ChunkyMouth 2.0

ChunkyMouth has moved!

2008-10-15T21:27:00.000-07:00

Though I haven't had time to finalize the site design yet, the blog has moved to www.brook-bailey.com.

Thanks!

Andrea's and My Christmas Lists

2007-11-21T11:31:00.000-08:00

After repeated requests from our families, Andrea and I have finally pieced together our Christmas lists.

Andrea's Amazon Wish List can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/LGUII1HOJA3V

My list can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/33YUFC55OHRB3

And for the record, I fully realize that I'm not getting a Nintendo Wii. Still, it never hurts to ask. You never know who has shady, back-door connections at the Toys R Us.

UPDATE (11/30/07):
Dear Santa,
I just talked to my brother, and he would also like a Nintendo Wii. Please have your elves make more of these, as they are nearly impossible to find.
Sincerely,
Brook

Holden's Christmas List - 2007

2007-10-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

Onto Holden's list.

Any of the K'nex building sets. Especially the big tubs of pieces. He loves to build stuff with K'nex.
He still plays with Attacktix. Hasbro makes Marvel, Star Wars and Transformers versions. The Marvel ones are his favorite, but he likes them all.
He also loves the game Heroscape. He has the master game set, but Hasbro has released several expansion sets. These can usually be found on the aisle with the board games.
Harder to find, but just as cool are the Heroclix sets and booster packs. Holden is only into the DC (Superman, Batman, etc.) and Marvel (Spider-Man, Hulk, etc.) varieties. You can find these online, at some toy stores and at most comic book stores. I've also seen them at Barnes & Noble and Borders. At the bookstores, they usually keep them behind the counter.

And, of course, Holden's updated Amazon Wish List can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1L3J87CNLW1CS/

Emaline's Christmas List - 2007

2007-10-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

OK, I've officially had my first request this year for the kids' Christmas lists. Let's start with Emaline this time.

For her birthday, Emaline is getting a bear from Build-A-Bear Workshop. I'm sure she would love extra outfits for her bear.

She loves anything and everything Littlest Pet Shop. These little guys are currently her favorite toy.

I've updated her Amazon wish list as well. You can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/V18I0KUW2H95/

Illustration Friday: Communication

2007-03-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

This week's Illustration Friday theme was communication.

I had this idea during a commercial for Apple's new iPhone. They could name it the iSore, and it would still sell like crazy.

Click the image for the full-sized version.

Illustration Friday: Gravity

2007-02-22T08:21:00.000-08:00

This week's Illustration Friday theme was gravity. Click the image below for the full-size version.

Illustration Friday: Crash

2007-02-15T16:27:00.000-08:00

The topic for this week's Illustration Friday was crash. We're getting into our busy season at work, so this one was sort of a rush job.

Click the image for the full-sized version.

Illustration Friday: Sprout

2007-02-08T11:40:00.000-08:00

The topic for this week's Illustration Friday was sprout. I had a lot of fun doing this one. I could've used another day or two to work on the coloring, but I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

Click on the image for the Hulk-sized version. Just don't make it angry. You wouldn't like it when it is angry.

Illustration Friday: Red

2007-02-01T11:32:00.000-08:00

This week's Illustration Friday topic was red. I think this one explains itself.

Click the image to make it more bigger.

Illustration Friday: Super Hero

2007-01-25T10:44:00.000-08:00

The theme for this week's Illustration Friday was Super Hero. You'd think this would've been easy for me, because I am a huge comic book geek. Quite the contrary. With so many cool superheroes to choose from, where do I start? I considered drawing Hiro from the new NBC show Heroes, but I decided instead to draw the main character from my favorite TV show of all time. That's right, baby. It's Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

(click image for full-size version)
I was hoping to ink and color it before I posted it, but I ran out of time. Oh, well. Here she is in all her pencilly goodness.

Yeah, I know. She doesn't really look like Sarah Michelle Gellar. Actually, the more I look at her, I think she sorta looks like Debbie Gibson. Hmm... That gives me an idea for a TV show...

Illustration Friday: '80s

2007-01-18T16:06:00.000-08:00

This week's Illustration Friday theme was '80s.

