Usage-based billing in the internet industry is bad. But the fact that an organization created to protect consumers actually tried to require such billing is nothing short of a travesty. Thankfully, just about every politician in this country – regardless of ideology – seems to be able to see the problem with the CRTC‘s recent ruling.
And late last night Canadian consumers were finally vindicated. In an ironic show of support for the internet, Industry Minister Tony Clement Tweeted about his stance on the issue:
Borrowed from the Vancouver Sun online. Thanks!
Even better, the Vancouver Sun online has quoted a senior government insider who said:
“The CRTC should be under no illusion. The prime minister and the minister of industry will reverse this decision unless the CRTC does it itself.”
Booyah! That’s how representative democracy is supposed to work!
Now if only we can get some changes made in the CRTC itself. Two major decisions being over-ruled in as many years definitely indicates that the current decision-makers are out of touch with reality Canadians.
Alanis Morissette (*cringe* – *shudder*) gave birth to a boy on Christmas day! Normally, the family life of washed-up singers with grating voices is not very high on my blogging priority list. But this one stands out… Somehow that fact that her baby was born on December 25 seems oddly appropriate.
Why?
Because in Kevin Smith‘s 1999 flim, Dogma, Alanis has a small but important role – she play’s God.
She plays God in a movie, then her first son is born on Jesus’ birthday?
Weird.
In case you were wondering, they’ve named the kid Ever Imre Morissette-Treadway. Why do celebrities find it so hard to choose decent names?
Since the demise of the CD (yes, I’m calling it officially ‘demised‘) artists have been looking to package music in ways that give something special to people who actually pay instead of just download. Back in the day liner notes were good enough, but today you need more. Quickly run through any music store (no, not iTunes, I mean an actual store – remember those?) and you’ll see CD packaged with all sorts of stuff – t-shirts, books, toys…
But once in a while, someone will come up with a really cool idea.
SONOIO is an electronic solo project of Alessandro Cortini (ex-NIN). Like every other artist, you can buy his music online. But in addition to the standard mp3 download SONOIO offers a package that comes with a tiny synthesizer (SuONOIO) already packed with samples that were used to create the music on the album.
This thing is cool and, for the geekier people in your life, would make a great gift.
If I ever have to get married, this guy is going to play at the wedding. I’ll be waiting at the head of the isle, my bride slowly walking toward me, as the Highscore piece from Commando plays.
I love 8-bit chiptunes. Maybe it’s the complex simplicity, or maybe it’s just because they take me back to my NES days. Either way, I could pretty much listen to them all day. Sadly, I am not a musician nor an electronics tinkerer. I’ve tried both, but it just wasn’t meant to be. So I’ll never be able to do what this guy as done. At least there is always YouTube.
I should admit upfront, I am generally not a fan of contemporary art. It’s not that I don’t think there are great artists around – for sure, some of my friends are wonderful artists. But I have a very strict notion of what I am willing to consider art, and a lot of the stuff that has come along over the last 30-ish years definitely fails my test. Essentially, my rule comes down to this:
Ignoring the question of inspiration, and presuming access to the right materials, if I personally could recreate a piece well enough that the average observer could not tell the difference between my copy and the original – it is not art.
To me, art is not about inspiration and a message. It’s not enough to simply have an idea, know what you think it means, and then give it physical form.
Art is about skill.
Leonardo da Vinci created magnificent, timeless paintings. He did so with primitive canvases and paints, but he had the skill to bring life to his work. Unfortunately a lot of the pieces I saw on Saturday were stark, simple and lifeless. One piece, that I wish I had noted the information for, was nothing more than coloured dots on a white background. Some people were asking, “What does it mean?” I was answering, “Who cares.” It failed my test.
Then of course there were the controversial pieces. I don’t have any issue with nudity in art. If it passes my initial art test, I will accept pretty much anything – even if I personally don’t like it. As such, Richard Price’s piece depicting a 10-year old Brooke Shields nude passes the test. It took skill to craft the photograph out of colour and shadow. Brooke Shields is nothing more than a 10-year old canvas. However, another piece which is essentially just a close-up photograph of a penis near a woman’s mouth, does not pass. Why? Because it took nothing to create. A woman wearing lipstick opened her mouth in front of a blank background and a penis was put close to it. Zoom in, snap! Picture taken. That’s all.
The piece relies solely on the shock of the observer. Without anyone to be shocked by it, the piece would be nothing. I can take a picture of a penis close to a woman’s mouth. So can anyone with a camera. And even passing acquaintance with the internet will show you that there are millions of people who do exactly that. They are not all artists. And was I shocked? No. I’ve seen lots of porn.
Strangely, the Gallery decided that 10-year old Brooke shields should not be displayed, but the penis and mouth should. I’ve seen the Brooke Shields piece elsewhere, I can tell you that it is infinitely more appropriate than the penis and mouth. Even the piece depicting a dead horse – made with actual horse skin and eerily realistic – was more interesting.
Moving on…
The Pop Shop piece was interesting. I haven’t decided how I feel about being used as a part of the art, but I will admit that I came “this close” to buying a t-shirt from the girl in the window. That is, until I discovered that they were selling for $32.99. That is a really expensive t-shirt. I’m not paying that much for a shirt unless I am at a concert.
The twins were good. I liked that they were allowed to talk to the observers, though I didn’t talk to them myself. (Again, I’m not sure how I feel about being a part of the art.)
For me, the absolute best piece involved the below video. I won’t explain it, because I really, really, can’t. But just watch it. It’s awesome.
Did you watch it? Good. Now go see the rest of the show! (Just try to ignore the porn.)
I was thinking about the new copyright bill last night, when I suddenly realized that I just don’t care about the music industry. (Yes, I know the bill isn’t just about the music industry, but this post is. Relax…)
It’s not that I don’t like music – I really like music. And it’s not that I think artists should go unrewarded. It’s just that I don’t think music should be a commodity.
Industries are for cars and forestry. Industries are not for art.
I’ve spent the better part of tonight searching for 8-bit covers of my favourite music on 8bitcollective, and I’m totally addicted. Listening to your favourite tunes redone to sound as if they were coming from a late-eighties video game probably won’t be immediately appealing to everyone – but I’d recommend giving it a try anyway.
I came across Next Big Sound tonight and I’ve spend the last hour punching in band names. I’ve never really been into statistics, but I have to admit that being able to see a line chart of my favourite bands’ web presence is pretty cool. From the site itself:
They call all this information “Actionable Intelligence for the Music Industry” and that is a pretty spot-on description. While the average music fan can definitely have a good time checking out the stats for their favourite band, the real win here is for artists themselves. The site allows artists to see exactly what kind of web activity they are generating, and directly compare their own stats with those of other artist.
At the moment, not all artists are being followed, and those that are being followed don’t have links to all of the available sites. But anyone can add an artist, and anyone can update an artist’s profile with the relevant links. So as NBS becomes more popular, we should see a pretty comprehensive list of artists to follow and compare.
Antisocial Thoughts 
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