503BLOG

Even though I won, I still feel like I lost. Lame victory...

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:02:31 -0800

Even though I won, I still feel like I lost. Lame victory graphics.

Promotional material from Criminal Minima, now available for...

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:46:26 -0800

Promotional material from Criminal Minima, now available for portrait / fashion / lifestyle photography.

Stand-up citizen Todd Estrada, seen here on his awesome boat....

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:30:51 -0800

Stand-up citizen Todd Estrada, seen here on his awesome boat. Ponch is defined as: It’s a flab pack for a girl. Like a beer gut. If the pants are too tight the ponch tends to hang over the rim of the pants. Can also be an insult.

“Your ponch is sticking out… It’s f*cking disgusting…Lose weight..NOW”

“You stupid ponch. Go away”

Dear Todd Estrada

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:17:31 -0800

A comment appeared on my blog today. A comment from you. And I would like to respond directly.

You say you have had my writings in your feed for a while. Thanks! Since I have no idea who you are, I am very flattered that you have been following my blog. I was pretty sure, if anyone was actually following it, it was only friends or family. But now, you say, you’re swearing off my blog.

At first, I got a little upset. I was like, “what do you mean swearing off my blog??” It was so puzzling I needed two question marks. So I figured I’d check out your reasons and see if maybe they hold some water.

First, you compliment me on dishing out some “knowledge drops at one point” which is totally rad. I’m not sure which knowledge drops you actually are talking about, but I appreciate you appreciating my opinions on things. But now, you say, “it’s like.. if a guy had gone completely crazy, had no contact with the outside world for like 5 years, and lived with a small dog… his blog post would read something like this.”

For the record, I have gone relatively crazy. And I do live with a small dog. Unfortunately, it’s only been like three months, not five years. So, maybe that’s a sign for what I’ll be like in a few years. Yikes. So your next question is who my blog is targeting. Great question. You say my last ten posts don’t seem to hold anything important in them and that maybe “it was one of [my] readers that punched [me] in the face.”

I can appreciate that take. But, let’s take a look at my last ten posts (not counting this one).

1. Conversation with my dog. While I can understand that if you’re following this as a “this guy knows something about Apple or tech or entrepreneurship” blog, this post makes no sense at first. But, it actually has a lot to do with running a company. Let me explain. When you run a business on your own, you are responsible for everything that happens. When you begin to grow, you must set things in place—rules and regulations, mantras, business plan, customer service processes, etc.—so that your new employees have guidelines to maintaining your standards. This is not unlike raising a puppy. As he grows up, it is important to encourage proper behavior, i.e., not grabbing your lunch off the table.

2. A commentary on the sad state of Portland’s battle with a largely mono-racial populous. I don’t know where you’re from, Todd, but here in Portland I find that there is a strong lack of understanding about racial issues. It’s not that people here are racist or anything, there just isn’t much diversity around, and that just encourages ignorance.

3. A largely stupid post about a weird dream I had. At one point during that dream though, I thought, “wait, this could be a great movie if I remember to write it down.” Then, without warning, Tom Cruise went on a rampage smashing things with his hockey stick and screaming like a maniac. It makes no sense, but the dreams worth posting on a blog rarely do.

4. Getting punched. So many people took this literally, I almost feel bad. I think I got a little too clever for myself. That being said, my good friend Oyl Miller put it best on Twitter: “Haha, a faceshot of Portland douche. Got it!”

5. Negotiating with my dog. See #1.

6. Thoughts on Albert Pujols being MVP. This is more about a commentary on the state of baseball and the hopes that Pujols can lead the post-steroid era back into American glory. If you enjoy baseball to any degree, you probably care about what I said.

7. An interesting quote I heard at a coffee shop. Not mentioned, but intensely fascinating about this particular quote was that it came from a homeless man that was being taken care of by a kind stranger (buying him coffee). It always amazes me when humans find themselves in the capacity to help each other.

8. Reading a newspaper. This is an extremely pointed commentary on the state of the digital age as it relates to print. Print is dead. So they say. And this was an interesting life experience that showed me that print, at least print journalism, is at least on its death bed. As a writer, photographer, and general tech nerd this stuff is right in my wheelhouse. And I think that most people that read my blog would be into that sort of thing as well.

9. Another conversation with Rocket. This is a movie quote. Obviously. It’s funny if you think about it.

10. A link to my photo blog, Criminal Minima. If you dig amazingly cool photography (if I do say so myself), you’ll probably dig my latest work. So check it out!

