Friday, March 28, 2008

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Update 03-27-08

Hello all:

Got a new posting up on the "Honest Opinion" blog at http://smp-imho.blogspot.com. I'm still in the process of posting old editorials I did back in 2006-2007, and I probably will be through April, but they're still worth a look.

I recently was looking into getting a guestbook for the blog for visitors to sign if they didn't feel comfortable putting a comment on a post. I ran through a few of the free ones I've found online, but one was a joke (it was obviously a spam link they wanted you to post into your HTML code), and others didn't work well with the blog interface, so I want to ask if there are any who know of a good, reliable, free guestbook I can put on my blog. If you have any suggestions, please comment to this post with them.

And by the way, please leave your observations or opinions as comments on the posts--I really would like some feedback.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Luggage Claim


What We Learn From Life, Part 1

Got the series up a little earlier today than I would have guessed. It's just been a productive morning--in all aspects of the word. Got to work early and finished up some things. Had a couple of fresh ideas for posters and got them made expediantly. And now, getting them posted.

Anyways, what this series of "What We Learned", or more correctly this week, "What We Learn" is, in general, life. These posters follow the template of actual (sorta-) motivational posters in that the phrase is what's emphasized and a picture is associated with it, rather than what I usually do, which is find a picture or screenshot, and try to affix some saying to it. Therefore, you might actually find that these posters mean something. They might even be worthy enough to print out and hang on your wall, or download and set as a wallpaper (if you do, please let me know. I'd actually be quite honored if someone went to that kind of trouble). As with the Superfriends from last week, this will be part 1. I expect to make this a reoccuring theme as well, especially since I had fun coming up with the phrases.

So here we go





What We Learn From Life, part 1













Monday, March 24, 2008

Update 03-24-08

Good Morning. Have a good weekend all?

I had a productive one to say the least--yardwork, family, etc. But anyways...

I've got the first post up on my blog "In My Honest Opinion" [http://smp-imho.blogspot.com]. I'm starting with the first few editorials I did for a website back in December 2006. It's a little area-specific, but if you would like to take a gander at it, head on over.

I'll be putting up my next What We Learned tomorrow, though it might be light in size--at this moment, I only have 5 posters. However, as I mentioned before, this series will be a little different, as the focus are going to be more on the saying than the picture. "What We Learn from Life, part 1". It may be up later in the day tomorrow, depending on how my schedule starts to turn out. I'll also be busy this week altering profiles on the myriad websites I have accounts with, as my age will advance +1 this week. Such a small figure to adjust on so many sites, but it must be done. (It also gives me a chance to visit some sites I haven't been to in awhile...)

Well, anyways, I best be getting on to my normal daily work. Check back tomorrow.

Arkansas


Friday, March 21, 2008

Update 03-21-08

Hey all. Another Friday is upon us.

I've managed to get some filler posters up this week. Funny thing how they came about--on a whim, I took whatever picture came up on Yahoo's front page for news. Obviously, the poster has nothing to do with what the stories were about, but I guess I've been in a goofy mood this week.

Anyways, the real reason for the update: I've got another blog registered. The blog doesn't have anything to do with posters or any form of photo-manipulation, but it does carry a bit of humor. I used to do satire editorials for a website. At this point, the site has fallen into inactivity, so I'm looking to bring my babies to another site--and what better site than one I'm currently keeping up! The 'essays' are on everyday life annoyances and so forth. The style of humor is very tongue-in-cheek, truthful with a hint of exaggeration. (In my case, a heaping spoonful of exaggeration) I don't have any up just yet, but I've got a good 8 or 10 articles already written from times past I'm going to gradually post on the site. I figure there's no reason to put them all up at once and not have anything to put up for months.

The site "In My Honest Opinion" is not meant as a regular updating site as I'm trying to establish with this page, but whenever I get a good article (or... any article really), I'll post it up and put a notice on this page that it has been updated. If you want to just take a quick look-see, much like a house that still is undergoing finishing work, it can be found at http://smp-imho.blogspot.com, or you can follow the link I added at the bottom of the page.

