Change vs. Experience ’08 (Stephen Colbert Should Run for President for Real)

It’s a topic that I have not yet write about: The presidential race.

Well, that’s kind of a lie, I just didn’t have the guts to express my opinions on the Internet yet, the arguments are so passionate and tense that I was afraid to throw my hat in. Since no one reads this blog, I can say whatever and not get call an idiot.

Okay, enough chattering:

If I were to vote today, at this moment, I would vote for Hilary Clinton. Even though this statement is practically useless, because Massachusetts already had its primary, and I can’t vote anyways. But that is not going to stop me from having an opinion, it’s impossible to not have an opinion about this race.

Arguably, the 2008 presidential race is one of the most important race so far. It certainly has the most diverse candidates, and its stakes are high: Americans are choosing the next victim to clean up the Iraqi mess (or if you’re McCain, stay in the Iraqi mess), spur up the economy, fight the terrorists, and millions of other things.

The democrats have tow candidates that, if elected, will be making American history in being the first female/ black president. Both are promising to me, both have values that fits my view (Kucinich’s views matched with mine the most, it’s a shame that he was under the radar). But I will vote for Hilary if given the chance because I trust “experience” over “hope”.


Obama

I seem like the oddball in my age group, since most of the young people like Obama. They want change, they need change, they have the optimism for change. Obama embodies hope, his campaign is based on the promise of change. People are sick of the direction that America was headed (and still is), there was a sort of desperation to change things. Obama, with no old political ties, only in the Senate for three years, there seem to be this “hipness” associated with him too. People are afraid that the White House is going to fall to another politician with the same old ties like Bush, afraid that the new president will promote the same agenda, the same policies, and the same relations. Well, Obama is the new fresh light, and he is going to bring change, buddy!

Or, if you’re cynical like me, you might think that change is not gonna come easy. You might pick Clinton’s experience.

Clinton

I admit, being a female myself can be subjective in choosing who to support.
Clinton seemed like a confident, strong and firm woman. This can be seen as her strongest and weakest quality. It may bring admiration or the “hey, she ain’t womanly enough, biiittch” thing. I talked with an adult friend of mine who supports Clinton, and she mentioned that people didn’t like Clinton because she’s a woman. A friend of mine who supports Obama mentioned that Clinton is a “bitch".

Is this reality? Politic is a man’s game, you have to be perceived as strong. But in being strong, you get call a bitch. Then there’s Bill Clinton, maybe people are afraid that the First Husband will run things instead, I don’t know.

Clinton’s slogan is “experience”, yes, she has it. But with having the experience, she has the ties also. Perhaps this is why the Obama supporters chose Obama: they don’t want ties. They don’t want ties to corporations, they don’t want ties to old politicians.

But without ties, how much change can one brings?

Now, I’m no politician, but I don’t think change is that easy. Politics is a dirty and intricate game, with no ties and no experience, just how much can actually change? Clinton and Obama seemed to agree on the important points, and it seemed like a “safer” choice to have someone who have experience and ties to bring these changes.


Republicans

McCain and Huckabee (I have to admit, President Huckabee will be one hell of a hilarious title) are left. I’m pretty sure McCain is going to get the nomination. I just pray that he doesn’t choose Huckabee as running mate.

I’ll give props to McCain in being firm on his position on the War in Iraq. But dude, you can go to Iraq and fight the war yourself if you want to continue.

Conclusion

Currently Obama is leading in the delegates, and he had a long string of victories. It’s a tight race, at one point or another it seemed like all the candidates have the upper hand. Who will ultimately win the nominations and elected as the new president of this beautiful land? I don’t know. Right now, Obama seems to be getting somewhere, if he wins the nomination, I will support him.

Once the nominations are given, that’s when the mud-slinging begins.I hope they don't use something like this.

Who knows, if we’re lucky, we will get another Republican Caucasian man in the White House, and stay in Iraq for a hundred years.

