Transitions

That was how Steve Jobs introduced the topic on everyone's mind at the WWDC today. Apple is switching to Intel processor chips. I wasn't there of course, but got the chance to watch the webcast on Apple's preview release of Quicktime 7 for windows. It's pretty good, though still definitely preview release, and maybe it was because of internet load, maybe it was another reason, but it was quite patchy, not at all smooth as I expected on my machine, 1.8Mhz AMD, 512MB.

A broader view of this event as related to the the computer world can be to see that it fits into the overall direction of things these past two years. Half the world's major software companies are going Open Source. Email and Web hosting space is practically being given away at 2GB a pop. VoIP is quite literally exploding into the market - Heck, I'm using vonage as my primary business line.

Add to that, Macromedia and Adobe merge, and now Apple, bless their hearts is moving to Intel(x86) line of processors. Steve Jobs' Demo was on an imac running a pentium 4 3.6GHz PC.

What does this mean for Apple's future? What does it mean for Apple Hardware. Will I by this time next year be able to pick up Mac OS X Tiger for my HP Desktop? Only time will tell.

Say What?

Reactions across the board are varied and passionate as the news begins to spread in the design world. What news you may ask?

Adobe and Macromedia MERGE!!. Or more appropriately, Adobe buys macromedia in an all stock deal worth a little over three billion dollars.

This reporter's reaction is nothing short of stunned. Apparently, there has been undercurrents and rumors of this potential merger over the past couple of years as both companies' product offerings grew closer in purpose, but somehow, I never heard of it.

My first instinct is - NOOOOOOO -. I love Adobe. I love Macromedia. But the joining of both, for me is like (.. takes a moment to come up with a proper simile..) mixing peanut butter and chocolate. I know that there are hoardes of Reeses peanut butter cups lovers out there, but for me, the mix just never took. I like to have both flavors distinct, appreciate one and then the other. Combine them and what you have is just... not quite right. One inevitably gets lost in the other.

In addition, considering that these are the two biggest software companies out there for the products they offer ( for the unitiated, think graphics, print, multimedia ), this constitutes the death of choice, options and friendly competition. The last part particularly of note because friendly competition drives innovation. Now, they both have quite literally almost no one to compete against them.

What to make of this is yet to be seen.

Macromedia
Adobe

Inspiration... where art thou?

I have this cycle, created, I think out of necessity. I get a project, or if I'm fortunate, ( or unfortunate as you may soon decide) I get more than one, and I have to play this juggling act. I'm working on coming up with something extremely ingenious for each project, to keep up with my standard of work. Ultimately, I do and then I burn out. I've used so much brain power I guess, that my brain demands rest. I have to stop and relax as much as possible if I'm ever going to do anything worth looking at for the next project. Of course, I'm beginning to wonder if this is the way to go. Something about pushing yourself to the point of burnout every other month is potentially unhealthy.

I of course started this because as a freelancer, when you begin, you take projects when they come, projects you are sure you can do no doubt, but projects none the less. You do this because the next few months may be unpleasantly quiet as far as clients go. Problem is you may end up like every other token designer out there eventually. Spitting out the same layouts, and ending up using lime and purple on your next layout.

Client Woes

There's got to be something said for finding a new line of work when you spend the majority of your day feeling like you want to pull your hair out, tie it into a whip and beat clients with it.

I think I'm stuck in a rut. I'm stuck and I can't get out. Its enough I hear stories about the clients who unfortunately get stuck with the incompetent designer, and end up with websites that look like they were designed in Frontpage express and imported from 1996. I feel bad for the client and pray they find someone that better represents the profession next time.

And then I have to pick up the phone and beg my clients to keep up with their end of the bargain and I beg and I beg. I get frustrated and end up like I felt in the first paragraph and a little part of me feels a little less bad about the design hack. I curse them with the prospect of ending up with one for their next design project.

Considering the above, I'm sure there is a valid argument for having a little ying ( The bad designers and 'good' clients) and a little yang ( The good designers and the clients that suck). It's what creates the balance.

I HATE balance.

Stop and Smell the roses

Every artist has a perfect moment, when the mood is just right, the lighting is just perfect, the music is exactly in sync and in tune and if everything could stand still in that one moment, it would be saved, captured and preserved through the artist's medium of choice - paint, film, ink, pencil...

I had a perfect hour earlier today, or so it seemed. I had just come out of the subway at City Hall. I turned right and there it was. The scene seemed to stop for one long second. It was drizzling slightly. The street lights were on, but in perfect contrast with the dwindling daylight. I heard nothing but quiet for split second. Then I heard everything. I saw everthing, smelled everything. I feared nothing. The three projects I had on my desk did not exist. For a moment, life was good. I thought, strangely to myself, If I died now, it wouldn't be a bad time to go.