There you go. The last ten. Broken down. And number 11 is a great article about the iPhone, Rick Astley worm. So, if you’ve jailbroken your iPhone, you should definitely read that one.

So, under the “About” header in the left sidebar it says, “This is life creating 503Creative.” That is my audience. Anyone interested in what goes through the mind of someone that is creating a business that is heavily creative, eclectic, and sometimes weird. It happens that I know a lot about Apple stuff and the tech world, so I post about that too. But really, this is a documentary about me going through my life with this “company”. So, I’ll keep addressing my audience as such. I hope you’ll keep reading, but of course, you are free to do as you wish.

And as to your last question, “Do you even know if they have the internet on the planet they are on?” Most of my readership, as I mentioned before, is probably my friends and family. Are you suggesting that they are aliens or something? It’s okay if you are, sometimes I think the same thing myself.

Okay, I think I’ve written enough. If you have suggestions for content you actually did like, let me know and I’d be happy to get back to some of that. I’m always up for ideas!

Say hi to Eric,

+Joe+

Lunch Around the House

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 14:36:30 -0800

Rocket: Check out how far I can reach on the table.
Me: Hey, get down from there.
Rocket: Look, I can almost reach your lunch.
Me: Rocket, off!
Rocket: Bark! Bark!!

I love assumptions.

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:17:25 -0800

I love assumptions.

"Damn you, Tom Cruise! Damn you!!"

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:55:00 -0800

“Damn you, Tom Cruise! Damn you!!”

- The dream I had last night, where I was making a movie with a nameless, tiny, cute blonde girl, Tom Cruise, and Charlie from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It was a hockey movie set in the back yard of a giant mansion. It did not end well.

I Just Got Punched. In The Face.

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:15:28 -0800

Yeah. It just happened.

Let me set the stage. After solidifying plans for this evening, I realized I had some errands to take care of. I convinced Rocket that it would be okay if I left his line of sight for a few minutes by asking him to sit and giving him a treat. Then I ran out the door as he was crunching it to bits.

So, I trotted down the stairs with my iPhone blasting some MGMT and my spirits still high from a great photo shoot for Identity:Me this morning. As I rounded the last corner on the stairwell, without warning, BAM!

Nailed, right in the schnoz.

It was so overwhelming I nearly fell down. So unexpected. In my own building? I couldn’t believe it happened. I looked around to see where it may have come from, but no one was there. A hallway door was closing, but I was too stunned to give chase. I checked to see if anyone else had seen it. No one. I needed to clear my head.

I stepped out side and tried to breath. It was still a problem. So, I got a few hundred feet from my building and finally was able to take a full breath. Ahh. The crisp, clean winter air really did the trick. A couple deep breaths and my senses came back to full functionality.

I still don’t know exactly what it happened, but whoever was wearing that much cologne needs to think about the impact they’re having on others. Needless to say, upon returning from my errands, I was cautious when entering my building. Thankfully I made it all the way up to my apartment without being attacked.

You can never be too careful out there.

+Joe+

Negotiations with a Rocket

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:01:09 -0800

Me: Hey, Rocket, stop barking.
Rocket: Bark! Bark!!
Me: C'mon, it's 11 at night.
Rocket: Ima gonna lick your face.

Albert Pujols is MVP

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:41:21 -0800

In a unanimously obvious vote, Señor Pujols grabbed all 32 first-place votes to secure his third National League MVP award (and second in a row). You can read about all his stats on numerous websites, but this is bigger than winning an award. It may be the most important thing to happen to baseball in its modern history.

What Pujols represents is not only a great baseball player (both offensively and defensively) but he represents excellence in purity. He gets a new nickname. The Usher. As in, the Steroid Era has been ushered out. The best player in the world is not a juicer. And not only that, he’s a great dude too.

So he represents a great hope for a sport that, in my mind, has taken a vacation in importance. Bill Simmons commented on late night TV that baseball was no longer America’s past time. He theorizes that basketball has taken that lofty perch and my extreme bias agrees. Baseball is our father’s game to a large degree, now marred with a steroid filter that has covered the game in distrust. But Pujols can change all that.

You see, baseball lost its heroes when Barry Bonds and Jose Canseco dominated any mention of the sport. I found it hard to root for anyone, fearing that in a year or two my hero would end up a cheater. Alex Rodriguez anyone? Mark McGwire? But not anymore. Sure, we don’t really know. Maybe Albert just takes the really good stuff. But nothing about him makes me question it. And that’s important. Impressions.

