Geek Force FiveCast 018 (Video)

This week’s Geek Force FiveCast features an impromptu jam/singalong, straight from the halls of PodCamp Boston 3. Watch as Chris Brogan leads the crowd (including me, ChrisClark) in a rousing version of the Counting Crows classic “Mr. Jones.”

If you’d like to subscribe to the podcast version of the FiveCast, please subscribe via Mevio.com.

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Friday Flashback: Lindsay Lohan vs. Allison Stokke

Editor’s Note: This entry originally appeared on June 4, 2007 on ChrisClark’s now-defunct Weblog, A Few Choice Words.

On the one hand, we’ve got a certifiable glory-whore who produces more headlines with her late-night antics than she ever has with her creative output. And, on the other hand, we’ve got a talented student athlete, who just happens to be a beautiful girl, and who would prefer to be left completely alone by the media. It sort of boggles my mind that the girl who actually deserves some news coverage (for her skill in pole vaulting, and not her good looks) would rather be ignored, while the girl who hasn’t done anything worth talking about since she stopped filming Disney remakes* seeks out the press in any way she can.

*I like her first record, but that was more of an achievement in record production than in vocal performance.

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Nine Inch Nails Begin Touring North America on Friday

It used to be that, if you were a Nine Inch Nails fan, you were waiting for new NIN more than you experiencing new NIN. There would be five years between albums, maybe more. And the wait was excruciating, because you knew how awesome the next experience was going to be, but you also knew that it might not happen for a very long time.

That’s changed in the past three years. In 2005, we got With Teeth, which was followed by one tour, after another, after another. Then, in February of 2007, we got a live video of the With Teeth-era line-up called Beside You in Time. A few months after that, in April 2007, we got Year Zero, another full-length album. Not even a year after that, in March 2008, we got Ghosts I-IV, a thirty-six song instrumental masterpiece. And, most recently, back in May, we got The Slip, yet another full-length album, and a free one at that (a not-free physical release came out this week).

If the middle of this decade has been a great time to be a Boston sports fan (it has), then it has been an amazing time to be a Nine Inch Nails fan. And here’s the really awesome thing: it’s only going to get better.

Trent Reznor and company begin their North American tour in British Columbia tomorrow night, a tour which will bring them through New England for at least two dates that I’m aware of, one of which I believe I have a ticket to. And, after reading accounts of a recent private show in L.A., I am exceptionally pumped about that. It sounds like they’re planning on doing a solid mix of classics and new songs, and it appears as if the same improvisational spirit which brought us the undeniably cool “Closer/The Only Time” mash-up on the last tour is still in full effect. A performance of “25 Ghosts III” was said to have included a significant jam, for instance.

Good times.

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The Pluto Tapes - Live at SomerVaudeville (Video)

Eventually, I will get off my ass and separate this show by The Pluto Tapes into four pieces, one for each song, which is what I promised my friend Andy Hicks I would do about a month ago. But, for now, I think it is imperative that you all take a look at this awesome show that Andy put on as part of May’s inaugural SomerVaudeville event. If you have time for nothing else, skip directly to the end, to the tag for “Paula Abdul"/"Straight Up”. If that isn’t the most rocking Paula Abdul cover you’ve ever heard, then there’s something wrong with you.

Also, if you’re looking for something to listen to and you don’t already own it, buy a copy of Dead Planets Tell No Tales, the first album by The Pluto Tapes, on iTunes.

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Worth Your Consideration 006 - A GF5 Linkdump

• Nine Inch Nails and Pitchfork.tv have followed up on Monday’s posting of the rehearsal of “1,000,000” with two more clips of tour rehearsal footage, one for “Letting You” and a second for “Echoplex”. These clips further solidify the fact that I am an idiot for not having a ticket to see NIN on this tour yet. Good grief, this new line-up is good!
• In other NIN news, check out the picture above for a sneak peek at how the band is using Google Earth to enhance the tour experience this time around, and check out the notes on the photo on Flickr for a more details. It almost makes me want to download Google Earth. Almost. (Why can’t that program run in a browser yet?)
• And, lastly, in non-NIN news, and on a much more somber note, please do read Kevin Smith’s thoughts on George Carlin’s passing, which show just how much the filmmaker admired the late comic and his work.

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