So I started looking for canary songs online. A young bird doesn’t learn to sing until he’s 6 months old, so that’s why you might pay a little more for a canary – but it’s worth it! As I’ve written earlier, I pretty much think my canary is a girl, which means they didn’t put her in the song room to learn from the experienced singers, and now she doesn’t know how! :(

I won’t give up, though, so I found a few canary songs on Youtube to play for my bird every day, and maybe he/she will learn some notes. Here is a longer, pretty song on Youtube:

American Singer Canary with Waterslager Sounds

Don’t know how to upload the vid here. But anyway, I’m pretty sure that’s the first time I ever saw the word Waterslager. The only thing I don’t like is the very small cage the canary is in. Yeah, I know it’s a show cage, like the owner says, but still PAINFULLY small. I feel very bad for the bird.

But one of the comments there has really taken my fancy, by Middledeeping:

American Singer canaries are the greatest birds ever. Mine lived? for 13 1/2 years, was the healthiest, most exuberant, adaptable pet I’ve ever owned. The pet shop owner warned me that it might take 2 wks. for him to adjust & start singing. He sang his head off in the tiny cardboard box on his way home from the shop! He drove all over the USA w/me, propped up on a pillow in the front seat w/a lap belt around his cage, looking out the window & singing. His long song was simply breathtaking.

So interesting, people are. Who drives all over the US with a canary cage in the front seat!? True, you need the seat belt to secure the cage, when you have to drive a bird somewhere. But this person has gone aboveboard, putting the bird on a nice pillow to look around him! And did they travel for 13 years, or was that just one part of his happy life?

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons on Flickr, where I get all the best photos, guilt free. If you bookmark http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/by-nc-nd-2.0/ you will always be able to get great photos from people who are happy to share them, with just their name mentioned. This canary pic is from Zeetz Jones. Her funny explanation:

This is Andrea, my proud male singing canary. A while back he was rooming with Viktor, a male zebra finch. They were an odd couple from the beginning. Andrea loves the curly-leaf parsley to death while Viktor would snack on the bread roll clipped on the grill all day. Andrea didn’t like Viktor invading his space and would scream at him to Viktor’s deaf ears…

Bird fight!

(Also, my new spring cartoon, which is about Toyotas flying, and maybe not entirely nice, is over on my Op-ed Cartoons site now.)

More cartoons:

1. Free will in a cage.
2. Help for your bird in the hardware store.

MFA sonars send intense pulses of noise through the water that can disrupt or injure marine mammals nearby. Scientists say it can trigger fatal mass strandings under certain circumstances.

The Navy has the proof, they’re just making a judgment call (no puns, thanks.) that they have to keep making the same sonar sounds over and over, like 3 year olds playing with their toys.   I’ve noticed some scientists are like this, too, unfortunately; they base science on a hypothesis, with a provable result, and then spend years doing the SAME tests over and over. That sounds like a video game to me.

For Illustration Friday, subject: Subterranean.

Caption: So the Navy will continue to use sonar, but we can pick any beach in the world. To die on.

More cartoons:

1. Who doesn’t hate AIG?
2. Oops, I just upgraded to Wordpress 2.7

For Illustration Friday, subject: Perspective.

When I first started cartooning I realized that I knew nothing about perspective. I looked at other cartoonists’ work and was amazed at how they had  several things in the drawing, all the proper size!

I bought (easy) books, asked people, but most of all I practiced, and studied how other cartoonists did it.

Eventually, I realized that it. doesn’t. matter. But that took years! It’s okay to ad lib, and even better to be spontaneous.

I know there are some artists who naturally think in 3 dimensions. Sculptors, maybe painters, those types of people. But not me. Two dimensions all the way. You could call me Flat Donna, and take me with you wherever you go, and I’d be happy.

I think it was Mick Stevens who drew an amazing desk in one cartoon, all trapezoid, where you could see the whole surface and it was extended all the way towards the bottom.

I’m still trying to draw that desk. This was a good try.

Caption: Mrs. Thomas, make me a buddy list.

Remember AOL?  Yeah, that.

More cartoons:

1. When people read magazines
2. Sarah Palin is a five-letter word.

Oops, did I spoil the cartoon? For Illustration Friday: propagate is the challenge. And chickens do that.

This is an easy idea to tinker with, if you’re good with words. The ending to Which came first, could be anything, and I think I’ve come up with half a dozen gags over the years. But politics has been a big part of my life this last year, working for Slate, so these hens have that on their mind, too.

I’ve been thinking recently about New Yorker cartoons vs Editorial cartoons – which I’m spending most of my time doing  now. New Yorker cartoons are easy, so easy that anyone can do it, and they can and do, with the little caption contests. I haven’t looked at the contests in years, but there are many clever entries, I’m sure.

“But I can’t draw,” they sigh. That’s what she said.

That’s what I said. I wanted to write them, not draw them, but I sent ideas to a couple of New Yorker guys, they said they didn’t buy gags, and I gave up on just writing right away. I’d have to learn to draw. Sigh.

I still don’t know if I CAN draw, but I like my drawings, and editors seem to, too. Remember, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks – you only have to please one person, the editor. (Although I sure like fan mail when I get it, and requests for books or originals!)

