Dyscultured

With EMI announcing that they will only be selling CDs to large retailers from now on , and that small stores will have to buy their stock from the “large” retailers (read: Walmart), CDs and independent music stores are hearing the death knell in the not-to-distant-future. Gone are the days I remember of growing up at the local record store and meeting with friends, music geeks, and other pretentious community members who spent hours debating who the best drummer was. It may have been a bit sad, but it was ours. I’m certainly not expecting the Compact Disc to be around forever, but to screw over the independent retailer and pumping business to a chain like Walmart… I better not hear any more stats about how CD sales are slipping as a defense against P2P; their obviously doing their best to make sure sales fail. Hey EMI, the Jerkstore called and they’re all out of you! we all had to say goodbye unlimited supply – e.m.i. there is no reason why – e.m.i. i tell you it was all a frame – e.m

As the second funniest person involved with DyscultureD, I tend to find the second-tier stories that further augment our argument that pop culture phenomena can often be dysfunctional.  With that in mind, I’d like to introduce a little segment I’ve named in homage to the great Walter Cronkite: And That’s The Way It – WHAT? This week, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Centre in New York discovered that Brilliant Blue G can help mend spinal injuries .  A revolutionary breakthrough, indeed.  However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Brilliant Blue G is also the food dye that is used in making Blue M&Ms. Oh, and one of the side effects is that when injected with the compound, the skin of the patient turns temporarily blue. Well, at least with a healthy spine one can run away from Gargamel should he mistake them for a giant Smurf.

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via lovehatethings Is everyone heading down to the Great Outdoor Sports Equipment Supply Depot to get their backpacks ready for a three week stint in a line outside their neighborhood Apple Store to wait for the new iTablet ? Have you borrowed your sci-fi geek friend’s Dune-inspired Fremen suit so that you can filter your own urine and sweat and not give up your spot in line? Why are people so excited for a fragile 11″ piece of vaporware? I just don’t get it. I do have issues which make me question why I would EVER want one of these rumored devices and, by extension, why anyone else would. First Issue: iPhone OS – I can’t imagine having a big screen version that merely echoes the functionality of an iPhone. The iPhone OS is neat, but if this device is going to replace a netbook, I have the feeling people will want to run more than one application at a time. Notice how the iPhone commercials never say “there are Apps for that.” To promote this as a slogan would imply that you could run

Show Notes Full Dysclosure Apple Tablet on the way … again… maybe? Chinese iPhone suicide … who’s at fault? COMIC-CON … a dyscussion of all the latest Television and Film news. Nortel gets dysmantled and sold… where’s the pot of gold hiding ? Copyright dyscussions hit the road and want to hear your thoughts … well, maybe not YOU! Wheel of Pop Buddy Flicks Websites of the Week Shiddonni – for creative kids or the creative kid in all of us. Zazzle – Ever had a great idea for a t-shirt, mug or bumper sticker? Sell it! Music William Delray – Loved and Respected Let us know what you think about the new website design and drop a comment about anything on the podcast.

We spent a bit of time over the past couple of days “reDysigning” the blog.  A fresh look, a couple of fresh new features (polls and a Twitter feed to name a few) gives the site a bit more of a vibrant feel.  Or so we think. We’d like your opinion on the site – both the look and content – because we want to put together a blog and podcast that you want to see and hear. A recent guest editorial by MCM has got us thinking that we’d like more “op/ed” pieces for the blog, so if you’ve got something you’d like to share, contact us .  We’d love to hear from you. Episode 41 of our weekly podcast will be up later on, so be sure to give it (and our back catalog of 40 podcasts!) a listen.  Subscribe via iTunes or listen to it right here. Thanks for reading – and listening.  Our aim, as always, is to have more people “dyscover” DyscultureD.  We’re glad you already have.

The following is a guest post by MCM. Copyright sucks. You heard me, it sucks.  It’s the biggest scam of the modern era, wasting billions of dollars and even more time, all debating stuff that can’t be solved.  When historians look back on us, they’re going to say to themselves: “Wow, this makes the angels-on-the-pin debate look substantive.” What’s wrong with copyright?  It’s fundamentally incapable of doing what people think it can do.  We’ve got arguments like “information wants to be free” and “creators are starving”, neither of which is true.  People latch on to those ideas because they’re solid ground, but they’re utter nonsense.  You can’t prove that information wants anything any more than you can prove the emotional state of a rock.  Here, let me demonstrate: the flower right next to you wants a McFlurry.  Better get on that. We don’t need to rework copyright, we need to fix society to make copyright obsolete.  Kicking puppies is illegal, but not many people do it to begin wit

Show Notes Full Dysclosure Digg’s name is URL – Digg hijacks tinyurl traffic Muggles make good – a Harry weekend Office goes into the clouds Comic-con ifragillisticexpialidocious The HTC Dream comes with Androids Canadians’ privacy at risk from Facebook? CRTC does whistle-stop tour to decide about Net Neutrality Television Emmy Nominations Canadians in the Race Music Arctic – Through the Spaces from their Unbeliever EP Our apologies for incorrectly referring to Arctic as “Project Arctic” in the podcast… although we do think Project Arctic is a cool name as well!

Show Notes Remember that July 15th is Text Nothing Day Full Dysclosure Google seeks to be a gamechanger with Chrome OS Rogers subsidizes netbooks for expensive data plans Who should be the long arm of the net law in Canada? Indie filmmakers support Bit Torrent technology and Net Neutrality United Breaks Guitars … and then they break our hearts Fiddy Cent works cheap PR with teen Youtube critic Movies Bruno models Number One behaviour Michael Moore’s latest film a “ love story “ Ryan Reynolds get greenlit as Green Lantern Websites of the Week Twitterfall – have a waterfall of aggregated tweets flow down your browser Nerdfitness – an oxymoron by name and a good idea for us all by nature Music Endangered Ape – Tales of Survivalist Horror Pt. 2

Show Notes Full Dysclosure The scratch ticket affair that is the MJ memorial Bell buys Virgin Mobile and The Source BNN buckles on IP and copyright video clips Pirate Bay sells short Alternate Bit Torrent options Browser Wars Part @?$#% Canadian made TV hitting US Big 3 Cheap Trick’s not-so-cheap trick in music promotion Websites of the Week Mike – bookseer.com – a simple recommendation engine for your NEXT read Anth – theusermanualsite.com – ever lost a user manual for a gadget or appliance? Find it here. Music Laura Smith – I Spy a Monster – www.laurasmithmusic.com