You Are Quite Feeble

The ice storm last night indirectly forced me to dig out a couple of relics from my past.

We were temporarily one of the (reportedly) 1 million homes and businesses without power this morning, at least for a few hours.

I was left utterly useless. I tried to make a mental checklist of all the things I have batteries for, but everything seemed to rely on a respective plugged-in mothership to offer any actual value-- laptops without a wireless router, remotes without a device, that sort of thing.

Guitar without an amp. But I did settle for a few hours of plinking on the unplugged SG. Unsatisfying, but it made me want more.

After the power came back on, I (quite literally) dusted off my camera to see if the frozen insanity outside would translate to a JPEG or two. It didn't really (most of it just looks like generic snowy trees), but, again, it just might have served as that first solitary Toe of Caution, dipping into A Fucking Freezing Pool of Inspiration.

Listening to lots of Girl Talk, and both listening to and reading about Crystal Castles lately has had my mind on sampling and creativity in music.

But the larger issue, one that leaves me sitting here with palpable frustration over stupid human beings--

I don't think there's much that I hate more than people who lie because it is profitable.

Michael Moore

(previous posts 1, 2)

- Makes documentaries, creating the expectation that what viewers see will be essentially true.
- Consistently doctors footage, timelines and facts to make for a easier soundbite and story.
- He has good things to say. A 'true' film might have had fewer grabby moments and might have been more difficult to put together. But that's what he should have done.

King of Kong

(original posts one and two)

- Funny, well-made documentary film that offers a glimpse into the little world of retro gaming high score nutjobs.
- In order to make it as funny and easy to follow as it is, they made shit up, altered timelines and sold out more than a few people who have a genuine love for that little world. Yet are now seen as villains or idiots as far as the outside world is concerned (again, the 'documentary' style of filmmaking lending credence and authority where there should be none).
- The actual story probably wouldn't have been as entertaining. But in the end, the filmmakers still know that they lied about something which is currently making their careers. I don't understand being OK with that, even if it's about something as stupid as a movie about arcade games.

...and the newest member of the club:

Crystal Castles

(Pitchfork rundown, Torontoist follow up)

- I have forever loved so-called 'chiptune' music, where synthesized melodies and/or beats are produced by antiquated sound chips, often including those beeps and blips produced by old videogame consoles. The diversity and depth of the chiptune scene is unbelievable, as is the talent of many of the artists who occupy it.
- Crystal Castles have co-opted that chiptune sound and packaged it with a) a more finely honed pop sensibility than most of the artists in the chiptune scene and b) a fantastic female vocalist (who I have compared stylistically to Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs). End result being, I enjoy the hell out of much of their music.
- It seems that they are a less a band and more of a marketing strategy. And at least one of the parts of that strategy seems to be ripping off other artists (whether its for unlicensed artwork on their album cover, or uncredited samples for a ton of their songs) and betting that the original artists won't know or won't say anything. Timbaland is probably the most famous example of this sort of thing happening recently, but at least he hasn't seemingly based his whole career around the idea of theft.
- I'd like to believe that there's no way Glass Houses Crystal Castles can produce (or even conceive of) music like this without being genuine fans of the chiptune scene. But it's hard to ignore the feigned ignorance of things like Creative Commons licenses and claims that they "don't have anything to do with" the 8-bit scene. Why couldn't they instead embrace their role and duly compensate and credit some of the shoulders that they stood on? They'd still be the most commercially successful producers to incorporate the chiptune aesthetic into a general indie act, and they'd still make plenty of money and have a following (including me) because the music remains quite fucking good.

I can be a pretty cynical person at times. So while I'd like to say it is beyond me that there are people/groups who do this kind of thing and lie through their teeth about it, that's not really true.

The part that bothers me the most is the apologists. Those people who equivocate and hedge when presented with the evidence because it's easier not to do the math. I dealt with many of them in the days and weeks after I came home from first watching Bowling for Columbine, did a couple of hours of online follow-up and proceeded to tell everyone within earshot that we were being manipulated (ever so slightly, but manipulated nonetheless).

