No Fun

The High Court ruling this week against online music retailer CD-Wow sets an incredibly dangerous and worrying precedent. In one fell swoop the British music industry has lost any claim they might have had to the moral high ground in the fight against piracy by essentially criminalising companies who attempt to give those who actually want to buy legitimate products a good deal. Imagine if the same logic was applied to bananas. Or cocaine... (erm, you've lost us now, Neil...)

As usual, "No rock And Roll Fun" has the most incisive commentary, which I urge you to read:
http://xrrf.blogspot.com/2007/05/cd-ow-massive-fine-for-trying-to-save.html

It's a blog worth subscribing to as well, for those of you who fear for the future of popular culture...

WHY, THAT'S DELIGHTFUL!

http://users.livejournal.com/tao_/
It may not be exactly, uh, the prettiest site on the Interweb, but Graham Linehan's blog (or, in his words, 'Hompendium of Dorithies') is certainly worth a visit. He of the writing-half-of-Father-Ted fame serves up some searingly skewed political analysis and comedy interludes, as well as other random ephemera. Very funny stuff and worth keeping an eye on too...

Sheenscreen

http://www.youtube.com/sheenscreen
My (now ex-)colleague Sheena, for some unknown reason, left the beautiful climate and friendly people of Scotland behind last month for a volunteering stint in a remote area of Guatemala. She's working at a community centre in San Marcos La Laguna doing various things including video production and gun-running for the local mafia. (And why not?)

Luckily she's been posting her exploits on YouTube for us all... muchos gracias!

Justice

Here's a link to the incredible new animated video for Justice's forthcoming single 'D.A.N.C.E.' It's a surprisingly frothy pop single, but I'm guessing those French wizards will have some delciously dirrrrty remixes up their sleeves for us bass-fiends...

http://www.dailymotion.com/featured/video/x1upou_justice-dance

Elective

Tomorrow is of course Scottish parliamentary election day... you were remembering, weren't you? Luckily I have taken it upon myself to come round and beat with a wet slipper any of you who don't get out and vote.

Unfortunately the stupidly complex voting system has put a lot of people off, as has the bizarre and vast range of candidates. Luckily there's a website that I've found that makes everything very simple...

http://www.holyrood2007.net/

You can put in your postcode to find out all about the candidates who are standing in your area, as well as see a 'virtual ballot paper' - an exact replica of what you'll be faced with tomorrow. Nicely done, sir!

<rant>
Why is it that this simple use of a bit of technology has to be left to Edinburgh University (of all people!)? And why has it not been publicised at all? I had to dig through mountains of websites which all said 'contact your local return officer for more information'. This is the 21st Century!
</rant>

Let's hope the Parliament and councils get their act together, webwise, for 2011...