Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Belle on ICE - Christabelle28

Bethypoo792 holdin' the Sugar Cube





I dreamt (5 minutes before I woke up today) that I walked into a music store and a few bands were playing gigs - an impossibly large store - and one band was complaining that they've been playing the same songs to the same teenagers for a dozen years and it never changes. Then I heard another band playing "(All I Want To Be Is Your) Sugar Cube", and when was the last time I heard that??? I can't find it on YouTube, but I did find a little girl playing with a sugar cube and I was probably her age or younger when I last heard the song. I used to go with my 8 year old girlfriend to the local college dining hall and steal sugar cubes from the tables when I was 5 years old.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Jamie Spears Squashes Britney Fansite

Jamie Spears Squashes Britney Fansite

http://tinyurl.com/co2yrc

Jamie Spears has knocked the wind out of BreatheHeavy.com.

In a note to readers, the purveyor of the "Number One Britney Spears Fansite," stated that the popster's father has demanded that he shut down the website—which has been critical of Britney's present conservatorship arrangement—calling him "an über-fan who has gone too far."

"I have been battling the conservatorship Britney is currently placed under for months now," wrote BreatheHeavy owner Jordan Miller. "When I did not conform to the requests and demands Britney's management and father, Jamie Spears, recently put upon BreatheHeavy to stay quiet, they in turn became angry and malicious, launching, what I feel is an unjust attack, against me and my website."

According to Miller, he received a notice from Jamie's legal camp pressuring him to make the site go away by 3 p.m. PT today or face an injunction.

The legal missive charged Miller with various copyright and trademark violations for posting Britney song lyrics, photos, videos and audio clips without permission.

But Miller, for one, isn't buying it.

"The real issue, in my opinion, is hidden behind these Copyright Infringement claims, rather management, particularly her father/conservator, Jamie Spears, who makes $18,000 a month off his daughter, is desperately trying to hide the truth about Britney's imprisonment, and shut anyone up who disagrees with their conniving and selfish exploitation of an innocent mother of 2 pushed back into the limelight just several months after a hospitalization," Miller writes.

Per the terms of the conservatorship, Jamie collects $2,500 per week from Britney's estate, plus funds to lease a car.

Miller claims that Jamie Spears threatened over the phone "to destroy [his] ass" if he didn't wipe the site clean.

"They are saying that I am using Britney's name and image without her consent to make money, even though the money is going back into the website," Miller, a Las Vegas college student, told E! News Friday. "The lawyers don't care whether or not I'm making [a] profit. They say that any image of Britney I use is infringement and in violation of her right to publicity and privacy."

The Spears lawyers wouldn't give him specific examples of the so-called violations, however, he said. But they have offered to let him keep the site up so long as they have a final say over everything he posts.

"But if they do that it's not my website. It's just another website they can manage and control," Miller said.

BreathHeavy.com is currently up and running, but all links lead to Miller's farewell letter.

"I...want to thank you with all my heart for the loyalty and support you've shown over the last 5 years BreatheHeavy has been open," Miller wrote.

A rep for Spears did not immediately return a request for comment.

—Additional reporting by Ashley Fultz

(Originally published March 27, 2009, at 5:34 p.m. PT)

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Labor Agency Is Failing Workers, Report Says

March 25, 2009

Labor Agency Is Failing Workers, Report Says

The federal agency charged with enforcing minimum wage, overtime and many other labor laws is failing in that role, leaving millions of workers vulnerable, Congressional auditors have found.

In a report scheduled to be released Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office found that the agency, the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, had mishandled 9 of the 10 cases brought by a team of undercover agents posing as aggrieved workers.

In one case, the division failed to investigate a complaint that under-age children in Modesto, Calif., were working during school hours at a meatpacking plant with dangerous machinery, the G.A.O., the nonpartisan auditing arm of Congress, found.

When an undercover agent posing as a dishwasher called four times to complain about not being paid overtime for 19 weeks, the division’s office in Miami failed to return his calls for four months, and when it did, the report said, an official told him it would take 8 to 10 months to begin investigating his case.

