Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Is that what you wanted, Alfred? 



i Fi
from Apple

iFi

Could be cool. I'd like to hear it.

Although, am I the only person on the planet that thinks that music sounds better coming out of a wooden speaker cabinet?

Any time I hear these iPod docks or even the speakers that come with a lot of bookshelf systems, all I hear is the plastic of the cabinet shell. Too bright, too sharp, no resonance.

As the mother of my unborn child can attest, I'm liable to get into a car accident if I see some sweet old wood-cabinet speakers sitting by the side of the road. I'll swoop in like a vulture and pick those bad boys up.

Ohm!

::


MotorCityRocks announces their Hamtramck Blowout picks for this weekend.
Does it seem like there is less overall hype this year? Or is it just that I'm old and out of touch all of the sudden?

::


Speaking of hype, PodZinger is translating the text of podcasts and then making that text translatable, so in theory you could search for your favorite topic and then hear podcasts that contain that word.
You can save yourself the trouble: The phrase "Dirty Bar Mitzvah" doesn't appear in any podcasts.

::

Dave Gilmour + Graham Nash and David Crosby in Gilmour's new song "On An Island". Sounds nice. A little smooth for some tastes for sure, but there is some bright guitar work in the solo(s) and some nice harmonies throughout.
More new Gilmour song clips available here.

::


Interesting article on how those in-car navigation systems work (as far as how that info gets into the system, not technical schematics or anything).
News flash! People actually drive around and write stuff down!

::


This site is too goofy to pass up. This bra company allows you to select your cup size and then choose a level of activity/exercise, and their "Shock-O-Meter" will show you what your boobs would look like both nude and in their hi-tech bra.
Ever wonder what Dolly Parton would look like jogging? Well, according to them she would need Support Level 4.

::


The Rocklopedia Fakebandica is a pretty complete list of fictional bands from cartoons, TV, movies and even books. I was pleased to find entries for Geronimo Jackson from Lost, Disaster Area from Douglas Adams' books, Dingoes Ate My Baby from Buffy the Vampire slayer and of course The Wayouts from The Flintstones.

out
"We're goin' wayout. "We're goin' wayout -- WOO!"
They just don't write 'em like that anymore.

::


Thanks David
Thanks Lee


Comments: 0
Monday, February 27, 2006

"His topics of conversation are more important than yours" 



Hilarous commentary on what it would look like if Microsoft did the packaging for the iPod.

an iPod is just like a walkman

::


Wow. These side-by-side comparisons of DVD and HD images from Fellowship of the Ring are pretty striking. I've always thought of DVD as being crisp and clean, but while the Hi-Def images are a little darker, they are really a lot cleaner.
Plus, when you mouse over the images of the Hobbits at Bilbo's birthday party, it looks like they're clapping.

::


Trailer for Dave Chappelle's Block Party looks fun.
I however, will rent it so I can fast forward through John Legend's set of mediocre R&B.

::


Terrific set of classic country music photos from an upcoming book.
Ernest Tubb, George Jones, Louvin Brothers...I may buy it just for that photo of The Louvin Brothers in those crazy shoes.

::


WTF Sco-Jo? You go from blissfully pale to bizarrely fake-tanned seemingly overnight?
Yipe! I like my jalapeno poppers flash fried, not my hollyweird starlets.

::

There are so many things to love about this photo:

be a little gay

* The fact that Junior and Sissy are rooting through mom's purse like ferrets on crystal meth.
* The fact that somebody took the time to underline and circle their favorite bits.
* The idea of putting a ribbon in your hair.
* The fact that it says "be a little gay"
* "Don't complain even if he stays out all night"
* "His topics of conversation are more important than yours"
* The concept of lighting a fire for your husband before he gets home.

oh, I could go on, but the ghost of Barbara Billingsley if kneeing me in the groin...she is dead, isn't she?

::


Thanks David
Thanks Dan
Thanks Chris
Thanks Los


Comments: 0
Saturday, February 25, 2006

Just move over to the next sink. The sink that works. 



So I've been looking for this clip online for about...six years. It's a clip of cats making noises that sound like people talking...a couple are cute, but the one I really longed for was this pissed-off gray long-hair that was growling in such a weird way that they subtitled it. So now he's saying stuff like "Now Long Johnson" and "Oh Don Piano." Through the magic of Google Video, here is that clip.
I am a simple caveman, and talking animals really makes me laugh.

::

one kooky french bitch

::


Went to see The Fluoride Program last night (terrific performance by the way) and the sound was really lousy. Not like regular bar lousy, but like Sound-Guy-Doesn't-Know-What-He's-Doing lousy. The problem was that the lead singer's microphone wasn't working. Like nobody could hear him when the band was playing. The two back-up mics worked fine -- any time Justin or Steve Mo-Drink was singing, it was fine, but Patrick was totally buried.