Does Scott McClellan fall into this category? Lies for profit while he works for the White House, then profits again when he comes clean a few years later?

Then you can look at the Bush administration and any number of people who are benefiting enormously because of our commitment to Iraq and its oil pipelines. But those are sins much too large for an individual to appreciate on any meaningful level.

I hope one day to make a solid career out of doing something that I love. The artists I've listed above are all talented people who clearly love what they do. But there's a disconnect at some point, a definite moment when they're in that editing room where they know they've crossed a line and just don't care. Cynical or not, I still find that completely fucked up.

sidebar:

Since it's been in the news lately, I should mention the whole Coldplay plagiarism claim.

a) People write songs based on that progression all the time. At least eight more have been written since I started typing up this blog post.

b) With that in mind, these are still two very different songs.

c) Also, it doesn't help that Coldplay demoed their version months before you say they first heard it at your gig. Which they also did not attend!

conclusion: The accusers are performing the rare and delicate feat of double reverse douchebaggery. Falsely claiming to be victims in order to get attention! OK, so there's something else to hate.

things you can put in a song that are guaranteed to make me swoon, regardless of how good the music actually is:

slide or pedal steel guitar

red house painters - have you forgotten

pete droge - going whichever way the wind blows*

*From a recent Toyota SUV commercial where people take their truck out to stargaze and be at one with nature (following up Nissan and Honda's similar one-with-nature-and-my-SUV ads alongside mellow Alexi Murdoch and Mojave 3 tunes, respectively). The Toyota song is pretty terrible, but that's just case in point.

( continued... )

The Zune I want is available now from the customization site. I need help picking something interesting to have etched on the back.

I can choose either 1) a full picture 2) three lines of text and a partial picture 3) five lines of text.

I prefer option 2, which will look something like this:



( 25 things to say on my Zune. )

Poll #1097522
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4

Which one should I use?

And if you can think of something better (and/or don't have an LJ account), comment.

Results as of 11/30, 10:00 A:

three votes: 6, 15
two votes: 19, 23
one vote: 2, 11, 14, 18

I've always ignored the W3C when creating websites, and at the same time never had a problem denouncing prior versions of Internet Explorer for not supporting web standards. I figured I could cut myself some slack, considering I build everything from start to finish in Notepad and the resulting pages look pretty good on 90% of computers out there.

But 90% is a little too far from 100% when talking about something like a portfolio... Alissa and Kati pointed out that things looked terrible in Safari. And it's not a stretch to believe someone important at a design firm might be using Safari when making up their mind about me some day.

As with most things that I dismiss out of ignorance, once I spent a few minutes actually looking at what I had to change it was pretty easy to fix. I still have some work to do on the individual sites in the portfolio, but having done some light research I'm now a much better web designer than I was a week ago. (And last week I was pretty damn good.)



I bought an MP3 from Amazon's store. It was ridiculously easy. 99 cents and a couple of clicks, then a high-quality DRM-free file gets automatically dumped into iTunes and my music folder exactly as I would have manually done. Actually, it might have been too easy-- I didn't realize I had been charged until the track was already on my hard drive.

The track was "Baby Love Child" by Pizzicato Five; I'm addicted to it right now. It didn't really sound like the rest of their music, so it seemed acceptable to buy the individual track.



The song is used with a closing montage in an episode of "Futurama", which I have been watching nonstop the past few days. I'm halfway through the 5th and final most recent season, it's wickedly funny. After I'm done, reading through each episode's Wikipedia page will be a must because every show is crammed full of references and futuristic send-ups of stupid shit in 21st century life... Invader Zim was great at that sort of thing as well, although Futurama's visual gags tend to be a lot less subtle. (and, hey, both shows feature evil Santa Claus robots that terrorize the Earth every Christmas!)

