The Bloated Penguin

Spent yesterday in an online CSS lesson and I’ve been reaping the benefits ever since. Sure I ended up staying up until 3AM last night practicing, but it’s like the first time you actually figure out how to swim on a hot day – you never wanna leave the pool. So why did I take a lesson in CSS? Honestly, it can never hurt. I’m basically a peasant when it comes to code – I understand the core principles of the language, but I would never in a million years consider myself a developer. At least now I have a new found appreciation for the craft. I had arranged to get an online course on the basics, set up some screen sharing via YuuGuu (which is actually pretty awesome considering its free) and went to town.

Now? I’m sure it’ll pass, but I’m starting to see components in the real world as code and how they all function together. I know it’s scary and a little too Matrix-like. But I’m not going as far to say that I know karate, maybe that I’ve seen a lot of karate movies and I’m comfortable practicing on my own for a bit. Anyways, I was taught some of the basics with DIVs and Tags and then got right into it. The result? A one-page site I built for a friend’s wedding. During the lesson I was getting a bit confused, but my friend assured me that a lot of it is just based on comfort and practice. So that’s what I’ve been doing for the better part of 24 hours – Practicing. And with that, I leave you with this:

As a loyal fan of Heroes I’ve had to endure some terrible episodes, bad writing and tragic excuses for acting over the years, but for some reason I keep coming back. I sometimes feel like that guy who just can’t get enough of rehab. Anyways, NBC dropped this promo a few days ago to reel in sad folks like myself. When Heroes shut down for the season earlier this year, a lot of people (myself included), really felt that the run they had in season 1 had finally run out of steam. They can no longer live off of the phenomenon and in order to survive in the world of television, they are going to need a major refresh. Well, have a look at the promo below for the upcoming season. You’ll notice a lot of returning faces (unfortunately Tim Kring chose to ignore my letter of plea to have Claire Bennett recast), some strange new ones (T-Bag from Prison Break looks like he’ll be playing the role of the villain this season) and a very VERY short shot of Ando finally gettin’ some. Some of the news to come out of the break has been sad to say the least as Bryan Fuller officially left the series to work on a couple of new projects, but it looks like NBC is trying to diffuse the situaiton by adding some new faces to the cast. As mentioned above, T-Bag or Robert Knepper, will be a new regular, as will Californication star Madeline Zima and X-Men alum (currently playing Snake Eyes) Ray Park. Have a look, put your hands together and pray that Volume Five doesn’t shit the bed.

I’m sure I’m not the only one excited about the remainder of this season of True Blood. After watching this I’ve decided not to spoil anymore of the story (but it won’t stop me from sharing it with you). Check out the footage Alan Ball showed at Comic-Con last week and prepare yourself for the impending war.

Way too hot to think about anything but beer…. That is all

Time to talk theme songs – more specifically my own theme songs. I remember back a long time ago when there was a little show on FOX called Ally McBeal about a single female lawyer who worked in an office that had unisex bathrooms. Forgive me if I missed the point of it, I think I was about 8 when that show was on TV. Anyways, Ally had an episode where she talked about her personal theme songs and for some strange reason I remembered that this morning as I prepped for the daily grind. For me, theme songs are determined by mood, time of day and audience. I’ll admit, living with someone has brought out a bit of the zany side in me and the GF finds me humming or sometimes full-out Broadway style performing around the apartment (scary I know).

For me, the theme song is more than just a few bars floating around in my head. When the old imagination gets going I sometimes feel as though I’m living out a scene from Dr. Horrible. So for today, here is my theme song track listing.

Please keep in mind that there really isn’t any continuity to any of this, just songs that I think of during different points of the day.

Morning Tunes:

Good Morning Baltimore

I Am A Real American

Afternoon Tunes:

Doogie Howser Theme Song

Pee Wee’s Playhouse Theme Song

Evening Tunes:

C’mon C’mon

Sound of Silence

That’s it for today but I’m always looking to expand. Link me to some tunes you think of during the day.

So if you’ve been following my adventures into Wordpress and the creation of my new portfolio then you probably already know the reason why I’m trying something different. Well, I spent a lot of last night trying to accomplish this and I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t stand my own decisions. It doesn’t take genius to figure out that one of the most repetative things someone can do is try and define themselves. Depending on the day, different things in this world represent different characteristics. For me, sometimes its a pen, other times its a keyboard, and so on and son on. Basically my problem is I have different ideas on different days on how to set this whole thing up. Like I said before, I made the decision to let someone else create a logo, but I’m thinking I should have just let someone else come up with the enitre idea and go from there.

Sure it would be a strange relationship. I would hire someone making me the client, then have them brand me with me knowing exactly what I want and then eventually just changing it all in the end… GAWD this SUCKS!

Alright, back to the task at hand. Back to CSS. Back to Photoshop. Back to an idea I had 3 days ago. Then back to the idea I had this morning.

No sympathy required, just know that frustration is kind of my new “thing.”

DT over at Killahbeez just sent this to me and I figured I’d share it here as well. Enjoy this awesome looking trailer from Alice in Wonderland. I think this was screened to people at Comic-Con just a few hours ago. Man I wish I was there instead of here….

Today is going to be a busy one. Like I’ve mentioned so many times before, I think I would benefit a lot from a project manager. For reasons quite obvious (time and client management) I always seem to find myself having a ridiculous amount of projects due on the same day. Well, that day is today. Luckily I stayed up late last night and polished off one job leaving me three to work on for today. The aforementioned job? I just finished up some content for a cell phone distribution company. For NDA reasons I won’t mention the name of the company or the project, but I can say that the gig involved writing two sets of everything for multiple groups of clients.

I’ve done this before, where I’ll write something that would be internal like a brief, then write something that would be customer facing, so it wasn’t new. What it does do is double my time for the entire project. Basically what happens is that I have to write something for the company to sell to other companies, then write something for those companies to sell to the public. Seems simple enough, but its not. I’ve spent countless hours of my life trying to master specific tones for language and I have to say that writing for a business oriented audience is tough. Not impossible, but tough.

Businesses have a specific way of speaking to each other. Sometimes its dry, sometimes its specifically number oriented and sometimes its something completely different. The bottom line is always the same though, get someone’s attention and keep them on the page. For me, I take the standard principles of fiction writing and translate them into the world of ad writing. It’s actually not all that different (the main one being length) so when I’m tasked to write for an audience of number crunchers and analysts I make sure to try and draw them in with something interesting first. Throughout the narrative I’ll drop in specific facts that will keep their attention, then put in a clever kicker that speaks only to them. This involves quite a bit of research because as standard writing practices go, you have to know your audience.

One of the jobs I’ve done in the past was for lumber enthusiasts; people that buy, treat and distribute the world’s lumber. In order to do something like this I had to embody my inner lumber jack, businessman and factory worker. In the end I pulled it off, but it’s always a journey.

Anyways, back to the title. So I’ve done 1 and I’ve got about 3 more to get finished by 5PM today. Better get off this blog and back into it.