Beating the curve: The latest from XM, Lindsay and VW
10:45 AM 10/24/04
I imagine that the RollingStone staff member who maintains their cover page archives took a moment to wonder if the creative team was doing things right after looking at the current one. Or maybe politics and rock'n'roll do need to show their support for each other. But, seriously, Kerry on the cover of RollingStone? C'mon!!
Anyway, here's what got me rolling about RollingStone. A recent email from them contained a link to Lindsay Lohan's latest music video (You will need RealPlayer and a broadband connection to view the goods. If you're the paranoid sort, your firewall could hiccup with a connection to "rx-wes-sea20.rbn.com [66.203.121.35], port 554". Don't worry - this is perfectly normal.). While the tune's interesting, the video had me wondering about deja vu. No, wait, that was a different girl and a different video...or so I'm sure Lindsay's creative people would like me believe. Sure, the theme's, like, totally different, dude. I'm bored already.
Another one that popped up in my mailbox (Yeah, weekends are all about email..whaddyagonnado?) was the free XM offer. So far, its been real good - and I'm almost falling for it. $9.99 a month for radio seems a bit much, though. And then the hardware ain't free, either. Given that, I'd prefer LaunchCast. Their collection's extensive, their "radio that learns your tastes" feature is nice, their "customizable moods" are interesting, and its free. My ISP membership gets me on their premium plan and a slightly better audio quality, but I'd go with the freebie if I had to. The free XM trial runs out in three days, and I'll work it for that much time. The $120 in an annual subscription and the close-to-$150 in hardware could easily buy me a year's worth of choice CDs, and regular radio could pull me through the rest. Radio DJs do gab incessantly, and commute hour commercials often defeat the purpose of switching on the radio in traffic, but its not all that bad. And there's always the CD / MP3 player...
"Spy shots" is a term that often conjures up various interesting scenarios and pictures, isn't it? I found some surreptiously-clicked "spy shots" of a beauty yet-unknown-to-the-general-public, and figured I'd pass the favor along by posting the link here. While the curves are curvier and the makeup's distinctly contemporary, I'd say that she still carries the distinct family look. Lemme know what you think!
Get your head outta the gutter, people!
And while we're on the subject, check out Need for Speed: Underground if you like to do the game-console bit. After spending a couple of hours saying "This is the worst game, ever!", I'm told I've spent a solid two weeks working through the levels. I'd disagree, but my numb thumb doesn't let me. Burnout 3 and NFSU are possibly the best car games I've played in a long, long while. Its ironic that I'm waxing eloquent about the first version of Undeground when the sequel is set to release tomorrow, and "they" already say that its "the hottest game, ever". I intend to get my hands on one as soon as possible...
And while we're on the subject of game consoles, here's a sneak peek at something that'll hit stores in about a year from now. Before you click the link, say "This is revolutionary design" in Japanese. If you can't, I'll presume you can't read Japanese either. If so, the page you're waiting to get to won't make much sense!