 California Senate v. Gmail --
posted by Dante on 5.31.2004 - 1:56 am
In theory, I believe in the power of a government to do good. But, I didn't come here today to sing the praises of government. I opened this window to rail on legislators for wasting taxpayer dollars and squandering the time they have been given to enact meaningful changes in our world.
Google recently announced their new Gmail product-designed to have massive amounts of email storage which could save all but the most heavily spammed users from having to delete email ever again. What was google going to charge for this? Nothing. Well, they were going to invade your privacy a little bit by serving up targeted ads that would be keyed off the text of your private emails. Sounds nefarious, right? Who will protect me from Google? The California Senate attempted to leap to my aid by outlawing some of Gmail's key features.
Problem solved, right? Why am I so angry about this? Well for starters: why did we need protection from this? It wasn't like Google was lying to people. It wasn't crossing its fingers behind its back or anything. They were being remarkably upfront about the whole affair. If you are weird about your privacy being invaded, don't sign up for the service. If you are looking for a giant block of free storage space and don't mind the occasional advertisement inserted into your mail - where's the harm here?
Maybe people are freaked out about who is receiving the mail they send. Ooh, here's a thorny issue, right? What if I send a message to someone who uses Gmail and it allows Google to learn something private and embarrassing about me? Hmm, well, I guess I could stop sending emails to anyone @gmail.com ... that sounds like it could do the trick right?
What if someone has a mail-forward that bounces stuff to Google mail? Well, maybe you could find out what mail applications your friends use before you share sensitive information? No one is going to send email about their incontinence or drug problems to people they don't know a few details about.
Ultimately this sounds to me like something the electorate should be smart enough to handle themselves. Meanwhile, the California economy is burning like Rome while the California senate plays the part of Nero, fiddling away its time on an item that people should be smart enough to handle on their own.
I'm sure there was a more productive waste of your time than this issue. Tackle homelessness, the budget deficit, or your sham of a public school system. Or you could just take a pass on the hard stuff and futz around with lame crap.
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 the music update
posted by Christopher on 5.31.2004 - 3:07 pm
can't think of much else to talk about this week, so i guess i'll continue to chronicle my experience with emusic.
they've still managed to keep adding enough new stuff every month (that i like) to keep me happy. not everything is awesome, but most of it is great for my purposes - background listening while i work.
i've downloaded ~40 albums since october of last year. there were only two i had to just delete outright (dub taylor:experience and iannis xenakis: persepolis remixes). 30 seconds per track wasn't enough to make an informed decision, so i had to write them off.
the top 3 albums of the lot are (in no particular order) ilkae: pistachio island, marumari: supermogadon, and cornelius:fantasma. all three of these are solid albums - not even one substandard track. they all kind of read as a story throughout, rather than just sound like a clump of tracks. the sheer thought put into each of these combined w/ perfect execution makes them all a real pleasure to listen to.
other artists i'd heartily recommend are broker/dealer, e vax, japancakes, karminsky experience, lemon jelly, loop guru, machine drum, secede, sonogram, system 7, tiki obmar and zero one.
guess that'll wrap it up for today. if anyone out there shares my tastes in music, and has/wants other recommendations for emusic tracks, email me.
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Not Quality Cinema
posted by Dante on 6.2.2004 - 5:55 am
You know that metaphoric 'barrel' of movies? I can't say for sure if I'm reaching the 'bottom' of that barrel, I mean my arms are only so long, but judging by the crap I've been watching lately I'd have to say I'm pretty damn close.
Disney was hoping lightning would strike twice in their 'rides->movies' conversion, but Haunted Mansion is definitely not Pirates of the Caribbean. Mansion is slow, boring, and just not funny.
Welcome to Mooseport is just a little too ridiculous to be a concept I can put faith in. The pacing is methodical, and the payoff at the end of some of the routines isn't really worth the effort to establish, or your time to wait for it. A lot of the more expensive talent in this movie is linked with current TV shows that I enjoy, but the project is more important than the talent.
Then there's House of the Dead. You might think to yourself, "hey, that Resident Evil movie wasn't too bad, here's another game adaptation, how bad could this one be?" Let me clue you in - it can be terrible. The fight sequences are lame, and the zombie costumes aren't too believable. You know how Forrest Gump says life is like a box of chocolates? Well this movie is like a box of crap - and hopefully you can guess what you're gonna get.
Hoo boy, and the we haven't even gotten to Cabin Fever yet. This movie at least spends some time on establishing their (somewhat far-fetched) premise, and it does have some fairly amusing dialog in the first half hour. But in the final calculus, this movie will still probaby amount to little more than 90 minutes of your life that you'll wish you could get back.
Don't get me started on Tremors 4. And before you ask the inevitable question, yes - they've made 4 of them!
Let these words serve as a warning. Don't make the mistakes I have made.
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