As father's day approaches, I'm reminded of all the weird things my dad did for us as kids to try and make our childhood memorable. My brother and I never truly wanted for anything. We always had food, shelter, A/C in the summer, heat in the winter. We always had someone to take us to school or pick us up or take us to the doctor.
Going through what Mrs. A and I are now with our financial...challenges, it occurs to me as I hearken back through the perpetually disappearing cotton candy strands of memory that my parents suffered - no, grew through the same situations. The height of this love bonding frivolity came one Christmas when my dad, who is not a carpenter or engineer, decided to build us some space ships.
For months we were not allowed into our basement. At the time the basement was used for storage and I hadn't moved into it, so there was little reason for us to go down there anyway. My mom would do laundry and we'd occasionally be sent to the freezer to get some meat, but that was it. The basement was a foreboding place, well avoided by small people. So why we had been told to not go down there was kind of like trying to tell a cat not to jump on the TV. The cat may have never wanted to jump on the TV until you tried to make it off limits. We were terrified of the basement, but now that something is apparently down there that is cool enough to require a stern warning - well, you bet your ass we're going to go try and peek.
The months went by and we were unable to get into the basement, but lo and behold on Christmas morning we were treated to one of the oddest and most loving gifts I think we had ever received as young children. You can hang all the video games and Transformers and Lego and Star Wars toys, this was a dad (and for all I know a mom too) doing something he thought was cool and he made it by himself. He really put his neck out there because as almost teenage boys, you can really be hit or miss with gifts. There's a fine line between utter joy and devastating disappointment, all because you got Ratchet instead of Jetfire. (Who the fuck wanted Ratchet anyway?)
My dad had put together what amounted to a couple cockpits. They were made simply with some plywood, a few brackets, some Plexiglas and a shitload of silver spray paint. Inside each cockpit was a small block or chair and when inside you had a 270° view through the plastic. The whole thing was maybe 6 feet long and maybe 3 feet tall. Imagine the cab of a tractor screwed onto a ramp a 9 year old would use to jump his bike. Put a red lightening bolt and your kid's names on it, and that's what he made. I don't remember a joystick but there were also these little consoles he must have got from a department store or something that he mounted on the "dashboard" of the space fighters. They had dials and lights and made noises. The gift also game with spaceman helmets with built in walkie talkies so we could sit in our separate ships and still talk to each other like we were on a top secret scouting mission around the rings of Saturn.
I have to say, of all the things we had as kids, nothing fueled the imagination like this. I'm sure as a kid I was a jerk about it. It didn't say Kenner or Hasbro or Atari on it. It didn't change into a giant fortress. It wasn't made of Nerf and didn't come with collectible cards. But the older I got, the more I realized that we DID play in them a LOT. They succumbed to the rain and the snow over time and eventually had to be taken apart as they were becoming a warren for rabbits and stray cats, but there was a time when we would both run outside and clamor into the cockpits of our space fighters, ready to blast off into the unknown depths. We would use the ships as part of larger stories, integrate them into our play. They were our escape craft, our ejection pods, our long range scouts. We would run around the backyard with our helmets on and our sparking or battery powered laser guns, evading capture from giant robots or 12 eyed alien dictators, finally ending up in our warm and wood smelling space ships, making our escape.
This was slightly before the age of video games. It was probably the very next year that we got our Atari 2600 with Pacman, Combat, Space Invaders and Missile Command. I don't even remember what year it was, but I can promise you that was the best Christmas I had as a kid.
I may not ever be able to find anything to give to my dad on Father's day that's as heartfelt as that gift was. It's hard enough buying stuff for a guy who, when growing up, seemed to have everything he needed. My dad hated cars and hated working on them, but he always had a lot of tools. He always seemed to have nice clothes for work and he always had some things he held dear like records and memorabilia of dead cowboy movie stars.
My only hope is one day I'll do something like that for my kids and I think the best present I could give my dad would be to let him know the reaction they give me when I do it.
"Yeah, it's nice I guess. Thanks dad. Are there more presents?"
Have a happy Father's Day.
Carry on.
14.6.07
13.6.07
Overkill?
We all know at this point something about music companies. We all know at least a little about the RIAA. If you've read the news on the BoobTube or the InterTube you've certainly come across it. People share music and take music because they like music. There are still people who buy CDs, lots of people actually. There are also people who buy music online, more and more.
Music enjoyment and our relative interaction with music and the monetary attachment we give music - I think entertainment in general - is really skewed and depends mostly on distribution. The idea that you can see a blockbuster movie for $8 or a major stand up performer for $40 doesn't go by without notice. "Sure," you may say, "But the movie is in 2,000 theaters. The single performer may only got to 20 venues on a tour."
Let's look at that. If you have a movie costs $200 million dollars to make, and on average, people buy movie tickets for $8, you have to have 25 million people go see your show to break even. That's a rough estimate because theaters take some out, distribution companies take some out, etc. The number of patrons is probably higher.
If you're Jerry Seinfeld and your show is $60 a person and each theater seats let's say 300 people, and you do 30 cities, three shows a city, you just made 1.6 million dollars on ticket sales. Yes, 10% goes to your agent and then the venue gets some and the ticket sellers and then you have travel costs.
The point is, even if Seinfeld charged $8, a stand of thirty cities (which you could do in what 3 months?) would gross you over 200,000 dollars. That's not too shabby. Plus movie, TV, speaking gigs, commercials, etc. I don't think these guys are hurting.
So would you rather spend $8 for two hours of entertainment in a theater or $40-100 on two hours of entertainment in a theater?
I went on a bit of a tangent with that, and there is no means a good answer for the question because some would view the value of the entertainment from a celebrity performer bigger than just a movie, to which I would answer, would you pay $100 to watch Johnny Depp talk about stuff for two hours or go see him perform in a blockbuster movie for $8? Just saying.
Any crap, with the idea that we assign interesting values to entertainment, why does this shock me so much? For those linkophobes, the White Stripes have a new album out and you can get this album on a custom USB drive for $99. That's right, $1 short of a cool hundo. No, you don't get 150 songs. No, as far as I can tell you don't get any special content for your PC like videos or interviews. You get thirteen songs on basically a key chain.
These are limited, 3,333 of Jack and 3,333 of the Meg figures. Total that up, that's almost $660,000, which isn't a lot for a musician of the White Stripes stature, considering they could sell the album itself into the millions. But what shocks me is the audacity that they think people would pay $99 for something so inauspicious. You're basically paying for the limited availability, not the music, not the craftsmanship of the unit, but the fact that out of 6 billion people, only 0.000001% of those will have this. I guess that's worth $100 to some people. I guess that's why we pay $100 to see Seinfeld or Cosby.
I tell you what, though. If you really wanted it, but maybe only had $50, I'd buy the album for you, and a nice USB keychain/thumb drive with 2GB of space (4x that of the one mentioned) AND I'd custom paint ANYthing you'd want onto it. I'd put the music on it for you and then give you the CD as well. Plus I'd throw in a comic book and maybe a robot, pirate, zombie, faerie, hobo, super hero drawing. YOU CAN'T BEAT THAT! I don't have any doubt that this blog is so small that no one would even care if I did a single one of these. Would you?
Carry on.
Music enjoyment and our relative interaction with music and the monetary attachment we give music - I think entertainment in general - is really skewed and depends mostly on distribution. The idea that you can see a blockbuster movie for $8 or a major stand up performer for $40 doesn't go by without notice. "Sure," you may say, "But the movie is in 2,000 theaters. The single performer may only got to 20 venues on a tour."
Let's look at that. If you have a movie costs $200 million dollars to make, and on average, people buy movie tickets for $8, you have to have 25 million people go see your show to break even. That's a rough estimate because theaters take some out, distribution companies take some out, etc. The number of patrons is probably higher.
If you're Jerry Seinfeld and your show is $60 a person and each theater seats let's say 300 people, and you do 30 cities, three shows a city, you just made 1.6 million dollars on ticket sales. Yes, 10% goes to your agent and then the venue gets some and the ticket sellers and then you have travel costs.
The point is, even if Seinfeld charged $8, a stand of thirty cities (which you could do in what 3 months?) would gross you over 200,000 dollars. That's not too shabby. Plus movie, TV, speaking gigs, commercials, etc. I don't think these guys are hurting.
So would you rather spend $8 for two hours of entertainment in a theater or $40-100 on two hours of entertainment in a theater?
I went on a bit of a tangent with that, and there is no means a good answer for the question because some would view the value of the entertainment from a celebrity performer bigger than just a movie, to which I would answer, would you pay $100 to watch Johnny Depp talk about stuff for two hours or go see him perform in a blockbuster movie for $8? Just saying.
Any crap, with the idea that we assign interesting values to entertainment, why does this shock me so much? For those linkophobes, the White Stripes have a new album out and you can get this album on a custom USB drive for $99. That's right, $1 short of a cool hundo. No, you don't get 150 songs. No, as far as I can tell you don't get any special content for your PC like videos or interviews. You get thirteen songs on basically a key chain.
These are limited, 3,333 of Jack and 3,333 of the Meg figures. Total that up, that's almost $660,000, which isn't a lot for a musician of the White Stripes stature, considering they could sell the album itself into the millions. But what shocks me is the audacity that they think people would pay $99 for something so inauspicious. You're basically paying for the limited availability, not the music, not the craftsmanship of the unit, but the fact that out of 6 billion people, only 0.000001% of those will have this. I guess that's worth $100 to some people. I guess that's why we pay $100 to see Seinfeld or Cosby.
I tell you what, though. If you really wanted it, but maybe only had $50, I'd buy the album for you, and a nice USB keychain/thumb drive with 2GB of space (4x that of the one mentioned) AND I'd custom paint ANYthing you'd want onto it. I'd put the music on it for you and then give you the CD as well. Plus I'd throw in a comic book and maybe a robot, pirate, zombie, faerie, hobo, super hero drawing. YOU CAN'T BEAT THAT! I don't have any doubt that this blog is so small that no one would even care if I did a single one of these. Would you?
Carry on.
10.6.07
What Fame Brings You
In 20 years I want to be able to randomly look on internet auction sites and see something I drew for someone is fetching $14,500.
Ironically, Crumb either drew this for fun (as it was never used for the magazine) or if he was commissioned I'm sure it wasn't for $14k.
This brings up a lot of emotions for me. I've done simple one-off drawings like this for people and have never seen anything after I send it. I don't see the book it goes in and the person stops replying to emails. It's kind of sad to think that either I'm being taken advantage of or the project only lived long enough to get one artist.
So my hope is that some day, after drawing robots and hoboes and seemingly meaningless little toons and ash can comics that some day they'll be worth something to someone. I suppose that would mean I'd have to be famous first, but that's just details.
Carry on.
Ironically, Crumb either drew this for fun (as it was never used for the magazine) or if he was commissioned I'm sure it wasn't for $14k.
This brings up a lot of emotions for me. I've done simple one-off drawings like this for people and have never seen anything after I send it. I don't see the book it goes in and the person stops replying to emails. It's kind of sad to think that either I'm being taken advantage of or the project only lived long enough to get one artist.
So my hope is that some day, after drawing robots and hoboes and seemingly meaningless little toons and ash can comics that some day they'll be worth something to someone. I suppose that would mean I'd have to be famous first, but that's just details.
Carry on.
9.6.07
New Do
LMA has had black hair since late summer of last year. It was temporary dye, the kind that is supposed to wash out after a couple months. It never washed out and despite several efforts and dying her hair her normal color, she retained the black.
What this meant is that over time, she developed a head of hair colored much like a badger; top brown, bottom black.
Now after about nine months, Mrs. A has decided she's had enough of it and had it cut. So today she's sporting a cute little flip do that's a bit layered. There's still some of the black, but her color is more prominent now.
Just a little tidbit of how life's going on right now.
Carry on.
What this meant is that over time, she developed a head of hair colored much like a badger; top brown, bottom black.
Now after about nine months, Mrs. A has decided she's had enough of it and had it cut. So today she's sporting a cute little flip do that's a bit layered. There's still some of the black, but her color is more prominent now.
Just a little tidbit of how life's going on right now.
Carry on.
8.6.07
Classic Tees
I'm a sucker for tee shirts. If they look like someone wore them while watching Sigmund the Seamonster, all the better.
So when I found a few of these shirts on CrazyDogTShirts my love for them was rekindled. If I suddenly hit it big with some kind of artistic endeavor and had lots of disposable cash, I'd do nothing but shop for tee-shirts online. I love them and I haven't the slightest idea why. I can't wear them at work, I tend to wear one tee-shirt all weekend because I'm at home most of the time. It's an irrational craving but dang it if I won't find a way to quench the need to have a shirt that says, "I'm trying to be cool by spending too much on shipping."
Carry on.
6.6.07
Jump The Cats
Living in a cyber world is really quite interesting. Things move so fast that before you know you've been left behind, something else has started, peaked, faded and left you behind.
But on the tubernet, things can somehow take on a life of their own and if you're careful, you can jump in early and....well nothing really. Internet memes are the online equivalent of knowing the popular bands, wearing the cool clothes and speaking the cool words. Only this time, you can be cool without having to actually BE cool. Complete nerds and washups and hacks and creeps can be Online Cool just by being at the forefront of the next fad.
Which is wear I usually come in. I could be considered a nerd or hack or creep but I would never consider myself trendy. I've never bought clothes because other people did. When I was little, my parents bought clothes they could afford and that might last. When I was older I never really bought clothes, I just wore clothes I had from high school. Now I just buy clothes that fit and won't get me fired from work. (Actually, that's not true, Mrs. A usually buys my clothes.)
I don't buy music I hear from Top 40 stations. I could tell you almost nothing about current music trends. I listen to old stuff; 80's, Big Band, 70's rock. I follow a few artists when they release new music, but I don't know who's the biggest/latest thing.
So when things like All Your Base or LOLCats come along, I'm usually left clueless until all the cool kids have had their fun and moved on to the next thing. The 700 Hoboes is a great example. The idea was made, a few cartoonists did it and it was clever and neat but people moved on. Then six months later, I come stumbling into it and think it's the next big thing. Meanwhile the original people involved have done other things leaving me to pound the deceased 700 horse until it dissolves into its elementary molecules.
