MY NEW JOB is in a company called Tulisan (it's super awesome!) I, now, officially have a career in graphic design and whatnots. Ahem! Dreams do come true but it's far from easy!! I kinda jump on moving train and it's moving really fast. We're prepping our International launch and it's been hella busy for everyone. And I really have a lot to catch up and meet the standards, almost everyone is a perfectionists here, on which I am sooo not. But I'm trying to.
Meanwhile here are pics from my posts at Tulisan, you'll find links in the photo captions.
Here's the cut-off if you are interested. If not, well, whaddya know, IT'S MY BLOG! So same result, no matter what.Anyway (geez, I throw a lot of anyways today.) The truck post was supposed to go longer but I kinda edited the last paragraphs, to make it less, rambly/manic/ insane? Actually the term I was looking for is: Work Appropriate.
Meanwhile here are pics from my posts at Tulisan, you'll find links in the photo captions.
I get obsessed by it soon enough, naturally. But alas, I was always seated at the back (Aria, my sis’ hubby sat in front being the only guy and all.) And our driver is a speed-fiend that suavely swerves and suddenly brakes.
And I could not find the book about it in the few bookshops I visited. WELL, THERE SHOULD BE ONE, HELLO!!!
For now I just have to googled my way through to enjoy it, and found out that different states have different ways of decorating (here are some gorgeous trucks from Kerala).
ANYWAY MY POINT IS; SOMEBODY SHOULD MAKE A BOOK ABOUT IT, SERIOUSLY!!! MY OBSESSH MUST BE QUENCH!!!
And I am not alone in this. Have you check the new No Doubt vid. Do you know what it's all about? A decade after their last album and this is what they chose to feature and show that they're still rocking; INDIAN EFFIN' TRUCKS!!!
And open your third eye and see the beauty that is the universe. Energy never dies. So is Cthulhu, he just sleep in strange aeon and shit...
Okay okay, I knowww… Rant/chant over, Roger that.
New travel! Recently me, my sister, and her husband went to India. And it was INTENSE. Due to my laziness in posting travel stories (the unfinished Euro trip, and the not even-written last year summer in Japan with Jaz, etc) this time I decided to make a travel journal. Will post pics of the aforementioned journal soon. Promise.
New works. As in drawings. Well, it is not really “NEW” new for I finished these babies months ago but just haven’t posted. (first pic is up, the rest will follow after this rather long banter. Yeah you have to scroll down darlings and work thy lazy fore fingers.)
New Work in Progress. On which the so called progress cometh slothly s-l-o-w… I owed this one to Frnss. Thumbnail to sketch took three months and so to actually finish this thing? All I can say is, hang in there buddy, I will try to finish it sometime this year. Anyway it's a drawing of Hedorah, his favorite kaiju.
New tutorial! With the death of megaupload most of my freebies and tutorials are no longer downloadable. So just mail me if you need one, and I will send it via e-mail if possible.
New awesome blog find! I am currently swooned by the the all around awesome Katrina's blog; puglypixel. I visit the blog daily for it gives me so much insight on blog visuals. Tons of yummy tutorials and freebies. Really like TONS! It even got me thinking in changing my blog lay out. Do also check out Frantic Dreams (fashion blog) and Sketchnote Army (blogname says it all)
New phone! With a camera! That actually works! (most of my phone are hand-me-downs, well including this one, but somehow I got lucky. Or perhaps my mom pitied the neigh crumbling sorry state of a phone that is my previous.)
I planned to do a 365 photo project since I have NO excuse on NOT bringing camera daily. But kinda failed. I skipped a couple days, get caught up in work or forget to charge my phone and the likes. But I’m still doing it, and try to do it daily. Will make a blog/tumblr for phone pics soon. Why not instagram, say you? Well, I don’t use instagram. I use something else (yeah I know it’ available for android too now and bla di dah, and so what?)
New apps addiction: DrawSomething is super swag. I know I’m late and everybody else is practically over it. But I am late in any form of social media, gadgetry, gossips, what say yous anyway. And umm it’s so super yay! I mean you’d actually be able to communicate with some random strangers on the net through pictures only. How awesome is that?
Yes I often click the create random game like A LOT, cause I am an impatient( little bitch) and I want to collect coins as much as possible (cheap also) so I can buy another set of colors and shit (yet greedy). I don’t have a credit card so playing as many games as possible is the only way.
