For Your Ears

Tracks that deserve a little aural fixation:

T.I. -- Swagger Like Us (feat. M.I.A., Jay-Z, Kanye, and Lil' Wayne)

Ne-Yo -- Miss Independent (feat. Lil' Wayne, Kanye and Jay-Z).These boys love to work together. Talent magnetized to talent?

On a similar musical note, I am currently addicted to Pandora. I love the way it breaks down each song into its "musical genes." Like, R&B tones, syncopation, dissonance. It pulls out all the technical aspects of composition, puts it in layman's terms, and finds songs that have the same qualities and make-up as your suggested one. I was impressed that Pandora even managed to make up a Japanese channel off my "Utada" request. Well done, American company. Well done. They also have incredibly informative podcasts, if you're willing to take the time to listen. This one does a great job of breaking down dissonance and consonance, even if it is a little heavy on the technical music terminology.

I think I'd go crazy if I didn't have my music. Looks like your plan worked, Momma See.

Summer Loves

Watch: Mad Men. As if I even need to tell you about this, most likely
if you've watched any television, read any online news source, or
turned on any radio, you'll have heard what an amazing show this is.
Nominated for 17 Emmys (and already winners of 2
Golden Globes) this show is like intellectual crack. For a glimpse
into 1960's society (and, let's just put it out there, our current day
society) this show delves into all the stuff you didn't think possibly
existed, but did, and all the stuff you wish you knew more about, but
don't. It's painfully ambiguous in regards to relationships, pasts,
and futures -- and reflects so amazingly our reality that you can't
help but see a little bit of yourself in every character. Second
season premiered a little more than a week ago, hop on the bandwagon
already so you don't hear all the juicy spoilers ahead of time.

-- Sidenote: The Hills season 4 premieres on August 14th. I don't
watch it. I just, you know, read about it whenever I see an article
about it. Or, um, try to catch re-runs. Or, umm...whatever. It's a
cultural phenomenon. Don't judge me.

Listen: The latest addition to Timba's team, Izza Kizza, just dropped
his mixtape last Wednesday for free on his myspace page. While my
opinion of Girl Talk's Feed definitely improved over time, I'd say
that the first listen through of Kizza's album was on the same level
as my initial reaction to Night Ripper. HELL OF GOOD! My favorite
track so far is Don't Stop Go! but, each track grows on you the more
you listen to it. Zomg, the buttery hip-hop goodness even made me
groove at my desk. Embarrassing? Yes. Uncontrollable? Unfortunately.

Read: Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. This is possibly the biggest
pop-culture drop that I've done in a long while (minus aforementioned
Hills premiere), but after her big appearance at Comic Con with juicy
tidbits about the film version's development, even I got suckered in.
Plus, it's August, and who wants to read about Vampires around
Halloween? That's so cliche. It's like the smutty romance novel you
don't want anyone to know that you're reading, but you can't detach
from your hand. I already read 200 pages, and I only bought it 36
hours ago. 18 of which I spent sleeping. Chew on that one. (Haha,
punny. I swear one day I'll recommend something of greater literary value.)

Buy: Sarah Jessica Parker's Bitten at Steve and Barry's.
Everything is $8.98 (I'm not kidding) from jeans, to dress pants, to
tshirts. The line is surprisingly well-tailored, and while the
material is not the greatest (and I have yet to see how it handles
wear and tear) there is something incredible about slipping on a pair
of jeans that costs lest than $10 and watching them hug in all the
right places, and fall to just the right length. Plus, I can attest to the fact that their cotton tshirts can even withstand a sturdy round in the dryer and maintain its general shape and form even though you meant to hang dry it so it would never shrink.

Pop-culture overload brought to you by endless hours of internets and
lazy summer weekends. Gotta love it.

Sick Beats Never Felt So Good

As Girl Talk's newest album. Feed the Animals dropped today, and in typical "I'm an awesome Artist" style, Gillis has made the album acquirable from donations of any amount (including 0).

Jury's out on whether this mix is better than Night Ripper, but I hate to say that from what little listening I've done so far, it's pretty good, but not as good. I'll have to wait till I've heard it on speakers. It gets pretty badass a little later, probably closer to 7-8 minutes in on the seamless mix -- which is opposite from Night Ripper in my opinion. NR starts out really strong, gradually loses steam through the middle, and ends a bit weak.

Anyone want to go to GT concert? If we combine our powers for good, maybe we can get tickets this time before they sell out immediately.

Gotham Knight

Someone get this to me, pronto. Um, please.

So, this is pretty late news, especially since I heard it from Big Bro at dinner and, if Wired's already picked it up as a legit story on their blog with a Kevin Conroy interview, then it must have been all over the net for at least a week. Gotham Knights, the animatrix DVD derivative set to come out just before the release of Dark Knight on JULY 18th, is apparently loose in more palpable forms than occasional leaked photos. Wow, you know what would be cool? To work at Wired and be Scott Thill who got that packet of information plus DVD ahead of time. You know what would be cooler? ... I won't say it, but you all know I'm thinking it.

I pine. I perish. I... really want to see the movie and get this DVD already.

Iron Man

Tony Stark. Is. Amazing. Perhaps this explains my fairly consistent interest a certain genre of gentlemen. Nothing is quite so attractive as a man who knows how to use his brain. And, knowing how to build and create stuff with your hands is pretty sexy too. If only I were joking. Anyways, in all of my comic book nerd glory, I present you with the new Iron Man trailer. Enjoy!