My Album is Better Than Your Album

It's a pretty common belief that pop music died after the 90s. This decade has had its popular music not defined by bubblegum teen princesses and hunky "funky but not threatening" boy bands, but instead by black guys, materialism, sex, and "getting tipsy." With the mainstream largely done with this brand of irresistible sugar coated tunes, good pop albums are few and far between. Annie, however, seems to be out to change that.

Hailing from Norway, Annie emerged on the international scene after the release of her first album Anniemal gained an appropriate amount of blogger buzz. Songs like "Chewing Gum" and "Heartbeat," the latter produced by fellow Norwegians Röyksopp, proved that pop music was definitely not dead. Catchy, danceable, and sugar-sweet, it was a total revival, easily overshadowing recent efforts from the former gods such as Britney or Jessica.

Annie's second album, Don't Stop, slated for release on October 6th (but available now if you know where to look), takes the style of the first album and cranks it up to 11. Annie has called it "pop with strange edges," but upon listening it is immediately noticeable that this album is more than pop. It's pop, it's dance, and it's electro all at once. It's catchy, it's funny, and it's also deep enough that it demands more than one listen to catch all the crazy eccentricities. The tracks are varied in style, some sounding straight out of the 90's such as the first single "I Know Ur Girlfriend Hates Me," some faster 4 to the floor anthems such as "Song Reminds Me of You" and, of course, the obligatory slow tracks like "When The Night," which Annie was pleased to call her "first power ballad." Hip-hop is even represented, with the subdued drones on top of fat beats in "Take You Home." Annie and producers Timo and Richard X have succeeded in doing what Madonna and Britney's producers have been trying to do over and over again: make an album which takes the pop style we all love so much and modernizes it. Don't Stop does just that, utilizing dirty synths, trance-like melodies, and some of the best, most danceable beats I've heard in a good while, all while mixing it up enough so that it never gets boring. Clubs, be prepared for some serious bangers.

It's clear that her voice has had some training since Anniemal as well, coming across more dynamic and powerful throughout - it's especially clear in songs like "Sweet," and "Bad Times," which really show her range and vocal ability extremely well. While in Anniemal the vocals are largely more of a rap-sing hybrid, on most of the tracks here she belts it out, showcasing her sugar sweet voice in all of its glory. Combine this with clever lyrics largely written by Annie herself, and you end up with a complete winner, a pop album that's also not a pop album, since it probably won't be heard on too many radio stations.

Save a couple so-so tracks like "What Do You Want (The Breakfast Song)," Don't Stop is a masterpiece, an album that should bring Annie droves of fans beyond her already established indie blogger base. There's little to dislike about Annie or this album regardless of your music taste, and anyone who has a soft spot for pop music should definitely check this one out.

Some tracks for sampling:
My Love Is Better
I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me
Song Reminds Me Of You

Metro/ Natural

Recently, I've been really enjoying using my camera again. I took a basic digital photography class spring quarter this year, and I learned a ton. Before I basically just had an eye for cool pictures, and now I really know what goes into making a picture great. I've been a ton more active in the process, as opposed to just throwing it on auto and hoping for the best. Over the course of the spring and summer I've been shooting around Seattle with a general theme in mind: the combination and contrast of the urban setting with nature. This happens all over the place here, and I went out across the city to try to find it. These pictures are all high dynamic range, which means that they are composed of more than one photo of the same subject combined in Photoshop and edited so that everything in the picture is evenly exposed regardless of differences in light levels. Under the cut you will find these pictures as well as a little blurb about the picture and how I accomplished it.

Gasworks Park at Sunset - 3 exposures looking south across Lake Union at Gasworks Park. Taken right at sunset so that the red light from that combined nicely with the blue in the rest of the sky and the water. I love the colors in this one.


Capitol Hill Sky - 4 exposures taken out of a 12th story window in Campion Hall. The clouds are what I was trying to focus on the most here and they ended up coming out better than expected. I love how you can see the slight outline of the mountains in the background.


Green and Red - Trees and the Garrand Building on campus. I didn't have a specific aim in this picture, but I really like the way that the colors turned out, especially the greens. This is a HDR composed of two exposures.


Gray Skyline - Another skyline shot, 3 exposures taken from my friend's roof. This is another picture where I was aiming at capturing the full glory of the clouds, but they didn't come out quite as good as the other cloud shot. It's striking how different the skyline looks based on where you are looking at it from.


