I have yet to play Rock Band. I want to, but I haven’t yet.
Regardless of if you’ve played it or not, this is an impressive video via xbox 360 fanboy.
I play drums, and this thing is freakin’ amazing to me on a video-game.
The motivating force behind Krustyland — which also includes virtual attractions Krusty’s Wet & Smokey Stunt Show, Happy Little Elves in Panda Land and Captain Dinosaur’s Pirate Rip Off — is rooted in Krusty’s straight
I have to thank Shaun Groves for mentioning the movie Rendition in one of his recent blog posts. I remember seeing the trailer and thinking that this is a movie that would be worth watching. Natalie and I managed to watch it late last week and am I glad we did.
This policy, if at all handled the way it’s portrayed in this movie needs to stop. I’ll quote Shaun’s blog post to give you a little more detail about the movie; he’s better with words.
Rendition is a political word for “kidnapping.” Individuals who are potential threats to the United States or linked to people who are potential threats to the United States can be kidnapped and taken to not-so-secret secret prisons around the world in places like Morocco and Guantanamo without oversight by the judicial system. In other words, there is no warrant issued, no proof of connection to our enemies required, no notification of arrest made to the family of the detainee, no trial, no law.
The rendition policy is said to have been created as a way of combatting terrorism, detaining potential terrorist threats. But the policy has evolved. It now is believed by some to entail not only detention but also torture. The film raises important questions about the effectiveness of the program: Will a tortured starved man say anything to stop the abuse? Is anything he says trustworthy? And ethical questions: What is torture? Is the torture of the innocent with the guilty an act of terrorism? Is the death and torture of the innocent an acceptable price for U.S. security? Questions about the wisdom of torturing one’s enemies and concealing it: Does the kidnapping and torture of thousands create more enemies than it destroys? And questions about our form of government: Can our elected officials - the most wealthy and powerful supported by the wealthiest and most powerful - ever be trusted to act in the best interests of anyone but the most wealthy and powerful? If the son of a wealthy and powerful American who contributes to political campaigns were to be kidnapped in an airport and sent to Morocco to be starved and electrocuted, would rendition be stopped by Congress?
Below is a video of a documentary included in the DVD. It’s a bit long, but I hope you’ll watch some of it and this movie.
I’m a sucker for Rihanna’s Umbrella song. I especially like this full live band version with the guitars thrown in there. The bass player and drummer are pretty sick too. What’s up with the emo kid on the keyboards though… reminds me of that old sesame street song. One of these things is not like the other, other of these things just doesn’t belong…
Anway, enjoy this video… I hope.
Rihanna’s Umbrella
A Bonus:
Love chick vocals and this one has a good set of pipes. It’s a double feature.
I’m diggin’ the laid back dude on the acoustic guitar. Not usually an acoustic guitar sound fan, but you just can’t help but bob your head to this one. I like what he’s doing, even if he’s using a capo… 
Natasha Bedingfield
UPDATE: Double Bonus - I meant to add this as well but I forgot. Mandy Moore covered it. It’s quite a different take on Rihanna’s Umbrella. What do you think of the this one?
Mandy Moore covers Rihanna’s Umbrella
The above photo is of my sister Keren. Today is her birthday. She is turning 24, which is crazy because, she’s my ‘baby sister’ and sometimes it’s hard for me to let go of that in my mind.
Keren and I haven’t always had the greatest relationship in the past, and it can feel strained sometimes (more of my fault, of that I can attest), but she’s my sister and I still love her.
Keren, I want you to know that I love you and I hope you have a great birthday today. You’re inching closer to that quarter century mark, which is awesome. 
I’ve been thinking recently about music and its current state. The RIAA is out there suing everyone and their grandma because they claim to be losing money to all these rampant pirates that are stealing music and killing the music industry. They have their point of view, and while I’m sure there are many people out there that are stealing music with Peer to Peer (P2P) services like Limewire, Kazaa, etc., I got to thinking about some reasons why people have taken to stealing music in the first place.
Obviously, the first reason people steal, is that it’s free. Hard to argue that, so I’ll leave it alone.
Convenience and ease of use are probably some other reasons; Being able to use whatever music you have however you would like such as making a ringtone, in a home made movie, whatever.
Another thought that occurred to me for why people might steal music is the lack of choices available on the radio.
You might be thinking, what?
