NeonNero.com

Ferie i USA, del 1 av 2

15.04.2010 03:40

This article is intended for Norwegians who’d like to repeat my vacation last year, either in whole or in part. It contains information on travel, booking and other travel tips when going on vacation to either Las Vegas (Nevada), Orlando (Florida), or both.

Nå som jeg har reist til USA selv, tenkte jeg å dele noen tips basert på mine egne erfaringer både i planleggingen og under selve reisen. Jeg ser på dette som en mulighet for å korte ned på tid folk trenger å bruke på planlegging i forkant av en ferietur til USA.

April er allerede godt i gang, og da er det faktisk en passende tid å begynne planleggingen og ikke minst bestille reisen. Er man tidlig ute, kan man slippe mye av ventetider og samtidig finne noen gode kupp på reiser. Selv begynte jeg planleggingen i midten av mars, og gjennomførte bestillingen i begynnelsen av april.

For å unngå overraskelser underveis, vil jeg anbefale å lese kjapt gjennom hele denne artikkelen før du reiser for å unngå overraskelser.

Dette er del 1 av 2 i en kort artikkelserie rundt dette temaet. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Las Vegas, Orlando, travel, vacation
Posted in norsk, vacation | No Comments »

Earth Hour? What a concept!

02.03.2010 19:53

I recently caught on that my hometown is going to participate in the Earth Hour event, which this year lands on March 27.

Now, I’m all for changing the global climate and protecting the environment and all that. I just don’t think that shutting down non-essential lights and appliances for an hour a year (on a Saturday evening, no less) will do the trick.

We have come to a point in our technological advancement where electricity is a requirement. When we lost power in Ålesund and the surrounding area for an hour last week (mid-day on a Tuesday), our society more or less halted. You need electricity to register bar codes, fry/heat/cook food in cafes/restaurants/fast-food joints, pay with a debit or credit card, pay with cash where things like CashGuard are used, cool things down in fridges and freezers, work at an office (where computers are essential), etc. Basically, while not intended, we’ve already had our Earth Hour.

I see less of a point of the focus on an event like Earth Hour in Norway, where the vast majority of our power production comes from renewable energy. Living in a country full of mountains and subsequent waterfalls does have its benefits.

Also, we export more power than we import, so I don’t really see the point in the power companies’ major need to export power as much as they do.

Basically, with the amount of renewable energy produced in Norway, I simply don’t see the big need to “celebrate” an event like this.

So why do we do it? “Raise awareness?” What good will that actually do? It seems to me that the only countries participating are either already fully aware of the world’s energy and climate problems, or not big enough to make a significant impact in either direction.

We don’t need to cut back on energy consumption, we just need to find more efficient methods of both producing and consuming the energy, and that should be more up to the companies who make the energy production and energy consuming products. Although it’s more or less up to us consumers to select the right products, the companies making the products should be forward enough to do the necessary changes without having to wait on consumers and/or local regulations. And in particular when it comes to energy production, we also need the methods to be environmentally friendly.

To sum up just a couple of the not-so-environmentally-friendly energy production methods:

Fossil fuels: Coal, oil, the burning of wood, stuff like that. Sure, they produce the energy needed, but they icky stuff behind, both in the air and where they actually burn. That dark smoke is not a good thing, you know. Forests are replanted all the time, but unless you can dispose of both the ash and smoke somewhere other than Mother Nature, just skip it. Burning of wood in a fireplace should be saved for the rare occasions.

Fission: Or, in three words: Nuclear power plants. Sure, there’s a high yield compared to any other energy production, but there are also higher risks. Last I heard, nuclear waste still can’t be broken down easily; all they can do is store it in a safe place for a few thousand years in containers built especially for that purpose. Also, if the careful balance of keeping a nuclear reactor online is askew just enough, there are serious consequences, much like dropping a nuclear bomb in the area. Worst case scenario: think Chernobyl.

When it comes to the awareness bit, most of us are already well aware. What we need is for manufacturers to keep up, and preferrably in a quicker speed than now.

