Back From Vegas!

Well, I'm back from Las Vegas, and what an awesome trip it was. As a matter of fact, it was so awesome and multi-faceted that I am going to have to write many different posts about it. I'll tease it up a little by saying that the "Richard White Vegas Experience" will have to be presented in 15 shorter segements, beginning tomorrow:

1. Breakfast at 2 am
   
2. The NAB2006 Conference
3. Hypnotic
4. Sin City, indeed!
   
5. Harley Davidson and the Vegas Prophet
6. I Would Walk 500 Miles
7. NAB Wednesday with Dick!
   
8. Slow Bus from China
9. Carrot Top
10. If I see another Wetzel...
11. The man who knew my name (aka, the freakiest moment of my life)
    
12. The Magic of Rick Thomas
13. Avenue Q (be prepared for the longest of my Vegas ramblings)
    
14. Breakfast at 2 am part 2
15. The Mad Dash

Until tomorrow I'll be resting up for a big day at church. Can't wait to share my pics and insights about Las Vegas with you!

Hey, Baby, let's go to Vegas!

I'm leaving on a jet plane to Vegas this afternoon, so expect very little blogging this week. I'll be back next weekend to review my experiences.

Oh, and, Jessica and Cailey: I love you and will miss you!

Restoration Designs

The next sermon series by Kent, starting two weeks from today, will feature restoration, spiritual and otherwise. This series should be awesome, complete with dramas for about eight weeks. We'll be printing banners and poster banners, so this'll be a precurser of things to come after our July Sabbath month. The drama illustrations in the service will be centered around a garage and a motorcycle restoration, which really gets down to a personal level. The design to the left is the official design and the design below right is the optional 2nd design. While I like both designs, I certainly understand the choice made for a main design. Its a lot more simple than the complex schematics design, but I also love the concept of the schematics, which exist due to Andrew's brainstorm. I tend to prefer a lot of clutter around technical type designs and most people just see the clutter, but as I mentioned, it could be used for banners or other somesuch, so i haven't given up yet on it's usefullness. The logo itself will be present on large banners around the campus.

New Audio Bio Posted

Another newbie on My Audio Bio. Indulge yourself. In the meantime, here's the sugar bear!

EVEN MORE Funny Scary Stuff

Here's one for the ages, and it tells how sentimental I have been throughout the years. I had some good times at WTJP TV60 when it was under the All American Network Banner. I was the Southeastern Regional Production Manager for AAN and we had a lot of fun learning a lot of new video techniques with non-linear editing and show production. Of course there are always hang ups and annoying people wherever you go, but, as the long and short of it goes, AAN was bought out by TBN. Now, AAN was already affiliated with TBN, but I didn't really want to be hired by TBN. Of course, TBN made sweeping changes, took away our hope for the future, took away our equipment, and fired employees. This left me pretty much creatively bankrupt, leading to my disillusionment with the network. I worked with some good friends at TV60 and so I did this image as a tribute to them in our last days. The people featured are Eric Martin, who is currently lead singer for Stained Glass Republic, Andrew Willmore, cartoonist-and-still-hanging-on Production Manager at TV60, myself, and Ryan Humphrey, and I don't know what he is doing nowadays, but he was a dedicated employee. This was my amateur attempt at an homage. Laugh all you like, but we had some good times!

New Audio Bio Posted

I have, once again, bared my soul to everyone on my audio blog. I'm still working towards the more difficult aspects of my life, so I've kept it failry upbeat until this point. Soon, however, I will begin the hard stuff, (perhaps after Vegas) and I expect that to be very cathartic for me. Until then, enjoy my niceties, and this picture of Toucan Sam, whose nose always knows.

MORE Funny Scary Stuff - George and Andy

While I was perusing my older Graphic Design stuff, I found an image I had done in my early years for practice. I can't really remember what joke that Andrew and I had that led to this fine work of art, but, as you can tell, it was probably completely insane. Of course, I've been wondering about my sanity lately anyway, as I continue to post things that are obviously painful to my ego. Go figure. Andrew, if you can remember what the joke to this was, please remind me. I'd like to know!

New Audio Bio Posted

Swing by and check it. And for your trouble, here's the Cookie Crook, Chip the dog, and Officer Crumb!

Vegas, BABY! NAB, here I come!

I'm pretty excited, because this Sunday I get to go to the National Association of Broadcasters convention and their Technologies for Worship Conference in Sunny Sin City. Now, I love a good techie conference, and this is the biggest one in the world! We're staying at the famous Circus Circus hotel and casino, and I'm actually truly excited about several things.

1. I get to fly again. Always a plus.
2. It's the NAB! I've always wanted to go!
3. I get to, once again, sit under the tutelage of Golden Eagle and Emmy award winning Dick Reizner. I learned a lot of my "tricks" of the trade from him years ago in his "mixed bag of tricks" conference at Diamond studios in Birmingham, AL. It's time for me to glean more!
   
4. VEGAS, BABY! I've never been to Las Vegas, but I've always wanted to go.
5. Tech exhibits. The world's largest. Hands on with the world's most cutting edge, unreleased equipment.
   
