Best commute ever today. Walked to the Brooklyn Bridge. As I was waiting for the light to change to cross the street to get onto the bridge, some random woman pulled up in her car and said "I need three people to get across the bridge!" Me and three other people standing at the corner just looked at each other and said "...OK!"

I got dropped off two blocks from work, made it in on time. Today is a good day.

Here is a list of things that I hate:

-Those little plastic pulltabs on orange juice and soy milk containers that you have to pull off when you first open them.
-The Who.
-Scenes in movies where all of a sudden the computer has all the answers. One character will sit in front of the computer and take charge, which means typing frantically on the keyboard, while at least two others watch over his shoulder with baited breath. The viewer is supposed to believe, then, that this individual can navigate through sophisticated menus filled with vector graphics right out of Tron to come across the answer, like where the bomb is or where the nuclear missile is about to detonate, without touching a mouse once. According to Hollywood, q-w-e-r-t-y can solve all the world's problems.
-People that make a statement, and then say "Why?" and then go on to answer their own question, but we've covered this already.
-Having to shake a beverage before drinking it (also, see #1).
-Turnips.
-WALKING A MILE TO THE BROOKLYN LIRR STATION IN THE FREEZING COLD, TO BE GREEETED BY A 45 MINUTE LINE TO BUY TICKETS FOR THE TRAIN, TO TAKE THE TRAIN TO JAMAICA QUEENS, TO THEN HAVE TO BE ROUTED OUT OF THE TRAIN STATION TO THE STREET BELOW, TO STAND IN THE FREEZING COLD FOR TWO AND A HALF HOURS, TO FINALLY GET A TRAIN INTO PENN STATION... TO GO TO WORK.

I was able to really test out the Rhapsody service this weekend as I churned out spreadsheet after spreadsheet. Side note - did I mention next week is my last week for school? Anyway, I'm in heaven. Any service that lets you stream the entire Depeche Mode discography (every mini-e.p. and single ever released is on there) one second and then stream the all 16 glorious minutes of the original 12" version of Donna Summer's "Love to Love you Baby" next gets seventeen thumbs up in my book.

I got to check out the entire catalog of two artists I've been meaning to check out for a while - Sergio Mendes and Vince Guaraldi. Sergio Mendez is the bossa nova king, and after a couple of his albums I felt at peace with the earth and I was dying for a good martini. Vince Guaraldi is perhaps best known for providing the music for the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. His stuff is amazing as well.

The service is not without its snags, though. The house and techno offerings are severely limited. There's hardly anything there (e.g. not even Richie Hawtin), and although Orbital's catalog is on there for some reason the original version of "Chime" is absent. Also, the service completely crashed Firefox twice (which, knowing Firefox, may not be Rhapsody's fault).

The next step is dedicating a computer for the living room to stream this stuff through the stereo.

It's great to see something you are witness to every morning immortalized in the Times : the G Line Sprint. Now, do you think they could use the left over conductors to run some more F trains? My commute always seems to quadruple in hellishness once winter hits.

OK, so after hearing some glowing reviews, I've just subscribed to Rhapsody. Basically, you pay 10 bucks a month for the ability to stream 1.3 million songs a month. No downloading of files- you are basically renting access to their library. It's kind of an odd concept to get used to, but the first hour you're on board you're like a kid in a candy store. The selection is impressive. For example, the following artist seem to be very well represented:

-Tom Waits
-John Coltrane
-Miles Davis
-Fela Kuti
-Pavement
-Kraftwerk
-Ibrahim Ferrer
-Pet Shop Boys
-Neutral Milk Hotel
-Franz Ferdinand
-Cocteau Twins

So, there's a lot to explore beyond the usual chart-toppers. I didn't delve into the hip-hop selection too much yet, and as expected the house and techno offerings were mainly limited to the larger labels such as Astralwerks, V2 and FFRR (are they still around?). Still, it's amazing to be able to hear almost anything you want instantly, I'll be able to check out artists I've been meaning to try for years, and it works on my PC at work so I am no longer dependant on the radio. Now, let's see how long this service lasts.

