Posts by Simon Grigg
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A more worrying aspect for many is Universal getting a payment from Microsoft per player sold and the flow on effect for consumers and Apple.
I agree but UMG had the ability to put a spanner in the works for the Xmas launch. They were effectively bought off. There are several things about the $1 (as insiders say it is) per unit that MS is paying Universal. Firstly, the precedent means that the other 3 major labels will now have their hands out for a buck each, and then of course every other label, indie or otheriwse will also want a bit. Secondly there is a reasonable assumption that this will simply go towards UMGs bottom line, and, with so many things like this, not get passed on to artists. Thirdly what about the songwriters..I guess they want a bit too, so BMI and ASCAP will be jumping in as will the publishers
I think this is US only right now but it will inevitably spread. However this must be viewed in context,like the threats to YouTube, its the desperate grasping from companies who are, despite their current profits, looking at some pretty ugly writing on the wall in the longer term. All they can rely on is their vast catalogues and a few superstar acts. That will inevitably mean in the longer term their power that they have to pursue such things will inevitably lessen
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Damn, I like Dobbyn, both as a bard and a person...and think he is one of our coolest musicians. He didn't used to be, neither Th'Dudes or DD Smash had any semblance of cool about them, quite the opposite, but he's grown into it rather well.
But if I ever hear Loyal again.....
Incidentally that was the record no record company wanted back in the day..it was independently recorded and distributed thru CBS originally
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How the hell can a Microsoft product be classed as "underground" ???
MS still has this perception of itself as "underground" in some bizarre way. It's a part of the company ethos going back to the little folk stories about their origins. Quite odd. Then again even the likes of Disney like to mythologise their past...whilst suing Kindergartens in Masterton for painting of Mickey and Donald on the wall..
Apple too, with more of a claim, despite their billions and their very mainstream market position have this as a core element in their company ethos.
At least they, unlike Redmond, innovate..
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I hate to say it but the new Justin Timberlake as remixed by the DFA crew is quite a wonderous thing, especially the last few minutes. But then again I quite like JT...sorry
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Hi Danielle!
I agree, but with the much touted democracy and freedom comes a kind of collective responsibility. I understand the concept of defending ones country, of a national pride. But there are two problems here. Firstly NZ is, generally, a good global citizen. I'm proud to carry it's passport. Our policies are either benign or positive. That of course is because we are small enough not to matter. But when we do go out there, with perhaps the exception of the Vietnam War, we try to do the right thing. Although I'm well aware that if we had had a National government in 2003 there is a fairly strong chance we would still be bogged down in Iraq with the coalition. Secondly, I'm of the opinion that since 1955 or so the US has not always been that good global citizen. We have had to suffer the policies of it's various administrations as has the rest of the world. There has been much good in there, but oh so much bad. So much pain, so much death, so much greed and so much evil, all of which, to my mind has come to a head in the past half decade. And we have a right to citicise that which affects us all, and the causes of that. Rangel from NY criticised Chavez for coming to the US and criticiing Bush. Well, he's your leader (you elected him under your system at least once) and he kills people. Chavez, tinpot or not, has a right.As you say, its hard when you are fed a line from birth, to accept that it may not be true. That the US did not invent democracy (the UK was a fledgling democracy when the USA threw them out in 1776), its not the only or most free (whatever that means) nation in the world, they don't "hate our freedom" and the USA didn't single handedly save the world from any (insert variety) great evil.
But as I said elsewhere, there is quite a difference between being anti-American and being anti-Americans, and more power to your hubby for being able to see that.
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Hi Darryl,
I agree with everything you say and it still amazes me that people such as yourself still, after all, this time have to point out the obvious to those stateside who seem to exist to reiterate the Fox talking points. Which, with some irony is the home of Lisa Simpson too, but I didn't bring her up. If I hear one more spin of the protecting our freedom or Caliphate garbage...My only argument is with your description of Islam. I not religious at all, and indeed actively believe that all religion is a problem. However I do live in the biggest Muslim nation on the planet. This is a nation which has had its problems with violent applications of its religion by a very small minority, largely driven by foreign (Malay) forces. But its also a nation of much tolerance with hundreds of nationalities and religions peacefully living together. A few kms from my house is a Muslim Mosque, Hindu Temple and Christian Church all next to each other. They share a playgroup for the kids...
