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Coolest contest idea ever: Author Evan Ratliff is on the lam - locate him and win $5,000. Ratliff is a contributing author to WIRED magazine, and so he's going to disappear for a while and the first person to find him within the time limit and according to the rules of the contest walks away with a cool $5,000.

I dunno about you, but I sure could use that money. I think I just found my new day job. Look out, Ratliff! I'm comin' fer ya!

My next installment of the "why I do (or don't do) the things that I do (or don't do)" series stems from the last one that I wrote about why I'm not on Facebook. I mentioned in there that I would rather go the route of having several disparate services that I can aggregate rather than the one-stop-shop (and time suck) that is the Facebook universe. Amongst those services which I use, Twitter garnered a lot of comments and thus, my decision to post my reasons for using it in order to answer some questions and comments that I received in relation to it.

The most prolific objection that I hear to Twitter is that it is just a self-indulgent and narcissistic status update to show everyone how important you are, and that nobody wants to know what a person is doing every minute of the day (which is true). There are some people - usually celebrities - that post a lot about stupid stuff. Generally, nobody wants to know if you're in the bathroom, watching TV, or just walking around at the mall. In that respect, those who use Twitter as mainly just a "I'm doing this right now" update in an attempt to feel important kind of make a bad name for the rest of us. The worst offense in my book are those famous people who constantly pimp the shows of their other famous friends on Twitter, or users who constantly pimp themselves in a "vote for me for best..." kind of way.

But Twitter can be a lot more useful, and so here's why I choose to use Twitter as my "status updater" as opposed to anything else. And away we go...

• Microblogging. WIRED had an article that mentioned this, and it sums up my feelings immaculately. When blogging first started, people posted about everything - including short little blips of cool websites, stupid thoughts, and one-liners that they heard or wanted to pass along. I found, however, logging into my blogging software to post pithy little statements or short blips to be overly onerous and generally didn't do it due to the overhead involved in actually posting a full-on blog entry. Plus, I didn't want to waste space and cause other, more interesting entries to scroll off the main page because I was blasting out a link to the latest Penny Arcade comic or something. With the 140-character limit, Twitter has removed that element from most blogs entirely such that now most of the content is meatier and more worth spending time to read at the site. It takes away a lot of the clutter and leaves the important stuff hanging around.
• Mobility. I use my phone a LOT, and there are so many Twitter apps for phones now that it could safely be called ubiquitous. It's so much easier to tweet from my phone than to blog about something, and many times I don't want to go into great detail about a subject I could tweet about; oftentimes I just want to post a picture and a pithy comment, or describe (in 140 characters or less) some amazingly silly thing I just witnessed. With Twitter, and my go-to Pre app Tweed, I can do that anywhere.
• Thoughts, not diatribes. Twitter is perfect for capturing those "things that make ya go hmmm" moments that don't need a lot of exposition, and it can be a great holding zone for things that I may want to comment on later but don't have time or equipment to comment on at length at the present moment. Sometimes a stream of consciousness can tell you a lot about a person, even if it is random, disjointed, and non-sequitorial. I don't have to spend an hour composing, checking, rewording, and rethinking a tweet like I may do for a blog post. Tweets don't even have to be complete thoughts, just something out there to get the point across. Quick points, not discussions.
• An RSS feed analog that doesn't need a browser. Most blogging software has widgets that will update Twitter every time the poster makes a new entry, which is great for following people who don't post on a regular schedule and when I'm away from a browser with an RSS feed client. I have friends that post on a random schedule that also use Twitter, and so it's nice to be alerted that something new has gone up without me having to check it every day. On the other hand, it's great to have a site like Engadget, which seems to post every 5 minutes on some days, post to Twitter where I can see the article headers and only follow the links I want to read as opposed to constantly monitoring my browser and refreshing the page. When I'm mobile, as I am much more these days, Twitter makes a great RSS feed replacement to keep me informed on things that are important to me.
• Redundancy. Long-time readers will know that my blog machine crashed a few months ago, and Twitter allowed me to keep people informed on what was going on. Twitter is offsite, so it will (theoretically) always be available as an alternate means of communication. With the Twitter widget that now appears on the BrainDrain sidebar, as long as there's a static page to display (meaning that as long as apache is running), I can still post updates via Twitter, even when I can't update the blog itself.
• A different audience. There are people that I follow and interact with on Twitter that I don't interact with any other way and having my blog posts show up on Twitter may drive new traffic to the blog from time to time. Additionally, there is a "public timeline" on Twitter that is a constant update of every tweet as it comes in. Theoretically, then, someone whom I don't know could catch an update post on Twitter, follow that to the blog, and find that they like what they see and I could wind up with a new reader or a new follower on Twitter. Who knows, perhaps that might even end up being a new communications point and I gain a friend out of it. Stranger things have happened, but it's a possibility that I would like to exploit when possible.
• Membership is not required. One of my main beefs with Facebook is that membership is required even to view pages, and that is not the case with Twitter. Even if you're not a member, you can read tweets unless the person has explicitly marked them as private. While this openness may be daunting to some - it's basically like having an IM conversation with the entire internet - I find it to be yet another avenue to get my thoughts and personality out there for whoever wants to read it. Do I think that there are a bunch of people hanging on my every word? No. But I do know that there are a few people that like to check in on what's going on with me from time to time, and I post and tweet for them.
• Advertising. I will tweet about things in an effort to advertise them because I know that I will go places my friends have gone and liked. If I tweet something like, "At Mooyah Burgers....mmmm, tasty, tasty!", that's an endorsement from me saying that the place is great and that you should try it. It is less "this is what I'm doing right this instant" and more "you should try this because I like it and think you would too." In some cases, I'll use it as a direct shill for something (e.g. "Life On Loan's got a show tonight - you should come!") but for the most part it is more of a passing endorsement of whatever product I choose to tweet about...the electronic equivalent of "word of mouth".

