After four years of sitting in the garage, I’ve decided to put my 1995 Chevy Caprice 9C1 back into limited use, mostly for weekend driving and stuff like that. There are a few repairs I need to tackle, including recharging the A/C 134a refrigerant and finding a replacement bolt for the right front brake caliper (I had nightmares about not being able to stop—now I know why)! But most importantly I recently took care of a non-functioning fuel pump. Turns out the wires had fried but now I have a new pump, too.

As I prepare to put my own company’s media online, DRM and copyright keeps popping up in my head. I had the thought the other day, “what’s to keep tweenies from buying a show then posting it on YouTube for all the world to see for free?” That of course is just one poor example. But DRM is a huge issue. It’s not about large corporations being greedy but for me it’s about small corporations who plan to make their entire income online being kept afloat at all. I guess time will tell.

It’s the eve before I depart NYC. I’ve filmed for a month. I should know what I have, but I won’t truly know until I watch all of it. I took the last few days off and enjoyed what the city has to offer, namely Broadway. Saw Avenue Q, Forbidden Broadway: SVU, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and tonight Mamma Mia in as many days (my wallet is still smoking). I mostly saw the last one tonight because a friend of mine from UNC was starring as Sky on Broadway. 21 bucks for a standing room ticket wasn’t too bad.

On a discussion board I frequent, the question was posed, “Is MTV chronicling the demise of our society or assisting it?” and I suggested the reply: The original question suggests a larger question: does art immitate life or does life immitate art? I’m not calling MTV art (I never watch it but I am part of that generation), but being in film & video production myself, I have to believe in the latter. The filmmaker interprets life into his “art,” which is then reintegrated into his environment by those who view it.

The excitement and the bustle and the lights and the crowds. The energy of the city. The city that never sleeps. All of that gets a little wearing after three weeks. Then you start to notice the trash on the streets, the graffitti on the walls (and doors and windows and mail boxes), and the blank stares of oppressed apathy on the daily train commuters. Nobody smiles in this city. You either adapt or the city devours you piece by piece. Or maybe that is adapting. Some people love it here.

The Onion did a radio news segment recently on AOL e-mail. And although it was a joke there was a lot of truth to it. It’s unfortunate but every time someone gives me an e-mail address that ends with @aol.com, a little alert goes off inside my head that says “warning: this person hasn’t yet left their internet training wheels behind.” I used AOL at one time. It’s fine for anyone who doesn’t want to venture out onto the internet or for folks just getting started. But do not get AOL confused with truly being connected online.