Noise Bazaar

The end of the Noise Bazaar...

2010-03-10T10:15:00.000-05:00

All good things must come to an end.... Man that was cliche, even for me.

Anyway, after weeks of thought, I've decided to step away from the Noise Bazaar blog here.

I've enjoyed posting my thoughts here, but I have noticed that recently all it has become is a dumping ground for links that I find. It had no direction...never really did. That made it hard to keep up to date. I couldn't even keep Tuesday Guilty Pleasure going.

It doesn't help that everyday I get spam comments on this and the blogger blogs I have at work too. Getting old.

I've decided to reorganize my blog presence.

If you didn't already know, I have a blog over at Posterous, "Preposterous," that I use to post videos, pictures and links I find around the web. It's much easier to update on a regular basis, so it's become the go-to blog. I will continue to update it, so follow me there if you want to read more of my stuff. I might even try to resurrect TGP over there if I get the inspiration.

I'm also still on Twitter, so you can always follow me there.

I was looking for something to get me writing again: something that I could write about each week outside of work, to keep things fresh. Most of you know that I have a new dog, Gracie. She's the perfect subject matter.

Last week, I launched "a man and his dog," a blog that I will update at least once a week about the adventures of me and my dog. I hope you'll read that blog regularly and also follow the Twitter account for more regular updates. The first post is already up and the second will be up on Thursday.

I will not delete this blog, but it will no longer have updates. For now, www.coreyinscoe.com will still redirect to here. Eventually, with the help of iWeb, I hope to set up a homepage at ci.com that will link to all of my stuff.

Thanks again for those who have read here and commented and I hope that you'll keep reading and interacting with me at my new sites.

The Foursquare Rap – Badges Like Us | BlackBerry Cool

2010-02-28T21:22:00.001-05:00

via blackberrycool.com

This is just too funny. Gotta love goofy tech guys at Foursquare putting out a rap song.

Posted via web from Preposterous

EuroTripping Part III

2010-02-28T14:58:00.001-05:00

via youtube.com

The long-awaited "EuroTripping Part III" is finally online! I've had this put together for about a week now, but I just took a while to get it uploaded.

This video chronicles our travels through Paris and Milan. In the video, though, you can't see all the crazy problems we had in Paris. For those, you'll have to go back to the blog and click on the EuroTripping label.

Hope you enjoy. The fourth and final part is on it's way, taking us through Florence and Munich.

Posted via web from Preposterous

“Did it ever occur to you that even the most deathless love could wear out?” Rhett Butler from Gone With the Wind.

2010-02-22T22:15:00.001-05:00

The truth is, it%u2019s always been a lousy business. My husband, Steve Buttry, has spent his 38-year professional life working in the newspaper business. After all that time, he%u2019s worn out.

We were college students when one of the papers in the city (yeah, there was still more than one paper per city back then) folded. The reporters arrived at the newsroom that day to be told to clear out their desks instead of going to work. The Fort Worth Press had ceased publication. Two years later, when our first son was still an infant, my husband came home and told me the publisher%u2019s wife at the small paper where he worked wanted him fired because a story he wrote embarrassed her friend. (He did not lose his job.) Six years later, I%u2019d just found out I was pregnant with our third child when the Des Moines Register and Tribune Company, where Steve worked, announced they%u2019d decided to shutter the Tribune. I spent much of that pregnancy waiting to hear if my husband would still be employed by the time the baby was born. (He was.) At a little weekly where I worked part-time, when we received our paychecks we raced to the bank on the corner to cash them. The last in line often had their checks bounce. Good journalist friends have been furloughed and laid off (a few by my husband). Steve has been fired once, reorganized too many times to count, been marginalized and had a story spiked at the request of the then-Archbishop of Omaha.

Like I said %u2013 a lousy business.

So who would want to be a journalist? It has always been work for the strong-hearted, the bull-headed and the hopelessly romantic. People do this work because they love it. They love telling stories, however grim, seamy, or heartbreaking. In fact, the more heartbreaking the better.

But here%u2019s a story that every working journalist, or would-be journalist, should hold in mind. Years ago, when a dear friend was in college, he also worked at the city newspaper. Aware he was fortunate, he gave the job everything, to the point that he sometimes just fell asleep in the newsroom. One morning an editor walked in to find him, bleary eyed, just waking. Shaking her head, the editor told him, Son, you can love this business with everything you%u2019ve got. Just don%u2019t forget that it is never, ever, going to love you back.

True words. Good advice.

I have always known I was not the only love in Steve%u2019s life. There%u2019s a wonderful line we often quote to each other from the great old Humphrey Bogart movie, %u201CDeadline USA.%u201D Bogie says to the publisher%u2019s widow, %u201CBut he loved you,%u201D and she replies with a snort, %u201COh passionately. Between editions.%u201D I%u2019m not asking for sympathy. In spite of the lousy business, we%u2019ve had a whole lot of fun between those editions. His love for his work isn%u2019t something I%u2019d change about him, any more than I%u2019d change the color of his eyes.

As a teenager writing for the Shenandoah Evening Sentinel, Steve got to do this work sitting at a rolltop desk. The quaintness of the antique appealed to him, with its slots and pigeonholes he filled up with notebooks and clippings. Like only the young can, I%u2019m sure he sat there many nights, clicking on his typewriter and fantasizing about becoming the next William Allen White. Of course his future held computer terminals and newsroom cubicles. Still, carrying on the fine tradition of journalism fit both our desires for his life%u2019s work. On our 10th anniversary, I bought him a rolltop desk of his own, and for years my early-rising husband would sit down at it every morning, starting his day%u2019s work long before he got to the newsroom.

My husband is a passionate man, and he%u2019s poured his heart into the newspaper business. I%u2019ve held him when he returned from reporting on a drug-fueled bank robbery that left five victims dead in 40 seconds; after he returned from the rubble of Murrah building when it was bombed in Oklahoma City; after he laid off people who, like him, only wanted to keep working at the thing loved. Whatever the business asked of him, he did. But that long-ago editor%u2019s words were true. His love has been unrequited.

A few months ago, I realized he%u2019d had enough. He was finally ready to break off the relationship.

He%u2019d spent the last few years trying to lead newspapers where they must go to survive in this new age. It wasn%u2019t going well. Recent leadership changes where he worked put him in a role of a well paid blogger. But sitting on the sideline, commenting on a business slowly circling the drain was not his idea of meaningful work. That morning he was leaving for a meeting a couple hundred miles away to help plan a seminar on the future of the business. He%u2019d had a very short night%u2019s sleep. We%u2019d returned late the night before from a family funeral in Vermont. When he asked me to ride along with him I thought he needed company to distract from his grief or maybe just a voice to help him stay awake on the drive. But it was more than that. After the meeting I picked him up and when I glanced over at him, he looked more haggard, more downcast than I%u2019ve ever seen him. He said, %u201CThey%u2019re planning the usual shit they always do. This business isn%u2019t going to change. And the honest truth is, it%u2019s too late now anyway.%u201D In that instant I knew not only would he leave his job, he would leave the newspaper industry entirely. All it would take was the right opportunity.

I understood. You see, he was not the first in our family to give up on newspapers. Last summer, in the midst of a temper tantrum at our local paper, I told Steve I would not allow any newspaper into our home. Not the city paper, not any paper. When he laughed, my rage subsided enough for a rueful smile. We both knew I was addicted. I grew up reading the Des Moines Register. As a four-year-old, I would stretch out with the paper, picking out the words I could identify, longing for the day when I knew enough of them to understand the whole story. When I did, I loved reading even more than I dreamed. Poring over printed words became my daily ritual. I didn%u2019t even mind when the ink rubbed off on my hands.

Steve and I both knew my newspaper ban wouldn%u2019t last. But it did. There weren%u2019t even any withdrawal symptoms. I changed a lifetime habit overnight and it didn%u2019t hurt a bit. Every morning I turn on my laptop and catch up with the news. At first I wondered if I%u2019d stay as well informed. That seems na�ve now. I am better and more quickly informed. I no longer rely on an editor to pick and choose what news I will read. My news is no longer a day old. The only limit is the time I will give it. I hit links off my Twitter stream. I troll newspaper web sites. I visit all-digital news sites. Newspapers have cannibalized their product to make ends meet for so long, I%u2019ve lost nothing in the way of quality. If a web site has a paywall, I move on. I can always find someone else who%u2019s willing to give me the story for free.

Our defections are not unusual. A few weeks ago the friend who loved the work so much he slept in the newsroom, told me this story: He was home when a news bulletin came on the TV about a tragic, local event that caused several deaths. He looked at his phone, willing it not to ring. He didn%u2019t want the newsroom to call and put him on the story. He didn%u2019t have the heart for it. The cutbacks, the layoffs, the deadly newsroom morale had sucked the life out of his passion. He was simply worn out by it all. When the next round of buyouts came, he took one.

The end of a love affair is always a little sordid, isn%u2019t it? Awkward moments, bracketed by false reassurances that everything is still OK, postpone the inevitable. I have a Twitter friend who delights in collecting metaphors used to describe the sinking newspaper business. Here%u2019s a new one for you, Nick. The people who run newspapers and those who work for them are engaged in useless foreplay. They cling tightly, trying again and again to make the way they%u2019ve always done it still work, but the passion is gone. They talk change: tearing down silos, building audience and monetizing content. But talk is their only capability. They eye non-profit status with government subsidies like it%u2019s Viagra for print. They tussle through regrouping, %u201Cright-sizing,%u201D and stripping down to %u201Clean and mean.%u201D They reorganize, then reorganize again, then grope their way back to same old position that no longer works. The wretched gyrations are hideously frustrating for the poor souls involved, and sadly fruitless. They give birth to nothing new. The newspaper business is an aging, impotent beast, bringing down a lot of good journalists who are tangled in its foundering arms.

For my husband, the right opportunity presented itself. He%u2019s moved on. He%u2019s taken a job with a digital organization that plans to compete with the Washington Post for local news. It%u2019s a little disheartening to move again, but he thrives on meaningful work and uprooting is a small price to pay. In an ironic twist, when the buyers of our condo came to sign the paperwork, they asked if we%u2019d throw my husband%u2019s rolltop desk into the deal. I didn%u2019t answer. It does, after all, belong to him. For a second his eyes narrowed as he looked at it, a passing twinge of memories. And then he shrugged and said, %u201CTake it.%u201D Like Rhett Butler, he no longer gives a damn.

For myself, I learned a long time ago the one thing we can count on is change. Because of my husband%u2019s work, my life has had a rootlessness to it that I never intended, but have come to accept. The only thing that%u2019s brought me to tears during our latest upheaval is the number of colleagues who%u2019ve have contacted him about a job with the same company. So many good people, so desperate to escape the beast%u2019s arms.

Do I think this will be our last move? Maybe. Do I think this upstart start-up will be successful? I hope so. Do I think other news organizations follow? Beats me. The truth is, there%u2019re only three things I can say with certainty about this new endeavor:

1.My husband will throw himself into his new job and he will love it.

2.This new business will not love him back.

3.I will.

via rubyeyedfox.com

What a wonderfully written and thoughtful column about the newspaper industry. I believe this is something you see across the industry: journalists being disenchanted with newspapers and jumping ship to move online or in some other direction. And I can't say that I blame them.

I truly enjoy working at a newspaper and seeing my work in print, but I have to wonder if I'm just going down with the ship. I would love to believe that newspapers will make a comeback and find some niche in the media world (I still don't believe print newspapers will ever die...) but I'm just not sure that it will really happen.

I see how far behind the curve newspapers are and I don't see enough effort to get ahead. An awful economy forcing cuts doesn't help anything.

Posted via web from Preposterous

Watch the New Vampire Weekend Video Featuring RZA, Jake Gyllenhaal, Lil Jon and a Jonas Brother :: Music :: News :: Paste

2010-02-21T16:48:00.001-05:00

via pastemagazine.com

This video is great, as is the song. I'm a really big fan of the new Vampire Weekend. Haven't really listened their first album (somehow I missed out on them when they became blog obsessions last year) but I'll have to change that.

Lil' Jon as the tennis coach might be the best part.

Posted via web from Preposterous

ACC Now - Agent says UNC's Davis hasn't signed, but has had contact with family | newsobserver.com blogs

2010-02-18T12:04:00.001-05:00

11:45 a.m. UPDATE: Davis' dad says Davis hasn't made an NBA decision, and injury has set him back

North Carolina forward Ed Davis' biography was on a sports agency's Web site Thursday morning, but agent Vincent Porter said the sophomore has not signed, or verbally committed, to his agency -- even though Porter has had contact with the family.

"I don't even know if he's going to go pro ... this injury has opened up all possibilities,'' Porter said in a phone interview.

Porter said he believes someone hacked his site, ptasportsmanagement.com, and added information that looked as if it had been cut-and-pasted from the UNC's media guide -- such as where Davis played in high school, his high school statistics and his family information. Davis' picture had not been added to the site, and the information looked different from what was listed for other clients.

All of Davis' information had been taken off the site by 10:10 a.m.

Davis' father, Terry, said his son "hasn't committed to nobody verbally or in writing ... and as far as the Web site, we don't know what's going on." Agents, he said, have been trying to contact family members since last year, when Ed was considered a first-round pick, "but I've been trying to avoid them as much as possible."

He said that Ed Davis, who broke his wrist earlier this month and is likely sidelined for the rest of the season, remains focused on Carolina basketball, and hasn't made any decisions about when to turn pro.

"We feel like with the injury, that's something that has set him back as far as any plans to go to the NBA. ... With him not being able to shoot, it's a 6-to-8 week thing [as far as healing], there's no telling if he would be able to work out or anything [for NBA teams] this summer. ... We're just going to wait and see how it goes, but right now, we're not even talking about the NBA."

Terry Davis said his son is frustrated and saddened about his injury, especially because he feels like he could help the struggling Tar Heels right now. But despite the injury and UNC's disappointing season, his son has no regrets about returning for his sophomore year: "He loves Chapel Hill, he loves his girlfriend there, he loves his teammates, he coaches. He really loves playing in college."

Porter, the agent, said: "We have no commitment, nothing verbally or written from Ed Davis."

He did say, though, that he has had contact with the Davis family; Davis' father, Terry, is a former NBA player. Asked who contacted who, Porter said he and the family had a mutual friend in Richmond, Va., and "initially, they would have contacted me through that friend."

Asked when the contact was made, Porter would offer no more details.

Davis, who is considered a first-round draft pick, broke his left wrist earlier this month and is likely sidelined for the rest of the season.

Informed that Davis' bio was on the site this morning, a UNC spokesman said the school was looking into it. Davis has not been available to the media since his injury.

NCAA bylaws state that "an individual shall be ineligible for participation in an intercollegiate sport if he or she ever has agreed (orally or in writing) to be represented by an agent for the purpose of marketing his or her athletics abiltiy or reputation in that sport." An athlete can also become ineligible if his or her family accepts transportation or other benefits from an agent, but the bylaws do not state that there is anything wrong with an agent having contact with the family.

via blogs.newsobserver.com

I know that the NBA looks a lot at "potential," but I don't think there's a single player on this UNC team that's ready to go pro. If Davis is getting knocked around down low by these college big men, what's going to happen in the NBA? And I really haven't noticed any mid-range ability to bolster his game.

Especially with the injury, I think it's a good idea for Ed to hang around one more year and develop. With Deon gone, he's going to be the big man on campus with Zeller and Henson helping out. And with quality guards coming in to supplement the big men, I believe his stock can only move up.

But, of course, when you have agents barking at you and showing you dollar signs, it's hard to resist. Not everyone has the desire for college ball that Tyler Hansbrough had.

Posted via web from Preposterous

[YouTube] - Lupe Fiasco vs Kanye West - Superstar (Flashing Lights Remix)

2010-02-11T22:11:00.001-05:00

via youtube.com

I'm a big fan of both of these songs and this mashup is damn good. I need to break out the Lupe albums more often.

Posted via web from Preposterous

Google shuts down music blogs without warning | Music | guardian.co.uk

2010-02-11T18:43:00.001-05:00

Music blog Gorilla Vs Bear was concerned by Google's actions

In what critics are calling "musicblogocide 2010", Google has deleted at least six popular music blogs that it claims violated copyright law. These sites, hosted by Google's Blogger and Blogspot services, received notices only after their sites – and years of archives – were wiped from the internet.
"We'd like to inform you that we've received another complaint regarding your blog," begins the cheerful letter received by each of the owners of Pop Tarts, Masala, I Rock Cleveland, To Die By Your Side, It's a Rap and Living Ears. All of these are music-blogs – sites that write about music and post MP3s of what they are discussing. "Upon review of your account, we've noted that your blog has repeatedly violated Blogger's Terms of Service ... [and] we've been forced to remove your blog. Thank you for your understanding."
Jolly as Google may be, none of the bloggers who received these notices are "understanding" in the least. Although such sites once operated on the internet's fringes, almost exclusively posting songs without permission, many blogs are now wined, dined and even paid (via advertising) by record labels. After the success of blog-buzzy acts such as Arcade Fire, Lily Allen and Vampire Weekend, entire PR firms are dedicated to courting armchair DJs and amateur critics.
Despite the de facto alliance between labels and blogs, not all of the record companies' legal teams have received the message. In a complaint posted to Google Support, Bill Lipold, the owner of I Rock Cleveland, cited four cases in the past year when he had received copyright violation notices for songs he was legally entitled to post. Tracks by Jay Reatard, Nadja, BLK JKS and Spindrift all attracted complaints under the USA's Digital Millennium Copyright Act, even when the respective MP3s were official promo tracks. As a publicist for BLK JKS' label, Secretly Canadian, told Lipold: "Apparently DMCA operate on their own set of odd rules, as they even requested that the BLK JKS' official blog remove the song." It's not clear who "DMCA" is in this case, as the act does not defend itself.
"I assure you that everything I've posted for, let's say, the past two years, has either been provided by a promotional company, came directly from the record label, or came directly from the artist," Lipold wrote to Google.
The company's first official response came only late yesterday, as #Musicblogocide2k10 sped up Twitter's trending charts. "When we receive multiple DMCA complaints about the same blog, and have no indication that the offending content is being used in an authorised manner, we will remove the blog," explained product manager Rick Klau. "[If] this is the result of miscommunication by staff at the record label, or confusion over which MP3s are 'official' ... it is imperative that you file a DMCA counter-claim so we know you have the right to the music in question."
The trouble with filing a formal, legal DMCA counter-claim is, that most bloggers don't know how. What's more, many of Blogger's DMCA notices allegedly omit the name of the offending song. Bloggers aren't even sure what they are denying.
Take the case of Masala, co-founded by Guillaume Decouflet in mid-2005. Together with his partners, Decouflet has introduced hundreds of thousands of readers to underground genres such as kuduro and funk carioca. Masala's writers weren't typical music bloggers, waxing lyrical about Neon Indian and the new Phoenix remix: mostly DJs, they shared South African electronica, Japanese dancehall, UK funky and Senegalese hip-hop. "We haven't been posting any Whitney Houston or anything," Decouflet explained. He only recalls receiving one DMCA notice – ever – from Blogger. As this email did not name the offending song, he says he doesn't know what caused the complaint. Masala's bloggers responded to Google's email, Decouflet insists, but never heard back. That is, until their entire site – and more than four years of archives – were deleted this week.
"It's just sad because we were documenting young people's music from all around the globe," Decouflet said. "For a lot of people, it was music they wouldn't have been able to discover elsewhere." Decouflet is now trying to "salvage" the Masala archive, using Google's own Reader tool to dig up old posts. Other banished blogs have taken similar steps. Living Ears, It's a Rap and Pop Tarts have relaunched at new URLs, generally without any older material.
Not all music blogs are as innocent as I Love Cleveland and Masala. Although the majority of bloggers share only single songs, showing particular affection for the obscure and out of print, some blogs are the most banal sort of pirates – offering links to download entire new releases. However, these sites are ostracised by the blogging mainstream, left off aggregators such as the Hype Machine. No one protests when Google quietly removes their Blogspot accounts and yet ironically, amid the "musicblogocide", dozens of these still remain online.
The two largest Blogspot-hosted music blogs, Gorilla vs Bear and My Old Kentucky Home, show no sign of being affected, although they will still find these developments alarming. "I don't post anything that's not approved, and obviously nothing on major labels," said Gorilla vs Bear's Chris Cantalini. "But apparently that doesn't matter in some of these cases."
In a press release last year, Google seemed to recognise this distinction, announcing a new policy vis-a-vis music bloggers. From now on, it wrote, DMCA notices would not result in the instant deletion of offending blogs. Instead, individual posts would be temporarily removed, with a prominent notice to help bloggers respond to the allegations. "Music bloggers are a large segment of our users – and we know that for those who've received one or more DMCA complaints in the past, this may have been a frustrating experience," Klau wrote in August. Almost six months later, the experience doesn't appear to have become any less frustrating.
Decouflet sounds weary. "Google is treating bloggers like Big Brother," he said. "Shoot first, ask questions after."

via guardian.co.uk

This is just flat out wrong. Google and other companies are taking DMCA way too far. If someone is posting full albums or tons and tons of mp3s that are illegal, fine, take action. But, as the article says, many of these sites are legit and get permission from the artists or the record label.

I recently had a problem with Blogger and DMCA (http://noisebazaar.blogspot.com/2009/11/fighting-man.html), where they took down a post with an mp3 that I had gotten permission to post. I even talked to the record label contact and she was confused about why it had gotten taken down.

Taking down a post is one thing, but to completely destroy a blog (and years of hard work) without any warning is just plain wrong.

I wonder how many more users Wordpress will get now that this is coming out.

Posted via web from Preposterous

ACC Now - Poll: Little hate in UNC-Duke rivalry | newsobserver.com blogs

2010-02-09T23:44:00.001-05:00

Even if there is no love lost between Duke and North Carolina basketball fans, there's not much hate in the rivalry, either, according to a survey released today by Public Policy Polling.

Thirty-five percent of North Carolinians said they'd root for UNC Wednesday night, compared to 21 percent who said they'd root for Duke. Nearly half, 44 percent, said they don't care who wins.

Among those respondents who have a rooting interest in the game, just 18-20 percent of Duke fans and 17 percent of North Carolina fans said they "hate" their rival.

Both fan bases had generally positive fews of their rival's coaches, according to the survey.

Tar Heels supporters view Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski favorably by 46-26 percent. Blue Devils fans are less positive about UNC coach Roy Williams, but still view him favorably by 27-24 percent.

via blogs.newsobserver.com

Maybe this is true for people that are just fans or graduated from either school long ago, but I bet if you polled current students and recent graduates you would get a MUCH different result.

Go to hell, dook!

