www.James-Strocel.com

Time to Kick Some Craft

2010-03-09T17:40:53Z

Over the weekend our friends Theo and Tarra allowed us to turn their house into a small-scale Industrial Light and Magic. I won’t say what we were working on, but there are more pics after the jump if you want a sneak preview!

IMG_0244 IMG_0245 IMG_0246 IMG_0247 IMG_0248 IMG_0249 IMG_0250

Share and Enjoy:

No Related Post

A Few Thoughts on Popular Music

2010-03-05T01:24:19Z

I don’t pretend to know much about music. In fact, most debates about it confuse me. It seems like most arguments about why one artist sucks are only backed up by “because she sucks, that’s why!”

I think I can see a trend running through popular songs, though. Doesn’t it seem like break out hit songs have really clear, easy to understand vocals? Here’s what I mean. “The 10 Dumbest Ke$ha Lyrics” is an article that’s gone viral on buzzfeed. Would this article be funny without anyone knowing that she “brushes her teeth with a bottle of Jack?”

High-pitched, well enunciated vocals seem to be the common thread here. You’ve got the same thing going with Eminem, Michael Jackson, Motley Crue, and especially the Beatles. Is there anyone out there who doesn’t at least have one Beatles chorus stuck in their head as they read this sentence? I’m not saying the high tenor is the key to musical success, but at least it’s part of the formula.

Share and Enjoy:

January 7, 2010 -- The Beatles Back in the USSR (2)

Stack Overflow

2010-03-03T06:07:21Z

Just in case I’m not the last person on earth to hear about it, stackoverflow.com is one of the most useful programming sites on the internet. If works a lot like Yahoo! Answers, where questions are asked, answers are posted by humans, and the answers are voted on for their effectiveness. Unlike Yahoo! Answers, the questions are less “How is babby formed?” and more of the “How do I get this *bleep*ing code to work?”. All manner of programming subjects are tagged and categorized, from ESRI to fortran.

Most importantly, by answering questions on the site, freelancers can show off their skills or keep certain areas of expertise fresh . Unlike posting on programming forums and blogs, stackoverflow has the potential to reach more people from multiple disciplines. If demand for one technology goes down, clients and recruiters don’t have to go look far to see what else you are capable of.

Share and Enjoy:

February 28, 2010 -- The Joy of Not Knowing How (0)
February 24, 2010 -- 5 Rules of Designing for Non-Designers (2)
February 16, 2010 -- Passion (1)
February 8, 2010 -- Be Worth Criticizing (0)
February 5, 2010 -- How To Be A Programmer (0)

Criticism and the Web

2010-03-02T06:03:29Z

“Mommyblogging” (one word) was the recent topic of choice for Heather Lyn Fleming’s Master of Communications Thesis at SFU. Through a myriad of collective blog posts, Fleming wanted to know if she could delve deeper into the story behind the tweets. What were these writings telling us about modern-day mothers?

When the Mommybloggers in question saw the findings of the thesis, enough of them were horrified that the hash tag #creepythesis came to be. It’s not that Fleming was accusing them of locking their children in pet carriers or anything like that, it’s that the assumptions, gleaned from their publicly available writings, were incorrect. Fleming tried to paint a picture of these bloggers’ households that they had no control over, and this was simply unacceptable.

I can see how some people see the internet as this world-wide private journal. Look at my infinitesimal website stats if you don’t believe me. But if irrelevance is your only defense against scrutiny, you might be expressing yourself in the wrong medium. If we want the internet to fulfill its true potential, we need to accept that it is the most public and accessible form of communication there is. If people misunderstand you or if they don’t like your message, they are now able to tell you and the only thing you can do about it is write them a sternly worded note. This kind of criticism is no reason to abandon blogging all together. The greater good of any debate is served by more voices, not fewer. Just be prepared to take part in the debates that you start.

Share and Enjoy:

February 11, 2010 -- Trade Secrets (0)
February 10, 2010 -- Facebook Sharing is Up, User Activity is down (0)
January 28, 2010 -- Seth Godin: How to Produce Like a Linchpin (1)
January 13, 2010 -- Everyone’s a Conduit (0)
January 5, 2010 -- Avatar: The Story of North America (0)

Final Thoughts on The Olympics

2010-03-01T15:34:07Z

Sometimes it just doesn’t seem real.

