yes,sad. Another step closer to another era, and a sad farewell to a historic past.  If anyone wants to give  me an airfare to England so I could meet Frank OZ before he leaves the planet too, I would really  appreciate that.

GOOD CHOICE. I  inherited one of those from my mother inlaw. It's a classic and even comes with table and treadle operation option. Smooth as silk in the action. I tend to use a littel portable singer though (made around when I was born or when I was 2...in  64)  just because I can take it anywhere. I started on a new  plastic clunker for  70$  it did me well, and still goes, and is the one I use for zig zag stitching, which isn't that often. As for manuals , the internet has people uploading  everything you need. I got  all the  info , plus extended manual off the net  for my little  'featherweight' singer. I have an industial one waiting servicing as well...maybe one day we will get it working. Most of your servicing is oiling. Use sewing machine oil, as thicker stuff tends to pick up more dust (in my opinion) and  gets thick and gunky bearings instead of smooth clean ones. MsPuppets is right, this one will probably outlast you......happy sewing. And make sure you show us your wonderful creations.

weeeel  helloooooo. I've had  nightmares like that. hey chris... that is a great  basis for a  sketch! body parts... Reminds me of those carrot  peels I saw in the  garbage this morning! oh no , has a murder most  foul been committed in my very own kitchen!

I think it was really well produced visually, and the song was well done and clever. The only part that let you down a little was the 'live' audio and some abrupt audio changes, which detracted from the otherwise  great quality. You have great talent. Try getting your mics closer to the puppeteers so you get a cleaner and more consistant audio.  If you are using your onboard camera mic, try recording to  something else like a laptop as well, and then replace the camera mic audio in post. I  would like to see  you  do  more. let us know when you do!

Na, I really feel for you. Coming from Australia makes it difficult to get your head around theft (of course it is wrong). I'm from NZ so I know that... and here I am in a VERY corrupt country, where piracy and theft is a way of life. The Government steals, the average joe bloggs steals, people make a profession of it, all Cuba's software in the entire country is pirated, because no one is allowd to sell to them... and back to here, thieves work in gangs and clean out whole apartment blocks with trucks and all... even people in church don't think copyright violation is stealing. In fact they willy nilly download from the internet becaue they firmly believe that that is  where all the free stuff is. Anything on the internet is fair game to them... for even church people , everyone else even worse.The software pirates sell on the corner in the computer sector,and the police buy from them. In our neighbourhood you cannot rent a movie. You have to buy the pirated version, and we live with bars on all the windows and skylights...to hopefully keep the thieves out.
    When we started doing TV here, I tried registering our characters with the copyright dept of the govt. I found there is no protection here. Anyone can legally copy Disney stuff, as long as they made it. A character nor idea for a program is not copyright. So anyone is legally entitled to copy your characters and your program idea, as long as they write their own scripts, and produce it themselves. It is shoddy  cutthroat stuff.This all made us think hard when we entered into production. What do we do if we are pirated? Well , while we are small it  is advantagous, as it is free  advertising. when we are big , you can afford lawyers. However, we reasoned that  it is difficult to copy us, because the  flavour of a  group is  intrinsically linked to  the  creatives in the group. No other group does what and how you do it. One guy used our material to try and get a contract. It fell through because he could not produce what we produce. And if he  could, he would be a noteworthy producer, and would start making his  own flavoured stuff, and good luck to him.
   There is a debate about piracy. Some say that  some  big studios even feed to the pirates.. because it is free advertising. There are 4 groups of people concerning piracy. One are those who will never buy pirated goods. They are safe. next are those who might if  they can't get the origonal. They are also a safe market. If you don't supply the product they get it anyway, but will buy it  if you  supply it. ...safe. A third group are the opposite. Those who  will never buy your product , because they usually can't afford it. They are a safe  market also.. you  will never sell to them. But the good part is, they still see your stuff, and  are part of the  groundswell of  support and often buy  merchandising. so you still get something out of them. The  fourth category are the unsafe ones.. they are capable of buying, have the cash, and the product, but they buy  pirated. I am not sure on the statistics of  how bigthat group is. They are the ones who you might lose  money on.. but  you may  get them also  buying  merchandise, and-or still go to the movies even after buying  pirated movies for example. 
   Concerning the internet... you are dealing with cultures all over the globe who are  downright dishonest.. as cultures. It is no sin to them to   copy-steal. You have two options, and your situation as a writer is a hard one. You either do not publish something if you don't want it stolen, or  you become so prolific, that you are the  biggest guru around...and have enough clout to track those stealing your stuff.
   My advice is  swamp EHow.com with your articles... have them pay YOU and not the others. Become the biggest authority on EHow. Granted puppetry is a niche audience , but the good side of that is that if someone goes searching.. your name will pop up as one of the  best.
   People  tell me I should charge for the tutorials I do. I wouldn't know how... and I follow the first rule , If I don't want the idea-product-technique stolen... I don't publish it. What  I do publish.. I accept that it it is open to every man and his dog to do with what they want.

People stealing or copying your stuff still sucks. But that is the big cruel world we live in. Keep educating people. You  may make some difference.

Great stuff! Sinced ok with me. Content sinced with me... Loved the characters. Work on the mic-ing in a little and you'll go a great distance. Make some more!

he hehe , BIlly.. a Rolodex!  I  just  have a folder.. and  I even get  lost in it...

I like the fonts, but the doubling up of the top letters  makes it a little hard to read...no offence.

cool.  It will be good to get  him into a story of  some kind, I'd say  he'd have  quite a dark personality

ha haah , the  old Mac Versus PC debate!   I believe that 80% of the world use PC. PC is like lego, anywhere in the world  you can get generic parts and fix it  relatively cheaply. NO computer is failsafe. Mac are NOT immune to viruses.(more viruses with  PC? -only because writers of viruses know there are more PC users to exploit. Linux is just starting to get its share of viruses ) In my experience...In all the seminars I have done, there is ALWAYS at least one person in the class who have a MAC and we have not had a single school (no not one) where the MAC has not given us grief, to the point that next school I will ban them. In a class of say 35 students, the one MAC is usually the one that cannot render a final product, and is often the only one we cannot broadcast.  Note that Mac is going windows... why? They secretly know they are not compatable with the rest of the world... and  lastly  NEVER leave your  important  information just  on  your computer. AWAYS back it up onto DVDs. computers external drives flashdrives etc are only  TEMPORARY. NEVER  fully trust them.