I have been quite happily doing my own thing freelancing for a while, learning the scopes, stumbling along the way to be sure, but a little more street-wise and self-aware, which is just going to come with age (or so I imagine). I’ve consolidated my client base, earning new contacts and expanding my network, so I’m growing. Next year I hope to achieve something more secure and stable in my career.

January was spent procrastinating an awful lot, wondering what to do in my post-university state and watching the Australian Open. As you do. And of course I was super excited to see Li Na reach the final. Azn prYde.

In February I got out of my 6 or 7 odd year K-drama dry spell by getting hooked on My Princess, and I mean HOOKED. Following that I watched Que Sera, Sera, Personal Preference and then Sign, so throughout this whole year I only watched two 2011 K-dramas (four K-dramas in total), which is more than enough for me, ...]]> Another year over and a new one just begun, as the Christmas song goes. I think this year personally was a time of limbo, even though I hadn’t actually intended on it—it simply happened.

I have been quite happily doing my own thing freelancing for a while, learning the scopes, stumbling along the way to be sure, but a little more street-wise and self-aware, which is just going to come with age (or so I imagine). I’ve consolidated my client base, earning new contacts and expanding my network, so I’m growing. Next year I hope to achieve something more secure and stable in my career.

January was spent procrastinating an awful lot, wondering what to do in my post-university state and watching the Australian Open. As you do. And of course I was super excited to see Li Na reach the final. Azn prYde.

In February I got out of my 6 or 7 odd year K-drama dry spell by getting hooked on My Princess, and I mean HOOKED. Following that I watched Que Sera, Sera, Personal Preference and then Sign, so throughout this whole year I only watched two 2011 K-dramas (four K-dramas in total), which is more than enough for me, all things considered. I am currently in the middle of City Hunter. Well, not even the middle. I only finished episode one a few months ago! These serials are so draining, more so than Western ones. I still prefer K-movies.

March was an exciting month – I got a new smartphone (after four years of despairing over my old LG, which was small and the opposite of smart), the HTC Desire, so this was a big deal! Apparently I am betraying my fellow graphic designers by not purchasing an iPhone, but I don’t feel such a loss, even though occasionally the Android bothers me. Part of the reason I bought an Android was so that I’d have access to two different operating systems for mobile testing. It’s for work, duh!

I went with my buddy Camille to Sydney for the Australian Romance Readers Convention, wherein I met a lot of awesome writers and readers and got a helluva lot of books. Probably 20 odd kilos worth. And while Melbourne will always be the best (biased and unashamed of it), Sydney is still a great holiday spot. Can’t count how many times I’ve been.

Graduation with Honours came in April, and there was finally a sense of finality, knowing quite likely I wouldn’t be back. And then there was that Royal Wedding. Yawn. I’m only interested in the kitsch that comes with Royal Weddings!

Caught up with new Doctor Who series in May, with the beautiful The Doctor’s Wife episode as a standout gem. And then there was the Eurovision Song Contest on SBS, which is an annual ritual. Julia Zemiro’s commentary is always classic. Chris Lilley’s Angry Boys finally began to air in Australia, and I was surprised to be divided in my opinion—it was brilliant in some parts but then downright terrible in others. Nathan and Daniel (previously seen in Lilley’s first mockumentary series, We Can Be Heroes) were standouts, as was new character Gran Sims (the twins’ grandma, and youth detention warden).

June saw SBS’s thrilling, controversial Go Back to Where You Came From docudrama (well, I call it that) and that was some amazing television, not to mention it collectively raked in so many comments, most of which drove me mad yet a bit happier.

Around this time DC Comics announced they’d turn the DC Universe upside down and inside out with a completely new retconned kind of playground, mish-mashing all the Earths together (well, I still don’t get the mechanics of it, to this day), in “The New 52″. Needless to say, many of the fans weren’t pleased.

In July I had a good excuse to be very posh and ladylike, with high tea at the Hopetoun Tea Rooms for my 23rd birthday.

Then of course, there was the eighth and final Harry Potter film, which just couldn’t disappoint me on principle (even though it wasn’t as cinematic as Part 1, funnily enough). Alexandre Desplat’s score never left my playlist for several months.

August finally had me at a good point to buy a shiny iPad 2! I used to scoff at the idea of having one back in its infant period, but it seriously is an amazing device for leisure and for work. I love it. I called it Alfred II.

In September The New 52 launched, and as I figured I only picked up a handful of titles: Batman, Aquaman, Batwoman, Wonder Woman and Justice League Dark. Also, the Huntress mini-series and I continued to collect American Vampire from the Vertigo line. I read a few other titles but couldn’t stay interested, and/or was appalled by the quality (Imma lookin’ at you, Catwoman).

September and October were great months, work-wise. I was kept busy busy busy, and was constantly on my feet!

October consisted of meeting Batman aka Kevin Conroy while he was in town to promote Arkham City (I still need to get this, geebus)—and that is simply the highlight of that month. Maybe the year.

