August

It's August, 2006. Hot as hell, and I haven't felt the urge lately to write about anything in particular. So to keep the wheels from rotting off, here's a round up of bits and things.

I'm still working on a new project over at Turner Entertainment, and I still can't write anything about it. Or at least anything specific. But I can tell you this -- our team is now 5 times larger than it was at the beginning of the year. Space quickly running out, desks spilling into the hallway. Logotypes. Presentations. Meetings. The thrill of building up from zero -- where anything is possible -- backed by the power and resources of a huge media company.

In the past year I've spent more time talking about design than any time in my career. That's how it is when you're Creative Director. We delegate, manage, critique, and guide. We step back, hold our breath, and trust. For someone like myself -- more accustomed to diving head first into code and pixels -- it's been a major shift of responsibility. Things are looking good though, and I hope to write more about it soon.

(BTW, I'm currently looking for another web designer to jump on board. Someone skilled in creating mockups, template designs, and is comfortable using Photoshop and Fireworks. Some HTML experience is a plus to. Drop me a line if you might be interested).

Outside of work, life as a dad has finally settled into a fairly predictable schedule. Sophia consistently eats and sleeps at nearly the exact same time every day, and we can easily decipher the myriad of cry sounds she uses to express herself. One cry is hungry, another is sleepy, on and on. Every day is new experience.

On to SlideShowPro, which continues to update and grow. A year and a half after its launch the component is popping up all over the web, and there's rarely a day I don't stumble across it on someone's web site. Our new product, SlideShowPro Director, is also going strong, with lots of new users purchasing both products at the same time, and older users changing over their back-end to use Director. All told, the "experiment" I launched 18 months ago has turned into more of a responsibility than I ever could have imagined, with nearly every hour of "free time" spent replying to emails, site maintenance, and working on new updates. Life is pretty busy, to say the the least.

So what else? Recently watched Primer, which is not only a great movie, but has the best production quality of any independent movie I've seen. In case you aren't aware, it was shot for around $7,000, with cast members doing all of the directing, filming, editing, and even original music. If you enjoy brain teaser movies like Memento, don't miss it.

Music wise, I've been listening to Destroyer quite a lot (somehow I didn't figure out until recently that Bejar is also in New Pornographers), and Jay Dee's Donuts always seems to find its way into rotation as well.

Until next time.