“This investigation clearly shows that Labor has left thousands of actual victims of wage theft who sought federal government assistance with nowhere to turn,” the report said. “Unfortunately, far too often the result is unscrupulous employers’ taking advantage of our country’s low-wage workers.”

The report pointed to a cavalier attitude by many Wage and Hour Division investigators, saying they often dropped cases when employers did not return calls and sometimes told complaining workers that they should file lawsuits, an often expensive and arduous process, especially for low-wage workers.

During the nine-month investigation, the report said, 5 of the 10 labor complaints that undercover agents filed were not recorded in the Wage and Hour Division’s database, and three were not investigated. In two cases, officials recorded that employers had paid back wages, even though they had not.

The accountability office also investigated hundreds of cases that it said the Wage and Hour Division had mishandled. In one, the division waited 22 months to investigate a complaint from a group of restaurant workers. Ultimately, investigators found that the workers were owed $230,000 because managers had made them work off the clock and had misappropriated tips. When the restaurant agreed to pay back wages but not the tips, investigators simply closed the case.

In another case, the accountability office found that workers at a boarding school in Montana were not paid more than $200,000 in overtime. But when the employer offered to pay only $1,000 in back wages as the two-year statute of limitations approached, the division dropped the case.

“We have a crisis in wage theft, and the Department of Labor has not been aggressive enough in recent years,” said Kim Bobo, executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice, a group that advocates for low-wage workers. “The new secretary of labor says she’s the new sheriff in town, but I’m concerned she’s facing the wild, wild West of wage theft.”

Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said she took the report’s findings seriously.

“I am committed to ensuring that every worker is paid at least the minimum wage,” Ms. Solis said, “that those who work overtime are properly compensated, that child labor laws are strictly enforced and that every worker is provided a safe and healthful environment.”

Ms. Solis said the Wage and Hour Division planned to increase its staff by a third by hiring 250 investigators — 100 of them as part of the federal stimulus package — “to refocus the agency on these enforcement responsibilities” and “ensure that contractors on stimulus projects are in compliance with the applicable laws.”

Ms. Solis said the hirings would “reinvigorate the work of this important agency.”

Ms. Solis’s predecessor, Elaine L. Chao, often defended the Wage and Hour Division, saying it had concentrated on larger, tougher cases, and secured back wages for more than 300,000 workers a year and collected more than twice as much annually as the division had done in the final years of the Clinton administration.

The report concluded that the Wage and Hour Division had mishandled more serious cases 19 percent of the time. In such cases, the accountability office said, the division did not begin an investigation for six months, did not complete an investigation for a year, did not assess back wages when violations were clearly identified and did not refer cases to litigation when warranted.

“When you have weak penalties and weak enforcement, that’s a deadly combination for workers,” said Representative George Miller, Democrat of California, who, as chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, asked the accountability office to do the report. “It’s clear that under the existing system, employers feel they can steal workers’ wages with impunity, and that has to change.”

Mr. Miller, whose committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on wage and hour enforcement on Wednesday, said he would push to enact tougher penalties for wage violations and laws that made it easier for workers to join class-action lawsuits.

The report said undercover agents recorded Wage and Hour Division officials urging workers who complained to file lawsuits. And on one recording, an investigator appeared to back off quickly on demanding back pay when an undercover agent posing as a wage-violating employer said he was financially stretched.

According to the report, the employer said, “Well, you know, like I said, all of our contracts have dried up, we really don’t have anything coming in, so. ... .”

The investigator responded, “O.K., so you’re not in a position where you can pay him?”

When the employer said no, the investigator seemingly gave up, saying he would let the worker “know that he has a private right of action to pursue the funds.”

The report expressed dismay with that approach. “Low-wage workers may be unable to afford attorney’s fees or may be unwilling to argue their own case in small-claims court,” it said, “leaving them with no other options to obtain their back wages.”

Twitter and the timeline of fatality



Click on image to see fuller size.

