As of this September, I will have been blogging for six years. One of the few upsides of comment spam is that the messages occasionally remind you of old posts that you’d totally forgotten about. Given my poor memory, and the fact that I’ve written more than 5000 posts, I’ve forgotten almost all of mine.
It’s Cheap Post Friday, so I thought I’d go back five and a half years in time to see what sort of links I posted in late 2002. Here’s a list of some of the earliest stuff I linked to. Almost all links go to external stuff, not my old and busted blog posts.
A New York Times piece about providing sanitized versions of movies for ’sensitive or conservative consumers’. I linked to two companies that did this. MovieMask appears to have gone the way of all time, but Clean Flicks is, disappointingly, still around.
It’s actually encouraging how many of those links are still live. I’d say I had, like, an 85% success rate. Of course, I was mostly linking to pretty popular stuff, so that’s hardly a realistic sample of the lifespan of web pages.
Regular readers will recall that a couple of weeks ago I submitted an assignment to Pixish, a new get-stuff-designed site. I was looking for source art for the next version of this site, combining any CC-licensed photo of me and this film industry sign.
The assignment closes today, and I’ve got a decent bounty of riches to choose from. Or rather, we do, because I’d like your opinion about which one you like best. Here’s a poll, where you can vote on your favourite. The question, basically, is which image best suits me and this site? Remember that these are source images–they’ll certainly be tweaked and cropped by a web designer.
Find small versions of the images below. You can click them to see larger ones, or check out this Flickr slideshow.
You can also vote on Pixish, but you have to register and, besides, it’s unclear to me how the voting works. I’ve submitted a support query for clarification.
Disclaimer: I reserve the right to reject popular opinion. I have a favourite, but I’d like to hear what yours is.
UPDATE: I received a last minute sixth submission. I can’t modify the poll, so you’ll just have to comment if you like this one best:
Pixish is a new site where you can create image contests. Artists will find assignments from people who need visual art for all kinds of projects. Each Assignment will have different requirements and rewards. If one inspires you, you can submit. The Pixish community can then vote up the best submissions. In the end, the Publisher who started the Assignment will choose a winner and give out any listed rewards.
I’m looking for source art. It’ll be used in creating a new blog header, and as inspiration for the site’s new colour scheme and other design elements. I’ve got a web designer who will build a template based on your work. You don’t have to meet exactly parameters in terms of pixel size.
I’d like the image to integrate two elements:
A movie set sign with my initials (”DB”). You can see a photo of such a sign here. These movie set signs are ubiquitous in my home town of Vancouver.
You can combine these two elements as you see fit.
As a ‘reward’, I’m offering:
I’ll pay CAN $200 (US $198.63) and include a permanent link to your portfolio on my About page. I’ve referred work on several occasions based on queries about my current site’s design.
