Why the fuck not, it’s Monday, so let’s do a list of thoughts/gripes/excitements/etc why don’t we!?
- There are a LOT of albums coming out in the next couple of months that I am really, really looking forward to: Uh Huh Her, Jennifer Hudson, Lesley Roy, The Script (tomorrow!), Kaiser Chiefs (!!!), Jenny Lewis, Keane, P!nk, Jem, John McLaughlin, Will Young (!!!), Rachael Yamagata, Ray LaMontagne, and perhaps most importantly, Lady GaGa (AHHHHH!!!). That is a LOT of music coming in the near future that I am thrilled to get my hands on (and into my ears). What releases are you looking forward to?
- For the past month (give or take), XM has been playing nothing but Coldplay on one of my favorite channels, U-Pop. I found out the other day that there is another channel that is playing nothing but Coldplay as well. Now, I like the new CD, but I am not a fan of their previous stuff. Regardless, I think that it is extremely ridiculous to devote two full channels for a full month to a band like Coldplay; they only have 4 records out! WTF XM?
- Since I am on a gripe about XM, I want to know what the deal is with the commercials. Seriously, I understand them on talk radio, because those shows actually have breaks for commercials on the regular networks, so commercials are acceptable on those shows. However, XM touts themselves as commercial free, which is an absolute LIE. I want my $175 a year I spend on XM back if I have to listen to commercials, it just doesn’t seem right, to pay for commercial free programming, and then be lied to, does it?
- I feel like I might be the only one, but the fact that the Olympic opening ceremony cost a reported $100 million really bothers me. It was pretty and all, but that money could have been used WAY more effectively, even in China, where plenty of people live in poverty. I just feel like it was a lot of “showing off” for the rest of the world, and I really felt like it not only teetered on “excess”, but it was kind of a slap in the face to all of the poor people in China that really have actual needs that will last way longer than the 4 hour ceremony that occurred last Friday. It was, however, funny to see our dork of a president yawning and tapping his feet in boredom during the march-out of the countries participating. What an idiot to represent us to the world.
- As for the Olympics themselves, we watched the women’s gymnastics last night, and it was fun. I see this next couple of weeks being filled with wondering who wins what, and wanting to watch some of the events. I guess we’ll see how much we actually watch, because I get burned out on that crap pretty fast, really.
- I think that’s about it really. I really want Apple to hurry up and release a new ipod Touch for my birthday!
Let’s consider how much money flowed (and continues to flow) from rich nations into China as a result of these festivities. NBC alone paid somewhere around $6 billion for the rights to broadcast the games. A lot of that money goes straight to China. In addition, the government has spent $40 billion on upgrading the city and the country in order to host the games. Was that money wasted?
Well, this would make sense only if the ceremony consisted of 1)making a big pile of 100 million dollar bills and 2) setting it on fire. But how many of those dollars (yuan) actually went to the hard working people of China? Let’s see, the 40,000 fireworks had to be manufactured by someone. Someone had to act as security. Someone had to direct traffic. Someone had to sew the costumes, build the sets, print the banners, do the makeup, clean the toilets, play the music, operate the cameras, screw in the light bulbs, et cetera ad infinitum. If you’re suggesting that it would have been better to simply give thirteen dollars to each resident of China rather than hire these tens of thousands of people to help entertain the world, you may be taking your anti-capitalism a bit too far.
Oh, and I hate commercials on XM, too, but it’s like cable TV… They figure out what people will tolerate, and then they do it. I pay a lot more for cable than I do XM, and there are a lot more commercials on cable!
Garrett, I agree that money went into China, and that is a great thing, but it cost upwards of 40 billion to get this thing off the ground. I just think that the opening ceremony was a bit much, and they could have used a lot of that for better purposes. But again… that’s my opinion; you are fully entitled to yours
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NO ONLY DUANE’S OPINION MATTERS! POOL BOY HAS SPOKEN!
1. China’s opening ceremony actually cost $300 million. Is that a lot of money? Yes. Could that money have been better spent elsewhere? Possibly. But it was an absolutely amazing spectacle and I think a lot of Chinese were PROUD of what their country has accomplished in the past, present and future. If America had spent similar amounts of cash on the ‘96 Atlanta opening ceremony, there would have been lots of bitching on both sides.. but when the opening ceremony was over, all Americans would be saying, “Fuck yeah, we’re awesome!” Of course, the ‘96 ceremony was dismal.
2. Booo XM’s commercial. Why do I pay them? They devoted a whole channel to Michael Jackson a few months ago and I thought it would be awesome, but.. no. It was terrible.
Actually, hate to burst your bubble here but XM no longer advertise themselves as commercial free, haven’t done for about 2&fac12; years now ever since the commercial station appeared. And they are few and far between, AND they are advertised as commercial on the receiver (for example channel 22 MIX comes up as MIX cm on ours)
Currently the list of commercial channels is as follows:
11 Nashville
21 KISS
22 MIX
24 Sunny
This is why on the XM guide, these are listed last, they are not XM channels perse, they are contracted out to Clear Channel but fear not for the agreement they have with Clear Channel for the commercial channels ends this year.
So I’m guessing your pissed at KISS, no?
I would not want to pay for XM and get commercials. But that is the way of the world. I think ads are here to stay. Not sure what I am looking forward to. I do know there are tho books I can’t wait to be published, a Barbara Vine novel and a P.D. James novel, both coming out in England before coming out here. I would order them then but because of our President, the dollar is so low that it would really cost an arm and a leg, so I probably will wait. I look to you for new music!
Jen, I remember hearing that it was 300 million as well, but only found documentation for the 100 million figure… weird. Yeah, I get what they wanted to do; show us that they aren’t a backward country just because they are communist. Well, it was impressive, but I think it was definitely excessive.
Greg… hmmm, I wonder why mine doesn’t do that?!?! ANGER.
Doug, new music on Friday!