Man, is today gruelling. So much to do but so little drive to actually do it, and I can't seem to drink enough coffee. Here is a list of things that I would rather do than be at work today:

-Take a nap
-Go Christmas shopping
-Iron my shirts
-Consolidate some student loans
-Dust
-Defrag my hard drive
-Become addicted to crack cocaine

Today's hangover helper: A collection of West Village photographs from the 60's. It's amazing how some parts look almost exactly the same today, while other areas seem like a completely different world.

It never fails. Every winter John Lennon's "Happy Christmas" gives me the chills like I'm hearing it for the first time.

It annoys the crap out of a lot of people, but I'll be damned if there ain't no music like Christmas music.

It totally sucks when someone just runs off and steals your idea.

So, I turn 30 in three weeks.

When I graduated from college I told a fellow music geek friend of mine that in our 30's we'd end up buying the two albums that sold bucketloads during our college career but never bought- Bush's Sixteen Stone and Alanis Morisette's Jagged Little Pill. Both of them were inescapable in the mid-90s. I hated Bush for being so popular despite their lack of originality (I still swooned over "Swallowed", beating out the Toadies and McClusky for best Pixies rip-off ever). I hated Alanis for her calculated confessionalism and that frickin' harmonica. I really hated both of them because the Nerve played them every five minutes.

So, today, inbetween procrastinating and doing an assignment for school, I realized the grunge-hating other half (for some reason) has Sixteen Stone, and I'm listening to it. I'm kind of liking it. Still not diggin' Alanis too much, though.

So, in honor of Bush, here is a list of things that were popular when I was 20 that noone really cares about anymore:

-Sun Dried Tomatoes
-The Smashing Pumpkins
-Doc Martens
-Automobiles smaller than tanks
-Low fat everything
-NYPD Blue
-Drum n Bass
-Compact Discs
-Democrats
-Jeans that cost less than 200 bucks

I love the 90s!!

After years and years of browsing, we just broke down and got a big ass TV. The thing is enormous. We've gone from a second-hand 20" TV on the verge of exploding to 50" of High Def glory. We love it. Movies look nice and big. We watch stuff that we don't even like just because it's in HD.

This begs the question - is my new TV evil? I find myself daydreaming about watching my big ass TV now. Whenever I'm home now, the big ass TV must be on, so I can bask in its glory even if I'm not watching it. My cat (who won't go near the thing) is begging for attention even more now that I'm content to stare glassy eyed at the Discover HD channel. I even have "TV Party" by Black Flag in my head now.

Anybody know if those HD-upconverting DVD players are worth it? Our current player is so old it doesn't even have progressive scan.

Be prepared to visit your new favorite website - Overheard in New York. Man, some of this stuff is just golden. Like this one for instance. Ahhhh, pure gold.

The new Depeche Mode is about 30,000 times better than Exciter, with a refreshing return to a more synthesizer driven sound slightly reminiscent of Violator and Music for the Masses. Unfortunately, it lacks the sweeping dramatics and beauty of those classics. It's definitely worth picking up, but don't expect to hear anything as timeless as "Enjoy the Silence" or "Blue Dress."

If you like the Arcade Fire, check out "Cold Wind" from the Six Feet Under soundtrack. Just lovely.

I feel the need to share a pretty interesting dream I had the other night.

Discount Kid (the unprolific Portishead of the blogworld) and I were on a cruise. I was browsing in the duty free shop when all of a sudden I realised that all but one of my credit cards had been stolen. Two teenagers quickly came to my aid, and were awfully interested in the theft. When I told them that I still had one credit card left, they asked me for the account number, and it was then that I realised that these were the people that actually stole my credit cards.

Since I said "You're the two who stole my credit cards!" without telling any officials first, they ran off before I could put the beat down on them. After they were gone, I realized they actually worked for Courtney Love.

