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I fell for her - Hard




Belief is drought


I fell in affection
For her face
And her confidence
And her body
Without really knowing
Who she was.
Common amongst the young
But I thought
I knew better.

I guess I was hoping for something different
This time around
Though experience had taught me otherwise
It’s nice to pretend
As we like to believe
In a prime-time outcome
A core that believes
In sunsets
And soothing credit rolls
And breakfast croissants on fluffy pillows.

Yet she was an asshole
Who would fuck her benefactor over
If it meant a tiny step up
Closer to the silver grinning tinsel.

Belief is a long dry creek bed.



















Three little words - Shared by many









Lane locked


Is it better to ask questions
Or provide answers?
You can lead someone to the truth
But you can’t make them contemplate it
Stubborn is the horse that bit the feeder
Bold in print
Still requires a reader.

It’s hard to envisage the distant future
When we are stuck in the present
It’s impossible to embrace new ideologies
If what we know is so ingrained
That we clutch it - hell-bent.

When the option preferred is to blame everyone else
Than to consider decisions made prior
Squinting one way through Perspex walls
Dig in
Rather than inquire.

The prospect of contemplation
Surely equates to no small amount of perspiration
Easier with three little words
No fuck given.













Hope, in the path not chosen


Chaos in beauty


Nowhere to go









Proverbial light



More Video Poetry



Is downloading music illegal? Well...


(This article written in 2011 - yet still relevant, given Pirate Bay co-founder was arrested 31st May, 2014. See News story.)



It works like this.


An employee of a cigarette company learns of a way to steal a truckload of cigarettes. He contacts a friend to arrange the theft and they agree on a percentage cut. The friend hires two guys to actually do the thieving. The cigarettes are then given to a bunch of other, less important people to distribute them, mainly to people who can't afford them who want the cheaper cigarettes, but really anyone willing to take them. That's thousands of people.
The cigarette company discovers the theft. They decide to then sue. Not the people who did the theft, or the distribution, but Joe up the road who smoked one of their cigarettes.
This is the ridiculous situation that eventuated on the 5th November, 2010 when a US federal court ordered a single mom pay 1.5 million dollars for downloading 24 songs, (or about $750,000 per CD had she stolen it from a shop).
Would Joe being rapped on the knuckles, albeit with a gigantic rap, prevent every single person from smoking a cigarette? I don't think so.
If they really want to do something about illegal downloading, they have to do much better than this. While it's on offer, people will take it, no matter how much you enforce cheap, bullying tactics.





Clearly the music (and film) industries are at a complete loss as to how to stop file sharing. They've had over ten years now. And this is the best they can come up with?
In 2009, the Pirate Bay was successfully sued in Europe. Yet every time one of these sites is shut down, anther two open. There are so many sites on offer it’s impossible to stop them all. We are bombarded relentlessly (at least in Australia) by how much money the entertainment industry is losing and particularly trying to make us feel guilty by stressing how much the artists are suffering. If they really cared about the artists they would up the pitiful percentage they receive from their record labels. Most music artists receive between 8% to 15% share.  The reality is, these industries are making record profits, with DVD and cinema profits sales increasing every year.


from 2012














  
           Here's the real deal. If something is offered for free, most people will take it, even if they don't really want it. If you ask them to pay full price for the same thing, most won't. For example, a 100 people download an album. The music industry times that by the cost, say $20 and then claim they have lost $2000. I say bullshit. I say perhaps 5 people really wanted it, but only 2 would have actually gone out and bought it. Therefore the reality is the industry lost $40. I'm not saying it's right. It isn't. But they need to stop with the propaganda. And while they're there, restructure the industry so that there's a more of an even distribution of wealth, especially in the digital age.

You can't shoot all the smokers in order to stop people from smoking. The onus belongs with the manufactures. The debate continues.




(This article does not necessarily represent my own viewing/purchasing habits.)


Some sources:

http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2010/07/the_root_investigates_who_really_gets_paid_in_the_music_industry.html

http://if.com.au/2014/03/31/article/Revenues-down-up-profits-up-at-Oz-cinemas/RDEEFDUFUA.html

http://www.afr.com/p/business/marketing_media/suing_illegal_downloaders_not_effective_PbIiXyA1g9VNFOxzdW8vOP