Seven Days In…

It’s been a good year so far. Better than the end of 2005 for sure, which was, um, a trip… Recently someone posted a comment to a June post that read, “I think that misery should not be a pre-requisite for great art. Many great artists never new great misery, and many miserable people never do great art.” I don’t think I’ve ever suggested misery is a prerequisite, but it has been associated with many artists considered great. Van Gogh and Hopper are two that come to mind. In those cases, it seems art was the escape from the misery. Get lost in the creative “zone” and the demons are kept at bay for a time. I’ve been unable to channel my misery into creativity lately… at least here. Oh, I’ve created some effective visuals to convey information at work, but the old fifteenkey has been neglected. Other than my demon, who’s bound to end up in jail or dead, a couple other obsessions have really consumed huge chunks of my time. They are internet forums devoted to the Palm Treo and Flat-Panel HDTV’s.

I own a Treo, affectionately known as the “LeoTreo,” and I lust for a Plasma HDTV. This past Monday I set up a new 42” LG Plasma for my pal Barb. Man… Those things are just made for football. The Fiesta Bowl happened to be on and the picture quality was stunning. “Star Wars – Revenge of the Sith” also looked sweet playing on her new “upconverting” OPPO DVD player. Franky I’m surprised Barb even came back to work after getting that bad boy set up. Actually, with 4 new remotes to navigate, I think Barb thought work would be a safer place…

At this point, I pretty much know everything I need to know about pixels, contrast ratio, 720p, 1080i, component, DVI, HDMI and the fallacy of plasma burn-in. If you have any questions, just ask. My plan is to wait for the Christmas-SuperBowl feeding frenzy to end and then grab one of these after the 2006 models start coming out. That is unless someone makes me an offer I can’t refuse. Until then, I have to suffer the indignity of watching the Patriots on my puny 32” Sony in oh-so-ordinary standard definition. Talk about misery…