Photography magazines and radical boundaries
A year or so ago I signed up for a $5 subscription to American Photo magazine. I thought it might be interesting/instructive to see what was being featured from other photographers – that maybe I could be inspired or challenged to branch out or try something different.
After several issues, I have to confess that I regard my $5 as pretty much wasted. Because American Photo magazine really isn’t about the fundamental and classic elements of photography – a compelling landscape, and interesting abstract, and candid glimpse of someone. It’s about pushing the boundaries of subject matter. The latest issue that arrived this week, showcasing the winners of an “Images of the Year” competition, featured such gems as a group of body builders sitting at a table in parochial school attire, a girl with a deer head superimposed instead of hers, two Indonesian store owners in their underwear, and a topless pregnant girl wearing a Batman mask.
Really? These were among the “Images of the Year”?
I discovered the same thing a couple of years ago after hearing about a new photography magazine starting up called JPG magazine, featuring photos submitted (and voted on) by users. “Cool concept”, I thought to myself, so I plunked down my $20 and signed up for a year. But, again, the agenda was to push subject matter boundaries as far as they can go. One issue’s theme called “Beauty Redefined” really did take some unattractive subject matter and try to spin it as beautiful – a sort of in-your-face “Yeah, well we’re taking all your ordinary sensibilities and telling you you’re WRONG!”.
It’s a shame that photography seems to have become more about pushing boundaries than about light, composition, wonder, and compelling scenes. I’ll be the first to admit that there IS a place for photography to be stark, even uncomfortable – capturing sorrow, depicting injustice, creating empathy. But that’s just a fraction of what photography can and should do – stir the soul towards awe, wonder, longing, comraderie, even action.
Let’s hope that the craft can eventually return to First Things – the fundamentals that have helped stir souls for the past 100+ years. I’ll do my (very) small part towards that end.
WKRP, music rights, and why the RIAA sucks
I just finally finished watching season 4 of the “unofficial” WKRP DVD set I picked up online some time ago. From what I can tell this was a joint labor of love from a variety of contributers who had videotaped episodes off the air.
For those too young to know, “WKRP In Cincinnati” was a comedy that originally aired in the late 70s and early 80s. It’s centered around an AM radio station, and the mostly oddball collection of people who worked there. Being set at a rock and roll station, at various times during the episodes they would play snippets of actual songs by popular artists Apparently even at that time, the licensing fees were so high that the show was shot on video tape (as opposed to more expensive film) to offset the licensing costs.
After being canceled, the show went into syndication in the early- to mid-80s, and as is usually the case with syndication, 2-3 minutes of each episode was cut to allow for more commercials. After the first syndication run, the original song licensing rights had expired, so for the 2nd syndication run the song snippets for almost all of the original artists were replaced by generic rock music, and in some cases the actors’ voices were overdubbed with different dialog if they even mentioned the name of an artist.
The series is now being incrementally released on official DVDs, but with the generic music.
The “unofficial” DVD set is almost entirely from the 1st syndication run. So the bad news is that 2-3 minutes of each episode is gone. The good news is that all but one of the episodes in the set still has the originally aired music. And even though the video quality of some of the videotaped episodes is pretty low, it’s still preferable to the full episodes with the crappy generic music being released now.
What’s sad is that the full episodes with original music will probably never see the light of day again. The inane licensing policies of the music labels will make it cost prohibitive. And some are saying that even if some reasonable agreement with the labels could be reached, it’s possible that master copies of the non-overdubbed versions of the episodes may not even exist any more.
If the labels could have seen the incredible promotional value of having their artists featured for a few seconds in an episode, this regrettable situation could have been avoided. I mean – please – did they really think that someone hearing a few seconds of a song would deprive the labels of sales? If anything, it would be more likely to boost sales.
So thanks RIAA for ruining what could have been a great official DVD release. The day that the RIAA dies cannot come soon enough for me.
