August 30, 2004

today.

spent the day hanging out with Neil and making shirts, which was awesome.
accidentally ditched Jordie, though; I forgot his phone was disconnected.

am making a shirt out of this, which will be sweeet. also decided to have monthly shirt-making afternoons with Neil because I don't generally see him enough.

aside from lack of response to applications, things are looking good.

Read More...

August 28, 2004

note to self:

if ever the opportunity arises, SEE BJORK LIVE.

current music: Bjork - Vespertine Livebox - Unravel
current mood: scandinavian

Read More...

in the midst of another binge...

...on music.

this will be one that's drawn out a little more, but will also be substantially larger than the last one.

it's started with a little Bjork; Vespertine, Vespertine Live, Vespertine Outtakes, and her newest, Medulla.

Now, I was expecting Bjork to do something out of left field with this one, because none of her albums are ever really like their predecessors, and where Vespertine had it's electronic textures, Medulla trades it in for people. I was intrigued by the blurb on Amazon, where it was declared to be a "celebration of the human voice" and became sorta puzzled when I read on her website how she recruited 3 world-famous beatboxers (Rahzel, Dokaka, and Shlomo), a Tuvan throat singer, and a pair of choirs.

And what does it sound like?
It's a giant mindfuck, listening to something that doesn't sound at all like anything the vocal chords can produce, and realizing that it's a person. Beyond that, though, I haven't gotten much further with it; it's a dense album and one that takes getting used to. I think I'll like it, though probably not as much as Homogenic.

Read More...

August 27, 2004

steps of t-shirt creation.

Neil asked me to detail how I made shirts, so here's a rough guide, without all the work I do in between.

  1. Find source image for shirt. For the example shirt, I used this picture of a Lion Rampant.
  2. Using Photoshop/Fireworks (whatever you have), transform image into one that is easily made into a stencil. Here's what I had after I finished with the earlier picture.
  3. print image onto paper side of freezer paper
  4. cut out stencil, using exacto.
  5. iron shirt
  6. iron down stencil onto shirt.
  7. paint.
  8. dry.
  9. remove stencil
  10. iron paint to set it
  11. enjoy.


[edit @ 12:29PM: images are down; will resize and let you know when they're back up.]
[edit 2 @ 8:20 PM: images are back up.]

Read More...

August 26, 2004

I'm in the viewbook and I look like death warmed over.

:\

Read More...

I thought I had a lot to say, but then I didn't.

Read More...

August 22, 2004

stuff:

  • I'm retiring OMQOCs. Deal with it.
  • If I could point and cause heads to explode, I'd do it. A lot. At work.
  • Lisa from Housing hasn't gotten back to me yet, which is worrying.
  • Interview at Arts ISIT this week; need to call back and schedule tomorrow.
  • It's hard to keep a straight face when senior management comes in and asks for ponchos.
  • While looking for a Lion Rampant to put on a shirt, I found this. It makes me giggle.
  • Finishing the "Don't Panic" shirt tonight; pictures up after the 42 goes on the back.
  • Dunno if I want to do COGS anymore; some of the required courses don't look too hot (MATH 102/104, CPSC 121/122), so I might pull a Britt and do a focus on memory/cognition and reevaluate the whole double major plan.



Read More...

August 21, 2004

shirt plans

I always have the awesomest shirt ideas that I forget to write down/sketch, so they're going up here:

  • Wrens
  • British Sea Power
  • Snooze Button
  • "do not make me defenestrate you"
  • some sort of Batman, possibly taken from Batman: Black and White
  • gloss-black Lion Rampant on a black t-shirt.

Read More...

August 19, 2004

the deal with naf's underpants:

just before last christmas, Nanessa and I were brainstorming a gift for Naf. At this time, Naf had full-on co-opted the phrase I'd sort of introduced to the gang, "well, shit."
And so, after some discussion and some laughing, we decided that we'd somehow get the phrase onto a pair of underpants (or several) for Naf.

