Out of Print

I want to snuggle up with a good book while wearing one of these. I really like the vintage-y, distressed look of the fabric. I'm thinking of getting the Moby Dick one but I'm really hesitant to go out in public wearing a sweater with the word DICK on it...in capital letters...across my chest...with a picture of a sperm whale underneath. 

Gosh, I'm so mature.

Link to online shop here. With every purchase, the company sends a book to a community that really needs it, so go support them! They also have a range of T-Shirts on sale.

Neutral.

Top from Gap, Vest from Zara, Wrist Chain from Etsy

California Dreamin'

In Wong Kar-Wai's film Chungking Express, he explores ideas of love and the passing of time. While most films are made in about a year, Wong produced Chungking Express in two months. He had spare time because of production delays for another film so he decided to make another one while he waited. The short production time produced an interesting sense of youthful impulse. Free from premeditated planning, Wong produced a film that exudes a kind of liberating force - one that completed scripts and pre-production can easily spoil.

This spontaneity recalls the same of-the-moment feeling that Godard's film Breathless had. Both directors just picked up a camera and shot enigmatic and attractive young actors with a bare script to guide them. The end results in two of the most compelling and unexpectedly insightful films about life, love, time and people.

Even two of the female leads are so similar. Both have pixie haircuts, a feminine symbol of self-assurance, and both possess this undefined way of enthralling and mesmerising the audience and the men they attract.

Watch this clip of Faye Wong dancing to California Dreamin'. Don't you see a bit of Jean Seberg in there?

Noma Bar Cover Art

I love specially designed cover art like these, they're just so fun and would look amazing on the shelf. These have a fabric texture and they're pleasing to hold. The colours are bold bright and the graphic designs are super stylish too. 

Designed by Noma Bar, you can get them (for a limited time, I think) at JB Hi-Fi stores. 

I'm thinking of getting the whole collection. I was so upset when I saw one for Reservoir Dogs because I just bought a Blu-Ray of it a while back.

Come Fly With Me

Wrist Chain from SKforMen at Etsy.com

Link to shop here

Three Reasons: 500 Days of Summer

Directed by Marc Webb

Usually my eyes roll at an overly cute scene like this. But who doesn't want to do something like this at an Ikea store? This was beyond adorable.

Another overly cute scene that just worked. This was right after Tom and Summer just had sex and it was the perfect way to show how Tom felt afterwards. Hilarious, fun and super duper cute.

Summer is such a great character. Unexpectedly brutal but unabashedly honest. She was both the best and worst girl for him. This scene just breaks my heart every single time.

What are your reasons?

Booked at the Sydney Film Festival 2011

2018.

The camera is back from its hibernation. Me as photographer. Zoran as creative director. Nycel as model. Our hometown as location.

Three Reasons: 2001: A Space Odyssey

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

The cut jumps from the Dawn of Man to a futuristic Space Age - from primitivity to advancement - probably the widest gap in time to jump cut, or arguably, to match cut to in cinema. The most surprising aspect about this cut is how it comparably shows how very little human beings have changed, despite the vast differences in time and evolutionary stages. We are still both destructive and disconnected. Our technologies still used as war weapons and tools to further separate us from one another.

The film is cold, distancing, depressing and uncertain at times but it is anchored by scenes of humanistic beauty. Showing moments that are collectively familiar to us as human beings, ironically conveyed by technology and man-made objects. While Strauss' The Blue Danube plays in the background, the spaceships and space stations seem to waltz with the music as they glide across the dark, empty space.

The film will surely please and satisfy two groups of people: the philosophical types, and substance users. 

What are your reasons?

Magazines I Religiously Read

frankie

Doesn't take itself too seriously. Ridiculously cute. Beautiful matte pages. The kind of magazine you would want to read in a quiet meadow where the rays of sunshine are just perfect - not too bright, not too dark. Think doves and butterflies flying overhead while a steaming cup of English breakfast (in a hand painted teacup, of course) sits next to you while you snuggle up in an oversized quilt made (with love) by your grandma.

