You Know it’s Finals Week…

…when the hottest search on Google is the Gadsden Purchase; number 18 is the ‘Gaston Purchase.’

Good luck on your finals, if you have any left; I’ll see you all tomorrow.

Stuff We’re (Loathing) This Week: Pt. 1

1. The sluggish ratings for “Britney: For the Record” (Of course, you knew it was coming.)

I really don’t understand where she went wrong. I mean the headlines have been all about her crazy mood swings etc for at least the past 2 years and now that she’s finally opened up… nobody wants to listen? I don’t get it. 3.5 million viewers? Even The Hills gets more views that that…PER EPISODE, and that’s not even actual reality.

Best Baby Names Ever

There comes a point in every fiction writer’s life when he finds himself on a baby naming website, or at least I hope it happens to every writer, or else, this just became awkward.

Trolling for names is sometimes a necessary task when writing stories, trying to name the sales clerk behind the counter.  In my perusing, I’ve found out two things; the best names never make it on the top ten and the names we curse our children with keep getting stupider and stupider.

Stuff We’re Loving: The Ten Best Songs of 2008

Remember that song that goes “Ela, Ela, Ela, eh, eh, eh, etc”? How about the one with that cool ink-blot video about the guy who didn’t know if he was crazy or not? Of course you do, because those songs will forever be identified with the year in which they were released, but what about this year? Which songs will you hear on the radio in a few months and say “that is sooooo ’08”?

Le Deuxième etape of the Flashlight’s Best Of series focuses on the songs that defined the year in which proximity to Russia qualified you to be Vice President, regardless of whether or not you could point out Australia on a map. Some of them were top 40 hits, others were underground successes, and one of them is about seven minutes long, but regardless of what genre of music you listen to, at least one of them is likely to remind you of the year 2008.

10)T.I.- Whatever You Like

About a month ago, I was in charge of the music at a friend’s house party. His iPod didn’t have much to choose from, so I wound up playing this song about eight times throughout the night, but nobody seemed to care. Every time it came on, people embraced each other and sang along, and five minutes after playing it, people would still come up to me and ask me to play it again (although that may be because they were pissed drunk and couldn’t remember that they had just heard it). Between this song and “Live Your Life (Feat. Rhianna)”, you couldn’t turn around without hearing T.I.’s southern drawl, and justifiably so. As I said before, his album “Paper Trail” is his best work to date, and one of the year’s best albums, so it’s only right that this song spent seven consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Top 100.

9) Kevin Rudolf (Feat. Lil’ Wayne)- Let It Rock

As soon as Producer/Singer/Guitarist Kevin Rudolf released this song, America embraced it. Upon being sent to New York’s own Z100 radio station the song quickly became the station’s most requested song, as well as the New York, Miami, Los Angeles and Chicago markets. With no marketing or promotion, “Let It Rock” was featured by the NFL, the NBA, and Dancing With the Stars, until finally getting picked up by the Philadelphia Phillies, becoming the official song of the team’s World Series winning playoff run in 2008. Why did it become so successful? It could be the inclusion of feature-rapper-with-the-Midas-touch Lil’ Wayne, but it’s more likely that the song’s crossover appeal meant that it would be embraced by both hip hop and rock audiences. It has the swagger and production values of a rap song, but Rudolf’s subtle guitar licks and melodies denote a more danceable sound. Either way, this genre-defying track justly deserves it’s place amongst the year’s best songs.

8 ) Kings of Leon- Sex on Fire

This song went to number one in British, Australian and Irish charts. In fact, the only major English-speaking country it didn’t go to number one in was the band’s home, The United States. Nonetheless, it is still the Kings of Leon’s highest charting song in the U.S., and anyone who listens to K-Rock or any other alternative rock station has heard it at least once and fallen in love with it. Originally derided by both the band and the music press, the world embraced lead singer Caleb Followill’s vocals, and the song’s simplicity translated into a damn good pop song. Not bad for a bunch of boys raised by a Pentecostal minister.

7) Metallica- The Day That Never Comes

This album should be an honorable mention on our Best Albums list, as it is the best album the band’s put out since the Black Album, and this is the record’s finest moment. It may sound similar to “One” and “Fade to Black”, and it does have a similar structure, beginning as a slow-ballad before speeding up amid lead singer James Hetfield’s cries of “This I swear”, but it serves in reminding us of the band’s glory days, before the squabbles with Napster and the mediocrities that were their previous few albums. It serves in reminding us that this album is easily their best work in the last 17 years.

6) Estelle- American Boy

While Kanye spent the year whining about his problems through an auto-tune machine for his fourth album, he at least took the time to spit one decent verse in British singer Estelle’s immaculate “American Boy”. Produced by Will.i.am., who was also busy this year writing campaign songs for Barack Obama, the synth-heavy beat harks back to the days of the 1980’s, and there is nothing cooler than Estelle’s London accent giving shout-outs to every major American city, but what really makes this song is Kanye West’s rhyming skills, and it’s what made this song a hit. Shame his new album sucks.

Science: Elixir of youth

Almost every body has heard of the fountain of youth, and now scientists at the Spanish National Cancer Centre have moved farther along its path to discovery.

