Steve Jobs The Crazy Ones

I hate you Death! Fuck you hard Death! The place where my writing mojo comes from is deep down at soul level. It exists right next to the depression section in my psyche. I’ve been in mourning.

I haven’t written a word in two weeks. Almost two years ago my older brother, an expert hiker “fell” off a cliff and died in a freak hiking accident. That uber-nerd older brother was my geek mentor. I’ve mentioned him in several places in this blog. Apple’s soap opera story, and inventions were something that my brother and I bonded over throughout the years. So Death got him. And then George Carlin, and now of course Steve Jobs. This trinity of brainiacs keeps forming into a visual of a black and white tattoo of the three of them.

“Oh where, oh where have all the smart people gone?” I can’t get the line from Pink’s Bush era lament, Stupid Girls, out of my brain. Yes, I know that the new smart people are out there, but you are half my age and one of my boobs is probably the size of your head. It isn’t always about what’s good, as you will one day find, it’s what you grew up with. Maybe all this pain is good for song writing, and there’s an App for that… Ah, see what I mean?

I grew up along with Apple. Steve Jobs has always been inside my computer. Not just the code, but the covenant of understanding between a person that you know and trust, which was what made Apple different from IBM and Microsoft. Steve, and his belief system permeated what I have always felt from my Macs is a rudimentary artificial intelligence. The “ghost” if you will, in the machine. Job’s computer liberalism as perhaps a real world precursor that might lead to a philosophy something like Azimov’s Three Laws. From iMac to iPad to Wall-e, benevolent, cheerful hoppy icon-ed little friends came from Apple, not just cold devices.

There is Woz. He still lives. I will make sure that I have him on my Twitter and look up whatever else he is doing. I’m slowly picking up my geek pieces. As disheartened as I may feel in that empty mojo place next to my soul, there are fun PS3 games to review. There’s a brand new iPad 2, that has become very sentimental suddenly, to explore the world with. I’ll go on, continuing to look for that spark of true genius in the next computer Lama whomever he or she may be. Yep, I will geek on. I, robot?

Not many people are still around that really understand what Liberal Arts means the way that Steve Jobs at Apple did. His gift was not only design and marketing, but the code that was underlying OS X, and earlier versions. He was someone who truly believed in art for art’s sake. And privacy for privacy’s sake. His code kept us Mac users safe from cyber attacks for years.

Instead of a futuristic libertarian society that you find in game worlds like Second Life or in TV series like Star Trek the Next Generation. We get soulless leaders like Mark Zuckerberg which leads to corrupt technology like Facebook. Even Bill Gates, once the worlds wealthiest man paid his karmic debt for stealing the dirty operating system by becoming a philanthropist. But will the next generation of technology gurus be so ethically minded?

We are moving closer to an Idiocracy, yes like the movie. Education cuts made by the Republicans led to the OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) report, which compares the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds in 70 countries around the world, ranking the American kids 14th out of 34 OECD countries for reading skills, 17th for science and a below-average 25th for mathematics. Where have all the smart people gone? If we thought the two thousands would be the beginning of the space age we were grossly optimistic. NASA is scrapped. On both extremes we have irationality and shared equally by both sides. The ridiculous and stupid Tea Party is loud, ignorant, and self contradictory. Smart, sophisticated Anonymous is cerebral, sometimes misguided, and so far ineffective at achieving lasting change.

As Jobs embarks upon his well deserved retirement I’m mourning the end of an era. His stocks have finally surpassed his old rival Gates. Apple even finally won some patent lawsuits. Steve Jobs’s only missed calling would have been to run for president of the USA on an Apple Party.

CEO Steve Jobs, who will now take a leave of absence to take care of his health, said it was strong sales across the board that pushed the numbers into company record territory. But it isn’t all about the money, not entirely. It’s Jobs’ leadership that has Apple addicts concerned for the future. For as long as I can remember the next big thing has come from Steve Jobs. It started with what he did with Steve Wozniack’s invention. Then they wrote the software that made an office inside of a box, the personal computer. He invented the desk top system, windowed menus, and the mouse. The 1999 iMacs came in colors and caused a revolution on office accessories. Suddenly everything from the floor-mats, to desks, and everything on the desk and in it was neon grape, strawberry, lime or blueberry. The early 2000′s were transparent and fruit colored.

It’s Job’s visions that we need. Weather it is his alter ego as Wall-e zipping around with an ancient iPod, or his revolutionizing the music industry. Or finally making peace with the Beatles. If it weren’t for him we wouldn’t have all these things that we didn’t know we needed and now cannot do without. To the point where we say, if “he or she had an iPhone they would not have” fill in your choice of disaster here.

Although there were several other members of the original Homebrew club none of them made it quite as spectacularly as Jobs. Wozniack and his subsequent inventions after the computer haven’t been on the radar nearly as much. It reminds me of something that comedian Lewis Black said “Some how we got from Bob Hope to me in my life time”. With the passing of the guard of that era, which included brainiac George Carlin, the future of technology may be in the hands of lady luck.

There are certainly legions of unpaid writers in the gaming industry. Some people are assuredly laughing all the way to the bank, as they build their websites and their own careers based on the backs of other people. It is quite common for these non paid volunteers to be driven by slave drivers, working many overtime hours and late nights. “Will Work for Video Games” is a joke folks. With the economy squeezing everyone, fewer freebies are being handed out than they were eight years ago. It’s unlikely that newcomers will ever see that happening.

What some of those younger writers don’t know about are the rights that they have over their material. When you produce an article or a review, it is yours forever. If you shop it around to various blogs or websites and they happen to print it – without paying you, then you still own the piece. It is called First Rights. You are in essence giving them permission to use your piece for a certain period of time. In fact, you could also ask them to remove the piece at your discretion, at any time, if you felt the need to do so for some reason.

