A Pittsburgh web series

So about a couple weeks ago I got an email from this guy Erik asking me to pimp this web series that he stars in. Well since I'm such a nice guy here I go. The web series that he stars in is called Something to be Desired, which is shot in Pittsburgh and is currently in its 4th season and puts out a new episode every Monday. Its about a group of deejays at a made up radio station and features their exploits. I honestly have to say that I haven't even watched it but Erik asked so nicely for me to plug it that I couldn't resist and also I had some time to waste. So with that said if you have some time to waste also, check out Something to be Desired, and let me know if it is really something to be desired.

If you have a product, website, blog or anything else that you would want me to plug/link on my heavily trafficked blog(note the sarcasm) feel free to email me. Also a small donation(see sidebar for info) for me doing so would be greatly appreciated anything from a quater up to a million dollars would be greatly appreciated, although a donation isn't required for me to plug/link your blog but it would be nice. If you do send a donation along with your request for me to plug what ever it is that you want me to plug, don't necessarily expect a favourable review just because you sent me a donation. If I don't like your whatever it is, I won't lie, but like they say there is no such thing as bad press.

Plagiarism: an experiment

So my experiment of plagiarism blogs is over. The 3 blogs that I had plagiarised this week actually got twice as many hits than my original blogs usually do. I'm not sure if it had to do with the subject matter or just the fact that they were better written than mine usually are. What ever it was it was an interesting thing to do and it was a time saver, so if your pressed for time and don't now what to write just plagiarize someone's blog, hell feel free to plagiarize mine.

A plagiarised blog about The Black Keys

So as I've already done in my 2 previous blogs, this week I'm going to try a little experiment and not post any original blogs, instead I will plagiarize other people's blogs. You may ask yourself why I'm doing this, well you see my blog doesn't get any hits/visitors what so ever. I think yesterday I only got 1 hit on my blog and that was probably me checking my blog to see if I had any visitors(yes its a vicious circle). So my experiment is to see if it's my subject matter, my style of writing or is my blog just plain not interesting, so why should people bother visiting it and waste their time here while there are millions of other uninteresting blogs out their to visit. Also another reason I'm doing this is that I just don't have the time to keep on writing my own blogs this week(how do all you people do it?) so this is also a practical matter on my part.

So let the experiment proceed......

The Black Keys

The Black Keys released their latest album Magic Potion yesterday. It's right in line with Keys' albums of the past and just as good. It's do-it-yourself-lo-fi-hard-driving-blues-rock. It's their first album for Nonsuch Records. The Keys continue to garner critical acclaim, a growing fan base (which I will always be a part of) and recognition from their peers. They've opened for Beck, Sleater-Kinney and Radiohead, played Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits Music Fest, and their music seems to be making its way into the commercial mainstream a little more each year. Two white boys from Akron, Ohio putting out some of the best blues-rock around. They do their forefathers and influences (John Lee Hooker, Cream, Jimi Hendrix) proud. The Black Keys' MySpace.

Interesting factoid: They named the band, not as a play on the name of the band The White Stripes, of whom they had not heard when they named themselves but are often compared to, but from inspiration of a schizophrenic artist friend in Akron, who used the term "black keys" to describe things he disliked or people he did not trust.

Older Works:

The Black Keys - Meet Me in the City
The Black Keys - 10 A.M. Automatic
The Black Keys - Have Love Will Travel
The Black Keys - Busted
The Black Keys - Heavy Soul

Rockstar: Supernova, an unoriginal blog

So as I said in my previous blog, this week I'm going to try a little experiment and not post any original blogs, instead I will plagiarize other people's blogs. You may ask yourself why I'm doing this, well you see my blog doesn't get any hits/visitors what so ever. I think yesterday I only got 1 hit on my blog and that was probably me checking my blog to see if I had any visitors(yes its a vicious circle). So my experiment is to see if it's my subject matter, my style of writing or is my blog just plain not interesting, so why should people bother visiting it and waste their time here while there are millions of other uninteresting blogs out their to visit. Also another reason I'm doing this is that I just don't have the time to keep on writing my own blogs this week(how do all you people do it?) so this is also a practical matter on my part.

So let the experiment proceed......

Rockstar Supernova: Week 11

The last week of the season. I hope I haven't alienated too many readers with all these guilty pleasure posts. Next week I'll return to my normal "overlooked artists that I like" kind of posting. :)

As always, mp3s are available at Jeepney Diaries. Check the sidebar for the link.

I had hoped that Zayra or Storm would be chosen for the ex-contestant encore. But as I hinted at in my last post, I'd been told that Ryan was returning.

Ryan Starr: Back of Your Car - It was okay, but nothing spectacular. I still want Ryan to go all Patrick Wolf/Beirut and go for some eclectic piano and brass eccentricity.

Toby Rand: Karma Police (originally by Radiohead) - I think Lukas would have been much more interesting on this song, but Toby did well...for Toby. :p My affection for his original aside, I still think his vocals are too inconsistent for serious songs. He had some nice notes on this one, but not enough to make it great overall.

Toby Rand (feat. Magni): Throw It All Away - As catchy as the song is, I'm already getting a little tired of it. Not sure I could take hearing it on the radio all the time. This was the weakest of the three times he's performed it. Still good, but not as good as before.

Lukas Rossi: Fix You (originally by Coldplay) - Not as good as I thought it would be, The new arrangement in the middle was a nice change, but the beginning and ending vocals were subpar compared to Jim Christian's cover or even the original. And you know I'm not a Coldplay fan.

Lukas Rossi: Headspin - I thought at the beginning it would be boring, but once he hit that high note I really loved it. It's too bad he so rarely uses the full potential of his voice like that. It was great.

Paula Abdul was in the audience?! Well, now we know where Jason Newsted has been getting his happy juice from...

Dilana: Roxanne (originally by The Police) - Now that's the Dilana I knew and loved in the beginning! If only she'd done something like that weeks ago. Going acoustic was risky, but it was a good choice. Having the guys sing backup was a bit much, though, and completely unnecessary. Her voice sounded awesome, very soulful. She seemed to have reclaimed some of her dignity on this one.

Dilana: Supersoul - And then she lost that dignity all over again. I kept thinking "Supersuck", then I switched the channel for a while. I don't know if it's just a bad fit for her voice or simply a crap song in general, but I couldn't listen to it a third time. She should have stopped with "Roxanne".

Magni: Hush (originally by Deep Purple) - His guitar and stage presence playing were great, but the vocals sounded a little off to me.

Magni: When the Time Comes - Meh. I like Magni a lot, but he can easily sound monotonous. Maybe rock is not the best genre for him.

As for the bottom two, I'm only certain that one of them will be Magni. Dilana will probably be the other one at the bottom, with Lukas, Toby, and Dilana being the final three.

I still think the final choice will come down to Lukas and Toby. After last night's performances, I think Lukas is the top runner. But I won't be surprised if Tommy Lee decides that Toby will be a better match for his band.

An experiment on not being original

So this week I'm going to try a little experiment and not post any original blogs, instead I will plagiarize other people's blogs. You may ask yourself why I'm doing this, well you see my blog doesn't get any hits/visitors what so ever. I think yesterday I only got 1 hit on my blog and that was probably me checking my blog to see if I had any visitors(yes its a vicious circle). So my experiment is to see if it's my subject matter, my style of writing or is my blog just plain not interesting, so why should people bother visiting it and waste their time here while there are millions of other uninteresting blogs out their to visit. Also another reason I'm doing this is that I just don't have the time to keep on writing my own blogs this week(how do all you people do it?) so this is also a practical matter on my part.

So let the experiment proceed......

Brick

Rialto Entertainment, 2005, rated M, 110 mins

I must admit to being skeptical when I approached this film: how could filmmakers so young make an homage to classic "noir" cinema that are so far removed from today's popular youth culture. I was very quickly transported by the film's sheer ingenuity, intelligence, wit and grace. It's far from being a set of Humphrey Bogart impressions, and, although it is set in an American high school, it is very far from being a typical high school movie as mainstream Hollywood makes them.

