My Voting Experience 2008

Well it's done and I've cast my ballot. 

As I approached the library or the early voting was taking place I was quite amazed by the number of people standing in line waiting for their turn to vote. The queue stretched out of the door down the sidewalk and around the corner of the building. Both parking lots were almost completely full and this was just before 10 o'clock in the morning, so I assume this was before any kind of lunch time rush.

I went to the end of the line and started reading the book I had not really expecting to engage any of the other voters in conversation. The older gentleman that had fallen into line behind me took a phone call and somewhat loudly announced to the person on the other end of a line that since he had recently seen socialism up close and personal and, "he didn't like it." I was pretty sure he had made that statement loudly enough so that the people around him would be able to hear it but I took it in stride and kept reading my book.

A little while later a woman came by and handed out change of address forms to people who needed them. That same gentleman behind me took one and started filling it out. He then asked me if I knew the date, so I looked it up on my cell phone for him. After he was done filling out the form it was clear that we were both pretty bored since it was taking quite a while for the line to advance. So I made a comment about how nice the weather was and this opened the door for us to start having little bit more of a serious conversation now want to stress that this man struck me as very intelligent, quite sharp, professional, and respectful to me. He was also quite inquisitive about my opinions and seemed to genuinely want to understand my point of view. He listened everything I had to say, and seemed to want to absorb and understand it.

This is how I remember the conversation going:

Voter: Never in all my years have I seen this kind of turnout for voting, it's really quite amazing.

Me: Well I think, whatever side you come down on, people understand that there's a lot at stake. They're excited, and they want to do what they think is best for the country.

Voter: There is a lot at stake.

Me: I think the thing to remember is that when this is over...

Voter: That we all come together...

Me: Yes, no one wants to ruin this country. Both of these candidates have very similar goals.

Voter: Well, me tell you that I've just come back from France, and I got a firsthand look at what a socialist government is like and what it can do to its people. Firstly, the French people are very nice and very accommodating. Whatever you've heard about them being rude to Americans is untrue. But socialism was ingrained in everything that they did there seem to be a sense that the government would take care of everything for you. (He gave an example involving travel and the increased costs of ticket prices due to government involvement in infrastructure and how the population simply accepted it without question but frankly I had a little bit of difficulty following his logic)

Me: Well, I can understand why you would want to guard against us going that far in our government, but they have a long history and tradition of embracing socialism. We on the other hand are almost the opposite. We can't hardly stand the thought of using socialism as a tool. I don't think if you took the most liberal of us --- people raised in America -- and put them in control of the government that they could affect the kind of changes that would lead us to a system like France has an eight or even 16 years it's just not ingrained in us.

Voter: Maybe you're right. The people who came here originally were attempting to escape persecution and practice their religion freely. And then the push west and the freedom that that allowed people seems to create a permanent spirit of individuality not wanting to be under the thumb of an overbearing government. (I'm beginning to paraphrase here because the conversation is starting to fade in my memory. I don't think he was quite that eloquent but I understood his meaning)

Me: Yes, so given 100 years even, I don't believe that our government could be driven in a direction that would put it in the same league with the most socialist democracies going today. That would be a major shift for us and I just don't think it's possible.

Voter: Interesting viewpoint, and yet it seems like such a danger, like it's lurking, on the verge of destroying everything we have worked for.

Me: Well do you think that's a product of the Cold War? For so long we've been afraid of anything that resembled communism or an attempt at communism that even using modest socialist leaning programs becomes extremely offensive to us. The fact of matter is, that we already are...

Voter: We are?

Me: the "S" word

Voter: the "S" word?

Me: Socialist.

Voter: Oh, yes yes, of course! Since the 30s.

Me: We don't like to think about it. We certainly don't like to talk about. It's sort of like the Fonz on the TV show happy days we could never say the words "I'm wrong". (I do the impersonation stammering on the W. sound)

Voter: (laughs)

Me: But you know, some of the things that have made this country great and powerful are really socialist programs. Like for example public education, where would we be without public education?

Voter: Well, I would be uneducated.

Me: Oh I would be too! I very seriously doubt that my family could have afforded any kind of education for me had it not been for public schools. I had very modest beginnings and want to see before you now is someone who's benefited from that opportunity. And I think that's what we are talking about, opportunity. I don't think that this country would have stayed in power as long as it has without an educated and technologically savvy workforce. The public school system for all its faults is one of the things that has made this country great. Just imagine. If we had not had it, and the larger portion of our population had remained only basically educated? I can't see that having any effect other than negative for our country. Especially with the way our economy is changed.

Voter: But you wanted to help yourself, you pulled yourself up?

Me: Sure but I was only able to do it partly because of the existence of a strong public education system. Its a combination of creating those kinds of opportunities for a large segment of our population AND the independent "American Spirit" that I think has made os great.

I think we have to be willing to embrace the social tools we are already using and maybe carefully explore others that make sense. I don't think that anyone has the power to convince us to turn an unreasonable amount of control over to the government though. I guess the sticking point is what each individual person considers unreasonable.

(A woman needs to get between us to enter the library we have a short funny conversation about her wanting to use the building for what it's intended use.) 

Voter: I'm not trying to bring race into this, (yet I sense he is about to) (he also tells me a story about his business partner and what a great guy he is, I assume the gentleman he is talking about is black and this is his "proof" that he is not a racist, but its kind of hard to understand because he has lowered his voice so much.) (I start to get uncomfortable but try not to show it.) but I've worked with FEMA and I can tell you that the people in New Orleans had plenty of warning to evacuate their homes. They were told repeatedly to leave and yet they stayed. It was if they thought the government would rescue them. And I can tell you that the people who left and the people that stayed split pretty much right down racial lines. I believe that we have set up a condition that makes lower income people rely too heavily on the government for assistance. (once again paraphrasing, I am trying to stick to what he said but this is the spirit of it. It was not cruel or angry. He seemed honestly concerned that socialist policies had lead to people to not taking responsibility for themselves. I hesitate to speak on matters of race as I am hardly an expert, but his lack of understanding of what challenges people face I thought needed some form of response.)

