David Allen Kelly | kellydallen

Web Design, Literature, Production, Remixing, Philosophy

Tom Goes to the Mayor

TommayorAdult Swim’s newest creation, Tom Goes to the Mayor, premiered tonight.  In case you missed it this one comes to you from Executive Producer Bob Odenkirk, and Tim & Eric and uses oddly disconcerting, almost unanimated, photocopier-style cutouts as the characters.

The first episode featured Odenkirk himself as a John Walsh-style TV host preaching to keep kids "scared straight" which leads the Mayor to an idea that bear traps placed all around town will be the best way to keep the town’s children safe from the horrors that threaten them.

This leads him to enlist the help of the town’s two competing bear trap stores, owned by brothers, and played by Jack Black and Kyle Gass.  If you’re not watching Adult Swim, you’re missing some of the coolest shows on TV.

Gates vs. Jobs: The Rematch

Business > Your Money > Gates vs. Jobs: The Rematch”>A relatively interesting New York Times article looks forward to the upcoming battle between Jobs’ already well-established iPod and Microsoft’s apparently planned entries into the portable audio market.

"And Mr. Gates makes no secret that he expects to beat Mr. Jobs in that market as convincingly as he did in personal computers."
The article goes on to debate the apparent pros and cons of Apple’s iTunes service, and the competing services like Napster-to-go ad infinitum.

I may not have made my feelings on the digital format wars yet, but let it be said that I think it is a flawed idea in most ways, unless someone truly revolutionary enters the market. You hear constantly how iTunes has passed this or that phenomenal sales barrier, almost as if they’re trying to convince themselves and the public, "Hey, it really could work…… uh….. erm….. maybe……"

I’m not old-fashioned but I do think people want something tangible when they purchase something. You want something that you might spill coffee on and ruin, not something you might accidentally delete. 

Let me go on, though.  I do *not* think the format is a bad idea – I think it is wonderful.  I’ve been one of the biggest proponents of digital media from the very beginning.  I just find the wars between the different stores as almost missing the point. Modern music needs a new economy, a complete overhaul.  I’m not saying anything revolutionary here, and it’s been said before by many others.  I’ve been tossing about the idea of a net-label idea for quite some time now, and the right way to approach it.  I believe that the best music *can* still be free to download, and the artists can make money from live shows or other alternative forms of income. 

Keep in mind, I am an artist and DJ saying this, saying I wouldn’t entirely mind giving away everything for free if I had another way to make money in doing so.  I’m not some MP3 ripping group saying "INFO WANTS TO BE FR33!!1!!"

In a system where the music is free but the artist still makes enough money to support themselves (whether by live shows, advertising money, whatever business model you think of), the artist has more power.  The consumer has more power.  The only people who have less or no power are the record companies and distribution companies.  While I would shed a tear for some of the distribution companies that have kept their nose to the grindstone for years, the record companies and their executives need to all retire to another line of work because, for at least 20 years they’ve done more damage to radio, TV, and music in general than help. 

So, in speaking about the "online stores" of digital music, Gates and Jobs both imply to me that they don’t understand the new landscape of music, and that simply a "virtual" version of an outdated idea will not accomplish anything but prolong the ultimate resolution, or revolution, if you prefer.

Personally, I think actual CDs (or something similar that is tangible) have a better chance of outlasting digital stores than vice versa.

To the real question: who will win the war of the hardware, since some sort of digital, portable listening devices will be here to stay?  Who knows.  The popular answer right now would be the iPod of course, but I don’t think the answer is quite so simple as what has the head start. The iPod has a massive head start, and it’s seen as quite sexy, so the challenge for Microsoft would be to make something sexier while costing less – is it possible?  Probably so, but Microsoft has never been that "sexy" a company with the possible exception of the X-Box.

Software Switch

Tplogosmall_1I’ve had to switch publishing software again on the site. The new webhost I had just recently switched to has announced they are shutting down within a couple months, so I wanted to switch earlier rather than later.  The software I have switched to is Typepad which I may or may not stay with permanently. For the time being it is fine, though. You can still find all my mixes and releases under the "categories" to the right.

Hack the Vote

Evidence Mounts That the Vote May Have Been Hacked

In Baker County, for example, with 12,887 registered voters, 69.3% of them Democrats and 24.3% of them Republicans, the vote was only 2,180 for Kerry and 7,738 for Bush, the opposite of what is seen everywhere else in the country where registered Democrats largely voted for Kerry.

