Add the Fresh Scent of Pine to Your Desktop!

On a foggy cool Christmas Eve, I took photos of scenery and plants in the Texas Hill Country. A close up of pine tree branches was the source and inspiration for this month's desktop calendar. Using Adobe Photoshop CS3, I retained only the needles, with some of the detail and edges removed. I added a textured light yellow background and the calendar grid. I liked the simplicity of this design, so I didn't add any more images.

Click here for a 1024 x 768 version you can use on your computer. Please do not remove the copyright notice.

Raine to Talk at BikeHouston Annual Meeting January 27

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Dan Raine, City of Houston Bicyclist-Pedestrian Coordinator, will talk about the Houston Bikeway Program Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at the Annual Meeting of BikeHouston, Houston’s organization that advocates making the city safe and accessible for cyclists.

The meeting will begin with a reception at 6:30 p.m. followed by the program at 7 p.m. in the first floor conference room at the Houston Environmental Center, 3015 Richmond. Food and refreshments will be provided by El Meson Restaurant.

In addition to the Bikeway program, Raine will talk about efforts by the city government to improve the on- and off-street bikeway network. Raine is a Transportation Planner with 15 years experience, a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), and a League Certified Instructor (LCI) with the League of American Bicyclists (LAB). Raine was the former Pedestrian-Bicyclist Coordinator with the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC).

In addition to Raine’s talk, Robin Stallings, Executive Director of Bike Texas/ Texas Bicycle Coalition from Austin will provide a legislative update on bicycling initiatives pending before the Texas Legislature this year.

BikeHouston is a local Houston organization promoting bike access, safe bicycling, education, and public awareness of the personal and community benefits of cycling. The meeting is open to all cyclists and anyone interested in learning about cycling in Houston. See www.bikehouston.org for more details.

For more information, contact Paul SoRelle at psorelle@sorelle.info or 281-687-5666.

Houston HD Radio Station Guide

For more information on HD Radio, check out hdradio.com

Hurricane Ike

Hello from the land near the land with no power!

We are blessed to have no damage to our home or offices, but the lack of power puts a few crimps in our daily schedules. Totem Media, L.C. is open and we are able to receive e-mails through our smartphones. Replying with full text msgs is a bit difficult - as I'm discovering by typing this blog post! :)

Our graphics & production services will remain on hold until power is resumed in our offices. We appreciate your understanding during this difficult time.

Please consider donating to a charity providing support to those who lost their homes & livelihoods due to Hurricane Ike.

Hurricane Gustav and Cute Puppies

Hurricane Gustav should be hitting land east of Houston, TX. We are keeping the people of southern Louisiana and extreme eastern Texas in our thoughts and prayers for their safety.

A New Orleans local group takes pets out of peril: Link to Weather.com video clip.

Texas Heat Causes a Potpourri of Sizzling Updates

It's hot outside! Highs in the mid 90s, with heat indices over 100! So I'm staying inside and updating you on the latest exciting news!

We got our final totals from the RushCon 8 Charity Auction, held July 9, 2008. We raised $3000 for the Daily Bread Food Bank of Toronto! :) This makes our eight-year total $48,750, all donated to charity!!

We are celebrating our fifth anniversary at Totem Media, L.C.! We've had a lot of fun producing videos, websites, promotional materials, conference booths, logos, digital presentations, and other multimedia marketing for our clients! If you haven't checked out our groovy anniversary video, take a minute (literally!) and visit our website home page, www.totem-media.com.

On the personal front, we continue to make our home a showcase of love and Texan practicality. The latest project is converting our old pantry to an elegant storage place for our pint glass collection. This 7'H x 2'W x 1'D built-in is too small for an effective pantry, but is perfect to display decorative glassware. Having just replaced our garage door, it's now time to repaint the outdoor trim and get the exterior ready for updated landscaping, coming this fall!

Take another few seconds and visit demonicottertoe.com. Decide if you are worthy (I hope you are!) and sign up for the D-O-T's newsletter. Demonic Otter Toe is our animation production company, so we're having a bit of fun. (Heck, how scary can a toe be? Especially an otter toe?!) D-O-T is a 'spam-free digit,' so we won't spam you, nor will we sell or give your info to a third-party.

