Archive for the ‘Entertainment’ Category

They say there are strangers who threaten us

After reading Paul Krugman’s New York Times column entitled “It’s Witch-Hunt Season“, I couldn’t help but recall a song by Rush called Witch Hunt. Read Paul’s column while considering the following lyrics:

Witch Hunt
Lyrics by Neil Peart

The night is black
Without a moon
The air is thick and still
The vigilantes gather on
The lonely torch lit hill

Features distorted in the flickering light
The faces are twisted and grotesque
Silent and stern in the sweltering night
The mob moves like demons possessed
Quiet in conscience, calm in their right
Confident their ways are best

The righteous rise
With burning eyes
Of hatred and ill-will
Madmen fed on fear and lies
To beat and burn and kill

They say there are strangers who threaten us
In our immigrants and infidels
They say there is strangeness too dangerous
In our theaters and bookstore shelves
That those who know what’s best for us
Must rise and save us from ourselves

Quick to judge
Quick to anger
Slow to understand
Ignorance and prejudice
And fear walk hand in hand…

See what I mean?  For a song written in the 80’s, it’s pretty amazing at how relevant it is even today. Gotta love Rush!

Prince is a moron

After reading a recent interview with Prince on Mirror.co.uk, there’s only one conclusion I can come up with about him: Prince is a f@#&ing moron!

Seriously though, I like Prince and I like a lot of his music (mostly his older stuff). Yes, he’s eccentric as hell (and truly a bit on the weird side) but I’ve never seen or read anything that made him out to be a bad guy. Never heard about him bad mouthing or hurting anyone, which more or less backs up his faith in God (he is a Jehovah’s Witness after all!).

No doubt—the man is a highly talented and gifted musician, but this recent interview has me thinking that he’s also “gifted” in other ways (if you know what I mean!). Given his views about the internet, Prince is “special” in more ways than one.

Think about this: If Prince had his way, none of his music would be sold electronically. In fact, his last album “LOtUSFLOW3R” is only available on CD and isn’t available at all on Amazon or iTunes. Chances are, his new album “20TEN” probably won’t even be available via retail any time soon since it’s being given away for free in the UK only in the Daily Mirror. No word on when that album will be available in the US because Prince doesn’t even have a website. His battle over online piracy is no secret. He even tried to prevent a woman from posting a YouTube video of her baby dancing to “Let’s Go Crazy”!

If that weren’t enough…checkout what he said during the interview:

The internet’s completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it.

Why would Amazon, iTunes, or any other online music retailer pay Prince an advance on something that hasn’t proven to be a good seller yet? That doesn’t make any sense. You get what ever other artist gets: a cut of the profits off the total sales. Take it or leave it! (Which, in Prince’s case, it’s safe to say he already chose to leave it. Moron.)

The internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good…They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.

Hmm…you know…Prince is right but only a teeny-tiny bit. Look around and you’ll notice there’s a lot of people (especially kids) with their faces buried in a desktop, laptop, mobile phone and such just texting, tweeting, Facebooking away and not paying any attention to the rest of the world. It concerns me a bit and makes me wonder if any of these people have any social skills at all. Will the future leaders of the world lead in 140 character increments? Really?

While there are certainly plenty of folks whose heads are filled with numbers, the rest of us understand that the internet is just a tool and a highly powerful tool at that. And, just like any tool, it can be abused. Some of us abuse the tools we use more often than not. We can avoid some of these abuses by simply designing better ways of using these technologies.

Beyond that, it’s been proven time and time again that online piracy has been curbed to a greater degree thanks to a surge in online music sales. Too many people use MP3 players and simply don’t want to hassle with physical media like CD’s. It’s just so much more convenient to simply download an album and load it onto an iPod. Based on that, the fact that Prince is not allowing his new music to be distributed via iTunes and Amazon actually promotes more piracy and translates to even more lost sales. Plus, not having an official website translates to a lot of fans being out of touch as to what Prince is up to. It’s a bad business decision through and through.

The last five years of internet innovation has shown us that we’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg. We’re discovering new and innovative ways to present media. And, thanks to an explosion in smart phone technology and devices like the iPad, people are starting to absorb and use media in more exciting ways. The internet is far from over. It’s actually only just begun.

Don't forget your towel!

