Awesometania

Halloween Pics

2009-11-01T05:51:27Z

Stand up against big business.

2009-10-22T21:46:56Z

If you are a fan of books, quality bookstores, writing, or are currently being, or hoping to be published, then I urge you to join the ABA in its fight against the big box stores who are now perpetrating a totally immoral, and possibly illegal pricing war on new hardcover books. You may think that buying new books at far below the retail price is a good thing for yourself as a consumer, but you need to understand that big box store bargains are detrimental to the economy and to jobs. Your miniscule savings (five to ten dollars per purchase, in most cases) is putting small businesses out of business every day.

The ABA has asked the Department of Justice to investigate the stores involved, and here are some choice quotes from the request I have pulled out:

"While on the surface it may seem that these lower prices will encourage more reading and a greater sharing of ideas in the culture, the reality is quite the opposite. Consider this quote from Mr. Grisham's agent, David Gernert, that appeared in the New York Times:

"If readers come to believe that the value of a new book is $10, publishing as we know it is over. If you can buy Stephen King's new novel or John Grisham's 'Ford County' for $10, why would you buy a brilliant first novel for $25? I think we underestimate the effect to which extremely discounted best sellers take the consumer's attention away from emerging writers."

For our members -- locally owned, independent bookstores -- the effect will be devastating. There is simply no way for ABA members to compete. The net result will be the closing of many independent bookstores, and a concentration of power in the book industry in very few hands. Bill Petrocelli, owner of Book Passage in Corte Madera, California, an ABA member, was also quoted in the New York Times:

"You have a choke point where millions of writers are trying to reach millions of readers. But if it all has to go through a narrow funnel where there are only four or five buyers deciding what's going to get published, the business is in trouble."

We would find these practices questionable were they taking place in the market for widgets. That they are taking place in the market for books is catastrophic. If left unchecked, these predatory pricing policies will devastate not only the book industry, but our collective ability to maintain a society where the widest range of ideas are always made available to the public, and will allow the few remaining mega booksellers to raise prices to consumers unchecked."

The entire request is below in the lj-cut.

October 22, 2009

The Board of Directors of the American Booksellers Association today sent the following letter to the U.S. Department of Justice requesting that it investigate practices by Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, and Target that it believes constitute illegal predatory pricing that is damaging to the book industry and harmful to consumers.

VIA OVERNIGHT MAIL AND E-MAIL

October 22, 2009

The Honorable Christine Varney
Assistant Attorney General
Antitrust Division
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 3109
Washington, DC 20530

Molly Boast, Esquire
Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Matters
Antitrust Division
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 3210
Washington, DC 20530

Dear Ms. Varney and Ms. Boast,

We are writing on behalf of the American Booksellers Association, a 109-year-old trade organization representing the nation's locally owned, independent booksellers. A core part of our mission is devoted to making books as widely available to American consumers as possible. We ask that the Department of Justice investigate practices by Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, and Target that we believe constitute illegal predatory pricing that is damaging to the book industry and harmful to consumers. We are requesting a meeting with you to discuss this urgent issue at your earliest possible opportunity.

As reported in the consumer and trade press this past week, Amazon.com, WalMart.com, and Target.com have engaged in a price war in the pre-sale of new hardcover bestsellers, including books from John Grisham, Stephen King, Barbara Kingsolver, Sarah Palin, and James Patterson. These books typically retail for between $25 and $35. As of writing of this letter, all three competitors are selling these and other titles for between $8.98 and $9.00.

Publishers sell these books to retailers at 45% - 50% off the suggested list price. For example, a $35 book, such as Mr. King's Under the Dome, costs a retailer $17.50 or more. News reports suggest that publishers are not offering special terms to these big box retailers, and that the retailers are, in fact, taking orders for these books at prices far below cost. (In the case of Mr. King's book, these retailers are losing as much as $8.50 on each unit sold.) We believe that Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, and Target are using these predatory pricing practices to attempt to win control of the market for hardcover bestsellers.

It's important to note that the book industry is unlike other retail sectors. Clothing, jewelry, appliances, and other commercial goods are typically sold at a net price, leaving the seller free to determine the retail price and the margin these products will earn. Because publishers print list prices indelibly on jacket covers, and because books are sold at a discount off that retail price, there is a ceiling on the amount of margin a book retailer can earn.

