Polar Bair

I love street art, be it graffiti (well-done pieces of course), tree stump carvings, pavement chalk drawings, large scale sculptures, etc. I just love it. I love watching people make it, or just seeing it when it's finished and wondering how it got there. There's one in particular I stumbled upon quite a while ago and was brought to mind yesterday when I was thinking of blog topics.

Joshua Allen Harris is a street artist who brings new life to the streets of New York through his innovative art. By using elements of the street, mainly plastic garbage bags that you might find littering the sidewalks and marrying it with a monotonous ingredient of city life, the subway grate, he manages to breathe life into his creations. I think there are so many ways to interpret the possible social and environmental commentaries that he could possibly make with such a simple yet brilliant use of materials, but I find that at its best it's just enjoyable to see it come to life and to watch the reactions of the viewers around. I only wish that the first time I had seen it was not through a video but in person to have experienced it myself.

On a deeper level, it's quite obvious that the possible environmental message that it could articulate was also evident to globalwarming.com as the artist's footage was used for one of their awareness commercials. The main message was to encourage city dwellers to ride public transportation as opposed to driving which, is an effective way to use the piece. I think it could also demonstrate how our city lives are so busy that we often forget about what is around us, whether it's beautiful or not. We see the subway grate as a subway grate and litter as litter, just apart of our background, but Harris' installments force us to pause and see it in a new way, to find beauty and opportunity in anything.



To see more of his work, visit his YouTube site here.

Project 1

Project one for Litho was done and handed in last week. I was planning on waiting until I received my printed edition back from my prof to share it on my blog but since I haven't gotten it back just yet I thought I would go ahead and show you the result of my sweat and tears this past month.

Proofs from first attempt at going to press

The whole process will involve two stages whereby, I hope to produce 2-3 editions of a series. My first edition has been accomplished along with the first stage. In case you're wondering 'what is an edition?'; I'm referring to the series of prints resulting from going to press with the litho stone. Usually you aim to print a specified number of identical prints. They are later numbered and the first should be the print that is the most like what you had intended your image to look like. As for what to expect for the following stages of my litho series, it will remain untold for now (although some friends have been divulged) and I will fill you in as I proceed.

I will however share that this series is dedicated to my loving and nurturing mother and this piece in particular is a representation of her. She was the one who always encouraged me to follow my heart and let me pursue my passions. She is a great source of inspiration and so I thought it would only be fitting that she take on a new life in my stone. I chose to personify her as a matryoshka (Russian nested doll) because matryoshkas were originally created in the likeness of a healthy and nurturing Russian peasant mother and her family. Although my mom is not Russian I found that it was a unique and interesting symbol for this subject. This symbol also lends itself to another aspect of my series which, will become more apparent when it is complete.

Inked up stone

Within the image of the doll itself, I also incorporated personal qualities of my mother. Her almond shaped eyes and signature bangs were qualities I simply couldn't ignore. My mother was also the middle child of 6 kids represented by the six smaller circles on her headdress, herself included, and the bigger middle circle signifies hers and my grandmother's rested souls. The swirly designs on her dress depict her free-flowing beautiful spirit and the background wash illustrates her absence from the world.



love you, miss you.

3 Things from this week

So I've decided that my goal will be to blog at least once a week. If I've got a full time gig then I will need to make time over the weekend, if not then I should blog daily. Now that I've said it, I'll have to keep myself accountable... or else someone else might call me out :D (you know who you are!)

Anyways, here are three awesome things I found this week.

UN: Elephants never forget

So that's not actually the title but I don't understand Spanish, so I don't know what the title of this illustration is. I do, however, love elephants and the thing I associate the most with elephants is their rock hard memory, something I quite envy. In any case here lies the work of a cute creator, an illustrator who can't seem to make anything not cute. I really like the flat yet dimensional work of Argentinian illustrator, Emiliano Quintana, and the sense of personality found in each character.


DEUX: mmm eggplant

Aubergine Penguins by Dmitry Utkin are penguins made from eggplants, they're awesome. What more do I need to say?

TROIS: G's are hot

If you know me at all, you'd know I'm a type nerd, not quite as big as others but I do love type. Having said that, lowercase g's are one of my favourite characters :) so having come accross this beautifully developped letter g from a beautifully designed display font called Ogaki by Áron Jancsó was like spotting a celebrity.


Sorry about before, but the images aside from the elephant illustration are now embedded

Litho

Every week as my prof demos the process of lithography printmaking, I only realize more and more that it's as hard as a rock! (both figuratively and literally) Every step is incredibly involved and laborious, but it is without a doubt, a labour of love :)

My stone being grained :)

I think what I like so much about it is how challenging it is. Being a graphic designer today heavily involves a computer, shortcuts and all, which is convenient considering the tight deadlines that the industry thrives on. Everything needs to be pumped out according to multiple schedules; the client, the printer, the season, the event, the installers, or the designers, they all have a schedule that the process of design must adhere to. This means that more often than not, the art of design can easily get lost in translation. 

I've always looked at printmaking as a way to go back in time and learn where all the photoshop effects and illustrator tools originated from. Old school processes can help to learn about how to manipulate these tools, but better than that, it allows you to return to the fundamental Art of graphic design. And plus I miss creating things just because I want to. This is among the many reasons why I decided to take a post graduate minor program at OCAD for printmaking. 

Drying ze stone with medieval fan

Although Litho wasn't originally on the top of my list, it was the only class available to me at the time I registered, but I am so excited to be able to learn this art form. In my first class Lauren, my prof, was explaining to us that, the huge slabs of limestone that we will be labouring over for the next few months, are easily decades older than us. They are the same stones that the printing presses used to use to publish newspapers and is also the same material that slaves has spent years stacking together forming pyramids in Egypt that still stand proudly today after so many centuries. It's amazing, even just to imagine the life my stone may have had and all the prints it had created before I claimed it for the semester. 