Understand, these things are fleeting. They have little meaning at all if you were to step back and really take a look at it. I mean, who cares that a girl made a parody of a guy who had made a parody of two guys who made a music video and put it online? I certainly don't.
The trouble I run into is that Newsweek does. And Rolling Stone, and Wired and G4 the Times and I'm sure very soon NBC or Paramount. This isn't about being cool anymore, it's about being seen. When a fad hits, you want to get your name in there and show people what you can do. You want post up a picture of a cat with its head in a bag with some poor grammar caption so that more people may look at your other stuff (photography, art, writing) and then maybe become a fan or a part of your network.
It's schmoozing web style. You want to be where the cool kids are so that when cool things happen to them you can be involved too. But persistence pays off so it's not as if you can get away with being lazy. You have to work hard at not doing anything important.
Or, you could hope to get lucky and have your real skills seen by the right people.
Fame is something a good percentage of us crave to differing degrees. I'm sure some will argue with this, but "fame" can be boiled down to just a high level of recognition and in the end we all want to be recognized for the work we do. Whether you're a volunteer worker at a social outreach center or a struggling painter in a small town or a mid level data integrity consultant, you want to be recognized for the hard work you do. You want a raise, a bonus, a contract, funding, a showing, etc. You want someone else to say to you, "Oh, I see what you did there."
Carry on.
But on the tubernet, things can somehow take on a life of their own and if you're careful, you can jump in early and....well nothing really. Internet memes are the online equivalent of knowing the popular bands, wearing the cool clothes and speaking the cool words. Only this time, you can be cool without having to actually BE cool. Complete nerds and washups and hacks and creeps can be Online Cool just by being at the forefront of the next fad.
Which is wear I usually come in. I could be considered a nerd or hack or creep but I would never consider myself trendy. I've never bought clothes because other people did. When I was little, my parents bought clothes they could afford and that might last. When I was older I never really bought clothes, I just wore clothes I had from high school. Now I just buy clothes that fit and won't get me fired from work. (Actually, that's not true, Mrs. A usually buys my clothes.)
I don't buy music I hear from Top 40 stations. I could tell you almost nothing about current music trends. I listen to old stuff; 80's, Big Band, 70's rock. I follow a few artists when they release new music, but I don't know who's the biggest/latest thing.
So when things like All Your Base or LOLCats come along, I'm usually left clueless until all the cool kids have had their fun and moved on to the next thing. The 700 Hoboes is a great example. The idea was made, a few cartoonists did it and it was clever and neat but people moved on. Then six months later, I come stumbling into it and think it's the next big thing. Meanwhile the original people involved have done other things leaving me to pound the deceased 700 horse until it dissolves into its elementary molecules.
Understand, these things are fleeting. They have little meaning at all if you were to step back and really take a look at it. I mean, who cares that a girl made a parody of a guy who had made a parody of two guys who made a music video and put it online? I certainly don't.
The trouble I run into is that Newsweek does. And Rolling Stone, and Wired and G4 the Times and I'm sure very soon NBC or Paramount. This isn't about being cool anymore, it's about being seen. When a fad hits, you want to get your name in there and show people what you can do. You want post up a picture of a cat with its head in a bag with some poor grammar caption so that more people may look at your other stuff (photography, art, writing) and then maybe become a fan or a part of your network.
It's schmoozing web style. You want to be where the cool kids are so that when cool things happen to them you can be involved too. But persistence pays off so it's not as if you can get away with being lazy. You have to work hard at not doing anything important.
Or, you could hope to get lucky and have your real skills seen by the right people.
Fame is something a good percentage of us crave to differing degrees. I'm sure some will argue with this, but "fame" can be boiled down to just a high level of recognition and in the end we all want to be recognized for the work we do. Whether you're a volunteer worker at a social outreach center or a struggling painter in a small town or a mid level data integrity consultant, you want to be recognized for the hard work you do. You want a raise, a bonus, a contract, funding, a showing, etc. You want someone else to say to you, "Oh, I see what you did there."
Carry on.
4.6.07
A Bright Day
Too often on here I talk about things that are bad, things that upset me, things that have gone wrong. Every once it a while, though, you run into things that at least for today make you smile and make you feel better about your world.
70 Year High School Reunion.
Laughing Video
Also, over the weekend, my friend Nate and his wife had a lovely baby boy. Congratulations and welcome to the world, Lucas.
Carry on.
70 Year High School Reunion.
Laughing Video
Also, over the weekend, my friend Nate and his wife had a lovely baby boy. Congratulations and welcome to the world, Lucas.
Carry on.
2.6.07
More Robots
This is going to end up like the hoboes; lots of drawings that only Mrs. A and I see, a fact about which I'm sure she's insanely happy.
I like this one because it's got that construction vehicle/worker feel. He'd talk with a Brooklyn accent. Done for this weekend I think. I might get a few more sketched out, but if I look at my markers any more right now I'm going to throw them across the room.
I like this one because it's got that construction vehicle/worker feel. He'd talk with a Brooklyn accent. Done for this weekend I think. I might get a few more sketched out, but if I look at my markers any more right now I'm going to throw them across the room.
1.6.07
700 Robots
Just letting the readers know that I'm up to about 25 of the first 100 of the 700 Robots. The scans are kinda crap because I'm leaving them in the book so you get that nice fade on the spine side.
This one is one of my favorites. Some of these are going to be a bit odd to try and draw (as seen by #18) but so far nothing completely undrawable.
Again, the finished sketchbook will be auctioned on eBay and I'm sure to receive several hundreds of cents for it.
Here's the complete set. Keep an eye on it, and remember that if you like these, you can get a Robot Portrait.
Carry on.
This one is one of my favorites. Some of these are going to be a bit odd to try and draw (as seen by #18) but so far nothing completely undrawable.
Again, the finished sketchbook will be auctioned on eBay and I'm sure to receive several hundreds of cents for it.
Here's the complete set. Keep an eye on it, and remember that if you like these, you can get a Robot Portrait.
Carry on.
30.5.07
More Proof Companies are Fleecing Artists
Read this and tell me you aren't a bit outraged.
Then I want you to write about it in your journals. Post it on your message boards. Put a bit in your podcast about it. This is the third time I've seen something like this in the last month alone. I'm almost afraid to go looking for art I've done or photos Mrs. A has done. (Although to be honest, I don't have anything worth stealing.)
But this has to stop. I don't mind people using my image to illustrate a point, all my stuff is under Creative Commons. But this is just appalling...even for the porn industry.
Carry on.
Yeah, that's right. My image is being used for a pornographic movie called 'Body Magic'.
Did they have permission? Did they hell.
This happened a few months back (well, since I found out). Somebody noted me saying this company was using one of my pictures.. actually let me get this straight - a SELF PORTRAIT that I took at the age of FOURTEEN.
Then I want you to write about it in your journals. Post it on your message boards. Put a bit in your podcast about it. This is the third time I've seen something like this in the last month alone. I'm almost afraid to go looking for art I've done or photos Mrs. A has done. (Although to be honest, I don't have anything worth stealing.)
But this has to stop. I don't mind people using my image to illustrate a point, all my stuff is under Creative Commons. But this is just appalling...even for the porn industry.
Carry on.
Time Bank
Heard on PRI's "The World."
I'd love for this to be instituted in the States. Service for service.
The World's Gerry Hadden reports that a barter system is catching on in Barcelona, Spain. People register with what's called a time bank to trade services. They might teach a language or do home repairs. The hours they work become time bank credits they can spend. Time banking saves people cash. And for many, it provides a sense of community.
I'd love for this to be instituted in the States. Service for service.
29.5.07
I have to draw more.
So I've been listening and reading more and more the Extra Life Radio media extravaganza and the proprietor Scott Johnson just announced he's doing custom super heroes for $100. You get a poster size art so that's probably half the cost right there, but $100? I can't sell my Robots for $10 and you know Scott will sell a bajillion of these things.
I spent all weekend drawing and coloring and I still don't feel I'm doing enough.
Ah well, I'll keep plugging away at it. Who knows.
I spent all weekend drawing and coloring and I still don't feel I'm doing enough.
Ah well, I'll keep plugging away at it. Who knows.
26.5.07
Happy Birthday Little Man
Today is G-man's 3rd birthday. Three years and some hours ago Gregory Powell came into the world to a loving family.
To me, the biggest thing that happened on this date before G-man's birth was the debut of Star Wars, on this day, in 1977. On his 3rd birthday, the geek world is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the franchise.
Also on this date, the US tested nuclear blasts in 1989 and 1967. The Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937. In 1896 the Dow Jones index began with an index of 12 stocks.
On this date in 2007, Gregory turns 3. Like his sister, he got a bed. We also found a couple tubs of toys from the last move, so it's like he got a bunch of new things. Three is a weird age. They want to open presents, but I think just to open them. I don't think they know what the significance is until they're four. He got a Spider-Man bed spread and pillow case to go with his bed as those things are more permanent than toys or clothes.
I'm also making banana bread for him as he doesn't much like cake. Mrs. A got the mix and some spice cake. Maybe he'll like those. He doesn't eat sweets or candy, just doesn't like them. He likes bread, pasta and spicy foods (salsa, peppery stuff, etc.) Which is cool with me, we share the chips at Mexican food restaurants.
G-man is a sweet child, loves his sister and his parents. He's got a great laugh and loves to be tickled and at this age still has all the little squeezable parts for tickling. His vocabulary is skyrocketing and he loves to say "al-ah-zizor" for alligator. His favorite show is "backyardidedans" (Backyardigans) and his favorite food is muffins.
I hope he has many happy years to come in his childhood and I hope we do our part to provide that for him.
Happy Birthday lil' dude.
To me, the biggest thing that happened on this date before G-man's birth was the debut of Star Wars, on this day, in 1977. On his 3rd birthday, the geek world is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the franchise.
Also on this date, the US tested nuclear blasts in 1989 and 1967. The Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937. In 1896 the Dow Jones index began with an index of 12 stocks.
On this date in 2007, Gregory turns 3. Like his sister, he got a bed. We also found a couple tubs of toys from the last move, so it's like he got a bunch of new things. Three is a weird age. They want to open presents, but I think just to open them. I don't think they know what the significance is until they're four. He got a Spider-Man bed spread and pillow case to go with his bed as those things are more permanent than toys or clothes.
I'm also making banana bread for him as he doesn't much like cake. Mrs. A got the mix and some spice cake. Maybe he'll like those. He doesn't eat sweets or candy, just doesn't like them. He likes bread, pasta and spicy foods (salsa, peppery stuff, etc.) Which is cool with me, we share the chips at Mexican food restaurants.
G-man is a sweet child, loves his sister and his parents. He's got a great laugh and loves to be tickled and at this age still has all the little squeezable parts for tickling. His vocabulary is skyrocketing and he loves to say "al-ah-zizor" for alligator. His favorite show is "backyardidedans" (Backyardigans) and his favorite food is muffins.
I hope he has many happy years to come in his childhood and I hope we do our part to provide that for him.
Happy Birthday lil' dude.
24.5.07
100 Artists Project Update
Hey gang. If you're reading this and you're an artist, I've got an update for you on my 100 Artists Project, benefiting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and The Hero Initiative.
With under a week left, we're at a smallish 15% of the total participation needed for the first part of the project. If you've been putting this off, now's the time to hunker down and get drawing. If you haven't signed up, now's the time to get your name in.
Deadline or not, the first 100 images will be put in the first book. Also, if you send in a drawing, the Big Mailer sketchbook will definitely be sent your way as well.
Now's the time.
If you're unfamiliar with the project, you can get all the information you need at our site.
If you have any other questions, just ask. Thanks!
Also, if you're reading this, and you have a site or blog or podcast, please write about it. The more people getting into this, the more good we can bring fellow and aging comic book/cartoon artists.
Carry on.
With under a week left, we're at a smallish 15% of the total participation needed for the first part of the project. If you've been putting this off, now's the time to hunker down and get drawing. If you haven't signed up, now's the time to get your name in.
Deadline or not, the first 100 images will be put in the first book. Also, if you send in a drawing, the Big Mailer sketchbook will definitely be sent your way as well.
Now's the time.
If you're unfamiliar with the project, you can get all the information you need at our site.
If you have any other questions, just ask. Thanks!
Also, if you're reading this, and you have a site or blog or podcast, please write about it. The more people getting into this, the more good we can bring fellow and aging comic book/cartoon artists.
Carry on.
23.5.07
LMA Graduation
Sorry folks, this is really for the family. It's 22 minutes of pure boredom unless you're related.
22.5.07
Heroes, Photographers and Aritsts
Mrs. A goes in today to get her picture taken so they can make her a new press pass with her AP credentials. She shot an event at the Dell Diamond last night for The Bachelor.
Yeah, that Bachelor.
Apparently there's something going on with this show in Austin. So Mrs. A got to meet the staffing producer and assoc. staffing producer of the show and a couple of the Missus-To-Bes and get some shots.
With her AP creds.
Today is Lil Miss Austin's graduation from kidergarten. This is also her last week of school. Next week I'll be getting pleading calls from home asking me to come take over because Mrs. A will have both kids at home for three months.
LMA's going to camp.
We've looked at a few camps, mostly gymnastics and dancing, but LMA has said she wants to do either ice skating or math camp. I thought that was surprising. And before you ask, it's not a full summer type camp; she's too young for that. This would be more like school for a couple weeks. Drop her off, pick her up. Two weeks later it's done. Do another one.
We'll see how it goes.
***Spoilers, don't read this Joe.***
The season finale of Heroes was on last night. I was really looking forward to it, but it turns out I could have made a couple educated guesses as to what would happen and then made myself a sandwich. It was a really boring season finale with few small sparks of "Ooo, here it goes" unrequited geekiness. Every time something cool could have happened, they broke to commercial or a new scene.
The show doesn't have plot holes, it has plot craters. Peter Petrelli has this ability to absorb other peoples' powers. Sylar also has this ability, but he has to eat their brains (well, doesn't he?) to get it. The entire show has come down to one climactic moment. Both Peter and Sylar have gained power from a radioactive time bomb of a man, Ted Sprague. The Painter has predicted that a nuclear blast will go off in the middle of New York and kill hundreds of thousands of people. So, who will be the bomb; Peter or Sylar?
