October 2007 – Page 6 – The Designer Monologues

October 15, 2007

Blatant

I’ve talked a bunch of times about how I’m sick of the corporate media trying to cram their own election-related Narratives down our throats — they’ve decided, for example, that Hillary Clinton is the inevitable candidate, and ignore any news to the contrary. All of the stories they report are crafted with their decided narrative in mind (from what I can tell, it appears that the media has decided it will be Clinton vs. Giuliani).

On the Republican side, in particular, they’ve ignored the candidacy of Ron Paul. Paul is an anti-war Libertarian (leaning pretty heavily into the “no-Federal-ANYTHING” Libertarian nutjob school of things, so his anti-war stance isn’t enough to sway me, as it appears to be swaying some supporters on the left). He is a strict anti-interventionist and blasts the administration for corrupting conservatism. But he’s a dweeby, little-known Congressman. He doesn’t make for Sexy reporting. Plus, his massive upsurge in support is coming largely from Teh Intarwebs, so of course, when the media does report on it, it’s dismissive and condescending. He’s the Howard Dean of the 2008 elections.

For example, check out this blatant bit of BS: The Conservative Leadership Conference held a Republican Straw Poll this weekend in Nevada, and Paul blasted everyone else out of the water — 33% of the votes, with #2 coming in at 16%.

The headline on MSNBC?

ROMNEY LOSES NV STRAW POLL

Can you believe that shit?

October 12, 2007April 19, 2010

Friday Music

Here we go again….

As I said in a post on Wednesday, I picked up Radiohead’s new album, In Rainbows, and I’ve been enjoying it. I highly recommend that you go to the website and purchase it (especially since you can set your own price, and it all goes directly to the band). As a “radio-single” sample, here’s my favorite track: Radiohead – “Bodysnatchers.”

I also picked up Bruce Springsteen’s new album, Magic, this past week. Absolutely amazing. I was a huge Springsteen fan by the time Born in the USA was released, thanks to a friend’s older brother leaving his LP collection at home while he was in college (this was also where I discovered Steely Dan). As huge a hit as Born was, I had always preferred his earlier work…and none of his later albums seemed to recapture that sound. Until now. Magic is easily the best, most uniformly solid Springsteen album since Born to Run, in my opinion. Here’s my favorite track, a lament to a fallen soldier. Bruce Springsteen – “Gypsy Biker.” He never directly references Iraq in any song on the album, but there are lyrical pointers — such as this song’s opening line: “Speculators made their money on the blood you shed.”

More new music. Fact #1: Kylie Minogue is going to appear in the next Doctor Who Christmas special, “Voyage of the Damned” (see promo image here.). Fact #2: Time Lords have two hearts. Fact #3: Kylie’s newest single has leaked to the internet. It’s title? Kylie Minogue – “Two Hearts.” Possible tie-in? Christmas single? Hmmmm…..

New-old music: I picked up an interesting album recently: Masterworks Reworked, an import in which various electronic acts and DJs do remixes of classical compositions. Some interesting stuff. For example, the following: Jazzelicious – “Ravel’s Bolero.”

Slipping sideways through the New-Old, some more “Baroque Pop” from Patrick Wolf: Patrick Wolf – “The Libertine.”

Moving solidly into the “old” — well, the 80s at least. First, the closest thing that I’m going to do to a Halloween-themed post this year: Oingo Boingo – “Dead Man’s Party.”

And, lastly, one of my favorite tracks from the period, which, typically, often seems ignored in the “TOTALLY AWESOME 80’S RETRO WEEKEND” radio broadcasts that pump false nostalgia down the throats of a willing public: The Fixx – “Red Skies At Night.”

There you go, kids. Hope you liked this week’s selections.

October 11, 2007

Writers Guild Strike

It’s looking more and more like the Writer’s Guild of America (the union covering TV and Film writers) is going on Strike as of November 1st. The main issues are how much TV and film writers should be paid when their work is distributed on new media platforms, including the Internet, cell phones, digital media players and other devices; as well as a demand for the revision of a decades-old formula for compensating writers for work that appears on DVD, which the WGA feels is too low.

Well and good, except for a couple of things.

One, the last time we had a writer’s strike in this country, it pretty much led to the creation (and eventual cancer-like proliferation) of Reality Shows. I shudder to think what this Strike might bring. But hell, that’s purely an asthetic concern, and a selfish one at that.

More troubling is today’s announcement by the WGA of their “Strike rules.” Rules which include a prohibition on their members doing any work for new media and animation…..things which the WGA currently has no jurisdiction over.

Even more bizarrely: the WGA is also asserting that nonmembers who perform banned work during a strike will be barred from joining the guild in the future.

Yes, you read that correctly — a labor union is claiming jurisdiction over the actions of NONmembers.

As Warren Ellis said this morning on his BAD SIGNAL email list:

“….this is a little like a guild of chefs not only banning me from cooking at home, but also barring me from ever entering a restaurant should I be found out.

[…] I understand the WGA’s need to go in hard, and there are serious issues to be tackled. But criminalising me for going about my business, that the WGA has no say over…hell, I’ve written two animated films (MINDBRIDGE, unproduced, and CASTLEVANIA, pre-production) and a cable tv pilot and I don’t even qualify for membership in WGA.

[..]I’m being called out as a scab by a union who doesn’t even cover the work that I do.

Charming.”

I’ll be watching this with interest (and more than a little bit of disgust). Given the recent movement in the music industry to break the corporate chains and go direct-to-consumer, I wonder if this possible Strike (and the ridiculousness of the entire distributor/provider relationship that it brings to light) might not precipitate a movement in the same direction for filmed entertainment.

We’re in the 21st Century, folks — Studios and Unions are a relic of the 19th. Snap out of it.