Owenskie's Blog

Current advances in technology – including the online presence of commercial printing services – has thoroughly democratized the business of printing. All it takes nowadays is Internet access and diligent Google search skills to be able to come up with a set of printing quotes for careful comparison. Printing quotes are a necessary feature or service provided by printing companies to give you a working figure for your printing project. Be it a business or a postcard. Such printing quotes can easily be obtained through emails, phone calls or a simple online visit where a price generator would instantly show you the printing quote for your specified set of product specifications. You can easily obtain this and more with online printing. Yes, printing has definitely gone a long since it has taken the plunge to make itself more accessible to almost everyone. Looking back, how has it gone that printing - once the exclusive domain of the learned clergy - has become accessible to Joe and Jane Q. Public? Quotes on Printing (Really, it is different from the term printing quotes) Here are a number of quotes taken from widely diverse sources about the sociological impact of printing. "The printing press is either the greatest blessing or the greatest curse of modern times, one sometimes forgets which" - J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie, Scottish writer best known for giving the world the green-clad, eternally youthful Peter Pan and his adventures with hook-handed pirates, mermaids and Red Indians. "The greatest inventions were produced in the times of ignorance, as the use of the compass, gunpowder, and printing" - Jonathan Swift, Irish writer and satirist best known for giving the world Lemuel Gulliver and his exploits with the Lilliputians, Brobdingagians and Yahoos. "The printing press was at first mistaken for an engine of immortality by everybody except Shakespeare." - Marshall McLuhan, Canadian sociologist noted for his pioneering studies on media theory as well as coining the phrases "the medium is the message" and "global village". "What gunpowder did for war the printing press has done for the mind." - Wendell Phillips, American activist, champion of social rights for Native Americans and African Americans. "Before printing was discovered, a century was equal to a thousand years." - Henry David Thoreau, American writer and philosopher whose works were influential in the civil rights and environmental movements. “The three great elements of modern civilization - gunpowder, printing, and the Protestant religion.” - Thomas Carlyle, Scottish philosopher whose major work, "Sartor Resartus" has been acknowledged as a unique masterpiece that anticipated the Existential and Postmodern movements among others. "The printing press is either the greatest blessing or the greatest curse of modern times, sometimes one forgets which it is." - E. F. Schumacher, German-born British economist and author of the book "Small is Beautiful" best known for his advocacy of human-scale, decentralized and appropriate technologies as well as his espousal of wholistic Buddhist philosophies on Western economic models. "Since the printing press came into being, poetry has ceased to be the delight of the whole community of man; it has become the amusement and delight of the few." - John Masefield, British poet laureate from 1930 to 1967.

To compare the recent Warner Bros. release "Beowulf" with DreamWorks' similarly-produced "Shrek" would be just like comparing a CMYK (cyan-magenta-yellow-blac k) image, the kind usually turned out by four color printing services, with the negatives produced by a standard RGB (red-green-blue) image. Even while buzz has been building about the film as early as the second half of last year, it was only during the last couple of months to the run-up of the film's theatrical release when still images of the film started turning up. They were thinking this would set a new benchmark in the field of CGI-animated films in Hollywood (at least, outside the Walt Disney system, with its own built-in loyal following). The ensuing success of the historical comic-book adaptation "300" with its CGI-assisted visual flourishes amping up the gore factor to the delight of audiences worldwide only served to spark further anticipation for this adaptation of one of the most beloved epic poems in the English language. For one, they have managed to arouse (no pun intended) interest once again in this work of verse, with a powerhouse cast including Academy Award winners Sir Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie (reuniting once again after Oliver Stone's sword-and-sandal suckfest "Alexander") as well as John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn and British actor Ray Winstone as the titular beast slayer. Before one can say "a-WOOOHH! a-WOOOOHH!!", Winstone channels his inner King Leonidas when he introduces himself to Hopkins' King Hrothgar. His Beowulf, as it turns out, is a bit of an egomaniac out for self-aggrandizement. He knows that Grendel is an unarmed, simpering mama's boy (but whatta MAMA-Angelina Jolie with a tentacular-looking tail and anachronistic high heels!!!!) so he faces the ugly mofo buck naked - much to the consternation (and shock) of his "thanes". Director Robert Zemeckis - himself no stranger in blending animation with live-action players (see "Who Framed Roger Rabbit") delivers his promise in pushing the genre to its limits - or as far as the bottom line would have it. Screenwriters Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary manage to work in some snarky elements of lowbrow humor (like one of Beowulf's "thanes" and his courtship of an amply-endowed barmaid) into the epic story without necessarily distracting from the plot. Even as the opening scenes at the Meadhall do have a "Shrek"-y feel (especially if Shrek spent a year buffing up at Gold's Gym), once Grendel thunders in and turns one of the punters into human shrimp cocktail, you have this feeling you're not in Far Far Away anymore. Arrows fly, limbs get severed from bodies, the hero faces his share of monsters to slay...the eye candy potential is already there ready to be harnessed (many say that the film is best enjoyed in an IMAX 3D theater where the graphics practically LEAP right in front of you); yet one leaves the theatre with the feeling that beneath all the technological wizardry, the soul of a true epic manages to beat in the hero's body as he lays dying on the beach.

