Things that are bugging me...

I'm a Beatles fan, who isn't? I even enjoy all four Beatles' solo careers. To have a favorite Beatle is a difficult articulation of music and personality, and it changes all the time. Lately, I've appreciated John Lennon a lot lately. So does the charitable foundation One Laptop Per Child, an organization that wants to give a laptop to every child in a third world country. Honestly, I think money for laptops is kind of foolish since it can be spent on clean water and food. Yet, One Laptop Per Child will raise it's money any way it can. So they spent a boatload of money on this new ad



Yes, that is John Lennon asking you to buy a laptop for a poor child.

You might ask me-

"But Ryan, John Lennon has been dead for 28 years! How can this be?!"

Well, the answer is quite simple, they used a computer to catalog how John Lennon's voice sounds, then they used a computer to manipulate a video of John Lennon, a la Forrest Gump and they created a dialogue for him, asking for your donation.

Now I have a few problems with this:

1. It's one thing to use John Lennon as a cameo when he's been dead for quite some time like in Forrest Gump, it's another thing to use him as your spokesman.
2. If John Lennon was alive, how would you know that he would be a spokesman for your charity? He was a generous guy, but he didn't put his stamp of approval on every charity.
3. John Lennon doesn't even know what a laptop is.
4. John Lennon is Dead. Please get over it people, it's been 28 years, One Laptop Per Child needs to work on finding living spokespeople, it is much more convincing, believe me.

Oh, and one more thing.

While i was enjoying a nice Christmas day last week, my uncle was gifted an MP3 Player, and to the delight of my cousins they exclaimed,

"Dad got an iPod! hooray!"

OK, I added the hooray, but they were very excited. But there was just one problem

It wasn't an iPod, it was an MP3 player, a Sansa to be exact.

It grieves me to think that iPod is now synonymous with MP3 player, because frankly, they suck.

There are much better MP3 players out there, one in particular, and one I desperately want is the Zune 120, a far superior piece of technology.

Don't believe me? Listen to CNET, the authority on technology today.



I really hope we don't call MP3 players iPods like we call Kleenex for tissues. So next time your in the market for an MP3 player next holiday season, use your brain, and don't be another cow in the herd, think for yourself, and don't listen to dead rock stars tell you about laptops.

Until Next Time...

Post-Election Awesomness

Hello Friends.

It's November 5th, and I am sure everyone in the world right now is either totally excited or totally pissed. But I don't want to go in to why, but what we have accomplished from yesterday.

Holograms

Oh, I'm sorry, were you expecting something else?

Holograms

Yes. Holograms. They are real. Well not completely. But just watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js6b31_p5cc

CNN now has a hologram beamed correspondance. Granted, the real life anchormen can't actually see the hologram we are seeing, but the audience sees them, and that works for me. I think it is a huge step in terms of telecommunication. And yet another reason why George Lucas is one of the greatest innovaters of all time.

Now when it comes down to the actual big news of President-Elect Barack Obama. If you are a person who voted for John McCain and you are complaining on your Facebook status that basically says:

"NO! Our Country is screwed! We need to pray for God to help America because now we desperatly need it!"

You need to take a breather and realize two things

1. God is not a Republican (Or a Democrat)

2. Complaining is counterproductive.

Listen to John McCain. Any failure that happened in the Election is his, not yours and there is nothing anyone can do to reverse what has happened. What we all need to do is forget about parties, beliefs or faiths and think about one thing. We need to unite for the commonwealth of America. You can disagree with Obama, and you can be active about what you believe. But don't make a complaint about the President-Elect, it will get you nowhere, because he is the President-Elect and that is final. If you have a problem with things that can change, contact your Senator or a State Representative, that is what they are here for. And if that doesn't help go get your Bobby Mcferrin on!

But I really don't care about the whole McCain-Obama thing. Holograms Rule!

Lates

2 Words

Fleet Foxes-Check them out.

Mr. Woods, I presume...

This is for an audience of one but again. However, I think anyone can appreciate what I'm going to say.

I saw a band the other night. Well, three actually. And they inspired me. When you come back this is what we need as musicians playing together. We need to take advantage of your keyboard and we need to use an organ. Seriously, an Organ is one of the best piano sounds out there. When this band used it, it turned the music upside down.

