So one of my coworkers died. She had a stroke. It was very sudden and she was a pretty good friend of the family. I'm not exactly going to cry myself to sleep tonight, but I will miss her, and I think the world is a less colorful place without her. So I'm thinking that maybe my feelings towards this person may have colored my response.

A friend of mine texts me what I'm doing tonight, I want to be very clear: I HATE text messaging, I understand it's there, but it annoys me at the best of times. But you know what, I'll deal with it, I text back and tell her I'm working until 8, and then I'm going to my coworkers wake. She texts back "Wake?"

I'm not explaining a wake over a text and I'm not calling her from work. So I tell her "Google it" She apparently does, and understands it will take time. She replies with "Wanna go to a party with some of my friends at 9?"

I ignore her, because I'm kind of floored that she would even ask that. She phones me. On my cell phone. At work. People who know me know you don't do that unless someone is actively dieing. She asks me again. "After your thingy can we party?"

I don't think I've ever asked someone "What the fuck is wrong with you?" before while both angry and meaning it. I also called her insensitive and batshit insane. Then I hung up on her and turned my phone off.

And now, having slept on it, I don't even feel bad about it. One of our friends called me at home and said that the idiot is angry with me, and wondered what was going on.

I'm speechless. Am I wrong? Maybe my relationship with the deceased has made me more irritable than usual. Maybe even after googling it the idiot didn't realize what a wake was ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_(ceremony) for people unable to use google and will ask.) Maybe I'm insane. What do you think?

Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V."

And yes, I did just type that out. :P How many times can YOU use vichyssoise in a sentance?

On a completely different note, big thanks to  Euchre for showing me around Winnipeg this weekend, it was fun. Maybe next time I won't be so god-awful busy and we can really tie one on.

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3184945/

Raffle going on. Usually I don't pimp stuff out on journals, but I'd actually never seen the guy before, and it's good stuff

 lost-paw

SOPA isn't a bad idea.

Oooh.... I think I just heard the sounds of people typing madly in the response box. But really. Think about it.

SOPA is a symptom of the disease that is internet piracy. Is it curing a stubbed toe with amputation? Possibly. But, to be completely frank, we don't call it piracy because the people doing it look dashing in eyepatches. We call it piracy because you are stealing. And yeah, I do it too.

But just because a lot of people do something, doesn't make it right.

The laws in place now to protect companies from piracy are weak and toothless, and so the laws have become absolutely unenforceable. That doesn't make breaking those laws right.

I hear a lot of bitching from people that want to be able to break copyright laws. They feel that the recording companies make too much, or that the prices are too extreme. It is their divine right to steal from the rich, because they are poor. I counter this with: Too Fucking Bad! These companies work in a system designed specifically to make money by doing something that you yourself cannot do. If they cannot make their assloads of money, they will stop providing the services they currently do.

Some people say, "But Gear! They'll always make money, just not as much." To that: I offer exhibit A: The Music industry.

It used to be that recording studios would take risks with uncertain and emerging artists because a: they were making a lot of money anyway and b: because even a crappy artist could pay for itself by selling to adventurous first time buyers. They don't do that anymore.

The cost of recording is only getting cheaper, but fewer new artists each year make their way into deals. I believe this is because the recording industries want to focus on where they actually make money, to preserve their margins. What does this mean? Over time, music has gotten generic. Sure, the people who have established themselves can make their own label, but as that old school ages out and retires, or dies, there are fewer new people replacing them, and the record companies are only dealing with sure things, that is: Pop and Country. Can we think of a new Rock artist in the last five years? Metal? There may be some, but the genres are dieing. So what are we going to listen to in 20 years? Justin Bieber? Amy Winehouse just died. Who else is new?

Piracy made music get bad.

Now, the legitimate arguement against SOPA is that it's a jackhammer, that it's too toothy, and that it censors the internet. There is definately something to that. It overkills, and it punishes the people that obey the law more than people willing to break it.

That said: I call bullshit on censorship.

I mean... How dare companies who have created unique material or paid for trademarks protect the product that their business depends on!? It's not censorship to force someone to remove copyrighted material. They weren't your ideas, words, or images to begin with. No one is keeping you from saying, typing, singing, or drawing anything, they want you to stop plagarising! You think you can paint like DaVinci, design like major firms, produce your own superhero movies, or sing the greates rock album that ever was? Do it. But if you can't, pay for it.