So here is my question/postulate: You go into a public restroom to wash your hands, and there are three sinks. You try the first sink and it doesn't work. What do you do? Do you try to turn the faucet on even more? Do you try to disassemble the faucet and replace it with one of the other faucets on the other sinks? Do you wander around and say "there's nothing I can do, I've turned the faucet all the way up and no water comes out"? No. You move over to the next sink and wash your hands. If one sink does not work, and the other two sinks do work, you just move over to the next sink.

The sound guy (who I'm sure is a swell guy, he was very nice and apologetic) said that the guitar was too loud. Even though both of the backup mics were clear as a bell, the reason we couldn't hear the vocalist was because the guitar was too loud. So Justin turned down his guitar. No help. So I suggested to Patrick "Hey, why don't you just try to sing into Steve's mic for just a copule of bars during the next song," and he started to move Steve's mic stand over closer to him, to which the sound guy said "That won't do any good! The guitar is too loud!"

Infuriating.

Sir, How do you know that won't do any good? When you can hear the vocals fine through every other microphone on stage, what on the planet makes you so sure that having the lead singer sing through one of the microphones that clearly does work will not do any good?

It reminded me of the time at the Blind Pig when Porchsleeper did a 45 minute soundcheck while people were waiting outside the door simply because the newb soundguy stubbornly would not replace the XLR cable to the one microphone that wouldn't work.

Just move over to the next sink. The sink that works.

Big props to Paul and Eric from Dirt Road Logic who were just as concerned as I was.

::


This guy has a couple of good insights into G.Dubyah in this standup routine.
George Bush is kinda like a slot machine, any time he opens his mouth ihe knows he's gambling a little bit.

::


Ohio State Sen. Robert Hagan sent out e-mails to fellow lawmakers late Wednesday night, stating that he intends to "introduce legislation in the near future that would ban households with one or more Republican voters from adopting children or acting as foster parents." The e-mail ended with a request for co-sponsorship.
On Thursday, the Democrat said he had not yet found a co-sponsor.

::


Speaking of stupid politicians, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich does not understand the Daily Show. "Blagojevich says he didn't realize 'The Daily Show' was a comedy spoof of the news when he sat down for an interview that ended up poking fun at the sometimes-puzzled governor."
heh heh...Rod Blag

::


An open letter to BoingBoing.net:

Dear BoingBoing,
I love your website. The stuff you guys post is nearly always fascinating, hilarious or otherwise wonderful. Please stop posting those Subway Anagram maps. While the concept of moving letters around to make different, often hilarious phrases like "Lowdown Trendy A-Holes" and "Shorn to Taint" is an entertaining concept, you have posted like four thousand of these in the past two weeks. Much like Carrottop, that joke isn't funny anymore.

Sincerely,
Zac Johnson
Too Much Time On My Hands
much like Dennis DeYoung

::


Possibly the new Flaming Lips album available via Grambo's comments from yesterday.
I haven't checked it out. And probably won't, because any file extention that sounds like a noise a dinosaur would make (.rar) gets me all creeped out.

::


Yahoo exec Dave Goldberg sees value in playlists.
The playlist is key to Yahoo! adding value to digital music; it’s a unit of currency for users to create and share music with each other. Dave also gave a nod to Web 2.0 at Music 2.0, pointing to Web services as a way we will go “beyond the media player” with our music offerings this year.

::

granny

::


From HotAtheletes.org regarding ice skater Sasha Cohen:

Sasha reminds us of an August afternoon we spent playing Nintendo at our friend Dave's house, when an intense game of Metroid was interrupted by the return of Dave's sister, who had spent all summer at camp. As we watched her disappear into her bedroom, we turned to Dave and said six words that no man should say to another man: "Dude, your sister's kind of hot."

Sasha Cohen is that kind of hot. The kind of hot that should remain unspoken. The kind of hot that, when acknowledged, gets you hit in the face with a Nintendo controller.

Still. Damn.

::


Thanks David
Thanks Kelly
Thanks Break.com
i love you BoingBoing


Comments: 0
Thursday, February 23, 2006

Somehow they did 



Google is launching a really easy HTML editor. In two seconds I built this dumb page with an image and everything.
It reminds me a lot of Word or Powerpoint. It's that easy. You don't even need to be smart or anything.

::

floweride power

See you at The Elbow Room show.

::


If you are queasy and really close to throwing up but can't quite seem to get all the way there, you should listen to these new Guns n' Roses songs. Mirror here.
Remember that song that they released for the movie "End of Days"? That was comparitively really good.

::


This German kid is a little upset with his computer. Like Hitler upset.
Sadly, I have yelled like that at my computer before, but I had the decency to do it in English.

