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.