SOPA isn't designed to be law. It won't happen. But it's not dead. It's going to be watered down and a more acceptable version of it will be introduced. Possibly something like that page copyrighted material is on will be suspended, as opposed tot he entire site being shut down. And we as the internet community have to get off the idea of receiving soemthing for nothing and be prepared to pay for what we consume. We have to think of new ways as site developers to make sure that the content posted on our site doesn't break copyright laws.

We have to steal less.

Go figure.

Maybe this will clean up the internet a little. Who knows?

I have a couple of milestones coming up, and I shall offer Kiribans! Thank you watcher peoples. I think that's the right word. Prizes?

EDIT: I'm a retard, and apparently it's possible for more than one person to get the pageviews. I'm going to accept the two that got in before this edit, but no more. Derp.

For current watchers, I'm very close to 2000 pageviews. Take your screenshot. And I don't want this missed, so if no one claims it relatively soon, send your screenshot of as close as you get, and I'll take the closest to 2000, over 2000.



For everyone else. I have 146 watchers, number 200 gets a Kiriban too!

What will they be?

Couple pictures, dirty or not (I'll leave that up to you) with yours truely. Yay!

Watch on!

Find the part of this picture that makes a small part of my soul die.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7160769/

1. Men ARE NOT mind readers.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly Acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only If you want help solving it. That's what we do.
Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you won't dress like the Victoria's Secret girls, don't expect us to act like soap opera guys.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.

1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both.
If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will Be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," We will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, Expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear Is fine...Really.

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or golf.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight;

But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3011986/

Go look!

http://www.f-list.net/c/Akidi

Notice the profile pic?

Look familiar?

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6511975

I'm actually not entirely sure what to do with this, it's not like it's hurting anyone... but that's my characters effin face, y'know? Imput guys?

Gay marriage seems to be such a big issue. And I get it. It hurts to be the guy on the sidelines looking in at what other people are doing and feel like you're being left out.

But the thing is, denying gay marriage is not discrimination.

Discrimination is a person or organization treating another person or organization differently based on age, gender, race, sexual orientation, height, or anything else that a person does not have control over. And no, I'm not saying sexual orientation is a choice. What I'm saying is that whether you are a gay man, or a straight man, you can marry a woman, but not a man. And whether you are a straight woman, or a lesbian, you can marry a man, but not a woman. You as a gay person are not being denied a right a straight person is. The arguement might be made that the discrimination lies that the law treats men and women differently, and it's discrimination based on gender, but not sexual orientation. That said... It doesn't come up that way in the media very often.

There are two parts to what we percieve as marriage. Holy matrimony, and Civil Union. Holy matrimony is a religious ceremony, and just like we can't dictate to a church their membership, or their leadership, or the language they operate in, or really anything other than that they act wthin the law, (ex: you can't kill people, steal, or diddle kids) we cannot dictate to them their ceremonies. We cannot make them marry gay people. That's the seperation of church and state.

Civil union, on the other hand, is a legal term. It's the state that two people enter into that infers benefits to government gives you. (ex: tax benefits, power of attourney). This is absolutely determined by the government, and the government has a duty not to discriminate in ways that private organizations don't have.

So what's the answer?

Stop getting so hung up on the words guys. Let the straight couples keep the word marriage. Don't get married in a church. But fight for your right as a couple to be treated the same by your government. Because nothing will get people's backs up more than us trying to barrel into their sacredness, and it's not your right to be there. Make up a new word. I don't care what it is. Use "Gay-riadge". Get yourself every benefit a straight couple has, live together, be happy. At the end of a day, making people that don't accept you tolerate you will only breed a toxic environment.

Every generation, people get more educated, we become more tolerant, we do better. but our parents, and the parents of our parents, will never change their minds. It's how they were raised. They will die. And their children will do better. What I'm asking for is patience. It's ignorant to compare gay rights to woman's lib or slavery, gay people were never denied the vote, or beaten by people who owned them. That said, imagine living through those periods as part of those groups. The people in those groups may not have lived to see the acceptance they have today, it's a slow process. Be happy that things tomorrow WILL be better than things today.

November 25th, 26 years old. Bollocks.... Time flies.

What to do... What to do.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

We remember Canada... Even if I'm a day late.

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
the Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent to blow up King and Parliament.

Three score barrels were laid below to prove old England’s overthrow;
By God’s mercy he was catch’d with a dark lantern and lighted match.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Hip hip hoorah!

A penny loaf to feed the Pope
A farthing o’ cheese to choke him.

A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.

Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.

Burn his body from his head.
Then we’ll say ol’ Pope is dead.

Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah hoorah!


