Well.. Woohoo! i got invited to AUS (School of Archiecture and Design) to be a juror at this years ‘Foundation Jury Exhibition’ along with Lubna (Fellow Alumni) and Nesreen (DubaiTV) and …

errrmmmm… i thought that the work was.. well… interesting. Most of the pieces seemed to focus on exercises and seemed to lack a sense of style and concept. – having said that … i do realize that i am being extreeeeemmmeeeely critical and that on a very practical level it would be wrong to expect the presence of either style or concept from students who have just been introduced to design. So our criterias were left quite loose and focussed around the essentials such as the understanding of design principles. The award ceremony following the jury session went quite well and there seemed to be quite a lot of happy faces around … so im glad!

What really reallyy appealed to me (more than the show and the winners) .. was how well the non-qualifying entrants of the ‘FJE Show’ took their fall. Basically ~ the ones who got judged out of the show … went all ahead and rounded up the refused pieces and had their own exhibition – with posters and everything VERY VERY COOL ! I almost felt bad being a juror then (broke my heart)…. but as Matt and Paul said – ‘…this sense of spirit is a great sign for the future of the school’.. i agreed.

It’s funny going back to University as an alumni and seeing new faces in familiar places — some working away and some slacking off … and you realize for a moment that ‘WOW! i was here … i went through all this too once upon a time – the pain, the joy, the misery, the accolades…and after all that – to these new faces … i am just that – ANOTHER NEW FACE ! .. wow!

Lil Sis shared similar sentiments – she got invited back to her high school to be a jury member for the ‘Interschool Dance Fest – Jhankaar 2005′. She refused … but decided to perform a solo dance number instead. Lovely performance – if i may say so myself ;P

A few quick pics i took for her folio after the show –> click here

Projects Update:

1. ‘Talking heads’ project is on hold until i can get hold of some webby-netty kinda stuff to create textures on the leaves. I am thinking of ‘the white net stuff that we use in printmaking to wipe plates – but DAMN!! I JUST CANT REMEMBER WHAT ITS CALLED !! – its starts with a ‘t’ … any guesses anybody ?? tartalin .?.. tartan..??. tarrr… ??? .. arrrgh!!!

Right now the leaves lack dimension’n'detail and they could reallllly use some more definition. Also am looking forward to play around with some arabic calligraphy on the other side of the painting .. I’ve got a couple of things in mind .. but any further suggestions are most welcome.

2.Mise-en-scene project now christened as ‘Rubicon’ has been quite an addictive piece lately and ive been dreaming up loads of follow up sequences to it…quite enjoying it. Have asked a friend to write me a few lines of poetry ‘il postino’ ishtyle to accompany the seqeunce as a score…. lets see how it goes. The illustration now stands at this point (below)…. i quite like it so far.

Suggestions, Comments .. most welcome – Fire Away Peeps!

DAMN AGAIN! long time no blog

I’ve done it again.. haven’t i ?
Been away from blogland and started off another post with the same ol same ol ‘have to blog more often’ …. well.. i think its time i should just face the fact that i just have sooooooo much more to do with my 24’s nowadays that i just cant quite seem to get my act together….. or maybe im just being down right lazzzzy ;P

So yet again.. im going to summarize my musings and amusings in one big-ass post … so hold your breath cuz i’ve actually been quite productive and had my sticky lil fingers in quite a few varied number of things lately.

1.Stuff i’ve been randomly working on lately (works in progress)

a. Talking heads keep talking

b. A Delicate exercise in developing Mise-en-scene

c. Splashing Water n Colors on a pixish of an idea

2. Fun Sites i’ve been on lately (only surf when the Big Boss isnt watching ;P )
Been hanging around the regions of graffiti.playdo.com thats proven to be quite a lot of fun. Picked it up from a posting by a certain ‘psycho monkey’ on the Dubai Writers Meetup Forum.

Good Fun! The site is simple and works around a good solid concept of both communal and personal graffiti space. Not too different from the whiteboard feature accompanying the PC Version of MSN. The site also incorporates varying brushes allowing one to control pressure and opacity. The best bits of the site is probably the subtler elements such as the sway of the fabric ( attached to the mouse ) when moved around from end to end or the bounce of the can when slammed hard on the floor.

Much in the style of real-life graffiti – THERE IS NO UNDO ! and thats bloody frustrating but it gives the authentic rough edge as you have to literally wipe away your mistakes and leave behind a stain. very coooool!

I came up with this as a rough quick one… if you all looosers cant read it – it says DWM! (im too cool ! ;P – Sophie would agree !! pssst.. help me out here sophie … Nod a yes and nothing else )

and this was more of a communal one as i got chums – stewart (melbourne) and hee (seoul) onboard ( it gets a lot messier and fun when this happens – with ppl drawing over each others stuff )

Try it out – its worth the time and the smile!

Other sites to look at would be
-www.tokyoplastic.com (courtesy: rehan+psychomonkey)
-Little India (courtesy: james son of hut)

4. Sharjah Art Biennial
( NO REALLY !! how do YOU pronounce B.I.E.N.N.I.A.L ? is it bea-aghh-nallli-ee or bi-ennial ? )
Went to the Sharjah Art Biennial with the guys and girls from the Writers Meetup the other night and sadly found myself at a lack of appreciation for many of the stuff i saw. Quite liked the videos done by the artist Ghazel – very funny and thought provoking. Recognized some of the works my Professors. Tarek, Chris and Mark. —- I feel like an idiot – i should have sooooo taken part in this one .. oh well next one maybe?

Also stopped by the Heritage Festival thats going on not too far away from the Museum. This ol arab heritage area of Sharjah is always a delight to be around.. Narrow passageways and the dimmed lighting just makes it all the more memorable and romantic i guess. On the outside, i spotted this fella sitting with a fresh batch of oysters he fished out not too long ago. He momentarily hogged the limelight as he quite enthusiastically broke open shells in search of pearls… but alas none to be found

5. Skypin Away
Finally got myself onto Skype ( or Sky-pee as some would call it ;P ) and must say – this internet telephony software just gotta be the best one ive used so far. I dont think ive acually spent so much time on international calls as much as i have over the past couple of days using this software.

… well wait thats not true.. there was this one time… ( hmmmm … but wil leave that out for now )

A must must must download if you dont have it already. Headphones are a must, else you end up getting a lot of echo
and start feeding the caller with his/her own words before he/she can move on to say something else.

Errm… yea thats about it .. i guess
So until next timmmmme .. Be good, Eat your peas, Sleep Well and Leave Comments you geezers! ;P