Screw the Place; No limits to Groove Space
Are you the type that hates downloading but loves music? Cool me too, let's chat!
I'm the type whose real player library is made up solely of legally copying bought or burnt cd's (k..half legal) onto my hardrive and never having to bother with the annoying life of piracy which drives me insane trying to search and lock down the ideal version of the song that by the time I get, don't even want to hear anymore. I'm also the type that loves new tracks every day, and a lot of days I really wish the radio existed in its ideal potential, and that there were quality radio stations emitted on my FM shower radio every morning when I wake up. If any of you are from London, you know of the lack of quality radio that exists in ye ole Forest City. So then what's the obvious lead in answer that I've been painting.
We'll lets look at the needs:
- Music with Computer
- New and Unknown Music
- Quality Radio Programming
Hot Damn, what about Internet radio. Lately I have been obsessed with Internet Radio, mainly because of my new Jazz, Funk, and rare hiphop fix, which are genres that are tough to develope individual artist like and dislikes because there is so much out there to choose from, from so many years, and I have fried to many memory bits to retain the playlists from MaxTrax on channel 700. I needed someone to spoon feed me good music. cue in live 365 and ITunes.
What I have come to learn in the last few months is that there still are amazing radio stations out there, but they're just no where near my actual locality. Today, I want to spread my internet music source love to you, so that you too can groove in your offices and bedrooms like I have been for the past while with fresh vibes and mellow rhymes...ewwwwouiii:
- ((( we funk ))) under the urban section of ITunes Radio
- Boombastic Radio - under the same menu as above
- KKJZ 88.1 Long Beach Cali radio - search Jazz at live365.com its the first and best
- KSBR - From somewhere but its in Itunes Jazz too
- Groove101 - Search for it at Live365.com
- Ska, Punk, and other Junk - search punk at live365
- Utopia Vibes - from live365 searcing lounge
- The Green Lounge - same as above but better - if your like a swinging bachelor
Take a listen, its like an endless playlist without the dehumanizing effects of the IPOD. And sweet Buddha, if you know of other good web based radio, drop me a comment and spread the vibes!
peas.
What's the Emoticon for Group Lovin'?
Feeling lonely? Sick of slow posting convo's via blogs or email? Tired of one on one messaging dialogue via msn? Well have I got something for you!
Next time your sitting in your online sanctuary and are feeling a little tired of the same old message, post, email structure of the world, try inviting like 20 people into an msn conversation on a whim with no real rhyme or reason to why you are doing it. The MSN gangbang is the phreshest means of group procrastination to hit the wires since email surveys. (*note* the msn gangbang has no sexual inkling implied, and those whose thoughts were immediately skewed by the traditional gangbang philosophy need to take a cold shower before trying this exercise or your results will be a lot of your friends thinking you are really creepy, whose actions are always uncalled for).
Now at first you'll get naysayers, friends who are like "eano what the hell are you doing?" This is natural to any gangbang, virtual or not. The key is to keep chatting, throw out random lines, ask stupid questions, think of relateable topics two of your friends who may not know each other have in common and could insult your opinion for. Teaming up others against someone else is good for any playground bonding let along messenger group fun. Eventually you'll weed out the weak and the keeners will start chatting it up. At this point you must encourage other gangbangers to invite other unknowns into the conversation, so that the fresh faces keep on rolling. Soon enough new bonds, contacts, and a few weirded out friends will be made (or lost) and 15 minutes of otherwise boredom will be filled up with a social networking odyssey of entertainment.
MSN limits you to 150 friends most of which you see everyday anyways and probably have no need to talk to via the web. After all, over exposure to the people you have most in common with will lead any relationship to a dry and stale expiry date to the point where you can only stand them when your drinking. So, in my eyes while your contact list is reserved for the close and worthy, try the new MSN gangbang to expand your "population in the know", and excite your otherwise mundane messaging lives.
