Carnage!

However:

Q: My Autostitch demo expired. What do I do?

A: We are periodically updating the demo version of Autostitch. Please download the latest version from this webpage. The latest release version is Autostitch v2.185.

And the Autostitch site is back with a new version.

Joy!

I'm completely in love with this product and would happily pay $20 for it. Unfortunately the only commercial products that include Autostitch technology cost 99 Euros or US$50. US$50 seems to be the default price of trialware. It's much too expensive in my mind. Software of this sort (hobby tools, neat toys) should cost what a CD does. About AUS$20 to AUS$25. At the most.

Dave has begun the difficult task of writing about The Invisibles. He has chosen to write about a single story within the series, Arcadia, thus ensuring his sanity and brightening the light at the end of such a long and difficult tunnel.

Dave wonders what a letter to Grant Morrison would have looked like had he have written one when he first picked up (and put down) the first issue of The Invisibles when he first saw it in 1995. But then...

Anyway, early 1995 involves too much supposition. But what about late 2001? Can I imagine a letter I might have written then? After or while reading Arcadia? A creative writing exercise. (Feel free to join in.)

The task involves trying to think like I thought in 1995, something I'm not sure I want to do. I was a very very different person in 1995. Not better. If I knew the then-me now, I'd hate me.

Might I provide a nonsense example...

In 1995 I went to the Alternative Nation tour at Olympic Park in Melbourne. Looking back at who was playing at this gig I struggle to understand how I missed seeing most of these bands.

Faith No More, Tool, The Tea Party, Nine Inch Nails, Bodycount, Supergroove, Pop Will Eat Itself, Violent Femmes, Peyote, The Flaming Lips, Ween, Lou Reed, L7, Cosmic Psychos, Primus, Powderfinger, Suicety, Regurgitator (Red Hot Chilli Peppers cancelled and were replaced with Lou Reed).

I went to the gig for Faith No More, The Tea Party and Suicety. Everything else was gloss. I missed Suicety due to being let in late and rain. Faith No More blew my mind.

I eventually saw Faith No More, L7, Cosmic Psychos, The Tea Party. I saw a single song of Tool, Supergroove, Violent Femmes, Nine Inch Nails, Bodycount and about 10 seconds of Regurgitator's Track 1 as we walked past.

This gig was amazing due to the fact so many of these bands were only just taking off. Powderfinger were unknown, Regurgitator were just getting popular having released their second EP. The Tea Party were barely known, riding on the release of Fire In The Head single. Tool had Sober and that's it.

In 1995 I wasn't interested. I sat and watched some of Tool and yawned. About a month later I discovered Supergroove but at the time they didn't do it for me. Violent Femmes meant nothing to me. Nine Inch Nails were "doof" and thus shite. Bodycount? Rap? You have to be kidding? And who is this old fart Lou Reed replacing RHCP?!

So... on a basic taste level, what would I have thought of The Invisibles in 1995?

Who cares, I was a total dork. But I guess that's the point of the exercise isn't it?

In 1995 I'd have struggled to think of anything to say. I wasn't interested in comics. I had almost no experience in reading comics beyond The Simpsons comics. I might have been shocked that there were comics that were so "adult" with swearing and death and sex in them. It might have changed me life.

In 2001 I'd have felt the same. That's exactly what I felt when I did read it. But those thoughts had nothing to do with Grant or The Invisbiles, they had to do with my inexperience in comics.

What's more I never have anything to say to my creative heroes.

Letter to Grant Morrison, 2001:

"Hey dude, your stuff rocks, keep it up."

Conversation to Mike Patton @ The Palace, 2000:

Walk past, don't make eye contact, point him out to friends like some kind of freak. Say nothing.

Someone made a website just for me!

The Daily Monkey.

[via BoingBoing]

Unfortunately it has no RSS feed so I'll probably forget to read it most of the time. But it is the DAILY monkey so I should just read it DAILY shouldn't I?

Websites without RSS feeds remind me of that bit in Back To The Future 2 where Marty shows the kids how to play the computer game and the kids shout "You mean you have to use your hands? That's like a baby's toy!".

Ah, the monkey people explain on their site:

Eventually, sooner than later, we hope to make this thing all geeky what with a real archive (I want it to look like a little calendar) and an RSS feed. Why do we do all this? Because we care. You need monkey, we're here for you.