For those of you who I have not raved about this yet, you should check out the Masters of Song Fu section over at QuickStop Entertainment... and while you're there, check out the Ken P.D. Snydecast, which is my current podcast of choice.
Song Fu is like Iron Chef for songwriting... every round, the contestants are given instructions for a song to write... past examples have been:
Write a song using exactly 10 different words
Write a song with the title "(The Ballad of) Rufus Amos Adams"
Write a happy song
Write a song about the moon
You can still listen to the past entrys on the site, and there's a round currently going. It's definitely worth checking out. Not all the songs are awesome, but there are enough gems in there that I'm not going to call out only a few, for fear you'll miss the others.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
On the Twitterati
In last week's podcast, Paul and Storm were discussing the current batch of people who are "Internet famous" and what to call them, the theory being that it's best to come up with a name for them before the media does. So, I'm throwing this out to the people reading me (all, what, 2 of you?) Since every batch of quasi-celebrities seems to have a group moniker attached to them, mostly referencing the Rat Pack (e.g. The Brat Pack, The Frat Pack), what do you call the geek celebrities of the current era (and if you don't get who I mean, I'll be offering up a list below).
The three ideas I've heard have been:
The Mac Pack
The Twitterati
and the Baud Squad.
I am trusting in my friends' creative abilities to come up with something better!
Also, who would you put into that group? The "canonical" examples seem to be Felicia Day, Jonathan Coulton, John Hodgman, Wil Wheaton, and Gabe & Tycho (of Penny Arcade fame). I would add Stephen Fry to the list, as well, though you don't hear him come up nearly as often.
The three ideas I've heard have been:
The Mac Pack
The Twitterati
and the Baud Squad.
I am trusting in my friends' creative abilities to come up with something better!
Also, who would you put into that group? The "canonical" examples seem to be Felicia Day, Jonathan Coulton, John Hodgman, Wil Wheaton, and Gabe & Tycho (of Penny Arcade fame). I would add Stephen Fry to the list, as well, though you don't hear him come up nearly as often.
On Piracy (WotC edition)
Yarrr! There be bandwidth to starboard!
OK, now that that's out of my system...
My apologies to those who are actually reading this for the long break in posts. With a lot going on in life, writing fell by the wayside.
Yesterday, all outlets that had previously been doing so ceased sales of PDFs of Wizards of the Coast products. Additionally, users who had previously purchased content and had not yet used all of their allotted downloads no longer had access to those downloads.
As of yesterday, there was no information no the reasons for this, other than the retailers statements that "WotC told us to do so."
As of this morning, a press release had been put out by Wizards stating that this move was made in response to "recent illegal sharing of [their] property."
My first problem with their reasoning is that it was not simply currently-released products that were pulled from the digital shelves. Everything from old AD&D books that have been out of print for over a decade up until the PHB2 which was released 2 weeks ago is no longer available in a (legal) digital form. The vast majority of these are products that Wizards was making NO profit on. If only one person downloaded a copy, removed the copyright, and torrented the file, that's STILL ONE COPY THEY SOLD of a property that was making nothing.
(As a side note, I wonder how much legal liability they have opened themselves up to by invalidating previous sales. I Am Not A Lawyer, but it seems like this is a class action waiting to happen.)
Secondly, it is worth noting that the most common complaint right now from the D&D community is that WotC's communication sucks. When 4e was released and D&D Insider wasn't ready on launch day as we'd been promised for months, there was nothing. When the pricing structure for both DDI and the "virtual minis" for their online tabletop (which, I note, has yet to materialize... OK, poor choice of words) was revamped repeatedly, apparently by throwing a dart at someone walking by the Wizards offices and asking them how much they would pay (NB - medical examiners have not actually PROVEN that the dart was coated in a powerful hallucinogenic, it's still just a theory), there was nothing. In both cases, the response cycle went something like this:
Stupid action by WotC
Fan outrage
Justification of action by WotC
Fan outrage and disdain
Reworking of policy by WotC to something that makes a goodly number of fans happy.
You'd think they'd have learned by now that talking to your consumer base would cut some of the more painful bits out of this process. In the case of the PDFs being removed from sale, the fact that it was 24 hours before they said ANYTHING publically, giving the retailers time to pass off all the blame to the publisher, is inexcusable from a PR standpoint.
