music loving smelly toads demand more shanklish!

happy saturday, reeds! we've made it to the pinnacle of the weekend. the day of days. the merit of the month. the yodeler of the year.

but even though today, this november 18th, rocks harder than a bon jovi cover band on a mountain of rock candy
it comes bearing some sad news.

according to our old prim-and-proper news friends the independent, up and coming website myspace.com is being sued by universal music, the world's largest music company, over claims that the website's users "are infringing copyright by posting pop songs and music videos on their web pages."

damn you, universal! always trying to take down small business.

the independent reports:

The suit, filed last night in a California court, demands that MySpace pay Universal up to $150,000 for every one of its copyrighted works used by the website's army of 125 million users...Universal, which is owned by the French media giant Vivendi and counts Elton John, 50 Cent and Gwen Stefani among its biggest acts, is emerging as one of the most aggressive defenders of the music industry's intellectual property in the digital age.
(the independent, "http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article1993664.ece")

::sigh::

i, for one, think it's awesome that "defend[ing]...the music industry" means suing everyone you possibly can.

especially when you're suing the biggest social network on the internet, which has the possibility of exposing artists to millions of new people every day.

i know each time that i hear a good song on a friend's myspace page, or check out a band i'd never heard of via their myspace page, i immediately become enraged that their record label is not getting paid for me listening to their music. the only way they can increase profit is by hoping that, with the millions of bands on myspace, i may be exposed to a few that i wouldn't have been otherwise, which would give me the desire to buy their CD!

that's too risky for the gentle giants of the music industry. wouldn't it be so much nicer if the only way we can hear music, either that we have before or that is entirely new to us, was to pay a record company? i know i'd sleep much sounder at night if i could only listen to a 30 second clip of "livin' on a prayer." but right now, the bastards at myspace allow me to listen to the whole song.

well, here's something that universal music can't charge you for: it's learn-a-little saturday!

today, i will discuss something that has been very dear to me ever since laura- and jackie-reed (laura's "friendly, spanish, brooklynite suitemate") suggested i use the topic for wiki-licious friday, but i didn't have the time to use two topics: shanklish!

shanklish is a type of cow's milk cheese that is made in syria and lebanon. wikipedia.com tells me--and i never doubt wikipedia--that it is usually formed into balls approximately 6 cm diameter, which are then covered in spices and dried. this whole process gives the cheese its unique appearance, which "somewhat resembl[es] a dirty tennis ball."

yum?

in the name of learning, i looked up a picture of this cheese:
now, laura and jackie, i'd probably willingly eat this because i do love cheese, and it's got to be better than what sarah-reed is making me eat. however, this seems rather obscure--or at least unusual to pick as a topic.

which brings me to my next area of learning: confusion!

sometimes, things in life do not match up to the preconceived notions you had about them. when this occurs, you experience a sense of distress over attempting to bring clarity to an issue, but being unable to do so.

you may scratch your head, or your chin, or perhaps become angered at your growing confusion.

an example of this comes from myself attempting to understand the question, "why shanklish?" i debate possible answers: perhaps because it sounds like a language, but is really a cheese.

like how dalmatian sounds like a dog, but is really an extinct language native to the geographical area near croatia

(don't believe me?).

and that's all i have to say about shanklish. i'm confused as to why, but i did my part in researching! and no matter how weird and obscure, i not only appreciate the topic, but demand you all post more topic ideas!

ok guys, that's sadly all i've got. there was really a big span of funny-lacking in today's post, i know. would it help if i tried to make up for that by posting the first picture that comes up when typing "smelly toad" into google's image search?
wow. did michael showalter get far older, go crazy, and start loving toads?
at least that's interesting right?

right?

(i'll try harder tomorrow)