Writer's Drift

Ignorance is bliss Boing Boing and Ursula K Le Guin

2007-10-15T17:39:00.000+01:00

An apology to Ursula K Le Guin - Boing Boing

Earlier this year Cory Doctorow posted a 500-word article by the writer Ursula Le Guin, that had previously been published elsewhere.

Le Guin protested at this, claiming it breached copyright laws.

Cory Doctorow claimed that copying the entirety of Le Guin's article was justified under copyright "fair use" laws as it was one paragraph. Albeit one that is 500 words long.

Here is yet another example of the attitude that people regard "fair use" as meaning "I can copy whatever and however much I damn well want, when I want, from where I want."

The "fair use" laws allow parts of artistic works to be copied. Not the entire thing.

And for a professional writer to be that ignorant of copyright laws is shocking. Writers have to know about copyright laws to defend their work.

New job II

2007-10-12T00:45:00.000+01:00

Tonight I found out that my new job involves drinking beer while playing computer games in the office (after work of course), and going to awards ceremonies held at strip clubs.

Specifically the Games Media Awards at the Soho Revue Bar.

And the weirdest thing of the night - during the awards ceremony's breaks Miss Polly Rae and the Hurley Burley Girls gave performances. During each of which half the men left, returning when the dancers had stopped.

Probably the first time in the Soho Revue Bar's history that men left the theatre when dancers came on stage.

And keep an ear out for the Games Media Awards podcast. Judging by the events of the night, it'll be edited.

Heavily.

Cool T-shirts

2007-10-07T22:28:00.000+01:00

How can you not like T-shirts like this?

Burma

2007-09-28T14:00:00.000+01:00

There's an online petition supporting the protests in Burma, which is being led by Buddhist monks.

To add you name to the petition visit this link.

Regular people and Buddhist monks are being killed, just for wanting to live in a peaceful democracy.

Please show your support for them, and sign the petition.

Scary public announcements

2007-09-27T23:21:00.000+01:00

In case you were wondering what would happen if David Lynch was asked to make an anti-litter film, this is what happened when David Lynch was asked to make an anti-litter film:

OK. It's scary.

But not as scary as this short - Dark and Lonely Water - which was meant to warn kids from swimming in ponds.

So they get Donald Pleasance to voice the hooded spectre of Death incarnate, and then make a 90sec short that has a body count Tarantino would be impressed by.

Don't know about anyone else, but this film would put me off water of any kind, not just that in ponds.

But even neither Lynch nor Pleasance can terrify you as much as Protect and Survive.

Nuclear holocaust anyone?

"Would you like meth with your latte?"

2007-09-23T16:58:00.000+01:00

Traditionally Sundays are a day of rest. With me they seem to always be spent doing freelance work, or reading up on all the rules, regs and advice I can about being a freelancer.

Fortunately, I've found the Holy Grail of freelancing - free high-speed WiFi internet access and great coffee.

If you need both, visit Caffe Crema in Camden Lock (London). Friendly staff, good food, and very tasty coffee that seems mild going down, but is so strong a few lattes could keep you awake longer than a mild crystal meth overdose.

Now if I could persuade my new editor to let me work there, instead of going in the office during the week...

Anyway, thanks to the stimulant-added coffee, I managed an update of the Syndrome blog. Not a new post, just new links. Please go read it.

Facebook

2007-09-21T22:21:00.000+01:00

I have now joined the mass ranks of those who have Facebook profiles.

It really is MySpace for grown ups, isn't it?

New job, new rules

2007-09-21T22:02:00.000+01:00

In my new job playing computer games and drinking beer in the office isn't frowned upon. It's actually required (the beer is only allowed after office hours, of course. The computer games, seemingly whenever. "I'm reviewing it?" "Which requires you to play it for eight hours straight?"). The downside is that your drunken ramblings end up being broadcast over the internet. Not mine though. I wasn't invited.

But I can't complain (how could you) they're a great bunch of people. Very good at their jobs. And (best of all) very good writers to a man (and one woman).

Of course this does mean I have to brush up on my computer gaming. Which means for the past week, evenings have been spent inside BioShock (good, but not the classic it's being touted as - System Shock 2 still pounds it), Baldur's Gate (insanely lethal thanks to the EasyTutu mod), and - after it finishes downloading at 3am - soon World of Warcraft (not particularly looking forward to this: [read aloud in a sarcastic tone] "Wow, how original. A fantasy world populated by Elves and Dwarves. May how so very original of you."

