Dont let "too good to be true" software leave you hanging.

I was tuned into  the radio Saturday morning when I heard This story. Give it a read, then come back here when you’re finished.

(Mark taps his foot and hums while his blog readers check out the above link.)

Okay, glad you came back! Now, what’s my point?  Simple. With Linux, the operating system, drivers, and software are all FREE!  Let me repeat that.  Linux and all Linux software is FREE!

There’s no need to try and hunt down a piece of “unbelievably low priced” software in order to save a few bucks. We can all understand how some people, during these tough economic times, buy a piece of software because the price was to good to be true. Well, too good to be true is often  a scam.  The scammer gets your money and leaves you hanging there with nothing.

You should also be wary of extremely low priced software because it could contain a virus or piece of malware which could compromise a Windows system.

Avoid all this.  Just get Linux.  Linux has thousands of software applications that do everything from graphics editing  to desktop publishing to spreadsheets, to video editing…the list goes on and on!  And it’s  all available free of charge.  (Well, you can always choose to donate to any of the Linux projects.)

So, if you have to pull in your financial belt a bit, download Linux and  install it.  Then open up a wealth of open source software all readily available to every Linux user.

My cartoon game panel Word Pile, a word creation and spelling game. Click to enlarge, print, and play!

My seventh grade English teacher at Greenview Junior High was Mrs. Kosmerl.   She stressed two things.  Spelling and grammar.  Every Thursday, we were given a list of ten words which we were required to learn to spell.  On Friday, we were given a quiz on those words.  Mrs. Kosmerl would grade those quizzes and hand them back at the end of class.   Every misspelled word had to be correctly rewritten ten times and handed in by Monday morning.

I remember not being serious about  that first quiz.  And, my slothfulness resulted in my only getting two out of ten words correct.  I had to rewrite eight spelling words ten times!  You can bet that when the next quiz rolled around, I was ready and scored a perfect ten out of ten.  And just about every quiz after that saw me become a spelling ace.  Hey, when you’re 13, the last thing you want to is sit at home all weekend to rewrite a list of spelling spelling words.

(Perhaps the love of spelling that Mrs Kosmerl instilled in me is why I created, many years later, my cartoon game panel Word Pile. Feel free to download, print and play.)

Spelling was stressed, but the main point of instruction in Mrs. Kosmerl’s English class was proper grammar. We really learned proper grammar and sentence structure. We learned this by diagramming sentences. It was a highly instructive tool and, once I understood the process, I loved to diagram sentences.

Through this teaching method, students can visually break down a sentence into it’s smaller parts. It’s then quite easy to see which words are nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives. It also becomes easy to see how all the parts of a sentence work together (adjectives modifying nouns, adverbs modifying verbs, etc.).

When writing this blog, I know I don’t always follow a lot of the grammatical rules I learned back in seventh grade. However, I think I’ve retained enough that, even though I may not recognize the grammatical rule in play, if I doesn’t ring quite true to my ear, I know to edit or rewrite the sentence.

I’m not sure if students are getting this kind of instruction in schools anymore. I hope they are because it’s invaluable. Especially in this day and age when more and more people are communicating through the written word (blogs, email, instant messaging, etc.).

I really enjoy writing and blogging.  I think it comes easy to me all because a  seventh grade English teacher stressed the basic building blocks of written communication.  I just wanted to say, “Thank you, Mrs. Kosmerl.”

I got a text message from my nephew Mike.  He saw the new film, “The Social Network” about Facebook and it’s founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Ordinarily, I might simply wait for the DVD rather than run out to the theater to see it.  However,  Mike tells me, “Linux is mentioned a few times…Even some Unix commands and a shot of KDE with the shutdown jingle.”

Well, anytime Linux pops up in a flick, that’s  reason enough for me to get in line and buy a ticket!

A bonus Double Take cartoon game panel for today's blog post! Click to enlarge.

George Lucas recently announced that he’ll be converting all six Star Wars movies to 3D. The technology exists to allow filmmakers to take any film photographed in 2D and convert it to the new 3D process currently being showcased in movies theaters.

This opens the possibility for many other classic movies to be converted to 3D.

Now, isn’t it obvious which classic film needs to be converted to this new 3D process?  I’ve dreamed of this for the last 30 years.  And now, technology can make it possible.  My wish of the last 30 years will finally be realized and I’m hoping the owners of the film see the same possibility.

I’m talking about The Wizard Of Oz.  (BTW, check out the  The Wizard of Oz (70th Anniversary Two-Disc Special Edition))

Hey, Hollywood here’s how you implement this new technology and reap millions of dollars:

COLORIZE the beginning and the end of the film.  These are the sequences originally shot in Sepia tone.  Then, when Dorothy steps into Oz, turn on the 3D! Movie goers will experience the film in an entirely new way!  And this method still retains the the film’s traditional roots of  B&W/sepia when Dorothy was in the real world, and color when she stepped into Oz (okay, okay, yeah, I know, she landed in Muchkinland.  Details, details).  Point is, the 3D effect keeps Oz as being presented in it’s fantasy/dream world state. Adding color to the “bookends” of the film just update it a bit for audiences who like color.

Both technologies exist.  The Wizard of Oz already went through a major upgrade and restoration. So a pristine Ultra high definition print/digital file exists. It’s just a matter of taking two more steps.  Colorizing and 3D.

Get to it, Hollywood.  If you do this conversion, you’ll pack theaters with movie goers of all ages and set box office records for a re-release of a motion picture.

You can send my cut of the profits to georgetoon.com.

Double Take by Mark Szorady

I draw five cartoon features which then get distributed to newspapers.  One of the features I draw is called Double Take.   It’s a comic game panel where you compare the two cartoon panels and try to figure out what’s different.

I really enjoy drawing this feature.  And it’s a reader favorite.

But here’s the really neat thing.  People will stop whatever they’re doing and stare at these two panels and try to solve it.   I mean, right then and there!  They’ll stop all conversation and play this comic game panel.   I’ve seen it happen again and again.

For instance, I had business cards printed up and I used a Double Take cartoon on it.  Every time I handed out this business card, the conversation would stop dead in it’s tracks!   The person holding the business card was looking at this small printed Double Take cartoon and playing the game!  I’ve seen two, three and four people gather around the one person holding the card and all are playing and shouting out answers!  I’ve even had folks shush me while they tried to concentrate and figure out all seven differences.  And I always take this as a compliment, never as offense.  It shows how much folks enjoy this cartoon feature!

Click on the Double Take game comic at left to print out and play.  Call or email your newspaper to have them add it to their comic page line up.  Just send them to www.georgetoon.com.