Bleh!!!!

People are so stubborn they bore me to no ends. I am so freaking tired of this and it has barely begun. I don't think it will ever happen. I BELIEVE that it will never happen. Until then, I am not taking sides nor am I going to talk about you behind your back. What are we? Five year olds?

Feature 005: Albert Lasker and Lucky Strikes

I was doing my research on advertising and came across this book, '5 Giants of Advertising.' Being only 1/5 of the way through, I was introduced to the founder of modern advertising, Albert Lasker. Never did I think I will stumble across a text book that will make me laugh out loud.

He was an influential figure because he was the first to put emphasis into copy writing. In fact, he started the first copy writing team in the world within his own ad agency, Lord & Thomas.

Another thing that I wanted to share besides facts on this awesome old guy, was a Lucky Strike ad that was made incredibly famous. Ad like this faced no possibility of getting out to the public at all these days.

The headline was: Light a Lucky and you'll never miss sweets that make you fat. The idea came from a mischievous intent on Lasker's part. Back then, sales of sweets were compromised by cigarettes, therefore the industry allocated a large sum of money for a campaign saying sucking on sweets will curb the need for a smoke. Lasker then retaliated by creating one of the most famous slogan of all time.

Do you see how this ad will not make it to print in today's time? On the ad, it also said, "No Throat Irritation, No Cough."

This was the copy on the ad:

"Instead of eating in between meals... instead of fattening sweets... beautiful women keep youthful slenderness these days by smoking Luckies. The smartest and loveliest women of the modern stage take this means of keeping slender... when others nibble fattening sweets, they light a Lucky!

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For years, this has been no secret to those men who keep fit and trim. They know that Lucky steady their nerves and do not harm their physical condition............ They respect the opinions of 20,679 physicians who maintain that Luckies are less irritating to the throat than other cigarettes."

Cigarettes were considered healthy back in those days, about early 1900s. There is nothing keeping us from discoveing something that we might take religiously now because of its health benefits and having it turn its head on us in years to come.

Advertising is a great power. Therefore, I shall conclude this post by stating, "With great power comes great responsibility."


ps: cliche-ish, i know.

Feature 004: Maximum Minimalism Conference

Came back from the KL Design Week Maximum Minimalism Conference (MMC) a while ago. So very tired... but I have a feeling if I didn't blog about it now, I wouldn't find the desire to tomorrow. I went with Tze Yee to the conference. She was the only without sanity who would accompany me to something like this. Apparently, I managed to convince Kee Theng to go for the conference too. She came all the way from Penang and I met her during the MMC, it was so nice seeing a familiar face from home.

Supposedly, the MMC was one of the most expensive conference held during the KLDW. Luckily for us, Tze Yee knew someone who was working there and we managed to get a heavily discounted student price. We deliberated for a while, not sure if this would be worth it. And then I thought, what the heck, why not? This was the first time such an event was held in KL, it would be a valuable experience to be able to listen to all the invited designer speakers.

So we went! The overview of the MMC was that it was not as exciting or educational as I thought it would be. In fact, there were moments when I fell asleep during the speeches (was so darn tired from a late night, I only had two hours sleep prior to the conference, so cut me some slack!). But for what some of the designers shared and for the chance to see them in person, this trip was worth it. Not exactly great, but I am not regretting the decision either.

Do you know who David Carson is? No? Neither do I.

He was one of the main speakers during the event. To give you an idea on how important this dude was, I'll tell you that his name was the first listed among the speakers, his bio was the first printed on all booklets and there was another conference with him as the only speaker and you can only attend that conference with him by invitation. That's how big he was. Well, at least that was the idea I got.

But after the speaker got off the stage, the MC informed us that David Carson was ill and could not make the flight to KL. Everyone in the room groaned, and I thought, who?? Heck, I was only there for STEFAN SAGMEISTER!!! Let me bring you through the speakers of the day. I have only selected speakers that I admired and listened to without falling asleep.

