10.2.10

Graphic designer, through and through


[feeling: amused]
[playing: Will You Be There – Michael Jackson]


This is just another unworthy rant of mine, but because I reflected some thoughts after a conversation with a former school mate back in art school, I simply want to share my amusement.

I'm not exactly close to this acquaintance of mine. We seldom talk, although once in a while, we would exchange greetings. I understand that since graduation, he'd almost never work as a hands on graphic designer. I consider an average of staying less than 3 months with the same company in a year as a case of 'almost never'. He went into working as traffic in agencies or the marketing department instead.

As a young designer, I observe enough to know that being a graphic designer is not at all easy out there. Due to the poor design literacy, graphic design is underrated to the public, never a job to die for. High income or easy job scope was never promised by design lecturers or visiting speakers in school. It is unsurprising to hear the people we know decided to change platform, build their careers in another industry. There are thousand and one reasons one can come up with to avoid getting on board, and I respect others' choices. But I know my true calling to which I answer with clarity. I'm a visual person through and through, that makes my only aspiration is to create good art work.

SO, I was rather amused whenever an out of touch acquaintance greets me out of the blue, with questions of whether or not I'm still a graphic designer, or whenever one tries to explain his pursue of better paying jobs which come with XYZ benefits. I was even asked how long can I see myself sustain in this industry. As if I'm found guilty as charged for remaining a designer and insensitively try to dig up a flaw in me to justify his past actions. Who is he trying to convince?

Obviously, he has never heard of what my heroes have to say. This one was by Milton Glaser.

I think the most interesting thing that one can say about one's later life is that if you can sustain your interest in what you are doing, you're an extremely fortunate person. What you see very frequently in people's professional lives, or perhaps their emotional lives as well, is that they lose interest ... and they sort of get tired and they're different and sometimes defensive, and they kind of lose their capacity for astonishment. And that's a great loss, because the world is a very astonishing place.

So I think what I feel fortunate about is that I am still astonished, that they still amaze me. And I think that's a great benefit of being in the arts where the possibility for learning never disappears. Basically you've to admit that you've never learnt it.


Something I can count on.

Labels: , ,

europium at 01:25

1.2.10

When You Got Up On The Wrong Side of The Bed

My favorite 3 months old black skirt was ruined for good. It takes only an ironing to melt its viscose surface and the sight almost drove me to tears. And cursing I don’t wish to elaborate. Yes, to fuss over this is terribly selfish of me, considering the size of miseries happening on the other parts of the world. How painful can a loss of $70 skirt be compared to losing means of shelter or a limb? Still, the temper did not tame without a struggle. And I possibly went to work with a murderous look, not that I could see my face then.

As if testing my patience further, I accidentally tripped on the short steps at the building where I work in a very unglamorous fashion, with the passersby around. Could have been worse, right? At least all teeth were intact, no torn jeans, and it was nowhere painful like Ally MacBeal’s famous kiss-the-floor kind of landing.

Seemed like I was in for a chain of them though. Unfortunate events never came a-knocking on a good timing.

Labels:

europium at 11:12

22.12.09

Happiness catches on. So are other things.



[feeling: awake]


A short news to share.

According to writer Clive Thompson, social contagion is highly probable in infecting us without any of us realizing it. In other words, behaviors, habits, positivity and happiness are contagious. They get tapped unto the next person or anybody from the same social circle over a period of time and get passed on like viruses. If happy things can affect, the bad things can affect too (eg. smoking, stress, being upset, obesity, etc).

So we now know, being in this big melting pot, the things we could be fronting against. I'm not saying we should be choosey and go our ways avoiding people who are not being in the light of things. Instead, we should all be nice and befriend without exclusivity. At the same time, always be aware of bad vibes. Instead of being affected by them, we should be the one affecting them with positivity. Offer a helping hand.

So what else is contagious?

To read more, click The New York Times: Are your friends making you fat?

Labels:

europium at 21:16

20.10.09

Specialization is for insects.

