Amezri's Vox of Fun

These four songs? Well, the first two I've heard live, and they rock. The second two would be awesome live performances.

The first one above is Rasputina covering "If Your Kisses Can't Hold the Man You Love," and the second is Rasputina's "HIgh On Life."

David Hewlett's A Dog's Breakfast came out a couple months back. I ordered it from Amazon and only recently just watched it. It's a really fun movie, so I suggest everyone give it a try! The whole cast is fantastic and the twist at the end was great.

Next suggestion is A Couple of Days and Nights, in which Erika Amato of Velvet Chain plays one of the leads. I... actually haven't gotten this one yet as I'm a putz and keep forgetting to order it. But I hear it's good, so, you know, check it out!

The whole Voltaire thing has turned into a debacle, though maybe only in my mind. A few days I ago I started getting comments on my Vox from random people telling me that my Voltaire files were uploaded without his approval.  I thought, "huh. I don't think Voltaire would have a problem with it." It seems Vox had eaten the description I put in that had his URL in it. I fixed that. I also e-mailed Voltaire to ask what his policy was on uploading tracks as streaming only. Well, another comment and digging later, I find out that he links to one of my Vox uploads in a MySpace blog. About Robot Chicken. And at the bottom, he snarks about how he knew that there would be an illegal copy up somewhere:

For the record, I'm not even sure what the fuck this site is that has my monologues up on it.... I certainly didn't authorize it. But somehow I figured that if I did a search for the monologue name I'd find it living illegally SOMEWHERE....

Okay. Fine.

So I e-mail Voltaire for whatever reason to let him know that I just saw his blog and I'm sorry I hadn't asked permission first, but I didn't think he would mind since they were streaming only and I had linked to his site (which, he said himself is okay!) and I hope that it's okay. That's his opportunity to tell me he'd rather that I take them down. He didn't.

My email:

Voltaire,

Via various comments left on my page to have your clips taken down, I discovered that you'd linked to one of my files on your myspace blog.

I had posted those files for my friends in the 501st because they'd been hearing me talk about you, your monologs, and your Star Wars song all weekend at con. I didn't really intend for anyone else to have general, publicly-linked access to the files. When I posted them, I had put a link to voltaire.net on them so that the guys who were interested could go to your page. It's been months since I posted them and somewhere along the way, Vox lost the description.

Yesterday I e-mailed you to ask your opinion on posting streaming files online. I apologize for not asking before I put them up. It was not my intention to take money from you, but rather to promote your work.

The files are still there, still streaming only and not downloadable, and I have amended the description with an apology and a link to your myspace page. I hope this is still okay with you and I'm sorry for any trouble.

regards,

What I get back is this:

I remember you email about Cantina several days ago.

So what you're telling me is that you decided to ask me for permission
months after you put these up?  And only because you realized I caught
wind of them?

shady.

v

Yeah, actually, that e-mail was a hypothetical as it started with, "IN YOUR OPINION" and went on with, "if I were to..." But whatever.

Also... wtf calling ME shady? Huh.

I wrote back with:

Uh. Sorry? When I e-mailed you yesterday, I had absolutely no idea that you had hotlinked my file from your blog -- I don't even read your blog. I have worked with other musicians and they've never minded streaming files as long as it's not the whole album, it's not downloadable, I'm not making money off it, and I link back. Vox ate my link at some point. I'm sorry. I actually don't check it all that often.

When people started leaving comments on my blog as if they were an official spokesperson or whatever, I decided to email you and ask your opinion because I didn't think you were one to get all bothered over it -- I admit that it was wrong of me to assume. I just found out about the blog post today at 9:00 this morning. I felt bad, apologized on my blog, apologized to one of the comments, and sent a letter of apology to you.

Sorry if it seemed "shady." If you had a problem with it, you could have just left me a comment or sent an email asking me to take it down. Instead, you used it in a blog post along with another "illegal" clip from YouTube on an unrelated topic and then made some off-hand comment about the availability of illegal copies. That is, in my opinion, rather hypocritical. Either condemn the entire practice or just don't bring it up whilst using said illegal clips to illustrate your point.

I am not out to rip you off or cheat you out of profits. I spend $40-60 easy every time I see you at ICON, nevermind occasionally buying things when you offered them online. I own all of your CDs and I have gotten several other people to purchase your CDs.

I have not posted any other files elsewhere and these files were really just meant for my friends in the 501st because I thought they'd find it amusing and be willing to check out a "Goth" musician once they heard some tracks. If you want me to take down those files I will and once again, I apologize.

What I get back from him is a long ass e-mail basically trying to come down on me. Uh. Whatever, dude. It's freakin' long, so I'm taking snippets.

Mentioning that is like saying, "hey I bought your house so I guess it's
okay if I steal your car"

No, actually, mentioning that I buy all your shit is me letting you know that I am a fan and I'm trying to support you. The car analogy makes no sense. Let me fix it. It's actually like saying, "hey, I just bought this awesome house this guy built! Come check it out. Stay in some rooms and see how it feels. Go buy a house from him!" Especially since none of the files were downloadable so I wasn't giving anything away for free.