Turns out it was neither. Peter exploded, but his brother Nathan (who is a flying congressman) zipped his brother into the high air rather than serve out his predestined role of bringing NY and America out of the terrible tragedy that was the explosion. Oh, and the time/space shifting Hiro finally kills Sylar, just like the comic book said.
So, here's my problems.
1) Peter can fly on his own. He absorbed his brother's power. If I were Peter, I'd be keeping a tight mental list of the things I could do. Any infant video game player knows this. Always know your moves. Nathan sacrifices himself so he can sacrifice himself. No one says, "Hey, Pete. Can't you fly?"
2) Illusionist girl says her natural state is a big fat chick and she'd rather not show that to anyone. Yet, when unconscious, she doesn't revert back to her normal body. Not that I think there's a needed hole to be filled where overweight actors and actresses are concerned, but dangit, read your own script people!
3) Reading Minds Cop gets shot with his own bullets (re: Sylar) and as the paramedics are wheeling him off to the ER, the little Cerebro girl stops them and takes an agonizingly long time to say, "Don't die po-wees man. Yor my hee-whoa." Thanks kid, he died while you trundled that pathos out.
4) Hiro trains with his dad, Sulu, for a long time during the last episode. Long enough that his friend Scooby-Ando could buy his own sword and go after the brain-loving Sylar. After Hiro apparently becomes a bad-ass (not my words) he saves Ando and then shows up later to kill Sylar....by running at him screaming for a distance of no less than 20 yards. We've already seen that Sylar is almost faster than the blink of an eye and has stopped Hiro before, yet now with this Gallipoli like run, he calmly pushes a sword through Sylar. No neat warp jumps or time freezes, no kick ass moves his dad just spent a day teaching him. He just shouts like a Scotsman and charges.
5) It's the middle of New York (Kirby Plaza if you believe that, filmed in LA with an LA landmark so obvious even I knew about it) and yet there are only the cast members in attendance. No bystanders, no passerbys, no cabs, no street vendors. This must be New York, Montana and they just didn't tell us.
6) The forensic cops miss a trail of blood that was Sylar going into a manhole cover 10 yards a way. That's some fine detective work, Lou.
7) One of the side characters was this guy called The Haitian. He had two abilities. One, he could erase memories. Two, he could negate your powers if you were near him. All this mother had to do was walk over to Sylar and he'd be rendered bullet-able.
Don't give me a way out and then not use it. A show like this, you have to give yourselves two ways out, no more. One way you're constantly showing me and one that you aren't. Then at the end, switch the possible endings and get a big paint brush loaded with surprise to drag across my face. Don't set up 146 possible ways the story could end, otherwise guys like me will feel write shit like this.
So, they saved the Cheerleader, and she did jack-shit at the end. No one really died that we know of except nuclear guy, the painter and a handful of red-shirted mutants from earlier in the series.
The only cliff hanger is what Hiro is going to do now that he's in Feudal era Japan.
Bah.
I was more excited about seeing what looked like Galactus's helmet shadow on Saturn during the Fantastic Four trailer. If I'm that excited about THE FANTASTIC FOUR TRAILER, you guys didn't do your job.
This is either a hint or not, you take it as you will.
How about this. I could use some markers. I have some now, and will get some more as paychecks eventually roll in over my lifetime, but howzabout we make a deal.
If, say, this were to come in the mail in the next week or so, or the amount to purchase the item were to be carelessly misplaced into a paypal account somewhere along with an address, I might be inclined to offer in trade a lot of artwork that would produced by this item. I MIGHT be inclined to do a large, 11x17 robotized portrait of the erstwhile contributor. I MIGHT include prints of other drawings I've done as well. Let's say I'd be very moved toward return at least twice that much in artwork.
I'm just saying. It's not like I'm doing tons of robot portraits right now anyway. (Curse you 'net obscurity!!)
If not, I'll buy it for myself as a birthday present.
Carry on.
18.5.07
What's Wrong With People
Not wanting to show another video, I'll just give you a link. But you have to watch it.
Ok, if you don't want to watch it, here's the breakdown. (heh) Break dancer in Times Square subway station is doing his routine. A toddler breaks away from parent into the circle and break dancer kicks kid who proceeds to tumble in the air and land on their head.
Now...I've found this video at least 19,000 places online. YouTube has no less than 30 billion people who have this video. (Look it up, 30 billion. It will be 50 by the time you're done reading this.) And yet no where in any of the blogs, articles, comments, teletypes or smoke signals was I able to find out if the kid was ok.
You know what I found? People saying "stupid parents" and "stupid break dancers."
First of all, I can't speak for the "stupid break dancers." I don't know what the MTA's stance is on performances in the stations. I've always thought break dancing was cool, took a lot of skill and if you're going to pan handle, I'd rather give my dime to some kids breakin' then a dude with his guitar riffing on Weird Man Dylan. But that's just me.
What really gets my fur raised is the idea that the parent of this child was a bad parent. And I'd love to counter with testimony on how hard it is to watch a toddler 24/7 but I know the response to that would be that no one asked me to have a kid and it's my responsibility to keep track of them. And to that I have no response. But, I'm sticking to my guns about it being hard to be ever vigilant. Toddlers are fucking quick and single minded hell-monkeys and they will bolt away from you faster than a spurred horse. Even if you were watching them and were actively keeping track of their movements, they can get away from you and it doesn't take long for them to get into trouble.
Thing with toddlers is they've just learned to walk and run and you want to encourage them to do so, so more and more you have to let the go on their own. They want to walk in front of you, to lead you, to show that they are a big kid and have some power and control over their environment and you HAVE to LET them DO that. But then, as they are a foot away from you, they get a tickle-hair in their ass and they run - suddenly - as if shoved by the invisible man. And you know where they go? Into the street. Into a fenced off construction area. Into the assembly line. Into a break dancer.
So the question arises, why let your kid near those areas? Well, we have a busy street out our front door. When we go outside, G-man comes with us and hovers around our heels. We've got a car to pack or unload and while we take our eyes off him for a split second, he's trundled off into the street. The mom here was probably answering her cell phone or looking at the schedule or - shocker - the performers and for a split second lost sight of her kid. Kids will always take that opportunity to run, always. It can't be stopped, it's nature. In later years that same behavior becomes sneaking out of the house, dating cult members, becoming a member of a political party which you loathe. It's called finding boundaries and it's the way nature promotes growth.
Here's the thing, if that kid is ok, do you think she'll run away from her mom any more?
But dammit, people. The mom is not a bad parent for this. She is not negligent or unfit to raise offspring. There is no need to call for a parental license because of this. I know it's not just the CFBHs out there who feel this way either, it's just people, even parents, who think this mom was out of line.
What happened to calling these kinds of things "accidents" and then moving on? What happened to both parties acknowledging that it was a nexus of fluke occurrences and not something for which one party should be at fault. The idea of the accident has been lost in our world and people are always looking to blame someone. It's one of the true failings of humanity that there always has to be a malicious intent on the part of one person or that their negligence was so egregious that it warrants a punishment beyond reason. I don't think humans would have got this far if there wasn't something inherently forgiving in our nature.
Ironically, I blame civilization for our lack of civility. We've lost all perspective as to what's really important, dangerous and evil. Because we can keep warm/cool, safe, removed, fed and stimulated by our fabricated environments, we've lost our innate sense of danger and preservation. It's a different jungle now. We're not running from mountain lions or bears. We're not spending a week tracking a herd so we can have food for a month. We're not searching for caves before the onset of winter. We're trying to blame a break dancer for causing an accident. We're trying to blame a parent for having a lapse in attention.
Here, do you want to get bent out of shape over something? Go listen to this story. There are people in this world being beheaded, de-limbed, raped, gutted, burned for reasons I'm sure most Americans or Europeans don't understand. Women in the middle east as recently as last week are still being STONED TO DEATH for the same types of actions that will appear on a highly rated network show. Families are being torn apart so groups of men can lord over small areas of barren waste.
And yet day after day I see people getting all fired up because their lucky pants were ruined at a dry cleaners, or they find out that AP is whiter and more male oriented than congress, or that banking machines are charging a fee for their money.
Seriously, no perspective. Non at all.
But, you know, keep watching that video over and over. You can laugh if want, it is kind of funny at first. Kids get a bit floppy with they get kicked in the head. I don't want to come across as righteous, I watch AFV too. But don't tell me that this lady was a bad parent. Don't tell me that performer was breaking a law which then caused this. If you can absolutely and without a shred of doubt in your soul say that this is one of the worst things happening in the world right now, then I offer you my sympathy. Small shit like this should be over-fucking-looked, not glorified beyond imagination.
When we as a people stop killing, maiming and destroying each other over things like land, faith, biological make up or personal preferences, then I will be the first in line to go after the MTA for allowing this kind of thing to go on. Until then, there better be more compassion on the tubernet and a greater sense of perspective.
Carry on.
Ok, if you don't want to watch it, here's the breakdown. (heh) Break dancer in Times Square subway station is doing his routine. A toddler breaks away from parent into the circle and break dancer kicks kid who proceeds to tumble in the air and land on their head.
Now...I've found this video at least 19,000 places online. YouTube has no less than 30 billion people who have this video. (Look it up, 30 billion. It will be 50 by the time you're done reading this.) And yet no where in any of the blogs, articles, comments, teletypes or smoke signals was I able to find out if the kid was ok.
You know what I found? People saying "stupid parents" and "stupid break dancers."
First of all, I can't speak for the "stupid break dancers." I don't know what the MTA's stance is on performances in the stations. I've always thought break dancing was cool, took a lot of skill and if you're going to pan handle, I'd rather give my dime to some kids breakin' then a dude with his guitar riffing on Weird Man Dylan. But that's just me.
What really gets my fur raised is the idea that the parent of this child was a bad parent. And I'd love to counter with testimony on how hard it is to watch a toddler 24/7 but I know the response to that would be that no one asked me to have a kid and it's my responsibility to keep track of them. And to that I have no response. But, I'm sticking to my guns about it being hard to be ever vigilant. Toddlers are fucking quick and single minded hell-monkeys and they will bolt away from you faster than a spurred horse. Even if you were watching them and were actively keeping track of their movements, they can get away from you and it doesn't take long for them to get into trouble.
Thing with toddlers is they've just learned to walk and run and you want to encourage them to do so, so more and more you have to let the go on their own. They want to walk in front of you, to lead you, to show that they are a big kid and have some power and control over their environment and you HAVE to LET them DO that. But then, as they are a foot away from you, they get a tickle-hair in their ass and they run - suddenly - as if shoved by the invisible man. And you know where they go? Into the street. Into a fenced off construction area. Into the assembly line. Into a break dancer.
So the question arises, why let your kid near those areas? Well, we have a busy street out our front door. When we go outside, G-man comes with us and hovers around our heels. We've got a car to pack or unload and while we take our eyes off him for a split second, he's trundled off into the street. The mom here was probably answering her cell phone or looking at the schedule or - shocker - the performers and for a split second lost sight of her kid. Kids will always take that opportunity to run, always. It can't be stopped, it's nature. In later years that same behavior becomes sneaking out of the house, dating cult members, becoming a member of a political party which you loathe. It's called finding boundaries and it's the way nature promotes growth.
Here's the thing, if that kid is ok, do you think she'll run away from her mom any more?
But dammit, people. The mom is not a bad parent for this. She is not negligent or unfit to raise offspring. There is no need to call for a parental license because of this. I know it's not just the CFBHs out there who feel this way either, it's just people, even parents, who think this mom was out of line.
What happened to calling these kinds of things "accidents" and then moving on? What happened to both parties acknowledging that it was a nexus of fluke occurrences and not something for which one party should be at fault. The idea of the accident has been lost in our world and people are always looking to blame someone. It's one of the true failings of humanity that there always has to be a malicious intent on the part of one person or that their negligence was so egregious that it warrants a punishment beyond reason. I don't think humans would have got this far if there wasn't something inherently forgiving in our nature.
Ironically, I blame civilization for our lack of civility. We've lost all perspective as to what's really important, dangerous and evil. Because we can keep warm/cool, safe, removed, fed and stimulated by our fabricated environments, we've lost our innate sense of danger and preservation. It's a different jungle now. We're not running from mountain lions or bears. We're not spending a week tracking a herd so we can have food for a month. We're not searching for caves before the onset of winter. We're trying to blame a break dancer for causing an accident. We're trying to blame a parent for having a lapse in attention.
Here, do you want to get bent out of shape over something? Go listen to this story. There are people in this world being beheaded, de-limbed, raped, gutted, burned for reasons I'm sure most Americans or Europeans don't understand. Women in the middle east as recently as last week are still being STONED TO DEATH for the same types of actions that will appear on a highly rated network show. Families are being torn apart so groups of men can lord over small areas of barren waste.
And yet day after day I see people getting all fired up because their lucky pants were ruined at a dry cleaners, or they find out that AP is whiter and more male oriented than congress, or that banking machines are charging a fee for their money.
Seriously, no perspective. Non at all.
But, you know, keep watching that video over and over. You can laugh if want, it is kind of funny at first. Kids get a bit floppy with they get kicked in the head. I don't want to come across as righteous, I watch AFV too. But don't tell me that this lady was a bad parent. Don't tell me that performer was breaking a law which then caused this. If you can absolutely and without a shred of doubt in your soul say that this is one of the worst things happening in the world right now, then I offer you my sympathy. Small shit like this should be over-fucking-looked, not glorified beyond imagination.
When we as a people stop killing, maiming and destroying each other over things like land, faith, biological make up or personal preferences, then I will be the first in line to go after the MTA for allowing this kind of thing to go on. Until then, there better be more compassion on the tubernet and a greater sense of perspective.
Carry on.
17.5.07
Only Dreemin
I see a lot of this from reading the online blogs and zines and not-news sites, but every time I do it just makes me feel worse and worse about humanity.
Part of the Story
The Victim
Here's the short of it. An Icelandic single mom art student found through a friend that a print company had used her photos from her Flickr stream and sold thousands of dollars of prints. They not only didn't pay her, they didn't even credit her.
