Get Ready for a Big IP Fight in the Fall

Canada’s working on its own Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and it suitably panders to the entertainment industry. Not surprisingly, it was introduced by the Liberals, who are busy doing cool things in other areas, like pushing through legislation to insure that people can marry other people of the same sex (one at a time limit, naturally). I guess they giveth and taketh away.

Big day on (what will hereafter be referred to as) The Next Book here. Hoping for lots more of those before the end of the summer.

Holy Moving Faders, Batman

You may recall a post a month or more ago extolling my excitement at acquiring this item:
SAC-2K

Well, I spent some time yesterday actually using it. I don’t mean figuring out how to use it — which I had been doing (and I still have a lot to learn) — but working on an actual mix of an actual song that will be on the new lo-boy album which I am determined to finish this summer. Holy crap do a bunch of knobs and faders make a difference. I mean, I still use the mouse for all sorts of things, but mixing music is so much more dynamic and fun when I can both hands. It’s a completely different relationship with my computer recording setup.

I just needed to share.

As for Batman, the movie turned out to be pretty good even though, as usual, the performer actually playing Batman can’t figure out how to do it. Love what they do with the Metro, though.

More Major Label Stupidity

Okay, so Carrie and I went to Future Shop yesterday and bought some tech and also a few major label CDs we’d been planning to get for awhile. Alongside the Metallica, we bit on the new Coldplay CD because, well, we really liked the last one.

I haven’t listened to the new one yet, but when I took off the plastic, out fell a little square of paper. The square said I could get a free mp3 if I visted the futureshop website. How nice of them. I figured it would be my first legal mp3. I mean, I’ve downloaded lots of free mp3s from band websites, but in those cases the mp3s were being given away. I have always avoided things like the iTunes Store and other online services because I think it is stupid to pay for music that comes with contractual limitations on its use, especially when I can just buy the CD (1). But I thought, hey, if it’s free, why not go for it? Well, here’s the message I got from the website:

Thank you for visiting Bonfire at Futureshop.ca.

Currently our website supports Internet Explorer 5.0 and above on the
Windows operating system (Win 98SE / ME / 2000 / XP / 2003),
and is available to Canadian residents only.

We value our Mac audience, however the Windows Media player for the Mac
platform is not currently compatible with Microsoft protected audio content.
Bonfire is currently working to make our service available to Mac users.

So let me get this straight. You can’t give me my free song because you are afraid once I had it, I might use it in a way that someone doesn’t approve of. Thank god for copy protection. Otherwise people might get songs for free!

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1. I recently bought a used CD online — I forget which one (though it was certainly hipper than Coldplay or Metallica, I can assure you) and it was advertised as new. When I got it, it was new, but is was a special copy protected version. I had no problem ripping it in iTunes, but on the back it says the CD may not work in some car players, etc. I felt like I was ripped off. “Oh, here’s this intentionally crippled product. We call it new. Enjoy!”

Circle of Triceratops

is a phrase uttered by young Eva, who received a dinosaur book from Carrie. It contains a picture of a well, you know. Anyway, I figured it would be a good name for a heavy rock band. If I find my heavy band and they have a sense of humor, well then watch out world.

Good lord, it really has been a week, hasn’t it? we had company through Tuesday, Wednesday was recovery, and then the rest of the week just slipped by without a blog post. And so, to get my chops back, I bring you the following meme.

Total Volume of Music Files on My Computer: 15.55 GB

The Last CD I Bought Was: Metallica, St. Anger

First of all, let me point out that I could have lied but I am telling you the truth. But the fact of the matter is that we saw Some Kind of Monster, which I highly recommend. Not only was the movie funny, but some of the music sounded pretty good. Unfortunately, the album pretty much sucks, as I verified on a careful listed today. The lyrics are embarrassingly bad and mixed high enough that you can’t ignore them. Not only is the songwriting bad, but the mix is, well bizarre and not in a good way. There are a few moments of riffage that I recognize from the movie, but definitely not worth it.

Song Playing Right Now: “The Life and Death of Mr.Badmouth”, PJ Harvey. PJ Harvey has the most rock and roll voice in existence.