Ah, yes. The final scene of The Karate Kid. Young Daniel--to the dismay of Cobra Commander--defeats the evil ninja, Storm Shadow, while Mr. Miyagi and Optimus Prime cheer him on. If you don't remember this part, I recommend watching the director's cut of the film. This movie taught me a valuable lesson: Anything is possible if you work hard, and your two best friends are an old Okinawan guy and a giant robot that can transform into an 18-wheeler. Precious memories.

Click the image for the full-size version.

Illustration Friday: Buzz

2007-01-11T16:04:00.000-08:00

This week's Illustration Friday topic was buzz.

Click the image for the legible, full-size version.

Illustration Friday: Phoenix

2007-01-05T14:48:00.000-08:00

Well, crap. I missed the deadline for this week's Illustration Friday. Oh, well. I can still post it here. The theme was phoenix.

Click the image for the full-size version.
X-Men humor. Always a big hit with the ladies.

Illustration Friday: Help

2006-12-20T16:01:00.000-08:00

OK, my connection to this week's Illustration Friday theme is tenuous at best, but here's how I rationalized it:

This weeks theme was help. If I were ever in some sort of hostage situation, who would I hope to come rescue me? Jack Bauer from 24, that's who. That man's a bad mutha f-word. He would infiltrate the location, save the hostages (including myself), and find out who was behind the attack-- all in less than an hour. That would be a great big help. Therefore, "help" = "Jack Bauer".

The truth of the matter is I started watching season five of 24 on DVD last night and I felt like drawing my man Jack. Here be it:

I fully realize that this drawing looks absolutely nothing like Kiefer Sutherland. Luckily, I'm still in that stage as an artist where I'm just happy it resembles a human being.

P.S. For the record, I think Jack Bauer could totally kick James Bond's ass. (Although, in fairness to Daniel Craig, I haven't seen Casino Royale yet. I hear it's really good.)

P.P.S. Please know that I am aware that Jack Bauer is a fictional character. He doesn't talk to me through my TV or anything. Or does he? Maybe it's in code...

Illustration Friday: Mask

2006-12-14T06:15:00.000-08:00

This week's Illustration Friday topic was mask.

This was my first real attempt at "cut & grad" coloring in Photoshop. I really need to take some drawing lessons. Can anybody recommend any good drawing/anatomy books?

Illustration Friday: Might

2006-12-07T10:16:00.000-08:00

This week's Illustration Friday topic was might.

Click the image for a full-size version... if you dare.

Andrea's and Brook's Christmas Lists - 2006

2006-12-03T17:01:00.000-08:00

By popular request, Andrea and I have each compiled our own Amazon wish lists.

Hers can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/LGUII1HOJA3V/ and mine can be found at http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/33YUFC55OHRB3/ .

We've both been really good this year.

Illustration Friday: Invent

2006-12-01T10:32:00.000-08:00

This week's topic for Illustration Friday was invent. I didn't finish it in time to make it on the I.F. site, but at least I can post it here.

Click on the image to make it less small-like.

Emaline's Christmas List - 2006

2006-11-28T05:51:00.000-08:00

OK, on to Emaline's list. Right now, Emaline is all about the Disney Princesses (Ariel the Little Mermaid is her favorite -- this week.) and the Backyardigans. Seriously, she'd like a pipe wrench if it had the Backyardigans or Disney Princesses on it.

She also likes Barbies and stuff like that. (Though she has a hard time keeping them clothed.) All Andrea and I ask is that you stay away from the "Bratz" dolls. We don't like the name, and they look like hookers. If you see them, you'll know what I mean.

She has also expressed an interest in the new Disney Fairies line of toys. It's Tinkerbell and her little fairy pals. Emaline doesn't have any of these, so there's no danger of duplicates.

I put a wish list for her on Amazon.com as well. You can find it at the following URL: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/V18I0KUW2H95/

There were a few items Emaline asked for that I couldn't find on Amazon, so I've included links to their descriptions at ToysRUs.com:

I almost forgot... Last week, Emaline got a new toy that she really liked a lot. The brand is called "Littlest Pet Shop", and there are many to choose from. I'll try to add some to her Amazon wish list today.

11/28/06, 8:17 a.m. -- I forgot to mention that Emaline also asked for toy food to go in her play kitchen.

Holden's Christmas List - 2006

2006-11-28T05:33:00.000-08:00

OK, I've finally managed to assemble the kids' Christmas lists. I'll start with Holden.

