I have given up on resolutions and symbolic, commercially abused dates. I will not stop smoking and I know that the world will not be saved by some superhero politician. Instead I have ambitions, personal and life ambitions and they are high. Very high.

For one the biggest hope is that I will be able to abuse all the potential I think having and I certainly do hope my bosses will challenge me enough to release this potential. But this entry is about last year’s movies and music.

What About Music and Movies?

Avatar reviewed
The Good: James Cameron
The bad: James Cameron

The year ended with a piece of shit in a golden wrapper by James Cameron. In a year which largely saw the commercial acceptance of 3D Cinema, an evolution of a more than 20 years old technology, it was saddening to realise that ‘Cameron The Effects’ would mark the year and make us forget the awesome brilliance that Up is.

Apparently 2009 Was a Great Year for Film

It is sad to think this. After the marvel that the Dark Knight was in 2008 and the subsequent popularisation of the HD format at home, we were left with very few innovative and truly marvellous movies.

There were some blockbusters, who would also have made it even without 3D but the majority of them were franchises and would have been popular mainly because of their fan base. And there’s the sad tale of one girly hype movie franchise.

2009 left us with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, The Hangover, Star Trek, Monsters vs. Aliens and the largely understated but entertaining Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Would we have watched these movies without 3D or will we watch them at home in HD? Yes, but none wil be remembered for a long time. Furthermore the James Bond franchise and Daniel Craig made a nose dive with Quantum of Solace, not only at the box office end 2008 but also in HD release.

Luckily there also were some highlights. The return of Tarantino and Brad Pitt with Inglourious Basterds was as good a film with these almost impossibly high expectations can be and the already mentioned Up was one more example of how Pixar raises the bar and sets a new story telling, and animation, standard with every new release.

The Box Office Year Was Perfect and There Was a True Revelation

The 3D tale and mega success of franchises in the newly accepted format made 2009 a perfect year for the studios and the upcoming release of 3D HD home systems will only increase the format’s popularity even more. One can only hope that interest in old-skool IMAX 3D nature movies will be revived and people will discover the true beauty of 3D. Our planet. The BBC Life (Challenges of Life) TV series were not only of HD brilliance but also a great, albeit small, sample of the treasures that can be found on our blue planet. Not to forget the calming and almost perfect voice of Sir David Attenborough.

Although I generally do not post videos on iFranky, I will make an exception for these 10 minutes from the first episode of Life, even though the crappy Youtube quality doesn’t really do justice to the beauty of HD. Highlight of this video: 8:43 in, after the epic cheetah hunt, the camouflage of the chameleon and high quality shot of the mantis.

Video removed due to Copyright issues. Get it from Amazon.

But there was also a true highlight in 2009 and of course it did not become a box office success. Nevertheless you really should add the war drama The Hurt Locker to your must watch list and purchase list. The multiple award winning movie is one of few with a trailer which isn’t too misleading and Kathryn Bigelow was my movie revelation of the year. USAToday had this to say about The Hurt Locker:

This profound exploration of the line between bravery and bravado brings the war in Iraq to life with an immediacy and power that no previous film has achieved. This tale of technicians in the bomb disposal squad captures the complexities of the war with thrilling battle sequences and nuanced performances by Jeremy Renner and his co-stars. With her gritty handheld shots, director Kathryn Bigelow has made one of most visceral and moving war movies ever.

What Will 2010 Bring?

Some say, to survive it you need to be as mad as a hatter

Never one to really follow what releases are scheduled, I must admit that I am truly excited about 2010 and hardly ever have been this excited about an upcoming movie. Fans of frankylicious will certainly know what movie I look forward to.

The main crew of the 2007 Golden Globe Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street adaptation is once more reunited and ticks all the boxes. All my boxes: Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in a Disney story to be shown in IMAX 3D. First look pictures and trailers already are amazing and I can only wonder, hope that Tim Burton has been able to benefit some of the Pixar technology for this movie. March 5, 2010, the new highlight for 2010 and the second movie embed exception in one entry.

