Bah, humbug...

The christmas season is well upon us. Trees are up and decorated; lights have been drunkenly strewn over trees; holiday music is in it's third month of playing in stores...
...but something is missing.

Somewhere along the line, I seem to have misplaced my "holiday spirit."

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy this time of year - giving gifts to friends and family; (soy)nog by a roaring fire - but I just don't feel all that festive. Maybe it's because I'm older; maybe I've become too jaded by a materialistic society. Who knows.

I wasn't always like this. I can remember being a kid, lying awake in my bed in the early morning; trembling with the anticipation of seeing what the jolly fat guy had stuffed down the chimney. I can remember racing down the stairs to a lighted Christmas tree with my sister, dumping the contents of our stockings on the floor and talking in excited whispers so not to awaken our parents. We failed, of course, and - after my parents got a cup or two of coffee in their system - wrapping paper would fly over the living room as it was ripped from gifts. Afterwards - after the carnage was cleaned up - we'd relax, have a little breakfast, and pretty much zone out for the day.

Now, I look forward to December 25th as a day off from work; a day to relax and decompress. More often than not, I'm working both the day before and early the day after so travel is very limited. I get more joy from finding something unique as a gift for someone instead of receiving anything. Hell, I have pretty much everything I need and there's nothing I really want (save for a better job).

Enjoy the holiday however you choose. And remember that gift wrap is recyclable.

I have no words....well, some words...

RE: "Underdog" Live-Action Movie
Dear Hollywood:

Please, please, please stop shitting like a diarrhetic wildebeest over my childhood memories. The only way you can atone for this is to light the script for this cataclysmic disaster on fire and use it to gouge your eyes out.

Thank you.

-------------

There. Now I feel a bit better. I really wish I was making this up, I really do. But I'm not. What's next? A golden retreiver Hong Kong Phooey? A russian blue Tom paired with a fieldmouse Jerry? Where does it stop? There's a "Transformers" movie in the works - directed by Michael Bay - wherein "stuff blows up neat." I'm not expecting great things from this, honestly, but it looks a damned sight better than a fuckin' flying beagle.

Can you remember a time when movies had actual scripts and actors? When a "special effect" was a smoke pellet in a pistol, and not a goddamned computer-generated piece of scenery? Remember Bogey and Bacall? Cary Grant? Mel Brooks?

If you do, you're one of the few. Today's movies seem to be more about attempting to connect with the audience through some sense of childhood nostalgia rather than with strong writing and actors.

Gone are the days of Bogey's dramatic draw on a cigarette, replaced by catchpenny one-liners unconvincingly uttered by the likes of Ah-nuld. Gone are the days of intelligent writing and new ideas, replaced by hackneyed cliches and ideas thieved from TV shows and video games.

There are still movies that I want to see - I like to see stuff blow up neat just as much as the next guy - but I miss movies that draw you in, and hold you entranced with the story and the characters. There's still some out there - mostly independent films - but they're few and far between.

Now, if you'll excuse me I think I need to pull out my copy of Casablanca.

I've really got to learn to shut up...

No, really. I do. A perfect example is this:


That, gentle reader, is a KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer. This nifty piece of kitchenware showed up on my doorstep after my wife and I returned from visiting her dad and his wife (Melissa).

During the visit, Melissa asked me if there was anything that we needed for our kitchen. I told her no, but we were saving up for the aforementioned mixer...
...
And now you see where I went wrong. I was thinking, "hey, this is a nearly $400 item; they wouldn't think of buying it for us. Besides, I just told them that we were saving up for it." BIG mistake. I should've known something was amiss when Melissa pulled out the catalogue and flipped RIGHT TO THE PAGE with all of the mixers.

So, back at home the mixer shows up. Naturally, the wife and I are all sorts of confused, bemused, shocked, and amazingly grateful. Of course we called to extend grand amounts of thanks to them, but I'm not sure it's enough; it feels like I should be doing something more to show my appreciation for them sending us this amazing gizmo.

This may be a bit strange, but it's still in the box. We're a bit nervous about pulling it out - a bit because we don't have a ton of counter space; partly because it's still really shiny; and a bit because I'm terrified of breaking the freakin' thing. Eventually it'll come out of the box, and we'll use it and be all "ooo" and "aaaaa."

For now, though, the picture on the box is really neat.

Good HTML coding is your friend.

Today I received this in my spam-box:

(click on thumbnail to embiggen)

The email is from - as far as I know - a design company looking for business. My question is this: how can I trust their design skills when they can't figure out how to send an HTML-based email?

Looking at the email, it appears that they forgot the < head > and < /head > tags. Yes, I know it's spam, but bad design is bad design no matter what the content. Take the time to double-check your code; make sure it's working the way it should. Then send it out to the public.

As for it being a design agency, I have my doubts. But, assuming it is, how confident would you be asking for their services? If they can't format an HTML file correctly, can they colour separate correctly? Do they know the difference between serif and sans-serif fonts, even?

I don't want to besmirch their "agency," but as a designer myself I feel it's in my best interest - and the interests of my clients - to make sure that whatever piece I'm working on is not only visually but technically competent.

Anything less makes you a piss-poor designer.