October 2007 Archives

Last night was a tough night for me emotionally, but all of that needs to get ignored when you look down at your phone and you have a text message that simply says, "EARTHQUAKE!"

Turns out that there was a magnitude 5.6 earthquake last night in the Bay Area of California, and I found out immediately thanks to Rick's Twitter activity. A simple text message hits the web digest and all of Rick's friends to tell them that there was just an earthquake in California, and the broadcast hits them on the web, their IM client, or their cell phone. Others join in. Immediately you have a spot where people are making sure that others around them are notified. The network effect propagates, and soon everyone knows about it. Those not close to the event hope for continued updates from those surrounding the catastrophe, and luckily the updates keep flowing and everyone appears to be okay.

Phew. No major injuries or damage reported. Wow.

It'll be impressive to see how Twitter works to manage this aspect of their platform. There's so much real-world application to it, and given that they seem to be planning to keep their API open to allow developers to create custom applications that would feed updates to Twitter, I bet we see a lot of these type of broadcasts in the future from sources like the Seismology office or the Hurricane center or the National Weather Center. I'd view it as a need and hope that we see the development move in that direction.

News: Live Music Blog to Return

Holy cow...I can hardly believe it myself. I took a major plunge yesterday and said bring it on by posting a formal announcement about my plans to bring Live Music Blog back from the dead. It is time to make it happen and I was tired of sitting around and planning for something when I could just be working on it full force.

So get ready for some "here's what I was thinking" posts when it comes down to how the site gets laid out. I've got some plans to make it a bit more robust and yet simplified and concise versus what the site was before. It's coming to me. It's going to help me return to where I need to be right now.

The past two weekends have been spent catching up on a lot of computer time that I didn't have a chance to do during the week, and my background music has been the fantastic stylings of the dude that calls himself Panda Bear.

He recently put out a DVD called "People Party," but for some reason it never made it out to the public in the way it was intended. They tried to do an In Rainbows type of thing by releasing it themselves, but I think the demand overwhelmed them and force them to release it guerilla style on YouTube.

Here's Part I:

Panda Bear - People Party Part 1

Here's Part II:

Panda Bear - People Party Part 2

I'm in New York City this week for some training at work and I found a hotel right near all the cool, touristy spots in Manhattan. I tend to feel like a tool walking around taking cameraphone photos while listening to my iPod Shuffle, but then again -- there's something truly fun about being a tourist. It's exciting to see places that have already been so overrun with others coming to visit that it's just a giant clusterfuck of people walking around trying to snap photos, little children hanging out near strip club entrances, random foreign languages coming from all angles, etc. I geek out on it.

Now I just need to find the right t-shirt to buy and my trip will be complete...

I went out to Feed the Beast last night to grab a quick bite for dinner and to finish watching the Bears game. While at the bar waiting for my food, the place erupted in celebration as the Bears took the lead and won the game with about nine seconds left. Quite exciting, and man was my pizza fantastic...

I took a walk around the neighborhood afterwards to get my heart rate pumping after a somewhat sloth-y weekend, and I caught this decked out Mustang on Lincoln Ave.

When I stopped to take a photo of it, two girls walked by and got my attention. I took out my ear buds and was asked, "why are you taking photos?" by one of the girls.

I turn around and point to the giant White Sox logo on the hood of the car. I figure it's self-explanatory, but apparently that doesn't step them from giving their two cents.

"That seems kinda gay."

Surprised that they would equate taking photos with being gay, I pause -- then try to come up with the wittiest thing possible to confront such rampant homophobia -- then I say, "thank you." They both responded with some sarcastic looks and said "your welcome," then walked on.

Why must everyone challenge me when I'm doing my "art" thing? Ugh.

The Raconteurs - Blue Veins (Holland)

I felt like browsing YouTube this morning and I did a little search to see if any good live videos of The Raconteurs have surfaced since their Austin City Limits TV performance that I raved about in the past. Sure enough, I found a couple that's worth sharing...

