R E T O N D O

This guy drives just like I do.

2011-03-24T09:41:00.001-07:00

Bobby McFerrin - Ave Maria

2011-03-11T12:51:00.000-08:00

I love this guy.

The Secret World

2011-03-11T12:12:00.000-08:00

I'm not really a fan of MMO's, but this one looks interesting. It's from the people that made The Longest Journey, which I loved. Then again, APB looked good before it came out. We'll just have to see.

Eh?

2010-08-22T10:19:00.001-07:00

Well...

2010-07-28T05:35:00.001-07:00

It's not like I ever write anything...

This blog sucks

2010-07-28T04:21:00.001-07:00

No one reads this crap anyway.

I love everything about this.

2010-07-10T18:43:00.000-07:00

The Punch Brothers featuring Rob Moose on violin do Brandenburg concerto #3 2nd and 3rd movements. This just blows my mind. Playing the harpsichord part on the banjo is awesome.

For the longest time, my favorite version of this tune was from Wendy Carlos' Switched On Bach...

http://estiv.vox.com/library/audio/6a00e398ae8cfd000300fa9693d9200003.html

... but the Punch Brothers performance is right up there with it. Both versions are absolutely amazing, even though they are so different.

These guys are bad ass

2010-07-10T18:32:00.000-07:00

Mercury (WAR) from moriza on Vimeo.

They're called Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, they're from Chicago, and 8 of them are brothers (sons of Kelan Phil Cohran). Brass and drums sounding as huge as ever. Love it.

THIS

2010-02-19T07:53:00.000-08:00

If we're ever having a conversation with each other, and my eyes drift off to the side, staring into the distance with a glossy look of bewilderment, and you're wondering what it is I'm thinking about... It's this.

This guy is alright at juggling.

2010-02-06T23:34:00.001-08:00

I have never wanted to hang out with anyone more than I do watching this.

2010-02-06T23:23:00.001-08:00

KICK OUT THE JAMS MOTHER FUCKER!

2010-02-06T02:44:00.000-08:00

I like board games

2010-02-04T14:02:00.001-08:00

Two Man Sound-Capital Tropical (1986)

2009-12-17T15:25:00.000-08:00

Today's Lunch and a Movie

2009-12-09T11:28:00.000-08:00

Today I made hot dogs for lunch. Vienna Beef hot dogs, S. Rosen poppy seed buns, yellow mustard, fresh tomato, red onions, english cucumber, neon green relish... Well worth the effort. Perfect for a cold snowy day like today. I'm not sure what I'll do for the rest of the day. Right now I'm watching The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price. It's a little cheesy, but in a classic kind of way. It's based on the book I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. You may have seen the Will Smith movie of the same name.

Juvenile - Back That Ass Up

2009-11-24T22:05:00.000-08:00

Amazing.

MWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAA

2009-10-23T14:31:00.000-07:00

Why is this so funny?

PS22 Chorus "Jóga" by Björk

2009-08-28T23:36:00.000-07:00

John Holt - Never Never Never

2009-07-28T01:09:00.000-07:00

The Racoons

2009-07-21T03:07:00.000-07:00

I used to watch this show when I was little. I forgot how awesome the theme song is!

God is Hilarious!

2009-07-13T11:59:00.001-07:00

Mystery Brass

2009-07-08T14:26:00.000-07:00

The Plain White T's Three Part Harmony tour has officially wrapped up, which means I'm going to have tons more time to sit around and blog all day long instead of just posting random videos I like. Not that I didn't have the time on the road, I guess I'm just bored right now. Anyway, we played a private show in Calgary, AB on this last tour, and I stopped in a pawn shop and picked up a brass instrument that I thought was a trumpet. This was on the day Michael Jackson died and if you follow De'mar, Aileen, or I on twitter you'd know that I spent the day walking the streets playing Michael Jackson songs poorly and annoying most of the city. After spending some time with my 'trumpet' I realized that it's shaped all wrong and can't be a trumpet, it must be a cornet! Sweet! Why did I think it was a trumpet? I guess it's a little on the big side, but then again maybe that's just my imagination.

