Commanders

Mon, Aug 30, 2010 – 23:14

As anyone who pays attention to Star Trek culture knows, one of the most important debates ever is which captain is the best. So here are my views on this matter. Also I am expanding it to “people in charge of space vessels on TV” since Nate always complains when the people I like are not technically captains.

  1. Admiral Adama: This guy is the Chuck Norris of the science fiction world. Remember that movie “Stand and Deliver” about a math teacher who convinces a whole class of low-income hispanic students to learn calculus? He was played by the same actor. This guy can kick the butt of anyone who needs it, command the remnants of human civilization to Earth while being chased by the murderous Cylon fleet, and still have the hearts of his crew.
  2. Captain Reynolds: I think Mal has so much character that it makes up for other deficiencies of awesomeness. He swears in Chinese, picks fights with anyone he chooses, and generally has no regard for anyone. No matter how much of an idiot he’s been, he can always win with panache.
  3. Captain Sisko: hah, yes you read that right. Benjamin Sisko comes in ahead of both Kirk and Picard in my book even though some people will tell you he is not a captain. He combines the best of both worlds (so to say), is able to negotiate civilly with Dominion agents, shout down a misbehaving officer, get into fistfights and negotiate bureaucracy, and does all of this with a more consistent character than some other fictional leaders. Also he is scary when he gets angry, which I can’t really say for the other captains.
  4. Captain Picard: my mom will disown me if I list Kirk first, and anyway I think Picard has a lot more dimension to him. Less of the “we come in peace, fire all phasers” attitude as well as less skirt-chasing. On the other hand, less kick-assery, so this is a close decision.
  5. Captain Kirk: he’s a classic, but I mostly find him amusing. I guess it’s hard not to be when you’re wearing a shirt that looks like the top half of a bathrobe and 1960s flared crop pants over boots. And when you can’t speak a whole sentence without … pauses… for dramatic … emphasis.

Those are the regulars I can think of. Did I miss anybody?

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Custard Farmers

Fri, Aug 27, 2010 – 20:13

Junior’s Burgers & Custard commissioned another couple of items from me. First, a modified version of the menus I made previously, this time to fit in the backlit display at their Champaign location. I went with a blue background to make the letters stand out better when lit from behind.

Second was the assignment to make a window skin to cover half their custard display cabinet. Since they have a limited number of flavors, they wanted something pretty to cover the empty part of the glass shield. I brought Chelsey Tyler back on board for this one since we were on a tight schedule and she did such a great job before. I sent over rough version of what I had in mind, she followed that up with a more creative sketch with all the shading and perspective in place, and then I went back over it to “ink” it in Junior’s two-color scheme.

The goal with this was to continue the modernized “Golden Age of America” aesthetic while reminding Junior’s loyal customers of their homegrown local pride for farming and the Illini.

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The Called

Sun, Aug 22, 2010 – 09:19

Recently, Nate directed me to Riven X, which allowed me to run the 5 CDs through my computer and install the 13-year-old game on my laptop (without having to change disks every time I go to a different island). I am completely in love with the whole Myst series. I now have Myst on my iPod Touch, and Riven, Myst IV and V, and Uru on my laptop. I look forward to the day when I can play black-and-white Spelunx again on a modern system.

Anyway, the Myst Online: Uru Live community calls itself “The Called,” similar to the way Star Trek fans are referred to as Trekkies. The term comes from a speech by Yeesha, the Grower, who (in game mythology) will rebuild the destroyed D’ni civilization. The MMO, Uru, presents the idea that Yeesha will regrow D’ni culture using the Called, who are humans that feel mysteriously drawn to the underground Earth cavern where the D’ni lived. There has been quite a bit of debate, I understand, as to how this would happen in the real world. I think the consensus is that it would be a kind of genetic memory like salmon runs or something, and that only part-D’ni humans would return to the Cavern. The question is then, since the D’ni were sealed in their cave until the Myst series starts, when would they have shared genetics with humans?

Well, after careful reading of the Riven journals, it seems Cyan gives us the answer. Both Catherine (the wife of the hero, if Atrus can be called a hero) and Gehn (the antagonist) mention in their journals that the natives of the Riven islands take to D’ni technology and ideas very quickly. Both characters speculate if perhaps the Rivenese have some D’ni blood (presumably the D’ni had long ago created a link, now lost, to Riven or something).

