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20:51 24/04/01
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I know i said i'd never do this again, but i just added a Drexel MP3 and they kick unimaginable amounts of ass, so go check it out on the MP3 page.
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17:46 04/04/01
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Why didn't someone tell me college would be so much work.... Eesh, rapidly appoaching burnout, well, not really, i'm just kinda tired is all. So i delivered on some more ringtones, but not on that Punk Planet rant, well here goes. (dramatic pause) In some issue they had this so called "Warped Expose", which i thought was at best bitter and at worst laughable. They argued several points, firstly that Vans were only out to make money off warped. So what? They're a business, thats what they do. I was at warped last summer and Vans or any company that sponsors the tour made no difference to me. What they did was provide funding to the Warped organisers to all the tour to travel with so many bands to so many cities, and if they are doing this to make money, so what? PP argued that they were an evil multinational - their canvas shoes stopped selling so they stopped making them. Shock horror! They brought out the point that they shut down their operations in one city in America, firing 900, but rehiring 450 odd in jobs purely designed to give these people jobs... What's wrong with that? They moved their operations as they wanted to continue making a shoe they could not legally make in the US and in the process kept on as many people as possible... Sounds reasonable to me. One could argue about the type of labour laws the other country that they are now based in has, but PP failed to mention that at all, which only leads one to assume its all kosher. They argue that the CEO gave himself a raise from $430000 to $460000 (rough figures on my part - i dont have the mag here). First, if a CEO is making so little, its not that big a company and thus the "evil multinational" implications will have to be rethought. Secondly, $30000 is FUCK ALL compared to the types of pay rises other CEOs or , say, politicians make, so to complain about this, to me, was petty. Sure, they let off alot of job s, and it could be construed as "Fire loads of people and better ourselves", but the layoffs were not due to a downturn in sales (Vans still sells loads), it was due to a change from one employment market to another, and the work involved for the CEO, I would imagine, would warrant the (relatively insignificant) pay rise.
PP went on to give out about how bands are treated, given a choice of Bus and food or cash, they are forced to take bus and food due to the travelling involved. So? The promotion alone that any band gets from such a high profile, wide reacing tour definately overweighs the money they may or may not earn. They still have merch... But wait, apparently one or two venues (note, venues, not the warped people themselves) try to take a cut from the merch takings, of up to 80%. That is fucked, but thats the venues, not warped. However, while on the one hand PP gives out that bands have to survive on merch takings, they also complain that all the bands sell merch, and are thus encouraging capitalism in the kids at the show, and making the tour more about branding than about music. Take a side and stick to it for fuck sake, as if the arguement wasn't weak enough...
The final complaint that i recall was about the bands, and the one picked upon in all the articles was Blink 182. Their perceived status as jock-punks is used as an excuse to berate EVERY act that sets foot onstage. Their jokes (and lets remember here people, these are jokes), like asking girls for blow jobs and such are taken out of context by the writers (they never once mention that it is done in humour, instead implying that the requests are serious and aimed at specific individuals) and used to portray the tour as one big advertising and sexism driven consumer frenzy.
Well, sorry guys, i like your magazine, but that article really sucked, you really let yourselves down. The impression i get from PP sometimes is that of a bunch of ageing punks who'll only listen to anything that sounds leftfield and as non mainstream as possible, the type of guys who frown at kids just cos "they're kids and they know nothing". This article enhanced this. Bad move.
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02/04/01 10:42
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For some reason I have Beavis And Butthead singing (??) Breaking The Law in my head. I don't even know the original, but it's there. I went outside the college for a cigarette a while ago (we can't smoke inside) and it occured to me how unconcious an act it is for me to smoke. I didn't even think about it, I had food and then I went out for a cigarette. And I didn't even really enjoy it, it wasn't one of those ones where every pull brings you pleasure, it was one of those get-it-out-of-the-way-as-quick-as-possible ones. Sometimes I really don't know why I smoke, though if we were to rationalise everything in our lives, we would probably end up joining fugazi!! Ah, life...
Anyways, i decided not to update this section everytime i update something, it will be reserved for ramblings like the above and maybe the odd bit of punk news. Why i'm telling you this i don't know, but keep your eyes to the left for updates in the future!!
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02/04/01 08:48
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The spending boom continues! Yesterday I bought a new mobile phone, my old one got bust up and I really need one for college. I don't know if mobile phones are punk or not, and frankly I couldn't give a rat's ass, I need one to keep in touch with people here at college and back at home. Anyways, it's a battered up Nokia 3210, which has a cool feature where you can program in your own ringtones. Well, being the curious sort I figured the bugger out and started making my own from whatever came into my head. Then as I was watching TV this morning it struck me - there's no kinda online resource for punk ones, so why not do one myself. I thought of setting up a seperate site but I said fuckitt, too much work, and I really don't have the time to haul together a new site, so I put a page on here. So far all I have is Minor Threat - Filler, but I'll pop up more as I figure them out. You can send them in too if you want, you know the address.
Oh and check back later for my diatribe on Punk Planet. I just got a stack of back issues last thursday (spot the man with the new job eh!!) and there's alot there to write about. C-ya
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