FAMILY
Before I write anything else, I would first like to ask for your prayers. My daughter’s Godfather’s mother is very sick and maybe dying, It’s a very difficult time for them right now and I would please ask you to keep him, his mother, and their family in your prayers. Thank you.
THE SIMPSONS NEWS
Last Sunday, the second show I worked on this season was broadcast. I didn’t watch it because, to be honest, I always forget the show is on. The show was mainly about Homer and Flanders teaming up to become bounty hunters, while the “B” plot has Marge getting a job in an erotic bakery. In any case, my co-workers who saw and worked on the show were really disappointed in the show. It turns out that the show was overwritten which means that it was two minutes longer than it should have been. In order to be able to air it, the show had to be edited down. This meant cutting quite a bit of content. The result was that a lot of the best gags were lost. For example, the show has a sequence that spoofs The French Connection. In the cut we saw, it goes on for a while as Homer almost runs over all kinds of people, but in the version that was aired, they cut the sequence down so that he only runs over one person and then it ends. There was also a great running gag with Chef Luigi that was cut completely. There where a lot of things like that, that were cut. Not only that, but during the retakes processes (which is the processes where they fix all the mistakes the colored version of the show has. And sometimes, where they re-write gags they think they can improve) they re-wrote some fun silly gag with an angry Leprechaun and replaced it with the Hulk instead. That really stunk because that was one of the crew’s favorite gags. Sometimes the writers, re-write stuff because they don’t think it’s funny but that’s only because they’ve seen the gag too many times. To everyone else, it’s still fresh. This happens just about every show. Sometimes I think the writers should watch a show with an audience so they could see what gags are working and which ones are not. There are gags that, we at the studio laugh our heads off, that they cut just because they don’t think it’s funny anymore.
I think the thing that has me most bummed out about hearing how much of the show was cut, is that fact that no one is going to get to see these gags but us in the studio. It MIGHT come out in the season 20 box set but I’m not sure it will. So far, not everything that gets cut gets put in the box sets. In any case, it’s just disappointing.
FAMILY
For picture of Munchkin with teeth bigger than her head, click here.
FAMILY
Well, Munchkin is no longer obsessed with Snow White, she’s obsessed with Sleeping Beauty instead. I decided to show her the movie to see how she would react to it. I wanted to see if the movie would caught her attention like Snow White did. It was actually kinda funny because when I put the movie in, and the movie began to play, Munchkin had a frown on her face. She was looking at me and at the movie as if she didn’t trust it to be any good. This suddenly made me feel responsible if the movie failed to entertain her. So I sat there watching her watch the movie wringing my hands anxiously, hoping she would like it. It was very silly. She pretty much kept the expression through out the entire movie. When it was all over, Munchkin stood up, looked at me and asked me to play in again. Now she asks to see the movie every chance she gets.
The things, she likes about it, really surprise me. For one thing, she loves the music. That’s not as surprising so much as the fact that she loves to listen to the orchestral part during the opening credits. Since the movie is old, it has the credits at the beginning of the movie with a sampling of the music that will be played through out. Munchkin loves to sit there and listen to it. She smiles, listens and turns to me with anticipation during that opening. Unsurprisingly, she gets up and tries to move and dance like Princes Aurora in the forest but what surprises me is during the times that Maleficent in on screen, she doesn’t seem to get very scared. She’s completely fascinated with all the fairy tale elements in the story, including the exciting finally against the dragon.
For my part, I’m glad she wants to watch this movie. Why? Well I’ll explain myself below…
MOVIES
Sleeping Beauty is by far my favorite “girl marries prince” Disney movie. It’s an amazing movie to look at. I can’t help but admire all the artwork in every scene of that movie. The art direction is simply amazing. The background paintings are drop dead gorgeous.
The animation, by “The Nine Old Men” is masterful. The music by Tchaikovsky is beautiful. The character designs are great, the consistency of the drawings of the characters is remarkable (a major flaw in modern 2D Disney movies). The fact that every line on all the characters was hand inked, with different colored inks, on different parts of their bodies, onto a cell is just mind blowing. The bad guy in the move is one of the coolest bad guys in the Disney pantheon.
The dragon she turns into is sooo awesome and the design is simply amazing. As little as we get to know about Prince Philip, he comes across as really cool. Even though he had A LOT of help fighting Maleficent from the good fairies, he still comes across are very heroic. Not only that, but the iconic symbolism of that fight is really great.
I mean, he’s protected by The Shield of Virtue and he fights with The Sword of Truth and with it he slays a dragon. It really calls to mind Biblical passages:
7 And there was a great battle in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought, and his angels.8 And they prevailed not: neither was their place found any more in heaven.9 And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world. (Revelation 12: 7-9 Douay-Rheims)
11 And I saw heaven opened: and behold a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called faithful and true: and with justice doth he judge and fight.12 And his eyes were as a flame of fire: and on his head were many diadems. And he had a name written, which no manknoweth but himself.13 And he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood. And his name is called: THE WORD OF GOD.14 And the armies that are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.15 And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp two-edged sword, that with it he may strike the nations. (Revelations 19: 11-15 Douay Rheims)
According to our sources THE HOUSE WILL TRY TO PASS THE ORPHAN WORKS BILLTODAY
10.3.08
If this Bill is only meant to help libraries and museums, why did they draft it behind closed doors?
Why have the doors been opened wide for commercial infringement of the work of living authors actively licensing their work?
Why do they want to pass it when nobody’s looking?
Why do they want to re-write copyright law without an open debate?
Stop this effort to give content to Big Internet firms by undermining copyright law.
Get the word out.
· Light up Washington and home offices of your Congressman. · Contact the media. · Deny them cover. Do not let them hide.
Tell them we will hold each of them accountable.
THE MESSAGE for your Congressman, Key Leaders, Aides, Media
· The “Dark Archive” – where infringers can register their paperwork in secret – will not protect our copyrights.
· An “Open Archive” – with orphaned work exposed to to the public – would be a come-and-get-it bank for plagiarists and infringers.
· Artists cannot monitor tens or hundreds of thousands of images every day to see if somebody somewhere has infringed their work.
· There are more than a trillion images subject to orphaning each day.
· If someone can’t find me, that doesn’t mean I’ve orphaned my work.
· An unsuccessful search for a property owner should not be a license to steal.
· Artists should not have to digitize their life’s work at their own expense to comply with a law they don’t want or need.
· The high cost compliance would make compliance prohibitive.
· The loss of exclusive rights would undermine contractual agreements with clients.
· We cannot sell exclusive rights to clients if others can publish our work without our knowledge or consent.
· The loss of exclusive rights would devalue our entire inventories of work.
· Small business owners should not be forced to subsidize the business models of Big Internet firms.
· No rational business owner should have to give access to their inventory, metadata, client contact information, etc. to outside business interests.
Tell lawmakers to prevent passage of this bill until it can be subjected to an open, informed and transparent public examination.
Tell them this is no way to re-write copyright law.
Tell them it will affect millions of rights holders worldwide.
Tell them you would support a true orphan works bill, but this is not it.
Tell them to to consider the amendments presented by the Illustrators’ Partnership, Artists Rights Society and Advertising Photographers of America
Phone, fax, email these Congresspeople immediately
Over 75 organizations oppose this bill, representing over half a million creators.
U.S. Creators and the image-making public can email Congress through the Capwiz site: http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/ 2 minutes is all it takes to tell the U.S. Congress to uphold copyright protection for the world’s artists.
CALL CONGRESS: 1-800-828-0498. Tell the U.S. Capitol Switchboard Operator “I would like to leave a message for Congressperson __________ that I oppose the Orphan Works Act.” The switchboard operator will patch you through to the lawmaker’s office and often take a message which also gets passed on to the lawmaker. Once you’re put through tell your Representative the message again.
If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com Place “Add Name” in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, songwriters, musicians, and countless licensing firms all believe this bill will harm their small businesses.
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THE SIMPSONS NEWS
Storyboarding, Yay! Been revising the boards for the show all this week as well. I’m having a blast and I’m very happy to be doing it. Meanwhile, the studio is moving forward in a big way to get us to go digital. I’m going to be having classes on the program we will be using tomorrow, (Friday). That way, by the time I get on the machine, I’ll at least know my way around it a bit.
The head of the Korean animation studio that does the second part of the work on the show, came by this week. He had a list of things he wanted to see from us that would help them be more efficient and help ease the work load. That way, we can get the shows done faster for less money. It was very interesting.
Speaking of budget. I’m pretty sure this show tends to make an awful lot of money and yet, we always seem to be penny pinching on our end. We don’t always have the money we need in order to do what we need to do. Why? Well, some people who work on this show get paid extremely well. So well, that it’s actually making the show more and more expensive to produce. It’s only a matter of time before Fox decides the show is more of a loss than a gain and it’s not worth producing anymore. We are trying real hard to do what we do on our end to make the show cheaper, to avoid that happening too soon. Sux.
PODCASTS/WEBCAST
Just thought I’d congratulate Greg and Jennifer Willits from Rosary Army, once again. Last week they sent out a Podcast/Webcast (RA show #240) which allowed us to ease drop on them discovering the sex of their baby. It was very moving and exciting. You ought to check it out it you haven’t yet.
Okay, I’m going to spoil it for you now, so my apologies if you haven’t heard it:
MY FAMILY
Lots of things are changing. My wife is going back to work. She’s going to meetings all next week. She’s going to be working full time. This means that we are NOT going to be able to take care of the kids ourselves and we can’t leave the kids with friends of family. So for the first time, we are going to leave them in day care everyday. They’ve had experience with a Day Care environment before, but not every day for months. Just an occasional one day a month kinda thing.
To be honest. I’m not happy about it. It’s expensive and we are not raising our kids ourselves during the time they are in Day Care. On the other hand Munchkin needs to be more social and be around kids and it’s not like we are not around during the times they aren’t in Day Care. The place we will be leaving them in will do many educational things with the kids, including take them to the library (which is something that we tend to do with our kids when we get the chance anyway). It’s not all bad. Still, I just don’t like doing it. Especially with Dante being so young. Who knows, maybe it will be good for him to be around all the kids. I pray this will turn out well.
MY FAMILY
In much happier news…IT’S ALESHA’S BIRTHDAY TODAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY! YAY!
COPYRIGHT PROTECTIONS
The Orphan works battle is still not over. There is still a chance that it may come up again. Last time it was a close call. This is what’s going on now:
FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS‘ PARTNERSHIP
With Congress back in session this week, Orphan Works rumors are back too.
According to some sources, deals have been made to pass the bills quickly.
According to others, the bills have stalled for this session.
Here’s what we know, independent of conflicting sources:
SEPT 6 OpenCongress Lists “8 Controversial Bills That Congress Still May Pass”
In Congress Gossip, by Donny Shaw, the article notes that the Orphan Works Bills “have been called out by concerned citizens… but are in a good position to quickly become law” in the next several weeks. The author quotes artist Brad Holland and attorney Larry Lessig in opposition to the legislation, and ends with this quote from “an anonymous OpenCongress user”:
“Isn’t it funny how music is getting huge, sledgehammer like protection in HR 4279 and visual art is getting devalued and made worthless by this bill, HR 5889? Music must just be soo much more valuable. It’s all about the corporate interests. Artists need to band together for our own protection and fight this dangerous bill. I’m an art student, and while I will never stop making art I’m worried I’ll be unable to make a living at it. It’s never been easy to be an artist without this kind of stuff coming along and making it impossible for us.”