I’ll try to explain it. Until recent years, most music available was probably discovered by the general public on the radio. Some DJ would get a song, play it, and people would either like it or not. If they liked it, people would call in and request it, if they didn’t, they wouldn’t. That’s a pretty basic explanation, but the general idea is there.
Well, as time has passed, radio stations were bought up by these bigger organizations like Clear Channel or whoever, and they started formatting music stations very similarly across different markets. Add some payola, and start limiting the music that is played, and very quickly you notice you start hearing the same 20-40 songs a day, a few times a day, every day.
I listen to a particular morning radio show called Kidd Kraddick. On this particular show, during their music breaks within the last week alone, I can remember hearing the same songs almost at the same times everyday, a few times a day. It totally boggles my mind that this can happen.
So, my theory goes like this. The radio is no longer the place of discovery that it used to be. It is now an endless marketing machine for the top 40 or so popular songs from all genres, whether pop, rock, or country. The songs get played endlessly, but people latch onto new ones when introduced, because it’s different than what they’ve been hearing and that song becomes popular and the cycle continues.
Well, after a while, people will get tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. Instead of listening to the radio, they go out in search of new music. What’s the easiest way to discover new music for no fee outside of the radio? The most obvious answer is P2P services. While I’m sure some of the rookie users of these services will seek out the more popular music that’s played on the radio, once you have downloaded the same 40-50 songs you already hear for free, what then is the point? Eventually, you’ll seek out new music and new artists, because that’s why you turned off the radio in the first place; you were tired of hearing the same things over and over.
So, now that people have lost interest in listening to the radio and purchasing pop music, consumer spending on pop music has declined.
What I think has happened is that people are looking for new music, and P2P has been the best way for them to find it. Because P2P allows folks to download music that they have probably never heard before, it minimizes their risk of spending money on something that they may not like. With the radio, folks knew what a particular artist, or single sounded like, and were able to make a purchase decision without feeling like they were risking their money on the choice. Does that make sense?
Another thought then occurred to me had to do with subscription services. The RIAA has been pushing for companies like Apple to offer a type of subscription service for music despite the fact that many services that have tried to get off the ground have failed. They like this plan because you pay a monthly fee for the service (meaning there’s a steady flow of income) and music files contains DRM, which music labels love since it limits what you can and cannot do with the music. This makes it easier for them to charge you more money to say, make a ringtone out of a song (Ever wondered why you can download a song for $0.99, but somehow a lower quality 30 second ringtone can cost up to $2.50?). The great thing about subscription services for the RIAA is that because of their DRM schemes, once you stop paying for the service, you can no longer listen to any of the songs you may have downloaded. Sounds like a good deal, huh? Don’t buy a CD, just pay $12/month for 3 years, then in one month, when you stop paying, that $432 you just spent the previous 3 years is quite useless.
Here’s what clicked inside my little brain. Subscription services are an attempt to charge for a radio station, or at least what radio stations should be. I can’t imagine someone would be interested in paying $12/month to subscribe to music only to hear the very thing they can already listen to for free on the radio, they mostly want this type of service because they’re tired of listening to the same thing over and over.
It would seem to me, that if the music industry really wanted to turn around their business, the best way for them to do it would be to diversify the radio. Instead of working with radio station owners to promote and play the same type of music over and over on every station and in every city, if they spread their interests into more than a few mega stars and give more exposure to others. It seems like putting all their eggs in the superstar basket might finally be catching up to the Music Biz.
More Reading:
Payola
Real World Example of the dangers of DRM
Collusion and how the music industry is fighting against Apple to make life worse for you
State of the Music Industry by Paul Lamere
My wife and I came across the above tonight.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
Well, my buddy Clayton usually takes to doing videos on Friday, and he may or may not have one for today (due to Reader Week 2008; he’s in marketing), but just in case, I thought I have to share this nifty one I came across on the intertubes, and keep Video Friday covered. Hope you enjoy your Friday…
via tumbl.us -
I’m not a huge Rihanna fan, but this little collaboration she and Maroon 5 have put together isn’t bad at all. The song structure remains mostly the same, but the addition of synth counter-melodies is very nice and adds a little bit more to the song without being too much.
If you’re a a Maroon 5 fan, check this song out. It’s one of my favorite tracks from their most recent release, it won’t be soon before long.
Click the 
link to check it out.
For more on Maroon 5, check out their exclusive Live from SoHo album, The B-Sides Collection, and Their Artist of the Week post.