This is instead, a true delight, and as many critics have said, a true original. It is inspired by the writing of Dashiell Hammett and by great "noir" cinema - both old and new, like the Coen Brothers' MILLER'S CROSSING and Polanski's CHINATOWN, with which it holds its own ground very strongly.

Written and developed by a team of young filmmakers - led by writer/director Rian Johnson (his first feature) - over a nine-year period, the film was privately financed and was a true labour of love. Every detail rings true and it is very hard to fault the film's style or its intricate plotting.

The story begins when high school student, Brendan Frye, receives a distressed phone call from his ex-girlfriend who subsequently disappears. A loner with a sharp tongue and savage intellect, Brendan becomes consumed by the search for the troubled girl. The search takes him deep into the world of spoilt rich kids, drug dealers and violent sports-jocks. The plot, which is as complex as THE BIG SLEEP, is exhilarating in its unexpected twists and turns, and the action is constantly laced with genuine wit and humour.

The performances too are extraordinary. In the leading role is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, an experienced young actor from both television (3rd ROCK FROM THE SUN) and cinema, winning awards for his performance as the hustler in Gregg Araki's MYSTERIOUS SKIN. Among the supporting players is Emilie de Ravin, an Australian actress from the hit series, LOST. One of the very few adults in the cast is Richard Roundtree as the school's very worried assistant principal.

The film won a special award for "Originality of Vision" at the Sundance Film festival and has received glowing reviews everywhere. It was enthusiastically received at this year's Sydney Film Festival. I think it is one of the most enjoyable films I've seen for quite some time, so I hope you will make an effort to catch it.

-----

Director: Rian Johnson
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Writer: Rian Johnson

imdb review

Job wasting games

If you hate your job, raise your hand, stand up and scream at the top of your lungs that your mad as hell and can't take it anymore. Well if your like me and don't really want to draw that much attention to yourself than I might suggest you visit this website instead, addicting games. So instead of filling out that expense report or preparing for that power point presentation, go over to that website and play some puzzle games or even better yet shoot kittens out of a cannon.



Also in Rockstar: Supernova news, I think Toby is the front runner and just might win.

MTV VMAs

I don't know about you but I just don't get that excited about the MTV VMAs anymore. I flipped to it a couple times and the only time that it caught my attention was when The Raconteurs where playing but than MTV cut away from them to show backstage scenes. I was like hey what's going on, I guess The Raconteurs were just the house band or something like that. Aside from them I just wasn't interested in any of the other bands or acts that where playing. Now I know you might be saying oh your just some old fart that doesn't like popular music, and I to that would say your about half right. No I don't like the popular music that is featured on MTV nowadays, actually does MTV even play videos anymore? They must because they still have an awards show for them, except every time I click on MTV I see some reality show. Back to the popular music issue, I do like new music but it's just not featured on MTV, aside from Gnarles Barkley. Why can't MTV play stuff like Zero 7, Eagles of Death Metal, Peaches or Death From Above 1979?

Has MTV gotten dated and losing it's relevance? Do bands even need to have videos that are played on MTV? Just look at OK Go as an example, they made a video that was turned down by their record company so they just went ahead and put it on YouTube where it became a hit! MTV isn't the powerhouse in the music industry anymore, what with the internet any unsigned band/artist can have their music reach thousands of people all they need is an internet connection and a MySpace Page.

The one thing that I did catch on the MTV VMAs and gave me a chuckle on was that they had an award for most popular ringtone, I guess that's MTV's way of staying relevant in the world today.

I would love to hear what everyone else thinks.

Reality Heaven

So last night I was in reality tv heaven. I had episodes of Rockstar: Supernova to watch and also Project Runway to watch. PArrrty Time. Just so you now that was a sarcastic Parrrrttyy Time. Anyway. I couldn't believe it when Ryan Star was kicked off of Rockstar last night, he was actually my frontrunner to win. Could it be Dilana that will win now, or maybe Toby or Magni, I just don't know anymore, it's anyone's game. I know for sure that Storm Large won't win, I'm surprised she's still even on the show, but she will always have a career in modeling to fall back on. Also watch Ryan Star's bitter goodbye to Supernova

Well it was no surprise that last night on Project Runway that Angela was booted. Although I don't think Kayne really belongs anyway. Even though Jeffrey has been acting like an @ss on the show towards Angela I did find it funny when he said she's more of an arts-n-craft gluing macaroni type of designer. I predict either Jeffrey or Michael will win this season, what do you think?

Check out a really cool blog about Project Runway called Blogging Project Runway.

If you have any more time to waste check this site out, called Zomba.com This site does everything and nothing at the same time.

My day of procrastination

You know I'm always posting suggestions for you to waste your time with, number one being reading this blog of mine. So today I will clue you in to how I have wasted my day today. You see I'm suppose to be painting the bathroom but the ultimate procrastinator that I am I have found ways to put it off. I haven't totally put it off, I have moved everything out of the bathroom that can be moved, taken everything off the walls and spackled, but that's as far as I've gotten. You see there are just way too many distractions abound. Like the full pot of coffee that needed to be drank. So I sat down with my cup of coffee and flipped through my GF's copy of Jane Magazine in which I found an interesting website called thepornspot. Now please don't think ill of me for checking out this website, but you really should see it, it's filled with strippers and porn stars who resemble real life celebrities, so go check it out and see for your self, if that porn star really resembles Anne Hathaway or if that stripper really looks like Naomi Watts.

I also spent some time catching up on recent episodes of Rocketboom2.0, there I saw some funny stuff on this group called Improv Everywhere, so I had to then go check out their website. I then went to go check out Amanda Congdon's blog called amandaunboomed and somehow somewhere I ended up linking to some articles about this YouTube star called Emmalina who has since stopped posting video because someone had hacked into her computer and stolen alot of personal videos, pictures and personal information. You can check out Emmalina's wikpedia article here. On the subject of Emmalina you should check out this video on YouTube, which is like some sort of homage to her.

Hmm how else have I wasted time procrastinating today, well I've also have been brain storming ideas for my The Ordinary Adventures of Tomas blog because ever since I've been voted bestest blog of the day I feel all sorts of pressure to keep up the good work.

Well so far that's how I've been procrastinating and wasting some time but I think I better go start doing some actual painting and get the bathroom done before my GF comes home!

Patience is a virtue

Yes I have to say that the old saying of patience is a virtue is quite true, but I have one thing more that should be added to the end of that saying and it goes like this. Patience is a virtue and it may just get you free stuff.

To prove this let me tell you a quick story of something that happened to me last week. One day last week, I stopped into a local fast food Mexican place(not Taco Bell) and stepped up to place my order. It seems that the manager was training a new person, so my food ordering and preparation took twice as long as usual. I could of showed my frustration and impatience but I guess I just went with the flow and patiently stood in line. We've all been there on a new job being trained with impatient customers on the other side of the counter and it's no fun so why make an already nervous person even more nervous by not being patient. So I guess I come to the moral of the story, as I'm about to be rung out, the manager says since you were so patient have a free soda on me, and I thankfully accepted it. This isn't the first time that something like this has happened to me. I've gotten free coffee's and slices of pizza for waiting so patiently.

So the next time your in line and it's taking a bit longer than you like just remember that Patience is a virtue and it may just get you free stuff

Rockstar or Magician?

So last night, I was watching one of my guilty pleasures, Rockstar: Supernova on CBS. When I realized that one of the would be rockers, Ryan Star, looks incredibly like the magician David Blaine. Is David Blaine moonlighting as a would be rockerstar? Or are these in fact 2 separate people who just happen to look eerily similar. Can you tell from the pictures which one is the Rockstar and which one is the Magician?

On a side note, I think Ryan Star and also Dilana are the 2 stand out stars of the show. It is in my opinion going to be one of them that ends up fronting the new band Supernova. Who do you think will be the winner? If at this point you have no idea what I'm talking about than you must go check out Rockstar: Supernova in which Tommy Lee, Jason Newsted and Gilby Clarke are looking for a singer to front their rock band: Supernova.