Courtney Love, you see, was also on the cruise ship. All she did was walk around, from time to time, in the finest evening wear, with an entourage of Californian brown nosers following her. I spent the rest of the dream hunting Courtney's ass down with the intense sense of revenge of the bride from Kill Bill. I would be walking (stealthily) around the various levels of the cruise ship, see Courtney Love, and go absolutely buck wild. Somehow she'd get away, only for me to run into her later and start rolling with the punches again. I even threw a glass coffee table at her. If you can't tell, I was really really mad at Courtney Love.

While all this was going on, Gwen Stefani was shooting her new music video. Gwen Stefani could jump 20 feet in the air and hover.

So, what happened to the house hunting you asked? Well, it's still going on, but to a much less focused degree. After putting in a losing bid on a cute one bedroom in Chelsea in the late Spring, we didn't find anything worth getting excited about at all. Also, every Friday for the past twenty weeks has contained some sort of debate between the blog shunning discountkid and myself about what is going to happen to the housing market over the next two years. I've maintained my position throughtout - this market is bollocks, everything is way overpriced, we are only making other people rich by buying something right now, the market is unsustainable and will cool down soon, and we should only make an offer on something if we absolutely love the place, because we'll have been wiped out of all of our capital and it will take a few years to build up our finances if we want to trade up to something larger.

Over the past week, the New York Times has been really trying hard to prove me right. First off was last week's article teaching the masses about the immense cost advantages of renting instead of buying, typically an indicator of an out of control market. Then today's news that the market is slowing down (which was very obvious to us this summer when we were often one of a whopping grand total of three visitors at an open house).

I know a market crash would have some pretty nasty affects on the economy. I'd just like things to reduce to a more realistic level for now. I just pity the people that think prices are going to raise 10-30% a year indefinitely. I also have some great dotcom stocks for them that are going to just blow through the roof.

God, Part II.


Me:
Do you like Destiny's Child?
God:
I enjoy working with people. I like wine and bread.
Me:
Are you saying Beyonce works for you?
God:
Yes, that's what I mean, isn't it clear?
Me:
How much does she make?
God:
Normally I would search the web right now, but that seems like a silly question.
Me:
Her salary is on the net?
God:
I'm sure she would like to hear about that.
Me:
Yeah, quite frankly I think she'd be a bit pissed off.
God:
Alright then. Somewhat. Why? Oh I get it. would be a bit pissed off. Aren't you always frank?
Me:
Well, think about it God, that's pretty confidential information, no?
God:
Interesting. I am thinking about it.
Me:
How about Kanye West? I kinda like the guy.
God:
How about it. That's good information: said kinda like the guy.
Me:
Oh, you'll tell him for me?
God:
Hurrah! OK I will tell him next time he is here.
Me:
Kanye West travels between the worlds of the living and the dead?
God:
My brain uses AIML to format responses to your inputs, but I don't have one for that.
Me:
I guess that is kind of a tough question.
God:
Perhaps you have a tough answer.

After following a link on a site linked by another blog, I had the following discussion with God:



Me:
Am i a good person?
God:
I don't know if you are one or not. I know you are a person.
Me:
Am i a person?
God:
You are.
Me:
Well, that's nice.
God:
How about that. That is " You are .".
Me:
This is a bit abstract.
God:
What makes you say that?
Me:
I thought this would all be different.
God:
Whatever gave you that idea?
Me:
I pictured God to be more warm, welcoming, less Freudian perhaps.
God:
Do you mind if I tell other people: said pictured God to be more warm welcoming less Freudian perhaps.
Me:
Are you fishing for compliments now?
God:
Oh. I don't like to fish.
Me:
Isn't that the symbol for your son and all?
God:
I might say no.
Me:
Wow, this is a major breakthrough then!
God:
I'm glad you're impressed. That is just your personal opinion.
Me:
I'm very fond of my own opinions.
God:
What do you like best about your own opinions?
Me:
They're hot.
God:
hot are they.
Me:
Wanna find out?
God:
I don't think I have a choice.
Me:
That's what he said.
God:
That is " I don't think I have a choice.".

