Creating a New Yorker Cover On the iPhone 226
Jaime Leifer writes "The cover of the June 1, 2009, issue of The New Yorker, entitled 'Finger Painting,' was drawn by Jorge Colombo entirely on his iPhone — a first for the magazine. Colombo, a New York-based artist and illustrator, uses the iPhone's Brushes application to vibrantly depict New York street scenes." There's a video recapitulating the creation of the piece, omitting all of the undos.
So what's the news? (Score:3, Insightful)
Artist using new technology is nothing new. I like Apple and the iPhone but this is just a plain "Apple PR News" story, nothing for nerds, nothing that matters.
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Is a man not entitled to his own computer? "No!" says the man in Washington, "It belongs to the poor." "No!" says the man in the Vatican, "It belongs to God." "No!" says the man in Moscow, "It belongs to everyone." I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose ... Apple.
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Artist using new technology is nothing new. I like Apple and the iPhone but this is just a plain "Apple PR News" story, nothing for nerds, nothing that matters.
It's not even new technology!
Re:So what's the news? Something subtle. (Score:5, Insightful)
sure, it's not the first time, but the point is much more subtle: why use a laptop or desktop computer?
What this is is the next level of miniaturisation, and it is an important one. There is fundamentally no difference between an iPhone or iPod and a computer - they all have input devices (keypads, sensitive screens, cameras), RAM, Storage, and output (audio, video, files).
an iPhone with a beefier processor, some USB ports and a mini HDMI port (a la Macbook) and you have your next desktop replacement device. Not only would you have phone calls, but with an HDMI - VGA adaptor, you have a screen to do world processing, image editing, video editing, audio editing, 3D, whatever.
It's the next big deal.
RS
Re:So what's the news? Something subtle. (Score:5, Insightful)
Calling an iPhone a communications device is like calling a computer a word processing device. Apple has made damn sure with all of their marketing that people associate more than communication with the iPhone, it's made out to be more like a PDA with a phone program than a phone. And I doubt this is the first time an artist has made "print-ready" work (for various definitions of "print-ready") from a PDA. This still seems like a piece of Apple fluff.
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an iPhone with a beefier processor, some USB ports and a mini HDMI port (a la Macbook) and you have your next desktop replacement device. Not only would you have phone calls, but with an HDMI - VGA adaptor, you have a screen to do world processing, image editing, video editing, audio editing, 3D, whatever.
This is a joke right? No serious professional is going to be doing image/video editing or drawing on a color-inaccurate 3.5" screen.
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I've used the brushes app before. This was not edited outside of the iPhone. That application really does a good job simulating paint and brushes. And yes, you can do this with a WinMo device. The difference is the interface of this application, the accuracy of a capacitive screen, and the multitouch make the combination of this app and this phone seem natural. Zooming in and out is effortless by pinching in and out. And the speed and sensitivity is perfect. I have used paint applications on my Winmo, and t
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Re:So what's the news? Something subtle. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So what's the news? Something subtle. (Score:4, Insightful)
Agreed... just the fact that this piece instigated a "what is art?" debate, IMHO, shows that it is art.
There are a lot of folks on Slashdot who try really, really hard to hate Apple and iPhones, but I think this story really is news for nerds, and really does matter. If you disagree, go click on another story.
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Feel free to just ignore Apple, the stories and the people who like them. Really. Nobody is asking for your comment. Lots of people don't like their devices, fine, I am not sure why so many of these people feel the need to comment. I have no interest in game consoles, maybe I should have a whinge that people shouldn't be playing games and wasting their lives, everytime there is a story about that... or maybe I should just go to the next story.
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Oh you mean like the 'real' artists who have been copying Marcel Duchamps' urinal for over 100 years, tingling all over at just how radical and unconventional they are? Give me a break. This is nothing more than marketing for both Apple and the artist. I'd be embarrassed to both have made the art and to be the magazine that is displaying it. Sad to say I subscribe to the New Yorker. If their writing had as little so show for it as this art I'd drop my subscription tomorrow.
There has been a great deal of tec
Re:So what's the news? Something subtle. (Score:4, Informative)
an iPhone with a beefier processor, some USB ports and a mini HDMI port (a la Macbook) and you have your next desktop replacement device. Not only would you have phone calls, but with an HDMI - VGA adaptor, you have a screen to do world processing, image editing, video editing, audio editing, 3D, whatever.
This is a joke right? No serious professional is going to be doing image/video editing or drawing on a color-inaccurate 3.5" screen.
