Amazon DRM-Free MP3 Store, Now Open
iTunes can suck it. This just in:
“Looks like Amazon went live this morning with a public beta of their MP3 download server. The juicy bits are that all downloads are 256 kbps non-DRMd MP3’s and include the album art. From reading through their FAQ, I don’t see any information regarding whether or not these files are watermarked in any way with your account information. Also, you don’t have the ability to re-download a file at a future date, so you need to be sure you make a backup. I just downloaded a song (my first paid music download) and it worked seamlessly, pretty much the buying experience I expected from Amazon and what I have been waiting for. My fingers are crossed that this is a success and that they can ramp up the catalog…”
I’ll try this out soon. From what I hear the selection isn’t super great yet, but it should eventually catch up with iTunes’, unless some labels/artists absolutely refuse to go DRM-free, in which case they can suck it, too.
I Often Dream of Websites (and Glamour!)
Last night, all I seemed to dream about was websites! It didn’t even involve my own website, per se (despite all my obsessing over it the past few days). It was a shared value community-related thing and it felt oddly exciting (for a dream about websites). It was about self-image and becoming bigger-than-life — first in image, then in reality. I was seeing all these different people’s character profiles, skills inventories and each included an amazing self-portrait that beautifully captured that person at his/her best. All the profiles were somehow connected, too. I was flipping through them like a book (but with no hands, and they were websites).
The self-portrait thing made me think: dudes, we need glamour shots. That’s right, glamour shots. How’s that for a stretch into ‘unspiritual’, ’superficial’ territory (a closed-minded way to look at it, though, but prevalent among artists, intellectuals and spiritual types; and setting things up as opposites that don’t have to be). Fuck that shit. Get yourself some bling and unabashedly pose it up for some cameras. We’re all too cool these days. Remember how unapologetically over-the-top people were with their public images back in the 80s? There was something to that that’s important, that doesn’t have only to do with the excessive levels of narcissism that were characteristic of the decade. And it has nothing to do with the particular aesthetic of the time, either (men in spandex? women wearing quaterback-sized shoulderpads? none of that freaky shit — unless you’re into that freaky shit, then go for it!).
It’s the acknowledgement that self-image and public perception matter (they aren’t everything, but they matter!), and an acceptance of our inherent inclination towards the theatrical, the dramatic. I think we underestimate the importance of playing dress-up and play-acting in real life as one of the keys to happiness. We’re fascinated by celebrities — and make them into celebrities — because they totally ‘get’ this, and are living it, making money doing it. We’re all too repressed (not of necessity, though) so we live vicariously through them and at the same time hate them for it. I know I don’t necessarily speak for everyone on that, but I think I speak for enough of us.
There’s something important in giving that shit up, though. You’re the star of your own show, why not act like it? (I hope you guys realize I’m mostly talking to myself here). If nothing else, it’s just smart. It’s just branding taken to a higher level. It makes sense on a number of levels to encapsulate your ‘character’ somehow in visual, iconic form. Not only will this make you more interesting and memorable to others, it will also act as a ‘power symbol’ for you. It goes right along with the character sketch and the skillz inventory in that regard. As part of a shared value community, I want to relate to my fellow value-sharers visually, as real people, with like, faces and bodies and a personal ’styles’ and stuff — and, also, I want to know them as the selves they are striving to become. I want to lend my energy to that effort by holding that image of you in my mind. I want you to do that for me. Psychic mutual hype alliances.
Hey, here’s an idea if you’re at a loss — give me a photo of yourself, tell me what you envision for yourself, and I’ll photoshop it into 2D reality (it’s your job to take it into 3D, 4D, etc.). Maybe I’ll get real ambitious and paint it into reality — immortalize you in art. I may very well start offering my services as a “godstar” portrait artist, painting for people depictions of their Ideal Selves (approximations, of course, and subject to outgrowing, naturally). This is what my ‘super-secret art project‘ was that I posted about awhile back. When I think about getting back into painting, it’s that idea that gets me super excited, because it gives people a level of value that goes beyond mere decoration (not that there’s anything wrong with making walls look prettier). I think of it as visual hypnotherapy. A portrait like that would act as a powerful focalizer of intent — and an ongoing subliminal suggestion — acting not only as a constant, conscious reminder but also compelling you on deeper, ‘unconscious’ levels towards your ideal self-image, and thus to greater self-actualization.
