RIAA vs. The People: Four Years Later
I found this fascinating; an indepth, quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the RIAA's campaign against illegal downloading of music by the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation). Some of the methods used by the RIAA are little short of extortion, and a lot of it sounds really ruthless and also rather futile in the broader picture. The paper also gives a good overview about the way file sharing has gone underground - foregoing P2P software for private networks and "darknet technology" (simple CD ripping and burning) that are harder to trace.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Why Internet Safety Policy is Cracked
The article is a good overview of why the government's $84million porn filter was a half-baked idea even before it was publicised as 'crackable', but it's the comments that really fascinate me. A lot of people who work in the net security arena have measured input as to why its not technologically feasible to have a filter that works 100%, teens add their point of view as to what is really important to address about kids online, and parents contribute the struggles and their own layered methods of internet security. It's thoughtful, interesting, and ties very nicely into the stuff that danah boyd's panel brought up (see post 3 down). Media interest and government scrutiny needs to turn to other areas in order to bring about real useful change, rather than using scare campaigns to frighten people about technology and drive parents further away from communicating with their kids over these issues.
The article is a good overview of why the government's $84million porn filter was a half-baked idea even before it was publicised as 'crackable', but it's the comments that really fascinate me. A lot of people who work in the net security arena have measured input as to why its not technologically feasible to have a filter that works 100%, teens add their point of view as to what is really important to address about kids online, and parents contribute the struggles and their own layered methods of internet security. It's thoughtful, interesting, and ties very nicely into the stuff that danah boyd's panel brought up (see post 3 down). Media interest and government scrutiny needs to turn to other areas in order to bring about real useful change, rather than using scare campaigns to frighten people about technology and drive parents further away from communicating with their kids over these issues.
...the work of Satan?
Australian government caught editing Wikipedia
This is maybe old news, but I was skimming through this article at work today (ooh, yeah, that's right, productive use of my paid time...) and the following passage caught my eye:
But. There are people working in the official administration that runs this country that would put the above sentences into public circulation. Part of me believes it's the work of pranksters - bored office people playing with the freedom and anonymity. But another part of me is thinking, "What if they really do think that?" I mean, I can't say I agree completely with the beliefs of Mormons, but "the work of Satan" is a very strongly worded opinion!
This is maybe old news, but I was skimming through this article at work today (ooh, yeah, that's right, productive use of my paid time...) and the following passage caught my eye:
This just strikes me as really hilarious, and a little scary. It's not that I think government officials editing Wikipedia is wrong - before you can yell about bias, it's the democracy of Wikipedia that allows it to be such an interesting place and a good overview resource. Anything that is obviously biased is usually pointed out by its lack of notation, and tidied up by opposing forces soon after that. Plus, the fact that it is on Wikipedia means there is a level of awareness by its users that critical analysis is important in evaluating the truthfulness and honesty of information posted.Additions to various Wikipedia entries made using government computers
included "Freemasonry is the work of Satan", "Mormonism is the work of Satan"
and "Jesus is god", the paper said.
But. There are people working in the official administration that runs this country that would put the above sentences into public circulation. Part of me believes it's the work of pranksters - bored office people playing with the freedom and anonymity. But another part of me is thinking, "What if they really do think that?" I mean, I can't say I agree completely with the beliefs of Mormons, but "the work of Satan" is a very strongly worded opinion!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Is Me Really Monster? by Andy F. Bryan
Cookie Monster Searches Deep Within Himself and Asks: Is Me Really Monster?
Me love cookies. Me tend to get out of control when me see cookies.
Hee! Cookie Monster under psychoanalyses, perhaps; comes to a disturbing conclusion. Also reveals the depth of depravity that is lurking within the innocent looking confines of Sesame Street...
Me love cookies. Me tend to get out of control when me see cookies.
Hee! Cookie Monster under psychoanalyses, perhaps; comes to a disturbing conclusion. Also reveals the depth of depravity that is lurking within the innocent looking confines of Sesame Street...
Friday, August 24, 2007
Ryan Adams - 23 Aug 2007 - Enmore Theatre
Thursday night’s gig was 5 parts brilliant, 1 part hilarious, and an unfortunate 4 parts frustrating. Ryan Adams is a brilliant musician: the music was *superb*, his voice was strong and beautiful, the band were tight and played so well. I think the Cardinals are good for him, because they give his shiny riffs this warm, full sound that really draws out the songs. And I barely knew any of the songs tonight (more on that later) but even then, the music was wonderful. Ryan Adams can really write excellent songs and play and sing them beautifully.
BUT.
Ryan Adams was being a deliberately difficult artist last night.
