Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Books / For kids and kidults alike

children's books
children's books2
children's books3

Magazines / Vogue US May 2009

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My heart (and the fash pack) says GO but my wallet says NO

Magazines / Academy for Men

Academy-of-Men
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Just like Contributing Editor, though in a more magazine-y format. I'm having difficulty viewing some pages now (it's AFAIK Flash based) but hopefully this is temporary as I really want to see the rest. I like.

UPDATE—it now works! Yey!

UPDATE—stoopid, i forgot to put this link: click click!

Magazines / Rogue.ph

Rogue has a site. I've been meaning to announce it here, i only go to do it now. Check it out, now na! Still a baby site (read: beta), but it's lookin' good.

Books / Preview Art

preview art issue 150

Preview's special 1000-peso issue, the 150th issue aka Preview Art! After days of trolling bookstores and stands...it's now out. (Since last week to be exact...) I'm so having this—just not today. *Not today, not today...* :-p

Anyway, just so you know...the type on the cover is embossed. Nice.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Magazines / Early (May) Birds...

It's still a few days before May 1st and we already have:

04282009(008) copy
Mega (Parang i'm not excited...parang I'll skip this one? Mmm.)

04282009(009) copy
Metro

04282009(010) copy
What about the others? :-)

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Magazines / Mag Rack: April 09...and the end of T3 as we know it

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So the T3 rumors were true after all...that T3's gonna be dead...NOT! Bad news muna: this is the issue that ends T3 as we know it... Good news: They are still alive, but will only publish 3 issues annually (one in summer, mid year and during the holidays). So far, the first local mag to go online only.

I got these last week.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Moving Pictures / Shorts: "Validation"


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"Validation" is a fable about the magic of free parking. Starring TJ Thyne & Vicki Davis. Writer/Director/Composer - Kurt Kuenne. Winner - Best Narrative Short, Cleveland Int'l Film Festival, Winner - Jury Award, Gen Art Chicago Film Festival, Winner - Audience Award, Hawaii Int'l Film Festival, Winner - Best Short Comedy, Breckenridge Festival of Film, Winner - Crystal Heart Award, Best Short Film & Audience Award, Heartland Film Festival, Winner - Christopher & Dana Reeve Audience Award, Williamstown Film Festival, Winner - Best Comedy, Dam Short Film Festival, Winner - Best Short Film, Sedona Int'l Film Festival.
:-)

Monday, April 6, 2009

Magazines / Rogue's subscription forms...

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rogue-postcard2
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Rogue used to have this postcard-sized subscription forms (whatever they're called) inserted in every (I think) issue. Where is it now? I only have one. I hope they bring it back (because I like it and it looks nice).

Magazines / Mag Rack: April 09

april 2009 mags
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Still waiting for Rogue & T3. I loved it all! Round up later.

I got so excited with Preview that I dropped it; I wanted to avoid folding it so I put it inside the plastic carefully. But I missed it and it slipped! In such cases: let it go because if you try to catch or hold it, you'll just probably crumple it more/tear it apart. And don't forget to "keep calm and carry on".

crumpled

PS— Big big thanks to Team Flow for my copy of Flow 3 :-)

Art & Design / Ads: Sony Summer Gears 2009

sony-summer-09_ad
sony-summer-09-001
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I was with my friend K when we passed by an electronics/appliances store. I went inside to check if they have Sony's Summer 2009 catalog...I didn't find any. It's either a) they ran out of copies b) it's not yet out. I hope I can get a copy soon. I love technology as much as I love art, design and fashion. Plus look at that ad—isn't it nice?

Art & Design / "Zeitgeist Becomes Form" @ Yuchengco Museum

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Info

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Fashion & Style / Style Sundays: 5 April 2009

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Random Thoughts / Bloglovin'

Moving Pictures / Videos: Linda Evangelista 90s version


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I was like 2 summers young then!! haha Anyway, now I understand why Linda Evangelista said that famous quote "won't get up for less than $10,000". Watch and feel like it's 1991 again.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Art & Design / Personal Works: Digital Design 4 plates (Cover Design)

For our Digital Design subject, we had to make a mock magazine cover. We will pick a particular kind of magazine (ex Automobiles, Fashion, Baby, etc) from a list by means of drawing lots. Then we had to find a real magazine in which we will use to base our final work.

I first picked "Automobiles" but then my classmate (ok I admit, me too!) wanted something else so we had a deal and switched themes. My new theme now is "Men's Fashion". Lucky, no? But I initially wanted something else cause you know, Men's Fashion is quite my cup of tea and therefore easily just inside my comfort zone. The daring in me wanted something else, but I was pretty sure it would be extra difficult if I got the "Gossip mag". hahah!

The magazine I used as a reference:
ish_originalcoverish_originalcoverish_originalcover
iSh Magazine (Singapore) is not exactly a Men's fashion magazine, but that particular issue had some and, well, it got an ok! :-)

The difficult part is shooting the cover...becuase it had to be us!! I didn't really like this idea because I'm not exactly your male model/cover model material but.....I got to do what I got to do. Fast forward many many months of working and efforting and (life-required) bumps later...my final cover:

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This is one of my favorite works. Plus I super enjoyed the whole process. While working on this one was not without any difficulties, I can probably say that this particular plate was one of the easiest (and by easy I mean stress being shadowed by excitement and happiness :-D ). Things really are relatively easier when you like what you are doing.