The first speaker who got my attention was this pair of designers from France, Kuntzel + Deygas. I remembered them from this feature piece I read from IdN Magazine some time ago. One of their most famous creations was this pair of dogs, Caperino & Peperone. The basic shape of these dogs were the letters 'a' and 'b'. One was rounder in shape while the other had more edges and rectangular. With these basic traits, these characters could be modified in many ways and yet remained recognizable. They were selling T-shirts with the characters printed on them at RM 180++, I think.

Hehe... I managed to get both the designers' autographs as well as a stamped Cap and Pep. So cute~ it was amazing to me how popular these dogs were and how far they have travelled in the world.

Another project they shared was this credit clip they did for the Steven Spielberg's film 'Catch Me If You Can' staring Tom Hanks and Leornado DiCaprio. The modification they did on the typeface with the extended stroke was refreshing to me, the first time I saw them. Since then, I have seen many modifications that followed the same style. I, myself have attempted it without success. See the silhouettes of the people? Those were made using stamps of individual parts ie: head,torso, arm, leg.


The next designer was Shun Kawakami from Japan. I confessed I fell asleep during his talk. How could I not with soft zen-like music playing in the background and his soft spoken English lilted with Japanese accent. Listening to him was like practically listening to a lullaby! Anyways, boredom aside, I enjoyed looking at his work tremendously. I liked his calligraphy-like graphic works below. He didn't illustrate them, apparently, but he was the one who came up with the concept, I think. Not very sure, my brain was induced with sleep at the time.


As sleepy as I was, I did pay attention when he elaborated on this project of his called 'Art and Sound'. See those wires coming out of the canvasses from the picture below? All those wires were connected to a CD player thing, I think, and hanging below the canvasses were ear phones. The idea was to treat yourself visually to the artwork while you put on the ear phone and listen to the music playing. I found the concept to be different. I wonder how listening to the music played would affect how you look at the illustration.

Part way through this, I caught Tze Yee falling asleep on camera. Bwahahahahah~~

The most exciting typographic design from all the artworks shown, to me, would be the one from the picture below. These was a creation from a team of designers, Troika, from the UK. But none of the designers originated from there, I think. Notice how the typefaces were formed following the geometric guide on the right?

See how the lights ran down from above and formed the typeface by running through the grid as programmed?


Oooo... I saved the best two for last!

During the Beijing Olympic 2008, the bird nest stadium had created a hiatus for its unique design. Another architectural wonder was the aquatic center, more widely known as the Water Cube. If I were to compare the two, the Water Cube captivated me more with its out-of-this-world design where the walls were shaped like bubbles!

The reason for the above comment was one of the architects who designed the Water Cube was here for the conference! His name was Chris Bosse. I found it amazing that throughout his talk, I was completely awake and there never was a dull moment. Not that he was an incredibly good speaker or that he peppered his talk with jokes or anything, but with the sureness and beliefs that he injected into his talk. I have always thought that a great design would not only look beautiful, but used its attractiveness to achieve a certain goal. The Water Cube was a prime example of a great design. The bubble walls were not there to merely look pretty, but served the purpose of storing heat to warm up the pool (sorry if I didn't get this point straight enough).

Another reason I absolutely admired this guy was because he was a very nice man in person. He was the only one who asked for a name when he signed in my book. I was very very happy to have gotten his signature!


Last but certainly not least, Stefan Sagmeister. In my first GD class, the first thing we were asked to do was to research on this man. Of all the speakers, his works were the one I have seen multiple times and was slightly more familiar than the rest. Apparently, he was like a super star in the design field. When it was his turn to speak, every drowsy head immediately cleared. This was surely because he was the reason many of us were there in the first place.

Unlike the others, Sagmeister was a very good speaker. He was inspiring. It also helped matters that he was the only one who made jokes, no matter they were bawdy ones. I couldn't say he was my favourite designer or that I looked up to him, but he was certainly an inspiration. It was also incredibly exciting to have finally seen one of the most famous and influential designer of our time (he's not dead yet, unlike many great others).


