And while you’re at it, stop loaning out cups of sugar….

This really peeves me. A man in Canada is being charged with running a business without a license. His “business”? Helping to fix neighbor’s lawnmowers and small appliances……without charge. If you want to read about it, the article is here

Really? Seriously? In the neighborhood I grew up in, that was pretty much the norm. Need a lawnmower fixed? Guy next door knew how to do that. Need a babysitter? There were people who would help out with that. We got our fruit trees sprayed free of charge by one of our neighbors. My mom bought the chemicals, but didn’t know where, when or how to spray them. I guess she did pay for the service….she made the neighbor who helped loves of bread. What happened to letting neighbors help each other? What kind of stick does the public official who charged this individual have up his ass in order to feel the need to do this? Did the guy refuse to fix his toaster? If they guy was charging and actually making money, I can see maybe a warning. But when he does it for free? What the hell?? I guess harassing the elderly is a new hobby….

Really? In my day they called it promotion….

I just read an article entitled Recording Industry Decries AM-FM Broadcastiing as a Form of Piracy (read here). Interesting. I get so tired of the recording industry’s bullshit. They think that each radio station should pay royalties for playing songs from their artists. That is as bad as Jamie Kellner’s claim that not watching commercials is stealing television. (Which is ridiculous…they get paid for the spots whether or not anyone watches them. But I digress..) Time was the radio was seen as a way to get an artist’s music out there and known to the general public. When I was in high school I volunteered for a local radio station. They would get tons of free CD’s from music producers hoping they would promote their artist. When the station gave away free music to the 10th caller, most likely that is where it all came from.

I have a hard time believing that radio play has anything to do with the recording industry’s drop in profits. It used to be that artists were completely dependent on the big recording studios to get their music recorded and out there. Now thanks to the internet and user-friendly digital home recording programs that is no longer the case. There are so many indie artists out there that have hit it big just using the power of things like GarageBand, My Space, CD Baby, and Eventful. And the key to their success? Allowing people to hear thier music for free before they buy it. Take the case of Jonathan Coulton (internet superstar who can be found at http://www.jonathancoulton.com/). He has offered all his music for free, and people like it so much they still buy it. And pay money for his concerts, t-shirts, etc. Entirely through self promotion and hard work this guy has made himself famous.

My advise to the recording industry? Quit sitting on your asses and blaming the other guy for your problems. Start seeing what is working for others and CHANGE. Get with the times and figure out a way to make it work. Thousands of others have.

Ode to Carl

Due to a lack of vehicular transport and the rising cost of fuel, I frequently take the bus when I need to go anywhere.  I see those driver that day in and day out catch nothing but crap. If I had that kind of job I would quickly turn bitter and snide. A lot of them do get a bit of an attitude after a while on the job. Yesterday one guy talked on his cell phone the whole way. There is one driver on my regular route who has not succumbed. Carl comes across every single day as a guy who absolutely loves his job. He greets everyone as if they are his best friend. He sings as he drives his route. One day I was waiting at the station when Carl’s bus stopped at my gate. A little girl approached the front of the bus, looking like she had cried part of the way. Carl brought out an old Cool Whip container. He looked at the little girl with a glint in his eye that would rival Santa Clause and asked her what she thought he had in the tub. She looked up at him, but didn’t answer. He opened it up and held it out for her to see. Her little eyes lit up. He told her because she had been so good she could pick one thing from the tub. I leaned in to see what was in it. It was full of dollar store toys and fake jewelry. The little girl chose a giant ring, and followed her mom into the bus station showing her new treasure to anyone who would react. Carl made her day. It is refreshing to see someone who after over 25 years still enjoys his job. I hope one day I find a job that does the same for me.

