Two years ago today I was complaining about the time it took to get to work. At the time I drove in (this was two jobs ago by the way). It look anywhere between an hour and a half and 40 mins depending when I left. It now takes less than an hour even in peak. Napster was in it's last few months, desperately trying to keep everyone happy, using CDDB to filter copyright material... with everyone else using Catnap to encrypt song names to get around the filters. Damn... Audiogalaxy has come and gone since then...
A year ago tomorrow I went to Moomba and took some photos of the fireworks.
Three years ago on the 22nd March is Katie and my anniversary. Three years is my magic number as far as relationships go. It always seems to me that if you get past this you're doing well. My previous relationship was well and truely over by then. Friends relationships seemed to break up at three years if they got that far. It's a stupid theory really... Never fear friends and neighbours, Katie and I are happier than ever.
Amusingly exactly three years ago today I was probably just about over the fact I was single. I guess that's the way it works isn't it?
You know when you put "Bowie" into predictive text on the Nokia it says "Anxie" (angsty, get it?) I wonder what this blog would have been like when I was single?
22nd March this year is my and three friend's combined birthday. Massive party planned. WALKEN will be playing, although probably not what you'd expect. I expect to be drinking a lot of vanilla vodka and forgetting how to play an A chord. Apologies in advance to Tenacious D.
Further on below... three years ago today I was earning more than I am now (if you count the 10% bonus). That, my friends, is SO wrong.
This is the kind of crazy thinking you'd expect from the media companies. "Hey, people want to be able to copy the stuff they buy, so lets introduce special premium priced DVDs that allow you to copy them!" Wow! (via Wired.com)
Nearly twice as many online consumers are willing to pay $17.99 for a CD that has unrestricted copy abilities versus a CD at only $9.99 that cannot be copied, the study concludes.
Forty-one percent of respondents said they were willing to pay more for movies that could be copied. Since few DVDs can now be copied, the findings represent a significant opportunity.
I can just see these kind of arguements being used to have MP3 sales costing more than their equivalent CD or Digital-Rights-Management versions. "Only $5 more to copy your tracks to CD!".
Meanwhile... TV studios have discovered that putting their shows on DVD makes them buckets of new money! (via Wired.com) It seems consumers where rarely happy to buy VHS copies of their fav shows are more than happy to shell out for DVD. I wonder if the same goes for music video collections. Are DVD collections of Artist X's videos selling better than their VHS equiv did before DVD was invented?
This is kind of depressing though (from above article):
Obtaining clearances to use theme songs has been a stumbling block because DVD releases were not an issue years ago, when many of the contracts with artists were signed. Getting those approvals, in some instances, can run $2 million to $3 million and could add $20 to the cost of every DVD.
All for the same reason CDs are so popular. They're small, the quality is good and you can skip to the section you want in seconds.
If I read another article from America about the poor widdle IT consultant who was on $120,000 and now can only get $80k development jobs I'm going to cry (too late). I can't believe that job ads with insane requirements (must have 5 years experience with .NET!) are news. When I went for my first job half the job ads said "must have 5 years Java experience" when I learnt Version 1.0 of Java only a year before I started looking.
The website mentioned in the news item above (via Salon.com by the way) looks amusing though. fuckthatjob.com. Compilation of amusing job ads with insane requirements. I am extreamly disturbed at the number of "internships" being offered. Seems similar to the concept of apprenticeship except unpaid. Yep. Almost like Work Experience then. That's sick.
I'm working today and tomorrow from midday until late at night.