Apex81

So, my shuffle officially died today… well not 100% dead, but the buttons no longer work for the audio player. I can still use it as a flash drive i guess. But this thing was rugged as hell. I put it though the wash three times accidentally. Dropped it down a flight of stairs 4-5 times, and even lost it in a couch for two weeks, a god knows nothing escapes that couch alive. Some how it lived through all that… but at my time of need (I started to jog again) the damn thing dies 3 days in.  Grrrr….

I was hoping this shuffle would hold out until apple officially drops the iphone, but it looks like thats not going to happen.

So, that new project that I’ve been working on has had its docs dropped on the latest podcast at The Weekly Roar , so I figured I’d fill you all in. Jaimie (My finance) and I have created a new review site for music and books. It’s called The Smart Fool We were hoping to get a bunch of reviews and posts up before we went public, but looks like we’re out of the hat now. Anyway, check it out. Drop us some recommendations. We’d appreciate it.

I’m in the process of setting up a new review site for Jaimie and myself.  It’ll have music and book reviews. It should be good.  I’m in the process of setting up the content management system and tweaking the adsense accounts.  I’ll drop you the url once i get everything going.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately how music has changed over the years for me.  In the beginning when I had my first job, I spent tons of money of cd’s.  I’d say about 60% of the funds from my paper route went to buying new cd’s. Today, i’m lucky if I buy 5 albums a year.  Sure, downloading has a lot to do with it. But, that’s not the point i’m trying to make here, and probably deserves a post on its own.   Since the mp3 was created my  music consumption process has changed.  I don’t think I really appreciate Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve had it. There is an article over at wired magazine that talk about how the RIAA is trying to destroy open wifi networks. Essentially they’re trying to make users with the internet account responsbile for the bandwidth that passes through their wireless networks. THIS IS LUDACRIS. You should read some of the comments… Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve spent some much time immersed in my schoolwork lately that I have been abandoning some of my techie needs! So, I promise to post some interesting stuff I’ve stumbled onto in the last couple days sometime tomorrow. It also seems like I’ve been focusing a lot lately on music, and there is a perfectly good example for that. For me, schoolwork and music go hand in hand. I have a bit of an active mind (which quite possible could be a mild form of A.D.D), so I cannot focus on one thing for more than 10-15mins, unless my senses are being over stimulated! It’s kind of weird… but in order for me to focus on any readings/essays I might have I need to have something else going on. Since I was in Grade 8 I’ve been felling that need with music. It’s a passive enough art form that it doesn’t need all of my attention, but it’s active enough to get me into a rhythm while I study. It’s become a necessity. I can’t stop or I’d surely never get any work done! So, it’s become quite easy for me to get into my “music” mode and rant about albums I’ve been listening to while I study! So without much further ado here is another, and quite possibly the last one for a while!

I owe a huge thanks to Mr. Jeff Burrows for pointing out this album to me. I’ve always been a huge Jimi Hendrix fan, but I can’t believe I haven’t stumbled upon this up until now! These two guys, Burrows, and Hendrix…. well three… add Cobain into the mix, are the reasons I picked up the Guitar in the first place. They opened Pandora’s box. I haven’t been the same since. Anyway, Hendrix’s album titled Blues is by far the best album I’ve heard in quite some time. It’s insane, breath-taking, awe-inspiring….. and I could probably write a whole slew of other catch phrases, but they would not even begin to sum up how great this album really is.

So i’ve been bombarded by this song every single time I start up NHL 2007, and to be quite honest I was starting to get annoyed.  For some reason I got it off itunes as a free download of the week, but I didn’t really appreciate it until the other night.  “Barely Listening” by Pilot Speed has been catapulted to a new status on my play list.  I was watching a show called Whistler (I’ve only seen like 2 episodes), which has been labeled as a Canadian OC, when this song was included in a pretty dramatic scene where a guy kills himself.  During this final scene Barely Listening is playing.  I immediately gained a new perspective on this song, and it has been a favourite ever since.  I can’t get enough of it.  You should Check it out.  Just don’t blame me if you can’t get it out of your head.

Itunes was kind enough to let me know that there is a couple of upcoming albums I need to check out. “Clap your hands and say yeah” have a new album you can find it here! And!!! There is a new “modest mouse” album coming out soon! You can order it pre-release from itunes here! as well as get a nice “sample” of their latest single “Dashboard”. I’ll let you know what I think of these albums once I manage to get my hands on them. Oh yeah! On a side note those links I just provided you are for the itunes store. So hopefully you have itunes!  If not you should really think of picking it up! It’s not only an excellent music player, but it’s also a great way to get some free music as well as find some new and exciting bands you might not have known about previously.  Never underestimate the power of the “Just for you” section, as well as the “Listeners Also Bought” Sections.  Sometimes I’m flabergasted by the fact that I haven’t heard of some of their recommendations.    Pretty Amazing Stuff!

Everything has been purged. We’re starting new. Sometimes it is nice to start completely fresh! Everything is starting anew! Servers have a fresh install of OS X server… my laptop has a fresh install of OS X 10.4.8… My itunes library is starting from scratch. It’s kinda nice. I figured that I’m going to be going as long as I can without getting nostalgic for old music. So far i’ve ripped the new shins album, it’s pretty amazing, as well as “The Sunlandic Twins” by “Of Montreal” which was released in 2005. Two pretty damn good albums if you ask me. It’s a nice change.

Finally, please bare with my as I rebuild this site. I’m going to try to put some time into reworking the site completely, so if your links are not listed to the right… they will be soon.