SEPT 10 Authors Groups Submit Opposition Papers to Small Business Administration
The Illustrators’ Partnership, Artists Rights Society and Advertising Photographers of America have submitted over 60 papers and articles to the Office of Advocacy of the US Small Business Administration. These written statements were filed on behalf of attorneys, illustrators, designers, fine artists, photographers, songwriters, musicians, writers, members of the art licensing community and other small business owners. All are opposed to the bill.
These papers are the written statements submitted in conjunction with the Orphan Works Roundtable, conducted by the SBA August 8, 2008 at the Salmagundi Club in New York City. The package will be distributed to lawmakers in both houses of Congress.
A PDF of the collected papers will be available soon from the Illustrators’ Partnership Orphan Works blog: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/
AUGUST 30 Copyright Expert Releases Analysis of Orphan Works Bills
Leading copyright expert Jane C. Ginsburg of the Columbia Law School has published a major Orphan Works piece, the first of a two part article: Recent Developments in US Copyright Law: Part I – “Orphan” Works.
Professor Ginsburg’s scholarly paper raises several critical questions about the current legislation. Among various points, she notes that certain provisions appear to violate Article 10.1 of the Berne Convention, which prohibits prejudicial exceptions to an author’s exclusive right of copyright. She states that the preclusion of injunctive relief with respect to derivative works would appear to force authors to tolerate “even derivative uses they find offensive or that distort their works,” and she adds that this “has economic consequences as well,” depriving the author of the right “to grant exclusive derivative work rights to a third party. The bill thus potentially devalues the derivative work right.”
“The US proposals,” she writes, “may run afoul of EU restrictions” for various reasons, and adds: “[t]here may also be Berne- compatibility problems regarding the inclusion of non-divulged [unpublished] works in the proposed orphan works regime…[T]he bills should exclude “orphan works” which have never been disclosed to the public, and whose authors are still living.”
“The ‘progress of knowledge’ to which US copyright aspires,” she writes, “is achieved not only by putting works into circulation, but also by fostering conditions conducive to creativity.”
The full paper can be accessed here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1263361
SEPT 6 French Magazine Telerama Sounds Orphan Works Warning Main basse sur les images “orphelines” by Olivier Pascal-Moussellard. In this article, initiated by artist Etienne Delessert, the popular French magazine notes that 60 organizations oppose the controversial US bill and warns that it threatens to harm international artists as well “if they don’t wake up.” In opposition to the bill, it quotes Brad Holland and Dr. Ted Feder, President of the Artists Rights Society, which represents the estates of Matisse, Picasso, Chagall and tens of thousands of others. It also quotes Stefan Biberfeld, legal director of Corbis Europe, noting that stock agencies such as Getty and Corbis will benefit from passage of the legislation because it will allow them to market orphaned work without fear of being “intimidated” by copyright owners. The article is in French.
“LE FIL ARTS ET SCÈNES– Menace sur les droits d’auteur : une loi américaine veut rendre libre l’usage des photos, tableaux ou dessins dont on ne connaît pas l’auteur. A qui profite-t-elle ?”
“Simple question de bon sens, disent les uns. Hold-up légal, rétorquent les autres. Légal, car perpétré par les députés et sénateurs américains, téléguidés en coulisse par les géants d’Internet. L’objet du casse ? Les droits d’auteur des peintres, dessinateurs et photographes américains, mais peut-être aussi ceux de leurs collègues étrangers s’ils ne se réveillent pas.”
TRANSLATION:“Threat to artists’ copyrights: A U.S. law would free up the exploitation of photos, paintings, and illustrations whose creators cannot be located. Who profits? Some maintain that “It’s a simple question of common sense”. Others retort that “It’s legal highway robbery.” Legal, because the law is being perpetrated by U.S. Congressmen and Senators remotely controlled by internet giants operating behind the scenes. The target of this break-in: the copyrights of American painters, photographers and illustrators, but perhaps also of their foreign colleagues if they don’t wake up in time.”
This Capwiz site is open to professional creators and any member of the image-making public.
Sample letters have been provided. International artists will find a special link, with a sample letter and instructions as to whom to write. Two minutes is all it takes to write Congress and defend full copyright protection for creators.
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EDIT: (Okay, I’m keep the original post up but we are no longer accepting suggestions. Thank you all who participated. Hopefully some of your suggestions will be used when the show airs.)
Okay, so I guess this will be my last post reminding you about helping out the show. See the post: Calling all Simpsons fans, the show needs your help. Nethack and other Rogue type games for more details. This week, production began looking for the clips to put in the animatic. Luckily we had some suggestions from people inside the studio that we can work with (I made sure Josh Lama’s suggestion was in the pile they took with them). Once we are done with the first pencil test pass of the show, we’ll get to see how well the gag works . We won’t be done with that until sometime late next month.
Been working hard, getting my scenes done this week. I’m doing pretty well actually.
Usually, the week after Comic Con, (more on that below) everyone is talking about the Con and we all show each other our loot. Not so much this year. My friend Tommydid give me a copy of an artist’s sketchbook that he bought there and ended up not liking the drawings in it as much as he thought he would. I was happy because it so happens I almost bought that very book, but ended up changing my mind at the last minute. Cool.
COMIC CON 2008
Went to Comic Con last Thursday. Been looking forward to it for a while. I was hoping to have a very inspired day, like I did last year. I packed up a lunch, a bottle of water, took my back pack and I left my house at around 7:00am so I could be there around 8 or 9. I live about two hours away from San Diego. For the first time since I’ve been going, I took the 15 fwy south instead of the 5 fwy south. The biggest reason for this decision was because I live closer to the 15 fwy so it was more convenient. It was interesting. A little more scenic than I anticipated. Although I missed the hour and a half long view of the beach you get when you drive down on the 5 fwy (it’s purdy).
The Con doors opened at 9:30am. Got to San Diego around 9:00am. Parking, as usual, was a pain in the butt. Luckily, I was able to find the place I parked in last time easily enough. The fifteen dollars I payed to park there was like a punch in the gut though. Still, I was paying for the convenience of not going around for an hour looking for parking. I got out of the car and headed for the convention center. Didn’t take long before I was passing by stormtroopers and pirates, while trying to avoid the ninja turtles that where passing out fliers on the side walk. That’s when I realized that, once again, I had forgotten my camera. I’ve yet to remember to bring it. Lucky for me, my phone has a dissent camera so I took it out and prepared to take pictures. Unfortunately by the time I did so, I was stuck in the middle of an enormous mob of wall to wall people. It would have been great to have taken a picture of it but, since I was smack in the center, I couldn’t get a good shot of it without it looking like only a small handful of heads. The mob was there because it was attempting to cross the street to get to the Convention Center. After traffic cops herded us all across the street like a bunch of cattle, I finally made it to the Convention center.
As you can see. There were quite a few people already there and the Convention hadn’t officially opened yet. I managed to find the professional’s pre-registration area so I could get my badge to get in. Unlike last year, I actually remembered to pre-register. Last year it took me two hours in line to get my badge and I had to pay. This time, it took about five minutes and it was free. YAY!
After waiting ten minutes, it became 9:30, the Con was officially opened and we were let in.
Once again, as it always does, I got overwhelmed by the Con. I found myself just about right in the middle and I had to decide which direction I should go to start my trek down every aisle.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take a good panoramic shot of the Con for the above picture because I wasn’t thinking of making a panoramic shot. I’ll just say that, if you want to know what the other side you don’t see looks like, it’s just as endless as the side you do see.
I picked a side and I was on my way. The side I started in made me feel as if I’d suddenly gone to the wrong Con. I thought I was at E3 instead. It was all video games there. Lots of video games that will be coming out soon. I didn’t stay long. Most of the video games I saw, didn’t interest me much. A few of the cinematic videos of the games where really nice thought. They really caught my eye. The Warhammer Fantasy MMO video, for example, looked awesome. Why don’t they make CG movies like that?
In any case, I walked up and down the aisles for an hour or so when I finally came up to the Stuart Ng booth (the one with all the European comics) where I got inspired last year. I looked around and was horribly disappointed that I found nothing at all that caught my eye. That’s never happened before, and I left the booth pretty sad.
Except for a Dalek that was set loose on the Con floor to exterminate all life…
…nothing caught my eye in any of the rest of the aisles either, until I got to the center of the Con. That’s where all the big flashy shinny booths are. Lots of fun stuff to see there.
First, I happened to discover that someone just happened to have dropped an Iron Monger suit. It was just sitting there and no one was claiming it so I thought I’d take it. Problem is that the thing was too big to carry and when I tried to get into it, I found it to be trickier then I thought. .
Disappointed I walked on. Then I saw that, once again, someone had accidentally dropped a James Bond car in the middle of the Con. So again, I thought, since no one was claiming it, I’d take it home, but there was no keys in the ignition, so my plans were crushed.
That’s when I heard the Hulk yell at me. He was angry because he said I was trying to “steal thing”. I told him it was “finders keeper” if someone dropped things and didn’t claim them. He got angry at me. You don’t want to see him when he’s angry.
So I had a few more adventures at the Con with some other superheroes and a few Star Wars characters, but I think I’ll save that for next week.
TO BE CONTINUED…
MOVIES
WARNING: The following review of the new Batman movie contains spoilers. I really couldn’t talk about this movie without doing so. It has too many interesting moral things in it that I wanted to talk about. So if you haven’t seen the movie and you don’t want it spoiled, please do not continue reading. You have been warned.
I saw the movie Batman the Dark Knight on Wednesday of last week. Overall I liked the movie. It felt like a modern Batman comic book instead of what people think Batman comic books are like. It was very smart and I liked the moral dilemmas presented to the characters through out the movie. One thing that all superhero movies should do is exactly that (have big moral dilemmas). Superhero stories are best when they are morality plays (like Westerns and Samurai movies). I don’t know why people making superhero movies don’t get that. The first Superman movie would have been much much better if they had left Lois Lane dead. Turning the world backwards in time was a total cop out. Same with the first Spiderman movie. Mary Jane or a bus full of kids? I’LL SAVE THEM BOTH, TA DA! Stupid, very very stupid and shallow too. When this Batman movie presented a similar dilemma, it did it right. I was happy with that. There has been a consistent depth to the latest two Batman movies that I’ve really enjoyed.
The Joker was finally done right. He was just like the comic book Joker. About time! Heath Ledger was great in the role. I don’t know how they could possibly cast another person to play the part. That’s going to be tricky. He was really great.
Great action in the movie, great cast. I liked Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent, he came across as very heroic. I hope that Two Face isn’t dead. He was very cool (in a bad guy way). Having the Joker “create” him was a very interesting take.
There is so much to like about the movie. It’s great. You can sit down and analyze the movie and get a lot out of it.