Going to the MMC was a good choice. Not going to regret it for a single moment. Will I go again next year? Ummm.... we'll see. =P

Fashion Show: Gothic

There was another fashion show at the plaza. If I was not mistaken, all final year diploma students would have a fashion show to showcase their final piece, or something. This is something I have gotten used to seeing ever since I stepped foot into the campus. What I haven't gotten used to was the bizarre sense of fashion these people have.

The theme this time around was gothic, which was a bad choice, to me. First, black was one colour people were seriously sick of looking at in LKW. Second, most of the models were Africans, and I personally felt they looked better in bright colours or white.


All the models taking a final walk down the runway. I didn't understand the black veil/cloth thing that they had on them. Most of these cloths were draped awkwardly on the model. What was worse, the cloth prevented a clear view of the design.

These were the diploma students taking an honourary walk on the runway themselves. I happened to think most of the girls here were prettier than the models.

I have three more semesters in LKW. I am still waiting for that one fashion show that will blow me away.


ps: there were this group of secondary school students who came for a tour around the uni. i have to fight down a serious urge to go up to them and warn them about this scamming place.

pps: hehe.... i have partially finished my labelling. one useless thing down, many more useless ones to come~ so stay tune!!

JUST DO IT

Do forgive me, I believe I am freaking out right now.

How? How? How???????????????????

Nike's slogan: JUST DO IT

Yeah... okay... no biggie. Discipline, dedication, and the rare motivation. I can do it. Nevermind the fact that It is due in two to three weeks? And I have yet to think of a solid concept or any materials for it. I sit around moaning about not doing any work. Heck, stupid, go get stuff done!!

Do work. Screw fun.

Album Released Today!!

Today is the release of his new album! Does that mean it will also be available in Malaysia already? Anyhow, will try to go scout for his album this weekend! I am going to spend A LOT of MONEY this Sunday. A LOT. Will be so broke before I can print anything... No more expensive meals, imported potato chips, and novels...

I look forward to just listening to all his new songs and truly understanding them by referring to the lyrics booklet. Please be already out in Malaysia.. please!!

01. Allegro, Opus 3.3 a.m.

02. 還有什麼可以送給你

03. 於心有愧

04. 今天只做一件事

05. 一個旅人

06. 七百年後

07. Life Goes On

08. 太陽照常升起

09. 不來也不去

10. 沙龍

New Way to Play

Was planning to go to sleep at ten just now. Even if I was not sleepy nor tired, was planning to just go lie down on the bed. And hopefully sleep will come. Thinking to hell with butterflies and bugs and shapes and what-ever-nots.

Alas, Evelyn Chan came to the rescue!

I was on MSN, so I decided to bug her to tell me stories. We started off none too special, then she suggested making this a slow chat. How slow? Very slow. In between replies, we have to finish a section of our work. That way, work can be done and we have something to look forward to, the replies. Rule of the game: type long, reply slow.

It worked, you know. Instead of lying down doing nothing, I got some butterfly colourings done. It kept the boring doing work alone session interesting.

But the con was that, the chat might get more interesting than the work itself.

It's all in the balance.

An All Nighter That Crashed

There are sixteen colour studies to be done. I have only gone through half of them. Is it just me or does my work seemed bland?

This brings back memories of staying up till seven or eight in the morning, trying to rush some last minute works to the print shop. That stage has yet to arrive this sem; I am slowly but surely training my body to kick into that mode. There is just this satisfaction of staying up till the wee hours of morning doing the things you love. And you're doing it for a living. This will be my career. Anytime I feel like shoving my works down the toilet, I shall remind myself of this.

There are really not that much work to do, they just seemed overwhelming in quantity. Colour studies, typo journals with unending labellings, cutting and pasting, tissue box edits, Toyota Yaris ad sketches and worst of all, a whole packaging concept that I have yet to give any real thoughts.

The thought of mounting works excites me. The reality of facing them made me want to puke.

Tomorrow I will have a post to show my progress. Yes I will. Just so you see.

Eason Chan Rules the Universe!!!!