We had to submit 3 (actually 2, I found out later) variations of the final photo. I submitted 4! 3 variations with one having another 'half variation'. Here are the ones that didn't make it:

edrick_cover_2
The 'half variation' of the chosen cover

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The final chosen cover then should be printed and processed—negatives, CMYK proofs and all; this is where things got complicated. Thank goodness I live just a few steps away from a publishing house...while it was not super easy to finish all the printing and processing, at least I didn't have to go far :-). I learned some things just by looking at what they were doing but there's still so much to learn! And I'm more learning by doing kind of person so I didn't really pick up a lot (like I would not be able to do the processing all by myself). Anyway, here's the printed version:

DSC_0690-20090318_3164 copy

Direk, close up please:
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All is well that ends well.

Magazines / I ♥ Fake

ilovefake_1
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I ♥ Fake is an online magazine produced by independent artists and publishers. I discovered I ♥ Fake via Issuu (which btw is a treasure trove of inspiration!). You know that feeling where you know a gem when you see one? :-)

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It's really nice how they can produce this kind of work while still being free and independent. Passion + talent can really do wonders, no?

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Yay for I Love Fake! Click here to read their current issue or here for their back issues.

Random Thoughts / Old School

notes
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I like it better this way...the good old classic and trusty way of making lists...by writing! I tend to remember things better when I write it. This writing thing works together with my brain via mental notes/lists. And oh, I was to occupied with what I had to do then that I didn't have the time to get myself a new planner/organizer. Ok, I got a new one but it's still inside my drawer.

Magazines / April 09 Preview


WOW!!!
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I did it again! I used to restrain myself from checking new Preview covers online so that I'll be super surprised when I see it the first time on the stands..but as of late I cannot help it. Save this link on your bookmarks if you, too, cannot wait to see the actual magazine live, hehe.

Anyway, kudos to Team Preview for another fierce (and probably controversial!) cover. I can't wait to see what's inside!
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Photo from Summitmedia.com.ph

Magazines / Goodbye Marie Claire, hello Women's Health


Super nice cover! Sadly...this one's the last...
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Is this true? Or i just don't get what "Goodbye MC! Three years of style and substance" means? Three years ago when I first heard of the news that there will be a local version of MC, I felt mixed emotions/reactions. I was happy because it was something good the Philippine magazine industry; it's not like any country can have MC local version just like that. But at the same time I was quite unsure of this move because there's already Preview, another women's magazine (and then some) in Summit Media's stable of titles. They were doing and looking ok for me but I only payed closer attention to MC when saw that amazing Lea Salonga cover. Well, we are living in hard times....for a magazine junkie like me, it's sad to see any magazine go. Locally, only a title or two has folded up so far...hopefully this is the last!

But.....as I see it......our magazine industry is still a strong one because at this crazy point in time new magazines are still being released left and right! I saw a new MMPI title last month (HAIR, I think...will follow up later) and now this:



She-men's health!

Well...girls really have it better because for every new men's magazine released, there are what, 300 new magazines for women?! hahaha JK.
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Photos from Summitmedia.com.ph

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Art & Design / Personal Works: Photography 2 Plates

For our Photography 2 class, we were tasked to shoot half a ton of night/low light photos and then at the end of the semester, we had to submit two favorites—printed and framed.

Prior to our Finals we had to submit 20 photos...we can shoot x amount of photos but we can submit 20 photos only. There were 4 categories with 5 photos each: moving camera, moving light, still light and fireworks. Not much restrictions as long as it fit the category...and oh yeah, it had to be creative! (Experimental? I'm not sure but that's what I did...)

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That photo above is from the still light set. Those white specks you can see are actually stars. I'm not a pro when it comes to shooting stars but what the heck, I gave it a try anyway. Super long exposure (20-30 secs I think—on a wiggly jiggly tripod, kumusta naman) and a speedlight..not! I used my phone's led flash. How haggard! But I was just trying to experiment with what I had that time. I liked it anyway, hehe (although there's much more noise in that photo than in a busy street).

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After submitting all 20 photos, we had to shoot again an entirely different set. Pick one from that, print, frame then submit. Easy to say but to tell the truth, pretty hard to accomplish! Especially when you don't have much time (and resources ie equipment, moddle/s) in your hands! So there, I did it anyway..but not without bumps along the way!

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I shot photos 2 and 3 on the roof top of a particular building. Stoopid me, I lacked foresight and totally forgot to get some sort of letter/approval/whatnot. We started shooting at 9pm (just right after the midweek service at church!!) and ended 30-ish minutes after. Suprise! 3 feeling bully student guards welcomed us just before we could leave the place. After a few minutes of arguing, we just ended up giving our names. How sad. April, if you are reading this, sorry again!!


All that just for a nice photo.

I'm not head over heels about how the photos turned out (or maybe it's just me..) but I liked it anyway; pretty close to what I had in mind. This whole semester of night shooting brought me more trouble* than I expected (ie campus curfew issues, tripod that I had to lug from Manila to Cavite then back...for a month or so! etc) but nevertheless it was fun. Frustrating at times but I learned quite a lot!

And for the record, we didn't do anything in that dimly lit rooftop but shoot! hahaha Our conscience is as white as Miranda Priestly's hair so, good luck to whoever will challenge us (at the school security/records chuva)!! hahaha
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*Not super big time trouble but for OC me, any trouble, big or small is trouble enough to make me worry :-7