1TO10REVIEWS

My Review: 7

“Wolfmother,” by Wolfmother, is sweet. I grew up listening to AC/DC, Black Sabbath, and Iron Maiden. While these guys don’t pursue as much of the satanic rigmarole, they very much live and breath in that genre and style. Listening to these guys makes me feel like when I listen to Ozzy and the boys at their best.  The chorus in “Dimension” (track 3) is Black Sabbath as I live and breath, but it doesn’t feel like a cheap copy - quite the opposite.

This is no wannabe tribute band; Wolfmother has developed their own sound, and they are distinct. Fun riffs and worthwhile song writing beef up the overall presentation. Joker & The Thief is a great track off the album - it’s something of a single and it rolls with a great melody and and strong writing.

White Unicorn is another great track. It starts with a light electric guitar riff, and when the vocals come in it makes you feel a little… well, a little bit epic. And then the whole ensemble joins together and you feel like you want to kick some ass.

Wolfmother is formed of three guys from Australia who wanted to play music, and they’ve turned (almost in spite of themselves) into something of a sensation. There’s a review from Rolling Stone, and their website offers some more links to reviews, as well as photos and schwag. Wolfmother also has the obligatory MySpace page, find that here.

I think these guys are cool. They make cool music, and in a genre that was pioneered in the 60’s and 70’s, but doesn’t have a lot of good, modern adherents. In some ways they remind me of Dave Edmunds and Rockpile; not the style of music (far from it), but rather an ethic and sense of tradition and genre. Their full length self-titled album was released in 2006. I can’t wait for their next album.

A strong 7 for me.

My Review: 2

It is a bunch of crap. Pardon the pun.

Why do men always have to leave the seat down? The fact is, men generally pee standing up. While we have the ability to aim, we rarely have the patience or inclination, so we usually lift the toilet seat. Why is it that women do not raise the seat after they pee as a favor to us, rather than the other way around?

I suppose an argument could be made that in the middle of the night, a sleepy woman with a small bladder is quite likely to not look closely and end up stuck in the toilet. Whereas, the worst we men will do is make a mess by pissing on the seat (or the lid… don’t ask.) However, on the whole, I find the whole thing to be a little too one-sided. I think sometimes, instead of being scolded for leaving the seat up, we should be left alone. And once in a while, a woman should raise the seat after she completes her business in deference to the fact that we might be in a hurry and not want to slow down and lift the seat.

An illustrated drawing to help the women out there who aren’t sure how to lift the seat:

Now, to be perfectly honest, I don’t really mind putting down the seat. I asked my fiancee (I dislike that word, but that’s the situation I’m in) when was the last time I forgot to leave the seat down, and she said she couldn’t remember. I’m good at remembering things like that.

And (sigh) while I don’t think I should have to constantly remember to lower the seat, I have learned where and when to pick my battles. That’s why I’m writing this post instead of causing an argument. But I don’t have to like it. Lowering the seat after you pee gets a 2.

My Review: 7

Mp3tunes is a neat site that exists in a couple of different circles at once. They run with the online storage folks by offering a storage space called the Oboe locker, that lets you store your digital music online. They have a free downloadable piece of software called Oboesync (PC, Mac & Linux) that will help you upload your music to your Oboe locker. These files are then accesible from anywhere with an internet connection, and you can also download your music back to yourself from another machine. For a limited time, free accounts will include an unlimited amount of storage space, with a 10MB limit on individual files. $40 / year will net you a 5oMB limit on individual files, in addition to the unlimited storage. My suspicion is that in the near future only paid accounts will get unlimited storage. Currently only a portion of new signups per day receive an unlimited locker.

They also act as a streaming music service - your online Oboe locker lets you stream your music back to yourself, so anywhere you go that has an internet connection you can access your music. If you have many gigabytes of music, then your best bet is to turn on Oboesync and just let it run all weekend. They’ve created a stable effective uploader, but it still takes a while.

Mp3 tunes is a Michael Robertson company. Robertson was the founder of MP3.com, and is a veteran in the online music space. His other ventures (Beam-It from MP3.com) were “run out of town” by music labels for legal improprieties, but he is still vying to create an online music solution, and MP3tunes does a good job.

Online storage is useful and people like being able to access their music from anywhere. The ability to stream my music back to myself is great (I’m on a borrowed wireless network using my laptop and listening to Johnny Cash streaming back to me from my Oboe locker right now.) Also if I am a mobile user, or someone who turns over machines a lot it is nice to be able to store some music centrally and download it to myself again and again.

