People are paying for songs on the iTunes Music Store because they think it’s a good way to support musicians. But iTunes misses a huge opportunity. Instead of creating a system that gets virtually all of fans’ money directly to artists– finally possible with the internet– iTunes takes a big step backwards. Apple calls iTunes “revolutionary” but record companies are using the service to force the same exploitive and unfair business model onto a new medium.
Sorry This Isn’t Chris Rock’s Cell Number Anymore
What would it be like to have a cell phone number of someone famous? Someone famous like, Chris Rock. Which famous people would be making wrong numbers to get ahold of Chris? This is exactly what happened to Laura, as she explains on her site, “Laura’s NYC Tales”.
LAURA: [Curious, and ready to tackle the unknown] Hello?
CALLER: Is Chris there?
LAURA: [Inquires politely] Who’s calling?
CALLER: It’s Spike.
LAURA: [Mischievously inquisitive] From…?
CALLER: [Blurts out, in an annoyed tone] It’s Spike Lee.
LAURA: [Speechless, stunned, mouth frozen open. Guess wasn’t quite ready enough to “tackle the unknown.” Takes longer than usual to respond, and when does, does so very slowly] Uh… well… actually… you have the, uh… wrong number.
Happy Birthday to Me
I’m now 25.
Elizabeth Smart – A Year Later
As you probably recall, Elizabeth Ann Smart, was the 14-year-old Salt Lake City resident, whom was abducted by an armed intruder in the early morning hours of Wednesday, 5 June 2002. The intruder forced his way through the window of her bedroom (according to her 9-year-old sister, who shared the bedroom with her and was the only witness to the event).
Over nine months later, on 12 March 2003, police announced Elizabeth Smart had been found in Sandy, Utah.
A year after her safe recovery, Elizabeth’s parents call her a normal, independent 16-year-old — complete with boyfriends, a curfew, a messy room and an overused cell phone.
Bloopers and Unusable Footage From The Passion
I don’t know if this is true, but I do remember hearing about somebody getting struck by lightning during filming. Anyway here is a transcript of gags, accidents, and bloopers from Mel Gibsons new film. Probably the most interesting:
Take 14
Jesus: My God! Why have you –
[Caviezel is struck by lightning.]
Off Camera: Cut!
Steve Martin’s Script Notes From The Passion
In this month’s issue of The New Yorker, Steve Martin has launched a biting satirical attack on Mel Gibson, mocking The Passion of the Christ as money-making showbusiness and suggesting it should have been called Lethal Passion.
Here are some of the comments his movie-producer character, Stan, makes in the article:
- Love the Jesus character. So likeable. He can’t seem to catch a break! We identify with him because of it. One thing: I think we need to clearly state “the rules.” Why doesn’t he use his superpowers to save himself?
- Does it matter which garden? Gethsemane is hard to say, and Eden is a much more recognizable garden. Just thinking outloud.
- Our creative people suggest a clock visual fading in and out in certain scenes, like the Last Supper bit: “Thursday, 7:43 P.M.,” or “Good Friday, 5:14 P.M.”
- Also, could he change water into wine in Last Supper scene? Would be a great moment, and it’s legit. History compression is a movie tradition and could really brighten up the scene. Great trailer moment, too.
- Is there someplace where Jesus could be using an iBook? You know, now that I say it, it sounds ridiculous. Strike that. But think about it. Maybe we start a shot in Heaven with Jesus thoughtfully closing the top?
BLEEX
A US defense project has followed through with a plan to create “The Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton”, or Bleex, to be used mainly by infantry soldiers and firemen. From BBC News:
“The device consists of a pair of mechanical metal leg braces including a power unit and a backpack-like frame.
More than 40 sensors and hydraulic mechanisms calculate how to distribute weight just like the nervous system.
These helps minimise the load for the wearer.
A large rucksack carried on the back contains an engine, control system and space for a payload.”
Terror Attack in Madrid Kills Over 180
Ten terrorist bombs tore through trains and stations along a commuter line at the height of Madrid’s morning rush hour Thursday, killing more than 180 people and wounding at least 600 before this weekend’s general elections. Officials blamed Basque separatists for the worst terror attack in ETA’s history. According to one Spanish Blogger, “As it was in New York, in Spain everything will now be spoken of in terms of ‘before March 11,’ and after.”
Update: The number of causualties has reached over 190. Thousands are inured and according to this MSNBC article a van with detonators and an Arabic-language tape containing Quranic verses was found 15 miles east of Madrid.
IE Won’t Let Me View Source or Save *.JPG Files
I blogged about this problem back in December. IE 6.0 won’t let me view the source code on webpages I visit. The problem came back and instead of just erasing the cache like I did last time, I discovered that I could just lower the amount of disk space the cache was set to store. I’ve now reduced it to 100MB which, when I think about it, should be plenty anyway. Reducing the cache size also fixed the problem I was having with not being able to save .jpg files as anything other than .bmp’s. Only time will tell if this fixes the problem permanently.
The Great Escape
You need a premium account to view articles at Salon.Com, but if you don’t have one you can take a few seconds to view an advertisement and get a free day pass. It’s well worth it to read an exerpt from journalist Craig Unger’s new book “House of Bush, House of Saud”. If half the things he writes are true, it’s enough to make you sick. A lot of the things I read in this article were also pointed out in Michael Moore’s new book “Dude Where’s My Country?”
Immediately after 9/11, dozens of Saudi royals and members of the bin Laden family fled the U.S. in a secret airlift authorized by the Bush White House. One passenger was an alleged al-Qaida go-between, who may have known about the terror attacks in advance.