Happy New Year

So we’re minutes away from 2008. I’m getting ready to celebrate myself but I wanted to wish everyone a happy new year! Let’s see what we can do with 2009.

Oasis fans in America

Steve Marsh at the Mpls/St. Paul Magazine has a fantastic write up of the Oasis show at the Target Center. The day after the show I read reviews from a few other local papers and I kept scratching my head, wondering ‘Was I at a different show?’

Marsh writes about the trials of being an Oasis fan in the U.S. and how American music fans generally don’t get Oasis. A lot of what he had to say goes along with some things I reflected on post concert. I’m lucky to have a friend in the area that gets what Oasis is, I remember a time when I didn’t really have that.

At any rate, read what Marsh had to say, good on ya mate!

Winter’s here

There is little doubt now that the season of Winter is officially here, if not in name definitely in spirit. I’m not a big fan of this season — only because of the weather. The holiday time is magic for me.

Right now I can’t see more than 20 feet out my window. I made sure to hit the store yesterday to pick up the previsions as it seems I’ll be snowed in for the better part of the weekend.

Dad’s in Morris right now, just came out of surgery and seems to be doing well. He did a smart thing and broke his leg last week. Another reason I’m not fond of this forsaken weather. Those who enjoy their “snow machines” or whatever, I just don’t get it. Give me a little warmth this time of year and I’m a happy camper.

At any rate, this weekend is proving a good opportunity to watch some DVDs and listen to some music without worrying about going out and about. Good times.

Oasis with Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

Saw Oasis with guests Ryan Adams and The Cardinals on Wednesday. This marked my sixth Oasis show and second Ryan Adams set. I’m a huge fan of Oasis and a long time fan of Ryan Adams so this was kind of a dream show.

Oasis seemed pretty loose on stage, I’ve seen them a lost stiffer in the past but the set went well and Noel seemed to be having a good time (if not in Minneapolis in general, but at the show at least). The band also played a few songs I haven’t heard them play, at least not for a long time. The Masterplan, Slide Away and I Am the Walrus were all pulled out and let breath.

Cigarettes and Alcohol from the Target Center:

Via: Popler on YouTube.com.

The nights version of Wonderwall and Don’t Look Back in Anger were both different from what I’ve heard them do in the past, so it was nice to see those tracks get a refresher.

Ryan Adams put on a good “hits” style set, without playing “NY” which surprised me, but as someone who doesn’t get to see him that often it was nice to hear some of the songs he did play.

Matt Costa opened the show. I like his stuff, but his acoustic style doesn’t fit the Target Center well. I’d like to see him again at a smaller venue like the Varsity.

More video from the Oasis set:

• Champagne Supernova
• Supersonic
• Waiting for the Rapture
• The Importance of Being Idle
• Lyla

Seeing Oasis on Wednesday

I just wanted to post a quick note about the Oasis concert at the Target Center in Minneapolis. If you’re going to be there Wednesday, send me an e-mail. I’m going with a friend and it would be cool to meet up with some other Oasis fans.

Stories from the week of Dec. 1

From quitting smoking to kids winning reading material through a Bingo game, I had a few “feature” stories over the last week.

• Quitting ‘icky’
  Sandy Spindler quit smoking, won a prize but says she did it for her kids.
• CRP contracts being renewed …
  Land owners continue to sign up for CRP despite land rates increase.
• Residents meet with Lincoln County board
  County commissioners talk with residents about judicial ditch.
• Bingo means books in Canby
  Canby elementary school hands out books during Bingo game.

Stories from the week of Nov. 24

One of the things I’ve always planned on doing with this blog is giving people access to some of the stories I’ve written at the Independent. I’ve finally decided to just plunge in and start doing a weekly round up. Here goes.

