Orphan Works BILL.

Latest update and news for International Artists on how to help make a difference…

Hi Guys, I have just received two more posts from the Illustrator’s Partnership of America, today, so I figured I would again post them up here for you guys to see. I have also been asked off several UK and other international artists how they can get involved and what they can do.

Please scroll below to Post two where you will find a link to the answers to those questions.

POST ONE:

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP

Orphan Works: The Bill's Not Law Till it's Law: 9.30.08

Yesterday, nearly 5,000 copyright holders wrote Congress. They urged their representatives not to let the House pass the Orphan Works Act (H.R. 5889). They urged them not to scrap the House bill and adopt the Senate's. So far they haven't.

That makes nearly 8,000 of us who've written Congress since last Friday. We thank all of you who've written. Keep writing. Tell others to write. The bill's not law till it's law.

TAKE ACTION: EMAIL CONGRESS NOW
Tell the House Judiciary Committee not to adopt the Senate version.

We've supplied a special letter for this purpose:
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11980321

Please post or forward this message immediately to any interested party.
___________________________________________________________________

For ongoing developments, go to the Illustrators' Partnership Orphan Works Blog: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/

Over 75 organizations oppose this bill, representing over half a million creators. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, songwriters, musicians, and countless licensing firms all believe this bill will harm their small businesses.

The Capwiz site is open to professional creators and any member of the image-making public. International artists will find a special link, with a sample letter and instructions as to whom to write.

If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com
Place "Add Name" in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area.

Please post or forward this email to any interested party.
___________________________________________________________________
POST TWO:

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP

Orphan Works: Connect the Dots: 9.30.08

1. Web firms quietly win copyright victory in Congress

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) Sept 29 -- As the media turned its attention last weekend to battles on Capitol Hill over the fate of the proposed Wall Street bailout bill, Internet companies including Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. quietly walked away with a legislative victory that could facilitate their use of copyrighted material.

The Senate on Friday passed the Orphan Works Act of 2008, legislation that weakens copyright protection for works whose owners cannot be located. The legislation has now been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

The legislation requires only that a company make a "reasonably diligent" search to locate a copyright owner before using their work in media including the Internet, and limits compensation required for the use of an infringed work.

By John Letzing, MarketWatch Sept. 29, 2008
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/web-firms-quietly-win-copyright/story.aspx?guid={E21206C0-98F5-459B-9506-8133CBD82859}&dist=hpts

2. Google Acknowledges Copyright Infringement Claims Could Harm Business

ILLUSTRATORS PARTNERSHIP Sept 30 -- In March 2007, Google filed a mandatory 10-Q Filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In it, they acknowledged: "copyright claims filed against us [by copyright owners] alleging that features of certain of our products and services, including Google Web Search, Google News, Google Video, Google Image Search, Google Book Search and YouTube, infringe their rights."

Google admitted that "[a]dverse results in these lawsuits may include awards of substantial monetary damages, costly royalty or licensing agreements or orders preventing us from offering certain functionalities, and may also result in a change in our business practices, which could result in a loss of revenue for us or otherwise harm our business." (Italics added.)

Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, Illustrators Partnership
http://investor.google.com/documents/20070331_10-Q.html

3. Google Sees Value in Orphan Works

ILLUSTRATORS PARTNERSHIP March 8, 2006 -- At the Copyright Office's Orphan Works Roundtables, July 26-27, 2005, Alexander MacGilivray of Google stated:

"The thing that I would encourage the Copyright Office to consider is not just the very, very small scale -the one user who wants to make use of the [orphan] work - but also the very, very large scale - and talking in the millions of works. - page 21

"Google strongly believes that these orphan works are both worthwhile, useful, and extremely valuable." - page 119

"We expect that our use of these orphan works will likely be in the 1 million works range..." (Italics added.) - page 166

"[W]e know that many of them [orphan works] will be in the public domain, that most of their authors won't care. But there are a few [authors] that really will care and they will come forward [to claim authorship] and it will be extremely inefficient for us." (Italics added.) -page 166
(Page numbers are from Copyright Office transcripts.)

Orphan Works Roundtables were held by the US Copyright Office July 26-7, 2005 in Washington DC
http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/transcript/0726LOC.PDF

4. Google Donates $3 Million to U.S. Library of Congress

Australian IT Nov 23, 2005 -- The U.S. Library of Congress is kicking off a campaign to work with other nation's libraries to build a World Digital Library, starting with a $US3 million donation from Google.