But political cartoons – you can’t believe how much harder they are. First of all, you have to know things, like current events, a little history. You can’t get by with a turn of phrase or a sick pun. Then there’s the people – you have to draw REAL PEOPLE! I’m not a caricaturist, nor are any magazine cartoonists I know of. But for political cartoons you have to draw people in the news who are recognizable. That takes research and practice, and sketches and study.

Then you have to take this real person or event or situation and make it funny. That might be the hardest, although for me it’s the most fun. But it can’t be word games. Almost all New Yorker cartoons are word play, which is why they’re so easy. Op-ed cartoons have to be like a good novel or script – the caption and humor must come from the character!

I’m the only New Yorker cartoonist or magazine cartoonist who has made the off-balance crazy jump into editorial cartoons. I had no idea it would be this hard, this time-consuming – and this much fun.

I kind of envy the New Yorker guys leisurely thinking of 10 good gags before lunch, however. I used to be them. Now I still do some of that, since I have to pay the bills, plus get to the really hard part of the day -  writing an op-ed cartoon that is relevant, makes sense, pops the color or design, and, if I’m lucky, is funny.

Cartoon Caption: My question is, which came first, Democrats or Republicans?

More cartoons:

1. The fixer-upper man.
2. I’m not like Ikea, I judge.

I ordered it in 2006 at the same time as my Gateway computer. I’m a tough shopper, and love to do research and understand everything. One thing I knew I wanted was a very quiet computer – and 3 years later, this is the quietest computer I’ve ever heard, even with a 500g hard drive and 2 gig of RAM (did I say that right?) Although it gets a little noisy, when the fans start going when I use Photoshop… I’m still not sure if a better video card or more memory would help me out there.

I also wanted a widescreen super-sharp dealie monitor, and  if you got a monitor with the Gateway computer you got a good deal. The FPD 2185W was the best or 2nd best monitor at the time, and it cost $600, and $100 less with the computer so I happily chose that one.  I loved that monitor – -crisp and sharp, with never a problem. I told everyone how great it was!

But what kind of crap monitor just blows like that?! No warning, nothing at all. The reviews here at Amazon Gateway FPD 2185W Widescreen High-Definition – LCD display – TFT – 21 say it all:

DO NOT BUY THIS MONITOR!

As has happened to many others, my monitor went dead (blank screen / can’t turn it off) a little after the warranty expired (after a year and a half). This was a very expensive monitor and Gateway knows that this model is defective, yet they refuse to admit this or do anything about it. Also, like many others, this is definitely the last Gateway product of any type that I will ever buy. I hope others follow suit.

He’s right on that. I’m not even looking at Gateway for my next one. (Turns out Gateway is now owned by Acer anyway.)

Of course, once it breaks, you’re dead if you don’t have another monitor just lying around the house. There was no warning, just black. I couldn’t get online to even find anything out. Used a neighbor’s computer and right away found this blog on Gateway Monitors (which should have been called Gateway Monitors Suck.) Anyway, turns out it is 8 cheapie capacitors that go bad, pfft. Easy to fix, IF YOU KNOW HOW TO SOLDER. Oh, yeah, just get my solder iron out from under my drawing table here…I’m so screwed!

These guys also figured out it was the 8 capacitors which needed to be fixed. Gah, cannot believe how many people Gateway hurt by saving 50 cents on these parts!!! HATE. Clever computer technicians also noted that this Gateway monitor really has a Samsung screen inside. Well, that was a great screen. Too bad Gateway couldn’t go the extra mile and spend the extra $2 to make the monitor WORK properly and not shock people.

OMG!!! They also suggest the blown out capacitors in monitors could have been industrial espionage, and Wiki has a whole page dedicated to these crappy capacitors!! Wiki.

Here’s a fellow who took pictures of inside the monitor, replaced the capacitors, and made it work! If only I had taken soldering classes instead of pre-college…

I tried turning it on and off many times, unplugging, etc. Nothing. But when I plugged it in the last time, it made my lights dim, made a pop sound, and gave me a little shock. That’s the last time I touched it.

Of course I called Gateway to complain about this, expired warranty be damned. I couldn’t even get through to support, because they won’t sell a warranty after 3 years, so I had to call corporate Gateway, which is Acer, which is right here in Irvine, CA. But they sent me to Texas (ugh) so the executive team could toss me around like a football. They said I could return the monitor, if I boxed it up and paid for shipping, and they would LOOK at it, to see why it shocked me. But if they didn’t find a problem like what I describedthey wouldn’t fix it if they couldn’t duplicate it!!!

I told them I had found another comment online who had also been shocked, and they said, “We don’t believe anything we read on the internet.” Nice going, COMPUTER COMPANY.

Long story short, I won’t say I hate Gateway for everything – they did give me a super-quiet computer, and replaced little things, like the mouse and keyboard when they got fugly, but I am furious at them for crapping out on this monitor, which should have lasted a few more years at least, so GATEWAY FAIL on their monitors.

Executive Office Phone Number for Gateway and Acer: 800-845-2237

Gateway phone in Irvine: 949-471-7000

Cartoon caption: You may be more interested in some of our more user-friendly models.

More cartoons:

1. I miss my computer. Backup, you peeps!!
2. Jillian is left-handed, and got 3 proposals!