Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails made headlines again this week as he released his new, four-part instrumental album Ghosts I-IV, at a variety of price points, including a $300 super-deluxe package. He's also giving away Ghosts I at no charge, even throwing the tracks up on The Pirate Bay for anyone to download. And it appears to be working quite well for Reznor, who has managed to sell all 2,500 copies of his $300 package without major label backing or much in the way of splashy marketing. If Reznor's earlier experiments in digital distribution failed to recoup their costs, he's clearly learned his lesson: grossing $750,000 in the space of three days isn't a bad haul for any businessperson.
In covering the story, the New York Times noted that "one option Mr. Reznor is not offering fans is a way to obtain the entire collection free," but Ghosts I-IV is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license that does allow noncommercial redistribution.
Reznor gains something valuable from every transaction, even if downloaders elect not to pay; he harvests the e-mail addresses of fans interested in his music. These addresses are obviously marketing gold, but Reznor makes sure to treat his fans with respect, even when asking for their information. "We hate spam as much as you do, if not more so," he writes.
High on Mount Sinai, Moses was on psychedelic drugs when he heard God deliver the Ten Commandments, an Israeli researcher claimed in a study published this week.
Such mind-altering substances formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times, Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem wrote in the Time and Mind journal of philosophy.
"As far Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don't believe, or a legend, which I don't believe either, or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics," Shanon told Israeli public radio on Tuesday.
Moses was probably also on drugs when he saw the "burning bush," suggested Shanon, who said he himself has dabbled with such substances.
"The Bible says people see sounds, and that is a clasic phenomenon," he said citing the example of religious ceremonies in the Amazon in which drugs are used that induce people to "see music."
He mentioned his own experience when he used ayahuasca, a powerful psychotropic plant, during a religious ceremony in Brazil's Amazon forest in 1991. "I experienced visions that had spiritual-religious connotations," Shanon said.
He said the psychedelic effects of ayahuasca were comparable to those produced by concoctions based on bark of the acacia tree, that is frequently mentioned in the Bible.
Jamaica is considering the legalisation of marijuana, a drug revered by members of the island's large Rastafarian population who say smoking it is part of their religion.
A seven-member government commission has been researching possible changes to the Caribbean nation's anti-drug laws, which some police complain are clogging courts and jails with marijuana-related cases, a government official said.
"We have discussed it, and we are preparing a report to present to the prime minister," said Deputy Prime Minister Kenneth Baugh.
In 2003, a government commission recommended legalising marijuana in small amounts for personal use.
But lawmakers never acted, saying legalisation might entail loss of their country's US anti-drug certification. Countries that lose it face economic sanctions.
A US State Department report on Friday said Jamaica is the largest producer of marijuana in the Caribbean and a major hub for drugs bound for the US.
Members of the Rastafarian movement, which emerged in Jamaica in the 1930s out of anger over the oppression of blacks, have long lobbied for the legalisation of the drug that they say brings them closer to the divine.
There are an estimated 700,000 Rastafarians in the world, most of them among Jamaica's 2.6 million people.
A growing number of critics and disgruntled ex-members are using the Web to attack the church's tightly controlled image.
"We were born. We grew up. We escaped."
So reads the motto of ExScientologyKids.com, a website launched Thursday by three young women raised in the Church of Scientology who are speaking out against the religion. Their website accuses the church of physical abuse, denying some children a proper education and alienating members from family.
One of the women behind the site, Jenna Miscavige Hill, is the niece of David Miscavige, the head of the church, and Kendra Wiseman is the daughter of Bruce Wiseman, president of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a Scientology-sponsored organization opposed to the practice of psychiatry.
The day before ExScientologyKids.com launched, another inflammatory allegation about the church began to circulate virulently online. "L. Ron Hubbard Plagiarized Scientology," read a headline at the popular Internet culture blog BoingBoing. The post linked to images of a translated 1934 German book called "Scientologie," which critics say contains similar themes to Hubbard's Scientology, which he codified in 1952, according to a church website.
These were just the latest in a series of Scientology-related stories to burn across the Internet like grass fires in recent weeks, testing the church's well-established ability to tightly control its public image. The largest thorn in the church's side has been a group called Anonymous, a diffuse online coalition of skeptics, hackers and activists, many of them young and Web-savvy. The high-wattage movement has inspired former Scientologists to come forward and has repeatedly trained an Internet spotlight on any story or rumor that portrays Scientology in unflattering terms.
No corner of the Web, it appears, is safe for Scientology. Blogger and lawyer Scott Pilutik recently posted a story noting that Scientology was yanking down EBay auctions for used e-meters, the device the church uses for spiritual counseling. EBay allows brand owners -- Louis Vuitton or Rolex, say -- to remove items they believe infringe on their trademark or patent rights. Basically, fakes. But, Pilutik said, the used e-meters being taken down were genuine. Reselling them was no different than putting a for-sale sign on your old Chevy.