Stalking as art?

So I came upon this strange, creepy but yet utterly fascinating website called rikitigkille.

"Riktig Kille"” is Swedish and in a rough translation it means "Real Guy"”. The creator of this website(Henry) choose to follow or some may say stalk this stranger/real guy for 100 days and documented it in the above website with paparazzi pictures and text. I'm not sure if this Henry is for real and he really stalked this "Riktig Kille"” or if this is just some crazy art project. Why don't you go check it out and decide for yourself if this is just some harmless hoax or did this person really stalk the "Riktig Kille"” with out his knowing it.

Little Miss sunshine( 2006, Dayton/Faris)

If your feeling down and need a good laugh or if you just want to go see a really really I mean really funny movie then you must immediately go see Little Miss Sunshine. This movie directed by Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris, is a road trip movie about a dysfunctionally fractured family trying to get their little girl Olive, played beautifully by Abigail Breslin, to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in California. The movie has a perfect cast starring Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin and Paul Dano. This had to be the funniest movie I've seen in a long long time, by the time I left the movie my face was in a permanent grin from laughing so much. This movie is filled with heart, laughs, great characters, beautifully written dialogue and the best dance sequence ever. Not since Napoleon Dynamite has there been a funnier dance sequence, in fact, this blows Napoleon Dynamite's dance sequence out of the water. I can't recommend this movie enough, you must really go see it and when you done watching the movie you will never be able to listen to Rick Jame's Super Freak the same way again.

Check out the movie trailer.


When your done with that check out the official Little Miss Sunshine website.

Heard on the Street

Well since a lot of other blogs have these heard on the street segments, I thought it might be a good idea to include one on mine. There's no harm in following the masses every once in awhile, right?

So I was walking down a main street in my city and I walk past these two guys. One is holding up a shirt that says I only came here for the Budlight. The other guys says to the guy holding the shirt up. "Yeah I wore mine to Bon Jovi"

Riveting stuff isn't it?

If you have any Heard on the Street material and think I might like to hear it, drop me a comment and I'll post it here.

JaneTV

So here's a little something for you girls to waste some time with. It's Jane Magazine's JaneTV. Go check it out now.

Guys don't feel left out you too can go watch JaneTV. You can check out behind the scenes of Heidi Klum's naked photo shoot or see Anne Hathaway's photo shoot or maybe you'd like to see a beach bikini photo shoot.

A few things...

So I've been away for awhile(not sure if anyone noticed) so since I am back only briefly I decided to give you a few links you can waste your time with.

Joan as Policewoman: Discover a great musical talent
Foot fetish anyone?: Hey whatever floats your boat.

Now the Joan as Policewoman site as been tested and approved by me. On the other hand, I can't vouch for the Foot Fetish site, although I can assure you that there is no nudity on it(some of you will be disappointed by that) just tons of women's feet for your viewing pleasure. Hey like I said before whatever floats your boat.

Something fun and something serious

So I've found my guilty pleasure for the summer and it's Sci Fi's reality show, Who Wants To Be A Superhero?. C'mon we've all fantasized about having super powers and being a super hero like Spiderman, Captain America and Wonder Woman. Well this lucky group of would be superheros has that chance. Well obviously they won't be acquiring real super powers but the winner will have their super hero selves immortalized in a comic book by Stan Lee himself and will also be featured in a Sci Fi channel original movie. You really must watch this show it's campy, funny and entertaining. Check out more info about it and also watch past episodes and audition tapes all on the Sci Fi site.

Who Wants To Be A Superhero?

Also on a more serious note I just want to once again bring everyones attention to the issue of Net Neutrality.
Below you will find some sites where you can learn more about what is going on, how you can voice your concern and opinion and watch some really great home video on the topic.

Where you can jion the fight and make your voice heard: Save the internet
Funny PSAs videos by Internet freedom activists, bloggers, podcasters and ninjas in the fight for Net Neutrality: videos
An unbiased explanation about net neutrality: Net Neutrality

This blog might not be for you

So today I will be doing a not all inclusive blog(um does that make any sense?) What I mean by that, is today's blog is really just for people who use a Mac and more specifically people who are running Mac OS X 10.4 or more commonly known as Tiger. If your one of those people you know all about those great little Dashboard Widgets that you can get. You know what I'm talking about those tiny little applications that are so useful and timewasting. I recently downloaded a new one the other day called DeathWatch. This great little widget tells you the date you are going to die and has a count down clock(seconds and all) of how much time you have left. According to my DeathWatch I will be dyeing on June 14th 2052 and I currently have(for you people who don't want to do the math) 16605 days 15 hours 55 minutes and 17 seconds no make that 16 no 15 well you get it. This is a morbidly fun sobering little widget. It makes you stop and think geez I better get started on that project, spend more time with the kids/wife or better start planning for my retirement.

To get the DeathWatch Widget just click here

Nothing here to see

There will be no new blog entry for today's blog due to the excessive heat, please call again.

What a Poopy Head

So, I never intended for this blog to turn into a strictly a movie review blog but that seems to be what's happening. Well I do watch a lot of movies. So today I will refrain from reviewing a movie although I did see a good movie the other night, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang a 2005 movie, directed by Shane Black and starring Robert Downey Jr. as a two bit thief and Val Kilmer as a gay private eye. The movie is a funny murder mystery that takes place in Hollywood....See there I go again reviewing a movie and saying I would refrain from doing so, well I just have to say rent Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, its one of those smart, witty and funny movies that just aren't made too often nowadays.

so what shall I talk about than if not a movie review, hmmm lets see how about art. What is art, can it only be a beautiful picture or can it be a piece of crap? To me the purpose of art is to provoke some kind of reaction or feeling from the viewer whether it be happiness or disgust. It can allow the viewer a brief brake from the harsh realities of life or force you to think about the same harsh realities of the world. Well, where am I going with this you may be wondering, I was trying to create some kind of segue into providing you a link to this funny website that I stumbled across. Well some of you may think it's funny and some of you may not. I'm not sure if most Republicans will find the humor in it or maybe they will. So with out further ado here is the website:

Madeyouthink
(The website isn't obvious as to where you should click to see the photos so here's a hint just click the madeyouthink logo in the upper left corner)

Some people may think its a piece of crap others may think its art. It's up to you to decide, either way I would love to hear your opinions.

Syriana( 2005, Stephan Gaghan)

Usually, when my GF and I are watching a movie together, she will tend to ask a couple questions regarding the plot and what's going on. I'm usually like, just watch the movie and your questions should be answered. Well with the politically charged movie Syriana, which was written and directed by Stephen Gaghan(who wrote the great screenplay for Traffic, 200) that wasn't the case. This movie should of came with an outline or maybe some cliff notes, to read before you actually sat down to watch the movie. Yeah, I got the basic idea of what the movie was about, but I hate to say that the intertwining plots of all the characters, just left me plain confused at times. I was just glad that there wasn't a quiz at the end of the movie, because I would of failed it horribly. I do have to give credit to the outstanding oscar worthy acting of the entire cast which featured: George Clooney, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, Matt Damon, Amanda Peet, Chris Cooper and Alexander Siddig. If it wasn't for the captivating performances of each and every actor I really don't think the complicated story line would of kept me interested for long. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good intelligent movie that makes a person think, but this movie was just too overly complicated at times for me to really just sit back and enjoy.

If your in the mood for a movie, where you don't have to think to much or pay to close of attention to what's going on than this isn't the movie for you. If you are however in the mood for a suspenseful politically charged movie and you've recently taken some Ginkgo biloba than this is the movie for you.

The New World( 2005, Terrence Malick)

The New World is the most recent film by the very unprolific yet extremely talented director Terrence Malick, who directed such films as The Thin Red Line, Badlands and Days of Heaven. The film is an epic love story set amid the European colonial Jamestown settlement of 1607 and the conflicts with the Native Americans. Colin Farrell plays Captain John Smith, Christian Bale plays John Rolfe and the standout star of the movie is Q'Orianka Kilcher who plays Pocahontas. The movie revolves around Pocahontas and her love for two men, Captain John Smith and John Rolfe. This is the type of film where you don't need any dialogue to know what is going on. The poetic imagery and the musical score are enough to get the whole story across, with out even hearing on of the actors speak a single word. The real stars in this movie are not Farrell or Bale but the wonderfully beautiful actress Kilcher and the direction of Terrence Malick and his lush imagery.

