lovehatethings - When popular culture gets you down, get your rant on and proclaim your lovehate for everything, no matter how guilty the pleasure is.
About Me

When culture gets overinflated, yet refuses to pop, I want to be there with the needle. Enlightened cynics of the world unite! Express your love or hatred of things from the sacred to the mundane.

By the way, there's a good chance any podcast you listen to may have language not suitable for children. If you don't want to take a chance on hearing the occasional f-bomb, don't listen.

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lovehate podcast 182: Why Oh Wyclef?


Wyclef Jean pictured right - photo courtesy icandyinc.org 

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Why do I care anything about a Bob Marley wannabe running for President of Haiti... listen and find out. 

Filed under  //  haiti   politics   wyclef jean  
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Podcast 135: Don't Forgive Them Father - They Know What They've Done

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This podcast is NOT safe for work, NOT safe for kids, NOT safe for those easily offended, NOT safe for those who abhor criticisms of their faith, NOT safe for me to publish, NOT safe for me to record, NOT possible for me to ignore and NOT without a plea, a call, and an insistence that NO ONE is above the law.

Filed under  //  NSFW   NSFW   politics   politics   religion   religion  
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Podcast 135: Don't Forgive Them Father - They Know What They've Done

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This podcast is NOT safe for work, NOT safe for kids, NOT safe for those easily offended, NOT safe for those who abhor criticisms of their faith, NOT safe for me to publish, NOT safe for me to record, NOT possible for me to ignore and NOT without a plea, a call, and an insistence that NO ONE is above the law.

Filed under  //  NSFW   NSFW   politics   politics   religion   religion  
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Podcast 129 - The Everybody Happy New Canadian National Anthem

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After a two-day distraction to keep media outlets and the public sufficiently distracted from the Throne Speech and the Budget, the Tories plans to change the national anthem to make it gender-neutral have apparently evaporated. How transparent can media manipulation be. Any news outlet that printed the anthem change as anything but a distraction should be ashamed.

I, however, have not given up on the dream and have constructed a new national anthem to keep everyone happy. To hear my process and the result, you'll have to listen.

Filed under  //  media   politics  
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Podcast 128 - Anth M Rips On The Anthem Misdirection

I cannot express how pissed off I am that the Canadian Speech from the Throne (kinda like the US State of the Union) lofted up a "distraction of the week" about changing the words to the anthem in order to deflect the shitty state we're in... and the media's biting!

But wait! I can express how pissed off I am... have a listen!

EDIT: Apologies for the Preponderance of Popping Ps. I was apParently more Pissed off that usual.

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Filed under  //  canada   politics   sft   sftt  
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Podcast 120 - Prorogue This Podcast!

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I know that many of you would guess that "Prorogue" would be a dashing thief who gets paid, but instead I offer a ten minute impromptu rant on what Canadian government proroguing is all about, why people SHOULD be pissed off, and how such a messed up system is allowed to continue... it's all about the Benjamins... well, actually it's all about the Loonies.

EDIT: I'm such an idiot that I forgot the Bloc Quebecois when speaking about the political parties. Maybe they need to run in Ontario or do something meaningful for me to care about them.

Filed under  //  canada   gov   harper   politics   prorogue  
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lovehate: Five Myths of Canadian Copyright Dissolution

Having the first few minutes at home, in front of my desktop, since attending the Copyright Town Hall Inc. Lobbying Mixer this past Thursday at the palatial Royal York Hotel in Toronto's Financial District, I have decided to construct a blog post/submission to the copyright website all in one. And far be it from me to do anything normally, I thought I would use my words to poke some holes in the common myths that revolve around relaxed copyright legislation.

Myth One: Copyright is responsible for Canadian Culture

I can't believe that I actually heard one of the record execs in Toronto essentially say that strong copyright laws lead to better corporate abilities to promote Canadian culture around the world. Are we to believe that major label music is to be the hallmark of Canadian culture? Do I really want Nickelback and Avril Lavigne to be what people in Suriname, Guyana, or Guatemala think of my country's culture? Culture existed far before companies figured out how to monetize physical media, and it will always exist, even far after the death of an antiquated copyright system.

Myth Two: Copyright is responsible for creativity

Beyond the suits echoing the following sentiment, I can't believe that so many so-called "artists" tried to assert that strong copyright laws and the ability to monetize content was the reason for their creative output. To say that you cannot afford to create anymore if you can't make a living from it means one of two things: 
  1. You're not an artist, but a craftsperson doing nothing more creative than an assembly line worker cranking out product for money, thus, when the money dries up, so does your "ability".
  2. You actually believe that someone OWES you a living for doing something you proclaim to LOVE doing. I have written music, plays, essays, articles, poetry for all of my adult life because I enjoy creating. Let me repeat that - I ENJOY CREATING! I wish I could make as much money writing and playing music as I do in my day job, but I've accepted reality and not stopped creating. And before you think you're better than me at writing or music just because your output is marketable to the mainstream, and a suit wants to rake 98% of your money, get your head out of your ass.
Myth Three: Copyright protects content creators from getting ripped off

Copyright ensures that music creators will get ripped off by record labels. Most artists go deep in the hole when recording and need to sell tens if not hundreds of thousands of copies of a CD to get out of the red with labels. Labels know how to monetize the physical media platforms (like CDs) very well. They have not figured out how to monetize digital distribution systems. The "old school" way demands greasing palms of everyone and anyone connected with the industry to get radio play. A Creative Commons approach to copyright for musicians ensures all reasonable protections and allows for everyone online to find new ways to use and promote music - what a concept, public promotion instead of A&R departments!