If you are not a paid writer, then you are by default, a free lancer. You can take your article and pitch it to anyone whom you wish to. Use it anyplace on the internet or even sell it again to a magazine. That is called self-serialization.

Some websites go so far as to come out with lists of rules and regulations, requirements and other means of control. In fact those “rules” are worthless because you are volunteers, who are all technically free lance. It is always those who want something for nothing who are the most greedy, aren’t they?

If you aren’t aware of it some of these vapid, brainless, airheaded, twits and dyke-ish drill sergeants will work you until your eyes get boggled. And then tell you that you can’t place your article anywhere else on the web. That, they shouldn’t do, because unless they have drafted up a legal non-compete contract with you, on actual paper, and had you sign it with an actual pen, with copies for you, their el cheepo website, and both of your lawyers, then they have no legal right to tell you what you can and can not do with your work.

The legal fees, and employment costs to do a real, professional website, would put most of these pretenders out of business before they even started. There are many predators in sheep’s clothing out there, so be careful.

If nothing else you should be signing W4′s and Miscellaneous Income statements for tax time, for games, travel, shwag and anything else you receive “free”. If there isn’t any paperwork to sign when you get “hired” then you know you have encountered a fly by night operation that is set on taking advantage of you.

When they try any of this it’s a red flag, and could even be bordering on illegal labor practices. What many websites rely on is a ‘revolving door of writers’. I just made that metaphor up, it’s good isn’t it? What they count on is that young inexperienced writers will do just about anything for exposure and to have something to put on a resume, which ultimately may not impress a potential employer at all.

School internships do protect young workers to some extent, and the work that they do is graded and compensated. That is a more secure way to go.

Just because you are young, or old, it doesn’t waive the fact that you and your work have value and should not be discounted. It is one thing to ask volunteers to do something, and it is something very uncool if they insist on it. Sure, that website might not print your article, but do you really want to go there if they treat people like garbage? In the end karma will take care of them, but do look out before wasting lots of time and energy that you could put to better use elsewhere.

If a website has taken your article and reused it with out permission on another website, or is getting paid advertisers alongside your article, you should be getting a cut or a percentage of that dough. Remeber the movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, when Silent Bob finally talks? He sure does say a mouthful, and he’s right too.

If you need more information about writers rights look here: the National Writers Union http://www.nwu.org/node or the National Labor Department http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/lawsprog.htm If you think that you have been a victim of a scam, contact your local labor department, or attorney general’s office. They will send you a form to fill out, and look over your claim. Then you will have an impartial judgement about what has happened to you.

And blog, blog, blog, you can say whatever you like, even on Facebook, because unless they have a gag order in writing, you are still covered by free speech. Keep on writing, and even if you aren’t getting paid remember the pen will always be mightier than the sword.

I remember things like the day JFK got shot, the first moon landing on black and white TV. I remember when the first video game consoles came out. With some franchises, I was playing them since their very first iterations. The question in front of me now becomes, “Is my frame of reference still valuable?”

Eight years ago, there were only a handful of female game journalists. I was one of the first females to call myself that. PR, developers, and publishers valued the opinion of a mature woman who represented the female purse in the industry. I had the years of gaming experience that made my perspective unique among gamers, and at that time, among other women.

Not too long ago we women gamers had to convince many developers that many women actually do play video games. During that time I got hired to work for the illustrious website womengamers.com. While I was there I joined in on the conversation of the role of women in video games and was a main contributor there for reviews, and editorials on the topic of sexism in gaming. After about ten years of doing that work the site closed. But it was with a sense of accomplishment. We had made our point. The proliferation of female writers on the topic of gaming exploded.

We were no longer alone. That was what I was going for. As with any movement I’ve been part of, the peace movement of the sixties, the new age movement of the nineties, once the seeds are planted, you have no control of where or how it grows. The desire to pass down knowledge is a very strong drive. I could put up with many slights and insults to accomplish those ends. Because it has never been about games in of themselves, but the role and portrayal of women in them, and playing them. Which is a higher matter.

In a world that is increasingly youth oriented, there are new concerns cropping up for me. Are younger, newer, websites getting more games to review? At this point in my “career” I don’t have to seek out PR people, I did plenty of that in years past. Games are offered to me because of my opinion and experience still. In some ways the back end of game journalism is an old boys club, populated by young boys. It isn’t what you know but whom. Breaking into that world can be not only intimidating, but impossible for new writers.

Over the years I’ve made choices to avoid some of the major titles because I’ve felt that enough people are playing them, and that I can’t really add much to the conversation. I never felt that what I could say about Batman games, for instance, was necessary for people to read. Some games just aren’t a fit. It might give my regular readers a laugh, but I’m no super hero expert. I know my limits, and limitations. I don’t play as fast as I used to. My hands don’t move like they did five years ago. That’s why I love the iPad for gaming, because it bridges the age gap. Times change, technology changes, and so have I along with it. It’s been a long strange trip from the HAM radio to iPad.

Should I feel embarrassed about my age? Should I be hiding it? My answer to these is going to be no. That honesty is going to ostracize me though. There are those in the industry who don’t respect women, and older women might as well be dead to them. To some people if your appearance as a female is hot, then they might listen to you for a second.

These days I am encountering this different “ism” as time goes forward. Being passed over, forgotten, uninvited, not included, by other women. Those were things that I thought I had become used to as an awkward girl, with braces and glasses, or as a young woman with taped together glasses (for real). The bullying, though taking different forms still goes on. Turns out the scars from being treated like a geek still bleed. Feeling pushed aside is still hurtful, and being a geek for real isn’t actually chic.