Archive for November, 2007

just tell me

who needs designers anyway

Designers have to deal with ridiculous requests from clients on a daily basis. I wish we could inject instant design knowledge into each client at the start of every project.

The great people at Agency Fusion created this video that makes all designers cry into their pillows each night.

Video by http://www.whoneedsdesigners.com/.

Not enough for ya? You want more torture? Ok, fine, listen to this song about bigger logos. Or maybe you’d rather read some comics by BearSkinRug (type the number 34 and then 68 into the Currently Viewing brackets), or N.C. Winters.

life, nature, and beauty in mexico

Guess where I am today! David and I are at the Texas Renaissance Fesival. I’ve never been to the one in Texas before. It’s supposed to be the biggest in the nation, I’m excited! I’ve only been once before, in San Francisco, with my friend Rosie. It was fun.

While I am off enjoying myself and taking photos of people in funny costumes, I hope you enjoy a couple more photos from my Mexico trip. I took these at the eco theme park, Xcaret.

a wedding and a horse

Andrea and my dad

And me, with a horse beast that David spotted (and photographed)

texas ren fest

I don’t understand the dedication of the people who dress up in full costumes made of leather, fur, and 50-layer gowns when it’s swelteringly hot and humid in Texas. I was sweating when we would sit or stand under the sun, and I wasn’t wearing anything compared to those people. But, they are the ones that make the whole thing so fun. So thank you, people who are not concerned what the outside temperate is, you are the reason ren fest is so awesome! And maybe also the awesome actors of Sound and Fury with their Fakespearean show that was so freakin’ hilarious, I’ve never heard the word penis said so often in public.

holiday season

Now that Halloween is over with, the next couple of months are going to fly by. The holiday season is always so busy and frantic, and before you know it’s gone. I’m going to get a head start and start enjoying it now!

what does your front door say

David and I haven’t done any work on the exterior of our house yet. Our plan is to get a bluish gray hardie plank on the front exterior, the back already has a white hardie plank. Then the stucco will be painted white. The bluish gray and white combination is one that I really like, and which is very similar to what we have in the interior.

We have been trying to decide what color to paint the front door. I was leaning towards red at first, but since our neighbors have painted their house GREEN! it would look like perpetual Christmas. So red was thrown out. We could go with white, a beautiful and safe choice, but I want something that stands out. So now I want a very high gloss black door. It’s more traditional European but I want a really cool door knocker to go with it, one like this:

Wouldn’t that be sweet?

UPDATE: Oh hai, Justin, you are the best! Thank you, for buying me this door knocker as soon as you saw how much I liked it today.

And also: I was showing my dad the door knocker and saying how cool it was, and he told me that when he was a little boy they used to have this same type of knocker on their front door in Iran. Holy coincidence Batman!

digital photo editing

I’m over at Lisa and Jeff’s digital photography blog, Beyond Megapixels, today giving some tips on editing photos in Photoshop.

The healing brush (number 1) is the most amazing (and easiest) tool for cleaning up skin, minor blemishes, and slight lines. Select this tool, in the brush properties I suggest going with 50% hardness or experimenting. Setting the hardness too low will create an unnaturally smooth look if overused. ALT+Click on a clear area of skin that is a similar color and tone to the area you want to clean up. Patiently brush away one blemish at a time, don’t be afraid to undo and redo until you have it perfect.

Read the entire article, with a lot more Photoshop tips, on photo editing at BeyondMegapixels.com.

somthing nice at work

I’ve been working in Flash this week, filling my brain with delicious code knowledge. It’s been a nice change from some of the more mundane tasks.

Enough about work, though, it’s Friday, which means only thoughts of the weekend are allowed from now on! Enjoy it, bloggy blog friends!

no rest for the wicked

My weekends area always busy, usually with extra projects I make for myself. This weekend is no different. I’m working on updating much of the design portfolio portion of tinavaziri.com. While David is working on our portrait studio and some freelance work. I’m drained already.

the art of wallpaper

I love wallpaper. I wish it would hurry up and become socially acceptable again, so that more people will start using it in their homes. I would use it in my bedroom, in the dining room, and probably on every other wall as well.

Some of my favorites make bold statements, like this one from Surrealien:

And this from Jocelyn Warner:

And one of my all time favorites, this dark forest scene from a retail store called Walnut Wallpaper:

Another great wallpaper designer is Palace Papers.

the trouble with tuesday

No trouble really, I just love alliteration. Well, there was something somewhat troubling this week. I watched Soylent Green for the first time. I always knew the plot twist, it’s made of people, blah blah, but in my head it was just some silly far-in-the-future sci fi classic. The movie is set in 2022, which is not that far off, and it’s not really sci fi, it’s about overpopulation, global warming, and depleting earth’s resources. Very real problems. The sense of hopelessness was the most depressing part for me, there was no hero that could save them, not even a deus ex machina.

