My Romance with Harry Potter

I have a confession to make. I'm a BIG Harry Potter fan. A friend of mine introduced me to this series when Book 2 was just released. Since then, I've been hooked and I always buy the latest book on its first release date. This time is no different. I've been carrying this book I bought from National Book Store all day and I couldn't wait to get home to read it. I'm giddy with excitement as I tear open the recognizable red plastic and behold the latest AND the last installment in the Harry Potter series. Tantararaannn....

Hmmm...somehow, there's something different this time. I've been home hours ago but I still couldn't get myself to read the first few pages. Perhaps it's because it's the last installment and I want to savor every word. Or perhaps I've been forewarned that another character will die and I know when I reach that point in the book that I'll probably get depressed. Ok....I think I better shut up now and start reading. Have a happy weekend everyone!

The Blogging Phenomenon

While trying to keep myself occupied last Saturday afternoon, waiting for my husband who was having his racket strung at a sports store inside Virra Mall, I happened to browse through some books at A Different Bookstore nearby. I was not planning on buying this book, The World Is Flat written by Thomas Friedman, but eventually did so upon the prodding of the store salesman. This book is an interesting read and talks about globalization and its impact in the business community.

Don't get me wrong, I haven't finished reading it yet -- all 571 pages. But I want to share with you some stuff that the author wrote about this phenomenon called "blogging."

"A new blog is created every seven seconds, according to Technorati.com, a site that tracks these easily updated Web journals. Technorati says there are more than twenty-four million blogs already, and the number is growing at about seventy thousand a day and doubling every five months -- from Iraqi bloggers, who give their own take on news from the front, to bloggers who follow and critique golf course architecture, to poker bloggers, investment bloggers, to just plain you and me bloggers."

I'm sure that this number has multiplied since the date of the release of the updated version of this book in 2006. But those are still large numbers. The author also mentioned that companies like General Electric even hire someone to plow through the various blogs and respond to them on a daily basis. Big companies are starting to take notice.

"It is impossible to imagine what it is going to be like in ten years when virtually everyone has a blog. But that is where we are heading."

This is awesome technology. I'm glad I live in this age of advanced digital technology. :-D

Good news for music lovers out there

Music is soothing to the soul. It's common knowledge that Filipinos love music. It is is no wonder than that a large number of Filipinos join singing contests (just look as Philippine Idol and Pinoy Dream Academy), and the business of selling music CDs, mostly pirated, is a thriving enterprise. As a result, we are always on the watchlist of the United States for software piracy.

What accounts for this continuous abuse of the intellectual property rights of the music producers/composers/singers? My guess is that since we are a poor nation, with more than half of the population living below the poverty line, the masses in general cannot afford the stiff prices being charged by these music companies for original CDs.

Which is why I think that the new venture being planned by Universal Music Group to launch Spiral Frog, is music to the ears of music lovers out there. According to its official website, Spiral Frog, touted to revolutionize the music industry, is the new online music destination offering advertising-supported legal downloads of audio and video content licensed from the catalogs of the world's leading record laels and from independents. It likewise offers music-lovers a compelling alternative to illegal file-sharing and pirate sites, with a secure environment for them to satisfy their unyielding passion and thirst for music, entertainment, information and brands at no cost except their time and attention.

Spiral Frog will offer users of its no-cost web-based service the ability to legally download music by many of the world's most popular and award winning artists. How does Spiral Frog earn revenues from this venture? It will instead rely on advertising as a source of its revenues instead of charging the consumers directly. Many advertisers have expressed their desire to be part of the project.

Are you excited already? Whoa, hold your horses. This service wil be made available to the public starting December, 2006 and will be initally offered for residents of the United States and Canada. I just hope that this service reaches the Philippines soon. For more info, please visit this article on the New York Times.

Tag category: Intellectual Property Rights/Law

WE ARE THE WORLD

Remember this song from the eighties??? I remember when, as an impressionable young kid, I would stay glued to the T.V. during lunch time watching MTV on Ch. 2, hoping that they would feature this song (it was summer when the song was released, so I had the opportunity to watch T.V. throughout the day). Fortunately, this song stayed on the charts for weeks on end, so I was a happy kid.

After surfing the web for more info on this song and its history, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this song celebrated its 20th year anniversary last year. (Grabe...20 years na pala...ang tanda ko na...) This single, released on 8 March 1985, became the quickest selling record in music industry history. Harry Belafonte, the one who initiated the idea after watching a news report on the famine in Africa during the Christmas of ’84, remembers fondly how the single came to life. It was actually inspired by the success of the British supergroup Band Aid and their 1984 fundraising single “Do They Know It's Christmas?”. The performers gathered at A&M Recording Studios in Hollywood, California, on 28 January 1985. Ken Kragen, Belafonte’s manager, selected the night of the American Music Awards to ensure as many artists as possible could attend.

If Belafonte was the conscience of the project, legendary producer Quincy Jones was the maestro. Twenty years later, he still has the lucky sweater he wore to corral all that talent and remembers the warning he gave them: "Check your egos at the door."

What many people don’t know is that the song was written by two pop icons: Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. (Michael is such a big icon in pop history. I hope he turns his creativity and talent to worthwhile pursuits like this.) Lead vocals were rotated among 21 of the performers, including Kenny Rogers, Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. (more info on this site.)

Here are some excerpts from the song. It hope it touches your heart the same way it has, time and again, touched mine. (For the complete lyrics, please visit this site.)

We Are The World
( USA for Africa )

There comes a time when we heed a certain call

When the world must come together as one

There are people dying Oh, and it's time to lend a hand to life

The greatest gift of all

We can't go on pretending day by day

That someone, somehow will soon make a change

We're all a part of God's great big family

And the truth - you know love is all we need

We are the world, we are the children

We are the ones who make a brighter day

So let's start giving

There's a choice we're making

We're saving our own lives

It's true we'll make a better day just you and me