22 July 2015

Making a proper effort to wear my new reading glasses 

London Underground Map design - http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150720-the-london-underground-map-the-design-that-shaped-a-city 

Johnston typeface - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston_(typeface) 

Humanist typefaces - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans-serif#Humanist

Must use: Petit Serif, Hammersmith One, Sabon Next, Gill Sans, Frutiger, Optima, Baskerville, Perpetua

Must do: Listen to more music, especially opera; Find fish sandwiches!

Retire to a house in the hills?

Random thoughts while watching Kung Fu Panda 2

Oh look! They've gone for the Indonesian shadow puppet look this time. Gorgeous!

They have peacocks in China??

Po and Jack Black are pretty interchangable.

The greatest thing anyone will ever do in their life is to bring up a child. (Cant believe I thought that)

Po's story is a bit like Harry Potter's.

Why didnt the peacock just kill the soothsaying Ram when he took over?

That was good! Not on the same level as the first movie but still v good.

Its only been 1.45 hours. Felt like much longer though...

Raw Mango

Yesterday, I visited the Raw Mango exhibition/sale at Amethyst. Raw Mango is a good name for a label, and in this case its particularly apt. The collection is full of lime green, hot pink and other such slightly offbeat colours, which somehow seem to work surprisingly well shot through with silver and gold. The collection was called Songs of the Sparrow and pivotted around a simple sparrow, embroidered in various colours. Lotuses, paisleys and other motifs that form an integral part of the vocabulary of Indian design also found their place among the birds.

While all this feel-good (we are promoting traditional crafts!), luxury (amazingly soft material, vibrant colours, designer cache) Indianness doesnt come cheap, its not so far out of the realm of the possible either. By that I mean that I bought two saris. A mustard yellow/orange one with flashes of gold and a fushia pink one with delicate silver lines. All very diaphanous and luminous. Cant wait to find the right occasion for them!

Find of the day

We can play Angry Birds on PC! The human hand is of course easier to use than the mouse but for those of us who dont have touchscreen/smart/apple/android phones, at least, we now have a way to get our daily fix.
Goody.

The best part about going away...

...is the getting back. A week in Erode has made home feel fresh and beautiful again. Which reminds me, I better change the paintings, replace the cushions, give the dog a bath....

Highs and Lows of 2010

Highs

Espana!

The boyfriend turned fiance.

My gang at the office. My stalwart Google Talk pals.

High-speed broadband internet. What does one need a TV for?

The morning-after blogs. Love this new genre of TV show blogs. Often fascinating, always funny.


Lows

The Times going behind the paywall.

One of my authors accusing me of spoiling and ruining beyond repair his near-perfect jewel of a textbook.

Liverpool FC and Michael Schumacher. Next season had better be bloody brilliant.

Amethyst, as we know it, will be gone soon.

Retail. Its astonishing/depressing how much tat is sold at sky-high prices.

Christmas Tea

Old Sweatshop, as Madrasgirl calls it, in keeping with its usual Scrooge-like spirit, isnt giving us a party or anything remotely enjoyable. The Recreation Club likewise, doesnt seem to be able to scrape together the energy required to organise anything. So we have taken it upon ourselves to entertain us. Or rather whats left of us. With so many people off on holiday, this time of the year does drag a bit. Esp when one hasnt much to do by way of work (spending the day browsing and downloading things can be surprisingly boring). Maybe we should also follow the west in basically closing things down for a couple of weeks. Might improve morale, recently brought even lower by lousy hike.
Anyway, so what have we got lined up? Carols, a not-so-Virgin Mary or an angel (depending on the costume), stuffed-toy Baby Jesus, no Joseph, plum cakes, a skinny Santa Claus, some poisonous coffee, other asssorted eats and hopefully a lot of laughs. Ho Ho Ho.