And so there you have it. Not necessarily an exhaustive list, but the most important points that came to mind. Again, this is also not meant as a conversion missive, to come join the ever-growing masses of the cult of Twitter. It is merely an answer to many questions that I have received and an effort to expose yet more of my thought processes to you, my loyal readers. If there are some new Twitterers that result from this, great. If not, I'm going to keep on tweeting because I love the idea and it has now become a permanent part of my online experience.

So, good luck, godspeed, and I'll be tweeting atcha.

Inspired by a posted vid of some dude with mad flute skillz over on Anna's blog, I was prompted to recall one of my favorite exhibitions of drumming ever - Andrea Vadrucci's Vadrum Meets Super Mario Brothers. I'm not sure where the guy is from (if I had to guess based on the name, I'd say Italy), but he's completely awesome. These videos go to show how musical the drum set can be, and this is probably one of the most compelling performances of musical drums as opposed to rhythm that I've ever seen or heard. Amazing.

Check out some of his others, where he takes on all comers:

Vadrum Meets the Barber of Seville

Vadrum Meets the William Tell Overture

And finally, fast becoming one of my favorites,

VaDrum Meets the Simpsons

My inner drummer wants to be this guy when it grows up.

In an effort to more tightly link my semi-static blog with my more-often-updated Twitter feed, and also to provide "real-time" updates on an off-site medium should my blog go down again for whatever reason, I've integrated a Twitter feed in the sidebar of the blog. It'll give you the most recent tweet and also allow you to cycle through older ones by clicking the arrows in the lower right hand corner. If you decide you want to follow me on Twitter, well...just click the link below the widget and you'll be redirected to Twitter proper so's you can.

Also, I've added a plugin to MovableType that will announce new posts in my Twitter feed in case there are people that are monitoring me via Twitter but don't check the blog regularly. It'll be good to announce to the Twitterverse when I throw out new nuggets of wisdom, administratum, or mundane blather because hey, we all like to watch.

As always, enjoy and let me know if you experience any issues as a result of the changes.

There's a new contest over at the Palm Pre Blog for another chance to win a Palm Pre. It involves following "preblog" on Twitter and then posting an @reply for a chance to win a feebie on the day that the Pre is released.

I want this phone pretty much more than life itself right now, and I know that there are others of you out there anxiously awaiting it as well, so take every chance you can. If you do sign up for Twitter, feel free to follow me there....I'm Wyntermute.

Good luck!

Courtesy of Penny Arcade, I found out that Warren Ellis (creator of Global Frequency and Transmetropolitan) has been working on an updated version of G.I. Joe for the fine, fine folks at Cartoon Networks' Adult Swim.

It's called G.I. Joe: Resolute and sweet baby ray, I like it!

This is not the old school G.I. Joe where everybody's laughing at the end and nobody gets hurt. No, this is post 9/11, folks - a "terrorist" group like Cobra has to strike real terror into the hearts of people. In Ellis' vision, everything is much grittier: Cobra Commander kills people that work against him, and also decides to ignite ten million people in Moscow with a particle beam just to prove that he's serious. In this version of G.I. Joe, people actually die. The interpersonal relationships are also more complicated, introducing love triangles and such...Scarlett pretty much kicks Snake-Eyes to the curb and chooses Duke right in front of him just before he heads out to face off with Storm Shadow (which, by the way, is the most awesome episode in the series yet - episode 8 will own you).

I don't know how long it's going to go - it's apparently a daily serial that comes out in 4-something minute increments - but I'm going to watch it for as long as it lasts. If you were a fan of the old one, I think you'll like this. It's more real and more adult, and that makes it more gooder.

You know you want to watch, and I'm your pusher, baby.

