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I recently purchased the entire Newsradio series and have fallen in love with it all over again. It’s very different from the “humor of the dull” that seems to be the trend in sitcoms these days. I’ve heard critics say that it became worse over the years because it “lost touch with reality”. But to me, that’s what makes it so much fun. Half an hour of utter zaniness. And no one did zaniness better than Phil Hartman.

One of my resolutions this year is to become a better designer. Find out what my niche is and work at that. I feel as though I have spread myself too thin. Trying to learn everything, but not quite excelling at anything. I’ve attempted in the past to improve my illustration skills, but have come to realize that is probably not what I will build my fortune on. Since then I have found inspiration from other designers who use typography as a basis for many of their illustrations. Jessica Hische is one of those designers. I stumbled upon her site recently and have found myself returning several times. Typography has become a new obsession for me and I am amazed by what she can do. The drop cap above comes from her site Daily Drop Cap where she has made it her goal to post a new hand-crafted initial cap every day and generously allows others to use them on their own personal blogs.

She was recently interviewed on Humble Pied and gave some great advice: “The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.” I can’t count how many school notebooks I have filled with decorative lettering of random words to keep myself from actually paying attention in class. Since I have graduated (despite my lack of attention), I seem to use the computer exclusively when I design and no longer doodle on notepads. So, I have decided to go back to the basics. When I have spare time, just sit down with a sketchbook and remind myself why I love art and chose design as a career in the first place. By doing this, I hope to grow and improve my skills as a designer and typographer. Hopefully I will be posting some of these designs in the near future.

If only life could be more like this. Love it. Check out more here.

Let me first say that I have been waiting for the release of The Lost Symbol for quite some time. I think it was 3 years ago that I realized there were hidden symbols on my Da Vinci Code cover that hinted at the subject matter of Robert Langdon’s next adventure and since then I have been anxious to read it. It didn’t help that every now and then I would hear an impending release date that would later be proven false. However, that is all in the past now. I purchased the new book the day it was released and was immediately engrossed. Books have a way of completely drawing you into their world that no other medium has. It was written in the same basic layout as the previous two. Langdon is summoned to some historic place and begins a long night of chase scenes and unsolved mysteries. This time, however, he is summoned by the perpetrator and not the authorities. The fact that he knows the people in trouble makes it a much more emotional and terrifying journey. As always, Langdon plays the skeptic and discovers things he once believed were only legend actually exist, though perhaps not in the way you would expect.

Though I found the journey very fun and the ending quite satisfying, this book lacked the “WHAT?!” factor that the previous two had. This may have been because I guessed at a major plot point very early on and wasn’t shocked when it was revealed at the end. I will be very interested to see if it was as blatantly obvious to others as it was to me. Reading Dan Brown’s books always makes me wish I could go on a cross-country, mystery unraveling race of my own. Decoding symbols and solving puzzles. Minus the blood and death, of course. Maybe some day I will experience an adventure of my own, but until then, here’s hoping it won’t take Dan another 6 years for the next book.

I have just finished re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and got to thinking about the upcoming films. Since there will be two movies made, there is a pretty good chance all of your favorite scenes will be included. I decided to make a top ten list of scenes I am most looking forward to seeing on the big screen. Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t read the seventh book, stop reading now and visit your local library.

10. The Dursleys Departing: We have missed some great moments in the Dursley home from the past few books (i.e. the Weasleys getting trapped in the fireplace and Dumbledore picking up Harry). Though I understand why these scenes were cut from the movies, I was still sad to see them go. However, I am sure we will have a final goodbye in the seventh movie. And Dudley’s surprising change of heart proves that there is hope for anyone.

9. The Princes Tale: Arguably the most complex character in the series, it was great to read about Snape’s background and discover why he is the way he is.  I think it will be equally as interesting to see it play out on screen.

8. The Epilogue: I am one of the few who really liked the Epilogue.  Yes it was cheesy, but after all the crap that Harry has gone through, no one deserves a little cheese more than he does.  It will be interesting to see how they age the actors and what their kids look like.

7. Turning on Pansy: This is a brief scene, but one of my favorites. Voldemort warns the castle that he will attack if Harry Potter is not delivered to him and Pansy Parkinson shouts “Potter’s there! Someone grab him!”  Then all at once, occupants of the other three tables stand and face Pansy with their wands directed right at her.  After so many years of a “Potter Stinks” attitude, the students of Hogwarts finally seem to get it.

6. The Lovegood House: After seeing the outstanding set design work for Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes in the 6th film, I’m sure the Lovegood house will be amazing and a great backdrop for learning about the Deathly Hallows.

