I usually try to inverted pyramid my blog posts, but not this time. Restaurant.com is offering 80% OFF their already discounted gift certificates to local restaurants you already go to, or definitely want to try. I saw this on Outblush.com., which is an amazing site, with cool things intended for the ladies, but awesome for guys too. Great for Christmas, Birthday or Arbor Day presents.
Heres how it works. You go to restaurant.com, where they sell discounted gift certificates to restaurants all around the country. An example would be "Buy a $25 Gift Certificate for $10". There are some limitations, like only valid Sun - Thurs, or must spend $35, etc. But you get the picture, It's a good deal if you use them.
However, this weekend, and until Monday June 15, if you enter the coupon code PRESENT, you get an extra 80% OFF your entire order. Tht $25 gift certificate you were buying for $10 is now just $2.
I love music. People call "bullshit" when I tell them that I can find something I like about all musical styles and genres, then they hear what I listen to and immediately believe me, and subsequently wish they hadn't heard many of the songs. Due to this transparent musical filter I tend to be really into music many people find not only annoying, but downright painful to listen to.
One of these styles that never fails to turn away most friends is the "high pitched whiney voiced singer". I love it, can't get enough. It's that long drawn out ability to keep the singer's voice at a high pitch and form sounds, yet the sounds never quite metastasize into words. At least not when I sing along. Why try to figure out the lyrics in these songs, when its just as fun to whine along.
Here's a perfect example from the Fine Young Cannibals that I heard this weekend at a JCPenny. Andy Brown, you gotta hear this:
The genre became really popular in the 1970's due in large part to international superstar family band The Bee Gee's: This stylistic heyday was later immortalized by Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake on SNL:
I think it's hilarious. Not the skit, though it's really funny, but the style of singer. How has this become an acceptable and lucrative form of serenade? Or is the better question, why isn't more music like this? I can't stop laughing when I hear it, I know its rediculous, but I also can't stop listening either.
Here are my top five "high pitched whiney voiced singers" that I love:
#5. James Blunt - This guy is text book "whiney". I thought I was the only person who made loud ridiculous noises as I sang along to this song. But I was in a liquor store in Orlando, Florida a couple years ago when from a few aisles away I heard someone else singing the exact same way. It was eerie and awesome all at the same time, that guy knew what was up:
#4. Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons) - His voice tends a little deeper, but we all know what school it came out of. He's not fooling anyone. Actually I think he is fooling everyone, what is he? This guys has the weirdest and most awesome voice of the pack. Check it out:
#3. Van Morrison - I think this debunks what I said earlier about The BeeGees pioneering the "whiney" sound. I think Van has to be included as one of the godfathers. Jackie Wilson Says is a great example, but if you have heard any Van Morrison song you know that he utilizes whiney goodness throughout his body of work:
#2. The Bee Gee's - You have to give it to the originators. The Bee Gee's perfected it, and are still the benchmark. Spicks and Specks is a good one because its not one of the standards, and you get a great sense of how you could literally be making up sounds and it would sound like you were singing along:
#1. Aaron Neville - Thank you David for this clutch, and clearly winning, addition to the list. Aaron's often unexplainable vocal bravado is unmistakable, and no one even comes close to matching it. Why try? It's laughable throughout, until you realize how beautiful it can be. I say it can be, because I once heard him sing the national anthem live at a TN Titans game. There are just some songs that don't need the Aaron Neville touch, and The Star Spangled Banner is definitely one of them. This one, however, is just fine:
Can you think of some more? I know they're out there.
So I know all of you have been wondering where I have been for the last few weeks. I haven't called, I haven't wrote... but I have been designing my ass off.
AstoundSound™ a new and cherished client of NGAGE recently underwent a complete brand overhaul which included a new website. Initial design by David Johnson, but blown out site wide by yours truly (masterfully developed by Jay Criscione).
AstoundSound™ is a sound software company dedicated to taking the crappy sounding compressed music that has been bourne out of the MP3 ear-bud generation, and bringing it back to the fuller more expansive sound of vinyl, or theatre sound in the case of movies. Basically giving you a better sound experience without expensive speakers or headphones. Specifically, AstoundSound's product Expander 2.1 is built for the movie or music enthusiast that wants their audio experience to be as dominant as possible.
So I'm stealling this blog post from one of my favorite design blogs The Dieline.
They recently discussed the new look that Walmart has given to their Great Value product line. You know, the box of cereal or bottle of ketchup that cost a dollar less, but looked as if it had been sitting on the shelf for 12 years and had probably been opened and resealed.
Well for all the flaws of the world's biggest retail chain, both moral and aesthetic, they tried and I feel succeeded in this endeavor to build a stronger brand for their line of cost conscious products.
Check out this before:
And look where they're at now:
Not a bad job. Now if they could just do something about they're "Big Box" architectural style. I know, I know... big box means a small price for me. I don't know though, I might be willing to pay a bit more to avoid feeling like a redneck for shopping there.
On a side note, it has been brought to my attention that my comments section doesn't work all the time, I'll fix that immediately. I really encourage anyone who reads to comment as much as possible, especially about that "redneck" line. Thanks as always.