Eric Auchard in San Francisco November 23, 2005
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,17339145%5E15409%5E%5Enbv%5E15306-15322,00.html

TAKE ACTION: EMAIL CONGRESS NOW
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11980321

Please post or forward this message immediately to any interested party.

__________________________________________________________________
For news and information:
Illustrators' Partnership Orphan Works Blog: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/
Over 75 organizations oppose this bill, representing over half a million creators. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, songwriters, musicians, and countless licensing firms all believe this bill will harm their small businesses.

U.S. Creators and the image-making public can email Congress through the Capwiz site: http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/

2 minutes is all it takes to tell the U.S. Congress to uphold copyright protection for the world's artists.

INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS please fax these 4 U.S. State Agencies and appeal to your home representatives for intervention. http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00267

CALL CONGRESS: 1-800-828-0498. Tell the U.S. Capitol Switchboard Operator "I would like to leave a message for Congressperson __________ that I oppose the Orphan Works Act." The switchboard operator will patch you through to the lawmaker's office and often take a message which also gets passed on to the lawmaker. Once you're put through tell your Representative the message again.

If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com
Place "Add Name" in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area.

STOP THE ORPHAN WORKS ACT NOW.

Please post or forward this email to any interested party.

Okay folks, as I said in my last two Blogs here, lets hope cynicism loses out here and the guys in power do the “right” thing and throw this Bill out of the window on moral grounds.

If I hear more I’ll let you guys know.

Until next time have fun!

Tim Perkins…
September 30th 2008

Orphan Works BILL.

US Senate Pass the Bill – The House now holds the cards…

Hi Guys, I have just received two more posts from the Illustrator’s Partnership of America, one yesterday evening and one this morning, so I figured I would post them up here for you guys to see. It would seem the senate is one step closer to this Bill being passed.

POST ONE:

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP

Orphan Works: The Devil's Own Day

Never Too Busy to Pass Special Interest Legislation 9.28.08

As lawmakers struggled Friday to clean up the mess on Wall Street, sponsors of the Orphan Works Act passed more special interest legislation. Their bill would force copyright holders to subsidize giant copyright databases run by giant Internet firms.

Like the companies now needing billion dollar bailouts, these copyright registries, which would theoretically contain the entire copyright wealth of the US - would presumably be "too big to fail." Yet it's our wealth, not theirs, the scheme would risk.

Small business owners didn't ask for this legislation. We don't want it and we don't need it. Our opposition numbers have been growing daily. So Friday, the bill's sponsors reached for the hotline.

What is Hotlining?

Critics of hotlining say, "that lawmakers are essentially signing off on legislation neither they nor their staff have ever read."

"In order for a bill to be hotlined, the Senate Majority Leader and Minority Leader must agree to pass it by unanimous consent, without a roll-call vote. The two leaders then inform Members of this agreement using special hotlines installed in each office and give Members a specified amount of time to object - in some cases as little as 15 minutes. If no objection is registered, the bill is passed."
Roll Call, Sept 17, 2007

In other words, a Senate bill can pass by "unanimous consent" even if some Senators don't know about it.

The Devil's Own Day

Senators Leahy and Hatch hotlined the Orphan Works Act twice last summer. Each time came at the end of a day, at the end of a week, near the end of a legislative session. Each time lawmakers were distracted by other issues and other plans. Each time artists rallied quickly and each time a Senator put a hold on the bill.

Friday the Senators found a new opportunity

With lawmakers struggling to package a 700 billion dollar bailout to avert a worldwide economic meltdown, with the rest of the country focused on Presidential debates, with Washington in chaos and Congressional phone lines jammed, they hotlined an amended bill. On short notice, even the legislative aides we could reach by phone said they didn't have time to read it. And so, while we were rushing to get out a second email blast to artists, the bill passed by "unanimous consent" - in other words, by default.

What better way to pass a bill that was drafted in secret than to pass it while nobody's looking?

Since Friday, artists have been conducting bitter post mortems on their blogs. That's understandable, but it's not time yet.

"When Sherman arrived at Grant's headquarters later that evening, he found the general - broken sword and all - chewing on a soggy cigar in the rain, which had begun soaking the battlefield.

'Well, Grant,' Sherman said to his friend, 'we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?'

'Yes,' replied Grant, 'lick 'em tomorrow, though.'"

The Senate passed their bill Friday, but the House hasn't. There's still time to write, phone and fax your congressional representatives. Tell them not to let the House Judiciary Committee fold their bill and adopt the Senate's.

