Just When You Thought It Was Safe
I wrote a while back about Facebook killing my inner child. Seems I’m not the only one.
If you’re asking yourself, “Who is this guy?” He’s the executive producer of a rather successful science-fiction franchise. And a writer.
A Strange Mix
So I had a conversation with a friend of mine on the way into school this week, in regards to what has been happening with an art festival I helped out with this past summer and the surrounding some disagreements happening between some of the original Board of Directors. I’m not pointing fingers at anyone. I understand both sides. Art and business sometimes just doesn’t work.
Take for example the art show in Toronto “Nuit Blanche.” A story that went through most of the Canadian press outlets about the event, gave examples of patrons to the event saying that it was over commercialized. Also, the amount of art and/or artists dwindled significantly from the previous year. The author of the linked article was quite adamant that the organizers of said event were sure to call it “Scotiabank Nuit Blanche,” not just “Nuit Blanche.” Once again, I see both sides: Scotiabank wanted to make it bigger and better, but they also wanted their money’s worth in investing in such an event. I can understand why the artists didn’t end up showing up this year because of the gratuitous corporate presence.
I’ve said all that to say this: I understand both sides. I really do. There has to be a little peace between corporate types and artists. I think I have a little of both in me; I’m neither Picasso nor Donald Trump, but I think I could do great in business with the right kind of business, but I also am – to a certain extent – an artist. I wouldn’t be in a design course if I didn’t think I could at least hold my own, and I wouldn’t be seriously considering starting a business in the near future if I didn’t think I could handle it. It’s an interesting oxymoron. The art of business.
I may bring world piece. Well, at least in these two worlds. Or I’ll just make a good chunk of change trying.
A Piece of Canadian Consumer History
I was reading TUAW’s article on the fact that the student price has been raised for the release of Leopard. And considering I am of the currently-being-educated type, I decided to take my weekly trip to see if prices have changed due to the rise of the Canadian Dollar. It has.
TUAW reports that the educational discount in the US brings the price of Leopard down to $116. A whole dollar cheaper. Wow. Our dollar being above the Greenback is finally paying off. Now, if they’d only lower the price of the Mac Pros.
(Update 1: But the regular price is the same. I guess Apple thinks that the Canadian Students are a little harder off… or maybe a little smarter to figure out the exchange rate.)
Women’s Magazines and Advertising
I must have been living under a rock.
My wife is doing some random scrapbook type art for her classroom. She’s got a bunch of women’s magazines out that she’s using to cut patterns out of. I see the Marie Claire that has the words “HOT SEX” written on the front of it, and of course, being male and horny (I know, that’s redundant), I picked it up to see if I could find a table of contents to look up said article.
Flip, flip, flip. I counted 20 pages before I even hit real content. And even then, I’m pretty sure it was only a half page of the “Editor’s” (and I use that term loosely) page. Mounds and mounds of advertising. I guess someone needs to keep the advertising industry in business. This magazine could keep one designer busy constantly for 24 hours for a year straight – and this is just a single month’s issue.
Not to mention the piss-poor images of what a woman “should be.” But that’s an entry that would be filed under Rants.