I Got Me an Idea. Almost...

Ideas can be ephemeral things. You hold one in your mind for a moment and then it's vapor. Or it can hang out there. Inside your brain somewhere. Hiding just out of reach. The idea is not fully formed and you can't quite see what it is but it taunts you with its presence. That's what ideas have been doing to me lately. Teasing me with their almost-ness. Sneaky little buggers.

I'm usually not lacking in ideas. I've always said that good ideas are a dime a dozen. It's good execution that's priceless. Anyone can say, "Paint that chapel ceiling with some Bible scenes". To actually do it take a little more work and a little more inspiration. Generally I've been prolific when it comes to making artwork. Good, bad, or indifferent I've made a lot of drawings, prints, and paintings. But sometimes the fields need to lie fallow and I forget that. I always want crops growing. I don't remember the natural ebb and flow of things when I want water. I just notice that I'm thirsty. That there will be water in a month doesn't help me now. Living in the moment isn't always all it's cracked up to be. I mean, what if the moment sucks?

I've had some interesting notions come to me lately but they're not quite fully formed yet. They're there but they're not there. Unshaped and elusive. It could have something to do with wanting to try new ways of making art. I'm a methodical artist and my methods are well established. So well established that they've been boring me a little lately. So I've been in search of new methods and materials. They're pretty easy to find. Open up any catalogue of art supplies and there are tons of methods and materials that are different than the ones I'm use to. But the ideas to go with them are harder to come by.

Sure I could do exactly what any new method or material's instructions say to do but that just gets me used to using something new. It's not an idea that I can call my own. It's someone else explaining how to carry out their idea. Their idea may have value to me or it may not. But either way it's not my idea. I need to figure out ways to use the new material in a way that makes them my own. That's a big task.

I've been thinking about some ideas for projects. Those are bigger than any individual work of art and take much more time and patience. I've been short on time and patience lately. Hence my frustration. I've got ideas for paper, for canvas, and for the screen. But they don't all fit together as I wish they would. Maybe I wish they'd fit together because I can't get any of them to work separately. Then again I might just be searching for a unified field theory of life and art. Either way every idea of mine is just a little unfocused. Just a hair's breadth out of reach.

That and my lack of time due to a bunch of paying work lately. Of course that's not a horrible thing but it leaves little time for thinking of ideas. And even less time for working them out. But that's the nature of freelance work. I've just come off a period where I had not so much paying work and lots of time to work out ideas. I liked that. Except for the being broke part. That gets tiring after a while let me tell you.

Bigger and better. That's my motto for coming up with ideas now. Nothing small. Nothing incremental. As big as the sky. Yep, I'm feeling optimistic so I can think big. That's the way to make these elusive ideas show themselves. Make 'em so big that they can't hide. I'll give it a try. Rally Ho!

Comics I Bought: September 27, 2007

I'm back from the comic shop this week and I got 4 new comic plus a hard cover collection:

Supernatural Origins - 5

Savage Dragon - 132

Astro City The Dark Age - 4

Usagi Yojimbo - 106

Marvel Westerns Hardcover Collection

And I've only read one thing this week. I haven't been in the mood for much comic reading. That and I just got a new XBox 360.

"Invincible" Ultimate Edition Volume 3 Hardcover

I haven't been buying "Invincible" month to month because I didn't like it so much in the beginning. I have all three oversized hardcovers now and volume three is the latest one that collects issues 25-35 of the series. I love the oversized hardcover as a format. And I love "Invincible" now too.

"Invincible" has developed into the best super hero book out there. There you go I said it. There is no super hero book that I like better than this one. The plots and scripts are good (Robert Kirkman). The art is top shelf (Ryan Ottley and Cliff Rathburn) and there is no book out there that has better coloring (Bill Crabtree) and lettering (Rus Wootan). Yes, even the lettering on this book impresses me. That's a tall task.

"Invincible" is the story of a teenager who discovers he has super powers. He also discovers that his father is a super hero. After that we get small stories, big stories, cosmic stories, serious stories, funny stories, and plot twists galore. The world of "Invincible" is also populated with a lot of other super heros. It's a pretty big and fleshed out world that is filled with imagination. From the goofy to the dangerous all the characters are interesting. You can tell everyone involved with this book isn't just going through the motions.

I won't go into the plot of this or any of the other "Invincible" volumes because the surprises and cliff hangers are half of the fun. Like I said, I wasn't too fond of this book at first but after issue six or so it took off and has only been getting better ever since. So for the ultimate super hero trip today pick up "Invincible". Recommended.

