Random Thoughts: February 28th, 2012

Whether you like it or not, Wendy's and the adjacent Tim Hortons location are you best options for lunch on
King Edward Street. Taken while employed at Farm Business Communications.

• Mr. Uncertain: So, I'm un(der)employed again. I was at Farm Business Communications for most of the month, subbing for a gentleman on paternity leave, and he was set to return yesterday, making Friday my last day. I'm definitely thankful for my brief stay there, as it was educational, kept me financially stable, and I got to work with my old friends Steve and Jenelle.
  I'm kinda where I was last year. Not sure where I'm gonna go, or what I'm gonna do. I've been given the tools to move forward, but I'm feeling rather grounded. Trying to stay positive (and failing at it).
  
  
• Pinky's Laundromat: I've gone off at length about how magnificent John Smith's second solo album is, and now, you can check it out for your own damn self via Bandcamp. Please do enjoy.
  
  
• Container of Great: My pal Albertine dropped her video game art and culture 'zine – Heart Container – last week, and it's a great read. It made me think about my relationship with gaming, which seems both deep and distant at the same time. I'm beginning to think I should write my thoughts down regarding this. It also made me nostalgic, and I'm think I should cop one of these as soon as things are better.
  You really oughta pick up a copy, not only because it's good, but because the proceeds go to Child's Play.
  
  
• A Possibly Unpopular Opinion: I'm listening to this Erick Sermon mixtape, and it reeks of you-kids-get-off-my-lawn syndrome. I've got nothing but love for E-Double, but when you start dissing skinny jeans and the use of "swag", I stop listening.
  
  
• New Flickr Layout: The way you and I view Flickr is about to change, and I have to admit that I'm kinda stoked. I've been using it for almost seven years, and it's still a daily digital hangout spot after all this time. Unlike a lot of people that piss and moan about changes to their virtual clubhouses, I welcome it. I roll around in it like a pig in filth. Okay, not really, but I do roll with the punches. It's the Internet, people. You don't like one spot, go to another.
  
  
• Two Years on Tumblr: Yeah, I can't believe it either. Here's how I marked the occasion.
  
  
• These Dreams, man. A recent episode of Sound Opinions got me thinking about songs associated with first love. This definitely wasn't my first crush, but it's probably the first time I can put music and affection for someone together: late spring, 1985, at some roller rink – probably Wheelies. It was a Winnipeg school patrol outing. I was horrible at skating, and I remember taking a tumble on the carpet surrounding the rink that would've killed or paralyzed the 37-year-old me. As I held my head in agony like a kicker that missed a field goal, I saw HER. Giggling at me. Not in a mean way, but giggling. The HER in question was this petite blond from Wolseley School that caught my eye earlier in the day.
  I was all about making girls laugh, so I did my best to laugh along, even though the pain was kicking my ass. What was playing during this moment? "These Dreams", by Heart. I'm not gonna lie to you; I still feel a lilt in my stomach when I hear that song coming from a nearby radio, or in a supermarket.
  Hey...can we talk about the video for a second? All I really want to point out is that drummer Benny Carmassi utilized his fleeting moments of screen time to the fullest by being as hammy as possible. I love it! He shines at the 1:45 mark, also at 2:14 and 2:30. Classic.

Dribbblin'

That's right, I'm now a Dribbble member. My friend Neil had a few invites available, and I was like, "well, why not?" So far, no regrets. In fact, I feel reinvigorated creatively. There's something about this combo of social media/Flickr/Twitter/show and tell that is pushing me to actually do stuff. Not gonna look this gift horse in the mouth.

I'm not sure how I found out about Dribbble, but I'm betting it was through Twitter. Upon arriving at the site, I was puzzled as to what it was about, as every picture uploaded was no bigger than 400 x 300, and either a fragment of a finished project, or an element of an unfinished one. And, to be truthful...I thought a lot of people were biting Frank Chimero.

With that said, I wasn't about to totally dismiss Dribbble. I learned my lesson with Twitter and Tumblr, both of which I now use avidly. I think I turned a corner on Dribbble due to an episode of The Freelance Radio Show, where panelist Von Glitschka mentioned that he was user of the site. That was good enough for me!

As I was saying, I've got a renewed vigor goin' here, and if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna work on something I made some notes on.

Random Thoughts: September 16th, 2010

Inspiration station, before and after. Photos taken July 11/14, 2010.

• A Synopsis. Been busy. Work has been a mix of frustration and tiny victories. I'd elaborate, but that'd be really fucking boring (and the last thing I want to do is incriminate myself). Baby room-wise, things are coming together, in addition to making the rest of the house comfy. I've posted progress pics of my workspace's transformation here. I have to admit...I've really been pissed at myself ever since I discovered my drawing desk is actually backward. Seems I need to spend more time at it! Fuck. On a related note, Veronica Hebard has a dope workspace. Natural light, cool trinkets, stuff on the walls...I've got everything except that last one.
  
  
• Afflicted with Tumblritis. Currently, a lot of my writing takes place at my other blog, Mr. Lorde Should Be Drawing – that is if you can call it writing. Via the power of reblogging, I often find myself making sure folks know who certain artists and models are, because I'm all about attribution, and a lot of folks using Tumblr are not. Being older than your average Tumblr user, I feel like an iconoclast swimming against a wave of entitlement. As maddening as that sounds, I really do enjoy it. It's the immediacy of it all, I guess. In the three or so hours it takes me to write a simple Blogger-based post, I can say a whole more with a video or photo and a few explanatory lines in Tumblrland. I'm not ready to drop The Place Where Al Dwells yet, but some things might have to change. I think I'm one of those things.
  
