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I'm so pissed off right now, I came on to update this rarely-updated livejournal about it...
http://consumerist.com/363684/crest-pro+health-mouthwash-i-woke-up-with-brown-spots-on-my-teeth
Oh my goodness... this is totally happening to me too! I'm gonna throw out that crest pro-health stuff tonite and get listerine instead :(:( I hope the brown stuff goes away!
I had thought it was just because I'd been flossing more regularly I was seeing more space between my teeth and interpreting it as brown. But it turns out that pro health stuff is actually turning my teeth brown :(:(:(:(
ugh I'm so pissed at crest right now! |
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http://www.digg.com/hardware/World_of_Warcraft_Edition_Dell_XPS_1730/
Compared to the standard XPS 1730, the WoW edition comes with 5 beta access keys, an upgrade to the collector's edition for your existing account, and a "golden ticket" voucher good for one custom action figure modeled to look like your character. They start at $4500.
It's way overpriced, but some of the extras aren't available otherwise so might be considered priceless to some.
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I was thinking about Radiohead's new "pay whatever you want for our album" business plan, and record labels in general.
Sure it worked for Radiohead, but the problem is that most small bands don't have the exposure that Radiohead does. "During the first 29 days of October, 1.2 million people worldwide visited the 'In Rainbows' site."
Small bands sign with a label not just to get a loan, but also to get promotion services. Aside from giving you a loan and pressing your CD's, the company might:
- contact all the radio stations where your music would fit and try to hype you up to get airplay
- arrange for you to open for bigger touring bands also on the label
- send out your CD to get reviewed by various magazines etc
- use their network and connections to spread your name around
You could do this all by yourself, but it's actually a lot of work, and many bands prefer to "focus on the music" (meaning they're not interested in the business aspects, just the music aspects of being a band... sadly it's the business aspects that make money - playing beautiful music on the street won't make money without the business aspect of putting down a hat for donations).
Radiohead did this all themselves - the did the record company's job. They hired their own publicists directly, contracted with distributors (the website storefront developers, and whoever is manufacturing their box sets). They still had to promote their music using their own network of contacts, though their own name is already very popular. They're big enough that industry eyes were already on them, so they don't really need a record label to lend a hand by begging for magazines to review their new album.
So what worked for Radiohead doesn't necessarily translate to smaller bands trying to break out onto the scene.
Personally, I still think what new bands sacrifice for their record deals is by far not worth it, compared to just doing all that stuff themselves, especially early on in a band's career.
In the end it's really all about the music. If the songs you write are really good, then even recording them by yourself will still produce desirable music. Then once you're making some money touring and selling your semi-pro quality CD after shows, you'll have more clout when arranging terms for your second album's national distribution with a major label. That's because now they need you more than you need them, and because you bring your own fan base you pose much less risk to the company than the average band.
The mistake that many bands make is if you write really good music but let a label handle all the business starting early on - it's like selling your company's stock the day you open your doors, then watching the other investors get rich as your company gets popular and successful.
But if the songs you write suck so much that no one goes to your concerts and no one buys your CDs after the show, then, when you sign a record deal, don't be surprised that the record company thinks it deserves a huge share, because after all you were bombing before they got involved, and you're more like a studio musician to them than a gotta-sign breakthrough band.
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Digg This!
I made this in response to Apple's marketing shot comparing the iMac to the XPS 410.
Now who's got less cable clutter? ;)
read more | digg story |
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I'm exhausted now... there are wayyyyy too many hills in tarrytown
View Larger Map |
| » Mi Casa! |
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I bought my first place on tuesday... it's an apartment in the town where I currently live. About 5 minutes closer to where I work, so w00t!
Would anyone with more experience than I (which is probably everyone) care to offer advice on floorplans for my living room / dining room space?
I've got two set up from the nifty Ethan Allen website. No I can't afford Ethan Allen stuff, but I can afford their free website)
The closet in the bottom right is the "kitchen". Off to the left is the bedroom/bathroom area. On the bottom is the front door. On the top right wall is a window.
Jul. 12th, 2007 @ 09:21 am
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| » All I know is that the steak tastes better when I take my "steak tastes better" pill |
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All I know is that the steak tastes better when I take my "steak tastes better" pill.
Awesome music video :)
Jun. 14th, 2007 @ 11:00 am
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| » Haha, I love The Nation sometimes... |
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Haha, I love The Nation sometimes...
White House spokesperson Dana Perino grumbles Leahy and Conyers are issuing the subpoenas because they are interested in "drama."
The always unwitting Perino is, on this particular point, correct.
What could be more dramatic than a summer of testimony about how White House legal and political aides conspired with the Attorney General and the president himself to hire and fire U.S. Attorneys as part of scheme to use law enforcement agencies of the federal government to achieve political ends?
Jun. 13th, 2007 @ 02:36 pm
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| » Nature is sexy |
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This is really beautiful... I wonder if it was grown that way on purpose?
From digg.
Jun. 13th, 2007 @ 11:47 am
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| » Bblluurryy mac fonts ftl |
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Blurry Fonts drive me nuts when using a mac or ubuntu computer. It looks like some badly done screenshot. I prefer Windows' crisp text look. I wish apple made that an option. This is the first thing I noticed (and hated) when I tried safari for windows. Text looks like a LCD on non-native resolution.
This will be a serious consideration if I ever decide to buy a macbook pro. (*drooling over the new nVidia 8600M GT graphics chip in them*)
Jun. 13th, 2007 @ 10:43 am
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| » FCC: monetary forfeitures collected for obscenities? |
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I think that any "monetary forfeitures" collected for obscenities should only be able to be spent on psychological counseling of children who were adversely affected.