On the last day of tour we played a place called Mr. Small's outside of Pittsburgh (pronounced "Pitts-bur-uh" if you're British and a snob) and I decided it would be hilarious and awesome if I went out on stage and played it during the last part of "A Lonely September" without warning Tom. I grabbed my 'cornet' and played around a little bit offstage. Everything was totally cool, the melodies I was improvising were amazing! (Okay, not amazing, but they were almost good anyway...) So I get out there, and I'm thinking to myself "Remember, the song is in A major/ F# minor, trumpet is in B flat, so you want to play in B major/G# minor", which I'm not even sure is correct now, but I'm pretty sure. So I get out there, and sweet mother of science! Is it bad!! I know I'm nowhere close to being an expert, but I can usually pull of better stuff than that! Everything was just falling apart, sour note after sour note. (Which was HILARIOUS incidentally, so mission accomplished partly.) I just ended up laughing it off and figured I need to practice more.

So today at home I'm playing with my new beat up 'cornet', and I wonder what the mouthpiece would sound like in my other cornet (also a tour buy, some music store in Flagstaff, AZ I think) and the mouthpiece doesn't fit! Hmmm, that's weird! So I pick up my other cornet, and hey, it feels a lot smaller than the other one! And lighter too! So I play a few notes on the small one, and switch back to the big one. HEY!! They're in different keys!!!! What the hell!? So then today, I scoured the expansive lands of the Internet to see if I could get some info, and what do you know! It's not a trumpet *or* a cornet! Turns out I have a 3 valve soprano bugle in the key of G! Well butter my ass and call me a biscuit! That explains why I was so out of key in Pittsburgh! Okay, it *partly* explains it, but at least now I can feel a little better about my horn playing skills.

So without further ado, and to celebrate my newly discovered 3 valve soprano bugle, here's a clip of Future Corps, a group that I learned used to play at Epcot Center until Disney let them go after a huge round of layoffs (this, as evidenced by this video, was a very bad move) playing "Bohemian Rhapsody" on all instruments in the G bugle family.

How does a train stay on the track?

2009-06-28T13:19:00.001-07:00

You think you know, but you don't!

A Reading Rainbow

2009-05-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

Metroid - Norfair

2009-05-21T11:40:00.001-07:00

Beethoven symphony No.7, Op.92 : mov.2

2009-05-21T11:24:00.000-07:00

The conductor seems a little... *off*? Either way, turn your speakers up loud (hope they're not too crappy) and enjoy this.

Maggot Brain

2009-05-21T11:16:00.001-07:00

RAN RAN RU

2009-05-09T22:30:00.000-07:00

Kitty Kat Shirt!

2009-05-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

I don't know who made this, but it's pretty awesome. Not much happens, and the lyrics are a little off, but for some reason, I'm a fan.

1976 Swine Flu Propaganda

2009-04-28T08:25:00.000-07:00

Oink

Why the music industry sucks

2009-04-27T01:55:00.000-07:00

I don't know who put this together, but it's pretty interesting.

Check out this ad I made

2009-04-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

Want to know what's cool? This is.

2009-04-06T00:59:00.000-07:00

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Myron Floren playes "Tico Tico" on the Lawrence Welk Show

2009-04-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

So, I've been playing accordion in the song 1,2,3,4 on this tour and after a show one night, one of our fans said it reminded her of the accordion player on the Lawrence Welk show. I looked it up on the ol' youtube, and I am thoroughly impressed. I have a long way to go before I start playing anything like this, but give me a break, I just started learning.

Yo check this shit out!

2009-04-01T02:03:00.000-07:00

It's a band called "Double Wonderful", and holy shit, it is! Fuck yeah!

Shit, I should start updating this thing...

2009-04-01T01:36:00.000-07:00

Just realized that I have been neglecting my blog. Whoops! Sorry! I do have a pretty good excuse... I didn't have internet access for 3 months... Anyway, I'm back on tour with my band. The shows have been going great, in case you were wondering. More updates to come. Maybe I'll get my camera out and snap some pictures or something.