::


Here is the trailer for Passion of the Christ 2: Judgement Day. It's funny when the crucifix blows up in the background.
"Would've been funnier if it said 'Coming This Easter' at the end." - My Hilarious Wife

::

No Word From Tom

I didn't think they could make this picture any better, but by photoshopping Tom Ford out, somehow they did

::


Thanks Brandon
Thanks Exquisite Dead Guy
Thanks Metafilter
Thanks Waxy.org


Comments: 0
Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Lots of little ones and zeros running around. 



So here's the exciting thing: Mrs. DataWhat and I are going to have a baby.

In September. On Labor Day of all days. What are the odds? Like 1 in 365? I keep hearing the movie voiceover guy intoning "This September. Labor Day Takes On a Whole. New. Meaning."

Even stranger: This child will be the eleventh child under two years old on our block. And our block has 25 houses on it. Something in the water on Murray Avenue I guess.

.:DataFetus?:. is doing fine, a healthy 12 weeks along, obviously super smart already, and we are currently planning for the inevitable presidential run and cure for cancer, in whichever order our child chooses.

PJ says the only craving she has had so far is for human blood, so she's doing fine, my mother is out of her mind with excitement, which is cute, and I am calmly anticipating good things, which is how I'm trying to live my whole life.

Also. Every time I hear the word "Babies" I think of the woman in this Nutragrain commercial who wants to have five hundred babies.

::

HURRY!!!
If anybody knows where you can go curling locally, lemme know.

::


To prove that fatherhood will actually make me less mature, here is a sound file that will make you wet your uncle's pants with laughter. It involves hours of hand-crafted sound effect manipulation and lots of late nights hunched over the computer, but the final result makes me laugh like when my brother farted in church.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the first in a trilogy, I present to you: The Masterpiece. P.S. It contains hilarious fart noises, so probably NSFW.
The sound architect I commissioned to make this piece says "There's more where that came from" so if you like it, let me know...I'll see if we can make it a recurring feature.

::


Y'know what's weird? Every time I read an obituary, I look to see how the person died. Isn't that sad? The one thing that the person really can't control in their life, and that's the one thing I'm most interested in. Weird huh? They work hard their whole life and create fine art or write passionate novels, and all I'm interested in is whether or not they choked on a skittle. Stupid.
Wendy Wasserstein and J. Dilla, I apologize.

::


Here is a crazy-ass "Lost" theory involving electromagnetics, psychology and the collective consciousness.
Q. Do you work for ABC or another company 'running interference'?
A. No. I am actually this sad.

::


Matt Tobey's cast of characters chime in in an effort to win a copy of Pam Anderson's Comedy Central Roast.

Andy Dick: A few years ago Tommy was arrested and the record indicated that Tommy had hit Pam. That was the last time "Tommy" "hit" and "record" appeared in the same sentence.

Jeff Ross: I wouldn't watch this DVD with Ray Charles' eyes.

::

ChocoDog
This company insists this is a french bulldog but you and I both know it's a boston terrier.

::


This guy wrote up an elaborate contract of wifely conduct to dictate how his wife should act at all times.
He's really concerned with body hair and something called "the vaginal slit."

::


If you look really closely at this clip of cookie monster at a disco you can almost see the little muppet coke up those monsters' noses.
P.S. "I lost my cookie on the dance floor" meant something verrry different in Studio 54's heyday.

::


We came back from a weekend holiday to find a grocery cart in our front yard. WTF do you do when there's a grocery cart in your yard? I hoped that if I just left it there overnight, some drunk ass would just push it down the street to somebody else's yard, but no luck. So I loaded it into the back of my car and drove it to Kroger.
If that was a present for the baby, thanks. We loved it.

::

Detroit

::


One Of Us! One Of Us! Infant quadruplets laughing maniacally at something goofy their dad is doing.
Only made more hilarious by their matching Fantastic Four onesies.

::


Thanks Gerard
Thanks Miss Mapping
Thanks Lee
Thanks Brandon
Thanks Matt
Thanks Metafilter
Thanks for getting knocked up Darlin'


Comments: 0
Sunday, February 19, 2006

The Fancy F***ing Trolley 



I may be late to the partay, but Jimmy Kimmel does this Unnecessary Censorship bit where he bleeps out innocent words in newscasts and tv shows to give the impression that the people are swearing ...with humorous results.
It's worth it just for the Mister Rogers bit.

::

Hummus a tune
when will these offensive comics end!

::


Jamie Monger tells those Eye-Talians what-for in this interview about the Great Lakes Myth Society.
James Monger: All this talk of water has engorged my bladder.

::


This Rube Goldbergian gif is made all the more funnier with the music from Pee Wee's Big Adventure.
Just so it is clear, the gif is from YTMND, whose followers get totally fucking bonkers when they think someone is stealing their content, so for the record, this is from YTMND.com. Jeez.

::


Pages from the 1977 Victoria's Secret catalog.
While it does look Victorian, I'd say some of those products (like the ribboned hair combs) would be better left a secret.

