Alida 1.1

45 and Counting

45 down, 65 to go. This has been so much fun I'm not sure I'll be able to stop after 100! Check them out at lobsteringisanart.com

10DOWN Disc Golf

My friends at 10Down are back at it and this summer may blow this start-up through the roof. Ben, Tyler, and their new partner Jeff have found a perfect niche and have asked me to help out where I can. Ben and I sat down to conceptualize some logos for Award Wining Tees to be given to any player that beats another by 10 stokes (10Down). Disc golf is played like regular golf, except you use discs instead of clubs and balls, and you shoot for chained baskets rather than a hole in the ground. Most professional courses, and there are 2000+ nationwide, have a par 54 for 18 holes rather than 72 for typical golf courses. Some of the holes are over 1200 feet long, twice as long as the longest hole I've ever encountered (The Beast at Enman), of which I could barely get a "5" much less a "3". As mentioned to get one of the shirts you need to shoot 10 less than anyone else at any tournament that 10DOWN is sponsoring, not in easy feat for it only happened 10 times last year! The shirts will only be given to these exceptional players, kinda like 10DOWNS Green Jacket, well sort of.

I'll also be lending a pro-bono hand to help get these guys website up and running which will host a ton of info on Disc Golf, Events, Sponsorships, Merch and much more, stay tuned!

pubbuilders.com

I just finished the initial design for pubbuilders.com, and will be adding more to at as time passes. The client wanted a simple clean site to promote his business, and because my freelance time is limiting I opted for using web.com to make it easier for me and eventually handing the site over to the client for maintenance. After a couple of weeks working on it I realized that web.com is more of a challenge than I thought. It's designed for non-web geeks to create their own site but it has many hurdles to master, ridiculous templates and a very old school interface. All in all it worked, but will defiantly be the last time I use web.com for anything. There are many template sites out there and can be a great resource for web deisgners with limited time on their hands, but choose wisely for you may be asking your self, what have I gotten my self into?

PUB Builders

Our friends at PUB Builders, Peter and Kim Noone have asked me to give their construction business a face lift including logo (above), signage, business cards, brochures and website, all of which coming soon. Stay tuned for preview and links.

Alida 1.0

Lobstering Is An Art

Check out my series of Lobster Prints to help support a new fund I created for Lobstermen here in Maine. As you may be aware the price of lobsters has tanked and they're struggling to get by. What is even more frustrating is while their hard earned catch can cost as much as $75 a plate, they are only making a couple bucks per pound for it, not cool.

For more information and an ongoing gallery of lobsters please visit my other blog at:
http://lobsteringisanart.com/

Good Ridence 2008

Now that it is 2009 I thought about reflecting on 2008 and how in many ways it was the worst year I can remember. Right from the jump my beloved Patriots, taking a perfect season into the game of all games, failed to the NY Giants. From that point on 2008 snowballed into a cluster fuck of a year. There were some highlights, a new President, um, well, that's about it. Fortunately for me personally 2008 was not too bad, but around the world it appeared dismal, bleak, uncomfortable, strange, hostile, and going completely down the tubes. Let's hope in 2009 we as a human race can pull our collective heads out of our collective asses and begin to work together as one equal race of humanity to solve problems, create jobs, better our economy, stop fighting and war mongering, and for a change start reporting and discussing all the positive things that are going on to be shared and make a difference. As they say in journalism, "If it bleeds, it leads!", how sad, will this ever change, or are we doomed as a society and will simply sit comfortably in our suv's looking at the world as an accident on the highway, slowly driving by and gawking. Best of luck to you and yours in 2009. Go Pats!

Actually, I'm Not Hungry Anymore

How do they do it? Every time I see an advertisement for food I ask myself this question, more specifically is how the fuck do advertisers get away with false advertising? You and I know that you never get what is advertised, especially fast food, but where do you draw the line when creating ads that portray products as being so perfect when in reality they are anything but. I know the semantics game is to lure you in to buy their crap but wouldn't it be nice if just once BK or McD's used actual representations of their grub? Cigarette companies had to pull their ads for false representation yet apparently our brainwashed society couldn't care less for we still crave what is uncraveable! Imagine the cars and trucks advertised on the tube were pieces of scrap metal when you arrived at the dealership, or that new video game console is a box full of broken pieces. I love that drug companies need to actually say the side effects of their products when advertised, you know "taking this can cause stroke, severe headaches and serious side effects", why shouldn't the buger joints follow suit?

When Good Design is Too Good

James Dyson, the guy who failed 5000 times before coming up with his Advanced Dyson Cyclone™ technology, maybe a genius, or a carpet investor in disguise. The wife and I just picked up the DC17 and I must say, it's the best vacuum I have ever used, and being a former Kirby door to door salesman (yeah that sucked) I would know. My only beef, it's almost too powerful. I've managed to rip up yards of thread in my carpet and rugs get almost completely sucked up in the thing! You do not want to get close to the curtains with these babies, watch out for loose clothing, and keep an eye out for your cats tails.

Surge Bird

I'm digging these Surge markers and Paper. Surge Bird looking for some land-locked salmon.

Owen - Left Handed

Working on Duck on a Surfboard (below).

Duck on a Surfboard

A compilation with Owen using Crayola's new Surge Markers and Paper, color pencil and crayon. Remember the days when an 8 color box of crayons and a pad of construction paper was all the rage and you could get both for about 3 ducks, I mean bucks!

Dustin MVPedroia

Attah boy Dustin, 2008 Most Valuable Player!

Disc Golf Night @ Portland Pirates 11/29 7:00 pm

From the fellas at 10DOWN, nice disc!

"Disc Golf Night" at the Portland Pirates game on the Sat after Thanksgiving, 11/29 @ 7:00 pm. This is huge for disc golf! This is our chance to introduce nearly 5000 people to our sport. We'll have an information table in the lobby as you walk in, we've made t-shirts which are to be handed out in some fashion. We've made a video that will be played on the scoreboard and there will be some sort of demonstration on the ice during the first intermission.

The Pirates people have reserved a section for golfers, friends, and family and reduced tix to $13. It's really important that we have strong support in our section so I would love to have you there to make some noise. Unfortunately, you can't just go to the box office and get the special price or the correct section so if you're interested in attending, shoot me an e-mail and I'll grab tix for you.

Email Ben Dunlap for more info.

3G in Maine?

I just checked out at&t's coverage viewer and finally it appears as though 3G is now available. Only problem is the single is so weak it my iphone does not switch to the more robust 3G. I love my iphone but have been paying extra for 3G and it doesn't work, even when there site says it should. Come on at&t, what's the dealio?

Logo Competition - Midcoast Magnet

Logo design = image = good or bad = win or lose = money or wasted time = better than chores! Local community group in Maine looking for a new image, calling on creatives, submission finished, results processing, decision Nov 27th.

Turkey Hunting

My first animation, Thanksgiving 2001. Happy Thanksgiving!

rip thirdshiftstudio

all good things must come to an end, and with that end comes a new beginning. ok, who wrote this? tss may be over but the creative monkey in my mind will never rest. check back to see what andy is designing, drawing, taking pictures of, riding, writing, and just plain up too.