Facebook lets you “like” most anything these days, and recently their supercomputers started taking guesses at things you might like based on your current interests (check the right column when you log in if this doesn’t sound familiar).
Why This Is Interesting
Facebook’s guesses are purely data driven. They usually make sense but not always. For example, behold this steaming turd of a suggestion I received:
This got me wondering about how awesomely weird/ironic/offensive can these get?
The Challenge
Screen shot “interesting” suggestions from Facebook and submit them either via reply or leave comment on our FB page (or my personal page if you know me).
“Prize”
Prize in quotes because we don’t have real shit to give you. But submit something awesome and we will promote the entity of your choice with some link love and an FB like button in a results post. That entity can be yourself. Or the fan page for cancer, I dunno, whatever.
Related note: Now you can start like-ing Brasky posts (no worries, we’ll get the “hate” button up for you as soon as it’s out of alpha). Try it and receive a free iPod:
BRASKY WORLD CUP SPECIAL
After a spirited effort over Algeria to advance from group play at the World Cup, the USA team lost to Ghana 2-1 in extra time. Soon after England, who also advanced from group play, lost to Germany 4-1. American sportscaster Mike Tirico and Englishmen Steve McManaman looked pretty OK about it when an accidental live shot cut on the screen.
This marks the second consecutive world cup that the USA club was ousted by Ghana:
In seriousness, cheers to the US squad and Bob Bradley for a strong showing. Next match: 2014. Hopefully.
Everyone knows Broken Social Scene, the famous collective of noteworthy indie rockers.
Sorta.
Not really? But certainly everyone has heard of Broken Social Scene, no? Certainly suburban North Americans, Britons, and a smattering of indie kids across the globe? Surely!
Right?
Well let’s make it known that Broken Social Scene is a legend of Canadian indie rock, and arguably one of the most notable indie bands… period. Without even considering their music, they demand attention with their unrivaled roster of contributing/recording/performing artists:
- Feist
- Metric
- Stars
- The Weakerthans
- Do Make Say Think
And joining in on Forgiveness Rock Record:
- John McEntire of Tortoise (producer)
- “Spiral Stairs” of Pavement (guest guitaring)
- Sebastien Grainger of Death from Above 1979 (guest vocals)
So, OK, they boast a lot of talent, but this doesn’t guarantee good music–more often it yields something contrived and artistically inconsistent. Fortunately, Broken Social Scene’s core is consistent and the band has been turning out good albums for almost a decade now–which leads us to Forgiveness Rock Record. Talk of this album has been floating around for a year now, with new songs leaking during the band’s perma-tour. Apparently all this advanced hype worked in their favor, as the record debuted 34th on Billboard in the US, the highest ever for the group. If they are looking for forgiveness (for being Canadian?), Brasky grants it after reviewing the album.
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80/100
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Forgiveness Rock Record should win the approval of a wide range of audiences. The album is a healthy 14-song course, each song a considerable listening experience without the influence of the rest of the album. No track is especially irresistible, but the majority are pretty close. The music is close to that of Stars (no surprise for the overlap), with mixed gender vocalization telling sentimental tales atop a pillowy bed of real instrumentation (horns!). The melodies and rhythm consistently meld with the lyrical message, creating a nice album experience despite the wide variety of performers. The tracks lean heavily to the mellow side, but not without energy and spirit. Some tracks feel something closer to a jam session, but still provide the simple satisfaction of transitions (right when you subconconsciously find yourself hoping for one). Hunting for weaknesses, we didn’t find anything worth mentioning… the production is top notch, both in terms of a sprinkling of pleasant synth effects as well as polished post-production work (nods to McEntire).
Broken Social Scene stand for a lot of what’s good about indie rock, and this album is their finest yet, by our measure. While the key to success, these days, seems to be a combination of flashiness, retro whoring, mashups/genre-defecting, excessive levels of hipness, anything avant garde, irony, noise (literally), etc… Broken Social Scene survives on being exceptionally good at something that’s exceptionally normal. And for that, Forgiveness Rock Record could be somewhat of a timeless indie rock album.
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