Happy November 5th England!

So my work as a windshield repairman in over. I sold my gear back to the company. Probably one of the most awesome jobs I've ever had, and I might consider doing it again next year. But as it's outdoor, and the resin needs 10 degrees C to dry, it's done until probably April or May.

So. Because I like money, I got another job. In a grocery store. (Those of you who have read my last few journals about grocery stores might find this funny) It's not great, but I have beer money while going to class. Which is important.

Anyway. I've had this job a few days, and I'm sitting in the office reviewing some orders. One of the managers walks in and starts bitching about how her kid got in trouble at school for calling someone a douchebag. I got to thinking... I didn't actually know what a douche was. (Don't laugh, do you actually know what a douche is? Fewer and fewer people do.) Anyway, I ask her: "Hey Carol, what's a douche?"

She looks at me, "What? Are you fucking kidding me?" (This is the kind of relationship we have) And I say, "No, I was just listening to you bitch about your kid and I realized, I don't know what a douche is... So what's a douche?"

She hims and haws, and rolls her eyes, then tells me to ask the pharmacist.

Which I did.

I walk up, "Trina, what's a douche?" And she looks at me like I've grown a second head, and that head also happens to be retarded, and says "What? Are you fucking kidding me?" (This is the kind of relationship we have) ((I'm not making that up)) And I tell her; "No, Carol was just bitching about her kid getting in trouble for calling someone a douchebag, and I realized I don't know what a douche is, so I asked her and she wouldn't tell me."

Well, she points to a shelf, "there they are, go get her to explain it."

Which I did.

I walk up to Carol with a big douche box in my hands and say to her: "Trina told me to get you to show me how this works."

Well... She just walked away.

At this point, I kinda have an idea on what a douche is. But I go home and decide to look it up on google.com anyway. And do you know what I saw typing "What is a douche" into google.com's search bar?

I got hardcore douche porn. And I'm scarred for life.

I walk up to Carol in the morning and tell her that she is everything wrong with parenting today. And she looks at me like: o.O Dubya Tee Eff?

So I say, "Lets say that I was 6 instead of 26, and I heard someone call someone a douchebag at school. Well, I'm curious, so I ask a female authority figure, and they're embarrased so they send me to a medical professional, the medical professional is busy and jaded and grumpy, so she makes a snide remark, so I go back tot he female authority figure, who then just walks away.

Well, At that point, my 6 year old self is alone, possibly scared in the world, driven only by curiousity. At that point, I do what every 6 year old does when confronted by something adults don't talk about. I google it. And do you know what i see Carol?!?! I see HARDCORE DOUCHE PORN. AND IT'S ALL. YOUR. FAULT."

And I walk away. Satified.

I think I'll enjoy this job.

If anyone ever gets a chance, I just finished Steven Erickson's 10 volume "Malazan Book of The Fallen" I was impressed. I have never in my life been happier with a multi-book series. The end, it wrapped everything up in a neat little package, the humor was dark and sarcastic. The messages were clear and profound.

Read the book, read it twice. You will miss things the first time around.

One thing I thought amazingly profound was the attention to detail. Very very small things that made huge differences, or gave you extra information, that were do easy to miss. Has everyone seen The Dark Knight? Did everyone realize that the reason Batman saved harvey wasn't because he meant to, but because the Joker lied about who was at which address? It's amazing how many people missed that. And it's details like that, filling these books, that make things so interesting.

Book One: Gardens of The Moon

Read it.
Nao.
Unless you don't like fantasy books. But maybe even then, because it is just an awesome read.

I recently read a journal where an artist was looking for comissioners, this artist willl remain nameless  paint

I was like: Hum hum. I have some money burning a hole in my pocket! Maybe I'll give some to her. But lo.... What's this... "Things I won't do" Hum, let's look.

I've been told no because someone doesn't draw porn. I've been told no because someone wouldn't draw gay. (That one was similarly dissapointing, apparently vaginas are gay). But this is a first: She will not draw dickgirls, hermaphrodites, cuntboys or other 'fantastical' genders. Her words not mine.

First off... Why the piss not? You'll draw a penis on a guy, or boobs on a girl but not boobs on a guy or well... you get the idea. That said, I never even ask artists to draw things they don't want to anymore, they tend to do a crap job of it. And they say no. And they're absolutely able to. It just seems backwards.

The other think that kinda bothered me was the idea that these genders are 'fantastical', I don't know if the idea was that they were 'fantastic' (which we are, but this translation would be kinda awkward in the context) or 'fantasy' (which is ignorant, but probably more in with the context).