After all, if awareness with the consumer is so important to the environment, why aren’t the airlines pushing the manufacturers for more energy efficient airplanes? Instead, they choose to only focus on “reducing your carbon footprint” and buying carbon offsets.

And there’s another less-thought-out plan. Buying carbon offsets is really just marketspeak for paying a country to use some of their carbon emission quota which they weren’t going to use in the first place, and seems to be merely a the modern form of indulgence.

I’m just saying.

Tags: air travel, airlines, energy, environment, politics, pollution, travel
Posted in blog | No Comments »

Just wanted you to see this…

20.02.2010 19:46

Today’s strip of Non Sequitur was just too funny to pass up:

Non Sequitur, printed without perm.. ah, you know.

Ya know, I feel exactly like that.

Tags: comics
Posted in blog | No Comments »

Oh-kay!

18.02.2010 02:28

Believe it or not, I actually got a reply from SAS Norway (airlines) via Twitter, as well as replies to my blog post about my airplane woes earlier this month. Apology was accepted, and I actually learned something new about air travel.

The few of you who actualy read my blog might notice that the comments to my blog post didn’t appear at once. That’s because I’ve set up the blog system to let me approve the first comments from someone (by which time their comments will be auto-approved). This is more to avoid comment spam, something which is (thankfully) due to a secondary system of the new blog system. I always approve comments that are not spam and not direct attacks on my person, just give me time.

Also, the more perceptive of you might’ve noticed that I also just turned 30. I’m already done ranting about my life achievements, but the big day more or less came and went. I had an aunt and uncle over for coffee and cake (not originally planned), and I’ll have another aunt and uncle over tomorrow (Thursday). I’m having a larger family gathering on Friday (with dinner), and I might go clubbing on Saturday (I haven’t decided just yet). The clubbing run might include finding a special someone, but to avoid being disappointed, I’m not going to make that the primary goal.

I’m a man of very few friends (and many acquaintances), so the clubbing run will also be an alone run, as usual.

I don’t go out clubbing much, really, I go out rougly two or three times a year (not counting when I’m on vacations). I like going where people are (as long as it’s not overcrowded), but since I’m a shy guy, I have difficulty hooking up with anyone, even as basic as “just friends” (my list of actual close friends proves that).

My shyness seems to be my biggest hinder, both with gaining friends and finding a life partner, and I have no idea how to overcome that hinder. Just jumping in to the ocean of relationships is not an option, my shyness sees to that (in case any of you were going to suggest that).

Then again, a compliment I got from a pair of girls at the aforementioned singles party (after the matching cards had been given out) does suggest that I’m boyfriend material. They didn’t seem interested in me in particular, but they were trying to push me to go seek out my matches, as I seemed like a very nice guy who deserved it.

So apparently, I seem like a nice guy, and a safe bet, it’s just that there’s this wall of shyness (and appearance) blocking the view. I just never seem to catch a break, at least not good enough for someone to see the person inside the body fat.

Okay, I’m done now. I promised not to rant too much about my life goals, and yet I did. I guess I just don’t seem to get over it. Ah, the sad life of a loner.

Tags: air travel, airlines, birthday, dating, fluffy, life
Posted in blog | No Comments »

Too fat for airplanes?

15.02.2010 18:58

Over the recent year, I’ve had more than a fair share of airplane travel. My trip to the US last summer encompassed 10 flights alone (to and from), and my trip to Oslo last weekend counts as two additional flights (including the return flight).

Some of you might’ve caught film director Kevin Smith‘s recent trouble with Southwest Airlines, where he was, in essence, kicked off the flight because he was too fat – after being seated. He had paid for two seats (which is already a bullshit premise), but arrived so early at the airport, so he decided to jump on standby for an earlier flight. That earlier flight only had a single seat available, which mr. Smith didn’t mind – in his words; “I didn’t buy an extra seat because I’m fat (which I am), but because I’m anti-social and didn’t want to sit next to someone & possibly have to make convo (in person, I’m very shy)”. According to his story on Twitter, he was seated between to ladies, and he fit the seat perfectly without an extender, yet, the captain didn’t want him on the flight because he was a security risk.