So, when she found out, she had a lawyer help her contact the company and the most the company did was remove the photos from their site. They didn't pay her, they didn't apologize. So she wrote about it and complained and did what we all do online, bitch and moan.
Her photo, with all the comments on it, was deleted by Flickr. Their response was that she was reported to have been harassing someone (probably the company that stole her photos) and that Flickr (see Yahoo!) has the right to delete anything at any time if someone registers a complaint.
Thing is, Flickr didn't original stand up for a member of theirs when it was found that she had work stolen and yet they made a special effort to censor her and all the other members who posted in support of her.
I blame Yahoo! for this. Only Dreemin needs to publically apologize and then pay her for all sales of her art. The story needs to run on Yahoo! New for a week with an inclusion in the story about how Flickr (parent company Yahoo!) censored their own member in favor of siding with the malicious company.
This kind of stuff is crap and is NOT what paying members are paying for.
Well done Flickr. Well done Yahoo.
Carry on.
Part of the Story
The Victim
Here's the short of it. An Icelandic single mom art student found through a friend that a print company had used her photos from her Flickr stream and sold thousands of dollars of prints. They not only didn't pay her, they didn't even credit her.
So, when she found out, she had a lawyer help her contact the company and the most the company did was remove the photos from their site. They didn't pay her, they didn't apologize. So she wrote about it and complained and did what we all do online, bitch and moan.
Her photo, with all the comments on it, was deleted by Flickr. Their response was that she was reported to have been harassing someone (probably the company that stole her photos) and that Flickr (see Yahoo!) has the right to delete anything at any time if someone registers a complaint.
Thing is, Flickr didn't original stand up for a member of theirs when it was found that she had work stolen and yet they made a special effort to censor her and all the other members who posted in support of her.
I blame Yahoo! for this. Only Dreemin needs to publically apologize and then pay her for all sales of her art. The story needs to run on Yahoo! New for a week with an inclusion in the story about how Flickr (parent company Yahoo!) censored their own member in favor of siding with the malicious company.
This kind of stuff is crap and is NOT what paying members are paying for.
Well done Flickr. Well done Yahoo.
Carry on.
16.5.07
The Brick
A few weeks ago, a friend of Jawbone Radio was a guest and was an instant hit. Neil also recently started his own blog. I feel completely safe in promoting his writing as some of the funniest in the tubersphere.
So far his preoccupation is food. His guest stint on Jawbone had him discussing the fineries of the fish sandwiches at various speedy eatey establishments. However in the few posts he's written, you can tell the self deprecating humor will allow him to post just about anything and it'll be a joy to read.
Check it out.
Carry on.
15.5.07
Drawing Update
Since I have no commissions right now, I'm going back to the 700 Lists. Mrs. A's sister and brother in law in Houston gave me a sketchbook in a nice leather binder for Christmas and I haven't done anything in it yet. I've decided to try and fill it up with as many of the 700 Robots as I can, then maybe sell the sketchbook (keep the binder) and then start another one. Each book is 110 pages so I'll be going through 7 sketchbooks.
I did 6 yesterday, just pen, no color. Even if I kept up with that rate, it'll take me 5 months to get them all drawn. It'll probably be more like a year since I don't see me drawing 6 robots every day straight for 5 months.
But, weirder things have happened.
G-man's birthday is coming up and we'll probably end up getting him a bed. We did the same thing for LMA on her 2nd Christmas. G-man's been ready for a bed for a while now, the front of the crib's been gone for a good year at least. I'm sure we'll get him some toys or clothes or books as well. 2 and 3 are weird ages. They know what toys are and what toys are theirs, but little or no concept of time and thus of birthdays. His memory is getting longer, but it's still stuck in "today." He remembers some things over many days, but I'd be stunned if he knew what a day was, let alone that his birthday was coming up.
By four he should be more aware of that and possibly even ask for certain things. Which makes it easy now to get them things they need and just wrap them. It sounds mean, but until 3, you could probably wrap toys they already have and they'd be happy with it.
That's all for now.
Carry on.
I did 6 yesterday, just pen, no color. Even if I kept up with that rate, it'll take me 5 months to get them all drawn. It'll probably be more like a year since I don't see me drawing 6 robots every day straight for 5 months.
But, weirder things have happened.
G-man's birthday is coming up and we'll probably end up getting him a bed. We did the same thing for LMA on her 2nd Christmas. G-man's been ready for a bed for a while now, the front of the crib's been gone for a good year at least. I'm sure we'll get him some toys or clothes or books as well. 2 and 3 are weird ages. They know what toys are and what toys are theirs, but little or no concept of time and thus of birthdays. His memory is getting longer, but it's still stuck in "today." He remembers some things over many days, but I'd be stunned if he knew what a day was, let alone that his birthday was coming up.
By four he should be more aware of that and possibly even ask for certain things. Which makes it easy now to get them things they need and just wrap them. It sounds mean, but until 3, you could probably wrap toys they already have and they'd be happy with it.
That's all for now.
Carry on.
11.5.07
Adam Koford on Boing Boing
Cartoonist extraordinaire Adam Koford (aka ApeLad) is featured in a podcast on Boing Boing.
Two things, I noticed about the interview.
1) Koford knows a lot about illustrators and artist and cartoonists past and present.
2) Mark Frauenfelder thinks Adam was doing robot drawings too.
*sigh*
Carry on.
Two things, I noticed about the interview.
1) Koford knows a lot about illustrators and artist and cartoonists past and present.
2) Mark Frauenfelder thinks Adam was doing robot drawings too.
*sigh*
Carry on.
Talent Show
This was LMA reading Shel Silverstein at her school's talent show. You unfortunately hear a lot of her little brother whining about not being able to see her.
You also hear a lot of "peanut gallery" commenting.
Mrs. A and I talked a lot about this and she's not going back to this school. It was cemented by the type of "talent" that was shown at the show. When elementary school girls perform current hip-hop/pop songs about their unrequited sexual endeavors, to me that's a reflection on the parents and I just don't want LMA to be part of that. More than half of the acts were 7-12 year old girls lipsynching songs and barely dancing, just kind of wagging their fingers and bobbling their heads. Now, I don't want to hear about racism or high expectations of talent from little kids, but I think there needs to be a line drawn somewhere for the sake of class, taste and image.
But hey, if you're excited about your 7 year old gyrating to Mystical, then by all means, get excited. I just can't, I'm sorry. It makes me feel a little embarrassed and dirty. If this were high school or college, I wouldn't mind it so much. When I was in sixth grade, I was in a "talent" show where me and some buddies did a lipsynch of a Weird Al song, but we had real instruments we pretended to play and it was more humorous than anything. This bordered on raunchy spectacle and I really felt bad for LMA that she had to be a part of it.
I don't know, I may be out of line. Here's another video of G-man getting into the action to help you forget what I've said.
10.5.07
Problems with Sony
Little Miss Austin received as a gift from her grandparents "Transformers: The Movie - 20th Anniversary Special Edition DVD." I was excited because I didn't even own that. It was a two disk set with widescreen and 4:3 presentations, commentary, and a bunch of really extra cool stuff.
Before we go any further, yes, LMA likes Transformers. When asked, I told my dad and they got her some stuff. As much as I am a fan of the toys and show, she's the one with the current infatuation with them, especially Optimus Prime. (God I love my little girl.)
Anyway, we put the DVD in and it doesn't play. We've had some video equipment problems since (and likely because of) the move so I assumed it was the player. When we tried it on another player it stopped in the same spot and then the player shut down. When I tried on a PC it stopped in the same spot. Then I noticed there are two concentric "etches" on the DVD, so I immediately think "copy protection." I'm sure we've all heard the stories about Sony's crappy way they've handled their DVD and CD merchandise and angry customers.
So why I decided to try to get a replacement disk is beyond me, I guess I wanted to see how bad it could be.
My first attempt was to go online and see if other people were having this problem. They were, but they were for newer released movies. However, there was a phone number listed in a blog somewhere saying you could call and get a replacement disk.
800-860-2878
That's Sony Picture's customer service. I also sent an email. I received an email saying they didn't distribute that picture and I'd need to contact the manufacturer.
I check the DVD case and it says "Manufactured and Distributed by Sony BMG Music." So I write back and tell them. They reply with, "That's Sony BMG, we're Sony Pictures." They gave me a number to call.
800-444-6922
That's Sony Music. In talking to a rep there, I explain I have a Sony BMG DVD that won't play on either DVD player or my PC. They apparently only heard "sony" and "pc" and gave me the number to Sony Vaio support.
888-476-6972
I listened to the automated system for about half a second before I realized I didn't want to service a Sony Vaio that I don't own. I called Sony Music back and got the same lady. She told me that this was a merchant number, not a customer number and they usually only deal with merchant orders on their music label. She then gave me Sony BMG's main number in NY.
212-833-8000
I called and spun around in the menu options for a while and when none of the options seemed useful (do they ever?) I got an operator, who told me to call Sony Customer Support. Seemed like a good idea at the time. It's what I thought I did originally.
800-222-7669
This customer support group asks for my model number, which I don't have because it's a disc, not a player. They say this was only for electronics. They told me to call the main number, which I thought I had. I end up getting a disc support number.
866-347-7669
Whoever answered the phone here was the nicest person so far. First, she didn't try to interrupt with a script, ask for information that wasn't necessary and when I explained what was going on, she actually said, "Oh wow, I'm so sorry, I wish I could help." The only other number she had was for Sony Pictures (again) and that this was the Blank Media Group, ie writable disks/drives/tapes, whatever.
I don't even bother calling Sony Pictures back, so I try Customer Support again. They give me another number for Sony Media Software.
800-577-6642
I don't even call it. Instead, I go back to Sony BMG's main NY number and try again. They direct me to another automated "I'm a real person" systems (complete with a keyboard typing sound, creepy) which leads me back to Sony Pictures.
I call them right back and explain again that I have a Sony BMG DVD movie that needs to be replaced as it is unplayable. I'm given a new number.
800-262-2001
That's Columbia House. The automated system asks for my Prefered Music Account number or some dang thing. I don't even bother.
Mean while, I get an additional email from Sony Pictures saying I could call Sony Music directly.
800-444-6922
Which is this first phone number I called. BUT they also provide a link to a feedback page.
http://www.sonymusic.com/about/feedback.cgi
Which has a number on it and the phrase...
If you believe a Sony Music product has a manufacturing defect, please call our Quality Management Department at 800-255-7514; 856-722-8224 in New Jersey). So I call. The 800 number no longer exists and the local NJ number is disconnected. The web address is only for feedback and it even says, "We appreciate all feedback, although we aren't able to respond to all of it."
On a whim (since I'm out of options) I call Best Buy. I don't know if that's where the DVD was purchased, I just want to find out what they do if they receive an unplayable disc from the customer. The first guy I got (when I thought I asked for Customer Service) said and I quote, "Uuuhhhhhhhhhhhh......let me get you to customer service."
Ok then. So I get a new guy and explain to him that I don't necessarily have a Best Buy purchase, but out of curiosity, if I did and I brought it back (receipt and all) and exchanged it, how would they go about getting a replacement. He said that they contact the manufacturer, send the bad ones back and get new ones to replace them. I asked if it was a Sony BMG DVD who would he contact and he says, "I wouldn't. Sony's really hard to deal with, even as a merchant. They make it very hard to replace things and they won't believe you over the phone. That's why we're here so a customer doesn't have to deal with that."
Not the best answer I heard all day, but an honest one.
The last phone call I made was to my dad to get the receipt.
Fuckin' Sony.
**update**
I call Sony BMG main number back and ask the operator, "Do you have a listing for the manufacturer for Sony BMG DVDs? I'm trying to replace an unplayable disk." She gives me an extension (8655) and I think the voice mail was for Richie Chicho? I left a vm with him, I doubt I'll hear back.
Before we go any further, yes, LMA likes Transformers. When asked, I told my dad and they got her some stuff. As much as I am a fan of the toys and show, she's the one with the current infatuation with them, especially Optimus Prime. (God I love my little girl.)
Anyway, we put the DVD in and it doesn't play. We've had some video equipment problems since (and likely because of) the move so I assumed it was the player. When we tried it on another player it stopped in the same spot and then the player shut down. When I tried on a PC it stopped in the same spot. Then I noticed there are two concentric "etches" on the DVD, so I immediately think "copy protection." I'm sure we've all heard the stories about Sony's crappy way they've handled their DVD and CD merchandise and angry customers.
So why I decided to try to get a replacement disk is beyond me, I guess I wanted to see how bad it could be.
My first attempt was to go online and see if other people were having this problem. They were, but they were for newer released movies. However, there was a phone number listed in a blog somewhere saying you could call and get a replacement disk.
800-860-2878
That's Sony Picture's customer service. I also sent an email. I received an email saying they didn't distribute that picture and I'd need to contact the manufacturer.
I check the DVD case and it says "Manufactured and Distributed by Sony BMG Music." So I write back and tell them. They reply with, "That's Sony BMG, we're Sony Pictures." They gave me a number to call.
800-444-6922
That's Sony Music. In talking to a rep there, I explain I have a Sony BMG DVD that won't play on either DVD player or my PC. They apparently only heard "sony" and "pc" and gave me the number to Sony Vaio support.
888-476-6972
I listened to the automated system for about half a second before I realized I didn't want to service a Sony Vaio that I don't own. I called Sony Music back and got the same lady. She told me that this was a merchant number, not a customer number and they usually only deal with merchant orders on their music label. She then gave me Sony BMG's main number in NY.
212-833-8000
I called and spun around in the menu options for a while and when none of the options seemed useful (do they ever?) I got an operator, who told me to call Sony Customer Support. Seemed like a good idea at the time. It's what I thought I did originally.
800-222-7669
This customer support group asks for my model number, which I don't have because it's a disc, not a player. They say this was only for electronics. They told me to call the main number, which I thought I had. I end up getting a disc support number.
866-347-7669
Whoever answered the phone here was the nicest person so far. First, she didn't try to interrupt with a script, ask for information that wasn't necessary and when I explained what was going on, she actually said, "Oh wow, I'm so sorry, I wish I could help." The only other number she had was for Sony Pictures (again) and that this was the Blank Media Group, ie writable disks/drives/tapes, whatever.