Jill Hanner wrote later today: my tattoo artist just informed me he fell out his 2nd floor window trying to take out the air conditioning,broke his leg in half, ankle/toes

Radio Station Alliance of Always Watching Me

I drove to the video store to exchange some DVD's and on the way back I turn on the car radio and hear John Tesh spinning "Dancing In The Dark" (Springsteen, 1984) on a local radio station 50 miles away (does he really live nearby like that? I can't tell - well OK, I've been misled, he's everywhere! Where Can I Hear The Show). So I'm driving to Wendy's since the song mentioned hunger at the point where I should have turned to go home instead. The song plays out and there's a Geico commercial with the "I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me" song refrain in it and that's where I turn into Wendy's. I turn off the radio to order. I turn it back on waiting for my Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger, Value Fries, and Jr. Chicken Sandwich and switched the station since they were still on commercial and got my local station from somewhere nearby and they were playing "Dancing In The Dark" by Springsteen too! After I pull out to the road another song arrives "Waiting For The World To Change".

Well, I had to type this up before I munch down. But that is the world of radio station copying radio station; they do it - and it spooks me the hell out (since mid-1983).

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Don't Turn Around....

Underclass, Underdog, Under writes: Ace Of Base - Am I the only person who thinks this band is awesome....Don't Turn Around is a classic great dance song.

Disasterpastor45 writes: Yeah, uh, I bought their CD second hand and the next day some wacko stole a tank from a military base in the next state. I blame radio for watching me buy the CD and driving the locals nuts and it just hopscotched from radio station to radio station until someone cracked.

I think I'll be shutting down my Twitter account soon

Twitter is deleting posts on me. It's not my account anymore when something behind the scenes is overtaking it. Others have noticed similar strange behavior in recent days. They may overlook this as a technical glitch, but from what I've read on the internet, hackers really do steal administrator passwords and break into real user accounts. That's like stealing someone's e-mail account without authorization.

As for YouTube, people lose their YT accounts over nothing so you really take your accounts' life into your hands when you upload anything new there. I know there are system bigwigs deleting items in my play lists that originated from other accounts - that has been going on since day 1. I usually have 48-72 hours before something in my play list gets deleted from the other corresponding account, and the only way those things would have gotten attention would be if someone was watching my account to harass me severely. They've backed off a bit since the beginning of 2008, but I know they're still there and it makes me horribly hesitant to upload anything...if I had anything to upload. I'll probably get a second account if I get on a roll and have many items to upload.

Remember, they can steal anything in sight or sound.. or text.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Twitterers HAVE No Friends - The Fail Whale Says So!

Apple In The Garden - nHisImage

And this is what she had to say about that, to HER bf

Hotties in the News - Blogger, X-rated

This link contains a virus, so don't click it unless you want to deal with a dingleberry-type virus. Otherwise, maybe the virus will go away in a few weeks, or the link will.

Beach Blonde Bong







  1. RT: bgirl5 when i was 12, i went through a really big bob marley stage. just now realized that it probably really freaked my parents out.

I always YouTube not knowing what's coming next.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Coupons for McDonald's yesterday/ Go With Him

I got a buy one get one free Big Mac/ Quarter Pounder & a free small Mocha Frapp (which I've NEVER had before). The total was $9.37, but with the coupons it was down to the price of a Big Mac and 23 cents tax. The McD's I went to opened in 1971 and it has the original menu on the wall from 1971. There wasn't much on the menu at all compared to today, but the Big Mac was on it for 55 cents! The Big Mac I paid for yesterday was $3.39, which would be just over 6X what it cost nearly 40 years ago. So if gasoline was 6X as much that'd be $1.80 a gallon or so which seems to be the case this week, ROTFLMAO!

Anyway the Frapp sipped through a straw started out kinda warm, then it went arctic cold on me and it froze my innards so bad I had to stop eating for 5 minutes until the ice cold PAIN went away!!! WOW!!!! Then I heard Enya on the store loudspeakers with her new hit single, which I found on YouTube several months back; I did miss play-listing the interview of her that was floating about my inbox...and McD's is trying to remind me of that!