If there was a Voice Actor Hall of Fame, Futurama would have its own wing. The same guy that voices gruff, hardened space marine Marcus Fenix (John DiMaggio) in Gears of War is hilarious here as Bender. The mother from "Married With Children" and "8 Simple Rules" was somehow the perfect casting choice to play tough and sexy one-eyed heroine Leela. Billy West was already a legendary voice actor, but here he plays (among several other peripheral characters): 1) the doofus hero with a good heart (Philip Fry), 2) the crustacean-alien hybrid (with a hilarious Jewish affectation) Dr. Zoidberg, 3) Zapp Branagan, pompous interstellar space hero (seemingly channeling Phil Hartman's beloved Simpsons characters), 4) Professor Farnsworth, old coot. Maurice LaMarche (known best to me as the Orwellian voice of The Brain from "Animaniacs") makes various appearances as well. Phil LaMarr does a Jamaican "grade 36 bureaucrat" who is obsessed with red tape and limbo contests (LaMarr was also present on Bruce Timm's "Justice League" as the Green Lantern... Andrea Romano gets her own wing in the Hall of Fame for her voice casting and direction on all of Timm's productions as well).

Um. Futurama. Highly, highly recommended if I haven't made that clear.

Part I.


Part II.



Zune Originals

On the Zune Originals site, launching tomorrow (13 November 2007), visitors will be able to customize their Zune by size, color, illustration and with up to four optional lines of text—all free of charge, at least for the time being.

I'm ordering a Zune 80, probably black with the "Parskid" artwork, tomorrow in December :(

Robot Guitar, not quite yet.

"...if I was on the opposing team, I'd hit Tom Brady with everything I had as late as I could and take the penalty and join the fight that would surely follow. Football is a violent game and there's got to be somebody out there sharpening his fangs for the Patriots Golden Boy in the 4th quarter one of these weeks."

-Michael Wilbon in a chat yesterday

"If it were 38-0 in the fourth quarter and the other side still had its starting quarterback on the field throwing deep, I would have called a double safety blitz and slammed Brady to the ground..."

-Gregg Easterbrook, today's TMQ






in a related story:

I never knew the song "39" by Queen (possibly my favorite song of theirs) is actually about time dilation and relativistic time travel. The 'volunteers' in the song lyrics went a mission that took a year to complete, but when they returned to Earth, 100 years had passed.

Oh yeah, Brian May is submitting his doctoral thesis almost 40 years after leaving his graduate studies to form Queen.

Brian May, Rock Legend, Soon-to-be Astrophysicist (slashdot)

Some people find it funny that I try not to download or buy digital music tracks at the 'normal' compression rate (usually 128 kbps for both MP3 and AAC). The truth is, those tracks sound terrible through decent speakers or headphones, and it's worth the extra effort to rip or download something that is at least 192 kbps (or 224+ VBR), at which point I notice less of a difference relative to a CD.

I'm not debating the convenience of any of it-- Napster and the iPod helped to bring the benefits of lossy compression to the masses, but it's a huge step backwards as far as building a personal music library (and subsequently, an appreciation for the same) is concerned. I can accept that someone arbitrarily decided on 128 kbps when this was all ramping up, because it sounded OK and made acceptably tiny files. Today, if this is our new musical medium, people should be pushed towards better-sounding stuff whenever possible. Maybe iTunes and Winamp can change their default ripping bitrate to something higher, maybe digital music stores can default to better quality tracks. Storage and bandwidth costs surely have dropped a little since some of them have opened shop.

Admittedly, the average listener doesn't care, because it sounds just as good when listening through their car speakers or bundled DAP earbuds. EMI is starting to offer higher quality versions of their iTunes Music Store tracks along with their anti-DRM stance... that's at least a step in the right direction on both fronts.

.:

There's a different type of compression that has been ruining your music, regardless of what genre you listen to (except perhaps classical and jazz). And while it's been happening since the early 90's, it's been getting worse and worse each year. It's an old issue, and one that gets written up and ignored every few months... most people still don't understand the ramifications of it.

