hulk face

flying in style

I guess these aren't that new, but there are official NFL planes for US Air with special team paint jobs. I believe they have ones for Phoenix, Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh (for the Cardinals, Panthers, Eagles, and Steelers, respectively). I had a chance to fly in the Steelers plane from Orlando to Pittsburgh during Thanksgiving. The US Air employee even took this picture for me outside of the terminal so I didn't have to shoot through the glass.

Going home for Xmas

Flying home this afternoon... looking forward to the holidays and seeing everyone. Not looking forward to the weather on Monday...

Mayne Street Sucks.

Glad I tried out "Mayne Street". It SUCKS... as expected. It's like an amateur attempt at The Office. Considering they only need to write 5 minutes of material for these crap webisodes makes it even more depressing. Absolutely horrid. I hate ESPN sometimes. If it wasn't for Bill Simmons, PTI, and maybe Fantasy Focus... I would be a full-fledged Yahoo! Sports man. In fact, did you know that Yahoo! is the most visited sports site out there? Over ESPN, Fox Sports, Sportsline, etc?! They've actually had the lead since before the Olympics. I'm assuming it has something to do with their successful fantasy experience. Speaking of good sports sites, those links come from the best independent sports news source/blog I've found: The Big Lead. Check them out.

Anyway, I digress... I also wanted to share an accurate review the Daily Herald wrote about "Mayne Street"... here are some of my favorite parts:

"A Web gem it's not. In fact, it's just more proof of how the Internet is ruining the world, including the sports world, which many believed couldn't get any worse."

"'Tell 10,000 co-workers to click on it so they order a second season,' [Mayne] wrote in the chat.

"And clicks, my friends, are what it's all about in the current media environment. Page views - from different computers, not the same one over and over - are where it's at. So blogs make reference to one another and exchange links to get the click-go-round going. Altogether, it produces a narcissistic, self-referential attitude."

Ultimate Farrior

The Steelers were honored/limited to 3 Pro Bowlers yesterday. Congrats Silverback, Troy, and Farrior. Here is an oldie, but goodie MS Paint masterpiece from their '05 Super Bowl run.

orangutan on meth

(courtesy of telegram sam)

zombie fingers

(8tracks)

all smiles

What the hell is this thing? I know it's from the Amazon. Any guesses?

beeker buffoonery's 100th post!!!

100 posts! Very exciting! It's been about 1.5 years and I know I've blogged a bit in spurts, but I hope to be more regular in the future (about 2 per week). It's been extremely fun and a great creative outlet for me (instead of boring engineering all the time). I still don't have much of a direction for the blog, besides just things that interest me... and I doubt that will change.

Without question, the high point for me was the reference in the Post-Gazette's Blog N' Gold and others to my Terrible Towel in Beijing post. It was barely anything, but I had a great sense of blogging commodore. I continue to wish that all of my friends had blogs. So, if you're reading this, please feel free to email me, add me to Google Reader, follow my blog, or just check back occasionally... and I would love to read YOUR blogs, discuss blogging tech, or do any type of collaboration. Also, I update my Reader shared items much more often than this blog (that's why it's at the top - "beeker LIVE!"), so please check that and add me to your sharing friends.

Thanks for reading and thanks for your comments. Now... an ode to the buffoonery: (click to enlarge)

War with Canada

Earlier this week (12/2) there was an amusing BS Report with Bill Simmons and Cousin Sal (writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live) going through the Week 14 NFL games. When they got to the Dolphins-Bills game, here's their exchange:

Cousin Sal: Miami at Buffalo... except it's not at Buffalo it's in Toronto.

Bill Simmons: Oh no!

CS: Yeah.

BS: Is this a dome or not a dome?

CS: You know, I'm not even sure. Miami at Buffalo in Toronto. I think they play in the Maple Leaf's Gardens, right?... No, I don't know where this is.

BS: It can't be a dome. If they built a dome, we would have heard of that. I should probably find that out. But uhh... does that Toronto thing... I don't know if it helps them or what happens.

CS: I think we're looking to start a war with Canada sending them Pennington and J.P. Losman. I really do.