When I returned from the singles party in Oslo last Sunday, I had a similar problem. I had checked in to my flight with SAS the night before using their mobile website, just to make sure I actually would be on the flight, considering it was the last flight of the evening (SK 1334 from Oslo to Ålesund at 9:45 PM on Feb 7, to be exact).

Knowing that seat rows with the emergency exits have slightly more leg room, and considering that I had no problem sitting next to an emergency exit on of the US flights last year, I checked in to seat 11A, which on this flight is the window seat smack dab next to the emergency exit. This was even indicated clearly on the seat chart during check-in (which is why I selected that seat).

As I said, sitting next to an emergency exit is not a problem for me, even if there should be problems during the flight. I have enough arm strength to rip the door handle right off if/when needed, I can remain calm in an emergency, and I can be more than helpful guiding my fellow passengers out the emergency exit if the plane should be damaged enough to make for a hasty exit. I sat next to an emergency exit at one of the flights in the US (I don’t remember which flight at the moment), and I even sat next to an emergency exit on my flight down to Oslo earlier that same weekend. As on all flights in recent years, I was wearing a seat belt extender, and on both previous occasions, I was only asked if I was able to handle the emergency exit if an emergency should arise, in addition to being asked about language barriers and my understanding of the additional instructions when seated next to an emergency exit.

However, on this last flight, I was told that since I was wearing a seat belt extender, I had to move to a different seat, due to being considered a security risk. I was even compared to a woman with child (pregnant or with a new born), and was told that anyone requiring a seat belt extender could not be seated next to an emergency exit. Not one to cause a scene, I reluctantly moved to the seat row behind my original seat, as that flight had about 20, maybe 30 passengers in total (and both seat rows in front and behind my original seat were empty). I was kinda grumpy the rest of the flight, to say the least.

In recent times, I always ask for a seat belt extender the second I board the flight. Sometimes they give it to me there and then, and sometimes they bring it to my seat after the boarding queue has died down. When I flew to Oslo that weekend (SK 1331 the Friday before), the attendant brought it to my seat – knowing full well that I was sitting in a seat next to the emergency exit. I was only asked the usual questions regarding emergency instructions etc.

For some reason, the flight attendant on that particular Sunday flight had a beef with me.

I mean, if there’s such a security problem regarding seating next to emergency exits, why even allow passengers to check in without problems to these seats? Also, it’s the first time I’ve even heard of such a regulation.

I fit snugly into airplane seats with the arm rests down, no problem, it’s just that the seat belt itself doesn’t reach all the way around. If I stand on my knees on the seat, people can pass by me without any problems, so frankly, I don’t see why I couldn’t sit there.

I originally was going to let this one slide by silently, but with the issues Kevin Smith had today, I just couldn’t shut my mouth much longer.

Between Ålesund and Oslo, there are only two airlines available; SAS and Norwegian. Norwegian (Air Shuttle) is the cheapest choice of the two, but you do get to bare minimum. A friend of mine used Norwegian Air Shuttle on a trip to London a few months ago, and had trouble with flight delays due to weather (where SAS re-routed the flights to the neighboring city (Molde), Norwegian instead let the airplanes return to Oslo), in addition to not getting any service or information during these delays (something which she noticed the passengers with SAS got – SAS, to their credit, even set up bus trips to Molde so people would get to their destinations). This little story made me select SAS for my flights out of Ålesund. Yes, they are a little bit more expensive (anywhere from 100 to 300 NOK extra), but you (usually) get a whole lot more customer service out of those extra money.

Then again, that single flight attendant did kinda ruin my flight that day. I know how Kevin Smith must feel.

Tags: air travel, airlines, fluffy, Kevin Smith, SAS
Posted in blog, opinions | 6 Comments »

Back from Oslo

08.02.2010 15:30

I landed in Ålesund again last night, and wasn’t home until 11pm. I was so tired, I barely had time to get updated on the latest news and read my e-mail before falling asleep in front of my computer.

