One Big Elevated Poster: Stage Design Tips

Its been a while I wrote something graphic design related. Currently majority of my work consists of designing structural stuff like an event stage. One of the most important factor of an event is where the host will do the emcee work, particularly a stage. Even if it is just a little raised area in the middle of the venue it is still considered as a stage. Here are some tips, rules and ideas before designing the stage, both simple and complex ones.

1. Initially, you should already have the idea of the area where the stage stands. A stage always consist of the backdrop (main background) and the platform (where the hosts and the event itself placed).


2. Get the width size of the area and importantly the size of the "floor to ceiling height". The height will be your basis of the backdrop area of the stage. In all, the backdrop size consists of width and height.


3. The  height of the backdrop should not reach the ceiling. Try using at least 2 feet down from the floor to ceiling height. For example if you have 10 feet floor to ceiling height of the area, you may consider a 7-8 feet (height) backdrop size.


4. The platform's width is the same with the width size of the backdrop unless the client wants a longer platform.


5. If necessary, work with stage and floorplan layout back to back at the same time for consistency of the size.


6. Once you got the basic sizes (Platform: Width, Depth, Height and backdrop: Width, Height) you may start designing the design itself.


7. Lastly, always check on the limits (like will the backdrop be using tarpaulin or bunch of die cutting all over the stage) before engaging on the real design.

Thats it, some tips before submerging yourself to the stage design. Design it with a mindset of thinking you are just creating a poster. Now go create that one big elevated poster.

Internet is serious business... can give you serious issues

We are online at least once a day, like what I always say, being online, through your mobile or in a computer, is very essential tool for our daily lives, it provide us with entertainment, time-wasting activity generator and of course profit. In the end, there should still be a limit of being online and not affecting your real life with all the crap the internet has to offer,  its time to cut off the access before it developed into a full-blown internet addiction, complete with having a session with an Internet addict anonymous group, which unfortunately exists.

Pointless Updates From Out of Nowhere
With the power of mobile internet, you can absolutely use the net anywhere. In the end , you don't need to put unnecessary and very pointless Facebook status and tweets that only you and your personal stalker will care. Your personal stalker will deed every time you post a single update in directionless intervals, even if it is pointless (like you just ate your favorite ice cream), you saw a celebrity (slightly interesting) or you saw an Elephant crashing from the skies (that is very interesting.)

Your DVD/Beta/VHS/VCD/Laser Disc movie collection is... collecting dust
When was the last time you actually bought an original movie that is in a physical case? in my opinion, movies in physical format is still superior than watching your hard drive eating movies from your computer or other similar devices. It sucks whenever you watched a streaming movie buffers due to your internet speed. At least you are not worrying about disk space of your computer. It is also awkward to watch a movie, in a small screen, shaking like crazy while you are inside of a vehicle, with your headphones on your ears.

Getting REALLY angry in message boards, chatrooms, etc
Message boards is a way to interact with other people, some good but mostly dicks. Don't go bonkers whenever you read something that is not right, like someone responding negatively from your entry. Maybe have a respond and have a good debate of some sort but don't bring it up in real life. If you can't let go your rage because someone fought you online with harsh words and emoticons with angry faces, which should not bother you in the first place, just find any flash games that involves explosions and shooting to release your anger.

You can't last a short time without checking your email
It's okay to check your email regularly, especially if it is work related, but there are times you don't need to check your email, especially if you are in appropriate place and time, like in a funeral or having a well deserved vacation. You don't need to keep on clicking the "new mail" every chance you can, even if it is clearly there is no fresh email arriving. It is not your problem if someone from a different time zone, country and with "all work no rest" mentality send you an email with a time stamp of 2:32 AM local time, and you go in a paranoid trance because you did not get a chance to read his email, at 2:32 AM, wherein you should be resting and catching some zzzs. That is why there is a determined work time at the office, that's when you can check the email from a guy that has no life.