I went to China in  November, which I am now summarising on the blog. I stayed for a month, in time for my dude cousin’s wedding in early December. As with any overseas travel, it was an eye-opener and one great shopping trip and meal ticket. ;)

So I’ve watched a few more movies than I used to and read an awful lot less (164 compared to 309 the previous year) and hoarded way too much stuff, let’s hope I can be more productive and austere with my savings next year! Calling it a ” new year’s resolution” just isn’t going to work, I know this. Semantics!

Happy new year.

The cherry on top was the Hopetoun Tea Rooms, off Collins Street, where I celebrated my 23rd birthday in style with a few friends. I guess it’s going to be a little tradition now. This is the cute boutique place that every passer-by just has to linger at for a few moments to marvel at all the glorious sweets and cakes. Service was slightly frosty but luckily the quaint interiors and food compensated for it.

Pear tart. The whipped cream was just perfect too. Nice presentation.

A week or so later I had dinner with my uni mates, after which we had dessert at the Oriental Tea Garden. I just ordered a tea – the “Love Tea”. I kid ...]]> Recently (and by recently I mean over the last month) I’ve had tea, brunch and all manner of meals in several interesting places. I am now straying away from the regular cappucinos and other coffees, especially after that near fatal road accident I had several months ago at a roundabout on a main road after I’d had a large latte (it wasn’t even that large). It really shot my nerves (as before that I’d not had a coffee in months), or rather electrified them.

The cherry on top was the Hopetoun Tea Rooms, off Collins Street, where I celebrated my 23rd birthday in style with a few friends. I guess it’s going to be a little tradition now. This is the cute boutique place that every passer-by just has to linger at for a few moments to marvel at all the glorious sweets and cakes. Service was slightly frosty but luckily the quaint interiors and food compensated for it.

Pear tart. The whipped cream was just perfect too. Nice presentation.

A week or so later I had dinner with my uni mates, after which we had dessert at the Oriental Tea Garden. I just ordered a tea – the “Love Tea”. I kid you not, this is what they called it. And when I was sharing a pot with a guy friend, it was hard to keep a straight face when I ordered it. Well, I was just looking for a laugh (as if love is actually in tea!). The red flower bits are amaranth, and I still don’t know what the urchin thing is… but it tasted like jasmine tea, only with a different aftertaste. Either way, I wasn’t particularly bursting with groovy swirly hearts after a taste of this.

Love Tea – insert thorny metaphor about love looking ugly

A Saturday later, I had “Paradise Garden” at the Tea Rooms in NGV (just before going to see Vienna: Art and Design). I was more intrigued by the description on the menu (well done to the copy writer). Very light and subtle, which may have been overpowered by my eating macaroons and chocolate mousse but even so, this was disappointingly underwhelming in flavour. Looks remarkably like the love tea from earlier, no? Again, I am left stranegly unfulfilled. I much rather their chai tea, which is a more potent variation I’ve had. This has reinforced the appeal of buying a glass tea pot. Because we all like to see what we’re drinking, don’t we?

Paradise looks a lot like love – see above

A few Fridays ago I spent some time working with my friend/client/partner in crime, the writer extraordinaire, Lexxie Couper, at the Auction Rooms, which I’d been eager to try out for a while. North Melbourne has a lot of quaint cafes, and are better than the ones in the city and outer east to my mind, with less pretension about them too. Or at least they do pretension in a more underhand way. Maybe I’m just biased because I live on this end – and I did attend high school in this area for six years.

Chai tea, bacon and eggs and avocado and fetta cheese = happy Jen. Lexxie is typing away on her laptop there (writing her newsletter—YES–WIN!). And she had banana bread lathered in coffee butter, I think it was.

The next day I again ate out (I felt almost a glutton) for afternoon tea and dinner. Met up with the romance tweeps (ie. Twitter people) at Laurent, a bakery/cafe on Wellington Parade in East Melbourne. The cake I picked was yum, but I don’t recommend the chai. It was very weak and too frothy.

Meanwhile, my eye caught on something interesting:

Pacman has good taste! Get it?

What can I say, I am a ruthless artist who will do anything, even sacrifice my friends’ meal experience, for that perfect photo opportunity. Not for myself, you understand, but for art! With thanks to Camille’s passionfruit tart and Ms Sara Creasy’s lime and pistachio macaroons.

This cake is called the Bora Bora. I call it the rodent racing car. It was actually quite good. The macaroon pieces were a nice touch and the layered chocolate coconut mousse was rich but not rich enough that I felt like chucking up by the end.

Ack, I’m so hungry now. And it’s just past midnight too…

Until next time!