Jun. 5th, 2007 @ 02:56 pm
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| » Copyright Infringement is not Arson. |
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Copyright Infringement is not Murder.
Copyright Infringement is not Arson.
Copyright Infringement is not Stealing.
Copyright Infringement is Copyright Infringement.
Why is the Attorney General himself spreading this FUD that Copyright Infringement is Stealing? Where in the lawbooks is that defined?
Stealing, or Larceny, is "Unlawful taking and carrying away of personal property with intent to deprive the rightful owner of property permanently."
When you make a copy of a music file, that's all you're doing. You're making a copy. You're not stealing anything. It's like printing a second copy of a document. The original document is still entirely intact and in possession of the owner. You just now have a copy yourself. You may not have had legal authority to make that copy, but nothing has been stolen.
You can take a CD from a store without paying for it, and that's obviously shoplifting of the CD, but you still haven't stolen "music" because you haven't deprived anyone of possession of the music itself.
In fact, even if you buy that CD, you still do not own that song; you merely own the media used to record the song. The RIAA would agree - buying a CD does not mean you have bought a song. You have paid for a limited license to perform that song (on your home cd player, for example) for personal use only.
Here's four different scenarios:
There's a music store down the street, and there's a online music store called iTunes. There's an album called "TheAlbum" by an independent artist who owns all his copyrights and produices/distributes all his music on CD's and on his website.
A. You go to the store, purchase a music CD containing "TheAlbum", and take it home with you.
B. You go to the store, shoplift a music CD containing "TheAlbum", and take it home with you.
C. You go online to the artist's website, pay him to let you download music files of "TheAlbum", and burn the album to a blank CD.
D. You go online, download the songs of the album using Kazaa, and burn the album to a blank CD.
Now you listen to that album on your CD player.
In all these situations:
- The independent artist starts out with copies of the music files and the legal authority to distribute those music files, and he ends up with those same music files and legal authority.
- You start out with nothing, and end up with a CD that has music files on it.
They differ in these ways:
- In A and C, you have also obtained legal authority to play those music files for personal use.
- In B and D, you have NOT obtained the legal authority to play those music files for personal use.
- In B, you've additionally taken physical property (a compact disc) without compensating the owner of that physical property.
In B, you have infringed on the artist's exclusive right to copy and distribute the music files. You have also taken retail goods from a store without paying for it. You are guilty of copyright infringement and you are also guilty of larceny.
In D you have infringed on the artist's exclusive right to copy and distribute the music files. You are guilty of copyright infringement (artist is the plaintiff). But you are not guilty of larceny.
As much as AG and the RIAA would like, they can't just take existing criminal acts and redefine them as they please. In A, B, C, D, you are also not guilty of murder, assault, speeding, or arson.
Downloading copyrighted songs without obtaining the copyrightholder's permission is not stealing.
May. 16th, 2007 @ 04:14 pm
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| » Centrist, eh? |
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http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html
ACCORDING TO YOUR ANSWERS, The political description that
fits you best is... . CENTRIST CENTRISTS espouse a "middle ground" regarding government control of the economy and personal behavior. Depending on the issue, they sometimes favor government intervention and sometimes support individual freedom of choice. Centrists pride themselves on keeping an open mind, tend to oppose "political extremes," and emphasize what they describe as "practical" solutions to problems. The RED DOT on the Chart shows where you fit on the political map. 
Your PERSONAL issues Score is 70%.
Your ECONOMIC issues Score is 40%.
(Please note: Scores falling on the Centrist border are counted as Centrist.)
May. 7th, 2007 @ 09:48 am
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| » The Mighty Stephen Hawking |
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This makes me really happy, for some reason:
Apr. 27th, 2007 @ 04:29 pm
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| » Sysadmin quote |
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My database admin on an inefficiency in our program that we keep putting off addressing...
"This is one of these things that we said was waiting in a dark corner to bite us. Seems it is moving out of the corner and is growling."
Apr. 13th, 2007 @ 02:20 pm
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| » Horrible torture does not a movie make |
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maybe I'm just getting old but I really can't stand the realistic yet absolutely horrible torture-gore in the Saw movies.
Now I love a good movie-gore flick like Braindead (aka Dead Alive) by Peter Jackson (MUST see movie :) ). But that's all goofy over-the-top zombie gore. Running through a room filled with zombies, holding up a lawnmover like a battering ram... now that's good gore!
Even the movie Cube, while it had some gruesome deaths, it had a very good plot and the deaths were a distant second to the plot and dialogue in the movie.
But when filmmakers realistically try to show you just how horrible some imaginary villain can be, and it involves the slow graphic tortured deaths of people in the movie, and the ENTIRE point of the movie is to show these horrible torture deaths... no thanks.
Apr. 12th, 2007 @ 11:23 am
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| » Alanis' Humps. |
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Alanis Morissette - My Humps
gotta love it :)
reminds me of her SNL skit where she spoofed an (imaginary) slutty little sister who took a bath with the entire boy's basketball team.
Apr. 4th, 2007 @ 01:32 am
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| » What american accent do you have? |
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I do NOT call carbonated drinks pop :) It's Soda. And I often get asked by non-native english speakers whether I'm british.
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop." | | The Northeast | | | Philadelphia | | | The Midland | | | The South | | | Boston | | | The West | | | North Central | | What American accent do you have?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz |
Mar. 29th, 2007 @ 12:54 pm
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