HOT
Musical Motivation
The Guardian recently reported on a study that found that nine out of 10 workers perform better when they are listening to music. The study conducted by Mindlab International (at the request of some music licensing companies, so … grain of salt) found that people not listening to music during the testing experiment made the most mistakes, and that different genres of music improved certain tasks more. According to the study, dance music reportedly helps with “proof-reading and problem solving” work, Pop helps data-entry workers, Ambient music assists workers involved in “solving equations” and Classical is the best for work involving “numbers or attention to detail.” For the record, CityBeat’s endless loop of loud Norwegian Death Metal over the office intercom does make me work faster, but I also now have oppressive night terrors every night.
(It does work well on cows, too)
WARM
Paris Drives Deadmau5 Crazy
A couple years ago, superstar DJ Deadmau5 tweeted a video of socialite Paris Hilton DJing and compared it to the Apocalypse. (He also said pretty much anyone can do what he does on stage, around the same time.) Recently it was revealed that Hilton now rakes in millions of dollars for her DJ work around the globe, which led Deadmau5 to return to his blog with another weak comparison. The mouse-headed artist compared DJing to racecar driving, writing “don’t you think it would be a tad insulting to the professionals and fans of the driving world if I just showed up one day … dated a driver, then hopped on the circuit the following week ‘just coz i can’?” If it was announced that a man in a giant mouse head with limited racing skills was being thrown into a NASCAR race? It would probably set TV ratings records.
(Seems like he REALLY wants to race, tho)
COLD
A Staind National Anthem
America’s national anthem is a hard song to sing and when one is trying to sing it on national television in a stadium with thousands of sports fans, it’s even more difficult. The frontman for Rock band Staind and solo Country music up-and-comer Aaron Lewis found this out during the Oct. 26 World Series game when he flubbed the lyrics to the pre-game anthem. It wasn’t the worst botching of the anthem and Lewis offered a heartfelt apology (to “the nation”!), so it’d be easy to give him a pass. That is if Lewis himself hadn’t angrily lambasted Christina Aguilera three years ago for her anthem performance at the Super Bowl when she blew some lyrics (and later apologized). Lewis then said, “I just don’t understand how people who sing the national anthem can be so fucking self-absorbed that they would try to change that fucking song.” Karma, anyone?