"What's actually going on here," he wrote, is that the church is "knowingly alleging intellectual property violations that clearly don't exist." Within a day Pilutik's blog had gotten over 45,000 visitors -- so much traffic that his site crashed completely.
Facing a steady stream of negative publicity and a growing number of critical voices, Scientology has found itself on the defensive.
The church has referred to Anonymous as a group of "cyber-terrorists" and, in a statement, said the group's aims were "reminiscent of Al Qaeda spreading anti-American hatred and calling for U.S. destruction."
"These people are posing extremely serious death threats to our people," said church spokeswoman Karin Pouw in a phone interview. "We are talking about religious hatred and bigotry."
A recent video posted to YouTube contained a threat to bomb a Southern California Scientology building. An FBI spokeswoman said an investigation was in progress but that no suspects had been identified.
Reporters have long had to tread carefully when writing about Scientology, fearful that lawsuits and other kinds of retaliation would follow any story that Scientology did not like. But that may be changing.
"Before this Internet onslaught," said Douglas Frantz, a contributing editor at Portfolio magazine who covered Scientology for the New York Times in the 1990s (and is a former editor at the L.A. Times), "they were always able to go after their critics and do a good job of being able to discredit or intimidate them."
Angry former church members also perceive a kind of safety in numbers afforded by the Internet, and more are coming forward to share their stories.
"People have been scared out of their minds to speak out about Scientology," said Hill, Miscavige's niece, in an interview. "Nobody should have to be that scared to speak out about a church."
Wiseman echoed the sentiment, adding that the Anonymous campaign had influenced her decision to reveal her identity last week. "The Internet is listening. If something happens to me, all of these people will know."
But now that goal will have to exist alongside a seemingly steady stream of online attacks. And while anonymous political activity, such as postering around a town, is nothing new, Bridges noted, the speed of the Web is what is giving Scientology trouble.
"What's different is that more people can see the stuff faster than Scientology can go around and get it taken down."
In der C't war ein Bericht über 4Chan und die ganze Scientologysache. Ich habs mal gepackt und bei Rapidshare hochgeladen. KLICK MICH
Ist durchaus lesenswert. Für L. Rons Geburtstagsraid am 15. März gibts hier bestimmt nochmal Instruktionen wenn es soweit ist. Bis jetzt: 15. März - 11 Uhr
Da ich die Grammys 2008 nicht gesehen habe, spare ich mir Kommentare über die vollkommene Überflüssigkeit dieses "Events", obwohl sie angebracht wären. Doch muss es erlaubt sein diverse Dinge anzumerken: WAS FÄLLT EUCH VERDAMMT NOCHMAL EIN?!?
Kanye West ist aufgetreten. Das allein wäre nicht schlimm. Ich mag seine affige Unterschichten-Musik nicht, aber das ist in Ordnung, denn ich mag ziemlich viel Musik nicht, trotz der Mitgliedschaft im "Also, ich höre ja eigentlich alles"-Klub. Nicht der Zustand seiner - nennen wir es mal - Musik, oder der absolute UN-Zusammenhang, mit der er seine "Texte" ins Mikro stottert, sondern eine Andersheit dieses Auftritts zu seinen sonstigen auditiven Verbrechen.
Sein "Lied" 'Stronger' ist eine Farce. Das ist bekannt, dafür wird er gehasst. Aber bei den Grammys trat er mit Daft Punk auf. DAFT PUNK! Die ab-so-mother-fucking-lutly beste Band der Welt. Bis zu diesem Auftritt erhielt sich jeder Fan die Illusion, dass da beim Management etwas schiefgegangen ist; ein Übersetzungsfehler; ein interkulturelles Missverständnis - und deswegen Teile von 'Harder, Faster, Better, Stronger' in Kanye's Mundschrott gemischt wurden.
Kanye West machte behinderte Bewegungen zu seiner behinderten Musik, sprich: war behindert. Dann passierte etwas schreckliches: Die (kompetente) Musikwelt stöhnte auf. Eltern hielten ihren Kindern Augen und Ohren zu. Gott war beim Minigolf spielen vom Teufel niedergeknüppelt worden - die Elektropyramide öffnete sich und war Daft Punk.
Die 2007er Alive-Tour war das bislang größte was diese Welt gesehen hatte. Eine bombastische Musikanlage, eine Lichtshow zu der die Sonne aus Scham niederging und nicht zuletzt stand man im Duft von 20.000 Menschen, die auch die letzten 10 Jahre auf diese Konzert gewartet hatten. Der Boden erzitterte, als aus den Boxen ein langsames, verzerrtes 'ROBOT' erklang und das, als Pyramide getarnte, Mischpult nur noch Silhouette im Lichtfluss war. Die Show kroch in Zeitlupe an den offenen Mündern vorbei und als sich die letzte Helligkeit in den Tränen deines Nachbarn brach, wusstest du dass es geendet hat - und es war fantastisch.
