Direction

So over the past couple of weeks, I have been feeling somewhat empty. Its not because I am not happy here in Sydney, fucking far from it. The past few months I have been the happiest that I have been in ages, but somehow I feel as if I am missing something. A lot of people around me are all starting to settle in and seem quite content with them selves. Some have also been saying that they have started to base things on being “personal” and the “work” related, like that each of us should be happy in each of them. I started to separate things in my head into these 2 sections and I got lost. I feel that if your not happy in your “work” area, your “personal” area can suffer. And then I started to think, well which one do you work on first, work or personal?
But I guess that’s not the point.
The point with me, I guess is that I am beginning to feel that I have no purpose. I feel that I am OK at what I do for a living, but im not great at it, but I honestly don’t have the drive to push myself any further (which to me is quite bad). I guess there are just going to be a few hurdles coming up over the nest few months and I really need to sort out which direction I want to go. Anyone got a map?

X marks the spot

X seems to mark alot of things, alot of spots and not alot of treasure. But when you put two X's together you get something wonderful, and i dont just mean signing off an email with 2 kisses. The XX is a band, if you have been hiding under a rock lately. From London, this bunch of 20 year olds are going to play Laneway festival in late Jan and I am highly excited by this. I have been playing them all day today and making my fellow workers finally listen to some decent music our office.

Macaroni & Cheese

I just ate macaroni and cheese for the first time ever, dont really rate it. Glad i didnt eat it when i was a kid and that i stuck with ruce bubbles. They were much more fun.

Justin Thomas kay

Justin Thomas Kay is a fab designer and one awesome typographer. Based in NYC he mainly freelances in the realm of editorial, print and apparel. I really love his strong and tight type lock ups, which sometime rely on graphic link ups. He can take words and punch them into something which is eye catching and visually grand to look at.

Find him here: http://www.justinthomaskay.com/

Musical Chairs

Is there such a thing as an over achiever when it comes to music? Or is it just put down to this one person being uber talented and doing good things? And what happens if the person is modest about it or even all up in your face about it? Do we give them the respect that they deserve, let it slide or put it down to a serious case of musical chairs?

Everywhere I go music wise of late, people are promoting the album by the “Supergroup” Them Crooked Vultures. The new band consisting of Dave Grohl (a man with many bands on his CV – Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Probot, QOTSA), Josh Homme (everyone’s favourite musical redhead from QOTSA & Eagles of Death Metal) and finally John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin).






















Now I totally understand that these 3 names make people ooo and ahh when placed all together in the same room, but do they deserve all this attention when honestly will they make it past one album and one whirlwind tour to sell a truck load of merch? I am going to sit those concerts out, and not because I don’t think the music they are producing id crap, its catchy… but I am sure the hype will be around for months afterwards.

I guess another person that could fit into this genre is Mike Patton. Now I guess I am going to be a little biased on this certain individual as I do think he is a GOD, but with this number bands under your belt you may start to wonder… Faith No More, Peeping Tom, Mr Bungle, Tomahawk, Fantomas, Zu, Lovage, The Dillinger Escape Plan and Booya Tribe.






















Mr Patton has been apart of many more groups along the way too, I mean just on albums that his vocals have featured on goes over the amount of 40. So does Mike have a few problems with commitment and likes to jump ship, or does he just go with the flow and spreads his seed around? And not that I am complaining on this, I do love a Patton vocal on the odd occasion (OK almost everyday).

In Australia we have Tim Rogers. Front man for You Am I, The Twin Set and also The Temperance Union, he has also done the solo project thing with 4 solo albums released by 2007 and he has also done a separate album with Tex Perkins.






















To be honest I do love You Am I, seeing them at the Enmore for a fee of $12 when I was 16 with my fake ID seemed the be all and end all, but lately he does fall into this over achiever area for me (the album Hourly Daily remains separate, as I bought it from a porn shop on George Street when I was 17, more than likely with the same fake ID).


But it does raise the question of are these people in a great demand or do they just need the attention?

Movember Lights

More Tee's

So I know I have posted about the rad as tee on Only NY before, but this one wasn’t on their site before!! Marlin on a shirt, who would have thunk it?























And also today I had another quick look at the Rockers NYC site and found think beauty.

















