WATCHING:
Almost Famous
Cameron Crowe – director

A based-on-fact fictional tale of writer/director’s Crowe’s teen years as a Rolling Stone journalist. This is not a classic, but a sweet and bittersweet look back at rock and roll, coming of age, journalism and love.

It is!

Always a compelling watch – this was from my own DVD collection – in a very lighthearted, completely enjoyable way.

Kate Hudson steals the movie as Penny Lane, the consumate Band-Aid, and Frances McDormand (as always) brings a neurotic brilliance to her role as the mother of the young Crowe . (Don’t take drugs!)

All movies

I really haven’t written much for the last couple of weeks for two very simple reasons:

• I haven’t had much time, and
• I haven’t had much to say

And – while this doesn’t always seem to hold in the blogosphere – I think it’s good to be quiet when there isn’t anything to say.

Call me old fashioned.

Or old.

Or out of fashion.

All may apply; whom am I to say?

That said, I do have some stuff brewing in my brain that requires the need of writing to help (me) clarify; so you may not be done with me yet.

My name is Kyle MacDonald and I traded one red paperclip for a house. I started with one red paperclip on July 12 2005 and 14 trades later, on July 12, 2006 I will trade with the Town of Kipling Saskatchewan for a house located at 503 Main Street.

— Kyle MacDonald, One Red Paperclip

Toss in the milliondollarhomepage.com guy, and, well, you’ve just gotta shake your head (for many, many reasons….).

WATCHING:
The Weatherman

I like Nicolas Cage; I like enigmatic movies. This has/is both.

I still didn’t like it; didn’t quite get it.

It was fine to watch; had some funny moments, but I will never watch this movie again.

I guess I was expecting something different – the trailers show Cage roaming the city with a bow and arrow. And in this movie, he is very much a man on the edge – I kept waiting for him to go postal and start firing those arrows. Never happened.

Shot (exteriors) in the Chicago area, where I’m from, so that’s fun, but – overall – unimpressive.

All movies

We all know the line about how the internet is gutting newspapers’ profitablity/relevance. And, to a large degree, this is true.

But there is one other compelling reason that today’s newspapers are not so compelling: Business.

Newspapers are increasingly profit-driven, especially as consolidation takes away the hometown-news focus and moves that focus to the corporation’s bottom line.

This was driven home in a very really way in an article by Knight Ridder’s Mike Cassidy:

So, Monday morning I left my office on Ridder Park Drive and drove to the Fairmont hotel next to the Knight Ridder building in San Jose. There, chief executive Tony Ridder announced that Knight Ridder newspapers was dead.

…

Listening to Ridder and the video, it seemed all the more tragic that Knight Ridder’s 32-year run is over. There were the 85 Pulitzer Prizes. The tradition of philanthropy. The history of hiring diversity.

It left me wondering why. Almost like a child, I kept thinking this didn’t really have to happen. This company didn’t have to go away.

To which, in his speech, Ridder answered that the end was inevitable.

Shareholders — big institutional investors — wanted more for their investment. Top-flight journalism wasn’t their concern.

If they hadn’t prevailed this time, they would have eventually.

— Cassidy: Sad requiem for esteemed KR standards, Mike Cassidy, Mercury News, June 27, 2006

Agree or not whether or not big institutional investors should care about solid journalism (or solid [whatever your investment is in]), the general truth is the one Ridder stated.

So, not only are newspapers under siege from the internet and 24-hour TV news, but the corporate chiefs are turning a blind eye to the quality of the product. Yes, that’s a way to just about guarantee your product will continue to deteriorate.

This is understandable, but still sad. There’s a reason the press – most notably the print press – is regarded as the Fourth Estate. We have the three branches of government – legislative, executive and judicial – with an elaborate (sometimes arcane…) set of checks and balances. But it’s often up to the outsiders, this Fourth Estate, to make a fuss when those check and balances are not exercised (or exercised improperly and so on).

