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Communication Arts honored Red Square Agency’s Website. The website was built by New Uniform Design and Dave Caselli

The article is here: http://www.commarts.com/web-sites/red-square-agency.html

What is a Willy’s Jeep? A Willy’s Jeep is an old ass Jeep. One of the first to be made. They were made from WWII army parts after the war. They were simple, slow and awesome. My Mom’s family grew up with a 1961 Willy’s Jeep that was the family vehicle for road trips and mountain climbing. And when I say “Mountain Climbing” I mean the jeep would literally climb mountains. My grandfather would tell stories of the jeep going vertical with the help of the wench attached to the front bumper.  My Mom’s family would go camping with the small car stuffing six people in a small four person vehicle.  It honestly seems impossible.

Aside from all the history the car had before I got to drive it, it was my first car.  After my brother used it for his first two years of driving experience, I got my turn.  I learned how to drive on it.  You see, if you can drive this thing, you can drive anything.  It has four gears to it’s manual transmission.  The first gear is only used when climbing 90 degree rocks, so on the street you started the jeep in second.  It maxed out at about 55 mph.  And I mean peddle to the floor and about twenty minutes and a straight flat interstate to build up speed.  The freeway in that thing was scary.   The top is a soft rag top that made talking to your passenger a challenge every time.  There is no radio unless you bring a battery powered boom box and lay it on the floor.  The back seat is literally made by my Grandpa with wood, padding and some springs.  The Willy’s Jeep is dark green and overall pretty bad ass.

Looking back the car seems a hell of a lot better now than it did back in High School.  I was in High School.  It was not great for picking up the chicks if you know what I mean. It was slow, not fast.  It got me to school and back.  It was a good car for some things and a horrible car for some things. The winters sucked bad. The heat barely worked. In the summer having the top down was all you could do to beat the heat. Road trips were not an option and getting across town was a trek in itself.

The Jeep was a great car, but not very reliable. Considering how old it was, it ran pretty good for the most part. It was in the shop all the time. It was hard to even find someone to even work on it. It was so hard to find parts to fix the thing, it became harder and harder to maintain. Eventually, I put it on the shelf. I was the last constant driver my Grandfather’s Willy’s Jeep had. It made appearances many times after I moved on from it, but it mostly lived in the garage from which we resurrected it.

Eventually my Marine cousin Richard relocated the Jeep from Sacramento to Texas and put it in a garage in a Military base. I’m sure the Willy’s Jeep is happy back in it’s original surroundings waiting for the next generation to break it out for a few more high school experiences. Who knows, maybe after a really long road trip from Texas my kids can enjoy the Willy’s jeep as I once did here in Atlanta. That is if Willy can make it.

A few months ago I was browsing through Best Buy and I came across a little black box called the Western Digital HD TV Media Player. I can truly say it has changed the way I watch television. It is the future in so many ways and no one seems to know about it. This little black machine hooks directly up to your HD TV with a HDMI cord. All you need to do is hook up a small USB device into one of two USB ports and through a cool UI Interface you can pick any files on the USB device and play them from your TV. It is Awesome!

I have been watching digital moves for a while now through my XBox 360. The XBox works perfectly for watching moves. Actually it works better than the WD HD TV Media Player, but it has one major fault. Microsoft XBox 360s overheat like crazy. Watch two moves in one day and you run the risk of permanently destroying your $300 toy. It just became not worth it to watch movies on it, so I looked elsewhere. But like I said, I just happened to find the WD HD Media Player but I’m glad I did. Priscilla and I use it everyday.

I have begun to collect 1080p movies on a little portable hard drive. They are Blu-Ray rips that have all the quality and without box, menus or price tag. Its just a file that to select and play from a menu. It’s incredibly easy. Now the way I go about getting these movies are alittle morally grey, but that doesn’t mean it’s not about to take over.

The Itunes Store has become a phenomenon unlike anything else. Soon, movies will be distributed the same way. The idea of digital movies is only being held off by the Money Makers to insure them people will have to buy the Blu-Ray version and then they will need to buy the digital version. It’s kinda a genius way to go about it, and the people will just eat it up. Like I said in an earlier post no media is the future of media. I have a feeling that the digital era will be apone us way sooner than those execs will want it to. As hard drive space becomes larger and larger in capacity and cheaper and cheaper in price and smaller and smaller in size, digital movies will only increase in popularity.

Another thing to consider, is that having no media releases the limits of capacity. Eventually, there will be a higher resolution TV. Higher than HD. Movies are filmed in over 4000 pixels across and IMAX is 10,000 across. High Definition is only 1080 across. TV’s have room to improve and they will. Soon movies will be produced in 3D. It is just the next thing to make the consumer buy. Again genius. I can’t wait to get my hands on my 3D OLED paper thin TV that is wirelessly synced to my entertainment station. The future is closer than we know. The economy is the only holding us back now.

So Priscilla and I have this house we bought.  We are on our way to being completely domesticated.  And on our journey, we decided to build a garden in our new backyard.  There is a small area between our lawn and our house located on the back wall that stretches about 20 feet across.  It gets direct sun about half the day, so we decided this was the best spot to start our little experiment.  Now, growing things is pretty foreign to Priscilla and I so we asked my parents to help out with some gardening knowledge to get us started in the right direction.  When they came to visit in May for my birthday, they were ready to get dirty.

My mom suggested that we plant the following:  2 Tomato plants, 1 yellow bell pepper plant, 1 jalapeno plant, 1 zucchini plant and 2 yellow squash plants.  It seemed like the perfect plan, so we bought our seedlings and our seeds and started digging.  The first thing we discovered was that our perfect little spot was covered with rocks and full of this red clay dirt that was incredibly hard.  So we had our hands full right off the bat.  We picked so many rocks our we were able to create a stone border around our plants.   It actually looked pretty awesome.

After the preparation was done, we dug our holes and planted our garden.  It was pretty impressive.  With no surprise it didn’t do much for the first couple of weeks.  Eventually we saw the squash and zucchini sprout out of the ground and makes it’s way upward.  The tomatoes, jalapenos, and bell peppers  were seedlings when we started so we knew they would make it without much work, but it gives you a strange kind of accomplishment when you grow things from seeds.  We watered every other day if it didn’t rain as it does so often in the Southern Summers.  We kept an eye on them until all of a sudden we had a garden.

The tomatoes shot into the air engulfing the wire cage we gave them for support.  The zucchini and squash slowly creeped into leafy bushes with bright yellow flowers.  The jalapenos and bell peppers grew to about 3 feet before they started growing small white and yellow flowers followed by small vegetables.  Yep, I said vegetables.