The Movie also brings up a very interesting point about Batman. Is Batman an effective hero? According to the movie, he is not. His use of fear and violence to solve problems doesn’t actually help the city, it merely causes more fear and violence. I will say this though, at least they finally made a Batman movie where Batman doesn’t kill the villain. That’s something I hated about the Tim Burton Batman movie. In that movie Batman murders the Joker, which of course makes him just as bad as the Joker. Not in this new movie. They get Batman right…well…almost.
Having liked so much of it, I did have issues. Some of these issues where clarified after I talked about the movie with some friends of mine at work. I thought the movie felt long. A friend of mine thought this was because it was not written and edited cleanly enough. It wasn’t a lean movie. I’m not sure if I agree with him though. I would need to watch it again to make sure. I personally think that part of the reason it felt long was that it had a very unconventional structure. I don’t know how many Acts the story had but sometime midway through the movie, every time one ended and another Act began, it felt like the movie should have ended there. As a viewer, you never had the ability to anticipate the movie’s end and it made the movie feel really long. Again, I think repeat viewings of the movie might fix this problem.
Okay, now for my biggest problem with the movie. I propose to you that the movie was pretty much about the hope there is in all people to do the right thing. In spite of the fact that through out the movie, many people fell into the Jokers “morality traps” and chose to do an evil in order to produce a good (which is a BIG no no). In the climactic “morality trap” of the movie, the people of Gotham on the boats ended up doing the right thing. This showed the Joker that the people of Gotham are not animals but humans capable of making good moral choices. If that’s the case, why throw it all out the window in the last five minutes of the movie? What I mean to say is, why didn’t Batman and Commissioner Gordon have any faith in the people of Gotham when they found out the “truth” about Harvey Dent? Especially since only a few minutes before, the people of Gotham proved they could face dire circumstances with flying colors. It seemed really forced and unnecessary. Not only that, but the movie did a lousy job of making you feel that Harvey Dent was seen as a great hero by the people of Gotham. The characters kept, telling us he was, but never actually showed it (like they did with Batman and Gordon’s son). So not only did it feel forced to me, but then they added insult to injury by scandalizing Batman and Gordon by having them lie to the public. To me, story wise, it came across as if Batman and the Joker had exactly the same view of humanity. Are the people of Gotham so weak? They live in Gotham for goodness sakes! Out all the places to live, that city should produce the strongest of people.
Did the Joker win in the end? I would propose to you that the answer is, “yes” but not for the reasons the movie itself gives. I propose that the Joker would not have won if the heroes would have had faith in the people of Gotham to deal with the truth. Since the Joker managed to break the heroes’ faith in people completely, they chose to compromise their virtue and decided to deceive everyone. This is suppose to make Batman seem heroic and tragic. I propose that when the situation is looked at objectively, without the dramatic musical montage and voice over, it just makes Batman, look like he wants to be a martyr, just to be a martyr. “Oh look at me, I’m such a tragic hero.” This guy has major psychological issues. I didn’t buy it. It didn’t work for me.
Obviously, the reason they ended the movie that way, was just so that they had an established conflict for the start of the next movie. They could have come up with something more consistent to the story of the movie than that.
Okay, that’s my rant. Still, I trully loved the movie. I just left the theater very angry because of those last five minutes. I think I left the movie theater far more energized and excited after seeing Ironman, in spite of the fact that Ironman was nowhere near as smart and wore it’s themes on it’s sleeve. But then, the Batman movie was not meant to fill you with happiness and joy. It was meant to be a great morality play.
COPYRIGHT PROTECTIONS
Yesterday the Orphan Bill was almost Hotlined. Luckily enough people called their Senator and put the Bill on Hold temporarily. I received the following e-mail explaining what happened:
FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP Senate Orphan Works Bill Put “on Hold”
We’ve just received word that the Senate bill has been put “on hold.” In fact, there appear to be multiple holds on it. Senators who “hold” hotlined bills do not have to identify themselves nor give their reasons for holding it. Holds are temporary. We don’t know how many of you contacted your Senators on such short notice this afternoon, but many, many thanks to all of you who responded so rapidly. Most people are unaware of the process called hotlining. In the past it was used to pass non-controversial legislation, but increasingly, it’s being used to pass bills whose sponsors don’t want to see debate. An excellent article in Roll Call explains the process. Here’s an excerpt:
Senate conservatives are upset that the leaders of both parties in the chamber have in recent years increasingly used a practice known as “hotlining” bills – previously used to quickly move noncontroversial bills or simple procedural motions – to pass complex and often costly legislation, in some cases with little or no public debate. The increase was particularly noticeable just before the August recess, when leaders hotlined more than 150 bills, totaling millions of dollars in new spending, in a period of less than a week.
The practice has led to complaints from Members and watchdog groups alike that lawmakers are essentially signing off on legislation neither they nor their staff have ever read…
In order for a bill to be hotlined, the Senate Majority Leader and Minority Leader must agree to pass it by unanimous consent, without a roll-call vote. The two leaders then inform Members of this agreement using special hotlines installed in each office and give Members a specified amount of time to object – in some cases as little as 15 minutes. If no objection is registered, the bill is passed.
– From ‘Hotlined’ Bills Spark Concern By John Stanton, Roll Call Staff September 17, 2007 To read the full article, go to: http://tinyurl.com/3p8x2u This is the second time the Senate Orphan Works bill has been hotlined this summer. The previous hotline came on June 5, the same week artists descended on Washington to urge lawmakers to oppose this controversial bill. The bill was put on hold that time too.
Since bills can be hotlined without prior notice, we’ll all have to stay vigilant throughout the rest of this legislative session. Thanks again to all of you who responded so quickly.
Over 60 organizations, representing more than 250,000 creators, are united in opposing these bills in their current form. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, songwriters, musicians, and countless licensing firms all believe this bill will harm their small businesses. Read the list:http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00273
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I called the studio earlier this week. I wanted to know if they had worked out the schedule for the season yet, and if they had, where I fit in it. Well, I was told the schedule is still not quite done yet but it’s possible I might start on the first or second week of July. Unfortunately, this is not set in stone. So until the schedule is official, I might go back to work next month…or maybe not.
MOVIES (The Hobbit)
A while back I wrote about how it was good that The Hobbit movie would be split up into two movies. Turns out that my assumption that both movies would be telling the same story of The Hobbit, was incorrect. It seems that the first movie is going to be a movie version of The Hobbit book while the second movie is going to be completely made up.
Wait…
What?
That’s right, you read right, the second movie being made is going to be completely made up, as in,
Uh…is it just me or did Peter Jackson just totally ignore the question. What sources are you going to use Mr. Jackson? Meanwhile it would be nice to know what “Omissions and material” in the “licensed material” del Toro is talking about. To be honest I don’t like this idea at all. Nearly every time Peter Jackson deviated from what Tolkien had written in some source material, he actually made the story worse, not better. Some things he changed, I could understand, but then there are other things that make me go, “HUH!”? For example:
Helm’s Deep. There really wasn’t any reason why the elves should have showed up. They all got killed to a man. There was not one Elf left alive at the end of that battle (except Legolas). They weren’t in Helm’s Deep in the book. Why have them there in the movie?
Then there’s the question, what the heck happened to the Dunedain? In the book, Aragorn had an army of “Aragorns” (A.K.A Dunedain) that were as cool as he was, kicked major butt and turned the tide of the battle in Minas Tirith. In the movie, it was an army of ghosts. In the book, the ghosts simply helped Aragorn and the Dunedain get the ships the they needed to get to Minas Tirith to kick major butt. The the ghosts didn’t go all the way to Minas Tirith. In the movie, the fact that the ghosts did what they did, begs the question, “Why didn’t they just take those ghosts all the way to Mordor then?”
Then of course, there’s Faramir whose character and personality they changed for the worse because, according to the Commentary on the DVD, “he needed a character arch”. In the book, Faramir was suppose to be the complete opposite of his brother Boromir and through him we were suppose got get a glimpse of what true wisdom and virtue really was. In any case, they at least fixed him some what in the extended editions, so he’s not too horrible, although having Sam and Frodo at Osgiliath just to get attacked by a Ring Wraith was a really a dumb idea too.
Okay, so everything I mentioned above doesn’t really ruin the movies for me. I could live with those changes. They are still, “in the spirit” of what the story intended. There is one thing thought that just doesn’t fit any “spirit” at all. The worst sin in the movies…the portrayal of Denethor. This bugs me every time I watch the movies he’s in. For two reasons:
It is inconsistent with what the writers had established as their style. What I mean is, if they were willing to change Faramir because he needed story arch, WHY TAKE AWAY DENETHOR’S ARCH SO THAT HE’S A ONE NOTE CHARACTER?! (He’s Angry, angry, angry, angry, despairing and angry, he’s dead.) Then to have a scene were Gandalf hits him! What a disgrace. Yes, I understand he’s just a fictional character but it’s what he represents that bugs me. This leads me to reason…
In the books, there are many characters that represent wisdom, it’s a motif that is through out the books. Each character represents different kinds of wisdom. Elrond, Galadriel, Gandalf, Aragorn, Faramir, Sam, all, in part, represent a form of wisdom in the story. Denethor also represents wisdom but a wisdom that was slowly lost due to overconfidence and pride. Denethor was a wise and prudent (but very grumpy) leader. He knew what was at stake and what needed to be done about it. The problem with Denethor was that he was a very proud man and this proved to be his undoing. He also had a Palantir (just like Saruman the Wizard) something erroneously cut out of the movies. Denethor knew that Sauron controlled the Palantir but Denethor, through his pride, thought he was strong enough to deal with that fact and used it often. Denethor also knew that the Palantir could not show him false things. So Sauron out smarted Denethor by showing him that, the ships that Aragorn had taken from the “bad guys” using the ghosts, were on the way to Minas Tirith. Sauron hid the fact that Aragorn and the Dunedain were on board. He only showed him that evil ships with black sails were on the way. Denethor thought that more bad guys were coming and that is the reason he went into despair. Denethor thought he knew something no one else did. See, Sauron tricked a good man with false information by using his pride against him. Denethor‘s pride proved greater than his wisdom and he foolishly played mind games with “evil” and lost. That is the lesson you should take away from Denethor‘s story, “Don’t play with fire or you’ll get burned.” Why was this cut from the movies? If they had enough time to film big chunks of story afterwards for the special edition DVDs, why not a scene with a Palantir and Denethor, to explain why he went nuts? As it is, Denethor, in the movies, has no redeeming qualities and no character arch.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the The Lord of the Rings movies. There was far more right than wrong in them. I think, if they would have been written and directed by anyone else other than Peter Jackson and gang, they probably would have been awful. I really want them to make The Hobbit movie because I think, for the most part, they “get it”. The thing I don’t like is the fact that they are making something up from scratch, and I’m too much of a purist to feel comfortable about it.
One thing I am excited about, is that Guillermo del Toro is directing the movies and this means the art direction is going to be a little different. I personally didn’t like that way the Orcs, Goblins, and Wargs were designed in the original movies. Del Toro in the interviews, has already said, he’s going to be changing some of those designs. Especially the Wargs, which are going to look more like Wolves instead of Hyenas, and the Goblins are going to look different also. I’ve seen the trailer for Hellboy 2 and the monsters in that movie look great. I like that monsters in Del Toro’s moviePan’s Labyrinth also. If The Hobbit movie looks anything like that, I’ll be happy.
