Titty Ditties
May 11th, 2009 // everyday minutae, thought of the day // 3 Comments » //thought of the day: if there was a musical equivalent of the “chick flick”, would they be called Titty Ditties? Example…
Spent my internet-free day tinkering in Flash, mostly with my banner image atop this site. Looks pretty good for a start and for a first time project in the application, but even as 100% vector, it will need some heavy optimisation for the file size to be small enough to replace my static header!
listening to:
Blinking Lights And Other Revelations
Eels
I haven’t forgotten how to use Photoshop just yet
May 6th, 2009 // art & photography // 4 Comments » //Just a couple projects I’ve churned out in the last month: one is a fully functioning site, the other is a proposed rebranding and major overhaul to an existing site. Visit Bardo Entertainment to view the first design in action.
I do have one other web-related project in the works, but I can’t really reveal any more about it yet; still in beta testing! Will work on getting some of my hand-drawn work scanned in soon too; been awhile since I’ve updated those…
listening to:
Icky Thump
The White Stripes
iPhonies
May 4th, 2009 // rants & reviews, thought of the day // No Comments » //thought of the day: if a woman ever wants to know what it’s like to be a man, get an iPhone. it’s a swell gadget that is so delightful to handle you’ll want to touch and play with it all the time, take it everywhere you go, and think it impresses everyone you show it to.
I’ve come to understand that the iPhone is something that I will never, ever own. Not by any fault of the device itself because I think it’s a beautiful and amazing bit of technology (plus I’m a diehard lifelong Apple fanboy to boot), but because of its ubiquity here in San Francisco and the methods by which people use it.
Occasionally I’ll hop onto the municipal bus, and it never fails… at least one passenger has one. How do I know? Because anyone who has an iPhone carries it IN their hand and fucks around with the screen incessantly. It doesn’t really matter how thin or lightweight it is for portability, because nobody carries it in their pocket; just the hand. I honestly believe people hold it and dick around just to show other people they have one, yet strangely they are oblivious to everyone and everything around them. That just makes them massive tools more than anything hip or enviable.
A couple years ago I remember reading an article exploring the negative impact iPods were having on society because they isolated and internalised the listening of music when it has always been a social activity. Another reason I plan to steer clear of the iPhone is that it very, very clearly escalates this strange, anti-social behaviour to an entirely new level.
Not only are the finger-flicking, touch screen zombies filling our public transit system, but also malls, restaurants, bars… even birthday parties. Yes, I have witnessed a birthday party devolve not into boys on one half of the room and girls the other, but the iPhone users secede into their own (literally) dark corner to iChat with other iPhonies; maybe each other for all I know. Or touring a chocolate factory, the iPhone users hung around at the back of the group with their faces and fingers planted strictly to their screens doing whatever was more interesting somewhere else.
I could list countless more examples… bottom line is that even for a techy geek like me, I know where to draw the line between life and not living it; that line seems to be the dotted signature portion of an AT&T contract. No thanks. I’ll go about impressing people the old fashioned way… with expensive clothing.
listening to:
A Dense Swarm of Ancient Stars
I Monster
Where I’ve come
April 20th, 2009 // art & photography, thought of the day // 3 Comments » //thought of the day: i can drive, vote, drink and rent a car. but when exactly am i “grown up”?
People have been asking me all day if I feel old. Not just older… but “old”. Some ask if I feel wiser. No more than yesterday. I think you gain many things with age; their sum worth more than whatever things you may lose along the way.
One thing I wouldn’t quite have dreamt even a year ago—let alone 30 of them—would be my eyes seeing the things I now see on a daily basis. Conveniently ignoring the social issues of homeless people and related, here are just a few things snapped while out and about over the last week. Enjoy!
Evidence that nothing is original
April 18th, 2009 // miscellaneous, rants & reviews // No Comments » //Since I don’t currently have television services at my apartment, any programs I want to watch must be seen from their network’s website. I actually prefer this method; can see it at my leisure, minimum ads, completely free…some of them are even available in HD (thanks ABC!!) What’s not to like?
As my luck would have it, ABC’s interstitial ads over the past two weeks during episodes of LOST have been about Honda’s new campaign for the Civic, called “Grooves” or “Musical Road”. It follows a team of creatives going about transforming a stretch of highway into something of an old time self-playing piano using the safety rumble strips in such a way that the spacing of grooves creates notes as drivers pass over.
A great idea to be sure, but it’s nothing new; not even close. The first I saw of the concept came a couple years ago via a car magazine or tv show, and featured some small countryside roads in Japan using the concept to draw tourists in for revenue. The first known use of such a musical road was in Denmark circa 1995, but used a slightly different approach and technology for the sound.
The thing that rubbed me the wrong way was the tone of the ad/video from Honda… it had some windbag (probably the Creative Director) explaining his genius concept to the rest of the team, as they all looked on in awe and disbelief of his sheer brilliance, and he basked in their glow the whole while, taking credit for an idea he clearly nicked elsewhere. Check it out:
Now that I’ve probably offended all of the potential creative offices/agencies I could work for out here in San Francisco, check out the “Melody Road” of Japan. Both the Honda and Melody Road of Japan concepts promote something commercial, but one seems like a fun idea to be proud of, the other is a disingenuous plot to try and be cool. First rule of being cool… don’t try to be.
listening to:
Silent Hill Zero Original Soundtrack CD (IMPORT)
Akira Yamaoka
4 reasons I have a newfound watch fetish
April 9th, 2009 // miscellaneous, thought of the day // 2 Comments » //thought of the day: happiness is a flower that could not blossom without the existence of tears.
Click to embiggen it!
A couple years ago I was dumbstruck to discover the existence of peculiar, creative watches. Not surprised as there are always oddball versions of just about every product out there, but something about the attention to detail and geeky allure of this brand really caught my eye and never let go. I’ve always liked nice watches for whatever reason, but these elevated my taste to a new level entirely.
Among the first bunch to fry my noggin was the Eleeno Kion Elite (shown, right) in blue and black, a stunning gem that has since been discontinued and become hard to find. If you’re curious why it has but one time-telling hand, it’s because the striped pattern forms an arrow that also points. Originally selling for about 160$, I kick myself for not jumping on it then. If you found and bought one of these for me; I would gladly gestate your future babies.
Since then, I can’t help but froth all the way from the pleasure centre of my brain right out my mouth like a mammalian cappuccino machine as I browse the shops and online galleries like Tokyoflash. Pictured below are a few of their current darlings, a couple of them quite “cheap”, relatively speaking, so you could find yourself a surrogate for less than you’d think.
P.S.: This is what I’m currently sporting.
I’m particularly fond of the TiBiDa (centre) which also displays time in Binary. Sweet Geekus Derivis.
You’ll put your eye out
March 21st, 2009 // everyday minutae, thought of the day // No Comments » //thought of the day: anyone who uses the phrase “eye-popping” should actually have to suffer getting their eyes popped. ugh… idioms. is there nothing they can’t doom?
After attending a media event hosted by EA Sports last week to check out some of their new, unreleased games, I came to realise that while most of the sports they had on display were within my realm of understanding, the number falling into the completely unknown far outnumber those that do.
That had me wonder if I couldn’t use that fact to some benefit as a feature here on my blog: to write and describe popular sports in as much detail as possible, except from my perspective… a sports half-wit using only my observational skills to deduce the rules and premise. Look for my first entry soon!
listening to:
Light Grenades
Incubus