The tomatoes started and never stopped.  We have more now then we will ever need.  The jalapenos kept coming too.  I never have wanted more uses for jalaponeos then right now.  We put them in everything and they are hot.  Really hot.

But, the bell pepers never really did much.  We started to see flowers and then we saw a small pepper starting to grow.  That was over a month ago now.  It has materialized a little, and has recently strated to turnh yellow (they are yellow bell peppers) but not much else has happened.  A small second pepper has started to grow, but that is it.  As pathetic as the peppers have been, the Summer Squash and the Zuchini have done much worse.

LKike I said before, the plants grew.  They grew into large vines with think leaves and giant yellow flowers, but thats when it got strange.  They got a fungus called Powdery Mildew.  It created a lite white powder that covered all the leaves and eventually killed them.  At first I had no idea what it was so I just strated chopping the infected leaves away.  When I was done there wasn’t much left.  I read later in a book Priscilla gave me for our one year aniverary, that all we needed was some spray I could buy at Target.  I bought some and sprayed it on the leaves that were still standing and all of a sudden I felt like an ideot.  The plants tried to come back.  They really did.  But ever time a fruit would strat to grow, it would die.  Eventually, it was littered with white flies and roating veggies.  Last night, I cut them all down.

But at least we still have our tomatoes and our jalaopenos.  They are striving.  And our peppers are trying to produce they just aren’t doing that well at it.  Maybe a few more months.  They better hurry up though cause its only getting colder from here on out.  But so far it has all been a great learning experience.  Even with our plants still producing I am excited about next year.  I think I might try out some of the same stuff and maybe some new things too.  And next time I will take care of that Powdery Mildew before it starts.

I love to smoke. Well I don’t love it anymore. No I still love it. No I don’t. Maybe I do. Honestly, it has been so long now that I’m not sure I do anymore. I had my last cigarette May 24th 2009. I was really drunk and it was my one and only relapse since I have quit. I’m not trying to toot my own horn here, I’m just laying out the facts. I started smoking when I was about 18 years old. So I was a smoker for about 11 years. Wow, 11 years. It’s hard to fathom that long of career of smoking. But like I said, I love to smoke.

Now I know that 4 months isn’t that long. I guess it just seems like a long time. I remember I quit once before for about 4 months before I had a relapse and started smoking Black and Milds before I went back to my favorite Marlboro Ultra Lights. For some reason that seemed like it was a lot shorter of a time to quit back then. I remember I wanted to cheat so bad. It was unbearable. But the truth was that just that I really didn’t want to quit. I think that is the biggest difference between then and now. Even after four months of wanting a cigarette and watching other people light up right in front of me, I still want to be a non-smoker. And after 4 months it still sucks balls.

I labeled this blog: “The Beginning of the End” because I know it’s not over yet. Actually I doubt it will ever be over. I will always want to cheat one way or another. I have recently smoked a few Black and Mild cigars while I was drinking and around smokers. I am in no way addicted to Black and Milds but I do have to stop smoking them. They help me keep myself occupied without actually smoking. I am making excuses now. Black and Milds have nicotine. I am addicted to nicotine thus I am addicted to Black and Milds. I know they are bad, I just find a way to convince myself they are ok. I am not going to let this detour me though. I am not going to let this bring me down. I will not quit quitting.

The next step is getting past the urge when I am drinking. I always knew it was the hardest, but I have been strong enough to not smoke a Marlboro so far so that’s a step. I quit drinking for a month to help and that kept my motivation up. I am not scared and am very confident this will be that last time I have to quit. I just have to keep on keeping on and I will.

Originally I wanted to continue my “Could I move to..” series and add one about my families Cabin in Tahoe, but I figured it was unrealistic because our cabin is unlivable in the winter. But don’t get me wrong, I would still love to live there. The Caselli Cabin lies at the base of the 39 Mile Track on Highway 50 and is seated approximately 100 feet from the Sacramento River. The 39 Mile Track is right on the edge of a small town called Strawberry and is about a 30 minute drive to Lake Tahoe. It is a magical place that is the host of so many of my best childhood memories.

Now it can’t be accessed during the winter because it snows in the winter. It snows a lot. Now one might think that it snows in a lot of places. Yeah, it does, but the 39 Mile Track is a dirt road that goes pretty much straight down a massive mountain. Snow plows wouldn’t have a chance. The cabin is plenty secluded, but there are quite a few neighbors too. The 39 mile Track itself is the home to a bunch of cabins that share the forest with the Caselli Cabin. But I do have to say that our cabin has one of the best stops on the track because it is one of the only cabins that sits right up against the river.

My Dad’s parent’s inherited our cabin from my Grandmothers Aunt. As far as I know, she was pretty wealthy. Though I have never met my great Aunt, I think I can tell a lot about her from the way the cabin is decorated. It has change significantly over the years, but there are still reminiscence of the 1940’s throughout the small house. Pillows with Norman Rockwell paintings on an old orange coach are in the living room next to two wicker chairs. There is an old Humphrey Bogart poster on the wall next to a whole bunch of photos of my grandparents when they were young. The ceiling sore up twenty five feet and are open showing the beams that hold the place together.

The outside is painted green and yellow to match the forest surroundings. The color choices are limited by the government which makes a ton of sense in my opinion cause I would hate to see a bright pink cabin next to ours. Anyway, our wooded cabin has a large tin roof and and stone fireplace surrounded by a giant deck that looks out on the river. The terrain is scattered with large boulders and huge pine trees. Squirrels and Chipmunks are seen playing everywhere and are accompanied by a ton of noisy blue jays and robins.

Like I said the river is but a few yards away from the front of the cabin. As far as rivers go, this one is quite small. About 50 feet across. When the river is high, you can’t get near it cause the water is moving too fast and when its at it’s lowest, it can easily be walked across. It is one of those mountain rivers that has house sized boulders with waterfalls around each turn. It’s filled with a ton of Rainbow Trout which I very rarely fished, but the few times I did, I had a blast. Our neighbor once pulled out a 19 inch trout with his fly rode right in front of our cabin. It was unbelievable.

Being 3000 miles from home sucks for a great number of reasons. Other than being away from my family, the cabin is right up there at the top of the list. All the times I missed being at the cabin just makes me sad. As time goes by I can only hope that I can let my future kids enjoy the cabin as I once did.

Who do you think you are? Do you know? Do we ever stop and think about who you are. I mean physically. You are an animal just like your dog. You are no more than the organisms living in your bathroom sink. You are a creature of this planet just like the rest, right? We are human beings. We like food and sex. We make friends and create unions. We fight and cheat. We strive to be good and to become better then we are. We want to learn. We want to evolve. We want to think we are more than the creatures we share this planet with but the truth is that we just the same.