Sometimes you got people with skills, and loads of time you’d get “WHAT THE?...” and you will laugh your ass off afterward. So it’s a total gain. Though I must admit there’s few times I sighed. I was obviously playing with a toddler, since my opponent can’t spell shit and draw whatever or just write absurd word and it’s just well… SIGH. I mean how the fuck could a random string of circles be a raccoon? I mean it’s just circle, circle, circle, and more circles drawn side by side and nothing else whatsoever, looks a lot more like a caterpillar. Seriously. But the game kinda gives you a lesson in visual communication. Whether transmitting or receiving, you will have insights on how ideas formed and to better your ways to communicate ideas through picture. Will come mighty handy on my new job, won’t it? Or is this just another excuse for slacking off?
Okay, Juan Gatti, I hate you.... I mean as in the why-didn't-i-think-of-that-see-how-awesome-it-is kinda hate. I mean WHY?!!! The aesthetics and the color combos of his collage collection of "The Natural Sciences" (shown at Lafresh Gallery, Madrid) just ringed too close (and loud, very loud) to my own heart. Gatti, a long time collaborator of Pedro Almodovar, created these works for Almodovar newest film "The Skin I Live In" (see trailer here).
Enjoy his works, while I bang bang bang my head on the door.
Enter, Second Act, meet Roberto Osti. Now Osti has been around for years in natural-science illustration circle ( see samples here) . So when he decided to do some deconstruction, it was very convincing and gorgeous, of course.
I was texting my mom and dad, they're in Vienna now, when I realized that me and my sister were traveling there also almost a year ago (and that I haven't continued my posting about it since errr January! Some procrastination!) And then I called my sister. We'd be as gossipy giggly with gusto as the Gunawan girls we are, and have a grand time in conversing on our parents adorable attempts at country-hopping in Europe with their albeit HUGE suitcases (mom brought a mini rice cooker and dried foods). And their skipping on the long-awaited Gondola ride at Venice (too tired walking then overslept) and Budapest Bus trip (forgot to book, at least that's what my father said, I think they just overslept again)
So yeah I gotta do something about it. My post that is. Not my mom's travel decisions (cause you cannot fight a force of nature, you see. Darlings if you haven't met my mom just go swallow whatever it is you plan to utter, and heed my word.)
Kunsthaus Wien front facade
Okay so on the third day we went to Museum Hundertwasser or more famously known as the Kunsthaus Wien. And we love it! The house was just a whimsical! I'm glad that I finally found an artist and that suits my sister's taste. With all those museum walking with me she kinda went "Meh." after awhile. Couldn't blame here. And this Hundertwasser guy who build the house is NOT just a painter he is also designer and architect that was way ahead of his time. He incorporates natural elements decades before "BIO" or "ECO" or "GREEN" went hip. When not doing that, he travels around the world, made film documentaries and whatnots. His biography on the wall was LOOOONG (it fills a whole fucking wall, they even have seats so you'd be able to read them thoroughly). How could anyone do so much in their lifetime. Even reading his bio is tiring enough let alone living it (shame on you for being lazy, shame, shame, shame)
We cannot take pictures in the museum but we could take pics of the non-gallery interiors.
This is the excerpt I copy pasted from the museum's website
Hundertwasser about KUNST HAUS WIEN
KUNST HAUS WIEN is a house of beauty barriers, where beauty holds the most efficient function, a place of not regulated irregularities, of uneven floors, of tree tenants and dancing windows. It is a house in which you have a good conscience towards nature.
It is a house that does not follow the usual standards, an adventure of modern times, a journey into a country of creative architecture.
Hundertwasser, 1991
As you can see the building have an uneven floor. Well there's a reason behind it other than fun and 'different'. Well if ye can't bother yourself to read, in sum it would be be; nature's not flat thus the unevenen-ness. And Hundertwasser never went to Holland. Obviously.
I could prolly say that I have strong travel and packing
genes. Dad’s a pilot and Mom’s a
Neat Freak branched from generations
of clothes merchants.
Much to her duress, her daughters are nowhere near her
spotless supremacy in housewifery. We both have knack of knocking things all
over the place in less than five minutes (she dubbed us the twin storms) .
