Polyester Bride

Language and Mad Men

highnote — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:24:55 +0000

No, this post is not about what psychotic people say. This is about the TV show Mad Men. The premise is a society of New Yorkers working in the advertising industry. The show focuses on the lives and interactions of the colorful characters. One of the things notable about the show many fans say is that it tries to portray the time period, the 60s, very accurately. For example, see the CNBC article here. The CNBC article talks in particular about the language used on the show. I’m not sure how one goes about reconstructing accurate language from that period, but it must involve combing through written and recorded sources of that period, for example novels, magazines, show scripts etc.

Mad Men is one of AMC’s big hits – garnering several awards of its technical and dramatic brilliance. Even Barack Obama has proclaimed that he is a fan. Maybe it’s AMC’s only hit? I don’t think I’ve watched any big AMC shows other than this one.

I like the New York Times description of Mad Men: “Heard of this television series, “Mad Men”? A few guys and a few gals work in an agency, sell a couple ads, have a couple laughs?”
Very droll way of putting it.

80s nostalgia – Ramona Quimby movie

highnote — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 05:52:47 +0000

If you’re like me, you went through late elementary school and early middle school reading the Ramona Quimby series of novels by Beverly Cleary. Ramona was the main figure in the novels, a young girl aged 8-10 (depending on the book). Her sister Bea is also a major figure in the novels, but we all remember her by the nickname Beezus. Most of the stories followed the trials of Ramona in her young life, many of which with which we could identify as children. The problems are those that loom so largely in the life of the child. This movie is delayed but very welcome to those of us who read these books.

From the movie site itself,
“The adventures of young Ramona Quimby (newcomer Joey King) and her big sister Beezus (Selena Gomez) come to life in this all new film based on the best-selling books (over 30 million…and counting) by Beverly Cleary. Ramona’s vivid imagination, boundless energy, and accident-prone antics keep everyone she meets on their toes. But her irrepressible sense of fun, adventure and mischief come in handy when she puts her mind to helping save her family’s home.”

Everyone should go see this family-friendly movie and perhaps go pick up the books at the library or from a bookstore!

Taylor Swift – New Album

highnote — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 02:40:16 +0000

Country Super starlet (when do starlets turn into stars? Taylor is already 20 years old) Taylor Swift announced on Tuesday this week that she will put out a third album that is more conceptual in nature than the previous two. The previous two dealt with themes of teenage angst and love. The third one will veer away from the genre and instead be about words that were unsaid. In her own words.

“In life you have a lot of situations that pop up and people come into your life and sometimes you don’t get to tell them what you wish you would have told them,” said Taylor Swift to her fans. “This album is my opportunity to do that. Track by track, each song is a different confession to a different person.”

She intends to title the album “Speak Now”, with a forthcoming release date of October 25 with her label Big Machine Records (BMR). BMR is actually based in Nashville and works with indie musicians. One of the first singles will be a song titled “Mine.” But this does sound suspiciously like another teenage angst song!?

Lindsay Lohan hires OJ Simpson’s attorney

highnote — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 07:09:37 +0000

Lindsay Lohan was recently sentenced to jail time after violating terms of her probation drafted after her first DUI conviction three years ago in 2007. Her previous attorney in the case was fired after announcing that Lohan would face jail-time bravely. Instead, Lohan has hired on Robert Shapiro, who headed the OJ Simpson case when it was all the rage.

Shapiro also owns the sober-living house to which Lohan escaped recently. He took on Lohan’s case but only after getting her to promise that she will comply with the rules concerning her probation. Shapiro is most famous for defending OJ Simpson in his murder trial and winning the case.

Shapiro issued a statement “Ms. Lohan is suffering from a disease that I am all too familiar with. Hopefully, I can be of assistance to Ms. Lohan and Judge Revel in implementing a treatment approach recommended by medical professionals for Ms. Lohan’s long term recovery and sobriety.” Shapiro reportedly had a son who died from OD reports.

Judge reduces music file sharer penalty by 90%

highnote — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:29:27 +0000

Remember the story about the Boston University student who was hit with a whopping $675K penalty for filesharing some of his music online? Well a district court judge overruled the jury that the penalty was “unconstitutional” and decreased it by 10 fold! That is a striking victory, of sorts. Tenenbaum says he still can’t pay the penalty that has been reduced by 90%.