But now anyone can record in their basement, and anyone can distribute online. Anyone has the viral video lottery shot that's probably even higher than catching big with a label. The record labels are surely being propped up by multi-conglomerate properties that form the axes of big media evil that swallow up all that threatens their dominance. There is no reason to think that band who can sell 2000 copies of a CD at $5 online would be any worse off financially than selling 20000 copies for a major label. The abusive Chris Brown sold tens of thousands of copies of one song because of its misappropriation in a YouTube wedding video. Record labels sell dreams of celebrity that are slimmer than becoming a professional athlete.

Myth Four: Harsh copyright punishments will deter P2P theft

Harsh copyright punishments will infuriate half the population who uses P2P for downloading copyrighted and legally-shared files.

To use an analogy, the Queen Elizabeth Way highway between Hamilton and Toronto has a posted speed limit of 100kph. When traffic is not bottlenecked, cars in the fast lane average 120kph without repercussion because EVERYONE in that lane does it. Doesn't necessarily make it right, but if the speed limit went up to 120kph, I bet the real speed would jump to 140kph. Drivers feel that they can drive safely above 100kph and, when weighing the value of the speed to their destination above the relative inability of authorities to choose to enforce the law, they choose to continue breaking it. Downloaders access copyrighted files for free because they don't feel they get value for the $15-20 they are forced to spend on a CD when they've only heard one song on the radio, television, YouTube, or Blip.fm.

Myth Five: ISP throttling of bandwidth is a logical way to deter pirating

Let me borrow another analogy. In Miami, 90% of all open sea drug smuggling occurs via speedboat, although all speedboats used for smuggling only account for a minuscule fraction of all the speedboats in Miami. The US Coast Guard decides to ban speedboats from all waters in Florida and only authorizes former speedboat users to travel in canoes. 

Sounds ridiculous? 

This is exactly the logic that ISPs are using when throttling an internet users traffic just because they use a Bit Torrent client. There is no sense in the idea that because pirates use Bit Torrent clients, that everyone who uses a Bit Torrent client must be a pirate. To allow ISPs to throttle on the basis on a type of software is unfair to consumers and, most often, not ever told to the customer.

And this analogy is especially ridiculous if you believe the ISPs are throttling to protect copyright. Their prime motivation is to save bandwidth for themselves so they can nickel and dime customers that are bound their CRTC-enforced monopolies.
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That's my two cents on copyright reform, which is probably more than a musical artist signed to a major label makes when I buy a copy of their song on iTunes.

Filed under  //  artist   canada   copycon   copyright   film   hearings   intellectual property   media   monetization   music   politics  
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Podcast 87 - Raw Seal Heart

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Canadian Governor-General Michaelle Jean ate a piece of raw seal heart in an Inuit community yesterday... and I say bloody well flippering right!

eating seal

Filed under  //  canada   canadian   government   governor general   inuit   michaelle jean   northern canada   politics   raw seal heart   seal hunt  
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thinlgets: the Swedish Pirate Party

So politics in Sweden has come down to the big question: just because someone treats politics a bit tongue-in-cheek, does that mean they can't do an effective job of representing a population in government?

The Pirate Party of Sweden has a membership that is outgrowing that of the Green Party, has 50% of all males under 30 ready to vote for them, and needs a 100,000 votes in total to get a seat in parliament. Swedens proportional system of government allows for the popular vote to dictate representation. That, as is common in North America, we are often restricted to a single choice, left-side/right-side conundrum may be traditional to us, but is hardly effective representation.

In Canada, for many years, we had the Rhino Party who proposed ludicrous ideas to maintaining the country, but, upon reflection, I sometimes wonder if the ludicrous is not what's often needed.

So here's to the Pirate Party. Avast ye scurvy dogs! Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum! If I lived in Sweden, they'd have my vote just on the name alone.

pirate party of sweden

Filed under  //  europe   international   pirate   politics   sweden  
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thinglets: The Bowling Lobby to Topple Obama

Okay, so we've all heard about the White House's bowling alley and, if not, now you know. Suffice to say that there's been talk of removing the bowling alley altogether under an Obama presidency. To this news, Jim Sturm, President of the Bowling Proprietor's Association of America claims:

"It would be a sad, sad day" if Mr. Obama scrapped the bowling lane... I think his political analysts ought to take a long look at removing [it]. It could have a long-term impact on his political prospects."

Really!?! Can you believe the size of the three-holed balls on the Sturm to think that he can strike at Obama's presidency and topple his political future? People are losing their houses all over the country and there's talk of retrofitting a bowling alley? Here's an idea Sturm, take the retrofit money and make someone's mortgage payments. That alley looks better than 90% of the recrooms in America anyway... well in Austin Powers' vision of America.

Then again, I'm Canadian... if they tried to take the hockey rink from under 24 Sussex Drive, I might be pissed off too.

white house bowling alley remodel

Filed under  //  politics   pop culture   sports   thinglets  
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