Foreign Artist Spotlight - Xavier Naidoo

Xavier Naidoo is a German singer and songwriter of South African descent, who sings in German and occasionally in English. He is known for his soulful voice and has collaborated with several famous artists such as the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA and Deborah Cox.


Xavier Naidoo - Bist du am Leben (Are you alive?)



I first heard that song from some MTV 2006 hits compilation. A German song? MTV hit? (Incidentally one other German band that I like, Rammstein, also had a song on the compilation Mann Gegen Mann.) It took me a few tries to 'get it' and once I did was explored some of his other material and was quite happy with it. Give this one a try as well.

Xavier Naidoo - Führ Mich Ans Licht (Lead Me To The Light)



Bonus video! Xavier Naidoo - Wo Willst Du Hin? (Where You Want?)

Why haven't I posted this yet?

Poor hamster! Stop laughing!

I normally like to give gifts early anyways

Wife stabs husband who opens Christmas gift early

Dec 21, 2007 10:36 PM

ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. – A woman stabbed her husband with a kitchen knife following an argument that began when she accused him of opening a Christmas present early, authorities said Friday.

Misty Johnson, 34, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and battery, a felony, and misdemeanor domestic battery. Her husband, Shawn Fay Johnson, 34, was treated at a hospital for a wound to the chest, police said.

Misty Johnson made an initial court appearance Thursday in which she requested a court-appointed attorney, authorities said. She was released after posting bail, which was set at $7,500 (U.S.).

There was no telephone listing for her in Rock Springs.

Authorities said Shawn Johnson called 911 just before 1 a.m. Wednesday to report that his wife had stabbed him. He told police that his wife started arguing with him over his opening a Christmas present, according to court records.

As the argument escalated, Misty Johnson accused her husband of having an affair, authorities said. Police found a marriage license in the couple's apartment stating they were married in late September.

Police Detective David Thompson said he didn't know what the present was, or if it was intended for the husband.
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/288087

Wow, first Christmas married together too!
I normally like to give gifts early anyways, especially if it is something they can use.

Awwww cute rat!! Snuggle it!

Giant rat found in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Researchers in a remote Indonesian jungle have discovered a giant rat that is about five times the size of a typical city rat and a tiny possum, scientists said Monday.

Unearthing new species of mammals in the 21st century is considered very rare. The discoveries by a team of American and Indonesian scientists are being studied further to confirm their status.

The animals were found in the Foja mountains rainforest in eastern Papua province in a June expedition, said U.S.-based Conservation International, which organized the trip in the Southeast Asian nation along with the Indonesian Institute of Science.

"The giant rat is about five times the size of a typical city rat," said Kristofer Helgen, a scientist with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. "With no fear of humans, it apparently came into the camp several times during the trip.''

The possum was described as "one of the world's smallest marsupials.''

A 2006 expedition to the same stretch of jungle – dubbed by Conservation International as a "Lost World" because until then humans had rarely visited it – unearthed scores of exotic new species of palms, butterflies and palms.

Papua has some of the world's largest tracts of rainforest, but like elsewhere in Indonesia they are being ravaged by illegal logging. Scientists said last year that the Foja area was not under immediate threat, largely because it was so remote.

"It's comforting to know that there is a place on Earth so isolated that it remains the absolute realm of wild nature," said expedition leader Bruce Beehler. "We were pleased to see that this little piece of Eden remains as pristine and enchanting as it was when we first visited.''

http://www.thestar.com/article/286588

No kidding!

W00t woot w0o0t!

"w00t" crowned word of year by U.S. dictionary

BOSTON (Reuters) - "w00t," an expression of joy coined by online gamers, was crowned word of the year on Tuesday by the publisher of a leading U.S. dictionary.

Massachusetts-based Merriam-Webster Inc. said "w00t" -- typically spelled with two zeros -- reflects a new direction in the American language led by a generation raised on video games and cell phone text-messaging.

It's like saying "yay," the dictionary said.

"It could be after a triumph or for no reason at all," Merriam-Webster said.

Visitors to Merriam-Webster's Web site were invited to vote for one of 20 words and phrases culled from the most frequently looked-up words on the site and submitted by readers.

Runner-up was "facebook" as a new verb meaning to add someone to a list of friends on the Web site Facebook.com or to search for people on the social networking site.

