lone designer

New Digs

2011-04-11T21:18:00.005+10:00

So, after what seems like forever looking I'm moving this weekend. EEEeeeep! I still have a butt load of stuff to pack. Probably just as much to throw away. How on earth I ended up with all this stuff is beyond me. I mean I threw a heap away last time I moved. But there still seems to be stuff in cupboards I haven't looked at in years.
Oh well, I hoping to have everything done by Thursday night.

Wish me luck!

Moving

2011-03-06T19:49:00.005+11:00

My landlord has decided that he's going to renovate my apartment so I have to move. Initially this news really pissed me off, I mean I went through the inconvenience of it being on the market. Having people going through several times a week & for 30 mins on weekends for this? The real estate agents assured the new owner that I was willing to stay on. And they assured me that the new owner would let me stay. But after raising my rent 3 times (the last time on my birthday!) in the 8 or 9 months since he's had ownership he's now decided that he wants more.
Recently though it's starting to look more like a blessing. My upstairs neighbours are a massive pain in the arse (actually anyone who's ever lived in that apartment has being nothing else). Thinking that the walkway outside my place is part of their apartment. Heaps of chairs, pot plants and various other hideous shit has appeared and doesn't seem to be going anywhere. They also spend a massive amount of time stomping/scraping/thumping/scratching/slamming/vacuuming. Mostly late at night. Then there are the young families that seem to have appeared from nowhere. Don't get me wrong I don't mind children, but I LOVE sleeping in. Sadly those two things do not gel there's also an annoying loud bloke who lives in the house behind me now. I am not a fan of loud people.
Anyway on to new digs.

Alphabeasties

2011-03-06T19:38:00.002+11:00

If I had kids, I'd totally buy this for them. Mostly for this image:

14th Japanese Film Festival

2010-10-24T21:41:00.015+11:00

It's on us again, yipeeee!!! These are the films I'm going to see, in no particular order:
Confessions

Zero Focus

Sword of Desperation

Time of Eve

Tokyo Marble Chocolate

Precious

Oblivion

Sherlock Holmes

2010-10-04T21:01:00.003+11:00

The new Sherlock Holmes looks great & seeing as the team behind the lastest Dr Who are involved I'm very much looking forward to watching it.
I still have a soft spot for Jeremy Brett's Holmes.

Hopefully it'll be worth waiting for.

Gallery

2010-09-11T19:51:00.003+10:00

I know where I'm going to be in a couple of weeks!

Concerts

2010-08-06T22:13:00.019+10:00

Last couple weeks I have been lacking sleep and not just because work has been insane (more so next week) & my stupid neighbours doing laundry at all hours. But because I've been to quite a few concerts.
Grizzly Bear
Hot Chip
LCD Soundsystem
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Fanfarlo

Ash

The problem with concerts is that I usually get surrounded by talkers, spastic dancers or smokers. Examples: Grizzly Bear = Spastic dancer, Hot Chip & LCD Soundsystem = Chain smoker, BRMC = Talkers + chain smokers, Fanfarlo = Talkers, Ash = Spastic dancers. All three types of people annoy the hell out of me. I kind of expect the spastic dancers, I mean I do have to keep an eye on their flailing limbs but other than that it's bearable. Smokers, well it's just shit to come home smelling like an ashtray because people feel the need to chain smoke indoors where they can get away with it. Then there are the talkers, for the life of me I will never understand the people who buy tickets to see a band whose music they supposedly enjoy. Yet while said band is playing they spend the whole evening talking about what Jonno did last weekend or how smashed they got at the last concert they went to, or some other inane shit that they have to yell in their mates ear because there is a band playing. I mean go to the bar, stay home if that's all you're going to do. Why waste money on concerts if you're not even going to listen to the music?
It's not like I stay in the same place for entire concerts either but as soon as I find somewhere nice, that I can see properly and hear clearly. These people always seem to find exactly the same spot and try to ruin my night. Sometimes they do.

Chatelaine

2010-06-14T20:37:00.016+10:00

In the 90s I loved a band called Curve. Lots of guitars, lovely vocals, dark & beautiful. I was excited to hear that from Toni Halliday from Curve has some new stuff out. It's called Chatelaine & they're giving away a couple of songs (see below). Totally worth a listen in my opinion, I'll be getting it :)

In case you missed them here's some Curve:

Wordle

2010-06-13T21:34:00.003+10:00

I had another go at Wordle the other day. This tells me that I really need to talk more about Godzilla! Not that I ever stop talking about him, I do have a Godzilla ringtone, you know :p

I'm in luuuuuurv

2010-06-11T14:36:00.013+10:00

While wandering round the internet this week I've stumbled across a few things. Most notably are two artists Jeremy Geddes, a Melbourne painter whose work fill me with joy. Floating cosmonauts (or people) in various backgrounds are amazing.

