...yet I can't do without it.
Spent a bulk of the weekend plus yesterday wrestling with one modem, three routers, two laptops, and three different tech support lines. Until now, with little to no success - hence my absence when a blog post was due yesterday.
Things are peachy now, though. *knock on wood*
I'll be returning to my normal blogging schedule tomorrow
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Blarg
Internet problems are preventing me from accessing things at my leisure. I'm making this post from a friend's connection; hopefully by Monday things will be fixed.
Anyway, two new drawings:
Vitalia Portrait
Sewer Encounter
Anyway, two new drawings:
Vitalia Portrait
Sewer Encounter
Thursday, August 26, 2010
I really love TED
Whenever I get depressed at how horrible the world is, a visit to TED usually helps cheer me up.
Here's a talk by proud Princeton dropout Seth Priebatsh on turning the world into a game.
Here's a talk by proud Princeton dropout Seth Priebatsh on turning the world into a game.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The Importance of Wikileaks
There's a book titled "Claim of Privilege" by Barry Siegel. Not too hard to find. Here's the Publishers Weekly write-up, as quoted on the Amazon dot com:
This is just one example of gross mismanagement of justice in the name of "national security." There are many others, both before and since, and it wouldn't take very long to drudge up a few. Governments want the people over which they rule to trust and support them; whether they're a democracy or a totalitarian regime, this remains true. This is why it's so important for societies to do exactly the opposite - question at every turn, demand transparency and accountability, and make sure the things they do in your name are things with which you agree.
The media (or at least those portions of the media which are stuck suckling at the U.S. Government's tit, which is most of them) would have you believe that the latest batch of documents released by Wikileaks - which, I'd agree, was released in a careless manner - did nothing but put people in danger. "There is nothing new to be found in these documents," goes the refrain, "anyone who's been paying attention already knew all this stuff."
There's some truth to this statement, though it makes one wonder why most of this was classified in the first place.
It's certainly true that it's been a poorly-kept secret at best that Coalition forces have been utilizing teams of assassins to target high-profile insurgent leaders; this is something that's been reported on before, though usually with a certain level of deniability on the part of Government spokespersons. But there are certain details that have emerged as a result of the leak that are rather eye-opening. As Prattap Chatterjee reports:
The core information used here is from the diarydig website that catalogues and analyzes the Wikileaks documents. Very interesting/disturbing is the way that local leaders of reconstruction projects are forced to apologize to communities for the actions of these sorts of teams - the aid workers we put there are distrusted by the populace because they're seen as part of the same group. And really, why wouldn't they be? If my country was being occupied and my countrymen being killed on such a regular basis, I split hairs like that, either.
In fact, it gets worse than this. If you look through the data, there's only a single case where Task Force 373 successfully assassinated their target; every other incident involves friendly fire, killing afgan police, or a civilian massacre. That's one successful mission out of a hundred for a task force that's illegal by international law in the first place.
This isn't helping.
"We have an important job to do there," various Coalition governments assure us - my own government included. We do? What is it? We're not saving any lives, our very presence in Afganistan is causing far more harm than we could possible prevent... We're not fighting for equal rights for women, despite our claims to the contrary and terrible articles found in Time magazine; our presence there is actively making things worse because we tend to prop up and protect the very people who do these terrible things (despite our claims to the contrary). Initially, the coalition went in to dismantle the Taliban and get bin Laden. Well, okay. The first part's done, the second part can't be done anymore, at least not in Afganistan.
Now, what?
Supposedly, we're still there in an effort to rebuild Afganistan after the tremendous damage we've inflicted there.
So, what is it? Revenge? How many lives must end, how much blood must be spilt, before the West in general, and the U.S. in specific, has had its revenge on that part of the world for 9/11? It was nine years and over a million deaths ago.
Just how many Afgan and Iraq lives is a single U.S. life worth? Or, to put it more selfishly, how many Coalition soldiers' lives have to be wasted before we can admit that we're not helping, there's little point to staying, and we should just leave? Any chance we likely had to complete the mission (assuming the mission statements ever given in Afganistan actually had anything to do with truth) is probably gone.
So, why are we still there?
It's a damn good question, in my mind. And it's the sort of question that makes Wikileaks so important in this day and age, because as the media becomes more profit-driven, as cutbacks limit the media's ability to get at the unvarnished truth (if they were ever able to do so), the importance of finding an alternative for the public grows.
In 1948, three civilian engineers died in the crash of an air force B-29 bomber that was testing a missile guidance system; in their widows' lawsuit, the Supreme Court upheld the air force's refusal to divulge accident reports that it claimed held military secrets. But when the declassified reports surfaced decades later, the only sensitive information in them involved the chronic tendency of B-29 engines to catch fire, egregious lapses in maintenance and safety procedures, and gross pilot error. Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Siegel (Shades of Gray) ably recounts the case, a scandal and cover-up with grave constitutional implications. The 1953 Supreme Court decision gave the executive branch sweeping authority to conceal information under national security claims without judicial review, a precedent confirmed when the Court refused to reopen the case in 2003. (The author notes the influence of Cold War anxieties and the 9/11 attacks in these rulings.) Siegel insists on decorating the story with often extraneous human-interest profiles of everyone involved. But his is an engrossing exposition of the facts and legal issues in the case, which produced a disturbing legacy of government secrecy and misconduct still very much alive. (June)
This is just one example of gross mismanagement of justice in the name of "national security." There are many others, both before and since, and it wouldn't take very long to drudge up a few. Governments want the people over which they rule to trust and support them; whether they're a democracy or a totalitarian regime, this remains true. This is why it's so important for societies to do exactly the opposite - question at every turn, demand transparency and accountability, and make sure the things they do in your name are things with which you agree.
The media (or at least those portions of the media which are stuck suckling at the U.S. Government's tit, which is most of them) would have you believe that the latest batch of documents released by Wikileaks - which, I'd agree, was released in a careless manner - did nothing but put people in danger. "There is nothing new to be found in these documents," goes the refrain, "anyone who's been paying attention already knew all this stuff."
There's some truth to this statement, though it makes one wonder why most of this was classified in the first place.
It's certainly true that it's been a poorly-kept secret at best that Coalition forces have been utilizing teams of assassins to target high-profile insurgent leaders; this is something that's been reported on before, though usually with a certain level of deniability on the part of Government spokespersons. But there are certain details that have emerged as a result of the leak that are rather eye-opening. As Prattap Chatterjee reports:
"Find, fix, finish, and follow-up" is the way the Pentagon describes the mission of secret military teams in Afghanistan which have been given a mandate to pursue alleged members of the Taliban or al-Qaeda wherever they may be found. Some call these “manhunting” operations and the units assigned to them “capture/kill” teams.
Whatever terminology you choose, the details of dozens of their specific operations -- and how they regularly went badly wrong -- have been revealed for the first time in the mass of secret U.S. military and intelligence documents published by the website Wikileaksin July to a storm of news coverage and official protest. Representing a form of U.S. covert warfare now on the rise, these teams regularly make more enemies than friends and undermine any goodwill created by U.S. reconstruction projects.
...