Are digital prints “high” art? As Duchamp presents his toilet bowl to the rest of the world, digital artists also beg the same question: What is high art? Art history can be amusing. Whereas the standard of good painting used to be verisimilitude, or life like, it castigated photography as unworthy of being called high art. This then set the battle for photography to prove itself against paintings. Instead of concentrating on its strength with lifelike portraits, it opted to create surrealism. Elaborate tableaus are put-together, imitating common painting subjects. Petroleum oil is spread on glass plates to soften the edges of the prints, strobe lights were played around with, and different settings were studied. Many traditional artists are crossing over to the digital world as artists slowly emerge in this world without ever touching a paintbrush. Most professional photographers are quick to extol its virtues. Digital art is a combination of painting, photography, and so much more. Despite these strengths, few people will consider digital prints high art. For one thing, four color printing allows mass reproduction. I would hardly believe a mass produced poster, regardless of how well designed, or how new the concept, will fetch nearly as much as a painting of the same caliber. There is the Mona Lisa, and there are other Mona Lisas. While one is priceless, others can be bought cheaply in a souvenir shop. Digital art can now be printed on an artist canvas, evoking the same feel and texture of a painting. Brush strokes can be imitated in Photoshop and transferred unto print. A 4 Color Printing Company can expertly do all these with the full color process having a gamut of colors that can imitate paint and numerous color combinations. From a distance of several meters, digital print can look like a painting. You may alter a photograph, or start from scratch. You may have anything as elaborate as a surrealist concep or a simple illustration. For one thing, I believe digital printing has brought visual high art to its knees. Anything can be replicated, though not exactly, it can be done pretty accurately. Art can now be created and enjoyed by more people, even those who can’t afford the expensive paint brush and acrylics. Nor does it require the expensive equipment and chemicals of photography. The masters of digital art are mostly nameless, and will remain to be so. While paintings can have the snobbishness of high art, but digital prints only smile in amusement.

Dream a little dream. But if you dare to dream, why not dream up big ones right? I have come to a certain point in life where the days are long and boring. I assume everyone have had these kinds of days. The hours drag on to days, days into uneventful weeks and weeks into unmemorable months. If you were to ask, was it because of a broken heart? Certainly not. Was it because of work? No, wrong again. Was it because of health? Still the answer is no. In the arts, there is this theory called creative tension. It is the gap that is present between our reality, the now or the present and our vision. It this momentary lapse or rest if your prefer it where it seems things that have going for sometimes ceased or lost direction. It seems that the Emerald City is a far vision as we trudge upon our own Yellow Brick Road. Am I the Scarecrow? Am I the Tin Man? Am I the Cowardly Lion? Am I Wendy? To what end and purpose an I walking this Yellow Brick for? The Emerald City seems to be a mirage in the desert at this point. But we must always dare to dream. Dream a little dream or dream up big ones. I guess that it is only way we learn to find ourselves and reinvent ourselves. We learn to refocus our energy and motivate ourselves. It can be quite hard to do, if you think you have grown tired and weary, if you feel jaded and worn out. It is so easy to feel dissatisfied and disenchanted with life. Still, what else is there to do? Start dreaming. Start dreaming small or large. Start dreaming up that diamond ring you want to personally pick out and give to you beau. Start envisioning that getaway that you always wanted to have – think of Maldives and the perfect white beaches, think of Africa and wild surrounding you, and think of Italy and that ride to countryside. Dream perhaps of changing careers, a violinist or cello player for an orchestra, a road manager for a rock band, or a food critic touring the best restaurants all over the world. Dream of painting your own portrait you’ll be leaving behind or thousand prints of you that you’ll share to the world. Wholesale custom printing and a thousand and one print you’ll be throwing up into the air atop your apartment building. Let your portrait, your digital artwork, your message rain down on the people below like confetti. Share your thoughts. Share your dreams. Share a little passion. Live a little drama. Live life one moment at a time. Write a song you’ll never hear played. Study pottery without being a potter. Cook for no one but yourself. Dance like they are only playing for you. Be your own audience. Just be.

