Tweet of the Night, …Is Chuck Yeager Trying To Pick Up Taylor Swift, Here? edition.

Probably not; but that’s kind of how this reads. Dude’s 94, by the way, and he still ‘sounds’ pretty damned spry. I don’t expect to be this spry at 94.

‘Welcome To New York.’

I could make an AWESOME post-apocalypse video using this song.  Well, except for the minor problem that I don’t know the first thing about shooting a movie. Also, this is as close to a non-distorted version as you’re likely to find online.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWlRWoGjYC4

Hey, I own the album. Apparently a goodly number of getting-to-be-old-farts-like-me do.

Welcome To New YorkTaylor Swift

Taylor Swift v. Apple Music, and why you should root for Taylor Swift.

[UPDATE: Oh, look.  Apple has caved.]

Now, I emphatically agree with Taylor Swift that what Apple is doing with its upcoming new Apple Music service is wrong. If you’re wondering what they’re doing, well, essentially, a company worth 700 billion dollars has decided that during the three month period when Apple Music is ‘free’ to a new user it won’t have to pay royalties on any of the intellectual properties available to that user during that time.  Because [expletive deleted] you, it’s Apple and they effectively have a monopoly on the music streaming industry. Anyway, as I said, while I agree with Taylor Swift – and note that I have no interest in using a product that deliberately doesn’t pay royalties to creators – I do have to disagree with her on this:

In a letter posted on her Tumblr page on Sunday called “To Apple, Love Taylor,” Ms. Swift spoke of a situation that has sent shock waves through the music industry: Apple has finally announced a subscription streaming service to compete with Spotify, Rhapsody and Deezer, but says that it will pay no royalties during a three-month period when customers can try it free.

Ms. Swift called the policy “shocking, disappointing and completely unlike this historically progressive company,” and added that she was not just speaking for herself.

Disappointing, yes. Completely unlike progressive thinking? Hardly.  Involuntary redistribution of resources for the ‘greater good’ (as defined by a certain sort) is a standard trick in that crowd.  Which means that it’s not particularly shocking, either. Continue reading Taylor Swift v. Apple Music, and why you should root for Taylor Swift.

Tweet of the Day, This Really Is A Great RPG Hook edition.

You can write an entire adventure around this:

…and note that I’m not making any jokes about Taylor Swift in particular, here. I figure that the kids can have their music in peace and quiet without the old farts sneering at them. God knows that that being done to me ticked me off, when I was their age…

Moe Lane

PS: I assume that all of you know what The Esoterrorists is.