::


For those of you who are nostalgic for 2005, here are the top 10 web moments.
Flying Spaghetti Monster, Rootkit, MySpace, Numa Numa, Lazy Sunday, Christmas lights, "George Bush doesn't care about black people"...what a long strange trip it's been...a month and a half ago.

::

Time for Mario
How to make a Nintendo Alarm Clock.

::


Thanks Matt
Thanks Rob
Thanks Goody
Thanks Lee
Thanks San Francisco Steve Hall
Thanks YTMND, Thanks! Thank you!!! Thanks!!1!!!!!1!


Comments: 0
Thursday, February 16, 2006

I got spam today from englebert jakov 


Irresponsible speculation on the symbols in the countdown on Lost last night.

According to Egyptology scholar Jamnes Welshons, the symbols probably indicate Death

Restroom is Occupied
Apparently the first part is the word, and the second part is the determinative [Definition].


Weird moon-man language
This is from R.O. Faulkner's Middle Egyptian Dictionary.
Looks an awful lot like the same word as the countdown.


An earlier screen grab:
Don't talk with your mouth full
The seated man is a determinative for any number of words.
Mostly words having to do with speaking or possibly eating.


I think it all means "RESTROOM IS OCCUPIED"
Chris thinks it says "B-E-S-U-R-E-T-O-D-R-I-N-K-Y-O-U-R-O-V-A-L-T-I-N-E"

::


The first real mention I've seen about Amazon's digital-music service, including talk of an MP3 player.
"Amazon-branded portable music players, designed and built for the retailer, and a subscription service that would deeply discount and preload those devices with songs, not unlike mobile phones that are included with subscription plans as part of the deal."

::


Here is a bizarre video of a cat with a computer voice who superimposes his head onto Mark Linn-Baker's head, and suggests that you put your head on Bronson Pinchot's shoulders so the two of you can star in the beginning of Perfect Strangers together.
For some reason this seems to have Theakston written all over it.

::

tar-tar
Yeah! Shake it! Shake it!

::


Anybody else remember this? Alice Cooper on the Muppet Show?
Back 'n tha day (in the mid 70s), my stepdad knew a guy who was a cable installer who hooked us up with cable and I remember watching a televised Alice Cooper concert when he was way into his S&M, head-chopping-off phase. I was totally creeped out, but at the same time couldn't turn away. Alice's power is that complete.

::


Book your tickets for The Swearing Festival.
Hmmm...should I attend The Shit Parade or The Shite Discotheque Party? Tough gosh-darn decisions to make.

::


Good news! It looks like Lindsay Lohan is getting hot again!
So long stick-and-bones!

::

Kisses

::


Thanks Maeve
Thanks Jared
Thanks Chris
Thanks Matt
Thanks Metafilter
Thanks Jamnes


Comments: 0
Wednesday, February 15, 2006

you.ll leare bad limes 



A photoset of Engri-Larious greeting cards from Indonesia

Limes?

::


Beastie Boys/Beatles mashups = The Beastles
Flashes of goodness, including "Electrified Kite" ("Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" mixed with "Electrify")

::


This little game seems simple enough: click the tennis ball to keep it floating in the air.
and then all of the sudden you realize that you've been playing it for 45 minutes and the dog really needs to go outside.

::

There is some new drink called Porchcrawler.

Here is the recipe:

30 pack of Miller High Life
1 half gallon of vodka
2 cans of frozen lemonade concentrate

Apparently it makes you dance like this:
Crawler
which I am way into.

::

The Detroit. Demolition. Disneyland. project finds abandoned, busted-down houses and paints them "Tiggerrific Orange" in an effort to bring attention to these derelict structures.
"If you see a house that you would like to see painted orange, paint it. These buildings aren't scenery. Don't look through or around them. Take action. Pick up a roller. Pick up a brush. Apply orange."

::

When you spend your days carving pencils into elaborate structures, you may need a new hobby.

wha?

::


Thanks Only Drink High Life
Thanks BoingBoing
Thanks Goody
Thanks Metafilter
Thanks Waxy.org


Comments: 0
Tuesday, February 14, 2006

I Choo-Choo-Choose You 



Valentimes


Thanks Mary


Comments: 0
Monday, February 13, 2006

A covey of Hall & Oates 




ZOMG! Did you hear?
Roooooobbbb!!!

Full story Here!

Build your own filthy, filthy lies here:

::


Ok, ok...Actually on CNN.com: Great Lakes Myth Society and Rob Theakston talking about MySpace. Let me spell this out for you. There is a photo of Greg, Tim, Jamie and Scott (and a photo of a photo of Fido) on CNN.COM!
Everybody start making sweet sweet love in the bomb shelters, because obviously something strange is happening in the world.

::


Inappropriately-themed Star Wars valentines? Sure.
I particularly like the Han Solo in the snow with the Tauntaun that says "Your Love Will Keep Me Warm" on it.