This is a joke right? No serious professional is going to be doing image/video editing or drawing on a color-inaccurate 3.5" screen.
Yeah. So the guy that just created and SOLD the cover of the bloody NEW YORKER on the iPhone is not a "serious professional", right?
Matter of fact, in my field, thousands of working photojournalists (those in the top ranks among them) work with similar (color-inacurate) screens and no color correction. The color differences are subtle in 99% of the cases, and don't matter in 99.9% of them, especially when printed in newspaper and/or magazine papers.
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Think home users.
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I call nonsense. Yes, clearly we could make much smaller laptops, let's call them iPhones if you will, if we didn't include a monitor or keyboard but then there'd have to be a monitor and keyboard everywhere you'd like to use it as a desktop/laptop. Just like very many of those I know in a professional setting use a docking station to get dual monitors, full sized keyboard, full sized mouse etc. it's not the computer, it is the interfaces. Saying "they all have input devices (keypads, sensitive screens, cam
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Because pictures that look like a toddler daubed them with his foot look hip and trendy until about the second time you see one, when it starts to get old and sucky real darn quick?
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The distinction between "communications device" and "computer" blurred about five to ten years ago.
Welcome to the 21st Century.
It's the next big deal.
I'm glad you've finally discovered. Welcome to the party, so glad you can make it as we didn't think you'd be turning up for a moment.
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Read the comments in this thread, and you will find that most of them are FAR behind what you and I are talking about.
Your sarcasm is not grounded - while it is true that comm devices are computers, their capabilities are limited. We do not YET have a true "iPhone" that is also a full on desk/laptop level computer.
What I was pointing out was an obvious point, true, made clear years ago, true, but still not (yet) implemented. Your snarky sarcasm simply comes off as hipste
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Think about your current computer (don't care if it's a desktop or a laptop).
Now think about getting the same processing power, memory and storage capacity... 20 or even 10 years ago.
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The point is that all he's describing is a small computer with video out, that is not in any way closer to the Iphone than a wide range of other devices out there today.
Even Captain Obvious can work out that computers are going to keep getting smaller.
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Does anyone here have any doubt that the artist was paid by Apple to create the work on the iPhone? I think it's a smart move by Apple to do this.
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Yeah, I agree 100%. Also, they have been making new CPUs for a long time, that is not news. And new OS have been coming out for years, that is not news. Rights have been violated since humanity left the trees, that is not news.
I think we are safe to say shut the site down, there is no news anymore, apparently.
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On the desktop, sure, but they're a small player on the mobile phone market.
Of course we should hear about Apple, when it comes to actual news. The point is that we hardly ever hear about the much bigger players in the mobile phone market such as Nokia. The other point is that even for bigger companies like Microsoft, I don't recall seeing stories such as "You can now view this website on a Microsoft platform!!" or "Artists uses Microsoft!!"
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Could you imagine doing that just 5 years back? 10?
I was browsing web sites and playing games and using applications on phones 5 years ago, and I saw other people doing it years before that. It was pretty obvious that phones were going to become more powerful computers as time went on.
One wonders what amazing things we'll be doing 5 years from now on our cell phones. I think this is very cool.
The continual increasing in computing power that started years ago is indeed cool. I'm sure you'll be wondering whi
Kinda Cool (Score:5, Insightful)
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This is kinda cool. Not so much that it was an iPhone, but that it was a handheld device. How much longer until these phones replace a laptop for most of our day-to-day computing?
Much of the appeal of a laptop is the screen real estate. You can use your iPhone as a laptop, and you can can use your laptop as a phone, but seriously. Use the proper tool for the proper job.
Re:Kinda Cool (Score:5, Insightful)
The minute we can get proper monitors in our sunglasses and data plans free of ridiculous limits.
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You can get data plans free of ridiculous limits on your laptop? You can use WiFi and get the same kind of access and limits as a laptop.
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Re:Kinda Cool (Score:5, Interesting)
For a lot of what I do it already has. I am always up to date on reading my email and much faster on sending high priority replies. For low priority replies I still wait until I have a proper keyboard in front of me. When I'm lunching by myself I do a lot of surfing on the phone including slashdot. When laying on the couch, the screen navigation features are good enough that if I have a quick surfing need, I'll just pull out the phone rather than walk to my computer.
It's not a complete replacement, but it's way more of a replacement than I imagined it would be with such a tiny screen and no keyboard.
Sheldon
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How much longer until these phones replace a laptop for most of our day-to-day computing?
As long as it takes them to create one with a real keyboard, and a monitor that is at least as big as the one on my Acer Aspire.
