Got a Blackberry Storm and love it so far. Messaging addition for the win.

We had an awesome family night.

Couch + Popcorn + Wall??E + Kids = FUN.

They loved the movie. It’s a testament to how good it is when a film with almost no dialog can completely engross a 2 and 4-year old for two hours.

If you didn’t know, they like to sue people. A lot. In fact, that seems to be their favorite pastime these days.

Don’t get me wrong – I am a fan of copyright protections. I know they protect artists and the revenue allows them to create more music, etc. I understand that. I buy music that I really like. In fact, I just bought a CD from this band that is local to Baltimore called The Bridge. I highly recommend checking them out.

Anyways, back to the RIAA and their seemingly limitless ability to be completely lame and attack all things awesome.

Their latest victim is a great little site called muxtape.com. Muxtape.com allows(ed?) you to upload several mp3′s and then it would stream them back to visitors of your site. Nobody could download the files you uploaded, but it was a great way to create random mixes to share with friends. We all made mixtapes back in the day and muxtape.com is a sort of Web 2.0 (I hate that term) equivalent.

The RIAA apparently had a problem with the site. I don’t know what it is. Their page simply reads:

Muxtape will be unavailable for a brief period while we sort out a problem with the RIAA.

I assume the RIAA‘s problem is something along the lines of: “People are enjoying music and we are not directly profiting nor did we give permission.”

See, the interesting thing is this – I found The Bridge through someone else’s Muxtape page. I bought their CD. I have recommended them to at least five different people since I bought their CD Saturday and I know for a fact that two of those people have also bought their latest CD. That is three CD sales as a direct result of muxtape.

You see, RIAA lawyers, your attacks on harmless sites like muxtape do nothing but prevent people from discovering new music or frustrate them into turning to piracy. Seriously.

I’d never recommend people illegally download music, but people do. All the time. Perhaps the RIAA should spend more time developing new and innovative ways of getting their music into the hands of music lovers and less time standing in the way of technological advances and suing people for finding creative ways to listen.

Music lovers will buy good music. Just don’t prevent us from enjoying it.

Anyways, what is interesting about this is that the soundtrack to the commercial is a piano demo by John Lennon called “Real Love.” It’s a great song that was re-worked by the remaining Beatles for release on Anthology 2 in 1996. I love this stripped-down version. It’s one of his acoustic home demos – he never finished it. This marks the first time to my knowledge that a Beatle or his survivor (Yoko Ono in this case) has permitted original recordings by a member of the band to be used in a commercial advertisement (The original recording of “Revolution” was used by Nike over the objections of the former band members.).

It’s a very strange commercial because it certainly doesn’t make me want to go Christmas shopping. Still, it is intriguing to me for some reason. It would have worked better as a movie short than it does as an advertisement. I do like it and I cannot get the song out of my head. Check it out below.

The song is available on a couple Lennon compilations – Acoustic and Working Class Hero: The Definitive John Lennon Collection.

Actually, if anyone cares, the exact version/take used is only found on the Working Class Hero collection.

The mistake was not caught for 24 hours. Naturally, the leaked episode is all over the internet already.

Apple should have definitely been more careful, but conversely, maybe MGM shouldn’t have even had future episodes accessible to Apple so early.

These are the kinds of issues that production and distribution issues that companies will have to be extremely cautious of as media distribution goes digital.

Well, the first shot of

Well, the first shot of Harrison Ford reprising the role of Indiana Jones is out!

He looks a bit older than he did back in the day, but he still looks the part. I hope this lives up to originals.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how excited am I about seeing Indy on the big screen? — 11

On a scale of 1 to 10, how scared am I that they could royally mess up the legacy? — 11

Note to Steven Spielberg: Your buddy George is great. Big fan of the Original Star Wars Trilogy, Indy, and THX-1138. But please please please keep his CGI obsession away from Indiana Jones IV.

Thank you.

Comparison: Indiana Jones – Then and Now:

…Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play.

6.1.1967 – 6.1.2007

Normally, I wouldn’t mention the same album twice in three posts, but it’s the fortieth anniversary. Besides, this is no ordinary “album.”