::


Really Really elaborate cakes.
They taste surprisingly like plaster, but my they're pretty.

::

Spectacular Polish posters for American movies:

porklips now
Apocalypse Now

Some are pretty creative, some are so creative you cannot tell what the hell movie they're talking about.

Even more Here:

::


From This collection of chatroom finds:

Purely in the interests of science, I have replaced the word "wand" with "wang" in the first Harry Potter Book
Let's see the results...

"Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wang. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wang for charm work."
"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wang. Eleven inches. "

"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Harry's wang, tapped the lock, and whispered, 'Alohomora!"

"Yes," Harry said, gripping his wang very tightly, and moving into the middle of the deserted classroom. He tried to keep his mind on flying, but something else kept intruding.... Any second now, he might hear his mother again... but he shouldn't think that, or he would hear her again, and he didn't want to... or did he? Something silver-white, something enormous, erupted from the end of his wang

'Get - off - me!' Harry gasped. For a few seconds they struggled, Harry pulling at his uncles sausage-like fingers with his left hand, his right maintaining a firm grip on his raised wang.

More Bloodninja-esque cyber-larity Here:

::

fingers

More misappropriated Garfield here and here.

::


Thanks Gerard
Thanks Brandon
Thanks Something Awful
Thanks BoingBoing
Thanks Metafilter
Thanks Sara


Comments: 0
Friday, February 10, 2006

Dubai Brothers 



Dave Below sent me some photos of an indoor ski resort in Dubai and in one of the photos, you can really tell that these dudes are just blown away to be hanging out in the snow:

snow problem

And this got me to thinking about a longtime wish/project that I've been scheming of:

I've been long wishing for a couple million dollars to invest in a similar "Indoor Beach" here in Michigan.

Think about it, a lot of the people that live in Michigan are total lake and beach people (that's why a lot of people choose to live here) but their beach-going and backyard BBQing are limited to late May (if you're lucky) through the first week of September (again, if you're lucky).

Imagine if there was an indoor beach where you could go in mid-February, bring the kids and a swimsuit, get some huge-ass lights and hang 'em from the high ceiling, get that full sun feeling, maybe you could rent a little chunk of manicured grass for two hours and grill up some burgers on a park-provided grill. Maybe one or two small waterslides for the tykes, but overall: just an indoor "outside" available for the price of a movie ticket.

How hot-shit would this be!?!
ocean dome
more photos of the Miyazaki Ocean Dome

Imagine the revenue from people with "Seasonal Affectation Disorder" alone!

...And I'm not talking about the Great Wolf Lodge or some Happy Scrappy Hero Pup Waterpark, crammed with slides and water fountains and dumping buckets and what-not, I'm talking a relaxing, open space that feels like outside. There's a big difference between this (cramped, chlorine-ridden kiddie pool) and this (airy, bright, like summertime).

Two years ago in February Penny and I drove eight hours all the way to Nashville to go to this resort:

inside out

The appeal: Acres of indoor atriums all kept at a temperate 70 degrees. Our hotel room had a "Balcony" that opened up at treetop level...we would just open the doors and let the "breeze" from "outside" come in. I sat on the balcony, read a book in the sunlight and smoked a cigar.

AND WE SPENT SOMETHING LIKE 260 DOLLARS A NIGHT!!!

But man was it nice to snag a little bit of Summertime in the middle of a bleak winter.

Think about how nice that would be, to go on a grey Sunday afternoon and walk into a huge, brightly lit room that smells like an outdoor pool (trees, grass, dirt, sand, water), and take off your winter parka, flop a towel down on the beach and dig into that juicy novel.

Just soak it up for a couple hours, then be re-charged for the rest of the week.

Look at how awesome this would be!!!

If anybody knows anybody rich, lemme know.

::


Zillow (terrible name btw) is a combination of Google Maps and the Real Estate section of your local paper. Look up addresses and see what that property is valued at.
Note: The only two addresses I could think of off the top of my head, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and 1060 West Addison, are not listed.

::


Pretty awesome SNL Fred Armisen sketch called "The Tangent" and can I just say that his stream-of-consciousness blathering is beyond surreal and beyond hilarious.
And whaddya know? Sco-Jo just happens to pop up in the middle of it!

::


18-Pixel wide classic video games like Pac Man, Asteroids, Pong, Space Invaders...all surprisingly playable.

teeeny

Even if you don't really like flash games, it's amazing how if you're playing this get out of a maze game, it really is functional and you feel like you're moving around in that space.

::


Another great Lost website with a really in-depth (but not wordy) Easter Eggs section of images from both seasons.
Oh, and PJ totally nailed that it was Kate's mom serving Sawyer in the diner.

