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(06/24/09 2:50am)
As a good friend of mine said about a month ago, if anyone suggested the idea of a library in this day and age, a sort of communal stomping ground where books and in many cases, DVDs, CDs and even video games (something I've never been able to understand) were available for no charge, with the only limitation would be a system of time limits and fines if said limits are exceeded coupled with the scornful gaze of the librarians when you try and check something out only to find that you owe $5 for renting "Derailed," they would immediately be kicked around by publishing and media companies as a nutcase. How dare this chap encourage the further mooching by Americans off of their wealth of informative and cultural products? It's bad enough having to deal with the likes of Limewire (I'm sure there are still a few people using it) and the multitude of torrent sites, but to have a brick-and-mortar haven for freeloaders to simply come in with a card and come out with a cartload of media, well that would just spell the end of everything, wouldn't it?
(06/19/09 10:59pm)
"Tonight is the night journalism died," according to Fox News, all because of ABC's big series of broadcasts from inside the White House in which they're basically serving as a megaphone for the administration. Now, there's credence to this, but it would help Fox's argument if they hadn't drank the Bush administration's Kool-Aid and done the same thing a few years ago.
(06/10/09 7:03pm)
America's a wonderful place, isn't it? It's the sort of wonderland where everyone can have opportunities, where paupers can become industrious princes at the tip of their soot-ridden caps. It's a country where even those who admit to knowing nothing about the car industry whatsoever can lead a semi-nationalized beheamouth known as General Motors.
(06/06/09 9:38pm)
The information age is over. If you'd like to attend the wake, please wear black and be courteous to the grieving windows, they've been through a lot. Oh, the Internet will still be around, and there will always be television and newspapers (though at a certain point we'll have to start calling newspapers pamphlets, the news section of USA Today is so light it actually floats up to the ceiling.) But they don't want to inform you, heavens no. That would leave little shades of gray, and allow consumers to try and reach their own conclusions, expand their horizons as only they see fit. The trend now is to be told about events, to be told what to think.
(06/05/09 6:42am)
No, the title doesn't pertain to this blog. I mean, who wouldn't want to read this blog, in all of it pre-templated glory, upon the first look? It just reeks of...standard Wordpress appearances...hm. That being said, let's move to the topic at hand, the initially off-putting and crushingly irritating, but ultimately fulfilling book, "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" by Marisha Pessl.
(06/03/09 3:20am)
Characters that resonate with audiences take on a multitude of identities, each unique to the particular cultural consumer. No matter how much control a creator tries to maintain over an identity that they've created, there's only so much they can do. Sure, they can toss copyright back and forth, but that nagging issue of public domain looms in the future. Things like trade names and logos, anything business-oriented may be protected indefinitely, but the law is very obscure when it comes to purely cultural concoctions. So while the argument for Mickey Mouse being a logo can be made, eliminating free public use in the future, something like, say, Holden Caulfield, will wander out into the same area that Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan are currently in.
(05/30/09 7:37pm)
The problem with success is that it builds upon itself like sentient Lego bricks, continuing skyward until eventually, one pillar looks a bit ugly, or a awkward arrangement of pieces is necessary to continue. When this happens, although progress is made, the surveying crowd can't help but raise an eyebrow and wonder what's the matter, despite the continued ascension.
(05/28/09 9:21pm)
Look at this girl. She seems perfectly happy and content, what with her working phone, face free of terribly unsightly pores and braces, and if the New York Times' caption is to be believed, she's an honors student as well. Who would have thought that her life is in grave and gruesome danger from a double-sided blade of debauchery?
(05/22/09 12:41am)
I'll give myself, and the blog, a nice warm welcome back from the busily distracted realm of finals and travels back home (as much as one can consider New Jersey to be a home...) I can't say that I've been overly compelled during this hiatus to put anything online, mainly because the main events that have been swirling around the news sphere have been largely inconsiquential "he said, she said" moments.
(05/14/09 12:37am)
Wilco has put their new album up on their site for the world to listen and I, for one, am listening. Expect a review sometime in the next day or so, but in the meantime, listen to it! It's free, and legal! Plus, you can just stare at the cover art for weeks ... Just watch out for the audio quality, it leaves a bit to be desired.
(05/10/09 7:31am)
Typically, I'm the sort of cultural consumer who runs at everything skeptically, is rarely very pleased and finds it almost sinful to consider compromising the complexity of a lengthy, brilliant source material for the sake of introducing it to a wider audience. The simple reason is because most of these attempts trip right over themselves, because stretching any idea to fit to every taste leaves it bland. No one will necessarily complain if they're fed bland chicken, but there's no heart and soul to be found in it. My opinion of the film adaptation "Watchmen" his already on the blog, an opinions birthed entirely from what I think was a blatant misunderstanding of the comic and the transformation of it into a big, dumb, sex-laden adventure.
(05/06/09 7:47pm)
UPDATE
Not long after the post below came along, Amazon just announced a new model of the Kindle which will directly take aim at newspapers with a bigger, more cumbersome design. If there's anything the American consumer wants, it's large, award hunks of metal. Just look at the success of Transformers!
(05/06/09 2:09am)
According to Ben Bernanke, the king of all things monetary (at least until his term is up, which doesn't make him that much of a king,) the economy should be ready and raring to go come the end of the year!
(05/01/09 10:33pm)
Supreme Court Justice David Souter is leaving his position at the end of his current term, leaving President Obama with that always-difficult decision of nominating a succesor. Finding the right material for a justice is a tenuous process, one that requires a complete and thorough analysis of a candidate's philosophies, intellectual worth and ability to embrace complete loyalty to the rule of law.
(05/01/09 7:58am)
Yes, I'm sorry, I got my hands on an album early though less-than golden means. I know music typically isn't the domain of this blog, in fact, I'm pretty positive that there hasn't been a single album review posted at all, unless someone slipped one in after catching wind of my password.
(04/30/09 1:42am)
Let's examine publicity for just a moment. The dictionary describes it as, "extensive mention in the news media or by word of mouth or other means of communication." Good publicity, therefore, is essentially people being cognizant and chattering about something for all of the right reasons. Bad publicity then must be a negative press and public perception.
(04/21/09 9:51pm)
Phoenix 14 got what they wanted in regard to the previous post (which you'll notice has disappeared), so the issue is a moot point. But, if you're actually interested as to why and how the post was constructed, do click below.
(04/20/09 7:39am)
When anyone, rich or poor, pays for something, they expect their money's worth. Plop down $5 for a sandwich, and the presumption is that that sandwich will be better than a sandwich that costs $1. Except there seem to be exceptions to this rule, many of which fall under the domain of entertainment. Movies all cost the same upon their release into theatres, it doesn't matter if they're Oscar bait or souless eye candy. On iTunes, everything, provided there isn't a particular promotion going on, typically costs the same. The vast majority of video games cost between $50 and $60 upon their debut.
(04/17/09 5:10am)
We beat 'em! Time Warner Cable has eliminated its tiered pricing structure for Internet in its three accounced markets, one of which was Greensboro, a pricing structure that The Pendulum, along with several other media outlets, spoke out against rather strongly. It's nice to see a corporation bowing beneath the will of its customers, though much of the vehement hatred of Time Warner Cable is a bit unfounded, the new prices were just tests after all, as ill-advised as they may have been. Beneath the cut is the piece that ran in The Pendulum this week, in case you haven't already given it a look.
(04/16/09 12:48am)
"Johnny Carson smoked, and for 30 years he was never pictured smoking a cigarette," Google C.E.O Eric Schmidt said in an interview with Maureen Dowd, featured in today's New York Times. "Today that would be nearly impossible."