Freedom
Hopefully this won't become a super long entry, but forgive me if it does.
I was reading some article yesterday about how some company (I think it was Warner Bros.) was planning to compete with the DVD bootleggers in China by selling their DVD's for really cheap (about the equivalent of $2-3 US). Even though this was still a little more than the price of bootleg copies, they figured people would be willing to pay a little more for having an "official" copy and to get it earlier. Which is probably true.
Well great, but what about us in America, where there really is no bootleg industry? If they can charge only $2-3 per DVD in China, why do we still have to pay $15-20 for the same thing (pretty much) here? Should we really be punished for not making as many pirated copies of DVDs as they do overseas?
If you go around and ask 100 people, I would expect that at least 99 of them would say no. And of course they would. The only reason I don't say 100 is because I figure maybe 1% of the population is A) Retarded, B) Works for a media giant like WB, or C) Both.
Anyways, I'm sure everyone who is smart enough to be reading my blog right now would agree that if a company is willing to sell their product for 3 bucks in China, they shouldn't be charging us 20 for the same thing over here. It just doesn't make sense. Ok, so maybe there's differences in taxes and standard of living is a factor, but a 600% difference? That's just not right. They're DVDs for crying out loud. Anybody with a computer and a DVD burner could produce DVD's, let alone a huge multi-billion dollar corporation like Warner Brothers.
I guess it's not really groundbreaking news to anyone that these large companies are all greedy bastards whose only goal is maximizing their profit. And hey, it seems that most Americans are fine with paying $20 for DVDs, so what's the big deal?
The larger issue that bothers me is that supposedly, we live in a society built on the grand concept of "freedom". We have laws that are specifically written to protect our freedom of speech, of religion, etc. Our economic system, as we were all taught in high school, is based on a "free" market philosophy. All of these things have made us the most prosperous nation on the planet.
And on the whole, it's hard to argue with any of the above things. Compared to pretty much any other country in the world today (or in the history of mankind, for that matter), we enjoy a quality of life that is far above that of anybody else.
However, I still think that in a lot of ways, we are a lot less "free" than we realize. It may not be that we are facing oppression by the government, or being physically enslaved by foreign conquerors. But the more I observe about life in this society, the more I notice that my freedoms are not as universal or sacred as I once believed.
In the past few years, I have come to the conclusion that often times, "freedom" is an illusion. More often than we might be led to think, "choice" is an illusion.
The DVD price thing is only one small example. But if you think about it, what are our choices when it comes to getting DVDs? We can either buy at Sam Goody for $25, Best Buy for $22, or Amazon for $19.99. Sure, we can choose not to buy it at all, but what I'm saying is, in reality we are being shortchanged as far as choices go. There is a fourth choice out there, buy it in China for $3, which happens to be unavailable to us. And that just doesn't seem right to me.
Even as we were discussing the title of that European song from my last entry, I wonder about how much freedom we have when it comes to choosing music in this country. How much of the stuff we listen to is because it's the best actual music, as opposed to the best marketed product? (I know what you're all thinking, this is coming from a guy whose favorite artist is Britney Spears, but try to hear me out nonetheless).
I mean, there's a lot of artists out there, and I don't deny that a lot of them are making great music. But there are times when I turn on the radio or I'm watching MTV and I can't help but wonder, how the hell did this crap make it onto the national countdown? There's gotta be something better out there than Jennifer Lopez or Lindsay Lohan's new songs, yet that is what we have to listen to. No it might not be Ozone's Dragostea Din Tei (by the way thanks for the info Vic and happy bday), but somewhere, someone must have decided what America is going to listen to (and like it) and what we are not going to listen to. That ain't right.
I could say the same thing about gas prices. We can believe all we want about a free market, supply and demand determining price, but in the end, does that really hold true when you head to the pump to fill up your car? When it costs you $1.80 per gallon one day and then $2.30 for that same gallon a week later, what can you really do about it? Get mad all you want at the government, but unless you want to walk or ride your bike to get places, or stay home entirely, you suck it up and pay that man his mahh-ney.
Probably the most egregious example I can think of was in this last election. We believe in our system of democracy and the inalienable right to vote for our country's leaders, at least many of us do. Which is great, but let's stop and think for a second about who we had to choose from. You've gotta be kidding if you want me to believe that out of over 200 million people in this country, the two best candidates we could come up with to be our President were George W. Bush and John Kerry.
My point is, what good is having a choice if you don't really have much to choose from to begin with? Can we really call it "freedom" if someone else is deciding what our options are? Like I said before, if this is the case, then our so-called "freedom" is little more than an illusion.
Of course, having a choice is probably better than not having a choice. And it's not like we aren't at all culpable for collectively acquiescing so many of our freedoms. Maybe if I made more of an effort to hear original music instead of just listening to the radio and watching MTV, I wouldn't have to complain about terrible songs being shoved down my throat. Maybe if I stayed more informed about politics and put more time into supporting good candidates for office, I wouldn't be stuck with two blue-blooded, special interest owned guys to choose from every 4 years in the Presidential election. Maybe we would've elected a guy who would have put more into developing renewable energy sources and then we wouldn't be as dependent on oil either.
Maybe, maybe, maybe.
Friday, February 25, 2005
Monday, February 21, 2005
Numbers
A blog by the numbers....
24
Me and Olivia finished watching season 1 of 24 on DVD. It took us 3 long sessions (10, 8, 6 episodes in that order), split a few weeks apart each, but we did it. The show was entertaining and exciting as everyone told me, but a part of me definitely wishes I never started watching and had 18 hours (estimated 45 mins/episode) of my life back. At times the show was just too stressful and frustrating for my own good, because of all the plot twists and how many stupid characters there were. Overall it was a good show though, I won't deny that. I especially liked the subtitles, when they describe the background music in the scenes. Some of my favorite examples:
"(Sad instrumental music)"
"(Dramatic instrumental music)"
"(Somber vocal music)"
"(Suspenseful instrumental music)"
"(Mysterious instrumental music)"
360
Sunday morning on the way to church, I hit a patch of ice on the highway and completely lost control of my car. I was going about 60 when all of a sudden I started swerving and sliding like crazy. Turning the steering wheel did absolutely nothing, and at one point, I found myself sliding backwards, facing the wrong way, and seeing a couple cars coming towards me. Luckily the sliding continued until my car completed a 360 spin, before I finally regained control and continued on my way. Definitely one of the scariest moments of my life, being on a highway going the wrong direction with no control of the vehicle whatsoever, I thought I was going to die. Didn't see my life flashing before me or anything, but still not good. Not good at all.
33
On a lighter note, Yahoo Fantasy Baseball is up for 2005 and now I can start counting down the days to our draft again. As well as remind everyone not to schedule anything important on the morning of Saturday 3/26.
1
The Illini have held the top spot in the polls for what, 12 weeks in a row now? I have to admit I thought they would have lost at least a game or two by now, and dropped from the top for a while. But they just keep getting the job done. As we know, being #1 right now is not the ultimate goal, but that doesn't mean it doesn't feel good to see your team at the top week after week. The other day I was watching some random game on TV when Olivia asked me who I wanted to win. And I realized that I really didn't care. In the past, if there was no other factors involved in the game, I always rooted for the team ranked ahead of the Illini to lose, so that we could move up in the polls. But I guess when you're already at the top, you no longer have to root against anybody else, just focus on your own team winning. Kinda different and kinda nice.
100
Number of times I watched the clip of the fat kid singing/dancing:
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/lyle_24/myhero.swf
Ok so I didn't really count how many times I watched it, but it was a lot. Believe me that song is catchy and I couldn't get it out of my head as I was trying to take a nap. It was frustrating but funny.
A blog by the numbers....
24
Me and Olivia finished watching season 1 of 24 on DVD. It took us 3 long sessions (10, 8, 6 episodes in that order), split a few weeks apart each, but we did it. The show was entertaining and exciting as everyone told me, but a part of me definitely wishes I never started watching and had 18 hours (estimated 45 mins/episode) of my life back. At times the show was just too stressful and frustrating for my own good, because of all the plot twists and how many stupid characters there were. Overall it was a good show though, I won't deny that. I especially liked the subtitles, when they describe the background music in the scenes. Some of my favorite examples:
"(Sad instrumental music)"
"(Dramatic instrumental music)"
"(Somber vocal music)"
"(Suspenseful instrumental music)"
"(Mysterious instrumental music)"
360
Sunday morning on the way to church, I hit a patch of ice on the highway and completely lost control of my car. I was going about 60 when all of a sudden I started swerving and sliding like crazy. Turning the steering wheel did absolutely nothing, and at one point, I found myself sliding backwards, facing the wrong way, and seeing a couple cars coming towards me. Luckily the sliding continued until my car completed a 360 spin, before I finally regained control and continued on my way. Definitely one of the scariest moments of my life, being on a highway going the wrong direction with no control of the vehicle whatsoever, I thought I was going to die. Didn't see my life flashing before me or anything, but still not good. Not good at all.
33
On a lighter note, Yahoo Fantasy Baseball is up for 2005 and now I can start counting down the days to our draft again. As well as remind everyone not to schedule anything important on the morning of Saturday 3/26.
1
The Illini have held the top spot in the polls for what, 12 weeks in a row now? I have to admit I thought they would have lost at least a game or two by now, and dropped from the top for a while. But they just keep getting the job done. As we know, being #1 right now is not the ultimate goal, but that doesn't mean it doesn't feel good to see your team at the top week after week. The other day I was watching some random game on TV when Olivia asked me who I wanted to win. And I realized that I really didn't care. In the past, if there was no other factors involved in the game, I always rooted for the team ranked ahead of the Illini to lose, so that we could move up in the polls. But I guess when you're already at the top, you no longer have to root against anybody else, just focus on your own team winning. Kinda different and kinda nice.
100
Number of times I watched the clip of the fat kid singing/dancing:
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/lyle_24/myhero.swf
Ok so I didn't really count how many times I watched it, but it was a lot. Believe me that song is catchy and I couldn't get it out of my head as I was trying to take a nap. It was frustrating but funny.
Thursday, February 17, 2005
With Friends Like These...
I was getting some advice about where to take Olivia for a nice Valentine's Day dinner from some friends and coworkers, and I thought I would share a few of the ideas they gave me (names have been omitted):
- Get a Whopper from Burger King and cut it into the shape of a heart
- Take her along on a ski trip and once we get to the top of the mountain, "drop trou' and pee a big heart in the snow" (they were trying to convince me to go on their ski trip this weekend - that didn't work.)
- Buy her a gift certificate for cosmetic surgery (by the way this one was from my coworker who has never met or seen her)
The sad thing is, I don't know if they were joking or not.
I have to admit though, I got some pretty good ideas other than that. A bunch of restaurants that we haven't been to but sound like they would be good. So I have to give some credit where it is due.
By the way I know Valentine's Day was three days ago but we are "celebrating" it this weekend due to "scheduling constraints".
On a separate note, another "fly" has "dropped". A few days ago I heard that the girl I went to high school prom with (and a friend since childhood) got engaged. I'm pretty sure she doesn't read this blog, we haven't really kept in touch since college, but congrats anyways Julia! Seems like yesterday that we were all playing board games in your basement or our families were camping together.
As far as the Illini go, the TV situation for last night's game against PSU was a travesty. It was scheduled as an ESPN+ game, which usually means they show it on the U. But no, they were showing the Bulls game on the U. So they moved the Illini game to their sister station "MeTV", channel 23 for those without cable. For those with Comcast cable (me me me), tough luck. How dumb is that, I can see the game if I don't have cable, but not if I do have cable? Even stupider was that I saw an ESPN+ game showing on WYCC (normally channel 56), Iowa against Purdue. Seriously, who wants to watch that game? Oh well, I guess I'm not as mad because the game didn't end up being that close. Just amazes me how an Illinois fan can't watch an Illinois basketball game in Illinois even when they are the #1 team in the nation (for only the 3rd time in 100 years of history).
One last thing, I'm sure everyone who grew up in a grade school remembers playing a game called "Duck, Duck, Goose". All you do is get everyone in your class to sit in a circle, then one kid walks around the circle tapping everyone in the circle on the head in order while saying "Duck, Duck, Duck....", until he picks someone and says "Goose", at which point the "goose" has to get up and chase the kid around the circle, and try to tag him before he makes it back to the vacated spot.
Anyways, one day I was talking to Olivia about that game for some reason, and she told me that when she was growing up in Minnesota, they played that game, only they didn't call it "Duck, Duck, Goose". What, pray tell, did they call it? Get this - these wacky Minnesotans called their version of the game "Duck, Duck, Gray Duck".
You can imagine my reaction to this, a healthy mixture of hilarity and incredulity. Duck, Duck, Gray Duck??! Who says that? I refused to believe her at first, but she seemed pretty serious, so eventually I halfheartedly conceded the possibility that she was not messing with me. Still, I couldn't really picture a kid going "Duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, GRAY DUCK!!" and everyone in the room thinking this was normal.
So yesterday, for some reason the topic of childhood games came up in conversation with my coworker, and I decided to tell him about Olivia's "duck duck gray duck" experience. And he absolutely REFUSED to believe me. He was so adamant in his disbelief that he did a Google search for "minnesota gray duck" or something like that, just to prove me wrong.
And sure enough, there were actually articles specifically written about how Minnesotans are the only ones who say "gray duck" instead of "goose" in that game. Ho-larious. I guess Olivia was right all along. I just had to share that with everyone who reads my blog. And if any of you still don't believe me, do a search and find out for yourself.
Now that I think about it, this would make a good blog topic on its own. When you grow up in different areas, at different schools, it's interesting when you guys know of the same jokes, stories, etc., except with weird little variations. I can't think of that many examples right now, but maybe if I can compile a list of good ones someday, I will devote a blog to it.
I was getting some advice about where to take Olivia for a nice Valentine's Day dinner from some friends and coworkers, and I thought I would share a few of the ideas they gave me (names have been omitted):
- Get a Whopper from Burger King and cut it into the shape of a heart
- Take her along on a ski trip and once we get to the top of the mountain, "drop trou' and pee a big heart in the snow" (they were trying to convince me to go on their ski trip this weekend - that didn't work.)
- Buy her a gift certificate for cosmetic surgery (by the way this one was from my coworker who has never met or seen her)
The sad thing is, I don't know if they were joking or not.
I have to admit though, I got some pretty good ideas other than that. A bunch of restaurants that we haven't been to but sound like they would be good. So I have to give some credit where it is due.
By the way I know Valentine's Day was three days ago but we are "celebrating" it this weekend due to "scheduling constraints".
On a separate note, another "fly" has "dropped". A few days ago I heard that the girl I went to high school prom with (and a friend since childhood) got engaged. I'm pretty sure she doesn't read this blog, we haven't really kept in touch since college, but congrats anyways Julia! Seems like yesterday that we were all playing board games in your basement or our families were camping together.
As far as the Illini go, the TV situation for last night's game against PSU was a travesty. It was scheduled as an ESPN+ game, which usually means they show it on the U. But no, they were showing the Bulls game on the U. So they moved the Illini game to their sister station "MeTV", channel 23 for those without cable. For those with Comcast cable (me me me), tough luck. How dumb is that, I can see the game if I don't have cable, but not if I do have cable? Even stupider was that I saw an ESPN+ game showing on WYCC (normally channel 56), Iowa against Purdue. Seriously, who wants to watch that game? Oh well, I guess I'm not as mad because the game didn't end up being that close. Just amazes me how an Illinois fan can't watch an Illinois basketball game in Illinois even when they are the #1 team in the nation (for only the 3rd time in 100 years of history).
One last thing, I'm sure everyone who grew up in a grade school remembers playing a game called "Duck, Duck, Goose". All you do is get everyone in your class to sit in a circle, then one kid walks around the circle tapping everyone in the circle on the head in order while saying "Duck, Duck, Duck....", until he picks someone and says "Goose", at which point the "goose" has to get up and chase the kid around the circle, and try to tag him before he makes it back to the vacated spot.
Anyways, one day I was talking to Olivia about that game for some reason, and she told me that when she was growing up in Minnesota, they played that game, only they didn't call it "Duck, Duck, Goose". What, pray tell, did they call it? Get this - these wacky Minnesotans called their version of the game "Duck, Duck, Gray Duck".
You can imagine my reaction to this, a healthy mixture of hilarity and incredulity. Duck, Duck, Gray Duck??! Who says that? I refused to believe her at first, but she seemed pretty serious, so eventually I halfheartedly conceded the possibility that she was not messing with me. Still, I couldn't really picture a kid going "Duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, GRAY DUCK!!" and everyone in the room thinking this was normal.
So yesterday, for some reason the topic of childhood games came up in conversation with my coworker, and I decided to tell him about Olivia's "duck duck gray duck" experience. And he absolutely REFUSED to believe me. He was so adamant in his disbelief that he did a Google search for "minnesota gray duck" or something like that, just to prove me wrong.
And sure enough, there were actually articles specifically written about how Minnesotans are the only ones who say "gray duck" instead of "goose" in that game. Ho-larious. I guess Olivia was right all along. I just had to share that with everyone who reads my blog. And if any of you still don't believe me, do a search and find out for yourself.
Now that I think about it, this would make a good blog topic on its own. When you grow up in different areas, at different schools, it's interesting when you guys know of the same jokes, stories, etc., except with weird little variations. I can't think of that many examples right now, but maybe if I can compile a list of good ones someday, I will devote a blog to it.
Monday, February 14, 2005
2005 Grammys
I did not watch the Grammys last night, other than a few minutes when Alicia Keys was performing (and Jamie Foxx). Instead, I was finishing up South Park season 4 (Finger-bang-bang...), and Curb Your Enthusiasm season 1 on DVD.
But I did hear some of the news about who won what, and I'm wondering which of the following things diminishes the value of a Grammy award the least:
A. Ray Charles winning for best album over Kanye West, Usher, Alicia Keys, and Green Day
B. John Mayer winning for best song with "Daughters" (that's the best song of
C. Britney Spears winning for best dance recording with "Toxic"
I vote for "C". Yes I know I'm biased and yes I know, it's Britney Spears winning a Grammy, but hear me out.
A, I'm sure Ray Charles as an artist was very deserving of multiple Grammys throughout his career. But for this year, I'm pretty sure that any of the other albums that were nominated (Kanye West, Usher, Alicia Keys, Green Day) deserve the "Best Album" award more.
B, while it wasn't the strongest list of nominees, "Daughters" winning "Best Song" is still a joke. I think I wrote about how lame that song was back when they started playing it on the radio, and I still feel the same way. Overall I'm a John Mayer fan too. I just can't picture anyone looking back 10 years from now and saying, "wow, the best song in 2004 was John Mayer - 'Daughters'". Can you?
I did not watch the Grammys last night, other than a few minutes when Alicia Keys was performing (and Jamie Foxx). Instead, I was finishing up South Park season 4 (Finger-bang-bang...), and Curb Your Enthusiasm season 1 on DVD.
But I did hear some of the news about who won what, and I'm wondering which of the following things diminishes the value of a Grammy award the least:
A. Ray Charles winning for best album over Kanye West, Usher, Alicia Keys, and Green Day
B. John Mayer winning for best song with "Daughters" (that's the best song of
C. Britney Spears winning for best dance recording with "Toxic"
I vote for "C". Yes I know I'm biased and yes I know, it's Britney Spears winning a Grammy, but hear me out.
A, I'm sure Ray Charles as an artist was very deserving of multiple Grammys throughout his career. But for this year, I'm pretty sure that any of the other albums that were nominated (Kanye West, Usher, Alicia Keys, Green Day) deserve the "Best Album" award more.
B, while it wasn't the strongest list of nominees, "Daughters" winning "Best Song" is still a joke. I think I wrote about how lame that song was back when they started playing it on the radio, and I still feel the same way. Overall I'm a John Mayer fan too. I just can't picture anyone looking back 10 years from now and saying, "wow, the best song in 2004 was John Mayer - 'Daughters'". Can you?
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
What Can Brown Do For You
Lookie what came in the mail today, my order from eFollett.com:
Dee Brown is awesome. End of story. The kid pretty much singlehandedly brought the Illini back against Michigan tonight. Steals, breakaway layups, and that behind the back pass was SICK.
I cannot wait to see this team play live.
Lookie what came in the mail today, my order from eFollett.com:
Dee Brown is awesome. End of story. The kid pretty much singlehandedly brought the Illini back against Michigan tonight. Steals, breakaway layups, and that behind the back pass was SICK.
I cannot wait to see this team play live.
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