In more than 100 incident reports in the Wikileaks files, Task Force 373 is described as leading numerous “capture/kill” efforts, notably in Khost, Paktika, and Nangarhar provinces, all bordering the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of northern Pakistan. Some reportedly resulted in successful captures, while others led to the death of local police officers or even small children, causing angry villagers to protest and attack U.S.-led military forces.
The core information used here is from the diarydig website that catalogues and analyzes the Wikileaks documents. Very interesting/disturbing is the way that local leaders of reconstruction projects are forced to apologize to communities for the actions of these sorts of teams - the aid workers we put there are distrusted by the populace because they're seen as part of the same group. And really, why wouldn't they be? If my country was being occupied and my countrymen being killed on such a regular basis, I split hairs like that, either.
In fact, it gets worse than this. If you look through the data, there's only a single case where Task Force 373 successfully assassinated their target; every other incident involves friendly fire, killing afgan police, or a civilian massacre. That's one successful mission out of a hundred for a task force that's illegal by international law in the first place.
This isn't helping.
"We have an important job to do there," various Coalition governments assure us - my own government included. We do? What is it? We're not saving any lives, our very presence in Afganistan is causing far more harm than we could possible prevent... We're not fighting for equal rights for women, despite our claims to the contrary and terrible articles found in Time magazine; our presence there is actively making things worse because we tend to prop up and protect the very people who do these terrible things (despite our claims to the contrary). Initially, the coalition went in to dismantle the Taliban and get bin Laden. Well, okay. The first part's done, the second part can't be done anymore, at least not in Afganistan.
Now, what?
Supposedly, we're still there in an effort to rebuild Afganistan after the tremendous damage we've inflicted there.
So, what is it? Revenge? How many lives must end, how much blood must be spilt, before the West in general, and the U.S. in specific, has had its revenge on that part of the world for 9/11? It was nine years and over a million deaths ago.
Just how many Afgan and Iraq lives is a single U.S. life worth? Or, to put it more selfishly, how many Coalition soldiers' lives have to be wasted before we can admit that we're not helping, there's little point to staying, and we should just leave? Any chance we likely had to complete the mission (assuming the mission statements ever given in Afganistan actually had anything to do with truth) is probably gone.
So, why are we still there?
It's a damn good question, in my mind. And it's the sort of question that makes Wikileaks so important in this day and age, because as the media becomes more profit-driven, as cutbacks limit the media's ability to get at the unvarnished truth (if they were ever able to do so), the importance of finding an alternative for the public grows.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
A Marxist Perspective of the Credit Crisis
Monday, August 23, 2010
More Webcomic Reviews
Oglaf: This is an often-R-rated webcomic that frequently borders on X-rated, being extremely naughty. It's also hilarious, particularly if you're familiar with the sort of source material it parodies, being a comedic fantasy comic. (Not all its strips involve pornographic material, though - sometimes it's perfectly tame, though this never hurts the humour.) Solidly drawn with beautiful colours, it doesn't really have a story per se, though it does have some frequently returning characters - the most common of which is an evil sorceress and her hapless apprentice.
Plan B: Billed as "a tale of love, revenge, and supervillainy," I don't have a whole lot to say about this comic. A usually-but-not-always parody strip, it's certainly good enough to have drawn me in and keep me reading. It's frequently amusing. The art is serviceable-to-good for the most part, with only the occasional easy-to-overlook flub. Having said that, the main reason I read it is the genre - if it were, I dunno, a webcomic about sports or video games or pretty much anything else besides superheroes/supervillains, its charms probably wouldn't be enough to hold me.
Girly: The most fascinating thing about this comic is the evolution Josh Lesnick's art's gone through over the years he worked on Girly. In the beginning, it was rather animu crap - not horrendous for animu stuff, but still way too heavily influenced by animu. As time passes, the art slowly evolves to the point that Lesnick develops a clear style all his own. At its best, the art was really worth eating up and studying in every detail - a wonderfully cartoony style that screams energy and is truly Lesnick's own.
However, I have to admit I have serious misgivings about his latest stylistic evolutions. I find that in throwing himself into the energy of his drawings, Lesnick's lost a lot of the structure - nowadays his faces are unnecessarily melty, and the action can be really difficult to follow from panel to panel.
Oh, yeah, and then there's Lesnick's sense of humour. It can range from lame to decent. He frequently jumps into lolrandom humour ("Magic whale fetus! LOL!"), which really only works when done well and he doesn't always do it well. Not a comic for everyone, but still head and shoulders better than most of what's out there. In fact, I'd have to say that the humour - and the writing in general - was of much better quality during the early and middle parts of the run than in the last parts. Between that and the way I feel his art has evolved in bad directions lately, the only reason I'm still reading this comic is due to inertia - Lesnick's been working on the final story for about six months, and will be ending the comic after that, so I figure I might as well keep reading until it's over.
It's also worth noting, for Scott Pilgrim fans, Lesnick did a back-up mini strip in the last Scott Pilgrim book. So, um, yeah. That's relevant somehow, I'm sure.
Sorcery 101: A solid urban fantasy comic about a high school teacher who's secretly a foreign prince, is an apprentice sorcerer being taught by a reluctant vampire, and who lives with a married couple (a former demon hunter and a werewolf) and their werewolf daughter (she takes after her dad). That probably sounds a lot sillier than it actually is - the strip is very often comedic, but it's never actually silly. Well, maybe the bits with the kid necromancer excepted.
This, like Girly, went through an interesting art evolution as well. In the beginning, it was often downright badly-drawn, with frequent basic mistakes of anatomy and perspective. Unfortunately, I can't really show you any of this - Kel McDonald's art evolved to become solid (at worst) to excellent (at best), and as it did he went back and re-did his early stuff so it's not available to make comparisons with. Just trust me, the stuff that's up now is much, much better than what used to be there. (His writing is always solid, though sometimes I have to overlook some spelling mistakes - I think he's said that he's dyslexic and has to do a lot of proofreading. I hope I'm not misremembering that.)
Plan B: Billed as "a tale of love, revenge, and supervillainy," I don't have a whole lot to say about this comic. A usually-but-not-always parody strip, it's certainly good enough to have drawn me in and keep me reading. It's frequently amusing. The art is serviceable-to-good for the most part, with only the occasional easy-to-overlook flub. Having said that, the main reason I read it is the genre - if it were, I dunno, a webcomic about sports or video games or pretty much anything else besides superheroes/supervillains, its charms probably wouldn't be enough to hold me.
Girly: The most fascinating thing about this comic is the evolution Josh Lesnick's art's gone through over the years he worked on Girly. In the beginning, it was rather animu crap - not horrendous for animu stuff, but still way too heavily influenced by animu. As time passes, the art slowly evolves to the point that Lesnick develops a clear style all his own. At its best, the art was really worth eating up and studying in every detail - a wonderfully cartoony style that screams energy and is truly Lesnick's own.
However, I have to admit I have serious misgivings about his latest stylistic evolutions. I find that in throwing himself into the energy of his drawings, Lesnick's lost a lot of the structure - nowadays his faces are unnecessarily melty, and the action can be really difficult to follow from panel to panel.
