CMJ Music Marathon NYC

Last week was the CMJ music marathon here in NYC. My girlfriend and I were lucky enough to score some free passes to it, since one of our friends is the marketing director for the event. The CMJ music marathon was 5 days of, yep you guessed it music. It's similar to the South by Southwest music event in Austin, Texas and the North by Northeast event in Toronto. Essentially the vast majority of music acts that are featured in the festival are unsigned bands trying to get signed to a record label or it's a band that's already signed but is just trying to get more recognition. Peppered throughout these unknown or barely known bands are a few bigger named bands that also play during the event.
Now if going to see live music isn't really your thing, which if that's the case I'm sorry to hear that since it's one of the few things that keeps me young at heart. There are other things to do and experience during the week long event. The most notable of these is movie premieres/screenings with a Q & A session afterwards with the director.
So, hopefully in the next week or so I'll find the time to post some of my reviews and recounts of some of the things I heard, the things I saw and the things I did. So please stay tuned.
One more thing, if your wondering what CMJ stands for, your not alone. I was in the dark about it too, so I came up with some of my own ideas that ranged from the very catchy Christian Music Jamboree to the plainly obvious College Music Jam. Finally I had to ask my friend who had gotten me the passes what CMJ exactly stands for. As it turns out it stands for College Music Journal. Well if you ask me that just doesn't have the same ring as Christian Music Jamboree but what do I know I'm not a marketing director.
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The Ordinary Adventures of Tomas

There's a new The Ordinary Adventures of Tomas out now. Go check it out, it's not like you have anything better to do.

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Sarah Jessica Parker Sex in the City

The other day, when I was walking to work I noticed that they were filming the new Sex in the City movie on my work block. Well it wasn't too hard to notice because they had the whole road closed off on the south side of Bryant Park. There were also throngs of people jamming up the sidewalk because everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of Sarah Jessica Parker or SJP for short. Below you will see a very blurry photo of her. It was taken moments before a rather large movie security officer blotted out the sun and told me to leave the premises immediately. I also "accidentally " positioned myself in the backround for a few of the scenes so hopefully I'll make the cut and not be on the editing room floor.
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Mitt Romney on Medical Marijuana

It's political season here in the good ole US of A and with the primaries up and running there's bound to be a bunch of good stuff that I can not only waste my time with but waste your time with too. The following clip is of Massachusetts Republican Mitt Romney being asked a question regarding Medical Marijuana from a guy in a wheelchair suffering from MS. He asks Mitt if he would have him and his doctors arrested for using medical marijuana. Essentially Mitt sidesteps the question with some vague political speak and turns his back on the guy to greet other people with his fake plastic smile. What a douche bag. You know I would almost have more respect(if that's possible) for Mitt and other politicians if they were just more up front with their views. If they said what they really felt instead of using political speak and general round about answers to questions. Yet in this day and time in our country you can't do that and still get elected.

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Radiohead: In Rainbows

Radiohead is releasing their new album, In Rainbows today(Oct. 10th). This is their first studio album in 4 years, since Hail to the Thief. You might be saying big deal so Radiohead has released a new album. Well you see the big deal is that Radiohead no longer has a record contract with EMI, that ended with Hail to the Thief, fulfilling their contractual obligation of 6 albums. So with no record deal they decided to offer their newest album straight to their fans with out having to deal with a middle man(i.e record stores) as a digital download.

Ok, Ok you may still be saying big f'ing deal, well Radiohead is allowing you the fan to determine how much you want to pay for the new album yourself. Yeah you read that right, YOU set the price! So if you want to pay a penny for it you can! Although you'd be a bit of a cheapskate if you did that. You could also conceivably not pay anything for it and set your price as nothing and I'm sure alot of people will be doing that, hell it even crossed my mind. Yet I determined that Radiohead is a good enough band(understatement of the year) for me to shell out some of my hard earned cash. So I went to their site typed in a price I deemed appropriate, payed it and 3 minutes after downloading the DRM free album, I'm listening to it. It couldn't of been any easier.

Could this be the way of the future for bands to sell their music, just totally bypassing record companies all together? Or is this really something thats only feasibly for more established bands who already have a built in fan base? I guess only time will tell.

Official Radiohead site: Dead AIr space
If you haven't already clicked the In Rainbows link above than click here to purchase it.
For more Radiohead goodness check out this blog

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Other Uses for Condoms

So in a post I did last week, I talked about how one of my professors said that a condom can be used to waterproof a microphone, when are recording around water. To my surprise non-lubricated can be used to waterproof a variety of things. Nayy seals use them to waterproof firing assemblies. Here's a guy who shows you how to water proof your digital camera. The same technique can be used for other electronic devices. Here are 20 more uses for condoms other than sex and for waterproofing electronic devices.

