What I’m Listening to: July 2009

Posted July 17, 2009, under Thoughts
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Quick Intro:  Below is a breakdown of my newest musical discoveries, a condensed review, and comments on any standout tracks.  Feel free to comment/bash/agree with my musical tastes in the comments form.

Dance Gavin Dance - Happiness

Dance Gavin Dance - Happiness

Artist: Dance Gavin Dance

Album: Happiness

I first came upon this band last week from a random search for new Indie based music.  Their musical style would fall into the Post-Hardcore genre, with that genre’s play between melodic vocals and interjecting screams being present throughout the album.  Personally I find the band’s “screamer” to be an unpleasant, and unnecessary, distraction from perfect vocals of the lead singer Kurt Travis.  Still, the majority of the album’s songs are so well put together that one will tolerate the 15-20 seconds worth of Will Swan’s screams. I would highly suggest this album to people who enjoy Indie Rock as a genre, as well as fans of Circa Survive, and Scary Kids Scaring Kids.

Standout tracks : Tree Village, Carl Barker, Strawberry Swisher Pt. 1, Strawberry Swisher Pt. 2.

The Most Dangerous Commercials - B-Side

Circa Survive - The Most Dangerous Commercials

Artist: Circa Survive

Song: The Most Dangerous Commercials

To start off, I love Circa Survive.  I have all of their albums, b-sides, and EPs.  I would highly recommend them to fans of At The Drive-In and The Mars Volta.  As a seasoned Circa Survive listener I love this track which was released as a fund raising effort for Siren Records.  If you haven’t heard of Circa Survive and like the bands mentioned above, go check them out.  If you know about the band but don’t have this track, I suggest you locate a copy.

Saosin - Translating the Name EP

Artist: Saosin

Album: Translating the Name EP

If you like either Circa Survive or Dance Gavin Dance then you will most likely like Saosin.  I myself love this album, which was their first commercial release and the only one featuring Anthony Green on vocals.  I have to admit that I’m a big fan of Anthony Green and his singing prowess, as he also serves as Circa Survive’s lead vocals.  I find that Saosin’s music since the departure of Anthony doesn’t have the same raw energy, and as such I only listen to this album of theirs.

Standout tracks: All of them; I regularly listen to this album all the way through, and enjoy it every time.

3OH!3 - Want

3OH!3 - Want

Artist: 3OH!3

Album: Want

And now for something completely different… First, would you ever listen to a crunk album?  9 out of 10 persons would probably say “no”.  How about a crunk album, mixed up with some pop vocals, some electronic beats, and made by these two most Caucasian of gentlemen below?  Well, it works actually; so much so that their first single “Don’t Trust Me” has gone platinum.  The rest of the album is much harder in comparison to that poppy track, but the album definitely is fun to listen to.  An especially interesting moment is letting the uncharacteristically softer track “Still Around” play all the way through, only to be followed by “Holler Til You Pass Out”;  You’ll hear what I’m talking about once you try it.  Overall, I’d reccommend 3OH!3 to anyone who likes Panic! At The Disco… and  Lil’ Jon… in a blender.

Standout tracks: Don’t Trust Me, I’m Not Your Boyfriend Baby, Starstrukk, Richman, Still Around, Colorado Sunrise.

Sean Foreman & Nathaniel Motte from 3OH!3

Sean Foreman & Nathaniel Motte from 3OH!3

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Griffin Technology’s Unconventional Returns Policy

Posted July 7, 2009, under Thoughts
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Later in 2007 I bought a Griffin DirectDeck tape adapter for $15.  It worked well enough and lasted until about a year later, upon which time it broke and so I bought myself a new one.

A DirectDeck in new condition

A DirectDeck in new condition

This new one lasted for about 5 months before it started making strange noises, which got louder as time went on until it was interfering with my ability to listed to my music peacefully.  This new tape adapter being under warranty I contacted Griffin for a replacement explaining my situation, this is the email I received:

“Hey Ari,

Sorry to hear about your DirectDeck. I would be happy to replace that for you. Rather than have you send us the defective product, we will request taking a digital picture of the defective product destroyed. You can smash, burn or crack open in whatever way you would like, so long as you do so safely. Also, take a digital picture (or scan a copy) of your receipt.

Next, send us the pictures. Just reply to this email and attach the digital pictures of the defective part and the receipt.

Once we receive the email and verify the photos we will send a replacement to the address that you have provided us below. In order to ensure that we receive your email, please limit the size of the email to around 3MB.

I can then send you out a replacement.”

This approach just makes so much sense, skip the shipping fees for something you know is broken while providing the user with some closure/revenge on their broken product.  So, I did as the email asked and chose my weapon for destroying my tape deck… although not exactly by the rules.  You see, I wasn’t about to be unable to listen to my Zune for 5 days while the new tape adapter shipped, so I instead opted to destroy my original DirectDeck from over a year ago and just bear with the malfunctioning adapter until the new one arrived.  I chose to use the back of a hammer to cause the necessary damage, and even with my currently broken hand I was able to do this:

The DirectDeck post hammering

The DirectDeck post hammering

I submitted the picture and information Griffin asked for and received a quick follow-up email:

Hey Ari,

Thanks!  I just wanted to let you know that your replacement is on it’s way.  If you have anymore questions, please let me know.

And a few days later I received a brand new tape adapter.  I just wanted to share this story because I thought it an interesting approach to customer returns.

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Multiple exams in one day? This seems like such an easy event to avoid.

Posted April 2, 2009, under Rants
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I am currently studying for one of my two exams which I have tomorrow morning.  While I realize that many of you have had two exams in one day, or possibly as many as 3 or 4, it seems as if this should no longer occur given the technology which is currently implemented in most modern universities.  I am speaking about the course management systems in place in schools such as Carnegie Mellon University (Pulse Scheduler) and Pennsylvania State University (ANGEL).  Through these systems students and their professors are able to post papers, take quizzes, and view lecture notes.  Additionally, these systems also have an often overlooked calendar application.

I propose that schools begin to utilize these calendars for the posting of all exams, not simply final exams as is the current practice.  By doing so, and making this calendar global to each student (displaying all exams which are applicable to them), this will allow professors to see when an exam is causing an unnecessary burden on students.  Given this information, professors will then be able to schedule exams in such a fashion as to limit a student’s exam quantity to simply one exam in a day (in most cases).

As the databases which store student course enrollment information are already integrated into these course systems I do not see any problems in the implementation of this exam scheduling solution.  Now, if only this system were already in place I wouldn’t be studying for biology at 1am after having had to study international economics for several hours prior.

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