monday brain scrapings

Scraping out the brain again, here's what I found:

I scored 100% on the Atari Quiz at mental_floss. Go me.

Some company called Schmap wants to use one of my pictures from Montreal in one of their travel guides. They say that they don't pay for the pictures, because they give the guides away. However, they say that the guides are "ad supported" so clearly they're making money off of them. While I'm normally inclined to decline unless they're willing to negotiate payment, I'm considering granting them permission to use the picture, just because I think the whole thing is kind of cool. What do you think? UPDATE: I'm doing it. Lots of you have said that it's been a good experience for you, so why not?

My headache is back. It's getting really, really old.

I found a ton of awesome links at io9 when I was catching up on Bloglines yesterday: LOLCthluhu, Blade Runner concept art, and a satellite view of people evacuating Chad. Not that my opinion matters, but I'm really happy and relieved that io9 continues to be such a fantastic resource, instead of a pile of Gawkeresque gossip and crap. Who else would dare ask if J.J Abrams is a genius or a hack? Come on, you know you've been wondering. For the record, my jury is still out.

I follow Barack Obama on Twitter. His latest tweet: In Columbus,MS & wondering how somebody who's in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who's in first place. Vote Tues! I love that Barack's twitter stream has the same "voice" as all the other people I follow. Now, if he was only at SXSW, he could join the Rashomon that I've been enjoying from my friends who are there.

"Saying that Hillary has Executive Branch experience is like saying Yoko Ono was a Beatle." Zing! For the record, Hillary Clinton is a monster who will say or do anything to win an election. No, I won't be resigning from anything because I said that.

Boingboing linked to an awesome flowchart that starts with D&D and ends (sometimes) with girls. It's a humorous look at Gary Gygax's legacy and maps out just how much he affected the lives of geeks everywhere.

Andy Warhol is one of my favorite Bowie songs.

So it turns out that there's been a massive, illegal, warrantless domestic spying operation going on in the US for years. How can anyone with two firing neurons and an understanding of the Constitution continue to stand up and support Bush and Cheney? Clinton was impeached for so much less. Nixon resigned over less. The Democratic leadership in Congress is worthless. Totally worthless.

Reader E just e-mailed me that on the commentary track for Futurama, they said that Professor Farnsworth's clone, Cubert, was inspired by Wesley Crusher. That's good news, everyone!

There was a mini-WWdN Austin meet-up at the Jonathan Coulton show on Friday.

The Grateful Dead pack for Rock Band is outstanding. I picked up my fake guitar for the first time since I started playing fake drums exclusively so I could play Franklin's Tower. (Boy do I suck at fake guitar these days.)

I heard from Monte Cook and Matt Forbeck that part of my post remembering Gary Gygax was read at his service this weekend. I'm honored, and at a complete loss for words.

I watched Fast Food Nation last night. I thought it was a great movie, and I'm astonished that it didn't do better in its theatrical release. Fun fact: I kept looking at Ashley Johnson through the whole movie -- not just because she's adorable, but because I kept feeling like I'd seen her somewhere else, and couldn't place it. I looked her up on IMDB when the movie was over, and felt like a total moron: I felt like I'd seen her before because we've worked together on Ben 10. Twice. Durr.

Comments

[Chris]

I let Schmap use a picture I took on their Baltimore site. So now I can say I'm a published photographer :) That is my picture of the boat at http://tinyurl.com/2u9dwy

[stoolpigeon]

I'd make 'em pay - for the same reason you charge for a lot of other things and because creating various types of media is what you do for a living - not just for kicks.

My kids and I love Ben 10, I didn't know you had worked on that - cool.

The Dems can't shut down the domestic spying program because that would only increase the overhead on starting their spying program. They only need it to get enough press to get their person in office to abuse federal power. Don't ever forget that is the key to this game. It's all about parties - not about America or the American people. Obama is no exception.

[Star Trek Kitty]

OMG!! I watch ben ten everynight I knew you had worked on it but I had no idea what you did on it. Now thats at least two things I have liked you in.

You got 100% cool go you.

Stay well although that headache aint gonna help. But anyways hope you and the family are well.

xx Kitty xx

[corwin]

Schmap hit me up for use of one of my pictures from Houston, and I was happy to let them go for it: http://www.dingir.org/2008/01/25/my-terrifying-phoneman-gets-noticed/

As much as I've grumbled about the city, it still felt good someone wanted to make a picture I tool the iconic image of a local landmark in their site. And Scary Ma Bell Phoneman is a perfect choice. ;)

[mhaithaca]

Like some of the above folks, I've had a couple of my photos published by Schmap... HSBC Arena in Buffalo and a pretty random Cheesecake Factory shot in San Antonio. I'd love to be paid for them, but since they don't pay for photos and had the decency to ask rather than steal, I figured it was worth letting them. If you hold out for money, they'll probably move on to someone else's photo.

[Leonie]

Yeah, Schmap used one of mine, of Cambridge in the UK. I agree with the guys above, it was cool to be asked and cool that they did bother to ask. It's - http://farm1.static.flickr.com/25/100451222_6de5242869_o.jpg - in case you're interested.

