New Gorillaz Single Out

The Gorillaz, everyone’s favorite virtual band, is coming out with a new album to follow up their awesome 2005 record, Demon Days. The new album, titled Plastic Beach, is set to be released sometime in the second quarter of 2010, supposedly March 8, as reported by NME.

On Tuesday, the group released a new single off the album called Stylo, which features the band, Mos Def and Bobby Womack. It is quite the teaser, and has me itching for the new album’s release. You can download the song by clicking on the link below.

Stylo by The Gorillaz (featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack)

The tracklist has also been released, and you can check it out after the jump.

Meet Inventor Scott A. Jones and His Awesome House

Before school started a couple weeks ago, I was channel surfing and stopped on an episode of MTV’s Teen Cribs, a spin-off of their awesome show, Cribs, which profiles the homes of the rich and famous. Now, I am by no means a fan of MTV these days, but Cribs is just my weak spot. I mean I needed some ideas for my future residence(s)…

Anyway, to my point. The episode on that day featured a house from where I grew up. The kid showing it was definitely way younger that I am, and it was on the west side. (I grew up on the east side) The house though was absolutely amazing! There was all sorts of new age tech in every room of the house. There were secret passages, an indoor basketball court, a huge aquarium, a cataloged library and wine cellar, and even a fossilized tyrannosaurus that they dug up! I mean this place was “dream house” worthy!

After all the excitement, I told myself that I needed to find out how I had never heard of this house, and who owned it. A few Google searches later, I had my answer. The owner was Scott A. Jones, the inventor of the modern voicemail system.

These days he is just your run-of-the-mill, successful entrepreneur and inventor. He is involved with several of  his start-up companies and sits on several boards. I linked to his website in the previous paragraph if you want to find out more about him.

Unfortunately, I can no longer find the streaming video of the episode, so hit this link to the local Indy news tour of the house. It is not as good, but maybe one day you will catch the episode.

Avatar and Photoshop, My Two New Passions

Recently, I have really started to enjoy using Photoshop as more of a hobby; where I used to use it only when I actually needed something. I am hardly a shade above novice; but I like being able to create and manipulate images, and I get better with every project I tackle. I have been learning from all the free tutorials that are available on the internet. All I have to do is get on my search engine of choice, and search for something like “photoshop cs4 how to [insert what you are trying to do]” (I always include the version of Photoshop I am using–CS4 as of now–since there are new capabilities and procedures for each version), and I am off in running. Perhaps, I have become so interested in Photoshop because I am just awed by the how easily I can tinker with an image.

Follow the jump to see a little of my work, and most importantly, an awesome video of a guy using Photoshop to create himself as a Na’vi, a creature from the movie Avatar. (Haha, Avatar smurfs as many refer to them as)