So, this is actually happening

Last night I booked my flights and paid the deposit for my holiday to Japan next April. I don’t think it’s quite sunk in that it is actually happening yet, having wanted to visit Japan for… well, forever.

I’ll be in Japan for 15 whole days and visiting these places, starting with Tokyo…

I made this map myself (well, I labelled it).

I’ve planned my holiday with Inside Japan Tours which seemed like a great option for a first time (and lone) traveller to Japan. But I’m not going on a guided or group tour in the traditional sense, I’ll be on my own for the most part.

I’ve been able to tailor what I want to do into my own holiday plan – like the Studio Ghibli museum in Tokyo, Matsumoto castle and Mt. Fuji. As well as getting to visit traditional samurai villages, take part in a tea ceremony and stay in traditional Japanese accommodation – I don’t think I could have organised much of that by myself.

Needless to say I’m excited, even if I am feeling a little short of money now. I don’t doubt it will be well worth it. The count down starts now… 157 days.

Funny bones

I haven't done fancy dress or face painting since I left university a year and a half ago, and I have missed it. So when one of my colleagues said they were having a Halloween party I jumped at the chance to be a skeleton.

How to waste a Sunday afternoon as a Menzingers fan

For the last few months, well the last year really, I haven’t been able to stop listening to The Menzingers. I’d say it’s verging on musical obsession now, especially considering what I spent several hours doing this afternoon…

So because I’m a sad and slightly obsessed Menzingers fan, whenever I listen to them I like to play a game of ‘Greg or Tom?’. This basically involves trying to work out who the main vocalist is for a particular song. They both have pretty distinct voices to be fair but sometimes they both sing at the same time and it can be difficult to work out on some of the older songs. I’ve even seen comments on You Tube where people have said they didn’t know that band had two singers!

What did I work out? At least if my own ears and YouTube observational skills are accurate enough. I’m sure I may have got a few of these wrong (No We Didn’t in particular, I had to listen to several times and I’m still not certain it’s Greg singing).

• Overall, it seems that Greg sings more songs but that’s more because Tom has a lot of songs where Greg joins in for the chorus, which doesn’t seem to happen so much the other way around.
• They both sing at the same time in a lot of the earlier songs, particularly the choruses if not the whole song.
• Tom sings a lot of the earlier stuff including when Greg sings a bit (A Lesson in the Abuse of Information Technology and Chamberlain Waits). Whilst Greg has the majority on the latest album (On The Impossible Past).
• If you count the songs that are ‘Mostly Tom’ as just being Tom and the same for Greg, they sing an equal amount of songs… But then maybe that’s just how my ears worked it out.

And that’s how to waste a Sunday afternoon as a Menzingers fan – and a graphic designer.

Coffee Pot

Alex Turner has a certain way with words… at least I thought he did, until I looked up the lyrics to I Wanna Be Yours and discovered that he didn’t actually write them – John Cooper Clarke did. Anyway, he does have a way with words in other Arctic Monkeys songs. I saw them live for the first time last night and it was great so I felt inspired to make this…

Maus

I’ve mentioned before how I’m really disappointed that I didn’t properly study history at school – stupid “humanities”. But I am really quite interested in history in general and it’s better to be interested than interesting (said someone, who I’ve quoted before). Unfortunately, I feel pretty ignorant about most things. Even something as significant (and horrifying) as the holocaust, I learnt very little about at school.

Maus has long been on my book “wishlist”, although mostly because it’s considered to be a classic graphic novel rather than specifically the subject matter. It’s actually a biography of sorts, which I didn’t realise until I started reading it, and tells the story of the graphic novelist[Art Speigelman]’s father. So although the Nazis are represented as cats and the Jews as mice, it’s actually a very real story.

I’ve just got one remaining chapter to read and it’s genuinely been a brilliant read. If you can call something with such horrible subject matter such as Auschwitz a brilliant read. This person has written a better review than I could even attempt to do, so read their blog.

I am recommending you read this, whether you like graphic novels or not – this aint no super hero story.

Friends of Bude Sea Pool

“The Sea Pool at Bude was created in 1930 to provide a haven for safe swimming for local residents and the thousands of people who visit the area each year.

The Sea Pool was threatened with closure and demolition following funding cutbacks. A local charity, the Friends of Bude Sea Pool took on its management in 2012. FoBSP must pay for the Pool’s staffing, restoration and maintenance from memberships, donations, sponsorship and grant funding.

Please join FoBSP and help to save Bude Sea Pool!”

Over the past couple of months I’ve been working on re-designing the Friends of Bude Sea Pool’s leaflet and membership form. As a keen sea swimmer I have visited the sea pool at Bude several times – after being introduced to it by my [university] sea swimming club, in 2012.

I offered to help them re-design the leaflet – for free of course, it’s a good cause! I wanted to make sure the leaflet was visually appealing and eye-catching on the outside, as well as functioning well as a form inside. They provided lots of great photos for me to use, many of which can be found on their Facebook page.

Above is a poster version of the front of the leaflet, and below is the leaflet when viewed flat.

Outside

Inside

And as the leaflets haven’t been printed yet, I’ve attempted to simulate it (badly).

Join Friends of Bude Sea Pool today!

Super Graphic

I ordered this book a good month and a half ago on Amazon, unfortunately it was out of stock for a while. But when it did arrive this week it was well worth the wait. As both a comic book fan and graphic designer – therefore an appreciator of infographic design – this book is perfect for me. I’ve learnt a thing or two as well.

I don’t think I could have taken crappy photos of the pages if I’d tried, so I will direct you at this post by Creative Review for some slightly better images and more of a detailed write up.

And this one is the best:

Joe Wilson

I have come across illustrator Joe Wilson on more than one occasion in the past, yet for some reason I’ve never blogged about him before. At least not directly. He is actually the illustrator behind one of my favourite book covers – and that I have posted a blog about (a whole three years ago). Sadly I didn’t reference him in that post though, so I’m going to make up for it now.

It’s Nice That posted about his film posters today, which sure are great, but I love his whole portfolio.

“Joe’s a UK-based illustrator and film buff working in a style that’s reliant on a phenomenal attention to detail and precision draftsmanship. This boy can really draw. Working in pencil, ink and digital colour, Joe creates rich, complex illustrations that evoke vintage movie posters, pulp novels and comics from the 1970s but with a contemporary feel (often the result of Joe’s digital colour palettes).” – It’s Nice That

Some great stuff on his blog too.