The symbols we surround ourselves with have more power than most suspect. Most of us are hypnotizing ourselves very haphazardly, not only through the thoughts we feed ourselves (especially about ourselves), but through all the external influences we (do or don’t) surround ourselves with. Our external environment is symbolic of our inner environment, and changes in one facilitate changes in the other. There is no reason not to be taking control of this power, once you’re aware of it. And there is no more creative force in an individual’s life (at least that’s within the individual’s control) than his sense of self — his self image.
So yeah, hit me up for a godstar-portrait if you like. One day it won’t be free… But for now it’s absolutely a mutual benefit thing to make it so. I’ll be providing you with some potent visual hypnotherapy, you’ll be helping me build a kickass art portfolio. Win-win!
<– This here is not the best example of my work, by any means — it’s just a small collage, quickly made (and with no painting involved, which would change everything), but it expresses a lot about the character it depicts through the colors and symbols used that you couldn’t get from a straight photo.
Help Me Feng Shui My S(h)ite!
Alright peoples, I’m back! I have so much to write about, it’s ridiculous, but not yet. At the moment I’m deeply involved in re-evaluating and implementing some changes to my website, and my whole ‘public presentation’ approach in general. The way I’m imagining this in my mind is like a powerful Feng Shui treatment for my virtual and social realm(s). This goes well beyond my website or even my public life, but we’ll stick to the online stuff for now.
Parallel to this, I’m getting big into some great concepts, like the ‘shared value community‘ and ‘mutually inspired abundance‘ (and a bunch of other, related ideas) that my esteemed friend and collegue Tim has been developing and fostering over at his site. So with that in mind, I would like to open up my current Web Feng Shui™ process to the shared value community that is you, my valued readers/listeners/friends.
Basically, like most people, I’m not too good at being objective about myself, so I can really use, and sincerely appreciate, any feedback or ideas you can throw at me — constructive criticism most of all. Even if you think I, my website and everything I have ever created are perfect, I don’t care. That just means you’re a) wrong, b) full of shit (in a nice way of course — and thanks), c) not thinking about it or don’t care, or d) are too easygoing and could use the ‘critiquing’ practice anyway.
Whatever the case, I guarantee that, for every one of you, there has to be at least one thing about this website (or the broader reaches of my omnipresence) that you don’t like, that you think is missing, that you think could be improved in some way, that you want to see/hear more of, or that you think should be scrapped altogether. I want to hear all of it (not song requests or that kind of thing, but you know what I mean). Even if you just have some random interesting idea pop into your head that I may not have thought about, please, send it my way. Share it in the comments here or email me (brooke dot snt at gmail dot com). I’ll be adding ideas of my own in the comments here as well, so you’ll get a better idea of what I’m actually looking for, and it will be a collaborative, ongoing, back-and-forth exchange. And should you ever need creative input from me about your own thing, please ask. We’re all about mutual benefit around here.
I will leave it at that for now, except to say, thanks in advance and I look forward to your comments! If you don’t comment, I’ll assume that means you agree with what I’m thinking right now — that the color scheme really needs to be changed to a dull, mustard yellow, with some dark purple, maybe some dark green… definitely neon orange text… Damn! This is going to look soooo good!!! Oh, and ALL CAPS and no spacing between paragraphs — everywhere! — not just in the comments like it is right now.
(Actually I’m not so much looking to totally redesign the site, visually. I’m thinking more along the lines of conceptual ideas, content/features, branding/marketing, and tweaks to the site to make it a more user-friendly, interactive and awesome place to hang out. I do intend to fix that problem with the comments being in all caps, by the way. Anyone know the CSS involved there?).
PS: coming up next: My Mad Skillz Inventory (Why I’m Kind of a Big Deal). Oh… it is going to be good.
The Poor Deer
One more thing. How’s this for weird (and sad, and infuriating). I recently saw two different deer in less than a 24-hour period that were both badly wounded in their left hind leg.
