Well, it finally happened. My last CD player gave up the ghost in late March. Rather than buying a new CD player, I decided to bite the bullet and get an actual iPod. Ladies and gentlemen…it is awesome.

I decided to go with the iPod Nano (4 gig, 3rd generation) because a) it was cheaper and b) I can’t imagine using all four gigabytes, so what do I need with four extra gigs? So far I’ve filled up three, and there are only a few others that I have to upload. Controls are ridiculously intuitive, the iPod is exactly the right size (physically), and she handles like a dream.

A couple comments/complaints. First, it bugs me that I can’t sync it up with any old media player on my computer; instead I have to use iTunes. For now I’m supplementing iTunes with SharePod, though I’m sure there’s a better option that I haven’t found yet. The reason I’m using SharePod is that iTunes won’t let me transfer my music between my home and work computers. That flat sucks. I get that they don’t want people stealing music, but I purchased this music, and I should be able to do with it what I want.

Another reason I hate iTunes is that I couldn’t log in to download cover art and such unless I gave them my credit card number. Buh? I have no intention of buying anything from you (cough DRM cough), but you want access to my credit card? Not happening.

So I hunkered down and started tracking down and uploading the covers of all the albums I’d uploaded. It was a pain in the neck, but that’s the price you pay for taking a stand. Power to the people and all that. Of course, the job got infinitely easier when I realized I could just use amazon.com’s images. Still, though, it was an unnecessary step caused by an unreasonable demand.

Okay, so I lied. As soon as I got done with the album covers, I heard that Peggle was available for download, but only through iTunes. What can I say? My love for Peggle won out. It’s a good supplement (bit of an energy hog, though) to the three games that came preloaded. Very handy to have for the waiting rooms of life.

I was surprised that there was no power cord included in the package. Yes, I know, it charges from the ‘puter, but what about when that isn’t handy? So I spent a couple bucks on a backup charger, which ended up being for the old iPod Nano and was incompatible with mine, so I had to spend a couple more bucks on one that actually did work. And the charger has been helpful several times in the past couple weeks.

Another late purchase was a protective case. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it when I bought the iPod, but it scratches pretty easily. I tried to go the cheap route and get a rubber-ish cover, but ended up getting a Belkin acrylic cover last weekend. It works much better, covers everything (including the screen), and doesn’t get in the way of the click wheel.

So to sum up: iPod good. iTunes bad. Peggle good. DRM really bad, but that’s another post. And now I get to walk around pretending that I’m in a movie and the music is my soundtrack.

. . .

Don’t judge me.

Related posts

Generally speaking, Ohio sucks for artsy stuff. Every once in a while, though, we get something good. This would be one of those times.

From May 10^th through August 3^rd, The Ohio State University Wexner Center for the Arts will be hosting a major exhibition of Jeff Smith’s work AND work that influenced Smith. The exhibition kicks off Saturday with an interview with Smith and Scott McCloud.

Oh yes. It is awesome. (Alex, Joe, the rest of y’all, quit drooling all over your keyboards.)

From the press release:

Columbus, OH—Jeff Smith: Bone and Beyond, the first museum exhibition of work by the influential, Columbus-based comic book artist and writer—best known for his epic graphic novel Bone—will be on view May 10–August 3, 2008 at the Wexner Center for the Arts.

The exhibition—a partnership between the Wexner Center and The Ohio State University’s Cartoon Research Library, collaborating for the first time on an exhibition—will include about 80 original drawings: primarily original black-and-white pages from Bone, with a smaller selection of full-color Bone covers and post-Bone work, including original drawings from Smith’s recent Shazam series for DC Comics and from Rasl, a story about a time-traveling art thief. Smith will also be creating an installation on the wall of the lower lobby of the Wexner Center.

The exhibition includes a selection of original comics whose artists Smith cites as direct influences, among them examples from Walt Kelly’s Pogo, Carl Barks’s Uncle Scrooge, Will Eisner’s The Spirit, George Herriman’s Krazy Kat, Charles Schulz’s Peanuts, Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury, and E. C. Segar’s Thimble Theatre.

A related show called Jeff Smith: Before Bone—which features a selection of Smith’s pre-Bone work, including pieces he created for The Ohio State University’s campus newspaper The Lantern—will be on view nearby in Ohio State’s Cartoon Research Library.

Bone and Beyond is organized by David Filipi, the Wexner Center’s curator of film and video, and Lucy Shelton Caswell, professor and curator of Ohio State’s Cartoon Research Library.

“Graphic storytelling is enjoying a level of critical and cultural currency as never before,” Filipi says. “This truly is a golden age for the medium, and we are excited to be presenting the first solo gallery exhibition of one of the great artists of his time. As both a writer and artist, Jeff has created an unparalleled body of work and, with Bone, a work that transcends age and will be read for generations. We’re also thrilled to be collaborating in a significant way with the Cartoon Research Library.”

Notes Caswell, “Bone and Beyond is a celebration of the work of this important artist and writer. Jeff’s achievement with Bone is monumental, and this exhibition offers a look at this artist at the height of his creative power.”

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue featuring an introduction by Caswell, and essays by Filipi, Sandman creator Neil Gaiman, and cartoonist and scholar Scott McCloud. It will also include an interview with Smith conducted by Filipi and Caswell.

A series of talks and events has been scheduled during the run of this exhibition. Smith will take part in a conversation with Scott McCloud on May 10 at 2 pm in Mershon Auditorium. Exhibition curators Caswell and Filipi will host an informal gallery talk at 12:30 pm on May 14. Eisner Award-winning comic book artist Terry Moore will speak on May 15 at 7 pm in the Wexner Center Film/Video Theater, followed by a talk and signing by comic book artist Paul Pope on May 20 at 7 pm, also in the Film/Video Theater. And on June 5, Smith will introduce a Looney Tunes Evening, a selection of his favorite Warner Brothers cartoons. Smith will also be a special guest at the Spring Exhibition Opening on Friday, May 9, 6–9 pm. Additional events will be announced in the coming months.

Admission is free.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to lighten the mood after yesterday’s post, and I realized that only one thing can stand next to Godliness. Cleanliness! Duh!

Some time ago Ed Cunard (who never updates his blog anymore) sent me this picture of a sign he saw in a public restroom. Some public official had the truly inspired idea to take snippets of well-known literature and insert a message, in the author’s style, to encourage people to wash their hands.

I decided that it’s so fracking awesome that I had to find out if there were more. I actually found a few online, but didn’t like the design of them. So I took them and redid them myself. I also took the liberty of doctoring a few passages myself.

Eventually, I covertly put them up on the restroom stall doors at work, right about at readable height, if you know what I mean. They’ve gotten a few chuckles, and I’d like to think they got a few people to wash their hands more often.

Anyway, I’m making these seven signs available for download. The images below are small and of poor quality, but each one links to a much higher quality pdf of the corresponding sign. Have some fun with these. All I ask in return is that you send me a quick picture of the sign after you hang it.

Click the image to download a full-size 8½x11 pdf of the sign.