I even like how mysterious it all is. once you've grained away layers of the stone to erase the previous image, you draw on it with greasy materials then etch your image into the pores of the stone by applying chemical processes to it. This will tell the stone where to take ink and where to repel it. It's like breathing art into a stone and bringing it to life, allowing it to repeat that image, which sometimes makes me feel like a mad scientist. Throughout the whole process, there are many moments where you make the image disappear just to see it come back which tells you whether or not you did it right. At the same time, not everything you do will come out as you expected. There's always a chance things will disappear or even appear out of nowhere, when you go to print.

It's like magic, just so exciting. I will post my first print when it is done :)

Litho love

Lately trying to find time to blog has been like trying to catch a snowflake on my tongue. I've decided to stop making time an excuse and just keep them short.
While checking the weather this morning my homepage, fffound pointed me to an interesting site Gig Posters. It particularly sparked my interest because I'm currently taking a lithography class and although I've only had 2 classes and didn't even fully understand what the process was when I started, I've fallen in love with it. I'll post some process pics, prints and blog soon ;)

found on fffound :)

Smile :)

Do you ever walk past an inanimate object and realize how much it resembles a face or a body part? Often you'll find that a lot of objects, having been designed by humans, will aesthetically relate to our physical attributes whether conscious or not. It must be something we can't help but doing. Our egos dominate a generous part of our minds which kicks into play during this (or any) process, creating resemblance to what we know best, ourselves.

I find discovering these resemblances are usually amusing yet short-lived moments. It's like if you visualized the joy of a great idea as an incandescent light bulb (a common analogy) and compared it to a small LED light. I find human features, often faces, in almost anything like wall plugs, cameras, shoes, lamps, you name it and I do this with more ease than any word search, or Where's Waldo.

One of the most common things that will often glare back at me with an undeniable character-filled face is the front of a car. They roll around town with a twinkle in their bright headlight eyes, and some of them will even beam a smile at you or expose their teeth through their grille, which only brings to mind a flashy hip-hop trend of bedazzling (sorry, I meant blinging out) your teeth from 2005 and the song that started it all, Grillz, by Nelly. But I digress.

The other day, when I went to see Despicable Me, I found the biggest and happiest grin I've ever seen on a car that it would even have the Cheshire cat hissing in envy. The new North American Mazda2 has to be the happiest car I've ever seen. So much so, that in my excitement, I inadvertently turned to Danny and said "The car is smiling!" This brimming car was born for this and has clearly been designed to capture the hearts of cute-seekers all over North America and it even has a cute little green robot sidekick. Smiley over here (the Mazda), will mostly likely captivate the unsuspecting souls of their target market of trendy young adults (18-25) mostly females, it certainly did the trick on me.

I do however, find it interesting that the cute-seeker approach was only applied on the North American model. When looking at the Mazda 2's launch site which directs you to specific countries, it seems Canada and the US are the only ones with the smiley car. It just goes to show that culture must indeed have a substantial effect on design. Psychological features like the smile might work on us, or maybe even in parts of Asia but apparently not in Europe.

Like I said, I like it :) Maybe it doesn't help that I'm a young Canadian-Korean female who really likes cute things but I also appreciate the design.

I miss the freedom

As much as I love the routine of full-time work and having a reason to wake up early in the morning, I definitely miss the freedom of unemployment, but mainly just being able to keep up with my blog. It's been quite a little while since my last post and the guilt has started to set in. Considering I've slept in a little longer than I should've and that I'm sacrificing "get-ready" time for this posting I'll keep it short and sweet.

Here is one of the best ad spots I've seen online in a while, fwd'd to me by someone at the office. How brilliant to use the loss of Bosh as a creative opportunity to poke fun at Toronto while promoting flights.

Yeah, you do deserve it, Toronto!

Post No Bills

After being sent home due to the rolling black-outs, I left work at King and Bathurst to meet Teri at Queen and Spadina, only to realize there was nowhere to do anything since nobody had power. Regardless, I'm still glad that I trenched through the heat for what felt like an endless distance due to the smoldering heat. Other than having met my friend (however brief our meeting was), the trek was made worthwhile because of my surroundings. The area is so full of art, culture and life even in the simplest way.

It lives in walls, behind windows and doors, on the streets, on store signs, and even as graffiti. There were quaint, and quite obviously tight shops where I could just hear the stories of all the unique items. The tales of the antique's previous lives whispered past my ears like a piece of shared gossip walking past me. Bike shops, whose bike residents looked like a much more heroic feat of ingenuity than that of any that you might find at a larger wholesaler. Bright murals along alley walls, handcrafted jewels adorning storefront windows, fabrics majestically draping down shelves in textile stores, it was all so refreshing in a familiar and almost redundant way and yet I was so happy it was all around me. Maybe it was the heat.

Amongst it all, what stood out the most was definitely the image you see posted below. It orders "POST NO BILLS" and in one swift, witty yet defying manner four infamous Bills have been posted: Clinton, Murray, Gates and Cosby. It's undeniably reminiscent of the work of my favourite graffiti artist, Banksy and only makes me wonder if it was in fact his work. This might just be a little wishful thinking but it is simple and witty enough to bear its identity as a Banksy piece yet since there's no definite indications yet, for now it will remain anon.

Inspiration: Mountains of Sushi

Like the charm of finding change on the floor here are two very different things that have been like finding lucky pennies along my path.

