Category: Music/Movies

A great article on CrunchGear. Read it, it’s quite funny.

It has come to my attention that the music industry now wants royalties for those 30-second clips of music you hear in iTunes. That, I think you’ll agree, is bullshit. Seeing as how we’re a solution-oriented blog here at CrunchGear, I want to offer a completely fool-proof way to save the music industry and put an end to the years and years of nonsense we’ve seen since Napster was first released: let’s ban music. That’s right, let’s pass a law that says “the creation or performance of music, in any form, is hereby banned. Any violation of this law will be punishable by death.” Problem solved, let’s all play Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Read the rest of the article here.

Yesterday my daughter got all 6 of the Star Wars movies for her birthday from a couple of our friends. She was ecstatic, and to be honest, so was I. Once I looked closer at the original trilogy covers, I also noticed that the bonus discs contain the Original Theatrical versions of the movies. I didn’t even think they existed anymore, with the possible exception of someones old and worn out VHS tapes. I was definitely not expecting them to be bundled with the newer versions.

So, this morning I enjoyed Han shooting first again, for the first time in years.

Back in the day, long time ago, I used to play in a band. Two bands actually. Both of which are the stuff of legend, but only one ever seen in public. This is not about that band.

Recently, fellow bandwagonjumper-friend Jonas made me aware of a new music sharing site called Soundcloud.com. I signed up. Did nothing for a while. Nothing yet again for another few weeks untill I got another nudge and hint to start using the service a few days ago. I finally broke down and dug through my mp3 collection of previously recorded material that hasn’t been listened to for ages and started uploading.

Just ran across this article about Elliot Smith and it made me feel a little sad, yet again, that this talented guy left us way before his time. Gotta give it to the guy though, his way to go out was like something straight out of a Shakespeare play. Self inflicted knife wound to the chest. Tragic, but hardcore.

Five years ago today, on October 21, 2003, Elliott Smith died. The intentions behind his death still not been confirmed, but some time that day, Elliott met the Big Nothing.

Read the rest of the article here.

For the last year or so we’ve been waiting for the right moment to introduce Star Wars to our kids. About a month or so ago, we decided it was time. Both my wife and I prepped them a lot, talking about all the characters, before we attempted watching the first movie. My wife even went ahead and told Linnea the plot of the entire first film. And by the first, I mean the fourth, A New Hope.

I came home from work one day and our daughter was retelling the story to me, now wanting to watch the movie. We figured that she, being younger than our son, needed more prep to understand the story.

We made our way through the original trilogy and the kids wanted more. They were totally into it. Talking about all the characters, occasionally confusing Han Solo with Luke Skywalker, but ok, no big deal. They were, to both of our surprise, really consumed by story. Our daughter even more than our son. There was of course frequent pausing of the movies to explain key plot points that might have gone over their heads, which wasn’t too surprising considering their age.

I recall seeing Return of the Jedi myself, in a movie theater in Warsaw sometime in the mid to late 80’s. And I remember being completely mesmerized. I’m hoping our kids will have similar experience with watching the movies as well.

Both my wife and I have lately been pretty obsessed with the band Fleet Foxes. And since they’re so great, I thought I’d share this with you as well. They’re too good to be kept a secret (not that they are… a secret that is). With a sound that mixes 70’s folk and country as well as a little spaghetti western themes as well now and again, they’re part of the new Seattle movement and well worth the listen.

Below is their appearance on Letterman. Check them out.