This will be the first and hopefully last time a Britney Spears song reference will appear as the subject of a blog posting.
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First up, I'm told by what I'd consider the second most reliable source of information on the matter I've got available to me that the Dell pink slip delivery scenario I described yesterday is not likely an accurate account of how things happened (the most reliable source of info I've got actually works/worked at Dell Edmonton, but I haven't gotten hold of them yet.)
Apparently, Dell's planning to cut 10% of its overall workforce, which makes me wonder why they hired 10% more people than they needed, or whether they're cutting 10% of people they actual do need to do the job right and are just going to let their schlub customers wait an extra half an hour on the phone before getting to talk to someone. Probably the latter, if my personal experience of the corporate planning mentality is any indicator.
I wonder if the executives at Dell are all taking a 10% pay cut...
Meanwhile, if an e-mail I received a few minutes ago is to be believed, Exxon made $1300 a second in 2007. Viva la revolucion.
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Started the day with a 77 minute documentary on "The Mindscape of Alan Moore", in which he touches on almost everything but John Constantine, which is a weird omission as the documentary filmmakers have a recurring segment featuring someone that's clearly intended to represent the character.
The great thing about stuff like Moore's comments in this documentary (and Moore's Writing for Comics essay) (and pretty much everything Alan Moore says publicly on the subject of creativity) is that, while he doesn't come right out and say it, he's effectively challenging every creator watching to aspire to heights that many (myself included, I think) don't. If he wasn't ALAN MOORE, it'd be very easy to write off his pretensions of art and his casual dismissal of work that's intended as nothing more than entertainment.
Entertainment is where most of my stuff is very deliberately aimed, partly because of the entertainment I've not felt from a lot of the more recent work of people like Moore or, say, Dave Sim. I don't mind a comic that educates as well as entertains; as a reader I've got some real issues with comics that focus so heavily on education that entertaining/engaging/exciting the reader becomes an afterthought, if that. I feel that there is value in "giving people 20 minutes of something to do while they wait to die." But then, I would, wouldn't I.
A comic artist acquaintance of mine expressed some reservations re: Moore a few months ago. Basically, he wasn't entirely sure whether Moore actually believed the stuff he was saying, or whether he was a canny businessman who effected the persona of a magician for business reasons ("I've met Grant Morrison, and know him well enough to say he's a businessman more than {a loony}.") Of course, if Moore is speaking honestly re: his worldview, effecting a persona is essentially a magical act that can transform the real person into the role they're playing, so maybe it all amounts to the same thing.
Anyway, interesting stuff, if you've got a reasonably fast internet connection and 80 minutes to kill.
A
http://www.altertube.tv/view_video.php?viewkey=31b55aa50c06529eaa21&page=1&viewtype=&category=mr
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