My First Penny

The first is the work of Joseph Blalock whose logo / identity designs are so articulate they take you for miles of communication all in a moment. Its subtle eloquence makes I appreciate it that much more. The logo that stopped me in my tracks was Iron Mountain for a document management firm. It's so brilliantly straight-forward and simple.

What a great solution for the logo, it makes me wonder what his process must've been like to have discovered the resemblance and to have visually transformed the subject so powerfully into the name. Now, I'll always relate the two.

It brings to mind the FedEx logo, my all time favourite logo. It has the ability to speak about an entire company's identity and encapsulate it into an icon. The FexEx logo is stripped down to the bare principles of typography and graphic design: letters and space. It's like being rationed your food for survival, and yet it triumphs as such a prosperous logo. Through the use of the negative space between the capital 'e' and the 'x' they've fully taken advantage of the space by allowing the space in between the two forms to create a new form, an arrow. The arrow adds a new dimension to the logo and speaks about direction, movement, speed, and intelligence in a way like no other. -- This is why I love it. 

Ad found on an AdRants blog

Second found penny

This second item made me metaphorically $0.02 richer. I love sushi! I would eat it breakfast, lunch and dinner if I could. I even claimed that if I had to pick one type of food to eat for the rest of my life, I might gladly pick sushi. There's something about not only the light taste that leaves you satisfied but the art that's involved in its creation.  

Having said that, imagine my excitement when I see art imitating life, and life taking form in art as sushi soap! Etsy shop, Bunny Bubbles has some great creative soap creations that are beautiful works of practical and useable art. The delicious bars of soap are even matched in creativity for their scent, each baring a unique combination of distinct asian flavors which adds an extra layer of continuity.

This is the kind of thing I want to have in my home instead of buying factory made, masses-to-the-billions brands of soap like dove, and ivory. Soaps whose ingredient lists that might baffle a chemistry major,  the same ones that the super-store shelves are teeming with are ones I wish weren't as available, convenient and affordable. I'd much rather support great artists. Their products are most likely safer to use especially since they are handmade with natural ingredients in a more organic way and I use that word cautiously as I don't mean the way most big corporations have simply turned organic into a brand or marketing tool. I'm talking about the way in which it was created, a much simpler process by the hands of a professional whose passion and gifts compel them to craft even the most practical items. This is how it should be, don't you think?

Arrestingly triptonic inspiration!

I never intended to blog today to be honest, but as I was perusing for inspiration I came across an insanely interesting music video by Anthony Francisco Schepperd, that needed to be shared: The Music Scene (song by Blockhead). Had I heard the song on it's own, I think its intentions would've been lost on me for it is the video that imprints such a deep incision of significance and inspiration in my mind. Right from the start the images Schepperd paints stops you in your tracks arresting you to watch on, doing exactly what the video is speaking about. I interpreted the message that TV and other forms of media suck us in with they're visually arresting images and hypnotize us into ignorance among other things. The irony lies in the fact that the video itself sucks us in leaving us to want more.

We become so consumed with the media and everything it feeds us that not only does it become eyes into our lives and thoughts but in turn creates who we become. It roots itself so far into our existence that we depend on its energy and fail to see the beautiful natural energy that surrounds us, slowly depleting our life supply. We have given life to technology, and in turn technology has given us new life, destroying our old organic lives along the way. The dim, insincere light of the screen illuminates our artificial lives until there is nothing left to live for, until we burn out.

I watched this video several times and only want to keep watching it as I learn and discover something new each time. It reminded me of why I decided to cut TV and background music out of my life as I first posted about several weeks ago. It has renewed my will to only watch what will positively inspire me, not simply allow commercials sit in the background pouring unwanted messages into my mind.

Peacocks and polywash

I'm both mesmerized and awed by the work of artist Laurel Roth. The mixed media sculptural series "Peacocks" mimics their mating ritual by borrowing man-made, figurative peacock feathers: cosmetic supplies. Ranging from fake nails, fake eyelashes, to barrettes and jewelry, Roth has created gorgeous life-like peacocks. To me it speaks volumes about how humans relate to these beautiful birds in that we seek to impress, and when our feathers are simply not shiny enough we cock our heads high and fake it to make it. We may share vanity but it's natural beauty that peacocks loom over us and our creativity that we loom over them, what a fascinating relation.

Meet Clarice

I found her on Etsy and though I don't know much about vintage cameras I thought this would be an awesome opportunity to learn more about photography. It's difficult to find simple technology lately where you can count the pieces involved in its structure on your fingers and toes. In an over-complicated world, something this simple can bring you a lot of peace. I probably paid a little more than I could've considering they're probably waiting to be discovered at flea markets and garage sales but I guess that's the price of convenience and my first lesson learned. Regardless I will consider her a great new addition and can't wait to give her new life.

I found the ol' girl at the Falcon and Finch Etsy shop and though Lynelle has a great choice of cameras in her shop, there was just something about this vintage six-20 Brownie "E" that captured me. Now I just got to get my hands on some 620 film and I can start experimenting. Brace yourself world, here I come with a brand old camera and a whole world of moments to distill.

What the font?

I realize my title is an already existing web app by myfonts.com that helps you identify fonts, but it's just too perfect that I couldn't pass it up as a title. -- Props to the copywriter who thought of that one. 

Today my goal is to lay the groundwork for publishing my two beloved fonts, Coalescent and Fingerprint. Essentially I want to sell them so I need to know how to properly license them as well as find websites that will host them. I would hate to see my lovingly created fonts sit dormant on my hard drive waiting for the day I need to use them for an appropriate project. I'd much rather see them put to good use. Here I will log my research on how to publish and sell fonts. 

