Family Movie

Just in case you’ve been lost on a desert island for the last 30 years, this movie isn’t as this parody of a trailer makes it out to be. In my opinion this is the most horrifying movie I’ve ever scene. The music, images and creepiness of Jack Nicholson all combine for one gem of a film. I won’t willingly watch this movie. I’d seen it a few times as a kid. Those few times were more than enough. If I come across it on TV I will blast right past it. So don’t take this trailer seriously if you haven’t seen it.

Funny Prank

I've got to try this one!

7 years ago today...

My clock radio sounded that morning to get me out of bed and ready for work. But instead of music, there was a news woman reporting of a skyscraper being struck by an airplane. I soon had an uneasy feeling in my stomach, due the tone in the woman's voice. I quickly turned on the television. From the footage shown at that time, I couldn't recognize the city that this was taking place in. I kept reading the graphics on the screen hoping it would tell me the name of the city. I had then noticed the words "World Trade Center".
Knowing now that this terrible scene was taking place in New York. I started to listen to the reporter more intently. I remember the reporter asking someone if it was possible that the navigation system on the plane was faulty. That just goes to show you how naive American's were. Not long after we had been watching, the second tower was struck. I remember the chilling feeling of watching that happen. It will haunt me the rest of my life. That's when the phone started to ring. Family was calling to see if we were watching this. Being a weekday, I somehow had to pull myself together and get ready for work. I don't remember getting ready but I do remember driving to my job in the Berge Ford advertising department. I was listening to a reporter that was at the Pentagon. During his report, he felt the building shake and heard an explosion. He knew something had happened but wasn't sure what it was. Not long after that, he was told that another plane had also struck the Pentagon. At this time I had the urge to turn the car around and head back home. But I was almost to work and we had a television up in our advertising office. I quickly made it to work was first to arrive in our two man advertising opperation. By this time the news was going back and forth between Washington and NYC. Showing images of smoke billowing out of the Pentagon and in NYC, the image of both towers with large lacerations gaping from high above the ground. I remember the reports and images of people leaping from the buildings. It was all such a nightmare. Then the unthinkable occured. The 2nd tower that was struck began to collapse. My partner Jeff Kogan then came into the office, we both just were in complete shock. The next bit of information that was reported was that another flight was hijacked and headed towards Washington D.C. We then heard about that plane crashing in PA. The footage of the World Trade Center Tower collapsing was running over and over again. The NYC skyline was covered in dust. Feeling like this couldn't get any worse, the other tower then collapsed. We continued to watch the reports on the televison all morning. We got very little work done. I remember we had an advertising meeting later that morning. The mood in the meeting was very somber. Nobody was thinking at all about work. After the meeting, Jeff canceled a radio ad were were going to run about "prices falling" with the sound of bombs dropping. I remember it didn't take long for our flag to drop to half mass. Jeff and I ended up going home shortly after our meeting. We couldn't think straight. Every year on this day we re-live the horrifing events of sept. 11, 2001. I can't imagine how people that lost loved ones to these events must feel, seeing the footage all over again every year. I'm thankful for the men and women fighting for our freedoms and doing their duty to protect our country from things like this ever occuring again. We will never forget those who lost their lives in the events that took place 7 years ago today.

two sides to every story

Remembering the 80's

Here are some classic television commercials from the 80's
Sorry, some are local commercials I remember from my childhood in Michigan...So, if you don't remember them, that's okay, just enjoy the top-notch special effects and creative thunder that brought these babies to life..





What's he talkin' bout Willis?


That one was for you Mom.


Man...they were really ROCKIN'




Oops, not a really good product name

New Storefront Now Open!!!

check out the new and improved Hamilton Arts Storefront.
http://www.cafepress.com/hamiltonarts/5636988

Also....
check out the hamilton arts website on Monday July 28th. The new site will launch that morning.
http://www.hamiltonarts.com

My Wii Number

Well, we lucked out and found a wii at Sam's Club. We had been searching for one for quite some time now. We haven't really tapped into its full potential yet. We do have it hooked up to the internet for online play but have yet to add anyone to our wii address book. Since it takes two people entering each other’s Wii numbers to actually make anything work, I’m posting my Wii number here:

0530 0468 9364 5567

So, if you and I know each other, shoot me an email with your wii number so I can a add it. Or you can post a comment to this thread.

Pentax K10 Test Shots

I had the oportunity to test out the Pentax K10 this last week. I used it during a family trip to Oceanside. Here are a few of my test shots. I really enjoyed the camera. It has nice controls and is pretty easy to understand. I think I only had a few shots out of hundreds that didn't turn out. The high ISO shots also really looked nice (some noise but not bad).

favorite filter

I thought I would show you my favorite filter in Photoshop. It’s called LucisArt. If you have been living under a rock for the past year, you haven’t seen this latest trend in imagery. I had heard somewhere that LucisArt was developed to use on crime scene photos to bring out more detail in the subject they are viewing. I’m not certain if that is true but after playing around a bit with the filter I can see why that could be true. There are ways to achieve this look without the filter but it includes a lot of steps and a little bit of trial and error. The LucisArt filter takes all the tedious steps and simplifies it into moving a few slide bars. I’ve attached a few my images I’ve used the filter on. To see more, you can visit the LucisArt website at http://www.lucisart.com.

First of many...

Well, I was so tired of seeing this blog sit empty, I had to do something. So, I've made it a goal of mine to post something at least once a week. I had originally started a family blog but apparently I wasn't updating that enough with things that other family/friends were interested in. So, I began this new blog. If you stumbled upon this page thinking it was our family blog. Check the "my links" section in the sidebar and view "The Hog".

As for this blog, I would like for it to be more focused on the latest in design trends, photography, software, impressive websites or whatever I may bang my creative funny bone on.


On Thursday I had the opportunity to attend the Photoshop CS3 for Photographers seminar. This was the the fifth Kelby Training seminar I’ve been to. This seminar was instructed by Ben Willmore and it was great….very informative! Anyway, while we were there, one of the booths was displaying the Wacom Cintiq 20wsx. After seeing that I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to work on my 6x8 Wacom. I’ve got to start saving my pennies. These bad boys go for $2,000…Ouch.! You can see it in all it's glory at
http://www.wacom.com/cintiq/index.cfm