Fun Times!

2009-02-09T11:54:00.000-08:00

Religion!

2009-01-17T13:28:00.001-08:00

Religion - watch more funny videos

You've Never Seen Anything Like This Before

2008-12-11T08:46:00.000-08:00

Maybe the U.S. auto industry wouldn't need a bailout if they still made commercials like this!

Clara Rockmore Plays The Theremin

2008-11-29T23:59:00.000-08:00

The theremin is one of the first electronic instruments ever created, and is played without actually touching anything. Here, theremin legend Clara Rockmore plays "Le Cygne" from Le Carnaval des Animaux by Camille Saint-Saëns.

EHarmony Rejection

2008-11-16T19:07:00.001-08:00

I can't take credit for this, I found it on the interwebs. Hilarious though.

New Plain White T's Website

2008-11-07T23:58:00.000-08:00

So my band has a new website up. Check it out at plainwhitets.com. Some of the kinks are still getting worked out, but I think it's pretty cool! You can sign up and leave comments, send messages, blog, upload stuff... It's pretty advanced! Here are some things to do after you sign up: Add me as a friend. Check out the shows section to see when we are coming to your city. Go to the merch store and buy the new CD or a T-shirt. Eat some porridge. Leave some comments. Anyway, it's good stuff, and I approve it. Enjoy! Oh, and I will have a blog on there too. Not sure how that's going to work, but I'll keep posting here as well for sure.

God's Debris: A Thought Exeriment, by Scott Adams FREE

2008-11-02T01:33:00.000-07:00

Right now, right this instant, you can go and download (creator of Dilbert) Scott Adams'book God's Debris here as a .pdf e-book absolutely free of charge. I have just downloaded it, and will be reading it shortly, and I expect all of you 3 people who check my blog now and then to do the same thing. I am going to want to have some discussions about it after I read it, probably. So yeah, check it out!

Gecko Eaten by Ants!

2008-11-01T21:25:00.001-07:00

Wow, fascinating stuff! Hope you enjoy this amazing time lapse video of a gecko being eaten by ants. Looks like my Grandma's house on Thanksgiving. (ba dum bum)

Pretty Big McCain Gaffe

2008-10-21T21:27:00.001-07:00

Pure Comedy gold. McCain's head is filled with sawdust and a few computer chips George Lucas originally designed for Darth Vader in the 70's.

Plain White T's cover Santogold

2008-10-17T15:02:00.000-07:00

Plain White T's on Good Morning America

2008-09-30T01:14:00.001-07:00

Okay, well for some reason ABC doesn't allow you to embed their videos, or maybe I just can't figure it out. Either way, if you're interested, here are some links! Woodee woot! Oh yeah, Natty-D didn't air on TV, it's a web-sclusive! How blog-tacular!

1,2,3,4
Natural Disaster
Interview

Metallica Fall Victim To "The Loudness War"

2008-09-30T00:41:00.001-07:00

Heavy metal veterans turned napster killers Metallica have come under some heavy criticism from fans, critics, and audiophiles alike for the sound quality on their new album. At the core of this controversy is what's been refered to as "the loudness war." Basically, what it all boils down to is compressing and gaining the hell out of the music to make it louder than all the other songs on your iPod/CDs in your collection. What happens when you do this though, is it makes the music sound like doo-doo and you lose detail and dynamic range from the music. There's a really good article about it, and the Metallica album right here, if you want to read more about it and see an example. The REAL crazy part though, is that the video game Guitar Hero gets the master tracks directly from the studio, and it goes through their own mastering process. What this means, is that the video game Metallica actually sounds better than the CD you bought! Here's a video I found of the CD vs. Guitar Hero cut together so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about.

Plain White T's on the Tonight Show

2008-09-28T17:34:00.001-07:00

In case you missed it. I was pretty nervous, but I think we did a pretty good job. And I actually get to play guitar on this song! Woo!!

Rodney Mullen in Japan, 1984

2008-09-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, how old was he here? This is insane! He doesn't screw up once!