Then there's Japanese painter Tetsuya Ishida, his amazing surrealistic paintings which are a little bit creepy. But I'm into that, shame he's no longer with us, might have to see if I can get some prints of his work.

The other thing that took my interest this week were these:

Beardcaps! I have to admit to being over the whole "show how manly you are & grow an enormous beard" trend. Big beards just creep me the hell out (not in a good way), a nice trimmed/well maintained one is fine. These beardcaps seem to be the perfect solution, neat & easily removed! Question is should I get one for myself & would it look too weird on me? Hmmmmmm

Birds

2010-05-27T20:31:00.008+10:00

Hello Internet,

Been a while hasn't it? Sorry about that, I actually meant to post this at the begining of April. But it seems to be near the end of May, oops! This is another mix of music about Birds specifically. Spent a bit of time getting it all together so that it sounded okay & had some pretty covers to go with it.

Hope you enjoy it (if you download it) not sure if it'll play in the order I meant it to though so be sure to check out the track listing.

Birds

insert disclaimer from here I've seen 9 (of 16) of the artists in concert, all kickarse performers.

What I've been doing (in pictures)

2010-03-29T20:59:00.016+11:00

Okay maybe a little type. Been to an exhibition, Hymn to Beauty definitely worth it, you should go.

Bought a new iPod (finally) my old one only played sound out of the right ear. Also got a 1TB external hard drive, so I can put all my music on it, as it's currently all over the place.

Then there are the concerts, I can't believe I've been to 15 concerts already. Well my bank account/credit card can, it's an expensive past time. Didn't take my camera to all the shows, so here are pics from Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro, Spinnerette & The Dead Weather. 3 awesome, loud, sweaty concerts :)

Happy Australia Day!

2010-01-24T13:59:00.003+11:00

This Australia Day I'm having a Godzilla marathon. I got a few dvds for my birthday, the one pictured above plus the 1956 American version Godzilla, King of the Monsters and 1966 Godzilla Vs The Sea Monster (which I've already watched & was hilarious. Particularly when Godzilla does a dive bomb/cannonball into the ocean). Then there are the ones a friend lent to me 1968 Godzilla: Destroy all Monsters, 1969 Godzilla: All Monsters Attack, 1972 Godzilla Vs Gigan and 1993 Godzilla Vs Mecha Godzilla (II).
It's going to be a good one!

Surely if I were made of money

2009-12-31T22:22:00.002+11:00

And had more space I would give several of these stools a home. Probably the red ones, although I'd prefer something darker. $250+ for one is a little bit more than I can spend, unless some rich benefactor makes his/her prescence known. This is where they're from.

Fish

2009-11-25T21:23:00.001+11:00

Yeah, I don't know either, but I kinda like it.

I <3 Star Trek

2009-11-15T17:01:00.003+11:00

That is all

Got my tickets!

2009-11-04T19:39:00.005+11:00

So I've figured out I can see 5 (not quite the half I wanted) of the films at this years festival. They are:
Handsome Suit:

K-20:

Yunagi City:

Goemon:

Detroit Metal City:

Now I just have wait a couple of weeks for it to start.

Ears and fingers

2009-10-24T16:25:00.005+11:00

Hands, monkey, hands

2009-10-16T20:12:00.002+11:00

13th Japanese Film Festival

2009-10-07T20:22:00.007+11:00

The Japanese Film Festival is coming up (tomorrow in Perth) and I'm very much looking forward to it. Of the 21 films showing here, not all of them are shown everywhere. I really want to see 10 but to be honest I'd probably watch all of them. Last year I managed to catch 3 hopefully once the timetable is released I'll be able to catch at least half. Tickets go on sale next month (for Sydney), I highly recommend going if the festival is on in your city, the movies that they showcase are well worth it. Tickets usually sell out quite quickly.

Sydney, 24 November-1 December
Melbourne, 3 - 8 December
Perth, 8 - 15 October
Brisbane, 28 - 30 October
Hobart, 8 - 10 November
Canberra, 18 - 22 November

少年ナイフ

2009-09-26T20:19:00.017+10:00

On Friday night I went to see 少年ナイフ (Shonen Knife) they were amazing. I've never watched a band who smiled throughout a show, but these ladies did. Seems like forever since they last toured (12 years apparently) I missed out then. Thank goodness they did sideshows as I really wasn't interested in going to the festivals they're playing.
Fun show, great catchy pop/punk tunes Muddy Bubbles Hell is such a fantastic song especially with the synchronised head banging & metal stances. Easily the best song of the night. Gotta love ladies who love Judas Priest, Iron Maiden & Motörhead. My memory is always terrible when it comes to set lists but I'm pretty sure these songs were played (in no particular order):
- Konnichiwa
- Sushi Bar
- Ah, Singapore
- Twist Barbie
- E.S.P.
- BBQ Party
- Super Group
Hopefully it won't be another 12 years before these Osaka ladies are back.
Go see them if you can, they're definitely worth it.