The first useful article I found was Font Licensing and Protection Details. It goes over basic font use and licensing and I learned that whenever a font is acquired (purchase, downloaded as freeware, etc.), the user is bound to the end user license agreement (EULA).  Essentially this means that they cannot distribute or share the font with other computers even if owned by the same owner, unless specified in the license. Apparently I also need to consider how to protect my fonts. There are trademarks, design patents or copyrights. Trademarks only cover the name of the font forbidding anybody to create a font under the same name. Design patents, though they are the rarest due to cost and effort, protects the physical anatomy of the letter forms and design. Then there are copyrights which are apparently "the most commonly used type of protection, but has also been the most vague and difficult to enforce." Essentially fonts files (TrueType or PostScript) are considered computer software and are protected as such. 

Now that I have some background knowledge on font licensing, Where can I host my fonts? What are my options?

Dafont.com does allow you to submit a font which will then get evaluated and the author is then notified if it has been selected for them to host. It seems the EULA is to be provided in the zip file along with the font. The only disadvantage is I'm not certain how much of the font dafont is allowing itself to my font and can potentially own it, and there is no option to sell the font, since all their fonts are free downloads. 

MyFonts.com also has a seller section. According to them they have the largest selection of fonts and participation is open to all foundries, large or small. They offer 50% of the retail price whenever the font is sold. They look really reliable and offer many opportunities to market your font as well as protection of rights. It feels more like a retailer of fonts. I'm not sure how to get started and I would have to assume there would be an application process.

Linotype.com invites designers to submit fonts as well. Sounds awesome but I feel like I might be a little too grass roots for that just yet. It also seems like the fonts they sell are a lot more practical and mine are very much for display use. However they are a far more recognizable and reputable company within the industry and also lists help in preparing your font for submission. I feel like this would be a lot more official than other sites as they offer to license your font if accepted. 

ITCfonts.com is also a recognizable name in the font industry that accepts font submissions for licensing. However there requirements seem a lot more specific and a little less helpful. Somehow, as similar as they seem to other sites, they don't seem quite as appealing but that could just be my initial impression.

For now I've decided to prepare my fonts for final submission and gather a little more info from each company. I will then weigh out my options and will most likely submit the fonts to a couple sites almost like applying for a job. Maybe I can also host and license the fonts myself through my website.


A great new resource for fonts was forwarded to me by Jan. Type For You, a great typography blog with an awesome directory that opens up a lot more possibilities.  Thanks :)

my creepy stalker

This morning when I woke up, I pulled open my blinds to open the window and let in some fresh air. As I laid in bed on the phone I looked over and winced a little as I noticed this creepy little visiter just chilling on my window. He's a bit orange in colour with six legs about double the length of his body spewing from his sides. *shudder* Overall he's about two inches in diameter including his legs and I've decided to call him Gordon (I like naming things).

Bugs can really creep me out. Even when I just see one on the side of the street, I yelp a little as I cautiously walk around it. My initial thought was, "oh dear, is it inside or outside." The answer, thank God,  is outside. As much as I don't like insects, I am trying not to harm them because they are all living creatures that contribute to the ecosystem. And plus, I don't particularly like the squashing feeling beneath my finger through the tissue but sometimes it happens instinctively.

It's afternoon now, and through wind and rain he's still on my window. As unsettled as I am by his harmless yet creepy stature I'm also quite fascinated. It's a little like a good horror flick, you know you might shit your pants, but you're still watching for the thrill. I thought I would take this as a creative opportunity and make a little horror poster out of him.

If you can read this, I can't see you

The other day as I was riding my bike home, I passed the truck loading area on Comstock which was laden with trucks loading and unloading their stock. I'm not going to lie, it was a little frightening (but maybe that's because I am pretty chicken about most things), so I made sure to slow down, check the road for oncoming traffic before crossing into the next lane, made eye contact with the driver who had just popped into the driver's seat and cautiously made my way past him. As I continued on my way home I thought of the "If you can read this you're too close" bumper stickers. It made me think about how redundant the copy on the sticker actually is. You figure, if you are reading it you simply are too close for your own safety but the time it might take you to read the sticker, you could've already been hit.

Essentially, the person whose life that sticker intends to save, is now required to take the time to read the obvious, that you are reading the sticker. Why not just get to the point? I don't really need to know that I'm reading something, but I do need to know I'm too close for my own good. The fact of the matter is, the truck is so large that there are blatant blind spots within which the driver simply cannot see. This means that for one's own safety, one should always keep a great enough distance. The problem is, this might often be forgotten or simply unknown and a bumper sticker like this has the potential to save a few lives, if only it was designed more efficiently.

I say get rid of the old "if you can read this..." and get to the point: You're way too close you idiot! In all seriousness, I've redesigned the sticker just for fun.

On another note, while searching for images of the original stickers I came across an article, "Transperant Truck System Could Save Lives" which was originally posted by Gizmodo and Engadget. It's absolutely genius in its simplicity and practicality. It's unfortunate that the technology is apparently too costly to put into effect on all large trucks. The system called Transparentius, designed by Russian design studio, Art Lebedev, is simply a camera in the front of the truck that projects what is ahead on the screens built-into the rear doors of the truck. This way, driver's behind the truck would be able to safely pass or switch lanes.

It's funny how the technology is supposedly too expensive to actually implement yet if the screens were to be used for advertising they'd already be in place. They can spend the money downtown for some LCD billboards or LCD screens anywhere else you go, like in malls, or even the theatre yet saving lives seem to come last on the priority list and isn't worth the investment. It's just too bad there aren't more people dedicated to bettering or even saving the lives of others than making money.

hang in there kitty

This just makes me smile! Found on ffffound which was posted from Tumblr somewhere

i miss you - love is real

I woke up this morning after a night of fiddling around with the previous image I posted but still couldn't get just right. I realized what was missing, an extremely real person I love and miss. So here is my new rendering of the quote.

realize life

"Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real."

