When travelling to a new city, one of the first things I do upon arriving in town is pick up the free local entertainment rags; not the town’s newspaper, but those free ‘zines you find lying around in coffee shops and record stores. These are the true guides to a town’s culture. Independently-owned restaurants, clubs and bands tend to be featured (and advertise) in these more than your big chains. And as we continue to migrate every aspect of our lives and entertainment online, so too have these guides to local culture. One such site is LA2DAY.com.

LA2DAY bills itself as a guide to “LA lifestyle, culture and perspectives,” and that it is. With categories ranging from nightlife and fashion to dining and toys, LA2DAY mixes local flavor with national topics. The website is filled with interesting articles sorted by categories, making reading, skimming, and locating interesting articles simple.

For anyone living in or simply visiting the LA area, three sections may prove to be useful. The first is the nightlife category, which mixes humorous articles (The Seven Reasons You’re Going Home Alone) to reviews of local hotspots. The second helpful section would be the dining section, which contains dozens of reviews of local eateries. The third spot locals and visitors alike will get some use out of is the calendar, which is filled with enough concerts and events to keep you busy for weeks on end.

The rest of the site is filled with interesting and insightful articles filed under categories such as music, movies, health and beauty and even toys. The site’s articles are more than simple reviews; the reviews that are posted are in depth, and the feature articles show true journalistic merit.

Even if you’ve never been or LA (and never plan on going), check out LA2DAY.com for a west coast spin on entertainment and more.

Jared Fogle, the man who lost over half his body weight by switching to a strict regiment of Subway sandwiches, has written a book. But Jared, the Subway Guy is not a diet book. Instead, its the story of Jared’s life, bundled with inspirational bullets.

Anyone who has ever been overweight will relate to many of Jared’s stories included within the book. There are stories about secretly eating alone, about being embarrassed in P.E. class, about having to weigh in the doctors office and about girls quietly snickering as he passes by in a lonely school hallway. As Jared’s weight skyrockets in college and he surpasses the 400 pound mark, he knows something must be done. The book chronicles his story and several of his diet attempts before he invents his own, now dubbed The Subway Diet.

As Jared frequently mentions, Jared, the Subway Guy is not intended as a diet book. In the book, Jared documents how he plummets from his massive 425 pounds down to under 200 in a short amount of time by switching to a steady diet of Subway sandwiches all while not exercising. Those looking to duplicate Jared’s success should also know that he was also taking in over 10,000 calories a day (more than enough for five adult men). At that point, Jared could have gone to eating a large pizza for every meal and still lost weight.

The books subtitle is Winning Through Losing: 13 Steps for Turning Your Life Around. At the end of each chapter, Jared offers inspirational advice that can be applied toward any goal or overcoming any obstacle, whether its weight loss or some other type of addiction. His advice is honest but sometimes over simplistic. Overall I had very few complaints about the book. My wife had hoped for more information about his life as a celebrity (the book ends around the time of his first commercial), and I had hoped for at least one before and after photo. Regardless, the book delivers what it promises — an inspirational story, and advice on how you too can get started down the right path.

The point Jared makes throughout the book is that there is no magic pill for weight loss. It’s not really about the sandwiches; it’s about finding your inner strength. Its about hitting rock bottom. It’s about knowing that you have the power to change your own destiny.

And that knowledge is tastier than any six-inch Subway Veggie Delight, believe me.

Let’s face it, MP3s are really convenient. They’re small, they’re mobile, they offer good quality, they don’t skip … all in all, they’re pretty amazing. The problem is they don’t play on normal stereos, and without an MP3 enabled system you’re kind stuck listening to them on your computer. There are lots of car stereos now that are MP3 compatible, but there’s a much cheaper alternative available. Enter the I-Rocks.

For what it does, I-Rocks is incredibly inexpensive and quite amazing. The top of the unit contains a USB port which will accept basically any USB thumb drive. The bottom of the I-Rocks plugs into your vehicle’s cigarette lighter. Without any modification to your car’s stereo, the I-Rocks plays MP3 songs from your thumb drive and broadcasts them over your radio. Just tune to one of four selectable radio stations on your car stereo, and you’ll be jammin’ in no time. Neat!