I don't even bother calling Sony Pictures back, so I try Customer Support again. They give me another number for Sony Media Software.
800-577-6642
I don't even call it. Instead, I go back to Sony BMG's main NY number and try again. They direct me to another automated "I'm a real person" systems (complete with a keyboard typing sound, creepy) which leads me back to Sony Pictures.
I call them right back and explain again that I have a Sony BMG DVD movie that needs to be replaced as it is unplayable. I'm given a new number.
800-262-2001
That's Columbia House. The automated system asks for my Prefered Music Account number or some dang thing. I don't even bother.
Mean while, I get an additional email from Sony Pictures saying I could call Sony Music directly.
800-444-6922
Which is this first phone number I called. BUT they also provide a link to a feedback page.
http://www.sonymusic.com/about/feedback.cgi
Which has a number on it and the phrase...
If you believe a Sony Music product has a manufacturing defect, please call our Quality Management Department at 800-255-7514; 856-722-8224 in New Jersey). So I call. The 800 number no longer exists and the local NJ number is disconnected. The web address is only for feedback and it even says, "We appreciate all feedback, although we aren't able to respond to all of it."
On a whim (since I'm out of options) I call Best Buy. I don't know if that's where the DVD was purchased, I just want to find out what they do if they receive an unplayable disc from the customer. The first guy I got (when I thought I asked for Customer Service) said and I quote, "Uuuhhhhhhhhhhhh......let me get you to customer service."
Ok then. So I get a new guy and explain to him that I don't necessarily have a Best Buy purchase, but out of curiosity, if I did and I brought it back (receipt and all) and exchanged it, how would they go about getting a replacement. He said that they contact the manufacturer, send the bad ones back and get new ones to replace them. I asked if it was a Sony BMG DVD who would he contact and he says, "I wouldn't. Sony's really hard to deal with, even as a merchant. They make it very hard to replace things and they won't believe you over the phone. That's why we're here so a customer doesn't have to deal with that."
Not the best answer I heard all day, but an honest one.
The last phone call I made was to my dad to get the receipt.
Fuckin' Sony.
**update**
I call Sony BMG main number back and ask the operator, "Do you have a listing for the manufacturer for Sony BMG DVDs? I'm trying to replace an unplayable disk." She gives me an extension (8655) and I think the voice mail was for Richie Chicho? I left a vm with him, I doubt I'll hear back.
9.5.07
Number Six
Today at 4:32 PM, Little Miss Austin will be six years old.
Six years ago at this very moment, Mrs. A and I were in the hospital and she was in such pain that she finally agreed to get an epidural. LMA was facing up and her little head was clunking down Mrs. A's tail bone like one of the Stooges falling down a ladder.
This morning her little brother opened all her presents after we had left for school. They'll have to be rewrapped before we get home.
I had to write a few bits about her history for school to go along with the cupcakes:
Year One -
The Avalanche were playing in the Stanley Cup finals against New Jersey. We were in Houston helping Mrs. A's mom with her house as it and the city had been flooded by a tropical storm. The local ABC stations were all carrying flood coverage. We found a bar with satellite and took her with us to watch the Avs win the Stanley Cup.
Year Two -
LMA's favorite movie is Dinosaur. She loves dinosaurs and watches a lot of Discover Channel shows that talk about fossils and such. She roars every time we drive passed the Mangia Pizza truck.
Year Three -
Two weeks after her third birthday, LMA's little brother was born. Two months after that we bought a trampoline. She liked the trampoline more.
Year Four -
The day after my vasectomy, I'm taking LMA to school and I've got a bit of a limp. When the teachers ask what's wrong, she blurts out, "Daddy had an operation on his hinnie parts so he can't have any more babbies."
Year Five -
Mrs. A and LMA have a conversation where LMA is asked if she knows where she comes from. She says, "From mommy's belly." Mrs. A says, "Before that?" LMA says, "Um, can you give me a hint?"
Year Six -
By this time she's had her hair dyed about 8 times (couple shades of pink and red and black and a few to get back to her normal color), a broken arm and two missing teeth. She sings like a cat, plays like a dog and reads like a 3rd grader. She still jumps on her trampoline...
...and her brother.
And at some point she ate a lightning bug.
Happy Birthday little lady.
Six years ago at this very moment, Mrs. A and I were in the hospital and she was in such pain that she finally agreed to get an epidural. LMA was facing up and her little head was clunking down Mrs. A's tail bone like one of the Stooges falling down a ladder.
This morning her little brother opened all her presents after we had left for school. They'll have to be rewrapped before we get home.
I had to write a few bits about her history for school to go along with the cupcakes:
Year One -
The Avalanche were playing in the Stanley Cup finals against New Jersey. We were in Houston helping Mrs. A's mom with her house as it and the city had been flooded by a tropical storm. The local ABC stations were all carrying flood coverage. We found a bar with satellite and took her with us to watch the Avs win the Stanley Cup.
Year Two -
LMA's favorite movie is Dinosaur. She loves dinosaurs and watches a lot of Discover Channel shows that talk about fossils and such. She roars every time we drive passed the Mangia Pizza truck.
Year Three -
Two weeks after her third birthday, LMA's little brother was born. Two months after that we bought a trampoline. She liked the trampoline more.
Year Four -
The day after my vasectomy, I'm taking LMA to school and I've got a bit of a limp. When the teachers ask what's wrong, she blurts out, "Daddy had an operation on his hinnie parts so he can't have any more babbies."
Year Five -
Mrs. A and LMA have a conversation where LMA is asked if she knows where she comes from. She says, "From mommy's belly." Mrs. A says, "Before that?" LMA says, "Um, can you give me a hint?"
Year Six -
By this time she's had her hair dyed about 8 times (couple shades of pink and red and black and a few to get back to her normal color), a broken arm and two missing teeth. She sings like a cat, plays like a dog and reads like a 3rd grader. She still jumps on her trampoline...
...and her brother.
And at some point she ate a lightning bug.
Happy Birthday little lady.
7.5.07
Plimptoons
So I was watching a Jonathan Coulton video today and in the intro he talks about George Plimpton and maybe 3 people in the audience responded. I was shocked. Surely there are folks my age who remember the shorts Plimpton did on MTV, not to mention the book "Paper Lion" as well as his commercials for Intellivision. Whatever literary mastery he obtained in the 60's and 70's, he only augmented it with his later short cartoons.
The fact that few people remember him is sad. Here's a refresher course.
/edit
I feel like an idiot. Serves me right for assuming.
Bill Plympton is the animator of the above short and has nothing to do with George Plimpton.
Frankly I'm almost too embarrassed to even continue writing this blog.
The fact that few people remember him is sad. Here's a refresher course.
/edit
I feel like an idiot. Serves me right for assuming.
Bill Plympton is the animator of the above short and has nothing to do with George Plimpton.
Frankly I'm almost too embarrassed to even continue writing this blog.
5.5.07
Free Comic Book Day 2007
Happy Free Comic Book Day.
Happy Cinco de Mayo.
Happy National Cartoonist Day!
This is going to be my new Father's Day if my little ones, especially my little girl, keep going to the comic shops with me. I haven't so much as stepped foot in an LCS for years. Mrs. Austin told me about a brand new shop opening up in our area called Ninja Pirate Comics so I decided to take LMA with me and check it out.
First, the women were all dressed as pirate wenches and the guys were all in black. It'd been cooler if they were ninjas, but all black was ok. I also realized that I was the old man in the store. The other folks my age were all around a single table either sharing some stories or playing a weird corporate RPG I've never heard of involving PE Ratios and Back Plane Management and Entry Stripe Coding. Everyone else was closer to LMA's age than mine, with exception of the owners.
I haven't purchased a book in years and I can't pinpoint the exact reason I stopped. I got a little tired of reading basically the same stories over and over again and I ended up either following artists or writers I knew from conventions or online communities. But even that was hard to do after a while as their books were delayed or canceled and in the end I'd end up only buying a handful of trades a month. I think I remember one Wednesday I picked LMA up from school and instead of taking our normal detour to an LCS, I just drove home and didn't realize I'd forgot until later. I wasn't upset about it either.
So as I perused the selection of Ninja Pirate's books, I was hoping for some spark of consumerism, some trigger that would release the pent up love I had at one point for comic books. I have fond memories of the feel of comics, the smell, the heft in my hands, the traditional scanning of the new comic racks. I don't know if it was because I was worried about LMA getting Spiderman cupcake icing all over the new books, but I just didn't find what I was looking for. Which was odd because the kids running the shop were always asking people if they were finding what they were looking for. I felt like saying, "Yes, do you have the latest issue of what happened to my love for comics? I'm about 2 years behind and I don't know where I left off." I'm sure they'd have assumed it was an indie title so I didn't bother.
LMA got a bit bored and only really wanted mostly anime/manga related toys behind the counter; eg a Super Mario mushroom on a brick box. I don't think it did anything but take $10 from me. Maybe that was its whole purpose.
May 5th for me wasn't as happy as I wanted it. I wanted to go in and have that inner-geek rekindled. (I have an outer-geek already, he's in charge of video games and cartoon art and sci-fi novels.) But it felt more like a relationship you try to rekindle after years apart; the memories are better than what actually happened and what is happening now.
I'll read these free books and see what happens.
It can't be any worse than Spiderman 3.
You heard me. Spiderman 3 wasn't as good as it could have been. It wasn't horrible, but I honestly felt it wasn't as good as the other two.
Don't get me wrong, the movie had some really REALLY great scenes. It had great fights, great effects and some decent writing and acting. But there were really odd bits that seemed out of place, really ham-handed direction and a story that seemed forced. A friend of mine reiterated that this movie was trying to do in two hours what the comic book took over 100 issues to do.
It fell pray to something I like to call Villain Overload. Batman had a problem with it, X3 had a problem with it. I'm sure the new Batman's and Superman's will end up having a problem with it. See, superhero comics generally have tons of villains. Spiderman alone has something like 80-90 bad guys he's fought over the years; some are major and some are either one-shot or other people's arch enemies. When a movie franchise hits it big and they decide to make sequels, you can usually tell that they try to force more bang for the buck by introducing more villains. Hey, Batman can beat just one guy, next time we'll do two, then three, then we'll just empty Arkham and see what happens.
What happens is the plot becomes shallow. Instead of two archetypal characters duking it out physically and mentally which each other, you have 5 or 6 people fighting just for screen time. A blockbuster needs fights and kisses and good effects but if you have more back story to tell because you have 19 bad guys, you're sacrificing good movie storytelling time by doing it.
In this case we have to find out what happens to Harry Osborn and then watch the creation of a new villain (Sandman) and then the subplot that creates Venom (Eddie Brock.) All this time Peter is being a schmuck to MJ and working out more personal demons than James Bond.
I was left feeling a bit flat. I wasn't tingling all over like the first two had done, but I left feeling like there could have been more of something and less of others. Yes I was entertained, but the same way Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom or Return of the Jedi had done.
And by the way, if you have a youngling less than 10 years old, I don't know that I'd take them. The fights are no less evil than the Green Goblin or Doc Ock fights from 1 and 2, but Venom is evil incarnate. He is all black and fangs and shrieks and strikes with a vengeance you might see from a demon in Lord of the Rings. It might scare little kids. Little kids might also not get all the inner turmoil bits and the relationship strife Peter and MJ go through.
Yes, it's PG-13, but I wouldn't push it with little kids. Girls especially, but any little kid might get freaked at Venom's befanged maw.
Adults might want to do a matinées so as not to fell bad about dropping $8-10 on an average blockbuster.
Go get some comics today.
Carry on.
Happy Cinco de Mayo.
Happy National Cartoonist Day!
This is going to be my new Father's Day if my little ones, especially my little girl, keep going to the comic shops with me. I haven't so much as stepped foot in an LCS for years. Mrs. Austin told me about a brand new shop opening up in our area called Ninja Pirate Comics so I decided to take LMA with me and check it out.
First, the women were all dressed as pirate wenches and the guys were all in black. It'd been cooler if they were ninjas, but all black was ok. I also realized that I was the old man in the store. The other folks my age were all around a single table either sharing some stories or playing a weird corporate RPG I've never heard of involving PE Ratios and Back Plane Management and Entry Stripe Coding. Everyone else was closer to LMA's age than mine, with exception of the owners.
I haven't purchased a book in years and I can't pinpoint the exact reason I stopped. I got a little tired of reading basically the same stories over and over again and I ended up either following artists or writers I knew from conventions or online communities. But even that was hard to do after a while as their books were delayed or canceled and in the end I'd end up only buying a handful of trades a month. I think I remember one Wednesday I picked LMA up from school and instead of taking our normal detour to an LCS, I just drove home and didn't realize I'd forgot until later. I wasn't upset about it either.
So as I perused the selection of Ninja Pirate's books, I was hoping for some spark of consumerism, some trigger that would release the pent up love I had at one point for comic books. I have fond memories of the feel of comics, the smell, the heft in my hands, the traditional scanning of the new comic racks. I don't know if it was because I was worried about LMA getting Spiderman cupcake icing all over the new books, but I just didn't find what I was looking for. Which was odd because the kids running the shop were always asking people if they were finding what they were looking for. I felt like saying, "Yes, do you have the latest issue of what happened to my love for comics? I'm about 2 years behind and I don't know where I left off." I'm sure they'd have assumed it was an indie title so I didn't bother.
LMA got a bit bored and only really wanted mostly anime/manga related toys behind the counter; eg a Super Mario mushroom on a brick box. I don't think it did anything but take $10 from me. Maybe that was its whole purpose.
May 5th for me wasn't as happy as I wanted it. I wanted to go in and have that inner-geek rekindled. (I have an outer-geek already, he's in charge of video games and cartoon art and sci-fi novels.) But it felt more like a relationship you try to rekindle after years apart; the memories are better than what actually happened and what is happening now.
I'll read these free books and see what happens.
It can't be any worse than Spiderman 3.
You heard me. Spiderman 3 wasn't as good as it could have been. It wasn't horrible, but I honestly felt it wasn't as good as the other two.