Constantly checking updates
Opposite of you constantly updating your status. This time, you are the one, probably the personal stalker of someone, stares at the screen, awaiting for any kind of update since you know the person is online. You just can't wait to know what he ate for his lunch, was it a Tuna sandwich his dear mother made or a corned beef sandwich he taken from a gasoline station from the other side of the city? This disorder also applies to surfers who refreshes a web page with a patterned interval just to see a latest update, even if the writer of the site is somewhere taking a coffee break.

You are more productive in online games than in real life
You earn millions, has a set of houses and have a successful restaurant, all in online game formats of course. In real life, you barely reached a substantial income every month, you still pay to your run down house, and still eating in same old restaurant. If you can be productive in online games, even if the premise were ridiculous and easy to win, just use that drive in real life to be successful in real life. Who knows, using your own developed strategies raising cattle online is the way to lead you in a better tomorrow.

Just use the Internet in moderation, even if it is redundantly everyday. Just balanced everything and remember that the most important thing ever is that you have a life outside of all those cables and tubes called the Internet

The Business District Streets List of Randomness

I usually parked the car at the other side of the business district because for one, its only 60 pesos for the whole day and I can trust the car to those parking boys. My office is located at the other side of the business district means I have to walk a good 10-15 minutes to my office. Along the way there are a lot of  things I observed while trekking 2 areas before reaching the door of my office. Here are the business district streets list of randomness.

Foreigners Fast Walkers
I always noticed they walk unusually faster, like they need to run and find a toilet immediately. It's like brisk walking but a little faster. I had foreigner bosses before and they walk in a faster phase as well, even if they are only going to walk to Starbucks which is only a building away. Even the ones who are just going to a nearby convenience store they walk faster as if they are avoiding someone attempting to stick a finger up their rears.

Fresh Grads Congrats
I can sense that they are  fresh graduates who just got their first job. We all know we are happy when we first hear the words "You are hired" by the HR personnel and we can see the road to our final victory, which is your dream life, starts sparkling all over you. You can see them usually in packs, looking in their best clothes and they talk really loud, like a microphone stuck in their throats, they even surpassed the noise of buses nearby. They greatly reminds me of set of freshmens back in college that will stand in the middle of hallway after class, chatting with words "dude" and "awesome" placed in between.

Coffee Shop Door Stop
I am attempting to write a witty description and  come up a fitting rhyme for the word coffee shop. I think a door stop perfectly fits to this observation. They are people just sitting outside of a coffee shop, probably waiting for something, killing time or plain "look at me, I am in a classy coffee shop that means I am classy" without ordering anything, a step in social-climbing. Like a door stopper,  they are just there, staring in the menu or to the people who passes by.

Rider sound blaster
Blasting their music to the point you can't hear anything in the road except with that sound, except they are scooters, not suped-up cars. I strangely find them a lot in the business district especially around night, but they are not blasting music via a car but instead through a Vespa or locally known as scooter. The scooter riders will pass you by and have their music emanating throughout the streets, ranging from annoying novelty songs to the bass oriented music of hip hop.

Odd Ones Shenanigans
Everyday you will come across different set of people, minding their business and walking hurriedly hoping to reached the allowable morning grace period. Among them, you will have a high chance of seeing instances and people of pure randomness. For many years walking around the business district I saw a lot of them like:

• A sad looking clown


• Naked crazy woman blabbering about something


• Bunch of fishball vendors accelerating their carts like crazy to avoid "anti-food pushcart guys"


• Couple of foreigners brawling over a local exotic looking female


• Deranged woman peeing beside a convenience store


• Fast food mascot standing beside of a street, looking bored, probably waiting for his ride

Traveling on foot, of course in not crime infested place, can be entertaining since a lot of random things will just pop up just like that. It's like one of those blog idea generators, something new will surface every single day. But damn it, the parking fee should be cheaper around in my office area so I can park the car over there and not cross a couple of big business districts. They should just ditch the "45 pesos for first 2 hours, and 10 pesos per additional hour" craptacular rule. Just give us a decent parking price and adequate space and everything will be alright, hopefully.

Green Zone: A Humble Movie Review

Green Zone is one of those movies where a majority of casual movie goers will enjoy but heavily scrutinize by critics and people who are obsessed of conducting anti-war demonstrations. Again, like always, I am a sucker with action movies and I love this movie.

