Clearly I'm making up for lost time today, but I just came across possibly one of the coolest music sites I've seen in a long time courtesy of "the guy with the clothes pins" (thanks buddy!). If you haven't seen and heard it yet, check out Pandora.com and create your own music station. You heard me right, thanks to almost seven years of music analysis and a team of fifty musician-analysts the Music Genome Project can now compile a list of music based on the melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals, lyrics, etc of a favorite artist or song. It's the perfect way to discover new tunes and artists based on what you already know you like.
The fact that all of this is free is just icing on the proverbial cake. Nice.
This clip was shared with me and I didn't think it was worth sitting through until I got like 4 minutes through...
If you have the time and sound (key for this particular clip), watch and you too will think Gladys Hardy could be the funniest 80-somethin woman out there.
Not all holidays are created equal. At least not the upcoming holiday, Valentine's Day. Some people like to romanticize the history and wish for flowers and chocolates, while others take a less enthusiastic approach. Even though I avoid most of the traditional Valentine's Day gifts, I can appreciate the thoughtful ideas some people come up with on this holiday.
My feeling, if you're going to do something for this mostly commercial holiday, make it good and original.
So if you are in the area, JK Baking in Newton, MA has the sweetest (literally) gift idea for your loved ones. Their "Crush Box" is perfect for that shy guy you've secretly been dreaming about in the corner cube, or your girlfriend who is expecting the tired old heart-shaped box of Hershey candies (shame shame).
Not only will they bake up some delicious homemade goodies and package them up in cloth covered boxes for you, but they will deliver them to your Valentine as well. If you want to be mysterious and remain anonymous, they will keep the sender secret until the crush calls them and reciprocates with you name as their crush! It's perfect!
Unless of course, your crush is on a strict diet.
It's official, every die hard fan who has been following the life of Harry Potter and his friends for the last...oh 9 years (I myself became addicted in 99' with Chamber of Secrets) will hopefully find the answers to all the questions the previous 6 books have raised when the 7th and final installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is released on July 31st. (Dare I mention that date is less then six months away!) I could get into a long converstation on the questions that finishing the Half-Blood Prince inspired but, that would probably bore the pants off anone who is a dedicated fan, so I'll restrain myself.
This release has been anticipated not only by fans however, but stockholders are already putting additional money behind the Potter franchise, which officially celebrates it's 10th anniversary this year since the first book was published and has sold 325 million copies of the books worldwide. I wish I had been old enough to consider investing in this when I first stumbled upon the series in tiny bookshop on the Cape, but alas I was only 14. With 2,009,574 copies of the Half-Blood Prince sold on the first day alone in London, and with the price of the upcoming monumental hardback set at $34.99 for the regular version (the deluxe eddtion will go for around $65), investors are anticipating some HUGE sales. In fact Bloomsbury shares were up 2.2% after the release announcement was made yesterday by AP.
In other Harry Potter related news, we also have the upcoming movie to look forward to this summer (July is going to be a good month) and you can find out what onscreen Harry Potter has been up to here. If you haven't already heard, he's hitting the London stage in... well... practically nothing. It'll be interesting to see if Daniel Radcliffe can in fact shed his wizard boy image, but I guess this play is one way to start!