I like women. Most guys do, but I cant say why I do. It was bred into me way before I was born. I have a sense of competitiveness. I’m not saying I like to fight; I’ve never been in a real fight. But I think most guys like to compete for superiority over other males. It’s something we do cause we want to, but in reality we need to. It’s part of what makes us who we are and who we are is human. I am breed to survive. Survival of the fittest, right? I am breed to think. I am bred to procreate. So what else am I bred to do? There are parts of my nature that I need to remember are just the human parts. So why deny that?

Now society in general has grown to the way it is for a reason. Orgies, serial murders, and street fights are all frowned upon. This is a good thing, but all those things still happen. As horrible as they all sound they are still something that are inside each of us.  They are something that we decide to suppress. Again, this is a good thing. We don’t want any Dexter wannabes reeking havoc or some Eyes Wide shut parties all over our neat, well manured neighborhoods, now do we?  No we don’t.

I guess my point is that maybe we are different from all those crazy animals on this planet because we want to suppress those things. The more I think about it the more I think that our God, or our Creator wouldn’t want us to suppress who we are. I mean, he made us the way we are. Yet, we want to be more than who we are. So maybe its the fact that humans are always trying to better themselves that really makes us human. Yet you can also claim that animals in general do the same thing on a smaller/slower scale. Shit, if dogs can open doors and birds can talk, it seems to me that they are making progress.

So maybe we are all the same then. Humans are just a few million years ahead of our animal neighbors. The more we adapt, the more we evolve, the more we strive to be better, the more human we are. Or maybe that just makes us more like the animals we are.  And we shouldn’t deny that.

I am a drinker. I’m not out of control or anything, but I can say I like to put them away more so than the average guy. I like to have a good time. I like to party. I have friends that like to party and they have friends that like to party. I indulge in the activity of drinking at least once a week but most likely more than that. I have noticed that most social gatherings, when you are in your twenties, has to do with drinking and most of the time it has to do with drinking a lot. Sometimes more than others, but most of the time it’s enough to make you take a cab home. Society today really embraces drinkers so everyone seems fine with the idea of “going out for some drinks after work”. That’s just the way it is. I didn’t really see the whole extremity of the situation until I decided to stop drinking for a month. It’s almost strange how it is so natural to drink when “going out” or when “hanging out with friends”. It’s just what we do and the way things are. And we all know that people stick with what they know and what seems comfortable.

I can’t take credit for the idea of giving drinking a break. Though it seems like a simple concept, I hadn’t met anyone who had actually considered doing it until I met Priscilla’s good friend Meghann Quirk. She gave up drinking for Lent a couple years in a row before I had decided to partake. This was about two years ago now. I didn’t really quit because I gave myself three “give me’s”. Three days that I could drink within the six weeks that I couldn’t. It made it a lot easier and it more than made up for the days I didn’t drink by getting plastered the days I could. By the end of it, I did feel a small sense of accomplishment, but it was short lived.

This time I didn’t give myself any free days. I set a time to start and a time to finish. It just happened to start on my friend Dennis’ Bachelor Party and ended on his wedding day. It seemed fitting since I knew I would be drinking heavily at the Bachelor Party and then again at the wedding. The four weekends in between were uneventful unplanned weekends without traveling, or guests, or parties, or birthdays or holidays. With nothing to stand in my way, I knew it would be the easiest time to be successful. Is that cheating? Maybe a little, but I still had my hardships and those four weekends filled up pretty quickly with drinking events.

Right off the bat I had a run in with temptation. I joined a kickball league with friends that had games every Tuesday night after work. The games were sometimes followed by dinner and drinks at a local Pizza joint Mellow Mushroom. I drank my water and ate my pizza. It was harmless. Nobody really got wasted so it wasn’t that hard. That weekend Priscilla and I went to a concert to see Rascal Flatts. (A gift from me to her for our Anniversary) We tailgated and everything. I watched Priscilla try to down as many beers as she could in the four hours we were there. It was pretty entertaining to try to get her drunk. That was until the ride home when she complained the entire ride about how she had the hiccups and wanted to throw up. All in all it was still fun though.

The following weekend was uneventful. A weekend of rest and being lame. We stayed in both nights. The weekend after that was looking to be a challenge though. We were visited by Priscilla’s college friend Michele and her husband Jake. I thought I would have some long nights at the bar in front of me being miserable the whole time. I lucked out though because they were ready for bed after dinner each night. Now don’t get me wrong, they had plenty of wine and drinks through dinner as most people do, they just didn’t want to get crazy and stay up all hours of the night. I wasn’t complaining.

Then the last weekend came a visit from the in-laws. This doesn’t seem like it would be hard, but they do drink so it is was present. Plus, a few drinks while the in-laws are around makes everything a little easier to withstand. The weekend was fun and we filled it with shopping and cooking. It wasn’t bad at all.

So now the wedding and the cutoff date is slowly approaching. Only a couple more days left. It really hasn’t been hard. People wouldn’t understand when I would explain I wasn’t drinking. They mostly would give me a strange look like, “what a weirdo”. Everyone would ask me, “why are you not drinking?” I would always answer, “Just for Fun” but the real answer is that I just wanted to take a break from something I do all the time. A break from something that isn’t good for me and something I most likely should cut back on doing. I still like to drink and I think I will most likely will be getting pretty drunk at the wedding this weekend, but I do plan on cutting back when I start back at it. Not completely, but maybe through this experience I can have a better perspective on how much I drink. But especially how much I drink cause everyone else does.

UPDATE: I drank the day before the wedding cause I counted the days and it had already been 32 days. So I had a couple to get my liver ready for the wedding the next night. The wedding came and went and yes, I drank enough to get drunk. It was a good time. By Monday I was sick as a dog and had to miss work cause I had a fever. Hooray for alcohol.

Priscilla and I bought a house in March of this year. It is a suburbanized home in Smyrna right outside of Atlanta, Georgia. We took our time to find the right one. We worked with a mortgage broker and determined how much we can afford and how big of a loan we can get.  In turn we would know how much house we could buy. Priscilla and I got a kick ass deal on the two story, three bedroom house in Atlanta. The economy told us it was the best time to buy with the home prices and interest rates being at an all time low. We dove in head first and bought our first home. I had saved up some money from freelancing and had a chunk of money from my late grandparents inheritance so we used that money as a down payment and to do some much needed renovations to the house. When we finally moved in we were in a good place financially. We had a great house with money still in the bank. We were happy.