Five Songs I Listen To a Lot, Or That Mean a Lot To Me:

Hoo-boy. I’m not a song guy. I’m an album guy. I’m also not a lyrics guy, so this will get weird. But here goes, in no order of significance:

1. Houston, “Sunday in December.” 1:57 of pure unadulterated rock. Amazingly crafted song — pretty, singsongy and intense all at once. Didn’t live up to the hype live, but then we only got to see them once.

2. Bill Lasswell, “Cybotron.” And the message of this song is. . . . “smoke more dope.” Actually, that’s the message of Bill Lasswell’s entire oeuvre, I think. But actually I am particularly fond of this one for its bowel shaking bassline. It occurs to me at this moment that I should do an entry about basslines. That will come under separate cover.

3. Pink Floyd, “Another Brick in the Wall Part I”. I was 13, about to turn 14. Pete Tveten told me to lay down next to the speaker and he put on side 1 of the Wall. I had no idea you could do that with rock music. Later in 9th grade, my knowledge of Pink Floyd temporarily made me cooler with the other kids than I might otherwise have been. Aesthetic pleasure and utility, all wrapped up in one. I find the song a little laborious now, but then, I would, wouldn’t I? Note: this experience also sent me on what now might be regarded as a somewhat unfortunate art-rock craze. But hey, it’s my list and I’m sticking to it.

4. Prefuse 73 “The End of Biters–International”: I dunno, two short songs on here (this one clocks in at 1:17) seems indulgent since most things I listen to are longer, but I really know of no other song that sounds like this one. It stands out from all of his other work and doesn’t sound like anyone else. Really remarkable piece of music.

5. Enon “Biofeedback” annoys the hell out of Carrie and there’s nothing quite as funny as annoying the one you love. Actually, there’s this old Free Range Chicken song, “Ali Baba” that also did the trick, but since I actually like the Enon song quite a bit, there’s an added bonus in playing that one.

Okay, off to a party.

Montreal Modernism

We just returned from the CCA’s “Montreal Thinks Big” exhibit on Montreal in the 1960s. Absolutely amazing stuff. Lots of plans for the decaying infrastructure we walk through every day, as well as alternative plans that were never built. Some political critiques of 60s style development as well, though they were well hidden. We also had a short jaunt through Douglas Coupland’s lego exhibit, which was interesting, but not as interesting as the history. It’s really striking how much of that dream of a “multilevel” downtown is still in effect, even though it also occasioned a certain level of gentrification (of which we are a part, though not in downtown) and may have actually decreased the level of cross-class interaction in public space. It also punched a hole in my childlike love of the Metro, since it (along with busses) replaced a cheaper and more flexible tram system.

As a special bonus, the bookstore was outstanding. Perhaps a little too outstanding if you know what I mean.

Jesus it’s hot.

Back to hanging out with the in-laws after a brief foray into New Rules:

New Rules

1. Always take the boat tour.
2. Enchiladas are most work than you think they will be, but they are their own reward.
3. Museum attendance is structurally homologous to shopping but requires more concentration.
4. Always install the window air conditioning as soon as possible.
5. Yes, that pay-per-view movie that you’ve never heard of but looks like it might be good will probably suck.

Swiffer Theory

A guest entry by Carrie.

I feel I need to take the opportunity to share with you all a strange realization I had just this morning while assembling my new Swiffer Wet Jet, a “power mop” I asked my mate to purchase for me to ease the terrible burden of mopping 1500 sq. ft. of bare floor. I am fully willing to admit that this division of labor (me mopping the floor and Jon purchasing the mop for me) is gendered in the utmost of traditional ways. For some reason, which I prefer not to examine too closely, it feels better to me that I received this mop as a “gift” rather than purchasing it for myself. I think Jon’s purchase of the mop makes it seem to me that my mopping labour [editor’s note: she is already internalizing Canadian spellings!] is getting more recognition than I might otherwise perceive if I bought the damn thing. There’s a definite psychology to the gendered reality of domestic home engineering. Just to be clear: Jon vacuums all of the floors before I mop — the gendered division is a really a sub-division of various kinds of cleaning tasks. They still suck, though.