Finally, and I think this is key to the whole thing, this will do nothing to stop the pirating of D&D books! 8 days before 4e was released, all the core books were available on torrent sites because the printers' proofs had been leaked. Before that, every single 3.5 book was scanned, bookmarked and OCR'd. D&D players tend to be more comfortable with technology that the average person, in my experience and we want searchable, bookmarked PDFs of our gaming books. I can't count the number of people I know who run/play their games off their laptops. Or, to put it another way:
Attention WotC: People WILL download your books for use at the game table.
Ahem.
You want a sure-fire get rich quick scheme in this economy? Find out what medical supplier is closest to the Wizards HQ and buy as much of their stock as you can. Why? Crutches, my friend. With the amount of time that company spends shooting themselves in the foot, crutches are a goddamn goldmine.
The point of this rant is that this move is, at best, counter-productive in the War On Piracy. Wizards has managed to prosecute a half dozen (or so) uploaders who were too stupid/naive to delete the watermark from whatever site they bought the PHB2 on, and then torrented it out to the world. They have done nothing, and CAN do nothing, to stop the people who will scan their books and put them out there for others to read and use. All they have done is get rid of the one LEGAL way to obtain their content for those people who want to give them money. I am very sadly reminded of Metallica's campaign against filesharing of about 10 years ago, and the damage that did to their reputation among their fans and detractors alike.
I will not say that what the people who scan books to PDF are doing is right, but I won't say that it's hurting WotC's sales, either. Why won't I say that? Because I can count, from my personal knowledge, a significant number of 4e book sales that would not have occurred without a consumer downloading a copy of the book first and deciding it was worth his or her money. Is this anecdotal evidence necessarily relevant to the business's bottom line? No. But it is something that the creators and owners of digital content should think about when assessing what risks to take in putting their content out there for the world. Because yes, WotC, we will still download your books, and if you don't let us do so legally, we will do so illegally. But if you put out a quality product, we will buy the books, too. I promise you that.
One more thing, and then it's off to spend some quality time with my couch and the DVDs of Avatar that I picked up today:
When thinking about the apparent War On Piracy, I keep thinking in terms of a political-style cartoon that I swear no one has ever drawn. The content owners (read: WotC, the RIAA, the MPAA, et al) are Don Quixote. DRM is his breastplate, rusty, battered and all but useless. The windmill is, of course, Digital Piracy.
...I don't know who Sancho Panza represents... and I think Aldonza is supposed to be Lars Ulrich...
OK, now that that's out of my system...
My apologies to those who are actually reading this for the long break in posts. With a lot going on in life, writing fell by the wayside.
Yesterday, all outlets that had previously been doing so ceased sales of PDFs of Wizards of the Coast products. Additionally, users who had previously purchased content and had not yet used all of their allotted downloads no longer had access to those downloads.
As of yesterday, there was no information no the reasons for this, other than the retailers statements that "WotC told us to do so."
As of this morning, a press release had been put out by Wizards stating that this move was made in response to "recent illegal sharing of [their] property."
My first problem with their reasoning is that it was not simply currently-released products that were pulled from the digital shelves. Everything from old AD&D books that have been out of print for over a decade up until the PHB2 which was released 2 weeks ago is no longer available in a (legal) digital form. The vast majority of these are products that Wizards was making NO profit on. If only one person downloaded a copy, removed the copyright, and torrented the file, that's STILL ONE COPY THEY SOLD of a property that was making nothing.
(As a side note, I wonder how much legal liability they have opened themselves up to by invalidating previous sales. I Am Not A Lawyer, but it seems like this is a class action waiting to happen.)
Secondly, it is worth noting that the most common complaint right now from the D&D community is that WotC's communication sucks. When 4e was released and D&D Insider wasn't ready on launch day as we'd been promised for months, there was nothing. When the pricing structure for both DDI and the "virtual minis" for their online tabletop (which, I note, has yet to materialize... OK, poor choice of words) was revamped repeatedly, apparently by throwing a dart at someone walking by the Wizards offices and asking them how much they would pay (NB - medical examiners have not actually PROVEN that the dart was coated in a powerful hallucinogenic, it's still just a theory), there was nothing. In both cases, the response cycle went something like this:
Stupid action by WotC
Fan outrage
Justification of action by WotC
Fan outrage and disdain
Reworking of policy by WotC to something that makes a goodly number of fans happy.
