It's been a long, long time since I updated this. Life's changed a lot - I'm happily married to my lovely wife Esther and things couldn't be better. This site serves as a time capsule of sorts as it's fun to look at but far from where I'm at today. So here's to 2015.

Music Sharing

So as somebody who really enjoys listening to a large, diverse amount of music I'm always looking for new tunes to listen to. One of the things I miss about having moved away from most of my friends (growing up is a bitch, right?) is the suggestions we'd used to make to each other. You know, simple "hey, did you hear that song?" or "you've got to check this album out". One thing I've never really been able to find is a decent way to share recommendations and music with friends, but I think I've finally found a decent system. So the purpose of this note is to share the ways I like to discover new music, how I like to share my music, and a few other random things. This might be a long post, so bear with me (or just tune out).

First off, how I find new tunes - The Discovery Process:

Last.FM
Last.fm is best described as a social website, much like facebook, digg, or twitter, but its main purpose is the sharing and discovery of music. So once you sign up for a free account, one of the first things that Last.FM asks you to do is to upload your iTunes library (if you're an iTunes user on Windows/OSX) or other music library. What it does then is take your 'Played Tracks' info and builds a profile based on what you've listened to. For example, mine is here: cataphoresis at last.fm

Now that your information has been all compiled and thrown together, last.fm creates a few custom radio stations based on what you've listened to - a radio station based on your library. You then have the option to install the last.fm client, which sits in the background of your favorite music player (iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp, etc) and submits what you listen to so that it can further add to your custom station. In addition, you can indicate that you "Love" certain tracks, which further tailors your music.

Now once you've formed this music profile, you can add your friends - and they get the benefit of being able to listen to your custom stations and you can listen to theirs as well. You can see what your buddies are listening to, comment on tracks, recommend tracks to others (I'd like to take the time to recommend In Vein by Alkaline Trio) which they can often listen to in the flash player built into the website. The recommendations are a great feature.

If you don't feel like listening to a station based off your profile's music, other stations include 'My Recommendations' which offers tracks that you might like based on your past listening history, 'My Neighbors' which offers tracks that people with similar profiles to you have listened to, and you can always enter an Artist or Song title and get a radio station based off similar artists/songs. Admittedly, this last option is much better when left to Pandora, which I'll talk about next.

Another one of the reasons that I love the site is that I'm a statistics junkie - I love seeing charts of what I listen to. I know it's nerdy, but it's neat for me to be able to see from week-to-week what I listened to much. So if that's something that interests you too (you nerd) then this is a great site for you.

So go make a profile there, and add me.

Pandora
Pandora is probably the best-known of the internet radio stations. Using Pandora is simple - you type in the name of a song you like or an artist and up pops up a station based on that information. For the most part, the stations do a pretty good job - you can skip bad songs (but not too many skips) and if you create a profile at the website, you can save the better stations to your profile and listen to them again later. Oh, and of course it's free.

Metacritic Music Reviews
There's no shortage of people willing to offer their opinion about anything online and music is no exception. Instead of going to 20 different music review websites just to find consensus about a new album, you can go to Metacritic which is an aggregator of various review sites (they do music as well as movies, games, and TV). So I periodically look at the reviews, look for the ones that score well across the board, and listen to a few of them (last.fm is great for this). Now sometimes the critics love what I absolutely can't stand, sometimes they hate stuff that I love. I just like to use it as a way to keep up with new releases and some new stuff that might've slipped right by me. Neat site.


Okay, now that I've found the music, how do I share it?

First off, I've mentioned last.fm. So what else?

I've toyed around with different ways to share my music library over the internet for years. Shoutcast streaming internet music stations were neat but didn't offer the user any control. So they got nixed. I also tried a variety of iTunes sharing programs (such as Mojo) but most of them had their flaws. Finally I found a pretty good one.

Simplify Media
Simplify Media is a free application for Windows, Mac, and Linux that allow you to share you music libraries with other registered users over the internet. Being a Mac user, I primarily use iTunes, but have no trouble sharing music with friends using Windows Media Player in Vista. You sign up for a free account, let it index your music library, and once it's finished you can add your friends in the application and share your tunes and play theirs. Great stuff. Another plus is that if you have an iPod Touch or an iPhone, you can connect to your computer's music library when you're away from home. Cool stuff. So if you give it a shot, add me.

I much prefer this method versus just sending albums over AOL Instant Messenger. Far less illegal, and plus it saves on disk space.

Hope some of this was interesting - if not, then I congratulate myself for having stolen a few minutes of your life that you're never getting back. Hooray for me!

This thing is a neat idea but damned expensive: http://ping.fm/MLN3o

Giving Finetune a chance

This is a "mix" I threw together on Finetune. Apparently you can't set the order (lame!) but you can pick the songs. So enjoy, I suppose - though if you don't like punk or rock, you're gonna hate it.