Today was supposed to make my day. :(

My handphone rang at 11:30 am, and I saw the reminder I set in it from some time ago: "Moov Live".

On the 9th of March, Eason Chan held a mini concert where he sang all the songs from him upcoming album: Eason Chan and the H3M Band. Then on today, the site is going to release all the videos from that mini concert so that the fans get to hear all his new songs before the release of the album.

Happy happy la I go online. Then I saw the videos~ yippee! And then, rupa rupanya there were only two videos which are free to watch. The rest were only available if I signed up as a member. Which will not prove to be a problem apart from the fact that the registration was only open to Hongkies.

Crap la... but I did have a whole ten minutes of satisfaction just watching that two available videos. Do you know, I can fall for him all over again every single time I watch him sing live. Again and again. Over and over. Is it any wonder how I am completely and utterly besotted by Eason Chan, the best singer ever!!!!

His album is going to come out on 23 March 2009~ whoa!! But I wonder if it's going to be a worldwide release. I can't wait! I am willing to sacrifice my time just listening to his new songs and completely indulge in them. But then again, this is no sacrifice at all, yes?

Sweet. Just. Look. At. Him.

Really, and you wonder why I am crazy over him and only him?

Pictures courtesy of: http://easonchan101.blogspot.com

Tissue Mock Up

Yeh~ done the mock up for the ugliest looking monster/housewife. I have been getting some mixed reactions for this illustration. Sometimes, I just don't know if they were going to bowl over from laughter or wrinkle their forehead in confusion. Anyhow, will be getting this in for tutorial later. If it didn't work, well, it just means extra work. No biggie... right.

Ugh... this is one cranky auntie to pull off. Haha... having those pair of blue eyes staring at me the whole time is a lil' unnerving..

edit 4.36pm: lawrence gave my monsteric tissue box the nod with some changes i can live with. just a little tuck here and a little nip there, and we'll be done! but before all that, there's still the typo journal due tmr...

From the Crooked Smiley Face

A bit late in posting this, but I got something sweet in the mail from a certain cranky weirdo way down south in the city where merlion spits sea water.

You know I love you too, despite all that was said and not said.

ps: okey~ i have officially used up my quota for mushy stuff this month. am gonna revert back to the cold heartless stereotype that everyone's saying i am these days...

And So I Told Myself...

Right before the day starts, I told myself, "You're allowed to go online to check on blog updates, check email and strictly no MSN." I went online, checked my blog and email, and shucks, logged on to MSN.

When I came back from uni at 12pm, I told myself, "You're allowed an afternoon nap, get enough sleep so that you can stay up late. " I slept till four, and napped again at eight.

I woke up to have dinner, I told myself, "You can watch Grey's Anatomy while eating your toast garlic bread but work starts straight away after dinner." After dinner, I washed up, and lay in bed to watch the rest of Grey's Anatomy disc 2.

Today's result? Five hours and I have just finished this pitiful outline. So lazy... you get me?

Because It Tickled Me So

Below was an sms exchange between my mom and I.

Mom: I got the bk chg of hrt.

And I thought "Waa.. bak chang season here d ka? Aiyo... why wait when I'm not at home only eat bak chang? Is hrt somewhere near where grandma lives or it's the place where mom normally get the bak chang?

Me: Where's hrt?
Mom: I got the book change of heart by Jodi Picoult la.

Aiyo... say la.. made me think of bak chang. Now so hungry... T_T

Why Do You Bother?

This was another one of those dull nights where there's really nothing much to do and all I have for company were my thoughts. I stumbled across some pictures with Danielle and simply putting them together made me smile. The girl was silly and crazy. Her tears were these big drops where they really seemed like they can drown the whole world. I miss the little munchkin. Her huge grins, tears and indignant screams.

Have you ever have one of these nights when a little prompt can either make you smile or frown? I have been thinking again. Dangerous, I know. Possible, you think? Definitely. I felt like a fool most of the time when things like this happened. I tried to put it off but it came back again and again to haunt me. Until I saw it. Ah... it has brought me back to reality once more.

