Stupid Stars Painting

For about the last year or so I've not sold any artwork. Just don't have the energy. Most of the of stuff I've completed, I've just thrown away .. not enough room in my garage.

I've almost finished with this piece called, "Not About Stupid Stars." It watercolor, acrylic and pascal pencils. Have to do some clean up on it and varnish it.

If you're interested in purchasing it, drop me an email. Otherwise I'll just put it up on Ebay.

Copyright 2011 Kmuzu/Cram - All rights reserved.

10"x10' gesso canvas - back stapled on wood frame - original - signed and dated.

Bugatti Veyron Don't Float

Picture used under Fair Use

You would think that a car costing around two million dollars would do more than just drive on the road. For that kind of money, it should fly and float - apparently not.

Andy Lee House, owner of Performance Auto Sales in some dramatic recreation of the old arcade game Spy Hunter decided to leave the confines of the road and try his luck in the salt marsh by driving his Bugatti Veyron right into the drink.


Warning strong language .. audio NSW

Vegas Jackpot Garden

My daughter and I have been working on our garden. It's in Las Vegas - which means nothing but dirt, neon and money grow well here. In any case, we've managed to get a few plants off the ground and some are even thriving - especially artichokes.

I am also working on reducing the amount of water the garden consumes. I replaced the old sprayers with a new drip system. Most of the plants however are not water efficient, but with the new irrigation system the daily consumption is less than a typical shower.

Here are some pictures .. took these with the Pentax before I have to send it in for repairs on Tuesday.

Baby Beefy Tomatoes

The Choke Gang

Before the winds

Baby Bell

Daughter planted this flower

And this one.

Got this off Ebay - don't know what it is

The tiger is out!

We also have a great herb garden - with cilantro, sage, oregano, thyme. There's basil, but for some reason I can never get it to grow.

Copyright 2011 Kmuzu / Cram - All rights reserved. All photographs are the property of Kmuzu / Cram. No reproduction, modification or publication without my prior written permission.

My Vision of Star Wars

33 years ago I saw Star Wars at the now demolished Parkway Theater in Las Vegas. I was twelve years old and forgot my glasses. There was only room in the last two rows and I saw the whole movie as one blurry, color smudge. No matter how much I begged, my parents never took me back. That was my Star Wars experience.

Two years later my friend got a bootleg copy of the movie on Betamax and I finally got to see what all the fuss was about. I watch the movie like fifteen times. So many times, that my friend ended our friendship because all I wanted to do was watch the movie.

One year after that, Empire Strikes Back was released and this time I wore my glasses. Star Wars was good but Empire was so much better. It was dark and complex. There was so much more time and effort invested in the characters and almost all of the silliness had been taken out. Even Yoda was a bad ass.

Where Star Wars was more of a space opera, Empire Strikes Back was closer to 80's cyberpunk. Luke, like Hamlet was brooding and unsure; driven too much by his emotions to be a good Jedi. Hans was almost an anti-hero - selfish, egotistical, and a bit of a user - but it was only a shield to protect a vulnerable heart. And Leah was the perfect princess - Passionate, beautiful and an ass kicker.

Empire completely captivated me and I would have turned into the biggest Star Wars Geek had the series stop there .. but ..

In 1983, the year I graduated from high school, the last Star Wars movie - Return of the Jedi was released. You have to remember that this was the height  of American scifi/fantasy/horror movie making. E.T. was released in 1982. Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981. Alien in 1979 and Aliens in 1986. Ghost Busters in 1984 and Back to the Future in 1985.

I'm sorry if you were younger than 10 in 1980, because you missed it. This may be going a bridge too far but the 80's was the last great period of American Exceptionalism .  America hit this incredible height and then by 1990 it faltered. More like stumbled and fell.

Back to Star Wars ...

I was right there during the actual movie premiere experience of Star Wars and it's hard to fathom now my excitement for the last movie, Return of the Jedi - which was supposed to be Revenge of the Jedi. I remember purchasing tickets the moment the theater box office opened and then waiting in line with my friends - finally pushing our way in and sitting down in the middle of the middle row.. squarely facing the screen.

