It’s fun to have two New Years, plus my sister is in town this year!
As always, I must remind everyone about this series of schmalzy Petronas CNY ads. It’s the least that oil barons could do for the culture.
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Fish and hook. As a fan of asymmetry, offset folds are exciting.
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With my love of asymmetry, angled popups should have been an obvious progression, but I could never get them to work. At this point I also gave up on pairing the pop-up and the words as I raced through the exercises in the book.
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Not exactly pop-ups, but I had fun exploring the splashy, bendy motif, and they played great with the big text.
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This stunt has an Art Deco feel to it.
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thank you!
This was a thank you card for the Administrative Specialists in our division.
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Cya next time!
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PS—Chinese New Years
The Lunar year is bit awkward. It’s nice to have a second calendar to enjoy, especially gastronomically, but these moments don’t fit great around the American workweek.
It’s a more noticeable now, since my in-laws celebrate these festivities more than my parents. Before the pandemic, we would celebrate on weekends (a 2/7 chance of happening) while squeezing in eating the appropriate foods on the proper day.
Just like celebrating birthdays!
For a few years, work from home alleviated the complexity. We could visit the in-laws and with our laptops. I worked during the day, the girl did her distance education in the evening, and we celebrated during the breaks.
Not ideal, as some Algerians once told me in Paris, an immigrant lives with their ass on two seats.
—February 2022
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PPS—Wedding Greetings
Because of the pandemic, my mother-in-law did not return to China for her nephew’s wedding. Instead, we recorded a greeting for the event.
Our first attempts included the kids, but that quickly proved impossible so they were shuffled into the bedroom to watch TV. We adults then tried to look happy (but not silly) in front of an iPad as my mother-in-law wished all the best for the happy couple.
Good lord. It still took multiple takes, several of which were ruined by laughter.
Now I know why actors earn their fortunes. Pretending is a real, difficult skill. I see why traditional cultures view frown upon this vocation. If you can fake it on stage, can you be trusted at all?
Of course, being a great actor is well rewarded in today’s modern world, a nice problem for a star! But I wonder if the traditional had it right—a professional fake must pay a heavy psychic tax.
—February 2022, and congrats to the happy couple who welcomed their first kiddo last year!
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PPPS—Dude
I saw this comic strip on an office door in a community college. Now that I have finally found it again, I need to put it somewhere semi-permanent.
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PPPPS—Practice
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