Sunday, May 9, 2010

HIPSTER RUNOFF

HIPSTER RUNOFF

Mother’s Day At Chili’s: A Play By Carles

Posted: 09 May 2010 04:40 PM PDT

Characters:

Mom: Mother of the family
Son: A relatively alt son, back from design school for the summer, pissed to be back in suburbia named Chaz
Daughter: Entry level alt tween named Jessica
Mike: A Chili’s Waiter
Father: Abandoned his family, not included in play

[Setting: Chili's in a suburban area of America]

Son: It’s really great to be back home, celebrating Mother’s Day with our family. I know we’ve been through a lot together, but we love you mom. You’ve really been there for us, you’ve sacrificed, and simply put, we couldn’t do it without you.
Daughter: Love ya Mom!
Mom: It would be nice if you stopped texting for a little bit, Jessica.
Daughter: What are we doing after dinner? Stephanie wants me to come over for the ‘16 and Pregnant Finale’
Son: Jess, please put the phone down and just enjoy our appetizer together.
Daughter: I don’t even have a data plan, so it’s not like I get what I want. I’m not spoiled.
Mom: Jessica, I told you I’d buy you data for your Droid if you got all A’s, and you didn’t.
Daughter: I never get what I want. I didn’t even get to choose the appetizer
Son: It’s Mother’s Day, and mom wanted bottomless chips and salsa. We’ll get South By Southwestern Eggrolls next time. Now can you just stop being a little cunt?
Daughter: I’m not a cunt. You think you’re all cool because you go to art school in New York, now you’re above this place.
Son: It’s not art school, it is design school with a concentration in media studies and technology.
Daughter: I’ve seen your facebook photos, it’s not like you even spend any time doing work. You just smoke and drink with your friends.
Mom: I’ve been paying for your college for you to be smoking and drinking, and then you post pictures of yourself doing that on the internet? I’ve read employers check facebook and some people don’t get hired because of that website.
Son: So what? I like to have a cold brewski and unwind with my friends. What’s wrong with that?
Mom: My grandfather was an alcoholic. My dad was an alcoholic. Your father was an alcoholic. I don’t want you going down the same road they did. Your father left our family because he chose alcohol.
Daughter: Is alcoholism genetic? I thought it was just people who liked the taste of beer.
Son: I know what I’m doing. I’m not an alcoholic. I am just a social drinker.
Mom: Well what kind of grades did you get last semester?
Son: Well, I picked up 6 hours.
Mom: How many did you take?
Son: I started with 15 hours, but had to drop 3 courses
Mom: Why did you drop three courses?
Son: I changed my major and realized that wasn’t what I wanted to do, so now I’m going to need another year of college.
Mom: Oh no.
Son: What?
Mom: I’m just not sure our family has that kind of money. Jessica has her guitar lessons and is going to make varsity soccer. I just don’t know any more. I just want to go home.
Daughter: Mom. It’s okay. I don’t want to play soccer. I want to focus on music.
Mom: Let’s just go home.
Son: Why don’t you want me to follow my dreams?
Mom: I feel sick. Let’s just go home.
Son: You shoulda just stopped texting.

ENTER MIKE, a twenty-something Chili’s Waiter

Mike: Whaddup yall. Who had the cheeseburger.
Son: That was me!
Mike: Alright. And the babyback ribs?
Mom: That’s me.
Mike: Oh yeah! Babyback ribs for mom on the big day. Alright, and who had the triple dipper with SXSWestern Eggrolls, Chicken Crispers, and boneless buffalo wings?
Jessica: Yummy in my tummy wummy! That’s me!
Mom: Thanks again.
Mike: No problem! That’s the Chili’s way.

MIKE EXITS INTO CHILI’S KITCHEN STAGE LEFT

Mom: Well. This has to be the worst mother’s day ever.
Jessica: Mom. I’m sorry.
Son: I promise I won’t let you down. I know we are a lower middle class family, searching for our place in America, but one day you’ll see that it was all worth it. I promise I am doing something special with my life that will lead to a unique, high-paying job.
Mom: Don’t you realize that I’ve lived my entire life for you. I’d do anything for you. I just want this family to feel close to one another again. It’s so hard with you being gone, Chaz.
Son: I miss being young, sitting around with you and Jessica, watching cartoons, listening to pop music from the 80s and 90s.
Jessica: I barely remember those days. I don’t remember anything about dad.
Mom: I remember sitting out back on the porch, eating popsicles, listening to pop music on the radio.
Son: I actually started listening to a new genre of music called . It is supposed to inspire nostalgic images from youth, with many similarities to 80s and 90s music.
Mom: chill what?
Son: .
Mom: Like the ocean? Waves?
Son: Yes, exactly.
Jessica: Can you put some of those songs on my iPod touch? You really have great taste in music. How do you find music?
Son: I just read a lot of blogs and use this cool tool called the Hype Machine.
Mom:  Maybe one day you will be in a band.  Remember when I got you piano lessons?