The suggested list price set by the publisher reflects manufacturing costs -- acquisition, editing, marketing, printing, binding, shipping, etc. -- which vary significantly from book to book. By selling each of these titles below the cost these retailers pay to the publishers, and at the same price as each other, and at the same price as all other titles in these pricing schemes, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, and Target are devaluing the very concept of the book. Authors and publishers, and ultimately consumers, stand to lose a great deal if this practice continues and/or grows.

What's so troubling in the current situation is that none of the companies involved are engaged primarily in the sale of books. They're using our most important products -- mega bestsellers, which, ironically, are the most expensive books for publishers to bring to market -- as a loss leader to attract customers to buy other, more profitable merchandise. The entire book industry is in danger of becoming collateral damage in this war.

It's also important to note that this episode was precipitated by below-cost pricing of digital editions of new hardcover books by Amazon.com, many of those titles retailing for $9.99, and released simultaneously with the much higher-priced print editions. We believe the loss-leader pricing of digital content also bears scrutiny.

While on the surface it may seem that these lower prices will encourage more reading and a greater sharing of ideas in the culture, the reality is quite the opposite. Consider this quote from Mr. Grisham's agent, David Gernert, that appeared in the New York Times:

"If readers come to believe that the value of a new book is $10, publishing as we know it is over. If you can buy Stephen King's new novel or John Grisham's 'Ford County' for $10, why would you buy a brilliant first novel for $25? I think we underestimate the effect to which extremely discounted best sellers take the consumer's attention away from emerging writers."

For our members -- locally owned, independent bookstores -- the effect will be devastating. There is simply no way for ABA members to compete. The net result will be the closing of many independent bookstores, and a concentration of power in the book industry in very few hands. Bill Petrocelli, owner of Book Passage in Corte Madera, California, an ABA member, was also quoted in the New York Times:

"You have a choke point where millions of writers are trying to reach millions of readers. But if it all has to go through a narrow funnel where there are only four or five buyers deciding what's going to get published, the business is in trouble."

We would find these practices questionable were they taking place in the market for widgets. That they are taking place in the market for books is catastrophic. If left unchecked, these predatory pricing policies will devastate not only the book industry, but our collective ability to maintain a society where the widest range of ideas are always made available to the public, and will allow the few remaining mega booksellers to raise prices to consumers unchecked.

We urge that the DOJ investigate and request an opportunity to come to Washington to discuss this at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

ABA Board of Directors:

Michael Tucker, President (Books Inc.--San Francisco, CA)
Becky Anderson, Vice President (Anderson's Bookshops--Naperville, IL)
Steve Bercu (BookPeople--Austin, TX)
Betsy Burton (The King's English Bookshop--Salt Lake City, UT)
Tom Campbell (The Regulator Bookshop--Durham, NC)
Dan Chartrand (Water Street Bookstore--Exeter, NH)
Cathy Langer (Tattered Cover Book Store--Denver, CO)
Beth Puffer (Bank Street Bookstore--New York, NY)
Ken White (SFSU Bookstore--San Francisco, CA)

CC: Oren Teicher, CEO, American Booksellers Association
Len Vlahos, COO, American Booksellers Association
Owen M. Kendler, Esquire, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice

I would urge you to also write to the Department of Justice, as well as your local newspapers and on your own blogs about this incredible threat to the printing industry.

This is not just a danger to store owners, such as my wife and sister in law, but to any authors or artist interested in making a viable living in print. If the big box stores control pricing and selections, what will happen to your small boutique publishers? Who's going to publish your journal comic or pet project when they're all out of business? How many illustration jobs will any of us get for book covers and art inserts when only a select few best selling authors are getting their work out there?

There is an emerging culture here that demands entertainment for cheaper and cheaper (read: pirated and or free), and though we can all appreciate the allure of not having to pay for television, movies, music, and books, our actions undercut the value of the artists and creatives who are working to produce these works. This means that if you are an artist or writer your value is being diminished by the actions of your peers, and possibly by yourself.

Popzilla clips I did....

2009-10-10T20:17:46Z

So, I know the entire internet is at SPX right now, or whatever, so this should go about as noticed as the majority of my posts.