Right now, Holden is way into action figures and games (board games and video games).

The action figures that he's most interested in are :

Justice League (These are DC Comics superheroes, which include Superman, Batman, The Flash, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern. Batman is his favorite.)
Marvel Legends (These are Marvel Comics superheroes, which include Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, The Hulk and Captain America, to name a few. Spider-man is his favorite.)
Teen Titans

You can't go wrong with any of the above. I've also compiled a wish list for Holden on Amazon.com if you need something more specific. It can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1L3J87CNLW1CS/

I just realized that I forgot to list any video games for the Playstation 2. I'll try to add some to his Amazon list before the end of the day.

Illustration Friday: Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T15:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I'm out of town, but I was still able to throw together a quick entry for Illustration Friday.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need more pie.

Illustration Friday: Clear

2006-11-15T16:44:00.000-08:00

This week's Illustration Friday topic is clear.

I wanted to post something really good this week. Here's this instead.

Wakka Wakka.

Illustration Friday: Smoke

2006-11-07T14:32:00.000-08:00

This week's topic for Illustration Friday is smoke.
I love monkeys. Click them and watch them grow.

Illustration Friday: Ghost

2006-10-26T06:07:00.000-07:00

This week's topic for Illustration Friday is ghost.

Click the image for the full-size version. Or don't. It's really up to you.

Illustration Friday: Smitten

2006-10-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

Here's this week's entry for Illustration Friday. The topic was smitten.
Click on the image for the full-size version.

Illustration Friday: Trouble

2006-10-12T20:35:00.000-07:00

This is my first-ever entry for Illustration Friday. I just barely made the deadline.
This week's topic was trouble.

Sketchy sketch sketch...

2006-10-06T06:31:00.000-07:00

I've been really busy lately, but I thought I'd post some sketches I did this week...

I've got some other stuff I've been working on that I hope to post soon.

My first "commission"

2006-09-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

My son asked me to draw a Green Lantern for him. Specifically, the John Stewart Green Lantern. I prefer Hal Jordan, but who am I to argue with my patron? (Even if he's only 7.)

Pencil drawing, inked and colored in Photoshop.

Work in Progress

2006-09-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

This is the start of a new project I'm working on. More to come.

Pencil drawing, inked and colored in Photoshop.

Chunkymouth 2.0?

2006-09-11T05:07:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since my last update here. Fear not. Chunkymouth has not ceased to be.

I've been concentrating on other areas of my life, and I've decided that I need to spend more time drawing. As a result, I've decided to use this space as a sketch blog. And I'm going to try to update it often. We shall see.

The art I post here isn't meant to be good. It's just practice. My posting it here is simply an incentive to myself to keep practicing. (And that worked out so well for my writing.)

Anyhoo... here's my first new post. It's a sketch I did this morning in Photoshop, using my Wacom tablet. I wouldn't normally add color at this stage of the drawing, but I wanted my first post to be purty.

Today, Blogger. Tomorrow, the world.

2006-02-20T08:54:00.000-08:00

Chris and I, the masterminds behind Haiku Movie Reviews, have done it again. We have a new blog, My List Is Better Than Your List. It's certainly not the first top five list blog out there, but we hope to become one of the most entertaining. Check it out. And if you have any suggestions as to how we can make it better, please let us know. We live to serve.

No More Apologies

2006-02-18T14:08:00.000-08:00

It's been more than two months since my last post. I've been a busy guy. And I have been writing, just not here. I'm done apologizing for the lack of updates. I know the consequence of no updates is no readers. C'est la vie. No more feeling guilty about it.

On my other blog, Haiku Movie Reviews, we are still trying to iron out some problems with organization and presentation, but the content is there. We have approximately 450 reviews posted. Good times.

And there is more to come. We should be unveiling a new project very soon.

Hasta el later.

SNOW DAY!!!

2005-12-08T04:52:00.000-08:00

That's right! No work. No school. Sadly, however, there's also no snow. Just ice. So we're just going to hang out all day watching movies, playing games and baking cookies. Not a bad Thursday.

Fun with Words

2005-12-06T18:27:00.000-08:00

My buddy Chris and I have been working on several projects together. One of them is ready for public consumption.

http://haikumoviereviews.blogspot.com

Enjoy.

