Well now it’s the last day of January 2012 and I’m late again with this blahg. 
Was that me who said I’d be posting two blahgs a week? Maybe I should have said two a month. I could give you some excuses but they wouldn’t be good ones. Let’s just agree that I’ll write some blahgs, you’ll read them, and we won’t talk about the schedule. That way we all won’t be disappointed.
The blahg this time will not be full of pictures, audio, or video. I was trying out a couple different topics but I kept coming back to the same one. If you’ve been online and read the news, then you’ll probably realize that the Internet is running scared. The news has been full of information about legislation in the United States to clamp down on illegal downloading of copyrighted material. Somebody’s losing money somewhere and they’ve got some big lawyers or lobbyists trying to get that money back. I’m not against this and the pirating of movies and music is a big time thing. Personally, I go to the movies a lot (and always seem to have someone texting on their cell phone in front of me) so I see first run movies as they should be seen. I also own hundreds of DVDs of movies and TV shows. But I’m not going to preach.
Recently, The Big One, Megaupload, was taken down by the FBI. If you’re not familiar with Megaupload then let me simplify it by saying that millions of people upload files to this site and then send or post links to other people so they can download these files. Yes, some of the files are illegal copies of films or television shows and of course music. Megaupload was also paying people for files that were downloaded multiple times. This was probably their undoing because popular copyrighted material was probably being posted and subsequently downloaded. If you look at the long list of charges levied against Megaupload they include money laundering and racketeering. More was going on there than meets the eye.
I personally have used Megaupload when file sharing with other Sinatra fans. I never posted legally licensed or professionally published material. I’ve been collecting Sinatra concerts and recordings for years and there are hundreds of unreleased concerts or audience tapes in my collection. Many have been traded with other collectors and links posted to and downloaded from Megaupload. I will not apologize for this. Every time a new Sinatra CD or DVD is released, I buy it if it contains previously unavailable material. Bootleg concerts, to me, are whole different kettles of fish. It gives me the opportunity to hear something I’ve never heard before and to share that experience with other Sinatra fans. I couldn’t go to the 700 + concerts in my collection but someone went and is sharing their experience with me. If a particular concert gets officially released then I’ll buy it. Until then, I’m not changing my opinion.
I have on occasion downloaded a CD from an artist when I wanted to hear it before purchasing it. 
Case in point: Songs I Heard by Harry Connick Jr. Someone posted a link to it and I gave it a listen and enjoyed it so much that I ordered an official copy. 
It’s a great album full of songs from our youth. I’ve also listened to some CDs from a download that I didn’t care for and was glad I didn’t rush out to buy it. It’s like hearing a song on the radio. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it.
Sometimes you find out that the CD is not well mastered and you don’t want to waste time and money there either. Blossom Dearie initially released an LP (yes I said an LP) in 1963 for a Hires Root Beer campaign singing the “Most Rootin’ Tootin’ Songs of 1963.” I’m a big Blossom Dearie fan and when I read about this LP, I tried to track it down but couldn’t. 
Then I found out there was a download of the LP available. I downloaded it and enjoyed it immensely. When it was finally released as an import CD, I listened to sample tracks through Amazon and found that the sound quality of the CD was flat and not as good as the LP version I had downloaded. That saved me money and aggravation. If you look at that CD now, it’s more than $100 and the original LP is fetching more than $200. Crazy!
Let’s talk TV. I have had to download current TV shows because I live in the country and get 4 channels. Not all current shows air on any of those channels. When “Monk” was airing, I had to download every episode because I couldn’t stream it for free in Canada. I didn’t want to wait a year until the episodes were officially released. 
The same goes for the current show, “Psych”. You can stream episodes online for free but not in Canada. I’ve been a fan of the show since it started but I don’t want to wait forever to see new episodes when the season gets an official DVD release. I might eventually buy the DVD sets but I reserve the privilege to download these episodes and watch them at my convenience.