And sincere thanks to the folks who assembled the unofficial set. You’ve at least somewhat salvaged a great show for posterity.
Yeesh
So apparently there’s this “controversy” over Lowes home improvement stores advertising “family trees” rather than “Christmas trees” in a printed flier. In fact, some of the people protesting Lowes are linking directly to an article on snopes.com:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/christmas/familytree.asp
It’s clear that those protesters pointing to the article on snopes didn’t even RTFA. Lowes has said the wording in the ad was an error and was missed during proofreading, and that indeed there are many displays in Lowes stores for “Christmas” trees, “Christmas” ornaments, etc.
Whether the ad was a mistake or not, why is it that Christians always get their panties in a bunch over stupid-ass stuff like this? I guarantee you there are a great many American Christians who are more upset about this than they are about people dying in Burma, Darfur, or Rwanda. Why is it that our priorities have gotten so messed up? I’m certain that God doesn’t feel threatened by a retail chain calling a bunch of molded plastic a “family tree”. So why should we?
Is it any wonder that Christians and Christianity aren’t taken seriously in our culture?
And they’ll know we are Christians by our misguided reactionary boycotts
By our misguided reactionary boycotts
Yes they’ll know we are Christians by our misguided reactionary boycotts
Wal-Mart To Sell Jesus, Religious Action Figures
I saw this on Digg this morning. Apparently Walmart is going to sell Bible action figures in some of its stores.
Here’s the original link:
http://www.local6.com/news/13686443/detail.html
Here’s the Digg posting, with well-deserved commentary in the comments:
http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Wal_Mart_To_Sell_Jesus_Religious_Action_Figures
And here’s the actual website selling the action figures:
http://store.messengersoffaith.net/taofgltost.html
All of this reminded me of a posting made on the rec.music.christian Internet newsgroup over a dozen years ago by a net acquaintance of mine named Andy Whitman. His posting was in criticism of a new line of “Action Heroes of the Faith!” dolls being sold at Christian bookstores across the country. His criticism caused quite a stir among some of the readers of the newsgroup, so he responded to them with the following. It communicates, better than I could, my feelings about the latest offering of Bible action figures.
Okay, I’m in a foul mood, and that probably colors my perceptions on life, the universe, and everything for the time being, but I’ll do my best to restrain my tongue.
I’ve received a half a dozen or so email messages over the last couple of days questioning my salvation and wondering why I bother to disturb the peace and unity of rec.music.christian. Apparently this is a result of my posting from last week where I suggested several new products for the Christian bookstore market, among them being AbbaWear, evangelistic toast, Phileo Mignon steaks, etc. Apparently some people have interpreted this posting as “mocking Christianity” and “mocking Christ.”
Since I don’t have the time or the inclination to respond individually, let me attempt to address the issues raised in this newsgroup. I apologize if this is the wrong forum, but I don’t have several hours to devote to responding to a bunch of email messages, and I’m hoping that I can address the issues collectively.
First, I am a Christian. Not a particularly good one, but if you put me on the rack and grilled me on my doctrinal positions I’d probably pass muster. I’m trying, with God’s help, to have my life reflect what I believe. The last thing I want to do is mock Christ. Nor do I want to mock Christianity, or other Christians.
In fact, I care about these things very much. And because I care about these things it disturbs me when I see the faith trivialized, and when I see the complexity and richness of the biblical revelation reduced to slogans and caricatures. And, unfortunately, I see this all the time in Christian bookstores, the very places where I would *expect* to find help. It disturbs me to see David, one of the most complex human beings I’ve ever encountered, reduced to an Action Hero of the Faith doll, as if this man who was full of faults and full of faith could be reduced to Rambo in a loincloth. It disturbs me to see bookshelves full of “Ten Easy Steps to …” titles, as if the Christian life was a matter of studying programs and techniques. And it angers me to see so-called Christian companies marketing “Truth Clothing”, turning the gospel into mere crass commercialization, something that Jesus had little patience for in his dealings in the temple.