A few days ago I was watching Married With Children reruns and one of them Al Bundy goes to find his record collection has melted next to the furnace in the basement. He becomes obsessed to remember which song it was that went "hmm, hmm, Him". Later they heard it on the radio station that plays 5000 songs in a row, but the announcer neglected to say what the song was, and we the viewer only heard 2 seconds of the last of it, so we don't know.

Anyway, I walk into Rite-Aid today to pick up a prescription for my Dad who just came home from spending 4 days in the hospital getting knee-replacement surgery (and maybe he had stroke symptoms while there), and while waiting around I hear this early Beatles song that has "Go With Him" as a refrain. This Rite-Aid store just had a Grand Opening yesterday, brand new store, yet the store radio is harping on a MWC show I watched just days prior to the stores' opening.

This is not coincidence folks.

120 hz HD TV's make the 60 hz HD TV's look like crap, sorry.

I'm getting older now and need to use reading glasses much more frequently. My eyes just don't focus without them it seems. So I'm getting used to watching my 16 year old 26" TV, with reading glasses on...and I'm thinking, well, the tuner is busted on this thing and the economy is about to go into the crapper so what should I be looking for in a newer flat screen TV. I just went up to BJ's and saw four 42" HD TV's lined up in a row and then a little program came on that said Motion Roll 1080i (or 24p). So I'm interested in this Westinghouse TV for $649 because it seems like a good price point for me, but this Motion roll DVD/BR program sold me on the virtues of the 120hz technology on the 4th TV in the line (a Vizio for $999). There was one little section where a merry go round spins up and 3 of the TV's without the 120 hz technologies went all blurry, whereas the 120 hz Vizio didn't go nearly as blurry (by far). Yeah, I've seen crap simulations of 120 hz at Best Buy and that didn't seem real, but this BJ's demonstration proved that I've gotta wait for a 120 hz TV to hit my price point. However, I've read somewhere that 240 hz and 480 hz TV technology was on the way, but I haven't seen that on the store shelves yet. The 120 hz TV technology wasn't perfect, no it wasn't, and a 240 hz TV might be a vast improvement over the 120 hz technology; so I've gotta wait until I see side by side comparisons in a BJ's store about that...maybe next year after the economy has crashed and nobody is selling TV's at all anymore.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

MySpace EDM thread of the day: Do you believe the spirit communicates through music?

Triphi wrote:
Hi,

following the new rules, I'll start this with a question.

Do you believe the spirit communicates through music among other things? Do you even believe in the spirit? If so, what sort of spirit.. the christian holy spirit, the spirit realms mentioned in the eastern religions?

I've just written a track called 'Spirit' and I invite you to listen and then answer this thread with your opinion on the subject. :)

www.myspace.com/trippytriphi
***********
Stuart wrote: I stopped by your page got my ears around "My colurful Friend" which is a top, top tune,, serioulsy, it is tight enough, if anything, i would add to it , make it a little longer it skips along fairly decently, got some interesting sounds across the entire piece, well written, arranged, and yeah thumbs up,, regarding your theory with the Spirit, absomotherfuckinlutly 100%,,i feel, i am convinced, music releases part of us which is dormant or cowed, and basically shaminic rites etc, are part of our collective history,, hopefully the thread police wont delete this but you never know,, regardless, keep belting em out..
*************
Alterna wrote: I think all art is a spiritual connection
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Brian Winter wrote: i think music communicates to us on a different level than standard speech/text/vision. It appeals to our deepest portion of "self". Creating art is an expression of something intangible. A need to share something that we cannot otherwise express in a conventional manner.
A strange old hippy once pulled me out of a crowd and said to me "Creation is a flowing river, and we are al tributaries to it". Its strange when wisdom is imparted at random, but its important to recognize it when it happens.
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Alterna wrote: so he wasn't just an old hippie he was a shaman
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disasterpastor45 wrote: My old computer's internet audio stream used to cut out when I flung my foot around or exercised my toes. But that's just more psycho-kinetic audio obstructionism than actual spirit except for my artful use of occasional lack of catatonia to induce yet another profound sonic dropout emanating from my computer system.