Why music really is getting louder (timesonline.co.uk)


(click for a better quality version of the above video)

Unlike my MP3 bitrate snobbiness, there's not much that the end user can do to effectively combat the deliberate loss of dynamic range from the source.

Ideally-- every musical recording, talk radio program, movie soundtrack, even every TV show and all of its commercials SHOULD be produced to target a neutral reference speaker system. Meaning, a system with a flat EQ, entire dynamic range reproduced faithfully. Then at home, or in the car, the end user makes the EQ adjustments necessary to compensate for their own system's capabilities.

But the opposite is now standard procedure. A studio producer knows that in order for his or her work to cut through a bass-heavy nightclub, the rumbling of a subway through naturally tinny-sounding earbuds, or the din of a traffic jam via crappy car speakers then they have to compress the music as demonstrated above.

And the best part-- anyone who tries to buck the trend and produce music the 'correct' way (preserving full dynamic range) will annoy their listeners. Because they'll have to keep turning up their home stereos every time the 'correct' track comes on in the middle of a playlist filled with modern loud music. Then turn it back down in a hurry before the next song blows their speakers and/or eardrums out.

So even if not for practical reasons anymore, there's really no stepping back from the brink when everyone else is doing it-- you don't want your band's CD to sound oddly quieter than all of the others, so today everyone from up-and-coming indie acts to even old school groups like Rush are pushed to release artificially 'loud' albums.

Sure, it's making people deaf, but they'll love how it sounds until then. Example # infinity + 2 of how the masses are way too stupid for their own good.

I think I had a bit of an awakening yesterday. Not sure what happens now.

.:

Euge, my personal pursue-your-creative-dream hero for about half of my life now, has just released a web album called Srivanacore. It has already been very favorably reviewed by what he tells me is a "big" jazz website ('allaboutjazz.com'). But you know Eugene, very prone to embellishments and the constant self-promotion and all that. Take it with a grain of salt.

I'm mentioning it a) because it's Eugene, b) because it's crazy good, and completely approachable for a free jazz novice such as myself...

(Download it!)

Eugene Lee / Srivbanacore

...and c) of course, he let me do a quick web page for him.

I didn't spend tons of time on any of them, but the above is actually the third draft of the page. Euge never makes me go back for revisions normally, so it was a good experience.

1st -- http://pxlt.net/srivbanacore/old1/main.html
2nd -- http://pxlt.net/srivbanacore/old2/main.html

:.

I think something interesting happens when you're in the middle of an intense creative endeavor, whether you're talking about recording a music track, making a web page, doing a visual art project, whatever... just a theory:

Everyone has their own creative process, but there's always SOME kind of vision starting out. Then you work on it, ideas evolve, the hours pile up, and I think inevitably the vision becomes something greater than what's been laid out on the page... you work to fill in the details and produce something tangible that gets closer and closer to the mere idea. The artwork in most of its stages (if not all) is merely a collection of signposts directing the viewer/listener/user to what you imagined their experience should be.

But the more hours that pass by, the more difficult it becomes for the artist to recognize this divide between what has actually been put down on paper (or written in code, or mixed on a virtual soundboard) and what his or her intention is. They might not realize that, so far, what people hear or see or touch is not quite the experience as it is happening in the artist's head.

I have songs I've put together during my brief experiments with audio recording software, where the last fading hint of a guitar riff might have represented the difference between a completely forgettable 'experimental' track and a legitimate 'hook'... something that called people back to listen again and again. When I was recording and mixing it, I knew it was there; but maybe 5 hours into the process, I've suddenly tweaked the left guitar channel's volume slider for the 30th time, 27 times too many, and even though I'm still hearing it almost as a function of muscle memory, I've suddenly made it irrelevant as part of the whole (as far as a brand-new listener is concerned).