I Went to Parallel U

Here I am watching a documentary on parallel universes. Who doesn't like like parallel universes? They are endless fun. Parallel universes have been the mainstays of science fiction, science fantasy, super hero, and every other type of fiction for fifty years now. There is the Star Trek evil universe where everyone has beards, the TV show Sliders, and the comic book "The Authority" with it's "bleed ships" just to name a few.

What I find interesting is that when people think about and describe parallel universes they always go for drama. That seems to define parallel universes to us. This very documentary I have on mentioned Napoleon winning at Waterloo, Al Gore winning the 2000 election, Elvis being alive, and you (the viewer) never being born. I understand this need for drama because when telling a story, as all these books and movies are doing, drama is an important ingredient. Even in this documentary they are telling a story so they want some drama to illustrate their point. Drama keeps things interesting. That or comedy. There is usually plenty of comedy to be found in parallel universes.

It does strike me as mistaken that parallel universes are always described as dramatic. I have just the opposite idea. I think if there are such things as parallel universes and we could travel to them we'd be hard pressed to find one different than our own. I bet if we could travel to parallel universes we might not even be able to spot a difference.

In fiction and documentaries it always some dramatic event such as a war that makes a parallel universe. "Why?" I ask. Drama is no mechanism for creating parallel universes. That's the thing about science, it's all about finding mechanisms for how things work. The universe doesn't care about human drama so why would it use it as a mechanism to create parallel universes? It doesn't make sense to me.

Being that I'm not a scientist I don't know what the mechanism for creating parallel universes is but my best guess would be something we call "free will". I'll illustrate that with an example. I used to work in Manhattan on Twenty Eighth Street and Park Avenue South. I'd come into the city through Port Authority Bus terminal on Fortieth Street and Eighth Avenue. I had no regular path between the two points. It took me about twenty to twenty five minutes to make the walk and I'd just follow the lights and cross streets and avenues when the opportunity arose.

According to my idea about parallel universes at each corner where I had a decision to make about whether to cross the street or not there needs to be parallel universes where in one I chose to cross and in the other I did not. This decision over which way to walk would probably have zero effect on the rest of my life. So now we have two parallel universes which are exactly the same except for the way I walked to work on a single day. Multiply that by every day and every person and you have a near infinite number of parallel universes. A near infinite number of them exactly the same.

So I say that anytime an act of free will happens where anyone has a choice to make has to be accounted for by a parallel universe. We make a lot of tiny insignificant choices that have to be accounted for. Each parallel universe created by these mundane choices must be maddeningly similar to the ones next to it. If you could travel to a parallel universe you'd have a hard time finding a difference with this one. The odds of blindly traveling to a dramatically different parallel universe are probably pretty small. There would be a sameness to the infinity of it all.

So there you go. Maybe our consciousness wakes up in a different parallel universe every morning and we can't even tell. Except that our keys aren't where we left them last night. That is unless you have a key rack. Maybe I'll put my keys on a random key rack peg every night and see if it's still on the same one in the morning. There's a project for ya!

Comics I Bought: September 20, 2007

I'm back from the comic shop this week and I got 2 new comic plus a trade paper back collection:

Ex Machina - 30

Apocalypse Nerd -5

Jack Staff "Everything Used to be Black and White - TPB

And now for some reviews of things I've read this week.

Finder: Mystery Date (TPB)

"Finder" is one of my favorite comic books out there. It's author and artist, Carla Speed McNeil, is the one person whose work reminds me of Jack Kirby. Not because she writes or draws anything like him (she doesn't) but because her comics are so full of ideas. They're bursting with concepts and contraptions.

The title "Finder" refers to the lead character, Jaeger, who comes from a tribe where he is a Finder. That means that he's good at scrounging up things that the tribe needs. The problem is that Jaeger is also a "Sin-Eater" which means he's the official scapegoat for the tribe. And as such was eventually driven off.

The setting of "Finder" is also very interesting. It's a post-post-apocalyptic world. I think it takes place on a future Earth but we are so far in the past that almost nothing is known of us. Hints do come through here and there though. A lot of the people live in old domed cities filled with technology but are not even sure who originally built the cities. The people invent things on their own too and are not just keeps of old technology. There are many types of people in "Finder" from different clans of humans to human built constructs to strange intelligent animals. There is even a clan of lion people who walk on two legs yet mingle with actual wild lions. It's a real interesting world.