It has been almost 6 months since we have been home owners and the time seems like it has just flew by. Since March we have made several improvements to our new home, some of which we knew about going into it and some we didn’t. When the weather started to turn hot and humid as Atlanta normally does come summer, we noticed that our upstairs bedrooms and closet never seemed to cool down the way they should. I didn’t want to believe we had an issue with our air conditioning, so I put off calling the repair crew as long as possible. Now, we got extremely lucky these first couple of months of owning our first home. The air conditioning needed a new compressor and that was looking to cost over $1500, but our awesome real estate agent David Willard bought us a home warranty on the day we closed on the house as a wedding gift. The warranty covered the entire thing except for a $200 deductible. It was incredibly lucky and we knew it.

The warranty came in handy one other time when our water heater valve was leaking. Only a $50 deducible covered that small fix. Oh, and before the compressor was replace we spent $50 on a deductible for a guy to come replace a non-working thermostat. As you can see, things are starting to add up. We just had our new kitchen table delivered from Room Togo which is just what we needed. It fills a huge hole we had in our main living area and it was something we were planning to buy the moment we moved in. Another expense. The list of things we need to improve or fix grows by the day. Priscilla and I are both somewhat perfectionists and we need to have things a certain way. Because of this I’m sure the list will ever go away.

I love our new home. It is everything I have ever wanted in a house. It is expensive though. Very expensive. I have never been so aware of my finances as I am now. Credit Cards are the devil but they are saving my ass right now. I know things will settle down and my debt will recess, but until then I am watching every bill and pinching every penny. I guess it is good for me. I figured I would eventually have to lean on my credit one day. Living without debt is unrealistic, but I tried as long as I could. It’s a helpless feeling owing money you don’t have. I don’t like it. Not at all. But again I love my house and it’s worth every penny.

My wife Priscilla doesn’t cook.  She never has and I don’t think she ever would have either.  That is until about a month ago when we both decided to trade off days during the week when we both cook dinner.  Not a Fast Food pick up order or a pizza delivery guy.  A real home cooked meal.   Now, cooking a meal at home may seem simple to some people, but to Priscilla, cooking is a really, really big challenge.

Priscilla can clean and organise and even do yard work with all the confidence in the world.  She can take a messy closet and turn it into a rainbow of organised shirts, undershirts, button downed shirts, dress shirts and suits all in order and all color coordinated.  Don’t get in her way when she is in her “”clean mode”.  She is like a runaway train.  She will clean the house til you can eat off the kitchen floor.  I can’t even take a shower two days after she cleans cause it will dirty the tile.  (just a joke there)  She will spend hours pulling every weed in the yard after she mows and edges the grass.  It’s incredible how meticulous she can get over some of the smallest things.

Well, as domesticated as she sounds, she has never been a chef.  Apparently she has never cooked in her life.  Ever.  I, on the other hand, was a line cook in a restaurant for 5 years as I made my way through college, so I know my way around the kitchen.  Now I have always been proud of my cooking ability and have always cooked for myself and then for Priscilla when we started to date and eventually got married.  I didn’t mind then and I don’t mind now but I do want Priscilla to learn how to cook so she can appreciate the world of the Culinary Arts and try new and exciting foods.

Priscilla has always been a picky eater.  Ever since I have known her she has been very particular about what she orders off a menu and what restaurant she attends.  She is usually not  ”in the mood” for anything other than chicken fingers and quesadillas.  She has her moments of being open minded about what she eats, but most of the time she just isn’t feeling it.  The idea of having us both cook opens up the idea of making new foods and trying new things we normally wouldn’t want.  We are letting the other person choose the meal and make it the way they like.  The main thing I wanted wanted to achieve for us both was to appreciate these meals because it took time and effort to create them.

Priscilla was all for it.  She knows she is a picky eater and wanted to learn how to cook.  I would be there to help and she would be there to help me too.  So far the meals ranged from Polenta to frozen chicken fingers.  All in all, we have leanred a lot.  Eventually I want us to take some cooking classes and learn even more.  I want to try new things and cook new vegtables I now consider weird or gross.  Eggplant?  Not sure if that is good or not but I want to try it out.  Priscilla has eaten everythign I have made and cooked up some excellent things herself.  The Pulled Pork was some of the best I have ever had.

I like chocolate. A lot of people do. But why do we like it? It tastes good, right? Of course it does. It’s even better with peanut butter. At least I think so. But maybe you don’t. Why is that? Is my taste buds built different that yours? Maybe. Actually, most likely. Perception is a major factor in what people like and dislike. How you perceive some determines how you like or dislike something. But what I want to discuss is that different factors besides taste buds can determine why someone may like or dislike something. In other words, I think you can learn to like anything.

A perfect example is someones choice in color. Ask a kid what his or her favorite color is. How do they come up with an answer. I remember my favorite color as a kid. Orange. Why orange? Well, as far as I can remember it was because it wasn’t blue cause that was my Mom’s. It wasn’t yellow cause that was my brothers. I needed my own color. I picked orange to be different. It wasn’t because my eyed depicted orange in a prettier light then my brothers. It wasn’t cause I was born to love orange. It was because in my experience as a person I wanted my favorite color to be orange.

Now as an adult, and an artist, I ask my self the same question. And I come to the same answer. I could say that any color is great with a complimentary color next to it. But that is avoiding the question all together. In art school the teachers would critique our work. They would give their opinion what what they like and what they would change. What they would do different. Not saying it wasn’t great to be criticized, but as an artist you have to realize that critiques of artwork are not right and wrong, it is simply interpreted by a certain individual. And one day that person my interpret it different than on the next day.

We are all human. We go through life picking up experiences every minute of our life. We gain opinions of everything we come across based on our experience. ie. A person may have had a bad experience with a dog as a child and now they hate dogs. I show them a painting of a dog, and they are unknowingly biased because they don’t like dogs. And if we realize why we like things can’t we change the way we think, thus changing what we like.

I’ve always been a smoker. I’ve always battled with weight and exercise. Recently I have quit smoking and am still getting used to what comes with being a non-smoker. Non-smokers don’t like smoke. I do. But I realize that if I do adopt this opinion then it will be easier to not smoke. If I convince myself I hate smoke, than I will avoid smoke, just as non-smokers do. The same goes with exercise. If it disgusts me to sit around weeks at a time without exercise, then I will be more inclined to work out. Now I’m not saying that you can merely convince yourself of something in order to change your actions. It’s not that easy. I wish it was. All I am saying is that there are reason people like to work out; there are reasons people don’t smoke. These reasons make them do what they do. These things make them like what they like. I don’t like to work out, but I like to be healthy and fit. I like to smoke but I don’t want to die of lung cancer.

I guess when certain reasons, certain opinions, certain experiences outweigh the others you can like something you never liked before. Your actions change with those actions you change. As you go through life you need to always learn from you experiences to order to change for the better. To start to like the right things and dislike and bad. I never want to live a strict colorless life, but if I live my life doing what I like, then I will have no regrets.

