You get what you pay for

If you're willing to apply yourself, and have a liberal attitude to copyright laws, you can find just about any kind of music (or movie, or TV show) on the internet for free.

Sometimes though, a band will come out and actually offer their recordings for free through their official website. Last year Radiohead did this with their new album, which surprisingly didn't suck as much as their last few. I think that should somehow be on the promotional material for that record.

This week Trent Reznor followed suit, and released his new recordings for Nine Inch Nails free over the net. Of course, being Trent he didn't limit himself to one album, but released four albums, composed entirely of instrumental music, devoid of track names. Hmm. Doesn't seem like such a great deal anymore.

I was going to download all four albums (hey, it's free, right?), until I realised I may not like it, and should start with just one. It was a good move. I got about half way through the first "album" when I realised it was all boring rubbish. Just a few mechanical noises and bleeps, a bit of distorted guitar, drum loops . . . with vocals they might have been actual songs, but without it's pretty uninspiring stuff.

Now onto something that I have been liking . . .

I picked up the first season of "Dexter" based only on a few good reviews I'd read, and am now three episodes in. The basic idea behind the show is that the protagonist - Dexter - is a forensic expert with the Miami police by day, and a serial killer by night. Except he only kills other serial killers. It's pretty good so far, kind of like a cross between Saw and CSI: Miami (I realise that doesn't sound particularly awesome, but it's not bad).

It airs on Showtime in the States, so there's a bit of violence and language. It doesn't seem to really fit the show though - it's shot like it's on network TV, so it's kind of like watching "Lost" with a whole bunch of "F" words. In "The Wire" or "Sopranos" that stuff fits right in, but on more mainstream fare it would seem out of place, like it does here. Anyway it's holding my attention so far, a few good twists and turns and the guy who plays Dexter is pretty good, so I'll be sticking with it.