Oh, yeah, and then there's Lesnick's sense of humour. It can range from lame to decent. He frequently jumps into lolrandom humour ("Magic whale fetus! LOL!"), which really only works when done well and he doesn't always do it well. Not a comic for everyone, but still head and shoulders better than most of what's out there. In fact, I'd have to say that the humour - and the writing in general - was of much better quality during the early and middle parts of the run than in the last parts. Between that and the way I feel his art has evolved in bad directions lately, the only reason I'm still reading this comic is due to inertia - Lesnick's been working on the final story for about six months, and will be ending the comic after that, so I figure I might as well keep reading until it's over.
It's also worth noting, for Scott Pilgrim fans, Lesnick did a back-up mini strip in the last Scott Pilgrim book. So, um, yeah. That's relevant somehow, I'm sure.
Sorcery 101: A solid urban fantasy comic about a high school teacher who's secretly a foreign prince, is an apprentice sorcerer being taught by a reluctant vampire, and who lives with a married couple (a former demon hunter and a werewolf) and their werewolf daughter (she takes after her dad). That probably sounds a lot sillier than it actually is - the strip is very often comedic, but it's never actually silly. Well, maybe the bits with the kid necromancer excepted.
This, like Girly, went through an interesting art evolution as well. In the beginning, it was often downright badly-drawn, with frequent basic mistakes of anatomy and perspective. Unfortunately, I can't really show you any of this - Kel McDonald's art evolved to become solid (at worst) to excellent (at best), and as it did he went back and re-did his early stuff so it's not available to make comparisons with. Just trust me, the stuff that's up now is much, much better than what used to be there. (His writing is always solid, though sometimes I have to overlook some spelling mistakes - I think he's said that he's dyslexic and has to do a lot of proofreading. I hope I'm not misremembering that.)
Friday, August 20, 2010
Friday Art Time
Only two to share from the past week: Guardian and Tremor.
I have... Hmm... Five more character designs to do. Then I've got some location designs, and a cityscape, and I'll be ready.
Incidentally, I've now passed a 1-for-1 ratio of favourites for my DeviantArt account. My rating is 1.18. Which is... a good sign? Though probably not a good sign that I care about my DeviantArt stats... :/
I have... Hmm... Five more character designs to do. Then I've got some location designs, and a cityscape, and I'll be ready.
Incidentally, I've now passed a 1-for-1 ratio of favourites for my DeviantArt account. My rating is 1.18. Which is... a good sign? Though probably not a good sign that I care about my DeviantArt stats... :/
Thursday, August 19, 2010
It was bound to happen eventually...
...I'm blogging about rats.
Archaeologists have discovered what they think is the largest species of rat that ever lived, with a body weight of six kilograms:
Unlike the capybara, this was a true rat of the genus rattus, and was three times the size of the largest rats we know of today. Cool, huh?
Archaeologists have discovered what they think is the largest species of rat that ever lived, with a body weight of six kilograms:
Carbon dating shows that the biggest rat that ever lived survived until around 1000 to 2000 years ago, along with most of the other Timorese rodents found during the excavation. Only one of the smaller species found is known to survive on Timor today.
Unlike the capybara, this was a true rat of the genus rattus, and was three times the size of the largest rats we know of today. Cool, huh?
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
How'd They Vote?
Since it's Wednesday but I don't really feel like writing up a full-blown rant, I'll just share this website I've found useful. It lists each MP in parliament and how they voted on various issues, plus other useful stuff.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Actually, it's called "Korobeiniki"
I really love this. Listened to it six times already.
"Peace and love? Wait, does that mean Vash the Stampede was a communist?"
"Peace and love? Wait, does that mean Vash the Stampede was a communist?"
Monday, August 16, 2010
How is this guy married?
If you've been reading my blog, you may remember where I talked about the verdict in the latest Gaiman v. MacFarlane case, here. If not, you may want to go read that post for context.
MacFarlane is one of the founders of Image comics. Another one of the founders is Erik Larsen, who earned his fame largely the same way MacFarlane did - being the art guy on the front-running Spiderman title. After the biggest artists in the biz left Marvel to form image, he settled into doing the Savage Dragon, a character of his own creation, and he's been doing it faithfully ever since.
Once upon a time, I rather liked Savage Dragon. A superhero who's also a cop? Without it being a secret identity? So, a super-cop? Well, sure Robocop did it first, but it was still territory that was mostly untrod at that point. The comic eventually left this original premise though before that happened I'd long since lost interest in the title. At some point, his protagonist's backstory was explained (apparently he's an intergalactic conqueror tyrant with amnesia - who knew?)
Larsen's often lauded for his energetic, out-there imagination. The sort of imagination that can think up such amazing villain concepts as Dung.
Yep. Somehow, the guy gets lauded for this sort of imagination. And I guess it is kinda impressive, if you're, I dunno, 14 years old and still think farts are really funny.
Anyway...
Besides his crazy imagination, Erik Larsen's also known for putting his foot in his mouth. So after the verdict was handed down regarding his friend and business partner Todd MacFarlane, Larsen just couldn't keep his big mouth shut:
Seriously, I couldn't make this shit up. Well, I could, but why would I when Erik makes sure I don't have to? He's basically blaming the verdict on them wimmins being all swoony over Gaiman's accent.
Way to be classy there, Erik.
MacFarlane is one of the founders of Image comics. Another one of the founders is Erik Larsen, who earned his fame largely the same way MacFarlane did - being the art guy on the front-running Spiderman title. After the biggest artists in the biz left Marvel to form image, he settled into doing the Savage Dragon, a character of his own creation, and he's been doing it faithfully ever since.
Once upon a time, I rather liked Savage Dragon. A superhero who's also a cop? Without it being a secret identity? So, a super-cop? Well, sure Robocop did it first, but it was still territory that was mostly untrod at that point. The comic eventually left this original premise though before that happened I'd long since lost interest in the title. At some point, his protagonist's backstory was explained (apparently he's an intergalactic conqueror tyrant with amnesia - who knew?)
Larsen's often lauded for his energetic, out-there imagination. The sort of imagination that can think up such amazing villain concepts as Dung.
Yep. Somehow, the guy gets lauded for this sort of imagination. And I guess it is kinda impressive, if you're, I dunno, 14 years old and still think farts are really funny.
Anyway...
Besides his crazy imagination, Erik Larsen's also known for putting his foot in his mouth. So after the verdict was handed down regarding his friend and business partner Todd MacFarlane, Larsen just couldn't keep his big mouth shut:
"it seems patently unfair that Neil could claim ownership of "Spawn on a horse" much less that an all woman jury, charmed by his English accent and sad story would award him that.
...
The McFarlane/Gaiman thing still burns me up in the basic unfairness of it all. As you said, "Had the judge asked them, I'm sure the all-female jury would have been happy to give Neil the rights to Spawn, Todd's house and cars, Madonna's uniform from A League of Their Own and the Mark McGuire baseball and anything else Neil expressed an interest in" and that's not right."
Seriously, I couldn't make this shit up. Well, I could, but why would I when Erik makes sure I don't have to? He's basically blaming the verdict on them wimmins being all swoony over Gaiman's accent.