Last but not least, I want to post this heart-warming picture that has nothing to do with anything:

These People are Unbelievable

Just another example of how fucking crazy, hateful, intolerant, and arrogant these religious nuts are: that infamous God Hates Fags site is once again ranting about their hatred and trying to justify the shooter at Northern Illinois University in this "News Release":

Thank God for the Shooter at Northern Illinois Univ.
God sent the Shooter. In His Wrath & Vengeance Against an Ungrateful Nation that has Forsaken Him &Embraced Filthy Fags.
WBC will picket their hypocritical funerals & memorials & “vigils.”
Yes. In religious protest & warning; to wit: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked.” Gal. 6:7.
God Hates Fags! & Fag-Enablers. Ergo, God hates fag-dominated Northern Illinois Univ.,fag-saturated Illinois, and fag-run America. What part of this 12-word sentence don’t you idiots understand? “Thou shalt not lie withmankind, as with womankind; it is abomination.”
Lev. 18:22.

People are unbelievable. How dare you try to justify your own hatred using this national tragedy? Are you so arrogant and and feels so self-important to think that God is trying to avenge your little homophobic and intolerant club? I can't even understand them.

If there is a God, I seriously doubt that he will hate homosexuals, and he would certainly be against your kind of intolerance and utter hatred. But if God is anything like you described or believed to be, a God that hates homosexuals, hates non-believers, and damns anyone that has a sense of their own mind, and sends a shooter to punish them, then fine, I'm happy I'm an atheist.

Seriously, fuck off.

The Cloverfield Monster is a Giant Squirrel

No, it's not. I'm just kidding.

I saw "Cloverfield" yesterday afternoon, more out of curiosity than actual fandom from following the ARG. I wasn't expecting a lot from the movie, since "monster movie" doesn't translate into "great" for me. But fuck it, with all the hype, I'm going to see this thing.

And it exceeded my expectation.

The first 20 minutes or so was some mild background story-telling, setting up the story line. Then,it got violent fast. Fires, buildings falling, screaming, running, it all turned into destruction and panic. The movie was filled with intensity and adrenaline, a total thrill ride. There was a few surprises in the movie also, like the fact that the Cloverfield monster is not alone.

The only thing that I could come up with as complains were that the whole "told from the perspective of the hand-held camera" thing was a bit too much. After a while, I felt a bit dizzy, and my stomach felt a bit weird afterwards, because there was so much scrambling and shaking. But I do think that the perspective was refreshing and made the film looked more realistic. Also, the ending was a bit irresolute to me, it didn't really explain anything about the monster.

But that's not the point, is it? The movie was more about destruction, not explanation. With destruction, the movie did a good job.

Also, after poking around, I found that I missed at least two pretty interesting thing from the movie: the whisper at the end of the credits, which when you listen to it in reverse, it said "it's still alive". And at the end of the movie with the old footage from the camera, there was something falling from the sky into the water near Coney Island. So, maybe that gives some clues to how the monster came to be?

"Cloverfield" was a thrill ride for me, I will definitely get this on DVD.

When You're Really Bored (Make Your Own Calendar) II

Well, might as well post the other pictures of my calendar in the making. Though as of right now, I don't think they will become calendar pages, but it will become part of my drawing portfolio of sorts.


Queens of the Stone Age's Era Vulgaris backcover.

Picture inside of Radiohead's OK Computer booklet.


Cover of Arcade Fire's Funeral


Picture inside of Arcade Fire's Funeral album jacket (whatever it called).



Inside the album jacket of NIN's Year Zero

A Few Words on the Saul Williams Stats

As said before,in October Trent Reznor announced that the Saul Williams album Niggy Tardust will be a digital release, which you can get it for free or "donate" five bucks. Well, unlike Radiohead, who is all secretive about the stats of their In Rainbows "experiment", Trent Reznor announced the stats on the Niggy Tardust album. To quote:

"Saul’s previous record was released in 2004 and has sold 33,897 copies.

As of 1/2/08,
154,449 people chose to download Saul’s new record.
28,322 of those people chose to pay $5 for it, meaning:
18.3% chose to pay.