::


Documentary about Harry Nilsson coming out from the same folks who did the Brian Wilson SMiLE documentary. Could be good.
Even if you don't care about Harry Nilsson's music, you should watch it just for the "Freaked-Out-Old-California-Musician" factor. Some of those dudes have been around the block...possibly on their faces the entire time. If anybody can get a full list, that'd be great. I saw Micky Dolenz, the Smothers Brothers, Peter Gabriel, Eric Idle, Yoko Ono, I recognize the bald guy, but not the guy who looks like Arliss or the Cowardly Lion guy and there's a little tiny weasel guy in there too...

::

booey

::


Thanks Exquisite Dead Guy
Thanks David
Thanks BoingBoing
Thanks Waxy
Thanks Matt


Comments: 0
Thursday, February 09, 2006

Songbird Takes Flight 


Songbird

bird is the word?

Songbird is a new Open-Source media player that is being called "The iTunes Killer" and "Firefox for Music"...I dunno if either of these are true, but it has the potential to be cool. The overall neat concept about it is that it is pretty much a shell that could be open to "Extensions" in the same way that Mozilla's Firefox browser is.

List of features here


Imagine a dude savvy enough to write a little bit of code that could go through your digital music collection and look up your songs based on artist and title, then return other free MP3s you might like based on a Google Search of the artist's web page...or a function that could look through all of the track times of your digital files and recommend a playlist that would fit exactly on a 74 minute CDR. OK, these are both borderline retarded, and I dunno why anyone would want a random playlist of songs just because it would be 74 minutes exactly, but the fact that somebody could potentially do that and make it a part of the application is pretty cool.

What about an extension that if you right-clicked on a track, it would do an artist or album lookup at AllMusic.com... you're on a particular jam and you wonder "Hmmm...I wonder if Lee "Scratch" Perry is still alive" so you right click on the track and a "Check AMG" function does a search for his name and brings it up in the browser window? Think about the Firefox extensions that are out there...imagine managing and exploring your music collection with those.

Complete source code here

One cool thing is that the whole window can become a browser window, so you can surf the web inside the application, and if you stumble across a website with some MP3s linked to it, they display like a mini-library at the bottom:

free MP3s!
click for more complete view

Another terrific feature of the company (cheekily named "The Pioneers of the Inevitable") is the friendly manner in which they've communicated with their audience. The whole team has blogs where they talk in depth about the development schedule and actually reply to their potential users' questions.

Toot!
Plus, look how cool their little farting bird logo is!


The version that is out now is a release called the 0.1 Preview, so I guess it's not even a beta at this point. There are some bugs that I can't help whining about:

* It certainly isn't reading all of the ID3 tags. Only Artist, Album, Track, Genre and Track Time are available, and if you dig deeper, you cet some crazy junk like "Producer" and a "Media UUID" which looks like this: {ce237669-27d2-4730-887e-76c8c2ec3698}. Anybody? Unique identifier? ISRC code? Either way, it's not displaying my Comments, which is very, very important to me.

* Year is available as a field: Yay!!! But every year says Zero: Boo!!!!

* You can't remove things from the left sidebar. I may be in the music nerd minority, but I never, ever go to Pitchfork.com. Therefore I'd like to remove it from that list, but I am thwarted. I've seen notes saying that will be available in the next release.

* Sometimes you can't stop the song that's playing. Hitting the Pause button does a whole lot of nothing.

* It is not reading my M4A files (ripped in iTunes, but not from the iTunes store) correctly:

Beatles

I'm pretty sure those are Beatles songs, and they look groovy in iTunes and WinAmp, so where are my Artist, Album and Genre fields? More importantly, it won't play any of my (non DRM'd?) M4A files. It displays 'em just fine, but no sound comes out when you try to play one of 'em.

* The alternate skin is this eye-gouging red color (but, to each his own...)

* Trying to re-size the columns is really weird...they don't slide along in tandem, they move completely independently so you have to re-size each one one at a time, then re-re-size all the ones you just screwed up.

* She don' work on the Mac. Not a problem for me, but y'know, some people will have their panties in a bunch fer sure.

::


All gripes aside, it's gonna be pretty exciting once all of the kinks get ironed out and people start hot-rodding this mother.

peet!
Lookit that cute little tooting bird!

Good interview with creator Rob Lord on BoingBoing.


::


Pretty neat little 3D drawing demonstration.
"i could literally draw 3D phalluses for hours..." - Dan Trenz

::


Chris over at ToshiStation comes up with this astute Lost observation:

"That manuscript Mr. Hurley was reading round the campfire last night? The complete dorks astute will note that the author's name 'Gary Troup' is an anagram for 'purgatory' "

Matt Tobey replies:

"I also thought it was interesting that Locke was holding a copy of 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge', the ultimate it-was-all-a-dream story."

::

dream within a dream

::


Thanks Matt
Thanks Chris
Thanks Dan
Thanks Double Viking


Comments: 0
Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Vanity Fair-Skinned 



"That picture must've been downloaded from God's Brain" - Matt Tobey

God's Brain
Larger image Here.
Freckle-inspectingly huge size Here.
Story (as if it needs one) Here.
Mostly uninteresting video Here.