I think about all the people and things throughout my life that I've been fortunate enough to know and love and this quote only becomes that much more clear. When we love someone, we let them into our world and get to know theirs. We share our lives and understand each other. Building friendships and finding people to love like family and friends is the most rewarding challenge in life. We may not always get along with our loved ones but riding it out and being there in their time of need is the fruit of true love. It is the most overlooked yet essential part of life and can determine who we are and who we become. We let ourselves get so wrapped up in occurrences and the values of the material world that we neglect the well-being of something so organic, simple love. When I read this quote yesterday, it was such a simple yet revealing truth about love that it reminded me that life does not have to be complicated.

Love is realizing what's real and life is reality, so love life.

I created this simple piece in appreciation of this quote by British author and philosopher, Iris Murdoch for articulating such a beautiful truth. I want to realize the world and love what's real. 

Zoidberg my friend, is that you?

Found this great illustrator, Joseph Crocker, on iconology. This awesome yellow, red and black piece to the right caught my eye in an instant. I don't know if it's because my TV deprivation makes me really miss Futurama but the illustration reminds me a little of Zoidberg. All that aside, I love the flamboyancy in his expression but also in the bright yellow and red contrasted against the black. Even the lighthearted movement of the lips, I originally interpreted as tentacles, makes me hear their voice. There are miles of personality in such a simple rendering of this character.

He has a splendor of other amazing pieces as well, many portraying a rainbow of characters. Some of them even have a Picasso-esque influence because of the twisted perspective. They all seem to tell a story which is what might be so intriguing. Individually, the illustrations gave me a sense that they could be compiled as an illustrated book (especially because one of them actually reminded me of the illustrations in kid's books, Mr. Men) and as it turns out they are apart of his book for Nobrow called 'Vedoin'.

Basically I admire his distinctive style.

TODO - business cards

First round of business cards are done. They are very simple and based on the design of my website, but just like any creative work I don't know how satisfied I am with the overall identity. My logo and site design were created in order for me to have a structure to build around as to not further hold me back from going live with my site. Now that it's up, I'm contemplating making it a little more shinister. We'll see where it goes. For now here are a couple screenies of the biz cards as they are right now however, the differences are not very drastic.

thanks Terr bear

Teri's FB response to an older response. I really liked the article so I thought I'd post :)

The Importance of Personal Projects

Here are a few ideas for upcoming personal projects:
- series of handmade greeting cards
- series of screen-printed Beattles posters
- photo journal of morning bike rides around Toronto
- buttons m.i.a (missing in action not the artist)

Why is it that the best ideas stampede through my mind when there's no way of writing them down, yet when I'm ready to list them I draw blanks? Note to self always carry pen and pad!

wall and piece

In need of inspiration today, so I made my way over to Banksy.

gorgeous glass

In my morning quest to build my Etsy empire, I decided a good place to start was to find inspiration. As I am quite new to Etsy, I'm still learning the language of it all. What can I sell? How do I market my shop and items? How do I market myself? Of course, through it all, I found myself hopelessly window shopping since I really should not be needlessly spending my almost non-existent money. Unfortunately, no amount of rationalization could erase the guilt of pushing that "add to cart" button, so I opted for the "add item to favorites" button instead. It's like the difference between the a shot of cold water and a shot of vodka, one is nourishing but not quite as thrilling as the other, leaving you with a spinning sense of anticipation.

As I strolled through the shops, however I found a gem within the blogs. It was a great how-to article by artist, Yevgenia, who loves to paint gift items for her family and came across this technique of painting on glass when drawing for new gift ideas for her father. I love how creative and sentimental her motives are especially since I am a strong believer that gifts of value come from the heart. Whether you are artistic or not, everybody has the ability to create something meaningful, be it art, crafts, poetry, or even moments. A gift should not just be the hottest gadget or items in high fashion magazines, but something that relates to the receiver and the giver.

Since many of my friends' birthdays are coming what better way to practice this new-found artistic technique. I will create a set of 3 shot glasses for each of my friends' birthdays. I'll need to start sketching personalized designs now so I can buy the paint colours I'll need. It's the perfect excuse to learn a beautiful new art form and I couldn't be more excited. Yay.

TODO

I won't have much time to blog today as I am setting out to accomplish some goals:
- learn how to properly embed my blog to my website
- finish business card design
   - set up for print
   - request quotes from printers
- finish design for mail-outs

   - set up for print 

   - request quotes from printers

I have a couple of hours to get it all done before work. The biggest challenge will be to keep my A.D.D in check.


***
update...

I was only able to embed my blog. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. Damn, finicky HTML. But I got it done. I tried to sync the overall aesthetics with my site as much as possible with the little newb-knowledge I have of blogger. Thank God for Google. That should be the new TGIF... TGFG. Just sayin'

off to work I go.

A condom with teeth?! What in the...

Last night on my train ride home, I picked up a newspaper and in my venture through it I found a rather disturbing article. It was titled, Anti-rape condom at World Cup. As I read on, I learned that this condom was developed by a South African doctor, Dr. Sonnet Ehlers, who was determined to give away 30,000 of these babies for free before the World Cup.

