Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category

The Road

So, I was thinking about energy saving bulbs. Then I took a shower. After shower, I paced slowly to the kitchen, turned the tap and filled a bottle of water. At that moment, I was thinking about my parents.

Menu. Subtitles. Play.

For a minute or two I was wondering if the audio was ‘on’. This movie starts with no sound. Well, you’d expect a score – a background score of sorts. Well, score one! No score. So I sit in silent concentration. I moved from my bed, about 7 feet away – to my desk chair, about a feet away from the screen on which The Road plays. I’m glad I did that; and did that quite early in the show.

So the story unfolds. The movie… is intimate. Fearful. Captivating. Hopeful. Redemptive.

Reflective. Urgent. Profound.

Japanese Perfection

Watched The Ramen Girl again today – in it’s entirety. The last I watched, I probably missed the beginning scenes. Anyway, it seems more evident, that there is something uniquely tranquil and mystical about the Japanese way of doing things. Maybe its got something to do with the tension of environments they are forced into – the hustle and bustle of urban modernity meets/versus solitary nature, green, zen, soul.

Spoke to a friend or two about my fascination with Hakagure – The Art of the Samurai. The artistry is oh so… meaningful. The mind wonders about this pursuit of perfection = pursuit of meaning to life.

I am also reminded of Departures – the movie. Meaning of life found, in the ceremonial preparation of the dead – for those that are mourning.

Then some days earlier, I watched Paris, Je T’aime – this film, is about finding love.

Profound, all these films are.

Waking Life

So I stepped into this Neo world, whose skin is mist covering iridescent pearl.
I catch a glimpse of this shimmery thing, the star hanging on this rear-view mirror;
reminiscent of Orion’s constellation just moments earlier;
when the sky was clear and clouds not seen, I stare in admiration as stars do inspire.

Watched Waking Life for the second time, on the second day. Again, I feel so much awe. Life is… now. It is also eternal. It is also momentary. Time, is like an elastic ozone of permissive life – of continuous opportunities to exasperate and extricate an affirmative ‘yes’ to the question of being ‘one’ – with eternity, of finding immortality.

The most profound, verbose, discourse of existential psychology and the memento of dreams; capturing in lucid transcendence – the human attempt to understand and tame it.

In the Clouds

I have so many half-written posts. But today, I feel different. And to save me from committing another non-posting post; I’ll reserve the wordings. It’ll just be this picture…

Cool Ideas

Creativity is the verve of the universe. It is divine, thriving, undying.

The account of Genesis 1:16-18 records, “And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good…”

May I seek Thee. Fix my gaze, lest I fall prey to mundanity. Inspire me, revoke me, muse me, lead me. In my designs, may I draw closely to You who IS creativity, my ethereality.

(Post writing… I sound so evanescence now. Hmm.)

Hibernated

God made the world in 7 days. The sun, moon and stars however, was only made on the 4th day. If we tell the days and nights by the movements of the sun, moon and stars… Then the first three ‘days’ may not necessarily be ‘days’.

It was also a common poetic practise of the day, to place the crux of the matter in the middle of the poem. That makes the 4th verse of great significance.

On the 7th day, God rested and asked us to do the same. This is a reminder of our need to be human ‘beings’ not human ‘doings’.

It was also interesting to note that sabbath starts from Friday evening through the night, into the day and ends in the evening on Saturday. That’s just so interesting.

Today I awake from hibernation. The work continues but i’d await the day I should only work for the person whose works are of pure joy.

I like my Saturday afts.

The transient rays of the late afternoon sun playing whirlwinds with the breeze of the car’s air conditioning, while I drive under a canopy of acacia/fir trees. Ahh, bliss. Kinda transcendental. That, couple with the knowledge of leaving things and taking a break for that very short period in time, and enjoying instead – the artistry in light, shadow, colours of afternoons, halos and the silhouettes the sun casts. Not forgetting the muse-worthy musique. Makes for a nice smoothy of emotions. I was going to top it off with a slurpee, but 7-eleven spoilt the fun with a ‘don’t use this if they light is blinking’ sign at the slurpee machine. Boohoo. I got a Cadbury Black-forest though, that with a Vanilla Coke. I can live with that today

But now, transience takes effect. I’m back to work. For now.

Re-Nourish (Greener Designs)

I borrow this paragraph from Re-nourish…

Graphic designers have made some fairly amazing and powerful work since the inception of the profession with the early Art Nouveau movement in 1890. We have changed public opinion on wars, politics, as well as influenced new consumer behaviors that dramatically increased the world’s economic output. We’ve made life simpler (at times), faster and easier to navigate. However, as much progress as the design profession has made for society at large, we’ve also been responsible for helping to create an over-consumptive population and an ecosystem teetering on disaster. With every new print piece we produce we make or brand we promote, we also impact the general health of our planet through the vehicle and materials we choose to use.

I believe it is necessary for designers to be planet-conscious about their work. However, the success of greener designs hinges upon the outcome of the collaborative suggestions-decisions process between the designer and the client about the greener-good. One must do ones part for the earth eh.

Here’s a must read… the Re-Nourish Sustainable Design Checklist (PDF)

And if you’re a organization thinking bout a greener printing environment in the office… looky here

And if you’re me and need pint size steps you can take today – try these things that I do: I would, try to design faster, so I use less electricity. Using the wacom for marquees (selections) coz it’s faster and more accurate than a mouse’ selection. Don’t print drafts (coz I lack a printer haha – I suppose you can select economical prints on recycled paper). Use energy saving bulbs on your mood lights/table lights and spot lights. Keep and re-use post-its if it’s used for just ‘one’ word. And… turn off ur speaker, monitor and notebook cooler when it’s not in use… besides, the blue and green LEDs are quite distracting at night.

And, use a Starbucks tumbler for ur lattes (you get an RM1 discount)!

Meanwhile, I’ll mourn the lack of green printers in Malaysia.

Less is More