I think these guys have created a useful website and an effective piece of software. In theory, people could easily use this to trade and share music by sharing password information, but I don’t think MP3tunes is going out of their way to aid or abet piracy. They are offering an effective tool to backup, stream, and move personal content, and Ithink they’ve done a great job. I rate it a seven of ten, and I’m excited to see them succeed. MP3tunes is based in San Diego, CA - not really sure what their funding situation is like. They have usership in the tens of thousands.

My Review:8

Today I am reviewing a website called Picnik. Picnik is an online photo editing site, and it offers a variety of really useful tools. And it’s free.

Right from the get-go these guys did it right. Without even logging in or signing up you can immediately upload a photo, run a variety of both basic and advanced effects on your photo, and then download the edited picture back to yoursef. The site is all done in Adobe Flash, and it is both fast and responsive.

A whole host of cool features are available, from basic (crop, red-eye, and rotation) to advanced (soften, sepia tone, vignette, rounded edges, etc.) Everything works rapidly and smoothly. Once you finish your edits, you can save a high quality version of your finished photo back to your computer. Here is a picture I started with, and then cropped, turned sepia-toned and whose edges I rounded. The process took me approximately 1 1/2 minutes.

This company has done simple online photo editing right. Many web applications, though interesting or useful, are frustrating because they are slow or inefficient. But Picnik offers a free, useful and effective product. They do offer a registered account, though since they are still in Beta that registration does not yet offer many extra benefits. Look for paid subscription services in the near future (storage and advanced editing features will probably be included.)

Currently it does not store photos online, though a registered user’s most recent picture will persist; additional features like storage may come with paid upgrade accounts in the near future. Picnik does not offer advanced, layered photo editing (like Adobe Photoshop) - nor to my knowledge do any other free web apps currently. Adobe does plan to unveil an online version of Photoshop in the next 6 months or so.

Another great aspect to Picnik is its general connectedness to the world of web 2.0. You can pull images (your own or general content) off of Flickr, edit them, and post them back out to Flickr. Picnik also integrates with Picassa web albums. (Picassa is a Google built downloadable photo application.) Picnik also integrates emailing and printing features for a number of popular sites like Photobucket, ImageShack, Wal-Mart, Costco, Flickr, and others.)

There are a number of players in this space, including:

Fuaxto,

Pxn8,

and Preloadr

to name just a few. Techcrunch has a great article outlining these and other players, including Picnik - find that article here. Thus far however, Picnik offers a significantly better interface, feature set, and overall package. Picnik is based in Seattle, Washington; I’m not sure what they’re funding situation is like at this point. Great 8.

My Review: 6.5

Every once in a while meet someone who says “on a hot day, after exercise, there’s nothing better that a large, cold glass of milk.” Every time I hear that or think about that, I want to vomit. For me, a cold glass of water is the way to go. However, often times a diet coke will work as well. I’m sure the milk drinkers are not only furious at this point, they want to vomit as well. But eff them.

I grew up drinking diet soda. I know that’s not healthy, and cancer from saccharine saturation must be imminent, but diet soda is simply my way of life. So where does diet Coke rank in the list, and more importantly what are the positive and negative attributes that define the beverage?

The major players are obviously diet Coke and diet Pepsi, but numerous other beverages jockey for important t positions in the diet soda market. Diet Dr. Pepper (DDP as we call it) is a great one, and Tab is an oldie but goodie from my early years that has had a recent resurgence. And, thanks to greater awareness about sugar consumption in recent decades, almost every soda available has a diet counterpart.

Diet Coke is certainly one of the most recognizable brands in the space, which is an important factor. There is a mythos and qualitative difference in recognized brands – a feeling that is present when drinking something that millions of other people also drink. Also, there is a consistency and dependability inherent in a stable brand like Diet Coke.

Regarding flavor, Diet Coke is good. (Drinkers of regular soda need not read this at all. Y’all think diet sodas taste gross, and we diet devotees can’t stomach the amount of sugar found in regular soda.) As I was saying Diet Coke is good. I don’t think it’s great, but it is more than palatable, and as mentioned previously it is eminently reliable. And the image of Paris Hilton (see prior entries in this site) drinking a condensation beaded ice-cold can of diet coke takes a diet beverage enthusiast quite a long way.