If your looking for a visual feast for your eyes and a classic story of adventure and romance than go rent The New World. A word of warning, the movie is very long and at times slow in its progession and might not be to everyones liking.

The New World Trailer

Peaches: Impeach My Bush (2006)

So, Peaches the reigning queen of punk electrotrash music* is back, with a new album titled Impeach My Bush From the title of the album one would assume that this record would be filled with politically charged anti-Bush songs, well one would be wrong if they thought that. Besides the first track, which only clocks in at 49 seconds, titled F*ck or Kill in which Peaches sings "I'd rather f*ck who I want than kill who I'm told to" over and over there are no other overtly political references on the rest of the album. So, it just makes me think that Peaches just wanted to show us how clever she is with words and how they can have a double meaning or maybe no meaning at all.

With that said Peaches, on this album doesn't break any new musical ground, its basically more of the same as her last 2 records 2003's Fatherf*cker and 2000's Teaches of Peaches. Now, I don't mean to dissuade you from getting it, because if your a fan of Peaches you won't be disappointed. Some of the stand out tracks on the album are Tent In Your Pants, which features the standout lyrics, "It hurts so good I got a soregasm" it really doesn't get any better than that. The other tracks that stick in my head are Boys Wanna Be Her(which features once again an awesome collaboration with Joan Jett!), Two Guys(For Every Girl) and Do Ya(which can be heard on the new Gap commercial).

I'm not sure if Peaches is mellowing as she gets older or if I'm just becoming desensitized to vulgarities as I get older but, I didn't find this album as explicit and raw as her previous one's. Don't let that fool you though, Peaches is far from breaking into the mainstream and becoming a household name. You won't hear her music on the radio nor see her videos on MTV(does MTV even play videos anymore?) but with Gap(one of the most mainstream commercial retailers in the world) using one of her songs as a soundtrack for their new commercial, just maybe just maybe she might get her pinky toe into the mainstream consciousness. With that said, and if you've made it through this horribly written review, if you've never heard of Peaches before or if your a long time fan I would recommend getting her new album, Impeach My Bush.

Peaches is currently on tour with the Eagles of Death Metal and I will be seeing them on Saturday 22nd at Irving Plaza, Hopefully I'll have the time to write a review of the show, but if she's as good as the other time I saw her I can only bet that its going to be good.


Peaches wikipedia article: here


*If there is a reigning queen of punk electrotrash music than Peaches would be it.

Summer time in the City

So as I said yesterday, I would come back and revisit my idea of what I like and dislike about summertime in the city. So here it goes.

Likes

Girls wear less clothing: short shorts, short skirts, low cut tops and flowing summer dresses.

ice cream(well I actually like ice cream during winter too so I guess that doesn't count)

A Corona and a lime

Barbeques (supplied by Johnny Strike)

Sitting on the front porch(submitted by hoosiergirl5)

Going to the pool with the kids(also submitted by hoosiergirl5)

Dislikes

The summer stench of hot garbage

waiting on hot subway platforms

The smell of urine filled subway walkways.(well I hate this one year round but trust me the smell is worse during the summer)

UK-specific, the completely inadequate (and in many buildings non-existent) air-con we have in this country!(also supplied by Johnny Strike)

Being sweaty and sticky(hoosiergirl5)

Bees(hoosiergirl5)

As I also wanted to hear from my readers on their likes and dislikes. Here is what one of my loyal readers had to say(well probably my only reader).

Johnny Strike said...
One summer in every four I dislike the World Cup.

I have to admit I'm a little confused with what he had to say. I'm not sure if he meant that he hates the summer when the World Cup is held or that he hates the fact that the World Cup is held only once every four summers?

Johnny Strike has contacted me and cleared up his above statement, here is his explanation:

I meant that I dislike the World Cup. It transforms football from something that can easily be ignored (for those, like me, who'd prefer to ignore it) into something overblown, in-your-face, and unavoidable. Everywhere you look, everything is football-themed. Every product you buy has football on it. Everything on TV is about football. Every conversation you hear is football-related. So for that reason, from my perspective, it puts a damper on 1 summer in every 4.

Once again I liked to thank Johnny Strike for his contributions.

If you'd also like to add your dislikes and likes about summer feel free to send me your thoughts on it.

If this blog wasn't riveting enough for you than go on over to Dresskevin.com. This guy actually lets you pick out what he will wear for the day. Now if that's not crazy I don't know what is.

Kevin Smith is one funny guy

So here I was thinking of what I was going to post on this blog of mine today.
My choices were as follows:

1. Summer in the City, and what I don't like or dislike. (I would like to hear from you about your dislikes and likes about summer and maybe I'll include your suggestions when I revisit this one, maybe tomorrow.)
2. Give you a link to some guy who lets you chose what he is going to wear for the day. Yes I'm serious about this one.
3. Review the new Peaches album, Impeach My Bush.

But that all changed and those ideas went on the back burner as soon as I saw this video of a Q & A session with Kevin Smith, the director of such cult classics as Clerks, Mallrats and Jay & Silent Bob Strikes back. The Q & A session had to do with his involvement, almost 10 yrs ago of writing a new Superman script that would be directed by Tim Burton and starring Nic Cage. Well of course that movie was never made and a different one was made, but here's his first hand account of how he got a chance to write the script and why it was never made. Kevin Smith is hilarious in this interview, he should have his own TV show or make a movie about this experiences in Hollywood.

I decided not to embed the video on my blog because I wanted to give props(yes I'm a white boy and I just said props) to the site that I found it on which was Comic Foundry.

Be prepared, this video is almost 20minutes long, but worth it. So go microwave some popcorn and sit back and enjoy.
Kevin Smith Q&A video

Props: Hip-Hop terminology for respect or credit due to a person.

How to eat cereal

Step 1: Get a bowl and spoon
Step 2: Get some cereal and pour some in the bowl making sure not to overfill the bowl you have chosen.
Step 3: Go to the refrigerator and get some milk.
Step 4: Open up the milk and take a sniff to make sure its not sour. If your sure it's not sour skip Step 5 and proceed to Step 6.
Step 5: If your unsure if the milk is sour have some one else sniff it and possibly get them to taste it too.
Step 6: Pour the milk into the cereal filled bowl making sure not to spill any milk.
Step 7: Insert spoon into cereal and lift out a spoonful of cereal and place in mouth.
Step 8: Chew thoroughly and than swallow.
Step 9: Repeat steps 7-9 until no more cereal is left and than drink the remaining milk.

This has been a public service announcement brought to you from me.

Munich(2005, Steven Spielberg)

I just finished watching this movie last night. I had to watch it in two parts since it was so long and real life wouldn't let me finish it in one sitting. I was spell bound by this thriller, which is based on the 1972 Munich massacre of eleven Israeli athletes, by a Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September. The majority of the movie follows an Israeli hit squad lead by Eric Bana(who gives a tremendous preformance in this film and is worth watching the film alone for), Daniel Craig, Mathieu Kassovitz, Hanns Zischler and Ciaran Hinds and their hunt for the terrorist who were responsible for the Munich massacre.

I think Spielberg did a great job in not taking sides in this film, he just shows the toll of what vengeance can take on a mans' soul and how violence begets more violence. Even though this film was inspired by real events that took place well over 30 years ago. It is shocking at how relevant the movie is today and what is going on in the world, from the escalating violence in Lebanon & Israel to the US's war on terror.

