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March 31, 2006
Why Isn't This Working
A: Print something.
D: ‘Kay, what.
A: A screenshot of the desktop or whatever. I want to test the printer.
D: ‘Kay. [types "Dear Diary," hits "print"]
A: ...
D: ...
A: #@%. It’s not printing.
D: …
A: What.
D: $800 and it doesn’t do anything.
Posted by Dipika at 2:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 30, 2006
Office place!
After two years of cohabitation with the hum and beeps of the computers, we finally moved our design studio out of our household. Sheer luck and goodwill brought a cool office space (complete with a red swingline stapler!), a mere eight-minute walk from our apartment.
It feels slightly odd to suddenly have lots of space at home, and the aforementioned lack of white noise (and Internet) at home will take some getting used to. But having the separation is a welcome change, and a boost to get more done both at home and work. We are working on a new look for our web site, just printed 1,500 business cards, and our new stationery is coming out next week. We hope more of the area's small businesses will notice.
So where are we? The new Design Kompany office is on Olive Way, between two brick buildings (one with blue awnings, the other with maroon ones), directly across the street from Clever Dunne's Irish Pub (A belated Happy St. Patrick's Day, by the way!).
If you're in the neighborhood, feel free to stop by.
Posted by Akira at 3:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 27, 2006
Ninth and Seneca: Two Ladies Discuss Clothing
1: I love your shirt. Can I--
2: Touch it!
1: Where'd you get it!?
2: At Chicos. Many years ago. It's just lasted forever.
1: Nice colors!
2: Aren't they. And feel. It's kind of like a towel.
Posted by Dipika at 9:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 23, 2006
diary of a sushi helper (2): イルカはいるかい？
Occasionally, we have groups of school kids, out on their big sushi night. Usually found among these groups are a few Asian kids, maybe of Japanese variety, and they are often Japanese culture dilettantes, eager to show off what they know.
As it may happen, they have questions for you.
kid a (at the register): -----(inaudible question, directed to the wait staff)?
staff: Uh-m, you should ask those guys (points to sushi bar). They should know.
kid b: (rather nervously) Um, what kind of fish is Iruka?
me: That would be dolphins (they are not fish, though, and we certainly wouldn't serve it here).
kid a: (Suddenly animated, clapping his hands loudly) YES! FIFTY BUCKS!
Hey, do I get a share of that, maybe?
Posted by Akira at 10:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 20, 2006
"Glory Be to He Who Keeps the Evil One in Check"
Some of the stuff I got for my birthday: a chocolate cake, a small tote bag, flowers, a bracelet, and this 2 Pac e-card with the "Glory Be" title. A mechanical rendition of Fur Elise plays innocuously in the background as the "happy birthday" message scrolls.
Posted by Dipika at 5:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 18, 2006
Would This Happen in Ireland?
So I'm on my way home from a Patrick's Day party and there's this guy sitting in a tree.
He goes, "What's up?"
Posted by Dipika at 12:41 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 13, 2006
"Affix 13 Cents Additional Postage, Remove This Label, and Remail"
A letter I sent last week comes back with this big sticky note telling me to add 13 cents. So I go to the post office to see what kind of divvy-up options they've got going on.
This thirtysomething man wearing jeans and one of those netty athletic shirts with a stripe down the arm is in front of me in line. He wants to know howcome he's not getting his mail.
"You moved twice, see," says the postal worker (W). "Your new address is your old address."
"...?"
W: Your new address is your old address. Cause you moved back to your old address. [sighs]
"..."
W: Wait, what's your zip code?
The man tells him.
W: [sharp-toned] Well, if you live in Everett, you need to go to the Everett post office and sort it out there.
The man tucks his new, blank forwarding address forms under his arm, and pushes off the counter. He looks hurt.
W: Next person.
D: I'd like to get some one- and two-cent stamps today. What kind of preset packages do they come in?
W: Well, you can get as many as you want.
D: What kind of preset packages do they come in?