The flights were just fine, so was the hotel, although unless they plan to redecorate in the near future, I don’t plan on staying there again. The room was clean (which is the most important thing), but the decoration style (the bathroom in particular) was clearly not from this site of Y2K. The shower water pressure wasn’t up to standards either. But, anyway.

Saturday’s singles party was indeed somewhat of a grand event. Then again, my shy self (and the fact that I arrived about 8pm, an hour after it actually opened) contributed to me sitting alone so-to-speak all of the time. I didn’t get a chance to actually meet and talk to anyone, as all females in the interesting age range (from 20 and expanded upwards to around 35, just for the hell of it) were already in mid-conversation with a guy or two.

Then, at 11pm, the time came for handing out the matching cards. When we arrived, we got nametags (simple stickers and a permanent marker) with the nickname we use on that dating website (can you guess which one I use?), and our photo was taken and attached to our nickname. The result for me was this (which I scanned in once I got home):

The blue background just means that I’m a guy (girls’ cards had a red background). For the ones who hadn’t already hooked up with an interesting person, it was almost a hunt to find anyone on their cards. All the girls on my matching card were good looking to me, but I had trouble finding any of them. In fact, I did cross paths with one in the top row, but she was already walking through a crowd with someone dragging behind her.

So basically, this whole singles event was a fruitless search for me. Bummer. Then again, my expectation for the evening was to gain some field experience for myself. I can’t say it was a big gain, but at least I had a change of surroundings for once.

On a more positive note, while I was already there, I met up my friend and his wife, who both had moved to Oslo late last year (he was offered a better position in the company he worked at, which meant he had to relocate to their office in Oslo, simple as that). We went out for dinner a few hours before I headed off to that party, and I was invited to dinner at their place on Sunday. It was great to see where he now lives and catch up on other things in life.

Tags: dating, friends, life, travel
Posted in blog | No Comments »

Creeping birthdays

01.02.2010 21:03

Birthdays don't creep anymore - Garfield (reprin.... bah, you know the drill)

Yes, my 30th birthday is rapidly approaching (only a couple of weeks away), and I still haven’t made much of my life. This, of course puts some self-applied pressure on me, considering I haven’t achieved as much in life as I had hoped for at this point. I still live in my mother’s basement, I’m still single and unattached, and any sign of offspring is highly dependant on the previous two. I also haven’t reached as high career-wise as I had hoped for. All these thoughts don’t exactly help me keep my spirits up on a daily basis. What is it about decennial birthdays that brings on these kinds of thoughts?

This is the kind of thinking that pushed me to attending a large singles party in Oslo this coming weekend. Earlier this year, I noticed that one of the dating websites (Norwegian only) was hosting a grand event for singles in Oslo on Feb 6. From what I’ve read, this singles party is somewhat of a regular thing, and these usually have 500-1000 attendees, and usually only members of that dating website may attend (others may attend only by invitation from an existing member, something that also has to be authorized by the dating website). Once the party starts, matching cards with photos are handed out, and these include your best matches of the people at this party.

Three weeks ago, I made up my mind to attend this one (for the first time), so I ordered a ticket for myself (the party ain’t free, ya know), booked the flights and hotel (Oslo is a little under an hour flight in each direction), pre-paid for transportation from the airport to the hotel (and back), all completed and confirmed in less than 30 minutes (I had checked up on prices the week before, just to fuel my decision). Thank goodness for Travellink (a site similar to Expedia, both in pricing and concept – I used them for booking the flights from home to Orlando when I went to the US last summer) for making the flight and hotel booking simple and affordable (even for a 4 star hotel like Radisson Blu Scandinavia). Who can pass up such a great offer when it’s even smack dab in the middle of Oslo?

