This post goes out to Alexis. Hello. I don't actually know you. Well, I know what I've read on your and Taylor's blogs. So I guess that makes this something of a formal introduction.
Ummmmm, let's see. I don't have one of those little "About Me" boxes on my blog (oooh, mysterious), but according to yours, you like "Jesus, Mt. Rainier, Seattle, music, movies, books, friends, writing, traveling, my family, Frisbees, Apple computers, funny people, and art." With the exception of Apple computers, those are all wonderful things I would be inclined to post myself. Let's just go with that for now. Also, Taylor has suggested that we share an award for using equations in blog posts. I'm assuming this has to do with my piece on gravitational acceleration and your insights into Time-Dependent Failure and your brilliant interpretation of the Ideal Gas Law (which reminds me of the classic question on the thermal properties of Hell).
Then you left a comment on my blog, pretty much opening the door for a response.
As a gesture of goodwill, I would like to reveal ancient Chinese secret of having an endless variety of music to listen to, wherever you are. It saddened me to hear that someone with such interest in and knowledge of music (I mean, you got the Earthsuit - Mute Math connection!) should have to go without. So, here you go. Ready?
Pandora is the useful part of the Music Genome Project. The MGP set out to decode the fundamental "genes" of music. They analyzed "everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony" of individual songs from over 10,000 artists. Once they created this genetic map of songs and artists, Pandora was developed to make the information useful.
In essence, Pandora is a custom radio station. You put in a song or artist you like, and Pandora creates a custom station based off the genetics of that song/artist. With each song that plays, you tell Pandora if you like it or not. This process zooms in on the parts of the gene that you like, ignoring those you don't. You're left with an endless stream of songs, at CD quality, with no ads of any kind. The catch is that, just like radio, you can't go back or control what specific songs play. The whole site's purpose is introducing you to music you will like based off of what you do like.
The one area it doesn't do so well with is emerging artists. I tried putting in Mute Math today just to see what would come up. Because their album isn't currently available outside of the tour, the only song they had on file was one from a compilation. And it happened to be my least favorite of theirs. So I wasn't very happy with the station. But that's been my only negative experience so far.
Anyways, I hope that helps bring a little more music into your life. If there's anything in particular you're craving, let me know. I'm sure this Internet thing can deliver it to you.
Oh, and I talk a lot. Guess now we've "met."
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