The idea of a phone replacing your computer is probably really great if you're speculating from behind your iBook while sipping on a Mocha Frappacheeno, but for the people actually USING their computers? The ones traveling? The ones doing more than updating their twitter status?
Phones will not EVER replace their laptops (they will[do] supplement them).
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At some point we're bound to see a company bring out what is essentially a laptop shell docking station and power supply for your phone.
Could we call it a "netbook" and have the "docking mechanism" be a USB cable?
These things are only going to improve, and they're already more powerful than high-end desktop machines from ten years ago.
I think you're missing the point. We're not using notebooks as number crunchers, they're mobile email/office/web platforms. The reason that they won't be replaced by phones is the screen and keyboard sizes. Processing power/ram has reached a point where it doesn't need to get any better for the typical sorts of things people use their computers for.
Don't forget that phone-sized-computers have existed (and failed miserably) befor
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You really sound stuck in the past when it comes to your views of small computers.
And you really sound like a 17 year old coffee shop dwelling mac fanboi that can't pull his head out of his ass long enough to realize that the mobile computing market is driven by people that want to take their computers with them.
Nobody is going to lug a keyboard, and an external monitor with them. Possibly the people who buy their computers as fashion accessories (I suspect that you fall into this category) would, but the people using them will not.
You're citing mac's sales figures for the iPhone (a tel
Umm.. never? (Score:2)
Take a look at the blurred and aquarelle-like picture [photobucket.com] in TFV and compare it with other New Yorker covers and then think about what you wrote there.
While you are at it - try writing a memo on your phone.
If it is an iPhone there is probably an app for it. Or two. Or 183.
I hear that there is an app for EVERYTHING on iPhone.
Colours for the DS (Score:3, Informative)
A PSP-sized device with that kind of capability would be a pretty great portable drawing device. The DS is a bit too small for me.
Watching the drawing process (Score:2)
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HTF does a wikipedia link to "tablet PC" get "+1 Informative" when the person they're replying to says "... a tablet laptop" right there in the comment?
*sigh* indeed.
Re:Kinda Cool (Score:5, Funny)
I forgot something [wikipedia.org] in my response?
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Behold as I shoot myself in the foot... (Score:2)
I can't believe I'm pissed enough to post the following and likely launch myself to karma hell, but I am:
*I* modded that up. Look at the comment from the same poster linking to the message pad. This is nothing but hype, and the worse kind of it. The link to the tablet PC is a single-glance response to the entire thread.
Crap like "Before, unless I had a flashlight or a miner's hat, I could not draw in the dark." and "Colombo leans heavily on the Undo feature". OMFG! Apple brought us light! And the UNDO featu
In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
a group of 30 4 year olds using a magnetic refrigerator alphabet wrote all the features and articles in the same magazine. In un-related news the New Yorker seems to be having financial problems as fewer and fewer people read the garbage they publish.
Re:In other news... (Score:4, Insightful)
In their defense the articles are often pretty good, generally 20 pages longer than necessary, but the writing is good. Now the New Yorker cartoons are simply indefensible.
I've been going through one of the New Yorker desk calenders this year and it is about 1 out of 20 strips that actually work. The rest are simply lazy. I mean am I supposed to create the scenario? Is that how it works? Is that why it is so clever? Because it makes me feel like I'm smart? That isn't a joke, that is the sound of an armless man masturbating.
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/resources/2007/07/BadNewYorkerCartoon.jpg [gawker.com]
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That is the best description for a bad comic I've seen in a while. Nice!
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I'm not quite sure how the desk calendars work but I got one a couple of years ago. Dullsville! But I've also been subscribing to the New Yorker for last three years or so. The cartoons in the magazine are much funnier. Maybe these calendars have this in small print:
'Rejects from', and in large print 'The New Yorker.'
As far as the drawing I'd be willing to bet that cover wouldn't have been published if it had not been drawn on an iphone. And I'd be willing to bet the 2nd, 3rd, ...400th drawings done on ipho
iPhone Has No Pressure Sensitivity? (Score:4, Interesting)
Please correct me if I am wrong, but I think one important issue with the capacitative screen as used in Apple's phone is that while it does support multitouch, it does not support different pressure levels corresponding to force applied against the screen? To get pressure sensitivity similar to a Wacom-style pad, you'd need to be using a Palm/WinMo handheld which, with resistive screens, can support different pressures applied by finger or stylus. Is this correct? If so, then it's remarkable that he managed to produce quite a nice cartoon given the limitations of the device he was using. But you have to wonder how much more efficient a similar artist could be with a more artist-friendly approach. I assume that this brushes application lets you create a swipe, then click it afterwards to increase or decrease the transparency/strength/brush effects. That's got to be a lot less intuitive than just pressing your finger/stylus more or less to get the same effect. In effect, a single gesture dimensioned using pressure has been elongated into a mutli-step gesture dimensioned with serial, semantic twiddling.
