108th Street. On Music...

Folks,

Recently, I discovered by chance, a great CD named "The Greatest" by the band CAT POWER. Despite it's cheesey name, this band truly delievers. Old smoky tunes, with a delicate touch of Old Memphis, all reminiscent of the slow movement of the American mid-West. It's the kind of CD you want to hear after an incredibly busy and stormy day, or if you just want to relax the over-worked brain.

The lyrics of the first song, aptly named 'The Greatest" goes like this,

"Once I wanted to be the greatest
No wind or waterfall could stall me
And then came the rush of flood
Stars of night turned deep to dust"

It is amazing how certain songs or pieces of music can so accurately describe one's feelings at each given moment. Music is able to move one, emotionally, much more potently than any form of art can. It is music that is able to transform such incredibly simple lyrics to something that can mean so much to one.

I have always wondered why this is so, but till now, I cannot find an answer to this, I just know that music has the ability to transcend certain emotional boundaries words cannot express. Music is like beauty - you'll need to experience it in order to understand it. For as powerful as words are, it just can't capture the true ESSENCE of music. Music is meant for the ears, and it will always be so, no organ can appreciate music like the ears can, and what passes through the ears, is translated into the most unimaginable miracles of life that makes our lives so much more livable.

I may regret all my life that I cannot play a single music instrument, if given a second chance, I would certainly want to learn the piano or the guitar or even the flute - anything, as long as I can play music. I think people will agree with me that MUSIC is one of the most important necessities of everyday life, which explains the huge amount of piracy that has been going on. I'm not on some Anti-Piracy mission, but I believe in paying for talent.

If you think a particular singer or band is talented, please, please buy their album, support their music and their creativity. It means a lot more especially to a band who is struggling to make itself known! Time to accumulate more good karma for al those who have been ruthlessly downloading free songs!

Then again, you SHOULD download songs from the following artits:

1. Britney Spears
2. Lindsay Lohan
3. Hilary Duff
4. Ashley Simpson

These singers have ZERO talent; they can't sing and they can't compose to save their lives. They don't deserve the price that's tagged at the back of their album. Then again, we need them so badly, for there can only be good music when there's an abundance of bad music around!

Have a good one everyone!

107th Street. Everything's Bursting with Energy!

Folks,

The thing about being in the final term of college is that everything begins moving at an incredible speed - almost blowing your mind in the process. I experienced that maddening rush and I could hardly keep my head above the incredible torrent of energy. Yes, I'm sorry guys, I've been so BUSY that I don't have time for myself, let alone SKOOKUM!

Then again, here it is! The good news is as you're reading 108 is about to be completed, so the next page is gonna be on time, so that's a comfort for all of us I think. Of course, I'd need to prepare all of you for more irregular updates to come, and I will try to CHURN out as many pages as I can before I get out of college and start making some really important decisions in life! You know what I mean...

I do hope all of you have been enjoying this so far! Have a good one guys and come back next week for more wholesome SKOOKUM!

107th Street. Everything's Bursting with Energy!

Folks,

The thing about being in the final term of college is that everything begins moving at an incredible speed - almost blowing your mind in the process. I experienced that maddening rush and I could hardly keep my head above the incredible torrent of energy. Yes, I'm sorry guys, I've been so BUSY that I don't have time for myself, let alone SKOOKUM!

Then again, here it is! The good news is as you're reading 108 is about to be completed, so the next page is gonna be on time, so that's a comfort for all of us I think. Of course, I'd need to prepare all of you for more irregular updates to come, and I will try to CHURN out as many pages as I can before I get out of college and start making some really important decisions in life! You know what I mean...

I do hope all of you have been enjoying this so far! Have a good one guys and come back next week for more wholesome SKOOKUM!

106th Street. Porcupines and Condoms!

My friend Kim-Wen has just returned from a hike in South Africa, he learnt of my passion for animals and wildlife and he chanced upon a quill of a porcupine on the jungle floor during one of his hikes. The chance of one picking a quill from the body of a porcupine is about 1:100. Porcupines are extremely defensive creatures and anyone attempting to attack the porcupine (or touch it for that matter) will find that they’ll be leaving with nothing but a handful of quills painfully embedded in their skins.

However, like how snakes moult, porcupines will shed their old quills and have newer and sharper quills growing back. The quill in which Kim-Wen brought back from me had to be either of the old quills which is dropped by the porcupine, or it’s one of the quills that was brushed off the attacker’s body. And contrary to popular belief, porcupines can’t shoot their quills at their attackers. Either case, the quill which I got is really sharp! I can’t imagine having this stuck to my skin!

