NOW PLAYING - PHOTOSHOP!

I've been thinking lately that I should have a "now playing" line at the top of my posts. For example, right now, I'm listening to Divine Comedy, "fin de siècle".

The problem with this, of course, is that I would feel pressured to be consistent about this--you know, and always list what I'm listening to.

And the problem with *this*, of course, is that then you might have an entire week of "ICS Wig Lodge X-mission 1, track 23". And although *I* know that I sometimes listen to one track off of one CD twenty times in one week, I don't know if that's information I want to share with the world.

Today's exciting graphics question (from the coworker who thinks that Photoshop comes with an "add snow" button) was this:

If you want to use a Microsoft icon, how many pixels do you have to change before it's far enough away for them not to sue you for copyright infringement? (Note: this is for his own personal project, not for anything at work. I actually draw the icons at work, as I have mentioned, and no, I don't open a microsoft icon and push the "make an icon like this only not Microsoft" button in Photoshop.)

My answer: I don't know. I've never done that. I understand that Person A has, however, and I think he knows all about it.

This did not end the questioning. It went on for about 15 minutes. No, I don't know whether just changing the color of the pixels is sufficient, or if you have to change the shape of the drawing as well. I really don't know. I've never done it. Um, yes, I know how to change pixels. You change pixels by opening the image in Photoshop or Paint or whatever you want, and take the pencil tool and draw new pixels. This is all I know.

Buttons I would like to see in Photoshop:

1. The "make this drawing not crap" button.

2. The "No, no, I wanted to draw a horse, not a dog" button.

3. The "Remove this guy from the picture and show me what's behind him" button. (Or, "remove this object from the picture")

4. The "Clear up my skin and take 20 lbs off of me in this photo" button.

5. The "Please make this stock photo not look naff" button.

I'd also like to see some kind of wizard where you can type in your client's vague instructions and have Photoshop magically translate them into an image. You know, like, "I want my website to be trendy yet traditional. Create a look that says, we're stable, we've been here a while, and yet we're on the cutting edge and not at all stale." That sort of thing.