Instead of doing my usual post of songs I am going to go in a little bit of a different direction with this post. I am going o throw out a couple of really neat music related sites I have happened to stumble upon while navigating the deep dark never ending abyss that is the internet. So grab you hard hat with a light mount and follow me as we go exploring.

Allmusic.com
I have to say that with out this site, you the reader, would more than likely have to listen to me babble about stupid trivial things in my boring ass life. Like my music organization process , my favorite M&M color and why, or the countless things I am pining over daily on a daily basis. Believe me you don't want to hear about any of that, It's about as interesting as watching paint dry, besides that is what my other blog or facebook are for. So to at least keep the few followers I do have I jump on the ol' Allmusic and do some homework and get some juicy tidbits to make it look like I know what I am talking about. The site is an encyclopedia of any band that you can name, well almost any. It features biographies, discographies, song listes and samples, credits and even awards. Not only that but it hosts extras like a list for new releases that come out each week, an awesome album of the day feature, album reviews up the wazoo, and tons more. The thing I love most about it is it's all linked, sort of like Wikipedia, only more creditable. This is a must visit for any music geek.

www.songmeanings.net
Have you ever listened to a song and had either of these problems? A.) The mush mouthed singer is slurring the words so bad that you swear he must have had 20 beers before recording. Of course you HAVE to know the lyrics because if you sing it wrong in front of someone who knows the correct words they will make a point to call you out in the most non discrete way possible. B.) In an effort to be artsy fartsy the songwriter thought it would be a great idea to confuse the hell out of any one who tried to understand what his "cryptic" and "mysterious" song was about. With the help of Song Meanings you can now be brave to belt out those words and be the callee instead of the called out. Then after that you can console the or put on the finishing move, by dropping some behind the music science. Although before doing all that you may want to know that this is all user generated A.K.A. not 100% accurate. However it is nice to see what others think and more than a few times there is a general consensus or someone read an interview where the band explained what the song was about. Just be careful you might come to find out your favorite song, that you thought was about love, was actually about a hot dog the songwriter had that day.

www.yhbtm.com
YHBTM stands for You Have Bad Taste In Music. This site is more for something to laugh at than it is useful. I have a little story to tell before I go into this further. I recently got hooked on Yahoo Answers. If yo don't know what that is it's basic question and answer service (someone posts a question, users answer said question, after a certain time an answer gets voted as the best.) Anyway I love to go on there and suggest new music to people, you know try and broaden musical horizons and what not. However I'm not the only one who suggests things and I almost always see recommendations like Fallout Boy, The Jonas Brothers, Nickleback, or Miley Cyrus. I will admit I do like a song or two by some of those artists, well by Fall out boy anyway. On the whole I loathe tend to loathe cookie cutter bands and people who don't at least try to listen to something other than what the radio plays. That is just part of my musical snobbery though. I don't ever tell people that they have bad taste in music though, I'll just leave it to this guy. He's got a bigger pair than me.

goodblimey.com
In the last year or so I have seen a huge increase in the popularity of mashups. For those not in the know of what a mash up is think of it like this. You have two potatoes, each of them represents a song. You have a kitchen masher, thats the DJ. Put the songs into a pot, let the DJ mash them up and the outcome is a delicious, more often than not danceable, mix of the two songs. It's not always an easy task to accomplish. I have heard really nasty mashups that make me want spew out of my ears, and I have heard really good mashups that leave me salivating for more. Well fear not because Colin Murray The host of BBC1's "The Black Hole" show has been kind enough to archive over 2,000 great mashups and put them in an online player. Definitely something you can break out at your next party and impress your guests.
from just the few I listened to my personal favorite is George Harrison VS Jackson 5 - I Want Pitty. Just a heads up. You might want to click on the link to open it up in a separate window as I had a little issue with the player on the main page. Besides you should just have it on a separate window and put that sucker on random while surfing, or doing house work.

tofuhut.blogspot.com
Last, but not certainly not least is a site where I first learned what a music blog was. The Tofu Hut is a huge list of music blogs that is pretty well categorized. I might be shooting myself in the foot by listing this site but since I was just talking about how I was all for expanding musical horizons it would be plain selfish not to post this link. I am going to tell you straight out, there are a million better music blogs than mine and I could never compare to them. All I ask is that you don't forget to stop by the ol' RopBop. I mean, where else are you going to read how I sort my music by genre and then alphabetize it, or how my favorite M&M color is Green, because that is my favorite color in general or how I want a slider phone with a keyboard? ...oh yeah, thats right, facebook.

I hope you enjoyed this change of scenery and at least found something to waste an hour or two with. If you liked it leave me a comment or shoot me an e-mail. If I get a good response I'll try to add more posts like this in the future along with the regular posts.