ENTER MIKE CARRYING A PITCHER OF TEA, HEADED TOWARDS ANOTHER TABLE

Mike: What’s up guys? You need a refill on that Mountain Dew? You need another Mother’s Day Mexican Martini?
Mom: Yes please. This Mexican Martini perfectly compliments my Babyback ribs.
Son: Hells yes. Gotta get some more Mountain Dew.
Daughter: Can I also get another Diet Sierra Mist?
Mike: No problem. Need a little bit more ranch for those boneless buff wings?
Jessica: Yes please!
Son: I also have another favor to ask of you, Mike.
Mike: Whatever you guys need!
Son: Do you know how to control the audio system in this place? I was wondering if you could plugin my iPhone to the speakers and play a song for our family.
Mike: Yeah bro. We’ve got an iPod dock, and that would be no problem. Which song?
Son: It’s by Washed Out it’s called “Feel it All Around”
Mike: Yeah no problem. Brb.

EXIT MIKE TO CHILI’S BAR AREA STAGE RIGHT

Son: Happy Mother’s Day Mom. This song is for our family. Even though it is just us three, we can make it through anything, as long as we chill.

WASHED OUT’S “FEEL IT ALL AROUND” BEGINS PLAYING IN CHILI’S

MANY CHILI’S PATRONS BEING TO CHATTER, ASKING ONE ANOTHER WHO THIS SONG IS, CLAIMING THAT IT IS CONJURING UP NOSTALGIC IMAGES OF YOUTH.

Mom: This is the best mother’s day ever.
Jessica: This song is really good. I am going to add it to my facebook profile for sure.
Son: It seems like every one in this Chili’s is Feeling It All Around.

ENTER MIKE. MIKE HANDS CHAZ A STACK OF PAPERS THAT LOOKS LIKE A CONTRACT

Mike: Hey Mike. We just got off the phone with the CEO of Chili’s. He said that he is starting an indie record label, and would like to hire a new A & R representative to scout new talent. You clearly have impeccable, relevant taste, and we would love to have you be the top dog at Chili’s Records.
Son: This is the job I have always wanted. I have always wanted to work for a mainstream company, doing my best to help alternative artists and musicians bring their product to mass markets. Doing my best to help the best art reach the masses, and artists getting paid for their efforts. In fact, the person who put Feist in the iPod nano commercial recently spoke at my university. I want to be a part of pop art.
Mike: Here at Chili’s, we don’t sign contracts with pens. We actually have you fingerprint the contract with ranch dipping sauce.

CHAZ DIPS FINGERS INTO RANCH AND LOOKS TO HIS MOM

Son: Mom, this is for you. Happy Mother’s Day.
Mom: You kids are sometimes a handful, but know that I love you. Know that I believe
Mike: Who wants dessert?
Every1 at Chili’s: Me!

SON STEPS CENTER STAGE, DELIVERS AN ASIDE/MONOLOGUE

Son: So that’s my family. No, we’re not perfect, but what family is? I certainly don’t want to be a part of that family. A lot of people thought I was wasting tons of money on my education, but they didn’t realize that it would all pay off. Who woulda thought, I owed it all to my dedication to the mp3 blogosphere. Sure you can call me

But today’s about my mom. A beautiful woman, better than any female I could ever date, or marry. Maybe I’m a bit spoiled, maybe I’m self-centered and out of touch with the real world, but that’s because my mom thought I deserved to exist in a world where I could do anything I put my mind to.

Thanks Mom. This one’s for you. The truth is, I’ve felt your love all around my entire life, and I could never buy enough platters of babyback ribs to tell you how much you mean to me. Every time I hear a buzzband, I think of you, because ever since the day I was born, you treated me like a buzzband that you believed in, and never gave up on, even when I went mainstream, even when I metaphorically released aimless, subpar albums. You never gave up on me, and because of that, I will always love you.