As some of you may have speed-read past on your way to comics about cute bears and historical figures, I worked on a little flash show for MTV that has started airing last month. They were airing it Mon-Thurs at 6:30 EST, but now they're running it like, every day at 11pm. It's called Popzilla and it's kind of like a SouthPark / Jib Jab satire thing that makes fun of various celebrities. Think SNL, but not Live. Or on Saturdays. MTV has also started compiling highlights of all the episodes shown during a week. Here are three clips I did that were highlighted from the first two weeks. (That's pretty good, since I only did 12 clips total)

So, I did a couple clips with this celebrity. I really didn't have any idea who this guy was, in fact, I still don't really. Hopefully MTV viewers do.

I really liked doing this one. I also made the cd cover graphics at the end, which was fun, because I had to do multiple versions.

And here, is the big one. Of all the 12 clip I did, this one is the one I really hope gets passed around. I'll get yelled at like David Letterman! Please pass it around!

I'm really hoping to work on some children's programming again soon. I don't want to get pigeonholed into this kind of blue stuff exclusively. Though this show has been interesting to work on.

My name on TV....

2009-09-29T01:46:17Z

So, once again I'm credited on television. Did any of you guys catch Popzilla tonight on MTV?

It's all right. You can catch it every Monday through Thursday at 6:30pm PST for the next month or so. If you did catch it, I did the scene where Leonardo Dicaprio jerks off a tree.

Yeah, that's where my professional path has taken me.

Popzilla airs Sept 28th!

2009-09-18T22:09:14Z

Popzilla, the show I've been working on for the past couple of months (and am still working on, unexpectedly, two weeks after being initially laid off) will finally premiere on MTV on Sept. 28th (Monday) at 6:30pm ET / PT, and then it'll continue to run Mondays through Thursdays for a few weeks till they run out of the 12 episodes they've bought, or, if we're lucky, they buy some more.

Anyway, if you happen to get MTV, please try to watch, and get your friends to, and you know, maybe tell the ratings people you watched with a bunch of people in the room.

You can check out a few clips there at the website, none of them were done by me, but if they do put up any by me, I'll be sure to highlight them here.

Oh yeah, baby and Laura are doing great.

Jack Wessley Hill

2009-09-11T02:03:04Z

8lbs 11.25 ounces. 7:49pm, 09/09/09. My wife is incredible. Find out more.

Thanks everybody!

2009-08-21T18:28:52Z

Well, my video didn't win, but that's okay! We got a very respectable 2nd place (over 30% of the votes cast!), and so I want to thank anyone and everyone who voted for me!

Thanks a lot!

One more day!

2009-08-21T15:32:03Z

All right, I promise this is the very very last time I mention this, mainly because it's over at 2pm EST today. (A few hours.) We were misinformed that it was ending yesterday (thanks Mtv!), but the actual deadline is today. (I actually figured that out by reading the website the voting is on.) The band that is in the lead is an already established group (they've performed on TRL, I think that should instantly disqualifty them from a "freshmen video contest", but whatever) with a large following of dedicated young girls who are really pounding the votes, please help us defeat them!

The music video I directed is now in 2nd place, and that is a huge deal, but we're still like, 20% behind the leader! PLEASE:

Go here and vote: VOTE FOR BRICK, THE ANIMATED VIDEO, ON THE RIGHT HAND COLUMN

AND PLEASE, REPOST THIS LINK AND INSTRUCTIONS ON YOUR LJ'S AND FACEBOOKS AND TWITTERS AND WHATEVER. PEOPLE LIKE YOU, AND WILL LISTEN TO YOU, AND IT WOULD REALLY MAKE MY DAY. THANKS.

REMEMBER, YOU CAN VOTE MULTIPLE TIMES, SO BE SURE TO TELL PEOPLE THEY CAN VOTE OVER AND OVER AGAIN!

VOTING ENDS AT 2PM TODAY, SO I DON'T HAVE A LOT OF TIME TO BEG YOU.

C'Mon Guys!?

