My favorite mix to walk/jog to is 2 Many DJs' "Essential Mix 2005". You can find more information about it here ...
http://2manydjs.free.fr/articles.php?lng=en&pg=70
A really cool song comes on during what I call the "second hour" of the mix. It is a remix of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's "Mars Arizona" by DFA.
Here is the short Essential Mix 2005 version of the remix (with a weird, distorted photo of my bathroom sink that I thought looked cool) ...
Here is a long version of the remix ...
In other news the only movie I saw in the last several months won the Best Picture Oscar so that is cool. I really thought "No Country For Old Men" was a cool movie, but I will always hate the ending, even if it was faithful to Cormac McCarthy's novel.
During the Oscars I repeatedly saw a commercial for HEB Plus with Eva Longoria Parker from "Desperate Housewives". This makes sense since Eva has a house in San Antonio, and HEB is based in San Antonio, but it is still funny that someone with such a high profile is doing a commercial for a grocery store chain. I guess it is a rather large grocery store chain, though, so they must have had lots of money to pay her. HEB is the best grocery store I have ever gone to simply because I can get in and out of it with no hassle. The employees seem a lot happier, too, than they do at Wal-Mart or Target. I hate Wal-Mart with a passion!
Anyway, here is the commercial ...
Rosetta@home has been around for a long time. It's a project that seeks to combine the computing power of millions of computer across the world to help find cures for many diseases. I have a team called M.I.A. on there, and want people to join it so I can boost my team's credits. I know, this is extremely nerdy. Anyway, if you want to join it, you can go here, and click on "Join this team", but I am pretty sure you have to register with rosetta@home before this option will even come up.
I can't believe I am going to post about an Ashlee Simpson song, but I guess it has come to that. "Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)" (or whatever the correct title is) is a really cool song. It kind of makes me think of 80s songs like Madonna's "Burning Up". I don't even mind the video, even though it seems like it is copying Gwen Stefani's "What You Waiting For" Alice in Wonderland-themed video.
Good for Ashlee Simpson for putting a song out there that is a little different from her other stuff.
I just saw this video on the Austin music channel (ME), and I thought it was really cool and trippy. The song reminded me of Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love". I saw that the song was by Of Montreal, who did a cover of M.I.A.'s "Jimmy", and that made it all the cooler.
Here is Of Montreal's "Gronlandic Edit" video on YouTube ...
Tori Amos will always be my favorite singer/musician/songwriter/artist (or whatever you want to call her). Her music has carried me through less-than-pleasant times in my life. Today I was really tired because I stayed up too late last night working on a short presentation for my job, and I got up really early this morning to finish it. Therefore, I am totally drained right now. It's funny how I will wake up tomorrow and be rejuvenated just because of 8 measly hours of sleep. I love the process of sleep and its effects.
Anyway, I had a few Tori songs in my head that I have not posted here before, and here they are ...
Tori Amos - Hurt/Caught A Lite Sneeze (in concert)
The "Hurt" part that Tori sings right before "Caught A Lite Sneeze" is based on the song, "Hurt", by Nine Inch Nails.
Tori Amos - Famous Blue Raincoat (cover)
"Famous Blue Raincoat" is a Leonard Cohen song.
Tori Amos - Ain't No Sunshine (cover)
"Ain't No Sunshine" was originally done by Bill Withers in 1971.
Thanks to the M.I.A. Fans message board for these. One is by DJ Eli, and one is by DFA.
M.I.A. - Bamboo Babger (DJ Eli Remix) ... meh!
M.I.A. - Paper Planes (DFA Remix) ... yay!
I always hear about Twitter, but I have never looked into it. I think it is kind of like MySpace with an even shorter attention span. Anyway, I am on Twitter now as xanadistic if anyone wants to add me or whatever happens with Twitter. I am not sure, yet.
Later,
Mark
I am usually pretty apolitical, but there's something about Barack Obama that I really like. I decided to create a fund raising page using tools from MyBarackObama.com. If you like Barack, too, and you feel like donating some money to his campaign, head on over to my page at http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/markinaustin.
Here is a video where singers/celebrities sing along to one of Barack's speeches ...
Here's a battle scene from the English version of Lost Odyssey that will be available to purchase in one week, I think. This scene makes it look even more like a Final Fantasy game, and it looks like you can really do a lot of different stuff during battles so that will be cool. I got this video form Gametrailers.com.
Lost Odyssey Battle Scene
I go walking with a co-worker/friend of mine after work sometimes, and it can get really dark in some of the areas of the neighborhood we walk through. I always start bringing up horror movies when we are walking because my active imagination makes me think a crazed killer is about to jump out of the bushes.
Anyway, here are some horror movies discussed during a recent walk ...
I think I have actually seen this movie, but I am not sure. There is something about it that seems so familiar. It looks pretty cheesy and great at the same time. My friend told me about this movie.
I remember watching this movie when I was pretty young. The gas mask (is that what you call it?) that the killer wears is pretty creepy. I remember this movie actually being OK.
Fright Night (1985)
Most people have seen "Fright Night" (if you haven't, then you cannot consider yourself a true horror fan ... or at least a true cheesy horror fan), but my walking friend had not seen it so I had to explain to her the pop culture significance of this movie. Amanda Bearse played Marcy D'Arcy, the annoying neighbor on "Married With Children". She plays a "teenager" in "Fright Night" who is seduced by Chris Sarandon (who was married to Susan Sarandon in the 70s), the head vampire. The great part of this movie is the transformation of Amanda Bearse from a geeky high school girl into a sexy "half-vampire" with a huge set of teeth. I didn't find a clip of the scene, but it's very funny to see how large her mouth has grown at the end of the movie.
In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
John Carpenter, who directed tons of great movies like Halloween, did this movie, starring Sam Neil. I have not seen the movie, but my friend told me there is some scene where a couple keeps passing a boy on a bike with a playing card or something like that. She brought it up because while we were walking, we kept seeing the same guy pop up ahead of us ... as if out of nowhere.
Grandma's House
Another friend of mine told me about "Grandma's House" a long time ago. I have never heard of it from anyone or anywhere else so I did a Google search on it and found it on IMDB.com, too. There was a not a YouTube video of the trailer, but there was a trailer at this videodetective.com site. It doesn't look that scary, but I feel like it would be scary to watch as a little kid maybe like my friend had.
Halloween II (1981)
Halloween is probably one of the best known horror movies. It was even featured in the movie, "Scream", which was like a class on horror movies. However, it is amazing how many people haven't seen Halloween because they are scared to watch horror movies. It's also surprising how many people have only seen part one and not part two of Halloween. Part two finishes off the night that part one began. What's funny about the movie is that it is a direct continuation of the last scene in part one, yet it was filmed a couple of years later.
Anyway, I am always surprised that people are too scared to watch horror movies. I just look at horror movies as adrenaline rushes like roller coasters. I am not talking about the gore fest horror movies that are out there ... I am talking about the person being chased by a killer movies ... where the victim actually has a good chance of getting away, but they usually do something stupid. I think people should watch horror movies purely for the cathartic aspect of the movie.