ROLE PLAYING GAMES
Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition (D&D4E) came out last week on June 6th and at it’s peak the Core 4th edition gift set became the 4th highest seller at amazon.com. Dungeons and Dragons was the first role playing game ever invented. It inspired tons of other games since. Including some popular video games such as, but not limited to, the Final Fantasy series, the Zelda series, the Knights of the Old Republic series and Bethesda Softwork’sMorrowind, and Oblivion games. The role playing style of gaming has really come to popularity with the invention of games like Lord of the Rings Online and World of Warcraft. Now everyone who plays these games knows what geeks like me have known for years, playing role playing games with friends is fun. Not bad for a game that, in the 80s, was erroneously thought to lead kids into Satanism (much like a certain series of popular books about a young wizard named Harry).
Now that there are so many other role playing games out there, both tabletop and digital, why would you care to buy and play this one? Much like the Wii,D&D4E was designed to attract the new gamers. It has taken a lot of elements from some of the best of both the tabletop and digital role playing games out there, and simplified them so that anyone can pick up and play it; and if you’re into World of Warcraft or Lord of the Rings Online, it will be even easier because it has borrowed a lot of ideas from those games as well. There is no better time to get into the geeky goodness of playing games like these.
MY WEEK
Man! I hate being sick. My throat is killing me. I’ve been sick since last week. This weekend I got really sick. I started getting better on Tuesday but that’s when I made the mistake of yelling along with The Munchkin when I was playing with her. On Wednesday I could barely swallow. I’m grumpy and feeling just awful. To make matters worse, the drawing below had to be drawn twice because my laptop over heated and turned itself off as I was just finishing it. I hadn’t save the drawing. It’s all I had the strength to draw. What a lousy week.
COPYRIGHT PROTECTION
Woo Hoo! Some illustrators have actually gone to Washington to fight the Orphan Bill. Hope they can make a difference. Let’s pray for them:
FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP
Visual Artists Go to Washington, Independent Record Labels Oppose Orphan Works Act
Last week over two dozen visual artists, representing illustrators, photographers, fine artists and the arts licensing trades went to Capital Hill to explain to legislators how the Orphan Works Act will harm creators and the hundreds of thousands of art-related small businesses that serve and are dependent on them. At the same time, independent music labels have joined the opposition to orphan works legislation as it currently exists.
The Illustrators’ Partnership has stressed that Orphan Works legislation should be limited to true orphaned work and not act as an unwarranted compulsory license imposed on commercial markets. IPA, the Advertising Photographers of America and the Artists Rights Society have joined to offer amendments to that effect.
Excerpted from the Washington Internet Daily/Monday June 09, 2008:
The visual-arts community hit the Hill last week to protest what it portrays as a hijacking of the orphan-works issue as it was presented in a 2005 Copyright Office report…
The Copyright Office ran a bait-and-switch from its 2005 notice of intent, which focused on facilitating libraries’, museums’ and other nonprofits’ efforts to digitize collections to improve access to them, [Illustrators’ Partnership co-founder Brad] Holland said. Artists want the issue narrowed back to that focus, scrapping commercial use, he said…Copyright Office roundtables on orphan works never addressed alternates to registries, an “untested, untried, unaccountable market system” favoring Google, Getty, Corbis and other commercial aggregators, Holland said. [Cynthia] Turner [also of the Partnership] said artists would incur high costs registering works, and they hesitate to hand over high-res, commercial versions to Google or others.
In the same article, Washington Internet Daily also reports that the leading group of independent music labels has broken with the corporate music trade associations. The American Association of Independent Music has published a position paper opposing the current orphan works bills. The article quotes a music industry executive: “I can tell you that nobody in the music business” sought the bill.
… the executive said the bill is “de facto… establishing a new compulsory license” by putting unregistered artists at a legal disadvantage in court. The law can’t explicitly require registration or it will violate the Berne Convention, TRIPS and other treaties the U.S. has signed, the executive said. Book publishers and music executives in the U.K. think the U.S. will be in trouble, the executive said, citing a recent visit: “I can tell you there are European commissioners that are looking at this right now.”
–Excerpts from “Orphan-Works Bills Scorned by Visual Arts, Indie Labels” by Greg Piper, Washington Internet Daily June 09, 2008
On Monday I got an e-mail from one of our Simpsons producers telling us that the actors signed their new contract. We were informed that the rest of the day, they were going to begin figuring out a schedule for the shows in order to have some idea for our start dates. That’s really good news for us. Hurray! Although, I don’t expect to be back to work until sometime in late July early August. We were told, before our hiatus, that we were to expect to come back a month after the writers signed. Although, because the shows start up about two to three weeks from each other, not everyone will be coming back at once.
ROLE PLAYING GAMES
So I was listening to The Daily Breakfast#492 last Tuesday, and I heard myself there because I left a voice message, earlier in the week. I had called to say something about Role Playing games based on a comment from another caller.I really didn’t think much about it until I heard what happened next.It went something like this:
Yeah, so now that I opened my big fat mouth, I thought I should write a little about some Role Playing Game systems in case people have decided to come to my blog because of what I said.
Here’s a small list of the games I own.Hopefully this will give you an idea of the games that are out there.I’ll give you the name of the game or game system and a description of it.I will also put Pros and Cons for each one when I could.If it’s a games system I will put the games that can be played with it.A Game System is a generic system of rules that could be used to play just about any game genre.Some are better and more versatile than others.
This was my favorite system, mostly because I was able to make superheroes with it.
PROS:Very, very versatile.You could play just about anything you want with it.You can play Star Wars in it, if your willing to put the time into creating the Star Wars universe from scratch. You can play Pulp, Fantasy, Sci-fi…you name it, you can play it in this system.
CONS:Very complicated.Character creation takes a very long time.If fighting occurs the game begins to get very sloooow. It has no ‘official setting’ which means you have to create everything from scratch.This involves a lot of work and it means that you won’t actually be playing a game right away. Someone will have to sit down and create the setting.(This may not be a con if you love doing that sort of thing anyway).
HERO SYSTEM GAMES I OWN:
·CHAMPIONS: Superheroes
·PULP HERO:Like Indiana Jones…
·FANTASY HERO:Any kind of Fantasy setting you can think of.
·STARHERO: Any kind of science fiction space genres.
My new favorite system for playing superheroes. This game (unlike HERO) is only a system to play superheroes games.It uses a very heavily modified D20 3.5 system.So heavily modified, that its now its own system.This system is very much like the HERO system Champions game only a lot easier.
PROS:The system is easy and fast.The artwork in the game is great. If you like superheroes, this is the game to play. You can make Jedi with this system. You might be able to use this system for anything you want.
CONS:To be very honest, I can’t think of any right now.If I do, I’ll but them in.
This is my second favorite system. It’s lighter than Hero system and almost as versatile. It’s a little like the D20 3.5 system only easier.
PROS:Not very complicated. Easy for beginners to use so it’s a great starter role playing game.Character creation takes fifteen minutes.Quick combat mechanics.Has some official settings.
CONS:Not as versatile as Hero system.(in other words you wouldn’t be able to make Superheroes or Jedi using this system). Otherwise good system.If you want to play a game outside of some of the official settings it has the same world building problem as Hero System.
SAVAGE WORLDS GAMES:
·DEADLANDS: This game seems like a very interesting wild west game with fantasy and horror elements. Some of the mechanics of the game require using Poker cards.
(Here is the official description of the game):
Welcome to the Weird West!
The year is 1879, but the history is not our own. The guns of the Civil War are silent thanks to a tense cease fire between North and South. California is shattered by the Great Quake of ྀ, a new superfuel called ghost rock is revealed in the flooded channels and buried in the cliff faces that loom above. Powerful Rail Barons strive to be the first to complete a transcontinental railroad, and the Great Rail Wars exact a bloody toll on an American frontier divided between not only the Union and Confederacy, but the Sioux Nation, the Mormon state of Deseret, and the Independent Commonwealth of California.
Amid the chaos, fortunes can be made by those bold enough to make their way West. These brave souls have more than plain old human violence to contend with. Something’s going on in the West, something downright nasty. Fear stalks the land like a hungry beast, and abominations from man’s myths and nightmares haunt the High Plains. Legends tell of ancient and powerful beings that thrive on the fear created by these horrific creatures. All around, the night grows darker and the shadows grow longer as evil twists the land.
Arrayed against the forces of darkness are the heroes of the Weird West: Grim gunslingers, spell slinging hucksters, brilliant mad scientists, and wizened Indian shamans stake their souls and fortunes on the battle against the evils of the frontier, and often lay down their very lives for the cause of righteousness and light. And sometimes, death is not the end.
This is the most popular system out there.Wizard of the Coast owns it (they make Magic the Gathering collectible card game) and it’s an open game license, which means anyone can make and sell a game using the rule system .It’s famous because Dungeons and Dragons and Star Wars RPG used it.Now both Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons have their own separate systems.The Star Wars game is: Star Wars Saga Edition.The new Dungeons and Dragons game is: Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition.I don’t own either of these systems, so I really can’t comment upon them.
PROS: Not too complicated.Easy for beginners to use but a bit “crunchy” (rules heavy) it’s a good starter role playing game.It’s everywhere. Lots of games use the system.Fights are moderate in length.Lots of resources out for it.Great to play ‘Hack and Slash’ games with.You could play Paranoia with it!
CONS: It’s a bit shallow.Not very customizable.It’s very limiting in the type of characters you can make.It almost forces you to make stereotype characters rather that deep ‘real’ characters.It’s more a miniatures game than a role-playing game.Too heavy an emphasis on fighting and very little on character development.
D20 3.5 GAMES:
(I will limit this list to the games I own.)
·D&D 3.5:Dungeons and Dragons is the game everyone thinks of when they think RPGs.I thinks it’s fun to play if all you want to do is “hack and slash” monsters but it you want a deeper fantasy experience then there are other games that work better.This game tends to pigeon hole you into making very limited character types.
·CONAN: I ain’t talking lame Arnold Schwarzenegger Conan here, I’m talking Robert E. Howard’s Conan.From the books.This game is interesting because you don’t play as Conan but you play in the world of Conan which is as interesting as Tolkien’s Middle Earth.One of the things I found interesting, is that in order to do magic, in the world of Conan you have to, in some way, sell a little of your soul.The more magic you learn the more of yourself you lose. Very interesting.
(Here is the official description of the game):
‘Know, o prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars – Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyberborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold. But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west. Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet.’
The golden age of fantasy is brought back to gaming as Conan and Hyboria stride into the realms of gaming once again. This 352-page, lavishly illustrated full-colour book realizes the world of Conan as never before.
Exhaustively researched, Conan The Roleplaying Game features new innovations to ensure combat, magic, character creation and development reflect the epic writings of Robert E. Howard. From the shores of the Western Ocean, to the Sea of Vilayet, the countries of Hyboria are explored, detailed and illustrated. The cultures, religions, traditions, legends and more are all explored to ensure this is the most definitive Conan roleplaying game of all time. This complete roleplaying game lets players and Games Masters alike step into the world of the greatest fantasy hero of all time and shake the world of Hyboria.
