Friday, March 28, 2008
Saying No to a Client
I passed on a rather large and lucrative long-term third party contract today. A polling and marketing agency wanted to hire us to work on political pieces for the general election.The problem was they wanted us to create and write copy for Republican candidates. Knowing how close this election will be, I can recognize that the pieces will have to be very persuasive, and will probably need to go on all-out attack. I knew I couldn't put my heart into it, and that they deserved to have a designer who can. So I passed.
It felt really good.
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Thursday, March 06, 2008
Because It's Very Cold in Space
Odds are this is what Scotty did with all those tribbles.For more on the greatest non-Cosby sweater of all time, check out The Museum of Kitschy Stitches by Stitchy McYarn Pants, a glorious collection of the awe-inspiring creations of the Knit Age.
Labels: Fun on the Web, Star Trek, Unbridled Hope for the Future
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Thursday, January 24, 2008
Publix bags
I really dig Publix's canvas bags. Sturdy, deep, and reliable, you can pile in about as many groceries as are traditionally put in three or four plastic bags (or, in the case of the overly zealous baggers, possibly 10 or 20). We've bought enough to cover our grocery shopping needs, and have one set per car.Lately, though, I started to notice a disturbing trend. At some Publixes, the canvas bag has been replaced with a smaller bag that is made of reconstituted plastics. It's touted as being reusable like the canvas, but can't hold as much and isn't as sturdy - Kira was using one to take her books from the house to car, and going less than fifteen feet on the concrete caused the bag to tear.
The recycled plastic bag costs about a third of the retail for the canvas bag, so I imagine the move to them is due to lack of customer interest in the other.
Sadly. the new bags are made in China. Which means, if they are made of recycled plastic, that the plastic probably was made in China, shipped to the United States, shipped back, and then made into the bags.
The canvas bags? They are apparently sewn by blind people in the United States.
It doesn't look like the canvas bags are being phased out right now, so I would assume this is to offer an alternative product to see which the consumer prefers.
Labels: It's Not Easy Being Green, Modern Life, Unbridled Hope for the Future
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Monday, November 05, 2007
And this is Earth
Blogger has introduced a new toy called Blogger Play. It's a continually refreshing slide show that pulls images uploaded to blogger account in real time. Users can control the speed at which the images crawl and by clicking on an image can open the corresponding blog. The sheer variety of images and graphics uploaded around the world creates a candid and broad view of how the average person (with access to a computer, that is) sees the world. It's incredibly addictive.Labels: And We Are Rather Puny, Fun on the Web, Unbridled Hope for the Future, Where in the World
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Friday, August 24, 2007
Million Versus Billion
Think about this:A million seconds is 11 1/2 days.
A billion seconds is 32 years.
The national debt is 9.8 trillion dollars.
Labels: And We Are Rather Puny, Unbridled Hope for the Future
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Saturday, August 11, 2007
And Then Parker Said...
Kristin asked Parker what daddies are supposed to do. His response:
Paint the walls,
mow the lawn,
ask lots of questions,
and talk to the mommy.
He's also starting to lose one of his baby teeth - the adult tooth is knocking and is ready to move up. It's a slow process, much like Zeus toppling and devouring Cronus, if Zeus and Cronus had been played by glacier. Parker refers to his new tooth as his first "female tooth". I guess he already understands that women are the more adult of the sexes ;)
Labels: Parker, Unbridled Hope for the Future
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1 Cents Added:
too funny (my college roommate would shorten that to toof...but that is too punny)
By 
, at 6:57 PM
Friday, July 20, 2007
Living the Simple Life
Kristin and I are working to simplify our lives. Lately it feels more and more like we need a change of pace, and we've outlined a few initiatives that we think are going to make a difference:Living More Organically, and Locally. We're going to be cutting much of the meat from our diet, and moving more to rice, beans, and vegetables. We're also looking for local, free-range sources of meat, as well as dairy and eggs. Not only does it sustain local farming in our community, it's more healthy.
Reducing Clutter. We're trying to get rid of the stuff that's been cluttering our house. A lot of it we don't need or use, and getting rid of it will make cleaning and maintaining order a lot easier.
Saying No to Chinese Goods. We've been inspired by the stories of people doing this, and are curious to see if we can do so too. Again, finding local alternatives helps the local economy, though I'm reasonably sure that for some items there will be no ready second choice.