Of those paying,

3220 chose 192kbps MP3
19,764 chose 320kbps MP3
5338 chose FLAC"

These data at first disheartened me a bit, since I paid $5.00 without any considerations and couldn't quite fathom why 81.7 % of people chose to pay nothing. Does people really see no value in music anymore in the age of piracy? I even posted on a messageboard about whether musicians should even consider the "free" option.

BUT, after reading other people's thinking and thinking it a bit myself, I guess my first reaction was wrong. People are going to get it for free if they want to, it's getting easier and being justified more and more and there is no point anymore in trying to make people pay for music anymore. While 18% is a bit low in my opinions, others said that it's still making a good profit. Yes, they make more than $140,000 on this so far, but you have to take into account the expenses involved with making a record. According to Reznor, this record didn't sound like it's made in a cheap studio with some cheap engineers. Then there is the point of "well, this record gain Williams more fanbase than he ever had"(with Reznor acknowledged at the end of his post). While I do agree this may be a long-term investment, but I guess the essence of Reznor's post was about what others can expect from a distribution method like this, and how much cash they can make from it.

And I guess these statistics will not apply to ALL the others that will come after them. The Saul Williams situation is a bit unique: He is an obscure artist, with a major artist backing him. I would expect that most of the people who downloaded this album (like myself) are NIN fans, and didn't want to risk $5.00 for something that they don't know if they will like or not, because hey, they want that $5.00 to buy a cup of Starbucks coffee, goddamnit.

There are some many more factors contributed to the results as it is. Just scroll around messagboards and comment sections and you will see the whole convention of people discussing it. Do these stats say alot? I don't know, I guess we will have to see more stats from different artists. But it's laudable that Reznor posted his stats and shared it with people. It's not clear how much Saul Williams and Reznor had make on this record, but the record is still online, and there will still be people downloading it and (maybe) pay for it.

But whatever distribution method figure out in the future, it seems that you should expect the majority of the people to get it for free, and a minority of them to pay for it.

Attack of the Radioheads

Seriously, does every end of the year "Best Albums" list has to have Radiohead's In Rainbows as #1?

The totally innovative, out of this world and brilliant method of distribution * must have blown everyone's mind, and let this overshadows the music. Not that I hated In Rainbows, but I just never find it so excruciatingly amazing. Maybe it was because everyone went on and shouts: "OMG, In Rainbows is totally fucking awesome!" because that sort of stuff tends to annoy me and alienates me. I tried to love In Rainbows and "get it", but I just never did. Sorry. I completely understands that some people truly loves this fucking record, but I just didn't get the big deal about the music**.It's certainly better than a lot of crap that came out this year, but was it really that extraordinary and such a masterpiece? Maybe it was because I'm not sophisticated enough to like +(some) songs that has no hooks and no dynamics. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks that this album was so fucking overrated.

And now every time I read that In Rainbows is #1, I just roll my eyes. And if any Radiohead fans reads this, they probably wants to curse me. Hey, I'll still buy the CD version of In Rainbows and continues to like Radiohead, but shut up about
"In Rainbows is not only the best album of the year, but maybe the decade."


*This statement was totally exaggerated and sarcastic.
** Despite saying this, I will continue listen to "In Rainbows" and try to "get it".
+ This is not to say that all of the songs have no hooks and no dynamics.

RIP Bhutto

When I heard about Bhutto's death last night, I was shocked. Even though I figure that she will be assassinated sooner or later, but it still came as a shock.

I'll admit I'm no expert on the going ons in Pakistan. But somehow, there was some sort of sadness after I heard her death. With her death, Pakistan is going to be even more chaotic and violent,the future of elections will be unclear and whether Musharraf will benefit from this is still hard to say. And Bhutto was a strong woman, and it seemed to me that she was not afraid to die. Maybe my reaction to her death was more of a sympathetic approach than a political one.

As my mother heard about it, she said: "another legend has fallen."

The grim reaper always get someone before the year ends.