We'll be posting introductory material for Demonic Otter Toe's first animation production as they are completed. It's animation combining several media styles - true multimedia! - which makes it unique. We'd appreciate your feedback!

Flowing Fractals Fracture in Digital Media Explosion

There is no better way to celebrate Totem Media's Fifth Anniversary than with a catchy new video!



This video was created using Adobe AfterEffects, Soundbooth, and Premiere Pro, using self-produced images and videos, as well as stock video elements.

See the full-size Flash version on the Totem Media website!

Totem Media Address Update

We have a NEW address!

Please send all correspondence to:

Totem Media, L.C
9002G Chimney Rock Road
Suite 320
Houston, Texas, 77096

www.totem-media.com

Our phone and fax numbers remain the same. See the Contact Us page on the Totem Media, L.C. website for more information.

Pistil Shooting in Texas Caught on Tape!

"Flowers are rainbows on a sunny day." -- Elizabeth Maxwell



Video length: 1 minute 2 seconds. Larger Flash version available on totem-media.com.

I enjoy looking at flowers and other beautiful scenes of nature. It's relaxing and reminds me that God loves us. :)

The jasmine overgrew a tall dead stump in our yard. Eleven months of the year I don't notice the stump. It's either covered in the jasmine's green leaves or leafless and brown. Then, every April, the delicate white flowers open and release their wonderful scent.

It reminds me of the scene from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (movie) and The Two Towers (book), when Sam and Frodo are entering Mordor with Gollum. They see the head of an old king's statue, lying broken and defaced on the ground. The sun shone momentarily on a crown of flowers that had grown on the statue's brow. It gave them a moment of hope before facing the severe trials they would endure.

All video is from the Texas Hill Country, which is in the south central part of the state. I shot the jasmine and daisies in April 2008 using a Panasonic PV-GS320 mounted on a Velbon tripod. The bees were enjoying apple blossoms in February 2008 using a Sony DSC-W50 still/video digital camera. The two still shots of the purple vinca and the yellow cactus flower are from Spring 2007.

The song, Anjelica, is a royalty-free track purchased from shockwave-sound.com.

I edited the video using Adobe Premiere.

Pistil: Female part of the flower comprised of the ovary, style, and stigma.

Book Recommendation

I am reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle, a nonfiction book about living and eating locally and seasonally. She includes many facts about how far our food travels before we see it in the grocery store, and the subsequent cost in labor, fuel, flavor, and of course money, is involved in having all fruits and vegetables available 365 days/year.

I have gardened and plan to do some more gardening in the future. I come from a long line of home gardeners, and some of my best food memories are the homegrown tomatoes and corn we ate every summer.

Until I get my urban garden underway, I am going to explore the local farmers' markets and learn more about where my food comes from. Since I prefer to cook and eat at home, this will give me a chance to refine my cooking skills and try new recipes.

An advantage I have living in SE Texas, is we have such a long growing season, and so much commercial food is grown in the Rio Grande Valley, less than 400 miles away. In fact, in just a month or two, I need to plant tomatoes, so they have time to grow and set fruit before the nights become too hot. My parents, who live in the north central Great Plains, usually can't get plants into the ground until late May without a greenhouse to protect against late frosts and snowstorms.

Wurst Fest 2007

A group of us went to WurstFest, a ten-day celebration of sausage (and all that goes with it) in early November. Wurst Fest is in the pretty small town of New Braunfels, TX. The gang we went with, as well as other friends we met at the festival, are all fans and friends of Saint Arnold Brewing.

We had a great time, listening to polka and German folk music, eating ham hocks, sauerkraut, and German potato salad, and drinking Warsteiner dark beer.

We drove our Jeep, with the top down and the doors off. I was at first a little nervous, despite I was wearing my seatbelt and holding onto the support bar, but it was fine. Driving home that evening was cold, though, because the air temps varied between 58 - 65. We had the heater on full-blast, which helped a little bit. It felt at least a little adventurous. :)

I filmed the video handheld with a Panasonic PV-GS320 mini-DV recorder and edited it in Adobe Premiere.



A slightly larger and brighter version of this video is on my personal YouTube channel.