Bottom line is this: taste is subjective almost to the point of defining the word. I like DDP, but my friend Jeff prefers diet Coke. That’s cool, there’s lots of options out there. But diet Coke has good flavor, solid branding and marketing, and is a safe harbor when in a sea of competing (and sometimes strange) alternatives. I say 6.5 for DC.

My Review: 6

Everybody and their brother writes about Paris Hilton. And the people who don’t write about her either choose to think about her, or are forced to look at images of her. She is incredibly well known. There are even articles written about why she has so many articles written about her. ( Check out this blog post: Why Paris Hilton Is Famous (Or Understanding Value In A Post-Madonna World) - Just look at how many comments there are on this posting - even some in Hebrew.) The woman is larger than life - in my opinion she sort of epitomizes the term. She is trashy, fashionable, famous, wealthy, glamorous, slutty… all the things we (Americans) want, whether we admit it or not.

Well, I met Paris Hilton. She is filming the latest run of “The Simple Life” at an undisclosed (by me) location, and I happened to work and live at said location for many years. So I went to visit my old hood, and there was Paris. She was playing with her dogs, and I, in my most masculine yet endearing tone said: “Is it all right if I say hi to the dogs?” In a sweet, sultry, yet oddly innocent tone of voice she said “sure, that’s fine.”

That was it. The whole conversation.

But it changed my life.

Ok, that’s just a joke, my life is unchanged. But I was impressed by a number of things. Like most Americans, I look at Paris Hilton on the cover of a magazine and I think trashy, lame, dumb, rich, mean, spiteful, arrogant, spoiled, etc. I force myself to be unimpressed. And most of the time I even think she’s not that pretty. Well I’m here to tell you a couple of things.

First, the woman is beautiful. Not pretty, not ok, she is downright beautiful. That is a gorgeous woman. Also, in spite of the image which she intentionally perpetuates, she was generally polite and considerate. I was observing (intently) for over an hour as she interacted with a number of people (production assistants, friends, site staff, Nicole Ritchie, etc.) I’ll grant you this was not exactly an around the clock, good times and bad times biography, but I was impressed.

It could be that I was set up for that reaction, in the same way that if you go into a movie theater just knowing it’s going to suck, then it might turn out to be pretty good. But, I am ready to give her the benefit of the doubt. Before I met Paris, I’d have given her a 2, just because she’s so rich and so lame. But now, having met her in person, had an actual conversation (the manic glee in my mind should hopefully be evident by now), and seen how she treats people in a regular “behind the scenes” setting - well I have to say I think she’s better than her image. She merits a 6 overall, and a 9 plus in the looks department. She is totally gorgeous in person. Sincerely.

Here’s to Paris. El Yay.

My Review: 7

We had a sweet, old-school Landcruiser, an FJ 40 to be exact. It’s was a ‘76, which was a great year for that vehicle. The FJ40 is sweet and very reliable in any incarnation, but in 1976 the 4 cylinder engine also got a little stronger, and got a little more pick and go. We named ours the Sticky Rig, for a variety of reasons that I will not go into here (nothing gross though, I swear.)

I will say this first of all: it is fun. It’s fun to look at, it’s fun to drive, and it’s fun to be seen in. This is a vehicle that gets appreciative looks on the highway, and on the streets of this sunny beach community. (Not Malibu.) My buddies are selling the Sticky Rig, which makes me sad, but it will find a god home I’m sure.

This particular FJ is a sort of sky blue color, and it runs perfectly. We’ve taken it off-road, and the four wheel drive works great. It runs perfect, belches a little smoke if it has been sitting for a week, but it clears right away. The plugs do foul up pretty quick, but it’s always easy to start. You do need to be real comfortable driving a stick because it is an older vehicle, but everything works. And the truth is, you just feel like a bad ass when you’re in it.

The thing has a lot of miles on it, and on the highway you’re good up to about 60-65 MPH - beyond that, you start to feel your teeth rattling. But it’s still worth it.

Now before anyone questions my credibility (hah), I Want to make something clear. I am reviewing the Sticky Rig for two reasons:

1. My buddy is selling it, and I am using my readership (both of them) to help him get the word out.

2. I love the Sticky Rig, and I drove it many times, even took it home with me for a while. I think Toyota’s are sweet, Landcruisers are rad, and FJ40’s kick ass. So I also want to review it because it merits review.

