Monday, September 29, 2008

IMPORTANT!! READ NOW and ACT PLEASE!!!


Hey friends....I hope you can give us artists a hand on this issue. It is time sensitive, urgent and critical that as many people as possible speak up. The financial crisis is providing cover so this bill is able to sneak through.

Because of the scramble on the bail-out bill, this Orphan Works bill was passed in the Senate under the radar. It's about our copy rights for visual artists, writers, photographers and songwriters...anyone in the creative field. If this Orphan Works bill passes through the House , we artists will be obliged to pay Google, directly or indirectly, $200 for each piece, song, image, etc. we create in order to protect our copyright.

At this time, all we have to do is sign our work, put the date and the"circle c" and we have a copyright. If we want more protection, ie. from court costs on infringement issues, we can send our images and $30 to the Copyright Division of the Federal Government, and then we are registered.

I don't think any of us want to further enrich an huge and very wealthy company and make it easier for them to catalogue and use artist's work without their consent. As we have seen, especially in the recent weeks, the corporations (and the government in cahoots with them) have not served well for the ordinary US citizen. And, for most of us artists, our copyright is one of our most valuable assets. If we have no protection unless we pay, what for most of us, is big money for each creation, then we have no way to make a living.

Please click on the site provided...there is a form letter there and it's easy...send it out and help your artist friends. I included quotes from some of my friends and the Illustration Society, if you want to read more about it. Thank you so much. Jennifer Carrasco

Here's the site http://capwiz. com/illustrators partnership/ issues/alert/ ?alertid= 11980321


"While this is marked “low importance”, it’s exactly the opposite—congress is trying to hotline a bill through that would significantly change the copyright laws. As individuals involved in the generation of creative works, you would be required to register your work with two bureaus for $100 a piece—if not, then your work will be considered “orphan” and you will lose your ownership rights.

Please read more about this bill, and if you agree, send a letter to your congress people letting them know how you feel—links are below in the e-mail to do this, already written out, etc.

As you know, copyright is granted automatically in the US when the work is created—you would lose this under this addition to the copyright code. Interestingly enough, Google is a huge supporter of this legislation, as it will eliminate having to get your permission for them to catalogue your work, and repurpose it however they see fit.

Thanks for your time, and thank you for reading.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Graphic Novel alert!!



Just a little sketch from the Graphic Novel I'm working on. I hope to have some pages with text posted sometime over the next month. I'll add to that every month and maybe every week if I'm getting caught up with things. It's now COLD, DARK and RAINY up here in the PNW!! It feels like November already. My least favorite month! (Especially these days.) Don't get me wrong I love Thanksgiving but I hate everything else about November. There I've said it and it's off my chest. At least till November!
Hope everyone is well. See you next posting.
-MC

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Fun ROBOTS!


While I'm sitting here on a dark, rainy, cold, Saturday morning,... thought I'd post a fun illustration for a game I worked on over at MS research a year and a half ago. That was a fun team and it was great to work with everyone there. I'm working for a fun team these days as well, and a fun game that I can't say anything about right now. I'm hoping for a bit of clearing in the skies here in the PNW but I'm doubtful that will happen. But if it does, I'm going bike riding and maybe kayaking!!!
Instead, I'll most likely be working on my graphic novel, which has so much more to go.
Hope you all have a nice weekend!!
-MC

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Doodle bash!


I love doing them doodles during meetings and here's another recent concoction! The week has gone by too fast and here it is Thursday already. Greek dining at Santorini's after work on Friday, then off to Seattle to sketch at one of my favorite coffee joints. I've got to hustle if I want to finish this graphic novel. Anyway enjoy the doodle while I see what can be done about the new cold/dark/rainy weather that came to town today and looking like it wants to stay for a while.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

2days!



I gotta start with Monday this week. Work went well and whizzed by quickly. I planned to go to Town Hall in Seattle to try and grab a last minute ticket to Garrison Keillor, who was in town to speak and promote his new book (Liberty), which came out today. I got on the I-520 freeway, which normally is crowded beyond belief and I no possibility of getting into Seattle not only in time for the show but that the show was more than likely sold out.
Shazam! I-520 was clear as a bell and I sailed into the city in record time, got to Town Hall and there were plenty of tickets left. Who knew it would happen like that? I slapped down my $5 and walked across the street to pick out a nice Panini for dinner.
Garrison Keillor talked for 2 hours once he made it on to the stage. It was hot in the hall but I sat at the back near an open window that had a cool breeze coming in from 7th street. Here's the link to Garrison at the local NPR station:
http://www.kuow.org/program.php?current=WK1

I took off Tuesday from work to get some things accomplished. Dentist appointment at 8am. They couldn't get my lower right jaw numbed enough, so they had to give me extra shots. Then, with numbed out lower jaw and tongue, I washed my car, had some light, soft lunch and went out for a haircut.
Once back from that, I threw my kayak in the back of my car and drove down the hill to Lake Washington and slide my kayak into the lake for a paddle. The lake was choppy and I only stayed out there for an hour.
I came back and called my cell phone company to tell them my battery wasn't holding a charge and they told me they were going to send me a new phone. Hurray!
I felt bold after that and called earthlink because I had not been able to connect to the internet and had been having that problem for the last month, off and on.
Feeling even bolder, I called my dentist's office and asked the receptionist out on a date! She agreed and gave me her cell phone number.
In a few hours I'm going to head into Seattle for a group of people who read their old storied from the teen years. It's call the Shame read off, or something like that. It sounded funny.
What a day so far!!!
More days off that this one!!
Hope you are enjoying the little bit of extra summer we are having.
The image is from a game I worked on two years ago and the colors always reminded me of summer.

