I haven’t quite been in peace with myself lately
there seems so much to do – yet left undone ~
so much to say – yet left unsaid ~

A lot of this unrest probably stems from the need to localize a lot of new information and opportunities that i have come across in the past few weeks. I am going to split this entry into sections just so that i can categorize, prioritize and hopefully feel a little focussed at the end of it all…

::On the Research Front::
The idea of producing a panoramic time lapse has been buzzing around in my head for so long that i now find myself being repetitive and reiterating the same ol – same ol in different ways and not quite going ahead anywhere. ::: read outofmyarse_notes01 on this topic if you are not bored already :::

While i am discussing this.. i should bring up a ‘recent find’ that i think is befitting to the discussion – Nicholas Kallincos’s Four Minute Wonders Entry – ‘Nitty Gritty’ that uses a juxtaposition of animation and live action within clearly distinct onscreen image space –> ‘Nitty Gritty’ by Nicholas Kallincos. I met Nick myself early this year at the AIM school in Melbourne while he was working on Nitty Gritty…. and i must say that this scientist -turned- animator -turned- teacher happens to be quite a wonderful chap.

On the basis of my study so far, it almost seems that i am touching on two seperate topics of research here;
1. Time Lapse ( panoramic/non-panoramic) that exhbit spatial integration and temporal variation
2. Visual Video Compositions that exhibit clear spatial variation through distinct use of styles and temporal displacement…

This latter sets me up to introduce a project idea that Muqeem and myself came up with a few days back – an animated music video for one of Muqeem’s track called ‘Tintalation’For this I find that an approach such as that employed by Jane Aaron and/or Nick would probably be apt in terms of art direction and conception of the piece….. atleast at the moment, i think so. :: more on this later after i speak to M ::

::On the Inspiriration Front::
Been watching The Directors Commentary of ‘The Animatrix’ and daaaaaamn these Japs have got their SHIT together – some very very cool stuff… Of all the pieces my personal favorites have to be ‘Matriculated’ by Peter Chung (the Aeon Flux fella) and The Second Renaissance Part One by Mahiro Maeda. Infact, while on that thought, i must mention that i found the visuals of ‘The Second Renaissance’ to be very close to what i had imagined when i heard Nitin Sawhney’s Track ‘Beyond Skin’

Also been playing a lot of Harry Potter: The Prisoner of Azkaban lately and i find the levels and their graphic impact to be obviously outstanding but however, i find that the game tends to always prompt in the right direction. Although that may seem necessary at times, i would personally prefer the gameplay to include less room for making mistakes ~ like maybe entering a wrong room and getting stuck there and as a result having to combat a creature with whom a confrontation may have been initially avoided.. or merely being penalized by losing valuable game playing time by staying in the room for a specified amount of time (maybe 20 minutes or so..) This would make the game more challenging – i feel…. but hey thats just me!

::On the Job and Media Front::
Ooh.. this is the bit thats been causing me a lot of anxiety lately… i have been meeting a lot of ppl in the industry and have had some very very pleasing responses regarding creative collaborations in the near future… but there are more ppl to meet and more decisions to be made. CFA had approached me last week with quite an interesting part time offer that would be great for my cv – keeping in mind further education. Companies ‘Plr’ and ‘T’ seemed rather enthusiastic about my portfolio and have expressed quite keenly on meeting me next week ~ am desperately looking forward to these opportunites.

On the Media Front, i made a post few days back about the seemingly recent proliferation of brand consultancy & design strategy firms in the region and guess what ?? i was right! Last week, in my rather casual chat with DM of PP Advertising, he rather openly admitted that the Advertising Industry in Dubai was in a terrrible state. He further commented that the average consumer/client was increasingly feeling more independent and choosing to buy their own media and approach their own printers – and this trend has began to seriously effect revenues for advertising agencies.

Everything seems to fall into place now as this would explain how a lot of new firms are probably forseeing such a trend and henceforth presenting themselves as strict design companies in the region…. hmmm… could i be proud of this revelation?

::On the Projects Front::
I seriously want to be able to get my ideas about ‘Transfer’ up and going…. but haven’t done any research on that yet. I am assuming that the research would probably be targeted more towards the feasibility of the project more than practicality. I’ve been looking around desperately to make myself a pencil tester at home ~ haven’t gone too far with that yet.

::On the Personal Front::
Darn flowers keep losing their petals – but they dont give up !!!! argh!

It was my little sisters birthday yesterday and we had a great family time out after what seemed like ages. I guess this was the first time, the four of us went out for lunch together after almost two years.. thanks to me being away and sis being busy with her finals. I took them to ‘The Square’ at Wafi Mall for a taste of the mooost delicious cocktails and ‘teriyaki chicken and panini sandwiches’…. mmmm mmm highly recommend it!