The lights faded .. and that classic Star Wars music started in .. with that classic Star Wars Chyron generated yellow script flowing past .. my body tingled ..The movie starts with C3PO and R2D2 at the front of a giant metal door - it was so exciting what could be behind that door .. The door opens and the two droids enter Jabba the Hutt's chambers. It's dark and it's hard to make out what the creature is .. finally light illuminates it .. and it turns out to be the stupidest D&D orc- holding a battle axe.

It never got any better. There were was the torturing of droids by placing hot irons on rubber feet. Lucas made R2D2 into a cocktail waitress. There was this monster in the desert that represented a vagina. Little Teddy Bear creatures named Ewoks. And Darth Vader turned out to be some old bald white guy. It was just sad.

Return of the Jedi wasn't a horrible movie - it was a bad movie and one of the greatest let downs ever in my movie watching experience. Even worse than Highlander II or Mission to Mars or even that one Star Trek movie where they go to meet God. The worst part is I really couldn't say anything cause all my friends were gooshing .. gaga .. wasn't that fantastic .. I hated them.

It was almost like Lucas purposely ruined his own dream.

Later on I discovered that Empire Strikes Backs was directed by Irvin Kershner, who made Eyes of Laura Mars - a great thriller. And that by the time Empire was in production Lucas was not as interested in the creative process and had relatively little influence ..

But the success of Empire led to the destruction of Return of the Jedi. Lucas I guess had to show he still had the balls to direct and you can see all of that now infamous Lucas Marketing Scourge all over the film.

Had it not been for Return of the Jedi, I would have been one of those Star Wars fans .. that dress up and go to all the conventions.

The next three movies after Jedi are really the first three movies. Who knows .. it would take too long to follow the logic. Anyway the three films after Jedi may be the saddest point in Scifi movie history.

If you have some time please watch Red Letter's Nine Part Star Wars Review ---> Star Wars

Dark Tree

Acrylic, ink, some water, acrylic transfer and a dash of Photoshop. This painting is based on another painting I saw on the Internet tubes.

Roll Tree

Watercolor and ink with a little Photoshop thrown in.

Copyright 2011 Cram /Kmuzu

Stanley Kubrick and the Eye

The watchers watch and the dreamers dream. "The Alegory of the Cave" by Plato goes something like this:

We are like people sitting in a cave facing a blank stone wall. All we can see is the wall. All we've ever known is the wall - the wall is our reality. Behind us is a fire that illuminates the cave. We can perceive  shadows cast upon the wall of things passing between us and the fire.

We can't see the reality of the what's behind us only imagine the structure by the shadows the forms create. Plato suggests there are whole worlds of reality we can't perceive. These dimensions exist all around us and inside us, but our senses are too poor to record the data.

A common theme throughout all of Stanley Kubrick's movies is the all watching eye - the watchers. The single red eye of HAL and the clawed-open eye of Alex DeLarge in Clockwork Orange. (It's interesting to note that both HAL and Alex were victims of bad programming) Even the forbidding watching in Eyes Wide Shut. The protagonist watches while others watch him while we the audience watch them.

The question that Kubrick asks is do we sit chained in the cave or do we sit there facing the wall by choice - that we sit there in blissful ignorance of true reality? Do we take the red pill or the blue pill?



Stanley Kubrick - a filmography - from Martin Woutisseth on Vimeo.

Font Size Challenged

Code in Licorice Script.

I'm a basic font type of guy. I remember working at Westwood Associates (aka Westwood Studios) back in the late 80's. Word processors weren't exactly new, but actually many companies still used type writers. Every designer, writer and programmer at Westwood was using their own particular font. The more dramatic and stylish the font the better. Imagine trying to parse code written in -- "Licorice Script".

Finally Brett Sperry, one of the owners had enough and established a Westwood style guide. All documents were to be written in Times Roman 14pt., later reduced down to 12pt. I still have old Westwood documents with this giant font. It was ugly, but you could certainly read it.

When I established  Elvis in My Basement I did some hard thinking about which font to use and how to display it. My last blog was simply black Times Roman 12pt on white background, but I really wanted something a little more dramatic.

I tried all kinds of colors, fonts and textured backgrounds. Nothing really worked. It seemed the more creative I got the harder it was to read. Finally, I ended up with Times Roman white letters on a solid dark green background. My initial 11pt font was upped to 13pt after one of my friends said it was too hard to read.