You don’t know about Bodega Bay? Well it’s a pretty incredible place. Just north of San Francisco and west of the Napa Valley, Bodega Bay is a small fishing town with ports, boats and plenty of seafood to go around. It has windy beaches tucked against rocky cliffs that go on for miles. I have plenty of memories of this magical place but the one thing I will always remember is that I have always wanted to live there.

Imagine a country house situated on a grassy field placed in between a rock filled mountain on one side and a cliff that overlooks the ocean on the other. Just driving through Bodega Bay made me fall in love. I remember the smell of the eucalyptus trees and the tons of sheep we would see driving along the roads. There is only one way to get through the small town: two lane road that curves around the coast like a snake. On the way through town there is one main square that includes a wine store, a small family restaurant and a small arcade. I loved the arcade. There was a small shop with shells and beach stuff for sale. Mostly useless stuff, but all the houses we stayed in were littered with this decor. We would make an appearence at least once to this little wharf on our way through the Bodega Bay.

Next we would always stop at a local stop that served up the best Smoked Salmon I have ever tasted. Crazy awesome, but the place was a little scary. It was orange. Weird. After that we would stop at the Kite store which was an old house turned shop that sold the craziest kites you have ever seen. Plus, it has a huge selection of local Salt Water Taffy. After stocking up on candy, we would make our way to the house we would rent. We stayed in a number of places over the years, but they all seemed to have their own personal charm. Never technology driven, they were simple and quaint. A classic beach house. They always were a five minute walk to the beach and surrounded by sand dunes and small waterways. The terrain overall was unlike anything I had seen anywhere else. Even to this day I’m sure that Bodega Bay’s overall geography is unique to anything I have seen before.

We would spend our days traveling the countryside and going to the beach. There is even an area called the Elephant Rocks that are just these giant boulders that sit in the middle of a field. I cant really explain it but it’s pretty awesome. Bodega Bay is also the town the original movie “The Birds”was filmed. We went to visit the old school house in the movie which is now a church. At least I think thats cool.

Besides the overall look of things I guess I would have to say that Bodega Bay was special to me because of the memories. I had plenty of family vacations there. Some with my late grandparents and some with just my immediate family. Every memory is a good one. After I retire I could see myself moving to Bodega Bay in a small house looking over the water. It’s pretty much the most stress free place I’ve ever been.

Denial is a powerful thing.  It can make you blind of the truth when it is staring you in the face.  It is the facts you don’t want to see.  You unknowingly live in a reality that you create yourself because you do not want to accept what is actually happening.  It happens to us all.  Sometimes we do it to help us through a hard situation and sometimes we need another truth to live with ourselves everyday.  Sometimes we force ourselves to forget or we prevent ourselves from seeing the truth.  But then there are the times that we need to see the truth and we just can’t.  We need to break through a wall of denial in order to get on with our lives.  We are living in the dark and need to be shown the light.

I had to learn about denial the hard way when I was about 19.  A girl I was dating was a dirty skank and I didn’t even know it.  She was my first girlfriend and she meant a lot to me at the time.  It wasn’t til much later that reality hit me in the face.  I had already moved to Atlanta and was back home visiting.  My friends let me know that truth and it finally broke the barrier of denial.  It hit me like a train.  I don’t think I have ever been so angry in my whole life.  But it made me think.  It amazed me that I could live in such a lie for so long and be totally oblivious to what was actually happening.  Something that was staring me in the face for so long.  There was so many things that told me the truth that I just totally ignored because I didn’t want them to be true.  It scared the shit out of me.  What else am I not seeing?  Could this have happened before?  Can it happen again?  Are there things I am not seeing right now?

The experience opened my eyes.  Not only was I totally avoiding dirty tramps from that moment on, I wanted to be aware of the truth.  The truth of everything.  I wanted to see the facts and let them determine what I see.  I wasn’t going to take pure belief rule my life.  I believed this girl was a perfectly honest human being.  I was wrong.  Sometimes when you believe something is true, it’s not.  Sometimes when you want to believe something is true so bad, there is nothing that can persuade you otherwise.  You will make up false truths to back your own misguided belief.  You will ignore the obvious and concentrate your own made up reality.  In turn, you live a lie.

But where there is skepticism, there is also trust.  Trust is equally as powerful as denial.  Without trusting the person next to you you are alone, but at the same time I think that people lean on trust way too much.  Actually people “trust” without seeing the facts.  Sometimes trust is the only thing keeping people from embracing the truth and eliminating denial.  Sometimes the “truth” is the scariest thing to face.

I feel that being skeptic of the truth will lead you to an answer that will either reiterate your own belief or completely open your eyes to something that you never would have thought of  otherwise.  It could potentially turn your life in new new direction and open your mind to experiences you never thought you could ever have partake in.  I feel that weighing both truth and trust equally is the best way to live your life.  Let your head lead you but trust your heart.  Trust your Mind.  Believe in yourself.

Hello Peeps,

It’s been awhile I know.  I have been experimenting with new ways to show off my work, my website and myself.  I hope you like the new website.  It’s pretty much the direction I am going to go in for now.  I am not 100% on my new logo and it will change here in the next couple of weeks.  I have had a crazy couple of weeks with going out of town partys and fishing and visitors.  Plus I have been busy at work and with freelance.  To add to the craziness, I got a virus on my computer at work and that has put me completely out of commission all week.  All in all it’s been stressfull.

I hope you like the new look.  I will be adding to it slowwly over the next couple of months so keep a lookout.  My download site and picture gallery site have also been under renovation.  Let me know what you think and how everything works.

Dave

The way we interact with each have changed significantly over the past ten years.  The Internet has grown and spawned new ways to communicate.  Social networks and Peer to Peer programs are only a couple of the new ways to keep in touch with old friends, talk to your wife, and waste time at work.  But with this new wave of technology, I feel that some people forget just how they are perceived online.  All the information you put on your Facebook, your Linkin, your blog, and even your American Express labels you as a person.  It creates your Internet Identity.

Since the beginning for Social Networks I have tried to put my name out there and sign up for as many as possible.  I have to admit I am not scared to input my address and phone number into any off the wall database to store on some server in China.  I try to put my name out there as much as possible so it is easier for people to know who I am.  For people to distinguish me from other Dave Caselli’s.   For Search Engines to have my name out there more than any other Caselli, or any other Dave even.  This is why I establish such an Identity.  I want my name on the map.

So because I am so adamant about my own Internet Identity, I cant believe how other people abuse and tarnish their own identity.  I am not going to name any names, but I will state this:  What people see on the Internet is what they believe is true.  If the majority of the photos you have of yourself are half naked pictures of yourself on the beach, people are going to ask themselves why is this person parading themselves online this way?

