If I am walking with two men, each of them I will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.
Confucious Says…
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Robot Singing to Cat in Rain
Came across this while browsing. Artist unkown.
Creative Thinking – Inspired Art
I came across this image while researching the way the creative mind works. For a vector it has incredible detail to create the shape of the face.
ChrisVector ~ By Christiano Siquera
http://crisvector.com
Great Info Graphic on Color
The Importance of Color
Creepy but thoughtful
Neilson who I work with but don’t see often, went into my office when I wasn’t there to write the note on the board. Then he secretly took a photo through the glass. You can see the reflection. And then he emails it to me. Those are a lot of steps to pull this off. Creepy yes. But also so thoughtful.
First post from my iPhone
This is Phoebe my Siamese. I picked her up from the SPCA so that Newt (my other cat) would have company. She is the weirdest cat I’ve ever seen! She is cross-eyed, deaf, drools, has balance problems and doesn’t know how to use her claws. Specifically, she doesn’t retract them properly. She also has abandonment issues and pulls her fur out when she’s alone.
I think she would make a great meme.
Favorite Quote from Ira Glass
Quote
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
― Ira Glass
Misc graphics from previous times
Some old vector illustrations I found in my files. See a couple below and more here…
Created in 2001 for DJ Sunspun.
Created in 2001 for DJ Sunspun.
Mermaid at Bondi Beach.
A vector illustration created in 2004 based off of an earlier sketch. I always get lazy once it comes to the background.
Some Old Sketches
I don’t really sketch anymore, but here are a couple of my old thoughts below (and a few more here) …
A female monk experiencing enlightenment.
I sketched this in 2002 while traveling through Thailand. While visiting the various temples I learned that some believe (I’m not sure to how widely excepted this is) that women were not capable of reaching enlightenment. That sounded ridiculous, and inspired this visual in my mind.
Mermaid at Bondi Beach
I sketched this in 2002 while living at Bondi Beach in Sydney Australia.
Palm Trees are graceful, living things.
I sketched this in 2002 while traveling through Cambodia. I was pondering the truth that plant life is actually mobile. They move over the ground as animals do, but just much more slowly. Much, much more slowly. A tree will follow receding water over time, direct it’s roots in new directions, bend against the wind and turn it’s foliage to the changing light.
The Flying Fish of Bocas Del Toro.
A bit of a story around this one…
In 2005 I was in Bocas Del Toro, Panama. I had just returned after doing a little travel loop through central Panama. I returned to pick up a surf Board that was being shaped for me, however the shaper was way behind schedule. This is a surf town and if you aren’t surfing there isn’t much to do. I was stating in Las Brisas which is a tiny little hotel that extends on stilts into the ocean, with the living reef growing up around the foundation. I was lying on the deck, looking into the water which was crystal clear. You could see all the bright reef fish. I had a single string of fishing line that I had fastened to a short stick of wood on one end and a sizable hook on the other. I was using Spam as bait. The water was so clear, and the reef life so abundant I was actually trying to catch a very specific fish that I was told was good to eat. A big blue one. However, I had to continually yank the line away from other less desirable fish. So one medium sized fish takes an interest in the shiny hook (the Spam had worn off by this time) and I started pulling the line up as fast as I could so it wouldn’t bite. The fish chased the hook and as I pulled the line right our of the water the fish followed it, coming out of the water, into the air and catching the hook in mid flight! While swimming in hadn’t looked very big, but when it spread it’s glittering, membrane wings it tripled in size. It was beautiful and it now sat on the dock gasping for air with the hook right through its throat. I felt terrible. It was making an audible croaking noise which surprised me and made it’s pain (or fear?) seem more dramatic. It’s body was slippery and it’s wings spiny but I did get the hook out and got him back in the water. The combined surprise of the wings and the vocals of this fish caused me to think about it quite a bit as I couldn’t quite place it in my limited understanding of fish life. To me it seemed less like a fish and more like a mythical mermaid type creature. And so… I sketched this with the intent of putting a finished graphic on my surf board. I never did. When the board was finished, the thin, carefully applied glass was so flawless I just couldn’t bring myself to mar it.
Mexican symbology for my friend Neto
I sketched this in 2005 for my friend Neto. The Serpent and Eagle are representative of the national symbols of Mexico. I was spending a lot of time in Mexico and the time and sketched this at my Mother’s property in Mazatlan.
Smart Car – Cost and Economy
What will the Smart Car Cost ?
USA: In the US the Smart car will cost at least $15000.
CANADA: In Canada the Smart Car is about $16,000 for the coupe, and under $20,000 for the cabriolet. Canada only has the Fortwo for 2 reasons… 1) It’s the only model smart wanted to release here and 2) The Forfour, Roadster, and Crossfire do not meet Canadian standards for Fuel tank design.
Article from the CNEWS website – VANCOUVER (CP)
As fuel prices break the buck-a-litre barrier across Canada, buyers of those cute little Smart cars are looking, well, smart.
“I laugh at my friends who have trucks who pay $100 at the gas station,” says Alexandra Carstens of Vancouver. “For me it’s about $18 to $20 dollars and that will take me all the way to Kamloops.”
But even before pump prices passed the $1 psychological threshold, Smart car dealers were selling out of the tiny two-seat runabouts, which resemble oversized athletic shoes on wheels.
“The Smart has been exceptionally successful,” says auto industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers. “For the type of vehicle it is, it’s really struck a chord in Canada.”
Smart, a unit of automotive giant DaimlerChrysler, was launched in Canada last fall after six years in the European marketplace.
