Item 9

Snuggie on the Street

2009-03-04T11:02:00.000-08:00

Hey yalls,

Just finished reading a great article by Allen Sulkin of the New York Times about putting the Snuggie Blanket to the test on the streets of NYC. Take a look and read the article

Carterography

Peace

2009-02-25T16:36:00.000-08:00

Just want to wish everyone some peace yall! There are going to be some big changes coming!

Christian Bale Apologizes for Going Ape on the Set of Terminator 4

2009-02-09T11:34:00.000-08:00

While poking around on www.Defamer.com , I came across an article about Christian Bale making an apology for losing his mind on a DP on the set of Terminator Salvation. As we are all aware, Bale's rant has fed the flames for bloggers and gossip sites everywhere, and while the buzz has yet to diminish surrounding this prize piece of actor behavior, the Defamer has documented his apology on KROQ's "Kevin and Bean" radio show.

Bale makes a few good arguments about his role in the incident, also stating that the staff member and himself have since patched things up. While he does make a couple of good points, I found this particular explanation to be particularly full of crap:

"In [T2] you will meet Sarah Connor. And she is in an insane asylum—why is she there? Because she is crazy. Now I play John Connor her son, and on the day that all of this happened, the scene that we were doing, I was trying to show a little of that in-the-blood craziness, and it went a little wrong... I took it way too far, and I completely mixed up fact and fiction. I'm half John Connor, I'm half Christian there."

Blaming his reaction to the DP walking behind the camera during filming on being too entrenched in the character of John Connor?

GIVE ME A BREAK

Sure, Bale does admit fault with moderate humility, but trying to make it out like you were too caught up in the scene to realize you were causing an epic fuss is a bunch of hooey. I wish I could go "Bale" on a few of my co-workers or superiors here and there.

When I started using the Internet

2009-02-08T09:45:00.001-08:00

I started using the Internet regularly not too long ago. I had never really had any interest in computers until I started working at my current job. Now I am fully addicted, and connected 24/7.

Saturday Glowed

2009-02-07T16:32:00.000-08:00

After a long day of cleaning, unpacking, running errands and all around the house, it's finally time to kick back and enjoy the evening! Changed out of the clothes I dirtied throughout the day and into something a little more presentable for the night's entertaining. Just enough time for a pre-party beer and a few shots in Photo Booth. Happy Saturday tweeps!

Best PIzza in Grand River County

2009-02-06T11:24:00.001-08:00

Best PIzza in Grand River County, originally uploaded by seancarterbrc.

Down the road from my office is Tito's Pizza, the best place on the Grand River to go for a greasy slice. Nothing feels better!

More Desk Buddies

2009-02-06T09:05:00.001-08:00

More Desk Buddies, originally uploaded by seancarterbrc.

A couple of Ready Mech that hang out with me at work. I love these guys! The Ready Mech site has many more on their site at www.readymech.com

The site even has a neat pinhole camera that you can cut out and fold together. If you are in need of a 5 minute time waster on a dead day, check out the site and get folding!

Flickr

2009-02-06T09:04:00.001-08:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Mario's Mistake

2009-02-04T10:02:00.001-08:00

Mario's Mistake, originally uploaded by seancarterbrc.

I love to keep various toys and ephemera lying around my work space. I cycle them out every now and then but Mario and Princess Toadstool are regulars. The Jawas are new to the scene. I came in from my smoke break this morning and was shocked to find that Mario had not been too careful while driving around my desk!

Mr. Potato Head vs Ghoul

2009-02-01T17:22:00.001-08:00

Mr. Potato Head vs Ghoul, originally uploaded by seancarterbrc.

I was sitting around on Super Bowl Sunday, playing with my new camera, when I came up with the idea for this weird scene using a Mr. Potato Head, a Han Solo action figure, and some weird ghoul from Ghostbusters. This should be a featured ad during half-time! See the rest of my pictures on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/34683091@N08/

A New Hat

2009-01-27T13:31:00.001-08:00

New Hat 2, originally uploaded by seancarterbrc.

I found this hat at the mall the other day for $9.99. I haven't owned a hat of this style for years and have never owned one that I have liked since the one I inherited from my grandfather got ruined by my dog.
I like this hat a lot.

Plinky-d!