Inspiration

2009-09-13T12:15:00.002+10:00

Almost finished reading Lovecraft, these are some the artist he references in his work.
Francisco Goya

Gustave Dore

Henry Fuseli

John Martin

Salvator Rosa

Aubrey Beardsley

Ponyo

2009-08-30T17:58:00.005+10:00

I saw Ponyo today, the English version (I know, I didn't actually mean to see it in English) but it was on a massive screen so that was a plus. I have to say I was a little disappointed, the English cast was wooden. I thought there was very little emotion, all those great actors were just boring. I didn't laugh where I should have nor did anyone else in the cinema. Granted it was an early session & the cinema was pretty empty. The visuals were amazing, all the undersea scenes with thousands of jellyfish, giant ancient fish and oh the OCTOPODS! a glorious feast for the eyes. It really should have been more enjoyable than it was. By the end of the week I'll have seen it in it's original Japanese on a smaller screen. Fingers crossed it'll be more entertaining.

I was actually in town to get my Dad a Father's Day present & my Mum a birthday present. Having asked my younger brother for suggestions and getting nothing I went to the source & asked Mum. Apparently books are the order of the day, I can cope with that. I am however a little uneasy about giving my Father a book, last time I did that (again at Mums suggestion) he sounded quite disappointed when I talked to him later. At least he'll get a kick out of the card :?
Pretty sure Mum will be happy with what I picked up for her, though I didn't buy them at her recommended store.

Edit: I've now seen Ponyo in Japanese and my goodness the difference is amazing. The joy, life & comedy of the Miyazaki film really shines through. I don't know what the english translators did but they made it a dreary thing (in my opinion) not a easy thing to do. Miyazaki films are always full of joy, one of the reasons I love them so, I wonder what happened.

もみもみ - Momi momi

2009-08-27T20:37:00.003+10:00

This is currently my favourite commercial (featuring the bad boy of Sumo - Yokozuna Asashōryū Akinori), granted it isn't on TV here and you can't actually buy the product. Well, maybe you can, but I doubt it'd be easy to find.
There is also an instructional video on how to do the もみもみ dance, which is also quite funny. The lady instructor has quite the husky voice.

Orangutans

2009-08-15T15:06:00.001+10:00

Guess where I've been lately. Look at that little face, isn't it gorgeous?

New header

2009-07-29T20:00:00.003+10:00

I've been working on this for a while, not sure how long exactly. A few minutes here a few minutes there. Completely re-doing the legs the other day. Pretty pleased with it, did do a couple of colour versions but frankly I like the black & white.
Oh yes there is Bodoni :)

Bodoni <3

2009-07-23T22:32:00.010+10:00

I love Bodoni. I did write up a little something about it earlier but never posted it. I think it's on the computer at work. I may add it to this at a later point but probably not.
Anyway ever since I entered the realm of Graphic Design and became aware of the joys of a well kerned word and a lovelingly leaded paragraph I have loved fonts. Bodoni was one the first ones I ever got to play around with for an assignment. Sadly, I never get to use it now, as work is all about sans serifs and mutilation. Occasionally I muck around with it for my own amusement but that's not often enough.
I came across this t-shirt on Nubby Twiglet & couldn't resist. Frankly my credit card probably wasn't happy about it but that's a thought for another day. I also bought a poster of the same design, that has yet to arrive.

Much love to you Giambattista you're awesome.

Edit: Picking up the poster tomorrow morning :) Yeah!

Books again

2009-07-12T11:26:00.010+10:00

Finished the last stack of books I had and after re-reading James and the Giant Peach. Yesterday I went out and pick up some new books. Also had a scrumptious lunch in the bookstore cafe mmmmm...

Alexandre Dumas - One Thousand and One Ghosts
Nikolay Gogol - Dead Souls
H.P. Lovecraft - The Call of the Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories
Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist
Osamu Tezuka - Black Jack Volume 1

I was going to pick up the new Pratchett 'Nation' but it's still only in hardcover - too expensive at this point in time. Walked around with Neil Gaiman's 'Stardust' for quite a while but as it looked like a really quick read (a couple of hours at most) & cost $23 I put it back. I did enjoy the movie, so I'm sure the book is good. I just wanted something that would last a bit longer.

Did I tell you about the last books? I don't think I did, they were Dickens - Great Expectations, Niffeneggers - The Time Travellers Wife, Wildes - Picture of Dorian Grey. Loved Great Expectations & The Time Travellers Wife (won't see the movie, not a fan of Eric Bana) not so hot for Dorian Grey. I think the character of Lord Henry really put me off the book all of his ridiculous philosophies just grated on me.

Next time I go to Japan I'm definitely visiting the proper Tezuka museum in Takarazuka, Kobe (not the small installation that's at Kyoto station) & the Studio Ghibli one in Tokyo.