All that being said Jaeger is only in this book for a few pages. This volume is a collection of stories about a young woman named Vary who is from a small province and now is in the big city to study to be a prostitute. That's a respected profession in the world of "Finder". Remarkably there is very little in the book about prostitution. It's just kind of in the background. The story is actually about Vary and her crush on a grumpy professor who has no crush on her back. That and a second professor who Vary befriends and is a giant ostrich type creature.

This isn't a collection from the series "Finder" but a collection of shorter pieces that appeared elsewhere over a series of years. As such it doesn't hold together as a "graphic novel" as much as the other "Finder" volumes but I still enjoyed it. Like I said it's filled with ideas.

Another interesting thing about the "Finder" collections are the footnotes in the back. Carla Speed McNeil writes notes about things that are happening on each page and expands on the ideas. She tells you what she was thinking and some background about the cultures, peoples, and objects that she comes up with. You don't need to read these notes to get the story but they are fun. Recommended.

Orson Scott Card - Red Prophet Tales of Alvin Maker Volume 1 (Hardcover)

There has been a little bit of a renaissance of comics adapted from novels in the last few years. They all but disappeared for a while but I guess the lure of a popular book license has drawn companies back in. Who wouldn't want to sell comics to a large group of an author's fans.

These adaptations tend to be wordier than other comics. Especially in today's world of "decompressed" storytelling. And they often have a traditional third person narrative. "Red Prophet" is no exception. If you're someone who complains that a comic takes three minutes to read than this one is for you. "Red Prophet" takes a while to get through. That's not a a complaint, just an observation.

The story takes place in an alternate history sometime back in the early days of the USA. Except that white people aren't as numerous and in control of the continent as they were in our past. The Indians still rule the roost west of the Mississippi and other European powers have influence over the lands of America. Oh, and magic is real.

"Red Prophet" is a frontier story (on the mighty Mississippi) where the Reds and the Whites have the greatest potential for conflict. There are forts, soldiers, traders, braves, settlers, plus good and bad folk. Alvin Maker, we are told, will go on to do great things and be very powerful. But here he is a small boy and we are at his beginning.

It is a wordy story, as I said, but it's pretty well written. The art is only adequate though. It gets the job done but without much flair or craft. The biggest problem I have with this book is the ending. There wasn't one. It ended with a bunch of spirit magic mumbo jumbo and literally a "To Be Continued" blurb. The spirit magic mumbo jumbo bothered me worse than the blurb. This is comics. I'm used to things being continued.

I would have liked the story better without the magic angle but that's neither here nor there because plenty of people prefer it with the magic in the story. I liked this book mainly because it was different and I'm the type of person who likes different. I really can't recommend it as being good but neither is it bad. If any of the ideas in this book intrigue you pick it up. You could do a lot worse.

Sniff... What's that smell?

I finally brought my anti-fatigue mats in form the great outdoors. It all starts with the fact that I work standing up. A habit I developed back in college in my painting classes. I find it less tiring and more productive than working while sitting down. Whenever I work sitting down I'm a lot more tired at the end of the day. I sit down when I want a rest from work. My drawing table is at standing height, my computer is at standing height, and of course my easel is at standing height. That's how I roll.

Shoes are an important part of the standing equation. A good pair is essential. Sneakers are not up to the task. They may be fine for walking or playing sports but don't offer they kind of support it takes to stand all day. My feet will hurt if I stand in in sneakers for a long time. I never wear sneakers except when exercising. Boots are good. A nice pair with a steel shank and you're good to go. I have a fifteen year old pair of combat boots that are still up to the task. There are made from old fashioned hard leather which takes forever to break in but offers a lot of support. They are just about to fall apart so I'll have to find a new pair. Usually I can be found in a pair of black Rockport "Northfields". They are a bit pricey at a hundred bucks a pair and I have to put cushioned insoles in them but they are the only shoe I have found that are good for standing and fit me well. The extra wide size does it. I just bought a new pair.

Still age takes it's toll. I stand on a hard tile floor and the last couple of years my legs have started to fatigue more than they used to. So last December I decided to look into getting some anti-fatigue mats. I looked around and purchased some fairly inexpensive ones from on line. They arrived in short order. They are the kind that fit together like puzzle pieces so I put them together and gave 'em a stand. Soft and squishy but firm. Nice. Then I started to notice a chemical smell. It was so strong that it filled the room. Soon a headache followed. That was enough of that.

