blah blah blah

I'm sick.  I don't feel like talking to anyone.  I just want to stay in my little hole in the wall and just be by myself today.  I have a shit load of laundry to do. I have a shit load of reading to do. I have no food at home and the stores are closed on Sundays.  Ok? So can we all agree that Nilo gets to be in hibernation today?  Thanks!

It's bad, but it's not Armageddon...yet!

My friend Sam sent me this article http://adage.com/article?article_id=135440

He asked me what my response was to it and I ended up writing more than I thought I was going to!  Here's what I wrote to him:

Ok so of course right now everything seems dark and horrible, and yes, things are awful right now in this economy but I don't see it being AS bad as they say.  I think or I should say I hope that Obama has what it takes to turn this around!

Yes, the consumer can now be a producer.  We see it in Youtube, Facebook etc...but that doesn't mean that the only things people will watch from now on are youtube videos.  No way!  We will still want all of our professionally produced programming.  

Now in terms of Newspapers, in the old fashion sense is dying.  Reading a newspaper is as much about the content as it is about the ritual.  The people who grew up reading the morning paper with their coffee are no longer the main consumers.  Now, with digitalization and the increased speed at which we live our lives, waiting for a newspaper to be printed and sent to our front door seems ancient.  

I could touch on each type of medium but the story is pretty much the same across the board. Yes, it's bad but it's not Armageddon.  

We are all playing catch up to the "Digital Revolution".  The internet seems like it has been around forever but really the advancements in this technology have evolved in the last 20 years in overdrive.  And now, as a society we are playing catch up.  The people in charge of the business models did not take advantage (in an acceptable way) from the beginning so now when the general public is charged for something online they don't feel like they should have to pay because up until now they haven't had to.  If you're used to getting something for free there's little chance you'll now start paying for it. I think the bottom line is that the people in charge, the CEO's of all these major corporations dropped the ball about 20 years ago.  

The internet was developed on an open mentality, the people who really invented and revolutionized the Internet were not the CEO's, they were the geeks in the basements, all working on the same programs together, posting what they've found and building off of each other's works.  It's what we call today "Web 2.0"  If, now strictly from a business side, the CEO's had payed attention to what was going on from the beginning I don't think we'd be in such trouble as we are now.  If from the beginning we were charged for email accounts we wouldn't know any different today.  Of course I don't want to pay to use gmail or hotmail but imagine if we never knew we didn't have to pay for it?  We would pay.  Then the newspapers that are strictly online now maybe wouldn't feel such a tight pull on the purse strings if we just knew that to read a full article we had to pay for it or to access craigslist we had to pay for it, the same way you pay to place an ad in the paper.  

So, as an entire society we have to figure out a way to monetize the Internet.  I think it can be done, we just need the right person or group to figure out how to do it.  I agree with the article that we can't rely solely on advertising, people do not respond to online ads in the same way.  So how exactly will we come around on this? Not sure, but i'm not ready to bury my head in the sand yet.  I still think there are enough creative people out there to figure this out.  There are a lot of obstacles and a lot of people to convince but I think someone out there somewhere will figure this out.  And if they don't, well at least it was fun while it lasted and hopefully I won't have to pay back any school loans!  

A walk in the garden

The other day I thought I would go to the Tuileries gardens and read for class.  I DID read for a little bit but it was too cold to sit any longer.  It was about 40 degrees!! When you move from 10 years in "Sunny" San Diego, 40 degrees is below freezing!  Ok, it wasn't below freezing but it was too cold to just sit there.  So I took a little walk through before heading back home and took some pics...

I know I haven't written about my trip to London yet and I got back on Tuesday and it's already Sunday night.  I had a great time in Londontown, I got to visit with Suz & Molly and that was better for me than anything else right now.  I really really needed to see some friends.  Not that i haven't made friends while I've been here but seeing my friends from home is on a whole other level.  There are a few more people from home that i would give anything to see right now but unfortunately i can't.  But seeing Molly & Suz made me feel way less homesick and it was awesome to just spend time with them.  We didn't do a lot of touristy stuff we just hung out and it was the best!

This is us at Suz's birthday party, we all had to dress up representing a country. I was France, Molly was like Caribbean or Bahamas (Somewhere tropical!) and Suz was Russian (A Russian spy to be exact)

Today's Playlist

Here's my playlist for today and possibly tomorrow...

Against Me! - Thrash Unreal
Against Me! - Stop!
Arcade Fire - Wake Up
Arcade Fire - Keep the car running
Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent
Basia Bulat - In the night
Chromeo - Momma's Boy
Cobra Starship - Guilty Pleasure
Cold War Kids - Hang me up to dry
Duffy - Mercy
Editors - Smokers outside the hospital
Foxboro Hottubs - Mother Mary
The Fratellis - Flathead
Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby
Kings of Leon - Sex on fire
Kooks - Always where I need to be
Ludo - Love me dead
Metro Station - Shake It
MGMT - Time to pretend
MGMT - Electric Feel
MGMT - Kids
Modest Mouse - Dashboard
Moldy Peaches - Anyone else but you
Muse - Feeling Good
New Found Glory - Hit or Miss
Paramore - Born for this
Rilo Kiley - Moneymaker
Rise Against - Good left undone
Social D - Story of my life
Social D - Ball and Chain
Social D - Far Behind
Social D - Ring of Fire
The Stills - Still in love song
Tegan and Sara - Back in your head
Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
VHS or Beta - Can't believe a single word
Walkmen - Canadian Girl
You say Party! We say die - Downtown Mayors goodnight

And all of Bad Religion "The Grey Race" and "The Process of Belief"

I'm back!

I'm back in Paris! It's already 2 am so i'm not writing a full blog tonight but I will soon...had a great time in Londontown!!!

xoxo