Since I have a lot of free time on my hands I do a lot of riding the waves of data and I read an article about this new teaching tool called Flocabulary. It's a learning tool that uses hip hop as a form of retention. They take subjects such as math, english, history and science put them into really well crafted rap songs. Vocabulary is aimed at grades 5-8 and, as cheezy as it all sounds, the rap songs are actually very good. Not only do they cover subjects like Martin Luther King, environmental studies, and vocabulary words but they cover SAT words and classic poetry like Poe and Shakespeare. The article I found was about the rap song they did for Edgar Allen Poe's The Cask of Amontillado. The rap is almost word for word. Check it out.
Dillon Maurer - The Cask of Amontillado (Poe) (No Longer Available)

In my last post I mentioned a site that was home to a slew of mashups. I am a fiend for mashups and those are all really good mashups but every now and then you come across a real stinker. I decided I need to raise my nose a little bit and turn on the arrogance a bit and show what the differences are between a good mashup and a bad mashup. Well thankfully I kept a few around, I don't know why, Maybe I was unconsciously expecting to do a post like this. Well at least I can get them out of my iTunes now. First one we have is Hotel California In The Fire And Flames. At first I thought this was an awesome mashup idea until I heard it. I love both of these songs (Dragonforce - Through The Fire And Flames and The Eagles - Hotel California) but it just doesn't fit right. The vocals match in the beginning but come the chorus it gets disjointed big time. Just not a good idea to put a super fast song musically with a mellow vocal song. Bleh.
Dragonforce vs The Eagles - Hotel California In The Fire And Flames (No Longer Available)

The other bad mashup I'd like to post is Called Queen Of Da Club which features pits 50 Cent's In Da Club with ABBA's Dancing Queen. Right off the bat you should be able to tell that this is going to be like watching a train wreck. Dancing Queen is a bad song to begin with. I'll give it a little credit because I like it in the same way I like those so bad it's good movies. The only reason to play it is really for comedic purposes. The other very valid point is that it's against the G code to ever listen to this song. In fact I am pretty sure if you are caught listening to this song and you claim any affiliation with the word "Gangsta" you are entitled to an army style soap and pillow case party. Go ahead play this at your next dance party and see how quickly the floor clears. It might be useful for when you want everyone to go home. I don't know why you would want to check these out but they are MTV mashups. That probably will explain everything.
50 Cent vs ABBA - Queen Of Da Club

Lets take a listen to some good mashups shall we?
This is a great mix and I love how it transitions so smoothly from Satisfaction to Spirit Of Radio. then You have the killer vocals of Annie Lennox on Little Bird that just make the song shine like a diamond in the sun. If you like this head on over to Go Home Productions for more.
GHP - Annie Lennox vs. Rolling Stones - Annie's Stoned Rush

This one is a little more pop that what I am used to but I am a huge fan of Tom Petty and I wanted to hear what this song was all about. I really dig the Beyonce lyrics even if they are a little lame. Not because of the meaning behind it, believe me I am all for treating a lady right, but this is a total chick song. However that is the genius of this song come in. You have a song about a boy who breaks hearts and then you have a song about a girl who is thinking "If I were in his shoes..." The traded off vocals make this song so superb but the acoustics of Tom and the vocals of B really bring it all home. Check out DJ Earworm's site for more great mashes.
DJ Earworm - Beyonce vs Tom Petty - If I was a Free Falling Boy

For the past week I have been with out a car. I had a little run in with a telephone pole, actually it was more like a back in. I was at a friends house, which is a new house and I was not used to his driveway. His driveway is a split driveway with a telephone pole and small curb around it. To make a long story short, I was backing out at night and did not remember there was a pole and it put a good sized dent in my drivers side door and ripped on my rear view mirror. Just to answer you question no I was not drunk. So I had to get it fixed. My family, as great as they are, had been nice enough to rescue me a few time to get me out of the house. I was at my sisters one day, and at the end of my hang out time she was kind enough to drive me back to my apartment. Of course I brought my phone with me and even though I had it in my hands I somehow set it down and left without it. I say my goodbyes and walk to the door and then realize that I don't have my phone on me. I look to see if my sister has left the driveway yet just in time to see her tail lights disappear behind a building. I instantly panic and think "Oh I will just call her and tell her to turn around." A second later I come to the conclusion that, the scenario would be great if I had my phone! I once again panic and my feet start to run without me even knowing what is going on. Here I am in the middle of downtown running as fast as I can down the sidewalk waving my arms looking like a crazy person. Thankfully downtown where I live has plenty of stop signs and I didn't have to chase her down to far. I caught up with her huffing and puffing like I was in cardiac arrest while both my Sister and Nephew are cracking up. I am so glad I caught her because without my phone I would have had now way to know when my car was done.
Sunset Rubdown - You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)