I have a music project called Bye Polar Bear, and I decided to use the sad picture of me with the fish tank shirt on for my profile picture. My music is there. TheSixtyOne is like Digg for music, and I digg it.

PS anyone who ever wants it can have any copy of any song of mine for free. i'm a nerd, not a rock star.

I'm a chart whore. One of my songs is #45 in the indie genre on Soundclick and I want to see how high I can get it. For anyone interested in checking out random new music, and helping out a fellow Threadless addict, visit my page and check out Up and Sloe Drift Jenn.

Here's the link: Clockwork Automata

Also, if anyone sings/raps/rocks and would like to try some collaboration, I'm more than game.

Thanks again to anyone who listens, I'll probably keep an eye on where it settles on the charts.

Threadless-themed halloween party anyone?

It just popped into my head, so I have no idea how or why. Anyone wanna finish or kill my idea?

-M@

A few lines that basically sold me on these bands.

"I wanna remember to remember to forget you forgot me." - A Different City by Modest Mouse (Timid Turtle)

"I hear that you don't change.
How do you expect to keep up with the trends?
You won't survive the information age
unless you plan to change the truth to accommodate the brilliance of man." - Letter From a Concerned Follower by Pedro the Lion

"You were born too late, I was born too soon,
but every time I look at that ugly moon, it reminds me of you." - American Music by Violent Femmes

"Most of us prizefighters will fall for fashion." - Most of Us Prizefighters by A.C. Newman

"Distasteful, ugly and cheap. That is how you make me feel,
I said, capitalism stole my virginity." - Capitalism Stole My Virginity by The (International) Noise Conspiracy

"I don't refuse
baby, if you only knew,
but I don't think you do." - Anecdote by Ambulance LTD

"There's tension in this room
we'll have butterflies soon
fumbling 'round in the dark with a flashlight." - Fumble by Architecture in Helsinki

"Called at work
'Happy anniversary, jerk!'
and I just laughed at the timing
with you on hold line two still crying 'Why?'" - Ex-Girl Collection by the Wrens

"Clarity lost out to desire, and I married the madness in her eyes.
A ceremony with a serried edge is the price to fly in a cage of wire." - Outside the Aviary by Burning Airlines

"When you flew through that windshield
and your life passed reel to reel
was there a big part for me?" - A Good Man Is Easy to Kill by Beulah

"I danced to the tune of a voice of a girl
A voice that called "Stand till we fall,
we stand till all the boys fall." - Rebel Waltz by the Clash

"I'm running around in my mind and my mind's a fucking zoo
One of the ones under the gun wondering "what do I do?"
Ever feel the same way? Slave to the brain wave
Brave if you pave ways through to the true you?" - Classics of Love by Common Rider

"I think I'm safer with my lungs full of smoke,
than a world without hope." - I'm Safer On An Airplane by Copeland

"Words so sympathetic, symphonic yet pathetic,
are tossed onto the song.
The meaning is lost." - The Rhyme Scheme by Cursive

"Oh ladies, pleasant and demure
Sallow-cheeked and sure
I can see your undies." - Los Angeles, I'm Yours by the Decemberists

"I wanna pledge allegiance to the country where I live.
I don't wanna be ashamed to be American." - The Happiest Place on Earth by Desaparecidos

"And hey there, Mrs. lovely moon, you're lonely and you're blue
It's kind of strange, the way you change
But then again, we all do too." - Little Yellow Spider by Devendra Banhart

"I hope that I can hold on to
the beauty that I'll never match.
A never-ending open wound
that started from a simple scratch." - Something to Live For by Ed Harcourt

"The sun struggles up another beautiful day
and I felt glad in my own suspicious way.
Despite the contradiction and confusion,
felt tragic without reason.
There's malice and there's magic in every season." - The Other Side of Summer by Elvis Costello

"This all hurts me so much that I honestly believe
you're the one this is hard for.
I've bartered tact for wit and I've already made
up a billion stories about you." - When One Eight Becomes Two Zeros by Glassjaw

"This is a time in my life where everything is falling apart.
And at the same time, it's all coming together." - A Year in the Past, Forever in the Future by Grade

"We'll diffuse bombs, walk marathons and take on whatever together." - A.M. 180 by Grandaddy

"You think I'm square, don't like the clothes I wear.
The way I comb my hair, the way I sit and stare at you.
It's just a game to take the spotlight off of me.
I'm just afraid of what you might think." - Paulina by the Hippos

"Will you say to them when I’m gone,
'I loved your son for his sturdy arms
We both learned to cradle then live without'" - Each Coming Night by Iron & Wine

"Show me the rose stuff of you.
Would you do it for yourself?
Or for me?
We both need a change.
Your fear or normalcy is hardly strange." - Unlisted Track by Jawbreaker

"I said I just wanted to make my grandfather proud.
I know he's not around, been gone since I was thirteen."
I'm still worried what he'd think about me." - Joining the Army by Lucero

Anyone ever fallen hook, line and sinker for a band or song based on one line?

