then move it to the grill to finish cooking it. This allows for other things like vegetables to be grilled at the same time. Enter the new Centro 4900IR with the sear zone side burner. The side burner is infrared and it has a grilling plate or standared side burner plate. Once you are done searing just turn down the heat and it can be used as a normal side burner with one major advantage, the wind won’t blow it out.

“Integrating DMDS into our evaluation process was an easy decision,” said Melanie Berry, President of CARAS. “The technology is not only more efficient and less expensive, but it also poses clear environmental benefits. The Canadian Music Industry was the first in the world to embrace digital delivery for their promotional releases to radio and other destinations, and it just follows that the JUNO Awards should be the first major televised awards show to adopt this same technology.”

Aside from the environmental savings there are also security benefits. Yangaroo’s DMDS is secured by encryption, biometrics and watermarking which will help to reduce the chances of piracy. The 2009 Juno panel of judges and members will be able stream or download the packages for offline listening on their portable media players. This distribution model is a first for an award show.

“We are proud to have been chosen by CARAS for this process,” said Cliff Hunt, Chairman and COO of YANGAROO. “We expect that with the JUNO Awards taking the lead, the many other award shows throughout the world will soon follow in their footsteps, creating an entirely new revenue opportunity for the company ”

Yangroo Press Release

TeraCopy is from Code Sector who make a whole bunch of Windows applications, most of which are available free for home/personal use.

TeraCopy features:

TeraCopy is a compact program designed to copy and move files at the maximum possible speed, providing the user a lot of features:

• Copy files faster. TeraCopy uses dynamically adjusted buffers to reduce seek times. Asynchronous copy speeds up file transfer between two physical hard drives.
• Pause and resume file transfers. Pause copy process at any time to free up system resources and continue with a single click.
• Error recovery. In case of copy error, TeraCopy will try several times and in the worse case just skips the file, not terminating the entire transfer.
• Interactive file list. TeraCopy shows failed file transfers and lets you fix the problem and recopy only problem files.
• Shell integration. TeraCopy can completely replace Explorer copy and move functions, allowing you work with files as usual.
• Full Unicode support.

It integrates seamlessly into Windows and just appears whenever you copy files and it’s defiantly faster than the built in file copy utility.

What I really love is that if it has a problem with a batch copy it will skip the problem file and continue on so that you don’t need to watch it transfer 5000 files for fear of the 50th hanging up the process. If you copy large numbers of files around your system or network then you should defiantly check this out, the paid version is only 15Euros and well worth the money if you need it for a corporate environment.

First the rulez:

1. Link the person who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about six (6) unspectacular quirks you possess
4. Tag six (6) following bloggers by linking them (ah…the ol’ pyramid scheme!!!)
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know that they have been tagged.

Yesterday, September 2nd, 2008, Google Inc. launched their own web browser called Chrome. The release itself was rather unique because the day before the browser was available for download Google released a comic book that explained what it was and what made it better than the other browsers in the market today.

So you say, “big deal another browser, how many of these things do I need?” Well as far as I am concerned you only need one, unless you do web development and then you need them all. Is Chrome the one?… not yet, but it has major potential. It’s design is totally different from the other browsers which evolved with the web, it benefits from being built for the web we deal with now.

Key Features:

• Tabs are “sandboxed” each tab runs as an independent process, if something in a tab crashes you don’t have to restart the whole browser and sacrifice the other tabs that were open and running.
• It’s fast, because it’s lean (and there are no add-ons for it yet) and because of the new V8 javascript engine.
• Better memory management as a result of the independent tab processes. When a tab is closed that memory is immediately freed to do something else, unlike Firefox or IE.
• The Omni-Bar, like Firefoxes “Awesome” Bar it auto-fills as you type, the benefit here is that it does not suggest every url you have ever visted, just the ones you have typed in. It also serves as your window to search engines.
• Google Gears is built right in which makes interfacing with Google Docs, Gmail and Wordpress even speedier.
• It’s built on Apple’s WebKit. (Which of course begs the question why no Mac support yet?)

What it lacks right now are the plugins we all know and love from Firefox and I was slightly dissapointed that there is no Mac or Linux version yet and no release date either.

So far I am really happy withe the performance and have not seen any problems with rendering web pages. I love the tear off tabs, which lets me group them into different windows based on content. The Omni -bar seach is really great too, type the letter g and hit tab and it turns into Google Search. It’s had the benefit of being tested against the Google database of websites before it’s release which has allowed them to release a fairly stable beta.

Google needs to get into gear and get the Mac and Linux versions out and get the plugin developers moving if it want’s to survive. I really miss CoolIris and Scribefire.