Figured I’d share this for the fools not on ILLECT’s mailing list:

We just got the new CD shipment in for Sivion’s new record “Butterfly Sessions beats by Dert”. The album drops Tuesday, September 7th and we’ve got a very limited printing of t-shirts on the way. Jump on one of these combos to make sure you get the size/color you like. Visit http://bit.ly/bVbuIj to check out the lineup of the CD, the super fresh cover and of course the shirts.

Get your Butterfly Sessions Combo at http://bit.ly/bVbuIj

Limited Edition (T-Shirt) combo
1. Butterfly Sessions CD
2. Butterfly Sessions DL (320kbps MP3)
3. Butterfly Sessions album instrumentals DL (320kbps MP3)
4. Butterfly Sessions extended digital booklet
5. Exclusive remix track
6. Here We Go b/w Sivion for President DL (320kbps MP3)
7. Mind the Rap volume 1 album DL
8. Mind the Rap volume 2 album DL
9. Exclusive Sivion t-shirt (your size)

Special Edition 1 CD combo
1. Butterfly Sessions CD
2. Butterfly Sessions extended digital booklet
3. Mind the Rap volume 1 album DL
4. Mind the Rap volume 2 album DL

Special Edition 2 Download combo
1. Butterfly Sessions album DL (320kbps MP3)
2. Butterfly Sessions extended digital booklet
3. Mind the Rap volume 1 album DL
4. Mind the Rap volume 2 album DL

Have a great week!

ILLECT Recordings – Minding that Rap
http://www.illect.com
http://www.illectdirect.com
http://www.facebook.com/illect
http://www.youtube.com/illectrecordings

Pick up the drops at: iTunes, Amazon, Sphere of Hip-Hop and other fresh hip-hop spots.

Dear patrobertson,

Okay, I’m not good at this kind of thing, but I feel like I have to give it a try. So, here goes:

I was hanging out the other night, listening to some old mp3s, and I was just overcome with memories of when we used to hang out all the time. Remember? You were an intrepid, fearless adventurer, and I was the free-to-play, fun-and-funny online role-playing game that won your heart. Do you still remember those good times? I can’t stop thinking about them.

I mean, I know things got kind of messed up at the end, and believe me, I’m sorry. If I could take any of that back, I totally would. And I know people grow and change, and you’re not the same person you were then, but hey — I’ve changed, too! I thought and thought about how to win you back. I figured I’d make you a mix CD, but I couldn’t decide what “our song” was. So I just concentrated on becoming a better game for you, and here’s what I came up with:

Remember how much fun you used to have with your clan? Alternately, remember how you never joined a clan because you didn’t see the point? Either way, clans now have clan dungeons, group zones where your whole clan can work together. Crawl through sewers to Hobopolis, a vast underground vagrant vacation vista! Slide into the slime tube, and stir-fry sassy slimes!

I know I wasn’t the prettiest game when we were together, so I had some work done. Almost every interface got an interface-lift. You can even manage most of your inventory via chat commands! I also came up with a way for you to automate some of the things you don’t love about the game, so you can spend more time with the parts you do love.

Not only that, but there are way more animated .gifs than there were before. Don’t worry; I haven’t lost that low-fi edginess you love, but I’m a lot easier to play with now.

You can also have a custom title now, just in case you didn’t feel like I appreciated what made you unique as an individual.

I should also say
Haiku Dungeon’s been revamped.
See what I did there?

Maybe you quit because you got sick of always adventuring above the water. I admit that seems unlikely, but I fixed that, too — there are a bunch of underwater zones with new food, equipment, mechanics, and challenges.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, trust me. I’m still the silly, clever, deceptively-complex game you fell in love with, only with about 95% more awesome.

So, I’m just sayin’, if you can find it in your heart to give me another chance, I won’t disappoint you.

If you don’t drop by, I promise I won’t bother you again. I just really felt like we deserved one more try.

Love,

The Kingdom of Loathing.
http://www.kingdomofloathing.com

It’s almost football season, which means I have crazy football fever… this translates to more time listening to sportstalk radio… and that translates, apparently, to being subjected to racist assholes.

This is Joey Vento, owner of Geno’s Steaks, a national landmark and tourist attraction (though real Philadelphians would be quite unlikely to call Geno’s, or rival Pat’s King of Steaks, the best Philly cheesesteak when places like Jim’s, Chubby’s, Dalessandro’s, and Tony Luke’s blow them out of the water). On top of being the owner of a mediocre cheesesteak joint that makes him boatload of money, he spends time beraiding people who can’t speak English, reading email forwards on the radio and calling them commercials, and holding rallies to raise money to defend Arizona’s controversial (and dangerous) new immigration policy. Hearing him speak on 610 WIP during commercial breaks has been utterly making me sick.

This is Jesse Jackson. Everyone already knows him and his crazy antics. This week, he taught me something new. He taught me that LeBron James was a slave. I truly appreciated the lesson… what an ass!

I don’t have it in me to eve get into the Mel Gibson stuff. His comments were so outlandish, where do you even start?

All I know is that between Vento’s veiled attempts at taking down all the non-Whites through “immigration reform” and Jackson’s continued asinine comments that he clearly makes just to stay in the limelight, all I can think is that placing the two in a steel cage would be the only way I can get joy out of this situation.

Tomorrow is Monthly Mixtape Day… kinda like Rex Manning Day, only not… but it makes me realize how lost the TRUE artform of making the mixtape has become.

The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don’t wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.