New Favourites

2009-07-11T21:14:00.007+10:00

I'm a member of a messageboard that does Mix CD exchanges. Quite a cool idea, I do love getting things in the mail & hearing new music. Also a big fan of putting together parcels. I've participated in quite a few exchanges but since the computer that holds the majority of my music only works when it feels like it (read almost never) I've had to stop participating.

My love of new music usually leads me every month to have many days of internet at dial up speeds. Quite painful really, but I can't for the life of me stop myself from downloading music. I really should get a better connection (I do say this all the time). This is a collection of my current favourites, not necessarily new artists but new songs. Oh and they may not feature in the photo I took for the cover.

Feel free to download them :)

Edit: Forgot to add, if you like any of these songs please go & buy other CDs/songs by these artists. See them in concert, pick up a t-shirt or other merch if they have any. They're worth it, trust me.

There's more

2009-06-08T22:34:00.002+10:00

I got some new pens last week, after reading an illustrators blog that mentions them. I finally found some online & snapped them up. And yes I'm still drawing octopuses in every sketchbook/piece of paper I come across.

Jellyfish

2009-06-03T19:56:00.002+10:00

The fascination with sea creatures continues.

Pancakes

2009-05-31T18:36:00.001+10:00

I ate too much today, I promise the diet starts tomorrow.

Octopus

2009-05-15T21:53:00.008+10:00

This is doodle I did this week while bored at work, octopuses are great. Think I might draw a few more.

Things that make me smile or I covet

2009-05-11T19:46:00.023+10:00

You've probably seen this ad, I have to say I love it. It puts a big stupid grin on my face which is rare for any ad to do. The watch, the cheesy tune and the eyebrow action, brilliant. I do love good eyebrow action.

Everyday Sunshine Fishbone, this song popped up on my ipod while coming home tonight & everytime I hear those horns...joy! Sadly I've never seen a Fishbone concert, I reckon they'd be a feast musically & visually. I do love a good horn.

Red Dwarf, I've watched this show off and on over the years. Whenever it's on tv I try & catch it. If it's rainy and I just want to stay in my pj's kinda day I put on the DVDs & laugh again & again. I do love sci-fi comedy.

And onto the coveting...
Tea Cup Chandelier

If I wasn't renting and had a spare $850+ I would totally have this in my house. Or if they ever make a teacup lamp I'll be all over that, if it's considerably cheaper. This is where you can get it - Shopscad

Socks!!!

Is it too early for christmas presents? You can see more & buy them here - Ashidashi

And last but not least

Zombie garden ornaments what's not to love? Sadly I have no garden, they do ship internationally though. You can check out other ornaments here - Design Toscano

Journeys with a concert in between

2009-05-09T16:55:00.033+10:00

I went and saw Okkervil River the other night. At a venue (a pub) I used to live near but never went to. As soon as I walk into the train station I hear "S'cuse me sista, do you have any spare change?" and I'm thinking 'Great, here we go' to her I say "Not yet." she watches me push the buttons & put my money in the machine hovering about 10cm behind me. The machine coffers up my ticket & change I give her the change (about a $1.60). Mostly because I'm going to a concert & don't really want change falling out of my pockets. I usually take very little with me when going to concerts, no bag, just ticket/keys/phone/ID/ear plugs & enough cash to get merch if it's any good, to get to & from the venue. Actually that reads like a lot but compared to the back packs/massive handbags that are in fashion & people take to concerts with them, I travel light. Anyway I make my way down to the platform to wait for the train, the woman who has my change does the same. She continues to walk around and ask everyone there if they have any to give her. Gets pissed off when people say they're sorry they don't have any. "Don't be sorry! Just say no." She comes back to me and asks again "Hey sista, any change?" This time I say "Mate, you've already got all the change I had", "I'M NOT YOUR MATE!!" she angrily tells me. "Yeah well, I'm not your sister." I mumble as she storms away.

So I used to live near the venue, easy right?, I should remember how to get there. Wrong, coming out of the train station the decision was to go straight or to the right. The right looked like it was going the wrong way, I had a vague recollection of walking that way, but decided I'd go straight. As I walked along, looking around thinking to myself that nothing looked familiar. I come across a park that I definitely don't remember, I know bascially which way I need go, so I cut through it and eventually end up on the main road. About a block from where I need to be, not too bad, okay so it's one of the massive blocks that there are around here. But thankfully I could see where I needed to be because there was pretty much no one around to ask. No one sober, it's one of those suburbs that has very little pedestrian traffic especially at night.

Finding my way inside the venue and the first thing that hits me it just how small it is. Seriously the tiniest place I've ever seen a show. The stage is about 2.5m deep & 5-6m wide. It has a capacity of 450 people - not sure if it was sold out. The support act had been playing for about 10 minutes by the time I got there, I made my way to the front. Standing about 2-3m away, I could just about see every bead of sweat on the bands faces.

