| New Single from Utopia - Bad Boy and the end of 2008 | |
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What's next, shoemakers? Why not factory workers and all those like me who barely earn enough to put food on the table. Where is our bailout money? It really gets to me that we live in a world where the rich get bailed out of trouble when they ask for it while the rest of us poor folks which is frankly the huge majority let's face it, is still struggling every day of our lives for a decent salary which barely qualifies. But I digress as I am not here to talk about politics and economy. But still, I have to mention how ecstatic I was when Barack Obama became our first black president. Finally! And not a moment too soon. This country and the whole world will be better for it that's a given. Anyway, I have been so busy with my career that I barely noticed all of this even though I sure felt the financial drawbacks like most people but in my case, I have always had a very hard time paying the bills so that's nothing new. I still continued as I always do, trying to find a way to get my music and my videos out there with the help of my partners in MoonDaze Productions, forging a career into the showbiz world where certain areas are feeling the sting like music and even movies. But even though I haven't had that much success yet, there is simply nothing else I would ever want to do so I am absolutely sure I am doing the right thing. I am prepared to give all the years and even decades this might take. So far, many singles from my album Utopia have been released and quite a few of them are featured in my movie of the same name. The latest release is called Bad Boy and is part 4 of 7 clips present in the movie Utopia. Yes, I am posting all of it for free and offer many if not all my songs for free so the sales haven't exactly been stellar obviously. Why would people pay for something they can have for free? Yes indeed but when someone like me tries to make it, we have no choice because we don't have name recognition and it's the only way to even get people to give us a chance. In this see of wannabe stars and artists, all is fair but the ones who get how it works have to realize that getting heard and seen is the true battle. Still I am confident that one day, I might earn a few pennies and if not with this album, hopefully with the next which is in preparation as we speak. And even if I don't earn anything from Utopia, I will never regret any ounce of energy I have given to this project which took over my life for a long time now. Since I do a lot of the behind the scenes and production work, not to mention directorial and editing duties, there is a passion about this which propels my forward now that I am in the marketing phase. It's about making it seen and watched, hoping that some might become fans. Bad Boy is a song I particularly like with a strong dancing beat and theme about the struggle most of us face to become the masters of our own destiny. In this world where now poverty will become an even more pressing issue directly affecting most of us, there is still a way to take matters in our own hands and make the best of our particular cirscumstances. Personally, I am happy in what I do and know how lucky I am even if I am used to living with an extremely low income. Yes I have a lot of debts but I manage it all rather well with what I can dig up and even though I have to stretch every dollar, I still feel like what I'm doing is the only thing I can possibly do. I am very lucky because I am passionate about what I do and I found my vocation, my true calling. It feels wonderful because it gives me the extra kick I often need to continue and not give up because let me tell you, it would so easy to let go. But I can't and never will, thank God for that. I inherited that trait from my father who built a business out of nothing and was able to retire at a very early age. But he was from a different era where those things were still possible. Now all we can hope for is to survive this huge storm until our economy gets better but that could take a long time. As for Utopia, I have been living with it for such a long period that I am getting the itch to work on new material all the while still promoting this first album which, although far from perfect was a remarkable learning tool for me. I know that if I had to redo it today I might do better especially on the technical side but I am still very proud of what I achieved with very little money even if I still cringe at certain choices I made artistically which were actually dictated by some technical demands or limitations. That is what certain critics don't really get. They like to pinpoint every shortcoming with a magnifying glass as if the creator wasn't aware of the flaws to begin with. When I was struggling to build anything I could with what I had, I was still aware that I could have done a whole lot better if I just had more money. But that's the key isn't it... Critics can destroy any piece of art they want but to actually create something out of thin air even if it isn't judged to be good or even passable in their eyes, is still an amazing achievement. They have some very good points indeed and I always feel the need to personally contact them and explain why I did what I did but it would be pointless. It's done and I am happy about what the result is and won't dwell on what could have been if I had had better circumstances to create them. When money is scarce, as a producer and director I had a lot of compromise to make. And it's hard to be in direct competition with the music and film world at large because now, there are so many joining the fight and most of us have to rival huge names which have tons of money and marketing push to work with. But no matter, I know that if I persist, I will get somewhere. I am not exactly sure where that will be but I can't wait to find out. So in essence, 2008 has been positive in many ways even if there was dark period of a few months where everything seemed to crumble around me both professionally and personally. But those are the drawbacks that forge the will to succeed and the determination to continue working hard and doing the best possible job. After those obstacles were thrown at me, I thought I would have to give up everything but I refused to do so and now that I worked my way through it, I feel this pride that nothing will stop me now. And I will never measure my success on album sales or even fan count. For me, if I can just reach and truly touch a handful of people who enjoyed what I do even on a superficial level if nothing else, it is still a victory. My goal in all this is to inject the world with my art and no matter what, whether I die before truly reaping any true financial reward, I will still get the satisfaction of knowing that I did my best and that at least, it's out there. Happy Holidays everyone and may this new year bring you all the best and everything your heart desires, Breck Stewart |
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| Be Integrated Video - Say No to DRM | |