Way to be classy there, Erik.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Arts and a Schedule
So, I've got three more arts to show:
Xenos (not really a character but a race design, these guys being transdimensional refugees)
The Master
Powerhouse
Also, after thinking on it a while, I've decided I'm going to give this blog a schedule; a different thing to post about each day. In theory, it will be as follows:
-Monday: Gaming/Webcomics/Nerdiness in general.
-Tuesday: Internet links, wherein I share some random bit of the internet that I find amusing or enlightening. This will often be something involving Youtube.
-Wednesday: Politics. This could be either a news article, a series of related news articles, or a rant of some kind. There's also no guarantee that it will be related to Canadian politics, but it will be political in some way.
-Thursday: Non-Political news. Basically anything news-related that doesn't fall under Wednesday's topic.
-Friday: Arts! Where I share all the art-related stuff I've done throughout the week. If I don't have any of my own to show (or sometimes even if I do), I'll share some other artist's work that's caught my eye, or perhaps a how-to link.
Xenos (not really a character but a race design, these guys being transdimensional refugees)
The Master
Powerhouse
Also, after thinking on it a while, I've decided I'm going to give this blog a schedule; a different thing to post about each day. In theory, it will be as follows:
-Monday: Gaming/Webcomics/Nerdiness in general.
-Tuesday: Internet links, wherein I share some random bit of the internet that I find amusing or enlightening. This will often be something involving Youtube.
-Wednesday: Politics. This could be either a news article, a series of related news articles, or a rant of some kind. There's also no guarantee that it will be related to Canadian politics, but it will be political in some way.
-Thursday: Non-Political news. Basically anything news-related that doesn't fall under Wednesday's topic.
-Friday: Arts! Where I share all the art-related stuff I've done throughout the week. If I don't have any of my own to show (or sometimes even if I do), I'll share some other artist's work that's caught my eye, or perhaps a how-to link.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Blood, Lies, and Wikileaks
Unless you've been actively avoiding the topic, most Westerners should be aware of the existence of Wikileaks by now; this is the internet media organization that's been responsible for some really astonishing leaks of government and corporate documents and news (much of which related to government and corporate malfeasance). Some of it's been so impressive that they won the Amnesty International 2009 Media Award. Anyway, some time ago Wikileaks released 77,000 classified U.S. Military documents they'd managed to get ahold of. They had 92,000, but withheld 15,000 of them which they felt would put people at undue risk based on the contents and/or classifications attached to those documents.
The end result is a pretty bleak picture of what's going on over there.
Of course, shortly after the leak went live - which was done partnered with Der Spiegel, the New York Times, and the Guardian - the media narrative has become all about how Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, now has blood on his hands because the documents released included non-redacted names of informants.
I'll admit, this is regrettable. Wikileaks, to their credit, used the NYT as a go-between with the Department of Defence to get help in redacting sensitive names found in the documents, but the Department of Defence refused. Wikileaks is an organization with all of five employees - they didn't have the manpower to do it themselves. This meant they had a choice: go forward and get the information out there, or sit on it.
Some organizations would have sat on it, denying the public its right to know the sort of things being done in their name. That's not really how Wikileaks rolls, though, so they released the documents. Go to the Wikileaks.org website if you want to take a peek.
But that's all background - this is all old news. So, why am I talking about this now, rather than when it was all fresh?
Because this article at Newsweek, about a surge in death threats and violence in the wake of the Afganistan documents leak, is pissing me off. Allow me to explain why.
This narrative much of the media is running with is based on what is basically fabrication. That newsweek article? It's based entirely on a twisted version of this news feed, which points out that the tribal elder who was killed received no death threats, no one has claimed responsibility for his killing, and was never named in the Wikileaks documents anyway. In fact, to date no one has been able to point to a single death or act of violence directly attributable to the leak. It's all hypothetical, though you can bet that if it weren't there'd be somebody at the White House crowing about it as loud as they could.
If a surge in violence is occurring in Afganistan in the wake of the Wikileaks thing - which, based on the contents of the documents, is a very suspect idea since those documents suggest that the surge of violence has been growing for years - then it's simply based on the fact that the media reported that some people in Afganistan have been working with coalition forces as informants. Which means that it doesn't matter one whit if you redact the names - people are going to be targeted for being "suspected informants" anyway. (But then that's what's been happening all along, isn't it?) So this admonishment of Wikileaks and Julian Assange, when you wipe away all the crap, becomes less "You should have redacted the names" and more "You shouldn't let the public know about things!"
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
These accusations sound stunningly familiar, in fact. It's the same sort of shpiel that's been thrown out since this whole War on (Some) Terror started. Stop me if you've heard these before:
Classification of information is abused by governments as a matter of course, and really much of the modern media just sort of rolls over and plays dead for the powers-that-be. I'm honestly not sure if this wasn't always the case - I'd like to think there was once a time when official news outlets were on a noble quest for the truth, and certainly there seems to have been a time when they were more powerful than they are now, but I suspect that in truth this golden age of news agencies never truly existed. Still, the internet and the global society that it's helping facilitate, baby step by baby step, is a pretty powerful potential source for information, as Wikileaks is fast proving.
In order for the democratic process to work, the public needs to be able to inform itself of what's being done in its name. This goes not just for the U.S., but for every citizen of every coalition nation - a group that includes me. It's tremendously regrettable if anyone gets hurt as a result of this leak - and I'm glad that no one has yet. But civilians are being slaughtered like it's going out of style in Afganistan, and my government owns a part of the responsibility for those actions by virtue of taking an active role in this bout of military adventurism. This is all being done in my name.
That means I have a right to know what's really going on there. I have a need to know, so I can act as a responsible citizen. Wikileaks is not perfect, but it helps fulfil that need, and any accusations by Coalition government bodies of its founder having "blood on his hands" is, at best, disingenuous. It's classic beam vs. mote territory, really.
The end result is a pretty bleak picture of what's going on over there.
Of course, shortly after the leak went live - which was done partnered with Der Spiegel, the New York Times, and the Guardian - the media narrative has become all about how Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, now has blood on his hands because the documents released included non-redacted names of informants.
I'll admit, this is regrettable. Wikileaks, to their credit, used the NYT as a go-between with the Department of Defence to get help in redacting sensitive names found in the documents, but the Department of Defence refused. Wikileaks is an organization with all of five employees - they didn't have the manpower to do it themselves. This meant they had a choice: go forward and get the information out there, or sit on it.
Some organizations would have sat on it, denying the public its right to know the sort of things being done in their name. That's not really how Wikileaks rolls, though, so they released the documents. Go to the Wikileaks.org website if you want to take a peek.
But that's all background - this is all old news. So, why am I talking about this now, rather than when it was all fresh?
Because this article at Newsweek, about a surge in death threats and violence in the wake of the Afganistan documents leak, is pissing me off. Allow me to explain why.