I was using Stumble Upon and came across a site with the had a number of short stories - Short Story Knots. The stories are written in the smallest Ariel font and they're tan on dark brown. I had to press my eyeball against the screen to see the story. Finally, I had to write him an email just explaining that he, like I, was font size challenged.

May 23, 2011 at 7:26 am

Look I have MS and my eyes are a bit off – so it was impossible to read your story. It’s like 9pt. Ariel tan on dark brown. It’s stylish and clean I give you that, but not enjoyable and no matter how good the content is, it turns readers off when you’re – well, font size challenged. I suffered from the same – smallness problem .. but now I’m Times Roman 13pt and considering upping it to 14pt.

When it comes to fonts – form follows function.

So the lesson is: Be a man use your big font.

New Elvis

Just got this from Kory Bing. Elvis playing Guitar Hero.

Copyright Kory Bing

You can see more of Kory's work at Skin DEEP comics. The graphic is awesome.

The Bird and the Bee

The Bird and Bee remind me of those great 80's bands. Trying to be avante garde and cool at the same time - kind of like the Talking Heads or Strawberry Switchblade. Polite Dance song reminds me of something you'd see on MTV back in 1986.

Wish to send a special message.

If you wish to send a special message to Harold or anyone else at family radio .. go to their guest book

Family Radio Guest Book


***UPDATE***

Well, I think I've ridden this rapture thing to it's predictable end. So, unless something dramatic happens this is the last post concerning the matter. It was fun while it lasted --except for a couple of unfortunate consequences.

Apparently, many naive and delusional believers emptied their bank accounts and gave everything they had to this Harold guy and his group of bandits. The Family Radio Network will make millions of dollars for being wrong. This is the sad truth.

Even more tragic are those who committed suicide and/or murder in anticipation of the Rapture. This make Harold and his group responsible and complicit in murder.

I sincerely hope the law catches up with these puss- infested leaches and Harold and his gang have their own kind of Judgement Day.

Rapture 2011: Apocalypse Now... No, Now! (LIVE BLOG)

Hold on everyone .. I just received an email from a lawyer in Kenya. Apparently­, a long lost friend of mine is trying to leave the country with a large sum of cash but has been held by authoritie­s. If I can get 10k to him immediatel­y, he will share half of the six million he has in the bank .. I wonder if the Rapture has anything to do with this? .. I better send him the money just in case.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Waiting for the Rap .. Rap .. Rapture.

Screen shot of Family Radio (2:40 PM PST)

***UPDATE***  - it is now 6:00 PM central time and well, there's nothing happening here yet in Las Vegas .. not earthquakes or solar blasts or tornadoes - it's not even that hot or windy .. think I will go out to the garden and see if that damn bird is hanging around.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About 2:40 PM here in Las Vegas, Nevada and not even a little shaking or quaking. Now you would think that Vegas would be the first on the "hit" list with the Almighty, but the casinos are still up an running. Slot players are still frivolously pushing dem buttons and the buffets are still crowed.

I was at least hoping that an undead, floating Elvis would appear and do one last song. "Love me Tender" or "A Little Less Conversation." So, far even the Elvis impersonators are still in bed.



There was a volcano in Iceland. But there always is a volcano in Iceland .. Iceland is a volcano. Some young Spaniards are angry at something, but then again young Spaniards are always angry at something or another. Actually, its been a relatively quiet day on Planet Earth - knock on wood.

What does this mean for those who have given all their money to this church in anticipation of the Rapture? Well, I think you fell victim for the oldest trick in the book. To any problem always find where the money is.

As for me, I'm going to take a nap with a helmet on. You can never be too safe from a potential undead sinner scrambling up from the grave looking for brains. And then maybe a trip to Trader Joe's.

Huffington Post's ----> Live Rapture Watch
Family Radio - step back ----> We Make Money for Nothing - site might be down as owners pack up for small Caribbean island without extradition.

Randy Savage Dead: 'Macho Man' Dies In Car Accident (VIDEO)

A wrestling legend and his death will diminish the magic of performanc­e sports.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Best Photography Commercial Ever!!