When You're Really Bored (Make Your Own Calendar)

During the Christmas break from school, I basically have nothing to do. As the new year approaches, I became really bored and began to do crazy things. Like making a calendar myself, with album arts that I re-drew as visuals.

I can't quite remember how this idea came to me, it was one of those things that just jumps out. It didn't occur to me there wasn't a lot of great album art that I can draw from. Most of the albums that I own have some really simple and/or abstract art that was not easy to recreate. But I did managed to pick out a few, here is four of them:

The cover from Nine Inch Nails' Year Zero
The reason I drew this was mostly because it's one of the only album cover that has some sort of clear image on it. After I drew it, it looked too plain, and still weird.


And here's my favorite one, the cover of Era Vulgaris by Queens of the Stone Age. It's easy to draw and it's an interesting picture.I guess this was the album cover that gave me the idea of doing a calendar with album arts.


Another one that was great to draw because it's distinguished and interesting was the album cover of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel. I love the drum-faced lady, it's creepy in a good way.


The fourth one is also from In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, this time is the back cover. I'm running out of materials, but it's an awesome picture to draw.


I'll be drawing more, next stop should be some pictures inside the booklet of OK Computer. Yay!

Merry X-Mas to Me

I don't celebrate Christmas.

I don't get bummed out either, I kind of see it as kind of like a burden being lifted.

Christmas is so commercialized right now, at some points it seemed to me that it wasn't so much about the birth of Christ, but just about getting presents. It seems like it is inevitable that you must buy a ton of presents for everyone in order to celebrate this Holy Birth. What does Santa Clause have to do with baby Jesus anyway?

I see students in school dragging bags of presents for their friends and whatnot,even though a part of me was thinking: "It's kind of awesome that they get all kinds of presents," but ultimately I wasn't jealous. I didn't have to go Christmas shopping, spent time thinking who should get what, contemplating how big a budget I have and how much I have left.

Several years back I brought ton of cards to give to friends, but right now, I gave one physical card to a friend, and just gave e-cards to the rest.The closest thing I had as Christmas shopping was buying three books for free-time reading over the holiday break .To match the holiday spirit, I brought The Road by Cormac McCarthy, a tale about a father and a son making a post-apocalyptic journey South. 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell, both cannot be categorized as Christmasy.

So because I'm an atheist, I have no Christmas obligations. I guess (a little) money in my pocket is a Christmas gift for me.

Early-Internet Life Crisis

The Internet, a tool and space that is integral part of modern life. A data base so vast and great that it contains unlimited knowledge. A space open for everyone and anyone to share everything and anything. It's great, but with every great thing, there's a downside.

Because people can seal their identities and face, they can take on a alternate personality of sort, and just exploit the potential of being anonymous.Trolls, internet bullies, stalkers, you know it. There are gossip boards and message boards where rumors flies. People can prowl into other people's lives. The net is infested with all sorts of people.

That is why I don't have a MySpace or Facebook, nor do I expose a large portion of my personal life. But once or twice I get fed-up with the Internet, since I prowl the Internet and sees all sorts of things described above. Shoot, I can feel my integrity draining as read some of things on a gossip board. Why do people insist on tearing into the personal lives of celebrities or whatnot, and willingly talk trash and lies about a person if they have only seen their public persona and never know them in person? Why do people attack others relentlessly?

And more importantly, why did I read those things in the first place and be thinking and bothered by them? They weren't talking about me, nor do I have any interest in joining their discussion about whatever-the-fuck. Curiosity kill the cat, and sometimes I got dragged into it.

Sometimes I seriously thought I would be much happier if I don't know half the stuff I know and read.

I'm Such A Masochist

I have a habit of reading comments below articles. It's so painful to read yet somehow I can't look away. A few spots that brings out the most entertaining commentators (in no particular order):

Blabbermouth.net
Example:

COMMENT | WOO-HOO GIGANTOUR!!!posted by : MRBIGTIME
12/8/2007 5:16:17 PM

PLEASE,PLEASE LET IT BE TESTAMENT-SLAYER-METALLICA-EXODUS- OVERKILL. \M/ MEGADAVE!!! \M/

Well, this is not the worse I've read, but it's the one that I found that qualifies as over-the-top. Then there's one post where someone who posted the same comment like 40 times...But the real haters and crazies come out when a news band that is not "metal".


