First Half Of 2007 - A Musical Review

After what I think was a pretty slow start, 2007 is suddenly pretty strong music-wise. Here's my top 5 albums for the first half of 2007 in alphabetical order. (And just like last time, these are albums that were added to my library in 2007, not necessarily albums released in 2007.)

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

This album is playable start to finish. It also features a song where the best lyric isn't even a lyric. It's just an extended "oh" type sound. Little treasure hunt for ya.

Feist - The Reminder

Chick singers. Who knew? I remember remarking to my buddy Paul only a couple months ago that I've never really even been into chick singers in general. Wrong! Along comes Feist with an unstoppable album. Way to go, Canada! Also worth noting - this is the same girl that does the vocals on "The Build Up" and "Know-How" by the Kings of Convenience. Also props to Chyla for the hook up.

K-OS - Atlantis - Hymns for Disco

This is how hip-hop should be done. Dude raps, plays a plethora of instruments and can harmonize. Great stuff from start to finish and his other 2 albums are great too. Oh yeah, guess what. Yep. Canada. And again props to Chyla for the hook up.

Kings of Leon - Because of the Times

I added this album to my library on February 16th, 2007. Total plays since then - 955. That's approximately 68 full rolls of the album. This album has four 5-star songs (I only have 73 total 5-star songs out of 13,000 tracks on my library). Is anybody listening to me!? Is the whole world taking crazy pills!? This album will own your soul.

Langhorne Slim - When The Sun's Gone Down

Props to Paul for the hook up here. Langhorne Slim is sorta like what would happen if Bizarro Caleb Followill fronted a blue grass band. As is the theme here, the whole album just plays. And good luck not enjoying 'Loretta Lee Jones'.

A Discussion About Transformers

Below is a chat I had with Ando just after seeing Transformers. I think it suffices as my official review.

(9:51:18 AM) Ando: transformers was awesome
(9:51:47 AM) Luke: awesome and horrible for me
(9:52:12 AM) Luke: there were about a billion times when i thought "michael bay is definitely directing this movie" ... which is bad
(9:52:15 AM) Luke: for me
(9:52:18 AM) Ando: i also want to join the nsa because they apparently have hot, aussie 18 year olds who can talk directly to the secretary of defesne all while decoding complex analyses working there
(9:52:24 AM) Ando: i'm with you there
(9:52:36 AM) Luke: just a mess of a film
(9:52:37 AM) Luke: a mess
(9:52:52 AM) Luke: why did the sector 7 guy need to show the mars lander tape?
(9:52:57 AM) Luke: WHY!?
(9:53:09 AM) Ando: EXCELLENT question
(9:53:10 AM) Luke: it served no purpose than to remind the audience about the teaser trailer from a year ago
(9:53:17 AM) Luke: i was like, oh yeah, that was a decent preview
(9:53:23 AM) Luke: too bad you couldn't leave it at that
(9:53:40 AM) Luke: at that point, i think we had fully established that transformers were bad
(9:53:44 AM) Luke: and dangerous
(9:54:07 AM) Ando: i also don't like shia very much. or his character anyway. dude, just calm down for A SECOND. please.
(9:54:26 AM) Luke: i can't not like shia
(9:54:41 AM) Luke: but while we're here, the criminal angle for the hottie
(9:54:44 AM) Luke: who the f cares!?
(9:54:52 AM) Ando: amen.
(9:55:21 AM) Luke: i'm supposed to believe that shia was like, oh wait, i'm no longer head over heels for this girl not that i've learned that her dad brought her along to car thefts when she was 5
(9:55:28 AM) Luke: not = now
(9:55:41 AM) Ando: tuturro's character, weird
(9:56:08 AM) Luke: yeah, the idea of calling the hottie a criminal to get under shia's skin
(9:56:19 AM) Luke: shoot me in the face, michael bay
(9:56:28 AM) Luke: the random bumble bee piss
(9:56:44 AM) Luke: you're welcome, 5 year olds, now leave before you have to watch optimus stab a transformer in the throat
(9:56:53 AM) Ando: i did like bay's little "this is gonna be better than armageddon" line.
(9:56:54 AM) Ando: lol
(9:57:23 AM) Luke: i do not understand how someone would think that movie was a nice, flowing well thought out film
(9:57:55 AM) Ando: but the transformers were awesome
(9:58:11 AM) Luke: they were so awesome
(9:58:13 AM) Ando: so, ya know, that was cool
(9:58:15 AM) Luke: fracking amazing
(9:58:27 AM) Luke: like, i never once thought "this is great cgi"
(9:58:43 AM) Luke: i was like, shit, that transformer just blew some shit up in that city
(9:59:00 AM) Luke: dammit, michael bay
(9:59:03 AM) Luke: how did you screw this up?
(9:59:16 AM) Luke: just pick one plot and go with it
(10:00:03 AM) Luke: did he really first sit down and go, ok, here are all the players we need in this movie: the transformers, the hackers, the hacker's black friend, shia, the parents, the hottie, sector 7, the sec of defense, the unnamed military group of hot dudes
(10:00:20 AM) Luke: these players are all INTEGRAL
(10:00:28 AM) Luke: the movie fails without ALL of them
(10:00:46 AM) Luke: f!
(10:00:55 AM) Ando: ok you've put way more thought into this than me
(10:00:59 AM) Ando: i'm ashamed
(10:01:04 AM) Ando: it def was a total mess of a movie
(10:01:13 AM) Luke: f'ing ... MESS!
(10:01:31 AM) Ando: i still thought my $5.50 was worth it
(10:01:49 AM) Luke: totally worth it
(10:01:52 AM) Luke: but still
(10:01:52 AM) Luke: f

