Tortured Artist or Happily married man? (the long way to an open source rant)

I remember agonizing for hours and hours about loneliness and my inability to attract a mate. This was the driving force for many a song and many a painting. I mean, it was my artistic obsession. And when I did manage to briefly have a relationship, it was usually more agonizing than the loneliness. I mean I had BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD relationships. I could write books! By the time I was 27 I was convinced that no woman would ever openly love me. And, my senior art exhibit was a huge success.

So, here I am. And man, I met a wonderful woman. And somehow, I convinced her to marry me. So where does that leave me as an artist? I mean, I lost my source of PAIN! Well, for a year of dating and almost 2 years of marriage now, I dried up. I made a few images here and there, but nothing like before. And, it's really not just the love thing, I mean, I'm almost 32 now. Rock Stardom was a long shot even at 27 (or 25) So, music took a back seat pretty easily too.

But, lately I've noticed it's still there. There is in me still, that urge to create. It really had nothing to do with pain after all. It was simply that I felt I had something to contribute, and I still do. Our society is not kind to the arts. If what our artists are creating can't be thrown down at the alters of Sex and Money, we don't want it. Oh, I'm sorry, Sex money and the alleviation of boredom, which seems to be a chronic recurrence in our times. Well, I think I have ideas to communicate that do not sit comfortable within our fast food frame work. In fact, I am critical of our present culture on many levels.

I'm starting to think it's these same rebellious (revolutionary?) tendencies within me that inform my technology choices as well. I've loved the Macintosh from the day I met it, and even have a warm spot in my heart for my Elementary school's Apple IIe. I love them, because to me, Apple's philosophy has always been, "Make it better". Excellence. Arete, to use the Ancient Greek word for it. Sure, they've let loose a few stinkers (Lisa, The 20th Anniversary Mac, Flaming Power Books...) but they have also always been committed to innovation. The Newton predated the Palm OS by years. They introduced the GUI to save me from BASIC and DOS, and then reintroduced me to the command line 18 years later, when I was ready for it, but even then, OS X is light years beyond the plain ole *nix it sits on top of. OS X is beautiful! I've also always been kinda partial to Netscape and it's descendents, because I always felt they were trying to make a great browser, while Microsoft was just trying to conquer a market. Sure, they failed on occasion. Netscape 6 was the most bloated crash prone piece of crud I ever used. But I always give their new releases a look, because I believe in their Vision. (and yet I HATE AOL, but that's another rant)

Anyway, what I'm getting at is, this is why I think I'm starting to fall for Linux. Hell, I can't use it any better than my mom can use Windows XP. But, the idea that there is this mass computer culture out there who is struggling to find a better way is so appealing to me. Open source, as an idea and a community is beautiful to me. And, some of the things they come up with... Mozilla Firefox is WONDERFUL. Sure, I use Safari on the Mac for the most part, but I have Firefox on every Mac, Windows, and Linux machine in the house. It's fast and accurate and, just a much better internet experience that IE was for me on ANY platform. I find my current distro, Fedora Core 1, to be just rock solid and a great user experience. Even for the Linux novice like me. So now I am hearing Fedora Core 2 blows chunks. That's ok. I won't upgrade, but I still believe in the ideas that drive any Linux distro, and I am grateful to the programmers that give so much time and effort to the cause. Maybe some day I'll learn to code, maybe not. But I have to admire the community, communication, and cooperation it takes to make a movement like open source, and thus Linux work. And I am proud that, in my own little way, I am somehow involved with it.
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And that's enough for now.