Well, kind of neat. Before I complain about the product too much I do have to say that for the price, this is a pretty amazing little piece of hardware. Installation is measured in seconds. After plugging in your thumb drive, I-Rocks scans it for MP3s and plays them alphabetically, sorted by folder.

Unfortunately, the unit lacks many useful features. The front of the unit contains five buttons, two of which are reset, and change station. The other three allow you to move forward one track, move backward one track, and pause the player. There is no fast forward or rewind, which would be really useful if you plan on listening to audiobooks or podcasts on the unit. Likewise there’s no way to skip forward more than one track at a time, so putting multiple albums on your memory stick at once can become a pain if you want to jump to the last one.

Another strange feature of the unit is that it’s always on. The play/pause button contains a superbright blue LED which will fill your car’s cabin at night with glowing blue light. When playing the light flashes, which makes it even more annoying. And when you get out of your car you will notice something — the light’s still blinking, and if your thumb drive has a usage LED on it, you’ll see it still flashing as well. Both the power outlet and the cigarette lighter in the front of my vehicle power the unit even after my car keys have been removed. Pausing the player doesn’t kill the power either. After leaving my thumb drive in the car for only a couple of days it was burning hot when I removed it.

The unit comes with a wire antenna that plugs into the side of the unit. You might not think that an antenna would be needed with a device so close to your stereo, but I found that the quality significantly improved when it was connected. But even with the antenna connected the unit’s sound quality never got much better than “good”. Even with high quality MP3 files I found the sound quality to be less than that of most of my regular radio stations. The I-Rocks has a tendency to muddy most songs, squelching highs and blurring bass. It’s still listenable, but the drop in quality is quite noticable.

Within a couple of months, my unit began falling apart. Occasionally it resets itself. I’ve had to take apart and tighten the power adapter portion at least once. I also feel compelled to mention that one of my thumb drives (out of two) quit working altogether while it was in the unit, and after that my computer would no longer recognize it and it had to eventually be thrown away. Coincidence? Who knows. I ended up purchasing a 256 meg USB thumb drive and it works perfectly with the unit — it’s small enough that it scans and begins playing quickly. I have also tested 2 gig and 4 gig drives, both of which worked fine.

It feels wrong to complain too much about the I-Rocks. For only $20 you can easily and quickly add the ability to play MP3s in any car without any technical knowledge. I would happily pay more ($40-$50) for a unit with a few more options (random shuffle, perhaps?) that was built a bit sturdier. I suspect we’ll see these things in the next generation of these devices.

Every Star Wars diorama I set up in my bedroom as a kid had the same problem — a lack of extras. Ships and starring roles were never a problem — I had plenty of those — but what I didn’t have were the dozens of extra Stormtroopers needed to make a convincing scene from the Death Star. Darth Vader didn’t look near as menacing with only two Stormtroopers standing behind him, and my cantina scene looked downright sad with only Greedo, Walrus Man, Snaggletooth and Hammerhead hanging around the bar.

For fans of horror films and dioramas, Accoutrements has addressed this problem with the release of their Horrified B-Movie Victims. As the back of the packaging states, “We provide the screaming hordes! You provide the monster!” If only they had made Stormtroopers back in the day!

Included in the Horrified B-Movie Victims package are nine horrified b-movie victims — four women and five men, in various states of acting horrified. Four of the figures appear to be running away some unknown terror while the other five appear to be facing it, giving display makers some variety when it comes to placing their victims. Each victim is approximately three inches tall — too short to flee from my cantina display, but just the right height to appear terrified when placed next to the average toy monster.

While these figures may only appeal to a small, niche audience, I must fall within that demographic. I love these figures! I’ve had a blast arranging them in my cubicle, and my co-workers people have had a kick out of seeing what horrific creature will be chasing them next. Anyone who sets up displays around their work area (or just has a sick sense of humor) can pick up these figures from Archie McPhee, Accoutrements’ online store.

The Electric Stapler, one of the hundred or so textfiles making up the End of Dayz compilation, opens with a rather profound statement: This is my first article for SOL, the author writes, and the main reason Im writing it is because no-one in the real world will listen to me.

