Thursday, April 19, 2012

Gazing On A City Under Television Skies

Not a fan of television anymore. (Not the band.)

About the only show I enjoy these days is Craig Ferguson. The surprisingly witty, self-described 'creepy old Scottish dude' is one of my very few connections to the broadcast world, and only a handful of shows on the cable channels interest me. (Mostly shows like Gold Rush and American Pickers. I'm such a dork.)

I think television is over for a number of reasons. Firstly, I see a convergence of the TV device and the PC device, in the same way we've seen a convergence of the cell phone and the laptop computer. Secondly, there's more flexibility with an internet-based source for 'shows'-no need to schedule time to watch. TiVo and DVRs will delay recognition of this fact for some time, but eventually a service whereby all programming is on demand, ie the internet will render such devices obsolete.

Enough people watch stuff via internet piracy. The media companies aren't beating them anytime soon, as we learned in Prohibition and the heyday of phone phreaking. Try to bar people from something, and they'll find a way to get it. Why don't the media companies just use the internet?

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Give Me One Good Dose Of Thunder

Never thought I'd be as into music from the 90's as I am right now. Once upon a time I thought only Nirvana mattered; now I find they're not alone.

Take the album Bossanova by the Pixies, for example. Or listen to Bob Pollard shout 'HOT FREAKS' in your ear with GBV's Bee Thousand spinning. All surprisingly good stuff.

Meanwhile, I've been digging through the free vinyl at Dave's Music Mine on the South Side. Managed to get a hold of City to City - Gerry Rafferty; Blow by Blow - Jeff Beck; Tales Of Topographic Oceans - Yes; Feats Don't Fail Me Now - Little Feat.

These would all be cool if id hadn't turned out SOME HIPSTER swiped the discs out of Litttle Feat and sides one and two from Yes... That said I think my dad has Tales Of Topographical Oceans. I may steal it from him just to hear the disc. Incidentally, if anyone has a spare copy of sides one and two thereof, let me know; I'd like to have it to complete the album.