drea2design

Hilarious, I thought about posting this on my Facebook, but didn’t want to offend anybody. Since this is my blog and I can do whatever I want…

Thanks for sharing, @eproulx.

Check out the Japan Film Society’s new promo for BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE.

My messy book shelves taken with my iPhone.

I have 2 obsessions that I’ll admit to, purses and books. I love coffee table books. I have a wall of book shelves in my living room and it’s overflowing. I need to add more shelves to hold all my books. They’re everywhere in my house, lots of design and architecture books. Some of these books were from my childhood, ancient.

Livraria Da Vila

Anyways, what started this post was this beautiful picture of a book store. Thanks to Sweet Station for the post, I just needed to share. And of course, I had to find out all about the Livraria da Vila. This gorgeous book store is located in Sao Paulo, Brazil and was designed by Isay Weinfeld. A tenured professor at Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie’s School of Architecture and has won numerous awards for his work in architecture and also cinematography. Make sure you check out all the pics on the links above.

I could live in that store. Thank God it’s in Sao Paulo, I’d go broke if it was near me. Think of all the beautiful books I could buy while meandering through this beautiful space.

Working for the same company for almost 8 years certainly puts you in a difficult position once they’ve let you go. Well at least in advertising. It’s so easy to get comfortable and not keep on top of things that should, need, to be done. Well at least with me. I tried to keep my portfolio up-to-date, but of course I just kept putting it off. When the time came, I realized I didn’t have much. Well, really, I have tons of discs with my work on them, but didn’t organize it and now can’t find a thing. Also in that span of 8 years, blogs and personal websites have become the norm. All these things I started but didn’t complete and now am having to figure it all out.

I started following Please Feed the Animals after the first round of layoffs at work. I knew that I’d be let go soon, just not sure exactly when. I was the only one in the department that fit the bill. So I’ve been paying attention to what’s going on in the workforce. It’s not pleasant and kinda scary. This morning I was checking out PFTA’s Live Chat. Yeah, I was one of the invisible, non-participants. But I did end up signing up and maybe next time I’ll say hello. They seem to think that the job market is slowly picking up. November to January looking better. I hope so. There’s also a couple people on Twitter, @krop_jobs, @eproulx, @artdirector who regularly post job openings.

Still waiting for my first unemployment check. Hopefully that’s in the mail. I signed up for Letterpress classes and a “ReInvent Yourself” seminar. I’m hoping it will help spark something. Also looking for classes in web design and coding. I’m determined to find something I’ll enjoy doing and hopefully pay the bills.

Million Dollar Year, if not this year then next. Come on Cari Mateo, Million Dollar Year!

Yes, I know it’s been almost a month since the Winstons Bar Night. Sorry it’s taken me so long to write about it. But it happened the day before my FunEmployment started and I’ve been a little busy. I’m now more settled and have gotten a pretty good routine going.

JFS Winstons Bar Night was a great success, we raised a fair amount of money. We had a great turnout. The bar was packed and everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves. The first hour we offered free drinks, that was the busiest. It was nice to see quite a few new faces and the regulars who always support us. Lots of networking and good conversation happening.

Thanks to Winstons, Jin Kelley, Cinebags, YMK Films, Sony and all the other sponsors who helped make this night possible. And, of course, everybody who came out that night. Thank you.

Next event, the Monterey Park Harmony Festival on October 17, 2009. We’ll be showing Blood: The Last Vampire at 5pm for free. Come on out and join us, it’s the prefect pre-Halloween movie.

The line outside.

Inside Winstons

Movable Type

I’ve been wondering about that all my life. Of course I don’t have the answer. Or, most likely, didn’t recognize it and walked away. Hmmm, seems like my MO.

Last weekend was my 25th high school reunion. Yeah, I guess I’m admitting my age, but it was great seeing everybody again. It brought back so many memories. My parents did not want me to become an artist. They felt that I should get a real job. So in high school I was involved with Journalism. I forgot about all the different English and creative writing courses I took back then. Art was something I did for fun and writing is what I loved to do. I ended up a Graphic Artist and gave up writing. A couple years ago, my son decided to major in Literature. Listening to his dreams of becoming a writer, stirred the writing bug in me again. But can I, should I, start writing again?

