I fail because each day I find out about a new thing that I could’ve come up with if I wasn’t too busy wishing I could come up with new stuff. Man that’s recursive.
We all know about LOLcats. Duh. They will always be funny no matter what.
Then someone came up with FAIL and it was hysterical.
Things started getting a little wacky with the emergence of Total Looks Like.
So that’s a bad example. But here’s a good example: Office Graphs. It’s so simple. This is the crux of my blog post. The reason I say that I FAIL in life is because I can’t come up with this stuff. I’ve never come up with a joke either.
Think about it. You’ve heard hilarious and clever jokes your whole life. Who comes up with them? Do you know anyone who has ever told a great joke and then said “I wrote that joke.” No, they always hear it from a coworker or something.
Enough of my whining. Here are some funny Office Graphs.
What’s even more mind-blowing is the fact that all these funny blogs are part of the same network. And they’re hiring a .NET developer. Which I am. How great would it be to get paid as a web developer for the LOLcats blog? It would be almost as cool as working for Blizzard.
I spent all last week in a cabin in the woods stuck using someone else’s Macbook Pro. I have never been a Mac user. I know some of the differences in the OS, but I’ve never learned how to really use one. I have sported a PC since I was 10.
Having to suddenly switch from PC to Mac for a week is probably like being thrown into a country where no one speaks English. It’s really hard to discipline yourself to learn another language if you can just go back to English whenever you need, but if you are immersed in it you will find that you are much more capable of picking it up than you once thought.
It’s the same with learning to use a Mac. In the past, when I got frustrated trying to complete a task, I just went and did it on my super-beefy Dell XPS gen 2 (don’t laugh, I know it’s 5 1/2 years old). Then I’d knife a few counter-terrorists as a victory celebration.
Last week I didn’t have that option, so I was literally forced to learn the basics of OSX or Puma or Liger or Bumblebee or whatever operating system Apple just released. Yes it was frustrating at times, but that frustration forced me to figure things out. And once I started to figure things out, I … liked it.
Know why? Because stuff JUST WORKED. I’m serious, the computer would never just hang up on me. It always told me what was happening. All the programs worked together, blissfully unaware that they were drinking from the same memory pool and using the same resources that 10 others were. And I was on a dial-up connection to boot.
At this point, 3 out of the 3 total people reading this article are hovering their mouses over the “close tab” button in their browsers. I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t even read an article with this title, so that was your first mistake.
You know what doesn’t JUST WORK? My PC. I tried backing up my music from my laptop to my external HD to my desktop, and when I pasted the My Music folder into the “Brian\Users\” folder in Vista, it made a duplicate folder instead of copying over the old one. Only then did I realize I wasn’t looking at an actual directory structure even though I was using Windows Explorer.
I know, right. WTF? I had to give up because it wouldn’t let me rename the folders because I didn’t have admin permission even though I am the sole proprietor of my own computer (i.e. I am an admin dangit).
I’m not saying a Mac doesn’t crash - the Mac I was using did crash once. I’m not saying Macs are good for everyone - some people like to play games, and if they have a Mac they’re obviously limiting themselves. And I’m not saying you will like a Mac when you use it. Some people just don’t appreciate user interface. These are usually the same people that have messy houses, disorganized sock drawers, and 5 year-old wardrobes.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Do you see where I’m going with this? Mac is more of an accessory and tool for your lifestyle, and PC is more of an accessory and tool for your work life. That is exactly what Mac has been telling me for the past 5 years, I just haven’t been listening.
When I got home from my week of slim, sleek, bright, colorful, gay Mac using and fired up Vista on the old Dell XPS frag-box beast of a mainframe, I found myself having much less fun and much more frustration*. Is using a computer supposed to be fun? Here’s my quick answer: yes, if you’re using it at home. And yes, even if you’re using it at work, but sadly this is just not possible when you are a Microsoft web developer.
In summary, I want to point out that while dealing with media files on an OS I had only used for a week, I was able to get tasks done much more quickly with fewer errors than I was able to get done with the exact same media files on an OS I had used my whole life. I don’t care what facts and figures you throw at me, that right there is proof that Macs are not all bad.
If you have the money and you don’t care about ever ever evAR customizing anything on your computer, a Mac is for you. Finally, please don’t tell me you don’t buy into the whole “lifestyle” thing. Consumer electronics are all about lifestyle. This isn’t 1986 anymore.
