Live 8

Woah! Hold the phone. There is going to be another Live Aid? But bigger? And more cities? And there's no charge for admittance?

It seems to be true, as this and other articles are confirming. Here's the official web site.

Acts will include, but are not limited to, U2, Coldplay, Madonna, Dave Matthews Band, Bon Jovi, R.E.M., The Killers, Keane, Velver Revolver... even the Spice Girls are getting back together to perform!

The concert cities include Philadelphia, London, Berlin, Rome, and Paris.

All of this is being put together as a way to bring attention to the poverty suffered by millions on the continent of Africa. A conference of world leaders, the G-8 conference, is being held on the same day, July 2nd, in Edinburgh. The concerts are thus directed to raise the voices of millions, and point them at Edinburgh. I know one desire of the organizers is to see larger nations drop the debt of African nations, so they can use money to help better the situation of their own countries.

After seeing all of the info on this, all I can say is wow! This is going to be huge, and the talk about the Live 8 concerts has just started.

Support our design

This Memorial Day, I recall a number of freedoms that have been defended by countless brave men and women throughout this country's history. One is the freedom of speech, which enables me to create tangent without fears of attack from my own government, and the protection of my free speech from the censorship of others. It is with this in mind that I write the following...

Over the past year or so, America's highways have seen a growing number of ribbons displayed on people's vehicles. Many of these ribbons are of the yellow variety, donning the phrase "Support Our Troops." A noble message and purpose, these ribbons are a welcome site, especially considering all of the mixed feelings toward the war itself. However, like most fads, these ribbons have become overblown in their popularity, spawning spinoffs and a lack of common sense.

Now, most people would say I am being nit-picky... and for the sake of argument, I am willing to agree. But someone has got to say something about how these ribbons are being displayed.

First, many of these ribbons have become way over the top in their design. You have the yellow ribbons that are mixed with the American flag, the American flag ribbon, the camouflage ribbon, the ribbon with the heart in the negative space of the loop, the ribbon with the cross cut out of the negative space of the loop, the ribbons that were designed by companies jumping on the bandwagon of yellow ribbon fever, who clearly have a different sense of design...

The history of the yellow ribbon is debatable, but I know it from the song (?) about tying a ribbon around the old oak tree. Placing yellow ribbons on our cars seems to be the evolution of the idea, placing it in a much more visible location for modern Americans... the back of the car.

The symbol itself is the ribbon. The message tied to the ribbon is a universal one: support for Americans. So, why do we need all the other stuff? The flag, the script typeface of "Support Our Troops", the camouflage, etc? All we need is the ribbon. It conveys the message.

The other thing that bugs me is how people are displaying these ribbons on their car. The ribbon is designed to be oriented vertically, as an actual piece of ribbon would be oriented, when pinned to a lapel, a shirt, a blouse, etc. It's not meant to look like a fish (crazy Christians), and worst of all... you don't need to turn it so the words "Support Our Troops" is horizontal. The design carries the message. Everything else is extraneous and distracting.

While leaving a rest stop on the Garden State Parkway yesterday, two cars came to a head near the exit. One of the cars was in the wrong for pulling out in front of the other. I''m not sure which. It doesn't matter. But the mini-van, with the ribbon twisted so the ribbon's words read horizontally, stopped their vehicle. The side door slides open, and out pops a skinny white guy, with a do rag. He approached the car in typical white guy gangster fashion, probably saying something like "You wanna piece?" or "You best not be steppin'." What is wrong with people?

The thing that got me was that it wasn't even the driver. Our road rage is so bad in America that it has migrated to the back seat, and now passengers in the rear seats of mini vans are trying to pick fights on the road.

Well, it should come as no surprise that this very mini-van had a ribbon on the back of it, and it was oriented so the words "Support Our Troops" was perfectly horizontal. A lack of intelligence was prominent in this one.

