Fact about Fiction

FactAboutFiction.blogspot.com

I've started a daily recommendation for my friends that like my musical taste. As most of you know, I'm always trying to find new music, and feel pretty passionately that new artists need to be spread and supported. Radio and television don't really have a financial incentive to introduce new music, so I feel that it is important for each of us to spread the artists we like.

I'm going to use Lala.com links for a few reasons: 1) I think lala.com is a fantastic service, 2) their blog applet is quite easy to use (both in posting and listening), 3) the songs are available for purchase at $.89, so they have the cheapest average price online.

I hope my friends download the songs they like from these links, certainly these bands deserve the funding to continue producing music.

Name Change (I Promise This My Final Post About Posts)

I changed the name of the blog today to reflect what I would like to think this will be going forward. The address is the same, both for convenience and retention of the purpose I felt when I wrote the first post.

I'm realizing the content will have to be light during the week due to other demands on my time, but I may start writing a few during the weekend to schedule during the week. My main motivation is to give myself a creative outlet & hopefully improve my informal writing. I really would like to find the balance between under-posting (therefore doing nothing to advance my writing) and turning something I enjoy now into a chore.

Research Writing

I’m continually amazed at how much harder the act of writing is when it is forced.

I’ve enjoyed writing (in various forms) for a long time, but even subjects of interest become chores when a grade is attached. For me, this stems from the insecurities along the way that aren’t present when I write for myself. From researching to editing & revision, I am constantly afraid that the paper will not be “good” enough.

I love the freedom of creation without an expectation that anyone other than myself will enjoy it. Is this simply a reward for intellectual laziness or a reflection of my values?

Tumblr

I'm also testing out Tumblr as I start this blog. I seem to like it a bit better for the aggregation of my online activity, but it seems susceptible to what I detest about other blogs; a flood of mediocre content.

We'll see which of these I stick with...

Lala + "The Cloud" v. iTunes + Hard Drives

Lala's initial intrigue for me was the integration with my Facebook contacts. I loved the ease of which I could recommend songs to my other musically obsessed friends and their ability to do the same. I am now in the process of copying my iTunes library to it. While I am hesitant to comment on this experience until I have used it a bit, its potential is what has me thinking it will bring down the current mp3 purchase model. Pandora & Last.fm fans, the suggestion feature is lacking here. Integration with either would be an amazing improvement, especially Last.fm's audio scrobbling.

Approximately half of the time I listen to music, it is from my iPhone. On it, to have complete control over the music you listen to (song & album selection, skip tracks backwards, playlist creation) the best option is to play songs stored on the hard drive (HDD) that can be damaged and result in file loss. When 3G or WiFi is not available, this is the only option. This also means the hassle of transferring songs from a PC over USB.

This is the initial benefit of Lala. After installing their "Lala Mover" software, it will learn what songs are in your library and attempt to find a match their 8 million track database (a form of "cloud" computing). Once the track has been added to your online library, it is available anywhere you have internet access with control capabilities that match a track on the HDD. If this app is ever released for iphone (Lala was recently purchased by Apple, who may not want to release this) it will mark the biggest change since the move from CDs to digital files.

In addition to the added benefits, most Lala tracks are free. You pay 10 cents once to add a song to user created playlists (and for the rare song limited to a 30 second clip) and have the option to download songs for 89 cents (compared to 99 cents at iTunes).

For those people who already have a data plan over 3G, or who listen to music mostly when wifi is available, this decision should be a no-brainer. Those without constant internet access (an ever-diminishing demographic) may want to consider the value of adding a data plan to their phone for the value they save in future purchases, which Apple's partners like AT&T would surely appreciate. An early adopter will reap the benefits from sites like Lala across entertainment as movies, tv and even books seem all headed to the cloud for lease rather than purchase.

Introduction

"For God's sake, man, shoveling keeps your warm. Get out there and shovel. And yes, that's a metaphor for life." - A commenter (FrauZ) below a post from an interesting new GQ blogger.

A recently graduated law student, Luke "Home Boy" Mazur has has moved back in with his parents at age 27.

He's inspired me to also start memorializing my experiences in a format I'm curious to try. This blog is intended to be a reflection of the attitudes I choose to take during the course my near future turns me towards; its outward face may provide an opportunity to more carefully make decisions.

I aim to do a few sentences per post of my observations and some attempts at humor. With practice, I hope they will be succinct and short enough to allow me to continue with my day.

Cheers,

Mark