*Note in this context the word “gay” purely references style, not sexual preference. I like small words, not big words.
Um, my last 8 comments were from Alexis, Misser, Allie, Nicole, Dani, Jordyn, Gia, and Maila. What is this, Perez-Hilton? Part of me is saddened, and part of me is secretly happy. Teenyboppers FTW?
What am I saying, I’ll take any traffic I can get. I am a complete sellout. If you are offended by my lack of integrity, go back and read my About section which I believe covers my butt quite nicely.
Yes I called it Deer Creek. And the Colts play in the Hoosier Dome, FYI. Plus I still don’t recognize Mizzoora.
This is the first time I have ever seen Radiohead. We were in the pavilion, but we might as well have been in the lawn because of how far back we were. I have never been too keen on Radiohead’s discography (which is something that is changing starting today), but I believe they played songs from most of their albums. I definitely remember hearing songs from The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac, and In Rainbows. Here was their set list:
1. 15 Step
2. Bodysnatchers
3. There There
4. All I Need
5. Pyramid Song
6. Nude
7. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
8. The Gloaming
9. Climbing Up The Walls
10. Faust Arp
11. Videotape
12. Morning Bell
13. Idioteque
14. Reckoner
15. Everything in its Right Place
16. Just
17. How To Disappear Completely
Encore 1
18. You and Whose Army?
19. Bangers and Mash
20. Exit Music (For A Film)
21. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
22. Karma Police
Encore 2
23. House of Cards
24. The National Anthem
25. Street Spirit
We left during House of Cards and could hear the last two songs on the way out to the car. It was nice getting out of the venue without having to wait in any traffic.
It was a pretty good set list. If I ruled the world they would have also played Optimistic, Airbag, Paranoid Android, and Lucky. But I’m not complaining.
Let’s go to the footage. Here is some video I took with my tiny, ancient Sony Cybershot digital camera. I was able to squeeze about 10 minutes worth of mpeg video onto my 256mb memory stick. The videos are in chronological order.
Pyramid Song
I love love love this song.
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Climbing Up The Walls
This is better live than on the album BTW.
Reckoner
This is the longest video clip. It’s also one of my favorite Radiohead songs. These were the most beautiful moments of the show.
Everything In It’s Right Place
Awesome lighting effects during this song.
Karma Police
Can’t believe they played this one! I thought this would be as rare as Creep, so I’m either wrong or lucky.
I wish I had footage of Just. It was awesome. I think I had footage but I somehow deleted it when I was scrambling to make room on my memory stick for Karma Police. In retrospect that was a stupid decision. I guess I was caught up in the moment.
The only problem with Radiohead is that they’re too high and mighty and depressed and 1337 or whatever to speak to the crowd. After seeing bands that actually interact with the crowd like Snow Patrol, Coldplay, Ryan Adams (in the last 2 years at least), and Ben Folds, it was weird seeing a band that said nothing to the crowd. They’re assholes I guess. But their music is really really good and I’m buying whatever Radiohead albums I don’t already own ASAP. Except maybe Hail To The Thief.
And on a totally unrelated note, I hit 30k points on TheSixtyOne the same day I hit 30k visitors on The Gimcrack Miscellany. Awesome! How in the heck did that happen? Oh yeah, I posted about Katy Perry & Zooey Deschanel. People probably come here and see my posts and go “WTF?”
TheSixtyOne has held me in its musical grip since January and it doesn’t look to be letting go any time soon. I’ve already tried to explain to you why it’s so good. Let me see if I can put it another way in an attempt to lure you into the all-consuming fire.
You know how people are medically addicted to WoW these days? I know why. It’s because humans have an irresistible attraction to leveling up, regardless of the platform. We collect things. We get really good at golf and can describe every hole of every course in a 50 mile radius. We practice the guitar until we can play Flight of the Bumblebee at 340 beats per minute. We obsess over world records just to be able to say we hold the record.
There are a million areas of interest out there. And there are people getting better at each and every one of them as we speak.
We are all obsessive compulsive to a certain degree. The reason we’re not medically diagnosed with it is because most of us have the ability to resist it if it gets in the way of our daily lives. Barely.
Let’s look at a specific area of interest: music. I am not a bona fide music collector because my parents weren’t yuppies, but I am well on my way thanks almost entirely to thesixtyone. Music does something to me that nothing else can do. I’m not talking about performing it, I’m talking about blasting it in your car during afternoon rush hour on a Friday with your windows down, which coincidentally I’ll be doing in about 40 minutes.
