thurs trend: pencil+scribbles

What I mean from the title is pencil skirts and illustrated graphic tees.
Try and make the 9-5 look more.. interesting? But that's only if you won't get sack from your job. Sometimes I do feel sorry for people who has to wear boring ol' workwear...

Pencil skirts doesn't always mean being conservative - keep it casual with sneakers but opt for a clutch for femininity

The Rottweiler gives the sweet pencil skirt look a "back-off!!" appeal. Have short tees hang out instead of the usual tuck-in for casualty but keep a structured bag for a professional finish.

Mixing prints and colours? grab neutral accessories to tone it down. Remember to keep it in the family when mixing patterns - similar colours.

10c noodles + dreams

I bought a tank a year ago at an Orange County mall (Brea Mall), it was from those little kiosk they had in the middle of shopping centres. They sold tees and tanks with graphics, and quirky jewellery. What caught my attention was that it was made "IN SUNNY LOS ANGELES", yes, not CHINA!! (read the story behind LOVE NAIL TREE).

The graphics were a bit different..and the fabric was just soft..and it was a pop-up kiosk! How could I resist!? I couldn't!

The one that caught my attention was a picture of a noodle cup with the text: "livin' on dreams and 10c noodles. more than soup: lifestyle." I showed me room mate. She laughed and said "that's so you, you have to get it". Great persuasive skills and so I did buy one. See, I had been so poor during my study abroad when I couldn't afford food or was too lazy to cook I'd just eat Cup Noodles - until to the point I had stomach aches. #poortcollegestudentproblems

 Today I read the paragraphs that is on the back of this tank.. at first I read the last line "so that's just me - just another guy living on dreams and ten-cent noodles"...and it had me thinking, "HEY! That's me!" minus the guy part. I then read all three of the paragraphs. Which you should now too..

What I've learnt?

I like to dream and dreaming is the start of what/where you want to end up.

Eating 10c noodles can help you reach your dream?

This is just a beautiful story I want to share for those who don't have this tank.

LOVE NAIL TREE take orders online.

To keep dreaming.

we survived

Congratulations for everyone who is reading this.. ya'll beat DOOMS DAY. Ok, cut the crap.

But hope everyone had an enlightening New Years

A friend asked what my New Year Resolutions were, I replied saying I don't believe in them - why should you have a new goal that you need to keep for a particular year?! That just sounds stupid.
What I have decided is to have a life-time resolution! (that sounds more lame..) It is to read errday everyday. At least one piece of news or current affair that interests me - a piece of article, blog post, insightful Instagram post? a controversial Facebook status. Anything that will get me ticking basically.

to be a great writer you have to read

read

READ

read

ReAD
oh, and write?

thurs trend: humid dressing

This could well be a new section I am trying.. posting styles that inspire me for the week. Basically a vision of clothes I wish I had & wish I could be wearing..

This week has been humid, humid, humidiating! & dresses are the breeziest thing to throw on!

spelling out chloé isn't easy

Chloé's most recent campaign is both educational and fashionable! It helps us refresh our alphabet. Who said fashion isn't smart?!

Although, this may be old news but Chloé celebrated its 60th anniversary with this quirky yet elegant campaign. This campaign involved 26 fashion bloggers and 26 letters (of the alphabet, duh!). The bloggers were to write about the history of Chloé (iconic moments, inspirations..) using one letter. Of course, these bloggers were finely hand-picked. It really shows more about the fashion house of Chloé, now I am a big fan of its designs and this campaign is a beauty.

Here is an example, K is for kaleidoscope - and you're thinking how on Earth does a kaleidoscope relate to Chloé? It explains the colour palette worn by Chloé...

And you're still wondering "WHAT ABOUT THE KALEIDOSCOPE?!", well I say watch this video..

I suggest for you to take a look around and peak through X and L and A..just all of them! It's a piece of work

interweave with Interwoven

Last night I went to this unweaving exhibition that was held by the interactive & visual design graduates of QUT! Ps. this exhibition was curated by my best friend, Lachlan Spencer - who is utterly amazing at what he does. Check out his work! NOW! Better yet, HIRE HIM. 'nough bragging. But he did a fantastic job, and not only saying because he is a friend. (apologies these photos that is about to enlighten your day were taken with my handy iPhone)

The exhibition is themed "interwoven" if you have not already guessed. You basically had to weave your way through the works around the room, unweaving each project (no, you don't). But! guests were welcomed with strings that were attached from the door way up onto the ceiling. The theme reflects "the diverse skills and abilities of the students... as well as the collaboration between us as a cohort. Nowadays we are not specialist but more generalists with diverse creative skills," Spencer said. And that is safe to say in just about any sector of the creative industry, including journalism.

Here are a few of my favourites, or that captured my mind, body and soul. From apps, to advert billboards, to illustrations, to menus, to brails. Yes, brails!

There were also two interactive projects

Ball game, where you peg balls at the huge screen - reminds me of Midway Mania @ California Disney 

Creating rain sounds and visuals with instruments

And here is Lachlan's..

Spider Graph Key

"The strings represent the students moving through a point of collaboration before splitting to visualise the students' specialities in a graph"- Lachlan Spencer

Every 10cm represents 5 students

If you have not already checked them out, you've got one more day!

QUT Kelvin Grove, Z Block @ Z3

Frisken Frisco

I'm having one of those nostalgic days, maybe because it was a a year ago I was there in San Francisco..

