Monday 6 June 2011

TV

Have I Got News For You
41x08 (3/6/11 edition; extended repeat)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Robot Chicken
3x01 Werewolf vs. Unicorn
3x15 Tubba-Bubba's Now Hubba-Hubba
3x02 Squaw Bury Shortcake
3x03 Rabbits on a Roller Coaster
3x04 Tapping a Hero
3x05 Shoe

Fiction

Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver
Tuesday: Death in the Sand, Chapters 25-31
Picking this back up after an accidental near-week-long break. This time: a twist! Ah-ha! While it's moderately effective, it also makes the whole escapade feel like an aside and so much padding... but maybe it has some as-yet-unrevealed significance. We shall, of course, see.

Articles

How Much Do Music Artists Earn Online? by David McCandless
(from Information is Beautiful)
The revolution in downloading music is often painted as being great for artists and consumers alike, but this infographic handily shows how it isn't great for artists at all. And that's not to do with whether or not they can strike it rich like superstars of old (or new), but whether they can even earn minimum wage. The answer, as you might've guessed, is "not easily".

If the internet gave free back rubs, people would complain when it stopped because its thumbs were sore by Charlie Brooker
(from Comment is free at guardian.co.uk)
Similarly (because it's launched from people moaning about music service Spotify), Brooker on how people moan about stuff that is ridiculously free/cheap on the Internet; or, "kids today don't know how good they've got it".
I ranted about precisely this on Twitter the other day – using that precise line about back rubs – and a couple of people told me to shut up because I was annoying them. Since Twitter is a) free and b) only displays commentary from those you chose to follow, this, too, is madness – like tailing someone down the street only to complain about the tune they've chosen to hum.

The Monday Muse: Too many movies by ghostof82
(from Musings of the Ghost Of 82)
Sometimes I feel like I’m hitting some kind of saturation point regards movies. There’s just too many of them, too much availability, too much access. Feels like there’s too many new films coming out and too many old films that I want to watch again, and too little time.