Sunday, January 22, 2017

Why isn't ticket reselling illegal?

It's hardly philosophy, but dammit I'm angry!
I've really wanted to see Radiohead in concert since the seminal album OK Computer.

In early April of 2017, I discovered, Radiohead was coming to Seattle, close enough for me to attend.
I was willing to spend up to $100 per ticket, drive the eight hours with three other family members, wife, son, his girlfriend, cross the border (which is no small feat these days) and stay in a hotel for at least one night.
We were even thinking of staying two nights and catching the Mariners opening day.
But I can't get tickets.
I couldn't get tickets within seven minutes of them going on sale.
I know it was seven minutes until sell out, but it could have been less.
Damned ticketmaster.ca simply didn't work.

The reason is: Ticket Resellers.

In the old days, when I was young (the old days is now the 80s, which is actually pretty funny) if one wanted to go to a concert, for example U2's Joshua Tree tour, one stood in line (or camped overnight) at one's local ticket reseller. This would occur in large and small towns all over and EVEN THE SCALPERS had to stand in line to get their tickets. As the tickets came on sale and everyone bought them, the line would move forward, you'd get your turn and usually you'd get your tickets.

These days, companies like StubHub buy up tickets, sometimes in presale and ordinary internet schlubs like myself can only get tickets when lucky. (I have succeeded in getting tickets in the recent past, to Muse, for instance.)

When StubHub was the only ticket reseller, this wasn't as large a problem, for instance, I think StubHub was only able to procure about one thousand tickets for my Radiohead show.
Tickets were originally $80 + ticketmaster fees. So that's $80 to Radiohead.
StubHub has tickets starting at twice that.
Good seats are at least quadruple that.
If you would like to read about StubHub, ticket reselling and the legalities of such, here is a good article. 

Now here's the philosophical part, that article about ticket reselling, other articles about it and the legal statements of StubHub and other resellers all say the same thing: "StubHub believes it charges a fair market value for its tickets as concert tickets are notoriously undervalued."

This means that everyone has changed their minds about what a concert ticket is and made it a commodity to be traded. I can't have a Radiohead ticket at $80 because that is obviously too low. $300 is much more reasonable. On this point they may be correct, after all I think I paid $50 to see U2 thirty years ago. However this is not my beef.

Imagine I set up a ham reselling shop beside my local butcher's shop. Every day I go into the butcher's shop and buy all his ham. I take that ham to my shop, quadruple the price and resell the ham. If you can get into the Butcher's shop before me, you can maybe buy some ham at a reasonable price that compensates everyone who had any part in bringing you said ham. If you can't and you want ham, you're gonna have to buy mine. Your response to this is, "Well, that ham was too cheap in the first place."


Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Battle at Beaver Creek FREE

Mr. Taylor's film has been released to the world for free.
If you haven't seen it yet, you really should, before it's too late.

Friday, November 11, 2016

Americans Don't Read Essays (but let's try to get them to read this one, shall we?)

As a social critic, it is entirely my job to critique any particular society. I choose to most often chastise my own government, (a society unto itself) or that of the Americans. I also disparage ideas and ideals, like capitalism or money in general. But I do these things because I disagree with actions more than ideals. Ideas and ideals make you think and feel and act. Actions make the indelible marks in the world. I also make commentary on the behaviours of larger groups of people, whenever their actions require. Such is it that on this site you find essays written in Russian, because those particular chastisements were for their benefit. This essay I shall endeavour to produce with an emphasis on baser language and in English, for it is to the plain American folk I now write. 
Oh yeah, Pence! Jesus Christ! Don't forget about Pence.

You don't know it yet, but you're fucked. You just elected a piece of shit into the White House because he said he would drain the swamp. He can't do that. What he can do is fill the swamp up with people dumber than he is. (To make himself look good and feel good.) This is nothing but a recipe for disaster. I'm not here to write about why you elected him, what is done is done. I just thought you might like to know that, if you did vote for Mr. Trump and if you stand for what he stands for, the rest of the world is not only greatly disappointed in you, but thinks that you are as much a deplorable, disgusting human being as he.

As I wrote to those aforementioned Russians when they where abusing, torturing and killing homosexuals simply for being gay, "you are taking steps backwards. You are embarrassing yourself and making us look bad in front of the aliens / God. Stop it!" Of course, in your case, American conservative, you can't now "stop it." It will be stopped, but only because I see only two outcomes to a Trump presidency, removal or surrender. Personally, I don't think he'll last forty days. This doesn't matter to you, you're still the one thinking women are less than, immigrants should fuck off back home and therefore you must act. It is in this action, where your ideas and ideals bare their ugly faces that you lash out, baring yours. Uncle Donald has put a giant spotlight on your morality America and it is coming up wanting. 

When the whole fucking world looks at you and shakes its head. It's time to go to your room and think about what you've done. Since WWII you've been the blowhard of the world, now that we've finally said "Enough" you decide to dig in your heels and say, "No dammit. We want to be idiots and assholes! We're gonna hold our breath until we turn blue..." There's really only a few million true Trump supporters, voting turnout was the lowest ever recorded. (Frankly, it's surprising that people this backwards were able to fill in the ballot correctly.) However, there are billions of people all over the world who think Mr. Trump is wrong thinking. The only good thing that can come of his presidency is that shame might force sensible Americans to take out the trash.

Monday, November 7, 2016

Disinfo publishes my essay in time to save America


"In a few days Americans will go to the polls and elect a new president. Barring some unusual outcome, it will be either Hillary Clinton, a lifelong politician or Donald Trump, a “wealth celebrity.” I think if Clinton wins you will have eight more years of business as usual, circling the drain. I think if Trump wins you will circle no more."

Please read entire article at disinformation.com
http://disinfo.com/2016/11/voter-apathy-ensures-morons-winlose/

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

The Chill American

Disinfo.com has published my timely essay, "The Chill American."
Check it out here