Also, people don’t realize that everyone “Googles” everyone.  If you are trying to get a job, make sure you know what a potential employer will find when they “Google” your name.  It might be time to take down the picture from that Bachelorhood party in Vegas.  Things like this might not just get you in trouble from a potential employer, but also a current employer.  I also have to say that if you have a ton of people from your past on Facebook, try to understand how they will perceive you.  They don’t know you, but they know your Facebook.

Overall, I am most likely different than most people.  I don’t care if I have “cooky” pictures of myself online.  I right this blog putting my life in the public eye for anyone to read.  I like to keep myself honest with the people around me so I can be honest with myself.  I try not to hide from who I am.  But I still will never put up those pictures I took with that donkey in Mexico.

Sometimes it is hard to find a weekend when everyone is in town and willing to hit the town hard.  This was not one of those weekends.  Our good friend Mandi came into town with her boyfriend Kevin.  Mandi is a good friend of our little click and when she moved back home to Michigan we immediately anticipating her return.  Kevin planned this surprise vacation and wanted it to be a special one.  This is because he ended up popping the big question just one day before the plan ride down here.  The way I see it, it’s just one more reason to party.

Now living in Atlanta we have a number of great restaurants to choose when deciding where to eat, but most of the time you pick the spot you like and the one that’s convenient.  Well this weekend we were venturing out into the unknown.  Friday night we went to a restaurant in Inman Park.  Inman Park is an area we rarely visit, but has a number of great spots to eat.  That night we tried P’Cheens.  With a mixed variety of food, P’Cheens was a great place for a night out.  I got the Tom Yom Noodle Bowl which ended up being pretty damn good.  I tried a new beer to Atlanta called Mothership Wit made by New Belgium.  It’s made by the company that makes Fat Tire.  I guess it is supposed to be awesome.  It was ok.  

Anyway, after dinner we went down Highland Avenue to Dark Horse Tavern.  Now, Dark Horse is actually a place we have all been to quite a few times before, but it was close, convienent and it is a pretty awesome little bar.  We took a Jack Daniels shot and watched Lebron hit a ridiculous game winning shot with 1 second left then made our way home.  Since Priscilla and I live in Smyrna, the ride was about 20 minutes.  That 20 minutes seemed like an eternity to Kevin and Mandi.  I guess they drank more than I thought cause when we stopped for a pee, Kevin lost his dinner in the parking lot.  I guess that means we are showing them a good time.  That, or they can’t handle their Jack Daniels.

Saturday was a “hung over” day and amounted to watching movies at home and straight chillin’.  We knew that Saturday night was going to be another great night out.  We made our plan, got pimped out and made our way to yet another new restaurant.  This time we headed to Cabbagetown to a little restaurant called Agave.  This fancy Mexican place has a cool vibe plus it has over 100 different tequilas on their menu.  After some good food, good times and some 100 proof Margaritas we made our way to El Bar on Poune de Leon Avenue.  It’s the place no one knows about but everyone would love.  Literally attached to  the back of an El Aztca Restaurant, this little bar was small and loud, blasting the hits from the 90’s and 80’s.  It was awesome.

After way too many shots, we walked down to The Clairmont Lounge.  If you don’t already know, the Clairmont is the oldest strip club in Atlanta.  They have been around for more than 50 years.  The catch is that most of their strippers have been too.  Headlined by their most famous dancer ” Blondie” who crushes beer cans with her boobs, Clairmont is the strip club where strippers go to die.  It is a freak show at it’s best, but the drinks are cheap and the crowd is always entertaining.  As for me, I was in bad shape before I walked in the door.  I could only handle an hour before I decided to leave everyone and take a cab home.  I drank too much.  What can I say.

The next day we were all miserable but once again decided to make our way to a bar.  (I wasn’t the one voting for more drinking.)  So we decided to (yep again) try something new.  We made our way all the way to Decatur to a small but incredibly awesome bar called Brick Store pub.  With an endless amount of beers on their menu we had plenty to choose from.  We ate some food and drank some strange brews and called it a day.  

Monday was Memorial day and honestly the nicest, sunniest day of the weekend.  We went to lunch at Garrisons and then went to the movies and saw Terminator Salvation.  The movie was better than I thought.  Later that day we dropped Kevin and Mandi off at the airport and sent them on their way.  It was a great weekend full of new experiences and lots of drinking.  CONGRATS MANDI AND KEVIN!!

So I bought a new house so I live in a new spot.  New spot.  New Commute.  Now when I was looking at houses the location was a huge deal for me.  Not so much for Priscilla, but she considered it.  I had to make sure where we were made sense for both of us now and in the long term.  Obviously location in Atlanta effected the price significantly so when looking I limited our search to only the convenient locations.  

Atlanta is a big city.  There are a lot of choices on neighborhoods and communities to live in.  But not all of them made sense for us.  Before we bought our house we rented in a condo in Vinings.  We love Vinings and the area around it.  We didn’t want to go far so Smyrna was an obvious choice. Smyrna is located just outside of Vinings and just outside the perimeter of Atlanta.  Yep OTP.  Though Smyrna is not the hippest neighborhood in Altanta, it is close to the city and it is reasonably priced.  Because of this, there are a ton of young families that call Smyrna home.  It may not have the party atmosphere of Brookhaven, but it does have new houses that are affordable.

Our new house is located on the corner of Atlanta Road and Spring Road. It is the heart of Smyrna and is located just a block from the Smyrna Market Village. My office is in midtown off Northside Drive right across from Six Feet Under. My commute from Vinnings, even though it was only three miles from our new house, was a lot better and quicker. It was more convenient because it was located so close to the freeway which made it a quick 10 minutes to work. Now with living in Smyrna, I am a good ten minutes from the freeway and the same 10 minutes from there. Because of this, I take the back roads.

A straight shot down Atlanta road takes you to Chattahoochee Road which then hits Howell Mill. My office is on 11th Street which is right off of Howell Mill. It clocks in at about 15 to 20 minutes but with no freeways.  The trip is painless on most days.  Some are worse than others, but there is very little traffic and never any cops or accidents.  This mostly just means that the commute is mostly the same day to day.  

The only thing I would have to say is a deciding factor is the bridge that crosses the Chattahoochee on Atlanta road next to the Water plant.  From what I have heard, the bridge has always been two lanes.  It has always taken Atlanta road from 4 lanes to 2.  Who planned this city anyway?  The traffic is pretty much the same everyday.  Easier in the afternoons, but it still sucks.  The light has five roads coming together which makes the light extremely long anyway, then add that it’s backed up a half mile.  It takes me at least ten minutes just to get through the light.  When it is done, my commute will improve immensely.