BS: What... does Ricky (Williams) get through customs?

CS: That's another thing, yeah.

BS: What are the odds of that? We probably have to scratch him right now.

Classic Simmons. I loved it. Good podcast. He also calls his friend to rehash some of the best moments from Rocky IV. Then he wrapped it up with a call to Connor Schell, a high ranking ESPN executive who Simmons has cited before about hating it when he calls his friends on the podcast and was allegedly the reason why the podcast was on hiatus for a few weeks. Juicy, no? The cocky Sports Guy even says to him, "If I told you that I just talked to my buddy Gus for 20 minutes about Rocky IV... would you be enthralled or disappointed?" Yikes! I don't want to ruin the suspense, but it turns out to be a dud. I'm sure ESPN is ecstatic to have Simmons during the internet age and I highly recommend the BS Report to any level of sports fan.

Unoriginal Family Guy jokes

I love Family Guy, but I feel obligated to reveal the origins of some of their jokes. I thought that Family Guy discontinued using recycled jokes after Season 4, however this previous episode, Tales of a Third Grade Nothing, was potentially their worst writing to date. Every laugh was predictable and the writing was too "jokey". I would have shrugged this off, since I should have better things to do than write a blog post about a cartoon... alas I don't and I'm enraged that the people of Diggnation have given 2,945 diggs to an unoriginal Family Guy gag. I truly don't understand why some things become so popular on Digg, but I'll save that for another post. Right now, I want to expose some unauthentic Family Guy jokes (and this does not include the countless similarities to The Simpons):

1. Grape stomping lady from Tales of a Third Grade Nothing (S7E6) - Stewie reenacts (jump to 11:50) a popular and hilarious viral video. The only problem is that It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia briefly mentioned this same blooper a few weeks ago. They didn't present it the same way, but they made the Family Guy writers feel "OK" to use this particualr viral video. The gutless writers didn't take the risk to use a different or potentially better blooper, they were comfortable with what has already been tested to get a laugh. This is uncreative and very weak. And God knows there are many more clips to choose from.
2. Jesus Christ magic from Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story - This one I wasn't aware of, but it caused a lawsuit. Pretty bad. Is that supposed to be parody?
   
3. Air horn censorship from PTV (S4E14) - One of numerous gags from Season 4 that were taken directly from Arrested Development. I'm not saying this originated from AD, but I'm very suspicious that Family guy writers didn't get their idea from Lucille's "rape horn" in Afternoon Delight.
   
4. Snoopy doghouse from Brian Goes Back to College (S4E15) - Brian is bummed and plays the role as Snoopy. But only a few months earlier on Arrested Development, George Michael acts like Charlie Brown after being dumped my Egg. See the doghouse in the back!
   
5. "Up here, Brian. Up here." from The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz (S4E18) - This is probably their worst offense. After being contaminated with bad holy water, Stewie is quarantined in a bubble. Then while trying to change his diaper himself, Stewie flashes Brian and says, "Up here, Brian. Up here." This was also taken from Arrersted Development when Kitty Sanchez returns to work with fake boobs and says to Michael, "Up here, Michael. Up here."
   

Boxes full of Pepe!

Do I have followers at Autoblog?

I don't mean to flatter myself, but could Autoblog have possibly gotten an idea for a recent post from my Google Bling? You decide:

Penn State Riot!

Party on Beaver Ave!... BYOPS (Bring your own pepper spray)

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Mannequin in South Beach

crazy paddy

Solo Cup Company - Augusta, GA

Live blog: VP debate

21:20 And we're off!... and I'm going with an impromptu live blog. This is meant to be light-hearted... so enjoy! Let's start out with some Palinisms:

"Can I call you 'Joe'?" - during the handshake

"I'm not going to answer the questions the way Senator Biden and the moderator want, I'm talking to the American people."

"... he has a detailed plan, and now I'm going to give you some of those details."

Apparently she's had her firmware updated since the Couric interviews... Biden has his work cut out for him.

21:42 Current leader in the buzzword tally: fundamental. Biden has identified "The fundamental difference" between McCain and Obama for the economy, energy, and Iraq war. fundamental difference = a good thing? I don't know, but Obama better hope so.

