TweetDeck Upgrade (?)

It seemed absolutely necessary, since TweetDeck wouldn’t shut the hell up in making sure I “upgraded” my version of TweetDeck from version 0.32.2 to the, so-called…”much improved” version of 0.32.5. OH MY GOD! This seems absolutely mandatory!!!! SHIT. IM BEHIND!!!!! Good Lord…help me!

Okay, so now that I’ve spewed all that evident irony, let’s show you a screenshot of what TweetDeck looked like before I did the “upgrade”:

My TweetDeck feed, where I can see updates on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace and update all three of the third party sites from one application.

Obsolete, huh? Now let’s take a look at TweetDeck, this time after I did the “upgrade”. OH BOY!!!

Wait a minute…something’s not right here. I can’t figure it out.

……

Hmmm.....did the upgrade work?

OH WAIT! It looks the EXACT SAME!!! Point being, TweetDeck needs to stop doing all these micro-upgrades. Agreed?

[Via http://twtylertalk.wordpress.com]

Top tips on how an artist should network online

Social networking bridges the gap between you and your fans, and can also be a great way of getting your name out of your bedroom and into the industry.  Here are some top tips for utilising networking sites to your absolute advantage.

1. Remember to Tweet!  Twitter is short but sweet, whether it’s for a new song, upcoming gig, or just what you had for lunch, your fans will know in just 140 words.

2.The events function in Facebook is quick and easy. Let your fans know where and when you’re playing with minimal effort – an update will automatically appear on their homepage.

3. MySpace is great for giving your fans a sneak peak of your tracks, but remember it is far more valuable to have your own website.

4. Post videos on YouTube of you playing live, but be selective – only post your best performances. Backstage videos also go down well.

Stay tuned to the blog as I’ll be looking at each of these in more detail, starting with Twitter next week…

[Via http://puresolo.wordpress.com]

Timeline: Social networking sites...

Social networking sites are slowly taking over the world! OK, so maybe it’s not necessary to be quite so dramatic, but it’s definitely worth realising just how influential web creations such as facebook and myspace are in this day and age.

Ask any teenager, around the world how they communicate with friends who they no longer live nearby… you might think they would say the telephone, howvever, I believe you’d be mistaken. The internet is the fastest, cheapest and easiest way for, not only today’s teens, but people of all generations, to communicate with eachother. My boyfriend’s gran has facebook for crying out loud!

The development of the social networking site is an interesting process, and this timeline depicts some of the most influential events in the history of social networking:

2002- Friendster is launched by coputer programmers, Jonathan Abrams and Cris Emmanuel. Over 90% of Friendster’s traffic comes from Asia (Wikipedia.com)

2003- August: Myspace.com is launched following the basic idea of friendster’s social networking template. It was set up by eUniverse employees, using their 20 million existing users to get myspace up and running.

2004- Mark Zukerberg launched “Thefacebook”, from his university dorm, originally located at thefacebook.com.

Myspace makes the transition from a virtual storage site (at YourZ.com) to a social networking site in its own name.

2005- January: Bebo (an acronym for “Blog early, blog often“) is founded by Michael and Xochi Birch. July: Bebo undergoes a major relaunch. According to ecosultancy.com, in August 2009, Bebo had around 8 million users in the UK alone.

September: Facebook.com was launched as a high school version.

2006- September: Facebook was opened to anyone over the age of 13 who had a valid email address. The social networking site now has around 350 million users worldwide, and around 20 million in the UK (from ecosultancy.com, 2009).

Twitter is launched. The ‘microblogging’ service allows users to ‘tweet’   140 words for friends and subscribers to their profile to read.

2008- March: Bebo is bought by AOL for £417m.

December: Myspace.com had around 125 million users (according to techcrunch.com, 2009)

2010- February: Google launches Google Buzz in a bid to topple Facebook and Twitter. Only time will tell how successful their plan is.

[Via http://vgreenfield.wordpress.com]

The end of a trend.

Here’s something that you’ll never say again in public, unless you want to lose your “coolness” image forever…”Hey, check out my MYSPACE PAGE!” It’s over. I mean, it’s been over for years…but now, I mean, it’s officially over. In the past few weeks, news has officially surfaced that even Tom has relinquished his coveted first friend image, not checking in to his account since…Christmas! Sure, the decline of Myspace has been crumbling for years now, but seems like it was just yesterday when the perennial “first friend of myspace” achieved urban rockstar status with his dork-like image on cups, magnets, key chains, whatever. Many theories have been posted, blogged about, and commented online as to the demise of myspace, but one missing link may stand out more than the rest…myspace became too one dimensional. Facebook interfaced the business side and the casual side of our lives more effectively. Linkedin and other business networking sprung up and further split the market share by catering to the business class. Now dozens of new biz networking sites are grabbing hits by folks looking to stay connected in this lousy economy. No, you’ll never get back all those hours you spent tricking out your myspace page, but, at least you can wear the t-shirt and, uh, be cool again.