Als auch der Letzte sich in Trance umdrehte, bereit etwas von seinem Herzen dort zu lassen, fing die Nacht in einem einzigen Wort feuer: Together! "D-D-Die machen weiter?" strömte es aus den Blicken der Masse. Wahrend das Starkstromgewitter kleine Schnitte in unserer Augen riss, das Gallert langsam die Arena füllend, sahen wir, ein elektronisches Mantra betend, eine blutrote Linie über den Screen laufen. Sie teilte sich, schoss synchron die Pyramide hinauf, als der Musik beschleunigte. Encore. Die Menge erhob sie, und ihren "Daft Punk", in der Kaskade des Gesangs zum Himmel; zu ihren Göttern.
One More Time
Music got me feeling so free
We're gonna celebrate
Celebrate and dance so free
One More Time
Ich könnte jetzt zur inkarnierten Geschmacklosigkeit Kanye West zurückkommen. Es ist schon etwas bizarr, dass DIE etwas mit DEM machen, aber wenn das jemand darf, dann Daft Punk.
Unten sollten jetzt eigentlich 2 Links hinkommen. Einer zur Grammyshow mit Kanye und das Ende der Alive Tour. Ich käme mir schmutzig vor, Kanye mit diesem Link etwas gutes zu tun, deswegen beschränke ich mich auf den anderen Link ;-)
Ich empfehle das Video sehr laut, aufmerksam und vollständig zu gucken.
ENCORE!
Also Zugabe hier nochmal der Anfang des Konzerts.
P.S: Mir ist bewusst das es paradox ist, den Anfang eines Konzertes als Zugabe anzubieten. :-P
YouTube hat im November angekündigt, dass die Videos bald in besserer Qualität rauskommen. Es scheint so, dass eine kleine Auswahl an Videos schon verbessert auswählbar sind. Am Ende der URL soll "&fmt=6" aus manchen 320x240 Videos 448x336er machen. Wenn man "&fmt=18" eingibt könnte man sogar an eine MP4-encodierte Version mit besser Audio und eine Auflösung von 480x360 kommen.
Der Sound ist auf jeden Fall satter. Das muss WUMPERN!!! Über die Auflösung kann ich nichts sagen. Mein Monitor stellt nicht mal ein richtiges Schwarz da ;-)
Irgendwie bin ich grade bei YouTube über ein paar Wahlwerbespots von Hillary gestolpert und muss dazu sagen, dass der Schrott mich sehr an den Film 'Wag The Dog' erinnert. Das ist so eine manipulative Scheiße *lol* Naja, Enjoy!
Als Vergleich: Der Wahlwerbespot 2005 'Der Partei'
So much for Judgment Day. The Terminator has been assigned a new target: May 22, 2009.
That's the date Warner Bros. has scheduled to unspool its heavily anticipated Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, per the trades.
The sequel, which will also serve as the first installment of another planned trilogy in the fabled man vs. machine sci-fi tale, picks up shortly after the first Terminator trilogy left off. Christian Bale plays the adult John Connor, leading a rebellion against the sentient computer network known as Skynet that seeks to wipe out all of humanity.
The studio will distribute Terminator Salvation in North America after securing a pact with Halcyon Co., which owns the franchise rights. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group will control international distribution.
For the first time last year, nearly half of all teenagers bought no compact discs, a dramatic increase from 2006, when 38% of teens shunned such purchases, according to a new report released Tuesday.
The illegal sharing of music online continued to soar in 2007, but there was one sign of hope that legal downloading was picking up steam. In the last year, Apple Inc.'s iTunes store, which sells only digital downloads, jumped ahead of Best Buy Co. to become the No. 2 U.S. music seller, trailing Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
That could be hopeful news for the music industry, which has been scrambling in recent years to replace its rapidly disappearing CD sales with music sold online. The number of CDs sold in the U.S. fell 19% in 2007 from the previous year while sales of digital songs jumped 45%, Nielsen SoundScan said.
Man mag mich naiv nennen, aber warum sollte man auch CDs kaufen?
Wenns draußen regnet, lauf ich bestimmt nicht los.
Das Personal hat überhaupt keine Ahnung was Musik angeht. (Wie übrigens in jedem anderen Fachgeschäft auch)
Es ist viel zu teuer und sobald die CD im Autoradio liegt, kann ich sie wegen dem dummen Kopierschutz nicht abspielen.
Wir können ohne die Plattenindustrie - Kann die Plattenindustrie ohne uns?