In the lead-up towards graduation I was feeling pretty off about the whole ordeal; I mean, graduation doesn’t equate to getting a job or a good one at that; it just officially closes that chapter of tertiary study. And now I’m really in a limbo. So there certainly was a sense of finality this time, whereas last year I was joking alongside the other graduates, thinking “oh, I still have all the time in the world!” I’d been through the graduation drill before, yet this year I felt as flustered as ever. Perhaps when I finally get that PhD in the distant future, I will tick ...]]> So, it’s been an eventful month for me, to say the least, and I’ve been slacking off in my blogging promises (yet still meeting the once a month quota, hah!). I headed up to Sydney late last month for the Australian Romance Readers Convention, a week later I graduated once more with Honours, and the following Saturday I made my annual pilgrimage to Supanova Expo. I’ll be blogging about all those, and I still need to get round to my thoughts on My Princess (so abominably late, I am), but firstly – graduation!

In the lead-up towards graduation I was feeling pretty off about the whole ordeal; I mean, graduation doesn’t equate to getting a job or a good one at that; it just officially closes that chapter of tertiary study. And now I’m really in a limbo. So there certainly was a sense of finality this time, whereas last year I was joking alongside the other graduates, thinking “oh, I still have all the time in the world!” I’d been through the graduation drill before, yet this year I felt as flustered as ever. Perhaps when I finally get that PhD in the distant future, I will tick off all the boxes for a smooth graduation. Plus, I’ll look like a freaking awesome Medici with the cap.

It was great catching up with old classmates and friends, though there were only seven of us out of thirteen in the Honours class. I feel I’ve gotten to know these people very well; I hope we’ll all stay in touch. Thank goodness for social media or we’d be even lazier than we already are to communicate with one another!

When a Monash student graduates, she or he generally graduates at the main campus, that being Clayton, which is like aeons away from home… It depends on your home campus/faculty, but hey, lucky us, we get lovely Robert Blackwood Hall. Medieval pomp aside and a wickedly awesome pipe organ entrance, I spent most of the ceremony whispering back and forth with Laura. The Art & Design faculty is generally very small and specialised so there were hardly as many of us compared with the Arts people, whom we were incidentally paired up with. That’s only maybe one quarter of the Arts faculty… Unfortunately Robert Nelson didn’t read out our names this year (think it’s because roles have been shuffled among the staff, or something), which I was rather disappointed to see. Honestly I have some kind of perverse hero worship for the man haha.

Funny as this seems, I’m so glad this year I got a larger cap! Last year the person who dressed me up in the academic dress gave me a medium sized cap and it was painful. It’s not my fault I have a big head. *headdesk*

Andrew, Laura, Flick, Liz, Adriana, Nat and me. Adriana’s channeling Batman—I approve!

In front of The Lake with my Honours Degree of Bachelor of Visual Communication. Talk about a mouthful.

With the parents. I got professional photos done with them. Let’s see how those turn out! D:

You can see the rest of the photo set here.

All things considered, it was just another tumultuous year. So here’s a summary of what made 2010 for me.

You may have also noticed over the week that I’ve overhauled Evening Hour ‘s layout a lot. I’m slowly converting this blog into a review blog, since it’s all I seem to be doing anyway. It’s still under construction so there may be errors or blank spaces here and there. Watch this space!

* = “voted in” in the truest sense is questionable, as former PM Kevin Rudd was ousted by his own people, rather than the public, therefore we really had no choice…

No, it wasn’t Inception (though it was very good), it had ...]]> It was my worst and toughest academic year yet, but equally just as rewarding (well, at least, I try to remind myself of the rewards, 43 cushions later). It was the year Australia voted in* its first female Prime Minister. It was the year a Queenslander hacker brought too much attention to himself by leaking a heck of a lot of alarming cables. It was the year Bruce Wayne returned as the Batman, and DC Comics went nuts, or rather, Grant Morrison was permitted to go nuts.

All things considered, it was just another tumultuous year. So here’s a summary of what made 2010 for me.

You may have also noticed over the week that I’ve overhauled Evening Hour ‘s layout a lot. I’m slowly converting this blog into a review blog, since it’s all I seem to be doing anyway. It’s still under construction so there may be errors or blank spaces here and there. Watch this space!

* = “voted in” in the truest sense is questionable, as former PM Kevin Rudd was ousted by his own people, rather than the public, therefore we really had no choice…

Best Movie

No, it wasn’t Inception (though it was very good), it had to be Fantastic Mr Fox (it came out January 1, this year) in which Wes Anderson turned Roald Dahl’s children’s story into a typically bizarre but utterly enchanting film. Despite the liberties taken (a badger lawyer who’s a demolitions expert, voiced by Bill Murray? A super gifted “unaccompanied minor” nephew fox by the name of Kristoferson?) it is injected with an Anderson absurdness that simply works. I watch it religiously. The whimsical, folksy score by Alexandre Desplat is also brilliant.

