This will be a place where I talk about design… story-telling… art… the creative process….

I’ll probably post a lot of photos, and other images I make. I’ll probably ramble a lot. And I’ll probably make things up, just to amuse myself and to see if anyone is paying attention. I’ll probably tell a lot of stories.
You are reading this, so clearly you found me somehow… I hope now you’ll stick around! I encourage comments and questions and all manner of feedback, so don’t be shy.

Of note:

• #1 Procter and Gamble spent nearly twice what #2 General Motors did in that period.
• Among all advertisers: Internet advertising is way up, Radio is down
• The total expense for these top ten is 8.3 BILLION dollars… in just 6 months.

And now its up for sale…. the asking price is $1.7 million.

• The Brandes House “Home” page.
• Seattle PI: “Wanted: The Wright Buyer”

We decided that we’d skip the movies that we’d both already seen, leaving 66 films for us to watch together. Well, not exactly “together,” since Megan lives in 3000 miles away in Pittsburgh. Through the miracle of the cheap long-distance and synchronized DVD players we were able to simulate the movie-going experience, even including popcorn and Red Vines on many nights (but without the sticky floors). A bit unconventional, sure, but when your attention is on the movie it matters less that the person you are with isn’t actually there, and afterwards we’d discuss what we saw, often for many hours.
We each subscribed to Netflix, which made things a lot easier, but when we started there some on the list we didn’t think we’d be able to see because they aren’t available on DVD, notably Wuthering Heights and The Jazz Singer. We managed to catch most of those with the help of TCM, but we’d pretty much decided that the last one, The Jazz Singer, would be a write-off for the time being.

We’d made pretty good progress … I struggled through the musicals and she struggled through the war movies and the westerns… but overall I think we both enjoyed more of them than we hated (A Place In The Sun is the one that leaves us both scratching our heads). As we got the the last few titles on the list I made plans to visit her and we’d watch the last film, Casablanca, together in person. As it happened, while I was there in Pittsburgh we learned that not only was The Jazz Singer being released on DVD, but on the same day TCM would be airing it! We’d be able to finish the list after all!

And that’s what we did, last Friday night.

Of course, 2007 was the 10th anniversary of the list and the AFI has released a new version (and plans to do so every ten years), so we’ll have to watch those as well. Fortunately we’ve seen a lot more of them this time, so it will not take 16 months.

When I did this I only gave the barest thought to what I should be blogging about. And that don’t work. One thing I know about blogs, having heard it from several sources, is you have to have a topic.

I kinda-sorta have a topic…. kinda. Sorta. Okay, it needs some refining….

But rather than make you wait while I refine, I still want to be typing here on a somewhat regular basis. Because the other thing I know about blogs is a regular schedule will attract regular visitors.

So that’s my goal for this week: blog a little everyday.

Today is Monday. How am I doing so far?

I’ll be starting work another website this week, this one a complete makeover for http://yakimaadfed.org/, which is the local chapter of the American Advertising Federation. Its a small site now, but the plans are for it to be much larger, with more information, more interactivity, and better organization.

Also on the horizon is another brochure for Dreamer Design, but that hasn’t been finalized, and a poster for Encore Books promoting their Book Bucks (custom gift certificates which I also designed for them).

Further out, I’ve been contacted to do yet another website for a physical therapist who plans to start teaching classes.

How is this “News?” Argh!

And how ridiculous is it that yesterday the big story was that Paris Hilton did not say she was concerned about the drunk elephants? It says a lot more about the maturity level of the people reporting it than it does about Paris who was just minding her own business.

(and please don’t start in about the “liberal media” because Fox News has the same stories and other stuff that’s even more ridiculous).