I went on stage in front of a paying audience for the first time as a comedic improviser. Was I funny? I don’t know. The audience seemed to be making the right sounds. They laughed. And just like the first time I kept thinking to myself ‘Oh my God I can’t believe I’m really doing this!’ It ended in a big mess and it was over before I knew it.

I have to thank Alistair Cooke and his company Instant Theatre for making the deflowering an easy process as possible. February 12, 2012 marks one year. Just one year ago I took my first Saturday drop in improv class. A year of taking courses at VTSL, goofing around at the odd Urban Improv challenge night, reading improv books from cover to cover and taking in as many shows as humanly possible. But none of that invited me on stage the way the course work is designed at Instant Theatre.

And just like the first time, I want to do it again.

Yes, this is an actual Vancouver listing. Actively for sale at the time of this writing.

Couldn't they close the cupboards?

This industry, what is it; design, marketing, advertising, web development…all of the above?… it’s a tough business – and I have been in music where there are music reviewers. But we expect that.

Never would I expect another band to publish what is wrong (piece by piece) of another artists recording; Another Architect picking apart the choice of windows in a building he did not design (or understand it may have been the owner’s veto on final choice); or another designer in my competitive market to post an image of a site I designed and pick it a part without any regard to owner influence, budget or version.

The critique I read goes directly after the livelihood of another. The other designer wasn’t trying to dupe someone (like we see in SEO and Social Media Marketing companies) and probably wasn’t paid enough to do the work they did.

I did not design the Windermere Real Estate website but I feel for the company or individual that did. Not because it’s a bad site but because it has been displayed and picked apart by the designer’s direct competition. Some good points were made about the site but it’s a consultant’s job to consult when paid and not just when they are mad they didn’t get the job.

UPDATE: It was just pointed out to me privately by a blog reader that the same company who is now slagging the crap out of Winermere Real Estate’s website had written a glowing report of the site just 2 years ealier (minus a month) with “Great job Windermere” at the end. Maybe there needs to be a blog that critiques the critical because this is ridiculous.

So here it is, blurred name and contact but everything else left exactly as is. An original hand drawn info-graphic of bad things happening to bad people. Even the skewed layout is original. Click the image to see every methodical detail that went into this beauty.

And that’s all I’m going to say. What do you say?

UPDATE August 3, 2010
I syndicate this blog to my Twitter and Facebook page which is where most friends tend to comment. I’m not sure what to do about that. If they all commented here it would be a party and the blog might get more comments and exciting things might happen like an exiled Eastern Europian Czar might join the conversation and be enlightened by all of our comments and the extreme grooviness and funked out flavour of my friends that he would invite us to his castle in some Autrian hide-away for a 3 week party…but no.

Here is one such comment (from Facebook) which explains the reason for an update:

“That’s actually a pretty famous old woodcut, it’s popularly referenced in the personal development movement. It’s pretty emblematic of the editorial cartoon style of the day as well. Even Matt Groening did ‘a slapdash homage to a great old illustration’.

http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/preview6.jpg

Compared to a lot of Realtor ads that urge buyers to ‘buy now or be priced out forever!’ or claim that ‘prices are only going up!’ this one is actually pretty nice, if a little off-topic.”

I do have focus: Real Estate.

I like the real estate industry and position I am in. Never bored. Everyone is always in a decent mood. Right now websites are flying out the door and people seem to want to push technology to the maximum as a form of proof of (insert your communication here). Hopefully advertising campaigns will come back like lawn bowling once everyone realizes that being the first in technology is … just being the first in technology. Or that they might want to communicate something more.

The real problem I have with the real estate industry is this: Real Estate Agents are viewed as being lower than used car dealers. Real Estate developers are viewed as the reason people are homeless and living on the street. (There is an anti-real estate development poster on the wall of the complex I live in). Talk about friendly neighbours.

This is why when I see work like this flier I cringe. When I tell people I do real estate marketing, do they think I do this?

This person needs more than just listings. She needs more than a new picture photo-copied on canary coloured paper. She needs a plan that doesn’t involve bringing down the entire industry.

I put it up for you to have a laugh. For me? it’s not that funny.

DIY Days from Sabi Pictures on Vimeo.

- Paul Klee

I compose music when the mood strikes but I dislike the process of recording. Perfecting studio recordings is not my idea of fun. I think I’ll just start doing this, play it through once and let that be it. So this is as good as it’s going to get.

My music is relatively simple, melodic and easy to remember. I enjoy writing as if for television. This one in particular might work as a drama. If you want to use it or record it, please contact me.

This song is called Patricia.

Fridge vs Avocado Green, Stainless Steel, White…

Running Car vs Paint Colour, Shape window tints….

3 bedroom home plans vs spacial environment and finishes inside and out

Having worked in the construction industry for years before taking the design career by the horns has helped a lot in web design. A single building is drawn by an architect,  many engineers and a designer. The architectural drawings describe how it’s built, the engineering describes what size pipes, wiring, supporting walls etc. And the design drawing give the finishes. They almost always all work together at some point in the planning process.

Creating a web site can be just as complicated as house construction.

The web developer is like the architect. If there is no final wire frame (plan) in mind then that becomes part of the solution. The developer must create a website that allows for the design to be altered by the user.

The web designer brands, colours and re-shapes the functioning website.

If you hire a designer to develop your site, hopefully they will contract out the hard coding parts and not attempt to do it themsleves.

If you hire a developer to design and brand your site, hope fully the same will apply as above.

Very rarely do both co-exist in one person with any degree of success. It’s a simple fact of left brain right brain thinking.

No where in this post is SEO mentioned. That’s because SEO not just part of website construction alone and has nothing to do with branding and design. If SEO is important to the website owner (and who wouldn’t), it get’s built in as part of the development. It is then taught to the owner on how to use it, what content to write and where to put it. If SEO is the most important thing on your website list, don’t ask for it last.

We’re all familiar with blog posts and one of the familiar parts is seeing a number of  links at the bottom of every post wanting you to “share-this-article”. They are called Social Bookmarks. People who are active in the blogosphere push those buttons because it nice. It’s a new social etiquette like letting others on the elevator first or holding a door for someone, clicking those links helps the blog owner increase search ratings. Bloggers and commenter’s are usually one and the same and we have our blogs we like to visit. They become friends.

This blog has never been about search rating but it is fun to watch traffic after blogging some opinionated article and experiment with different forms of SEO. I never added any social bookmarking links because they are ugly. (but who cares about my opinion). A few clicks for the sake of ruining the look of my page wasn’t worth it.

Enter the Sexy Bookmarks Wordpress Plugin found during a search for client work over at TribalYell. As soon as I found it I knew it was a winner and it would soon be on my blog too. Easy to install like any plugin in the latest versions of Wordpress. Click “add new” in your plugins menu, search for “SexyBookmarks” and click install. Go to the admin section for Sexybookmarks and choose which bookmarks to display. Enjoy.

So now you see them, Feel free to click on them. The makers of the Sexylinks plugin will thank you.