It’s no secret that I am a big fan of my iPod. In particular, I love the playlist options in iTunes. I have created tons of them and tend to listen to my music that way unless I want to hear a particular track. There are two musical groups that have been my favorites since high school. The first is The Beatles. I just love their music, but that’s a post for another day. The other group is the Dave Matthews Band. They are, in my opinion, the best group touring today. I don’t want to get into a subjective discussion as to why because it’s, well, a subjective thing. Anyways, the other day a good friend mentioned how awesome one of their early CD’s, Crash is. I agreed completely. It’s a phenomenal album. He went on to rattle off the names of several songs and it dawned on me… When was the last time I had actually listened to a full album? I couldn’t remember. I typically listen to individual tracks or mix playlists that I throw together or that are automatically generated by iTunes.

So, I decided to listen to my three favorite albums from my two favorite bands.

The Beatles:

Rubber Soul
Revolver
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Dave Matthews Band:

Under the Table and Dreaming
Crash
Before These Crowded Streets

Wow. It’s amazing what the right mix of songs can do. Listening to what the artists originally put together was great. Sure, I could listen to A Day in the Life, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and She’s Leaving Home on my playlist of favorite Beatles tunes, but they are so different in the context of an obviously planned and intricately-constructed album.

Pantala Naga Pampa and Rapunzel are great songs anywhere in a set list, but kicking off the beginning of Before These Crowded Streets with them serves as the perfect prelude to an excellent album.

I guess my point is this: There are many “artists” out there that are lucky to generate a single decent track on a given album. Then there are those who are truly talented and can sculpt an array of songs into a single, unified work that just flows perfectly. To my ears, there’s no better way to listen to great music. I’ll continue to enjoy my numerous playlists, but I’ll no longer ignore the option to just listen to a good “record.”

Last night, I had the pleasure of reacquainting myself with a cinematic masterpiece from my youth – The Wizard. In 1989, The Wizard took the nation by storm with its harrowing tale of three kids determined to make it to “Video Armageddon,” a national Nintendo competition at Universal Studios in California.

With a cast like Fred Savage, Christian Slater and Beau Bridges, how can you possibly go wrong? Fred Savage plays Corey Woods, a nine year-old boy from Utah whose family is in ruins. Christian Slater plays his older brother Nick. Beau Bridges plays his father, Sam. Corey and Nick also have a younger half-brother, Jimmy, who lives with his mother (his mother is Sam’s second ex-wife). Jimmy is “special.” Ever since the drowning of his twin sister Jennifer, he rarely speaks and is eventually institutionalized. Doing what every nine year-old kid would do, Corey springs his little brother and they begin hitchhiking their way west toward California.

Along the way, they meet another young wandering soul, Haley, played by Jenny Lewis. They pick her up at a gas station/bus stop and she joins them in their westward trek. At that same stop, Corey accidentally discovers that his little brother has a gift. “You got 50,000 on Double Dragon?!” he exclaims. You see, Jimmy is like the Nintendo Rain Man – master of all things 8-bit. Once his true skills are recognized, the group decides to make the journey to Video Armageddon and attempt to win the $50,000 prize. Oh, and did I mention that there is a laughingly wimpy bounty hunter sent to retrieve Jimmy? That’s right. The plot is: A 9-year old and his Nintendo-genius pick up a girl at a gas station and travel alone to California to win a video game championship while being pursued by a bounty hunter and culminating with an exciting game of Super Mario Bros. 3.

Let me tell you – this movie is ridiculous. Seriously, it is. However, any movie that prominently features Double Dragon, Ninja Gaiden, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Super Mario Bros. 3 and the Power Glove is OK in my book.

I had not seen The Wizard in at least fifteen years. It was never even one of my favorite movies as a kid, though I remember liking it. Still, I had so much fun watching it last week. In fact, I need to pull out my favorite emulator and freshen up on some 8-bit video game awesomeness. A gripe though: “Rain man” or not – there’s no way that kid knew about that warp whistle if he had never seen the game before. I don’t care how good he is. If you’ve ever played SMB3, you know what I’m talking about.

An additional bonus: You get to see young Spider-man make a cameo appearance. Check out this screenshot!