September 26, 2006

Okkervil River - the Presidents Dead


Okkervil River - the Presidents Dead

So when Pitchfork linked this, I wasn't that crazy about it initially. It wasn't that bad, I guess, but it wasn't their best. It didn't help that it was about a fictitious assasination on the President (be he real or also fictitious). I don't like our current administration, but something about that lyric didn't sit right with me.

I was unsure about how I felt, but when the whole band kicks in near the end, I didn't care so much any more.

Its definately worth a listen, if only for the rock (country-rock?) at the end.

I'd have to say that its not as good as Black Sheep Boy is - you can listen to a couple songs off of it, and plenty more, here.

Favorites:
Okkervil River - Black
Okkervil River - Westfall

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September 19, 2006

Tom Waits

So I just discovered that Tom Waits has a new album coming out this Fall. Entitled Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers. and Bastards, its a mixture of rare and unreleased material, coupled with 30 new recordings, each of the three discs having it own, unique character.

[quote]
“Brawlers” is chock full of raucous blues and full-throated juke joint stomp, “Bawlers” contains Celtic and country ballads, waltzes, lullabies, piano and classic lyrical Waits’ songs, while “Bastards” is filled with experimental music and strange tales.
[/quote]

Sweet. Something for everyone, and I love every bit of it.

You can hear Bottom of the World from the "Brawlers" disc on the Anti website, or here on my server (just my work machine really) (LINK REMOVED). I can't promise that either will stay up forever, so listen while you can.

An excellent song, in the Tom Waits lonely, rambling ballad tradition. It is simultaneously sad, yet somehow hopeful. He encompasses a certain spirit that permeates American folklore in a way that no one but Woody Guthrie ever has. This is why I love Tom Waits.

Orphans are due November 21st.

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September 18, 2006

GW meets Little Richard

So, I really like something about YouTube. It allows all the great stuff that would have gotten onto the web eventually (along with a lot of other crap) to not only make it out there, but to do so quickly, and with lower bandwidth than an actual embedded video would.

And one of my favorite ways to find good stuff (excluding Dave at work sending me ridiculous shit) is The Best of YouTube. Now, it bothers me when the guy includes content that's NOT from YouTube (if you're going to call it The Best of YouTube, it better not be the Best of YouTube, Google Video and Whatever the Hell Else I Feel Like Including), and a lot of it is crap, but he does turn up gems that I wouldn't look up myself. Case in point:


It doesn't get much better than that. Unless, of course, you're Fred Phelps.

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Tech Support

While I do sometimes have to deal with end users, I'm really glad that I haven't really been on the front lines of our support staff in some time. The one thing I miss the least is the phone.

Some days it really did feel like this, and I am so glad to only have to deal with professors who know everything about how computers should work, 'cause apparently I don't know how to do my job, yet for some reason they always talk to me when something doesn't work, only to have me come out there and complain to me about how things are, and not like the answers I have for them... oh crap.

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GOSPEL TIME

I don't get very many TV channels - I pay for basic cable just so that I can get internet cheaper (yes, the two packaged together is cheaper than just the internet) and so I can watch 24 clearly without having to worry about an antenna.

About a week ago I was flipping channels, and this was on the TV. Now, between the 2 public access channels and TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network, or THE BIBLE NETWORK as I call it), I'm used to seeing some weird things on my TV relating to Jesus, or the gospel.

That said, I wasn't prepared for several uninterrupted minutes of silence and the words GOSPEL TIME printed in big red letters across my screen. No joke, it went on for a few minutes, and I'm assuming I came in somewhere in the middle of it. No sound, no change, just those words sitting silent and motionless. I must say it was one of the stranger things I've ever seen on TV.

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Kermit the Frog

Kermit the Frog is going to be the Grand Marshal at MSU's homecoming parade. I grew up watching Sesame Street and I love the Muppets, so this is pretty awesome.

I may not care about football, and I might not have a lot of school spirit (MSU's pretty great, don't get me wrong, but I'm not all about it like some people seem to be. I've earned one degree here, and I'm working on another, but I don't have this strange belief that other people seem to have that whatever school they went to is the best), but I just might have to go to the parade.

As Homecoming events go, I've already got one on Saturday that I'm going to with the radio station, so I might as well make a weekend of it. And I mean, its Kermit. How could I not go?

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Flash Drives

I may be one of the few people I know who are at all excited about this, but I'm REALLY excited.

I saw it all over the place today.

TDK has introduced the second Solid State Disk (the first coming from Samsung). This is more or less the same media that get used in thumb drives and mp3 players (like the iPod Nano and Shuffle), but is instead built to replace laptop hard drives.

Basically, this means that they're more shock resistant, consume less power, are smaller in size, and should boot your OS faster than a regular drive. Greater durability, longer battery life, lower weight, and faster data rates (supposed 300% faster read and 150% faster write) make me very happy. Did I mention that they're quieter and generate a lot less heat too?

I can't wait until they get them more affordable - Samsung's charging something akin to an extra $900 for a laptop with their SSD inside.

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September 14, 2006

Ball Buster

Dave sent this to me at work the other day. Sure, its funny from the get-go - a family-oriented board game named Ball Buster - but the unintentional one-liners that occur as it goes on are even better.



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September 13, 2006

Nothin' But a Dog Thing

This is why Married to the Sea is amazing.

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September 03, 2006

Analytics

So Google provides a tool to track traffic on your webpage. I recently added it to my blog, so we're going to see what happens.

Check it out: Google Analytics. It shows pageviews, a map of the geographic locations of visitors (fairly non-specific, but I can see what part of what country people are in), and a whole lot more stuff that I haven't even begun to look into.

There's also a Dashboard Wiget out there to let you track it right from Dashboard. Dashalytics.

I'm really kind of geeked (in every possible sense) about this.

Source (TUAW).

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Mudcraft


So a professor of mine made this game called Mudcraft. He was technically the producer, and he worked on it with Jason Tye, who developed the original design for his Masters Thesis.

Anyhow, I remember playing it in the department's lab, and its kind of fun. You basically get to mine mud to develop this community of mud people. Watch out for the sun, and for too much rain, as either can kill your people.

If you don't feel like downloading it, it was all made in Flash, so you can play online here.

I was reminded of this a while ago when it was featured in Macworld!

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Impressions

I'm not usually that impressed by impersonations in stand-up comedy, but this guy is waaaay too good to not like. Unbelievable and funny. His George W Bush is DEAD ON. His John Madden is just plain amazing. Absolutely worth every second of the 20 minutes.



"I am the Keymaster, are you the Gatekeeper?"

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