2009 Macy’s Fireworks are on the Hudson River!

I’m so glad the fireworks will be on our side this year!!!! I think that it should be closer to the Statue of Liberty anyways.

I wonder if there are any special plans for Liberty State Park.

see below

Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks in New York City

Where to View Macy’s July 4th Fireworks in New York

By Pamela Skillings, About.com

The spectacular Macy’s July 4th fireworks display is moving across town in 2009. To celebrate the 400th anniversary of the exploration of the Hudson River by Henry Hudson, Macy’s will stage their annual show stopping pyrotechnics over the Hudson River instead of the East River this year.

Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks 2009

The 2009 Macy’s fireworks show will feature more than 40,000 shells exploding at a rate of more than 1,500 per minute. The 26-minute display will be set off from six barges positioned between 24th and 50th Streets on the Hudson River.

The fireworks display will be synchronized to a score of patriotic standards, classic river-themed works, and original music. The legendary New York Pops will perform the musical score under the direction of Steve Reineke.

View Macy’s July 4th Fireworks In Style

Scrap those plans to spend July 4th in Brooklyn or on FDR Drive. This year, the best views will be from Manhattan’s West Side and New Jersey.

Please check back soon for our round-up of the best places to view the 2009 Macy’s July 4th fireworks and July 4th parties and events in New York City.

Awesome stop motion photography site

I love this site it rocks!!!!

Awesome stop motion photography site

Graphic Design Resources

Graphic Design Resources

I’ve been meeting a bunch of younger designers lately that I would like to mentor along the way, so I’m posting a bunch of links here that have great info.

I don’t think yo can still survive as a print only designer anymore unless you are part of an agency that still believes in the divide.

Become a Better Designer :: 50 sites that will help you become better at graphic design

AIGA :: This is a great design group because they always have good workshops.

Tutorials

Layers Magazine :: Really great tutorials, especially Cheryl Graham

Art-Trope Exhibition in Queens

Pantone color conversion tools

I was designing some icons for a mobile devise and the client gave me PMS 1495 CVU for their red. I was stuck without my handy Pantone Color Guide to convert the PMS number to RGB for the web. I tried to find the swatch in Illustrator with no luck, I got 149 but not 1495. If you can find the color in Illustrator you can click the process button on the color pallet and it will convert to the the CMYK version of the color. So at midnight, I emailed some of my best designer friends for help. Hopefully, one of them would have their guide and could give me the numbers. The first response was from my friend Gary, who had searched and found that FSU logo guide online also used PMS 1495 CVU and listed the CMYK values. Great! Project done and I get to go to sleep.

The next morning I got more responses and I thought they were very valuable and worth sharing  here on my blog. Thanks Linda!

This page is for conversion to RGB and it says the RGB is Hex #A80C35 or RGB 168, 12, 53.

This page is for conversion to CMYK, and it says that 1945 = CMYK: 6, 100, 52, 30 (doesn’t match visually the color swatch for RGB above).

And this is about the suffixes for the Pantone colors and basically says that the suffix does not make a difference except to the printer:

Linda did a test in Photoshop for me.  She took Pantone 1945 and changed it to RGB and got 170, 17, 63 as a result.

Visually this matches the Pantone exactly in Photoshop. Hope something here helps. Below is her test.

Linda also found some free software for Pantone conversion: 

Arizona Tea Water

I’m glad Nestle found a good use for all the bad, as in very weak and bad tasting, batches of tea they made!

I however, wont be fooled again. I ran into the store thirsty and wanting some green tea and mistakenly grabbed the new tea product! It tasted terrible.

My coworker said “oh I guess it’s tea flavored water” to which I responded, “what the bleep do you think tea is? Flavored water!!!!!” Except it’s supposed to be a certain strength!!!  I know this has to irritate other tea lovers out there although I guess the tea snobs would never drink a cold tea from a bottle or Arizona tea anyway. So, my guess is that some marketing genius out there is trying to be like the post-it dude who re purposed the weak glue… and came up with tea water idea!! But this time its a miss with me. YUCK!!!!!!!

AriZona-Nestle-Partnership-Yields-RTD-Tea-Water >>

This is a shady idea and worst tasting product!!!

I thought I’d add that my favorite cold green tea in a bottle is Oi Ocha, Japan’s #1 Green Tea. It is unsweetened and no bad chemicals. If you need it to be sewwt, just add stevia or the sewwtner of your choice. I have learned to drink good quality tea without any sugar or sweeter and it taste very good and refreshing to me.  My personal theory is that we all have trouble consuming the proper amount of water and so we humans have developed ways to make drinking water better. The most simple being water with lemon. Then came tea. Tea leaves steeped in hot water and then cooled and sometimes sweetened. It’s not that complicated. So my advise is to support the tea makers that don’t pollute you while your trying to do something good for yourself. I’m just saying!!! So keep tea, tea, and flavored water, flavored water but not tea flavored water because it’s stupid and taste like crap.

Oi Ocha!!The good stuff!!!

