Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

31 Mar 2009 10:53

tags

Music, Tech: Speaking of Google, they’re giving away free tunes in China

  • 1.1 million tracks are available at the launch of the service, which is decent, but no iTunes
  • 4 major labels will be serving up tunes on the service – which competes directly with piracy source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Mar 2009 10:47

tags

Tech: So Google, you have a new venture capital fund. Wanna help us?

  • why? We have a pretty cool, innovative format going on here. We’re not lame like most of those other blogs out there. We have a sense of humor and good taste in music. If this web site’s URL had a girlfriend, it’d be an Asian Design major.
  • how? There are lots of ways you could help us – priority in search results, usage of Gmail and Google Docs – but ultimately, we think the best way would be giving us lots of money, so we could hire a huge staff. Thanks in advance. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink

31 Mar 2009 10:40

tags

Music: The Dresden Dolls’ Palmer does theater, Neutral Milk Hotel-style

  • It’s an original play about music and the Holocaust written by insanely talented drama students with musical accompaniment by me. My high school theater director, Steven Bogart, is one of my biggest artistic mentors and I’ve been trying to get back there since I left.
  • Amanda Palmer • The piano-smashing half of Brechtian punk cabaret popsters The Dresden Dolls, on her latest project – going back to her alma mater, Lexington High School in Massacheusetts, to compose the music for a play based on one of our favorite albums, Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.” If you’ve never heard it, you should – it’s an amazing, colorful and bizarre artistic interpretation of the life and death of Anne Frank, and a bold choice for a high school play. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Mar 2009 10:31

tags

Sports: Why it sucks to be MLB slugger Gary Sheffield right now

  • 499 career homers but no team; the Tigers released him today source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Mar 2009 10:27

tags

Tech: Sony cuts the price of the wrong Playstation console

  • $99 for the PS2. April 1st. Who cares? OK, OK, we know. The Playstation 2 was only the most popular console of all time, until recently. But it’s not like anyone cares that much about the thing anymore, not when there’s a console war going on, and they have a PS3 that costs $399, $150 more than its biggest competition. This is why you’re getting killed in the marketplace, dudes. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Mar 2009 10:13

tags

U.S.: Oh, and Obama’s poll numbers are still pretty high

  • 66% his job-approval rating – his deficit-handling, not so hot source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Mar 2009 10:09

tags

U.S.: More people think the U.S. is headed in the right direction

  • 15% number of respondents who in December said yes to a Washington Post survey about whether they think the country’s headed in the right direction.
  • 42% number of respondents who said the same thing in March – surprisingly, the highest percentage of yes responses that question has seen in five years. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

31 Mar 2009 09:59

tags

Music, Politics: We’re going to use this post to rail against Billy Corgan

  • Smashing suckage Hi, guys. We’re ShortFormBlog. You may know us from such posts as this one and that one. Anyway, we’re here to talk about a serious problem we’ve noticed lately – Billy Corgan’s ruining the legacy of his band, The Smashing Pumpkins. It started slowly. Then it became more obvious. Now, it’s just too much and we think Billy should stop ruining our positive memories of watching his band on MTV.
  • Lame things he did Earlier this month, Billy Corgan made his opinions known on two fronts that have the potential to hurt fans. Know the RIAA-supported Performance Rights Act, which would give Corgan money every time “Landslide” plays? He testified to Congress about it. Know that heavily-criticized Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger that’s on the table? He wrote a letter to Congress supporting it.
  • The final final strawRecently, Jimmy Chamberlain – the only other member of the band still left from the legacy era, Tinted Windows notwithstanding – left Smashing Pumpkins due to a desire not to “cash the check,” as he put it. (Is he uncomfortable with selling out his band’s legacy?) Now, the band is going to have an open call for drummers. Limp Bizkit did something like this, and we know they suck. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 8 Comments • Permalink

30 Mar 2009 23:04

tags

U.S.: A million pounds of pistachios got recalled? That’s nuts!

We only used that headline now because we didn’t during the peanut butter saga. But really. Salmonella. Yikes. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Mar 2009 22:44

tags

Culture, Politics: Bill O’Reilly didn’t see “Milk” because of Sean Penn. His loss.

  • He’s a great actor, and if you hire him, you’ll get a good performance. I’m just not going to give a guy who gives aid and comfort to people like Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez and Saddam Hussein, when he was alive, my 10 bucks. That’s my right as an American.
  • Bill O’Reilly • Who’s “a big movie guy” but will not spend money to see Sean Penn in a movie. We hope he changes his mind, because we think an upcoming flick of his might be right up his alley. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>