NOTE: This post is a slightly edited version of a piece I wrote in response to an article published in Animation World Network magazine.— • —
Random musings on politics, society, and pop culture from the Internet's marketing curmudgeon.
NOTE: This post is a slightly edited version of a piece I wrote in response to an article published in Animation World Network magazine.— • —
It’s come to my attention that I am like the cobbler’s children, shoeless, in spite of their father’s profession. I am a musician, without any recent recorded samples of my work. This is an inconvenient, but not insurmountable problem.
So today, I’m gonna fix it.
Of course, in my own, inimitable, Captain Digital fashion, I can’t resist a little feature creep, allowing the scope to grow past the prime purpose of the mission. [Read more…] about Once more, dear friends, into the studio…
A week or so ago, one of the special-interests sites (for professional animators, if you must know) sent me a request to participate in a poll regarding how artists plan to vote in November. I responded, as it looked as if it was legitimate, and trying to get an honest sample from a specific demographic.
They lied.
What this was, in fact, was an agenda-driven poll, taken so that the person behind the poll, could spew his far, far left, Liberal point-of-view, and use the (very unscientific) poll results to justify his own hate-filled B.S.
In case you think I’m exaggerating, here’s the link to the article in question: [Read more…] about Nothing like a little unbiased polling…
I think I’ve figured out what the problem is.
Of course, to understand that, we must first agree on what problem we’re discussing.
I’m speaking of pretty much every problem we’ve got in society today, from child-rearing to the economy, from taxes to personal relationships. Look at any conflict, and then boil it down to the essentials, and I think you’ll find the same root cause.
We are, in virtually every case, denying how cause and effect are inexorably linked. Case(s) in point: [Read more…] about Cause and Effect.
George Carlin once famously said, “words mean things.” Yep. But today, words can also be co-opted, where their original meanings are subverted, and new meanings assigned, thus changing it’s use and significance.
Take the word “progress” and its derivatives.
I, personally, believe that if “pro” is the opposite of “con,” then it’s logical and reasonable to define “progress” as the opposite of “Congress.” Progress is supposed to denote change for the better. But while progress requires change, not all change requires progress. [Read more…] about Whither Progress?
Hi. Got a minute? I’ve got some questions for you, and I hope you’ll take the time to read this and let me know what you think.
I’ve been a writer for a long time. Wrote a couple of books a few years back, on Flash and animation. Plan to write more in the future (although probably not more tech books – turns out they have a shelf life measured in months…not years). In the meantime, I blog, not just because I’d like to keep my writing chops up, but because I have to. I don’t mean someone’s holding a gun to my head…I mean I feel compelled to write, and it seems pretty stupid to write stuff and never have it read. Blogging allows me to share my thoughts with others, and it costs nothing (other than my time) to do so. [Read more…] about Feedback.
Are you tired of hearing the same old, tired promises from candidates, along with proposals you know just will NOT work, no matter what they say? Tired of politicians pandering to special interest groups, telling us what they think we want to hear? Tired of choosing between the lesser of two weasels come November. Me too. I’m not a candidate, but if I were, I think I’d throw caution to the wind and try honesty for a change. Instead of making a bunch of empty promises I couldn’t keep if I wanted to, I’d tell people the truth, as painful as that might be. This is not a short post, in fact, printed out, it runs to ten pages. I hope you’ll agree it’s worth the time it takes to read it.
My address would go something like this…
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My fellow Americans:
We face some huge challenges in America. We are the greatest nation on the face of the Earth, but that does not mean we are without problems, nor are we always right in the way that we deal with them. We’ve made some mistakes – not because (as some say) that America is “evil” or “misguided,” but because everybody makes mistakes now and then. One of the great things about America, however, is that we have a history of admitting where we’ve gone wrong, and then fixing it. Your next President needs to deal with our problems in an intelligent, forthright manner. In that light, here’s what I plan to do if you elect me as your next President… [Read more…] about What I WISH they’d tell us.
Just came back from watching An American Carol, and I’m very happy to report that I found it pretty funny, very entertaining, occasionally poignant, and incredibly refreshing. It’s not often that, as a conservative, I can go to see a film and not wince at the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) liberal agenda that the studio and director choose to serve up. Way to many Hollywood films are made by Liberals, for Liberals – or even worse, made by a bunch of Hollywood types who use their films to stake their claim to “I can be more liberal than you can.”
This film is different. Waaaaaaaaaaaaay different. [Read more…] about An American Tune.
It’s (finally) official. O. J. Simpson is a convicted felon. Thirteen years to the day from getting away with murder – literally – Simpson has been convicted on multiple counts of armed robbery, kidnapping, et cetera.
Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a believer Star Chambers or judicial retribution for past sins left unpunished. However, I AM a big believer in Karma, in so far as you reap what you sew. Let me explain… [Read more…] about Famous versus Infamous.
Well, the VP debate is over. Whew! I can breathe again. From where I sit, Palin came, she saw, and she conquered. Flat out, she rocked. Biden was able to avoid putting his foot in his mouth verbally, but he did set a record for smirking, and another for forced smiles. Advantage: Palin.
If we were to use the mainstream media standard, Palin made no mistakes (they would have judged her survival on the basis her not making more than one or two gaffes), and therefore “survived.” So if you’re a conservative, you’re going to say “Palin Won.” If you are a liberal, you’ll probably say something like “Palin acquitted herself adequately [sniff], but Biden enunciated his positions, where Palin made a base appeal to middle America.” [Read more…] about Palin Rocks!