Gone to America

Before I begin I’d like to just ask anyone who has been kind enough to have a link to me on their page if they could please update it to point to www.anthonylitton.com. I’m not entirely sure how long anthonyemigration.net will hold out. I’m changing my domain registrar at the …

Before I begin I’d like to just ask anyone who has been kind enough to have a link to me on their page if they could please update it to point to www.anthonylitton.com. I’m not entirely sure how long anthonyemigration.net will hold out. I’m changing my domain registrar at the moment and it may be a bumpy ride.

I haven’t posted for a while. Hey, I’ve been busy. A lot of my time has been spent in R*, and a lot more spent in R* related activities. Which is to say, MC3:DE was released last week, and I got a free copy even though I didn’t actually work on it. Ah, the joys of working for a games company. I first played it about a month ago, but it wasn’t quite finished. I have become quite addicted. Soon they will release a version for PSP which I hope I will also get for free, and shortly after that the holy grail of forthcoming PSP titles. I actually have done some work on that, so my free copy should it be forthcoming will have been deserved.

I’m also playing Fable which I borrowed from Sean, a friend of Eby’s. So, ethically, if I borrow it and complete it and give it back, I’m not guilty of piracy, am I? I have exactly the same experience that I would get if I paid for it (I never play through RPG games twice) at no cost to me, and therefore no profit for the manufacturer. But it’s ok as long as while I have the physical DVD Sean doesn’t, and then when I give it back to him I no longer have it. Just like borrowing a book.

One of my favourite things to do with my PSP is watch TV. It’s better than playing games in some ways. Partly because I only have two games, but mostly because it’s perfect for the commute. It takes two hands to play a game, but I can hold it in one hand to watch a TV show. This handily frees up the other for holding onto poles and preventing unsightly falling on a moving train. Games are great when you can get a seat.

I missed the US version of The Office last night, choosing instead to watch House. I downloaded it today using BitTorrent and I’ll watch it tomorrow on the way to the city. This is highly illegal. Ethically, it doesn’t really bother me. I could just as easily have watched it last night, or taped it. I’m paying for cable, albeit indirectly (it’s included in my rent), which includes watching rights. They didn’t fail to make any money off me because I downloaded it rather than watch it while it was being broadcast.

Actually, I suppose they did. They certainly make more money from advertising than from cable subscriptions, and if I don’t watch the ads it makes the time harder to sell. But there’s nothing in the contract about watching ads. I could flip around, read a book. I could tape it and fast forward while averting my eyes. And what about the BBC? They don’t have ads. They make money from license fees and cable subscriptions. BBC America is included with my cable. Does this mean it’s ok for me to download Dr. Who, even though it’s not being shown here yet? I’d hate it if I had to stop, particularly after last weeks cliffhanger.

But who am I kidding? I’m not going to stop. It’s too easy, and I feel way too little guilt. It’s not like downloading music, where the record company demonstrably loses a sale, or a movie, where the distributor sells less popcorn. It seems technology has made it possible for people to have access to the content they want the way they want it, and unfortunately there’s no business model yet. Somebody needs a Big Idea.

Product placement is a good one. It’s a revenue stream independent of popcorn sales or cable subscriptions. Even if people aren’t going to the theatres, buying the DVDs or watching the ads they can’t avoid seeing the product placement, so theoretically the film/TV companies could charge commensurate with the number of people that actually see the film rather than just pay to see the film.

Of course, it doesn’t really work for period films. Maybe they just won’t be made any more. Oh, they’re mostly fairly dull anyway. For people who are worried about art, well, most films are made for profit not art and always have been. The kind of films that are made strictly for art aren’t effected that badly by piracy to begin with because nobody really wants to watch them.

Anyway, I don’t have an answer. It’s just been on my mind recently what with all this shady tv watching I’ve been doing.

The more eagle eyed among you will perhaps have noticed that when you typed “www.anthonyemigration.net” into the browser, or when you clicked on the link in your favourites, or when you came here from another web page, or Google, or however the hell you got here, you were in fact …

The more eagle eyed among you will perhaps have noticed that when you typed “www.anthonyemigration.net” into the browser, or when you clicked on the link in your favourites, or when you came here from another web page, or Google, or however the hell you got here, you were in fact subtly redirected to a new website – www.anthonylitton.com. That’s right, look up. See?