This has to be then followed by Toy Story 3. Seriously. This film was made for my generation. Brilliant animation by Pixar as always, married with a moving narrative about the loss of innocence and taking responsibility. Another crowd favourite is The King’s Speech, which I just saw last Monday. Won’t be surprised if it takes the whole Oscar cabinet home. It hits all the right buttons. I really think Colin Firth has managed to shake off his Mr Darcy persona, though it amused me to no end to see him and Jennifer Ehle (his Pride and Prejudice co-star)

I really didn’t get an opportunity to watch as much film as I’d have liked, given how short of money I’ve been this year. But something tells me my “best of” list wouldn’t have changed much. I’m hoping next year I’ll have a greater chance to catch up on film, television and books, now that I’m no longer studying.

Worst Movie

The Housemaid (??), which is a remake of the 1960 Korean film in which a femme fatale servant turns a middle-class family upside down. In this case however, the housemaid is the one ultimately destroyed by an upper-class family. It is a pathetic excuse for an erotic thriller, and I felt quite horrible afterwards. I haven’t seen the original, but I imagine it’s infinitely better than this rubbish melodrama.

Honourable mention: Salt, Alice in Wonderland, Leap Year

Best Album

The Hundred in the Hands, The Hundred in the Hands

I stumbled upon this duo by accident, but once I kept listening I was really impressed. Pigeons is a catchy, lethargic but energetic highlight.

Honourable mentions: HURRICANE VENUSS, BoA; Head First, Goldfrapp; Post Paradise, The Holidays; Beachcombers Window, Stornoway; Love to Live, The Living Sisters; Nothing Shows, Keegan DeWitt, The Golden Ratio, Ace of Base; Aphrodite, Kylie Minogue

Worst Album

The Beginning, Black Eyed Peas

What can I say but, what the fuck?! What happened to the good old days? They’ve become an electronic mess is all I can say. They butcher “The Time of my Life” and their lyrics are lazy. What could be worse? Meaningless words or simply a really bad cover song? Still, it’s marginally more likeable than the atrocious The End. Kind of ironic.

Honourable mention: BONAMANA, Super Junior

Best Soundtrack/Score

Inception, by Hans Zimmer

Pretty damn amazing. I tend to think he gets pretty stale, but there were some lovely, thrilling compositions in this score. Of course, Zimmer has worked with director Chris Nolan on the last two Batman films as well.

Honourable mentions: Fantastic Mr Fox (plus the Additional Music Album) by Alexandre Desplat, The King’s Speech by Alexandre Desplat

Worst Soundtrack/Score

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, Alexandre Desplat

Sad, but true. I think it’s more of a case of “Most Disappointing Score”. I don’t think Desplat is cut out for such epic fantasies as Harry Potter, though I had really (too optimistically) hoped that he might pull it off. His oeuvre has generally been understated or (left field) romantic and whimsical films. His work on other similarly epic fantasy films like The Golden Compass weren’t absolutely terrible, but nor were they memorable. Hell, even his score for The Twilight Saga: New Moon was infinitely better—he gave that pitiful franchise an elegance and nuanced emotion that it really doesn’t deserve. Ultimately, I tried but failed to find anything great in this album. However, Desplat’s opening song, Obliviate, in which Hermione Granger wipes out her parents’ memories to protect them, is the score’s strongest theme, but it all goes dilapidated from there. I am pretty guttered that I couldn’t enjoy this score; I hope that Desplat will improve by Part 2.

I will have a thorough review soon. I hope.

Best Book

The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta

My middle school year reading was dominated by the likes of Melina Marchetta, and I thoroughly enjoyed Saving Francesca when I was in year 9, which was around the time it was released. I bought it and re-read it again this year to prep myself for its sequel and it’s lost none of the warmth, humour, sadness and angst that I appreciated then. The Piper’s Son is perhaps more nuanced, with its point of view largely from a secondary character, but a fascinating one, from Saving Francesca, Thomas Mackee, who has his own demons to conquer. Poetically written and heart-rending at times, I really recommend this for young adults; it’s brilliant reading even beyond this age group.

Worst Book

Patience by Lisa Valdez

Following the sensation (er, figuratively and literally) that was Passion in 2006, it took what felt like aeons before the second novel arrived. Perhaps our expectations exacerbated with every looming year that prolonged the delay, because I really didn’t enjoy it. It was eye-rollingly silly when it came to the love scenes, and frankly, I had to exercise every degree of my patience to finish the book. The constant reference to Bible passages amused me—it simply proves these holy scripts are teeming with sex and violence. Avoid this one.

Best TV

Mad Men

I didn’t get to watch an awful lot of television this year, but every Monday night for thirteen weeks I would eagerly devour the next Mad Men episode. Seriously, this show has grown and aged gracefully like a reputable vintage wine. It just got better and better. It has an amazing cast of actors, beautiful, authentic-looking sets and designs and most importantly a fantastic team of writers. Now with the almost nail-biting cliffhanger from the end of the season in October, I’m teeming with anticipation as to what will happen in season five.

Honourable mentions: Doctor Who (series 5), Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Worst TV

Q&A

For simply making me appalled and angry and angsty and aggravated and antsy. But damn, it was still addictive viewing, and Tony Jones made it a great degree more tolerable. I’m not sure “Worst TV” does this program much justice, actually. There is no category for the sheer WTFery that Q&A inspires.

