Art Machine
Just another former infatuation junkie

If you don’t have a QR-Code scanner, feel free to sock the images into the ZXing free reader.

“You can’t own a song, maaan. It’s like, one of God’s creatures, y’dig?” – somebody, possibly me

Hey! Anybody out there use the Yahoo! Music Store? Anybody? Um… anybody?

Well, if you do, you’re royally screwed. Yahoo! is getting out of the music business, and they’re taking the keys to your music with them. (Link via Boing Boing)

Once the Yahoo store goes down and the key servers go offline, existing tracks cannot be authorized to play on new computers. Instead, Yahoo recommends the old, lame, and lossy workaround of burning the files to CD, then reripping them onto the computer. Sure, you’ll lose a bunch of blank CDs, sound quality, and all the metadata, but that’s a small price to pay for the privilege of being able to listen to that music you lawfully acquired. Good thing you didn’t download it illegally or just buy it on CD!

No matter how you slice it or how many times the RIAA or MPAA try to tell you DRM is for your own good or that it allows the customer “to enjoy their music in the best possible way,” it’s just a bad idea. It destroys your ability to choose, and in some cases it also destroys your ability to own. No consumer asked for this. As Cory Doctorow told Microsoft, “No Sony customer woke up one morning and said, ‘Damn, I wish Sony would devote some expensive engineering effort in order that I may do less with my music.’”

Ars Technica points out that this same thing happened recently with MSN who, after public outcry, agreed to keep their DRM servers running until 2011 – so you get a full three years more to enjoy your music! Yay!

Of course, nobody seems to be remembering that DRM-encoded Google Videos got deactivated when they got out of selling content, or that the MLB has used its DRM scheme to turn off purchased (not rented) digital downloads of their games. Because, after all, those are video and not audio, and apparently the exploitation of DRM by greedy corporations who already have their money aren’t worth noting if they weren’t in your particular media.

Here’s the simple truth. MSN, Yahoo! Music, Google Video Store, and the MLB all demonstrate one simple fact. If you are a customer of a DRM encoding store for any kind of media, then you are not purchasing your content – you’re renting it. No matter what they tell you about how you just purchased your music free and clear, they all reserve the right to just turn your music/video/ebooks off and leave you with gigabytes of worthless data.

Just a brief video of me and my brother.

Hey – it was either this or find a clip of Frasier and Niles.

From the Los Angeles Times: The peso is looking good, especially compared to the dollar.

The official market rate—meaning for large transactions at banks—had the peso at 10.005 to the dollar this morning, down from 10.07 on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg data. Last August the dollar still was worth more than 11 pesos.

The last time the dollar bought fewer than 10 pesos was in October 2002.

For U.S. tourists the greenback already has crossed that line, because most bank exchange rates are much less favorable than the official rate. Wells Fargo & Co.’s online currency center today was quoting 9.2 pesos per dollar.

Which leads me to wonder – what is Mexico doing to reach out to Canadian and European tourists? After all, as the American economy reacts to debacles such as Indymac, the mortgage crisis, rising indebtedness and a predatory credit system, it won’t be long before Americans won’t be able to afford the luxury Mexican spring breaks that have been all the rage for a decade or two (or three, or four…).

Munroe has achieved the same power in the internet world that Oprah enjoys in television.

Consider. A book is released. Oprah wants people to buy said book. She goes on television and says, “Hey, buy this book.” And millions of people go out and buy the book.

Randall Munroe comes up with one of those “wouldn’t it be funny if” ideas. He draws a comic about said funny idea. People go out and execute it.

For instance: This video based on XKCD’s recent parody of the Discovery Channel’s “Boom De Yada” song.

One thing I’ve always said about being an actor is that you have to know your limits – you have to know what you’re willing to do in your career or to advance your career, and act accordingly. If you don’t want to do nudity, then that’s fine – that’s your line. It doesn’t give you the right to complain when you don’t get a role because it requires nudity. You drew your line and acted accordingly. You’ll never stop people from crossing that same line themselves, but you can always stick to your principles.

One of the common places where aspiring actors turn up is on game shows. It’s a quick, easy way to get on television, get experience talking in front of a camera, and experiment with both humor and building tension. As far as game show go, I confess that I’ve never defined a line. “Jeopardy?” “Wheel of Fortune?” Pfft. Kid’s play. “Deal Or No Deal?” Sure, I can do that.

“Fear Factor?” Bring it on. It’s stupid, childish, and grotesque, but it’s somewhat safe.