But when it comes to folding and packing things nice and
tight, I think my mother taught me well. I could even do her boxlike
tower of shirts, if I wanted to, but Alas! Old sloth cometh blanket me one too
many…
At first I was pretty amused when I found myself carry a
whole lot more than most of my peers who pretty much use the equal sized bags. When their clothes start running out, I’d still have some spares left.
In the past few years airlines baggage limitations are
getting smaller while the over-baggage charges are getting higher. Now not only
you have to pack it tight but more importantly , pack it light.
The same rule also applies when you wanna do cheap-trips;
cutting transport budget by doing longer journeys in successions of cheaper
vehicles aplenty.
As a girl of but-I-don’t-have-anything-to-wear kind, the
sacrifice is hard. But in my experience wearing the same thing thrice looked
way more appealing compared to limping around wearing a grimace of major back-pains
(unless you intend to beg)
But I refuse to give up all of my earthly delights just
to go low on everything.
Hey! It’s a holiday!
If I want to suffer, I could go to work and get paid.
I cannot afford anything under “splurge” nor wanting to
live like a monk . In each travel, I’d found out new things including better
packing. And here’s what I learned so
far…
Luggage : Backpack or
Wheeled Suitcases?
Consider where and
how you're going to travel.
Backpack is better when you move from place to places a
lot and your many means of transportation is rather "rugged". You’ll need something you can lug easily.
If it is plane then bus then train then bus and so forth,
backpack it baby.
If my bag gonna spend a lot of it's time in the room that
I'm gonna be staying and/or I have better means of transportation, I'd prefer to use ones
with wheels. Why hurt my back, if I need not too. Plus
it packs a whole lot tidier.
I've noticed most
of European traveler prefer the wheelies instead of backpacks, which made a lot of sense since most European countries have reliable trains and
buses along with their with elevator- escalator equipped terminals. BUT this is not
the case in Paris, they have lots and lots of stairs. It's the way they stay in shape.
My sister and I tried these mutants. We both find it
rather dissatisfying.
First it is not as durable as it predecessors. I have
mine burst open during a flight transfer that I have to buy another travel bag
in a duty free shop. My sister's broken down after her second travel session.
Maybe if you buy better quality bags from trusted manufacturers, you'd have
better luck. Still, they will cost more than the usual.
When use as a backpack they weight way more than the
regulars’ (hurts more too if you carry
them too long, since mostly they're not as
well padded as the normal ones.)
Packing
Rolling Rocks!
This is one of those precious hand-down pearls from my
mother.
Fold your clothes normally then roll it as tight as
possible. It will save a lot more space than just folding and lessen the
wrinkles and creases. On the downside, these rolls unfold way too easily.
Solutions? Rubberbands!
They work like a charm to secure your rolls, so when you
need to unpack you could easily put them back in again.
Do remember that rolling only works for lightweight
materials, folding is still the best option for bulky clothing like
jackets and pants.
Here’s a
super-awesome way to quickly fold
clothes. I wish I found this out when I
was still in college…
Beside my backpack/ luggage, I usually carry a handbag to
keep my more important stuffs. It’s either a large-ish messenger/ satchel/
tote, since I tend to cram and lug everything around (oh Angus! The Angst! The Angst!) , I need them to be spacious
yet light (so it’s either fabric or soft leather.)
On the second day in Vienna we chose to go to three museums in a row. Time saving in mind we opted to go in to the smaller ones first; The Mozart House and Haus der Musik.We weren't lost like we often did, but we were wrong about the time saving thing. Dead wrong. Despite the size both museums are really really time consuming, in a good way that is.
We couldn't take pictures at the Mozart House but I really like the way they display things there; very concise and creative. You got to wear the audio guide for free with its very detailed and not-that-boring instruction and the maestro's music playing on the background while viewing the tidbits of his daily life. I got near the end of the visit, and Requiem Mass in D Minor was starting to play, and the the museum management board and their cohort got me to shed a tear or two..... Anyway here's 'Amadeus' , go watch, it's good!
Awyea, you also got to see memorable parts of " The Magic Flute" in a aquarium-like stage with hologram people, isn't that grand?!!
As for the Haus der Musik I will just copy you the excerpt I've took from their website.
