Music to live for

Music continues to be one of the things that I am grateful for every day. I don't think I could live without music. I just applied for a job at Pandora, which has been my work radio since I moved here. Before that it was KCRW on iTunes but my last job was on PCs and we weren't allowed to have iTunes. What's up with that? Anyway, there are so many great ways now to listen and discover new music - Pandora, Lala, Buzznet, Last.FM - and buy it with a click on iTunes or Amazon. Lala actually has amazing prices on CDs.

I'm listening to some particularly amazing discs right now that I wanted to share with you.

1) I've only JUST discovered Cat Power with "Greatest" but she has a score of albums that I haven't heard. I'm really particular with female vocalists but I just love her stuff. Listen to one of my favorites from this album, "Love and Communication."

2) If you haven't heard The Gorillaz they are amazing! To get the full range of their music, you only have to listen to this song, below, and "Kids With Guns."



3) I've always liked Beck but the first album I actually bought is his latest, "The Information." I love everything on it and listened to all of his other albums. My next favorite album is "Sea Change." You can listen to three songs (including my favorite, "Cellphone's Dead") and read a great review on NPR. I'm telling you, new music is waiting to be discovered all over the Internet.

4) Thom Yorke is the lead singer of Radiohead. I like them but have never purchased their music. After hearing "Black Swan" on Pandora, I bought his solo album, "The Eraser," and am in love with it.

5) A friend introduced me to Beirut. He's a 19-year old from New Mexico who made an album inspired by gypsy music, it's amazing. This is the first song I heard but the rest of album, "Gulag Orkestar," is all different.

You can find out more about all of these artists on the websites I listed above. I encourage you to buy and try!

The wonderful world of Wired

Do you ever get the feeling that despite ALL the time you already spend on the web that there's a million, even a gazillion, totally cool things happening that you aren't experiencing? I have come to realize that I'm a creature in conflict. I dream of living a simple life and resist technology in so many small ways (like insisting that I don't need the Internet on my phone when I find myself MANY times a day wishing that I did), and at the same time curse that I'm missing all this cool stuff on the Internet.

I spent the day browsing eBay, bidding on items and putting on up for sale, and was led into a rabbit-holes looking for veg shoes which led me to etsy. I ended up creating an account to buy some super cute t-shirts and then subsequently found another site where a woman makes clothes from old clothes, which are so interesting but most is sold out. My coworker wanted music and I started a radio station with CocoRosie on Pandora, which I visited once a year ago but didn't come back for some reason, and have since been listening to the COOLEST f'ing music that I've never heard of!

I've also been online researching video sites and found that Wired partnered with PBS to create a science show. Wired magazine has been some of the best reading since Chris Anderson took over as editor-in-chief and now this is just so fantastic. You can watch videos and see demonstrations of the weird and wild stuff Wired reports on. Science hasn't been this cool since the turn of (last) century. And they were smart enough to cast a cute host...hey, I know this guy! Our short films played at a screening together in Hollywood. Ah, Hollywood, I miss ye.