Lately I’ve been frustrated with how much time I waste reading certain websites when I want to get work done. I’ll be sitting at my computer being productive, and then I’ll go “Hey, I would like to read the entire life story of Sarah Palin”, and then three hours later I’ve somehow managed to click my way to the wikipedia article on the ancient civilization of Sumer. (They invented writing!)

After fretting heavily about this over the last few weeks, It occurred to me that it might be possible to block my computer from accessing certain websites, and that this would be a boon to my productivity, not to mention my self-respect. I set about looking for Firefox plug-ins to accomplish this and came across this article on Lifehacker. The author offers two solutions: a Firefox plug-in that allows you to restrict access to certain websites to certain times of the day, and a system-based option to “Block the sites entirely”, which is what I chose. The “Block the sites entirely” method has the benefit of blocking my computer, rather than just Firefox, from accessing the websites I specify; this way I can’t just switch to Safari to seek out a list of the largest cities in China by population. Of course, it’s always possible to unblock the sites, but my hope is that the minor hassle of doing so will be enough to deter me from falling into another link-clicking binge.

Implementing the “Block the sites entirely” option involved editing the “hosts” file on my Mac. Editing the “hosts” file was a little harder than Lifehacker describes; I had to change the ownership/permissions for both the “hosts” file and the folder in which it’s contained to be able to save my changes. But it’s working now, and Wikipedia, Pitchfork and Google News are blocked! Here’s to remaining ignorant about future Sarah Palin developments…

Just a few short days ago, a dreamer set out on a journey to the Democratic National Convention. His voice was strong, and his message was clear:

In music related news, our best buds The Silent Years just finished a new video! Check it check it.

The Silent Years – On Our Way Home

From Twitter:

eriklane: getting my Joe Satriani on. less than 5 seconds ago from twhirl

For those unfamiliar with Twitter speak, Erik Lane took a few seconds away from soloing annoyingly in his basement to tell his friends, in code, that he is soloing annoyingly in his basement.

Zach C. just twittered about this, but didn’t think to post it here for some reason. Probably because he is a real-life actual Hall & Oates FAN and checking “Live from Daryl’s House” is just part of his daily routine.

But for non-Hall & Oates fans, like me, this is a strange and interesting thing on the internet. Daryl Hall and a bunch of session dudes jamming with electro hipster dudes Chromeo. Real life.

I especially like the hilarious back and forth in the beginning of “Fantasy” (is this a chorus? oh, that’s a bridge? wait, bridge 1 or bridge 2? and that comes after chorus 2? no, verse 2, before chorus 3? ok), having spent last night going over Child Bite songs with Kevin Bayson, who will be replacing Christian’s sax with his trumpet on our upcoming tour. Kevin is way easier to work with than Daryl Hall.

Check out this Christophe (The Anvil) look-alike I found while doing some… research?

Christophe vs. Look-alike

Weird.

Last week at Pop Project practice, Adam Kempa (PP drummer, Recital bassist and SubSprawl’s original stepdad) realized that he’d left his hi-hat in Lansing at Mac’s Bar.

This meant that instead of having something that looked like this:

He had this:

Being a man of creative solutions, he took to the task of creating a makeshift hi-hat stand while we stood around and egged him on / took pictures of him.  The results:

Solution #1:

After a few bars of music, this contraption fell apart and was decidedly a FAILURE.  No fear; Adam quickly assembled solution #2.

Amazingly this worked.  The trial and error process took about five minutes, and we were able to practice for the next few hours without issue.  You’ll never see this makeshift hi-hat at a live show though, because Adam tracked down his real hi-hat, still waiting for him at Mac’s Bar. 

Way to go, nerd!

Remember going to the Loop almost every Friday in the early 00′s? Well, sadly, Rob, the awesome DJ there, recently passed away. Read more at Detour.

If you ever wanted to know what it sounds like when Zach Curd yells, here’s your answer:

I’ve recently been on a quest to loose weight and get back into shape. My goal is to complete at least one triathlon next summer.  Boing Boing linked to a very interesting article this past week.  Before now, I was fairly embarrassed to mention that I have been using this service since mid February.  Then I read the following article and it put into words why this program has completely worked for me.

http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/commentary/games/2008/08/gamesfrontiers_0811

When my wife and I set out to loose weight and return to a more active lifestyle, she urged me to attend Weight Watcher meetings with her.  The idea of sitting in a room discussing how over weight I was with complete strangers completely turned me off to the program.  However, being the “world’s greatest husband”, I found an alternative.  Weight Watchers offers an online program that allows you to log in and track your daily food consumption and activity.  This tool tuned into my obsessive-compulsive nature, and over the past six months I have been able to loose over 60 lbs.  On a daily basis I log in and have to be accountable to myself for what I have consumed.  No more stops at 7-Eleven for a Slurpie and a candy bar.  

Again, in catching up on my Boing Boing for the week, I came across another very interesting post.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080821110113.htm

Finally!  An answer to why I can sit down and eat a pound of pasta and still feel hungry.  Scientists are smart.

Also, please note that I’m not posting to brag about my weight loss.  Trust me, having more than 60 lbs to loose is nothing to brag about.  On the other hand, you should see my basketball game these days.  It has the ability to shred your achilles tendon.

The popular interpretation of David Crosby – bringer of drugged out, hyper-political, mustachioed lunacy – is really a shame. In 1970, He and Graham Nash sat down and let the BBC film a short 5 song set for television. Behind all of the craziness of a 1970-vintage David Crosby was that staggering talent, and the unrealized secret that his songs (his hit songs, at that) were actually completely, completely insane. Crosby’s jams were progressive and epic and meditative and messy and thoughtful and bewildering all at the same time. Now, that said, let’s consider the CSN&Y Billboard Albums Chart early 70′s juggernaut:

• 1970 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Déjà Vu – #1

• 1970 David Crosby – If I could Only Remember My Name – #12

• 1970 Stephen Stills – Stephen Stills – #3

• 1970 Neil Young – After The Gold Rush – #8

• 1971 Stephen Stills – Stephen Stills 2 – #8

• 1971 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – 4 Way Street – #1

• 1971 Graham Nash – Songs For Beginners – #15

• 1972 Manassas – Manassas – #4

• 1972 Neil Young – Harvest – #1

• 1972 Graham Nash/David Crosby – Graham Nash/David Crosby – #4

Four dudes responsible for TEN top 20 albums in 3 years. Insane!

Anyway, back to Crosby. I’ve loved his first solo record, If I Could Only Remember My Name, ever since my friends Josh and Brandon introduced it to me when I lived in East Lansing in 2001. If pressed for a favorite song on the album, I think I would go with “Laughing.” The backing band on that little song? Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, and Joni Mitchell for one vocal line. You can read all about the recording of the song here, while you listen to it here.

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Now I’ll post my two favorite BBC clips.

The first one is actually my favorite Graham Nash song, but Crosby makes this performance great by just waltzing on camera to sing harmony.

Second one is the song “Lee Shore.” Usually I forget how strong of a singer Crosby is until I watch him sing live. So great.

I’ll leave you with some Crosby Insanity to negate all off the fluffy and nice things I said about him in this post.

In conclusion, Animal Collective got nothin’ on Crosby.