Notes from Above Ground 8-14-04 - 11-30-04
11.30.04
Kleeman and Mike shirts are here! Just in time for the holidays.
11.29.04
New Kleeman and Mike wallpaper section for your desktop!
Caught some of the PBS show They Made America. Saw some of the Ruth Handler (inventor of Barbie) bit. Parents and retailers were against Barbie, but Handler and Mattel were smart. They went after the kids, mostly through TV commercials. One of the people interviewed spoke of the message they strongly voiced to kids, and which is the only message we hear today: if you don't have this product, you will be unhappy. Kind of brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it.
What was rad though was the story of Thomas Watson, Jr., son of the guy who built the most powerful business company of the 20th century, IBM. He was cool because he could have just coasted with a company that still enjoyed a top spot in the business world. But in the 1960's he took what many consider to be the biggest business gamble of all time and bet the entire empire of IBM on a single idea. Billions of dollars, thousands of jobs, and the IBM legacy all on the table. And he won.
11.26.04
The billionaire heiress of the Walmart fortune and her husband donated a bunch of money to the University of Missouri (neither of them attended) for an arena. Like something out of Dilbert, they named it not after former two-term governor Warren Hearnes or Missouri basketball coaching legend Norm Stewart, but after their 22 year-old daughter (who also never attended the university.) Article here.
Then, yesterday's LA Times had an article on the daughter, Elizabeth Paige Laurie, who attends USC. Seems Elizabeth has been paying someone for the last four years to help her cheat all the way through school. Poor U of M having the double embarrassment of first naming this arena after the random daughter of a billionaire, then having to remove the name a few months later.
What's funny about the Times article is that it makes out this Elena Martinez, the girl who helped Laurie, to be some kind of martyr, who was really gifted, but poor, and who had to accept the money and deal with this tyrannical rich girl. The article tells of how she had to drop out of USC because she couldn't afford it, but ends with the cheerful note that this hero is back in school and "is pretty sure she can handle the work."
Well, she may not have cheated on her own academic work, but I'm pretty sure helping someone else cheat and receiving $20,000 in payment is still academic dishonesty. She is just as guilty as the one she helped.
Does anyone care about honesty anymore? Doing research on e-commerce (so I can sell the new shirts online) I came across lots of info on internet fraud. Dept. of Justice page here. I also found a page here that lists suspected fraudulent sites. It's a long list, and the names are really funny, like safe-buy-online.com or deal-secure.com. Images of some fraud sites here, so you can see how much time and energy goes into stealing money from people. Check out (the still active) http://safer-dealing.net (which escrowfraud.com lists as fraudulent). It looks so professional and secure. Amazing and scary.
11.25.04
from my friend Drew:
i was at the marketplace yesterday with the new [Kleeman and Mike] shirt on...
"kleeman and mike... what's that?"
"its a cartoon"
"no its not, i read the paper every day, its not in there"
"its online, on the web"
"i don't get computers"
"its made by robots" (as i walked out with my drink)
"stop lying to me! i read the paper everyday, its NOT A CARTOON!"
11.24.04
The new shirts are in, but I'm having problems making them available to buy online. PayPal seemed like a great option, but it won't allow a person to put in a shipping address and doesn't even give me the person's billing address. Yeah, there's that little minor detail of an address to ship the product to. And PayPal customer service has been MIA. If anyone knows of a good way for me to set up credit card payments, please lemme know.
Sorry I'm behind on emails. And sorry I haven't gotten the next FotP episode up. I'll get to it eventually.
