Homebrew Me

I have been terrible at blogging lately (since august, whoops) I'll try to work on that.  Anyways it's track Tuesday and this week I would like to show off a wonderful remix I came across yesterday.  It is a remix by Kygo of the song " High for this " which is itself a cover by Ellie Goulding of song by The Weeknd http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBXeed9Xz8E .  That's what you could call musiception. The song itself has a catchy beat to it and I admit I might be listening to it as I write this.  The instrumental beat is light and it has a way of resonating in your head until you want to get up and move to the beats. If you enjoy this song you will surely enjoy Kygo's other songs on his soundcloud page and best of all they are all up for a free download.  So go over to his soundcloud page and snag yourself some great tracks.  Happy Tuesday everyone! Edited for links to the Ellie Goulding and The Weeknd Versions.

This last weekend I attended my first music festival.  A few of my friends and I got a campsite and 3-day passes and made the journey over to Somerset WI so we could see some massive acts that would all be congregating at the same festival. We ended up getting to Somerset around one but had to wait in line for security and car checks until three.  Afterwards we we able to secure a campsite way out in the sticks of the north campground.  The site was pretty nice and we were surrounded by other people who came from all over to listen to the beats. Surrounded by tents in every direction The lineup this year was huge.  A few of the artists I really wanted to see were Big Gigantic, Girl Talk, Kill Paris, Madeon, Krewella, and Zedd.  The festival had three stages: the main, the grove, and the saloon stages.  The main is exactly as it sounds, a giant main stage where the main acts would play, the grove stage was a tented in area, and the saloon stage was the smallest off to the side

This week I would like to take a look at some interesting instrumental music.  This genre seems to be overlooked, but I feel it is definitely good music to play in the background or while studying or relaxing.  Today's track is entitled Electric Daisy Violin by the artist Lindsey Stirling.  Stirling is an violinist who does originals, and covers of many songs.  Her music is quite good, and it is full of depth and is pretty upbeat and entertaining to listen to.  If you watch any of her music videos you will be able to see that she really does enjoy what she does. You can check out her Youtube channel here For those of you who can play the violin, she also has some of here sheet music for sale She is currently touring in the U.S. check out the list of venues and see if she will be performing near you.  Enjoy the track and look forward to the next Track Tuesday!

Khan Academy is a website dedicated to providing educational videos to anyone in the world for free.  They have a goal of changing the face of education by letting people educate themselves on many different topics.  Creating an account on the website is simple and takes almost no time at all.  The user account will keep track of the videos you watch, the practice problems completed, and your overall progress, as well as give you access to "coaches" who can help you if you are having difficulties with a particular topic. What is truly amazing about the site is the diversity of the topics covered.  You can pick videos from the categories of science, math, computer science, economics, and the humanities (art, history, etc).  Many of the videos are 10 minutes or shorter.  The videos are well laid out and have the purpose of helping the viewer learn the material in a quick and easy manner. I feel the most revolutionary aspect of Khan Academy is the fact that anyone with an i

I do not know how many of you are familiar or have seen machinima , which is essentially scripted movies/shows made in video games.  I would like to however to discuss one of my favorites a show called Red v.s. Blue.  The show takes place in the Halo universe, and was originally just a comedy, made as a weekly video game skit by Rooster Teeth .  First started when the original Halo came out (that makes me feel really old) the skit took place in the iconic map Blood Gulch.  The story involved some of the least intelligent and extremely hilarious soldiers who were posted in the canyon to protect their flags from the other team. The show was without to much of a plot line but it was funny, so many people watched it.  That was all the way back in 2003, and now 10 years later the show still lives and has a coherent plot line complete with some drama, secrets, and of course the humor that brought its success in the first place.  The 10th season of the show recently ended with season 11 due

As some of you might be aware, my favorite science-fiction author is Jack McDevitt.  I have found almost all of his books to be extremely entertaining and well written.  His stories typically have an element of mystery to them.  He has a knack for solving just enough of the mysteries to be satisfied, however I can always seem to come up with at least one alternative that seems plausible to me. The book entitled The Cassandra Project is centered around a mystery surrounding the Apollo program which occurred in the United States in the late sixties and early seventies.  The book centers around a few characters but mainly around a Jerry Culpepper who works in public relations for NASA. In the beginning of the book we learn that NASA is being slowly losing funding as the years go on (the novel takes place in the near future) and many believe the agency will be shut down.  NASA opens an exhibit to show off the achievements of the many astronauts in the program and released a large