So, the premiere of MTV’s new show, I Just Want my Pants Back is premiering tonight at 11 pm after Jersey Shore. I had been seeing the advertisements for this show for months, but I did not know until recently that it was based on a book. I stumbled upon the book in the free book menu on my Kindle and I started reading it. Although I am only halfway through, I have to say that I am curious to see how it is going to be interpreted. I’m sure that MTV will take some libeties with plot lines, but from what I can tell the characters are going to remain basically the same. I feel like Jason comes off a little whiney and immature in the book, but maybe his tv version will be more adult. All of the characters are pretty relateable and fun, so I think it should translate perfectly to MTV’s audience. I am going to continue reading the book to see, if in fact, he does ever get his pants back, although he should really just buy some new ones.

I Just Want my Pants Back premieres tonight at 11 pm on MTV.

This article about genres is long overdue. First off, we’re tired of all the blanket genre labels that keep popping up. Take the genre “electro,” for example. Wikipedia lists so-called “electro” artists such as DMX Krew, Kraftwerk, Afrika Bambaataa, Cylob and even Cat Stevens as artists related to the genre. Electro isn’t listed under any of Cat Stevens’ main Wikipedia page genres, and rightfully so. Apparently he dropped some album called “Was Dog a Doughnut,” that was allegedly a precursor to the “electro music genre of the 1980′s.”

At the end of the day, what is electro? Just some bullshit (for lack of a better adjective) commercial term that was developed by record labels to try and put various artists in a box. When artists are nicely packaged in a box, it’s easier to say what kind of music you like, and therefore figure out what kind of music you’d purchase. However, does that mean it’s accurate to do so?

Ever ask someone, “Hey, what kind of music do you like?” Only to get a response like, “Oh, I listen to everything,” or “Oh, I listen to everything but country,” or everything “but rap,” etc. Everything but country. Why’s that, because country is “uncool,” in some circles? It could also be that country is extremely popular in the US, and was the number one genre of music before hip hop or “rap” took its throne. Calling hip hop “rap,” really is kind of inaccurate as well, because “rap” refers to “rapping,” which is a trend in hip hop music. Calling hip hop “rap,” is kind of a thing of the 90′s though, back when music stores were still brick-and-mortar and not overtaken by digital storefronts.

I actually designed the font for the “rap” genre header on the Universal Music Group page back in 2008, just with a handwritten then digitally edited font, because theirs was struggling. Don’t believe me? Here’s a screenshot of my font on their genre header:

Here’s what their previous genre headers were…

Yes, I took time away from studying for law school finals to work on a genre font for UMG. Why not?

Also, just because I’m a digital packrat and nerdy enough to save screenshots of my desktop, here’s the full shot of my desktop at the time as well as the rough font sketch.

Of course, UMG has since revamped their site–after all it has been four years–but graphic design bragging-rights tangent aside, the mainstream labels package music in genres for sales purposes, even if what genre a musician’s songs fit is debatable. It goes beyond that though, mainstream genres are not even correct or accurate anymore.

The genre “electro” is garbage, and referring to hip hop as “rap” is also lamely imprecise, but let’s take a look at the “chillwave” genre. Aside from being a terribly cheesy name for a genre, since any reference to music with the word “chill” in it has always made us cringe, even the musicians at the forefront of the alleged “chillwave” genre do not even classify their music as such. Back to Wikipedia,

The Wall Street Journal quoted Alan Palomo of Neon Indian on genre, “Whereas musical movements were once determined by a city or venue where the bands congregated, ‘now it’s just a blogger or some journalist that can find three or four random bands around the country and tie together a few commonalities between them and call it a genre,’.”[5] Despite the stylistic similarities listed above, Palomo and other artists have questioned whether chillwave actually constitutes a discrete genre.

So there you have it, now we have random people on the Internet trying to put music in boxes as well, and those genres can become “real,” in that people actually use them? Come on! It’s bad enough that genres are imprecise as it is, but now anyone with a web site that gets traffic can create them?

Human nature makes us want to put everything in a box, from music to gender, even though life can’t just all be lumped together. Trying to simplify the world this way is a terribly unintelligent idea. If someone sees a baby boy on a train dressed in pink clothes that are arguably “girly” it can frustrate them because they can’t tell if the kid is a boy or a girl. That’s straight from the professor of a graduate level anthropology class. The tendency to want to see things in black and white is because it’s just easier that way, aside from that fact that human nature is completely irrational.

People who don’t care about music very much don’t listen enough to actually be able to discern differences between different genres and I also cringe at the number of times I’ve heard people say “it all sounds the same,” about a genre when if you actually follow that type of music, you will notice differences that are substantial enough to split into all kinds of sub-genres. Even then though, with experimental music, and even new music that is more conventional, it is best to classify music with multiple genres and sub genres.

