More Doom...

MF Doom is my new favorite artist. At least for now thanks to Last.fm. It's funny to me that the underground artists I used to listen to in high school didn't drop off the face of the earth. They just grew up and adopted different personas. For instance, Doom used to be Zev Love X from the group KMD. And to most readers, you're probably wondering who the heck KMD was. The tie-in is the group 3rd Bass. Ring a bell now? Good. 3rd Bass sort of introduced KMD. Unfortunately after one album KMD disappeared.

And then, I rediscovered MF Doom. (The MF stands for Metal Face. Read all about him. Seriously, his story is interesting.) His style is a RADICAL departure from his KMD days, but in my opinion, he's grown leaps and bounds as an artist. His beats sample everything from opera to hard rock. And his rhymes are a mash-up of 80's TV including superhero cartoons, sci-fi shows, and even some quality Sesame Street. My favorite album is his collaboration with Dangermouse, The Mouse and the Mask. It's a send-up of everything on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Hilarious! Here's another video. Love the Youtube...

Vista's coming

I haven't used Microsoft Windows at home for about six years. But, I run a Big Box retail store. So for 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, I live in a Windows world. No problem. I can adapt. And I don't avoid Windows because of any hatred for Microsoft. It's just too hard for me to make Windows do EXACTLY what I want it to do. Before I started using Linux, I used to think my computer was possessed! A bunch of crap in the system tray, auto updates, spyware, adware, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria! Now my computer is quite well behaved and does as it's told.

So, life in the Big Box has been quite busy with the impending release of the latest version of Windows. Vista promises............well, it promises everything. Personally, I think that's going to be the problem. But, like a good boy, I am recommending it to everyone. And I don't have a problem with this since most people need Windows. Much like the Matrix, people are not ready to understand that they are not in control of their own computer. And you can't just "unplug" them. So, until the great Free Software revolution, I'll just keep recommending Vista.

A funny article I read started me on this stream of consciousness. It's called, "10 reasons you should get Vista." The tenth reason is hilarious:

"10. Face it, you have no choice - When Microsoft brings out a major renovation to Windows, you can choose to ignore it for a year or two, but then the device drivers start drying up for older versions of Windows, your friends start asking questions about their new PC that you can't answer, and even if you use Linux, you'll inevitably need familiarity with Microsoft's latest interoperability blockers. Face it: your arse belongs to Redmond."

Ain't it the truth...

Tape it off the internet...Or just use Zudeo!

TV shows on the internet. This is what I'm always talking about, right? Especially considering that I don't have a TV. So I was surfing through some articles provided by the good people over at TorrentFreak, and I found a rather interesting one on social broadcatching. The author literally gushed over a new beta website called............wait for it.........Tape It Off The Internet. Yes, that's the name of the site. Very Gen-X, right? I was instantly attracted. I bounced over only to find that it was an invite-only website. I requested an invite and proceeded to wait. For three months. Then, last week, I got a little email asking me to come visit. So, I did. What did I find?



Not what I was looking for. It's a clunky, clumsy attempt to turn the bittorrent experience into Youtube or Last.fm. The difference is that when you want to get the goods, it literally bounces you out of their site and into somewhere else like the Piratebay or Mininova. Their premise is that early adopters and TV fans like myself will sign up, post cutesy group messages about our favorite TV shows, and be really happy that the powers-that-be at TIOTI have conveniently linked the torrent for the show to their website. And on top of that, the torrents aren't even accurate! Four future episodes of Smallville are linked to Spanish-dubbed versions of Season 1 of the show! Give me a flippin' break.

I know. I know. It's still beta. I'm being hard on them. And you're right. It is, and I am. But I submit to TIOTI that they are trying to fix the wrong flippin problem. The PROCESS of getting bittorrents is still too geeky, and it represents a significant barrier for average people to actually use the internet for watching TV. I thought they were trying to make the PROCESS easier, and that the social aspect was the icing. In reality, the social part is the only thing that they're focusing on. Users still have to download and install Azureus, forward a port, tweak their firewall, and yadda yadda. And geeks will remain the only people watching TV from the internet.

Or perhaps an average user will stumble upon something pretty cool when they try to figure out how to download Azureus. They'll discover Zudeo!



THIS is what TIOTI should have been. And I didn't have to wait three months for it! Basically Azureus took it's client, gave it a pretty makeover, tied it to your web browser, and put up a social site not unlike TIOTI's. But they make it EASY to get the content! That's the trick. And the site's a LOT less clunky. And they support linux. 'Nuff said.

Actually, one last rant. The thing about TIOTI that really sticks in my craw is all their shouting about how EASY everything is. I actually had trouble figuring out how to even navigate the site, much less download a torrent. And then, I'm constantly being bombarded by their flash animation and AJAX bullsh*t. Guys, clean up the site, make it easy to navigate, and accurately link to the content without ejecting the user into the hostile waters of the Pirate Bay. Maybe you'll make some money. Maybe.

Great Movies - Children of Men

One of the things (among many) that suck about living in Wisconsin is that we don't get limited release movies. That's an honor reserved for L.A., New York, and Chicago. Sure, I could drive the three hours if I wanted to, but that's not the point.

Two REALLY good genre flicks came out in December, and I had to wait a stinkin' month to see them. Incidentally, they both come from Mexican-born directors who collaborated with each other on one of the films. The first movie is Pan's Labyrinth. Guillermo Del Toro, who took the helm of the Blade franchise (check my avatar) and Hellboy, doesn't have a great track record. But I have to say the movie looks sweet. Maybe the last two Blades were just practice, right?



And Del Toro got some help from Alfonso Cuaron on this one. Harry Potter fans will recall that Cuaron is the director that finally did a proper job of translating the book to the screen. Chris Columbus is retarded, but that's just my opinion. Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban cut out the fluff and got right to business getting the best performances out of his actors and keeping the script tight. His latest Children of Men was PHENOMENAL! It currently occupies my TOP TEN list, which is no easy feat. Cuaron's flick is set 30 years in the future, but in the vein of sci-fi luminaries like Rod Serling, he's able to unswervingly slice and dice our
current society, laying bare our hopes, struggles, and ultimately our failures.



What if humanity suddenly became sterile? That's the question. And 30 years later, what if a single woman became pregnant? Doesn't seem like a classic sci-fi plot but just think through the implications. Ultimately, the plot is incidental. The sideways glances at life in this world is the real treat. It's us......run amok. All over the course of a couple of decades. If you see any movie in 2007, see Children of Men. And no, it's not for kids.