Women Bullying Women at Work

Hello Webgrrls,

I just read an article in the NY Times about a Women Bullying Women at Work.
According to a survey done by Workplace Bullying Institute a good 40 percent
of bullies are women. And at least the male bullies take an egalitarian
approach, mowing down men and women pretty much in equal measure. The women
appear to prefer their own kind, choosing other women as targets more than
70 percent of the time.

http://twurl.nl/u33s76

I wonder whether you all agree or disagree with these findings.  What have
been your experiences with bullies in the workplace and especially from
women?

Sincerely,
Nelly Yusupova
Webgrrls.com
nelly@cgim.com
917 603-9226 (phone)
URL: http://www.webgrrls.com
Blog: http://www.webgrrls.com/blog/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DigitalWoman

My response:Unfortunately, I would have to agree with the study.

Six out of eight women that I have worked for have been under qualified for their position which made them insecure and very threatened by my knowledge, experience and skill set. This made them either take credit for my work as their own or resort to personal attacks to try and discredit me because they could not tarnish my work product or results.  These undermining tactics largely failed and they were all eventually fired or demoted but not before causing much unnecessary drama and damage to the company.

We spend so much of our life working, I don’t understand people who like creating drama and have power trips at work. I like working with people who value a professional, ethical, team player, creative environment as well as the bottom line.

Can we ask our members if anyone is working in a good environment where they feel they are managed well?

Droit de suite (resale royalty right)

I just recently found out about this and plan to add the clause to the sales contracts for all my paintings. I will post links as I find more info about the law. Basically, this allows the artist to be paid a percentage each time the artwork is sold. SWEET!!! I am now looking for an example of the clause in a contract….if you know it, please post.

Droit de suite (resale royalty right)
Many countries have enacted some form of droit de suite, an economic right entitling visual artist to share in the proceeds each time their works are resold. The resale right has a double premise. One is that works of fine art, whose value typically lies in an original or limited edition, are under-rewarded by copyright whose economics are driven by the prospect of mass distribution. the other is that artist who sell their works at starvation prices should be allowed to share in the work’s increased value on resale. As Professor David Vaver has observed, “In truth,  the droit de suite s exceptional in a scheme either of copyright of author’s right: it does not relate to the use of the work, but rather to the obtaining of a share of the profits on resale. Nor is it a right  to exclude or to receive compensation on use”

Learn more here…

Focus: New artist resale royalty scheme

13 February 2009

In brief: The Federal Government has introduced draft legislation to create a scheme under which visual artists will receive a royalty on commercial resales of their works. Creators of artworks including paintings, drawings, sculptures and photographs stand to receive a 5 per cent royalty on all resales over $1000. Partner Jim Dwyer (view CV) and Senior Associate Marina Lloyd Jones report on this development.

Resale Royalty Rights >>

by Peter Garrett MP

The painter John Olsen once remarked, ‘On the resale of art, everyone else makes money, but the artist is forgotten’.[1] For a decade the Howard Government has been fudging around the proposal that artists should be entitled to a small percentage of the sale price of their works when the original work is resold, known as a ‘resale royalty’.

Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists: Discussion Paper

Ministry for Culture and Heritage, April 2007, New Zealand

The New Zealand government has been examining international developments relating to a resale royalty right, and the possible impact of applying such a right in New Zealand. As part of this project, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage has prepared a discussion paper. This discussion paper provides an overview of these international developments, and looks at a number of options that could form the basis of a resale royalty right scheme in New Zealand.

My new theme song!

I love this song!

Lyrics to Missfit : by the Horror Pops
I don’t always tread, dont always tread careful
Yeah
Most of the time im quite anoying
I don’t watch my mouth
Don’t find an out in a fight!
I can scream and shout and be a loud mouth!

And I, I’m from the wrong side of the town
Now proud
On top of that I’m female!
Nothing, nothing I say is adiquit
According to you I’m a MissFit!
What made you my judge and juror?!

So I don’t give into the common trends
Is that something I have to defend?
Who made you my judge and juror?

So I carry my fists, I carry my fists high
‘Cause most of the time I know I have to fight
For what I believe in, what I believe is right
Even stupid things like keeping my hair dyed

And I… I’m from the wrong side of the town
Now proud..
On top of that I’m female!
Nothing, nothing I say is adiquit
According to you I’m a MissFit!
What made you my judge and juror?!

So I don’t give into the common trends
Is that something I have to defend?
Who made you my judge and juror?

My fist in the middle of your face
My fist in the middle of your….

Nothing, Nothing I say is adiquit
According to you I’m a MissFit
What made you my judge and juror?
Do I dont give in to the common trends
Why is that something I have to defend?
I still stand tall!

Peyton Lois Shields Born 4-8-09 at 2pm

My second great niece was born today!

That makes me a great Aunt. My nephew Steven and his wife Jennifer delivered  a second healthy baby girl.

Click here to view the photos of her arrival party.

Unfortunately, I was back to work in New York and unable to attend the celebration. My mother was also unable to be there due to her two broken ribs. She fell on some stairs and broke her ribs on the railing this past Tuesday. I was there on vacation and had been cooking at Deanne’s for the upcoming party for Iggy Pop. We were susposed to go to the lakehouse but decided not to due to the stormy weather.