"HAUS DER MUSIK is an interactive discovery museum located in the heart of Vienna's first district nestled between St. Stephen's Cathedral and the Vienna State Opera. A host of interactive installations playfully communicate openness to new things, understanding and enthusiasm in approaching music HAUS DER MUSIK was awarded the Austrian Museum Prize for its innovative design and is located in the formerPalais of Archduke Charles. You will find all 67 of its new inventions here. A total of 5,000 square meters has been set aside exclusively for areas dedicated to a wide array of approaches to music, and most of all, to the experience of music."
You could sample all kinds of sound from winds,ultrasonics, major cities' hearts, to the sounds of the sun and planets!!! There are also special rooms dedicated to maestros, it is Vienna after all dear friend! It's mighty mighty fun!
So fun that we lost the track of time, after grabbing get go grubs (big slices of donner-pizza near the metro station yum yum!!!). We head on to the mother of the legions of art museum in the city, the Kunsthistorisches Museum! The museum was nearly close so me and my sister we're running around the museum like crazy. If I have to chose one word to describe the museum, it would be: Grand.
Once in every while, you'll find a movie that made you question your existence (Where do I fit in all of these? What's the point of your being here? What is the meaning of all life then? ). Then your judgement ( This is crap, but then why am I still amused by this trickery? Is this so bad that it is good or vice versa? A line that borders grotesquery and greatness perhaps?) . And in the end your sanity (I like it actually, am I nuts?)
Of course you're familiar with the arousal inducing image of Leeloo and Leonidas. Well, this movie have Sean Connery as the leading man and as you know his version of Bond, James Bond is unquestionably HOT.
But this is before all of the above. This is something else. This is Zed. Warning: Disturbing Image The next picture might injure your memory, for it might etched in your brain forever
Yes, your eyes did not fool you it is Sean Connery in a red thongs and fuck-me-boots. This is 2293!
The dawn was just breaking as we crossed the Austrian border, we were greeted by farmhouses atop green hills with snow-capped mountains on the background. There's touches of red and orange here and there marking the reign of Autumn in the country. Oh my God this is sooooo Heidi Land, I wanna burst into yodels!!! The view was too fairy tale country side that I won't be so surprised if I found talking animals on the bend. The 8 hours of almost unbearable tiredness of being was instantly disappeared. I should take pics I know, but I'm still too groggy to search for my camera and hungry and just being very lazy.... So you just have to take my word.
We stopped for breakfast at this really cozy restaurant/ diner/ traveller-stoppy-thingy called Rosenberger where the warm and wide halls with fresh foods are very tempting with its equally mouth-drooling souvenir shop. One word of advice; Buy!!! The price are considerably cheap, and the selections are just beyond cute. We sorta regret that we didn't buy anything here, for we assume that the price was higher than the ones in the city (for most stoppy thingies are tourist traps) on which we could buy later. We were wrong, the branch in the city has very small selection (it was also a much smaller place) and we couldn't find the stuffs that we want anywhere else.
After booking bus seats for the next city, we head to the hostel. We arrived earlier than scheduled but thankfully they let us in. The hostel was a bit strange since it was comprised of several rooms scattered in several buildings. So we kinda get lost when we try to get to the breakfast room after we left our stuffs at ours. we went round and round for hours and the map we have is not that concise so we're just pretty much hopeless. Good thing that we have few people kind enough to give us directions. We found out that our hostel were situated near cool shops and eateries (on Mariahilfer Street).
Anyway it was called Happy Hostel. The overall service was good, staffs are friendly and rooms are clean, and you could have free internet at the reception, well situated and the price are reasonable.
After breakfast we decide to take a break and wash ourselves and to really have a proper rest before heading out into town. Our room was actually an apartment and it was huge. Supposedly it was for four people but since we were travelling mid-season, we got the room for ourselves.
And now we head to Stephansdom. The cathedral was just magnificent! Inside we could also visit a catacomb where remains of Austro-Hungarian bluebloods stashed within metal urns, alongside say 11.000 persons. The underground passage was claustrophobic, cold, dark, and damp with heaps of bones everywhere and skeletons staring at you with their empty sockets. It was everything I expected a catacomb should be. It was great.