DVDs and More DVDs

2005-11-23T07:41:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is a list of DVDs the kids have mentioned, pointed out in the store, or tried to shoplift.

Holden:

Emaline:

And for both:

Emaline's Christmas List

2005-11-15T06:05:00.000-08:00

These are offered in order (to some extent) of most-talked-about items to least-talked-about ones. Sometimes, it's hard to tell if she REALLY wants something, or if she just watched a commercial for it and wants to discuss what she saw.

Any of the Disney Princess toys (She's especially fond of Cinderella and Ariel, the Little Mermaid)
a Baby Annabell doll (This thing kinda creeps me out, but it's not my list.)
Any Groovy Girls dolls or accessories (She only has one doll, so I wouldn't worry about duplicates.)
Any Dora the Explorer toys (Or anything else, for that matter. Emaline would love a pipe wrench if it had Dora on it.)
Doodle Monster
Any age-appropriate My First LeapPad game cartridges
Any age-appropriate picturebooks (This girl loves books. Even though she can't read, she will sit down with a book and make up her own story based on the pictures. It's very cute. Of course, EVERYTHING she does is cute.)

I will add her DVD list when I add Holden's.

And for those of you who have been giving me grief over my lack of blog updates, these last two entries totally count.

Holden's Christmas List

2005-11-15T05:20:00.000-08:00

I'm adding links for a lot of these because it's easier than trying to explain them.

Star Wars Attacktix

This is a game that Holden and I play all the time. He absolutley loves it. Actually, I do too. Also, these are the type of toys where duplicates don't matter.

Other Star Wars Toys

Star Wars Build Your Own Lightsaber Kit

(11/23/05) NOTE: I have it on good authority from the North Pole that the following Hot Wheels item has been taken care of. --BB

Hot Wheels

Hot Wheels Gorilla Attack

Other Toys

Any Teen Titans stuff (especially the 3.5" action figures, vehicles and accessories)
Doodle Monster
Legos (or other compatible building blocks, such as Mega Bloks)
Any age-appropriate Leap Pad or Leapster game cartridges

There are also several DVDs and chapter books that he has mentioned. I'll try to post them soon.

Up next: Princess Emaline's list

Who are you people? Oh, yeah...

2005-10-20T15:35:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy lately that I actually forgot I had a blog. No joke.

Digital Refrigerator

2005-10-08T10:07:00.000-07:00

My six-year-old son Holden drew this alien. I think it's pretty cool.

Gotta run for now.

I Can't Find the Forest

2005-10-07T06:31:00.000-07:00

There are too many trees in my way.

Someone commented with my last entry that I should be posting on a daily basis. That was a couple of days ago. It's been a week since my last entry. No excuses. I've been a bad Brook. Now I have to go to my room and think about I've done.

OK, I'm back. Sorry, folks. I'd love to tell you that I've learned my lesson and that it won't happen again. Sadly, doing so would most likely make me a liar. I can, however, tell you that my week-long absence began with the best of intentions.

It started out innocently enough. I was poking around on the web, looking for a free desktop app that would allow me to post to Blogger without having to go through the site's clumsy UI. I have the Blogger for Word plug-in (which I've never used), but I wanted to see what else was available. As I figured, there are more than a few different options, and I had to read a little bit about each one of them. I finally decided to try w.bloggar, mainly because I saw that Microsoft had a free plug-in for it that would automatically add to my post the title and artist of whatever music I had playing through Windows Media Player at the time. That's right, I had to download and install extra software, just so you could get the following valuable data:

[Listening to: Across the Sea - Weezer - Pinkerton (04:32)]

There was certainly no way for me to enter that information manually. If only I had some sort of contraption that would allow me to enter data into the computer by hand. Maybe a machine that had the letters of the alphabet on it, and I could use those letters to spell words. That would be cool.

I'm such a doofus. And that was just the beginning. While researching the blog-editing apps, I stumbled across a ton of other stuff that I absolutely had to include in my blog. I'm talking about stuff such as Technorati tags, del.icio.us links, and Flickr photo streams. I soon realized that implementing these things the way I'd like to would require a total rebuild of my blog template. This is an idea I had been toying with anyway, if only to get some more practice.

