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Why Will Why?!?!

In an interview Will Smith said he turned down the role of Neo in the movie Matrix for the role of Captain James West in the movie Wild,Wild West.
Hence the above meme.

Dem Candidate Get's Smeared Over WoW "Obsession". Is it right?

I usually try to keep politics of the Republican/Democrat nature out of the blog simply because I feel that 1) both parties are both so similar in their nature I don't want to dive into that pile of sh** and 2) it brings that pile of sh** into the blog because politics is a crap fest. Its bad enough there is a devision between techies over Apple vs Android or Mac vs PC. Add politics to the mix and things start circling the drain. But this particular tid-bit of news got me thinking. So here goes.


The GOP (Republican Party) of Maine has recently launched a smear champaign against Democrat candidate Colleen Lachowicz for her "bizarre double life" as a level 68 female orc rogue (assassin) in the game World of Warcraft (WoW). They even went so far to launch a website called ColleensWorld.com to mock/expose her enjoyment of the game in question. Now this just brings me back to the crapfest we call politics. I would like to say this is ridiculous, but would the media reaction be different if it were the Democrat party exposing a GOP candidate for enjoying WoW? I think so. One of the things that fuels the vile bile spewing about Lachowicz's enjoyment (obsession?) of the game WoW are quotes such as "I stab things a lot. Who would have thought a peace-lovin' social worker and democrat would enjoy that?". In any party politic sh** slinging contest that quotes like this are just the Golden Christmas Poo of ammunition.

So let's agree here that when it comes to party politics it just degrades into the crapfest, but this brings up a few questions I want to consider. Please keep in mind that I am personally sick of the crap BOTH parties are throwing out. 

So here are those questions:

1) In an age of online openness & limited privacy, can a public figure "get away with" crass behavior without scrutiny?

2) Is a child's game (sorry WoW fans, but it is) something a holder of public office (or a potential one) should be dedicating a significant amount of time to no matter the party? Average play time in WoW is about 20+ hours a week.

3) And how is crass behavior on a public forum such as WoW any different from similar behavior on a Facebook account or in spectator sport game?

The last question I think is particularly cogent since on Facebook and while watching a football game you are, in fact, living in a sort of fantasy world. The reality of the matter is that while both provide enjoyment and release, they are also not reality. So can a person in a public area behave in a way contrary to expected behavior and then expect to be exempt from  any criticism resulting from such behavior? I get that WoW is a fantasy based game. I get there is fighting. Heck, I get the enjoyment from such games. Personally I don't play MMO's. I can't stand them. But that doesn't mean I don't occasionally go over to a friend's place and play a game or 3 of some first person shooter with him and some other buddies and not enjoy it. Still, if it is public is it fair game? Please, share your thoughts. I want this to be a discussion. I want to hear what you think. Please keep the commentary clean and civil. This commentary is not about political parties so much as it is about what should or should not count in the political arena. What is considered public and private. Stuff like that.

Where I Get My Music From

Back in the days of yor when Napster was the thing I use to get a lot of my music from there. Then Limewire. But then life took a turn when my computer had an epic blue screen of death and I lost all of my data. Since then I have realized there were ways to recover said data, but at the time it was lost and that was it. You live you learn. In either case, I took the crash as a message from the gods of the mystical computer that they were not pleased with the buccaneer-like lifestyle I was leading. That and the fact that I have my own intellectual property I would like to protect. So I put up my eye patch, stuffed parrot, fake hook, and cutlass to never hold them again. Now my music and audiobooks are obtained through hard earned money. The good news is thanks to things like Napster the cost to have music is now very cheap to free depending on how much control you want to have. Here are the options I used.

Pandora

The internet radio Pandora was among the first of its kind and works very well. Personally I think Pandora should transfer its tech over to OTA (Over the Air) radio as well. How awesome would that be to have a radio station or 3 that is set to a specific genre and the playlist dictated by user requests with no obnoxious DJ's ruining my morning run or commute with pointless prattle?!?! But that is for a later date. I list this option first because it is the option with the least amount of control. I don't pay for the service so I do get the occasional commercial which I am fine with because it is less than a real radio station. Still, paying $36 dollars a year for Pandora One to get rid of commercials is a decent enough deal. On the flip side, the control over your music is about the same as a radio station. You can request specific songs and bands, but it is random. The good news is that at least until further notice the basic service is free and includes less commercial interruptions than traditional radio.
As a side note, I am aware that there are other internet radio options out there such as Slacker etc. I am a creature of habit and that habit started with Pandora. Until such a time as I am shown a better option, I am happy with Pandora. But that doesn't mean you should be limited to that. Check you options and try out what you are interested in. I do recommend research before committing, but that is your option.