[Via http://careysword.wordpress.com]

The Art of Kenzie Allen

After writing Friday’s post, Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?, I had no idea how I would top it. I mean, what could possibly be better than Felicia Day in cosplay? It almost seemed unfair of me to do a piece on another artist so close to that entry. But then I was reminded of Kenzie Allen’s (@cerena) incredible artwork when I saw this super sweet tweet appear in my twitter client and had to share it with you.

Kenzie reached out to us after seeing a post that Shawn Decker wrote on his blog after I reviewed his fantastic book, My Pet Virus and subsequently met with him at a local coffee shop. When I checked out Kenzie’s Twitter profile, I noticed she had a deviantART page so I clicked on the link and was blown away by what I found.

As you can see from the above picture, Kenzie has a style that is really all her own. I love her bold color choices and thick lines. But what strikes me the most about every one of her pieces is her character’s expressions. Here’s a great example:

Is it just me or do you wonder what she’s thinking? Kenzie really knows how to pull you in.

I’ve included a couple more images of Kenzie’s work below. If you’d like to check out more of what she’s doing be sure to visit her on deviantART, Myspace, or tumblr. You can also watch her draw on UStream! Bob Ross would be very proud.

Would you like Kenzie to create a portrait of you? If so, be sure to click here to read about some of the options she offers. Her pricing is really reasonable and, according to her deviantART page, your money goes to help her “get some ramen” I’d say that’s a pretty good cause.

Hope this finds you feeling healthy!

-Mason

[Via http://atris.wordpress.com]

Political Twitter Bird

Alright, so besides grinding away at some writing lately, I did two things of importance: I went to a Republican dinner party as a guest of one of Maine’s gubernatorial candidates, and I signed up for Twitter. Now, I suspect you’re wondering what the connection could be, but fear not for I shall tell you! Bruce Poliquin has decided to use social media to spread the word about his campaign, including using Facebook, Twitter, and Twitpic. Although his usage of Facebook is a little lacking, he uses Twitter and Twitpic on an almost-daily basis.

Twitter is like the status updates of Facebook except it can be in any person (not just third person in order to make sense) and it really has no other features. Gubernatorial candidate Bruce has 436 followers on Twitter, which is actually a decent number of people for this particular social networking client. A friend of mine and the person who turned me on to candidate Poliquin, Kendra, is in the book business – writing, publishing, etc. – and has a whopping 2,661 followers! As far as Twitter is concerned, she’s famous, and Twitter still isn’t as mainstream as websites like Facebook and (though it’s on its way out) MySpace. I had previously refused to use Twitter for moral reasons up until I realized just how powerful of a social utility it can be. Now, I don’t pretend to be famous, but if people making that sort of difference in the world (i.e. running for political office or writing books), why can’t I use Twitter to my advantage as well?

So, I signed up for an account and was immediately at a loss. After getting some of the basics down, I found a few friends to follow and some cool people from other countries like Japan who post a lot of neat pictures on Twitpic. All in all, I’m not really a twitter bird, nor am I keen on using the service. As interesting as following new people is, Twitter, I think, is a social networking tool for people who have more important things to say than I do. I concede that much, and until I have more important things to say I will probably keep my twittering to a minimum.

[Via http://goingfishing11.wordpress.com]

Love 2.0

The Perfect Mate

We are now a decade into the millennium and our constant access to technology, in particular the Internet has encouraged a hi-tech, low-touch society.  There seems to be more social networking than true social interaction.  So how does one discover love in the time of iPhone, Facebook and MySpace?  Latherio Boyd, relationship coach and author of The Man’s Guide to Finding the Perfect Mate, says that we have to be willing to take risks in order to meet a potential mate.  He encourages women to go out so that they can ‘be seen’.  Further, he reminds women that the man is not going to come knocking at your door.  He stresses that women should see relationships as an investment.  Latherio advises the men that they should know their value and what they have to offer in a relationship.  He believes that finding the perfect mate is like finding a missing puzzle piece.  Several pieces may fit, but there is one that fits with ease so that the picture is complete.

[Via http://dialmyheart.wordpress.com]

The dangers of social networking

All those web 2.0 tools — blogging, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace (well, maybe not anymore), LinkedIn, Google Buzz (the new kid on the block), et.al. — are fun and somewhat addictive, but there are serious privacy dangers lurking in all that sharing.

Dangers as obvious as putting plenty of data out there for cybercriminals to harvest for phishing attempts and identity theft, not quite as obvious danger in putting discrete bits of corporate information out there in multiple locations that put together become useful to competitors, and even dangers as vanilla as broadcasting when you are home and not for local criminals seriously casing your home for a break-in.

That ought to be food for social networking thought.

From the link:

Pervasive social networking may herald the future’s most critical insider threat: cyber-chattiness.Individuals are simply revealing too much about their professional lives online. It might be possible, for example, to cross reference a Facebook post about a “big project that isn’t looking good” with other posts and piece together sensitive corporate information. And while a LinkedIn request for a job recommendation reveals a job seeker, two or more seekers in the same division could reveal company upheaval.

The threat from chatty insiders isn’t new, but a perfect storm might be brewing. Consider the following:

- People are broadcasting more of their lives online than ever before. More than 55 million status updates are posted every day on Facebook alone.