Don't get me wrong, the movie had some really REALLY great scenes. It had great fights, great effects and some decent writing and acting. But there were really odd bits that seemed out of place, really ham-handed direction and a story that seemed forced. A friend of mine reiterated that this movie was trying to do in two hours what the comic book took over 100 issues to do.
It fell pray to something I like to call Villain Overload. Batman had a problem with it, X3 had a problem with it. I'm sure the new Batman's and Superman's will end up having a problem with it. See, superhero comics generally have tons of villains. Spiderman alone has something like 80-90 bad guys he's fought over the years; some are major and some are either one-shot or other people's arch enemies. When a movie franchise hits it big and they decide to make sequels, you can usually tell that they try to force more bang for the buck by introducing more villains. Hey, Batman can beat just one guy, next time we'll do two, then three, then we'll just empty Arkham and see what happens.
What happens is the plot becomes shallow. Instead of two archetypal characters duking it out physically and mentally which each other, you have 5 or 6 people fighting just for screen time. A blockbuster needs fights and kisses and good effects but if you have more back story to tell because you have 19 bad guys, you're sacrificing good movie storytelling time by doing it.
In this case we have to find out what happens to Harry Osborn and then watch the creation of a new villain (Sandman) and then the subplot that creates Venom (Eddie Brock.) All this time Peter is being a schmuck to MJ and working out more personal demons than James Bond.
I was left feeling a bit flat. I wasn't tingling all over like the first two had done, but I left feeling like there could have been more of something and less of others. Yes I was entertained, but the same way Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom or Return of the Jedi had done.
And by the way, if you have a youngling less than 10 years old, I don't know that I'd take them. The fights are no less evil than the Green Goblin or Doc Ock fights from 1 and 2, but Venom is evil incarnate. He is all black and fangs and shrieks and strikes with a vengeance you might see from a demon in Lord of the Rings. It might scare little kids. Little kids might also not get all the inner turmoil bits and the relationship strife Peter and MJ go through.
Yes, it's PG-13, but I wouldn't push it with little kids. Girls especially, but any little kid might get freaked at Venom's befanged maw.
Adults might want to do a matinées so as not to fell bad about dropping $8-10 on an average blockbuster.
Go get some comics today.
Carry on.
4.5.07
LMAisms
First off, my little girl will be 6 next week.
6!!!
I take solace in knowing that she gets upset if I don't put on my season one DVD of Transformers. She just walks around the house whining, "Optimus Prime! Optimus Prime!"
G-man is still at the age where he is both a lion and a princess.
So last night, Mrs. A is telling LMA a story. She had come down asking for something - a cup of water, handful of grapes, whatever - and Mrs. A told her to come sit with her on the couch. At first she asked LMA to tell her a story and she did. I didn't hear that part. What I did hear was Mrs. A telling LMA a story that paralleled the Gift of the Magi. Details were different, but the theme was the same; two people loved each other and did something for the other that rendered the other's gift useless. In Mrs. A' story the girl cut her hair to buy buttons for the boy's nice coat and the boy sold his coat to buy a nice brush for the girl.
Mrs. A finishes the story and LMA and I share an "oh my" look. She then says, "Oh man, I bet he doesn't like her anymore!"
We woke G-man up we were laughing so hard.
Carry on.
6!!!
I take solace in knowing that she gets upset if I don't put on my season one DVD of Transformers. She just walks around the house whining, "Optimus Prime! Optimus Prime!"
G-man is still at the age where he is both a lion and a princess.
So last night, Mrs. A is telling LMA a story. She had come down asking for something - a cup of water, handful of grapes, whatever - and Mrs. A told her to come sit with her on the couch. At first she asked LMA to tell her a story and she did. I didn't hear that part. What I did hear was Mrs. A telling LMA a story that paralleled the Gift of the Magi. Details were different, but the theme was the same; two people loved each other and did something for the other that rendered the other's gift useless. In Mrs. A' story the girl cut her hair to buy buttons for the boy's nice coat and the boy sold his coat to buy a nice brush for the girl.
Mrs. A finishes the story and LMA and I share an "oh my" look. She then says, "Oh man, I bet he doesn't like her anymore!"
We woke G-man up we were laughing so hard.
Carry on.
Happy Spiderman Day
Yes I'm wearing my Spiderman shirt. Yes I'm going to see the movie today.
Here's some Spiderman videos of note to help you get through till you go see the movie.
(I have to stop linking so many damn videos.)
Carry on.
Here's some Spiderman videos of note to help you get through till you go see the movie.
(I have to stop linking so many damn videos.)
Carry on.
3.5.07
This is Unsettling
So, if you're a cartoonist and possibly a shooting hobbyist, best not try for any government type jobs. And if you already work for the government, don't make gun jokes so near a mass shooting.
Link.
Link.
To top it all off, he was later visited by police detectives for making a comic about his experience, because it was a “borderline terroristic threat.” (Is “terroristic” even a word? Did they get that from the Colbert report?)
2.5.07
1.5.07
30.4.07
Accident
It was the end of a long evening for Mrs. Austin. She was on her way home from shooting a wedding, the kind of wedding where she worked hard into the dim, bleary hours of early morning. I would see medical tape on her feet the next day from where her shoes had forced them to blister.
It was after this long day and long night that she was witness to a car accident near our house. There were just a couple cars involved, but several people stopped to help. It was apparently bad. After one man was taken from his car by Mrs. A and some other samaritans, Mrs. A proceeded to start CPR on the nearly dead or already dead accident victim. She pumped his chest and blew air into his lungs for a good 20 mins until the call was placed and EMS arrived.
When they did arrive, there was no talk of what happened, no exchange of thanks for taking time to help possibly save someone's life, the EMS dismissed her with a "Thanks, we got it. Go." Mrs. A began to ask questions, wanting to know if the man was going to be ok, but the EMS workers were stalwart. "Just go."
She later tells me the EMS was so curt because in Texas there's a reverse Good Samaritan Law that says you can be held liable for any harm you cause an accident victim. I was incredulous about this to say the least, so I did some checking and found this. I think the understanding is that if you start to give aid, you have to continue to give aid until train help arrives or until the situation changes (ie your safety is somehow compromised.) In for a shilling and all that.
I don't mean to post that last bit to prove a discrepancy in her story, but I think if there's a misunderstanding about the law, people will of course not stop and help.
It reminds me of a story a college friend once told me of her experience at a bus stop in a northern suburb of Denver. We were fellow art students and had graduated high school together and took the same express bus from Broomfield to downtown. One day I don't see her at the stop and later that week I asked what had happened. Turns out an elderly lady was walking across the parking lot, slipped on the ice, hit her face and her broken glasses cut through her cheek. As we all know, faces bleed profusely and so there's this older lady unable to right herself like a turtle on its back and leaking life plasma onto the frozen pavement.
Not one person made a move to help.
The next part is sketchy in my mind and I mean no disrespect by my clouding of the events.
It turns out, she went to help the lady after a few agonizing moments? minutes? of nothing happening from the rest of the crowd. Her hesitancy was due to her either fear of contracting or passing a disease, the kind you can only get from open sores, wounds, bodily fluids. If I remember correctly, she had something (not nefarious but possibly merely unfortunate) that made her initially balk at the idea of rendering aid. In the end she overcame either her fear and was able to right the listing elder and get someone who apparently thought more of themselves to use a phone and call for help.
So, why did everyone at that bus stop hesitate? It was an old lady, bleeding from her face. How utterly sad that something so pathetic doesn't garner any sympathy let alone a rush of assistance from those nearby. In the end a jaded college artist was the one to offer a hand. Was it because people were afraid of gushing blood? Retribution if they slipped again and killed her? Were they too self important to bother? Were they in shock? Maybe they didn't notice...
...and old woman doing a pillbug impression on a growing crimson splatter field.
It's sad we have to have a law that says we as humanity don't hold you responsible for trying to help even if that help makes it worse. People don't want to hand out E's for Efforts, they want to hand out subpoenas and settlements. I'm sorry you were trying to save my life, Miss. But now I have these broken ribs. I hope you like your wages garnished for the next 15 years paying me back.
I understand there's responsibility in action and if you don't know CPR or if you think someone has a broken back, don't move them or touch them. But if a car is on fire or someone has fallen and is bleeding to death, I think any action you take would be considered helpful. What upsets me is the people who don't recognize this and will actually try to sue those whose intentions were at least right.
Jeez, I've gone and blabbered all over myself again. I need to put this soapbox on craigslist.
Carry on.
It was after this long day and long night that she was witness to a car accident near our house. There were just a couple cars involved, but several people stopped to help. It was apparently bad. After one man was taken from his car by Mrs. A and some other samaritans, Mrs. A proceeded to start CPR on the nearly dead or already dead accident victim. She pumped his chest and blew air into his lungs for a good 20 mins until the call was placed and EMS arrived.
When they did arrive, there was no talk of what happened, no exchange of thanks for taking time to help possibly save someone's life, the EMS dismissed her with a "Thanks, we got it. Go." Mrs. A began to ask questions, wanting to know if the man was going to be ok, but the EMS workers were stalwart. "Just go."
She later tells me the EMS was so curt because in Texas there's a reverse Good Samaritan Law that says you can be held liable for any harm you cause an accident victim. I was incredulous about this to say the least, so I did some checking and found this. I think the understanding is that if you start to give aid, you have to continue to give aid until train help arrives or until the situation changes (ie your safety is somehow compromised.) In for a shilling and all that.
I don't mean to post that last bit to prove a discrepancy in her story, but I think if there's a misunderstanding about the law, people will of course not stop and help.
It reminds me of a story a college friend once told me of her experience at a bus stop in a northern suburb of Denver. We were fellow art students and had graduated high school together and took the same express bus from Broomfield to downtown. One day I don't see her at the stop and later that week I asked what had happened. Turns out an elderly lady was walking across the parking lot, slipped on the ice, hit her face and her broken glasses cut through her cheek. As we all know, faces bleed profusely and so there's this older lady unable to right herself like a turtle on its back and leaking life plasma onto the frozen pavement.
Not one person made a move to help.
The next part is sketchy in my mind and I mean no disrespect by my clouding of the events.
It turns out, she went to help the lady after a few agonizing moments? minutes? of nothing happening from the rest of the crowd. Her hesitancy was due to her either fear of contracting or passing a disease, the kind you can only get from open sores, wounds, bodily fluids. If I remember correctly, she had something (not nefarious but possibly merely unfortunate) that made her initially balk at the idea of rendering aid. In the end she overcame either her fear and was able to right the listing elder and get someone who apparently thought more of themselves to use a phone and call for help.
So, why did everyone at that bus stop hesitate? It was an old lady, bleeding from her face. How utterly sad that something so pathetic doesn't garner any sympathy let alone a rush of assistance from those nearby. In the end a jaded college artist was the one to offer a hand. Was it because people were afraid of gushing blood? Retribution if they slipped again and killed her? Were they too self important to bother? Were they in shock? Maybe they didn't notice...
...and old woman doing a pillbug impression on a growing crimson splatter field.
It's sad we have to have a law that says we as humanity don't hold you responsible for trying to help even if that help makes it worse. People don't want to hand out E's for Efforts, they want to hand out subpoenas and settlements. I'm sorry you were trying to save my life, Miss. But now I have these broken ribs. I hope you like your wages garnished for the next 15 years paying me back.
I understand there's responsibility in action and if you don't know CPR or if you think someone has a broken back, don't move them or touch them. But if a car is on fire or someone has fallen and is bleeding to death, I think any action you take would be considered helpful. What upsets me is the people who don't recognize this and will actually try to sue those whose intentions were at least right.
Jeez, I've gone and blabbered all over myself again. I need to put this soapbox on craigslist.
Carry on.
28.4.07
Old Friend
This is an old friend of mine from before the age of reason. I can't exactly remember but I think it was 2nd or 3rd grade. In Jr. High and High School we ran with different crowds and then years later (just recently actually) I hunted him down like the net stalker I am.
He's got a beautiful family and a job doing web design which makes me slightly envious. Off all the people I've known over the years, he's the one with the biggest "net presence." Scratch that, only net presence.
Oh, and the first choice of song for the video was "That Boy Could Dance" but it was too short. He'll appreciate that.
Carry on.
He's got a beautiful family and a job doing web design which makes me slightly envious. Off all the people I've known over the years, he's the one with the biggest "net presence." Scratch that, only net presence.
Oh, and the first choice of song for the video was "That Boy Could Dance" but it was too short. He'll appreciate that.
Carry on.
Mrs. A-bot
First vid with the original photo in it. And yes she paid me for this one.
More of these to come as I just finished my big commission. Hey ma, Grandpa Joe'd be proud. Just got paid for my art. Go me!
Not to say I haven't been paid before, but this was some serious commission. You can see the work here.
Carry on.
27.4.07
Week End Wrap
Something I've somehow failed to mention in the last few meaningless updates is that Mrs. A is going to be featured in an upcoming edition of Texas Monthly Magazine. She's not too sure on the details - whether or not it's an interview or profile or they just feature a photo of hers for a story - but it's still really wonderful news for our resident photobug. She's been working 28 jobs lately and I think her hard work is starting to get her noticed.
Nothing new to report on the kids. Their sleeping habits are ironic in that they have none. We've got them on a bit of a routine now which involves circus ponies, a tub of lemon Jell-O and a nightly visit from Bruce Campbell who does a hilarious if not creepy reading from The Lorax.
Little Miss Austin can't sleep unless she's in our bed. The sheets are apparently silkier and the bed is warmer. Honestly, I think she doesn't like the way her bed smells. We wash her sheets almost weekly but she's almost six and kids just tend to smell funny at that age. All that playing in the heat and all those glands starting to kick in and all those magnets in their skin holding on to the dirt. Mrs. A and I have slept in her bed before and it really does smell like her.
We put one of those kid proof door knobs on the inside of G-man's door so he can't get out and go write his Sharpie Manifesto on our flat panel monitor at 4 in the morning. Seems to work well, now all he does is sleep by the door and shout under the crack when he wakes up. And yes I've opened the door into his head...a couple times.
