You have a good day and then the cloud comes. F***ing hell. What, we couldn't offer JUSTICE KENNEDY more stock to stay on? Which service has THE PELICAN BRIEF streaming?... I've been on INSTAGRAM for years. Used it very rarely. But am all-in now. Why? I've written here many times about my love and hate relationship with social media. And the dangers. I love TWITTER but it gives me more anxiety than any other platform. Partly their fault. Partly mine. FACEBOOK? I use it less but doesn't really upset me via usage, more business and product practices. But Instagram is a refuge for me. Love photography. The short videos are fun. The recommendations are highly accurate and entertaining. Programmatically, YOUTUBE delivers more of almost the same. Instagram delivers more of the amazingly similar. The ads, believe or not, I love. They are so accurate that I've purchased more as a result of that platform than any other bar none. I'm sure there are downsides like body image or the jealousy that comes with being a voyeur into only the filtered best moments of other people's lives, but relatively it's social media escape for me. They do a great job... Following the financial failure of SOLO, many are screaming about STAR WARS fatigue. But it’s more likely we're seeing the accrued costs of avoidable mistakes stemming from DISNEY’s prioritization of timelines over creative vision. MATT BALL takes a look in REDEF ORIGINAL: "Star Wars' Fatigue Is a Myth (but Disney’s Mistakes Were Real, Costly and Avoidable)"... Shenanigans around the leak of a lewd 11-year-old tape. Questions about accountability, second chances, and an incomplete conversation. We are all judge and jury. The opinions on verdicts and sentences are varied. Do we, in fact, believe in second chances? Are we ready to accept BILLY BUSH back? I explore this in "rantnraveXL: Thinking About Mistakes, Punishments, Redemption and Billy Bush"... THE WHITE and FOX NEWS announce merger. No anti-trust review. Is this the first state-run station ever? What happens to VOICE OF AMERICA?... Oh, the BAY AREA has jumped the shark ... How to build an amp that has that '59 sound from scratch. What drugs are required (it isn't just acid) to make "Acid Rap." How to rile up a prison audience for the recording of a classic live album. And more first-hand stories from the musicians, engineers, and producers who turned inspired ideas into analog (or digital) reality. MusicREDEF's MATTY KARAS assembles an awesome set of reading: "Enter the Chambers of Sound: Album Oral Histories Vol. 3"... Happy Birthday to My brother CASEY WASSERMAN, ANDREW ANKER, NADA STIRRATT, JOE GREEN, DAVID NATHAN, and BOB SHERMAN. Belated to JASON KRIKORIAN, DANNY PASSMAN, JOSEPH ROBINSON, and MATT YOUNG.
