Drumming Update
So, I've just recently started drumming for a band, The Goodness. You wouldn't have heard of them, unless you were one of the 200 people at the one show they've ever played, sometime last year. Anyways, their old drummer has a life, and can't commit to the band any more, which is where I come in. I've only played with them three times, twice with just the guitarist, but it's a pretty good time. However, they play Ska/Rock, which is a fair bit faster than what I tend to practice, so I'm still working on getting into, and staying in the groove. I also got a new pair of sticks with a textured grip to keep the sticks from slipping so much, but as a result of tonight's jam I now have a pair of magnificent blisters.
Also, my Protest The Hero vinyl came in the mail today. It was done up in cardboard and duct tape, with the address sharpied on. Hardcore. The box got a bit dented on one side during shipping, but the record is fine. Now to wait to have the house to myself, so I can blast it on the surround in the living room.
Recent Listenings
CD's I have bought in the last month or so:
The Wombats - A Guide to Love, Loss & Desparation
Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
Led Zeppelin - Mothership (Compliation)
Bachman Turner Overdrive - Greatest Hits (Compilation)
Brand New - The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me
Metric - Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?
Stars - Do You Trust Your Friends?
System of a Down - Hypnotize
The Faint - Fasciinatiion
Black Kids - Partie Traumatic
Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Love Bad News
Aaand I think that's it. I got some money for my birthday so that's where most of those came from. I will possibly attempt to talk a bit about what I think of them, if I get around to it, as that would be more productive than simply listing what I've bought. I also ordered the Kezia record from Protest The Hero on vinyl, but that hasn't arrived yet.
Also! Stephen Colbert's A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! It's amazing.
Don’t forget!
Everyone should go and download Stephen Colbert's Christmas album from iTunes. It's hillarious, and you're doing your part to knock down Kanye West's ego. And that is what Christmas is all about.
And now for a quick PSA
Online community Overclocked ReMixes produces the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix official soundtrack. Go download it for free, and spread the word!
Judge Orders YouTube to Give All User Histories to Viacom
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/07/judge-orders-yo.html
Google will have to turn over every record of every video watched by YouTube users, including users' names and IP addresses, to Viacom, which is suing Google for allowing clips of its copyright videos to appear on YouTube, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Viacom wants the data to prove that infringing material is more popular than user-created videos, which could be used to increase Google's liability if it is found guilty of contributory infringement.
Viacom filed suit against Google in March 2007, seeking more than $1 billion in damages for allowing users to upload clips of Viacom's copyright material. Google argues that the law provides a safe harbor for online services so long as they comply with copyright takedown requests.
Although Google argued that turning over the data would invade its users' privacy, the judge's ruling (.pdf) described that argument as "speculative" and ordered Google to turn over the logs on a set of four tera-byte hard drives.
The judge also turned Google's own defense of its data retention policies -- that IP addresses of computers aren't personally revealing in and of themselves, against it to justify the log dump.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has already reacted, calling the order a violation of the Video Privacy Protection act that "threatens to expose deeply private information."
The order also requires Google to turn over copies of all videos that it has taken down for any reason.
Viacom also requested YouTube's source code, the code for identifying repeat copyright infringement uploads, copies of all videos marked private, and Google's advertising database schema.
Those requests were denied in whole, except that Google will have to turn over data about how often each private video has been watched and by how many persons.
I really am not sure what to say about this. It's one of those things which is so inherently wrong that I have a hard time believing that it is happening in the first place. I'm not sure which is more appalling: the fact that Viacom is using its suit against YouTube (Which is completely groundless to begin with) to obtain information about users which will almost undoubtably be used for less than official purposes, or the fact that the judge actually sided with them.
Firstly, from everything I have seen and heard, Google complies 100% with any takedown notices it recieves from any parties indicating that their copyrighted material is on YouTube, so they are well within their legal rights. Second, does it really matter? Viacom themselves said that online videos were merely promotional, when they didn't want to be paying the writers. The quality on YouTube is hardly satisfying for... well, anything.
I'm also having a hard time understanding how the judge could possibly call Google argument that handing over the data "speculative", while Viacom's assertion is almost nothing but speculation?
I very much want to start boycotting Viacom... I just wish I didn't love Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and Guitar Hero so much. Although technically I get The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report on the Comedy Channel, not Comedy Central...
Tales from the Last Couple Weeks
So here's a bit of a recap.
Last week I hiked up a mountain with my sister. The photos are displayed backwards... so the first ones you'll see are from near the end of the hike, as we were trying to find our way down. The whole point of the hike was I wanted to get a picture of the sunset from the top of said mountain, and in order to make it to the top in time, we decided to leave the trail we were following (Photo of the route we took up), and cut through the brush. The last photo from the 'set' shows, from where we were standing on the path, the route we took up the side. When we got to the top, we realized we weren't going to be able to take the same way down... it would have just been too steep (Photo), so we took the one path we found at the very top, and it took us along the entire top of the mountain, and down the other side. So, quite literally, we hiked the entire mountain. It took us 3 hours, and wasn't in our original plan, but we both figured it was worth it.