This narrative much of the media is running with is based on what is basically fabrication. That newsweek article? It's based entirely on a twisted version of this news feed, which points out that the tribal elder who was killed received no death threats, no one has claimed responsibility for his killing, and was never named in the Wikileaks documents anyway. In fact, to date no one has been able to point to a single death or act of violence directly attributable to the leak. It's all hypothetical, though you can bet that if it weren't there'd be somebody at the White House crowing about it as loud as they could.
If a surge in violence is occurring in Afganistan in the wake of the Wikileaks thing - which, based on the contents of the documents, is a very suspect idea since those documents suggest that the surge of violence has been growing for years - then it's simply based on the fact that the media reported that some people in Afganistan have been working with coalition forces as informants. Which means that it doesn't matter one whit if you redact the names - people are going to be targeted for being "suspected informants" anyway. (But then that's what's been happening all along, isn't it?) So this admonishment of Wikileaks and Julian Assange, when you wipe away all the crap, becomes less "You should have redacted the names" and more "You shouldn't let the public know about things!"
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These accusations sound stunningly familiar, in fact. It's the same sort of shpiel that's been thrown out since this whole War on (Some) Terror started. Stop me if you've heard these before:
Are you an anti-war protester? Then you're hurting the troops! You must love terrorists!
Are you questioning the bombing of Baghdad? Saddam gassed his own people! How can you support that monster!
You want torturers and people who imprison others without trial brought to task and made to answer for their actions? You must hate freedom!
You're shedding light on the failure of U.S./Coalition military policy, and the frequency with which civilians aremurderedcollateral damaged? You've got blood on your hands!
Classification of information is abused by governments as a matter of course, and really much of the modern media just sort of rolls over and plays dead for the powers-that-be. I'm honestly not sure if this wasn't always the case - I'd like to think there was once a time when official news outlets were on a noble quest for the truth, and certainly there seems to have been a time when they were more powerful than they are now, but I suspect that in truth this golden age of news agencies never truly existed. Still, the internet and the global society that it's helping facilitate, baby step by baby step, is a pretty powerful potential source for information, as Wikileaks is fast proving.
In order for the democratic process to work, the public needs to be able to inform itself of what's being done in its name. This goes not just for the U.S., but for every citizen of every coalition nation - a group that includes me. It's tremendously regrettable if anyone gets hurt as a result of this leak - and I'm glad that no one has yet. But civilians are being slaughtered like it's going out of style in Afganistan, and my government owns a part of the responsibility for those actions by virtue of taking an active role in this bout of military adventurism. This is all being done in my name.
That means I have a right to know what's really going on there. I have a need to know, so I can act as a responsible citizen. Wikileaks is not perfect, but it helps fulfil that need, and any accusations by Coalition government bodies of its founder having "blood on his hands" is, at best, disingenuous. It's classic beam vs. mote territory, really.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Census Woes
Honestly, I don't think I can remember the last time in Canada a government did something that was so universally condemned pretty much across the board (well, minus party hardliners - aka douchebags) as a bad move. More than 200 groups oppose this change; only 3 are in support of it.
But that's what Harper's done, and it looks like he's going to get his way.
It irks me. This was done with no public input and he ignored the massive public condemnation in an almost gleeful manner. I mean, sure, it's par for the course for Harper - he's evil, after all - but it's just so blatant. Again, though, that's no surprise - he's been just as blatant in the past.
He's the only Canadian politician in living memory whom I've ever described unironically as evil. I really hope that some commentators are correct in their prediction that voters will remember this come next election, and future governments will restore the census to its proper form.
But that's what Harper's done, and it looks like he's going to get his way.
It irks me. This was done with no public input and he ignored the massive public condemnation in an almost gleeful manner. I mean, sure, it's par for the course for Harper - he's evil, after all - but it's just so blatant. Again, though, that's no surprise - he's been just as blatant in the past.
He's the only Canadian politician in living memory whom I've ever described unironically as evil. I really hope that some commentators are correct in their prediction that voters will remember this come next election, and future governments will restore the census to its proper form.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Moar Webcomics
Continuing with my previous post:
Dead Winter: This has a really rough start as the creator struggles to really find his art style at first, but it hits its stride pretty soon. I'll admit the art is a little incongruous at first - it's a webcomic about a zombie apocalypse done in a cutesy, vaguely anime style - but after a time you come to appreciate it. Although a comic set in a zombie apocalypse, it's not really about zombies... They're more like a fact of life that the characters have to deal with, like bad weather or taxes. The writing is solid and serviceable, but nothing stellar.
Oh, and every hundred strips creator S. David Shabet treats us readers to a fully-animated strip, which is always incredible to behold.
The Abominable Charles Christopher: Visually one of the most beautiful comics on the webs and done by print comics veteran Karl Kerschl, this follows the exploits of what might or might not be a dwarf-sized abominable snowman, as well as the more mundane animals that inhabit the forest he calls home. It kind of has a story, but I'm at a loss to explain what that is after three years of updates. Honestly, writing-wise, when not doing one-off gags it's kind of incoherent. But look at that art! Gorgeous.
Lackadaisy Cats: A comic about prohibition-era mobster cats. Most of the time they're goofy and adorable with plenty of humour to be found, and then every now and then one of them gets up to the sort of psychotic dark acts (sometimes with black humour, sometimes not) that only a murderous mobster can. Every bit as gorgeous, if not moreso, as Charles Christopher, but with much better (more coherent) writing. Creator Tracy Butler is a master of expressions, and the detail that she puts into each and every one of her panels blows me away Every. Single. Time.
The only major drawback is that it updates infrequently (albeit in large, satifsying chunks.)
Doodze, a Tiny Epic: Done by a high school friend of mine, Doodze is a comic about the trials and tribulations of the would-be-hero-but-actually-is-Sh'leep-herder Eddo. He's a dood, which is kind of like a yellow smurf that lives in bamboo. Robin White, the creator, describes it as "Smurfs meets Lord of the Rings." I've always been a big fan of Robin's art style - it has plenty of mad energy. The comic's still in its early stages, so it's definitely worth checking out.
That's it for now. I'll do another four next time.
Oh, and while I'm still here, WHAT IS THIS I DONT EVEN
WHAT
WHAT
I think it's that "Made in USA" label that makes my brain break. It's just the little bit that pushes me over the edge.
Dead Winter: This has a really rough start as the creator struggles to really find his art style at first, but it hits its stride pretty soon. I'll admit the art is a little incongruous at first - it's a webcomic about a zombie apocalypse done in a cutesy, vaguely anime style - but after a time you come to appreciate it. Although a comic set in a zombie apocalypse, it's not really about zombies... They're more like a fact of life that the characters have to deal with, like bad weather or taxes. The writing is solid and serviceable, but nothing stellar.
Oh, and every hundred strips creator S. David Shabet treats us readers to a fully-animated strip, which is always incredible to behold.
The Abominable Charles Christopher: Visually one of the most beautiful comics on the webs and done by print comics veteran Karl Kerschl, this follows the exploits of what might or might not be a dwarf-sized abominable snowman, as well as the more mundane animals that inhabit the forest he calls home. It kind of has a story, but I'm at a loss to explain what that is after three years of updates. Honestly, writing-wise, when not doing one-off gags it's kind of incoherent. But look at that art! Gorgeous.