One top of the quill, which, I liked very much, Kim-Wen, of all the possible things he could get, got me a condom. However, it was not just any condom, it’s a SOUTH AFRICAN condom. What’s the difference? Well, South African condoms have a much wider rim or girth. Yes, it’s really much bigger than any other condoms in the world. Kim-Wen noted, having seen a few himself, that South Africans have really HUGE penises. He admitted that it was a bruise to his male ego when he caught a side of those monster penises… proving once and for all that we are NOT all made equal.

The weird thing is that Kim-Wen chose to give me the huge condom in front of four other girls. Initially, the girls squealed in disgust, but later, I think they were all enthralled by Kim-Wen’s description of the huge African penises – well, whoever says size doesn’t matter?

Porcupine quills and condoms… who could have thought they make great gifts?

2006. 2nd Anniversary of SKOOKUM!

January 5th, 2006

Happy 2006 Everybody!

I know that I missed last week’s update, and for that I am terribly sorry about that. Like everyone else, I was celebrating Christmas and the New Year. This year’s Christmas celebrations at w’Note’s house were awesome! Not only did we have a pretty unusual dinner consisting of salmon and whelks (Gosh! Still can’t believe I ate those on Christmas!) we had a simply mind-blowing Berry Cheese cake as desert which simply added such a wonderful touch to the already very enjoyable celebration! Crazy as it seems, we actually watched Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2 after dinner. No, it certainly isn’t the typical feel-good Christmas movie, and no, we’re not psychotics. It’s just that we want to watch something impressionable on Christmas. Especially when I am still haunted by the experience of my mind going numb after watching the horrible “Elf” last year!

To top it all off, we caught The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe the very next midday (not before we had an awesome lunch at Carl’s Junior)! It was such a good movie, it’s gotta be the only movie this year that truly moved me at several levels! I know the reviews for the movie weren’t exactly hot, but the movie really worked for me and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

On the whole 2005, ended with a very pleasant note, although I have met with some personal disappointments which made me depressed for a while, I must say 2005 was just as thrilling as all the other years were.

I could only wish that 2006 could be just or even more thrilling than 2005 have been.

Yes, I reckon all of you know that January 5th is the official SKOOKUM! anniversary, and as of today, SKOOKUM!’s TWO. It certainly does not seem that two years had passed, especially for me when I haven’t even scratched the surface of what SKOOKUM! is about anyway. Drawing SKOOKUM! for the past two years have been an incredible journey for me, not only have I felt that I have improved artistically, I feel that it has become an anchor of my life; when times I get lost in life’s maze, I know that I’d always have SKOOKUM! to remind me that there’s always something more to life.

I am glad that w’Note too shares my sentiment and told me how much SKOOKUM! has too, become a part of his life. Nothing pleases me more than knowing that SKOOKUM! has made some small impact on people’s lives. I get all excited whenever readers are able to relate with some of the characters or some part of the story, for it shows that the story or the characters of SKOOKUM! is actually speaking to the readers. It is not just a story found on the Internet, it is something that you can relate with, and it is something that represents a small part of your life. I do not want SKOOKUM! to be just my story, hopefully, everyone can feel that they own some part of SKOOKUM! after all, everything on the Internet is meant to be for everyone.

I used to have really high hopes and expectations for SKOOKUM! and I think right now I still have, just that I have developed far more realistic expectations for SKOOKUM! Long time readers will notice that SKOOKUM! has moved from a Three times a week update to a Twice a week update and finally to a Once a week update, and lately, sometimes it’s Once every fortnight. As I mentioned many times before, webcomic artists have their lives too and I am trying my best to be a more social person, and I am not afraid to admit that I have been hanging out with my new friends quite a lot. I am not sure what my schedule is gonna be like next year, but what I do hope is that I will be able to more punctual for the updates. I respect all those webcomic artists who are able to churn out three or more pages every week. I don’t think I have the energy to do that, I wish I did, but no. My primary aim for now is really to get more readers. I mean, it couldn’t hurt right? Other than creating a great page every time and finishing this work, there is nothing that I really ask of SKOOKUM!

My RESOLUTION for this year, for SKOOKUM! especially, is that I want to move the plot much, much faster. I have been a little dowdy last year and SKOOKUM! has admittedly been on the slow. I have received comments telling me that the slow pace of the story is making them lose interest. So, for the benefit of current and future readers, I very much hope to accelerate the story and push it to its climax as soon as possible.

I am sorry that I couldn’t find the time to have a nice anniversary update this time, since I was spent doing up the Christmas Special, but who knows? Maybe we’ll get one next year or something. Every year I give away some juicy spoilers for the readers, well, I decided that I won’t do that this year, I prefer to hold all of you in suspense till it is time to reveal everything.

To all of you who’s reading this, THANK YOU.

Have a good one everyone.