Somber Concessions in the Short Life of Gary Gray: Little 'ol Karl
Posted On 12:36 PM by nerdluck | 0 points of view
They say time slows down when you know you are about to die... It is so that the scenes that matter can pass before your eyes and you can see how you have lived your life. Probably to give you a chance to be happy about it somehow.
Well, I didn't die. Not in the real sense of the word.
I always hated Karl's guts. For a boy of small stature he thinks highly of himself. He walks around with a swagger that seem to say he's better than everyone else. Or maybe just me and a bunch of others like me. He snapped at me on the fist day of our sophomore year in High School 'coz I was tapping my pencil too loud. He was the heckler, a year before, who got the class in a laughing fit on a school play at my expense. The year before that, he got the other guys to roll me up in a gym mattress and piled up on top of me. I had a growth spurt during last summer and I noticed he was now just about the height of my shoulder. . I thought to myself, I could probably take this guy if I had to. Then it happened...
Ironically, we were paired up in a science project where we had to slice up a frog. Our frog got messed up and for some reason, it became all my fault. I told him to shove it and before I know it, our "date" is set. 4:00 behind the east wing. At last, I have the chance to put this mouse in his place. At 4:15, I found myself sitting against the wall of the gymnasium behind the east wing with a bloody nose, torn shirt and a broken spirit. I just lost a school yard brawl against a shrimp.
'A great designer has to know everything while an artist doesn't have to know anything.' -Richard Tuttle
Don't get the above statement wrong. This is not an Artist versus Designer debate. There are more appropriate forum for that. Besides, I have no authority in a matter of this magnitude. What this [blog] is, among a lot of things, is a record of my thoughts and learnings as I pursue knowledge in Graphic design and the business of selling this design service. But some questions comes to mind. How much can one person learn? Do we really need to learn so much?
In his book, Design, Form and Chaos, Paul Rand said:
"Design is one of the most perplexing pursuits in which to excel. Besides the need for a God-given talent, the designer must contend with encyclopedic amounts of information, a seemingly endless stream of opinions, and the day-to-day problem of finding "new" ideas (popularly called creativity)."
This was in 1993. Nowadays, with information easily available on the net. It has become virtually impossible for any one designer to know all there is to know about his craft. I mean, there is probably a thousand ways to do a book cover from the same design brief and another thousand ways to interpret Market Researches and probably more than a few thousand different opinions on the same draft. A fledgling designer would be intimidated about the how much field he should cover. I know I am, even after some years of actual industry experience. Scared as I am with the vastness of the (unexplored) knowledge base that is the Internet (or "the cloud" as I referred to in this blog a couple of times) I am always excited to learn new ways of making things work together from the designer circles I move around in. Even though sometimes these guys make me look at my work and want to hide them where they can't be seen. But I digress... Being a designer means creating solutions... and if we want to grow, we will always search out new design problems to solve, messages to deliver creatively and figure out design trends. Whether these trends are for good design or otherwise doesn't matter. But that is for another rant altogether... So for you budding design superstar... soak up everything you can... Be the sponge!
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Don't get the above statement wrong. This is not an Artist versus Designer debate. There are more appropriate forum for that. Besides, I have no authority in a matter of this magnitude. What this [blog] is, among a lot of things, is a record of my thoughts and learnings as I pursue knowledge in Graphic design and the business of selling this design service. But some questions comes to mind. How much can one person learn? Do we really need to learn so much?
In his book, Design, Form and Chaos, Paul Rand said:
"Design is one of the most perplexing pursuits in which to excel. Besides the need for a God-given talent, the designer must contend with encyclopedic amounts of information, a seemingly endless stream of opinions, and the day-to-day problem of finding "new" ideas (popularly called creativity)."
This was in 1993. Nowadays, with information easily available on the net. It has become virtually impossible for any one designer to know all there is to know about his craft. I mean, there is probably a thousand ways to do a book cover from the same design brief and another thousand ways to interpret Market Researches and probably more than a few thousand different opinions on the same draft. A fledgling designer would be intimidated about the how much field he should cover. I know I am, even after some years of actual industry experience. Scared as I am with the vastness of the (unexplored) knowledge base that is the Internet (or "the cloud" as I referred to in this blog a couple of times) I am always excited to learn new ways of making things work together from the designer circles I move around in. Even though sometimes these guys make me look at my work and want to hide them where they can't be seen. But I digress... Being a designer means creating solutions... and if we want to grow, we will always search out new design problems to solve, messages to deliver creatively and figure out design trends. Whether these trends are for good design or otherwise doesn't matter. But that is for another rant altogether... So for you budding design superstar... soak up everything you can... Be the sponge!
Everybody's favorite girl is in for a treat! Mommies of all shapes and sizes are invited to jump in and take part in the Mother's Day Giveaway promo and win stuff. As with every Baby that we put out, our Mommy month issue is the meatiest read. Five "mom-preneurs" tell the story of how the mottos "family first" and "follow your dreams" can come hand-in-hand in "Taking care of business." Baby sends mall scouts to check out how baby-friendly the malls are in "It's a mall world after all." We feature 3 malls every month starting this issue.
Have you heard of Human Milk Banks? Do you know why you must remove your nail polish before going into labor? What do you tell your child when he sees a child with special needs for the first time? How do you help your child learn not to be pikon? Did you know you need to start caring for your child's teeth before he's even born? How? You can find out about these and a whole lot more in this issue right here.
Cover photography by Ralph Alejandrino and the happy angel is Claudia Sofia Marchan Bozgan having loads of fun with bubbles.
