But first, some miscellany!

Morbid comics from ManEggs!

And… Some Gremlin goodness from Designkins (via DesignYouTrust). I’m aware of the fact that I don’t wear caps. But hey, I also own a Hello Kitty Toaster. SO! FUCKYEAHUSELESSSHITBITS.

AND ONWARD!

Which word in the dictionary is most tainted with adolescent shame? Hand’s down, no-doubt, it’s goth.

Anyone outside of the cult of moody knows the goth look is designed to fug everyone. Statistically, chances that any given person looks good with pale face paint, greasy blue hair and a pin-cushion face is next to none. But don’t be harsh, it’s surprisingly hard to resist when you’re an angry tween. I wallow in shame every time I recall all the (now destroyed) evidence of my time as a confused clubbing gothchild.

But strangely, things like Tamagotchi and pokémon die, but Goth RAGES ON! Look, Disney’s finally declaring the moody-moody-slash-wrist market mainstream. Wall Street Journal declares: “Walt Disney Co.’s consumer-products division is aiming its marketing firepower at young women and teenage girls, particularly those who gravitate to darkly romantic entertainment like the Twilight series.”

” [Disney's] zeroing in on Hot Topic with jewelry, shirts, and other baubles while a Los Angeles location is becoming a miniature Wonderland. There will be a mingle-with-the-stars event for fans, and “goth-pop” bands from the soundtrack will provide the tuneage.” (via Cinematical.)

Sure, Disney’s investment in black lipstick isn’t anything new. They’ve always has Burton in their stable, but now, with the King of dark-cute leading the march with Alice in Wonderland, Mickey’s household’s gonna see some changes.

Just a couple of weeks ago, a cute chinese teen girl with a little Avenge Sevenfold backpack showed up at my home (family friends visiting from Sydney) and asked me if I knew where to buy Slipknot tees in Singapore. Man. After much ethical debate on my part, we skipped to Far East Plaza to complete the mission. I couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt as I let her purchase those horrid, unflattering black t-shirts. How did I ever wear these baggy shirts with tacky band logos emblazoned across both the front and back for maximum fug? But ah, well, she was full of glee and I wasn’t about to rain on her little black parade.

If I could tell her one thing, it’d be that the worst of skank is more forgiving than a goth FAIL, plus you get laid more.

Seldom does the world collectively experience a disappointment so great, it is humorous. Then again, as we sober up from the punchline, we begin to wonder if there is more to the iPad than a flub. Apple is, after all, the industry game-changer. It wouldn’t be wise not to watch closely.

The iPad could shift the rules of advertising, graphic design, blogging, journalism & publishing from right beneath your feet.

Iconic design house, Pentagram, has published a great trend-watch article, “5 Ways the iPad will Change Magazine Design“. Indeed, the iPad will, as an e-reader (as opposed to a half-assed excuse of a smart-phone-laptop hybrid) may revolutionize reading itself.

Magazine content, online and in print, will be influenced by the screen, interface, even processing capabilities of the iPad. Think this is an exaggeration? Just look at how graphic design both on- and off-line has been influence by the mouse and resolution for the past decade:

• Images got smaller and took the form of pop-up slide shows
• Content structure became dominated by overviews, excerpts and short articles while longer pieces sit on a lower hierarchy behind “more” tags or further into the heart of the publication.
• Video content flourishes and demands integration with text and still (often with awkward results).
• Advertising copy and images became miniaturized to integrate into layouts.
• The miscellaneous (archives, categories, similar posts, about-the-authors) became necessary browsing tools, equivalent to running one’s fingers through the pages of a magazine.

And all of the above will be changed, again, with the iPad. People will spend considerably more time, well, reading, than on a laptop or a computer. Trends that came about to adapt to people’s shrinking attention spans and patience will be, again,transformed. The screen real estate also changes when scrolling is eliminated or re-integrated into user interaction, or when reading patterns change.

Come to think about it … the iPad has even influenced the market as we know it before it’s release.

And of course, the iPad might just be the nail in print’s drawn-out descent into it’s coffin – with an iPad on every coffee table, where will print stand?

the iPad might just be the nail in print’s drawn-out descent into it’s coffin

But while the iPad’s potential is formidable, it must first, like every product, be purchased. And even as the kind of consumer who’s willing to part with a little more cheddar for a little more shiny, I must say that the iPad just won’t cut it. Lack of multi-tasking, limited processing power and no usb at that price tag? It’s almost vulgar.

Hopefully, all that speculation about Apple having something more up their sleeves is right…

EDIT: Haha,  Stanford does not heart the iPad.

The season has come, once again, for the students of a grass-topped school in tropical Singapore to enroll in the next semester’s classes.

In the School of Art, Design & Media (ADM, see fig. 1a, b), this bi-annual ritual is no easy task (see fig. KNN).

This enraging/ enthralling/ enlightening experience recurs about 3 weeks before the start of every semester, and is well-documented on twitter & facebook (see fig. 2a, b).

This time around, yours truly was greeted by fig. 3. Yes, complications must ensue, it insists. And this is before the semester even begins. It is unfortunate that ADM, like any other young establishment, is ridden with many other similar & annoying little administrative kinks. In my four years in ADM, I have seen:

• my GPA get wrecked by a failing grade, which was later revoked,
• the school operate somewhat dean/chair-less,
• brilliant, brilliant teachers be dismissed due to petty admin & students raging about the lack of staff,
• core classes be canceled at weeks’ notice,
• mad-expensive facilities get carelessly demolished and refurbished, abused and restored,
• miscellaneous chaos.