I was actually planning on making Naf a shirt with an iron lung on the front and a quote from "My Iron Lung" on the back, or underneath, or something. At some point at work, Vanessa expressed difficulty at finding a gift for Naf, and so I thought maybe we could do underpants, because then I wouldn't have to buy them. The plan was that Vanessa would buy the underpants and I would stencil them.

What happened was that Vanessa got stuck in an orientation, and so we weren't able to make it to the mall on time, and so I had to go out and buy the damn things on Wednesday morning.

I realized that I had no idea what size I needed to get Naf, so I ended up having this MSN conversation Wednesday morning:

gerald // home: aleks!
gerald // home: I have the randommest question ever that you would probably know.
gerald // home: and it doesn't have to do with radiohead.
Aleksandra (okay, so South Kiosk is pretty disfunctional...): go for it
gerald // home: what's naf's underpant size?
Aleksandra (okay, so South Kiosk is pretty disfunctional...): ha ha ha ha!!
gerald // home: what?
gerald // home: it's a serious question.

and from there, I was all set to go to Metrotown and have the most hilarious shopping trip ever.
and then my mom discovered her blood sugar was super-low, and I didn't want to leave her alone, so we went to the Zellers in Richmond, where there was a healthy selection and I was bewildered.

so, I turn to my mother, and explain the nature of the gift (without telling her what actually goes on the back), and then ask her to pick some out that were comfortable looking and cotton. and then she did.

also, I picked up a nifty X-Acto kit with a bunch of spare blades and a special cutting mat thing.

got home, cut out the stencil, stencilled, let them dry, packed them up and went off to curry, where they were well-received by everyone including Naf's mom(!).

Read More...

August 16, 2004

my first shirt

see it here.

it's not as good as it could be, but I know where I went wrong, so they'll only get better from here.

[edit: shirt refers to this comic]

Read More...

August 14, 2004

dear my subconscious: whatthefuck?!

(I'm on the PC to check the directions to the airshow, to which my parents have won a ticket and are just leaving for...)

I had a dream that was epic like a miniseries; in two hours*, we'd established that I was an exchange student in a Midwestern hamlet, doing a lot of drugs to fit in, and that my love interest had been kidnapped.
I figure the rest of the slacker teens (composed, weirdly enough, of PNE people I've helped in the last few shifts) would band together, led by me, overthrow whatever evil conspiracy threatened us all, and gain respect from the adults or something equally as predictable and syrupy.

Mostly, though, I'm wondering: why me?

*alarm went off, turned it off and went back to sleep, dream started, woke up 2 hours later.

Read More...

August 10, 2004

I'm just a knife, cutting around...

Have been working on new design as of late (see also: new comment text), and so I haven't posted. Apologies.
__
Friday:
Council/BBQ was... okay.
Whole thing felt very highschool, especially since the party separated into distinct groups after about an hour. Bits were okay; the Dick Davis/Gavin chest hair battle was amusing, and I had a pleasant chat with Costa, who I hadn't seen in a while.
someone on council may want to move something about stupid comments (be it resolved that any comment during a meeting which causes more than 50% of council to sigh or roll their eyes will result in a smack upside the head by the councillor closest to the offender.) because you're going to end up with a lot of it otherwise.
ps: that motion would require 2/3rds because it'd be policy.

Ditched at about 11, and went to Graham's with the Karl. I had a lot more fun there, because it just felt more like a party. Dunno how else to put it, but the music didn't suck (and was suitably loud, but not too loud.) met a lot of cool people, and it was cool to see people I rarely see again. Swapped 19th birthday stories with Graham's roommate, Matt ("you remember your 19th birthday?" "yeah. it was four months ago." "doesn't that mean it was during exams?" "yeah, I wrote one hung over." "AWESOME.") and had a variety of interesting discussions with cute foreign girls (who were impressed that I was drinking Kilkenny. hot. ) also had a lot of fun with Vanessa ("so, how do you guys know each other?" "she's my boss.") it was good times all around. Got picked up at about 1, was mildly relieved at the lack of kegs, although I did chug the majority of a 500mL beer, and went home.
__
saturday:
Morning/afternoon weren't all that exciting. Slept in, went to the pool, dug through my closet and cleared out some old clothes as well as finding my old SLRs. One's a Pentax K1000, which has a serious ding in the outermost ring of the lens, meaning I can't put any filters on and that putting the lens cap on requires me to pay attention. Furthermore, the ISO has to be set one stop down or the shots underexpose, which blows. The other one's a Mamiya/Sekor 500DTL, which needs a new battery and a serious cleaning. I can't wait to get them both working again and see what shots out.

