The Sparkle Lounge

Image via WikipediaDef Leppard's mini site for their upcoming release, Songs from the Sparkle Lounge, is now up and running.

On it, they have previews of all the songs from the release along with the video for their new single, Nine Lives. At first listen, I like about half of them. But that's no unusual for me. More often than not, I tend to like songs the more I listen to them.

They also have a Guitar Hero III contest you can enter to win some prizes, I assume to commemorate the release of three of their songs on Guitar Hero III: Nine Lives, along with two live (older "classic" tracks) Photograph and Rock of Ages.

The general consensus on the Guitar Hero III forums is that the quality is crap. I downloaded the songs and I have to agree. The instruments on the two lives tracks are a little difficult to hear and the volume on Nine Lives seems to increased and decrease at various times during the song. I don't know what Activision did to the songs, but I know they don't sound that bad.

Related articles

• Rock Band and Guitar Hero 3 new home for metal debuts [via Zemanta]
• Mötley Crüe Still Alive, Releasing New Song Via Rock Band DLC [Rock Band] [via Zemanta]

Cool web site

I stole... err... borrowed this cool link from someone else's blog:

http://www.31337.com/

It's very informative.

All 120 Crayon Names, Color Codes and Fun Facts

You really need to know all this stuff about Crayons. Really, you did. :)
Image via Wikipedia

For the last 100 years or so kids have been exploring and creating worlds of color with Crayons. For a lot of us, our life long love affairs with color began with these wax sticks and a blank sheet of paper. Here we go down crayon color memory lane with all 120 color names and hex codes, fun facts and photos.

read more | digg story

Related articles

• New Crayon Names [via Zemanta]

Biggest RC Airplane Competition in the World (VIDEO+PICS)

This story is givin' me the R/C itch! Can't wait for calmer weather to take the Super Cub up.

Top Gun 2008, the 20th anniversary edition of the biggest RC model competition in the world, starts tomorrow. Five days of pure nerdgasm watching the most stunning, biggest and best remote control aircraft in the planet. The ultimate toys this side of a real fighter jet.

read more | digg story

Corel Donates Painter X to Oakland Student Art Charity

Here's a story about some interesting stuff we're doing to get Painter into the hands of students. Check out the art show if you're in Oakland on May 2 - sounds like it'll be pretty nice!

read more | digg story

Mystery Puddle

We have a small puddle that keeps appearing on our basement floor in the laundry room. It seems to appear for no particular reason.

It's at least 3 feet away from our freezer and at least 4 or 5 feet away from our washing machine. There's no visible trail from any water source to where the puddle usually appears.

The first time it appeared a couple of years ago, I thought it might be condensation from the furnace ducts above, where they join. I wrapped a small towel around it and checked on it periodically. It was never wet. And the puddle stopped appearing.

I thought that perhaps there was a leak in the kitchen floor. Our kitchen is above the laundry room. However, the laundry room ceiling is unfinished and the wood is dry as a bone.

The copper pipes in the ceiling are all dry. No leaks.

I'm puzzled.

The fat lady has sung

A topsy turvy season, and another exit from the playoffs for the Ottawa Senators. I'm still convinced that the puck touched a stick after Vermette's "kicking motion" goal was disallowed, but that's a moot point now.

I expect some big changes. Despite the talent on the team, it's not running on all cylinders at all times. As much as I like to see most of the team remain the same... a shakeup is needed and I think some fresh rookie faces need a chance, even if it means taking a season or two to get there.

I think Gerber has earned himself another chance. With a rookie as a backup, I think Gerber will play very well next season. I've always said he doesn't play well with competition breathing down his neck (i.e. Emery), and since he was made the #1, that's been pretty evident. I've always liked Emery as well, but it's time for him to move on.

In some ways, I'm glad it's over. Playoffs for me are stressful as hell. Now I can relax and enjoy the games that I do manage to watch without popping a blood vessel when things don't go the way I'd like them to.

We've got a few Habs fans at work, so I'll be following the Habs from here on. Not as close as I did with the Sens, of course, but if there's any team other than the Sens that I'd like to see bring the cup back to Canada, it would be the Habs. Hell, I spent about 16 years of my life there, and the first hockey game I went to was the Habs vs the Blackhawks (Habs lost).

Sooo.... GO HABS GO... until next season. :)

(p.s. I certainly hope the officiating improves next year, for ALL teams. This season has been the most inconsistent I've ever seen)