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Valentine’s Day Humor

14 Feb

I’ve run across a couple of funny bits of Valentine’s Day humor in the past few days that I want to share. The first is from Photoshop guru Scott Kelby, via Kelby Training’s e-newsletter (adapted by me to show the actual colors):

Roses are #FF0000,
Violets are #0000FF.

However, I think this would be more accurate, if a tad less poetic:

Roses are #9B1F39,
Violets are #9C52F7.

Because let’s face it, roses aren’t a true red, and violets aren’t blue at all. (Which poses the question, how much fudging is okay to force a rhyme? I know, there isn’t anything that rhymes with “purple.” The closest words I can come up with are “dirndl,” “Urkel,” and “verbal,” none of which are likely to yield a line with the linguistic ease and staying power of “Sugar is sweet, and so are you.” Still, I think there should be limits to poetic license.)

Item number two proves why small business owners would be wise to hire professional editors, even for such seemingly trivial marketing efforts as this:

Pet shop window advertising crabs

Courtesy of FailBlog.org

And finally, here’s a catchy tune you might want to sing to your own honey (or maybe not):

If you like this video, you may want to check out more on Kurt Schneider’s You Tube page.

 

© Karen Joslin, 2011

 

Earth Laughs in Flowers

24 Jan

Recently, I saw this quote which has become a favorite of mine:

“The earth laughs in flowers.”

Though it’s often been attributed to e.e. cummings, it actually appears in Hamatreya, by Ralph Waldo Emerson. A slight misquote, its meaning taken out of context is quite different than in the poem. The full line in the poem reads:

“Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys
Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs;
Who steer the plough but cannot steer their feet
Clear of the grave.”

Out of context, it’s warm-and-fuzzy imagery. In context, it’s an illustration of nature’s supremacy, mocking the arrogance of a humanity which thinks it holds dominion over Earth – an immortal force created long before we existed and which will remain long after we’re gone. I find the quote more interesting with the nuances of meaning the poem presents, and I can’t help but wonder if Emerson would be dismayed to see it printed on coffee mugs as a happy pick-me-up.

And yet, I like it as a happy pick-me-up, too. For me, it’s an excellent reminder to live in the moment, to pay attention to fleeting instants of beauty, and to appreciate what I have when I have it. Because as Emerson points out, the nature of life is transitory. But unlike Emerson, I don’t look at death as something to be feared; I’d rather look at life as something to be celebrated.

 

© Karen Joslin, 2011

SiteGrinder + Photoshop = Easy, Efficient Website

23 Mar
Layers with SiteGrinder hints

Layers with SiteGrinder hints

As I‘ve mentioned before, the photography portion of my website resides on PhotoShelter, which I love. However, PhotoShelter doesn’t offer extra pages, so I needed an easy, affordable way to create the writing portion of my site. Another photographer suggested I try SiteGrinder, a Photoshop plug-in which allows the user to design a website in Photoshop without needing to know any coding. So I downloaded a trial version of SiteGrinder 2, and it turned out to be exactly what I needed.

Anyone who regularly uses Photoshop will find working with SiteGrinder easy. You create your website all in one file, using layer comps to define each page. (If you’re working on a large site, you can also split it into multiple files if necessary.) Hints added after a layer name tell SiteGrinder how to treat that layer. For instance, a layer with the tag “-text” means that SiteGrinder will output the layer as HTML text; without that hint, the layer’s text will output as graphics instead. This is an important distinction, since graphics aren’t recognized by search engines. The biggest change I made to my site’s design was to move my navigation bar up and add drop-down menus for “Photography” and “Writing” so that visitors can access all the pages on my site from anywhere. (Once it’s also configured on PhotoShelter, my site integration will be complete.)
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Kymberly Keaton on the Sewanee Writers’ Conference

19 Aug

My good friend and fellow writer extraordinaire, Kymberly Keaton, recently returned from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to pick her brains on all things Sewanee.

Before I get to the interview, here’s some background info on the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Founded in 1990 at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, the conference sprang from the desire of Tennessee Williams to support creative writers. In fact, Williams’ estate partially underwrites the cost. Sewanee covers fiction, poetry, and playwrighting, drawing distinguished writers from those fields to serve as faculty members. Visiting writers, publishers, agents, and editors round out aspiring writers’ education and provide valuable connections for the future.

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