matching tracksuits

fun in threes, sometimes fours

Illegal Words

Monday 12 December 2005

Lyrics and tab sites are "now illegal" (From Thud)

In light of this, I think Thud had better be careful with publishing lyrics on his website as he does. After all, he does also have a film review site which has ads, and he does link to said site from his blog, and I'm sure his "Guess Ten" posts drive a lot of visitors to his site, so in a round-about way, he's making money from his illegal publication of lyrics.

MPA president Lauren Keiser said he wanted site owners to be jailed.

He said unlicensed guitar tabs and song scores were widely available on the internet but were "completely illegal".

Mr Keiser said he did not just want to shut websites and impose fines, saying if authorities can "throw in some jail time I think we'll be a little more effective".

I've heard of exaggeration, but this is damn ridiculous. Jail time for typing up lyrics -- generally with mistakes -- and putting them on the internet? Is it illegal to recite these lyrics -- you know, as a clever retort in a conversation? What about singing the song in the shower? If I have a dream in which the song plays some role, was that an illegal dream until I pay royalties?

Is the song writer the only person who can legally express those lyrics in an oral or written form?

Excuse me
while I kiss this guy

If not for lyrics sites, a whole generation might think that this is what Hendrix is singing!

As for the guitar tabs, that's even worse.

The Xerox machine was the big usurper of our potential income," he said. "But now the internet is taking more of a bite out of sheet music and printed music sales so we're taking a more proactive stance."

David Israelite, president of the National Music Publishers' Association, added his concerns.

"Unauthorised use of lyrics and tablature deprives the songwriter of the ability to make a living, and is no different than stealing," he said.

In what way? Has this guy ever actually looked at the tabs available on the internet? They're generally so off as to be perverse.

Now, if it's a question of someone scanning pages from a published tablature book, that's a different story. But if it's some schmuck, sitting in his bedroom, listening to the same portion of a song 1x10^173^ times to figure it out, then publishing what he thinks is the proper way to play the song -- and again, these tab sheets are usually so far off that one can only use them as a rough guide -- then kudos to the guy.

There are wider implications, though. Does this mean that I can't then play any of the music I've figured out on guitar by myself in the privacy of my own home? I'm not a performer. I'm not making any money off this. Usually, I'm not even providing anyone but myself with any enjoyment.

The music industry is saying, "You vill enjoy dis music, und you vill enjoy it how ve say to enjoy it!" Once again, it is showing itself in fine, pimpin' colors.

Christmas Tree 2005

Sunday 11 December 2005

Around the Apartment

Saturday 10 December 2005

Company Christmas Party

Friday 09 December 2005

Fieldtrip

Thursday 08 December 2005

Gingerbread Houses

Wednesday 07 December 2005

Staining

Tuesday 06 December 2005

A Christmas Gift

Sunday 04 December 2005

Last year I posted several Polish Christmas carols for visitors. Stylistically, they were a mix.

This year, I thought I’d put up a few Christmas carols in a more “formal” style.

I’m not sure about my translations of some of the titles. Some of them just don’t sound right…suggestions?

[Files no longer available for download.]

From last year:

[Files no longer available for download.]

Kinga and I wish you the best this Christmas season.

The Great Deception

Saturday 03 December 2005

If you rearrange the letters of "Santa," you can make the word "Satan." Coincidence? Another term for "Satan" is "Old Nick." Another term for Santa Claus is "Saint Nick." Coincidence? Santa Claus descends into fire -- just like the Devil. Coincidence? Santa is dressed in red. The traditional images of the devil have him dressed in red. Coincidence?

In most people's world, yes, all these things are coincidences. But in the tilted universe of Blow the Trumpet, it's most decidedly not a coincidence, but rather part one of the greatest deceptions ever pulled over mankind's eyes.

It leaves you shaking your head and very pessimistic about the general intelligence of our species, but it's worth it.

And so, I now present "The Great Deception."

The Ageless Tradition

Wednesday 30 November 2005

New instructions from Bennie XVI about gay priests.

"The criteria of the Instruction are also entirely consistent with the teaching of the church for the past 2,000 years. To portray the Instruction as 'gay bashing' or 'gay banning' is to misrepresent it," [Cardinal Francis George] said at the conclusion of his statement. (Chicago Tribune)

Read: the Church has been homophobic for 2,000 years, so this is nothing new.