Green Zone is the story of a group of soldiers led by Matt Damon as Miller, conducting raids to the supposed locations of WMD or Weapons of Mass Destruction, which is the basis of why US and its allies invade Iraq in the first place. Upon discovery of finding nothing on this locations provided by their intelligence he began questioning the credibility of the source, which leads him to his own personal investigations finding the terrible truth of the invasion. The action sequences on were top notched and you will probably think Damon is portraying a younger version of Jason Bourne of the Bourne Trilogy, which he also played. Many online movie goers refer Green Zone as Bourne 4, a prequel of some sort. The only difference between Bourne and Miller's character is that one is a special operations guy and the other guy is the charismatic chief warrant officer.

The shootout sequence greatly reminds me of Black Hawk Down, complemented with the expected shaky cam. Paul Greengrass, the director should lessen the shaky cam shots because they were excessive. Shaky cams were heavily used during the first quarter and the last part of the movie Thank god they lessen those shots on the majority of the film.

I praised the performance of Khalid Abdalla (Freddy, Miller's translator)  and Yigal Naor (General Al Rawi, one of the antagonists). Even though they are not Iraqi nationals, I think they were both from Israel, but they pulled off a very convincing Iraqis and you can see in their mindset that they want the Americans give them their most sought complete freedom of their country.

The film highlights all the internal blunders of the government that leads them to an unnecessary invasion and potential civil war. For the past three movies that I watched (Edge of Darkness, From Paris with Love, and now with Green Zone) there is always one bad ass CIA guy and this time he was portrayed by Brendan Gleeson. He is like one of the last guys trusted by Miller and one of the potential instruments of declaring the whole truth of the invasion to the world. Gleeson's character clashes with the Pentagon asshole named Poundstone, portrayed by Greg Kinnear throughout the movie. As the CIA wants to uncover the truth through the assistance of Miller, Poundstone intervenes and tries to convince the world that the US occupation of Iraq is necessary.

Of course, this leads everybody chasing everyone else, and I love how the main climax ended and how we treated with the epilogue. The movie is good in delivering the conflicts of political bullshit of the war, but don't expect it as a full on war movie like the Black Hawk Down. Expect very aggressive but few shaky cams and cover your ears due to amount of really loud gun battles.

I highly recommend this movie, have it in your DVD collection later, either pirated or the real original version. I give this movie 4 out of 5 stars of awesomeness.

Annoying Facebooking

Facebook is a great tool for your social life and a good way to reconnect with your old friends, the close ones of course, all the way back in your elementary days. Still, the most prized feature of Facebook, the status update, can be abused with borderline annoying and most of the time unnecessary entries. Having Facebook as a mobile application can also be considered as a sin, because you can post pointless status anywhere like in a posh mall eating your ice cream or seating outside of Starbucks looking fabulous without ordering anything. Here are some of the annoying status that plaque Facebook servers.

Attention Whore
They usually post something that will make them good, or in a way praise themselves in a narcissistic manner. Examples like "I completed a 1,000 meter dash without any sweat" or "I just got my car a new set of wheels, lolz".

Attention Whore 2: The Emotional Edition
They use the Facebook to release his emotional outburst in a confusing manner. The posts will make you ask what the hell happened to you and he will answer in a subtle way that you want to hit his head repeatedly with a keyboard. They have problems and want to share it to the world through Facebook, but his online friends will have to endure of figuring out the problem in the first place.

Gamer Inviter
We all admittedly play games in Facebook and I am a Restaurant City and Tower Bloxx addict. But please don't bombard the Facebook walls with game invites repeatedly. One time ignore is enough so stop reinviting me again to play this games.

My lovelife is broadcasted to the world
Good for you if you have the greatest partner in the whole world, which you probably also told to your ex-significant others that they were the greatest partner in the whole world. If you want to talk about your love shenanigans either negative or positive, talk to your real life friends in real life than post it with people who has no absolutely idea about your private life.

