Category Archives: arts and entertainment

Under My Skin

Why do the stuck songs have to be so lousy? You think I actually WANT Backstreet Boys bouncing around my brain for hours?!?

Why we can’t get that song out of our heads
With rare exceptions, the brain has a deep affinity for music
Brad Evenson,National Post

“One evening in 1995, a Montreal real estate agent and his wife went out for a romantic dinner. It was their wedding anniversary. They felt fortunate. The husband had suffered a minor stroke a few years earlier and had recovered. In neurological test after test, his reading, speech, memory and motor functions seemed to be normal. He had even returned to work and made some lucrative deals. During dinner, his wife noticed a violinist playing for restaurant patrons. ‘Let’s get him to play our song,’ she suggested.”

Actual Reality

…as opposed to virtual reality

How could any self-respecting geek rate real life so high (when so many games rate so low)???

Real Life: The Full Review
GameSpot Review

"Volumes have already been written about real life, the most accessible and most widely accepted massively multiplayer online role-playing game to date. Featuring believable characters, plenty of lasting appeal, and a lot of challenge and variety, real life is absolutely recommendable to those who've grown weary of all the cookie-cutter games that have tried to emulate its popularity–or to just about anyone, really. "

Everybody, Everybody

WooHoo! Homestarrunner (source of Strong Bad’s email) is getting some good press. 🙂

HomestarRunner Hits a Homer
Kari L. Dean

“Every Monday morning, a bare-chested Flash cartoon creature with an indeterminate accent, a potbelly and a Mexican wrestling mask entertains almost 300,000 people with antics like composing an impromptu techno song.”

Deparate Industry

Software Bullet Is Sought to Kill Musical Piracy
By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN

“Some of the world’s biggest record companies, facing rampant online piracy, are quietly financing the development and testing of software programs that would sabotage the computers and Internet connections of people who download pirated music, according to industry executives.”

Labels reportedly back antipiracy software

“Some of the world’s largest record labels are quietly financing the creation of programs by small software firms that, if deployed, would sabotage the computers and Internet connections of people who download pirated music, according to a published report.”

I have a great solution to music piracy. MAKE MUSIC THAT DOESN’T SUCK (i.e worth shelling out $15 bucks for)!!! The stuff on the market today is overpriced and/or lacking talent. How many frickin’ boy bands does the world need anyway?

Bad Rap for Rap

Maybe now rappers will need something more convincing in their defense than, ‘I’m just telling it how it is.’ Maybe they should focus on how it could be.

Violent music, aggressive thoughts linked

“Violent lyrics in songs increase aggression-related thoughts and emotions and could indirectly create a more hostile social environment, a study released on Sunday by a U.S. psychology association found. “