kiteless

Shoes, esp. trainers -- obviously i'm not talking about jimmy choos and sigerson morrisons here. I have very slim feet, which is also reason why i've never been able to wear traditional shoemakers like dickens & jones, edmunds etc as their start their width sizes from G. All shoes I use for workout and running are women's -- and noone is able to tell the difference anyway.

jeans are another issue - but thank god the baggy trend caught on. if you, like many orientals, have no shoulders or waist to talk of then you'll just have to swallow the little humiliation of occasionally having to browsing through the ladieswear (or sometimes the kiddies section) at an European department store.

Edited by kiteless on Jan 1, 2005 at 10:56 AM

i'm just trudging around my modest position at the bottom of the agency food-chain to make the ends meet...

but now i'm curing a jetlag at a godforsaken W in NYC

well, i suppose you could just tell them you're an underpaid account executive temping your way towards your dreams of being paid for reading all the fifty-eleven editions of vogue all day and posting profound shopping tips on internet forums....

well it's pretty sad how all the most "brilliant" minds of the network agencies could come up with during a whole decade was that you could use the same pay-off in print ads and tv-spots, and call it "integrated"...

other overused marcom terms (besides 'marcom' itself) that makes my ear go sore:

"# degrees" - to illustrate holistic view (ie 360° marketing)

"interaction" - used in a non-digital context, ie "customer interaction"

"positioning" - al ries deserves a painful death

"integrated" - so you're doing final arts for procter&gamble customer magazines?

"design systems/platforms" - home made theories by people who didn't finish high school

"brand architecture" - see above (but grad school)

"storytelling" - if i hear another native tribes analogy, i'll die

"cross cultural" - "our creative director in london force us to run his ads in kuala lumpur"

"creative, fresh-thinking" - "see you at Cannes Lions. My award-winning client pay the drinks"

"guerilla" - not a penny but I still want to sleep with the traffic girls from DDB in Cannes

"strategic design" - like what, is there anyone claiming to do non-strategic design?

"strategic" may be the best one of the lot. i once ran into a "strategic trade marketing agency". strategic meant they read the fucking brief before they did their sad little shelf stands and coupons

Edited by kiteless on Dec 22, 2004 at 08:06 AM

Quote: i work on what is known as "intergrated communication"

oh this great cliché of advertising 90s...

Yet another reason to wish you were Charles Saatchi

101 Hotel is new, well-located in the middle of the bar and shopping area and draws a lively crowd. Iceland doesn't offer the best variety of hotels, I might add.

... and look, that's exactly what you just did! good work, my siamese twin

This map would be better described as Covent Garden (or Theatre land for the aged in tourist busses), perhaps one of the best places for fashion/high street shopping anyway. and still there's a lot missing, i could work the maps in greater detail if necessary...

Soho is small but pretty crammed so I'd doubt you could fit everything onto it in the same scale. if you are of differing opinion, you could extend Soho to cover Bond St, Savile Row, Dover St, South Molton St.

a quadrant consisting of regent st/oxford st/charing x rd/shaftsbury ave would be more proper...

on wong kar-wai: i just re-saw chungking express (in that awful q. tarantino edition as a part of the boxed set) after remembering how wonderful it was.

if you haven't got the individual dvd's, i can really recommend the Jean-Luc Godard DVD collection.

The Air DVD: Eating, sleeping, waiting, playing -- a french new wave classic. Posterity will study this to understand rock and roll and la Republique.

and last, nevertheless not least, Nigella Bites DVD with Nigella Lawson. soft porn at its very best.

i found singapore to be one of the most over-commercialised and soul-less places on earth. everything literally facilitated and focused on shopping and consumption. with little or no culture to speak of, and any traces of uniqueness was suppressed for international trends. orchard rd was an embodiment of hell.

yeah, their corn is outrageously good. if you just could get through the hordes of japanese tourists...

nolita locals (before the gentrification drove them out to astoria) used to call it rats café. during the refurbishment of the café between the past owners and the current ones, they found some mean dog-sized rodents living around the kitchen who'd attack the workers - so they had to get a flame thrower and literally smoke them out. appearantly, the name stuck as the japanese + scandinavian tourists took over where the rats left.