  
• Speaking of blogs... Did I mention my wife started one? She's off to a great start. For the record, she feels the same way I do about some of the parenthood advice we received a while ago. My missive wasn't unilateral.
  
  
• An End to the Whingeing. In an earlier draft of this entry, I was going to continue bitching in the style of the aforementioned blog post, but I think it's time to dead that. Instead, I'd like to shout-out the folks who gave me solid, real, down-to-earth advice when Sarah and I announced that we were expecting. I'm eternally grateful.
  
  
• John Smith's "I'm Rollerblading!" I was just re-listening to Blunderbus, or "In Transit" and got to the controversial "I'm Rollerblading!" (apparently, skating diehards weren't too fond of this joint), and I wondered when ESPN decided to drop inline skating from the X Games. According to Wikipedia and other sources, 2005 was the year. I was wondering why I hadn't heard Arlo Eisenberg's name for a while.
  This Kids In The Hall sketch was inspiration for that track, by the way.
  
  
• All Things Garage-y. About a week ago, I finished reading Eric Davidson's We Never Learn, and it was truly a joy to flip through. Even though I had only reached the 33rd page, I decided to give the book a healthy nod via Tumblr reblog last month.
  
  
• Masticators! I started a food blog with my homies Evan and Mark last month. I don't think I'll ever run out of things to write. I think I'm gonna whip up a couple of post drafts as soon as I'm done with this. They've been stewin' in the noggin a little too long. In the meantime, holler at us via Twitter.

Random Thoughts: May 17th, 2010

Friday's brunch.

• Changes are afoot. In about a week or so, I'll be an uncle. In two weeks, I'll be a homeowner. Come late October, I'll be a dad. In-fucking-sanity.
• Output. Creativity has slowed to a mere trickle, if you can call it that. With the impending move, the living room is full of boxes, so I'm even less inclined to do stuff. On Friday, my drawing desk was dismantled for easier transport. Factor in my scattered/dark state of mind, I've been the very picture of inertia. So, how have I been getting my kicks? Well, through impulsive writing/blogging/whatever via this blog, Twitter, and this blog's offspring (which is actually dedicated to rapid sharing and half-thoughts). And I'm alright with this. I'll get back to drawing. The creativity/consumption balance will be restored in good time.
• Philip Lumbang Obey Sketch. Check it out. It's from his days of working with Mr. Fairey. Nice, eh? Quite a contrast from his bear-centric spreading of happiness, which is also pretty damn nice. Check out his work here.
• Safeway In Winnipeg. The history of Safeway in Winnipeg at West End Dumplings in four parts, with copious pictures – start here. I've been meaning to link this up for a while now, because it's just so damn interesting. Props to Christian Cassidy for his dedication and research. Be sure to check out his other blog, This Was Winnipeg, and his Flickr photostream.

Digital Dalliances

Hi. I've been in some dark places mentally, lately. I'll eventually get on track, including the Zero 2 Illo challenge. In the meantime, let me hit you off with some online bullshit.

• Me at Flavors.me – flavors.me/misterlorde: I did this on a whim, inspired by my man Chris. Essentially, it's a one-stop contact page or social network business card. I just remembered I had this.
  
• Mr. Lorde Should Be Drawing – misterlorde.tumblr.com: That title mocks me like nothing else. It's an effective shame tool. Basically, I started this when I fell out of love with my blog for a moment. Now, it's storage place for impulsive posts. So, The Place Where Al Dwells... = depth, Mr. Lorde Should Be Drawing = brain farts. I'm only 15 posts deep, but I'm beginning to enjoy using Tumblr, especially with this new theme I'm using. We'll see how long this lasts. I guess I should stay on board, as Mr. Mayer feels Tumblr is the future, and we all know how wise he is.
  A warning: nudity may show up every once in a while. None of my own. 

A note: History repeats itself. For nearly two years I said I didn't need Twitter, and then I joined. My joining of Tumblr shows that I'm pretty good at shooting my mouth off.

Twitter/tumblr

My current Twitter background.

I caved.
Almost two years ago, I killed any notion of joining Twitter. After listening to an episode of Freelance Radio, I decided to take the stick out of my ass and give it a shot. Y'know, for networking.
I like it. A lot. Many folks I admire are there, and they're constantly sharing knowledge and /or frustrations. It's rather uplifting. Not entirely sure why I hated on this in the first place.*

However, one thing I'm not giving another thought, is tumblr. Look, two of my friends are down with it, I enjoy reading Aqua Books posts, and this dude has the sexiest layout of the bunch, but I have no need for an account. I say whatever I want right here, at any length.
And with the existence of (name withdrawn, as acknowledgement gives the site owner reason to breathe) – the digital equivalent of a grade school slam book – I figure, why fucking bother? Life's too short for slander and libel.
So yeah, I don't need it. But I also said that about Twitter.

Some quick Twitter observations:

• ?uestlove seems to have a fair amount of time between segments on the Fallon show. I appreciate his observations.
• Q-Tip posts like craaaazy. And his tour seems to be doing well. To date, he's got 22,895 followers.
  
• Luda seems to only want to know how you're doing and how you accomplished your goals for the day. He's like...a life coach or something. I dig that.
• Reading up on Evan Dorkin's frustrations with inking is strangely...gratifying. I mean, his work is great, and at the same time, he's his worst critic. He's far more self-deprecating than I am. Remembering that the extremely talented have to stuggle like the rest of us puts things in perspective.

*I'm not really lookin' at this with rose-colored glasses, really. Just like every other social network thing that pops up, there's bound to be something that I'll hate about it, eventually. That's always a sure sign that it's time to go outside and do real things. Like talking to someone face to face.