One of the ways a line-of-argument can alienate me is if it under-values the worth of conceptual thinking. Sure, you won't see conceptual thought in lots of important places: ROI, sales figures, or even the plans for the future. Deliverables are the name of the game 99% of the time. The thing, in this life, right now. Whatever that is. But from whence does the thing come from? Where does innovation come from? Where does our understanding of a problem come from? From the conceptual. Conceptual thought requires of a thinker a disengagement with the contingent, with our instantiation, and our histories. People are fond of saying that "we should bring our experiences to the table" but this kind of empiricism only works some of the time. It works well at parties, for example. It also works well in group therapy, I'm guessing, and any other community-oriented or social behaviour. But if you want to look at systems, as systems, then perhaps it's time to think conceptually. It's incumbent on the thinker to separate the necessary from the contingent. It is not incumbent that the thinker constantly cash her ideas out. You need to let some ideas ride. ¶ Had a thought last night. Why not take the main menu down from the feature area. Clean up the top of the page. Feedback welcomed.

Labels: Siteway, Vague

¶ 3:59 PM

I don't usually blog "live," if you will. You know how it goes: the important members of the blogosphere blog in real time. Of course: it's the net. Why wouldn't you? But I don't blog that way. I usually get an idea, write an e-mail to myself and then maybe, just maybe, I'll post it, or some derivation of it. Right now I'm blogging live: Tina Fey is on Letterman! Tonight! Very excited. I guess I've been too busy to check my constantly-updated blogs. ¶ Speaking of George Clooney, I'm pretty happy with how this illustration has aged. Not bad. If you don't my me saying.

Labels: Vague

¶ 11:45 PM

Happy Birthday to my decision to register a domain name, one siteway.com. She's 12-years-old today. Oh boy. ¶ Pick up the National Post this weekend: Saturday's magazine, Toronto will include four noirish illustrations including the cover.

Labels: Freelancing, NationalPost, SitewayWorld

¶ 12:35 PM

I boast the cinematic and I present Harold & Kumar. Ah, hell, I love these guys and dig the franchise. Enjoy.

Labels: FeaturedIllustration

¶ 7:15 PM

I've been going through one of those creative incubation periods. I can sometimes tell because one symptom is thinking of good blog post ideas but never seeing them to fruition. I've been inspired; I am riffing. ¶ One of the reasons why I like Martin Scorsese so much, as an artist, is because he's a personal artist. He is, if this isn't too pat, an honest filmmaker. He responds to criticism with a shoulder shrug. He does what he does well, technically, and everything else is just his spirit. You either dig that, or you don't. But his films resonate with people, emotionally, like my emotional connection to GoodFellas; to Taxi Driver; to Casino. He expresses his ideas without deception through film, and he has good ideas. He also feels the same way as I do about flying. ¶ I've been working to inject more cinema into my work of late. That's why I haven't been updating my feature illustration. As I mentioned above, I'm incubating a few competing ideas on what next to showcase on Siteway, so please stay tuned. By cinema I don't just mean my subject matter, although I do mean that, too. I also mean those elements of cinema that are so appealing: the still-grandness of it, the iconography of it, the spirit of film. In the short term I think it means I'll be depicting not just characters from film, but whole scenes. This involves more labour than pure portaiture, but it's where I'm headed, so there's no sense worrying about the degree of difficulty. ¶ I've got a bunch of work out there or coming soon. I've done a few illustrations lately for Canadian Home Workshop, Meetings & Incentive Travel, and you can continue to see my work in L.A. CityBeat and NewAngeles. ¶ We've been making a bunch of Cypriot meatballs lately. Kief-TE-thez, similar to Greek meatballs, are a combination of beef, pork, potato, parsley, cinnamon, mint, salt & pepper. Here's my Mom's recipe:
about half a kg. ground meat, half pork and half beef
5 good size potatoes
1-2 onions
quite a few sprigs of parsley
1 egg
salt, pepper
cinnamon, a few shakes
dried mint, 1 tsp
Here's how I prepare it (which differs slightly from my mother's version). I grate the potatoes and add them (grated potato plus their juices) into a big bowl with the meat. Then I chop up the onions into tiny bits, and add them to the bowl, along with the egg, the parsley, and the rest. Then I form them into smallish balls (not the rugby-ball shaped ones you see in Greektown) about an inch in diameter. Heat up some vegetable oil in a large skillet and cook away. It's pretty involved, the frying that is, so get ready (apron, drink) and you'll be fine.