After a very happy breakfast we head down to the tram station and continue towards Heysel , a 5 minutes stop before the ultimate retro-future building of all, The Atomium.The sky was cleared out by magical giant sweeper, the sun shone on our eager faces, and as we held our sight to the majestically enlarged version of an elementary iron crystal atom, our spirits soared. I fall in love on a first sight.
do believe me when I tell you that it's equally gorgeous in every possible angles
The Atomium was build in 1958 for a World Fair Brussels, and inside you could see pictures of that expo ( a bit disappointing to be sincere) and even bought retro-inspired stuffs on the little souvenir shop inside (pricey, but pretty nice selections). But the best thing about it is that you could ride one the fastest elevator in the world, check out the gorgeous retro-future interior (I really should stop saying this word, but hell, Rettrahh Fewtchahhh!!!! is a hard to resist kind of word) of red, teal, and grey, and the 360 degrees view of Brussels from the top.
I went berserk. Here. Say; Beam me up, Scotty!
I fell like I could stay here forever, but we still have a long day ahead of us. So let's continue shall we, perchance by meeting Tintin? (Lemme hear you say YEAHHHH!!!) A visit to Brussels won't be complete without a stop at the Belgian Comic Center or endearingly known as the Comic Museum.
We got kinda lost trying to find it, but it was worth it. Though a bit smallish the museum was fun, informative, and eye opening. What's more is that it's situated in a gorgeous Art Nouveau building designed by Victor Horta.
Awkay, first stop; Brussels, Belgium. Our first stop should be easy, wethink. Plus because my sister loves chocholates. And whaddya know, we sort of started big. From all of the room rate on the hostel we've booked via Hostelbookers, the one in Brussels was the priciest. But I tell you it was waaaaaayyyyyy worth it.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet our room at the Albert Inn.
"Oh my God this is so like in the movies!"
Yes that's right. That's a piano over there, and fire place. And gorgeous gorgeous armoire. We were swooned, and yes we certainly do the swept, swerve, and sigh on the bed.
Once we got ourselves freshened up we decide to go straight into the center of the city, the Grand Place/Grote Markt and try to take all the city's vibe in. Oh those gilded facade are just gorgeous!!! And I love how Hotel De Ville
Maison Du Roi are situated exactly across each other, for they have a similar Gothic style with opposing colors.
That afternoon sky was heavy with cloud and sprinkles of rain kinda drenched the fire in my photo-clicking-finger off. And so we just stroll along the streets around Grand Place while trying to locate the Mannekin Pis
Okay I gotta start talking about the trip sometime soon right? Yes and so here we go.....
Due to it's more 'romantic' aspects, thank you so much " Before Sunset", most 'travelers' would prolly use the extensive and time-trusted trains by using Eurail Pass. If you are 25 or under it shouldn't be a problem, but if you are older then it is. The price difference is pretty stiff. For instance if we want to travel to five bordering countries (using the Global Select Pass) by train, the cheapest would cost you €399 (valid only for 5 days of travelling up to 2 months), if you use bus instead it would only cost you half the price (depending on the season). Since I was travelling in Mid- Season using the Euroline Pass cost me €235 (for adult, valid for 15 days and you have to pay another € 5 for booking or administration or something, so it's € 240).
However, there's a downside, oh yes there's always a downside isn't it? Firstly, the buses, depending on the arrival and departure cities, ARE NOT scheduled to travel everyday. So you have to plan your itinerary according to the timetable. The seats may also come as a problem, so don't expect too much comfort, the leg-space were uuuummmm modest. Indonesian business and executive AKAP (inter city - province crossing) buses have way better seatings. Which makes me wonder how those tall Europeans could fit into such tiny spaces. If you are lucky, sometimes you'd find your self seated in roomy and soft faux-leather seat, with nobody else around, and even manage to have a free wi-fi connection on the go. You see they have a range of buses depending on the local bus company they're working with or something, their arrangements are still pretty hazy to me, so longer travel time doesn't really mean comfier seats.
I have no problem with the seating at all nor the nonstop babbles of fellow passengers, since I'm pretty much get used to long travels and love the idea of being on the road, so much that I actually sleep better on a moving vehicle, but it took my sister awhile to get used to. Avoid: Complaining, it would only make it worse. Cheap-travels and luxury never go hand-in-hand. Solution: Bring a cushion, it will make your journey much more comfortable and no more ouch-my-back-moanings. Result: My sister bought a plushie/pillowy owl on Belgium and she claimed that her 3 hours journey from Amsterdam to Brussels was "walk slowly will you, my back hurts" while the 8 hours bus ride from Brussels to Vienna was "okay, I'm hungry, so hurry up"
The scenery? Mostly it was highways and more highways, you could see glimpses of the contour of the land as soon as you are exiting the highway. So you'd have try to stay awake two hours after your departure and do likewise before your arrival.