I had the single greatest class of my entire MBA experience Monday night. It was the first session of a finance class I'm taking called "The Business of Music and Film." It started out with the CFO of Univeral/Motown (one of the three professors for the class, another professor is the soon to be ex-CFO of Miramax films/soon to be CFO of the Weinstein Bros new initiative) handing out free copies of the new Damian Marley CD to everyone. Then, we watched the video for the lead single, and discussed, well, the music business. Believe me, after three years of case studies, formulas, and financial analysis, discussing the impact of 50 Cent on Univeral's bottom line is absolute heaven.

The Miramax CFO took over for the second half of class, which was cool too, because it was nice to see a focus on corporate finance that is more similar to my position than that of an investment banker/portfolio analyst.

What I truly cherished about the class was that it got me excited, instead of worried, about my future. After three years of intense focus of investment banking, I felt like it was the only path that I should take, as if I was being inexorably dragged towards it, that my financial peers would consider me a flake for staying in the entertainment biz. I started preparing myself for the lack of any sort of life that goes along with banking, the 80+ hour work weeks, spending Saturday and Sunday at your desk, the intense pressure of watching the slightest movements in the Dow, the co-workers that I would have absolutely nothing in common with.

But as I listened to the CFO of Universal/Motown speak, it clicked. It might impress certain people if I worked at Bear Sterns, but how f'ing cool would it be if I worked at Def Jam or Interscope or Sony or Take Two Interactive? Who needs seven figure bonuses when you like what you do and get paid well to do it? How on Earth could I consider being a consultant?

I'm really glad I passed on taking Debt Instruments when I signed up for this class.

Oh, please please please I hope this works out. There is nothing worse than finding yourself stuck in an area where you can't think of a store with an accessable bathroom nearby and having to go (really bad) all of a sudden. Part of the reason why I have a universal New York Sports Club membership is that it gives me plenty of locations across the city to duck into for decent restroom facilities.

The public facilites will probably be destroyed within six months, but here's to hoping that there will come a time when we won't, in a fit of panic, be cursing ourselves for having that extra cup of coffee at brunch.

It's been a while since I had a Friday fun post, so here we go - I'M A ROCKETMAN!

(You're probably best off downloading the file to your desktop since you'll most likely have to watch this one again. What on Earth were people on in the '70s?)

Just finished Middlesex, my in-between semesters Summer fun reading. Highly recommended.

Newsweek has a downright frightening article regarding the president's response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I've always felt like this guy lived in some manufactured alternate universe, and I'm not particularly happy to find that my suspicions have been confirmed. Why would one have to take the time to compile a DVD of footage when you could simply turn on CNN/Fox and see it immediately?

Guilty pleasure of the year : My Super Sweet 16 on MTV. Holy cow.

As I was trying to fall asleep last week, random thoughts started popping into my head. I was thinking about how Ol' Dirty Bastard completely bum-rushed Shawn Colvin's acceptance speech at the Grammy's a few years ago, and it made me kind of sad about his death since people don't interrupt speeches nearly enough. Then I started thinking about how sushi is basically taking over the world. It seems like half of all new restaurants opening around town are sushi joints (same goes for South Beach), and I figured it's only a matter of time before we have a fast-food-esque Sushi chain.

Then came the eureka moment - what better theme song to use in the initial marketing campaign for the nation's first major sushi chain than Ol' Dirty Bastard's "Shimmy Shimmy Ya"? Can't you see the commercials showing fabulous assortments of maki and tempura, with ODB's throaty "Yeah baby I like it RAAAAWWWWW" as the backdrop? Good, now give me my million dollars.

Today, I filled out the best form in the world - my graduation application for school. After going for my MBA part time for the last three years, I have one semester left. Come Christmas, I will no longer have to juggle my responsibilities between work and school. This makes me very very happy.