·TESTAMENT: This is a game where you play during the age of the Old Testament. I bought this because I was curious.It’s an interesting game.It might be interesting to play this as a political game. Problem with this book is that it was originally written for D20 3.0 not 3.5.But it’s not too big a deal to modify it to 3.5.
(Here is the official description of the game):
You’ve Read The Book, Now Play The Game!
There were giants in the Earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in onto the daughters of men and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
—The Book of Genesis
The world of the Bible comes to life in this campaign setting for the d20 System. Play a wandering Babylonian magus, a sorcerer in the service of Pharaoh, a Canaanite maker of idols, or a prophet of the God of Israel. Walk the streets of ancient Jerusalem, stand beside King David as one of his Mighty Men, smite Philistines, ponder the mysteries of gargantuan tombs, look upon the dwellings of the gods, and battle demons, dragons, plagues, and the legendary beasts of Babylon. Testament gives you everything you need to immerse yourself in the Biblical Era, including:
A dozen new core and prestige classes, including the Levite Priest, the Egyptian Khery-heb wizard, and the Desert Hermit.
Over 30 new monsters, including Nephilim, Tempter Devils, and Zebub-Spawn.
Over 50 new feats and over 100 new spells.
Rules for barter, curses, piety.
Guidelines for leading a small tribe through the hazards of the Bronze and Iron Age world.
The Biblical Battlefield Resolution System, a new way to fight epic combats.
Full cultural details on ancient Israel, Canaan, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, including history, beliefs, holy days, architecture, and more.
Dozens of new magic items and artifacts.
Part history, part mythology, Testament is the d20 System setting that’s both instantly familiar and yet unlike any game world you have ever experienced.
·PARANOIA: Yay Paranoia!One of the games most ideally suited for Play By e-mail games.Its a slapstick comedic game about about stabbing other players in the back and being the only one left alive by the end of the game. You play a person who lives in a world controlled by an evil computer.Everyone is out to destroy it and it knows it.You happen to work for it and your job is to find the people who want to destroy the computer and terminate them.Thing is, you want to destroy the computer also.You are part of a team that hunts down rebels but you and everyone else on the team are rebels also, the problem is that everyone is from a rival rebel faction and they are out for themselves. If you manage to prove to the computer that the other people on your team are rebels you will get great rewards, but the others are thinking the same thing.Your job is to complete whatever task that computer has given your team to do while also doing the secret task your rebel faction has given you to do and at the same time try to incriminate and execute your fellow team mates, but watch out.Just because you kill one of them doesn’t mean he won’t be back after being downloaded into a new clone body looking for payback. Fun.
(Here is the official description of the game):
TRUST THE COMPUTER! THE COMPUTER IS YOUR FRIEND!
Greetings, citizen! THE COMPUTER has made you a TROUBLESHOOTER, a protector of the underground city of ALPHA COMPLEX. You and your fellow Troubleshooters will have lots of fun rooting out Communist mutant traitors. The Computer says so.
Members of treasonous secret societies like the Frankenstein Destroyers, the Illuminati, Psion, PURGE and the Sierra Club may attack, maim or blackmail you. Treasonous mutants with powers like Electroshock, Pyrokinesis, Charm, Puppeteer and Bureaucratic Intuition may shock you, incinerate you, subvert you, control you or bury you in paperwork. But it will be fun. The Computer says so, and The Computer is your friend.
Most fun of all is uncovering your fellow Troubleshooters’ secret societies and mutations, accusing them of treason and persuading The Computer to terminate them — before they do the same to you.
PARANOIA: The Roleplaying Game of a Darkly Humorous Future
Pursuant to Central Processing Unit directive 214.08.20/547.4 ‘Restoration of Classic RPGs to Print After Unduly Prolonged Absence,’ Mongoose Publishing brings you PARANOIA, an entirely new edition of the classic science fiction game originally published in 1984. In service to a well-meaning but deranged Computer, you and your fellow players seek to eliminate traitors. Your deepest fear: Your fellow players will discover YOU are one of those traitors.
PARANOIA: A light-hearted game of backstabbing, treachery and guile, where trusting other players is a sure route to the termination centre.
PARANOIA IS FUN. OTHER GAMES ARE NOT FUN. THE COMPUTER SAYS SO, THE COMPUTER IS YOUR FRIEND.
Okay, first, all the games I put here are out of print and have been replaced by the new World of Darkness system.The only reason I’m putting them here at all is to just to have them represented.The new World of Darkness games are just updated versions of the ones below, so you’ll still get the idea of what your getting into by reading this. There are also far more of them than the ones I’ve written about. I just don’t own them.
This system has a lot of good creative ideas.The problem with it is mostly the tone and theme.Most of these gamesmostly revolve around playing a monster of some kind and all the horror that comes with it.It is a Role playing Game system of “personal horror”.So if you want a game to take you to a place like that, this might interest you, otherwise don’t bother.
PROS:Many official game worlds. Very character driven story system. Simple system.Lends itself to deep story driven games.Lots of atmosphere, lots of drama, very rich world.
CONS:Not a versatile system. You can only play in official game worlds.The mood of the game is sometimes too oppressive.Some of the game worlds are better than others. You really have to be in the mood to play these games. They are very moody.
WORLD OF DARKNESS GAMES:
·VAMPIRE THE MASQUERADE: You begin the game as a human who somehow ends up becoming a vampire.This is a game about either fighting to keep your humanity in spite of the fact you’re monster or embracing your inner demon.Lots of politics, intrigue and drama.
·DARK AGE VAMPIRE: Similar to VAMPIRE THE MASQUERADE but set in the Middle Ages.
·MAGE THE ASSENTION: Is perhaps the most intriguing of the bunch.You play a person who suddenly “awakens” to a magical power you didn’t know you had.It’s a game about seeing the world from a new perspective.Magik in this game is a world view shift (there is no spoon). Reality as we know is actually a philosophical perception given to us by a group of wizards. Technology is a type of magik but we don’t see it that way because it is the norm.Other Magicians have different world views.If you learn them you can do different magik. For example, the world view that sees space as two dimensional rather than three could be used to teleport you from one place to another simply by changing the two dimensional picture that is before you.It’s a very creative game.Lots of drama and intrigue. It sounds a little like the Matrix movies. The thing is, this game was out long before the Matrix came out.
·RAGE: You play as a werewolf in this game.It’s pretty much the “I want to fight a lot in my role playing game” game in the World of Darkness universe.
·WRAITH: You play as dead person in a dark limbo like place (notice I didn’t say Purgatory).It’s a pretty oppressive game.
·CHANGELING:The most lighthearted of the World of Darkness System.It takes place in modern times and you play a fairy that has replace a human baby when you yourself were a baby and no one knows.It’s very fantastic.The new version of this game is far darker and I personally think it sounds like a lot of fun.
·CALL OF CTHULU: If you’re a fan of H.P. Lovecraft, this is the game for you. It takes place in the world he invented. This game is a game the player characters aren’t meant to live through.In this game players play some sort of investigators that gets entangled in the hidden TRUE world according to Lovecraft.The truth you find will lead you to see horrors that, if they don’t kill you, they will surely drive you mad.(Think, Hellboy,Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness, Re-animator.) This game uses a percentage dice system. There is a d20 version of this game but it’s not as good.
INDEPENDENT GAMES:
Independent games don’t have a generic system that applies to a bunch of games. They tend to be one shot games with their own rules specific to each individual game.
INDIE GAMES:
·DOGS IN THE VINEYARD: This game is one of the coolest games ever. The game is set in “a West that never quite was” – loosely based on the Mormon State of Deseret in pre-statehood Utah. Players are “God’s Watchdogs” (Dogs), who travel from town to town delivering mail, helping out the community and enforcing the judgments of the True Faith of the King of Life. This may involve anything from delivering new interpretations to the town’s Steward to executing heretics. Dogs have absolute authority within the Faith, but not within the laws of the Territorial Authority, and so their actions can lead to conflict with the government in the East. This game is all about internal conflicts and external conflicts. As a Catholic I like this game because it has a way to play out moral conflicts in an amazing and fun way. It uses an unusual form of conflict resolution, where die rolls are used in poker-style bids. It’s darninnovative.Especially since it makes conflicts far more creative than they would be otherwise and very very personal. It can also be customized to play out Catholic priests, monks or Knights in the middle ages or, if you want, in the modern age. It’s great.Here’s the official description for the game:
You stand between God’s law and the best intentions of the weak.
You stand between God’s people and their own demons.
Sometimes it’s better for one to die than for many to suffer. Sometimes, Dog, sometimes you have to cut off the arm to save the life.
Does the sinner deserve mercy?
Do the wicked deserve judgement?
They’re in your hands.
Dogs in the Vineyard: roleplaying God’s Watchdogs in a West that never quite was.
·THE PRINCES’ KINGDOM: This is basically, Dogs in the Vineyard for kids.Instead of “God’s Dogs” You play as young princes that have been sent off into the world by your father the king in order to learn to rule the kingdom justly.So you go from town to town setting things right and attempting to solve any problems you come across within your kingdom.It usesa more simplified (kid friendly) Dogs in the Vineyard, mechanic. Here’s the flavor text of the game:
You are nine years old! You just had a birthday, and your brothers gave you a puppy. The three of you are seeing the world from your very own boat. You are the sons of the King of Islandia!
And you are the only three that can stop the war.
The Princes’ Kingdom is a game about children, adults, and ideals.
·BURNING WHEEL: This game has a system to solve debates with other characters called “duel of wits” and the fighting system is very unique. If you want to play a game of Lord of the Rings, this is the system to do it in.It’s a very interesting system over all but I think it’s also a very “advanced” system.A little bit of Role Playing experience my help to play this game.
·POLARIS: In a word, “brilliant”.This game is amazing.No Game Master needed to play this game.All you need is four people and a fantastic imagination.This game takes place at the end of a civilization of magical people who live in the North Pole as the coming of the Sun approaches.The game is meant to be a bitter sweet tragedy, about how deep dark mistakes in the heroes lives and civilization is causing the death of their civilization at the hands of demonic monsters that are approaching ever closer.The game system is like nothing out there.If I was to write down how it’s different, I would be here far too long. I can’t recommend this game enough.Here the official flavor text:
Once upon a time, as far north as north can go, there lived the greatest people that this world will ever see. They are gone now, destroyed just as the world destroys all beautiful things. All that remains are these moments we call memories, moments frozen from the flow of time.
Polaris: Chivalric Tragedy at Utmost North is a game for three to five players set during the final years of the Northernmost People, just before the remnants of their civilization were swallowed up by their own Mistake.
The protagonists of the story are Knights of the Order of the Stars, beholden by ancient oaths to serve the stars and protect their people. The antagonists facing the knights are multitudinous — demons from the mistake, doubters from the people, and even betrayers within the brotherhood of Knights.
Polaris uses a set of simple and easy-to-learn mechanics to help guide your game’s storyline to an appropriate tragic ending. Each player at the table guides the protagonist in a different capacity, and the central points of the story are further shaped by the twelve Key Phrases.
This is no longer a history; this is not yet a story. This is all that remains. Whatever else is what you make of it.
·HERO’S BANNER:This game is another that is uniquely suited for playing online.It’s short and the characters only have three stats.Once one of the stats reaches 100 the character’s life path is sealed and he dies.The end.How interesting and dramatic the person’s life was when he dies in determined by how well you play the game.
