They Might Be Giants Concert in Atlanta 5-3-06

Yeah, yeah! I know that the concert was a month ago. I'm trying to catch up! Which is why I'm going to write very little about the concert itslef, except that it was the best live performance that I have ever been to. If you'd like all of the geeky details, click here for my friend Andrew's insanely detailed review and pictures. I'll post a few of my own picture highlights here and tell you that I met and got a DVD cover signed by John Flansburgh.

This is just some cool grafitti that we saw in Atlanta on our way to the Variety Playhouse. This stuff takes real talent!

Michael Leviton and Leah Hayes, the openers. They earned a new fan in me that night.

BACKLIT!

John Linnell sings!

Flansburgh rips up the guitar!

Celebrate Recovery Designs

I recently (before the Vegas trip) did a design for our newly revamped Celebrate recovery ministy, which is having a kick off evening on this Friday. Celebrate Recovery is a support group focusing on getting people delivered from their hang-ups and vices. Hopefully I will be able to post a commercial I made for this ministry as well at some point. This is a brochure that tells a little about the meetings for advertisement purposes, and it came out really well. I'm proud of the final product.

Restoration Design - Banners!

Well, if you think back, you might remember my last design for work being the Restoration design. This theme is carrying our church all the way to July, which is our Sabbath Month. We decided to use this design as a part of our overall "look" for the series, which involves a 9 week drama that unfolds in a Motorcycle Garage, hence the design. We had giant banners printed up for signage and they are currently hanging up on stage in the Sanctuary of Word Alive. Hopefully, I will be able to take a picture of the set soon to post up here. These 12 foot high banners have become our centerpieces - That's me and one of my employees Caleb Mattox on the top left, and below is my assistant, John Crutchfield, acting like giant roadkill. Yeah, I'm a weirdo, and I work with weirdos.

It's been a while

Man! It has been a while since I could regularly post on this here Blog. Hopefully I will get back into the swing of things over the next couple of days. I spend a lot of my free time working on my bathroom, but I have many things to post about, so hopefully I won't ever get so behind again - but don't count on it.

Vegas part 15 - The Mad Dash

Of course, after our second 2 am breakfast, we all kinda slept late. The problem with that is that we still had to eat, buy our families souvenirs and get to the Las Vegas Airport. We spent the better part of three hours on the town, first eating and then rushing to find those elusive souvenirs. You'd think that in as big a tourist trap as Las Vegas that one would be able to find something for the family, but all I kept seeing were $35 t-shirts that I couldn't bring myself to buy... I ended up buying Cailey a t-shirt and I bought Jessica the cheapest and most generic souvenir this side of a "collectible spoon"... a keychain. I know. I'm a horrible husband and father. It seemed that we were going to make it alright on time, but as we exited NYNY Las Vegas, we realized that, to catch a cab in Vegas, you have to be at a hotel. With a little bit of luck, and after about 20-30 minutes of waiting, we found one. By this time, it was crunch time. We sped to Circus Circus to pick up our luggage and then it was off to the airport. We were at the airport with 40 minutes to spare... we were safe. Or were we? A queue line attendant pompously announced to us that "this is an hour and a half airport everyday boys. Don't forget!" AS if we'd ever been there before. After about 15 minutes, we finally got our tickets and proceeded to the security line which was HUUGGE. It took us about 20 minutes to get through the security, ruching as fast as we could. We had 5 minutes until take off, and we still had to get on the tram to our gate... we finally reached our gate and saw- to our relief - that our plane had not departed yet. WHEW!

It was only after a 30 minute wait to board the plane that we realized that we were never really in danger of being left at all. All that running for nothing is bad on a fat man's feet.

Vegas part 14 - Breakfast at 2 am part 2

Whew! Almost finished with this 3 week long Vegas series. Yikes! After we returned from all of our Thursday show, we decided to cruise around some of the casinos for a while and, after a full night of activities we finally came back to Circus Circus at, you guessed it, around 2 am - only this time it was local time. Yep, that's 4 am Alabama time. Josh, Jonathan and I decided to hit the Pink Pony again for a late night meal while Jeffrey Freeman went to the hotel room to sleep (the wuss). What a weird way to wrap up the trip, back where we started, and accustomed to our new time zone. We ended up talking a lot about our lives and sharing our histories with each other. You know, there is something special about being able to open up about your life to someone else... to share your individual triumphs and failures, your strengths and weaknesses. And there's something about doing it in Vegas, eating breakfast at 2 am that makes it an unforgettable bonding experience. Thanks for the good times, men.