Some Photos From The VMA's

2008-09-09T03:26:00.000-07:00

Jon Stewart Takes On GOP Hypocrisy

2008-09-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Luxembourg

2008-08-27T15:19:00.000-07:00

Hey! We just played a show in Luxembourg, continuing our European tour, and things have been going great. The real reason I'm posting this is because our new video is up on myspace. So quit reading my shitty blog that never gets updated, and head over to http://myspace.com/plainwhitets and check out our video!!!

PWT Twilight Connection

2008-08-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

So our merch girl Aileen just turned me on to the Twilight book series by Stephenie Meyer, I have the first book waiting in my bunk on the bus to be read, asap. I also just found out that the author made these playlists to go along with the books (she does have some great taste in music apparently) and one of the songs she chose was "Take Me Away" by none other than the Plain White T's! Proof right here on her own website if you don't believe me. Pretty friggin' awesome!

Stormy Weather

2008-08-04T22:15:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had one of the worst storms I've seen in a while rip through Addison. Crazy lightning, strong winds, power outages. It was insane. I've never seen the sky light up the way it did tonight. So many different colors, and so vibrant too. Tomorrow it's back to work, we fly in to L.A. to play some shows and shoot a video. Then it's off to Europe for the rest of the month. Should be a lot of fun, although I'm gonna miss home as usual. I'm sure there will be enough ridiculous hijinks to keep me pretty entertained. First stop is Sweden, and it's my first time there, so I'm excited about it. My first car was a volvo, I love Ace of Base, and I get all my mp3s from there.

Hanna-Barbera anti-drug PSA

2008-08-04T22:14:00.000-07:00

I really like this retro anti-drug PSA done by Hanna-Barbera. The animation is crazy, and the music is awesome.

Amazing Fight Scene

2008-07-31T12:33:00.001-07:00

It appears this is from the movie "Undefeatable."

*Update*

Here is another one from "Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky."

Instant Speed Reader

2008-07-28T12:35:00.001-07:00

There's a cool little utility over at http://www.spreeder.com/ that will turn you into an instant speed reader! Just copy and paste and you'll be reading at 300 words per minute before you know it. It's pretty self explanatory, so I shouldn't have to say anymore. If you have any further questions, you're kind of dumb.

Frank Zappa on Crossfire in 1986

2008-07-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

Frank Zappa, you are my new idol. Come back to life so we can grab a beer.

Richard Dawkins on Al Jazeera

2008-07-24T12:29:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed this interview with Richard Dawkins on the english Al Jazeera network. Not only because I really like Dawkins, but because it's a great example of how a good fair unbiased interview should be conducted. Notice how the interviewer actually lets Richard speak and doesn't talk over him, or try to inject his own thoughts or beliefs into the interview. Good stuff, I really wish this channel was available on TV over here.

Tour Update

2008-07-15T23:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess it's time for a tour update. Not much to say really, The T's have been touring good and hard since we left home. The record is FINISHED... just about. I think we have a few little things left to record when we get some time in between shows, but for the most part, that shit is done! The shows have been awesome so far on this little stint... We played in Central Point, OR tonight, and it was incredible. I had no idea we had so many fans out here. Before tonight, we played a bunch of shows in Canada, which were also great, and before then, played some shows on the eastern portion of the USA, which were again, fucking sweet. Went sailing in cape cod with some new friends... Jumped off the boat and swam to the break wall to walk back, and actually cut my leg up a little bit on some rocks, which incidentally, bled a bunch on my hotel room blanket tonight. Hope I don't get charged for that. Tomorrow we have to wake up before the butt crack of dawn to fly to Texas. We have a day off/travel day tomorrow, and the Kung Fu girls are playing pretty close to where we're staying, so we're gonna try to make it out to their show for sure. Next day we play at Six Flags, which is going to be fun as hell. I love roller coasters. Anyway, I've been taking all sorts of pictures, very few of which are any good, but I'll try to put some up here in the next few days if I get time, so you guys can see some of the stuff I've been seeing, I guess... Eventually, they're all going in my book though, entitled "A Million Shitty Pictures, By Mike Retondo". I'm not sure how close I am to a million, but I've definitely taken a lot. I figure, the more pictures I take, the better chance there is that a few of them will be awesome. In other news, I should get to bed. Talk soon, yeah? Maybe about some important stuff too. Adios, amigos.