I'm not a person who is "chemically sensitive" and can smell chemicals on every manufactured item so you can imagine just how much these mats were "off gassing". I couldn't take it. I put the mats out in the back yard and began using some piled up cardboard as a mat. That worked okay but wasn't a long term solution. I figured that after a week or so outside with the cold winter wind blowing the stink off them the mats would be okay. Yet in late January they were still as stinky as ever. Oh, and California says the mats can give you cancer. There's a nice label to read. But I still don't know if they give the manufacturers or the users cancer. I do know that I don't want to breath in any chemical fumes. Bad idea.

My brother in law came through with another mat for me that had no smell. I put it in front of my computer and it worked great. I'd drag it over to my easel when I painted. A bit of a pain but, what the heck, my knees thanked me. My drawing table has a piece of carpet in front of it that has served me well for many years as a mat so I was pretty well set up anti fatigue wise.

It was just recently I thought about bringing those stinky mats inside to give 'em another go. They've been mostly a toy for my three year old nephew whenever he was over. It's fun to put the interlocking edges together and then pull them apart again. It makes lying down on blacktop easier too.

Eight months in the outside air did the trick. No more off gassing and no more headaches. The mats are in front of my easel and make for a nice standing platform. They even make doing push ups more comfortable. They collect dirt though. I think I'm going to get one of those small cordless hand vacuums to keep the mats clean. They're good to pace on too. So many uses. But if you buy them just keep in mind it'll be eight months before you can use them.

Comics I Bought This Week: September 13, 2007

I'm back from the comic shop this week and I got 3 new comic plus a hard cover collection:

Walking Dead - 42 (these have been coming out fast and furious lately)/li>

StormWatch Post Human Division - 11

Age of Bronze - 26

Invincible Ultimate Edition Volume 3 Hardcover

And now for some reviews of things I've read this week.

Studs Kirby "The Voice of America" by Peter Bagge

Here's a volume that I pull off of my shelf every few years to check out again. It's a collection of Peter Bagge's "Studs Kirby" strips that first ran in the magazine "Neat Stuff" from 1985-1989. It's not Bagge's best known work (Hate, The Bradleys) but it sure is good.

Studs Kirby is a conservative radio talk show host and a general all around hot head with an anti-social streak. He drinks beer, rants about the world, and fights with his friends. But he makes up with them so he's not all bad.

There are some long and short stories in this book and it's not really a cohesive "graphic novel" or anything like that. It's a collection of amusing comics for grownups. Peter Bagge's art work is at it's amusing best here too as Studs does a lot of shouting and ranting so we get tons of Bagge's frantic, open mouthed, sharp teeth, spit flying, lightning bolt drawings. Those always make me laugh.

I have the first printing of this from 1989 and they actually printed a couple of pages out of order in the first story. Hopefully they corrected this in later printings. Later printings even have a different cover so they must have. Anyway, this volume is always fun to read. "Studs Kirby is a Heartless Bastard" is still my favorite in this collection. Recommended.

"Lunch Hour Comix" by Robert Ullman

Here's a comic I found on my shelf that I forgot even existed. And it's only from 2004. "Lunch Hour Comix" is a small, mini comic sized, collection with a cover that's designed to look like a waitress's order pad. It's a collection of autobiographical strips by Robert Ullman that were all done in under an hour.

There is nothing earth shattering in this collection but it's a nice read. It's filled with the small things of life that make up a lot of our days. Stories of a comic con, installing a faucet, and playing hockey are all told in a handful of panels. I like comics about everyday life and this one is well done. It's published by Alternative Comics so track it down if you can.

Atlas Era Tales To Astonish - Masterworks

Earlier this summer a buddy of mine asked me if I could find an early issue of "Tales To Astonish" for him. I poked around on the internet and found out that Marvel reprinted the first ten issues in a hardcover volume last year. Who knew?

This book collects the first ten issues of "Tales To Astonish" which were originally printed in 1959-1960. It's tough to review comics like these because they were never meant to be anything but a few moments of diversion in a kid's world. Not that they are written for really small children but the stories are only six-eight pages long and are filled with wacky ideas and giant monsters.

It's the craft of the stories that is the appeal of this book. You get art by Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, and Joe Sinnott among others. The drawing, the story telling, and the monsters are all well done and filled with imagination. It's great to just flip through this book and take it all in. Otherwise read the stories in small doses. There is no big long plot, as we are used to today, to draw you in and keep you there for multiple issues.

The covers are great on these issues too. They are all by Kirby and Ditko and are some of the best in the history of the genre. Lots of monsters and fleeing people all well designed and well drawn. I'd pick this one up now if you're interested because I'm sure this one won't be in print for long.

It's Not That Time Again. Is It?