Dickgirls are MtF transgendered people, men born with the mental chemistry of a female, with the ability to do something about it in terms of hormone therapies or surgeries up to, but not including, changing up the plumbing. Search "Chicks with Dicks"

Cuntboys are FtM transgendered people, women born with the mental chemistry of a man, who have taken hormones and done surgeries up to but excluding getting a johnson. (It's much harder to build a penis than a vagina, but with enough money... You too can... anyway). Search "Buck Angel"

Now these two aren't really well known medical conditions to the vast majority of people. But hermaphrodites? Really? That makes the list of fantasy genders? I'm not even commenting more.

She apparently doesn't want my money. Someone else will take it.

That said, she is a decent artist at good value, if you have junk that conforms to social norms, give her a call.

I'd like to point out that it's easy to critisize programs you don't completely understand. I'm not going to address everything involved, and I can only comment on the system we have in Canada, the American system is far different.

Some of what I hear is that people are sick of corporations paying less tax.

See... The thing is, Corporations are actually taxed twice. Once when they make their money (Which I'll admit is on a different schedule than the average taxpayer) then again when their remaining earnings are payed out in dividends. (Which are taxed at the same rate as everyone else, because it's based off the recipient's income.) The reason it's a common misconception that corportaions pay less tax is because they take part in tax shelters (investing in Canada savings bonds, or charitable donations are examples) and so even though they don't technically pay those dollars in tax, they do pay them in ways that are socially necessary. Pick a corporation, any corportation. Chances are they've made massive charitable donations to the Red Cross, or something equally beneficial to society. Is this for PR? No, it's because they get a tax break. But it is nice.

More than that, depending on where you are, corporations account for a number somewhere more than half the tax dollars actually collected. I just read a report that over the last few years, the number was close to 65%. Look at that. We are the 99%, They are the 1%, and they pay the majority of taxation.

The fact of the matter is, the more pressure we put on our corporations, the less appealing we look for future investment. Corporations aren't going to pull stakes and run, they have too much sunk in already... but that new office they were going to offer? Mexico has some nice tax brackets? Mexico too volatile? China would LOVE our business. And you know what? Again, Canadian numbers, but depending on your province, up to and including 80% of people work for corporations.

Yes changes need to be made. But get educated first. And don't bite the hand that feeds. This isn't the way to make things better.

Right now in the Manitoba News, there are two relatively large things I'd like to comment on:

First: SlutWalk

Slut Walks are basically organized protests, where women are angry with the idea that the way the dress makes them partially responsible for sexual assaults. To voice this anger, some of them dress up very risque and haul around signs, then walk through public areas.

A big theme with them is "What I wear is not consent"

And I agree, you don't give consent. And the sleaze that assaults women sexually should be beaten, incarcerated, and chemically castrated. BUT... This isn't necessarily about blame ladies. It's about prevention. People who are going to rape a women aren't the most stable individuals out there, and while you SHOULD be able to wear what you want, when you want, and how you want to, and believe me I love looking at you when you do.... Maybe, just maybe we should step back and say something like: "This isn't Utopia, there are people out there who aren't mentally balanced, although I have every right to wear revealing, skintight clothes that are too small and reveal more skin than they cover, maybe I should cover a little bit more, because wearing a thong and nightshirt down this dark alley at night is like waving candy in front of them."

I know some of the people who made the comments that sparked these walks may have spoken badly, I'd like to try to say it better. I'd like to draw the parallel here between rapists and child molesters.

We as a society have realized that there are bad people out there who might hurt our kids. To keep them safe, we watch them, we give them education on where to walk, and with who, with who to talk to, and when. If they get hurt, they may have done things that caused them to get hurt, but we don't blame them.

Similarly, we need to realize that there are dangerous people out there who might target women based on what they wear, so although it will never be their fault if they're assaulted, there is things that can be done to minimize risk.

Quite frankly, dressing up skankier than usual and walking around with other people dressed similarly isn't one of them.

So I was in class today and I heard this story.

Basicall a family member of a classmate was hospitalized after overdosing on a drug administered by a healthcare professional. Instead of receiving 7 doses of 2MG, he was given 72MG at once. He was dosed 36 times the normal dose. My first response was: What retard doesn't realize that he's just been given 36 times the normal number of pills?!? But no, it was administered as a fluid to drink, mixed in a cup that was the same size as normal.