All things said, the only point I was trying to make is that you should
ask the artist FIRST.. not AFTER you get caught with your hand in the
cookie jar.

Did he even read my e-mail? I said that I didn't know anything about his stupid blog post because I don't read his freaking CrackSpace. Get it through your gel-covered skull -- I had no clue about your blog post until one of your fans mentioned it while telling me to take down files -- even though you didn't -- AFTER I told them I e-mailed Voltaire already.

(Emphasis below is mine.)

For the record, I'm FINE with people putting stuff up for stream-only.
I think you should be able to see/hear absolutely anything you want to on
the internet. It's just when people make your stuff available for download
that it turns not so good for me. Because doing this stuff is how I feed
my child. So naturally people giving it away means he doesn't eat. It's
really that simple.

Yeah, I know, jackass. That's why I posted them as streaming files and didn't just upload the MP3s to my server or MegaUpload or sendspace or yousendit or any of the other dozens of file sharing sites out there. He just said -- right there -- that he has no problem with streaming-only and that's what it is! Show me where there's a download link on Vox for that. Show. Me.
 

As for me being a hypocrite, I don't put up ANYONE's stuff EVER!!!! I may
point to something that's up... but Cartoon Network is free to pull it at
any time. It's their right and believe me, they do it frequently. They
tool off the songs of mine that were on Youtube. And hey, that's fair.
They have the right to make that decision. I won't cry about it.

Actually, the hypocritical part comes in where he says, "I think you should be able to see/hear absolutely anything you want to on the internet." By that reasoning, I ought to be able to post those streaming files that did initially include a link to his site, without him snarking on his blog about it. Of course, finally he coughed up the point that I should have asked first. Look. Sorry. In hindsight I guess I could have asked first. But realistically who thinks to do that when they're posting stuff for their friends? I wanted someone to hear it, so I put it up there. By his own admission, I should be able to do that!

This entire thing could have been avoided if he didn't make that snarky comment on his blog about being able to find illegal copies via Google, then hotlinking my vox file, and not bothering to comment if it was that big of a deal. He could have just said, "I don't know what this site is or why my monologue is there, but they could have just asked first." Instead he's got crusading fantards coming after me.

The fact that the blog wasn't even about the illegal uploading of his files just makes it more annoying because if it were, I'd fire off an "oops, sorry" e-mail and take them down. Now I'm just going to leave them up and be bitchy.

All things said, the only point I was trying to make is that you should
ask the artist FIRST.. not AFTER you get caught with your hand in the
cookie jar.

Yeah. Fine. Except I DIDN'T have a damn clue he knew. I didn't think he was one to be concerned with people promoting him in a way that did not involve posting full MP3 downloads everywhere. So I initially e-mailed him to double check so I could write those morons back and tell them Voltaire was fine with it. He admits that he is! So stop trying to make me feel guilty, you wanker. As far as I'm concerned, it's more akin to discovering that someone is spinning your CD on a local indie station. What's the blog post for that going to look like? "Who's this fuck playing my songs on the radio? I didn't say he could." Get a grip.

It was just the semblance of subterfuge that bothered me.
Do you know what I mean?

Semblance of subterfuge"?! Whatever.

Maybe I should have put it this way:
I'm glad you like the music! i'm glad you shared it with your friends!
Next time please just ask first being making it available.  cool?

Yeah. Probably would have been a better idea.

I replied to that whole e-mail with:

Okay, I understand. I'm sorry for the confusion, any trouble, and for calling you a hypocrite. I won't be promoting your music in such a manner again.

By "hypocrite," I mean "I should have called you a cheap Hot Topic goth." And by "promoting your music in such a manner again" I mean "promoting your music ever again."

I didn't get any sort of reply to that. Which is fine.

Honestly, it's not even what he said, but how he said it. If he had asked me to take the files down, I would have -- even if he was a jackhole about it. I offered; gave him an opening to tell me to take them down and he didn't. Instead he bitched that I didn't ask first. Okay, fine. I GET IT. I could have done without the bitching, though.

I know I'm being petty and I'm not exactly 100% (or even 60%) on the moral high ground. But, seriously? For an artist who depends so much on word of mouth, he was being rather jerky. With a money-shelling fan. Nice one. ... All I'm saying is that he could have been slightly more diplomatic.

I'm still getting residual comments from his fantards telling me to take down the tracks and referring to his blog. You know what? Voltaire didn't ask me to take them down, so I'm not taking them down. And frankly, this is all making me very, very cranky (if you haven't already picked up on that, being at the end of this rant).

Here's a lovely one I got today:

The link goes to your site--otherwise I would have never found it.

Hence, Voltaire was pissed that you put his work on your site without permission.  Especially since Voltaire is generally pretty easygoing with people using his work when they ask him about it, provided they credit him.

Hey, if you've gotten permission since 26 October 2007 (so, within the week), brilliant.

But the fact remains that you originally put it up without his permission, and it annoyed him.

I was just making you aware of the fact that, as far as Voltaire was concerned, at that point in time, he didn't give you permission to post his material.

Yeah. Thanks. Whatever.

