Music Industry is No One's Friend

When you really think about it, does anyone hold a great opinion of the music industry right now? Sure, we love our favorite artists, but don't the RIAA and record labels (*cough* Sony *cough*) just love to do stupid stuff? Well the Justice Department has noticed one such issue, and they call it collusion. It appears that they may be agreeing on fixed pricing for selling music wholesale to online retailers, which is illegal in this country in case you don't recall high school economics. I don't know enough about this issue to give a good opinion on it, but I wouldn't be surprised if the investigation turned up some dirt because I'm sure that they've become more desperate in recent years to propagate their archaic way of running things. Also, record labels were not amused when Sirius unrolled new radios that could record programming directly from the satellite radio service and are demanding 30% of revenues in royalties. I feel that this is an unwarranted demand since one can just as easily record music from the regular radio onto cassette tapes, so what's wrong with recording it digitally from satellite radio? You may not see this as a big deal, but I'm sure that it'll result in higher costs to use these services, and that would be a shame. Why don't they just start charging us every time we pop a CD into our CD player? Maybe then they can actually build pools of just money.

1UP put up a great feature (possibly to complement IGN's on the Revolution) covering all we know about the PS3 to date, and some of the games listed for it that have me excited are Silent Hill 5, Metal Gear Solid 4, Fight Night Round 3, Resident Evil 5, and Killzone among others. It's a must-read if you're interested in the next generation but know nothing about it. Meanwhile, some sneaky gamers managed to nab pictures of a camera that Microsoft has been developed for the Xbox 360 that seems to be much more focused on video chat and putting your face in actual video games (i.e. face mapping) than the EyeToy has been. I think it could do well if it sold for under $50, though I'm sure that's unlikely. If you've ever wondered how piracy works and how new movies and such get online, then you'll enjoy reading this no doubt. It's just a plaintext file explaining it, but I find it fascinating how well thought out the process is. I was an file serv myself once upon a time. Lastly, you'll no longer be routed to Amazon.com when you try going to the Toys R Us site thanks to a lawsuit they won today. They were apparently unhappy with Amazon's subsequent agreements with rival retailers, thought I question whether or not their sales actually took a hit (which they were unable to prove in the suit).

I personally thought that Ice Age was an awesome animated movie, though it was a bit too short, and I'm looking forward to this sequel. There's another poster out for it as well, but I just think that this one is more amusing. There are some new pictures for Casino Royale, but they're much less thrilling than that poster. What's more striking is that Bond will also drive a Ford Mondeo in the film for a bit because MGM has no problem rolling over for the highest bidder even if the car doesn't look all that great. That doesn't hurt the image of an already shake production at all. Fans of The Office will be saddened to know that this season will be shortened in order to accommodate Steve Carrell's shooting schedule for Evan Almighty, the sequel to Bruce Almighty. There will be a season 3, no doubt, but this movie better be damn good to compensate for those episodes we're going to miss. Lastly, Dennis Haysbert (aka President David Palmer on 24) may want to check out a new series he'll be in on Tuesday on CBS called The Unit that my friend Robert just told me about. I, for one, will be checking it out.

Now for Friday's Feast:

Appetizer
How many pillows and blankets do you sleep with?
I lay down a sheet on my bed (covered in a quilt) and pillow, and then wrap myself in a blanket usually, but it has warmed up lately so I've switched to just a thin bedsheet.

Soup
What are you currently "addicted" to?
Besides 24? Up until last Saturday: Texas Revue. Working on the skit really has been a lot of fun, but we won't find out if we made it until next weekend so cross your fingers for us everyone! We really put a lot of time and effort into it.

Salad
If you could make a small change to your current routine or schedule that would make you just a little bit happier, what would it be?
Probably some guitar time and a little more sleep. Playing guitar always gets me all pumped up and excited about, well, playing guitar! I only have time nowadays to play it on the weekend though.

Main Course
Which adjective do you find yourself using often?
Probably "awesome" or "freaking", especially as a compound adjective.

Dessert
Have you ever picked up a hitchhiker?
Nope, but I've only been driving for like a year now.