Youtube.com
Example:
Ramox3 (13 minutes ago) Show Hide Marked as spam
-1 Poor comment Good comment

(Reply) (Spam)
bad smell is not muslims u dumbass its Indians (some of them) muslims have to wash 5 times a day and are required to shower frequently. Mohamad PBUH said:" Hyegien is part of faith"

I don't know what to say. It's easy to find this kind of comments on YouTube. There's more posts that are more maniacal than this, but I'm too lazy to look through the 39,162 comments to find the dumbest comment.


PerezHilton.com
I don't read the site. This is only the third (or something )time I visited the site. I read the comments under this post, as it were linked to a site that I frequent, and was instantly amazed.
Example:

david-0-selznick says – reply to this
i wonder what his balls smelll like at the moment this pic was taken. I rubb mine at the gym and sniff my hand.

LOL. Then there are a whole fangirl reaction to Reznor being hot. I didn't dare to read the comments under the other posts, but do people on PerezHilton always rave about how a celebrity is hot and how they want to fuck them?


nin.com
Now, I love the blog thing that the site does now, but the comments are scary.
Example
Anonymous said...

ok. I'm going to just say it already. trent, you are coming off gay. are you trying to let us know your gay? or bi? it's ok to be bi or gay. I have bi and gay friends. anyway. first you have that video with the guy drinking from a coffee mug with a nude guy on it and now a pic of a guy siting on your sofa with your dogs. are you going to come out of the closet? I'm sure male and female fans will still like you and nin and buy your music if you admit your bi or gay.

What the fuck? Why is the comments to every post have some sort of speculation about Reznor's sexuality? Then there's the people talking about mortgages and how much that want to have sex with Reznor. God. I would not be sad if the comment section on nin.com gets removed.


And ultimately, it's my fault that I read those comments, and spent time talking about them. I still have to do my homework.

And There's the Grammys...

This is a bit late, but, I got to say it: The Grammys suck.

It's predictable and totally commercialized. The Grammys does not recognize musical talents but musical commerce. Whatever is on the radio gets nominated. Whoever is the buzz that year gets nominated. Those established Grammy favorites gets nominated every time. I've realized a while ago that the Grammys are irrelevant,it's just a spectacle for the media and give a chance for the labels to pat themselves on the back.

So let see who's nominated:
Amy Winehouse is everywhere this year, so of course she gets 8 nominations. Kanye West won the sale contest with 50 Cents, so he gets nominated. Beyonce, check. Justin Timberlake, check. Fergie, Check. Nickelback, check. Daughtry, check. What you hear on the radio is what you get.

Then there's that awful "Hey There Delilah", and Foo Fighters got some pretty high nominations. I like the Foo Fighters, but "Album of the Year" ? "Best Rock Album"? Foo Fighter's average album is the best, huh? Well, it's better than Daughtry.

Whatever, LOL.

Gem of the Day: Courtney Love's Blog

When I first came across one of Courtney Love's blog postings (on moonwashrose.com), I was absolutely fascinated by it. Not by how well-written or how it resonates with people, but by how it was so incoherent and how Courtney Love posts about personal things. Her posts were just simply a rant, a long rant filled with grammatically errors and spelling mistakes.

