I'm Not There and A Short Essay About How Sometimes You Can't Steal Music, Even If You Want To

I'm Not There is a new movie about Bob Dylan, the title comes from a very good Bob Dylan song that had remained unreleased until the soundtrack for the film was released. Anyway, I'm a huge Bob Dylan fan, but guess what... I can't see the movie. Why? Because it's only playing at one movie theatre in Georgia and it's in Atlanta. I can't justify travelling roughly three hours round trip in order to pay another $8 to see a movie, I'm unfortunately not made of money. Most people probably don't care because it looks kind of weird and doesn't seem like it will make too much sense to a non-Dylanfanatic. But I like weird things and I like Bob Dylan. So anyway, it sucks, just thought I'd throw that out there. Hopefully I'll see it one day, but probably not until it's released on DVD.

One reason the music industry is dying is because people download all their music for free. I usually buy my music because I like to support my favorite artists and their industry in general so they can keep making music. Sometimes, however, you don't have an infinite supply of money and sometimes certain things can only be bought on our of print imports on ebay, in which you end up paying $50 for a CD that has one obscure B-Side that wasn't released anywhere else. In that case, I feel justified turning to illegal downloading, because it's their fault they didn't make it easier for me to buy (because it it were on iTunes chances are I'd probably buy it). Anyway, there are some cases where you can't even find certain things downloading them illegally. So the point of this whole thing is to say that if digital distribution is the future of music, the industry needs to give people like me an incentive to buy into their scheme. If I can get something on CD, I'm going to, because I can easily digitize it myself. The only way I would download something (or furthermore PAY to download something) is if I could not get it anywhere else. If a digital distributor wants to make money from me, they have to have all the singles from Van Morrison's 1997 album The Healing Game with all the rare B-Sides I can't get anywhere else. It would also be great if they could offer me things like Van Morrison's unreleased 1975 album Mechanical Bliss (I understand however that this would require permission from the ever curmudgeonly performer). Anyway, my point is that if any new digital technology wants to succeed they have to genuinely offer MORE than I can get elsewhere. As I said, I can already put all my CDs on my iPod, what do I need iTunes for? For things I can't get anywhere else. To speak of Ashley's example, why would I watch TV on my computer instead of the widescreen HDTV downstairs? Because I could have the unique experience of choosing what I wanted to watch when I wanted to watch it. All these new technologies are still developing and merging and changing, so it'll be interesting to see where it goes. I wouldn't be surprised to see most of our entertainment technologies (ie music, video games, computer, movies) being centralized into one system in the somewhat near future. Anyway, that's what I have to say.

Also, I like The Office.

Also, buy records.

Hugz 'n' kissiz,

Sean

The Star Wars Holiday Special

Star Wars is awesome. I don't care if that makes me a nerd. If you don't like Star Wars, you're pretty much not a person. That being accepted, you would think the Star Wars Holiday Special, a TV special from after the release of the first film would be amazing. It's not. It's two hours long and I've gotten through less than 30 minutes of it. I do intend to watch the whole thing eventually. So far however, it is the most terrible unwatchable thing I have ever seen. I expeced it to be kind of lame and campy, but lame and campy in a funny way like Starcrash or the Howling sequels. It's not, it's just painful. The story centers around Chewbacca's family eagerly awaiting his return on Kashyyk to celebrate Life Day. There are cameos from Harrison Ford and Mark Hamil, but it's mostly Chewbacca's family. Chewbacca's family is really shitty, no wonder he's so tempermental, since he has such a lame fmaily. His dad's name is Itchy, which is dumb and his son's name is Lumpy, which is dumb. Basically, it's three Wookies running around grunting and howling indecipherably. I can only hope that it is saved by the Boba Fett cartoon promised to me. Because the cooking shows, the Cirque du Soleil rip off, and the interspecies fantasy sequence just aren't doing it for me so far. Hoepfully, it gets better, but it's not looking too good so far. Don't watch the Star Wars Holiday Special if you have any value of time.