Aren’t those just numbers on a board, or ticks on a stopwatch?

Just what are we getting from all this?

Sure, we aren’t exactly solving the problems of the world out there, but sometimes challenges and competitions just need to exist for their own sake.

We need to be reminded.

It’s easy to keep things the way they are, to go through the motions. We have to remember what it feels like to not be satisfied with our lot in life. The joy of victory and the pain of defeat remind us of what it’s like to risk it all for a dream.

So Thanks goes to you, Team Canada, and all Olympic Athletes. Thanks for teaching us all to dare to be great.

Share and Enjoy:

No Related Post

The Joy of Not Knowing How

2010-02-28T06:31:54Z

The computer industry implants in the minds of many the legend of the lone programmer, sequestered in a parents basement coding the next paradigm shift of technology. The myth is not that far from the truth, since many of the big names in software, Microsoft, Apple, and Google, were all created by hobbyists charting unknown territory in code.

I’m sure that everyone working in computers today, everyone, has some crazy project roiling in the back of their heads. But the majority of us don’t even start, let alone finish these projects out of fear that we aren’t qualified to do this, that we should let someone with “expertise” eventually make that app we want. What we fail to realize is that the “experts” rarely know more than we do what unwritten programs look like. The only reason they are experts is that they’ve made their fear work for them. The frustration and uneasiness that comes from a new language and technology drives them forward instead of holding them back.

So if you’ve got an app or a script or whatever on the back burner, get it up on the monitor right now. Find that spot where you left off and feel that mixture of rage, terror, and embarrassment that made you shelve it. That feeling isn’t telling you that there is something wrong, it is telling you that you are working on something challenging and worthy of your skills. That feeling, right there, is the frontier of software development.

Share and Enjoy:

March 3, 2010 -- Stack Overflow (0)
February 24, 2010 -- 5 Rules of Designing for Non-Designers (2)
February 16, 2010 -- Passion (1)
February 8, 2010 -- Be Worth Criticizing (0)
February 5, 2010 -- How To Be A Programmer (0)

Obama with a Chainsaw Hand. Groovy.

2010-02-27T04:06:18Z

Political Cartoons get a lot of flack for being as recycled and unoriginal as the newspapers they are printed in. Fortunately, there’s one artist out there who seems to be getting with the program. This awesome Obama/Ash cartoon is from Terrence Nowicki Jr.’s This is Historic Times, a site which is destined to go down in my RSS reader.

Share and Enjoy:

January 21, 2010 -- On Writing Letters to the Government (0)
July 7, 2009 -- Dr. Drew Pinsky and the Mirror Effect (0)
July 1, 2009 -- Happy Canada Day (1)
June 23, 2009 -- The Great Maginot Line of China (0)
May 19, 2009 -- Sony CEO:I’m a guy who doesn’t see anything good having come from the Internet… (0)

News from the Generation Gap

2010-02-26T14:57:14Z

My friend Jen over at Interface Media sent me this Economist article about a book called The Pinch: How Baby Boomers took their children’s future-and why they should give it back. Apparently, the number disparity between the baby boom and subsequent generations is more serious than I thought, at least in Britain. The entire population under 40 owns 15% of all real estate and financial assets in their country. At the same time, 20% of everyone in their 50’s owns a second home.

I don’t know if Canada is in the same situation, but these stats are something to think about. I don’t think this situation is entirely anyone’s fault. The Boomers acquired their wealth through years of accelerated technological advancement and industrial production. Now that technology has advanced and so much has been produced, the same sources of wealth that produced all that prosperity can’t be relied upon any more. The factories are either closed or moved to China. Mining and oil production is peaking all over the world. The rules have changed, but that’s okay. Your food budget (potentially) is a tenth of what it was a generation ago. There’s more public transit than there used to be. And computing power? A single paycheck from McDonald’s can put you in touch with the world. We might not make as much as our parents, but if we can make use of what we have available, it might not matter.