(Here is the official description of the game):
Great heros walk the land. They alone have the power to lead their people to a better life.
But there was a time before these men and women were remembered for their deeds.
The fate of a kingdom lies in your hands and you must choose a path to glory.
What cause will you fight for? Who will you leave behind? How will you be remembered?
Hero’s Banner: The Fury of Free Will is a fantasy roleplaying game about making life choices in a world filled with expectation. Your character consists, primarily, of three “influences,” or possible life callings. These might include anything from choosing to marry for love instead of political gain to choosing the life of a soldier over that of a courtly diplomat. Whatever the character is struggling with, he spends his time forming alliances and developing other connections to each influence. But with choice comes loss. As your character slowly progresses towards an inevitable end he will lose friends and ability along the way. The more he specializes, the better he becomes, but also the more he must give up. And eventually, he will have to abandon two of his influences altogether—making one final choice.
·SHADOW OF YESTERDAY: This game is Noir meets fantasy.It’s a grim and gritty fantasy setting that revolves around the characters ambitions.
(Here is the official description of the game):
The Shadow of Yesterday is a pulpy, sweaty role-playing game set in a world climbing back from the edge of destruction, filled with adventure, love, poison, sex, and true friendship. Inside you’ll find:
How to make a character who advances for player-chosen reasons.
Goblins that change their shape at will, and find their form through love.
Broken lands at war, rich swamps full of poisoners and slavers, and a decimated people with incredible magic.
Jungle-dwelling kayakers who have mastered the world of the dead.
If you’re ready to plunge into truly bizarre, fully human fantasy, you’re ready to play The Shadow of Yesterday. This game is recommended for ages 18 and up.
·UNIVERSALIS:This game is perhaps the only one that isn’t actually a role-playing game.It’s a story making game. Everyone gets a certain amount of coins or ‘points’ every ‘scene’.Before the ‘scene’ begins everyone bids to see who will set the ‘scene’ up. That person uses the coins or ‘points’ to buy story ideas.As the ‘scene’ goes on, everyone else who has ideas can put them in by buying them using their coins.As coins run out players can get new coins by introducing conflict into the story.Conflicts are resolved using dice.The person who wins the conflict not only gets coins back but wins the privilege of not only saying what happens but how it happens. The tension and drama of the game comes when the players have different ideas of the direction the story should take.Because of this the group as a whole doesn’t really know what will happen next and the results are always surprising.
COPYRIGHT PROTECTIONS
Here’s an update on the Orphan Works bill:
JUNE 2, 2008 An Orphan Works Update
Backers of the House version of the Orphan Works bill are now asking artists and photographers to oppose the Senate bill unless it’s amended to contain at least the “minimum provisions” that appear in the House version.
Although they don’t say so, opposing the Senate bill in this manner is a vote FOR the House bill.
We’ve been asked to explain why:
The Senate bill is similar to the bill we opposed in 2006. The House bill (H.R. 5889) is the result of a year and a half of closed door negotiations between Congress and representatives and lobbyists for special interest groups. These groups have agreed to either endorse the House bill or remain neutral to insure its passage.
The House bill endorses the concept of coerced “voluntary” registration with commercial databases and seeks to make these databases infringer-friendly.
– It would require infringers to file a simple “notice of use” before they infringe.
– It calls for an archive of the notices to be maintained by the Copyright Office or an approved third party.
Why do backers of the House bill want these databases to be infringer-friendly?
Because to thrive, commercial databases (registries) will have to do a robust business in rights-clearing and orphan certification. That means encouraging infringers to infringe.
How will these registries work?No details have been given, but experience with image banks suggests the following:
For unregistered work: infringers will use the registries to identify pictures that aren’t registered. Infringers will probably pay the registry a search fee, then use or market the “orphans” like royalty-free art.
For registered work: the registries will act as a kind of stock house: Users will go to them for one-stop shopping to clear rights to your pictures. The registry will probably charge you a commission when they do.
In other words, urging Congress to pass the House bill makes very little sense to us unless your business or organization expects to become a commercial registry.We believe the only way to oppose these bills is to oppose them both.
If you agree, now’s the time to write Congress or write again.
You can urge Congress to oppose these bills by linking here to a special letter.
Tell Your Senators and Representatives to Oppose the Orphan Works Act at:
Please forward this message to every artist you know.
And here’s how his Bill will effect non artists:
FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP
The Orphan Works Act: Warning to the Public
Should the general public care about the Orphan Works Act?
Yes, because the effects of this bill will expose any citizen’s visual images to infringement, including infringement for commercial purposes or distasteful uses.
Most people don’t understand current copyright law. But under current law, they don’t have to – the law itself protects them from not understanding it. Anything you create is considered your private property.
But under this amendment, all citizens would be required to understand that they must now take active steps – not to actually protect their work (because registries won’t protect it) – but merely to preserve their right to sue an infringer in federal court (in case they ever find out they’ve been infringed in the first place).
Otherwise, ignorance of copyright law will be be no excuse against an infringer who has done a “reasonably diligent search” for a photo he found on a blog, photo sharing site, Facebook page, or other source.
Proposal for Copyright Warning and Public Awareness Campaign
If this bill is passed, copyright will no longer be considered the exclusive right of the creator. Therefore, Congress should direct the Copyright Office to commence an awareness campaign to be conducted in all media, explaining to all copyright holders the new terms of copyright protection. Public warnings should state at least the following:
“Due to a change in US copyright law, citizens should now be aware that any creative expression they put into tangible form – from professional artwork to family photos – will be subject to infringement, including infringement for commercial uses, by anyone in the United States who is unable to locate them by what the infringer determines – and a court agrees – to be a reasonably diligent search.
“To preserve your right to sue infringers in federal court, you are advised to take active steps to assert authorship of every work you create.
“These steps will include inserting meta-data in each work, marking each work with a copyright symbol and contact information and registering each work in commercial databases where infringers can search for your work.
“Ignorance of copyright law will be be no excuse against an infringer who has done a “reasonably diligent search” according to guidelines established by Congress.”
This should be the minimum warning information and it should be issued to the public on an on-going basis to alert successive generations of the legal obligations they will have to observe as the price of creating art of any kind. We also ask Congress to direct the Copyright Office to establish and maintain local law clinics where creators and other citizens can seek clarification about their obligations under Orphan Works law.
Don’t Let Congress Orphan Your Work
You can urge Congress to oppose these bills by linking here to a special letter.
Tell Your Senators and Representatives to Oppose the Orphan Works Act at:
Last Friday I went on the Simpsons ride. I’ll write about it in a second, first though, I should mention what I found out about the Simpsons voice actor’s negotiations. It seems that they are going very well and it shouldn’t take long before an agreement will be met. This is good news for us. It seems we’ll be getting back to work soon (for more on this topic, you can read about it in this Variety article). This has nothing to do with the Screen Actors Guild negotiations, so please don’t mistake one for the other. They are two separate things.
Okay, so now for the Simpsons Ride. On Friday I made my way to Universal Studios at around 11:00am. I felt like a bit of a star because we had free parking passes that got us into a special parking area. I then made my way to a side part of the park where I found a table with a few of my co workers and I was given a pass and got into the park through a side “door”. I made my way, following the signs, to the area of the park where they do a western stunt show. There was a small Simpsons party going on there. I got myself a sandwich and a drink, sat down, and waited for them to tell us it was time to go on the ride. The Simpsons family (people in suits) made an appearance and people were having their pictures taken with them (must have been hot in those suits.) It was a scorching hot day that day. I wasn’t there long (half way through my sandwich) before Matt Groening got on a mic, thanked us (as he always does), made a lame joke (also as he always does) and told us to head on over to the ride.
We all made our way over to it, like a bunch of cattle. It was bit of a long walk from where we were to the ride but when we turned the corner and we had our first look at the facade surrounding the ride, we were all in awe. It was fantastic.
We were very impressed. If you weren’t excited before, you sure were now. It was very cool. We all made our way inside through Krusty’s mouth and walked in.
There were monitors inside, playing the animated shorts that we had worked on specifically for the ride. We made our way through them fairly quickly (we weren’t many). We were herded into a special, antechamber line area, right before a door that lead into, yet another antechamber. We spent the longest time in line there, on the first antechamber. Conversations were struck. Then the door opened and we were escorted into the second antechamber themed like a carnival with “booths” painted on the walls. The “booths” had monitors in them that cycled little animated gags from the Simpsons characters that “manned” the “booths”. I was happy because I had worked on some of those gags and got to see the finished product.
After waiting there for about five minutes or so, we were shown a little animated cartoon on a monitor before us that set up the “story of the ride”. Then we were escorted into yet another antechamber, were we were shown an animated safety video (which I also worked on) featuring Itchy and Scratchy.
When we were finally let onto the ride itself, I was really excited. We sat in the ride’s car and waited as a small animated cycle of Krusty the Clown and Mr. Teeny (his monkey) tap danced on the small screen in front of us (this was animated by my friend Tommy Tejeda). Then the story for the ride continued and the ride began. The roof above us opened up and we were elevated up to the biggest screen I’ve ever seen for a virtual ride, and I’ve been in quite a few. I must say, this is by far the best virtual ride I’ve ever been on. It was fantastic. It almost felt as if we were using 3D glasses in some places because it all seemed to be coming out at you for real. It’s a blast! If you get the chance, go on it. It’s so much fun!
There were a lot of proud happy faces from everyone who helped work on it when we emerged about five minutes after, when the ride was over. My face hurt from smiling so much. I then went into the Kwik-e-Mart they had there for souvenirs and looked around, just to see what they had. They had the Monopoly game I worked on, as well as some of the comics I’d done. It was neat seeing them there. They even had real Buzz Cola there (the fake brand cola of the show). I didn’t buy anything though.
I kept wishing my family could have come with me (but they couldn’t since this all was taking place at 11:00 am on a Friday). I kinda wanted them to have experienced it with me. I would have brought my daughter but she was too small to go on the ride so I didn’t bring her. You have to be 40″ high to ride it. After it was over and they closed down the ride, I made my way around the park really quick, just to take advantage of the fact that I had gotten a free pass. I spent that time by myself, missing the company of my family. Especially when I passed the Nickelodeonarea and the Curious George Adventure park. I got on a few rides, like the Revenge of the Mummy ride, and got wet on the Jurassic Park Ride (I wanted to get wet because it was so darn hot) and then went home around 3:00 pm in order to avoid traffic (which I didn’t).
In any case, in spite of the fact that I felt a bit lonely at Universal, I had a pretty decent time there. I highly recommend going on the Simpsons’ Ride. IT’S AWESOME!
BOARD GAMES
So as a board game geek, I get a kick out of seeing who else is into board games. I came across this video, while reading my board game news, and thought I’d share it. Turns out the actor Rich Sommer, from the remarkably well written TV show Mad Men, is a big board game geek as well. Here is the proof:
COPYRIGHT PROTECTIONS
Here’s an update on the Orphan Works thing:
FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP
Call to Action
Last Thursday the Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed their Orphan Works Act.
It is now headed for the full Senate.
If you’ve written before, now’s the time to write again.
Urge your senator to oppose this bill.
