Tuesday nite, crazy windy. Best gas price $2.15 (!!).
I've been watching the "extras" on the Star Wars DVDs over the last few days. There's a running theme on the "making-of" featurettes included with a lot of the most amazing films (LOTR trilogy and Serenity are two more that come to mind) -- and it's how mindful each person in the production is of the vital contributions of the rest of the team. There's a huge amount of appreciation and respect shared among the crew members, particularly when they are working on a project that they are outrageously passionate about, and which is almost too doggone hard for them! It's wonderful to watch the special effects guys raving over the composer, the producer gushing about the costume designer, the director thrilled over the prop makers... all of them saying pretty much the same things: couldn't do my job without those guys ... exhausted but excited... wouldn't miss this for anything...
This looks like creativity at its absolute best. What a pleasure to be a part of that sort of team! And yet I hear and experience a much different thing back here in the real world -- many more stories of frustration and friction than camaraderie and mutual inspiration. What might the elements be which change a work environment from a dehumanizing place into an exhilarating one?
The first thing that comes to mind is a leader for whom everyone concerned has huge trust and respect (George Lucas, Pete Jackson, Joss Whedon... yeah, those would be folks you could probably trust to get it right...). Another thing is a project that's truly worth doing (will there EVER be another Tolkien?). And another thing would be a team of folks who know their job so well that they can work with confidence (as opposed to ego, which I think is a fraud's way of faking confidence). Must be a tough collection of things to put together. I wonder how rare it really is?
Well, as they say on the LOLcats web site... "want."
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P.S. Happy Birthday, mom...
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
If we know history...
Quote: "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." (Edmund Burke)
Another one: "History repeats itself."
Hmmm. What if we do know history? Even if we don't repeat it, will history take care of the repetition itself? Why am I asking this?
I'm nervous about something. I'm thrilled that the country has actually progressed to the point of electing a mixed-race man with a non Anglo-Saxon name into office. I have read so much positive reaction, not just from around the country but from around the globe (obviously, with some exceptions) -- overall it's such an attitude of optimism and hope. That's good. That's wonderful. It's so lovely to hope again.
But... someone who was aware of things in 1962, tell me if this feels familiar? I was two when JFK was shot, so I don't have a personal experience of it. But I've read about it. So much optimism stacked up around one man, and one idiot (or a consortium of twits, depending on your beliefs) who decided to put an end to it. There is certainly no shortage of idiocy in the world. I still can't believe the news clip showing McCain having to insist on claiming his mic back from a woman who was commenting during the campaign that it was just too scary, the idea of Obama becoming president because he was an Arab.... jeez. (Bravo to Colin Powell who made the perfect response to THAT sort ignorant goofball comment.) I just don't want to see stories like the deaths of JFK & Bobbie, MLK (or even John Lennon, for pete's sake) repeated. I don't know if the country could stand another heartbreak right now.
OK, next post will be cheerful. Promise.
Another one: "History repeats itself."
Hmmm. What if we do know history? Even if we don't repeat it, will history take care of the repetition itself? Why am I asking this?
I'm nervous about something. I'm thrilled that the country has actually progressed to the point of electing a mixed-race man with a non Anglo-Saxon name into office. I have read so much positive reaction, not just from around the country but from around the globe (obviously, with some exceptions) -- overall it's such an attitude of optimism and hope. That's good. That's wonderful. It's so lovely to hope again.
But... someone who was aware of things in 1962, tell me if this feels familiar? I was two when JFK was shot, so I don't have a personal experience of it. But I've read about it. So much optimism stacked up around one man, and one idiot (or a consortium of twits, depending on your beliefs) who decided to put an end to it. There is certainly no shortage of idiocy in the world. I still can't believe the news clip showing McCain having to insist on claiming his mic back from a woman who was commenting during the campaign that it was just too scary, the idea of Obama becoming president because he was an Arab.... jeez. (Bravo to Colin Powell who made the perfect response to THAT sort ignorant goofball comment.) I just don't want to see stories like the deaths of JFK & Bobbie, MLK (or even John Lennon, for pete's sake) repeated. I don't know if the country could stand another heartbreak right now.
OK, next post will be cheerful. Promise.