2009-08-20T17:35:44Z

The music video I directed is now in 2nd place, and that is a huge deal, but we're still like, 20% behind the leader! PLEASE:

Go here and vote: VOTE FOR BRICK, THE ANIMATED VIDEO, ON THE RIGHT HAND COLUMN

AND PLEASE, REPOST THIS LINK AND INSTRUCTIONS ON YOUR LJ'S AND FACEBOOKS AND TWITTERS AND WHATEVER. PEOPLE LIKE YOU, AND WILL LISTEN TO YOU, AND IT WOULD REALLY MAKE MY DAY. THANKS.

REMEMBER, YOU CAN VOTE MULTIPLE TIMES, SO BE SURE TO TELL PEOPLE THEY CAN VOTE OVER AND OVER AGAIN!

VOTING ENDS AT 2PM TODAY, SO I DON'T HAVE A LOT OF TIME TO BEG YOU.

PLEASE HELP ME OUT!

2009-08-20T15:09:55Z

LJ Friends, I always go and vote for your t shirts. I generally read all your journal comics. I am asking, for once, that you follow this simple request and help me out!

The music video I directed and animated has been running all week on mtvU, which is the MTV station they air on the campus's of a lot of universities across the nation. It is part of this thing where they pick five videos, and the one that gets the most votes gets picked up for rotation on all the MTV's.

Go here and vote: VOTE FOR BRICK, THE ANIMATED VIDEO, ON THE RIGHT HAND COLUMN

AND PLEASE, REPOST THIS LINK AND INSTRUCTIONS ON YOUR LJ'S AND FACEBOOKS AND TWITTERS AND WHATEVER. PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND WILL LISTEN TO YOU, AND IT WOULD REALLY MAKE MY DAY. THANKS.

VOTING ENDS AT 2PM TODAY, SO I DON'T HAVE A LOT OF TIME TO BEG YOU.

They call this place, Nursery!

2009-08-18T19:43:37Z

I finished the mural, Laura finished the quilt, and we started arranging the nursery!. We just need to finish organizing things and buy some appopriate lighting and lamps and we're set. Only about four weeks left!

You can see more pics and updates over at the blogand the photostream! This is a finished detail before I put the wall coverings and shelves back up.

From now on you may refer to me as....

2009-08-13T14:14:43Z

"John Hill, professional music video director".

That's right, MTV has picked up the video I did for Scripts and Screwz. It's online now, I'm waiting to hear if it'll be on the television box or not.

I think the version up on Vimeo is still of a better quality, but whatever.

Another thing.... woo....

2009-07-28T21:21:19Z

I've started working on my son's mural:

I'm pretty excited about it.

This is the show I am currently working on. I did not work on this skit at all though. It's being covered over on the Cold.Hard.Flash.

That's kind of like "I'm" being covered over there. But not. Not since I didn't work on that skit, and the last two things I submitted to CHF got generally panned and not covered. Oh well.

I sure do love making money though. MMMMmmmmm. Money.

Enough to fix the roof on the bookstore? No. Never enough.

Hey! It's a LiveJournal Post!

2009-07-22T15:52:22Z

More available at the website

They finally decided to finish editing and put up the latest episode of Colonel Deese. I finished it months ago. I'm pretty pleased with how the card game sequence turned out. Vote funny and all that shit.

Work Sketches....

2009-07-14T20:49:03Z

Did several sketches of students as they worked. Turns out, drawing people in profile isn't very fun, also, seveal students I drew turned out good, but are just unattractive people. Don't want to put them up, because, heaven forbid, they find this, and realize I have drawn them all ugly.

So I drew celebrities after that.

Have you guys noticed how long Paris Hilton's neck is? She's like those water planet clone engineeers in that one Star Wars prequel. Seriously. And her chin? I sware she's like the Mummy's curse with Bruce Campbell's chin.

From the cover of wired magazine. Don't know what issue. Did I ever tell you the story where I saw him at Disneyland? I did. I saw him at Disneyland. We shared a wave. (A friendly hand gesture to one another, not an ocean wave, which would have been cooler.)

Enjoy.

Thanks internet.

2009-07-10T23:33:04Z

Happy America Day Ever'body!

2009-07-04T13:47:03Z

Happy Independence Day!

2009-07-03T19:46:50Z

Listen to President Pullman, it's a day for us to ALL CELEBRATE!