[BML]

If Schmap credits the photo and, even better, lets you put a link to your web page in the credit, then the publicity might make it worth it. If not, then I'd recommend not giving permission - an artist should benefit from their work. [I'll add that "It's cool to be part of that" is a form of benefit.]

[Celtic Mama]

Wil, so right about Hillary! I've seen the light, that's for sure! Very cool about Gary's service. The man impacted so many people. It's awesome that your words were chosen to honor him. I would be at a loss for words, too.

[Mogsie]

Maybe if you get it in writing that you will always be credited for that picture, on the (and all future) brochures ~ it might not be a bad thing to let them use it.

I THINK that would be like "Selling" them the right to use the picture, but not losing the actual copyright to it yourself?

Just check with someone for sure about the copyrights and stuff ~

;)

[small sith]

i had no idea that anyone else loved Andy Warhol! i so love that song. and the LOLthulhus!

[thespian]

Also, remember that Schmap needs to pay to distribute the things, and to print them, and a pile of other things that are still essentially 'costs' that the advertising pays for, even when they don't make enough money to pay people for the use of the pictures. So 'ad supported' might just pay for the physical costs, and maybe a little for a cartographer and/or a graphic designer, and not much else.

[Turk]

I let schmap use a picture of mine from San Francisco : http://tiny.cc/Ip59s

I think it is fun, and as Chris said, now I can claim I am a published photographer.

[angie k]

I think it would be cool to have your pic up on Schmap.

Love the flowchart! I wish there was a "guys" circle to match up with the "girls" circle. (You know, to be fair and gender/sex neutral.) Also, I hope it was fair to just answer "yes" to the first split even though I didn't play until I was an adult because I was so many other kinds of geeky as a kid and really would have grokked D&D had anyone shown me how to play then.

And wow, what an honor to have part of your post read at his service. That's really just too awesome for words.

JoCo in Austin = Huge Success! :)

[BML]

"For the record, Hillary Clinton is a monster who will say or do anything to win an election." So is almost every other politician. Some are just better at coming across with a consistent and better image. To paraphrase a movie quote - "support the monster that will use the power for the causes you want; you want your monster elected."

[Alan]

I bought a mic stand so I can play fake guitar and sing at the same time.

[Julie]

You're on Ben 10? IMDB doesn't think so. Tell me more.

My son thinks he IS Ben 10. Maybe you were just channelling your inner five-year-old...

[timelessboulevard]

One of my photographs was used by Schmap for their 3rd edition. It was just fun to be included in a travel guide. :-)

I wish I was at SXSW. Instead, I get to watch horrific lines on tv from Hillary Clinton. Boo.

[zizban]

Started D&D at age 13. At age 39, in the I.T. Department. Flowchart FTW!

[sorebikr]

I think calling Clinton a monster is unnecessary and unfounded. I personally can't see a difference between the two and thing they would make a great team.

Hope you feel better soon.

[Simply Caitlin]

Fast Food Nation - while a pretty good film, was an even BETTER book. Holy mackrel. I completely swore off fast food after reading it! Now if i ever do eat it, i have a horrible overwhelming sense of guilt that comes along with my fries.

[Mike Cohen]

Schmap used one of my photos of Vancouver. I thought it was pretty cool.

[Mark]

What a great quote about Hillary!

Your comments about Nixon and Clinton were right on. It is quite telling how swiftly the moral fabric of our country has gone downhill. Something like what Dubya has done to this country would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. On the other hand, my wife says "its worth it if it catches one terrorist" so a lot of people think we are doing the right thing.

remember...

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
Ben Franklin

[Alice Bentley]

Schmap has the potential to be a fine resource, but in Oct '07 they emailed me about of the listing they had for my bookshop - which would be great except that I closed in 2003. The only revisions I could make were to the title, and my email suggesting that including long out of date material was unwise resulted in a very perky, personable email that was so far off the topic that it could only have been machine generated.

So, I hope for the best but no longer expect much more than another online promotion scheme.

[Jimbeaux]

wow. Your hatred of Hillary is really disquieting.

I didn't really expect that from you...

[Wil]

Jimbeaux: Hatred really isn't the right word. Disgust would be more appropriate. I reserve my hatred for Bush and his entire administration.

I'll restate what I wrote at Propeller, in a story where it was clear that her campaign had used pretty despicable race-baiting in Ohio:

"I'm a Democrat, and I've never been a big fan of Hillary Clinton's. The whole "triangulation" thing really turns me off, and is counterproductive to the longterm success of issues that are important to me, and much of the Democratic base.

However, during this campaign, I've watched several debates, including the one in Los Angeles, and Senator Clinton earned a lot of respect from me. She was poised, she was respectful, and she and Senator Obama debated *issues* instead of making ad-hominem attacks and repeating talking points.

Then, as it became clear that Democratic voters, hungry for change, continued to vote for Senator Obama, Senator Clinton resorted to the delivering the same kind of despicable, desperate, dishonest attacks that she's been the recipient of for so many years. This is just the latest example. It's hurting our party, and it's disgusting. Whatever respect she earned from me is gone, and will never come back."