House of Scott

The Brighton Port Authority is one of the many pseudonyms of Quentin Leo Cook (Norman Cook these days) but you probably know him best as Fatboy Slim. The above song is Toe Jam which I’m happy to know features the vocals of David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal. It’s a catchy little number with a video that’s sure to go viral. But for some reason I can’t help but think of Super Breakout with all of the well placed censor bar choreography. Which is funny since there is even a Pong homage in it.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the album, hopefully the rest will be great sunny day driving tunes like Toe Jam. Which, from the sound of the tracks on the official BPA page I won’t be disappointed.

Spent the evening with the folks from Cloudscape and drew two sketches I thought I’d share with you. First up, I accidently drew George McFly!

The other after the cut.

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Probably old news for some but I was trolling around the interwebs and found most of The Bastard Fairies album as a free download offered off of their site. An interesting mix of musical styles but largely I think of folk with a little electronic thrown in making it an album well worth checking out.

Check out a video after the cut.

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Anyone who knows me knows that I have a major slight obsession with all things Apple. I’ve been pining over the iPhone since it was first announced, and today with the announcement of the iPhone 3G, it looks like I’ll finally get my hands on a legit version. It’s set to launch in Canada and twenty-four other countries on July 11th.

Being the price conscious consumer that I am, I visit Rogers site to research rate plans. Nothing’s there, but later in the day the banner at the top of this post shows up. Now really, does Rogers actually think the average consumer isn’t going to figure this out? Apple’s website says July 11th. There’s even a link to Rogers on the site, the CBC is even reporting on it. What is ineffective teasing really going to accomplish?

I’m going to have to switch carriers to get an iPhone, but I won’t even consider it until the full rate plan is unveiled. Rogers’ entirely transparent teaser is an ineffective way to drum up buzz for something that everyone including my Grandmother (the 98 year old who hasn’t left Gibson’s in 15 years) already knows about and is keeping me from getting the information I need to make an informed decision.

From the fashion label Uniqlo.

There’s a little volume bar at the bottom, a much better experience with sound.

Find the full Uniqlock site here.

I’m not much for resolutions, but I thought I’d write down some long coming decisions in no particular order:

 Get healthy! or healthier anyways. I bought a bathroom scale with some Christmas money and it put hard data to something I already knew: I’ve become a tad tubby. So…

Subsection One: Eat a more varied diet! I already eat relatively healthy. There’s no pop in the fridge, cookies in the cupboard or fast food wrappers in the back seat of the car, I just need to vary up the selection of the relatively healthy food I do eat. More vegetables, different lunches (instead of the same one every weekday) and add healthy snacks between meals.

Subsection Two: Exercise! Currently I don’t. At all. Which is pretty stupid really. 95% of my day I’m on my ass. Either in bed, in an office chair at work, in an office chair at home, at the kitchen table or on the couch. So the plan is to be active every day. Whether it be a walk after dinner, maybe sign up for yoga, buy a piece of gym equipment, just something to get me off my ass at least once a day. Unless I buy a bike or something, then there’s a good reason to be on my ass.

I’m not going to set a target for weight loss, I’m just going to eat healthy and be active and let the fat roll where it may.

Do more art! I’m going to try and draw more, take more pictures, write more, publish more, make more things to share with the world.

Surf the internet less! I spend far too much time cycling between favorite sites and far too little time contributing.

Be more social! I’m at home alone too much. It’s time to change that.

Stay debt free! I spent most of last year digging myself out of a lot of stupid debt. Thanks to some generous gifts from my parents, I’ve finally removed that last little bit. Now I need to keep it that way. Exceptions to this are the mortgage and a possible car loan.

Travel! I rarely leave the Lower Mainland. I haven’t left BC in over five years. Maybe it’s time to see some sights.

Be dapper! No more thread bare clothes or anything ill fitting, it’s time to look good all the time. This may take a while to implement, but it’s a goal.

Make a good balcony garden! I’ve made attempts in the past but I usually forget to water properly, or the plants don’t take. Part of this plan will also include a balcony compost.

Make more money! I’m not being greedy, I just have some life goals (I want a yard that I can dig in and a place to restore the Desoto) that my current wage and job don’t seem like they’ll be able provide the monetary means for. Now, I like my current job, but I’m pretty much at the highest rung I can go unless the company expands,  hires more staff and re-implements the supervisor position. Or I switch to sales. (hells no!) This means I need to either supplement my current income, or find a new job.

Live cleaner! I live a pretty cluttered lifestyle. There’s a stack of paper on my kitchen table next to a coil of speaker wire, last nights dishes aren’t done and there’s a pile of clean laundry on my bed waiting to be put away. Plus the whole apartment needed vacuuming and dusting yesterday. The idea will be that when I leave the apartment, it should be presentable if I should come back with guests.

I think they’re all doable. Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s some dishes that need doing.

It’s not officially released until Monday, but I thought I’d mention that ComicPress 2.o: Blogging Edition is available for download. I’ve been playing with the beta version that I’m going to use for a comic that should be (re)launching soon and I’m very much liking it. It’s essentially a template for Wordpress and is easy to install and easy to use. If you’re looking for a comic updating code and are as horrible at coding as I am, this is a really good way to go. Here’s the test site.

Currently switching to a three column layout to facilitate some ideas and new additions. If any links don’t work or strange code shows up,  don’t be alarmed. Hopefully I’ll have it all pulled together on Saturday. Learning new things and solving new problems as I go.

Rich Stevens said some interesting things today.

Todd Goldman, a man who has made millions creating art that mocks pop culture and the current state of affairs, has appropriated most of his ideas. Check this article out for a long long list of examples. The above picture on the left is a panel from the Dave Kelly comic Purple Pussy. Kelly is a rather influential and well known cartoonist. Todd, through his design team, painted the picture on the right. A blog post by Kelly blew this wide open and more victims of his tracing are being found.

Being a big fan of pop art, I can draw parallels between this and works by artists such as Roy Lichtenstein. But Lichtenstein did not hide his sources. He made no bones about where his art came from. Goldman is straight up ripping off anything he or his team finds funny and does not give credit where credit is due. An artist statement may clear this all up by stating that was the original intent, and I’m quite certain this is how Goldman and Associates will try and spin it. But the deed is done and now we can sit back and watch as Goldman and a lot of artists thrash about towards a conclusion.

This whole thing is currently in the process of blowing up across the blogsphere in slow motion and the geeks are crying for Goldman’s blood, or at least his profits. Goldman has yet to make any kind of official statement beyond remorse for using that one image and has pledged to put any profits from that image to a charity of Kelly’s choosing. Whether that policy will carry over to the other works he appropriated is yet to be seen.

So keep your eyes open, there will be a lot of spin on this from both sides. A lot of angry words are being thrown about. Keep your heads on straight, comment where you need to and hopefully a lot of good artists will get their due.