I can always say that the nightly news of commercial television makes me roll my eyes, but that goes without saying.

Best Comic

American Vampire, by Scott Snyder and guest writer Stephen King

This was a series I randomly took up in July because I got mesmerised by Rafael Albuequerque’s art while in the comic book store. This series by Vertigo exudes a highly stylised bygone beauty intertwined with a dark, brutal violence that fit the tone and story so well. Don’t expect any sparkling vampire and teenage angst here, this is a great, gruesome and grizzly Western horror epic.

Honourable mentions: Birds of Prey by Gail Simone, Secret Six by Gail Simone, Hawkeye and Mockingbird by Jim McCann,

Worst Comic

Batman

I’m mainly a DC/Vertigo reader, so I can’t really speak for the Marvel series. But I have to say, the Batman series has gone to the pits. It’s now being produced (written and illustrated) by Tony S. Daniels, and fronted by Dick Grayson, aka the former Nightwing/Robin, as Batman. Though I don’t hate Dick as Batman, I am not particularly inspired by the story arcs that have been happening, nor do I feel enthusiastic about its future. Better luck in Detective Comics as well as Batman: Streets of Gotham, which apparently is ending soon.

Honourable mention: Batman and Robin by Grant Morrison, Batman: Odyssey by Neal Adams

Meme

• What did you do in 2010 that you have never done before?
  I survived Honours. That’s not something that you can really repeat. Oh, and I did NaNoWriMo, and wrote over 50,000 words in November, finally!
• Did you keep all of last year’s resolutions?
  No, because I didn’t make any, knowing I wouldn’t follow any of them.
• Have you any resolutions for next year?
  Simple. Get a job that I’ll be happy with. Redo my portfolio and be really proud of it. And keep my health and all that.
• What countries did you visit?
  None. I had hoped to have gone to Vietnam this year but it hasn’t worked out (yet). I am woefully ignorant in the ways of the world.
• What would you like to have in 2011 that you didn’t have in 2010?
  A steady income would be truly wonderful, actually. It’s not easy being broke all the time.
• What date in 2010 will remain etched in your memory?
  I’m not really sure! I suppose the day I graduated from my Bachelor’s degree sometime in April.
• What was your biggest achievement of the year?
  It’s not even the fact that I did Honours and lived to tell the tale, it’s that I feel totally unashamed in loving tasteless things. My project helped me come to terms with myself in a way, it validated a part of me. Not that I needed to spend a year to validate myself, but I felt better for it, in spite of everything.
• What was your biggest failure?
  I wish I’d changed electives in first semester. Sad, but true. I’m sure I’d have had a much more enjoyable year. I wish I was able to show my appreciation for my parents more.
• Did you suffer any illness or injury?
  Save for a really bad cold in August, no, fortunately.  No wait, the worst hay fever season ever, between October and December. Fellow sufferers surely must sympathise.
• What was the best thing you bought?
  My 27″ iMac and my iPod Touch. The desktop was a dear little (big!) thing, but worth every cent, ultimately.
• Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
  The usual suspects. Oh and my local newsagent, whom I have a personal vendetta against.
• Where did most of your money go?
  My new iMac!! Followed by art/design/craft supplies, transport tickets, comics, books, DVDs, birthday presents
• What did you get really really really excited about?
  Seeing new released comics and books, and movies. Most anticipated film for me was obviously Harry Potter in November.
• What do you wish you’d done less of?
  Procrastinating. As usual.
• How will you be spending Christmas?
  I spent Christmas with my mum and dad. It’s the same thing every year. We watched the Beijing Olympic ceremony again. Don’t ask me why, it was a surreal suggestion, at least, it was coming from dad. I felt rather melancholy.
• Which LJ/OD users bloggers did you meet for the first time?
  I met Kat in January (I think it was?). It may have been December 2009, I can’t recall. Either way, I’ve met a lot of new people via Twitter, which is so great. I do miss my old friends from when I used to blog in high school. We’ve totally lost touch, but I know they’re out there somewhere.
• Did you fall in love in 2010?
  Not in the way you’re thinking. ;D
• How many one night stands?
  Um, too many? You should ask me how many all-nighters instead. Of which there were far too many than other years.
• Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
  If I did, I wouldn’t tell you now would I?
• What was your greatest musical discovery?
  The Hundred in the Hands, Club Des Lugas, Parov Stelar, Keegan DeWitt, The Holidays, Stornoway, Black Lillies… see above.
• What did you want and get?
  I desperately wanted, nay, needed an iMac and I got that for myself.
• What did you want and not get?
  A full-time design job, but really, one must work at it, if one is to get what they want.
• What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
  I had high tea at the NGV with some friends. I was 22.
• What one thing would have made your year more satisfying?
  Not having to study unnecessary units in my course. *still reeling from god-awful grades* Mainly I wish I’d studied baroque/neo-baroque culture in the first semester instead of artists books. Infinitely more valid for my Honours project, WHY DID I NOT REALISE THIS?!
• How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
  Understatedly kitsch. The juxtaposition amuses me, and probably no one else noticed.
• What/Who kept you sane?
  My friends, but mostly my classmates, who suffered and endured alongside me. And Twitter (equally that drove me insane at times too).
• Which celebrity did you fancy the most?
  I think Rupert Grint usurped Christian Bale this year, but it’s usually one or the other every other year. Oh, and Michael Fassbender and Colin Firth get honourable mentions.
• Which political issue stirred you the most?
  Kevin Rudd’s “political assassination”, though looking back now, he really had it coming, and he likely deserved it. Not that I like Julia Gillard’s government any better. The Wikileaks kerfuffle, however, was infinitely more interesting, and alarming.
• Who did you miss?
  Old friends come and gone. And only comic readers will get me, but also Cass Cain and Bruce Wayne, but he’s back now! Bigger, and better (!).
• Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned this year?
  Kitsch really won’t save the world. Sadly.
• Quote a song lyric that sums up your year…
  

