Digital hang-out of Alan B. Dowling – designer, nerd, husband, music addict, gadget lover, video game player.
BLOG POSTS:Awhile back a good friend of mine by the name of Elizabeth Joy Greene (formerly Koppa) introduced me to the hilarious folk parody duo known as The Flight of the Conchords. Since then they’ve had their own HBO series by the same name and I love it. It’s just so random.
My sister, Sarah, will love me for posting this. I threw this picture together quickly one morning while she was visiting back when I still worked at UCSB a few years ago.
Gir face of Doom
I think it is actually one of the earliest designs I ever did in which Mr. (Not So) Smiley made an appearance.
Oh, and if you have no idea who Gir is or why there is doom then look up “Invader Zim”. It has to be one of my all time favorite animated series.
If you’re a video game player and have never watched any of the Zero Punctuation game reviews by Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw on http://www.escapistmagazine.com then you are missing out. Be warned, however, there can definitely be themes and language not suitable for children. Or probably adults as well.
I consider myself a photography noob but I love it. I’ve learned quite a bit in the last few years and one of those things is something called lomo photography or lomography. According to Wikipedia, “lomography emphasizes casual, snapshot photography. Characteristics such as over-saturated colors, off-kilter exposure, blurring, “happy accidents,” and alternative film processing are often considered part of the ‘Lomographic Technique.’”
I do not have a lomo camera. But I have Photoshop. Enter Photoshop tutorial and experiments. Yay!
This is just around the corner from where I live
Rejected Christmas Card - My wife has veto power
Kaleb: future stud ... is probably what his shirt says
Do Not Insert Dirty Joke Here
The last photo was taken just outside of Sacramento, CA about a year ago. I’ll be sure to upload the rest of those pictures from that trip sometime in the near future.
Right after my trip to San Francisco in mid-March I took a trip out to Austin, Texas from March 16 – 23. It was a blast. There was tons of SXSW related events going on and lots of interesting people and good music. If you don’t know, SXSW stands for South by Southwest and is a week and a half of Interactive/music/film festival that takes over Austin.
I don’t have a lot of time to write too much detail so I’ll just quickly go through some random highlights from the trip.
One of the first things I did in Austin was get some refreshing blackberry ice tea. While drinking outside with my buddy Dave a lil’ lady bug decided to hang out with us.
Tea with a New Friend
Dave and I stood in line for hours waiting to get into a live filming of The Totally Rad Show. We were the third and fourth from the last guys let into the venue. And I mean guys. There were maybe 5 women in that place. It was dark, hard to take photos, hard to see the TRS guys talking but I still had a good time. Dan from TRS even ate fire on stage.
TRS - Blurry Fire Eating Fun
Oh, and before the TRS filming began, Jonathan Coulton played several songs including “Still Alive” (a la the video game Portal on the The Orange Box – you must buy this) and “Re Your Brains” (a song about zombies and brains and two former co-workers – hilarious).
Great Performer - Jonathan Coulton
There were tons of people everywhere and music emanated from almost every bar, restaurant, or even to my surprise – the back of someone’s hitched flatbed trailer (too bad I don’t have a pic for that). Walking around SoCo (or South Congress) reminded me quite a bit of Telegraph in Berkeley. Lots of small shops, hip young people, and tourists.
It was like this everywhere
While on SoCo, Dave and I stopped off at Amy’s Ice Creams and I got Grasshopper flavor. Apparently, I have to get ice cream whenever I go to large city.
Try the Grasshopper flavor!
I did the obligatory stop by the University of Texas (which has the biggest screen I’ve ever seen in a football stadium) and the Texas State Capitol building. Even from the steps of the capitol building, we could hear music blasting from somewhere nearby.
I have nothing witty to say about this
One night I caught a movie at The Alamo Drafthouse theater. The movie I saw almost didn’t even matter. That place was novel and different enough to note regardless of what movie I may have watched. They even serve meals there so you can eat WHILE you watch your movie. And apparently they have a bunch of community oriented stuff there as well including screenings of classic quotable films in which the audience is encouraged to recite lines along with the film playing.
I ate tons of great food while in Austin, but Dave would not let me leave without having some good Texas BBQ. So we went to The County Line, which had a good atmosphere and great BBQ.
You know it's BBQ time when you see pigs on a neon sign.
At some point I decided I hadn’t gotten enough pictures of the actual city of Austin so I took this while in the passenger seat of Dave’s car racing down the highway.
Got this shot from the freeway
And there you have it. I’m sure I left out a LOT but that’s all I have time for right now. I posted a bunch of pictures from the trip on my Flicker account. Check out the set here.
My web/graphic design business - www.immersus.comYou should check it out.
If you are looking for the actual work of and/or to hire Alan, then go to the Immersus Media, of which Alan is the founder and Lead Designer.