Share and Enjoy:

No Related Post

5 Rules of Designing for Non-Designers

2010-02-25T03:51:34Z

When you make the decision to freelance, you end up having to learn skills they never taught you in school. The big one for me has to be graphic design. I’ve somehow avoided any formal education in it, thinking I could just knuckle down and specialize. It is the most nebulous and troublesome skill I’ve had to learn. What is good design? Is it typefaces? Swooshes? It doesn’t help that every so often on digg or reddit you find these snarky blog posts saying things like, “You used Kozuka Gothic Pro font over Deja Vu Sans Serif? How many other people have you killed with your stupidity?”

Graphic design is definitely a soft discipline. One decision that might be perfect for one document might be utter suicide for another. But take heart. Millions of people do graphic design every day. To let the opinions of few typeface snobs trip you up is no way to go through life. The guidelines listed here are probably “birds go tweet” propositions for more experienced designers, but nonetheless they should get you through any project.

1. Research

Yes, you can research graphic design projects. The human imagination is little more than a surreal mishmash of everything we experience through our senses. So, if you’re short on ideas about how to proceed with your logo or web page, look for visual elements that relate to your subject. This can take the form of searching other websites or going on a photo-hunt. This will help you narrow down the colors and shapes you’ll use with your project.

2. Clarity Beats Originality

If it’s not a generally accepted principle of graphic design, it should be. No one is going to appreciate how edgy or original your design is if they can’t read it. Use a heirarchy to arrange your elements in order of importance. A larger heading or body text means the element is more important. It sounds self explanatory, but it’s surprising how often it’s ignored.

3. Learn Your Software

Don’t limit yourself to what you already know about GIMP or Illustrator. Any sufficiently used piece of software will have scads of tutorials to help you do what you want to do. Google is your friend, use it early and often.

4. Know Your Audience

This is pure gospel for any product you are trying to unleash on the world. This doesn’t just benefit your clients. You can also mine a lot of inspiration by gathering information about who is going to be looking at your work.

5. When in doubt, test it out

There is no better way to test your work out than to get a fresh pair of eyes on it. You can recruit friends, parents, grandparents, or even random people off the street. The point of graphic design is to convey information. You can learn a lot from watching someone actually try to get information from your page.

Share and Enjoy:

March 3, 2010 -- Stack Overflow (0)
February 28, 2010 -- The Joy of Not Knowing How (0)
February 16, 2010 -- Passion (1)
February 8, 2010 -- Be Worth Criticizing (0)
February 5, 2010 -- How To Be A Programmer (0)

Library Books: I Have A Problem

2010-02-24T00:14:04Z

Has this ever happened to you? You go to the library looking for one book, and suddenly that book turns into three, four, five, or this cry for help pictured here. Libraries are horrible simulacra for the joys of the consumer experience. Because the initial cost is zero, you tend to fill your bag with books thinking that it’s such a great bargain. Do you know how many books in that pile I actually finished? One. That white Seth Godin Book in the middle. All the while the books lie around the house, tripping you up because you thought, in your infinite wisdom, that if you put it out in the middle of the floor, you would remember to read it! My wife even got me a decorative basket in which to put these wayward books. Last night, I took this whole pile back to the library. Don’t let anybody tell you that free is the ultimate price for consumers. It just leads to hoarding.

Share and Enjoy:

February 12, 2010 -- Percy Jackson (0)

www.James-Strocel.com

Time to Kick Some Craft

Related Posts

A Few Thoughts on Popular Music

Related Posts

Stack Overflow

Related Posts

Criticism and the Web

Related Posts

Final Thoughts on The Olympics

Related Posts

The Joy of Not Knowing How

Related Posts

Obama with a Chainsaw Hand. Groovy.

Related Posts

News from the Generation Gap

Related Posts

5 Rules of Designing for Non-Designers

1. Research

2. Clarity Beats Originality

3. Learn Your Software

4. Know Your Audience

5. When in doubt, test it out

Related Posts

Library Books: I Have A Problem

Related Posts