2009-01-24T16:04:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Maniar, a person that I recently started following on Twitter, I am now part of a newly launched site, http://www.plinky.com , that surely has the potential to grow into one of the enxt social-networking phenomenons.
After registering on the site, users are prompted with questions covering a variety of topics in the hope that it will incite you into some random act of blogging that you have so sorely been avoiding.
The site also allows users to compose their own questions. Other services include blog support, as well as Twitter, Facebook, and other networks.
I think that this site has a lot of potential. If the site is updated regularly, user numbers could increase exponentially once it really starts taking off on the social networks.
Everyone check it out!

America

2008-11-04T17:09:00.000-08:00

All I can say right now is that I am completely stunned and awed at the sheer spectacle and sensationalism of the American Political Process. I fully appreciate Democracy, and as a Canadian, I also must admit how much I admire the fact that Americans actually get out there and vote. I also must say that one thing you can say about American politicians is that they make an effort to incite young people into random acts of voting. From Canada, I can look south and shake my head. Not for a lack of understanding the issues, but I can't wrap my head around the media bonanza.

But I'll watch...

A new week

2008-11-03T05:13:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are at November, and I guess there is no denying it anymore that winter will soon be upon us. Just the thought of a single snowflake is enough to make me want to board up my windows and settle in for a frenzied season of cabin fever and too much time on the computer.

I've been toying around with a few mockups for a a potential client that is interested in bringing their home cut flowers/ bulb selling business into the internet age. Anything earthy or "green" has lots of possibilities when it comes to designing, but when I set out trolling through my usual go-to sites I was surprised to find that there was a lack of lists or articles covering neat or interesting gardening or flower themed sites so I think that I will take some time to compile a small list.

Another great post from Chris Spooner today; an excellent roundup of hand-drawn/ doodle themed sites. This was a great roundup! Lots of creative and original sites out there, and I always count on Chris to find them!

Work

2008-10-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

Things have really started to pick up at work lately. We have started to reel in some rather large prospects, and essentially, this is good. Finally time to take a break from writing all of those proposals! Since I started learning HTML and Illustrator, I had envisioned my new role at my job as that of one in the creative department, but my current role as Inside Sales Manager is going to put a roadblock in front of that. The company I work for currently relies on two outsourced creative people that work freelance separately. With the addition of even one of these new prospects, the creative demands are going to snowball, along with all of the other services we provide. Our organization is going to start having to think of how we are going to meet that demand, and, well, we have, actually. We have toyed with the idea of an in-house creative person, but what happens when it is slow? I wish that I was better established as a creative designer, that I had gone to school instead of teaching myself. Still, I have to consider the fact that most of the creative jobs we do for our clients are actually quite bland, quite "uncreative" one might say. Sometimes I have to remind myself that you should be happy with what you have.

Learning Part 1

2008-09-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

This week, I started a night course in HTML at Mohawk College, and throwing myself back into a learning environment was definitely the jolt that I expected. I've been out of school for years, aside from my stint in the military, and aside from actually taking a subject I'm interested in this time around, much of the experience is actually the same. The familiar preemption and anxiety didn't have a chance to replace the excitement of learning something new until my wife and I had already started pulling into the parking lot of the old reliable community college.
I had fooled myself into thinking that I was past all of the self-conscious admonitions that used to be my M.O. on the first day of school, but despite the fact that I am now a grown man, with a good job, beautiful wife, and fine family, supposedly free of the constraints of the public education system's social hierarchy, I found myself immediately reinstated into the mindset of awkwardness and trepidation that I exhibited internally throughout much of my educational lifetime.
Was I wearing the right clothes? Did I have the right backpack on? The right haircut? I must admit, as much as I like to think that I am past all of the involuntary self-consciousness that I developed as routine during my years at that institution of benign economic classification that will remain nameless for now, I still found myself going through that dusty checklist of personal appearance and demeanor that I thought had been left behind when I was eighteen.
Isn't it funny? All of those old defense mechanisms that we develop when we're young are always there, always floating just beneath the surface.
Waiting...
Biding their time...
Hungry for that moment when we cast away that vector of persona that we confidently develop once we are away from those forums of criticism that can only thrive in the arena of Western Culture.
Maybe these feelings are but shackles left form past lives. Maybe they are the merely the remnants of older versions of ourselves locked in a constant battle of supremacy, only highlighting our inability to commit even to our current self-images despite the lack of constant attack we were used to in our teenage years...

Free Electric

2008-08-19T06:57:00.000-07:00

I was looking around on the Adbusters website, checking out a few articles and whatnot. I ended up in their Campaigns section, where they talk about Buy Nothing day and several others that I am familiar with. I noticed one that I hadn't seen before in their magazines; Mental Detox week, which asks us to abandon all of our electronic devices for seven whole days. No TV, Ipod, Xbox, Playstation, computers, Blackberry's... no electronics whatsoever.