So I started working on a new template. I had monkeyed around with the current template a little bit, enough to get my feet wet, but I wanted more. In order to really get a handle on CSS, I decided to start completely from scratch, coding every bit by hand. Of course, I realize now that all the time I spent on this stuff would have been much better spent writing.

And it all started with a simple web search. I think I may have gotten a bit carried away with some of this stuff. I was letting the tail wag the blog.

[Note: I was so proud of myself for that little pun, I googled the phrase "wag the blog" just to see if there was anyone out there who is as witty as I am. 484 search results. I'm officially humbled. Though, for the record, I do have to insist that I deserve the credit for coining the term "pixelmonkey" (615 search results). The fact that other people were using this term years before I originated it is due to a minor rift in the space-time continuum. I'm sure that the world's best and brightest are working feverishly to remedy this problem.]

Where was I? Oh, yeah. My desire to master CSS notwithstanding, I was redesigning my blog template so I could better organize and display content that I don't even have.

Doofus.

Besides, I nearly violated my own numero-uno rule of web design:

Just because you can doesn't mean that you should.

Would adding all this stuff to my blog make it better? Not as much as it would be improved by, you know, writing more often.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that you shouldn't use stuff like the services offered by Technorati, del.icio.us, and Flickr. In fact, you should check out Derek Powazek's site for a great example of all three working together beautifully. Neat stuff.

OK, I've rambled on enough. All this was my way of saying, "I'm back." OK, I got a little moderately monumentally sidetracked, as I am prone to do, but you called me on it. Muchas gracias. And thank you for reading. The more I write, the more I want to write. Believe me, I do have plenty more to say.

Serenity Now, Part III

2005-09-30T00:31:00.000-07:00

I'm back.

Totally worth it.

Serenity Now, Part II

2005-09-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

The little voice inside my head is telling me that I'd be a moron to go to the movie tonight, that I'm tired enough as it is, and that I can just as easily go see it tomorrow night.

I'm going to go drown that little voice in a movie-sized bucket of soda now.

Serenity Now, Part I

2005-09-29T20:35:00.000-07:00

I just realized that there is a nearby showing of Serenity tonight at midnight. Am I going to be a responsible adult and skip it, so I can be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for work in the morning? Or am I going to give in to temptation and go see the movie that I've been looking forward to more than the last two Star Wars films and all the Harry Potter flicks combined?

Haven't decided yet...

Mother Nature doesn't read 'TV Guide'

2005-09-29T15:30:00.000-07:00

Last night, I got the kids ready for bed and sat down to watch two of my favorite shows: Lost and Veronica Mars. I have to watch one while taping the other because, starting this season, they air in the same time slot. (Stupid TV execs... always moving shows around... grumblegrumblegrumble...) So I'm watching Lost when, out of nowhere, it starts raining outside. Before long, Mr. Hail and Mr. Lightning joined the party. That's when the electricity went out for several minutes. Twice.

I watched both shows (as best I could), and there were significant gaps in each. These are two shows, mind you, that have intricate ongoing plot lines that I may or may not be able to catch up on in the future.

Don't get me wrong. We needed the rain. Even with the constant running of the sprinkler, my lawn was getting pretty brown and crunchy. I'm just hoping that next time, Mother Nature will kill two birds with one stone and give us a good storm during According to Jim.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to try and watch the season premieres of Smallville and Alias. (Stupid TV execs... grumblegrumble…)

Writing is not like riding a bike

2005-09-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

A wise man speaks because he has something to say. A fool speaks because he has to say something.

So, which am I? Wise man or fool? Sadly, I believe it’s the latter. At least I have Mr. T’s pity. Good old T, always there to help when I need him the most. Fortunately, fools don’t have to stay fools forever.

You see, I used to consider myself a writer. In fact, there was a time when I thought I was pretty good at it. So, when I decided to jump on the blogwagon, I thought it would be easy. Blogging is just writing, and I’m a writer, right? Wrong. A writer writes, which is something I haven’t done in a while. Those muscles have atrophied. Somewhere along the line, I went from writer to guy with ideas that he never follows up on.

It wasn’t until after my first post (well, technically, my second post) that I realized I had forgotten how to write. I mean, look at it. It went nowhere. I have no idea what I wanted to say when I sat down to write it, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t it. My next post was a little better, but I still needed to figure out what I was doing. After two and a half weeks of soul searching, ruminating and meditating, I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t know what I was thinking when I started this thing.