I've since upgraded from a USB 2.0 connection to a network cable connection and a new computer, so I'm not exposed to that as much anymore; but there were several power blackouts from the rain last night.
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Alterna wrote: I'm sorry I may not be following you but how does this relate to the subject of this post ?
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Triphi wrote: I just posted a blog on my page which describes my interpretation of the spirit. a bit deep to post here on the forum so if anyones interested check it out.

Aside from that, did anyone listen to my 'spirit' track? What if there was only one spirit and it had a recognisable sound? This is what I'm trying to get at.. and find out if people can detect it in what I've made.

My 'colourful friend' track is liked because it has hints of this energy in it.. but the 'spirit' track is the one I think has the more spiritual essense. But this could just be my perception.
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color farm wrote: I think people who find spiritual connections through music smoke too many drugs.
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triphi wrote: fair enough, this is the great thing about opinion.. we can all have our own and eat them too...

how old are you color farm? are you an atheist?
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color farm wrote: No, I'm not aethiest.
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dEFFEN wrote: are you a republican?
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PLP - Chicago wrote: r u A replicant?

Revealing Tweets from yesterday, pt 001

from KarenAlloy:
@xsamanthanicole um.. cuz ur wanted by the FBI & you owe me 5 bucks?

@ijustine only suckas "buy" those flowers. I punch the guy in the throat and run away with "Free" flowers.

from NatalieTran:
Almost finished my script! Zo my gawd. step1 sleep with director; step2 apologise and say your script is better than sexual performance

Yo peeps. Creepo I chased down faces court tomorrow. Booyah. Sucks for him. Little did he know he picked on a super athlete *flexes*

attention

@servantofchaos one day I'm going to come and move all the chairs away. Internet security man


from Ashton Kutcher:

dude you no longer get to rep sweetness. that's crazy tallk

A quote from my teacher "Religion is 4 people who are afraid of going to hell; spirituality is 4 people who have already been there."

packing for 3 months away from home. essential question.. what can't you live with out?

[(why would anything be there when he got back?)]

from AwkwardGirl:
(typo from Hell, or Phoenix):
@kristinahorner oh good! We wouldn't want you to have to sweat to God! Now would we?


A 3-Fer from The Dollyrots








Monday, March 9, 2009

Bangladesh Bans YouTube

Bangladesh Bans YouTube

March 9, 2009 2:15 p.m. EST

AHN Staff

Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) - The government of Bangladesh banned the website YouTube on Monday after a meeting between the prime minister and army officers was posted on the popular video sharing portal.

The video footage was taken two days after a mutiny by border guards which caused the death of over 70 people. The recording ran for 40 minutes out of a 3-hour meeting. It showed the anger of Bangladeshis military personnel over how the government handled the crisis.

Zia Ahmed, chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunidations Regulatory Commission, said the government decided to block YouTube and another website esnips, because the footage they showed may worsen the situation in the country. "The government can take any decision to stop any activity that threatens national unity and integrity," Ahmed was quoted by BBC.

The meeting between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took place after the mutiny at the Bangladesh Rifles office two weeks ago where 54 army officers died. The footage showed over 2,000 solders shouting at the prime minister, "We want answers".

She attempted to reply, but her voice was drowned by the jeers of the soldiers. There is no definite date when will YouTube be unblocked.

Meanwhile, a team from the FBI will help the Bangladeshi police probe the mutiny. Of the 1,000 border guards involved in the uprising, 36 suspects have been under arrest.

Bangladesh has a history of successful coup attempts, with 21 so far successful. All the coup tries were made by the military.

YouTube begins deleting music videos

YouTube begins deleting music videos

Music fans will no longer be able to watch their favourite videos on YouTube after Google blocked viewings during a dispute over licensing.