Also, buy records.

Hugz 'n' kissiz,

Sean

The Kooks Are Out In The Streets

The Kooks hail from Brighton, United Kingdom. They only have one record out so far with another one out perhaps early next year. They also have a ton of B-Sides, but only a few of them are readily available to a bloody Yank like myself. Anyway, the point is that they're a really good band. They write mostly catchy pop songs, kind of like a 4th generation Beatles, but they also show the influence of things like folk, blues, and even a little reggae sort of. Their heavy English accents are infinitely endearing and their songs of heartache are infinitely believeable. I first heard them working at Old Navy; it seems like a lot of music I start to like these days comes from where I work. So anyway, check them out, becaus they are good, I promise.

I also made myself a Christmas playlist on my iPod, because lately Christmas has kind of been sneaking up on me, and I figure listening to music early on will help force me into the Christmas spirit. The warm weather doesn't help. I made it from a few songs I already had, plus a few I bought on iTunes. Hopefully I can add to it if I think of more Christmas music that isn't lame.
1) Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by Death Cab For Cutie (much better than the U2 version if you ask me, and I only just learned that song wasn't originally by U2 anyway, so I don't feel too bad saying that)
2) Santa Claus Is Coming to Town by Bruce Springsteen (It's the Boss)
3) Christmas Must Be Tonight by The Band (One of my absolute favorite Christmas songs - it's one of very few recently-written non-standard Christmas songs that I think captures the spirit without being embarrassingly lame - it's pretty touching really)
4) Christmas Must Be Tonight (Early Alternate Version) by The Band (I play the playlist on shuffle, so these won't play together - it's interesting to hear this more upbeat take on the song)
5) Christmas Time (Is Here Again) by The Beatles (every year The Beatles released a Christmas record to their fanclub and I think this is the last one - the song is very weird and you can tell they're just having fun with it - I believe this is the only Christmas fan club record to have been released on CD as the B-Side to "Free As A Bird")
6) The Twelve Days Of Christmas by Taking Back Sunday (this is okay, it's a dialogue between Adam and Fred while Fred sings the twelve days of Christmas on the acoustic guitar, it kind of drags on though)
7) 2000 Miles by The Pretenders (this is a really good song, and it stands as it's own apart from being a Christmas song)
8) A Great Big Sled by The Killers (I hope the Killers release a new Christmas song every year, they have the past two and they've both been interesting - this one's pretty good at capturing a genuine Christmas spirit without being lame and still being identifiable as a Killers song)
9) Don't Shoot Me Santa by the Killers (this song is really, really weird, but really entertaining - more proof that the Killers don't always have to take themselves seriously, which I think is important for a band)
10) Winterlude by Bob Dylan (I don't think this is really a Christmas song, but iTunes had it on this essential classic rock Christmas list and I already had the song, so I figured why not add it to my playlst - it is a winter song, so I guess it's as much a Christmas song as something like Let It Snow and it's a nice waltzy song from Dylan's home by the fire period)
11) Blue Christmas by Johnny Cash (normally I don't really care for this song, but Johnny Cash can make any song good, if you don't believe me, ask Drew)
12) Merry Christmas Baby by Otis Redding (this song is so good, I just love Otis Redding's voice)
13) Merry Christmas Baby by Bruce Springsteen (cover of the above song, again, it's the Boss)
14) Little Drummer Boy/Silent Night/Auld Lang Syne by Jimi Hendrix (this is okay, it's pretty much a guitar solo by Hendrix where he quotes all these songs a la his Star Spangled Banner)
15) Silent Night by Stevie Nicks (this version of the song is pretty good, it's not the best thing on the playlist but it's nice to listen to)
Make your own Christmas playlist to force yourself into the Yuletide Spirit

Also, buy records like Inside In/Inside Out by the Kooks.
Hugz 'n' kissiz,
Sean