Merriam-Webster President John Morse said "w00t" reflected the growing use of numeric keyboards to type words.

"People look for self-evident numeral-letter substitutions: 0 for O; 3 for E; 7 for T; and 4 for A," he said. "This is simply a different and more efficient way of representing the alphabetical character."

One Web site, www.thinkgeek.com, already sells T-shirts with the word "w00t" printed on the front.

"w00t belongs to gamers the world over. It seems to have been derived from the obsolete 'whoot' which essentially is another way to say 'hoot' which itself is a shout or derisive laugh," Think Geek said on its Web site.

"But others maintain that w00t is the sound several players make while jumping like bunnies in Quake III," it added, referring to a popular video game.

Online gamers often replace numbers and symbols with letters to form what Merriam-Webster calls an "esoteric computer hacker language" known as "l33t speak." This translates into "leet," which is short for "elite."

A separate survey of words used in the media and on the Internet by California-based Global Language Monitor produced a different set of winners on Tuesday. "Hybrid" took top honors as word of the year with "climate change" the top phrase.

Global Language Monitor, which uses an algorithm to track words and phrases in the media and on the Internet, said "hybrid" had broad connotations of "all things green from biodiesel to wearing clothes made of soy to global warming."

Runner-up was "surge," based on the "surge" of 30,000 extra U.S. troops deployed to Iraq since mid-June, followed by the word "Bluetooth," a technology used to connect electronic devices via radio waves.

"The English language is becoming more and more a globalized language every year," said Global Language Monitor president Paul Payack, noting that this year's list included words also culled from India, Singapore, China and Australia.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/071212/odds/odd_language_dc

My girl sent me this news, which is hilarious because my audio unit is set to output this sound file at random times. She always asked me what 'w00t' was and now she knows!

What did the chicken cross the road?

Man, you find you find all sorts of odd things online.
Edit: Ok, y'all will need to go ahead and click up there on that picture. For some reason I have not yet explored, the animated .gif does not show.

Talk to a financial advisor today to begin a savings plan.

Exploding piggy-bank aims to scare Japanese into saving

TOKYO (AFP) - Greying Japan has a new weapon to scare people into saving for their retirement -- an exploding piggy bank.

The "Savings Bomb," which goes on sale in Japan next week, "explodes" and scatters coins if users fail to save for a long time, toy manufacturer TOMY Co Ltd said Thursday.

The battery-powered toy -- designed as a cartoon-style, ball-shaped black bomb with a skull and crossbones logo -- lights up, makes a noise, shakes violently and scatters coins if it is not topped up for a long time.

"Users must pick up and collect the scattered coins and reflect on their laziness," the Japanese company said.

Japan has the world's oldest population and one of the lowest birthrates, raising fears of a future demographic crisis with a smaller pool of workers financially supporting a growing number of elderly.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/071108/oddities/lifestyle_japan_toy_offbeat

Would be a fun gift, just don't tell them it explodes.

Dance it up now.

For those that know me, I ever in search of new music to expand my musical horizons. I will listen to nearly every genre of music and find a lot of music I can appreciate (save for country and polka.) Today we'll explore a few tracks that I feel can really energize and pump you up. Unfortunately YouTube being YouTube, the video quality is poor, so try listening to these tracks first, maybe even with your eyes closed to really feel the music.

Paul van Dyk feat Jessica Sutta - White lies



Video is decent, featuring former Pussy Cat Dolls singer Jessica Sutta. Goofs include PVD 'throwing' Jessica his hat at the end, but shots throughout have her wearing it. Of all of Paul van Dyk's material I've heard, I may have to say I like this song the best. Poppy? Maybe. PVD brings his organic sounds and alternation of rhythm together beautifully.


Artist: STUNT Song: RAINDROPS

Hold my hand lets chase the sun
we both know something's begun
Nothing feels that real without you
Wanna learn so much about you



What happened to these guys? I can't seem to find much more information on this group, nor the featured singer Molly Smithen-Downes. This came out Jan 2006. More please?


Offer Nissim And Maya Simantov - First Time (Live In Israel)




Wow what a voice! This song is epic!!! LET'S GO OUTSIDE AND JUMP UP AND DOWN!!!! NOT ENOUGH EXCLAMATION MARKS AND TYPING IN CAPS!!!!! She was in Toronto recently, and Offer Nissim will be visiting TO Dec. 31st for what promises to be an exciting show.