END


Where did U + ur Family go for Mother’s Day?
Do you <3 ur mom?
Is ur family kinda messed up, but do yall still love eachother?
Is Mother’s Day a better holiday than Father’s Day?

Have you ever been in a place where every1 was feeling it all around?

Court rules that RapidShare is still legal, people can still illegally download leaked albums

Posted: 09 May 2010 10:38 AM PDT

Link: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/05/court-rapidshare-doesnt-need-to-filter-uploads.ars


is a service where you upload a file, then you can share the link with tons of other users for free. Theoretically it seems like a straightforward service that should help people share important files to make the world a more productive place, but has become branded with illegal album leaks + movies + television shows.

Do u still buy albums, or do you just download leaks before the albums are even officially released?
Do u ever worry that you will ‘get in huge trouble’ for downloading / sharing leaks?

Apparently a court ruled that is still chill/legal, and the music blogosphere will continue to be able to download album leaks from it:

Yesterday, the online storage locker announced that it triumphed in its appeal over copyright holders who demanded that the service take more steps to control online infringement. Because does not make uploaded files publicly available (those who upload them can control access), the court found that it could not be held liable for distribution and that running filename filters on all uploads would produce too many false positives.

It’s a huge win for the site, which suffered a major setback in the case before a Düsseldorf court back in 2008. In that decision, the court found for rightsholders, and it looked as though would have to start prescreening all uploads by file name, IP address, and other measures to preempt infringement.

It seems like this was a ‘huge day’ for people who want to share and download digital products that they didn’t pay for. Feels like our rights to remain anonymous and illegally download copyrighted material have been preserved:

According to the new ruling, cannot be held responsible for actions of third parties, since it forces people to choose how their content should be distributed rather than making it automatically available to the public.

In addition, the appeals court took aim at several filtering schemes. Blocking all files of a certain type (such as RAR files) was deemed inappropriate, since a file type has no bearing on the legality of an upload. Scanning by IP address was also tossed, because numerous people can use a single IP address. File name filtering tells you nothing about the contents of a file, so that was tossed. Even content scanning was problematic, as the court noted that this would just lead to encrypted files. Besides, even if you could know that a file was copyrighted, it could still be a legal “private backup” not distributed to anyone else.

Feel like ‘our rights’ were excessively protected. Always wonder if these sites are gonna get sued big time for hosting so many illegal files, but I guess the will be ’safe’ and the users who download from these sites are well-protected.

What is your favourite source of albums: , megaupload, mediafire, zshare, or iTunes?
Do you still pay for albums, or do you just google “band name” + “album name” + “illegal file hosting company”?
Can you go to jail for downloading a leak?
Should all music / movies / tv shows / digital media be free?
Do you know any 1 who has been sued for downloading a torrent / album illegally?
Should artists be ‘flattered’ when their albums leak, because enough people want it to illegally share it?
Is there anything that can be done to prevent an album from being leaked?

Viral Youtube sensation Tay Zonday does soulful cover of Wilco’s “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart”

Posted: 09 May 2010 09:53 AM PDT


I have only heard 1 song by Wilco, back when ‘indie’ was still ‘relevant.’ Apparently they have a ‘genius’ lead singer named Jeff Tweedy, and they wrote one of ‘the greatest albums of the indie era’. For some reason, this group of ’soul brothers’ covered “I am Trying To Break Your Heart.” From what I understand, the original song is supposed to be ‘ambient and reflective.’ However, this version is ’soulful’, like something that would be performed in a black church where every1 was yelling and dancing around.

Not sure if the performer is , the lead singer of the youtube sensation “Chocolate Rain.” Might just be a guy who looks like him.

Honestly have no insight into whether this cover is ‘good’ or not. Sorta just reminds me of the popular film The Blues Brothers. I think there is a ‘core fan base’ of Wilco fans who are cool dads that might get into this version.

Do u think ’soul’ is the new indie?
Is this cover ‘better than the original’ or should they not touch the indie aesthetic?
Should Wilco remix ‘Chocolate Rain’ by ?

Is “Chocolate Rain” just as boring as a Wilco song?
Do u like Wilco?
Is Wilco the first Arcade Fire?
Is an ‘independent’ musician?
Is “I am Trying to Break Your Heart” one of the greatest songs ever written?