Year: 2006

How To Be a Rock Band on the Internet: Sloan

by Steven Garrity

Never Hear the End of It - Sloan
One of Canada’s finest rock bands, Sloan, also happens to have a great taste in web development firms (and a smart lawyer who worked with us on another project). This fortunate situation led to the creation of SloanMusic.com, a website that provides ample opportunity for fans to comment on the news, post their reviews and photos from shows.

This month, Sloan released their latest album, Never Hear the End of It. I think it’s their best album since Navy Blues from 1998. Along with the release of this record, Sloan’s manager, Mike Nelsen, has been posting short videos taken behind the scenes in the studio and in rehearsals as the band prepares for the release.

Never See the End of It
These short videos are a perfect of example of how a band can engage their fans through their website. The technology involved is not fancy. The website uses a standard weblog format. The videos are posted on YouTube, off-loading the hosting and flash-player nonsense (this has also led to many sarcastic declarations at our office that this is some kind of web-twenny mash-up).

The videos are short (most are well under one minute long) and most involve quick chats with the band members in the studio. A video was posted every day for 30 days (which also happens to be the number of songs on their remarkable new album).

The end result was surprisingly engaging. I found myself laughing with the band and anticipating the new album even more than I had been already.

It also helps that the guys in Sloan happen to be funny.

 

Gaim Needs You

by Steven Garrity

Gaim dude

The fabulous instant messaging client, Gaim, could use your help. That is, you’re a talented and generous web designer.

With the impending release of Gaim 2.0.0, the Gaim website is in need of an update to be as slick as the application it represents. If you are a web designer that is interested in helping create a new, better Gaim website, please let me know.

There may be some budget available, but we’re really looking for people to contribute sans-monetary-compensation. That said, if you’re worth it and can’t afford to volunteer, but are still interested, let me know.

I’d love to do it myself, but I’m too fabulous busy doing other stuff.

 

Lyrics: White & Nerdy by Weird Al Yankovic

by Steven Garrity

“Escher is my favorite MC”.

Truly this is Weird Al’s greatest work since he rhymed “brain-dead AOL-er” with “jpegs to Hellen Keller” in It’s All About The Pentiums (video). The audio is available from Digg. Here are the lyrics (source) – listen and read them. It’s worth it.

White & Nerdy by Al Yankovic

They see me mowin’
My front lawn
I know they’re all thinking I’m so white and nerdy
Think I’m just too white and nerdy
Think I’m just too white and nerdy
Can’t you see I’m white and nerdy?
Look at me, I’m white and nerdy
I wanna roll with
The gangstas
But so far they all think I’m too white and nerdy
Think I’m just too white and nerdy
Think I’m just too white and nerdy
I’m just too white and nerdy.
Really really white and nerdy.

First in my class here at MIT
Got skills, I’m a champion at D&D
MC Escher – that’s my favorite MC
Keep your 40, I’ll just have an Earl Grey tea
My rims never spin, to the contrary
You’ll find that they’re quite stationary
All of my action figures are cherry
Steven Hawking’s in my library
My MySpace page is all totally pimped out
Got people beggin’ for my top eight spaces
Yo, I know pi to a thousand places
Ain’t got no grills but I still wear braces
I order all of my sandwiches with mayonnaise
I’m a whiz at Minesweeper – I could play for days
Once you see my sweet moves you’re gonna stay amazed
My fingers’ movin’ so fast I’ll set the place ablaze
There’s no killer app I haven’t run
At Pascal, well I’m number one
Do vector calculus just for fun
I ain’t got a gat but I got a soldering gun
Happy Days is my favorite theme song
I could sure kick your butt in a game of ping pong
I’ll ace any trivia quiz you bring on
I’m fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon

They see me roll on
My Segway
I know in my heart they think I’m white and nerdy
Think I’m just too white and nerdy
Think I’m just too white and nerdy
Can’t you see I’m white and nerdy
Look at me, I’m white and nerdy
I’d like to roll with
The gangstas
Although it’s apparent I’m too white and nerdy
Think I’m just too white and nerdy
Think I’m just too white and nerdy
I’m just too white and nerdy
How’d I get so white and nerdy

I’ve been browsin’, inspectin’
X-Men comics, you know I collect ‘em
The pens in my pocket, I must protect ‘em
My ergonomic keyboard never leaves me bored
Shopping online for deals on some writable media
I edit Wikipedia
I memorized Holy Grail really well
I can recite it right now and have you ROTFLOL
I got a business doing websites
When my friends need some code, who do they call?
I do HTML for ‘em all
Even made a homepage for my dog
Yo, I got myself a fanny pack
They were havin’ a sale down at The Gap
Spend my nights with a roll of bubble wrap
Pop, pop, hope no one sees me
Gettin’ freaky
I’m nerdy in the extreme
And whiter than sour cream
I was in AV Club and Glee Club and even the Chess Team
Only question I
Ever thought was hard
Was do I like Kirk
Or do I like Picard
Spend every weekend at the Renaissance Fair
Got my name on my underwear

They see me strollin’
They laughin’
And rollin’ their eyes ‘cause I’m so white and nerdy
Just because I’m white and nerdy
Just because I’m white and nerdy
All because I’m white and nerdy
Holy cow, I’m white and nerdy
I wanna bowl with
The gangstas
But, oh well, it’s obvious I’m white and nerdy
Think I’m just too white and nerdy
Think I’m just too white and nerdy
I’m just too white and nerdy
Look at me, I’m white and nerdy