Now I find myself interested again. I want to see the best players play a great game, free from the restrictions that steroids have placed on our confidence as fans. If its been a while since you cared about baseball, I think now is a good time to take another look. Next spring, as teams start another season, find one to root for. Get to a game. Enjoy a day at the ballpark knowing that the odds are no longer that you’re cheering for a cheater. You may be cheering the next Albert Pujols. Unless of course, you have the distinct honor of watching the Cardinals play. Then you will be compelled to root for the real deal.

Thanks Albert,

+Joe+

"Small coffee. Seven sugars. Two creams."

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:09:51 -0800

“Small coffee. Seven sugars. Two creams.”

- A guy getting his money’s worth. And a sugar high.

I Read a Newspaper Today

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:30:19 -0800

Where to begin?

As the ridiculously mundane title suggests, I picked up a newspaper, the kind made of real trees and ink, and read an article. Not just the headline. Not just the headline and the hook. Nope, the whole thing. And a couple of interesting things happened because of this experience.

First. I looked way more intellectual than usual while sitting in the lobby of the Ace Hotel, sipping my Americano. Also, I looked way more “attempting to look intellectual”. It was, after all, the New York Times I had in my hands. But it was less the look I took on at this time and more about what exactly I was reading that stuck me as interesting.

Upon seeing the mess of NYT sections spread out on the enormous table in the Ace lobby, I tracked towards the “Business Day” section. Below the fold was a familiar online face, Bill Simmons. For those of you that don’t know, Bill Simmons is “The Sports Guy” at ESPN. He recently wrote a book (which may end up being another momentous print reading experience in my life) about basketball called, “The Basketball Book”. A 700-page book. Stellar.

So the Times managed to grab my attention with an article about an online personality that I enjoy. Nice work. They managed to keep my attention because the entire article was about Bill Simmons’ rise to popularity (and financial success)—a rise completely devoid of a newspaper presence. You see, something that Bill Simmons realized many years ago is that the Internet was going to be the best space for his career. And he jumped all over it.

Quote after quote of this story has Simmons painting the Doom’s Day scenario that many are realizing is fast approaching in the newspaper industry. The source of news is changing. If it’s in the Times (or any other print publication), I read about it yesterday, so why should I buy the Times? Sure, there are some opinions that are only in the paper, and nothing says “I own a dog” like having stacks of your local rag in your apartment, but seriously, where is the relevance? I haven’t looked, but I’m sure the story about Simmons is on the NYT website. And they want me to buy a paper? No thanks, I’ll use all the coupon junk mail I get to clean up my dog’s tiny poop.

So it’s fascinating right? The New York Times prints a story about an online celebrity that completely trashes the need for traditional news reporting and newspapers in general. And it brings up a great case study in how to use your talent, in combination with technology, to make a great living doing what you love. If you have a voice, write a blog. If you have an eye, take pictures or make movies. Post them online. Get people to look at them. And the kicker, the most important thing, get people to have conversations about it all. Take a stance, have an opinion, start and continue discourse.

And maybe one day, should the New York Times still be around, you’ll find yourself the subject of a neat little article in the “Business Day” section.

For a follow-up, I think I might try and find a “land line” to make a telephone call. I’m not sure where to look though.

+Joe+

The Law of the House

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:54:48 -0800

Rocket: Bark! Bark!!
Me: You shut your mouth when you're barking at me!

+criminal minima+ a photoblog

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:07:52 -0800

+criminal minima+ a photoblog:

Brand new photographs at +criminal minima+ … Jade, Lindsey, and Crysta.

Rick Astley Resurrected in iPhone Worm

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:19:00 -0800

So, this is pretty great. There is a humor factor to all of this, but also a point I want to make. First, the news though. It has been widely reported in the tech news circuit that an Australian hacker wrote the first worm for an iPhone. Now, before you freak out, the worm only affects iPhones that have been hacked. So, if you’re legit you have nothing to worry about.

The Funny. While there is nothing funny about the implications of what this worm has done, the implementation of it is pretty sweet. The worm infiltrates your hacked iPhone via SSH (after searching on the network for iPhones running SSH). The worm gets access because, when a user hacks their iPhone, they must enable SSH and a good amount of people do not change the default root password: alpine. Once installed, the worm then changes the user’s wallpaper to an amazing photograph of 80’s pop icon (I use “icon” loosely here), Rick Astley with a message saying, “ikee is never going to give you up.”

Now, admit it. You started singing that in your head immediately didn’t you?

