Via Jaime J. Weinerman. This article delves into the hidden complexities behind releasing older TV shows that contained licensable music. It's really a shame that licensing fees have gotten so out of hand that it's actually not profitable for a studio to release the show as it originally aired.

I remember the episode of Quantum Leap that they mention in the article and I can see why fans would be angered about that particular song replacement - music is often a powerful memory cue and that was an emotionally charged scene. Changing a memorable theme song to a show, like Married with Children is absolutely inconceivable to a nostalgist whose whole raison d'etre is to relive the experience (not live a new one).

I think the WB television show Smallville uses music found only in the Warners music library. I think this serves two purposes: the obvious one being that it's free advertising for the music (much like the early WB Merrie Melodies cartoons were), the non-obvious purpose is that, as long as WB continues to release the season DVD sets of Smallville at a rapid pace (instead of lagging a few years behind where music rights could possibly change hands), there will never be any licensing issues with the music used in that show (though I'm sure that money still changes hands between businesses within Warners).


§180 · November 16, 2005 · Entertainment · Comments Off on Licensing Gone Awry ·


  • Apparently the internet won't be split up anytime soon.
  • Via PCWorld. Google Base is now live. Just remember: "All your base are belong to us"...
  • Sony is having a real PR nightmare lately
  • Via Anne. The W3C is forming new groups that focus on Web APIs (like the existing XMLHttpRequest) and Rich Web Applications. Some interesting points:
    • The Web APIs Working Group will first be documenting things already "in the field": the XMLHttpRequest object, timed events (i.e. EcmaScript's setTimeout()), the Window object (i.e. interaction with the browser). Let's hope they don't deliberately try to break Internet Explorer's implementation of such things as they've done in the past. The more interesting APIs will be delivered later such as APIs for persistent local storage and file uploading...
    • Will W3C use the WHATWG's already-written specifications such as the Web Applications 1.0 spec?
    • The Web Application Formats Working Group will be striving to use an existing application format ("Mozilla's XUL, Microsoft's XAML, Macromedia's MXML or Laszlo Systems' LZX") and combine it with other existing technologies such as XHTML, CSS, SVG, etc. This is a great idea (i.e. we do not need a NEW format), but their tentative milestones seem a bit off: "First draft of requirements during October. First draft of specification during November. Candidate Recommendation 4th quarter of 2006.". It also means that there will be one winner and many losers...
    • The Web Application Formats Working Group seems to have swallowed the Compound Document Format Group.
§179 · November 16, 2005 · QuickLinks, Software, Technology, Web · Comments Off on A Couple Quick Links ·


Via Scoble (and Google's Blogsearch shows this meme is spreading around the blogosphere today). Pandora is an online service that streams music to you. Read the rest of this entry ...

§178 · November 11, 2005 · Entertainment, Life, QuickLinks, Technology, Web · Comments Off on Pandora and Riding The Crap Wave · Tags:


A couple of years ago, Rob passed me a link to a hilarious/fascinating web documentary/experiment. Up until yesterday, I had completely forgotten about it, but having somehow awakened that memory I decided I wanted to read it again. What resulted was a little "internet archeology", payoff at the end... Read the rest of this entry ...

§177 · November 10, 2005 · Entertainment, QuickLinks, Technology, Web · 9 comments ·


High Fidelity. I've seen it twice now. I liked the movie a lot, it has some really snappy dialogue (script co-written by star John Cusack, who is very able in this movie) and a breakthrough performance by Jack Black. It serves to illuminate the overgrown adolescent male experience, but at the same time there are just some great scenes in the record shop. Like the one where Rob says "I will now sell 4 copies of the Beta Band EP", puts the music on for his browsing customers and the camera pans around the store as we watch the customers slowly digging "Dry The Rain". Read some funny dialogue snippets here.

But the soundtrack - I love the soundtrack. Was just listening to it now and thought I'd squirt a quick blog entry up...

§176 · November 3, 2005 · Entertainment, Movies, QuickLinks · Comments Off on High Fidelity ·