Archive for February, 2010
The Arctic
Had to do some illustrations of the Arctic for a project I’m currently working on. These didn’t make the cut, but thought they were cool nonetheless.
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Book Review: Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami
This was my first time reading Murakami, a Japanese author with a pretty big following at home and abroad. This novel straddles several genres seamlessly–merging fantasy, science fiction, and mystery with sprinkles of pop-culture and food critique without much hesitation and with great success. Murakami’s style seems effortless, but it works hard combining two separate narratives into one story. He jumps from rants on whiskey collections to escapes from caves filled with leeches to Bob Dylan to unicorns. Somehow, it all flows. His prose is truly unique and a real pleasure to read, if you are looking for something a little off beat and different to check out try this book.
Quotes after the click.
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posted in books by mph @ 2:47 pm 07/02/2010
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A Thing I Own and Love
I am not a hoarder by nature. I’ve purged entire collections of comics, toys, records, zines, CDs, whatever just so I would not have to move them to the next apartment. Out with the old, in with the new. Of the few things I have held onto over the years, this mug is one of my cherished possessions.
My mom gave this to me for my birthday in 10th grade. It was a peculiar gift at the time and I’m not sure I recall exactly how I actually felt when I received it. Usually when you are 15 the last thing on your mind are kitchen ceramics. However, at some point between then and my first year of university I became very attached to it. This mug has moved 14 times with me. It’s seen me through some great times, some bad times, and some mediocre ones too.
To me, this is a perfectly designed thing. It serves its function well:Â holds hot drinks, comfortable to lift, long lasting. But apart from that it also has a very restrained and adequate amount of beauty. The black and white Charlie Brown striping adds just enough class to elevate this from a plain mug to an object of adoration and intrigue. Maybe not everyone sees this mug the way I see it, maybe I’ve projected a lot of nostalgia onto it, but I can’t help feeling that this mug is just plain fucking awesome.
posted in design, memory lane by mph @ 1:57 am 01/02/2010
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