For all you OSX users out there, I just found this advice from MacWorld, entitled Ditch Your Documents Folder, immensely satisfying. It addresses the issue of all the useless folders that your applications tend to create inside your Documents folder, cluttering stuff up. I find now that I’ve separated my stuff from ‘their’ stuff, it was roughly 50/50! Now I’ve got a new Documents folder that’s 100% mine.
In retrospect, I find it intriguing that this was the only place on my system (except web directories) where I had named everything in lowercase. I think I was unconsciously using that as a (crappy) visual identification method. Much better now.
Update 2/14/2010 I’d recommend signing up for Dropbox and using your Dropbox folder as your new ‘real’ documents folder.
Wow! Amazon.com has launched a huge new Mp3 store with two million unrestricted mp3s, encoded at a decent level (256k), and for fair prices. I saw several albums at $8.99. I don’t know if they’re all like that or not. DRM is so dead! Finally!
Update 9/29/2007 I just bought my first album on this service (Can You Dig It? by Thee Emergency for $7.99). I recommend both the service and the album!
Last Friday night, I was told I was like “Adam Ant. You know, ‘don’t drink, don’t smoke, what do you do?’” Well, that got me started thinking about all the other ways I’m like Adam Ant, namely
- I wear makeup to emphasize my cheekbones
- I have a braid coming down in front with a little ribbon
- I spend all my cash on looking flash
- My wardrobe is like Bladerunner meets The Scarlet Pimpernel
The only difference between us, really, is that I didn’t write these amazing hit songs, and he did:
Adam & the Ants – Stand and Deliver
Adam & the Ants – Antmusic
Adam & the Ants – Kings of the Wild Frontier
I’m not sure why you don’t hear people trying this ‘Burundi beat’ more in their pop songs. Oh wait, you do:
Ok Go – Don’t Ask Me
photo: Jackie Roman
I read somewhere that Beat the Devil is like a combination of Man Man, Billie Holiday and Tom Waits. That’s pretty much right, in terms of identifying the style.
I hear they have a great live show. I’m disappointed they don’t have any upcoming dates in NYC. They seem to be playing just about everywhere else.
Beat the Devil – Shine in Exile
Beat the Devil – Raging Bull Blues
A while back I said I’d share what I found in the free music from SxSW ’07. This is one, so was Bird and the Bee. I’ve been going through it for months now, and I’m still in the B’s, apparently!
There is so much to catch up on! I was going to post on the new Bird and the Bee EP Please Clap Your Hands, but then I realized I missed the not-to-be missed ‘Again and Again’ from last freaking year.
The Bird and the Bee – Again & Again (also check out the video on YouTube)
And then now they have this fantastic new EP! I just love their sound. It’s like the Pipettes’ retro vibe meets Sterelab’s melodies. But with something more accessible and present than either.
The Bird and the Bee – Polite Dance Song
Update 7/25: The album for ‘Again & Again’ on Amazon’s new store is $8.90. The single for ‘Polite Dance Song’ is only $3.68!
photo: Sarah Dougher
Not sure why I’m not so excited about Viva Voce yet. I mean they’ve got it all, including a great live show. I like them at about an 8 now. I saw them open for someone last year at Bowery (‘last year’ in this context = between 6 and 24 months ago). Their message is all about love—they gave out fruit to people before the show. In fact I think their new album, which I haven’t heard yet, is called Viva Voce Love You.
Back then, they were a 7, which is a T-shirt level of like (I recommend their T-shirts). Now that I’ve re-listened to Get Yr Blood Sucked Out, I’m at an 8, and kinda wondering why it’s not more. I think perhaps because it’s not startling, or because I feel like I’ve heard it before. You be the judge.
Viva Voce – We Do Not Fuck Around
Incidentally, I read somewhere that they’re looking to do soundtrack work. I checked on their label-affiliate Bank Robber Music‘s website (which looks like a cool company, btw) that all they got was a measly placement on a fall episode of NBC’s highly questionable new drama Six Degrees.
In honor of Mark Shikuma’s birthday this past weekend, I present here the first mix CD we made together from our DJ days at Lolita. We distributed these discs on notoriously impractical black CDs as a souvenir. This one is from October ’02.
Josh & Wonderboy – Lolita 1 (ZIP, 75.7m)
These songs are good. You know what else is good? His website. Particularly the beautiful tour photos and gallery of former homepages.
John Vanderslice – Exodus Damage (Alias Remix)
John Vanderslice – Bill Gates Must Die
(In case you were wondering, here’s the cease and desist letter for that last one.)
While AT&T is hiring security guards to handle the throngs of customers ahead of their upcoming iPhone release, I’m wondering: what’s going on at Verizon and T-Mobile?
More specifically, I’m wondering whether they have any strategy to keep their customers from abandoning them — possibly until 2009?
Note to T-Mobile customer relations: draw up a list of every customer that either
- spent over $100 on their phone, or
- has a phone with Bluetooth,
and offer them a free upgrade to the phone or handheld of their choice with an unlimited data plan that’s free for the next six months (contract extension required).
Why is my mailbox not full of these offers?