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After releasing a succession of episodes from our new MoonDaze TV project, my team at MoonDaze Productions and I decided to take a break from it to actually go back to our primary love which is producing videos to accompany musical songs. MoonDaze TV was a nice distraction but it's all about the music and this is where the focus should be. So far, there have been 3 clips released from the Utopia album we launched in December 2007 if we count the alternative version for the song Lustful Puppylove. But this new single and video is very special for so many reasons. First, I feel like this is the best song from my album or at least my personal favorite. You can view the clip on many web sites including youtube and also on my own domain: http://www.breckstewart.com We waited to release it as a 3rd single because we wanted to have a strong video to accompany it. But mainly, the song and video were created for a very specific goal. As you may know, I am deeply involved in the fight against Digital Rights Management also called DRM. This technological process was created solely to control and restrict what people can do with digital files by assuming that every customer is a common thief bent on "stealing" or "pirating" various files. But of course, nothing could be further from the truth. The first time I became aware of DRM and the threat it represents to digital freedom was when I was trying to set up a system where my songs could be sold in digital form in MP3. As I started to learn more about this process, I got truly offended by its intent. It's like a digital lock whose sole purpose is to keep consumers from being able to do what they want with the files they purchased. How despicable is that? Well, now it's here and our digital world is becoming more and more unstable as a result. Windows Vista from Microsoft is the worst offender of course because those DRM "viruses" were integrated directly into the heart of the operating system so that people wouldn't be able to copy, share or even use Blu-Ray Discs and digital files in a fair manner. The right of fair use is extremely important in connection to DRM because that technology comes in the way of it. Fair use is a crucial concept because it goes back to the basic right of a buyer who simply wishes to utilize the digital product they purchased in a way that is deemed fair by simple common sense. But this is where it gets muddy. Whose to say how you should use the product you just bought? Is that fair for some huge company to actually decide what you can and can not do with what you purchased with your hard earned money? Microsoft took years to build Vista but not only did they not enhance the user experience from the one had with Windows XP, they went as far as redesigning a new system that is completely customer unfriendly. By incorporating all those barriers into the operating system, they made things a lot more complicated and obtrusive technically. And if you think for a second that they didn't also add numerous ways to spy on the users, you'll suffer through a rude awakening at some point. Just do some digging and you'll see just how many processes included in Vista phone home and report back to Microsoft, infringing on your privacy and assuming you're a thief before you even do anything. I personally started to really hate Vista and Blu-Ray when I spent a long time doing research in technical forums and sites. Then, many of my friends and acquaintances were forced into having Vista because we're already at the point where new systems come pre installed with Vista with no choice to have XP for most users. And I saw how many problems they had to endure before most of them decided to go back to XP. But Microsoft is such a strong entity that they can simply use their monopoly and force people to switch to the new bloated Vista system and kill XP in the process which they plan to bury as quickly as possible. Isn't that weird though? I mean XP was made by Microsoft so why would they desperately want to kill their own product? Does that make sense? Of course it does but only if one knows the history behind Vista and how it was designed to regain control over the users. And now that HD-DVD is history, Blu-Ray is the only High Definition video format on the market and boy, they didn't waste any time. We can now see ads for Blu-Ray along with regular DVDs all over the place but mostly for major Hollywood movies of course. It'll be a long time if ever when you'll be able to get that nice little movie from 1974 on a Blu-Ray disc. Let's face it, Blu-Ray is and will remain a product only for a very specific niche market. Of course a new video format might be a nice idea but not one that treats their customers like thieves. DVD works wonderfully well and supplanted VHS because of many enhancements like rapid access to any part of the movie, much higher sound and video quality, and so on... But what more do we get when we switch from DVD to Blu-Ray? A higher resolution yes but also a ton of DRM locks. I work with videos all the time and let me tell you that even though Blu-Ray possesses a higher resolution that's true, most people wouldn't even notice it unless they own a 50 inch widescreen television or have a keen technical eye to detect those differences. How much more resolution do we need to enjoy a movie anyway? Is that worth it to buy a completely new not to mention more expensive format just so the image might look a bit sharper? Do we really need to see every wrinkle and skin pore on actors with even more details? Does this actually enhance the experience and the enjoyment of a feature film? Certainly not to me and I have a very sharp eye for those things. And even if you could detect some minor image improvement, is it worth the risk of having that technology assume that your disc is actually pirated and therefore, shutting down your brand new shiny Blu-Ray player? You think I'm exaggerating? I wish I was. Anyway, the video Be Integrated was constructed to help the cause against Digital Rights Management with animation showcasing many DRM objects constantly scanning and shutting down processes which they sense could violate some limitations imposed by the system as a whole. We wanted to show just how sneaky and agressive DRM processes can be and how this can affect many other legitimate functions in a negative manner by stealing their CPU power away. The animation where we see those red DRM objects flying around took a long time but I personally felt like it was needed to prove the point effectively. And we used sequences from a live performance I did for an event called "Relève en Folies" in late 2007. It was a gala showcasing 150 different upcoming artists most of whom don't have much notoriety yet and I include myself in this of course. I performed 2 songs live namely "Digital Lover" and "Lustful Puppylove". There was also 2 dancers with me along with many models from 2 different fashion designer Erzuly and Station 8. We merged the 2 performances of about 4 minutes each into a single one with new footage added. True, some of the lips movements don't really match in the long shots but I recorded many new sequences where we see me lip synching the proper song which we then superimposed on top of the existing material to create a new clip which is quite dense in terms of imagery with many layers coming in and out of focus. I am very proud of the result and feel like all those artists with me on the stage deserved to have their performances preserved for posterity. For me it was really a great experience and I met many of them backstage where we fraternized and exchanged ideas and passions. I haven't made many other live performances since then because I've been too busy with so many other projects but my goal is really to get to do a live show at some point in the future and this song will of course be a part of it. This video can be used by anyone to promote the cause of Digital Oppression as I like to call it. I truly hope that by doing this I might make some people aware of this issue which is already starting to affect many of us because let's face it, we will only become more dependant on computer technology as time progresses. I only wish that more people become aware of the potential problems they can have by using technologies that were created to actually come in their way and keep them from doing what they want. We all deserve the best and sorry but Vista and Blu-Ray ain't it baby... Not with those evil DRM leeches running around inside them. No Vista, No Blu-Ray Say NO to Digital Oppression |
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| DRM and Vista: Say NO to Digital Oppression | |
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