Emigrating to New Zealand. To dream the impossible dream. We'd like to do this, sometime in the future, and live as Kiwis for a year or two. It would be an awesome adventure, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the kids. Of course, Kristin and I will need to be in much better shape for it, and planning for it helps us to accomplish our other goals above.
Labels: Unbridled Hope for the Future
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Saturday, July 07, 2007
Support the Radio Equality Act
Time is running out for internet radio.On July 15, the new rates for royalties due from Internet Radio stations will go into effect. Terrestrial radio pays 2 to 5 percent of its gross revenue as royalties; satellite radio pays 3 to 7 percent. But thanks to the rate hike, which is based on a per listener charge, Internet radio stations must pay between 50 and 1,000 percent of its gross revenue. This will drive most smaller stations off the air nearly immediately, as well as larger services such as Live365 and Pandora.
According to John Simson, the director of Sound Exchange (the branch of the RIAA created to collect internet royalties), the new unit of measure is not the CD, but the "listen":
"When you have services that are feature-rich like Pandora or Rhapsody, Yahoo or SomaFM, places where people spend a lot of time listening, that time that cuts into listening to CDs — that time's moved to listens instead of purchasing CDs."
What a self-serving argument! If this was indedd the RIAA's viewpoint, then the royalty rates for terretrial and satellite radio - which have a much higher listernship - should also be increasing. The royalty rate simply works to decrease listener choice by eliminating all competition to top 40 stations. The RIAA is blinded bya potential $1.15 billion windfall in royalty rates - which will never come through, because those stations they wanted to charge will simply cease to exist.
It is true that I do not by as many cds as I did ten years ago (I also don't go to the movies as much, buy as many books, or read any comic books, so it's not just an endemic problem for the music industry). However, nearly every choice I have made to purchase a CD or to buy a track from iTunes has been from a "listen" from internet radio. Cutting off a valuable venue for letting people expad their musical tastes and that encourages to delve deeper into label's catalogs that the surface will end up costing them revenue in the long term.
There are bills in Congress that would overturn this rate hike. The Internet Radio Equality Act would nullify the copyright royalty board decision and set royalty rates at 7.5 percent of gross revenue, which is the same at satellite radio. The house bill has 118 co-sponsors of a needed 216, so get on the phones (or the net) and let your opinion be known.
Labels: Anti-Fun, Art, Got a Permit for Breathing, Politics, Unbridled Hope for the Future, We Who Are About to Rock
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Monday, June 18, 2007
Where Did the Fun Go?
Kristin and I just finished the work of ten strong graphic designers. The experience left us leaner, meaner, but significantly reduced the monetary albatrosses (albatrossi?) around our necks.
Now that we’ve laid our burdens down, it gives me time to properly mourn the loss of Steve Rogers, America’s fighting Sentinel of Liberty.Many have made comment about what Cap’s death means. Some see it as a brilliant political allegory. Some see it as a ham-fisted attempt to make a political statement that is at odds with the ‘history’ of the Marvel Universe. While I can see points in both areas, it underscores a belief I’ve had for some time.
Comics are no longer fun.
The superhero world is a peculiar place. At one time, it served solely to entertain. You can see this everyday in the blogs of those that celebrate the wonder and optimism that comics used to have. But as comics grew up, matured, and came to mirror current world realities and societies, it lost the fundamental ability to entertain and to speak to a child about what the world should be. It became a dark place with imperfect heroes and a looser and looser definition of right and wrong. Seriousness and angst replaced lightheartedness silliness and devil-may-care attitudes.
This trend isn’t limited to comic books. You can see this progression of adult themes in what are fundamentally children art forms everywhere. Animated movies cater more and more to teen audiences, and rely on veiled adult humor and scatological humor for laughs. Cartoon shows even more so – when was the last time you saw a show on the Cartoon Network that did not rely on that kind of humor? I think Foster’s is the only hold out on the network of the lighter fare, and even it has its moments. And video games? Mario seems to be the only title I can see that retains the magic of seeing the world through a child's eyes, and I for one am tickled pink at Nintendo's ability to dominate the concole marketplace.
So as all mediums move to more mature audiences and decide that edgier and gritty is better, the beauty and wonder of their worlds is disappearing. Life is not made solely of angst – it needs the lighter moments to feel real. Personally, I could care less to see comics where characters are brutally killed – Impulse, anyone?
