Carell's Farewell

     After watching Carell's final episode of 'The Office', it makes me wonder about the impact that a character like Michael Scott can have on a series and its audience. While he appears to lack managment skills and spends most of his time distracting others, people like him. Michael assumes a laid-back role when it comes to the workplace, but his interaction with the other characters individually is what really defines him in the series. At times when it matters most for his company and his friends, he always finds the power to rise to the occasion. In this episode Michael leaves Dunder Mifflin to move to Colorado. The characters' reactions leave the audience heartbroken, an emotion not usually evoked considering its comedic style. However, this final show for him didn't feature anything too unexpected - which, in my opinion, made it all the better.
     Now, the only question is: Can 'The Office' still live up to the comedic legacy that he helped to earn? It seems like the producers were hinting at the fact that, yes, the show will forge on, by almost downplaying the fact that Carell was leaving. Yet who can really hide the elephant in the room? The reason I watched this episode was because he was leaving, and I'm sure glad I did.

Here is the cast's Rent-style "Seasons of Love," just because I felt it was appropriate.

Sony Explains Playstation Network Crash

     So gamers (yes, you know who you are) if you hadn't already experienced or at least heard about the total lockdown of the Playstation Network, check THIS article out. As of about a week ago the online services, like downloading new content and multiplayer functions, have been unavailable. At first the little Sony blurb that popped up when players tried to access the online connection claimed that the Network was "down for maintenance." Well, apparently they are coming clean. Hackers have breached Sony's security systems for the Playstation Network, opening the databases up to the fiends. In short, this means that they now have lists of names, addresses, and even credit card numbers of people who use the online features (which is about 60 million gamers worldwide).

Needless to say this is a big deal; but, who is really at fault here?

     Customers surely expect a lot from Sony, given its reputation of providing popular and reliable consoles. So as hackers expose the Achilles heel, how will the players react? According to the article, not too well. Yet, on the other side, are people too trusting towards systems like these? Do we depend too much on other people protecting our information?

Mr. Worldwide

     As a follow-up to my last post (and to inspire a touch of diversity to the music scene) I have posted my two favorite international songs. "What?! Are you kidding me? International songs, like, from another country?" Yes, that's exactly what I mean. You'd have to be living under a cultural rock not to realize the value of broadening your playlist. Take a listen and tell me what you think.

Juanes (Colombia) - "Yerbatero"

Helmut Fritz (France) - "Ca M'enerve"

Like My iPod's Stuck on Replay

     Have you ever been listening to the radio and mistake one song for another? To me this happens all the time. Hit tracks seem to be borrowing portions from other popular songs. Artists have seen and heard what works and what doesn't when it comes to catching the ear of their audience. So why shouldn't they do whatever they can to accomplish this? It's a dog-eat-dog world afterall.

     Not too long ago I came across some interesting videos on Youtube called "mashups," or songs made from bits and pieces of other songs. As I listened to them it became apparent how similar modern music is becoming. One poster that has been getting a lot of attention for the past couple years is DJ Earworm. He  does something rather unique with his mashups, though. Anuualy he will post a "year in review" of sorts, where Billboard's Top 25 tracks are packed into one 3-5 minute epic.

You can listen to some of DJ Earworm's creations HERE.

     The point is not how brilliantly he annexes the songs, but simply how he recognizes the popular trends in music. By taking advantage of pop's repetative nature, he makes new songs better (in my opinion), and brings the pot of music culture to a boil.

Hold the Auto-tune, Please

What happens when a video goes viral? A group from UW takes it to the next level.

NY Festival Draws Attention

Lights, Camera, Action!

As the 10th anniversary of the Tribeca Film Festival approaches, New York prepares for the massive influx of indie directors and other performers that'll gather at this annual showcase. Tribeca founder Jane Rosenthal believes that this year promises even more public attraction then the last. Despite the fans of cinema scrambling from every corner to gather and share commonplace, the event focuses on the city itself. I found this interesting as one wouldn't expect a bustling place like NYC to need any more attention. Yet, the more I thought about it, I realized that this concept isn't uncommon at all. Pittsburgh holds events of this nature as well. So, why NOT New York? The festival stimulates economic and cultural activity for the city and the popular stars usually associated with it. "It wasn't started as a traditional film festival," Jane says. Tribeca does a fine job at giving categories, like documentary films, the attention that many of them deserve. What do you feel benefits more from events like these, the cause or the city? Is one’s benefit the result of the other?