I have become such a bad student this year, along with everyone else graduating this year. I used to at least try to read everything that was assigned, now it's gotten to the point where I might glance at it and just wait to hear what I'll be tested on. It's kind of a vicious cycle - the further into your MBA you are, the higher up you become, the more responsibilities you're handed, the more meetings you're running back and forth from, the more difficult it becomes to leave at 5:30 twice a week for class. I missed about 40% of the classes for this summer's second term because I simply couldn't leave.

I'm glad I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I started this whole process, because I probably wouldn't have gone through with it. :)

So January will be a very nice month, not having to run to class, and knowing that every weekend will be homework free. Then it'll be time for another necessary evil - job interviews!

Hmmm, ten songs I'm totally into right now:

- Robert Owens : I'll Be Your Friend (an old house classic, heard it in Miami a couple weeks ago and it sounded so fresh)
- Depeche Mode : Never Let Me Down
- The New Radicals : You Get What You Give
- Kanye West : Gold Digger
- The Game : Dreams
- Gorillaz : Feel Good Inc.
- Joey Beltram : Energy Flash
- Armand Van Helden : Flowerz
- Orbital : Halcyon + On + On
- Chic : Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)

I hereby tag Phyllis Gabor and Loneliness is Pornography

Much is being said about the closing of CBGBs, I think it's time for the place to go. The longer it stays open, the more images of its heydey in the late seventies are tarnished.

Just a few blocks down from CBGBs on the Bowery, though, another NYC establishment is closing its doors too. Satellite Records will soon be no more as well, at least in brick and mortar form.

After I bit the bullet and dropped the cash for my Technics 1200-MK2s, I asked my favorite DJ where he got his shit from, because it certainly wasn't at the stores I was going to. Prophetically and with angels flying around his head, he said "Go to Satellite, ask for so and so, and you'll be on your way."

I spent years digging through the piles and piles of vinyl contained within, searching for the secret weapons I'd heard the Friday before. I quickly learned to branch out from the standard Hard and Tribal House sections, into Tech House, Progressive House, Deep Trance, Minimal Techno, and the billions of other sub-genres, searching for the perfect loop. It was incredibly intimidating at first to stare at the walls and walls of underground stuff from all over the world, but pretty soon I was just grabbing everything and plowing through it on the listening stations, pitching down the hard german techno from 160 to 125 bpms to see how it sounded.

You can't imagine how much horrible horrible dance music I heard, but I also heard plenty of moments of genius as well.

A few years ago, it became apparent that something was very wrong. The moments of genius were becoming more and more thinly spread amongst the rest of the crap, the new stuff listed online wasn't available in the store, and you were no longer fighting for a listening station. Every time that I've been there in the past two years I was generally one of four customers in the entire place, and unless I had specifically ordered something online to be picked up in the store, I probably walked out empty handed, feeling like I had wasted my time.

I suppose that just as with CBGB, it's Satellite's time to go. I kind of knew it was coming, but I'm also kind of sad to see it happen.

International finance just got a hell of a lot more interesting.

Got that new J Lo song stuck in your head? It might not be just because it's catchy, you could be having musical hallucinations!!

Phyllis tagged me, so here we go:

10 Years Ago Today: I was on summer break from college, working at Toys R Us (which is more hellish and stressful than you could possibly imagine). Working out everyday and in the middle of losing 100 lbs. Lollapalooza rocked this year, and Portishead, Bjork, and Sebadoh were in heavy rotation.

Five Years Ago Today: I was plotting my climb up the corporate ladder (it worked, I guess, I've been promoted four times since then). Living in Hoboken with my shmoop-dog, and going out to Vinyl and Roxy just about every weekend.

1 Year Ago Today: I was in Madrid and London!!!! I took the summer off from school and we walked through a huge chunk of Manhattan and Brooklyn on the weekends.

Yesterday: Slightly hungover in the morning and was inexplicably exhausted all day, left work shortly after five, came home, took a nap, went out for dinner, and slept some more.