I comment to my own status
You post a status, then in few seconds you will place a follow-up comment, then in few minutes you will post another comment even without any contribution from other users. It is like you are talking to yourself like you are having a schizophrenia moment. For example, your status is "I will have a great party on Saturday" then you will leave a comment on your own status with "That party will be awesome, YEAH" then for no reason at all you will place another comment on your own status with "LOLZ"

I answer this quiz you also answer this puhleeze
Like the Gamer Inviter, this time they will splatter your Facebook wall with invitations for quizzes, mostly pointless like are you a lefty or a righty quiz. If you ignored it, 90% of time they will invite you again to answer those quizzes. The more you answer and add the quiz results on your Facebook page, the layout will became more and more like the dreaded chopsuey emo layout of Myspace and the only thing missing is all those twinkling stars.

I unload a big load of crap in my toilet! POST IT! I brushed my teeth! POST IT! I am all alone in this cubicle because of overtime work! POST IT! I am a lefty in this quiz! POST IT! I am taking a bath! POST IT!
Sadly, there are a lot of them in Facebook that will post anything, including the ones that are very unnecessary like taking a shower. They constantly post and won't last a short period of time without posting any new updates. They probably have at least 10 status updates per day and most of them are pointless.

Facebook Status should have a point, not annoying and must be used properly for the good of the world.

Movie Theater A-Holes

I still watch movies in theaters even if there is a DVD quality pirated version of the same movie being sold nearby. There is a different feeling if you watch the movie in the theater itself, complete with greasy and heart attacking foods and seating in a comfortable chair.

Being surrounded with complete strangers in a theater has its drawbacks, since there are at least 1 person or a group of wackos and dicks among them that will ruin your movie experience for you. This is the list of Movie Theater A-Holes, and sadly, there are mostly done by "cool" teenagers who should frolic somewhere where they can be run over by a bunch of 10 wheeler trucks.

Loudmouths
They are the ones constantly chatting with their companions in a loud and annoying manner. They talk indiscriminately and nonstop especially during the good parts. It's okay to talk but more discreet and not too freaking loud you megaphone sucker.

Seat kickers
They place their feet on the back of the chair in front of them as if they are lying in their bed at home, sometimes with a little force that you can feel. Fortunately, I encountered such people in a diplomatic manner and I managed to convince them to place their feet in the floor, because that is where are they suppose to be in the first place.

Cellphones... so bright...
Answering and texting through their cellphones can really be distracting especially if the backlight of their unit can lit an electric less country. Use your darn hands to cover the cellphone and be courteous with your fellow movie watcher and go outside and answer your phone.

Status Addicts
Same as above, instead of answering or sending SMS over the air, they will just post their current status on Facebook and tweets on, of course, Tweeter, via their phones. Who the freaking cares if your status, sugar-coated with cheesiness left and right, that you are watching the movie? it is only beneficial for your personal stalkers who deeds whenever you post a status on your page. All your constant pressing of buttons and the bright light of your cellphone kills the experience.

Baby seating in theaters
I like kids, I like babies, they are the greatest things in the world, even they are sometimes obnoxious. But please, do not bring them in theaters, especially in inappropriate movies. Most of the time they will not be quiet and cry throughout the movie. Try to find a guardian or baby sitter for your kids or if you really want to watch the movie but there is no one to take care of your kid, just go buy a pirated version of same movie and watch it at home, with your other hand caressing your little you. Piracy can be the solution of your quality time with your offspring.

Crunchy Munchy
Just like the obnoxious munchers in public vehicles, they are not speaking much but every excruciating and disgusting sound of their food munching is already annoying. Can they have it in moderation and not shove their face in their popcorn bowl like there are running out of food.

Popcorn Throwers
Oh man,  this pricks should shove their popcorn bowls up their oversexed behinds. They think it is funny to throw popcorn pieces to random strangers. They think they have conquered the world by throwing food items and giggling like an innocent schoolgirl who just saw her first porno.I would pay to watch a big, scary, Batista like guy, who just got hit by a random popcorn and immediately pinpointed the culprit and beat them senseless, that would be entertaining to watch than the actual film.