Related Posts: The Sound of Pee
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Bush Vs. Zombies

Related Posts: Resident Evil: Extinction
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Resident Evil: Extinction(2007, Russell Mulcahy)

If your in the mood for a popcorn movie, with some scares, alot of great action, some good special effects and a whole lot of ass kicking done by Milla Jovovich then go see this movie. If not then don't go, hows that for a movie review. This movie is what it is and it doesn't try to masquerade as something it's not. I was going to talk about the plot and premise of this movie but it doesn't really matter and is really just secondary, the plot is just a means to fuel all the action/fight sequences.

This is the third installment of the Resident Evil movie franchise and I fully expect at least another one in the future due to the very very open ended ending that was in the movie and plus the fact that these movies make a butt load of money. I won't give away any spoilers but your left hanging on a couple plot points and they basically set up the next movie with the end of this one. In fact they just should of put to be continued at the end of the movie.

So to make a short review even short if you want to see Milla Jovovich kick some zombie ass then go see this movie. Ali Larter of Heroes fame also stars in this movie and gets in on the ass kicking too.

Resident Evil: Extinction @ imdb
Resident Evil: Extinction official site

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The Sound of Pee

So I don't normally blog about my personal experiences here or anywhere for that matter but this is just too funny and weird not to blog about. I'm currently in graduate school studying visual effects for film/animation and one of the classes I'm taking is digital audio for film. In the class, we're learning how to create foleys and sound effects and then editing them into a movie. This past monday, our teacher showed us a short 2 minute movie that had absolutely no sound to it, we would be creating and adding all the sound to it. This is were the story/class gets interesting or maybe I should say a bit weird.

The movie consisted of our teacher walking into a men's room, going up to a urinal, peeing, washing and drying his hands and than walking out. Now granted we thankfully didn't actually see him do any actually peeing, this men's room has the great dividers in-between the urinals. Yet we could still make out the moment he unzips his pants, whips it out, pees, does a little sigh, shakes it off and puts it back in and zips up.

We can't actually record someone peeing into a urinal because as the teacher said that would probably get him fired. So we than proceeded to have an in-depth 20 minute discussion about all the sounds we need to recreate from the moment the zipper zips down until it zip backs up and and how to recreate them. We then proceeded to the nearest men's room to start recording. We only go so far as to record the sound of the men's room door opening. Next week will be the big week were we will be spending essentially the whole class in a men's room recording sounds for this oscar worthy short film.

Since we will be using microphones around water, our teacher asked us if we had any ideas how to keep our microphones waterproof. He seemed kind of annoyed that no one knew the answer to this because he thought it was so obvious. He than went into his backpack, pulled out a condom(unlubricated) and held it up high over his head.

So not only will we be spending class time in a men's room but we will be using condom wrapped microphones to do our recording. Yep higher education at it's finest.

Writing out this blog post got me thinking about the old philosophical question, if a tree falls in the woods and no ones there to hear it dose it make a sound? I guess this could be applied here also. If a man pees in a urinal and no ones there to hear it does it make a sound?
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Onlinecinema.org

Just a quick little post. I stumbled upon this great movie website called OnlineCinema. As they say it themselves, you can watch all the latest full length movies online for free.

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Related Posts: Procrastination Tool

InterpolNo I In Threesome

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Fun Facts: Elbow & Tongue

So keeping with the tongue theme of my previous blog I figured I'd share a fun fact with you.

It's impossible to lick your elbow
After reading this statement 9 out of 10 people will attempt to lick their elbow.

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Michelle and Her Cool Tongue

Ummm....Not exactly sure what to say about this but here it is anyway.

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The Darwin Awards(2006, Finn Taylor)

I watched this movie last week and I don't really have much to say about it, not because it wasn't good but just because I don't. The movie stars Joseph Fiennes and Winona Ryder as the two lead characters of this dark comedy. Wilmer Valderrama is also in the movie and in my opinion steals the movie and does some of the best acting in it. There's also a host of other stars that make short guest appearances. Well that's all I have to say about it. If that's not good enough for you here's what my girlfriend had to say about the movie when we were done watching it.

"Well that was cute and entertaining"
If that doesn't get you to go out and rent the movie I don't know what will.

The Darwin Awards Official Movie Site
The Real Darwin Awards Site that the movie was based on.

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Personality and Trivia Quiz Site

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Just about all of us at one time or another have taken one of those internet quizzes to waste some time, that tell us what type of personality we have or how smart we are. Over at Quiz Rocket they have 18 trivia quizzes and funny personality tests. Each we they had new quizzes. After your done taking the quizzes you can get a badge that can be posted on your blog or MySpace page. So what are you waiting for go take a fun personality quiz today.

Bat For LashesWhats a Girl To Do

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DMV Driver's License Prank

The title says it all. These guys dress up in ridiculous outfits and amazingly the DMZ let them get their driver's license pictures taken in the outfits.

That video is just a small sample of the outrageous getups they were able to get their driver's license picture taken in. Go check out more of their DMZ pranks

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The Ordinary Adventures of Tomas

There's a new The Ordinary Adventures of Tomas out now. Go check it out, it's not like you have anything better to do.

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A&P sues 2 kids for $1 million dollars, over YouTube video!

