SBC Owns the Internet

One of my favorite sites on the net, an internet / technology "news" site called Techdirt, has an article you should check out entitled:

SBC: We Own the Internet, So Google Should Pay Up

While I'm not sure about their credibility (though most things don't seem unreasonable (in this incredibly unreasonable world)), and they offer their opinions sometimes a little too much, it's usually good for some off-the-mainstream-path tech news, if not a few good laughs. I will say, however, that they usually do make some very good points.

Anyway, this article talks about how SBC thinks that it has the right (or enough influence, or control over the internet) to charge websites for giving their subscribers access to their sites. For example, Google owes SBC some money for allowing SBC customers access to Google. What they are forgetting (as the article so states) is that without access to some of these sites, people will be less likely to subscribe to SBC internet. Also, if these internet site companies band together and refuse to pay up, SBC's version of the internet will be less valuable than others. Another thing to note is that with internet service becoming more of a oligopoly, the big players have more control over the internet. But the fact remains that without websites like Google, Yahoo, Club de la Musica, etc, SBC might not even want to be an internet company.

Anyway, check out the article, and you should also check out Techdirt from time to time.

Best Bum Ever

Soooooooo disappointed that I didn't have my camera with me, cuz this is classic. I just saw this guy again the other day, but a few weeks back, Jacob and Walton were visiting me and we went to a Giants game. We're on our way back from it, and we pass this bum on the sidewalk with a sign that read:

"FAMILY ABDUCTED BY NINJAS.... NEED $$ FOR KARATE LESSONS"

Best bum sign ever, in my opinion.... can you top it?

Close Runner-Up: "Need $$ For Viagra"

Tool?

I heard a nasty rumor last night on the radio, something about a new album from Tool. Word on the streets is that it should be out after the new year, but who really knows with Maynard. Anybody heard anything that would lead me to believe this is true?

Juice Box

Since nobody did any ponying, I had to take matters into my own hands. Like you, I didn't pony, but found a place to listen to it for free. You have to have Quicktime.

I find Juice Box to be very different from any other Strokes song, in terms of style. It seems to lend itself more to punk fans, than pop fans. I think Room On Fire was closer to pop than their first release. I think this single is closer to some of the material in Is This It. A little edgier.... less bouncy...

The first guitar riff sounds like the beginning of a metal song to me, but as the song progresses, it gets catchy-er, and that first guitar riff makes more sense. Anyway, give it a listen... or two.

MF Doom Promises More Danger Doom, Madvillain

Taken from pitchforkmedia.com; Rob Kleckner and Amy Phillips report:

"Meatwad make the money, see/ Meatwad get the honeys, G." Well, that rap is by Schooly D, not MF Doom, but if Doom has his way, he'll be actually voicing Cartoon Network characters, not just rapping about them, on the next album from Danger Doom, the MC's collaboration with DJ Danger Mouse. Danger Doom's debut album, The Mouse and the Mask, debuted at number 41 on the Billboard 200 last week.

Speaking to Billboard.com, Doom said, "I wanted to do that with this album. I started to do some characters after I got the standard songs out of the way, but then [the label] said they needed all the songs in. On the next album, though, I'm doing some characters. I have enough beats from Danger to do half an album already."

Doom is known for creating all sorts of characters, but the idea of a whole album of the rapper hatin' on Meatwad via Shake could be an Adult Swim fan's wet dream. Ew, just the thought of that is really gross.

Doom and Danger Mouse are planning a tour for 2006, and Doom hopes they can have Adult Swim characters on stage and in costume. He told Billboard, "I haven't met the human beings behind these voices, so to me, it's still just Meatwad. Everyone should be in costume. If I'm going to have them on the record, I have to have them on the tour." The Smokin' Grooves tour meets Disney on Ice? Start hoarding LSD now.

Doom is also set to voice a character on a Cartoon Network show called "Perfect Hair Forever". He says, "I play a giraffe [whose] name is Sherman. He's Sherman from New York." Meatballs, giraffes, cups, metal faces-- dude's crazy. He also must be snorting Red Bull, what with all the projects he's got in the works.

Doom recently told Pitchfork that a follow-up to 2004's Madlib collaboration Madvillainy is cooking, as are MF Doom and Viktor Vaughn solo joints and, surprisingly, another album with his old school agit-rap group K.M.D. Doom produced a few tracks on the forthcoming Ghostface record Fish Scale, and the pair are in the process of completing a full-length collaboration. He's also in talks with super-producer Just Blaze.

Super Furry Animals // Love Kraft - review

This is from filter magazine:

Super Furry Animals
Love Kraft
Filter Grade: 89%
by Nevin Martell

Some people want to go to the moon. Others desire eternal life. I just want to get incalculably high, put on big-ass headphones and lie on a shag rug listening to Super Furry Animals’ Love Kraft over and over and over again. This might seem like a small dream, but after you hear this summery, Technicolor masterpiece, you’ll abandon thoughts of spaceships and fountains of youth, and frantically start searching for a spliff and a living-room scene. Opening to the sound of a splash, SFA invite you to take a virtual swim in their electric Kool Aid acid test. There are hints of old tropicalia LPs, Caribbean beach sing-alongs, Pink Floyd’s head trips and Air’s chilled-out moodscapes, but they have conjured a sonic spirit that is inarguably their own. The Welsh quintet has achieved greatness before (“Juxtaposed with U,” anyone?), but Love Kraft is their greatest album. Might I recommend you roll a fatty one?

holy wow!

new iPod released today

Death Cab

Anyone picked up the new Death Cab album, Plans??? After hearing Transatlanticism album(thanks Mike), I'm considering it. If anyone has heard it, please post a review.... thanks.

Drunk Shaming

Pretty funny

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/dontdrinkwithyourfriends.html

My Address

I noticed that in Jimmy's insert with his discs, my address looks like it is Apt 12. It is actually Apt 2... that's Apartment Two. My address should read:

1416 Broadway, Apt 2
San Francisco, CA 94109

By the way... who's up in the next few months???

the Strokes

The Strokes have released their first single, entitled "Juicebox", from their upcoming album (tenatively) First Impressions of Earth. The single is currently exclusively available via iTunes. The album is due out early in 2006. If anyone pony's up, or has already ponyed (Dylan, is this a word?) up the 99 cent, I will gladly accept a copy of the single via email form. Money's tight right now. Thank you, and you're welcome.

Highly Recommended New Music

Wolf Parade // Apologies to the Queen Mary

Just came out last tuesday and holy shit is it good. Probably the best album of 2005.

Another one to check out is Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Also a solid album, top ten '05 for sure. Although it's very hard to find, it may even be sold out right now.

And don't forget about Dangerdoom next tuesday....