Word on the street is that these guys have been working on finalizing their second album, and there is simply no way I will be missing their next stop in Chicago.

As for the video, this song just spreads out and sounds so much better live. The album version is okay but this version is killer.

I saw an incredible new commercial last night for the first time, and it almost moved me to cry tears of joy. Seriously.

MasterCard "We Want the Funk" Commercial

The dancing is one thing, the cute backpacks are another, but that line "being with people that understand you - priceless," rang especially emotional to me right now. Incredible.

I've been fascinated by the wide array of street stencils that one can encounter while walking the Chicago streets. I caught this bozo last night on a stroll down Lincoln Ave. between Montrose and Irving Park, and I've caught a bunch of the Save Darfur stencils lately at various other spots around town.

There are a couple other really cool ones that have been posted on Flickr. Search "stencil art" and you'll get pages upon pages worth of material, including some of the "Obey Giant" pieces by Shepard Fairey. He's the subject of another blog post in the very near future.

Very cool stuff.

That sounds kind of new-agey, doesn't it?

Today is Blog Action Day and I figured I'd participate by doing my part to help promote it. Not that my readership is huge or anything yet...but at least it's a start. Today was a day where I thought about the environment and the effect that I was having on the world. I also took it as a good opportunity to take in some of the nice weather and beautiful nature that does indeed exist in this concrete jungle and I ended up walking quite a bit today. Early this morning was to the EL, and after work it was a doctor's appointment then home. Plenty of walking. Walk walk walking.

When I'm not walking to the EL and/or riding the EL (the miserable experience that it is), I'm usually seen riding my bike downtown via Wells via Lincoln. That is a much more enjoyable experience to me. I feel at one with the road and totally in my own world -- yet completely in tune with the city as it's happening around me. It's a very fun experience and one that I had not experienced in the past couple years of my life. I'm happy to work it into my commute because of the sheer joy you get when you cruise past a bunch of cars and zip downtown on your bike faster than the trains. Sure, you can sit on your duff on the train and that's comfortable and everything, but isn't it a lot more fun to just ride at your own pace each and every day?

All in all, I think I do okay on my commute footprint. I do okay on my recycling footprint. I probably need to start doing better on my product purchasing footprint (*cough*iPhone*cough*). Today is just the start of a new year. And there's always a new tomorrow...

Happy Blog Action Day everybody!

I've had a chance to toy around with the new beta Hype Machine over the past couple weeks.  Even though I didn't play with it too much, what I saw was a significant relaunch above and beyond the old Hype Machine that everyone's been used to, and I really like what they've done with the new version (the version that matches my new t-shirt).

I was psyched to see that they're planning on launching it today -- which is also Blog Action Day, remember -- but they're not going to launch anything until they can get 10,000 people to show up and see it at the same time.  So join Fred and I and head on over there -- you'll be psyched to see what they've done with the new version...

Last night's episode of Saturday Night Live featured a new digital short called, "People Getting Punched Just Before Eating." The video takes that title very literally...

I'm personally excited to see that Andy Samberg is back with yet another ridiculous short, even though it's following up some minor controversy surrounding his previous digital short, "I Ran So Far Away," a gay love song about Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Yes, they really are quite ridiculous.

Still, I've really been anticipating these lately and I think they really add to the flow of the show. Some live scripted comedy can only be so good, and some of these pre-produced shorts are just truly laugh-out-loud funny.

Check out the zombie dance at the end; it makes absolutely no sense -- and therefore, it's 100% hilarious.

I've always been a fan of reading a good interview with a musician I respect, but I faced an odd dilemma while I was working on Live Music Blog more regularly.  "Why shouldn't we feature more interviews of artists that we respect?  That'd be a great way to bring more readers our way," I always thought.

Problem is, I was never trained in the journalistic arts and I really had no clue how to produce a proper interview.  I always got around this by saying, "when I'm ready for these and feature them in a scalable fashion, I'll do them in my own way."

