Archive for December, 2010
| Newer Entries »Pitchfork Media & The Annual Torrent Of Best Of 2010 Lists
[ Comments Off ]Posted on December 3, 2010 by admin in Best of 2010
Friday, December 3rd, 2010With the first Best of 2010 lists appearing as early as June this year, we’ll be looking forward to the Best of 2011 lists around January 1st. Plus: FluxBlog’s 2010 Survey Mix with a “buy” option, and some thoughts on bittorrents.
Yes, it’s that time again. Only this time, it’s that time earlier. A long time ago, Dr Science outlined the problems that would arise if the speed of light were sixty miles an hour, pointing out, for instance, that people would always be speeding in an attempt to stay young. I think we’re experiencing a similar relativistic effect recently, thanks to the ever-increasing amount of information we’re trying to process at higher and higher rates. While it used to be that it was generally agreed that you couldn’t decide what the best things in a given year were before it was at least eleven twelfths over, it seems the ground rules have changed. One of the earliest offenders this year was Time, posting their first Best of 2010 way back in June. Not to be outdone, we of course offered up the Dissociated Press Best of 2010 a few weeks later. And as of this writing, a google search for Best of 2010 yields 1,360,000,000 results! Clearly, someone besides Santa has been busy making lists. Over the last few years, one of the only “Best Of” lists that I personally looked forward to with any eagerness was the “Pitchfork Media Best Albums” lists. They would save me an incredible amount of time when looking for cool new music to listen to. We would even reformat their lists with torrent and Amazon links here on Dissociated Press But this year, I’m much less interested in Pitchfork’s lists, and in a strange turn, even less interested in torrenting music. And here’s why: First of all, I wasn’t especially taken with Pitchfork’s list last year; in spite of remaining an awesome resource as a site in general, I think their “staff picks” have gotten a little self-indulgent and gone askew of a more broadly agreed upon “Best Of”. But more importantly, I feel that the indy market has developed in a way that makes it so easy to find, preview (which was the only legit reason for torrenting) and buy the artists’ music that it seems almost inexcusable to not use the channels available and put some money in their pockets straight away. It’s easy to find collections like FluxBlog’s 2010 Survey Mix and download 10 hours of the year’s music without spending a penny. FluxBlog even throws in a side note that says “Please buy the records from the artist if you like what you hear“, but here’s a challenge I’ll throw down. Given the choice of doing that or buying the same songs with the links below – which will provide both me and the artist with revenue – which would you do? No judgment here; enjoy some great indy music either way. And in any case rest assured that we’ll be back with more opportunistic and offbeat Christmas gift ideas, as well as a round up of the more amusing “Best of 2010″ lists as they roll out. Feel free to share any you know of and we’ll consider them for inclusion. Links for the FluxBlog compilation below.
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BankRun 2010 – Take The Money & Run On December 7
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on December 2, 2010 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010Money talks, bullshit walks. In a circle. With a hand-painted sign. Maybe an intentional run on the banks could send a message that actually gets results.
 A bank run? There’s an app for that. |
With all the all the Commie Central Liberals, Tea Party Wingnuts, and Rand Paul Conservatives running rampant in this country, waving signs and shaking fists at whatever Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann point their fingers at, and with so much excitement about the Palin/Quayle 2012 campaign that marines are getting Sarah tattooed on their bums, it’s surprising that the BankRun2010 movement hasn’t gotten more press traction on this side of the pond. If you haven’t heard about it, it’s a grass-roots movement inspired by this video clip (also below) in which French ex-footballer and deodorant model Eric Catona suggests that when a person takes part in conventional protests, they’re really just “swindling themselves”, since they’re using their time and perhaps money to engage in an act that is likely to have little real impact. His idea? An intentional run on the banks. His argument is that since banks hold all the real power in the world, the only way to change the system is by bringing down the banks. To that end, December 7 is the day that has been suggested as a day that we all withdraw our money for a day. Because what, after all, is a wealthy, smug, morally decrepit banker, with no money in his bank? Probably a less smug, morally decrepit person. As a borderline collapsitarian myself, I have to say I think this is one of the best protest ideas since the Gandhi era. On the purest level, there is absolutely nothing wrong with briefly taking your money from the clearly corrupt hands that hold it, simply to remind the bankers attached to those hands that the power is not theirs, it’s ours. In my (obviously opinionated) view, any argument against this as a rational form of protest is predicated on the idea that the banking system as it exists today is somehow of intrinsic benefit to humanity, and must be protected for the good of us all. And is most likely to be presented by the bankers themselves. It will be interesting to see what kind of turnout there really is; a protest with similar motives in Chicago last year had some brief momentum but ended up being a blip in the media. After the videos below, we’ve compiled a list of active Facebook pages for “BankRun 2010″ by country. Read the rest of this entry »
15 Inexpensive Christmas Toy Gift Ideas For Dystopians
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on December 1, 2010 by admin in Holidays
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010This Christmas, why not think about some gifts that will prepare your children for the seemingly inevitable dystopian and gender-confused future that awaits them? We’ve rounded up some affordable toys to help you do it.