Brian Norwood

Platypi Design

A Geek Farewell

With everything going on in the world right now this is the last thing I thought I'd be writing about.
Never the less, I'm going to miss Tech TV. I know, it's "evolving" and not dying, but I don't think it'll be the same. I have an insatiable appetite for Tech News, and Tech TV went a long way towards satisfying my jones. I began my extremely satisfying journey into Linux with the guiding hand of The Screensavers keeping me steady. (As a side note, my sister is frustrated by the fact that I cannot "conform" and that I have to be a rebel with my Mac and my Linux notebook).
So yeah, some of the stuff was for beginners, but you have to realize I came to geekdom through the art door. So I was in the interesting position that I was proficient on Photoshop long before I knew how to set up an email account in Outlook (or Entorage). The little tips I picked up on The Screensavers and Call For Help helped bring me up to speed on the rest of computing. While now I've grown up a bit, enought to be a Slashdot junkie, I've never stopped watching Tech TV. Now it will never be the same. And for the first time in YEARS I will be without the guiding voice of fellow Mac Addict and all around nice guy Leo Laporte. G4TechTV, if you have a brain in your collective head, you will give Leo his own show. He's probably the most recognized Tech comentator in the world next to that pompous wind bag John C. Dvorak , who's website, I should mention, is broken on Mozilla Firefox For Linux as I type this. (Don't mind me, I don't like John becaused he has signaled the doom of Apple Computer more times than I can count, and yet swears an OS decended from the Amiga will be the next big thing.)

Anyhow, farewll Tech TV, you will be fondly remembered. I'm afraid that I have little use for G4, as the only games I play on my computer involve the Atari 2600 emulator Stella and the only contest show I watch is MXC.

UPDATED It's 11:20 and I'm gonna go curl up next to my sleeping wife, but I just had to say something about this . If ever there was a single thing on this earth I thought could not be charged with controversy, surely it was Bozo the Clown!!!!! What is this world comming to? What is next? A Mickey Mouse sex scandal? This sucks. I'm going to bed.

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And that's enough for now.

Brian Norwood

Platypi Design

I LIKE Blogging!

I realize that for a while atleast, I'll pretty much be talking to myself. As this is my 2nd entry, I can't really make any predictions, but at least as far as today goes, I found myself really looking forward to making another entry. Sure, I'm sure at some point some guy will cut me off on the freeway and I'll come home and rant and rave about the decline of western civilization, but there is something thereaputic about that. I kept a journal as a kid, and I highly reccomend it.

So anyway, a little about me in case your reading. I'm happliy married. Really, that's not just cliche. I have never "needed a break" from my wife. I am always happier when she is around.I'm also a bit of a geek, and take a certain amount of pride that I'm not your average windows user. I have a flat panel iMac, which is my 5th Macintosh, and I have a little Toshiba notebook running Fedora Core 1 Linux. I'm starting to get the hang of the command line, but I'll always have a thing for the Macintosh. Apple just always seems to know right where I am at in my computing, and responds in a timely manner.

One thing I'm not, is a hacker. I have some sympathies for those benign hackers engaged in social engineering, but I'm not sure of it's value. What I really hate is the script kiddies who do malicious things like denial of service attacks and virus writing. It's the tech equivalent of tagging, attracts the same crowd, and requires about as much talent. Which is not a compliment. Kevin Mitnick you ain't.

Anyway, that seems to be enough for now. There's no rule that says I have to wait till tomorrow to write more.

A new era.

Well, here I am. "What are you doing", you might ask? Well, I am condensing my ADD wanderings throughout life into one central location. PlatypiOnline.com! Big deal. These days everyone has a blog. But I have been wanting for an outlet for some time now. Something that is wholly mine. Platypi Design is, of course, mine. However, I made the decision long ago that Platypi Design would remain wholly professional. It's not a soap boax, it's a business card and a portfolio. The Conspiracy Of Thought website I maintain does give me opportunity to soap box on occasion, which has provided an outlet for me for quite sometime. However, while often similar, their veiws are not necessarily my views, and vice versa.
So, Platypi Online's Platypi Muse. Will it make sense? Not Always. Will it offend? Almost certainly! And right up front, I will say this. You are free to disagree with me, even strenuously , in the comments section, and I will not censor you save for this.I want this site to be a sight that my family can freely explore, so I am rating my site PG. If you cannot effectively expresse your veiws in a PG environment, I suggest you look elsewhere. I truly hope you all have a blessed day. G'night.