Free MP3s: #10: Normal Town Records Sampler

via Amazon.com: Top Free in MP3 Downloads > MP3 Albums http://www.amazon.com/Normal-Town-Records-Sampler/dp/B00C4U6L2K/ref=pd_zg_rss_tf_dmusic_digital-music-album_10

I checked out this (short) set of MP3s and it's got a couple good ones. Can't really beat free, in any event.

FB Musings

SOCIAL MEDIA

PSY - Gentleman

Guys I heard PSY has a few followers (100 million views in 3 days).

This isn't nearly as good as Gangnam Style, but still fairly amusing.

I think them not dancing at all in the chorus is part of the meta-joke. He's being a jerk the whole video - so what more of a dick move than to get to the chorus, you're waiting for the new goofy dance to beat Gangnam Style, and... nothing. Hip wag. That's it. I wonder how many people will "get it" or just go "shit sux omg u suck". Although I suppose that'll happen no matter what...

The song itself runs this joke too but might not get away with it. What I mean is that you've got this decent beat and riff and you expect it to go somewhere - but it doesn't, really. It changes enough to break the song up, but leaves you hanging. Another dick move, but also the point of the song. Is this enough of an excuse for a song that'd be subpar without that meta joke? I'm not sure.

It's good to see him reusing characters, pulling a trick out of the LMFAO book. It works, and he should keep doing it. On the other hand, some of the repeated jokes from Gangnam Style were good once, and not a second time (under the legs of humpy guys). I particularly thought the elevator bit in this was pretty amusing.

Overall, I think the song is alright, but insanely less catchy than Gangnam Style - to the point that I'm not sure it's catchy at all. I worry that the meta joke will be lost on the masses, but oh well. PSY is at a point where he prints money, so if this one "flops" (it's already at 100 million views for crying out loud), he can put out another one that leans towards catchy again and he'll be back in the game.

tl;dr: 7/10

Did the Condom Ban Ruin the Porn Industry in California?

Yeah, not really a big turn on when there's one used.

Has the porn industry abandoned Los Angeles?

It seems that way, if you consider that the organization that handles permits for movie shoots has only had two requests for adult films this year, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. Compare that to the roughly 500 permit requests that the organization told the news outlet it usually receives every year, and you get an idea of how dramatic the falloff in adult film production has been in Los Angeles."*

In the past November elections, Measure B passed in Los Angeles County, which forced pornstars to wear condoms in their movies. Has that affected how porn is made? Yes, but not how voters expected. Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola (Host, TYT University), and Catie Lazarus (Employee of the Month podcast).

Capitalism.

Boston Marathon Bombing - How We React Right Now Matters

Sad news continued, Young Turks has a piece on it.

"As runners in the Boston Marathon charged over the finish line Monday afternoon, two bomb blasts released orange balls of fire into the air, lifting runners off their feet, killing at least three people, injuring more than 130 others, and driving Boston and the nation once more into the grim work of responding to terror."*

Two explosions at the Boston Marathon has killed 2 people and injured many, and have caused a panic nationwide. We know it was a planned attack. We suspect terrorism. But we have no idea who the perpetrators are and what they represent, but it shouldn't matter whether the attackers were foreign, domestic, conservatives, or liberal-- a culprit is a culprit. As Cenk Uygur explains, we should seek justice, but never lose our senses of rationality. 

I hadn't seen that footage, so it's pretty chilling.

Closed-Minded Dad's Surprising Reaction to Gay Son

Cenk said it: "HEART WARMED. WAS COLD. Just went up a few degrees." Glad this went the way it did.

Epic Meal Time - Meat Cake

This is not the meat cake I was thinking of, but I'll allow it.

Back in college years we made our own smaller meat cake. It was still 20 lb.. and it was delicious.

Actually I had a video... after the cut.

This is great.