To a large degree, the online community is doing an excellent job of examining the checks and balances, but you often need a depth of reporting (full staff) and an institution behind you to break the big stories.

If Dana Priest had just been a blogger, do you really think she – the same person as the Washington Post reporter – would have been able to crack the CIA secret prisons story, for which she won a Pulitzer?

Doubtful.

So there is a need for newspapers, even if they end up online only. The New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post – they’re all doing some excellent work, and it would seem a true loss to have them replaced by a bunch of independent blogs.

So remember, it’s not just the internet killing newspapers – it’s also short-sighted, bottom-line focused business decisions that have nothing to do with content that’s crippling the print media.

For whatever reason – and I don’t care the reason – Rocketboom is no longer with Amanda.

What does this mean?

This means the web is shifting. No one was hurt here; Amanda (etc) will do well.

Shift.

It leaves the Web a little poorer, understand. Not good for average surfer.

(Though look at the upside-down map – subtext there. What does this mean? My whole world has been turned upside down, perhaps?)

Slate – one of the pioneering online magazines (whatever the hell that means) has undergone a pretty extensive redesign as it enters its second decade.

Some AJAX-goodness, bigger pics, more screen real estate. Overall, looks pretty good.

One nit to pick: The hover color for text or background (as appropriate) is yellow – your basic hex ffff00).

ICK!

WATCHING:
Walk the Line
James Mangold, director

The story of the early life of Johnny Cash, up to the time when he finally married June Carter.

I don’t know much about Cash’s life, and nada about Carter’s, but this was an extremely well-done movie, with outstanding performances by Joaquin Phoenix (Cash) and Reese Witherspoon (Carter). The amazing part is that the actors did the singing for the movie, and – at least for Cash – Phoenix nailed it.

Begins – and ends – in Folsom prison.

One quibble – the sound was a little muddy, at least to me.

All movies

Officially off work today, but starting back in. What fun. Spend a good part of the day cleaning up the basement, as well – hell, I’d rather be working…I was a soaking mess. It’s hot and muggy out there/in here.

You’d be correct.

I am a late comer to Cash, I don’t mind admitting that – a friend gave me American IV – The Man Comes Around to listen to and I was hooked. Shortly after that, I got – as a gift – a copy of The Essential Johnny Cash I was sold.

However, I’ve got to say that I’m more of a fan of Dylan – Dylan is an artist I’m beginning to listen to after a break from listening to him for a couple decades.

I’m especially loving his live cuts, such as on Live at the Gaslight and the No Direction Home soundtrack. Raw, and – especially on the former – embryonic.

Well, not really in the country – but it almost feels that way.

Just off Eden’s Expressway (I-94) at Lake Cook Road in Glencoe is one the best gardens I’ve ever been to, the Chicago Botanical Gardens. I’ve be going to the bot gardens for decades, but yesterday was the first time I’ve been there in two years – and are they doing some impressive work there.

I’m finally getting around to creating a gallery for this precious piece of real estate; the first pictures will be (a handful) of digital pics I took there; I’ll slowly add other scans – 35mm color; 4×5 B&W; images; 35mm infrared (I have to do some more infrared shooting there!). This gallery will quickly grow.

If you’ve never been there, I highly recommend it. It’s a flat entry price – $12 per car – but be prepared to walk. And it’s not a place most kids will enjoy. Sure, they can run around in the woods and along paths, but wouldn’t they rather have a picnic in some forest preserve?

The Bot Gardens are very strange: It is bordered by a major expressway of a major city, and it’s in the suburbs, where you’re more likely to find a strip mall than a garden.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, the Bot Garden is an emerald island in a concrete sea…

Click image for larger view

I’m a big fan of Stephen Colbert, but I really don’t think he ranks spots 1-5 of 5 on the MSN “It List”. Especially when he’s also earmarked for the “out” category.

(Captured around 10:20pm CDT; still the same at 10:50pm. Ouch! Someone’s getting a spanking next week!)