Posted via web from Preposterous

i guess i'm floating: [News] Bonnaroo 2010 Lineup (Updating)

2010-02-09T23:25:00.001-05:00

Bonnaroo is just dying to be a trending topic today, or maybe they're scared their website is going to explode (again) when they unveil their lineup. They've been revealing "#BonnarooClues" the past week or so via Twitter as to who some of the acts on the bill shall be, ranging from Paul McCartney and Paul Simon to D.A.N.C.E.-enthused Justice. If they actually show up on the bill then I'll feel more investigative than Steve Burns himself. So while the Roo execs keep adding artists, I'll keep updating this post one-at-a-time:
Phoenix
The Flaming Lips (performing Dark Side of the Moon LP)
Weezer
Dave Matthews Band
OK Go
Avett Brothers
Jeff Beck
John Fogerty
Medeski, Martin, and Wood
Darryl Hall w/ Chromeo
Punch Brothers
Blues Traveler
Isis
Cross Canadian Ragweed
Baroness
Neon Indian
Black Keys
Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers
Bassnectar
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Ingrid Michaelson
The National
Local Natives
Regina Spektor
The xx
Mayer Hawthorne & The Country
Wale
Norah Jones
Monte Montgomery
Jay-Z
Thievery Corporation
Gwar
She & Him
Baaba Maal
Jimmy Cliff
Tokyo Police Club
Kid Cudi
Japandroids
John Prine
Dropkick Murphys
Stevie Wonder
Manchester Orchestra
Kings of Leon
Zac Brown Band
Needtobreathe
Dr. Dog
Tinariwen
Dave Rawlings Machine
The Dead Weather
The Melvins
And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead
They Might Be Giants
The Asterik
The Bakerton Group
Big Sam's Funky Nation
Mew
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Julia Nunes
Jay Electronica
The Postelles
Michael Franti and Spearhead
Rise Against
Rebelution
Damian Marley & Nas
Tenacious D
Jamey Johnson
Tori Amos
The Entrance Band
Lotus
Clutch
The Gaslight Anthem
The Dodos
Blitzen Trapper
Calexico
Mumford & Sons
Deadmau5
Martin Sexton
Kris Kristofferson
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
The Temper Trap
Here We Go magic
LCD Soundsystem
The Disco Biscuits
Diane Birch
Lucero
Miranda Lambert

Updated: 8:00 PM EST

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Osheaga Festival / Ticket Giveaway!

via iguessimfloating.blogspot.com

We finally have the full list and I must say that I am pretty pumped about it. A lot of great groups and artists, but the Avetts, Steve Martin, Jay-Z, She & Him and Stevie Wonder make the trip to Tennessee worthwhile.

I am very seriously considering making the trip to my first Bonnaroo.

Anyone interested in making the trip with me?

Posted via web from Preposterous

New York Times: "On College Campuses, a Shortage of Men"

2010-02-08T13:42:00.001-05:00

This article is unbelievable. Not the premise, but the way it was written.

The idea of this New York Times piece is that many universities have an overwhelming female majority. OK, sure. It's focused around UNC Chapel Hill, which is about a 60/40 ratio women to men. Got it.

The idea of the article is that it's essentially slim pickens for girls as many guys are already taken or "aren't datable." It also says that guys get better pick of girls because the girls have less to choose from. I can get behind that. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have a prayer at my girlfriend if it wasn't for her lack of choice. (She would disagree, but that's just her being nice....)

Though I can't really disagree with the premise, some of the lines in this article really bother me.

Like this one:

As for a man’s cheating, “that’s a thing that girls let slide, because you have to,” said Emily Kennard, a junior at North Carolina. “If you don’t let it slide, you don’t have a boyfriend.”

Um, excuse me? You've got bigger problems than a lack of boys at your school if you say something like that.

But that one the writer can at least contribute to a dumb-girl quote. Not this one.

Thanks to simple laws of supply and demand, it is often the women who must assert themselves romantically or be left alone on Valentine’s Day, staring down a George Clooney movie over a half-empty pizza box.

That's the writer talking. He doesn't attribute it to anyone. That's just insulting.

Read the full article, because it's well worth it. While the stats and base ideas are right, everything else in this story is just completely different from my experience at Carolina and, I would argue, different than the experience of my female friends at Carolina. Sure, if you limit your search to fraternities, sororities and their favorite hangouts (Pantana Bobs and Deep End, where the two pictures were taken) you're going to get answers like that.

But talk to the intelligent girls who don't feel the need to look like a prostitute to get a guy's attention and the reasonably competent men who don't go sleeping around the sorority houses and you'll get a totally different picture.

Posted via web from Preposterous

i guess i'm floating: [MP3] Sunglasses: "Whiplash" + Video

2010-02-01T22:04:00.001-05:00

There is an unhealthy correlation between the sheer volume of mail flowing into the inbox and the amount of crazy/bizarre/wacko things exposed to my eyes and ears. Sometimes it feels like being an average fan of art walking around the the Louvre, quickly flocking to the things that are famously familiar while either being drawn into the adventurous pieces or passing them over semi-appalled muttering "I just don't get it!" Luckily, the only thing to "get" about Sunglasses is the combo of catchy tunes and a seriously enjoyable music video.
[MP3] Sunglasses - Whiplash

Information is sparse on this young band from Georgia and they have less than 2,000 MySpace views as I type this, so here's the skinny: (1) they're a duo (2) 8000 bam bam (Samuel Cooper) & Baby Seal (Brady Keehn) first started working together at the Savannah College of Art & Design during Cooper's senior thesis (3) their relationship strictly dealt with dialogue and the mixing of original songs for short film. It's a good things these dudes got along so well during school and decided to make music together afterwards, let alone one of the most enjoyable music videos I've seen in quite some time. It's what you get when you mix 1980s hipsters + dancing + a green screen (and some sunglasses):
All I want to do is shake the rainbow spandex wearing, mustache man's hand and say, "Job well done, sir." I hope it was as fun and trippy for you as it was me, head over to Sunglasses' MySpace for another tune. Here's to hoping Savannah, with all of its southern splendor, has a hidden musical sweet spot.

via iguessimfloating.blogspot.com

Not only is this song trippy and friggin' amazing, the song is doubly so. I highly suggest you download it. And I mean now. Then do a dance in your Wayfarers.

Posted via web from Corey's posterous

New Broken Social Scene Album Coming in May :: Music :: News :: Paste

2010-02-01T21:30:00.001-05:00

It’s about time, Broken Social Scene. Since the release of the band’s 2005 self-titled album, the Canadian collective has toured extensively but not released any new material (aside from solo efforts). But all that will change on May 4 when the group releases it’s latest LP via Arts & Crafts.
The yet-to-be-titled album features the current lineup of Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Justin Peroff, Charles Spearin, Andrew Whiteman, Sam Goldberg and Lisa Lobsinger in addition to a huge list of guest contributors and BSS alum.

Accompanying the album’s release is a handful of live dates, including the BSS-curated Toronto Island Concert on June 19.

Those dates:

May
1 – San Francisco, Calif. @ The Fillmore
3 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ Henry Fonda Theatre
7 – New York @ Webster Hall
13 – London, England @ Brixton Academy
14 – Minehead, UK @ All Tomorrow’s Parties
17 – London, Englad @ Heaven
18 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg
19 – Cologne, Germany @ Burgerhaus Stollwerck
21 – Paris, France @ La Maroquinerie

June
19 – Toronto, Ontario @ Toronto Island Concert

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.

via pastemagazine.com

It IS about time. Can't wait to hear this.

Posted via web from Corey's posterous

On the Beat: David Menconi on music - Mamadou Diabate gets by with a little help from some strangers | newsobserver.com blogs

2010-02-01T21:25:00.001-05:00

There was lots of hoopla over the garish performances and big winners at Sunday night's Grammy Awards, which overshadowed a fantastic little human-interest story. And that involved kora master Mamadou Diabate -- a Durham resident who very nearly didn't make it to Los Angeles and needed a big favor to get there in time to hear his name read at the ceremonies. Read about it here.

Diabate, by the way, was in the 2006 edition of our annual local-music spotlight, Eight Great Local Acts. The 2010 model will be unveiled on Feb. 26. You may start sharpening your knives.

via blogs.newsobserver.com

Congrats to Diabate! I saw him at UNC's campus on a Thursday on the Terrace performance I went to for a music class. Very cool and interesting guy!

Posted via web from Corey's posterous

Kim Kardashian, Soulja Boy, More Making Thousands From Single Tweets :: Culture :: News :: Paste

2010-01-27T21:41:00.001-05:00

What’s the old adage? A tweet is worth…ten thousand dollars? The saying holds true if you’re Kim Kardashian, reality-television star and one of a number of celebrities making thousands of dollars to send out product-endorsing tweets.
PRNewser reported last month that Kardashian receives up to $10,000 per tweet about specific products.

In a post from Jan. 12, Kardashian says, “Have u guys ever tried Popchips? They are kind of amazing!” This may or may not be an ad; it’s sometimes difficult to tell.

This blending of tweets and advertisements is no doubt intentional, but this isn’t a good thing to all followers. In an article from The Daily Beast, Expert Labs’ director of public technology Anil Dash said, “There’s a very high risk of antagonizing your followers, and it’s very, very easy to unfollow." Naturally, advertisers pay more for larger followings.

Ad.ly is the company responsible for much of the tweets-as-ads trend. Ad.ly brokers a deal between advertisers and Twitter users with large followings (including Kardashian’s sister Khloe, Lauren Conrad and Dr. Drew), allowing these celebrities to post one profitable tweet per day. This one-a-day limit is an effort to reduce backlash from followers.

Listed second (in number of followers) on Ad.ly’s list of publishers, rapper Soulja Boy’s posts are a bit more transparent when it comes to tweets vs. ads: “Who sippin dat sauce” and “I know all my followers is hittin the club tonight. Where the party at” were posted just days after: “Time Warner Cable subscribers can win a free trip for 2 to the 2010 Sundance Film Festival sponsored http://j.mp/3IfpkL.”

Not only are celebrities cashing in on their Twitter followers, but several fake celeb accounts are listed among Ad.ly’s publishers. Contrary to reports, Stephen Colbert is not cashing in with his tweets. The publisher StephenTColbert is linked to Ad.ly, but is not the comedian’s official Twitter account. StephenAtHome—Colbert’s verified account—is not affiliated with Ad.ly and does not make money from tweeting promotions.

How will this brand of marketing affect Twitter in the future? Hard to say, but it stands to reason that the rapidly-growing, clever company will find ways to profit from it.

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.

via pastemagazine.com

This is just crazy! Who wants to pay me to tweet about products? And I'll make it look legit!! How much do I get for having 200-300 followers? Hit me up Ad.ly.

Posted via web from Corey's posterous

Tuesday Guilty Pleasure: "Hoarders"

2010-01-26T09:00:00.000-05:00

A&E is my new favorite channel (and one of the three I know by heart here in Charlotte) and shows like "Hoarders" are the reason.

Nothing makes an unorganized, cluttery person like myself feel better about life than watching people who have houses literally overflowing in junk.

So my coffee table is a little messy. This woman hasn't been able to get into her kitchen for the past three years.

So I have a few clothes on the floor of my room. This guy hasn't seen the floor of his house since the last time the Buffalo Bills made the playoffs.

I do feel a little bad about the people that have serious psychological issues related to OCD and hoarding, but at least their getting help. But I have to admit that seeing a guy freak out about throwing away old beer cans is hilarious.

I just don't understand how people can live in some of these houses. They literally don't have room to move, breathe or make a decent meal. Piles of dirty dishes, trash and "collectibles" litter every room. Some people can't even get into their bedrooms anymore.

The show is inspirational, though. Right now I'm washing dishes and folding clothes.

Triangle Music: Conan gives fans "Free Bird" on final 'Tonight Show'

2010-01-25T19:17:00.001-05:00

In what was a fantastic and classy ending to his far too brief run on "The Tonight Show," Conan O'Brien threw on a Les Paul and rocked in an all-star jam of "Free Bird." The band included Will Ferrell on lead vocals decked out as a Van Zant brother along with Beck, Ben Harper and Billy Gibbons (of ZZ Top). There's also the return of Ferrell's infamous cowbell too. Check out the video below and enjoy. Oh, and watch for Conan's solo towards the end. He's a pretty decent player.
Check out a video of Neil Young's solo performance of "Long May You Run" from the show too by going back a bit in the Hulu video.
We'll be keeping an eye out for Conan's in about 7 months where he'll hopefully keep his love of music alive. Many local favorites made their network television debuts on "Late Night" including Annuals and The Avett Brothers. Long live Coco.

via trianglemusic.blogspot.com

Man, how in the world did I miss this? Fun little performance at the end, but the talk that he does at the beginning of the segment is pretty solid, too.

I don't watch much late night TV (but when I do, I watch Craig Ferguson), but I used to watch Conan on his previous show and he was great. I hope someone picks him up as soon as possible. He's a class act and always has some good music on the show.

Click through the link for the full video.

Posted via web from Corey's posterous

i guess i'm floating: [News] Bonnaroo 2010 Lineup Leaked?

2010-01-25T19:16:00.001-05:00

It's that time of the year again, when all my Bonnaroo brethren are anxiously awaiting for the official lineup to be announced. The Roo crew usually release the lineup the first week of February, so it's only natural that the rumors and leaky lineups pick up super steam the week or two before the real deal drops. Is the below list completely accurate? I'm not sure. That all depends on how well you trust "hackers", "message board gurus", and the "hip insiders". I can say, from multiple Bonnaroo experiences, it's really rare for a band to be signed up for the festival in back-to-back years.. making this particular lineup somewhat believable.

Jay Z
Neil Young
Dave Matthews Band
Kings of Leon
Stevie Wonder
Pavement
Arcade Fire
Norah Jones
Massive Attack
String Cheese Incident
Furthur
Michael Franti and Spearhead
Phoenix
Dead Weather
STS9
New Pornographers
311
Mos Def
The Black Keys
Avett Brothers
Disco Biscuits
Blakroc
Cat Power
Spoon
Explosions in the Sky
Yonder Mountain String Band
M83
Gossip
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Ingrid Michaelson
John Frusciante
Dan Deacon
Baroness
Lord T and Eloise
Ryan Bingham
Brian Jonestown Massacre
Gaslight Anthem
Gwar
Steve Martin
Mayer Hawthorne
Noah and the Whale
Stevie Wonder! Although I'm still waiting for that mythical Led Zepellin Roo reunion, it's an interesting list that features a little bit of everything and has more of a jam-band feel than the past couple of years. You could color me excited for Jay-Z, Neil Young, Arcade Fire, and Pavement though!

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via iguessimfloating.blogspot.com

If this list is anywhere close to accurate, I'm going to have to make a trip to Tennessee. I mean, Stevie Wonder? That's enough for me to want to go and the rest of the lineup is great!

Who's in?

Posted via web from Corey's posterous

Fake AP Stylebook Twitter Account Lands Book Deal :: Music :: News :: Paste

2010-01-16T11:17:00.001-05:00

Journalists, at the mercy of financial woes and a shifting industry, have had to find ways to cope. Many have turned to Internet humor to help them bear the strain. There are those who’ve become cynical fast (We’re looking at you, Overheard in the Newsroom), but others have created something that appeals to industry outsiders.
Ken Lowery, Mark Hale and their contributors at Twitter account Fake AP Stylebook, have done just that. Their spoofs on the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook, whose grammatical rules journalists have long obeyed, range from scalding cultural commentary to poop jokes. In December, we told you that you should be following the folks at Fake AP Stylebook, and just yesterday afternoon they announced (via tweet, of course) that they’ve been awarded a book deal from Three Rivers Press. The tome is scheduled to hit bookstore shelves in spring of 2011.

Some sample tweets:

“The word ‘diarrhea’ is hard to spell. Try: transporter problems, Jackson Brown, #3, blowing the devil’s trombone.”

“Be sure to get the opinion of failed political candidates on all major legislation. Their opinions still matter for some reason.”

“When writing about the stock market, use words that make it look like you or anyone else knows what you’re talking about.”

“When it is raining put a circumflex above all vowels to prêvênt thêm frôm gêttîng wêt.”

We look forward to flipping through the book full of fake newswriting tips during commercial breaks from CBS’s upcoming family comedy based on Fake AP Stylebook peer Shit My Dad Says."

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.

via pastemagazine.com

This is great! I love @fakeAPstylebook. This might be the next book that ends up on my desk at work...could be extremely useful.

Posted via web from Corey's posterous

[Video] SK6ers "Shady Esperanto and the Young Hearts"

2010-01-12T10:46:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure how in the world I missed this, but thank you Twitter for showing it to me.

This is the latest video from Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers for their song "Shady Esperanto and the Young Hearts." It's a great track off their new album, "The Bear," and it was featured on this week's Music Tuesday on YouTube.

The video shows exactly why I love seeing this band live: they like to have fun.

Gotta give props to the UMass marching band for the awesome choreography, too. And the way they run to that last set and spell out "SK6ers" is pretty sweet. Yeah, I'm a marching band nerd.

ACC Now - Five wishes for ACC football in 2010 | newsobserver.com blogs

2010-01-10T14:08:00.001-05:00

The 2009 football season couldn't end soon enough for the ACC.

Just when it appeared the ACC was making a move toward respectability, Clemson, Georgia Tech and Florida State lost to their in-state, SEC rivals on Nov. 28, the final weekend of the regular season.

The ACC championship game (Clemson vs. Georgia Tech) drew about one-fourth the viewership of the Big 12 championship (Texas vs. Nebraska) that was televised in the same time slot.

Four of the seven ACC teams that reached bowl games lost, including Georgia Tech against Iowa State in the Orange Bowl. And just four ACC teams - No. 10 Virginia Tech, No. 13 Georgia Tech, No. 19 Miami and No. 24 Clemson - finished the season in The Associated Press' top 25.

The Sagarin computer ratings have the ACC as the fourth best conference, behind the SEC, Big East and Pac-10 but ahead of the Big 12 and Big Ten. But it hurt the ACC to have the regional rival from the SEC win the BCS for the fourth straight year while the ACC barely had a team in the top 10.

Here are five things to wish for if you want the ACC to improve its lot in 2010:

1. Hokie high. Virginia Tech is geared up for a possible run at the top five in the preseason rankings.

The Hokies return Tyrod Taylor, an athletic quarterback who's improved as a passer. They have a fantastic stable of running backs with Darren Evans returning from a knee injury and Ryan Williams coming back after an outstanding redshirt freshman season.

Although Virginia Tech loses some defenders, including Cody Grimm and early NFL draft entry Jason Worilds, the Hokies always are good on defense and special teams. The returning players on offense should give the Hokies a shot at a BCS championship game appearance that the ACC desperately needs to gain credibility.

2. Georgia Tech gets defensive. After two years, it's clear that Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson has built an offense that can be devastating except in bowl games and other times when opponents have more than a week to prepare for it.

But despite having some excellent athletes such as Morgan Burnett and Derrick Morgan, the Georgia Tech defense struggled this season. Johnson and defensive coordinator Dave Wommack have parted ways, so the Yellow Jackets need a big-time hire here.

If Johnson makes a good hire and the defense improves, Georgia Tech has a chance to be considered an elite team.

3. Russell returns. N.C. State quarterback Russell Wilson made first-team All-ACC as a redshirt freshman in 2008 and led the ACC in touchdown passes in 2009, but there's a chance his days in school are numbered.

Wilson, who also plays baseball for the Wolfpack, will be eligible for the major league draft this summer. It would seem based on Wilson's poor numbers as a hitter (.236 in 2009) that he won't attract much interest - or a big signing bonus - from baseball executives.

But there's a school of thought that says if Wilson ever played baseball full time, he'd have a better shot at becoming an accomplished hitter.

Although N.C. State has another capable young quarterback in Mike Glennon, the Wolfpack needs Wilson back. And so does the ACC.

4. FSU rises. It's impossible to predict what effect Bobby Bowden's forced retirement will have at Florida State.

It seemed apparent that the Seminoles had plenty of speed on defense in 2009 but were playing a high-pressure scheme under now-retired Mickey Andrews that left them vulnerable to big plays by opponents.

If Fisher can get the defense turned around, Florida State has enough talented skill players on offense to be the Atlantic Division favorite. And the ACC dearly needs Florida State to become relevant again.

5. UNC QB shines. With Marvin Austin, Deunta Williams and Bruce Carter all returning for their senior year, North Carolina's defense will be dominant again.

But the ACC needs the Tar Heels to make a big statement in the season opener against LSU and make the transition from an eight-win team to a 10-win team. That won't happen unless North Carolina gets improved play at quarterback.

Whether it's senior three-year starter T.J. Yates or highly regarded freshman Bryn Renner, somebody needs to give the Tar Heels a serviceable passing attack that won't waste the contributions of the team's dynamic defense.

via blogs.newsobserver.com

I wrote a much longer post about this post earlier, but my internet decided to die and I lost it, so I'm not going to rewrite it.

Let me just say that I totally agree with what Tysiac says here and I think the teams that we added to beef up the ACC's football pedigree (Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College) have underachieved.

VTech has been the best by far, but Miami lost it's swagger and hasn't been "The U" in a while and Boston College was a non-factor this year. (By the way, UNC beat all three of those teams this year.)

Also, I completely agree with No. 5. UNC will have one of the best defenses in the country next year, along with a talented receiving core that will have a year under their belts and three talented running backs. If poor quarterback play screws that up, we will be wasting a lot of talent.

This should be a 10-win team and could bring UNC back to the prominence it had in the '90s.

Posted via web from Corey's posterous

Thankful for southern hospitality | CLT Blog

2010-01-06T23:49:00.001-05:00

I surprised my son for Christmas and scored 2 tickets on eBay to the Carolina Panthers-New York Giants game over the holidays. It would be his first trip to a visiting team’s venue. What a better place for his first visit than the confines of the Meadowlands, for the last game at Giants stadium, complete with New York fanfare.

Dec 27th Panthers vs. Giants (photo courtesy of hearldonline.com)

The morning of the game we met two Panthers fans at the hotel clad in full Carolina blue and black. Little did we know that those would be the last Panthers fans we would see until the end of the game 7 hours later! We are used to Bank of America stadium where thousands of visiting fans fill seats throughout our stadium. But not in New York, not when “Big Blue” is playing. Maybe we were just two of the very few that had the nerve to venture into a Giants game without sporting Manning, Boss, or Umenyiora jerseys.

Opening Day at Giants Stadium circa 1976 (photo courtesy of Giants.com)

My son’s curiosity peaked throughout our NJ Transit train ride to the stadium. Why did the Giants play in New Jersey? Why is it so dirty outside? Why did the guy in the Secaucus connection tell me I was “crazy”? Why did the Giants and Jets share a stadium but it is called Giants Stadium? Why are they building a new stadium next door instead of in the city? Why does everybody curse a lot? Why did we have to buy a program instead of getting one at the gate? And why did he, an 8-year old kid, get patted down for a weapon at the entrance. Welcome to New York son!