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It could also use time. Drag your finger over quickly, it uses X% opacity. Drag slowly to get completely opaque. Or vice versa.
Good Point (Score:2)
That's true, good point. I've just plugged in the old 2000-vintage Wacom to check how Photoshop registers coverage using the stylus. There seems to be an on-off signal, a pressure signal and yes, for some brushes, a time component that strengthens or re-iterates the effect when held stationary over an area.
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It Just Works!
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Actually, a big problem with capacitive screens is... you can't tap accurately. Instead of a sharp "point" on a resistive touchscreen (within the accuracy of the analog side and the ADC), you get an area. Things like controls (buttons, fields, etc) tend to have to be larger and spaced out on a capacitive screen because getting an accurate point is extremely difficult.
It's like trying to draw using a mouse vs. a touchpad. It'd doable, just a bit more difficult.
Adding fine detail to a photo is extremely hard
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Sorry, I meant with high precision, not accuracy. Tap the same spot twice on the iPhone screen and you'll end up with different coordinates. Big buttons make it easier by allowing a larger error radius, though.
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WOW! (Score:5, Funny)
Apple, thank you for finally enabling us artists to draw in the dark. Only Apple could pioneer this astounding technology.
how ironical (Score:3, Funny)
Nothing new (Score:5, Insightful)
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I saw one in XP once in college a few years ago. Go figure it was because of the (ancient) nVidia video drivers they never bothered to update.
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Or you could do it with sheep.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDAM5lSPCwk [youtube.com]
"Making of" as a new genre (Score:5, Insightful)
The video of the process is a work of art all its own, capturing the evolution of the scene. There is a sense of change and even of loss, which you wouldn't get from the finished work alone.
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Bob Ross? (Score:2)
Is that you?
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This has been done forever. Fractal Design Painter would not only generate these movies many years ago, but it also actually records and plays back strokes, and it can play them back with different media. If you are into "natural media" art on the computer, you owe it to yourself to check out Painter.
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This has been done forever. Fractal Design Painter would not only...
On a phone?
I know it's unfashionable... (Score:5, Insightful)
to refrain from complaining about a kdawson post, but I saw this early this morning and thought it was cool as well. So sue me. Yes, people have been drawing on computers for a Long Time with lots of different input devices; and no, it's not the best tool (portable or otherwise) for drawing with. And I detest all the often-unmerited love that Apple gets...but this was cool, it is an example of how, even on a converged device that can't touch dedicated devices, technology has become accessible enough that people are able to do real worth with it, no matter where they are. It's similar to Chase Jarvis and his iPhone pictures. It's not the best camera, not even the best camera phone, but it's both a demonstration of how art isn't about the technology, it's about the artist; and it's a demonstration of what we could each accomplish with even these limited tools if we had the talent and discipline to use them to their fullest. It's not, to me, about it being an Apple product, it's about art, talent, and the progress of technology.
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I'm not trolling here, but why does it seem like the buzz is often about apple products then? I don't see much about people creating art with their blackberry or their palm. Or is there a lot of this going on and I just missed it?
If someone asked me, I would say that it's a combination of Apple products marketed well and that they make pretty good products to begin (e.g. easy to use) -- I don't th
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I'm not trolling here, but why does it seem like the buzz is often about apple products then? I don't see much about people creating art with their blackberry or their palm. Or is there a lot of this going on and I just missed it?
My take is that this is largely about "buzz" being a bit of a feedback loop. Apple has been very good about using prior buzz to create new buzz for its new products. This, in turn, has been great at driving sales to people who want the attributes being marketed (ease-of-use, rich functionality). They, in turn, create content that gets buzz (often simply for being an example of how "buzzworth product x" can be used), which helps reinforce the buzz around the product. It's possible that you could do somet
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I'm not trolling here, but why does it seem like the buzz is often about apple products then? I don't see much about people creating art with their blackberry or their palm.
The art was created by a third-party app. Apple did not write Brushes but they made it possible for a developer to not just create it but easily put it in the hands of customers. So, it's not strictly an article about Apple products.