The first was Friday night. I heard gunshots somewhere nearby, thought “what the hell!!?” then it stopped so I went about my evening. Not long after that I was sitting outside again and a deer went limping across the street in front of my house. It stopped mid-street to lick what looked like a pretty bad gunshot wound on its left hind leg, then continued limping (hopefully up into the mountains). A few seconds later a frightened-looking little fawn scampered to catch up to her. The vibe was not unlike in Bambi when the hunters came. I was pissed off and depressed for the rest of the night.
There’s been word in the news of the city hiring sharp-shooters to “take care of” the deer “problem” in the city. First of all, I don’t see how it’s such a problem. I love the deer, and they stay out of people’s way. Besides, we live right at the foot of a mountain range, what do people expect? Second of all, the sharp-shooter thing hasn’t even been approved yet, so who the hell are these assholes shooting at deer (and missing! leaving the poor things alive but suffering) — in town, where people live, on a Friday night when people are out walking around? Fucking idiots.
Okay, so then the next day I went to visit my psychic friends up at their ranch, and this little orphan fawn that their horses recently adopted was limping around, wounded on his left hind leg. It wasn’t a gunshot wound, thank God (he most likely tore it going through a barbed-wire fence), but I still felt bad for the little guy, and it was a weird coincidence given the deer incident of the night before.
On a happier note, this little guy is possibly the cutest creature on the planet. He sucked on my hair for comfort while my friend checked out the damage on his leg. The pure, innocent joy and compassion I experienced in that moment I can’t even put into words. I wish I could beam it directly into the hearts of every one of you.
Anyway, that’s my little story. Have a happy weekend, hopefully one that involves cute animals, and don’t play with guns. Peace out.
Sowing Seeds of Possibility
A quick update to touch base with y’all.
IMPROVITAPING: is going surprisingly better than expected, and I’m only doing it at half the speed I’m supposed to (every other day instead of every day). The half-hour minimum time requirement was definitely a missing link. I’ll be making this an ongoing thing, and even posting clips from sessions here and there to appease your curiosities (and embarass the hell out of myself).
SONG SEEDS: are what I call the little tidbits of recorded ideas (guitar parts, vocal melodies, etc.) I’ve been collecting over the past several months which carry potentials to become full-grown awesome songs. I have 29 so far, not including the 7 improvitape sessions I’ve already done, each of which contains at least two new song seeds (and some are so close to being full-grown songs already, it freaks me out a little bit).
YOUTUBE: subscribers to my youtube channel have now passed the 800 mark. So weird! Speaking of weird…
TWIN PEAKS: rules! All of you should rent the series and be addicted with me. Actually, something that doesn’t rule… we’re almost through all the episodes. So if I seem all wigged out next week, it’s probably Cooper withdrawals.
DAY JOB: goes swimmingly. It’s 95% official now that I’m going to be the Catholic church’s web designer (for my city, not the Vatican). 80% of my work right now consists of looking at other cities’ Catholic websites, critiquing the hell out of them and taking notes. Awesome. Also awesome is they’re going to pay me to take a CSS course, and then pay me to teach my boss everything I’ve learned. It’s so great to be finally (knock on wood) in a non-ulcer-inducing job, that I like, working for non-assholes. Don’t laugh, this is a big deal for me.
FALL: has arrived! my favorite season of all. The air smells of my favorite childhood memories, and I get to wear cozy sweaters and ponchos again, yay! Speaking of transitional periods…
CHANGES: will be happening around here over the next while, website-wise and who-knows-what-else-wise. How drastic, I don’t know, but I’m re-thinking everything, particularly giving more serious creative thought to the conceptual, theatrical, promotional and collaborative possibilities of my growing Artistic/Musical Empire! haha… right. But seriously, I’m getting a bunch of good ideas, and I even have professional help! In related news…
GATHERTOGETHERIN: Look it up. Check it out. It will come up in conversation. I may even quiz you. In more related news…
SEATTLE: is where I’m headed tomorrow to visit some friends, old and new. Back Sunday!