I think the real reason is that I was always afraid that I'd be subjected to a trainwreck of a discussion that I wouldn't know how to get out of.  NPR recently did an interview with the band Sigur Ros, and it's making it's way around the blogs as an example of what can go very wrong when conducting one of these rock interviews.  "So -- how do you write songs?  Where do you find your inspiration?  Etc."  The answers are cringeworthy, and for the most part probably do little to help the band's mystique and/or promotional efforts.  Maybe they were just tired.

It's quite refreshing to see climate change being addressed on a global scale, and I'd say that it's finally getting the attention that it needs -- Al Gore was just awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work hitting the problem head on.

That has got to feel good to the former Vice President.  That's an impressive achievement and one that could even draw him back closer to the White House.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if he took this as his opportunity to step up in the eyes of the American public, given that he was just recognized for "stepping up" internationally.

I found it cool that Apple took their time off from marketing to recognize Gore's achievement right on their home page; see the image below for what they ran with.



Very cool; it's a sign that we're heading in the right direction on these issues.  I haven't done my part enough and I want to change that back to something I'm proud of.  Maybe that means I'll have to buy a hybrid.  That's okay, though -- I live in Chicago and they're cool here.  It's a status symbol.

But in all seriousness, it's a great thing that Gore has tried to do and he's been a fine inspiration for me and a few others I know.

Sources from Radiohead indicate that there have already been over 1.2 million downloads of In Rainbows, their latest album released digitally on October 10. It's amazing, by the way.

This one was taken a while back with my cameraphone.

You know -- I've had this blog for a pretty long time and I've never once written about "The Humpty Dance."

Back in middle school, my friends and I had a minor obsession over this song.  We memorized it and repeated in the halls when we saw each other -- whatever favorite passage that would strike us would be our mantra of the day -- and somehow I become known as the centerpiece to the whole joke.  It could be the fact that I had a harder time letting go of the joke than anyone else, so maybe it just stuck to give me "Humpty" as a nickname.  Me and my skateboarder buddies all had Digital Underground on the brain and we really took our middle school years to the next level.  My nickname was Humpty for years.

Sometimes I have to wonder why we didn't get obsessed over something like this instead.

Stereogum recently featured the video in their column, "Video Hangover."  I was immediately transported back to the video and all the joy it's brought me over the years, even if it is overly critical (in a good way)...

Has any legitimate #1 single in the last 25 years squandered more potential for video immortality? A guy with a giant fake nose, references to public sex, oatmeal, and fat girls, and step-by-step instructions on how to do a dance that's supposed to look like MC Hammer on crack -- this could have been the best hip-hop video of the '90s -- maybe even the best of all time, in any genre -- but it just ... sucks.

It really does suck as a video, but the song still remains the only one I can perform confidently at karaoke.  Meaning, it stands the Justin Test-of-Time.  Last time I went out to karaoke, the bar did not have this song as a selection which hit me by surprise.  What respectable karaoke bar doesn't have "The Humpty Dance."  That'd be like them not having "Baby Got Back," or "Ring of Fire."  They'd prevent the fun from ever starting.

More on the new Radiohead album...

Stereogum has a thread up this morning on the release, and I saw a fantastic point in the comments that's truly what makes this album release so special...

Is it just me, does anyone really like the fact that this way of releasing an album makes the whole listening experience much more communal and egalitarian?

We've got no reviews from elite publications to go on, and at this point early in the game everyone's take on the album matters and is interesting to read. I don't know if releasing it the traditional method would've garnered such a lively discussion.

Anyway, today is a great day for music lovers and people who like talking about music.

That is an awesome takeaway.  To have a band release an album and refuse to offer up any pre-release copies to any of the major music media companies is a fantastic way to show that you're closer to your fans than some random music pundits.  All of the pundits are still going to write about the album anyway, and it probably encourages more discussion by not letting fans just "read" what the album should sound like / how it feels / the moods it inspires, etc.

