Fox Television has collaborated with alumni directory Classmates.com to form a new reality series, where long-lost friends reunite through the website.

If you haven’t tried it, Classmates.com is extremely sneaky about how they acquired their massive alumni database. Originally a free service, Classmates.com now requires you to “complete your free registration to view your classmates.” After entering in your name, e-mail address and graduating class information, they let you browse lists of your old friends and classmates without any identifying information. To contact your friends, you’re forced to pay a $36 subscription fee.

Of course, they don’t disclose any of these caveats before you choose to add yourself to their database. Of Classmates.com’s reported 35 million members, only a mere fraction are paying subscribers. Everyone else was exploited for their personal information. Can anyone recommend a popular and free alternative to Classmates.com?

Donna D’Errico, former Baywatch alum and wife to Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx, opened a day spa in Los Angeles that offers Classical Rock Massage, massage services set to the sounds of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” and the Moody Blues’ “Days of Future Passed.” Sounds great, but do they offer munchies and a laser light show?

So, Monday was my weblog’s first birthday. My guidelines were pretty simple, and I think I’ve kept to them. I’m going to make one exception today, and talk entirely about myself.

Continue reading “1st Birthday” →

Randall Hyde is pioneering a new musical genre called Parodeities, biblical parodies of popular secular songs. The MP3 recordings are rough — Randall has no formal vocal training and he’s accompanied only by downloaded MIDI files — but the results are charming, like outsider art.

Highlights: “God’s Filled Ya” (Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla”), “Welcomed by the Devil” (Guns ‘n Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle”), and “Takin’ Care of Jesus” (BTO’s “Takin’ Care of Business”). The cover art is cute, too. (via the Yeti)

People who try to download tracks off of the new Madonna album from peer-to-peer networks will likely get an MP3 full of silence, prefixed by this short personal message from Madonna (150Kb MP3). More information from Dotmusic. Thanks to Tpoh.org for the file.

Update: Using the MP3 I posted, several people have created remixes that use the Madonna sample heavily.