You'd think they'd have learned by now that talking to your consumer base would cut some of the more painful bits out of this process. In the case of the PDFs being removed from sale, the fact that it was 24 hours before they said ANYTHING publically, giving the retailers time to pass off all the blame to the publisher, is inexcusable from a PR standpoint.
Finally, and I think this is key to the whole thing, this will do nothing to stop the pirating of D&D books! 8 days before 4e was released, all the core books were available on torrent sites because the printers' proofs had been leaked. Before that, every single 3.5 book was scanned, bookmarked and OCR'd. D&D players tend to be more comfortable with technology that the average person, in my experience and we want searchable, bookmarked PDFs of our gaming books. I can't count the number of people I know who run/play their games off their laptops. Or, to put it another way:
Attention WotC: People WILL download your books for use at the game table.
Ahem.
You want a sure-fire get rich quick scheme in this economy? Find out what medical supplier is closest to the Wizards HQ and buy as much of their stock as you can. Why? Crutches, my friend. With the amount of time that company spends shooting themselves in the foot, crutches are a goddamn goldmine.
The point of this rant is that this move is, at best, counter-productive in the War On Piracy. Wizards has managed to prosecute a half dozen (or so) uploaders who were too stupid/naive to delete the watermark from whatever site they bought the PHB2 on, and then torrented it out to the world. They have done nothing, and CAN do nothing, to stop the people who will scan their books and put them out there for others to read and use. All they have done is get rid of the one LEGAL way to obtain their content for those people who want to give them money. I am very sadly reminded of Metallica's campaign against filesharing of about 10 years ago, and the damage that did to their reputation among their fans and detractors alike.
I will not say that what the people who scan books to PDF are doing is right, but I won't say that it's hurting WotC's sales, either. Why won't I say that? Because I can count, from my personal knowledge, a significant number of 4e book sales that would not have occurred without a consumer downloading a copy of the book first and deciding it was worth his or her money. Is this anecdotal evidence necessarily relevant to the business's bottom line? No. But it is something that the creators and owners of digital content should think about when assessing what risks to take in putting their content out there for the world. Because yes, WotC, we will still download your books, and if you don't let us do so legally, we will do so illegally. But if you put out a quality product, we will buy the books, too. I promise you that.
One more thing, and then it's off to spend some quality time with my couch and the DVDs of Avatar that I picked up today:
When thinking about the apparent War On Piracy, I keep thinking in terms of a political-style cartoon that I swear no one has ever drawn. The content owners (read: WotC, the RIAA, the MPAA, et al) are Don Quixote. DRM is his breastplate, rusty, battered and all but useless. The windmill is, of course, Digital Piracy.
...I don't know who Sancho Panza represents... and I think Aldonza is supposed to be Lars Ulrich...
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
In which my friends engage in douchebaggery
I woke up this morning to discover that I was linked from www.paulandstorm.com as a result of my post last week.
Now, a bit of background: one of my friends, having read said post and being familiar with their podcast, has been mocking me mercilessly for what was described as "rampant linkbaiting". And once I had looked that up and found out what it meant, I must say that this is untrue.
Anyway, this morning, said friend sent me an e-mail saying "Hey, check it out, the podcast came out this morning and they spent a good 30 seconds mocking your linkbaiting."
They did not. But since I can't listen to the podcast at work (as this person knows well), I spent all day thinking that two of my favorite artists had devoted time to PERSONALLY MOCKING ME.
Grrr...
Now, a bit of background: one of my friends, having read said post and being familiar with their podcast, has been mocking me mercilessly for what was described as "rampant linkbaiting". And once I had looked that up and found out what it meant, I must say that this is untrue.
Anyway, this morning, said friend sent me an e-mail saying "Hey, check it out, the podcast came out this morning and they spent a good 30 seconds mocking your linkbaiting."
They did not. But since I can't listen to the podcast at work (as this person knows well), I spent all day thinking that two of my favorite artists had devoted time to PERSONALLY MOCKING ME.
Grrr...
Monday, February 2, 2009
In which the best movie of the year is discussed
So perhaps the title is a bit of hyperbole, but I sadly just realized that it's almost Not-Monday-Anymore and I hadn't yet posted anything today.