The final scene of the film ends on the Brooklyn waterfront with the World Trade Center in the background. Which made me think of our own war on terror and our retaliation against the people who were responsible for that horrific human loss(Al-qaeda & Bin Laden). Should a country be able to defend its self and go after and bring people to justice for the wrongs and atrocities that they have committed against its citizens. I say yes, but at what point do we become no better than the terrorists that we are fighting and is it worth losing our soul in the process? In this film, I think Spielberg is asking those questions and also where should it stop and are we just perpetuating a cycle of violence and revenge with no end in site.

If you haven't watched this film I urge you to do so, You'll find yourself glued to the screen and maybe just maybe you'll come up with some answers to the many questions this film poses

Who do you look like?

So I just found this website the other day and I feel I must tell you about it because you might like it too and its a pretty good time waster. The website is called myheritage.com. On this site you can upload a photo of yourself and then the website will scan your photo. They will then tell you what celebrity you most resemble. I uploaded a few photos of myself and the 2 celebrities that kept popping up as to who I most resemble were Debra Winger and Joaquin Phoenix. You know I can't vouch for the accuracy of this site but I can vouch for the fun it can offer you. So give it a try and find out what celebrity you most resemble.

Also feel free to drop me a comment to let me know who you look like.

On a side note, if you view the website on a Mac you'll have to use the free Firefox web browser, the site isn't supported for Safari just yet.

The end of Rocketboom?

So as like many of you I went to Rocketboom to see my daily fix of Amanda Congdon only to find that she is no longer doing Rocketboom and that they are looking for a replacement! There was a little notice that did say that there would be a video today with an interim host, but no video, is this the end of Rocketboom?

Also, if you would like to be the next host of Rocketboom feel free to email them your audition, although filling Amanda's place is going to be extremely hard, because she put the Boom in Rocketboom.

To get your daily dose of Amanda filled though check out her blog!
Amanda Unboomed

The Ringer

The other day I was in the mood for a stupid gross out comedy so, I figured I'd rent The Ringer featuring Johnny Knoxville, the star of the now cancelled MTV show Jackass. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this movie wasn't the stupid gross out comedy that I was expecting. Yes it was a comedy about a guy acting like he's mental challenged in order to participate in a fix the Special Olympics, but it was a comedy with heart, filled with cute little laughs and a message of don't judge a book by its cover. Who would of thought that the star of a show called Jackass could do a comedy with heart. This is a movie that the whole family can enjoy. So, if your not sure what movie to watch with the kids on Saturday night, why don't you give The Ringer a try, you just might be pleasantly surprised.


Also be on the look out latter on today for a new episode of The Ordinary Adventures of Tomas!

A parody called Banana Fingers

So a few blogs back I told you about this surreal cartoon series I found on the web called Salad Fingers episode 1. If you haven't seen or heard of Salad Fingers, please check it out.

Well, I was just recently told of a spoof of Salad Fingers called Banana Fingers. It's not weird or surreal as Salad Fingers nor is it nearly as good. In fact it was a little annoying, but hey I can't like them all. So why don't you check out Banana Fingers and come up with your own opinion on it. Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't but you won't know until you try it.

See it now

Just a quick notice to let you know that there is a new
Ordinary Advertures of Tomas out. Go see it now!

Would you like plan A or B with your internet service?

So the telecom/cable industries are trying to push through legislation in order for them to create a tiered paying system for internet services, much like how cable is. So you would have package deals for your internet service. You'd pay this much and be able to access so and so sites, or pay this much in order to access so and so sites or pay this much to access... well you get my point.

This legislation would also allow the telecom/cable industries to charge content providers for different levels of service. So for example a website that has alot of money to spend, but has an inferior product compared to a website that doesn't have alot of money but a much better product would get preferential treatment from the telecom/cable companies.

You know I don't think I'm explaining this all to well, Rocketboom did an episode dealing with net neutrality last week why don't you check that out and these other links dealing with net neutrality.

Rocketboom: net neutrality
Wikipedia: net neutrality
Save the internet
It's our internet
Net Neutrality

Act now and help keep the net free and neutral!

Fun with Google

So I was just recently told of this, it might be old news but I found it funny.

Go to Google's website and type in the word asshole and instead of hitting the Google search button, instead hit the I'm feeling lucky button.

Another word that you can do this with is the word failure. So go type in the word failure and instead of hitting the Google search button, instead hit the I'm feeling lucky button.

The results are quite funny, well funny to me that is. I'm sure they're not funny to others.

If your lazy or don't have that much time to waste here are the 2 sites that the search brings you too, but you should try it for yourself because I hardly beleived it until I did it.

asshole(make sure you have your volume turned on for this one)
&
failure(no sound needed just a 4th grade reading level)

Salad Fingers?

So I yesterday I posted a link to the crazy cartoon squirrel known as Foamy. Well today I have something a whole lot stranger and weirder for you and its name is Salad Fingers episode 7.

Salad Fingers is the creation of artist David Firth. I can't even attempt to explain the weird, funny, dark and surreal world of Salad Fingers so you'll just have to go and experience it yourself. When your done viewing Salad Fingers go check out David's other just as weird and darkly funny cartoon creations such as a B&W cartoon about roof tiling and his Valentine's Day cartoon.


Also check out a new episode of The Ordinary Adventures of Tomas the imaginary friend!

Foamy the Squirrel

So someone told me about this site and that I should check it out. It features a ranting crazy cartoon squirrel and his scantily clad woman sidekick, Germaine. It's hilarious, you won't be disappointed and if you are feel free to tell the artist.

So waste a few minutes or an hour and check out the antics of Foamy the Squirrel and Germaine now!


Also a new ordinary adventure of Tomas has been posted!

A game waster

Here's a great game you can play on the web to waste some time between arriving at work and leaving work. It took me a few times to get the hang of it, but was it fun.

zwok-game

Remix Peaches

If your a fan of the queen of electroclash sexed up punk, more commonly known as Peaches than you will love this website.
Remix Peaches

It supplies you with 4 basic Peaches soundtracks and than you can add in your own embellishments simply using your keyboard/mouse. You got to try it!

Oh if your reading this and don't know who Peaches is than go check out her website.
Peaches Rocks

You can sample some of her music at:
Peaches music

She's also currently touring with Eagles of Death Metal so look for dates near your!

Resistance is futile

Here's a quick little time waster. Don't' press the red button. See if you can resist the urge to press the red button.

Also if you haven't already discovered The Ordinary Adventures of Tomas there is a new adventure.

Hey what are you still doing here I said there is a new Ordinary Adventure of Tomas!

Breaking up is hard to do.

So the other day I went to go see The Break Up starring Vince Vaughn & Jennifer Aniston and no my GF didn't make me go see it. I'm a fan of Vaughn and his hyper I'm a guy comic talk. Well my expectations for the movie where being realized during the first half of the movie as I found myself laughing to a bunch of scenes. The funniest scene in the movie had to be the dinner scene where both sides of the family finally meet and a sing along ensues. One of the other highlights of the movie is Justin Long who you may remember as Warren Cheswick on the now cancelled TV show, ED and more recently on the new Macintosh commercials. He plays an art gallery assistant in the movie. Unfortunately, Justin Long and the hilarious dinner scene just can't make up for the second half of the movie where the laughter just seems to go away and romance drivel takes the upper hand? Where did the laughter go who's to say? I do know this, that you might want to save The Break Up for a Friday night movie rental instead of a Saturday night movie date, but that's just my opinion.

See This Movie

So I just watched See This Movie last night and I have to tell you, you must really See This Movie. You might be asking what's the name of this movie I must see and I'll tell you See This Movie. See This Movie stars Seth Meyers(SNL) & John Cho(from Harold and Kumar). Seth Meyers plays Jake Barrymore, a talentless film director and John Cho plays Larry Finkelstein, his side kick film producer.

The basic concept of the story is that Jake and Larry manage to get their movie(which they haven't even made yet) into a film festival. Hilarity ensues as the make a mad dash to try to finish their film in time for their premier all the while fooling everybody that they already have the film done. The film that they end up making is drockumentary about Jake making a film about him making a film. Yes confusing no. If your a film lover, or work in the film or photography industry you'll love all the little inside jokes and the basic making fun of the Hollywood industry. Two of the best and funniest scenes in the movie are when Jake manages to get Wim Wenders to film a scene with him in his movie and when Jake & Larry are on a film discussion panel.

