Happy Holidays 2007 - Japan

In early November of 2007 I was shopping for holiday cards and found this amazing print by Hasui. I had always loved the work of the Japanese Ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai (famous for Thirty-Six views of Mt. Fuji) but Kawase Hasui was a new discovery. As I gazed into the card I readily imagined the snowy scene coming to life. I could feel the brisk air, smell the snowy trees, and hear the gentle crunch, crunch, crunch of a villager passing by to get a New Year's lantern. I had recently found a Flash script which allowed objects to inversely react to the motion of the cursor so I plugged that in and then spent many hours carefully assembling the graphics and finding the music. 2007 had been a particulary intense year and the quiet peacefullness of this scene was very therapeutic. I still view it as my favorite Flash piece. ​As the year draws to a close I wanted to take a moment to thank all of my loyal customers, friends, and family for your continued encouragement, trust and support. The highlight of 2007 for Pixel Lava was the successful integration of web 2.0-type services for several clients.

I've enjoyed the tremendous enthusiasm with which many of you have embraced new offerings including blogs, e-newsletters, and YouTube videos. As I've been learning how to use these new services myself I've been offering them on a "beta" basis to some of my more patient clients. In 2008 I'll be offering these services much more widely. Details coming soon!

​As the year draws to a close, it's an opportunity to look back at our sites as they have evolved from simple, table-based builds to Flash and even a few full CSS sites. While the differences are visually subtle, the advantages of moving to css are many. You can count on Pixel Lava to continue to learn the best, most reliable new ways to deliver your print, video, and web projects. Soon this site will be all CSS itself!

The most important part of any collaboration is service. Over the past year I have focused on offering services that put you, the client, in control. I am a big fan of Blue Host and Constant Contact and, indeed, I am striving to model my own company after these stellar providers. My goal is for you to be able to reach me or any of the companies through which I offer service easily by phone or email and have your question or problem speedily resolved. Sometimes technical issues can be particulary trying, but as most of you know, I will stick with whatever problem or request you have until I find a resolution.

I started Pixel Lava because I believed that I could provide fast, reliable, friendly service doing the "geeky" stuff I love. After two years, I'm amazed and grateful to find that my dream has come true. One of my clients is going to save the earth, another offers microcredit to women in poverty, a third provides cutting edge theatre. Artists, writers, plumbers, architects, film foundations...the list goes on. To have made a tiny contribution to the efforts of these amazing people is a blessing I could have never anticipated. Thank YOU all so much. You are the reason I can't wait to turn on my computer every single day.

Jazzy and I wish you a holiday filled with peaceful joy. Blessings for a lucky 2008!

Ame Stanko
Head Geek
Jazzmin P. Barko III
Chief Security Officer