So, on Saturday, I saw Slumdog Millionaire. Never before I have I seen a movie that was quite so perfectly put together. The direction, the acting, the soundtrack, the editing... hell, if I ever go from stage to film directing, I will almost certainly look back at this movie as a lesson in pacing in film. Every so often, I see art that is perfectly executed, that lets you know exactly what the artist intended because it demonstrates that intention flawlessly. It's a rare quality, but this movie has it and it's really something amazing to see.
One caveat: the movie is, at several points, brutal. The first half of the movie is very close to Bollywood through the lens of Naturalism. It's jarring and at times disturbing, but it's still a damn fine movie.
So, on Saturday, I saw Slumdog Millionaire. Never before I have I seen a movie that was quite so perfectly put together. The direction, the acting, the soundtrack, the editing... hell, if I ever go from stage to film directing, I will almost certainly look back at this movie as a lesson in pacing in film. Every so often, I see art that is perfectly executed, that lets you know exactly what the artist intended because it demonstrates that intention flawlessly. It's a rare quality, but this movie has it and it's really something amazing to see.
One caveat: the movie is, at several points, brutal. The first half of the movie is very close to Bollywood through the lens of Naturalism. It's jarring and at times disturbing, but it's still a damn fine movie.
Friday, January 30, 2009
In which I post about nothing at all
My apologies, but no substantial update today. Ever since my glasses broke last week, reading anything on the computer screen has been getting harder and harder and right now, my head feels like there's a very small horse kicking at the inside of my skull.
Posts currently waiting to be written:
ENTERTAINMENT:
Gaming-related storytelling (and how to pull a game out of the "Combats & Cutscenes" style).
Closed-ended plots and why I find them more compelling than something open-ended (specifically stand-alone books over epic fantasy series, and how much better-paced Lost is now that they know exactly when the show will end.)
Graphic novels, and how I came into the game very late with respect to them.
General "things I like" post to follow the "things I believe" post.
CURRENT EVENTS:
I really want to post about the whole Blagojevich thing now that it's over, but everyone else out on the Nettertubes seems to have done so already.
The experience of the complete clusterf&*# that was the Inauguration (from my standpoint)
And, I'm sure more things that will come up between now and when I can type for more than 5 minutes without a migraine starting.
Hope for me that my optometrist gets replacement frames in.
Posts currently waiting to be written:
ENTERTAINMENT:
Gaming-related storytelling (and how to pull a game out of the "Combats & Cutscenes" style).
Closed-ended plots and why I find them more compelling than something open-ended (specifically stand-alone books over epic fantasy series, and how much better-paced Lost is now that they know exactly when the show will end.)
Graphic novels, and how I came into the game very late with respect to them.
General "things I like" post to follow the "things I believe" post.
CURRENT EVENTS:
I really want to post about the whole Blagojevich thing now that it's over, but everyone else out on the Nettertubes seems to have done so already.
The experience of the complete clusterf&*# that was the Inauguration (from my standpoint)
And, I'm sure more things that will come up between now and when I can type for more than 5 minutes without a migraine starting.
Hope for me that my optometrist gets replacement frames in.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Credo in... ; or, In which I attempt to define my biases
Wow... no followers on blogspot itself yet, but 5 people who aren't me subscribing to the LJ RSS feed. I should actually try to keep to my planned update schedule.
I plan on, on occasion, commenting here about current events and the like. Before I do so, I feel I should lay out where I'm coming from. I make no claims to writing objectively about politics or anything else, because I do not believe that to be either feasible or desirable. Everything I say will be skewed by the lens of my personal beliefs. In light of that, I think a few statements as to the nature those beliefs are in order.
- I believe that it is the duty of any civilized society to ensure that its people are educated, fed, clothed, sheltered, employed, and healthy. The primary role of government is to see these duties carried out. Government is the method by which society acts upon itself.
- That being said, I believe in individual responsibility. It is NOT society's job to hand you food and money indefinitely if you fail to attempt to work.
- Factual education is the job of the schools, and should never be politicized. Truth is not a democracy, and no vote will invalidate science or validate myth.
- Moral education is the job of the parents. It is YOUR JOB to make sure your kid learns things like manners, respect, kindness, compassion.
- As a corollary to the above: socialization is key to every child's emotional development. This is why I am, most of the time, absolutely opposed to home-schooling. (Yes, I know many areas have home-schooling networks that provide support and socialization. This is an excellent step.) I do, however, recognize it as necessary given the current state of most public school systems. In one episode of "The West Wing", Sam states a fervent belief that "schools should be palaces". I could not agree more.