The Seabellies

Are quite new to me, they put on a good show even with a few technical/sound difficulties. The singers accoustic guitar & I think some of the mics or keyboard sounds weren't quite right. I can't give you a set list for the band but I did enjoy them very much, I do like a good horn & several of their songs had some sax & horn parts. Also a xylophone, not much of that in rock music is there?

As soon as they finished playing & the next band was setting up, everyone who was hanging back suddenly moved foward & I guess the people who were in the pub section started moving into the venue part of the pub. Suddenly I'm surrounded by hipsters (okay I didn't really notice how many were there until the show was over and I was crushed by them trying to get out), women with handbags almost bigger than they are & people who do not SHUT UP for the entire show! I seriously don't understand people who go to concerts & spend the whole time talking to their mates. It's not like they're talking about anything to do with the music it's usually the same boring stuff you overhear everywhere else. Chicks talking about their latest trip to the hairdresser, blokes talking about how much beer they consumed at Johnno's place the other day. I must have some sign above my head or aura that these people gravitate towards, because I usually end up surrounded by them at gigs. No matter how many times I move to get away from them, it never lasts very long. It's particularly annoying when the music is softer and therefore hard to drown them out. Many of Okkervil River's songs fall into that category so I was quite annoyed at having to block out the talkers.

I'll admit that I'm not all over the Okkervil River catalogue as I am some other bands. But I don't think that's a huge problem, they played many songs I knew and some that I didn't. I was surprised that most of the band (a keyboard player/guitarist/drummer) set up their own instruments. Only using roadies to check the mics & 3 other instruments. They played for about an hour & did a 3 song encore. The drummer (Travis) smiles manically throughout the show with a little leaning over the drums and singing along for good measure. The singer & bass player have fantastic voices which really translate well live. The line up is slightly different as they have a female guitar/slide guitar/banjo player (Lauren, I think) who has a serene graceful prescence on stage while Will jumped around in the tiny available space. Really good energy, getting everyone to clap/sing along to certain songs. My favourites being Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe, Red (with just Will playing guitar), John Allyn Smith Sails & For Real.

I wish I'd taken my camera.

On to the journey home, once out of the venue, noting the time I figured I had a chance to get at least the 2nd to last if not last train of the night. Made my familiar way back to the station, which took longer than I remember. Get onto the platform, look up the times & see that the train is in about 20 minutes. Sit down, about 5 minutes later an announcement comes over the speakers that there is trackwork that night. Between the train stations I need to get to, typically, so I have to go out & wait for a bus to the city, then get on another bus back to my closet train station, then walk 15 minutes to get home. Fantastic! As I'm walking out I tell 2 guys about the whole trackwork/bus situation, which they eventually confirm for themselves & join me hanging around the bus stop. Looking at the bus timetable which doesn't match the train one at all and is pretty incomprehensible I sit on a bench and wait. The suburb I'm in doesn't have much traffic, which is probably good if you live there, but if you're car-less and trying to get out of it, it sucks. I watch 5 cabs go past, all taken, a few other cars not much else. Probably about a minute before the rail bus turns up I flag an empty cab to take me home. The fare was only $9, don't think the cabbie was too impressed with such a small fare but I sure was glad to be home.

In short The Seabellies & Okkervil River are definitely worth seeing live if you can or at least get their CDs. Public transport isn't all it's cracked up to be & STOP TALKING DURING SHOWS or I'll have to get angry at you :D

Oh yeah I think I'm in love with Okkervil River's drummer & have a serious lady-crush on the woman in The Seabellies

Stereographic awesomeness

2009-05-01T20:56:00.007+10:00

For the past week I've been mesmerised by these photos taken by heiwa4126 (sorry I don't know his actual name). They are fantastic I could look at them for hours. Actually I think I have. Also been reading up on how they're done. There's a bit too much maths involved, I'm not sure I actually understand it. Though I totally want to try it out for myself.

You can find the rest of them here
Thanks to Pink Tentacle for piquing my interest as always. You're both awesome :)

Book club, kinda

2009-04-25T20:43:00.003+10:00

Next month I'm going to a Book discussion group held by a large bookstore chain & publisher. As a fan of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Paranormal books they've invited me along to get my views on packaging, marketing, instore displays, competitions & the like. It's only going to go for 1 and a 1/2 hours so it probably won't be too painful. I say painful as I am extremely shy and tend not to talk to people (I don't know) in social situations. Unless they start talking to me and those people are usually the ones you need to back slowly away from, if you catch my drift.
So here's to getting out of my comfort zone for an evening, talking about something I'm interested in, oh and getting some free books for going along.

Chrysanthemum Burst

2009-04-18T22:27:00.008+10:00

This baby holds 500ml of tea. Which you would think is too much tea at once, but for me at least it's the perfect amount. With normal cups I sometimes feel like I need another one right after I've finished a cup. Not any more, oh no. Also picked up some Chrysanthemum tea, yum.

