Once again, interesting news via Edupage, an electronic publication of Educause.

CABLE COMPANY OPPOSES RIAA SUBPOENAS
Cable company Charter Communications filed a motion in a federal appeals court to block the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) from obtaining names of Charter customers who allegedly shared copyrighted music over the Internet. The company cited a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which ruled that the RIAA cannot force Internet service providers to identify music downloaders because the subpoena power granted in the 1998 copyright law did not anticipate and does not apply to file-sharing services. That decision overturned a lower court’s decision to enforce copyright subpoenas. In response to earlier court decisions supporting the subpoenas, Charter supplied the names of about 200 of its customers. The most recent ruling is not expected to affect the civil lawsuits already filed by the RIAA or the financial settlements reached with people who agreed to pay penalties for sharing copyrighted music over the Internet.
USA Today, 24 December 2003

Even more interesting is Canada’s take on all of this. Instead of suing individuals and causing a mess, Canada has taken the high road and is simply adding a small tax to the sale of MP3 players and recordable media. Read about it at Shannon Hale’s weblog.

I realized tonight that on a subconscious level I’m completely done with holiday music for the season. Today I’ve been listening to Led Zeppelin’s three-disc live set called “How the West Was Won” (Thanks, Jane!), Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and finally, just about twenty minutes ago I put on “The Downward Spiral” by Nine Inch Nails, which I haven’t listened to in a long time.

Oh, I did also give my Christmas mix CD a spin, but those of you on my mailing list already know that it’s all modern classical with not a Xmas tune in sight.

I’m just not one for Holiday music. I listen to it for a few days and that’s enough. I did buy my first Christmas music this year, an album off of iTunes called “Christmas Remixed.” I listened to that some, but it only had a couple of good tracks and lots of filler. Unfortunately that’s the rule with most techno-oriented compilation albums: a couple of standouts and a hell of a lot of crap.

Christmas 2003 - 25 December 2003

Happy Holidays from Daniel R Stout

c: = composed by | p:= performed by | cp: = composed and performed by

TRACKS

1. Hora ca la ursari cp: Taraf de Haïdouks
2. Se vittorio si belle c: Claudio Monteverdi p: Red Byrd
3. Vamuvamba p: Muungano National Choir, Kenya
4. Twenty-four Preludes: 9. E Major, Presto c: Dmitri Shostakovich p: Vladimir Viardo
5. El Sinaloense c: Severiano Briseño p: Kronos Quartet
6. Kobold (Puck) c: Edvard Grieg p: Emil Gilels
7. Yellow Beach c: Michael Nyman p: Ahn Trio
8. Stabat Mater: II. Cujus animam gementem c: Francis Poulenc p: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
9. Heimwarts (Homeward) c: Edvard Grieg p: Emil Gilels
10. Interlude from Orphée (Act II, Scene 5) c: Philip Glass p: Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra
11. Twenty-four Preludes: 18. F minor, Allegretto c: Dmitri Shostakovich p: Vladimir Viardo
12. Concerto for String Orchestra: I. Allegro c: Grazyna Bacewicz p: Amadeus Chamber Orchestra
13. Twenty-four Preludes: 12. G Sharp minor, Allegro non troppo c: Dmitri Shostakovich p: Vladimir Viardo
14. Bump cp: John Adams
15. Chamber Symphony: II. Allegro molto c: Dmitri Shostakovich p: Amadeus Chamber Orchestra
16. Triple Quartet: First Movement c: Steve Reich p: Kronos Quartet
17. Schmetterling (Butterfly) c: Edvard Grieg p: Emil Gilels
18. Zefiro Torna c: Claudio Monteverdi p: Red Byrd
19. Swing Shift: Grooveboxes c: Kenji Bunch p: Ahn Trio
20. The Walrus in Memorium c: Terry Riley p: Gloria Cheng-Cochran
21. In The Great Unkown cp: Mary Fahl

c: = composed by | p:= performed by | cp: = composed and performed by

Running time: 78 minutes, 50 seconds.

Happy Holidays, Everyone! And Merry Christmas if that’s your thing. Hoping you’re all having a pleasant time with family or friends. I’ve been here in the home country for the past week. Good cheer all ‘round!

This sounds either really good or really awful: Hubbards of New Zealand has a new cereal called Cafe au Lait.