Thanks again for your loyal readership

Laughter




(PS -- he's not really laughing)

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Update 03-18-08

Hello all.

First order of business, two threads are up for What We Learned. The first one is on Popeye the Sailor and the second will be part 1 of a series that will have a number of installments, the Challenge of the Superfriends. Even with the extra time I had to do these sets, it doesn’t appear I was batting 1.000 with the jokes. I think I’m just at a low ebb right now, hoping every day that I break from it.

You’ll also notice that a good bit of the humor of these posters aren’t exactly resembling true ‘motivational posters’, i.e., portraying some deep, philosophical adage, even if the message is satire. Most of the posters so far have actually been created by first finding or creating the picture, then making a witty observation about the picture. This actually is pretty much the only productive way to work with the “What We Learned” series, since each one carries a theme, limiting where the images will come from. I think as a little change of pace, next week, I’ll work the other way around in creating some sets. I’ll come up with the idea, be it a moral or quirky saying, then finding a picture that mirrors the situation. This would seem to more fit in with the traditional ‘motivational posters’ that many are used to seeing. This may mean that the theme will be a little more general (and thus less restrictive), but the posters will be more universal. You’ll notice with these two series today, most of the jokes are relating to the image or are even inside jokes in which you would have had to seen Popeye and/or the Superfriends before to get them. (I also apologize about the quality of some of the Superfriends posters—the scene jumps and cuts on the show were so breakneck that it was almost impossible to get clean screenshots of all of the characters.)

Anyways, on to other news. Last week, I had mentioned putting around the idea of going into other areas of what is known as ‘photo-manipulation’, which, according to deviantART and other sources, is the correct terminology for projects such as found on this blog. I have a template for another one of these ‘p-m’ styles, faux trading cards, that I was hoping to eventually work into a weekly segment, much like “What We Learned”. However, in doing about 3 or 4 cards, I quickly realized that there was MUCH more involved in making a presentable finished product. It took me about an hour just to do one, where with the template in place for these posters, a picture can be done and refined in just a manner of minutes. I still like the idea a lot of doing trading cards for basically anything, but I will really have to have a good idea and be willing to spend some time on making it look good. If I were to make it a regular thing, say weekly, the quality would almost instantly drop. What I’ll probably do then is make it an irregular update, adding in the cards when I get them. I would like to get some feedback from everyone once they start coming up to let me know whether or not you all like them. Actually, feedback in general would be nice—lately, all I’ve been getting is spam. I guess if spammers are reading the blog, that would be considered feedback… All in all, if I decide to go forward with the trading card idea (or any other ideas of ‘p-m’), I’ll set up individual blogs for each and simply have links to each page. Keep checking back with me for more details on this as it unfolds.

Finally, I received an email some weeks back suggesting I start a newsletter, or some sort of email correspondence to regular readers. This struck me immediately as an awesome idea. However, I want to make sure I GET a regular reader base first of all. If you, therefore, would like to receive a regular (monthly, bi-weekly, etc) newsletters, either send me an email or comment to this thread, as a way of letting me know how many individuals would be interested. After all, it would take a good bit of time and effort to do so, and if there would be no one interested, I could better spend my time making more posters.

Again, thank you all for the page hits and the positive feedback…… looking at you, dear readers. :)

What We Learned From The Superfriends - Part One

And now series #2, What We Learned from the Superfriends.