Google started to block UK viewers from watching "premium music videos" from tonight but said it will take several days until all professional music videos are covered by the restriction.

The internet giant described it as a "painful decision" which it knew would cause "significant disappointment".

PRS for Music licenses Google to make music videos available to UK users on YouTube but the firms are currently negotiating a new licensing deal.

PRS for Music said it was shocked by Google's "drastic action" which it said would "punish" music lovers and songwriters.

The collection society which issues licences and collects royalties on behalf of copyright holders, said Google wants to pay "significantly less than at present to the writers of the music" while Google said the deal it had been offered would result in it losing money every time a video was played.

A statement from Google said: "Our previous licence from PRS for Music has expired, and we've been unable so far to come to an agreement to renew it on terms that are economically sustainable for us."

It said "prohibitive licensing fees" were an obstacle in the negotiations.

"We value the creativity of musicians and song writers and have worked hard with rights-holders to generate significant online revenue for them and to respect copyright. But PRS is now asking us to pay many, many times more for our licence than before.

"The costs are simply prohibitive for us - under PRS's proposed terms we would lose significant amounts of money with every playback.

"In addition, PRS is unwilling to tell us what songs are included in the licence they can provide so that we can identify those works on YouTube - that's like asking a consumer to buy a blank CD without knowing what musicians are on it."

The statement added that they were still working with PRS for Music to reach mutually acceptable terms.

PRS for Music said it was "outraged on behalf of consumers and songwriters that Google has chosen to close down access to music videos on YouTube in the UK".

PRS for Music's Chief executive Steve Porter said: "We were shocked and disappointed to receive a call late this afternoon informing us of Google's drastic action which we believe only punishes British consumers and the songwriters whose interests we protect and represent."

While negotiations continue, Google said it would be working "to create more ways to compensate musicians and other rights-holders on YouTube".

A spokesman for PRS for Music said the new licence it is negotiating with Google reflects "the huge jump in music video use on their site".

He said Google provides PRS for Music with information about which videos have been viewed on YouTube and is billed according to that usage for those songwriters, composers and publishers which PRS represents.

YouTube fights copyright battle with silence

YouTube fights copyright battle with silence

David Wylie, Canwest News Service Published: Thursday, January 15, 2009

If the video you're trying to watch on YouTube isn't playing any sound, chances are it isn't your speakers that are busted - it's more likely that copyright laws were broken.

In the latest chapter of YouTube's ongoing dispute with Warner Music Group over rights to its songs, the online video sharing site is allowing users to mute videos they've uploaded that violate copyright laws. Previously, the Google-owned company either yanked the videos or forced users to swap the soundtrack with its "pre-cleared music."

In response to media inquiries about the change, a YouTube spokesman pointed to a statement released Wednesday afternoon through its blog.

"We want you to have options when uploading videos with music in them. And if your video is subject to a copyright claim, you should have some choices too," said the statement signed, "the YouTube team."

The company said many of its users are using the newly introduced option to mute.

Doing so adds this message to the bottom of videos: "This video contains an audio track that has not been authorized by all copyright holders. The audio has been disabled."

In December, 2008, Warner Music Group forced YouTube to cut off access to videos on the site containing Warner music after talks between the companies over licensing agreements collapsed.

YouTube warned its users at the time that they "may notice videos that contain music owned by Warner Music Group being blocked from the site."

On Wednesday, YouTube said music licensing "can get very complicated." The company added it's "working to find the right balance between encouraging creativity and free expression and respecting the rights of copyright holders and the law."

Warner could not be reached for comment. However, a spokeswoman from the company told Wired's Epicenter blog that the muting policy was Google's idea.

The response to Google's blog post was less than supportive.

"Fail," wrote one person. "Complete and utter fail."

Another person who responded said Google should pay for rights to use the songs.

"I guess since you guys are making money off of our videos, you should pay the companies to leave the audio how it is."