(So, at this point my respect for him drops by several points because I feel like he does not have a clear understanding of what motivates lower income people (regardless of race) but I try not to show disrespect for him so that possibly I can get through to him and perhaps be a Rosetta Stone to some small degree and give him a few points of reference that he can understand.)

Me: As a young man, I lived in a lot of those neighborhoods...

Voter: New Orleans?

Me: No, poor neighborhoods here and there. As I mentioned before, I don't have a lot of opportunity starting out. So as a young man I lived in some of the worst neighborhoods in cities that I lived in because that's where I could afford to live. I do pretty well now, I have a nice career, but I can tell you, I feel I had one advantage that the people around me may not have had. (I point to the back of my hand)

Voter: The pigment in your skin... (He is quick)

Me: Yeah, I feel many people made assumptions about me because I was white, and conversely I feel some people would make assumptions about those people living around me because they were not. Things are different now, I don't know how much different. But I hope they're significantly different. (He nods in agreement) But having lived in those neighborhoods I can tell you that when people in position of authority tell you what you should be doing, it may not always seem to be in your best interest. (We are nearing the end of the line and I don't think I could've timed this better if I tried)

Voter: What you mean?

Me: I understand why you might feel that lower income people have been conditioned to rely too heavily on the government. But honestly I don't see it that way. Mostly, the people in these neighborhoods that I lived in seem to be hard-working people who didn't have as much advantage. I mean, frankly that's why I was there. (The look on his face shows that this is an epiphany to him) I've never taken a dime of government assistance except for being on unemployment for a few weeks. But the reason I think many people in those neighborhoods are less likely to trust authority is that time and time again I saw the services that are taken for granted in nice neighborhoods completely under served to impoverished ones.

Voter: You think poor neighborhoods are treated differently?

Me: Well, I will just tell you about a personal experience and let you draw your own conclusion. I was trying to stop a robbery of my roommates car and I was shot in the leg. It took 25 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, and 35 minutes for the police to arrive. They took a statement and left. We had to call and ask for them to send someone out to investigate the crime and when the detective arrived next morning he literally looked into the vehicle and announced that there were no fingerprints and left again. It was very frustrating and actually kind of frightening to think that you were that exposed. 

Voter: that's terrible.

(I'm now at the head of the line and the person directing people where to go makes a joke about "no talking in line!" So we both make jokes about being in trouble and prepare for the serious task ahead)

Not wanting to be like France and not wanting the grubby poor people to get more than their fair share, I of course vote out of fear. Good thing I had that conversation with that guy! *wink*

As I left I saw him at his car and said "Have a good day sir!" He replied "You too! I enjoyed our talk!"

Now, up to the point where he started talking about the poor and making somewhat broad assumptions about race. I was quite impressed with the man. He was clearly raised to believe things quite different than what I believe, but to his credit he listen to what I had to say and seemed open to. I don't know, maybe he was just being pleasant to the crazy strange guy in line? Or maybe we've crossed some magic threshold where we can actually start talking to each other about things that in the past would have caused an instant and immediate shutdown of dialogue.

Maybe it's a new world.

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Oh my... Look how much better this looks in my developing WordPress Blog format! Link

Volkswagens, Cats & Chunky Peanut Butter

Recently I have felt like I may have come off like conspiracy theorist among a few people when it comes to personal privacy issues due to recent caution I have shown over using cloud based applications and because I railed against a Facebook app that asked "random" questions of my friends like:
1. Was I bisexual?
2. Was I an eggs and bacon guy rather than a cornflakes guy?
3. Would I travel outside the country to see a concert?

Wow... those are SOME questions...

You know that I am not trying to stay out of every database in the world... That would be pointless. if someone wanted to find out about me, it would take them about 5-10 min to get the meat and a couple of days to get a pretty detailed overview of who I am just from the breadcrumbs I have already left so far on the web.

I actually have been really public on the web for many years because I see it as a public place. I have assumed that anonymity would become an illusion at some point and I would not necessarily know when that happened so I treated it as if I was never anonymous. Instead I act on the web much like I would in any public area... in other words I try to be civil and respectful. *blink* wah! *blink* hehe

So, I just don't throw my information around frivolously. I don't see any reason to make compiling a "everything there is to know about Doc record" easier than it already is. heh. I hope I don't come off as a conspiracy theorist just because I advise caution and don't like to hand out my information it I don't have to. : )

Its just a personal thing... The spread of personal information really can't be stopped, only slowed somewhat. At some point we will have no privacy. To many people and companies want to know about us, they WILL find a way to entice us to give up the info. My question is, why give up the data to them willingly? Why give up data to just anyone that can profit from it? Its valuable! And we just give it away! Hell, at least we should be paid!

Let me introduce you to Steve Rambam, He is a private investigator who lectures on privacy, or the lack there of...
I haven't been able to watch all of the video on his lecture, but check out this section and how Volkswagen was able to determine that people who own cats and eat chunky peanut butter are more likely to buy a Bug...

Jump to 2:30 to hear about dipping your cat in peanut butter...


So... wanna know the funny part? my wife has always wanted a bug, I don't care for them... and we have to by 2 jars of peanut butter at the store. Guess which kind she likes and yes we have cats. : )

He starts to talk about "Roveology" when it cuts off (watch all of these videos if you really want to be freaked out) in honor of that here is a bit of video that shows the roots of evil! Jump to 3:50 if you are in a hurry. heh.


