Impulse

I didn’t really know much about Buckminster Fuller until a recent New Yorker article educated me. The inventor of the geodesic dome & modular housing was a pretty wacky guy. Though nearly all of his ideas flopped, he had some good ideas in his approach. My favorite involves clinging to a piano cover as a life preserver.

Continue reading "Clinging to piano covers and other bad assumptions"

Posted by Rob McKaughan in Casual commentary , On being creative at 06:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not!

I’ve heard that New Zealand looks very similar to the Pacific Northwest.  I think someone took that too literally.  Here we are, one week from summer, and we have the same weather as the Kiwis have one week before their winter. 

I’m glad I have a good winter coat to enjoy this summer in!

Update: Not looking much better.  Flights from Seattle to Auckland start at $2044.  Hmm…

Posted by Rob McKaughan in Life , Pure drivel at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I’m incredibly creative at avoiding creative work. I’ll find myself with a spare half hour, and think, “Hey, I’ll do something creative!”. Photography? I can’t set up the lights & shoot enough in that time. Writing? I can’t really get into a story with only 30 minutes. Film editing? I’ve got to watch 70 minutes of footage first. OK, maybe exercise? I’m too tired. Does this sound at all familiar?

Continue reading "Creative progress & ripping off JFK"

Posted by Rob McKaughan in Casual commentary , On being creative at 01:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The last movie I shot stills for, Stanley Cuba, is now available for pre-orders on amazon! 

Now that I think of it, another movie I worked on is also on amazon: Police Beat (in which I worked under the glorious title 2nd 2nd Assistant Director - yes, that’s two 2nds).

Ahh, it’s nice to see projects come to completion.

Posted by Rob McKaughan in Movies at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Economist has an interesting brief article on why government use of the web has been ineffective while in the private sector, the web has been a primary driving force in the economy. This got me thinking about what would happen if we really did have universal healthcare.

Continue reading "Health care’s mountain of paperwork"

Posted by Rob McKaughan in Casual commentary at 01:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’ve been sending my resume around, sniffing out job opportunities in the tech world again. A friend of mine, curious at this choice after spending 5 years on other creative pursuits, asked the good question: “Why?” I liked me response enough that I decided to post it here.

Continue reading "It’s a wonderful life"

Posted by Rob McKaughan in Life , On being creative at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Proving you can’t take the geek out of the geek: The latest issue of American Photo, and the FontShop newsletter came in today’s mail.  Charlize Theron, devastatingly beautiful as always, appears on the cover of American Photo with a headline promising more pictures inside.  The FontShop newsletter, on the other hand, contains specimens of the latest fonts and essays on graphic design and typography.

Guess which one I opened instantly.

(font credits: Pique’n’meex by Kevin King, via DaFont.com; Trebuchet via Microsoft)

Posted by Rob McKaughan in Life at 02:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It’s official: I’ve decided to support Obama in the upcoming election.  More than that: I’m a delegate! I’ll be going to the county caucus to turn in my vote and choose a state convention delegate (I’d love to go to the state convention, but I’m booked to shoot a wedding that day).  By my math, my delegate vote represents votes for 19.67 people in my neighborhood. 

Continue reading "Vote Obama"

Posted by Rob McKaughan in Politics at 07:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This photo is cool and amusing on so very many levels.

Posted by Rob McKaughan in Cool Art at 02:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I made some good progress this week on my Race Across America documentary. It’s really coming together, and know what?  It’s not half bad!

Continue reading "RAAM: movie editing continues"

Posted by Rob McKaughan in Craft and technique , Movies , My creative work at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)