REQUIN

Waking Nightmare

2011-03-13T13:20:00.000+10:00

The last two weeks have been some of the worst of my life. I've been in a state of constant tension, feeling like I'm about to collapse and cry. Feeling afraid and angry. Helpless and trapped.

But today it has ended. We can move forward. There may be more dark clouds on the horizon, but we can move forward.

Glitter & Gunpowder,

FUCK.

2011-02-28T19:51:00.003+10:00

I have to move house again in May.... ugh.

Glitter & Gunpowder,

You nasty piece of work

2011-02-09T17:14:00.000+10:00

Kids!

I'm still alive, just a bit snowed under with recent work and life malarky. I recently finished a character illustration for the band Vervet Thirst, which was a heap of fun. Fortune prevailing, I'll be doing more work for them in the future. I've also been working on some package design proposals for Infants' Friend for a new product line. Here's a pic of the character illustration. I'm told his name is Donnie :)

I hope you all like him! Don't forget to check out Vervet Thirst on facebook - they are playing a gig to raise funds for Flood Relief at the Tivoli in Brisbane!

Glitter & Gunpowder,

2011-01-01T16:59:00.000+10:00

Oh 2010 where did you go? I can scarcely believe that it is already New Years Day 2011, and yet by the same token the things I did in the first half of the year feel like they were eons ago.

2010 has been a very difficult, crazy, interesting, stressful, beautiful, tragic and most of all, a learning curve. I've been in the freelance game for 12 months now and even though I only have a very small client base at the moment I have learnt so very, very much!

It was a very financially difficult year for us with lover studying full-time. Just when we sorted our financials out we moved house and had to pay double rent for 2 months (BOY were they a difficult 2 months).

But it is now 2011. It's a new day, a new month and a new year. I want to make it the best year so far.

Did anyone make any New Years Resolutions?

Glitter & Gunpowder,

A Website for your Weekend

2010-12-03T18:20:00.000+10:00

Kim-jong Il looking at things

This website is wonderful!

Glitter & Gunpowder,

2010-12-01T15:15:00.000+10:00

Ladies and Gentlefolk, I am back - and I bring with me the awesome power of internet access!

As I mentioned earlier, my hiatus was caused by our moving house and temporary loss of internet. In the downtime, I rediscovered television. There sure are a lot of interesting documentaries on television, yessiree.

But there's also a lot of advertising, the majority of which seems stupid and mindless to me.

Don't get me wrong - I love advertising... when it's well done. When it's clever, memorable and it gets the point across. One that springs to mind is a print ad for Classic chocolate milk that I've seen in the busways. It's a big picture of a carton of chocolate milk and all it reads is "It's good. Buy it". Underneath the image is a bit of text advertising the 'classic' milk, indicating that it is simple, reliable and there's no beating-around-the-bush.

It makes me grin every time I see it. It's refreshingly blunt. It doesn't hide behind a face or a notion of some lifestyle choice.

In amongst the myriad of advertising that I'm exposed to daily through television, posters, internet and packing, I've noticed an increasing amount of celebrity-endorsed products. Not the usual Kirstie-Alley-used-this-and-lost-heaps-of-weight endorsement. I'm talking about the George Clooney Nespresso ads, the Benico Del Toro Heaven ice-cream ads, the Hugh Jackman Liption iced tea ads.

It all just seems a bit much. I understand the underlying idea here - a person (the celebrity) that many people look up to (the public) says that this product is awesome. The public trust this celebrity, rush out and buy the product and everyone is happy.

Some of the ads are funny, some are ridiculous, some are good-natured but to me they all seem just so... stupid. I can't think of a better word. Why do they think I'm going to buy a Nespresso coffee machine just because George Clooney buys one?

Why does Lipton think that just because I think Hugh Jackman is a pretty cool guy I will mindlessly believe him when he tells me to drink their iced tea?

Do they think we don't all know that these celebrities are being paid big bucks to attach their pretty faces to a brand? In an article on The Punch, discussing celebrity tweeting and the effect it has had on how fans relate to celebrities, it mentions that celebrities like Kim Kardashian are paid to mention products in their tweets - she receives upwards of $10,000 to mention Nestle in a tweet.

While I've never pictured Kim as the pillar of honourable values, wouldn't her fans notice the stark difference between her usual dribble and then the blatant endorsement of a seemingly unrelated brand? What does Nestle have to do with her anyway? On what level are they related? Why aren't Kim's minions branding her a sell-out?

What am I saying here... she's a reality-tv star... Maybe Kim Kardashian is a bad example.

The celebrity-sponsored trend is nothing new. Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and James Dean all endorsed products in their lifetime. Marketing has long relied on the celebrity-idolism to sell products. Gosh, maybe if I buy Revlon's products, my skin will look as nice as Halle Berry's does!