Sales of 2,390 cars as of July seem small in Canada’s 1.5-million annual auto sales but DesRosiers says Smart has outsold a host of mainstream models, including BMW and Mercedes SUVs, Cadillac, Suzuki and Mini Cooper.
“Gas prices I think are part of it but equally important if not more important is the fact that it is a vehicle you could differentiate yourself with,” he says. “The Smart car does that better than virtually any other vehicle in the marketplace.”
Smart marketing director JoAnne Caza says the car – offered in hardtop and convertible models – has outperformed projections.
“We were very conservative with our numbers from the beginning and the consumer demand just was there,” she says. “Some dealerships are still sold out.”
Smarts, which start at about $16,700 and top out around $23,000, are sold in 46 out of Canada’s 55 Mercedes-Benz dealerships, helped in part by customer word-of-mouth.
“They’re very happy with their purchase and they’re telling everybody how much of a miser the vehicle is in terms of fuel consumption,” says Caza.
The Smart gets by with an 800-cubic-centimetre, three-cylinder turbo diesel motor producing 41 horsepower, helped by the fact it weighs only 730 kilograms, compared with 1,280 kg for the diminutive, 108-hp Toyota Echo.
Carstens and her husband are averaging 4.4 litres per 100 kilometres in fuel economy – about 60 miles per gallon – close Smart’s advertised 4.2 l/100 km average. The Echo’s city/highway mileage ratings are 6.7 and 5.2 l/100 km respectively.
The Smart’s small – 2.5-metre – footprint has prompted Vancouver to offer drivers cheaper parking at city-owned lots. The city of Duncan, on Vancouver Island, has created special micro-car parking spots that allow Smarts nose-in curb parking.
The Smart appears to resonate even in oil-rich Alberta.
“We sell on average 15 to 16 a month,” says Mike Edgar, managing partner of Hyatt Mercedes-Benz in Calgary.
“It’s amazing to me,” said Edgar, who viewed Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal as Smart’s natural habitat. “I missed the mark. I can’t believe how well the car has been received.”
Carstens and her husband Dean Husby, both of them are business consultants, ordered their Smart last December after a client suggested it.
“The test drive was all we really needed,” says Carstens. “We went back to the dealership, put our money down and began the excruciating six-month wait.”
The car is a conversation starter, to say the least.
“I had one woman almost hurl herself in front of my car to stop so she could ask me questions about it,” says Carstens.
The couple has since helped start a Smart car club, which recently took a trip to Seattle.
“There you get completely mobbed,” says Carstens, who says Smart’s highway performance belies its urban runabout image. “You can’t go anywhere without being stopped.
“There biggest reaction is I wish we could get them here.”
Caza says Smart Canada gets 10 to 15 calls and e-mails a week from Americans. But DaimlerChrysler has no plans to sell the French-built car in the United States.
The Smart’s Canadian success and it’s absence from the U.S. market is more evidence of how drivers in the two countries have taken different forks in the road, says DesRosiers.
The entry-level auto segment – from subcompacts like the Smart to cars like the Toyota Corolla – make up 40 per cent of the Canadian market and growing.
“In America it’s 22 per cent and declining,” says DesRosiers.
The large luxury-sports segment – which includes the biggest SUVs – make up about 10 per cent of Canadian sales, compared with 27 per cent in the United States.
Canadians bought just over 10,000 large SUVs last year, while Americans bought one million.
Article from CBS website – (CBS) A weekly commentary by CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney
The automobile was one of the great inventions of any age. It allowed us to go quickly from where we were to where we wanted to get to.
It worked well for a while. We built all these concrete paths for cars, but the dream’s over.
What we have now is a traffic nightmare — too many of us trying to get to the same place at the same time.
We own 140 million cars in this country. The average car is 16 feet long, so bumper-to-bumper, our cars would stretch for 4 million miles.
The other day, Daimler/Chrysler loaned me one of their Smart cars to drive around New York. It’s half as long as a normal car — 8 feet and a couple of inches. If all our cars were that long or short, lines of traffic would be half what they are.
Up until now, the Mini Cooper has been the shortest car. … Considering how small it is, I was surprised that it didn’t feel small sitting in the driver’s seat.
I don’t do car commercials, but it’s OK for me to say nice things about the Smart car because you can’t buy one in the United States.
In Europe, they cost about $15,000.
Most of the space they saved is behind the driver. There is no back seat. No trunk.
I’d have to change my habits if I drove a Smart car without a trunk. I use the trunk of my car like a bedroom closet.
Driving in traffic, I had a few tense moments. The car attracts a lot of attention. First, I thought they were all looking at me, but they were looking at the car.
I tried to find out whether a parking garage would charge less for a car that takes up half the space.
ROONEY: How much would it be to place this? Half?
MAN: Oh yeah!
ROONEY: How much would it cost to park this? The same?
WOMAN: Half!
Parking the Smart car on the street is easy, though. I saw one real small space. I started to park parallel to the curb. I couldn’t quite make that.
All right. I quit. What did I do? I didn’t parallel park. I stuck it in backwards, perpendicular parking. The Smart car isn’t much longer than it is wide.
They say it gets 40 miles on a gallon of gas. The tank holds five gallons, but I pulled into a gas station, anyway.
ROONEY: Fill ‘er up. I need four gallons.
I was curious about the engine. It’s 75 horsepower right behind the driver’s seat. It looks like a lawnmower engine, but they say it’ll go almost 100 miles an hour. Not with me in it, thanks.
If you want to buy one of these from your friendly local Daimler/Chrysler dealer, tell them Andy Rooney sent you.
Written By Andy Rooney © MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.