Vegas part 13 - Avenue Q

I expected to go to Vegas and see some great equipment and great shows - to be entertained and informed, but never did I expect to go and see the best broadway musical I've ever seen. It seems i had heard about Avenue Q somewhere before Vegas, as I knew it was "like sesame street for adults", but I'm not exactly sure where I heard it from. I think it was Andrew that had mentioned it to me in passing. The posters of the characters in line at the ticket booths were what piqued our curiosity on the subject. When we were looking for a show for Thursday evening, the best available show was Avenue Q. I was excited when the guys decided to go, because I thought that this show would really only appeal to me.

I was wrong.

As it turns out, Avenue Q was the best show we saw in Vegas. It's humor, originality, irreverence and artistic flare actually appealed to everyone. The entire show was acted out through a mix of humans and puppets, which made for an interesting interpretation of a Broadway musical. There were 3 human actors - Brian, Christmas Eve, and Gary Coleman (yes, THAT Gary Coleman); and the rest were puppets. Not in the traditional sense of the word, though, as each puppet had at least one actor/puppeteer assigned for motion, voice, and expression. This turned out to be a perfectly produced musical. I came to find out that Avenue Q has won 3 Tony Awards for its still ongoing stint on Broadway, and it was so popular that it branched out into Las Vegas.

The story is one that everyone can relate to on some level, despite its wacky overtones. The music was hilarious and yet oftentimes very insightful. I purchased the soundtrack as we exited the theatre, and it has remained in my CD player ever since. Even with the humor involved, the emotion of the play was palpable, culminating in what is, in short, the best production I believe I will ever see.

Vegas part 12 - The magic of Rick Thomas

After that freaky guy freakin' freaked me out, we headed across the street to the Stardust to see the Rick Thomas magic show. I thought that it might be a bit... funny, judging from his picture ads. Apparently the cool thing in magic advertisement is to look as much like Siegfried and Roy as possible. He wears a lot of make up and even has the tigers, but this guy was awesome. He performed magnificent stage illusions that were highlighted with choreography and his show girl assistants. He's really accomplished a lot and has a love for animals and motorcycles, so he uses both in his show. He was named stage magician of the year last year and I found out through his website that he produces other stage shows, designs graphics, produces and edits video, as well as houses a tiger habitat at his home in Las Vegas. Now that's my kind of versatility!! I encourage everyone to go and see his show if you are ever in Las Vegas and check out his website. The man's a phenom!

Vegas part 11 - The man who knew my name (aka, the freakiest moment of my life)

We had just gotten tickets to see Rick Thomas and Avenue Q when a man, who appeared to be homeless, stumbled by muttering to himself, somewhat like an idiot savant would do (you know, Rainman.)

As I passed him he mumbled, "rchrd...Richard... How's it going Richard?"

I answered, "I'm fiiiiiiyayayayaaaaa!" as an uneasy horror flooded over me. He knew my name. He knew MY NAME! How??

I was speechless as I listened to him immediately stumble past the next person and say their name, and they were as horrified as I was!

I was in a bit of a funk for the rest of the day... Who, or what knew my name? More importantly is why?

I'm still speechless...

Vegas part 10 - If I see another Wetzel

At NAB, we ate Wetzel Dogs by the ton. After I returned from Vegas, I thought I was tired of them, but now I could probably eat another! Mmmmmm. Wetzels.

Vegas part 9 - Carrot Top

Wednesday evening we went to see Carrot Top perform at the Luxor Hotel and Casino. What an awesome show it was! There was an opening act by a comedian whose name escapes me, but he was pretty good. Then came the good stuff! Carrot Top has a highly interactive and well produced show that includes TONS of visual and aural cues and accents. He accentuates his comedy with sound effects and clips from songs. He did a lot of things that I haven't seen before and a lot of the comedy was Vegas-centric, including the Vegas theme song of "I Would Walk 500 Miles." Of course he did a few of the jokes he did when he first started in comedy, including his trademark Wendy's jokes, which are always funny. The whole show was spectacular! I was surprised by the fact that Carrot Top is gigantic! He was always kind of skinny on TV and the 1-800-COLLECT commercials, but he has beefed up quite a bit, as you can see in the pictures. You know, it seems to be a fad to make jokes about Carrot Top, to say he isn't funny and to lament his presence, but I find him very funny and amusing. PLUS I wouldn't want to be his enemy now that he has a physique.

