A Guy Like Mike Jones Should Wear a Warning

I've always had random odd pop weaknesses. Lately more so than ever, now that I've decided not to fight or hide my addiction to catchy, upbeat trifles. Because as I've said before, deep down, everyone loves pop whether they admit it or not.

Sometimes though, there are pop songs that even I don't want to admit to enjoying. Considering that I've confessed my love of a Sugababes song to the internet world, if I don't want to own up to liking a song, that's saying a lot. One such song is the infamous "Toxic" by Britney Spears.

But, I just came across a mash up of Mike Jones Vs. Britney Spears called "Tippin' Toxic" by Hollertonix, which makes me feel better about liking the original "Toxic." An mp3 of the song can be downloaded here (via Fluxblog) for a limited time. I enjoy a good mash up from time to time; it's so impressive when two songs you never would have thought to put together blend to make a completely new awesome track. These two songs fit together smashingly.

It makes me wonder if the genius back-beat/melody of "Toxic" would fit with most anything. It certainly adapted from Britney's sex-filled lyrics to Mike Jones' rap very well. This fact makes me feel more at ease about enjoying a Britney song so. Hearing those catchy screeching strings out of context makes it incredibly obvious that the magic of "Toxic" is not at all Britney related. Phew!

Occasionally, Hipsters Like Cool Things

I have a love-hate relationship with Pitchfork, the hip indie internet magazine. The site is an excellent source of musical news and information; I often hear about new artists on Pitchfork. And when trying to get a feel for an older artist with lots of material out, the Pitchfork numerical ratings can sometimes give a good idea as to what album(s) to start with. But, I don't always agree with their musical assessments, and frequently find their reviews/news commentary a little on the pretentious side.

Though snooty, they do come up with some pretty awesome stuff from time to time. Their track reviews occasionally feature a link to download the track-on-trial. And as I was perusing the site today, I came across an mp3 of a Dimension remix of the Stereolab track "Mudra," which can be found here. I enjoy Stereolab quite a bit--I think I'm a bit addicted to Emperor Tomato Ketchup lately. And I, like Pitchfork, am really enjoying this remix. Between the swirling synths and beats, there are beautiful little melodies. It's delightful.

I suppose it's worth putting up with the snobbery for the excellent free music.

The Typo Heard 'Round The World

As we were all taught in kindergarten, it's good to share. Through the convenience of the internet, sharing is at an all time high nowadays. Especially music, thanks to that delightful file-type mp3. As you may have guessed, I love sharing music in this fashion. Though I sometimes feel a twinge of guilt as I click "download," I usually feel better knowing that I am an avid concert goer, and purchase CDs and other merchandise at these shows. The artist gets money (and arguably, more money than they would if I bought their CD at a retail store) for their hard work and talent, and I feel that I've paid my dues so to speak. Plus, if I really enjoy the album/artists, I will buy the music even if I can download it for free. There's something to be said for the tangibility of a CD, having the album art, etc.

There's also the fact that mp3 blogs and music sharing are an amazing way for artists to get their work out there. The best example of this would be the latest indie darlings, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, who were an overnight sensation in part because of mp3 blogs. They weren't even signed to a record label, and yet ran out of copies of their self-produced CD because everyone wanted a copy, immediately. I also read an interview with Feist on Tofu Hut, and she noted that people used downloaded copies of her album to become familiar with the music before the concert, and would turn them in for the real thing at the show. She was surprised by people singing along to her music in The States; she hadn't realized she was popular here--but she was, and mostly because of the internet.

But, I must say that there are funny quirks about music sharing. Just yesterday, I realized that I was missing a track off of Pixies Doolittle, and hadn't noticed up until now. Whoever I downloaded it from didn't have it, so neither did I.

More amusing, though, are mislabelings of music that can pervade the music sharing community. One day, I noticed that one of the bonus tracks from Beck's album Guero was labeled as "Crap Hands." Since the song was singing about clapping your hands, I decided to investigate. As I had suspected, the correct title was indeed "Clap Hands," as indicated by a tracklist on Amazon.com. What was hilarious, though, is that apparently, a lot of people had been listening to "Crap Hands" by Beck. A check of last.fm for the track shows that 379 people listened to this non-existent track. That doesn't even account for people who caught the typo and fixed it.

So everyone, crap your hands!

Shrödinger is a Jerk

Evenings such as this make me want to change my major.

Today was my 21st birthday. How did I spend much of my evening?

No. I did not drink ridiculous amounts of alcohol. Or even a reasonable amount. I did Quantum Mechanics homework. And made very little progress on it, I might add.

Sure, I suppose I'm doing the homework now so that I may celebrate in a more traditional fashion this weekend. But still. I am mad at Quantum Mechanics. I don't think our relationship will ever be the same, unless it is willing to change.

No Really, Size Doesn't Matter. . .

As many of you probably know, Apple has come out with a new iPod--iPod nano. The name is indicative of the 'pod's very small size. Although, like many things nowadays that play off the hype around nanoscale science, it uses the term nano inaccurately. I'm pretty sure that the device's dimensions are nowhere near the 10^-9 magnitude.