The flight leaves this Friday evening (liftoff at 8:25 pm from Ålesund, landing in Oslo at 9:20 pm), and the return flight is on Sunday evening (liftoff at 9:45 pm, landing in Ålesund 10:40 pm). The bus ride between the airport and the hotel in Oslo takes almost an hour, but at least that bus stops right outside the hotel entrance, so I won’t have far to walk (I’ll find something to pass time on the bus, don’t you worry). Transportation (bus, taxi, parents driving, whatnot) to and from the airport near Ålesund takes 15-20 minutes, so I won’t be home until it’s closer to 11-11:30 pm that Sunday. I deliberately wanted a late flight on Friday so I won’t have to miss work, and I sincerely hope I’ll get to check out late on Sunday (considering I have about 6 hours to kill after the usual checkout time until I head out to the airport). Like I did when I went on vacation alone to Copenhagen and to the USA, I’ve planned most of my trip down to the detail; I’ve pre-paid for and received a tram ticket (which was 25 NOK when pre-purchased on the web or at a convenience store in Oslo, but 40 NOK if paid to the tram driver/conductor) to use when travelling from the hotel to the party (the tram stops right around the corner from my hotel, and also stops under a city block from the party location); I’ve written down tram times (every 20 minutes, it takes 17 minutes from the hotel to the party); I’ve researched taxi companies and prices in Oslo (for the return trip to my hotel), and written down phone numbers for the 5 biggest. I’ve even saved map images around my hotel (walking route from the hotel to the tram stop) and around the party location (walking route from the end tram stop to the party) on my phone. All times (flight, party and return flight) have been plotted into my calendar and synced to my phone, and relevant info has been included in each of those calendar times.

Sometimes, I think I plan too much. Then again, planning is part of what makes it a safe trip, and leaves the remaining time (aside from the flights and the party itself) up for spontinaity.

The party may result in a girlfriend, or it may not. My goal for the party is to at the very least breach a boundary in me to go out and find love more actively (rather than spending time with my family and my introverted self – don’t get me wrong, I love the family time, I just want more than that).

Never having had a proper girlfriend does something to you (and I’m not counting “girlfriends” from kindergarten and grade school). However, I have made my observations on other couples, as well as reading into a lot of articles and forum posts on dating, romance (actual romance, not novel or fantasy romance), relationships, sexuality, conflicts and stuff like that. In short, as with sex, I have taken in all the theory I can get my hands on (which is, btw, a continuing quest for information), but I have yet to take all that theory into practice on a real live person. I now intend to do something more active to rid myself of my relationship virginity (of sorts). How that will actually play out, remains to see. I hope I don’t have to move away from Ålesund for it to happen, though (I just love my hometown in spite of all the cold weather – then again, what happens, happens).

Of course, my sister’s pregnancy and the pending arrival of my first niece in May does make me feel left out in a way. I may be putting too much pressure on myself, but being 3 years older than my sister, I had hoped to be close to 3 years ahead in life than her as well. That obviously didn’t happen. Instead, I’m left with a feeling of not having achieved anything significant in life at the entrance of my first 30 years as a human being.

That’s not to say I’m happy for my sister and her boyfriend, because I am. I just wished I had something like she has. And every time I catch myself in envy over my sister, I also feel ashamed for (in my mind) putting pressure on her (I’m only thinking about that pressure, though, I’m not actually putting any pressure on her).

Then again, I’m also still (relatively) young, and my seeds don’t t have the same expire date as a female’s eggs, but I’ve reached the point in life where I actually look forward to bringing a new life to the world, and perhaps even experience being a grandfather before it’s too late, in addition to having someone to grow old with. How’s that for a comfort level and sense of commitment? And that’s even before having someone to share it with!

I hope life still has something special in store for me, and I’m sure it does. It just isn’t happening soon enough!

Now, how’s that for a rant about life?

Tags: birthday, dating, life, travel
Posted in blog | No Comments »

Don’t be evil?

01.02.2010 17:21

According to Wired, Steve Jobs recently lashed out against Google on their self-imposed mantra of “Don’t be evil” (along with critizism against other big companies). Yeah, like he’s one to talk.

If you look closer at the history of Apple’s products over the recent decade, Apple is a smidge more evil than Google. They don’t allow others to run their software, they’ve tried restricting their customers to a single platform (not just with music, but with their software and devices as well), they don’t allow for competing products on their platforms (and not just from small-time developers), they’ve tried silencing third party developers from discussing matters relating to Apple with others, they try to run the blame game on their customers (for product problems, they’ve been accused of stealing (not only user interface designs) and they even twist the truth in media just to generate over-hype about their coming products, just to name a few things.