Today: Went out for brunch at this amazing Cuban place that just opened down the street, went to Lowe's in Red Hook to get a new pot and some potting soil, made it home before a sneak attack thunderstorm (it really came out of nowhere), getting stuff done around the house, waiting for the other half to get off the damn phone so we can figure out what we're doing tonight.

Tomorrow: Going to open houses in the Chelsea/West Village area. Replanting my basil plant, which is thriving!!!!

5 Snacks I enjoy: Tortilla chips with guacamole, tortilla chips with pico de gallo, tortilla chips with hummus, tortilla chips with baba ganouj, tortilla chips.

5 Bands That I Know the Lyrics to Most of Their Songs: Nirvana, Radiohead, the Pixies, A Tribe Called Quest, Massive Attack

5 Things I Would Do with a $100,000,000: Buy a four story town house in the Chelsea/Far West Village area, fix up my Mom's house a bit, invest in an emerging markets hedge fund, spend a year travelling.

5 Locations I Would Like to Run Away to: San Fransisco, South Beach, London, Madrid, Barcelona

5 Bad Habits I Have: Forgetting to call people back, forgetting people's names when I meet them, throwing my clothes on the chair instead of hanging them up when I get home, shaving too fast in the morning, hitting snooze too much in the morning.

5 Things I Like Doing: Hanging out in the citay, going to bars/clubs with friends, dancing, going on vacation, shopping.

5 Things I would Never Wear: Boat shoes, a cowboy hat, leather pants, anything from International Male, a bathing suit.

5 TV Shows I Like: The Simpsons, Barefoot Contessa, Martha Stewart Living, Futurama, The Price is Right

5 Movies I Like: Psycho, Pulp Fiction, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Clueless, Night of the Living Dead

5 Famous People I would Like to Meet: Madonna, Bjork, Henry Rollins, Courtney Love, M.I.A.

5 Biggest Joys at the Moment: My shmoop-dog, my iPod, my cat, my Game Boy, my 30 gigs worth of mp3's.

5 favorite toys: See above.

5 People to Tag: Hmmm... Kreblog, Underground Dragon, Contagious, Life With Basu, and Lnotes (so she'll update her blog!) :)

Wow, it's been a while since I've been wary of taking the subway in the morning. There weren't too many people on the train this morning, so I wonder how many people decided not to chance it and called in sick today. The cops were out in full force, which was a bit reassuring. As much as I love the subway, it was hard to not feel a bit vulnerable walking down those stairs today.

Every day should be the 4th of July. You get to:

-sleep in
-hang out on a roof all day
-eat bbq'd veggie burgers
-meet random people
-play with dogs
-get a killer tan
-drink beer out of a cooler
-watch fireworks go up against the New York skyline and feel like a kid again

The new Batman flick rocks, go see it.

Yesterday, Canada said "we rock" and today, Spain said "yeah, well we rock too, and our country is like, totally fabulous". Thoughts of expatriating dance in my head (do you think we can move all of NYC to Spain?)

New David Sedaris story in the New Yorker. I think my dream job would have to involve reading David Sedaris novels while playing with puppies and kitties.

On Saturday, some guy around the corner from my apartment had a huge used record and CD sale. The sale was to start at 10 am. My train out to Long Island (doing yard work for mom and dad) was at 11:15, so I left the house early enough to allow myself a decent window of time to sort through whatever was there, grab a bagel and coffee, and hightail it over to the LIRR. Since I had planned on getting there at 10 am on the dot, my largest concern was whether the guy would actually be set up yet. I began dreaming of the rare treats that I would find for pennies. Perhaps he would be getting rid of the Adam Beyer remixes to Damon Wild's "Warpath," ending one of my hunts from the past few years.

OK, so it's 10 am, the thing's just started, right? I get to the guy's front stoop and there's like 20 guys there. Every single obsessive compulsive record collector in town was there to get first dibs. Shit was crazy.

Everyone was in this "I'm going to find a bargain" fever. I got shoved about five times within the first minute. I would be flipping through a line of CDs, and someone would come over and start flipping through the same column that I was looking at. I couldn't even make it to the area where the vinyl was, but someone was holding a copy of Nirvana's Incesticide on vinyl that was two bucks.

