Come to the Dark Side... (we have cheap ear candy!)

I remember once saying I would never buy full albums as digital downloads... random singles, yes, but not full projects. I love the physical, tangible experience of going to a music store, buying some newfound treasure from the shelf, taking it to the car, unwrapping the plastic, and slipping it into the CD player. I love looking at the artwork and reading the notes and lyrics and thank yous and credits. That's really my favorite way to buy music. It's a full experience.

Then I discovered the wonderful cheap deals on Amazon Mp3.

Oh Amazon, you have brought me to the dark side.

For instance, Coldplay's Prospekt's March EP was $.99 the week it came out. Ninety-nine cents. Seriously. That's eight tracks for the price of one. And those $2.99 new releases? Perfect incentive to take a chance on Snow Patrol or The Killers, two bands I'd long been curious about but never bothered to listen to before.

And now, as 2008 comes to a close, 50 of the year's releases are 5 bucks each.

I don't mean to sound like an ad, but... really. This is a hard thing to at least not look at if you're a music geek. Somehow, it feels a lot easier to take a risk on something that's 5 dollars or less. Today I splurged on Death Cab for Cutie and M83, even though I haven't really listened to much of them before. Probably not the best financial practice, but... Merry Christmas to me, I guess.

I think of myself as a bit of a music dork... or at least a lover of a very eclectic mix of sounds. And I will always love CDs and music stores. (and vinyl too... I don't even own a record player!) Park Ave CDs is one of my favorite places in the world and I proudly wear one of their stickers on my car to show it. Kind of like browsing a bookstore, there will always be something special about buying music that way. But I also like to discover new things for a small investment, so Amazon Mp3 and iTunes can be a godsend. Just download, pop it on a USB drive, burn and go. (it helps on the shelf space too.)

Which begs the question: music and you. Are you a collecter, or happy with whatever's on the radio? Do you experiment and take risks on artists you don't know (based on reviews, recommendations, and really awesome cover art), or do you prefer a small selection of what you know you like? Digital or hard copies? Do you even buy music?

And more importantly... is there anything on this 50 albums list I'm missing that I should know about? (please, don't even mention any of the rap albums :))

Just some thoughts on my mind. Now... off to burn my cheap ear candy for tomorrow's commute.

The Tiny Hand of God

"He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release...

He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born. ~ Madeleine L'Engle, "First Coming"

Wherever you are, whatever you do, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and take the time to reflect on the spirit and the mystery of this day.

My friend Reggie Kidd wrote a Christmas Meditation for his blog called "The Gospel According to House" (yup. as in House MD) that I thought was quite beautiful, moving, and well worth sharing. Please go visit and give it a read. (And this is part one, so feel free to comment and bug him for part two while you're at it. :))

Merry Christmas!

This sort of thing only happens once a year...

Christmas is a season for challenges and growth, a season which takes you to places far beyond your comfort zone into lands previously unknown. And today, in an effort to help a friend, I navigated a foreign territory that I have had yet to experience...

The men's cologne counter at Belk. Oh yeah.

Fortunately, my mission was a success... I knew exactly what I had gone for. I circled the shiny glass counter stuffed with tiny bottles of mysterious expensive substances with names like "Eternity" and "Obsession," (making fun of said names the whole time) found what I was looking for, scanned the prices, and called my friend. Meanwhile:

Sales lady: May I help you with a fragrance?
Me: Um, no... I think I found it!

After confirming that, yes, this was the holy grail of man smells I was seeking, I declared proudly that yes, I would purchase the gift set with the cologne and shower gel and deodorant (deodorant? seriously?). And then came the curve ball:

Sales lady: You get a free gift with this purchase! Do you want a backpack, or a shirt?
Me: *deer in headlights stare* Uhhhhh.... *whips out cell phone*

Overall, the mission was a success, and I deliver the fragrant package to its rightful owner tomorrow. I'm rather proud that I managed to find it without help, having no experience in shopping for this sort of thing. I didn't even think to smell the sample and see what the allure of this amazing mystery stuff is.

(I also thought about Karin and her "man smells" blog pretty much the whole time. *shoutout*)

And so, that was my day. Well, that and getting my oil changed.

Time off is fun. This post... probably not so much. :)

I blogged. Somewhere else.

A quick little update to say that I suppose I've reached a new level of blogdom. I am a guest blogger. Woot. :)

I wrote a little holiday post for We're Sorry earlier this week, "Love Came Down." Go say hello and check out some of the other posts there. Many thanks to Aaron for giving me another spot to share my ramblings.

And because it's rather timely and sums things up better than my ramblings ever could, a thought-provoking video from Advent Conspiracy.





Merry Christmas and such. Maybe I'll write a real post here soon. :)

Victory!!!

Yay! <3

Ending tonight at 55,544... for now. The tale is not completely told; still got a little bit of wrap-up to write and to clean up the fictional mess I made, but dang, it feels good! :)

I'm bewildered, and I feel like my fingers are going to fall off. But this is such an amazing high, I don't think I'll get much sleep tonight. If I'm a zombie at work tomorrow, I'll know why.

I have to give a big NaNoSurvivor virtual hug to Dr. Wicked for creating Write or Die (a godsend in the final weeks!), The Coffee-Stained Writer (for the pep talks), the NaNOrlando community (even though I had to miss the meetings, your members' Twitter updates sustained me), and of course, the wonderful friends and family in the non-writing world who encouraged me, asked about my wordcount, and showed interest and support along the way (even though I refused to tell any of them what my novel was about). It really kept me going and is appreciated more than you know.

And now... I guess I'll finish writing the loose ends, let it be for a while before I tackle editing, and declare December NaNoReadMo. Seriously, I got a stack of books I've been wanting to read all month, and it will be glorious to see some words by somebody else for a change. I am suffering from literary deprivation. (Ack!)

Okay. Sleep. Now.