An innovative new cereal to combine your morning coffee with breakfast. Light aromatic coffee flavoured wheat flakes combined with crisp rice flakes and yoghurt-coated cornflakes.

[via /.]

After listening to Björk’s first couple of solo albums, I went through a number of years of being björked-out. I lost interest. But then a few years ago I saw her in the movie Dancer in the Dark. What a great movie and a tremendous performance by Björk. It sparked my interest again. Recently I picked up Björk’s Greatest Hits on DVD, and suddenly I can really get into her music again. [Sidenote: the DVD costs about the same as the CD version of her Greatest Hits. No wonder DVD sales are up and CD sales are down.]

Anyway, there’s one song in particular that’s new to me and that I’m really digging. It’s Play Dead… electronic beats, a humungous bass line, strings, and Björk belting — it’s a fantastic song! Apparently it was for The Young Americans soundtrack. Anyone seen this movie? Check out Björk’s Greatest Hits — they’re fabulous.

The New York Times is reporting that Michael Hawley, an MIT scientist, has released the world’s largest published book. The 112-page book is 5-feet by 7-feet, weighs 133-pounds, and costs $2,000 to produce. Hawley is charging $10,000 for each copy of the book, the remainder of which will be given to charity. It is entitled “Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across the Last Himalayan Kingdom.” Article here. It’s available though Amazon.com here.

A CD arrived for me the other day, and it’s been cranked non-stop on the stereo ever since. It’s B.R.M.C. by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. This is good stuff. To someone who lived through 80’s alternative this feels like really familiar music. It follows the alternative vibe that bands like Interpol have started and branches out from there. B.R.M.C. sounds reminiscent of the Jesus & Mary Chain, but it’s more rock ‘n’ roll than J&MC. This album sounds fantastic loud—it’s just got the blasting guitars and banging drums. As someone who’s 30, I’ll listen to this album because it sounds a fuck-all lot like music I listened to ten or fifteen years ago. But for the younger crowd, I think it’d definitely appeal to people who are into the Strokes, Interpol, and shit like that.

This isn’t quite geek rock, but it’s all fun…flash req’d. [Link via Scripting News]

I turned on the TV to watch Saturday Night Live and was greeted with an infomercial about kitchen knives. “What’s up?” I asked. Turns out Al Sharpton is hosting tonight, and NBC decided not to air SNL in Iowa because of the presidential caucuses. If you live in Iowa and have a TV, then you already know that the airwaves have been inundated with political ads for months. There’s no escaping caucus season in Iowa. I think all of the candidates have been here to the University of Iowa to check in — some have come several times. Anyway, here’s the story as reported in the New York Post:

Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton will host this weekend’s broadcast of “Saturday Night Live,” but viewers in Iowa won’t see it. All four NBC television affiliates in Iowa announced they won’t carry the show because Sharpton is one of nine candidates in the Jan. 19 presidential caucuses.
http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/43561.htm

Here’s a news clip from Edupage, an electronic publication of Educause:

ROUND THREE OF RIAA SUITS
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) this week filed a third round of lawsuits against individuals for illegally trading copyrighted songs. A spokesman for the group said those targeted by the lawsuits are believed to have traded around 1,000 songs each, similar to those charged in the first two rounds of suits. Of 382 lawsuits filed since September against individual users, 220 have been settled, according to the RIAA; another 1,000 have signed up for an amnesty program offered by the group and agreed to stop sharing copyrighted files. The RIAA also released survey data indicating that the percentage of users who understand that trading copyrighted songs over the Internet has risen from 37 percent in November 2002 to 64 percent in November of this year. Critics of the RIAA’s legal tactics, however, continue to fault the group for its approach. Jason Schultz of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said that as long as the group treats some users like criminals instead of consumers, the RIAA will “alienate…some of [its] biggest fans.”
Reuters, 3 December 2003

382 lawsuits filed since September? It’s a good time to be a corporate lawyer.

I received an email this morning from Amazon.com that began, “As a customer who’s interested in quality shopping and fashion-related books…” Oh shit! My secret is out.

But “fashion-related books”? I look at design books. I look at art books. Does this make me fashionable? And how does Amazon.com determine I’m into “quality shopping?” Do I buy more expensive books than other people? Are my copies of Irvine Welsh classier?

I know it’s only a matter of days until Amazon sends me an email telling me to get in touch with my inner metrosexual!