I just love this . really . love this.

Batman, the Rapture and Vegas

I'm thinking of having a -

"You Go on Ahead - I'll Wait for Batman"

BBQ

With all this talk of naked people floating up into the sky on May 21st, I think I'll pass and just wait for Batman to make the scene. Or maybe perhaps a resurrected Elvis.

In any case, I took some pictures of Vegas after the rain. I'm pretty sure if there is a End of Times / Judgement Day - Las Vegas will be the first to go. So enjoy the pictures while Vegas is still here.

Copyright 2011 Cram Kmuzu - All rights reserved

May 21, 2001 - The Rapture and Batman

With EIMB, I try to keep things pretty non-political or religious .. just concentrate on the fun stuff while the fun stuff lasts. However, the following was just too precious to pass up. I'm not so politically neutral on my Facebook page and I posted the following:

This Saturday - May 21st - is the Rapture. That's where Jesus comes down from the sky and raises all da good people to Him. Because I forgot to purchase a ticket and have a fear of being naked in front of strangers - I will not be going. However ... if anyone wants to join me .. I'll be spreading used pants, shirts, socks and shoes around the parking lot of churches .. just to freak out the Believers Sunday morning.

I guess this tweaked one of my religious FB friends who posted a serious reply .. but given the situation ..  kind of funny. So, I included a screen-cap here with names and faces blurred to protect the cynical and the religious. 

**Note - full image view if you click on it. ***

 No disrespect to Batman.

Of course, all of the Christians are starting to back-track this story. Now they're saying that it marks the beginning of .. the beginning of the start of Judgement Day.

 CBS Rapture remix ---> Judgment mash 

You can read a red one - backtracking synopsis of the May 21st event here ---> Judgement Day 

Bush - bin Laden and Chocolate Thunder

This was not widely reported on the main-stream Liberal news, but there is a video of the when Bush found out the bin Laden was dead.

President Bush Reacts to Osama Bin Laden's Death with Will Ferrell from Will Ferrell

'Shit My Dad Says' Canceled: Justin Halpern's Father Reacts

This show had a lot of potential, but from day one - CBS was riding the breaks and squelching creativity and expression­. This show would have done so much better (dare I say) on FOX, TBS or the best of all HBO. Where the writers could have gone all out.

CBS and NBC have no idea anymore how to produce anything creative or entertaini­ng anymore.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Vegas: Lost and Found

Yesterday, I took a Sunday drive; thought I would buy a used book to read for this infusion of Tysabri I have today. Turns out that Unicorn Used Books - now known as Book Magician is closed on Sunday, but that didn't stop me from from taking some pictures and getting myself into a productively grumpy mood. As you drive around Vegas, some things become abundantly clear about the state of the city.

Luxor Hotel - Las Vegas

Land of Ginger

Nothing says class and prestige like pasting a giant poster of Carrot Top to the side of your hotel. This is the new big thing in five star, luxury hotels. Really, I heard the Waldorf=Astoria in New York is pasting a cartoon picture of an angry Statue of Liberty being pooped on by a giant pigeon.

Elvis is not here

Is this the kind of building Elvis would be in the building? Oh come one - this is NOT Elvis' style .. The Dubai owned Aria Resort and Casino is not the kind of place Elvis would've rolled into with his land yacht Cadillac. I have nothing against the Aria. It is a beautiful hotel ..  top notch but way too stuffy and assuming to be Elvis' thang.

Aria Hotel - Elvis Cirque

 The Rio Deal

I was there at almost the beginning of the Rio Suite Hotel & Casino. I was hired by Don Marrandino and Tony Marnell. Tony Marnell is an architect and casino owner, who designed many of Las Vegas' most iconic casinos (more on that later) and there was a lot more to the Rio's design than meets the eye.

Rio's Older Tower

The old tower (20 stories) has a quarter red circle against a blue background. This represents the sun and the sky of Rio de Janerio. The newer tower (40 stories) also has a symbolic design. The middle light blue and the two curving red bars represent the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio.