Later on, I headed down to the fireworks with Brie, Pat, Rob, Jordie, and assorted other people, and the fireworks were fun. I thought Sweden deserved the victory, and so Drew's outrage at China not getting the prize were puzzling. Took the newish SLR down with me and shot two rolls (currently undeveloped; should fix that), which reminds me:
a note: I've been using SLRs for close to five years. I know how they work, which aperture/exposure settings are most appropriate, how to stay still during long-exposure shots (need both hands, but I can do it), and generally, I know what I'm doing. Should you desire to sit next to me and give me advice on how to take every single shot, I will make you dead. Very, very dead.
Aside to Lana: I understand, now.

Post-fireworks, the gang went drinking, and I went and stood in line at Waterfront. I got into the line at 11:30something, and got on a train at 12:32. I spent a solid fucking hour standing in line with a bunch of greasy suburban kids all trying to pick each other up, headphones firmly applied and Ultravisitor providing a sonic buffer against the noise of a thousand teens trying to get into each others pants.
The train ride was no different, unless you count me turning up the volume to account for train noise and a closed space.

Bloody suburbs.
__
Sunday
Woke, moped about, killed time.

Headed to Rob's for evening drinking, but had to stop at the cambie liquor store first, because it's the only one in Vancouver open on Sundays. Picked up a six-pack of Harp and a two-six of Mount Gay for Doug, then headed down. Saw Alex for the first time all summer, hung out with Pat, played poker (badly), then mini-movie'd Rob attempting to make a Black and Tan with Guinness Extra Stout and Harp - it didn't layer, but it tasted just fine. I think widgeted beer is required for layering, because the nitrogenation affects the specific gravity/viscosity.
got picked up by dad, even though taking the bus to work from Rob's the next morning would have been easier, and had an uneventful ride home.

__
monday
work! it's fun, the people are cool, exhibitors are interesting, and I'm getting to know more of the people about the office.
IF I HAVE TO LISTEN TO THE BEAT FOR ANOTHER SHIFT I WILL KILL.

worked on new design.
that was about it.

happy birthday, graham!
you may be old, but at least nobody asks when you're done high school.

__
today

Worked on new design.
Picked up plain t-shirts in black, dark green, and navy blue.
Have been working on designs for said shirt.
So far, a The Hipster Theory of Relativity shirt is in the works, and I don't know what else I want...

Suggestions?

Read More...

August 06, 2004

no! more! feud!

a) I'm in entirely too good a mood for a feud.
b) Quinn just enlightened me on how to make my own graphic tees.

all grudges are dropped.
my site still looks better, though.

Read More...

August 05, 2004

things are good.

  • hired. twice over.
  • I had a bottle of stout for lunch.
  • Partying tomorrow.
  • Brie's back Saturday, also fireworks!
  • whee!


opinion time!
this one or this one?

I don't really know what it's for at this point; I'm sort of toying with the idea of throwing down a "real" website, but I'm not sure.

[edit: sorry, got rushed and forgot to change the link. they're different now.]

Read More...

August 04, 2004

hrm.

my blog is usually the first thing I check when I have nothing better to do, so having this list up here will remind me that I do have things to do and that I should go do them.

    Things to Do:
  • learn XHTML/Dreamweaver MX
  • take more photos
  • find job #2, maybe one for school year
  • figure out finances, specifically:
    • Franz Ferdinand?
    • new CF card?
    • pants?
  • overhaul site?
  • pressure brother re: website
  • re-set sleeping patterns; get used to <8 hours again.
  • Alarm Clock Mix 2004?
  • time for my own site?