You might be thinking, how generous of her, but allow me to elaborate. The idea behind this anti-rape condom, is that the females would wear them during the excitement of the much anticipated World Cup soccer tournament as a precautionary measure. The Rape-aXe, as it is being called, features tiny hooks that would latch onto an attacker's penis, causing them great pain and would ideally allow the victim to escape. These little hooks can then only be removed at a hospital which would cause an attacker to be identified as such. The only thing is that all of this is based on a theoretical situation yet in any given attack I would have to assume that there could be drastically varying circumstances in many respects such as the surroundings, the people present, and the psychological state of anyone involved. What I'm trying to get at, is this to me seems like a mad scientist testing their invention on the ignorant masses.

The article mentions that Dr. Ehlers' inspiration was drawn from a rape victim who allegedly said, "If only I had teeth down there." This communicates to me that Dr. Ehlers, who must see many rape victims in her line of work, has allowed her emotions to cloud her judgement and create such a device. Rape is the product of a much deeper psychological issue and should be dealt with as such. As the cliche goes, you can't fight fire with fire. To solve the real issue behind the dreadful act of rape, we must first search for the cause which must be a deeper psychological anguish within attackers. Creating a condom that bites back (literally) will only feed that fire and make them angrier. This was my initial thought: what if the attacker is so angered by the pain they are feeling, that they inflict an even more enraged assault to the victim?

The article does mention that Women rights' activists have brought this up as a concern along with the fact that there is a possibility that some women could potentially use it against innocent men. I hadn't thought of that but, this is a very real and dangerous repercussion to this product. The truth is, there are too many subjective circumstances that this cannot possibly be the solution to rape especially considering that it doesn't actually prevent anything and would only cause more problems. I do admire her passion for such a cause and applaud the creativity but there is simply too many negative contributing factors that makes this product too much of a wild card to provide any real solution.

I can't escape!

So what is this, day 5 now? And it's taken me this long to realize that it's virtually impossible to escape all mindless media when living in the city. Cities are loud organisms. It reminds me of a loudmouth babbler who can talk for hours without saying much of importance, and even if they did, it would be too hard to notice. There are so many people trying to sell us one message or another. How are we supposed to know which ones are worth our time and which ones are just undressing our wallets with their eyes?


It helps to be media savvy but even the media is getting savvy. For example, the discovery of the iPhone 4G (or so they thought it would be called) at the bar in April.





Since it's discovery, people were buzzing left and right about how this legendary and highly anticipated new gadget by Apple was left behind by an anonymous, careless Apple employee. According to the story when the lucky person found the prototype, they tried contacting Apple who denied that it was a real prototype. It wasn't until the buzz flared that Apple decided they wanted it back. Of course by then it was already in the hands of Gizmodo.com a gadget reviewer. Call me a skeptic, but in my opinion, it's a little convenient that this prototype ended up in the hands of an online gadget reviewer. I mean, what better way to market a product than to make it seem like they didn't even try. It's got that cool kid effect.


Apple, has an amazing team of designers, marketers and advertisers, but at this point I find it hard to imagine that anyone could come up with a more successful marketing campaign for the product. Picture this: a dozen crisp Apple executives brainstorming around a slick black table in a clean white room with large spotless glass windows, and ceilings for days. One of them has a Eureka moment and bursts out: "Why don't we pretend that someone 'accidentally' leaves it at a bar?" The best stories seem to take place, start or are told at a bar anyway, right? And let's face it, anything that big, despite it's authenticity would be viral in mere moments. Ads and web banners are one in a trillion, they simply get overlooked because we train ourselves to be selective and ignore the masses. On the other hand, word of mouth can spread like wild-fire, goes hand-in-hand with YouTube and people gorge on news like this as if it was carbs. Everybody wins, Apple gets their publicity, Gizmodo's name is associated with Apple, the product's specs and features reach an international level without a single cost and none's the wiser. This is all just speculation of course, and there is a greater than large chance that none of this is true, but can you imagine how brilliant it would be if it were?

* * *

In other news, today was my first day on the TTC since my TV/music fast. It wasn't nearly as unbearable as previous misfortunes of forgetting my headphones or having dead batteries. This is most likely due to the fact that I've had time to adjust and, it was self-induced. Stringing together to do lists, and short-term goals weren't as frequently interrupted with sudden internal outbursts of my favorite medleys, but needless to say, my A.D.D is far from cured. I did find myself slightly agitated by the clicking noise that seemed to be coming from the engine (should I have been worried?), and though normally I would simply tune it out with music, since that was no longer an option, I tested my patience. After a while, I found myself intrigued and would try and find the pattern or cause (admittedly, quite a nerd thing to do :)).


On the way home however, a rider at the back of the bus found a need to share his music with the rest of the passengers. My immediate thought was, "How considerate of him to share." -- Since sarcasm often goes undetected in writing, please note it's intended presence. Is it really necessary to play your music on speakers in a shared space? Better yet, is it fair? It's often hard to find a large group of random people with the same taste in music. With the invention of built-in compact speakers in most media players, broadcasting personal music has become a common occurrence. At the same time I didn't get a good look, so it could've easily also been really loud headphones. Don't mind my hypocrisy here however. I do remember a time when I too wanted the strangers around me to know exactly what I was listening to though I'm not certain why. What's even more comedic is how I would frantically try and "unhold" so I could skip to the next song or turn down the volume because an embarrassing guilty pleasure like Toxic by Britney Spears was the next random tune. I was naive and maybe it was the ghetto blaster culture that had me believe that my choice of music should be known by a bunch of strangers who couldn't care less. I'm proud to say I grew out of that years ago, I simply valued my hearing a lot more.

* * *

An awesome Graffiti piece I found yesterday in Chinatown, and my awesome friend Teri :). I love that it was of a Tiger just like our chinese zodiac. I think there were some other zodiacs too like the dragon. I will go back with my real camera and take better photos soon.