Potential Deal between FIMS and CanWest Global
For those who don't know, I am currently approaching my final month of a four year BA in Media, Information, and Technoculture at the University of Western Ontario. A young but incredibly diverse degree in cultural and media theory which gives its students critical and broad knowledge of how media is consumed in the world, what the pros, the cons, and the hopes for the future are in the media industries today. The program has developed the person who is writting this for you today, and I credit the program for who I have become and for giving me the opportunity to meet the most intelligent and promising minds this country has to offer in terms of media literate citizens who can make an active contribution and change to how the world works in the age of information and spectacle.
As I approach my final exams a recent debate has been stirred on the administrative level of my faculty to which I have been devoted to for four years. To best sum up the current issue I will quote a letter by Professor Nick Dyer Witherford from
www.freemit.blogspot.com which is a blog created by students who are concerned over the following issue. Be aware that all the details of the deal are not included in the below quote, but I trust Nick to have pretty much summed up what the CanWest FIMS deal will be:
"You recently informed some of us that discussions are underway to institute a FIMS CanWest Fellowship. As I understand it, this endowment would be for approximately $1 million, funding the annual appointment for one semester of a visiting Fellow who would lecture and research on media, journalism or cultural studies; there would be ‘no strings attached’ to the Fellow’s research agenda; and the endowment would provide additional moneys for scholarships."
Now, the major critique that has been driven out of this potential business deal is that by selling a seat on our administrative board we are compromising the integrity of what our program has founded its roots upon, which is the critical awareness of the concentration of media ownership, the inherent bias in media reporting, and a degree which prides itself on producing aware students who may in the future change how media is consumed. By teaming up with one of Canada's most notorious media conglomerates and an overall shady media entity that tries to portray objectivity in its very subjective programming and reporting we are basically slapping the face of our program's mandate and furthering the gap between where the theory we are taught conflicts with the reality of the world.
It should be noted that Rogers and Bell Communications already do have endowments into our programs.
Though I completely agree that the selling of our program's power seats to major media conglomerates is endagering the integrity of that which we as students are being taught, I would like to add this insight into the debate in defense of the merger, solely with respect to the strength of the minds that I have come to know of the students in this program.
If this deal were to go down, in my eyes this would provide an ideal democratic public sphere for the education of media industries at Western. In one corner we would have the current professor's who have produced in my mind an aware and active citizen whom wants to and believes can effect change as to how information is consumed by the public, if the opportunity to do so arises in my future. Now if today, I were to sit in a CanWest taught class, I would not sit there as a amoeba soaking in the schlock that a conglomerate tries to feed me as the truth (that's what college is for). I would sit there, listen, and then raise my hand and my concerns for that which I am being taught. For instance, if I was being taught objective journalism writting by CanWest, I would raise my hand and say :
" Excuse me sir or madame, but isn't it improper to try and write objectively when inherent subjective opinions will always naturally bleed through any language I try and robotically spew out? Wouldn't it be better for me to introduce an article with my name and opinion, followed by the facts which have led me to my beliefs so that my readers could derive their own opinion from my work, and possibly write me back engaging them in the discursive opportunities the public sphere allows?" (and then I would smile, get an F, and probably not be in MIT anymore cause if I fail a half course, I get the boot! but whatever.)
My point here is that just because CanWest wants to jump aboard the Rogers and Bell train, (which has proven Ryerson's programs very beneficial in that their students resources are top notch) does not mean that I am going to shift my beliefs as to how the mediated world operates and how it needs to be changed.
My only critique to the critics of this proposed deal is that, just because it is selling out the values that our program is based upon, moreso it is providing a realist opportunity for change. Let me paint you a picture:
Deal goes down, CanWest head hunts a mind that has been taught by the active network of professors that have driven the way in which I think, which is to be critical of all messages, practices, and understand that messages we consume are not the truth but merely taglines looking to be sold to the public. That headhunted mind takes his critical knowledge into CanWest and works his way to a highlevel position within the company. That MIT student thanks to the CanWest head hunting creates a new privately funded public broadcasting station because he or she was able to pitch it to the big wigs as a profitable and yet socially beneficial venture. Canada's public sphere grows, CanWest sees the ere to their ways, and the world lives happily ever after.