Kicking on the edge of town
Counting all the pigeons down
Walking in the steps of men.
I have the feeling they’re not breathing.
She’s shaking like a rattle
Sneaking out, the hour’s still
Waiting for the room to fall in
Watching the time unwind.

— Pigeons, The Hundred in the Hands

I’d already begun “designing” websites for a couple years by then, so blogging seemed to be the next step to take. I used Blogger as my platform until later I ventured into WordPress. I was hosted periodically by generous friends without whom I wouldn’t have been able to use nifty things like SHTML or PHP. I ...]]> So it occurred to me while cleaning the house today—and quite opportunely—that today marks the nine year anniversary of the first day I began blogging. Yes, I started young in 2001 at the dawn of the now enormous, endless sea of mundane and meaningful blogs. I called my first blog Life of a Mangaka, even though I sure as hell wasn’t one, though I did draw a lot of anime characters, as you do when you’re a kid and of the Asian persuasion—to perpetuate the stereotype a little. Still, what on earth was I thinking! Wishful thinking, obviously. Later I would call my blog, Semi-Charmed Life. Incidentally I named my longest running blog Ninth Angel; I can’t remember my rationale for its meaning, but I suppose I thought it was cool. I think I was influenced by Neon Genesis Evangelion at the time…

I’d already begun “designing” websites for a couple years by then, so blogging seemed to be the next step to take. I used Blogger as my platform until later I ventured into WordPress. I was hosted periodically by generous friends without whom I wouldn’t have been able to use nifty things like SHTML or PHP. I would rant and rave my way through my teenage years, until I then got an invite to join LiveJournal, which then inevitably led to me closing my blog for several years to come, and I didn’t get back to blogging in the public domain until I bought my first domain after I started my uni course. Of course, I hardly commit myself to blogging today the way I used to in high school, but back then it was a huge part of my life during which I met so many new friends (some still with me, but most sadly lost) and developed my foray into web design (which I now pursue professionally).

I dug up my very first post from September 24, 2001. It’s interesting seeing how young and hyper and naive I was back then (and how very Japanese I wanted to be). I was also mass producing so many rubbish anime sites; it’s unbelievable:

Hello everyone. Just testing this blog, seeing if it really works. *sigh* Let’s hope so!

posted by Jen at 1:39:00 PM

Yea! It works now! So um…. anyway, I’ve updated Sakura Devotion, I did it yesterday. And, I’m just going to experiment with Blogger and when I learn a bit more, I’ll move this onto the main page. Thanks to Laura who gave me the addy! :) Dad asked me today whether I wanted a double bed. LOL. Nope, I don’t want that, I want a new scanner! And you know what? He said I could have one! Sugoi! We’re going to Highpoint this afternoon. Woo-hoo! :) Happiness… This is meant to be my collective, so uh, let’s talk website, anyone who’s willing to help me work on my Australian anime site as a news reporter or anything of the kind, please email me at jenwmh@hotmail.com and I’ll email you back ASAP! Arigato! And bai-bai!

posted by Jen at 2:13:00 PM

And for amusement’s sake here are some of the layouts I made for my first blog! Mind you, I used every cliché in the “what-not-to-do-in-web-design” book. I only could use Paint Shop Pro at the time, which was the poor person’s Photoshop, but hey, I was freaking thirteen! The tween of yester year! I think I can be forgiven for committing these grave errors (and to be honest with myself these don’t look half as bad as they could’ve been. Scary thought). Look at me now, a full fledged professional designer (!). Just goes to show how far one can go, eh?

(If you noticed, I was really, really into anime, Dido helped me get through my teen angst, and yeah, I was more fobby then than I am now.)