The only reason to use sweeping genres that lump together a bunch of pre-existing genres that truly are different is to dumb things down for people who don’t really listen to music, but just skim through it. That’s right. I’ve heard people refer to all electronic music as “house” or “trance.” Again, come on! Really? It’s those same lazy people with typically dull taste in music that use commercially created terms like “electro” and “chillwave.”

So IDM is a stylistic origin of chill wave? Really? As someone who has been listening to IDM since the 90′s, that sounds absurd to me. This Autechre track, “Gantz Graf,” is IDM. So then, shouldn’t we be able to hear some influence from it in Neon Indian’s music? I can’t.

Just because Autechre used a lot of editing in the sequencer and digital sound processing to make that track doesn’t really make it anything at all like Neon Indian’s music. Think back to that person who goes around telling people “Uh, yeah, I listen to a little bit of everything, except country.” For reals? So, we might find them in their car rocking out to the Autechre track above? Doubt it. They probably don’t listen to anything that’s experimental at all. Oh the things we say that are driven by our insecurities.

So in conclusion, the question we pose is this: are you a dumbed-down herd follower of a person when it comes to music? Do you actually have enough passion for music that you spend a reasonable amount of time seeking it out, listening to it without talking over it, and enjoying it? If so, maybe then you will hear enough differences from one musician to the next that it will feel completely wrong to throw a musician in a smorgasbord sack of shit genre. <3.

Snoop // Wiz Khalifa’s record:

Pretty much everything Snoop says in this “Nemo’s Advice” show is funny, especially his thoughts on Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries.

Snooki’s boyfriend, Jionni, on MTV’s Jersey Shore has a similar predicament…

There’s no reinvention in party time. In fact, time doesn’t even exist anymore… except for party time.

Saw this on MTV earlier and it’s so bad. Normally, we keep it positive about the musics, but this song and video are ridiculous. Will.i.am is like junk food for music. Think about all the reasons you wouldn’t eat junk food then think about this song and how weak sauce it is. Will.i.am was working on a business deal with Universal Music Group and we heard he’s a fairly opinionated dude. Not just like strong convictions, but opinionated in a pretentious way. Don’t ask how we know that.

Will.i.am shouldn’t have to tell us how hard the beat is, really. The beat should just speak for itself. Come on buddy!

Then there’s the whole involvement of Mick Jagger. Seriously? Jagger should be thanking Ke$ha right now because since she and Maroon 5 wrote tracks playing on the words “swagger” and “Jagger,” which seems to have created an unfortunate ripple-effect. Now we have to listen to and more horribly see Mick Jagger still performing. Yes, the Rolling Stones made awesome music, but that was years ago, and unfortunately their time has passed. In the entertainment business, sometimes retirement really isn’t such a bad thing. Rather than going hard, Jagger should just go home!

We’ve got that crisis like Jagger, because this song reeks of an older dude trying to be cool for Jagger. You’ve got to know when to fold them, just like if you’re on a casino online. It’s so tempting to go hard though and try to win big when you’ve got money to burn, isn’t it? Call us what you will, but when we gamble, we like to get our video poker on. When we can’t make it to Vegas we hit up: http://www.casinotop10.net/video-poker.shtml, keeping it legal, of course. Unfortunately, much like Mick Jagger, we don’t always know when to fold ‘em. Two words: human nature.

The new “Live Famously” sweepstakes offers everyone a chance to live famously in the new year. The grand prize gives 1 winner and a friend a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live famously for a day in and around Los Angeles, including a luxury hotel stay, private car service to and from the airport, a $1,000 reward card for whatever they want, a $250 spa card and a special concert experience with Perez Hilton. There’s also a chance to win thousands of daily prizes, such as retail gift cards for stylish clothing brands, department stores and online shopping!

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After obtaining a code during the promotion period, visit the LEAN POCKETS® brand Facebook Page and complete and submit the registration form. Users will automatically receive one entry into the sweepstakes and advance to the “Instant Win Game” Page and receive one instant play for that day. Limit of one entry per person/per day.

Black Cherry MiO Energy mixed with sparkling water and ice. Delicious.

So the lovely, sexy, Ryan Gosling has become a meme-target. Hooray. What we like even more? That the meme went tech within the past few days. Here’s a top ten of the meme images, starting with 10, for your viewing pleasure.

Alas, we give to you the winning art submission for the Newcastle Brown Ale Walk The Dog Day on September 24, 2011. We think it’s terrific and are much appreciative to the artist: Saen aka Tenderwolf. Enjoy!

Tanya T6 – “Will You Be Home For Christmas:”

Getting ready for the holiday season, Tanya T6 just dropped her new single “Will You Be Home For Christmas” from her Holidays at Home EP. Honestly, would rather be listening to this than any Mariah Carey holiday jams, since they aren’t as fresh.