There was a measure of sympathy for YouTube: "YouTube is the wrong party to be complaining to about this," wrote one person. "It's the copyright holders who are holding YouTube responsible for infringing their rights."

YouTube unplugs music videos in U.K.

March 9, 2009 11:29 AM PDT

YouTube unplugs music videos in U.K.

Updated at 1:25 p.m. PDT.

Google-owned video-sharing site YouTube is silencing music videos in the U.K. after negotiations with the country's Performing Right Society (PRS for Music), which collects licensing fees for artists and labels, failed.

"Our previous license from PRS for Music has expired, and we've been unable so far to come to an agreement to renew it on terms that are economically sustainable for us," a statement from YouTube read. "There are two obstacles in these negotiations: prohibitive licensing fees and lack of transparency. We value the creativity of musicians and songwriters and have worked hard with rights-holders to generate significant online revenue for them and to respect copyright. But PRS is now asking us to pay many, many times more for our license than before."

The YouTube statement continued: "The costs are simply prohibitive for us--under PRS' proposed terms we would lose significant amounts of money with every playback. In addition, PRS is unwilling to tell us what songs are included in the license they can provide so that we can identify those works on YouTube--that's like asking a consumer to buy a blank CD without knowing what musicians are on it."

But a statement from PRS for Music claimed that Google doesn't want to pay enough for licensing fees.

"PRS for Music is outraged on behalf of consumers and songwriters that Google has chosen to close down access to music videos on YouTube in the U.K.," read a statement from the industry group, which noted that Google rakes in billions of dollars in revenue. "Google has told us they are taking this step because they wish to pay significantly less than at present to the writers of the music on which their service relies, despite the massive increase in YouTube viewing."

A report from the BBC suggests that the change will take effect later on Monday.

YouTube representatives, meanwhile, pointed to the fact that royalty fees in the U.K. caused streaming music service Pandora to pull out of the country (along with other non-U.S. markets) two years ago, and said that smaller players in digital media are currently feeling the pain. PRS for Music has also targeted small businesses in the U.K. for playing radios publicly, which the group says is a form of piracy.

Since it only pertains to music videos, this won't affect, say, Queen Elizabeth's royal YouTube channel. But U.S. digital media companies, particularly when it comes to music, have repeatedly encountered rough seas abroad.

One of the most high-profile has been Apple's iTunes, which several years ago came under scrutiny from one European government after another, typically concerning digital rights management restrictions in its iTunes Store. But music videos have been contentious both in and outside the U.S., with labels apparently unclear as to whether the best strategy would be to ink deals with YouTube--where they have less control--or go at it on their own. Much of the controversy comes from the fact that the music industry says it just doesn't profit much from having its videos on YouTube.

Sources told CNET News earlier this month that YouTube was working with Universal Music Group to create a standalone site "closely linked" to YouTube, a shadowy project that has been described as a Hulu for music videos. And Viacom has created its own hub, MTVMusic.com. It's complicated enough in the U.S.; bringing overseas players and viewers into account opens many new cans of worms.

Employment mis-opportunity



Click on image for larger, readable image.

I just heard my first clap of thunder this year!

It's freakin' early March!

P.S. I live 3 hours ahead of the posted time zone on each blog post.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9, WTF?!?

Sony SUCKS!!!!! (continued)
Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?Messa geID=627629&Replies=19

Subject: Warning to HDV / AVCHD owners wanting DVD output.
Posted by: IdahoJoe
Date: 12/4/2008 3:10:07 PM

After an extensive support session with Sony, please be aware that Vegas MSP9 does not allow DVD compatible MPEG-2 content to be rendered as upper field first.

If you have an HDV / AVCHD camera, it records interlaced video as upper field first.

When Vegas renders out your MPEG-2 files for DVD, it will be lower field first, regardless of your project settings. You will experience horrible shuddering and combing on fast moving sequences when played back on interlaced devices due to frame reversal. Note that the problem will not exhibit on progressive playback devices such as a PC monitor, but once viewed on an interlaced television, it will be painfully obvious.

