For about a month now, Google Homepages has offered themes! Here are all the banner images from my choice theme, “Tea House”:

The Cinematics are a foursome from Scotland. They recently released their first album, “A Strange Education.” I picked it up immediately, and have enjoyed it ever since! They’re an alternative band that sounds a little like The Cure, Editors, or Bloc Party. I found the band when local radio station 94.7 played their single “Break” for a couple months last winter.

You can preview a couple of their songs on their myspace.

I really liked their CD. There are only a couple songs I don’t care for (except for the “bonus” track, which I hate!). My favorite on the CD is the title song, “A Strange Education,” and I still love their first single, “Break.” “Maybe Someday,” “Alright,” and “Race to the City” round out my top 5!

Here’s the music video for Break:

Formula 1 is certainly looking very exciting this year! Mclaren and Ferrari are more or less dead even. I’m still rooting for Kimi Raikkonen, but I hope Lewis Hamilton will continue his streak of podiums.

Massa earned his first win of the season on Sunday, beating out Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen. Alonso was an alarming fifth, behind Nick Heidfeld (Who passed him legitimately)

In the back of my heart, I’m also rooting for Super Aguri, the underfunded backmarkers who have shown considerable speed, faster even than the factory Honda team. Anthony Davidson was running as high as 12th before blowing his engine. They’ll score points eventually! Good luck guys!

Back in sports car land, the Audi R10 recieved its first lost ever, against an LMP2 car nonetheless! After qualifying 4th and 6th, the day just got worse for Audi, who struggled for speed through the bends of Long Beach. Congratulations to the Penske Porsches, though its a shame that the Andretti Green Acura had to pit for fuel…

First of all, I have no idea who this artist actually is. So far, they’ve released two singles, and both have been exclusively available on Sirius Satellite Radio. They’re not available for purchase anywhere. Therefore, I recorded them off Sirius for my own enjoyment, and figured I’d post them here. They’ve both got a nice beat to them.

Links changed, see below!
Dandy – Because You Lied
Dandy – Tic Toc (Dandy Time)

Yes, I’m aware they’re missing the beginnings, this is because the Sirius DJs like to talk about how great these songs are before they play them. I did the best I could.

There’s a remix of “Because You Lied” that I really like, but Sirius hasn’t played it in a long time. When they do, I’ll try to post it here too.

F.Y.I., these are legal MP3s because they fall under the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 which permits the recording of radio broadcasts for personal use (IE, no selling!)

Update:

DJDom from Sound Dynamic retouched the mp3s, eliminating the background noise and fiddling with the intros a bit. Here are his versions:

Dandy – Because You Lied
Dandy – Tic Toc (Dandy Time)

The old files are still available here:

Dandy – Because You Lied
Dandy – Tic Toc (Dandy Time)