Rio's Newer Tower

I'm not going to get into why a symbolic figure of Christ is on a casino .. you would have to ask Mr. Marnell (I have my own suspicion) however it's particularly ironic that the new owners Harrah's would plaster a giant portrait of Penn and Teller, well know magicians and atheists over the symbol of Jesus.


MCA Away

Below are pictures of the old Marnell Corrao Associates. Like I said, I worked for Tony Marnell many years ago at the Rio. I never met Corrao, although I did get within three feet of his MiG-17 fighter jet in a hanger in Ontario, California.

Marnell Corrao Associates

Many of the most famous and iconic casinos and resorts were designed in that building: Bellagio, The Mirage, The Excalibur, Caesar's Palace, the Forum Shops and the Rio. I remember this office very well. It was designed like a mini-kingdom. In the middle was Tony Marnell's office which represented the castle and then in a circle around that office were all the fiefdoms - architecture, drafting, interior design, project management .. It was intimidating, especially for the poor vendors and subcontractors. But it worked .. just look at the results.

Now it's closed and I think this reflects the condition Las Vegas is in. I won't go into it in full detail in this post but Vegas has gone through four major transitions: The Rat Pack, Bill Bennett's Quarter Queens, Wynn Dynasty and now what I call -- JDGS: Just Don't Give a Shit.

JDGS

In the boom of the 90's anyone could make money at gambling, even Trump. You really didn't need much of an understanding of gambling or odds. That's when all these corporations flooded in and purchased Las Vegas. The last group were a bunch of investors from Dubai. What the hell do a bunch of Muslim business men know about gambling. No offense to Muslims - honorable religion but they don't gamble or borrow money.

And then it all crashed down and now we have giant plastic posters of ginger comedians plastered on the side of our once luxurious hotel.

So that is that .. have to go to the hospital now .. Next .. the original sushi place.

My first sushi experience in the late 80's

Copyright 2011 - Cram / Kmuzu All rights reserved - No pictures or content may by copied, posted, modified or published without prior written permission from me. Please just drop me an email, I'm very accomodating

Alec Baldwin Punches John Krasinski In Red Sox-Yankees New Era Ad

For those who love baseball, I am envious - I am trying to be a baseball fan - to fill the void from March Madness to football preseason .. I've picked a team: San Diego Padres and I'm going to see my farm team: The 51's. My uncle is a huge fan but it's hard to understand and get the mojo that is baseball.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Comet Hits Sun: NASA Captures Stunning Event (VIDEO)

Now this is one of the best videos I've seen in a while. Of course I was hoping for an impact explosion like you see in Star Trek .. you known .. a blinding flash of light followed quickly by a ring of exploding stars and a concussion wave .. too bad real science can't be as much fun .. or maybe it is.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Garden Patrol - The Raven

So here are some pictures from the garden my daughter and I planted in our backyard in Las Vegas. Take a look if you wish, but this post is not about the garden. It's about evil - flying evil upon a dark wing.

raspberry, bell pepper and the chokes

Strawberry, cilantro, thyme, and oregano

Purple thing

Take a good look at the picture below of the bird in the tree. I'm convinced this bird is the embodiment of evil.

That tree is across the street in a neighbor's backyard. When I come out in the morning to water the plants or to pull a weed or two, that black bird just instantly appears in the tree. I always look for it when I step out of the house and I've never seen it fly in or fly away.

But as soon as my attention has turned to the plants - poof it just magically appears.

And then it commences to stare at me .. stare at me with that one black button eye .. that dinosaur eye. The eye that came from a creature that was far larger and more intelligent that us mammals and would now rule the world had it not been for one unfortunate asteroid that crashed into the Gulf of Mexico some 65 million years ago.

Every time I go outside .. that bird appears and stares at me. What's worse is sometimes it makes an unnerving "caw" sound - "erreek wahh .. ereek wahh."

Supposedly the Raven in Native American lore is the trickster - like an American version of Loki. Great - just what I need.

Suprising Ending to The Education of Little Tree

I'm almost finished reading The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter and surprisingly, my review of this little book may be the most controversial post I've written to date. The book is a very enchanting and sentimental tale of a young Cherokee boy orphaned and raised by his grandfather and grandmother in the 1930's. The book claims it is based on the real life events of the Native American author.

