Friday, August 01, 2003

"Actually, I think the radio star killed the radio star." Lol this post on IpodLounge cracked me up. Someone had asked if Ipod killed the radio star. As you can tell from previous posts, I think the radio star killed himself too :P Check out IpodLounge if you're interested in getting an Ipod. Definitely the best piece of hardware I've ever bought. I had 2 problems with my last two yes...I'll go into that really briefly.

The first Ipod I dropped, not that hard, but I got an error afterwards which isn't related to that thankfully. It's a folder with an exclamation point in it. This is like a corrupted folder/hard drive etc. It's actually a problem they've been getting. Probably because of the Malaysian made hard disks from Toshiba. When will you use Western Digital! So I returned that one on the 7th to BestBuy. I never bought the service plan they offer either. It's $40 for 2 years. Why should I pay more for that when Apple's warranty is 4 years! So I used my new one for abotu 3-4 weeks this July then 3 days ago the hold button started wackin' out on me. I would turn it off and it would still think it was on. I'd have to fiddle with it a couple times to get it on. I was freakin' out when I was at the diner with Matt and Amar and I tried turning it on and it appeared dead. Now amid all the discussions of battery life for the 3rd gen Ipods, mine had been pretty good on the two I've had. I get upwards of about 6-9 hours and they advertise something like 10. I have kept it not in the charger for 3 days at a time too and had a full charge when waking it up. Yes the Ipod "sleeps" and never is really off. That's how it achieves that kooky instant-on capability. I hadn't had one problem with the 2cd Ipod, but that hold button was annoying. Luckily there were 2 Apple stores somewhat nearby, one in Menlo Park Mall and one in Short Hills Mall. So I went with Matt to Menlo on Tuesday and they were amazing. Best customer service yet, seriously. I'm considering buying an Apple laptop (because I've wanted an Apple system, but not a desktop persay) to start putzing around with since their networking is a close second to Windows NT and 2000 servers. I even got to keep my current Ipod till then, so I'm not without music. And I'll have the new one in time for my LBI vacation! Rock on!

Waiting for Matt to give me a call to see if we're go for Atlantic City. Never been, can't wait to go. Hopefully he can get the money. He got the work coverage already w00t! Then it's off to Lindsey's for the annual "End of the Summer Shore House Retreat." YEAHHHHHHH. I look forward to this all summer every year. It's like the beginning of my official vacation. Actually going back to school will be a much needed downgrade of work compared to what I've been shelling out this summer. Then I've got one more week of work, and it's down to LBI for a week with my parents, my sister, her husband, and the kids! I really can't wait, I saw them both last Monday, and it was seriously like leeches attached for the entire 3 hours they were there lol. I miss em tons, and it's good to know the sentiment is shared.

Needless to say I'm not getting any sleep over vacation, or not any extra anyways lol. I know Marc and Alyssa will have me up by at least 5 am daily lol. I wouldn't trade that week for anything in the world though. When they were over we watched about 3/4 of Big which of course they had never seen being only 8 and 5. It's scary to think that's a classic already even to me. I often think about how many movies and experiences they'll never know about. I feel like it's my duty as an uncle to educate them. Yeah the fact that my nephew totally loves Star Wars is all Pete's fault. I was still in my Star Wars phase about the time he was 2-3. Hey at least I've got someone to talk to about it lol. I can be a closet case fan :) Funny how every time I see, get an IM, or talk to him on the phone, Marc has got some new interesting bit of information about what he's done in a video game, or what's new in his Animal Crossing town. Such a great game, I'm glad I bought that for him for Christmas last year. Him and his sister play it now, just what I had aimed for. Teaches him how to write letters, since he's a full blown reader for over a year and a half now, and her who's just starting. God I haven't played that game in months...time to boot it up again :P

Thursday, July 31, 2003

I love it when artists post their thoughts/comments on songs they've done. Here's a complete Track By Track from Linkin' Park about their new album "Meteora." Great album, and they bridge a lot of different sounds.
YEAH CHRIS ROCK!

Funny ass article about rappers trying to be pimps. Didn't they want to be gangstas yesterday?

Chris Rock was appalled by "Lil' Pimp," a cartoon movie in the works about a child pimp.

"That's where I draw the line. That's where I get corny. My daughter will not be at the kid pimp movie," says the comedian, whose movie "Pootie Tang" was akin to a pimp fashion show. "I want to meet the white executive who said, 'Yes! Lil' Pimp!'"