Notice how they talk about sending mail to people who order steaks looking for donations? Thats pure Rove it seems. Even back then... wow.

Actually watch this part also...



Ah, dangit... I still sound like a wacko... but really I swear I'm not, I'm just more careful than most people these days and man, that is not hard. : )

If you don't fix the cracks, the rats can get in and infest the place

For many years I have felt like I was shouting into the wind about the decline in news media. It is most visible to me in broadcast, but consolidation and demand for profit have dealt the print media multiple blows over the years and from my perspective it seems like they have been in a weakened position, unable to compete or fully deliver on the mission the once charged themselves with.

That weakness has come to be exploited more and more by the powerful but now apparently its time to attempt a killing strike, at least in one jackass' mind.

Its rare to hear of someone quite this arrogant, but the tone of the McCain campaign begins to make more and more sense after listening to McCain chief strategist Steve Schmidt speak about our press this morning.

This is what he said in part...
“Whatever the New York Times once was, it is today not by any standard a journalistic organization, This is an organization that is completely, totally, 150 percent in the tank for the Democratic candidate, which is their prerogative to be. Everything that is read in The New York Times that attacks this campaign should be evaluated by the American people from that perspective.”

He also indirectly implied that they were on par with blogs, using the term "blogosphere", and called them "pro Obama Advocacy organization"

Here is a recording of the audio...


This all came after a CNN reporter ask Rick Davis an "uncomfortable" question...
At this point it should be noted that Rick Davis is Mr. McCain’s campaign manager, and at one time had been paid nearly $2 million by Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac to head a group devoted to defend the mortgage giants against the imposition of stricter regulations. He was a deregulation wank for the failed groups that desperately NEEDED to be regulated! This on top of the fact that they have been running ads blasting Obama for having "friends" involved in those groups... Yeah, I wonder how they even know that... Maybe because McCain's campaign manager actually headed a lobbyist group that worked directly with them!

Here is my main point, on all this.

The mainstream news media can not afford to have the public perception be that they are anything less than near PERFECT. They have to strive constantly for the highest standards at all times because if they don't it will give bastards like this a large enough flaw in their armor to stick their knife in and twist. This attack was on the New York Times but recently he has made comments similar in tone about many other news outlets reporting stories that he didn't care for.

He feels like he can say things like this, even about a well respected news organization, because a good percentage of the people will believe him completely and many more of us will consider that there may be some truth in it!

I want that to sink in... We have gotten to the point were people don't trust integrity of the news... and it didn't take much. It should not be this easy for someone like him to feel like he can go on the attack against the mainstream media! Part of the blame goes to news organizations themselves, for allowing a slackening of the rules and a blurring of opinion/news/entertainment to raise readership and ratings, and part of the blame goes to us for letting it happen and not demanding better.

We as people that enjoy a free-ish press should stop taking it for granted and expecting it to entertain us like a puppet show. We should demand it to be better and support it when it is.

***Update***
Some interesting related links:
http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/09/schmidt_jumps_the_shark.html
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13747.html

I should always be quiet when people around me start talking about music.

Other people still see the creation or music as a healthy and positive thing... I need to remember this.

Some things that kill a conversation:

People don't want to know the depth of the rot in the industry and they don't want to know about all the heartbreak I have witnessed as people who have worked like mad, driven, creatures and sacrificed so much "made it" only to have all that work and time stolen from them because the record companies could make a few more dollars if they "adjusted the lineup" in the band even if it meant replacing founding members.

People don't want to hear that "popular music" is all still horribly broken and that almost everything about it is basically a lie. A magic trick that has been growing in size and scale year after year and that they are the patsy. We used to laugh about The Monkeys... They seem honest now... like quaint folksy media pioneers, at least they were funny and they got Jimmy Hendix open for them and had Tim Buckley on their show singing Song To The Siren as if to whisper..."Hey kids, here is the REAL stuff... don't tell your folks!"



No one wants to think about the fact that their favorite singer may not be able to sing that well... or that they don't need to have the talent any more, real time pitch correction makes it possible to give the modestly talented a live mic if you are feeling brave.

Its not A good move to mention that many music acts are only partially responsible for their own sound... talented producers often shape them dramatically into the finished product you eventually hear.

Here is a social tip, Since most musical acts are not that original and can be traced back to someone they where trying to emulate... don't ever point this out to the person who likes that band, they will hate you for it, even if you honestly think they might enjoy the music of the first band... I mean, clearly their heroes were fans of the earlier band... why wouldn't they want to check them out? : P

Never talk about how making music is "serious" for you. People don't want to think of music that way. It is supposed to be fun and joyous even though most rock is about alienation and anger, somehow making it is supposed to be about having a good time... weird. I know very few musicians who are "happy" most are poor as crap and are wishing for something better... I guess thats all part of the illusion (lie).


All of this leads me to the point of this post...

Even though you would imagine I would be pretty good at it... This is why I don't want to play Rock Band with you when you ask,

It's a lie.

Leslie Lee Appreciation Week 08

Friends, It has finally come again, the time each 486 years that we take one week to fully honor Leslie for no reason other than that she is awesome.

The aztec had a name for Leslie, it was Quaxiquatiataltaxabelgle. Unfortunately the modern attempts at translation have only come up with something close to "have you seen my red feathers? I need them for my ass fan." But I am sure it has lost something over the millennia and once meant something far more grand... I mean they had a frigin NAME for her! They just don't do that for anyone... do they?

Anyway... I have collected some photographic evidence of Leslie's greatness...

