Subject URL: The Pearl Jam phenomenon

Some excellent comments from Moby on what he calls the "Pearl Jam phenomenon"...

Now a band like Pearl Jam have a very technically savvy and computer literate fan base. So when a band like Pearl Jam (or anyone else who makes interesting, slightly left of center records) puts out a CD very few of their fans actually buy the CD. Instead they download it or burn it from their friends. As a result of this, Pearl Jam records haven't been doing well in the charts (along with other interesting, left of center bands). And as a result of this the charts are filled with records that are bought by people who aren't particularly computer literate or technically savvy.

But the truth is that people are still listening to smart and interesting music, but there's no way to base a chart around it. I'm sure that if you were to start a chart of music that people OWN as opposed to BUY you would see that people still like smart and interesting music. It's just that there is no way to quantify the number of people who are downloading and burning cd's.

Subject URL: Costello asks Australian to volunteer

Peter Costello wants Australian to volunteer an hour a week to work for the community, to improve the community spirit. I suggest to Peter that we have lost our community spirit because we're all at work for the whole damn day and are so stuffed by the weekend we don't want to do anything but spend time on our selves. Community spirit comes about in people with little to do. Reduce the hours worked by the average Australian and we might get out and meet each other.

Looks like I started something with the if I were PM thing. Dang. VM has a go as does Burga. I quite like VMs suggestions, particularly the "abolish state governments" suggestion. I read somewhere we're around the same population as New York and yet have infinitely more pollies running the place. Of course, we are a lot bigger than New York...

I find it interesting that a lot of people know the problems with our country and even have pretty good suggestions on what to do about it... and yet nothing seems to happen. I still think I live in a different world to "the majority".

Did my tax last night. "Get down down uh yeah, fuck the goddamn world".