Tell Congress to protect the private property of small businesses. Lick 'em tomorrow.

Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the Board of the Illustrators' Partnership
Quote from "The Devil's Own Day," by Christopher Allen, January 2000 America's Civil War Magazine

TAKE ACTION: EMAIL CONGRESS TONIGHT

Tell the House Judiciary Committee not to adopt the Senate version.
We've supplied a special letter for this purpose:http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11980321

Please post or forward this message immediately to any interested party.
___________________________________________________________________
For ongoing developments visit the Illustrators' Partnership Orphan Works Blog:
http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/

Over 70 creator organizations are united in opposing this bill in its current form. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, songwriters, musicians, and countless licensing firms all believe this bill will harm their small businesses.

Read the list: http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00273

The Capwiz site is open to professional creators and any member of the image-making public. Sample letters have been provided. International artists will find a special link, with a sample letter and instructions as to whom to write.

If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com
Place "Add Name" in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area.
___________________________________________________________________
POST TWO:

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP

Orphan Works: Legislation by Misdirection: 9.29.08.

The architects of the Orphan Works Act have already placed testaments to the bill on their websites:

Senator Leahy: http://leahy.senate.gov/issues/OrphanWorks.html

Senator Hatch: http://tinyurl.com/3jsq5o

They say this "landmark intellectual property bill" will "unlock proverbial attics of copyrighted works" whose owners can't be found. Is that really what all the fuss has been about?

No. If that were the case, the problems could be solved with a modest expansion of Fair Use. It's not proverbial closets we fear seeing unlocked. It's our commercial inventories, which would be exposed to potential infringement.

And while one Senator pointedly writes that the bill "does not dramatically restructure copyright law" (emphasis added), he's right: it doesn't "restructure" it. It merely redefines an orphaned work so broadly that it would let users infringe millions of works as orphans on the premise that some might be.

And why, if the bill is only meant to benefit libraries and museums, have the doors been opened wide for commercial usage?

A Fundamental Change to Copyright Law

For us, the saddest of these postings is on the Copyright Office website itself. http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/

There, Marybeth Peters, the Register of Copyrights explains that this bill is necessary because the U.S., in trying to harmonize our law with international agreements, has created too many orphans.

But that's not the sad part. There are orphans. She's entitled to her belief. And as Register of Copyrights, she's entitled to lobby for a change in the law. But what's sad is that the Register, who we've respected for years as an advocate for creators rights, has chosen to justify this legislative scheme by mischaracterizing the honest objections that creators have raised in good faith, again and again.

Here's how she summarizes the objections of the hundreds of thousands of artists, writers, photographers and musicians who oppose this bill:
"Some critics [she writes] believe that the legislation is unfair because it will deprive copyright owners of injunctive relief, statutory damages, and actual damages. I do not agree.

Well, those are all real issues, but they've never been our focus. We've made our case clearly, simply and often.

Our objection goes to the heart of the matter. Here it is, as one of us expressed it in his opening statement at the Small Business Administration Roundtable, August 8:

"The bill's sponsors say it's merely a small adjustment to copyright law. In fact, its logic reverses copyright law. It presumes that the public is entitled to use your work as a primary right and that it's your obligation to make your work available. If this bill passes, in the United States, copyright will no longer be the exclusive right of the copyright holder."
From "Orphan Works: A Hobson's Choice for Artists," by Brad Holland August 8 2008

And in case the point needed elaboration:

"This exclusive right matters to artists for three reasons:

1.) Creative control: No one can change your work without your permission
2.) Ownership: No one can use your work without your permission
3.) Value: In the marketplace, your ability to sell exclusive rights to a client triples the value of your work
http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/2008/08/orphan-works-hobsons-choice-for-artists.html

The Orphan Works Act passed by the Senate Friday explicitly voids that exclusive right as expressed in Article 9 of the Berne Copyright Convention:

(1) Authors of literary and artistic works protected by this Convention shall have the exclusive right of authorizing the reproduction of these works, in any manner or form.

(2) It shall be a matter for legislation in the countries of the Union to permit the reproduction of such works in certain special cases, provided that such reproduction does not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and does not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author.

(3) Any sound or visual recording shall be considered as a reproduction for the purposes of this Convention.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/9.html

There can be no responsible argument that the Orphan Works Act is consistent with Article 9 of Berne. None.

Simple reason: the Orphan Works Act does not limit exemptions to an author's exclusive right to "certain special cases." Case closed.