And another thing, using Euroline Pass means that you cannot travel back and forth on the same, so you have to keep moving forward (detouring to another destination more likely) before you touch home base and full-circling your travel.
Still it's the cheapest way to go around Europe. C H E A P E S T.
Yesterday I finally went
to the Anatomy Show together with Puti and Agung as promised. Yayness!
Not only that, we also
went look looking at cool stuffs at
Mazee, gossipping over Sour Sally’s frozen yoghurt (extra topping promo medium
size! Chaching!), then munched the
softest, puffiest bread evvvahhh at Pan
Ya. Ultra ultra Yayness!!! (Been trying to avoid using “awesomeness” too much, since
it made me sound like a 90s teen, and use this word instead. Verdict; still teen-like yet more up-to-date *sigh*)
Back to the Anatomy
Show. Although the display was
horrendous, the specimens showed were awe-inspiring. And if you bought the
tickets to the show you get a chance to ride the metal slide thingie that
twirled in the middle of the bewildering mall too. The 6 seconds of swirling speed was
awesomeness! (couldn’t help it love the word too much.)
Yesterday the scissor-madness strikes again, and three (or was it four?) fashion recons thus occurred. Or perhaps it's just me, having lethal complication of the sudden yet familiar disease known as new-clothes-covet with no-money-in-my-pocket complication. Browsing through the familiar fashion blogs would seem to only make it worse.... But no, it does not necessarily mean so. For instance, the venerable Outi from Outsapop Trashion posted about the Old is the New Black movement that soon got me all smeared with black paint and big sloppy smiles on my face. For this experiment I am using black acrylic paint, a big brush, a permanent marker, and my old apparently-my-sister-borrowed-for-years-and-when-it-got-returned-it-no-longer-fits-me-it-sucks rider vest. Voila! The Before and After!
However I cannot submit it to the movement for breaking one of the rules that I will quote below.
“Old is the New Black” is a fashion reclaiming movement instigated by the Black Fashion Bureau.
Are you tired of your old rags? Had enough of that stained sweater? Sick of your brother’s castoff hand-me-down? Upset that fashion has finished your favourite frock?
Don’t just sit there - PAINT IT BLACK!
This underground movement invites YOU to join us…
HOW TO
1. Source old garment(s) this could be something you own that’s damaged / stained / no longer on trend / OR something you have found / reclaimed
2. Source black paint. This could be from your local DIY store / art shop / something left over found in your shed…
3. PAINT IT BLACK!
4. Get someone to photograph you wearing your finished garment(s)
5. Submit! Select this option from our menu tab and attach you image.
I took the pic myself. Boohoohoo...
once it dried the color from acrylic paint gets thinner so I add more black scrawls using marker.
But fuck it this is my blog, and I'm having lotsa fun with the project, I'd share it here anyways. Here it comes again.... Pow Pow Bang!
Among the black and white illustrators Harry Clarke is not as well known as Aubrey Beardsley. Of course Beardsley is the man who brought the whole shebang of darkness in Art Nouveau, but Harry Clarke's stylization is more to my liking. At a glimpse there's no discernible difference between Aubrey's work and Clarke. Look closely and you will see how Clarke deviate from Beardsley in regard on how he chose to portray his subjects. Clarke tends to draw characters with elongated body parts, huge eyes and long lashes, while Beardsley drew somewhat simplified rounded human forms reminiscing characters from Japanese ukiyoe. At that I conclude, what Beardsley has taken Clarke gave back. Clarke's influences are traceable in 70s-80s Shojo Manga like the Rose of Versailles and Garasu no Kamen , and Japanese promising artists such as Aya Kato (whose early works somehow, I suspect, influenced Camille Rose Garcia's recent works) and Takato Yamamoto. Isn't it great to know how much art inspires and evolves?
Enough with the name throws, anyway, I found this book in the corner of a used book section, as my other treasures this too is someone's garbage. Click pic to enlarge and enjoy its glory!
