Isn't it adorable when the MySpace gen discovers the road trip? Fucking precious. Now paid for and sponsored by hybrid cars and Ford and environmental groups and other STUPID FUCKIN' CORPORATE SHIT!
!!
Now, it's easy to see - who became famous for her intelligent, charismatic persona on - as simply selling out to the corporate world and becoming another random celebrity hawking her personality along with a cause - a la Don Henley or Angelina Jolie.
I disagree. I think it's healthy to get out there, make a comeback, talk to (A-list) bloggers and produce great content. Especially when you're supported by the makers of the Ford Escape Hybrid!
I mean, if anyone cares about the environment and innovative social media, it's Ford.
To prove Grayson wrong, I have decided to begin my own road trip! Of course, you might be thinking, But Kevin, you have a job, an apartment, and responsibilities.
I work best under duress and limitations, so we'll figure out a way to pull this off. AND have fun in the process! ;)
I asked Doritos, Coca-Cola and Home Depot to sponsor my road trip, but no one returned my calls.
I may have even called the wrong numbers, that's how excited I am. So, my road trip will be sponsored by .
SPONSOR ** NARCISSISTIC GRAFFITI - LOOK OUT BLOG #377,068 ON TECHNORATI!
YOUR ASS IS MINE! ** SPONSOR
I had an oil change today, so even my car is happy and ready to travel. I will start my road trip tomorrow and plan to end up in Greensboro, North Carolina on October 14, 2006 for the before heading back to Atlanta.
Every day from now until October 12, 2006, I will post daily and keep track of how many miles I've traveled in my wanderings around the nation. This should be fun!
SPONSOR ** AGAIN, THANKS TO NARCISSISTIC GRAFFITI - WHAT A KICK ASS BLOG NARCISSISTIC GRAFFITI IS.
** SPONSOR
Are Communities Obligatory or a Buffet Item?
My question of the day: Are communities something you are obligated to participate in? Or are they something you decide to participate in, as if selecting menu items from a buffet?
For example, one could hold the notion that communities are groups which you feel an affinity toward and choose. I might be a part of the Georgia technology industry, Atlanta blogging community, and the Way Too Into Deep Purple Online Fan Club.
However, because I decide not to be involved in local politics or my neighborhood, does that make my decisions about belonging to communities selfish?
Should people only care about their neighborhood if they want to care about it? Or are you obligated on some level?
Reason I ask: in high schools where students are assembling communities (essentially social groups) through MySpace that have nothing to do with their physical high school.
If students care less about their physical high school - deconstructing the notion of caring about your school and community - does that have implications for how the next generation will think about local politics and neighborhoods?
Ever drive around the suburbs of Atlanta outside the Perimeter? Sit in a Starbuck's with a panoramic view of strip malls, spaced far apart from one another, strangers filtering their way through the drab parking lots and entering the cookie-cutter businesses?
Does this look like your city too? Feel the sterile chill of a metaphorical autumn on its way? It ain't community like mama used to make it.
I have been using for several months now. While it still has some hiccups, it has now become required listening for me. Here's why:
1.
The variety of music is astounding. While certain stations run out of content quickly, it does not prevent you from exploring different tags. I've tried everything from Type O Negative and depressing to Beatles and light.
Since users tag the oodles of music that continually is poured into the collective pool, you get interesting clashes even when you pick tags that make you feel warm and fuzzy. My comfort tag is Queensryche, yet I've been introduced to a variety of bands that I normally would not have discovered.
2.
I pay for a subscription and enjoy my personal radio (music in the realm of that which I like) and loved tracks radio (which tracks my favorite favorite tracks, which I tell Last.FM that I love). Both stations have achieved a mix of music which my friends have teased me about for years.
My fantasy radio station has come true!!!
For example, last night, songs in a row included The Carpenters, Metallica, The Kinks, Pink Floyd and Elliott Smith. Slayer and Mozart also get played in close proximity sometimes. And the more I listen, the more variety and richness these stations produce.
They truly are fantasy radio stations for me.
3. The new updated Last.
FM player is sweet. It lists song, album and artist, with band bio, along with recently played tracks in a variety of forms. It's there that I can also switch radio stations.