Well, the first frustrating thing was (probably) not of his doing; the Enmore had been very misleading about the seating arrangements before the pre-sale, so there were lots of unhappy fans who had bought dancefloor tickets early, only to find out on arrival that floor was *behind* a whole section of seating. Not that there was much to see – that’s right, Ryan had a certain lighting plan (dim, very dim), and he was sticking to it. It was a very pretty set, with the curtained backdrop and the Chinese paper lanterns in different shapes and colours, and I understand the idea of a cosy ambience to focus attention on the music, but it was a bit disappointing not to be able to see the band you had paid to see! For the first four songs, it was kind of hard to work out *where* Ryan Adams was – as someone near me said in the first few minutes, “I can, uh, I think that’s his guitar reflecting the light a bit…?” – and it wasn’t until he spoke to the audience to respond to the few audience members yelling for him to turn the lights up (they weren’t particularly rude – I remember one being, “Ryan, we love you, but we’d love you more if we could see you!”) that we had confirmation of where he was. At one point he was still pretty good natured about it – after one such shout he got out his lighter and held up the flame near his face so we saw him flickering for a few seconds, and everyone laughed. But after 'Off Broadway', someone yelled for the lights again (even though now these requests were being met with an equally vocal response from the audience of groans and ‘shut up!’) and this time Ryan said, rather huffily, “We’re playing two sets tonight. When I come out for the second you had better have learnt how to act.” Then he stalked off the stage and the lights went on, and we all hoped like hell it was just an intermission. *sigh*
I guess it’s not a proper Ryan Adams experience without a tantrum of some sort?
After a fifteen minute break, they came back on and started playing again. The first half off the set had been easy on the hits but still fairly accessible, heavy on songs from the recent albums particularly the ones he recorded with the Cardinals, but the second half became wilfully obscure, and there has been discussion online as to whether this was a deliberate decision made in the break. Anyway, of the seven songs in the second half, one was originally written for Willie Nelson, two have yet to be released, and one was a bonus track that is not readily available. Yikes Anyway, highlights for me were 'Cold Roses', where the harmonies with the band were awesome, as well as 'What Sin Replaces Love', which I hadn’t heard before, but have utterly fallen in love with. There was a blistering extended jam in the middle of the song that was just fantastic, and by the end there was a line that Ryan just sang on his own, and it just about floored me because it was so beautiful. 'Wild Flowers' got a good response from the crowd, 'Peacefull Valley' sounded great, and 'Arkham Asylum', a new song, was well received with its last few bars being the Batman theme. However, after a good last two songs, Ryan felt the need to close the set with a ten minute drawn out feedback and drum outro of utter cacophony, while the remaining members of his band looked lost and liked they wanted to leave. Oh, not to mention the utter condescension in his voice as he ‘congratulated’ us for coming and staying for his idea of a concert, then he followed it up, in the most patronising voice, “You learnt how to listen to music. GOOD JOB."
Goodnight Rose
Please Do Not Let Me Go
Mockingbird
Wild Flowers
Cold Roses
Dear John
Peacefull Valley
Off Broadway
--
Blue Hotel
Magnolia Mountain
What Sin Replaces Love
Trouble On Wheels
Arkham Asylum
A Kiss Before I Go
Easy Plateau
I knew of his reputation, but now I’ve seen first hand how wilful he can be. It is part of who he is and what makes him interesting, but it was also *frustrating* as a fan to be treated that way all night, as if we were all bad children from the start who deserved to be punished. I still love his music, his talent outweighs the crazy, but I don’t think he did himself any favours on Thursday night. The same snippets of conversation were overheard, over and over again, as we walked out (no encore, not that we were expecting it from his mood): “What a prick!” “I’m never listening to him again!”and so on.
Ryan Adams is such a talented musician but he is also a dick, and a lot of that gig felt like a giant “Screw you!” to his fans.
BUT.
Ryan Adams was being a deliberately difficult artist last night.
Well, the first frustrating thing was (probably) not of his doing; the Enmore had been very misleading about the seating arrangements before the pre-sale, so there were lots of unhappy fans who had bought dancefloor tickets early, only to find out on arrival that floor was *behind* a whole section of seating. Not that there was much to see – that’s right, Ryan had a certain lighting plan (dim, very dim), and he was sticking to it. It was a very pretty set, with the curtained backdrop and the Chinese paper lanterns in different shapes and colours, and I understand the idea of a cosy ambience to focus attention on the music, but it was a bit disappointing not to be able to see the band you had paid to see! For the first four songs, it was kind of hard to work out *where* Ryan Adams was – as someone near me said in the first few minutes, “I can, uh, I think that’s his guitar reflecting the light a bit…?” – and it wasn’t until he spoke to the audience to respond to the few audience members yelling for him to turn the lights up (they weren’t particularly rude – I remember one being, “Ryan, we love you, but we’d love you more if we could see you!”) that we had confirmation of where he was. At one point he was still pretty good natured about it – after one such shout he got out his lighter and held up the flame near his face so we saw him flickering for a few seconds, and everyone laughed. But after 'Off Broadway', someone yelled for the lights again (even though now these requests were being met with an equally vocal response from the audience of groans and ‘shut up!’) and this time Ryan said, rather huffily, “We’re playing two sets tonight. When I come out for the second you had better have learnt how to act.” Then he stalked off the stage and the lights went on, and we all hoped like hell it was just an intermission. *sigh*
I guess it’s not a proper Ryan Adams experience without a tantrum of some sort?