Because it has been negotiated behind closed doors, introduced on short notice and fast-tracked for imminent passage without open hearings, ask that this bill not be passed until it can be exposed to an open, informed and transparent public debate.
Went down to the studio last Thursday to pick up a few things and the place was dead. My director (who was still there trying to finish the show) said it felt like a library in there. It was dark and quite. Very weird. There are a few people, besides my director still working there. In fact there is one more show that barely got started last Monday. That lucky crew of about eight people, still have work, as well as the retake crew.
MOVIES
OH MY GOSH! I saw the Ironmanmovie this weekend it totally ROCKED! I was blown away by how much fun I had watching that movie. That’s how superhero movies should be made! It was dramatic where it needed to be, and funny where it needed to be, without being cheesy or making fun of itself, but most importantly, it was REALLY COOL where it needed to be. I loved it. It’s now one of the top three superhero movies on my list of great superhero movies, which originally only had two, Batman Begins and Spider-man 2 (all other superhero movies are merely okay or just downright stink). I want to see it again but I guess I’m just going to have to wait for the DVD. I was definitely geeking out watching that movie. This was one of the few times that the movie was as cool as the trailer made it out to be.
For the last month or so I’ve been reading some of the new New Avengers and Mighty Avengers trade paper backs. They’re really cool and I recommend them. I’ll put the ones I’ve read at the bottom of this paragraph. Ironman is in those comics and I started becoming familiar with the character. I really like him. I’ve found I don’t like the older versions of him. I like him more now. I like how crazy high tech he is. In the older comics he just seem like he’s a guy in skin tight looking armor and it doesn’t come across as if he’s wearing any hardware, which I find kinda dull. I much rather see him look a little more like a machine. In the comics, I also like that fact that he’s a bit of hacker and he’s constantly online and accessing info as he fights. I guess he’s a tech head’s superhero fantasy.
By the way, make sure you stick around until the end of the closing credits for a special surprise. Also, keep your eyes out for Tony Stark (Ironman) in The Incredible Hulk movie because he’s going to make a cameo.
That reminds me, they showed the new trailers for The Incredible Hulk and Batman the Dark Knight during the Ironman movie. The more I see about the Hulk movie, the more excited I get. As far at the Batman movie is concerned, I’m still not sure if I’ll like it or not. Gotta wait and see.
For more information on the next Ironman Movie and and other Marvel superhero movies coming out, I recommend this link that my friend e-mailed me a few days ago:
After the movie, I went to the comic book store near my house. I can’t be spending any money (made an exception for Ironman) but I didn’t have to. It was FREE COMIC BOOK DAY here in the U.S.. Stores all over give out special free comics on that day to promote comics. All the comic book companies are in on it so, it’s really cool to just go to a store and get free comics.
The store I went to, made a big event out of it and had guys dressed as storm troopers walking around as well as a guy dressed up like Darth Vader. They were giving out free Starwars miniatures. I kinda missed out on them because I didn’t see them. In fact, I didn’t see a few free things and I lost my chance at getting some really cool little miniatures.
Anyway, what I did pick up was pretty cool, but by far, the highlight was getting a free Ironman HeroClix figure. The HeroClix game has always looked interesting to me and I’ve always wanted to buy some just to see what they are like but I haven’t wanted to spend the money. Well, I got a figure for free that day and it was just icing on the cake because it was when I was still high from watching the movie. I was sooooo happy. I want to play HeroClix now, so I could play with Ironman.
BOARD GAMES
Since I’m out of job and I’m worring a little about money again, my thoughts have started to go back to board games to take my mind off things. Ironically, this is the worst time to be thinking about them since I can’t buy any new ones, but since I have quite a few, I can just play with the games I’ve got.
Still, I like to at least read about games I don’t have. The games that I’ve been looking into recently have been mostly miniatures games. Like: Warmachine, World of WarCraft Miniatures Game, HeroClix, and Mechwarrior: Dark Age. They all look very interesting to me. I don’t have any miniatures games, except maybe Dreamblade, but that one plays very different than the games I’ve mentioned above. I may or may not get into playing any of these games. We’ll see. They tend to be expensive to get into. Especially Warmachine, since that game requires you to glue together and paint your miniatures. They sure look cool though.
I’m also looking into getting (when I can afford it) the A Game of Thrones card game and the A Game of Thrones board game. Apparently the card game, which is now a collectible card game, will no longer be collectible which means that, if you want to play the game, you just need to buy one box and you’ll get ALL the cards in the entire game. This sounds great to me. This has never been done before, as far I know but Fantasy Flight Games is going to do it. The Game of Thrones games are based on the Song of Ice and Fire series of books by George R. R. Martin (or as my friend Damon calls him: George R. R. R. R. R. R. Martin). I’m a big fan of the series and the games seem to live up to the quality of the books. I’ll write about why these books are great some other time.
In any case, I just thought I’d write about some of the games that look interesting to me.
COPYRIGHT PROTECTIONS
Got another e-mail about the Orphan Works bill and what we could do about it. Here it is:
FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP
Take Action: Don’t Let Congress Orphan Our Work
We’ve set up an online site for visual artists to e-mail their Senators and Representatives with one click.
This site is open to professional artists, photographers and any member of the image-making public.
We’ve provided sample letters from individuals representing different sectors of the visual arts.
If you’re opposed to the Orphan Works act, this site is yours to use.
For international artists and our colleagues overseas, we’ve provided a special link, with a sample letter and instructions as to whom to write.
2 minutes is all it takes to write Congress and protect your copyright:
So last Friday the crew got an unpleasant surprise. We were all told that Friday, April 25th was going to be everyones last day. We’re all going on hiatus again. Just as we thought, thing were returning to normal, we all get the boot all over again. Why?
Well, it seems that the contract for the voice actors on the show has expired and new contracts need to be negotiated. This has absolutely NOTHING to do with the Screen Actors Guild. This is purely a Simpsons thing. The voice actors on the show have been negotiating their contract for the last two and a half weeks so far. The thing is, we can’t go on with any of the show until this is settled. Ever since the writer’s strike happened, we haven’t really gotten a chance to catch up to the schedule we needed to get to. This means that we don’t have any surplus of shows with voices already recorded, and so we have no work.
Overall, this is bad news. Whenever the negotiations are done, we all still have to wait until a month afterwards to be called back into work since the shows need to have time to be storyboarded. So if the negotiations take a month, we’re going to be out for at least two. If the negotiations take a two months, we’re going to be out for three..etc. Not only that, but if for some reason, when the Screen Actors Guild starts negotiating actor’s contracts in a month or so, and if they decide (God forbid) to go on strike for whatever reason, the Simpsons voice actors will also go on strike. Which would, of course, effect us all over again.
Man, what lousy bunch of months to be working in this studio. I don’t think I’ve ever been through anything like this in the last sixteen years I’ve been working here.
I wasn’t prepared for this situation. My savings haven’t had a chance to recuperate from the last break. There are a few circumstances that at least make this situation a bit better than last time. One is that my wife is working which means that we have a little bit of income coming in. This will help out a lot, but unfortunately, what she makes, is not nearly enough to pay all our bills. After all, she is only working part time. The second good circumstance is the fact that, since this is only effecting the Simpsons show, I could potentially find work at another show if I need to. Problem with that is, I might get a pay cut if I move to another show.
In any case, I’m back to worrying all over again. I suppose I just need to roll with the punches and feel my way through this one. I have options this time around, I just need to make the right decisions. Change is always scary.
MOVIES
So Alesha really wanted to see the Expelled movie I wrote about two weeks ago. She was really intrigued by the idea of the movie and wanted to see what it had to say. So we went to see it this weekend. It wasn’t what I thought it would be and I enjoyed the movie. To my surprise, it was NOT about Creationism, it was actually about Intelligent Design Theory (as I’ve stated in my post two weeks ago, they are not the same thing and this movie shows the clear difference). I learned a few things from it as well. My wife and I became an instant fan of the scientist in France that was interviewed because he was so darn smart and witty. My wife looovved it. She agreed with just about all it had to say. I personally didn’t, but I liked in non the less. I would recommend you watch it, because it opens up very interesting discussions topics.
Having said that, I will say that it was a very emotionally manipulative movie and I, for one, was distracted by that. It was difficult for me to try to find the structure of the argumentation being put forth. Mainly do to my awareness of the negative and positive imagery (with accompanying music) that was placed on the screen, that was there in order to get an emotional reaction to what was being said. It was annoying me greatly. This is a trick also used in Michael Moore documentaries and it annoyed me in them also.
I thought that the movie could have benefited greatly from some more clear evidence outside the personal testimony of the “victims”, since often times a victim of an apparent injustice believes themselves victimized for one a reason but in truth there might not have been an injustice at all. I thought the movie could have provided more evidence in each person’s case so that there would be no doubt as to why they were treated the way they were.
In the end, the movie had the potential to change my mind on the whole idea of teaching Intelligent Design in schools, but it failed. I personally think that the scientific data clearly points to an intelligent designer. I believe that this designer is God. I’ve read plenty of books by great thinkers that have come to these conclusions through out the centuries, some using science to prove their point while others used pure reason and common experience. Non of these brilliant people (Socrates, Aristotle, Aquinas, Anselm, John Duns Scotus, Blaise Pascal, C.S. Lewis…etc) thought that their conclusions where scientific but they did believe them to be true. The Intelligent Design theory, seems to just want to point out that the universe seems to be intelligently designed, but wants to leave out the “by what or who?” question unanswered (just like the theory of Evolution). That seems kinda of a silly thing to do since the only answer to the question is either “Aliens did it,” or “God did it”. Since natural science is far to limited to be able to deal with the Supernatural it can never give the answer, I would like to hear, namely, “God”.
Once upon a time, most scientists believed in God (perhaps they still do). Many of these scientists (if not the majority of these scientists) were priests. These scientist saw intelligent design in nature and it often propelled them to investigated further into nature in order to see how God created things and what laws He had written into nature. The thing about these scientists, is that they never pretended to conclude that their belief in God was a scientific conclusion but rather a logical one based on common sense. Why must it be different now? Why must Intelligent Design be a scientific theory rather than a logical one based on common sense?
CATHOLICISM
So the Pope came to visit and I was excited. Unfortunately I made the mistake of going to the regular TV news channels to give me info on what was going on. Instead of getting news all I got is complaining and criticism of the Pope, and he hadn’t even landed yet. I wanted the news not Pope bashing. After about a day of this, I just went to the EWTN website and watched the visit through their eyes. It was a relief to be able to watch the visit without having to filter through all the negativity. I liked that they went out of their way to actually discuss what the Pope was saying rather than spin it into something bad or complain about what he didn’t say.
COPYRIGHT PROTECTION
Alright, so do you remember that copyright bill I wrote about in my last post? Well on Monday I got this e-mail from the group that was keeping an eye out for it. This is how it went:
FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP
Today the House and Senate sent us draft copies of the new Orphan Works Act of 2008. They haven’t officially released it yet, but we’ve been told the Senate will do so this week. A quick analysis confirms our worst fears and our early warnings. If these proposals are enacted into law, all the work you have ever done or will do could be orphaned and exposed to commercial infringement from the moment you create it.
