A town and Icehouse

It had the most alcohol for the buck.

Bummed out.

My computer has died and it's really bumming me out. I'm using a substitute computer but it doesn't have any of my programs, none of my passwords saved or anything else I need on a daily basis. It's going to be fixed but it's just a downer. Oh technology.

To Chrome or not to Chrome?

I've been getting alot of questions today about Google's web browser Chrome so I thought I would put up a quick little run down of what Chrome has to offer. When you first open Chrome, all you see is a tab and an address bar. Thats it. Everything you need to do is contained in the address bar. Web search, web history, Google search and bookmark menu is all there. No search boxes or toolbars to clutter everything up. On the performance side of things, Chrome has included some very handy tools like dynamic tabs, crash control and simpler downloads. One tool that is very usefull is incognito mode. This allows you to search the web without your pages showing up in the history. Quite handy for all you guys that work for companies who watch every move you make. You can watch short videos on all these features and more on Chrome's website.

What all this comes down too is that Chrome is fast. Really fast. Load times for pages is virtually nill and download speeds are super quick. Chrome is great for watching streaming tv or killing an hour on YouTube. The only downside to Chrome is the lack of add-ons that FireFox users (including myself) have come to love. Crome has some add-ons and themes available but they are no where as easy or usefull as the ones for FireFox.

In short, if you just want to check your email and watch Hulu, Chrome is the way to go. If you love your add-ons, go with FireFox.

Thanks Alabama

I just spent a few days in Tuscaloosa, AL and I really enjoyed it. Now Tuscaloosa isn't much of a town. Just really a college and a bunch of strip malls but to be able to get out of Greenville and experience something different is just what I needed. I got to hang out with a cool family, eat some really great food and I went to a mall where I was the most fashionable person in there. I know right. Me the most fashionable. Ha. I even found a bar that carried Imperial!! (a Costa Rican beer that brought back alot of good memories) Now that I'm back from my mini-vacation, I can attack everything with a clear head. Look out world, I'm comin' at ya. (insert SkinnyJ's dance here)

Music from the soul.

Tonight I will be visiting Smiley's once again to check out a fantastic musician, William F. Gibbs. If you couldn't tell from the video, his music is a wonderfull representation of what singer/songwriters have become. The music is a perfect blend of genere's coupled with his own unique style of playing. Stop by and say hello to him on Twitter @williamfgibbs or check out some of his live tunes over on YouTube.

I hope to see some of you out at Smiley's tonight. This is truly music from the soul.

I love bicycles

It's Your Ride from Cinecycle on Vimeo.

My good buddy @mikewrogers sent me a link to this video and I found it so fantastic that I wanted to share it with you all. Beautifully shot with a wonderful soundtrack. Here's what they had to say about it:

"This short film features Alfred Bobe Jr. and Fatimah Durkee. The film spins a visual ballad between the two cyclists experiencing the city in their own unique ways. Both cyclists are city dwellers who amidst the chaos of the concrete jungle have created a private and peaceful psychological space as they traverse the streets. They are both alone and yet they are both very much aware of each others presence. The film speaks to the harmony with one's environment that can be found while riding a bicycle in a city and the synchronistic connection we can have with those we have not even met. The short was commissioned by Hutchinson tires."

Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

The Facebook Experiment

I've never been a huge fan of Facebook but I do have an account that I still use occasionally to check in with people that haven't made it over to Twitter yet. Facebook always felt clunky and hard to use so I just let it fall by the way side. Now with Facebook adding user names to their bag of tricks, if someone wants to find out what I’m up to, they can log in and search for me unless they know the random string of numbers that represents me. This peaked my interest a bit so I decided to do a little experiment and pick 20 Facebook profiles at random from a Twitter search to see if the spark between me and Facebook is still there.

It's not.

Issue #1 From the twenty profiles I looked at, only ONE person had a public profile. That's right. One. So what's the point? Why would I want to befriend you without knowing anything about you? It seems that I have to meet you somewhere else before I can be your friend. Kinda counter productive don't ya think?

Issue #2 After looking around on the one profile that wasn't private, I noticed that they were fans of things like 'not being on fire' and sunshine. Really? Like you just decide to be a fan of something and then meet other people who like 'not being on fire' and sunshine? I guess so. I just don't see how you can meet worth while people based on the fact that they don't like 'being on fire'.

Issue #3 Most of us are familiar with Twitter's status updates. Now with all the different programs like Pixel Pipe and Posterous, you can update all your different media outlets with one quick click of the mouse. I think that's a fantastic idea ( I'll be putting up a Pixel Pipe review once I test it out a bit longer) but putting your Facebook status as your Twitter update is down right annoying. I saw a Facebook update that said something to the effect of:

"RT@joe(via@sam) The way to go http://bit.ly/VUKqL @thatguy @thatotherguy #blog"

That's just crazy talk. Your Facebook status involves a web link you can't click along with Twitter usernames you can't click as well as a hash tag that has nothing to do with Facebook. All that's left is four words that tell you nothing. Facebook users that don't use Twitter have no idea what that means. I wouldn't want an update that couldn't be understood by the entire community.

With that said, goodbye Facebook. We had fun together and I'll always remember the good times we had but it's time for me to move on. Now now, don't cry. I'll keep you around for an occasional update here and there but as for being a useful tool you're not the media for me.

Where you need to be the 19th

A little sample of art work from my good friend @jeremyraytweets in Atlanta GA. He's a transplanted Greenvillian and his stuff is pretty amazing. You can check out his art and music here. He will be the opener for a great evening of music with some great talent from Greenville, Radio A.D. , The Bitterman & Din of Thieves. I hope to see all of you guys out there. It's going to be quite an amazing evening.