I always find it awesome when I find a book or movie that allows me to see the world like a child again. It goes back to when I was a kid and read the book Where the Wild Things Are. Something about that book has resonated with me since childhood. I'm glad films like Before The Music Dies and books like Culture Jam exist to allow me to see the world with the spark of imagination still. Before the Music dies is a documentary from 2006 chronicling the downfall of the music industry. Using interviews of greats like Eric Clapton and Dave Matthews and relative unknowns like ubertalented Doyle Bramhall, writer/director Andrew Shapter eludes to the Titanic Sinking of the music industry pre-Radiohead blowout. Culture Jam, a book written by Adbuster Founder Kalle Lasn in 1999 is 100% dead on as to how the economy bubble burst. He seriously makes economics interesting in his book (Seriously! I never thought I would have to say that!) He also tackles free speech and how to be a culture jammer. Part memoir, the Canuck details the creation of Adbusters in his quest to buy airtime at a local Canadian television channel in order to "un-advertise" the logging industry. Both are very Very cool, and prophetic of how the internet and podcasting has changed the world. if anyone wants to borrow Culture Jam, lemme know I have a copy that I got at Salvation Army for 2 dollars. The link to Before the Music dies is to Hulu.com, which is free~

Johnny $.