Typography

TOP: Flies. BOTTOM: Leaves. For no real reason. Click images for larger sizes.

IESSO

Happy Little Vegemites

From mX (free newspaper) printed 01/07/09

If people ask why I want to leave Australia, this is the answer. I've encountered this attitude since I was nine years old, and frankly I am sick of it.

I wrote to the paper:
"I am not a Happy Little Vegemite either, but due entirely to your article. Get your facts right, and stop with the pointless America-bashing. If you don't like the politics that is understandable, but the people are generally not evil. Not all of us are fat, or greedy; as you seem to think. I've been confronted of this general attitude from Australians ever since I moved here when I was a little kid, and I can't understand why. If you don't like the new Vegemite, there is an easy solution; don't eat it. There is no need to turn this into some sort of "America is an evil imperialist empire, trying to take over the world, and extinguish our last glimmer of Australian identity" crisis. Lastly; for the record; Kraft has always been an American company, and Mel Gibson was born in New York."

IESSO

TUESDAYNE 2: TUES CONTROL

So Linus wants an epilogue. So here it is:

Things are pretty much back to normal now. Boring I know, but that's how it played out. It wasn't always back to normal though, something else happened in the time it took to return to normal.

After I was sent home, and had my wallet stolen I watched a lot of tv. For 2 days in fact. And then on Friday I was back at work. But I kind of wasn't feeling well. On Saturday Soryi got sick. Then I got sick properly on Sunday.

On Monday morning I went to the doctor to get some help. By the time the train arrived at the station I was feeling nauseous. Sea sick I guess. The doctor said I had a throat infection, a sinus infection and a lung infection. Which effects the bits in your ear that controls balance, explaining the sick feeling. He gave me some medicine and sent me home. So of course instead of going home I went to work. The files were still not recovered and looking less and less likely to ever get recovered.

The next day I felt weird when I woke up. I was still sick feeling, because the medicine hadn't worked yet. But on top of that I was also REALLY REALLY itchy. It was a different kind of itchy though. It was UNDERNEATH my skin. Not like a sunburn. Or a mosquito bite, but everywhere on my body. And deeper down.

I didn't know what it was, but figured a shower would help. I thought I over scrubbed myself when I got out and was all pink. But then I noticed that I was pink EVERYWHERE. I was pink on my eyelids. I was pink between my toes. I was pink behind my knees. And when I say pink I mean PINK!!! Pink like one of those old-fashioned erasers. And it wasn't going away.

I went back to the doctor. Trying to hide my skin, which looked like I'd washed my face with magenta ink. The doctor asked if I was itchy, I told him I was, he thought for a second, trying to figure out how to phrase the bad news. Did I have cancer? With two weeks to live? How was I going to tell my family? Or Soryi? We were supposed to be getting married soon!

Luckily it was only a simple allergy to the medicine. But before you let of that big sigh if relief, it's not just any allergy; I'm allergic to pennicilin. The worst allergy you can have. Oh sure, it only is the greatest medical discovery/invention of all time, but hey, Elliott, you should be allergic to it. Yippee.

Actually it could have been a lot worse. The doctor told me that if I hadn't come in, and kept taking the medicine my blood pressure would've dropped, my heart would've stopped beating and no epilogue for Linus.

He gave me some new medicine, without pennicilin, an injection of anti-inflamatories, and told me to go home.

Which I did.

On Thursday the itching hadn't stopped, but the original illness was almost gone (remember that one?) and I went back to work, with only the pinkness level of someone running a marathon. In the sahara.

The files were lost. For good. With no way of getting them. So it was time to redo everything, work late and get everything back on track.

After another day of that I was feeling worse again, but good enough. And that's how I feel right now. The pinkness is gone, luckily, the itch at only 5% of it original level, but not gone, and my suck feeling only slightly higher.

Work has returned to normal too. And in case you were wondering Soryi is completely fine, her sickness only lasting the one weekend.

IESSO

In other news: we're finally getting our act together about the wedding. YAY! It will be held in Brisbane some time in the near future. That bit isn't finalized yet. What is finalized though is our trip to Brisbane on the 18th of July to go to the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages to put in the paperwork and choose a date.

The ceremony is to be held at their ceremony room in the old printing factory in Brisbane. Which is good because it's design related. And heavens forbid we do anything that isn't design related!

Also, we bumped into Sebastian from Luveworm in Sydney. He's doing well, having spent a while in the states doing sone art thing. He's got an exhibition coming up, but he didn't say where or when it was, or any way of getting in contact with him, so we'll probably not get to go.

Anyway that's sort of all for now. I'd tell you about work, but it's painfully boring to do, let alone talk about. The only exception to that is: for once I am doing something fun for one project. With costumes! But the client will probably kill it and end up looking like crap. But I'll upload pics to Flickr if things work out.

Lastly: Where in the World is Linus? San Diego perhaps?