21:56 I'm watching this on ABC... isn't it nice that there aren't any sponsors all over the screen during this nonstop action? Lovely.

22:05 Biden: "... go to joebiden.com..." - site dropper. I went there. I was redirected to Joe's my.barackobama.com profile. Well done, Joe.

22:12 Palin just dropped an elementrary school's name and now the teachers have a riot waiting for them tomorrow with students fighting for unspecified amounts of extra credit.

22:18 Palin is apparently unclear on the meaning of "Achilles heel". It's not an incoherent list of good qualites. Biden understands the tone of "Achilles heel", yet he mistakenly thinks "excessive passion" qualifies. hmm... I don't feel so bad about how poorly I handle this interview question now.

22:21 Biden almost turned on the waterworks. yikes.

22:33 Oh snap! Biden tossed out a few "God blesses" to wrap things up. Well played.

Winner: Biden?... it was a good debate. I enjoyed it. But I think I must say that Biden impressed me more than I thought... but Palin was tolerable, however she was in the red for me at the start. Nice to see some civil, educated discussion of the issues. Fun stuff... first live blog and I've somehow become a political dork.

A Great Tuesday

This is a pretty good Tuesday... one for which all Tuesdays to follow should be measured! OK... I'm going a little overboard, but with an inspirational Steelers MNF victory over the Ravens and a sweet trio of albums released today, this Tuesday isn't too shabby.

First, the Steelers game... our offensive line is horrific and with Simmons gone for the year, don't expect Trai Essex to improve the situation. It's also disappointing to lose Mendenhall for the season, but for a 4th string RB, Mewelde Moore filled in nicely. I will get back to him in a minute, but first... let's touch on how important Ben Roethlisberger is to this team. I'm proud to have him as our QB and it's great to hear him become more of a vocal leader of the team... especially without "The Chin" on the sideline. I like Tomlin, but he has more of a team-centered attitude. It's great for camaraderie, but not so good for lighting fires in bellies. So it's good to have Big Ben get in their face occasionally... and I think they will respect him for it. Hell... even the defense fed off of him after the TD pass to Santonio (particularly Harrison and Woodley). I am also extremely grateful to have Jeff Reed as our kicker. He has proved to be extremely reliable in tough environments and tight games, as well as drunken photo production. Well done. Finally... Mewelde... where have you been all of my life? I was watching the game in a bar and I didn't realize till a bit later that Mendenhall and Davis were out with injuries, so I was initially flippin' shit when I saw Double M getting so much work down the stretch. In fact, by my count... Mewelde was the go-to guy in a shocking 12 of our final 14 plays! Amazing! His fresh legs at the end of the game certainly helped, but he was breaking off and getting open very nicely when Ben was under pressure. I hope to see more of him to come.


The second part of this great Tuesday is because of some excellent CD releases. Anberlin, Amon Amarth, and Trivium all have new albums out today... and from what I can tell, they all sound remarkable after a few listens. I got the Anberlin album through newburycomics.com with a limited edition autographed 7-inch. I haven't listened much, but it's a pretty standard release for them... and that's a good thing. The first single from New Surrender is "Feel Good Drag", which was originally released on Don't Take Friendship Personal, but don't judge them for that... they explained themselves here.

Amon Amarth... wow! I had to go out and by this one too, however I didn't get the bobblehead set. I've only briefly listened to from Twilight of the Thunder God, but this is a monster album! The production is outstanding and Lars' vocals/growls are at an all-time astonishing level. They've really hit their stride as a band and this album sounds like the tightest, most intense offering to date. Have a listen on Myspace or the widget below.

Finally, Trivium has conquered their identity crisis with mistaking themselves for Metallica (see The Crusade) and put out a very good, technical, melodic metal album. I was always very disappointed with The Crusade's combination of promising musicianship held back by embarrassingly awful lyrics and cliched song structure. All indications are that Shogun is a great rebound album, and I'm particularly fond of their first single "Down from the Sky".

Not a bad Tuesday, huh?... and I didn't even mention Iron Man being released on DVD!