Is the Catholic Church trying to make itself a sociological relic, or does it come naturally?

And what about claims that the Church is doing this to try to head off the kind of bad publicity it suffered from the sexual abuse scandals or recent years?

"At best, it's a distraction; at worst, it's damaging," said David Clohessy, national director of the advocacy and support group Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests. "It will feed the mistaken notion that [the abuse scandal] is about the behavior of priests and not the behavior of bishops. Gay seminarians didn't hire and transfer and cover for child-molesting priests. It was bishops who did that." (ibid)

Cardinals' archbishops' blindness to this simple fact is a sure guarantee that this "solution" will not work.

I wonder if left-handed seminarians are beginning to feel the heat...

Thanksgiving 2005

Thursday 24 November 2005

Classroom Clean

Wednesday 23 November 2005

Pots and Kettles and Dark Hues

Thursday 17 November 2005

The recent brouhaha over the war in Iraq has drawn Bush and his gang out of its shell of silence. Cheney has recently stepped into the fight:

Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday lashed out at Democrats who accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war, saying such critics were spreading "one of the most dishonest and reprehensible charges ever aired" in Washington.

Cheney also suggested that the Democratic attacks could undermine troop morale.

"The saddest part is that our people in uniform have been subjected to these cynical and pernicious falsehoods day in and day out," Cheney said in a speech in Washington to a conservative think tank.

"American soldiers and Marines are out there every day in dangerous conditions and desert temperatures . . . and back home a few opportunists are suggesting they were sent into battle for a lie," Cheney said. (L.A. Times)

In a sense, he has a point. If the administration did indeed admit to “selectively choosing” intelligence so as to make the war a little more attractive, would the average soldier be inclined to go back out, day after day risking his/her life? Probably not. In other words, troop morale would be affected were the charges admitted (and I’m not even saying here they’re true).

But Cheney’s claim that merely suggesting it, his claim that asking tough questions about the origins of the war affects troop morale, is absurd. It amounts to using the soldiers’ daily risks for political gain – a way of stifling the critics. Not the race card, but the soldier card.

And then he calls Democrats "opportunists."

But what choice do they have?

After all, a little honesty can go a long way. So it’s better, in the end, I suppose, to shut up and die for a lie, knowing that its for the greater good, because now that we’re involved we can’t withdraw, even though our involvement was finagled by intelligence massaging…

It’s all more convoluted than that attempt at a grammatically based illustration.

If the Bush administration has nothing to hide in this matter, why is it historically tight-lipped about everything? Why is it swinging away with such panic blows?

Stack

Thursday 10 November 2005

Recently, I went through old things my parents had been storing for ages, and threw out most of what I found. Last night, it was time to tackle the big sorting/trashing issue: pictures.

Nine and a half years ago (almost) when I heading off to Poland for the very first time, I knew I’d be seeing things so novel that a strange urge to photograph said things would arise in my otherwise photographically indifferent soul. “I’ll buy a decent camera before I go,” I reasoned, plunking down probably about $200 for a point and shoot. I’ve since lost that camera, but my interest in photography has only grown.

As has my collection of pictures. Until last night, it took up a significant portion 15x21x15 tub. Stack upon stack of pictures: Lipnica, Gdansk, Prague, Vienna, Strasbourg, Boston, and points in between.

I went through them with a merciless eye, and ended up throwing out at least half of them — probably more. A twelve-inch stack of pictures, all told.

It wasn’t gut-wrenchingly hard, but there was a moment, just before tossing it all in the trash, than I thought, “Maybe I should go through these one more time.” After all, what if I’d thrown away the only pictures I’d had of some part of my life?

Some insignificant part of my life, for I realized that in ten short years I’d gone from photographic indifference to photographic hoarding.

Why would throwing away. Several times I thought I had at least two dozen of the same picture, taken at different times during my initial three years in Poland. I took pictures of everything and then did it again. In the tub I found pictures so almost-ineffably useless (badly conceptualized, badly printed) that it was depressing.

On the other hand, I found it reassuring. At least now these images are clearly bad. There’s no debating it. Which means, in theory, my eye has sharpened and perhaps I’ve become a better photographer.