Maybe this isn't a universal thing, and this experience is yet another manifestation of one of my many ambition-crippling neuroses. Or maybe this is just part of the creative process, part of any translation from an artist's naturally self-important vision to mass-consumable product that can be appreciated by others. Editors, producers, clients need to be a part of this process, particularly if it's important that someone other than the artist appreciates the final work. I don't think that's a concept I've fully grasped until recently. It also doesn't help that occasionally an editor or producer or client may be a narrow-minded jerk, but the ratio of those kinds of people to overly self-important artists has to be fairly even when all is said and done.

Eugene's request for a site is actually a related but slightly different situation-- here was an artist intimately familiar with the aural ins-and-outs of his own album, asking someone to make a general visual interpretation of the same. Interestingly enough, I came to a conclusion completely different than his.

I don't know if this latter scenario is less of a general one; after all, I figured out a couple of years ago that I have a terrible time translating musical cues to visual ones-- yet it's possible others (contracted in the recording label industry, for instance) might have less trouble with it and, perhaps, ultimately come to the same visual conclusions as the original artist. It'd be interesting to hear about it.

.:

Good Mark, Bad Mark of the Week

good mark:



Good? Try beautiful. Perfect. Stunning.

This is the new corporate identity scheme for the recently spun off Tyco Medical division.

An enormous duotone version of this logotype now resides squarely in the middle of Fenway's Green Monster. Such effective and surprising use of negative space makes my knees weak.

bad mark:



It's nothing new by now, but man, it's been a few years and it still makes me gag. Look,

- Changing your corporate name from something ridiculous like "Lucky-Goldstar" to more effectively compete with your cross-island global electronics rivals, Samsung ... Good.
- Calling yourselves LG Group / LG Electronics ... Great. Kind of cold and faceless, but totally something we can work around.
- Inexpicably adopting an awkward English backronym to explain away the nondescript new company name ... Ew.
- Putting the terrible phrase IN your corporate mark all curvy and WordArt-looking, along with some freakish cartoon face made up of those letters again ... Stop, gimme the remote.

My last post contained a few examples of ad music that was made just for the commercials themselves.

Today, by popular request (OK, one person), is another list of ads that use music effectively, but in particular these involve songs that anyone might have in their record collection. Some of the commercials are paired with indie tracks that help a band get some exposure, others borrow from iconic American standards that attempt to lend instant credibility to a product, etc. The main criteria here is that the choice of music was unique and it helped the ad stand out.

Here is a zip file containing most of the music in this list plus a few tracks from yesterday's list. If you can't find a new favorite in there somewhere, there's something wrong with you. Enjoy.

Volkswagen, "Pink Moon": "Pink Moon" by Nick Drake

In my opinion, the granddaddy of them all... maybe not chronologically, but arguably in impact and effectiveness. I've never seen a commercial evoke a mood so perfectly. The sparse strumming and delicate features of Drake's voice are served up on a like-minded canvas: The nighttime driving, house exterior and particularly the passenger shots give the viewer just hints and glimpses of details and blips of light across an expanse of yawning blue. One could say that the video helps to complete the atmosphere of the song (it's usually the other way around).



( continued... )

I love the new Old Navy swimsuit commercial (click here, 'Welcome to Summerland', on the left). I think I can say that without sounding like a total pig. Yeah, the women are gorgeous, but they're not being photographed in a typically ridiculous T+A way. They are completely owning their hottness. And they are totally staring the men in the commercial down into submission (the viewer too). So I'm just conveying my appreciation for their sexual empowerment by mentioning that I'd like them to do unspeakable things to me.

Wait, no, I'm kidding.

But honestly I can't ever fast-forward through those, and actually it's largely because of the song. Some of you already know that ad music is a teensy bit of a hobby of mine; and I hate hearing a great song in a commercial and then finding out that it only exists in that perfect form within the commercial itself. Examples:

Old Navy, "Summerland": "World Go 'Round" by Rogue Traders, unreleased remix that's much better than the original.

Cingular, "BlackJack": "Singing Sitars" by Anjali, rearranged and truncated. They took out the 75% of the original that was cheesy to the point of being unlistenable.


( continued... )

:.

