Todd Lyden

Image via CrunchBase I've mentioned my CR-48 usage. (Makes me think of Commodore 64 , ah the good OLD days. Still don't have a good name for it other than "Chrome Notebook.) In my last missive, I mentioned Grooveshark . A conversation on Damond Nollan's Blogtalk show prompted me to recommend it and I am doing so again. Since the Chrome Notebook is beholden to the cloud, I've searched for options for music listening. Little did I realize how serious people were about their iTunes. I've NEVER liked iTunes. I downloaded it, but that sucker is such a DRAIN on computers. It was slow clunky and I hated dealing with it. Grooveshark, while slightly clunky, has a simple interface, is fairly intuitive, and pretty much has much of what you are looking for. I've found about 90% of any music I've ever looked for. It allows for easy sharing to Facebook and Twitter. You can easily set up playlists and designate favorites. My only gripe is my fault. They have a mobile...

Thank god my youngest has finally discovered Pixar movies in their glory; especially, The Incredibles. As I rewatched it for the nth time recently, I was struck by one thing. Mind you, the movie is borderline perfection as it is. Very little goes wrong with any of the choices made by Pixar and the director Brad Bird. However, one thing stood out. The music. Michael Giacchino was a freshman film scorer when he was tapped to score this big movie. Sure, he had done Lost and Alias for frequent collaborator, JJ Abrams, but this was his first full on movie soundtrack! Watching the movie, I marveled at how the music added to the experience. One segment ALWAYS made me come back to this film. It is the exciting moment as the family is evading missiles in flight and then get hit! Listen here. I watched that scene realized how I would have STILL been mesmerized by the action and suspense. But listen to that clip again, you can FEEL the action and suspense in the music. It is impossible NOT to put...