Lackadaisy Cats: A comic about prohibition-era mobster cats. Most of the time they're goofy and adorable with plenty of humour to be found, and then every now and then one of them gets up to the sort of psychotic dark acts (sometimes with black humour, sometimes not) that only a murderous mobster can. Every bit as gorgeous, if not moreso, as Charles Christopher, but with much better (more coherent) writing. Creator Tracy Butler is a master of expressions, and the detail that she puts into each and every one of her panels blows me away Every. Single. Time.
The only major drawback is that it updates infrequently (albeit in large, satifsying chunks.)
Doodze, a Tiny Epic: Done by a high school friend of mine, Doodze is a comic about the trials and tribulations of the would-be-hero-but-actually-is-Sh'leep-herder Eddo. He's a dood, which is kind of like a yellow smurf that lives in bamboo. Robin White, the creator, describes it as "Smurfs meets Lord of the Rings." I've always been a big fan of Robin's art style - it has plenty of mad energy. The comic's still in its early stages, so it's definitely worth checking out.
That's it for now. I'll do another four next time.
Oh, and while I'm still here, WHAT IS THIS I DONT EVEN
WHAT
WHAT
I think it's that "Made in USA" label that makes my brain break. It's just the little bit that pushes me over the edge.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Arts and Webcomics
Two more designs finished:
Princess Starra and SkyArrow.
Someday I'll be done these, I swear.
Someone once asked me what webcomics I thought were worth reading. To give me a break from yelling about Harper, I figure this would make a good topic - so over the next few blog entries, I'm going to be sharing the webcomics on my reading list, and giving mini-critiques explaining why I think each one is head and shoulders above the rest.
String Theory: This is billed as a supervillain's origin story. It's funny and cute, with a cartoonish style, with a nice blend of humour and drama (leaning heavily toward the humour side, admittedly). The first bits of the comic are in black-and-white, and colour elements are introduced in a thematically-appropriate manner as the story progresses. The writing is solid enough that I can even forgive the occasional spelling error.
Rice Boy: This is actually a trio of comics, two of which are finished, and all of which are easily among the best webcomics have to offer. The eponymous Rice Boy is the first story, with a very simplistic art style and a fantastically surreal setting; the story deals with themes of the nature of the divine, faith, and fate, and creator Evan Dahm's style really evolves throughout what turns out to be a truly epic story - one that strikes me as something like a cross between Bone and Alice in Wonderland.
Rice Boy is followed by a prequel of sorts, Order of Tales, which is a pen-and-ink romp involving bards, romance, evil overlords, and the importance of stories. It's not as good as Rice Boy, in my opinion, but it's still very, very good.
Lastly, Evan Dahm is currently working on Vattu. It's just gotten up and running - I'm unsure what the story's going to be about, or where it fits chronologically in his world setting, but even at first glance you can tell how far his art's come since the beginning days of Rice Boy.
Effort Comics: A frequently not-work-safe comic that's definitely not without its flaws. The scripting often comes across as awkwardly constructed, and the plotting moves at a snail's pace. As far as I've been able to tell after reading it for the better part of a year, the comic is about some twenty-something losers (mostly) who are trying to find out what they want in life, love, and everything else, set in a world where Toons are real. Kinda like, um... I dunno, Friends meets Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Anyway, despite its flaws, the art style is what's kept me reading; the creator, who goes by the name of Ovens, has a very refined style that's pretty much pitch-perfect for her subject material. It has an energy and vibrancy that's clearly apparent even when her characters are sitting around talking (as they are frequently wont to do.)
Magellan: This is one of the webcomics that got me wanting to start my own. I've been reading it for years, and it's one of the very few decent superhero webcomics on the internets today. Made by creator Stephen Crowley and based in Crowley's home country of Australia, the webcomic follows the exploits of, generally, the students and faculty of Magellan Academy, specifically focusing on one Kaycee Jones, currently Magellan's only non-powered student. There's lots of swearing and very rarely the comic will have a bit of nudity, so it's not-work-safe but it's all very appropriate to the story.
The art is a bit rough around the edges, particularly when he's trying to portray action. What really got me reading the comic, and kept me around, is the world-building Crowley engages in. He doesn't really bother with infodumps, but you can tell lots of thought went into creating his world setting and all the characters that populate it. And he's got lots and lots of characters, very few of whom ever strike me as throwaway - I think he puts a lot of thought into who these people are, even when they're just in the background for a few panels.
Sadly, it's been on hiatus for a few months now, though it's got a huge archive of already-completed chapters and is set to start up again before too long.
That's all for now. See you next time.
Princess Starra and SkyArrow.
Someday I'll be done these, I swear.
Someone once asked me what webcomics I thought were worth reading. To give me a break from yelling about Harper, I figure this would make a good topic - so over the next few blog entries, I'm going to be sharing the webcomics on my reading list, and giving mini-critiques explaining why I think each one is head and shoulders above the rest.
String Theory: This is billed as a supervillain's origin story. It's funny and cute, with a cartoonish style, with a nice blend of humour and drama (leaning heavily toward the humour side, admittedly). The first bits of the comic are in black-and-white, and colour elements are introduced in a thematically-appropriate manner as the story progresses. The writing is solid enough that I can even forgive the occasional spelling error.
Rice Boy: This is actually a trio of comics, two of which are finished, and all of which are easily among the best webcomics have to offer. The eponymous Rice Boy is the first story, with a very simplistic art style and a fantastically surreal setting; the story deals with themes of the nature of the divine, faith, and fate, and creator Evan Dahm's style really evolves throughout what turns out to be a truly epic story - one that strikes me as something like a cross between Bone and Alice in Wonderland.
Rice Boy is followed by a prequel of sorts, Order of Tales, which is a pen-and-ink romp involving bards, romance, evil overlords, and the importance of stories. It's not as good as Rice Boy, in my opinion, but it's still very, very good.
Lastly, Evan Dahm is currently working on Vattu. It's just gotten up and running - I'm unsure what the story's going to be about, or where it fits chronologically in his world setting, but even at first glance you can tell how far his art's come since the beginning days of Rice Boy.
Effort Comics: A frequently not-work-safe comic that's definitely not without its flaws. The scripting often comes across as awkwardly constructed, and the plotting moves at a snail's pace. As far as I've been able to tell after reading it for the better part of a year, the comic is about some twenty-something losers (mostly) who are trying to find out what they want in life, love, and everything else, set in a world where Toons are real. Kinda like, um... I dunno, Friends meets Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Anyway, despite its flaws, the art style is what's kept me reading; the creator, who goes by the name of Ovens, has a very refined style that's pretty much pitch-perfect for her subject material. It has an energy and vibrancy that's clearly apparent even when her characters are sitting around talking (as they are frequently wont to do.)
Magellan: This is one of the webcomics that got me wanting to start my own. I've been reading it for years, and it's one of the very few decent superhero webcomics on the internets today. Made by creator Stephen Crowley and based in Crowley's home country of Australia, the webcomic follows the exploits of, generally, the students and faculty of Magellan Academy, specifically focusing on one Kaycee Jones, currently Magellan's only non-powered student. There's lots of swearing and very rarely the comic will have a bit of nudity, so it's not-work-safe but it's all very appropriate to the story.