Luckily for me I was assigned to the latter date, so that gave me a while to collate my ideas together, following my marathon completion of my artist book for my elective unit. In a nutshell, I formulated a new question/thesis, emphasising the merits of ornament over modernism, excess over restraint, maximalism over minimalism. The difference being a lot of me mixed into the concoction. I turned to critical theory and other texts to validate my arguments, and I believe I was able to confidently and convincingly articulate my ideas on, and more importantly my passion for, this subject.

I’m ...]]> So, it’s the end of June, and I’m halfway into my Honours project—SCARY THOUGHT. If you don’t know what my project is about, you might want to read this post though my objectives have altered slightly as time’s passed. Now is the perfect time to critically reflect on my progress throughout the first semester. We were given the opportunity to present our process and findings in a quasi-formal verbal and visual (poster) presentation on the 10th and 16th of June. (Well, actually, it made up 75% of our total grade, so it’s a bigger deal than I’m making it out to be.)

Luckily for me I was assigned to the latter date, so that gave me a while to collate my ideas together, following my marathon completion of my artist book for my elective unit. In a nutshell, I formulated a new question/thesis, emphasising the merits of ornament over modernism, excess over restraint, maximalism over minimalism. The difference being a lot of me mixed into the concoction. I turned to critical theory and other texts to validate my arguments, and I believe I was able to confidently and convincingly articulate my ideas on, and more importantly my passion for, this subject.

I’m pretty amazed at just how much I bared my soul to everybody (despite my having known most of these people for well over 3 years it isn’t exactly like we’re close chums); I felt strangely bereaved and liberated. Like OH MY GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE, NO ONE WILL LOOK AT ME THE SAME WAY AGAIN! And conversely, NOW YOU SEE THE REAL ME; IT’S NOT ME, BUT IT’S ME. JUDGE ME, I DARE YOU. This project is as my blog title suggests a “part observation, part confession”. I stole this quote from one of my research texts, In Flagrante Collecto, but I’m sure this is not an exclusive sentiment.

Essentially this project is all about my love for kitsch. It enriches my social, cultural, intellectual, physical and emotional experience, and I need to—and want to—highlight this sensibility throughout. Of course, this makes my project an extremely self-indulgent undertaking, but I don’t think this makes my project any less worthy of investigation than exploring the history of type design, or designing a nation’s identity, or discovering more effective modes of way-finding in a city space. What these presentations ultimately made me realise is how diverse our interests are, but we are all linked by a genuine keenness to push the boundaries of art, design, sociological and anthropological discourse. It’s exciting (and terrifying!) to consider where we’ll end up 5–6 months from now…

My poster designs, with my observations and (elusive) goals for next semester:

The great part about this presentation is the scope of feedback I received, from both peers, lecturers and guest assessors. At one point we had 6 lecturers, which wasn’t as daunting as I’d imagined it was going to be. As usual, everyone had something to say about it. Egos flew (haha, I wish). I’ve scanned in notes that I found constructive, funny and … not so helpful. I didn’t post all of them here, but perhaps I will.

FYI, I wrote an entirely new essay with new material, building on what I had already argued, so it’s not like I was cheating… Granted maybe I shouldn’t have read my speech but I spoke with inflection and expression, so with that I hope I could engage my audience and not induce them into comatose sleep…

LOL I sound defensive don’t I.

Way to inflate my ego! But that’s just what I wanted to emphasise.

This was very helpful… Thank you ever so much.

Aha, kitsch WILL be taken seriously!

Making a mockery of minimalism has been frequently mentioned by others, so I will definitely consider this…. though I may not commit to that path. I’m not crusading explicitly against minimalism (it’s beautiful in its own right), but marrying the stark contrast into something kitsch completely undermines modernism’s agenda. I like the subversion.

I know this was by Nat, since she said afterwards I ought to “write porn” (her words!) and that she would “totally read it”! So as not to feel mortified (nah, totally amused), I’m reminded of a quote by Australian romance author, Anna Campbell: “it’s emotional porn!”

More like understanding Saturday Night Fever. :P

I don’t know how much more personal I can make an already deeply personal project! But I am very heartened by that last comment.

I have looked at kitsch’s origins for half a year… I should have mentioned this. I did mention it, albeit implicitly… But I like the alignment of kitsch to what isn’t fashionable, that’s basically what happened to Art Deco, and look now, totally chic art style and movement!

I am making a master list of kitsch films, books, magazines and every other periodical, TV and music, and whatever else pops up in my mind through out the year that I am investigating this topic. Feel free to leave a comment or better yet make a suggestion! I’m starting to notice that a lot of my lists are material mostly harks back between the 40s and 70s, the HEIGHT of kitsch appeal. Then again, I think, arguably, pretty much everything from any era can be considered kitsch—it’s a product of whatever era from which it derives. And it seems mostly exploitative, horror, sci-fi and smut reigns supreme in this category.