If Voltaire was that upset about it, I think he and his net-savvy self could have figured out how to use the comment button or found an e-mail link to tell me to take it down. So piss off, Voltaire fantards. If he hasn't asked me to take them down, I'm not going to so you can all keep your comments to yourself.

So, Simon Pegg is going to be Scotty in the new Star Trek movie. For those people who for some bizarre reason think Pegg can't do the Scottish accent (wtf??!) here's a clip from when he hosted the XFM radio show during the Edinburgh festival in 2002.

This is a comedy piece and Pegg can do a proper Scottish accent. Not that.. Scotty had a proper Scottish accent...

For MerlynNY....

You like music? Do you like digital downloads? Do you like discovering new music? Check out Amie Street.

And because I'm fraking lazy, here's what I wrote up and already posted to my LJ:

So I read this WIRED blog about Amie Street, which lead me to the band Jet Overhead.

I've never actually paid for MP3s before, but I just did. Why? Not only is this Canadian band great, they also have their entire catalogue on their website as a voluntary purchase. Never heard of such a thing... but basically you can download whatever you want and they have a sort of pricing guide where you don't really have to pay for them, but if you're feeling generous, you can throw a little something their way. They suggest $5 for their first album. Totally worth it and I think it's good to encourage that sort of thing.

I'll have a poke through Amie Street when I have more time, but the premise is that all songs start out as a free download and the price increases as the download count increases, maxing out at $0.98 per song. The MP3s have no DRM. You can earn credit by recommending tracks to friends. You purchase a certain number of credits to allow you to pay for music (from $3 for 300 cents to $25 for 2500cents). Sounds like an interesting system.

David Tennant pranks producer Julie Gardner. The audio's a bit freaky... but that's how I got it.

Totally funny. He calls in to Richard Evans' BBC Wales show pretending to be Nigel Gardner, saying that he thinks he's related to Julie and, hey, can she get him a part on the show. LOL

Nigel (David): I really think I should be in the next series--
Julie: I'm sure you do.
David: My name's not really Nigel, it's David Tennant (switches back to his normal accent). How you doing, Julie?
Julie: Oh, you're so naughty.
Richard Evans: I was about to ask you whether you had the acting experience, Nigel.
Julie: Well, he's no very good, clearly, with an accent like that.
David: Oh, that's one of my best accents!
Julie: Oh, it was all over the place!

Then Julie tries to get David to plug The Runaway Bride:

Julie: Tell the listeners about what you're doing on Christmas day. You will be watching?
David: There is something on the telly about 7 o'clock. The Christmas edition of Emmerdale. I think everyone should be tuning in.
Julie: Stop!

I had to upload this because it's just too funny. On the Virgin Radio Breakfast Show, one of the DJs mentioned she'd seen David out and about and when he bent over, she noticed he was wearing... ladies underpants.

Well, David called the radio station to talk to the DJs to clear it up! XD

Geoff: Are you really David Tennant?
David: You bet I am!
Geoff: And do you really wear ladies knickers?
David: I absolutely do not! [laughing] I get back from the V Festival in the middle of the night, fall asleep in a heap, wake up, turn the radio on and I'm accused of wearing ladies knickers! What's goin' on?
Geoff: Can you remember -- I imagine the V Festival's much of a haze to you, David, but --
David: I think it's more of a haze to you or Annabelle, to be honest with you.
Geoff: Can you remember what underpants you were wearing on the day?
David: I'm looking at them right now; they're lying in a heap by my bed. And it's a pair of white Calvin Kleins, which does have a red band around it, but there's nothing satiny nor lacy about it.
Annabelle: I saw them, David!
David: Hey, listen, you can come over and look at them right now! [laughing] This is-- you see -- you know, they always [??] on the radio, I'll be in the Sun tomorrow, so I'm kind of... truth.

Then Geoff asks him to send the underpants to them in the mail XD

Geoff: Could you not send them to us, for proof?
David:  I think you're just getting sick now.
Geoff: Think how much money I could sell those for at a convention.
David: Well... I don't think we want to go there.
Geoff: Well, thank you for clearing that up for us. And by the way [mentions something he talked about before]
David: Oh, I don't know if I heard that bit. I switched on the radio and it went, 'David Tennant bent over and was wearing ladies knickers.' It couldn't have been better or worse timing.

ZOMG *dies from teh funny*

Here's some more audio clips, this time from Viggo Mortensen's Don't Tell Me What to Do (1993) and pandemoniumfromamerica (2003).

First up is an excerpt from track Five of Don't Tell Me What To Do, where Viggo combines his poetry with music with an.. interesting effect. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of it. I love his photography much more, but have a listen. It's a combination of three pieces, "Don't Tell Me What to Do," Kaelighed (a Danish poem by Viggo Stuckenberg), and "One Morning".

Next there are two items from pandemoniumfromamerica, which most of fandom knows as the album with Elijah and Dom. I've uploaded "Shadow" (words and vocals by Dom, Billy playing bass, Elijah on percussion, and Viggo on drums and piano) and "Half Fling," which is basically Dom & Elijah being completely nuts.

Enjoy!