Of course, there are times when celebrity sponsorship can be a good thing. Charities and the like benefit greatly from the extra exposure a celebrity can give them.

In general though, I find that these ads are almost offensively stupid. Do marketing agencies really think that I will be impressed by Benico Del Toro pimping for Heaven ice-cream? Am I the only one who gets pissed off about this? Do the public really buy into this sort of bullshit?

What do you think about celebrity-endorsed products?

Glitter & Gunpowder,

Moving Madness

2010-11-19T06:55:00.000+10:00

The move is done! Oh my god, finally!!

We are absolutely exhausted from it all but our new little flat is beautiful in so many ways. Of course, it has its weird little foilibles and curiosities but I am still so in love with it. The view of the city is wonderful, especially at night. When I unpack the camera I'll take some photos for you all so you can swoon as much as I am over our cute new pad!

Glitter & Gunpowder,

Grey Planes

2010-11-09T10:28:00.000+10:00

I love the greyness of the city.

I was on my way to work today, admiring the billowing, stormy clouds. I love grey days. I think that's part of the reason why I love Melbourne so much (Oooh Melbourne I love you!). I just feel happier, more creative, more expressive on a lovely dark day.

What's more, grey makes all the little plots of colour, the little accents and touches all the more brilliant and beautiful. I wish they hadn't concreted over King George Square. Amongst the steel and stone of the city it was a wide green haven. For those who work in the CBD it was also much closer than the Botanical Gardens or ANZAC square.

Once again, Melbourne comes to mind. Amid the stunning grey are those beautiful deciduous trees - blooming in Spring, green in Summer, fire-red in Autumn and beautifully bare in Winter. I love it. It feels like the whole city is alive.

And all the while, I'm stuck here at work.

Le sigh.

Glitter & Gunpowder,

Occasional Interruptions

2010-11-09T08:48:00.000+10:00

Readers,

Jesse and I are in the process of trying to get a cname for my blog working so I can use my own domain instead of the blogger domain (this will be necessary when I re-do my website). It's something new to us and we seem to be having a bitch of a time with it for my domain so don't be surprised if things chop-and-change a bit. There may also be some interruptions to the availability of the blog.

Apologies.

Glitter & Gunpowder,

White Haze

2010-11-07T22:10:00.000+10:00

Friends,

Everything has been rushing along past me in a blazing white haze. Summer is burgeoning here in Brisbane and it's hotter than holy hell. Jesse & I are moving next Monday to our sweet little pad in Windsor - we bought a bunch of pretty, rubbery things for our new kitchen. Everything will be shiny and new, except us of course.

Hours at work are down but stress is up, as is the standard. A few friends are leaving. It makes me sad that I meet so many amazing people in these jobs (particularly when temping) only to have them slip through my fingers into oblivion. Facebook only goes so far, and the wisest, most curious of those people never seem to have a facebook profile anyways. They're usually doing far more interesting things. Either that or I can't remember their last names to search for them.

Design has been up-and-down. I'm in the last stages of a business card design for a medicine company, and it has been an interesting learning experience. I certainly have a lot more learning to do, I can see that now. I also did some painting for my sister. It's yet to be delivered to her and I hope she likes it.

Jesse got a heap of episodes of The Chapelle Show. I'd seen bits and pieces of it before on Pay TV but never really watched full episodes. It's quite funny, but I always feel weird about laughing at jokes about black people.

I don't know why. I guess I'm just scared of offending people. I know it's supposed to be okay because David Chapelle himself is black. I don't know. I'm just strange I guess.

Glitter & Gunpowder,

Moving Madness 1

2010-09-26T12:14:00.000+10:00

Welcome to Moving Madness - the chronicle of our move to our new flat!

We have already completed stage 1 (find a place!) and now we are onto stage 2: Operation Get rid of stuff! And it is already off to a rip-roaring start. This morning I sold an old bed we don't use to a happy lady! That's one more piece of pointless furniture that we don't need to move to our new place!

Now all we need to get rid of is: An old washing machine, a broken dryer, 2 bar fridges, a set of fucked up couches, a double bed and a tall boy. Whew! The washing machine, dryer and couches we can dismantle and put out on the kerb for the Brisbane City Council kerbside collection in October (seriously, the timing couldn't be better!)

One of the bar fridges belongs to a friend so he'll be taking that back, plus our housemate is considering buying the double-bed, which only leaves the 1 bar fridge and white tall-boy left to dispose of. I can probably sell the tall-boy as well because it's still in great condition.

So... anybody wanna buy a tall-boy?

Glitter & Gunpowder,

Moving

2010-09-19T22:06:00.000+10:00

8 weeks from Monday, I will be moving to my new unit with Lover. After 5 years of living in Kedron and flatting intermittently with various friends, relatives of friends and the desperate we'll finally be living in our own place and only just over 4kms to the CBD!

I can't wait!! :D