Last night, I finished three sandwiches, three cups of tea, and four articles. I work late at night now, past my bed time, past the time I crammed on college papers, past the time go home for night outs. Tonight, I’m on my first cup of coffee and on the first blog write-up for the evening. There is nothing to write about, my mind is blank and my fingers are numb. It always feels this way at first, staring at the empty white computer screen sneering at either my laziness or incompetence. I always wrote late at night, when the world is dead and deserted. I spend the first hours courting the muses, writing a few sentences, then resting, eating, and cramming the rest before the crack of dawn. It’s the dead of the night, I am in a different place, but everything feels the same. The erratic coughing of the air-conditioner is gone now, but I find myself rekindling old friendships with the bored hum of the fluorescent light. They were my late-night dorm room companions a lifetime ago. It still feels like a secret life, a quiet communion between my thoughts, the computer screen, and the whispering of the lights. It’s the dead of the night, and I remember forgetting the time during movie dates and begging the dorm directress for curfew extensions. I remember the late night conversations with my roommate, a genius with glasses as thick as my arm. We used to gossip about philosophers and life, as if they were the mysterious next door neighbor. I remember midnight parties at the roof deck, drinking the night away while waiting for stars to fall down. It’s the dead of the night, the best time for lying down and indulging in nostalgia. No, forget nostalgia. It is pointless poster printing a perfect life, glossy, full-colored but empty. It’s the dead of the night and past the time of dreaming. It’s the dead of the night, it’s time to grab another cup of coffee, a bite of sandwich and come back for a few more sentences. I have nothing left to say, but the deadline is threateningly close. I spin my chair hoping to remember something wise or witty to say. I wrack my brains, only I feel my eyelids getting heavier, and heavier, and heavier. It’s the dead of the night, and I should be sleeping. And my thoughts are slipping. What was I talking about? Hmmm.Oh yeah, poster printing.

There are a lot of question writers and readers should be asking themselves these days. It used to be that being “published” is synonymous to being an authority in the subject, or at the least, an initiation to being a full-pledged writer. But does this concept still stand given the new technology such as on demand printing that allows anyone to be self published? Published books have an air of credibility to them because of the tedious process they undergo to land in your bookshelf. The pass through the scrutinizing eyes of editors who would turn them inside out to see if every part, every detail is good and working. Then there are critics who would take everything that you and your editor had put together. They will take all these little pieces, sometimes all the good parts, and sometimes the bad. They will swallow it all and lo’ and behold, proclaim it as ambrosia. Other works, unfortunately, will be eaten up and then spat out. It’s the same feeling as being pointed at and laughed at when you were in kindergarten. You also have to worry about pleasing your publisher, bargaining with them and working out a decent contract. And because of the difficult process it undergoes, flippant writers usually wouldn’t even bother. Today, nothing is sacred. No one has the final say on what is good or bad. What is classic or not. Some even say, nothing produced is original anymore. When everyone can be a published writer, it begs the question of whether or not it will affect the credibility of books in general. Take the example of the internet. Everyone who has access to the internet can use it as a resource, one can also input any kind or form data for other people to use as a resource. Yes, be it through internet or independent publication, the only fear that runs high is the amount of truth and the amount of lies people can say. It seems that it is no crime to publish half-truths or lies or unfounded claims. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the benefits of such technology. I do. But it also makes me wonder what the repercussions of having independent publishing accessible to anyone. Published books enjoy more credibility than the internet, even if some are just printed brochures or booklets. It is because print material, in any size or shape, can serve as a tangible reference, a material that immortalizes a thought or an idea. It seems that print have a legitimizing quality that makes abstract ideas real and intact. It is the only output or evidence that says, an idea exists like all the other things we can easily perceive, touch or taste. It can be argued that people are more critical of the information they receive, but when it comes to traditional reading materials, people don’t seem to question them as much. We can cross-reference these books and check for validity, but what if, they are the only ones at hand that deal with such a topic. Like the internet, self-publication may usher in a new trend, a new era where the most likely result will be specialization in topics or subjects to avoid competition. If everyone can write, the subjects to write about will become more specific – and more difficult to verify. The on demand printing technology might help sincere aspiring writers to get published and make a name for them. But technology is a two-edged sword. While it can help unsung heroes and geniuses, it can also be undeservedly used by charlatans.