- A new batch of “Open Source Intelligence” tools now exist to help map out people’s lives and relationships.

- Lots of personal and business data online makes it easy for a hacker to personalize phishing attacks and in some cases, automate the personalization process. Tools and frameworks now exist to gather enough information about you online to custom craft emails that are very credible.

- Setting policies to stop employees from using these social networking sites at work doesn’t stop them from talking about work when online at home.

We are now starting to see some privacy stretch marks on the social networking bubble. Consider the case of Robert Morgan. Earlier this year Robert, a researcher at Microsoft (MSFT), updated his LinkedIn profile with details about his work on Windows 8 and its new 128-bit architecture. The problem was that Microsoft had never disclosed it was working on a 128-bit version of Windows (let alone working on Windows 8 or 9). This was a direct disclosure snafu made worse by the fact that anyone with an Internet connection could see it.

[Via http://davidkirkpatrick.wordpress.com]

Day Two of the Warfield Smith Stand-Off

So I found myself in another predicament today. I was on the computer, as usual, and couldn’t find anything to do! Seriously. I checked my email, I checked my social networks, I spied on people and even started looking up people from my distant past (!?)– I’m in an internet rut, I tell you! I find myself going in circles, looking at the same sites and totally uninterested in looking up anything new. What is there to look? No one messages me or comments on my social sites. I only have two that I actively update, you know the dreaded top two of the net: myspace and facebook. Myspace, for me, though has become more of an automaton site. I don’t really post too much personal crap there. I may post a poem or two and other eventful going-on of my life, like book releases or public readings and stuff of that nature, but I wouldn’t expect to get to know the real me on there. The closest you’ll get to personal interests, aside from what I actually do with my life, is the music I like, and in this day and age that isn’t very telling. Oh, I long for that age old, concaved day when you used to be able to judge and read a person by the content of their music player. It was simpler in those days. Hicks listened to country music, black people listened to hip-hop and rap, vandals listened to punk, queers and yuppies listened to new wave, stoners listened to psychedilic and folk music, greasers listened to rock and roll and heavy metal, Mexicans listened to tejano. Well, no more. I can’t even define myself! Of course you realize that’s just a bunch of bullshit. I’m quite happy that people are undefinable. That’s the way it should be, you know. So, I guess my point is, you couldn’t even get much info on me based on what I listen to. So, yes, myspace. But even then, how do you know that I’m not one of those people who just friends people at random, unconcerned with who it is I am connecting to, but happy to see the friend meter sky-rocket? Well, I’m not, but considering that I am using myspace as more of a place to network and, you know, make it easier for people to find me and keep up with my work and art, sooner or later there’s no telling who will friend me. Why just the other day an anarchist tried to friend me, and even though the account isn’t personal anymore, it’s fastly becoming more of a “for the fans” (bullshit-what fans!?) type area, I refused to friend him! Ha! What the hell do I want an anarchist for a friend? I mean come on, I can appreciate the aesthetics of “anarchy.” I quite agree with no government, but that is a rather shallow view of anarchy. No government. But if you think about it, that means you can’t leave your house! You can’t leave your family unless you’ve trained them well in self-defense and self-preservation! Someone could squat on you! They could take your things and your wife! There would be no rule of law! And you know

I dislike everything Darwin stands for and think his “strongest survive” theory is just bullshit when applied to humans

because we’re human! Not animals, and we have the ability to think, but more importantly, to make choices! So how do you qualify that, Darwin?! You can’t. That brute that squats on your house when there is no rule of law has the choice of whether or not he’s gonna kill you, and so the strongest surviving just cannot apply to humans. But, since his theory is so popular and what is forced down our throats by the “educational” system installed by the elite class of our species, that is what we believe, and so the brute will not even qualify the thought of being human, and thusly put no value into being able to make a choice, because after all, he was taught only the strongest survive and so is totally validated in killing you and stealing your wife. Do you understand why I fundamentally disagree with anarchy and Darwinism? So anyway, I refused the anarchists advances. Plus, in this day and age, the government would probably just as soon as pin me down as a terrorist for associating with the likes. Ha!

Facebook is a different story, altogether. I post a lot of things on there, including my opinions, things that amuse me and random thoughts or quotes. I am much friendlier and open on that site. I think I like it only because you can see everything you’ve posted and kind of keep track of what you’re thinking or doing better than you can on any blog on myspace. Plus, you need a facebook account to snoop around, so that is something I also find comforting.  I was trying to post a picture though on one of my friend’s wall, but it wouldn’t post, so I’m gonna post it here because it’s funny as hell. Some of you may have seen this. Tell me if you haven’t!  Ha ha! I remember when I first saw that, I was like, “Yes! That is is funny!” 

See the doody?

Isn’t it crazy how self-portraits  have become so popular with the advent of digital cameras and personal social networking spaces? I mean it was bound to happen, no complaint, and I do so myself as well from time to time (primarily because I have no one to take a picture of me!). But this picture is just damn funny! I wonder if it’s genuine– you know or a set up.