The kicker is, the brother is kinda non-chalant about this, saying things like "People make mistakes" And I'm like, raging... a little. It's one thing to make a mistake plugging things onto a computer, or maybe mis-measuring a dosage a couple of mills either way. My opinion is it takes some hardcore retardery to not realize that you are administering 36 times the normal dose of a drug.

I compare this to paying for your morning coffee with 36 twonies (Canadian Two Dollar coin). Paying with two twonies instead of two loonies (Canadian One Dollar Coin), ok, that's a mistake. Breaking a roll on the counter, that's retarded.

I just wanna put a shoutout  teil is probably the mst reasonably priced, easy to get along with artist I've had the pleasure to work with. All that an she can draw! Holy shit. Go watch her an iv her you monies now!!! NAO!

[[EDIT]]

He came back to me and offered to do something different. It's still probably not something that I would have actually ordered on my own, and I'm not sure that it was great value... But it wasn't horrible value either, and when given the choices of either accepting it, or getting nothing, it was definately the lesser of two evils. I consider this resolved, and not entirely unfavorably.

Learnt from it, moved on.

[[EDIT]]

I've actually written about this situation before, but I took it down because I thought it had been dealt with, and I just wanted everything to be under the bridge. At this point, I don't know what to think, I realize I'm a hot head, when someone pisses me off, I tend to rage... But I don't think that I'm unreasonable when I rage. Rude? Possibly. Crude? Maybe. But you can be crude and rude and still be completely right. So, At this point, I leave it up to the court of public opinion.

More than a month ago, Drayk organized a three picture series for 12 people on the page cboys of fa. I'm not sure what individual rates were, but I paid $30. Math that out... 12x30=360... range of 300-400 is probably fair. To get started, the artist, deja-blu required that the participants pay in advance, which is I suppose necessary, with so many people involved, especially without repoire, and with the amont of deadbeats in the fandom.

Money was paid, patience was given. Around three weeks ago, blu sent out a message, the gist of which was that the series wasn't getting done, and that he would instead offer individual pictures.

When I asked him why, he originally lied to me, saying that one of the participants was underaged. When I pointed out that any individual character could be replaced, he said that the whole project was just plain above his skill level... Which I still don't get... He basically said: "I'm too untalented to do you all in a group, so instead, I'll draw the same thing, just in more images" 

Well, at this point, I'm building rage, this hit me then (and still hits me now) as a bit of a snafu. So I fire back that I'm uninterested in his offer (I'll explain why later) and would just appreciate my money back. This was refused, because blu had already spent the money. This did not help my rage.

To explain a little more on why the offer was unapealling... As a character who plays a cboy, I admired the people who popularized (or at least broke out) the genre. Drayk and Xianos at the top of the list, but there are others as well. As such, I spent a little more on this than I normally spend, I don't need Wolfy-Nail to draw my character, and I like supporting the artists starting out. Anyway, the appeal of getting an image done with Drayk and Xianos won out, and removing that, the offer had no appeal.

So to summarize: Gear spent money, artist cancelled project, made counter offer, Gear refused counter offer, artist refused to refund. Gear angry.

So I wrote a journal basically outlining the conversation between me and Blu, I was definately unhappy, and maybe colorful about it, but completely accurate. He didn't comment on it. But who did surprised me.

Drayk took the artist's side. His arguement was basically that although the artist had taken commision money, spent it, cancelled the commision and refused to refund, that the offer the artist made was worth more than the money I paid, that I should take it, shut up and quit drama-ing. I still don't feel it was appropriate to try to bully me into taking work that I had no interest in. Even Xianos got involved, although I thought he was much more reasonable.

One thing that Drayk did that I thought more unusual than his takingthe side of the person that had just robbed him was that he offered to pay me out. To this day, I don't understand why he made that offer, I mean, he didn't know the artist, does he want the fandom to come begging every time someone gets stiffed? More than that, I didn't want his money.

At this point, it's kinda like meeting your hero, only to find out he's a douche. I realize that I'm not going to see my money back, not getting work done, and I was kinda winding down. I deleted the journal, sent a final farewell to the artist, (which basically said 'I'm tired, you're a deadbeat, have fun with my money) and he replied that he would ask certain people if they wanted a threesome pic, and if that would be acceptable. I agreed, half to just get it done, an half because the idea did appeal.

That was three weeks ago. He just messaged me back saying the characters we had in mind didn't want the work done, and that we were back to square one. I'm just as interested now as I was before, so we're basically at an impasse.

