Advertisement HEAR THIS
For a famously self-loathing shut-in, Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor is sure acting like a magnanimous man about town of late. “This one’s on me,” he says, on Nin.com, where “The Slip” is available for download for absolutely nothing, and you couldn’t leave a tip even if you wanted to. And on “Discipline,” “The Slip’s” first single, which fuses
tinkling piano with fuzzed-out guitars, Reznor is open about his inability to go it alone: “I need your discipline,” he admits. “I need your help.”
On the same song, Reznor asks, “Is my viciousness losing ground?” Not so much that he should worry about it. “The Slip,” which is the latest in a recent outpouring of material that’s included the instrumental opus album “Ghosts, I-IV,” is the best NIN album since 1994’s “The Downward Spiral.” That’s because it returns to the tightly coiled tension that marked Reznor’s early work, while dropping in delicate, whispering ballads such as “Lights In the Sky.”
- Dan DeLuca, The Philadelphia Inquirer
SKIP THIS
In the name of research,
I quickly reread “Double Love,” the first book in the “Sweet Valley High” series, because the popular 1980s series is being updated to include laptops, ipods, cell phones, etc. While the new books reflect some changes, the simple and sometimes ridiculous shenanigans of identical twins Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield and their “frenemies” remain the same.
In the new series, Elizabeth remains quiet, shy and smart, while Jessica is still outgoing, devious and snobby. The twins and their friends still face typical teenage angst — boys, drugs, partying, boys, parental rules, sibling rivalry, boys, spring break destinations, etc.
As a teen, I read every book in the series until I lost interest or started making smarter choices about my reading selections. Fortunately, I lost interest when the series started to spawn numerous prequels (“Sweet Valley Junior High”), sequels (“Sweet Valley University”) and a TV show.
While the characters may look perfect — blond, tan, slender or muscular — the new series is not. I hope today’s teens make smarter reading choices and avoid any of the “Sweet Valley” books.
- Jennifer Elliott, La Crosse Tribune
CLICK THIS
Think of this Web site as YouTube on steroids.
Viddyou.com, a site for posting videos, recently launched a sharing service as part of its premium services for video recorded in 1080p high-definition.
In trying to appeal to the growing number of affordable consumer high-definition camcorders — and noting the lack of online services to share this high-end video — Viddyou lets users post clips at up to 27 times the resolution of other online video services while still allowing it to be watched in real-time over a standard residential cable modem connection.
Premium members — who pay $34.95 a year — also get unlimited storage and delivery of their video and the ability to download their original video source whenever they need it.
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
