Solid Ink

Last week I spent time getting Linux installed on my desktop in tandem with Windows. I have to say that Ubuntu Linux is absolutely a breeze to install and nothing went wrong at all. It is flexible, everything worked the way it said it would and in 30 minutes tops, the whole operation was done.

So, tonight I decided to download the Ubuntu Netbook Remix and get that working. It’s pretty much as easy as the desktop to install, the only difference is that you have to make a bootable USB drive for the installer to go on. I booted from the USB stick, installed and was up and on the internet in about 20 minutes. There was a bit of fiddling getting the brightness set, but I’ll have to read up on it to find a solution.

On both machines I very impressed with Ubuntu and the effort that they have made to make the install and setup user friendly with lots of help. I’ll definitely be recommending it to anyone who’s interested.

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Last week was an amazing event. Our local newspaper, The Times Colonist, runs a book sale every year to raise money for literacy and it is a very popular event. The idea is simple. You line up Saturday morning, and because we’re Canadian :p everyone politely files in and then swarms over 300,000 books. It’s absolutely amazing and mindblowing. It’s also the most exhausting few hours I’ve ever spent, trying to decide what to buy. See, the trick is, the books are cheap. Hardcovers are $3, paperbacks start at $1 each and I found myself just wandering and wandering picking up book after book. I finally had two boxes worth and had to take the time to sit and sort through them. I finally winnowed a few out of the pile and went to pay. More long lines and the joy of watching people with up to ten times the amount of books than me Finally I was done and I hauled my prizes home and when my husband woke up, we did it all over again. Cheap books are more than my willpower can stand, so we now have to buy another bookshelf soon, or we’re going to be stacking them on the floor. I took some pics of the wonderful chaos so you can get a sense of how big it was.

And my lovely husband:

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May 1st is Free Comic Book Day at your local bookstore or comic/game store and this means you can get a taste of the state of comics today if you haven’t read them in a long time or are new to the whole idea. As a kid I read Archie comics and others, but I never tried many of the superhero style ones. Now the industry has grown and expanded into a wide range of choices. You can still read about the adventures of Spiderman or the X-men, or perhaps Batman, but there are now all sorts of new stories that have come to light and new styles of telling them. There are teenagers with superpowers in Runaways, there is the story of the last man on earth in Y and there are countless interpretations of comic book stories. Then there are graphic novels, a term that the literary crowd seems to use to differentiate more story-centered comic books. These can be everything from a tale about lions that escaped from the Baghdad zoo, to a woman’s tale of her childhood in Iran. These graphic novels have become extremely popular with the hipster crowd that may never have even read a comic book but they are of the same lineage. The artists and writers who work on Batman are as dedicated these days to telling a complex and entertaining tale, as the people who write and design their more upmarket graphic novels.

Several of my favourites deserve a little more in depth introduction:

Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi.

Persepolis details the author’s childhood in Iran during the beginning of the Iranian revolution. As conditions worsen, the teenage author is sent to live with a family friend in Paris and has a hard time adjusting to life in Europe and how society perceives her as an Iranian. It’s beautifully drawn, laugh out loud funny and alternately heart wrenching. The author portrays Iran and it’s people with a warm, but realistically frustrated tone. The story is very worthwhile read.

Street Angel, by Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca

Jesse Sanchez is 12 years old and lives in a hellish ghetto where she is the only one who can deal with vicious ninjas, demons and all sorts of other surprises. She uses martials arts and skateboard skills to battle evil. I love this one with the fantasy life Jesse has made for herself and the fabulous drawings that show how dangerous and grim her neighbourhood is. I would have been very proud to have written this comic book.

Watchmen, by Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins

Watchmen is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the “Doomsday Clock” – which charts the USA’s tension with the Soviet Union – is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues (The Comedian) is murdered, the masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. Along with Dr. Manhattan, Nite Owl II & Silk Spectre II, they all set out to prevent their own destruction, but in doing so discover a deeper and far more diabolical plot. It’s a fantastic read and I’m glad I was introduced to it.

So head on over to your local comic book store tomorrow and see what the world of the comic book has to offer in 2010. You might be surprised at what you find.

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Charlotte has been discussing the actor Tom Cruise on her blog and his ramblings about all sorts of topics, such as mental illness, post-partnum depression and Scientology. After reading this, I got to thinking about fame in general. Some anonymous person grows up and says that their fondest wish is to become a actor/musician/writer/singer, you fill in the blanks. They work hard at their chosen profession and eventually gain fame and fortune.

When this famous person is interviewed they are asked all sorts of questions, including ones about their childhood, their influences, interests, hobbies, pets and anything else the interviewer can wring out of them. There seems to be an endless prurient interest by the public in the comings and goings of movie stars and other famous entertainment personalities. In the course of their daily lives they answer all the above questions over and over until everyone can quote the answers practically word for word. Eventually it comes to a point where reporters will ask the star what they think of the current war/political situation/famine, once again you fill in the others and the star will give their views on a complex issue with whatever level of skill they have and the media will further compress this for time, until we have the star solving the world’s problems, in under 60 seconds, to make room for commercials.

The star realizes, of course, that the world is watching and listening to their opinion on a big international crisis and can then put their support behind it. In some cases this can be a big help, getting the cameras focuses on a problem that, without the star, might get no media at all, but in some cases, the ill-informed opinions of stars can do more damage than good. Take Bono and his crusade to stop African famine. I wholeheartedly support stopping the famine and I’m one of the first to say let’s reduce Third World debt, but throwing money at countries, where often there is the problem of corrupt officials, is not the best way to solve things. Also, the Africans themselves were indifferent at best to Bono and his efforts. The Guardian had interviews with many ordinary people in various African countries who didn’t like the music and figured that it was Westerners with nothing better to do but meddle in other people’s affairs. Interesting attitude, I thought.

Getting back on topic, my big question is this. Why does anyone in the world think that a star has a more informed opinion than anyone else in the world, and that their opinions should be given any weight at all? We seem stuck on the idea that Tom Cruise or anyone else for that matter is fascinating enough to devote massive amounts of time to. Personally I think that with the insular lifestyle of most people wanting to succeed in a very competitive field, that they have less exposure to the real world and should therefore, be listened to less when it comes to world affairs.

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Welcome to Solid Ink, over the next few weeks, writing will appear here. This is my new home for stories; finished stories, works in progress, you name it. So check back, something new is bound to be here.

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