But alas, there's another beautiful freedom we enjoy in America. The freedom of stupidity. We can create amazing ways to communicate powerful and worthwhile messages. But we don't always have the power to completely control the way that message is displayed or the people associated with it.

Geurilla art tours

There are a group of Marymount Manhattan College (New York City) students who are sticking it to the man (or, more appropriately, working to get rid of those annoying audio sticks at museums). These students had an amazing idea! They have combined the power of the Internet, blogs, podcasts, the art community, and iPods (and other portable, digital music players) to change how we look (and listen) to the museum art.

If you've been to an art museum, you undoubtedly have seen a flock of people with baton-like sticks protruding from their ears. These audio tours are wonderful for the art lover who wants to know more than can be provided on a 3x5 wall card, but they offer a distinctly singular point of view - the museum's. Like any other critical field, there exist a host of opinions on art, and who is to say that any one museum's point of view is the best?

Well, Art Mobs are out to provide people with an alternative set of opinions, along with the traditional facts. These students are collecting art reviews, using the internet and their blog to collect opinions. They then are turned into podcasts, and made available via the Internet to art lovers... for FREE!

I suspect this is where museums like the MoMA start to get angry. While these students are fostering the possibility of a new generation of art lovers, they also compromise the museum's ability to make money off their own audio tours. Played on digital music players like an iPod, these tours do not disturb other museum goers, but probably disturb a struggling art museum community's bottom line.

The other issue here is the quality of the podcasts. I have not tried one yet, but I imagine there has to be some question over the validitiy of their sources, their accuracy, and, in some cases, their decency. I am not much worried about the decency part, because it is probably nice to have an uncensored and frank account of some artist's life and works. The accuracy part does worry me a bit. Is it worth having a new art community that loves art, but has misinformation?

Right now, I vote yes, because there has always been misinformation, and you can correct misinformation easier than you can create a new love for art.

Read more in this New York Times article.

In memory of...

Perhaps you've noticed this too, but I am rather surprised by the number of cars on the road that have been dedicated to the life of someone. Usually people will display "In memory of (insert person's name) 19?? - 20??" on their rear windshield, printed like a college sticker, except sometimes accompanied by an image like a rose.

I might be setting myself up for a fall here, but does anyone else think that this practice of dedicating cars to people who have died to be ridiculous? First of all, it's a distraction to other drivers, who are squinting to see what is written in that awful brush script typeface. Then, stop... think about it... you are dedicating a car to a loved one. A car!

I know Americans love their cars, but I certainly don't want one to be dedicated in my name. What happened to buildings and scholarships? What happened to tombstones?

What really doesn't make sense to me is... what makes you think that I am going to know who this person is? Just because I happen to be driving behind you doesn't make me feel any connection to the person in the dedication, or make me mourn them any more than anyone else. That's why dedications are given to things with purpose.

The car dedication is lost on me, and serves as another example of a society lost in tackiness. Maybe it's just me, but I find this to be more of an insult than a tribute.

2005 VC Year End Show

Coal is not glamourous

Truth in advertising. It's the best way to promote your product or service. Will someone tell that to GE and BBDO?

BBDO/NY has taken on quite a difficult challenge in making GE the leader in ecologically sound solutions to our world's energy problems. It's a problem that ExxonMobil is also tackling.

Are these huge companies able to put our environment before the bottom line? Probably not. But I do admire the effort to make it seem as though there is a benefit to being forward thinking about how we can address these issues. So, I am not about to find fault in the idea of using your "ecomagination." (Although I do ponder if the creative team had been to DisneyWorld recently, perhaps observing some Imagineeering?)

In fact, I think the campaign is mostly clever and well presented. It doesn't leave a lot to disagree about... except one thing...

One of the spots talks of GE's efforts to bring coal back as an efficient energy source. You can read about it and see it with Adrants' blog.

