Brief notes
Just a couple of items to highlight for you, in my ongoing series of things that don’t warrant a whole post to themselves.
1. As you can’t have failed to notice, Apple have announced today at MacWorld that iTunes is going DRM free. No longer will music purchased through the iTunes store be restricted-use; you’ll be able to do what you like with it - just like you can with downloads from Amazon.
The problem comes in that any music you’ve already purchased (unless it was an iTunes Plus track) will still have DRM attached, and if you want to upgrade it - which you may have to, if the DRM servers get switched off, because it seems that will make your music non-functional - you’ll have to pay some more money for the privilege. Not the full cost, but 20p per music track.
That doesn’t sound like much, but if you’ve bought a lot of tracks it could soon add up. It would have been better if Apple and the record labels could have found it in their hearts to let you upgrade for free. Especially seeing as how by the end of March, all iTunes tracks are planned to be DRM free.
2. Something else you’ve probably seen over the last few days is the announcement of the new Doctor Who, to replace David Tennant from 2010 onwards. Matt Smith has apparently had quite an illustrious theatre career and has been in a few TV things (many of them with Billie Piper) but for me, he’s a complete unknown. Not sure if he’s a good choice or not.
Of course, my preference would have been for the return of Tom Baker.
SOTD #175
Today’s song is Everything Louder Than Everything Else by Meatloaf
They say I’m wild and I’m reckless
I should be acting my age
I’m an impressionable child in a tumultuous world,
and they say I’m at a difficult stage
But it seems to me to the contrary, of all the crap they’re going to put on the page,
that a wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age!
A wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age!
If you want my views of hist’ry, then there’s something you should know;
the three men I admire most are Curly, Larry and Moe!
If you don’t worry about the future, sooner or later it’s the past
And if they say the thrill is gone, then it’s time to take it back
If the thrill is gone, then it’s time to take it back!
So sign up all you raw recruits
Throw away those two-bit suits
You got your weapons cocked and your targets in your sight
There’s a party raging somewhere in the world
You gotta serve your country, gotta service your girl
You’re all inducted in the armies of the night
And I ain’t in it for the power,
and I ain’t in it for my health
I ain’t in it for the glory of anything at all,
and I sure ain’t in it for the wealth
But I’m in it ’till it’s over and I just can’t stop
If you wanna get it done, you gotta fight for yourself,
and I like my music like I like my life
Everything louder than everything else!
I love a bit of Meatloaf and the more overblown and operatic the better; this is just such a song. I was reminded of it today by a friend lamenting in her Facebook status that “the thrill is gone”. Well, like the man said, it’s time to take it back!
SOTD #174
Today’s song is Cool For Cats by Squeeze
The Indians send signals
From the rocks above the pass
The cowboys take positions
In the bushes and the grass
The squaw is with the Corporal
She is tied against the tree
She doesn’t mind the language
It’s the beating she don’t need
She lets loose all the horses
When the Corporal is asleep
And he wakes to find the fire’s dead
And arrows in his hats
And Davy Crockett rides around
And says it’s cool for cats
It’s cool for cats - Cool for cats
One of those all-time classic songs. If you haven’t heard it in a while or (God forbid) you’ve never heard it, then now would be a good time.
Costly
Apparently, children who do poorly at maths cost the UK taxpayer £2.4bn….
… presumably, when they become Chancellor and make a complete hash of running the economy!
SOTD #173
Today’s song is Footballer’s Wife by Amy MacDonald
Oh Mr James Dean, he don’t belong to anything
Oh he left before they could get him
With their ways, their wicked ways
Oh Marilyn Monroe, where did you go?
I didn’t hear all your stories
I didn’t see all your glory
But the footballer’s wife tells her troubles and strife
I just don’t care in the end
Who is she to pretend
That she’s one of them?
I don’t think so
And the girl from that show
Yes the one we all know
She thinks she’s some kinda star
Yes you know who you are
I don’t think so, I don’t think so
Oh Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire
Won’t you dance for me cos I just don’t care
What’s going on today
I think there’s something more, something more
And I’m gone with the wind like they were before
But I’m believing myself I think there’s something more
There must be something more
I think there’s something more, something more
I can’t remember where I heard Amy MacDonald first, but her album This Is The Life sat in my wish list for quite some time. I eventually got round to buying the album over Christmas, and it has been on almost constant repeat since. This track, to me, is a commentary on the vacuous nature of modern fame and it’s superb.
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