Well enough of me talking just go See this Movie now!

You can find out more about See This Movie here: See This Movie

You can also watch more clips on iFilm

There's a Peeping Tom in all of us.

You may remember Mike Patton as the singer of Faith No More or maybe Mr. Bungle. If you've been wondering where he's been, well he's never left. He's been putting out some of the best music around since he's left Faith No More. He's no one band man or a one man band for that matter. He's been the voice of Fantomas, Tomahawk and numerous other side projects. He's collaborated with the likes of Bjork, John Zorn and Sepultura.

One of my favorite side projects of his was the 2001 album Lovage which featured Dan the Automater and Jennifer Charles. Well I think that just might be surplanted as my favorite Mike Patton side project(lets hope this is just more than a side project though). Mike Pattons new album is called Peeping Tom, which I believe is his take on the 1960 film of the same name. I've never seen the film so I have nothing to say about it. I have heard the album though and it is as in Mike Patton's words what radio should sound like. The album features song collaborations between such artists as Bebel Gilberto, Kool Keith, Massive Attack, Norah Jones and of course Pattons long time collaborator Dan The Automator.

Some of the stand out songs on the album are Mojo (Featuring Rahzel and Dan The Automator), Celebrity Death Match (Featuring Kid Koala) and Kill The DJ (Featuring Massive Attack). My favorite song on the album has to be Sucker (Featuring Norah Jones). On the song you hear a side of Norah Jones you'd never expect when she sexily sings the words "What do you think your my only lover, Motherfvcker". That song alone is worth getting the whole album.

So if your looking for some new music to listen to this summer, give Peeping Tom a listen, it just might satisfy the voyeur in you.

More Ordinary Adventures of Tomas

So that was another one of Tomas's Ordinary Adventures. I hope you liked it.

Turn you loose change into music

Are you ever at a lost for what to do with that pocket full of loose change in your pocket? Do you have a jar of change sitting on top of your dresser drawer just collecting dust? Well, I just found out that you can turn that loose change into credit at iTunes music store and at other locations such as Starbucks or Amazon.com. You may be scratching your head saying to
yourself where can I do this? Well at Coinstar machines of course. You know those rectangular green machines that you often find in grocery stores. All you do is drop in your pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters into the machine and you receive full credit for your change onto a gift card of your choice.

There is no service fee for doing this! Let me repeat that. There is no service fee for doing this!

So what are you waiting for gather up your loose change and run to your nearest Coinstar machine* and drop it in!

To find out more about Coinstar and the other gift cards it offers please click here


*Not all Coinstar machines offer this deal, so be sure to use the advance machine locator to find a Coinstar machine that offers this option.

Also play the Coinstar game for a chance to win $50,000!

The Japanese Invasion

We're always looking for that next great rock band that will supposedly save rock n roll well if the Japanese band named BORIS is any inclination of what Japan has to offer, than the next great rock bands of the future just might be coming from Japan.

I discovered(well in the sense of how Columbus discovered America) BORIS, over the weekend. They are a Japanese experimental noise metal stoner punk band with influences of Motorhead, Melvins, Black Sabbath and a bit of John Cage thrown in for good measure. You should really check them out. Their first US release called BORIS:PINK hit US record stores in March anything they've recorded before that will be a bit hard to find in the US.

BORIS will be playing a show at NYC's Avalon tonight, Tues, May 30th. So if your in NYC tonight and have nothing to do or would like something better to do go check them out! Unfortunately I can't make it to see them so if you do go check them out please feel free to rub it in my nose and let me know how the show was.

Here's their website:BORIS and here's their record label's website Southern Lord Records

Something to whet your appetite: Korosu.mp3

The Squid & The Whale

Yes its that time again for a movie review from yours truly. Well the other night my GF and I sat down to watch The Squid and The Whale by Noah Baumbach. A movie based on true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother. The movie takes place in NYC and is about the story of two brothers and how the divorce of their parents affects them. I found this movie saddenly(did I just make this word up?) funny. Its interesting to see how the 2 brothers cope(often in bizarre ways) with the divorce of their parents. I might as well stop here because I can't really offer any more insight on the movie since I'm not a product of divorced parents. Here's the official site for the movie, which is pretty cool you should really check it out.

Oh also one more thing about the movie, its only 88min long or short however you view it( I guess that depends if your a glass is half empty or half full person). I love movies that are are 90min or shorter, that way you don't have to devout to much of your time to it, in case the movie sucks. Why can't they make more quality movies that are 90min or below? I'm so tired of these 2plus bloated hour movies, in this day and age I just don't have that much time to devout to movie watching.

Ok that last sentence might not be true but I still prefer a nice short and compact good movie over a overblown half hour too long movie.

The ordinary adventures of Tomas

Just a little something I did today. Tomas is an imaginary friend who doesn't have any friends and this is just one of his many ordinary adventures.

Rocket Boom Boom

So I just recently discovered Rocketboom, in the sense of how Columbus discovered America. If you have yet to discover Rocketboom, you must do so now! Rocketboom is a daily 3 minute newscast video blog featuring Amanda Congdon. It's a cross between The Daily Show, SNL news skits and CNN. It's funny and informative and if you don't really care for the broadcasts itself, you can always admire the beautiful wit of Amanda Congdon and her array of famously tight t-shirts.(Amanda,, if by some small slim chance you read this I'm sorry but it had to be mentioned)

Anyway, watching Rocketboom has inspired me to produce my own video newscast. I'm still working out some bugs in the production but here's my first broadcast. Tell me what you think*.



If the video doesn't show up you can just click on the link below.

No News Nightly

2 reviews for the price of 1

So for the first review up we have Shopgirl starring Steve Martin, Claire Danes and Jason Schwartzman. Let me just first say that I frankly didn't see what Claire Danes' character(Mirabelle Buttersfield ) found attractive about Steve Martin's character(Ray Porter). In fact I thought Ray came across slightly creepy especially when they first meet in the movie. Jason Schwartzman(Jeremy) plays Mirabelle's other, I guess you would call love interest. I wished they had put Jason Schwartzman in more scenes in the movie. He is the one highlight in the whole movie. Whatever scene he's in, he completely steals it. I loved the part where he pretends to have an electronic car beep as he locks the door. Its very subtle, and you might miss it, but after he did it, I just looked at my girlfriend and said did he just do a pretend car locking beep sound.

So in short, if you plan on renting this movie my recommendation would to be to just fast forward thru all the scenes that don't have Jason Schwartzman in it, or have Claire Danes butt in it either.

My next review is of the Chinese language film 2046, by Hong Kong-based filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai. Now don't let the fact that you don't speak Chinese keep you from seeing this movie. The movie follows a struggling writer, in the late 60's through life as he experiences the acts of finding, losing and enjoying love. I'm really not going to go any further in trying to explain this film, I would only confuse you and me, since I'm easily confused. The movie, kind of starts to seep into you and gets your mind rolling. Let me just say this, this is one of those films that you will end up thinking about days after you watch it.
So go get your reading glasses and watch 2046


....and remember I write the reviews so you don't have too.

Driving lessons

So since I live in large metropolitan area(that didn't mean to sound as pretentious as it does). I own no car and basically get around using public transportation. So the times I do drive a car are few and far between. Yes driving a car is much like riding a bike, you kind of never forget how to do it. With that said, I still feel like I need to brush up on my driving skills from time to time so, I found this great simple little game that will keep my driving abilities in check.

Oh and did I mention its a great little time waster too!




If you want to bookmark this great micro time waster here's the link:
Driving game

Silent Dud

Today was a first for me, believe it or not I walked out on a movie. I've never done that before and I've sat through some horrible movies.

What movie did I walk out on you ask. Well it was the Horror film Silent Hill that was adapted from the video game of the same name. I'm not even going to go thru the plot summary or the acting it doesn't even deserve that. The whole time I was sitting in the darkened theatre I was thinking to myself I have better things to do with my time than sit through this. So I got up and left.