This one was actually a breath of fresh air. I've been a huge (anti-)fan of the Superfriends for some time now. After reading an online review of one particular season of the somewhat-popular 70's cartoon show, I HAD to get the season on DVD. Fans of the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 would absolutely love watching these cartoons. I know cartoons are supposed to take certain things for granted, and especially cartoon featuring superheroes--disobeying a law or two of physics along the way. But, seriously... If you haven't had a chance yet to watch a few clips of the show, I HIGHLY suggest that you do so before or after (or both) reading these posters. You'll come to appreciate them a lot more, as practically all of them are inside jokes based on the show. YouTube has a number of clips available to watch. Just type in "Challenge of the Superfriends" in the search bar.

"Why would these posters be part one?" you might ask. Well, you'll notice that only superheroes are listed. I have a whole other section for supervillians coming up (part 2), as well as just general observations about the show (part 3). Parts 2 and 3 will most likely not be the next two series of "What We Learned" that I do. Most likely, I'll pace them every few weeks or so. But in the meantime, enjoy.


What We Learned From The Superfriends - Part One: Heroes













What We Learned From Popeye The Sailor

Alrighty all, series #1 today is "What we learned from Popeye the Sailor". Popeye always struck me as an odd idea for a cartoon--mainly because i'm not a war veteran of the early days. After all, cartoons were originally invented for adults to show before movies back before Television, and an old navy retiree like Popeye would appeal to a number of individuals. However, to a generation today who was raised on cartoons, he's just plain creepy. The following posters were made from pictures I came across online, doing an image search simply for the phrase "popeye".



What We Learned From Popeye The Sailor












Friday, March 14, 2008

Update 03-14-08

Happy Friday to you all. Hope you have a good weekend planned ahead of you.

Well, we were able to actually go a whole week with updates! Hope you enjoyed it, because I believe next week may be a little spotty. Tuesday's sets are almost ready to go, so there's no worry about those two being on time, but updates after that for the rest of the week are potential at best, probably unlikely. We shall see, after all.

Tuesday's sets: Again, the first one will be "What We Learned from Popeye The Sailor". The second set will actually be part 1 of a series in itself! There's an old 70's TV show that I've had more than a couple of laughs over (for ineptitude, not intended humor). It's become a subject of ridicule by many reviewers, and a cult favorite in the way that many episodes of Mystery Science Theater has become classic. That show was "The Superfriends"--a superhero cartoon which gathered a number of DC comic superheroes together. If you haven't ever seen an episode, wander over to YouTube sometime today for a few minutes just to take a watch. Search for the phrase: "Challenge of the Superfriends", as that was the name of the season that had the most jaw-dropping craziness ever to grace the superhero genre.

So then, the second set on Tuesday will be "What We Learned from The Superfriends, part 1". If you have any posters or ideas at all involving the 70's superhero series "The Superfriends", you know the drill by now, send the ideas or completed posters to TheSortaMotivator@yahoo.com (If you do not receive a response or confirmation, please let me know--it seems the email inbox has become off-and-on again on receiving emails).

Also, I've decided to go ahead with the idea I mentioned earlier this week: In the near future, possibly the end of March, beginning of April, I'll be starting a new blog featuring a similar-minded but different medium of "photo-manipulation". I've got the templates ready to go; I just want to make sure I have a good supply to put up before I turn it over to the public. I'll be sure to put up links on this blog, and vice-verse, to make it easy to navigate over. So, please stay tuned for these new events to come.

Idaho


Thursday, March 13, 2008

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Update 03-12-08

Either this afternoon or tomorrow, I'm going to be reorganizing the site slightly--mainly grouping some of the 'after' posters from What We Learned sets in with the originals. (In other words, when I do a poster after I've already finished the set) I'm also taking suggestions of any ideas you may have on how to better organize the archives or to change as far as the color scheme, etc.

I've also been brainstorming another idea in addition to the motivational posters--if it comes about, I'll register another blog and link it to this one. It kinda is in the same ballpark as what I'm doing here; just in a different medium.

Anyways, send in some feedback.