The game was great. The Panthers had the game well in hand by the middle of the first quarter and eventually crushed the Giants. The fans booed their team after each possession, Eli Manning was told, “your not your brother” multiple times by fans in our section, another group of fans chanted “lets go Yankees”, and 80% of the stadium cleared out by the middle of the third quarter. My son and I maintained a low profile with simple high fives after each touchdown. Nobody acknowledged or spoke to us. But we didn’t get a beer thrown on us either, as many of our Panthers friends suggested would happen.

We stayed until the clock hit 0:0 and reveled in the shellacking we applied for the closing on the Giants 33-year old home. As the last few die-hard fans trickled out, we noticed a guy carrying a small box down to the field. I couldn’t help but think he was taking ashes down to the turf to be buried in the swamps of the Meadowlands with the other famous NY/NJ icons. But I kept that thought to myself….my 8-year old didn’t need to hear my Jimmy Hoffa theory.

After we got back to Charlotte, I asked my son the three things he remembered the most about our visit to Giants Stadium. His response was, 1) the scary bathrooms (small, “no flushers”, and surly fans), 2) the bad language (he heard more F-bombs in the first quarter alone than he has ever heard in his life, and 3) the decorated history of the stadium (several vignettes of memorable plays and players were shown in a Giants Stadium tribute at halftime.

Fast forward to this past Sunday for the Panthers-Saints game in Charlotte. Plenty of New Orleans fans filled our stadium. A group of Saints fans were walking out at the end of the game and I said, “Good luck in the playoffs.” A lady in the group stopped and thanked me, mentioned the wonderful hospitality Panthers fans had shown to her group, and what a beautiful city and stadium we had. My son looked at me and said, “That wouldn’t have happened in New York.” I responded, “Welcome back to Charlotte son.”

via cltblog.com

Great post (except for the possible mix up of "peaked" and "piqued"). I take Southern hospitality for granted so often until I go up north for some random reason.

It's nice to hold doors for people, greet people walking down the street or simply acknowledge another person's presence when they are around you.

I was honestly surprised the first time I was in New York and this didn't happen. Call us what you like, but Southerners know how to treat guests. And that's what I love about us.

Posted via web from Corey's posterous

"Pursuit of Happiness" : Kid Cudi feat. MGMT and Ratatat

2010-01-05T21:10:00.001-05:00

Pursuit Of Happiness (Feat. Mgmt & Ratatat) by Kid Cudi
Download now or listen on posterous

13 Pursuit Of Happiness (feat. MGMT & Ratatat).mp3 (9209 KB)

This is a great track that I stumbled on thanks to the great music blog i guess i'm floating.

I love all three of these artists and they definitely need to collaborate more.

Posted via email from Corey's posterous

ACC Now - UNC fans can re-live last night's "classic" | newsobserver.com blogs

2010-01-05T20:16:00.001-05:00

In case you missed it, or if you just wanted to relive the agony (or joy, Duke and N.C. State fans) of UNC's overtime loss to College of Charleston last night, there will be an encore broadcast of the game tonight.

The College of Charleston's sports information office sent out a news release today announcing that the upset win has been dubbed an 'Instant Classic' by ESPN, which will broadcast the game again at 8 p.m. tonight on ESPN Classic.

Spoiler alert: in this re-run, the Cougars still go on a 12-1 run in the final 3:51 of regulation, capped by a three-pointer by junior Andrew Goudelock, to erase UNC's 11-point lead and send the game into overtime.

via blogs.newsobserver.com

Thanks, ESPN, for rubbing it in our faces.

Posted via web from Corey's posterous

Triangle Music: Hopscotch Festival to host 120 bands in Raleigh

2010-01-05T20:09:00.001-05:00

There have bit bits and pieces about a new ambitious music festival in Raleigh floating around for a little while now and it's definitely seems to be happening (the permits have even been filed). It's been dubbed the Hopscotch Festival and is being organized by The Independent Weekly. The festival is set to span 10 venues in downtown Raleigh and host a whopping 120 bands from September 9-11. The venues will include Tir Na Nog, The Pour House, Slim's and even City Plaza on on Fayetteville Street. Artists will include a mix of local and national acts.

http://trianglemusic.blogspot.com/2010/01/hopscotch-festival-to-host-120-bands-in.html

Pretty pumped that Raleigh is finally getting a music festival. It deserves one with all the good local talent in the area. And now I won't have to go to Austin to see multi-day events full of music!!

Now if they would integrate technology and social media conferences and demos into it (like SXSW) it could be even cooler.

Great concept and expect me to be there in September.

Posted via web from Corey's posterous

Tuesday Guilty Pleasure: "TiK ToK"

2010-01-05T09:00:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year! My resolution? Blog more.

Speaking of which, here is the first Tuesday Guilty Pleasure of 2010 (pronounced "twenty-ten" according to the Associated Press).

This one is pretty embarrassing, I'm not going to lie.

The first time I heard "TiK ToK" by Ke$ha (yes, with a dollar sign) I thought it was a joke. The second time it got stuck in my head. The third I was dancing.

There's really nothing redeeming about this song other than that it has a fun beat and the girl's voice is pretty goofy.

The lyrics are stupid, it's over-produced, the video is dumb and she sounds like any drunk white girl trying to rap at a college party.

It just goes to show you how little talent that it takes to make it in the music business nowadays.

Either way, every time it comes on the radio I get a little excited inside.

I wonder what brushing my teeth with a bottle of Jack would be like....

Tuesday Guilty Pleasure: iPod Commercials

2009-12-07T09:16:00.000-05:00

Apple iPods have always been the "cool" kids on the block. Hell, Apple itself is the epitome of "hey look, I'm a cool, artsy, creative 20-something on the cutting edge." I don't say that in an insulting way: I'm typing this on a MacBook while my iPod plays Van Morrison through my stereo.

Anyway, to keep with their trendy image, they pick not-quite-mainstream songs for their commercials that always get stuck in my head until I'm finally forced to Google "iPod commercial song" to find out what it is.

Some past examples: The Fratellis "Flathead," Feist "1234," The Ting Tings "Shut Up and Let Me Go," and Caesars "Jerk it Out."

The latest commercial song has gotten lodged in my brain tighter than any other. Maybe because the commercial is just so happy with people dancing around and singing. And maybe because it's just a friggin' catchy song. Either way, I finally broke down and looked it up on my cell phone Saturday while having lunch and found out that it is a song called "Bourgeois Shangri-La" (say that three times fast...) by Miss Li. I also found out that my Blackberry can download music, but that's another matter.

Anyway, here for your listening pleasure is the FULL song. Of course, you can always click here if you want to see the happy people dancing in the video.

Audio Advancements

2009-12-05T18:38:00.002-05:00

What's up, folks?

Over Thanksgiving break, I got an unexpected early Christmas present.

Let me explain two of my uncles to you. Terry is a music purist. He has stacks of albums he's collected over the years and a decent CD collection. But he essentially hasn't listened to any new music since 1980.

Jeff, on the other hand, buys more new music than I do. At one point he had a room in his house that had a CD shelf unit installed into the wall. So while we were visiting at Jeff's house, Terry asked Jeff where all his CDs were.

"I sold most of them," said Jeff. He has put almost all of his music on his computer and relies on an iPod to play music on his stereo system.

In fact," he said, "I have a 101-CD player just sitting in there if anyone wants it." I jumped on it. It's now sitting in my living room with my brand-new stereo receiver and turntable that I bought right before I moved in.

But what Jeff said made me think. Even though all my music is also on my computer, I couldn't imagine selling all my CDs. Terry is the same way, which is why both our jaws dropped when Jeff said he sold them.

Earlier this week, I read this article about the slow death of CDs.

Maybe it's just me being "old school," but it's really important for me to get something tangible when I buy music. I like the jewel cases, or the vinyl. I like having a CD rack that showcases my collection. It's just not the same to look at an iTunes library.

I have done my share of downloading, but that was only when I was a broke college student (I'm not much better now...) and literally couldn't afford to buy full CDs that I wanted.

I would never opt to buy an MP3 album (like they sell on Amazon or iTunes) over getting the actual thing. I love buying the CD, unwrapping it in the car and throwing it in the stereo as I drive home.

CDs will eventually be replaced, as the article above said. But I just hope that it's not replaced by something like MP3s or little chips that stream albums.

Don't take away my CDs or my vinyl. If you do, I'll be just like Uncle Terry: refusing to listen to any new music and reminiscing about the days when an album really meant something.

Fighting the Man, Pt. 2.

2009-11-17T19:03:00.003-05:00

Now that I'm back home, I had a chance to look back through my e-mail to make sure that I was given permission to use the track that I posted on the blog. Here is an excerpt of the e-mail from Vanguard Records:

"I wanted to make sure you got an mp3- “My Old Man”- from the band’s upcoming record (The Bear, out September 8). Feel free to share with your readers as a free download if you’d like"

Which is exactly what I did. She did not say that I had to take it down by a certain time or anything like that. The link is actually dead now, but I must assume that was done by MediaFire because of this claim.

This is probably going to be a really slow process. I have to mail stuff in and all kinds of crap, but I'll let you know how it goes.

Fighting the Man

2009-11-17T15:54:00.003-05:00

So apparently this blog has gotten big enough for me to get cracked down on by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for supposed "copyright infringement for a post I did a couple months ago about Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers.

I did a simple album review and used the photo and MP3 that the record company contact sent me in the post. It's one of the few posts that I did completely by the book.

So they took the post down because it violates the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Bull.

I did nothing but sing the band's praises and posted one song so that my readers could sample the music and I encouraged them to go out and buy the album. And let me reiterate: the record company sent me the MP3 file and said "use this."

So I'm going to fight it. I'll go through the bureaucratic crap. YouTube has already pissed me off enough with how many times they've taken my videos down. I'm tired of record companies getting all high and mighty about copyright infringement that is doing nothing but promoting these bands and records.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[Review] Sarah Jarosz -- "Song Up In Her Head."

2009-11-16T10:02:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to talk about this CD for a while, but it got mixed up in the craziness over the last few months.

The same folks that sent me the Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers album a few months ago included this gem of a bluegrass album by Sarah Jarosz.

I've always had a soft spot for female artists with a bit of a twang (see Alison Krauss...the Taylor Swift thing is something else entirely). But Sarah Jarosz puts together some of the most beautiful bluegrass tracks I've heard in a while in her debut album "Song Up In Her Head" (Sugar Hill).

Jarosz is only 18, but she has a powerful voice that is well beyond her years. Even more impressive is that the Austin-born singer is a multi-instrumentalist. She is credited for playing guitar, mandolin, clawhammer banjo and piano.

She is also a masterful songwriter, writing all the songs on the album except for two covers. Jarosz has a lot of potential and I can't see where she goes from here.

The opening title track is a dark, brooding song that begins "The Virgin Mary/All Dressed in blue/ Sings "My First Lover"/ For an audience of two." The second track, "Edge of a Dream," softens things a little, allowing Jarosz to flaunt her vocal ability in this banjo driven ballad.

The highlight by far for me was the haunting -- and I mean haunting -- version of The Decembrists' "Shankill Butchers." I already loved this song, but Jarosz version is shockingly powerful.

I see big things ahead for this young girl.

Download: Sarah Jarosz - "Edge of a Dream."

Why I have no faith in T.J. Yates

2009-11-14T19:01:00.004-05:00

This may seem like a strange thing to post after UNC just upset Miami, but stick with me. The Tar Heels have an amazing defense and they are the only reason we win these games. Two of the touchdowns were on interception returns.

The running game is also very impressive: Ryan Houston played great today without Shaun Draughn to help out. Receivers have also gotten involved in the running game, which has been very productive.

But the quarterback, T.J. Yates, is mediocre at best. Yates will never win a game for the Tar Heels, he will only lose them. Best case scenario: he does just enough not to screw it up for Carolina.

I've spent many Saturday afternoons complaining about the awful throws Yates throws, so today I decided to keep track. I kept a list of all the bad throws Yates made today. I wasn't overly critical. If the receiver had a legitimate chance at the ball, I gave Yates the benefit.

Here's what I found. Yates threw 10 awful passes. That doesn't sound like a whole lot, but here is the key: six of those were on third down.

The key to an offense is ball control and how they convert on third downs. With a run-based offense like UNC's, you will get into third-and-mediums or third-and-longs fairly often. Yates showed over and over again that he cannot consistently make the throw to get the first down.

In most of those third downs, the receiver was either past the first down or very close to it. In the first three series, Yates overthrew one receiver, underthrew another and threw one behind a reciever on third down to force punts.

In one series, Yates overthrew his buddy Zack Pianalto twice, on second and third downs inside the 10 yard line.

In the third quarter, Yates underthrew a receiver on second down and overthrew a receiver on third down in the same series.

He did have a pretty good day today. He threw for 213 yards and no interceptions. But he completed just barely over 50 percent of his passes. And when it comes down to it, I don't want the ball in his hands if we have to make a last second drive.

Yates isn't an awful quarterback, but he's not a good quarterback. He's mediocre at best and you need better than that if you want to become a top-notch football program.

Please don't stop the music

2009-11-10T21:03:00.003-05:00

I'm really trying to figure out how to get back into finding and writing about new music. It's been way too long since I've felt like I really have my fingers on the pulse of the music world.

I used to spend hours scrolling down local and national music blogs and Web sites, storing away free mp3s like I was going into sonic hibernation.

But lately, with a 40+ hour work week and my mind on sports all the time, I've really fallen off. The most exposure I get to music anymore is the Top 40 station that I switch to whenever sports talk radio goes to commercial in my car.

I set up a rockin' Google Reader with all my sports, music and random blogs with the hopes that it will make me more likely to read through and keep up with them. It's even something I can check when I have some downtime at work (which is very rare).

Anyway, I guess the whole idea of this post was to ask you guys where you get your music knowledge. If you have any good blogs that I should read or artists/bands/records that I need to check out immediately, please let me know. I'm trying to dive back in, but I need someone to show me where the pool is.

I do have one album that I have yet to review because I feel like I haven't given it a good enough listen, but it seems pretty good. I'll give you a little teaser: it's a pop-opera (popera?) about college life. Sound stupid? I thought so, too. I've been pleasantly surprised.

I still care about this blog and I'll keep it rocking, don't you worry. Just trying to figure out how to fit it in to my life right now. I know I keep saying that. You should be concerned when I stop saying that.

Sports blogs!

2009-11-02T20:11:00.003-05:00

Part of the reason that I have been less constant in updating this blog is that I'm spending most of my day writing about sports and not wanting to write about it again when I get home. I'm still working on ways to keep this blog updated (like reviewing an album that came across my desk recently...), but you can also keep up with my writing on two new sports blogs that I'm writing for the Lake Norman News and the Cabarrus News.

Here they are: Cabarrus Prep Sports and Lake Norman Prep Sports.

You can keep up with these and look at what I'm working on everyday and find out what's happening in the high school sports world north of Charlotte. I usually end up just posting very short blurbs here, so to read my more in depth articles, you'll have to check out the actual publications online.

Let me know what you think. Or, of course, if you have any news or information that you want published on those blogs or in the paper, let me know.

Change to CoreyInscoe.com

2009-11-02T20:06:00.002-05:00

You may have noticed that when you go to the Web site now it redirects you to "thenoisebazaar.blogspot.com." This is because my Google domain account ran out and I decided to move it over to GoDaddy.

For some reason, I can't get into my DNS settings to change where the site is hosted, so the best I can do is just use domain forwarding. It shouldn't really affect anything, except anything linked to this won't be coreyinscoe.com/whatever but thenoisebazaar.blogspot.com/whatever.

Just thought I would let everyone know. And write a little bit on here. If you have any idea how to help me fix the DNS settings on GoDaddy, I'd love some help.

Posterous?

2009-10-25T18:19:00.001-04:00

Just testing out this whole posterous thing. Why is it any better than my blogger blog or my facebook page or my twitter?

Maybe because it will update them all at the same time. We'll just have to see....
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Posted via email from Corey's posterous

Tuesday Guilty Pleasure: Ukuleles

2009-10-20T08:43:00.000-04:00

I don't even really know how I can explain this one. But I can tell you where my obsession with ukuleles came from. One song. Israel Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World." It was love at first listen.

Such a beautiful voice.... Anyway, that ukulele sound stuck with me. It sounds so simple and so sweet and fits with that chilled out, relaxed style of music that I've always loved. I fell for this instrument so hard that I finally got someone to buy one for me.

I instantly started trying to play it, but couldn't ever even get it in tune. So it's sat on the top of my bookcase for two years. Shameful.

You know what? I'm going to take it down and really get to work on it. Get it nice and tuned up and start learning some chords. Next thing you know, I'll be the next Kamakawiwoʻole.

Tuesday Guilty Pleasure: "Say Hey (I Love You)"

2009-10-13T09:00:00.001-04:00

Every summer there's that one song that perfectly embodies the free spirited-ness and happy-go-luckiness that the warmer weather, cookouts and days spent at the pool brings. It may have taken me until September to find it, but I have mine for this year.

"Say Hey (I Love You)" by Michael Franti & Spearhead is the perfect summer song. Hands down, game over, thanks for playing. I heard this song at random different times all through the end of the summer, but never could figure out who it was by or what it was called (radio DJs really need to get their act together about that stuff....).

Finally, my wonderful girlfriend saved me even more hours of Googling random lyrics and sent me the YouTube video.

This song is bouncy, fun and happy. It's a love song, or, more specifically, just "a song about a boy and a girl." There's really nothing else to say about it. You just have to listen.

I don't know who Michael Franti is, but I hope he keeps making good music. But maybe he should wait until next summer.

Lake Norman News and Cabarrus News

2009-10-08T20:39:00.002-04:00

All the hard work the last month has finally paid off! On Wednesday, my four coworkers and I successfully launched the Cabarrus News and the Lake Norman News. So far, we have had very positive response, including an e-mail from a man who was going to cancel his Observer subscription until he saw our new section.

I had three bylines total in the two first issues, and one article that didn't have a byline. For the Cabarrus News, I wrote an article in a volleyball player at Concord High School who signed a letter of intent to play at Washington State University. I also wrote an article about a soccer game between Concord and Hickory Ridge.

In the Lake Norman News, I wrote an article on an indoor skate park that opened in August in Cornelius, and wrote a game preview that didn't have a byline.

The sections look great and I'm so excited that other people can finally see them. We're already wrapping up the second issue and moving onto the third. You can read another soccer game recap that I wrote last night and will be published in the second issue of the Lake Norman News.

And if you didn't already know, you can be our friend on Facebook and follow us on Twitter:
www.facebook.com/LakeNormanNews
www.facebook.com/CabarrusNews
www.twitter.com/NewsLakeNorman
www.twitter.com/CabarrusNews

Let me know what you think!!

Tuesday Guilty Pleasure: Indie romantic comedies

2009-10-06T09:15:00.000-04:00

Look, I posted two weeks in a row! I'm back, baby!

Have you ever thought to yourself, "Man, I'm really in the mood for a romantic comedy right now?" If you're a guy, the answer is probably no.

I might just be the exception.

The guy at the box office or clerk at the local Blockbuster usually assumes that I'm seeing that romantic comedy because I'm with my girlfriend and she somehow tricked me into it. Well, that's not always the case. Sometimes I'm really feeling a good romantic comedy.

Now let me clarify. I'm not talking a crappy, stereotypical romantic comedy like "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" (biggest waste of two hours ever...) where a guy and a girl don't realize how much they care for each other, then they do, then one of them screws up and works the rest of the movie trying to get the other one back and they ride off into the sunset together. No. Forget that.

I'm talking the cute, indie-style romantic comedies that have become popular recently, where the two characters just have a good relationship and that's it. They go through life's problems and deal with them.

What made me think about this was seeing "Away We Go," with John Krasinski (Jim from the Office) and Maya Rudolph. The two characters are undeniably in love and they go across the country seeing old friends and trying to find a new place to live. Sounds simple, and it is. But it was hilarious and heartwarming.

Even though it's a little different, and definitely not as good of a movie, I would put "Garden State" in the same category. Same with "Juno."

I hate the formulaic, boring and overacted romantic comedies. But give me a fun and cute love story and I'm so down. I can't wait until "500 Days of Summer" comes out....

Tuesday Guilty Pleasure: One-Hit-Wonders

2009-09-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

Ever heard of Soft Cell? How about Pure Prairie League? a-ha? How about the Manfred Mann Earth Band? Certainly you know Right Said Fred and Sir Mix-a-Lot.

No? Well, I sure do.

They were the masterminds behind, respectively, "Tainted Love," "Aime," "Take On Me," "Blinded by the Light," "I'm Too Sexy," and "Baby Got Back."

That's right, I know those artists off the top of my head. Why? I have no freakin' clue. But somehow in my 22 years of existence, so many one-hit-wonders have gotten stuck in my head it's not even funny, many of which hat their 15 minutes before I was even born.

I have to lay a piece of the blame on my step-father, who is an encyclopedia of one-hit-wonders. His knowledge dwarfs mine, but he's had a few more years to file away meaningless bands who wrote meaningless songs, one of which got inordinately popular.

I get some sick pleasure out of sneering at my nearest friend/person-I-kinda-know and asking "Who does this?" when "Breakfast at Tiffany's" comes on. And when they can't answer, I chuckle condescendingly and say "Deep Blue Something," which inevitably leads to the conversation, "Deep Blue what?" "Deep Blue Something." "Yeah, but what's the last word?" "Something." And on and on....

There's no way anyone should know that. But I do. And it makes me feel as superior as a NYU hipster smirking and leaning against the back wall at a Morrissey concert.

It's mean, I know, but somehow slightly gratifying. Try it for yourself. Next time "Somebody's Watching Me," comes on the radio (or on that obnoxious Geico commercial), spin around to your closest buddy and yell "Who does it??" When they inevitably give you a blank stare or guess "Michael Jackson" (who, interestingly, did sing the chorus and back-up vocals), laugh in their face and say with the pride that only comes from being filled to the brim with entirely useless information: "Rockwell."

(I'm going to go ahead and use this time to inform those that don't already know about the real lyric in "Blinded by the Light." He's not saying "Wrapped up like a douche another motor in the night" or any version of that. The actual lyric is: "Revved up like a Duece, another runner in the night," referring to a car. One more fun fact: this song was actually originally written by Bruce Springsteen. See, useless information....)

It's Monday, the Arctic Monkeys are on, and I'm eating green seedless grapes.

2009-09-28T17:21:00.005-04:00

I'm really sad that I haven't been writing as much.

Honestly.

It's a awful truth that when you're getting paid to write, writing for free suddenly loses appeal. Even though I haven't actually had anything published yet -- a fact that continues to befuddle friends and family alike ("What the heck have you been doing for over a month??) -- I've spent most of my days on the ground doing prep work, preparing stories for the launch, training and editing.