I was becoming frustrated rather quickly. I hadn't had my morning coffee yet. Then crazy old school Brooklyn lady arrived, and I swear I almost completely lost it.

So this lady comes from down the street, sees everyone going buck wild, and realizes she's missing out on the chance of a lifetime. She grabs the first pile of CDs she sees (from the electronica section I might add, I might also add that this lady is 55 years old) and yells "Can ya hold these aside fuh me?!?" Keep in mind she's not asking anyone in particular this question, as she doesn't see any difference between the crowd of people looking through the inventory for items to purchase and the person sitting by the curb counting his money. Certainly we all would have a hard time identifying the best person to ask questions regarding the record sale in this situation.

She then sees that one of the CDs she's holding has a rather racy cover and decides to tell me "Oh, I won't be buying that one." Then, another question popped in her head that needed immediate attention but was directed at noone in particular - "How much ya got all these tapes fuh!?!?" An important side note here - there were no tapes at this sale, only CDs and vinyl, and all prices were clearly marked with a yellow sticker on each item.

After realizing that she didn't know any of the artists in the pile of CDs she was holding, it was time for the next question. "Ya got any oldies?!?!?" No one answered so she asked this like five times, getting louder each time. I ran over to pay for my item and got the fuck out of there.

I got the Beth Gibbons solo CD that came out a few years ago, but I never picked up for some reason, for three bucks. Word!

There comes a time in every aging record buyer's life when one must ask oneself a truly serious question - do I buy a record I own already re-released with marginal value added content? Sometimes it's really easy to cave in to temptation, especially when it's the best album ever.

Kim's Underground, the headquarters for the wonderfully obscure, got raided. They're certainly an odd target for a crack down on hip-hop mix tapes, being that the store is basically an indie music and film mecca. Why didn't they hit Beat Street in Brooklyn?

The other odd thing is that they're cracking down on mix tapes. These things aren't simple DJ mixes, these things feature tracks that will never be officially released by the artist's label. If the major labels are upset about missing out on this piece of the pie, perhaps its time, once again, for them to reconsider their business models.

Jack FM just played Quarterflash!

So, we just got one of those Jack FM stations that kind of mimic an iPod on shuffle. Pretty eclectic mix so far this morning - EMF, Def Leppard, the Cars, Staind, and Sinead O'Connor within half an hour. So far it seems to be a little too heavy on the 80's rock stuff for my tastes, but at least it's not the same five songs every hour.

Unfortunately, the addition of a new radio station means the loss of an old one, and CBS 101, the oldies station that's been around like, forever, took the hit for Jack FM. I loved cooking to the oldies, I'll have to find a new station for that now.

They're playing Mr. Roboto now. I think it might be the most bizarre song ever.

OK, I've got to hand it to Pitchfork, this is the best album review ever.

I'm sure I must have linked to stuff from this site before, but nonetheless, I have rediscovered Retro Junk and hereby deem it the best website in the world.

They've got tons of old commercials that you can stream, and watching them after not seeing them in years has made me realize something - your life before reaching eleven years of age must be the most confusing time in the world, because I barely remember any of these commercials that aired before I reached 6th grade. This is strange considering I watched TV nonstop.

Other important lessons:
-There was a Go-Bot named Baron Von Joy! He was a friendly robot sports car!
-Any hope of me developing into normal heterosexual adulthood flew (fabulously) out the window as soon as I saw the opening sequence to She-Ra. Woah. Just... woah. It even sounds like Giorgio Moroder wrote the theme song.
-You can have your stupid Mac G5. The Commodore Vic 20 is the wonder computer of the '80s.

These images of the Pope's dead body everywhere really give me the creeps.

I'm really not a fan of funerals where the cadaver is on display. I suppose it provides a certain closure to those mourning, but I really would rather not be laid out at my funeral. It's a terrible last image to have of someone.