The judge Nancy Gertner said in her ruling wrote: “There is no question that this reduced award is still severe, even harsh. It not only adequately compensates the plaintiffs for the relatively minor harm that Tenenbaum caused them; it sends a strong message that those who exploit peer-to-peer networks to unlawfully download and distribute copyrighted works run the risk of incurring substantial damages awards.”

But the RIAA harshly criticized the move by saying that “substituted its judgment for that of 10 jurors as well as Congress [and ignored the] profound economic and artistic harm to the recording industry that occurs when people illegally share songs online”.

Pundits will recall that many people criticized the legal team behind Tenenbaum as incompetent because they tried to argue that the fair use principle protected all filesharing which the judge found much too broad an interpretation. The legal team was headed by a Harvard law professor and a team of students who backed up the legal research.

Bob Dylan on Tour but needs an ID

highnote — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:07:27 +0000

What is the world coming to? Bob Dylan is on tour in New Jersey. At around 5pm evening time, before his concert, he took a walk in a run-down neighborhood near his concert venue. Not doing anything remarkable, and dressed in a blue jacket, apparently he got called on by someone who had seen him. As a result, two cops drive up to him and want to know who he is. Here’s the ensuing dialog.

“What is your name, sir?” said the first officer.

“Bob Dylan,” answered Bob Dylan.

“OK, what are you doing here?” the officer asked again.

“I’m on tour,” said the singer.

Another officer, also in his mid 20s, came to the first officer’s assistance. Remarkably, he had no idea who Dylan was.

Anyway, the officers took him back to his hotel where his staff, probably flabbergasted, told the police who they had brought back.

Student vs. RIAA? $675,000 in damages!

highnote — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:03:08 +0000

Oh my, Boston grad student Joel Tenenbaum lost his case against the RIAA. He was accused of downloading and sharing hundreds of tracks, but the case had focused on just 30. Of those 30, the jury agreed with the RIAA that Tenenbaum caused substantial damages and loss. But $675,000??? That’s sounds ludicrous. There’s no way he can pay this off.

This is also the case where the Harvard professor Charles Nesson said he would represent Joel Tenenbaum. Looks like it wasn’t helpful enough. Harvard’s law faculty is well known for being very anti-RIAA. I wonder what will happen now – the kid is going to go into bankruptcy probably.

Music reduces pain in babies

highnote — Fri, 29 May 2009 05:29:08 +0000

Interesting – looks like music can reduce the sensation of pain in babies. Scientists got together a bunch of studies and looked at them to conclude the soothing music reduced pain, lowered heart rates, and increased oxygenation in blood. How can you tell from a baby whether this is working? Looks like they looked at these things by measuring baby vitals during heel pricks, circumcision (ouch), and suckling.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/besttreatments/2009/may/28/music-may-ease-pain-for-newborn-babies

Anyway, I don’t know if the quality of the studies was very good. I bet the differences between babies with and without music was pretty miniscule,you know.

iTunes freed from DRM

highnote — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:26:23 +0000

DRM is “digital rights management”, and is a label usually attached to music files like mp3s purchased over the internet at vendors like Napster, eMusic or iTunes. Music files with DRM are restricted in the sense that they cannot be easily transferred from one computer to another with playability intact. When it’s moved to a computer after being purchased, the file usually cannot be played. Well, Apple finally got rid of this restriction. Other vendors have already done so either completely or in a limited fashion. But Apple iTunes really is the 8 billion pound gorilla in online music sales, and their action portends a turning point in online music vending. What this means is that we’re free to copy, trade this music (in accordance with copyright law of course), principally this allows us to move these files around different computers and still retain the ability to play them. About time I think.

Allman Brothers and Bruce Willis

highnote — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 05:26:43 +0000

One of the greatest Southern rock bands Allman Brothers spent the last two weeks playing at New York’s Beacon Theater. Stars such as Boz Skaggs, Eric Clapton, and strangely enough, Bruce Willis, joined them on stage. Apparently Bruce Willis had a lot of practice with the harmonica in an R&B band in his younger days before . . . → Read More: Allman Brothers and Bruce Willis