Green - Taken out my dorm room window. 2 exposures.


Amazon.com - This is the Amazon.com corporate headquarters. It sits by itself on top of a huge hill, so my aim was to capture it's majestic loneliness. The contrast of the blue and orange in this picture is really striking.


Through the Trees - 4 exposures taken from a park at the top of Beacon Hill. This is the picture that really got this project going, I absolutley love the skyline framed with those trees and bushes.


Blues and Greens - 3 exposures taken out of the 7th floor of Bellarmine hall. I love the perspective in this, so many different buildings and crazy angles are going on here it can be hard to figure out what's actually going on and where this was taken. My photography teacher couldn't believe that I didn't heavily alter this one.

The whole set plus bigger sizes can be found at my flickr.

Vice Presidents

As all the media hype dies down and focuses more on weather than politics, I think it'd be good to stop for a second and reflect on both of the candidates' VP picks - Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. The VP pick is one of the first important decisions a candidate makes, and it reflects greatly on their judgment whom they pick and why they pick them. While both of them seemingly had legitimate reasons for picking their running mates, there are definitely some issues with both of them that could end up hurting their candidacy, especially with the younger population.

Joe Biden is largely a good choice for Obama. His political resume is exactly what the ticket needs to reassure democrats and swing independents. He has had experience in Washington for over 30 years, had dealt with countless foreign leaders, and is a very white, middle-class man. This balances Obama's weaknesses almost exactly, adding the experience that he is constantly accused of lacking by the McCain campaign. Joe is a family man, down-to-earth, and doesn't even live in Washington. He takes the same Amtrak to and from work every day, a trip totaling almost 4 hours. Obama has spun this to fit his campaign's message, saying that the fact that he doesn't live in Washington means that he hasn't been shaped by the "same old politics," and instead has shaped those politics himself. Looking a little deeper into his policies, however, reveals some issues that some of Obama's strongest supporters might have with him.

These issues have to do with copyright, DRM, net neutrality, and the big content producers. A recent CNET article detailed his voting record on these important issues, and it could be seen as a very bad thing by most web-age young adults - one of Obama's largest and most dedicated demographics. Biden is "a staunch ally of Hollywood and their efforts to expand copyright law." Among others, he voted to make it a felony to trick devices into playing unauthorized music, and has also sponsored an RIAA backed bill aimed at making it harder to record songs from online radio stations. In addition, he hasn't been nearly as vocal about the need for enforced net neutrality as Barack Obama has. It is one of Obama's official policies, but Biden has mostly said that no preemptive laws were necessary. It seems to me that although Biden is a good choice in the foreign policy and experience departments, he might need to rethink his policies on these other important issues if he wants to keep the votes of countless young people.

Sarah Palin, on the other hand, seems to be nothing but a terrible choice for John McCain. It was completely obvious from the start that he only picked her due to her gender, and the barrage of negative coverage she has been receiving has been unrelenting. She has little to no experience on the national stage, is currently under investigation for her practices as Alaska's governor, and has a daughter who is walking proof that her abstinence only sex-education policies don't work. If John McCain's aim in picking a woman was to appeal to disenfranchised Clinton supporters, that aim has failed. These women will not vote for someone who thinks abortions shouldn't even be legal in the case of rape or incest, and they definitely won't vote for a ticket with a frontman who thinks that he'll get votes just because he picked a woman as his running mate.

I anxiously await the VP debate. The difference in experience is mind-boggling.

I'll leave you with this:

ohax revamp

Hello!

For those of you who haven't visited my website recently, I thought I'd just let you know that I've done a good bit of work on it over the last month or so. Moved it over to a new faster server, added new content such as some articles that I've written, and I've also spent some time organizing everyone who hosts content with me into a more unified structure. They're mostly music, so I created a landing / splash page with links to everyone's sites, so ohax is kinda like a record label or something now. It's pretty sweet.

ohax.com - main page of my portfolio.
ohax records - ohax "records" landing page
DJ Toaster - DJ toaster page. You can download almost every mix I've made (at least the good ones)

SO yeah, check them out! If you make music and want a simple website and a place to distribute it online quickly, hit me up and join the fabulous celebrities who already are signed to ohax records. ;)

Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs Review

Death Cab for Cutie used to be a band that I never really gave a chance to. Years ago I was listening exclusively to electronic music, and aside from lead vocalist Ben Gibbard's side project with synthesizers "The Postal Service," I didn't really listen to much in the way of indie rock. Death Cab flew into my radar with 2005's major label debut "Plans," an album that many dismissed for being "too poppy." What it really was was flawless production, amazing lyrics ("I Will Follow You Into The Dark" comes to mind), and these things were exactly what the band needed to be successful on a major and break through to the mainstream.