So where am I going with this? Since Megaupload went down, it’s been very hard to download anything. Other sites like Filesonic and Fileserve are running scared. They have disabled file sharing and download links are disappearing. One of my favorite sites, Reelboys.org, went dark last week. It was a great website to download family oriented movies about children. It was a great place to find many classic films that have not been released on DVD. I don’t get Turner Classic Movies channel so this was a great source for me. After Megaupload was shut down Reelboys announced they would shut down because they were afraid of being targeted. If you go to their website now it says:
Reel Boys™ is Gone…
I like movies, music, and television but I’m not your average consumer. I do a lot of try before you buy and the Internet is a great resource. I think it should be like that. Yes, there are those who will abuse it and will break copyright infringement rules but that happens when someone rents a DVD and copies it or sneaks a recording device into a movie theater or concert. No legislation is going to prevent all that. It’s people like me that suffer. I want my downloads. I want to view or listen before committing. It’s like watching movie trailers, if you don’t like what you’re seeing, don’t pay for the price of admission. I’ll continue to post tracks here but it will usually be from things that are on LP or unofficially available. Call me an educator. Or don’t call me. I’m not posting anything I don’t already own. If you listen to it, then you decide if you’re breaking any laws. Don’t’ shoot the messenger.
…I really like the title The Death of a Big One. I have to admit it’s not the first time I’ve used that title. I’ll close with the true meaning of that title. It’s a poem I wrote in the late 1980s. Later, I expanded this poem into a short story. It should really be a movie…maybe somebody will download it.
the death of a BIG one
he’ll always be
a legend to me
that fat little cherub
slimmer these days
fer bein’ the soul
whose own life
mattered little
when tacklin’ things
larger than himself
and I think
ya’d have to be insane
not to like
that kind of guy
and be glad
ya was born
to his generation
or at least proud
ya knew him when
THE GAR
‘cause he was the only one
not the only Garvin
but the only one who mattered
and that was him then
BIGGER than life
or ready to claim his right
to be so
BIGGER THAN LIFE, maybe
but how can ya determine
relative size
when the BIGGER is inanimate
like a snowman?
and that was it: a snowman
no, A BIG SNOWMAN
maybe 10 feet by 12 feet
but still LARGER
than a GAR,
sorry THE GAR
and it was BIG
maybe BIGGER than I recall
but HUGE
like some convention or reunion
of snowflakes
from grandma to distant cousins
but BIG
little?
now no one dwarfs
THE GAR
less’n yer King Kong
and still that hairy ape’d
get on his belly
just so he could look up to
THE GAR
but this snowman
some college boys built
was BIG
too BIG to live
and that’s what GAR’d say
‘til we eventually agreed with him
and he decided to stop talkin’
and start doin’
somethin’ ‘bout it
but we thought it was more
BIG talk
‘cause GAR and the snow GIANT
kept their distance still
‘cept fer occasionally tossed threats
from safe distances
and this went on
fer whole hours
and into the night
till we lost interest
and track of
THE GAR
but he turned up
eventually
at two in the mornin’
more than inebriated
and more than ready
fer battle
and he got me up
outa bed
to witness
the culmination
of his threats
now BIG!
both of ‘em were
and I laughed
hard
and that was it!
no laughin’ matter
was this fight
to THE GAR
so I shut up
and watched him
gatherin’ speed
from a block’s distance
and then soarin’
head on
to land
end up
after bouncin’ off
that unscathed frozen snowman
and I laughed
hard
again
but there was
death in the air
and it was over
in minutes
BROKEN
in little pieces
and dead
(as if that snowman
was ever alive)
and THE GAR
just grinnin’
triumphantly
and darin’ all comers
and I laughed
hard
again
and patted him on the back
and laughed some more
hard
again
but it occurs to me
standin’ there
that this piece of history’ll
go unnoticed
and that come spring
no one’d believe a word
and that future passers-by
will not realize
a GREAT battle’d
been waged here
nor that watchin’ the snow blood
drain into the sewer
the lone chucklin’ witness poet
would walk away himself
more than ready
to laugh down
the BIGGEST of
rejection slips