Edit this is what the tea looks like:

Easter

2009-04-05T17:24:00.004+10:00

This weekend is Easter finally. Been looking forward to some time off, to sleep in and what not. This bunny is going be a lovely snack come Sunday. Oh and that is my horribly overflowing bookcase in the background. You don't want to see how my CDs are stored.

Have a good one!

I need a new bag

2009-02-17T19:58:00.003+11:00

Damn you Pantone and your awesome products! I do have other bags, smaller ones that were okay when all I wanted to carry around were keys/wallet & maybe a book. But now I seem to carry the world around with me "just in case". My bags have gotten bigger/heavier & the current one is showing signs of disintegration.

So I've pretty much decided I'm going to get one, just a matter of which colour. Definitely not pink or yellow as I loathe those colours in anything other than flowers/post-it notes/highlighters. I already have a black bag, black is awesome but I guess it's a choice between the blue & green. Which one will not look like balls after a couple of weeks use? Blue?

uh?

2009-02-03T18:48:00.001+11:00

Wordle

2009-01-18T14:27:00.002+11:00

This is from Wordle it's pretty neat & you can try it out for yourself. Go on, pity the preview is so tiny.

I forgot

2009-01-01T17:20:00.004+11:00

I forgot to add these to the list of my summer reading. Don't they look good? :p

Summer Reading

2008-12-28T13:06:00.004+11:00

Ventured out into the sales today, picked up a few books for my summer reading.

- Gregory Maguires 'Wicked' (currently reading)
- Salman Rushdies 'Midnight Children'
- Leo Tolstoys 'Anna Karenina'
- Kenneth Grahames 'Wind in the Willows'
- Andrea Camilleri - Rounding the Mark'

Even though my bookshelf is overflowing I can't help myself. Seeing as I have a few free days coming up. Then when work starts again and train rides really need something to pass the time. Other than listening to people's inane conversations and looking at the same scenery day in day out. These should keep me busy for a while.

Enjoy your holidays, hope you have a great 2009!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T19:27:00.002+11:00

You know what I like about Christmas? I only have to have a 10 minute phone conversation with the family, usually early in the morning. Then I'm free to do whatever the hell I like. I don't have to listen the same old stories/jokes, see relatives I care nothing for, which btw is 98% of them. I don't have to feign surprise or delight or interest at anything I get, because you know what? they can't see me, it doesn't matter.
Anyway I hope you guys have a good Christmas, whatever it means (or doesn't) to you.

Black & White

2008-12-21T12:48:00.001+11:00

Some things look better in black & white, this photo I took for example.

Japanese Film Festival

2008-11-29T20:40:00.002+11:00

The Japanese Film Festival has started (well in Melbourne it started on the 27th) and here it starts on the 2nd December. There's a wide range of films on, most of them look excellent. I've narrowed down my choices, some based on times, to 3 movies.

Monster X Strikes Back for cheeseness :P

Ichi for swordplay & Samurai

And The Girl who leapt through Time for some anime joy

So next week is looking like a load of fun, can't wait!

All right you got me

2008-11-26T21:35:00.002+11:00

I have been avoiding you. I mean not much has been going on. Nothing interesting anyway, the normal stuff at work. I could write pages and pages on all the various crap that goes on there. But ultimately it doesn't do any good, kinda like trying to talk things over with the boss(es). I talk 'til I'm blue in the face, they smile and nod and nothing changes. Then I end up looking like a whingeing cow at work and on the internet. No one wants that.

Stuff at home has been the same, noisy neighbours (already told you about them) watching too many DVDs. Not getting enough sleep, playing the occasional video game - Lego Batman is AWESOME! btw.

I've done some more patterns but haven't had any more printed due to the crap exchange rate at moment. Also...I've forgotten what I was going to say. Oh yes I'm trying to save up for a new digital camera as the one I have is like 5 years old and takes noticeably grainy photos. Which is great if your after lovely grainy shots, unfortunately 98% of the time that's not the desired out come for me at least.

So I guess that's it for now, unless something spectacular happens soon or you know another idea pops into my head.

Boredom at work

2008-11-06T21:06:00.006+11:00

Usually I draw eyes on my notepad, I have pages and pages of eyes. No idea why. But the other day I did this freehand or free mouse(?) without drawing it on paper and scanning it I mean.

(Well there is supposed to be a picture, but for some reason the picture options aren't showing up. hopefully I'll get it sorted soon)

Edit: There it is!

Art

2008-10-28T15:56:00.004+11:00

I've had a bit of free time lately and decided that I'd go to an art gallery. I haven't been in quite a while and the Art Gallery of NSW has Monet and the Impressionists exhibition on until January next year. Being a massive fan of Impressionism I really had to go, I was extremely happy to see that a couple of Monet's Haystacks were included in the show. There are also some of Monet's collection of Japanese woodblocks by artists who inspired him. I also happen to love Japanese woodblocks, art and culture in general so walking around taking in the paintings/prints was marvellous. Apart from the screaming children and old people walking into me and lets not mention the retarded Impressionist merchandise to be found in the store as you leave the exhibition.
Really it's worth $18 just for The Haystacks, go see it!

