new Amazon mp3 store is nice (DRM-free!)

Just downloaded my first bought album in mp3 format, using Amazon.com: Manu Chao’s La Radiolina. The service worked like a charm, way better than the recent black eye left by the Amazon Unbox video download service, which was even a hassle to uninstall.

Unlike iTunes, the Amazon mp3 downloads are DRM-free, so you can burn, copy and save to your heart’s content. You do need to install a small bit of software, but it’s a painless, 1-minute process. Then the program manages and organizes your downloads and imports them into iTunes or Windows Media Player, automatically. Very slick.

I don’t think the library is that huge yet, but I will shop there again. Besides the ease, I am really pleased to support Manu Chao.

This was the first video off the album, “Rainin’ in Paradize.”

Sheriff Norm sledgehammers his television live on Radio Free Hawaii

If you recall, Radio Free Hawaii was conceptualized and piloted by Sheriff Norm. Below is some classic audio of Sheriff Norm calmly ranting about the corrupting influences of television and superiority of radio as a broadcast medium. Then he smashes his television set with a sledgehammer, in the studio. Because that is the kind of man Sheriff Norm is.

Considering it is over 10 years old, the battered cassette tape this came from is lucky to be alive! Quality is poor, there is Hawaiian music running underneath and all kinds of strange distortions and static, but that just gives it a way-back feeling. Hope you enjoy?!

This bit of violence against consumer goods was recorded from a rebroadcast on the late-night talk show of the inimitable Mad Mohammad, a popular and controversial dj. The topic that evening was violence on television and “do you agree with Sheriff Norm’s decision to sledgehammer his tv?”

Because he cares about the kids, Mohammad also offers some helpful safety tips for listeners who might decide to sledgehammer their own television.

These snippets came from cassette recordings by Shawn Speedy Lopes, former production director at Radio Free Hawaii and current owner of Stylus Music and Clothing Exchange.

the pop secret is out–microwave popcorn is super easy to make

Popcorn is an amazing food. Kernels of whole grain goodness that pop to unique, tasty shapes. Like snowflakes with substance. It tastes so great all salty and crunchy and chewy and in the case of my recent addiction, coated in white cheddar powder. We were eating it bag by organic bag-full when the “popcorn lung” scare hit mainstream media.

Even tho the scare concerns the ConAgra-fake-buttered type of microwave popcorn and not the heath-food-store-bought version we’d been consuming like popcorn-crazed maniacs, the story did make popcorn suddenly seem a little less wonderful.

Enter the environmentally aware, DIY-ers at lighterfootstep.com, who recently urged readers to Dump Dangerous Diacetyl by Making Your Own Microwave Popcorn. Diacetyl is the fake butter flavor that causes life-threatening respiratory and other problems.

This is all you have to do to make your own microwave popcorn.

You’ll need a brown paper lunch sack about 1/4 cup of loose, organic popcorn kernels. Measure the kernels into your bag. Add one teaspoon of olive oil and popcorn salt to taste. Fold the top of the bag and shake gently to mix.

Press most of the air out of the bag. Secure with two staples (they won’t spark in most ovens) or tape loosely, leaving room for steam to vent. Place flat on a microwave-safe plate and heat on a high setting until the pops have slowed down to about three seconds apart. it will take less than four minutes.

Within hours of reading this recipe, I had to try it, and the results were fantastic (see photo). The recipe is extra simple, but can be refined with different proportions, flavors and methods.

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of lampreys and shellsuits

Learned something new about Finland on this travel-video site. I wonder if they eat the heads, or they have to cut the teeth out?

Lamprey have nothing to do with this hilarious article in the Helsingin Sanomat about the “authentic Finnish national costume,” the shellsuit (tracksuit in U.S.-English). However, in the lamprey video, you can see a Finn citizen happily eating flame-broiled lamprey while wearing what looks to be the notorious shellsuit.

There is a reason this get up doesnt make it onto Hel Looks.

the all-consuming self

Recently took in The Century of the Self, about psycho-analysis, advertising, consumerism, mass behavior and how we’re all getting got. The BBC-produced series illustrates how both Freud’s theories and his family members were well in the mix of American public relations, advertising, entertainment and politics before, during and after World War II. It goes on to show how their influences still guide the hand of business in producing consumer-citizens who are “constantly moving happiness machines” (as Herbert Hoover put it) seeking only the fulfillment of personal desire and identity.

Shows like this get me agitated. Thankfully, this level-headed Village Voice review helped me be less hysterical in my thinking. Consumerism is not just a trap, it’s a total head trip. Middle classics like me are conditioned by the powers-that-be to salivate at the site of new consumer goods like the Nokia e90 Communicator. What can I do? Say no to technology? That’s no fun! Meh.

The BBC-produced Century of the Self is available free online, in four hour-long parts.

short article in the UH alum mag, Malamalama

A short piece in Malamalama this month called “Athletes Gain from Academic Strength Training.” What? You wanted more? LoL.

The article on Spiritual Ecology is the one I wish I had written, tho athletics was a fun topic given the recent Once a Warrior commotion. The people I spoke with for the story are really committed to helping athletes learn how to learn, whereas the book’s angle is apparently more in line with the athletes getting their work done for them. How shocking!

My story next issue (January) should be fun! I got to go to the Big Island and ramble around old kalo (taro) terraces and Volcanoes National Park.

you look like hel

There is a movement afoot on the streets of Helsinki to celebrate creative personal style.

“Hel Looks” is simple but engaging. They feature photos and short comments from people on the street, a glimpse into the fashion lives of Helsinkiians (Helsinkites?). I really enjoyed devouring the site. Not to say that there isnt some serious euro-fug going on here, cuz there is. Vice DOs & DONTs would eat these people as easily as a seagull snaps up a silvery Baltic herring.

First off, WOW@how far they took the skinny jean trend on both men and women! One Finnish guy says he wore skinny jeans for so long that when he put wide-legged jeans on again, he felt “liberated!” Haha, I bet he did!

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thanks, Lorelle

Holy smokes, this tip alone is GOLDEN and it’s from two years ago. I will most definitely be tuned in to A Month of WordPress Tips from Lorelle on WordPress, my favorite WordPress-related site. Good stuff for newbs and know-it-alls alike.

I’m more of a low-power user than the “power user” she claims it is for, but I appreciate the ease of one-click blog entry! The less time spent cutting, pasting and marking up, the more spent um, working on the tagging system? Life as a blogger shouldn’t be so rough…

Nah but I like WordPress a lot, which is why it runs this site. It’s easier than myspace and waaaay less likely to crash my browser.

media fix

Sometimes I tell people I dont have a television and then let them believe that means that I dont watch a lot of television. Cuz people who dont watch television are cool. But this isnt true at all, I do watch television. In fact I watch quite a bit of television, more than I care to admit, but I watch it on my computer, that’s all.

There are lots of ways to watch tv on your computer. It’s not that difficult to do these days, with streaming video and torrents and sites like this, this, this and so many more.

One day I may be ambitious and install a tv tuner on my comp, but even just viewing what is available online is more than enough to keep me happily procrastinating for the rest of my life. And besides, what am I really missing?

Probably the most frustrating thing about online television is that you cant always get anything you want, even tho the prospect of just such a thing hovers tantalizingly close. I look forward to the day when tv shows and movies will be available on (easy) demand, I’ll gladly pay for that, too. But the 2 pay services I’ve tried so far have been disappointing.

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