The New Wave in Social Networking
GoogleWave made its debut just over a week ago, and has since sent people into a frenzy trying to get invites.
What is GoogleWave?
Despite having an account for a week, I’m still not quite sure. This video has helped my understanding…if only just a bit.
Battle Studies
It’s been a while since John Mayer’s last studio release (Continuum, September 2006) so fans and critics alike were waiting in anticipation for 2009’s Battle Studies. To celebrate the release, here is a breakdown of the album, song by song.
- “Heartbreak Warfare” – Very U2 sound, lyrics original and poignant, but very repetitive.
- “All We Ever Do is Say Goodbye” – Seemingly heavily influenced by John Lennon’s solo stuff (think “Jealous Guy” or the Beatles “Day in the Life“). Way too repetitive. Seriously, enough is enough.
- “Half of My Heart” (with Taylor Swift) – reminiscent of Mayer’s 2003 release Heavier Things. Swifts vocals are virtually undetectable. While “Half of My Heart” has a nice little groove to it, the non-sensical lyrics detract too much for the pleasant sound.
- “Who Says” – The first single off of Battle Studies, “Who Says” is one Mayer’s trademark, short but poignant pieces about the disillusionment that comes with getting older.
- “Perfectly Lonely” – About the contentment with being alone in life. Classic Mayer (blues/pop). More blues driven than any other song on Battle Studies, reminiscent of Continuum.
- “Assassin” – Easily the edgiest of any other track, “Assassin” utilized South African beats with a funk-based hook. About the stealth-like skills required to have a one night stand.
- “Crossroads” – Electronic, funk, cover, only really upbeat song on Battle Studies.
- “War of My Life” – About the urge to steer away from settling (kind of like “Why Georgia”’s cousin).
- “Edge of Desire” – Overall dull, guitar solo not great but substantial.
- “Do You Know Me” – lovely, serene, dreamlike.
- “Friends, Lovers of Nothing” – futility of friends-with-benefits relationships.
- “I’m On Fire” – Bruce Springsteen cover minus the synthesizer. Perfectly sweet.
Battle Studies is not Mayer’s best album, in fact, it may be his worst. It is however, great to listen to when you do not want to be distracted. If you’re a JM fan, I don’t need to recommend this album you probably already own it. But if you are not a Mayer fan, check out this album before the others.
The Best Place to Study in Austin
The Green Muse Cafe has been around for a while, and still many Austinites remain oblivious to its presence.
It’s tiny (though it does have a large patio), but the free wi-fi and many beverage choices make it the perfect place to study. You must try the rose lemonade. The baristas always play great music and the overall environment is laid-back. So if you need a place to cram, check out my personal fave, The Green Muse at 519 W. Oltorf.
Hang in there Tiger.
So what happened (allegedly) was…
Last week, news broke that Pro Golfer Tiger Woods was in a car accident at 2:30AM outside his Florida home. Then the public learned that two golf clubs were lying outside Woods’ SUV. According to Tiger’s wife, she used the golf clubs to break the windows of the vehicle so that Tiger could get out.
Now, a week later, the public knows of at least one of mistress, who was said to have fueled the couple’s dispute and up to four other women have claimed to have a sexual relationship with Woods.
Woods is far from the first athlete to be accused of adultery, but the question on everybody’s mind seems to be whether or not Woods will lose any endorsements as a result of this scandal.
Efron mania in ATX
Can’t enough of the special celeb who made an appearance at the Austin premeire of “Me and Orson Welles”? Click here to see a quick write-up (with better pictures) on the happenings last Monday night.
P.S. that “mega-watt” bit, my idea!
The Only Vampire I Care About
After about two years, Vampire Weekend is finally going to release a new album. Their self-titled debut was released on January 29, 2008 and garnered much critical acclaim throughout 2008. Most notably, the song “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” was named one of Rolling Stone Magazine’s “Best Songs of 2008.”
Vampire Weekend’s sophomore album, Contra is set to be released January 12, 2010 in the U.S. but you can download the track “Horchata,” here for free and preview the first single “Cousins,” on the band’s website.
Album available for purchase in the U.S. January 12, 2010.
