Entries from April 2007 ↓

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Take the quiz and find out.

My score: 75%, with three of my five errors being related to geography. I probably need to get out more.

Answer: The Bucket

“Liar, lawyer, mirror, show me what’s the difference.”
– Tool

‘Wordsmith’ ambigram

langdon ambigram illusion

The word “Wordsmith” reads exactly the same when rotated 180 degrees.

Source: John Langdon

Slowfari

It’s true! I just did my own test. Using Safari can slow your system down as much as 76% vs. Firefox on a Mac.

Get Firefox here.

My two favorite improvements in Flash CS3 after using it for a week

When Adobe acquired Macromedia a couple years ago, I almost did a backflip. Not so much for business reasons, but because of the creative implications. The idea of merging (and Adobify-ing) Adobe’s superior graphic design tools (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat) with Macromedia’s comparatively clunky Web development tools (Dreamweaver and Flash) promised nothing but joy to those of us who use all of them on a daily basis.

I’ve been using CS3 for about a week, and have already noticed two monstrous improvements to Flash that are nothing short of world-changing. (My world, anyway.) Both of these specific improvements are directly related to the larger improvement Adobe’s made in integrating Flash with its brother Photoshop and sister Illustrator, creating an almost seamless workflow. They are:

1. Flash can now import native Photoshop and Illustrator files, preserving the layer structure.

It’s about time! Praise God!

2. The Pen Tool has been updated in Flash, where drawing objects is now more consistent with what we’re used to in Illustrator and Photoshop.

Not a moment too soon! Hallelujah!

Possessed

“Paint like a fiend when the idea possesses you.”
– Robert Hann, The Art Spirit

Neighbors

jace and roy

“Neighbors”
Two neighbors, a camera, and Photoshop
2007

“Singles” Exercises 9 through 12

Singles

Source: Thomas Lang

‘Singularity’ ambigram

langdon ambigram illusion

The word “Singularity” reads exactly the same when rotated 180 degrees.

Source: John Langdon

The Tropical Beauty

Tropical beauty, taken from home,
Shipped ‘cross the sea, o’er oceans of foam.
Sold to the corp, all boxed in a crate,
Labeled and bagged, according to date.
Trucked to a store, with a logo of green,
Put on a shelf, according to bean.
Grabbed from that shelf, by a man on his out,
Who promises love, which she’ll find, there’s no doubt.
The man takes this beauty, and grinds her to dust,
Having his way with her, destroy her he must.
With dawn in the air, and sleep in his eyes,
It’s time for the beauty to face her demise.
With water to boil, he packs her down tight,
This tropical beauty, now facing her plight.
Through process of habit, the beauty’s now turned,
To a liquid of sorts, a royalty earned.
Her soul now in cup, her shell tossed away,
She meets some hot milk, to start the man’s day.
Now absorbed, disappeared, now otherwise gone,
By her love, in her man, through the morning lives on.

Grandchildren of Brothers

steph and jace

“Grandchildren of Brothers”
Two paternal second-cousins, a camera, and Photoshop
Random bar crawl, San Pedro 2007