Once we establish that the Riven natives have D’ni blood, the question becomes simple. Catherine wrote the Star Fissure into the Linking Book to Riven. Although it appears to be a fissure from the island directly into space, it allows matter to be “hospitably exchanged” between two Ages, like a wormhole – and as we know from Uru, the other end of the Star Fissure is at the Cleft, right next to the entrance to D’ni.

When Gehn was first trapped on Riven, he did a bunch of inhuman tests about the Star Fissure, which included flinging Rivenese miscreants in and seeing what happened to them. Of course, since things, including Atrus’s Myst book and people, get direct transportation from Riven to the Cleft, 18th century Earth now has D’ni blood via the Rivenese immigrants.

And through science fiction magic, some special people feel called to the Cleft to start a journey to rebuild D’ni. Which explains why some people are such big Myst fans. It’s our genetics.

Well I think it’s cool, so there.

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Dandin the Ferret

Thu, Aug 19, 2010 – 21:39

Peggy and her mom asked me to take some pictures of their geriatric ferret. He’s really old at this point (and blind, deaf, and with little use of his hind legs), so we hoped he would be chill enough for me to take some nice pictures. Well it turns out, that Dandin still has a lot of energy!

He was so wiggly that I had trouble tracking him and keeping him in the frame long enough to get nice in-focus pictures of him. I think that since smell and touch are the only senses left to him, he had to keep his nose in constant motion to know what was going on.

Anyway, adorable ferret pictures resulted all the same. I guess if you push the button enough, some of them are bound to turn out well, right? ^_^

Dandin escapes his clothes!

Peggy & Dandin

Trying to get him in his clothes.

A fur collar?

Peeking out of the box

Bowl o' Ferret!

Pausing to smell the flowers

I think this picture describes the slippery little weasel.

Peggy and her man

Delivery for you!

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Test Design Project

Tue, Aug 17, 2010 – 17:05

A German design studio assigned me a test project last week to see how my design skills are before they agreed to take me. The assignment was to redesign the homepage for audimark.de, a young, forward-looking internet radio advertising company. They sent along a brief with some general info about the client, some adjectives, etc., and I was to create a new logo and design for the front page. The blank boxes are for the logos of their partners. I think I spent about 14 hours on this all total, but I didn’t keep track. Here’s the result:

Audimark Site Design Mockup

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Junior’s Burgers & Custard

Sat, Aug 14, 2010 – 13:38

Things have been kind of quiet around here as I hunt for jobs and work on freelance stuff. Just finished a new design project this week for my client, Junior’s Burgers & Custard. They’re a local burger shop looking to expand, and of course they need a new look!

Here’s the old menu style:

And here’s mine, a wall menu with blank space to hand-write fluctuating prices and a variable flavor calendar for each item. Target audience: construction workers on lunch breaks and mothers with kids looking for afternoon treats. So I did a lot of research into American WWII posters and other designs from the 1930s-50s, and tried to aim my style at a pro-American, pro-Illini, family-oriented crowd, with plenty of the youthful look Junior’s was going for in their original menu. Click for the larger image – each panel was printed 20″x40″!

I’ve really enjoyed working with Junior on this project – he’s been a great client, giving me a lot of freedom and being really enthusiastic about the design. Next up, formatting the menus for another of their locations, and a design for the front of their custard bucket display for listing all the tasty toppings you can put on your sundaes.

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Youthful Learning Experiences, or #201579

Mon, Aug 2, 2010 – 11:48

Lately I’ve been learning an important life lesson. Well, several actually. First, I’m learning Adam’s advice of “you’re not hired until there’s a signed contract” first-hand, and learning that it actually happens frequently and not “that kind of thing happens to someone else.” Since leaving safe little nest of high school, I’ve had trouble accepting the idea that the world is full of people who rate getting ahead of each other as a higher priority than getting along, and it’s gotten me into scrapes and confusion plenty of times. Not least because I was unhappy just by having so little grasp of what was going on in my peers’ heads.

Ahhh New York. Very different from the slower-paced Midwest.

