Debt On

Job Competition in Berkeley

Mr. Jobs:

I am an aspiring cartoonist and freelance graphic designer of limited means, but I needed a computer capable of doing serious graphics work. I’d heard wonderful things about the stability and performance of Apple computers for this kind of work, so I sought out a used 1.8 Ghz G5 iMac with a 20″ display and 2 GB memory upgrade.

For some time the computer worked wonderfully and I was very happy with my purchase. My art and productivity improved considerably and I started gaining traction in my career.

But shortly thereafter I had a problem with the motherboard and power supply covered under an extended warranty. I took it to the Apple Store in Emeryville, CA for repairs. My computer has never worked properly since.

The service I received at the Apple store was terrible. Another problem apparently “cropped up” during the repair, and large numbers were discussed for repairs. I was told I had a problem either with my software or hard drive.

I know my way around a computer, and when I have questions my brother (an engineer at IBM that worked on the PowerPC processor) helps me, so I tried the repairs myself.

Something is very, very wrong with this computer, and frankly I can’t rule out that the repairs were somehow faulty. At the very least, the techs there completely misdiagnosed my problem as I have mostly ruled out any failure by the hard drive or software.

I am not sure what steps I will take from here, but barring any unforeseen circumstances my business with Apple is finished. I sadly regret ever buying this computer, though very pretty and initially excellent for the kind of work I do, my excitement has turned to enormous disappointment. This product has been chronically unreliable and has cost me weeks of productivity.

I am very sorry that this has been my experience with Apple, as I was extremely excited about switching from Windows. There are more details about my problems and the solutions I have tried thus far at this forum post.

I will be sure to tell my friends and colleagues in the graphics industry my experiences, and urge them to reconsider purchasing an Apple computer. As a conscientious businessman, I thought you should be made aware of these kinds of problems so that you may improve your products in the future. But unfortunately, I won’t be there with you for a very long time. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Scott J. Morris

…I hate computers. But the weekend is upon me so I must go to serve brunch to people who celebrate the ressurection of Christ by poisoning their own bodies with vodka and champagne.

Meanwhile, there’s been an interesting wrinkle in the Muhammad cartoon controversy as South Park attempted to use the Prophet Muhammad in its latest episode, Cartoon Wars Part II. Unfortunately, (well maybe fortunately since nothing’s blowing up this way) Comedy Central “pussed out” and censored the image of Muhammad in the episode.

The really interesting thing to me, however, is that Muhammad was already depicted on South Park several years ago. I had forgotten about this but instantly remembered the episode upon reading this article. It kind of lends credibility to my theory that it’s not that Muhammad was depicted in cartoon, it’s how he was depicted.

Gah – this is not what I signed up for. A few weeks ago I got my imac back from the shop for repairs – only it wasn’t fixed. Basically I couldn’t afford for any more repairs and the ones I did get were covered by an extended warranty. There’s more to it than that – but I’m not quite ready to point fingers.

Anyway I’m stuck fixing this myself, knee-deep in software updates and hardware checking and reinstalled operating systems. This fucking sucks. I really like making art on computers – but I really hate that they just fuck up on you.

The most frustrating thing about all this is I’m not really sure what causes my computer to crash or when it’s going to happen. I do know that it often, but not always, happens in Photoshop. Therefore, the best method to determine if my computer is working is to open Photoshop, start working, and wait for it to crash. After a month of being without this thing I start to really get into a groove, and then it crashes. Freezes completely.

Anyway, I’ve been up to some other stuff, too. Like pimping my comic at the Alternative Press Expo and harassing Keith Knight about it. Seriously, lots of nice people there, including Alexis E. Fajardo of Kid Beowulf and Brian Kolm of Atomic Bear Press. I saw some anarchist comics while I was there that were great, but anarchists apparently do not believe in web sites so I have no links. (I know this empirically to be untrue, as I consider myself an anarchist and do have a web site.) But anybody around here that hasn’t checked out the Mission Mini Comics should track some down.

Also, though I didn’t find out about them at the con but from my roommate, everybody check out Action Philosophers! whose newest comic, Action Philosophers Hate the French, is fucking hillarious.

Also, some discussion of my own artwork in this forum thread.

*takes shot*

Alright. I’m goin back in.

The reason superheroes always have double identities is because most cartoonists have double identities. They are people that spend years in thankless day jobs, slaving over their drawings late at night hoping to someday carve out a living for themselves. But to keep that roof over their head so their paper doesn’t get all soggy, they have to keep showing up at the Daily Planet.



Anybody checking out the sweet iMac on my desk.. yeah it is nice. But hasn’t been working too nice lately. I’m hoping I can resolve these problems very soon, because I’m having trouble taking time on a project I’m afraid is going to be lost.

In other news, Snoopy lives next door to me:

But the real pimp of the neighborhood is our own Bobby Llello a.k.a. Kitty Capone

Man I really was planning on showing off some of my new comics after the DSL got fixed in my apartment. And I had some short stories I was working on, some funny photographs of stuff around my apartment… and then my computer broke.

Apparently the iMac I just bought had some kind of manufacturing defect in it that was making the capacitors on my motherboard blow up. Sweet. So that’s coming back to me in 10-14 days.

So that has ground the computer portion of my comics production to a screeching halt. Luckily, I never bought a tablet and still make my comics the old-fashioned way. I resolve today I will never switch to entirely computer-generated comics. My pens will never blow a capacitor.

Meanwhile, enjoy this site that has taken all the thought-baloons out of Garfield. The result? Jon is a poor, lonely man who takes all his anger and psychosis on his poor, confused cat.

I’m stuck with only dial-up access for a week, so blog updates are going to be kind of sparse. But the comics will continue, as I work on new material.