OMQOC: a prime MSN quote: "I just realized Scarlett Johansson was also in Ghost World, thereby increasing her hotness by a factor of dork."

Read More...

August 01, 2004

thoughts; long form.

a pair of thoughts I had at the fireworks, either watching everyone try and take digital photos of the fireworks (which is damn near impossible to do right), or watching Drew do the same with his PDA.

#1
I'm not huge on convergence. I like my gadgets separate from each other, so that their UIs can be optimized for each device, and even if I have to spend 4 times as much time learning, I'm happier.
This whole "cameras in everything" trend is slightly worrying; digital cameras embedded in things hardly deliver the shots that a consumer camera would, and come nowhere close to the quality of a pro(sumer) device. Of course, that's okay for most people - I don't think most people I know with cameras ever adjust their white balance or anything like that. A shame, really, because it'd help bump the shot from "okay" to "good". Even if the camera is only to record events, doing it well is never a bad thing*.
What I sort of wonder about is if the trend towards one widget will cause the standalone digital camera to fade into the west get dropped by manufacturers - Asia's already got 3MP cameraphones, which is enough for a decent 5x7 print. I can see the average user moving towards a cameraphone - the camera does the job and is integrated into the phone that would be carried anyway. I wonder, idly, if this trend would eliminate the standard consumer camera, or (as Rob suggested) leave a less contiguous market, where the extremes are marketed to, and cameras come either as super-basic ones or envelope-pushing professional models. I think what's more likely is the same thing that's happened in the PDA market; where four companies (Treo, Palm, HP and Sony) are continuing to produce a decently large range of PDAs, all of which have their own specialties, and all the others simply crashed.
I wonder which four will make it in the camera world...
Canon's in for sure; being the professional choice for both film and digital, I don't see them going away.
Nikon is also definitely in, because if one doesn't go Canon, they go Nikon.
I'd like to see Panasonic over Sony, partially because Leica > Zeiss, and also because Panasonic prefers memory formats that don't suck in addition to providing good kit at decent prices. Don't know if that'll happen, though.
Last spot leaves: Fuji, Sony, Kodak, HP, Casio, Konica/Minolta, and a plethora of others that I can't be bothered with, most of whom will wither away when the wave of firsttime buyers subsides. I can't really say who will stay and who will go, but it'll certainly be interesting to watch.

*it can be a bad thing when you find yourself stuck behind the camera at every event you attend, not only not having fun, but having that one guy who thinks he's a better photographer than you offering tips at every turn, so that the evening is spent watching other people have fun while resisting the urge to turn around and hit said person.

#2
Film is dying, and it's simply a matter of time before walking into London Drugs with a roll of 35mm C41 process colour film gets you the same look as it does if you walk in there with a roll of black and white today**. This is unfortunate, I think, because film has an experience that digital can't match. The struggling inside light-sealed closets as one tries to get the film onto the spindle, the measuring of chemicals and temperatures, the super-careful shake, shake, tap of the developing process, and the satisfaction of slowly pulling out a strip of film and seeing the moments contained thereupon. We're not even going to touch the magic of darkrooms, or the fun stuff you can get up to with a little light, mid-developing process.
What it sort of reminds me of, though, is vinyl. Vinyl as a consumer format is dead. It's reserved for enthusiasts and professionals, who own the proper equipment to show it the respect/love it deserves. Also, said professionals/enthusiasts get up to some extremely cool stuff with it that it's difficult/impossible to do with their successors.
I'm not saying "OMG FILM IS THE NEW VINYL, JUST LIKE PINK IS THE NEW OLIVE GREEN", but I'm wondering if it'll reach the same status, and what we'll start seeing in terms of envelope-pushing art when it does.

I can't wait.
and now I want a darkroom.

**namely, one saying, "Are you fucking nuts? Also, that'll take two weeks and cost more than one-hour colour processing."

Read More...