Musical Ignorance.

In case you are as musical ignorant as I am because you don't like musicals then I should warn you that Mama Mia is a musical. True, it was on broadway for a while, but I only found that out after they started running the trailers. I don't live in New York. I have seen much advertising about Mama Mia and none of it that I've seen blatantly clues the public in to the fact that it is a musical. I did see Pierce Brosnan on The Daily Show and then I finally saw the characters singing in the blatant fashion I desire to see.

I want to see that it is a musical so that I can steer clear of it. It didn't really look that good as a regular movie either, but it seems that I'm not the only one that is musical ignorant. It seems the studios that produce these movies are as well because they ignore the fact that Mama Mia is a musical in their promotions of it. I was getting ready to watch Hellboy 2, and for whatever reason, the promoters thought Hellboy 2 would be a good place to promote MAMA MIA.

During the spot, never once was it blatant in the fact that it was a musical. This is a theater trailer! These are the trailers where studios pull out all the stops and show the movie in it's full light. Or should I say in it's best light? The studios seem to have come to the conclusion that it's bad PR to show that a movie is a musical. To me, it's a form of false advertising. I would be pissed if I were to step into a movie only to find that it was a musical. I would walk out and demand my money back. I predict that since it is now showing in theaters, they'll run trailers that are more blatant. I mean they even showed the Monster in post release trailers of Cloverfield.

Hellboy 2 was pretty good by the way.

Television Is Dead. To me anyway.

A Season Without Hits

This article prompted me to post this, so blame CNN. Ever since I started working from home I have become incredibly televisionless when thinking of how often I used to watch. I estimate I watch television for a maximum of an hour a day on weekdays, during the daytime block, usually to watch Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert while I eat depending on the time.

The weekends are the bulk of my watching time since I am free then. That doesn't mean I don't watch shows elsewhere though. The bulk of my watching habits come in the form of free online content. Most of the networks offer something in the way of free entertainment online.

NBC, CBS, ABC, USA, South Park, Tom Green for a pretty good Tom Snyder style talk show.

Joost has a downloadable program with a lot of free content, if only my computer liked the program better I might have used it more. I just stumbled upon Hulu which I'm getting ready to try. Also if all else fails there's Alluc. Alluc is a site that just has links to other sites that people post that gives the location for the most part to illegally posted shows on several different sites.

I'm not against trying out other options that have a subscription format. I've already had a stint with Netflix. I may try Vongo next, although I'm iffy about how well it will play on my computer after trying Joost.

But one thing is for sure, I'm not very fond of the idea of having to pay for each episode of a certain season. I have never touched iTunes, I have given some thought to trying the amazon unbox, but 2 dollars an episode makes me want to cry a little. I would rather watch five ads throughout an episode on the network's site. Many more ads than five and I might start to get perturbed though.

Shows on the Show Show-er

I don't watch t.v. very often. The problem with t.v. is that I'm not available to watch the shows I want to when I want to. So I watch them online.

Chuck is a good show, and it's free since iTunes and NBC fell out. Chuck is available online the day after it airs. But if you want to catch the oldest episodes you're out of luck, unless you search for them through other avenues such as Amazon. They're a $1.99 per episode and worth it at 45 minutes an episode on Amazon Unbox: Chuck

I watch The Unit, although I'm very far behind on this show. CBSs website has a few of the latest episodes of The Unit. So they're also $1.99 per episode on Amazon Unbox: The Unit and worth it for 45 minute per episode.

I watch Dexter. I hope to buy the first and second seasons soon since season two will soon come to a close. I haven't ever seen the first season in stores I've been to yet, although I don't frequent the DVD Isle often.

Amazon Unbox: Dexter is worth $1.99 for an hour with Dexter. I would buy the individual episodes if I knew that I would be promised the boxed version when it comes out for a little extra. Kind of a reservation for the DVD, the same way they do video games. It's a Very Good show.

I watch Weeds. I managed to find Season 1 & 2 for $26 at a rental store close out. Amazon Unbox: Weeds is not worth $1.99 for a 30 minute episode even though it's pretty entertaining.

You'd think I'm getting paid to do this. I just like the shows and figured I'd share.

It's Jerry Time

I happened upon this by clicking an ad I do believe. I rather enjoy listening to the crazy stories, and the animation is different and definitely helps keep ones interest, even though the style can be a bit uncomfortable to look at sometimes. But I think that may be the purpose.

Here's the Site: It's Jerry Time
Go there and enjoy, maybe click on some ads while you're at it to give Jerry a little extra cash.

Law Suit = Ruined Life

The RIAA has started taking it upon themselves to sue the pants off of people, 24,000 of them. Now, it is understandable that they would want to be sure that their assets are safe and not being taken away, but who are They to do it? They simply seem to be the parasite of the music world, a parasite more powerful than the host, which is the music labels and the artists. The reason I bring this up is because the first person to lose a case to them was Jammie Thomas.

She has a website up that's asking for donations to help her pay the 222,000 dollars that the court ordered her to pay. She makes about 36,000 a year. 222,000 dollars means that if she could only pay 5000 a year until it is paid off she'll have payments for 44 years! She'll be 74 by then!

So in order to take the edge off of the suit, she is asking for donations and they can be given to her here:

www.freejammie.com

These websites have more information about the RIAA, what music labels are associated with them and copyright issues. Go sign the petition:

http://w2.eff.org/share/petition/

www.boycottriaa.com

I have read that Jammie has asked that the judge overturn the verdict since the total worth of the songs equals about $24 in legal downloads. And she is also appealing the case, so perhaps things will turn out good for her and she will no longer need donations. I'll give an update on whether she replies or not.

Finally, I find it interesting that the RIAA offered a Clean Slate policy that would grant immunity to the people who vowed to never download copyrighted material and destroyed any that they previously had. Doing so meant signing a legally binding affidavit that didn't actually protect those that signed such documents totally. They recently did away with the program however. Here's the full story:

http://www.news.com/2100-1027-5195301.html