Darth Lucas Strikes Again

Yesterday I was randomly stumbling along the internet, when I came across this really cool web page called Star Wars Crawl. It allowed one to create their own words for the opening scroll from the Star Wars movies. It was way awesome! Not having time to do anything immediately, I bookmarked it so I could come back later, when I had time to think of something funny and clever to put in a crawl. Much to my chagrin this site was closed, as requested by Lucas films. Once again, something fun and related to a popular entertainment is shut down due to the greed and avarice of the Ones Who Think they Are In Charge. What really burns me is this has nothing to do with any profits Lucas Films might get. It in no way takes away from the movies. (some of which should be burned in a deep,deep hole and never spoken of again) It doesn’t post the movies either in it’s entirety or in part. It doesn’t even ask for money to play. It is just for fan amusement. How idiotic and power hungry does one have to be to shut this kind of thing down? I was not happy when Universal sued one of my favorite artists to stop selling fan made Firefly merchendice. But at least there they had some kind of grounds. Really, who wins when giant conglomerates squlech the creativity and fun of their fans? Don’t they realize that the more they allow us to have our fun, the more we will eat up anything more they create? Is ticking off fans really the right way to go? Seriously. If profit is the bottom line, then they don’t deserve my respect or my loyalty.  Or my money. As much as I love me some great Sci Fi, is it worth it to spend my money on it if I am afraid that every move I make to show my fandom might end with a squelch or legal action? Do I really want to give my money to someone who doesn’t care about thier fans? I must admit, my income is not huge. I have limited funds with which to purchase fan merchendise, watch movies, etc. I have to pick and choose what I will spend my meager budget on. I admit I am a major geek. I am also happy to support those that support me. I am a HUGE Joss Whedon fan, and openly admit that if what I dow ill benefit him in any way I am all for it. But as Universal now has the rights to the Serenity movie, I don’t support that. Anything they might put out or endorse I won’t spend my money on. I am also a huge Trekkie. I remember watching the original Star Trek series when I was a kid with my grandpa. I loved sitting in his den on the big overstuffed chair, pestering my grandpa with questions like “What is that?” and “Why would they do that?” I remember my delight when I learned of a new series, Star Trek: the Next Generation.  I watched every episode, even though technically I wasn’t allowed to. I remember my disappointment when Cheerios had a contest to win a walk on role in that show and my mom wouldn’t let me enter it. I SO wanted to meet Wesley! I must admit I am disappointed in what modern tv has done to the franchise. But I have never regretted any of my support.

What ever happened to the attitude that the fan is important?

Techologically savvy (or chalenged)

I just spent 4 hours with a friend trying to help her understand her computer. I had to teach her the basics….how to turn it off and on, how to find things, etc. She spent 6 months stressed out and without internet access. When I went over there, it was unplugged. Seriously, when we got into her email, there were 548 messages and most of them from her professors regarding her classes. She is one of the few who have not yet embraced the new cyberage. She isn’t well seasoned, either. She is only a few years older than me. She is now being pulled into this cyberworld kicking and screaming because she has chosen to go back to college. I look at all the things we need computers for, and I seriously marvel at how she managed to go so long without some kind of technological education. I respect her choice to not participate in the esoteric pile of tubes we call the internets. I am just amazed that somewhere along the line she wasn’t told she had to use a computer to do her job.

I spend 1 of those 4 hours trying to explain to her what a jump drive was and why I was giving it to her. That is a hard concept to explain to someone. If you think about it, the whole concept of digital storage is esoteric. Technically, it doesn’t exist. Though it does, and if you have the right technology you can retrieve data from that little quarter-sized box. For someone who hasn’t grown up with the concept, that has got to be a hard one to wrap your head around.

First post

OK. I want to get a first post up, but as my laptop is running out of power I don’t have much time to do it. Mainly, I want to eventually be a writer. A ton of people I know have these blogs. I have a personal one somewhere else, but as it is mainly for friends and family to know what is going on with me I want to keep the posts short and sweet. Here is where I plan to do my actual blogging blogging. Several writers I know tell me that this is a good way to practice. So, here I am. Hopefully the rest of my posts will be much more interesting than this one.