After a fifteen minute break, they came back on and started playing again. The first half off the set had been easy on the hits but still fairly accessible, heavy on songs from the recent albums particularly the ones he recorded with the Cardinals, but the second half became wilfully obscure, and there has been discussion online as to whether this was a deliberate decision made in the break. Anyway, of the seven songs in the second half, one was originally written for Willie Nelson, two have yet to be released, and one was a bonus track that is not readily available. Yikes Anyway, highlights for me were 'Cold Roses', where the harmonies with the band were awesome, as well as 'What Sin Replaces Love', which I hadn’t heard before, but have utterly fallen in love with. There was a blistering extended jam in the middle of the song that was just fantastic, and by the end there was a line that Ryan just sang on his own, and it just about floored me because it was so beautiful. 'Wild Flowers' got a good response from the crowd, 'Peacefull Valley' sounded great, and 'Arkham Asylum', a new song, was well received with its last few bars being the Batman theme. However, after a good last two songs, Ryan felt the need to close the set with a ten minute drawn out feedback and drum outro of utter cacophony, while the remaining members of his band looked lost and liked they wanted to leave. Oh, not to mention the utter condescension in his voice as he ‘congratulated’ us for coming and staying for his idea of a concert, then he followed it up, in the most patronising voice, “You learnt how to listen to music. GOOD JOB."
Goodnight Rose
Please Do Not Let Me Go
Mockingbird
Wild Flowers
Cold Roses
Dear John
Peacefull Valley
Off Broadway
--
Blue Hotel
Magnolia Mountain
What Sin Replaces Love
Trouble On Wheels
Arkham Asylum
A Kiss Before I Go
Easy Plateau
I knew of his reputation, but now I’ve seen first hand how wilful he can be. It is part of who he is and what makes him interesting, but it was also *frustrating* as a fan to be treated that way all night, as if we were all bad children from the start who deserved to be punished. I still love his music, his talent outweighs the crazy, but I don’t think he did himself any favours on Thursday night. The same snippets of conversation were overheard, over and over again, as we walked out (no encore, not that we were expecting it from his mood): “What a prick!” “I’m never listening to him again!”and so on.
Ryan Adams is such a talented musician but he is also a dick, and a lot of that gig felt like a giant “Screw you!” to his fans.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
sexual predators and online bullies
Just the Facts About Online Victimization
danah boyd links to media from a panel she was asked to speak on. The speakers presented quantitative and qualitative data on youth presence online and how they were exposed and responded to sexual and other forms of victimisation.
danah boyd links to media from a panel she was asked to speak on. The speakers presented quantitative and qualitative data on youth presence online and how they were exposed and responded to sexual and other forms of victimisation.
Friday, August 10, 2007
The Shins - 9 Aug 2007 - Enmore Theatre
I had heard that The Shins were not a particularly animated band live, and I found this to be true, though it was still a good concert experience. They were musically *beautiful*; the band plays together very well, the trademark lovely melodies were present, and there was a good atmosphere. The crowd was very enthusiastic and loyal, and as mellow as expected.
Some of the arrangements were interesting, such as 'New Slang' becoming rather sombre in a slightly slowed down version, while Caring is Creepy' was also slower but it was nicer that way, I felt. And I also picked up a few new favourites; I think my two favourite moments of the night were an incredibly joyful rendition of 'Saint Simon' (everyone singing along with the la-la-lahs), and a beautiful moving performance of 'The Past and Pending'.
Sleeping Lessons
Australia
When I Goose-Step
Kissing the Lipless
Gone for Good
New Slang
Pressed in a Book
Girl Sailor
Mine's Not a High Horse
Turn a Square
A Comet Appears
Girl Inform Me
Saint Simon
Turn On Me
Pam Berry
Phantom Limb
Know Your Onion!
Breathe (Pink Floyd cover)
Caring Is Creepy
The Past and Pending
So Says I
Some of the arrangements were interesting, such as 'New Slang' becoming rather sombre in a slightly slowed down version, while Caring is Creepy' was also slower but it was nicer that way, I felt. And I also picked up a few new favourites; I think my two favourite moments of the night were an incredibly joyful rendition of 'Saint Simon' (everyone singing along with the la-la-lahs), and a beautiful moving performance of 'The Past and Pending'.