No, I’ve never defined a line. Until today, that is. I would never be able to bring myself to go on G4’s new show. (link via Some Guy With A Website)

“Hurl!,” which debuted last night on the G4 cable channel, is the first half-hour series that combines physical rigor with eating disorders and gastric distress. Contestants consume massive quantities of sure-to-bloat foods—chicken pot pie, franks ‘n’ beans, New England clam chowder—then engage in such activities as riding an amusement park Tilt-A-Whirl. The “winner” is the contestant who doesn’t lose his lunch. Or to be technical about it, who holds out the longest before he releases the hounds. Call it a pas de spew.

“Hurl!,” in other words, is for people who found “Fear Factor” much too nuanced and intellectually complex.

Yes, I know I said I’d go on “Fear Factor.” But “Fear Factor” is merely bread and circuses. Grotesque, overblown, sure – but not ultimately destructive to the human soul.

“Hurl,” meanwhile, is a concept that I find completely obscene. At a time when people in my own country – let alone the rest of the world – can’t afford three square meals a day, we’re actually doing a show where the object is to stuff your face beyond your capacity and then be the last one to vomit? Not only is it grotesque, it’s greedy, boorish, and insulting. It is, at long last, a line that I just wouldn’t be able to cross.

It seems like every day, the fight over copyright and piracy gets a little more ridiculous. The last two Warner Bros. DVD’s I’ve picked up have had anti-piracy ads on them. These weren’t your usual anti-piracy ads, however. No, these were ads that made their point by re-editing classic film scenes with cheesy-font title cards to make them scenes about film piracy. Thanks to the efforts of Warner Bros., I might as well throw out my legitimately purchased copy of Casablanca, since the image of a hurt and sullen Rick finally telling Ilsa how he feels will now forever be remembered as the scene where Rick scolds Ilsa for pirating DVD’s. And I might as well never purchase any of the umpteen-billion special editons of The Wizard of Oz, since now I’ll know that the Great and Powerful Oz isn’t blustering to hide his lack of any true power, but is genuinely angry that Dorothy and her friends are considering pirating a DVD.

Given how ridiculous it’s getting, it’s hard to satirize the argument any more. So when it’s suggested that musicians are owed royalties when their music is used to torture (excuse me, “freedom tickle”) detainees, I’m disturbed to report that my initial response was, “Well, why not? They demand royalties for every other possible use.”

Leaving aside the legal niceties about whose law if any applies in that dreadful place, one can only wonder if ASCAP might not want a piece of the action. After all, it went after the Girl Guides not so long ago. And if it could try to make a buck off Girl Guides, who are nice people, why not alleged terrorists? Why should terrorists enjoy free music?

Link via Boing Boing.

I’m sure that many ElfQuest fans – like me – are not planning on holding our breaths given the series’ history in Hollywood, but this seems hopeful.

“Elfquest,” the cult comic by Wendy and Richard Pini, is heading to the big screen courtesy of Warners Bros. and Rawson Thurber.

Thurber will write, direct and produce the feature, whose format is undetermined.

“Format is undetermined” piques my interest, in particular. The Pinis (no typos, no typos…) have been insistent in the past that their story be told in animation, but Wendy has recently come out in favor of pursuing a film in other formats, as well. While I would still love to see an animated movie, I can’t help but ponder the possibilities. A CG movie? Or could Warner Brothers possibly be looking for something to hitch their “We can pull off a Lord of the Rings, too” wagon to?

Of course, I also find it funny that WB finally picks up ElfQuest only after their contract to publish with DC Comics expires.

UPDATED: Over at Wendy Words, Wendy Pini sheds some light on the undetermined format:

There’s almost nothing to say about the movie itself, yet. It will probably be a combination of CGI and live action. It will probably take about two years to make. Rawson is writing the script and producing as well as directing (a la Guillermo del Toro on Hellboy). Richard and I will be acting as consultants all the way through.

From the Congressional Record – Lois Capps, D-CA:

Madam Speaker, I rise in response to recent calls for new offshore drilling. These arguments for new drilling hit a dry hole for several reasons.

First, we are already drilling offshore. Eighty percent of the known offshore reserves are in areas where leasing and drilling is allowed. Today, the oil companies have nearly 6,000 untapped leases in the Gulf of Mexico alone.

Second, with 3 percent of the world’s resources and 25 percent of the world’s demand, there is no way we are going to just drill our way out of this problem.

Third, even the Bush administration admits consumers would see little savings at the pump from new drilling.

Yesterday, Guy Caruso, head of the Energy Information Agency, said this about the impact of new drilling: ``It would be a relatively small effect, because it would take such a long time to bring those supplies on. It doesn’t affect prices that much.’’

Democrats have a better plan. Let’s pass legislation that moves America in a new direction on energy by closing the Enron loophole on Wall Street speculators who are driving up prices. Let’s reduce mass transit fares and build the infrastructure there, and let’s force Big Oil to use it or lose it on drilling permits.

I urge my colleagues to join with me in bringing America to a new, more affordable energy future.