Anyway, I’m sure I’ve either made you laugh or just grossed you out now. This is what happens when I have nothing to do. Being in an internet rut is terrible. Pretty sad I can’t even find anything else to do with my time. Find a job? Well, I did that yesterday, if you really must know. I was scowering the net for people who are hiring right now. Isn’t it terrible how everywhere you go for work they require you to fill out an internet application? It’s like they don’t want to see you face-to-face anymore. I hate it! I liked actually walking into the store and greeting someone and showing them that I took the time and effort to come out, to show them I’m actually interested in visiting the store, or whatever. Not anymore. I mean, internet sign ups are convenient, you know, if you can’t walk or something, but really– if you ask me, it’s the stores that have gotten lazier. I mean I guess we’re helping the enviroment by not wasting paper on applications, but it also makes it easier for the job not to respond to you. I’m only applying for jobs that require paper applications and in-person consultations from now on! It’s mainly retail that requires internet membership to hire on anyway. I don’t like retail. In case you’re getting any clue, I’ll help you out: I don’t like work at all. It’s so unnatural to me. I mean, I don’t mind producing things, but it has to be something for me and my family. Like in the old days. People used to milk cows to survive, for crying out loud! And plant their own gardens! They didn’t have to go to Whole Foods to get top-line veggies! And that means they didn’t have to pay and that means that the work they did was for themselves! I was so born out of century– either that or I’ve awoken and I remember that lifetime and that’s why it’s hard for me to assimilate into my present existence. Make sense? Think about it, that may be your problem, too. Hotchacha!

[Via http://orphanedideaz.wordpress.com]

Some new Zomby fo yo ass.

English dub-steppin’ muthafucka Zomby has dropped three new tracks on his Myspace. Along with ‘Float’, my personal favorite off of 2008’s Where Were U In ‘92?, he has posted ‘Galapagos’, a Caribbean-influenced steel drum piece, ‘Balloon People’, a shiny dance floor number replete with Nintendo synths and some tribal shouting, and ‘Operator’, a tight little dubstep with the same dark tone and pulsing samples that we’ve come to expect from him. Not sure what this means in terms of a new album, but it certainly can’t hurt, can it?

[Via http://ishouldgiveup.wordpress.com]

(MY) Internet History/Mess

After exploring my Myspace account that I will not post a link to because it is THAT embarrassing, I have lost all hope of deleting my profile.

I cringed while trying to remember my internet passwords from middle and high school. Talk about painful. AND messy.

As a tip for myself, and everyone else in the world for that matter, I suggest keeping a very detailed log of all accounts opened and used on the web.

Let me count some of the accounts I’ve had in the past…

Past email accounts:

• Hotmail (torig88@hotmail.com)

• Yahoo (torigarcia88@yahoo.com)

• Gmail (victoria.aleece@gmail.com)

Past Social media/blog accounts:

• HI-5…is that what it was called?
• Myspace
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Flickr
• WordPress
• LiveJournal

[Via http://victorialeece.wordpress.com]

All Your Favorite Social Networks In One Place — Social XP!

How many browser tabs do you have open right now?  My guess is between five and ten.  Do you have social networking sites such as MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook open?  Don’t you feel disorganized with all those tabs open?  Why don’t you close all those tabs right now?  I just finished designing a website that allows you to access all those sites in one place.  It includes Google Buzz, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, Wikipedia, Techmeme, and Digg.  That list is subject to change as requests come in.

Here’s how the site works:  It is a series of 8 IFRAMEs that each contain the iPhone optimized version of one of the sites above.  This compresses them so they all fit comfortably on one page.  This is NOT an iPhone site!  This is just using the iPhone versions of these sites on a desktop.

Yes, improvements are on the way and YOUR HELP can make this site better.  You can always email me your suggestions.

Here is a screenshot:

Pretty sick, right?  To use Buzz on SXP, you have to be signed into your Google account on another tab.

Please check out the site.  I like it, and I plan to start using it.

If you like it, tweet it.  That’s how people get exposed to these apps—through their friends.

Click here to visit Social XP!

Please, PLEASE leave your feedback in the comments section!

[Via http://unitedtechguys.wordpress.com]

Another Myspace Person Jumps Ship The Myspace Ship and Boards The Facebook Ship

Source:  TechCrunch

Monica Keller, a MySpace Group Architect who has played a key role in advancing MySpace’s initiatives in activity streams and openness, is leaving the company to join Facebook. Keller announced the news in a blog post this evening. She will be joining Facebook as an Open Source and Web Standards Program Manager, where she’ll be joining a team that includes David Recordon and Luke Shepard. MySpace confirmed that Keller had left the company but declined to comment further.

Continue reading

[Via http://aprilsimsinternetmarketing.wordpress.com]

NEW SONG - Alibi

We promised you more new material, so here’s more of the sample series for you.

