where is fall?

It's too cold outside.

a typical zine meeting

Good idea: 
Carrying your soju in a water bottle when you go to noraebang

Bad idea: 
Carrying your soju in a water bottle when you go to work

...

I was editor to a short-lived but controversial foreigners' publication. Meetings tended to end with conversations like these and me lovingly accompanying my drunken publisher to his taxi.

Cartoons of my life

In Korea, I started drawing myself as a character in cartoons of my life. I think of these as a more personal perspective on the PNU bar scene. I must have been hyper self aware, or social occurrences were more ridiculous there, or memorable things just happen in bars. Either way, these represent excerpts of conversations I actually had, most likely word for word. I drew these in Korea, except for the last two which I started in Korea and filled in in more detail today.  

This first picture is not exact from memory. It's a drawing of a guy I met at Tai Hyun's going away party at Moe's. We connected over our mutual disillusionment. I let him walk out without getting his number because I figured I'd find him on Facebook or that my friends would know of him. When I got home at 7am, I wrote down all the information I remembered about him but couldn't find him again. I deeply regretted it and thought of him often. Many months later, I saw him again at Moe's during a concert, but he was with a hot girl and didn't seem to notice I was there. I hadn't been thinking of him anymore but I wished he remembered me. Now I can't even remember his name.

 

I met a lot of people at bars. I would even see them again, but that didn't mean we were friends or that I knew their names. "Eric, eh? I had a boyfriend called Eric. You're much cuter though." I should just refrain from speaking while drunk.

Who sends a text message asking "What are you up to tomorrow?" and then doesn't reply to "I don't know yet"? I was furious.

This is me trying to make an intelligent statement while drunk at a Canada Day party. That's the famous Canadian, Collwyn entertaining us on guitar.

Alternately, this one could have read: "You're different from all these people, Emily. You're an intellectual." Me: "You're just saying that because I have glasses."

One more time

Here is the original key dude (back and front). I like how one side looks suspecting. And I used the J and L because they kind of look like legs with feet at the bottom.

Collage

I created this Arctic fantasy landscape for a Works on Paper class led by Shirley Wiitasalo a few years ago and I've been trying to live up to it ever since. It's one of my favourite things I've ever made and I think it's kind of epic. I spent countless hours on paper selection and composition. I've been trying to use cut paper to create things again but they always end up looking like rough sketches. See below.

Maybe an epic composition just requires more planning. Any ideas? 

I also made this clever collage out of a Monet reproduction and a photo of Toronto I took. I have a bunch of Monet pictures so I'm thinking of cutting them up and making something new.  

it's kind of amazing what people can do with felt

In my bacon webtravels, I ended up discovering food made out of felt. I'm impressed, but really surprised that Etsy designers sell their patterns in PDF form for $6 but don't sell the real things. Who wants to make a felt apple for oneself?

Bugga Bugs

Umecrafts

Sweetie Pie Bakery

bacon creations

I don't really understand the trend to make things out of bacon/look like bacon. Maybe it's the ever loved combination of shock value and ridiculousness. Here's just a sample of what can be found.

And for some bacon products you can actually buy if you are so inclined...

food inspiration

I just saw this site which has a few neat things for purchase. I've always been fascinated with miniaturized objects that have lost their original functionality. Maybe it's the dollhouse effect. Though I usually find wearables modeled after food to be either childish or tacky, I love that someone actually made a bacon scarf and even bacon ipod case (this is worth googling!). I can't imagine anyone actually using these things though.  An exception would definitely be the pea inspired earrings from the above mentioned site.  Probably because they look more "inspired" than like actual peas.

I also kind of love the sushi pillows. I might even be able to envision them with a colorful Asian inspired decor. Or you, know, in an art gallery where food art kind of belongs.

hongdae inspiration

Most of my year in Korea was spent tragically artless. I blame Busan. The weekend before my final departure, I abandoned my friends and set off to Seoul for my one and only art run. I stayed in Hongdae (Hongik University) because I heard that was where all the artsy kids hang out. I was disappointed the place didn't come alive until mid to late afternoon which I guess is when people start sobering up. The coolest thing I found in Hongdae was the Saturday free market. People set up booths and sell handmade jewelry, notebooks, and even pouches for holding maxi pads (a Korean girl with almost no English had a fun time explaining this to me). There was also a guy making and selling cell phone accessories made from old school computer keys. He was standoffish and disinterested and I prefer to buy from friendly people, but I couldn't resist the awesomeness of the design.

Isn't he adorable?

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Fast forwarding to now: as Bryan had the sudden inspiration to make things out of recycled materials, there is now a huge pile of electronics junk lying around his living room. This gave me the opportunity to try making my own key guys. Mine are makeshiftier, but they'll do. I decided to give these to Tristan and Caroline for their birthdays. Sorry if it ruins the surprise ;) Notice the sparkly butterfly clip (these used to be awesome in grade 7).

The Blogging Begins

I always catch on to treads during their dénouement and get the short end of the stick. By the time I started collecting pogs, the basketball courts were near empty at recess. There were only a couple of kids still slamming the nerdy way. Soon, there was no one left to play with me.

I remember when blogs first became the rage and all the cool kids were doing it. Too quickly it became self indulgent to write about the mediocrities of one's life while expecting others to care. Why should my friends want to read about my movie preferences when we could have a real life discussion? Plus with the advancements of Facebook, everyone I ever met pretty much knows me inside and out. It might therefore be redundant that I'm starting a blog. However, this form of self marketing just might be the wave of the future. Also Bryan told me to do it.

I started out using wordpress because it looked credible and had more options. I abandoned it for Blogger because it wasn't as user friendly and I haven't made a webpage since the good old days of geocities and something called expage. I used to think myself internet savvy when I was thirteen. Indeed, I've been on the internet since its existence in the public domain. I'm twenty four, but this is my first blog (ten years ago, I would have known how to make the word "blog" flashing in rainbow colors and sliding across the screen). Anyways. Here we go.