Numbers and weird kids...

Chinatown

And this is what you waited for, but under lights we're all unsure, and so tell me, what would make you feel better?

View of a sign for a savings bank, somewhere on Fulton Street, in Brooklyn, Fulton Park, Utica Avenue, Messages on the Brooklyn Bridge, Jay Street Subway Station, the view from my laundry look-out, Halsey Street, Bed-Stuy, Jay Street Station signage.

Look around you—you're surrounded, it won't get any better... Until - the - night.

IKEA rules

So I finally have a new home! Myself and hindirinny have decided to create a type cocoon in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, replete with cheaper than cheap Ikea furniture and old collected postcards (oh I am so broke). I finally have an apartment that's big enough to fit one of these kick-ass lamps in and not bump into it/damage it each time I walk by (although I still managed to tear the paper as soon as I took it out of the packet *sigh* I am not a delicate or poised individual, whattayagonnadoay!) That couch we got for a steal at just 17 dollars and change, so we got 3! Lions and tigers and bears. =) And there I am, for good measure, looking haggard, this is what hours of Ikea does to a person. But a happy haggard person ey! So yep, first week over, new apartment semi-livable, and slowly getting used to the subway system, although somehow I also managed to aqcuaint myself with Queens en route to Clinton Hill, and Far Rockaway, en route to Bed Stuy, so I guess I'm a slow learner. But onwards and upwards, (literally, I think it's safer if I just take the bus from now on) this weekend I'm gonna try and hit up the Metropolitan Museum and possibly go to Staten island, we also went to this really cool restaurant near us called Saraghina, feckin' delicious so twas! Whenever anyone calls, I am abdicating all cooking responsibilities to the good folk at Saraghina, there's no point in me even trying any more, convenience wins when it's this damned tasty. Mmmm convenience... We also discovered the wine bar up the street has live music at the weekends, doubleplusgood, so those will be added to the fun things to show ppl list whenever I make it. Miss home, but too tired to let it sink in. More to come... bígí ag damhsa. (Oh also, updates on political shenanigans back home guys, WTF! I've been gone a week and it's a different country!) =)

First night in Bed Stuy

This is the view from my window, pretty huh, and right behind that window... it's snowing like crazy.  Thank you to the strange man who perfunctorily told me to 'prepare for snow' last night on the way home from work, and the myriad mind-wanderings that elicited: what could he mean?—am I not prepared for snow? metaphysically(?!?!?!)' etc... anyway, now I see, kindly soul, you took pity on a shivering and pale eejit wandering alone in the dark, thank you. So I made it to NYC, finally, and following a whirlwind of a week, I finally have somewhere to put my stuff and sleep that's mine, at least for now. This weekend is for sleep. And Ikea! Nesting.

hedgehog in the fog ( yozhik v tumane - ёжик в тумане ) =)

Love the hedgehog's surprised face. I feel like that face in the mornings.
1975, Kozlov, Norstein

via @clauseggers

Dreams to dream, leaving the Big Smoke, for the Big Apple

So, after 3.5 months of waiting and worrying, my visa to allow me to work in the US finally arrived today, suddenly, and without fanfare... So, folks, I'm leaving. Fievel-goes-west-stylee on a big old jetplane, next Wednesday (!) for NYC. =) GULP. So I thought I'd indulge in a little gooey sugar coated silliness... I like to think there might have been some kind of inevitability to this, when I was little I saw this movie in the Ormonde cinema in Stillorgan with my Dad, and afterwards I was telling my mum that it had been my favourite movie growing up, and she said, that's weird, I remember you having nightmares for weeks afterwards... Kids eh...



So I'll see you on the other side of the pond lads n ladies, keep your fingers crossed for me. I'll keep you posted on doodles from the other side of the Atlantic, and to my New Worlder compadres, I'll see you very soon =)

Communication Arts Typography Annual 2011 ☝☝☝

A logo I designed for my friend Elena of Tipo e, a Spanish publisher concerned with all things type, has been listed as one of the winners in the 'identity' section of Communication Arts first Typography Annual 2011. I'm so excited! This was a really fun project to work on, and the logo is in use on Tipo e's first publication Tipo Elige Tipo, an excellent source of information on all things type related in the Spanish language.

❇ ❄ ❈ Happy New Year 2011! ☃ ❈ ❄ ❇

I went looking for a 'cool' emphatic rendition of this U2 classic, that would be live somewhere like Berlin or Russia, and full of atmospheric damp and hopeful-in-spite-of-the-grey-80s-pallor-of-things passion but found something even better! Bono, peacocking, like a dandy! AWESOME. And then I found the 'cool' grainy one, replete with Mistral credits, for good measure! Happy New Year everybody!! Go mbeimid beo ag an am seo arís! I hope 2011 brings you all happy times and new adventures.