Other scheduled movie trips in 2010 are Iron Man 2 and Toy Story 3D. The latter is obviously a compulsory Pixar movie and Iron Man 2 with built-in preparation for typical sequel disappointment. Otherwise I would not have the faintest clue of upcoming releases.

A Year in Music

2009 Was a year which was mainly limited to playing the good old music library and barely any new albums made it into the collection. Besides the ex launching a new album and some minor discoveries, the year in numbers looks pretty much the same as the complete Last.fm history. The main 2009 music trend for me was to again participate actively to the local nightlife again and it was very enjoyable. To conclude another +1000 words entry, a long screenshot. Statistics.

Update: The National Society of Film Critics agrees with The Hurt Locker being the best movie of 2009.

Not only am I a fan of Trent Reznor’s because of his music, but I also admire the guy for his online marketing understanding and knowledge. He did what brought Radiohead probably their biggest moment of fame, the In Rainbows release on a pay what you want principle, earlier already and actually had a plan for both Ghosts and The Slip.

Some days ago he chimed in once more and delivered his stance on whether artists should charge for their music or not.

If you are an unknown / lesser-known artist trying to get noticed / established:

* Establish your goals. What are you trying to do / accomplish? If you are looking for mainstream super-success (think Lady GaGa, Coldplay, U2, Justin Timberlake) – your best bet in my opinion is to look at major labels and prepare to share all revenue streams / creative control / music ownership. To reach that kind of critical mass these days your need old-school marketing muscle and that only comes from major labels. Good luck with that one.

If you’re forging your own path, read on.

* Forget thinking you are going to make any real money from record sales. Make your record cheaply (but great) and GIVE IT AWAY. As an artist you want as many people as possible to hear your work. Word of mouth is the only true marketing that matters.

It is no secret that Reznor a fan of free distribution of music is (who also released all his latest albums under a Creative Commons license) but the truth needs to be said and repeated: unless you receive massive marketing, you will NOT become really popular or rich even. Not from your music. Let’s face the harsh facts: no matter how good your band is, if you have to rely on local gigs and sales, within several months you might be able to get several thousands to your gigs. Many of those will be REPEAT fans, and probably almost as many will be acquaintances, friends.
If you’re lucky, 20% will buy your music. Probably the repeat visitors.

Fact.

Every other sale depends on you being able to reach beyond local stages and broaden your geographic area. BUT you will have to be able to get follow-on gigs, without creating the impression ‘Oh it’s XXXXX AGAIN. Meh, can’t be bothered’. People in the 21st century suffer of boredom very quickly. And you will have to be an social media ace to keep boredom away online. We saw it with Myspace. Facebook fan pages are no exception to this and soon people will start hiding band updates because they have whether become a fan of too many bands or bands push too many status updates and pollute one’s news feed. It is a tricky and difficult line to walk.

But was does go viral?

Free music does. The 21st Century is the era of free, especially online. And music is one of the biggest promoters of Free.
The choice obviously is left to bands, but it is a simple one. The only decision to make is the one about what your real aim is: become rich and sell yourself and your soul (see Reznor above) or do you want your music to spread virally and enjoy hordes streaming to your gigs?

Their are many platforms available to distribute your music virally: Bandcamp probably being the best one right now, Last.fm although pretty much dead almost, still is a great way to get out there and offer downloads. Forget about Spotify: people want to take your music with them, have it on their laptop, on their media player or stereo. Most people are cheap skates and Spotify IS expensive, especially the portable versions. Face it, offer free downloads of your music and you might climb the Last.fm rankings. Upload your music to Youtube and your video might hit Facebook news feeds and be embedded on several music blogs. Free downloads will also be featured on many more music blogs. Yes, free is the decisive factor nowadays.
Your biggest fans will gladly buy special, limited releases.

I even do not want to mention the influence of the credit crunch, but remember that if people want your album they will get it. Without paying.
Don’t call them pirates because probably you have received many a copy of music albums yourself over the years. Whether you’re as old as I am already and still remember audio tapes or nowadays just by sharing digitally. Remember, even iTunes initial DRM allowed music to be played on 5 devices. Now it is only an ethical matter anymore whether you share iTunes downloads or not. I am old and consider every burned CD I pass on just like the old copy on an audio tape. Because… music is made to share and great music I will share.