Now I'm not telling you to not go see this film, I'm just warning you that it might be a waste of your money. If you really want to see this film wait till it comes out on video and save your selves a few bucks. I have a feeling you won't have to wait that long. The one redeeming factor of the movie is that Radha Mitchell is nice to look at(yes I'm a typical man).

Just so you know I didn't pay to go see this film. I used my free movie ticket that I won from Blingo! If you haven't heard about Blingo yet, I'll give you a quick run down. Its a search site that uses Google search results. You do your searching like normal but in the process you can win things. You should try it out.

A Hostage's Plea

*DISCLAIMER*The makers of this video(i.e. the kidnappers) apologize for the poor quality of this hostage plea video. We are currently working on a shoestring budget and with unskilled hostages. Hopefully with the influx of finances we will be able to make better hostage videos.

In order for you to provide the ransom we have partnered with Paypal.*

*DISCLAIMER*Paypal in no way supports or endorses the methods of The People's Opposition Organization nor do they believe kidnapping to be a viable means to support oneself.

A blogger kidnapped!

*DISCLAIMER*The makers of this video(i.e. the kidnappers) apologize for the poor quality of this ransom video. We are currently working on a shoestring budget. Hopefully with the influx of finances we will be able to make better ransom videos.

In order for you to provide the ransom we have partnered with Paypal.*

*DISCLAIMER*Paypal in no way supports or endorses the methods of The People's Opposition Organization.

A suggestion.

Look both ways when crossing a one-way street.

What are you doing?

Hey you, yeah you I don't see anyone else starring at the computer screen.
What are you doing inside on such a wonderful day?
Stop wasting you time here and go outside.
Get some fresh air and warm yourself in the sunshine.*
Go run around the block.
Walk barefoot through the grass.
Climb a tree.
What ever you do just step away from the computer and go outside!

What?
What did you say, its raining out? Oh ok than feel free to waste your time here.





*Make sure you put on your sunscreen!

One thing leads to another

One never know were you'll end up will surfing the web(do people still say surfing the web?)

I clicked on one of the newest additions of the blogs of note, more specifically Pouring Down. This was such a great discovery. The video blogs contained on this site are simply and beautifully amazing, this vlogger is a real artist. If you have not yet checked out this blog I urge you, no I implore you to check it out. The videos are so creative and inspiring, theres no tellling what effect they'll have on you.

This leads me to my title, One thing leads to another. While checking out one of the videos on the site, I noticed that there was a credit for one of the musicians music the vlogger had used. On a side note the vlogger generally made and supplied his own music to accompany his videos. Back to the musicians link. So, since I really liked the music in the video I clicked on the link, as most people I would hope would do. Well that link brought me to The Kane Brothers and their heavy, fuzzed out, hipster indie kung-fu music. Jackpot! Paydirt! Gold!

So if you haven't heard of these artists yet , go now and check them out!

You heard me I said go now!

Dave Navarro

So while wasting away some time on the internet yesterday I came across Dave Navarro's website/blog. If you don't know who Dave Navarro is he was the guitarist for Jane's Addiction and did a stint for The Red Hot Chilli Peppers. He is also in a new band with Jane's Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins, called The Panic Channel.

I downloaded a few songs by The Panic Channel and I'm listening to them right now. I'm a bit undecided on whether I like them or not. If anyone else has any opinions about them feel free to comment. They're also playing a show in NYC at Avalon on Thursday May 25. I guess what it really comes down to, is that I still yearn for the Jane's Addiction of my youth, circa Nothing Shocking.

Anyway I'm getting off topic here, back to Dave's website which is www.6767.com. Does anyone know why its 6767 or what it means? Regardless of what the 6767 stands for, you should definitely check out his site. He also has an internet radio show called Spread Radio, which is very good, I added it to my iTunes. He plays a great mixture of music and live interviews, on the show.

Also another site to check out in regards to Dave Navarro is Dave Navarro is god or just DNIG for short. Is it me or should that guy get a life. Not Dave but the guy who made the DNIG website? I guess maybe I shouldn't talk.

Well I gotta go and do more important stuff like see a man about a horse.

Until next time and remember your not really wasting time until you've read my blog!

The last in the trilogy of free MP3's

Ok so this is the last of my hints at where and how to get some free downloadable MP3's. This last place is called eMusic(you can see their little ad in my side bar.) This place for MP3 entices you to join them by giving you 50 free MP3's. I just recently used them to get Dangerdoom, Ladytron and Mike Doughty.

So give eMusic a quick try and get 50 free MP3s!


*DISCLAIMER* as with anything make sure to read the fine print

Another great MP3 site

So I told you all about that great little Dashboard Widget, MP3 Search in yesterdays blog. Well I have another great MP3 looker upper for you. Is looker upper even a word? Anyway back to the main subject, The Dashboard Widget obviously only works for Macs so while using that Widget I found this site(good on both Macs & PCs) that has a whole slew MP3's that you can download. (I just used the word slew in a sentence, my English teacher would be proud)

What is the sites address you ask!

Well here it is: It is Music

MP3 search widget.

So this is really only relevant to people who are rocking OS X 10.4 Tiger on Mac. Sorry to all you others and I'm especially sorry to all you PC Window users well I'm sorry that you have such a lame OS. Ok I'm diverging a bit let me get back on track.

Well all you Tiger users know about the Dashboard and all those little yet useful
apps more commonly called Widgets which can be found on the
Apple Dashboard Widget page.

Well I've come across a great widget called MP3 search. What this widget does is, as the name implies, searches out MP3's that you can legally download for free! (I think the reason that most of them are free is because they are hosted on foreign sites so as to circumvent US copyright laws, but don't quote me on that). Just put in the artist name and hit enter and up comes a google page with a bunch of links to MP3s, its easy as that!

Now if your like me, who already has a large music collection you will already have most of the stuff you find. The one good thing for this is if your interested in a new artist or an established artist who has a new album(yes I still call them albums) out you can download a song or two, to see if you like it before you purchase it and waste your money on a crap album.

My one criticism of this widget is that the majority of the links that it gives you through its search don't work! But if you have some time to waste this is one widget that is worth checking out.

*DISCLAIMER* I in no way condone illegal file sharing.


Support the arts and the artist who make it!

The proof is in the certificate

Do you have an invisible friend?

Do people laugh at you when you introduce your invisible friend to your other friends?

Do people look at you strange when you carry on a conversation with your invisible friend?

Does your Doctor still make you take that medication because you claim that your invisible friend is real?

Well than look no further for a solution to these common problems when dealing with invisible friends.

Invisies is the site for you! Find out once and for all if your invisible friend is real or not! Once Invisies determines if your invisible friend is real than you will receive a certificate that will shut up all the skeptics once and for all!

Don't hesitate, find out now if your invisible friend is real, you have nothing to lose except some time!

Saving the world, one faux-hawk at a time.

So it might seem ironic for one who only wears t-shirts & jeans and cuts his own hair to give fashion advice but sometimes one has to do crazy and outlandish things.

The fashion trend that I just want to see abolished is the faux-hawk, especially on business men, C'mon your not fooling anyone. I just find it totally absurd, the way I see it is if your going to have a mohawk, have the balls to get a real one!

The next fashion trend that must stop is as the kids call it are popped collars. C'mon you know what I'm talking about you see these guys and girls wearing their polo/lacoste shirts with the collar popped up. This must stop it looks ridiculous, and girls if your boyfriends do this please tell them to stop.

This public service announcement was brought to you by me

On to another completely different subject but just as important.
I recommend that you waste some time with this, it will be time wasted but well spent!
Save Darfur!

Wishful Stinking

What's a little nepotism between friends right.

So with that said I want to turn you on to the comics of Brian Smith and more specifically his comic Wishful Stinking. To make a long story short, the comic is about a kid who accidentally swallows a genie and the only way the genie can come out is when the boy farts. Yes you heard me right FARTS! IF that doesn't entice you to check out the comic than I don't know what will. Also check out his comic strip The Basics, I don't always get this one but there is just something about it that makes me scratch me head and chuckle.

