dandan. | design kompany 3

Stuffed Totoro: 'It looks like an #anime.'

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 07:05:00 -0800

Kush got this for Christmas from his grandparents in Japan.

He's actually really attached to it.

K: She doesn't close her mouth.
D: No, she can't close her mouth.

The other day, he took it to the Y. The nice lady who watches over Kush told us later that he needed his---

L: What is it, his "tototo?"
D: Totoro.
L: Yup.
D: ...
L: Is it an anime?
D: Yup.
L: It looks like an anime.

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Movie with horsies!

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 07:00:00 -0800

Our 2-yr-old loves all modes of transportations. Trains. Horses. Bicycles? Yes. And the balloons _and_ elephants! So, when I saw Around the World in 80 Days in a "Family Friendly Movies" shelf at our local public library, it was really a no-brainer.

And oh, what a treat it was. If you know the people that make up DK's core team at all, you know that traveling is a big part of us. And, if you knew us a little more, you'd know that we prefer, how shall I put it, slower modes of transportation, like trains and elephants, over cars and airplanes. This movie takes you around the world in all sorts of anachronistic modes of transportation, from hot airballoons, elephants to locomotives and steamboats. It's so damn romantic!

Of course, it is a mega Hollywood movie made in the 50s, so everything is stereotyped (including a good few slags at English culture) and borderline annoying sometimes. But it is very beautifully shot with lots of exotic locations; all the sceneries and colors tug on your romantic notion of world travels and yeaning for the exotic, very effectively, even half a century later.

Also, the movie is looong (3 hours, in all, with an intemission). But I found the slow pace rather soothing and refreshing, in this day of YouTube'd cutups and short skits everywhere. It felt luxurious.

Speaking of, it has lots of cameos by stars of the time, including the end credits by Saul Bass, a famous graphic designer. Which, to me, really, is worth the money you'd pay for the DVD, tickets for a showing at a local art theater, anything. It's amazing.

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All the things that you think about when you have time and it's quiet

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 19:46:00 -0700

Jameson

The towels should be cleaned

Fall clothes should be reorganized

Life is very, very short

And fragile

The days are getting shorter

The baby sleeps--ahhh

Pumpkin patch--something to investigate

Did I miss anything at the State Fair

I used to want to subscribe to the NY Times and Architectural Record, interesting

Unhappyhipsters.com

New York was more interesting in 1999 than 2010

There are spaces, hidden, to go be quiet in

And that is where I'm headed...

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Ryaku

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:17:00 -0700

Stuff gets shortened in Japanese, they call it "ryaku." Like "department chikatetsu (basement)" becomes depaachika. Or "Mister Donuts" is condensed to "misdo." So it's no wonder K said what he did.

D: Can you say "Japan?"

K: ...

D: ...

K: Pan!

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He's saying "You have ears"

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:10:00 -0700

When Akira was in Seattle for a week I got to really know K better. AND I got to appreciate all the hard work single parents really do. Kudos to single parents. Y'all are really AMAZING.

One day I took Kush down to this little panini shop I like called Toast. They have all kinds of things but the best thing is just the low-key atmosphere. It has that welcoming atmosphere like anybody at all can stroll in. So we did, literally.

Kush had to bring along his polar bear, by the way. That thing is HUGE, too. It's not like a little tiny cute thing that you tuck under an arm at night. Polar needs his own pillow. So there we are, me, Kush and Polar, having our lunch when the conversation grinds to a small lull.

D: So, hey.

K: ...

D: Where're your ears?

K points to his ears. He loves this game. Then he points to Polar's ears. Then he points to the nice lady who runs the place.

K: Eees!

D: ...

K: Eees!

And I go, "Yup, she has ears." Then he points to these two guys sitting at a table across the way from us. Two lads out having lunch, shooting the breeze, talking about ladies (I thought only women got together to talk about the opposite sex!), and confiding in one another. Kush points at their table.

K: Eees! Eees!!

The two guys stop, look over, and wave. "Cute." I, of course, had to translate.

D: He's saying, "You have ears."

