Having had my video iPod for almost a year now, I’ve come to some conclusions about certain iTunes pricing practices.  First, the 99 cents per song marketing strategy was one of the better things to come to fruition for the consumer in the past decade.  Yes we could go on another tangent in how artists seems to get less money with this distribution method but that is more a fault of the crooked record companies and not because of the iTunes business model.

We had an afternoon party last Friday at a coworker’s house that was company-sponsored.  Not only was the place perfect for entertaining (pool in the backyard, ping pong table, pool table, darts, card table) but the room that had the pool table had a bunch of characters from the Dr. Seuss books mounted on the wall as though they were hunting trophies.

There isn’t a year that goes by without hearing a story of how police nabbed wanted felons with the lure of free season tickets or some other get-something-for-nothing scheme.  I thought of this as I was at Comp USA for the third time in the past month.  They are closing all their stores in Georgia and the one by my work seems to be where they’re dumping all the other stores’ merchandise.

Why does TV continue to fight the DVR?  Thankfully most DVR are able to adjust to the fucktastic practice that most networks use in primetime to stretch their shows a few minutes before or after their allotted times.  But they just won’t give up when it comes to trying to outsmart the DVR user like me who refuses to watch commercials for previously recorded shows.  Additional commercial breaks have seeped into most shows now.  In fact, some hour-long dramas now have 6 commercial breaks dispersed throughout.  The total amount of advertising time is still the same (about 16 mi ...

I’m actually writing 3 ½ years after the fact, but I just finished reading the journal of a friend from college who completed the Appalachian Trail in 2003.  Jim Dirlam, a Brooklyn boy through and through, has always been the outdoorsy, adventury kind of guy.  Prior to this, he had done several multi-state bike rides (Idaho to Colorado, the New England states…) so I was pretty sure if anyone could pull it off, ...

In between watching recorded shows last night, I came across the live feed of this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.  I felt the need to comment on two of the inductees, as one group is currently a train wreck and one group needs more acknowledgement.

First, Van Halen’s participation was an absolute joke.  Eddie Van Halen just checked into rehab and Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth also weren’t there.

Talk about good timing – I watched The Departed on DVD yesterday and then it won a slew of Oscars last night.  I had watched the original movie that this one was based on, Infernal Affairs, and had loved that version.  Not many directors can top an original but if anyone was capable of it, it was Martin Scorsese.  I was blown away by Marty’s version and couldn’t wait to watch the Oscars last night (delayed, of course, since I refuse to watch live TV).

It’s amazing how things come full circle.  I’ve not been a fan of every theatre and arena and ballpark selling their original name for a corporate name, thus creating multiple Tweeter Centers in different cities and changing cool names like Candlestick Park to 3Com Park or Comiskey Park to U.S. Cellular Field.

If this has been done before or discussed already, I don’t know, but a good measure of how quickly one can spread disinformation via the internet could happen like this.  Have 3 or 4 friends each create an unsubstantiated rumor.  Pass it on to the people in your address book that are likely to believe anything and forward it on (Obama is a radical muslim, Bill Gates will pay you money if you forward this, a tax on every email sent…).  Take bets on when you will first a) receive the same email back and, the ultimate test of success, b) see whose false rumor gets debunked first on snopes.

We all have had crap jobs at one point (or more) in our life, whether it is fast food or telemarketing or teenage male prostitute.  Certain jobs can really be tough on one’s pride while others can test one’s stamina.  Sometimes a really sucky job can be both.  Down here in the Dirty South, being one of those Hispanics holding a sign during the summer’s hottest day advertising some inconsequential furniture sale is a good example of that.  I never see a liquid bottle near them so they must be thirsty, have tired legs, and probably half-dizzy from all the automobile carbon monoxide fumes, not to mention the derisive stares from spoiled punk teen ...