Current issues and humor

This picture made me laugh and I forgot how I came across it. After watching the random blooper video clips of President George W. Bush, I thought this image would fit in nicely. He definitely has a sense of humor.

Our past video conferences for the class have been interesting. It's always fun to see how people present themselves as well as their opinions.

Random Entertainment News:

• Sheryl Crow urges the use of one square
• Rosie will leave her view at "The View" behind
• The Tribeca Film Festival begins
• Snoop Dogg denied access to Australia
  

Also, last night I watched the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Bill Maher was one of the guests. He discussed different issues today like the media's fascination with providing details about top stories. In the incident with the Virginia Tech shooting, Maher said that journalists feed off breaking news and are always competing with each other.




















He also discussed gun laws and admitted that he owns a firearm himself. I felt it was interesting to hear both sides of how it's in our U.S. Constitution, however, it is a harmful weapon. The purpose of a gun is to either damage something, inflict injury or death, despite the use. This could vary between whether you are animal hunting or practicing your aim with clay pigeons. It's still a tough situation but Maher continued points about other bigger, more important issues going on in the world.

I could only find a short sample of the conversation of Leno and Maher and it doesn't cover all the points he made during the interview. Still, it shows how quickly videos can be posted within a matter of hours since the event.

CDs, MP3s and WAVs of music

With the summer music season rapidly approaching, it makes me wonder about CDs and MP3s. I just saw a news segment on FOX5 about the 'death' of CDs.

It's true though. There is now a replacement for the compact disc. Just like there is a newer version of the iPod, which included the Mini, Nano and Shuffle. And we won't get into the feature specifications and color availability that change quite often.

The life of the CD was short-lived with the emergence of iTunes + iPod as well as methods to copy albums and post them through Internet music sharing Web sites.

I listen to a variety of music and I'm constantly searching for new bands. My iTunes library is packed with close to 5,000 songs and I think I may need a much larger iPod. It's difficult at CD stores like BestBuy and Tower Records, which is now out of business, to sample songs. I think places like Barnes & Noble and FYE are sticking around because they allow customers to preview tracks before making purchases. However, the price tends to be higher at these joints.

You risk the chance of paying the price for an entire album, which you have no idea if it will be great or not. That's why I advise people to purchase CDs if they are a dedicated fan because there are times where other songs may not be as exciting as you expected. But I like the convenience of a CD when I'm driving in my car. I am able to connect my iPod to the main car stereo system via an old-fashioned cassette tape audio converter. Although the thin, black wire is silly looking, it gets the job done. However, if I don't like the playlist currently playing, it could divert my attention away from the wheel.

I also do enjoy album art, photos and messages from the band members located inside the cover pamphlet. However, this may be an obsolete activity if CD sales continue to decline. For the most part, iTunes offers songs for $0.99 but this may rise by $0.30 within the year.

The executives at Apple are wondering whether customers who make a single track purchase should be entitled to a discount if they decide to purchase the entire album by the same artist. That makes sense. Especially if the music audience has already spoken by showing their purchasing power.