I don't like buying a new computer. Spending all that money is the first thing that bothers me but there are other things too. I make my living on the silly machine so it has to be done sooner or later. I prefer later.

I bought my first computer back in 1996 (December 1995 technically but it didn't arrive until the new year). It was a Power Computing Mac clone from back in the days when there were such things as Mac clones. It was a clone of the Macintosh 9500 model minus the three extra PCI slots. All together I dropped five grand on the thing including monitor, Syquest drive (how's that for nostalgia), and eight (or was it sixteen) whole megs of ram. It was a nice machine. With upgrades to the ram, hard drive, and processor it lasted me until 2002. That baby was tricked out and smokin'. I didn't really want to get rid of it because I had it just the way I liked it but it was time. It served me a good long while but I needed more power. Still, six years was a long life for a computer. Don't let anyone tell you Macs aren't a good value.

So in early 2002 I dropped three grand on my current machine. A dual processor (2x 1gig) "Quicksilver" Mac. It's now maxed out with a gig and a half of ram and has all sorts of hard drive, SCSI, USB 2.0, and Firewire 800 upgrades. I have no problems with it. All these years later it's still fast enough to get the job done. I work in Photoshop on it all day long pushing around big files with no trouble. Sure it's not as fast as the beasts they got out there today but I don't care. How fast does it need to be? Gaining two seconds on a "file rotate" command really doesn't matter to me. Yet, I'm going to have to get a new machine sometime in the next couple of years. Oy!

I'm just starting to bump into things that I can't run on my ol' Mac. Fairly recently Mac switched to Intel processors inside their computers. This means nothing to me except now some programs, such as iMove 08, won't run on my old style processors. I don't even use iMovie but it's a sign of things to come. Programs my "Quicksilver" can't run are only going to multiply. It's a matter of time before things reach critical mass.

I also want a new monitor though because I still have an old CRT tube style monitor and would like the extra room of an LCD monitor. Apple makes an amazing looking 30 inch monitor but it won't run on my computer. The video card won't support it. Dell makes what is supposed to be an amazing 30 inch LCD monitor (I've not actually seen that one) but it won't run on my computer. Both monitors run about $1500-$1800 so they are too expensive for me anyway but having to buy a whole new computer to run them, $2500 minimum, makes it impossible to afford. I'll have to set my sights on a smaller and cheaper model.

At least Apple makes it easy to transfer all my programs and settings onto a new computer. Just plug the two machines together with a Firewire cable and it's a painless automatic process. I did that when I got my laptop in 2004 and it was easy breezy. I don't make my living with the laptop so I don't care as much about what it won't run. As long as I can type and surf the web my laptop is good to go. No pressure.

The new Mac towers are really, really pumped up machines built for pushing around video and 3D animation. So at last we're at the point where I don't have to spend for the top of the line model (me being a graphics guy and not a video guy). My other two computers were top of the line because that meant more power and longevity. That still holds true but pushing around graphics programs is easy for today's low end mac desktops. Tomorrow's programs that demand better specs will still run fine on them. That is unless they start using some other processors and change the rules. Filth flarn filth flarn!

Comics I Bought: September 8, 2007

I'm back from the comic shop again this week and I got 2 new comic plus a hard cover collection:

Buffy Season Eight 6

City of Others 4

Orson Scott Card - Red Prophet Tales of Alvin Maker Volume 1 (Hardcover)

And now for some reviews.

Heart of Empire or The Legacy of Luthor Arkwright (1-9) by Bryan Talbot

Here is another series that has been sitting on my shelf since it came out in 1999. I decided to pull it out and give it a read. That's what shelves are for. This book is a sequel to "The Advenures of Luthor Arkwright" which I have never read. I'll have to track that one down one day.

First off this is one of the prettiest comics around. The covers, the interior art and coloring, and even the fake ads are really well done and look great. It's just plain good to look at.

The story takes place in an alternate universe where Britannia rules a lot of the world and the Queen hold absolute power. The main character in the story is the princess but a very well imagined and well drawn London is a character in and of itself. There is some sort of magic or sci-fi stuff happening too. It's never really made clear which it is.

The plot and characters with their political and social intrigues going on are quite well done. The only part that left me cold was in the latter part of the story when dimension traveling elements show up. Once again the whole multi-verse is affected blah blah blah... Multi-verses are threatened so much in these dimension hoping stories, usually by a "rift in the whatever-stream", that they bore me. I could do with never ever reading about "all of time and space" being threatened again.

