Browsing With Your Face???

Last Wednesday, Opera Software introduced the idea of browsing with your face. It allows a person to surf the web and perform different computer tasks by making certain facial gestures. After reading half way through the article in ASCAP's Daily Brief, I realized that this idea was simply an April Fool's joke. However, the concept isn't out of the question and actually makes a lot of sense if you think about it. For instance, this would be perfect for people with disabilities who have a hard time operating a computer. While I'm sure this idea would take a decent amount of work and time to perfect, it would take browsing the web to a whole new level. Windows Live Messenger beta has been working at making more use out of webcams and has made it so you can "beam out images you prerecorded with your Webcam of various moods when you type certain emoticons." An idea that seems so ridiculous and was originally a joke actually has potential to work. This just goes to show how rapidly technology is increasing and how so many things that were once impossible are becoming possible.

Old People Reviewing Animal Collective

I found videos on Stereogum of various older folks reviewing Animal Collective's most recent album, "Merriweather Post Pavillion."  I'm just posting them because I found the reactions to be absolutely hilarious.  It's crazy how younger people are so much more open to eccentric music and how undesirable the sound is to those brought up a long time ago.

Creative Commons

Lawrence Lessig has founded a non-profit organization called Creative Commons.  It's primary goal is to expand the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share.  I think that Creative Commons is a great organization and is very necessary in the culture that we live in.  It will allow much more creativity to circulate while still maintaining legality.  The Creative Commons licenses put the users in control of what which rights they reserve and which they do not.  This will eliminate the fear of copyright infringement because the works are being offered to the users to remix or change up.

Girl Talk

Greg Gillis, better known as Girl Talk, is a DJ who takes samples from all different types of songs and combines them to form one song. These are called mash-up style remixes and there has been a lot of controversy regarding them. The New York Times Magazine has referred to his music as "a lawsuit waiting to happen." This is because he does not get permission from the artists to use their work.  Many believe that what he is doing is wrong and that it violates copyright laws, however in my opinion, he isn't harming anybody.  That's what I think has allowed him to be so successful for so long without being penalized.  Gillis doesn't claim the music as his own and openly admits to sampling without authorization.  He appeared in a documentary I watched  last semester entitled "Good Copy Bad Copy" about copyright and culture.  In the documentary, Gillis states that it would be virtually impossible to make his music legally.  Getting permission from every single artist would cost him a ridiculous amount of money.  He makes it clear that if he had the money, he would gladly do everything legally.  That being said, I don't think that anyone should have a problem with his music because it causes no harm to the artists and if anything, actually promotes their music.  For example, when I listened to his most recent album Feed the Animals, there were a few songs on there that I had never heard but really enjoyed.  This led me to look into the artists and listen to their original songs.  Just because what Girl Talk is doing is technically illegal does not mean it is done with malicious intent.  Since no harm is being done and his intentions are not to steal the music, I believe that Greg Gillis should not be sued and continue to do what he has been doing.

New Digital Music Tech By Christians For Christians

While I am not a huge fan of Christian Music, there has been an advancement in the Christian music industry that I found to be very interesting.  WayLife Worship, which is a Christian goods & services provider, has created an extremely useful web-based technology.  This "latest innovation in digital music" is called SongMap .  According to the LifeWay website, SongMap allows users to choose specific sections of songs such as verses, choruses, and transitions in the keys they prefer and download sheet music and audio files that correspond to the custom arrangement.  Originally, this was made specifically for churches and worship leaders to arrange songs for church services.  However, it is branching out into the mainstream music world.  This is a great advancement because it allows listeners to take songs they like and adjusting them to their own tastes.

Favorite Album of the Year

I chose Fleet Foxes self-titled debut album as my favorite album of 2008.  They have received critical acclaim, and have appeared towards the top of almost every "Best Albums of 2008" list that I have stumbled upon.  While it is a great achievement for any band or artist to be placed on a list like this, it is extremely impressive for a rookie band.  Fleet Foxes fuses a number of different styles including appalachian folk, classic rock, country, and pop.  They use such effects that create a very rustic, older sound which is not something that you hear every day.  Of the five in the band, four of them sing creating beautiful harmonies which are very pleasing to the ears.  The tracks are melodically enriching and a lot of lyrical imagery is involved in their music.  The songs are very simplistic and just very nice to listen to.  Everything seems very real, including the lyrics which focus mainly on nature.  For these reasons, Fleet Foxes is my favorite album of 2008.