"Cool" kids that would say a random loud comment as if they are the best thing
ever.
They will ruin the movie experience when they say random loud comments that can be heard all the way outside of the auditorium, followed up by forced laughter among their friends with matching high-fives on the side. These misguided and probably got dropped when their babies think they are witty, funny and overall cool. But most of the movie patrons who wants peace and order may go medieval on these sorry souls.

Movie watching in a theater, even if it is already run down or with an elegant and expensive interior design, should be enjoyable at the same time, be courteous with other movie patrons. Just like that singing Frog from that Meet The Robinsons commercial usually shown in Ayala Cinemas, it is not your living room. So next time you watch a movie, think about that singing Frog then behave, be civil and enjoy the show.

Getting Older: I Want to Kick the Real World's Balls.. Hard!

As we get older, a lot of things have changed, a lot of it. I feel I am already in my 40s due to stress from all over the place and I am only in my tender age of 26. They say life in the 20s will be the foundation of your real adult life once you reached your thirties.

Before I throw my cane and yell at you to get off my lawn, here are the major things that I experienced and observed after I hit the "Young Adulthood" stage.

Time goes faster for some reason
Remember back in our elementary days when we wait anxiously for the day's dismissal? we hate it but one day for an adult is not enough to accomplish something. Even if you do something productive and practical there are times one day is not enough. Even if you sleep for a good 8 hours you think you only had 4 hours of sleep. Time is literally running fast for some reason.

It's All About Nostalgia
You will feel this many times, especially if you are listening to some music from your era. Every generation has its own fad, likes and memes. Younger generation thinks our old favorites is not as good as the current ones, but to us, there are the greatest things ever.

Young girls are looking younger.... and sluttier than before
Is it me or the younger generation is more liberated than before? there are even lingerie catered for girls below 10 years old for god sake! There are more cases of teenage pregnancy and doing the sexy time on their partners and with complete strangers. I can't even tell a young girls age nowadays because their looks and actions baffle me.

Douchebags and Internet Tough Guys everywhere... even outside of the Internet
Because of the anonymous nature of the Internet, there are a few people who will act, well, total douchebags, like they are the greatest person ever. Unfortunately, like every generation there are some of them act worse in real life, probably powered by their Internet persona. You can see them wearing outrageous attires, doing those ridiculous poses with their hands, pucking up their lips for the pictures and saying slangs that should stay in the message boards.

Friday and Bed
We are all excited for Friday since it's the beginning of the weekend. There are times that you and your friends will go out at Friday night, but most of the time, probably being burned out and anxious of getting a good night weekend rest, you tend to go home a little earlier. Back in our younger days we are invincible, body full of alcohol and stay up till morning but now, you just want to go home and get some good zzzs.

Wearing semi formal attires and suits are awesome
I admittedly hate wearing long sleeves and suits back then. It feels not right and rather wear a shirt or at least a polo barong. Now you can look good and have a higher level of confidence while wearing suits. There is something of getting old and wearing this kind of clothes that enhances your overall self.

You can improve your life with all the crap you went through
Ever since you were brought out from this world, you will face problems like your first heartbreak after you found your first puppy love. If you survived and not became an emo scumbag while growing up, you can use all your lessons you learned while maintaining a sane and productive life.

Getting older is obviously a part of life, lets just make the best out of it and have a good life, even if  we start crapping our pants indiscriminately due to senile age and throwing canes to kids who wants to frolic around our lawn.

Somewhere in Youtube: The Invisible Wrestler

Gotta love the Japanese people and their imagination. This wrestler is the rightful owner of the catchphrase "You Can't See Me!" usually uttered by John Cena.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM2goFnD5z0&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

What the Eff...Facebook groups

Facebook is now todays Friendster. Back during the heyday of Friendster and MySpace, aside from the usual individual profiles there were profiles created for the homage of items, food and even a phrase. Today, Facebook can make fan pages for everything and no longer treat as an individual human account. Of course, with the power of anonymity of the internet and applying real life shenanigans online, just like my blog, there are some odd, weird and unusual Facebook groups that grows immensely all over the servers of Facebook. This is the What The Eff...Facebook groups and  I personally found some of them within my friends list and randomly across Facebook.