Have a safe weekend ever'body!

I derd a paintang....

2009-07-02T16:53:44Z

I was super proud of this thing, like, four days ago. Now I can't really stand it. I want to learn to sketch with water colors, but everyone said I should learn to sketch with an ink brush first. Well, I suck at that. Shakiest hand ever. I want to learn to use oil paints, but I thought I should try to master acrylics first. Well. I don't know anymore.

I've got several canvas's sitting around the house. Not to mention canvas paper and watercolor paper, but I never really paint anything. I go through these spells where I really want to be some kind of a painter or traditional illustrator, I feel like I should know how to do this stuff. But it only lasts a few weeks, and then I'm perfectly content to go back to dicking around on the computer. I do secretly wish I had quality stuff to hang in galleries somewhere.

This is up right now in our gallery, with copies of my digital prints, but that doesn't really count. I mean. I own the building. It's cheating right?

These are for the mural I'm going to attempt to paint on the walls in the nursery for Jack. He'll be here in September, so I really have to get started ASAP. I've nailed down these character illustrations though, so now I just need to project them on the wall, trace, and then paint. I'm going to keep them as flat colors (to better match the original reference pieces) primarily, so I shouldn't muck it up too much with the painting.

These are some background characters for the latest episode of "Colonel Deese" I finished about a month ago. It's still not up on the internet, but I hope it will be soon.

Don't forget about my prints for sale.

Prints for sale.

2009-06-16T23:09:55Z

I'll have a couple copies of these (and two different versions of the old Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein thing I did months [years?] ago.) for sale at the bookstore next month, on display with some original sketches / photographs / painting, and accompanied by a lot of art from some rockin' local artist.

You however, can buy them online now, get it printed on canvas, framed, whatever.

Even if you aren't buying (and hey, I know, economy) please let your friends list know about them.

The head still lived, and the tail still lived, but the middle had ceased....

2009-06-13T00:57:12Z

Personal News: Laura and Baby Jack are doing great. He kicks so hard now! He is like a utero ninja.

Spent several hours last night hunting a baby poisonous snake in our house. When I bludgeoned it into pieces with the fire poker it broke into three seperate pieces. The two ends still tried to function as a snake, the middle had given over to death accordingly.

Business News: The bookstore is doing great right now. We moved from our initial (awesome but obscure) location into the building Laura and I purchased on Main St. in February. Things have been on a gradual but great uphill slope since then. Up in this case meaning good, not like....hard to climb.

We are currently participating in a big (tiny) business association thing where we stay open late on Friday Nights. In addition we have converted a large, previously unused, room of the building into an art gallery. If you are interested in displaying some of your artwork in said gallery, you should drop me a line. I'll put up your prints and stuff even, so long as they are semi-family friendly and relatively unpolitical. This is Dickson TN. here, not Los Angeles, or Vancouver, or Clarksville, apparently. Oh, and you'll have to pay to have them mailed to me, and possibly mailed back to you should they set here for ages. Sorry. I'm new to this. You can keep all the profits from the sale though! (We will charge sales tax on it, and keep that portion, but that's just so we can pay the sales tax.)

I have started working on a television show again. I am excited, and I can't tell you anything about it. It will however be a show. On the television. It is animated.

I am apparently going to start teaching at another school (while still teaching at the first one). It's a brand new film school, and apparently they used my name (as well as other, probably far more deserving film professional) in a story announcing their new school in the "Tennessean" (big Nashville paper). Nevermind that I have no idea when or what I'll be teaching and will have to create the curriculum from scratch, and that the school apparently opens next month, it was nice to have my name in the paper.

I had the music video I recently finished in a small animation film festival a couple of weeks ago in Atlanta. It was really late on the bill, and followed a very long, very shitty fan parody about Mario, so a lot of the audience had left or gathered at the bar by then. It recieved no awards. Though several of the other filmmakers commented on how good it was to me personally. So hooray for small triumphs.

I am currently redoing my portfolio website (long overdue) and creating a real professional (meaning full of work I was paid to do) demo reel (longer overdue), so that is exciting. I'll promote that like crazy when it's done, don't worry.