You’ve probably already heard Mark Simon’s webcast interview with Brad Holland. If not, please listen to it at:
Then forget the spin you’ve heard from backers of this bill. This radical proposal, now pending before Congress, could cost you your past and future copyrights.
The Illustrators’ Partnership is currently working with our attorney – in concert with the other 12 groups in the American Society of Illustrators Partnership to have our voices – and yours – heard in Congress. We’ll keep you posted regarding how you can do your part.
Please forward this information to every creative person and group you know. Mr. Holland and Mr. Simon have given their permission for this audio file to be copied and transferred and replayed.
For additional information about Orphan Works developments, go to the IPA Orphan Works Resource Page for Artists
Place “Add Name” in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area.
Today I got this one:
FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP
The Orphan Works Act of 2008 will be officially released momentarily.
The language in the draft confirms our warnings. If this bill passes, you’ll be forced to clear all yoursecondary licensing rights through at least two government certified databases – or risk orphaning your art.
Despite its masquerade as the “last resort” to search for a rights owner, these databases will likely become the only source many users will rely on for finding a rights owner. Reason: it will give users the legal right to infringe any copyright not in the databases.
We’re working with our attorney now to prepare opposition letters.
We have contracted CapWiz, a service that will allow you to send these letters to Congress with a push of the button.
CapWiz will also provide us with “digital stickers” that anyone else – organizations, individual artists, blogs, etc. – can put on their sites that create a direct link to the command center to write their Congressman and Senators to defeat this radical change to U.S. Copyright law
Please stay tuned and we’ll tell you in a day or so what you can do to register your opposition.
For additional background on Orphan Works, go to the IPA Orphan Works Resource Page for Artists
We’re behind in a big way with or show and the pressure is mounting.The producers are getting pressure which means WE are getting a lot of pressure. We were suppose to be done last Friday, but the show is way too complicated and there were too many outside complications for us to meet that deadline.All art MUST be finished in two weeks.Hope we can make it.
My scenes consist of drawing an imploding building.It’s a huge pain. Very technical.
Small intro to Alesha’s thoughts
So my wife had, as she puts it, “a knee-jerk reaction” to what I posted last week about Intelligent Design and science. She then decided to tell me why. I thought what she said made a lot of sense, so I asked her to write it down so I could post it here and she agreed to do it, so here it is:
ALESHA’S THOUGHTS
The Second Philosophy
If Plato had a firm grasp on metaphysics, i.e. the “first philosophy,” then Aristotle certainly had a strong hand in the second philosophy—known to us today as natural science. The root word for science, scientia, means knowledge. Acquired knowledge of the material world and its laws through observation and experimentation encompasses branches of science such as biology and chemistry.
Knowledge of the material world is important—vital, even. Whether it’s discovering the cause and cure of a disease, how and why the seasons change, or even the nature of our own bodies—these are done through the different branches of science which provide us with a deposit of knowledge which we can both draw upon and improve. The scientific method itself starts us off with asking a question and forming a hypothesis (and doing research and eventually testing our hypothesis) before analyzing and drawing conclusions with the data.
If science has delivered us so many good things, if its methods and practice have been worked upon for so many years, why then did I have this knee-jerk reaction when I read Luis’ latest discussion topic when he said Intelligent Design was justifiably barred from the science classroom on the grounds that it resides outside the realm or capacity of natural science?
Far be it from me to provide the definitive answer that would end this debate. I’ll leave that to the great scientists, philosophers, and philosopher-scientists. These are just my thoughts, and since dear husband has already committed me to writing this piece let’s get this going.
I readily admit that Intelligent Design is philosophical in nature. But isn’t any hypothesis or theory philosophical in nature to one extent or another? Note that in the scientific method, the data collected means nothing unless the scientist interprets or makes inferences concerning what she has before her.At worst a hypothesis is a mere guess, and at best it’s a proposition set forth as an explanation of phenomena in light of established facts.
So the great question is, “What is the cause of the phenomena of life and the existence of the material world?” (So this Great Question is innately an Origin of Life question, but bear with me, because I think it has implications for evolution). Can this question be answered through the scientific method? We can certainly observe the physical world and the people, plants and animals that live therein, but how will using the scientific method tell us what is the cause or origin for all this?
It can’t. No matter what, the original abiogenetic or prebiotic world we weren’t here to see cannot be tested or observed. Yes, we experiment with models created by scientists, but then, these are models created by scientists. The reason why I bring in origin of life is because if this foundation is not there, then how does one explain evolution? We had to evolve from somewhere, and since our existence is not infinite there must be a starting point or origin for us.Micro evolution (evolution within species) and Macro evolution (evolution above/beyond species) are both fascinating, but I think both include hypotheses and interpretations that carry philosophical presuppositions on the origin of life, among other things.
This is why Luis pointed out science’s limitations; it relies on observation and the gathering of empirical evidence, and since (as the saying goes) “you can’t put God in a test tube,” there is no way to work Intelligent Design theories into science. But what about working the concept of natural selection into science?
Natural selection is the reason as to why, say for example, the finches on the Galapagos islands (a la Origin of Species) varied anatomically. But why must there be natural selection? The finches with the longer beaks had no imperative to adapt to their environment. If they survived, then they survived and if they died then they died. There is no purpose or grand plan in passing on those genetic traits to the next generation even though we are told that nature “selected” or somehow ensured that this would be the case.
Well, what if we were to say that survival itself is the great imperative? Still, it would be begging the question: “the species survives because it was naturally selected to survive. It was selected to survive because it had to survive.” Aside from our emotional and psychological attachment to the idea of living—and living as long as possible if we can help it—there is no reason or imperative (in this context) for living things to go on living. According to the backdrop of evolution, we are here because we are here. So why do we care if we’re here today and gone tomorrow? Humankind has given meaning to existence, we have drawn the conclusion that life is worth living and death or nonexistence is undesirable. Natural selection, I think, is the philosophical answer as to why we evolve and why survival appears to be imperative. And if you can offer this philosophical answer, then why not another? Say, like, Intelligent Design? I’m not poo-pooing evolution; as Luis mentioned, it does not necessarily conflict with Catholicism.However, I’m rather asserting the philosophical nature of some of the evolution theory’s concepts and hypotheses and by extension questioning why can’t other concepts and hypotheses also be studied and discussed.
I do not deny that we can observe and analyze the wonderful and interesting adaptations and modifications organisms take on. But the moment we say it’s because of x, y, or z—we’re hypothesizing…we’re doing philosophy. Nature itself doesn’t give reasons; it doesn’t have to. We are the ones who give explanations and reasons because we are the ones concerned with knowledge and truth. This is why natural scientia is the Second Philosophy.This isn’t a bad thing, because as Plato and Aristotle taught us, there are all kinds of knowledge to be had and different ways of acquiring these. The first philosophy is just as valid and important as the second.
My reaction to Alesha’s thoughts
Isn’t she great?I love my wife. She rocks. Yay!
COPYRIGHT PROTECTION
My friend Bill Ho was practically spamming the comments section oflast weeks post to trying to get me to check out something important that MIGHT mess around, in a bad way, with Copyright laws in the U.S.A. around June.There was a bill awhile back called The Orphan Works Bill.It’s purpose is to free up old artwork and material that is not being claimed by anyone so that it could be put in museums or libraries for public use, which is a very good thing. Unfortunately the bill went further than that. It would have made it so ALL artwork,photographs, music, sketches, 3D models, became public domain in the U.S.. Even the stuff that was already copyrighted (which would have meant you needed to copyright it again). The bill would have meant, if you want to own the artwork you’d done (even in the margins of a notebook) you would have to pay a registers office in order to hold the rights to it. As the law is written right now, you own your artwork the moment you create it. This bill would have changed all that. Luckily it did not get through and didn’t become law.Unfortunately for us a new bill is being written up right now by the same people that may or may not do something similar.We can’t know for sure but we need to keep an eye out for it. Especially since the bill is going to come out suspiciously late into the voting processes, which means that we will have very little time to react to it (if it’s a bad bill) before it’s put before congress.
I read an article that, speculates what MIGHT be on the bill and shows the potential danger it MIGHT be, if it’s anything like the original bill.Here’s an excerpt from the article:
Photos on the internet could be orphaned. With tens of millions of photos shared online with services like Flickr, Shutterfly and Snapfish, there is a huge opportunity for unauthorized use of your photos… legally.
You could see photos you take of your family and kids, or of a family vacation, used in a magazine or newspaper without your permission or payment to you. You would have to pay to register your photos, all of them, in every new registry in order to protect them. Say the average person takes 300 photos per year (I take a lot more than that). If a registry only charges $5 per image, that is a whopping $1,500 to protect your photos that are protected automatically under the current laws. If there are three registries, protecting your images could cost an amazing $4,500. Not to mention the time it would take to register every photo you take. Plus, you will also have to place your copyright sign on every photo.
That’s not including all your art, sketches, paintings, 3D models, animations, etc. Do you really have all that extra time and money? Plus, even if you do register, the people stealing your work can still claim it was orphaned and, unless you fight them, they win. Even if you win, you may not make back your legal fees.
It gets even better. Anyone can submit images, including your images. They would then be excused from any liability for infringement (also known as THEFT) unless the legitimate rights owner (you) responds within a certain period of time to grant or deny permission to use your work.
That means you will also have to look through every image in every registry all the time to make sure someone is not stealing and registering your art. You could actually end up illegally using your own artwork if someone else registers it. DOES ANYONE SEE A PROBLEM WITH THIS?
Foraccess to two podcast interviews about this subject, Click here.
I think it’s important for us to be keep an eye out for this bill so thatif it turns out as bad as the last one, we could fight it.
H.P. LOVECRAFT
Speaking of public domain…So I was just doodling this week.I felt like drawing a picture of a “Lovecraftian” monster.In other words, I felt like drawing a picture of a monster that was invented by the pulp writer H.P. Lovecraft, who invented an “open universe” for the mythology he invented. “An “open universe” means anyone can write in it using his myth withoutreally needing his permission. He did this so his friends (like Robert E. Howard, inventor of Conan the Cimmerian) could incorporate his mythology in their stories and in so doing, make his myth a little more believable.
Lovecraft‘s Mythology is a lot of fun. It’s often called the Cthulhu Mythos in honor of the main monster in his short story, The Call of Cthulhu. It’s a horror mythos and it’s creepy and spooky and the “gods” in it make great monstrous bad guys. There have been many movies that have been inspired by H.P. Lovecraft‘s mythology, Hellboy, Evil Dead 1 and 2, Army of Darkness, Re-animator, The Thing, to name a few. If you’ve seen any of these movies, you’ve been exposed to Lovecraft’s Mythology.
Anyway, so there I was, wanting to draw something “Lovecraftian” and I wanted to draw it cute. Mostly because all the “Lovecraftian” monsters are so evil and horrid that drawing them cute would make a good contrast. It’s been done before but I wanted to give it a try myself. I didn’t want to draw Cthulhu because EVERYONE draws him so I thought I’d look and see what else I could do. I’ve heard the name of a “Lovecraftian” god name Yog-Sothoth and after looking him up and reading about him, I thought I’d draw him. So I did, and here is my drawing:
If you like my drawing or are a Lovecraft fan and you want to buy a poster of it, let me know and I’ll see what I can do to make some.
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