W: A sheet of fifty for one-cent stamps.
D: Okay, I'll take a sheet of fifty. And what about the two-cent stamps?
W: Sheets of twenty.
D: I'll take one of those sheets, too.
W: Okay. [opens drawers, lifts out waxy envelopes with colorful sheets inside]
[While he's doing this, I say, "And one ten-cent stamp" just to make it an even $1.00.]
W: [softening] One ten-cent'r.
D: Yes.
W: Would you like to buy some 39-cent stamps today?
D: No.
W: Telephone card?
D: No.
W: Your total comes to... a dollar even!
Posted by Dipika at 9:12 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 8, 2006
Upcoming Film Festival: Southeast Asian Women
They're playing Nina Simone here at one of my usual Capitol Hill cafes and the song Single Woman, if you could hear it, would be the perfect background music for this post.
On March 24, my short movie about traveling India screens as part of a local film festival called Tasveer, which means "picture" in Urdu. The focus is on Southeast Asian women.
One person in this demographic likes my piece for sure. My mom. A relief, since I recorded a phone conversation with her that's part of the soundtrack. At the time I was 25, younger days when it seemed "uncool" to ask permission.
Back then, too, I would never have bothered to make a film just because I'm female and of Southeast Asian descent.
Engineering grads did not sit around in circles and discuss the empowerment of women. We sat in squares, we talked numbers. Popular subjects touched on hydraulics, for example, or the contributions of Gauss and Carnot to thermodynamics.
But it's been a while since college, and like everyone else in the 25-35 bracket I've learned to find other crowds within the crowd.
At the basement of a bookstore in San Francisco* that R says is "where the hippies used to hang out," I found this book about other women around the world who've been making art. Some is sad, like Nina's, but all of it feels real.
Happy International Womens Day.
About Tasveer
Dates: March 24-26
Place: Central Cinema, 1411 21st Avenue, Seattle, WA, 98122
*Speaking of San Francisco bookstores, our friends at Chin Music Press will read from the book Kuhaku at this place on Market Street on March 16.
Posted by Dipika at 11:04 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 6, 2006
Northwest Rock Nerds do it again
Full beards and flannel shirts (Brokeback Mountain style) are back in. And it might be partly because of these guys. Band of Horses played to a full-house audience at Neumo's over the weekend. The main guys Ben Bridwell and Mat Brooke openly showed their excitement about the turnout, and the crowd responded to it warmly.
Horses play a fine mixture of alt-country and shoe-gazing indy rock ("rootless roots rock", our local rag described), but on stage they had a lot more oomph than you would expect from the genre. Bridwell sang his heart out with youthful abandon (very impressive voice, by the way), while the guitarist Brook was as steady and masterful at his instruments as Bridwell was nervous and shaky. More than detracting from the songs, this on-stage ying and yang drew the audience in and held it there. They are definitely one of the most impressive bands I've seen on stage for the first time in recent years.
Music aside, these guys, like the grunge rockers of ten years ago, are setting a fashion trend without meaning to. Sporting jeans, flannels and facial hair, they look like any old Northwest slackers. But on stage, it's a differnt story. Mid-set, a young woman yells "you are so sexy!" and boom, all of a sudden beer-'n-sweat-drenched beards look appealing to everyone in the room. Look out, New York. Move over, big sunglasses. It's Sasquatch time.
March 10th, 2006 Neurolux Bosie, ID
March 11th, 2006 Kilby Court Salt Lake City, UT
March 12th, 2006 Larimer Lounge Denver, CO
March 14th, 2006 Conservatory Oklahoma City, OK
March 15th, 2006 Hailey's Denton, TX
March 17th, 2006 Red Eye Fly Austin, TX
March 21st, 2006 Rhythm Room Phoenix, AZ
March 22nd, 2006 KIng King Los Angeles, CA
March 23rd, 2006 Mainzer Theater Merced, CA
March 24th, 2006 The Independent San Francisco , CA
Posted by Akira at 11:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack