What a world.

What a world.

These are words spoken by the Wicked Witch of the West just before her demise as she melts away having been splashed with water only a moment before.

I'm really not sure what that has to do with anything, but I'm compelled to mention it. Perhaps it is like some form of Tourette's Syndrome.

I was about to do some reading, since I've got a few books sitting here from my birthday, but I feel compelled to blag instead. What I want to talk about is a sweeping change in the world of music and where I've been of late and words about a book I've recently finished and one I've only just begun. Feel free to follow along.

Nine Inch Nails Follows Suit

I can't say follows suit without some clarification I suppose, but this is one of those situations where I feel like everyone should already be well aware of what I'm talking about.

Digital Delivery.

As you may have heard, Radiohead recently offered their album "In Rainbows" online for, literally, whatever you wanted to pay. There were options, of course, to pre-order the box set, which was a tangible product with a steeper, more tangible price. With that tangible price came some more tangible reasons to pay the money, such as the other half of the album. However, for those who just wanted a little Radiohead without paying a lot of overhead, they could actually pay nothing, or just a few bucks, and still get something similar to a real LP album. Of course, they could also have paid $1000 for the same thing, which is an interesting component to the whole thing.

Also, I want to point out the humor of using the words "Radiohead" and "overhead" in the same sentence, as I did above.

This seemed to work fairly well for them. Now, long time music pirate defender, buccaneer, and all around strange musician, Trent Reznor, quietly released Ghosts I-IV with several digital delivery options Sunday night. Of course, within a few moments I was notified via the wonders of the interwebs, and I beheld its glory shortly thereafter. I've listened to a little of what's there, and it's fairly typical Nine Inch Nails noises looped and abused to make Trent's vision of music. However, it doesn't matter how mundane or amazing this instrumental album is, it's all about the fact that you can download half of it for free, in very high quality audio, or all of it for only $5. If you want the CD's, sure, it's twice the price, but it's 2 discs for less than the price of one in most stores.

More and more artists seem to be into the idea of jumping ship from their record labels and moving into this brave new world where they make most of the money themselves and are able to, I assume, feel better about what they're doing.

I, for one, am curious to see where we go from here. I can only assume that if this works, and by all regards it seem to be working quite well, then other artists will slowly follow suit. It's a sound business practice. I think it will be some time before we're able to download any song we want for free, legally, direct from the artist, with an option to pay, but that point may be coming.


Where have I been?

Good question. I've been fairly busy. At work I've been moved, laterally, into another location that's twice as far as my previous locale. I do this because there is the chance that this dangling carrot in front of me might just be within my reach. Probably not, but at least it seems that some crucial things have been set into motion since my move, so perhaps...

Of course, this coincides nicely with the fact that my landlord finally came to look at the rotting bathroom floor I've been complaining about for over two years. This is after the one maintenance guy they finally sent to fix it tore the whole floor up, left, and never returned... I'm not sure if he just ran off screaming and the property manager decided to check things out, or if he actually explained the situation, but it turned out I was right, and it wasn't going to take a few days to finish after all.

I've been moved, then, to a slightly better, slightly bigger model, with newer appliances and better access. For the most part it is a lot better, and even my WiFi seems to work better. The problem isn't that I've been moved, it's that I'm moving... no one is doing it for me. And it's not like a move I really wanted to make.

More annoying than moving is that I'm still paying more for this better unit. Now, I'll admit that I haven't had a rent increase in the entire 3.5 years that I've lived here, but considering the problems I had with the other unit, I don't feel that I should have. Also, I'll admit that they're "meeting me halfway" with the difference. The problem is that it still feels like a real shot to the crotch when the fact that they couldn't be bothered to fix this problem years ago, and they can't fix it now with me in the way, I've got to pay more money.

Overall, though, I'm accepting, although I'm not sure if I'm just convincing myself of this, if I've lost some touch on reality, or if it's the fact that I really just have no choice in the matter at all...


Clown Girl

I was excited, much like a little girl at a Hannah Montana concert, to read Clown Girl. I have to say that it was a bit of a let down.

First, I will reiterate that I was very excited to read it. I think that might be part of the problem. However, for some reason the entire thing just felt very dry.

I read it, and I kept turning the pages, but overall, I just wasn't very excited. It was something I had really looked forward to because of the connection with Chuck Palhaniuk, and I'd read his introduction before-hand and felt the glowing recommendation he'd given the author and the book was something to behold. Chuck, one of my favorite authors, really loved it, it must be great.

The basis of the story isn't bad. It revolves around a.... Clown Girl, which I'm sure you could easily expect from the title. She's clearly got some neuroses, and we wend our way through a small part of her life and her discovery of herself behind her clown make-up....

That's it, I feel like I've really saved you the trouble of reading the book. In the end, she finds her way out of the make-up.

There's no kick, no pizazz, nothing really happens at all. At least, nothing happens that really made me care. I'm not entirely sure if that was because I was able to predict each step in the story, or if it was because the story was really that dull, but there it is.

So, overall, I don't really recommend it, but of course, I appear to be in the minority in that decision, and you're welcome to make up your own mind about it.


What I'm Reading Now

Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things. I've always enjoyed Neil Gaiman's work, I think the first thing I ever read of his was the Tekno Comix: Neil Gaiman's Lady Justice. I was always thrilled with that story, but I never really thought much of him as the 'author'. I was into those books when I was too young to realize that the main reason I liked them wasn't the art but the story. Obviously I grew up, but my taste remains the same.

I've just started reading it, and so far I'm pretty pleased. I will be the first admit that not everything he writes hits every time for me. He's done plenty of stuff that just doesn't quite strike a chord, but usually I still appreciate it when I'm done.

So far I'm really enjoying I'm really enjoying his short stories, and I'll gladly tell you all about them in due time I'm sure.


And that is all... for now, but I'll be back soon, I'm sure. Please, remind me to talk about Babel, the movie I watched tonight....