27 May 2008

Blogs white people like



So I've been keeping a blog for a while now, but I've never actually been someone who reads other blogs much. Or at least, reads certain blogs regularly. But now there are a couple that I do, so I may as well pimp them.

The first is Stuff White People Like. They describe it thusly: 'This is a scientific approach to highlight and explain stuff white people like. They are pretty predictable.' Indeed they identify universal truths of white people (or more the the point, 'liberal' or lefty middleclass white people).

So far there are about 100 topics, with #1 being coffee, #2: Religions that their parents don’t belong to ("Mostly they are into religion that fits really well into their homes or wardrobe and doesn’t require them to do very much").

They've got better lately, eg Scarves ("He’s clearly more sensitive to wind, so he’s probably more sensitive in general. You should totally date him"), and Bumper Stickers ("If you have decided that you want to improve your status with white people by applying a bumper sticker to your car do not make the assumption that you can just use anything! Stickers that support right wing politics, guns, patriotism, war, or hunting are all unacceptable. It is also unacceptable to use a sticker with a clever slogan that does not support a left wing political cause. Any of these stickers will likely end any chance you had of befriending a white person").

Almost as funny as the postings are the readers' responses. Most get the idea and add their own personal but equally cynical insights.

The other blog I loved straight from the first read is The Paupered Chef. It's written by chefs, with each entry devoted to a particular gastronomic delight, from the everyday (the science of the perfect hardboiled egg)to the exotic (who knew you needed pig jowls for the prefect carbonara?) and location-specific (Madrid and San Sebastian).

Mouthwatering and inspirational.

PS props to Celia for enjoying these as much as I do!

19 May 2008

Outer space



Often I have stumbled upon beautiful high resolution photos like these from NASA. Love em. These were even TIFs, so they could have been printed out as large glossy photos if desired.

16 May 2008

Draft invitations





Thought the other ideas we had for our wedding invite shouldn't go completely to waste. And it's always good to see the process behind the outcome.

We were trying to continue our tree theme from our Save the Date invitation. At first we thought of taking it away from the art nouveau look into the Arabic style, as in the above circular designs. They never really worked.

We had a reference from one of my favourite designers, Build, of a Coke graphic he did (I know!), which we adapted. The colour is right, in that it's totally Gen, and the idea is right, in that it makes the link back to the old design. And of course it allowed us to put in the mushy love words, but against a cool backdrop (hopefully).

PS those looking for wedding pics click here!

14 May 2008

One up!


I took this pic in Melbourne when I was there last. I always seem to get good shots when I'm there, whether it's because it's a photogenic joint or I'm just inspired to be away I don't know.

Very much looking forward to a photo field trip on Sunday to the western suburbs. Unsure exactly where yet, hopefully we'll just stumble upon interesting places. One certainty, though, is the Lebanese sweets shop I saw on TV last week. Baklavas I had never even seen before. Ooooh yeah.

11 May 2008

Strange charts




Here's a couple of unusual charts / diagrams I came across last year when I was looking for weather images for a job.