COACHELLA.

So this is far from a blog but it needs to be posted. COACHELLA is a music festival held in California once a year. This year it's April 17-19 so if you're done exams early (like me!) you have the opportunity to check out some seriously unreal acts.


Let's just take a moment for:
Paul McCartney
The Black Keys
Felix de Housecat
Switch
Gui Boratto
Amy Winehouse
TRAV$DJAM
Atmosphere
Lupe Fiasco
Public Enemy
K'Naan
Lykke Li..

Need I go on?
See you in cali.

The Lemur Blog

The Lemur Blog is a site I came across through The Hype Machine. I found as I browsed on HypeM, a lot of the songs I took interest to were found on the Lemur Blog. After exploring this blog it has become one of my favourites for finding new music.

What I like most about the Lemur Blog is that almost all of the songs they post have one or more links to a download of the mp3. On the left side of the blog you'll also find the LONGEST list of music blogs known to man.. maybe, while also providing a list of links where most of their music can legally be purchased. With frequent updating, and posts including images and videos, this blog is really one to 'follow'. Plus, who can resist the cute face of the lemur??

LOOKBOOK.nu

So far on this blog i've done a whole lot of lovin' and not enough hatin'. A lot of blogs and websites are awesome but I find some to be just completely and utterly pointless, and pretentious. That is especially the case when it comes to the new social networking website of the moment: lookbook.nu

First off, what in heavens name is .nu? That tidbit alone makes me question this 'social network'. From what I gather, the point of lookbook is to post pictures of your various outfits on your profile in order for people to determine if you are hip. If you're cool you get hype points or something which can cause your look to appear in the 'HOT' or 'TOP' sections of the page. Friends can comment on your looks and increase your self-esteem/turn you into a pretentious jerk.

I just personally think lookbook is around for kids looking to get noticed. When you're questioning an outfit because you don't know how well it'll do on lookbook, or having a friend take photos of you solely for the purpose of posting it to your lookbook profile, there's a problem. I think people should appreciate fashion for what it is, there's no need to flaunt what ability you might have to dress yourself, upload a picture to the internet and tag each individual item as 'vintage' to give you the appearance of some sort of unique trendsetter. You're on lookbook for Christ sake! There's nothing unique about that.

THE HYPE MACHINE

If you dig music, you will adore THE HYPE MACHINE. Although it's technically not a blog (I like to think of it as a blog database), it showcases some of the most rare, new, and just plain new tracks that have surfaced on the internet. On the home page you'll find the latest mp3s blogged about on the hype machine's music blog pics. Just the most recent too boring for you? The hype machine also has organized lists of mp3s. You can lurk the most popular songs in Japan, Sweden, or even Mystery Island.. (???).  If that doesn't float your boat you can also browse by the most searched artists, the most blogged about artists, or just simply click radio to have the hype machine play songs for you. 

The best part about the hype machine is that you can listen to most mp3s straight from the site. However, if you want to see where the song came from, they provide a link to the blog where it originated. Most of the time you can even download the mp3 from the blog itself! (Keep in mind a lot of the blogs are in foreign languages...)

Once you've discovered how much you LOVE the hype machine, you can even create your own account. Here, you can start a collection of the songs you love so you'll never lose them! This is a personal favourite tool of hype m. Check out my personal list, and start browsing THE HYPE MACHINE today!

PeachHat

ALEX BEEBE's PeachHat is a blog showcasing the talent of Ontario (and some BC) snowboarders. Alex is a good friend of mine who brings his camera everywhere, making short edits for his blog called PeachHat. I personally love this blog as it's short posts and short videos provide little doses of entertainment when the procrastination hunger hits. Alex and his friends are also some of the most talented snowboarders around so watching never gets boring. Take a gander if even if you don't know the difference between a front 3 and a 5-0, you're sure to be amazed by these guys' talent.

Watch Full Documentaries Blog

For our first assignment, we were told to write about a documentary called "OutFoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism". To stick with my apparent "theme", I decided to find a blog relevant to this topic. Alas; the WATCH FULL DOCUMENTARIES BLOG! (Horrible name, but I'll give it a chance..)Although most of the posts were done in 2007, this blog has a lot of good, unique documentaries all in one easy location. Some of the videos have been removed, but for the most part each documentary is still available. One of the documentaries it features is Outfoxed: a film that critiques the Fox News Network and the policies of it's CEO, Rupert Murdoch. OutFoxed brings to light the harsh reality of the bias and contradictory nature of the channel's newscasts.

To me, the worst issue addressed in this documentary was the blatant misinformation Fox distributes. With slogans such as "Fair and Balanced" or "We Report, You Decide", viewers are left to believe that what they are watching is not only true, but a fair depiction of a news story. It is scary to me to think that this is actually almost the opposite of what is the case. Ex-employees interviewed in the documentary even admitted that Fox had lost almost all journalistic elements and had been reduced to sheer commentary.

After watching this film, viewers should be more aware of the bias that exists within mainstream media. Perhaps films like these will reveal to the public the possibilities that lie within journalism through blogging. Surely if companies with money to spend can't make their news 'fair and balanced', this is our last hope.

Trailer:

So... You Think You Can Blog?

There's gotta be what... millions of blogs out there? It seems these days everyone and their mom has a blog. People are blogging about everything from cooking to music, politics to fashion and beyond. With so many blogs, how can an every day web-surfer come across the ones that matter? What blogs out there are really worth your time? No matter what your interest, I hope to break down blogs I come across to determine which ones contain the quality you may be looking for. I'll post any blog I find interesting, thought provoking, or just genuinely entertaining. Consider this to be your Walmart Supercentre for the blogging world. One stop shopping. Get everything you need at low prices and in one convenient location!