16.10 - 4pm
just in case you've tripped your way here from bookmarks or somethin'...gusset regular updates has a whole new home, and this stuff will go there soon, too. check out gusset.
30.8 - 12am
there's a quote from zeldman that we were scanning his book for, but can't find in a hurry. it goes something like this: designers can solve all sorts of problems, but they can't fix bad management. given that we're in job number five since hitting the uk, and have yet to work with management which gets it right...it's a little unnerving. the management that does seem to get it right that we've had the good fortune to meet is hoss gifford - part of flammablejam. so it's got us a little restless, and thinking about the future. (keep yr eyes peeled on freshfroot this friday for his picks and mini interview - methinks the frooters worked harder than usual to get him to contribute!).
also getting us thinkin' about the future is ARS Electronica - woohoo! a week in austria (the thought of german speaking, alp lovin', sound of music singin' digital arts freaks is weirding us out a little, but hopefully it will be lots of fun. we're still deciding what to do that weekend - 7th to 9th - vienna? salzburg? or something else? so if you're well travelled with some pointers, do let us know.)
we're hoping to bump into the lomo crew - their home base is in vienna, and there's an interview with them from ARS. we'll be entering the competition for lomofreaks - filling a book with around 120 of our best(!) photos. we've plans afoot of whacking those choices online so you don't miss out on the lomojoy.
26.8 - 12am
a quick explanation of a little outage and weird missing stuff on gusset and suchlike:
we wanted to move hosts. we figured there had to be a better deal than what we currently had. after a bit of a search, and checking with a satisfied customer, we went with your-site. we're wishing we'd never set eyes on them. some of their more interesting "features":
their site on a pc. their site on a mac.
no site documentation - want to know how to set up a mailing list or anything else? you'll have to contact support and wait at least 24 hours for a reply.
our favourite bit - see the customer acknowledgement on your-site from jim stone of mdg international inc.? stunning, really.
good news is that christine of maganda.org fame has set us straight with missoulaweb - so far, their hosting rocks. patient support, great rates, good control panel and service.
17.8 - 2am
hot damn. vicki wong has the consumer goods that we love (but that's not all...she gives the ultimate in steakknife gratification with her flashy bit to be found on neumu's twinklepop).
ladyfest/glasgow/edinburgh = many happy memories. more soon with photos (if/when they turn out...). suffice to say, if you're anywhere near london this weekend, there is no excuse whatsoever (except for the show being sold out, which wouldn't surprise us...) not to go see the bangs and the gossip at the spitz. five pounds is going to buy you one of the most rockingest, memorable nights of this year. and that's from someone who just went to see mr brown. as in james brown. JAMES BROWN!!!
there's an issue on women in design from soapboxgirls. of course we love the thing. we're in it. (we're also digging the site for cosmetics venture eyeluv from the story on said bubbly chick site).
11.8 - 10pm
off to grrrl rock'n'roll haven ladyfest scotland until wednesday. woohoo!
8.8 - 10pm
a new word for us that we like a lot. lovenasium (or lurvenasium, as in - there's no way in hell that you're staying in tonight, because your flatmate is having their girlfriend over, and has turned the place into a lurvenasium). a little related note for those doing blogs - beware the comments....
doing the rounds of the office are photos of eleven people on drugs. other photos checked out today - mr stockdale's london photos on neumu, and a fine photography folio from eric allan pritchard.
7.8 - 12am
there's a new issue of freshfroot - featuring yours truly. here's the picks that didn't make it in:
Plants:
Characters:
6.8 - ?
starting the trend: google.
following: raging and teoma.
5.8 - 4pm
just gotten though fast food nation by eric schlosser - a great first book that's an amazing read. it got us thinking not only about traditional takeaways such as mcdonalds, but also the enroachment of the big boys like starbucks. it was reported in the guardian over the weekend that starbucks in their quest for dominance in london think nothing of walking into a building that they want, and offering whatever price is necessary to secure that piece of real estate - particularly if it's near to one of their competitors that they want to price out of the game.
so, it was a bit of a relief to see that starbucks haven't completely got their hold here - there's still a fine strip of cafes down old compton street in london, where we had the chance to meet up with vixgirl for a beverage or two. if someone had of told us that there would be another pink lovin' blog based in east london with a penchant for bust, we wouldn't have believed 'em. weird how this internetish thing works, eh?
a neat site about digital arts - form.de, featuring an interview and flash drawingpad from martin fasani.
