Please excuse me while I take a two-ish week vacation from blogging to enjoy monsoon season in Thailand with my sister and my friend Buddy.

While I’m gone, enjoy this video, over and over again.

Okay, I’ll admit it: I have way too much music. To be fair, I think I should be allowed a bit more than the average dude, and I’m appalled at some people when they tell me how much music they have, because they aren’t even music people at all.

All this doesn’t really matter much any more, though, thanks to technology. Storage costs keep dropping, for one thing.

But the question still remains: what do we do with all that music? Certainly we can’t listen to it all. In my case, if I started my iTunes library at the top and didn’t stop playing til every song was done, it would take about a month. Yeah, I know. It’s sad.

And then along came the iTunes Genius feature. I can pick a song I want to hear right now, and it will go through my library and find other tracks I might want to hear after it. It’s quite magical. And now I have this ridiculous 120 GB iPod where I can hold down a button and it will do the Genius thing while I’m on the go! What is the world coming to?

There’s also its lesser-known, still-beta cousin Last.fm Boffin, which I’ve found to be just as good, if not better. Lots of potential there.

Now, it’s become my mentality when I find a digital track I like from one of my many sources (usually Stereogum, Pitchfork and the like), if it’s something I enjoy even remotely, or even if it’s something I could only imagine myself enjoying in the future, I hang onto it. I mean, why not?

It’s kind of like I have my own set of radio stations or something. What gets played will always surprise me, but I’ll always like it. What could be better?

On a deeper level, I like how technology is starting to address the issue of the paradox of choice.

Because sometimes you need to see the worst kind of people in the world. It’s good entertainment and it’s good for reminding you to not be that guy.

As I’m sure most are aware, I occasionally write about music for Buzzgrinder.com and Ghettoblaster Magazine. (Some call this “music journalism”; I call it “getting away with talking crap about musicians who are probably pretty okay dudes and ladies in real life.”) And it’s no secret I have a slight loathing of many music industry practices.

I’d like to continue discussing an issue I’ve touched on before about public relations people. As I’ve said, I get a LOT of email from PR people. I would say 95% of this email is mass-mailed (hence the spam accusations). Out of all of those mass-mailed press releases, I probably read about 10% of them and end up doing something with maybe 1% total. (And even then, usually in a way the PR people wouldn’t like much.)

And then there are the good PR people like my friend Termeh. About a year ago or so, she started following me on Twitter and occasionally responding to tweets in a normal-person kind of way. After a while I started following her because she seemed cool enough. Only then did I realize she worked for a PR firm. And after that, it was several months before she ever talked to me for a potential story opportunity. And you know what? When she did, I took her seriously.

Now she sends me the occasional email, directly. She told me she’s never mass-mailed. She’s also among the best PR people I’ve worked with. There might be a correlation there.

Long story short, PR people, can you please stop spamming and mass-mailing me? It doesn’t work. Maybe do what your job title entails and actually relate to the public. (Notice above that I refer to Termeh as “my friend.” Hint hint.) Is that too expensive? If so, you are probably not a good investment of a company; give up while you still have some dignity.

[via i can read]

I could write a large rant right here about how materialistic we are as a society. But I’ll just point out that the American Church, many of whom feel we shouldn’t be paying taxes into welfare, is only giving about 2% of its collective income toward tithing and giving to those in need.

Welfare is full of its problems. But my question is: if most American Christians got to keep their taxes that go toward welfare and give the money to a charity of their choice instead, would they? Would those in need be provided for? The stats don’t seem to be in favor of “yes.”

Before Dan Brown wrote The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, he wrote a book called Digital Fortress. Looking for a quick, fun read, I figured it would be a decent choice, and I was not proven wrong.

A standard Dan Brown-style, modern adventure involving cryptography, the NSA and an attempt to bring down all their wiretapping abilities. Unlike his two most well-known books, this is hardly controversial, only touching lightly on the issue of surveillance in government: hardly a monster of a topic as the entire history of the Catholic church and Jesus Christ Himself.

I would say this book isn’t Brown’s best, but still impressive for a first-timer. It wasn’t difficult or annoying to read, but the flow was a little jumpy and it was a bit too predictable at parts. And I enjoyed the computer talk because, at heart, I’m kind of a nerd. In case you hadn’t noticed.

Happy Friday to you all. Here’s the newest music video from Camera Obscura, for the track “Honey in the Sun.” I’ve been enjoying their newest album, My Maudlin Career, quite a bit.

Frontwoman Tracyanne Campbell has the distinct characteristic of being both sunny and dark all at once. Her voice is sweet, but still something haunts her. And it’s a lucky day if you can catch a smile on her face. She intrigues me something awful.

While we’re on the subject of psychology and willing the future, can we talk about names?

The other day I was wondering if people tend to live up to the name they are given. Like, the fact that my name is Josh, is that going to affect the way my life plays out? Would my personality differ if I were named Gary?

I look at most of my friends and for the most part they seem to fit the names they were given. Gretchen is definitely a Gretchen. Craig is such a Craig. Reba wouldn’t be herself without her name. And when I meet someone that doesn’t match their name, other people tend to agree. Otherwise I’d say that we just connect a person’s personality to their name, no questions asked.

Speaking of Gretchen, when she first met me, she told me I looked more like an Arthur than a Josh. So that’s what she called me, and it stuck. Is there something similar about how Joshes and Arthurs live their lives that made that happen?

I read somewhere once that when a person writes their goal or dream down and repeats the idea aloud often, it’s more likely to come true. I also read somewhere once that people who date more people before getting married are more likely to get divorced. I wonder if that’s the same psychological effect at work.

So here’s a thought: what if we could convince everyone to write down “avoid divorce” or “stay married” or “live happily ever after” on a piece of paper every day? What if we constantly reminded ourselves to speak in terms of an entire lifetime together when talking to our significant other? Would our embarrassingly high divorce rate go down?

Just a thought. Pass it on.

Because I’m going to buy the technology I need when the stuff I’m currently using no longer meets my needs.

Usually that means a new computer every 3 or 4 years, a new cell phone every 2 and a new mp3 player whenever the previous one decides to die.

Most early adopters of new technology seem to me to be irresponsible with their money and time. Obviously somebody has to lead the way, but unless you run a tech-focused company or have more money than you know what to do with, it’s probably not you.

Use what you’ve got until it stops working or your needs change. And when it’s time to buy, don’t buy more than you need.

2009 #WWDC LIVEBLOG

1 sec ago: You have everything you need to make something right now.

[via @hotdogsladies]