I finished watching almost 2 full hours of the American Idol finale and I still have no idea who won. I'm just assuming Jordin did, but my DVR stopped recording after 2 hours and 1 minute... they had just finished singing "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds". As much as I try to maintain a healthy disgust for much of the American Idol thing (like when Clive Davis comes on to talk about the gobs of money they are making and people cheer him wildly, it's kind of ridiculous. "You lemmings will buy anything we throw at you!" "Yayyy!"), I have to admit that they put on a hell of a show when they want to. I'll probably be watching that again at some point.

Look, you have Tony Bennett on a few minutes after a legit beatboxing showdown involving Doug E. Fresh, and the audience seems to genuinely appreciate both acts... that's impressive. I don't know where else you see that. The only part I fast-forwarded through was Green Day. They were terrible (not to get all Simon here, but it was a poor choice of song).

Anyway, I saw the good parts, because it doesn't really matter who wins Idol. I suppose you find out ahead of time who will be in the annoying Ford ads a couple of months down the road ("I GET WHAT I WAAAANT... I GO WHERE I PLEEASE") but you can't tell me it affects their commercial viability at all.

.:

The Lost season finale was incredible. I think. I'm still processing it, I'm probably going to watch it again tomorrow (and it's REALLY rare that I watch episodes of TV dramas twice). The writers were toying with me for two hours, I loved it.

.:

I miss the days when I could read the word "ludicrous" in a sentence and not automatically get a little voice in my head yelling "SO MUCH MONEY... YOU CAN'T STOP THAT!"

Rolling Stone’s List of the 25 Undisputed Guilty Pleasure Bands

Rush came in at number one. This is a fucking crime. From the article:

Those of you who proudly listen to Rush at top volume in your car all summer long, (ie thereby displaying the total lack of guilty in your pleasure), take note: Rush come in at Number One on our official list of the Rock’s Undisputed Guilty Pleasure Bands. Like the rest of the acts on our list (which you helped put together), we love them to death, and can never forgive ourselves.

No. You don't love Rush to death. You know a few of their more popular songs and you think they sound wacky and stuff, but you like it anyway. If you ACTUALLY loved Rush you'd know they were three freaking virtuosos who just happen to play progressive metal. Musically, they're way more fulfilling than anything else on the list. Yeah, Geddy Lee sounds like Pinky from Pinky and the Brain sometimes, but that's Rush.

.:



Go substances!

Only part of this I'm having trouble with is where 'engineers' and 'artists' are supposed to be opposite ends of one spectrum. I have been known to be an analytical mo'fo on occasion, but I don't see how I'm more engineer than artist.

I also think I'm more libertarian than they're giving me credit for, because a lot of my "government is bad or good" answers can be misinterpreted. I think the current state of government is, in a word, bloated. It wastes its time and unimaginable amounts of our money on a lot of unnecessary shit, most of which we will never hear about or take the time to learn about... but I believe that an ideal government is a smaller one that DOES do some regulation of commerce and provides assistance to institutionally disadvantaged people. Alright, maybe that does make me a commie.

Historically, I have had two ways of dealing with these random bouts of depression.

1 - eat

2 - buy myself something

I've been doing lots of (1). Haven't done much (2) lately. I'm going home now, but I think I'm stopping on the way to pick up one of these.



...should keep me occupied for a few days at least.

R.I.P. Audioslave

Cornell is permanently departing super-group Audioslave stating, "Due to irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences, I am permanently leaving the band Audioslave. I wish the other three members nothing but the best in all of their future endeavors.

Can I just say: Thank GOD. and while He's at it, can we dispose of Velvet Revolver?

For the last few years two of the great rock vocalists that practically raised me have been toiling away with the sellout remnants of formerly great but stylistically mismatched bands. Say what you want about "supergroups" and great talent coming together for a new sound, but in both of these cases, the bands (Rage Against the Machine and Guns 'N Roses) were genius for having taken rock in a direction completely antithetical to their new lead singers.

