Monday, February 22, 2010

Screw All the People in Your Neighborhood...

Jerry and Amid over at Cartoon Brew have done the artistic community (and not just the one in and around animation) a service with their stance against "contests" that attempt to pry oodles of spec work out of young animators. There are times in any business, especially when one is starting out, when it makes sense to work for free or for bus tokens...but in most instances, it's foolish and even injurious. I've written about this in the past here and when I have time, I'll write more. But right now, I want to direct you to Cartoon Brew's open letter to the Sesame Street folks who are working their variation on this exploitive practice. I totally agree with this letter.

• Posted at 1:34 PM · LINK

Today's Health Care News

President Obama's proposal for a House-Senate compromise on health care reform has been released. Jonathan Cohn has a quick summary, a link to a more detailed summary and a link to the whole PDF that you and most folks will never read. It's almost possible to believe this thing is actually going to happen.

I keep getting e-mails from people who...well, I'm not sure if they actually oppose Health Care Reform or they simply believe in opposing anything Barack Obama is for. But they keep sending me poll results that suggest most Americans are already satisfied with their health insurance. A couple of these seem to simply ignore that part of the crisis we have in this country is that so many people don't have health insurance. It's like saying, in a land where many are starving to death, "Well, the ones who are eating like what they're eating." Also, a lot of people are perfectly satisfied with their health insurance because they haven't gotten sick lately and so have never tested its value to their lives.

I'm generally satisfied with my health insurance. What I'm not satisfied with is how many friends of mine have none...and that's not just me being selfless to say that. It harms my life if my friends are ill or dying or need to borrow money for medical reasons. I am also harmed by what has happened to hospital emergency rooms, jammed as so many are with people who lack the financial resources for a simple doctor visit. Pollsters who ask, "Are you happy with your health coverage?" are really missing the point, in some cases deliberately.

• Posted at 11:04 AM · LINK

Con Game

We have a new wave of rumors that Comic-Con International may move out of San Diego, particularly to Anaheim. I still don't think this will happen...or won't happen any time soon. But I don't think it's a bad thing for the city and its convention center to be afraid of losing it. As you can see from this article, there are more hotel rooms available to the con this year in S.D. because of the threat. That threat is valuable to the con so I hope they keep it alive...and then stay right where they are.

• Posted at 10:06 AM · LINK

Last Thought Before Bedtime

You know, if you look like the guy in those new Old Spice commercials and you can make diamonds appear and teleport yourself onto the back of a horse...you really don't need Old Spice to impress the babes.

And I'm working too late again...

• Posted at 5:09 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Here's another clip from that 60th birthday event for Prince Charles. John Cleese introduces Rowan Atkinson, who is always so splendid...

• Posted at 12:23 AM · LINK