Ship List 2010

Seth Godin asks “What did you Ship in 2010?” In his excellent post he encourages you to write down everything you shipped over the last year. Not ideas or half finished projects. Only things that got out the door and actually happened. Because, that’s all that matters.

Ideas don’t matter. Starting doesn’t matter. Finishing matters.

Here is my List:

Redesigned : MyMedicalRecords.com

Logo Design : Val’s Beauty Box

Poster Design: Alice & The White Hair

Poster Design: Revival

Book Design : Longing For Pure

Logo & Business Card Design : Azipan

Logo Design : Oxford Printworks

Engagement Photoshoot  : Erika & Adam Noyes

Shot, Directed, Edited : MyMedicalRecords Commercial (As Seen on the Emmys)

Shot, Directed, Edited : MyEsafeDepositBox Commercial

Created Animated Logo : MMRGlobal

Brochure Design : MyMedicalRecords

Flyer Design : LA Derby Dolls

Shot, Directed, Edited : Chartis Informational Video

Recorded Tutorial: How to Send a Logo Comp

Recorded Tutorial: How to Retouch a Blemished Face

Created Animated Intro : Hot Chick Eye

Shot, Directed, Edited : Personal Health Record Informational Video

Shot, Directed, Edited : MyEsafeDepositBox.com Informational Video

Shot, Directed, Edited : Chartis Insurance PHR Informational Video

Shot, Directed, Edited : MMR Pro Informational Video

Hell of a month.

Well, after Halloween is now over, and from a partying stint this past Saturday… I can officially say I am ready for hibernation. I have had far too many drunken conversations with friends of mine to feel anything but embarrassment about being such an idiot.  Today, I was awoken by mind- blowing stupidity provided by the older women I am working on a project with. My brain literally cannot understand how people can be so stupid when it comes to basic workflow.So, it is time to start blogging in my little home office…. Look forward to more random babble from the beast.

Jane of all Trades. (Sort of)

I think it is very important to know a little bit about everything. Which is why most of the time, even though I work mostly on my computer, I like to learn how to do some random things occasionally. I know, making butter in a mason jar is something kindergarteners do. But hell, I wanted to do it too. So this month, my random skill I have learned… Is how to make the best fucking butter I have ever tasted. Ever.

First, I started with a large mason jar, and a carton of heavy whipping cream.

Have you ever tasted plain whipping cream? It’s seriously thick. Like 5x’s thicker than milk. My lactose intolerance was already getting nervous about this. The trick to this, is only pouring 1/3 of the way to the top of the jar. that allows the cream to have room to shake.

And now, we shake. Shake. Shake. Shake. Shake. Shake. Shake. Shake. Shake. Shake……………………… and shake some more.

After around 5 minutes of vigorous shaking- the cream started to solidify. It was more of like a yogurtey texture- but was not done yet. You have to wait until the butter separates from the buttermilk. (Can you imagine if you had to chug a jar full of gooey cream? BLARF)

Success! The butter separated from the milk within seconds. I gave it a few more good shakes, just for good measure, and then poured the fatty concoction into a sifter to strain out the excess buttermilk.

Call me Martha Beast- we have butter! It still had some  milk draining out, so a gave it a good squish with a spoon, and then put it all into a smaller jar. You can add salt to it, which I did, and I thought maybe I used too much, but it was ok.

This was by far the best butter I have ever tasted. It was so rich, it actually made one little english muffin half totally satisfying. I suggest this fun little project to anyone who wants to be a little housewifey, crafty, or just wants some better tasting butter. It took me roughly 20 minutes start to finish to pull this off. And if you know me at all, you know I only use my kitchen to open bottles of wine. Cooking ‘aint my thing.

Stuff to Love : September

Well, I guess it’s that time of year again… Fall. It’s weird, growing up I always hated Fall- it’s when school started and summer ended. Now, as a grown up, I don’t really like summer all that much (too much day drinking and air conditioning bills). After the last 3 years of awesome Halloween Parties, I am really excited about this years. I have promised my fiance that I will not put any decorations up until Oct. 1st. What a party pooper. Fall hit all of us Los Angelinos like a brick, with instant cool weather and overcast skies. I can honestly say, I really do like it. It makes working easier, since I’m not always passing out from the heat. I had an awesome end-of-summer trip to Big Bear with my closest friends. “Overindulgence” is putting it lightly. Let’s just say it wasn’t a party your parents would approve of. Anyway, these are a few things I have started liking/using/buying/listening to recently.