Amazon MP3

This option is one of my favorites simply because of one reason... cross system compatibility. While the Amazon Cloud player isn't the best mp3 playing system in the world, it works and it works well. Further more, I can play my music via the "Cloud" to almost any device from an Apple to Zune (Yes, I know the Zune is dead, but its a Z people! Give me a break!). If the device doesn't support cloud based services I simply download the MP3 from the unlimited storage for purchased music that Amazon provides and load it to the device or burn it to a CD. All legal. All happy. Furthermore, since I use amazon for shopping any ways I occasionally get a bone thrown my way from Amazon in the form of MP3 credits. In this way I get my music on for a lot cheaper than say Google Play or... dum dum dummmmm, iTunes. Like the other two MP3 purchasing system Amazon offers free music as promotions, but I have noticed that Amazon tends to have more sales than the others. What? Can you say that louder? What about the Artists you ask? Oh, the royalties thing for artists. Well, here's the deal. You see I am a believer in the free market. So long as the artist are getting paid something for their work I am fine with deal shopping. The market adjusts to demand. If more people would deal shop in their music then there would be more deals for music. Furthermore, artist would have more leverage in negotiating with production companies. But this article isn't about the free market. If you're interested in that go look up Free Market on Youtube and watch. I recommend ReasonTV. Still, my point is I have no issue taking a deal offered by Amazon because I am getting the music that I like for a price I can afford that does not compromise my standards of ethics. This is the same reason I recommend shopping around for Android apps. Because if you do you can get a good deal WHILE supporting the creators of those applications. Piracy is a nice ideal, but in reality it harms the creators more than it harms anyone else. And without that creation process we would not have what we have now. So save a life, buy your music, movies, shows, and apps. Or at least use services that get money to the creators. Voting with you money is more powerful than a political vote. Pffffffffewwww! Okay, off my soap box!

The point is Amazon is my first stop for music.

Google Play

I am a user and lover of Android. Sorry iOS fans, I dumped my first love Apple because she kept making life harder. If you don't get what I mean read my article titled Why I Dropped My iPod Like a Hot Rock. So Google Play is my next stop. Mainly because I am shopping for deals. If the price is right it is mine. It helps that Google Play works on my PC's and all of my Android devices, but there is something lacking. Recently Steve Wozniak suggested that Apple extend it's iTunes service to Android so that the could maintain their slipping dominance of the digital music scene. I would like to suggest the same to Google. Why not make it so music, movies, and more are available for purchase and use on all operating systems? Amazon has the right idea. Why not have Google join in? In either case, I can still download my music and use it how I like if the service not not available on the device I am using. Sometimes the Cloud is overrated.

Physical Media

This next step is something I often jump to if I find that the physical media is cheaper than the digital. Why this is the case is often a mystery to me since the music companies pay less to produce and deliver the digital music than a CD, but what ever. Since my number one concern as a person who does not have unlimited funds is getting the best bang for my ever inflating buck then I'll get what is the best price. In this case it is important that you research your options. Often digital offers a couple songs more as and incentive to buy that. If this is of interest to you, buy digital. If it is not, get the physical media. The best part is that both Amazon and Google offer services that are free that allows you to back up you music digitally to their servers. Amazon offers a certain amount of space for free while Google offers 20,000 songs with no limit on storage size. While iOS offers iCloud (which name was stollen without permission from a small company in Arizona), it is limited only to Apple products. So I don't count it because at least with Google you can access your music on Mac or PC. On top of that, you physical media is a great back up in and of itself. Sure if can be lost, stollen, or damage, but so can your devices. Heck a unlucky surge in a server farm could ruin that for you. Life has risk, deal with it.

Why I Don't Use iTunes

It's bloatware! I use to use it all the time until I realized that it took more system resources and time to work with iTunes than with any other system out there. If you like it good for you, but for me the need of special software to load, burn, transfer, or purchase music died many many years ago. Give me the freedom of simple, basic interfaces. This is kind of sad considering that Apple was known for this "innovation". 

Conclusion

So there you have it. This is where I get my music from. It is rather nice. I enjoy it. I save money. I get the tunes I crave and in the case of services like Pandora I get the music exploration I want as well. Thoughts? Comments? Share them below.