26 Eno albums at once, 500x speed

Not sure why anyone would do this, but here it is:

Of course I'm a sucker for anything Eno... Thanks to Mark for the tip.

File under humour...?

Taking a look back at "American Boy"

This past week this post received the most traffic to this blog. I haven't figured out exactly why, but I thought this would make a good opportunity for some reflection.

The context for the post was that I had just returned from a month-long trip to Europe with my brother. We heard U2 every single day we were over there. Four different countries, a few plane rides, train rides, a bunch of pubs and coffee shops, and without a doubt we would hear U2 at some point.

I'm sure someone visiting North America might find something similar, but the sheer breadth and diversity of venues, and the distances traveled... I dunno, I guess something about that stuck out to me.

We also heard lots of Stevie Wonder and Madonna as I recall, but it wasn't the same.

The definite theme song of that trip was this tune, "American Boy" by Estelle and Kanye... featuring a pond-crossing performing duo plus a bangin' beat; which is to say the song featured, for us, cultural context as well as the content to match. This song will forever be tied to that trip for me. Great song, catchy hook, butchered nightly by karaoke singers everywhere.

Disliking Justin Timberlake less and less

My Google Reader just informed be that Justin Timberlake Secretly Cosplayed as Ernie at San Diego Comic-Con 2011... How the hell about that, eh?

This coming after he was on TV at the MLB All-Star game, possibly (likely) drunk, and sarcastically praising the insufferable broadcast host, Joe Buck.

What's not to like?

Fun with Googling yourself

I'm on imdb! Fuck yeah!

Byrne lyric on Wheel

How did that get there?

Meta-ness ensues.

Best of 2010 week: Lack of posts

I had a grand plan to do a post every day of the week, but it hasn't turned out that way, has it?

Anyway, if it's alright with you, I'm going to make next week part of this week for the purposes of extending 'Best of 2010 week'... then likely I will be adding another week after that... nah... never would happen...

It's almost like... we're all busy with some kind of holiday season...

And so we enter one of my favourite phases of the music year...

...When I get to catch up on all the music I was too busy to pay attention to throughout the year.

I'm hoping to scoop some of the bigger publications and have my favs of the year lists up some time this month. A few ideas I'm going to go with:

Best albums
Best concerts
Best singles
Most overrated (this might be a whole essay)
Favourite musical moments
Best videos
Top blog posts (of my own of course!)

etc etc


So yeah keep an eye out for that stuff, it'll be coming soon. Hopefully.

Exclaim.ca is already into year-end mode, as is the mighty Pitchfork (don't bother entering their reader poll if you're not in the 50 states). Hipster Runoff did a fucking hilarious decade review in 2k9, hopefully the 2010 review is as good, though that's a tall task.

Popmatters does excellent year end reviews on all strains of pop culture, so check that out. I usually fill up my library queue pretty quick after their year end run downs.

Other than that, watch this space for my own bloggy blog commentary on the year that was (and wasn't)... if, you know... I get around to it. :)

A note on productivity apps

As I mentioned recently, I've been tackling a novel project this month (so far so good... must stop trying to edit as I go), and I've been using a productivity app called Pomodoro to help me keep my focus. These types of apps are only worth what you put into them, but I've made it work for me and found it to be quite helpful. 24,000 words helpful.

Here's a quick vid that explains what the app does:



Gotta run, my back to work timer just went off.

Advance apologies for potential lack of bloggage

I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month, where entrants attempt to write a first draft of a novel in just 30 days.

My progress: So far so good. About a day behind, but hopefully I can make up for it with some serious weekend mashing. But apologies in advance if the blog isn't updated as much as usual this month.

I'm looking forward to the flurry of year-end lists that will beseige us in December... I always find gems that I may have overlooked throughout the year, so it's an exciting time coming up.

PS

Just found this in Google's recommended items, mere seconds after my previous post. See also this.

The Osmonds just got a little bit cool.

If this doesn’t make you cringe & smile, nothing will.

Donny Osmond jams on the Moog modular synthesizer on the Donny and Marie Show, with some help from Desi Arnaz Jr., Jay Osmond and Jimmy Osmond on drums.

Ok, that's hilarious.

[via Synthtopia]

New layout

Playing with a new template. Some more changes on the way, but it was time to freshen up so here it is.

A note on getting paaaaid

I've been mulling over the prospect of monetizing this blog.

Pros include: Money, motivation to write more.
Cons include: whoring myself out to corporate interests.

A short jaunt around blogger through that handy 'next blog' button at the top of the page reveals a string of shockingly illiterate pages, a bunch of Christian blogs, compendiums of family information that most people couldn't possibly be interested in... and very few AdSense users. Don't get me wrong, all these people are clearly passionate about whatever it is they blather on about, but not many people seem to take it that seriously.

I have some other ideas for more 'pro' blogs, maybe I should take that route and leave this one as it is... but I guess worst case scenario I could just remove the ads.

Anyway, something to think about.

Google AdSense

Google and I

I have some Google search competition with another Matt Speirs from Brampton, a hockey player. Although at this point I'm still the top result, my doppelganger has more hits in general, and I'm not talking the hockey kind!

At least I've got the domain mattspeirs.com, this should be a bit of motivation to finally get that damn site going.

Please standby

Haven't had much time to update lately, as some shit has been going down.

Needless to say I'm gonna get back in the habit once Mr. iMac is up and running again.

My goal for this year is still to beat last year's post total. Last year was 198, and it sure would be nice to break 200 this year. With something like 100+ days left this year, it's totally a reasonable goal, with my count at 96 including this post. By averaging one post a day, I can do it.

So stay tuned, and keep scouring the web for those sweet sweet tunes. More to come.

Is it just me,

or does the demon from Michael Jackson's "Ghosts" kinda look like his dad??



That's about the best screen shot I can find for Ghosts, I'm sure there's one out there that's better.

This blog: popular with the Google

A previous post has spiked the number of hits to my blog, bringing me well into double digits per day territory. Thanks all you random surfers, you're making the world a better place.

Note to self: Write more posts about how great songs are used to disappointing effect in film trailers.

The Day The World Went Away - Nine Inch Nails

A note on Twittering

I still don't really 'get' Twitter... maybe I'm just old school. But one thing is for certain: Trent Reznor sure is fun as hell to follow. Especially if you bleed NIN black like I do. He's got a sense of humour too.

Took the plunge

Twitter - phatmat

One 't'...

Why?

via Daily Swarm

Nirvana's Nevermind baby recreates classic album cover

...and Guns N Roses have an album coming out in less than 10 days.

It's culture in reverse!