RE: FLASH: Technomelancholic Sigh.

[Kurt Dommermuth]

JGL!


I love the story!!  I forgot that was you with the balloons.  I was totally 

thinking of that piece while I bawled about this art/tech conundrum.  I dug 

those balloons.  Yeah man.  I totally relate.  Your kicking ass.


Are your paintings up anywhere online?  Can I see?


Kurt


At 09:42 PM 7/28/2000 -0400, you wrote:

>OK, got a call from one of my clients this morning, early. He lives nearby,

>and happens to have turned into a good friend of mine. My wife hands me the

>phone and i'm thinking, Great, another good paying, fun project - maybe

>flash!!

>

>Turns out, he asks me if i'm afraid of heights. I'm like, well (hmmmm,

>what's the best answer for this). Uh, yeah, kinda. Well, upon further

>inquiry, his satellite dish is being interfered by the spring/summer growth

>of the trees. There is a motocross race on tv tomorrow that he just can't

>miss. He needs to raise the dish 5 more feet. It's already at the roof line,

>65 feet above the ground. The deck is 20 feet above ground where we can park

>the extension ladder. 45 more feet togo. I didn't know they made 50'

>extension ladders. He bought one. He's deathly afraid of heights. What's a

>client/friend to do.

>

>OK. I'll help.

>

>So, I'm up there, my leg shaking uncontrollably. Damn I hate that - it just

>compounds the situation. Got the ratchet in hand and am loosening the lag

>bolts that hold the dish to the side of the house and realizing that there

>is no way to keep the dish from falling 45' to the deck when it comes loose.

>I'm in no position to hold it, my left hand is firmly planted to the top

>rung of the ladder. Yes, now, I feel I am also deathly afraid of heights.

>Leg keeps shaking.

>

>We'll tie a rope toit and throw it to the other side of the house, tie it

>off, so when the dish is loose, it won't fall. OK, that's done - continue

>loosening the bolts. Shit, there's a wasp nest under the roof flashing. No

>problem - I'm not afraid of bees. Keep loosening the bolts. Wasps buzzing

>around. One gets caught in my beard. I shake it loose. No problem. Almost

>done. Boom - left cheek, I'm stung! Not ouch but WTF . . . ouch ouch ouch

>ouch ouch ouch . . . ok . . . no problem - down the ladder, real fast. That

>really really hurt - it still does. Back up the ladder to bolt on a 4X4 to

>get the new height and to crimp a new connector on the cable (had to

>lengthen it). Wasps buzzing around, cheek hurts, leg shaking worse than

>ever. Very very hard - fatigue!

>

>Finally, all done. Back on earth. 6 hours later. Time for a beer. Thank you

>client/friend for the beer(s) hehe!

>

>Why did I tell you all this? Well, it was the first day in a long time that

>I wasn't at my computer (seems 24/7) in well over 150 days. Except for the

>garden work and the dog walks.

>

>Starting a couple months ago, I would get up every morning at 3am to work on

>my personal Flash stuff (you know, the art stuff), so at 7am I can start my

>client stuff. Still do. Work, work work. Trying to figure out how to do this

>or that or whatever . . . but that 3am to 7am is mine.

>

>For the first time in a long time (cause of the satellite dish incident), I

>did *not* focus on web work on a weekday or weekend day for that matter!

>

>I'm an artist! All my life. Painted my first Whale mural in Santa Cruz back

>in '82. Been a fine artist ever since. Dozens of gallery's showed my work!

>They sold too! Waited tables, drove a cab in SF (my favorite of all my

>earthly tasks), published my own magazine in Idaho and sold the business.

>Made ok money. Got into web design to keep up with the times and so I could

>get my income up to buy a house, obtain new car every few years. Skyrocket.

>Work! Responsibility.

>

>But, I want to create! ART! And recently I thought to make Flash a major

>component. I have 16 personal Flash pieces (experiments) in process (still

>have 40 some odd paintings in process too). I work on what I feel inspired

>to in my early morning time.

>

>To create art with Flash - not so simple. Considerations of processor speed,

>mac/windows monitor rules, etc. etc. etc., just the overall technical

>ability is an art to itself. Gotta great idea - implementation of the idea

>is not as easy as your trusty paint brush and liquitex and tech pens.

>

>My humble beginnings to do just this (art in flash) - revamped once again.

>My second experiment in flash for the hell of it.

>

>http://designthenet.com/a/bigballoon.html

>

>Not complicated, flawed, and desires to work on it more . . . but

>

>I have sold this idea now and will actually make money onit! But that is not

>the point. All I wanted to do was see something other than techno ability

>through flash. As my skills improve (6 months of flash so far-  and

>part-time at that - too many html obligations - sigh), I hope to create

>*more* than just techno . . . I need to inspire not only myself again, but

>others for the first time. Can I move, engage them. Will they stare at this

>(Flash Stuff) like they did at my paintings.

>

>Maybe one day I'll get that with this technology as I figure out how the

>hell to do it.

>

>I'll never forget the day I made a circle fly across the screen, live ,

>*and* on the Internet. I am really wanting to do more, more than just create

>the tech web site. Art! Inspiration. Movement.

>

>Not that I am one, Kurt, but there are real fine artists looking at flash as

>a medium. I want to succeed at this my self. I have all my paintings on film

>and I plan to start animating them. I hope I'm successful! We'll see.

>

>jgl

>

>ps - apologies for getting carried away here with this email . . .

>

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