Carefully wading into Web 2.0
Widget check: rain today, tomorrow & Saturday. Best gas price holding at $2.39.
Yesterday I got an email from one of my regular customers at work; she had just joined "Facebook" and put me on a list of folks she invited to join with her. I had read that Facebook was a bit less of a high school hangout than MySpace, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Maybe I'm a late adopter, but here I am with a blog and a social network page, taking a few curious steps into the current incarnation of the web. I feel like I'm standing exactly between two camps; one one hand the teens/tweens/treens (there's a new word) who have already plowed this path thoroughly (and who will probably snicker at what a newb I am ... ), and on the other hand many of my clients who are retired folks, thinking I'm the consumate computer expert. I'm somewhere in the middle.
[[[Hey sis, this is the new Middle Class. I found it!!!]]]
The next thing I need to do is get this silly blog customized. I don't mind the simplicity of the generic header, but I guess it's irresponsible as a designer not to put up one of my own. The difficulty is in wanting it to be PERFECT instead of just different. I've been going over ideas on updating my brand (I know, lingospeak... how boring). For the last couple of years, my home page has featured 4 window panes with a view of a dandelion and lots of blue sky. Not that the dandelion is particularly iconic for me; I just really liked the image. It was mostly about there being a view through the windows, and being able to choose which window to go through (click) to get someplace else. That's pretty telling about my own life; seems I've spent more than a couple of decades looking for a portal to go through, trying to get where I want to be. (Wow, my home page was more profound than I had originally planned. A little subliminal design action, I guess). Maybe that's a springboard for planning the next incarnation. But don't want to do it until I can use it to showcase some new skills, and before that I need to finish getting a good handle on the new software I've acquired... Achh. Where's the first domino??
Yesterday I got an email from one of my regular customers at work; she had just joined "Facebook" and put me on a list of folks she invited to join with her. I had read that Facebook was a bit less of a high school hangout than MySpace, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Maybe I'm a late adopter, but here I am with a blog and a social network page, taking a few curious steps into the current incarnation of the web. I feel like I'm standing exactly between two camps; one one hand the teens/tweens/treens (there's a new word) who have already plowed this path thoroughly (and who will probably snicker at what a newb I am ... ), and on the other hand many of my clients who are retired folks, thinking I'm the consumate computer expert. I'm somewhere in the middle.
[[[Hey sis, this is the new Middle Class. I found it!!!]]]
The next thing I need to do is get this silly blog customized. I don't mind the simplicity of the generic header, but I guess it's irresponsible as a designer not to put up one of my own. The difficulty is in wanting it to be PERFECT instead of just different. I've been going over ideas on updating my brand (I know, lingospeak... how boring). For the last couple of years, my home page has featured 4 window panes with a view of a dandelion and lots of blue sky. Not that the dandelion is particularly iconic for me; I just really liked the image. It was mostly about there being a view through the windows, and being able to choose which window to go through (click) to get someplace else. That's pretty telling about my own life; seems I've spent more than a couple of decades looking for a portal to go through, trying to get where I want to be. (Wow, my home page was more profound than I had originally planned. A little subliminal design action, I guess). Maybe that's a springboard for planning the next incarnation. But don't want to do it until I can use it to showcase some new skills, and before that I need to finish getting a good handle on the new software I've acquired... Achh. Where's the first domino??
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
History just got made
Tuesday, November 4, the night of election day. Gas down to $2.39.
The wait is over! History just got made: Barack Obama just made his acceptance speech as President Elect. -- cool, huh? I'm relieved. It feels so optimistic. Maybe I'm just tired of overly-rich old white guys in power. I am looking forward to seeing what the international reaction is to this result. I hope Obama finds a way to stay close to the ground and attached to reality; not allow himself to be stuck up on a pedestal or pushed by the political machine into some false illusion of what's actually going on. He's sure got his work cut out for him over the next few years. Could the country possibly have come to him in a bigger mess? (Previous administration doesn't get their cleaning deposit back.)