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Overhyper

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 06:46:08 -0700

Last night at 9pm, we're all set to tuck the boss-man in. Except, he's bouncing all over the place. Jumping up on you like a pup. Clawing at your eyelids. And generally thinking all of this is incredibly hilarious. I know that sometimes it takes a little while to get a toddler to sleep. I know! But for some reason, yesterday was a different situation. There was this sense of like, OMG, everything is soooooooo insanaaaaaaaneee!!!! WTF WTH! All these emotions. And he's only 1.

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Polar gets a shower

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:01:54 -0700

Kush has a polar bear. Actually, it was my polar bear before it was Kush's. Remember when Coca Cola ran that huge polar bear/winter ad campaign? Now you remember, right? Everyone said how cute the bear was? That was around the time Akira and I were super happy and one day he comes over and gives me this awesome polar bear. I've always loved having it around. Of course, I don't keep the red "Coca Cola" scarf on him all the time. For one, it's summer (why a polar bear is even in North Carolina now, I'm not sure). And for two, I don't really want Polar to be a big ad. Kush took him with us in the sweltering humidity yesterday while we walked all over town. Polar swang, got in the sandbox, and climbed on the slide along with Kush. So then, Akira washed him. Now Polar is fluffy as the first time I saw him.

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Sounds like we're not feeding him at home!

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:06:00 -0700

D: Dude, you should totally take him to the Y during your time watching him tomorrow.

A: ...

D: They have games, and there's other kids, and they have snacks!

A: That's a good idea.

D: !!

A: Snacks.

D: Yup!

A: It sounds like we're not feeding him at home!

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Quesadilla

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:12:00 -0700

Akira and I like to joke about the time Kush was 5 months old and we took him to El Gallito down the street from our place in Capitol Hill. That was last year, before we moved back to Durham, NC. It was pretty funny because Kush was just so little, and couldn't quite sit up on his own yet, but there we were, figuring since he was "eating solids" (that's parentspeak for starting to eat regular food and not just mommy's milk), that we could order for him. So we got him a quesadilla. Of course, he took like two bites. Maybe two and a half. But we thought, wow, we are ordering off the kids menu. We are Doing This.

D: More of that?

A: Of what?

D: The quesadilla.

A: That he ordered?

D: He ordered it, hehe.

A: I mean, that we ordered for him.

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Abandoned sippy cup

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 16:23:00 -0700

K: Sir-sy.

D: Hm?

K: Sir-sy.

A: Thirsty?

K: Sir-sy.

D: Where's your bapa*?

A: I. Don't. See. It.

D: ...

A: ...

K: Sir-sy.

D: We had it at that apartment we went to see.

A: Yeah.

D: But we picked it up!

A: Yeah...

D: You brought it to the playground, to get water.

A: And I set it somewhere.

D: ...

A: ...

K: ...

D: You wanna go get it? **

A: Found it!!!

K: Sirsy!!!

*"Bapa" is Kush for "sippy cup."

** it wasn't really a long drive. Really. But still...

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Say Hello to DK

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 19:39:00 -0700

JUST IN CASE you didn't know Dandan is run by Design Kompany, this video might be of interest.

Say Hello to Design Kompany from Design Kompany on Vimeo.

DK does branding, but it's our process that makes us different. To explain it, we commissioned this video.

Our clients tell the story of our value in their own words. The result is "Say Hello to Design Kompany," or as we've playfully referred to it internally, "DK the Movie."

It's a succinct encapsulation of our process and personality, and we want to give a hearty thank-you to its creators: Seattle videographer Patrick Wright and DK's 2009 summer intern Victor Ng.

Thanks for watching! ---DK

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What's a season?

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 17:34:14 -0700

Nine years in Ireland & Seattle, and here we are, trying to figure out how to dress. A: Did you really take that jacket with you? D: Yeah, and it was boiling. A: All that conditioning to dress in layers. D: Mm-hm. A: It's different here. These are seasons. D: What's a "season"?

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Lotion in the printer

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 08:57:28 -0700

A: Oh. My. God. D: What, what? A: The printer. D: ... A: There's a bottle of lotion in it. Aromatherapy stress relief. [Small green bottle of lotion retrieved from paper tray.] D: Omigod. A: I think it's just contained in this part. [50-cent piece sized dollop of lotion on top sheet of paper retrieved from paper tray.] D: ... A: ... [Printer hums, churns, and begins processing printout.] D: We need to move that, huh. A: That would be good.

