Spring forward - Bail out - Chapter 1 · Tuesday March 24, 2009 by colin newell
Thousands upon thousands of American families are destitute – their retirement savings vaporized. Job markets in the U.S. are drying up faster than a California watershed.
And yet executives at numerous bailed out corporations are getting golden buy-outs.
And we are surprised. Why are we surprised? We live in a culture of greed. Where pecuniary success is more important that ethics, decency or honest to goodness moral behavior in a civil society.
Thing is… we do not live in a civil society. We live and die by the free market system. It is what it is. And our Western World revolves around it.
Fat cats get their bonuses because that is what the culture dictates. It is a culture of class. Of societal division. Old folks scraping for their pensions do not count for anything. The middle aged dude who has worked at the mill for 35 years does not count for anything. His pension is washed up like so much flotsam and he might end up living in his car – but the Wall street executive will not go a fortnight without his pound of chocolate.
This is reality. President Obama getting all steamed in front of some committee is not going to change anything. It’s window dressing.
One official for one of the corporations getting the golden tinkle from the U.S. government said… “We have contractual obligations to fulfill these bonus contracts…
we are legally obliged to deliver…”
Legally… Obliged
Which is another way of saying… F*ck you, we are the rich, you are the poor – get over it.
Folks. We are either on the cusp of a social revolution like nothing we have ever seen before…
or we are in for a long sleep.
Pick one. And go for it.
Colin Newell is a Victoria resident and pop culture maven. His semi-coherent rants will become somewhat more common place now that he has dug himself out from underneath a pile of dung.
Give ticketmaster a break already · Sunday March 8, 2009 by colin newell
A Winnipeg woman has launched a class action lawsuit against concert ticket giant Ticketmaster for overcharging.
According to the woman’s lawyer, her daughter bought tickets through a Ticketmaster subsidiary for around $200 each when the original ticket price was just $57.
Oh boo-hoo.
I went on line over a year ago to get some Police tickets for the Vancouver show – and much to my surprise, I was redirected to an “associate” auction site to pay exorbitant prices to see the Stingster and his aged colleagues.
Did I buy a ticket? No. I am not paying $500 to see 3 old farts trot out hits from my heyday – music that was much better then thank you very much.
Oddly, I did get a call from the London Times rock editor to talk about it. The rock editor no less.
And I told this wanker the same thing. It is business. It is commerce. If there are some sweet smelling rich people out there that are willing to pay top dollar to ticketmaster for some has been band from the 70’s or 80’s… Well so what!? It is business after all.
London times editor thought, even then, that there outta be a law!
Right.
Here’s the deal.
Ticketmaster is a business, yea?
And they are in the business to make money, yea?
Well let them do it.
If there is some sour grape sap out there that is crying into their happy meal because they cannot afford a ticket to some washed up celebrity show – well, suck it up soldier. This is a free market after all.
On behalf of big corporate media, I say…
Sock it to me.
Getting back into the groove - with the launch of V2 · Saturday March 7, 2009 by colin newell
There is a sense of relief when you hit the crest of any hill. And in life, there is no shortage of hills. Why do we climb them? I don’t know. Maybe because they are there and we like the view.
Anyway – The Coffeecrew.com V 2.0 is out – for all to see. And dang it, I am a little bit proud… like a new Dad, whose new child has 5 hands and 12 toes (kidding…) – In this case, I have a website… that has taken the content and photos and features from the previous version and moved it forward a click or two. I hope it pleases coffee lovers on some level.
Other things I am working on: Writing a review of the ECM Cellini espresso machine. Reviewing the Sara La Piccola Pod espresso machine. Reviewing a Black box that allows you to turn your PC into an air traffic control center (as an observer of course) with some delays built in. A nice toy with a frighteningly high price tag… So if you are an aspiring pilot or ATC specialist, this might be a wise investment.
Food reviews… have been writing for EAT Magazine British Columbia for the past 3 months – and that is a gig with an almost monthly guarantee of some activity.
I get the feeling sometimes that I have way too much on the go. Then again, you only get one life and this one is not a dress rehearsal.
Anyway. New website. Almost all of my sponsors and ad clients have gotten on board to hand out some prizes and promotions – so if you are looking for some free stuff, check the website from time to time.
As things calm down a bit, I may get back to a rant or two – if I am suitably prompted or provoked. Think of me as a poorly behaved junk yard dog on the end of a very short and rusty chain. Go ahead. Poke a stick at me.
Hats off to Bubby Roses Bakery and their glowing review in Monday magazine. I have been preaching this for years – if you want the very best of anything baked, there is only Bubby Roses. Every other bakery in Victoria are miserable shadows of The Bubby – there, I said it… that should generate some hot water.
Onward!
Getting back into the groove - with a new website · Friday February 27, 2009 by colin newell
Apologies to my regular legion of reader… for my absence. I apologize. Have been crazy busy proofing the new coffeecrew.com website – well ahead of schedule thank you very much.
I had to borrow another domain name to set up and populate the new site – putting my music project – the two old goats – more or less on standby. Which was OK because that website gets very little traffic.
Which got me picking around for a test domain name… you know – just to play around with. And it came as bit of a surprise to find just how many people are sitting on domain names – I mean, all of them!
My goal, when helping others get an online presence – is to keep URL brief and to the point – but stay catchy and quirky (if appropriate).
And staying away from domain names like BigRedBunniesLeapingInMyFace.Com
Haven’t actually checked that one…
Too much typing. I am more into shorties like abcd.com or xyz.com where possible and practical.
Ah, the web. Which reminds me of 2 or 3 conversations I have had this week with folks eager to advertise on the new coffeecrew website – who are fairly new to the information superhighway – and want the leg up that a text link or banner on my popular website would provide… at a very reasonable cost.
The 3 folks reported spending, on average, over 10,000 dollars on a basic website with a simple shopping cart. Is this the average? When I stopped doing paid projects for folks around Victoria, I was charging (typically) under $2000 for a fully functional dynamic website with or without some basic cart features and a domain name.
So what the hell happened?
These days I do a lot of pro bono stuff – just to keep my hand in and feel good about it. I gave up doing paid web development because, by and large, I prefer the lack of pressure – even though I often deliver fully functional solutions within 72 hours of commencing the project. Yea, I guess that is fast.
Anyway – another couple of weeks or so… and I should be able to get back to the good stuff… right here…. on the blog.