Yes the above was a fairy tale, but so is the critique that Fox News and Macdonald's are the next to invest in the program (but thats more of a brother's Grimm fairy tale than mine was).
So to conclude this creator of a very tiny scroll bar square (meaning really long post), all I want to ad is that if this deal goes down, FIMS gets a million bucks, please don't any of the critics think that this will somehow shift the mindset of the students who are graduating from this program. Professors like Nick Dyer-Witherford have taught me too much to be weened away by the flashy lights and fancy spliced names like CanWest Global. If anything I see this potential deal has an opportunity for the mold to be broken, our faces to be introduced to the power structures of the world, and the potential beginning of an MIT program with national awareness and avenues for which our next generation new age, hippy minds to get out there and make a difference.
endrant.thankyou.
its my charity i can spend where I want to!
Last friday I spent 3 hours debating with a professor and friends about major philanthropies in the world being selective and having corporate interests weaved into social motives. I can understand the cynicism towards the concentration of owenership in the world and the non-democratic means by which developing countries are getting their aid, but in all honesty, what do the critics think they are asking for. Attempting to tackle the mega corp dynamic of the Western world with critical contempt towards a company that is creating some form of humanitarian effort rather than nothing at all is just knit-picky for the sake of being critical.
Life is about doing what you can for those who you can, and doing it exactly your way. YES, the concentration of wealth in the world today sucks, YES it would be nice if say The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation helped every struggling nation as opposed to simply focusing their ressources into marketably rich markets like that of China's technological growth or Thailand's needed databank infrastructure in the wake of the tsunami, but its not going to happen. The point behind this particular rant is that if your pissed with how the world works, then shut up, invest your time, and do something with the resources you have to fix the problems that you can fix in your lifetime. Granted you may never have the corporate wealth of a Forbes top 25 list but if you can put something together that pushes your values and ethics on to other people, than you are doing your part to contribute to the well being of this planet as a single member of it. end rant.
Poetic Applesauce (ish.i)
Some roads need bumps
I’ll tell you what Yey is!
Yey is looking in the mirror and approving of the choices you’ve made
Yey is the feeling of rapidly seeing your breath fly through the air over and over
Yey is openly telling someone the things they do well.
Yey is the empty feeling inside when you leave the party without the one intended
Yey is realizing that someone else left with you.
Yey is looking small but performing big.
Yey is doing something extraordinary and then realizing it was stupid.
Yey is the sound that the stupid things let out of people: OH!
Yey is an unnecessary cost in the pace of life,
Yey is looking awake while feeling asleep
Yey is a commercial from the everyday
Yey is realizing you dance like an idiot and don’t even care
Yey is all the thoughts you think alone, let out in the open!
I’ll tell you what Yey is!
Yey is taking life for the now and not spending any time to form regret!
*cough*lovin'it*cough*
For too long has the common cold gone down as a menace to the everyday activities of common man. The consistent whinning and crying, because of congestion, irritating cough, indegestion, sore throat, and evironmentally damaging kleenex consumption has become tired and outdatted. Damnit, I am sick, and I am proud, and I want to tell all of you why having the cold is the freshest newest fad to hit the block and why next time you get blessed with someone's nasty germs, you hug those germs and say welcome, welcome to the temple of me.
The common cold has a lot of positive's to give to the everyday human being. The following are the bright spots to my recent sickness and I truly believe that if adopted by all, the common cold just might make it into the "what's hot" of next months Cosmo! me think alright!
1)
The increased cost-effectiveness of food consumption.Right now in my mouth everything tastes the exact same: which could be defined as textured spit (mmm, i know)! But here's the pro; Thanks to this cold, you could wrap baby puree in rice and surround it with a green twist tie with the medal string removed and Id believe its sushi. Frankly, what kind of maki can you find for the price of squished peas and a garbage bag accessory. I dont know about you, but california rolls in my neighbourhood are going for six bucks, and my wallet can't take it anymore.
2)
New and Improved Quadgod!