The art is a bit rough around the edges, particularly when he's trying to portray action. What really got me reading the comic, and kept me around, is the world-building Crowley engages in. He doesn't really bother with infodumps, but you can tell lots of thought went into creating his world setting and all the characters that populate it. And he's got lots and lots of characters, very few of whom ever strike me as throwaway - I think he puts a lot of thought into who these people are, even when they're just in the background for a few panels.
Sadly, it's been on hiatus for a few months now, though it's got a huge archive of already-completed chapters and is set to start up again before too long.
That's all for now. See you next time.
An Early Census Salvo, Blog Stats, and Awesomeness
The Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities of Canada is making legal manoeuvres to get the courts to undo the changes Harper's made to the census. As the group claims:
No kidding. I'm not sure that's going to work for the court - without the census, government services all across the board are going to suffer. But it's true that French-Canadians will probably see some of the worst of it (right after the immigrant communities, First Nations, students, the disabled, the elderly, etc., etc.) Which, again it's worth pointing out, is exactly the sort of thing Harper wants to happen with this move. It's certainly not to make a stronger census, for reasons I went into previously; in fact, Industry Minister Tony Clement, who's in charge of StatsCan and has been put in the unenviable position of having to champion this move, previously pleaded with Harper not to do this.
The FFACC is doing this legal action as a last resort - as they said, they "tried everything, everything we could, short of kidnapping people, to meet them."
WELL YOU DIDN'T TRY HARD ENOUGH! Stopping short of kidnapping? Show some dedication, you pantywaists! You want results, don't you?*
*ahem*
Anyway. I've also put a statcounter on this blog, mostly out of curiosity. It's only been up a day, but already I've come to the realization that my blog is... considerably more popular than I'd expected. I figured my only visitors would really be the few friends and relatives I've shared the url with, but that doesn't nearly explain the number of unique IPs that have been visiting this site.
Who are you people? How did you find this blog? And why are you all so quiet?
The title of this blogpost also promised awesomeness, so here you go: The trailer for the newest season of the Venture Bros. "I miss my breasts! Inside me is a woman screaming to get out!"
*Note: I ask these questions out of levity. I'm not seriously suggesting that anyone kidnap Conservative politicans and hold them in a locked room, forcing them to watch Gigli over and over again until they agree to govern responsibly for a change. Probably.
The federation argues that Ottawa's move violates not only the Official Languages Act, but also the Constitution's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
It says that without reliable data about the francophone presence in Canada, the quality of government services in French could suffer.
No kidding. I'm not sure that's going to work for the court - without the census, government services all across the board are going to suffer. But it's true that French-Canadians will probably see some of the worst of it (right after the immigrant communities, First Nations, students, the disabled, the elderly, etc., etc.) Which, again it's worth pointing out, is exactly the sort of thing Harper wants to happen with this move. It's certainly not to make a stronger census, for reasons I went into previously; in fact, Industry Minister Tony Clement, who's in charge of StatsCan and has been put in the unenviable position of having to champion this move, previously pleaded with Harper not to do this.
The FFACC is doing this legal action as a last resort - as they said, they "tried everything, everything we could, short of kidnapping people, to meet them."
WELL YOU DIDN'T TRY HARD ENOUGH! Stopping short of kidnapping? Show some dedication, you pantywaists! You want results, don't you?*
*ahem*
Anyway. I've also put a statcounter on this blog, mostly out of curiosity. It's only been up a day, but already I've come to the realization that my blog is... considerably more popular than I'd expected. I figured my only visitors would really be the few friends and relatives I've shared the url with, but that doesn't nearly explain the number of unique IPs that have been visiting this site.
Who are you people? How did you find this blog? And why are you all so quiet?
The title of this blogpost also promised awesomeness, so here you go: The trailer for the newest season of the Venture Bros. "I miss my breasts! Inside me is a woman screaming to get out!"
*Note: I ask these questions out of levity. I'm not seriously suggesting that anyone kidnap Conservative politicans and hold them in a locked room, forcing them to watch Gigli over and over again until they agree to govern responsibly for a change. Probably.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Wait, You Mean There's an Actual Godwin?
So I guess the FBI's mad at Wikipedia right now. Why? Because on the Wikipedia page for the FBI, they have a picture of the FBI seal.
And they're threatening legal action if it's not removed.
I'll give you a moment to digest that idea.
Funny as that is on its own (government heraldry is not a class of protected image in any way, shape or form - nor should it be for reasons that should be obvious), it seems in the Cease & Desist letter to Wikipedia, they actually redacted the parts of the law they were citing (18 USC 701) that were inconvenient to their interpretation.
I'll give you another moment.
Wikipedia's lawyer, one Mike Godwin, has responded to their threat and put his response up on the interwebs for anyone to peruse. A choice bit I'm rather fond of personally:
I've got a big rant on Law Enforcement and media technology that I've been allowing to bubble in the back of my brain for a while, and now seems an okay opportunity to go into it... But, nah. I'll wait until another time. Instead, I'd like to talk about Mike Godwin, Wikimedia's lawyer.
Apparently, this is not just any old lawyer - this guy is the Godwin from which Godwin's Law gets its name. (For those of you who don't know what Godwin's Law is, it's a rule about internet discussions that goes as follows: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1." A commonly-cited subrule also states that the party that invokes the Nazi comparison is probably the one who's just lost the debate in question.)
Interestingly, Mike Godwin was also, once upon a time, first staff counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and his first work was the case against the Secret Service on behalf of Steve Jackson (of Steve Jackson Games), whom he knew from his days on an Austin BBS. This was the infamous incident involving the raid on SJ Games' computers back in March of 1990, due to a misunderstanding on the parts of the completely competent Secret Service guys, who thought that GURPS: Cyberpunk held detailed instructions on real-life computer hacking and credit fraud.
I had no knowledge of most of this stuff an hour ago (well, I knew about the SJG raid), but now that I know it my life feels one step closer to being complete.
...
Oh, and I finished another character design. Here ya go, you quiet readers you.
And they're threatening legal action if it's not removed.
I'll give you a moment to digest that idea.
Funny as that is on its own (government heraldry is not a class of protected image in any way, shape or form - nor should it be for reasons that should be obvious), it seems in the Cease & Desist letter to Wikipedia, they actually redacted the parts of the law they were citing (18 USC 701) that were inconvenient to their interpretation.
I'll give you another moment.
Wikipedia's lawyer, one Mike Godwin, has responded to their threat and put his response up on the interwebs for anyone to peruse. A choice bit I'm rather fond of personally:
It’s clear that you and Mr. Binney took the hint, although perhaps not in the way I would have preferred. Entertainingly, in support for your argument, you included a version of 701 in which you removed the very phrases that subject the statute to ejusdem generis analysis. While we appreciate your desire to revise the statute to reflect your expansive vision of it, the fact is that we must work with the actual language of the statute, not the aspirational version of Section
701 that you forwarded to us.