Coming up next...


A disturbing article I read on the way home today: A Condom with Teeth
psycho-killer, qu'est-ce que c'est...
I shall detail it tommorrow.

No TV, no music makes Stephee something something.

Well thank God I didn't give up beer too. Who knows how long I would've lasted then?

With Day 4 beginning, it brings the end of the 3 day hump. Just like when I was quitting smoking, the first three days are the hardest according to what I've heard. I'm starting to grow accustomed to the void of the TV lit and visible from the corner of my eye from wherever I was in the room. But does it count when I can hear the TV in the living room? I would never put anybody out of there way for my own personal challenge but I still wonder if I am getting the full effect of this challenge since there's still so much noise around me. Even as I'm writing, I can hear the roar of the garbage trucks rampaging through my street. At least it's a natural Urban sound, as much of an oxymoron that is, and not a sound of mindless media.

Nevertheless, the shear amount of TV that I've cut out of my life is quite significant and it's really starting to put me into a different frame of mind. I find myself writing more and, as each day goes by, I feel calmer and more focused. Of course, this is save when I am at work. Work in itself is ridden with media junk but I guess when I work at a movie theatre, there's really no escaping that. There's always music playing in the lobby, and the sound of movie trailers leaking from the theatre doors. Regardless, I am usually stressed when I am at work, a common sentiment among others as well. Despite the blatant presence of the mindless media junk that floods my surroundings at work, I can't be certain that it is the source of my extra stress. There are many other contributing factors that feed that weed of stress that I would need a whole separate blog just to list them.

I've also tried reading to fill in the blanks. Reading has never really been my forte though. My mind has the tendency to travel in so many different directions all at once, it can almost feel like a cupcake with an explosive baked inside; at any given moment it will want to explode in many different directions. (mmm cupcakes) However, I am making progress, I was able to read a whole chapter before I realized I had read the words on the entire page without understanding a single thing simply because my mind was elsewhere.

One really positive thing that I can already say I've achieved is the realization that I am forever a student. I have this urge to learn as many things as I can. I started to reflect a lot and realized that growing up I was so concerned with how I was perceived and how the little things affect other little things that I barely took advantage of all the lessons before me. Doors exist all around us, but it's up to us to acknowledge them, and to choose which ones to open now and which ones we can come back to. I guess I never took the time to look up and see the doors that were up to me to open and now I am doing my best to see them around me.

I'm really trying to figure out what it is that inspires me and gets me motivated. I really need to get moving. Even if some situations seem like the most practical or the easiest, it doesn't necessarily amount to the right direction in your life. Sometimes it's exactly those situations that render us motionless. We sit there waiting for things to get better. We keep ourselves in a safe place until the storm has passed, but the thing about life is that there's always a storm coming. You can't let that stop you from moving on with your life. You need to go with what your heart has been pestering you about.

I admit, I've been keeping it safe, hoping that when I get a big-girl job and save up enough money, I'll be able to move out and finally get my life started. The truth is I've been waiting for that time to come and my patience is wearing wafer thin. I know that I've got survivor instincts, so failing is simply not an option. It's like trying to bike uphill; you have to keep pedaling or else you start rolling backwards, and if the slope is still too steep and I have to walk the rest of the way up, I will find no shame in it because I can always jump back on and enjoy the rest of the ride once I get to the top. It's all trial and error anyway and once I get through it I'll know my limits the next time around. I guess what I'm getting at is, I need to get a place of my own.

I just want to know what it's like to make it on my own, to have to depend on myself without a life jacket. I feel like if I get myself a big-girl home than that will inspire me to do big-girl things. I know I'm ready, and I know I'll make it work. Of course it isn't something I can rush into but I do need to commit to making it a short-term goal as opposed to looking at it as a "one day..." goal.

challenge day 3

Falling asleep without TV has become easier but staying asleep seems to be a whole other story. I found myself stirring throughout as usual but normally I had the comforting hum of the TV in the background as a sanctuary, a place of rest for my brain to numb to and allow myself to fall back into a state of sleep. However, now this is all gone. No longer can I numb my brain with TV babble like Nyquil to render myself unconscious. I must rely on myself.

I never thought that I would find such close correalations with my no mindless media challenge to my quest to quit smoking but as my third day begins and I'm taking note of my symptoms of TV withdrawal, I'm really starting to feel as though I'm in rehab.

In essence, it does have quite strong similarities. On my first few days of quitting cigarettes, the absence of the thin white stick between my two fingers had never been so apparent. I realized that certain activities made me expect a cigarette, before after or during. When I stepped outside and knew I had at least a 7 minute walk ahead of me, I'd pull out a cigarette. If I had to wait for a bus, an appointment or a person I would want a smoke. If I was out drinking with friends, I'd want a go out for a dart. If I was at work, we'd want a smoke break. After a big meal, I'd crave that bogey. When I knew this was longer an option, it almost felt like I was on a diet, craving my favorite sweets and witnessing people around you gorging yet knowing that I could not let my self-control get the better of me. As I enter the third day of my no mindless media challenge I see how there are cravings for the remote during a meal, when I'm waiting to leave, or if my favorite cartoon is on. It stares at me from the middle of the room taunting me to turn it on. I hear people around me talking about shows and wish I was in the loop.

When I think about some of the steps I took to quit smoking, there are a couple links there too. Like hiding lighters and staying away from corner stores where the clerk would have the pack ready for me were conscious actions I took to allow myself distance from the dirty habit. In the same way I've hidden remotes and hidden buttons.

Even certain emotions will bring on cravings for the TV light, just like stress would make me want to light that smoke. When I'm bored it seems I want to turn to it the most. It was a time killer.