Yes, it’s a glitch – page those Flash programmers! – but still funny. And it’s the same in Firefox and IE (Windoze), so it’s not a brower issue per se.

I dunno, just struck me as funny.

Dick Cheney, the Right-Wing conspiracy, aliens or perhaps the students of Scientology are behind this hijink.

Or maybe the NSA is testing us…

Update:

In the spirit of “truthiness,” I am here to tell you that we are officially retiring the “It” List. We’ve decided to end with Stephen Colbert in honor of a reader who thought our “It” List should feature no one but him. Your wish. Our command.

— The It List comment for the first Colbert pic, which I was too stoopid to read

I’m surprised to see this feature go away (I presaged People magazine, mind you…), but…what do I know?

Today, the U.S. Interstate Highway System turns golden – 50 years old. (Newsweek)

While pushed by President Dwight ‘Ike’ Eisenhower and the legislative lead was Al Gore’s dad (Al Sr.), the man in charge of the whole project was Frank Turner, an unassuming engineer whom I had the pleasure of interviewing for an article discussing the 40th anniversary of the same project.

For a man who had spearheaded the construction of one of the most important construction projects in history, Turner was remarkably plain-spoken and came across as just another guy. (A very smart guy, mind you.)

My article captured only a small slice of Frank Turner; the phone interview lasted over two hours.

Here’s to you, Frank!

Below, Frank Turner – second from the left – at the Oval Office ceremony where Eisenhower was shown the national interstate plan.

This will not be a short entry, and I’ll probably edit it several times post-posting because this entry covers subjects I’ve thought long and hard about, yet – once actually putting them in print – may well seem moronic. You’ve been warned.

The title of the post is “DRM and the Future of Your Data,” and it’s a misleading title. I will be talking about DRM, and I will be talking about the future of your (digital) data. The weird thing is, I will not necessarily be talking about both at the same time.

DRM is tied to the future of our data (and vise-versa), but I won’t be concentrating solely on this connection. This is more of a big-picture entry.

Again, you’ve been warned.

Before I plunge off the edge of the cliff, I think it’s important to understand my background and current position:

• I’ve worked most of my post-college working life in creative jobs: Writing and photography. I’m a content creator. And I’ve had stuff ripped off.
• I’ve authored this blog for over five years; again, content creation. Again, stuff ripped off.
• When I was a photographer, my contracts always contained a GPL-like clause (no, I had not heard of the GPL; this was my invention). Basically, when I did shooting for people, they had unlimited uses rights – brochure, annual report, commercial and so on – at no cost, but I retained the copyright. So I could resell the pics; they couldn’t. (As long as the pics were not of their stuff – but why should they own the 400 pics of the American flag I shot for this/or/that campaign, especially when they didn’t use any of the 400? – They still has usage rights to all, recall).
• I currently work for a company that works with companies that have DRM issues. I’m not going to blog about work, but understand that these issues are not just my weekend project.

My DRM take-away?

DRM should go away.

Yes, it’s that simple.

Why? Three main reasons:

• Any DRM put out there will be broken
• DRM = Lock-In
• Lock-In Means Your Data is at Risk

Let’s examine each point individually:

Any DRM put out there will be broken

If you don’t believe this one stop reading and go back to the Disney Channel.

To paraphrase an old chestnut, security is a journey, not a destination. As security improves, so do the hackers and so on.

And who are these hackers? Your great aunt who paid for and downloaded the Golden Girls marathon? Uh, not – the same folks who film first-run movies and hawk them on street corners. Want a really unfair yet somewhat accurate parallel? Consider DRM = Prohibition. Did your great aunt drink more during Prohibition (nah); did Prohibition open up job opportunities to a lot of bad guys? (yep – Prohibition actually helped establish/entrench Organized Crime)

A DRM-less society will – for most people – have virtually no impact because the great mass of folks use downloads etc for fair-use purposes.

I do see a great increase in sharing/swapping of downloads by the digiteri, such as during the (original) Napster days. Is this a problem or an opportunity for the content producers?

