Sheryl Crow - Detours

The new album is set for release 5 Feb!
Also see the blog

Dissecting Pitseleh

(I have previously listed the lyrics of Pitseleh)
There are strong reasons to believe that this song pertains specifically to the film it was used in (Keeping the Faith), which tells a story of a Priest and Rabi falling for the same girl - hence the use of the yiddish word Pitseleh, which means "little one" - yet this song has a universal theme and feel: essentially regret over a relationship that was doomed, even if you were the one who destroyed it.

The song suggests emotional isolation from another person, because the protagonist is alone in the emotional depression that surrounds him and he believes that only he can truly understand it. He therefore wants to keep her from and so, in this respect, she is his "little one" (Pitseleh).

He starts with the self-reflective emotional relapse he is having:

"I'll tell you why I don't want to know where you are
I've got a joke I been dying to tell you"

Then he starts into the stark explanations of their demise, darkly suggesting how he kept possible suicidal tendencies from her

"A silent kid is looking down the barrel
To make the noise that I kept so quiet
I kept it from you, Pitseleh"

And so continues his justification of their breakup, trying to advance a more benevolent rationale:

"I'm not what's missing from your life now. I could never be the puzzle pieces"

and that she should consider this one of life's tests

"They say that God makes problems just to see what you can stand"

although, despite this, he concedes that he has succumbed to a choice more akin with his self-destructiveness - which is to end the relationship with her

"Before you do as the devil pleases and give up the thing you love"

Nevertheless, he utters his regret and sadness

"but no one deserves it"

He then goes on to describe the unavoidable sense of doom he brought to their relationship from the outset

"The first time I saw you I knew it would never last"

by admitting the self-flagellating perception he has of himself

"I'm not half what I wish I was"

as well as, more importantly, what he sees as his main flaw: rage

"I'm so angry, I don't think it'll ever pass"

And yet, amid this emotional logic and certainty, he closes with a sense of frailty by being vague

"And I was bad news for you... just because"

followed by a self-deprecating apology

"I never meant to hurt you"

the future of our collections

Quite impressed with Radiohead's challenge to the music industry by allowing people to choose what they want to pay for their downloadable album. This, with the ease of online marketing and relative ease of creating digital music, means that the future looks very different for our music collections. It's not that surprising then that iTunes and other large music distributions (including Gracenote) intend to make the 'digital album' a better package by including not only album art, but sleeve notes, lyrics, etc, so that it makes it worth while getting a legit copy.

In celebration of a more free digital world, I have been downloading tracks from 7digital.com which is my new found shopping place for music, linked to Last.fm (when I say free I refer more to the lack of Stalinist formatting restrictions than to cost). And I've downloaded "Nude" from the Radiohead album, which sounds great and very, well, Radioheadish. The great thing is you can preview the tracks before purchasing, making it quite a pleasure. You're more likely to explore music you wouldn't want to risk by investing in a whole album.

However, one thing to look out for is that the tracks are available Digital Rights Management free - and most of the WMA (Windows) format files are not! (the site tells you the license quite clearly).

Of course if you do find yourself trapped in the stark world of a DRM track you can still write it to CD and then rip it while still keeping very high digital quality (you will need to enter all the MP3 tags yourself if you do this). Every time they try and lock things down at the format level there will be people who find a way to unlock them... you've got to love 'em.

How to upload iPod Videos

This is about putting video onto your iPod. And yes (sadly), it is unbelievably cool to watch your favourite videos on the iPod, not just music vids, but small clips of your favourite people as well....

1. Firstly you need software to rip DVD to your hard disk in a standard format (e.g. *.avi). I recommend Xilisoft, which, despite being pricy, is quite usable and was able to rip all of my DVDs. There are a few quirks on some dvds that mean you need to open the folder view, but the software can handle all of these.

2. Convert the standard video format files into MP4 for use on your iPod. I recommend the free iPod video converter from Jodix.

3. Add the *.MP4 video files to iTunes by adding them to the library folder you use for videos which is set under preferences. In iTunes you can also choose to have the library mix tracks and videos (for music videos).

And now, you have video on your iPod. Enjoy!!!!!!