It's here

2008-10-20T19:50:00.005+11:00

OMG! My fabric has turned up I wasn't really expecting it for at least another week or so but here it is. And if I do say so myself it looks bloody awesome, yep, awesome. The repeat worked great the colours are good. Not too shabby, however I still have no idea what to do with it.
The only thing I can think of is to maybe do some fabric badges like these:

Basically the only crafty thing I could manage to pull off. I could send the fabric to Mum to see what she'd come up with (did I mention that Mum is sewing/knitting demon in the family?).

Hmmm also got some concert tickets I'd been waiting for, it's hard to be excited and dead tired at the same time. I think I need a nap before Supernatural starts, can't fall asleep with Jensen Ackles on the tube.

Edit: So this is the whole piece, I ordered two of them.

This weekend

2008-10-18T21:52:00.002+11:00

I was supposed to catch up with a friend, play video games and watch a movie or two. But he's bailed on me claiming sickness (yeah right!) So I guess I'll be flying solo again, bogus.

Grumpy, 1am Monday

2008-10-06T00:49:00.000+11:00

There must be some rule that says if you live upstairs from me you must be a total twat. And by twat I mean you MUST do all of the following if not a few more of your own invention:
- Walk like you weigh a tonne
- Wear high heels on the wooden floorboards
- Scrap shit across the floor, drop really heavy things, preferably late at night
- Have loud blazing rows with your significant other/friends/family members either in person or over the phone
- Slam doors & windows
- Race up and down the stairs making enough noise for 15 people when you're usually alone or in pairs
- Play crap music at all hours of the day and night at ear bleeding volumes. The crap music is usually of the techno variety I swear I listened to the same drum beat for a year and a half. The new people yesterday played one part of a song for 3 hours straight. Not the whole song, just the first chorus. Actually they're still playing it.
- Be completely oblivious that any of your behaviour is annoying and reluctantly agree to stop/curtail said behaviour for about the time it takes me to walk down the stairs and back into my apartment

The last two being the most important, because no sooner have I outlasted one bastard who thought he was a DJ. I now have another pair to take up his mantle. Only these idiots don't even acknowledge my existance (they don't answer the door) the last guy kinda feigned being apologetic, I get zip from the new people apart from bags under my eyes and a lovely snippy attitude.

I seriously don't get it, I like music (love it in fact) I go to my fair share of concerts (it'll be 15 concerts this year) so I don't mind loud music, generally. I listen to lots of different types too, but what shits me is that as one of the few people in this building complex that has a job, my sleep patterns are at odds with my neighbours. While it's fine for them to be up and partying 4am Wednesday morning I really don't need it. My bosses and co-workers don't need it because ultimately they're the ones who have to deal with my grumpy self the next day.

I consider it a good night if I've gotten around 4-5hours sleep. I do use ear plugs to block out as much of the noise as possible, but really they can only do so much. To the last guy I became the grumpy cow downstairs who'd spoil all his techno/bongo lovin' fun. Looks like I'm still playing that role, that reminds me, must get more ear plugs tomorrow I foolishly thought I wouldn't need them anymore.

But I forgot, if you live above me, you must be a twat.

I did it!

2008-10-02T20:34:00.002+10:00

I finally got my shit together, figured out all the crap I needed to figure out and uploaded my pattern to a site than can print it on fabric for me. Now I just have to sit back and relax until it turns up in the mail. Then I still have to come up with something to do with the fabric. But I guess I need to see how it turns out before I can go any further with that thought process. At least that's what I keep telling myself. In reality, it'll turn up on my doorstep and be fabulous (yeah, naturally) and I'll still be at a loss as to what to do with the blasted thing. I'll probably leave it somewhere around to collect dust. Only to come across it again years from now while moving house or something, I can see it all now.
In other news this is the last long weekend of the year and like every other time I have a day off the weather is supposed to be shithouse. But seeing as I really don't have anything planned except for going to the hairdresser (I really am overdue) the weather can be shithouse. I'm very much looking forward to sleeping in several days in a row, probably watching waaaay too many DVD's and just generally being the exact opposite of my working self. A good dose of Hellboy and Hell Girl should do the trick indispersed with some British comedies I think, ah yes, the weekend quick cheez it.

It's a pattern I tell ya!

2008-09-11T20:38:00.003+10:00

So I'm going to get the above pattern printed on some fabric (once I figure out the specs needed). Something I've wanted to do for years, but have only just now got around to.
The only problem is what to do with the fabric once it's done (and fingers crossed it looks half decent) because I am utterly useless with a sewing machine. Or anything resembling the domestic duties of old, you know; sewing, knitting, cooking, cleaning, rearing children. Okay I haven't tried the last one yet, but I imagine it'd be difficult, time consuming and full of dropped stiches? :/
Anyway the weekends almost here, yippeee

OMG Father's Day?!