I'm mercifully close to finishing this commission I'm working on. I don't mean to be down on the project or the client. I've enjoyed drawing them. It's allowed me to be an Illustrator in the basest sense and it's been fun. I'm just looking forward to doing my own things again. I want to do more Robot Portraits and I want to really sit down and look at the possibility of planning out the option of maybe some day looking into what it would take to think about how I'd go about setting up and working on opening up some time to allow myself to consider possibly going back to working on my comic book.
Perhaps.
I don't know. I realize I've said some negative things about comic books and my abilities to start, work on, finish, promote and sell them. It's going to take some serious willpower to get back on that horse. It doesn't help that I haven't bought a comic book in almost two years. It's like being a mechanic but riding a bicycle everywhere. It's not that you don't know your craft and have a love for it, but it seems you have an external appreciation of it not being involved more.
Anycrap.
You can see the characters I'm working on here. Some of them were fun to do, some were nothing special, just drawings.
Small update on the 100 Artists Project. I may have found a local binder that will be able to handle odd paper types. However, out of the six Single Mailer pieces I've received, two are already the wrong size. I don't know how I could have made it more clear, but if you're reading this, it's 9x12 inches! Thank you.
I've received six pictures so far and this weekend I'll be plotting all the addresses in Google Maps (if anyone has a good way to automate route plotting, I'd love to hear it) and then sending off the Big Sketch book once I buy it and draw something in it.
I'm such a slacker.
Carry on.
Nothing new to report on the kids. Their sleeping habits are ironic in that they have none. We've got them on a bit of a routine now which involves circus ponies, a tub of lemon Jell-O and a nightly visit from Bruce Campbell who does a hilarious if not creepy reading from The Lorax.
Little Miss Austin can't sleep unless she's in our bed. The sheets are apparently silkier and the bed is warmer. Honestly, I think she doesn't like the way her bed smells. We wash her sheets almost weekly but she's almost six and kids just tend to smell funny at that age. All that playing in the heat and all those glands starting to kick in and all those magnets in their skin holding on to the dirt. Mrs. A and I have slept in her bed before and it really does smell like her.
We put one of those kid proof door knobs on the inside of G-man's door so he can't get out and go write his Sharpie Manifesto on our flat panel monitor at 4 in the morning. Seems to work well, now all he does is sleep by the door and shout under the crack when he wakes up. And yes I've opened the door into his head...a couple times.
I'm mercifully close to finishing this commission I'm working on. I don't mean to be down on the project or the client. I've enjoyed drawing them. It's allowed me to be an Illustrator in the basest sense and it's been fun. I'm just looking forward to doing my own things again. I want to do more Robot Portraits and I want to really sit down and look at the possibility of planning out the option of maybe some day looking into what it would take to think about how I'd go about setting up and working on opening up some time to allow myself to consider possibly going back to working on my comic book.
Perhaps.
I don't know. I realize I've said some negative things about comic books and my abilities to start, work on, finish, promote and sell them. It's going to take some serious willpower to get back on that horse. It doesn't help that I haven't bought a comic book in almost two years. It's like being a mechanic but riding a bicycle everywhere. It's not that you don't know your craft and have a love for it, but it seems you have an external appreciation of it not being involved more.
Anycrap.
You can see the characters I'm working on here. Some of them were fun to do, some were nothing special, just drawings.
Small update on the 100 Artists Project. I may have found a local binder that will be able to handle odd paper types. However, out of the six Single Mailer pieces I've received, two are already the wrong size. I don't know how I could have made it more clear, but if you're reading this, it's 9x12 inches! Thank you.
I've received six pictures so far and this weekend I'll be plotting all the addresses in Google Maps (if anyone has a good way to automate route plotting, I'd love to hear it) and then sending off the Big Sketch book once I buy it and draw something in it.
I'm such a slacker.
Carry on.
24.4.07
The Taste of It All
So I missed Heroes on TV last night but caught it online today. It's funny how nitpicky we are with our television viewing. I only watch certain shows and then I hate watching them because I feel they could be doing it better. I won't spoil it for any of you fans out there, don't worry. I'm a fan of the show in that I watch it regularly and I debate it with comic nerds. That's about where it stops. Heroes didn't grip me the way Lost did. It hasn't put up shop in my heart and soul the way Battlestar: Galactica has. It's a good show, but there's something about a super hero show on network TV that you just know will be about 80% drama, 10% action and 10% dumbing down to the average viewer.
An example would be this most recent episode. The LA cop who can read minds stops and asks the nuclear guy what an EMP is.
Really? An EMP? A 12 year old boy knows what an EMP is. Anyone who's seen any movie in the past 30 years involving James Bond, nuclear warheads, super heroes or asteroids knows what an EMP is. Why the writers have decided they need to make a completely functional character into a drooling baboon is beyond me. Do they honestly think we don't know what that is?
The writers on this show are not great, I'll have to freely admit. They've set up their own world and then not played by the rules. One minute a kid can tell his mom's different when she changes personality, the next he can't tell some shape shifter is pretending to be his mom. (Crap, spoiler, sorry.) The good guys are able to finally knock the bad guy out, he's laying on the floor unconscious and yet they don't use the gun THAT'S IN THE ROOM to finally rid the world of the evil. No, they take a cab ride up to the west side.
As with any show of this ensemble largess, you need to understand that we're not following an entire story, we're following bits and pieces that make up the story. That may seem obvious, but what happens is the plot then has to be drug along by omissions and dramatic edits instead of decent writing. A good writer would have remember the bit about Micah and her mom. A good writer wouldn't have made a cop (a cop, someone who presumably can read and understands weapons, may have been in the military at one point) ask "What the hell is an EMP?" A good writer wouldn't have painted themselves into a corner in the first place and need these dodges to get the show back on track. Either the story is strong and can sustain itself or it's not and it should be let go. Anyone with half a brain can smell a hack job a mile away. Have you ever seen anyone yell at their TV during a non-sports related broadcast? It's because they know what's going on and you've let them down first of all by writing so pedestrian that the flaws are spotted and second by not following through and being bold with your pen.
I don't pretend to be a screenwriter or author of any chops, but I know a weak story when I see/read it. Is it because I'm older now than before? Perhaps. Maybe some people just have a gift of insight and can sense bullshit better than others. Maybe some people can tell when they're being handled and manipulated. I want to be carried along with the story just like everyone else. I want to escape. I want to be entertained. What I don't want is to get that sudden snap realization that the writers are involved. I don't want to feel while I'm watching the show that someone is trying to tell me something. I want that feeling to come after. I get the same feeling watching crappy writing as I do when I see video that's purposely going in reverse so as to meet some lighting or movement requirement that apparently forward moving shots couldn't provide. Mrs. A can't see it and she thinks I'm crazy, but there are bits of film, TV, commercials, that have edits in them of backwards moving video and it drives me crazy. It's the same feeling as being in a movie theater, totally engrossed, and then having the sudden sense that you're in a movie theater. The suspension is totally lost.
If you're watching a show and your suspension is lost, the writing team hasn't done their job. All shows can't be winners, but when EACH shows leaves you saying things like, "Man, I want to like this show, but they can't seem to play by their own rules," then you haven't done your job as a writer.
Whew.
I had a realization today that the coffee I get from Starbucks is good but not because I like the flavor of coffee and hazlenut, but because I apparently I like hazlenut coffee flavored whip cream. After the whip cream has melted and I've lost the taste, I almost don't want the coffee. I think I'll start asking for that instead. Just a giant cup of whip cream with room for a dash of coffee.
Carry on.
An example would be this most recent episode. The LA cop who can read minds stops and asks the nuclear guy what an EMP is.
Really? An EMP? A 12 year old boy knows what an EMP is. Anyone who's seen any movie in the past 30 years involving James Bond, nuclear warheads, super heroes or asteroids knows what an EMP is. Why the writers have decided they need to make a completely functional character into a drooling baboon is beyond me. Do they honestly think we don't know what that is?
The writers on this show are not great, I'll have to freely admit. They've set up their own world and then not played by the rules. One minute a kid can tell his mom's different when she changes personality, the next he can't tell some shape shifter is pretending to be his mom. (Crap, spoiler, sorry.) The good guys are able to finally knock the bad guy out, he's laying on the floor unconscious and yet they don't use the gun THAT'S IN THE ROOM to finally rid the world of the evil. No, they take a cab ride up to the west side.
As with any show of this ensemble largess, you need to understand that we're not following an entire story, we're following bits and pieces that make up the story. That may seem obvious, but what happens is the plot then has to be drug along by omissions and dramatic edits instead of decent writing. A good writer would have remember the bit about Micah and her mom. A good writer wouldn't have made a cop (a cop, someone who presumably can read and understands weapons, may have been in the military at one point) ask "What the hell is an EMP?" A good writer wouldn't have painted themselves into a corner in the first place and need these dodges to get the show back on track. Either the story is strong and can sustain itself or it's not and it should be let go. Anyone with half a brain can smell a hack job a mile away. Have you ever seen anyone yell at their TV during a non-sports related broadcast? It's because they know what's going on and you've let them down first of all by writing so pedestrian that the flaws are spotted and second by not following through and being bold with your pen.
I don't pretend to be a screenwriter or author of any chops, but I know a weak story when I see/read it. Is it because I'm older now than before? Perhaps. Maybe some people just have a gift of insight and can sense bullshit better than others. Maybe some people can tell when they're being handled and manipulated. I want to be carried along with the story just like everyone else. I want to escape. I want to be entertained. What I don't want is to get that sudden snap realization that the writers are involved. I don't want to feel while I'm watching the show that someone is trying to tell me something. I want that feeling to come after. I get the same feeling watching crappy writing as I do when I see video that's purposely going in reverse so as to meet some lighting or movement requirement that apparently forward moving shots couldn't provide. Mrs. A can't see it and she thinks I'm crazy, but there are bits of film, TV, commercials, that have edits in them of backwards moving video and it drives me crazy. It's the same feeling as being in a movie theater, totally engrossed, and then having the sudden sense that you're in a movie theater. The suspension is totally lost.
If you're watching a show and your suspension is lost, the writing team hasn't done their job. All shows can't be winners, but when EACH shows leaves you saying things like, "Man, I want to like this show, but they can't seem to play by their own rules," then you haven't done your job as a writer.
Whew.
I had a realization today that the coffee I get from Starbucks is good but not because I like the flavor of coffee and hazlenut, but because I apparently I like hazlenut coffee flavored whip cream. After the whip cream has melted and I've lost the taste, I almost don't want the coffee. I think I'll start asking for that instead. Just a giant cup of whip cream with room for a dash of coffee.
Carry on.
22.4.07
El Diablo Robotico
Sadly this is the last commissioned Robot Portrait I received, so it'll probably be the last one for a while, couple days at least. I can't get the blogspot site linked anywhere and it's just either not novel enough or good enough to rate more than 5 orders. Big thanks to Len at Jawbone and ApeLad for linking it when it started. I have a commission I have to get done over the next week, but I guess look for more of these at some point next week.
I'll be going back and doing some Flickr contacts and taking videos of them, but they're just for fun. So if you'd like one, head over here and place an order.
Carry on.
21.4.07
100 Artists Update
The new site for the 100 Artists Project is complete and online. Well, as complete as it's going to get until more content comes in. I have a form I want to put in place for the sign-ups but that can wait for now.
I hope you're enjoying the robots. I'm almost done with the ones people have paid for so if you'd like one, get over there and sign up. I'll be going back to doing Flickr contacts for fun.
I hope you're enjoying the robots. I'm almost done with the ones people have paid for so if you'd like one, get over there and sign up. I'll be going back to doing Flickr contacts for fun.
20.4.07
18.4.07
17.4.07
Quick Update
Happy tax day. LMA thinks it's a day off of school and was wondering why it wasn't. When I tried to explain to her what Tax Day was, she got that sallow and distant look that always accompanies daddy's long winded explanations about boring shit.
So I quickly summed it up with, "It's not a day off of school."
Some news real quick from the home front. My 100 Artist Project has reached 100+ artists. I need to get a sketchbook purchased and drawn so I can send it out. I also need to finish the site. I know a couple of designers, but they're either busy, recovering from surgery or for some reason ignoring my tube messages. At any rate, I'm going to slog through getting it built so there's a nice home for the project.
I also received a handful of Robot Portrait requests that I will be fulfilling tonight. I may not be able to video them very well but they'll at least get done and sent out.
In a couple weeks I should be able to post up some drawings I'm doing for a commission for this company. It's a neat little project and I'm excited to be working with the guy.
Mrs. A is still insanely busy and I think she's close to cracking. I've tried picking up the house stuff more so she can concentrate on work, but I tell ya, we're burning it at both ends lately. Something's gotta give.
LMA was accepted to the Gifted and Talented program. I'm not sure if that goes for a full district or just that school. Seeing as we're considering putting her in a different school next year it's kind of a weird thing to receive. Still, good for her. She's still a 5 year old emotionally, and it shows more often then not, but we're very proud of her.
G-man chews on blankets and sleeves lately. I don't know. I've started giving him his old frozen chew ring because everything I bump into lately is wet.
That's about it.
Carry on.
So I quickly summed it up with, "It's not a day off of school."
Some news real quick from the home front. My 100 Artist Project has reached 100+ artists. I need to get a sketchbook purchased and drawn so I can send it out. I also need to finish the site. I know a couple of designers, but they're either busy, recovering from surgery or for some reason ignoring my tube messages. At any rate, I'm going to slog through getting it built so there's a nice home for the project.
I also received a handful of Robot Portrait requests that I will be fulfilling tonight. I may not be able to video them very well but they'll at least get done and sent out.
In a couple weeks I should be able to post up some drawings I'm doing for a commission for this company. It's a neat little project and I'm excited to be working with the guy.
Mrs. A is still insanely busy and I think she's close to cracking. I've tried picking up the house stuff more so she can concentrate on work, but I tell ya, we're burning it at both ends lately. Something's gotta give.
LMA was accepted to the Gifted and Talented program. I'm not sure if that goes for a full district or just that school. Seeing as we're considering putting her in a different school next year it's kind of a weird thing to receive. Still, good for her. She's still a 5 year old emotionally, and it shows more often then not, but we're very proud of her.
