Rewind

It’s Saturday, it’s beautiful outside, and I don’t feel like putting any thought into today’s update. Last night was a hoot. There was a lot of booze flowing, Dan and Mark showed up with a near-empty twelve case and a bottle of Jagermeister. The music was actually uncomfortably loud for the first time I can recall in quite some time. It tended to vacillate between blues-rock and hard rock. Now for the weekly rewind.

- Last week, Ken and I were laughed at heartily as we drove around central Jersey calling Wal-Marts about PS3 availability. This week, seemingly everyone has gone crazy for the two newly released gaming consoles (to the point of injuries and excessive spending). Meanwhile, I’ve been getting a kick out of Sim Tower, and the NES emulator I downloaded for OS X. I mean, why on earth would I want to spend several hundred dollars on fancy new games when I really need is Punch-Out and Bubble Bobble?

- Bill Holt released a new album this week, the first since Dreamies was made in the early ’70s. And, sadly, from what I’ve heard this far–it’s not that good. The youthful exuberance and general feelings of joy that were audible on the first album have given way to what I’ll call “crotchety old ‘boomer syndrome.” Too much time spent trying to make a political statement does not a groovy record make.

- If you’re a fan of Pandora (or if you’re tired of it mentioning your penchant for music with minor key tonalities), you might get a kick out of Musicovery, which allows you to play music based on your precise mood at a given moment. From what I’ve discovered while clicking around for a few minutes, the idea is novel but the music isn’t so good. Give it a shot.

- Someone who was conducting a survey called my house today asking if there was anyone here between the ages of 12-29 that wanted to answer questions about going to the movies. I’d just returned from working out, so I told him to call back tomorrow. If he does indeed call again, I plan on fucking with him mercilessly and recording the whole thing. I’ll post the audio here upon completion.

- Z, Jack and I recorded some banter for Jack’s new podcast. Gone are the days of “The Best Podcast You Have,” and this new venture seems to be a pretty novel idea. I haven’t heard a finished product yet, but what I can tell you is that it seems less serious. Whereas all the episodes of the last podcast were exactly twelve or thirteen minutes, the length of these new ones is going to be 9 minutes, 2 seconds and 10 milliseconds. Or, in numeric terms — 9:02:10.