There are many other reasons to object to this terrible bill: it violates the entirety of Article 9. But we only need to make this single point to show that it's a radically new copyright law.

Hiding the Rabbit

The key to the Congressional magic act has been to hide an anti-copyright rabbit in an Orphan Works hat while misdirecting attention to a tedious debate about "reasonably diligent searches," injunctive relief and statutory damages.

Meanwhile the secret of the trick has been simple: redefine an orphaned work as "a work by an unlocatable author."

This new definition would permit any person to infringe any work by any artist at any time for any reason - no matter how commercial - so long as the infringer found the author sufficiently hard to find.

Since everybody can be hard for somebody to find, this voids a rights holder's exclusive right to his own property. It defines the public's right to use private property as a default position, available to anyone whenever the property owner fails to make himself sufficiently available.

This is a new definition of copyright law

The headline on the Copyright Office website should read:

In the United States, Copyright Will No Longer Be the Exclusive Right of the Copyright Holder.

This headline would at least have the virtue of candor.

On March 13, the Register of Copyrights testified before the House IP Subcommittee. On page 1 of her testimony she said:

"Every country has orphan works and I believe that, sooner or later, every country will be motivated to consider a solution. The solution proposed by the Copyright Office is a workable one and will be of interest to other countries."
http://www.copyright.gov/docs/regstat031308.html

You can bet it will be of interest to other countries, because the copyrights of other countries can now be orphans in the U.S. too. The Copyright Office and the Senate have thrown down a gauntlet to the world.

Write your congressional representatives today and tell them not to follow.

Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the Board of the Illustrators' Partnership

TAKE ACTION: EMAIL CONGRESS NOW
Tell the House Judiciary Committee not to adopt the Senate version.

We've supplied a special letter for this purpose:
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11980321

Please post or forward this message immediately to any interested party.
___________________________________________________________________
For ongoing developments, go to the Illustrators' Partnership Orphan Works Blog: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/

Over 70 organizations oppose this bill, representing over half a million creators. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, songwriters, musicians, and countless licensing firms all believe this bill will harm their small businesses.

The Capwiz site is open to professional creators and any member of the image-making public. International artists will find a special link, with a sample letter and instructions as to whom to write.

If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com
Place "Add Name" in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area.

Please post or forward this email to any interested party.
___________________________________________________________________

Okay folks there you have it. It looks as though this Bill could see the light of day as law. If you are able to react to this please do so as early as possible. As I said on Saturday, lets hope cynicism loses out here and the guys in power do the “right” thing and throw this Bill out of the window on moral grounds.

If I hear more I’ll let you guys know.

Until next time have fun!

Tim Perkins…
September 29th 2008

Orphan Works BILL.

The Latest News…

Hi Guys, it’s been a while since I posted anything here, due to my Mum being rushed into hospital on Tuesday 9th September around lunchtime. Later that night she underwent major surgery. As a result I have been spending most of the days and nights up at the hospital with my Dad visiting Mum.

Thankfully she is now home and hopefully on the long road to recovery. One thing she has asked me to do is thank everyone that has phoned or emailed me asking how she is for their kind thoughts, even though she has never met most of you.

I had planned to write some other Blogs, but in lieu of those I thought I would post this particular one, as it a subject I feel strongly about and also because I know a lot of you guys are following this as well.

I have just received three posts, one yesterday and two this morning, so I figured I would post them up here for you guys to see.

POST ONE:

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP

ORPHAN WORKS BILL HOTLINED Again.

THIS MEANS IT COULD PASS THE SENATE THIS AFTERNOON
PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS IMMEDIATELY

ASK THEM TO VOTE NO ON THIS BILL:
S2913 THE SHAWN BENTLEY ORPHAN WORKS ACT OF 2008

ASK THEM TO PUT A "HOLD" ON THE BILL:
TELL THEM YOU OPPOSE THIS CONTROVERSIAL BILL
ASK THEM NOT TO PASS IT WITHOUT A FULL AND OPEN HEARING
WARN THEM THAT IT WILL DO GREAT HARM TO SMALL BUSINESSES

To find your Senators' phone numbers go to the Illustrators' Partnership Orphan Works site:

http://illustratorspartnership.capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/dbq/officials/

At the top of the home page, click on "Elected Officials"
You'll find a US map:
Click on your state,
Then "Senators,"
Then click on each Senator's name,
Then click "Contact."
This will give you their phone and fax numbers.

Please phone and fax them both immediately.

Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the Board of the Illustrators' Partnership

Over 70 organizations are united in opposing this bill in its current form. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, songwriters, musicians, and countless licensing firms all believe this bill will harm their small businesses.

The Capwiz site is open to professional creators and any member of the image-making public. Sample letters have been provided. International artists will find a special link, with a sample letter and instructions as to whom to write.

If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com
Place "Add Name" in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area.

Please post or forward this message in its entirety to any interested party.
______________________________________________

POST TWO:

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP

Orphan Works: Risking Our Nation's Copyright Wealth

The Senate has just passed their version of the Orphan Works Bill.

Now we must try to stop the House Judiciary Committee from folding their bill and adopting the Senate version.

We've supplied a special letter for this purpose.

PLEASE EMAIL CONGRESS TONIGHT.

USE THIS LINK:
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11980321

Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the Board of the Illustrators' Partnership

For ongoing developments, go to the Illustrators' Partnership Orphan Works blog: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/

Over 70 organizations are united in opposing this bill in its current form. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, songwriters, musicians, and countless licensing firms all believe this bill will harm their small businesses.

The Capwiz site is open to professional creators and any member of the image-making public. Sample letters have been provided. International artists will find a special link, with a sample letter and instructions as to whom to write.

If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com
Place "Add Name" in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area.

Please post or forward this message in its entirety to any interested party.
______________________________________________

POST THREE:

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP

Orphan Works Opposition: Plan B

SEPT 27: Yesterday, in a cynical move, the sponsors of the Senate Orphan Works Act passed their controversial bill by a controversial practice known as hotlining.

With lawmakers scrambling to raise 700 billion dollars to bail out businesses that are "too big to fail," the Senate passed a bill that would force small copyright holders to subsidize big Internet interests such as Google, which has already said it plans to use millions of the images this bill will orphan.

With the meltdown on Wall Street, this is no time for Congress to concentrate our nation's copyright wealth in the hands of a few privately owned corporate databases. The contents of these databases would be more valuable than secure banking information. Yet this bill would compel creators to risk their own intellectual property to supply content to these corporate business models. That means it would be our assets at risk in the event of their failure or mismanagement.

As David Rhodes, President of the School of Visual Arts has said, the Orphan Works bill would socialize the expense of copyright protection while privatising the profit of creative endeavours. Copyright owners neither want nor need this legislation. It will do great harm to small businesses. We already have a banking crisis. Congress should not lay the groundwork for a copyright crisis.

Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the Illustrators' Partnership

NOW FOR PLAN B

We MUST try to stop the House Judiciary Committee from folding their bill (HR5889) and adopting the Senate version.

PLEASE EMAIL CONGRESS TODAY.
If you've done it before, do it again!

It takes only a minute to use our new special letter.
Click on the link below, enter your zip code, and take the next steps.
Thanks to all of you who heeded the call to action yesterday.

http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11980321

For ongoing developments, go to the Illustrators' Partnership Orphan Works blog: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/

Over 70 organizations oppose this bill, representing over half a million creators. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, songwriters, musicians, and countless licensing firms all believe this bill will harm their small businesses.

The Capwiz site is open to professional creators and any member of the image-making public. International artists will find a special link, with a sample letter and instructions as to whom to write.

If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com
Place "Add Name" in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area.

Please post or forward this email to any interested party.
______________________________________________

Okay folks there you have it, lets hope cynicism loses out here and the guys in power do the “right” thing and throw this Bill out of the window on moral grounds.

If I hear more I’ll let you guys know.

Until next time have fun!

Tim Perkins…
September 27th 2008

Bentley Bogtrotter & Friends…

Part 2 of the Blog about my new dog…

I thought this time around I would introduce you to the other animals that live here with my new dog Bentley. Today you’ll meet Casper and Charlie, our two cats, Bryndal, the eldest of our four softies, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, next is Colin, then Morgan, the newest addition, and Tilly, the youngest of the four. You’ll also meet my daughter, Joanne’s dog, Lucy, or Raster or Ratty, as I call her, who lived with us, until Joanne moved into her own house last year and her cat Sox, who, it would seem wishes to conquer the universe.

Below are some more of the photos of Bentley, this time with his new chums:

Bentley, posing again...

Bentley, deep in thought...

Bentley meets Colin...

I can see you, you know - Bentley & Tilly

Surrounded by dogs - the day before Morgan arrives

Casper - Lord of all he surveys...

Charlie - don't mess with this guy...

Tilly, peeping...

Tilly - Ooh, look an Elf and some paw prints...

