What a Tool!
Website allows you to watch one of the best sets from Canada
Anthony Augustine
Tool Live at Coachella 2006 —
tinyurl.com/oyqv8
— Along with Daft Punk (and a bunch of bands on the smaller
stages), it was Tool’s epic headlining performance that
created the big buzz at the recent Coachella festival. Effortlessly
working through material from its impressive back catalogue, along
with tracks from its recent album 10,000 Days, Tool showed no
signs of a band that has been inactive for the past couple of
years while working on new material and pursuing other projects.
Somehow music blog Earfarm managed to get a decent bootleg of
the 10-song performance and has uploaded it to web.
Quitting YouTube— tinyurl.com/sy3tt
— Few people will argue the fact that we are undergoing
a digital revolution that’s radically altering the way we
interact with mixed media. That doesn’t mean everyone will
agree on who should set the rules and boundaries of change. While
Napster shifted the way we looked at file distribution, YouTube
changed the way we interacted with video clips. Anytime an emerging
technology challenges the bottom line and shifting profits in
established industries, a period of reaction and adjustment will
follow. Much like the crackdown on the first wave of peer-to-peer
applications, it appears that the anything-goes glory days of
video portals are quickly coming to an end. Not only is mega-giant
YouTube backing away from grey-area content, but it also appears
it’s proactively removing clips it feels may infringe on
a copyright. This is a direct shift in approach and philosophy
on how YouTube handles digital media uploaded by users. Part of
the early success of the site was the ability to index and archive
clips that were part of the larger pop-culture landscape (Daily
Show segments, SNL skits, risqué commercials). While the
site will still be valuable for storing and streaming personal
clips, it will become a ghost town if it doesn’t determine
another way to handle the situation.
Jack Bauer Kill Count — bauercount.com
— If you listen to presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton
or various other attention-seeking politicians, violent video
games are apparently threatening the fragile fabric of American
society. While the ’80s and ’90s saw rock ’n’
roll as public enemy No. 1, adult-themed video games seem to be
the recent focus. It’s easy for politicians and the media
to attack obvious targets like the Grand Theft Auto series, but
little attention has been paid to the growing level of violence
on network TV. Programs such as The Sopranos and The Shield may
not run on the big four networks in the United States, but violent,
action-filled programs such as 24 and The Unit run in prime time.
I have yet to hear Clinton suggest that TV character Jack Bauer
is contributing to gun deaths in the U.S., like she did with GTA
San Andreas protagonist Carl Johnson, even though the rogue CTU
agent has already killed 32 people this season alone. Nor has
Clinton scrutinized the networks or the advertisers who run spots
during these programs. I guess the TV industry just has better
lobbyists.
Anthony Augustine is a freelance music and pop culture writer
who spends way too much time in front of the computer. He also
hosts a weekly two-hour electronic music program on CKUW 95.9
FM Got a site you think he should see? E-mail him at anthony.alloneword@gmail.com. |
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