Kinda a little 1980’s goth coming out in this design but I think it works. Wear it loose & baggy and splash it with black jeans and red kicks and your in.
Find it here http://www.rockersnyc.com/

Good Vs Bad

Travelling via train every morning does have its good side, the freebies given out when you leave the turnstiles at Town hall Station. Yesterday and today the gods of free stuff have blessed me with individual portions of Berocca, as if they knew deep down that I really needed one. Then once you walk up the stairs and hit the footpath you get a muesli bar for your mid morning snack, or for me breakfast. It reminds me of walking around the city of Tokyo and everyone handing you the little packets of tissues. And then with all the free food that I also get from work everyday, I think I could live off this stuff.






















But then again, travelling via train every morning does have its bad side, the cost. $3.40 one way or $6.20 return, when I buy my ticket at 8.30am. Just to go 3 stops and spend a grand total of 7 minutes on a city rail, sticky floor train. I think I am going to have to haul my body out of bed earlier and walk to work and home again.

The Tourist Route

Why do tourists get up so early? Is this a common rule that all of them must adhere too upon entry into a new country? I think they must have to sign a sworn statement saying that they would do so, because when you are on holidays why would you want to get out and about before 8.30am? And before you say, “how do you know that they are actually tourists?”, trust me know. They have all the tell tale signs… the New Zealand city stamped t-shirt, the Velcro sandals, the Dutch brand backpack and a foldout map tucked in the back pocket of their cargo shorts.
And why would you want to wander around a city before most business open or people start work? I mean you would have to battle the peak hour buses and trans to get anywhere, the que at Woolies at Town hall is crazy that time of day and the queues at every coffee shop I walk past on my way to work are out the door. I understand if you had to get to the airport or to a early morning bridge climb, but are there any attractions worth seeing before 10.30am in Sydney next to a sunrise?
When I travel I guess I take the laidback approach. Sleep in until my body wakes me up (or until the cleaner tells me too), take as little as I can out with me during the day, leave the guidebook at home and wander down as many back streets as possible. Of course I go and see the major sites, I mean who goes to Paris and doesn’t sit at the Eiffel Tower? But I somehow feel that the people from out of town visiting Sydney feel like they are missing something if they don’t hit the streets early.
The only time I got up super early was to go and see the Tokyo Fish Markets which were defiantly worth the 4am wake up call my friend and I had. But believe me the rest of the time I was safely tucked up in bed until at least 9am.

Bob A Job

When does a job become a lifestyle rather than just a way to pay the bills? When you stop caring about your pay packet and more about the work that you do? And how many of us are really that happy about our current career paths?

I went for a job interview this morning and it was for a position that really doesn’t take my fancy. I mean it is a good job and would be a stable company for a long term role, like you could really have a solid input into the direction the company would grow in. However I feel like it would be almost a side step from what I had planned with my change of career at the start of the year but the money is better than what I have going on at the moment which always is a good thing. In a sense I wouldn’t be side stepping that much, I would technically still be in the design area, just in the other suburbs of it, ie: Chatswood. The massive down side is that you wouldn’t be surrounded by other creative people, just office workers and paper pushers. There wouldn’t be anyone to get design advice from or someone to offer their creative criticisms.
So what to do? Would you take the higher pay and have the creative sacrifice, or do you stay where you are currently, which is barely the minium wage, but you have some input into the work? At the moment I really feel like I am treading water, waiting for something to come and get me. And I am not a patient person at the best of times, and that feeling is pushing me towards moving on and taking the other job.

Honestly I am the type of person that would work for next to nothing if the job was rewarding in other ways and if I believed in it. I feel that if I had a mentor of some kind I would be better off and I would develop my skills further and be happier with them. Then also staying with that studio/agency for a solid amount of time. I just think that I would learn so much more and be a better designer at the end of it. Dream job I know, and seriously how often do they come along?

I guess I am just wanting the job thing more now as a lot of other things in my life have fallen into place lately. As my mum always says, you cant have everything...