6. Blackjack. Must. Play. Once.
7. Buffets.
8. Slot Machines.
9. Learning. I love to learn more about my craft. It always gives me a morale boost and inspires me to really stretch myself.
10. Shows
11. Last, but certainly not least - travelling with Josh Van Wycke, Jonathan Tompkins, and Jeff Freeman, three men that I truly enjoy being around.

Of course, there are a some negatives as well.

1. I'll be away from Cailey for almost a week.
2. I'll be away from Jessica for almost a week.

But I think the positive outweigh the negative on this trip. ;)

Funny Scary Stuff Part Four (cause I don't know the French for four.)

This is the last of my early designs for KMM, The Life of a Radical Believer. I can't say too much in defense of this piece, as even in concept it is pretty poor. My idea of a Radical believer back then was apparently someone who lifts their hands in praise to God. Not very radical. Mix that in with a picture of a far from radical church, a background including a bible that only an old woman would have, and a "subliminal" message of a cup overflowing, and Voila! You have what is probably the worst stuff I've done. This design is excrement from concept to design, and the only positive thing i can find in it is that the silhouette is of - you guessed it - Andrew. Which means that I not only go to him for art, but also stock images. Boy. I'm glad we all experience Radical growth, cause this one's a steamer.

Look and Live Resurrection Day Design

Tell me that when you walk into a church on Easter Sunday that you are expecting to see this on your bulletin. No way. I've never been a part of a Resurrection Service that puts the universal symbol for sin on the cross. Of course it makes sence if you think about it. This should be a great service this weekend, and I am looking forward to seeing the final product on Sunday. I really enjoyed doing this design, because as soon as Kent told me we were doing Look and Live, this is what I saw in my head. Of course I had to find my source images, which took quite a long while to do. When I was finally finished researching the images, I had found no snake that would fit the bill perfectly. I did find a pretty good image of a snake curled up facing us, but nothing coiled around anything. SO, I had to do some "Digital Snake Charming" to make this puppy climb the cross. It took me 2 days to research and tweak the design until I reached the finished product you see before you, and it is my favorite work to date, possibly because of its coordination with the message and that it was kind of a labor of love. For fun, I'll post the two images that I used to create with, and keep in mind that I used ONLY these two images, meaning I had to significantly alter the snake to wrap it around. What do you think?

Funny Scary Stuff Part Trois

Here's another gem... I am, once again, amazed at the sheer inexperience I had as a designer. The awesome wood effect is, yes, a cheap door face! Thems "special" effects right there! I took a picture of the wood grain on a door! I... am... embarrassed... to... post... this. I am seriously reconsidering the notion of posting this old stuff. Oh, well, I guess if anyone reads this, then the damage is done. The blood in this picture was supplied by the talented and handsome Andrew Willmore. He's the one I run to when i need art. Notice the "subliminal" Jesus hidden in the door grain. The idea in my head was good, but my head was apparently screwed up. My God. I'm posting this on the internet, where people could see it. Help me.

Al Frankenberry

Whilst searching yon Google for a picture of Frankenberry to adorn my post about my Audio Bio, I stumbled across this picture of Al Franken alongside Frankenberry, and I was blown away. Look at the resemblance. Factor in Al Franken's way too "over the top" Liberal views and Frankenberry's namesake book by Mary Shelley (Frankenstein - which was about the fall of civilization to industry), and I believe we have more than "coincidence." That is just too freaky...

New Audio Bio Posted

I've posted another song on my Audio Biography Blog. Check It out and share the love, which is apparently all I'm thinking about right now...

Here's Frankenberry to encourage you that Richard's Audio Bio is a part of this complete breakfast.

Funny Scary Stuff Part Deux

Here lies Part 2 of my weird series showing off how "good" I was when I started doing this about 6 or 7 years ago. I loved doing this when I started. I wanted the skills badly enough and I did about a hundred online tutorials just to learn the tools in Photoshop. I've done a lot since then and, IMO, come along way, but I still only know a fraction of what the program offers. Aren't we all supposed to keep learning? This "design" makes me physically cringe, but it also gives me a great idea. If I ever have the time, I'm going to re-design all of my old designs to prove that the ideas were solid, it was just the execution that was lacking. (Don't hold your breath, however, I don't get much free time)

As a footnote, I should give my Pastors Kent and Beverly, along with our Administrator Josh a huge thank you. They gave me a shot and had confidence in me even after seeing this powerful art (read: horrible catastrophe), and I couldn't thank them enough for what they've done for me.

Funny Scary Stuff - My earliest designs(?) Ewwww.

Alright, I'm gonna bite the bullet and do this. I am posting, for your eyes only, some of my earlier Photoshop designs. This stuff is not for the faint of heart, so be forewarned... the first post is going to be a design that I tried to do for Kent Mattox Ministries back in the day before there was a Word Alive International Outreach, my current employer. Keep in mind that my current stuff looks like the Awake, Awake, O Zion design posted a while back and looks NOTHING LIKE THIS AT ALL. This stuff was done circa 1999-2000, so I've come a long way since then. This design was for a tape series entitled "Caution, Don't Limit God!" and was I ever proud of this one! I thought I had made it bigtime with these designs, more of which you will see later. Click the pic blow for all of its HIDEOUSNESS. And laugh at my earlier futilities.