[EDIT]



One for the rap fans out there.

Explaining my Fandom or, "Why do you root for them?"

I've been asked enough times why I pull for certain teams in certain sports that I felt a need to put some words down to try and explain why my fandom is all over the board. The first thing you need to know is that I grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, a place devoid of professional sports. The closest team to us in my childhood was either the Atlanta Braves or the Orlando Magic, only to be replaced by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the early 90s. So growing up in such a place and not say, Chicago or New York, I wasn't immediately drawn to follow the local team. The only 'local team' we had was Florida State, which I was an avid fan of for my first 18 years.

So here's the breakdown, by sport. I'll try to list my favorite team as well as any teams I might also pull for sometimes:

College Sports: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Why: Simple enough - I went there from 1999-2003 and am a proud alum.
How I'd describe being a GT fan: A constant roller-coaster of excitement and disappointment - teams show quite a bit of promise but almost always finish middle-of-the-line in the ACC in both football and basketball. Sure, we're good for one outrageous win a year, but that's always coupled with 2-3 absolutely terrible freaking losses (Duke in football, FSU basketball, etc) every single season.
Best moment(s): 2004 NCAA Basketball tournament runners-up. It was an incredible, nerve-wracking run to the finals that all started with a shocking Preseason NIT blowout of then #1 Connecticut. Too bad UConn got their revenge.


2nd Favorite: Florida State Seminoles
Why: I grew up in the shadow of the university and was thus a die-hard fan until matriculating at GT. Oh, and I also got a bachelor's degree from the school in 2007, so I'm also a proud alum there too.
How I'd describe being an FSU fan: Spoiled until recently. If FSU loses 2 games in football, it's a wash of a season. Thankfully, they've usually been mediocre in basketball, so whenever they're not people have a reason to get excited - but to be honest, I never feel a need to root for FSU basketball, only football, baseball, and women's soccer.
Best moment(s): Winning the Orange Bowl in 1993 for the school's 1st national title and being a traveling tutor for the 2007 FSU Women's soccer team.


NFL: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Why: I liked Vinny Testaverde growing up, but I didn't consider myself an avid Bucs fan until the team dramatically retooled in the early 90s and started drafting FSU/UF/Miami superstars like Derrick Brooks, Warren Sapp, etc. Growing up in Florida you were pretty much either a Bucs fan or a Dolphins fan, and for some reason Tallahassee is Bucs territory.
How I'd describe being a Bucs fan: Pretty good, honestly. The 2003 Super Bowl was freaking incredible, and while I was really sad to see Tony Dungy go (I can't stand Jon Gruden) I loved what he did with the staggering defenses. I miss those teams.
Best moment: The one-sided ass-beating that was the Super Bowl over the over-hyped Raiders back in 2003.

2nd Favorite: New York Jets
Why: Again, blame Vinny. I loved the early 2000s teams with Keyshawn, etc. I wouldn't exactly call myself a true Jets fan, I just pull for them in passing.
How I'd describe being a Jets fan: They're such a distant 2nd in my book, I don't really know. I guess "infuriating" would be appropriate for a true Jets fan.
Best moment: Curtis Martin's career. I loved that guy.


MLB: Boston Red Sox
Why: I never could get into the Atlanta Braves (the nearest team growing up) even though I was a huge baseball fan. Watching a young Rocket (before he was a dirty cheater) was great, but I didn't really become a hardcore Chowder Head until 1997 or 1998, late in high school. I got really damned tired of the Yankees and their obnoxious fans, and somehow I just decided that it was time to really get behind the Sox. I got my first (annual) Red Sox hat, and it was history from there.
How I'd describe being a Red Sox fan: Before 2004 it was that same terrible lament that the Sox were known for - the perennial runners-up, the suffering fan. Since then they've been arguably the best team in baseball and while it's incredible to see my team play so well and be so successful, the bandwagon fans have gotten just as bad as the bandwagon Yankee fans were in the 90s.
Best moment(s): Dave Roberts' stolen base in Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS and a July 2001 Red Sox v. Atlanta Braves game at Turner Field. The stolen base led the way to the epic turnaround and eventual drought-ending World Series win and helped validate years of fandom. The game in mention was just a regular season interleague game, but things turned amazing. The Braves were up 2 in the 7th or 8th when rain hit and caused a delay. Most Braves fans went home, leaving a decidedly pro-Red Sox crowd in the stands when the game resumed. A cheer of "LET'S GO RED SOX" could clearly be heard in the stadium and the Sox rallied, forced extras, and put up 10 runs in the top of the 10th to crush the hometown Braves.