There is a problem with being a music listener though. There are so many people that really really love music that it’s hard to break into the inner-culture unless you live on the fringe of society. It’s not very fun to become a “music collector” because one of two things tends to get in the way: 1) as soon as you begin to share your expertise with others a much more seasoned collector inevitably comes along and scoffs at your shallow opinions, informing you that he not only owns a vinyl copy of your favorite 10 albums, but he’s been backstage at all the concerts; or 2) you become that guy and lose most of your friends.
So, we’ve discussed the intense desire to “level up” in life. We’ve discussed how much we love music. And we’ve discussed why it’s frustrating to love music so much. I have good news for you. There is a place at the innernets where you can combine your desire to level up with discovering good new music that will be big in 6 months, all without the frustration of the music snob. That place is located here: www.thesixtyone.com
When I play WoW, the level-up aspect is very satisfying until I realize that ultimately it has no bearing on the “outside” world. I can’t share it with my wife or my friends because when you boil it down it is solely for my benefit.
When I listen to thesixtyone, on the other hand, not only is the level-up aspect insanely satisfying, but it has a positive effect on my “outside” world because it is teaching me about music and giving me songs, albums, and bands that I can take with me for the rest of my life. I’ve had long conversations with my friends who are already on the site (Dan, Adrian, Phil, Luke, Jesse, and my brother) over new artists, leveling up, getting achievements & feature unlocks, and techniques on playing the game.
With that being said, here is my list of top 5 bands that I’ve discovered so far. I would have never heard of any of these bands if it weren’t for thesixtyone.
Man these guys are eerie. A baritone lead singer paired with heavy piano usage and constant beats, plus semi-depressing lyrics and a sense of hopelessness, all somehow pull me into The National. I know, counter-intuitive right? Just listen to Fake Empire and be completely amazed.
Just one guy who calls himself Leatherbag (preforming with the aid of a band) has captured my heart with another lonely, half-depressed song called Caroline. It is one of my favorite songs of all time and I immediately went and learned it on the geetar - banjo licks and all.
Required listening:
The lyrics really get me. It’s a sad love song, and I just HAVE to post a sample for you below:
Standing around this northern town
Patiently I stand and wait
When I find my sweet Caroline
We’ll spread our wings and we’ll fly away
Her hair is gold and her words are silver
She’s a lily in the month of May
She’s tall as hell and like the wind she whispers
Do I love her I cannot say
WOW. I’m not one for poetry, but I’ll be damned if I’ve ever heard anything so sad and poetic.
Chris Merritt has about twice as many chords in his songs as other non-superhuman artists. Just listen to Linger or The Long Road to get a feel for his frequent key change-ups. He has a song on his new album called Mafia that’s even crazier. I had to listen to it three times to understand his insane chord progressions. What’s great is the song is still amazing and you can tell that a lot of thought went into each note.
I guarantee you these guys are the next Coldplay/Snow Patrol/Keane/[enter favorite UK pop band]. Their songs are all epic. All. Epic. We’ll be hearing them on the radio in a few months.
Required listening:
The last half of the song is the most epic. It might be one of the best individual songs on all of thesixtyone.
I ordered a poster from White Light Riot’s merch site. I don’t buy music posters. That is saying a lot. These guys simply rock my socks right off every single day (which is how often I listen to at least one of their songs). I love them so much that when I noticed their entire album was available to download for free from thesixtyone, I notified them of the blunder and they quickly remedied it. I bet someone out there hates me. But you know what? I bought the album from their site for full price, so you better do the same.
Required listening:
“Can’t you see beyond the silver screens, the backward dreams, the scripted scenes?”
Well that about does it. Honorable mention includes Band of Horses, Ugress, and RAC. Sample some songs from these bands and tell me what you think, or let me know your favorite newly discovered bands on thesixtyone. I’m working on another Top Fiver for individual songs which is pretty enjoyable but much harder to nail down.
So, maybe I’ll see you at thesixtyone? My username is brianmcculloh and my profile is located here: thesixtyone.com/brianmcculloh. You can also see where I currently stand on thesixtyone if you look at my listener badge in the side column of this page where it says “Listen To One Song Plz:”.
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BTW, you're using on , aren't you? And your IP address is 38.103.63.16, right?
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