Alibi was test driven around the Manchester venues at christmas time, it went down a storm and has been described as ‘Firefly’s evil Brother on Valium’

We’re going to be announcing the firest of our live dates for 2010 in the coming days, top stuff!  in the meantime please head to the MS link below to listen to ‘Alibi’

http://www.myspace.com/the66uk

the 66 x

[Via http://the66online.com]

Social Media Marketing Strategy

How many times per day do you check your stream in Twitter, or your DM’s for that matter, only to find so many zero value tweets by people promising money for doing nothing with Twitter or other social media tools?  A Waste of time in that you had to read and now delete it.  But in the end, social media has opened the door to empower your online marketing strategy.  It makes no difference if you’re marketing yourself and your brand, or a product or service. 

The key to making money on Twitter, or any social media outlet is clear for anyone engaged in this amazing technology.  Bringing the people together with the service provider or company for the amazing low price of…..free. 

If you’re trying to market a service or product, the role that will be most successful is the middle man.  Here is the customer who wants to make a purchase, and there is the company selling an item.  Social media is the tool that can bring the two together.  You can connect the two via a large network that focused on your pipeline of consumers.  It’s not having 100,000 random followers on Twitter hoping to “shotgun” your message to all of them and then get some customers.  It’s having a network of people with like interests and needs, providing them a channel to a solution and being engaged on a daily basis.

If you’re marketing your own brand, these social media tools become the way you put those specific skills on display to a market. The key to success here is a group of followers that are a consumer base that applies to your niche skill.  A list of followers who are from your desired market improve your odds of success in marketing your personal brand (which hopefully is refined to catch their attention).  Building credibility and constantly being engaged with these folks in LinkedIn groups, Twitter conversations, Facebook groups and so on, put your name on the map within your niche network.

We’ll be deleting those pesky DM’s from our Twitter inboxes and ignoring (and unfollowing!) from our tweet streams for a long time, but this high level approach to marketing will lead to success in executing your social media strategy. 

Matthew Schmitt

[Via http://matthew-schmitt.com]

Todays Fad: Creativity

It’s become ever more apparent that the idea to which all inovation is built, is become a sort of cliche, consider how the word is used these days. Social networks are often describe as create endeavors, but the reality is that they are just copies of ideas and forms of expression that already existed. These days what we consider art, is more like a photocopy than a creative expression.  Popular music is more often then not, a throw back to another time, most notable the 80’s with the re-emergence of ‘New Wave’.

Taking a look at what could be called the new ‘creative outlets’ like YouTube and 4Chan, we see nothing but repeats of repeats, a mash-up is nothing more then a copy of something that was creative in days gone by. For how long can pictures of cats with words (lolcats) be impressive, it’s already bland to me.

Facebook is another example of modern expression, best put it is anti-individuality and counter-creative.  Every page is exactly the same, if you’ve seen one profile, you have seen them all, aside from a few words and a picture or two.

Crowd the cloud, dissidents and radicals are being marginalized more and more with this new method of information gathering and distribution. The crowd or cloud is a perfect example of mind-space control, driving out opinions that differ from the normal is nothing more then normal these days, not to say that was the case before, just that the Internet created an opportunity that never existed before, but is already being taken away.

So whats the point?  Most likely that this whole entry lacks creativity, but more importantly that we are all losing our sense of creativity, or at least our expression of it. The world is embarking on a journey into a new dark-ages, the people of tomorrow will look back and say we ‘were a photocopy culture.’

[Via http://fadnet.wordpress.com]

Owen Van Natta Out as MySpace CEO

Owen Van Natta, the former Facebook executive who was picked to revive MySpace last April, is stepping down, News Corp (s NWS) just announced. He’ll be replaced by two of his hires, Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn, who now each share the title of co-president, reporting to News Corp digital CEO Jon Miller.

Circumstances around the shake-up aren’t clear yet. Miller was quoted in a press release as basically saying that Van Natta’s personal and professional priorities weren’t in alignment with MySpace. One thing is clear: Running MySpace, and trying to bring it back to relevance, is a tough job.

[Via http://gigaom.com]

The Low Anthem - Oh My God, Charlie Darwin [Album]

Originally published at Sonic Dice, July 2009.

It’s hard to not be drawn into The Low Anthem’s world through the sheer atmosphere of this album. Although an extremely modern album in many ways, it also harks back through the United States’ short history more effectively than many museums or monuments could. Perhaps that’s due to the pessimistic view of the future Oh My God, Charlie Darwin offers us, which is frequently characterised with apocalyptic disaster, of breakup and breakdown. Connotations already ping around like kernels of corn heated in a pot over an open fire from the title alone. It suggests God-fearing horror in the face of advancing ideas, but also of modernity and wry irony; typically American, in other words. And upon listening to the record, Americana is what you get; it smacks you in the face like a well-struck baseball. But as already discussed, the past is what the band turn to most of the time. This is a world of state lines, of confederacy, of hearing you in the whine. Hotdogs, sports-entertainment and Barrack are not included. The financial turmoil and eroding of previously-impervious economic edifices however may well be a suitable backdrop.