See quadgodding is the self damaging art of taking at least four substances in the "gets me fucked" classification in one single night. Sure most enthusiasts might take on liquor, weed, coke, and shrooms, but let me assure you, that there is no high with more clarity and smashery then the mixture of benadryl cold and flu, advil (Yey Oh!), herb, and a few beers. Its all the fuck you up fun with way more pharmeceutical approval. Sure the doctors may say that I'm destroying my liver in the years to come, but in my eyes Carpe Diem, my educated little friend, Car pe Di em!
3)
Get rid of small talk while also receiving pitty.Whats worse than awkward small talk in the middle of strolls between points of purpose during the day. Answer = Nothing!!! I hate it, no offense to you "hey buddies" out there, but thanks to the common cold I have recently replaced my "hey buddy" and reach for the cellphone approach to mid walk nods, with sneeze and cough into the kleenex while nodding and continuing the walk by. Not only do you not have to talk to those people who you wish to avoid, but you've also left them with a "oh i hope he's feeling ok" mentality, which means next time its on them to break the awkward tension just to make sure you made it out of your cold alive. The common cold not only makes current problems better, it prepares for problems down the road.
4)
Complete smell deterioration. Apparently at the bar last night, I was standing beside a guy who smelt like pungent fish. Thanks to my new nasal super power I couldnt smell shit. Despite my friends urge to move bar locals, I turned the negative into a positive and won five bucks when the person suffering most from the humocean creature's smell offered me five bucks if I could withstand a conversation with the stinky fish guy for five minutes without having to step away. ChaChing.
So there you have the many benefits to human's newest fashion trend. From now on, dont steer away from red nosed, messy haired, droopy eyed, coughing, sneezing, sniffling, raspy, GORGEOUS cold sufferers of the world, rather walk right up to them, get in their breathing path, and damnit get on the cool train. Ah ChooChoo!!
(see, when suffering from a cold lame jokes are received as funny out of pitty for the sick guy).
post.script. if anyone will kiss me and take this cold off my hands I will give them the five bucks that I won from the fish guy conversation, I feel like absolute shit!
You don't even have Alfie?!?
Want some proof that hyper-capitalism in the Western world is going to shoot itself in the foot? Well here's the most recent proof:
I remember the day that blockbuster got rid of late fees. What a day, I was sitting and watching television when a commercial came on and told me that I would remember the day that blockbuster got rid of late fees. What a joy, what a relief, finnally thanks to the overproduction of North American goods, I could further drive myself into a procrastinator's paradise and not have to worry about phone calls from pimple faced creditors hunting down their copy of Antonio Banderas in
Assasins. Finally a video rental service mandate which catered perfectly for my need to rent a video watch it, and forget i have it for five days only to go back and pay more than it cost for the movie to be filmed in the first place.
So the other day, overjoyed and excited to try out this new blockbuster service I drop in to see if they have a copy of I heart
huckabees because my roomate watched it and said I would like it and I was going over to a friends house and needed some stoned stimulation. So I go and look on the shelves. No huckabees. hmm, alright well what about Collateral, Heat is the greatest cop movie ever, maybe Mann did it again. No Collateral in stock. Alright geez, well lets try a big one. Melt my brain with Troy? No Troy! What I soon came to realize is that Blockbusters' new attempt to prove that they had more inventory than they could ever need, backfired in their face when they realized how few people actually ever want to return a movie.
This is a microcosmic problem with the western world, we think we got it all sorted it out, flaunt that we have it all, get people to buy it up as much as possible, 'cause after all we think we'll never run dry and expect everyone to rejoice in the newest progress we create to make everyone's lives great. Only problem is when we realize that our little system cant handle its own ego people start to hate it and stop buying into it, and start taking advantage of it. I am not going back to blockbuster now until they re-introduce late fees, cause wasting my time looking for schlock even worse than Alfie is just pointless exposure to incredibly painful blue and yellow flourescent lights. I may remember the day blockbuster cancelled late fees because of a clever marketing campaign, but I remember even moreso how angry I got with blockbuster the night I went to Cindy's house movieless and was forced into watching three episodes of C.S.I. two in New York, one in Miami.
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