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Coincidentally, Chase Jarvis commented on the New Yorker's cover in his blog yesterday:
http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/ [chasejarvis.com]
Cool process (Score:2)
Working with more natural subjects (Score:3, Interesting)
The big story is (Score:2)
Artist can create art on almost any medium while my biggest achievement is a stick figure pictured below ;)-
Wow (Score:2)
is all I can say. It is truly amazing that anything created on a phone could embody the level of dignity and sophistication required to appear on the cover of the same magazine that featured the "Obama Terrorist Fist Bump" and other cartoons of much hilarity and wit [gawker.com].
I'm not an artist (Score:2)
so I found that he created the background images, only to almost totally obscure them by foreground images, pretty interesting. You can clearly see pedestrians and three cabs about mid-way through; but by the time of the final image you can barely see the light of one of the cabs. Interesting, to me at least.
Can an Artist comment on if that's a typical of the process of iterating on the image, or is it done to give depth of field etc that wouldn't be possible to layer in later? I suppose if I were to go
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Given that I'm reading Slashdot from an iPod touch, from my deck, while grilling, I'd say they already have. The only trick here is that they have gotten a lot, lot cheaper than your average, non-netbook laptop. If you can't beat them with horsepower and features, you will always get them by being the cheapest ride in town.
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Wow, you have some elaborate fantasies about me. Maybe we should cyber, it seems like you want me pretty bad. Been a naughty boy? You like it rough, want a spanking or something? I could work that into my schedule.
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Wow, what an active imagination you have. And all over little old me.
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Yawn. How do you expect to keep getting my attention if you can't even keep your trolling fresh? Get some new material.
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Gotta love Troll Tuesdays. :)
Wait, what? (Score:2)
You think I'm conservative? Crap, you aren't the AC I thought you were, you don't actually know me at all. I thought my fricken' stalker had finally outed himself. Ah well, it was still fun, just don't take it personally. You're pretty good, but you do need to learn to mix it up a bit more. And don't try the lifestyle guesses unless you actually know something about your target, when they miss, they give the game away. Just a tip from one troll to another.
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Give it a rest already. You aren't even close. I know you need the attention, but please.
Because you are so interested, I'll let you know a little about me. I don't play WoW, MMORPGs suck. Hunter S Thompson's first book was interesting, the one about the Hell's Angels. The rest? Meh.
Pet ferrets? That's just random. I have a dog. Patchouli? Am I a hippie or a redneck, get it straight. Larry the Cable Guy and Dane Cook both suck donkey balls. I've never had a tattoo. Yawl? Again, get your barbs straight, am I
Happy Troll Tuesday (Score:2)
I know you. You are my little pet stalker, aren't you? You write just like that AC from a while back. It's nice to know that I have fans that care about me so much. Please, do go on, I find your interest fascinating.
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Your obsession over me knows no bounds, does it? Drop me an email, I live in Albuquerque, if you are nearby, we could get together and play out that domination/humiliation fantasy of yours. I'll spank your bottom and you can call me Daddy.
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If you want me to keep abusing you, you can email me at seth dot rightmer at state dot nm dot us. Subject line should read, 'Daddy, I've been naughty and I need a spanking.'
What are you wearing? Is it see through? Kinky little monkey, you like it rough, don't you? Trust me,I can deliver, but for you I'll have to charge a premium.
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Too far off base to register, you need to hit closer to home for your barbs to actually hurt. That's the problem with lifestyle guesses as trolling material, you need to be sure of your aim before you use them or you just look silly. You should also rethink the 'I'm making you dance to my tune,' trick, it's outdated and it almost always backfires. Not that I haven't used it too, but it's a throwaway. I've found using sex and sexual innuendo to be good trolling fun, especially with prudes.
Anyways, it's been
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How does the number of posts in this thread make me look bad, but not you? Isn't that a tad hypocritical?
I can't help it if my lifestyle makes you jealous. Maybe if you did something worthwhile of your own, you wouldn't feel so bad about yourself. No, getting published in the New Yorker doesn't count. Tell me, did that liberal arts degree get you a managers job at the Burger King, or are you still working the cash register?
Troll Tuesday Explained (Score:2)
You've been a good sport, and you have potential. Okay, so here's the gag. Troll Tuesday is an old tradition dating back to the time they implemented karma here. The way it works is, people with a lot of karma burn some of it off on Tuesdays, by saying stupid, outrageous, outlandish, wrong, and inflammatory things. In the process we get newbs who can ill afford to lose their karma to flame us and lose theirs. Call it our community service.
You have potential as a troll, because you've posted some smart and o
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