I got to see Cirque de Soleil with Shauna. That was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. One thing that bothers me a lot today is how little effort is put into most forms of entertainment these days. Especially in the music industry, where talent is pretty much irrelevant; you just need a good image and they can fudge the talent part after the fact. So, in seeing Cirque de Soleil, I was in love simply due to how much effort they put into the performance. Not even counting the main acts themselves, I would have been happy simply admiring the costumes, music, and 'bit parts' throughout the show. The attention to detail was incredible; absolutely every last tiny thing was perfect. If you ever have the chance to go, even if it's by yourself, I say this is one thing you cannot do without. And don't worry about seating (Unless you can spring for front-row on the floor), there isn't a bad seat in the house.
I got a DS (Black/Cobalt Blue), and Animal Crossing, and I have to admit it's pretty damn fun. Unfortunately the wireless in my house seems to be very finicky... so I'm going to have to try to fiddle with it to see if I can have both WiFi for my DS, and internet for my network.
Awesome Weekend
So this last weekend I took Thursday and Friday off so I could drive down to Vancouver to see Rush perform. I'll have to mark this as one of my favorite weekends on record.
I left for Vancouver at around 11AM on Thursday... and promptly had to turn back to get my concert ticket, which I had left on the counter. So I left again at noon. I got in at about 5, parked at my Uncle's place, and took transit up to GM place.
The doors weren't going to open for another hour, so I went and took a walk over to Science World, to see what I could see. Took a bunch of pictures.
Went back to watch the concert, and had my mind blown. Took a bunch more pictures. I really haven't been to a ton of live shows, but out of the ones I have been to, this one is by far the best in just about every single way. Aside from the amazing musicianship, which you don't need to see live to appreciate, I was most amazed by how flawless they sounded. Their live show sounds almost exactly like their studio recordings, at least in quality, and I barely had to have my earplugs in. The production was amazing as well; lights, lasers, floating UFO-looking spotlights, fire, and rotisserie chicken.
I have also come to the conclusion that Neil Peart is not a human. He has to either be a robot, or a vampire. I can't think of anything else which could simultaneously move so quickly, and have such high endurance.
After the concert I went back to my Uncle's place for the night. I feel kinda bad, seeing as it was a weekday, and everyone else was asleep when I got there, with a note attached to the door. So I didn't get to visit or anything. Also both my aunt and uncle left in the morning before I got up at 8 or so, but I did give my two nieces a ride to school. I found out the older of the two has awesome music taste. She was listening to the Beatles in her room in the morning, she commented on an Alexisonfire CD she saw in my car, and she's going to see Radiohead when they come to Vancouver. ( I am SO jealous.)
The rest of that day I had absolutely nothing to do, so I decided to check out Metrotown mall. Unfortunately, the stores don't open until 9:30, so I went to the Tim Horton's to get breakfast, and hung out in some comfy chairs until everything opened. I ended up spending most of the day in Chapters, reading comics and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism", which I ended up buying. I also almost went to Science World, as in I took the Skytrain up to where Science World is, but found out that it was only going to be open for another couple hours. I decided against it, and went back to the mall. ( Ooh I am exciting! )
After the mall closed at 9:30, I got an idea. I went to Superstore, bought a notebook and a pen, then I hopped on the Skytrain. I rode it as far as it would go, and then back, writing about the things I saw, and things that I heard. I also took a few more pictures around the Skytrain stations. An interesting conversation I heard was a gay man trying to instruct a girl, who was crossdressing, on how to be more masculine.
The Skytrain got back to the mall, where my car was, about 11:30. I didn't want to impose on my Uncle for a second night, so I found a quiet residential area to park in. Unfortunately I forgot to bring a blanket, and I had to wake up every couple hours to warm the car up. At about 4 I figured it wasn't worth it any more, and went for a drive. Found a McDonald's and got some "breakfast" (They weren't serving breakfast yet, but they were serving food which was good enough for me). I figured since I was up so early, I would try to watch the sunrise... as I can't ever remember doing this. Finding any "higher ground" in Vancouver at which to see the horizon is kinda tough, but I managed to find an upper parking area at Brentwood mall which served the purpose well enough. I got a few pictures of the sunset (as my camera's battery died), then dozed off in my car for a while, warm in the sunlight.
So now it was Saturday. To top off this fantastic weekend, I got to go drive up to Kamloops to see Shauna. We went for a walk in the park, scoped out Winner's, drank, cooked, talked about gross things, watched a movie, and had a great time in general.
Be part of a world record!
http://blog.mozilla.com/blog/2008/05/28/set-a-firefox-world-record/
Just spreadin the word.
Old stuff from my real journal
Be reasonable. Never expect something from someone else that you would not do yourself.
Be humble. Do not see yourself as better than anyone else.
Be honest. It is impossible to go through life telling the truth all of the time, but please do it whenever you can. Especially when it truly matters.
Be grateful. Do not take generosity for granted. Not everyone will treat you with the same respect you give them, so cherish the ones who do.
Old stuff from my real journal
Do what you like. This can be two-fold. Firstly, don't do things just because someone else wants you to. If you don't want to do it, then don't. You are in charge of your own life and are responsible for your own happiness. Secondly, don't hold back from the things you do want to do. As long as you do not interfere with the rights of anyone else, there is no reason to keep yourself from the things you enjoy.
Be kind. And do it not for reward or gain, but to make yourself and everything around better. Do kindness for the sake of kindness. The gratitude from the people around you will be reward enough.
Be humble. People don't like to hear you ramble on about yourself; give them a chance to talk, and it will be for the better. Just keep your ego in check. Compliments from others are so much more satisfactory. Just make sure they have a reason to give you praise and you shall receive it.