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ESPN Fantasy Woes

I decided to try out ESPN's fantasy football services for our league this year. The main reasons I did this were curiosity, free real-time scoring, and 120 seconds per pick in the online draft (vs. 90 sec max at Yahoo!). There are a lot of other very nice features (almost too many at times).

However, I'm not here to praise the World Wide Leader's great fantasy site... there are a lot of drawbacks too. I find the menus and tabs to be pretty convoluted... then again, it's hard to adapt after 7 years at Yahoo!. The Bye Week information seems to be intentionally hidden (especially during the draft) with the exception of looking at the extended player schedule. This is a useful view, but there should be a more succinct way to get this info. I also overlooked an option that prevented us from drafting TEs, even though I had selected WR/TE roster spot. That was a mess... but oh well.

But all of those complaints are dwarfed by the ridiculous scoring limitations. I'm baffled by the difficulty of implementing fractional scoring (for example, when a RB gets 89yds in a game and you get 8.9pts, instead of 8pts). A very common and logical setting is seemingly overlooked in the ESPN rules. Here is a very painful email exchange I had with ESPN customer service about the problem:

Fractional scoring is (seemingly) very counterintuitive. Why not just have a button to say "Fractional Points" instead of having to put 0.1pts per 1yd. I've never discussed or thought about FF like that, it's always "1pt per 10yds", with or without fractional points. Plus I still don't know how to get fractional scoring for QBs, since you can't specify to the hundreths decimal (ie. 0.05pts per 1yd, since I really want 1pt per 20yds). Can you help???

Ben
_

Thank you for contacting us.

You are able to do this to the nearest tenth in custom leagues. The LM will need to change the scoring settings. For example rushing 10 yds = 1 point would need to be changed to 1 yd = .1 point.

Regards,
John
ESPN.com Customer Care
_

You didn't answer my question. I knew that about Rushing and Passing... but QBs can't have 0.1pts per 1yd. It needs to be0.05pts per 1yd (or less). If that's the best ESPN can do here... I'll be going back to Yahoo! next year.

Ben
_

Thank you for your reply.

You could go with every 5yds = 2.5 points. I know this isn't exactly what you want, but that is the closest we offer to what you are asking for. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Regards,
John
ESPN.com Customer Care

That's real effing brilliant, John... that means Phillip Rivers would have scored 203.5pts this week! Let's hope ESPN hires some people who understand fantasy football and make their site more user friendly... otherwise, it might be back to Yahoo! for me next year.

Google Bling

Introducing Google's new automotive effort, the 2009 Google Bling! Featuring 26" Google Chrome rims, hands-free Google Talk cell phone kit, and Google Earth nav system with real-time street view (so you can admire your own ride while cruisin' down the strip!).

NFL Week 2: Chaos Ensues

Wild week! LT and Darren Sproles are having identity crises. Anquan Boldin hates Arizona, but LOVES touchdowns. GTO 'Sullivan is revved up! Marion Barber is a fantasy love machine. Brandon Marshall is putting to good use his reduced suspension. ("I was wrong." - in TMR voice) A pair of Arkansas rookie RBs are delivering the goods. And Romeo Crennel has taken over for Art Shell in the statuesque staring competition.
(Note: Bill Simmons deserves credit for the Art Shell Face. The man's brilliant.)

But if we learned nothing else, at least we can take away one thing from Week 2...
DON'T DROP THE BALL!!

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The Ultimate Competition

"I hereby declare this August 15th as the beginning of The Ultimate Competition between Zach E. and Ben S."

It begins... stay tuned.

Liwei Falls...

Li Wei - a brilliant artist! Not photoshopped.

Phelps GIF Challenge

I love me some crazy GIFs! Wired's Listening Post is looking for the appropriate audio for this one:

sweet linkage

- Mad collection of beautiful GIFs

- Post-Gazette's list of Steelers bars by state

- Want to digitally archive the local front page coverage of major news and sporting events? Like The Boston Globe's headline for the 2004 World Series or Ocala, FL's coverage of Tropical Slut Fay (and Bret Michaels). Newseum is the answer.