While some may believe that coal is not used any more (because we don't shovel heaps of it into our furnaces or trains), it is actually used in many everyday products. I recall seeing a document that explored the many uses for coal and it included hundreds of products (even toothpaste, if I recall correctly). So, I take no issue with the idea that coal is still being used, and should be more used efficiently as long as it is.

What I do take offense to, and find very untruthful, is the use of glamorous models as coal miners. I have met many former coal miners and coal miner's families. I have witnessed the effects of Black Lung disease and the long term effects that coal mining has had on the communities of Appalachia. There is nothing glamorous about coal or it's mining.

The spot is unequivocally suggesting that coal mining is not only more efficient because of GE, but more beautiful and even sexy. There is no truth in that. It undermines the work of hundreds of thousands who have had to fight coal companies and the federal government to compensate families for the illnesses, injuries and deaths incurred by coal mining. These are families who typically sit on the bottom of our country's social and economic class system, and this ad belittles their situation.

Granted, this spot is shot beautifully and it fits in the campaign, but I find it is without thought for the work of coal mining and it's terrible history. It just seems classless.

Now it's always easier to tear down than it is to build up, I know. So, I give the creative team credit for creating an overall campaign for GE that is positive and pushing other companies to take ownership for ecologically beneficial techniques. You just have to be careful when you are insulting the work of a lot of people who have lived already difficult lives.

Oh... and I am not the only one who feels like this. If anything, I think I have been rather rational about it. Some are still praising the campaign, however.

---

After writing this post I e-mailed Lewis Lazare, from the previous link, and the following was the discussion:

>> I wrote Lew (May 18, 2005 1:15 AM):

I am in advertising and I am surprised at your review of the new GE
spots.

I agree that the overall campaign is a positive, well shot, and an intellectual look at branding GE... but the coal miner's spot is just offensive. Do you know what the words of that song are about? Just listen to the ad? Coal mining is and never can be glamorous. The spot works against the campaign, in that it insults the very people whom coal is supposed to benefit. I wish you would take another look at it, and respond to some of the criticism it's been getting.

Ben Thoma

>> He responded (12:09 PM):

Thanks for your note.

You raise an interesting point, but one that I think ultimately is beside the point.

Of course coal mining is a difficult and quite dangerous and hugely unpleasant business. But though set in a coal mine and featuring figures going about the business of "mining," which I put in quotes in my review, the commercial isn't about addressing the horrors of that particular industry, but rather to point out how coal can be used in a more environmentally friendly way.

A hardliner, I suppose, could legitimately argue that the commercial is insensitive to the people who mine the coal, but I happen to believe the tension between what we see in the commercial and the brutal reality we all know to be the case about coal mining only heightens the impact of the message GE and BBDO are trying to make.

That's my take. But I'm glad, at least, the commercial is generating discussion, as so little that comes out of agencies these days even merits debate.

Regards,

Lewis Lazare

>> I rebutted (11:57 AM):

Thanks for your response - honestly, I did not expect one.

First, I am coming at this from two distinct perspectives. One is as an aspiring creative... aspiring to be able to do the kind of work that BBDO and David Lubars do produce. The other is as a long time volunteer and advocate for the people of Appalachia, particularly in regions where coal is (was) king.

So, perhaps, I am automatically in the camp of hard-liners that you describe, but I think I am more willing to give this ad a chance than other hard-liners. The fundamental flaw is see in this ad, and your argument, is that the ad is displaying an untruth. In doing so, they have undermined their entire message, similar to a witness losing their credibility. It's not the same as a movie, where suspending our disbelief allows us to accept the plot or theme. An ad must be grounded in reality and the truth if it's claim is to be believed.

You say that the tension between what we know to be true and what we see on the screen heightens our awareness to the product's claim, but instead it heightens our awareness of the fallacy that the image portrays - that coal mining can be glamorous. Because I see an image that is rooted in a false situation, I find it hard to believe the claim. GE has lost my trust.