As dependant on mathematics as computers are, it is amazing the amount of art people have been able to produce with them, both as a medium and a vehicle. In the early days of home computing, for a few hundred dollars budding artists could create pictures, music, poetry and literature electronically in their own homes and later, thanks to the proliferation of modems, they began sharing their creations with other kindred souls. What eventually grew out of this online artistic culture were scenes, the most eclectic of the bunch being what was referred to as the textfile scene.

There exists a misnomer that the text scene consisted of less talented individuals than perhaps the art or music scenes. This error rose from the fact that since writing was probably the most accessible of all the arts, a lot of people participated in it; everyone from literary geniuses down to kids who wrote, well, because no one in the real world would listen to them. During the height of the scenes popularity, poets, fiction writers, hackers, anarchists, humorists, reviewers, and anyone else who had the desire to express his or herself began turning on their computers, jotting down their thoughts, and sharing them as files for the world to read. So while the textfile scene may have had a higher signal-to-noise ratio than the other scenes, there was definitely a lot of good work being produced. As a writer, a former sysop, and the founder of multiple lit groups, I have an affinity for old textfiles each one represents a sliver of my own history. And End of Dayz, a compilation of textfiles released over a fourteen-year span by the group The Syndicate of London, serves as a time capsule, giving readers a priceless look into the life and minds of scene writers, and the text scene as a whole.

The individual texts that comprise End of Dayz cover such topics as religion, sex and everything in between. There are serious essays, comedic pieces, fictional stories and even poems and songs. The articles vary in quality as much as they do in subject and style; some offer apologies for how bad they are, while others (particularly many in the Culture section) are so good that they truly deserve a wider audience than this books target audience. Some of the files made me think, I guess you had to be there, while others made me feel as though I had been. The differences between authors keep the book from presenting a single voice; then again, the emerging cacophony of voices does, in fact, encapsulates the anarchic online existence as a whole.

The tome is mighty. Just shy of 500 pages, End of Dayz has enough variety to offer readers bit of everything. But dont let the size intimidate you; the majority of the texts are ten pages or less in length, short enough to be read in one (bathroom) sitting, and the variety of subjects keep the book continually fresh. As a single body of work the book may seem somewhat confusing, but when viewed as a historical compendium, the compilations true merit shines through. Recommended to all sceners and BBS aficionados alike.

End of Dayz is available through Lulu.

According to a survey by Jon Peddie Research (as referenced in a recent New York Times article), adding a second monitor to your work station will increase your productivity by 20 to 30 percent. If you already have a dual monitor setup you are either nodding along in agreement or saying to yourself, “only 30%?” The fact is, having two side-by-side monitors makes a lot of daily easier.

Setting up dual monitors takes a little work and a little money. You’ll need two video out ports (and, obviously, two monitors). Windows and many other operating systems support dual monitors by default. Unfortunately, just because your operating system supports multiple monitors doesn’t mean your programs will by default. To simplify the entire process, Matrox has released their external DualHead2Go box.

Simply explained, the DualHead2Go has one input and two outputs. Connecting the DualHead2Go couldn’t be simpler; simply connect the box to your computer’s video card via an included cable, and connect your monitors to the box’s two output ports.

There are advantages to using an external dual monitor solution like the DualHead2Go over simply adding a second video card to your PC. One advantage is, through the use of a KVM system, you can use the DualHead2Go on multiple machines at once. Another advantage to the DualHead2Go is that both the video cards are identical. If you were to add a second videocard to your PC chances are it would not be identical to the first one (especially if it’s onboard) which can lead to resolution and performance differences. One final advantage is that Windows sees the box as one videocard instead of two. If you run dual video cards, Windows will see two separate monitors (1280×1024, and another 1280×1024, for example). Instead of two separate entities, Windows sees the Matrox box as one giant 2560×1024 monitor. That simplifies a lot of things. The two disadvantages I can see with using an external dual monitor solution is the price ($150, which isn’t astronomical but higher than a cheap videocard), and installation complexity. Read on.

Matrox’s DualHead2Go is billed as a plug and play solution, which it’s not. We delivered three DualHead2Go to three different computer experts, and the average installation time was around two hours. This included a lot of troubleshooting in getting the product to work through a KVM. If you are not sharing the box between multiple systems, except significantly less installation times.