Flip Flop Off

Last year my old Editor told me she could predict what I would wear the following day, and without telling me she would be close to correct every day. She would tell her PA the day before and for 3 months straight they keep a tally of what she predicted and then what I showed up in the next day. At the end of the 3 months, I was called into the “oval office” and given this spreadsheet on my work attire. She started the conversation by saying “What is it with your Australians? No matter how cold or wet it is outside you always wear thongs”. And fair enough, the facts were on paper… the spreadsheet told me so. For 2 months, 3 weeks and 2 days I wore thongs to work, only opting for converse sneakers on 3 Fridays when I was apparently going out dancing after work.
Before this I had never noticed my shoe wearing or lack of wearing in this case. But thinking back I do have a habit to walk barefoot around the office sometimes…

Now this memory only popped into my head an hour ago when I was walking down a busy Pitt Street on my lunch break towards the bank, when this man stopped me and pulled me aside. The conversation went along these lines…

Man: Are you Australian?
Me: Ahh, yes…
Man: What is it with you Australians? (please re read his parts with a English accent)
Me: Im sorry?
Man: You people always wear thongs, are your feet not cold?
Me: No they are not actually
Man: Is your neck cold?
(I stare blankly at him…)
Man: Well its just your wearing a scarf… its like your feet are in the Tropic’s but your neck is in Russia!
Me: (looking down at my feet) well I never really thought of that this morning
Man: Well do you check the weather reports?
Me: No
Man: I think you should. He then walks away…


Now I know I don’t have the most awesome taste in clothes or that I am so up there with fashion of the current day… but what is wrong with wearing a scarf and thongs?!? If I wasn’t so shocked and in awe that a stranger stopped me to tell me off in the street I would have taken him on in a debating argument on the matter.
Is it such a conflict of interests to wear a scarf and thongs? Hasn’t the trusty pair of havaiana’s become a staple in all wardrobes of both men and women? And hasn’t this guy been to Bondi on a Sunday afternoon? Shouldn’t he be fitting into the stereotypical mould of the English backpacker and donning his own pair of flip flops, billabong shorts, bonds singlet and red raw sunburn?

Epic

Epic Win!

I got me some Faith No More tickets this morning.
Today is going to be a grand as day now. Mike is streaming his vocals though the earphones, seriously these tickets are not leaving my hands today. I can not stop smiling. To see the line up of members from The Album of the Year album, is going to be something else. Don the red suit Mike Patton, we have a date in February.

Chase that feeling

PACKLAB

I want to go to PACKLAB school.
PACKLAB is the packaging and Brand Design Dept at the Lahti Institute of Design in Finland. They work closely with the industry to conceptualise and create designs that push boundaries. And some of the work is amazing! Below is Anni Nykanen’s popcorn concept, and you know I heart popcorn.

Buy Cheap, Buy Twice

New Look Coke Can??

Stumbled across these images on a few different design blogs this afternoon, while trying to avoid as much work as possible. Designed by Dzmitry Samal the shape of the tradition coke can has become so much more geometric. I really like the concept, and how each section could be a different colour... it could actually work. But then again design quialies dont sell products off a shelf do they?















Check out Dzmitry Samal full range of work here
www.samaldesign.com

Photo Blog

In case some of you didnt know, i have a second blog, just for my photographs. you wont find any of my jibber jabber over on the other one, just some pretty pictures.

eye-take-photos.blogspot.com

Generation i

So we have the Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y. I think we should now be in the Generation “i”. I have been noticing that everyone I seem to walk past lately in the streets has white earphones draping down their bodies. I normally am one of these people too, but yesterday I went for a stroll without my beloved music and actually listened to the world. And again this morning walking to work, I didn’t don the earphones; I just walked in music-less.
Now I understand that almost everyone on the face of the planet has an ipod or iphone these days, I mean I have the phone the pod and the shuffle, and I understand that they each do have a great purpose. I couldn’t do an overseas trip with my ipod, or a long drive in the car without it. But I am starting to think that I somehow rely on it a little too much. It’s almost like one of my senses has been taken over.
Take travelling for example, you are wandering around a new city or town that you have never been to before, there are so many new sights and smells that you can take in, yet you have your earphones in with some song from an old playlist you made 6 months earlier streaming into your ears. The sound of a new city also evokes a feeling and emotions and then a memory in time. I get that having music when travelling is a necessity but wouldn’t you want to take it the sound of the locals at the bakery having a conversation while they purchase their loaf of bread? Or the chit chat of people on a train on their morning commute? Or if you are sitting in a park eating the local cheese and drinking the local vino, would you not want to be surrounded by the locals doing the same? If you are in a country that speaks another language, don’t you try to half work out what they are talking about, or imagine what they could be talking about? I just feel that if you had your ipod in at times like these you would be missing so much about that moment. We travel to see new sights and experience different cultures and places. We do this by sight, touch, smells and sounds.
This also goes for the same situations in your own city and suburb. I grew up in the suburbs and my memory of child hood is the yells and screams of all of the kids in the backyard or yelling marco polo around our pool on the weekends. I don’t want to get all insightful and crap but, have those days gone? Last time I went home to mums, I looked over the back fence and the next door neighbours kids were on their laptops with earphones in.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a full supporter and believer in the ipod and that it certainly does have a purpose in life with me. And I do not know what I did without my iphone some days, but I also think that it has taken over my life a little too much. Good on Apple for doing this, in the mass market scale of things, but I kind of just want to take a step backwards and open my ears so to speak. Lately I feel like I have been missing some things by working 6 days a week, and by having the lifestyle that I have had over the past 12 months. Surely it wouldn’t be that bad taking a step backwards and just enjoying the mundane things in the everyday that we almost don’t even think/hear about?