The other entertaining thing about all this, from a nerd perspective, is that the source code for this worm is littered with comments about how dumb consumer hackers are (for not changing the root password). First you get hacked, with Rick Astley as the figurehead, then ridiculed in code you will never read (until media outlets report it). Busted!

The Point. So, there is a bigger issue at stake here and I alluded to it earlier. Implications. What this shows is that the iPhone is not invulnerable to security violations, especially when users have altered the software. And that’s the key. Users.

Too often people see a device, buy a device, complain about device, attempt to change device, then complain when changes to device end up worse than original complaints about device. Does that make sense? The iPhone does not allow certain programs or contain certain features that users believe it should. So they hack it. Then, their hacks get hacked. Then, they say, “iPhones are not secure.”

The problem with that is, obviously, it’s not how the iPhone was intended to be used. Arg! The disclaimer here is that I’m a huge fan of Apple and I used to work for them. So that means I had to field much of the consumer displeasure regarding these types of situations. So yes, there’s a little angst left over. But still, if a phone does not do what you want it to do, don’t buy it. Or, if you buy it, hack it, and it gets busted, live with the consequences (or at least hack it properly).

At any rate, semi-props to a hacker having a sweet sense of humor. Maybe next time though, instead of actually releasing the worm into the wild, get a few phones in a test environment, film a demo and post it on YouTube. Do everyone that favor.

+Joe+ is never going to let you down…

Is it right to send a hack out in the wild just to show how “dumb” consumer hackers are?

I am addicted. To Cheez-its.

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:09:50 -0800

My name is Joe and I am an addict.

The baked, cheesy goodness stares at me from the grocery store shelf. It’s big, puppy dog eyes. It says, “you love cheese, right?”

Yes, Cheez-It box, I do.

“You love baked stuff, right?”

It’s one of my favorite cooking methods, yes.

“I am both.”

Gasp.

And so, without much hesitation (and to the dismay at the other snacks), I reach for the bright red box, more than willing to pay the recently discounted, everyday low price. And upon getting home and launching Hulu, the box is carefully popped open, one glued flap at a time, preserving the integrity of the tab slot so that I might maintain the freshness, should I not finish the entire box in one sitting.

I suppose admitting it is the first step.

+Joe+

Video

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:40:23 -0800

Production Begins ... Now What?

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:48:41 -0800

The first shoot is in the books. Admittedly it was a rough weekend for timing. Halloween, daylight savings time, and good ole fashioned “my ride is sick” circumstances contributed to one cancelation and one rescheduling. Luckily, I was able to fit a shoot in with Crysta on Sunday afternoon.

Truth be told, this was a good thing, all the postponing and rescheduling. To be honest, my nerves were going a little bananas for some reason. All last week was like getting ready for the first game of the season. Anticipation followed by anxiety followed by excitement. Thinking of all the looks I wanted to capture, trying to figure out how to “direct” during a photo shoot. If you’re about to do your first shoot with someone you do not know and you have yet to think about these things, you definitely should. And not just because I want to you get inside your own head about it like I had to, but because once I got started shooting, I didn’t have to think about that stuff. And that’s important for the creative process.

It was definitely a good thing to get the heavy mental lifting out the way beforehand. Once we got started, everything had a very natural flow to it. Interestingly, as we reviewed our photos after the shoot, we saw a very noticeable progression of our comfort level with each other. I talked about how I look through the camera, what I try and find in expressions, and my experiences capturing moments in film and photography.

As we moved around our location, we kept focusing on the story being told and how Crysta was telling it to the camera. (Hint: it’s all in the eyes.) Her connection with the camera was more evident as her confidence and our connection grew. As it turns out, most of the shots I will be using for the magazine came from the latter part of our shoot.

So that got me thinking. At least for me, it’s better to shoot with someone you know. Or at least someone you’ve gotten to know over the last hour. I have met a couple of the other models that I will be shooting over the next couple weeks, so it will be interesting to see how those shoots go (compared to meeting just before shooting).

With the nerves out of the way and the game face on, it looks like this project is well on its way to being pretty great. If you want to see some of the photographs as I finish them, check out (and subscribe to) Criminal Minima, my photo blog. If you’re a model, photographer, creative director, or any other amazing person looking to make something cool and you would like to work together, send me a note.

Much more to come, so stay tuned…

+Joe+

"My fat cat is cute too."

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:47:27 -0700

“My fat cat is cute too.”

- 6-year-old girl, to me, after telling me that Rocket is cute. Adorable.

My Photographs (Photoblog Style)

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:10:14 -0700

My Photographs (Photoblog Style)