Archive for November 11th, 2005

2005.11.11

Ban Sony-BMG

After reading this article I think there should be a general boycott of Sony-BMG. Their EULA (end user license agreement) is the worst thing I think I’ve ever heard.

Just to catch a few of you up, Sony-BMG has started making their CDs so you are required to install software on your PC if you want to play the CD. It turns out this software is a rootkit designed to spy on you and inhibit you from using your computer freely (not to mention compromise your security). They released an update that really doesn’t solve the problem.

Anyways, on top of the rootkit problem, they also have the EULA that turns you into their bitch. Stop buying music from Sony-BMG until they get their acts together. True, these musicians might not get their half a penny to the dollar from sales, but then maybe they should get on their record company’s butts on behalf of their fans.

UPDATE: 2005.11.11
It turns out at least a few of the CDs shipped were targeting Macintosh computers, too.

Some Danish Guy pointed out to me that Sony-BMG has conceded they fscked up and will not put out anymore disks with the rootkit on it. At least until they reevaluate what they are doing and come up with a better way of owning your music and, by proxy, your computer.

Of course this leaves thousands of users out there who have had their computer’s security compromised, and who can only get $5 compensation because they did agree to the EULA (see first paragraph) Sony-BMG forced them to agree to so they could listen to the music they themselves paid for. Hopefully a few class action lawsuits, even though only the lawyers will get rich from it, will make other record companies think twice. Even better for consumers around the world would be if the European Union steps in.

Sony-BMG should, free of charge, offer tools to completely remove the rootkit they installed. Further, free of charge, they should replace the consumer’s CDs with uncompromised versions of what they purchased. Not “credit towards a future purchase,” and not “send us a self addressed stamped envelope” or any other excuse.

In the meantime, keep banning Sony-BMG.

2005.11.11

The Call of Cthulu

The Call of CthuluSome time back I heard of a small film coming out called The Call of Cthulu. Its particular selling points were that it was A) a new film done in a retro-style B) black and white C) a silent film and D) had great music.

The film was just shot and released in the past year and is 47 minutes of silent movie era happiness. The camera angles, make up and lighting, many of the effects and the sets all give it a sense of something from the early days of film. They did use some modern green screen compositing, but there’s only one point in the film where I noticed it. The music, which runs almost non-stop throughout the movie, is quite good, though at times I thought I could hear that it was computer created and not played by live musicians. Hard to tell. Hardly matters.

The story starts with a man who wants the research he’s done destroyed, and the story goes into what the research was. Of course it’s about the imminent rise of sleeping Cthulu. A bizarre set of coincidences all point to the Old One’s rise, and the man isn’t sure the mind of man will ever be prepared for the horror and insanity.

Just as entertaining as the movie is the DVD extras, which include a making of and deleted scenes. One of the great things about silent film is that the actual spoken dialogue can be spoken, and a few of the deleted scenes (with the audio and color left in tact) are hilarious.

You can read more about the movie at the official site, and if you’re ready to face the horror and pleasure of this independent film buy it by clicking on the picture.