Tupac's influence appears to be more widespread than we thought.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Some words of advice for children....
As technology continues to change the way we consume media, and as we drift further and further away from the traditions and values of our grandparents, it was refreshing to see a video geared towards children that encouraged them to read books, as well as gave some other wise advice that will help them succeed in life:
Monday, August 31, 2009
Trends...
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
It’s a nice thought but almost as a rule we as human beings are inclined to say “fuck that, im following the guy in front of me” you see we all want to believe that we are different, that we lead not follow, that we make decisions for ourselves, and that we aren’t really scared shitless to be the person that stands out… but we are. Three examples from my life, take them for what they are.
In grade school a certain “cool” kid began to don the sporting related apparel of a newly formed baseball club known as the “Colorado Rockies” their logo has gone through many iterations since that day but at the time it consisted mostly of the colors purple and white and the teams name set against the image of the Colorado Mountains. Truth be told it was an abomination… it flew in the face of everything we kids knew to be cool at the time, for Gods sake Barney was purple even the most retarded kid new wearing that color would mean being social ostracized, and yet there he stood before us. Maybe he was a true fan or maybe he was a brilliant young trendsetter… maybe he was just gay and trying to put the word out, his motives remain unknown all I know is what happened next. Everyone who was anyone starting working mom and dad for some Rockies related merchandise, sadly I was among them. I wore my Colorado Rockies baseball cap proudly until the trend slowly faded, during that time e never watched a single Rockies baseball game and I never learned a thing about the team. Maybe they were good team maybe they weren’t but that’s really pretty irrelevant because since I didn’t know a thing about them beyond the superficial basics I was just a fucking fanboy in a purple hat…
Sometime between me finishing high school and beginning college Apple got smart and started listening to Steve Jobs again this led to their success in the marketplace and their dominance over digital media with the birth of the I-Pod. Hipster commercials featuring dancing silhouettes and indie music grew their fan base and lured “the next generation” toward apple branded products.
They built a name for themselves with sturdy construction and innovative designs that left us ignoring the hefty price tag that they often came with. Suddenly the cool kid on campus was sporting an I-mac/power book/power mac/I power/pod mac style laptop and your old Toshiba left you with little more then a hefty case of penis envy… Now is Apple a good brand? Do they make good computers? Honestly that’s pretty irrelevant since 80% of their user base don’t know anything about the products or the company beyond the superficial basics their just a bunch of fucking fanboys in purple hats…
Fast forward to the blighted decade that many simply refer to as “The Bush/Cheney” Years still reeling from attacks on this country and what many consider an unnecessary war, a global recession and a housing crisis, a savior appeared in the form of anything that was George Bush or the GOP… in this case it took the form of Barrack Obama and the Democrat party. Now this post isn’t political regardless of how political it seems like it just got. What has happened is that the cool kids among us have started speaking out on their political views and suddenly the trendy cool thing is to be a Democrat. The intelligible thing is to be a Democrat. The star bellied Sneaches are all Democrats. And while yes there are a few people out there who have researched the issues and done enough soul searching to honestly claim that the Democrat party does represent them the best and is their party (and I respect you for having done that)… The rest of you are all just a bunch of fucking fanboys in purple hats…
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
It’s a nice thought but almost as a rule we as human beings are inclined to say “fuck that, im following the guy in front of me” you see we all want to believe that we are different, that we lead not follow, that we make decisions for ourselves, and that we aren’t really scared shitless to be the person that stands out… but we are. Three examples from my life, take them for what they are.
In grade school a certain “cool” kid began to don the sporting related apparel of a newly formed baseball club known as the “Colorado Rockies” their logo has gone through many iterations since that day but at the time it consisted mostly of the colors purple and white and the teams name set against the image of the Colorado Mountains. Truth be told it was an abomination… it flew in the face of everything we kids knew to be cool at the time, for Gods sake Barney was purple even the most retarded kid new wearing that color would mean being social ostracized, and yet there he stood before us. Maybe he was a true fan or maybe he was a brilliant young trendsetter… maybe he was just gay and trying to put the word out, his motives remain unknown all I know is what happened next. Everyone who was anyone starting working mom and dad for some Rockies related merchandise, sadly I was among them. I wore my Colorado Rockies baseball cap proudly until the trend slowly faded, during that time e never watched a single Rockies baseball game and I never learned a thing about the team. Maybe they were good team maybe they weren’t but that’s really pretty irrelevant because since I didn’t know a thing about them beyond the superficial basics I was just a fucking fanboy in a purple hat…
Sometime between me finishing high school and beginning college Apple got smart and started listening to Steve Jobs again this led to their success in the marketplace and their dominance over digital media with the birth of the I-Pod. Hipster commercials featuring dancing silhouettes and indie music grew their fan base and lured “the next generation” toward apple branded products.