Needless to say, the last thing I want to do when I get home is sit in front of a computer screen. But there's such a satisfying release that comes with personal writing, as opposed to reporting and story writing.

I'm realizing this more as I read the insane collection of essays by Chuck Klosterman in "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs." This guy combines the hilarious and opinionated story-telling of David Sedaris with the clinical insanity of Hunter S. Thompson. Right up my alley.

But the point is that most of his essays are late night rants that he wrote down. If you've read this blog long enough, you know that I've had my share of opinionated rants, many of which came during the months leading up to the election. I eventually decided that it was better for my readers -- and my employability -- if I stopped being so opinionated and just presented facts and remained fairly objective.

What's the fun in that?

Reading this book has made me realize that there is inherent value in hearing/reading some guy rant about everyday life, making outrageous claims -- like that the Lakers vs. Celtics rivalry in the '70s can be used to describe everything about human life or that soccer is a sport created by and for outcasts and should be banned (two actual claims in Klosterman's book) -- and backing up with creative, though sometimes faulty logic.

Now I'm not sure I can start doing that again on my blog. I worry that my current employers won't be terribly happy about me spouting off insane hypotheses about politics, sports and the music industry.

I also don't plan on putting all these into a word file to be made into a book later so that I can become the next over-the-top and edgy social commenter. OK, maybe I will. But I'm not doing it for the money. OK, maybe I am.

Anyway, I guess what this rambling is leading up to is that I want to come back to writing for pleasure more. I keep telling myself that I don't have time to write up well thought out posts for this blog, but obviously this didn't take me very long.... So maybe I'm right.

Whatever happens, I want to at least get my favorite post series back running: Tuesday Guilty Pleasure. It's been far too long since you guys got to make fun of me for some really random crap that I've fallen in love with.

As soon as I hit "Publish Post," I'm going to craft a TGP for the four (maybe less?) people that actually check this often enough to notice my absence. It will publish tomorrow at 9 a.m., the exact time I'll be walking into my office, where my writing means a pay check.

Can you believe that people would actually pay me to write? I can't either, but I'm not going to say anything.

EuroTripping: Part II

2009-09-13T17:23:00.002-04:00

It's been a while, I know. I'm keeping a lot more busy than I thought I would. I plan on keeping this blog, but expect the updates to be much less frequent, like they have been recently.

Anyway, I wanted to post the latest in my EuroTripping series from my trip this summer, with footage from Amsterdam and Bruges. I've spent the last three weeks wrestling YouTube to get songs on there that didn't get shut down by Warner Media Group (stupid copyright rules...). Thus, I couldn't use "Amsterdam" by Guster, which sucks and I even had to get rid of the George Harrison song I was using. That being said, I got some pretty good music on there, but you've probably never heard it before.

Without further adieu, here is "EuroTripping Part II: Amsterdam and Bruges."

Now that I've gotten back into the rhythm of editing, I hope to get the final two installments done before too long. I'll let you know when they're posted.

Good News

2009-08-16T21:54:00.003-04:00

If you read my blog a lot, you may have noticed two changes this week.

For a few weeks I was shamelessly promoting myself in my sidebar in the hopes of landing a job. You might notice that's gone. Also, you'll notice my location is slightly different.

That's because this week I'll be lugging all my still-packed boxes down to a one-bedroom apartment in Charlotte so that I can start work at the Charlotte Observer!!!

That's right, despite the bad economy and the troubles in journalism, I managed to get a job at a big metro paper.

They are starting a special project that involves publishing weekly local inserts into the Observer. Eventually, this will spread to 12 zones, but the first two will be Lake Norman and Cabarrus County. My job will be to cover the sports (mostly prep) in these two zones!

I'm super excited and can't wait to get started. But now that I have a legit writing job, the posting on this blog might start to waver. I'll do my best to keep it going -- especially the Tuesday Guilty Pleasure series -- but a lot of the will most likely focus on issues around Charlotte and local sports.

Once the Web sites go up and the publications are released, I will give you more information about them here!!

I hope you'll keep following along and see where this job takes me.

[Tuesday Thursday Guilty Pleasure] CSI: Miami

2009-08-13T10:56:00.004-04:00

Yet again, I've managed to completely forget about TGP until two days later. This time I have a slightly more legitimate excuse: Courtney turned 21 on Wednesday. Celebrations ensued.

But I'm back now and good as new and it's time to start rocking and rolling with something that I love that I really, really shouldn't.

"CSI" is a long-running and relatively well-respected show. The characters are great, the stories are interesting and the acting is quality. Then they decided to do a spin-off.

Strike number one was hiring David Caruso, who can barely act his way out of a paper bag. His character is written to be pretty corny anyway, but he just puts it over the top. If you've never watched an episode of "CSI: Miami," let me give you a little rundown of how it goes.

[Open with a helicopter shot of Miami, some half naked people on South Beach. Then show someone get killed. Enter David Caruso.]

Caruso (Horatio
Cane): Looks like someone... [takes hand off hip, puts sunglasses on] checked out early.... [quickly walk out of shot]

[The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" starts playing]

And it just goes downhill from there.

If you're still not really getting it, watch this video. It's all the David Caruso one-liners you can handle.

Despite all it's faults, bad acting and goofy storylines, I can't get enough of this show. It takes all the seriousness of actual forensics and throws it out the window. And everytime it comes on TV, I am all over it, excited to see Horatio take off/put on his sunglasses and say that classic line. I live for that.

You can also see Jim Carrey making fun of Caruso here.

Quite Contrary Farm after-school camp

2009-08-10T09:00:00.000-04:00

When I was working for the Carrboro Commons last semester, I had the privilege of doing a story on Marianne Prince's farming kids camp in Carrboro. When I first met her, she had yet to start the camp but had a beautiful vegetable garden and some plump chickens running around the front yard. Since then, it seems that she has gotten goats and has quite a few camps under her belt.

Now it looks like she's trying to expand with an after-school program. From her e-mail:

Also, I will be having an after school program at my house starting in the fall. If you are interested please talk to me. I am planning to offer Monday-Thursdays, 2:30-5:30. Fridays will be reserved for home school groups.

There are details on my blog, and more to come. I am currently enjoying having August to experiment with cheese-making and canning. We are also building a screened porch off of the back of our house, which should be finished by the end of August. It will become our outdoor classroom, and will allow the kids to be surrounded by animals even while inside.

Cheese making?? Sign me up!! It sounds like tons of fun.

Get more information about the farm and the camps at her website, quitecontraryfarm.blogspot.com.

[Video] The Gourds play "Gin and Juice"

2009-08-08T22:50:00.004-04:00

Austin-based country group The Gourds have done something that only people from Austin would be willing to try: recording a twangy cover of Snoop Dogg. The Gourds' version of "Gin and Juice" is the best where-the-hell-did-that-come-from rap cover I've heard since Ben Folds beautiful rendition of Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't Shit."

This is simply amazing. I wonder how Snoop feels about it....

I just noticed that The Gourds are signed to Chapel Hill's own Yep Roc Records. Makes me proud of my second hometown.

[Live] Coldplay at Walnut Creek

2009-08-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

For my birthday, my wonderful girlfriend got me tickets to the Coldplay concert in Raleigh two nights ago. I've always been a fan of their music, but just assumed that their live show would be ho-hum. Let's face it, a lot of their music isn't very exciting.

Man, was I proven wrong.

Chris Martin is a much better front man than I expected him to be and Coldplay can put on one hell of a rock show. Not only was the music almost perfect, but the light show was dazzling and Martin connected with a crowd as well as anyone I've ever seen, especially at a spread out amphitheater.

The set was very heavy on tunes from the new album, "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends," but the staples were still there, like "Fix You," "Clocks," and "Yellow." "Violet Hill" started off the show and "Viva La Vida" was the hands-down favorite, even though it came a lot earlier in the show than I expected.

What impressed me most was when the band did something that I have never seen at Walnut Creek: play on a stage in the lawn seating. It's nice to see the band give some love to the fans sitting in the back, who usually have to rely on the massive video screens to watch the show.

My favorite parts were when the yellow inflatable balls bounced around during "Yellow," when Martin instructed the crowd to do a "cell phone wave," and the shaky-yet-awesome cover of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean."

Oh, and they gave out a free live CD, "LeftRightLeftRightLeft," after the show. Can't beat that.

Coldplay impressed me and with each album they seem to be getting stronger. These guys are the real thing.

Also check out David Menconi's review of the show over at The News & Observer.

Photo by Travis Long at The News & Observer. My poor camera wasn't up to the challenge.

The Game samples Imogen Heap

2009-08-04T20:28:00.006-04:00

That's a title I never thought I would see on this blog. But it's true. Rapper The Game, with the help of Jay-Z, samples one of my favorite songs ever, "Hide and Seek," for their new song "What You Say."

At first, this appalled me. But the more I listen to it, the more I like it. It has a pretty solid groove and they use the sample well. Still, doesn't even come close to comparing to the original.

I do find it funny that Jay-Z, the guy who wrote a song called "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" was willing to put his name on a song that samples something that sounds very similar to AutoTune (even though Imogen Heap actually used a vocoder).

Tuesday Guilty Pleasure: Taylor Swift

2009-08-04T09:00:00.000-04:00

This Tuesday is special for two reasons. First, this is the first two-person Tuesday Guilty Pleasure in the history of the series. Second, this might be my guiltiest of guilty pleasures: something that I would only admit to my closest friends.

I was going to have Courtney write this post, as it was mostly her idea, but she's too busy sunning herself on the beach, so I will speak for both of us.

For the longest time I tried not to like this artist. Even when I admitted enjoying one of the songs, I still contended that it was terrible music that no one should ever listen to. But I couldn't get away from this musician. She was everywhere: on the radio, TV and internet. I felt like it went against everything I knew as a musician and music lover to like this singer. I even used to make fun of Courtney for singing along to this person.

But despite my best efforts, I fell in love with this girl's music.

But, of course, being the proud person that I am, I started trying to find ways to justify my attraction to Taylor Swift's music. Luckily, it wasn't hard. Most importantly, she writes her own music and started out in Nashville as a songwriter. She is even trying to make Miley Cyrus legitimate by writing her new song.

But, on top of that, check out her other accomplishments: she was the first artist in the history of the Nielson SoundScan to have two different albums in the top 10 at the end of the year, she wrote a 350-page unpublished novel during one summer and she recorded this:

I'm sorry, but any country girl that can rap like that with T-Pain is good in my book. Her music may be cheesy country at times, but this girl has talent. And, more importantly, she seems grounded, down to Earth, and not just another teen star that will fizzle in a few years. Give the girl a chance.

Triangle Brewing Company

2009-08-03T09:00:00.002-04:00

This is the 200th post on CoreyInscoe.com!! What better way to celebrate than talking about beer!

This is the part of Durham that you always hear about: the part where you find yourself locking your door and praying that the stoplights stay green so you don't have to stop. I was winding my way through tiny streets lined with broken down houses on one side and warehouses on the other, wondering if MapQuest had dealt with some technical difficulties while processing my directions.

I turned right on Pearl Street, where cars lined the street. To my right there was a big black warehouse surrounded by a fence crowned with barbed wire. Three sheets of paper were taped to the door, each displaying one letter: "T-B-C."

"No way," I thought to myself. This isn't what I expected when I decided to visit the Triangle Brewing Company a couple weeks ago.

My fears were put at ease when I walked inside. The inside of the warehouse is almost completely bare except for a couple ping pong tables, a Daytona 500 arcade game, a bar and, of course, a room full of fermenters. Now we're talking.

Every other Saturday, the two-year-old Durham craft-brewery holds tours and free tastings for anyone willing to brave the more questionable parts of the city. I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday.

At first I wasn't sure if there was really a tour. As I walked in, I was handed a pint glass and instructed to fill up as many times as I liked. Over 100 people were already crowding the main room, all with beer in hand. For about an hour nothing happened. I thought they must have been using the word "tour" loosely.

Then Andy, the "sales" half of the two-man crew that makes up TBC, got everybody to gather around for the tour. He took us through each stage of the brewing process and described how it works, where the different flavors come from and told a little bit about the history of the brewery. I would tell you more details, but I was about three beers in at this point....

Andy on the right, Luke the beer intern on the left

The tour was OK, but the real highlight of visiting the brewery is getting to sample the beer. They usually have about five flavors on tap at a time. During my visit, I was able to sample the India Pale Ale, Belgian White, Belgian Golden and Xtra Pale Ale. My personal favorite was the XPA, which I got a growler of before I left.

I highly recommend taking a trip to Durham to visit these guys. It's a great way to spend a Saturday. They even have a little outdoor area to sit and enjoy a nice summer day. Check out what events they have coming up on their calendar.

This trip got me motivated to visit some of the other craft breweries in the area, like Big Boss, Carolina Brewing Company, Carolina Brewery and Red Oak. Look out for more sudsy posts in the future.

Conservatives say the damndest things: "Just Tax"

2009-07-31T01:16:00.004-04:00

After two weeks I bet you didn't think I was going to bring this little gem of a series back, did ya? Well I am. I just had to do a little more digging this time to find something that was post-worthy.

This second installment is something I found on Meghan McCain's column on The Daily Beast. I usually stop by her site just to keep up with what the "young and hip" journalists are doing these days. To be perfectly honest, the stuff she has to say is usually pretty moderate and I don't disagree with all of it.

But this video she posted of some dorky guy changing the lyrics of Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" was too much.

Not only do I respectfully disagree with this guys position, but this song is pretty terrible. Apparently even Auto-Tune can't fix everyone's voice. I'll agree with Ms. McCain that the Republican party needs a lot more stuff like this to reach out to the younger folks, but this is definitely not "cute" or "catchy."

Get back to work, GOPers.

ADDENDUM: I completely forgot about this little gem that Bill Kristol said on The Daily Show earlier this week. Jon Stewart backed him into a corner that he was helpless to get out of and it's beautiful.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Bill Kristol Extended Interview

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Joke of the Day

Stewart didn't have to do anything but repeat exactly what Kristol said: the military deserves better health care, which it gets from the government. Oops!

Tuesday Guilty Pleasure

2009-07-28T13:52:00.003-04:00

It's a beautiful Tuesday afternoon and I'm getting ready to bike out to Maple View Farm to sit on the back porch and have some delicious ice cream, but before I do that, I feel obliged to talk about something I absolutely love but don't like to admit.

As I've said before, I have a special place in my heart for girls who can sing and play piano. Or guitar for that matter. Just any instrument. They don't even have to be cute. But this girl is.

Sara Bareilles: "Love Song."

Sara Bareilles |MTV Music

Almost every morning during my junior year of college, I would pull this video up on YouTube or catch it on MTV (during one of the few times they actually play music videos) and crank it up as I got ready. It's such a fun, catchy song and a cute video. It put me in a great mood every morning. You can't beat a song like that.

I tried to get another guest TGP from Courtney, but she didn't have anything. She told me she'd have something for me next week, so look out for that!

Rapping about Twitter?

2009-07-24T23:59:00.003-04:00

On the way back home from my interview with the Charlotte Observer (that I hope went well), I heard quite possibly the worst rap song that I've heard in a long time. There's no other way to describe it.

But what really sets it apart from the rest is the prominent role that social media and new technology plays in the song. This song is all about text messaging, Twitter and Twitpics. I'm not kidding. The chorus even uses an emoticon.

Ladies and gentlemen, "LOL (Smiley Face)" by Trey Songz:

Just in case you didn't catch those lyrics, here they are in their entirety.

Shorty just text me, say she wanna sex me
LOL smiley face, LOL smiley face
Shorty sent a twit pic saying come and get this,
LOL smiley face, LOL smiley face
Shorty called my phone, I was busy (i was busy)
Cruisin in that benz round the city (round the city)
Then I felt my phone buzz, I know that she like thugs,
And I’m a bad boy like diddy, (Take that)
Then she sent a text (text), that read (read), baby im at home,
Then she sent another one that says she’s all alone
So I text her a smiley face and said lets do the grown,
She said lol, boy you crazy, come on
Then she said actually, you aint gotta ask me
Sent the lil face with the tongue cos im nasty
Im on my way, girl I can’t wait, twitter me a picture
Let me see that ok,
[Chorus]
Shorty just text me, say she want to sex me
LOL smiley face, LOL smiley face
Shorty sent a twitpic saying come and get this,
LOL smiley face, LOL smiley face
Go to my page and follow, if you got a body like a Coke bottle.
Shorty sending twit pics sayin come and get this
LOL smiley face, LOL smiley face
(Gucci Mane)
Email me shorty, text bay,
Gucci Mane x-rated we could make a sex tape (GUCCI!).
Pics on my iphone, gucci on her ipod,
When she turn around, ass make ya say oh god,.
Mommy real beautiful,
Manicured cuticles,
Office job, student girl, holding down her cubicle,
And she got my number to her, man that’s like a miracle,
She say she like my swag,and my 6’s on my vehicle,
GA to VA, Cali girls love me,
Brooklyn girls hug me,
Miami girls sexy, (I think I love her!)
Pull up in a stretchy…
Jump out flexing
First date sexing,
Next night sexing. (Well Damn!)
[Chorus]
(Soulja Boy)
Lol smiley face, lol smiley face,
Soulja boy tellem bay,
Lol smiley face,
Baby girl sent da picture to my blackberry,
She fine and she thick just like Hallie berry,
Kiss me through the phone, LOL smiley face
We can go and kick it bay
Later on at my place,
She message me on myspace told me she loved me,
She texting my phone 4:30 in da morning,
Baby i’m horny, I wanna kiss you,
I can put it on you, thats not an issue,
She scratching my back, screaming out im hers,
She text my phone say I need your love,
I met her monday last week in da club,
One week later now she telling me that she in love

I can't make that up. I don't even know what else to say about it. How about you guys just tell me how you feel down in the comments.

Tuesday Guilty Pleasure

2009-07-21T01:10:00.004-04:00

Welcome, one and all, to yet another spectacular installment of Tuesday Guilty Pleasure, where I bravely go where no man has gone before and tell you about something I love that I really, really shouldn't.

This week we're going to take it back to the '90s with some angry chick music (I mean no offense to any ladies in the audience when I use the word "chick"). My mom had this CD when I was growing up and I could sing along to every word, even if I didn't quite understand what it all meant. Now that I get it, I still sing along to every song, just only when I'm alone.

Alanis Morissette |MTV Music

That's right, I know almost every word to Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morisette. I have to admit that I definitely like angry Alanis much more than I like the happy-go-lucky version, even though her version of "My Humps" is classic. There's just so much passion in the lyrics of this song I can't help but belt it out whenever it comes on.

Fun fact: I heard on the radio this morning that this song ("You Oughta Know") was rumored to be written about her failed relationship with Dave Coulier from the show "Full House." Not sure how true the rumor is, but it will definitely make you look at the song differently, especially since he is almost 15 years older than her.

SK6ers: "The Bear"

2009-07-20T17:40:00.004-04:00

If you haven't already heard of them, take this chance to hear the magic that is Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers. They're a great acoustic rock trio from Massachusetts that I stumbled upon at a concert four years ago and I've been a die-hard fan ever since.

Their new album, "The Bear," is available for pre-order on CD and vinyl. I've only heard one track off it so far, but it sounded great and I'm sure the rest of the album is even more SK6ers deliciousness. Also, if you're in the Chapel Hill area, Stephen Kellogg is playing a solo set at the ArtsCenter in Carrboro with Dar Williams on August 14. The whole band will be back around on October 6 at the Cat's Cradle co-headlining with Carbon Leaf (who, coincidently, is who they opened for when I first saw them at the Cradle).

Hands down, they have the best live show that I have ever seen, with Ben Folds being the only show that even comes close. I could go into more detail, but it might be easier just to link over to some of the other posts that I've written about them to give you an idea.

Don't miss this band when they come around. I promise that the show will be magical. I'll probably be dancing like a maniac in the first row.

Richard Sine: "Close the J-Schools"

2009-07-17T15:49:00.003-04:00

Richard Sine over at Huffington Post made a bold statement on his blog today: all journalism schools should close their doors. Hmmm...interesting. Let's read on.

Shocking news from the halls of academia: Forbes reported earlier this year that enrollment in graduate journalism schools is booming. These kids are paying upwards of $70,000 (the cost of Columbia's J-School, including living expenses) for a ghost's chance of landing a job, at pitiful pay, in an industry that is rapidly collapsing. What's going to be the next hot field in graduate study? Blacksmithing? Bloodletting? Steamship design?

I don't meant to offend anyone from the noble field of steamship design, where there is actually a lot to learn. Journalism is not a profession like engineering, medicine or even law. You can pick up most media skills on the job, or with a few hours of instruction. If you screw up, nobody dies, and nothing collapses. This is why so many — perhaps most — journalism pros have built successful careers without touching J-school, and why many of them considered a J-degree a dubious credential even in the field's heyday.

OK, fair enough. I completely agree that journalism graduate school is not always worth it. I can't think of anything with journalism that I would want to do that would require me to go get a master's degree other than than boost my ego. Journalism is a skilled based industry: either you know how to write, report, edit, take pictures and design pages, or you don't. The end.

But I think Sine's argument is a little too vague and alarmist. First, journalism school doesn't imply graduate school. I have a bachelor's degree from the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Sine makes it sound like the only way to get a degree in journalism is to pay $70,000 to go to graduate school. Not true. I went to a state college and got a great liberal arts education that was focused around journalism. I don't feel like I wasted a bit of my (and my parents) money.

Is it possible that I could have skipped journalism school and been just as good of a writer? Maybe. But there are definitely perks to getting the education. As Sine said, much of what journalists learn can be picked up in the field. But does anyone really want to hire someone who is going to have to learn on the job? That means mistakes, corrections to publish, possible libel suits and possible damage to the publication's reputation. Why do you think you need a journalism degree to even get in the door?

UNC-CH has a very experience-based J-school. I had classes where I covered a beat, created and designed a magazine, wrote columns and published an online newspaper. This gave me the chance to make mistakes and learn from them without having to worry about whether I would keep my job or how much ad revenue the publication was going to lose. All I had to worry about was my grade.

I also learned a lot from talking with my professors, who Sine described as "old-media refugees who made the desperate leap onto J-school faculties in response to buyouts or layoffs." Sure, this is true for many professors. But does that mean that the wisdom they've gained and the experiences they've had won't help me when I'm looking for a job or working at a paper? Sine says that these "old-media refugees" can't even help students get connections in the journalism world. I beg to differ. In my job search, my most promising leads have come from former professors who hear about job openings around the state. They're still well connected.

Also, Columbia University doesn't exactly represent the average journalism graduate program. The University of California-Berkeley offers their graduate program for exactly $0.00 for in-state students. For out-0f-state students, a whopping $14,694. My alma mater? An unbelievable $4,198 for in-state and $10,417 for out-of-state. Sine should do a little more research before he starts throwing out wild claims.