What is art?

(baby don't hurt me)




































1. By Koopa
2. Matta (Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren)


Pictures copyright original owners.

Sleep is Very Important

Or else this could happen.

Hiromitsu Agatsuma - Interview and Music

Allow me to introduce and please your ears with a bit of Hiromitsu Agatsuma. From `Breakfast with the Art.` The instrument is called the shamisen, (more specifically, the tsugaru-jamisen.) There are obviously other artists out there that play this specific instrument, but I`ve really found his work to be most in line with my tastes. Give parts 1 and 3 a listen, I hope you may find a new artist to enjoy.

Part 1. The song is "Solitude" from album "Beams."


Part 2. Short interview.


Part 3. The Song is "Moment" from his 3rd album "Eternal Songs."

You probably couldn't make this up!!!

Police: Woman Chases Kids With Samurai Sword
Amanda Harris Faces Numerous Charges

EAGLE, Colo. -- An Eagle woman accused of chasing a group of Hispanic children with a sword faces a number of charges, including ethnic intimidation, after allegedly calling them "illegal spics," according to police.

Amanda Jane Darling Harris, 21, allegedly chased the children, aged 9 to 15, with an 18-inch samurai sword because they were playing in a parking lot of the Villa apartments, according to a police report.

Police investigated the incident on Sept. 20, and Harris was jailed until she posted a $3,500 bond this week.

ccording to the police report, the teens said Harris yelled at the children, "If you're scared, then you're guilty." That is when they said she chased them with the sword.

One boy said Harris grabbed him and held the sword to his throat, telling him he "needed to stop causing her problems."

A girl told police that Harris chased and grabbed her and threatened to cut off her ponytail.

Harris chased the other five children through the parking lot, brandishing the sword, according to her arrest affidavit.

The children told police that Harris called them "little f****ing wetbacks" and told them to go back to their own country.

Arresting officers said Harris stated that she should have hurt one of the "illegals" if she knew she was going to go to jail over it.

Harris was arrested in her third-floor apartment on suspicion of menacing -- use of a deadly weapon, misdemeanor third-degree assault with a weapon, ethnic intimidation and harassment.

Harris is employed by Pooh Corner Preschool in Minturn, Colo., according to the arrest report. A spokeswoman for the preschool said she couldn't comment on Harris' current employment status.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/14227684/detail.html

What..........what........

Blue Oyster Cult - Classic music

Burnin' For You - Blue Oyster Cult

Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear the Reaper (live)

Favourites, of sorts.

Neat Links Around the Interwebs

• Astronomy Picture of the Day - This archive showcases "different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer" every day! The beauty of nature and the universe.
  
• http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
• CuteOverload - Take a guess what this blog site is about. It'll blast you with so much cuteness that you may experience a sensory overload. When someone hopefully will come by to rouse you from thy bewilderment, you'll wonder where the last few hours have gone. I've been checking out this site since shortly after it began, lots of amusing pictures in the archives. There is a foil site yes, called UglyOverload.
  
• http://www.cuteoverload.com/
• FireFox - Looking for another web browser? Does nay matter! I've been using this years ago since 0.7 beta, and it really is a great alternative to Internet Explorer. From an integrated pop-up blocker, to popularizing tabbed-browsing FireFox has excellent tools. Of further note, since most people had IE installed on their machine by default, a lot of hackers wrote problems to exploit the vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer's code.

Firefox downloads top 400 million http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=42279
Short article I skimmed: 15 Coolest FireFox Tricks Ever http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/15-coolest-firefox-tricks-ever.html

• http://www.mozilla.com/
• Dictionary - A free online dictionary. More people should use this and help make the world (especially the internet) a better place. It is bookmarked on all the computers I use.
  
• http://www.dictionary.com/
  

• Doot doot.
  
  
• 
  
  
  
  
  
  

In your eye!

Here I am, rock you like a hurricane!

Well here I am, joining the ranks of internet mediocrity online.

I promise to use spell check, grammar and proper punctuation to the best of my ability. I promise to avoid glorifying any internet trends, though I will satirize them.

I currently plan to use this blog to note significant/amusing news, reprinted for posterity.

Cheers,
Jorai