Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Wal-Mart Launches Online Music Service - No Thanks

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. launched an online music video and audio service with exclusive studio performances Wednesday, part of a broader strategy to make itself trendier and draw consumers already in the store for cheap staples into other departments.

Dubbed 'Wal-Mart Soundcheck', the service features studio performances and interviews with new and established bands and musicians, the Bentonville, Ark.-based company said in a statement. First up were punk pop fivesome Yellowcard and rock band Switchfoot.

The segments, each with four to six songs, will play for free on Walmart.com and on television screens in Wal-Mart electronics departments. There will be a viewing event in stores of the complete 30- to 40-minute performance every few weeks on Friday nights and fans can also download audio tracks from the performances for a fee from the Web site. The artist selection will cover genres including rock, pop, punk, country, hip-hop and R&B. New acts will follow monthly. | Source: Yahoo! News
This is one service I doubt I will be trying out. Remember Walmart is the retail store that has more censorship and 'banning' of many artist because of the lyrics in their music. I am frankly surprised that Yellowcard are the first out the gate with this new service. Well they are mainstream pop-punk. The service sounds very similar to 'AOL sessions' - offered to it's subscribers. Even though there are rumors that Napster may be selling it's service my response to Walmart is - No Thank you!

Monday, January 23, 2006

Whatever happened to mainstream pop? - MUSIC - MSNBC.com

"Now, suddenly, old-fashioned radio itself is threatened with extinction. From the ubiquitous MP3 players to the surging medium of satellite radio, the listener is building a virtual fortress according to his or her own tastes " | source: Whatever happened to mainstream pop? - MUSIC - MSNBC.com
So Sad but so true. I don't listen to as much radio as before. It's not like I listen to less amount of music, quite the contrary. I've always been addicted to music and practically have some form on throughout the day. I have just changed my listening source habits. Goodbye old fashion alarm clock! I have a timer setup on my TV that wakes me up to XM satelite music broadcasts. I love having the theater sound sytem wake me up each morning :) At work I tune into napster or launchcast, where I can listen to my mp3 song collection or run my customized radio station. When I come home from work, either I am in my car listening to my CDs, or I am in the train listening to my palm mp3 player. At home I have everything to chose from and only once in a great while will I choose the stardard radio stations. Actually I take that back I tune into the radio station from my shower radio player. OK I think I have given way too much information about myself.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

My Alcoholoscope

Oh my Goodness!, I found this to be so true. This is my Alcoholoscope:
LEO - Drinking style
Leo likes to drink and dance -- they're often fabulous dancers, and usually pretty good drinkers as well, losing their commanding dignity and turning kittenish. Of course, they're quite aware they're darling.

Leos will be Leos, after all. They generally know their limit, probably because they loathe losing self-control. When they get over-refreshed, expect flirting to ensue - and perhaps not with the one that brought them. But Leo's not the type to break rules even when drunk, so just try to ignore it (try harder, Cancer) and expect a sheepish (and hung over) Lion to make it up to you the next day.

Read your astrology drining style @ alcoholoscopes

Thursday, January 05, 2006

My Chicago Daily News Post

I have to admit I love seeing a picture that I have taken posted on another site. Not just a common site like flickr that I maintain but other sites that not only other people maintain but resgularly visit. The Chicago Chi-town Daily News is an online newspaper maintained by and by Chicago residents for Chicago residents. I was able to contribute my pictures to the website and although I admit this is out of pure vanity - I love it. You'll recognize my picture if you saw yesterday's posting on my photo-blog. It's a picture I took from a forest trail. You can visit the site at chitowndailynews.org, I look forward to contributing many more pictures in the near future.
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Monday, January 02, 2006

Sir Charles (The Pooch) Goes On A Hike

I cannot continue to leave the Charlie picture posting in the back burner any longer now can I? For those patient Charlie fans I'd like to give you an update on your favorite furry friend. He is quite a lazy pooch these days. I don't think I've ever seen a dog want to sleep so much. Those puppy days are long gone!

We did go for a winter hike the other day though. The snowy views were beautiful, look for those postings in the photoblog. Charlie enjoys playing in the snow, although much of it has melted now. We've been 'fortunate' to have warm weather this weekend and are now left with swampy like mud mess. I hate when he pulls me into those mushy puddles - he gets quite messy as well. Charles fur is at full length now and desperate needs a trim. Come back next week I should have a new pic of him with a new look soon.
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Sunday, January 01, 2006

Happy New Year!!

I can't believe another year has passed us and a new year begins. Time flies when you're having fun, and boy was it fun last night - right? In case you missed the ball drop in Times Square and all the celebration you see a streaming broadcast on MSN - NYC New Years 2006 Broadcast.

Onto the New Year's resolutions... I don't even remember what my last year's wants were. I even looked in the good ol' blog archives and found nothing. I guess I didn't keep any or forgot to make some. Well this year I do have a major one. I look back at 2005 and although prosperous and filled with fond memories it was incredibly hectic and had too little of me going out and having fun. This year will be different, not in terms of the hectic schedule, quite the contrary on that one. I still plan to continue with my masters. My new year's resolution is to enjoy life more and make time to go out with friends and hopefully make new ones.
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