The bummer difficulty has been trying to find a way to watch the return results -- no cable TV in my place, and no broadcast reception, so I've been trying to watch the MSNBC live feed online, over a not-wide-enough-band connection. Hic-cup-spit! Very intermittent audio and video; the speech made NO sense! I hunted for an audio-only feed with no success, and finally found a plain ole radio doing a simulcast and caught most of the speech. Hmmm. Most of the time I don't really miss having TV reception. But every once in a while...
One other sort of whiny-poor-us bummer -- for any of us out here on Nowheresville Island, where our votes are submitted in a drop box which isn't even picked up until 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time-- our votes were sort of moot. I mean, they will be counted, and the numbers will be part of the history of the election and all, but it was all over before any of us had anything to say about it. Like I said, it's whiny. I guess the same could be said for any of the "still gray" states in the middle though. I didn't quite understand how it worked, truth be told, I had the results map in front of me, and you could mouse-over any state to see how things stood there. So many states were just assuming the votes would go a certain way. With 0 precincts reporting, Washington was already counted as blue, for instance. I guess some states it IS a foregone conclusion, but... well, it just seems sort of crass. Gee, I just said politics can seem crass, aren't I making a profound observation?
In the meantime... we have a re-run of the governor's race from last time -- the same two candidates facing off -- last time was, according to the Seattle newspaper, the closest governor's race in American history. It's now 9:30, and I just checked the most recent results online -- the incumbent had a "razor's edge lead." So could go either way again.
Soooooo onward through the proverbial fog. Hope for the light.
The wait is over! History just got made: Barack Obama just made his acceptance speech as President Elect. -- cool, huh? I'm relieved. It feels so optimistic. Maybe I'm just tired of overly-rich old white guys in power. I am looking forward to seeing what the international reaction is to this result. I hope Obama finds a way to stay close to the ground and attached to reality; not allow himself to be stuck up on a pedestal or pushed by the political machine into some false illusion of what's actually going on. He's sure got his work cut out for him over the next few years. Could the country possibly have come to him in a bigger mess? (Previous administration doesn't get their cleaning deposit back.)
The bummer difficulty has been trying to find a way to watch the return results -- no cable TV in my place, and no broadcast reception, so I've been trying to watch the MSNBC live feed online, over a not-wide-enough-band connection. Hic-cup-spit! Very intermittent audio and video; the speech made NO sense! I hunted for an audio-only feed with no success, and finally found a plain ole radio doing a simulcast and caught most of the speech. Hmmm. Most of the time I don't really miss having TV reception. But every once in a while...
One other sort of whiny-poor-us bummer -- for any of us out here on Nowheresville Island, where our votes are submitted in a drop box which isn't even picked up until 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time-- our votes were sort of moot. I mean, they will be counted, and the numbers will be part of the history of the election and all, but it was all over before any of us had anything to say about it. Like I said, it's whiny. I guess the same could be said for any of the "still gray" states in the middle though. I didn't quite understand how it worked, truth be told, I had the results map in front of me, and you could mouse-over any state to see how things stood there. So many states were just assuming the votes would go a certain way. With 0 precincts reporting, Washington was already counted as blue, for instance. I guess some states it IS a foregone conclusion, but... well, it just seems sort of crass. Gee, I just said politics can seem crass, aren't I making a profound observation?
In the meantime... we have a re-run of the governor's race from last time -- the same two candidates facing off -- last time was, according to the Seattle newspaper, the closest governor's race in American history. It's now 9:30, and I just checked the most recent results online -- the incumbent had a "razor's edge lead." So could go either way again.
Soooooo onward through the proverbial fog. Hope for the light.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Sunday, rainy. Best gas price $2.45 and holding. Been a veg all morning.
Sometime in February all the TV signals will be digital. Analog TVs will need a converter or a replacement. I'm not fretting too much; I haven't bothered to sign up for cable in years, and the only broadcast signal that shows up in this remote area is so intermittent as to be unwatchable. My TV gets used for DVDs and tapes, that's all. Some folks may be in for a confusing time though. Check this out.
Sometime in February all the TV signals will be digital. Analog TVs will need a converter or a replacement. I'm not fretting too much; I haven't bothered to sign up for cable in years, and the only broadcast signal that shows up in this remote area is so intermittent as to be unwatchable. My TV gets used for DVDs and tapes, that's all. Some folks may be in for a confusing time though. Check this out.
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