Along with the video connections, the DualHead2Go also connects to your PC via a USB cable. The documentation claims that the USB cable is only used for power, but that cable became the source of our troubleshooting problems for a couple of hours. To configure the DualHead2Go, you must install the included PowerDesk SE software. We could not get the software to run unless the USB cable was directly connected to the computer we were installing the software on. In other words, in a multiple-system environment, you must either directly plug the USB cable into each machine when installing and configuring the software, or you need a KVM system that shares USB connections among all the connected machines. Fortunately, the software is only needed to install and configure the unit. Once your video display has been configured, the software no longer needs to run (and it won’t, if the USB cable is disconnected). This took an hour or so of troubleshooting to figure out.

On two of the three systems I tried the Matrox DualHead2Go on, it worked as advertised. Using the onboard videocard of a Dell 260 I was able to get 2048×768 (1024×2 width). Using an added on PCI card, I was able to get 2560×1024 (1280×2 width). While the card supported more, the KVM limited me to this resolution. My laptop (a Dell 620) also ran 2560×1024 with no problems. The third system, a Dell 490 running Windows 2003 Server, would not work at all. The software gives a DDraw error upon installation. The software does not implicitly say 2003 is supported, even though the website does. Repeated Googling for the error only returns dead links to Matrox’s now defunct website. I was not able to determine if the problem was due to the hardware or Windows Server 2003. Downloading the latest version of the PowerDesk software from Matrox’s website did not help.

On the two systems the PowerDesk SE software did install on, the Matrox DualHead2Go unit worked as advertised. Both systems are now running at 2560×1024. The DualHead2Go is available in both analog and digital models. I purchased the digital version, and the video quality is great. I have not tried any graphically-intense games yet, but normal day-to-day operations work beautifully. If nothing else, leaving my e-mail open in monitor B while working in monitor A is incredibly convenient.

For those with more desk space than common sense, Matrox now offers the TripleHead2Go for connecting three monitors to your computer or laptop, offering a 3840×1024 resolution.

If you’ve ever been stuck on vacation or at work and needed to access pictures on your digital camera or simply free up room on your camera’s memory card, you know how convenient owning a USB card reader can be. Since my new camera uses Secure Digital (SD) cards and my old reader only read Smart Media Cards (SM), I recently upgraded to a new Ativa 10-in-1 card reader. How does it compare to my old card reader? Read on, reader!

The Ativa 10-In-1 reader is USB 2.0 compatible, and in Windows 2000 or higher does not require drivers. Simply plug the unit into your computer’s USB drive and the removable disks will appear — 4 of them, in fact. Despite being a 10-in-1 reader, the unit only has 4 external slots and labels for 5 different types of cards. The package comes with the CameraMate ProPix software suit (which I promptly threw away) in order to raise the price from $20 to $30. Unfortunately, this was still the cheapest unit I could find.

As dumb as this may sound, I had problems inserting my cards into the unit. The slots are not clearly marked as to whether the cards should be inserted face up or face down. The microscopic silk-screened icons on the front of the unit require both a microscope and a spotlight to read — you won’t be able to make heads or tails out of them except under ideal environments, and to make matters worse I found that SD cards can fit in a lot of different slots. I use the unit so rarely that it seems like every time I pull it out I have to figure out how the card is supposed to go again — and no matter which way I guess first, it’s wrong.

It would have been nice for the drive letters to only appear when you plug a card into them. Likewise, it would be simpler to navigate the unit if the drives were labeled, instead of simply reading “Removable Drive E:”, “Removable Drive F:”, and so on.

Once you get past the end user hurdles, the unit performs quickly and quietly. Two small green LEDs on the front of the unit announce connectivity and usage, although by moving the unit around and looking at it from different angles you can easily convince yourself that the lights are either on or off at any given moment.

Whining aside, the card reader is built quite nicely and looks like it would take a beating. The cord is thick and firmly secured to the unit. I’ve had it wrapped up in my laptop bag for a few months now and it still works like it did when I first purchased it.

