ABOUT BUYING MUSIC

So, here at home we have a little cultural program to educate Gabriel: He receives R$20 a month to do whatever he wants, so he learns to deal with money AND he has the same amount as credit to spend in books (including graphic novels and we usually make exceptions and buy the book anyway if we think he made a good choice or he reaaaally wants that book).

I was thinking about extending the program and giving him R$20 (or U$10) in credit to buy music (mp3 for his mp3 player -- not an iPod). He likes rock, bands like Supertramp, Rolling Stones, Kaiser Chiefs, ACDC and recently has discovered Nirvana. It would be easy to just go around downloading mp3s for free and fuelling his player but I would love to teach him to, you know, GO LEGIT. So, what's the better way to manage it, giving the cap of 20 reais or 10 dollars a month? Gift cards in iTunes store? There is some kind of store with subscription service for X downloads a month within this range? How do I teach my curious tween about consuming music the same way I teach him about consuming (printed*) books?

Food for thought here: I learned about new music listening to radio and sharing mix tapes with my friends at school, and after MTV came to Brasil, seeing it too (it's a shame MTV no longer stands for Music television). Gabriel discovers new music seeing videoclips in Youtube, listening to online radios and exchanging mp3s via bluetooth on his cell phone with his friends at school.

Can you see it? The FORMAT changed but the way music spreads and reaches new listeners is still the same. MTV gave me REM, mix tapes brought me Tori Amos, radio brought me Nirvana. Youtube brought Kaiser Chiefs to Gabriel, games brought him Cardigans (Gran Turismo, My Favorite Game) and his exchange at school teaches ME about new stuff.

*ebook stores, I'm looking at YOU. There's no way I'll buy a book I can't share with my kid and he can't share with his friends or take it to school to show them how cool it is so, guess what, you may end with MORE readers. His school has a book club and so far I know that every book he took home is an interesting book to buy later for him. So, if I can't do with an ebook what I can do with a printed book I PAID for I won't give you my money for it and hope you go screw yourselves. It's just stupid that you think this won't make you sell more, you don't even trust the quality of the product you're selling. Well, I may be stupid too for my entire life I lent books to friends that liked them so much I never got them back and I just though it was cool that they enjoyed it so much and bought them again. We even have a saying here i Brasil, that "a lent book is a given book" (livro emprestado é livro dado). Boy, you suck at forming new readers/consumers.

So, feedback please about the better way to give Gabriel the R$20 a month credit to buy music? email me at lanika_@hotmail.com.

...it's always like this

I don't belong. There's no place to come back and everyday I try to build another home. I'm more confortable in my own: house, pace, peace.

The house where I was born was demolished some years ago. Today a building leaves no trace of what it was before. The ground where I made my first steps was levelled, removed, extinguished. And when I die no one will remember it ever existed.

The bedroom where I grew up is no longer mine. The bed I slept while looking to the stars in my windows was donated years ago. When I got out of my parents house they did not look back. The walls where I drew tiny drawings with pencil are neatly covered in white paint.

And all the houses I build before were nothing but temporary places. A place to come back from the night before. A place to rest and maybe make love. Home must be where the heart is, they say. All I know is I don't belong.

My memories fade in forgetful mist. The only place past is alive still. With every bit that is erased, a piece of it ceases to live.

I'm foreigner in a world I don't understand. The more I try the more I fail. I have no place to turn back. This home I try to build again, with remains of what may finally last.

Open Eyes

I will fly away but you just don't care
I won't look behind but I won't forget
Yes you hurt me for my differences
I just hope you feel the same pain
Someday...

Let life teach you when eyes cross your way
If someone tells me I'll be sure to laugh
When the pain then makes you understand
How it hurts, being judged for being different
Someday...

Silently you avoid my direction
I'll step through the door anyway
I won't look behind, with open eyes
I will make it all disappear
In the past...