(Plus, I just know that although coal may be MORE environmentally friendly than before, it will never BE environmentally friendly.)

Thanks again for the response, and stirring the pot for discussion. I think we'll see more questions about agencies' roles in the world of social responsibility in the near future.

>> He came back with (12:14 PM):

not to belabor the point, which you argue eloquently Mr. Thoma, but the "point" of the commercial is not to present a false image of coal mining, per se, but rather to point up the fact that coal as a product is being used in a more environmentally responsible way, thanks to GE's innovations. That is clear from that voiceover copy that comes at the end of the spot.

not to belabor the point, which you argue eloquently Mr. Thoma, but the "point" of the commercial is not to present a false image of coal mining, per se, but rather to point up the fact that coal as a product is being used in a more environmentally responsible way, thanks to GE's innovations. That is clear from that voiceover copy that comes at the end of the spot.

On May 19, 2005, he published a new column based on our conversation and the reaction of others.

The one point that we can both agree on, is that it is better that this conversation exists, than for there to be nothing at all.

Contribute your title design to tangent

Maybe you've noticed that the title design for tangent is ever changing? Well, that's because I want tangent to be a place where talents other than my own can be in display. It'd be great of you to contribute as well!

It's easy to do & there are only two rules:

1 - The file needs to be a .jpg or .gif file (500 pixels wide x 75 pixels high)
2 - Somewhere in the image, it needs to say "tangent"

Here's some templates that you can download (right-click to save):
JPEG File
GIF File

The file itself could use typography, illustration, photography, animation... whatever you need.

Once you've built the file, you can e-mail it to me along with the following information:
How you'd like your name to appear (first name, first/last, alias, etc.) and a URL for your own web site, blog, portfolio, etc.

I'll then put your design in the mix and when people see it, they can connect to your site as well.

:: A very special thanks to Colin at Monaco Lange, Inc. for all his help in developing the code to make this work.

Contribute music to tangent

I'm looking for readers and friends of tangent to contribute musical choices to be included in the weekly music section of tangent.

Nearly all musical suggestions will be accepted (John Tesh and similar tomfoolery might not make it off the chopping block).

To submit your musical choices (a few at a time, like two or three) simply send me an e-mail. Let me know if there is a URL which I should link to when giving you credit and how you want your name displayed (first name, alias, etc.)

I'll add your contribution to the front page and it will be stored permanently in the tangent music archives.

Thanks for contributing!

Wordless diagrams

I went back to the NPR archives to find a story I heard a while ago about a graphic designer, Nigel Holmes, who illustrated a "how-to" book called Wordless Diagrams. Listen to the story and take a look at some of the illustrations he creates.

Every day designers are faced with different problems in communication, and I think it is interesting to see how others solve these problems. Sometimes they turn up more complex solutions, and other times they surprise me with extremely simple solutions to what initially appears to be complex.

I have not seen the entire book, but it seems to me that Nigel's work, and the work of designers like him, is understated in our society, as we take for granted the diagrams that help us with a choking victim or demonstrate how to change our car's oil.

Here's a diagram, I thought was a bit odd for a facelift. I don't know if I want to go to th plastic surgeon's office and see this hanging in the operating room. Ouch!

Complacency in education

I read an op-ed piece in Friday's New York Times that had me nodding my head and thinking, someone is finally saying how I felt all through college. The editorial, Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?, is by Thomas Friedman.

Friedman points out a couple of studies, whose numbers are not shocking to me, but should be to many in this country.

"Just 56 percent of the students surveyed said they put a great deal of effort into schoolwork; only 43 percent said they worked harder than they had expected. Even though 55 percent said they studied no more than three hours a week, 65 percent of those students reported getting mostly A's and B's."

At college, I saw countless students begging professors for extensions to ordinary assignments. They complained about the difficulty of exams and were able to get extra credit opportunities. They would negotiate the best time (around their drinking schedule) to take exams. Lackluster effort was rewarded with better than passing grades.