5. Godric’s Hollow Graveyard: The inevitable Harry/Hermione serious talk scene.  I think this will be a nice break from the action.  It is a beautiful evening scene with the snow falling softly and a carol being sung in the distance. There are very few things that I don’t want included in the movie, but the fact that Harry and Hermione are under the polyjuice potion is one of them.  It would not be nearly as poignant with two strangers experiencing it.

4. Gringotts: Helena Bonham Carter does an amazing job as a completely loony Bellatrix Lestrange and I think it will be hilarious to see her perform as Hermione pretending to be Bellatrix.  Not to mention the vault filling with scalding cups and the subsequent escape on the back of a dragon.

3. Dobby’s Death: Very much to my surprise, I found this death to be the saddest of the series.  It was completely unexpected and the emotional toll it took on Harry was heartbreaking. I’m glad the young actors have had 6 films to gain experience so they can really nail these climactic scenes.

2. Ron/Hermione Kiss: It’s like the Jim/Pam kiss, but instead of waiting 1 1/2 seasons, we’ve had to wait almost 7 years!

1. Neville cutting the head off Nagini: Neville is a rock star in this book.  I would say he is the character who has grown the most throughout the series.  It made me so happy to see him stand up to Voldemort and prove he was a true Gryffindor by pulling the sword out of the sorting hat.

And finally the best scene that will most likely not appear in the final movie: Percy’s Return. I admit I had completely forgotten about Percy when he popped out of the portrait hole into the Room of Requirement but was definitely happy to see him.  However, since they really have made no reference to Percy’s defection in the previous movies, I highly doubt they will include it in the final two.

During one of my daily internet rummagings, I came across this clever illustration. The designer used this as a denial message to any IE6 users wanting to access momentile.com. It displays with a link to upgrade their browser. I don’t know how many hours I have wasted fixing websites that work perfectly in every browser except IE6. His CSS file contains this statement: “This is not being lazy. Momentile is for entertainment and I just can’t justify taking the time to hack my way to IE6 glory for a user that is too lazy to upgrade their browser. It’s time to push back.” Amen, brother.

Possibly one of the cutest blogs I have ever come across, Tiny Art Director is an inspired idea. Bill Zelman draws whatever his 4-year-old daughter briefs him on and then presents her with a preliminary sketch. He then records her critique and whether or not the work is approved. Needless to say, a toddler can come up with some very interesting ideas including: Bone Dinosaur eating a Baby, CH and a Mouth, and my personal favorite Poo-Poo Airplane.

The picture posted was rejected with this critique: “Stupid ugly angry monkey. I hate him. His tummy and his belly button and his eyebrows and his hands and his feet. And his head too.”

There’s a Tiny Art Director book coming out soon, and you can purchase prints of the paintings at the print shop.

I’ve heard this sentiment echoed from many sources, but as for me, the jury is still out. The Half-Blood Prince is my favorite book of the series. I think it has a great combination of humor, romance, action, and intrigue. Needless to say, I was expecting a lot from this movie. In some areas I was very impressed, in others I was left wanting. I thought the two new characters introduced in this movie were excellent. Professor Slughorn, as played by Jim Broadbent, was spot on. It was as if he had jumped right out of my imagination. Jesse Cave as Lavender Brown was another highlight of the film. She was funny and obnoxious and pretty much stole every scene she was in.

I know that the movies can never truly live up to their source material and all-in-all it was an enjoyable film, but as a fan, there are a few things I would have changed. I think that some of the teenage angst could have been replaced with more information about Voldemort’s past and the horcruxes. I felt that was the most interesting part of the book and I’m not sure if the casual movie-goer would understand what it all means. The attack on the Burrow felt slightly tacked on and I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see more of a battle at Hogwarts. Hopefully the next two movies will more than make up for the lack of action in this one.

In my opinion, computer literacy is a very important and necessary skill to have. Not only will it help in the job market, it can also just make life easier. When I found out they were looking for a new volunteer to teach a computer class at the library, I jumped at the opportunity. I am by no means an expert when it comes to computers, nor am I a skillful teacher, but I enjoy imparting what little knowledge I have. The program is awesome and continually improving.  I have expanded on the past teacher’s course and hopefully the next teacher will do the same.  I’ve made a copy of the slides available for download in the hopes that others will be inspired to start a literacy course of their own.

Though it may not be one of the most glamorous cities in the U.S., Logan definitely has its highlights. I woke up early one morning and decided to take a walk around town to photograph a few of my favorite landmarks. I realized that when you have a camera in hand, you tend to see a lot more than you usually would. The rest of my images can be found on Flickr.