Bye Bye, Home.

2008-07-03T00:55:00.000-07:00

It is now 3 am on Thursday morning, and I have to be awake at like 7:30 to drive to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to play Summerfest, which pretty much starts our tour. I get to come back and spend Independence day in Chicago, but I'll be in the studio all day finishing up the record, then awake all night to pack. Then on the 5th, get on a plane and fly across the country for a show at a casino in Hampton Beach, NH. Because this is the start of our next record cycle, I probably wont get much time back at home for like 18 months. I'm kind of sad about that, but I'm sure I'll get over it after getting back on the road and doing what I love to do for a while. About half of this initial tour, we'll be on a bus, which will be cool, but then the last half is all flying, which is pretty rough. Anyway, I need to get some stuff together and get to sleep. I'm riding my scooter up there tomorrow, and I hear there's a bunch of construction and stuff going on. Should be fun, maybe. We'll see. Anyway, see you guys on tour!!

Larry David On Religion

2008-07-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

Gotta love this guy.

I love reddit

2008-07-02T01:56:00.000-07:00

Boxfresh T-shirt

2008-06-26T22:13:00.000-07:00

Last time we were in London we stopped by Boxfresh in Covent Garden hoping to get some goodies. while we were there, they asked us to basically draw on a shirt, so I drew this amazing rendition of "The one and only genuine Huggy T. Bear" as you can see. It says "be nice to the bears." Amazing, I know. If you like it, love it, can't live with out it... You can enter their DIY competition for a chance to win it! Click here.

The Shit Box

2008-06-21T17:57:00.000-07:00

Wow, I wish we had something like this when we were touring in a van for all those years. Basically, it's a little portable cardboard toilet with little disposable poo bags. We probably pulled over to piss on the side of the road hundreds of times... Just imagine, we could have been pinching loaves too. Although I'm sure eventually someone would have gotten the bright idea to use this thing in the van. That would not have been cool. That van smelled like shit enough as it was. Anyway, if you're in a touring band yourself, going on a road trip, or just like the idea of shitting into a cardboard box, head over to http://www.thebrowncorporation.com/ for more info.

Doo-doo pie.

Plain White T's on CHIC-A-GO-GO (4/12/05)

2008-06-21T00:05:00.000-07:00

Found this on YouTube. It's the T's on a public access show in Chicago for kids. Enjoy!

Hey There Delilah on Nashville Star

2008-06-17T20:29:00.000-07:00

So apparently there's this show called Nashville Star, which is like American Idol for Nascar fans, and this dude did this amazing(ly bad) cover of Hey There Delilah. I don't know what the worst part about it is. His singing? The hokey backing track?? The fact that they changed the chords and chopped all the sections in half? Either way, check this out for sure, you're in for a treat. A BBQ flavored, chewing tabacco spitting, cow manure scented treat.

New iPhone is cheaper, right?

2008-06-16T00:48:00.000-07:00

The good folks at The Consumerist certainly know their math, which is a good thing for you. We've all been hearing about how the new 3G iPhone from Apple is only $199, whereas the original touch-screen marvel was $399. Holy crap that's awesome, right? Not so fast, Prefontaine. It turns out that AT&T has adjusted the rates in their mandatory two-year contract so that by the end of it, you're actually paying $160 more than you would for the original. You do get some new features for the money, but just be aware that even though the phone is cheaper, it's actually not. Not that that will stop you. Get those stubby greasy texting fingers ready to slide across that shiny new radiation cannon's silky touch screen. Read more here.

I bet this has never happened to you...

2008-06-07T14:16:00.000-07:00

This just happened to me on myspace... How many times do you think that crappy thing is actually right?! CRAZY!!!

