Happy New Year! All the best for 2008

Looking back at 07

Best experience: Finally going to Japan to be a tourist in Tokyo and snowboard the resorts in Hokkaido. Finally going to the north side of Vietnam. Ha Long Bay and Sa Pa was amazing, I still need to upload the photos for this trip.

Design related stuff: Haline being in Cut & Paste and her Universe group exhibiton, getting a grant for a photographic exhibition at the Japan Foundation, really like the new Sydney Opera House logo and website redesign as well as the Apple website… and the iPod touch.

Weird achievement for 2007: Finished ‘Hard Level’ on Guitar Hero 2!

Last note for 07: KEVIN 07

Looking forward to 08

I’m not superstitious about the number 8 being a lucky number in asian culture but I think 08 for me will be about working hard and saving money.

We’re planning a France/European trip for Haline’s brothers wedding. We’ve booked a few domestic flights from the Jetstar sales to Melbourne and Cairnes.

Work and the Japan Foundation exhibition will take most of my time.

+

It is now 3 whole years that I’ve had this blog, looking over the archives, the number of posts from month to month have been sporatic, mostly this year because of an increased work load, being over seas and disinterest. I think I’m coming to terms with having this read or mostly not, by people who I have crossed paths with in a negative way. Its hard to edit what is personal and whats not, design related stuff vs private experiences. I guess blogging is choosing to make this information available in the public domain, and if people read it, fine, I’m not going to censor myself…too much hehe

See ya in 2008.

Well, I’ve had the iPod touch for about a week now, playing with it constantly everyday!

This little gadget is so sexy! I haven’t played with something like this and felt the glee of technology since I got my other iPod 3 years ago. Reviews have said that its lacking compared to the iPhone, but we don’t get those down here till next year so you don’t miss what you haven’t got I guess. Surfing the net on the touch is nice, its almost like the real thing without Flash and Quicktime. I’ve emailed via webmail, GMail mobile is simple and clean, went to Amazon to test order a book, Googled stuff, set up Google Reader so I can read all my RSSed blogs and found my house on Google Maps. Facbook is great on the touch too. YouTube is fun, most or all of the popular videos are searchable to watch, even our nerds video.

Typing on the on screen keyboard takes getting used to, mistakes are common. some of the controls don’t pick up your finger input and require several tries sometime.One thing that surprised me was how strong the WiFi detection is, I was driving home one night and decided to see if I could pick up any network. From a short 3km car trip I was constantly picking up people’s WiFi, about half of them were unlocked and I could join. Some of the names were just the modem name like Dlink, Netgear, others were nick names, one was the address of the house it was coming from! and one had “I smell sex and candy” I was never out of range of a single network, blocked or unblocked. If everybody unblocked their WiFi this could potentially be a nice roaming network.

This post was published on an open WiFi network via the touch a short walk from my house ( :

and its Amazing! Its been a crazy few weeks with work and things, Haline and I went to the Japan Film Festival opening to see Maiko Haaaan, then Kaki King (she’s amazing too) at the Opera House, which by the way has a very nice new website. And its my birthday ( : Thank you Haline for a great weekend and touch siah!

It feels like something has finally changed in the Australian conscience, I know it has for me, this is the first time Australia will be governed by a Labor Government since leaving high school. Time will tell how Kevin Rudd and Co will do, the ball is in your hands now mate, don’t drop it.

I’m looking forward to this new Housing Plan.

Congratulations to Matt for taking out the crown, literally!, in the finals agaisnt Morten. View photos of the night here. Haline made it to the semi’s with a very cute Playdo creation in the first heat. Other photos from the night here and lots of photos from one of the organisers here.

Off to Vietnam for 3 weeks, have some family duty to attend to for my Grandmothers’ 1 year passing away anniversary. Then doing the tourist thing from Saigon to Hanoi. Hot humid weather here I come!

Haline and I have been chosen by the Japan Foundation for the 2007 Support Program for New Visual Artists Grant. We will be curating a photographic exhibition in 2008 at the Japan Foundation Gallery. Domo!

+

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Based on the emergence of the pop street photography scene, NEOSYDNEY + NEOTOKYO is an exhibition featuring juxtaposed photos of Tokyo and Sydney as a narrative of the life and heart of the two cities. Despite polar differences in their cultures, Sydney has become a growing hub of japanese-influenced culture, and the love for Sydney by Tokions is reflected by the presence of shopfronts such as the Galleria in Circular Quay, Kinokuniya in Sydney and the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in Sussex street, formerly known as the Nikko Hotel.