Click here to visit Leslie Lee Appreciation Week photo set
Click here to view in Fancy Pants™ Slide show format

I will be adding more as the week goes on (not nessasarily every day mind you) so check back often! Also please leave links to any cool leslie photos you have posted... maybe we can start a group. hehe.

*Update*
New images added today! Behold Renaissance Leslie!

Also we have a new content provider... squeezymoose! Since we have more than one person chiping in... as promised I have started the Leslie Lee Appreciation Week 08 Group where everyone can pool all the Leslie goodness.

Be sure to leave comments on the pictures when you stop by, share stories of Leslie inspired by the pictures! (hint: factuality is optional if you ask me.) Have fun with the festivities everyone! HAPPY LLAW08!

Everything I Need To know, I Learn From Alan Moore It Seems

A man goes to the doctor. He tells the doctor that he's depressed. He says life seems too harsh and cruel. He says that he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain.

The doctor thinks about this for a while and then confidently says "Well the treatment is simple! The great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him, that should pick you up." The man then bursts into tears, and barely able to speak through his own sobs says "But doctor... I am Pagliacci."



Yes, I am reading Watchmen yet again. Rorschach recounts this "joke" much more simply, as you would expect, so I embellished it some here. It is so beautiful and sad to me because I understand exactly how "the clown" must feel at that moment.

As near as I can tell the joke has existed for a very long time and Mr. Moore borrowed it to deftly use as a very clever device in Watchmen, The more I read his work the more I am convinced he is brilliant.

I wish I could have known him, if only to know for sure...

I don't usually spend much time fussing about when celebrities pass away. I figure many people die each day and they all have played a part... But Mr. Carlin leaving this world is worth taking a few extra moments and commenting on how much I admired his wit and his ability show us the folly in the things we do.

He often just did silly, fun, humor that was light and didn't take any effort to enjoy. He could always turn mundane things such as dogs licking themselves into gut busting comedy... but when the man got "serious" and made us laugh at ourselves and the stupid crap we do as a society/culture/people... THATS when the man blazed like the sun.

I don't like to call people I have never personally met "heroes" because you can never really know what kind of a person they are from the "persona" and PR we get fed. But lets just say I would have really liked to have known this man and I strongly suspect I would have liked him a hell of a lot, and I am pretty sure he would have qualified as a hero to me.

Thank you George.

These are NSFW as if I should have to say that... it IS George Carlin after all. : ) If you are not able to listen in private or are easily offeneded... (who are you and why are you reading my blog! heh) then its best not to click the videos below.

Otherwise please enjoy... these are just a few I quickly found that I like.









Update: Its funny, but I had forgotten how influenced I have been by him. I know I have heard scientist speaking about the overall impact of humans on the earth being temporary, and that it is only us and our way of life that is really in danger from ourselves on the grand scale... but I had forgotten that much of the "feel" of my opinion comes from his well crafted and nearly perfectly argued monologue linked above.

So, much like the old adage "you don't know what you've got till its gone" I am sure I will discover more little Carlin-isims stuck in my mind. He wasn't always the person that originated these ideas mind you, I had often heard them discussed dryly before they ended up in a routine of his, But he found the ways to make them understandable and accessible.

Think about that for a second... The ten commandments routine above for example is essentially a breakdown of human MORALITY! And its not bad! He arguably tightens-up moral issues and gives people a vastly simpler code to live by in just a few minutes while making you laugh... and it mostly makes sense. Not that anyone should take his comedy as serious philosophy... but, honestly its quite tempting at times. He was just that smart and good at "connecting the dots", the great thing was that he loved to show us the solution to each puzzle after he did it.

The world needed him.

Selectively Utopian (Or... Small Content Creators Are The Redshirts Of The 21st Century)

I finally figured it out... People that share files and have this moral attitude that they are doing nothing wrong are not just misguided or using the technology to justify a arguably questionable act, They are just Star Trek fans!

They are trying to force the first steps of a Roddenberrien vision of the future where there is no money, there is no work other than what you do to better yourself and here is the good part... Technology has advanced to the point were all basic human needs are met at zero cost. 

Relevant Utopian Points of a Star Trek future:

1. Energy is essentially free
2. Food can be "replicated" using the free energy
3. Living space and shelter is free (somehow)
4. People create art because they can, not out of a need to earn a living from their talent
5. All human knowledge, entertainment and information, is freely accessible to anyone

So, we have the beginnings of point 5... without any of the other points to support it! What I think people who share files are basically doing is putting the IDEA of intangible media having no monetary value before the needs of the real people that still depend on the income from that content!

The file Sharing community is fond of repeating mantra like "Information wants to be free" well I think I have coined the perfect response by saying that what they are are proposing is a "Selective Utopia"!

They want certain obtainable elements of a futuristic utopia without other supporting elements that make it all plausible to a working society, and they are willing to sacrifice the well being and rights of other human beings in order to get those first elements.

They want the parts of the "perfect future" that they can have now even if that will cause hardship and difficulty to the very people trying to create interesting, unique, or simply new content for them because the other parts of the "perfect human utopia" are impossible with our current technology. I honestly think some of them understand this but instead of being sympathetic or trying to find a interim solution, it is simpler to blame large media companies and and ignore the very existence of small, independent content creators because that causes a moral dilemma for them.

In other words, they see us as expendable, much like a poor guy who made the poor choice to wear red on the day he got picked to beam down with the lading party. Problem is, I don't think this will be a reversible trend and I don't think these attitudes will be "undone" once the war with "big media" is over. How will new art be supported in the future? Good question. Its one that doesn't seem to be getting asked... let alone answered.