And now to distract myself with mindless entertainment: Ahahahahaha! Hot Chicks with Douchebags. Similar to leehotti.com (is the leehotti.com site down for good?), looking at these people makes me feel so good about my life. Laughing at stupidity soothes my blackest coal black icy heart.

By the way, I have fallen in love with Etsy.com jewelry. I want to buy myself 50 necklaces and bracelets, but instead I am going to try to do all of my holiday shopping on there.

Lurve.com, people, lurve.com.

commitment

There are some questions you have to get out into the open just to make sure of where you stand in a relationship.

symbolism

I created this portrait of Michael J. Fox showing innocence through the use of religious symbolism.

tina tina tina

One time, when I was very little, in Germany, my dad had horrible awful hiccups that would not go away. So my mom decided that her and I should turn off all of the lights in the house, go into my room, put white sheets over ourselves and stand there silently until my dad walked by, so that we could scare the hiccups away. He walked by, got scared seeing two creepy white forms standing in the dark, and then got mad. I don’t remember if his hiccups went away because of that, but remembering it now makes me laugh.

I get sad knowing that memories are elusory. I wonder how different my childhood details actually were from what I remember of them.

I struggle regularly with the decision to let this blog become more personal, or to keep things light and on the surface. Sometimes I write posts only to delete them before they ever go live.

I can’t figure out how to sit and work ergonomically in my office. My right shoulder and neck cramp up and the muscles burn, and it drives me crazy. I just always end up slouching and moving into a bad position.

I feel guilty about a lot of things. You’d think I’d been raised in a church.

When I am older and have accomplished most of what I have set out to do, I want to spend the rest of my life living in Crete.

never again

For my next house, if I ever say anything about wanting to renovate or remodel or paint ANYTHING myself, you may take a dull knife, stick it into my gut and wiggle it around nice and good.

I hate you HGTV, HomeDepot, and all you others who try to make it look so easy. I never want to hear the words DIY, sweat equity, or weekend project ever again. I’m never going to be able to finish this in a reasonable amount of time. So far, I have only been able to finish painting the baseboards in the living room and dining room white, from their ugly wood origins.

Original ugly colored wood that I have to paint over

Before and after dining room

I have been painting all weekend, trying to finish the edges where two different colors meet, trying to make very straight and perfect edges. Maybe I will win the lotto in 2008 and then pay someone to finish all this work.

thankful

You are what I am thankful for this year.

productivity to the max

After spending all day with our three families and eating two thanksgiving meals, David and I headed back home for a long weekend of home renovation. The living room and dining room are getting so close to being done that they make me pee my pants a little each time I walk downstairs.

The ceilings are a little streaky but they won’t be after a little touch up work. Can you spot the little Mojie? He is hiding.

Commence jealously, now.

’tis the season to be shopping

I have had nothing but holiday shopping on my mind lately. I was struggling with what to ask David to get me, because this year he didn’t want to guess and because he told me exactly what he wanted, a Nintendo DS with Brain Age2. It was only fair. It couldn’t be anything for the house (which I totally would have taken, because I want this place to look finished and fantastic), it had to be just for me, and something that I wanted. Usually it’s hard for me to get or ask for things I want if I don’t need them. So, I looked and looked trying to find something that I actually liked, and finally settled on the actor John Barrowman, as boyfriend #2.

But, David said 1) he’s gay, and 2) no. So I cried. Then I told him to get me a beautiful diamond ring instead!

(pause for dramatic effect)

No don’t freak out, I just wanted to get you excited, it’s a right hand fashion diamond ring, very pretty. Then I also found a great gift for my mom that I am very excited about but I can’t tell you what it is because she comes and visits my blog sometimes, Hi Mom! (i’ll post pictures after the gifts have been exchanged) I am nearly done with all of the gift shopping, even Mojito got a new scratching post which he loves. Thank god, because he was “loving” our new textured fabric chair with the blue throw pillow.

Other shopping news, I don’t have a new dress to wear to my company’s holiday party tomorrow. I have been busy and tired and slightly sickly with nothing substantial enough to call a “cold” but crappy enough to make me feel like poop. And you know how much I hate poop. So I haven’t felt up to trying to figure out what to wear, or up to getting too excited about the party. I guess I’ll go look through my closets and see if I can find something. If not, tomorrow morning I’ll drag David to the mall, he needs a new blazer anyways. Maybe we can finish our final gift purchases at the same time.

Hope you guys get all your shopping done quickly and with enough time to relax listening to some choice holiday music!