A Nearly Naked Girl!

(29) I have been working on my comic. The other day, I drew a picture from the climactic scene of the latest chapter. Here it is:

Too Many Commercials

Well, this is interesting. Several Wall Street brokerages have downgraded the larger radio stocks (excluding Clear Channel Communications). The reason for the downgrade is the glut of advertising on commercial radio stations, up to 25 minutes per hour on some networks.

I'm sure that the RIAA will blame the music pirates for the devaluation of these radio stocks, and the resulting decrease in ad revenues.

When will advertising people realize that there is a limit to the number of ads we will listen to, or watch on TV?

Advertising companies revolted against the TiVo because it allowed people to skip over commercials, which was one of the selling points of the units. They made the same complaint about VCRs.

Last year, when the Hallmark cable network got the rights to broadcast M*A*S*H, they broadcast the entire series once with all deleted scenes (the scenes were deleted to create more time for ads), and those 30 minutes episodes lasted 45 minutes. When the Science Fiction Network broadcast the digitally remastered Star Trek episodes, the one hour shows from the 60s expanded to 90 minutes, and the network still interrupted the show in the middle of acts to sell commercials. The Original Series was done in four acts, but SciFi made the show an 8 act show. Now SciFi broadcast the Original Series with the same deleted scenes that were broadcast on the local stations. Same with Hallmark and M*A*S*H.

We don't want spam in our email inbox, and we don't want it on our TVs either.

A Holt mini-reunion

Donn and Ann came for a visit while Sean was here. Bob and Ann came down to wish our little leatherneck a good trip to Japan. We had barbecue, drank beer, and shot the shit. Here are the photos:

Jeanne's knees, Rodney and Sean

Mom, Ann and Donn

Rodney, Sean, Jeanne, Dad, Mom, Ann and Donn

A fat, drinking slob in a kilt

I Hate the RIAA

(13) First there was AM radio. Then there was stereo FM radio. The next incarnation of terrestrial radio is Digital. Digital radio promises CD quality sound, and it will be free!

Naturally, the RIAA is pissed. They insist that there needs to be some sort of copy protection so that we can't record songs off the air on our digital radio/CD recorder set. We will be able to record a block of songs, but not an individual song.

It's hard enough to record an individual song off the radio, what with the DJs' inability to keep their mouths shut when a song starts and one song fading out when another fades in. What makes the RIAA think somebody is going to go to all that trouble?

Regardless, I don't think the RIAA will be happy until radio stations pay them every time a song is played. Currently, the record labels don't get money from radio stations. Radio stations pay royalties to the song publishers of every song they play. When Internet radio came along, Congress required that Internet broadcaster pay the record labels. When that law went into effect, thousands of radio stations, including my favorite, KFAN, stopped simulcasting their shows because they would lose money. Internet radio is now exclusively in the hands of large companies, and the small companies are shut out.

So, if you agree with me that the RIAA is overstepping its bounds, contact your favorite radio station. Ask them to consider "A Day Without Music." If enough stations participate, music publishers will see a drop in their income, and maybe they can pressure the labels to relax a bit.

And stop buying CDs from the companies that support the RIAA.

Thank you for listening to my rant. Please continue surfing.

Reagan's Funeral

I just finished watching Ronald Reagan's funeral. I don't know if it's because Aunt Audrey died from Alzheimer's Disease, but this presidential funeral was more moving than the other presidential funerals.

I started watching the ABC report, but Peter Jennings said something about no one is talking about "his relationship with the black community," and that his critics have largely been silent. I switched over to Fox news, who, at least, kept quiet until the funeral was over.