- An excellent feature column from Motor Trend on the Secret History of Ferrari... including the origin of the shield, Enzo's signature, and Dario the driver,

- I haven't seen too much of the Olympics... but apparently Tiki Barber is putting on quite the display... and calling his co-anchor a "total medal c*nt". (Follow-up)

- A good TED talk on amazing sea creatures. Ridiculous octopus camo at the end.

- Man goat.

- Fantastic view of the impossible win.

- With Heath Ledger's remarkable interpretation in TDK... here is a brief (but thorough) history of the Joker's appearance. (I still need to see it in IMAX!)

- Here are some other comics coming to the big screen. Watchmen looks unreal and everything that has to do with The Avengers will hopefully come together nicely.

- Finally... Darren Aronofsky is doing a RoboCop remake?! OMG!

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Here we go, ______! Here we go!

Congrats women's beach volleyball... yada, yada, yada. What's really important here is the Terrible Towel that made its way to Beijing! See it in the background?! (ESPN)


HERE WE GO, STEELERS! HERE WE GO!

Red Dwarf Flare

before/after (c. 2004)

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Mission Accomplished (c. 2001)

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rye squared

I am currently enjoying a Terrapin Rye Squared Imperial Pale Ale. I only comment on this because, ... well, this isn't my first tonight... and it is truly one of the finest beers I've had in months. It has a wonderful smell of fresh mash and hops with a strong, but smooth taste. Good stuff.

hidden gorilla paradise

Apparently researchers have found 125,000 gorillas in Congo, which would more than double the previously believed number of Western lowlands gorillas on the planet. OK... cool... this is a good thing since they are awesome creatures that were listed as critically endangered... I get that. But who is in charge of this stuff? How did people miss all of these frickin' apes?!?! "We knew there were apes there, we just had no idea how many." No shit! I try to have faith that the researchers of the world are doing a good job with stuff like this... but come on! Seriously! I hope there is some professional gorilla counter out on his ass for this. Is there anything else we should know about guys?

streaming fasciinatiion

The Faint's new album is streaming on their MySpace page. It's released tomorrow. Excellent.

sunny beatboxing

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Twilight of the Bobblehead

Swedish viking death metal band, Amon Amarth, are releasing a limited edition bobblehead set with their upcoming release "Twilight of the Thunder God". Awesome. It's always healthy to see a band that has some sense of humor when they write lyrics like this...

I drop the shield and grab my axe,
A weapon in each fist.
The first blow makes the helmet crack,
The axe cut to the teeth.

I rip the axe from the head,
covered in blood and brains.
Leave the body lying dead,
Ready to strike again.

My sword cuts through clothes and skin,
Like a hot knife cuts through snow.
I smile as the bastard screams,
when I twist my sword.

Google Image Game

It doesn't seem very well advertised, but Google has a little game for improving the labels associated with images for better search results. When you login, you are paired with a random partner in cyberspace and you both type in keywords for describing the picture, without using the words already listed. It is the exact premise of the game Taboo. Once you get a match, then you both get points and you are ranked against other competitors.

Hey... why not outsource these mundane tasks in a fun way? Good stuff.

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(the branches are going down into (and back out of) the ground. crazy, right? the tree is in Orlando near the science center. click to enlarge)

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The delectable Erin Andrews... only a 5/10?!

... At least according to Adam Carolla on his radio show last week when comparing her to other girls at the University of Florida. Ace Man had Erin Andrews (ESPN) on as a guest and (unbeknownst to me)... she is a UF alum and a former Dazzler! He recalled a trip to the O-Dome during his Loveline days, when he had a memorable show for 9,000 college students and gorgeous Gator girls! So smitten with the "talent" at UF, Carolla gave Erin a backhanded compliment in saying that she was only a 5 when compared to her co-ed peers (but a 12 off campus). More proof that it's great to be a Florida Gator... indeed.

Not Carolla at his best... but the download can be found here.

While I'm here... I should comment that Carolla's radio show is absolutely fantastic. He gets some great guests, and has far more improv and unique comedic genius than most other shows. I listen to the podcasts daily. He also has a decent independent flick that just came on DVD called The Hammer. It's worth watching and I have it... so, let me know if you want to check it out.