Sure, I was excited when I first heard that Chris Cornell had a fantastic jam session with Tom Morello and the guys. Although I couldn't yet imagine what it sounded like.

And who wouldn't be intrigued by Guns N' Roses (minus Axl) holding superstar auditions for a lead singer? Sure, it kind of seemed odd to fabricate chemistry this way, but you couldn't argue with the potential. Travis Meeks (of Days of the New, a longtime favorite of mine) famously didn't get the gig, but Scott Weiland did, and I was honestly optimistic.

Then I heard the songs.

As a formerly dedicated fan of each of the members of Audioslave and half of Velvet Revolver, I have felt confident in saying all this time that this was an abomination. Both bands were producing generic, soulless and utterly forgettable noise, I felt sure that the musicians themselves weren't particularly proud of what they were doing. After a while it was pretty obvious what was happening.

They were sitting in a room, coming up with barely passable but sellable rock riffs, adding some of the singer's former personality to it, landing a couple of movie soundtrack deals with the parent company... then sitting back and cashing the checks. while relying on former fans coming to tours and cheesy guerilla marketing (like "OMG VELVET REVOLVER ROOLZ!" planted in lots of message boards) to try and keep the money flowing.

At the end of the day, neither of these bands, even with the considerable collection of talent, have contributed a single memorable song to the American rock catalog. And forget about the albums-- when your singles are already filler, I'm not sure what else people should expect.

:.

Coming Soon: Milli Vanilli, the Movie

.:

Eugene, friend since early elementary school/disgustingly talented musical prodigy (he's 25, maybe I can't still call him a prodigy) is going on a five-week tour as part of the live band for the one am radio. They are playing at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline on Wednesday.

The track "Shivers" on the artist's myspace page is a good example, however you'd classify it ("folktronica"?), of my favorite musical genre.

some guys on WEEI were trying to make a big deal about this ad today. something about the red sox logo being used in a commercial that seems to glorify chugging beer.

quite frankly, i'm much more horrified by the Hoobastank.

original post.

the ones you missed (and the obvious ones that someone should have gotten are highlighted in red):

2 - I can see your everything / don't you know it's not hard to bring
days of the new - bring yourself

3 - The concert was over in Carnegie Hall / the maestro took bow after bow
ella fitzgerald - (you'll have to swing it) mr. paganini

4 - My love, my love, my love / how could you do this to me
rachael yamagata - letter read

5 - No way of knowing if shes ever coming back / no way of knowing if I care or not
chemical brothers - alive alone (feat. beth orton)

6 - I should have turned back / I should have known better
angels & airwaves - good day

7 - Zero, one... two... three... four days without you / eight... nine... now we're five times two
veruca salt - don't make me prove it

8 - Only know what I'm told, only know what I'm told / fast asleep daydreaming
metric - glass ceiling

10 - Memories are just where you laid them / dragging the waters til the depths give up their dead
fuel - hemorrhage (in my hands)

11 - Well, I'll be damned / here comes your ghost again
blackmore's night - diamonds and rust

14 - Whether or not there is any type of god, I'm not supposed to say / and today, I don't really care
smog - i feel like the mother of the world

15 - I know that you're on the inside / you know that I'm looking out for me
plumb - crazy

17 - In heaven everything is fine / in heaven everything's alright / in heaven everything is fine
modest mouse - workin' on leavin' the livin'

20 - Grew up in a small town / and when the rain would fall down / I'd just stare out my window
kelly clarkson - breakaway

21 - They say into your early life romance came / and in this heart of yours burned a flame
ella fitzgerald - sophisticated lady

22 - In the wee small hours of the morning / while the whole wide world is fast asleep
jamie cullum - in the wee small hours of the morning

24 - Closed window pane / I stare out all day / this room and the walls / we wait for the call
the starting line - inspired by the $

25 - Come on / I wasn't there I guess / I wrote down the wrong address
wheat - breathe

27 - Through seven songs of rejoice / his name relives his solar voice
in flames - everlost (part ii)

29 - Baby, you got a bad bad mouth / everything is poison that's coming out
pj harvey - the life and death of mr. badmouth


11 of 20 were correctly identified, two fewer than the stated 13 of 20 threshold for "absolutely shock[ing]" me.  better luck next time.

