Inklings

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  • Winter Driving

    I count my blessings after every street plowing that we have “snow gates”. The snow gate was one of the best inventions ever implemented especially when you consider the alternative. I remember growing up how much of a chore it was to chisel out the four foot high snow dam of ice and compacted snow at the end of the driveway. The residual snow left by snow plows equipped with snow gates leaves nothing more than a speed bump that you can easily drive over. It’s a minor convenience but it sure makes winter seem a little shorter.

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  • Hollywood Retreads

    I realize that this formula has been around for a while but in my opinion it’s getting downright ridiculous. The latest Hollywood 80s love-fest is with TV actioner The A-Team. Don’t get me wrong. I was among the millions that tuned in to watch The A-Team as a kid, but the campy special-op Vietnam vets that MacGyvered their way out of peril each week with Reagan-era machine-gun-toting inaccuracy was a genre that shouldn’t be messed with (I still marvel at the way the ultra-violence was made palatable for prime time by making sure any vehicle that rolled forty times featured a shot of the passengers crawling out uninjured. And don’t even get me started with all the lead flying and no one getting killed; even my Dad snickered at the shoddy marksmanship of the “A” Team.)

    No one doubts that this series had a profound impact on 80s culture (Mr. T was not only a household name but camouflage and muscle shirts became a fashion staple) but it’s as if Hollywood is harvesting the low-hanging fruit. They’ve discovered a bank roll with Gen X man-boys the world over. My guess is it won’t be long before Magnum PI starring Robert Downey Jr. in a ‘stache gets the silver screen send-up. They’ll probably even cast Selleck himself to make a cameo as a villain or something.

  • Salespeople

    In my experience there is no more strained relationship than that of a salesperson and a creative. With some rare exceptions the two rarely see eye-to-eye which almost guarantees communication problems. I view the salesperson as a privileged liaison – the deliverer of the client’s wishes to the designer and the designer’s solution to the client. If either the designer or client is misrepresented by the salesperson nobody wins. Consequently the creative may lack the charisma and experience of a salesperson who’s closed a few deals, but give the creative a chance to “sell” you his idea and you may discover that you have a powerful sales ally. Fortunately I’ve had the honor of working with salespeople that actually go to bat for me, selling the ideas that I come up with. Don’t fool yourself, it’s a beautiful thing!

  • Forecasting

    After the weather forecasts of last week, I fully expected to be buried in feet of snow today (I guess it could still blow in). They say weather is one of the most difficult things to predict accurately beyond a couple days so you have to give the weatherman some leeway when it comes to the seven-day forecast. It’s funny how much guff they get from us for “lying” about the weather. We should all be thankful for the times they forecast gloom and doom when actually we have a half decent day.

  • Praying for Victory

    I hate to admit it, but I’ll be cheering for the Purple and Gold today. Deep down inside there’s the boyhood Viking fan who grew up disillusioned and disappointed with the team he claimed to love. A victory today would consummate and appease that part of me that always dreamed of seeing the Vikes go to the Super Bowl. The last time I had these feelings was in ’98 right before Gary Anderson missed that 38 yard field goal attempt against the Falcons. I couldn’t say that I was as torn up as my friend Doug (a die-hard fan) that day we left the Cinebar but I can tell you that moment pretty much defined the Vikings’ season performance ever since. I’ve been saying it all season long (and not just because I’m a Favre fan): if there was ever a year that the Vikings could make it all the way, this is the one. This is your chance, Minnesota, don’t blow it!

  • Be a Hero

    Who doesn’t like a good epic story now and again? There’s just something about all that death-defying, derring-do that heroes go through to save the day that makes us want to be like them. As a kid I remember everyone wanting to be the hero. In fact many times, in order to avoid the arguments that were almost sure to follow, we’d allow more than one hero. Well, now it seems the world needs lots of heroes. With the recent tragedy in Haiti, there are more ways to help save the day. Please consider how you can help be a hero.

  • The Pen Was a Weapon

    The old saying ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’ had more literal meaning to the graphic designer 25 years ago. The Mac computer was new on the scene so analog tools like the technical pen (T-pen) were standard issue. Maintaining this integral piece of equipment was a high priority, so it didn’t take long before you had memorized its anatomy. Cleaning the T-pen was a ritual of sorts that varied little. Disassemble. Soak nib parts in alcohol. Reassemble.

    Loading the cartridge with ink was its own art form and coaxing the ink into the nib required gentle lateral wrist movements (if you heard the nib click in its housing you had good ink flow). If the ink ever stopped flowing, only the prescribed lateral wrist agitation was recommended. Any violent vertical pumping almost guaranteed that ink was sprayed everywhere. If you were lucky it wasn’t all over the illustration you’d slaved over for days. As if maintaining one of these ‘weapons’ wasn’t enough, we were armed with seven of them! To this day, every time I choose a stroke thickness in an Adobe application I can’t help but think of the wretched T-pen.

  • The 800 Pound Google in the Room

    Who would’ve ever thought that Apple and Microsoft would fear someone besides each other? Turns out their biggest rival is now the internet juggernaut, Google, who is making some big waves with their new browser OS: Chrome. I don’t think anyone can deny that Google’s suite of free browser-based apps is nothing short of revolutionary. As if Google Mail wasn’t enough with its gigabytes worth of storage space there’s also Google Docs (that mimics Microsoft Office), Google Calendar (compatible with Outlook and iCal), Google Reader (RSS feed reader), Google Earth (hey, there’s my house), Google SketchUp (here’s the house I designed) and much, much more. In fact, if you can imagine it chances are Google has its name in front of it. It’s hard to imagine that Google was once just a search engine.

  • Happy Birthday, ‘Mick’!

    Happy Birthday to my big sister! Sorry for going all ‘Shoebox’ on you, but I wanted to be sure to let you know I hadn’t forgotten. Hope you have a five-alarm day! We all love you!

  • Say “Cheese”

    Photography, in one form or another, has always been a part of my life. While I don’t consider myself a photographer, I can certainly appreciate the aesthetics and life-journaling aspects of it. My dad’s side of the family were like paparazzi at family events. Anytime family was together, the cameras came out to record the moment. I can still picture my aunts with their cameras hanging from every appendage. Us kids got to be pretty good at looking happy even when we were fit to be tied. It’s a wonder that more of the grandkids didn’t become photo-journalists, portrait photographers or even models. I have learned that good photography takes patience and the lasting result is something worth every ounce of blood, sweat and tears (yes, tears) that go into it. It’s a shame that my kids don’t share that sentiment. Maybe I should get the camera out more often.