In any event, the gendered conditions of the mop’s purchase and use are not nearly as interesting as the creepy design of the device. After a mere ten minutes assembling the mop and gazing at it rather quizzically, I’ve decided that this device has distilled the fundamental technological tools of women’s reproductive systems and cycles into a plastic and aluminum “power mop.” Let me explain. The mop’s key feature is that it doesn’t require you to use a pail of soapy water: cleaning solution and everything are contained within the mop unit itself. It’s truly an all-in-one device. As I opened the package of thin, wafer-like papery mop heads that the mop user is supposed to just stick the grippy, rubbery strips on the mop head itself, I realized that these mop heads are simply enlarged sanitary napkins, also known as menstrual pads. For those of you reading this blog entry who are familiar with different brands of sanitary napkins, the material on the mop head that comes into contact with the floor is the same material that covers Always brand “dri-weave” menstrual pads. The back side of the mop pad uses that wispy, slightly adhesive feeling lighter plastic fiber material that often covers the back side, and/or sides, or older or off-brands of maxi-pad: that material that never quite sticks to the filling of the menstrual pad, and ends up being really uncomfortable and kind of shifty in the pants, or gets caught up in the folds of feminine flesh. The mop pad even has something resembling “wings,” but there’s nothing to stick them to. I don’t fully know how to explain my reaction to the realization that I was putting a menstrual pad-like mop head on my new mop, except that I have been marveling in the mop makers’ re-appropriation of the unique textile and fiber construction of menstrual pads and baby diapers.

The mop’s gendered re-construction of the female reproductive system doesn’t stop with its re-appropriation of the menstrual pad. It also re-purposes the design of the baby bottle, and in particular, the rubber nipple, in its design of the made-for-the-Swiffer-Wet-Jet cleaning solution bottles. The bottles attach directly to the mop, and are applied by sliding the bottle, with its flat rubber nipple cap, arrow side down into the sharp looking cleaning-bottle mop seat. The assembly directions detail in clear warning-label language not to put your bare hands into the parts where the bottle goes because of the device’s sharp, yet mostly hidden parts. I really don’t see anything that looks even remotely sharp on this part of the device. But like a young infant with newly emerged sharp little teeth, the Swiffer Wet Jet can bite your unsuspecting soft parts and draw blood. After I slide the bottle in upside down, the mop appears ready to go (I also had to add 4 AA batteries — this is a “power” mop).

What does this mop say about gender and reproduction, and the merging of domestic cleaning technologies and throw-away products like plastic menstrual pads and rubber nipples? What do I make of the fact that my mop sprays its precious cleaning fluid in a half-moon pattern onto the dirty floor? I feel a kind of familiar connection to this mop, because I’ve seen all of its parts before. At the moment, I simply marvel at the ways my Swiffer Wet Jet recycles menstrual pad technology and the old stand by, rubber nipples. We’ll have to see how it works.

Editor’s note: after mopping the dining room and kitchen floors, she said the mop “fucking rocks.”

New BS Oped + More Tapes

First things first: a new Bad Subjects OpEd on the EU vote is up. Short and sweet, I searched for the profound but only found the suggestive.

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Now, I have to say I am totally blown away by the response to the tape post. I got a bunch of awesome emails and comments. This must really be a thing. I wonder if it would be cool to listen to other people’s half-baked band demos? What would happen if Dave Noon and I traded high school tapes? Or better yet consumed them together. Also, how gendered is this? There are women who do this sort of thing but was it mostly a “guy thing” to amass such bizarre recordings?

I did forget to mention that I have about 6-8 hours of video footage of my undergrad band. I know where that is. It moves every time with me without question, but it’s best not watched. . . . In that category, we also have the official yearbook video from Carrie’s high school.

Coming soon: I’ve been memed!

Plus: in-law arrive tomorrow night. More vacuuming is in the near future; and I may be a little scarce for a few days. We’ll see.