Overall I love my new commute.  It is quick and safe and isn’t through a ghetto.  My new commute is only one of the great new things I get with living in our new house.  Now lets just hope that Indigo doesn’t move to Kennesaw.

I have a certain way of doing things.  I get joy out of my independence.  I think all people in the world do one way or another.  People, in general, try to not only do things they way they want, but they attempt to make other people do things their way.  It’s part of the thing that makes us human.  Life is simply a series of choices.  Choices made by us as individuals.  When we find ourselves in a situation where we cannot have our own way, we get frustrated as we are not in our own comfort zone.  We have to adapt.  Change.  Compromise.

Marriage is a crazy concept.  Being with one person your whole life.  That’s a long time.  And with time, there will be choices to be made.  Choices as individuals and choices as a couple.  In both situations, those choices have a tendency to intersect.  Compromise is pretty much the only way around such a predicament. I think that finding a way to enjoy someone else’s point of view is the way to make compromise feel rewarding. To feel confident in someone else’s control whether their choices are right or wrong. To believe in someone and accept their flaws at the same time.  Easier said then done.

As cheesy as it is, understanding the person next to you is the only productive thing that you can do. Learning how they will react to situations and then, in turn, change your choices to better the situation based on their original choices. But this is no easy battle. I figure I have at least sixty or so years to figure it all out.

I can understand that the original thought of “compromise” is that you are “giving in.” But that is exactly what it is. Yes, it’s a blow to your ego and maybe you are giving alittle of your self esteem too, but in the long run everyone wins. At least that’s what I have picked up so far.

After owning our own house for a couple of months now, I have to add that compromise does, in no way, only hold true to marriage.  Priscilla and I have been blessed with a fortunate life, a wealthy lifestyle and a giant house.  And with great power comes great responsibility.  What?  All I’m saying is that that shit is expensive.  It is only really hitting me now how much we need to change our lifestyle in order to pay the bills.  Mortgage is one thing, but higher utilities, added utilities including water, trash, lawn care and basic repairs.  Looks like shots are NOT on me anymore.  

I guess compromise is a pretty common concept that is involved in everything we do.  Sometimes we don’t get to do what we want to.  It sucks.  But looking at the big picture, not getting what you want is, in turn,  getting what you need.

When I was growing up I collected action figures. Mostly Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys, but over the years I enjoyed a number of different selections. I remember G.I. Joe and Transformers just to name a few. It was a thing that us kids did. Every birthday or Christmas we would ask for an addition to our collection. It makes me realize how spoiled and fortunate I was growing up. I had a lot of damn toys. Not enough to prevent me from wanting everything my good friend Clark had next door. He had everything.

Toys come in a lot of different shapes and sizes. There were Nerf Guns and water guns and kickballs and eventually video games. Action Figures were not only the best to just play with, they looked kick ass on my shelf in my room. I remember lining my collection of TMNT toys across my self that stretched 6 feet across my bedroom wall. I was pretty proud. (Give me a break I was 11)

As time went on my toy collection made its way from my shelves to storage boxes and then to the attic in my parents house.  As time goes on, I still have a place in my heart for these little guys. I actually have one on my desk at work of the almighty M Bison from Street Fighter. A gift from my brother. He looks pretty bad ass.

I have a strong stand on Religion but I have always tried to be as open minded as possible.  I had a discussion a couple of weeks ago with a coworker about where we stood when it came to religion.  When I was truly put on the spot I was left speechless.  I felt like I had too much to say in a single conversation.  Most likely too much for this blog, but I tried.  But my final conclusion was that I was on a journey for the answer.  I was not satisfied with anything I have learned on TV or through an old book.  As I may say I have figured some stuff out and made way in a certain direction, the more I spook about it, the more I realised I should just leave it as “In Progress”.

I grew up Catholic in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood in a Catholic school from when I when in Kindergarten to when I left High School.  I went to church every Sunday and was an Alter boy from 6th to 8th grade.  Our family was close to the Parish and the fellow priest.  I remember learning as a child that the Catholic religion was the most prominent religion in the world.  At the time I thought, “Well I must be on the right side if MOST people in the world believe in Jesus.”  It wasn’t until later, after a plethora of religion classes, and after I graduated from high school, that there were reasons MOST people in the world were Catholic.  I’m not going to go into this history lesson, but without the constant third world Missions throughout the world and the War they call the Crusades, the Catholic religion would be minimal compared to what it is today.  In short, politics is the reason the world is made up of mostly Catholics.

Back to my point.  I was brought up a Catholic boy in the Catholic environment.  I was deemed Catholic when I was Baptised as a baby.  I was taught in school everything there is to know about the Catholic religion without ever being asked if I wanted to.  I don’t regret anything in my past and if I could do it all again I would do it the same exact way.  Why?  Well it’s because I feel I have a better understanding now, about religion in general, than I ever would have if I was raised in a religionless environment.  But even in saying that, I do not want to raise my children in a predominantly single minded religious setting putting them in one specific group before they can form their own conclusions. 

Throughout my journey, I have tried to do as much research as possible.  I am no expert.  Not by a long shot.  I am not trying to convince anyone to believe in anything a specific way.  (I am totally discrediting myself here)  All I am saying is that I am interested in finding my own answers so I read a few books.  (Audio books are just like real books)  First I read a book by Richard Dawkings, “The God Delusion”  It was a take on the scientific approach to religion and where we all came from.  It pretty much blew me away and opened my mind to a number of different things that I never would have thought about, be truly agreed with.  Now even though I really enjoyed the book, I felt that it was a bit one sided to the religion debate.  So next I decided to listen to a rebuttal.  Not necessarily the real rebuttal, the book I choose was still geared towards promoting the teaching in the bible.

The book is called “The year of living Biblically” by A.J. Jacobs.  It tells the story of A.J. and his year of living as true to the bible as possible.  Every teaching and ritual was attempted.  Everything the bible told him to do, he did.  That was until it became illegal or was just morally wrong.  I choose this book after it was suggested by my brother Tony.  He liked it saying it proves that having some religion in your life can make you a happier person.  I personally think that the teachings in the bible are, for the most part, pretty ridiculous.  As there are plenty of positive teaching throughout the Good Book, there are also plenty of negative suggestions that are just wrong.  One point both books brings up is the fact that today’s society chooses what in the bible to follow and which to just pass off as “symbolism”.  This is just one reason I choose to think outside the box for my own conclusions when it comes to religion.