TUESDAYNE

LAST TUESDAY WAS A BAD DAY FOR ELLIOTT. Not life-threateningly bad, or bad in any grand, ultimate sense, no-one died, no-one was hurt, but nonetheless, tuesday was a bad day anyway. So what happened then that made the day so bad you might ask? And if you didn't ask, don't bother reading the next part, for I shall be explaining why tuesday was bad.

7.55am
I woke up late, as I sometimes do. Tuesday was different though. I had just gotten back from Perth, and Brisbane earlier in the week. And I didn't feel like going to work. More than that perhaps, I felt I shouldn't go to work. It turned out I was right, but I don't believe in premonitions, so I am hesitant to say I had a feeling that the day would go bad. I just didn't want to go to work and I didn't know why.

9.32am
I arrived at work early. I wanted to get straight into it, I'd missed a lot of work over the previous week, having only gone in two out the five days that week, because I was in Brisbane, then Perth. So I walked in, said hi to everyone and got started checking the work emails and that sort of thing. My boss suggested I swap computers around, because my computer was slow, and I have lots of Photoshop work to do, and the other computer is faster.

9.40am
I unplugged my computer and swapped it with the faster one. The faster one had the server harddrive attached, so I moved it along with the fast computer. It was dusty, but I didn't it was a big deal. But I guess it was, because when I turned the computer, the server harddrive was corrupt and everything was gone. Everything. Everything from the last five years, from the whole company was lost.

9.43am
I was sent home, unsure when, or indeed if, I would be coming back. Without the files, there was nothing to do. The harddrive was taken to a data recovery specialist, but they're still not sure if anything can be recovered. So without any work to do, and my mind replaying the event of 3 minutes earlier I went into the city to calm down, get some reading done and maybe go to the gym to blow off some steam.

2.16pm
I finished my book after sitting in the park in the cold. This part wasn't so bad, actually it would have been quite pleasant under different circumstances, but on tuesday it was distracting enough to serve it's purpose, but not enjoyable enough to give any sense of pleasure. On a side note; the book was The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. It's another Penguin book, I'm making my way through all the orange and white ones. This one was pretty good.

4.02pm
I went to the gym. Because I was in Brisbane/Perth I didn't get a chance to go, so I was a bit out of practice. First I did my usual stint on the treadmill, then the swingamajigg (it's almost a torture rack), then weights, then situps and more weights, then the swingamajigg again. Like I said though, having not been in nearly two-weeks I was a bit sore, and weak feeling. My arms were stiff, and I was out of breath. I figured it was best to go home.

5.30pm
It was time to go, I was going to meet Soryi anyway. I got changed, put on my jeans, and the shirt and jacket, I got my bag, and put my towel in it, and grabbed my train ticket so I would save time at the station. Except I didn't grab my ticket, because my wallet was gone. Gone where? I don't know. But it wasn't in my bag, I checked six times. It was gone. The thing is I made sure that when I locked it in the locker (of which I am the only one with a key) I put it on top. And I guess that when I opened the locker an hour and a half later, it wasn't on top, but the locker was locked. It's really weird, and I don't have any explanation for what happened, but my wallet is gone, along with all the cards and money in it.

Fun times for Elliott. Lots of fun. I went to the bank the next day, and the bank had lost my Visa account, so I couldn't even get the money out. They had lost all the money in the account on top of everything else that had happened.

IESSOmebody put me out of my misery

THANKS BRIAN ENO

FOR THE COOL, BUT UGLY 77 million paintings you've projected onto the Opera House. I know I complain about Sydney being boring, but when it's cool, like this is, it's actually not too bad. I like that the Opera House gets all this attention, and that I have a million photos of it, despite what _linus says. So I guess I should stay positive or something.

Also, check out the Flickr photostream for more photos of other light things going on in the city this week. There's lights all over the place!

IESSO

REDUCE. REUSE. RECYCLE.

ANATOMY OF A MURDER vs. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM vs. PRECIOUS. Saul Bass, you've done it again! So the first two were done by Saul, but the last one is for a new movie starring MARIAH CAREY! So you know it's gonna be a heavy hitter. Without having seen the movie, and only hearing some reviews (positive though) I won't comment on it, but I will talk about the poster.

I actually like it. No, REALLY like it. It's great... I like the fact that is a clear Saul Bass ripoff. I like that because it's nice, and looks cool. I wish the influences weren't as obvious, but it still doesn't bother me. I wanted to say how annoying it was that new ideas are gone, and that rehashing old ideas are the standard now, but I really don't mind in this case.At least it's not Ultra Bold Gill Sans in red on a white background.

IESSO

MELBOURNE

SO WE GOT BACK ON SUNDAY NIGHT after three days of Melburnian fun. It was great.
I'm totally regretting moving to Sydney. Linus, if you're reading this: Don't move to Sydney, even if you wanted to be with friends. I take back all those things I said about it being ok. It is ok, but Melbourne is better. Move there instead and I'll come and visit!


St Kilda Pier through Soryi's glasses.


Me in St Kilda.


Having breakfast on our last day.


