I stumbled across this trailer for an upcoming Robot Chicken Star Wars special episode. Let the YouTube-ing commence!
The above image is actually a parody by Natalie Dee of the well known “Boys are Stupid” image by Todd Goldman. Todd has gone on to spawn an empire of clothing based on similar designs. It seems his empire of sardonic humor is beginning to crumble.
It seems that Todd Goldman copied an image almost verbatim from another artist named Shmorky and began selling it in his catalog. Being familiar with Shmorky’s work I was interested in the story when I first read it a week ago. However, this thing has snowballed into something huge. The website chronicling Todd’s plagiarism is filling up with more examples of stolen work every day. I decided to post something about this when I discovered that he also had stolen work from Bill Waterson, creator of the most brilliant daily comic ever, Calvin & Hobbes.
How someone can go on for so long without being called out for blatent intellectual theft is pretty amazing. What is even more astounding is how quickly one internet meme can destroy an entire reputation. Andy Warhol once stated that in the future everyone would have their fifteen minutes of fame. With the advent of the internet though, that fifteen minutes of fame can be cut off short.
It is also interesting to note that this story would most likely never be covered by major news media outlets. Bloggers are more adept at fact checking these types of stories. They are not burdened by the advertisers and management of big media. They serve a function that would be absolutely impracticable. Todd Goldman just got a smack down on a grand scale from a source I highly doubt he ever suspected. Had big media covered this event, he could have his PR department issue a statement and that would be that. Issuing that same style of PR statement on the internet would be the same as throwing yourself to the wolves. You will get torn apart. I am willing to bet that because his target demographic is mostly internet-savy his sales for the upcoming quarters will be down.
Full Disclosure: One time in the Oshkosh Advance-Titan newspaper I was accused in the Gripe Line of stealing work from explodingdog.com. Typically when you draw stick people though they are going to look similar. Truth be told I am a much bigger fan of the afformentioned Natalie Dee. I have also never profited from any drawings I have done, nor do I plan on ever doing so. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, unless there is money involved. Then its just theft.
You may have noticed that I am now using a slightly different theme for my site. Of all of the WordPress themes I tried today the default ones seem to suit my needs the best. I was using the original Kubrick theme, but personally modifed the code suit my needs. K2 is very similar, but will also need some modification.
I do not care for the following elements.
The following items need to be reworked.:
The folks over at RetroMacCast were kind enough to include a photo I sent in to them in their podcast. Be sure to check out Episode 18 where they read my letter as their first item of discussion. You can download RetroMacCast with iTunes (preferred) or directly from their website.
I put the Paypal donation button up about a month before I left for Germany not really expecting anything to come of it. I am proud to announce that I have received a notification e-mail from Paypal stating that someone had contributed to my study abroad session through the button. It is with great thanks that I accept this person’s generosity. The donation helps me defray the cost of studying in Germany. One Euro costs me approximately $1.35 US and this can cause day-to-day necessities to become quite expensive.
You too can help me during my study abroad. Paypal is safe, secure, and handles a majority of credit card transactions that take place on the internet. I receive the funds securely and immediately. You do not even need to sign up for a Paypal account to contribute.
Vielen Dank aus Marburg, Deutschland. – Ken
[donate]
I was able to talk to my neighbor Stefan who runs the internet service for my floor. For only 7 Euro I get faster internet service than at Oshkosh. I’ve begun to upload photos on Flickr and will follow it with detailed accounts later. I just had to take some time to catch up with the rest of the world.
My address here is:
Ken Fager
Wehrda B
Ernst-Lemmer-Strasse 15
35041 Marburg, Zimmer-Nr. 01-16
Bis später dann, Tchüss!
I picked up a Palm Tungsten C to handle all of my day to day organization and translation needs. It has an ultra fast 400Mhz Xscale processor, keyboard, Wi-Fi, and the best part is it is not a cell phone. It was cheap on eBay and does what I need it to do. Operation Übertaco operatives should consider installing the following apps.
Documents to Go can handle all my Word, Powerpoint, and Excel documents. Comes in handy when editing this presentation on Homosexuality and High School Education. I got an A+ on this assignment.
Easy Tour is the Swiss Army Knife of travel programs. It has everything from currency conversion, size charts, English to Metric conversion, timers, clocks, and all sorts of alarms. Saves a lot of time and hassle.
Lingvosoft for quick language translation. Simple yet effective. Contains a lot of colloquialisms.
MS Dict is a better dictionary despite its slower interface.
NesEm for all my Nintendo ROMS. Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A B A Select Start.
MunduIM for all my messaging needs. Works with Yahoo!, MSN, AIM, and ICQ.
NoviiRemote has about 500 remote codes for various consumer electronics. TVs are thine enemy. Smite them with this.
Wi-Fi Where handles all your Wi-Fi signal locating needs. Notice all the open networks. Notice how dumb people are in labeling them. Gee… I wonder what someone could do with an open network?
I’m in ur networkz, pwnin ur bandwidthz.
This is the reason you lock your network. The above image was censored for the good of humanity.
The great eBay purge of my storage closet continues on and with it goes on of my prized possessions. Shining Force III for Sega Saturn, one of the system’s rarest games, is available for auction now. Though I am sad to depart with this gem I am even more depressed at what it reminds me of.
The death knell was pretty much sealed in 1995 with the release of the Sony Playstation. By late 1997 the Sega Saturn was sputtering, but Sega didn’t let their system go without a fight. Three of the system’s greatest games were final releases. Burning Rangers, Panzer Dragoon Saga, and Shining Force III. There I stood in the videogame aisle of Toys R Us with $20 dollars in my pocket on that cold December day. Panzer Dragoon Saga in my left hand and Shining Force III in the other. I knew that both titles were extremely rare, but had no conception of how rare. I was a big fan of Panzer Dragoon I and II, but for some reason I chose Shining Force III.
It was only later that I found out the horrible truth about both of those titles. Panzer Dragoon Saga had only 2000 copies released stateside while Shining Force III was only chapter one of a trilogy. The latter two chapters would only be released in Japan. Now Panzer Dragoon Saga sells on eBay for $150-200. I had it in my hand and if I had purchased it, I would have never EVER sold it. Shining Force III was an amazing RPG, but every single time I think about it Panzer Dragoon Saga comes to mind. I cry a little bit knowing that I held perhaps the most sought after RPG by collectors in my naïve hands.
If you are reading this you are most likely seeking temporary asylum from your family on the internet. Know that I too share your holiday cheer.
The limited holiday edition of Valleyschwag is in after some initial delay. I already received Perplexcity cards in a previous issue. The big bland brick of white post-it notes I could have done without. I got doubles of all the stickers, a hat, and of course a shirt. Perhaps the most interesting piece of the haul was the promo syringe for the movie Touristas. On the side it is labeled as “1-shot, 2-shots, 3-shots” for what I am assuming to be Kool-Aid. All of this was shipped in a lovely mesh stocking. Overall verdict: Not as impressive as previous editions for $4 more. I’ll give my favorite web 2.0 company another spin though when #6 comes around.