I have never had a problem with file sharing really,  I do have a problem with the growing lack of respect for the talent of the people that create content. It seems to get worse as time goes by. I am fearful that recorded music, photography, programing and other inherently digital skills will just be seen as valueless in the future, and thats sickening if you understand how much effort can go into becoming good at those things. I don't want file sharing to end... I just want it to grow with a healthy respect for the content being shared and to find ways to support new and unique artist... I realize this is likely a pipe dream at this point but I keep trying.

There is apparently a movement going on to grow file sharing, to legitimize it. The idea being that if enough people do it then it become the legal standard. That makes sense, I am betting it will happen in some form, but I am afraid the people pushing for this haven't really thought it out, at least from the viewpoint of a small independent content creator.

If enough people buy into the idea that they should not have to pay for intangible media, many people stand to loose their livelihood. This goes for photographers, musicians, illustrators, programers, writers, filmmakers, painters, anyone whose work starts out or can eventually be converted into ones and zeroes. 

Sometimes its only a portion of their livelihood, but it could be the difference between being able to continue to create art or not being able to continue to afford the costs associated with it. In any case, taking income away from hard working people that may need it to survive or to continue making the art that others enjoy.

We are not just talking about huge record labels and movie studios here... The same technology that has given rise to file sharing has also empowered artist and programers worldwide to take charge of their own destiny.

The concept of "Pro" and "amateur" is as outdated as the CD and SoundWarehouse. If a person can make $1000 a year off their photography then by god they should $1000 a year off if and don't let ANYONE call them a hobbyist. When was the last time any of us had a job for more than 2-5 years? If Someone can make music for the rest of their life and sell a few thousand downloads a year then its likely that music may end up being the single highest grossing job they will ever have regardless if they never have a "HIT".

That is of course if people continue to apply any value to recorded music...

We may all just end up living in a selectively utopian world and such a person just ends up working extra shifts at the Sack-N-Save because they can't yet heat their house with free power or replicate free food to feed their kids.

Art takes time and effort, it has value. If it is eventually delivered in a digital form... that dosen't mater! If you make a copy you still are receiving the VALUE when you enjoy the work that was done. If the Content creator offers a digital file for free. GREAT! I do, and I will continue to. But if you are asked to support the art by paying a licence... well, until the time that we have invented dilithium reactors, food replicators, and transporters, you have an obligation, especially to independent content creators.

You could say that the way the file sharing community is currently implementing the progression of the march towards their Selective Utopia, Will end up possibly  permanently denying any hope of a Artists Utopia in the foreseeable future.

(Note about the art: The image of The Mona Lisa in a red Star Trek uniform that you see at the top of this post was created especially for this article. I then uploaded it in its basic form to see if it would spread across the internet and to see for myself how often I was credited, linked to, or to see how often the watermark was removed. "Red Shirt Mona Lisa" or "Star Trek Mona Lisa" has traveled far and wide, so far, I haven't come across anyone selling T-shirts made from the art or anything like that, and mostly I have been happy that people leave the watermark. Every once and a while someone will link back to the original or even spends a few moments to find me and ask before using it... So it has been interesting. And, trust me the fact that it is a modest manipulation of one of the worlds most famous paintings is not lost on me. I don't usually do mash-ups, I strive to be as original as I can. So, I find the fact that it has caught on amusing, hopefully others do also).

Yeah, People Are Awesome

Sorry to invoke Judge Judy but the "star" of this clip is just to good to pass up regardless of the pop culture setting...

I came across this remarkable bit of daytime television justice because I was reading about how useless Ebay has become and how overrun it is with scammers. The article told a story about a man that had listed his laptop 5 times. The first time it didn't sell because he didn't pay the $20 extra dollars to get a "featured" listing and it was always so deeply buried that it was never higher than 6 pages deep in searches for identical items.

After that he posted it 3 more times and had people bid outrageous sums for it but insist he ship it to Nigeria, he would get spoofed emails from "PayPal" saying that due to Nigerian law he had to send them a shipping receipt before they could release the funds.

On the 5th atempt to sell the laptop he stated in his listing that he would not ship to Nigeria and this caused his account to be shut down presumably by an automated system looking for keywords.

This entire time he tried several time to contact Ebay and only got automated email responses that had nothing to do with the problems he was having. Even after his account was shut down he could not talk to a person on the phone or by email. The online "Live chat" proved to be a bot.

So the asylum is unmanned and the inmates are running amok... use Ebay at your own peril.

Why Maurice Sendak Puts Kid Characters in Danger

I am so glad I was not off base with the thinking of this wonderful creative man. He pretty much is every bit as cool as I have always imagined him to be.

Get to know him through his own words.

Why Maurice Sendak Puts Kid Characters in Danger : NPR

A Conversation with Maurice Sendak : NPR

I few things I found interesting...

He says that he doesn't write for children. 

He called the "current" Mickey Mouse a fat whore.

He works at night... like me. : )

Child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim warned that parents should not allow children to read Where the Wild Things Are because it would frighten them too much.

"Childhood is a tricky business," Sendak says. "Usually, something goes wrong."That theme got him into trouble with adult critics in the past, but he’s not worried about how his younger readers will react."Kids," he explains, "are so shrewd."

My already massive respect for this him just grew even more.

Where the Wild Things Is As Dark As You Are... or were.

On message boards around the globe the battle rages on about a mature minded movie involving what its like to be a child, made from a children's book containing adult concepts like the balance of love against anger and being in control of ones own destiny.

Many people seem to want this to be an all around "happy" film with no challenging content or themes. The way I read their comments, I think they would be happy if it was along the lines of Garfield or Spongebob Squaqrepants. They clearly don't see the book the same way I always have. I have even read many people complain that the Wild Things in the leaked test (now gone from the internet) were not smiling like they are in the book!