From Southbank facing the city. (Soryi is facing the Crown Casino)


From Federation Square facing the city.


Flinders St Station


An odd thing to see at 9.30 at night; some guy dressed like this doing tai chi. He wasn't asking for money either.


Just outside an amazing tapas place, across the road from Fed Square.


Wayne Brady and co in Fitzroy.


Zombies crossing the road. There were literally hundreds of them. More photos on Flickr.


Return to South Melbourne Beach to reshoot an old photo.


All the food we ate while there; breakfast x3, lunch x1, dinner x3.
I'd definitely recommend Movida, the tapas place. Try the chilled citrus and mint soup with cinnamon dumplings and melon. Also, try the pate with fennel and chocolate drizzle. Oh, and the anchovy with salmon sorbet! ALL AMAZINGLY GOOD!

Also, proof that Sydney is lame.
Backstory: I'm walking down the street in Bondi Beach and wearing a scarf.
SURFER: "You know what I really hate?"
OTHER SURFER: "What?"
SURFER: "Scarves. The next person I see I'm gonna bash."

What is the deal with the anti-scarf sentiment? I've heard things of this nature three times now. What is the deal!?
IESSOoWhat?It'sFrigginCold!

ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER DOLLAR?

IT'S MY BRITHDAY TODAY. I'm now 26 years old. And for the first time ever, I actually do feel older today than I did yesterday. Apparently 26 is late twenties, so I'm not in my late twenties. Is it time to get serious? I guess so.

Anyway, I'm off to Melbourne in a couple of hours, so I'd better keep this short. Suffice to say, when I get back I'm going to upload some photos onto Flickr, and this blog. I used to do that, and I think I'll start doing that again. Also, and lastly, about Melbourne; this is my fourth trip down there, and the previous one was actually five years earlier, to the day. I went on my 21st birthday with Dermo, and had a great time. Every time I go I go with someone else, I wonder who's next? Hopefully Soryi again.

Anyway, keep reading the blog if you want... I'll post more stuff to it.
I'mTwentySixNowYay?ESSO

PS. We bought a new camera (Nikon D90 [kickass!]) and some lenses for it, the moon photo was taken with a Sigma 70-300mm lens at full zoom and cropped in Photoshop. But you can see some craters, etc, so I'm pleased.

YESTERDAY

YESTERDAY was 3 years since we left Australia and began our lifechanging travels. 26,304 hours ago I was in Temple Bar sharing a pint with Dermo at the Porterhouse. I miss that. A lot.

So now I'm here in Sydney still. It's ok. Whatever.
I'll be going to Melbourne in 3 weeks from tomorrow (irony? no, I don't think so, coincidence perhaps). It'll be fun, hopefully.
First lot of travelling in 6 months, I am actually pretty excited.

Also, Soryi and myself have begun planning the wedding. I'll fill you in on the details, when they happen. It's looking like it'll be taking place in Brisbane. And a SMALL ceremony with immediate family and a few friends, nothing lavish and extravagant. We're saving that for Vegas the following year!

IESSO

MARCH UPDATE

Holga FOOD
Originally uploaded by Mondayne

So _someone has finally pestered me into updating the blog. So here goes:












1. I've started freelancing at some Sydney studios. Let's call them A and the other one M. A was good but the work wasn't enough of branding for my liking. It was at Bondi Beach though, so it was a nice place to have a lunch break and everything. Plus 10–5.00pm hours were cool. M on the otherhand does do branding, but a few of the people are kinda jerks. I'm not liking it all that much, but the pay is good. The hours are 9–6.30pm.

2. I've also started going to the gym. I'm trying to get fit by August. because....

3. Soryi and I are engaged! for the 5 people who didn't know, it's true, and official now. We've actually been engaged since August last year, when we went to Paris, but it was a secret of sorts.

4. We're still in Sydney. It's ok now, I've gotten used to being back in Australia so the general hatred has boiled down to a dusty sprinkling of extreme annoyance, but on top of a bland doughnut, so it's not too bad. Metaphor? Nope!

5. Our plans to move to NYC in o'ten are still theoretically possible. But we'll have to see what's the up. If we do go, we'll also be having a kah-razy Vegas wedding, but it's all a bit up in the air at the moment.

6. I've bought myself a HOLGA 120CFN camera. That's a big plastic camera that you put film in and it comes out pretty bad. The above image is just one of many taken so far, head to the Flickr page to see more. The link is to the right of this, just below the link to my portfolio book.

7. I've had 3 interviews at another studio for a fulltime job. I really want to work there though, they do all the cool stuff, with big name clients, and the people who work there are really nice, and enthusiastic, but also good designers. So fingers crossed. Plus, their office has a totally cool view of the Harbour and everything... WOOT!

8. I'll be visiting QCA in June to give a guest lecture. It'll be very boring and poorly planned, but hopefully fun. I've gotten loads of advice on what to talk about, which has given me some general ideas to discuss. More as it develops.

IESSO