Expressively publishing on the open web since 1996.
Entranced by Portland, Oregon since 2017.
I’m Jared, an award-winning essayist, Rubyist, and podcaster who’s been commenting on and building for the web since Mosaic was a thing. (Yup, it’s true! 😆)
In my spare time I travel around Portland 🌲 and the Pacific Northwest and shoot cinematic-yet-quirky vlogs. 📹 📺 In addition, I compose and produce 80s-flavored retro electronica. 🎹 🎶
This is my home base on the internet. I hope you enjoy browsing around! 📍
P.S. What am I doing now? That’s what the Now Page is for! ⏱
P.P.S. What’s my favorite (fill-in-the-blank)? Find out in About Me. 😃
It would seem I’m always but one step away from reaching for an endeavor to occupy my time with at any given moment. Besides what’s obviously available on this website…from Bridgetown, a Ruby-powered site generator, to Yarred, my musical alter-ego, there’s something for…well…somebody.
A weekly show where we discuss the business, the art, the ethics of content creation on the open web. Hosted by Jared White.
A fireside chat about my off-the-charts excitement level at entering back into the world of The Matrix—my favorite movie of all time—and how much the real world has changed over the past 20+ years. Will The Matrix Resurrections live up to the hype?
Look, I get it. You already subscribe to too many newsletters. So much to keep up with. But guess what? I only send out a newsletter occassionaly. It’s no big deal. And if you peruse the Creator Class archive, you might find something that resonates with you. It’s a great way to stay current with what I’m publishing, and newsletter recipients always get some extra insight just for them. So what are you waiting for? Let’s roll!
By the Shores of Lacamas Lake
#washingtonexplored #nikonzfc
Mount St. Helens, Shrouded in Mist
#washingtonexplored #nikonzfc
I finally got a chance to try out the Pergear 12mm prime lens with my Nikon Z fc. Pretty satisfied with the results! (Glad there’s still a bit of fall color left in Portland…)
#portland #nikonzfc
“ If you watch a lot of movies and TV shows, you might have noticed that over the last few decades everything has gotten a lot more … gray. No matter the kind of story being told, a sheen of cool blue or gray would wash over everything, muting the colors and providing an overall veneer of serious business.
So many TV shows and movies now have a dull filter applied to every scene, one that cuts away vibrancy and trends toward a boring sameness. Every frame’s color scheme ends up feeling the same as every other frame. And when there are so many projects using similar techniques, you end up with a world of boring visuals that don’t stand out.
The best term I’ve read for this comes from incisive film Twitter member Katie Stebbins. She calls it the “intangible sludge” …
This lengthy essay featuring reams of historical context and various theories on why so many modern movies & TV shows are noticeably desaturated along with a brown/amber or blue/green color wash is a must read. It’s something I’ve thought a lot about. And it’s interesting Emily St. James mentions the The Matrix Resurrections as a startling counter-response to this trend (and to the original Matrix trilogy for that matter) because that really struck me as well…though didn’t surprise me in the least—I fully expected the new movie to feel as much like sense8 as its direct predecessors.
I’m now on record saying I have a great love for a highly-colorful aesthetic—though apparently even in this new digital world (and perhaps even more so because of it), so many filmmakers feel like the way to look more “cinematic” is to desaturate everything and avoid any significant colors popping out of the image. I can only hope more and more creators in the industry start to realize they can—and at times most definitely should—embrace vibrancy without fear of professional blowback.
This year I want to make a bold statement with what I do and how I live—only this time not as a desperate attempt to appease a deity, but as a way of expressing the core values that make me Me.
Once again, it's never been a better time to be a geek and a film buff. Here are my end-of-year top picks…and the results may surprise you!
There was a time not long ago when my life was in a major upheaval. Signs of online success were slim to none. I wasn’t sure if anyone out there would really care if I were suddenly Thanos-snapped out of existence. Yet the valuable lesson I came to learn during that dreadful time was how to become intrinsically motivated, the significance of value creation, and the trick of cultivating T-shaped skills.
Howdy! Welcome to part TWO of a two-part vlog of our summer vacay up in Seattle. Many grand vistas and lots of fun exploration to be had! Missed part one?
The official debut of my kids on Essential Life! 🥳👏 (also apologies for some of the shaky footage here and there…they were also my cinematography assistants! 😉) This is part ONE of a two-part vlog of our summer vacay up in #Seattle. We were tickled pink with our GORGEOUS hotel room and got to see many incredible sights along the way. Enjoy!
It's taken a global pandemic for many of us to realize something profound about the web. It isn't just a technology which helps the world go around. Today, on a certain level, is IS the world.
This may sound like the craziest thing you’ve ever heard, but I watched a TV show called Portlandia and then I moved to Portland. No joke.
This is your chance. This is your time.
A critical examination of the Statement on Social Justice & the Gospel and what it means for America's culture war.
I needed to take some time off work to think, to dream. Instead I listened to the advice of family and friends and charged into a new business opportunity. Was it successful? Was it an utter disaster? Read my story to find out.
Self-reflection may be good for the soul, but not when the issue is forced by a constant barrage of the opinions of others.
When we have difficulties helping our children learn new skills or cope with the tumult of everyday life, it's tempting to want to blame ourselves. But we can choose to see the learning opportunity inherent in every emotional moment.
Living daily as if everything around you is representative of constant warfare is a recipe for emotional and mental disaster. Trust me, I've been there.
If you think as I did a couple years ago, you probably assume that people who struggle with depression must be sad a lot and just need to be cheered up or adopt a more positive attitude. Well, as I came to discover, that notion is dead wrong.
Presenting two brilliant examples of the classic wit, spiritual depth, and surprisingly fresh language found in millennia-old Celtic verse
When you become a dad, it's much harder to stay stuck on self. Your kids won't let you.