Holy crap! They think the beasts in the book are smiling! Grinning would be more like it large toothy grins, but mostly they are barring their teeth. Sometimes cracking what might be called a smirk. I mean, they threaten to eat him because they love him so much. : P

Some others in these threads try to point out that the actual words found in the book are not exactly "nice". But people seem to insist that the Wild Things are the 1960's equivalent of Mike and Skully from Monsters Inc. (I love Monsters Inc. btw but Its a different "beast") They call them "cute" and "cuddly". Good God are they missing the mark. I hope they didn't ruin those great characters for their kids by reading the book to them in a "baby talk voice"

I Imagine the parental censorship going something like this...
"They woared their terrwible woars, wolled their terrwible eyes, mooshed their terrwible teeffhies, and showed their terrwible softy-wofty paws."

"They cried, Oh please don't go, we love you so! We'll eat...er kiss you on your belly welly!"

Ugh.

Anyone really looking at the art and reading the content should see that it is not a "cute" story. Its supposed to be a bit on the edge, without crossing the line. Max is an angry boy. He is frustrated, a bit out of control, and he is trying to deal with his anger at being punished. When he "runs away" what he is doing is working through his problems with his imagination. The wild things ARE his dark side! At least that is my take on it... It seems so clear to me and It's quite brilliant really.

In addition to its simple and elegant story, Maurice Sendak's art in the book is stunning and I can say with no hesitation that it was one of the things that influenced me to pursue my creative abilities. I am a bit subversive, dark, and spooky myself... coincidence? Only somewhat, I am sure I was drawn to the book because of those budding aesthetics in me, but all kids NEED influences that cover a full spectrum of tone. Spooky, joyful, wondrous, dire, playful. Just giving them one "flavor" of life is cheating them and not giving them the tools to deal with the dark uncomfortable feelings they may already have. Children can understand a lot, we just don't give them credit for it. Maybe the fact that I got my hands on a dark and creepy little book about a bad little boy that imagined being the king of the Wild Things helped me work through some of my problems.

Maybe some kids out there need a equally powerful film about that same boy to help them with their problems.

So I guess what I am saying is if you had a happy go lucky childhood, or choose to deny yourself access to those dark feelings you had as a child, then the monsters were smiling... for the rest of us, they were "gnashing their terrible teeth" in an attempt to keep the rage under control. If you grew up like I did, constantly feeling under attack and in danger, you may be more interested in the Spike Jones version... in the same way that the original work by Maurice Sendak was more than just a cute little book to me when I was a kid.

Mr. Sendak gave me a tremendous gift back then... he showed me how to escape.

The internet and its effect on the concept of an original idea

Recently we got a comment on our youtube posting of Coda from a person who seemed pretty upset and claimed that they and another person had essentially made the same film 2 years earlier. By her tone, we felt she was implying that we had seen the film they made and duplicated key elements from it.



Well, for the people involved in Coda we know this to not be the case. Whatever direct influences we had, we were largely unaware of them... well except for rules of the race of course. Old Twilight Zones, Hitchcock, M. Night Shyamalan and other such broad influences, sure, I think were clear about those... but none of us had ever seen a film exactly like what we were quickly writing and we had certainly never seen their film which was never distributed and played once at a film festival in Florida as near as I can tell. We simply would not have had the opportunity.

I still haven't seen their film, but I am taking it on faith that it has some strong similarities. (They seem like nice and honest people after getting to know them a bit) Thats really interesting to me. I have been speaking with the person that made the post and I think I have convinced her that we never saw their film. (they are trying to get it up on youtube, I hope they do I am dying to see it) If it really is as similar as they say, then it will have some interesting social ramifications to me.

Like I told her in a message "I really do understand, I know it must have been shocking to see something that appeared to be a copy of your work. Having done creative work professionally and personally for 20+ years I know that feeling... and Its always disturbing. The internet is only going to make it worse I think. In the past we may have lived the rest of our lives never knowing we did films so similar! But I suspect this is a good thing, It allowed us to meet, have a great story to tell, and perhaps have a few more people seeing our projects because of it."

Will people feel less compeled to create if they feel all the good Ideas are spoken for? what If you have a concept for a film 10 years from now and you search the web wich by that time is overflowing with films and videos from vast millions of people. and you find that in 2011 some person did almost the exact concept withsome friends on handhelds an barebulb 3 point lighting... will you keep going knowing that you will likely get accused of ripping them off?

With so many people making so much media, duplication of ideas is almost guaranteed.

The real answer of course is to not care and ignore the crys of foul... interestingly this is the same answer for both the person that honestly arrived at the concept on their own as it would be for the person that DID steal it. I just don't know if I can "not care" because I really pride myself on supporting the creators of content and just the idea that someone thought I would blatantly steal from someone else would make me ill.

By the way if you haven't seen Coda, and liked it... go give it a good rating. : )

Robot Dreams

I picked a book called Robot Dreams on a whim while I was perusing the graphic novels at a book store last night and I could tell very quickly I held a treasure in my hands. (Good thing I looked between the oversized copies of Batman Eats Lasagna, How To Draw Manga Vol. 44, and Hulk Universe Ultra.)

Every now and then I get ahold of something like Robot Dreams that really effects me.


Find it here

People that know me understand that I don't give endorsements lightly as I find so few things in this world truly special... Robot Dreams has made my list.

Go buy it....

I was not prepared for this...

My wife has written her own description of these events and I have not yet read them because I don't think I am ready... I had to defer some of my emotion while I was taking care of her and I am still pretty shaken up.