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

Robert Anson Heinlein via 1001 rulles for my unborn son

Labels:

europium at 16:35

8.10.09

Poem To The Freaks

To live as I have done is surely absurd
In cheap hotels and furnished rooms
To walk up side streets and down back alleys
Talking to oneself
And screaming to the sky obscenities
That the arts is a rotten business indeed
That mediocrity and the rage of fashion rules
My poems and paintings piled on the floor
To be one with himself
A Saint
A Prince
To persevere
Through storms and hardons
Through dusk and dawns
To kick death in the ass
To be passed over like a bad penny
A midget
An Ant
A roach
A freak
A Hot Piece
An Outlaw
Raise your cup and drink my friend
Drink for those who walk alone in the night
To the crippled and the blind
To the lost and the damned
To the lone bird flying in the sky
Drink to wonder
Drink to me
Drink to pussy and dreams
Drink to madness and all the stars
I hear the birds singing

Jack Micheline, Poem To The Freaks


Poem via The Barstool Romantic

Labels:

europium at 13:03

6.9.09

The Weather Project


[feeling: good]
[Playing: Lele de Los Van Van ft. Radio Head - Rhythms del Mundo]


The Weather Project installation via eikongraphia

This is one of the many things I will never get to experience ever.

This pseudo sun is Olafur Eliasson's creation and was installed at the Turbine Hall of Tate in 2003-04. The 'sun' actually came in half a circle. The reflection in the mirror at the ceiling helped to create an illusion that it was a full circle.

To be lying on the floor looking up this giant light gotta be some kind of unique experience. Quite plainly, this is visually experiencing sunlight within 4 walls (minus the heat). It was of Eliasson's interest in the way weather affects or defines places and the people living there.

My own interpretation of weather is that it's lovely as well as ambiguous because, just like feelings and emotion, it changes without warning and prediction, and day to day it's never exactly the same. I refuse to think that only strangers, who run out of topic conversation, have the pleasure of conversing about the weather. Truly, I appreciate the changes it creates. The weather also reminds me of my past experiences, especially that of my travel, the places and people being encountered in the process. Apparently somebody, whom is highly imaginative and a very popular figure, agrees that the sky is worth the attention and observation.
"In the spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours."
Mark Twain

To me, Cloud Appreciation Society is wonderful. What a peaceful activity. Beyond serving their geographical purposes (like being responsible of the type of rain being poured unto mother earth), I like to think that clouds are shapes being sculpted by God himself. I'm grateful to know that across the globe, people aren't taking them for granted.

Labels: , ,

europium at 13:44

27.8.09

The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios – Yann Martel



[Feeling: blah]
[Playing: Gymnopedie no. 3 – Erik Satie]

Other short stories published in The Facts Behind the Helinski Roccamatios are:
1. The Time I heard the Private Donald J. Rankin String Concerto with One Discordant Violin, by the American Composer John Morton
2. Manners of Dying
3. Mirrors to Last till Kingdom Come

Yann Martel did it again with his story telling. I dig these fictions so much that at times I keep going back to the phrases that are my favorite. He has the power to tell them as if they were magically real. Each story is very different from the other, but successfully rooted its own presence at the back of my mind.

The Facts Behind The Helsinki Roccamatios
It's hard to pick just one significant pointer from this story. Seems to me that every factor is weaved solidly, hence completing a wonderful tale. I like the way a friendship is deeply felt and depicted here. I appreciate the well described characters of the family members who struggled to deal with an important issue of death. These individuals have diverse way and characteristic, starting from the Mom, the Dad, the Sister, the Best Friend, and the Dog. The plot isn't something unusual – hospital setting, HIV positive, a man too young to die – despite of this, the reading process felt new. I could almost smell the presence of hospital, which easily relates to death. However the friendship makes up a warm contrast against the cold death bed setting. Everything is balanced.


The Time I heard the Private Donald J. Rankin String Concerto with One Discordant Violin, by the American Composer John Morton
I like the description of how this music is being heard. As an avid music lover myself, this is pretty much like delightful phrases forming beautiful visuals in my mind. The moral of the story is a bonus to an already beautiful picture.

Mirrors to Last till Kingdom Come
Unlike the manufactured, crystal clear mirrors that we use today, the hand made mirrors produced back then were not as clear, but each has a story to tell. A woman showed her grand-daughter how this old mirror-maker machine works.

"So how does it work?"
"It runs on memories."
"Sorry?"
"I said it runs on memories. On recollection, souvenirs, stories. The past."
She brought her mouth close to the horn, "I," she said clearly, "I remember..."
A sharp click sound. Followed by the strangest little noise, something like a tiny locomotive starting up. And unmistakably coming from within the machine.
"It still works!" She said, bringing her hands to her mouth. "Oh dear, oh dear."

Her memory was of her love story, pictures of her late husband, the suffering she had after he died. A sentimental tale that unravels quietly and mystifying especially towards the end. I love stories which linger at the back of mind, as if they were real, just because I could picture them quite vividly.

Labels:

europium at 21:23