So do I want to mock Christ, Christianity, Christians? No. But I want to mock those businesses whose business is to make the faith palatable for the masses, who want to turn the tough, lifelong journey of walking with God into a matter of what you wear, and what techniques you follow, and what cute little sayings you tack up on your wall. Do I want to mock that? You bet I do. Because it’s a lie. *That* is not Christianity. And I simply don’t buy the pious rationalizations of, “well, God can use it anyway.” God doesn’t *want* to use it. It’s crap. He wants you to know *Him*, not the dealers at the Jesus Mart.
And I’m getting carried away. Sorry. But I do get frustrated by it all sometimes. I hope this at least partially explains my views.
- Andy Whitman
Musical standards
Liking a musical artist based on his/her physical attractiveness or ability to dance is sort of like choosing a doctor based on his/her ability to draw cartoons of cute bunnies.
Ambulance chasers and the media
So I’m sitting in my living room, trying to tie up some computer-related odds and ends on my laptop. The TV happens to be tuned to CNN Headline news at the moment, and the Nancy Grace show is on. And I have to wonder – why do people watch this crap? It obviously is doing OK in the ratings, which is a sad commentary on the intelligence and discernment of the American public.
It’s not just Nancy Grace – Rita Cosby, Greta Van Susteren, Joe Scarborough, and others focus on the most tawdry, salacious, and voyeuristic stories in order to garner ratings. And it must be effective. Nancy Grace, especially, presents issues in the most simplistic and non-nuanced way possible.
It’s hard not to be a cynic about the culture when there are so many unsophisticated and “cheap thrill” viewers out there. Turn off the TV and get a life, people.
You shall not make for yourself an (American) idol
OK, I admit I’m probably a couple of steps outside the mainstream. But I seriously don’t get the apparently widespread fascination with the lame spectacle known as “American Idol”. This week I’ve seen several blurbs on various news shows speculating on who was going to win. This morning I’m seeing all sorts of blurbs online about who won. And the one, overriding question that keeps flashing across my brain is, “Who gives a rat’s a**?”.
Manufactured “pop” stars who don’t even write the material they’re singing – all the complexity and staying power of a sugar-laden breakfast cereal.
If my life ever gets pathetic enough that I start caring about such things, just shoot me.
Fashion faux pas
I return from my extended blog sabbatical to comment on a news item that showed up today on my Yahoo news page…
Apparently, the dress (provided by Chanel) Reese Witherspoon wore to the Golden Globe awards this week was worn by Kirsten Dunst to the awards in 2003. The article went on to say how embarrassing the situation is for both Witherspoon and Chanel.
How freaking pathetic is it that anyone would be even remotely upset about something like that? “Horrors! Someone else wore this dress three years ago!”
Sheesh. But then again, “Hollywood” and “pathetic” tend to go hand in hand.
Thought for the day…
So I’m thinking of creating a new blog category called “Ways the PCUSA is MUBAR”…
Church policies, and why I keep getting closer to saying goodbye
I just recieved an email from the administrative assistant at church. I got the email because I’m currently on Session (the board of elders) at my church. In the New Testament, the elders provided spiritual guidance and wisdom to a community of believers (not that I think of myself as particularly wise). In the Presbyterian Church (USA), “elder” means “you’re in charge of a committee”. I think I prefer the biblical model. I’m half-way through my 3-year term, and I’ve discovered that being an elder amounts to about 5% spiritual guidance and 95% administration of a committee that you don’t necessarily feel called to lead.
Sometimes, between our monthly meetings, we take care of pressing administrative details via email votes so that we don’t have to have a special meeting. And I appreciate the fact that we do this. But many times, those emails, like the one that came a few minutes ago, read like this (the names have been changed):
“Bob and Cindy Smith would like to have their son, Christopher, baptised at the 10:00 am worship service on June 26th. Please vote yes or no.”