As some people reading this may know, my wife and I were expecting a child. After many many years together we had made the important decision to add a member to our family. She got pregnant very quickly and we both started getting used to the idea that we would be parents. At 6-7 weeks we had a sonogram and saw the heart of our future child beating. I dont know how to describe what that is like other than to say "it changed me". I started preparing, trying to get more done, make myself believe I would be a good father. The love and respect for my wife grew to new heights. The fact that she would choose to start this adventure with me was powerful to say the least. I was proud and I had redefined purpose in my life.

Weeks passed, everything was on track, we had an appointment for a new sonogram in a day or two that would mark her officially being in her second trimester.

One morning about two weeks ago she called me from work and told me she was bleeding a bit and having cramps. I got a terrible sinking feeling like all the air had been let out of my lungs but I acted brave and asked her if she had called her doctor. She said that she was waiting to hear back from them so I offered to come meet her for lunch in order to hopefully offer her some reassurance and take her mind off of it. She sounded very uneasy and stressed.

A short time later she called me and told me that she had spoken with her doctor and that he had said that this happens sometimes and not to worry too much and to call if it became worse. We decided to still meet for lunch. I felt helpless when I saw her, like nothing I said or did would make one bit of difference. We talked about the fact that it may be something that just happens in a certain number of pregnancies and I tried to remind her that a lot of changes are going on inside her and that it may just be normal... but really I think looking back we both knew something was wrong.

She came home early and we tried to distract ourselves but the cramps just became worse over time and she started bleeding more. In the evening I suggested she should call the doctor again. She said that she didn't want to bother them and I reminded her that that was their job and that for once she needed to be put her own interests first. Eventually I convinced her to call and after waiting for the doctor that was covering at that hour to call us back, they gave her more advice that it may just be normal and to watch the bleeding... With the ominous instruction that if it got to a certain level that she needed to go to the emergency room.

Another couple of hours passed and her pain became worse and worse. Now and then she would disappear into the bathroom and I would listen in case she called for me... I was very torn I wanted to be at her side at every second but I also wanted to respect her boundaries. Every part of me was a bundle of nerves. She started bleeding still more and at the first sign that she thought she might want to go to the emergency room I jumped on it and told her "lets not mess around on this... If you think you may need to go, then we are going now" We gathered our stuff quickly, put her in the car and started off to the hospital.

It was some time after 10pm. She was reclined in the passenger side of the car and I couldn't really see her face most of the time so I took her hand and was constantly giving her squeezes like a code. It seemed like I was asking her how she was every few feet of the trip. I have to say that in the dark, driving as fast as I could safely drive, only getting a chance to look over at her now and then I started getting scared... she was weak, she had lost a lost of blood at that point and was in tremendous pain. I have this image in my head of seeing her like that as light from a street lamps played over her and thinking that I could loose her.

We arrived at the emergency room and as you might expect they seemed disinterested and overly casual. This of course pissed me off to no end but I knew that if I wanted to get her taken care of efficiently I would need to not freak out on them. She was in a wheel chair and I kept her close to the desk and stood by her, when I saw a spot closer to the desk and in their field of vision I moved us there so we could get help quicker if needed.

Then my wife very sheepishly told me she was going to pass out. I was trying to get her to lean back when she just collapsed and slumped forward. I yelled her name, I tried to push her upright but she was just dead weight and the wheelchair was not locked. I put my arms around her and started yelling at the desk that she had passed out. They slowly, begrudgingly turned their attention to us just in time to see her start jerking and kicking. Someone said "Is she having a seziure?!" and I just shouted out "I don't Know!" and I think I started saying something like "please help her!" over and over. But it was probably not necessary. They where already in action calling out things to each other like in a hospital drama. They moved slower than I would have liked but I understood that the speed at which I perceived things to be happening was modified by my swelling panic and fear for my mate. It seemed like I answered a question and when I turned around she was being wheeled away so fast I had to jog to catch up held into the wheelchair by the same woman I felt like yelling at a few minutes before because she struck me as flip. She came out of it as they were taking her back and started asking questions. She was very pale and her lips had almost no color. I was terrified that she was in real trouble.

My disrespect for the staff melted while I watched her being made ready to examined and taken care of. At one point the same woman who I had been so mad at seemed to see how worried I was, put her hand on my arm and gently said "She will be ok, they work fast, and they are very good".

Getting her set up and on the monitoring machines was a disturbing, she was bleeding so much and the staff all seemed surprised by this and at times they seemed perplexed by why she was passing out. When they got her on the monitors I started to feel a bit better. They all seemed a bit relived and I asked if she looked OK from what was on the screens one nurse was kind enough to say that her vital signs looked good. I didnt know at that point that the next many hours would be spent watching those little squiggly lines.

We waited for a doctor for what must have been well over an hour. Every so often my wife would start quaking like she was violently shivering. She also could not seem to get warm and we kept asking for more blankets. The other thing that was freaking me out was that she kept saying she was thirsty over and over. I think I brought her 3 glasses of water. I kept thinking this was a bad sign for her to be worried about her thirst when she was in such pain and distress otherwise. We still didn't know for sure what was going on at this point and how serious it was. So these long waits became more and more torturous.

When the doctor arrived he asked a few questions and disappeared again for another 45min to an hour. Thankfully after this first visit, my wife was given some pain medication and was started to relax. She asked to go to the bathroom and insisted on getting up to go. I am struggling with this as I don't want to be to direct... but she lost a lot of material before getting back to the room. She seemed to be in less pain and with all the pain she had been in I was thankful.