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Tom foolery

Mon, 24 May 2010 11:10:07 -0700

For a long time, I thought this blog was going to end. I was sad about it, too. I hate it when blogs just die off like that. OK, we had 2.56 readers, but that's okay. I like posting here. It makes me remember the beginning of it all. Blogging, I mean. Back in 2006, that is, when we started this blog. And it morphed, sort of, into http://www.design-kompany.com. You could say that became its own little personality, or you could say we got distracted trying to figure out our lives as a couple in business together selling graphic design services. So much has changed. In 2010, we are now a couple helping people find their brand voice, and we're also parents. No we don't have a baby blog. Nor did we send out the ceremonious e-mail announcement when he came. But we did splurge on some nice letterpressed ones and sent them via regular mail. The old fashioned way. For correspondences that mean something, carry a little more heft than just a quick dashed off, maybe some typos but who cares kind of e-mail. And yeah---in handwriting. If you're a letter writer, you know what I'm talking about. At its best, e-mail can only carry so much weight. You don't see or feel the movements in a page of handwriting. It's so dry and digital. I should stop typing this now. No more e-mail personal stuff. There's a better medium for telling our heart-to-heart stories.

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Sledgehammer. As in the cop, not the song.

Fri, 21 May 2010 21:09:41 -0700

Thank God the Germans like Sledgehammer. It's a TV show I adored in my youth. I found this translated episode on YouTube. Wow! It's just like I remembered. No laugh track: a huge plus. The kind of humor that I think you might like if you follow this blog. In this episode, Hammer figures out how to nab a mob guy. Note the un-Google screen for the online research part. It's just so OLD! But the Max Headroom scene and stuff about television being brainwashing is right on the money, even then.

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Here's for the underdog

Mon, 17 May 2010 20:29:45 -0700

A: You think that's good? Did you see the one about the British singer, S---what was that... D: No. * D: Wow! I want to make a post about these three videos we just watched. A: Hm. I don't know. D: Hm? A: I mean, it's like they're famous on the web because it's so unexpected and surprising. D: That's good, though, right? A: Well... it's like a freak show, though! D: ... A: That 3-year old with the drums. He doesn't even know it, too. I wouldn't do that to K. D: Hm. Maybe I'll post to Dandan, then. Do we still have Dandan?

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Hello Dandan?

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:37:36 -0800

Um. Is this blog still working?

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In God (and Machines) We Trust

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:19:28 -0700

I go to the cornerstore to buy a piece of posterboard. The sign says it's going to be 99c. A buck. I can afford that, even in this economy. So I haul the board all the way up to the front. This adolescent, hollow-eyed kid with yellow hair stares through me. "Is that all?" D: Yeah. K: That'll be..... $1.94. D: ... K: ... D: Um, the sign says this is 99c. K: [looking at the register, squinting] Um, it's 89c. D: 89c. K: 89c, mm-hmm. D: So, like, howcome it's $1.94? K: Tax is... 9%. D: Yeah. So, that's more than double the price. K: ... D: [considering dropping it, not being so cheap. then stubbornly refuses!] K: That's just the way it works out. D: ! K: ... D: Then, forget it!

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White Ninja

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:05:46 -0800

One of the things that happens when you work at a newspaper, which I used to do, is that people think you're all literary and stuff. Someone asked me what books I liked one time. It was innocent and casual. I think I surprised him. I said, "White Ninja."

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Sun wind moon

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:00:44 -0800

Weather here is weird. Sometimes it's totally rainy, like this morning, and it reminds me of West Cork, Ireland. I even get little flashbacks of the tea at Field's in Skibbereen. Then suddenly it turns sort of vaguely overcast and not as rainy. And you go out and voila! A brilliant burst of sun smiles down on you and you're reminded that the world is actually a beautiful place. I love sun. The whole whipping wind that we experienced in Ireland, that was pretty hard core. I remember going kayaking in slashing rain and crazy wind. People were really into it, though. Full moon recently. That explained a lot of things.

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