What the hell am I voting on here? Our church has 1100 members – I don’t know Bob and Cindy Smith. I don’t know where they’re at spiritually, whether they understand the meaning of baptism, or anything. Anyway, like I’m going to deny baptism to someone?
I don’t blame our administrative assistant. She’s doing what she’s supposed to do given PCUSA policies. But it demonstrates just how inane, ridiculous, and stupid many of those policies are. And the more I’ve thought about it, the less hopeful I’ve become about the future of the denomination. Certainly I’m becoming more skeptical about my place in it…
My fun with TicketShafter
Saturday morning I logged into TicketMaster’s website in an attempt to secure tickets to the U2 concert in Omaha this December. I have an “atomic” clock on the wall, and I was set up to access the ordering page in one click, so as soon as the clock changed to 10:00 am, I clicked.
It took maybe 20 seconds to enter the type and number of tickets, and go through the verification page, and I was (theoretically) in the queue. I heeded the warnings on the “Searching…” page and refrained from manually refreshing that page or clicking the “Back” button in the browser. And I watched as the self-refreshing page updated its status every 10 seconds, reflecting my position “in line”.
2 minutes…
5 minutes…
10 minutes…
15 minutes or more…
12 minutes…
15 minutes or more…
6 minutes…
15 minutes or more…
It kept doing that for about 20 minutes, until it finally changed to a screen that said “Sorry, we were unable to find any tickets”.
Right.
Thanks.
Political Discourse (well, actually, the absence of it)
This week I finally saw (via the web) Jon Stewart’s appearance on CNN’s Crossfire. While I thought he could have been a little more articulate about how shows like Crossfire are bad for the culture, I agreed with most of what he was saying. What was sad is that hosts Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson seemed to be incapable of understanding Stewart’s point – that what they do has less in common with discourse than it does with a loud dog kennel. The same could be said of Fox’s Hannity & Colmes and many other cable “news” segments on Fox, CNN, MSNBC, etc. – where they use the tired and predictable formula of left vs. right in a dogmatic sparring match. In their unfortunate clamoring for ratings, the goal is simplistic sensationalism, not rational dialogue that seeks understanding.
That’s one reason I pretty much ignore network and cable news, with one exception: Fox News Watch.
Lemmings…
…that’s the first word that comes to mind when I think about the Texas Hold ‘Em Poker craze that seems to be sweeping the culture at the moment. As if poker was something even remotely new. Sheesh, people, do your own thing. Don’t be sheep.
The search for truth. Yeah, right.
I had been meaning to spray the weeds in my back yard for a while now, but was waiting for a time when it wasn’t too windy. Yesterday morning it was fairly calm when I got up, so from 6:00 to 6:45 I sprayed both the front and back yard. I was sort of doddling when it came time to head to work, hoping that the chemicals had dried so that I could let Annie run around the back yard the rest of the day. The yard was still damp at 8:20, so I got my stuff together for work, confined Annie to the dining room, and headed out. I ended up running home at about 10:45 to let Annie out for the day.
All this leads up to the fact that on the way to work, and on each leg of my mid-morning run home, I listened to the hearings regarding the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal on NPR. As I listened, I noticed a couple of things:
1. how redundant most of the Senators were in their repeating how unflattering this situation looks for the U.S. (duh), and
2. that the proceedings were about 30% finding the truth and remedying the problem, and about 70% political posturing by both the Republicans and Democrats on the committee.
I was actually thankful when I got back to the parking garage and had to go back to work. I’m also more convicted than ever that our political process may be irreparably broken, and so I didn’t feel so bad that I didn’t vote yesterday (I’m now a registered Independent, so I really couldn’t vote in the primary anyway).
Music, the RIAA, and downloading
I love music. Lots of artists, styles – I really love music.
I like musical artists. Having known a few, and conversed with even more, I appreciate their gifts, perspectives, and (in many cases) sacrifices that help make their music possible and available.