Arcade Fire - Neighborhood Number One

And if the snow buries my,
my neighbourhood.
And if my parents are crying
then I'll dig a tunnel
from my window to yours,
yeah a tunnel from my window to yours.
You climb out the chimney
and meet me in the middle,
the middle of the town.
And since there's no one else around,
we let our hair grow long
and forget all we used to know,
then our skin gets thicker
from living out in the snow.

You change all the lead
sleepin' in my head,
as the day grows dim
I hear you sing a golden hymn.

Then we tried to name our babies,
but we forgot all the names that,
the names we used to know.
But sometimes, we remember our bedrooms,
and our parent's bedrooms,
and the bedrooms of our friends.
Then we think of our parents,
well what the hell ever happened to them?!

You change all the lead
sleepin' in my head to gold,
as the day grows dim,
I hear you sing a golden hymn,
the song I've been trying to sing.

Purify the colours, purify my mind.
Purify the colours, purify my mind,
and spread the ashes of the colours
Over this heart of mine

iPod Magic Moments # 1

Don’t you like it when your sitting down at your desk at work, eating some food that your mum cooked for you, and a song comes on through your earphones that makes you sit up and go “hey, I remember these guys!”. Then you spark into a full blown research analysis of said band which leads you into listening to their back catalogue for the rest of the day.

Well today’s “hey, I remember these guys!” is VHS or BETA.






















I was caught up in this today by their song Cant believe a single word, and it has speed up from there. This band can make dancing like a fool, cool again at a rock concert. I can just picture a load of kids with skinny skinny jeans on and hair sprayed hair, doing that lean forward then back, then repeat dance move with a hand clap thrown in for good measure (picture Vince Nior from The Mighty Boosh but without the sparkles).
VHS or BETA fit into the realm of band such as The Rapture and The Killers, just without the The. More dance dance than The Cure, and more pop culture then Duran Duran. Songs are packed with hooks and I quite like them.

i would like for my birthday...

Only NY

Only NY has some rad as tee's that i would love to get my grubby little mits on! and a bag to carry them in

find them here

http://www.onlynylives.com/

An open letter to all marketing people

Dear Marketing,

Please write your briefs correctly before giving them to a designer. Believe it or not, but we actually use these letters & words on a page as an outline of what you what designed. Sometimes it can even cut down time spent on designing your poster as well. As much as I would love to have ESP, I don’t, therefore can not foresee you wanting yet another logo in the top right hand corner instead of some negative space. Just jot it down on your already perfect* brief and email it to me BEFORE the due date.

Thankyou

Sarah Holmes

*perfect means this A4 poster shouldn’t take 8 hours to design for you

Wanderlust

A year ago today I was in Tokyo, Japan with two good mates going to see Radiohead for the second night in a row. This was my first overseas trip since coming back form the UK 2 years before hand, and now a year later I find myself planning my next big trip. Already with Glastonbury tickets in my hand for the 2010 festival, I know that I will have to end up in the motherland at some point. But where to before that? And I say before as I know I wont be able to hold out here in Sydney until then.
I am a wanderluster and proud of it.

So here is my short list of places that I would like to hit in the not too distant future, and as most things in my life they are in no order.

South by Southwest – although this music festival is a little earlier than I would be hoping to escape too, I have always wanted to go to Texas and attend this 4 day festival. And i know i am being the biggest music groupies by even putting this on my list but hey, which of you wouldnt want to come with me? On lead up to the SXSW festival I would somehow coincide a road trip of the US some sort to the event. This would just ad to the build up of the music festival. And of course I would have a car load full of my music festival buddies in tow.

