New Audio Bio Posted

I've added a new song to my audio bio. Check it, G. And in Spectacular Richard White tradition, here's an awesome new cereal mascot for your enjoyment.

Kiki's Delivery Service REVIEW

Wow. It's been a long time since I posted anything. I've been somewhat busy, even on my days off. It's hard sometimes to manage a personal life, a job, and me time. BTW, this is my me time....

ANYWAY, Friday night I watched Kiki's Delivery Service thanks to the handsome and talented Andrew Willmore. As you know, I'm in somewhat of a Miyazaki kick, so I might as well watch all of his movies that I can, right? I really like some of Miyazaki's older stuff. It has an innocence to it that his later movies forego. Granted, I like his later films more than his earlier stuff as a rule because they happen to have a lot of depth to them. But Kiki's delivery service delivers on so many levels. The characterization is great, the progression works well, and, like all of the Studio Ghibli films, the animation is top notch.

This movie is, like My Neighbor Totoro, a great film for kids. It pure fantasy and the great thing about the films from Studio Ghibli is that they take fantasy seriously. The characters are never watered down for children, and the story still retains its appeal to children. While the story may not be a psychological thriller on any level, it is enjoyable to watch.

THE FINAL SAY

Well, according to my personal traditions, I must now rate this movie on the Richard White SCALES OF JUDGEMENT! Using a carefully designed rating chart and rules, along with a dash of lemon pepper, I have determined that Kiki's Delivery Service is a 7/10! This just happens to be my least favorite Myazaki film, and it is not bad, but compared to the others, its pretty low key. I highly reccommend it!

Andrew Willmore's Tony the Tiger

My good friend Andrew did this most hilarious comic strip and posted it on his blog. He's quite the talented man. Click the picture if you can't read it. It's Good! If you like it, check out his stuff at his site, or his blog!

New Audio Bio Posted Again...

Huzzah! A new Audio Bio Post by my wonderful self. Check it. No more tonight, although I gots lots to say... wanna chill with my honey, see. Until then, here's Cap'n Crunch.

MSN Dating & Personals - Do successful women have trouble dating?

MSN Dating & Personals - Do successful women have trouble dating?

When I opened my browser this morning, this graphic and article stared me in the face from MSN.com. I don't really have to read the article to know the trouble with dating successful women. You see, they attribute the lack of dates for successful women with quotes like "The traditional male role is to be the provider and protector. If a guy loses that, he may feel like he’s losing his pride" and "Many men do get intimidated by a woman who earns more or is more successful." Now, I have known a surprisingly good number of successful women in my life and I have found, without much exception, that 90% of them are just mean. I'm afraid that the problem does not really lie with the "secret insecurities" of men, but with the "real crabbiness" of successful women.

Now, this may seem like a generalization, but if you know any successful women that you haven't known since kindergarten, you know how much they expect people to go out of their way to please them. Like they're gonna leave something to me in their will. Ha! And of course I'll generalize. Surely MSN's generalization grants me the liberty to do the same. If they generalize that successful women can't get dates, then I can generalize as to why.

I also realize that, in some circles, to be successful as a woman requires one to be a bit more aggressive in their chosen field of labor. That, however, often carries over into their personal lives. It's not a wonder successful women, as a whole, can't get a date. Who wants to be treated like an employee during and after hours? Unless, of course, you're into that kind of thing. ;)

My Neighbor Totoro REVIEW

Okay. I was into anime when everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE) in America was calling it "Japanimation". Ugh. How contrived. ANYwho... I watched a lot of anime movies and series back then. So much so that I quickly tired of the genre. However, with Andrew's fascination with Japan, coupled with John Crutchfield's recent discovery and love of all things Miyazaki, I've been watching more Studio Ghible films, including Howl's Moving Castle and My Neighbor Totoro, both shinging examples of what is right with anime. These films overflow with creativity and I am once again becoming a little more interested in anime.

I liked My Neighbor Totoro, but I'm not sure I liked it as much as Howl's Moving Castle. Of course, this is a completely different movie. Totoro, while enchanting and excellent, moved at a much slower pace that Howl's Moving Castle. I developed quite an affection for the children in the film, as they were characterized perfectly in accordance with childhood imaginations. The Totoro scared Cailey a touch when it would scream, "To-To-RO" and such, but she's only 22 months. Other than that, even she enjoyed the film. Perhaps my favorite character in the film is the Nekobus, or catbus. What a strange, disturbing, drug trip character. It was half Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland and Half Nightbus from Harry Potter. And it had animated testicles. That's always a plus.

All in all, I have to say that I give this film a 9/10 on the Richard White SCALES OF JUDGMENT! I can't say that I liked it as much as Howl's, but I can't discredit anything in the film either, so, a 9 it is. Plus, it has helped to get me back into the Japan scene, and that, my friends, is no small feat!