I've got a big rant on Law Enforcement and media technology that I've been allowing to bubble in the back of my brain for a while, and now seems an okay opportunity to go into it... But, nah. I'll wait until another time. Instead, I'd like to talk about Mike Godwin, Wikimedia's lawyer.
Apparently, this is not just any old lawyer - this guy is the Godwin from which Godwin's Law gets its name. (For those of you who don't know what Godwin's Law is, it's a rule about internet discussions that goes as follows: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1." A commonly-cited subrule also states that the party that invokes the Nazi comparison is probably the one who's just lost the debate in question.)
Interestingly, Mike Godwin was also, once upon a time, first staff counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and his first work was the case against the Secret Service on behalf of Steve Jackson (of Steve Jackson Games), whom he knew from his days on an Austin BBS. This was the infamous incident involving the raid on SJ Games' computers back in March of 1990, due to a misunderstanding on the parts of the completely competent Secret Service guys, who thought that GURPS: Cyberpunk held detailed instructions on real-life computer hacking and credit fraud.
I had no knowledge of most of this stuff an hour ago (well, I knew about the SJG raid), but now that I know it my life feels one step closer to being complete.
...
Oh, and I finished another character design. Here ya go, you quiet readers you.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Comic Book News (also an Art link)
Most people who read this blog are probably not aware of the legal shenanigans that comic book mogul Todd McFarlane gets up to. Keeping up with comic book creator drama, in particular figuring out who's engaging in douchebaggery, is a hobby of mine... So, in order to truly appreciate what I'm about to share, you need a bit of context.
Mr. McFarlane was once a big name in the comics industry. Less so these days, but he was the most popular Spider-Man artist of his day, he helped found the No. 3 publisher Image, he created one of Image's flagship books Spawn (later turned into a terrible couple of movies and some moderately cool cartoons), and he used that to springboard a very successful toy company.
Well, back when his book Spawn was in its infancy, he wanted to really kick it off into high-gear around issue 7 or 8 (can't recall exactly which issue it started), and so recruited a number of top-tier writers to write several issues for him. These were all pretty famous names at the time (at least famous for the comics industry): Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Dave Sim, and Neil Gaiman. I might be forgetting someone, but it doesn't matter - the important name in that list is the last, for our purposes today.
Most of these stories were eminently forgettable, but then they all wrote single-issue stories so you couldn't expect a whole lot. Gaiman's was by far the most energetic of the set, though, and he created a number of interesting characters and setting elements for McFarlane. McFarlane should have been grateful, because really Spawn had little going for it up to that point besides his overrated art, and I suspect he acted grateful - but as soon as he got the opportunity, McFarlane violated the agreement he had with Gaiman which began a number of long legal battles.
You can read Gaiman's own thoughts on the matter here. There's a follow-up here. He also describes some of the legal shenanigans McFarlane got up to in an effort to twist copyright law to his own ends here.
Those links show that the courts sided with Gaiman in every single instance, granting him ownership of characters he created: Angela, Cagliostro, and Medieval Spawn. Believe it or not, this case established some important legal precedent from what I understand.
Thing is, apparently Todd didn't like this much, so he created a secondary Medieval Spawn character - basically a carbon-copy of the first, so he could continue to use the (different) character without paying Gaiman any royalties (never mind all the royalties he already owed him, but that's another matter.) Well, I guess a judge took issue with this because recently a ruling was handed down with an awesomely geeky statement to accompany it:
Judge knows her stuff. Here's Gaiman on the latest development.
Oh, and before I forget, here's my latest character design: Jade Fan. As always, comments are welcome.
Anyway, that's all for now.
Mr. McFarlane was once a big name in the comics industry. Less so these days, but he was the most popular Spider-Man artist of his day, he helped found the No. 3 publisher Image, he created one of Image's flagship books Spawn (later turned into a terrible couple of movies and some moderately cool cartoons), and he used that to springboard a very successful toy company.
Well, back when his book Spawn was in its infancy, he wanted to really kick it off into high-gear around issue 7 or 8 (can't recall exactly which issue it started), and so recruited a number of top-tier writers to write several issues for him. These were all pretty famous names at the time (at least famous for the comics industry): Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Dave Sim, and Neil Gaiman. I might be forgetting someone, but it doesn't matter - the important name in that list is the last, for our purposes today.
Most of these stories were eminently forgettable, but then they all wrote single-issue stories so you couldn't expect a whole lot. Gaiman's was by far the most energetic of the set, though, and he created a number of interesting characters and setting elements for McFarlane. McFarlane should have been grateful, because really Spawn had little going for it up to that point besides his overrated art, and I suspect he acted grateful - but as soon as he got the opportunity, McFarlane violated the agreement he had with Gaiman which began a number of long legal battles.
You can read Gaiman's own thoughts on the matter here. There's a follow-up here. He also describes some of the legal shenanigans McFarlane got up to in an effort to twist copyright law to his own ends here.
Those links show that the courts sided with Gaiman in every single instance, granting him ownership of characters he created: Angela, Cagliostro, and Medieval Spawn. Believe it or not, this case established some important legal precedent from what I understand.
Thing is, apparently Todd didn't like this much, so he created a secondary Medieval Spawn character - basically a carbon-copy of the first, so he could continue to use the (different) character without paying Gaiman any royalties (never mind all the royalties he already owed him, but that's another matter.) Well, I guess a judge took issue with this because recently a ruling was handed down with an awesomely geeky statement to accompany it:
"The two characters are similar enough to suggest that either Dark Ages [McFarlane] Spawn is derivative of Medieval (Gaiman) Spawn or it is the same character to which plaintiff owns the copyright.
"Much as defendant [McFarlane] tries to distinguish the two knight Hellspawn, he never explains why, of all the universe of possible Hellspawn incarnations, he introduced two knights from the same century," Crabb writes. "Not only does this break the Hellspawn 'rule' that Malebolgia never returns a Hellspawns [sic] to Earth more than once every 400 years (or possibly every 100 years, as suggested in Spawn, No. 9, exh. #1, at 4), it suggests that what defendant really wanted to do was exploit the possibilities of the knight introduced in issue no. 9. (This possibility is supported by the odd timing of defendant’s letter to plaintiff on February 14, 1999, just before publication of the first issue of Spawn The Dark Ages, to the effect that defendant was rescinding their previous agreements and retaining all rights to Medieval (Gaiman) Spawn.)
"If defendant really wanted to differentiate the new Hellspawn, why not make him a Portuguese explorer in the 16th century; an officer of the Royal Navy in the 18th century, an idealistic recruit of Simon Bolivar in the 19th century, a companion of Odysseus on his voyages, a Roman gladiator, a younger brother of Emperor Nakamikado in the early 18th century, a Spanish conquistador, an aristocrat in the Qing dynasty, an American Indian warrior or a member of the court of Queen Elizabeth I? It seems far more than coincidence that Dark Ages (McFarlane) Spawn is a knight from the same century as Medieval (Gaiman) Spawn."
Judge knows her stuff. Here's Gaiman on the latest development.
Oh, and before I forget, here's my latest character design: Jade Fan. As always, comments are welcome.
Anyway, that's all for now.
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