In Dixie County, with 4,988 registered voters, 77.5% of them Democrats and a mere 15% registered as Republicans, only 1,959 people voted for Kerry, but 4,433 voted for Bush.

The pattern repeats over and over again – but only in the counties where optical scanners were used. Franklin County, 77.3% registered Democrats, went 58.5% for Bush. Holmes County, 72.7% registered Democrats, went 77.25% for Bush.

Read the full article here at commondreams.org.

A Quote from William Gibson's Blog

William Gibson posted the following quote at his site tonight:

"A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles.

"It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt.

"If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake."

– Thomas Jefferson, in a letter of 1798, after the passage of the Sedition Act.

"4 more years America"

Some brief thoughts on the election from a current US soldier and Iraq war veteran:

If you voted for Bush, didn’t vote, or voted no on gay marriage, I hope you get drafted.
I hope they stick you in my unit, and you go with me to Iraq when my unit goes back in September. I will laugh when you see what soldiers in that country face on a daily basis. I hope you work with gay soldiers too. I did. One of them saved my life. Think he shouldn’t have the right to get married? Fuck you. He fought just as hard as I did and on most days, did his job better than me. Don’t tell me gays don’t have the same rights you do.
Think the war in Iraq is a good thing? I’ll donate my M-16 to you and you can go in my place.

Did Kerry Concede Too Soon?

From the Guerrilla News Network:

Why did a voting machine in Republican Gahanna, Ohio report 4,258 votes for George W. Bush when only 638 people cast votes at the New Life Church polling site?

If Kerry had been the winner and an irregularity like this were discovered in his favor, all hellfire and brimstone would rain down upon the earth.  Does anyone actually think this is just an isolated case?

"My Modest Proposal"

From Boing Boing, My Modest Proposal: The U.S.A.R.�
   

I feel bad for the Red States.

    Yes, they won the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court and most of the state houses.  But they still can’t have the country they really want because the last few Blue States won’t roll over.  So I am making a simple proposal:

    Secession.  Divorce.  Splitsville.

    Personally, I think we made a huge mistake not letting them go when we had the chance back in 1862.  Well, no time like the present to correct an old mistake.

    Then, they would finally be free to have the kind of society they’ve always wanted; church and state can be fused so they build the kind of theocracy they’ve dreamt of, with Jesus at the helm.  Then the new USAR (United States of America Red) can ban books, repeal civil rights, persecute gays and have all the wars they like. They want prayer in schools?   More power to them.  They can ban abortion and post the Ten Commandments in every federal building in their country.  Bring back slavery, if they want.  We’ll be free to live with our like-minded countrymen who believe in science, modernism, tolerance, religion as a personal choice, and truly want limited government intrusion in our personal lives.  Why should each side be driven mad by the other any more, decade after decade?

    Call the Culture War a tie and everyone go home.

    Of course, we in the U.S.A.B. get the Gross Domestic Product, businesses and universities of California, New York, Massachussetts — basically the whole Northeast and Northwest (plus Illinois and Michigan if they want to come along).  They get Wal-Mart and Duke and most of the Nascar tracks.  But they can feel free to import movies, TV shows, financial services, and defense technology.  We’ll import country music, bibles and Confederate flags.

    The two countries will by necessity have open immigration policy: anyone who feels they are living in the wrong country can just move across the border, no questions asked.

    Ultimately, why should I have to convince my fellow countrymen that Darwin may have had a point and that the word “liberal” is not equivalent to “godless communist?”  And why should they be forced to live in a country with morally corrupt non-believers?  I’ll stay in the messy, free-thinking U.S.A.B.  And to the U.S.A.R. I say…

God bless you all, and see you at the U.N

A Diebold Flashback

Courtesy of Boing Boing, here’s a timely flashback to a CNN story including statements made by Diebold CEO Walden O’Dell:

The company came under fire last year for a letter that Diebold CEO Walden O’Dell wrote as a fundraising pitch to Republicans. In the letter, O’Dell said he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president." Diebold is based in North Canton, Ohio.

Bush Unbound

I lied.  One other very pertinent article about what to look forward to in the years to come:

Brought along with Bush is a gallery of grotesques in the Senate—more than one of the new senators advocating capital punishment for abortion, another urging that all gay teachers be fired, yet another revealed as suffering from obvious symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.