Dude, seriously?

Sadly, Poodle Scam != true. Well, it was funny while it lasted. And I saw it on the news last night here, so that's even funnier...

Why am I so pissed off about this Goldman thing? Because this man has taken the work that someone put their time and effort into, traced it, and sold it at profit without acknowledging the original source. Then, when he's confronted with accusations of thievery, he laughs it off, may or may not call one of the people he stole from a pedophile (there's a discussion of the headers that concludes that at the very least someone with access to the David and Goliath smtp email servers sent it- Goldman is sure one classy dude) and trots out lawyers to try and shut down sites that document his doings. No guilt, no shame, and aside from one offhand bone thrown to Shmorky to try and shut him up, no apology or real explanation.
I do my own work. And whatever it is that I do, be it draw, paint, sculpt, or write, I do it to the very best of my ability. I may never be published, I don't seek out gallery space, and I won't ever be in a book on fine art (or even crap art). But that's not the point. I put everything I've got into my own work. For whatever their reasons, other artists do the same thing. If they're in it for love, for obsession, for money, for fame, or to deal with a part of themselves, it doesn't matter- it's their work, it's their sweat and heart on the page, canvas, pedestal, webpage, whatever. The idea that someone is out there stealing that same hard work that others have done, tracing it, then selling it while claiming it as his own, and trying to cover it up with threats- that makes him a parasite, living off the blood of others, and it makes me insanely angry.

Todd Goldman is still an asshole.

Hey, all right, Penny Arcade has pointed out Todd Goldman's assholery!

And so has Slashdot! I'm so proud! (Anonymous reader, hmmm, I wonder who that could have been...)

I'd never heard of this guy before all this crap, but gods, he's already a hack and he's working hard to make an idiot of himself in public.

Todd Goldman is an asshole.

He's now threatening to sue a site for "defaming, derogatory and malicious statements"- which is interesting, as there's hardly any text on the page. Just a load of images, showing the work of Goldman and the original work of others that apparently "inspired" them. And now he's threatening to sue. Feh. Last time I checked, we're still allowed to point out assholery in my country, and so here it is: Todd Goldman- you're a complete asshole.

This is the post, yes, the post, in which to put any continuation of the philosophical discussion started in my Devo post, of all things.

"He appeared once on The O'Reilly Factor in a historic appearance that lasted all of ten seconds when he blurted out that "Wait a minute, this show isn't fair and balanced at all."

- Woo! Go Captain Obvious!

Just got back from Scarborough, and we're very tired, so I'll leave you with the one pic above and a link. The link is to the Wikipedia page on Super Chexx, which I had almost entirely forgotten about until we stumbled onto one in the back of a gaming parlor on the beach front. (We were there to use the ATM and noticed that and the airhockey table in the back). While the Chexx game itself was not in good shape (it managed two goals before it just stopped delivering pucks, and no amount of thumping or hitting buttons would get it going again) it brought back a lot of great childhood memories of my Dad and I playing on the one in the Warren arcade, which this could have been, I suppose, as it was certainly reconditioned rather than new (the goals were held up with tape) and still had the 25 cents coin slot ID. At any rate, it was a blast to play while it lasted, and the Owlvark was hooked, so we'll probably have to save up for one someday. And you can all come around and play it.

Okay, so we're going to Scarborough tonight and won't be back until Sunday evening. There's no internet there, so I'll be out of touch until then. See you on Monday!

The Last Unicorn On DVD- Please buy from Mr. Beagle

If any of you are thinking of buying the new DVD of The Last Unicorn, please follow this link and buy from Conlan Press, because each one directly benefits Peter S. Beagle- and because of the way he's been treated, he doesn't get a dime if you buy it anywhere else.

Legend would have been a perfect movie if they'd removed all the dialogue. And gotten someone other than Tom Cruise.

Fenty on the walls of York, in what is referred to as the "Postcard Shot." Apparently everyone who comes to York takes this photo.

Oh yeah, and I've finally gotten around to seeing Jackie Brown. I know, I know, ten years later I finally get around to it. At any rate, it, like all Tarantino's films, is quite the ride, and the cast is absolutely first-rate. Robert Forster is capable and charming, Samuel L. Jackson ramps up both sleaze and cluelessness like it was about to go out of style (he decided on his own hair and beard combo- priceless!), and Pam Grier is smart, tough, sympathetic, and so hot she could get a rise out of a statue (I was pleased that Tarantino seemed at pains to remind the viewer of how awesome she was at every opportunity). Less violence than one would expect, but it gives it more impact when it happens (the few shooting scenes are stark and vicious) and the set designers should get some kind of award.
Also, we've got currently got a three-pack of Pam Grier movies in the mail- "Coffy, " "Foxy Brown, " and "Black Mama, White Mama." It's in a package with a Boards of Canada CD and a copy of Chu Chu Rocket for the GBA. Yes, the Owlvark's suggestion page on AMazon is looking pretty weird these days #grins#

Still hugely excited about going to see Devo, but I'm no longer inclined to swear so much about it :) I'm also gearing myself up to get something written; I've given myself a break for a few weeks, without even looking at the unfinished stuff, until I started feeling as though I had something to say again, rather than just pecking a word out here and then out of duty. We're looking at getting a trip planned to the Isle of Man, which neither of us has ever been to. I am somewhat embarrassed to say that we got the idea from a beer coaster in the Brigantes, but it looks to be a sound one; for one thing, the island is only 40% inhabited and I could really use some wilderness time about now.

