Friday Free-For-All

Just some random stuff. Kind of like Senior Superlatives or trophies at your Little League banquet.

Hottest New CD of the Week:

Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger

Here’s the review I wrote of it to Josh.
“I think its pretty good - nothing ground breaking or too out of the ordinary. Most of the songs could have been on Cold Roses or Jacksonville and some of them are better than songs on those albums. My favorites so far are Pearls on A String, Two, Tears of Gold, Taught Myself How to Grow, & Two Hearts. And although it stuck out like a sore thumb, I though Halloweenhead was pretty catchy… A little to Rock N’ Roll than where it seems the rest of the album is, but good. I like how he mixed the chill falsetto voice from Cold Roses with some of the more full-band type elements of Jacksonville like the slide guitar and the multiple vocals. I also think there is a nice blend of the full band stuff and the more intimate acoustic stuff - overall I think its the more accessible ‘ClifNotes’ version of his three albums from ‘06.”

Stream it here for your listening pleasure.

Hot Radio Jams I Could Be Embarassed That Other People Know I Enjoy:
Sean Kingston - Beautiful Girls
Finger Eleven - Paralyzer

These two songs also won in the sub-category Most Likely To Use A Tragedy in a Pop Hit for these lyrics:
Sean Kingston - Beautiful Girls
you’re way too beautiful girl
That’s why it’ll never work
You’ll have me suicidal, suicidal
When you say it’s over

Finger Eleven - Paralyzer
Well I’m not paralyzed
But, I seem to be struck by you
I wanna make you move
Because you’re standing still

My Current Top 5 Favorite Things to Do:
- hang out with Ashley
- play softball
- eat breakfast on my porch
- drive my boat
- lunch with Charles

Place Where I’ve Been Eating Lunch Way Too Much:
Firehouse Subs. They just opened one over near the office. Tasty. I didn’t think I had been there that much, but now they’re starting to recognize me.

A Short and Incomplete List of New Movies I Want to See:
- I Now Pronounce You Chuck Met Larry
- Transformers
- American Gangster
- Across The Universe

Graphic Designer Who Is Better Than Me of the Week:
- Matthew Wahl

The Myrtle Beach of Social Networking

i’m growing up. or running out of time. i’m not sure which it is, but over the past few months, I’ve noticed the amount my time spent tooling around social networking sites has hit an all-time low. I think back to the golden era (i.e. my junior year of college) when I could easily spend a few hours looking at friends myspace and facebook pages, and their friends pages, and people i’ve never met’s pages, wandering amid hundreds of profiles in single sitting.  But the times have change - for the most part.

Now Facebook is kind of an enigma, because for the most part, its my only contact with many of my friends from college and a lot of my friends from Young Life. Its simple design and non-intrusive with advertising. I’m not sure I’ll ever love the mini-feed, because I still don’t really want to know that Greg added “The Notebook” to his Favorite Movies and Sarah removed “needle work” from here interests. But Facebook is what it is - a PDA with birthday reminders, pictures, e-mail and more than you ever wanted to know about every friend you ever had.

Then there is Myspace. My myspace page has become a ghost town - i haven’t updated or changed anything on there in a while (save for my profile picture, which I’ll get to later) and for both Myspace and Facebook, I hardly ever take the initiative to write to others or comment or whatever. The only friend requests I get now are from crappy bands or strippers - yeah, I really want to get to know alt-rockers A River of Decay and Trixie, a “fun girl with a webcam! check it out!”.

Then, a few weeks ago it hit me - Myspace has become the Myrtle Beach of social networking. Trashy and tacky – full of ads, hookers and high schoolers. People spend more time there in the summer, have a fling with someone from out of town, and have pictures of themselves that they probably wouldn’t show their grandma. And I guess I’m over it. I’ve met and re-met friends on there, kept a few relationships in the loop and used it for some theme party invitations. But for this guy, Myspace has run its course. I recently replaced my profile picture with a letter to Myspace. It says “Dear Myspace, I’ve met someone else.” and I have. Say hello to Virb. The “new black” on the social networking scene, it’s sleek, highly customizable and most importantly, a little more respectful of its users. I have had my share of friend requests from bands, but at least I haven’t had to worry about Sasha or Lace asking me to buddy up and the advertising is strategically placed as to not be a constant eye-sore. But even with all these upgrades, I still can’t seem to dive in like I did when I first became a Myspace-r and Facebook-ite (I’m pretty sure that is the vernacular…). Maybe I’ll try harder to plug in. Or maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll go outside and sit in an intertube and float around the cove. So to sum it all up - Myspace is out. Virb is in. And I’m still not sure I care.

An Open Letter

So I told Megan Smith that I would write her a letter on my blog (since I’m pretty sure she is the only one who currently reads this). i told her this probably, we’ll say, 4 months ago. it could be longer. i’m not really good with time like that. or really good at blogging for that matter too. oh well. maybe one day i’ll turn this into a discipline that I can do on a regular basis (side note: how many blogs are started that begin so well and after three weeks, they become some sort of ghost town like this blog - old news, musty basement smells, etc.). At any rate, here is a letter to Megan:

Hey Megan,

I’m curious as to how long it will take you to see that I’ve written you finally on my blog - I started it a couple of times, but always got distracted and told myself I’d finish it later. I think you’re in the Charlotte area today planning the next garden force takeover - coming soon to an abandoned Harris Teeter near you. Are you going to be in town this weekend? my friend and yours, Matthew Geib is allegedly coming up, but who knows if that will really happen - considering his track record. He’s a good kid though - and so are you. But for completely different reasons. He’s good in the best-friends-since-you’ve-been-three sense. You’re good in the i’ll-keep-in-touch-with-you-no-matter-how-much-you-suck-at-return-correspondence kind of way. People should have friends like you and they’d be better for it. Are you still planning on coming up for the 4th of July melee we’re planning? Here’s hoping. Hows the animal kingdom? Give Paper Cut my regards - tell him I hope his eye fungus is improving (and even if its not - tell him it is… those hamsters have a fragile psyche). Anyways, here’s the your letter - nothing too great, but then again, coming from this blog - it sorta fits.

Ryan

Coming Soon…
- those CD reviews I told Elizabeth King I would do