India – I mean why not? It has been on my list of places to travel to for over 5 years. I passed up India for Morocco in 2006 and have been itching to go since. 2010 marks the year that the Commonwealth Games are on in New Delhi in October, so surely I could spend a good 4-6weeks in April/May before the city gets overrun with UK and other Aussie Tourists? Hmm maybe, May is the hottest month of the year or India… 50 degrees… maybe I should re think this one.





















Rwanda – I should have gone and done this last year with my friend Jane, but didn’t. So is life really! And now it ends up on my list again. Now I don’t want to be all Dianne Fossey on everyone, but I have always wanted to trek into the mountains of the Kibale Forest and see the chimps and gorillas. I honestly think it would be one of the most magical moments in your life. Seeing such animals in the wild and knowing that they are so close to extinction.



















Trans Siberian Railway – Again something that I have had in the back of my mind for a while. Overland from China to Russia in a train just sounds so romantic to me. Need I say anymore?
















Japan – yes again, for something like the 5th time. This country just amazes me every time I go. The people are friendly, the transport system is super fast and dedicated to being efficient (take note cityrail), the sneaker shopping is fab, the food is yummo and living is reasonably cheap. Japan wasn’t what I thought it to be when I first went and it took some time for me to become adjusted to it, but once that happened I fell in love with the place. Everything is so readily available for you, vending machines are god. From underwear to council estate size colas to beer or a bottle of wine, these things are open 24/7. The culture is amazing. People are very traditional, they support the communities and every Sunday you can find a sake drinking competition that even I can take part of.

To Dunk or not to Dunk…

So for a while I have been throwing up the idea of getting Nike hi tops. I have always been a low cut kinda girl (no not that kind of low cut), even with my converse collection, but there is something with a set of nice bright hi tops with tights and a short skirt that makes me want to buy a pair. Lily Allen was my Air Max 90s inspiration, so you never know…
So looking around on the interwebs lately I feel torn between two lovers. Blazers and Dunks. I have always looked to the Blazers first as I like the strip around the sole of the shoe with this cap at the front.













Then I saw these bright young things on the Size? Website over in the UK. And I am faced with the question “To Dunk or not to Dunk?”















Ever since Chi Chi showed me this store I have been logging on and drooling over several pairs since she left me 2 months ago. Yes, I think I found love. Although these Dunk Premiums have a slight Lakers feel going on in the colour way, I adore them.
So my reasoning now shall be, these bright purple Dunks and then these solid black Dunk Hi AC Tier Zero’s. Which have just hit the market at Atmos in Japan, so fellow sneaker people, who wants to pick me up a pair while your all in the land of the rising sun next week?? Huh, huh?

Three Way Tie

Nimbus Vador

My good mates Bridge and Kid Zoom are taking the Aussie Art Talent to NYC on Oct 1st. They both are in the show Nimbus Vador with fellow Australian, Anthony Lister. This would be the place to be...

Drawing a Blank

Am I the last one to jump on the band wagon?
Did I miss the boat yet again?
Should I repeat kindergarten?
Should I go directly to goal and not pass go?
Why have I not found the rapper Amanda Blank before?

I think I have a new Idol, watch out Karen O…






















This grrrl is HOT and she has a bank full of talent. Coming straight out of Philly she has a wicked tongue on her and I’m sure she is set out to prove everything wrong. This lass has already worked with some of the biggest names in the music biz, Ghostface Killah, Yuksek, Diplo (squeal) and she was the voice on that fuckin’ awesome song of all time Bump by Spankrock. Come to think of it I’ve seem this lady live in action with Spankrock at the Becks Bar!


















Listening to Something Bigger, Something Better currently and I just want to go out and dance to some hip hop, in some new sneaks. Her tunes are really quite addictive, her gun-magazine samples and laser-gun effects make the songs bounce well with her soft MCing in this track. Some could compare her to a MIA or Santigold, but I think her rhymes are much dirtier and layered. From what I have heard so far, Ms Blank knows how to have a good time, and I wouldn’t say no to a live show hers.























I honestly am going to go out and buy this CD of hers this week, and believe me it is going to get played on repeat. Tracks like Shame on me and Might like you and so going to make it on one or two playlists this summer. yet the song Gimme What you Gotwhich features Spankrock, is a top fav after one listen. The dirty as back tracking would be so good to hear loud as possible in a place like Fabric London.


New style icon too maybe? Or too early to call? I think this grrrl will pick up the pace where MIA has us left on. I can see my new wardrobe already.