The BBC News website has been running a series of “Ask the Industry” articles, where regular people send in their questions about the future of the entertainment industry and they “theoretically” get answered by industry executives. I say “theoretically” because the answers the execs give are piss-weak. First we had digital music, and now we have digital film. Read and marvel as these PR robots try desperately to not give a single honest answer to these simple questions. For example, “What’s the point of DRM?” Most of the answers amount to: “Without DRM, the legitimate ways you have of paying for music would not be possible,” which doesn’t actually answer the question. (And then of course you get the Napster idiot at the end claiming that somehow their DRM isn’t as bad as Apple’s, because it works with more MP3 players or something.) It’s all wank. Also note the perfectly valid question about “Why do movie companies still insist on DVD region encoding?”, to which the only real response the idiots offer is “Because they can.” (Okay, so the classification excuse isn’t a bad one, but that doesn’t stop kids from getting region-free discs from elsewhere…) It’s like watching a Presidential debate, where each person only answers the question they want to hear without respect to the words that were actually uttered.
Author: Kris
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User Friendly LOTD!
Holy crap; I was a User Friendly Link of the Day! I was just checking my server statistics, and geez, that’s the closest thing to a Slashdotting I’ve ever experienced. We’re talking more than triple my normal amount of hits. -
Incest Jokes
We just watched the first two of the final four Arrested Development episodes, and man, how great is it seeing Justine Bateman? She looks fabulous! I have to say though, I found the way the plot flirted with hooking her and Michael up reeeeally disturbing. More so than the cousin lovin’, of which I’m normally a big fan. (But George Michael? Is getting a little creepy.) And now let us all bow our heads and pray that Showtime picks this show up, so it can move to cable and disturb us all even more…
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Helpful Tip
Here’s a helpful tip for you: Whenever a trendy bartender says, “I’ll just pop to the kitchen and get the soy sauce,” cancel your drink order. So says me, who in a misguided fit of bravado ordered and then actually drank a “manuka honey and soy martini” on Friday night. Yeah, I basically drank a MARINADE, people. *shudder*
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Sock Monkey FAQ
I’ve just added some frequently asked sock monkey questions to address some of the responses I’m getting!
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Cast On
DUDE! I just discovered that the gay sock monkey cowboys were mentioned in episode 11 of Cast-On, one of the most prominent knitting podcasts. It’s towards the beginning when Brenda is talking about subversive knitting, and she says that the award for the week goes to my “Brokeback monkeys.” Apparently they made her laugh really hard, and she especially liked my photoshopping of the movie poster. I have to admit though for those who are wondering, I did not knit these. The beauty of sock monkeys is that they’re made from $5 K-Mart knee socks. Anything that took more time or money would be a waste.
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Blast from the past
Former Netdecider Stefanie stumbled across an ancient joke today from the old mcdonalds.co.uk team team. It’s the prank wedding page she put up for me and Julian way back when. Too bad the picture doesn’t show up! For some reason, I think there was a picture of Ronald McDonald involved…
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Trail Note
Trail Note
I recently found a new favorite jogging route. I head back through Chippendale and across Cleveland Street, turning right on Abercrombie. Eventually I hit Wilson and that takes me all the way into Newtown. It’s nice because there aren’t a lot of lights to stop at, and the houses along Wilson Street have the prettiest flowers. I’m in love with frangipanis at the moment, and there are at least half a dozen in different colour combinations along the way. There’s also one house with some amazing purple plant growing under the front fence; I’ll have to take a picture so we can identify it. The street is also pretty hilly, which I’ve sorta come to appreciate. (I’m usually warmed up by the time I get to them, so it’s not so bad.) Once I get to Newtown I can continue on to Enmore or St. Peters, and then jog back down King Street to home. I did the short circuit today in about thirty minutes flat and I actually felt progressively better throughout the run. How weird is that? The first ten minutes sucked, but by the end I didn’t want to stop. (I obviously need to warm up more thoroughly.) I think I need new shoes though. I haven’t had any repeats of my foot pain from two years ago – possibly due to the fact that I’m not running on the treadmill anymore – but I’m starting to feel some general soreness along the sides of my feet. I’ve e-mailed the Dove asking for shoe purchase guidance (as well as boot camp instruction). Bring on the 10K! -
All-Noro Afghan
GASP! Afghans for Afghans is auctioning off an All-Noro Afghan, and it’s gorgeous. I wish I had a few hundred dollars to spare! *cough* Birthday present… *cough* (Link courtesy of Mason-Dixon Knitting.)
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I heart George.
Wow. I knew George Clooney was a cool guy, but I really had no idea. I liked hearing his praise for his Aunt Rosemary, and his prank on Arnie was hilarious. And good on ‘im for standing up for his beliefs and being true to his craft. Plus, I will always love him for doing the E.R. cameo for Juliana Margulies’s final episode. (Link courtesy of John, who is also a Clooney fan.)