Yes, you did read that right! I found out about this story over at Annie Atomic v2. A&P grocery store is sueing two former employees/college kids for $1 million dollars in damages due to a video they posted on YouTube. The video is a gangsta rap spoof incorporating vegetables as props and subject matter, since the duo, who go by the name of Fresh Beets, worked in the produce dept of the grocery store. The duo filmed the 4:15 minute video at their place of employment yet during hours when they weren't on the clock. After about a week of the video being on YouTube there was one complaint lodged to the corporate headquaters of A&P. The duo was suspended from their job and then a week after that were formally fired. Which in my opinion is a justified response by management due to the fact that it was filmed at their place of work, now whether if I would of fired them or just given them a stern warning and the silent treatment had I been their boss is debatable.

One would think that them getting fired would be enough of a punishment. Yet in someone's infinite wisdom over at A&P corporate headquaters, they have decided to file a $1 million dollar lawsuit against the recently fired rappin duo. Can someone explain to me why would a large corporation file such a claim against two college kids who have just been fired from their $10 an hour job(if that)? Do they plan on setting up a payment plan if they win the case? You would think that there would be someone smart enough at A&P to realize that if they just simply fired the two boys, ignored the video and left it at that that that would be the end of it. Yet by filing this lawsuit they are just giving the video more exposure and giving themselves some very bad press. What do they believe they will gain from this besides making themselves look like a big bad corporate entity?

Well the two upstart rappin filmmakers have a website/blog where they keep everyone updated on the goings on in regards to the video and lawsuit. There is also a link on the site where you can send comlaints to A&P. So far over 600 people have sent in complaints from the site, to A&P in regards to the outlandish lawsuit.

Here are links to their website: fakelaugh.com, myspace page and last but not least my I present the actual video that has caused such a response.

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Procrastination Tool

The internet is probably one of my biggest time wasters. Watching movies is one of my favorite pastimes along with a few other things that I won't mention here. So what do you get when you combine the internet and movie watching. Well in my case not a whole hell of a lot done. That's why I'm not happy that I found this website: Vid-Stream. This website has a bunch of full length feature movies to watch, free! Yeah you heard it right free. The only down side is that you have to watch them on your computer at a small size, but who cares they're free. Essentially I wouldn't watch everything from this site, there are movies that just call for watching int he theatre on a big screen. Basically what this site is good for is watching those movies that you didn't get to see in the theatre and you don't feel like spending your $4-5 dollars at the video store renting them. So if a movie falls into that catagory for you go see if it's on Vid-Stream.

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Homepage Startup

So I stumbled upon this great little website the other day and immediately I knew that I had to share it with all 3 of the people who check out my blog regularly. Yes I'm included in that number so I guess it's really all 2 of the people who check out my blog regularly. Anyway, this website isn't really a time waster it's a time saver. Yep for once I'm going to show you how to save time not waste it.

When we first open up a web browser at home it generally automatically opens up to our home page or another website we prefer, that we have set in our web browsers preferences. Than from there we start our surfing to other sites we like. Those other sites that we frequent, we have usually saved as bookmarks so we don't have to type in the address all the time, all we have to do is click our bookmarks and we are taken there. What if I told you that there is a website that will show up to 12 of your favorite sites and than from there it's just a simple click away to each one. That website is called Homepage Startup. So essentially the concept of this website is that you enter up to 12 of your favorite websites and than you set Homepage Startup as yup you guessed it, as your homepage. There you have it my my tip of the day. Enjoy.

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Excuse me, but my eyes are up here!

Alot of times guys get alot of flack for starring at a woman's breasts. In our defense, sometimes we just can't help it, especially if the woman in question is wearing a low cut revealing top. Now, what would happen if the roles were reversed? If the outline/bulge of a guy's penis was clearly visible through his pants? Would a woman have a hard time(no pun intended) not starring at it. Well the video below seems to answer that question.

glumbert.com - Does size matter?

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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005, Jonathan Safran Foer)

So I read this book a couple weeks ago and I'm still thinking about it. This is the second novel by the gifted writer Jonathan Safran Foer. His first book, Everything is Illuminated was all right. I myself enjoyed the movie better than the book which is for the most part rarely the case,mostly because they left out the long, boring and tedious passages of the book. In this new novel, it seems he just got everything right. Set against the back drop of NYC a year after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. In the book, you will find the main character and narrator, a naive and much too smart for his own good 9 year old boy named Oskar traveling around the city. Oskar's father died in the collapse of the World Trade Center and now he is on a mission to find out the mystery of a key he found hidden away in his fathers cloth's closet. The key was in an envelop with the name Black scrawled on it. So Oskar than decides to meet every person in the 5 boroughs with the last name Black to see if they know anything about this key and their possible connection with his dead father.

One might think, and rightfully so that a book about a 9 year old boy who lost his father in the 9/11 attacks would be a horribly sad and depressing read. Though at times it is, since really there is no way of escaping that fact. Mr. Foer balances that out with some extremely funny situations peppered throughout the book that will leave you laughing out loud.

If your looking for a good read, I highly recommend Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
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