./janella.com

You have 30 seconds to spare and Flash installed?  Then watch [this quick version of Pulp Fiction]

Also available:

• [Alien]
• [Jaws]
• [Titanic]

and others.

Ah, another Internet and ME moment.  Found this nifty plug-in/site called [Audioscrobbler].    From their site it states:

Audioscrobbler builds a profile of your musical taste using a plugin for your media player (Winamp, iTunes, XMMS etc..). Plugins send the name of every song you play to the Audioscrobbler server, which updates your musical profile with the new song. Every person with a plugin has their own page on this site which shows their listening statistics. The system automatically matches you to people with a similar music taste, and generates personalised recommendations.

[See my page here]

The cool thing I’m looking for is recommendations of new music and groups. This was one of the main reasons why I liked file sharing, the ability to see what other people listen to who share your musical tastes.  (Of course there’s that nasty legal side of sharing files, but let’s not get into that here.)  The profile does time time to build, requiring about 100+ songs to be listened to before updating. The site can also be slow due to the amount of submissions and songs processed. Give it a shot.

Plug-in available for the following players:

• Winamp
• Windows Media Player 9/10
• iTunes (Windows)
• iTunes (Mac)
• foobar2000
• XMMS/Beep Media Player
• AmaroK
• QCD
• Rhythmbox
• J. River Media Center
• Xbox Media Center
• SlimScrobbler
• Noatun
• AmiScrobbler (MorphOS)

Still, there are plenty of early Peas-heads who remain disgruntled about the  group's leap to the pop world. But go ahead and call them sellouts. Lead lyricist will.i.am doesn't mind. "It's cool. It makes me feel good because that means they really liked our  first record."

I wouldn’t say I’m disgruntled, I just liked their old sound better.  Not sure I’m getting into their new album.  It’s pretty much pop, with a lot of contributing artists (Jack Johnson, Sting, Justin Timberlake…).  It’s can be catchy stuff - which pop is supposed to be right?

For more on how B.E.P. feels about their changing sound, [read this CNN article].

Can Darth Vader read your mind?  Visit [this web site] and challenge a Lord of the Sith. He did guess correctly what I was thinking! Weird.

I think I mentioned a post or two ago that I was starting a new blog.  Yeah, another blog.  This makes a total of three blogs!!!  Well, actually it’s more like two.  There is:

• [weblog] janella.com - The main blog.  I use this to keep family and friends updated on what is going on with life's events.  It also serves as the main method to hear about new photos taken and posted involving those life events.
• [360].yahoo.com - My work blog.  I write here to keep some friends at work informed of what's happening in my life.  It almost mirrors [weblog] janella.com, so if you read this blog you really don't need to visit here...unless you want to see what my coworkers are writing about.  360 is a beta weblog offered by Yahoo!
• [LTF] janella.us - The new blog!  A weblog to chronicle my adventures in photography.  We'll adventures is a strong word.  More like stumbling and fumbling through the learning process.

Having a separate blog has helped me focus my thoughts, and allowed me to write more about the task-at-hand. [weblog] gives me the freedom to write about anything, whereas [LTF] allows me to specifically write about taking photos.  I’m not sure if the writing is composed well, but it is the most writing I have done in some time.  Plus you won’t need to read about it here - and if you want to read about it you can go [there].  I hope you do take some time to read it over, and feel free to make any comments both encouraging and critical.

Who knows, managing three blogs may become cumbersome - it’s not cumbersome at the moment - so it may well change.

Oh well, it’s time to go do something.

Later.

Cool site: TrekEarth

Found this cool photo site as I was doing research for my new blog.  New blog?  More on it later.

Anyway:

“The underlying theme of TrekEarth is learning more about the world through photography. TrekEarth fosters this by allowing photographers to display their work grouped by regions in a supportive and orderly environment.”

I found the site to be fascinating and inspirational, as I try to increase my photography skills and time spent taking pictures.  Sites like this make me want to do and learn more.

Take a look at [TrekEarth] and see what’s happening around the world.

Gordon
Originally uploaded by sith_kicker.

My nephew Gordon might be coming out for the summer. Should he cut his hair before he comes out to California? Cast your vote (which requires you to register for an account at [LiveJournal.com] It’s free so why not?) Or you can leave a comment and decide.

Thinking of being a first-time home buyer in the Bay Area? Well, you might have to put in a couple more hours on the job:

"The San Francisco Bay area had the highest gap... where potential homebuyers had a median household income of $67,770 but needed qualifying income of $160,700 to purchase a median-priced home at $689,240."

[Read the full article]

Check out the flash game [Guess-the-google].  20 images are shown to you and you need to guess the term used to bring up those images.  Worth a couple of plays.

Link provided by Steven.

It looks as if [Friendster] has joined the blogging craze! I just did a test blog at http://giron.blogs.friendster.com/my_blog/ It seems simple enough.

The blogging engine is provided by [Six Apart] who also does [TypePad] and recently bought [livejournal.com] It looks like Six Apart is trying to take over all of the blogging community!

• The deal with Friendster provides them with a very good user base and exposure to revenue
• TypePad is a pretty successful subscription service
• livejournal.com is probably not too far behind in becoming (partially probably) a paid service. I think they will probably use livejournal.com more as a test environment, beta testing a few things out on that community then porting those changes over to TypePad and perhaps Friendster, depending on how that deal is structured.

All I have to say is that it’s interesting.

Visit the [Baby Name Wizard] for a visual historical look at your first name’s use. Just enter your name in the upper left corner, next to the flashing cursor. You will need to launch the link in Internet Explorer as it requires Java and some other Internet Explorer aspects. At least I wasn’t able to use it with FireFox. Link provided by Steven.

[Using animated stacking blocks] to tell time. It’s in military format. Watch it for a while to see the animation in action. This cool site brought to you by rsang.

[This lovely puzzle] comes to us courtesy of Steven. So blame him if you can’t solve it.

Catching up on some movie trailers since we haven’t been to the theater in a while. If you view these trailers, most require Apple’s QuickTime to view. Check these out:

• [Batman Begins] - The Dark Knight's tale goes back to Year One. Christian Bale plays a serious Batman. Hopefully this will erase the Schumacher Batman movies from memory.
• [Bride and Prejudice] - From the director of Bend It Like Beckham.
• [Charlie and the Chocolate Factory] - The Tim Burton/Johnny Depp remake of the Gene Wilder classic. I'm sure it's not going to be the same ride.
• [The Longest Yard] - Another remake, this one featuring Adam Sandler.
• [Sin City] - I am looking forward to this adaptation of Frank Miller's noir comic book. Directed by Miller and Robert Rodriguez.