I spent the last several days goofing off with Mr. Bookpimp from the big NC. A good block of our time was spent investigating the latest lead on a Napster replacement, and I'm pleased to announce that we do have a winner. MusicCity's Morpheus engine is leaps and bounds above its closest rival. With incredibly fast downloads, sophisticated interface, great selection diversity and reliable receipt of files I recommend any looking to sate the void left by our late friend Napster to visit and use Morpheus.

And as an added bonus, it does music videos too.

Tonight Marty and I will be attending the graduation ceremony at the high school she teaches at. Each year at this time we watch as a fresh crop of students jet off for the exciting and frightening unknown that is independence, responsibility and free form decisions. While I am hopeful of the experiences they will enjoy, the selfish lobe in my mind desires them to remain, For me, the therapeutic benefits of my interactions with many of them is marked.

David Lienemann possesses a quiet and refined maturity rarely seen in a person of his age. I regularly marvel at his view and interpretation of the society around us. With gifts in the form of photography, music, business, and human nature, it's more than hard to remember he cannot legally drink. One of my first conversations with him involved this website and he told me it seemed pretty good but that it needed more pictures. I asked if he was suggesting I put up more of my pictures or publish some of his. "Yes", he replied and days later supplied me with a block of photos from a recent trip he had taken. That was many months ago and I have just recently completed the feature and invite you to visit California in Reason to see the work of a future photo great.

Jessica Campbell, known by many as the gay sister in Election and/or the hermaphrodite in Freaks and Geeks, will be departing to hone her skills on the big screen. I don't really know Jessica but regularly saw her at various school functions and events. These encounters always weirded me out given how much I enjoyed and remembered election and freaks. I have spoken with Jessica a few times (Stalker! Stalker!) and she is an intelligent, lovely and spookily centered young woman who is traveling in the first class section of the success concord. She has already filmed her next picture, The Safety of Objects, starring Glenn Close, which should be coming out this summer.

The Amen boys, the departing ones at least, represent my most selfish loss. These gifted acapella entertainers have provided me with more hours of enjoyment than they can conceive. Whether tapping a toe to Elliot's remarkable rendition of the Streets of Philadelphia (philidelphia.mp3 - 4,387kb), slapping a thigh during Roundy's energetic Basketcase (basketcase.mp3 - 4,100kb) or getting dizzy watching the Pennington twins lead the always randy Instanbul (instanbul.mp3 - 3,154kb), these guys will be sorely missed and prove to me that life is in fact not fair given the unreasonable amounts of natural charisma and talent dealt out to each one of these young men.

My social microcosm will certainly feel the loss of these and other students but humans across the country will have the benefits of making their acquaintance. Treat them honestly and well because they make me smile. And for those of you who do not have access to our exceptional youth allow me to confirm that while the bad ones are getting worse (ala columbine), rest assured that the good ones are absolutely getting better.

The greatest caveat to ill-fortune is that you are bound for things to pick up around the corner. Such is the case with my car stereo. If one gets swiped, a replacement gets bought. In my case the stand-in serves as a significant upgrade at half the cost. I made it my mission to locate an MP3 capable in dash CD player. At the time of this writing, unearthing such a unit was no small task. If you have not done similar research, prepare to be dumbfounded.

One could say that the car stereo industry does not have their finger on the pulse of the people, but that would be a grotesque understatement. All the major players have absolutely neglected the current phenomenon known as MP3 and Napster. For the few that did try to get their arms around it, only one did it right. They also happen to be the first to market. Aiwa produced the first and almost exclusive head unit that possesses the basic functionality anyone with an internet connection and cd burner would seek. The others are now scrambling to meet the demand but are all eons away from actually putting product in the hands of the consumer. Given this, I would direct anyone with a similar thirst to AIWA's CDC-MP3.

so last night i do a google search on MIAMI VICE MUSIC and the first hit leads me here. now while i could poke fun at that fact that this site exists, i feel unable to for three reasons:

1. i actually conducted a search for the information.
2. it is exactly what i was looking for and is pure gold.
3. it is 500% more useful than my own site.

for those of you thinking i'm dating myself with this crocket and tubbs reference , realize that i was literally dating myself in the mid 80's given that this show ran at 9pm on fridays (MOM! I WAS TAPING THAT!).

find yourself tapping your toe to the latest eminem offering and pissed off that you are tapping your toe to the latest eminem offering. don't sweat it. a lot of people are suffering from the same affliction, finding themselves unable to resist this verbal pied piper.

historically, rap has utilized the pedestrian format of rhyming the last word of every two lines. accepting this postulate, we have all dabbled in modern rap via our adolescent poetry written for a Mrs. Frink or whoever your junior high english teacher may have been. granted, some more ambitious rappers embraced an elizabethan or victorian approach, integrating modest forms of iambic pentameter and other like designs into their prose.

but, emimem introduces us to a technique he has created, mastered and popularized. this dopplar modification to the static norm presents a technique he terms the 'inline rhyme'. DEFINED: rhyme as many words as possible on every line. RESULT: a whole lot of people pissed off that they are tapping their toe to the music.