Coming Soon: Fat Tire In Cans

2008-06-03T00:39:00.000-07:00

Fat Tire Amber Ale by the New Belgium Brewing Co. of Colorado is a beer that a few of us in the T's have been known to enjoy on occasion. The company recently announced that we'd have a new way to enjoy this frothy beverage, without having to worry about getting shards of glass in our eyeballs when we're out having way too much fun. CANS! Yeah!

The Andy Rooney Game

2008-06-02T23:34:00.000-07:00

One of the most brilliant things I've come across in a while. Thought up by Joe Mande, the Andy Rooney Game is where you cut out everything but the first and last sentence from Andy's segment on 60 minutes. More videos on YouTube.

And now ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present...

2008-05-31T23:09:00.000-07:00

Cool Tunes?

2008-05-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

Go to kohina.com for some really cool old skool demo scene and video game music. REAL old skool, so old skool, you don't even KNOW! CHIPTUNES FTW!

Hmm...

2008-05-23T12:26:00.001-07:00

When I was a kid, I got in an argument with a car. It was one of those oh so cool early 80's cars that had a recorded voice integrated into it. The car kept telling me that "The door is ajar", and I kept arguing back "No it's not, it's a door!" I think I was pretty young.

Woah, 3D!

2008-05-21T01:43:00.000-07:00

Animated .gif file of two photo's I took of the Moscow Mansions on Earl's Court Rd. in Kensington, Greater London, UK. Nice little 3-D illusion going on.

Moscow Mansions 3D by Micahel Retondo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://retondo.blogspot.com.

Some Crazy Fucked Up Shit

2008-05-19T03:08:00.000-07:00

This picture is from Charlie White's work Understanding Joshua. Pretty insane. Did I just hear you say "What the fuck?" If that's not really your thing, maybe you'd prefer to check out The Vice Guide To Travel: Asses of the Caribbean. It's not what you'd think from the title. How about this video of a mom who breast feeds her 8 year old? Or maybe you're going on a long summer road trip? Insanely perverted? Do you have a penis or know someone who does? Maybe its time you checked out this cigarette lighter powered road-head simulator. That's just crazy. Crazy fucked up shit. Kind of like this. What the hell? This video will delight and mystify, and is also some crazy fucked up shit.

Traveling

2008-05-13T14:37:00.000-07:00

I am currently sitting in the luxurious Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge at the Toronto Airport sipping on a pint of free Guinness. They almost didn't let us in because even though we have gold status, we don't have the right cards to prove it. Plus, we look like a bunch of riff-raff. Today the band is traveling from Paris to Malibu. We flew from Paris to London, got our bags, went through customs, re-checked in, flew to Toronto, got our bags, went through customs, have a 4 hour layover here, then we fly to Los Angeles, get our bags, go through customs, and drive another hour or so to Malibu. Over 24 hours of travel time. Oh yeah, then tomorrow is my birthday! Woo-hoo!

Hauntingly Beautiful

2008-05-07T07:51:00.000-07:00

Gamelan music from Bali. I can't stop playing this video, it really amazes me how good this is. Perfectly describes the mood I'm in right now.

This week

2008-05-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

We are in Toronto right now shooting a TV commercial for Kohl's. Then tomorrow the nice people from Gibson guitar here are taking us to a Blue Jays game, and I think we get to do the "LET'S PLAY BALL" announcement. WOO HOO! After that we fly to paris for some promo stuff, and then to england for the give it a name festival. Then it's back to Malibu to continue recording.

New Toy!!!

2008-04-28T20:23:00.001-07:00

I just bought this crazy fucking thing. It's insane. It's a Piaggio MP3 400, from the future! Holy damn!

Been busy... Or lazy.