Then I came across her post again today, that post was linked to Sputnik Music, and she talked about Radiohead. While I'm sure she has some very in-depth thoughts on the Radiohead distribution plan, I couldn't understand 1/5 of her post. This is her original post:

Originally Posted by Courtney
as for radiohead= they didcnt jump off a REAL clifff, they bungee jumped you KNOW the kamikaze pilot in me wnats to do the same dfamm thing excapt wuith my a lsit mnaterial, with the real thing- theyve made 9.7 m,illion in 3 weeks this way and its live junk-= not junk as radioheaddoesnt really amke JUNK but its live - most of it heard before( wich youve all heard liveversaionbs of things veryvery different than non live versions of things) i really think it couldf work do all my magazine covers in january - so the lead time in there kamikaze thropugh my junket my oprah my tv **** n the 2 week leaD UP and just jump of f that cliff i love doing things really first im greatful for radiohead for making the first move- id do it differentlyt -= thats why b sides are no longer b sisdes but have to be a sides to an extent-= cos theyre EXTRA TRACKS now wich can mean up to 500k to such and such sponsor coty./my space etc. ... i justthinjk offering about 10 songs but your best for "free" witha what am i worth sign not just NINs cast offs i mean yopur a sides- i don t know im percolating- i love risk and most everything ive ever done well has been because everyone said iw as crazy to do it-= thazts why words liek "risk management" and Rime management:" are4 resonating with me now.

Huh? What is she talking about here? I can sort of figure out that she said she appreciates Radiohead doing their "free" download thing, and something about a-sides or b-sides, something about NIN castoffs, and something about money. But other than that, I'm not smart enough to understand her.

And after looking around, I found a generous person translated Courtney Love's post in a language that I (sort of ) understand:

Originally Posted by Courtney Love Talks Radiohead
As for Radiohead: they didn't jump off a real cliff; they bungee jumped. You know the kamikaze pilot in me wants to do the same damn thing except with my A-list material, with the real thing. They've made 9.7 million in 3 weeks this way, and it's live junk—not junk, as Radiohead doesn't really make junk, but it's live—most of it heard before (which you've all heard live versions of things very, very different than non-live versions of things).

I really think it could work—do all my magazine covers in January so the lead time is there, kamikaze through my junket, my Oprah, my TV shit in the 2 week lead-up and just jump off that cliff. I love doing things really fast, I'm grateful for Radiohead for making the first move—I'd do it differently.

That's why b-sides are no longer b-sides but have to be a-sides to an extent, 'cause they're extra tracks now which can mean up to 500k to such and such sponsor company/MySpace, etc. I just think offering about 10 songs but your best for "free" with a 'what am I worth' sign—not just NIN's castoffs, I mean your a-sides—I don't know, I'm percolating. I love risk, and most everything I've ever done well has been because everyone said I was crazy to do it. That's why words like "risk management" and "time management" are resonating with me now.

Okay Courtney. And yes, I totally bookmarked your MySpace.

The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales

Wordsworth, William. 1888. Complete Poetical Works.
http://www2.cs.uregina.ca/~barnard/01coming.html
http://www2.cs.uregina.ca/~barnard/idylls.html
http://www.poetry-portal.com/styles9.html

RIP Demonoid

"The CRIA threatened the company renting the servers to us, and because of this it is not possible to keep the site online. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your understanding.
---From Demonoid.com
First Oink, then Demonoid. Wow.

I was never an Oink user, but I do understand the site's importance to some people. I'm also not a Demonoid member (though I did used it before), but this is too much.

The music industry's woes will not be solved by forcefully closing down torrent and file sharing sites. If you want people to buy music, lower the fucking price of the CD! Stop blaming the music piracy and think about what you did wrong, and try to find a way to embrace the Internet instead of oppressing it. The more you push it down, the harder people will rebel.

LOL!

This version of Sunday Bloody Sunday is awesome.

Yay, Another Way of Selling Music

The distribution method of Saul William's new album, "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggytardust!" is what I think is the best reaction of the post- In Rainbows "experiement" . Even if it's just merely a few weeks after the news that Radiohead released that shockwaved the whole industry.

It's an improvement on the In Rainbows way of paying your money, with a set price of $5.00 or choose to pay nothing. Also, you can choose 192kbps, 320kbps, or Flac files ( better quality than In-Rainbows)if you choose to pay $5.00. If you choose not to pay, fret not, you still get 192kbps. Sweet.

And, it includes artwork and lyrics. Yay, now I know what the hell they're talking about.