As for my comic. More pages have come through, and a history of Syndrome is being written up on it's blog. Part two will be soon.

New job, new leaf

2007-09-17T00:12:00.000+01:00

Really been 3 months since I last posted? *sigh* Never got into the whole diary discipline when I was a kid. Guess it shows now.

Tomorrow... OK, later today I'm starting a new job on PC Zone. A damn fine publication run by a team of... well, I'm, sure they'll be jolly nice people.

In the meantime please visit Syndrome - my graphic novel's blog.

Now to sleep...

YouTube - Hi, I'm a Marvel...and I'm a DC: After Hours

2007-06-04T14:21:00.000+01:00

This may be one for comic and film geeks, but gods it's funny if you are...

Marvel and DC: After Hours

Portfolio update

2007-05-23T20:43:00.000+01:00

My online portfolio has had a much-needed update.

In the new 3x3x3 page there are the ecomics of my 3x3x3 scripts.

And there's a 'For Hire' page, in case someone needs a writer/copy editor.

And hopefully, in the next few weeks they'll be another update. With some really good news.

Bloody artists...

2007-04-29T23:14:00.000+01:00

How simple can an instruction be?

"Please send me samples of your work, including your page rate?" said the ad I ran for a comic book artist.

And what do I get? Emails from artists which don't include their page rates, examples of their work, or even their names!

Artists (comic book and otherwise): you stand a much better chance of getting a job if you follow the instructions in an advert.

After all, why should an employer hire someone who can't follow a simple instruction from a job advert?

Rehab robot to crime-fighting cyborg

2007-04-26T14:34:00.000+01:00

Japanese old folk could get their own exoskeletons. Just like this one:

Yoshiyuki Sankai, a professor at the graduate school of the University of Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture, has developed a cyborg-type robot suit.

f a wearer wants to move a limb, its motor, reading signals from the brain, will go into action, and the hands and legs will move together with the suit.

Its special feature is that the suit's hands and legs do not move on their own, but the person can move them at will, Sankai said.

A polio sufferer could walk, although with a limp, and even a person with a spinal disability could walk with its help, he said. The Japan Times Online (report and image)

According to other reports this suit boosts the user's strength by 100%.

So as this suit gives you super-strength, all you need to add is a ray gun and a jetpack, and you can fight crime, just like this fellow:

Killer cell phones

2007-04-26T13:29:00.000+01:00

I got sent this story by TJ Behe, creator of Contraband.

Seems like mobile phones are more dangerous than ever.

Prank of virus causing death through cell phones creates panic (Reuters 13/04/07)

Mobile service providers in Pakistan have been inundated by calls from subscribers worried by a prank message that they could die of a DEADLY VIRUS being transmitted via their phones.

"The rumor was so effective that some mosques in the country's biggest city, Karachi, made announcements that people were being killed by a mobile virus and they should be aware of God's wrath.

In a prank reminiscent of the plot in the hit Hollywood movie "The Ring" in which people die within a week after watching a video, the prankster warned users that a deadly virus transmitted through phones had killed 20 people.

The cellular operators moved to calm down subscribers and said in a joint statement: "These rumors are completely baseless. They do not make any sense in technological terms.

Comic covers galore

2007-04-24T11:48:00.000+01:00

This is one of those sites that makes me go: Cool!

ComicCovers.com is a blog that claims to have over 75,000 covers from comics.

Just the thing for comic heads, or anyone interested in graphic design.

Harrowing news and Buffy

2007-04-23T16:17:00.000+01:00

Huh - been a while since my last post. Again.

Anyway, things to report.

Harrowing
A one-shot comic I wrote about two years should be coming out in the winter. I just need to find an artist and a letterer.

The good news is that I may have found a very good artist to do the cover. He's local, and an experienced pro with lots of experience working for a famous UK comic.

There's no website. But there will be soon.

ComicSpace
After ripping off about public networking sites, I signed up to one for comic creators. Twenty-six friends and counting so far - and I've been there for less than 24 hours.

3x3x3
My 3x3x3 stories are now drawn and lettered. You can view (and 'Tooncast') them at my ComicSpace page.

And one cool thing:
Making of a Comic
The good folk at Dark Horse have put up a little Flash thing showing how comics are made. And it's a preview to issue 3 of the excellent Buffy The Vampire Slayer season 8 comic.

Just click the link above to see what goes into making a comic.

And get down a comic shop and get Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Long Way Home issues 1 to 3, before they sell out. Again.