Other than that gripe I liked this book. As I said, it's pretty as all get go and the alternate past is very well realized. Their technology is different than our and some things are futuristic, some things old fashioned, and some are just different. You could tell that people were thinking when they made this. It's worth tracking down. Recommended.

Conan and The Jewels of Gwahlur by P. Craig Russell

I bought this as a three issue mini-series, then sold the issues on Ebay, and now have purchased the hardcover collected edition. So I like this story.

Man can that P. Craig Russell draw. I remember running into his work on "Killraven" as a kid in the 1970's and thinking that then. He has only gotten better with age. That's not the case with a lot of comic book artists.

Conan and The Jewels of Gwahlur is a story about the adult Conan as opposed to the young Conan in the regular series that Dark Horse is publishing right now. That really doesn't matter though because Conan is always making enemies, drinking with friends, getting into fights, battling monsters, and trying to steal some jewels. That's what he's doing in this story too.

It's adapted from a Robert E. Howard story by P. Craig Russell so it has a different style than your average comic. A lot of the Howard limited omniscient narration is kept so it has a nice pulp novel feel to it. A nice chance of pace from the endless first person narrative of modern super hero stories. And not only can Russell draw but he can tell a story and is very inventive with technique. He inks, he draws in pencil, he draws in blue pencil, and all of these are reproduced as the story calls for them. The coloring and lettering are also top shelf. Let's face it I have nothing bad to say about this book. If you're in the mood for a Conan story check this one out. Recommended.

Greetings and Suspicions

Greetings. As I sit here and ponder the universe I'm secure in the knowledge that the universe does not ponder me. What that has to do with anything I don't know but it's my thought for the day.

So I'm not yet sold on buying music online. I've purchased a few songs from iTunes over the years and even a whole album or two but when I buy music I still like a hard copy. Something physical I can own undisputedly own. Something severed from the teat of the music companies. I could burn a hard copy easy enough but that is still one more step and still could be disputed. If there is one thing I know it's that all those record companies don't give a damn about me. No corporation does. Only people can care and despite their legal status corporations aren't people.

I've bought plenty of music over the years. From vinyl albums to cassette tapes I have purchased a variety of formats. I've even had some eight tracks. They all wear out. Does the record company care when my tapes are no longer operational? Nope. Buy another copy is their philosophy. They make no promises about forever and don't want me to own anything. They don't want you to copy their music for back up. Music companies tried to get cassette tapes outlawed way back when. That's how much they care about me.

So when I'm offered some online music to buy I'm skeptical. I don't trust record companies. Before the age of the internet (late 90's) the cost of a CD was minimum $17.99 in every store I went into. Twenty bucks for one CD! How is that possible? Prices were pumped up and kept there. There were law suits, music companies settled, and refunds went out. I never got any but I always knew there was something wrong going on. I'm still suspicious.

Every week I read a story about record companies trying to get iTunes to raise the prices on music. Or start charging more for hits. Record companies have no idea about the law of supply and demand because they are used to being monopolies. If you want to buy an singer's song then you have to buy it from the record company that has the rights to that song. No other record company can publish it. They can charge whatever they want. Pay the price or tough luck. That's the record company philosophy.

Record companies are also not used to people being able to buy individual songs either. They keep trying to put an end to that on iTunes. Record companies would prefer you give them more money as you have to buy a whole album to get the song you want. It's as if Fruit Loops were only available in those multi-packs and if you wanted them you had to buy five other cereals as well. I'd prefer to buy just a box of Fruit Loops.

And software companies. Don't even get me started. Have you ever actually read one of those license agreements that pop up? You have to agree to them before you install purchased software. I know these companies are trying to protect their intellectual property but according to those agreements I don't actually own anything I buy from them. I don't own the CD I just bought and can run the program only at their say so. Anytime they want to take their marbles and go home they can. I have no say in it. That's all the stuff you are supposed to agree to after you've bought their product. Imagine buying a new car and when you get it home and go to start it up a message appears that says you have to agree that you don't actually own this car in order to start it. Crazy. No one would be expected to put up with that.

I can't even give my old programs away since I don't own them. I'm not talking about copying them. I'm talking about buying "Program A version 6" so I no longer have any use for "Program A version 5". According to the license agreement I can't give the disk to a buddy who might get some use out of it. Yeah, right. Every time one of those license agreements pops up I push the button that says "I Agree" while saying, "No I don't Agree". Just because some software company says so doesn't make it so. The Pharaoh they are not.

It's enough to turn a boy into a pirate. They treat you like one anyway.