This won't make sense to you. I doubt it will to me next morning. I need sleep.

I like quiet nights like this. If only there's no school tomorrow so that I can stay up till dawn and bombard my blog with tonnes of nonsensical posts.

Today, my favourite colour is blue. Coz it reminds me of Danielle.

Me and D

I was saying...

It's only 2.39 am and I can't keep my eyes open. I need more practice in staying awake. I blame it on the boring research I was doing.

Went on Facebook and saw the result for the Liverpool VS Manchester United match. Rui, you must be on such a high tonight, I doubt you'll get any sleep..

Ta~ night.

A New Bathroom For Grumpy

I got a new bathroom for Grumps! Finally have enough money to do this. Go green, to match his colour. If only my nieces were here with me, they would have loved this. They usually laughed uncontrollably at the sight of him jumping into the tub and getting showered.

Creme De La Crop

I take ugly pictures. I mean, I tend to look really stupid and retarded in most pictures. Most of them on my own accord, and some, well, I tend to blame the photographer. Below is a picture that I took on my own liberty from Kelly's blog. She was not online for me to ask permission, but at least I credited her here. Anyway, do scroll down and becareful not to piss in you pants.

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The creme de la crop of my personal ugly picture collection. =D

Tissue Box

Ah... blogging about GD assignments. This is what tells me the new semester is ready to roll!!

Some really crazy stuff is going on. For GD this semester, we are basically stuck to doing one major project, which will drag on from hence forth till the end of sem. Packaging. Nothing like that Barbie thing I did last sem, but packaging all the same. Another minor assignment is this, design a tissue box. Below is the mock up for my design.

It's a little too big. I will have to fit this in an A2 size paper and the printing of that is superbly expensive, not to mention, absolutely unneccessary for such an insignificant assignment. Not that this is not important, but come on... Am I supposed to fork out 20 bucks just to print a stupid box that's only gonna be sold for what.. rm4++ if you buy four boxes at the same time from Giant?

Will have to minimize it and try keeping it in an A3. A3 printing only cost around six bucks. =D

ps: my GD lect is another living dinosaur. he has tonnes of experience teaching, i guess. but he is sometimes a bit hard to get. so far so good, i guess.

this is my post ke-satu hundred!!!!!!!

over the span of one year~~~

Pink Is The New Blue

Yeh~ this is a follow up post on the Putrajaya Typo trip. These are some pictures I stole from Shiau Fong's blog. The reason? Coz I can see myself!! This is the woe of always being the photographer, I have a limited stock of my own pictures. But if you were to talk about plants, bricks and pebbles, I have tonnes of them.

We went into the Putrajaya mosque, where we have to be covered from top to bottom in this pink robe. I went there the first time in Form 3 with Rui and HF. It was nicer then coz we were allowed to walk inside within a restricted area, and look up at the dome. But this time around, we were only allowed to linger outside for a mere five minutes.

Haha... these are the people I hang out with here. Pretty, huh? Despite what it looks like in this picture, I am NOT the shortest. A certain someone making a pig face IS the shortest one, and was trying to fool people by standing to the front a little bit more and standing straighter.

Oops... revealed a little bit of my thigh pula!

Hehe... told Shiau Fong I will advertise her blog here in return for these pics. So, please do, check her out: http://www.xfong.blogspot.com She is simply this crazy funny girl who's always first in line for fun!

The Quiet Sun

Blue

It was another typo trip out on an incredibly sunny and bright day. The sky was this fantastic blue, and the clouds were beautiful. Besides feeling dehydrated and barbequed alive most of the time, I got some really nice pics. We went to Putrajaya, and it felt like were not even in Malaysia with the amazing surrounding architectures and parks. If only there were more people living in that part so that those fascilities didn't seem like they were going to waste.

When you go out today, lift your head up to the sky and simply absorb the sun and admire the blue of the sky. And if it was raining, smell the air and enjoy the coolness on your face. In short, relax, have a good day.