Initial Art

This week, Joe asked me to do some initial art for the feature film we hope/plan to shoot in the spring of 2010. He had a meeting with a potential investor. Creating art for a film is hard to do when all you have is a screenplay. I asked my new friend Lay to do a line drawing for me. Joe and I banged out a synopsis together. Which, I found is also surprisingly difficult to do. And here we are. This little graphic doesn't capture the comedic vibe of the story completely/perfectly, but for now, it does the trick. It takes what mostly feels like a distant, hard-to-imagine-us-ever-really-completing dream and makes a little more real. And that's kind of exciting.


I'm guessing you'll have to click the image to read the text.

Bear Sighting North of Cincinnati

Dear Residents of Waynesboro,

Nice knowing you.

Where's the street-wise Hercules?

Tumblr

Last summer, I discovered a this guy's blog. He called his lil' site a tumblelog. I didn't know what that meant and didn't think a whole lot about it. This past spring, however, I started stumbling upon other tumblelogs. I did a little research and a whole new world has opened. Am I late to the tumblr game here?

Tumblr.com is a micro-blogging site. People post and re-post pics, clips, quotes and anything else that catches their eye. It is a never-ending, pixel flea market. I am humbled by the amount of art out in cyberland every time I start cruising around different tumblelogs. I take this luxury for granted most days. Other days, when I've had just the right amount of coffee and pay attention to the lil' birdies in my backyard, I really appreciate the accessibility of inspiration.

Do you tumblelog? Do you have tumblr sites you go to on a regular basis? If so, please share. They're like crack (the healthy kind that grows your brain) and I need/want more. Here's a few I've been checking out lately.

i am blessed

art pixie

shades of grey

The Goose Is Loose

Last night, I was talking with friends/fellow creatives about the future. Not like hover-boards and the return of crystal pepsi. More like the big questions of future dreams/goals/purposes. You know, the stuff that torments us all. At any moment, if we want to, we can consider ourselves at a crossroads where we go left towards dreams, right towards making actual money, straight towards "I still have no idea where I'm going." My friends were asking my thoughts on their crossroads dilemma. They own a business. They need/want to make money. They also want/need to do work that brings them real satisfaction. Right now, those two things feel like different destinations. They feel they're at a crossroad where they either choose to make money and feed their family or they take a risk and chase a wild goose.

I'm only 30 years old. I'm aware I don't know a lot. Or anything, really. But I told my friends that I thought if they do whatever work is currently in front of them, and do it really really well, they'll eventually find their goose. It's happened to me. I knew a long time ago I didn't just want to graphic design. But I had a design job, so I did good work. That led me here where I'm doing more than just graphic design. I think that old parable rings pretty true.

The crazy thing I'm starting to find as I enter old age, is that even when you catch a goose it has the sneaky ability to get away and turn into something different. And usually, something even more fun to chase. So we can stand at the proverbial crossroads and think/talk/dream all we want. But it's unlikely we'll catch any wild goooooooses that way. Take a step in any direction, do good work, enjoy the chase. Oh, and eat your vitamins.

Get On Yo Feet

Simple solutions for a crazy, mixed-up world

This made me wonder how often I over-complicate problem solving. I know it's a just a pretty picture. But I thought about some dude who was all, "I hate rain. Hate how it gets on me. How it comes from the sky. I hate it everywhere but especially in my alley way. I bet if I just make these little circular tent structures and hang them above me.....YES! That's it!"

The key, I think, is to constantly question your solutions. Is there a better/simpler way of doing X? In my line of work, I usually start out solving problems in a pretty complicated manner. Not on purpose. It just takes a few mistakes before I realize or know how to do things in a better/simpler way.

That's gotta be how these world-changers got to this solution...

Challonnge!

Awhile back Leah read a D.Ramsey book. She decided we needed to get a little more focused with our finances. So, we started the cash system. It only took a few times of getting in trouble for forgetting that the debit card was off limits for me to get it. That led to us paying off a few debts, refinancing our home and things are starting to look pretty good.

Two weeks ago we started a workout program called P90X. It's intense (dare I say Xtreme). For over 14 days straight nearly every muscle in our bodies have been sore. But it's kind of great. We commiserate together, we encourage each other, we even do the 90 minute yoga workout together. The first week we got sushi after the yoga. How freaking yuppy is that? Yikes. It's only been a couple weeks but we're both really enjoying the challenge.

Last week we both started to wonder why we're able to spend at least an hour day, six days a week focusing on our physical health but we don't spend anywhere near that on our spiritual health. So this week, we're going to see what's out there to help us focus in on that side of things.

I say all this because I think taking on challenges with someone starts a bit of a chain reaction. We got our financial life in gear and that felt good, so somewhat unknowingly we looked for more. We're starting to get our physical life in gear which immediately caused us to look for more. Who knows what'll happen if we get our spiritual life more focused and disciplined. We may start levitating and curing cancer.

I challenge you to find a buddy/friend/lover/small group/extraordinary dog and take on a challenge together. I'm guessing the same kind of chain reaction could happen. That initial challenge will birth others and by the end of the summer, we could all be curing cancer together David Blaine style. That would be Xtreme.

Vimeo HQ

Thought these were pretty humorous...

Matt is new in the office, so we figured we would let him know what Andrew is really like.

Blake can't keep up with Casey's hipness.

Vimeo HQ - 4:12pm
Blake needs to talk to Jack about the homepage... or at least he tries to.

Sorry I'm Late (a short film)

Clever wizards like this keep me grounded.