Sometimes the music will move forward without the last song's tags changing; sometimes the radio station cuts out if the wireless connection is poor; sometimes the station runs out of content. Otherwise, it hooks up with iTunes (aka audioscrobbler) and lists tracks that you're playing - even when you're playing a CD on your computer. That's how I'm enriching my personal stations - popping in CDs to add certain songs and band to my collective data.
4. There are a lot of social features that I haven't played with much. (Journaling, recommendations, friends, user groups, etc.
)
5. Since some of these features are based on a web services model, I can add Last.FM stuff to my blog.
Maybe I'll have some free time to figure that out at some point.
6. Quality of music is good, too.
(128 kbit/s)
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
I've heard speak twice now (once , once on last night) about fearlessness. She makes sense.
I'm judging the this year and did the majority of the reading, analyzing and scoring tonight.
My work ethic has been influenced by and of late.
I've been obsessed with coffee shops lately, searching out ones in Atlanta with right combination of location, atmosphere and good coffee. Some of the best, so far:
Inman Perk Coffee: Peace and quiet amidst the bustle of the city.
Sitting outside in an oversized wooden chair, sipping good coffee, and listening to pins drop. :) Seriously, it says a lot about location to be in the Highland Ave. area relatively close to the city and for the environment to be this peaceful.
Parking is great, there is free wireless, and the inside is clean yet unique in its spatial arrangement.
Differentiators: Homemade ice cream, and !
Barrazu: A very cool place over on the corner of Ponce and Penn.
Spent an afternoon there almost by myself (I guess they get most of their traffic at night, which is a shame - people are missing out on a cool afternoon hang out spot). Had GREAT coffee, a slice of Italian rum cake, and looked out at the Bank of America building as an occasional respite from my reading. Even invited a couple of good friends who lived nearby to stop on over!
:)
Differentiators: Varied selection of cakes, and they bring your coffee to you.
Joe's Coffee: I am rarely in East Atlanta, but that may change as I possibly look for some alternative hang out spots (instead of always going to the Virginia Highlands or Little Five Points). Joe's Coffee is the best in terms of atmosphere.
Sitting out in the back patio strangely feels like the back patios of some Savannah coffee shops. However, when a thunderstorm drove me inside, I sat in a comfy chair reminiscent of a college buddy's apartment and felt like I should be whipping out some philosophy to read. Coffee is good, but the inside atmosphere and staring out onto the intersection of Flat Shoals and Glenwood is what did it for me.
Differentiators: Free wireless, atmosphere, location.
Share your favorite Atlanta coffee shops with me.
Hell, share your favorite coffee shops, period.
What are your favorites in other cities?? And why?
The report claims that as few as 20 tracks held on most consumers iPods are purchased from iTunes. That’s actually fairly consistent with Apple’s news last week that its population of about 60 million iPod owners have downloaded 1.5 billion tracks so far—around 25 tracks per ’Pod.
We could interpret this two ways - and probably both are true.
1. We are still becoming acculturated to buying singles again, after 30+ years of living in an album rock world.
2. The album as art form, carried into the CD age, is still a high aesthetic experience for people today.
While I love having random songs in my iTunes, when it's time to get serious about my music, it's all about the full CDs.
Even the kids today are still talking about artists in terms of their albums - Fall Out Boy, Snow Patrol, Jenny Lewis, etc.
Only time will tell if the iTunes acculturation will take us back to the 1950s and early 1960s - the days of hit singles - or if the album concept is powerful enough to steer through these disruptive technologies.
Man, seems like August 16 was just yesterday.
While work has been intense lately, getting out our next issue of the publication, I've also been spending a lot of time reading , journaling (inspired by , I'm now writing a page per day in a composition notebook of whatever comes to my mind about my life direction - a different form of writing than my other journal which records the highlights of what happens each day), and checking out many coffee shops in the area (Inman Perk Coffee, Highland Bakery, Aurora Coffee, Barramazu, etc.).
So, instead of making excuses about why I'm not blogging, there's actually nothing to excuse.
I'm deciding to spend my free time right now pursuing some interests and creative explorations that do not currently require me to blog. However, at some point in the future, blogging will make sense again, and I will return more regularly.
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