Now I paid my $5.00, mostly for the cause of it. Besides, Trent Reznor produced it, so it should be interesting. It should also be mentioned that Reznor himself said he would like the same method of distribution in interviews couple months back, so I guess NIN will possibly employ the same method for the future. And yes, NIN should put a physical thing out too if they use this method mentioned above, as long as they don't cost $80.00 like In Rainbows.

Also, I heard "Break" off of Niggy Tardust, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was rich and complex, has texture and depth. Much better than comtemporary hip-hop.

Trent Reznor is Happy

It's not ending yet. So...
OMG! NIN is now independent! Like Trent can do whatever he wants now! He's not on Universal or Interscope anymore!

Yes, Mr.Reznor says goodbye to his record label, finally. After his anger and dissatisfactions directed toward his label, it's good to hear that he get to do whatever he wants. He's been saying that he's eager to get off of the label since March (or at least that's the first time I really heard about it, not counting the time he was with battle with TVT).

Here's the whole statement from www.nin.com :

08 October 2007: Big News
Hello everyone. I've waited a LONG time to be able to make the
following announcement: as of right now Nine Inch Nails is a totally
free agent, free of any recording contract with any label. I have
been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the
business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very
different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a
direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate.
Look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008.
Exciting times, indeed.
posted by Trent Reznor at 10:45 AM. 1203 Comments

So yeah, it would be interesting to see where he goes from there. I have a faint idea of what he's going to do (but what do I know?), I think he's going to distribute his music directly from his site (or some site), have some sort of cheap price, and people get their music directly from him. At least that's what I think he's going to do, according to things he said interviews.

And he's planning it for a while now, I can tell.

I was surprised that he announced so suddenly, I expected it to be later. But, sooner the better. Established acts should be leading the way. While this will not trigger evolution or anything, this can be a catalyst of change to come.

Radioheads are Smart Businessmen

OMG! They put the new Radiohead album on the net! For free! For download!

I pre-ordered Radiohead's new album "In Rainbows" (got to say that's a bad title, in my opinion) last night. I just have to be part of this most groundbreaking, innovative, and futuristic musical distribution event ever in the history of the Internet and download music! Plus, I like Radiohead.


I've got to admit, I do think that this method of distribution is quite clever, giving it the appearance that they're giving the album to the people for free, thus gaining them more reputation among the Internet-oriented music fans. I've also got to say that they're the first major act to openly use this method, and thinking about a solution for the selling of music in the collapsing industry. In the way, they're thinking about the future, and giving other artists the result of their "experiment" and let the others further develop a way to distribute their own music.

But really, the album is not free.


First, it's released also as a super deluxe version that costs like $40 in US dollars (or something). Second, they asked for "donations"! I would think when most of the people pre-ordering the album on downloads would feel guilty not giving them a bit of money (I gave them 2.00 in Euro, since I'm poor and charging the credit card of my father). And I assume, people who order that album are at least have some interests in Radiohead, making them more vulnerable to the "donation" tactic. And hard-core Radiohead fans? They're throwing their money in there.

Of course, you can put 0.00 in that donation box, and I don't really think that will be a large fraction. The album can be free, but really, it's not free.

Of course, there's people saying that "I'm going to pay nothing, then I'm not even going to listen to it". Ha ha.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a Funny Guy

By now we all know the hilarious Q&A that happened in Columbia University with Ahmadinejad. You gotta love this guy for bring the laughs and bring down the tension with saying "In Iran we don't have homosexuality like in your country." Yes, there's laughter when he said it, and I laughed hard too.

Then there's the doubts about the Holocaust, then saying
We are friends of the Jews. There are many Jews living peacefully in Iran.” .

Of course he came off as ridiculous in the eyes of Americans, he's completely at odds with what Americans (and most people)believe in. Raging against facts and making up excuses along the way. He very negative coverages in here and basically everywhere else, and he is a nut. And the fact that he doubts the 9/11 being attacked by terrorists, Americans are going to go nuts.


And people knew that he's nuts and going to say stupid things, that's why they got him to Columbia University, right?