At my alma mater, the epidemic has finally reached the administration, and there is now talk of how the university can curb the rising tide of better-than-average grades. They are calling it "grade inflation."

I have been saying to people casually, for a while, that there are simply more college students in college than there are qualified students. It's not the fault of the students entirely either. Professors have given in to student pressure, allowed their research to supersede teaching practices. Universities have allowed enrollment to explode, leaving classrooms flooded, and no one wanting to do the work it takes to foster driven students. Parents and high schools are looking to get kids into college, not determine the best potential path for a student. Could it be that you son or daughter would be happier being an apprentice or going to a two-year school?

This trend is leaving students frenzied in their post-college careers, as they search for the job they really want, without the degree to match. And it is leaving employers desiring more from a young workforce that isn't as hard working.

The big disclaimer here is that all of this is not necessarily true of every college student or every college grad. So, I am left wondering, how do we tell the difference?

Here is the full text of Friedman's editorial:

For so many years, America's economy was so dominant on the world stage, so out front in so many key areas, that we fell into the habit of thinking we were competing largely against ourselves. If we fell behind in one area or another - whether it was math and science skills, broadband capacity or wireless infrastructure - we took the view that: "Oh well, we'll fix that problem when we get to it. After all, we're just competing against ourselves."

In recent years, though, with the flattening of the global playing field, it should be apparent that we are not just competing against ourselves. The opening of China, India and Russia means that young people in these countries can increasingly plug and play - connect, collaborate and compete - more easily and cheaply than ever before. And they are. We, alas, are still coasting along as if we have all the time in the world.

I helped teach a course at Harvard last semester on globalization, and one day a student told me this story: He was part of a student-run collaboration between students in the U.S. and China. The American and Chinese students had recently started working together by using Skype, the popular, freely downloadable, software that enables you to make free phone calls over the Internet to other Skype users. But what was most interesting, the student told me, was that it was the Chinese students who introduced their U.S. counterparts to Skype. And, he noted, these Chinese students were not from major cities, like Beijing, but from smaller towns.

On April 7, CNET News.com reported the following: "The University of Illinois tied for 17th place in the world finals of the Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest.

"That's the lowest ranking for the top-performing U.S. school in the 29-year history of the competition. Shanghai Jiao Tong University of China took top honors this year, followed by Moscow State University and the St. Petersburg Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics. Those results continued a gradual ascendance of Asian and East European schools during the past decade or so. A U.S. school hasn't won the world championship since 1997, when students at Harvey Mudd College achieved the honor. 'The U.S. used to dominate these kinds of programming Olympics,' said David Patterson, president of the Association for Computing Machinery and a computer science professor at the University of California at Berkeley. 'Now we're sort of falling behind.' "

Earlier this week, a special report on the Indiana University High School Survey of Student Engagement, which covered 90,000 high school students in 26 states, was published. The study noted that 18 percent of college-track seniors did not take a math course in their last year in high school - and that "more than a fifth (22 percent) of first-year college students require remediation in math." Just 56 percent of the students surveyed said they put a great deal of effort into schoolwork; only 43 percent said they worked harder than they had expected.

Even though 55 percent said they studied no more than three hours a week, 65 percent of those students reported getting mostly A's and B's.

"Students are getting A's and B's, but without studying much," Martha McCarthy, the Indiana University professor who headed the study, told me. "Our fear," she added, "is that when you talk to employers out there, they say they are not getting the skills they need," in part because "the colleges are not getting students with the skills they need." Ms. McCarthy said one of the main reasons Indiana did this study is to better inform high school educators about what is going on in their own schools so they can find remedies. All of these shortcomings developed over time, Ms. McCarthy said, but "we as a nation became complacent about them."

America today reminds me of our last Olympic basketball team - that lackadaisical group that brought home the bronze medal. We think that all we need to do is show up and everyone else will fold - because, after all, we're just competing with ourselves.

