Phantom Planet “Raise the Dead” preview

A quick search of iTunes turned up a listing for the new Phantom Planet album “Raise the Dead.” Being one of my favorite bands I’ve been looking forward to the release for a while. The interesting thing about this pre-order for the album is it has a complete 30 second clip preview of every track.

Sliding through it, I think it’s going to be a great album. It has a lot of the feel from the last album “Phantom Planet” but with a little more of the pop flair they became known for with earlier releases. Look for it to hit my iPod on April 15.

Check it out for yourself.

A deluge of good music is coming

Over the next few months a number of bands and artists will be releasing some high profile albums that I’m really starting to get jazzed about. On Tuesday Panic At The Disco will release their sophomore album “Pretty, Odd.” an album I’ve been waiting for ever since I heard a 30 second sample of the lead singled “9 in the Afternoon.” The catchy track has given me high expectations for the entire album.

Phantom Planet, Death Cab for Cutie, R.E.M. and Dido also have albums that’ll be released throughout the year. I also just learned the Weezer album is ready to drop in the next couple months. What’s not to be excited about there?

Oh yeah, and it’s likely we could see a new Oasis album. Nuff said.

Boys and their toys

I always loved Hot Wheels and Matchbox Cars growing up. The small cars were fun to zip across the floor or ride over the sofa. I never lost that interest in the little vehicles, picking up a few over the years but never really jumping into the collecting realm.

My friend Alex started collecting the cars, encouraging me to follow suit - knowing my interest in the diecast marvels. At $0.97 a pop at Walmart it was finally a collectable that I could sink my teeth into without sinking my bank account.

Currently I have about 15 cars (including two mystery cars - you don’t know what you’re going to get). I’m going to try to chronicle my collection here in the gallery.

Getting the gallery working

I’ve been working over the last few hours to get a photo gallery working on my site. It’s nicely integrated into the blog and pretty easy to navigate around. This is pretty important for me because I’m going to be focusing more on taking photos. This will give me a good place to showcase them. I hope you enjoy.

Check out the new Photo Gallery.

From a totally Web geek stand point there are a few reasons I’m excited for this new gallery set up. For ages I’ve been wanting to integrate a system that would allow me to upload photos to my site directly from iPhoto on my Mac. Since that is where my photos are stored, it only makes sense that would be the portal for getting them online

With the help of the plugin iPhotoToGallery by Zwilly.com I’m actually able to do it. By just exporting an iPhoto album, it’s up on my photo gallery with ease.

To take it the next strep, I was able to intigrate Gallery2, an online photo management software that works like Flickr but directly on my server in WordPress so it truly integrates into RJW3. By using WPG2 I’ve accomplished it.

If you’re still reading, and have a few more questions feel free to ask.

A new outlook

There have been a few things I’ve wanted to do more of lately. From listening to more music and watching less TV to snapping more photos for myself, I think I’m finally starting to get motivated to take those actions.

I’ve talked about wanting a new camera as my current digital camera is a few years old now. Months ago I talked about a handful of cameras I would like to get my hands on. As that is not in the budget for the time being, I think I’m going to utilize what I have more frequently. That means taking it with me wherever I go.

Once I get to that point, I’ll be sharing more photos - including the development of a new gallery (if I can get some plugins to work right on WordPress). As for the music, I’m listening to my iPod on shuffle at the moment through my surround sound. Does that count?

Blu-Ray prices rise without HD DVD

One of the fears I had when HD DVD announced it was calling it a day was the already absorbent prices of Blu-Ray players would skyrocket with the lack of competition. In the months leading up to the demise of HD DVD, prices of the Blu-Ray competitor were falling dramatically, with players priced under the $100/$150 - a price point that got me to buy into the format.

It has been evident to me for a long time Blu-Ray players were priced based on the PlayStation 3. Sony, the primary backer of the high definition Blu-Ray format also produces the PS3 - set to be a major part of Sony’s revenue stream. Oh yeah, and it plays Blu-Ray movies too.

Continue reading Blu-Ray prices rise without HD DVD…

Giving my review

I was digging through a box in a closet tonight looking for my “Encyclopedia Beatles” my reference for all things Beatles, including details of the “Let It Be” film, a subject I am increasingly interested in delving into.

During my digging, I discovered two CDs I’ve been looking for and feared lost. The two were Whiskeytown’s “Strangers Almanac” one of my favorite albums that I was close to re-purchasing and Remy Zero’s “The Golden Hum” an album that marks the early Otts for me pretty clearly.

While doing this I’ve had music on in the background, specifically Nine Inch Nails “Ghost I,” the first part of a recent download album Trent Reznor released much like Radiohead did late last year.

With such a breadth of music to dig through, it makes me realize how varied my tastes in music really are.

Continue reading Giving my review…

Talk about something interesting

If you don’t follow the tech community closely you probably missed it. An interview that has implications that were larger than the audience in attendance for it. It involved a Business Week columnist/author and the creator of Facebook.com.

It was billed as an interesting keynote address for SXSW, a conference that brings together technology, music, art and everything else in between. An evolving event that kicked off many years ago that has expanded from a focus on music to what it is today.

The piece of SXSW that seems to be attracting the most attention this year is an interview between Mark Zuckerberg, an entrepreneur with a reputation for being shy and avoiding public speaking. The other, a columnist/journalist who admits to being a friend of “Zuck’s” - Sarah Lacy.

Continue reading Talk about something interesting…