Putting a ding in the universe.

Steve Jobs has dominated the news today and it’s hard not to wonder what sort of personal impact he has had. I’m sure there will be several news stories, biographies and probably even a movie of some sort made of his life so I’m not going to attempt any sort of summary here. In fact, we live in an ‘I’free house (not deliberately.) Though I was a little surprised when, a few years ago, my daughter informed me the little plastic toy she was holding up to her ear while dancing to imaginary music was, in her mind, actually an Ipod. I wasn’t aware she had ever even heard of them before but the cocked hip and snottiness of her response made it pretty clear that I was already losing touch with the next generation. It was the first of what I’m sure will eventually be many; “Ummmm…. Duh, Dad!” moments.

Where this man directly and profoundly impacted us as artists/in my opinion, however, was his involvement in Pixar and the eventual restructuring of the animation industry monolith that was Disney. Computer generated art was already finding it’s spot in the world (you could argue he greatly assisted with this as well), yes, but there was no real direct or ultimate destination for it. His fostering, funding and defense of Pixar allowed it to be at the root of what has since branched out into the most profitable and popular varieties of arts and entertainment available to the public today.

There will always be a place for oil paints, canvases, pencils etc. But it’s no small coincidence that the stylus now features prominently, if not dominantly, among them. We might have grown up drawing Conan and Eddie on our binders with our Bic pens… but our kids are going to be drawing -and animating- direct descendants of Nemo and Wall-E on their tablet PCs.

On one final, somewhat political tangent, though... What seems to be most bittersweet about his passing, for me, is that he actually made something. In a day of people acquiring insane amounts of wealth through fraudulent investing, predatory corruption, and blatant money laundering schemes - he actually, literally, and simply produced product(s) that people wanted. And I am convinced that, even with the immense profits he and his company enjoyed, he ultimately did so in an effort to actually give something to the world - not simply see what he could take from it. I think that is what I admire most.

Thank you for reading.

Rod