P.S. I like the picture even more if I envision that guy to be Jeremy Piven.

I dunno, something about the idea of Jeremy Piven weaseling his way into
that photo shoot and acting all serious makes me (impossibly) even happier.


::


The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop poll results are up, featuring some AMG folks, and some other dudes I'm interested in:

Tom Erlewine (Allmusic.com)
Tim Sendra (Allmusic.com)
Andy Kellman (Allmusic.com)
Heather Phares (Allmusic.com)
Johnny Loftus (Allmusic.com, Metro Times)
Ned Raggett (Allmusic.com)
William Ruhlmann (Allmusic.com)

Greil Marcus (Rolling Stone)
Chuck Klosterman (Spin & Esquire)
Peter Blackstock (No Depression)
Robert Cristgau (New York Guy)
Sasha Frere-Jones (The New York Times, The New Yorker)
David Fricke (New York Guy)
Gary Graff (Detroit Guy)
Greg Kot (Chicago guy)
Meredith Ochs (NPR)
Rob Sheffield (Rolling Stone)

::


Interesting new device: Gpal is a little app that brings up a window that you can type in your favorite band, and it'll bring back a playlist of "Similar Artists" in your iTunes. It pulls in songs you already own, sorta recommends new artists that you might like, and asks you if you want to download some free MP3s or Podcasts from what they deem to be "Similar" artists.

I requested a playlist of artists like Hem (quiet country folk), it recommended a bunch of things I don't own, then created a playlist of 21 Hem songs and a Chemical Brothers song.

I requested a playlist of artists like Whiskeytown and it recommended some stuff I had and some I didn't, then built a pretty decent 74 song playlist of Whiskeytown, Wilco, Uncle Tupelo and The Jayhawks.

I requested a playlist of artists like Portishead (dark ambient trip-hop) and it gave back a list of Radiohead, Massive Attack, Bjork, Sneaker Pimps, and started downloading free MP3s of other things I might like (Acapulco Soundlab? LOQAT podcast?)

They also say that they keep the other similar artists waiting in the wings of your smart playlist, so that when you eventually download some songs by artists they call similar, they'll automatically drop into your playlist.


So basically, this just groups artists together broadly, and then offers you free MP3s that you might also like.


The real problem is that its all being done by artist, so you'll get a really heavy and scary Radiohead song right next to a sweet and cute Bjork song, just because the artists are "similar" (according to someone...possibly via collaborative filtering).

Also, asking for artists similar to Miles Davis brings up Paul Hardcastle (I just threw up in my mouth a little bit).

And the metadata is atrocious.
Led Zep? led zeplin? Zeppelin? C'mon folks, standardize.

Still, the fact that they're interacting this thoroughly with iTunes is interesting.

::

Scotchy Scotch Scotch

::


Thanks BoingBoing
Thanks Egotastic
Thanks Chris
Thanks Jamnes
Thanks Exquisite Dead Guy
Thanks Rob
Thanks Mark
Thanks Grambo
Thanks Alec
Thanks Matt
Thanks Mr. Gary
...and anyone else who sent me the Sco-Jo thing...which is almost everybody I know.


Comments: 0
Monday, February 06, 2006

Hey! HEY! Turn Up Ron Wood's Guitar, You Idiots! 



The funny Super Bowl commercial: Magic Fridge.
Others here

::

Cool whisky bottle PC mod.

drunk again

::


Hmmm, this brings me back...When I was a kid I had a totally screwed-up cassette deck that would always play the wrong edge of the magnetic tape, so it would play music backwards. Right around this time my fiendish obsession with The Beatles' White Album was peaking, so naturally I freaked the shit out of myself listening to "Revolution 9" backwards. The phrases "Turn me on Dead Man" and (supposedly) Paul screaming "Let Me Out!" post-car crash are pretty commonly whispered about, but my older sister and I clearly heard Yoko saying "Satan, Look at me" and John saying "Where we verse the emperor of our sins" in the backward spoken segments. I've never found any netlore to support these claims, so I'll let you, the listener, decide:

"Revolution 9" backwards in MP3 format.

Yoko: "Satan, Look at me" at :51 seconds
John: "Where we verse the emperor of our sins" at 1:51

Now that I listen back, I'm not as convinced that I was right, but I'm pretty sure I summoned the Devil at least once. Anybody else? Do I have a golden ear for the voice of our dark lord? Or was I just a freaked out kid allowing John Lennon to tell me ghost stories?

::

I don't usually go in for the Dilbert, but this struck a chord.

Perfect Monster

::


These folks use legos to stage elaborate suicide scenarios. Not setting up little legos in little funny suicide environments, more like creating lego knives and lego blood and lego bottles of sleeping pills, and then enacting their demise for the camera.
Alls I know is, that looks like a really fun party, and I wish I had thought of it first.