11.23.04
For those of you who don't live in San Diego, let me tell you about our looney mayoral election. Donna Frye, city council member, surf shop owner, and wife of surfing legend Skip Frye, entered the race as a write in candidate, running against two career politicians. In the unlikeliest of scenarios, "write in" got the most votes. Ostensibly, most of the "write in's" were Frye, and she seemed on her way to a surprising victory. But all of the write in's had to be tallied, so we've been waiting for the final results as the other candidates and big business interests try to sue, claiming Frye's candidacy is not legal. I can't believe, I can't believe, that anyone would have the nerve to file a lawsuit claiming that the voices of all those American citizens who actually wrote her name in should not be heard. That lawsuit failed. Then another lawsuit. Turns out many of the people who wrote in "Donna Frye" did not darken in the "write in" bubble next to her name. Opponents claimed these should be thrown out. Amazingly, this lawsuit was successful and all the people who actually wrote in "Donna Frye", but who did not darken the bubble, will not be counted. Proud to be an Amerikan!
Did I tell you how much those new Walmart "our employees are happy" ads make me laugh? Capitalism spawned a monster and that monster is methodically lowering wages and working conditions around the globe. Low wages and working conditions means low prices. Make an ad about low prices. At least that's honest. But those opposite-of-the-truth ads are downright Orwellian. War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ingorance is Strength.
Of course those ads are just trying to stop the fallout from articles such as last year's LA Times article "The Walmart Effect" which you can read here (might require registration to view, but registration is free). There was also a recent Frontline called "Is Walmart Good for America?" which you can read here. I like how the executives in defending Walmart always point to how much money it makes. Ha ha! Yeah, there's no way something that makes so much money can be wrong. No way.
11.21.04
Made a little animation for Ashley's surf movie. Andy and Ash did the design/colors. They have a brand new little boy named Noah!
click to watch (840K)
Currently reading F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and Damned. I was thinking it would make a great children's story. It can go along with my other children's book ideas which no one likes. If you're bored, I posted a pretty big gallery of screen captures here. It's kind of a funny look into the working process.
11.09.04
The new KnM shirts are getting printed up this week! Click here to see the design!
11.06.04
I was at the Living Room coffee shop by SDSU the other day. Getting ready to sit down when "Under the Milky Way" by the Church started playing. I decided to announce out loud "this album changed my life." No one really acknowledged my comment so I expounded. "No really. This album literally altered the course of my life. The Church - Starfish." A few smiles. No one else could think of an album which changed their life. I guess it is rare.
11.04.04
Working on freelance stuff. Will try to get new episodes up eventually though. Surfed Swami's today. It's one of the best waves in SoCal, but today a bit mushy and I had the wrong board for the conditions, alas. Everyone in the water was talking about politics. This was a funny conversation between some locals:
I heard a nasty rumor about you.
Oh yeah?
Heard you were being rather mean to some high school kids.
What? I haven't even been in the water lately!
It wasn't in the water.
What?
Something about some kids who were holding up signs for Bush/Cheney.
(laughter all around) Defendant acknowledges his guilt.
11.02.04
I was at Scripps yesterday getting ready to put my board in my car, etc. I saw a guy just standing around like six cars back. A few moments later I heard a thud. Didn't really think anything, but I glanced back and saw the guy cross the street, jump in a friend's car, and take off. I tried to get the license plate, but they took off too fast. Walked back there and sure enough, smashed window. What struck me, aside from the bold, broad-daylightness of it, was that the guy was a young, fit, hip-looking guy, clearly in no need of stealing. He could easily get a decent job. But we're taught by MTV and E! that lavish, excessive lifestyles are what we must strive for. Have you ever seen E!? When the missiles finally arrive, I'm going to think about that channel and smile. I felt extra bad for the poor guy whose car got broken into when I noticed that in addition to a smashed window and stolen property, he was also going to find a PARKING TICKET.
11.1.04
New KnM shirts and sticker designs coming soon. Election tomorrow. Kleeman and Mike support the Fatalist Party
10.21.04
CMJ was cool. Read more here. Hoping to get those comics up next week. Gotta do some animations for "Math 4 Life." Also doing a couple projects for Andy Davis. Also, trying to submit KnM to some more festivals. Kleeman and Mike will be screened in Dec. at the Surf Drive-In Film Festival in Hawaii.