So, first-off, we want to officially welcome our newest contributor, Saen. An official shout-out should also be sent to Michelle, as she has been contributing for eight months by now.

Coincidentally, Saen is the winner of our Newcastle Brown Ale contest for the Ron English painting giveaway (painting and Saen’s hand pictured below).

We selected Saen’s artwork back in September, but his contest-winning submission won’t be posted until some finishing touches are made on it. Saen has been busier than usual as he just recently started his site, Blowing or Blowing Up, which you might have noticed is syndicated with hipsterwave.com as well.

We won’t just leave you hanging though, here is another piece of Saen’s artwork that we just got and will share now.

This Posner jam is easily about to make it to commercial radio rotation. The Rebecca & Fiona is terrific too.

Rebecca & Fiona – “Dance:”

So, I watch the Walking Dead every week, mainly because I love zombies and bloody gore, but also because I have grown to care about the characters. So, this week’s episode was almost perfect zombie entertainment. There are a few things that I am finding continuously annoying about this show, mainly the weird religious overtones. The fact that Lori is pregnant (probably with Shane’s baby) and her husband and Glen talk her into keeping it is beyond ridiculous. This baby is not a miracle, it is only going to slow them down when they are attempting to outrun zombies in the future. Lori won’t be able to run or defend herself when she is pregnant, not to mention how many zombies a screaming baby will attract. So, dumb.

I may be in the minority here, but I thought that everything Shane said at the end when he went crazy was right. No one was taking the threat of the zombies seriously enough. Just because it was Hershel’s land does not mean that everyone needs to go along with the stupid idea of keeping them in the barn. They are not people, they are zombies and they are going to eat you. Everyone in the group, aside from Shane and Andrea really need to start taking this zombie apocalypse more seriously.

And finally, they found Sophia as a zombie. This made me so happy, you have no idea. The fact that all these people thought a 10 year old girl would be able to survive in the wilderness alone and fight of zombies was ridiculous. I enjoyed all of the brutal zombie killing in the end the most of any episode this season. The only thing that would have made this ending better would have been if somehow Sophia managed to attack and eat her mother. That would have been perfection. Also, Dale annoys me a lot, he is creepy and needs to mind his own business. I would have really enjoyed if Shane would have killed him when he caught him in the swamp trying to get rid of all the guns.

The show will be back in February. I will hope for much more zombie brutality in the future.

Definitely wouldn’t have gone with the music in the clip above–so we made our own dub-over version below (you’re welcome BMW)–but it’s interesting to see what BMW is doing with body design as the auto market shifts more importance on cosmetics.

Bottled water has been a bad idea for a while now. Aside from having to lug cases of it around if you want to keep drinking it, consuming it just adds unnecessary environmental waste to deal with. You’ve probably already seen commercials for these portable water filters, but in case you haven’t, now you know. Now there’s even less of a need for bottled water so long as you remember to carry one of these around. Oh, and the filter is much quicker than with Brita filters, but still as effective. So, unless you’re in a crunch situation where it’s impractical for you to use these, it’s probably worth picking one up (available for pre-order now) if you like your water pure and tasty and care about your carbon footprint.

Hydros, an innovative socially and eco-conscious company helping to lead the fight against the global water crisis, to let you know about their NEW Hydros Filtering Water Bottle with side fill technology, launching mid-December! Perfectly timed for holiday gift-giving with pre-orders available starting Nov. 21 and shipping Dec. 15, this enhanced bottle is the ONLY bottle on the market that boasts a twist and turn spout that filters on entry and makes filling, pouring and drinking fresh, delicious water simpler than ever. Featuring a sleek ergonomic shape, the new Hydros Filtering Water Bottle is made from sustainable, premium materials that are dishwasher safe, BPA- and phthalate-free, and American-made, with 100 percent leak-proof sealing for advanced portability.

Offering a convenient and cost-effective alternative to bottled water, Hydros Bottles can save consumers $400 per filter and help reduce the 60 million plastic bottles that find their way into landfills every single day. Each Hydros Bottle purchase makes it possible for Operation Hydros to build sustainable water infrastructure to aid the nearly one billion people worldwide who do not have access to clean, drinkable water. Every bottle sold provides clean water to one person in need for one whole year.

“Nobody puts Baby in the corner.” -Patrick Swayze, Dirty Dancing.

Hear that? More secure than a regular wallet because it has a PIN. Time for less cash to be used and more silicone.

WASTELAND prod.BEI RU feat.ZFF X NATHAN NO FACE X ISAIAH TOOTHTAKER by zackey425

Also, here’s a free mixtape by Isaiah Toothtaker & Underground Republic Magazine [Download].