Retired MySpace content

I felt like cleaning up my MySpace page. Here's all the stuff that was removed:

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Following up on "This is Our Country". Check out this excerpt from the Sports Guy's mailbag.

"I was in Toronto during the NFL playoffs and during one of the games, the "This is Our Country" commercial came on, only it wasn't fire fighters and steel workers. It featured elk (yeah the animal), people playing hockey on a pond, and finished with an image of some clip from the '80s of an Olympic player whom I could not identify donning a Team Canada jersey."

This is unbelievable. They play this commercial in other countries? The whole commercial is now flawed. Turns out this is not our country. This is actually Canada. Or whatever other countries they are airing one of the worst commercials ever.

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Behold, Kel and I's epic concert run from October, 2006.

• Monday: Phx, Matt Nathanson. (It's up to you, blondey.)
• Tuesday: Phx, Kings of Leon. (Holy Shit, right!)
• Wednesday: Irvine, CA, John Mayer.
• Thursday: SD, CA, Tristan Prettyman, Nada Surf, Guster. (Hi-Speed Soul!)
• Friday: LA, CA, same as Thursday.
• Saturday: LA, CA, The Spinto Band, Art Brut, We Are Scientists (Specifically Frederica.)
• Sunday: Phx, Dear and the Headlights.

And now for some fun facts:

• If you order one of those things at McDonald's that resembles small pancakes wrapped
  around an egg and/or a round piece of sausage, you just ordered a McGriddles, not a
  McGriddle. There is no such thing as a McGriddle.
  
• Success! I know all the words to Trapeze Swinger by Iron & Wine. All
  7 non-repeating verses. Remembering the order is still tough.
  
• Winner! Berg was deemed the loser of the CNS-uniform challenge.
• I own and actually use 4 ipods. Yes, I'm a freak.
• Have you SEEN this video!?
• I'm freaking out.
• I own "Trapped in the Closet" and it's really something that everyone should see at least once.
• I'm a two-time MBA drop-out.
• I have no clue what this is, but I laughed pretty heartily on first viewing.
• I'm totally into Tegan & Sara.
• I was on a podcast. Check it out (link).
• I love putting bags of candy in bowls.

And now for some random gibberish phrases that get laughs out of me and my friends:

• Smells brand new.
• POUND IT!
• Is it a signature soup?
• My name's Jessica. Jessica Rabbit. Laugh it up, bitch.
• n-eye-no!
• I heard she DOES come prepared!
• And it sounded really good.
• Chatter chatter chit chit here we go.
• Same shirt.
• We're comin' in hot.
• Jaguar
• Oh ... Las Vegas.
• Flirtini.
• A-whippy-boo
• BootybootybootybootyRockItLikeAWhale!
• 5-5-5-5-5-6-7-8!
• Sleeponih.

Top 5 bands I have yet to see live in concert.

• The Hives
• Arcade Fire
• Kings of Convenience
• Tenacious D
• White Stripes

Manning / Forte LockerRoom Dance
Uploaded by lmnopeek

Marketing for dogs

So I purchased these for my dog:



And here's what it says on the back:



Focus on that for a second ... Ok, now think about this. Let's say I buy a bag of Beggin' Strips and immediately empty the contents into the trash. Then I cook up some actual bacon, put it in said Beggin' Strips bag and then dole out the treats to my dog. Answer me this:

Would dogs know that it is bacon?