G-man chews on blankets and sleeves lately. I don't know. I've started giving him his old frozen chew ring because everything I bump into lately is wet.
That's about it.
Carry on.
14.4.07
13.4.07
Testing YouTube Postings
Rowan Atkinson is a genius. This is obviously old, but new to me.
My site is giving me HORRIBLE fits. No idea what I'm going to do with it, and frankly I don't have time, so here it lives for the foreseeable future. Please check out all the links on the sidebar, they are projects I'm working on and could always use your support.
Cheers.
My site is giving me HORRIBLE fits. No idea what I'm going to do with it, and frankly I don't have time, so here it lives for the foreseeable future. Please check out all the links on the sidebar, they are projects I'm working on and could always use your support.
Cheers.
7.4.07
6.4.07
Another Move
You're hopefully reading this because my web server has finally decided I have too much free time.
So, this weekend I'll be figuring out how to back it all up and move it off to a hosting company where the power runs constantly and the software is already installed.
I can't believe I've waited this long to do it.
Carry on.
So, this weekend I'll be figuring out how to back it all up and move it off to a hosting company where the power runs constantly and the software is already installed.
I can't believe I've waited this long to do it.
Carry on.
16.1.06
Test For Blogger
If everything goes as it should, this shouldn't post. I've jacked with the settings so much I'd be surprised.
If you do see this, start moving over to the new site from now on. I'll be updating there.
It'll be ugly and it'll change a lot, but we'll get it the way we want soon enough.
If you do see this, start moving over to the new site from now on. I'll be updating there.
It'll be ugly and it'll change a lot, but we'll get it the way we want soon enough.
Mean Sleeper
You know how they say when you're drunk or asleep, you're without inhibitions and so you act and speak more truthfully then when you're alert? I really hope they're wrong because I'm an asshole when I sleep.
"Define: asshole," you say.
Alrightie sir. As an example, last night, Mrs. A and I went to bed on bad terms. I was an insensitive caveman while fully conscious and the day ended poorly. Mrs. A's family came over on Saturday and spent the weekend with us and we had a great time. We all got hammered on Saturday night and Mrs. A was feeling really bad the next day. But it was more than just hungover, it was something more etherial.
Anyway, add that to me being a jerk and we ended the day not talking.
So apparently, she woke up screaming and crying from a bad dream at some point. Being Mr. Caring and Attentive, I told her I'd get more sleep if she went to the couch.
Yeah, that's right.
Only thing is, I don't remember it. It's a pattern. Lil Miss Austin wakes up and screams at the top of the stairs, I grumble that she's got no room to be crying like that. Yogi wakes up and I blame Mrs. Austin for not giving him the right PJs or bottle or something. She'll wake me up if I'm snoring really bad because she's worried about me not breathing right and I give her a load of crap for it being 4:30 in the morning.
Now, I used to pride myself on going from REM to Alertness in nothing flat. I've always thought myself a light sleeper and still feel I take a long time to get to sleep and am easily disturbed by sounds or motion. So to hear that not only do I not wake up when my kids cry, but that I'm a selfish prick when I do really gets under my skin.
Why? Well why not? Would anyone feel good after finding out you're a mean ass bastard when you sleeptalk; especially to your loved ones? I love my wife and kids, I hate the idea that any part of me is mean to them, especially parts I can't control. That makes it somehow worse.
At first it was kind of funny, I'd swear like an old sailor or WWII vet, spouting some nearly discernable gibberish, then roll over in a huff and continue sleeping. It was charming because I was sleeping. Now it's just a pain in the ass and I don't know that there is anything I can do about it. I'm really a nice guy when I'm awake, most of the time.
If you've ever been blamed for something you didn't do, but enough blame is heaped upon you that you start going back over your actions to see if in fact you did do something wrong, all the while still knowing that you're innocent yet having that sureness start to crumble, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's completely out of your control, and yet in the end, you still did something wrong. It's like dreaming about have sex with someone that's not your spouse; there's nothing you can do about it, but people do get bent outta shape when they hear it.
So thanks to my stupid brain, we started the day bad too.
"Define: asshole," you say.
Alrightie sir. As an example, last night, Mrs. A and I went to bed on bad terms. I was an insensitive caveman while fully conscious and the day ended poorly. Mrs. A's family came over on Saturday and spent the weekend with us and we had a great time. We all got hammered on Saturday night and Mrs. A was feeling really bad the next day. But it was more than just hungover, it was something more etherial.
Anyway, add that to me being a jerk and we ended the day not talking.
So apparently, she woke up screaming and crying from a bad dream at some point. Being Mr. Caring and Attentive, I told her I'd get more sleep if she went to the couch.
Yeah, that's right.
Only thing is, I don't remember it. It's a pattern. Lil Miss Austin wakes up and screams at the top of the stairs, I grumble that she's got no room to be crying like that. Yogi wakes up and I blame Mrs. Austin for not giving him the right PJs or bottle or something. She'll wake me up if I'm snoring really bad because she's worried about me not breathing right and I give her a load of crap for it being 4:30 in the morning.
Now, I used to pride myself on going from REM to Alertness in nothing flat. I've always thought myself a light sleeper and still feel I take a long time to get to sleep and am easily disturbed by sounds or motion. So to hear that not only do I not wake up when my kids cry, but that I'm a selfish prick when I do really gets under my skin.
Why? Well why not? Would anyone feel good after finding out you're a mean ass bastard when you sleeptalk; especially to your loved ones? I love my wife and kids, I hate the idea that any part of me is mean to them, especially parts I can't control. That makes it somehow worse.
At first it was kind of funny, I'd swear like an old sailor or WWII vet, spouting some nearly discernable gibberish, then roll over in a huff and continue sleeping. It was charming because I was sleeping. Now it's just a pain in the ass and I don't know that there is anything I can do about it. I'm really a nice guy when I'm awake, most of the time.
If you've ever been blamed for something you didn't do, but enough blame is heaped upon you that you start going back over your actions to see if in fact you did do something wrong, all the while still knowing that you're innocent yet having that sureness start to crumble, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's completely out of your control, and yet in the end, you still did something wrong. It's like dreaming about have sex with someone that's not your spouse; there's nothing you can do about it, but people do get bent outta shape when they hear it.
So thanks to my stupid brain, we started the day bad too.
12.1.06
Big Move Part I
In the first of many installments, this is the first announcement that http://lifeinaustin.blogspot.com will be moving to http://www.life-in-austin.com. The domain and forwarding service have been ordered and the server has been configured to start running the site.
Next step will be to get the server applications running correctly, followed by the Blogger to Wordpress migration, then the template and archive design and adjustment, and finally the unparking of the domain to forward to the server.
I've got a three day weekend coming up so hopefully I can get this done by next week. Wish me luck.
Next step will be to get the server applications running correctly, followed by the Blogger to Wordpress migration, then the template and archive design and adjustment, and finally the unparking of the domain to forward to the server.
I've got a three day weekend coming up so hopefully I can get this done by next week. Wish me luck.
10.1.06
It's actually a job.
I want to set the record straight.
Mrs. Austin runs her own business. Her business is wedding photography. That means on weekends (just about all of them) she is shooting for 5-12 hours a day. The time she's not shooting she's editing photos, answering emails and phone calls, conducting meetings, packaging and shipping albums and doing account maintenance. She works very hard at it.
On top of it, she also does the lion's share of the household duties like bills and cleaning and wrangling.
She does not sit home all day watching TV and chatting on her laptop.
She has no more time to watch sick kids than I do during the day.
Her business is the same as my office job with the exception of the dress code.
When the kids stay home, she loses money and reputation because it's another day she can't do work.
Her being at our house doesn't mean she's at home.
There, that's done. I don't know who out there keeps putting this thought into her head that people don't think she's actually working, but I really wish you would stop. It's making her crazy and me have to hear about the crazy every day. Since she can't explain it to you, she explains it to me like clockwork. So the next person who says, "Well, but she's home all day..." gets a punch in the throat.
Mrs. Austin runs her own business. Her business is wedding photography. That means on weekends (just about all of them) she is shooting for 5-12 hours a day. The time she's not shooting she's editing photos, answering emails and phone calls, conducting meetings, packaging and shipping albums and doing account maintenance. She works very hard at it.
On top of it, she also does the lion's share of the household duties like bills and cleaning and wrangling.
She does not sit home all day watching TV and chatting on her laptop.
She has no more time to watch sick kids than I do during the day.
Her business is the same as my office job with the exception of the dress code.
When the kids stay home, she loses money and reputation because it's another day she can't do work.
Her being at our house doesn't mean she's at home.
There, that's done. I don't know who out there keeps putting this thought into her head that people don't think she's actually working, but I really wish you would stop. It's making her crazy and me have to hear about the crazy every day. Since she can't explain it to you, she explains it to me like clockwork. So the next person who says, "Well, but she's home all day..." gets a punch in the throat.
Rollman Photo Dot Com
Just spent the evening updating the Rollman Photography website.
Behold the informative and insightful bio page!
Marvel at the smooth navigation!
Recoil in sheer awe at the questions which are frequently asked!
In all seriousness, I'm still going through my self teaching program so this is a hodge podge of old HTML, some new XHTML required tags, some CSS2 and some good ol' fashion spit and polish. Mrs. A likes it, so that's all that matters. Plus, clients see this page, so I have to consider this the production level offering and have my little comic page be the sandbox.
Still nothing on the Wordpress thing yet. I've got some tips I got from their forum about the server apps, but finding the time...
Both kids are sick. Gregory's probably got an earache and Rowan has a nice, throaty cough. Luckily, Mrs. A was able to get insurance through the NASE so the kids are covered.
Mrs. A's Expo went pretty well. She did get some bookings and got a lot of phone calls and emails following the event (hence the web update) so we're looking to make a few more house payments.
Yay resourceful mammals!
Behold the informative and insightful bio page!
Marvel at the smooth navigation!
Recoil in sheer awe at the questions which are frequently asked!
In all seriousness, I'm still going through my self teaching program so this is a hodge podge of old HTML, some new XHTML required tags, some CSS2 and some good ol' fashion spit and polish. Mrs. A likes it, so that's all that matters. Plus, clients see this page, so I have to consider this the production level offering and have my little comic page be the sandbox.
Still nothing on the Wordpress thing yet. I've got some tips I got from their forum about the server apps, but finding the time...
Both kids are sick. Gregory's probably got an earache and Rowan has a nice, throaty cough. Luckily, Mrs. A was able to get insurance through the NASE so the kids are covered.
Mrs. A's Expo went pretty well. She did get some bookings and got a lot of phone calls and emails following the event (hence the web update) so we're looking to make a few more house payments.
Yay resourceful mammals!
7.1.06
Are you kidding me?
So we just found out that this wonderful product brought to you by the kind people at Johnson & Johnson, the same folks that have delivered tearless baths for generation, contains an ingredient that may cause serious breathing problems if your family has a history of asthma or allergies.
Now, it's printed on the back, so we have no one to blame for this oversite but ourselves.
But I mean, what the fuck? It's tearless, but it can aggrivate your allergies or asthma? What kind of a trade off is that? You know how many people in the U.S. have both of those?
Anyway, if you're a parent and you read this and you have a child with asthma, be alerted. If you also happen to know where we can find a good asthma safe baby wash please either email me or use the comment field.
Thank you.
LMAisms
Before I forget, I have to write down more wisdom of a 4 year 7 month old.
Mrs. A, "Where did you come from?"
LMA, "Your belly!"
Mrs. A, "And where did you come from before that?"
LMA, "The hospital!"
Mrs. A, "No, BEFORE that..."
LMA, "Um...could you give me a hint?"
and
While working with Yogi on where his nose is, Mrs. A didn't want LMA to feel left out so she turned and ask, "Where is your cerebellum?"
LMA making an educated guess, points at her crotch.
Fun times man.
Mrs. A, "Where did you come from?"
LMA, "Your belly!"
Mrs. A, "And where did you come from before that?"
LMA, "The hospital!"
Mrs. A, "No, BEFORE that..."
LMA, "Um...could you give me a hint?"
and
While working with Yogi on where his nose is, Mrs. A didn't want LMA to feel left out so she turned and ask, "Where is your cerebellum?"
LMA making an educated guess, points at her crotch.
Fun times man.
4.1.06
3.1.06
Top Lists
First of I hope very many wastes of time. This goes out to all my online comic buddies who don't read this site.
Top First Posts on Comic Book Creator Message Boards
Trust me, if you don't read comic book message boards, all this was freakin hysterical.
Top First Posts on Comic Book Creator Message Boards
- Hi all, I need a logo for my (non-comic book related group) and I thought I'd ask here. I can't pay, but you'll be making a great portfolio piece.
- Come see my new online comic that's poorly drawn and the humor has to be explained.
- Greetings. I haven't been drawing in a while but I thought I'd get back into it. Here's some new art, please don't critique as I have a "style" and all talk of anatomy and composition will only be met with childish retorts.
- Please visit my eBay site so I can help my collection addiction by selling topless drawings of Elektra and Supergirl.
- Could I get you guys to look at my gallery site and let me know what you think of it? It's on a free web service, so ignore all the banner ads. Also, I'm no good at html or css or any language so the page is a bit simple and hard to get around. Oh, and I won't respond to this post once I submit it. Thanks!
- Hey Fellow (insert board name here)-ers/ites/ians! Want a great opportunity?? Such and Such Studios has just opened its doors and is now accepting submissions from all skill levels and any kind of story. All we ask is that you send us a full script, at least 20 pages of artwork, and possibly some splash or cover pages before we'll even talk to you. Don't worry that you may see this in print very shortly without your knowledge, credit or payment, that's part of the magic. So don't wait, send us your best stuff now so we can use it before our ISP figures out we're scamming people!
- I'm a writer and I've had artists back out on my project...(don't even need to add more to that one.)
- Hi, I'm new, what's the best book to get to learn how to draw? Can I download it? Will it make me better before the Dragon Con?
- What's the best place to host images for free with unlimited storage and bandwidth usage that allows remote linking? Shortly followed by...
- How do I display images here?
- And finally the all important, How do I get an avatar/change my title/put a picture in my signature, question.
Trust me, if you don't read comic book message boards, all this was freakin hysterical.
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