YES.

Content producers are going to have to get over the illusion that they have absolute control over the distribution of their content. That era, for better or for worse, is over. It’s a different business model; work with it – not against it. Example: How is a clip of Jon Stewart’s Daily Show on YouTube not free advertising (hell, I should watch this show!)?

At the same time, it’s probably NOT fair use, so copyright infringement. So?

The rules have changed; work to monitize this New World of content.

DRM = Lock-In

John Gruber – who is much smarter (and – damn! – a better writer than I) – had an absolutely brilliant article titled Interoperability and DRM Are Mutually Exclusive that finally put the fire under my ass to put down some thoughts about the same subjects.

You should read the whole article, but here are the take-aways (and I’m greatly simplifying):

• Music industry is upset at Apple’s iMusic’s store dominance.
• Music industry refuses to sell to any site without DRM.
• Music industry wants Apple to support other formats – but only with DRM
• Apple will never support any DRM if it has to buy a license from (Microsoft or anyone). No upside for them.
• Apple won’t sell its DRM – why erode iPod sales?

Two very important issues here, which I’ll quickly sum:

Apple’s – or anyone’s – DRM = a proprietary format (Gruber’s conclusion, which I cannot disagree with). I have a buttload of iTunes downloads; a better (in my mind) player than iPod comes along…I’m screwed.

If Apple goes out of business and takes FairPlay DRM to the grave with them…all my music is dead.

OK, this seems bad, but one point Gruber – nor anyone else seems to have addressed – is this: the DRM today, for the most part, is handled by the middleman (Apple, Microsoft et al). DRM owners are NOT the content providers. I see issues; do you?

At the same time, if the content providers (Universal, Sony, NBC etc…) did the DRM, this would not only be a nightmare – multiple DRMs would need support by a single middleman, as well as the tool (players) that receive this content.

Doesn’t this all cry out for a universal, SSL-like standard at the very least?

Lock-In Means Your Data is at Risk

DRM = Lock-In.

You have to agree with this or bail.

DRM = You can only do this or that with this stuff you’ve purchased.

If iTunes changes its DRM, you could potentially be hosed.

Ditto for any other software. If Microsoft Word v111 is not backward compatible with Microsoft Word v110 or v6; again; you’re screwed. This was Pilgrim’s big complaint:

I’m creating things now that I want to be able to read, hear, watch, search, and filter 50 years from now. Despite all their emphasis on content creators, Apple has made it clear that they do not share this goal. Openness is not a cargo cult. Some get it, some don’t. Apple doesn’t.

— Mark Pilgrim, When the bough breaks

He’s right, but this issue is not at all unique to Apple. Let’s take the current (moronic) format war – HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray. One will probably win, a al VHS vs. BetaMax. If I start backing up stuff on Format A and Format B wins, at some point my backups are worthless.

Not a good thing.

I worry about this on sites like Flickr and so on, as well. Hell, they could go out of business tomorrow, and … all you digital memories are gone.

Note: I use Blogger to post this site, but the posts go to MY domain, in HTML. It’s all there; it’d just be an ugly parsing exercise to get it all back. But if I used WordPress or similar service, I could be in trouble at some point. Which is why I use my own gallery tool.

Bottom Line

We are now entering a digital age, where we don’t use atoms, we use bits.

If we can’t have fidelity – longevity – with our bits as we have for the past millenium with our atoms (papers, parchment, pictures…), well, Houston, we have a problem.

I exchanged e-mails with Robert Scoble about a (somewhat) related topic last week, and his response was spot-on:

No one will care until it’s too late and they realize that their photos are locked into a siloed service…

– Rober Scoble (email)

This is the problem we must consider. I’ve probably explained this badly, but read the Gruber and Pilgrim entries and it’ll seem more clear.

This is not a trivial issue.

Our personal history – notes, pictures, videos, music – is at risk.

And I don’t think I’m being melodramatic.