Finally, I'm tired of the alarmist doomsday statements that many journalists are making about the industry ("...an industry that is rapidly collapsing. What's going to be the next hot field in graduate study? Blacksmithing? Bloodletting? Steamship design?") I've said it many times before and I'll say it again: journalism is not dying, it's changing. Major newspapers are dying, huge media corporations are dying, but the industry is not. My guess is that journalism is going to move to a more community focus and/or online. I especially think it's interesting that he would claim journalism is dying on HuffPo, a new media giant that might as well be the poster boy for the future of journalism.

Journalism schools are preparing for the shift in the industry. Everyone's not just sitting back praying that newspapers will just start thriving again. I took a blogging and social media class on top of creating an online newspaper while in school. Many new classes are being offered that aim to teach students about new media or new skills that could become valuable in this new era of journalism. Anyone interested in getting into journalism would be much better off with this type of education.

Two totally different worlds...

2009-07-16T19:09:00.005-04:00

This is the perfect example of what's wrong with the American mindset when it comes to transportation policy.

Today in the New York Times there is a great article about a river in South Korea that was once covered by a highway but is now thriving. Not only is it pretty to look at, but it's helping the environment and the economy.

The recovery project, which removed three miles of elevated highway as well, also substantially cut air pollution from cars along the corridor and reduced air temperatures. Small-particle air pollution dropped to 48 micrograms per cubic meter from 74 along the corridor, and summer temperatures are now often five degrees cooler than those of nearby areas, according to data cited by city officials.
And even with the loss of some vehicle lanes in this city of 10 million people, traffic speeds have picked up because of related transportation changes like expanded bus service, restrictions on cars and higher parking fees.
“We’ve basically gone from a car-oriented city to a human-oriented city,” said Lee In-keun, Seoul’s assistant mayor for infrastructure, who has been invited to places as distant as Los Angeles to describe the project to other urban planners.

Those are some pretty sweet results if you ask me. We talked about this a lot in my environment and society class last semester with regards to urban sprawl. It seems that everyone wins when society moves from car-centric to people-centric, but lawmakers can't get past the price tag and little words like "initial ridership" for public transportation. But think about how much we spend on road construction each year!

Which brings me to my next point.

From the Raleigh News and Observer:

It turns out that Wendi Johnson, a Wilson-based construction engineer for the state Department of Transportation, was right all along. And the central office experts were wrong.
North Carolina will spend $13 million to correct their mistake, DOT officials said today, and to implement a recommendation Johnson made six years ago.
In 2003 and 2004, Johnson urged DOT honchos in Raleigh not to scrimp on the thickness of pavement for the new 18-mile Interstate 795, a truck shortcut from Goldsboro to I-95 at Wilson.
Citing her experience with other road projects in Eastern North Carolina, Johnson warned that DOT’s planned 5-inch pavement would be too thin and too weak to support the expected freeway traffic.
Senior DOT planners rejected her plea to add 3 more inches of asphalt. They objected to the cost – an extra $2.8 million for a $196 million project.

Wow. Really? I see we have our priorities in the right place. So that puts the total cost (as of now) for this 18-mile stretch at $209 million. That's almost half of what it cost to build the LYNX light rail system in Charlotte. Wanna bet which one will last longer? Or which one is going to be more beneficial in the long run?

And for all those who complain that initial readership is low? Let me throw some figures at you: for the first year the initial weekday ridership was predicted to be 9,100. By March of 2008 it was already up to 18,600, a level it wasn't predicted to be at until 2025.

Public transportation is useful, as the people in Charlotte found out. Now it's time the rest of the country figures it out.

The other Blind Pilot

2009-07-15T21:49:00.004-04:00

Anyone who knew me in high school will remember (maybe) that I was part of a "promising" alternative rock trio called Blind Pilot with my buddies Patrick and Andy. We had some good times, played a few shows and recorded a few songs on home equipment, but it never amounted to much. I'm still convinced that given more practice time and a better lead singer (someone other than me...) we could have made it. But maybe that's just me.

Well you can imagine my surprise last summer when during my road trip across the country I looked down at the XM radio screen and saw a song by Blind Pilot playing. My first thought was "Did Andy release one of our songs from Myspace?" I quickly realized I was wrong when the music started: it was actually good.

With a little more research, I found that this more talented Blind Pilot is a sextet that hails from Portland. The more I learned about them, the more I liked. The two founding members, Israel Nebeker and Ryan Dobrowski, have done two bike tours down the West Coast. Literally, they rode their bikes from tour stop to tour stop. How awesome is that?

Besides being cool guys, they play really good indie/acoustic/pop music that's catchy and fun. What reminded me of this is that they recently recorded a session over at Daytrotter that's worth checking out. Who's gonna say no to free music?

Now excuse me while I whip out my guitar and rock some of my classic Blind Pilot tunes....

Tuesday Guilty Pleasure!

2009-07-14T15:15:00.003-04:00

For the second day in a row, my body decided that the alarm clock going off beside its head was not reason enough to wake up, which is why I'm just now getting to put up this weeks post about stuff that I'm obsessed with but am slightly ashamed about.

This week is a slight change of pace. It still involves music, but it's not a pop song. For eight years of my life, I spent every weekend in the fall on a football field. But only during half time. College band was fun, but it was nothing compared to my marching band in high school. We were a competitive band with a militaristic attitude and a history of excellence. Every weekend we went to some competition in some random part of the country and expected to come back with more trophies than we could carry, and we usually did.

I was obsessed with marching band and still love the sound of the brass and drums. I watch drum corps whenever I can and still get chills when I listen to old marching band shows. That's why I was so excited when I found this on YouTube.

"Drum Major Corey Inscoe and the Cary High School Marching Band!"

Yep, that's right. I was a big enough band nerd to be drum major my senior year. That little white thing in the front waving his hands around like crazy, that's me. I loved every minute of it, especially leading the band at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis at the Bands of America Grand Nationals competition.

I still know most of this show, too, and could probably conduct a decent chunk if I studied it a little bit. High school band was a lot of work, but I left with some amazing memories. This is one of them.

We have video!

2009-07-11T17:01:00.003-04:00

I finally quit slacking off and got the hang of Apple's iMovie enough to finally produce the first part of "EuroTripping," the video montage of mine and Thomas' trip this summer. There is quite a lot of material to work with, so sifting through it all has been a challenge.

Part I includes material from Frankfurt and Berlin. The camera took great quality video, but Thomas' unsteady hand made things a little interesting sometimes.

I'm working on Part II now, which should include Amsterdam and Bruges, Belgium. Here's a teaser: stairs, dogs and sausage. I'll let you know when it goes up! Until then, enjoy Part I. Feel free to give me some comments, or if you see anything wrong, let me know.

Conservatives say the damndest things: Heritage vs. EPA

2009-07-10T18:41:00.004-04:00

After the stunning success of my first weekly post series, "Tuesday Guilty Pleasure," I've decided to start a new one: "Conservatives say the damndest things." This may not be quite weekly like TGP, but I'll do my best to put one of these up every Friday. And for the conservatives in the crowd (if there are any), I'm working on doing the same thing with liberals. We say some crazy stuff as well.

The inaugural post in this series hearkens back to a controversial post I wrote a couple weeks ago about the Waxman-Markley cap and trade bill. I got this gem of an e-mail from the Heritage Foundation and though I should share it with you.

Inhofe produced an EPA chart generated last year during the Senate’s debate of the Lieberman-Warner cap and trade legislation. The chart showed that the carbon reductions under that bill would not materially effect global carbon concentrations in the atmosphere. Inhofe then asked Jackson if she agreed with the chart’s conclusions. Jackson replied: “I believe that essential parts of the chart are that the U.S. action alone will not impact CO2 levels.”

[...]

For example, a recent study of cap and trade by MIT concluded: “The different U.S. policies have relatively small effects on the CO2 concentration if other regions do not follow the U.S. lead. … The Developed Only scenario cuts only about 0.5 °C of the warming from the reference, again illustrating the importance of developing country participation.”

Well duh! First, let's go ahead and throw it out there that part of the reason the bill is so weak is that it would have had absolutely no chance to pass the House if it actually had any teeth because the Republicans and Democrats with no backbone would have never voted for it. God forbid we sacrifice a little bit to, you know, save the world.

But why are they acting like this is such a big "Got ya!" moment against the EPA. Of course this legislation isn't going to mean much if other countries don't follow along. Despite what many may think, there are other people on this Earth and they're polluting too. At the G8 summit this week, world leaders are working to curb worldwide emissions of CO2, even agreeing today to not let the world temperature go more than two degrees Celsius higher and to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

Of course, China and India are not going to sign on too quickly. But do you really think they would consider it if the U.S. wasn't working to cut back their emissions? If nothing else, this is a symbolic gesture to show that we're taking this seriously.

The e-mail goes on to say:

So if other countries will not sacrifice their own economic growth to meet carbon cutting goals, then what is the economic hit Americans are taking? The left is touting a recent Congressional Budget Office study which they say shows Waxman-Markey would only cost Americans $175 a year. However, the left is seriously misrepresenting what the CBO study is. Footnote three on page four of the CBO study explicitly admits: “The resource cost does not indicate the potential decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) that could result from the cap."

First, it's nice to see that Heritage is finally listening to the Congressional Budget Office about how much this is really going to cost. But this logic just baffles me. "But -- but China isn't doing it so why should we?? It's so not fair!" What are we, bratty five-year-old kids? Grow up. Yes, this is going to cost us a little bit. We've established that. But I'm willing to pay a little price if it means there's some slim chance that we can reduce our effect on climate change.

Google is taking over the world!!

2009-07-08T18:56:00.006-04:00

Today, Google announced that they are releasing a brand spankin' new operating system based on their recently released browser, Chrome. Google Chrome OS is backed by Linux, but the majority of the applications will actually run on the internet.

From CNET: "

Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the Web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small Netbooks to full-size desktop systems," Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management, and Linus Upson, engineering director, said in the blog post.
The move has widespread implications.
One is that it shows just how serious Google is about making the Web into a foundation not just for static pages but for active applications, notably its own such as Google Docs and Gmail. Another: it opens new competition with Microsoft and, potentially, a new reason for antitrust regulators to pay close attention to Google's moves.

Google is all about some Web based applications, but I'm just not sure how practical something like this is. Of course, I'm not terribly tech savvy, but I have reservations about putting so much faith in the internet. Users don't always have internet access. Or what happens when the internet unexpectedly goes down?

I'm not too worried about all of this, though. I'm sure Google has all the answers, or they'll figure it out before too long. Chrome is a pretty sweet browser. I used it on my old PC because nothing else seemed to run quickly at all. And I'm pretty sure I would be lost if I didn't have Gmail and all its bells and whistles. I'm interested to see how this all plays out and how much Microsoft freaks out.

In other news, it looks like the creators of Twitter is shopping around for a buyer and, thankfully, Murdoch isn't interested. I think I might have to shut down my Twitter account if the big bad wolf takes control. I'm thinking we'll see Google buy it before anyone else does.

Tuesday Guilty Pleasure!

2009-07-07T02:01:00.004-04:00

First, a small aside. If you're reading this on Facebook, click the link that takes you to the actual Web site. While I love people finding my blog via Facebook, it's so much more fun and easier for me to have you comment on the actual blog post instead of in the Facebook note. Just come on over and join the party by bookmarking CoreyInscoe.com. Then you'll be able to read my fantastic updates whenever you want. And leave a little note below this post to let me know you got here safely!

Now on to the business at hand. It's time for my weekly confession of something I really like that I really, really shouldn't! This week's selection actually came from a cool little feature I saw last week that ranked the 12 greatest key changes in pop music. As a rule, I can't stand key changes at the end of songs as a way to keep things interesting, especially when it changes about five times while the singer keeps singing the chorus, straining as the notes go higher and higher.

There were, though, a few songs that caught my attention. This weeks song is hard for me to explain. I really shouldn't like it because, as it says in the post, it's "one big key change." And it's an extremely cheesy and sappy song that no man's man would ever be caught dead singing. But when have I ever claimed to be a man's man?

Honestly, I think I have to attribute it to the way the song just continually builds (thanks, key changes) and finally peaks in a barrage of piano, gospel choir and heavy drum fills. I also love how the beginning is so dark and mysterious, too. Or maybe it's because I have this great '80s movie choreographed in my head as I listen to this song.

Either way, there it is, another guilty pleasure.

P.S. how creepy is that video?? That was not the gospel choir I was expecting....

Lonely Island

2009-07-06T02:45:00.005-04:00

I know I'm late on this one, but if you haven't listened to The Lonely Island yet, you're missing out big time. The rap duo, made up of the hilarious Andy Samburg and his buddies Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, first hit the scene with the classic "Dick in a Box" featuring Justin Timberlake. But arguably their best song to date is "I'm on a Boat."
(Unfortunately YouTube won't let me embed the uncensored version, but the link above will take you to it.)

The Lonely Island |MTV Music

You simply can't beat what T-Pain contributes to this song. His verse might be one of the greatest things I've heard all year. And the best part of all of this is that they don't take themselves seriously at all.

Believe it or not, but they actually recently released a record called "Incredibad" that features the songs I mentioned above alongside many other comedic gems. You can check out all the videos and material on their Web site or on their YouTube channel.

Steve McNair

2009-07-05T14:44:00.004-04:00

When I saw the news last night on my phone, in the middle of 4th of July festivities, I was completely shocked. I looked at multiple Web sites just to make sure it was true. Sure enough, Steve McNair was found shot to death.

For some people this may not mean a lot: he didn't have the superstar quality of Peyton Manning or the pretty boy charm of Tom Brady, but McNair was by far one of my favorite quarterbacks and someone in the game I really respected. He was a big part of the reason I started pulling for the Tennessee Titans after their heartbreaking loss to the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV.

The man was a tank. He would have five injuries on five different parts of his body and would still be taking snaps. I always loved when the broadcasters would pull up this little graphic that showed all the injuries he had sustained in a season and never missed a game. He was something to watch, especially when he had the help of running back Eddie George, who, coincidentally, is the one that broke the news to Titans coach Jeff Fisher.

It's a tough day for a Titans fan and for the whole NFL. Let's hope this trend that started last week will finally come to an end....

Yet another post about the future of journalism

2009-07-03T18:20:00.003-04:00

In a post today Ezra Klein proposed that newspapers should be heavily subsidized by the government. I've never liked the idea of government control of newspapers, but this argument is pretty convincing. It wouldn't mean that all news would be controlled by the government, but there would be "public newspapers" that survive through subsidies.

Thankfully, society has developed models for funding things we deem important but don't entirely trust to the private market. We have public universities and public centers for disease research and public firefighting departments and a public military and public roads. Why should news be different?

You can argue that it must be oppositional to government, of course, and so government funding is a conflict of interest. But many European countries have solved that problem by developing automatic funding structures free of government influence. Meanwhile, it's not as if NPR or the BBC seem particularly concerned about criticizing their respective governments (nor, for that matter, do professors at public universities seem particularly cowed).

Whatever the outcome, it can't be worse than the crap that the Washington Post tried to pull or ugly advertisements and advertorials on the front pages of our favorite newspapers.

They're partying in the streets of Alaska!

2009-07-03T17:33:00.004-04:00

Or at least they should be with the latest news that Governer Sarah Palin is stepping down! (*cheersapplausescreamsshootingmoosethrowingbabies*)

Our favorite hockey mom is throwing in the towel up in Juneau with very little explanation other than that she doesn't feel like she is doing a good enough job for Alaska. Well duh! In typical Palin fashion, no one knew that this was coming. According to the NPR article, many members of the media missed the announcement because it was scheduled so late and even Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell didn't know that he was going to be stepping up until Wednesday.

From NPR:

"Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional Lame Duck status in this particular climate would just be another dose of politics as usual, something I campaigned against and will always oppose," Palin said in a statement released by her office.

That sounds nice and all, but there's got to be more behind this. Maybe she is taking the time to prepare for that 2012 presidential election. Man I hope so. There's no way the American public will let her win and it was so much fun to make fun of her last year that I would love to get another chance.

Interestingly enough, this happened just two days after Chris posted a great Vanity Fair article about the Alaskan. Be sure to check that out.

Hookah Bliss on the ropes

2009-06-30T16:32:00.002-04:00

When I first learned of N.C.'s smoking ban, I was really excited. I was so tired of going to crowded bars that allowed smoking where I felt like I couldn't even breathe (cough Goodfellows). But then I visited one of my favorite bars on Franklin Street, Hookah Bliss, where I saw posters all over the walls calling on customers to fight the ban.

Adam Bliss opened up Hookah Bliss a couple of summers ago down on West Franklin and the place has taken off. It had a great vibe, quality shisha and a knowledgeable and friendly owner in Bliss. My friends and I took to it and it quickly became one of our favorite hang outs.

Unfortunately, the N.C. smoking ban means that his business will become illegal when the law goes into effect in January.

But something is wrong here. The law makes an exception for "private clubs" and "cigar bars," but no one else. Why these two? Well according to Bliss (and I agree) it's because the rich, white legislators like to go there and they don't want to see their favorite pastime put out of business. But where does this leave the hookah bars?

It makes no sense that this ban should put them out of business. The purpose of the regulation is to protect people from second hand smoke in public places, like bars and restaurants. I'm pretty sure if you're going into Hookah Bliss, you're OK with second hand smoke. The reason you go there is to smoke or hang out with friends who are going to smoke. Obviously people in there don't care about second hand smoke, just like the patrons of cigar bars.

Bliss and other hookah bar owners are working to figure out where to go from here, but it looks like one of my favorite hang outs is doomed. Maybe he'll keep the bar open there. I sure hope so.

The Daily Tar Heel put together a nice little video about the issue, which is what reminded me of this. You can check that out below.

If you're in Chapel Hill, make sure to stop by Hookah Bliss before January and do what you can to support them.

Banned Bliss from The Daily Tar Heel on Vimeo.

Tuesday Guilty Pleasure!

2009-06-30T11:10:00.004-04:00

Notice anything different? Think about it. Look to the left. Blonde hair, much more attractive... That's right, it's not me!

This weeks is the first time that we will have a guest blogger come on and tell you about something they love that they really, really shouldn't. Ms. Courtney Patterson came to me saying that I should use this song as the next guilty pleasure, but I couldn't bear to put my name on this one. I've admitted some bad stuff on this series, but this was just too much. So I decided to let her take credit for it instead.

So without further adieu, here is Courtney's Tuesday Guilty Pleasure in her own words:

OK, so I just watched the YouTube video of Katy Perry’s “Waking Up in Vegas," and I can’t really tell you why I like this song so much. I made it a point to not like the first two popular Katy Perry songs ("I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot and Cold"), but I this one is just so damn catchy. It’s a frivolous song for summer about going to Vegas and living the life of a high roller then losing it all. I think I like it better when I don’t really listen to the words though. The chorus just makes me want to get up and dance. I think that’s it. The tune of the chorus. I like fun upbeat songs.

Katy Perry |MTV Music

On second listen, I can see how she picked this song. The video is pretty cool, too, except that Katy Perry looks strangely like Zooey Deschanel.

Next week I'll be back with a brand new guilty pleasure. This guest thing was fun. Less pressure on me....

La la la, I can't hear you! -- UPDATED

2009-06-29T11:19:00.008-04:00

My girlfriend's roommate in Washington D.C. is an intern for a certain congressman here on Capitol Hill. Part of her job involves answering the phones, which means she gets to deal with the people that call and (usually) complain about whatever the congressman is getting ready to vote on. That means that over the past few days she has gotten an ear full about the cap and trade bill that just squeaked by the House this week.

Here's the thing: only really crazy people call their congressman. By really crazy I don't mean legitimately insane (although I believe some are), I mean that they are obsessed with some little issue that they are blind and can't see the big picture or they are ignorant and watch too much Fox News.

She got numerous calls last week from people making crazy claims about what the bill would do to their utility prices ("This is going to make my gas bill go up $10,000!"), saying that Obama is a Marxist (that's a new one) and even completely denying that climate change is going to happen. Whenever the intern tries to give them the real numbers of how much the bill would cost (numbers that she is getting from official budget projections), many of these callers immediately dismiss them. Where do they get their information? Why, the Heritage Foundation, of course.

Conservative think tanks, like the Heritage Foundation, are jokes. End of story. Their sole objective in life is to do "research" that confirms or supports their crazy right-wing politics. Their findings aren't peer reviewed like studies by real scientists in journals and, because of this, are usually false or drastically skewed. The problem is that most people don't know that. People will swallow up whatever the Heritage Foundation is feeding them and then spit it back out at poor interns.

These are the same people that say that there is no such thing as global warming when every other scientist on the planet not only disagrees but says the situation is getting worse every day. This leads me -- finally -- to the point of this post: a column in today's New York Times by Paul Krugman entitled "Betraying the Planet." It's a scary look into how many of our own elected officials still don't believe that climate change is real and that this whole cap and trade thing is just a joke. Seriously people?

We can't ignore this any longer. Something needs to happen. But what can we do when almost half of our Congress thinks that global warming is fake and that we're just overreacting? There is way to much focus on the now and not enough focus on the future. I wouldn't mind paying a little more for utilities if it meant that there's a chance it could keep Kansas from turning into a desert.

ADDENDUM: So apparently my post caused a ruckus over on Facebook, so I decided that I needed to respond to it. I put my response originally there, but I will repost everything I said here.

First, I want to correct something I said that I really hate when other journalists say and that Steven called me out on: my generic "government experts." I simply couldn't remember exactly who the intern said it was and decided to generalize. According to her, the budget people in Washington have said over and over that it will not cost more than a postage stamp a day for each consumer. Take that as you will, but that's where I was coming from.

As far as the cap and trade bill, I have to agree with Marion's stance. I don't think it's a great bill. It's not going to drastically help emissions and it's actually a weak bill in terms of how it will help the environment. But it's huge that Washington is taking a step to confront this problem and could lead to more strict regulation later. But this argument is probably moot because I don't think it's going to pass the Senate.

But it is definitely not as expensive as people want to think. It's definitely not going to lead to the doomsday scenario that Steven laid out. So what if things are a little bit more expensive? That's a price I'm willing to pay if it means that we can try to do something about climate change.

That brings me to the point that Steven made in his last post. Global warming is linked to carbon emissions. You can talk to any slew of scientists (I'm not going to try to link them all, but if you haven't already, read the Krugman article. He mentions a few). But, if nothing else, take a look at the graph of global temperatures over time that he uses in the article. The majority of the increase actually happened after around 1970 and has gone up exponentially since then.

Also, the prices of energy is not going to go up so much because the bill gives out tons of free permits, which means some of the bigger energy companies (gas, electric companies, and cement, steel and glass) won't even have to pay anything. It's really a weak bill on the surface and is not as drastic as people would like to think.