Stuff We’re loving: Cell phone pictures

People have been having problems with their cell phone pics recently.

Last week two stories involving cell phones and adult photos made international headlines. In New Jersey, a wife found “a raunchy photo attached to an e-mail to a woman” in her husband’s sent e-mail file.

When she confronted him, he said that people at Apple “told him it is an iPhone glitch – that photos sometimes automatically attach themselves to an email address and appear in the sent folder, even though no email was ever sent.”

She asked if such a thing was possible on an Apple support forum where users gave her answers like,

Stuff We’re Loving: The Top 10 Best Albums of 2008

Stuff We’re Loving: The Top 10 Best Albums of 2008

Ah, 2008, the year in which Obama was elected, the Giants won the Super Bowl against incredible odds, the Phillies won the world series (but no one cared), and when about 90% of us realized our majors aren’t going to make us any money in this economy and considered Pharmacy or Law school. But 2008 was also a vintage year in music, which is why I’ve compiled a list of the ten best songs and albums of the year. The list of songs is coming later, but for now, here are the Flashlight’s choices for the best albums of A.D. 2008. Feel free to agree or disagree, but, to paraphrase Mr. Adam Sandler in “The Wedding Singer”, I’ve got access to a blog and you don’t, so you will listen to everything I have to say. Enjoy:

10) Guns N’ Roses- Chinese Democracy

I know, its not as good as we’d hoped. But it’s gonna be on everybody else’s top ten list, so I might as well put it on mine. You know the economy is in bad shape when Axl Rose doesn’t want to sink anymore money into this $14 million ego-trip of an album. Sure, everybody is gonna whine about how Slash is gone and no one can play guitar like him, but if there’s anything that listening to a Velvet Revolver album teaches us, it’s that Slash may have been the talent in the band, but Axl was the visionary. Nonetheless, Slash could sure put together a guitar riff, and without him, Chinese Democracy makes Guns n’ Roses sound like an Avenged Sevenfold cover band. But it’s an Avenged Sevenfold cover band with two decades of hype behind it. What’s better then that?

9) The Teenagers- Reality Check

No, it’s not Serge Gainsbourg, but this band of Parisian misfits do share his one-track mind. The lead single “Homecoming” was nicknamed by DJ’s “the Clap Track”, as it was so sordid, it was believed to have sparked a rise in STD rates in London nightclubs. Most of the album is spoken word, and includes a stalker’s love note to Scarlett Johansson and a song called “F**k Nicole”. 39 minutes of dirty, sexy French goodness.

8 ) MGMT- Oracular Spectacular

Armed with keyboard riffs that are catchier than smallpox, MGMT have astounded pretty much every major festival attendee this summer. Thanks to events like Glastonbury and Coachella, the anthemic “Time To Pretend” and the gorgeous “Kids” were two of the years biggest indie songs, and the rest of their debut album is just as good. Best thing to come out of Brooklyn since the Warriors, Spike Lee and integrated major-league baseball.

7) Lupe Fiasco- The Cool

This one might have come out in 2007, but it was December, and I was to busy basking in the Dominican sun to pay attention to its release, but come January I was convinced that Lupe was the re-incarnation of Rakim (I know he’s not dead, but hey, it’s fun to start rumors). His debut Food and Liquor had some amazing singles, but ran a little on the long side and didn’t really have as much substance, but this follow-up, a concept album involving characters with names such as The Cool, The Game and The Streets, still astounds me with it’s storyline and the dexterity of Señor Fiasco’s rhymes, even a year later.

6) Coldplay- Viva La Vida of Death and All His Friends

I must admit, I was not a Coldplay fan until I heard a few key tracks from this album, then I heard Yellow then I heard the rest of Rush of Blood to the Head and Parachutes, so I must say, they are quite good. I still stand by my claims that X & Y was still a bunch of third-rate wannabe U2 crap, however.

Stuff we’re loving: The 20 Healthiest Foods for Under $1

Since the economic crisis, the food prices are climbing, so people have begun to look to fast foods and packaged foods for their cheap choice. However, those things are not the only choice because low cost doesn’t have to mean low quality. In fact, some of the most inexpensive things you can buy are the best things for you, which are always under $ 1 each pound. By doing so, not only will your kitchen be stocked with excellent foods, your wallet won’t be empty, and saving your money for better stuff.

Stuff we’re loving: How to deal with water?

After every exercise or practice for people, our bodies really stay in condition because of lack of water. However, how to drink water? Is there any benefit to drink water with vitamin-enriched or something else? In fact, none of these products are likely to make you any healthier, scientists said. The only thing you can do is that follow the five major mythic rules below. First, drinking eight glasses of water each day; second, drinking lots of water helps clear our toxins; third, lots of water equals healthier skin; forth, drinking extra water leads to weight loss; fifth, it’s Easy to Get Dehydrated during a Workout.

Stuff we’re loving: winter & Vitamin D

Hey guys, take care of you own body in winter time.

Chronic vitamin D deficiency may be a culprit in heart disease, high blood pressure and metabolic syndrome, a new study showed. In our body, almost all the things need to combine together to work well, so the lack of sunshine during winter may diminish vitamin D levels in the body and harm cardiovascular health.