Overall, the unit works as advertised. It would be nice if the unit’s slots were labeled more clearly and if the drives were labeled more clearly in Windows, but for transferring data to and from memory cards, the Ativa 10-in-1 card reader works.

Office Depot, $29.99 (April 2006)

There are many practical uses for external hard drives. Perhaps youre a computer tech on the road, or even a weekend warrior who helps out friends and family. In both cases, its helpful to carry as many programs and utilities with you as possible. External hard drives are a great way to move large files (such as movies or MP3 collections) between home and work. Theyre also great for laptop owners looking for expand limited storage space. If you already have a spare hard drive lying around your home or office, you might consider purchasing an external hard drive enclosure, which will house your hard drive and allow you to simply connect it to your computer.

Athenas EB-2319B2 External Enclosure is one such device. The unit, which retails for $39.99, allows users to install an IDE hard drive into the unit and connect it to a PC or Macintosh via either USB or Firewire.

Immediately upon opening the box, the units level of cheapness becomes apparent. Included in the box is the unit itself, a USB cable, and power supply, and the instruction pamphlet. To Athenas defense, theres not much explination needed unscrew four plastic thumb screw to remove the units top to reveal the mostly hollow insides. In the inside rear of the container is a small PCB with IDE and power connectors. To install a hard drive, simply place the drive inside the container, line up the connectors, and push it back into place. The power connections position is slightly adjustable, but not very.

To test the unit, I grabbed a stack of old hard drives from my garage. It became apparent to me very quickly that the Athena was designed for newer and not older hard drives. None of my old Conner or Seagate hard drives from the late 90s would fit in the unit the power adapter simply could not be shifted far enough over to fit in the drives. All the Western Digital drives I tried fit, however I had mixed results from a few of them until I removed the master/slave jumpers, something not mentioned in the documentation. All the modern drives I tried worked in the unit, which means it works well with newer drives but if you have a 3-4 year old drive youre wanting to use with the Athena you might try it out in a store first.

Once the drive was installed, power must be supplied via a provided power adapter which plugs into the wall. With power and USB cables connected, Windows XP recognized the unit instantly, and in a matter of seconds I had an E: drive appear.

While powered up, the entire case glows with blue LEDs. When the drive is being accessed, the entire front of the unit flashes orange (more LEDs). Long term users may tire of the light show, which makes the entire unit look like a crashlanded UFO. And in case the neighbors call and complain, theres no way to disable the flashing lights.

SUMMARY: Although the unit feels cheap and many of my older hard drives wouldnt fit, the unit worked as advertised with newer hard drives. For a long term solution, potential owners may want to move up a level and look in the $50-$60 range for something a little more sturdy.

Purchased from PC-Club for $39.99 (March 2006)

By the time you’ve finished reading this sentence, Zeke, the rapid-fire rockers of the Northwest, would already be halfway through the first verse and well on their way to the chorus. Read it twice, and the band would most likely already be sprinting to the finish line. From the same guys who brought you Dirty Sanchez (which blasted 16 songs in 21 minutes) comes Zeke You, the 41 minute DVD.

Zeke You is a collection of footage shot using hand held camcorders during the band’s “final” tour. I say final in quotes because the band is back together and touring again. Semantics aside, Zeke You contains a mixture of live performances and goofy tour footage, compiled by Zeke/Camarosmith drummer Donny Paycheck.

Zeke You is intended for Zeke fans. There’s no introduction of band members, biography, or any other information about the band included on the DVD. I didn’t figure out who was who until almost halfway through the disc. Press play, and you are dumped directly into the world of Zeke. Get ready.

The press kit, DVD case, and movie credits all contain the same warning: “This is not a made for film DVD. Its a documentary of a rock band on tour. This was made on a mini and hi-8 digital cameras [sic]. The sound has not been altered. It’s live.” For you and me, that means bootleg-quality video and sound. Again, Zeke fans probably won’t care about the quality. The cut scenes look okay, but the live performances sound like ass. If you’re not familiar with the material presented here, don’t expect to make out any lyrics.

The biggest disappointment with Zeke You is that it doesn’t capture the musical genius of Zeke. Like Motorhead on speed, Zeke blasts out tunes packed with intensity and ferocity. The talented musicianship of the band is lost in the tinny mush presented on this disc.