ESPN-NFL Network merger approaching?

I had an interesting discovery this evening on ESPN.com. Below is a screenshot of the video listing on the ESPN homepage, which includes the "Top Ten Luckiest Plays in NFL History". What's surprising is that when I clicked to play it, I was redirected to the NFL Video site and greeted by Rich Eisen (NFL Network's go-to guy). Uncharacteristic of ESPN or NFL Network, no? It was reported last month that the bigwigs were meeting to discuss a joint venture, but nothing was official. Perhaps this slipped before an official press release? Perhaps ESPN is giving the NFL some love to make the deal happen? Anyone who watches the NFL knows that this is a good thing. Let's wait and see!

IMAX, anyone?

I'm a little excited... I rarely get like this about a movie. I'm going to go to a regular theater this weekend, but I will promptly go to a showing at an IMAX when I return to Florida in August. Come join me!

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Charlie highlights

I've sadly spent the majority of the weekend watching episodes of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" on hulu. It's really grown on me, and a big reason for that is the character Charlie, played by Charlie Day. He's truly brilliant... he comes off as a drug-addled crazy person with the physical comedy of Kramer and the frustrated rage of George. Here are a few of my favorite scenes. Enjoy.

smurf catapult (c. 2004)

Why I want YOU to use Google Reader...

Use Google Reader. It's that simple. If you read any news, headlines, blogs, or listen to podcasts... you need to use it! And if you use it properly, it will benefit both of us! Here are a few reasons why:

1.  Reader uses RSS feeds to automatically collect and organize news sources, blogs, and podcasts. You don't have to jump all over the internet to see what new is happening in the world, sports headlines, or coupons. You can combine them all to one reader.
2. Easily subscribe to any RSS feed - Just click on the feed icon and Google is usually an option.
   
3. Browse other existing blogs - Maybe you'll find something interesting you never knew existed... like LifeHacker, Seth Godin, or Boing Boing.
4. Share items with friends - While you are using Reader and you find an interesting story, you can simply push a button to share with other Reader users. It's essentially like showing people newspaper clipping or using digg. It also stores your shared feeds on a separate site, which has its own RSS feed. Or you can display your shared feeds on a widget, as I have in my sidebar. So add me as a friend and share what you think is cool!
5. Add notes to shared items - As I do on this site occasionally, it is common for bloggers to have a list of links with some comments. Google Reader lets you add comments to items you want to share, so you can explain their relevance. Perhaps even more excellent, they have a note tool that you can store in your bookmark toolbar, which lets you share and add notes as you browse the web.
   
6. Reader trends - If you want to track your Reader stats, there are also some options for that... this is very helpful in addressing your addiction to Reader and taking steps to control your urges. I'm a recovering GReadaholic too... you're not alone.
   
7. Embed in you iGoogle homepage - I personally don't use Reader in iGoogle because it doesn't have all of the features and it isn't efficient enough... but if you want to do it, you can.
   
8. Friends' blogs - I know asking everyone to create a blog is a stretch too, but I really would enjoy that. I'm willing to bet that more people than you realize care about your opinions, hobbies, or observations. Subscribe to mine and I want to subscribe to yours!
   

It should be noted that other feed reader sites exist, such as Bloglines. But I am just infatuated with Google products and I prefer it to Bloglines, so I suggest GReader.
Getting back to why I want YOU to use Google Reader... mainly it's because I can't read everything on the web everyday. It's just not possible. And I would rather take the time to read a few select items from people I know, rather than whatever jackholes are out there on digg. If you want any suggestions on good blogs that I already read, just ask! I really would like you to subscribe to my shared items and then we can exchange interesting things we read. I value all of my friends' opinions, so I would greatly value everyone using the share function on Google Reader. I mean it.
You really really need to try Google Reader...it's so wonderful, it's worthy of singing about!

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gator death (c. 2004)

LTJ GNV FLA

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Another reason why I love Amazon...

