About Author: Andy Yen

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Joel Zumaya Hurt Himself Again

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on November 1, 2007Posted in: Sports

guitar hero 3

Hard-throwing Detroit Tigers relief pitcher, Joel Zumaya, can’t seem to catch a break. He injured his shoulder severely while trying to help evacuate his parents from the California wildfires last week. ESPN reports that Zumaya will be sidelined until at least the middle of the 2008 MLB season. Last year, Zumaya missed the last three games of the ALCS and all of the World Series because of an arm injury due to playing Guitar Hero.

Frankly I’m surprised he didn’t injure himself again on the recently released Guitar Hero III. That Slipknot song on level 7 is complete and utter bullshit on hard difficulty. On the bright side for Mr. Zumaya, Rock Band comes out in roughly three weeks. Not having to worry about baseball until March means he can rock out all he wants.

Then again, I’m sure thousands of Tigers fans and fantasy baseball players out there are PLEADING for Joel to take it easy on the rhythm games. Todd Jones and his adventurous 4.26 ERA seasons don’t exactly inspire confidence.

Zumaya Injured [ESPN.com]

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New Saul Williams Album Unlocked And Available For Download

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on November 1, 2007Posted in: Music

niggy tardust

Hot on the heels of the recent “pay what you want” Radiohead album release, Saul Williams’ new album, Niggy Tardust, is unlocked and ready to be consumed by the masses. The slam poet cum hip-hop artist’s album distribution method is very similar to that of In Rainbows in that listeners can choose to either pay or not pay for the digital download. However, unlike the Radiohead release, listeners have only one price they can pay for the album ($5) AND they have a choice in which file format they receive their music in.

According to the order page at niggytardust.com:

If you choose to pay for the record, your download will be available in the following formats:

  • 192Kbps MP3
  • 320Kbps MP3
  • FLAC lossless audio

If you choose not to pay for the record, you will receive it in 192Kbps MP3 format.

All versions include a PDF with artwork and lyrics

Those of you who read my earlier rant on digital music can infer that I’m very excited by the options offered by Mr. Williams and his producer, Trent Reznor. One of the biggest problems I had with the Radiohead release was that there was no way for me to obtain any sort of high quality version of the album without paying the $80USD or so for the physical product. Kudos to Saul and Trent for offering the right file formats (and encoded with LAME too!) to people who want them. Bonus points for including artwork and lyrics. This is the product digital music retailers should have been selling from the get-go.

As for the music itself, well, my slow-ass internet connection is still downloading the .zip file now so I can’t provide any initial impressions yet. BUT, I hear there’s a pretty awesome cover of U2’s Sunday Bloody Sunday which has my panties wet with excitement.

Download the album [Niggytardust.com]

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Joss Whedon Has A New Show

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on October 31, 2007Posted in: TV

joss whedon

E! Online has details on Joss Whedon’s new television series, Dollhouse, starring Eliza Dushku:

“Echo (Eliza Dushku), a young woman who is literally everybody’s fantasy. She is one of a group of men and women who can be imprinted with personality packages, including memories, skills, language—even muscle memory—for different assignments. The assignments can be romantic, adventurous, outlandish, uplifting, sexual and/or very illegal. When not imprinted with a personality package, Echo and the others are basically mind-wiped, living like children in a futuristic dorm/lab dubbed the Dollhouse, with no memory of their assignments—or of much else. The show revolves around the childlike Echo’s burgeoning self-awareness, and her desire to know who she was before, a desire that begins to seep into her various imprinted personalities and puts her in danger both in the field and in the closely monitored confines of the Dollhouse.”

I never really got into Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but Firefly is one of the best television series I have ever seen. Everything from the pacing, to the characterization, to the plot was top notch. I’m also thoroughly enjoying Joss Whedon’s current runs on the Marvel comics Astonishing X-Men and Runaways. The man has an impeccable talent for writing dialogue in an episodic medium.

Given that, I’ll definitely be giving Dollhouse a chance, no matter how ridiculous the premise of the show is. (Even if the main character’s name gives me flashbacks to a crappy Daredevil story arc)

Let’s also hope that Fox doesn’t kill it off after 12 episodes, especially if it’s even remotely good.

Read the interview with Joss [E! Online]

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Cutting OiNK Out Of Your Diet

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on October 31, 2007Posted in: Articles, Music

no piggy

Normally, eating less bacon leads to a healthier life. In the wake of the OiNK music torrent sharing site shutdown last week, though, less piggy in your system turns out to not be so good for you.

Much has been debated and written about the topic already. If you haven’t read Demonbaby’s excellent rant yet, I HIGHLY recommend you do so. It’s a bit long, but articulates the significance and background of OiNK very well. Many of my sentiments are echoed within that post.

Since I used to work for a legal music download service, I feel compelled to throw my two cents in on the topic of digital music distribution.

One of the biggest reasons why legitimate digital music services are not offering great solutions for music fans is that the people selling the music simply do not get it. There is a disconnect between everyone involved. The record labels don’t understand why offering a DRM-infused song file is anathema to what the customer wants. The digital retailers don’t understand what the consumer wants exactly. They proclaim to want DRM-less files because that means their potential market is bigger. Then they can sell their wares to people with iPods, Zunes, Walkmans, or any music player. What they don’t understand is that a 128kbps AAC or WMA file is nowhere near “CD quality”. They assume that since the average person can’t tell the difference between bitrates, there’s no point in wasting bandwidth and storage space for higher quality song files.

Which is simply insulting.
Read the rest of this entry »

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The Definition of “Potty”

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on October 30, 2007Posted in: Internet Phenomena

Some of you have been wondering what “potty” means and why I have been using it. According to Urban Dictionary:

 

potty guy

  1. a stranger, anyone with whom you are unfamiliar.
  2. a person, familiar or not, who elicits discomfort for any number of reasons.

In other words, pretty much everyone you meet on Xbox Live while playing Halo 3 fits both definitions. Especially the second one.

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Really Potty Guy Plays Crysis On Three Monitors

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on October 30, 2007Posted in: Video Games

Now I’ll be the first to admit to being an uber-nerd for buying a $400 graphics card specifically to play the most beautiful video game ever. But this awesome mensch manages to beat me in every possible way by rigging Crysis to run on THREE 24″ LCD Monitors at the same time.

Bob Lefsetz would have to blow his wad SEVERAL TIMES to FILL the real estate of these DISPLAYS.

Watch It.

(the embedded code isn’t working for now so just click through to it)

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U2 Plan To Build Tallest Building In Dublin

By
Andy Yen
– Posted on October 30, 2007Posted in: Music

U2 have proposed renovations of the Clarence Hotel in Dublin costing £100 million. The new hotel, constructed on land the band bought in 1992, would become the tallest building in Dublin. However, part of the plan calls for the demolition of several heritage buildings under the city’s protection. Ironically, it seems as if the band wants to retain its legacy while shattering others’.

I’ll admit that U2 is my favorite band, but lately it has been living up to its increasing reputation as an egoistic entity. Something about bands putting their name on lavishly expensive luxury skyscraper hotels rubs me the wrong way. It seems as if the band is trying everything it can to not make music.

Do us a favor, guys, and stop embarrassing yourselves. Although if the last album was any indication, maybe they should start taking some real estate courses.

Read More [skynews]

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