That being said, the DVD does contain a lot of footage you’ll never see anywhere else. The main portion of the DVD contains about 40 minutes of material, split fairly evenly between personal moments with the band and live performances. Off the main menu there are also a couple of extra DIY music videos.

Here’s my split recommendation. It goes without saying, Zeke fans should pick up Zeke You. But to those of you not familiar with the band, I would recommend picking up one of the band’s studio albums instead. Give one of their albums a spin (or catch them live), and you’ll be coming back for the DVD soon enough.

“Muhahaha … We’re taking back the metal.”

And with that declaration (or is it a warning?), the Seven Witches kick off their latest album, Xiled To Infinity And One. Seven Witches is a supergroup of sorts, a forging of the minds of Jack Frost (Metallium, Savatage) and Wade Black (Crimson Glory).

Comparisons with Savatage and Crimson Glory are unavoidable. Seven Witches says this album is a tribute to all the things they used to listen to, and with that in mind, I’d say they listened to a lot of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Metal Church. In a recent interview on Metal-Rules.com, Jack Frost commented on the band’s sound by saying, “We’re not a progressive band, we’re not a 70’s band. We’re just a metal band. We’re not modern. We are old school but we’re not. We’re ‘Seven Witches.'”

An excerpt from the band’s promo material proves this point. “The fruit of [the band’s] labor is Xiled To Infinity And One, a metal album guaranteed to wake up the children of the Korn. Harkening back to a simpler time, when guitars and impressive vocal ranges ruled the scene, not image and three chord riffing.”

A jab at Korn fans right on the back of the promo sleeve? They can’t be all bad …

Xiled To Infinity And One cranks through ten burning tracks, one after another. The CD opens with the track “Metal Tyrant”, which also contains the lyrics “Metal God” in the chorus. Personally, I think it would have made a hell of a title track for Rock Star (whose working title was Metal God). The CD is well paced, varying it’s tempo from track to track. The lumbering, mysterious sounding title track is followed by the chunky riffs of “Warmth of Winter”, which itself leads into the mammoth drum and bass sounds of “Anger’s Door”.

Guitars on this album are very riff oriented. Not much palm muting here, just nice, open, roaring riffs with plenty of wah and whammy thrown in — a nice nod to the days of old. Solos are there, but not everywhere; just thrown in wherever needed. The drums hop, pop, and gallop for the entire length of the disc. Double bass is used sparingly but effectively. The vocal style is totally old school. Those not familiar with “singing” may find it a bit confusing, but in the days of old, vocalists actually used their “voices” as “instruments”. I know it’s hard to believe, but they actually had a range! All kidding aside, the vocals are wonderful. Any old Priest or Maiden fans will be smiling the entire time. Wade gives the old masters of the style a run for their money, and certainly keeps the metal torch alive. The lyrics are also a tribute to the olden days, with plenty of medieval references to keep old schoolers happy, but enough new material to not bore the rest of us.

Instead of covering an 80’s dance tune like every other band has been doing lately, Seven Witches give a wink to their heritage by covering Grim Reaper’s “See You In Hell”. Although ever-so-slightly updated, the Witches’ version is very loyal. Maybe they’re showing their loyalty to their roots?

Xiled To Infinity And One was produced by Jack Frost, mixed by Joey Vera (Armored Saint/Fates Warning), and contains appearances by Joe Comeau (Annihilator) and Jon Oliva (Savatage). The Witches are not alone in their crusade. On top of all that support, Sanctuary has signed them to a two album deal, which means we’ll be hearing more new retro rockin’ from the group in the future.

There seems to be a growing charge to “take back the metal”, and it would seem that Seven Witches are at the head of that brigade. Back before nu-metal, power metal, progressive metal, black metal, death metal, and every other kind of metal, there was just metal. If you lived for those days, this is as close as you can get to going back.

Tracks:
01. Metal Tyrant
02. Incubus
03. Salvation
04. Xiled To Infinity And One
05. Warmth Of Winter
06. Anger’s Door
07. Eyes Of An Angel
08. Pain
09. The Burning
10. See You In Hell