I know I'm a day late and several dollars short on this one, but I just got it forwarded to me and I'm still laughing as I think about it. If I ever decide to sell the G35, I'm going to have to give it a writeup akin to this one, but I fear that it will fall woefully short. I sure hope that this guy got more than the $12900 that he was asking for the most manly Nissan Xterra in the world. Originally posted on craigslist, duplicated here for posterity (and my own enjoyment).

=======

NINJA HAULER: 2005 Nissan Xterra - $12900

Reply to: sale-945361858@craigslist.org [?]
Date: 2009-01-21, 5:15PM MST

OK, let me start off by saying this Xterra is only available for purchase by the manliest of men (or women). My friend, if it was possible for a vehicle to sprout chest hair and a five o'clock shadow, this Nissan would look like Tom Selleck. It is just that manly.

It was never intended to drive to the mall so you can pick up that adorable shirt at Abercrombie & Fitch that you had your eye on. It wasn't meant to transport you to yoga class or Linens & Things. No, that's what your Prius is for. If that's the kind of car you're looking for, then just do us all a favor and stop reading right now. I mean it. Just stop.

This car was engineered by 3rd degree ninja super-warriors in the highest mountains of Japan to serve the needs of the man that cheats death on a daily basis. They didn't even consider superfluous nancy boy amenities like navigation systems (real men don't get lost), heated leather seats (a real man doesn't let anything warm his butt), or On Star (real men don't even know what the hell On Star is).

No, this brute comes with the things us testosterone-fueled super action junkies need. It has a 265 HP engine to outrun the cops. It's got special blood/gore resistant upholstery. It even has a first-aid kit in the back. You know what the first aid kit has in it? A pint of whiskey, a stitch-your-own-wound kit and a hunk of leather to bite down on when you're operating on yourself. The Xterra also has an automatic transmission so if you're being chased by Libyan terrorists, you'll still be able to shoot your machine gun out the window and drive at the same time. It's saved my bacon more than once.

It has room for you and the four hotties you picked up on the way to the gym to blast your pecs and hammer your glutes. There's a tow hitch to pull your 50 caliber anti-Taliban, self cooling machine gun. I also just put in a new windshield to replace the one that got shot out by The Man. My price on this bad boy is an incredibly low $12,900, but I'll entertain reasonable offers. And by reasonable, I mean don't walk up and tell me you'll give me $5,000 for it. That's liable to earn you a Burmese-roundhouse-sphincter-kick with a follow up three fingered eye-jab. Would it hurt? Hell yeah. Let's just say you won't be the prettiest guy at the Coldplay concert anymore.

There's only 69,000 miles on this four-wheeled hellcat from Planet Kickass. Trust me, it will outlive you and the offspring that will carry your name. It will live on as a monument to your machismo.

Now, go look in the mirror and tell me what you see. If it's a rugged, no holds barred, super brute he-man macho Chuck Norris stunt double, then contact me. I might be out hang-gliding or BASE jumping or just chilling with my ladies, but I'll get back to you. And when I do, we'll talk about a price over a nice glass of Schmidt while we listen to Johnny Cash.

To sweeten the deal a little, I'm throwing in this pair of MC Hammer pants for the man with rippling quads that can't fit into regular pants. Yeah, you heard me. FREE MC Hammer pants.

Rock on.

Well, I caved - Vince's slick New York accent and marketing campaign finally sunk in and I got myself a complement of ShamWOW! chamois for the home and car. I've been thinking about purchasing some for a while now because the spoiler on the G35 drips water every time I get it washed and I always end up with streaks down the back where the dirt is attracted to the drip lines. I had to go to Walgreen's tonight to get some more Old Spice shower wash stuff, and there was a box of ShamWOW!s right there by the register, so I chalked it up to serendipity and made the purchase.

They're made in Germany, they soak up 12 times their weight in fluid, and they're hawked by Vince, the highest-energy infomercial salesman I've ever seen (even more than Mr. Yell, Billy Mays - the OxyClean guy)! How could I NOT buy them??? I mean, seriously!

I'll let you know if they live up to the hype. I don't think I'm going to fall prey to the lure of the SlapChop, though. That's not my bag, baby.

Life On Loan now has a YouTube channel! We got some great video from the last show at the Red Eyed Fly and so we decided to post it up on YouTube so that those of you who missed the show can see it (and you know who you are). We're going to link one or two of them on the MySpace page as well, but you can basically see the whole set on the YouTube channel. We're also planning to add videos of some of the local bands we're friends with (if we can without violating their copyrights) so that others can be exposed to their music.

I think you'll find that we've gotten a lot better than the demo that we recorded way back in August, and the videos show four new songs that aren't on the demo at this point. So, feel free to subscribe to the YouTube channel, spread the word around, pimp the videos, and check the MySpace page for updates on upcoming shows and new Life On Loan news.

Enjoy the show!

Courtesy of 9AM, I found out that the Best of Bootie 2008 compilation has been released. Go thou and get thy mashups. This, I command!