Anyway, I forgot myself, and didn’t think about the idea that just because the German company was enthusiastic about me meant they actually would hire me. Practical considerations made it necessary for them to ultimately think of themselves and their business.

Which brings me to the second life lesson:

People have better things to do than wait around for me, and are probably doing them, not being annoyed that I’m taking so god damn long deciding. I didn’t find as much acceptance in college as I had hoped for, and now being liked has become more a higher priority than it should be. Therefore, I’ve become vulnerable to something called “peer pressure.” It teaches you you’re inconveniencing the people around you when you really aren’t, whether it’s about where you sit or deciding when you’re going to Europe.

So I thought I had to force myself into a decision for the other people (instead of doing it for myself), and ended up doing a terrible job of it. For one thing, don’t burn the boats behind you if you haven’t actually gotten to dry land yet.

The whole reason I was having so much trouble deciding on a course was that the last time I made one of these major life decisions, I feel like I screwed it up. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do, exactly how awesome it would be, and within a few months of starting, it was sinking in that I may have made a big mistake. My mom assures me that I couldn’t have known it would turn out that way, but part of me is sure that if I’d only thought about it more, somehow I could have known and avoided making the mistake.

So when it came time to decide between two (reasonably good) balanced options, I agonized and pondered, and was ultimately paralyzed by the fear of failure. And somehow, with what I can only think are very 1337 skillz, I managed to screw up both options. Luckily that’s not the end of the story, but the two options I was deciding between both kind of got scrapped and now I’m looking at other offers… Ones that may turn out to be better in the end.

Occasionally I play the Sims. Periodically during my Sim’s career, a box pops up with a little story about, for example, my scientific invention and do I plug this silly widget in here or this other place. I get two options, Here, or Other Place, and the story offers no hints between them. It’s perfectly balanced, and I have no way of knowing which it is. And that decision is the difference between my character losing their job and starting over from the bottom, or a promotion all the way to the top. I usually try to remember to save right before the character goes to work, so I can go back to the save if I screw up.

It never occurred to me that this was supposed to be a life lesson in coming to terms with the results of your decisions.

#201579

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Fall into the Stars

Wed, Jul 28, 2010 – 16:26

Lately I’ve been looking at a lot of retro work for one of my freelance projects, and I’ve been admiring Simon Page’s work. I would love to develop such a simple, “scientific” looking approach to design, and the dynamic simplicity of his pieces take away some of the aspects I like best about styles like Swiss Design and Constructivism.

This pair of desktops are inspired by his work and the song “The Play” written by Peter Mayer and sung by Priscilla Herdman (Priscilla is one of my favorite singers ♥). I like the line “Sometimes I lay on the ground and imagine that the sky is down / And if the earth should then let go, I’d fall into the stars below” in particular, as it always reminds me of the Star Fissure in Myst. Even if the line isn’t grammatically correct.

Galaxy/Telescope

Shooting Stars

I just made them in 1280×800, but if you’d like a different size let me know.

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Choices

Sat, Jul 24, 2010 – 19:05

I know that pretty much everybody (including myself) is confused about what will be going on in Ellenland in the upcoming year. Having finished my education for the moment, I’m at a crossroads of deciding where to go next, and I’ve been feeling pretty paralyzed with the decision. In hindsight I expect it will be clear that I overthought this, but right now it seems an incredibly important choice, and one that I’m very nervous about making. I’m not used to not knowing what I want out of life. Information has been slowly trickling in about my options, and I’m finally reaching the point where I have to make a decision.

My choices for the next 6-12 months

A flowchart of the options I'm considering.

  1. A non-design company outside of Dortmund would like me to come work with them on designing a new website for their expanding business. Although I wouldn’t make any money, I would presumably have inexpensive living costs covered. I wouldn’t be advancing my career directly, but I would be achieving a personal goal of working in Germany – something that would also look good on a resume. I feel that working abroad would also help clear up pessimism, be more of a fresh start, and I could visit design companies in other cities to make contacts for later. The location seems good – a small but centrally-located town from which I could easily reach the rest of Germany’s most populous state. They’ve been enthusiastic and welcoming. On the other hand, I do want stability and to feel like a grown-up more than an exchange student. I’m getting impatient to start “real work.”If I can’t live within the very modest compensation, it would be on my dime, and I’m rather partial to the savings I’ve built up. A lot of places in the agreement seem kind of patchy and vague, although I’ve been told that this is normal because they want to adapt things to me after they’ve gotten to know me.
    Pros:

    • work up to a year in Germany (but only committing to 6 months)
    • weekend sightseeing and occasionally visiting people I know in Europe
    • make German design contacts for later
    • some individual responsibilities
    • a safety net of people looking out for me
    • sounds like a nice location
    • escape!