This type of corporate culture is one of the reasons I don’t own any Apple products. Even though their computer products are slightly more enhanced for media production, these computers are just too restricted (software-wise) and high-priced for me to bother. As for the other portable devices (iPod, iPhone, and now, the iPad), the above-mentioned corporate culture and behavior is the main reason for not choosing Apple products on my part.

The iPod and iPhone may have been somewhat superior products when they were launched, but even back then, I could see several flaws and things missing with the iPhone in particular. Besides, when their competition launched their “similar” products under a year later to compete with the iPhone, these were already vastly superior to the iPod and iPhone in features, hardware, software and freedom. Still, Apple seems to have a “fanboy” following that can almost be compared to a semi-religious sect, with Steve Jobs as their almighty savior (something that has, thankfully, been pariodied on more than one occasion).

Yet, Steve Jobs dares to criticize Google for having evil traits, contrary to their own slogan. That may just be a case of the pot calling the kettle black – he should probably take a closer look at his own organization first.

Tags: Apple, Google, Steve Jobs
Posted in opinions | No Comments »

Music and movie piracy

29.01.2010 16:35

Earlier this week, it became clear that RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) wants to settle in the lawsuit against Jammie Thomas for $25,000. This is after the judge in that lawsuit had decreased the original $2 million “fine” (actually closer to $1.92) to $54,000 only a few days before. Not surprisingly, Thomas declined because they wanted her to accept it “without me knowing what I’m agreeing to”.

I would agree with Thomas here. I’d fight the ridiculously high demand to my very last breath. Not because I don’t want to pay for the music I have, but because I disagree with the methods these trade organizations (RIAA, IFPI, BSA and MPAA being the major offenders here) are using to battle content piracy (“content” being music, films, software and whatnot — I’m counting games under the “software” umbrella here, btw).

I admit, I download music, films and TV shows illegally on a semi-regular basis. But, I buy a lot of it legally as well.

Once the most recent episode of Heroes or CSI (just to mention a few) hit the pirate networks after being aired in the U.S. a few hours earlier, I download it (or, at the very least, later that same week, depending on when I remember to check in). I don’t want to wait until the one of the local TV networks decide to air it, mainly because they are constantly one or two seasons behind the U.S. broadcasts. And some of those TV shows are even available on the pirate networks in both standard definition and HD. For the sake of simplicity (and storage space), though, I usually go for the standard definition ones. That’s not to say I’m not willing to pay for it. Heck, I’d gladly pay a monthly subscription fee if I could get all of my favorite TV shows legally, and the second they are available from the respective production companies. The only services I’ve heard/read that do this, are only available to customers inside the U.S., which is a shame to me, as a customer in Norway. Sure, I can use a proxy service to mask my IP address as if I was in the U.S., but why go through all that trouble, when I can get the same episode from a pirate network for “free” – and keep the episode afterwards?

I’ve pirated a few movies as well. Whenever I’m very uncertain about whether the movie is worth the DVD price and/or shelf space, I usually download it from a pirate network first. If the movie was bad or disappointing, I’d leave it at that. If the movie was great or absolutely worth my money, I later go out and buy it on DVD. The latter has happened to me on several occasions; Chicken Little, Cloverfield, Jumper (the latter two being surprisingly underrated), just to mention a few.

I’ve also bought (or gotten as a present from my wishlist) Heroes (season 1 and 2), CSI (seasons 1 through 7) and Stargate SG-1 (all 10 seasons and the two movies following the series) on DVD as a result of downloading these illegally first.

The same goes for my music collection. I have roughly 30-40 music CDs (maybe even up to 50, I don’t have the exact count), but close to 60-70 GB of music on MP3 (roughly 13-14,000 songs), all of various quality (128-320 kbps). I don’t add to my collection as frequently as I did before, but I still get new music, roughly a half of a CD album’s worth once or twice a month. Some I get from pirate websites, of the AllofMP3 type, some I get from genuine online music stores (DRM-free).

