Open the Box!

I just wanted to put in a plug for Pandora.com and the Music Genome Project. It's a a web site that asks you for one of your favorite songs and then tries to match you up with some other songs and artists that you might like based on something like 400 traits of the music you specified. I've already found three new albums I'm going to purchase! Thank god music theory majors are now being employed somewhere other than TGI Fridays...

Justice, Texas Style

I've got nothing interesting in my life to write about, so I thought I would drop in my favorite article from the Post today...

President Says DeLay Is Not Guilty of Money Laundering
(By Jim VandeHei)
President Bush said yesterday he is confident that former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) is innocent of money-laundering charges, as he offered strong support for several top Republicans who have been battered by investigations or by rumors of fading clout inside the White House.


Hell, we don't even really need the jury now! Thanks, W. You're doing a heck of a job.

Marty's Album Of The Month, December 2005

You may have noticed that the Major hasn't posted any Albums of the Month for quite some time. Really, my only excuse is that I haven't found much music to insipre me to elevate any albums to this status for quite some time (I believe Royksopp's The Understanding was the last to receive this honor in July).

I was recently turned on to Imogen Heap while cruising in my automobile with XM's UPop station cranked high. At first, I asked myself if Frou Frou had put out another album because the haunting voice sounded just like the one I heard on Details. As it turns out, Imogen Heap is a British chick with a funky name...an amazingly talented British chick. She's been around for a while, and in 2002 because the other half of Frou Frou, the band most people discovered after they heard them on the Garden State sountrack (our local indy station in Oxford, OH was a bit more progressive than most in playing them in 2002). She's recently put out her new solo album, Speak For Yourself - which is my pick for Album of the Month.

So, why should you listen to Imogen Heap's Speak For Yourself? Because it does...speak for itself. The weaving of electronic melodies and her voice sends a chill down the back of my neck - and that is the best measure for me of whether or not an album makes it to the "Album Of The Month". A friend once advised me that the best way to listen to an album for the first time was to lay in your bed, turn off the lights, and listen to the album all the way through, in order, without stopping. Everyone should do that at least once with Speak For Yourself. It has a tendancy to make you reflective, even if you have no reason to be. And if you only have time for one track, I'd recommend "Hide And Seek"...even though it's criminal not to listen to the whole thing.

What The Hell Is In Egg Nog, Anyway?

Well, what can I say…it’s been a busy few weeks since I last submitted an entry here. It seems that every year, as soon as Thanksgiving hits, normality in my life gets tossed to the curb, and for the next month I have to worry about holiday parties (which ones do I attend, which ones do I avoid), Christmas gifts (what to buy and who gets them), travel plans (how do I tell my parents I want to stay in DC this year?), and various other seasonal details. Add to that the fact that I have to sell my house in Ohio to avoid going bankrupt, and that I have to find a new apartment in which to live by the end of the month, you can see why this is shaping up to be the most wonderful time of the year.

Yet, I find myself strangely excited by the fact that it’s supposed to snow several inches tomorrow. The commute’s going to be hell, but I always look forward to the eerie silence that a good snow can bring to the city, as the white powder soaks up the background chatter from our urban stew. And if I happen to get a day off out of it…well…all the better.