Happy Holidays!

Today I saw several fellow writers had MySpace icons to support the current Writers Guild of America strike. I decided I should join in as I've wanted them to strike since the early 1980s when the issue was videocassettes.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

A fellow writer (whose work I respect) and I were having what I thought was a good give-and-take on the nature of publishing. But he was apparently viewing things through a distorted lens and got "pissed off" at me. Not only did he delete my posts, he deleted me as a MySpace Friend!

I'm sorry that happened, but he'll never be a Friend again now.

There are people out there who are afraid of the future. People who stubbornly see technology (no matter how labor-saving, empowering, or liberating it may be) as some sort of threat. Usually, this myopic vision is the province of Large Corporations who *rightly* sense their smug positions of power are slowly, inexorably, and uncontrollably eroding beneath their feet. They are used to coasting and don't really want to compete. What was originally envisioned to be a free marketplace in this country has morphed into what I think is fair to call the Bully Exchange. The biggest and most ruthless bully (and cheat) wins. This is sociopathic and has no place in an allegedly civil society.

Similarly distorted are the writers -- and there are surprisingly too many of them -- who are used to the conventional paradigm of publishing. You create a work, you submit it to a Bully Corporation, and then sit back and await fame and fortune (however long that may take). These days, that is just delusional.

That is how things used to be done. But. Not. Anymore.

My fellow writers: You have to sit down and account for yourselves. Why do you write? Are you an artist expressing yourself or are you just a tailor, sewing words together into a product you hope will sell? I submit that no true artist can be afraid of new ways of doing things. True artists have the courage to embrace their curiosity, to be resourceful, and to move faster than anyone else. Most of all, they have a *belief in their work* that is *indomitable* and which cannot ever be conquered by outside events. Low sales, lack of recognition, rejection by others: none of that matters. It is the *work* -- and *only* the work -- that matters.

And today, of all the days that have happened in human history, artists -- especially writers -- have many more opportunities to get their work seen by others. In the past, a writer would have to be a supplicant to another person in order to have their work exposed to the public at large. Today, a writer can create a website and dare the world to be smart enough to find his work. It is my belief that if the work is worthwhile, it *will* be discovered. And moreso these days, while it resides on the Internet, because -- unlike print -- the cost of keeping it available to others to see is negligible. Baudelaire, Balzac, Nerval and Poe -- oh, especially Poe! -- would have reveled in such an opportunity, in such free and easy access to their potential audience.

It is too bad there are some people who cannot see this. They are trapped by their own fear. And this fear disables them to their disadvantage: They cannot distinguish friend from foe.

And that's very, very sad.

Don't ask. I won't tell.

Just let me say I have close to a fekkin THOUSAND photos to sort through and put through an edit process. And I'll be making even more photos from two events I plan to attend tomorrow (11/9).

I don't know how I managed to get all those photos in the old blog. I look at it now as some sort of miracle. Maybe time runs faster in winter (well, only while at the PC; when I'm outside SPRING CAN'T GET HERE SOON ENOUGH!!!!).

Woe is me.

Much apologies to all those whose piccies I've taken who've been awaiting their publication. I hope the wait will be worth it.

Argh. I'm trying to learn this new photo editing software. But I think it just sucks. Things I could have accomplished in a few moments with Photo Toolkit take FOREVER with this thing. Nothing is intuitive. I'm constantly searching for the right selections in the menus. And then today I discover there is no Straighten command! I must do Custom Rotate!!

I dropped Photo Toolkit because its Red Eye Reduction just doesn't work. This new software has that feature and it seems to work (I say "seems" because I'm no expert), but the rest of the software makes me want to slit my throat!

My next idea is to again use Photo Toolkit. But use this new software just for Red Eye Reduction and then see if that change carries over well to Photo Toolkit.

If you know some good photo editing software (cheap and easy to use; I'm not looking for full-blown PhotoShop or Aperture!), let me know!

Update: I've re-downloaded Photo Toolkit. And I also discovered they have a separate Red Eye Reduction program. I will give all these a try tomorrow. I've been beaten up enough for one day!

A cold or something that plays dead then roars back. Sore-ish throat. Feveresque.

I've totally lost track of who's been Added as Friends. So if I never posted a Thanks For The Add on your Profile, make allowances.

Now I shall go battle the illness. One of us must die.

I get a MySpace Bulletin from Jeffree Star announcing a new clothing product of his that is finally for sale. The Bulletin headline reads:

FINALLY.. THE NEW HOODIE IS FOR SALE!!! EAT ME BITCH :D

Now, that cracks me up! I find it hugely funny.

What I find SAD is that there are people in this world who would be offended by that headline.

I can't help it. I've lived too long. I've developed a Fuck You attitude.

If you can't deal with the language I like to use, the language that cracks me up, well then: Eat Me, Bitch!

Life is interfering with the launching of my next blog.

Will send a Bulletin around when it's been launched.

This is written by a guy about gals. I'm sure the same applies for men pics on MySpace too!

Which I why I have an avatar (who I say is better looking than me from the start!). (And yes, it's true!)

Beware the dreaded "MySpace Angles"! (PICS)