Generally speaking, I don’t do too much link sharing on the blog.  I tend to save that sort of thing for Facebook and Twitter.  However, I couldn’t resist this time.

Now, I realize I haven’t blogged in a while.  School is getting hectic and my side project is starting to take off.  I don’t want to turn into one of those bloggers that slows down blogging, only to come back once every 4 months to post an announcement about the latest Apple product.

Anyway, someone sent this to me a few days ago.  Since then, I’ve watched it 8 times.  Fantastic.  The Star Wars geek in me is satisfied, and the shockingly *good* rap verses nearly make me squeal in white boy excitement.  Enjoy.

As is my bad habit with many social networking sites, I signed up for a Last.fm account some time ago and never really used the service.  I tend to just plug in my iPod or pop in an audiobook if I’m sitting at a computer for a while, so I thought the whole internet radio thing wasn’t for me.  I was wrong.

Before going any further, let me say that I realize I’m behind the times.  Like 90% of the posts I write, I’m bringing old news, reviews and haikus.  I have actually yet to bring a single haiku to the blog - but that will change.  Anyway, I know there are people who have yet to discover some of the cooler things the internet has to offer.  And that is why I write.

For those that don’t know, Last.fm is a website that allows you to listen to customized internet radio stations.  Simply pick a band, song or genre tag and you’re good to go.  From there, you can fast forward, love or ban tracks from your station.  Every artist you play is automatically added to your library, and Last.fm tracks how many times you have played each artist and song, as well as how many playlists and “loved” songs you have.

If it sounds a lot like Pandora up to now, this is where it really takes off.  First, Last.fm is much more user-friendly and user-fueled than Pandora is.  Users are much more interactive, thanks to things like tagging artists and songs, voting on band photos and analyzing friends listening compatibility.  Sure, knowing who listens to the same music as you isn’t a huge deal.  But it is cool.  Take Lucy, a local friend who is a Last.fm junkie.  Upon adding her as a friend, I saw this:

Incredibly useful?  Maybe not.  But still neat.

If you’re not sold just yet, I’ve saved the best for last.  Thanks to my friend (and past guest blogger) Jimmy,  I’m now scrobbling.  With a few clicks and a little piece of software, you can start scrobbling too.

Scrobbling is what makes Last.fm so great.  Basically, it crawls through your iTunes library (or Windows Media Player library) and your iPod to gather information on your listening habits.  Check out a list of supported devices here.  Once completed, it adds this information to your online Last.fm account.  It’s a great way for new users to quickly build a large library.  If you use the Audioscrobbling software, you can synchronize your listening with your account automatically, so as you listen your songs are displayed in your online account and immediately added to your library.

To sum up, you should try it.  It’s real swell.  Check out a few more screenshots below or get up some courage and dive right in.

If you’re a regular reader, you saw my feeble attempt to persuade and change the world a few weeks ago…and here we go again. This time, let’s keep it light.

The inspiration for this post came last night, while sketching in my blackbook and watching The Office. More specifically, I was watching “The Fire”. In it, Dunder Mifflin employees must think of ways to pass time while they wait for a small fire to be put out. Enter Desert Island. I thought it would make a cool blog post.

So here are the rules. I will name a few categories and list the top 5 things in that category that I would bring to a deserted island (or imagine you can only use the following for the rest of your life). You will do the same. On your blog. And send me an email or trackback so I can read it! For my game, a full season of a show counts as one DVD and a 2 disc audio set counts as one cd. Let’s begin!

DVD’s

1. Empire Strikes Back
2. No Country for Old Men
3. Hustle and Flow
4. Little Miss Sunshine
5. Scrubs Season 6

I’m young.  I’m allowed to be shallow.

Music CD’s

1. Weezer’s The Blue Album
2. 2Pac’s All Eyez On Me
3. Dave Matthew’s Live at Fenway Park
4. Brad Paisley’s 5th Gear
5. Flipsyde

What can I say?  I could listen to Jim Dale all day long.

Audiobooks/Spokenword

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
2. Star Wars: Dark Forces
3. Father Gilbert: Dead Air
4. The Westing Game
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Books

1. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
2. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
3. The Fellowship of the Ring by JR Tolkein
4. Harry Potter and the
5. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Board(ish) Games

1. Mancala
2. Chess
3. Scrabble
4. Risk
5. Monopoly

For all my designer friends, assume you were restricted to using only the following for the rest of your life (#000 & #FFF are freebies).

Colors

1. #00BBEE
2. #FF77FF
3. #FFBB00
4. #DDDDDD
5. #444444

For now, that’s all I’ve got.  So, if you have a few minutes, play with me!  Copy and paste this template or come up with your own.  Add lists (writing utensils, sports equipment, etc) or take away lists.  Have fun with it.

Look forward to seeing your choices!