TV Re-cap: Glee
In case you missed it, here is a quick re-cap of what happened this week on Fox’s Glee.
- Sue convinced Principal Figginns to not let the glee clubers have a photo in the McKinely High Yearbook.
- The kids have decided not to have a glee club photo in the yearbook
- Mr. Schuester convinces Figgins to sell him advertising space in the yearbook so that two glee clubers may be featured.
- In order to boost moral for the yearbook photo, Rachael arranges to have the glee club featured in a commercial for a local mattress store.
- Will finds out that Terri is not actually pregnant and heads back to the high school to sleep in his office. When he arrives at his office he finds a stack mattresses and spends the night on one of them.
- When sees the mattress store commercial, she notifies Mr. Figgins and he decides to pull the glee club from competing in the all important sectionals meet.
- Quinn blackmails Sue into giving a full page in the yearbook to the glee club.
- Will informs the club that he cannot accompany them to sectionals since he was technically the one to accepted the mattresses.
Though this episode of Glee did not feature any particularly spectacular musical numbers, the drama was in full effect. You can catch up on past episodes at hulu.com.
Challah! I holla!
It seems like around this time of year, everyone takes to their kitchen’s and bakes. After a long hiatus from my kitchen even I got into the spirit. My first project, Challah. Every Friday I eat Challah at work, I decided to try my hand at it.
This is what a loaf of Challah should look like:
This is what my Challah looked like:
Though my challah tasted good, the appearance was not quite right. Too bad I don’t have a yenta to teach the proper way to braid, this Jewish bread.
Say It Ain’t So
According to news reports, Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo was involved in a bus accident this morning. Allegedly, the bus (which Cuomo shares with his wife and two-year old daughter) skidded on a patch of ice and fell into a ditch off of I-90 in New York state.
According to the bands website, Cuomo cracked three ribs and sustained other minor injuries.
As a result of this accident, Weezer has been forced cancel all December tour dates.
For photos from the accident click here.
The New Age of Disaster Flicks
By Ryan Lester and Cilla Ann Longoria
When the writing/ directing/ producing duo of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer spoof your genre, you know there’s a trend at work. The triple threat behind Scary Movie, Date Movie and Epic Movies blend all the genres’ most popular blockbusters and combine them into unfunny, yet somehow enormously popular, mockery.
It seems as though every other movie released these days has something to do with the world coming to an end. These films run the gamut from alien invasion to volcano eruptions. They recall a time in the 1970’s where almost every other movie was about some sort of disaster. From “Airport” to “Earthquake,” these films struck fear into the hearts of many Americans.
The main difference with the disaster movies released these days is that they seem to have lost the sense of realism present in those early films. For instance, 1996’s “Independence Day” presented us with an alien scenario that, while scary in its own right, presented viewers something that is almost scientifically impossible. One of the most recent movies in this genre, this year’s “2012,” bases itself off the idea that the world will end in accordance with the Mayan calendar. While these movies may have undertones based on real world events, such as the environmental warnings of the “Day After Tomorrow,” what is presented onscreen has become more exaggerated and farfetched. Chalk it up to advances in technology, but the recent spat of disaster films feel more industrialized and less authentic.
However, despite their lack of realism, there has been one noticeable change in the recent line of disaster movies that makes (some of) them worth watching. Several of these films have interesting characters that viewers actually get to watch develop over time. These character driven movies make for a more memorable experience. 2006’s “Children of Men” followed the struggle for one man to save the last pregnant woman on earth in a war torn world. “The Road,” based off the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name, and which has just come out in theaters, follows a father and his son trying to survive in a post apocalyptic scenario. In these instances, the viewers live the characters’ struggles and are brought into their world, whereas movies such as “Earthquake” and “Airport” were presented in a more matter of fact way.
Maybe the year 2012 will see the end of disaster flicks. Or perhaps the end of the disaster genre is as farfetched as the plots these movies epitomize. In any case, these films all have some merit whether is be the rocking soundtrack or excellent character development. We’re cool with the these movies if nothing, than for the one liners, “When they tell you not to panic…that’s when you run.”