It all ended when an hour later, the deli guy charged me 2 dollars for a cup of coffee.

J.T

One for the little guy

I gotta say, every once in a while, the sun shines on the little guy. Therefore, a little exclamation of "ha ha" escaped from my mouth when I saw this story about the disgruntled Apple customer suing Apple over their restrictions on the AAC music format.

Don't get me wrong, I love Apple as much as the next guy, but that little issue always bugged me.

Melancholy

It might have had a little to do with my bank account balance, which I saw on my ATM receipt this morning, or maybe that had nothing to do with it. Either way, my day which started out as a day I had taken off for a little me time turned sour.

I love movies, real well written movies that make you feel satisfied that you just watched them. Ergo, I loved spanglish. It's well written, just long enough. And yet, as happens occasionally to me when I watch these movies, I got sour after watching it. It had nothing to do with the movie and I suspect everything to do with me.

Aside from the occasional outing, movies are my escape. They are the last vestige of my artistic side I still try to keep a connection to, for reasons as yet beyond me ( Refer to previous posting). I used to write. A lot. Poetry, Novels. I used to sketch - a lot. I love languages. I dabble with spanish and a little french. As it is currently my only escape, I get a little withdrawal anxiety once its over. I wish I could continue to live in the movie, in someone else's life for a while and put mine on hold, or hibernation in computer parlance.

While it is not always recommended I'm sure, I decided to take a chance at a little self analysis, as this was not the first time I felt this way. The first thing that comes across quite obviously is that if I don't want to come back to my own life, it must suck intensely. Not so. It leaves a lot to be desired, no doubt, but there is also a lot good about it. Of course, this could all be denial. More on that, maybe a little later. I'm still not convinced that people I know won't be reading this blog.

The second thing I zero in on is that one of the characters in the movie is a lot like me. He's a professional Chef, an all around good guy finally living in his dream jobscape. But his personal life.. not so great. We are un-alike if there is such a word in the sense that I cook for fun and dabble with computers for a living, but I would love to have a restaurant, preferrably just like his one day. Unfortunately, while his personal life could be great - he's married, two sweet kids, - it's just not. Watch the entire movie and you get an answer to why his is not so great.

Now I just wish I saw the script of my life and knew about mine. As yet, I'm not sure my blog postings are making any sense, but stay with me, I might start figuring this all out soon enough.

J.T.

Creative Nirvana

For every artist/creative, there is that dream job, that big one that either landed your name in the right circles, or put you on one of those unseen professional "maps" that people talk about. After that, you've pretty much graduated from the trenches. You can almost sit back and reap the benefits. You become a household name. You command your own prices, you can fire your clients!. It's creative nirvana.

I don't have one of those kinds of jobs. Yet. But I got a call from a potential client today that might put me in that situation. One of those clients that would hold the key to the locked room where they keep the "map". That's the good news.

The bad news is that the kind of project that they might want me to do, I have never done before. I have done components of the project, parts of it, for different clients, but never done the whole thing as a package before. So I am in one of those places where a large part of me wants to get the call for them to say, "Go ahead sport, you got the job" - I'm assuming that's what the "map" keeper would say if one existed, stay with me here.

The other part... well, you know.

childhood innocense

My beautiful young niece came to visit this weekend, and she made me appreciate those photographers who are able to take pictures of toddlers and make it look easy. And in particular, how critical an SLR is to the process.

<epiphany>Never try to take a picture of an active toddler with a camera that only relies on autofocus.</ephiphany>

The Nikon Coolpix 5700 - while an excellent camera has several shortcomings, not the least of which is that it is not an SLR and therefore does not allow manual focusing on images, at least not in the conventional sense, or at least in the sense that's useful.

Be that as it may, there's something to be said for youthful innocense. More than not being able to take a single usable shot with my digital camera and having to resolve to using my Minolta film camera, I got satisfaction from the fits of laughter that emanated from her whenever the flash went off.

internal conflicts

At what point do dreams get sacrificed for reality? At what point did that little bit of creativity used to replenish the soul become just another moment not doing something that could be constructive.

I used to dream of days when I would take my laptop to the cafe in the Met, sit down there and in inspired sorroundings produce things that may one day be referred to as creative in relation to the works of art in that magnificent edifice. Life creeps up on you and one day you find yourself looking back on what could have been and finding no real answer as to why it wasn't. New York City is as fertile as you can get for inspiration.And sometimes I can't seem to get enough.
Yet I feel empty sometimes. I guess I must not be soaking up the right things. The soul of a creative needs to be fed. Or else, being in a city like N.Y looking for inspiration can become like soaking a dead leaf in water. It may re-hydrate, but its never going to come alive. Am I making any sense?

I guess that's my point...