With some 200 million adherents to a supposedly violent evil religion you'd think we non believers would suffer. We don't at all, quite the opposite. I've had no looks, no threats, no comments, just endless smiles (in a way that we westerners can't quite comprehend) and generosity over the years. Yes there are some nutters out there. I don't think Indonesia is alone in that.
Many of the allegedly Islam driven issues here, if you look a little closer, are more economic in nature and indeed, as you find across the Muslim world grinding poverty and poor education are the real problem. Wealth and education doesn't, as Pat Robertson and the religious right are evidence of, remove all the world's religiously driven ignorance and bigotry, but it certainly helps one hell of a lot.
Religion is an easy tag to bring people together for a common purpose, but as you rightly say, Al Qaeda and the such have aims that are far more earthly than the Caliphate that they use as a catchall. And it is very very handy for winding up the less questioning Americans. Osama has been, and is, very good at playing the US..James' comments are evidence of that.
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Darryl,
if your drunk husband leaves your house and wanders around punching other people then we have a right to criticise not only his drunkenness but the root causes of such -
James,
I agree with you that American corporate and private citizens are very generous (third in the world in terms of GNI I believe) but in that they are not alone. The gap between the top giving nations is not that large and when you add in governmental aid (and, arguably remove the billions to Israel, although even without that being deducted) the USA does not look that generous, sinking to 19 in the overall picture in 2005.The contribution to the Asian Tsunami by your military is noted but many, globally, gave very generously there and the aid was somewhat tempered by the need of the US Aviators to undertake practice bombing runs without permission over Indonesian sovereign territory. It wasn't a clever thing to do and very threatening. As siad many gave and it is indictive of the vaccum that the US seems to exist n that there is seemingly a belief in the US that you carried much of the burden. You helped but you were part of a bigger picture. The Cuban government medical teams were incredible in both the Pakistani and Javan earthquakes too, some 90 teams operating across the region. I saw no mention of these in the US media anywhere whilst CNN carried live on the spot reports of the Navy and Marines on the spot.
As to whether we would be speaking whatever language you specify if it hadn't been for the security blanket provided by the US...please...
I'm not going to dismiss the immense and crucial contribution made by your nation in defeating the Axis, not only militarily but as an industrial powerhouse. but you did not defeat Germany, the United Nations and Allies did that. The two most important battles of the European war arguably were El Alamein and Stalingrad neither of which had any US involvement. The invasion of Europe on 6 June was of course very important, although it too was a multinational operation but its importance was absolutely secondary to the events in the east where the European war was being fought and won by the Soviets..the west was a distraction. Even without lendlease it has been often argued that the Soviets could have defeated Germany without D-day or even the US involment. That's debatable and we will never know. What is not debateable is that the US & the Commonwealth could not have won without Soviet Russia, conventionally of course.
As the cold war. The US and the Soviets were equal protagonists in this. I'm glad I don't live under a Soviet or Communist regime but I have no doubt that the many millions who died under the guise of the US protecting their freedom would rather have lived. It was LeMay who tried to provoke a nuclear war throughout the late fifties, it was the US that continually overflew Soviet territory and placed missiles on its borders. You overthrew democratic regimes (as did the Soviets) ran death squads, torpedoed elections in Vietnam that would've saved the lifes of millions there. You were not, as a nation, the guiltless good guys in this war, saving the world from a great evil, despite the way it was portrayed and I think many of us are eternally grateful that Gorby forced the issue (after the Nato powers said no) and said he didn't want to play anymore. To my mind he was the true hero of the cold war, the one who stopped the pointless nonsense that had dominated lessor statesmen for the previous decades.
Its much overused but Ike's famous comments were spot on and unfortunately the USA was, from about 1953 onwards so much in the sway of the military industrialists and it's related economy that it was never to America's advantage to kill the cold war. And if you think that your foreign policy is less for sale to that than Chirac's France you are sadly mistaken.
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Soundsnz was a very ambitious idea when it launched - and it worked
ambitious it may have been but work it did not...it had a terrible reputation for crashing browsers all over the place when launched. My memory is vague, but wasn't there some big fracas between Sounds and the development team.
I've always found the Sounds site lacking in detail and a bit amateurish compared to, say, CDNOW, which predated it and was incredibly comprehensive from about 95 onwards (and openly stocked bootlegs for a year or so!)
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I want to nominate the original Flying Nun website, back when FN was still a record label rather than another Warners trademark. It came from a time when record companies globally simply hadn't realised the potential of the web to display their wares. Chocker full of information, trivia and the ability to contact and purchase, it was ahead of its time.