Websites…*sigh*

Twisted Alliance logo

I’m trying to create a website for myself, especially to post films, photos, etc.. but to also advertise myself as a person (yay!), videographer (sorta), and MFA student.

I’ve only created website using, first in 2000, Homestead.  They had a great sitebuilder, but decided to charge people for their sites.  I moved to Geocities in 2001, and created Twisted Alliance, a site for my friends.  It’s a great little time capsule, as the site is still running as of July 2009, but Geocities has warned people that it is closing accounts in September.

As my friends and I parted ways to achieve academic careers (aka University/College), I had less time to manage the site and it kinda stopped being updated.

Now, as I’m entering (hopefully) the career world with only one year left of my MFA program, I thought it might be prudent to advertise myself and my services/art/films/thoughts on the web like many others.  I purchased the Adobe Master Collection at the beginning of the 2008 school year, and am just now discovering Dreamweaver for reals.  It’s such a complicated program right now!  I found a tutorial online and created a crappy website, so hopefully I’ll keep learning and create something really cool.  Does anyone have any tips?

What I find really confusing, since I know nothing about code, is the html/CSS thing.  This leads into that, and connects over there, but you can’t do that, unless you do this….and so forth.  Well, there are less than two months of summer left.  My goal is to have a functioning site by the end of it, and know a little something more about Dreamweaver. Wish me luck!

Very cool!  I love the muted colours.  Dull (the colours), but it reminds me of the 80’s somehow.

“Curious” From Yaelfran

Monster!

Came across this awesome drawing on “Bump in the Night”’s blog “Misadventures and Mishaps“.  Just awesome.  And there are more posted on the blog!  I love her use of colour, and the sense that the construction of the piece doesn’t look complex but jumps out at you in its brief black pen (?) strokes and bold use of colouring markers.

Consumer Cravings

Just this past year I discovered my love for paper. By paper, I mean paper designs and designs made with paper, or even just designs on paper….uh, yeah!

I stumbled across this blog a few months ago and love the paper ideas they post.  It gives me so much inspiration, but alas my low funds stop me from purchasing any of the products.  Which is probably a good thing.

I’ve discovered many awesome design blogs of late and, as incredible as they are and the products they feature, I realize that I can’t get carried away with the urge to buy buy buy consume consume consume, which inevitably happens.

This intense urge to buy was deemed by my professor in the “A History of Material Cultures” course I took undergrad as a lust for a product or consumer item.  He challenged us to put off buying any product that incites this lust at first glance for about two weeks time and then see if we’re still infatuated or not.  He said most often than not after two weeks we’d probably either forget about the object or be far less enthusiastic about buying it.

I always like keeping this in mind when I have that incredible impulse to buy…and it actually helps….in some cases.  Why does the world have to have so many awesome products in it?!?!

The pic below is of The Paper Apartment’s note collection, as posted on Paper Crave’s blog.

Twitterin’ Kat

I’m trying to get back into the Twitter thing.  It’s amazing how many people are joining in now.  It was such a new thing to me back in July, and I kind of left it alone after awhile.  However, it seems much more fun now, and despite that some of their links still lead to dead ends, the cute dead end page images make up for that.

Follow me on Twitter, if you so dare!!!

I’ve got hurt feelings…

Nothing much to post about, but I haven’t posted in awhile so I figured it was time to post something.

I am crazily excited for the Flight of the Conchords’ show in Toronto this coming April!  Interestingly, I tried to get tickets for my sister and her friends after the presale (I got mine during the presale…lucky!) and they were sold out…but tickets were available on Ticketmaster’s “TicketsNow” site.  To me this site is just, as others have deemed it, legal scalping.  My tickets were $49.50 a piece…why are the same tickets more than double the face value?

TicketsNow’s answer is that once a ticket goes onsale and is being resold, its market value increases.  Okay, I get that…but come on!  What’s the point on selling them at the face value price at all when people will just buy them all up and sell them on the sister site to make themselves and Ticketmaster a nice profit?

I say boo.  To cheer myself up, I’ve become infatuated with Flight of the Conchord’s “Hurt Feelings”.

Sprinkles!

And so it begins…

…a new semester!

I don’t feel too bogged down yet, but the workload has definitely been amped up.  I find in grad school you get all your assignments, er, assigned right away and are forced to get workin’.  Whereas in undergrad, I remember it more being like the first week as a whirlwind and the weekend served as a breather before jumping into things.

Is it a surprise that I’m already behind?  Or at least I feel like I am.  Gotta get crackin’!  New semester, hopefully new habits, and good ones.

Pearly…yellows?

I used to have stellar dental hygiene…well, nothing’s changed except I’ve had dental surgery twice and have gotten older…here’s the short story.

*A few cavities when I was younger, but all those teeth with fillings fell out and made way for new adult teeth.
*Teeth have always been a shade of pale yellow-white…meh.
*Dentist discovers that I have no adult teeth under my two lower, front baby teeth, and am missing some wisdom teeth.  Concludes that I should get an implant because if I don’t, the baby teeth could fall out eventually and my lower bridge will deteriorate (aiyiyi!)
*Orthodontist trip concludes that I have a deep overbite and thus require:

• A permanent retainer, with night headgear….*groan*
• Braces  *shudder*
• Temporary lower and upper retainer

*Trip to dental surgeon where he removes baby teeth and replaces them with metal implant.  Metal implant doesn’t hold because the bone is weak so I have a bone graph and the implant is put in again.
*Porcelain teeth are fashioned and Kathleen finally has “adult” lower/front teeth!!!
*Oddly enough, tooth next to implant is dying (oh noes!) and I needed a root canal…still need a crown.

Funnily enough, all throughout my braces stage, the ortho and dental assistants remarked on how great I took care of mah teeth.  However, after the implant I started having all these problems, including mild gingavitis (boo).  I’m not blaming the implant, although I’m sure it caused the root canal, but why all the issues now?

What I love is that some dental assistants will poke your gums with that scraper thing, and when your gums bleed, I don’t know, because they’ve been PUNCTURED, then they start going on about how you should floss and none of that bleeding would happen.  Perhaps my gums would be stronger….but come on!

I’ve never flossed, and I know I should since it seems I can’t get away without it any longer…..???

Why all the dental talk?  Well, I don’t want to reveal too much but I’m trying out a toothbrush from OralB.  It claims to make your teeth whiter and whatnot.  It comes at a good time because I’m overdue for a dental check-up and cleaning.  So stay tuned and let’s see what this brush can do!

Disclaimer: I’m aware that a toothbrush, no matter how gargantuan and monstrous it is, is a replacement for regular dental check-ups.  I say meh.

Birthday! Birthday!

It’s already almost 3 hours since my birthday ended, but just wanted to say thank you to all who made it a great one!  It was indeed a fun day.

The pic is of a paint can that sits in my grandpa’s barn.  Took it today while trying out my new zooms lens that came with my awesomah birthday/Christmas gift of the Canon Rebel XS camera.  My jaw dropped when I realized what I could do with the lens.  I loves it!