In a milestone action, 54 prominent recording artists have signed on to the "friend of the court" amicus brief presented to the Supreme Court on Jan. 24 by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, the Recording Artists' Coalition (RAC) and other music groups.
The brief urges the High Court to overturn an opinion by the ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that Grokster, Kazaa, Morpheus, and other unauthorized P2P systems are not liable for contributory copyright infringement.
Read the brief yourself (PDF). Here are the friends putting the "I" in "amicus":
The 54 recording artists who signed on to the Amicus brief are: Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh & Timothy B. Schmit (The Eagles), Jimmy Buffett, Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds, "Mya" Harrison, Gavin Rossdale, Sheryl Crow, Kix Brooks & Ronnie Dunn (Brooks & Dunn), Bonnie Raitt; Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire & Emily Robison (The Dixie Chicks), Stevie Nicks, Phil Vassar, Patty Loveless, Reba McEntire; Mickey Hart & Bill Kreutzman (of The Grateful Dead), Avril Lavigne, Dido, Denyce Graves, Tom Jones; Jesse Colin Young, Sarah McLachlan, Martina McBride, Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave), Joe Terry & David White (of Danny and the Juniors), Billy Preston, Boz Scaggs, Diana Krall, Elvis Costello, Brian Wilson, Kenny Rogers, Tom Waits; Tyler Stewart, Jim Creeggan, Steven Page, Ed Robertson & Kevin Hearn (Barenaked Ladies), Deryck Whibley, Dave Baksh, Cone McCaslin & Steve Jocz (Sum 41), Brandon Hargest, Brittany Hargest, Chris Fedun & Lesley Moore (Jump 5), Bethany Dillon, Nichole Nordeman, and Michael W. Smith.
I swear this is just a PR move right before the Grammys. When does the Listeners Advocacy Coalition file a brief requesting that these artists be held liable for sucking?
Yeah. Take that Stevie Nicks. Some 25 year-old office drone just said you suck. It's all over now.
:: Rejected Video Game Idea: Deadbeat Dad Tamagotchi
It's basically like any typical tamagotchi game, but you play the part of an estranged father trying to earn back his kids' trust, suddenly taking custody of them (their mother recently died in a tragic hedge-fund accident) after years of absence and emotional iciness. You can feed them, pet them, try to buy back their love, and even reprimand (social services prefers the term "abuse", but what do those pencil-pushers know? they need to get a real job, like acetylene welding, and stop meddling in family affairs) them, but watch out for that last one because they're predisposed to resenting you as it is, and not even a shiny new BMW will fix the visceral sting of hearing that their mother was a whore. Which she was.
Having the surplus of vacation that I did, I decided it would be a good idea to travel home to LA just in time for a monsoon. On 12/28, five times an average December's precipitation fell in a single day - the third-rainiest day since records started being kept in 1877. Despite that, it was eminently enjoyable.
Others joined me. We had kebabs. Dr. G bit Ben Savage's neck.
:: Some assorted media and miscellany from my hiatus:
One night, Alex got all hopped up on goofballs and, mistaking it for the mechanical bull in Urban Cowboy, rode a thrift-store pony like the expert jockey he is. Still and video (6MB avi) courtesy of Heeyoon.
Soon after, Addison got into a full-on wrestling match with two random girls in a bar. Photos courtesy of Burrito.
I replaced the pads on my glasses. The left pad had been missing since the spring of 2001, when I was taken off-guard by a hairy aquatic beast, violently wrenched from my raft, and submerged (some might say "dunked") in the spring-fed water of an Ozark tributary. When I came back to the surface, I was missing one nose pad. I neglected to replace it for quite a while (say, about 42 months) and on occasion, when I became sweaty, it would dig into my skin and draw blood. Those days are now over.
I changed my Friendster status from "Single" to "In a Relationship".
I enjoyed a fruitful journey home for two weeks, of which I will post photos (courtesy of me) shortly. In the meantime, I leave you with this tiny animated .gif image: a loop of Grant and the hairy beast who submerged me in the river enjoying friendly bar conversation and/or dancing to C+C Music Factory.
In past two-point-five months this site has had what could best be described as a near-death, out-of-bloggy experience. I can't say I was devoid of some measure of relief as I watched this little bundle of markup and musings walk its incorporeal (not that it was ever the least bit tangible, but suddenly it had attained meta-insubstantiality) self towards the light, a glow that, for yours truly, promised increased free time filled with wanton philandering and maybe a little GTA: San Andreas (oh, and Thin Mints - Girl Scout cookies just went on sale again).
Yet as the data began to pump again through arterial CAT5 cabling and the site found itself with a new IP lease on life I could not suppress my rejoicing. So now I will take to bringing this virtual mess back in sync with the physical mess it channels. There will be hiccups and growing pains. Currently, the contact form is inoperable (and any other PHP pages, though I think there were only a couple), and the moblog will remain stunted indefinitely. Already what you see is the result of several days worth of solid effort, mostly by others (though I did encounter and eventually resolve The Most Obscure Perl Upgrade Issue Ever, complete with a red-herring fix).
In short, yes, I am back, but expect a measured, cautious return to form, not unlike a demented puppy awakening from a cute little nap at your feet and stretching its adorable but unfortunately deformed limbs towards you in a very endearing attempt to parasitically drain you of affection, rather than a full-on resumption of former glory, not unlike Wilford Brimley's cohorts in Cocoon.
I enjoyed a fruitful journey home for two weeks, of which I will post photos (courtesy of me) shortly. In the meantime, I leave you with this tiny animated .gif image: a loop of Grant and the hairy beast who submerged me in the river enjoying friendly bar conversation and/or dancing to C+C Music Factory.