Brain Smith Illustrations

Movie Review Time

So its movie review time and the little movie that I will be reviewing is Ellie Parker



*DISCLAIMER*This is my first movie review. I am not a professional movie reviewer although I did at one point in my life work at Blockbuster.

So my GF and I sat down last night to watch a movie. We both didn't feel like watching a 2+hour movie(which seems to be the norm) so that's one of the reasons I rented Ellie Parker, which clocks in at 96min, and also because Naomi Watts was in it and I think she's fairly hot(but please don't tell my GF I said that, ok)

OK on to the movie review. I found this dark comedy refreshing and funny. Naomi Watts performance was captivating. She should really do more comedies. The plot was also interesting, with its insider view of a Hollywood we never see. Naomi Watts is a struggling brilliant actress in Hollywood who just can't seem to get a job. You follow her around through out the movie seeing what she goes through in her everyday crazy life and her dream to be an actress. You also get to see how many things she is able to do in a car and its quite a lot. The film uses a documentary reality approach, much like the TV show The Office(BBC or American version take your pick).

Now to my complaint of the movie. As I said above the movie employs a documentary reality approach to filming, much like the TV show The Office. Although its not as slickly done as The Office. Although the plot and the acting are great the one downfall is the filming. It had the feel of a student experimental film crossed with the home movies of your crazy aunt who still smokes pot and occasionally chases xanax with coronas.

Here's a link to the trailer and maybe you can decide for yourself if the handling of filming will stop you from seeing Ellie Parker, but as with most trailers its doesn't really show off the movies shortcomings.

So just go rent it ok, hell its only 96 min out of your life.

Mark it on your calendar

So I just wanted to let everybody in on a few dates that you should mark on your calendar.

The first date is April 25th.
What happens on April 25th you ask? Well its Ben & Jerry's Free Cone day. Yes that's not a typo. On April 25th Ben& Jerry's will be giving out free cones of ice cream. I did this last year and actually went a few times but I of course changed outfits so as not to be recognized.

The next date is May 6th.
May 6th is Free Comic book Day. Participating comic book stores will be giving away select comics. Just don't expect to get Amazing Fantasy #15

The next date is April 22nd which is actually tomorrow!
April 22nd is Earth Day. So go out plant a tree and give it a hug!

To find out more about these days visit these websites:
Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day!
Free Comic Book Day!
Earth Day!

Graffiti for the Timid

So I found this cool website today, that lets you generate graffiti on a wall(see my example above), error messages, Las Vegas signs and a few other things.

This is a great website to waste some time at. Why don't you give it a try.

Sign generator

Unfulfilled Ambitions

As you can see from my last two posts, I harbor an unfulfilled desire to be a stand-up comic. Unfortunately that will never happen since I have bad knees.

Don't Let Junk Mail Get You Down.

I don't know about you but, my mail box is constantly filled with junk mail consisting from pre-approved credit card offers to vote for me literature from politicians. Well just don't throw that junk mail away! Mail it back to the people that send it to you.
You can either just write Return To Sender on the front of the envelope and put it in a mail box or you can mail those business reply envelops back to them(which they've already nicely paid postage for). The latter option is my favorite. I usually fill those postage paid business reply letters with the stuff they sent me, shredded up of course, right back to them. You can mail anything you'd like back to them actually within the business reply letters. Fill it with the obituaries, the personal section from your local weekly or maybe some pages ripped out of your least favorite porn magazine. Just remember don't put your return address or your name on any of the material you mail back to them.

You should try it sometimes, it can be really satisfying.

Mail On!

Grups

Grups.
noun
A 30 sometimes 40 year old who still dresses like they are in their 20's. Also known as a yupster, yindie or alterna-yuppie.

ORIGIN: taken from an episode of Star Trek in which Captain Kirk and crew, land on a planet populated by children, with no adults in sight. The kids call Kirk and the crew “grups,” which is a contraction of “grown-ups.” It turns out that all the grown-ups had died from a virus that greatly slows the aging process and kills anybody who grows up.

To learn more about this new emerging subculture click here. You just might be a GRUP!

Here a grup, there a grup, every where a grup grup!

Breaking News!

The Village Voice, America's largest free weekly newspaper, has made it to the shores of Hoboken, NJ. Yes you might say that you could always get it in Hoboken, but you had to buy it, unlike in the 5 boroughs where its free. Well on my walk today, I saw the Village Voice's little red newspaper dispensing boxes around town, located mostly near the Path station. This is great news for when I don't get to pick it up in NYC. I mostly get it for its music ,gallery listing and for Dan Savages answer column(which makes great lunch time reading) but I do enjoy the occasional article within the Voice. You'll find stories that just aren't written about in your more mainstream rags. With the Voice being offered free in Hoboken, is this a sign that were being annexed by NYC, probably not its most likely because of all the New Yorkers that commute into Hoboken to Work at Wiley Publishing.

If your not familiar with the Village Voice, check them out online.

The Raconteurs show.

So this past Friday my GF and I went to go see The Raconteurs over at Irving Plaza in NYC. I managed to get some of their music about a week before the show and give it a listen so I would be familiar with their music. Like probably most of the people there, my GF and I went because Jack White was in the band. Yeah the music is not bad but who wouldn't want to see Jack White play music in a small venue.(no I don't have a shrine of Jack White in my bedroom closet) Well let me just say, after the 3rd song I began to forget that it was Jack White and some other guys playing music. It was The Raconteurs, and they were pretty damn good. The show was above and beyond my expectations. Although if you do go see them make sure you wear ear plugs, I think my ears are still ringing.

Let me not forget the opening band, The Muldoons. Although I only caught a couple songs, since my GF and I decided to have a few beers over at Pete's Tavern and than had to use the bathroom before we claimed our spot on the concert floor. What I did catch of them, amazed me. The band consists of two brothers, 8 & 11 years old and their father on drums. They are a pint sized punk band. Not your proto, pop MTV boy band punk but your old school punk. They site their influences as Iggy Pop, The Ramones and MC5. Did I mention that they are 8 & 11 years old! Despite their age though, they would give any band a run for their money. I've tried searching for some songs of theirs on the internet but I have yet to find something. I keep getting hits on this other band called the Muldoons that were around in the late 60's or early 70's. (someone correct me if I'm wrong) If anyone has any links, of the tiny punk rockers The Muldoons music please email me.

If you weren't able to see the show or are just curious to check out The Raconteurs. The band will appear on Late Night with Conan O’Brien on May 19th.

The Raconteurs

So Friday night I'm going to see The Raconteurs(please don't ask me to pronounce that) at Irving Plaza in NYC. This is Jack White's side project. You know Jack White from the White Stripes. I've downloaded a few songs and they sound alright. I also downloaded a live concert. The songs that sounded more like White Stripe songs are the ones that sounded the best, but that's just my opinion. Check them out and find out on your own. I'll also update you on how the concert was.

rac•on•teur |,rak,ån'ter; -en-|
noun
a person who tells anecdotes in a skillfull and amusing way.

ORIGIN: early 19centuryrey France, from
ranconter 'relate, recount.'


Here a few links for you to checkout some of their songs:
2 songs
Raconteurs live in Glasgow
more songs

You should also check out their official website. It has a very cool retro command line computer interface.
The Raconteurs

The art and life of David Choe

So at 33 years of age, I often look back and think of things that I wish I'd gotten into growing up, one of them being graffiti art. Maybe its the combination of outlaw and artist that's so appealing to me. Some may say it's not to late to become a graffiti artist but I guess I would say to that. Is that I've lost that reckless abandonment that one would need to be a successful graffiti artist. The video below is of a graffiti artist named David Choe. Watching this video makes me want to recapture that reckless abandonment of my youth, but before I do that I better start practicing my stick figures.

So if you have 10min or so to waste some time, I suggest hitting play on the video and sit back and enjoy the show.



If you want to find out more about David Choe or see more videos you can always check out his website:

David Choe