Partners in crime - Tilly & Bentley

Bryndal and Colin - Two great big softies...

Morgan and her new boyfriend, Colin

Ahh...

Simon, Morgan & Colin

Me, Colin & Morgan

Simon & baby Colin on his first Christmas 2007

Lucy (Raster or Ratty) Joanne's dog

Sox - No one would have believed, in the early years of the twenty-first century, that human affairs were being watched from a cat basket...

A sleeping Bogtrotter...

Well there you have them, in all their glory…

Bentley has also established himself as a bit of a Magpie too, as he nicks things and hoards them in a little stash at the top of the landing, where you can always find his toys and bones too. It looks like we have young kids again since he came, with his stuff everywhere. The other day I found him with Margaret’s reading glasses in his possession, on the bed – he was licking the lenses…I told her he had been cleaning them for her.

If he thinks he is in trouble he takes on another animal’s attributes too, those of a Guinea Pig as he scuttles across the floor with his belly scraping along it and his little legs almost like a reptile’s…and he really does look like a Guinea Pig then, probably due to his puppy colouring.

He still spends most of the day with me and then some time with his new mates, in the evening, then some more time with me in the Studio, before retiring to bed. He is proving more than a little inspirational at the moment, which is great.

Anyhow I hope you like the little fellow and please feel free to drop him a line anytime via the website at:

Bentley@wizards-keep.com

Look out for more from Bentley in future Blogs, as I keep you up to date with his many adventures. BTW: The first person to send an email gets a free gift!

Until next time have fun!

Tim Perkins…
September 8th 2008

Bentley Bogtrotter…

A look at my new dog…

I thought this time around I would introduce you to my new dog Bentley. I have nick named the little fellow Bogtrotter, as he seems to love meandering around in Margaret’s tubs and pots outside in the back garden, despite this summer’s downpours.

Below are some of the photos I took on his first day with me:

Bentley's 1st Photo

Bentley's Basket in the Studio

Ooh, a basket for me and toys and bones too...

Bentley, Close-up

Bentley, asleep in his basket on his 1st night in the Studio

Yes, but I like this chair at the web-computer...

By Day 2 Bentley was shattered...

Now I know you have sorted me a basket, but I like this Leather Studio Chair

Guarding the Beast of the Studio...

He certainly puts the terror in to Yorkshire terrier. He has taken over the house as pack leader, after me of course and he has been my constant shadow ever since he arrived on Saturday July 9th. He sits on my knee whilst I work at the computer. The only trouble being he likes to press the keys and has changed colours and settings before now. He also likes to sit on my knee whilst I am working at the board, which is also fun…

He has settled in well now and is at home with our two cats Casper and Charlie and our other two dogs Bryndal and Colin, both Staffordshire Bull terriers and both big softies, as I say Bentley is the one that sorts the pack, except for meal times, when Bryndal uses her authority as the eldest of the bunch.

Bentley isn’t the latest addition to our family, however as my son Simon has since bought another two baby Staff’s. The first is called Tilly and the newest addition is called Morgan. As you can probably guess all this wet weather over the summer, here in the UK, has made my family decide to get lots of animals, so I guess I’ll be starting to build my ark soon, and if any of you guys have any old plans for building large wooden arks knocking about, please email me a copy.

As Bentley is my dog (he was a present from Margaret for our Anniversary this year) he tends to spend the most time with me. As you can see in the photos, from the very first day, he made his home in my studio, claiming all the chairs and deciding he was going to guard the computers, although during the second week he decided he would see what graphic novels and magazines tasted like. I caught him just as he was trying so he didn’t cause them much damage, thankfully.

He is becoming a widely travelled little fellow as well, having been to the vets now three times, been on several walks since his second vaccination was given, a trip to Toontastic with me to deliver an issue of the Hot Wheels comic on CD (this was really just an excuse to have him meet James) and most recently he has been to visit my lithographic printers and Margaret’s workplace.

He has been travelling thus far in a little cat basket, well it is quite big really, but I am going to get him a little car seat thingamajig so he can come along with me more easily.

Most folks think I have gone a little strange recently as a result of his travels and his spending most of his time in the studio with me, which just goes to prove how long I have fooled folks.

Anyhow I hope you like the little fellow and please feel free to drop him a line anytime via the website at:

Bentley@wizards-keep.com

Look out for Bentley and his new family in my next Blog, where you will see all the other guys that live with us too.

Until next time have fun!

Tim Perkins…
September 6th 2008