The Low Anthem are built upon a chamber music aesthetic of three musicians, all purring accordions and clarinets, with some effective modern twists strictly in appropriate and unobtrusive places. This is a record that could easily have been made fifty years ago or more, sounding soulful in a gospel manner, but also sounding fresh and contemporary; certainly no mean feat. This oldie-worldy feel of the band’s approach is echoed by the artwork – “Hand silkscreened in Providence, RI” a sticker proudly proclaims – and in opener Charlie Darwin’s subject matter. There is a certain feeling of ecclesiastical hopelessness in Ben Knox-Miller’s lyrics; “Oh my God, the water’s cold and shapeless. Oh my God, it’s all around”. The keening backing vocals and upright bass are beautifully baroque in their arrangements, and a distinctive sound is revealed early on.

Oh My God, Charlie Darwin plays with the idea of modernity in many insightful and interesting ways. It comes across as a rumination upon the condition of modernity and what it means to such a young country as the United States. To the Ghosts who Write History Books (aside from its fantastic title) begins with the lyric, “To them ghosts who write history books, to the ghosts who write songs”, by implication casting the band themselves as ghosts. This is fascinating considering the themes and subject matters covered; opener Charlie Darwin for example begins speaking of the Mayflower, hailing back to the very inception of the present day United States of America. Songwriters are indeed ghosts, inhabiting any temporal period they choose to, and The Low Anthem consciously position themselves throughout America’s history and geography. As an entity, the record sounds very American, which is in no way a negative point when the sound is this emotive and at times wistful. Most songs – including Tom Waits cover Home I’ll Never Be – incorporate the names of states and cities in their lyrics, making the album feel like the soundtrack to an epic journey; perhaps a road trip. In a covered wagon.

As already hinted at, the album’s lyrics deal with some weighty issues, and extensively ponders the current state of society through songs about both its birth and demise. It may seem like all this will simply lead to ennui, but there is hope in here if you search for it, as on Ticket Taker. But this isn’t a chink of light in a dark room sort of optimism; it’s much more ethereal and innate than that. The American Dream of betterment – the seemingly-certain knowledge that the individual can succeed and that ‘things will be OK’ – is brought to bear upon the album’s atmosphere. What this recalls is a sort of Cormac McCarthy-esque hope-against-hope, of carrying the fire. Yes things are bad, but somehow the odds will be overcome. Therefore, it’s possible to categorise the overall sound of the album as apocalyptic blues. Knox-Miller’s off-rhythm line at the start of the second verse, “I keep a stock of women should society collapse” is an emphatic highlight, and also demonstrates the apparently-inevitable continuation of mankind. The crackly, lo-fi quality of Ticket Taker supports such a characterisation, and draws the ‘recorded in a shack and sounds like it’ Bon Iver comparison.

After a sedate, minimalist opening, a clutch of more raucous tracks reveal vocalist Ben Knox-Miller’s range, which is at least equal to his band’s musicianship. The Horizon is a Beltway sports the record’s most memorable chorus, and is also probably the most accessible song. Suddenly forgoing the heart-wrenching crooning of the opening tracks, the singer unleashes a gravelly drawl on top of a banjo-led, Springsteen-ish defiant stomp. This is great stuff, a change of pace continued with the Kerouac-penned Home I’ll Never Be, reinforcing the associations with a great American road trip. On Cage the Songbird a desolate, almost funereal atmosphere replaces the defiant whisky-drinkin’ hoedown with a pleasant, natural-sounding reverb on all instruments and voice, ushering in some compositions which are far less dense and busy. Cage the Songbird’s themes of confinement counterpoint the rollicking American Dream freedom of the previous songs, which is followed by (Don’t) Tremble’s gentle acquiescence. The foot-stamping, harmonica-howling blues feel morphs into something straightforward, intimate-sounding and relatable.

To address some of Oh My God, Charlie Darwin’s flaws, the album loses momentum somewhat towards its mid-section. After a strong opening, a quiet, uncomplicated middle stretch culminates in Music Box, which to be brutally honest is a bit pointless. After the fairly sparse (Don’t) Tremble, this instrumental track provides an interlude that the album doesn’t really need. Devoid both of Knox-Miller’s profound musings and his band’s beautifully constructed blues material, it spoils a flow already interrupted by the slightly-but-noticeably weaker (Don’t) Tremble. Similarly, the more traditional American rock of Champion Angel finds its powerful impact lessened and not enhanced by its unassuming forebear. The Low Anthem here get back to more uptempo material, but its crowd-pleasing, singalong style possibly lacks the depth and charm of other tracks. It’s up to the listener whether or not they allow the band this noisy, giddy thrill in which little musically interesting happens. Although more of the satisfying 12-bar rock ‘n’ roll bass licks that are occasionally dabbled with would’ve been welcome, I personally forgive Champion Angel’s rudimentary thrash.

It’s only on OMGCD that a gospel influence truly reveals itself. The track in question is quite simply brilliant; uplifting in its swampy, mud-splattered rootsiness and lack of complexity. Its choral, communal sound nicely sums up an evocative work. This track is also without doubt the perfect length, a finely-judged, masterfully-delivered piece of wonderfully understated work. The journey upon which The Low Anthem conduct the listener is a circular one, as with most voyages. We’re whirled through the past by Charlie Darwin, Home I’ll Never Be and OMGCD, before To Ohio (Reprise) brings us bang up to date. Again the band play with the conventions of modernity, sequencing the oldest-sounding track OMGCD, just before closer To Ohio (Reprise). Precise percussion which may be courtesy of a drum machine and the synthesized-sounding organ stabs lend the reprise a modern feel, recalling Heart-era Stars. It’s a complete surprise, proving that the band don’t just exist in an ‘American Gothic’-style world of sepia photographs and Appalachian cabins.