      • Cons:

    • not making real money; could have lost money in the end
    • often vague and unplanned; somewhat insecure
    • delays starting “grown-up life” until at least next spring
    • workplace/flatmates might be a bad fit
    • internship, rather than full-fledged position
    • feels a lot scarier and more risky

  2. A web development company outside of Rochester would like me to move back there and work as one of their designers. I feel good about the people I’ve met there, and they’ve been eager to give me work tailored to my interests, with good freelance pay. Their head honcho has been very encouraging about my work and project management, so I might get cooler projects. Although a development company rather than a design place, they do work for big-name clients and I would get a good start on a network of contacts.

      Pros:

    • excellent starting opportunity
    • money to travel
    • full-time employment and greater expectations of me
    • networking
    • work environment probably a good fit
    • familiarity with the area and some friends from RIT
    • would be able to start right away
    • get a start on having my own home/life
    • Wegmans! ♥

      • Cons:

    • numerous people have warned me earnestly that if one doesn’t get out of town, one will be stuck in Rochester forever
    • travel would be limited to weekends or using up vacation time
    • I really don’t like Rochester
    • would need to buy/insure/drive car, buy furniture, rent apartment, commute, etc
    • still Rochester
    • am I ready to get bogged down in an office?

  3. I could continue living with my parents and freelancing for local businesses, which has been less like a real job and more like “Ellen sits around at home and noodles with software all day” which is relaxing but doesn’t make me feel very productive, no matter how much work I get done. It gives me portfolio pieces and good experience, but I have to work directly with clients and I don’t have coworkers to socialize with. Also I’m not making it pay as well as full-time would, and it doesn’t build my resume.

  4. I could continue looking for another option. From my research, this option seems like a bigger gamble – sending out resumes to find a job with a company that doesn’t know me and would likely be in an even bigger (and more expensive) city. On the other hand, if I could get one of those jobs, it would be cool to work at a high-profile company.

    5. Ultimately my options are all reasonably good. I’m not sure which choice will let me look back and say “yep I made good use of that year.” I don’t feel like I made the best use of my four years at RIT, so this is a really important question. I have a choice between taking going off on a somewhat risky/scary pursuit of interesting experiences, or taking a steady job that is a good first step in a career… or I could put on an eyepatch and become a pirate.

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OWL Poetry

Wed, Jul 21, 2010 – 18:50

My OWL class asked us to bring in a poem or quote tonight. I wouldn’t normally post this kind of thing, but I liked a couple of the choices I found, and I think it does one good to periodically acknowledge and embrace the intimate aspects of life.

“Body, Remember”
by Constantine Cavafy, translated from Greek by Rae Dalven
 Body, remember not only how much you were loved,
not only the beds on which you lay,
but also those desires for you
that glowed plainly in the eyes,
and trembled in the voice—and some
chance obstacle made futile.
Now that all of them belong to the past,
it almost seems as if you had yielded
to those desires—how they glowed,
remember, in the eyes gazing at you;
how they trembled in the voice, for you, remember, body.

“I Love Being Lost” by Karen Garrison
 I love being lost
in the sound that mud makes
when it is soft and wet and begs
your fingers to stay a little while longer
and please play some more in my earth
smell this beautiful terra firma consuming you
begging you to forsake the skillful architecture of
your hands
to make a more marvelous mess
and I love you saying look baby I have found
this branch of myself that I can use to dig
your sweet red clay to death and I say yes dig me baby
dig me as if planting love like crocuses
beneath the window of my hips.

But ultimately, I had to take Sarah up on her challenge that I draw my contribution for the evening from Star Trek:

“Humans like to touch each other. They start with the hands and go from there.” –Guinan to Lal (TNG “The Offspring”)

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