Baby Magazine, the Philippines' first parenting mag is now in it's 12th year of service to Filipino parents. For subscription inquiries, you may contact Baby Magazine through the following:
Phone: (+63 2) 728.36.55
Email: babymag@globelines.com.ph
That means colorblind for the rest of us. And my monitor won't be too since I got myself this baby. I had been pining for one of these ever since I saw it in action at the Power Mac center's seminar on Color Management for Photographers (read here). Although what I saw in that seminar was this guys younger (read: sleeker, newer, more expensive) brother, I am nonetheless happy with my new pet.
Now, why do I need this? Well, I work with a lot of images for the magazines I work on and I have to make sure that what I see in my screen is, at least, in close color proximity to what it will look like on paper. That is called monitor calibration. The Spyder also comes in handy whenever I have some digital photos that I want to get printed. Imagine the disappointment I get whenever I edit some pictures and have them digitally printed only to have our faces printed a little too yellow... It was THAT bad.
The Spyder Pro is the leading monitor calibration tool. It is named like so because it looks like a spider hanging in front of the monitor. Cute...
Thanks to Aries for selling me this wonderful thing. It was great doing business with you. Now, how much are you charging for that PrintFi-Whoops! My spider sense is tingling... time for another calibration.
Being a self-taught designer has one major disadvantage. It is that gnawing, churning feeling in your gut that makes you wonder if you're doing anything right at all. That ever present wondering was the primary reason I elected to put myself through PCCI 's (the Philippine Center for Creative Imaging) two-day training workshop on Publications Design. The other reason being that no great designer is born by parthenogenesis, I wanted to have someone I can refer to as my sensei and gain the confidence of having learned from one. I spent the last 2 days with eye-opening lessons, mind-rocking design decisions on our exercises and heart-pounding critiquing session. At the end of it all, I slept like a log in a storm. Spent. Satisfied. Yet hungry for more. You run a meaty workshop, Sensei...These happy shiny people were the ones I walked along the path with. From far left is Tina, Jazz, Sir Ige, JL and yours truly. Photo by PCCI's own Sir Jun Miranda. (Pardon my crappy scanning, i will upload a better one soon)
Philippine Center for Creative Imaging (PCCI), the country's premier digital arts training center, is operated by industry-recognized practitioners of leading applications in print, web and multimedia. We offer world-class training in Adobe, Apple and Corel products.
Philippine Center for Creative Imaging (PCCI)
2nd Floor, Kodak Building, 2247 Chino Roces Ave.
(formerly Pasong Tamo), Makati City, Philippines
TEL +63 (2) 759-3087 | FAX +63 (2) 892-5281
EMAIL: inquiry@pcci.com.ph
Somber Concessions in the Short Life of Gary Gray: Carrie's Silence
Posted On 9:17 AM by nerdluck | 0 points of view
I've been to uncle John's many times before. But I felt there was something strange today. Carrie wouldn't talk to me the whole trip. Even though I can barely comprehend a word she say most of the time, I would still rather she humor me with the usual gibberish. Oh well, I'ts gonna be fun seeing my cousin, Justin, again. We get along really well even though he's just half my age. I left Carrie with Uncle John and Aunt Betty so Justin and I can get on with our usual fun. I can't always keep an eye on her. Sooner or later she's gonna have to learn to do things without me. Time really flies when you're having fun. It's already dark, so I figured We would be staying here for tonight again. Except that I can't seem to find Carrie anywhere so I went to ask Aunt Betty. "I'm sorry, Gary, but your mother went home already. You're too young to understand now but from now on, you have to start getting used to calling me mom."
A week has passed before I was sure mom was not coming back for me. I was 4 years old.
Graphikapinoy's maiden issue went out into the cloud yesterday and I downloaded it as soon as I got the SMS from Mon (the brains behind GPM) announcing the fact. I was already excited about this release weeks ago when I learned that it will feature Inksurge, Dan Matutina, and Camille del Rosario. All of whom are so brilliantly talented and inspiring to say the least. I, personally, have been a fan of these guys for quite sometime now. Getting an insight on how the gears in their heads work is a real treat for me.Kudos Graphikapinoy for helping raise awareness for the flourishing Filipino design scene. Can't wait for the next release.
Graphikapinoy is a free downloadable pdf magazine in support of the Filipino creatives. A convergence of best talents from all aspects of the design industry whose works shall be showcased in every issue.
I'm the Introvert, intuitive, thinking and perceiving type
Posted On 12:10 PM by nerdluck | 1 points of view
I'm not really a fan of these personality test sites but here's one that I really enjoyed taking. Many thanks to gizelle for sending me the link. If anyone is interested in taking the same test, just click the image above. (too lazy to put up the link)
We got a hot one here!!! This month's Baby is chock-full of hot summer essentials. First off in the list is THE LIST of summer workshops and activities for your little kids. From theater to music to science and reading to sports and everything in between. your kids are sure to have a fruitful and fun summer to remember for years to come. Speaking of fruits... you and your families are sure to love creating your own fruity smoothies off our "Fruit Math" feature. Enjoy it while splashing around in the pool with the little one. Just be sure to read "Water babies" beforehand to help keep it a safe and fun experience. For those who are planning on going on a trip, read Antonette Reyes' Family Finance and learn her tricks on planning an inexpensive summer trip.Baby Magazine, the Philippines' first parenting mag is now in it's 12th year of service to Filipino parents. For subscription inquiries, you may contact Baby Magazine through the following:
Phone: (+63 2) 728.36.55
Email: babymag@globelines.com.ph
update: I forgot to mention that the cover photo was masterfully captured by Bobot Go at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel. That is Kiian Huey Tolentino(SM Starbaby winner for visayas-mindanao) on the cover. And that really is his hair.
update: I forgot to mention that the cover photo was masterfully captured by Bobot Go at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel. That is Kiian Huey Tolentino(SM Starbaby winner for visayas-mindanao) on the cover. And that really is his hair.
