Mayer of Smoothsville

"Mayer Hawthorne, who the eff is this guy?" is what I found myself asking everytime I'd see a post about him on the rap blog I frequent. I mean, this is a rap blog, and this guy for sure as hell ain't rapping, so why is he here? Fast-forward to a few days ago when I was discussing musics with my friend and he "persuaded" me to listen to Mr. Hawthorne... and well damn, this guy is pretty smooth. He's got this kind of soul, old school (not 80's rap), jazzy sound. The song up top is probably my favourite, his videos have some decent visuals as well. He definitely has some really good sounds so don't be like me and pass up on giving this guy a chance.

Lazy As Sunday

While going around to my usual forums (nerd alert!), I found this one thread about a contest to create bad metaphors and analogies. Some of these are actually really funny. Also, they bring you back to your younger days when you first learned how to analogize (is that a word?) just like a student learning to metaphor. Here are a couple I really enjoyed:

• Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two other Sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master. - Sue Lin Chong, Washington
• The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't. -Russell Beland, Springfield
• Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center. -Russell Beland, Springfield
• He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree. -Jack Bross, Chevy Chase
• The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work. -Malcolm Fleschner, Arlington
• He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or something. -John Kammer, Herndon

Go here to read some more.

"Eh! Wanna Play Stickball?"

Instead of studying for my deadly exams, I was snooping around on my old computer and found these old ads Lucas and I conjured up for a grade 11 project. We made some ridiculous stuff for that class, hope to post some of that later. For now, enjoy these master-pieces.

Return of the King

Via Engadget

The iPad is getting hyped up quite a bit atm due to its fast approaching drop date. As it is, pre-orders have already been made, and if I'm not mistaken, people will be greasing up those wonderful screens by the end of April.

For those of us who have not yet made the decision to buy one however, hold the eff up! Microsoft's Courier (concept...) could end up being Microsoft's re-claim to the top. Yes, news of this has been out for a while, but for a lot of us, we have never heard of this magical device. If you watched the video you'll see that the Courier is essentially the iPad, but a lot more "ass-kick-ier". Okay, so far there is no tangible device (as far as we know), but if such a thing came to fruition I would buy one instantly. The possibilities of such a device have such a large range of applications. I hope to hear more about this soon!

Claim To Fame

Image from socialite life

I just remembered this interview with Pharrell that I saw a month or so ago at some music conference. Something he said really caught my mind, it was in regards to getting your name out as an artist. Of course there are the obvious means such as playing shows locally and trying to expand, and then hoping a record label would pick you up (or not, if you 're against the man or w/e...). Anyways he brought up two other ways of getting your name out, as well as catching the eye of someone in the industry. They're a little unorthodoxed, and might have a lower chance of success than the other usual methods, but there's no harm in trying. Anyways, without further adieu, here are two more channels for you to try and get your music out there.


1. Advertising. Send your music to advertisers. All products or services require some sort of music to go along with them, maybe your sound is the perfect fit. Commercials are seen all the time, whether or not people actually pay attention to them is another question, either way though, if you've got a good sound, someone will remember it, and then hopefully remember the name. This might not be the best example, but look at Feist. Yea she had a following before her iPod commercials, but how many more people became aware of her after they started to show up?

2. T.V Shows. Distribute your music to shows that again might fit with your sound. For those of us who watched O.C, how many bands did we discover from watching that show? Whether it was just in the background, or they were performing at that place that 13 works at. (13 ie. the girl from house, ie. lesbian girl that went out with seth...lol)


Some of you may have heard these ideas before, but I'm pretty sure there are a fair amount of us who haven't. Obviously these ideas won't ensure success, but they are a couple of extra possibilities that may help to give you the boost you need. To all the artists out there, keep doing your thing, and good luck.

sidebar: You can also try and gain some leverage by marketing the death of a talented friend, kind of like the guy up top... Just kidding!

Why Can't There Be Love?

I'm not sure of the relevance of this post, but I really like this Adidas commercial. It's supposed to be advertising their Originals subdivision which is just their old old stuff rehashed for today. The commercial features a lot of familiar faces and some not so familiar, of note (to me at least) are: DJ Neil Armstrong, Hyori Lee, James Bond (of UNDFTD), Jay Baruchel (fellow Canadian), and of course there are the obvious ones. I think the background song is what really took me in. It's Dee Edwards' "Why Can't There Be Love?" in the beginning, and then near the end it gets chopped up and transformed into this cool little hip hop beat. Anyways that's pretty much it, enjoy your evenings and make love, not warcraft.

sidebar: Enzo wants to have a rooftop party real bad. Who's got the hookup?

It Ain't Over

So I know the 2010 Olympics are over, and we were all happy cause we had a big ass win in hockey, but the Paralympics are still going on. We've still got some hard-working athletes representing for us, and I think we should try and maintain some of the spirit we had a few weeks ago. Try and watch one of the events, or wear your toque on one of the cold days. Support our athletes!