• Manta: Database with the profiles of over 40 million companies.
• Best Internet Marketing Posts of 2008 [Link: Jason Falls]: Amazing list.
• How to Write Fast.
• Minimal Web Sites for December.
• 80 Best Lifehacks of 2008.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Notebook: Amazing animation. Amazing patience.
• Jane Austen Facebook: Humorous phony Facebook page with her characters.
• Tilt Shift Photograph: Are those real or toys?
• Fail Blog: Fail moments in pictures.
• Adtunes: Find music in commercials, soundtracks and more.
• blippr: twitter of reviews. Reviews in 160 characters or less.

Game Music 4 All releases its first free internet compilation. It is called Here Comes a New Challenger. It is a compilation of chiptune, nerdcore, and VG musicians collaborating together as a tribute to video games. Get more info and download the album for free.

Growing up, I loved musicals and songs from the first 40 years of the 20th century. I never talked about it with friends because it wasn’t rock ‘n roll, therefore not cool. I came across foldedspace.org: Twenty mp3s of Great Songs from 1901-1920.

As a kid, I loved singing “Over There” and other oldies like “Camptown Races” found in an old piano book that belonged to my mom. One of my favorite TV specials aired in 1983 and I still have it on tape. It was “Parade of Stars Playing the Palace,” (NOT this one — this one – requires registration) but it focused on The Palace Theater. It had famous singers, dancers, and comedians performing as Al Jolson, Fanny Brice, Mae West, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson played by Gregory Hines, Nora Bayes (who has a few songs listed on foldedspace), and more.

I need to transfer the tape to a DVD before the tape dies. The show already had an interruption in the middle of Al Jolson’s performance because it was a stormy night, which knocked out the cable. I keep hoping a video company will bring it back to life on DVD perhaps the company that produced Broadway’s Lost Treasures. I did exchange emails with the company about this.

What I love about the Broadway Lost Treasures series is its inclusion of performances from various Tony Awards shows (Hey, looks like they came out with part III). I hope the company adds more because there are many other performances I remember from the Tonys that aren’t on those DVDs yet. I did tape and save a few years’ worth of Tony Awards, but unfortunately these were in the later years when there weren’t as many performances and the show cut to two hours.

I didn’t tape this year’s Tonys and of course, Harry Connick, Jr. performs “Hernando’s Hideaway” from The Pajama Game, one of the songs I listen to repeatedly. I also love Mame and All That Jazz.

How do we segue from 1900-1920s music to musicals? Well, “Over There” made me think of George M. Cohan and Yankee Doodle Dandy, and “Parade of 100 Stars” covered the early 1900s and worked its way up to when The Palace reopened for musicals.

The first poem I memorized for school as a second grader was Shel Silverstein’s Captain Hook. Over the years, I repeatedly referred to his poems from the two more famous books The Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends. Timeless. Funny. There’s another side of Shel Silverstein that few recognize — his country songs performed by the likes of Loretta Lynn, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash.

Listening to The Best of Shel Silverstein provided a pleasant trip down memory lane for Paul (hubby) and me. It has a nice spread of his poems and songs, covered by a variety of artists from Johnny Cash performing Boy Named Sue at San Quentin to Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show’s funky interpretation of Cover of the Rolling Stone, a song Paul shamefully admits he had forgotten, but sang right along the instant he heard it.

A word of caution to the uninitiated, this CD contains more than his wonderful children’s poems and songs. It includes several of his adult works including Freakin’ At The Freakers’ Ball, which contain themes and language not appropriate for younger listeners. Fans of Shel Silverstein’s aforementioned books won’t get what they expect to get with this CD though many poems from them appear on the track list.

My only complaint is from a technical standpoint in that the recording levels vary greatly from spoken word to the songs. To be able to understand Silverstein as he recites his poems with his whispery voice and elongated “s’es,” I had to considerably turn up the volume … only to be blasted out of my chair when then next selection was a song and I had to turn the volume way back down.

Parents might want to listen to the CD first and then pick out the safe ones for children. However, it’s possible that kids won’t “get” the adult references, but a few bad words pop up. Other than the technical difficulties and the unexpected “grown up” songs, this is CD is a joy and wonderful addition to my album… er… CD collection.

Every now and then I find myself thinking, “Lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy… Jane. She wants a drink of water, so she waits and wait and waits… for it to rain.”

That and, “Ickle Me, Pickle Me and Tickle Me, too, went for a ride in a flying shoe…”

Title: The Best of Shel Silverstein
Label: Sony
ISBN: B0009YNSKQ
Date: August 2005
Format: CD
Cover Price: USD: $11.98 Amazon: $10.99

Rhino Records has released its 2005 edition of its Totally Hits series. The new edition comes with four #1 songs, which include American Idol #1 Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone,” Gavin DeGraw’s “I Don’t Want to Be,” Mario’s “Let Me Love You,” and Ciara’s “1, 2 Step” featuring Missy Elliot. Also on the CD are “Karma” by Alicia Keys, “Truth Is” by American Idol contestant Fantasia, and “Nobody’s Home” by Avril Lavigne.

Since this album focuses on “hits,” on which charts are they considered “hits”? In researching some of the unfamiliar songs, some show up in the top 20 of lesser known or unknown charts.

Two adults and one 11-year-old listened to the music as we all have different tastes. We agree that the collection is geared towards tweens and teens. The adults liked a few of the songs and the rest weren’t their style of music.

The compilation consists of mostly rap and R&B with a couple from the adult contemporary group. It might’ve been a better move to stick to one genre as many listeners might not necessarily like all of the genres on a CD. The kid reviewer wasn’t a fan of the adult contemporary while the adults were, but she liked the rap and R&B songs. The adults weren’t into some of the rap and R&B music. People buy albums because they like most of the songs on it. If they only like half, then it may not attract as many buyers.

The 11-year-old reports that nine of the 20 songs are the winners. Most tweens and teens in the Dallas area listen to a station where most of these songs usually play. The others aren’t as known and people will be less tempted to buy. Not many adults are likely to appreciate this group, but the music attracts many kids from ages 10 to 18.

Title: Totally Hits 2005
Author: Various
Publisher: Rhino Records
ISBN: B0008FPIYU
Date: May 2005
Format: Audio CD
Songs: 20
Price: Cover: USD$18.98 Amazon: $13.99