Vegas Part 8 - Slow Bus from China

We had decided that the fastest and most economical way to travel (and most foot saving) in Vegas was on the Deuce double decker buses that circulate through the city. I enjoyed riding on the bus some on Tuesday and when we set out for our show with Carrot Top Wednesday evening, we hopped back on the bus. This time, a Chinese man was driving, and he was the most entertaining bus driver I have ever had the pleasure of riding with. He was very dry and monotone, with an obvious Chinese accent, so when the bus would stop at destinations, he would say things like "Frontier. Wednesday night. Cold Beer, Dirty Girls. Woo hoo." Now say that with no tone in your voice, no laughter, and a moderately heavy Chinese accent. If you don't laugh, you have no sense of humor. He went on to say many more hilarious things in this voice, but the other one that stuck out to me was this, "We have no courtesy in Las Vegas. Please be careful. When I get you safely to your destination, please do not walk out in front of my bus. I don't know how to do paperwork." Wotta Card!

Vegas Part 7 - Wednesday with Dick

As you know from my previous ramblings on my Vegas trip, I was very excited to take another Mixed Bag of Tricks class with Dick Reizner. I took a two day seminar from him about 7 or 8 years ago in Birmingham, AL, and it was at that point that I began to realize what a cool profession media can be. There are no sets of rules that you really have to follow, save standards comittee stuff, and you can be as creative as you want to be with media. He's kind of like an encyclopedia of inventive creation. The man can turn anything into a tool, and that is the kind of versatility that more of us need in media. I learned a lot of new tricks from Dick, and was reminded of a few more that I had forgotten. He and I don't know each other, of course, so I considered it an honor when he asked me to assist him demonstrating a few tricks, all of which involved a small strip of gaffer's tape. This was fun to watch him work and get to be a part of it as well. As it so happens, as I was taking notes, I stuck the piece of tape into my note book where it lives today. I know that you might think it weird, but I scanned it to include into this post because of the significant influence Dick has had on my career, even though he doesn't know it. If you would like to read some of Dick's handy hints, they can be found every month in Videography magazine under the title Tips to Clip.

New Audio Bio Posted

I've posted another brief entry into my life's soundtrack over on my audio bio blog. Check it.
Until the next time, here's the Quaker Oats Guy! Oatmeal, Yummy!

Vegas part 6 - I Would Walk 500 Miles.

OK, so I stole this title from a Carrot Top joke. Sue me. Seriously, though. Tuesday night as we walked the strip home from Harley Davidson, we found out just how long of a walk it is. As it turns out, its about 4 miles from where we stayed to where we were walking, but I swear it felt much farther. Maybe its because you have to wait at every road and red light, not to mention that they purposefully redirect foot traffic so that you have to walk by any of the 6 billion stores and casinos there. Another thing about it is that things are so large in Vegas that your perspective gets a little wonky. You can see the Luxor, and it looks close, but its gonna be another 30 minutes before you get there. Its a strange distance/perspective anomaly. Having said that, Tuesday was great because it was cool to see all of the extravagant shops, construction, and lighting, but it was also a curse because it was then that I received the dreaded foot sprain. This made the remainder of the trip a bit... uncomfortable. Top all of the walking we did down the strip off with all of the walking we did at NAB and it seems like we walked 90% of the time, which makes for some serious hurtin'.

Vegas part 5 - Harley Davidson and the Vegas Prophet

I know it has been a while since my last post, but I've been very busy and tired! I do hope to shorten my posts a little so that I can catch up. While we where in Vegas on Tuesday Night, there weren't that many shows on, so we decided to (begrudgingly) take a night off from the shows, and walk the town. While sightseeing, we ate at the Harley Davidson Cafe on the strip. It had a very cool atmosphere and good food.

The fun part came in when Jonathan Tompkins leaned over to me toward the end of the night and said, "Hey, Richard... Our waitress is an artist, and she's supposed to give someone her current piece of art."

Well, being the person I am and knowing how tight Jonathan is with God, the next time I saw her I had the confidence to ask her, "Hey, are you an artist?"

Of course her response was one of bewilderment as she said, "Yeah..."