They built a name for themselves with sturdy construction and innovative designs that left us ignoring the hefty price tag that they often came with. Suddenly the cool kid on campus was sporting an I-mac/power book/power mac/I power/pod mac style laptop and your old Toshiba left you with little more then a hefty case of penis envy… Now is Apple a good brand? Do they make good computers? Honestly that’s pretty irrelevant since 80% of their user base don’t know anything about the products or the company beyond the superficial basics their just a bunch of fucking fanboys in purple hats…
Fast forward to the blighted decade that many simply refer to as “The Bush/Cheney” Years still reeling from attacks on this country and what many consider an unnecessary war, a global recession and a housing crisis, a savior appeared in the form of anything that was George Bush or the GOP… in this case it took the form of Barrack Obama and the Democrat party. Now this post isn’t political regardless of how political it seems like it just got. What has happened is that the cool kids among us have started speaking out on their political views and suddenly the trendy cool thing is to be a Democrat. The intelligible thing is to be a Democrat. The star bellied Sneaches are all Democrats. And while yes there are a few people out there who have researched the issues and done enough soul searching to honestly claim that the Democrat party does represent them the best and is their party (and I respect you for having done that)… The rest of you are all just a bunch of fucking fanboys in purple hats…
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Why I'm a Pirate...
Besides the obvious allure of crossing swords Jack Sparrow style, plundering treasure, and hitting it with the wenches… I’ve been finding myself asking the question lately “Why am I a pirate?” Am I so deluded inside a web of self denial and justification that I can no longer see Piracy as the theft of property and supporting of terrorism and red state communism that it surely is?
Run on sentences aside how is it that a normally honest and law abiding citizen can stoop this low? First let me say that I will not argue against the fact that piracy is illegal I will however show how it does more good then harm. I will be quick to suggest that laws as they currently exist do much less to support a creator and much more to stifle future creativity then they were most likely intended to upon implementation.
Lawrence Lessig in his book “Free Culture” separates piracy into 4 groups. Group “A” uses file sharing networks and other means of piracy as a replacement to actually purchasing media. Group “B” uses file sharing networks and other means of piracy as a method of sampling music intended for later purchase. Group “C” accesses sharing networks in an attempt to locate media no longer in circulation or available for purchase. Finally group “D” uses these same methods to acquire media that is not copyrighted or that an artist is intending to give away for free. Lessig further points out that from the perspective of the law only the last of these groups is clearly legal, however only the first of these groups is clearly harmful. Professor Lessig makes wonderful arguments regarding the importance of copyright law while explaining that it has gotten way out of hand.
So what group do I fall into… Sure there are times when group B is where im at, just trying to find out if an album is worth the investment or group C trying to locate an obscure indie track most people have never heard of but ill be honest I’ve also been guilty of downloading songs that I would never actually buy or that I have bought before but am no longer in possession of. (Please note that in the event you are with the RIAA and happen to be reading this little insignificant blog that my previous statement in no way constitutes a confession of guilt or admittance to any wrong doing) It’s not that I have anything against any musician out there… ok actually I hate quite a few of them but if im downloading their music then there is a high likelihood that I plan on listening to it at some point in time. I do however have a pretty big problem with the monster moneymaking machine not so quietly operating behind the scenes. They are the bastards putting up the bullshit adds you see before a movie asking if you wouldn’t steal a car then why would you steal a song?
They are the ones who invest in an artist by throwing money at them as a way of owning them and anything they create. That’s right when you download a song guess who you are taking money from? It’s not the creator of the music it’s the fucking middle man. Yes I understand that a lot goes into production, distribution, and advertising and that there are many jobs involved and you can quite easily see how lost revenue can cause repercussions through out the industry. But I only buy that if we are talking movies here and I’m not… I have no problem paying for the production that goes into a movie, im just not so convinced that the same level of production is still necessary from music.