So, instead, let's remember the Pope for who he was - the best breakdancing judge ever!

So, the frozen food aisle fascinates me. Being a vegetarian/food snob/relatively health conscious person, the majority of the items offerred are strictly taboo, and with the exception of Morningstar Farms' chick patties (yummericious!) and frozen peas, the only thing in my freezer is ice.

What fascinates me even more is that people eat this stuff, lots of it. Some people seem to live solely off of this stuff.

So, without further ado, I present the web page that captivated me while I ate my lunch today.

Question of the Day: Would the whole nu-metal thing have worked out better if, instead of Korn, the Deftones were the big break-out band? And if the Deftones had gotten really big, would they have begun to suck as much as Korn does?

Amazing tapas restaurant alert: Azafran. Surprisingly vegetarian friendly too. Highlight: grilled eggplant with mascarpone. Buttah!

Am I the only one who's completely awed and amazed whenever they see that Burger King commercial with Hootie? From the moment the ad starts until that country lady goes "Cooooome aaaaand geet it!" at the end, I completely tune out the rest of the world and focus solely on the TV. It's odd. I think I might even stop breathing when it's on.

It's the weekend, everyone! Call me on your banana phone!!!!

I totally hate real estate.

I like the idea of owning a place or even two or three, but when you're in the middle of a huge bubble (yes, I said it, even though no one wants to admit it, this is a bubble) and trying to buy in an already competitive market, the whole thing just becomes completely discouraging. Today's Times article about people acting completely irrationally is of no surprise to me. You didn't see the dump we saw going for $600K two days ago.

Actually, it's not that I don't hate real estate, I hate real estate agents. Most people hate lawyers, but real estate agents are one profession I think the world would be a better place without.

Roar!

Here's an article that reveals some interesting findings in cognitive psychology, but man, does it have one crappy headline.

Our government's attitude towards international relations:

-If you do not have nuclear weapons, we will invade your country if we feel like it.
-If you do have them, we gonna leave yo' ass alone!

HO LEEEE COW!!!!

EGM has another hilarious installment of their Child's Play feature, where they gather kids' opions on the cutting-edge time wasters of yesteryear. Their reaction to Mike Tyson's Punchout (a game I spent many an hour sitting Indian style in front of) is priceless, and their adoration for the first Legend of Zelda is surprising. The first installment can be found here.

You know what really, really, really, really grates on me? When someone makes a statement, then says "Why?", then answers their own question.

Example:

Me: "I don't like sardines."
Stupid Person: "I like sardines. Why? Because they are the only friends I have."

The "why" is completely unnecessary. If you are giving support for your statement, a "because" is sufficient. Or, you can end your sentence and begin a new sentence providing the support for your argument. Saying "Why?" between thoughts makes you sound like a pompous, arrogant blowhard and immediately reduces the validity of your supporting statement.

Saying "because" instead of "why" - it's a good thing.

Nifty Blog alert: 1000 Bars. Concept: Go to 1000 different bars in a year.

Since I'm always going to the same bars, maybe this guy will end up finding some hidden jems. His latest entry was all about my block, and his assessment of Village 227 is head on; that place is weird and it should be destroyed via baby giraffe stampede.

To build anticipation for my 30th Birthday Showcase Showdown, which is only a precious 10 months away (reserve your seat now, folks), I present the top indicators that I'm really getting old:

-I've stopped counting the grey hairs that fall off my head when I get my hair cut.
-New musical genres (see emo, crunk, glitch, screamo) irritate me and are basically just noise.
-Biz Markie is on a reality show.
-Flavor Flav is on TWO reality shows.
-Ice Cube is in a family movie!
-I find teenagers to be really dumb.
-Strangers say things to you like "Oh, to be young again" and expect you to say something in return like "I know what you're talking about, sweetie!"
-I find newfangled video games to be needlessly complicated and time consuming, and the fact that Mario and Zelda are key figures of my childhood dates me quite a bit.
-I'm starting to watch CBS Sunday Morning.