Labels: CareerTalk, Cinema, Clear, Recipe, Vague

¶ 4:01 PM

Spring: please let me explain. I never meant to cause you sorrow or pain. We love spring for the reasons that Charlton Heston still makes audiences swoon: he's charming and human. Spring is humane. ¶ I'm not sure who I've been writing to for about two years. That's a significant amount of time to go before knowing a fairly basic fact. Like a slack university student, I've shied away. I've wanted to write all along, of course, but I can't possibly care about it in the same way I do my drawings. We don't always write or draw when we should, is the thing. As artists, we should admit this. I draw far more often than your average man, but do I draw a lot? Would my drawing be of note? I've always seen my writing as an important component in my creative process. Many posts are early articulations of half-baked ideas. ¶ I walk to work on basic Toronto streets and pass common folk going about their business. There isn't a glamour to any of it. I don't mean to even compare it to glamour, which for all its negative implications, still resonates with me in a positive way. I just mean that there's a valued normalcy to our city (branding geniuses will loathe Toronto's be-all and end-all instinct). ¶ With Siteway turning 12 next month, I've come to realise a few things. One, you have to tell the people you care about about the things you care about. And two, when you're picking a domain name, always go with your gut.

Labels: Vague

¶ 1:14 AM

I can't believe it's so far into 2008. I've been really keen on some recent developments, but it's always hard to say. You never know. But here's to hoping (thank you for coming out tonight!).

Labels: Freelancing, Future

¶ 1:52 AM

With this week's long-delayed feature illustration of Pauline Hare I conclude my latest series, Admiration of Benefit. Pauline, my wife, a woman I greatly admire, makes a great subject. On dates I occassionally sketch her, but I've never before attempted a fully realised portrait. ¶ News: watch for my work in upcoming issues of Meetings & Incentive Travel, Canadian Homeworkshop, and Annabelle.

Labels: AdmirationOfBenefit, FeaturedIllustration, Freelancing

¶ 12:38 PM

Things are changing in Siteway World. I've been spending the last few months planning my online projects and I think I'm getting pretty close to a clear picture of how things will end up. Siteway will still be my home on the web but it will function more as a gateway than a site itself. More details soon. ¶ 4:05 PM

Vanity Fair is a fine publication, it's true, and while I appreciate their Hitchcockian spread in the Hollywood issue (VF March 2008), I sometimes wish there was a publication just like it that wrapped itself in fine illustration instead of photography. And the photography is beautiful, no question. But it's been YEARS. Why not a Hollywood publication beautifully designed with line and shape? A kind of perfect graphic marriage. Maybe one day. ¶ I watched the Super Bowl at this very chilled bar called the Soft Spot near North 10th on Bedford Ave. It was one of these friendly American bars filled with young patrons chatting about their lives ahead. I like places like that. They ordered in a bunch of wings, there was a three-cheese dip thing, and draught beer was on for two-for-one. ¶ As I recovered the next AM, I wandered down Driggs Ave. On my mind were vintage clothing stores and art galleries. I found this very cool men's vintage store called Houndstooth where I picked up a new shirt and blazer. I also visited gallery Jack the Pelican and it's worth a visit. Monday night I went to Knickerbocker Bar & Grill where I saw some Al Hirschfeld prints in the flesh. Including one of Jules Fieffer. I would see him, and a few more of my heroes, the next night. ¶ I know I've drawn Hitchcock before. He's someone I admire a great deal and I find drawing him tremendously satisfying.

Labels: AdmirationOfBenefit, FeaturedIllustration, NewYorkHareII, SitewayWorld

¶ 2:14 PM