The current count of DVD units (TV series seasons and movies) at the time of this post was close to 940, all purchased or gifted 100% legally, so in a way, I consider myself a good customer of the movie and TV industry. Yet, when I pop a DVD into my DVD player, I feel intruded upon whenever the usual video regarding piracy comes up (the one with “You wouldn’t steal a car…” etc). I can’t skip it (“next” or “menu” on my DVD remote), even though I’ve literally seen it thousands of times before. I feel like I’m being stamped as a criminal even though I’ve bought the movie myself. Besides, those who pirate this DVD is not likely to include that short video when they distribute it anyway. It has no purpose.

The only positive anti-piracy campaign I’ve seen, was a pamphlet included inside the cover of one of the DVDs I bought from Play.com (UK-based, which means region 2 encoded DVDs, suitable for all of Europe – for you Americans, they also have an American division for those region 1 DVDs). I don’t remember the exact words on this pamphlet, but it basically said that by buying this film legally, I support the creators and producers of the film, and encourage them to make more. Now, that’s the type of spirit I want to see.

No matter what these trade organizations do, they won’t be able to shut down piracy completely. If you shut down services like The Pirate Bay, a few weeks up to a month later, a new website just like it will pop up (either from the same creators or from some other part of the world) and become the most popular piracy website instead.

And yes, there are people who have the ideal of “everything should be free”, even if that applies to software, music, movies, TV shows or other performing arts.

I’m not saying they should just give up, I’m saying they need to reconsider their current business and earning model. They count each instance of illegally copying a song or movie file as a lost sale due to piracy. Trouble is, what if that person who illegally downloaded wasn’t going to buy that song or movie if he/she could afford it? What if that person wasn’t willing to spend money on something he/she had never heard of or seen before, or on something that has gotten very mixed reviews? A file is just a file, much like a piece of paper.

They treat each of these “lost sales” as a physical copy, even though they are not. Comparing movie piracy (through downloads) to the theft of a car is like comparing Apple and Orange. It just doesn’t work that way. Movie piracy is more like borrowing a book at the local library, scanning every page of that book into your computer, and then returning the book afterwards. Those scans are then given away to anyone who asks for it. The original physical copy is still intact as ever, but did the publishing company and/or author actually lose sales over it?

When portraying their current and potential customers as potential criminals (as they do with the today’s continuing campaigns), they are only going to deter the most skittish of pirates, while the piracy bigwigs won’t even flinch by these campaigns. Instead, they should rather promote the positive effects of paying for movies, music and software — like helping artists, producers, designers (and all others involved in the production process) to continue their work and make more.

Second, instead of fighting sites like AllofMP3 and The Pirate Bay with lawsuits and sanctions, they should rather look into why they are popular and see the business opportunities in the distribution and pricing models (of the type used in AllofMP3) used.

Also, when I’ve tried to watch a certain music video or try to access certain types of music/video content (non-porn, for those who try to insinuate something), I’ve been countered with the message that my country is not allowed to see that content. There are no real country borders on the Internet, and the rights owners should realize this by now. When there are things I want to access, but can’t do it legally only because of where I live (considering the content itself is not against any laws or regulations in my country), I’m more likely to obtain the same content illegally.

Also of note: first of all, the fines and outcomes of those close-to-frivolous lawsuits (by my standards) are not going to the actual artists whose rights have been stepped on. They more or less line the pockets of the executives and the executive branch of the industry. The artists and composers down the line are not compensated, as I’ve understood it.

Second, take a look at some of the targets of these lawsuits and/or fining campaigns (the latter being offering the target to settle the case for a single fine rather than going to court); single mothers, young students, grandmothers, children, computer novices and even dead people. This seems more like hunting for humpback whales with a BB gun and a butterfly net (terrible analogy, I know, but I’m just trying to project an image of futility here — btw, the bigwig pirates would be the “humpback whales” in this particular analogy).

There, I just had to get it off my chest.