There are a couple of reasons for this. This blog has really stopped being about my emigration. In a sense, it’s actually been about my immigration since October 2003, and I’m pretty fully immigrated at this stage. This not to say I have decided to stay permanently, but I’m no longer really just settling in. I’ve been living in the same place for a year, and I have fairly regular work. I still have debts, but now I have some kind of income which gives me a fighting chance against them. Admittedly this could all end tomorrow, but for the first time I’m fairly comfortable assuming that it won’t. So now the blog is just about my day-to-day life, like everybody else’s blog.

The other reason, actually the primary one, was my decision to change hosts. I’ve been hosted with Purple-Paw since the beginning. They’ve been great, but they’re based in the UK so all their charges are in Sterling. When I didn’t actually have any money this was really a moot point, but now I feel I should be a little more sensible and go with a US host.

I am a little nervous. Purple-Paw have always been very good with support requests and features – quick and extremely helpful. Site5 seem to have a good reputation so I’m hopeful the change won’t represent a drop in the quality of service I’m used to.

Speaking of money, I’m about to be wiped out again by taxes – US taxes this time. Unlike other instances of financial wipeout that have occured, however, I am already owed enough money to see me solvent fairly quickly. It’s just a question of how quickly the wheels of R*‘s accounts department grind. I’m optimistic I won’t be broke for more than a few days.

I was expecting to be working a couple of days this week, but apparently not. I did just now do some phone support, but I can’t really bill for that. The weather has picked up remarkably – it’s almost as if it went straight from Winter to Summer without pausing at Spring. I desperately need a new hat.

Despite the weather I seem to be in a bit of a funk – I’ve barely moved from my room since Monday. I’m feeling curiously listless and unmotivated. It’s true that if you want something done you should give it to a busy person – now that I have a few days without work I don’t seem to want to do any of things I should be doing.

I’m sure it’s only temporary. Zaini will be visiting next week, although only for a weekend. Former roommate Andras will be here this weekend with his wife and new child, so I’ll meet up with them. And my parents have confirmed they’ll be visiting at the end of June. Does anybody have any leads on good places for them to stay?

Anita did chicken out, or at least fall ill. CBGB was interesting, though. The PSP continues to enthrall. I’ve reviewed Sin City. I think that’s all. Oh, wait..

Happy Second Wedding Anniversary Eleanor and Jim!

What is that, paper? Wood? No, Google tells me it’s cotton. Go nuts!

Ooh, long delay. Sorry about that. By all accounts the protest wasn’t very successful. They completely failed to alert the media, so there was no news coverage. They hung around for a couple of hours and went home. I hope they enjoyed the city.

Since then, I’ve been working some …

Ooh, long delay. Sorry about that. By all accounts the protest wasn’t very successful. They completely failed to alert the media, so there was no news coverage. They hung around for a couple of hours and went home. I hope they enjoyed the city.

Since then, I’ve been working some days and not others. Drew Bracken is in town, visiting from San Diego where he’s working for Sony as a video game sound designer. It seems to be the thing sound editors do these days.

I met Drew when I spent three months training in LA in1997. Screen Training Ireland sent fifteen of us trainee sound editors around the world to intern at various post production companies. Four of us ended up working for a company called Sound Dogs based on the Sony lot. Drew was another intern. I stayed somewhat in touch with him. He moved to New York and I met up with him when I visited in 2001.

He was long gone by the time I actually moved here, but by a bizarre coincidence I ended up moving in with a friend of his. It seems that Drew knows a lot of people. I now learn that a guy who sits near me in R* used to be in a band with him. It’s strange – Dublin was small, but so is New York.

You can get a good sense of the geography of New York from Google’s new brilliant thing – Google Maps with Satellite pictures. Here’s where I live. Here’s where I’m currently working. And here’s how you would drive from one to the other. Of course, I take the train.

Tomorrow after work, I will speak to an accountant. One good thing is that I haven’t kept many receipts, so the math should be simple. After that, I will go and watch Anita sing Goldfinger at CBGB with her roommates’ band. If she doesn’t chicken out. The weekend? Who can say?