I don’t know why I started it, but I know why I’m here now. I need to stretch. It’s time to develop a little discipline and start exercising my writing muscles. And you, my friends, are invited to the workout. In fact, you can even comment on it. That’s the beauty of this medium. It’s collaborative. You can give me all the feedback you want. If you agree with something I say, that’s great. If you think I suck worse than a variety show co-hosted by John Tesh and Dr. Phil, that’s OK, too. At least I’m writing. And that makes me a writer.

Mr. T, you can go pity someone else.

23 days until ‘Serenity’

2005-09-07T07:22:00.000-07:00

And I couldn’t be more excited.

For the uninitiated, Serenity is an upcoming sci-fi film based on the television show Firefly.

What is Firefly? Well, I’m glad you asked. Firefly is, in my opinion, one of the greatest shows ever to grace the airwaves. Created by Joss Whedon, (the mastermind behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, which were fantastic shows as well) Firefly takes place 500 years in the future, after the Earth has been “used up” and humankind has migrated to the outer reaches of the galaxy. The show, which aired on Fox from October to December, 2002, can best be described as a “space western”. I’m not really a huge fan of science-fiction or westerns, but Whedon was able to blend the two masterfully, making a show that was action-packed, suspenseful, dramatic and hilarious--often at the same time.

You may be thinking, “Sounds pretty good. Why have I never heard of it?”

Single-word answer: Fox.

Yes, the morons at Fox did everything they could to ensure that the show failed. First, they scheduled it on Friday nights, which is commonly referred to as the timeslot of death. Then, they aired the episodes out of order. It’s pretty hard to get into a story when you are forced to start at chapter three. As you can imagine, this did not help Firefly in the ratings game. Then, in a move that should not surprise any long-time Fox viewers, the network canceled the show after a mere 11 episodes.

Luckily for the fans, Fox released the series on DVD in December of 2003. The collection, which included three previously unaired episodes, sold (and continues to sell) extremely well. As a result, Whedon got a green light to make the feature film Serenity, which takes place after the end of the series. Fans of the show, who refer to themselves as Browncoats, have been using guerrilla marketing tactics to promote the film. Some of these tactics are simple, such as hosting Firefly viewing parties to “convert” new fans, or posting homemade movie ads next to Firefly DVD displays at local retailers. Other fans have taken more drastic measures. One group of Browncoats produces its own weekly podcast called The Signal, during which they promote the film and discuss the Firefly/Serenity universe. They must be doing something right, because The Signal is currently the #4-rated show at Podcast Alley. I think all of the fans (myself included) are hoping that if the film is a success, we will be rewarded with sequels or--dare to dream--a renewal of the show.

Here’s hopin’.

Ah, my first real post (a.k.a “Me Likey CSS”)

2005-09-07T03:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I’ve got the page looking the way I want it to. Now, all I need is some content.

Today, boys and girls, we’re going to talk about web design, namely CSS. If you are thoroughly unfamiliar with the concept of Cascading Style Sheets, I suggest you check out this simple article by Christopher Heng that explains it pretty well. If you couldn’t care less about CSS, then I suggest you skip this post entirely.

Until recently, I thought CSS was just another method for marking up text on a web page. Then a buddy of mine showed me the light. He took me to CSS Zen Garden. It was here that I learned what CSS is truly capable of. Yes, CSS is great for changing the way online text looks, but that is just the beginning. We’re talking full-on element positioning, not to mention (gasp!) getting rid of HTML tables entirely. If you’re a geek like me, this is some seriously cool stuff.

If you’ve read this far, I’m going to assume that either:

you have some interest in CSS, and have a basic understanding of the concept

you’re my mom.

The two main resources that I used to learn CSS were Cascading Style Sheets for Dummies and CSS From the Ground Up, a great online tutorial from Joe Gillespie’s site, Web Page Design for Designers.

Of course, there are tons of great CSS resources on the web. I highly recommend checking out Douglas Bowman’s articles over at Stopdesign and Jeffrey Zeldman’s site, both of which have a lot of great design info, as well as serving as nice examples of CSS design themselves.

Well, I guess that’s all for now. Happy designing!

I claim this blog in the name of Spain

2005-09-01T02:51:00.000-07:00

Wow. My own blog.

Now I just need something to say.