And we think we don't need to get focused and play together like a team, with Democrats and Republicans actually working together. Well, on the basketball court - and in a flat world, where everyone now has access to all the same coaching techniques, training methods and scouting reports - a more focused, motivated team always beats a collection of more talented but complacent individuals.

I see no cows

As our friends at the gothamist have noted, today was supposed to be the day when the cows were coming to NYC. Well, I was there, and I didn't even smell manure. With the amount of coverage this campaign has been getting, I would imagine that I wouldn't be able to go anywhere in the city without seeing the anticipated reveal of the cows and their purpose.

Instead, I am left with this image, from the web site that apparently goes with the campaign. What a tease!

John "off his" Rocker

ESPN has an an article about John Rocker that is a classic example of foot-in-mouth disease.

I quote the master of missteps, "I've taken a lot of crap from a lot of people. Probably more than anybody in the history of this sport. I know Hank [Aaron] and Jackie [Robinson] took a good deal of crap, but I guarantee it wasn't for six years. I just keep thinking: How much am I supposed to take?"

The answer, John, is a whole lot more (as long as you keep saying stuff like that). I guarantee that Hank Aaron and Jackie Robinson did not take crap for six years - they took it for their entire life! By mentioning these great players and class acts in the same breath as himself, Rocker has only added to his lifetime of misery, by adding more fuel to any hecklers' fire.

Now that he's playing for the Independent League's Lond Island Ducks, I can't wait until I can heckle him myself. This September 11-14, he'll be at Bridgeport's Ballpark at Harbor Yard. I think my sign will say "We're all a bit stupider for being in the same stadium as John Rocker."

Stop Child Abuse

Today I saw one of those lawn signs, like politicians use in campaign season. The sign informed me that I should "Stop Child Abuse." That's all, nothing more. I say, "Okay, how?"

It's one thing to raise awareness for an issue, but it's completely another to empower someone to follow up with your cause.

The thing that left me scratching my head is that it's a cause that everyone can support already. People aren't talking in the lunch room saying, "Hey, did you hear how they are trying to stop child abuse these days? Stupid PC bastards. In my day, child abuse was the way you dealt with kids. Mom and Dad used to call it a beat down, but now we have to call it 'child abuse.'"

It's not like child abuse is a public cause that has sides like abortion or cigarette campaigns. Of course we want to end child abuse! Now give me a way to find out how to help, or don't waste your money on the sign.

It reminded me of the cause that sent me a direct mail piece stating that only ten cents a day would feed a child. To prove their point, in the mailer they pasted an actual dime. Like I don't know what ten cents looks like? Don't waste the dime plus the postage, plus the cost of the mailer to give me the dime I should be sending to you to help the kids. How many children could have been fed today if you didn't send out this letter?

For the record, I kept the dime in protest of stupidity.

Tipping

So, I go to a a baseball game... one these independent, local teams. It's a small park and the seats are nice and cheap. My friend has a coupon which makes them even cheaper and we buy the second best level of seating. $6, not bad.

We're headed down to our seats and they turn out to be third row from the field, first base side. There the kind of seats that J-Lo and Ben Affleck would get at Red Sox games, back when that was still happening.

Well, we're being led down to our seats by an usher, who graciously wipes down the seats. Now it hasn't been raining and the seats look perfectly clean to me, but I guess it's the sort of thing you do for people who can "afford" those seats. (Note: I am not one who can typically afford anything.)

So, as he's doing this I'm thinking, "Oh no. Do I have to tip this guy for wiping down the seats?" I start to think if I have any singles in my pocket. "How much tip do you give for wiping down the seats? Oh man, he's almost finished. What to do?!"

I ended up smiling, thanking him and awkwardly taking the ticket back from him. For a split second, I feel like everyone (all 12 people) in the stadium has taken notice of my lack of tipping.

