Thursday, July 23, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Failure of the Music Industry
Got my email from Pandora last night. User's will be capped at 40 hrs. of free listening per month. The email states that while this will not affect the market share of Pandora listeners, that (based upon my listening levels) I would probably be affected. I listen to Pandora quite a bit (more than 1.3 hours per day). And so, I will have to pay. Options include annual subscription at $36 a year, or paying a monthly fee once 40 hrs. is reached.
Part of me understands where the music industry is coming from. The landscape has changed, no one is buying albums anymore, and they are trying to hold on to whatever revenue outlets they can legally grab. But as a consumer, I disagree with this. I would urge the record industry and copyright holders to think more creatively. Give people a product that goes beyond what they can listen to for free or can buy from itunes. What's going to keep us from just buying the songs we like, rather than having to purchase the full album? There needs to be an incentive there. And what about the dozens of songs I have bought on Itunes after learning about the artist through Pandora? Are those royalty dollars not getting back to you?
Forcing me to pay to listen to a single online music station is not going to work for me. Once I exceed my 40 hours, I'll find some place else to listen.
Part of me understands where the music industry is coming from. The landscape has changed, no one is buying albums anymore, and they are trying to hold on to whatever revenue outlets they can legally grab. But as a consumer, I disagree with this. I would urge the record industry and copyright holders to think more creatively. Give people a product that goes beyond what they can listen to for free or can buy from itunes. What's going to keep us from just buying the songs we like, rather than having to purchase the full album? There needs to be an incentive there. And what about the dozens of songs I have bought on Itunes after learning about the artist through Pandora? Are those royalty dollars not getting back to you?
Forcing me to pay to listen to a single online music station is not going to work for me. Once I exceed my 40 hours, I'll find some place else to listen.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Prevention?...at what cost?
Mr. Robert S. McNamara passed away this week at 93. And in light of all famous, infamous, and/or notorious deaths being completely eclipsed by the passing of Michael Jackson and the onslaught of media coverage surrounding it, I've seen little more than brief (if not disregarding) obits and sidebars circulating through the media about this milestone. The King of Pop's talent and curious lifestyle gained the attention of millions. So too did the incisive decisions of Mr. McNamara affect millions of lives and help set the United States on a new trajectory; one of a war lost, civil unrest, and a loss of reliance upon elected officials.
My education of Mr. McNamara is short. My interest stemmed from research about the Vietnam war done some 10 years ago, and culminated in the examination of Errol Morris' illuminating documentary, THE FOG OF WAR. The film pieces together direct interviews between Mr. Morris and Mr. McNamara with archival footage of Mr. McNamara's childhood, college career, service during WWII and time in office as the Secretary of Defense. Mr. McNamara narrates his story through the telling of lessons learned from the war. Amidst the revels of triumph (Cuban Missle Crisis) and grief of defeat (Bay of Pigs) there are candid, poignant moments that provide the viewer with a sense of introspective, pensive thought on behalf of an older and (perhaps) wiser McNamara.
Either that, or Mr. McNamara is so savagely cunning with his remorseful facade that nothing more is illustrated than the duality of man. In fact, he himself had called out this trait in a third person retrospective of what he would have said during his acceptance speech upon winning (ironically) the Medal of Freedom in 1968. "You are thinking this man is duplicitous, you are thinking that he has held things close to his chest, you are thinking that he did not respond fully to the desires and wishes of the American people." He was either so moved by the award of the medal from President Johnson, or so frazzeled and disillusioned by his seven-year service to the administrations that he pardoned himself from speaking during the engagement.
Critics have called him nothing more than a bean counter (his formal education in accounting), a war monger who saw the world in black and white and people as numbers; figures that could rightly be extinguished as a means to an end. And while his name will forever be linked to Vietnam and it's bordering countries, his hand in the bombing campaigns over Japan during WWII were equally as tragic. He laments in the film, "we were behaving like war criminals...if we lost the war, we would have all been prosecuted as war criminals."
His practice, by his own claim, was prevention; averting nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis, as well as war with China through Vietnam. Hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of lives for the prevention of further escalation.
My education of Mr. McNamara is short. My interest stemmed from research about the Vietnam war done some 10 years ago, and culminated in the examination of Errol Morris' illuminating documentary, THE FOG OF WAR. The film pieces together direct interviews between Mr. Morris and Mr. McNamara with archival footage of Mr. McNamara's childhood, college career, service during WWII and time in office as the Secretary of Defense. Mr. McNamara narrates his story through the telling of lessons learned from the war. Amidst the revels of triumph (Cuban Missle Crisis) and grief of defeat (Bay of Pigs) there are candid, poignant moments that provide the viewer with a sense of introspective, pensive thought on behalf of an older and (perhaps) wiser McNamara.
Either that, or Mr. McNamara is so savagely cunning with his remorseful facade that nothing more is illustrated than the duality of man. In fact, he himself had called out this trait in a third person retrospective of what he would have said during his acceptance speech upon winning (ironically) the Medal of Freedom in 1968. "You are thinking this man is duplicitous, you are thinking that he has held things close to his chest, you are thinking that he did not respond fully to the desires and wishes of the American people." He was either so moved by the award of the medal from President Johnson, or so frazzeled and disillusioned by his seven-year service to the administrations that he pardoned himself from speaking during the engagement.
Critics have called him nothing more than a bean counter (his formal education in accounting), a war monger who saw the world in black and white and people as numbers; figures that could rightly be extinguished as a means to an end. And while his name will forever be linked to Vietnam and it's bordering countries, his hand in the bombing campaigns over Japan during WWII were equally as tragic. He laments in the film, "we were behaving like war criminals...if we lost the war, we would have all been prosecuted as war criminals."
His practice, by his own claim, was prevention; averting nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis, as well as war with China through Vietnam. Hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of lives for the prevention of further escalation.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Holy Cacao
1207 S. 1st St., Austin, TX, 78704.512-851-CAKE (2253)
http://www.theholycacao.com/
Holy crap.
We had a few minutes to spare on Friday evening after a long week, and decided to head down to lower South 1st to check out the "other" trailer park eatery. Right next door to the area Torchy's and Shuggie's have made famous is 1207 S. 1st, a more modest lot graced with two trailers. One houses Izzoz tacos, which we have not yet tried but plan to. The other is a smaller and colorful desert trailer named after that holiest of holy culinary element, the cocoa plant.
The brain-child of two desert lovers, Holy Cacao boasts a short menu of confectionary goodies for those on the move. S'mores on a stick, cake shakes (using elements of cake crumbs and Blue Bell ice cream), and their famous cake balls (a fudgey cake rolled up and coated with a heavy chocolate icing). And while the cake balls may be the proprietiers claim to fame, it's the frozen hot cholocate that really helps Holy Cacao carve out it's own desert niche. Not content on competing with the other (cup)cake vendors in the South 1st area (Hey Cupcake!, Sugar Mama's), Holy Cacoa transcends the bounds of the moist, spongy delight with it's concoction of real dark chocolate (no mixes here) melted and blended together with ice and milk. It's beauty not to be outdone by it's simplicy, Holy Cacao also offers this beverage infused with a mix of ancho chile, cinnamon, and is that some cayenne I detect? Whatever the mix is, it's called The Mexican and it's absolutely wonderful. This is real HOT chocolate, served frozen. It's a cold up front, with a nice warm chocolate down the back; an icy mix that gives you a nice smack in the kisser.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
