Blackmoor Vituperative

I have a lead on a 2-year contract gig at $__ dollars per hour (a bit more than I typically get). Yes, it’s another contract gig, which I desperately want to get away from, but it’s slated to run for at least two years, so that’s not too shabby.

I can feel a mountain rain
That’ll wash away
And shine again
Empty my pockets
That were weighing me down
Sift through my soul
To see what’s lost and found
Gonna walk away from trouble
With my head held high
Then look closely you’ll see
Luck in my eyes

I can hear a howling wind
That sweeps away
The pain that’s been
Take all my sorrow
And i’ll cast away
The worries tomorrow
That i had today
Gonna walk away from trouble
With my head held high
Then look closely you’ll see
Luck in my eyes

K.D. Lang is awesome.

I don’t want to get bitter
I don’t want to turn cruel
I don’t want to get old before I have to

I have been feeling sorry for myself the last couple of days. This song helps.

The song starts roughly at 1:45.

In case the YouTube video disappears, here is the original music video. I do not particularly like the video.

Serendipity is a strange thing.

I am working on my homework (I am in my twenty-third year of a four-year degree), and listening to music. I have a sizeable music collection, but for variety, I was listening to the “Blues” music channel on Comcast cable. “Never going back to Memphis” came on, and I thought, hey now — this is good. Who is this?

Google told me that it was Shemekia Copeland. Another quick search brought me to a lyrics page — hosted at a site called Spinetingler magazine, which is a site as much about the craft of writing fiction as it is about the fiction itself.

Which, as it happens, is something that had been much on my mind for the past few days.

Serendipity.

This week, 50,000 new lawsuits have been filed against downloaders. It’s only going to get worse.”

“The history of copyright and intellectual property rights goes back to the 1700s. The free distribution of copyright works has never been impeded like it is today.”

“Surveillance methods being used are in the same league as those used by the NSA, CIA, MI5, MI6 and China. A real and genuine underground of revolt is brewing.

(from What’s inside your home is yours, except computer files, ZDNet)

You need to listen to this, all the way to the end. This is more than a bit of audiophile trivia. It is a compelling statement on our cultural future if we do not take action — decisive, sweeping action — to break the stranglehold with which the media robber barons and the Digital Rights Mafia have gripped our cultural heritage.

Surprise Selection Shocks Nashville

NASHVILLE (The Borowitz Report) – President Barack Obama stunned the country music world today by picking up its highest honor, Country Music Entertainer Of The Year.

Mr. Obama was chosen unanimously, according to the Country Music Association, beating out such favorite as Carrie Underwood and Toby Keith.

In Nashville, country music insiders were shocked by Mr. Obama’s selection, given that he has only been in office for eight months and during that time has yet to record a single country song.

But Mr. Obama was gracious in receiving the honor, saying that he was “honored and humbled” by the award before excusing himself to accept this year’s Heisman Trophy.

I liked “Lady Gaga” better when she was called “Dale Bozzio“.

The Digital Rights Mafia (RIAA and their ilk) won a major court victory yesterday: the jury awarded the plaintiffs $1,920,000.00, or $80,000.00 per song. $80,000 per song.

One more time: $80,000 PER SONG.

A jury did this. What the hell is wrong with people? What the hell is wrong with our justice system? When will our elected representatives stop twisting our legal system into pretzels for the benefit of the Digital Rights Mafia and the media robber barons?

One thing is certain: juries need to be better educated.

Ars Technica has a review of the book Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age. I will have to pick this up.

By the way, don’t feel bad for record companies. They have been screwing artists for years. It was only a matter of time before something brought an end to the perverse market conditions that allowed the big record companies to survive.

The recording industry has spent (and continues to spend) millions of dollars on its litigation campaign against accused file-swappers, but if two lawyers have their way, the RIAA will have to pay all the money back. Not content simply to defend Jammie Thomas-Rasset in her high-profile retrial next week in Minnesota, lawyer Kiwi Camara is joining forces with Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson to file a class-action lawsuit against the recording industry later this summer.

The goal is nothing less than to force the industry to pay back the alleged “$100+ million” it has collected over the last few years. Perhaps the RIAA had good reason not to send those settlement letters to Harvard for so long.

(from Lawyers plan class-action to reclaim “$100M+” RIAA “stole”, ArsTechnica)

Give ’em hell, guys. It’s about time someone seriously took on the Digital Rights Mafia.