Here's a good Garrison Keillor column:

'Throw the bums out!' — say the bums
By Garrison Keillor
September 11, 2008
So the Republicans have decided to run against themselves. The bums have tiptoed out the back door and circled around to the front and started yelling, "Throw the bums out!" They've been running Washington like a well-oiled machine, to the point of inviting lobbyists into the back rooms to write the legislation, and now they are anti-establishment reformers dedicated to delivering us from themselves. And Giuliani is an advocate for small-town America. Bravo.

They are coming out for Small Efficient Government the very week that the feds are taking over Fannie and Freddie, those old cash cows, and in the course of a weekend 20 or 50 or (pick a number) billion go floating out the Treasury door.

It is a bold move on the Republicans' part - forget about the past, it's only history, so write a new narrative and be who you want to be - and if they succeed, I think I might declare myself a 24-year-old virgin named Lance and see what that might lead to. Paste a new face on my Facebook page, maybe become the Dauphin Louie the 32nd, the rightful heir to the Throne of France, put on silk tights and pantaloons and a plumed hat and go on the sawdust circuit and sell souvenir hankies imprinted with the royal fleur-de-lis.

John McCain has decided to run as a former POW and a maverick, a maverick's maverick, rather than Mr. Bush's best friend, and that's understandable - but how can he not address the $3 trillion that got burned up in Iraq so far? It's real money; it could've paid for a lot of windmills, a high-speed rail line in Ohio, some serious research and development. The Chinese, who have avoided foreign wars for 50 years, are taking enormous leaps forward, investing in their economy, and we are falling behind. We're wasting our chances.


And a former mayor of a town of 7,000 who hired a lobbyist to get $26 million in federal earmarks is now running against the old-boy network in Washington who gave her that money to build the teen rec center and other good things so she could keep taxes low in Wasilla. Stunning. And if you question her qualifications to be the leader of the free world, you are an elitist. This is a beautiful maneuver. I wish I had thought of it back in school when I was forced to subject myself to a final exam in higher algebra. I could have told Miss Mortenson, "I am a Christian, and when you gave me a D you only showed your contempt for the Lord and for the godly, hard-working people from whom I have sprung, you elitist battleax, you."

In school, you couldn't get away with that garbage because the taxpayers know that if we don't uphold scholastic standards, we will wind up driving on badly designed bridges and go in for a tonsillectomy and come out missing our left lung, so we flunk the losers, lest they gain power and hurt us. But in politics, we bring forth phonies and love them to death.

When you check the actuarial tables on a 72-year-old guy who's had three bouts with cancer, you guess you may be looking at the first female president, a hustling evangelical with a chip on her shoulder who, not counting Canada, has set foot outside the country once - a trip to Germany, Iraq and Kuwait in 2007 to visit Alaskans in the armed service. And who listed a refueling stop in Ireland as a fourth country visited. She's like the Current Occupant but with big hair. If you want inexperience, there were better choices.

Garrison Keillor's column appears regularly in The Sun. His e-mail isoldscout@prairiehome.us.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Another summer rerun...



Avert your eyes!!! I'm not talking about my art here I'm talking about the election year snipping! Instead, stop by my blog every week and see and NEW (to your eyes) image from my past career. This week is something I did for spec for a publisher about a book that I was going to write and illustrate. It was about 10 years ago and I still think it's kinda cool. I may get back to that story yet. It's finally summer up here in the PNW and I'm going kayaking in a little bit, but I'll be posting more this week. Hope you are enjoying the weather while it's here and not paying attention to anything else but my occasional posting.
Be well.
-MC

Sunday, September 7, 2008

The Trees


Another doodle from my workplace. Hey, it keeps me awake during meetings.

Check out some new photos I've posted on my "Mobile Me" Mac site. I was at Greenlake all afternoon today. Sunday the 7th, which is two days away from the one year anniversary of Holly's first suicide attempt. But last year it was on a Sunday so I'm not feeling very comfortable today. I still have Holly moments every day and when I'm not at work it's all day long. Sometimes at work I have memories hit me and I have to focus extra hard so I don't start crying at work. Microsoft doesn't like crybabies.
I rode around Greenlake all afternoon and took pictures. I took Holly there every Sunday that was sunny. We walked around the lake a lot and used to pick up a snack at the corner bakery, sit outside in the sun and talk and laugh. She always made sure we were comfortable and well taken care of.
It's hard going there on Sundays but since Holly doesn't have a headstone anywhere that I can go to and talk to her, I've settled on Greenlake as that place. Many of my memories of her are associated with that park, so it's like I'm visiting her.
Now I have to get through the next big anniversary. That's going to be even tougher than this one.

Be well, enjoy life and keep summer in your heart.
-MC

Monday, September 1, 2008

Vacation in Detroit!







I got back from my Michigan vacation last Wednesday. What a blast!
Family reunion, Celebrating my birthday, Celebrating my Aunt May's 80th birthday, Saw the DIA, Went to Cranbrook, rode the people mover (which is like the monorail in Seattle only it goes to a bunch of places!), Toured inside GM's head quarters on the water front, Watched the Tigers loose in 11 innings, Ate in Greek Town, Saw Tropic Thunder, Got a lot of love from my family and stayed at my brother Scotty's townhome. (Thanks Scotty!)
The whole trip lifted my spirits at a time when I really needed that. This is the time of year, last year, when Holly was trying to kill herself at my house and then succeeded two months later. So all this is on my mind, but family helped a great deal.
Also on my trip, I managed to back my rental car into a fire hydrant and the rental car company took $1000 from me when I returned my car. I also managed to break a tooth when I was brushing one night. The tooth broke off in my mouth. That should cost another $1000.
But it's all ok because I had a great time!!!
I hope all my sibs can come out and visit me in Seattle soon!!!
I would love that very much!
All be well!
See you next post!