Video blog: 4-20-09

Video Blog: 4-20-09 from marvin on Vimeo.

Starting over, sort of.

Now that the blogging-pains have subsided I think I’m ready to get back into this. More to come…

Ever feel like you suck at what you do?

I should preface this by saying that I realize that I’ll forever be a student of the graphic arts. Perpetually learning new things, exploring new styles all the while trying to find and refine my own.

Lately however, it would seem that I’ve completely left the mindset of being a student and have transitioned to the mindset of “Mr. know-it-all”. In reality it’s as if I’ve taken everything I learned about good design – crumpled it up, and set it on fire.

How did this happen? More importantly, why is it happening? Read the rest of this entry »

Emergency action plan: In case of cabin fever

C’mon, don’t tell me you’ve never thought about it.

Ok, you probably haven’t, and truth be told I haven’t either really. However, tonight I was watching a recent Alaska edition of Mythbusters and it just so happened that one of the Alaskan based myths (though, presumably it could happen anywhere) was the myth of “Cabin Fever”. Here’s what Wikipedia had to say:

Cabin fever is a slang term for a claustrophobic reaction that takes place when a party is isolated and/or shut in, alone or together, for an extended period. Symptoms include restlessness, irritability, forgetfulness, and excessive sleeping.^[1]

On an episode of Mythbusters, the hosts attempted to “bust” the myth of cabin fever, isolating themselves for a period of time in the Alaskan winter while being observed and taking cognitive and stress tests. The tests were inconclusive, however one host, Adam Savage, exhibited all four of the symptoms of cabin fever they were looking for, while the other, Jamie Hyneman, only exhibited one (excessive sleep). They deemed the myth “plausible.”^[1]

I didn’t catch what the duration of the Mythbuster test was, however it seemed to be more or less the length of a weekend. So really, this post could (and maybe should) be titled, “Emergency Action Plan: In case you’re stuck in your apartment all weekend”. In any case, it was kind of funny watching the two hosts progress through levels of tiredness, irritation, and surprisingly a little ingenuity in the face of boredom.

The whole thing got me thinking, if I were stuck or otherwise forced to spend the entire weekend alone in my apartment, what kinds of things would I possibly do to prevent cabin fever using whatever I had on hand in my apartment. This is also assuming that for some reason, I have no internet or cable tv.
Read the rest of this entry »

It’s ok, it’s certainly your right to be offended.

I generally consider myself an unoffensive person that isn’t easily offended, because, frankly I don’t feel there’s too many things in life that are that big of a deal. Everyone has their opinions, their ideologies, their morals and generally speaking I never find myself offended by someone with any of the above that seem contrary to my own.

Yet seemingly I see more and more headlines on the news or hear another story about somebody getting their panties all in a wad over something so insignificant that I actually find myself…offended!  Simply put, political correctness offends me. Suppose that makes me a hypocrite of some kind, no?

Read the rest of this entry »