This project will feature street photography in the form of illuminated light boxes, mounted to walls in a dark exhibition space to give the feel of night. There will be 10 light boxes featuring juxtaosed photography and one neon sign for the title. The bright neon lights of Tokyo is the inspiration for this exhibition along with the likes of Hiromix.

RELATIVITY

By juxtaposing intimate scenes of two cities within one frame, NEOSYDNEY + NEOTOKYO creates a cultural blend that enable audiences to view subtle similarities between the Sydney and Tokyo street scenes. Despite the inherent contrast between the cultures, there are many elements that can be associated; and these associations are the beginning of a much-anticipated marriage of art and cultural exchange between Sydney and Tokyo.

Chalk the Walk is on going to be on from September 20th to 23rd. Haline and Tina will be in it this year. Go girls!

I love design and art books, went a bit nuts on Amazon last financial year… gonna see if I can claim them all as business and professional expenses. Some of the stand out ones are the Penguin by Design, Chipp Kidd, the Basic Design series and the Swiss Graphic Design books.

The Laws of Simplicity . Creative Code: Aesthetics + Computation . Marc Newson . Supernatural: The Work of Ross Lovegrove . Chip Kidd: Book One: Work: 1986-2006 . Area . Design Interactions . Two Faced . Absolute Batman: Hush . Process Recess 2 . Basic Design Series - Image, Typography, Layout, Colour, Format, Print & Finish . 1000 type treatments . 1000 graphic elements . Tres Logos . Dos Logos . Richard Branson, Losing My Virginity . iCon . Handmade . Handmade2 . Penguin by Design . How I Write . Image Makers Image Takers . Bologna Illustrator annual 05 . Friends with you . Swiss Graphic Design . Traffic: Print Finishes

I’ve always wanted one of these Aeroplane belts, I’ve had thoughts of cutting off the actually seat belts on the plane when I fly, but that would be stupid and unsafe. I ordered one from Amazon instead and it came in today.

Go Haline! Cut and Paste Sydney final battle.

We saw Bobby Flynn at the Brass Monkey in Cronulla yesterday night. Really good show, intimate. He’s been around before the whole idol thing happened and it was good to see him live. The set was a mix of folk and blues tunes, best song of the night I think was “Out of the Blue” an upbeat and catchy song, very similar in Bob Sinclair’s “Love Generation”.

Went down to Melbourne for a break over the weekend with Haline. Lots of relaxation and inspiration was had with good friends Hong and Vy and a surprise visit to Tin & Ed in their funky studio space. There was a surprise stay at the Peninsula Hot Springs, a trip through the Ashcombe Maze, some wine tasting at the Red Hill Estates and a bunch of exhibitions that included Pixar at ACMI, Guggenheim at the National Gallery of Victoria and Karin Catt FAMOUS at the State Library of Victoria. There was also a little shopping done too, hehe.

Haline got selected to attend a pre Cut & Paste battle. Play, the Sydney company running the Sydney leg of this event shares the same studio space as Frost* so it was awkward walking in there and disturbing Vince Frost while he was in a meeting haha.

Haline was up against another guy, and being the first ones to go, made it a bit nerve wracking. They were given the theme “childhood” beforehand, so they could prepare. They could bring anything to photograph or stuff to draw with plus and computer related gear but nothing else. Time limit was 15 minutes.

Haline opted to draw first and take a photo of the drawing to get it into the computer, she ran out of time so didn’t quite finish. The other guy did a typographic piece with a floral treatment. It was weird, because everybody who used the iMac drew something first, while the laptop users drew straight into the computer. There were 6 people there for this round.

I wouldn’t mind going to see the finals, I like seeing people create stuff on the fly.

I half expected to see people I know there from the “design community”, but the pre competition is spread over 4 days so not likely, but, we did run into Matt and Morten, Matt is a good friend of Haline’s and Morten is Haline’s brother childhood friend, very freaky. Matt was up against Morten and we stuck around to watch. Both are super talented artists in their own right. It was cool seeing them draw. Matt drew straight onto the computer via his Wacom tablet, Morten sketched then took a photo of his work. We all went out for thai food after.

Some pics here.

 
Nice campaign for Cervical Cancer Vaccination. Good B&W photography, simple type treatment and colour.