Like my mixtape tomorrow, most are simply a collection of songs on CD (or in tomorrow’s case a collection of mp3s), rather than a carefully concocted compilations that one must listen to front to back, end to end…

Lately, I’ve been popping in tapes from my collection of mixtapes from my high school and college days while I mow the lawn. Many are tapes my wife made for me (or I for her) while we were dating, some are from friends in high school (like Casey “Soon-To-Be Mrs. Higgins” Keepers), and others are tapes I simply rocked for myself. Each tells a story, each marks a point in time, and each illustrates why I miss the this lost art…

Am I the only one who misses this analog art, where skipping tracks is tough to do, and the listener gets the whole story without picking and choosing which songs they want to listen to? Have the robots won? Is there no hope?

Most of my resolutions for 2010 revolved around continuing to lose weight and work on my eating and exercise habits, a primary goal being no fast food in 2010.

Through this week, I have held fast to this resolution, but I found myself going out of my way to grab food from non-fast food joints that was easily as unhealthy for me, often times more unhealthy than some of the options at places like Wendy’s or Burger King. And, while there were some other reasons I decided on this fast food ban, the primary reason was to address some of my poorer eating habits. Thus, I realized that this straight ban on fast food may be somewhat counterproductive to my overall goals.

Starting this week, I began thinking and decided that I would begin to allow myself salads from fast food restaurants as long as they did not include any fried food (thus my favorite, BK’s Tendercrisp Salad would still be a no-no). In addition, I will be allowing myself the occasional cup of Wendy’s chili.

Now, the question begs as to why I’d bother posting this on a gloomy Sunday afternoon… simple, I feel like sharing my progress on weight loss, etc will help to keep me accountable. Last year, in mid-June, right around this time, I weighed myself for the first time in a long time and found that I weighed in at a whopping 372 lbs. Motivated by this, I began hitting the gym hard and eating better, notably cutting down on bad carbs (not all carbs, mind you).

Today I weight 314 lbs. with a goal of 285 by the end of this year. I was actually down to 309, but slipped off the wagon a bit over the past week or two. I know this goal is achievable for me, but figured some help in the accountability department couldn’t hurt. So, with that in mind, I present to you this blog, with the intention of the somewhat regular update on my progress.

Thanks for reading and thanks to all who have been so encouraging over the past year of working on this. Now it’s time to put the computer down and join the son in enjoying TMNT III.

Rather than a conventional review, this review of Shapiro’s debut LP on Dweeb Records will be a presentation of the notes I took on the album. While you read, download and listen to Shapiro’s first single for free.

First Listen:

-Piano rock, parts equally Ben Folds/BF5, The Dresden Dolls, and Snow Patrol.
-Their one sheet mentioned The Arcade Fire, but unlike AF, they don’t come across as overrated copycats.
-Vocals remind me of Daniel Johns (Silverchair), especially on Young Modern.
-Not much press on these guys on the web, good and bad thing. Good because press can often taint one’s view, bad because they deserve some good press

Second Listen:

-Found Daily News Record article on them from 2005 from Google search “granofsky shapiro” (Nathan Granofsky looks like Harry Potter in picture used in article), where I learned that these guys are EMU products. Interesting.
-Music is very solid overall, “L-E-A-V-I-N-G” is making its case for becoming my favorite Shapiro track.
-I dig the artwork and packaging of the album.

Third Listen:

-“Right and Wrong” is a good opener, definite Ben Folds feel here, think Songs for Silverman meets Silverchair’s Young Modern (I knew these references were coming from somewhere, must be this song specifically).
-For some reason, Muse came to mind while listening to the second track. Not sure if that makes much sense, but it did. Big time Daniel Johns-esque vocals again here.
-Band is incredibly tight and very well produced.
-“L-E-A-V-I-N-G” is officially my favorite Shapiro song. Officially.
-“Emily” is a pretty cool track. Not much else to say there.
-The obvious comparison to piano playing punk influenced pop rock act Jack’s Mannequin and his former outfit Something Corporate inserted here. Not sure there are any direct comparisons, but I definitely think fans of these bands will dig on Shapiro.
-“You Had it Coming” made me realize that someone in this band digs on Queen. Read on a user review via iTunes that the name of this track changed from before. Curious.
-“Battle of Beatrix” reminds me of Queen again. Someone in this band like Queen a lot. Officially.
-Piebald’s All Ears, All Eyes, All the Time could be an influence on this LP. Wouldn’t be surprised if it was and wouldn’t be surprised if no one in the band knew what the hell I was talking about.
-Last song is called ”Prelude” and the irony is not lost on this reviewer.

Overall, a solid debut LP. Looking forward to finding out more about this band and hopefully getting the chance to interview them or at least talk and get some more insight. As an avid Ben Folds and Billy Joel fan, good piano rock makes me happy, thus this album makes me happy. Thoroughly enjoyable.

thepaintedman rates this:

In a review, I called Aaron Brassea “flawed” (and questioned some of his life decisions). Now, I better watch my back.

Go to mylifeinscribbles.com and send him hate mail!

Myron Rolle is a man I want on my team. He is a genius, well adjusted, and a man with fantastically aligned priorities…

Howie, Joe, Andy, please oh please make this man an Eagle this weekend. Want another reason besides the plethora of reasons that he’s already given you to draft him? Read below…

Most football players hoping to get drafted this week will be careful not to express any opinions that could be construed as the least bit controversial, lest they be viewed as the type who rocks the boat.

Myron Rolle is not like most football players.

Rolle, the Florida State defensive back turned Rhodes Scholar, was asked today what he thinks of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspending Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

“I think it’s awesome,” Rolle answered. “He’s showing his stance on character issues by the suspension and by his positioning with a lot of players.”

Read full post on PFT here

My sentiments on Donovan McNabb being traded to the ‘Skins are encapsulated by John Lithgow at 2:50 in this set of Orange County clips.

I was going to finally post those weekend blogs I promised, but I’m way to preoccupied right now… tomorrow, I promise!