But I do have say that I agree with my brothers point that having a sense of religion in your life can make you happier.  At first I felt this in my heart and knew there was a reason for it, but I wasn’t sure what that was.   Richard Dawkings book stated that it was developed over the years genetically.  That humans have always needed an answer to where we come from and where we go when we die.  I agree him him, but I don’t think that is enough reason to remove religion from your life.  When I went down the path of an Atheist, I felt empty and scared.  At first I thought I wasn’t strong enough to believe there is no God.  Maybe I’m not.   Should I be?  I’m not sure on that.  Even if Richard Hawkins is right and it is genetically woven into us as humans, then shouldn’t we embrace that notion?  Maybe not the way we do today through old books and intervening Gods, but in some way, we should.

I did have one thought recently though.  The this bridges to another blog I am going to write.  If you believe in something; if you truly believe something is real you can find comfort in that truth.  Now that truth may not be true, but if you believe it is, then it is to you.  It is in sense a kind of denial.  If you want to believe something enough it will be true.  It goes along with positive thinking.  If you have a positive outlook on life, you will be a happier person.  Convincing yourself of a specific truth is important because humans cant understand everything around them.  At least not yet.

So where do I stand?  I guess I don’t stand anywhere.  One notion I did recently ponder was that believing in a conscious after life makes me feel better.  Makes me feel less scared of death.  I cant say I believe in any conscious God.  God to me is existence.  God is the Earth.  God is everything.  I believe we all are one and part of each other.  But the one thing I know for sure is that we don’t know.  We will never know.  We are not supposed to know.  We are supposed to figure it out on our own.  To make our own conclusions.  To find the truths that make us content and happy throughout our lives.

So recently I have gotten married and bought a house with my wife Priscilla.  It has been two weeks since we have moved into  out new investment and already I am starting to worry about the thing falling to the ground.  I know it sounds ridiculous, but considering the amount of money invested in such a thing, I stand to loose quite a bit if the house decides to up and fall over.  It just one of those things I have to get used to.  One of the things that makes you a Grownup.

Getting married for me was a no-brainer.  Priscilla and I had been dating four years and I loved her.  It wasn’t until after the engagement, the parties, the preparation, the rehearsal, the wedding, the reception, the honeymoon, and everything else, that I could really sit back and realize, ” Damn… I’m married now.  I’m a grown up.”  

Recently I have noticed that there are some people out there in the world that thrive on growing up fast.  I know several people that get married young and start having kids young.  Almost like they are running to be part of the group they call “Grownup”.  I, on the other hand, was not in that group.  Moving to Atlanta at age 19 was partially a cry for independence.  I wanted to party and not have to worry about it.  I wanted to have fun and be a kid on the loose.  I ended up growing up faster then I could ever imagine.  

That being said, I still was in no rush to be a grownup.  I did things as they would come to me in my life.  I met Priscilla when I wasn’t looking for a serious relationship.  At a point in my life when I was tired of trying to be nice, honest guy, I met Priscilla and she was the nice and honest girl.  It was meant to be I guess.

Now, honestly,  getting married, in my eyes, was not the final indication that I had turned to the grownups.  Priscilla and I have several friends that have no kids and party like rock stars and enjoy an awesome, young, independent life without children.  To me, they met their soul mate but never really wanted to reach that label of adult.  I have all the respect for them and am inspired by their lifestyle,  (That’s right Alex and Jan, I am talking about you two.) but I think that I am going to have a couple of kids in my future.

Priscilla and I decided to buy a house before the wedding even happened.  We actually considered buying before the wedding, but, after the wedding planning started, we knew that was not going to happen.  One thing at a time.  It always seems to be that: One thing at a time.  And that is how time passes so fast.  You finish one thing then on to the next.  After the wedding we started the process of buying a house.  We looked, found one, and bought it.  One step at a time.  Now, as the dust is finally settling, I look back and say,”Damn, I have a house now.  I have a wife.  I’m only 27 years old, but damn I feel like I’m all grown up.  Or maybe I feel like I’m a kid with a house and a wife.  Either way, I’ve taken one more step in being an adult.

The next step in the series of events that make up life is children.  (Mom, don’t get too excited yet.)  It is the final step into “Grownupdome”  It marks the fact that the little person you brought into the world looks to you as a “Grownup”.  And as they should.  You are the ones taking care of them.  Plus you are about 5 feet taller then them. Kids for me and Priscilla are in the future.  We just don’t know how are into the future they are.  Like I said before.  One step at a time.  What’s the next step again?

I worked with a awesome new client Kilgannon and some kick ass ferret renderings to create this cool web animation for OVE.com.  Check it out.

Technology is a crazy thing. Especially these days. I decided to write this blog a long time ago when the media war between Blu-Ray and HD Dvd had ended. But as with all technology, things change. Let me start with this: Business is business. The media was only a battle between companies and the companies those companies backed. They both made a choice and put their money on one of the competing sides. Blu-Ray won. I wasn’t a big surprise. Blu-Ray had a high storage capacity, Playstation 3 used it and it had a cool name with “Blue” in it but instead of spelling it “Blue” they spelled it without the “e” at the end. Yep. Crazy. The sad thing is I’m pretty sure this is the reason with it won. The Playstation thing helped too, but who wanted an updated DVD player with an “HD” thrown in the beginning of the name? I wasn’t convinced.

Anyway, Blu-Ray won and that is that.  HD DVD is dead.  The future of media is set.  Or is it?  This is my main argument against Blu-Ray.  As I said before, this is a business.  The thing is, is that media in general is about to be obsolete.  Companies already have the capabilities to stream giant amounts of information to your home without even touching a Disc.  Downloading is becoming the norm along with Netflix and just watching movies online.  Netflix recently made a move with XBox that allowed XBox owners to stream movies through their game machine from the Internet to your TV.  Brilliant idea.   This is two big companies preparing for the future.  I don’t see Netflix going anywhere if they keep this up.

I have always been a movie collector.  Always.  But it wasn’t until recently that I was over it.  I decided I had bought my last DVD and I would not start collecting the single new media, the Blu-Ray.  My current DVD collection will most likely start to dwindle as I sell them away or let people borrow them with them never returning them.  It happens.  I might just box them up and put them in my new attic til I can give them to my kids to teach them about the crazy cinema of my day.  Either way, I am done spending the funds on something that was mostly a waste of money anyway.  How often do you actually watch movies you buy anyway.  Once?  Twice?  Never more than that.  Unless it’s like Half Baked or Grandma’s Boy.  Those are classics.  

Anyway, I am excited about creating my new library.  One that will most likely be already made for me.  One that looks like a cable box, has a hard drive and an Internet connection that can stream movies whenever I want them.  The size of selection will always be growing and I will never be without a new release the day it comes out.  I will never have late fees.  I will never have a scratched disc.  Discs will never get lost in the mail.  I wont have four disc always floating around my living room.  All movies will be in High Definition.  When High Definition becomes obsolete, The next new format will automatically be available to me.  I will have a box and a screen.  This is the future of media.  No media at all.