Golden Gate Bridge, naming it the Golden Gay Bitch *because of the furious wind I had to encounter

San Francisco city, from the opposite side of the bridge

One of the many monstrous hills

Did you know? They hand-painted the bridge!

Lombard Street; one of my favourite shots

Alcatraz; it was an intense journey..

coveteurs, mini

My friend linked me to this video that I thought I would enjoy… and he was right! I love any videos with children in it, ok, that might come across creepy. I love kids, so that’s why!

This video is just the cutest thing I’ve seen (one of)… these little children are portraying famous fashionistas, bloggers, stylists, editors (including Wintour!). Ok, not that I have met theses people, but the similarity and alikeness is too much! I love it. Watch out for the replay button.




How le adorable is Anna Dello Russo. Karl Lagerfeld, spot on! I just wonder what THEIR responses are to the video. I absolutely love it! I think I've said that too many times...

lost and found

Sorry for the being MIA for the past two weeks.. or three.. or whatever it is. Finals of my final! Literally the last bundle of my assessments, ever. No more essays, exams, oral presentations. And right now, I am flying into Sydney to get a kick-start in my new developed life… well trying to… interning at one of my dream jobs; Shop Til You Drop magazine. I have not decided whether I will do a blog about it… but I guess it would be nice to sneak through some pictures.

target x neiman marcus

It's getting closer.. it's nearing to Christmas, meaning it's December soon! WHICH BRINGS US TO.. the Target x Neiman Marcus collaboration! The Holiday collection.

If you have not heard of it.. 24 designers who you can usually find in Neiman Marcus are creating 50+ unique pieces for Target (at reasonable and affordable prices). And who are these designers?

+ Marchesa
+ Rag & Bone
+ Diane Von Furstenberg
+ Alice and Olive by Stacey Bendet
+ Robert Rodriguez
+ Jason Wu
+ Band of Outsiders
+ Oscar de la Renta
+ Marc Jacobs
+ Proenza Schouler
+ MORE

Check this video out to see what the designers have to say about the collab!

I really hope it's online buyable!! Because when else can I afford Marchesa or a little bit of Oscar?!

"A modern woman is not necessarily about someone who just buys expensive stuff. A modern woman is someone who buys intelligently"

the invisible keyboard OJ1*

Touch typing, remember..in fourth grade or sometime around that time period when we had portable keyboards and programs where we could practice touch typing. Trying to compete with everyone in class to see who typed the fastest or who had minimal errors. I tried finding an image of the portable keyboard or the program, but there were no images to find! Shocking! To think Google would have everything..

I really do appreciate the lessons we did at school, and to think they were stupid and pointless. But it was always fun being able to use THE computer! As a journalist we need to be excellent, speedy typers - for those deadlines we have to meet, writing stories after stories, typing up a script in the last minute before air time, and trying to quote someone at a press conference. A new program/app/concept I had just came across was ASETNIOP, which has a potential of helping journalists type quicker..maybe?

What it is, is a virtual keyboard that only has eight letters A-S-E-T-N-I-O-P. Then how do we use the other 18 alphabets? We use chords, by pressing two or more letters at a time.
Being 'experimental' I gave it a kick without any prior tutorials..and here's what I came up with..

Well, apparently you get better at it with practice.. I'm not too sure how quick it'll take me to learn this new method. But what its benefits are it saves space on the screen, so you have more viewing space where usually the keyboard would take half of the screen, and it saves finger movements? Which may mean faster typing. How useful would it be for live blogging? Grabbing a quote from someone without them having to repeat it several times.

If you are really interested to learn, jump onto the website and master the Asetniop. This is probably what your kids will be learning in school. Make a start so you can keep up with your kids' tech savy-ness. Everything is getting too technical now!

online, online, read all about it! OJ1*

It's researched, compiled and written, so it must be true. The Pew Research Center did a survey on American news consumption and you guessed it.. online news platforms are on the rise!

While radio and newspaper has drastically declined, television news is slowly.. steadily declining. But honestly, my prediction for television news will always be there - people want to come home from work and turn the TV on. OK, not necessarily turning onto the news; but it's nice to tune in what's happened during the day. 

Now, the decline is radio could actually be the introduction of MP3 players, I hardly ever turn to the radio in the car. I plug my iPod in and soothes my car ride, it is unless I am utterly bored with the amount of time I play Coldplay on repeat THEN I switch on the radio. And that, I don't even listen to the news.. or the news segment is not even on at the time.

And it is quite safe to say, newspaper is not helping with the environment..how many of you really RECYCLE the newspaper?! By subscribing to the New York Times on your iPad you feel as though you're somewhat helping the environment and at the same time you can obtain local news from newspapers around the world. And it is much more convenient, isn't it?

I am not going against print news..because myself, I would like to have a career in the magazine industry. It's definitely a ride we need to keep up with..

the eyes of Florian Müller

What captured these photographs? NEW YORK!
But it was not the usual lights and brights of the city from say, the top of the Rockerfeller or the Empire building, or some rooftop of an abandoned loft. Ok, maybe it was taken from those places but it was the multiple exposures on top of another that grabbed my attention.

To me it captured New York perfectly. Its craziness of over-crowded. The uncertainty of what it is - a place of you know what you want out of it but you're lost in it. The shadow-like representing the skyscrapers' reflection hitting the cracked roads. The colours captured are colours you see of the streets. These photographs represent New York closely in a more intimate level. Müller thank you for sharing these with the world, especially myself.

I absolutely just love it. If only I had my Diana F+ camera with me on my trip... the things I could have created..I'll just have to fly back there.