- Everyone should be taught not just to know, but also to think. Standardized testing in public schools has pushed this out of the classroom, and that dismays me.
- The secondary role of government is the safety and security of its citizens. This is why laws against murder, assault, burglary, fraud, and the like are all important. It is important to note that I do NOT refer to moral health here. The legislation of one group's mores onto another is vile to me. At the moment, this applies primarily to Marriage Equality and to Reproductive Choice, but also covers the teaching of Creationism in science classes and most other "Traditional Values" issues
- As I view government as the tool by which society acts upon itself, I believe that those we elect can and must be role models. I want them to be smarter than me and better than me. I believe that politcal corruption is not "part of the game" but is a sin against the trust we should be able to place in those we choose to govern.
- I believe that the things I want my government to do, from running public schools to maintaining roads to putting out fires, all cost money, and taxes are the only way that money is going to be raised. I believe that income tax should come disproportionately from those who can afford it, and I think that the Estate Tax is this country's best way of keeping some semblance of a meritocracy rather than a hereditary monied class. (Relatedly, anyone who uses the phrase "Death Tax" is summarily ignored from that point forward.)
- Finally, I believe deeply in the experiment that is the United States of America. To borrow a simile from Al Franken, I love America, but not the way that a 4-year-old loves Mommy. This country, through its leaders, can and have and will make poor choices, do wrong things. All I ask for is an ability to recognize those mistakes, and to learn from them.
As I write, more things keep coming to me, but I'm going to leave it at that as it ended up a lot more than I had intended to write tonight.
I plan on, on occasion, commenting here about current events and the like. Before I do so, I feel I should lay out where I'm coming from. I make no claims to writing objectively about politics or anything else, because I do not believe that to be either feasible or desirable. Everything I say will be skewed by the lens of my personal beliefs. In light of that, I think a few statements as to the nature those beliefs are in order.
- I believe that it is the duty of any civilized society to ensure that its people are educated, fed, clothed, sheltered, employed, and healthy. The primary role of government is to see these duties carried out. Government is the method by which society acts upon itself.
- That being said, I believe in individual responsibility. It is NOT society's job to hand you food and money indefinitely if you fail to attempt to work.
- Factual education is the job of the schools, and should never be politicized. Truth is not a democracy, and no vote will invalidate science or validate myth.
- Moral education is the job of the parents. It is YOUR JOB to make sure your kid learns things like manners, respect, kindness, compassion.
- As a corollary to the above: socialization is key to every child's emotional development. This is why I am, most of the time, absolutely opposed to home-schooling. (Yes, I know many areas have home-schooling networks that provide support and socialization. This is an excellent step.) I do, however, recognize it as necessary given the current state of most public school systems. In one episode of "The West Wing", Sam states a fervent belief that "schools should be palaces". I could not agree more.
- Everyone should be taught not just to know, but also to think. Standardized testing in public schools has pushed this out of the classroom, and that dismays me.
- The secondary role of government is the safety and security of its citizens. This is why laws against murder, assault, burglary, fraud, and the like are all important. It is important to note that I do NOT refer to moral health here. The legislation of one group's mores onto another is vile to me. At the moment, this applies primarily to Marriage Equality and to Reproductive Choice, but also covers the teaching of Creationism in science classes and most other "Traditional Values" issues
- As I view government as the tool by which society acts upon itself, I believe that those we elect can and must be role models. I want them to be smarter than me and better than me. I believe that politcal corruption is not "part of the game" but is a sin against the trust we should be able to place in those we choose to govern.
- I believe that the things I want my government to do, from running public schools to maintaining roads to putting out fires, all cost money, and taxes are the only way that money is going to be raised. I believe that income tax should come disproportionately from those who can afford it, and I think that the Estate Tax is this country's best way of keeping some semblance of a meritocracy rather than a hereditary monied class. (Relatedly, anyone who uses the phrase "Death Tax" is summarily ignored from that point forward.)
- Finally, I believe deeply in the experiment that is the United States of America. To borrow a simile from Al Franken, I love America, but not the way that a 4-year-old loves Mommy. This country, through its leaders, can and have and will make poor choices, do wrong things. All I ask for is an ability to recognize those mistakes, and to learn from them.
As I write, more things keep coming to me, but I'm going to leave it at that as it ended up a lot more than I had intended to write tonight.
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