Editor’s Post Script: I was quite drunk when I first posted this, with no preamble or followup comment. Suffice it to say I had been cruising around YouTube while saucing it up, and decided this great live performance by Ween (way back in the day) was highly deserving of a nod from the RKNet hive mind. That said, please enjoy the video, as it’s a great performance by the duo.

Ever wanted a quick visual representation of a particular set of search options from multiple engines? Search Crystal has you covered. It provides 3 different ways to view search results: clustered, spiraled, and listed. It will show you which engines pull up which results, too. So if Google and MSN are showing the same results, it will show you the difference in ranking. (Note: I have no idea at this time what they base their “rankings” on.)

I can picture this being not only a good tool for things like media seach, but also for SEOs to do a sort of litmus test for certain day-trader type terms on the fly.

As an example I have chosen the always interesting topic of Cthulhu! (It ~is~ Cthulhu Cthursday afterall.)

This group caught my eye as I was researching Cocorosie. Although this group steers far more towards the sensibilities of My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth than Cocorosie. It’s pleasant, uses harmonious vocals and delicious guitar distortion. I’m no technical expert, but I know what I like and this group passes all checks! (Plus, the 23 reference tickles my recent fancy in all things Discordia.)

Last night I dreamt about… being on vacation?! Say it isn’t so. I was in a big, strange city, with friends of mine I rarely get to see, and a few people from work. One of said rarely seen friends was trying vigorously to put the moves on me, or at least grope me. It wasn’t terribly exciting, just sort of awkward. Then a sassy foreign man and his friend got my attention in the street and I was whisked away (okay more like walked) to an exciting, exotic… bowling alley! The architecture was about five times as grand as what you’d expect. No beer and stale carnival atmosphere here. No, there were big dividers between lanes, and everything was a gleaming, modern, minimalist black and white. Before I even got a ball that I could heft picked out, someone pulled the plug on some small item (some light or noise emitting thing that was getting to be irritating) and the power went out in the whole place, so we all bolted.
Next I knew I was stumbling along outside of some manner of Charlie Brown theme park, area, ride, what-have-you. I walked on outside of a larger themepark area and sat down on a bench under the stars and stared at a book fluttering into the wind and began to cry for the end of innocence, the end of cartoons with merit, the end of art that is genuine, the end of a lot of things. I don’t now remember exactly what I said. Some friends encountered me and I sucked it up grudgingly as they gently suggested that perhaps I should go get some rest. Thinking that I was too worked up myself, I obliged.
I returned to what was ostensibly my hotel room, which was really more like two double-bed rooms separated by a curtain (but my side got the window so ha). There seemed to be a lot of detritus as I went to close the curtain, and discovered some strange girl throwing up in the unenclosed toilet just around the corner. I politely stepped away from the scene without closing the curtain all the way.
At some point shortly thereafter the girl was in our room with a regular guitar… and an inflatable bass (with a hole in the plastic somewhere). There was a bit of playing with those. I don’t remember much about it though.

I don’t remember anything of my dreams from earlier this morning other than:
“Why should I pay imperialist dues on music I’ve listened to for free for years?”
Unfortunately the rest was lost because I woke up to the cat being a HUGE JERK. Waking up irritated like that is a really easy way for me to forget things.

We were living in this large old house. There were about 5 dead people in our kitchen, poorly hidden. Not really our fault but think of how it would look! My brothers were all younger than they are now. People kept trying to come in and check the place out to do repairs and modifications. It was a beautiful old house but not in the best repair. I kept heading them off by stretching myself across doorways and pointing out things that needed to be worked on. I turned two people away and then declared - in a state of near panic - that we had to pack up and leave. I don’t know why we were in such a situation, but it was dreadfully scary. I scrambled to pack up a few essentials and we were in the car and on our way.
Read the rest of this entry »

I really hope they get this movie right. I love that trilogy. I can be a real dick about movies made from books that I like. It’s so rare that the film captures anything approaching the essence of the book. We’ll have to wait and see with this one.

Absolutely adorable. Have you hugged your TurboSloth today?

During these days of Table of Malcontents‘ last stand, every post is to be latched onto and ferverantly shaken like a favorite chew toy. From the incendiary, delightful Ms. Eliza Gauger comes a Noise Du Jour post sure to knock your socks off.

Meet Captian Ahab (no not that one):

Imagine, gentle readers, if Tenacious D played synth instead of guitar, partied hard with Mindless Self Indulgence every weekend, and only performed songs written by Lindsey Lohan. This is Captain Ahab.

- From Noise Du Jour: Captain Ahab

The video on tap at ToM is for the song “U Want Me”. I don’t know what to say about the music itself that Eliza didn’t already capture in her very-on-point description. As far as the video goes, it’s safe to say this duo has no qualms about taking some of the most revered and oft-used symbolic gestures for “seriousness” and “artistry” and making it some of the most ridiculous shit imaginable. Running on the beach, wind effects shown in reverse so as to appear “ethereal”, suicide (in a bubble bath, no less) and the rescue from it. (Note: I am not saying suicide is trivial, I am saying that it has already been trivialized and this only goes to illustrate that to the Nth degree.)

The following video is for Captain Ahab’s musical contribution to 2006’s Snakes on a Plane. Entitled Snakes on the Brain, this tune and accompanying video have a look and feel ripped off from the headier, more music-oriented days of MTV. Expect a lot of booty shaking, lyrics that don’t necessarily make sense, and of course, snakes.