There is no work around to enable upper field first rather than purchase Vegas full. Other industry players such as Apple have issued fixes for these types of problems, but Sony does not see it as a problem.

If you are thinking of editing interlaced HDV / AVCHD footage for DVD output, you'll need to find a different tool to achieve quality results.
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I was frustrated too with the fact that Movie Studio is unable to keep the field order unchanged while creating an MPEG2 file.
I end up rendering my AVCHD footage from the timeline into an intermediate uncompressed HD YUV and then converting it to SD MPEG2 using a third party software.
Shame on you, Sony.
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VMS is a good editor with a bunch of features, no one asks for any extra. But once you've finished editing your project you need to be able to export into something playable on a standalone player. Right?
In my case I needed an MPEG2 for creating a DVD and an AVCHD file for Blu-Ray. What could've been simplier than that... but... None of those essential features worked properly. And this is nonsense. It's a bug that Sony should have fixed ASAP. I had a trial version then but two month later I see people on this forum still struggling with the same issues.

Ivan123, now, you're suggesting to buy a DVD player with a USB port supporting wmv? I dont know if that's gonna be easy for me to convince all my friends, ralatives, workmates and many other people whom I'm sharing my videos with, to follow this route and toss all their DVD players and get a new one only because my current video editor is unable to create a simple MPEG2 file... That will be tough.
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I would hardly call maintaining the proper field order of your source video a "pro" feature. EVERY SINGLE OTHER editing suite, even the most basic that comes with the hardware, has provisions for keeping the proper field order. Apple even issued a patch for compressor-2 that allows for proper field order in their product when used with AVCHD cameras.

This is a huge bug that Sony chooses to ignore. And it's only going to get worse as more and more of these cameras become in use. Hopefully the number of complaints will rise to the point that Sony will respond, as Vegas truly is a marvelous piece of software. Unfortunately, it is impossible to create acceptable results while this bug exists.
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AVCHD/HDV footage can be rendered as MPEG-2, but Vegas will swap the field order to lower field first, causing combing and jerking playback on interlaced devices.

Each frame of interlaced video has two fields. Think of each field of the frame as a moment in time. You have to play the earliest recorded field first, then the later or it would appear you are going backwards in time. The order in which to display the fields of the frame is determined by the field order. Different types of equipment have different field orders. NTSC DV cameras, for instance, recorde the lower field first. HDV/AVCHD cameras, however, record the upper field first.

Essentially, Vegas is taking our upper field first video, and rendering it as lower field first. Upon playback on an interlaced TV, the lower field of the frame (the later position in time) is now played before the upper field (the earlier position in time). Our output now has a backwards jerking motion for every frame. The effect isn't noticeable on scenes with little movement, but a fast pan is a terrible thing to behold.

You will usually not see the problem on a progressive display, as the entire frame (both fields, or moments in time) will be displayed at the exact same time. Some de-interlacers, however, will show a ghosting or combing type effect depending on the type of de-interlacing. (blending, smart, bob, etc..)

To see if you are affected by this problem, you'll need to watch your output on an interlaced display. Make sure your footage is not static. The faster the motion, the more noticeable the problem. It affects all versions of Vegas that do not allow us to set the render to upper field first. (Vegas Pro allows for custom MPEG-2 templates).
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I'm sure that would work if you don't value your time and don't care for the quality of your finished product.

Interestingly enough, I'm trialing both Corel X2 and the Pinnacle 12 products. Both allow upper field first selection, and even smart render my source keeping quality at 100%. I'm leaning towards X2 right now, but I will sure miss the Vegas interface. Sadly, quality output is more important... after all it's the end video I am concerned about, not the interface niceties.
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I have also duplicated this error. I guess main project properties doesn't affect on rendering options ( if i choose right field order on main properties it doesn't go to rendering)?

I also noticed that VMS does not recognize progressive frames on raw AVCHD m2ts clip properties. It says always Upper field first, although I have also progressive material from Canon HF100.

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If it's too broke, it's beyond fixing.