it's all coming down right now
i need to speak on Lost's finale last night, which was simultaneously utterly satisfying and frustrating. so lots of fights, me yelling "KILL HIM KILL HIM NOW" at the screen, characters turning corners into depths that they've been hanging over for some time (namely Jack and Sawyer)... i think i'm going to enjoy next season's "future" with flashbacks to the island... but at the same time they're still choosing to keep the ratio of things we know to things we don't at like 1:1000. plenty of other shows with mysterious mytharcs have answered lots of questions and at the same time come up with new ones... this one just keeps piling on the unknowns and as a result kicks up the risk of alienating much of their viewership.
so i guess i'm still in for next season. much like a smallville, there were two or three good episodes during the season, and only the finale/premiere was stellar.
trent reznor continues his frank assessment of the recording industry's greed in this excellent interview. some of my favorite quotes:
It's a very odd time to be a musician on a major label, because there's so much resentment towards the record industry that it's hard to position yourself in a place with the fans where you don't look like a greedy @#*(&hole.very true. i find myself assuming that any artist who doesn't come out in opposition (not just vocal, either) to the industry's moneygrubbing is totally fine with the system. that said, trent is still working with them, where his is a band with enough clout to go it alone, finance and distribute his projects without the assistance of a label. i think he should lead the way.
I've got a battle where I'm trying to put out quality material that matters and I've got fans that feel it's their right to steal it and I've got a company that's so bureaucratic and clumsy and ignorant and behind the times they don't know what to do, so they rip the people off.a very accurate summary of the situation. and i'm not sure it's going to change at all in the next couple of decades. will the RIAA still be struggling for relevancy, stubbornly grasping their dying paradigm when my kids are teenagers?
i'm hoping it goes something like this:
- in three years, following EMI's lead, online music stores are filled with mostly DRM-free music, useable anywhere
- in five years, prices for that music have dropped to more reasonable levels ($.50 a song), and Best Buy, Apple and Target have kiosks where you can plug in your music player and purchase stuff just like you would at home
- in seven years, CD's are a fading medium, and all new cars have AUX or direct USB adapters, and we are all using digital media exactly how we, the consumer, wants
- in eight years, we all have Mattel Hoverboards and Black & Decker Pizza Hydrators, right on schedule.
what do you think? am i as good a predictor of the future as, say, a robert cringely? or are we hopelessly enslaved to the RIAA forever?
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I hate grammatical errors on my part. Ugh!!
I love the kiosk and price break ideas.
I also believe there should be a company where a person could bring all five thousand of their CDs and their personal laptop or hard drive to have someone else load every one of your CDs into the computer for you. This way you don't have to sit there for twelve days straight loading CDs.
I have already pre-ordered my "Back to the Future" hoverboard with Mattel and DiGorno's dehydrated Garlic Crust Pizza.
Yeah, that interview was great. I think what will be really interesting is seeing what Trent ends up doing after he releases one more album and is no longer under contract. I love the things he is saying right now, so let's hope he sticks to his guns.
darren: check out this article from wired a few years back on CD ripping services.
Yeah, Lost was pretty sweet last night! It was one of the best episodes ever. My favorite part was when Hurley came flying in driving the bus and ran that dude over! I'm still laughing about that! Did anyone else guess that it was Kate that pulled up in the car? I didn't know it was a "Flash Forward" but I felt like it was Kate or one of the other survivors. But I was totally shocked when I found out that it was a look ahead to the future. Who's funeral do you think it was? I was thinking maybe Ben, but do you think he would leave the island, or rather that they'd let him live? Maybe Locke? Or Sawyer? I don't know. And what's up with Locke rising from the dead? And Walt making an appearance? What do you think is in store for the last 2 years? Are they going to get rescued next season and then the last season be their lives back home? I thought it was hilarious when Juliet told Sawyer that the landing strip was for the aliens! Who do you think is on the freighter? Was that chick telling the truth about them coming to be rescued? Or was Ben telling the truth? What are they going to think when they get there to rescue them and find out that their girl is dead? They're going to be pretty pissed of I would guess.
Too expensive, but I like the concept. If it were more like $10 for every 100 CDs I'd be down with paying for the service. Maybe in a few years.
Darren, at my old job we had a cd duplicator with a robotic arm that I'm sure could have been programed to do that. Too bad I don't work there anymore. If you want one, they only run about 3 grand over at diskmakers.com.
I thought Lost was amazing. Best two hours of television ever. Seriously. Lisa and I think that it was Locke's funeral. I also have a personal theory that what Desmond was doing was the most important thing on the island and that Penny's dad (Widmore) sent Naomi (who was lying) to the island to find Desmond and to take over what he was doing for Widmore instead of Dharma (or whatever the Others call themselves now). I also think the next couple of seasons will have flashbacks to the island and the main story in the present (future) and that the last season will all be even further in the future and revolve around them returning to the island for some reason. I'm also beginning to think Lost will end sad instead of happy.
Bleh, that was a lot. Sorry.
Artie,
We will just have to go steal that machine. I could use a robotic arm in my house.
Couldn't we all?