"Narrow Stairs" takes the poppy production of "Plans" and mixes it with a darker, bleaker sound both lyrically and musically. The album starts out with the fantastic "Bixby Canyon Bridge," which is quite possibly the hardest Death Cab has rocked on a studio album. Distorted guitars and huge drums take the place of Gibbard's relaxing vocals for most of this track, and it's largely a sound that Death Cab haven't experimented with until this point, and it really works. In "I Will Possess Your Heart," the second track and first single, the band jams out to a midtempo bassey groove for a whole 4 minutes before the lyrics even start, and then the track transforms into a catchy stalker-esque song that borders on creepy at points. "You gotta spend some time, love // You gotta spend some time, with me // I know that you'll find, love // I will possess you heart."

Overall, the first 15-20 minutes of the album really shine as new and different for Death Cab. I was genuinely spurised at this different sound, and thought that it would last for the whole album, but that wasn't the case. "No Sunlight" and "Cath" feel like they could have been taken straight from "Plans," both very upbeat and infused with sugar-sweet guitar riffs and catchy lyrics that you'll be singing for hours after finishing them ("When I was young // Lying in the grass // I felt so safe // The warming bath // of sunlight, of sunlight"). "Grapevine Fires" mixes melodic piano with the spastic drumming that we've all come to love from Jason Mcgerr. Throughout the album they mix their old style of soft rock with a newer, harder sound that's evident on tracks such as "Bixby Canyon Bridge" and "Long Division." The mix works, and the harder sound is definitely a musical territory that Death Cab can succeed in.

Despite the album overall having a darker theme and some different styles, it's still easy to listen to and keeps a fairly consistent sound and production style. There are notable influences from older music in some of the tracks, as well: "You Can Do Better Than Me" sounds like the music was sampled straight from the Beach Boys, and "Pity and Fear" echoes the Indian theme that The Beatles toyed with in some of their later material (but it's no "Within You or Without You"). What Death Cab have succeeded in doing with "Narrow Stairs" is creating an album that, while not exactly groundbreaking or genre-defying, is worthy of praise simply because they manage to take the same basic formula that they've used for the last few albums and give it a fresh sound. I'll be listening to this one for a while.

Wow.

Just two months ago, Nine Inch Nails released "Ghosts I-IV," a collection of amazing instrumental material. For those of you who didn't catch the release, it was released by surprise on their website in various different formats. You could download the first of the 4 volumes for free, download the whole thing for $5, or pay from $10 to $300 for various physical formats. The entire album was licensed with a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Share Alike License - meaning you're free to share and remix the music for your own projects, use it in films, etc, as long as you don't charge for the end result and you credit them.

I saw this distribution system as a shining light for the future - a method that I actually approve of. If more albums were released in this way artists would make more money and people buying music would be a whole lot happier.

Today Trent released yet another full album - this time a more classic NIN outing with lyrics and the screaming guitars that we've come to love. The catch this time is that there is no catch - the album is completely free to download in a variety of digital formats including mp3, FLAC, and even high-definition, better than CD WAV audio.

Check it out, you have so little to lose!: http://nin.com

I guess they're planning to release hard copies on CD and vinyl in June too, which is amazing because I also love to actually have my music.

I'm so happy with everything this band is doing. Kudos Trent, for attempting to singlehandedly change the entire music industry. This will catch on, I'm sure of it.

New Music!!

So 2008 has been a great year for music so far. I thought I'd just pop in on here to give you guys a couple of amazing albums to get you through this last stretch before the wonderful summer.

Santogold - Self Titled

I was told about this artist from circusdelight before her actual album came out. It's not out yet, but it's leaked, so I'm sure if you look hard enough (waffles) you'll be able to find it. Definitely check her our if you like M.I.A. as they are very similar, but Santogold definitely has a bit more of a rock aspect going for her. Her album switches it up between hipster indie rock jams and MIA style club bangers, and it's a pretty solid listen all the way through. For a good example of her style, check out L.E.S Artistes.

