New NIN album

So Trent has released the latest album for free... I greatly respect that. I have of course been a fan of Trent's almost from the beginning. However, I also think that he's being ridiculously smart. By supplying a download in various formats in exchange for identifying information, he gets to figure out exactly who his discerning and dedicated fans are, and can target them explicitly in the future. He even gets to make decent guesses at some demographic data.

For example, I chose to download the album in M4A format via torrent. That makes me an exceedingly technically advanced and discerning user of Trent's products, as it's a large download of high quality recordings and I need to know how to use a peer-to-peer system. It also means that I most likely have an iPod. Also, if he sets up a number of servers as torrent seeders, which he undoubtedly has, he can track the kind of traffic and usage those torrents produce.

Once his project here is over, he'll have a huge list of uniquely identified people that he can very specifically target; next step, if I were him, would be to try to somehow tie those unique identifiers to locations so he can figure out where to tour. He may already have a bunch of data from other fan club stuff with email identifiers that he can try to merge. Anyway, good on him - he's doing the right thing, and providing a decent exchange for the information he's getting in return.

Today's moment of zen

what if everything around you
isn't quite as it seems
what if all the world you think you know
is an elaborate dream
and if you look at your reflection
is that all you wanted to be
what if you could look right through the cracks
would you find yourself
find yourself afraid to see

what if all the world's inside of your head
just creations of your own
your devils and your gods
all the living and the dead
and you're really all alone
you can live in this illusion
you can choose to believe
you keep looking but you can't find the words
are you hiding in the trees

(brought to you by Trent Reznor)

Iron Man

They should have called it "AWESOME MAN" but I understand the whole licensing thing and whatever...

It was very well done. It wasn't quite the same level of blockbuster for me that Spider-Man was; somehow it just didn't have the same directorial joie-de-vivre and depth that Sam Raimi injected into the Spider, but Jon Favreau gave it a good go and treated the character with a lot of respect. Kudos also to the screenwriters who managed to put a lot of fun into one of my favorite comic characters.

I will say though that it would have been nice to have some darker moments; maybe Tony's alcoholism will rear its ugly head in the sequel, or even the third film (I'm sure there'll be a third). Mandarin is totally the bad guy in the second movie.

Also, if they somehow pull off an Avengers movie, that will be fucking amazing. Ed Norton and Robert Downey Jr. and whomever ends up playing Thor? That'll be just mint. It looks like The Ultimates is totally making the big screen transition. I'm hoping they throw in Hawkeye too... maybe they'll fight Ultron?? That'd be fun, just a totally different story instead of what's in Ultimates.

So, let's see... we'll have a Thor movie, a second Iron Man, and then The Avengers - or will they call it The Ultimates? At least three more movies in the pipe!