The story is poignant and insightful. It show the ugliness of racism and class warfare of the South in the middle of The Great Depression. The raw energy of hatred and fear mixed with humor and satire are close to classic writers like Twain and Flannery O' Connor. The book has a lot of truth in it, except for one thing.

The author is not Cherokee and his name is not Forest Carter, but is in fact Asa Earl Carter a well known White Supremacist and Klan leader. According to Wikipedia,

"he (Carter) worked as a speechwriter for segregationist Governor George Wallace of Alabama; founded the North Alabama Citizens Council (NACC) and an independent Ku Klux Klan group; and started the pro-segregation monthly titled The Southerner.

I found this book in a dusty box in our garage. It must have been for a class that I or my wife had in college. The title looked interesting so I started reading it with no prior knowledge of it's controversial origins.

The language is primitive and harsh but the story itself is endearing. But I always imagined the author was Caucasian. The style was just too magical and fantastical to be written by a Native American. It just didn't feel authentic.

When I got around to reading the introduction, it said nothing of it's real origins but portrayed what the author, Asa Earl Carter claims about the book, "Little Tree is Carter's autobiographical remembrances of life with his Eastern Cherokee Hill country grandparents."

Now a strange thing happens - in my mind; as I continue reading I now think the events in the book are accurate and the feelings are reflective of the Cherokee People of the time. So, you can imagine the mental gymnastic flips my brain did when today as I near the end of the book I find out it was written by a Southern White racist.

And here is the controversial part - I think the book is more profound and insightful because it was written by white, Asa Earl Carter and not Cherokee, Forest Carter. Of course it offers no insight into the mind or spirit of the Cherokee people but does show the split personality of man (Carter) who is desperately trying to run away from his past.

This novel is not mocking or trivializing - I believe it's an honest attempt to tell a truth about fear, politics and the all-consuming-machine of the civilized Western world. It reminds me of Studs Terkel's book American Dreams: Lost and Found. In that book, a Segregationist like Carter discovers the big lie of racism and tries to repent of his past.

Carter discovered he was the monster. He was the machine. I think he just cognitively checked-out and invented a new personality. He was the orphaned son of a Cherokee father. Maybe it when it's impossible to repair yourself - you just throw it away and invent a new self? The person you want to be rather than the person you are.

More Reading -

Salon.com - The education of Little Fraud
All Things Cherokee - The story behind The Education of Little Tree

Commodore and Amiga are back!

I can't remember the exact date - some time in the 90's, but it was a number of years ago that I visited the last time Commodore made its appearance at CES (Consumer Electronics Show). I remember the booth was way in the back of the convention area by the Chinese made serial port adapters, next to the employee bathrooms.

The casino I'd worked for purchased the year before an Amiga 4000 and a Video Toaster for animation and graphics to display at the night club. At that time Video Toaster also included Lightwave 3D, a 3D animation program.

I wanted to see if there were any updates to the software and when the new Amiga was coming out. What I found was incredibly sad and foreshadowed the coming disaster that would hit the computer industry.

The company had divested itself from it's core customers, game and graphics users. It was now going to market the Amiga as a business computer. To that end, they pushed it's only successful peripheral, Video Toaster to the way back of the room by an open electrical box.

Dazed and confused by the poorly designed spreadsheet and word processor screens displayed on pathetic Amiga and Commodore computers I made my way back to Video Toaster. There were two lonely guys sitting a small table with one monitor showing the new Kiki wipes.

They told me Amiga engineers were incapable of stopping vast piracy of software and that not only was Commodore not make any money from software sales but developers were no longer going to support the Amiga chipset. Executives at Commodore felt business users were far less likely to pirate software than kids and they quickly developed a core business package that was more expensive and less functional than Microsoft.

And that was the end of Amiga and Commodore - or so I thought.

Commodore USA is Reborn!

Commodore USA is back and selling Amiga, C64 and Vic computers. As far as I can tell the  Motorola 68000 series is gone, replaced by an Intel NM10 chip emulating the OS and Motorola chipset. That's okay. I really didn't expect them to be so daring as to develop a new OS on a new chip. Even Apple has gone Intel.