2008-04-28T03:27:00.000-07:00

Haven't blogged about anything for a while... I've either been really busy, really lazy, or a combination of the two. I almost typed "combonation" there... Damn it. Where the hell do words like "combo" or "ammo" come from? Makes no sense. Anyway, The band's moved into a house in Malibu for the time being to record our new record, which sounds redundant. Maybe I should use the word album instead. Don't know why I'm so obsessed with linguistics tonight... Ever wonder why "wiln't" never caught on and we use "won't" instead? I guess a long time ago in some places, people used to spell the word will with an "o". Ugh. Anyway, I woll try to post a little more often if I can. Laziness woll be the death of the Internet if some government doesn't kill it first. Seriously.

Delilah Video Rip-off?

2008-04-16T10:38:00.000-07:00

This is actually kind of funny, in a not at all funny kind of way. Mr. Dave Tirio just brought this to my attention. It seems that some Maroon 5 cover band that call themselves "The Last Goodnight" has decided to remake the video for Hey There Delilah for ~~a New Radicals song~~ their own original song Stay Beautiful. Check out the two videos and decide for yourself.

Tone Deaf George

2008-04-13T22:06:00.001-07:00

I used to front a band called Tone Deaf George. Here are some pictures from the good old days.

Dinner in Hawaii

2008-04-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

We all had dinner with these two dudes. They are actors on my favorite TV show. HELL yeah.

Drum Playing Robot

2008-03-30T00:05:00.000-07:00

Over at Lets Make Robots someone has built an incredible drum playing robot that is totally fucking radical. I love this little guy and I want one. It moves around, finds something good it can play on, it will play a beat on it, record it, play it back, and then play along with the beat it just recorded.

Flight of the Bumblebee

2008-03-27T14:42:00.001-07:00

I found this video of a guy playing Flight of the Bumblebee on a button accordion. He is insanely good and probably very popular with the ladies.

Dead Kennedys

2008-03-27T01:35:00.000-07:00

Conspiracy theories are not just for lunatics and fringe members of society any more. That's right, even you can form your own ideas based on facts, evidence, common sense, and a little imagination. Some of the best conspiracy theories out there involve the assassinations of JFK and RFK. Here are a few links to some interesting articles to tickle your paranoia glands.

From Rolling Stone:
The Last Confessions of E. Howard Hunt

He was the ultimate keeper of secrets, lurking in the shadows of American history. He toppled banana republics, planned the Bay of Pigs invasion and led the Watergate break-in. Now he would reveal what he'd always kept hidden: who killed JFK

From The BBC:

CIA role claim in Kennedy killing

New video and photographic evidence that puts three senior CIA operatives at the scene of Robert Kennedy's assassination has been brought to light.

From The Raw Story:
New evidence suggests second shooter killed RFK

Forty years after Democratic rising star Robert F. Kennedy was killed at a Los Angeles hotel during his presidential run, new evidence suggests the man serving a life sentence for his murder did not fire the shots that killed the charismatic senator.

From NBC30.com:
Experts: Sirhan Sirhan Did Not Kill RFK

MASHANTUCKET, Conn. -- New forensics evidence presented Tuesday during a symposium at Foxwoods suggests Sirhan Sirhan did not fire the fatal shots that killed Sen. Robert Kennedy in 1968.

Photo of bricks in mirror taken by me.

Working Hard In The Studio

2008-03-27T01:10:00.000-07:00

One of the more productive moments from the last week.

Plain White T's In The Studio

2008-03-26T20:08:00.000-07:00

Tom doesn't know what he's doing

The Patch Bay

Justin at the board

This is where I've been sleeping

Day one, listening to demos

Beer helps the process

Dave looks on as De'Mar lays down a Phat Beat

Rock and or roll

Tim, Ian, and Slash

We've started pre-production on the next record, and we're in the studio putting songs together and recording demos and stuff and I thought I'd share a few pictures.