I’m definitely the kind of guy for whom others describe as, “There’s a man who really knows where his towel is”. Celebrate Towel Day, in honor of Douglas Adams, by carrying a towel.  :)

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iFix

Yeah, this about sums it up for Amazon. Too funny!

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More Best Buy Foofy Price Discrepancies

Last week, I talked about my frustration with Best Buy’s price discrepancies between their online and in-store prices for DVD’s. To further prove my point, I took a peek at Best Buy’s latest Sunday ad. I took a look at the various products in their ad but didn’t see any discrepancies for larger items like TV’s, appliances, and such. It would seem that the discrepancies center mainly around digital media like CD’s and movies. Haven’t spotted any discrepancies with console and PC games but it’s probably just a matter of time before I spot some.

So, what did I find this week? Let’s look at CD’s first:

Best Buy Ad - CD's

This is the really odd ones that don’t make any sense. You’d think that the new releases would be subject to some discrepancies, right? Nope! In fact, the discrepancies center around the Holiday Music Favorites. Want that new Josh Groban Christmas album? You might wanna buy it online and save yourself $2:

Best Buy Online - Josh Groban CD

And here’s an even odder one. See that album just above the Josh Groban one? A Very Special Christmas Vol.7 for just $7.99? For once I found an item that is actually cheaper to buy in the store than online. How messed up is that?

Best Buy Online - A Very Special Christmas CD

Now let’s move to the first of the movie discrepancies. There’s a couple here that stick out:

Best Buy Ad - DVD's

Again, same as last week…err…why is the Inglorious Basterds Blu-ray version being sold for $5 less online? Is this a special “online only” deal? If so, why don’t they say so?

Best Buy Online - Inglorious Basterds

And, yes, while the above pick says “pre-order” I just checked the site again and it’s still listed at the same price. Oddly enough, the two-disc DVD isn’t in the ad but I bet you money that it’s still gonna be a $1 cheaper on the site ($21.99 online versus $22.99 in-store).

Is there something going on with the Blu-ray new releases? Why is The Hangover listed for $4 cheaper?

Best Buy Online - Hangover

On this last movie page, none of these really stick out…except one. Can you guess which one is gonna be a $1 less?

Best Buy Ad - DVD's

Yep…Robot Chicken! The one damn DVD I would buy this week and I still have to price check it online! Damn you Best Buy!

Best Buy Online - Robot Chicken

Is it me or does it seem like all these price discrepancies revolve around new release movies that they know they can move fast and make a few extra bucks on without many people noticing? I think there’s a pattern forming. Guess we’ll know when I look at next week’s ads. ;)

I'm Crushing Your Head!

Don’t you wish you could do this to the CEO’s of AIG, Goldman Sachs, and other banks? If only it were that easy…

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Oscar fallacies

John Gruber pretty much nailed my thoughts on last night’s Oscar awards. This is my favorite part:

Putting WALL-E up against Bolt and Kung Fu Panda rather than letting it compete against Slumdog Millionaire and Benjamin Button is like requiring a 13-year-old chess prodigy to compete only against other children, regardless whether he could stand his own against adult grandmasters. It’s a dismissive pat on the head.

So true. So true.

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No escape from the truth for A-Rod

Alex Rodriguez is a liar, plain and simple. He’s full of shit and just keeps telling lie after lie after lie. There’s just no escape from the truth at all. Not only did he disgrace himself due to steroid use, he comes out and claims that he didn’t know he was doing anything wrong and didn’t know what he was taking? Bullshit, A-Rod! I could see it in your face when you were stating all that crap during a press conference.

Best thing you can do, Alex, is come completely clean and start telling the truth, the complete truth! Otherwise you end up further disgracing yourself and disgracing the entire sport of baseball. We’ve already had one guy before you who broke the homerun record and was linked to steroid use (McGuire anyone?). Pretty much means that whenever the next person breaks a homerun record, you can be sure everyone will be wondering whether this person is on steroids or some other performance enhancing drug.

Thanks A-Rod! Thanks for ruining baseball for everyone! You’re my hero!

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Pepsi Logo - A Response

Caught this on Daring Fireball. Man, this is so true!  LOL!

Pepsi Logo - A Response

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Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit

John Gruber at Daring Fireball linked this one. This is hilarious! So true, so true!

CAUTION: Not work safe!

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