Even those with discerning ears are finding it increasingly difficult to tell the difference between studio produced RIAA albums and those put out by the small unsigned garage band with under a thousand dollars worth of technology. 5-10 years ago the technology wasn’t as cheap or readily available necessitating or at least enabling large groups of investors to dominate the music industry, that time however is quickly coming to a close. I’m sorry but it’s the end of an era, more and more artists are creating their own record labels, producing and distributing their own music. More music exists in an intangible form then ever before fewer disks are being bought or sold. What we are experiencing in this global war on piracy are the death throws of a giant to scared to embrace the future or to angry at not being included.
People who truly love music will support it, if nothing else out of fear that not supporting it will make it go away but they need to know that 1 what they are paying for is worth the money they put into it and 2 that the money is getting to the people who passionately create what inspires. The issue of why I am a pirate is much more complex of an issue then I can explain within the few paragraphs I’ve posted here. Its something that I am not apologetic about, it’s a war that I happily participate in and a war that can only be won.
There is a reason that time after time in forum after forum regarding piracy or the Recording Industry that the most popular theme is simply “Fuck the RIAA”. Thoughts?
Run on sentences aside how is it that a normally honest and law abiding citizen can stoop this low? First let me say that I will not argue against the fact that piracy is illegal I will however show how it does more good then harm. I will be quick to suggest that laws as they currently exist do much less to support a creator and much more to stifle future creativity then they were most likely intended to upon implementation.
Lawrence Lessig in his book “Free Culture” separates piracy into 4 groups. Group “A” uses file sharing networks and other means of piracy as a replacement to actually purchasing media. Group “B” uses file sharing networks and other means of piracy as a method of sampling music intended for later purchase. Group “C” accesses sharing networks in an attempt to locate media no longer in circulation or available for purchase. Finally group “D” uses these same methods to acquire media that is not copyrighted or that an artist is intending to give away for free. Lessig further points out that from the perspective of the law only the last of these groups is clearly legal, however only the first of these groups is clearly harmful. Professor Lessig makes wonderful arguments regarding the importance of copyright law while explaining that it has gotten way out of hand.
So what group do I fall into… Sure there are times when group B is where im at, just trying to find out if an album is worth the investment or group C trying to locate an obscure indie track most people have never heard of but ill be honest I’ve also been guilty of downloading songs that I would never actually buy or that I have bought before but am no longer in possession of. (Please note that in the event you are with the RIAA and happen to be reading this little insignificant blog that my previous statement in no way constitutes a confession of guilt or admittance to any wrong doing) It’s not that I have anything against any musician out there… ok actually I hate quite a few of them but if im downloading their music then there is a high likelihood that I plan on listening to it at some point in time. I do however have a pretty big problem with the monster moneymaking machine not so quietly operating behind the scenes. They are the bastards putting up the bullshit adds you see before a movie asking if you wouldn’t steal a car then why would you steal a song?
They are the ones who invest in an artist by throwing money at them as a way of owning them and anything they create. That’s right when you download a song guess who you are taking money from? It’s not the creator of the music it’s the fucking middle man. Yes I understand that a lot goes into production, distribution, and advertising and that there are many jobs involved and you can quite easily see how lost revenue can cause repercussions through out the industry. But I only buy that if we are talking movies here and I’m not… I have no problem paying for the production that goes into a movie, im just not so convinced that the same level of production is still necessary from music.
Even those with discerning ears are finding it increasingly difficult to tell the difference between studio produced RIAA albums and those put out by the small unsigned garage band with under a thousand dollars worth of technology. 5-10 years ago the technology wasn’t as cheap or readily available necessitating or at least enabling large groups of investors to dominate the music industry, that time however is quickly coming to a close. I’m sorry but it’s the end of an era, more and more artists are creating their own record labels, producing and distributing their own music. More music exists in an intangible form then ever before fewer disks are being bought or sold. What we are experiencing in this global war on piracy are the death throws of a giant to scared to embrace the future or to angry at not being included.
People who truly love music will support it, if nothing else out of fear that not supporting it will make it go away but they need to know that 1 what they are paying for is worth the money they put into it and 2 that the money is getting to the people who passionately create what inspires. The issue of why I am a pirate is much more complex of an issue then I can explain within the few paragraphs I’ve posted here. Its something that I am not apologetic about, it’s a war that I happily participate in and a war that can only be won.
There is a reason that time after time in forum after forum regarding piracy or the Recording Industry that the most popular theme is simply “Fuck the RIAA”. Thoughts?
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