10.12.04
Sorry about the lack of new content. Been pretty busy. Headed to NYC tomorrow for CMJ. Staying with John Richey. I am a proud owner of a Richey sculpture! It's the carpet filing cabinet my kitty is perched on on the portfolio page.
Sorry I'm way behind on emails. I'll be back in SD the 17th. Will begin catching up then. For now, why not spend some time reading the only funny comic in the paper.
9.22.04
Kleeman and Mike cartoon to be in the Film Fest CMJ in NYC Oct 13-16. I might have to try to make it seein as how Sufjan Stevens is playing. So many bands I've never heard of. I'll have to consult UCSD art grad and music encyclopedia Mike Podolak.
Pixies show at UCSD last night was great. They played all my faves. Heading to Chicago tomorrow for the Cineme animation fest. Going to the Ocean Blue show while I'm there. Then to FL for friends' wedding. Sorry about lack of new content. Might be able to post Fotp parts 21 and 22 while I'm away. Back in SD Oct 7.
ps. I know Rod Serling mysteriously disappeared after FotP part 16. Whadda you make of that?
9.13.04
posted Fotp parts 19 and 20. I forgot to mention where the volcano reference in part 18 was from. Did you know?
9.12.04
Did a quick 4 sec. surf animation for Kane Garden Surfboards based on an illustration by Andy Davis. Click on image to see it (612 K).
Met some cool guys at Sony Playstation along the way. They're the ones who found me to do the animation. Funny thing is they didn't know where this guy who does Kleeman and Mike was from. I could've been in Australia for all they knew. Needless to say, it was a pleasant surprise for them to find out when they called me that not only was I in San Diego, but I was right down the street from where they were calling from.
9.3.04
Yet here we are in the West oblivious and somewhere along the line everyone decided that their own lives were all that mattered and who can say anything to them in America?
money will change you, ---.
ANd World War Three was on TV and it could've been real and I could've been Tron and whether all this stuff is real or not doesn't matter at all but I know what I said to you and there's no doubt about that.
8.25.04
Kleeman and Mike was accepted into the Cineme International Animation Festival! The festival is Sept. 24 - 26 in Chicago.
I'm moving to North Park. The new FotP episodes are going slower than expected because I've switched to Adobe Illustrator for the linework. Biggest problem is just trying to "sketch" and work out comic drawings along the way because all of the graphic elements are objects. The verdict is still out. I don't know if Illustrator is never going to work or if I just need time to learn a different way of sketching. Can you sketch with legos? It's like skating switch. I bet Bob Burnquist can sketch in Illustrator.
8.23.04
Congrats Tom and Christina! I love you guys!
I made a discovery on the way to Vegas. The desert is hot. I'm going to submit my finding to Scientific Amerikan.
I panicked on my way out of town when I realized my ipod wasn't charged. I dashed to the Apple store. Car chargers were like $40! Fortunately I have an older model ipod, so my charger was only $12! (insert your own conspiracy theory here). Anyway, something strange happened. Despite having hundreds of good songs at my fingertips, I drove the entire five hours in silence. I don't know why I did that. I found the silence inspiring. I also know that, even though I didn't use the charger, I would have been bitter without it. ha ha!
8.20.04
Still working on animations for Math For Life educational video. Went to LA yesterday with the Math folks to film with Tommy the Clown and some really great kids getting krumped. Fun stuff.
Vegas tomorrow for friends' wedding.
8.18.04
Worked on FotP 19 today. Will be posting 19 and 20 together next week. Still looking for a place to live...
8.17.04
Good waves today. Scripps was like Disneyland, though. only there were no furry characters coming around to greet us in the water.
Fatal shark attack off the central coast Sunday.
8.14.04
Thanks to Jon and Joel for talking me into seeing AVP with them. I could conceivably try to get my money back, but I can never get that hour and a half back. That pho place in Mira Mesa was good though! Jon had tripe. I told him not to, but he didn't listen.
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