31.7 - 1am
from glamour - the magazine that "fits your life and your handbag" (damn shame we have neither of those things...) comes the font of all knowledge - what your computer typeface reveals about your personality. dunno about these things. georgia (that huge black headline that's staring at you) is meant to be the sex kitten font, best summarized by kylie minogue. we reckon (especially when you see it on a classy site like lines and splines it's more helena bonham carter - a bit old style, a bit classy. make it big, and it can be a bit more vivenne westwood punk rock naughtiness. none of this plastic surgery, pop hit business. a font/celebrity mix that they nailed perfectly - comic sans = jordan (we tried so hard to find you something...but no real luck. suffice to say, she's a kinda tacky page 3 girl with some major mammarial enhancement.). oh yes.
swordfish = spewing bile. shrek = happy laughter.
something we're itching to see - that new daniel clowes movie.
29.7 - 11pm
the last time we saw skipping girl goodies was at bondi markets. then we saw her bags next to fancy schmancy big names in selfridges (nice pink and red there, selfridges...). you've come a long way, baby.
the computer - beloved sugarpuss - is too hot. we're too hot. lack of updates = brain meltdown.
21.7 - 1pm
2 things of interest about josh on:
1. there is no denying that on is one classy surname. y'know, you're hitting the bank manager up for a loan, and you're not just any guy. hell no. Mr On, thankyouverymuch.
2. a neat project of his that we found via metafilter - "Just the best use of flash, collaborative model/data building and use of interactive interface to explain a complex issue... i.e. the interconnections of money, influence and power in boardrooms of the global economy". check out they rule.
the cause of much rejoicing - loobylu is back.
16.7 - 9pm
Once upon a time, we were all set to do this little project - pinkbits (yes, as in charming oz guys who'd had one too many yelling to any female passing by "OI! SHOW US YER..." you get the picture...), which was going to be dedicated to any site which had well and truly got into the rosy hues. while that little number might take a while to reach publication, we'd just like to point you in the direction of jo's pinkblog (not to mention jo's redesign, jo's new booksite, her women's font collective, heck, anything the woman churns out turns to gold, ok?). way better than anything in that triple story excuse for hello kitty merch in sf, we bring you the hello kitty laptop (with instruction).
from a little book - "50 questions 50 answers an interview with rudy vanderlans [emigre] via email" is a favourite little snippet:
"Where does personality in design come from?
A personal style comes from honest investigation and experimentation. It comes from the ability to recognize what comes naturally to you and what feels good to you, and the ability to express those feelings honestly without much concern for what is currently in style."
slowly continuing an overhaul of the site - clickmylit is making a slow comeback, the fresh story being curt cloninger.
15.6 - 5pm
the guilt is on for not getting things together fast enough, which is an all too frequent occurrence around here, really. got to go and see david carson speak at the ica last week - the photos reminded us so much of lomos - just random stuff, some of which turn out so beautiful, and glamorous beyond their normal surroundings. we couldn't help but sit there and think...hey! we've done that too!
the work that carson did for nine inch nails - a video for "the great below" along with the packaging for "the fragile" - seems so beautiful. we're in awe, and looking forward to the new NIN package that's coming out - a DVD that carson and NIN have been working on.
something else that we've been quietly digging - carlos segura. we found out about him from the book design covers that he's done for zeldman and fresh styles from curt cloninger. we just like his ability to quietly nail and communicate to the reader what's going on. (little update - curt let us know about the other work that segura completed for freshstyles - the alternate covers)
something that we got to check out this weekend, and highly recommend to anyone in london - bill viola. we're still to see keith haring at wapping and various other visual goodies about town.
you've got to love adobe's attempt to publicise their goods. the glowing beanie trick is just beautiful. check the before and after shots.
5.7 - 12.am
hello. we missed you. thanks for the fuck (davezilla is so polite...breakfast and a lift home!), operation is back to abnormal.
time to stretch those blogging muscles, methinks. we've been consumed with new werk, a huge commute, lots of books read, too much sushi, debt, and a shrine to o'reilly and friends of ed.
things that we thought we should let you know about:
if you haven't been there already, sprint to neumu. so, we're biased, 'cause we provided a shoulder to cry on or something. kill us. or go and check out the latest batch o' photos from charles, browse the gossipy news just the way that we like it, and wait impatently for the exhibition coming up from mister cina, all wrapped up in elephantcloud loveliness.
jack is back. woohoo!
sabrina aka pocketpig came to visit from cambridge a while back. she was kind enough to document the experience. looking forward .getting together again when the gussetcamp is far less vague.
we've always dug the fojm now the mirrorproject - and killing time one day, tried out "love" in the search field. who did we get? swifty.
now that the warmer months have hit a large part of the blogging/online photo crowd, we all know what this means... flowerporn. aryn at fotojournal has the goods.
catching interesting souls before they're famous:
curt cloninger in clickmylit
colourful spur of the moment photos:
lomolust
our answer to the question "where are the women designers?": dontyoustop
props to pixelsurgeon for the amount of time and effort put into a huge feature on women in design
this layout was adapted from glish.com - danke to eric for so kindly providing the layouts, tutorials, commentary, and an upcoming book. (and more flowerporn...this time in a swank dhtml wrapper...mmm).