M83 - Saturdays = Youth

M83 is an interesting man. Saturdays = Youth is his fourth album, and each one, while different from the others, mostly shares the same spacey, synthy, abstract sound. This album goes a bit beyond that, and we're given a record that feels more like a pop rock album than his previous hugely electronic outings, but still has plenty of synths and heavy beats to keep any electronic music fan happy. Mixing about half instrumental droney tracks with the other half epic pop, there really isn't a dull moment on this disc. The fusion of rock and electronic music works perfectally. Vocals definitely take the front of the stage in this disc a bit more than in his past albums, but the lyrics, reeking of 1980s teenage angst like the album cover, definitely add to the whole experience. I would highly reccomend this album to anyone who likes new wave, electronic, or rock music. Also check out "Before the Dawn Heals Us," his previous album. Graveyard Girl is the first single off this one.

Filesharing at Seattle University

So I just finished my digital journalism final, and I really like how it turned out.

It's 5 minutes. Click here to watch it in HD. Or watch a lower quality encode below:




Filesharing at Seattle University from Angelo Carosio on Vimeo.

Hilary, You're Splitting the Democratic Party. Stop

At the beginning of this primary season, we assumed that the Democratic candidate would be Sen. Hilary Clinton. The media referred to her as the “presumptive democratic candidate,” and her campaign nailed the point into our head that the race would be decided when she won “Super Tuesday.”

“I will win the nomination.” she said months ago.

Now, after splitting the Super Tuesday delegates with Sen. Barack Obama and losing 11 straight contests afterwards, she has come to the realization that she no longer is the frontrunner in this election. A man with the power to inspire and bring people together has put together a stunning grassroots campaign aimed at getting votes from the ground up, and it’s working. Contests are slipping out of Hillary’s fingers, and her once large delegate lead has disappeared.

Her response, however, is doing nothing more than hurting the democratic party. Instead of realizing that it's possible she isn’t what the American people want, instead she is attempting to attack and belittle Obama’s credibility in moves that could be potentially fatal for the party’s hopes to win the general election. In Ohio, Pictures have been circulated from campaign officials that attempt to make Obama look Muslim, and she has even called his patriotism into question in a picture showing Obama singing the national anthem without his hand on his heart. Playing race and religion cards are nothing more than fear tactics, easily targeting middle American states like Ohio.

Bill Clinton said it best in 2004: "If one candidate is trying to scare you, and the other one's trying to get you to think, if one candidate's appealing to your fears and the other one's appealing to your hopes, you better be voting for the one that wants you to think and hope. That's the best."

These tactics may be more tolerated in a general election, but Hillary needs to be reminded that whoever wins this contest still has a long way to go to defeat John McCain, and whoever it is going to be needs all the support they can get. Primary elections are supposed to be about issues and electability, not attempting to alienate your opponent from people who might be seeing him on a general election ballot. Hillary has even said that she and John McCain have the experience necessary to run the white house, but Obama lacks it. Should he win the nomination, its statements like that that will hurt his chances of being elected, as the people who used to support her vote for McCain instead of Obama.

If Obama had lost 11 straight contests and then come back with several squaky wins putting a very small dent in the lead, the media and the party would most likely be pushing him to get out of the race so the Democratic Party could unite under Hillary. Due to her once front-runner status she is still in the race, and insisting that "this is the beginning of her comeback" and rumors are abound that she's planning on using sneaky tactics like seating Michigan and Florida delgates to reclaim the lead. Most states coming up have been the kind of states that favored Obama. His lead will only increase as time goes on.

Here’s my message to you, Ms. Clinton. The odds for you to legitamately become the democratic candidate are very very slim. Every minute you stay in this race, every negative ad you put out against Obama harms the man who will probably be representing your party in the general election. The position of both of your candidacies is that Americans are ready for someone who isn't George Bush. Shouldn't you do everything you can to make sure we can elect someone who isn't endorsed by the man? Republicans are starting their run for November with McCain in front, and the Democrats need to do the same. Obama has had win after win in almost twice the states that you have. Texas and Ohio were so close that the delgates given to both candidates bordered on even. Obama has a significant ammount of support, and airing negative adds to swing a couple hundred thousand people to your side isn't going to change that. The best thing you could do for the Democratic party right now is to drop out and support Barack Obama. If you stay in, you will only disenfranchise all of the young voters who turned out in record numbers this election to support him.

