Had lunch with my old college friends, Steve and Delfin at an Irish Pub around the corner. It was Steve (Scan-man)’s birthday yesterday. Great catching up with them, the last time we saw each other was at Miguel and Jennifer’s Wedding a few weeks ago.
So I feel like I could write random stuff in my blog, every day/week/whatever, just so I get in the regular habit of writing. But it just seems like such a waste and not very fulfilling or encouraging for me, not having any way of getting images into the site easier. As it is, I have to use my scrappy little all-in-one HP office office printer to scan all my images into the machine at home, and then upload them to an FTP location where I can access them anywhere I have a connection. The all-in-one reliable, but really old. (”Dad, why don’t we get a wireless printer?” my son says)
Without a camera or some sort of portable scanner on me all the time, it’s hard to post pictures on the blog unless I’m at home. And I don’t get to get on the computer at home very much because of chores and time with the family. Of course, I’d love it if I could get pictures off my camera-phone and onto the web painlessly, but Verizon crippled it, so that it’s not a simple file download from memory to another device. Verizon forces you to have a data plan, because that’s the only way to send your picture OUT of your camera, (via MMS).
Sophia’s convinced Apple is going to come out with a Verizon iPhone, so she’s waiting for that to come out. Now if that baby worked the way I hope it can, there’s a device that would be great to get all sorts of pictures into the blog. Ian’s iPod Touch is great, but without a camera or a cellular connection, it’s not that useful outside of the home, which is where I’d want/need to use it.
Which reminds me, SHAME on Weatherproof for using a picture of President Obama on a recent trip wearing one of their jackets to hawk the brand. Just so that Weatherproof does not benefit from any of my inadvertent SEO goodness, here are links to some of their competitors: North Face, L.L. Bean, Eddie Bauer, Land’s End, Patagonia, American Eagle,
One of the best Caricaturists I know… Steve Brodner
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008During the election this year, I wondered what Steve was doing, his biting commentary on the goings on in Washington is always great. I become a little fan-boy around his work, he is JUST THAT GOOD. There some other pretty amazing caricaturists out there, Philip Burke, Hanoch Piven and Bill Pympton come to mind. Steve is currently doing a series of videos for The New Yorker online, that are commentaries on the ‘08 election campaigns this year. The videos are directed by Gail Levin, with animation by Asterisk. You can view the videos on the website individually, or subscribe to them via iTunes or XML feed. I did have some problem the feed into iTunes, you may have to massage the files after they download to your drive.
They show Steve in action, doing what he does best. He is so accomplished that he can see these people in his head and can distort them anyway he wants to fit them into a narrative without too much effort. I’ve never seen him work “live” where he starts a drawing and you think it’s one thing, but he’s willing to destroy it to show you another aspect of the campaign from his point of view.
Not everyone’s going to like his work or his views – he is brilliant, scathing and “progressive” would probably be the best description for his political bent. But if you take a look at his New Yorker series (which you can also find on YouTube if they disappear from the New Yorker site) – you can’t walk away without seeing something you haven’t seen before.
In the tradition of Thomas Nast, who was one of his earliest influences, Steve has elevated caricaturing to Art with a capital “A” in my mind. If you’ve ever met Steve, you will also know that he is one of the most passionate, opinionated and nice people you will ever meet – the fanboy in me was thrilled to find the videos.
His personal site is at stevebrodner.com – you should take a look at his other work, looks like he keeps it up-to-date and he also blogs at drawger.com/stevebrodner
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Tags: 2008 Presidential election, artist, Bill Pympton, Caricatures, Hanoch Piven, Philip Burke, political satire, Steve Brodner, Thomas Nast, video commentary