2nd Favorite: Tampa Bay Rays
Why: While it may seem like a big no-no to like another team in the same division, I moved to the Tampa Bay area in 2007 and something clicked. I listened to their games on the AM Sports Radio station here, and liked what I heard and saw out of the team. Oh, and any team willing to give the Yankees as much hell as the Sox do are okay in my book.
What it's like to be a Rays fan: Rare. There's not too many out there, even here in Tampa Bay.
Best moment: The 2008 spring training brawl with the Yankees. It set the tone for what's been an incredible season so far.

NHL: Atlanta Thrashers
Why: Going to college in Atlanta, I'd go to Thrashers games pretty frequently with my friends. I didn't really identify a whole lot with any NHL team (I was a very 'mild' San Jose Sharks fan, see below) but the more I kept going to games, the more I found myself loving the team.
What it's like to be a Thrashers fan: Annoying and lonely. The team has had years with a lot of great promise, and then just completely suck it up the next year. The management just seems to let good players go, to make mediocre trades (can we get a freaking goalie?!), and sits there and lets Ilya's great years go wasting away.
Best moment: Winning the Southeast division last year.

2nd Favorite: San Jose Sharks
Why: I randomly got a Sharks hat back when the team entered the league and since I didn't have any interest in the NHL previously, I started rooting for them. Of course I grew up in the land of football and baseball, so I really didn't follow the Sharks too closely. But I still have some sort of fondness for them.
What it's like to be a Sharks fan: Lately it's been good, they've put together some really solid teams.
Best moment: Knocking #1 Detroit out of the playoffs as a #8 seed.



NBA: Boston Celtics
Why: Larry Bird. I loved something about his lanky, precision shooting ways. I always admired other teams of the age - Magic's Lakers, Jordan's Bulls, Isiah's Pistons - but when it came down to it I'd always find myself pulling for the Celts. I grew a distaste for pro basketball in the post-Jordan era (never was big on the Kobe/Shaq years) but found myself intensely following the 2008 Celtics team from the get-go. It may seem like fairweather-ism, but there's nothing wrong in my book with a good team reigniting an old interest.
What it's like to be a Celtics fan: As of about 3 hours ago, incredible. Getting Garnett just seemed like the beginning of something great, and here's to hoping we rack up some more Larry O'Brien trophies.
Best moment: Either the 2008 team's steamrolling of the Lakers in game 6 (way to show up, Kobe) or the 1992 Dream Team. While yes, I know that wasn't a 'Celtics' moment, it was hands-down my favorite pro basketball moment.

2nd Favorite: Phoenix Suns
Why: Blame Charles Barkley. I love that guy. When he went to Phoenix I started pulling for them, loving the Thunder Dan and KJ years. The recent fun-and-gun years have been really enjoyable to watch, even though I still can't understand the whole Shaq trade.
What it's like to be a Suns fan: Frustrating. The team has talent, but can't get over the hump.
Best moment: The Barkley trade. I mean, how can you not love Chuck?

So there you have it. I don't really follow too many other pro sports leagues (MLS, Euro soccer, etc) though I do say I'll pull for Tony Stewart in NASCAR, and for the following teams (in order) in international soccer play: USA, England, and the Netherlands.

The 2008 Crapshoot Special

It's March, so it's time for my random terrible guesses at NCAA Basketball tournaments. First up, this week's ACC tourney:
My 2008 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament Bracket [click to enlarge]

Finding my Place in the Diary of Jane

Good lord it's been a while since I wrote here, but the amount of work I've had to do and the amount of free time I (haven't) had reflects the volume of posts here. Free time usually has to be scheduled these days, as appalling as that sounds.

Last night I did just that, roped Tiffany in, and headed up to Tampa to see a concert for a bunch of bands that admittedly aren't normal fixtures in my musical rotation - Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, Seether, and Hurt. The latter two opened the night - a night where rain threatened all night but thankfully never came - and they both did a pretty good job. Some of the usuals for a rock show were there: the sea of young whites wearing black and/or denim, the occasional group of burnouts with their hippie lettuce, obnoxious drunken idiots, overly short skirts, and a few girls who haven't quite mastered the whole cleavage thing. But with my $8 beer in hand and a cute girl by my side (the four bands are four of her favorites) I knew I was gonna have a great time.

Breaking Benjamin did not disappoint - music is always better live and they put on one hell of a show. Three Days Grace lived up to the hype too, and any band that does an acoustic cover of Alice in Chains' "Rooster" gets points in my book. That song, by the way, helped me remeber how old I am - Tiff (22) hadn't even heard that song at all. I feel old now.

This coming Saturday, Ashley and I are heading to St. Pete to see Flogging Molly and I can't freaking wait. It's been way too long since my last punk show.

The best way to keep up with me these days is just to follow my pictures over at flickr. That or, you know, directly contacting me.

/mj out