• Embracing the Dakota Language
  A story about Upper Sioux Community students at Yellow Medicine East that are embracing their culture and language in a class at school.
• Black Friday: A Shoppers Delight
  I was up at 5 a.m. with all those shoppers looking for good deals. Here’s what they had to say about their experience.
• Fish House Parade is this weekend in Hendricks
  A short preview of Hendrick’s annual winter event.
• Giving Back
  The Clarkfield Area Charter School is giving back to the community as part of its mission statement.
• YM County looks at less expensive option …
  Yellow Medicine County Commissioners talk about a new expansion proposed at the court house.
• RTR wants state out of NCLB
  RTR school administration talks about withdrawing from No Child Left Behind.

I also write blog posts on the Marshall Independent Web site.

• Black Friday
  A short commentary on some of the events of Black Friday.

I am going to try to keep this going each week. I don’t know if I will post every story, there are a few from this week that I have decided not to include. At any rate, you can follow these stories and keep up with my work by following this category.

Dropping Cable Television … Maybe.

I’m currently in the process of thinking about possibly dropping cable television. Sure, that means giving up my beloved TiVo and loosing out on a lot of content from the History Channel, Discovery, National Geographic (man I watch a lot of documentary stuff), but I’m finding Netflix and my vast DVD collection are keeping me entertained.

The things that were keeping me stuck to spending between $60-80 a month for cable television are slowly becoming slimmer and slimmer. In reality the thing I would be giving up is sports — and I realized I can listen to the radio for that.

Hulu.com and Netflix streaming could pretty much serve the need for current television (The Simpsons, the Office, Heroes, Chuck and Numb3rs) and season sets of DVD are filling the rest of the need.

I’m contracted with Tivo until the end of December so I have time to make the decision.

Any thoughts?

Netflix drops its used DVD store

A few days ago a friend called letting me know Netflix was doing away with its used DVD store. As a Netflix member and collector of DVDs, I have used the used section of the Web site a number of times to pick up movies mostly for $5.99.

Netflix started selling used DVDs a few years ago, a side venture to its more traditional rental movies by mail model that made Netflix one of the most successful online businesses around.

The move for Netflix to drop out of the used DVD business isn’t really that surprising to me and I don’t think the reasons for the decision are really being talked about.

Netflix claims the decision was made to allow the company the room to focus on its core business — movie rentals by mail and streaming video. I’m guessing that is true, but there is something in the statement that is missing.

Netflix is working hard on building its streaming service, announcing an upgrade to HD for a number of titles, prepping for a launch on Xbox 360 and TiVo along with Blu-Ray players that support the format.

The company has also made agreements with the movie channel Starz in order to get its hands on new movie releases. I think this agreement is actually the most telling reason for Netflix to pull out of the used store business.

Lets face it, the movie industry hates used stores. A used DVD sold doesn’t count in sales figures for the movie and ultimately means a “loss in sales” for the studio or distributor that doesn’t get a cut of that sale.

The movie industry has been slow to adopt the Netflix streaming service, mostly pushing out “catalog movies” that haven’t spent time on the big screen in a few years.

Closing down its used DVD store is a good will measure for Netflix, letting the movie companies know they are ready to play ball and really push the streaming service even further. Netflix is positioning themselves for the future and they’re doing it now.

I only hope Netflix doesn’t give too much. The entertainment industry is notorious for taking a pound when an ounce was offered.

At any rate, the streaming service is building up and becoming one of the most compelling offerings out there. If that means missing out on a few deals on DVD, that’s fine. After all, I’ll be able to watch it on my Xbox soon enough.

Things I’ve been doing instead of blogging

Instead of just pointing out that I’ve been bad at blogging (please don’t search and find out how many times I’ve done that), I figured I would post what I’ve been up to instead of writing personal musings and such.

• Reading the Watchmen graphic novel
• Working like a mad dog
• Watching more then a few mini-series on DVD
• Playing video games like Dead Space
• Listening to a lot of music

I’m not saying that I’m going to be blogging a whole lot any time soon, but whenever the mood strikes, this will be the place I blab about things.

Remember, vote on November 4th if you live in the U.S., make up your own mind on who — but please vote!