Finally, I just want to point out that none of this was the point of my original post. All I was trying to say was that it's scary to me that so many people -- including our politicians -- don't believe that global warming is real or that our actions and emissions don't affect it. Any slew of scientists will say otherwise. Just look around for it (and avoid think tanks). What do they have to gain by lying?

Finally, I just wanted to point out that none of this was the actual point of the post. The point was the fact that many people -- including our politicians -- don't believe that global warming is real or don't believe that our actions have anything to do with it and that disagrees with everything nearly every scientist around the world has said. What would they gain from lying about that?

"When it all, yeah, all falls down..." UPDATED

2009-06-28T23:43:00.003-04:00

I haven't been totally into what's going on around the world for the last few days because of a much needed visit up north, but I just can't help but think that all the crap that has happened this week is a definite sign of the apocalypse.

First, this whole crazy thing in Iran. Not only was the election controversial, but then you have the killing of Neda that was caught on video (which wasn't the Basij's fault, but apparently a master plot by the CIA according to the Iranian ambassador to Mexico).

Then you have the deaths of Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett, which, while sad, were not entirely unexpected. But then we see two beloved fifty-year-olds leave us: Billy Mays and Michael Jackson. You may think it's weird for me to put those two on the same level, but let's be honest, over the last few years, who would you rather see on TV? I love me some Jackson 5 and "Billie Jean" era MJ, but anything after he turned into a white woman child molester kind of turns me off. And who doesn't love OxiClean?

Anyway, I guess I'll give the latter two a tiny tribute by posting some of their best work right here on my prestigious Web site. I know they would want it that way.

ADDENDUM: Last night, I forgot about a couple of other things that have happened recently that have really make me wonder "What the hell is going on??"

The Varsity Theatre, a Franklin Street and UNC-Chapel Hill staple, went dark this weekend. I was in D.C. so I wasn't even able to catch a last minute movie during it's last weekend. Owner Bruce Stone cited various reasons for closing the movie house, but the bottom line was that it was no longer making money and with this economy it didn't look like things were going to get better. If there is a silver lining it's that the Chelsea, also owned by Stone, will remain open as of now. But, as Jordan Lawrence over at the Daily Tar Heel Blog said, "the Chelsea is an ugly little runt of a theater in a shopping center far off campus and it doesn’t have anything like the history of the deceased Varsity. But it’s got free parking, and that’s enough to bring in the kind of business needed to stay alive."

Finally, in world news, what the hell is going on down in Honduras?? Maybe it's my naivete of international politics, but this came out of nowhere!

Tuesday Guilty Pleasure!

2009-06-22T22:55:00.005-04:00

...Is back!! That's right, after about a month of neglect, I'm restarting the series of posts where I tell you about something I really like that I definitely shouldn't! I know, you've been on the edge of your seat.

Ask me in person and I'll tell you that I hate this song. It's because I really don't like it. But at the same time, there's something addicting about it. I think it's the beat. Whatever you say about the song, it's got a solid beat. Honestly, I'm just going to have to go ahead and blame Salih and Thomas for me having any kind of positive feeling toward this song. They played it every five minutes in Florence.

I really think I would be able to like this song without reservations if it wasn't for friggin' Fergie. Wanna ruin a great song? Hire her. "You're two thousand and late!" Seriously? If someone tried to record that in one of my songs, I would immediately kick them out of the studio. That said, I think Will.i.am does a pretty solid job with this. He might be the only reason I even can listen to this song.

I can't believe this is my guilty pleasure. I'm a little ashamed. Oh Salih....

Europe in a nutshell

2009-06-20T21:12:00.003-04:00

Here it is: the long awaited conclusion post about our European vacation. With this post, I hope to give you a summary of the trip and find some way to rank cities, hostels, and mention some things that surprised me about the continent.

Here we go...

First, I want to clear up something about Amsterdam. Let's be, when anyone mentions Amsterdam, they immediately think one thing: marijuana. But here's something you might not know: it's technically still illegal there. Yeah, shocker, right? Well here's the deal. It's decriminalized.

The Dutch have this little policy where they are willing to deal with anything on three conditions: if it's profitable, if it doesn't hurt anyone and if it's not in the public eye. So marijuana is technically illegal, but you can't get in trouble for it. This also explains why the places that sell it are called "coffee shops." They can't advertise what they sell in there. As long as they keep up a front like their doing something else, they can get away with it. The Dutch government can tax these, so it helps them some. And it's not hurting anyone. Maybe just a few extra bike wrecks.

But here's the real surprise. Holland is (as far as I know) the only country in Europe where marijuana is "legal." So you would assume that it smokes the most, right? Wrong. They're actually seventh, just in Europe. Most of the locals don't even smoke that much. It's mostly the tourists. When people grow up with marijuana, it loses it's rebellious appeal and no one seems to care as much. Just something to think about when the discussion of legalization comes up....

Now for something just about Europe in general. One thing I have to admire is their different approach to transportation. Sure, there are cars in Europe, but not as many as there are here. So many people use scooters and bikes. Even more use metros and trains to get around. As we proved, you could easily get anywhere you want without ever touching a car. Try doing that in the U.S. and see what happens. Now of course the U.S. is more spread out and doesn't have the infrastructure to link the whole country like Europe is linked, but why can't we invest the same in public transportation that they do? Regional trains (like a system in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area) would make it so much easier to get around while also drastically reducing the amount of traffic on Interstate-40.

The reason they have such great infrastructure is because of long term investment. Taxes go toward public transportation. Gas and licenses are much more expensive to dissuade people from driving and using public transport more. Doing that here could have the same effect.

The cars that they do use are very energy efficient. You won't see a lot of SUVs and I don't remember seeing any trucks other than work trucks. Instead, there are tons of hybrids and Smart cars.

Finally, Germany is nothing like "Beerfest."

Now for the hostels. I'm going to list them all out. The ones with stars beside them are ones we recommend in each city.

Frankfurt:

Jugenderherberge Frankfurt

Frankfurt Hostel*

Berlin:

Baxpax Mitte

Baxpax Downtown*

Meininger City Hostel Berlin

Amsterdam:

Bob's Youth Hostel

Campground Amsterdam Bos*

Bruges:

Snufel Hostel

Paris:

St. Christopher's Paris*

Aloha Hostel (NEVER stay here)

Milan:

Hostel Galla

Florence:

B&B Maison*

Munich:

Meininger City Hostel Munich (much better than the one in Berlin)

Now for the best and worse of the trip:

Best Hostel: B&B Maison (Florence)

Hands down, this place was awesome. It was the only place that really felt like a home away from home. The staff is amazing and the food is unforgettable. And you can't beat the great price. STAY HERE.

Worst Hostel: Aloha Hostel (Paris)

We should have known better than to stay at a place called "Aloha" in the middle of Europe, but we really didn't have a lot of choices. Anything would have been better. No lock on the door, mean people at reception and some random Russian people stole our beds. Never again.

Best nightlife: Berlin

I know this might come as a surprise given what happened that night, but Berlin nightlife was definitely the best. You can get whatever you want there and nothing closes down until dawn. And you can't beat banging techno music.

Worst nightlife: Florence

Not that we didn't have fun, but I just can't justify a beer costing 5 Euro for a pint. Next....

Best people: Germans

The Germans were the nicest people we met all trip. Most spoke English and humored us when we tried to butcher their language. They seemed to genuinely want to help us and make sure that we knew what we needed to get around.

Worst people: French

Do I really need to explain this?

And now, I'm going to try to rank the places we went and make some sort of sense of it.

1. Munich: it had everything. Germany is beautiful. the people are great and very laid back. Munich is smaller, has a beautiful park and beer gardens as far as the eye can see. Definitely enjoyed this place the most.

2. Florence: The food. It's amazing. The only reason it fell below Munich is because being in the city isn't very nice. It's tight and crowded and very touristy. But when you get outside of the city into the country, it's absolutely beautiful.

3. Amsterdam: I didn't like this place at first, but when I got out of the city and into the woodsy area, it was much nicer. I think a longer stay there at a place not as crazy as Bob's would give me a higher opinion.

4. Bruges: Awesome older city with amazing beer. And they have French fries and mayonnaise. Sold.

5. Berlin: This would be higher, but I had a bad experience and I didn't want to rank two German cities too high. It's a great place though and very cheap, which gives it major brownie points.

6. Paris: Despite all our bad luck, the city is very nice and has a lot of good things to see. And I've heard that the Latin Quarter is much better and cheaper. Maybe on a second visit I would spend more time there and away from the main part of the city.

7. Milan: Honestly, this is a slanted opinion because I only stayed there one night, but there's really not a whole lot to do there... at least free stuff.

All right, I think that's all I have for now. This post has gone on long enough. If I forgot about something, I'll be sure to put it up here.

Pictures!!

2009-06-16T17:43:00.003-04:00

Good news, everyone! All of my pictures should now be up on Facebook! I know, get excited. Not all of them have captions, but I can add those later. Enjoy! I'm going to start working on video now....

And way to go UNC baseball! Staying alive in the College World Series!

Ahh...Munich

2009-06-16T11:33:00.003-04:00

Saturday was a sad day. After a perfect streak of three Australian NewEurope tour guides, our run was destroyed by a Texan with a goofy cowboy hat. We were even willing to switch groups if we had to, but the only Australian was doing a paid tour and it just wasn't that important.

But despite the fact that we didn't get to listen to the beautiful Aussie accent, the tour ended up being pretty good. We learned a lot about the history there, including the fact that the Nazi party was started in Munich. The guides had a great time making fun of the famous glockenspiel that plays on the new town hall. It's incredibly boring and slow and the music is incomprehensible. There were tons of people crowding the main square, but we eventually found out that the next day was Munich's birthday. There were stages being set up everywhere. It was very hectic trying to follow a tour group with all those people. We also saw the place where Hitler was almost killed years before he took control of the country. And, of course, we saw plenty of beer halls and gardens.

Munich is the beer capital of the world. I don't care what anyone says. Not only does it have six great breweries in the city, but they have beer halls and gardens around every corner and people are drinking all day. Beer for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Men, women and children. It's great. And they don't use pint glasses much. They serve things in "masses," which is a huge stein with a liter of beer.

After our terrible pub crawl experience in Berlin, we had avoided any more alcohol related events with NewEurope. But it was our last big night and we were in the beer capital of the world, so how could we resist? We signed up for the Beer Challenge.

The Beer Challenge is basically a guided tour of four major beer halls or gardens around the city, where you sit down at each one for about 30 minutes and have a drink. It went from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., and was great. Our tour guide was an Irishman named Niall who was great fun. He taught us a traditional German drinking song (that we repeatedly butchered) and even tried to teach us to sing "If You Leave Me Now" by Chicago. Unfortunately, even though many of the people were Americans, pretty much only Thomas and I knew the song. Disgraceful....

Despite the assertion by one of the other British tour guides that Americans couldn't drink, we held our own. The British guy was an encyclopedia of beer information. He could list the top 20 countries in total alcohol consumption, total beer consumption and per capita consumption (for the record, the Czech Republic drinks the most beer). And he wasn't even supposed to be on the tour! He was just there because he wanted to have a few drinks. Oh the British.... Despite his ribbing of Americans, he did have to admit that we brew the strongest beer: a brewery in Portland, Ore., called Hair of the Dog made a beer that was 29%. Impressive.

The next morning we woke up feeling nice and relaxed. I'm convinced it's because Munich has laws that force the beer to be pure, so no extra chemicals or anything like that. It definitely improves taste.

We decided to spend our last day in Munich just walking around again. We went through the main square and saw tons of people celebrating Munich's birthday after church. We saw little polka bands, old people dancing and choirs singing. Pretty cool, even if we didn't understand a thing going on.

We walked back down to Englischer Garden to watch the surfers again and then wander farther back into the park. There is a large lake farther back in the park that we walked around. Ducks and geese were all over the place, like they were trying to take over. And, of course, there's a beer garden around it. We didn't stop this time because we were on a schedule.

After running back to the hostel to get our bags, we made it to the train to Frankfurt just in time. For the first time all trip, something felt familiar. When we got off the train we knew exactly where we were going and what it was like. It was really nice. We crossed the street to the Frankfurt Hostel and checked in. A terrible storm popped up, but we decided to brave it to get some dinner. I finally had a schnitzel. I'm still not really sure what it is, but it tasted pretty good.

I was joking on the train that it would be great to see some of the people we met in Frankfurt the first time: Christina, Terry, Dan, Darko or Andy. How much of a coincidence would that be?Thomas and I were waiting for different bathrooms, when I heard him start to talk to someone down the hall.

"Corey, look who I found."

I look down the hall and see Darko standing there. I couldn't believe it. Come to find out he was flying back to Canada literally 15 minutes before we were leaving. He even got to Frankfurt the same day we did. Kinda creepy. It was nice seeing a familiar face so we ended up staying up talking for a while.

Monday was pretty uneventful. We made our train, made our plane and made our connection. They did show "Marley and Me" on the plane along with an episode of "Big Bang Theory," so that was nice.

But now we're back home trying to fight off the jet lag and I'm working on putting up pictures and videos. Look for all the pictures to be up on Facebook sometime later today and I hope to have videos done this week.

I really hope you enjoyed following us around Europe and I hope you'll keep checking in. I'll have a post where I break down the trip (best/worst cities, hostels and final conclusions about Europe and it's people) and will get back to updating like I normally do. It's not like I have much else to do (stupid job market).

Until next time!

Home again

2009-06-15T22:50:00.003-04:00

Hey all!
Just wanted to let everyone know that I made it home safely and am sitting comfortably on my couch in Chapel Hill. It's nice to be home again, but I think I'm going to miss Europe (especially Germany) a lot.
In the next couple of days I'll be doing a lot of updating. I still haven't told you about the many gardens in Munich and the strange coincidence in Frankfurt. I also need to upload TONS of pictures and edit some video. I hope to get all this done in the coming week for your viewing pleasure! I'll also wrap up the trip with my final thoughts on those countries across the pond.
Until then, bring it on, Jet Lag!
Cheers

We made it to Munich...finally

2009-06-12T18:34:00.003-04:00

This should be my shortest blog of the trip so far. That's because we've done the least stuff in the last two days. And I'm totally OK with that.

First off, let me just say that our bed and breakfast ended up being amazing. The people weren't weird, but just genuinely nice people who enjoyed what they did. It was such a laid back environment and you couldn't beat the food (breakfast and dinner) that we got for barely any money. On the second day we had to pay for dinner, but it was only 2.50 Euro for a heaping bowl of rigattoni and salad. I'll take it. Lorenzo (the owner) was great and Rachael and Caroline were some of the nicest people we've met so far. If you ever go to Florence, stay there if you can. You won't regret it. Of course, you might end up stripping a couple of times like Thomas did, but it's all in good fun. Just don't volunteer to put on the David apron or buy David boxers. They will take pictures.

Anyway, on our last day we decided to take it easy. We had to catch a train at 9 p.m., so after laying around in the morning we decided to walk to Piazza Michaelangelo, where there's a big replica of the David statue that overlooks the entire city. It was an amazing view. You can't beat the countryside around Florence. Beautiful mountains just circle the city. And it was much nicer seeing the city from above.

We didn't really have any other plans, so we ended up staying up there from 1 p.m. to about 7 p.m. and got totally sunburnt. It was great. We wound our way back to the hostel and found a great little restaurant to eat at before we got our bags and went to the train station. We still haven't exactly figured out the European eating schedule. It was about 8 p.m. when we got to the restaurant and we were the only ones there. They eat late in Italy!!

Our train was an hour late, but that was the least of our problems last night. We found our couchettes in a six person room and were just sitting around talking at first. It felt great then. But when we climbed up to our top bunks, we realized the temperature at the top of the room was literally about 20 degrees hotter than the bottom. We were sweating like crazy and there was nothing we could do about it. We tried everything, but it didn't work. Finally, about 2 a.m. it started to cool down, but I didn't get any sleep before then. Then, of course, our room got searched by police. I don't know if they did it to every room, but it did not help my sleeping any. When we got to Zurich, I had only gotten about three hours. I made up for the rest on the train from Zurich to Munich.

When we got here, we decided to walk over to the big park in the city. It's a cool place, but one of the best parts is the little "surfer wave" they have in the river. Basically it's an endless wave created by the current going over a huge obstacle at the river bottom. People just take turn surfing it all day. It was awesome to watch. Then we found a beer garden in the middle of the park where we had a couple of liters and ate a great German dinner (sausage, of course).

After that we wandered back to our hostel and we're getting ready to pass out. Not enough sleep last night.

Tomorrow we're planning on taking our final NewEurope free tour (we're praying for an Australian tour guide...we need to go 4 for 4) and will probably just piddle around after that. We booked our train to Frankfurt on Sunday afternoon, so all our transportation should be taken care of!!

Only a couple more days til we're back in the states!

I'll try to update this before Monday, but if not, I'll be back with pictures, final posts and stuff I forgot about this coming week when I have more time on the internet.

Cheers!

Pictures!

2009-06-10T20:24:00.000-04:00

OK, last post of the night. But apparently my computer has started to like me enough to allow me to put some pictures on Facebook. So now there are pictures from Berlin on there. I couldn't get anymore up because it took forever and I'm about to pass out, but they might go up soon. Either way, enjoy!

P.S. the first picture is the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled the baby over the railing. Awesome.

Good night!

Apparently UNC loves me

2009-06-10T18:52:00.003-04:00

So thanks to a tip from my lovely girlfriend, I found out that the UNC-Chapel Hill website has a picture of me for their header. If it doesn't come up the first time, just keep refreshing it. It's a great picture of me marching down South Rd. during Fall Fest. I'm rocking my aviators and Terrass is in the background. It's pretty sweet. I wonder how long it will stay up there. My 15 minutes of fame??? We'll see. I guess my university does care about me some.

Firenze!

2009-06-10T12:05:00.003-04:00

So HostelBookers.com made our traveling decisions for us. Nowhere in Cinque Terra was open on Tuesday, so we decided to settle for Florence. Well I guess settling might be the wrong word....

Anyway, before we left we decided to go see the Duomo in Milan, one of the only free things that our handy travel books told us was worth seeing. And it was. It's absolutely massive and it's gothic architecture is breathtaking. It reminded me of one of those sandcastles that you build by dripping the wet sand in a pile. So many spires and gargoyles were all over it. You could walk inside (only if you were dressed appropriately...somehow my shorts and a collared shirt worked) and see how massive it really is. The ceiling seems miles above you and it had beautiful stained glass windows.

We left there and caught our train for Florence. We were dozing most of the way, which almost made the trip a disaster. Florence wasn't the last stop for the train, so we really had to pay attention. I happened to open my eyes one time when the train stopped only to see a sign for "Firenze" outside. We had to run over about 20 people to get off the train and barely made it before the doors closed. But make it we did.

The information for the hostel told us to take the 25 bus to Via Bolognese, which would stop right it front of it. Sounded simple. About 20 minutes later we're flying up some mountainside about 10 km outside of the city. I guess we missed our stop. But we did get to see some beautiful countryside. This area is really mountainous and has little towns and homes scattered all over the place. Pretty good area to get lost in.

On the way back down we finally found our hostel. The place looked interesting online, but with the price and amenities we couldn't pass it up. Free internet, free breakfast, free drinks (wine and gin and tonic) and free dinner every other day. Sign me up. When we go in, there are three people at the top of the stairs yelling "Hello!" at us. A little strange, but whatever. "Reception" was a little room with a couch and a small TV where a few random people were hanging out. Attached to it was a kitchen with some crazy Italian guy named Lorenzo cooking. Turns out he's the owner. We learn this as he offers us drinks and a heaping plate of delicious pasta. The people working were all in their 20s, two from England and one from Kosovo. Salih (Kosovo) has been here for about two years while the girls from England were only supposed to stay three nights and ended up working here for three months. An interesting group to say the least.

But everyone seemed genuinely nice, so our initial hesitation faded away. Then we found out where we would be sleeping. Apparently they overbooked, so for half the normal price we were given the pull out sofa in the reception room. The same place that everyone hangs out at and where breakfast is served. Oh well, I like cheap. It was only a little awkward when I slept in boxers and had to get up and get dressed in front of about five people eating breakfast....

We took some time today to enjoy the city. We walked past the Duomo, which was not as impressive as the one in Milan but nice nonetheless, and saw the golden Doors to Paradise (or something like that). Then we went to see Michaelangelo's David first. The line for it was terribly long and it cost 10 Euros, but I thought it was worth it. I don't know if I'll be in Florence again, so you have to splurge sometimes. The sculpture is larger than life. So detailed and perfectly crafted. It was just amazing to walk around it and look at it from all angles. They don't allow picture taking in the museum, but I snuck a couple of shots before finally getting caught. I figure if they made me pay 10 friggin' Euro I should at least get a picture!

After that we just ended up wandering around the city for a while. Parts of it are really touristy and crowded. Everyone and their mother has a scooter and they're not afraid to try and hit you. And the streets and sidewalks are really skinny and crowded. A little hectic, but overall a nice city.

We're back at the hostel resting up now before dinner. We wanted to take a wine tour, but they were all too expensive and too high class for us, so I think we're just going to wander around and see some more of the sights tomorrow and maybe enjoy some wine at a cafe before we head out.

Speaking of which, we should have all of our transportation figured out for the rest of the trip. We're taking a night train from Florence to Zurich on Thursday night, then catching a train from there to Munich, which should get us in Germany by sometime around 1 p.m. on Friday. It's a long train ride, but we had to avoid Austria because our Eurail isn't valid there and we'd have to pay for that part of the trip. We're staying in Munich for two nights, then moving to Frankfurt on Sunday to make sure we get our plane back to the States.

I can't believe it's almost over! I've had a great time, but I'm starting to get worn out. I look forward to some relaxing times. Oh, and I have a craving for sweet tea, Bojangles and barbeque. Mmmm.... I shouldn't be thinking about food though when I have delicious Italian all around me.

All right, I think that's all for now. I should have free internet in Munich, but I probably won't get to it until Friday night, so I'll let you know how things went then!

Cheers!

Paris: Memoir of a failure

2009-06-08T18:47:00.002-04:00

When we were on the train leaving Paris today, I could only think one thing: I'm so done with this place. Sure, Paris is beautiful and full of history and a must-see for any European traveler. But you know how people say that the French people hate Americans? Well I'm going to take that one step further: the country, it's land and it's atmosphere hate Americans.

I already talked about our run-in with the French police. It just got worse from there.

On Saturday we decided to take yet another NewEurope free tour. They've been good so far, so we figured it would be the best way to quickly see the city. We had to move to a new hostel because we couldn't get a second night at St. Christopher's -- the best hostel we've had so far -- so we got a train to the opposite side of the city.

We should have known better with a place called "Aloha," but it was cheap and available. It was a piece of trash. The people at the desk were disagreeable, the place was falling apart and our door didn't have a lock on it. It looked like a closet beside the stairwell. But we were going to be gone most of the day so we just left our stuff and moved on.

