Glen's Top 10 Albums of 2008

Well, it's that time of year again. Time for all of us to roll out our highbrow, better than you because I dig [obscure group you've never heard of], top ten lists. This year's list was rather difficult for me to compile for no other reason than 2008 was just short of downright awful for music releases.

I won't even go into detail about each album. I'm just going to list them and leave them where they are. If there's one thing I've learned after reading Pitchfork for the last two years, it's that there's a fine line between earnest criticism and outright pretense.

So, here they are:

10. Lydia - Illuminate



9. Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs



8. Kings of Leon - Only By the Night



7. Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends



6. TV On the Radio - Dear Science



5. M83 - Saturdays=Youth



4. Portishead - Third



3. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular



2. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes



1. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago



Honorable Mentions
Ray Lamontagne - Gossip In the Grain
Beck - Modern Guilt
Nada Surf - Lucky
T.I. - Paper Trail

Biggest Letdowns
The Academy Is - Fast Times At Barrington High
Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges

Most Overhyped
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
Does It Offend You, Yeah? - You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Kanye West - 808's and Heartbreak

Thanks For Playing
Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy

Blender Defender Proteks Ur Plants, Traumatizes Ur Kitteh

Got an overly-curious cat that refuses to leave the plants alone? One rather inventive fellow named Brian has his own answer: The Blender Defender. A webcam in his kitchen detects movement through his computer upstairs which then sends a trigger response to the blender and strobe light on the other side of the counter. The result? One nom-free houseplant and a cat with trust issues. Brian assures us that this is a rather effective conditioning method for the cat. Click the link below to see the hilarity first-hand.

The Blender Defender

McMinnville, TN, Goes 3D In A Virtual World

Just down the road from my hometown, the city of McMinnville, TN, is taking some interesting strides to promote tourism and benefit its citizens.

One thing I have always loved about McMinnville is its awareness and embrace of the Internet as a beneficial and necessary tool for city growth in today's culture. A quick browse of the nonprofit group Main Street McMinnville's website is proof of this. (It's sleek. It's vibrant. It's simple.) The downtown courtyard has recently been made a free wifi hotspot for residents and visitors alike. Indeed, McMinnville's finger is firmly on the pulse of the web generation, rivaling surrounding cities twice its size.

However, a recent move has really piqued my interest. Aforementioned Main Street McMinnville has taken up an exciting initiative: the creation and publishing of a full 3D model of the downtown area using Google Sketchup and uploaded for anyone in the world to view using Google Earth.

More information can be found at the Google Sketchup blog.

I applaud Main Street McMinnville on this endeavor and hope this is the spark for cities all over the world to do the same. Imagine exploring a fully three-dimensional environment in a city you've never visited before or are perhaps interested in moving to and want to get a feel for things before actually arriving. This is exciting stuff.

7-Year Old Breakdancer Further Proves That You Suck At Life

There are no words.

ICYMI - 7 Yr. Old Break Dancer On Ellen @ Yahoo! Video

Still Here

Sorry for the lack of updates to any and all who hopped on board early. I promise Glenyrd's Innards will be updated more regularly soon. I've been deliberating over whether or not I want to keep the blog here at Blogger or not. Once I have a more concrete idea as to the form and function of this here thing, we'll get the wheels turning.

Stick with me.

A Cheaper Macbook?

Inquisitr is reporting that some Apple retailers have been given the price sheet for the new Apple notebook line which includes a Macbook at $800. The sheet lists 12 prices for everything from the $800 Macbook to a $3,100 Macbook Air.

With today's economic scare, this is a good move on Apple's part. Always regarded as the pricier option in the computer market, the exclusion of a below-$1,000 notebook would seriously hurt their stock as consumers begin looking for much more affordable options for school and business. This would certainly be Apple's first trip through the under-$1,000 market, and I, as well as many other Apple fans, will surely welcome it with open arms.

Empire Magazine's Top 500 Films Of All Time

Empire Magazine has recently published their list of the Top 500 Movies of All Time, a list compiled from the submissions of industry giants such as Quentin Tarantino, Sam Mendes, Guiermo del Toro, and Cameron Crowe, as well as readers and "key critics" (Peter Sciretta of /Film was one of them which absolutely blows my mind).

I won't post the entire list here, but I do warn you that Empire's list is a bit nauseating to sift through. Here are their top 10. While I agree with most, some really jumped out at me. What do you think?

1. The Godfather
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back
4. Shawsank Redemption
5. Jaws
6. GoodFellas
7. Apocalypse Now
8. Singin’ in the Rain
9. Pulp Fiction
10. Fight Club