hey brendan... you're gonna love this...

i got a very interesting email from my mom this morning:

"Your dad got a phone call last night asking if he had a basketball rim up in his shed. He thought it was a weird question, but he told them, yes, he did. He was asked if his barn was the old fashioned type; he told them, no, it was a tin shed but that they play ball in it all of the time. I guess that Obama is coming into Laporte County the next few days and has asked to play basketball in some farmers barn and whoever it was thought of your dad. A neighbor has an old fashioned barn with a rim in the hay mound but it is full of hay and probably wouldn't work. So today, your dad is going to find out if he is going to be coming to our farm or the other one! Your dad is so psyched!"

wow. why is it that the only exciting thing ever to happen back home happens when i'm 14 hours away?

meet chromeo...

from their myspace page:
"Chromeo is P-Thugg and Dave 1: best friends since their adolescence, virtuoso musicians, walking hip hop encyclopedias, and the only successful Arab/Jew partnership since the dawn of human culture."



thanks brendan.

hilarious...

[after seeing a guy wearing a red and pink camouflage hoodie]

me: that's ridiculous... when would you ever need red and pink camouflage?
krystal: maybe if you're hiding in a womb...

adventures in stock photography #2

search: pen (the writing utensil)
result:











it reminds me of how i wanted a pet goat growing up, and my dad wouldn't let me get one. not as ridiculous as it sounds when you grow up on a farm.

in case you were wondering...

you cannot use a hot chocolate mix packet to make cold, chocolate milk.

well, you can. but you definitely shouldn't.

'cougar' or 'cougar'?

margaret called me this evening and told me that two cougars had been shot in chicago.

you can see my utter confusion. i haven't laughed that hard in a long time. thanks marg.

adventures in stock photography #1

1) who would buy this?
2) what would they buy it for?
3) what is she doing the splits on? can anyone tell?
4) this was the first photo that came up when i searched for "magnifying glass"... if this is #1, i hate to think was #300 is... never going to photos.com again.

from the brain of marketing genius, brendan ash...

brendan has been helping me to color-correct and resize images for a website we're doing for a brazilian steakhouse. needless to say, there are lots of pictures of meat. well, on the history page of the site, theres an image of brazil on an old globe. and thus, brendan says...

"thats boring. you know what would be way better? if you had a picture of a hot, topless brazilian woman with, like, a thong! a thong made out of meat! a bacon thong! with meat hanging off of it! and you could have a dog chasing after her!"

well, brendan, this is for you...


















*note: those may not have been brendan's exact words, but you get the gist...

feelin' giddy

so i acquired another one of scott campbell's prints... very excited. its called "igloo head and tree head" (see below) and features two characters for a comic that he did in flight: volume 4, which i also own. its weird, for someone who has been artistic my whole life, he's the first artist i've really latched on to and connected with since i wanted to be a comic book artist back in high school. back then, my biggest inspiration was joe madureria (although i still think hes good, you can see how drastically my tastes have changed).

i don't know what it is about scott's stuff... i think its the idea's behind what he does (which i admit is where my creative issues arise). i read an interview with him once, and he said he used to tape record conversations that people were having around him in restaurants and on the train and what not... i think thats awesome. and you can really see that a lot (more so in his comics than his art, but you get it).

i was just trying to think of where i first heard of scott, and i remember that he was the lead artist and character designer for the excellent game, Psychonauts... seriously one of the best (and funniest, which is rare) games that i've ever played. its about a psychic summer camp for kids where they're trained to use their powers, and ever level of the game actually takes place in the psyche of another character. Coach Oleander (the camp counselor/ex-military general) has a literal battlefield in his head; Milla Vodello (international secret agent and party girl) has a disco club in her head... all very clever and all very hilarious. i think i'm gonna have to dive back into that one sometime soon...

perfectionist pattern

so my boss had me take a personality profile today at work. he's talked about it a lot in the past and how it helped him realize how he needs to deal with people and what not.

it was interesting. specifically, i took the DiSC profile which rates you in four different areas:

Dominance: People who score high in the intensity of the 'D' styles factor are very active in dealing with problems and challenges, while low D scores are people who want to do more research before committing to a decision.

Influence: People with High I scores influence others through talking and activity and tend to be emotional. Those with Low I scores influence more by data and facts, and not with feelings.

Steadiness: People with High S styles scores want a steady pace, security, and don't like sudden change. Low S intensity scores are those who like change and variety.

Conscientiousness: Persons with High C styles adhere to rules, regulations, and structure. They like to do quality work and do it right the first time. Those with Low C scores challenge the rules and want independence.

i wasn't a huge fan of the question format. they give you four statements about how you act/feel at work and are asked to select one that describes you the most and one that describes you the least. there were 28 total questions which lead to a rating between 0 and 28 for each category. my breakdown was:
Dominance: 2
Influence: 13
Steadiness: 25
Conscientiousness: 22

that ranking puts me in the "perfectionist pattern" and then supposedly gives me insight on my motivations, my work habits, my and ideal work environment. basically, i consistently produce high-quality, detail oriented work at the cost increased creative restraint and cautious deliberation.

good adjectives: dependent, charming, patient, loyal, courteous, logical
bad adjectives: predictable, mild, unsure, conventional, restrained, passive

i suppose thats fairly accurate.

**update**
so i just got done meeting with my boss, and found something very interesting. for your reference, here's the graph that i got with my assessment:


















it turns out my boss and i are complete opposites... my extremes (low D and high S) and are exactly flipped (he has a hight D and low S). i guess that puts a nice set of checks and balances in place in a business... food for thought.