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The Bulletin goes warm and fuzzy

The big news in Bend today (according to The Bulletin) was about a wallaby who had gone missing and was found after a five day Juniper Berry Bender (or maybe he was caught up at the west side Rigoberto’s hop thru). Mind you this is no ordinary wallaby – it’s a west-side wallaby – which are apparently cuter and more news worthy (it made the front page lead story).

Never mind the story about our public transportation system losing its funding – I mean is that really more important that a cute fuzzy naughty little wallaby? Bad wallaby, trying to escape your west-side domicile of non-clothesline hangers! So cute – you just want to squeeeeeeze, hug, and watch him hop – you can’t get mad at the wallaby. Granted the story would have been better if it happened in Washington – I see the headline now: “Wandering wallaby wescuded in Walla Walla”.  Oh Bulletin – how you make me smile.

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Bowl for Kid’s Sake

BBBS PosterJust wrapped up a project for our local Big Brothers and Big Sisters organization. A worthy cause for sure. Dad took the kids bowling over at Sun Mountain Fun Center a couple of weeks ago – which was a great opportunity to set up an impromptu photo shoot. The event is “Bowl for Kid’s Sake” so a photo of kids in a bowling alley was one of my first thoughts – and from there came the idea for the poster. The final image I chose was of Max standing next to a pair of empty adult shoes. I suppose a number of headlines could have been used for that image but my thoughts went to “Bowling is more fun with a big brother or big sister”. I can’t remember ever going bowling by myself.

It’s been a while since my last post – yikes. Been really busy and will be posting more stuff for sure.

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Computers vs. Brains

Check out the Computers vs. Brains article by Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang for nytimes.com.

The notion of having wired counterparts around to either help us with our daily lives or take over the world and enslave us has long been a cornerstone of Sci Fi lore.  The fact is we’re humans (most of us anyway) and are just designed better. Our capacity to process a multitude of tasks on extreme low voltage is astounding. There will come a time though – in the future – when doctors and scientists alike will discover that we are in fact descendants of Intel.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brD5D0ytD04]

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Frak it


The last episode of Battlestar Galactica will air tonight – truly an epic TV moment – would love to see the viewership stats for this night on the SciFi Channel. This series is/was truly a merging of many many elements. From great character development, special effects (both on and off set), and acting, to a rich media experience that extended the BSG world on-line for fans who wanted more.

It will be sad to see it go, but – all good things. Cheers to the cast and crew.

Now,  what was it that I used to do on Firday nights?

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Prehistoric Product Placement

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/eYvOgnabABU&hl=en&fs=1]

Ah, Fred, Barney – and Winston. Who knew?

As a kid, I watched the Flintstones – what I left with was foot powered cars, dinosaurs for pets, and miniature martians who granted wishes – way better than mild mannered talking tractors and an insecure pumpkin head man/thing like on Bob the Builder.

Fred and Barney had the life – working with dinosaurs, moving rocks, steaks for dinner with no salads. And of course after a hard days “work” or a massive “Brontosauras Burger” whose to deny them a smoke? But a Winston? I had no idea the Flinstones chose Winston?! Not once did that brand even cross my mind when I was lighting up Camels in High School. Hah! Winston, you guys thought you were clever, but you didn’t get me.

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Public Real Estate Notice

Bummer
I saw one of the Real Estate sections disappear this past Saturday from our local daily The Bulletin. The advent of less advertisers no doubt. It appears that the former Real Estate section was replaced with a Public Notice section – featuring mostly foreclosures. Not sure if this is a recent change or not as it’s been a while since I actually picked up the Real Estate section as we can just drive around town and see the For (Short) Sale signs littered across the lawns of homes throughout Bend.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the Bulletin performs this year in the current economy with less advertisers and the internet taking its toll on all daily newspapers – who struggle to redefine their old business model. How much longer will they be able to keep their big house on the hill with their main sources of revenue going away?

The brighter side is that The Bulletin will no doubt learn, adapt, and grow from all of this. Perhaps even follow the Seattle’s Post-Intelligencer model – who happens to be running their last printed paper tomorrow. The Bulletin seems to have a good team up there and a dedicated following. Time, and money will tell.

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No longer two hands old

11th CakeMax is eleven – the years have outpaced his digits and now it’s time for the toes to contribute. Ten fingers and a toe old. It’s cool to see him grow up for sure. Today I showed him how to back our Pathfinder out of the garage – which he was getting ready to clean. So nice to have help with the mundane chores around the house. Of course he’s not even close to the age of driving, but it was fun coaching him. We cruised to the store to pick up a board game (Risk) and another hard drive for our ever expanding library of photos.

Tomorrow it’s off to the mountain.

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Mari Lassa Handbags

Mari Lassa Handbag
Now available on a browser near you – MariLassa.com – Anne Scott’s website for her one-of-a-kind handmade leather handbags.

A fun project indeed.
After our initial meetings and planning, one of the first tasks on the list was to assemble a library of her current product line, so a date was set and I cruised out to the studio with my gear and started shooting handbags. Then it was design time while adHOC collaborated with Anne to get the copy just right. Next it was development and thanks to the help of Joshua Clanton, the website was coded just right.

It’s complete. With the set-up of several other online networks to get her out there – virtually – and a little PR bump to boot, Anne now has a fully functioning ecommerce website. Cool!
If you live in Bend, be sure to check out The Bulletin next week for more details on Anne. She’s super talented for sure.

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snowPHOTOboardSHOP


Been kinda busy over the past few weeks since the 2009 Bend Winterfest, but had time to kill in Photoshop and put together some images from the Rail Jam. Mostly messing around with different techniques in layers really. There are sooooo many ways to layer images while applying textures and the like, listening to a little DnB while working on them seems to help too.