MP3 meme from lissiehoya 

Step 1: Cut a hole in a box.

just kidding.

Step 1: Open up whatever MP3 program you use and add every song in your collection.
Step 2: Put it on random.
Step 3: Post the first line from the first 30 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.
Step 4: Post and let everyone guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING

1 - Oi, oi, oi, Lee Satchell, you bastard / stop trying to shag the birds and fight the geezers  tresjoliecoco: the streets - who got the funk?
2 - I can see your everything / don't you know it's not hard to bring
3 - The concert was over in Carnegie Hall / the maestro took bow after bow
4 - My love, my love, my love / how could you do this to me
5 - No way of knowing if shes ever coming back / no way of knowing if I care or not
6 - I should have turned back / I should have known better
7 - Zero, one... two... three... four days without you / eight... nine... now we're five times two
8 - Only know what I'm told, only know what I'm told / fast asleep daydreaming
9 - Jesus don't want me for a sunbeam / sunbeams are never (unintelligible)  enomalas: nirvana - jesus doesn't want me for a sunbeam
10 - Memories are just where you laid them / dragging the waters til the depths give up their dead
11 - Well, I'll be damned / here comes your ghost again
12 - A dedication to all the refugees worldwide... / one time... say, say, say  following: fugees - no woman, no cry
13 - Look at the stars / look how they shine for you  enomalas: coldplay - yellow
14 - Whether or not there is any type of god, I'm not supposed to say / and today, I don't really care
15 - I know that you're on the inside / you know that I'm looking out for me
16 - At least you know / you were taken by a pro / I know just how you feel  following: aimee mann - driving sideways
17 - In heaven everything is fine / in heaven everything's alright / in heaven everything is fine
18 - My, my, my, my music hits me so hard / makes me say, oh my Lord  elemenoh: mc hammer - u can't touch this
19 - Oh, please don't go out on me, don't go out on me now / never acted up before, don't go on me now  enomalas: pearl jam - go
20 - Grew up in a small town / and when the rain would fall down / I'd just stare out my window
21 - They say into your early life romance came / and in this heart of yours burned a flame
22 - In the wee small hours of the morning / while the whole wide world is fast asleep
23 - Polly wants a cracker / think I should get off her first  enomalas: nirvana - polly
24 - Closed window pane / I stare out all day / this room and the walls / we wait for the call
25 - Come on / I wasn't there I guess / I wrote down the wrong address
26 - One more drink tonight as your gray stallion rests  enomalas: iron & wine / calexico - he lays in the reins
27 - Through seven songs of rejoice / his name relives his solar voice
28 - Honey, it's been a long time coming / and I can't stop now  following: embrace - gravity
29 - Baby, you got a bad bad mouth / everything is poison that's coming out
30 - IM me if you care / I am, so lost without you  enomalas: figurine - impossible




if people get more than 12 i will be absolutely shocked.

royksopp, "remind me"



.:

this video is a fun concept that's masterfully executed, but it also gives me a special scary feeling every time i watch. when i'm not medicated i tend to stop and analyze everything i'm doing and touching and watching to the nth degree, to the point where i can't actually get that much stuff done. it's easier not to get up when you have a day full of exhausting meandering thoughts ahead of you. but that would make for a pretty boring video, wouldn't it?

http://www.rhythmsdelmundo.com/

in summary, some of the worst shit ever to be committed to musical media and proffered for mass consumption. it is an absolute train wreck happening in audio form. one click, get your speakers on... let the page load, and you'll know all you need to know.

http://www.ladysovereign.com/

christ, i am so out of the loop... a tiny female Dizzee Rascal gets to the top of the (US) TRL charts and i only find out about her today?? new favorite genre of the week: GRIME! i'm in cornrowed love, people.