CourtneyP

I finally got around to starting my assault on eMusic. For those of you living under a rock or some similar heavy object, eMusic sent out an email to their members a couple of weeks ago, informing us of some changes… from being an unlimited legit MP3 download service, to restricting us to 40 downloads a month. That’s BS. The big thud you hear is thousands, if not millions eMusic subscribers dropping the service like a hot potato.

I’m among said group of people, but first, I must download a crapload of MP3s while the getting’s good. Seems like this time of night is just fine for downloading… I’ve hear many reports of stalled downloads during the day, but it’s smooth sailin’ at this moment.

350MB so far tonight and counting. Fare thee well, eMusic.

In the mad rush of the announcements of this week and the excitement building for the Panther release, I’ve completely forgotten to mention what we did all day this past Tuesday.

Apple presented the Driven by Design seminar at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in SF. It is a free, touring seminar (make sure that you know when the seminar comes to your town here), with presentations by Adobe, Extensis, GretagMacbeth, Quark and HP. The focus seemed to mostly be on the new products by these companies, along with their Panther and G5 optimization. Although the intended audience seemed to be print professionals, there were some web publishing flecks here and there.

What follows is my quick, dirty rundown of the seminar.
» Read the rest of this entry «

Ugh. We all already know that MTV stopped being “Music Television” long ago. It’s so jam-packed with shallow reality shows, you can’t even get a glimpse of anything having to do with music when you turn to this forsaken channel at any given hour. Not like they really play anything substantial in the way of music anyways.

I was pretty disgusted when I saw press for the most recent addition to the reality show lineup: Rich Girls. The premise is that we follow around a couple of rich girls (read: snotty brats) and watch them spend money.

Whose idea of a good time was this piece of junk? These “look how priveleged we are” attitude of shows like Cribs and this one seem to be a hot item. What the heck does this mean? Are we really needing to live vicariously through these shallow people?

BAH. MTV has been spreading the wrong message for way too long, and have been way too successful at it.

Oops. I guess I just gave them more press. Hence, I cease this session of bitching. Le sigh.

(via FARK)

I like browsing the International section at the new downtown library. I’ve discovered hundreds of good art books, novels, videos and music from our overseas friends, without having to drive more than fifteen minutes.

I’ve been checking out the Japanese section a lot, for obvious reasons… the language itself (I’m still trying to learn), the culture, as well as the quirky pop music that this country seems to be very masterful at producing.

Today, I found a CD by the immensely popular Japanese boy band V6. I suppose I had heard a few tracks from them here and there, but this two-disc set of their “Very Best” gave me a good flavor of what the group was about. I suppose boy bands overseas are not much different from those in America, but these guys have a certain charm (or is that camp?) about them.

They’re also very pretty. Each one of these guys are very pretty men.

I must now have a moment to share some quality lyrical artistry with you.

We are The Marry Marry Starter
mirakuru sutaataa
bouken o hajimeyou
hibi no Sugar Sugar Mountain
toraburu sae mo
tanoshimeru
What a Surprise!

…and the engrish-like translation:

We are The Marry Marry Starter
Miracle Starter
Let’s start an adventure
Daily Sugar Sugar Mountain
We even have fun
With troubles
What a Surprise!

Are you moved?

I will admit, the music can be a bit catchy.

Min Jung alerts us of a worthy Bay Area cause. The Bindlestiff, a place for Filipino-American performing arts studio in the SOMA area.

Bindlestiff Studio is a Filipino American artistic hub that provides artists a space that nurtures artistic development. Its mission is to provide an affordable, professional, small performing arts venue where new and veteran artists can take creative–without financial–risks. Anchored by the Filipino American community and its artists, Bindlestiff Studio endeavors to educate the public about Filipino American culture and the arts through theatrical presentations, public workshops, concerts, readings, and other events. Its programming seeks to emphasize original work and experimentation with the integration of various disciplines: performance, visual and literary arts, film/video and music. As the first Filipino American Theater in the nation, Bindlestiff Studio continues to be at the vanguard through the efforts of its artists and community that supports it.

The urgency of saving the center is very high:

Bindlestiff’s future existence is in jeopardy. $11,000.00 needs to be raised by December 15th. If this doesn’t happen, there is a potential for SF’s Redevelopment Agency to pull their commitment to the construction of the future space. THIS IS A CALL TO ALL OF THE ARTISTS, PATRONS, AND ANYONE WHO’S EVER EXCHANGED ENERGY WITH THE SPACE.

Read more about it here.

I would put up a donation button here, but if you head on over to MJ’s and donate there, she is vowing to get nekkid on her blog if she raises $5K. That’s a pretty darned good perk to donating. Now, scoot!