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Variety has decided to resurrect their pay wall starting, oh, today. The plan is to ask one in 10 users for their user name and password (previously emailed to subscribers) and to gradually turn off the tap over the next two months to five free views per month for the rest of us plebs. While Variety  is wealth of information, I tend to turn to it more for the occasional in-depth piece rather than the daily news (this week: "Film composers lose luster"), so I'm not terribly broken up about this.

About a month ago, a publicist I work with mentioned that this would be coming, not about Variety specifically, but that we should expect a trend of free online news sources shifting to subscriber sites. The question, of course, is whether advertisers will follow. It's no secret that traditional media makes the vast majority of its revenue from advertisers rather than subscribers (ooo, the product they sell is you! Scary!). So why is limiting the number of eyeballs you can sell to advertisers a good thing? Will users gradually come on board with the pay-for-product model that the internet has been savvy enough to eschew, or will the Globe and Mail just give up entirely and unlock their street corner dispensers?

You know what? We should just bring back newsies. Those kids had hustle:

In another sign of the ever changing times, DVD and music retailer HMV is entering the digital realm.  Check it out:

Canada’s largest bricks and mortar music retailer, hmv Canada is thrilled to be bringing their extensive knowledge and passion for music into a new and exciting digital realm!  With a continued focus on expanding their business and reinventing their brand, hmv is launching their new Canadian digital store, hmvdigital.ca. 

hmvdigital.ca will launch in ‘beta’ mode on November 4, 2009 when hmv invites its consumers to test the site, and provide hmv with feedback. The site will use an advanced technology platform to allow music lovers to find and enjoy the music they love, in digital form. 

Remember when I told you that the Boondock Saints sequel had yet to materialize? Troy Duffy decided to prove me wrong! Beyond on all reasoning, The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day is in the can and opening in limited release on October 30. Where this limited release will take the movie is anyone's guess. The original certainly is a cult favourite. But a release ten years in the making? Worked for Before Sunset!

Watch the trailer after the jump!

A few weeks ago, I decided to turn on iTunes Genius. Sure, it sends information back to Apple and its sole purpose is to sell me more music, but, hey, I like playlists. I like it when someone else curates them for me while I write or clean or throw a one-woman dance party. My first mix was based on The Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud to Beg." While it was only 13 songs, it was pretty good mix. I doubt I would have thought to throw Flo Rida in with the Marvelettes.

At first it seemed like the only drawback was Genius' refusal to base mixes on certain songs. Cat Power's "Half of You" could appear in a mix, but it doesn't contain enough information to be the starting point. When this happens, I get a little pop up asking me to update Genius. Apparently someday these updates will magically produce a mix based on one of the rejected songs, but I'm not holding my breath. 

This weekend, however, I came to realize the real problem with Genius. Every single mix I have created contains at least one Ben Folds song. At first I assumed that this meant that I have a disproportionate number of Ben Folds songs available. Turns out I have only four Ben Folds songs. 4. Yet one, if not all four, song appears in each mix. They are completely middle of the road in terms of ratings and play count, so I am left to wonder what Folds has done to deserve such Genius prominence. Does he have compromising pictures of Steve Jobs with a giraffe and a jar of pickles?

Day 1:  Wow. I can follow tweets from Courtney Love! How cool is that? This is like a childhood dream come true!

Day 2:  Jeez, Courtney sure tweets a lot...

Day 3:  What the hell? Courtney tweets ALL THE TIME and most of it doesn't make ANY SENSE.

Day 4:  Unfollow Courtney Love.

Your friends over here at (Cult)ure have finally gotten with the times and joined Twitter. 

All you tweeters can follow us here!

Our user name is CultureEmag, since Twitter won't allow brackets in user names and every iteration of Culturemagazine was already taken!