Wil Wheaton said he was probably coming to Portland* for a book tour and I emailed him about Powells. Looks like he didn't need any prodding. He's going to OScon and will be at Powell's Technical for a signing on July 10th and at the Beaverton store (my store!) on August 14th. Dammit. :( If anyone goes, pleasepleaseplease get him to sign a book for me? Tell him it's for Maggie/TankGrrl from Australia.
Le Sigh...

And I miss Portland. Terribly. I hope those of you there (who read my blog, of course) will take a second to stop and remind yourself what a wonderful place it is. I miss Portland and I miss you all, as well. But, I would move to Siberia if that's what it took. Love is like that. :)

As for the Orrin part of this...
Apparently Senator Orrin Hatch thinks vigilanteism is cool. Especially if he has a personal stake in the results.Story at Yahoo. He's back-pedaled a bit and said he does "not favor extreme remedies – unless no moderate remedies can be found." He didn't really _mean_ it... unless no other solution is found... then he means it. *rolls eyes*
(Orrin update! This is hilarious! Hatch is a pirate!)

I used to work in the music industry. My next meal was once predicate on artists being able to realise money from their works. And I mean literally 'next meal'. I believe in securing the rights of artists to control their media and to profit from it as the market allows. This "art belongs to the world" stuff is nonsense. It belongs to the one who created it and they then decide if the world gets it or not. But this sort of nonsense from Sen. Hatch is just too ridiculous... It's like something out of the Onion.

Speakin' of Wil, I have some serious difference of opinion with some statements he recently made about music on Your Mac Life. I don't subscribe to the try before you buy idea in the way he seemed to imply (when talking about his dis-like of the iTunes Music Store). And I particularly don't feel its fair of him to disparage artists across the board by saying most albums have 1 or 2 good songs and the rest is 'garbage'. That's a sweeeeeeping and cruel generalisation, Spongebob VegasPants. Do you say that about Radiohead? And how do I 'try' a movie before I go see it? Or a painting before I pay admission to the museum? Do I get to ride a sample ride at Disney before I buy my ticket? If you want to try before you buy, go to a show (which I know you do... sorry, man, you're my whipping boy today hehe). I feel that the iTunes store is a great happy median. You get to preview music and you can buy only what you want (and not the rest of the 'garbage'). Apple is not out to kill file sharing (I'm not sure how you see it this way), they're out to do something that's more amenable to more people in regards to music (music is more than a file). Sorry, Wil, I just can't agree with you here. All these people (politicians, record execs, us plain folk) are out there talking about what they think should be done. And the side of 'good' is often talking about how the artists are screwed over by the record companies. Well, when do we let the artists have their say? Why don't we ask them what they want** instead of presuming to speak for them. If it's about file sharing, fight for file sharing and against restrictive legislation, but don't drag music into the war just because it suits the cause.

And what the hell is up with the name "Orrin/Orin"??? There are two in that story! I've never met one, but this story manages to find two?

* Oregon, USA. I used to live there.
** A lot of them like the idea of the iTunes store cuz it's money they can realise quickly and, it appears, get honest numbers.