Rhode Island


Monday, March 10, 2008

Update 03-10-08

Monday starts a new week and new hopes that, perhaps this time, I'll actually get 5 days in a row with posters. As you can probably tell with this state poster - Mississippi - I'm running a little out of steam on the states. I'm from the south, so the southern states were pretty easy to do. I've even lived up north in NY for a little, so I can get some of the New England states alright, but I'm hitting bedrock on some of these states. Therefore, if anyone has any good quotes for their respective state, I'd love to hear them. They're bound to be better than what I can come up with.

Oh, by the way, I've got one of the two themes for Next Tuesday. I still have to finalize the second "What We Learned" topic, but I know for a fact that the first one will be "What We Learned from Popeye The Sailor Man". I already have about a half-dozen posters (and at least 2 funny), and will hopefully have two lengthy sets come next Tuesday. If you have any good ideas for a Popeye poster, send them to TheSortaMotivator@yahoo.com

Mississippi


Friday, March 7, 2008

Scooby Doo


Country Federal



Perhaps this could use a little explanation:

I work for the Credit Union who has this ad currently on their website. I was quite taken back by the poor job on colors and grammar. If it's still up, check it out at www.countryfcu.com

Update 03-07-08

Hello All.

[Take 2: Power went out here in North Florida during the first attempt at this blog post--wiping out my work when I was about 80% done or so]

I wanted to first of all take a moment and thank the visitors. I've been receiving some comments on the posters, even some of them on the page, and have even received a couple of emails with suggestions for the site! (Good ones too, that I will no doubt be implementing in the next month or so). I certainly appreciate all of the comments, suggestions, and feedback, so please don't be shy!

I also wanted to let everyone know that the next installment of "What We Learned" won't be going up again until Tuesday next (the 18th). Since this last collage came up late, I would hate to be rushed and have another low-quality set. However, to compensate for a week and a half wait, the post for the 18th will have TWO sets to the series. This will give those who want to submit ideas not only more time to send their suggestions, but also a variety on what they could be about. The themes will be posted up on Monday, so check back then to see what they will be.

I also will be doing my best to get back into a daily-updated blog starting on Monday. I've run dry in my 'stash' of backup posters, but I'm going to build it back up so that I'll have at least one each day I can put up next week, no doubt going back to the states for some more cultural teasing.

Based on the popularity from the Miscellaneous poster posts (the ones not from me), I would like to open up the idea that if anyone has a motivational poster they themselves have created and would like it hosted on the SMP blog, please send it to me. I will be glad to put it up and give credit for your work. Please remember that the site is a family-friendly site, so all submissions would have to be 'G' rated--no language, gore, or promiscuity. For any reason why I would not put the site up, I will personally reply with an email explaining what we can do to alter it a little and get it on the site. This also means, of course, if you would like to make your own posters for our "What We Learned" series, they can be sent and included, again, with proper credit given.

Again, please let me know by way of feedback your thoughts or suggestions for the site. Thank you all for visiting the site, and again, check back on Monday for more posters.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

What We Learned from NES Mario Games

First, let me start by apologizing that this collage is two days late. I actually have been a 'good boy' at work lately and getting a lot done--honestly, there's been a lot going on around here, which has left me with little brainstorming time. This will also be observed in the quality of the posters for this week. I had high hopes when I came up with the idea, and actually got off to a great start (Ingenuity was the first one I did). I just couldn't keep up the creative momentum. However, a promise is a promise, and so, I give you:




What We Learned from NES Mario Games (Mario 1, 2, and 3)











(Mario is owned by Nintendo and the three games "Super Mario Bros." "Super Mario Bros. 2" and "Super Mario Bros. 3" are also owned by Nintendo, Inc.)

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Miscellaneous, Part II

It's Filler Time!



While I still endure through my creativity slump/lack of free time, I thought I'd throw up some posters I've collected off the internet. Again, as before, these are not my property and are owned and created by other individuals. However, they're just too funny to pass up.

Tune in tomorrow for "What We Learned From The NES Mario Games"...

I hope...