So, what's the deal? Anyone know if I should tip in this position? About the only people I know that you should tip for sure are waiters/waitresses, bell-hops, taxi drivers, and bartenders. Even then I think I get it wrong. I know in New Jersey you are specifically not supposed to tip the gas station attendant, even though you can't pump your own gas - by law!

Does the fact that he held the ticket, and there is a return of the ticket after a service was rendered, indicate that I should have tipped? Is that true of any situation where anything approximately the size of money is exchanged between two people's hands? What is the standard tip for a seat wipe down?

Tipping itself is problematic for me, because there is an unwritten set of standards. Who is to really know what is an appropriate tip? Even if you think you're tipping the right amount, the receiver of the tip may feel like they're on the wrong end of the deal. Why is tipping such a standard?

Okay, I know why tipping is necessary... because wait staff get paid crap. Why is it that the service industry is immune to the minimum wage? Even with tipping I think everyone should have to make minimum wage.

I get the idea that it provides incentive for the employee to provide better service, but there are plenty of examples in the service industry where you can't tip and I'd like to expect decent service - telephoning for computer help being a prime example. If tipping means I don't have to talk to someone in another country, with a fake American name, who asks me if my computer is plugged in... well, then I'll tip over the phone.

It just seems to me that people who depend on tips are getting screwed by people like me who don't know what their doing, and I feel bad for it. I wouldn't have bought those seats if I knew I had that service and tip were involved. I'd be more than happy to sit in the bleachers, on a some what dusty seat.

Maybe that's it. Maybe there should be a tipping sticker on windows or store fronts that indicates that tipping will be involved somewhere along in the visit. Maybe it can even give a suggested amount? A tip sticker - to benefit you, so you know to tip, and to benefit the tipee, who should be able to get an appropriate tip. Hmm.

In the beginning...

So, here's the start of tangent, my outlet for thoughts. I expect that a lot of my thoughts will center around design, sports, advertising, culture, music, movies... I expect that I won't be ranting about celebrities, sorry.

I hope that this can be a conversation, and if you are bored enough to be reading this, then you certainly could write a few comments in return.

As you can see, I started thinking about this whole idea a while ago, and thus this is not technically the first post. It is however, the beginning of the site.

I guess I should do something to commemorate this moment. Here we go...

tangent's Music Archive

iMixes:
tangent's Inaugural iMix

:: Weeks ongoing, influenced by Werlew:
Busted Bicycle - Leo Kottke

:: Contributed by me:
Foo Fighters - In Your Honor

:: Week 9 and 10 (maybe even 11), Influenced by Speakeasy Johnny
The Simplest Plans - Jeff & Vida
Loaded - Jeff & Vida

:: Week 7 into 8, Contributed by Jill
Speed of Sound - Coldplay
Van Lear Rose - Loretta Lynn
The Grey Album - Danger Mouse

:: Week 6, R.I.P.

:: Week 5, Contributed by Russ:
Where is Love - LCD Soundsystem
It's for You - Out Hud

:: Week 4, Contributed by Mellor:
Spanish Faster - Ringside
This Train - Bunny Wailer
Testify - Common

:: Week 3, Contributed by Tom, the cousin:
SFO - Jacko Peake
Believe - King's X
Hardest Way Possible - Rustic Overtones

:: Week 2:
B.Y.O.B. - System of A Down
Feel Good Inc. - Gorillaz

:: Inaugural Week:
Freedom Hangs Like Heaven - Iron & Wine
Something Pretty - Patrick Park
Chariot - Gavin McGraw
Specialist - Interpol
Venom Confection (E-Pro Remixes) - Beck
Don't Panic - Coldplay
Somewhere Only We Know - Keane
I Wish I Had an Evil Twin - The Magnetic Fields
Caring is Creepy - The Shins
A Lack of Color - Death Cab for Cutie
Undone - Owsley
You Versus Everything - Seven Ender
City of Blinding Lights - U2
The Promise - When in Rome