I will document my findings here and on my Flickr account, ...]]> Last December I got accepted into Honours this year for Visual Communication, and I’ve decided to base my “thesis” per se on kitsch and collecting the mundane, which is the original title of my proposal. No doubt this will change with time. (I wanted to do a project purely on Batman, but that’s not exactly substantial in this context. At least this way I can chuck him in there somewhere, because he is a part of me. :P)

I am making a master list of kitsch films, books, magazines and every other periodical, TV and music, and whatever else pops up in my mind through out the year that I am investigating this topic. Feel free to leave a comment or better yet make a suggestion! I’m starting to notice that a lot of my lists are material mostly harks back between the 40s and 70s, the HEIGHT of kitsch appeal. Then again, I think, arguably, pretty much everything from any era can be considered kitsch—it’s a product of whatever era from which it derives. And it seems mostly exploitative, horror, sci-fi and smut reigns supreme in this category.

I will document my findings here and on my Flickr account, plus there’s been a group blog set up by one of my classmates, so feel free to look at that too!

Films

Anything with Marilyn Monroe
Anything with Jayne Mansfield
Anything with Elvis
Barbarella
Valley of the Dolls
Grease
The Wizard of Oz
The Producers
(and pretty much every musical starring Doris Day et al)
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Strictly Ballroom
Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet
Pulp Fiction
Inglourious Basterds (and every other Tarantino flick)
Across the Universe
Tim Burton’s Batman :D
Mars Attacks!
The Killer Condom (I saw this on SBS years back… I wish they’d put it back on!)
Monty Python
Bruce Lee Collection
The Spirit
Phantom of the Opera
Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman
Queen of Outer Space
The Giant Behemoth

I’m trying to remember the cult films I watched during film studies in second year… there was some truly kitschy stuff featured.

TV Shows

I Dream of Jeannie
Bewitched
I Love Lucy
Happy Days
The Brady Bunch
The Jetsons
The Flinstones
Scooby Doo
Batman :D
Doctor Who (old school)
Monty Python Flying Circus

Novels

Romance, glorious manhood swashbuckling, bosom heaving romance… or shall I call them that now negative connotation, the ‘bodice-ripper’? :P

I didn’t really do much on new year’s eve. As with many other Chinese, I had a relatively big ‘nian ye fan’ (New Year’s Eve dinner) with my folks, then we waited until 11pm (8pm China Beijing time) and we watched the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, an annual program broadcast by CCTV (the China government’s puppet, in less flattering words :P) throughout China and the world via satellite until about 2/3am. This is a ritual that goes with New Year for many, many, if not all, Chinese and their families. I couldn’t keep my eyes open at 2:30 so I didn’t see the final countdown. No big deal for me anyway. This event holds little resonance with me as the years go by. The day when I’ll pay attention is when China is no longer Communist. Last year’s ...]]> I wish everyone a happy lunar new year, a year of joy, good will and prosperity. As we usher in the Year of the Tiger, I hope this will remind us all to appreciate this endangered animal’s livelihood, and to continue to protect the few that prey the jungles of the world, so that there may be many more in the future.

I didn’t really do much on new year’s eve. As with many other Chinese, I had a relatively big ‘nian ye fan’ (New Year’s Eve dinner) with my folks, then we waited until 11pm (8pm China Beijing time) and we watched the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, an annual program broadcast by CCTV (the China government’s puppet, in less flattering words :P) throughout China and the world via satellite until about 2/3am. This is a ritual that goes with New Year for many, many, if not all, Chinese and their families. I couldn’t keep my eyes open at 2:30 so I didn’t see the final countdown. No big deal for me anyway. This event holds little resonance with me as the years go by. The day when I’ll pay attention is when China is no longer Communist. Last year’s was slightly better, but it really hit its peak in the mid-90s I reckon. Now it’s all about over-extravagance and explosions of colour, but I think the director must’ve took a note from viewers’ comments and restrained things a tad.

Today in the arvo I went with my folks to Chinatown and also Southbank where the Chinese New Year action was. Russell Street wasn’t that much of a buzz, except for the dragons and the familiar bang drumming. The streets were awash in firecracker pellets, and the roar of firecrackers igniting and going off was always in the distance. Southbank’s Hawkers’ Bazaar was more lively and pretty with the natural and urbane beauty of the Yarra River landscape. The food was more varied, the main stage had music, opera and lots of dragons (of course!), and there were plenty of other stalls selling Chinese knick-knacks, parasols, good luck banners and the like. I’ve a bunch of photos I took on my Flickr.

I’ve finally returned to using my neglected moleskine journals; I’ve missed drawing like this. I’m trying to push myself to do more work for myself so that I don’t go absolutely batty working for tutors and clients alike, and being subservient to their outrageous demands of me, bless their souls. :)

Oh yeah, it’s Valentine’s Day. Happy relationship validation day! Of course, I don’t care one iota for this holiday. This is obviously because I am still single. (Single and still loving it!) Anyhow, last year I distinctly remember one of my clients lamented that we were both working on V-Day. I couldn’t really have cared less, really… Savings > love, at this point in my life.