So I told her what Jonathan told me. She kept coming back and was visibly freaked out, so we talked with her a bit more. Jonathan ended up prophesying to her a lot of things that she had been worried about, including the fact that she had a daughter and that she knew Jesus. By the time we left the restaurant, our waitress was sufficiently freaked and comforted by the words that were given her. I would say that this was a shining moment of the trip and that God always makes a way for his people to get encouragement. I know she knows this now!

Vegas part 4 Sin City, indeed

Whoa. There is a reason that they call Las Vegas "Sin City". Just imagine any type of vice, and you'll find it there - publicly on display. Gambling? Sure. Smoking? Everywhere. Alcoholics? Walking beside you. Drugs? On every corner. Sex and Prostitution? In Spades. All that and more. It's a great city to be in, but it is also depressing at the same time. To see so many people just desperate for an escape from their lives... grasping at the straws that Vegas gives them - whatever they may be. While this is going on, Casinos are being built on every available piece of property so that businessmen and women can capitalize on an Adult's dreams of escapism. It's somewhat depressing.

There are magazine racks every 100 feet or so advertising escorts and prostitution, and at night, people are at every street corner trying to force you to take an escort's ad. Being in Vegas puts a perspective on the perverse nature of the average adult, and it makes you wonder, why do people wallow in depravity when there is meaning for their lives elsewhere? If only someone would tell them...

Vegas part 3 Hypnotic

I went to a show and got hypnotized Monday Night. I don't remember what happened, and I'm too scared to watch the DVD. All I know is that it invloves a stuffed bear and Western Union. Will I ever know? Only time and the DVD player know for sure!

Vegas part 2 The NAB2006 Conference

What a wild show at NAB! Since this was the first time I have ever been to an NAB event, I was really looking forward to it, and I was not disappointed. There were over 150,000 attendees! I was able to enjoy a lot of demo classes and hands on operation of equipment that is not yet available to the public. It was truly a sight to behold. The event was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, which is mammoth! I walked around about as much inside the Convention Center as I did outside it on the strip. The exhibitors were awesome, but it was the same old case of "our product is the BEST" everywhere you looked. And, yes, it is a sales pitch, but I prefer facts, not presentations. Some of the best displays that stick out in my mind are Ikegami, Sony, Panasonic, JVC, Avid, Adobe, Reflecmedia, Marqee, etc.

I had some interesting classes, but some of them were so remedial that they were borderline useless. What I didn't enjoy about it was that since this was a Worship and Technologies conference, I guess some of the teachers immediately thought "ignorant" was the best word to describe us. In a couple of instances, more than half of the alotted class time had passed without really skirting the class subject. BUT, in the classes I benefitted from, I gleaned a lot of knowledge and inspiration. I would like to go back to the NAB conference sometime, but next time I would like to take some of the regular NAB classes, and not the dumbed down Worship Classes. All in all, however, it was an event that all media geeks should go to at least once.

Vegas part 1 Breakfast at 2 am

You know, it takes a long time to get to Vegas, even when you're flying, but especially when you are flying at night and on Southwest Airlines. I had fun on Southwest, as they make a lot of jokes and are generally more cheerful than other airlines, but there are no assigned seats so you usually end up beside a stranger (which makes a flight seem more lengthy). We flew out of Birmingham into Nashville and then on to Vegas. It is quite a sight to behold as you approach Vegas at night - its truly a spectacle. Descending on a sea of black illuminated by the bright lights of the strip. It was beautiful... for something man made. We landed at around 12 am Central time (10 pm pacific) and made our way to the airport shuttle where we waited... and waited... and waited. We stood outside of the airport for about 40 minutes before our shuttle came to pick us up. We thought it would be smooth sailing from there, but when we arrived at Circus Circus, there was a huge line of NAB Convention Nerds such as myself waiting to be checked in. I have never witnessed anything like it. We were in the check in line for about a half an hour and by the time we had checked in, walked to our rooms, unpacked and got situated, we were hungry. At this time it was about 1:45 Central, so we all set out to eat breakfast at the Pink Pony in Circus Circus. We arrived at about 2 am and got in line. Oh, Yes, there's a line at 12am local time to the restaurants. We were in line for about 30 more minutes before we were seated and then 30 MORE minutes were tacked on before we got our food, so a 2 am breakfast stretched into a 3 am breakfast, which led to a bedtime of around 4 am. Oh, yes there was good company and good conversation, but I wrote about this to show you one truth about Vegas - there may be fast living there, but the living definitely isn't fast. And this continued almost everywhere we went over the next 5 days. You don't really realize just how impatient you can get until you go to Vegas!

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!