After 8 years of Bush, we need a change. We need as many votes for the Democratic candidate as possible, and the longer that this is drawn out, the harder those votes will be to obtain. Swallow your pride, and let the democratic process that has done this country well for hundreds of years work the way that it’s supposed to.

Develoment, Development, Developement!

Everyone living in Queen Anne knows that new buildings and development is pretty much a constant. Just driving down the street it's obvious that new buildings are being put up all the time. Here at the Queen Anne Neighborhood Blog, we're ahead of the cranes, bringing you news about new development before there are any signs of it going on. Currently, there are some big projects underway that we hope to give you a first glimpse of.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Currently on the corner of 5th and Mercer St. in Queen Anne sits a Seattle Center Parking lot, one which is probably worth more than most people make in several years. Since such a large parking lot can't occupy prime real estate for too long, the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation has decided to build a new, permanent campus on the site. Based on community input from the Design Review Board, the concept is "intended to reflect both the foundation’s Seattle roots and its focus on reducing inequities and improving lives around the world." according to the foundation's website.

In addition to the huge campus, the foundation will add nearly 2000 jobs to Queen Anne, and bring with it an increase in traffic, hotels, and foreign diplomats visiting the area. The ground is being broken for the building in July, and it will compleley change the face of Queen Anne as it is known today. Look out for this beautiful building to be completed in a couple of years.

Seattle Center

The Queen Anne staple Seattle center is also recieving a large rennovation in the coming years, something this park has not seen since it was built in the '60s. The Seattle Center has been working closely with various Queen Anne groups like the Land Use Review comitee to develop a plan for this campus that moves it in to the 21st century. According to the Seattle Center website, large changes will me made to the overall camus, including the removal of the "fun forest" amusement park area in favor of more open space, more transportation options, and additional programs for young and old people alike. They are also trying to emphasize sustainable design in all of the aspects of the Center's redevelopment.

There are some interesting things in store for this area, and the more jobs that are created here, the more people want to move here, fueling the need for even more development. It's a continuing process, and one that any Queen Anne resident should stay on top of.

Queen Anne St.: The Backbone of a Community

The sun was shining in Queen Anne on Tuesday, a rare sight this time of year anywhere in Seattle. People were out everywhere, encouraged to leave their homes and offices to enjoy this sunny exception in an unusually cold winter. I'm out too, walking down Queen Anne St, a bit south of the Seattle Center. This street is the main throughfare for the Queen Anne neighborhood, and contains enough hotels, restraunts, coffee shops, and businesses to spend an entire day shopping without ever leaving the street.

The first place that I come to is a park that it's impossible to come to this area without noticing: The Seattle Center. Built in the '60s as the site for the World's Fair, it's known as a place for tourists by most Seattle locals. Walking into the center, the huge fountain glistening in the sun, a woman and her child play in the water jets, while a man wails on his saxophone in the background. There is lots to do here that isn't necessarily the expensive tourist traps that the Space Needle elevator and the EMP are - The Pacific Science Center has laser shows to classic rock music on the weekends, as well as huge-screen IMAX movies all week. There are several theatres scattered around too, and currently the Seattle Repretory Theater is doing a production of "The Diary of Anne Frank."

This huge park always has something going on, and it's definitely a place that Seattle residents should visit more often.

As I continued my walk down Queen Anne St, I made it to a more commercial area with shops lining both sides of the street. I found myself inside Twice Sold Tales, a bookstore which only deals in used fare. The store was tucked away on a corner, and once inside it's clear that this isn't an ordinary bookstore. The sterile, expansive, corporate America feeling you get from stores like Borders and Barnes and Noble is gone.

At Twice Told Tales, it's been replaced with a dark cavelike feeling, with books packed in everywhere you look, and several cats roaming around at their pleasure. It's hard to get cash for your old books here, but easy to trade them in and find something else in the store instead. A friendly staff, huge selection, and the good feeling you get supporting local businesses will bring me back to this store the next time I'm looking for a good read.