With The Low Anthem’s wheezing keys, picked guitars and mournful horns driving, the listener is taken on a journey that is both trans-American and trans-temporal. In conclusion, we may have strayed near the wrong side of the tracks once or twice, but it’s been engaging and evocative. Whether or not you’re a fan of American music, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin comes thoroughly recommended.

9 out of 10.

Sonic Dice score: 5 out of 6.

To Ohio on Spotify
Ben Knox-Miller’s throaty purr is just perfect in this achingly spare lament. Beautifully reprised later on, To Ohio is one of the album’s many highlights.

Nonesuch Records
The Low Anthem on Myspace
The Low Anthem on Last.fm

[Via http://noschoollikeoldschool.wordpress.com]

Will someone please launch My Social Stuff

Now that everything is electronic and all apps and services are internet-based (Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, Flickr, YouTube, Google Docs and what not) I feel more certain than ever that I won’t lose my “stuff”. I guess most of my e-stuff from the 90s is gone by now. I probably had some of it on some 3.5″ back-up disks or old computers, but now – it’s gone. Disappeared. Disparu.

It got me thinking the other day when I was looking for an old Facebook wall chat- it wasn’t old old, just a couple of months – and I realized it was almost impossible to find. Whose wall was it on? Was it mine? Who was in it? Anyway, it took me well over half an hour to locate it scrolling through 40-50 pages (the one shown here is another one I decided to keep). It was really good, it made me laugh all over again and I decided I wanted to keep it. But then I found that the only way to really keep it, was to screen-shoot it and save it in my Dropbox. Now, how old-fashioned is that? And what if, in 5 years time, I want to find something from today… I would take me weeks to find it.

It begs the question: How far back do Facebook, MySpace, Twitter et al keep their records?

It also begs the plea: Can someone please launch the service “My Social Stuff”! What I want is something like this: When I read a wall chat I want a little icon next to it that I can hit and it’ll save that chat to my social stuff. The same thing with pictures, tweets, links – basically everything from social cyberspace that I want to keep.

In My Social Stuff I want a powerful Google type search engine, so I can find everything. Folksonomy so I (and my friends) can tag a chat “wedding speech” or “joke” for later reference.

Above all I want a virtual time capsule where I can keep and safeguard all my social stuff for many many years.

[Via http://olekassow.wordpress.com]

Blogging is for old people, Pew report finds

Here is a good weekend article around youth online behaviours well worth a reading. The SF Chronichle article points out that Twitter has failed to catch up among the young, Myspace invites for blogging in contraru to Facebook that is more of a staus/ short message socializing forum. Well worth reading to indicate some youth trends. Questions that I get from this is how to reach the youth with businessmodels, enabling profits, advertising etc. Also, if the lifecycles of products are as shorts as a few years, what happens with existing, but declining businesses?

Gerbsman Partners are able to provide leadership in this questions, please contact us for more information.

“Teenagers and young adults spent less time blogging during the past three years as social networks like Facebook became more popular, according to a Pew Research Center study released Wednesday.

Still, one social network, Twitter, has failed to catch on with the vast majority of younger teenagers, according to the Pew study of social media and mobile Internet use among teens and young adults.

The study conducted by the Washington, D.C., nonprofit think tank was designed to gauge the online habits of America’s “millennial generation,” a demographic group that is considered a bellwether of the nation’s future technology trends.

The results indicate blogging has become so 2006, when 28 percent of the two groups studied, teens 12 to 17 and young adults 18 to 29, actively blogged.

By the fall of 2009, that percentage dropped off to only 14 percent of teens and 15 percent of young adults as blogging “lost its luster for many young users,” said Amanda Lenhart, one of the report’s authors.

Lenhart said one reason for the shift might have come from the rapid ascent of Facebook over MySpace to the top of the social media charts in the past year. The MySpace format encourages members to blog, while Facebook instead features short status updates, she said.

Palo Alto’s Facebook was used by 73 percent of young adults, compared with 48 percent for MySpace and 14 percent for the professional network LinkedIn, based in Mountain View.

About 52 percent of those surveyed had memberships in more than one social network, up from 42 percent in 2008.

Meanwhile, only 40 percent of adults age 30 and older used social media sites in 2009, although among that group, blogging activities increased to 11 percent from 7 percent three years earlier.

Twitter usage, however, showed the opposite trend. Only 8 percent of online teens said they had ever used the San Francisco microblogging service, a result that reflects previous research that indicated Twitter – unlike other online technologies – is not being driven by younger audiences. Teens clearly preferred sending text messages – 66 percent – to tweeting.

The Pew study found 19 percent of the adults polled used Twitter or similar services to post or view online status updates, although Lenhart noted the questions posed to that group were not the same asked of the younger group, so the results might not be exactly comparable.

