Housecleaning issue: In case you missed it in the comments section, my friend Rick nailed the “other part” of the New York City cab photo. Most of you caught on to the fact that it appeared as if my cab were heading towards certain doom by going the wrong way down a one-way street. However, what you were seeing “in front” of the cab was actually a reflection off the plastic of what was behind us. What gives it away is if you look to the left-center of the picture, you’ll see the cab’s actual windshield. Thanks for playing.
In other news, I can’t help but chuckle heartily at this article, detailing how record labels are now trying to expose and promote their recording artists through mall sound systems. Now, I don’t know about you, but if I’m at the mall, I’m certainly not making any attempt to listen to what’s on the sound system. Mostly because the mall is a collection of various other sounds that pierce my brain and drive me to drink, such as children screaming or teenagers yelling across to friends about how they’ll be in Abercrombie for the next 17 hours. Speaking of annoying, one of the newest mall developments are those low-rent “middle of the walkway” mini-stores. It’s bad enough I have to be at the mall – who the hell authorized these people to stand there with their hair products, those little remote control cars, or even worse, those stupid seemingly self-hovering little UFO things? Sheesh.
Anyway, record labels have this shit all wrong, folks. If they really want to expose thier artists, how about setting up RSS feeds for each of the artists on their websites and stuffing that pipe full of extras – news stories, new exclusive audio clips, interviews, etc? If there’s one thing kids are doing more than going to the mall these days, it’s sitting for hours in front of the computer monitor with their jaws drooping on the floor, drooling and IM’ing. Get with it. The mall ain’t the place to discover music, my peeps.
The quote that really made me laugh, though, was Aslyn, an artist I’ve never heard of who is currently being promoted by Capitol Records at mall sound systems. She says:
“It’s awesome. For people who might only listen to the radio on the way to and from work, the chances aren’t great they’ll hear my song. Plus, I love to shop.”
Well, that’s so, like, totally awesome, Aslyn. Next time I’m at the Sbarro (read: never) I’ll listen as hard as I can. Or not.
Last, but definitely not least: another stunning photograph, this time of Niagra Falls, courtesy of the Earth Observatory.