My next stop would be Uptown Espresso. In a city with coffee shops across the street and next door to other coffee shops, to be successful is to be different. The first thing I noticed about Uptown is the lamps that were on the tales - every one was different from the others.
Mine happened to be a windmill, and I sat down and enjoyed the best cup of hot chocolate I've had in a while. The textured walls, festive lamps, and general atmosphere made this coffee shop feel more like I was enjoying a cup at my own home. The woman at the counter looked over to me and asked "If you were a superhero, which one would you be?"

I quickly responded: "Batman, duh."

Queen Anne St, (and Queen Anne in general) is an exciting place full of good businesses and good people. I only spent an hour walking down the street and visiting stores and parks, but I'm sure one could spend much more time here if he had it. As I came out of Uptown, the sun had been hidden away behind growing cloud cover. I knew it wouldn't last long.

Easy Street Records: A Queen Anne Staple

As I walked in to Easy Street Records last Tuesday, I was greeted with a familiar smell that I can only describe as "music store." The musty smell of old records in their cardboard cases mixed with plastic CDs makes me feel at home in any store, and Easy Street Records in Queen Anne isn't an exception.

Since opening up shop 5 years ago in 2003, Easy Street records has been offering free in-store concerts for bands who want to be able to promote their music without much hassle, and they are always well attended by Queen Anne residents and music lovers all over the city of Seattle.

Tuesday's show was an album release party for an indie rock band out of Portland, "The Helio Sequence." As the band set up at the end of the store behind a garage door, the crowd found spots to watch among the shelves of records and CDs. There was hardly any lighting and a bare bones stage, but what matters most to the people attending was the music. The Helio Sequence rocked out hard playing songs from their new album, and the several-hundred strong crowd was definitely enjoying it.

The staff at Easy Street records said that they enjoy doing the in-stores, and that it's always interesting to see what bands decide to make a stop there -- usually accompanying another show in a bigger venue around the same time. The in-stores are usually lower key performances - sorter and with less glam, and that's an element that can draw some people to them that might not want to be part of a 500 person mosh pit at the Paramount. There are more than 20 shows at Easy Street every year, and in the past such famous artists as M.I.A and Pearl Jam have performed, all for absolutely no money.

"Pearl Jam was definitely my favorite of the in-shows because we didn't announce it," employee Tanya Jessen said. "They just showed up and started playing, and before we knew it the entire store was packed."

Most shows are announced however, and if you're ever broke in Queen Anne looking for something to pass the time, check out the big rotating sign outside of the store to see if there are any good bands scheduled to perform. They also post upcoming store events on their website.

Mobile Video

Recently in a conversation with my mom, she was telling me about the recent cell phone boom in India.More people are getting cell phones, and that's great. Businesses and the whole economy of that country can benefit by more people being connected. The interesting aside to the growth, however, is that because of it more and more people in India are using their new cell phones to consume media. While here in the US we may have a TV and an iPod too, that definitely isn't the case for most people living there, and televisions are much more rare. So what do Indians do instead? Gather round the ol' cell phone and watch a translation of Friends!

Mobile video is popular here too, whether it be on an iPod or on a cell phone. People are consuming more and more media on the go, and more and more media on small screens and stock earbud headphones. Mendel had brought up the point in an earlier entry that he disliked this because it results in people never having any time to just "be" since they can watchSouth Park during all their free time on the bus, and although i agree with him, I also dislike this new trend for a different reason , and David Lynch seems to agree with me :P

It seems to me that as more people start watching their television and movies on smaller screens, the people producing that media might start having to compensate for that with a different style of production. The music industry has compensated for the fact that 50% of iPod owners use stock earbuds with the "loudness wars," which are virtually eliminating dynamic range in new music and can ruin it in extreme cases. Are we going to start seeing new TV shows doing something similar? Are we going to see cinematography with more close-ups and detail shots so people watching on an iPod nano screen can actually see what's going on? Are directors even going to bother with small details and good sets if most people aren't going to see them anyway?

I myself have never watched a TV show on my iPod, and maybe used the stock earbuds for about 1 day (mostly to advertise my new iPod owner status). Are these things sufficient for anyone reading this? I guess I maybe don't understand since I like to consume media in the best environment possible, or else I don't think it is worth it. The director intended movies to be viewed on a screen the size of a room, and while watching them on a television is acceptable, I just will not have the same experience on a cell or iPod, period. Same with music, if I can't hear everything that's in the song, why even bother?

Maybe I'm just a media perfectionist, but I'm sure that there are others like me, and we're getting the short end of the stick.