The C64 Standard is a little expensive for what you get - Cost = $695 w/o monitor:

Intel Atom D525 1.8GHz Dual Core CPU
NVIDIA ION2 Graphics (DDR3 512MB)
2Gb Memory (DDR2 667/800)
WiFi(802.11 b/g/n) and Bluetooth 
DVD Tray Drive (R/W)
 250Gb Hard Drive

You can get a very similar system from TigerDirect for around $350.00. Granted no stylish keyboard or cool retro games.

I have very fond memories of the C64 and Amiga. At the time Amiga was the King of graphics computers. Even Apple couldn't compete with the animation and graphic production capabilities of the Amiga 500 and 1000.

I really hope that Barry Altman, the new founder of Commodore has a grander vision than just producing cool retro computers. My wish is for Commodore to create it's own OS focused on graphics, video production and games. Partner up with video game developers and offer features that are not available on a regular PC. Can you imagine a fully integrated Steam platform or an OS adapted to maximize all of World of Warcaft's features? How about a fully Android enabled PC - that works in conjunction with Android tablets and phones. For instance - a tablet could be turned into a jog/shuttle for video editing software. Or pictures from an Android phone are automatically uploaded to the C64.

Maybe dreams will come true ...





Visit the C64 Store ---> Commodore USA
Read about the demise of the old Amiga ---> Temple of Technology
Video Toaster 4000 promo video ---> Toaster video
Great article on the Video Toaster ---> HalfSquatch

A Mime is a Terrible Thing to Waste

From "On the Wings of Pigs"

I knew at some point this was going to happen. What lurks in the heart of a mime?

Fox News London reports that "A silver-painted street mime who walloped a rival performer over the head in front of throngs of tourists has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail.: - Fox News

I have great respect for mimes. I know many people in America like to make fun of the profession but I think it takes a lot of talent and practice to be a good mime. However, I think the days of silence create a resentment - a brewing anger. Mimes never seem to be happy people, having to silently perform to the willingly vocal.

You can read the whole story here ---> Mime Attack

What's wrong with our schools in the United States

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." - Antoine de Saint Exupéry

This is what's wrong with our schools.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day

Things Mom Would Never Say

• "How on earth can you see the TV sitting so far back?"
• "Yeah, I used to skip school a lot, too"
• "Just leave all the lights on ... it makes the house look more cheery"
• "Let me smell that shirt -- Yeah, it's good for another week"
• "Go ahead and keep that stray dog, honey. I'll be glad to feed and walk him every day"
• "Well, if Katelyn's mom says it's OK, that's good enough for me."
• "The curfew is just a general time to shoot for. It's not like I'm running a prison around here."
• "I don't have a tissue with me ... just use your sleeve"
• "Don't bother wearing a jacket - the wind-chill is bound to improve"

Shapeways will Change the World

Picture from ChrunchGear

Mark my words (no pun intended) Shapeways is going to change the world. Now you can fabricate anything .. I'm starting to freak out right now .. excuse me.

A dude named Rossum fabricated a mini Atari 810 drive for his Atari 800 ---> Geek Systems

You can fabricate your own Strandbeest --> Crunch Geer

How Shapeways works ---> Bloomberg Business

I've already started a store front I don't even know how to use 3D software - but I'm learning. Please, if you have any cool Shapeways designs - send me a link.

Goto Shapeways

PlayStation Network Online 'As Soon As Possible,' Sony CEO Howard Stringer Says

Facebook and Itunes absolutely freak out if they're down more than an hour. They believe that if service is down for even ten minutes, customers lose trust. And trust is King in the online business.

How does Sony regain trust being down for weeks? FPS gamers already think that most other players are using hacks and cheats - this isn't going to calm them down. Are people going to feel comfortabl­e inputting their credit card for Netflix or to purchase music or game? Are customers going to trust the new Sony Smartphone­? How about Sony's plans to take over the music download business from Apple or to establish cloud-netw­orking for pictures and video?

I personally think the PS3 is superior to the Xbox and Wii and I had high hopes for Sony Xperia Play, but this tragic catastroph­e is a ship sinker.

As the old AEsop fable goes: Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Aliens Invade Earth - Now What

Here is my comment to a blog post wondering if we could see an alien invasion before it happened.

