Dan Clowes

panels excerpted from Dan Clowes, The Happy Fisherman

Read Dan Clowes' stuff again last night. I'd kind of forgotten how good he is. Jeez. Depressing for me, but good for you. Pick up anything of his you can get your hands on. The more the merrier. "The Happy Fisherman" (see image above) changed me forever and is available in the Twentieth Century Eightball collection. He's just pure quality.

On a stupid note, here he is doing a commercial for Apple that is actually pretty damn funny if you are condemned to making comics.

It's Okay, I hate Macs as well as Windows

Had the privilege of paying $100 for a new laptop power cord for my Macbook Pro yesterday after my original one decided to just melt down. This cartoon by excellent internet/business card cartoonist, Hugh McLeod came quickly to mind. Check out his work. I like.

Help! Has anyone heard of a "GIF" file????

I encountered this crazy new file format called ".gif" today. I've never seen it before, and Windows Vista doesn't know what to do with it. Maybe I need to visit the "Windows Marketplace" or the "LView Pro" website that they recommend?

Hmmm, apparently some company has a product called Internet Explorer that can handle this exotic file format. I'll have to track that program down. Maybe the people that make Windows Vista could create a synergistic partnership with the makers of Internet Explorer so the programs could work together to recognize this cutting-edge ".gif" technology. The future holds many wonders in store!

Wacom Cintiq - To Buy of Not to Buy

Real tired-like. So I'll babble on about techno-crap.
I'm thinking about getting a Wacom Cintiq tablet. A Cintiq let's you draw directly on your screen (as opposed to the Wacom Intuos tablet which is more of a fancy pen-style mouse). As you can see from the picture above, I already work wonders with the Intuos. Imagine what I could accomplish with a Cintiq!
Here are the issues:
Le Cintiq is freaking expensive. As in, "Dang, dude, that is really expensive." The 21" Cintiq is $2000. $2000 is a lot of money. As in, "Dang, dude, that is a lot of money." The 12" Cintiq is $1000. This is still spendy, and most people say, "I love the 12," but if I had the money, I'd get the 21."
Hrrghl.
Buying hardware can be a big disappointment. You've probably been there. "Wow, this new Macintosh laptop allows me to open files and run programs. Unfortunately it has not made me more like Ghandi, Einstein, or the Dalai Lama. Hell, I'm not even more like John Lennon or Yoko Ono. Damn their sexy industrial design and black and white advertising campaign."

Some hardware purchases are good, however. I've liked my 22" Acer flat panel monitor, though a big part of its appeal is that it was only 230 bucks. No Apple Cinema displays for me. My Intuos tablet has been the most trustworthy piece of computer hardware I've owned--I've used mine for about 6 years now. It's outlived numerous computers, scanners and cameras, plus I use it every day. So, I think I'll stop annoying myself (and more importantly, you, dear reader) and just get the damn Cintiq.

Dear Diary. . .

Ha ha, I didn't post anything yesterday. Who cares? I did, however, buy some pants w/o trying them on, and they're . . . a bit tight. The factory must have mis-printed the size.

Getting ready to talk about Pericles' Funeral Oration this afternoon. I thought I knew what I was going to say about it, but now feel like I have no idea. "Uh, yeah, that was a pretty wild speech, huh?" or maybe, "Yup, that Pericles--he's always up to something, isn't he?" Maybe we can talk about how stabbing someone in the face or liver never seems to go out of style. Savage killing and high-order rational thought and rhetoric make good bedfellows.

And by the way, Maya just crashed, so @#$% and #$@$%. I just downloaded an autosave script which I'm sure will totally @#$% up my life and make Maya crash more, but what can you do?

Saturday, come love me

I'm working on a quick flash job for Lithia Motors today. Glory. Then the site. Then DMF. Then USEM. This blog is making my life look bleak. Working on little things here and there. Fugreheth. I love how long my Macbook Pro takes to open and close programs. It's awesome! Computers rule! Kids, don't complain about computers. It's weak. Like me. Like our society. Er, uh, etc. . . Still, I'm a big fan of Microsoft products such as Word. The "Word" computer program allows you to "process" your words and create published documents from your own desk. You also receive a genuine advantage by using their operating system, "Windows." Macintosh products are more expensive, but made of silver. Outstanding.