In a way, reading about music before listening to it can really spoil the emotional effect and lasting impressions that you're left with.  I try to avoid movie reviews for that same reason.  I think that's one of the main reasons that I tend to enjoy live music the most; you can't really anticipate what's going to happen or how the crowd will be or what song they'll open with or how many "encores" they have scheduled, etc.  Because you have nothing to anticipate or no major frame of reference when attending most concerts -- unless you're a diehard or a jamband fan -- the emotional takeaway tends to be more real.  More of a knee-jerk reaction.  More genuine.  These are the memories I'm left with, much more so than when I first heard the new Radiohead album.

That said, it really is a fantastic album.  Maybe I will remember this, especially considering how exciting it is to receive a brand-new album via email.  I've already gotten three blog posts out of it, too.

I'm in the midst of a first listen through Radiohead's new album, In Rainbows; as promised, my special download code arrived this morning.

The first track on the album is "15 Steps," which was a live track we featured on Live Music Blog a while back (since removed). I fell in love with this track once I heard the live version and it's a solid opener to this album. I'm confident in saying that already.

The second track, "Bodysnatchers," picks up the pace and gives the album a little jolt before slowing it down for "Nude."

More to come once I get through the whole thing. I can't wait to see what kind of tour they plan for this album; hopefully we get some info on that asap. And if I were you, I'd make sure you get onto your copy today before all of the internets is done writing about how this album is sooo overrated and/or underrated.

Holy shit.

Stereogum has videos up of Spoon's appearance on Saturday Night Live this past weekend.  The show itself was the usual ho-hum, but I was quite fond of all the MacGruber sketches, actually.

Takeaway:  the show is showing some signs of remaining relevant...and that's a good thing.

Blog Action Day is an event that plans to unite as many as possible from the blogosphere together on one topic and one cause on one day only. Specifically, it's an event taking place on October 15 in which participating blogs will write about the environment, pledge to donate their ad revenue from the day to an environmental charity of their choice, and hopefully spread the word to get others involved. I thought this sounded like a cool idea; I'm always a fan of any fun grassroots movement to do something motivating and inspiring.

Sound off in the comments if you plan on participating. I think this sounds like a good enough cause and a worthwhile idea to get a bunch of people together focusing on one major issue at a time. The mobs of humans (i.e. us) that rule this earth can only handle so much. Now let's go chain ourselves to some trees...

While I was enjoying today and relaxing in the nice, warm weather, it turns out the heat and sun was a lot to handle for the marathon runners today. There was one reported death and many more injuries from the record-breaking heat...scary stuff.

Organizers shut down the course four hours after the start of Sunday's Chicago Marathon because of 88-degree heat and sweltering humidity that left one runner dead and sent at least 49 to area hospitals. Another 250 were treated at the site. [CNN.com]

I've been thinking that I'm interested in getting back into running. It's been a while for me and I enjoyed it when I did it regularly. After hearing the news today, I almost want to think twice. Maybe three times.

But then again, I'd really love to fulfill my resolution and actually get a race in before the end of 2007. I've been eyeing the Turkey Trot and I think I'll have just enough time to actually get ready for the race. It could be wildly fulfilling given the time I have to prepare. Hopefully more on this sometime this week. Time to get thinking about this again.

Must. stay. hyrdrated. I'm not anywhere near a phase in my life when I want to run a marathon, yet I can see myself doing it someday. At any rate, my heart goes out to the families of the people that got hurt. They probably weren't trying to scare you or anything; they've just got that drive. They've got to do what they've got to do.

I was wondering when this announcement would come; I knew someone had to be working on it and I was about to start hashing out the Facebook app myself if someone didn't say that they would be doing it first.

From paidContent.org...

Facebook is working on an artist platform to be launched later this year, which in essence is supposed to be better than what MySpace allows with its platform, according to multiple sources I have spoken to...

