Once you get past their name, which will only take you a few seconds into the first track, you realize that this band is special. The first obvious comparison is Franz Ferdinand, which is a shame because it is so easy to pigeon-hole them into that category of retro, umm, whatever. I think it is the synthesizers that give it an eightees feel. Or maybe its power lyrics like “I’ve got soul, but I’m not a soldier.” The retro sound seems more coincidental than intentional, however, becuase they are obviously not trying to sound like anyone else. The eleven tracks go by way to fast, and left me wishing their was more. Unlike Franz, the Killers don’t leave much room for “Weirdness,” for lack of a better word. That makes them instantly accessible, but makes me fear the album won’t have much staying power. I am not to worried about it though because for right now, it sounds great. Amazon has it on sale for $9.99. You won’t be disappointed.

Wilco is ambitious. When other bands could be content with selling some albums and having a faithful following, Wilco makes music that is art, and makes no apologies. Anyone familiar with Wilco’s discography knows that Wilco does not compromise, and has never taken any shortcuts. They don’t apologize for, and perhaps that is why, the notoriety that came with “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” was so long in coming. The success of YHF could shake a mortal band, but not Wilco. You get the impression that Wilco wasn’t all that happy with YHF, as if it were only a series of sketches in preparation for a masterpiece.
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I have always liked the Beastie Boys and I have never been a big fan of rap. With the release of their first new album since 1998, “To the 5 Buroughs,” shows that the Beastie Boys haven’t lost a step. If you like the Beastie Boys, you won’t be disappointed with this album. Their beats are as inventive as ever, the lyrics are always clever, and the delivery is surprisingly fresh.

I love all the references the Beastie Boys make in their songs. Its like when you finally get a joke in an old Simpson’s episode. They reward their audience for thinking about their lyrics. I was surprised to recognize a sample they used in their second track, “Right Right Now Now.” The track starts out with an angry voice that says “Now get busy.” It is the voice of King Nebuchadnezzar taken from a record that I listened to as a child called, “It’s Cool in the Furnace” (the photo above shows the album art). It is a children’s musical based on the Biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. You might remember that the Beastie Boys have compared themselves to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in several previous tracks. If you want to learn more about that reference, here is an interesting essay called “A Postmodern Analysis of Beastie Boys’ Shadrach.”

The art of this album is great too. It is taken from a drawing by Matteo Pericoli. There is a very good article on the album art on City of Sound.

There is a political ad on gop.gov going around right now where Kerry is compared to a cicada Whether or not you like the comparison, it is a striking image. For some reason, where I live in Nebraska was spared from the cicada invasion this year. I am not complaining, but I wouldn’t mind seeing some of these bugs up close again. They only come around every 17 years. Last time I saw them, I was 8 and my mom paid me a penny for every one I killed. That was the easiest 2 bucks I ever made. If you want to see some more photos of cicadas, here is a gallery you can check out. Thanks to Kiplog for bringing the cicada gallery to my attention.

I have been working to get my graphic design portfolio online for a while now. I uploaded it last night, and aside from a few bugs, it should be finished. Here is the link to my new portfolio.

I had several goals as I was building this site that I think are universal challenges to anyone working in Flash:

Keep the size small. The site is 70kb. I am trying to solve the problem of it being choppy on a computers with slower processors. Any suggestions are welcome.

Keep it simple. Fancy Flash gimmicks are a crutch for alot of sites if they don’t make sense, are slow, or don’t serve a purpose. My philosophy is if the animation doesn’t serve a purpose, leave it out.

Animate using actionscript. This allows acceleration and decelleration movement as well as limitless other benefits.

Use Preloaders. Anyone who is starting out in Flash knows that preloaders are a challenge to learn, but are very important.

Load content from external files. This more than anything else keeps the size of the file small.

Those are some big challenges. If anyone wants the .fla file, let me know.

This is another album that I was tipped off to by Amazon’s UK site. I would have had to order it as an import when it first came out. Rather than pay the crazy price, I downloaded most if it from Kazaa. Shame on me. Now that it is available in the USA, I was able to obtain the entire album.

(Note about Kazaa: you can’t always get all the tracks, and somtimes they are messed up. If you can, always buy the album, don’t steal it. The improved quality is absolutely worth the money.)

I was extremely pleased when I listened to the album in its unaltered pure form. This is an album that I think anyone could enjoy. Lazy vocals combine with twangy banjo and lilting piano. Now that I have wrote that, it doesn’t sound that great, but trust me. The Thrills definitely pull this sound off. This is one of my favorite albums of the year. Just so you don’t steal it, here is a link to where you can buy it.

I have been working to get my graphic design portfolio online for a while now. I uploaded it last night, and aside from a few bugs, it should be finished. Here is the link to my new portfolio.

I had several goals as I was building this site that I think are universal challenges to anyone working in Flash:

Keep the size small. The site is 70kb. I am trying to solve the problem of it being choppy on a computers with slower processors. Any suggestions are welcome.

Keep it simple. Fancy Flash gimmicks are a crutch for alot of sites if they don’t make sense, are slow, or don’t serve a purpose. My philosophy is if the animation doesn’t serve a purpose, leave it out.

Animate using actionscript. This allows acceleration and decelleration movement as well as limitless other benefits.

Use Preloaders. Anyone who is starting out in Flash knows that preloaders are a challenge to learn, but are very important.

Load content from external files. This more than anything else keeps the size of the file small.

Those are some big challenges. If anyone wants the .fla file, let me know.

What motivates someone to build a robot out of Lego’s that can solve a Rubik’s Cube? I think many people would say that is a waste of time.

Our society is constantly telling us that “everything has already been done.” So many people take this to heart and give up. The result is a generation of apathy and failure. The people who make a difference in our world don’t buy into the “its all been done” mentality. If you are passionate about something you will at some point be comfronted by someone who will say,

“Why are you doing that? It’s been done. Why would you want to do that? You will never be as good as…”

Doing something is always going to be better than doing nothing. Just because something has been done, doesn’t mean it isn’t worth doing. You will be better for having done it. Just because you will never be able to beat a computer at chess doesn’t mean it isn’t worth playing the game.

Thanks to Seth Godin’s Blog for bringing the Lego story to my attention.