I don’t much care for record labels, at least the major labels. I’ve heard too many horror stories about artists getting screwed and the labels taking nearly all the profits from CD sales.
And I pretty much hate the RIAA, the legal/lobbying arm of the recording industry.
The MP3 file format has been popular since the mid 90s, and file sharing has been an issue for nearly as long. The writing has been on the wall for a long time now that a good percentage of consumers are satisfied to NOT have a hard CD copy of the music they like. The recording industry has had at least 3 years to come up with a solution to target those consumers. But rather than work together to come up with a compelling legal alternative to Kazaa and other file sharing networks, they’ve gone into a panic-based defense mode and tried to stop downloading – now taking it so far as to sue individuals for file sharing.
Yes, Apple now has their service for Mac users. And there have been a few (mostly lame) services for Windows users. But the general absence of an attractive legal option for downloading has resulted in a situation where Kazaa and other file sharing networks are the ONLY downloading option people – especially younger people – have known, so of course they’ve gotten used to the idea that music is “free”, and that it should be free. The recording industry is bemoaning this perception that music should be free, yet they themselves are primarily responsible for that perception by failing to come up with a comparable paid alternative.
So, recording industry, even though I more or less revile you, I’m going to hand you the solution to this issue:
1. No matter what steps you take, file sharing is going to happen. Get over it. Deal with it. Move on.
2. Cooperate with each other, NOW. Today. Not a single existing paid service today can hold a candle to Kazaa and the other file sharing networks in terms of variety and selection. You’re all too busy trying to protect your assets while you’ve squandered millions of dollars in potential revenues. If your boneheaded lawyers can’t accomplish this within a week, fire them and hire somebody who can. It doesn’t have to be that difficult.
3. Put your entire catalogs online. Not just a hit song here and there. I’m guessing that $10,000-$20,000 worth of hard drives would store everything that’s been released on CD to date.
4. Agree on a consistent pricing structure: a choice of 99 cents per song or $8 for all the songs on a CD. EPs $3-$5. Double CDs $12.
5. Stick with MP3 or some other common format. Offer a couple of different bitrate/quality choices for each song – maybe one at 128 kb/s and one at 256-320 kb/s. The pricing should be the same for either. In fact, let the customer download both if they want – one for a portable device and one for playback on a home stereo. Offer a non-compressed version of the CD on disc for $10.
6. Forget DRM (digital rights management). See Point #1 above. If you restrict what people can do with the music by using stupid media formats or control what portable devices the songs will play on, customers will avoid you like the plague.
7. Offer value-added services for those who pay for their downloads – for example, access to a web site for the artist. Here are some ideas for content:
a. A blog maintained by the artist
b. Regular updates/pics about the current tour, recording sessions, etc.
c. Streaming (non-downloadable) music containing early/alternate mixes, spoken messages from the artist, etc.
d. A discussion forum that the artist participates in
Limiting user logins to 3 times/day will discourage users from sharing their login info with the masses.
These suggestions are coming from a person who has around 1500 CDs in his collection, so I’ve put more than my share of dollars in recording industry coffers. And I’ve downloaded a few songs, too. I’m willing to pay for them once the industry creates a simple, convenient way to do so.
So, recording industry – stop whining and get busy!
Politics amuck
I really hate that the 2004 Presidential election coverage has already been going on for a couple of months now. We’ve got the left trying really hard to point out that they are in fact the left and complaining about right-wing media, and the right trying really hard to point out that they are in fact the right and complaining about liberal media. Both sides take dogmatic, simple-minded stances on issues that are too complex to hash out in the pitiful, sad, and mind-numbingly ignorant 3-1/2 minute “debates” that unfortunately pass for political dialogue on the cable news channels.
It’s those dumbed-down, dogmatic positions that prompted me to secede from the Republican party and register as an independent last fall.
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