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Over the past couple of months I've spent a lot of money on new music: Madonna's new Hard Candy, Jason Mraz's We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things, Craig David, The Scooters, Armin Van Buuren -- the list goes on and on. I've had a voracious appetite for new beats and something new to soothe the longing in my ears for that special something. All of the music I've purchased has been great, but I thought, "surely there's something out there that I'm going to want to listen to over and over again."

Where's that album that I get to play so much that my friends have to tell me to shut up about it?! Well, Joe surprised me this evening with a CD that is out of this world, and you'll be surprised at who it is... in her own words, "The Queen is Back!"

You may or may not have known this, but Wednesday is officially World Intellectual Property Day. This year's message (per Wikipedia ) is
It's no question that intellectual property is a hot topic. The internet as we know it has turned the definition of intellectual property on its head - at least, it seems, for those with the most to gain from our archaic laws governing copyright and intellectual property.
That being said, I won't belabor this post. The point of World Intellectual Property Day is to raise awareness. With that in mind, I have two recommendations for those that might be interested.

I just finished reading Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig less than two weeks ago, but would strongly recommend it to anyone that is looking at a career in the 21st century. Technology brings about change in all kinds of places, and intellectual property law seems to be a bit behind at the moment. Lawrence Lessig does a wonderful job of guiding the reader through the origins of American intellectual property laws and draws on great examples to illustrate his points. The most memorable being Thomas Edison and the pirate movie industry that sprang to life in California and the fight over airspace brought about by Southern farmers who objected to low flying airplanes that disturbed their livestock. It truly is a great read and you'll walk away with at least a better understanding of where we've been and perhaps what might be waiting for us around the corner. In the spirit of Creative Commons, you can read almost all of Lessig's book on Google by clicking on this link.

I said I don't do it often, but here I am doing it again only a post later. I have another YouTube recommendation. At just under 3 minutes, this short film does a fabulous job of introducing the viewer to the basics of Creative Commons with a little bit of humor and fun animation tossed in to make it interesting. Check out the video (I promise you'll be glad you did) and think about what difference a Creative Commons license could make in your daily life. Use this link to jump to the video or try out the embedded one below.