Given the recent exodus of would-be college students from MySpace and the natural next-step for networking professionals from LinkedIn causing these massive growth numbers at Facebook, it was really only a matter of time before they started courting the music audience. It's a huge subsection of the internet and there's always been a need for musicians, bands, fans, and families to stay connected to each other.

I'm excited about this because I tend to think that Facebook is a better user experience than MySpace. That being said, I have an odd feeling that they're going to opt to have music automatically start streaming when you load an artist's Facebook page. You know how I feel about websites that have auto-play turned on for any visitor. I usually make a mental note to never visit a site that forces music or video on me unwillingly, and so far it's been working out for me.

Do the right thing, Facebook. Don't make me boycott you and move over to Quechup.

This has to be the coolest t-shirt that someone can wear to a concert.  That's just some serious truthiness.

Happy Sunday night here in Chicago; I'm hoping the Bears feed us some needed relief after the Cubs lost the series (officially) last night in Game 3 against the D-backs.  It was painful to watch; I think there was like 50 double-plays in there and it just seemed to come at all the wrong times for the Cubs.  Oh well -- we'll get 'em next year, right!??!?

Marina City | Chicago, IL

I was walking back from the dentist the other day and I was iistening to Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot masterpiece. I was headed straight up State St. and I walked right past a perfect angle to take this photo. Sure, it does look a lot like this one. I felt inspired...so sue me!

I'm now a user over at FriendFeed, a new web app designed to mash together every feed from every other web service that you and your friends already belong to.  It's being developed by some ex-Googlers, so it has the look and feel of something that Google would put out without being constrained by the typical, now-longer development cycle that naturally occurs as the company gets larger and larger.

Feel free to subscribe to my feed if you're a member of the service already, or check out my "On the Web" section on my sidebar to see what sort of stuff I'm listening to, bookmarking, marking as favorite, etc.

From the first ten minutes of usage, I'm already impressed with how elegant the service is to use.  The first bummer is that you have to recreate your friend's list -- definitely expected for now -- and I imagine they'll roll out a feature once they're out of invite-only mode that will allow you to just scan through your inbox or your Facebook profile to pick up your friends more quickly.  Once I added all my services, I quickly accessed to the feed showing all my latest activity.  It's pretty cool, and I hope that they'll allow some customization of this feed in the future to allow publishers and web users to be able to republish this feed elegantly.  It serves as a running list of everything that I'm doing, and it can be amazingly daunting to try and process all of this information by yourself.  With FriendFeed, not only can you consume your own -- you can consume all of your friends' feeds as the updates occur.  Forget checking blogs, forget checking their YouTube subscriptions, forget worrying about what their last track was on last.fm -- FriendFeed brings it all together for you.

And now I'm immediately overwhelmed by the thought that this is going to be a lot of noise to consume daily.  I'm friends with some power users on the web, and I'm predicting that the activity this feed will pick up is going to enormous.  One thing I'd like to see them implement would be some filtering mechanisms if/when that becomes a problem for me, and for now -- I'll just try and keep up.

Give it a shot if you have a chance.

Mount Cashmore, Las Vegas

I'm planning on attending (maybe) the Blog World Expo conference coming up on November 8-9 in Las Vegas. Mount Cashmore, here I come!

It should be fun. I'll be there with friends and I'm pretty sure we'll be staying at the Mirage. If you'll be there...sign up to follow me on Twitter if you want to keep up with what I'm doing.

Or better yet, subscribe to my FriendFeed. I got it setup with some of my web service data and so far I'm pleased with the experience. It seems very lightweight, which I think it what makes a lot of web apps great when you start using them.

There was a ton of buzz this weekend over the announcement from Radiohead; they're going to be releasing their new album, In Rainbows, on October 10, and they're allowing fans to set the pricing on what they'd want to pay for the presale on digital download.  They're releasing the whole thing as a set to follow, but the fact that the download is "name your price" should prove to be very interesting once it's actually released in the US.

Check out Pitchfork or Stereogum for more info.

Very cool.