The more and more I compare the two, the more I see TV as a drug.

Minusing Mindless Media Challenge

I realized yesterday that there is too much white noise in my life. I leave my apartment and I plug into my headphones. I hop on a bus and I drown out the people with music. I go to work and there's mainstream satellite radio droning on in the background. I get home from work and I turn on the TV. I log onto my computer and I turn on my iTunes. I fall asleep and the screen from my TV flickers on. When do I ever have silence? I don't!

Since childhood, TV was always been something of comfort, and I'm certain there are many others that share this feeling. It can become the third (or the primary in some cases) parent when your real ones are busy dealing with grown-up things. We turn to it when we are bored. We leave it on when we are home alone or even when we leave our home alone. We learn to find solace in the "lives" of others when ours feel mundane or otherwise. We watch to take pride in our athletes, to relate to joy and pain, to stay informed with news, to keep up with trends, to learn, to see the world from the comfort of our home. But what are we really seeing? The media can be a great tool but the way it has been integrated into our lives, it is bleeding into our bloodstream and taking over our nervous system, just like a drug. We fiend it without even realizing. 

Yesterday I challenged myself to taking away as much mindless media from my life as possible. I hid my remote and my headphones, I deleted the music off of my iPhone, I took iTunes off the dock of my MacBook, and I put post-its over the buttons on my TV. For the first time in years I want to be able to hear the world and hear my own thoughts. I want to be able to process my thoughts and and take action without getting distracted, because I realized a long time ago that, along with a heavy percentage of the population, I have A.D.D. 

In my opinion, A.D.D. is not genetic. It is a symptom of media overload. The ability to harness your focus and form productive actions is something that comes with time, practice, and experience, yet at an early age we are ridden with commercials and media that take time away from such experiences and are formulated to accommodate everyone's message all at once. In turn, this creates a jumble of distractions. It's like the pictograms that I remember from my childhood that was made up of a jumble of patterns. When you stare at it long enough with unfocused eyes you can see the big picture. It's as if our lives are so overloaded with media that we become unfocused in our attempt to see the big picture. 

What I'm trying to do is ween myself off the popular media drug; drain as much of it as I can from my bloodstream and see how I am effected. Will it improve my ability to focus? What will I hear and what new sounds will I discover? What songs pop into my head? How often will I attempt to turn on the TV?

In my first day of the challenge, I noticed that food and TV go hand in hand. With every meal, I had this intuition to reach for the remote. When my day stood still for a moment I would want to fill the void with TV. Travel and music however was not as big of a challenge yet, since I have taken up biking. I'm a newb with my bike to begin with and riding with music is not the safest choice so that had already been something I was getting used to for the last month anyway. On the other hand, even though we play music at work in the lobby which, is something out of my control for this challenge, I found myself tempted to play music from my phone when I was cleaning theaters. 

I have noticed myself humming random tunes. Yesterday's favourite seemed to be "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" because I had sung it with my cousin's baby, Anita, the other day. As annoying as the song is, it would make me think of her each time so in the end it was still a positive thing.

Thoughts have become extraordinarily clearer and my ability to finish thoughts is becoming more frequent. I feel calmer and more at ease. I can hear the birds, the wind rustle through my blind, and the cars drive by my window. It's as refreshing as taking your first steps out of the house after spending the entire day cooped up indoors. 

Keeping busy

I need a daily project to keep myself busy.
Today's project I assign myself is to design a birthday card. 
It shall be due tomorrow. 

I want that donut!

Yes, that's right, I've fallen in love with a donut. I didn't get its name but it is absolutely the cutest donut I've ever seen. I want it! I'm talking about that pink glazed donut starring in the Excel commercials which were first released, what feels like late last year. I was left wanting to see more, so you can understand my excitement when I saw the second Canadian commercial last night as I was watching The Simpsons. 

I just think they're pretty brilliant. What more can you ask for in a commercial? There are really great characters, an easy to follow message with possible universality (by this I mean you could understand what's going on even if your first language isn't english, pretty important especially in Canada), and though it may have been directed to a specific demographic, being young adults, I'd be surprised if it didn't appeal to many outside that age group. 

Out of the three foodlings; coffee, donut, red onion and garlic, most people will be able to find at least one that they can personally relate to. At the very least there's coffee. Even if you're not a coffee lover, I'm almost certain that the majority of the North American population has at least tried it and can distictly remember the horrible after taste that will not die not matter how many times you attack it with mints, water and other foods. Even gum often only provides temporary relief. In my experience the only thing I've been able to eliminate the aftertaste with is by drinking more coffee. The commercial cleverly targets a common weakness; the lack of ability to stay awake without the help of caffeine, and then exploits the natural embarrassment of the bad breath that follows. We love the dark stuff so much there's a Tim Horton's within a 10 minute walking radius of anywhere in Toronto, sometimes, even two. So why not turn the table a bit and transform what we might normally be seen as bad breath villains into simple characters making them easier to defeat. It's excellent (no pun intended) that they were able to create lovable, memorable characters that pull on the cutestrings of many girls and turns an otherwise invinceable situation into one that they're gum can help you overcome.

Featured here are the two Canadian commercials:

Here are a couple more I found that look like they're from the UK. 

In these ones there are even more characters whose personifications are just awesome. For example, the cigarette butt: although the cig butt is proportionally smaller than the other foodlings, it's aftertaste is significantly more present. I even love the characterizations and physical features, with its large gorilla-like arms and its James Dean, tough yet cool demeanor.  

All notes aside, if bad breath was actually as cute as these guys,  I'd love to have them following me around and I'd probably never chew gum.

Just saying.