Judge Reid

2007-04-01T22:18:00.000+01:00

To mark the announcement that the UK will soon have a Ministry of Justice (nothing Orwellian about that name), artist Nick Miller has come up with this sketch of Judge John Reid (hosted at Down the Tubes Blog).

Dredd, you'd better watch out. You've got competition.

(And if Judge Dredd confuses the hell out of you, visit 2000AD's website, or the remnants of the BBC Cult. Just don't watch this... ever.)

3x3x3 portfolio: Queuing

2007-03-04T18:59:00.000Z

After one crash course in using Adobe Illustrator, here's the final version of X-Men: Queuing.

Enjoy.

From 3x3x3 portfolio

(Previously posted legal caveats apply, and please do not duplicate these pages on other sites, without permission.)

Best Firefox extension ever? Tab Groups

2007-03-02T23:07:00.000Z

Tab Groups: Firefox Extension
This has to rate alongside the best Firefox extensions ever developed.

Tab Groups allows you to group Firefox's tabs in their own tabs. If you like organising things keeps you happy, you should install this extension.

Sadly it's still in alpha testing (in other words, buggy and few features), but it's still damn useful. And it's definitely one to install and keep updating. And you may have to install the Drag and Drop Toolbars extension - another handy extension.

Conservapedia

2007-03-02T22:59:00.000Z

Conservapedia - "A conservative encyclopedia you can trust."

I must be missing something here, but shouldn't an encyclopaedia not have any political stance? If it does, all it becomes is a form of propaganda.

Incidentally, not everything contained is accurate. For instance, under Evolution it says "Evolutionists have no real evidence that macroevolution occurs and there is no consensus on how it allegedly occurs..."

Maybe they should watch this Royal Society lecture by Prof Steve Jones (Professor of Genetics at University College London) where Prof Jones shows how SIV and HIV have evolved over time from their source.

3x3x3: Trauma Room

2007-03-02T22:32:00.000Z

The final pages for my 3x3x3 Portfolio comic came through yesterday, from the extremely talented Hugh Vogt.

This is a talking piece, almost superhero-free, about the effects of a battle between Iron Man and another power-armored foe.

Something that always amazes me about American comics is that you rarely see what effect battles between superhero and supervillains has on the people around them. So that's what I tried to approach in this short.

Here's the story. Iron Man makes a cameo, so the previous legal caveats apply (not done for profit, not a challenge to Marvel's trademark and copyrights).

Once the lettering's done, I'll be posting the final pages on my website.

From 3x3x3 portfolio

3x3x3 Portfolio: Buffy's never looked better

2007-03-01T20:47:00.000Z

Buffy the Vampire layer: Medusa's Tears (page 1) Richard Cosgrove 3x3x3 portfolio Artist: Santiago Espina Image may not be reproduced without permission

The extremely talent Santiago Espina sent through the final pencilled page for my Buffy The Vampire Slayer story Medusa's Tears.

Personally, I think Buffy has never looked sexier...

From 3x3x3 portfolio

Don't press "Reply to all"

2007-03-01T20:40:00.001Z

Yesterday a virtual lynching took place amongst my fellow copy editors in my company. The trouble started after we all received a badly written email from one in our number.

Spelling mistakes might have been forgiven, but not tautology.

During the event myself and two of my colleagues came up a few collective nouns that could be useful in the magazine industry.

So, in the hope they enter common usage, here they are:

An indecision of publishers
An ego of editors
A whine of designers
A snooze of staff writers
A pedant of copy editors

Well it beats jokes about misplaced colons.

Stop the info, save the money

2007-03-01T20:40:00.000Z

Newspaper editors unite over freedom of information rule changes - MediaGuardian.co.uk
Here's one for conspiracy nuts.

The UK government is planning on restricting the number of claims that can be made under the Freedom of Information Act, to save money.

The suggestion is to "reject requests that will cost £600 for government departments to process or £450 for other organisations."

That isn't the remarkable thing about this story. What's unusual is that a group of newspaper editors are lobbying the government to stop the change.

Getting an ego of editors working together is like herding rabid cats. So at least our government has managed to achieve one remarkable and positive feat while in power.

Sampling books online

2007-03-01T20:35:00.000Z

"The Browse Inside widget is the most recent marketing tool we have developed using the capabilities of our digital warehouse to market our titles to the MySpace generation online," Brian Murray, group president for HarperCollins, said in a statement.
Publishers let readers browse books online - MediaGuardian.co.uk, 1 March

Do you get the feeling Mr Murray doesn't know what MySpace and "digital warehouses" are?