Tags: bsa, ifpi, movies, mpaa, music, piracy, riaa
Posted in opinions | No Comments »

NRK må jekke seg ned…

20.01.2010 20:49

I går ble det da klart at Jostein Pedersen ikke lenger får jobbe i NRK som følge av kritikken han rettet mot Per Sundnes på bloggen sin rett før helgen. NRK liker visst ikke at en av deres egne ansatte sier sine meninger om andre medansatte dersom disse meningene skulle ha et lite dryss av negativitet over seg.

Det begynte visst med innlegget til Jostein Pedersen på sin egen blogg der han kritiserte Per Sundnes for å gjøre en dårlig jobb (der han også påpekte noen eksempler på hva som var dårlig), og ikke minst NRK for et dårlig valg av programleder. VG valgte dagen etter å si at Pedersen gikk “i strupen” på Sundnes basert på det jeg heller vil kalle konstruktiv kritikk. Og nå vil altså NRK avslutte alt samarbeid med Pedersen basert på dette.

Personlig er jeg helt enig i Jostein Pedersens kritikk. Per Sundnes gjør en dårlig jobb. Jeg synes han har en stiv og uentusiastisk fremferd, og mangler attpåtil intervjuteknikk. Det er også et poeng å holde mikrofonen mot intervjuobjektet ditt når du spør et spørsmål – noe jeg vil anse som en nybegynnerfeil, og ikke fra noen som tilsynelatende skal ha flere års erfaring i NRK. Sundnes gir også et inntrykk av å være uinteressert i å være i søkelyset, og jeg snakker ikke om dialekten hans – for all del, dialekten ser faktisk ut til å være noe av det mer positive trekket hans. Det virker bare på meg som om at det eneste kriteriet NRK har satt for valget av Sundnes som MGP-personlighet er fordi han kanskje passer inn i den stereotypiske feminine homsefaktoren av MGP (på samme måte som sunnmøringer som meg selv skal være stereotypisk griske). Det kan godt hende han gjør gode ting for å øke interessen for MGP i popmiljøet, men han passer rett og slett ikke som programleder. Forresten passer han ikke noe særlig som journalist heller, sånn sett.

Jeg håper NRK tar til vettet. De må da tåle at sine TV-personligheter får kritikk, selv om de “betyr mye for NRK” (ifølge Grethe Gynnild Johnsen, direktør i distriktsdivisjonen i NRK). Hun sier også at hun er “særdeles lite raus overfor kolleger som går til slike angrep på sine kolleger i det offentlige rom”, og at “dette burde han tatt på kammerset”. Hvilket kammers? Når du er blitt en såpass perifer samarbeidsperson i NRK som Pedersen, har du ikke akkurat lett omgangskrets med en “sentral” person som Per Sundnes. Det må da kunne gå an å si sin mening om perifere kollegers ytelse i programmer uten å måtte gå gjennom en eller annen form for system internt først. Jostein Pedersen er tross alt ikke lenger en del av NRKs MGP-tilbud.

Slik som NRK har håndtert saken, skulle man nesten tro at Sundnes var selveste Jesus i NRK-organisasjonen. Eller i det minste en av de store profetene.

Hva blir det neste? At f.eks. Ingerid Stenvold (NRK Sport, Lydverket, Dagsrevyen) blir tatt av luften hvis hun sier en liten negativ ting om Fredrik Skavlans intervjuteknikk? (Ikke at det faktisk er noe å kritisere akkurat der, jeg måtte bare ha et helt vilt og usannsynlig eksempel å komme med.)

NRK må skjerpe seg og følge med i tiden. Nå når alle og enhver kan skaffe seg en blogg (som på VG Blogg) eller mikroblogg (som Twitter), vil det også si at det blir større tilgang på meninger. Hvis noen i deres egen organisasjon velger å bruke det offentlige forum til å ytre sine meninger, må de også være villig til å gi et svar på kritikken i det samme offentlige forum, fremfor å behandle det som en negativ personalsak internt. Det handler om å bli litt mer fleksibel i kommunikasjonsmetodene sine.

Og det var alt jeg hadde å si om den saken i denne omgangen. (Med mindre NRK tabber seg ut på denne måten igjen.)

Posted in blog, norsk | No Comments »

navigation

categories

wishlists

recommended links

sponsor ads