links for 2008-12-17

"Now, no one should over-romanticise popular music's purity, nor ignore the fact that, thus far, the profit motive has served it very well. But if turbo sponsorship and endless giveaways are the future, any music lover should feel deeply uneasy. After all, turning music into glorified advertising surely besmirches its creator's motives, let alone the quality of the records, and surrendering to the idea that songs should be dished out for free will hopelessly sully their magic". Although the success of the 3 minute pop song is down to the convenience of advertising slots of commercial radio stations...

"And then you watch the work and see that the remote locations aren't that remote at all – Thailand, Greenland and Romania, where, we're told, they 'perhaps don't have television.' As the spot goes on, various members of the crew pipe up with their own revelations about these remote tribes of people who are 'really off the grid,' revelations delivered in hushed tones of disbelief that would have Edward Said take to his soap box to deliver a speech on neo-Orientalism. The problem with the spot is that it fundamentally misjudges the audiences' awareness of these not-so-remote-after-all societies and in the process ends up smacking of smug cultural superiority of the worst kind."

"Every time I post one of these positive stories I get a few comments from people saying it's not true and their lives are awful and the world is ending...All I can say is that I find attitude trumps aptitude almost every time. So consider this a test. If you read the top of this post and thought 'b.s.' or something like that, think about your attitude. Is it working for you? I heard from an acquaintence that their sad sack attitude worked for them because they were never disappointed. Too bad. It's a sad way to live and their world will just get smaller as folks decide to associate with more positive people and employers often hire (and fire) for attitude. Stay positive. It's rocky when we're giving birth to the information and knowledge-based economy and positive, clear-eyed folks will see and be more open to the emerging opportunities."

The fact that the Kickbee works with Twitter, not Facebook, is buried in there somewhere in paragraph 9.

"A viewer complained to the BBC and later to the BBC's Editorial Complaints Unit (ECU)". Yes, I think you read that right - 'A' viewer. One of them.

"What Left 4 Dead needs is an 'arrange mode'. I would like to be able to tell the game 'there are X of us, and we should like to play an exciting zombie-slaying adventure for approximately Y minutes on difficulty Z'. All the AI has to do is keep pace, supplying the appropriate numbers of highs, a really big finish, but backing off the volume of the zombie horde when it looks like we're not going to make our time limit."

"Young activists clashed with police today outside the central courts in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki when the police officers involved in a Rodney King style beating of Cypriot student, Augustinos Dimitrios in 2007 walked free after being given suspended sentences."

I missed this at the time - "Field Marshall Clifford leads 7,000 troops and captures BBC Manchester, Content Protector General Ross swears to retake it and mounts a massive counter attack from BBC Liverpool and BBC Leeds and Sheffield, the loss of life is the highest yet on both sides leading the campaign to be dubbed the 'Slaughter of Salford'".

Includes this gem: "Having a dialogue with Martin Belam isn't enough". :-(