You know... I probably never would have brought it up... But he brought it all up again, and just HAD to throw a jab in the note he sent me, I admit, it's rekindled a bit of rage. So here's the journal again. Wha do you guys think? I'll defend myself, but all opinions are welcome.

Is what the artist did acceptable?
What is your opinions on deadbeats, artist or commisioner?
Should I have just taken Drayk's money?
Should I have just taken something I didn't want to make the issue go away?
Or was I just completely wrong, and if so, why?

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2637836

Usually I hate these with a passion, as a requirement for entry, you have to make it less likely you'll win. But this guy is actually picking 10% of entrants to win... So it won't change your chances at all. Which are actually kinda cool.

Sometimes I click on the banners in FA, both because they interest me, and second, because it's an mportant service to keep FA free.

Well today I clicked on a banner that redirected me to The Furry Den. It's closed. Which is retarded, you're advertising something that no longer exists. Whatever.

What really bothered me though was the message left by the site owners..

"The Furry Den has been permanently shut down, all previous backups and data from older revisions have been deleted, and no new attempts to revive this project will ever be permitted by the copyright holders."

"Any attempt at cloning The Furry Den will be seen as copyright infringement or where applicable theft of intellectual property. Violators will be reffered to suitable cyber crime agencies."

This just reeks of furry angst.

In order:

We've shut down.
Ok.

Everything has been deleted.
We don't need to know this, but it does make it seem final.

No new attempts.
Seems kinda dog-in-the-mangerish.

Copyright.

Copyright is one of the most poorly understood terms in he furry fandom. But what do we care? I mean we're the people downloading free movies, tv shows, music and books. We blast copyrights on a daily basis. And we obviously don't know what they are.

Now I'm not going to go into differen districts laws, I'm ony an expert on Canadian law, and so that's what I'll comment on. I will say however that most countries laws are similar, with little deviation.

Basically, whenever puts something from their mind onto paper or onto film, it recieves a copyright. These don't have to be registered, you just have to be able to prove you made it, or paid someone to make it for you.

That said, if someone draws my character, or Dragoneer, or Bambi it isn't copyright infringement. That's because you haven't copied me, or ragoneer, or Disney. You've drawn something new.

What you've probably done is made a trademark violation. A trademark protects a name, symbol, idea or image from alteration and reuse.

Now me amd Dragoneer probably don't have trademarks on our characters, but Disney sure as hell does.

Which is why the owners of The Furry Den are wrong. Because they have said they deleted everything they ever made relating to The Furry Den, any attempt to recreate it would be original work, not a copy, and not subject to copyright law. In order to attack anyone trying to reinvent the project, they would have had to register the name as a trademark, and that would come with a registration number that is required to be displayed. And it's not, which means they either don't have a trademark, or don't understand how

......

More info on copyright law in Canada:

Copyrights are made whenever someone produces a story, picture, movie, script, pamphlet, book, graphic design, or photograph. The copyright lasts from the moment the work is created, until the last calendar day of the year the person who holds the copyright dies. The only exception is photographs, a photo is protected until 50 years after the last day of the year in which it was taken.

Copyrights cannot be made on individual words, titles, terms or phrases (although they can be trademarked) unless they are graphically differentiated, and even then copyright only prevents us of the exact image you drew. For example you can't claim copyright the word "groovy", but you could claim copyright on the image of he word groovy, with the y replaced by a sexy girl with a trident. People would still be able to use the word groovy, they'd even be able to draw their own sexy girl, but the actual image you drew could never be copied.

I've decided to write again, I'm gonna put a bit of a feeler out as to how this new idea will be recieved. Ultimately, I'd like this to be a collaboration, for three or four stories, all of which would be two parts.

Basically, the idea is a giant game of "real or not-real". Except it's going to be a "furry, or not furry." There would be a scene, where a perfectly normal person would prepare to go to a dance, awkwardly interact with his freinds, get the balls to ask a girl to dance, dance poorly, and maybe even kiss her at the end of the night, then go home and masturbate violently. In other words, a real first date.

Part two will be the furry version, where everything stereotypically furry comes out, the guy would get ready, go to a rave, interact like a superstar, drag someone out to the dance floor, rave like it's 1999, and then probably end up having sex rightthereon the dance floor, to the tune of "on the floor" (techno'd up,ofcourse), and then go home and STILL masturbates violently. (full circle is nevessary)

Part one and two might end up being intersperesed a little bit, just to highlight differences, or similarities.

What do you guy think? Any takers on collab? Any ideas? Any stereotypes you want inserted? Heckle me bitches.

And anything you don't want in open comments, just mail me.