RUSSH

This never fails to get my creative juices flowing. It just embodies cool. Every issue is dedicated to something different but always relates to creativity - 'The Art Issue', 'The Birth of Cool', 'It's Iconic' (influential people) and 'Fan For Life' (music fans and followers) are just a few things the magazine explores. 

Wallpaper*

The most expensive out of the bunch (which is why I only purchase the price-reduced semi-old issues), but well worth it. The pages burst with colour, ladened with beautiful and innovative design. It's inspirational, informative and extremely entertaining. 

Vogue Australia

I don't wear the clothes they show in their pages because a) I'm not a woman and b) I can't afford it. It is useful because it provides me with the inspiration to be experimental and fearless with how I style or present myself. Trends in womenswear can always translate to menswear and one doesn't necessarily have to purchase expensive designer clothes to convey a good sense of style. All you need is a thrift store and an unrestrained sense of imagination.

GQ

This is like a go-to guide. It is packed full of handy information every young man such as myself need to know. Whether it's finding the right suit or knowing which drinks are which, there's always something I didn't know (or didn't think I even need to know).

Yellow is the colour of money

The Pull and Bear wallet I bought from Athens two-ish years ago is looking a little sad. You know it's time for a replacement when even the "oh-it's-vintage" argument/lie/excuse doesn't really justify or explain an item's dilapidated state. What I love most about this wallet is that it has a coin case.


Yes, I know it's probably not the most elegant thing but I need a place to store my coins. I don't drive yet (too lazy to learn and too Asian to be any good at it anyway) so I catch public transport most of the time and I need to have spare change with me at all times. The problem is I can't seem to find any men's wallets with a coin case. But...look what I found at mrporter.com!

I know you can't see from this image but this Paul Smith wallet has a coin pocket inside. I love the bold, eye-popping colour and the fact that it's so not discreet. I'm honestly really sick of seeing brown and black leather wallets being carried around by men everywhere. A men's magazine like GQ may suggest (or dictate) that every 'sophisticated' man should only have those kinds of wallets in their pockets. But I'm 18 and fortunately at this age I can get away with having a bright yellow wallet. I'll switch to an elegant black leather one when I'm 40. 

P.S. I hope I'm not sounding too mean towards GQ magazine. I'm a regular reader and I love reading it but sometimes I feel that it can be too authoritative and personally would like the magazine to strive to be  inspirational instead. But that's just my two cents (which is going straight to my awesome and not-very-elegant coin case).

Zombies vs Unicorns

It was a little embarrassing asking the saleslady at the bookstore to help me find this book. When she asked for the title of the book I was looking for I was LOLing so hard in my head it gave me a migraine. But it was worth it. The cover art on this thing is so epic. It's like a war zone but with unicorns and zombies.

I still need to finish reading Jonathan Franzen's Freedom (it's fantastic, but so brutally honest and accurate about life and relationships that it depresses me sometimes)

Note: I own this image, please credit this blog as original source if it is to be reproduced somewhere else. Thanks :)

Show Me Your Workspace

I love seeing where people work, especially if they are creative. Designers, photographers, illustrators, painters, writers - I love seeing their workspaces and the tools they use to create. Everyone has their own set of objects they need have to have near them in order for them to work efficiently and creatively.

I have a very cramped workspace but I love it nonetheless. This space for me has history. Sometimes I love being in this space, at other times I detest it. This is where I tirelessly worked on my 6,000 word major essay on Haneke's films for high school extension English. This is also the space where I have burst into tears reading Kazuo Ishiguro's novels. Inspired by Suzi Blu, I got lost in my own world working on my art journals as evidenced by the number of acrylic paint stains on the table that I can't seem to remove. I've fallen asleep on this desk, surrounded by cups of lukewarm coffee while studying for exams. 

It's very interesting for me to take a peek at someone else's desk and it can be quite inspirational. You can really tell a lot about a person by looking at their workspace.

So now that I've shown you mine, show me yours? Blog it, twitpic it, tumblr it, YouTube it. Whatever you choose, tweet, email or comment below for me with those links!