President Bush and the Effects of War

I don't even know what to say. Check out these photos.

Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll

Do you know what your kids are listening to? A new study from the American Public Health Association shows that one-third of songs today have a reference to either drugs or alcohol in them. The study looked at 279 of the bestselling songs in 2005, based on the Billboard magazine charts. They also separated it out into 5 genres that are "popular with kids" (rap, country, R&B/hip-hop, rock, pop).

• ♫ Pop 9%
  
• ♫ Rock - 14%
  
• ♫ R&B/hip-hop - 20%
  
• ♫ Country - 37%
  
• ♫ Rap - 77%
  
• ♫ Total - 33%

Honestly, I'm not surprised. One of my favorite albums, Boys and Girls in America, has a mention of substance abuse in every song. We all know that drugs and alcohol goes with the Rock and Roll lifestyle and even if every band member doesn't give into the temptation, there is still an influence on the music. Even I've written songs about that stuff, though I've only drank alcohol.

That said, look at the source. I guess it makes sense that they are looking at the most popular songs, since that's what kids tend to listen to. But the article failed to mention other sub-genres like Straight-Edge and Christian Rock. Also, 279 songs is barely a legitimate sampling of music in my mind.

I wonder how the numbers would have changed if they had included sex in there. Or even degrading statements towards women (I'm look at you Rap music).

[Yahoo News via Digg]

Phil Collins meets Wonderbra

Guys, if you look close you may see a drumset. If you watch even closer, you might actually notice that she isn't actually playing it. In fact, she doesn't actually strike any of the drums. Weak. Enjoy!

Moby supports Indie films

Okay, Moby is NOT my favorite musician. In fact, I don't really like him at all. But he isn't totally worthless. Moby is releasing 44 tracks for free use by Indie filmmakers. What a great idea! It only promotes his music even more while helping out some great Indie films. Hopefully more artists will do this. In the words of former-almost-candidate for the presidency Stephen Colbert would say, "A tip of the hat to you Moby". Props to you!

The Frequency EP

Artist: PlayRadioPlay!
Release Date: April 24, 2007
Stand Out Songs: Confines of Gravity, Mr. Brightside(cover)
Favorite Lyric(s):
Sounds Like: think Postal Service mixed with hellogoodbye

Thoughts: This kid is talented. Barely 18 years old and he's already touring with some of my favorite bands like Paramore, Fall Out Boy and Anberlin. And that's after a 4 month stint in rehab, at the age of 14! Daniel Hunter, who now claims to be straight-edge, began PlayRadioPlay! in his garage, and was picked up by an Island Records subsidiary a year ago.

The thing that I love about this EP is the simplicity of the lyrics over top of great electronic beats. It's all catchy, and all good.

Extras: Check out PlayRadioPlay!'s website below to get 2 free demo tracks. Elephants As Big As Whales is actually one of my favorite songs by him.

Bottom Line: 80 / 100

Band Website | Wikipedia | Purevolume | Myspace
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Holy Cow! Rube Goldberg at his best.

Note: This is not Rube Goldberg's invention but they are still pretty sweet.

Listen up RIAA! P2P is your friend

You know how the music industry is pouring money into catching people for illegally downloading music? And the RIAA is becoming a bigger and bigger pain in the ass? Well, it turns out that music downloading actually INCREASES music purchases. Yes, that is right. The more people who download music, the more money these big record labels make. And yet they are spending so much money to stop it. Ridiculous.

The study, aptly named The Impact of Music Downloads and P2P File-Sharing on the Purchase of Music: A Study for Industry Canada, found some interesting things:

• ♫ downloading the equivalent of approximately one CD increases purchasing by about half of a CD
• ♫ roughly one quarter [of songs] were downloaded because they were not available for purchase
• ♫ people who buy digital downloads are not less likely to buy CDs
• ♫ purchases of other forms of entertainment such as cinema and concert tickets, and video games tend to increase with music purchases

I sure hope the record labels start paying attention to this information. I can only hope the music industry is shifting towards smaller labels and better/cheaper music.

[Cybernet News]

Jim is gaying things

This is an actual IM conversation I had with my roommate Sophomore year of college. This makes me laugh every time I read it. (oh yeah, Jim/John were our other two roommates)

nimit (12:17:53 AM): andrew!
me (12:17:56 AM): yo
nimit (12:18:09 AM): i need to tell you something
me (12:18:15 AM): ok
nimit (12:18:16 AM): it's important
nimit (12:18:20 AM): you can't tell everyone
nimit (12:18:26 AM): ready......
me (12:18:26 AM): can i tell anyone?
nimit (12:18:30 AM): no
me (12:18:31 AM): k
nimit (12:18:36 AM): jim is gay
nimit (12:18:44 AM): i saw him
me (12:18:50 AM): him doing what?
nimit (12:18:50 AM): gaying things
nimit (12:18:59 AM): he gayed the toaster oven
nimit (12:19:09 AM): it was gross, there was butter everywhere
me (12:19:26 AM): what exactly doing "gaying" mean?
nimit (12:19:38 AM): it's everything you think, and more....
nimit (12:19:44 AM): lot of penis on metal contact
nimit (12:19:52 AM): note: a catholic penis
me (12:19:52 AM): sounds like a lot of chaffing
nimit (12:20:15 AM): he got a haircut too
nimit (12:20:21 AM): probably to gay you
me (12:20:40 AM): he cant gay me
nimit (12:21:07 AM): that's fine
me (12:21:22 AM): but he can gay you
me (12:21:27 AM): or even worse, JOHN
nimit (12:23:09 AM): he'll be gaying all of us
nimit (12:23:16 AM): there's no escaping it
me (12:23:24 AM): good thing i'm never home
me (12:23:34 AM): soon we will have drapes!
me (12:23:39 AM): pink frilly ones
nimit (12:24:48 AM): jim and i are both naked right now
nimit (12:24:55 AM): and we're fine with that
me (12:25:52 AM): why am i not surprised
nimit (12:26:55 AM): my penis hurts
me (12:27:08 AM): from?
me (12:27:23 AM): poor yittle nimmers
nimit (12:29:18 AM): i got my penis caught in the car door
me (12:29:48 AM): your car door?
me (12:31:39 AM): why was it "out and about" while you were shutting the car door?
nimit (12:34:27 AM): things
me (12:34:42 AM): things??
nimit (12:36:05 AM): yEA

Radiohead's "Free" Album Cashes In

Remember a few weeks ago when I talked about the new Radiohead album? The one that's "pay what you want"? Well the statistics are in.

• ♫ 2 million people downloaded the album (via InRaindbows.com)
  
• ♫ 62% didn't pay a cent
  
• ♫ On average, people paid $2.26 (US dollars)
  
• ♫ 10% of the people who paid, paid over $12, and made up over 25% of the revenue
  

So if an artist typically makes one dollar or less for a single album sale, Radiohead more than doubled their profit! Like I said, genius.

[itwire]

"Did you know?"

There is no other word to describe this but "crazy". The world we live in is so complex, and sometimes I feel as though I am on the cutting edge. Yet, in two years everything I learned could be obsolete.

Now you know.

Note: My little brother called me to make sure that I thanked him for sending me this video. Thank you Win. If it wasn't for this video, I would have continued to think you were worthless.

In other news: I am swamped with work.

I can't help it baby, this is who I am
Sorry, but I can't just go turn off how I feel
You kill me, you build me up, but just to watch me break
I know what I should do, but I just can't walk away

♫ Jimmy Eat World Kill

I want to be this guy

I think she just hangs out in dream land...

according to my dream last night, this girl I know is still hot and a really good kisser.