Sunday, July 08, 2018

The Art of Cheating Artists

July 8, 2018
   I hate people who cheat artists. That's why I sent a check to Sony for $15 because I felt so guilty buying a pirated DVD of "The Interview" in Thailand several years ago. I also hate it that my music app on my phone is called Napster, which, to me, is slang for "let's cheat artists." 

One Lazy Book Buyer
   I hate it that I am so lazy I more often than not click on Amazon to get a book when I should be driving to an actual bookstore. And, like most recovering-guilt-ridden-Lutherans I sometimes atone for my sins by driving down to Desert Ridge (15 miles away!) where there is a Barnes & Noble, and—this is a ritual—I go in, check out the rack position of True West, then grab everything that catches my eye and buy it. This happened yesterday.



$170 worth of books and magazines
in Support of  an actual bookstore

  Oh, and here's our rack position at Barnes & Noble:


Face out at Barnes & Noble

    So, for me, life is good when these two dynamics align. Afterwards, I met my production manager,  Robert Ray, next door at Barrio Queen for lunch to talk about my next project. It is going to be somewhere in this mix:


Western Graphic Novels From Europe

   These are all hardbound, oversized books (9" X 12.5"). It pains me that these are popular in Europe but not here. WTF. That is ridiculous, but it's true.


The Mexicali Stud

Of course, in my righteous anger, I realize I may be missing the mark, completely. Maybe Western graphic novels are not popular here because nobody wants them. Also, when it comes to the art of cheating artists there are plenty of people in the food chain who beat the Napsters of the world every day of the week:

"The music business looks like schoolboys compared to the TV business. They care about nothing but profit."
—Tom Petty

  And, so, the bottom line is I want to create something I would like to read, but at the same time I really don't want to be this guy:

"He is very fond of making things he does not want, and then giving them to people who have no use for them."
—Anthony Hope



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