Two interesting articles:"More song swappers sued," and "Millions pay for music downloads."

It just so happens that I've been checking out the online music stores again, and some are looking a little better. The main service which I hadn't visited yet is Napster. Perhaps it's not as unappealing as I had thought.

With a current online catalog of 500,000 songs (and other services have yet to reach that mark), the selection looks ok. It's a shame the current standard for song pricing seems to be at 99 cents. Too expensive. People want to go in and buy tons of music.

But I do have a real compliment for Napster. Their user interface is very interesting. It's simple, inviting and straightforward. Congrats to the little pointy-eared Napster creature. Even if he did sellout big time.

Check out the "Indie" segment. But he's still a sellout.

And there's this killer mp3 player.

OHEV Records tags The Rocking Horse Winner as "Emo/Indie," which makes me a bit upset. No, I'm not disputing the band's classification. It's just that "Emo" is probably the ugliest rock-related term I've ever heard. I wouldn't want to be called Emo. I'd be insulted.

The Rocking Horse Winner proves that the curse of Emo is not strong enough to corrupt good music. I just discovered them last week.

Their first album, State of Feeling Concentration, can border on easy listening. Front-girl Jolie Lindholm's soft vocals, whose energy sometimes reminds me of the New Pornographers' Neko Case, complement the occasional indie grit. If you're open minded to indie pop that's rough around the edges, go listen to Tomorrow and Sleep Well, two of their best songs.

Horizon, their second release, is pretty good as well, partially because several songs from their first album are also included. Unfortunately, Horizon is a bit too predictable, repetitive. Not nearly as fresh as State of Feeling Concentration.

Boing Boing posted a nice link to a new Air video. Hmmm. This one is uncensored. Hmmm.

It wasn't an easy decision, but I've decided cholly.com is getting a new home. Bloghosts eventually got back to my emails and so I've set the process in motion. Yes, that means there will probably be some downtime.

Detroit certainly has some sort of vibe going on. I visited very briefly last year and there was this nice agressive, underground feel to it. Too bad the city itself wasn't very memorable, even unnatractive. Hey, must be why so many local rock stars are so angry...

My two-day beach vacation was awesome. Breezy, almost cold weather! And no rain as a result. On the downside, there were some gray skies, but hey, that's the price you pay for sane temperatures during South American summers.

And I see Lawrence has been very active around here. He'd better watch out...

I went shopping in Tramandai (Lawrence's port of arrival) for more wristpads from his little Chinese village, but it seems they're sold out, with little chance of restocking.

After getting back and looking over the Bloggie nominations, I came upon this cool hosting service. I currently host with Braslink, which is way cool. But for (much) less $$ I can get very similar features. Ok, I can get better features. What should I do?!

Congrats on your graduation Chico!

Coming soon: Troy, Garfield and Riddick.

Scary stuff at Peter Gabriel's Real World studios.

I've decided to name the best Porto Alegre had to offer during the year of 2003. These establishments (mostly restaurants: I like eating) will see an increase in wristpad customers over the coming weeks. Plus I offer some free, professional rocket-science advice. 1: Best Restaurant: Baalbek Yes, it's no surprise that Baalbek offers the coolest middle-eastern dining on the planet. It's all-you-can-eat, not extremely expensive and, if you can live with the grumpy waiters, the service is ok. Most importantly though: the food is amazing. Some Advice: Ask your customers what they don't eat and save yourselves the trouble of carrying a zillion plates to their table. Second place is a tie between You Yi, the Chinese place on Candido Silveira, and the tried-and-true Barranco. 2: Best Movie Theater: Unibanco Arteplex Not that I can notice an amazing difference from the Ipiranga Cinemark, which was the runner-up. But I guess the Arteplex looks better. Some Advice: You need butter on your popcorn. It's a movie theater, not a circus. 3: Best Ice Cream Parlor: La Basque Who buys Haagen Daz in this country? Not me. I head down to La Basque and it's equally marvelous. In fact, it tastes better because of the price. Some Advice: Add Chocolate Marshmallow to the lineup and you're almost Baskin Robbins. 4: Best Pizza: ArtePizza ArtePizza is the undisputed champion here in town. Nothing comes close. Some Advice: No rocket science can make this pizza better. 5: Best Night Spot: Mercatto D’Arte Very wristpad friendly. Cholly's fave is Ossip. Some Advice: High chairs for short wristpads. 6: Best Café: Tortaria The new chocolate-chip cheesecake is very nice. They have a great selection, better seating and cool service. Some Advice: Post a "No Lilliput Crowd" sign outside. 7: Best Movie: The Lord of the Rings - Return of The King. It's really good. But I prefer Lost In Translation. But don't tell the Academy, or they may not give PJ his statue: this may be his last chance! Some Advice: Who am I to second guess PJ? Hmmm. Lose the last four endings and the film'll be fine.

"FORECAST WIND CHILLS
For Thursday night:
Caribou, Maine: -60°
Portland, Maine: -40°
Boston, Massachusetts: -40°
New York City: -20°
Source: CNN Weather Dept."

Temperatures are in Fahrenheit. Some people are so lucky.

Just spent a few minutes looking through these interesting images.

And would you believe in loyalty day?

I can't believe it...

Digidesign is getting an Oscar for it's Pro Tools system. I'm wondering if they paid for the statue.

First, the app's nothing new. It's been around for over ten years. Second, it's not exactly an ingenious product. It's good at doing the basics in recording and mixing, but it's limited in that you have to use their a)unimaginative or b)overpriced hardware. Digidesign's only really cool product is the Digi 002.

Anyway, winamp has been feeding me with a few cool tunes from the likes of:

The Libertines' Up The Bracket has been out for many months. It's guitar-rock with attitude, like alot of the music I've been turned on to. Listening through their entire album can get tiresome, yet the live-sounding aspect of the record is nice. Still, the music ends up sounding, well... a little repetitive.

Kings of Leon is more to my taste, if only because I can make out the harmonies a bit better. "California Waiting" is a good example of how different they are from th Libs... when Kings of Leon slow down they still sound intense, and they sound like they're sober.

Jet follows with their tight production, nasty guitars and catchy songs.

For a little more fun, there's Franz Ferdinand, with Dart's of Pleasure heading full-speed toward the 80's.

This Digidesign/Academy Award business is starting to feel like a bad omen. I fear for Peter Jackson. posted by lawrence at 01:56 PM

The heat is unbearable. For days I've been seeing forecasts for heavy rain showers... WHERE'S THE RAIN?

I - n e e d - s n o w.

Hey, don't look at me: I fit in the fridge. Anyway, it seems this cool geek-gathering had people talking about BT, my favorite internet service. And their solution to spam looks interesting. posted by lawrence at 01:23 AM

Yesterday was pool day. This is Charlotte, our host.