Freely.

I will come to your gig. Maybe, maybe I might even be that one person who will pre-order your next release in iTunes. But only if your music has climbed my play count rank.

What is Spotify?

Spotify is a new way to enjoy music. Simply download and install, before you know it you’ll be singing along to the genre, artist or song of your choice. With Spotify you are never far away from the song you want.
… There are no restrictions in terms of what you can listen to or when. Forget about the hassle of waiting for files to download and fill up your hard drive before you get round to organising them. Spotify is instant, fun and simple.

Seems like I have heard that before. Pandora? Music recommendation platforms, nowadays as easy to find as social networks.

So what’s special about Spotify? It’s fast. At times. The sound quality is highly acceptable and they have a huge library. MOD. You can listen to complete albums at once, without having to click every track like at Last.fm. You can skip as many tracks as you want unlike with Pandora. The radio service is not too bad. You can build your playlists and share them online.

But I miss things, I love the recommendation platform from both last.fm and Pandora. especially because I can listen to ‘similar artists’ station. I love having a profile I can submit everything I listen to. And most of all, even though last.fm has not announced the pricing structure for unlimited MOD, Spotify seems expensive. Right now, all you need is an invite code to access the platform. Some days you might see the occasional ad in the player, other days you might not see advertising at all. If you want an ad free platform it’ll cost you $.99/day or $9.99/month. I just can’t see why I would pay (yet). Maybe if more features are implemented in the near future I might change opinion, until then I will stick with last.fm.
To be entirely honest… what’s the hype about Spotify about? And no I have no Spotify invites.

as a thank you to our fans for your continued support, we are giving away the new nine inch nails album one hundred percent free, exclusively via nin.com.
the music is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE. your link will include all options – all free. all downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits

The album will also be released as CD and on Vinyl next month.
The album is available in standard MP3 quality, lossless FLAC and M4A downloads and in high quality WAVE format. Latter 3 options are torrent downloads.

Great to see music being released on the hated platforms.

Fans also might want to follow NIN on flickr, which NIN also uses as platform to release press images.

But there is better.

And to continue the number game, even though I still am not sure whether to be proud or not of my Twitter hate/love relationship, here’s some tweetscan stuff. From my active and my inactive twitter account. Before you ask why I have 2 accounts, I’ll explain you the stuff you aren’t interested in anyway: my first account was a residue of the personal blogging area. A twitter account in the category of noise. Loaded with lots of personal internet drama memories. I wanted to and had to move on some day. My actual account still is noise, just much less.
But the important thing about both graphs is that I actually might have to listen to all my friends and try to get a regular life schedule. Not have the period from 0:00 to 04:00AM be my most active period of the day.

The best thing about twitter in my case is when I started tweeting.

November 2006. :-)

Their are five different ways to obtain the album:

1. Free. The first 9 tracks of the album (together with PDF booklet and several wallpapers. 320kbps MP3))
2. $5 for all 36 files. You can chose from different formats: FLAC Lossless, 320kbps MP3 or Apple Lossless (with 40page PDF)
3. $10 for 2 CDs with 16 page booklet. CDs will ship early April, until then you can download the files from the $5 package
4. $75 Deluxe Package. 2 audio CDs, 1 data DVD with all 36 tracks in multi-track format, and a Blu-ray disc with Ghosts I-IV in high-definition 96/24 stereo and slideshow
5. $300 Ultra Deluxe Edition Package. 2500 Limited Edition Packages have already been sold out.

The only difference with the Radiohead album: ‘Ghosts’ rocks less than ‘In Rainbows’. :D

Rate Your Music allows you to manually add all the albums you have and rate/tag them, but you can also rate, or review even, any music.

I started my profile, adding and rating all the albums I currently have on my phone. W000t! another music show off.

Rate My Music just asks to be bought by last.fm and tied in together with their platform. Until that happens, let me share around 15% of my music library with you. Feel free to sign up, add me and other usual social networking stuff. It’s free! I will be adding as I change the music on my phone. :-)

Btw, maybe someone can give this awesome platform a less Myspace-lookalike-look.