But with trends going as they are, I wouldn't put it past Apple and other technology companies to try and make a handheld gadget that tiny, just because they could. For example, Motorolla has come out with a cell phone--the Moto Razar V3--that too is marketed for it's minisculeness. One of the commercials for the phone (no, not the one featuring ACDC's "Back in Black"), shows a girl squeezing herself into essentially skin tight pants, and then slipping the phone into her back pocket with ease. Thank goodness a company finally came out with a phone that facilitates tight-pants-wearing and phone-carrying at the same time. That was such a problem for me.

As that thick sarcasm indicates, I really don't understand the modern obsession with shrinking technology. My cell phone is enormous when compared to the newest ones on the market, and I sometimes think it's too small. Once in my purse or backpack, it's impossible to find. Especially if it's ringing. In fact, it is my second cell phone because I lost the first one--it slipped out of my purse without my noticing. Perhaps Motorolla is brilliant. People will buy more phones if they're constantly losing the tiny suckers. And, of course most importantly, will wear tight pants far more frequently.

In the case of iPod nano, things seem even sillier. That thing is begging to be broken or lost. I purchased a thick case for my 20 GB iPod partly to protect it, but mostly to make it bigger and easier to hold on to. I won't be surprised if I hear about someone dropping their new nano-pod, only to watch it smash to bits.

This ridiculousness best stop before we all look like Zoolander, talking on cell phones so small they can only be held with two fingers. Eventually, we will all need magnifying glasses to read the displays and finger adaptations to push the itsy-bitsy buttons.

Radio, Radio

Everyone loves shameless self promotion . . .

Music is My Boyfriend is officially back on the air for the fall semester, starting this coming Sunday. Very exciting indeed. You can expect excellent music, random babblings about music (in what has been called my "sexy radio voice"), and occasional themed shows/concert ticket give aways all semester long. I, however, won't expect you to actually listen to the live broadcast. For, sadly, Music is My Boyfriend will be airing every Sunday from 6-8 a.m.

But thankfully, WRUW's Handy-Dandy Web Archiving makes it possible for you to listen at your leisure. Simply go to the WRUW Program Guide for Sunday, and right-click/"Save Target As" the 56k link to the right of Music is My Boyfriend. And magically, that week's edition of Music is My Boyfriend will be on your computer in mp3 form! Archives are only kept for one week after they are recorded.
The website has not yet been updated for the brand new schedule, and probably won't be for a few weeks. So for the moment, download the mp3 file for 2-Tone Army, which was in the Sunday 6-8am slot this summer.

My first show will be this Sunday, September 11th. Should be interesting getting used to such an incredibly early time. Especially considering that I've never been a huge fan of mornings.

In other WRUW-related news, Studio-A-Rama, the station's anual outdoor *FREE* concert is this Saturday, September 10th in the Mather Memorial Courtyard. Magnolia Electric Co. is our headliner, and many other local Cleveland bands will be playing too; music Starts at 2pm. See the WRUW Press Release for a band schedule and more details.

Fun and music all around!

My Sexy Ass Has Got Him In a New Dimension

Don't ever let the pop stop. I'm so addicted.

I was going through Fluxblog today downloading songs before they're taken down, and came across the Pop Gem "Push the Button" by Sugababes. An mp3 can be downloaded here. It has been posted for awhile, so be snappy with the downloading. The song can also be heard on their website (linked above).

The lyrics make very little sense, but I love it. Catchy, sexy, playful, and fun. Definitely going to be dancing and singing in my underwear to this one.

Update: I got a chance to listen to some of the songs off of Sugababes older cd Angels With Dirty Faces, and I can't say I was too impressed. I suppose everyone lucks out with a super catchy pop song every now and then.

Also, I watched the video for "Push the Button" off of their website. It's fairly stereotypical "look at me dance, I am hot" fare. The girls dance in an elevator waiting for three guys dispersed on various floors to push the button for the elevator. The play off of the song title is somewhat amusing. But by far the best part is the choice of boy for the Blonde Sugababe. He's a complete dweeb, and looks very overwhelmed by her hotness. Nerds are so cute.

You Too Can Be A Model

I ran across an interesting post on Boing Boing yesterday. The short post talks about newly developed garments specifically for potentially suicidal prisoners. The product site can be seen here.

I had never really thought about such issues before, and hadn't heard of the traditional--and degrading--practices used to deal with these prisoners. Such a situation does present an odd challenge. And I'm sure that belittling already suicidal prisoners by forcing them to strip naked doesn't help the situation. So the new clothing is certainly a worthwhile invention.

But I think the inventors may want to rethink their advertising techniques a bit. I mean, just look at that picture.

Now, I understand that in advertising it makes the most sense to show your product being used in a realistic environment. A picture of this being worn by children on a playground just wouldn't get the point across. But picking the craziest looking people you can find to model your clothing for suicide risk prisoners may not be the best idea. Especially when they look like they've been given the direction "look like you want to kill yourself". Even though it does make for one hilarious picture.

Looking on the bright side, this means that I might still be able to pull off that modeling career after all!