Blog Against Theocracy Weekend

2008-03-22T22:42:00.000-07:00

I guess a "blogswarm" is where you try to get as many people as you can to write about a particular subject at once. This weekend is the 2008 "Blog Against Theocracy" blogswarm. In case you haven't figured it out, I'm choosing to participate. To me, the separation of church and state is extremely important. I don't believe in god, but I won't go into that now. That kind of thing is for you to decide, which is exactly my point. There are some that would say our universe was created by a flying spaghetti monster and that most of the world's troubles are due to the declining number of pirates sailing the high seas. While this is a perfectly sound hypothesis in the eyes of some, others might find it to be utterly ridiculous. I certainly think so. But the same might be said about believing that the world was created in 6 days by some bearded guy in the clouds, or believing that Mbombo the white giant vomited out the sun moon and stars, or that the universe was hatched from an egg, or that 75 million years ago people came to earth on a spaceship... While I strongly believe you should be free to believe whatever you want, these types of stories have no place in a science classroom. At the same time, I don't think laws should be based on any kind of religious code. I don't want to be fined for having a beer on Sunday (or prevented from buying one) because someone's holy book says I shouldn't. Officials should not be elected to or denied office based on their faith or lack of it. Anyway, I guess that's the end of my rant. If you disagree or want to yell at me or something, do it in the comments. For more information about the "Blog Against Theocracy Weekend" go here. For a really funny take on religion and creationism in the classroom, go here.

RIAA Pockets Lawsuit Money

2008-03-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

So just to be clear, the RIAA has been suing people left and right because downloading copyrighted songs illegally really hurts the artists who make the music, right? Well it turns out the actual artists haven't seen any of the money from settlements and are considering suing the RIAA.
You can read about it here, here, and here. 400 million dollars and not a single penny is going to the artists whose copyrights have been infringed? And in the meantime in addition to corporate entities like kazaa, individuals are being sued and forced to pay outrageous sums of money for downloading like in this case.

Greed image used under creative commons license from peretzpup's flickr photostream.

For Your Enjoyment

2008-03-15T06:31:00.000-07:00

As you may well know, I like music and I like video games. Got bored last night and threw this together. It's me playing the opening theme from the Nintendo game Dragon Warrior. I was just messin' around, so sorry if it's sloppy. Also, I couldn't think of a good way to put an mp3 up here, so I made a video montage of shots from the game. Enjoy!

Huge Advance in Pitch Correction Tech

2008-03-12T08:53:00.000-07:00

You might not care about this unless you spend time making music in a studio, but Melodyne has a new feature in the works that can take the individual tones in a recorded musical chord (!) and pitch correct, time shift, stretch, etc. This is a huge advance in technology. Here is a cool video demonstration.

Mashups are fun!

2008-03-10T23:47:00.000-07:00

Wow. Just wow.

Monkey Does Handstand on Tight Rope-Walking Goat

2008-03-10T22:10:00.001-07:00

8:00 AM - Impromptu Rubik's Cube Dance Party

2008-03-09T06:23:00.001-07:00

Just to clear up any confusion...

2008-03-08T18:14:00.000-08:00

So right now the title of my blog is "I blog, you read." I can see how this would get confused with the world renowned music blog "I Blog Lou Reed". I just want to go ahead and clear this up. I am in no way shape or form connected to Lou Reed or anyone that blogs about him. If you came here by mistake, I'm very sorry.

Photo of Wax Museum Lou Reed by Martin Rodvand used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

Tragedy Strikes!

2008-03-08T17:52:00.000-08:00

It is a sad day indeed, internet friends. The kitchen sink sprung a leak today, and the water seeped down into my room and ruined my new signed copy of "Meet The Laugh Out Loud Cats". The cover came unglued from the spine, and the graphics are flaking off... The last half of the book is all wet and the pages are stuck together and curling up. That is a genuine sad face, my friends. O great harbinger of death, why hast thou forsaken me?!

My First Beer Recommendation of 2008!

2008-03-07T10:08:00.000-08:00

That's right ladies and gents! Here now for your drinking pleasure, I proudly present Hitachino Nest White Ale. With a fruity aroma, full bodied taste, and a FUCKING AWESOME OWL on the label, this is by far one of my favorite frosty beverages. Here is the product website. I was able to find the 720ml(!) bottles at Trader Joe's, and I've seen this little gem at a few cool bars and asian restaurants. You don't have to drink it, or like it... but you can buy me one any time!