Morlocks with iphones.

How can the economy be bad, the future so dreadful, when we have such wonderful technology?

Maybe because only the wealthy can truly partake of the bounty?

I've got myself a new toy; an iphone. But, it ain't cheap. It ain't something I would have bought 10 years ago (well, it didn't exist, but you know what I mean.) Actually, my wife bought it, because I'm still really cheap.

But I'm not dense enough not to see what a Marvel it is.

The smart and clever among us just keep partaking of the bounty...but the not so smart and clever just keep falling further behind.

It's like some kind of evolutionary endgame. It's the Eloi and the Morlocks, I tell you.

I identify with the Eloi, because I'm a bleeding heart liberal and because I think I've been lucky more than smart.

What can we do about it?

The biggest thing would be to make sure that the smart engines and devices are available to all. That the smartest of Eloi will be able to raise themselves up. And the dumbest Morlocks will fall way.

So I ask you. Have we done that?

Almost as soon as I wrote this, I knew I hadn't got it right. Buster immediately posted that every 12 year old in Asia has a iphone knockoff.

So maybe it isn't access to technology that separates the Eloi from the Morlocks, but the ability to use that technology effectively.

In fact, this may be a great leveler. Any poor but clever person might be able to raise himself up, and every rich but dumb person will piss away their money.

But I'm still pretty sure that we're going to keep seeing an ever widening divide between the two types of people.

August results.

I think maybe summer business is over.

You never can tell. Some years, summer "thinking" extends into September. Some years, it ends mid-August. Has to do with the smell in the air, the feel of the wind, I don't know.

Anyway, the last two weeks really slowed down. I still beat August of last year, by 8%, which is cool. So that's two months in a row, with a good chance that September will come through as well, if the DC #1 perform at all.

Then again, though I didn't know it at the time, I think last summer MAY have been the bottom for us (knock wood, knock wood.) I mean, comparing it to everything else, it pretty much sucked.

So this year was probably a bit of a dead cat bounce. Plus the total increase was less than the increase in magic. Books and games were up, everything else was down.

Normally, three months in a row I consider a trend, but I think I'll reserve judgment. A bunch of this is just bouncing off previous bottoms.

Though I normally wouldn't point to the stock market as an indicator of anything, I think the drop in mid-August in the market was so severe, that it probably actually did have a dampening effect on spending.

For me, a recovery would be a feeling that the bottom won't drop out again. Holding to previous lows wouldn't surprise me, in fact, I'm kind of expecting that to happen.

Not because I have any knowledge of the future, but just because that is how every bust I've experienced in the past has happened. Just when you think it's over, down it goes. Then, just as you expect it to be over, down it goes, and then...well, you pretty much give up looking for it.

And then, sometime in the future, you realize it isn't dropping anymore. It happened when you weren't looking.

"Everything seeming too ephemeral."

I liked the word "ephemeral" to describe digital.

The article in the Bulletin the other day: "Young Tradespeople Blaze -- and Craft -- Their Own Trails."

"...you find (working in an office) is not avoidable."..."You'll still end up in a cubicle doing graphic design."

"...12 to 14 hours a day he was spending at a computer..." "...creating things that could disappear with the click of a button.

"I think (it was) the combination of the digital age and everything seeming too ephemeral. I've had to get tangible again." ..."I want an opportunity to have a beautiful piece in your hand."

I think I may have to make that my new slogan: "Get Tangible Again!"

But ultimately, that's the way I feel. Everything can disappear by the click of a button. Did it ever really exist?

Pandora's Box.

So by getting an Iphone, I basically also got an Ipod. Which I never thought would happen.

So what have I been doing with my new toy?

Opening Pandora's box.

It's been interesting. I love me some power pop, so I started with Oasis and Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello.

But after an evening of listening, it turned into golden oldies. Blech.

So I started over. This time, I decided I would thumbs down any super big name. I let Elvis Costello pass.