Article -- > Could We See How Aliens Mine Asteroids - weird things

If you were an alien looking to harvest stuff for your alien overlords would you choose Earth to invade? My guess is we're probably the last place in the galaxy you would choose. For the following reason:

1. Our gravity makes it painful to get stuff off the planet. It takes a lot of energy to lift a kilo of anything into space.

2. Humans are extremely mean-spirited, suspicious, unfriendly, and prone to random and unprovoked violence. We can't even get along with each other let alone some strange being with seven legs and four arms. Furthermore, we take pleasure in hurting things - suffering is a kind of sport to us.

3. Humans are clever critters and can figure out complex systems and machinery. Accidentally lose one of yer Purple Plasma Gob Smackers - we'll find it, figure it out and use it against you.

4. Human beings are incubators of biologic and toxic agents. We literally spew bio-infection every time we breathe. Not to mention all of the toxins we excrete like mercury, arsenic, lithium - even salt. Humans are a mobile infection factory. Bring us aboard your space craft and the only way to get rid of the infection is to plunge the craft into the center of the sun. And even that is a maybe ..

5. Humans like radioactive stuff. We dig it up and then make it more radioactive. After that we let it sit in open pools of radioactive water.

6. Our God doesn't believe in you, therefore you do not exist. And if you exist then we must make you unexist to please our deity.

7. Your civilization will be seen as an untapped marketing resource. Soon you will be inundated with product placement, reoccurring revenue models and advertising events. Your offspring will be turned into zombies crying for the new Galactic Happy Meal.

8. We would never leave you alone. Constant communication - 24/7 information - we would demand that you entertain us. Appearances on Letterman, Leno and the Daily Show would be required.

9. Humans love to lie. You could never trust anything we ever told you. Also, we would tell lies about one alien to another alien. It wouldn't be long before our lies caused the Great Galactic War.

10. Even if you got rid of all the humans, there would still be all of our stuff left behind. It wouldn't take long before that stuff became such a distraction that no work got done at all. Just a whole bunch of aliens trying to figure out how to get to the next level of Angry Birds.

Kristen Schaal as Video Game Ass Kicker

Kristen Schaal is one of my favorite actors. I loved her in HBO's Flight of the Conchords, where she plays Mel, the band's lone, desperate fan. She's like Sarah Silverman, but not as bitter or full or thorns.

Sony has hired Schaal as their spokesperson for the new Sony Xperia Play - a type smart phone meets Game Boy. It seems the only thing working at Sony these days is their advertising department, because Schaal is fantastic in these commercials.

Yvette Vickers in the new Mummy Dearest.

Pic from Mail Online

Okay I know the title is a bit morbid and disrespectful but I just couldn't help myself. According to Us Magazine, cult actress and Playmate, Yvette Vickers mummified body was found April 27th in her California home.

A neighbor, Susan Savage, discovered her body in an upstairs room of her home; the mummified state of her corpse suggested she could have been dead for close to a year, police said. - Us Magazine.

According to IMDB, Vickers played a starring role is such cult-horror classics as Attack of the 50 Foot Woman and  Attack of the Giant Leeches. She was also July 1959's Playboy Playmate of the Month.

Savage remembered her neighbor, saying: "She kept to herself, had friends and seemed like a very independent spirit. To the end she still got cards and letters from all over the world requesting photos and still wanting to be her friend." Savage said Vickers' neighbors felt terrible. "We've all been crying about this. Nobody should be left alone like that." - Us Magazine.  - Us Magazine.

Vickers was 82 years old.

Crazy Soccer Skills - Indi Cowie

Last Spring in front of 75,000 fans in Chelsa - Manchester United game, sixteen year-old Indi Cowie performed a freestyle soccer routine that blew everyone's mind and launched her into a kind of Internet stardom. According to the Ny Times:

Indi Armstrong Cowie learned to walk chasing a soccer ball. At 10 she played on a coed team and once scored all seven goals in a 7-6 win. By that time, Cowie could juggle the ball 2,000 times without stopping. - Ny Times,  A Soccer Phenom 3/25/2011

 This girl has got talent. She is considered by many to be the best high school soccer player and the best - just the BEST freestyle performer. Here is a short video of her amazing talent and skill.