Three weeks ago I was laid off, is this a sign? For the last 20 years of my life, I’ve been a designer or production artist. I’m good at what I do and I enjoy working as a production artist. But am I too old for it? I feel ancient around all the young kids in advertising. When I was updating my resume and portfolio, I kept wondering is this really what I want to do? Can I take my time and figure it out? Can I try something new?

So maybe now is the time to take some creative writing classes and maybe a Public Relations class. Of course, there’s always the Letterpress class that I’ve also been wanting to take. Will something spark this time and I’ll actually recognize a great opportunity right in front of me?

Who knows. Anyways, wish me luck and dammit don’t let me spend too much money. I still need to pay my bills, but that severance check can buy lots of fun toys.

Fucking hilarious. Just had to post. Thanks to The Denver Egotist, I had a great laugh.

It’s been awhile since I’ve taken the time to read anything. Usually I read whatever Alysa has for summer reading, about 3-4 books during my week in Bass Lake. Then during the year, whatever she’s reading in class. My preference, hmmm, I guess it depends on my mood. But the one important criteria, it has to be a quick read. If I’m not interested within the first couple of chapters, I drop it. If I can’t finish it within a couple days, I lose interest.

This year I didn’t go to Bass Lake and Alysa is now in college. So considering all the time I spend at the Vet’s office, I started reading again. The first book was The Glass House: A Memoir. Jeanette Walls describes her childhood living in poverty with vagabond parents. I can’t imagine how people could live like that, so poor, in a house with no restroom. Their parents had to be mentally unstable to allow that kind of life.

Next, The Southern Vampire Mysteries. This is what the HBO series True Blood is based on. Sookie Stackhouse is a telepath living in Bon Temps, Louisiana. This is her story of her adventures living with vampires and other supernaturals. I finished all 9 books in a week and yes, didn’t get much sleep. But I needed my fix of Eric. I enjoyed most of the books, but after awhile, the storylines were all over the place. Charlaine Harris tried to fit too many things into such a short time. Also her lack of keeping facts consistent, bothered me. But wanting more of Eric kept me reading till the end. Her next book is a compilation of short stories, I think I’ll skip it, book 10 releases in 2010. I can’t wait.

This week I finished Out by Natsuo Kirino. Good story, graphic in it’s description of what four women did to survive their mundane lives and what happens to them once they cross the line. Of course it ended like most Japanese movies, quietly. It was difficult reading it on the train without getting a little queasy.

So what’s next? Maybe I’ll read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. Yes, Auntie Ami, after reading the synopsis, I’m intrigued. It looks like he wrote a series of books, maybe I’ll read all three. I have plenty of free time nowadays.

Paris is definitely one of my favorite cities. I would love to one day live there, well at least try it out for a couple months. Anyways, I just came across this new show, Design for Life. It airs in the UK and apparently is getting lots of attention. Thanks to @designrelated and core77 for sharing. Hopefully someone will continue to post the full episodes online.

Phillipe Stark - Design for Life

Image courtesy of the Phillipe Stark Network.

Douglas Street Station - El Segundo, CA

Public transportation in LA is getting easier for me to use. Lately, maybe I’m getting better giving off that “leave me alone” vibe, I haven’t had any problems. Although the last time, I tried a new route going home, Greenline, Harbor Fwy Transitway to Union Station. I should have arrived at Union Station earlier than usual. But the bus was late, about 20 minutes late. Oh and they charged me $0.60 more. Damn them. The only problem with taking the train to work, I don’t get home until 8:30pm and I leave the house around 8am. It’s a long day, but I get in lots of reading, currently reading Out by Natsuo Kirino. Hmm, I should do a post about the books I’ve read in the last 2 weeks. So many!