We just bought tickets to see Devo in June

!!!!!
I am so fucking excited right now I can't begin to tell you all. It's on the 23rd of June, so this means I'll be home for about a month and then I'll have to go right back to catch the show. I was planning on coming back fairly sharpish anyway, but this definitely confirms it. I'm going to get to see the band I have been fucking *panting* to see since I was in high school. Oh man. Oh man, this is *so fucking awesome.*

I realize I've gone all fangirly and I don't even care.

Just a general pic of us; we'd just gotten back from eating at the Chinese place in town.

I miss my pony.

I seem to be developing a mild form of carpal tunnel, so I made a quick wrist brace out of a dress sock and a tiny thong that came free with a catalog. I feel like MacGyver. MacGyver with a thong on his wrist. Hmm.

Kurt Vonnegut dies at 84

"We probably could have saved ourselves, but we were too damned lazy to try very hard... and too damn cheap." We're going to miss you, bud.

For those of you who shop at Hot Topic

Bear in mind that some of the characters have been stolen from their original artists. Pass it along.

For my little brother

...Since he's going through a rough time and needs inspiration.

"Last, but by no means least, courage— moral courage, the courage of one's convictions, the courage to see things through. The world is in a constant conspiracy against the brave. It's the age-old struggle— the roar of the crowd on one side and the voice of your conscience on the other. "
-Douglas MacArthur

"There is no such thing as a "self-made" man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success."
-George Matthew Adams

"The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion."
-Thomas Paine

"Not to have control over the senses is like sailing in a rudderless ship, bound to break to pieces on coming in contact with the very first rock."
-Mahatma Gandhi

"I am only one, But still I am one. I cannot do everything, But still I can do something; And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."
-Helen Keller

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."
-Henry David Thoreau

I've been working my way around towards getting some more artwork going; it's surprising how much more creative I feel now that I'm less stressed and getting more sleep. I've got a couple of things in mind for a new project, inspired mostly by the Victorian architecture one runs into everywhere over here, and all the time I've been spending at the seaside. It'll take the form of some surrealistic Victorian-style prints. The first one involves hermit crabs, since I actually found a couple of tiny ones the last time I was at Scarborough. I figure that'll be a good place to start, and I've got a couple more less formed ideas for after that. I'm really looking forward to getting some work going; I haven't done anything major (other than the Owlvark figure) in quite a while.

So, the Owlvark had Friday and Monday off for Easter, but we got flattened by a cold that was going around and spent most of it snuggled up watching Futurama. Which is not a bad thing, by any means, but it would have been nice to have a bit more energy. We didn't plan on doing anything major, though, because York is always stuffed through the Easter holiday, and most of the people who live here avoid town like the plague until the holiday is over and it's down to its normal level of crowds.

We did venture in yesterday to pick up some necessary supplies, and happened on an excellent magician/escape artist in the middle of King's Square. He was really great (it's the second time in my life I've seen someone get out of a straightjacket, and this time was much more entertaining) and very funny.

I'm quite pleased with myself, as I've spent the better part of the day trying to find and run a Sega Saturn emulator that actually works, and I've finally gotten it sorted out, after chasing down a couple of different applications and some .dll's and mucking around with the system settings for ages. I realize that it's not a huge deal to the engineers out there, but for a dabbler like myself I was pretty happy with the result. I really needed to get a working one so I could give my actual console back to my Mom and let her save games over my Winning Post data, which takes up the whole system memory. At least now I can run it on a computer and keep it pretty much permanently until Konami gets around to releasing one of the newer ones in English.

There's going to be a new NiGHTS game for the Wii this winter. If I didn't have a cold, I'd literally be jumping up and down. As it is, I'm giggling maniacally and hoping they'll put the original in as an unlockable.

Feel like having a radio horror night without having to listen to the Top 40? Try the Old Time Radio site- I've linked to the suspense section, but they do other things as well. There's an RP #spits# alternative called "Real Alternative" out there which seems to work pretty well. I started with 'The House in Cypress Canyon, ' on the recommendation of Dr. Freex and it was fun; I'll probably try Drury's Bones next.

"I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim too ugly or too this or too that. Songs that run you down or poke fun at you on account of your bad luck or hard traveling. I am out to fight those songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood. I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built, I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work. And the songs that I sing are made up for the most part by all sorts of folks just about like you. I could hire out to the other side, the big money side, and get several dollars every week just to quit singing my own kind of songs and to sing the kind that knock you down still farther and the ones that poke fun at you even more and the ones that make you think you've not any sense at all. But I decided a long time ago that I'd starve to death before I'd sing any such songs as that. The radio waves and your movies and your jukeboxes and your songbooks are already loaded down and running over with such no good songs as that anyhow."

-Woody Guthrie

Haberdashery III: The Blobcat Confluence. I am teh Win. Are you teh Win, too?