Girls Get Period Pains, Why Don't Boys Get A Kick In The Balls Once A Month
with 217,367 fans
Well, I can't blame girls for their monthly pains, but please, being kicked in the balls is like being punched by Manny Pacquiao and Muhammad Ali on the face, at the same time.

ATTEMPTING TO KILL A PERSON WITH YOUR MIND
with 4,919 fans
We all have desires to kill the person you hated the most, even hitting them with a folded steel chair repeatedly. Imagining doing the killing deed is better than actually doing it. Now go hit the person more with your imaginary baseball bat to his imaginary body.

No, I Don't Care If I Die At 12AM, I Refuse To Pass On Your Chain Letter
with 1,043,318 fans
This I definitely agree, I received my first stupid chain mail of same content way back in 98, when I got my first personal email. I hope the original sender of this atrocity should die a horrible death at 12 AM, through my mind of course.

I Yell At Inanimate Objects
with 73,445 fans
Different strokes for different folks, we all love to yell when we are mad, but you can do this in a different and humane way, like yell in an inanimate objects, like a mannequin with an annoying smile. After yelling your heart out over it, now hit it with a baseball repeatedly.

I Want to have sex on a Grand Piano
with 1,209 fans
Good thing it's not about doing the deed with the Piano but doing it with your partner, on top of the Grand Piano, in it's all cold, black, smooth surface glory.

All Glory to the Hypnotoad
with 7,302 fans
It is one of the most popular internet me.... ALL GLORY TO HYPNOTOAD!

I read the group name, I laugh, I join, I never look at it again
with 501, 815 fans
If you don't know which Facebook group you'll join this is the perfect group for you. Why? this group is just there for you for no reason at all. Sounds good? join them.

Internet is definitely, a weird place.

Post of Rage 2

Welcome to the new edition of Post of Rage, my very own complementary complain topic of some things I want to hit with a baseball bat hard, not literally, but in written form.

Popular K, J, C-Pop acts with absolutely not understandable lyrics
They are popular among teens who loves to dress like their foreign idols, wearing fur and huge jackets in a tropical country where El-Niño is currentlly laying a smackdown.  They sing, dance and embrace their culture even if they have no absolutely idea what they are singing.

Creation of P-Pop genre
Following the footsteps of Korean, Chinese, Japanese and other asian Pop that involves music that makes cat jump in happiness, some local music industry executive has audacity to create what they called as P-Pop or Pinoy Pop. It introduced some refreshing but manufactured talents that sounds like their foreign counterpart, but this time we can understand them because its PINOY. They are covered with tons of make-up, making them as more oriental looking as possible and forced to wear colorful and heavy clothes that would be probably get themselves in trouble on some parts of Manila, Wait, P-Pop? pinoy pop? they call this the Pinoy Pop? so how about all the other Philippine Pop artists that emerged from the 80s up to 2000s? they are not Pinoy pop artists? oh I forgot, the majority of Pinoy Pop artists are labeled as Original Philippine Music... artists, my bad.

Not using proper lighting on live TV shows
You can't see crap on this shows, because the floor person does not know how to set up stage lights properly. One of the most obvious factors to a presentation, like a TV show, is that the audience and the target market, should see clearly on what you present. In a local variety show here, the technical stuff has insane fetish of using sub standard and not so bright lights. If you see them on TV they look like being lit by a flash light.

Useless news
Do we care if a dog knows how to use a surf board? backwards? Do I care if a certain celebrity gained weight? I need real news that has sense and in some way useful with our daily lives. Real news meant to inform, not blast with craps that should be shown in early morning shows.

Horrible hosts in big shows
Never, ever place bad hosts in big shows that sounds monotonous, by the book and does not know how to ad-libbed in certain situations. They may have the good looks and charisma but you should know how to entice the audience and deliver an impact while hosting, especially the with big shows and events. Sadly, this horrible hosts still get paid handsomely even if their performances is worse than watching Plan 9 from Outer Space... yup, a very old but considered the worst film of all time.. of all time.

I let off some steam, but I hope the following were treated with proper head butting because it is for the benefit of all mankind.