new year...

...new version of blogger, new mp3 player, new laptop on the way.

so, i finally switched to the new version of blogger. or, as mooncrazy said it, "jumped to hyperspace." [have you ever really thought about how much "star wars" has influenced our culture?] let's see how this switch goes. i have recently found myself concurring with mooncrazy's recent rant on the topic; blogger is not very high on my list of favorite people right now. what with all of its recent problems, it's like blogger's getting treated like a discarded wife now that google's gone all mid-life-crisis and got youtube as its, younger, hotter, more popluar trophy wife. get it together, google. i'm just sayin'.

so as not to sound like a complaining harpy, i'll turn this post toward the more positive topic of my new mp3 player that was a gift from my bunky for christmas. as you may recall, i killed my ipod a few months ago. i thought it had come back to life for a brief period, but that was apparently a cruel trick inflicted upon me at the hands of the ipod gods, because it's definitely dead now. so, anyway, bunk surprised me with a shiny, new creative zen vision m for christmas. very generous, wouldn't you agree? especially, considering he also got me a new food processor which could liquefy a small planet in about 30 seconds. apparently, i'm spoiled! :) anyway, i'm just getting used to the player. it's no ipod, but that's not a bad thing, because this player is compatible with the rhapsody monthly subscription service. that means i don't have to buy too much new music because i can put as many songs or albums as i want on my player as long as i keep my subscription current. it's a good way to discover new music that you like (like, arctic monkeys) and yet not waste money on something that you didn't like (umm...belle & sebastian) and fill out holes in your record collection (can you say everything otis redding ever recorded). they don't have everything, though (dmb, beatles). the zen also can display photos and videos, which i didn't have the ability to do before, so i'm looking forward to playing with those features.

so, what have i been listening to on my new player? right now, i'm stuck on the new john mayer album, "continuum." i tried to like john mayer before (circa "heavier things," but couldn't really get into him. this new album, however, is great. first, it's an album - all of the songs are good, not just one or two. second, it was fairly accessible, fairly quickly. i don't have a lot of patience and if something doesn't catch me right away, i'm done. jm seems to be branching into a more bluesy direction. hespent some time with bb king recently, and you can tell. skip the radio-friendly "waiting on the world to change" single, although it's good (and i really like the line "and when you trust your television, what you get is what you got, cause when they own the information, oh they can bend it all they want") the standout tracks on the album are: "gravity," "the heart of life," "bold as love," "in repair" and "i'm gonna find another you." his live album (as john mayer trio) is also very good. his singing has a different quality, not the pretty, lyrical voice on his album, but a grittier, stevie ray vaughan (but on key) quality and he just generally rocks harder. anyway, give the "continuum" album a listen, i don't think you'll be disappointed.