Last weekend I downloaded the Crystal Castles album on Amazon.com. I was in the mood for some new tunes and this was a bargain at $6.99 (and it's a FANTASTIC album). Anyway... after listening to it a few times I noticed something wrong with the first track. So I emailed Amazon's customer service. It went something like this:

The Crystal Castle's MP3 album that I downloaded seems to have a problem with Track 1 "Untrust Us". Maybe I'm wrong, but the last 1-2 seconds of the song is some noise that seems out of place (it sounds like Death From Above 1979... if that means anything to you). Also, most other sources on the web have the song's duration as 3:05, but Amazon has 3:06. If there is a problem with the track, is there anything you can do about this? Can I get an uncorrupted version of the track?

They did more than that. Here is their email response... about 20 minutes later (no joke):

Hello from Amazon.com.

Thanks for writing about the problem you had recently playing "Crystal Castles by Crystal Castles" purchased from the Amazon MP3 Music Store. I've tested the file myself, and it appears that there is a problem with that file. I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.

To help remedy the problem, I've issued a full refund for "Crystal Castles by Crystal Castles" in the amount of $6.99. The refund will be applied to the payment method used for the original purchase and should be completed within the next 2 to 3 business days.

Because there is a problem with this file, I've also alerted our technicians of the problem so it can be corrected as soon as possible. If you are still interested in purchasing a working copy of this song, you may wish to visit the Amazon MP3 Store again in a few days and see if a corrected version is available.

Again, I apologize for the trouble you had with this file.

Thanks for shopping in the Amazon MP3 Music Store.

Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:

If yes, click here:
Link
If not, click here:
Link

Best regards,
Dheeraj
Amazon.com Customer Service

Needless to say, I clicked yes!

(Dell, are you taking notes on this one?)


UPDATE (6/22): After making this post, my knowledgeable blogging buddy informed me that the CD release version of the album also has that "noise" at the end. It turns out that Crystal Castles sampled Death From Above 1979's Dead Womb in Untrust Us, and seemingly didn't edit the song properly. I don't know how this happens or if it was intentional or not, but the album is still outstanding and Amazon still rocks the world.

Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace

I'm not sure how this works, but Amazon has The Offspring's new album "Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace" available for download a week before it is released in stores (6/17). I don't know what the rules are on release dates, but I guess NIN, Radiohead, and Saul Williams have had MP3s available early. Very exciting!

And, by the way... I don't know what's wrong with me but I've been listening to The Offspring for over 12 years now and their harmonies and "whoa's" still do it for me. This new album sounds fantastic under first impressions too! No apparent silly songs either, like they've had on their past 3 albums (i.e. "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)", "Original Prankster", and "Hit That")

Stream it on imeem.

The "Super Genius" got super canned!

I've listened to Mark Madden podcasts off and on for a year or so now at 1250 ESPN Radio Pittsburgh, but he will be looking for a new job since he was fired for making a tasteless remark on the air. On the day that news broke about Ted Kennedy's cancer (5/20), Double M had the following comment:

"I'm very disappointed to hear that Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts is near death because of a brain tumor. I always hoped Senator Kennedy would live long enough to be assassinated.

"I wonder if he got a card from the Kopechnes."

What makes this story fascinating though, is that it appears that the only reason he was fired is because Bob Smizik of the Post-Gazette wrote a column about his disgusting comment on May 23rd and Madden's last broadcast was on the 22nd. So, this is how I see it... Madden made the comment on 5/20 and he gave an apology 2 hours later, then before he got on air on the 23rd, he got canned. The Post-Gazette hints at this in a follow-up column reporting Madden's "permanent removal." Amazing how influential mass media is, huh?

I can't say that I justify MM's comments, but I hope people realize that he was just playing a character on the radio. I don't know that he's not always an asshole, but I do know that he found a niche in getting 'Burgher's all riled up. He was the editor for Ric Flair's autobiography and he has other ties to the professional wrestling as well. So... Madden was what they call a "heel." Therefore, any hateful comments he had about Bettis or "Whines Hard" may or may not have been genuine, but he was certainly putting on a show. However, it seems he took it a little too far this time and the media attention didn't help.

zucchini boy