Sleeping Lessons
Australia
When I Goose-Step
Kissing the Lipless
Gone for Good
New Slang
Pressed in a Book
Girl Sailor
Mine's Not a High Horse
Turn a Square
A Comet Appears
Girl Inform Me
Saint Simon
Turn On Me
Pam Berry
Phantom Limb
Know Your Onion!
Breathe (Pink Floyd cover)
Caring Is Creepy
The Past and Pending
So Says I
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Cobra Starship / The Academy Is... - 7 Aug 2007 - UNSW Roundhouse
Cobra Starship are 500% awesome (100% for each member of the band). I don't think I’ve had so much fun during a set for ages. They were were good musicians but didn’t take themselves too seriously; also, they were obviously enjoying themselves on stage, and knew how to bring everyone along for the ride. I was on side of Vicky T (keytar) and Alex (bass), but I had a better view of Ryland (guitar) and Gabe (lead singer). Actually I had a great view of Gabe, which was all important, because Gabe's dancing was *hilarious* and Gabe in general was very funny and scarily charming. He also talks very very fast in a loose way, seemingly verbalising everything in his mind between songs, keeping up a very natural banter.
They only had one album out (the dancetastic While The City Sleeps We Rule the Streets) so the set list was a best of. I would’ve been happy for them to play every single song off the album and keep on being awesome.
Send My Love To The Dancefloor, I'll See You In Hell (Hey Mister DJ)
Keep It Simple
It's Amateur Night At The Appollo Creed
The Kids Are All F****d Up
It's Warmer In The Basement
The Ballad Of Big Poppa And Diamond Girl
The Church Of Hot Addiction
Hollaback Boy
Bring It (Snakes On A Plane)
I must admit, I was definitely more there for Cobra Starship than The Academy Is… But I’d paid my monies, and I’m a completist if not a real fan, so I stayed. I enjoyed them in the songs where they were rocking out (like 'We’ve Got a Big Mess On Our Hands' and 'You Might Have Noticed'), but I had to hear an equal number of songs that annoyed me greatly , in particular the overly sincere ballads like 'Everything We Had' (the lyrics they make me want to cry). The highlight though was the first song of the encore, with just William, Michael on guitar, and their drummer (The Butcher) harmonising very nicely.
Oddly enough, considering they shared the same (Aussie) sound tech, the sound was rather muddy for TAI but nicely clear for CS. And I get it, they have Aussies on tour with them (aforementioned sound dude, plus their new guitarist Michael Guy Chislett - a Sydney boy who used to play for the Hillsong band, go figure), but did they really have to mention it in every lull?
The Phrase That Pays
LAX to O'Hare
Slow Down
Classifieds
Black Mamba
We've Got A Big Mess On Our Hands
Seed
Bulls in Brooklyn
Everything We Had
You Might Have Noticed
Neighbours
Checkmarks
40 Steps
Almost Here
They only had one album out (the dancetastic While The City Sleeps We Rule the Streets) so the set list was a best of. I would’ve been happy for them to play every single song off the album and keep on being awesome.
Send My Love To The Dancefloor, I'll See You In Hell (Hey Mister DJ)
Keep It Simple
It's Amateur Night At The Appollo Creed
The Kids Are All F****d Up
It's Warmer In The Basement
The Ballad Of Big Poppa And Diamond Girl
The Church Of Hot Addiction
Hollaback Boy
Bring It (Snakes On A Plane)
I must admit, I was definitely more there for Cobra Starship than The Academy Is… But I’d paid my monies, and I’m a completist if not a real fan, so I stayed. I enjoyed them in the songs where they were rocking out (like 'We’ve Got a Big Mess On Our Hands' and 'You Might Have Noticed'), but I had to hear an equal number of songs that annoyed me greatly , in particular the overly sincere ballads like 'Everything We Had' (the lyrics they make me want to cry). The highlight though was the first song of the encore, with just William, Michael on guitar, and their drummer (The Butcher) harmonising very nicely.
Oddly enough, considering they shared the same (Aussie) sound tech, the sound was rather muddy for TAI but nicely clear for CS. And I get it, they have Aussies on tour with them (aforementioned sound dude, plus their new guitarist Michael Guy Chislett - a Sydney boy who used to play for the Hillsong band, go figure), but did they really have to mention it in every lull?
The Phrase That Pays
LAX to O'Hare
Slow Down
Classifieds
Black Mamba
We've Got A Big Mess On Our Hands
Seed
Bulls in Brooklyn
Everything We Had
You Might Have Noticed
Neighbours
Checkmarks
40 Steps
Almost Here
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Run Rabbit Run
Petstarr (of Bland Canyon) takes the popular 'Run Rabbit Run' ad for Visit Victoria, and gives it new meaning (horror movie style) by re-soundtracking it to Donnie Darko music. It's definitely a more sinister view of the same images (not that it wasn't a little...creepy to start with).
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