Lol what will this world churn up next. If any of you haven't seen Bad Boys II yet, get your ass out and SEE it soon! It was quite simply the best movie of the summer besides Matrix Reloaded if you count that as a summer blockbuster. Ahh it's almost the weekend, thank GOD. I need the shore, the beach, the bay, the shore house. And I need it soon...

Tuesday, July 29, 2003

Ahh memories of Red House fooseball I cannot wait to return and continue my undefeated streak.
Napster's Glorious Return!

Finally. Maybe the music industry has been reading my blog? :P

Monday, July 28, 2003

Dubbed "Mr. Entertainment" star, Bob Hope has passed away. With over 475 tv shows and 1,000 radio shows, his career has spanned many decades. A man who was born in 1903 and made me laugh many a time. Some things are timeless and will always bridge the gap between generations. Rest in peace Bob. When Christmas rolls around, it will be bittersweet for your special will not be a part of my holiday anymore.
Concerned that information about your file-sharing username may have been subpoenaed by the RIAA?

How Not To Get Sued By The RIAA For File-Sharing
(And Other Ideas to Avoid Being Treated Like a Criminal
)

I fully support the Electronic Frontier Foundation. They are a group of, as they put it, "non-profit group of passionate people — lawyers, volunteers, and visionaries — working to protect your digital rights." First of all these guys are non-profit which I really respect pro-bono work. Helps me to maintain the belief that not all lawyers are bloodsucking maggots as popularly believed. They're supporting a legal means of file-sharing which I think is a wonderful idea. There are two ways mp3/movie/media trading can go from here.

1) We continue to share files. Artists continue to lose a slight bit of money (since most of their income comes from concerts/venues anyways), but the music industry takes a big hit. The music industry will continue to lash out at anyone they can in a desperate attempt that is likeable to punching a 20ft wave. Sales of IPods skyrocket...

2) The RIAA and music industry get a much needed clue and work with artists and the common consumer to come up with a veritable solution that benefits everybody. Such things have already been put in motion, but they are not at full potential yet. Buy.com's BuyMusic just launched last week, and they actually are pretty reasonable. $7-$9.99 per album and individual songs ranging from $.79-$.99. That I could deal with. You even save by buying the album as a whole. I haven't seen any prices higher on standard CDs yet. Music needs to encompass an integration onto online media.

This is one area where the Britain comes through with shining colors. I recently borrowed and ripped (the RIAA does not scare me :) the Ministry of Sound's "The Annual" 2003. 2 CD-set mixed by DJ Sammy. Pretty decent. Not as good as 2002, but still some good hits. One song was really awesome and I totally got into it and went and found the video shortly after. Divine Inspiration's "The Way" is the name of the song. Upon going to the Ministry of Sound webpage I immediately saw the concise nature they'd arranged things into. When I found Divine Inspiration's page there was the music video streamed online for all to watch, and on the left menu bar options to download the song, and in many versions! I don't know about you, but when I find a good techno song (or even a rock hit that's been remixed), I go and try to find as many remixes as possible. Each one is usually better than the last. Well I found about 2 or 3 yesterday for this particular song, but there were some hard to get ones, or versions which only came in WMA (Windows Media format) which is horrible and gets delays playing in even winamp. Sounds like it needs to buffer like you were streaming it live online...hum. Well on the site you can buy all the versions, order the cd, buy it in vinyl, or burn it straight to cd. They only iff I have with this site is that they limit the times you can burn it per month. Some sites limit the times you can download it, or number of times you can burn it at all. Some of them don't even let you do that, but allow you to export it to a MP3 device. This doesn't make too much sense to me, (well it does for OBVIOUS reasons) but my logic here is that when I buy a CD, I now own the right to make personal copies to my heart's content. As long as I'm not passing them out to anyone, I could have Madonna's Hollywood cd copied 500x. Roughly 30% of my mp3 collection (out of 11,000 songs that's something like 3300) are legitimate owns, meaning I own the actual CD it came off of. The rest is a blatant smack to the music industry :) The accessibility of the site and the "shopping cart" buying experience makes it very Amazonlike in feel. I think it's well integrated, and if we could mimic the same thing on artists own websites, I think we'd see a resurgence in album sales once again. If I remember correctly there was a movie industry monopoly way back at the beginning of this century. FIL 485 taught me well, because I remember that monopoly was abolished by Thomas Edison. I serioulsy doubt the music industry will collapse, lol. They are going to have to adapt a little quicker though or suffer horrible sales not much unlike Jacko's latest album >:L

Pearl Jam is a once again bona fide unsigned band again! lol