My Remotes

I got a new remote. The one in the middle. Hopefully I won't lose this one.

My iPhone Experience

Everybody else is blogging about this. Why not me?

So in the weeks and days leading up to the launch, I was certainly "keeping my finger on the pulse" if you will. With everything that Apple was posting along with the plethora of tech blogs, it's amazing how much you could learn about the iPhone before it was even out. And the hype generated by all this coverage was out of control. Some of the notable items:

• The dude who got in line on Monday morning for the Friday launch. Turns out he's a "chronic line sitter".
• Apple updating their site with content and videos throughout the week. I was eating these up.
  
• Guided Tour (Check out the Google Maps feature if you haven't already. It starts around the 18-minute mark.)
  
• How to activate
• How to get ready
• Pretty much every 3rd article at Digg.com was about the iPhone. Each "talk-back" featured an epic battle pitting the Apple fan boys against the haters. Those who were drooling over the phone would "digg" any and all articles onto the front page. And then all the haters would rip the phone apart with their comments. Hilarity ensued. It's hard for me to describe how entertaining this was throughout the week because anti-iPhone types just became more enraged as more iPhone articles came out.
  
• Certain tech reviewers got advanced copies of the phones and everyone flocked to their reviews.
• This crazy story popped up the day before launch. Steve Jobs "pulls an Oprah".
  

Getting the phone

So I spent all day checking various forums and websites to see what the hubbub was around Tucson. Early on, it looked like I might not even have to wait in line at all. I had it on good authority that my chosen AT&T store would have 70 iPhones. At noon, the line was 20 people so all seemed cool. I exercised some serious restraint and didn't make the move to line up til around 4:45pm. In case you didn't know, all iPhones went on sale at (and not before) 6pm local time.

I decided to just walk to the AT&T since it's really a block away. I brought my big iPod and a book. Crazy thing is that, as I was waiting to cross the one intersection I needed to cross to get the store, there was a 2-car accident. I had my back turned so I only heard the initial impact. Everyone was fine, but I actually went ahead and called the police to report the accident. Kind of a weird moment.

ANYWAY I found myself around 40th in line. People were a little nervous about getting one. Quite a few were calling around to check on lines. Eventually the AT&T guy came out and I found that I'd be getting one after a little interrogation. By that time, there was a pretty fair amount of people behind me. Enough people that some who drove up and parked chose to leave and try their luck at another store.

6pm rolled around and they allowed 8 people in the store at once. There was a police officer at the door. He was basically the bouncer. He would let one in after one came out. Slightly annoying for most of us in line were the people that actually shopped once they got into the store. Some would take time to try out the demo units and look at all the cases ... hence increasing our wait time. I got in the store around 7, went straight for the checkout line - "One 8-gig, please." The clerk asked me "do you have any questions?" I couldn't help but reply "No. I know way too much about this thing."

So I walked home and after some chores, began the unboxing and activation. I have to say that unboxing Apple products really is enjoyable in itself. See the picture below. Apple puts so much thought into everything.



I activated the phone with almost no trouble. I had to wait a little longer than expected, but it was probably only around 10 minutes. It looks like I just beat the rush because, as has been reported often, AT&T was not ready to handle so many activations at once. Anyway, I finally sync'd the thing and started to play with it.

My review falls in line with most reviews. Most of all, it's just a gorgeous device. Looking at it and watching it flow through the different menus is amazing. It is certainly lacking some things that many cell phone owners are used to, but the thing to remember is that it's an entirely software-based device. Apple will be releasing free software updates in the weeks/months to come and I'm sure they'll fill in the holes. For me, this thing meets the hype. It's easily the most amazing "gadget" I've ever seen, much less owned.

I look at it like this. It's the most gorgeous iPod Apple has created. It's a handheld MacBook with a touch screen that no one else has. Oh and you can call people with it too if you want.

The aftermath

• Looks like I should have just gone to the Apple store. It's now Sunday morning and just about every Apple store in America still has iPhones. Also, I think the "launch experience" would have been a bit more fun at an Apple store.
  
• Someone chose to spend $600 and then immediately disassemble the thing in order to see its inerds.
• 
• I found the stress tests unbelievably hard to watch, but it's quite the test to watch before you consider buying a case. Looks like you don't need one at all.
• Crazy story about a woman buying a spot in line and intending on buying thousands of iPhones.
• I think this is a very fair review.
• Finally, this is hilarious even when you know that the phone can handle a fall.
  

Roddick and who?

Most random fact you'll ever learn while watching coverage of Wimbledon:

Boyd Tinsley and Andy Roddick are good friends.