Petty

Regardless of how cheesy you think he is, Tom Petty is the man. His music is so simple it's great. Here, Petty explains how will not pursue legal action against the Chilis for blatantly stealing his early-Nineties gem, "Mary Jane's Last Dance". Instead, he admits in so many words that all rock music is derivative. Everyone steals from everyone else. That's how rock n roll was founded in the first place; white guys stealing black music.

"The truth is, I seriously doubt that there is any negative intent there. And a lot of Rock & Roll songs sound alike. Ask Chuck Berry. The Strokes took “American Girl” [for their song “Last Nite”], and I saw an interview with them where they actually admitted it. That made me laugh out loud. I was like, 'OK, good for you.' It doesn’t bother me."

Wear an Undershirt, Fool

It's hot outside, and especially sticky. Brutal weather. Especially brutal for people commuting to work. And yet, for the life of me, I still cannot understand why some people refuse to wear undershirts under their nice shirts. It's the most disgusting thing in the world to seem some beast of a guy sweating through his work shirt. Especially when the pits are wet and and sweat drips down the back. I just would like to walk up to said individual and say, "stop fuckin sweating all over everyone" and then leave.

Sorry to gross you out, but I needed to vent after a day in the hot humidity with these idiots.

I am finding that most of my posts are me apologizing for not writing enough. And so, in acknowledgement of this fact, I post to apologize to my few fans for the lack of content on the site. Once I'm settled in my new place, I will be able to write more.

I also acknowledge that once I start posting again, most of said readers will have moved on. Americans have the smallest attentions spans.

Macbook

Well, I finally made the jump to the Mac world. My friends will be the first to admit that it took me long enough. And they're right. I've been talking about getting a Mac for a long time. So finally, after much contemplation (and aggravation), I've purchased a Macbook. And, man, it is the shiznit.

In other news that's been brewing in my long hiatus, I will be moving out of the comfort bubble of home and into NYC. I can't take this decision too lightly as it is one of the bigger decisions in my life. I'm glad to be fortunate enough to have family so close by.

I will be posting more, don't worry. So just stay with me as I go through the move. Later kiddies.

Letters

I wish my residence was in Rep. Gary Ackerman's district. Below are images of postcards the representative sent Secretary Michael Chertoff in response of the DHS cutting homeland security grants by $83 million...You can see more of his postcards on his office website. Check it out.

Gnarls

They may have (pardon the pun) a crazy stage name, but the new Gnarls Barkley album, St. Elsewhere, is on heavy rotation for me. It's a great pop/techno/hip hop record that you should hear. I caught them a couple weeks ago at Webster Hall, and was surprised at their performance. They've got a live band and everything, and always dress up as some sort of cultural icon. I found this picture of them on Stereogum, performing at the MTV Music awards. It is nothing short of spectacular. Nothing cooler than Boba Fett on turntables..

Home Made Charger

I caught this on Cnet and find it unbelievable. Somebody took the time to create a USB charger out of an Altoids tin and 2 AA batteries. Pretty friggin stellar. Here is the synopsis at the top of the page:

This project details a small & simple, but very powerful USB charger for your mp3 player, camera, cell phone, and any other gadget you can plug into a USB port to charge!

The charger circuitry and 2 AA batteries fit into an Altoids gum tin, and will run your iPod for hours: 2.5x more than you'd get from a 9V USB charger! You can use rechargable batteries too.

I wish I could use this, but my iPod is the second generation model that can only charge via firewire. I should probably build it either way. I'm a self-admitted dork..

Find the Movies

Some time ago, a picture was circulating the net which begged the voyeur to go on a "where's waldo" quest of band names. It was fabulous. So you can imagine my delight when I opened Myspace yesterday to find a friend had posted the picture below. It came just in time to satiate my appetite for another search puzzle. Only this time, the task is to find 100 movie titles in the picture, which I may add, will indeed be more difficult.

Garbage Press

How can a reputable newspaper make itself look bad? By trying to act cool and having it completely backfire. Please explain to me why the Washington Post needs to report on the phenomenon of "The Wingman." Is the newspaper struggling so badly for readership that it needs to stoop this low? Apparently so. (And why do I keep asking all these rhetorical questions and then answering them? I don't know).

For any meathead who doesn't know what the wingman is, read the article. Otherwise don't bother reading. But I do suggest at least checking out the site to see how worthless it looks under The Washington Post logo.

(via Gawker)

Bill O'Reilly is a Dumbass

The below link is a video clip from Keith Olberman's countdown show from last night, in which he tears O'Reilly a new asshole for not getting his facts straight. Apparently, on the Factor, O'Reilly was arguing with Gen. Wesley Clark about the recent Haditha scandal and compared it to Malmedy massacre during WWII.

If you hate O'Reilly as much as me, then you owe it to yourself to check out this clip. It's a bit lengthy, but it makes the pompous jackass look terrible.

Check it out.