On the first day of our road trip "Down South", Angie and I stopped at a curious little place called "South Of The Border". We spotted huge billboards along I-95 advertising the place, and after spotting well over 100 of them, we knew we just had to check it out. Needless to say, upon our arrival, we found a photographers paradise. The following photos are not to be missed! By the way, they also have a website.
This is a skate park in the City of Oneonta, New York.
Click the image to view the gallery.
It’s kind of ironic that when I was in grade school, I absolutely hated reading because what I whenever I was assigned a book to read, it always turned out to be a boring one. Quite a difference high school and college made because during that particular time, I always had a book in front of my face. I would either be reading a book for class (college books are far more interesting than those assigned as reading in high school), or writing in a notebook.
I’m very messy and unless it has something to do with my business or blog empire, I tend to misplace things. Suffice to say that many of the books I read, and many of the notebooks filled with very important ideas and information have gone missing some ten or more years ago. Sadly, I have no idea where they went; they’re either in storage, or got thrown away, or someone stole them. In all likelihood, they’re at my parents house buried in a closet filled with my old belongings.
Thanks to the Internet, I am now more organized and neat than ever before; on the Internet, that is. Accordingly, I have decided to review some of the books I’ve read lately, as a new section for my blog. Believe it or not, everybody is a critic on some level, no matter how small. If you don’t believe me, check out Amazon.com, where people have gone to the point of becoming almost obsessed with reviewing products. Everything (or almost everything) on Amazon.com has a review, and it doesn’t matter how small or insignificant, or pointless a product is; the fact is that if someone bought it, they’ve likely come back to review it.
Posted under Announcements, Books Read, Everything Else, WritingWell, that’s all for now. PLEASE comment your suggestions, links, etc. I really need some help here!
Posted under SpeedlinksBuy my book! It’s out now! Okay, I decided on poetry for my first book. Hope you like it!
Posted under Announcements, Books Written, Everything Else, Writing
I love WordPress. Love it! Love it! Love it! So when I found out that WordPress 2.7 was coming out, I dropped everything to check it out. Turns out, they need assistance on menu options, as the menu layout is getting re-worked. Please show your support and voice your opinion and ideas (I did)!
WordPress 2.7 Navigation Options Survey
Posted under Announcements, Everything Else
Throughout history, writers have been responsible for reporting the news, expressing their views, and giving their readers the inside scoop. Writers are folks who use their writing to communicate with the masses, generally through print media such as newspapers and magazines, and more recently, over the Internet through the use of blogs and websites.
Since the advent of the Internet and blogs, the role of the writer has, in recent years, become more important and influential. Writers of today have the potential to reach far more people than those of their predecessors. Writers serve the masses with what matters most, whether it be reporting on political happenings, local events, changes in or the evolution of society, or the human condition in general. This far reach of the writer give talented, accurate writers who write about very important events a lot of power and influence. In fact, a handful of bloggers have blogged their way to celebrity status, while others have exposed the secrets of politics, and influenced dramatic changes in government.
I like to think that my writing has a positive effect on others, but in all reality, I as a writer am an abuser of the first amendment; the right to free speech and freedom of the press. I think and write about everything, all day, every day. I know my rights, and being that I’m also a freelance photographer and website designer, to some, this makes me danger to society. But then again, any creative person who has access to a computer and has any sort of intelligence to be an independent thinker is considered to be somewhat of a danger to society.
It’s sad really that as a society, we are now raising a generation of people who for whatever reason, simply accept things the way they are, fail to question authority, and are unable or unwilling to think for themselves. It is the writers who usually fall victim to being blamed for the problems of society; books get banned, writers get slandered, and journalists get executed for reporting what is happening behind the scenes. The absolute wrong thing to do in this situation is attack or irritate those who document of our fragile times; the writers, journalists, photographers, and bloggers are the people who make it their life mission to educate and inform the masses as to what’s really happening. Although all of this scrutiny flies in the faces of many politicians, it is these same politicians and government officials who are powerless to do anything but uphold the protective laws of the constitution and bill of rights, regardless of how frequently these rights are abused.
And for this reason, I remind you not to mess with writers. Although we’re underpaid, we deliver the real uncensored reality to you, despite how small or insignificant the situation might be. I choose to report and document everything that happens in my life, as well as my life experiences, especially how in todays educational system, we lack what is truly important in life; the arts, and the lost art of writing. As the educational system gets more and more watered-down due to budget cuts, overpopulation, and inadequate teaching methods, we are teaching our generation only useless factual information, when we should be teaching our generation to be a group of independent thinkers. In todays world, we are only concerned with money, and college degrees. Success is a multi-dimensional equation that cannot simply be measured only on paper, but on how well a person does in real life.
Let me just say that the world needs more writers. And by writers, I do not mean average everyday people with blogs or websites about gossip or “fluff”. We need writers who think for themselves, speak the truth despite the eventual concequences, and who go out on a limb, taking risks in order to express their true feelings and educate others for the betterment of society as a whole.
Posted under Photography, Web Design, WritingThis collection of links this week are taken from a handful of the blogs I read, with the exception of the Tommy Tutone mention; that was a google search.
History
The concept of Truck On Cheese came about first as a joke among friends at summer camp in 1997. It was not until almost 10 years later that the idea went to print. Using Adobe Illustrator, I replicated a hill symbol sign and added the holes to create an illustration of a truck driving down a wedge of Swiss cheese. Over the years, it has been featured on everything from mouse pads, to stickers, and of course, clothing.
Inspiration
The idea of sign modification isn’t exactly a new idea, but the Truck On Cheese inspired a worldwide phenomenon of the modification of road signs. Specifically, the String Cheese Incident distributed hula hoop stickers which people placed on Pedestrian Crossing Signs, as discussed in one of my earlier posts.
Future
As of yet, I am not sure as to what new designs I’ll be coming up with, though I’ve got a few ideas I am currently working on. Only time will tell if these new road sign parodies will become a worldwide success. For example, a red nosed reindeer crossing sign (just in time for Christmas).
Why Is This Important?
It isn’t really, at least to the majority of people. But to a select few people, this is somewhat interesting information.