On the doctors return he examined her and this was more than a bit hard to take, it was gory and miserable. He told us she was having a miscarriage. Of course we new this by this point and he of course was just confirming what was happening. I asked him if she would be alright because she was in so much pain and she was passing out. Thats when the oddness of it all hit me... This was normal. Rare yes, as most miscarriages happen much sooner, but perfectly normal. And I had no Idea. The hushed tones that people use to talk about such things had always lead me to believe it was a relatively heartbreaking but less eventful process. I asked the nurse if we had done the right thing by coming to the emergency room and she said that it was. I told her I never expected it to be so traumatic and she told me that they see many women and that when its this far along, its a very serious situation.

A sonogram was ordered, more waiting, the sonogram was performed, more waiting, shifts changed and we got a new doctor that told us that the miscarriage was incomplete and to follow up with her personal doctor ASAP because surgery may be required. She was discharged around 3AM and I wheeled her out and was paying the bill when she called out to me that she was going to pass out again. I rushed over to her and it was like the whole thing was starting over again! I could not get her to respond and the nurse that had been tending to her most of the evening rushed over and took her back to a room.

More waiting, the second doctor visited and informed us that they were getting new blood work done and that they wanted to watch her for a while and get an opinion from the "gyno" on call. I made a joke to my wife, pretending to think the doctor had said the "Dyno" on call and explaining how I was imagining a T-Rex in a lab coat with little flippity floppity arms... my wife laughed and I loved her for it.

With this new round of emergency and worry, I couldn't help but think that something was horribly wrong... it just didn't seem right for her to be so sick, so hurt, so weak and in so much pain. I pushed back hard against the thoughts of losing her. While we were still waiting she lost some more material and when the blood work came back doctor #3 told us it would not be necessary to check her into the hospital. By this time it was after 7AM and we had been there for over eight hours.

We picked up her prescriptions for pain medication, antibiotics and grabbed a few supplies, drove home to clean up and then got back in the car to make the long drive to her regular doctor to keep the appointment we already had for the second sonogram... What should have been our second "baby picture" now had the purpose of checking to see if she needed surgery.

So, she is recovering... and I am starting to feel like I can relax a bit and drop out of "protector" mode. We are feeling very close at the moment, both of us seem to go through irrational bouts of guilt, but we have been very good at supporting and loving each other. I have moments of deep sadness that I know will pass eventualy...

The thing I came away from this experience with is that I wish I had known. I know its not something people want to talk about, I know what we went through was a rare extreme example of what can happen, and I know we had the misfortune of it occurring in the middle of the night when her regular doctor was not available. But I don't think we needed to be taken by surprise like that... I held my wife in my arms and thought she was going to die...

And I thought she was going to die because I had gotten her pregnant. I felt like I would go mad. If anyone reads this and is more prepared for the possibility of this happening then its worth the uncomfortable sadness and embarrassment I feel now.

If my wife, my love, my best friend, decides she wants to try this again, I will be ready and experienced. I will protect her with all my strength and love her with all my heart.

Destroy or change the music industry?

Today it was announced that Last.FM would be allowing users to steam songs in full length for 3 plays and offer a subscription model if you want to open it up to play those songs indefinitely. Aditionaly they will be paying artists directly for the plays out of the money generated from advertising and subscriptions.

Seems like a step in the right direction to me. But once again I am freaked out by the lack of respect for the artists themselves on the message boards. Shouts of "Music wants to be free!" and "down with the music industry!" were common. People that know me might understand that this set my head spinning with what is wrong with this line of thinking.

File sharing people and unlimited streaming people feel that it is them versus the evil suits that have been getting rich for decades off of overpriced record and CD sales and they are screaming for the end if the music industry!

Don't they realy mean, the end of the music industry... as we know it?

I don't think many people would be happy if the hard working people that make music all stopped because they had to get jobs at walmart. You have to think about all the people involved in music creation... musicians, producers, recording engineers, even the talented independent artist that has invested a huge amount of time learning the craft and money on decent equipment.

Anyone who has ever tried to make a great song knows just how hard, expensive, and time consuming it is. Even with the vast advances in music technology over the last few decades it still takes a lot of skill, imagination and time. If you are someone who has never tried, and you think I am full of it... then I challenge you to go make an interesting original song that is ready for distribution. Go ahead, I'll wait here... no? yeah, It's not so easy as most people assume. Dire straights were being sardonic suckas!

The music industry is not just a few vastly wealthy jerks at the top. Any new model needs to consider how to compensate the "worker class" people that put themselves into bringing you music that doesn't suck. Hopefully Last.FMs announcement is a step in the right direction.

Now if we could just get the average joe thinking about the people that make music as being worth supporting.

Is only 18% of people who download an album paying for it bad?

In a word...Yes.

Recently an interview was posted with Trent Reznor and in it he expressed his disappointment that people had not supported the direct distribution of the The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust project he had worked on with Saul Williams. Digg and the talkback forum went nuts with people doing napkin math and claiming that the record had made $140k in 2 months.

*sign*

People don't seem to know or care what goes into making a record... The recording and distribution cost is a big point. studio time and hiring people to put out what is considered a "Pro" product still costs a lot. if you do it all yourself and forego those costs then you have to invest a hell of a lot of time. Another point is that this project was promoted by Trent Reznor, a very popular artist with lots of fans. Imagine being a small or new artist without that support? Your costs are still the same... but the percentage of people paying will likely be much lower because someone well respected isn't essentially asking fans to support it.

Now do that same napkin math on a new artist without a record company or a big name behind him or her it looks pretty dismal. For future independent artists to hope for this model to work the sales would have needed to be dramatically better.

Once again people are only seeing the tip of the iceburg and ignoring all thats underneath. If friggin Radio Head or a project promoted by Trent Reznor can't sell enough to make it worth wile, then what chance do the thousands and thousands of talented independent recording artists have... not to get rich mind you, just to make a modest living.