Happy Halloween!

Link: brainbikerider's Photostream | Flickr via VignetteBricks

How to Talk to Women (According to the Internet)

Two years ago I became newly single after an eight-year relationship. I spent some time on the internet reading how to pick up women articles and advice. Never did I read anything that seemed like it would work or was any more effective than simply being yourself and just talking to them. All this 'pick up expert' advice did nothing to help me other than realize that I already know how to meet and talk to women.

For those that haven't read articles like this, or are thinking about wasting your time trying to figure out the magic key to picking up women, Cracked has a hysterical breakdown of them.

I consulted a lot of online How To guides in my quest for knowledge, and while they varied on a few details, the important thing upon which every site seemed to agree is this: Women are not like men or, indeed, any creature you've ever encountered. You need to learn a very specific way to talk to and handle a woman, it is a process. Don't treat them like you'd want to be treated, because they are mythical, mysterious biological abnormalities. Men feel anxiety around women, because they're so strange and foreign, which Seduction-Chronicles assures us is completely normal. You have every right to be scared.

See the full article here:

How to Talk to Women (According to the Internet) | Cracked.com

-Matt

O’Donnell Unaware Constitution Separates Church and State

Christine O’Donnell doesn't know that the separation of church and state is in the United States Constitution. You can't make this stuff up...



It's great that she thinks that everyone is laughing because she had a good comeback for her opponent's statement.

-Matt


Link: Daily Kos TV via eject

Video: !!! - "Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass"

Link: YouTube via A Heart is a Spade

Phoenix at MSG '10: The Greatest Concert I've Ever Attended?

I've seen a lot of legendary bands put on some great concerts in my lifetime. The Who, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, U2, Pearl Jam, Tool, just to name a few of what I've thought were the best. Last night I attended what I can say might have been the greatest concert I've ever been to.

Phoenix (the band, not the city) played Madison Square Garden last night and they were absolutely amazing. I've seen them three times before, at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Terminal 5, and Hammerstein Ballroom. Those shows were amazing, although they were smaller venues. Before the show last night I wasn't sure how Phoenix would play in the larger venue, but the sounded amazing. They have unbelievable energy and the crowd was singing and dancing/jumping the whole show.

I've said before that the drummer is the best drummer I've ever seen live, and he held up his reputation strongly last night. He's a lot of fun to watch and really drives the music. At the end of the show, Phoenix was joined on stage by Daft Punk for an amazing rendition of "1901", during which Phoenix front man Thomas Mars came up into the lower section of the crowd. The appearance wasn't announced or planned, but the crowed went crazy when they realized what was going on.

From Sound of the City:

They sounded mammoth -- their hooks were bred for that MSG bass -- and markedly more gregarious than during past gigs, with singer Thomas Mars leaping into the front row halfway through an early chorus, nearly smacking bassist Deck d'Arcy upside la tête upon his return. Last year's endlessly popular, melodically efficient Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix was fully represented; the quartet continued with "Lasso" and, almost immediately, "Girlfriend" and "Armistice." "Fences," the finest Bee Gees single never recorded, enjoyed a literal light show, Mars darting giddily under sharp, staggered columns of white.

And then the end kick, "1901" -- no surprise given the song's ubiquity, but entirely inspired as a live remix. As Daft Punk added blips and scratches, Phoenix leavened them in resounding, torrential bass while Mars bellowed the chorus with atypical abandon, stage-diving into the pit and pantomiming swimming strokes back to the boards. Their two honorary DJs sent them out in a scabrous wall of oscillating noise that lapped over as they met to take a joint bow; as they left the stage, the MSG house lights rose on tearstains and dumbfounded gapes, not to mention a parade of genuine screaming that spilled out of the venue and continued all the way to Herald Square. Yep, really -- believe it. Because I almost can't.

Today, everyone in the music industry is talking about last night's show. Check out the links below for some amazing pictures and video and to read more about this amazing show.

If you've never heard of Phoenix, you should really give them a listen and definitely seen them live.

-Matt

Links:

CMJ Day Two: Phoenix! With Daft Punk! At Madison Square Garden! Holy Shit! | Sound of the City

Phoenix & Daft Punk Wow Madison Square Garden | SPIN

Phoenix & Daft Punk @ MSG (pics, video & setlist) | Brooklyn Vegan

Whoa, Daft Punk Joined Phoenix Onstage At Madison Square Garden Last Night | Stereogum

CMJ Day 2: Videos - Daft Punk joined Phoenix on stage at Madison Square Garden | Eardrum NYC

See also:

Phoenix | mattmaison

Video: Phoenix - "Lisztomania" | mattmaison

Video: Phoenix - "1901" | mattmaison

Phoenix: June 18, 2009 at Music Hall of Williamsburg | mattmaison

MTV Unplugged: Phoenix | mattmaison

Video: Phoenix - "Lisztomania"

Link: PHOENIX on MySpace Music

Live tonight at Madison Square Garden!

Video: Alice in Chains - "Lesson Learned"

Link: SPIN

Video: Kings Of Leon – "Radioactive"

Link: YouTube via Stereogum

Inception Trailer Redone Hitchcock Style

Link: YouTube via Blastr

Hailpocolypse New York City 2010

New York City got nailed by a monster thunderstorm last night. It was 75 and sunny all weekend, including Monday, but the thunderstorm rolled in around 7:30pm. The downpour led to flooding in the subways, which lead to service disruptions, and there was a lot of lightning, which delayed the Monday Night Football game played in New Jersey Meadowlands between the Jets and Vikings. There was also a lot of hail in Brooklyn.