2008-09-04T20:39:00.007+10:00

I can't believe it's Fathers Day already and due to craptacular circumstances (don't ask) I am without cash/cards to get the old man anything. Which means I have to rely on my younger brother to get him something from me and pay him back later.The only problem with that is said brother isn't really much help with ideas. Over the years I think we've gone through just about everything you could possibly get a dad, plus a whole lot more. How many years in a row did we get him slippers? which he'd wear for a week then they'd sit in the bottom of a wardrobe for the rest of the year. I'm a bit too old to palm off some mis-shaped badly decorated piece of pottery, or a paddlepop stick/pipe cleaner creation as a gift. Although it'd be really good if I could, like a paddlepop stick house you could actually live in. Probably not a very sturdy structure, also not really something I could throw together in the few remaining days either.I suppose I could fly home and surprise him, but that really would have required much more forethought on my part. I also have that 'evil middle child' persona to live up to so that won't be happening, sorry Dad.I've emailed my brother with some of the less lame ideas I had with as many links so that he can see what I'm talking about. Fingers crossed by Sunday some massive light bulb will go off and Dad will get something that he actually wants.
Oh yeah, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! :D

p.s. Images borrowed from the lastest (Father's Day) Kmart catalogue.

p.p.s. We ended up getting him an air compressor (which is want he wanted) so happy, happy, joy ,joy!

Fruitiness

2008-08-23T22:29:00.004+10:00

I picked up some Ranunculus' today very pretty flowers, not much perfume but you know that's alright. They have an interesting shape, so many petals! Hopefully I'll be able to sketch a few before they wilt.

Also got some more lovely tea from T2, the absolutely delicious Red Fancy Fruit and Gorgeous Geisha a green tea which smells fantastic I'll have to try it tomorrow. Green tea is a bit tricky to brew. Apparently for my star sign I should be drinking Chai, Darjeeling 1st Flush and Lilac Green. Or according to the little quiz on their site Girlie Grey and French Earl Grey, interesting.

Tea-rrific

2008-08-16T21:31:00.003+10:00

I love tea and after my usual Saturday morning activities I walked past a tea shop. I went in to get a glass teapot but the only ones available were in the window and as the shop is usually busy I had to wait for a shop assistant to get one for me.
As I was waiting to get served I saw this teapot. As much as I wanted the glass one, the one with the monkeys won out. Did I mention that I really like monkeys? How could I go past that one, impossible. It's a little hard to photograph being silver ink and all, the cups are a bit hard to use if you like your tea piping hot, but, oh well. MONKEYS!
Guess I'll get the glass one for Chrysanthemum teas at a later date :) actually I might get some of those tomorrow...

Mishmash

2008-08-12T20:37:00.012+10:00

I did start one of these the other day, but it was on a completely different tack. And as the things I was whingeing about are no longer relevant, that blog seems a bit of a waste.

So I've been spending a lot of time and money on music lately. All my favourite bands are touring this year and it's really hard to stop myself from going to their shows. But that's not really what I was going to say either.

Actually, I just wanted to post some of my patterns. Like a lot of people around I love coming up with my own patterns. These are a few I've been working on, now if work can keep quiet, things here might take off :)

False Starts

2008-08-03T18:36:00.001+10:00

Alright so I'm a fibber, I didn't end up getting a scanner last weekend. I felt ill so I stayed home and watched DVDs in bed. This week I've been busy going to several concerts (getting cabs to and from venues, buying merch) CDs and new shoes for work. Which are already tearing up my heels, thank the universe for band-aids.
Anyway I did manage to get out and have look around for one, but the couple I could find were crap and a $100 more than they are online.
So now that I've spent all the extra cash I had I guess it's gonna have to wait a couple of more weeks. Probably end up ordering one online anyway, so til then back to the pen & paper for me.

Idea

2008-07-21T20:24:00.002+10:00

Been having a good hard think about things over the last few days. Made some notes and then some more notes. Had a look around at some other blogs, websites, books, magazines got a few ideas, like a lot of people I've been stuck in creative rut.

Had a blog before and didn't really do much with it. This time around hopefully things will be different and I can stick with it for more than a few months. On a list of things to get this weekend is a scanner and now that the Pope & pilgrims have gone it's safe to venture into the city once again.

Week 1

2008-07-18T20:01:00.002+10:00

So this is a work in progress, while I try and figure out what to put up on this thing. I know the name is a little bit naff but everything else I could think of was taken. So much for bright ideas eh? The header/layout will no doubt change again and again as I easily get bored with things.

Need to get a few things together before I can post little doodles and the like. Guess that's all for now, toodles.