Now, if you want to know more about the Sticky Rig (or even want to own a sweet 1976 FJ 40, feel free to check out some of the pics below. The Craigslist posting (if you ant to own an FJ 40) is below as well. My personal feelings: the ‘76 FJ 40 rates an 7 on kick ass style and ass-kicking function.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/car/306186943.html

My review: 7 (largely for chutzpah)

My friend Amir passed this onto me. I am not big on writing letters, but these guys can feel free to pass this blog on Hugh Hefner as an endorsement from me. I think this is a neat idea.

So here’s the gist: three guys (the Swede, Sam Rush, and Denman) are trying to get hired as pool boys at the Playboy mansion. Their methods and reasoning are based on a grass roots campaign of endorsement/recommendation letters, combined with an excellent sense of humor and cheek, as well as a variety of errands and gifts to soften up the boss. I’m actually kind of into this idea. Certainly the PR possibilities are powerful, and this screams reality TV.

Whats fun too is that this it totally the kind of idea that three intelligent friends in college (or who meet traveling in South America) would come up with while high. I mean, there is a twisted genius to this concept.

However, brilliant ideas are easy to come by, and truthfully that’s not what impresses me. Rather, the execution and effort they are putting into this plan shows real initiative and brains. Their site is well designed and informative. They are harnessing the power of the internet, the blog-o-sphere and the infamy of Playboy’s brand and directing it at a dream they want to realize. That stokes me. They chose a ridiculous, awesome goal and said “this can happen, when and if we MAKE it happen.” Well, cool on them. Hef, for what it’s worth, I think these guys deserve a chance. Let’s see what they can do.

I give it a 7 - go get ‘em.

http://blog.poolboysatthemansion.com/

My Review: 10, 10, 10

What’s not to like? A guy who goes by Jennings, in Boston, posts to a blog / FTP site that allows you to download unbelievably great live music, from indie to world famous artists, for free because that’s what he’s into. I think this is so cool, and this is what the best of the web is all about. Right now I’m listening to a great R.E.M. show recorded in July of 1983 in Toronto. He’s got a great Jayhawks show recorded in Sweden up right now, as well as lots of other cool stuff.

rbally (www.rbally.net) was up and serving music and for a long time (couple of years I think), but the site shut down a couple of months ago. At the time my understanding was that copyright infringement and other issues shut it down; Jennings seems to indicate that there was a data loss and some other issues… Whatever, I’m stoked that he’s back up, and I’m grateful for the insight he shares and the music he offers. Check it out when you have a moment. If you are a music lover, you cannot help but enjoy this site.

Levon says: 10, yo.

My review: 9+

The newest album by the Kings of Leon kicks ass.

It’s called “Because Of The Times” and it’s awesome. The whole album is full of catchy melodies and tunes, yet it rocks out hard. They introduced a lot of effects, reverb and dubs, but the album doesn’t sound overproduced. It sounds strong. I was a huge of fan of their break out album, “Youth And Young Manhood.” Their next full studio album, “Aha Shake Heartbreak” was not a real strong follow up. It had some good tunes, but it wasn’t as solid as their first. “Because Of The Times” though, manages to bring in some of the magic that made Youth so good, while still demonstrating new talents, new production, and new instrumentation.

The album starts strong with a seven minute ass-kicker called “Knocked.” It melts back and forth from quiet and slow to driving and engaged, and then settles back again. The song writing, lyricism and vocalization are all great.

There are kick ass tempos and driving rhythms in this album; the song “On Call” demonstrates this well. “True Love Way” also uses a cool, strong back beat as well as some really cool background vocals. I really felt like this was an ensemble effort, with many good parts coming from all directions.

“Black Thumbnail” was another highlight using lots of tempo changes and really cool instrumentation. Listen to the first half minute and then let it explode over you. Fun choruses and really fun song. “Ragoo” is another great one. Even if you’re not paying attention this one sucks you back in; that melody is awesome and it will stick in my head for 100 hours.
You can listen to this album while driving and space out to some cool music, and you can also focus in and rock on every part of this album. Whether it’s in the background, the foreground, or anywhere in between you can listen to this again and again. It’s pretty rare to get such a consistent, strong album , and no one is more stoked than I.

You can pick up “Because Of The Times” at any major etailer or retailer. I’ll link to Amazon just because Amazon is all right. Also a link to a good article from Rolling Stone. And a link to their website. Hooray for KOL, thanks for kicking ass again. My feelings: a 9+

http://www.amazon.com/Because-Times-Kings-Leon/dp/B000MRA3NU

http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/13885771/review/13891139/because_of_the_times

www.kingsofleon.com/home

Some pics

Listen to track 10 (”Fans”) like 6 times in a row. It’s rad.