::


LOL! Fun gif of Jesus' role playing game.
Peter: "Almost as fun as Christmas!"
Jesus: you mean my birthday, lol."

::


Oooh, man: A company who will build you Hidden Passageways in your house. I prefer the bookcase that opens into a secret room when you pull on a book.
Although I also see the value in the recliner chair that opens up into a twisty slide. The videos section is where it's at.

::

NixBush
NixBush. Thoroughly creepy

::


Thanks Brandon
Thanks /.
Thanks Exquisite Dead Guy
Thanks Lee
Thanks Metafilter
Thanks Greg Lakes Myth Society
Thanks Joy


Comments: 0
Sunday, February 05, 2006

Another Place to Discover New Music Online 



WebJay

WebJay presents itself to be a community for music fans to get together and share web-based playlists of MP3s, WMAs and any other way that music can be presented on the innerweb. Basically it is a collection of users who dig around on blogs and band websites to find sound files, then put them in playlists that people can browse through and listen to on their own.

The pretty neat thing is that it's pretty easy to sign up (for free), create your own blank playlist, then just go into other people's playlists and copy their songs into your playlist. Now you're not really sharing songs, and you're not transferring audio files or anything, you're just basically creating a super-simple HTML page with the links to where these songs already exist on the web. Sort of in the same way as if you coded a webpage to first look at this one MP3 you heard on Fluxblog, then another link to an MP3 hosted on your favorite local band's page, then dug around and found a guy who made a cool mash-up of Hip-Hop vs. Phillip Glass, then made it so that you could automatically launch each of those links one after the other.

That's really the neat part, is that you can launch the entire playlist in iTunes or Windows Media Player and it'll run like your own online radio station.

junktrunk
Here is a quick playlist I threw together if you wanna check it out.

It also seems to be a good way to listen to somebody else's playlists to find new junk you might like to hear...searching for Iron & Wine brings up This Playlist featuring tunes by Simon & Garfunkel, Flaming Lips, and Jurassic 5, or This Playlist featuring Nico, Nick Drake & Cat Power, and also This Playlist featuring Ray LaMontagne, Rachael Yamagata and Sufjan Stevens.

::


Boring Biz/Tech Portion of the Post:

They were just bought by Yahoo for an undisclosed amount.

         Funny Interview Segment:
         TNL: so the rumors are true: Webjay acquired by Yahoo! You should post it on your blog.
         Lucas Gonze: That's right. It turns out that when they sign up new people, y! makes them put on this pointy hat
                               which sorts them into "houses". This makes no sense to me, but it turns out that I am "hufflepuff"
         TNL: Hee hee... stay away from Slitherins
         Lucas Gonze: They're over in the DRM group.

So who knows if that means the functionality or business model will change. There is a slight feeling of creepiness about the whole thing, since you are playing back (and given the option to download) all kinds of music, even mainstream major label artists (Beatles, Stones, Garth Brooks who I'm sure is pissed). Granted, Webjay is not hosting these files, but they are sort of approving of their use. In their "About" section they say something about "If you are a playlister it is very important for you to stick to authorized music. Webjay exists to promote music which has been authorized for distribution on the web, not to make it easier to find unauthorized music. DO NOT POST LINKS TO UNAUTHORIZED SONGS." They position themselves kinda like Google in that they allow people to find the information, but remains neutral in whatever people choose to do with the music.

Popular


Also, since all of the sound files available through the interface are hand-tagged, there is no standardization or even verification that what you're hearing is really the right thing. An unscrupulous bar band could go in and tag all of their songs as "Previously Unreleased Song -- The Replacements" just to generate interest... It reminds me of the heady days of Napster when The Gourds' version of "Gin & Juice" was being incorrectly passed around the 'net as a Phish song.

Also also, since the whole flapjack relies on external links, some songs listed in peoples' playlists may no longer be available from the host site. So if I've linked to six songs from my favorite unauthorized Air Supply fansite and all of the sudden Sigfried & Roy or whoever those two dudes are put the smackdown on that site, my playlist now has six holes in it which used to be Air Supply but are now just Air (and not the cool French band either).

'Sup


There is some sort of video playlist function that does not really interest me so I'm ignoring it.

::


So I dunno...while it is certainly cool and a great way to steal a whole bunch of music, I don't see a real business model there (aside from the advertising revenue aimed at return visits by "Community Members"), it's still a little clunky, not very intuitive (the forums are full of misspelled posts in all caps asking "HOW DO U MAKE A PALYLISTS???!!1!!1!"), and not as hands-off as a Pandora or a LaunchCast. Still, Lucas Gonze seems pretty bright, so Yahoo scooping him up was a good idea, and who knows, some pretty cool technology could come out of it.


Comments: 0

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