The study also found:

– 59 percent of young adults owned a video game console like a Microsoft Xbox or Sony PlayStation, and 22 percent owned a portable gaming device like a Sony PSP or Nintendo DS. The percentages were even greater for teens – 80 percent had a game console and 51 percent owned a portable.

– Almost 4 in 5 teenagers, 79 percent, owned an iPod or MP3 player.

– Of teens, 62 percent went online to get news of current events or politics.

– More young adults, 66 percent, owned a laptop computer than a desktop, 53 percent.

And 81 percent of young adults who went online did so wirelessly, compared with 63 percent of adults age 30 to 49 and 34 percent of adults 50 and older.

“Young adults have really created this detached, mobile lifestyle,” Lenhart said.

For the study, 2,253 adults age 18 and older and 800 teenagers age 12 to 17 were interviewed last summer.

Previous Pew results released from the same research found that 15 percent of teens sent or received sexually suggestive messages, called “sexting,” and that 1 in 3 teens have sent text messages while driving.”

Read more here.

[Via http://boic.wordpress.com]

Phase E

These guys sent me a Friend request VIA myspace… I listened for once, instead of pressing ignore.. and I am a R&B woman, so I like this song..

I also like (find decent)  the songs called
Baby Girl
Breathless
She put it on me
 
Visist their myspace @ http://www.myspace.com/phasee

I think that they should CHILL  out on the voice tool (forgot what it’s called).. but it’s still okay.

[Via http://tiffsarlacmusicupdates.wordpress.com]

Studies Show: The Internet is Depressing

This leaves me with an unsettling feeling especially because it’s a known fact that when you have a blog, you are going to spend a good amount of your time on the internet. I rarely read newspapers now since all of the news I need to read is online! I guess I can’t say I didn’t see this coming. After all, look at what everyone is doing these days. We are absolutely consumed by Twitter, Facebook, blogs, downloading music, watching free television and movies online. There’s very little that we cannot do without it.

Researches have recently discovered that spending copious amounts of time on the internet can lead to depression.

(deep breath in) Processing that thought…

“Researchers questioned 1,319 people, ages 16 to 51, and discovered a high correlation between amount of time spent online and depression. In fact, among what the researchers characterized as “internet addicts,” the “average depression score was more than five times higher than that of non-addicted users.”

What is the main reason behind this study? Spending so much time on the internet is a substitute for an actual social life, which we all know is pretty much required to have a normal life. Your computer cannot be your best friend. Another reason is because it is used as an outlet to escape from normal life and the problems in it.

I don’t know what their definition is for an internet addict exactly, but speaking for myself, I would say that I spend more time on the internet than the average person. If not the internet, then definitely the computer. If you need some advice on cutting back, my answer would be to get rid of accounts that you no longer use anymore and that you just don’t care about. I recently deleted my Myspace and Last.Fm. I only kept them for so long (even w/o using them) so that I could one day look back on them and see what sort of things/phases I went through. Turns out, I would never really do that.

Source

[Via http://itsyowyow.com]

Virus Alert! Fake AntiVirus Software

It came upon me without warning. I was on Myspace, adding a friend when I got an alert off my taskbar stating that my computer has been infected and giving me an option to remove it. I thought it was my own anti-virus software but when I clicked, “yes”, it sent me to a website to purchase a different anti-virus software. I could do nothing after this. Error messages popped up like crazy and my internet browsing was disabled. Luckily, I had another laptop available and I did some research. It turns out that I WAS infected and that the virus was this fake antivirus software trying to scam and fustrate people into buying its program. I found out that people were being infected off of Myspace and Facebook, just as I had. Most importantly I found a solution that did not require wiping out my hard drive or paying big bucks for computer repair. You can find it here at, Malware Removal Tips. It gives you step by step easy instructions on getting rid of this really annoying  virus.

[Via http://queerfresno.com]

LSD on YouTube, finally!

I made video that you can watch while you’re waiting for the real deal, since this is just a… Ah, check it out HERE! I know it sucks that I can’t put the videos straight up on at this page, but what’s really the diffrence? The video is still watchable. I know you all (like the three diffrent people who visit this place) were expecting something diffrent, but this is all I can give you at the moment. Another funny thing is that someone else actually uploaded one of my track on YouTube and you can view this HERE. I’ve already thanked the person who uploaded it, I thought it was cool.

I’m working on the new album and I got one track done today, I can’t give you any snippets or anything yet but I’d say the track is just fine.  A couple of other tracks have been made before this one. I won’t give them to you right now anyway, but you could check out my myspace if you didn’t do that the last time you visited, there’s a track there named Kasta Macka wich is going to be on the next album. The LSD Myspace.

I’m not angry with the Sony Vegas film making program anymore since I got it to work today, and that’s why I made the YouTube upload, I had to try it out. You can expect more slideshow movies in a short while and I’ll be sure to link em here so they’re easier to find. They’ll hopefully have a better quality slideshow and better sound quality then too.

See you around! Thanks for reading.

[Via http://sankystile.wordpress.com]