The ultimate male...

picture it:

Captain Picard + President Bartlet = Picartlet

Getting your download on: more questions than answers

I live in Los Angeles, I’m a writing student, and my uncle is a screenwriter; the topic of the WGA strike is a pretty ubiquitous one in my day-to-day life. One of the big issues the Writers Guild is wrestling with is compensation for digital downloads.

Every few weeks the Uncle and I start talking about the strike and it inevitably leads to a throw down on whether illegal downloading will eventually be wiped out forever. He says surely it will, I say ehhh not so much. He is one of these people (and I love many of them) who thinks that Free Market Capitalism will always eventually correct itself and remain the best economic option we have. (this statement is pretty loaded, but i'm leaving it there for now all on its own.)

Should the experience of art be limited by your financial resources? As the supposed land of milk and honey, is it right for us to say you can only be enriched by certain arts if you have the disposable income for it? Is this the best way to cultivate art and ideas within our culture? Does this simply contain certain discourses within particular groups/realms of power?

I personally feel one should not have to choose between good music and going to the doctor. But, I also think artists should be compensated for their work. It seems to me that a big part of the problem is the structure of the system that exists between me and that artist.

In an imperfect world, what is the best balance between these factors?

A Beginning Point

FasterNewerShinierSmootherSmaller.PrettierPackaging.

No need to leave your car. No need to speak to the neighbors.

Multiple things, all at once, always.