This idea intrigued me. I wondered what it would be like to take something like that on. A week without the luxuries of all my crackling toys and gizmos? Not too long of a time to give anything up, really, but then it dawned on me that it would be next to impossible for me to accomplish. I work with computers, faxes, and I always have a cell phone nearby (though I have never had a land line since I have been out on my own). How could I explain to my boss that I was taking a week off for "Mental Detox", without him thinking I am lunatic? And then, what to do with all of that time off? Too easy to pick up a controller or fire up the Mac in my bedroom, the standard diversions.

I would have to be in a secluded location, I suppose, in order to ever have a real Mental Detox. A place devoid of any wireless signals, or hydro actually, where I wouldn't have the means to utilize a game platform or aimlessly browse on a Blackberry even if I wanted to, because I know that I would find a way to make it work.

If you think that you can go through with this, let me know how it goes. I am going to keep an eye out for articles or stories from Adbusters talking about people's Mental Detox experiences.

Snuffed Out

2008-08-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading Chuck Palahniuk's "Snuff", a gritty gross look into the porn industry. The novel was a quick read, told through the eyes of four separate characters, all of them persons present at a marathon porn shoot. The story follows three men who have signed up to partake in a porno where the lead actress couples with 600 partners in one sitting. The fourth character is the "talent wrangler" at the event, a cold women who takes bribes from the haplessly eager slobs waiting in the basement of some studio for their number to be called.
The story was full of Chuck's usual sick realism. His ability to tear open the veil that covers all of the things we pretend we don't want to know about, but actually secretly yearn to learn move. All of the characters have their own motivations for being involved with such a twisted situation, which lets the reader get into the story from a number of angles.
This was a good read, but as with most of Palahniuk's writing, you might want to have a solid stomach before taking this one on.

How was Rancid?

2008-08-07T10:31:00.001-07:00

Well, for Father's Day this year my lovely wife bought me three tickets to Rancid, one of my all time favorite bands. I decided that I would invite one of my oldest best pals to come, and we even hooked our other buddy in too. The show was at the Kool Haus in Toronto, and we had an easy drive into the city. This was my first concert in years so I had pretty high expectations. I felt a nervous intensity as the three of us met up with our fourth, who lives in the city.
It was hot as Hell that day, and not one of us was looking forward to being packed in the venue. Now, I'm always up for a good circle pit, but for some reason I wasn't looking forward to the smell of stale mohawks, old leather, and punk juice. We got in damned early, even after waiting in line to get our tickets at the door. The only thing to do: Drink time.
After several vodkas I felt settled.
The opening acts were better than expected, Sick of it All and someone else? Who was that? Oh well. I didn't really care either way. Finally, Rancid!
They kicked off with "Fall Back Down" which has never been one of my preferred songs, but they moved on to some old faves like "Quite Alright" and "Blood Clot". The pit was a mess, and it was almost impossible to get up for a surf, but I managed to make it up several times, though on my one I hit a deadspot and almost went under.
My main complaint was the lousy sound. Kool Haus is notorious for it's shitty acoustics I hear. It was hard to hear the lyrics, and I think my wife's ears are still ringing.
At any rate, not a bad show, and of course it was great to get out with the boys.
Now I have to choose between Iced Earth and Method Man + Redman....
Tough call...

The Summer, or Something Like it...

2008-08-01T11:33:00.001-07:00

As a kid nothing seemed to cause such excitability as the onset of summer vacation. I remember that feeling I used to get when the last days of school were winding down and any semblance of order or educational methodology went on hiatus, the only thing left in your teachers lesson plan were cheesy class parties and their own vacation plans...

Those sure were the days? Weren't they?

Perhaps I am being a tad whimsical, but can you blame me? This year, summer has blurred itself into a background of days. The work week blurs into the weekend, and vice versa. I always have such high expectations for my time off, but when I get it, where does it go? Why just a couple of years ago the summer still held so many possibilities, but what about now?

I look at my friend's Facebook profiles and I see photo albums packed to the nines, event planning, invitations galore. The ones I do get I have to turn down for the most part. Still, I have managed to make it out a few times, enough to let my wife and I know that we are still in, still cool. It's too bad that we are so tired from running a household to appreciate it.

Another weekend on the way! Here's hoping!