The next element was a lap-steel guitar. I can't even describe why but in the right context (not in a country song) it can sound truly majestic. I see it as an instrument in the same realm as the organ. They both create music but in an inspiring, epic manner. Look into it.

My brother got me Hail to the Thief on vinyl. Now that is a piece of art let me tell you.

Rumour has it Alfredo left telSPACE officially now making it hellSPACE.

There you go, until next time...

I Love Alex Woods (as a friend...)

As many of you know our friend Alex Woods is on his Mormon Missionary excursion right now. He'll be gone for 2 years and it's only been a month and I miss him already. Since communication is very restricted with him, I promised him I would update my blog for him so when he gets back he will have a plethora of things to read about that I know he will be interested in. So Elder Woods, this one's for you.

I got The Eraser by Thom Yorke the other day. It is amazing. The man is bullet proof, in a musical way. His creativity is unrivaled, and his imagination is unlimited. I'm obsessed with the title track right now, and Cymbal Rush. I'm sure soon I will be completely obsessed with all the other tracks

In addition to the Eraser I also got In Rainbows disc 2. More amazingness. It's like a whole new Radiohead album. You were right about Down is the new up. They are all amazing tracks but I see why the band wouldn't include any of the tracks. That is what makes them so good, they know the beauty of an album's composition. Every Album has a perfect layout of songs. Rumor has it that the band is working on a new album right now. By the time you get back it could be already out. The Concert was amazing by the way. It was the best concert I have been to. Yes it has beat out the two times I saw Rush combined! The lawn wasn't that bad but it did rain. The rain probably made it more sig.

That's all I got right now. I will be updating you soon. Even though you can't read it. Maybe you will get in the mail. I am not sure. I wish I could ask you your preference. I guess I could write to you with that question. I guess I'll do that.

I'm an Audiophile Or: How the death of my iPod truly made me listen

As I write this, I am currently ripping Pink Floyd's "The Wall" on to my computer. Recently, my music listening habits have changed. You see, my iPod died and that prompted me to think about my current style of listening. I have been wanting to get away from the copy-right protected music of iTunes for a long time now and I have finally got my break. So, I went out and got a Terabyte External hard drive and am now fully returning to CD.

For those of you who don't know (or realize) CD is literally about 10 times better than MP3. With the iPod generation, people are sacrificing quality for quantity and I say no to that. I want the good stuff. CD's aren't copyright protected so when you rip them on to your computer you can play them any where any time with no punishment.

Plus, some bands aren't even on iTunes. Like the Beatles, you can only find on CD. Do you think that's a coincidence? (well it kind of is because the Beatle's record label Apple, is mad that Steve Jobs isn't original when it comes to picking names) MMM STEVE.

Granted, the quality of CD and the size of the files aren't entirely worth it to everyone. People who have iPod nanos and stock headphones are not going to get the full benefit. But people with brand new home theaters will notice the difference. Oh, wait that would be me. But if you are a normal music listener I know you would prefer the best sound quality with no matter what your listening situation is

So now I have gone fully CD with my collection. Soon I am going to get a Zune (the dominant portable media player according to cnet.com) and I will complete the transition from Apple to Windows.

So I say join me. CD sales are dropping drastically. We can buck the trend and show the world that some people do care about quality.

Star Wars Week Finale

The Circle is now complete.

Last night we finished the Star Wars Week. It was a grand success if I may say so myself. We watched Return of the Jedi in full high definition glory. I am very sad that it has to end but now I can feel like I have a life and not feel like a total nerd.

On to the Movie.

I love ROTJ, it's definetly one of my favorites as a Star Wars movie. Although the directing in this film is not as good as Empire, it is much better than the prequels. I always loved the last half hour of this movie and loathed the first half hour. For some reason Jabba's palace is the most boring segment for me ever. But I guess that's personal preference. Return of the Jedi is a great movie to close out the saga. It ends with so much closure I can never see how there could be more films. I don't know why rumors fly of more sequels because they would suck if they did get made. No Vader-No good.

So I wanna give props to Cameron Hodges. Cam made it through the whole week, a marathon is a big deal for Cameron because he has failed so many times before. In honor of his success, Cam was awarded a medal last night, commemorating a momentous week. We all celebrated last night with some pie and ice cream and we closed out the week in style.

I personally had a lot of fun and I hope we can do it again. We may be back in it again next winter but time will tell on that. Until then my Star Wars fans.

May the Force be with you all.