actually i found the shopping to be uninteresting at best; either it's locally designed drab streetwear that backpacking aussies would wear, or, the usual brand shopping which is identical in every city of the world - with nothing inbetween.

of course, this could be due to local demand, climate (it's not like you'd walk around in cashmere) and the massive influx of japanese and chinese tourists who wants the exactly same things they find at home without paying the value added tax....

just got back from my trip around Malaysia/Singapore and i just wanted to thank Lil, MarkLean and all you others. I ended up staying at the Andaman for five days despite the Japanese newly weds with iPods that crowded the place. Fantastic service and environment. I couldn't rate it highly enough...

The shopping in KL and SI was bland and repetitive actually -- the restaurants in KL were also a hit and miss...

Quote: also, aren't there other prerequisites for dual citizenship

did you really read my post, or are you having difficulties understanding my english? dual citizenship is illegal unless you're a kid. and read the state department web site for further details for non-adults.

actually, that's exactly what they'll do. ask politely. as it is illegal but not an offense (with an article in the penal code), so there's no sanction thereof.

though i can tell you horrid stories of people in the japanese ex-pat community tipping off as informers anonymously, or the ministry of foreign affairs using "soft pressure" to stop people from giving up their japanese citizenships.

i thought i'd avoid this topic as I have first-hand experience of quasi-dual citizenship and hardship thereof -- anyhow, i believe you are both half-right/wrong.

dual citizenship for adults is illegal in most countries (this as a result of international accords mainly to avoid stateless individuals) but japanese law are one of the most narrowly defined and less generous.

what you're referring to is the right AND obligation to chose between two different citizenship following the new immigration law of 1985 - if you're of japanese decent by paternal or maternal line (the latter as long as your father is not korean). the state deparment of US has a comprehensive introduction to the subject at :

http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/acs/tacs-7118b.html

japan (although not the US or most EU countries) also require proof that you are giving up the citizenship of your former country in conjunction with you swearing in to the japanese one. so although dual citizenship is illegal, in reality it's possible to keep two passports if you keep quiet about it, if you acquired the japanese citizenship first. but the japanese embassies around the world are quite vigilant - too many questions in this issue directed to the japanese embassy have resulted in "request for a briefing" from the embassy.

however, if you are of japanese descent, you could (probably) apply for a japanese citizenship given that you follow the procedures - ie give up your other passport. this is a whole different matter from what you are talking about. for instance, i gave up my japanese citizenship for an EU-member state knowing i could (probably) change back to japanese if it was required. actually it's quite a laugh every time i pass through the immigrations at narita answering all the quesetions in fluent japanese wearing a midnight blue passport....

here comes yuppie rock

phoenix>alphabetical

lloyd cole and the commotions>rattlesnakes (re-issue)

rachel>system/layers

home (benjamin biolay & chiara mastroiani)

la buena vida>álbum

... or maybe some of us are just too old now to wear non-tailored suits or streetwear.

i don't think they offer discounts to third-parties and travel agents but there used to be an complimentary upgrade available if you have access to american express lifestyle service

i'm judging by their new a/w collection, and i can't say the image above is in particular representative, more than the colour palette. it's not williamsburg-ish - and i would have never worn dior a year ago (and i still have some reluctance to it). there's still an element of flair (i have no better word for it) that i'm happier without. and also being an oriental living in europe, i live with this constant fear of looking like a japanese tourist flocking beak street/prince st/rue du bac...

i have a mh-way portfolio which fit approx 10 a3 mountboards. i never use it as i've always showed my credentials using powerpoints or showreels but it's by far the best looking portfolio i've ever owned...

Anyone been to Galleri Asplund ("Gallery A") there yet? Tell me what you think.

And Chad -- I may stay at your place for a few days (without asking first of course)

thanks Ketiak...

i'll have to be frank and say i'm surprised by the rates on hotels they have in malaysia. the most expensive so far is the andaman at 900 MYR. we could not find a hotel in KL at more than 400 MYR.

However, in some places that I thought of as heavily exploited, perhentian besa in particular, I couldn't find a single resort of international standards where 24 hr electricity isn't their unique selling point.

The recession or the property bubble seem to be taking its toll.