The tour was great. We were really hoping our streak of Australian tour guides would keep going, but Sam didn't seem to fit the description. Then she told us she was from Melbourne and Thomas and I yelled and high-fived. She looked at us a little weird. Now we're three for three.

We walked around and saw all the big sites: Notre Dame, Louvre, walked by the river, saw big pretty buildings and, of course, the Arc de Triumph and the Eiffel Tower. Oh, and McDonalds. We went there for our break and I'm sad to say that it's one of the most substantial meals I've had all trip. What happens when you travel on a budget....We didn't really get to go close to the Arc and the Eiffel, so Thomas and I decided to get a closer look.

The Arc is huge and surrounded by the worlds worst traffic circle. It's like 12 lanes of traffic and there's supposed to be a wreck every 30 minutes. I wouldn't drive there for anything. We took the underground tunnel to get under it, but decided not to go up because it was pretty expensive, like everything else in Paris. We walked about 20 minutes to get over to the Eiffel Tower. It was weird seeing it in person. It's a lot bigger than I expected. But it's right around this beautiful area in the city. Being cheap travelers, we decided that it would be a better idea to walk up the tower to the second level for 3 Euro instead of taking the elevator for nine. Seven hundred stairs later, I'm not so sure it was a good idea. But the view was miraculous. You could see the city stretching all the way out to the horizon. We didn't get to go all the way to the top (you have to take the elevator) but we got a great view anyway.

After the stairs, we were pretty exhausted, but we needed to get to the train station to book our train to Florence. About halfway to the train station I realize I don't have my Eurail pass. So we go back to the hostel. When we finally get to the train station -- somewhere around 10:30 -- the ticket booths are closed. No way to get tickets. We just wasted three hours and four Metro tickets. Awesome.

When we get back to the hostel and finally decide to go to bed, we find that two guys have taken our beds. Luckily these two Spanish girls next door had free beds so we were able to get some sleep. The next morning we went to the train station again to book our train. We wanted to take a night train that night (Sunday night) so that we could spend all of Monday in Florence. We were informed that there was no such train. In fact, there was no train to Florence period. Great. Milan? Yes, but no night train. Only one that leaves at seven in the morning. So we took that. We just wanted to get to Italy.

But we still needed a place to stay that night, so we ran over to an internet cafe and booked St. Christopher's again. And, wouldn't you know it, we got the exact same room. So we decided to make the most of our day and visit the Catacombs.

The Catacombs are exactly what they sound like: windy passages deep under the earth that used to be used as a graveyard and a religious area. At first we were just wandering through dark tunnels and I was beginning to wonder if we were going to see anything else. Then, suddenly, we walked into the main part of the Catacombs. All around us, stacked in neat little piles and formations, are thousands of human bones and skulls. It went on like this for a while. A little unsettling, but interesting nonetheless.

We finally crawled out of the hole and decided to go to Roland Garros, where the French Open final was being played. It was about two hours into the match, but I was hoping they would be showing it on a screen outside and had some souvenir stands so I could get some official French Open stuff. But, of course, I was wrong on both counts. We walked around the entire thing and there were no souvenirs, no screens, no nothing. We heard when Federer won and I got a picture of one of the outer courts, but that's it. And to make matters worse, it started pouring down rain as we walked to the metro.

In our last attempt to do something for the day, we tried to make it to the Pablo Picasso museum. I love his work and all the museums are free on Sunday. Win-win, right? Wrong. Of course we show up and it was closed. Four more metro tickets wasted.

We gave up and went back to the hostel to get dinner and pass out. For dinner I had a Croque Madame, which I had heard about from someone we met in Frankfurt. It's basically a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with a fried egg on top. Delicious! I'm definitely trying that at home. After our long day, Thomas and I decided to drown away our sorrows with some nice cheap wine from the corner market. It improved our spirits. That is, until the next morning.

I wake up and it's really light outside. "Crap," I think, "there's no way it's 6:30." That's when Thomas set his alarm for so that we could get to the train. Sure enough, I look at my watch and it's 9 a.m. Awesome. I roll over and eventually here Thomas wake up and say the same thing. Paris just must hate us.

We roll out of bed and head to the train station around 11. The woman there says our tickets are no good, so we have to reserve two different ones (not expensive, thanks to Eurail) for 2 p.m. Not wanting to miss another train, we sat around the train station for three hours, feeling awful. I began to feel better once we got on the train. I put my headphones in and dozed. When I looked out one time, we were in the middle of a beautiful mountain range. Snow-capped peaks and clouds and fog covering the tips of the mountains with little towns nestled in the valleys. It was stunning. After studying a map for a while I realize it's the Alps that we're going through. I could get used to this part of France.

We finally roll up to Milan at about 9:30, find our hostel, which is an actual hotel this time, and get some gelato to make ourselves feel better. We're trying to learn from our mistakes and have the whole rest of the week mapped out, assuming that trains work in our favor. Tomorrow we're going to go see a couple of things in Milan, then go to the train station and try to get a train either to Florence or Cinquaterra, which is a group of five towns (thus the name) on the coast that is supposed to be amazing! Whereever we go, we're going to stay there for two nights. Then Thursday, we're going to come back to Milan and try to find a connection to Munich, where we will stay Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Sunday night we'll be back in Frankfurt so that we can catch our plane the next day.

I hope it will all work like this, but I've come to expect some bumps in the road. I hope I'll be getting internet sometime soon so that I can update again. And as for pictures, my computer doesn't like me to upload things, so I guess they're just going to have to wait until I get home. Then Facebook will blow up with the amount of pictures I've taken!! Sorry for the delay, but there's nothing I can do!

Here's to a good last week! Ciao!

"Are you getting somewhere? Or did you get lost in Amsterdam?"

2009-06-05T19:03:00.003-04:00

So let me start by apologizing for my last blog post. For some reason Amsterdam had me in a really bad mood for the first few days so I wasn't exactly in the best state of mind to write about our trip. Luckily, our third day was much better than the rest and at least left me with a good taste in my mouth.

We decided to get a cabin outside of the city, thanks to a tip from our good Frankfurt friend Christina. It was almost 45 minutes outside of town on the train and in the middle of the Amsterdam Bos, which basically means forest. It was beautiful out there. We had a little chalet to ourselves (the first night we haven't had roomates all trip). After we checked in in the morning, we went back to the city to rent bikes.

If you didn't know, Amsterdam is the bike capital of the world. Seriously. Bikes are everywhere and there are even bike lanes everywhere, complete with stop lights just for the peddlers. We got the bike for about three ours and started tooling around the city. It went back and forth from being tons of fun to absolutely terrifying. Intersections were the scariest things ever. Cars, people, trains and other bikes are all over the place. And of course they all know what they're doing, while we are just hoping not to crash or get run over.

We finally got down to Vondelpark and rode there (no traffic!) and took a little break to sit by the lake. I definitely like the park side of Amsterdam much more than the city. We then went over to Museumplein, a cool little park with the Van Gogh Museum and Rijkmuseum. It also has this massive statue that reads "I amsterdam." Of course we had to take pictures with that.

For dinner, we decided to go cheap and buy food at the grocery store. We got meat, cheese, bread, a massive sausage (Thomas' idea, which he came to regret) and a bottle of wine for just over 10 Euro. Pretty good deal if you ask me. We took this all back to the cabin and had a nice little dinner in our chalet. We realize that we haven't been eating full meals all trip, so if we ever get anything more than a snack we're pretty happy.

Our last night in Amsterdam was pretty relaxing and was exactly what I needed.

The next day we had a train from Amsterdam to Bruges, a little medieval city in the northern part of Belgium. Let's be honest: the only reason we cared about going to Belgium was the beer. And it was totally worth it.

It's a really tiny town (takes less than 30 minutes to walk across it) but it is super touristy. The first thing we did was wash clothes, which was very necessary. It was starting to get ugly. After that we enjoyed a few beers at the hostel bar during happy hour. What is great is that even the cheap beer in Belgium is amazing.

After a few more drinks, Thomas dove into his sausage. He was like a homeless man on the staircase just chomping away. He ate it again the next day. Then his stomach turned on him. But he still claims it was a good idea.

Fun sidenote; fries were apparently "invented" in Belgium. No lie. And they have all kinds of little fry stands there. I'm pretty sure all two meals that I ate there were fries. And they love to put mayonaise on there. Lots of it. They gave me a little tub of fries and about two pounds of mayonaise. It was delicious. I was glad that I got the mayo fries here since I missed out on that in Amsterdam. It just kept reminding me of the line from "Pulp Fiction:"

VINCENT: But you know what they put on french fries in Holland instead of ketchup?
JULES: What?
VINCENT: Mayonnaise.
JULES: Goddamn!
VINCENT: I seen 'em do it. And I don't mean a little bit on the side of the plate, they fuckin' drown 'em in it.

So true. John Travolta doesn't lie. My fries drowned. Many times over. But they were delicious.

This morning we had to catch our train at about 1 p.m., so we decided to check out a church in town that has Michaelangelo's Madonna and Child in it. It's one of the very few pieces of his that made it out of Italy. The church was absolutely gorgeous and massive.

We barely made our train to Paris. When we got off to switch trains in Lille Flanders, we saw cops walking up to us. Out of the dozens of travellers who were unloading off of the train we were singled out. He comes up speaking French and I give him my classic "I have no clue what you're saying" look, which I've perfected over the past week and a half. Finally he realizes we speak English and ask for our passports. By this time, three other cops are standing around us looking us over. They look at our passports and start talking to each other. The only word we understand is Americans. I can't quite figure out what the connotation is. "Do you have any knives?" "Uhh, no." "Drugs?" I actually laughed. Why the hell would we have drugs, and if we did, why would we say yes? "Ha...no." Then they let us off. I'm not sure what made him key off on us. I guess I just have bad luck with bored cops when I travel (Texas...).

Despite that roadblock we made it to Paris unharmed and got to our hostel. We found out that on Friday's after 6 p.m. you can go to the Louvre for FREE! You know how much we love free stuff, so we jumped all over that. I never realized how huge the place is. It has three wings and each one is absolutely massive. And the pyramids outside were awesome. There's so much art in there it's overwhelming. And I don't really know art, so it all started to look the same to me, except for the obviously famous one. Of course, we had to go see the Mona Lisa. I've always heard people say that it is kind of anticlimactic. They're right. It's a pretty small painting behind a glass case. I understand why it's famous and it was amazing to see, but I just expect it to be more grand.

We wandered around for a little while longer until it closed at 10. We found the metro back, had our ceremonial doner (this one was terrible), and headed back to the hostel, where I'm abusing the free internet.

As I type, I'm putting pictures on the computer. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get them on Facebook, but we'll see if my computer wants to cooperate. If it does, I might try to add some to the blog posts also.

Tomorrow we're taking another free walking tour, then who knows what. We do have to change hostels, so I'm not sure if I have free internet or not. I think so, but who knows.

We're just over half way done! I really can't believe it. It's flown by!

Cheers

So much going on!

2009-06-02T13:52:00.003-04:00

That's why I haven't gotten a chance to update this more! We did eventually make it out to Amsterdam, where we are currently sitting safe and sound after eating dinner. The past few days have been fairly interesting as far as activities go. Our last day in Berlin ended up being a lot better than I expected it to be. We checked out of our third and final hostel and took a train up to the main station to drop of our bags for the day since we would be taking a night train to Amsterdam. We were going to go to the Reichstag, but the lined seemed too long at first. We decided to just go over to the Holocaust Memorial, where there is an information center you can visit beneath the actual memorial. It was free, as were many of the museums there, which was amazing.

It was a very sobering experience. It showed how the Nazis came to power and the development of the "Final Solution." The design and lighting in each room made the place a little unsettling. One room was very dark with lit up tiles in the floor that had quotes from journals, letters and postcards of the prisoners of concentration camps. Another room was dark with names projected on each wall while a voice recording told their story. The museum told the story of the Holocaust by telling the stories of the individual prisoners who experienced it. That's what made this museum interesting. It made the event personal by telling you the names and about the history and the family of these prisoners.

When we left that, we decided to go ahead and head up to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, which is about an hour north of the city. We figured that by the time we finished visiting the camp, the Rechstag wouldn't be as busy and we could do that right before heading to the train station.

The camp was a massive installment right on the edge of a cute little town called Oranienburg. The contrast is kind of strange: we were walking through a regular little neighborhood and bam, suddenly we were at the camp. It was free to walk around but we decided to drop a few Euros to get the radio tour around the area, just so we'd know what was going on. We didn't quite realize what we got ourselves into.

Each little listening point on the audiotour was extremely long. They put every little ounce of information that they possibly could into each little station. It was way too much! I definitely learned a lot, but even more went straight in one ear and out of the other. Much of the camp was still intact, surprisingly, so you could really see how things might have been back in the '40s. Much like the museum, it was very sobering to hear the stories of the prisoners here and see in person what the conditions must have been like. They had two barracks where the prisoners stayed so that we could walk in and see what kind of conditions the prisoners lived in. These were made for 150, with triple-decker bunk beds for them to sleep in. But as the camp started to get full of prisoners, the officers started shoving as many as 300 people into each barrack. There was no room for them. And they had maybe nine toilets for all the prisoners and a very small washroom.

It was shocking to see what kind of conditions they were forced into. As we were walking around we saw a dark cloud forming and decided to go ahead and cut out before it started pouring rain on us. We got back to the train station before the rain and managed to avoid it all. When we finally got back to central Berlin, we went over to finally go up in the dome of the Reichstag. To our surprise, at 8 p.m. the line was still just as long as it was at noon when we walked by the first time. So we decided to bite the bullet and go ahead and get in line to go up. It took us about 45 minutes to get through the line but when we got to the top it was totally worth it. From the glass dome you can see all around the city. And, to make the view even more amazing, a small storm was coming through and the sun was setting. It was an amazing mix of purples, oranges, yellows and greys painting the sky. I really hope my pictures are able to show how beautiful it really was. It was a perfect way to end our time in Berlin: getting to see the entire city from above.

A night train on Sunday brought us to our second country of the trip: Holland. We made it to good 'ole Amsterdam about 10:30 surprisingly rested seeing as how we had to sleep on a little bunk in the train. We found our hostel and got our stuff checked in so that we could explore the city. We ended up walking all the way out to Vondelpark, which is this massive beautiful park on the southwestern edge of the city. People were laying down all over the place, enjoying the beautiful weather. We decided to join them and ended up taking a little nap. It was so nice to lay out there on a nice spring day.

Eventually we left and found a little place to get some food. After enjoying Happy Hour at the hostel, we decided to check out the storied Red Light district. It was everything I could have expected. There were tons of sex shops, peep shows and girls standing in windows with little red lights above them. It's funny how up front it is here. It's completely legal and even a part of the economy. The girls rent the windows for the day/night and even have a union. They fill out tax forms and are an official occupation: some even say the oldest occupation.

Today we took another free tour with New Europe around the city. It wasn't as good as the one in Berlin, but that's only because Amsterdam doesn't seem to have as much history as Berlin. But the tour guide did the best with what he had. Oh, and our guide was Australian again. Go figure! We toured around and saw some of the nicer canals, the Red Light District (again) and, of course, the Anne Frank house. We haven't gotten to go there yet, but we might try to make that happen tomorrow. One of the best things I learned on the tour was about the bikes in Amsterdam. It's well known that bikes are everywhere here and almost everyone rides them. It's kind of hectic. But what we learned today was that there are over 40,000 bikes thrown into the canals every year. Some accidently fall in, but many Dutch people do it on purpose because it's fun and "good luck." Then, every now and then, they dig through the canals and fish the bikes out to make new ones. Talk about recycling!

OK, I think I've got you all caught up now! I still am having trouble uploading pictures, but I hope I'll be able to make that happen soon. Tomorrow we're going to a hostel in a campground outside of the city, so I might not have internet. But Thursday we go to Bruges, Belgium for one night and I should be able to update there.

Until then!

Seeing Berlin, Getting lost in Berlin, Meeting Surry Wood's high school teammate

2009-05-30T17:18:00.004-04:00

Wow.... It has definitely been a long 48 hours since I last posted. The good thing is I'm still alive and didn't get mugged. The bad thing is that I didn't get to my hostel last night until 6:30 a.m. But that story comes later.

First, the walking tour. NewEurope is a solid company that offers free walking tours in different cities all around Europe. They have other (not free) tours that they also do that go more in depth, but this was a great intro to all the sights of Berlin, which is exactly what we needed. Our tour guide was a great little Australian girl named Katie and she knew her stuff. We saw everything from the Brandenburg Gate, to the Holocaust Memorial, the sight of Hitler's bunker, what's left of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, various cathedrals, the site of a famous book burning in 1933 and Museum Island. There's so much history in this city and I'm pretty sure we learned a massive chunk of it in the 3 1/2 hours that we walked around with Katie. The Holocaust Memorial was probably the most striking of all the things I saw. It consists of thousands of concrete boxes of varying hights lined up in rows. Sounds simple, but when you get into the middle where the blocks tower above you and the ground starts to become crooked, it's a little disconcerting. You can't see what's coming around the corner and it gets quiet and cold.

The Berlin Wall was not at all what I expected. The part that's left is a strip right by the old Luftwaffe (air force) building. It's just a concrete wall reinforced with steel bars in the middle of the city. It has tons of holes in it from when it was being torn down. To keep people from messing it up more, they put a fence in front of it to keep people away. Ironic, huh?

After our tour, we went back to the hostel to relax a little before the pub crawl that New Europe also puts on. The idea is that you pay 12 Euro and the guide takes you around to five different bars where you get in free and get a free Jagermeister shot whenever you buy a drink. And there was free beer at the first bar for 45 minutes. Well, let's just say I heartily enjoyed myself (as did Thomas) until the last club. Matrix is a club basically in some train station. We had to take the train to get to it, and I was so lost by the time we got there. Thomas went in before me, but apparently they didn't let him in. I didn't know this and walked through with no problem.

I walked around for a while looking for Thomas, but after not finding him I just decided to go dance anyway. Techno does some funny things to me when it gets about 1 a.m. so I had a great time dancing by myself. Finally, about 3 a.m., I decided it was time to go home. I go back to the train station, but couldn't figure out how to get home. Assuming we hadn't gone far on the train, I decide to just walk. Bad idea. I ended up wandering around Berlin for just over three hours until the sun came up. I ended up down in South Berlin where all the factories are. Frustrated, tired and near tears, I finally found someone to help me.

There was a guy that looked just a little older then me sitting at a bus stop. I asked him if he spoke English in the best German I could muster. He said he did and I told him where I needed to go. He said he was going that way and that I should just follow him. He noticed my UNC jacket and asked if I was from North Carolina. I said I had just graduated. He proceeds to tell me that one of his good friends played basketball there: Surry Wood, a walk-on who graduated last year. Interesting. Random connection one. Then he tells me that he played basketball with him at Cary Academy. I told him I grew up in Cary. Random connection two. Then he says that he went on to play basketball at a Division II school in Hickory, Lenoir-Rhyne. My step-dad lived there for a long time. Random connection three. Talk about a small world.

He led me the 10 minutes ride back home and got me back to my hostel, which I was so thankful for. And I was glad to see that Thomas was already back and in bed. "Thank God," is all he said when I walked in. I only got a couple hours of sleep before we had to wake up and check out. I felt like I'd been run over by a truck. Not much was going to get done today. I promised myself that nothing like that night would happen again on this trip. After a good lunch and about 25 refills of Coke, we went to the train station to get tickets to Amsterdam on the Sunday night train. Then we went to the big park, Tiergarten, where we laid down for a bit while kids played soccer and dogs ran around. It felt great.

We started walking down to our next hostel (we had to move so much because there aren't many open beds. Busy weekend here with a festival and the German football final today). It took about two hours walking only to find out we were at the wrong one. But it was just a short train ride to the right one so we made it easily enough. Needless to say, I passed out quickly. Not much got done today.

Tomorrow we have a full day. We will be getting up and checking out, then heading to the Reichstag (parliament building) to climb up into the glass dome. Then we'll check out some stuff that we didn't have time to see yesterday. Then we'll take a train up to a concentration camp just north of the city that everyone says is worth seeing. We basically just have a lot of time to fill until the train leaves.

Though free, this internet isn't very good so I can't upload any pictures to the blog. I might can get some on Facebook but I'm not sure. They'll be up as soon as I can. I tried to upload videos but my computer just shut down. They might have to wait until I get home. I'll try again later though. I probably won't update again until we get to Amsterdam.

Until next time, cheers!

Frankfurt, U of F and Karaoke

2009-05-28T18:09:00.006-04:00

Wow. My first full night ended up being a lot more exciting than I expected. Everyone said (including my handy little travel book) that Frankfurt really doesn't have a whole lot going on. The nightlife is iffy and there are just a few museums hanging around the city. It's really just a travel hub, the place you pass through. That was are plan. At least until we met the other passer-throughs.

We met Christina from the University of Florida, who is traveling around before she begins teaching English in Italy, her boyfriend, Terry (also from U of F), and his friend Dan. Then there was Andy from Texas, who was in the Army and just got back from Kuwait, Yaz (?) who is from New Jersey and Darko, who is from Canada but is Eastern European. Frankfurt may not have much going on, but we made the most of what was there.

Last night the UEFA cup final was on, which is a pretty big deal in Europe. The match was between Manchester United and Barcelona. We ended up a little sports bar to watch the match. Barcelona won. Yay. I really didn't pay that much attention. But then, right before we left, the U of F boys challenged we Tar Heels to a little chugging match. Now I have always admitted that I can't chug. It's a known fact. But I figured that if Thomas did well we could hold our own. So we got our .5 liters each and settled in.

Now let me take this time to note the fact that UF was recently picked as America's #1 party school. Terry and Dan showed us why. Before Thomas could even get started with his beer, Terry had thrown his down and was done. Dan then picked his up and finished even faster. I guess NC boys like to enjoy their drinks....

We left there and moved to a little Spanish bar, where we were confronted by rowdy Barcelona fans. We quickly moved on. The Irish Bar next door was having Karaoke night. What red-blooded American doesn't like karaoke? We decided to see how the Germans did it.
When we walk in, someone is belting out Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire." Not kidding. The next song? "Sweet Home Alabama." I couldn't make this up. I felt right at home. And, of course, we all started belting out the words.

Then it was our turn. Thomas and I started them out with a little Temptations, "My Girl," complete with the Temptation walk I learned in Germany. Christina and Darko rocked out scarily well on "Man, I Feel Like a Woman" by Shania Twain. Then there was this questionable German guy who sang two songs: "Gay Bar" and "I Need a Man After Midnight" (those might not be the actual name, just what the chorus was. I'd never heard them before).

