Mixing Virtual and Real

I have just read that China will impose a personal income tax rate of 20% on profits made from virtual currency (Massively), and I just have to think how has changed the world lately, and how all this virtual environments interactions are changing our lives. From a simple game, it has evolved in a social experience, and now it will affect even taxes! Everyday is closer to William Gibson's vision of the future.

It is amazing, and I am feeling old!

Good night, 'net... wherever you may be

Depressive Metaphors

Hello again, 

Tonight I was thinking that maybe it was just time to begin again these comments.

I was just thinking, in my common blue mood, how many different metaphors there are for this kind of feeling in the music. And I was trying my best to recapture some of them. I'm not feeling so bold as to build my "ten main songs about depression" (ala "High Fidelity"), but I can begin to remember some of these metaphors...

-"Sometimes I feel, like a motherless child" 

-"I feel like being a rider on a downbound train"

- "And I'm driving a stolen car waitin' on that little red light

    I keep tellin' myself everything's gonna be alright

    But I ride by night and I travel in fear

    That in this darkness I might just disappear"

Good night, 'net... wherever you may be.

Melancholy all over again

I was making some work, at this time where everything is quiet and the only light you see at the street is from my window, while tv is on, just to have something to listen to. By chance, tv was on Fox channel, and there was this "Cold Case" episode (11 of 3rd season) titled "8 years". The whole music from the episode is 80's Springsteen, and very well-chosen songs with strong connections with the episode, but also having this special feeling, that is always related with Springsteen music, that is, melancholy, nostalgy, ... that feeling. "Bobby Jean" telling you that I miss you; "Stolen Car", feeling so old and alone; "Glory Days", old tales makes you older; "One step up", everything works bad.

Ok, I think it is better to finish work now, ... I'm digressing again...

Good night, 'net... wherever you may be.

Is there anybody alive out there?

More than a question, it seems a desperate cry for help. It sometimes looks like the way I have been feeling lately. It is a feeling of sadness, loneliness, melancholy, ... but it is also part of the lyrics of the new single of the new album of Bruce Springsteen with the E-Street Band that has been just aired. The song is called "Radio Nowhere", the lyrics are more repetitive than usual in an Springsteen song, but I can get rid of this question. I think it is a good song, and I am not surprised.

The new disc will arrive in october, and after that the new tour. There are rumours about that it would be the last tour of the current formation of the E-Street Band due to some health problems of some members. God, I'm feeling too old these days.

Good night, 'net... wherever you may be.

Going down in a Blaze of Glory

I'm feeling damn old these days, and after last night concert I'm feeling old and depressed.

Last night I was to a concert of one of the spanish mythical 80's music groups: "Nacha Pop". After 19 years they have joined again and they are touring. This group has one of the best spanish composers of pop music, imho, Antonio Vega. This artist has passed for a degrading process last three / four years becoming a pale shadow of a man. He still possess something of that spark that brings up something of the glory that was, but sometimes he looks like he is strong enough just to be standing. It was a very good concert, but in the end, I just get this bad taste just watching this poor man whose songs have made me think so much.

Tonight I still have this bad taste in my mouth, and to make it worst, I just have seen some images reminding me of Enrique Urquijo, another spanish artist of the same period that died some years ago in a very regrettable circunstances. Yes, it is true, I should also mentioned the owner of the Wall who gives name to this blog, but it is someone we all have very present all the time (or at least all the years, by christmas time, with the traditional "Greatest Hits" CD).

All this reminds me of this expression that says something as live fast, die quickly and leave a beautiful corpse. There are a lot of interesting people who have lived fast and died quickly, how would all have changed if they would have lived just a little more.

I'm feeling damn old these days...

"I'm too old for this shit!" - Danny Glover in "Lethal Weapon".
"I'm much too young to feel this damn old" - Garth Brooks.

Good night, 'net... wherever you may be.

Comic-books take Hollywood: Second step

"First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin", song Leonard Cohen.

An invasion in two steps. And this same invasion has been carried out by the comic-book world at Hollywood. Yes, it was common knowledge that Hollywood was without any new ideas for a long long time. Till someone was able to look at a comic-book and to realize that there was a lot of ideas inside, that were there for a long time ago and that FX were not any problem anymore. So, there were the first step of this invasion, and there came "Spiderman", "Fantastic Four", "Hellboy", "Constantine", "Sin City", and a lot more, and it is not going to stop.

Now, the second step has arrived: the comic-book creators want to control the movies. There was some initial attempts with "Sin City", with all the noise caused by Robert Rodriguez offering to Frank Miller the co-direction of this movie, or some out of the mainstream films such as "Mirrormask" made by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean. These attempts get more strength now with some high-budget productions directed by preciseley these two big names of the comic-book world: "The Spirit", based on the iconic character of Will Eisner, directed by Frank Miller (who is going to make also the script); and "Death: The high cost of living", directed by Neil Gaiman and based on an spin-off limited series of his most famous work, "The Sandman". The main character of this limited series is "Death", and the main plot is not very original, it has been dealt in other works (even films): once every century, death takes a day off to better know humans.

But I digress, what I would want to underline is that comic-books creators are beginning to take over Hollywood. I wish it just go on (I cross my fingers and pray for an impossible: "Batman: The Dark Knight Return").

Good night, 'net... wherever you may be.

On-line Music

As Bob Dylan song "The Times they are a'changing", and it is time for the big music companies to adapt to this changes. Lastly, this is one of my favourites subjects, but anyway... this post is to talk about the increasing possibility to listen / buy (by legal means) music through the net. While I'm writing this post I'm listening to the Springsteen's concert you may see in the picture, through the amazing collection of concerts (more than 450!) available at Wolfgang's Vault that you may listen for free.

It is not the only option, and it is not the only service available in the net related with music. You have on-line radios (onda cero, ...) , recommender systems (mystrands, lastfm, ...), podcasts (iTunes, ...), ...