Music moochers of the world, rejoice!

Google has launched an enhancement to their search to make it easier to find information about music and artists, find lyrics, discographies, etc. The official Google blog post is here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/12/searching-for-music.html. Google doesn't actually provide lyrics, they only provide links to lyrics. But they'll probably get sued anyway. Enjoy it while it lasts.
There's also Amazon's free music downloads, which is basically just what it says it is. You can also see the most popular downloads and the most popular "indie music" downloads. There's some surprisingly good stuff there, including my favorite Devendra Banhart song and some weirdo playing Pachabel's Canon as a tribute to Nick Drake. It's always cool to have free music to find new stuff and to add to that annoying folder full of single songs that you sometimes listen to, but not that often because nothing has an artist name and you can never find anything. Man. Fuck that folder.
And to increase the speed and ease with which you download music, here's a Greasemonkey user script to make the most popular list into direct links so you don't have to go to that extra page: Amazon free music helper.
Enjoy free music.

William Gibson articles

I just found two articles in Wired by William Gibson. In God's Little Toys: Confessions of a Cut and Paste Artist, he talks about remixes and mashups and their impact on the culture, drawing comparisons to William Burroughs' cut-up experiments. It was written in July 2005, so it's not as prescient as most of his writing, but he sums things up nicely and makes some interesting points, mainly the blurring lines between sampling/theft and audience/artist.
Related to these ideas, I ran across a site of public domain movies available by torrent on www.publicdomaintorrents.com. They have a load of stuff: Roger Corman's Little Shop of Horrors, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Buster Keaton shorts, Flash Gordon, Radar Men from the Moon, etc. They're free to download, sample, whatever. And most of them come in iPod/PDA compatible formats, too.
The other article, U2's City of Blinding Lights was written while hanging out with U2 on tour. It's a bit star-struck, but more by the technology behind the spectacle, rather than by the band itself. Good insight on what goes into creating these media spectacles.

An Impending Travel Adventure and a book review.

I have been at work less than a half-hour and I already have 23 pages open in Firefox. To say that my job is boring would be a bit of an understatement. Hence, I am quitting and moving to Spain. I bought my ticket last week for the 18th January 18th for Madrid. I was going to give my two week's notice today, but I've decided to wait a week because I could use the money.
I'm considering starting another blog devoted specifically to the trip, but I'm SOOO lazy. I need a name, etc. I'll see what happens. Suggestions are welcome.
In preparation for the trip, I'm reading several travel books in hopes of both inspiration and disillusionment. I'm going to write about them to satiate my desire to spew as many words as possible, but I hope that other people may find this useful, too.
Vagabonding, by Rolf Potts is an introduction to a philosophy of travel called, of course, "vagabonding." What is vagabonding? On his site vagabonding.net, Potts says the book (and corresponding philosophy) "is about taking time off from your normal life — from six weeks, to four months, to two years — to discover and experience the world on your own terms." He communicates this idea largely through anecdotes, drawing on his extensive travel experiences. This is his first book, but he has written award-winning travel articles for a number of magazines and sites such as Salon.com, National Geographic Traveler, and Conde Nast Traveler.
The book is organized into four main sections: Declare Your Independence, Getting Started, On the Road, and In the Long Run. They are subdivided into chapters that each cover a topic of travel, all aimed at helping the reader understand and embrace the ideas behind Potts' philosophy of travel. Each chapter has a brief introduction, some anecdotes and advice, followed by a "tip sheet" that is a list of books and web pages with more information on the topic. All of these resources are kept up to date on Potts' site at www.vagabonding.net. It's a nice site, with his blog, a Q&A section, links, etc.
The stories are inspiring and often humorous. Everything is short and to the point, which makes for a quick read. I also agree with his philosophy of travel, since it's similar to what I wanted to do before I started any travel reading. The book is simple, practical, and concise. I would recommend it to anyone about to travel, but I don't know if I would buy it. My main problem is that it's light on detailed practical advice. His list of resources makes up for it, but as that is available online, I don't feel like I need to own a copy of the book. It's a good starting point for information and good inspiration to get off your ass and travel.
Ugh... I haven't eaten a damned thing this morning and I'm feeling loopy. I will perhaps write more after lunch when my brain will hopefully be working.

Kurt Vonnegut is alive and well.

He's older than dirt, but he's still the man, as you can see in this Daily Show segment: http://movies.crooksandliars.com/TDS-Kurt-Vonnegut1.wmv