We finished them up with a rousing rendition of "Don't Stop Believing" before we stumbled out the door and started on the long walk back to our hostel. I never thought I would be singing karaoke in an Irish bar in Germany. But it was a great time!

This morning we got up to catch our train, but we ended up catching the wrong one. Ours was late and we ended up jumping on the one before it. Luckily they both had the same first stop, so after riding for an hour we waited and got on the right train. All ended well and we found our first hostel in Berlin. Apparently on Thursday nights you can go to the museums for free for four hours before they close, so we did that quickly just to kill some time. Then we got some amazing Indian food (mmm curry chicken) and came back to the hostel.

We're pretty wiped out so we're making it an easy night, but we should be plenty busy tomorrow! We found a free walking tour we are going to do, then we're going to take our chances on a pub crawl tomorrow night. We'll see how it goes.

Chris was right when he commented on the last post that free internet is not very common here. I'm cramming all I can into this hour. I hope I can find some more free internet soon, but I probably won't update tomorrow. But until then, you can check out more pictures on my Facebook page. We have video, but I haven't gotten a chance yet to put them on YouTube. I'll let you know when I do.

Until then, cheers!!

We made it!!

2009-05-28T03:06:00.002-04:00

...two days ago. I apologize for the lack of an update, but the scarcity of free internet along with hectic schedules and running around has kept me from spending a lot of quality time on the blog. I'll do my best to do a full update (complete with pictures and videos) when I get a chance.

We did make it and are sitting in Frankfurt right now eating some free breakfast. Gotta love that. The plane ride was pretty sweet, but we didn't get any sleep because all the movies were free. I ended up watching "Revolutionary Road" and "Slumdog Millionaire," both of which are amazing movies. But that meant we were also jet lagged as crap when we got here. I couldn't believe the first thing I saw in the airport...a Burger King! Are you kidding me? Then in the train station we saw a KFC. There's just something wrong with that!

Frankfurt is a nice little town with tons of parks right along the river. It's great to walk around (our legs are killing us) and just see the city. We found a beautiful cathedral on the first day (the Dom). Our first hostel was nice, but a little weird because most of the people were German and the not-free internet terminals were terrible. But we did meet Tony, the self-described hedonist from Australia. (If you don't know what that means, look it up...and all its connotations.) Luckily, they were out of rooms for the next night, so we had to move to the Frankfurt Hostel, which is right by the train station.

This is more what I was expecting. A lot more Americans and international travelers. We ended up meeting some cool kids from the University of Florida, Texas, Jersey and Canada (via Eastern Europe). We had a great time hanging out and watching the UEFA final with them, which Barcelona won (the Canadian is heading there today). We also sang karaoke, which was great. We walk in and the first two songs we heard were "Ring of Fire" and "Sweet Home Alabama." Not kidding. So Thomas and I knocked them out with a little "My Girl" and the whole group belted out "Don't Stop Believing." It was all in all a good first night on the town. We just can't be doing that every night. We won't make it.

Our train leaves here in about an hour to go to Berlin where we are staying at least two nights (because that's all we could book in advance) but maybe more. We'll see where it takes us. If I have internet there I'll upload some videos and pictures for your viewing pleasure. Until then, Cheers!

A/V for the soul

2009-05-22T19:58:00.003-04:00

I found some musical gems today over at one of my favorite music blogs, You Ain't No Picasso, that I wanted to share with you guys. I don't want to act like I'm stealing his content, but instead am encouraging you to follow his site. It's like free advertising.

First up is this new music video from Grizzly Bear for the song "Two Weeks."

Two Weeks

Grizzly Bear is one of those bands that I've never really gotten into but I like their music when I hear it. After listening to this song, I might have to give the band another chance. This video is crazy as hell, but I really like it. It always amazes me what people can do with digital video technology.

Second, here is a clip of Green Day on the Colbert Report last night.

I definitely went through my Green Day phase when I was younger and though I may not be a huge fan anymore, I can still appreciate their music and their typical punk political tendencies. This interview is great in its awkwardness, especially when Tre Cool goes storming off after a clip of one of Steven Colbert's songs. The crowd seemed to enjoy it, at least.

Happy Friday!

Birmingham PD...far from America's finest

2009-05-21T23:40:00.003-04:00

Today, my roommate pointed me to this video of police brutality that surfaced recently. I never fail to be amazed at how angry, violent and unnecessarily cruel people can be to each other.

Birmingham police beating video

Now I'm not defending this guy at all. He's an idiot for running from the cops and endangering innocent civilians on the highway. He even tries to run over one of the police officers that is setting the spike strip at the very beginning of the video. This guy deserves some punishment, but not a beating from the cops. I'll defend the initial action of the first police officer. Initially there's no way to tell if the suspect is unconscious or might try to run, so he jumps in to keep the guy on the ground. I can get behind that. Maybe a bit too much force, but he was probably emotional.

What is inexcusable is that the cop continues to hit the guy with his night stick. Once you get him on the ground, the violence has to stop. Then all the other cops jump in and start punching and kicking him. He obviously isn't going anywhere. He is unconscious and cannot defend himself. This video is disgusting to watch. Even more disgusting is that they knew what they were doing and quickly cut off the video camera.

According to the article, these officers were veteran cops. They should know better. It's easy to get emotional in that job, but you have to be able to control yourself. These lawmen were out of control.

But here's the kicker: look at the time stamp at the top of the video. Yep, January 2008. This happened over a year ago and the video is just coming out. Completely inexcusable. I'm glad they got fired, but I want these guys to be charged for what they did.

They're falling and they can't get up

2009-05-21T13:26:00.006-04:00

In case you didn't believe me in the past when I wrote about the real reasons behind the layoffs at newspapers being because of the parent companies being mired in massive debt, here's proof. McClatchy, the paper that owns the Raleigh News & Observer, is desperately trying to get out of millions of dollars of debt that it accrued after buying out Knight-Ridder. It's the companies debt that is forcing the layoffs and closures, not the newspapers themselves.

From the article:

McClatchy has implemented several cost-saving measures to try to stay afloat, including cutting its work force by one-third, or more than 4,000 jobs, in the past year while shedding other expenses, including the dividend that it had been paying shareholders.
Experts have worried that the company may still not be able to meet its financial commitments, which could send the publisher into Ch. 11 bankruptcy protection - a method tapped by seven other newspaper publishers since December.
McClatchy's debt comes primarily from its 2006 acquisition of Knight Ridder. The company has already negotiated with lenders for more flexibility, which came at the price of higher interest rates and requirements for more collateral.

In similar news, the Carrboro Citizen is looking to expand operations with a little help from the Town of Carrboro. Also check out the Citizen's take on the situation.

What is my UNC degree really worth?

2009-05-20T01:04:00.008-04:00

A degree from UNC-Chapel Hill is prestigious. The school one of the best public universities in the nation. When you graduate from this institution, you feel like you have really accomplished something and worked hard for a valuable degree.

I was sure that this was all true until I was shown the worst paper I've ever seen in my entire life.

Chris, on his first day back from Chapel Hill happened to be in Davis Library when he saw a paper sitting beside one of the computers. He brought it back to Eve's apartment with him and we took a look at it. I honestly couldn't believe what I was reading. I just knew it had to be a joke.

No joke. Janet Cooke overcame all odds and managed to write the worst paper I've ever seen for her Poli150 class. I'm not really sure where to start. First, the font seems well above the standard 12 pt. The spacing looks more like triple rather than double. The margins are questionable. But let's put that all aside right now and focus on the content.

As far as I can tell, the paper is comparing two articles, one by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the other by Susan Rice, the US Ambassador to the United Nations. I say "as far as I can tell" because the introduction might as well have been written by a 10-year-old just learning English. Here's a taste:

Author and politician Condoleezza Rice "The Promise of Democratic Peace" and author Susan Rice "Beyond Democratic Peace" both believe that the platform outlined by democracy is the fundamental aspect to rebuild the US's crumbling economy. Condoleezza Rice thinks the best way to secure democratic nations and to support the democratic institutions within the nations, while Susan Rice critiques Condoleezza of her methods to ensure democratic peace. Although their arguments equally parallel and contrast, could it be possible that there is another way to go about democratic peace.

There is nothing of substance in that entire paragraph. And it just gets worse. Not only does she fail to make any concrete point throughout the entire essay, she has a complete disregard for basic grammatical rules: "On the other hand, a financially and stable economy is willing and able to help falling states does." "This could possibly be considered Susan Rice's strongest point, however, at the same time could room for questioning her judgment." "Condoleezza Rice and Susan RIce emphasized the importance of the democratic foundation, nevertheless, they both contrast each other as to concluding should immediately be done."

I can't make this up. The whole paper is like that. Now it would be one thing if this paper had been given the failing grade it deserved. But no. Despite notes like "What?" and "Did you read the articles?" this joke of a professor professor or -- more likely -- TA gave this paper a 70. Are you serious? Not only is that a passing grade, that's a C-. How can you read this paper and believe that it is worth anything more than a 10?

Janet Cooke is a sophomore which means that she has passed four semesters of college at UNC with, I assume, that type of work. Unless something changes (or people start giving her the grades she deserves) she is going to graduate with the same Carolina degree that I should be getting soon. That sure seems to take away some of the value, doesn't it? I can't help but be a little upset.

At first I wasn't sure whether I wanted to post the paper and its author's name on this Web site. But if Janet Cooke is willing to put her name on this garbage, turn it into a professor and then to leave it in a public place, she should face the consequences. In a perfect world, she would see this post or her friends would all make fun of her for it and she would make a change for the better. Either that or drop out of school.

Either way, you can download and read the entire paper here [pdf]. Please, especially if you graduated from or are attending Carolina, please try not to cry.

Tuesday Guilty Pleasure

2009-05-19T10:17:00.006-04:00

Good morning, readers!! You all are looking especially lovely this beautiful spring Tuesday morning! Wait, did I say Tuesday? That means it's time for me to spill my guts on something that I love that I really, really shouldn't.

This week we're going the movie route. I think that everyone has their comfort movie. It may change over the years, but there's always that one movie you can watch and it just makes you feel better. It could be funny, sad, romantic, action-packed, whatever floats your boat. Well I definitely have my comfort movie and I've grown hesitant to tell people how I really feel about it. When I first saw it, it was one of my favorite movies out there, but after more views I've realized that there are a lot of things to be desired of it. But despite this, it's still the movie that I can watch to make me feel better and it even gets me choked up at the end.

Here is a clip:

Despite all its cheesiness, "Garden State" has some really funny moments and is a solid story overall. This quarry scene is one of my favorites, with the shot flying back when they scream and Simon and Garfunkel's "The Only Living Boy in New York" perfectly fitting the mood of the moment.

I always loved Zach Braff in "Scrubs," even if he does have a flair for the dramatic. I'm going to miss him on that show. Maybe that means he'll start putting out some more solid movies.

Stayin' Alive

2009-05-19T02:19:00.003-04:00

It seems like one of my favorite magazines is facing the same problems that all of the rest of journalism is facing: serious budget issues. Paste magazine, an indie music, movies, books, whatever magazine based out of Atlanta is asking its readers for help through contributions. But from the looks of it, contributors can get some pretty sweet stuff for a donation, like over 70 rare tracks from artists like The Decemberists, She & Him, Of Montreal and the Avett Brothers.

Paste has already tried to cut down their printing cost by turning the monthly CDs into monthly downloads, but that just hasn't been enough. Please help me keep one of the best music mags out there alive by donating. And if you don't have it already, pick up a subscription. Each issue comes with a 20-song sampler download. Can't beat it.

Click the banner on the right to donate. You can get more information about this at Mann's World, the music blog by Karen Mann who lives in Raleigh and writes for Paste.

Playing the blame game

2009-05-17T15:13:00.006-04:00

It seems like media giants are starting to play the blame game now about why their sales are plummeting. Matthew Yglesias over at ThinkProgress put up a post today about an Op-Ed that ran in the Washington Post blaming the internet and search engines for falling revenue and asking Congress to step in and dial down antitrust regulation on newspapers. Like Yglesias, I think this is a terrible idea.

As I said earlier this week, I believe that one of the biggest problems with journalism is that many of the media outlets are not offering readers any information that they can't get on the television or by browsing around online for just a couple of minutes. For the most part, they're spitting out press releases and relying on wire copy to fill up a newspaper and draw some ads in. But instead of focusing on improving content and looking inward to fix the industry's problems, journalists, like the writer of this Op-Ed, prefer to point fingers and cry foul at the internet and ask the government to come in and help them out.

Let's take each bullet of this Op-Ed individually. First, the writer says that search engines should be forced to obtain the copyright to all the news articles that they accumulate on the internet. The piece claims that this is in violation of fair-use and is taking away ad revenue from the media Web sites. If this were really completely true, I would agree with it. But unless they are referencing something else, this claim seems off base. Google News does troll around the internet and get stories from all kinds of different sources, but they only publish snippets and provide links to the original articles on the original Web sites. So, if the reader wants to learn more about the article, they can jump over to the Web site and read it. If they don't want to go to the Web site and read more, I guess the content isn't interesting enough. Is that Google's fault?

The writer makes it seem like the search engines are taking this content and claiming it as their own. This is just false. They are sorting the content and making it searchable by readers who are redirected to the publication's Web site.

The second bullet addresses "hot news," which is the idea of essentially stealing the idea of an story and taking all of the intellectual property -- even if the story is not republished -- without giving credit to the original source (for more information about it, check this out). Again, this is a legitimate concern if it were focused on bloggers or Web sites who steal stories and don't give any credit, but what this writer is focusing on is linking, or "linksploitation." This, as I understand it, is the use links by blogs to post new content. Again, this just sends readers to the original article. Sure, the blogs may sell ad space and make money off of this, but if readers are coming to the blogs first instead of the publications Web site, the blog must be doing something better.

The last three bullets focus on the business side of newspapers. The writer believes that Congress should cut taxes on newspapers, get rid of ownership regulations and cut back on anti-trust legislation. Cutting taxes on papers would be nice and help in the short term, but if people still aren't reading, or, more importantly, if businesses stop buying advertisements, newspapers and magazine are just going to face this problem again in the future. The other two points are just absurd. Papers being bought out and creating larger media companies is part of what brought the media into this predicament in the first place. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it's the big companies that are in debt from buying so many newspapers that are causing all the staff cuts. Kirk Ross of the Carrboro Citizen said that this is the main problem with newspapers now. The News & Observer in Raleigh is a great newspaper in a great market but is facing tremendous cuts because its parent company is in so much debt. That is why small, independent newspapers are fairing better right now.

The bottom line is that media companies seem to be missing the point entirely. By pointing fingers and asking for handouts, they are sidestepping the problem. Mass media needs an overhaul and it needs it now. There is a reason that readers are bypassing traditional media and going to blogs and other Web sites: they're doing it better. They have a better model that people like. Now newspapers need to adapt. If Congress were to pass a law diminishing the antitrust regulations on media, and all the publications worked together and set prices it would just further their demise. As Yglesias points out:

"Papers would take advantage of the new cartelization situation to restore profitability based on their existing readership base. But younger people would continue to read non-cartelized media—everything from Think Progress and Talking Points Memo and the Huffington Post and the Center for Independent Media to the BBC and NPR. Newspapers would find themselves even more deeply locked into a business model dependent on a literally dying customer base."

I agree that traditional media holds an important role in American life. But, at the same time, it's on the media companies to fulfill this responsibility to play this role and provide the people with the information, entertainment and analysis that they desire. You can't just get mad at people who are doing it better. Do something about it.

Questioning the Bible

2009-05-15T13:40:00.003-04:00

I've always loved a good conspiracy or the debunking of long-held myths and beliefs. That's why I watch "Mythbusters," read a couple books on the JFK conspiracy, tore through Dan Brown's books "Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons," and why I'm going to see the movie of the latter tonight. So it's awesome to me that someone right here at my own (now former) university is doing work just like the fictional Robert Langdon and digging deeper into the truth of the Bible.

UNC-Chapel Hill religious studies professor Bart Ehrman is profiled in an article on CNN.com today, where he talks about his new book, "Jesus, Interrupted" and his transition from an evangelical Christian to a "happy agnostic." This guy is a big name in the religious world, appearing on various TV shows, including stuff on the History Channel and Discovery Channel and, if I'm not mistaken, a couple appearances on the "Colbert Report."

It's an well written article about an interesting guy. Maybe I'll go back to school and get another major.... Ok, maybe not. But I do think I might be picking up one or two of his books over the next few weeks. You know, a little light summer reading about destroying the foundations of the Holy Bible.

Journalists: put away the worksheet

2009-05-15T10:33:00.003-04:00

In my first journalism class at UNC-Chapel Hill -- News Writing with Barbara Friedman -- we would practice writing an article at the end of every class. But since we were just beginners, the professor did all the leg work for us. The students were handed work sheets with all the important information about the story: what happened, where, who was involved, why it mattered, background information and even a few quotes to spice up the story. Not original journalism by any stretch of the imagination. Obviously, almost all of the articles written by the students were pretty much the same: lede, nut graf, snappy quote and on with the inverted pyramid style.

I assumed that that would be the last time that I would see such banal journalism. I seem to be mistaken.

This class is exactly what I thought of when I read this article about political journalism by Kerry Howley, where he cites a story about journalists following the Michael Dukakis campaign in 1988. Long story short, the Dukakis campaign planned to have a "ball tossing" session with the candidate on the Phoenix airport tarmac. Literally, the candidate and one of his aides threw the baseball. It was a set up event for all the press people that were hanging around. But all the journalists reported it like they had some kind of inside information or caught a personal moment with the candidate.

In reality, they just stood there and let the campaign force feed them a story and complied by writing exactly what they wanted. That seems to be a big problem with journalism now: the reprinting of press releases as news and a lack of real in depth reporting. As Howley said on his blog:

I don’t know that any of this has much to do with the death of newspapers. But it does say something about the redundancy of most political reporting; we can all just as easily read the press releases online.

This is also why I think community journalism has such a large advantage over the big media outlets. They have more time and more ability to really cover all their stories in depth with original reporting. With a smaller reporting area, the reporters can really focus on their area and the people in it instead of just pasting in press releases.

It's time to put away the worksheets.

Wear Sunscreen

2009-05-14T22:47:00.005-04:00

Keeping with the graduation theme this week, I want to share a song I found this week while roaming around on one of my favorite music blogs, i guess i'm floating (whose writers also just graduated).

I remember this song back when it first came out but I wasn't anywhere near graduation at that point. Now, Baz Luhrmann's spoken-word track "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)" has a lot more meaning.

Now I've mentioned Baz Luhrmann before and didn't have many nice things to say about his movies, but I have to give him credit for this little gem. But only partial credit.

I just found out that the song was actually taken from a column in the Chicago Tribune back in 1997 written by Mary Schmich (that link only provides a summary of the article. You have to pay for the full thing, but again, it's almost exactly what's in the song).

I guess Luhrmann just can't do anything original. If, like me, you just walked across the stage, received your diploma and realized that you have no idea what you're going to do, watch the video below and listen to the words. It will help you feel a little better.

Pomp and Uncertain Circumstances

2009-05-12T15:18:00.004-04:00

That's it. Dozens of essays, countless exams and quite a few parties later, I'm done with college. Where have the four years gone? It still hasn't really hit me. Even when I was standing in Kenan Stadium at the large commencement ceremony, it just felt like I was just at some random event. But at about 8 p.m. on Sunday, after all my family had gone and I was alone in the apartment again, I had my first minor panic moment. I sat down on the couch and the first thing I thought was, "What now?"

But I've gotten over that and it's starting to feel like just another summer. A good number of my friends are in town (minus one who I really wish was in town) and the past few days have been spent hanging out, eating and drinking a little. Sure, I should probably start looking at jobs soon, but not yet. I've had an interview and there's another opportunity coming up at the end of the month, but other than that I'm not worried. I'll start looking more, but right now I'm going to enjoy myself. I'll be working the rest of my life, I might as well enjoy my last summer.

That's why I'm going to Europe in just under two weeks. My friend Thomas and I will be flying into Frankfurt, Germany, and traveling to Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Florence, Switzerland and Munich, and probably some other random places in between. We haven't exactly decided if we're bringing my old laptop or not, but I'm going to find someway to keep this blog updated, much like I did during my road trip last summer. And we got a Flip video camera, which means you'll be finding some fun and interesting videos.

Until then, I'll continue to update the blog, probably more often than I have in the past since I'm nowhere near as busy anymore.

So this is it. I'm no longer a poor college student but unemployed. Good times....

Speaking of graduation, the large ceremony in Kenan was great. Archbishop Desmond Tutu was better than I ever could have imagined (despite the diss from News 14 Carolina: "One local college has an important speaker at their ceremony today. Oprah will be speaking at Duke"). I was expecting a very somber and serious speech, but instead got one that included jokes, Archbishop Tutu laughing at himself, and the words "orgy" and "scintillating." He had everyone in the stadium laughing. He even fit in a jab at Michigan State and the Tar Heels winning the basketball national championship. Check out the video below for the highlights.

Bring it on, real world.

Tuesday Guilty Pleasure

2009-05-12T11:42:00.004-04:00

Good morning! Well, technically it's morning. I just woke up. And you know what I wanted to do as soon as I rolled out of my comfy bed? Tell you about something I love that I don't really like to admit. This week we're going with music again, but it's not so much the song as the performers that make it my guilty pleasure.

I do love a cappella, but I've never really been a big fan of UNC's Clef Hangers, one of the all male groups. Sure, they're pretty good, but they're also really cocky and extremely preppy. And I've just never been a big fan of groups that are followed around by gaggles of screaming girls and, trust me, these guys are. But they do perform one song that melts my heart and it's especially fitting this week. They performed it on Sunday at commencement (more to come about that in a later post) and it was just as beautiful as the first time I heard it. I consider this UNC's second alma mater. Now, excuse me, because I'm going to Carolina in my mind....

(p.s., watch until the end and you might see someone you recognize...that is if you watch TV at all.)

Yep, that was American Idol finalist Anoop Desai closing out the tune, back when he was just another little Tar Heel. They just grow up so fast!!!

Lafcadio and other stuff journalists like

2009-05-05T22:03:00.004-04:00

Vinyl Records folk babies Lafcadio are starting to make some real beautiful noise around the Triangle. In addition to playing quite a few shows in the Chapel Hill area, they rocked out at the Shakori Hills Festival, a grassroots and folk music festival just a few minutes outside of Chapel Hill. The group also recently performed a segment for Sessions At Studio B at music.myNC.com. In addition to their signature jammin' alt-country songs, the 30-minute clip features an interview with the band. Check it out!

I also recently stumbled across a great Web site, which is the reason for the title of this blog post. Stuff Journalists Like is a great blog based on the template that made Stuff White People Like so popular. Their most recent post is, fittingly, pandemics. The other entries are equally hilarious.

Now, I wish you a happy Cinco de Mayo! I hear a margarita somewhere calling my name....