In Midtown, I got a lot of rain, lightning and some of the loudest thunder I've heard since I've lived here, but I didn't see any hail in back of my building.

The best comment on twitter I saw of the whole night was from former Survivor cast member Eliza Orlins (@eorlins). It also referred to the mostly unexciting game between the Jets and Vikings.

There were some unbelievable pictures and videos posted to Gawker and Gothamist last night, as well as coverage from NY1. Click the links below to see them.

-Matt


Links:

Holy Crap: New York City Visited by Hail Apocalypse | Gawker

Wild Weather Makes Quick Pass Through City | NY1

Hail, Yes: Crazy Storm Hits, Flooding In Brooklyn & Manhattan | Gothamist

Hail Storm Hits Parts of Region | New York Times

7 Day Forecast from Thursday, October 7, 2010 | NY1 Weather

Video: Warpaint - "Undertow"

Link: YouTube

Look at yourself. Now back to Grover.

Link: YouTube via @sesamestreet

!!! (Chk Chk Chk) - "Steady As The Sidewalk Cracks (Live)"

I saw the band !!! (pronounced Chk Chk Chk) on Wednesday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg. It was probably the most fun I've ever had at a concert, and I've been to a lot.

Here is a live clip of the I've been listening to the most since the concert:


If you ever have the chance to see them live, I highly recomend it. They're pretty techno-ish on their recorded stuff, but a whole different band live. Much more rock/dance. The whole crowd was dancing the entire time and the lead singer more than once jumped into the crowd to dance. The closest band I can compare them to would probably be INXS. Check out their MySpace page to listen to some of their songs.

-Matt


Links:

!!! (Chk Chk Chk) - Steady As The Sidewalk Cracks @ T-Mobile InMusic Festival | YouTube

!!! (Chk Chk Chk) | MySpace Music

!!! (Chk Chk Chk)

Americans are horribly misinformed about wealth distribution

Good article from Slate how horribly misinformed Americans are about wealth distribution in the country.

People know we're living in a time of growing income inequality, Krugman told me, but "the ordinary person is not really aware of how big it is." ... The richest 1 percent account for 35 percent of the nation's net worth; subtract housing, and their share rises to 43 percent. The richest 20 percent (or "top quintile") account for 85 percent; subtract housing and their share rises to 93 percent. But when Norton and Ariely surveyed a group whose incomes, voting patterns, and geographic distribution approximated that of the U.S. population, the respondents guessed that the top quintile accounted for only 59 percent of the nation's wealth.

-Matt


Link: Theoretical Egalitarians | Slate

Things We Say Wrong

You know the grammar in this country has really gone down hill.


Link: YouTube via Neatorama

Always Wear a Seatbelt: Rollover Crash Test

Link: YouTube

Report: Majority Of College Football Fans Way Too Into Favorite Teams

INDIANAPOLIS—According to a yearlong study released Monday by the NCAA, 87 percent of college football fans are "way, way too into" their favorite teams. "The degree to which collegiate football dominates the conversation, correspondence, Internet use, mode of dress, and television habits of its fans, especially during the season, intrudes on nearly every aspect of their daily lives," the report read in part, explaining that many casual football fans found their more-invested counterparts either annoying, brainwashed, or slightly pathetic for being so emotionally invested in the lives of 20-year-old boys. "In almost a quarter of cases, fans interviewed were unable to go three sentences without alluding to college football in some way. Moreover, Auburn sucks; rammer jammer, yellowhammer." NCAA researchers apologized for the lateness of the report, which was conducted last season but suspended in the spring due to unavoidable conflicts with March Madness.

Via: The Onion

Review: Crocodiles, The Girls At Dawn, Reading Rainbow

ptst.org has posted a great review, including videos, of the Crocodiles, The Girls At Dawn, Reading Rainbow show I saw at Mercury Lounge last Wednesday.

Here is a video of the headlining band Crocodiles, who I've seen at Mercury Lounge in the past:


Crocodiles were great as expected, however I was most impressed and surprised by The Girls at Dawn. I'd never heard of them before the show, but they were really good. I bought their CD and I hope to see them again soon. In the review, ptst.org says this about them:

They keep the banter to a minimum, they crank everything up to twelve, and they truly bash out their set, mixing the three chord punk riffs with lovely pop harmonies. It’s a mix that we fall for every time and seeing these ladies pull it off makes us want to fall in love with one of them or all of them. The combination of the music and the looks is impossible to ignore, but why would you even want to?

Here is a video of their set:


Give them a listen and see what you think. Links to buy their music are below.

-Matt


Link: Live: Crocodiles, Girls At Dawn, Reading Rainbow, @ Mercury Lounge, 9/22/10 | ptst.org

See more of Crocodiles here: posts with label crocodiles | mattmaison

Buy Their Music:
Crocodiles - Sleep Forever | Amazon
Crocodiles - Summer Of Hate | Amazon
The Girls At Dawn | Amazon
The Girls At Dawn | iTunes

Follow on Twitter:
ptst.org | @PopTarts
Crocodiles | @killcrocodiles
Girls At Dawn | @TheGirlsAtDawn
Reading Rainbow | @RRPhilly
Mercury Lounge | @MercuryLoungeNY