Smooth Harold, The Blog of Blake Snow » top 10s http://www.smoothharold.com Husband, father, writer, and proprietor. Fri, 10 Sep 2010 23:24:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Smooth Harold’s top 10 Spoon songs http://www.smoothharold.com/smooth-harolds-top-10-spoon-songs/ http://www.smoothharold.com/smooth-harolds-top-10-spoon-songs/#comments Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:14:55 +0000 Blake http://www.smoothharold.com/smooth-harolds-top-10-spoon-songs/ spoon.jpg
If you haven’t listened to Spoon already, I exhort you to do so immediately. They are quite possibly my favorite indie band of the decade, and their appeal spans generations (read: is accessible to all), I promise.

Having said that, here are my top 10 favorite tracks from the Austin-based band, independent of albums:

  1. Finer Feelings. This one’s got a juke box-like sound that makes you want to dance, a rare thing for indie bands, let alone rock and roll ones.
  2. Black Like Me. I can listen to this song on loop for a good 30 minutes before tiring. It has a brilliant crescendo, piano riff, and soulful vocals to boot. It’s so win.
  3. Fitted Shirt, The. Perhaps the song that truly encompasses Spoon’s style, if that’s even possible given their variety. If you like Led Zepplin’s lighter works, I’m betting you’ll like this.
  4. The Way We Get By. Now here’s a little ditty that will have your head bouncing. It’s like a song that was a hit before your mother was born. She should know.
  5. You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb. I don’t care if you’re two years of age or 80, there’s no way you can listen to this track and not feel sunny.
  6. I Turn My Camera On. This song has me creeping like a creeper. Either that or putting the moves on Lindsey.
  7. Don’t Make Me A Target. Wailing guitar riffs, edgy, stuttered solos, and pleading lyrics. Listen to it twice, it’s so nice.
  8. Don’t You Evah. Groovy, I say. Enough so to make number eight on my list.
  9. Anything You Want. Two minutes and seventeen seconds of awesomeness.
  10. The Beast and Dragon, Adored. The darkest song on my list, but driving, constant, and rocking, just like the band that wrote it.

Regrettably, I justed missed Spoon and The Killers last week on Austin City Limits, the spectacular PBS performance series broadcast in glorious HD and 5.1 surround. It’s almost as good as attending a live show and comes highly recommended.

]]> http://www.smoothharold.com/smooth-harolds-top-10-spoon-songs/feed/ 10 The top 10 most litigous companies (by trademark lawsuits) http://www.smoothharold.com/top-10-most-litigous-companies-by-trademark-lawsuits/ http://www.smoothharold.com/top-10-most-litigous-companies-by-trademark-lawsuits/#comments Tue, 30 Jan 2007 00:48:00 +0000 Blake http://www.smoothharold.com/wp/?p=540 Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who sues most of all? These 10 companies based on trademark lawsuits from 2001-2006 taken from the sidebar of this article:

  1. Microsoft
  2. Cendent
  3. Altria/Philip Morris
  4. Best Western
  5. Dunkin’ Donuts
  6. Lorillard Tobacco
  7. Levi Strauss
  8. Baskin-Robbins
  9. Chanel
  10. Nike

So what can be gleamed from this info? Either these companies are overprotective or have several others infringing on their IP.

[via Kottke]

]]> http://www.smoothharold.com/top-10-most-litigous-companies-by-trademark-lawsuits/feed/ 2 Top 10 Web Design Mistakes in 2006 http://www.smoothharold.com/top-10-web-design-mistakes-in-2006/ http://www.smoothharold.com/top-10-web-design-mistakes-in-2006/#comments Thu, 28 Dec 2006 06:29:00 +0000 Blake http://www.smoothharold.com/wp/?p=507 Use It lists the top 10 web design mistakes for 2006 with a lot of good ones to boot! Notable pet peeves include poor search on sites (I’m guilty when I don’t use Google on a site), PDF files (ditch ‘em everyone!), poor usability by not changing the color of visited links (guilty here), and force opening new browser windows (annoying).

If I can change, and you can change, we can all change… Hit the source link for the goods.

UPDATE: Added forgotten link. Whoops!

]]> http://www.smoothharold.com/top-10-web-design-mistakes-in-2006/feed/ 4 Top 10 business myths (includes raising capital) http://www.smoothharold.com/top-10-business-myths-includes-raising-capital/ http://www.smoothharold.com/top-10-business-myths-includes-raising-capital/#comments Tue, 03 Oct 2006 18:07:00 +0000 Blake http://www.smoothharold.com/wp/?p=432 Rondam Ramblings has compiled their top 10 business myths:

  1. A brilliant idea will make you rich
  2. If you build it they will come
  3. Someone will steal your idea if you don’t protect it
  4. What you think matters
  5. Financial models are bogus
  6. What you know matters more than who you know
  7. A Ph.D. means something
  8. I need $5 million to start my business
  9. The idea is the most important part of my business plan
  10. Having no competition is a good thing

Follow the source link for the full skinny.

]]> http://www.smoothharold.com/top-10-business-myths-includes-raising-capital/feed/ 1 Top 10 Mistakes Made by the Self-Employed http://www.smoothharold.com/top-10-mistakes-made-by-the-self-employed/ http://www.smoothharold.com/top-10-mistakes-made-by-the-self-employed/#comments Wed, 12 Apr 2006 05:52:00 +0000 Blake http://www.smoothharold.com/wp/?p=304 Steve Pavlina writes: “Having been a non-employee for about 14 years now, I’ve made my share of stupid business mistakes. I’ve also coached a number of people to start their own businesses, and I’ve seen many of them make similar mistakes.”

Here’s his list of mistakes:

  1. Selling to the wrong people.
  2. Spending too much money.
  3. Spending too little money.
  4. Putting on a fake front.
  5. Assuming a signed contract will be honored.
  6. Going against your intuition.
  7. Being too formal.
  8. Sacrificing your personality quirks.
  9. Failing to focus on value creation.
  10. Failing to optimize.

I couldn’t agree more with number 1 on the list. In the past three years, I’ve learned this the hard way, but I think I’m finally getting it down. What do you relate too?

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