Saturday, April 28, 2012

Ducks "Flying"

I live by the water and we have a lot of beautiful, graceful water fowl.  Most notably the amazing  Canadian Geese (who live here year round it appears), the Western Grebe, the Cormorants,  and even the Seagulls.  And then we also have the Ducks.

The Ducks are usually migratory and think it's perfectly fine to plop down in the middle of a busy parking lot for a nice rest.  They seem so puzzled when one of us humans gets out of the car to shoo them over to the side.  But what I love about the Ducks the most is just how distinctive their flying "style" is.  You can spot a Duck even in low light because of it.  Their wings are flapping very fast and the body language is almost as if they're shouting OMG Look!  I'm Flying!  Wow.  FlapFlapFlapFlap.

How they manage to migrate anywhere is just a little amazing to me as they appear to be the definition of using entirely too much energy to fly.  Maybe we have to shoo them out of the parking lot because they really are that tired.

Writers Without Boundaries

I'm considering taking a fiction writing class as while I'm happy to write about most anything, actual story construction is a whole different talent that I very much admire and want to learn.  In my search, I am finding that as Hollywood and Movie Studios know, writers need a construct to work with in otherwise they just run amuck--especially if they don't know anything about web design. Take this page for example: 


There are just simply TOO MANY WORDS.  Good web and graphic design is much more about the placement of words and images in a pleasing way that communicates effectively.  What is wrong here is someone desperately trying to squeeze in as much information as possible, but good design is just as much about white space as words and pictures.  What needs to happen is to present something like a succinct and eye catching table of contents and push the information down to different pages.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Happy Suicidal Angry Birds

Why are the Angry Birds so happy to be suicidal?  They rejoice in it.  Probably because they have that cartoon can’t die sort of ethic.  They go smash and poof and reappear.  I admire that.  It’s completely Wiley E. Coyote inspired even if they are Finnish.  Do you wish we all were like that?  Our enthusiasm for life would be unmatched and it would really take the motivation out of war