I am an amateur (in the non-wannabe rockstar sense) producer and sound engineer working on music of all kinds for whatever reason comes to mind. I rock Apple, Presonus, Korg, Casio and Ovation products.

As much as that may sound like me rambling for anyone who'll listen, it's really not. Just checkin' to see if any in the Threadless community are also in the Mac music community. I'd love to collaborate on any project at all, or run beatcraft for any vocalists or aspiring vocalists.

Is there anybody in there?

The immigration debate makes me want to think, makes my head hurt, and makes me feel like apathy and malaise actually are one in the same.

[ If you're going to read this and then complain that your time's been wasted, this is your out. Stop reading and save the world some friction. ]

Having said that, I feel like the "debate" if you can call it that, is so muddled the average person comes into it with little real understanding of the issue at hand. Most interesting are the key assumptions people make which automatically create a debate about a fictitious scenario.

1) Latin immigration is no different in pattern or effect than any other influx of migration to the US, legal or otherwise, in the history of the United States. That isn't to say they are the same people, but ignoring the similarities is a tough task for reasonable people. Consider Chinese immigration in the late-1800s and early-1900s. The contribution to industry, the anecdotal examples of the hardships faced by immigrants, the xenophobic public backlash to a spike in immigration and the further dissolution of cultural purity. Accept this: our culture will change drastically at all times, should we really try and prevent something from altering our culture or simply try and affect the path and mitigate any negative effects of that process? 'Race' is another bag of tricks, but for now I'll just call shenanigans on the concept and file it with Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the concept of time as we know it.

2) The majority of those wanting into this country are not American dream-seekers or workers looking to send money out of the country. Refugees, asylum-seekers and people willing to turn to human traffickers to seek a safer living environment for their families. This isn't a chance to share the stupid American dream, it's a chance to act human at every moment. How equally would you treat people if everyone on the planet woke up blind tomorrow?

3) Human smuggling and trafficking is very real, very cruel and saw a boom in demand since 1992, when the US adopted an immigration policy of "prevention through deterrence", aka "lock down the border". Just a quick cost-benefit analysis on this line of thinking, from 1992-now US spending on border enforcement rose from around $750 million annually to almost $4 billion in 2005. What kind of enforcement have we gotten for our money? Although the number of apprehensions at the border has fluctuated within a gradual range, we have right around 1.1 million apprehensions annually. This is virtually the same level of apprehension seen in 1992. The only added bang-for-buck we've seen is a sharp increase in the level of deaths of migrants at the border, both due to extreme conditions and exploitation by traffickers.

So my point is, the immigration debate is a human issue, not an economic or security issue. It greatly concerns aspects of our national security and economy, but everyone in the equation shares the common characteristic of being human. Through all of our faults, America is a nation built on progressive principles and a belief in universal rights. We've not always acted this way, we don't all act this way now, but that's never a reason not to try. Did your parents ever teach you to share? I know my parents meant to share all of my best stuff, not my hand-me-downs. I was never taught to stick up my nose.

The metaphor I think fits this is an asshole who drives around in a pimped out ride and then rolls his window down to talk shit to anyone ogling said ride. It's silly how people want to create amazing things only to deny others the right to experience the same.

“No matter what other nations may say about the United States, immigration is still the sincerest form of flattery.” - Clayton Cramer

After thinking about this and talking to a couple of people recently, and the mass of stories I've heard and lived through...I believe those who don't propagate rumors, don't meddle, and judge not are deserving of some long overdue props.

Anyone who's never txted - "She/he's nobody" and left it at that.

Anyone who's never acted on jealousy alone.

Anyone who's never passed a story along in the adult game of "Telephone".

I'm no such person, but I'm tryin' to work a deal. I know someone like this, and I want to know more.

“It is the briefest yet wisest maxim which tells us to 'meddle not'." -Charles Colton