Came back home to set up the Playstation2 and wander off into the magical and mystical game world of Harry Potter – The prisoner of Azkaban. We sat there spellbound with consoles in hand and wide open eyes from 4 to 11. So mystical was this world that it made more sense at the time to cancel all our evening plans and invest all our efforts in finding a way to kill the hicklepickle’s by glaring them with luminous wand….

Spooky was a little jealous of the PS2 for all the attention it was getting and decided to pull out her bag of tricks too. She kept trying to get our attention by running around in circles and jumping about…her efforts went unnoticed and she decided that it be more worthwhile whining and complaining to mom and dad when they came back home…. we gave her some cake later and she was happy again!

I had a pretty swell day myself ~ a rather overwhelming appreciation of my animated film ‘gifted’ along with pats on the back came from the creative director of an advertising agency i totaaaalllllly adore in the region. What was supposed to be a casual meeting infact ended up becoming a tiny screening with every art director and graphic designer in the firm – quite unexpected but felt grrreat!

Creative Boutiques: Alok Nanda & Co, Chlorophyll Chalk Out Expansion Plans

Thought this was a rather interesting link… whats with this sudden upsurge of brand consultancy firms ?… is it just me? or is this really becoming a trend?… actually i think its just me. On that note, does this phenomenon have a name – the phenomenon where the more you look around the more you see the things that you have been reading/thinking about lately.

Will add more to this post later tonight maybe…

I’ve been tackling the terrifying Dubai-Sharjah Traffic every day now and so far i havent found myself too frustrated with it. Ofcourse there is the occasional annoying seven car pile up that every passing driver ‘has’ to stop and look at with awe and i just wonder to myself that by now, one would be quite used to seeing things like this on the streets of Dubai .. but then again… maybe not.

Been away from blogsville for a few days now as i was busy working on a proposal on behalf of ‘hmm’ – it was a bit rushed (just the way i hate it) but it had to be done..i guess. I wasn’t the least bit happy with what i turned in… but i guess thats what they mean when they say ‘ you can’t rush art’ eh ? Spoke to Wissam earlier in the week about my ideas of creating panoramic time lapses and his enthusiasm for the idea has rejuvenated the same within me as well ~ will have some of that research material up online soon.

Settled myself down tonight to do some spring cleaning on the computers while a typically bad vampire movie’s scare tactics went unnoticed on the tv beside me…

well almost unnoticed..

Poor Spooky had a 3 hour date with the groomers today and she looked so obviously tired from all that scrubbing and brushing that she could barely keep her eyes open when she got home… she climbed onto my bed and rested her pretty little head on my bright stripey pillow and dozed off….fassssst asleep

Found this funny headline on the onion while performing my early morning surf routine..
CIA Asks Bush To Discontinue Blog

Mikoishi.Com turned out to be a pretty cool find as well ( it has a rather interesting process driven isometric schematic diagram in it which caught my attention)

And lastly, got this link off the PR Machine Blog ~ quite interesting again – It points out how this year’s rankings rewarded companies that built their communities around their products and services, hence creating “cult brands” that enabled customers to feel as if they own the brand.
BusinessWeek Reports Interbrand’s Annual Ranking of the 100 Top Global Brands in August 2nd Issue. Most Successful Companies on This Year’s List Are Building Communities Around Their ‘Cult Brands’

I dont know if this is good or bad … i mean i always wanted to know who this mysterious artist was and what he looked like, but now i wonder if thats really necessary… For those who dont know Banksy, he is Britain’s most celebrated anonymous graffiti artist. His signature style and imagery has had tremendous visual and political impact. I remember seeing my first Banksy at ‘Revolo’ on Chapel St. when my housemate Peter first introduced me to his work… Here is a quote from the following link in which Jamaican underground photojournalist types claim to unmask Banksy (scroll down towards the end of the page to see pictures which are allegedly of Banksy).. does this mean the end of graffiti ??