Who’s left in comics that represent bright-eyed, boundless optimism? Superman lost it years ago. Spider-Man too. Even the second-stringers who could be relied on to give this viewpoint have disappeared. Impulse – aged, matured, and then brutally killed. Speedball? Now he’s a walking razor with nothing but angst.
Now Cap’s gone.
I know, of course, he will be back. It's a temporary thing - heck, Steve said in the Last Avengers Story several years ago that death would only "maybe" end his never-ending battle. Nevertheless, his death does mark a decided shift in the editorial policies of Marvel, and in perhaps the reading preferences of its readers, that presage a new future where the four-color world of comics will be replaced, by a more, muted, ambiguous palette.
It began with Civil War: Frontline #11. Sally Ford, a reporter that works with Ben Urich at the Daily Bugle, chastises Captain America for not being in touch with the modern American, and that he is not relevant to the America of today, since he knows nothing of Americon Idol, MySpace, Paris Hilton, or NASCAR. You can read the whole exchange here.
What's truly astonsihing about this entire diatribe is that Steve Rogers, who has been shown to be an eloquent and passionate debater in other venues, is left without a voice by the writers at this point. And Steve should have put Sally in her place. Sally is being simplistic. The ideals Steve have been fighting for his entire life are those enshrined in the Constitution and the Declaration, and are the ideals which allow her and the average American to do those things she mentions as so important. Super-heroes are not an army, they are a group of individuals that stand between her and legions of threats that would squash her and her city any day of the week if they weren't there to stand in the way. Ford makes a point to say she doesn't have the power that these heroes have - but apart from being a gifted fighter and acrobat, and being able to bench-press 800 pounds, Steve has no super powers either. Sally says she "loves the country that treats celebrities like royalty and teachers like dirt". Why doesn't Cap take her to task for this?
Because the writers don't want him to. Instead, they elect to ignore what makes Steve who he is to make Civil War more than it should be. Instead of an intelligent discourse on what this act would mean to the Marvel Universe, they decided to turn it into an allegory of the Patriot Act and the War on Terror. And so Cap's character is sacrificed to turn him into a living embodiment of the end of the American Dream, and Tony and Reed's characters are sacrificed to make them analogies of the current administration.
Frontline ends with Sally and Ben interviewing Tony and informing him they know he is responsible for Osborn's killing of the Atlanteans in order to keep them from declaring war on the surface world. Incredbily, Sally applauds him for betraying his friends and sacrificing his ideals for the greater good. More surprisingly, Ben doesn't even admonish her or let his feelings be known - instead he seems to meekly accept what she has done, an action I find hard for a man of the ethical convictions that Urich has shown in the past to refrain from.
So where do they go from here? Marvel and DC seems determined to bring their characters into a far more realistic world, to the detriment of those elements that make comics fun to read. And once a comic book world mirrors are world in most aspects, where is the point in immersing yourself in a world to escape everyday life?
Is there anyone out there to pick up the torch?
Leapin Lettuce! There is a bright, beautiful tomorrow.
One final note - my office mates decided to honor Steve's passing with a moving service. Heroes and villains came together to mourn his passing. It's getting me misty just thinking about it.
Labels: Anti-Fun, Captain Carrot, My Heroes Have Always Worn Spandex, Steve Rogers, Unbridled Hope for the Future
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Monday, January 29, 2007
A Day at the Races
Kira, Parker" and I went back to Disney today. We made our way leisurely south through Horse country, and took time to watch riders practice for a horse jumping competition. The announcer would state each competitors score over a loudspeaker after each run, and Kira would excitably respond:"Parker, listen! A robot!"
At Disney, we ate at the Garden Grill at Epcot, and Kira finally got to meet Mickey Mouse, as well as Chip, Dale, and Pluto, who was their favorite (Pluto played peek-a-boo with them, and Kira kissed him on the nose). We then rode the Land boat ride through the hydroponic gardens, and then took the monorails to the Magic Kingdom, where we rode Small World, the Carousel, and Dumbo.
Finally, we watched the fireworks - an experience that would have been more enjoyable except the kids suddenly remembered they had not eaten in hours, and then Parker had a meltdown over not being able to eat ice cream in 45 degree weather, and Kira spilled her popcorn all over. Nevertheless, I think the day was huge hit, given that Kira asked to ride the elephant and watch the firework for days after.
Labels: Disney, Kira, Parker, Unbridled Hope for the Future
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