But you know, I would be lying if I didn’t say that it is with great affection that I wrestle the absurdities that come my way semester after semester. The truth is, design kids will always have a special bond with their Alma Matter. And even more so ADM students. Why?

1. ADM is in Singapore
   The very unlikeliness of an institution dedicated to the creative arts on a stern island dedicated to efficiency is, in itself, a reason to find ADM charming. And God bless the person who had the notion to place it in Nanyang Technological University. Till today, I believe that this was done solely to culture-fuck with the general population of engineering students. There are some things that will always only fly in art school. Like an arches of grass for roofs. Like sleeves of tattoos on a top student. Or transgenderism. When ladyboy & freshman, Marla Bendini, struts across campus, I am never sure whether to feel awkward for her or those poor kids who scamper away in apprehension. Point is, ADM persists, like almost blissfully oblivious to it’s odd circumstances. In ADM, a great kinship is forged simply on the basis of our collective improbability.
2. Foundation Year
   Every ADM kid is initiated with a year of arguably fine-art-biased training. This will the the key bonding experience of all ADM kids, pre-declaration-of-Majors. There is something about all that freshman energy, channeled into two semesters of pre-assigned studio-based craft classes. For most students, this will be their first exposure to “Art School” – crit sessions,  stereotypes, late night deadline rushes, guzzling coffee, arguing about paper weight and all that. Friendships are as inevitable as gossip and crushes on those creative-type professors in their mid-30’s.It is easy to get lost in the whimsical charm of Foundation Year, but this romantic scenario will come to a rude halt. Suddenly it will be time to choose from a list of strictly design-based majors. How is all that dabbling in fine art going to help? Who knows?! But, you’d better choose wisely, because this decision will define your professional training for the next three years, and, oh, you are not allowed to change your mind further down the road. Everyone gets swept away in freshman year, no exceptions. It is the common ground and will always be.
3. Boon-fucking-lay
   Every art school is a communal pit of creative sweat, shit and tears. But ADM is in Boon Lay. Which really means, “Don’t even think about catching a train home after 11.15pm.” Like a blackhole, ADM has a certain kind of inescapable gravity that warrants respect, awe and those showerheads installed in the bathrooms. Perhaps the school should install some toothpaste dispensers soon? ADM nightlife reminds students of every major that, FCP, Maya, Rhino, MSP, Psd or InDesign, we’re all still in it together.
4. Loony diversity
   When I was very young, I attended an international school. There is something about ADM’s crazy mix of professors and students that invokes that same feeling. Classes are always small enough to know everyone by name and some handy gossip them. Students come from all over and the professors all seem like they’re poached from exotic places across the planet… a class in ADM never really quite feels like one in a typical local institution, yet, it’s undeniably Singaporean. What does that mean? Only ADM students will know.

In about 2 hour’s time, I will (attempt to) register for subjects via STARS* for the last time, ever. And honestly, I can’t help but sprinkle a lil’ misc. emo-ness over it.

Recently, Amanda has tried to convince me to purchase a fanny pack on her behalf.  This has traumatized me deeply. Now, I am a fan of American Apparel, but some how something about a pleathery shapeless sac sitting on a hip just does not agree with my system. Let’s not even consider the large plastic clip.

Nonetheless, I attempted to comprehend my friend.

Amanda quoted two key scenarios where one might want to hang a hideous plastic bag (see illustration, right) around one’s waist:

1. Clubbing

2. Gaffering

While I must agree that it would be handy to free one’s hands of credit cards, keys, phones, gaffer tape, pegs, sharpies and such when on a film set or when getting wasted, I cannot agree that it should come at an expense such as this.

I continued to mull over this for a couple of days. Perhaps it was the stress of work and the effects of chronic alcoholism that was getting to her? Was an intervention necessary? Should I consider that this is after all, the festive season, and just acquire the offending fannypack for her? Should the intervention then be staged in January instead?

What if I should run into her one evening at Butter, with that unfortunate flap of fabric around her fanny? What outfit will her unsound mind decide to pair it with?

Ethical dilemma ensued.

Then I changed my approach. Perhaps, I thought as I stared helplessly at the American Apparel site, perhaps she meant a different color? I clicked “Storm Purple” and “Medium Evergreen”. No. By then, TrashBlack looked acceptable.

The page suggested I see the “Shiny Version“, and I was open to any other alternative.

I was greeted by an image of a classically American Apparel model (chic female of the imperfectly perfect, taut variety) in a typically American Apparel frock (skin-tight, barely viable). The shiny bag suddenly seemed logical.

How else does one expect to carry one’s miscellaneous shitbits whilst one gallivants around town? It was so obvious, it seemed offensive to question it. Did one expect that dress to come with pockets? Tsk! Surely not.

Perhaps, considering my track record of 3-cellphones-lost per-annum, I could use one… no, I ought to! Wait! I am in filmmaking too! Think of all the gaffer tape this shiny baby can handle!

The hands-free practicality is outstanding! American Apparel does it yet again! Everyone’s getting fannypacks from me this Christmas.