Banksy unmasked

Banksy’s attitude to brands is ambivalent – like Naomi Klein, he opposes corporate branding and has become his own brand in the process……Over the past couple of years the very brands he despises have approached him to do advertising campaigns for them. Is there work he would turn down on principle? “Yeah, I’ve turned down four Nike jobs now. Every new campaign they email me to ask me to do something about it. I haven’t done any of those jobs. The list of jobs I haven’t done now is so much bigger than the list of jobs I have done. It’s like a reverse CV, kinda weird. Nike have offered me mad money for doing stuff.” What’s mad money? “A lot of money!” he says bashfully. Why did he turn it down? “Because I don’t need the money and I don’t like children working their fingers to the bone for nothing. I like that Jeremy Hardy line: ‘My 11-year-old daughter asked me for a pair of trainers the other day. I said, ‘Well, you’re 11, make ‘em yourself.’ I want to avoid that shit if at all possible.”"Something to spray” : 7/17/03 The Guardian

ok … i do have a lot to write about in this entry but i just dont have the time because i have to get this portfolio printed and finished tonight so i can go down to kinkos tommorow to get a final print of the artwork…. so i will keep all my thoughts locked in my head until my next entry… but just so that this entry doesnt go to a total waste.. here is this real fun link that i came across on someones blog (actually her name was nikita mehra and her blog was www.livejournal.com/users/datempest/

Take your real japanese name generator today!

Tia and i spent almost an hour making up a story with our japanese characters.. i was yamashita kaito and she was fujiwara something…. and we battled in a place not too far away from the foothills of mt fuji where ghosts who wore green leotards inflicted curses upon the samurais of the village – curses that caused a rare lizard testicle allergy. Fujiwara fearing that Yamashita was showing symptoms of transformation to these leotard claded ghosts, drew upon the power of shinijo kwaya ( apparently the name given to the wrath of fujiwara …. whatever…..:) and with a slice of her sword – the tinkle of the air killed Yamashita. As Fujiwara squeezed in a quick ‘chubby checker’ victory dance…. the wind blew from the east… the leaves rustled and a herd of cows appeared charging madly towards the foothills where the victory celebrations continued… Fujiwara turned pale as he realized that his most feared and unguarded moment had arrived – it had come in the form of GORUMASHITA and then…. it all made sense – ” Yamashita Kaito had infact invited his death happily only to be reborn as the powerful Gorumashita and seek revenge …” – it all made sense now…. so much sense…

arigato !!

i think if the story went any further it would probably have ended with tom cruise waltzing in towards the end and claiming to be the last samurai or something…. i dont know. I laughed so hard that not only did i fall off my chair but the dog woke up and sat there staring at my face with the most bewildered expression on its face … until she decided to leave the room and sleep in my sisters room instead.

Found this rather interesting article on branding that talks about how companies are betting big on the name game – KPMG changes to BearingPoint Inc, Delloite Consulting changes to Braxton Consulting, ITWorld to Accela Communications and Universal Foods Corp to Sensient Technologies to name a few…. What goes along with all these name changes however is a new look, new logo treatments and communications ( for instance the new logo treatment accompanying the name change from ITWorld to Accela Com. apparently cost around 20,000$ and spanned over three months ) hmm….

Companies Bet Big on the Name Game by Sean F. Callahan

Also, as i spent some more time surfing through the interbrand website (which happens to be an amazing site), i found that the three career paths in this field happens to be – trademark law, branding and design. aha!! i say ‘ finally things seems to be coming together now’. I have always secretly wondered what it would be like to have a law degree/diploma considering the fact that its nature is poles apart from what i have done so far … i wonder though if this could be all crazy talk…oh i dunno… but i found this article on ‘oregon live’ which was kinda interesting –

More law graduates, but not all attorneys

On a more amusing note, this would be an eyeopener for anyone living outside the United Arab Emirates – The World Project, best described as a series of 200 islands positioned strategcally to form the shape of the world map.

Dubai brings ‘The World’ to you

Apparently Rod Stewart and his girlfriend have bought Great Britain, or so i read in the paper – but we all know celebrities and their ways.. eh?

So i am back .. back again
As i sit back in the familiar settings of my room, it seems that the past year never happened…
Melbourne seems quite vague and distant now – almost like a happy dream that i have now woken up from.

Been doing a lot of looking around for new opportunities in the market here in Dubai and i must say that i am pleased with what seems to be the beginning of a clear demarcation between advertising agencies and design firms. Until a few years back, advertising agencies were seen as the one stop shop for design and creative solutions from everything ranging from corporate identity design to the design of advertising campaigns. Design firms that specialize in brand strategy and design solutions like TMH International, Landor and Studio Dogs have started drawing that line of difference in this country .. bravo!!!

As i skimmed through the portfolio of these companies, i found myself asking ‘what else did brand strategy and design actually include and how my skills could fit in ?’ i found the following interesting links that definitely puts things into perspective and the sheer opportunites gives me this funny feeling in my tummy….

The future of ‘brand’ design by Paul Barlow 
Interbrand – Services

This here is an interesting blog entry that questions and debates the issue of advertising agency vs Branding Consultancy
Speakup – www.underconsideration.com

More from me later….