I also like my singer/songwriters. But with edge; more John Doe, than James Taylor.

So I started with Nick Lowe, T. Bone Burnett, John Hiatt, Marshall Crenshaw, John Doe, Richard Thompson, Boz Scaggs, David Lindley.

After assiduously eliminating most big names, I finally arrived at the sound I like.

The 'base' sound seems to be a group I'd never heard of: Calexico. Also getting a bunch of Whiskeytown/Ryan Adams.

I like hearing groups and songs I haven't heard before; so I consider this a successful channel. Though I seem to be hearing repeats before I hear my first Boz Scaggs, or T.Bone, which is slightly annoying.

Also, if I don't watch out, they hit me with a bunch of mellow soft rock. No.

Oh, oh. Van Morrison. I love Van Morrison, but he's a big name. I'll let it pass.

Next: some country/rock and bluegrass concoction.

Blasted toy.

"Pow!" In the Bulletin, this morning.

Flashy article in the biz section of the Bulletin today. About the relaunch of the New 52 DC comics coming out this month. Always good to be in the paper.

It's about time -- I was feeling neglected. (Ha, just kidding.)

It's a pretty straightforward article; the only quibble is that I give the impression that comics are only now becoming more "sophisticated" with the relaunch of the DC titles -- but of course, they've been that way for a long time now.

I should have plenty of copies of the upcoming titles -- starting next Wednesday. But I'm close to running out of the first one to show: Justice League. I'm somewhat chagrined by that.

But you just can't predict what the media might want to cover.

Got a picture of me flashing my comic.

It's been noted elsewhere, but the media seems more intrigued about a whole line of comics starting over than we'd have expected. Of course, such things go on all the time in comics: but not to this extent. I really believe DC is committed to this venture. Almost no one is talking about the digital part -- or why DC felt like it had to take such a huge gamble.

Google knows all.

So that's scary. Google just asked me if I wanted to add my mobile phone to my account.

And the only place I've talked about it is on my blog, about two hours ago....

Wow...how did they do that?

Wow...should I like that they are able to do that?

I was brutally deflowered last night.

I am a cell phone virgin no more.

I had casually mentioned -- in passing -- that maybe -- I wasn't saying I was ready yet -- but I thought maybe since I was going on a upcoming trip by myself that perhaps -- just perhaps -- I might need to have a cell phone.

Then yesterday, I had sort of decided to maybe, perhaps I should get myself a stupid phone. No, really. As stupid a phone as I could get.

So Linda was all over that puppy.

I got home last night, and she handed me a brown-paper package. Inside was an old beat up copy of THIS SIDE OF INNOCENCE, by Taylor Caldwell. Somehow I knew, from the second I saw it, there was something inside.

The enemy. An IPhone 4.

Yes, my wife deflowered me for the price of the book.

She has been cackling ever since, in a nasty sort of way.

Of course, I immediately offered it in exchange for her android. That's the way it works around here -- we get a new car, phone, anything techie, and I inherit the older version. Because I just don't care. I'm not in to brands -- I just want something functional.

For the first time ever, she refused. Though I know she's coveting it. ("I'm in deep coveting," she said, as I read this.)

So not only didn't I get a stupid phone, she got me the smartest @^^@#@ phone there is.

I'm probably only going use a fraction of it's capabilities.

Twice lately, when we were out and about, I had a question about a word or a history problem,
which Linda was able to answer by hauling out her android. Does that make her smarter than me?

In a way.

I'm frightened.

Anyway, I spent over two hours last night playing with Pandora on my phone -- trying to get the right blend, reading the little histories of the artists.

Meanwhile, I'm not totally sure I even know how to call someone or answer the phone yet. I don't know my own frackin' phone number yet.

I'm intimidated, I tell you.

But I can never be a half-virgin, I guess. Every techie step of the way, I've been pushed, not pulled. But it's like some kind of irresistible force.

Bloody, fucking stupid smart phone!!!!