Garaphernalia 7.5

When it comes to updates; when it rains, it pours.

As an extension of my post on myspace (which was mostly written a month ago btw, I just bothered to finish it and post it tonight) I wanted to write about one of my favorite sites/applications: last.fm*.

Last.fm basically is a service that tracks what music you listen to. You install a plug in for iTunes or Windows Media Player or Winamp or whatever, and it sends the tracks you listen to, to a central server.

I sounds like a big invasion of privacy…and it is. But I really don’t care if other people can track my music listening habits. I like the fact that I can track my own music.

Here are my top 10 artists since I’ve began tracking my music with last.fm:


1 Philip Glass 2391
2 Regina Spektor 1050
3 Fiona Apple 730
4 Queen 703
5 Mitch Hedberg 497
6 The Langley Schools Music Project 477
7 Olivia Newton-John 343
8 Aimee Mann 332
9 The Like 304
10 Liz Phair 297


I have no beef with the list other than you can really skew results if you put your player on repeat and leave the house. Example: I own a total of two songs by Damien Rice, yet he is ranked #13 on my list. Reason? When I downloaded them, I put them in a rotation and left the house for the weekend. Next thing you know I’m the biggest Damien Rice fan in the goddamn world. Pretty much the same for Olivia Newton John. She’s good, but….

You can also get pre-made or data feeds for your website. I have a list of my 5 more recently played songs in the right hand column of my site (feeddigest sucks BTW). You can also just paste an image like this:

I think this sort of stuff is what the internet was made for because its a really simple way to find out what people you know are listening to and a really easy way to discover new music. Get it. Install it. Its fun.

*Note: the .fm domain name is for the Federated States of Micronesia. On my trip, I’m going to do a piece on small nation domain names. .tv, .fm, .tk, etc. Just for shits, I want to see if I could register microsoft, google, or some other big trademark under a small nation top level domain name.

My \My\, a. & poss. pron.
Of or belonging to me

myspace
Noun: An empty area of or belonging to me

Clever no?

Myspace is probably the worst designed major website in the world. As social networking sites go, if your not under 18, you probably don’t have a myspace account. If you’re between 18 and 24, you probably have a Facebook account. If you’re over 25, you probably have a Friendster account. If your from Brazil, you use Orkut.

I have accounts on all of the above (cause I’m a nerd). I have a Friendster account because I’m over 25. I have a Facebook account because I took classes in college. I have an Orkut just because, and I guess I have a myspace account because I’m emo.*

As much as it sucks, I find myself checking myspace much more than the other sites even though I know far fewer people on it. The best I can figure, I’m compelled to look at myspace like I’m compelled to look at car crashes on the side of the road. I know its wrong, yet I cannot help myself. I actually have very few real friends on myspace because most people I know don’t use myspace. (and that’s not a bad thing).

I check Facebook every so often just to see recent photos of kids I worked with in extemp/debate. Its odd because they’re all adults now (sort of). Some of them have become very adult (sort of). Its spooky (sort of).

Friendster has become dead to me even though I know more people on there than anywhere else.

All of these sites are great for stalking people. None of these are good for stalking me, especially since I have a site like this. I’m super easy to stalk (FYI, if any women out there would like to seriously stalk me, I will trade fingernail clippings and dirty undergarments in exchange for house cleaning. Contact me for more info!)

I’m always amazed at how when you look in your extended network (aka friends of friends) everyone is always attractive and happy. I’m ugly and miserable. I think my friends serve as a buffer between me and the good looking, happy people. They must be plain and boring.

There is no real point to this meditation on social networking sites other than, like reality TV shows, I think they’re dumb yet I tune in anyhow. If you have an account, list me as you’re friend, but not too many of you because I’m really not that social.

*Note: not really emo.

If you live in the Twin Cities, I have an extra ticket to go see Regina Spektor on October 19 at the Varsity. (Extra defined as two and I can’t find anyone else who wants to go).

If you don’t know who Regina is, I strongly recommend taking the time to listen to her. She’s great.

ZOMG has this turned out to be a disaster.

I have concluded that the ultimate blame for all of this lies in the fact that I don’t have a real copy of XP, only a dumb ass recovery CD for the factory settings I got with my computer. I have Windows, but I really don’t have Windows. If I wipe my hard drive and try to reinstall from the recover CD, it is IMPOSSIBLE to get XP to run. It will install the files, but it wont boot.

I can install Linux and it can boot fine.

I’m going to install the RC1 of Vista I think rather than buy a full blown copy of XP. I’m so frustrated with Microsoft and their dumb ass upgrade and recovery CD’s, and their stupid activation codes. I have a perfectly good copy of Office XP, but I can’t use it because I can’t perfectly remember how I put in my name when I first installed it, now I can’t reactivate it. It’s worthless.

As I’m packing up all the crap in my house, I’m dumbstruck as the number of Microsoft CD’s I have accumulated over the years. The majority of which, I couldn’t use if I wanted to because they’re all upgrade CD’s or recovery CD’s for computers I don’t have (or just the paper license to the OS, with no CD’s at all).

The funny thing is, the only thing which has ever driven me to consider pirating Windows has been dealing with all the copy protection bullshit. Absent that, I’d really have very little issue with Microsoft.

Linux has been an education. There are parts of it which are good, and parts which are not. It doesn’t recgonize my video card and there doesn’t seem to be much support for it. Simple things like installing Flash are far more difficult than they need to be. (all applications really) I can’t easily run multiple monitors. I have a brand new video card, but I can’t run beyond the base resolution and can’t run 3D rendering natively. That seems like pretty basic stuff. All of those limitations have been less frustrating than dealing with Windows if for no other reason than I didn’t pay for it and I can always burn a CD if I need to.

Boy, did I speak too soon.

This has been a disaster.

I eventually had to remove XP and Linux, install and re-install XP about 5 times and constantly fiddle with my partition manager software.

Right now I got Linux running, but not XP. I can surf the web, but that’s about it. I don’t know how to open ports to use Gaim. I’m very unsure about how to install new applications, use RPM, or manage icons. I also can’t get multiple monitors working or the scroll wheel on my mouse.

Thank God I have a laptop.