Giant Drag: Alright, not exactly a new thing- but I tend to listen to them more during the fall/cold weather months. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because I’m more likely to be in a grungy mood when it’s cloudy out. All of their songs are awesome- but this video is especially rad.

Spirit Hoods: My friend makes these, and I just think they are so rad. Even out in public, wearing these gets really positive feedback from “regular” people. Everyone just seems to love them. And they are SOOO comfortable. I suggest you buy one before it goes Anime- just sayin. Buy yours HERE.

Spring St. Bar, Downtown Los Angeles: It kills me that I moved from Downtown LA to Echo Park. I lived there for 3 fucking years, with not ONE cool bar, and now they are popping up everywhere. The Spring St. Bar is seriously awesome. It nails the NYC lounge to the nose. With over 25 beers on tap, and some pretty tasty bar food that includes a pretzel with mustard, you really can’t go wrong coming to this place. The decor is rustic, and feels more like an upscale drinking joint in Italy, than a pub in Downtown LA.

Cuts Of Meat Dress: By Etsy Shop “I’m Your Present” – This RADICAL homemade dress with selections of meat cuts is absolutely something I need. And so do you. Actually, most of her stuff is adorable, but kudos to this idea. Knocked it right outta the park.

The Goods: This is a ridiculous movie. Multiple quotes from this movie are repeated in my household. I suggest you stop what you are doing, and Watch It Now Instantly via Netflix.

Tutorial 002: How to Retouch a Blemished Face

Go ahead and click the video link to view full size on Vimeo.

Tutorial 001: How to Send a Logo Comp

Go ahead and click the video link to view full size on Vimeo.

Ideabeast Tutorials 001: How To Send A Logo Comp from Christie Anderson on Vimeo.

How I’ve been spending my nights.

So, most of you already know, if you are lucky enough to be annoyed by me all day on Facebook, that I am playing roller derby. I figured since I was always playing contact sports in high school, and that I’m pretty much just an angry bitch most of the time, that I would benefit from joining the LA Derby Dolls.

I didn’t realize that so many other girls had this idea also. I started practicing with their beginner league, Derby Por Vida, for a few weeks. It was literally the first time I had been on roller skates since they were plastic and strapped on to my shoes. I really sucked. Like reaaally sucked. Technically, I still suck, but just not as much.

I tried out for Fresh Meat, which is the league for girls who hope to one day, be on a Derby Doll Team. I actually made it! It came as a huge shock to me, but I made it. I now go to practice twice a week, for 2 hours each time. It is literally the hardest workout I’ve ever done. At tryouts, a girl lost her balance, and hooked my arm, pulling me down with her, and I got my first case of rink rash.

Then, at the first practice, I sprained my ankle pretty bad, and have been hobbling around my house ever since. At practice, we use the banked track, which I have been told is the only 1 of 5 out there in the world of roller derby. It is so much more difficult than it seems, but it’s actually pretty awesome to skate around.

From The Vault: Me eating a cream puff.

This still makes me laugh.

Drunk Puff. from VisualEngineers on Vimeo.

Commercial on The Emmy’s

I did these commercials for an online medical record hosting site, MyMedicalRecords.com. I shot, directed, edited, and did the graphics for these. I’m pretty proud of them. One of them aired on The Emmy’s a few months ago, and it was excited for me, to say the least. Can I just say that I FUCKING LOVE my Canon Mark II 5D?? It’s just, so amazing. Buy one.

MyMedicalRecords.com Commercial from Christie Anderson on Vimeo.

MyEsafeDepositBox.com Commercial from Christie Anderson on Vimeo.

New Online Portfolio

My original portfolio was Flash, and since the creation of the iPhone, and it’s amazing cousin, the iPad, Flash has since become obsolete. I had actually been sending clients to my Flickr account to view my work instead of the website I had spent so many hours making. I decided it was time for a change, so I found this site, http://carbonmade.com- where you can actually pay like $12 a month to host your work, in a great html format, where you can continually update your projects, without ever having to open a CSS code. If I was trying to get work for programming websites, obviously this wouldn’t be the best choice. But I’m not, I just want prospective clients to be able to see my work as quickly and as easily as possible. Feel free to check out the new site here: http://ideabeastdesign.carbonmade.com/