Prints: I am hoping to start selling some prints online (and in person) in the next week or so. I am getting some samples made as we speak, and if my digital painting amateurishness, coupled with my lack of print(ing) knowledge does not produce absolute horseshit, then they will indeed be for sale. Just two to begin with. One is some art you will recognize from past posts. The new one, which has taken up a lot of my art time so far this month is of great interest if you have, or own, a small girl child. Two words: Hippos, Mermaid.

Tell your friends.

LiveJournal News: I don't have that many LJ friends. And a lot of you are friends with the same super popular somebodies that I am also friends with, but none of them are friends with me. Try to help me out with that, would'ja?

Brief update....SUMMER MOVIE SPOILER ALERT, NO CUTS!

2009-06-03T21:56:00Z

A quick run down of movies I've seen lately:

Up (Prescreening with the staff of Channel 5 News Nashville, thanks to Jason): Excellent movie. Touching and exciting, with some of my favorite things: Old people in movies, fat kids, prehistoric giant birds, zeppelins. It's hard to compare Pixar movies, since they are all so different. It's not my favorite one though, but it's probably in the top....four?

Terminator Salvation: Fun movie. The ending is relatively weak, but there are more than enough nods to the three previous films without being overly cheesy. Easy to follow direction and good exciting explosions. Major kudos: handling time traveling and previous storylines delicately and with reason, unlike another more successful Sci-Fi franchise film that just came out. Major gripe: Can someone tell Christian Bale to stop with the smoker's whisper? It made "some" sense in Batman, but what the hell? What happened to talking like a normal person and being a badass, ala American Psycho? Also, Helena Bonham Carter: overrated hacky actress, or the most overrated hacky actress? Discuss amongst yourselves.

Star Trek: Great casting. That's really all the movie had to do, in order to be successful. Cast people who can embody some seriously already established characters. Unfortunately, after successfully doing that they decided not to push it any further. Major kudos: Great special effects without totally shitting on the original series and other films. It's all modernized, but it still feels like Star Trek. Major gripes: I understand that the characters all embrace the idea that they are now starting on some kind of altered reality time line, which is basically like them turning to the camera to say: "okay, now we're going to be different Star Trek, but do not worry, we are in an alternate dimension from original Star Trek, do not freak out!", but the idea that Old Spock (not to be confused with Old Spice) would be so calm and collected about living his elder days out in a past where his mother is dead and his race is basically extinct seems incredibly out of character. He's been traveling through time since like, the fourth episode of the first season, not to mention going back to save Whales to satisfy a big space dildo, but the idea of just going back and preventing two entire space races from genocide is just too much of a hassle. However, making sure that alternate reality him, and alternate reality Kirk are still bosom buddies, now, that requires the up most amount of effort. I'm sorry, I liked this movie a lot. Like I said, I thought the acting and everything was really good, it's just sad to me that the plot is so incredibly weak. But then again, I'm a "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" fan, living in a "Wraith of Khan" world. Also, huge waste of Eric Bana.

pneumonia

2009-05-26T21:36:36Z

I just got out of the hospital after spending six days there with pneumonia. I had been sick since Saturday the 16th.

Laura and the baby are fine.

So that video I worked on that ended up on Newgrounds yesterday....

2009-05-05T16:31:57Z

Is now apparently being featured on their front page. I've actually had this happen a couple times in the past, but that was way back when I was in college, and when getting featured on the front page of Newgrounds was like.... the literal end all and be all of doing something in Flash.

It still feels pretty cool.

Another thing of stuffs....

2009-05-04T20:36:49Z

About a year ago me and another guy worked on a pitch for Adult Swim for this writer named Andrew, who apparently worked on Robot Chicken. How many pitches for Adult Swim have I been attached to? I don't know, I've lost count.

Anyway, he finally got it up on the web, and on Newgrounds no less. Take a look if your interested:

TOBACCO MAN

Vote or review, or whatever. You run your own life.

It's gotten decent scores so far, but there have been some relatively legitimate gripes about the audio quality. I just animated the first half of it, I didn't compress or upload it. I'll probably promote it a little harder once it's up on a different site.

And now, I piss you off by reposing the other cartoons I've done recently.

This thing has been getting an average of about 10 views a day, which is pretty good considering. I hope you give it a chance.