Literally sitting around the house

Some of you, in seeing me during the Christmas break, were probably struck with how much of a lardo I’ve become.

That’s not true, really. I know I’m not some sort of baby-eating, everything in sight-mowing colossus, but I have gained a little weight over the past year and a half or so. Let’s be honest – about 50 pounds of weight. I hide it better than would be expected, but I am right around 250 pounds right now. According to the interweb, my body size should weigh between 189 and 210 pounds. I’m huge.

But, in the spirit of the New Years resolutions I don’t believe in, and in the spirit if once again humiliating my family in friendly competition (after rocking the family fantasy football championships last weekend), I’m going to become steal an idea from NBC’s playbook and become a big loser (read into that how you will regarding NBC and their programming).

I’ve talked to two family members right now who are willing to fight the good fight against our ever increasing waistlines (seriously – my waistline increased last year), and we’re going to have a friendly competition where the person who drops the most weight each month wins a gift certificate and the person who drops the most weight in 2007 gets a bigger prize as yet to be determined. These people don't have to share their weight or target weight like I just did, but they do have to share how much they lost each month.

You, dear readers, are also welcome to join in, but I need to hear from you ASAP, because this competition started in January, and you’re not getting any skinnier.

Go to another Web page

Check out the track listings on the mixtape contest entries. They're at Songs for Strangers. They're pretty exciting.

A little behind

Things are finally back on track with the Mixtape Mixdown. I have my computer back (after a dead hard drive) with which to make copies of the entries and send them out to the judges this week. That may push back the final results until the first week in July, but we'll get the results out as soon as we can. In the meantime, check on www.songsforstrangers.com sometime later this week and see the track listings and cover art for each of the entries.

Contest update

Remember, kiddies, the deadline is fast approaching for the mixtape mixdown. Here are a few notes on how things will proceed:

+ The track listings will be posted anonymously on www.songsforstrangers.com. When the judging is done, the track listings will get some names and we might even offer a one-time download of the winning CD (or CDs) as a podcast for you to listen at home.
+ The judges will not get the name of the contestant(s) when reviewing the mix.
+ Get everyone you know to enter.

Mixtape Contest

Alright, kiddies! You asked for it, and I do your bidding. Well, you never really did ask for it and I certainly never do your bidding unless it involves watching “Dr. Acula” or eating ice cream sandwiches. Either way, you’re ‘bout to get all mixtape contest up in this hizzy.

That’s right. This is the beginning of the first-annual “Brandon Otte’s Blog Mixtape Mixdown.” And by mixtape I mean mix CD. And by mixdown I mean rock on.

Here’s how it works: You come up with a theme for your very own mix CD. It can be something cliche, like “songs about love,” something obscure, like “songs written by groups of three or more people” or even something awesome like “songs about lobsters” (a surprisingly great mixtape could be made with this theme). You might be sitting there and mumbling to yourself that mixtapes shouldn’t have to all fit into a theme and whatnot, but I don’t really care. It makes it easier to judge.

The next step is picking some songs for your mix CD. The only rule here is that you need to have at least 15 songs to enter. Other than that, you can jump all over the place – different genres, different artists, different tempos, whatever. Then you’re going to want to put those songs into a certain order, selected by yourself, on the mixtape.

Thirdly, you might want to design a cover for your mixtape. This will be judged (see the judging chart later).

And here’s the final step for you: you need to send your CD to me with $1 (The $1 will be used for prizes!!!!). Here’s how:

The deadline for you to get your CD to me is June 11. That gives you bunches of time to plan one and get others to submit CDs as well.

After I get the mixtape CDs, I’m going to make copies and send them out to the three judges for this contest. The CDs will be judged thusly:

Song Selection Originality
Song flow
Theme – how well do the songs fit in
Other – the intangibles of a mix CD (just the judges overall impression of the CD)
Cover art – does it rock my face off

Anyway, these will be judged on a 10-point scale (10=good, 1=bad) by three judges (except for the cover art, which I will judge all by my lonesome). This means you can’t tailor your CDs to my expectations or to the likes of any one judge. And I tried to chose judges with a little different musical tastes.

The judges will have a deadline by which they need to get the CD’s back to me, but I don’t know what that is yet. Rest assured, the contest will be done by July, and the winner will be announced right here on this blog. I have no idea what the prize will be, but it is sure to be awesome.

If you have any questions, leave a comment or send an email to blogcontests@gmail.com. Good luck! Tell your friends to enter, so we can actually have a real contest this time.

Here are your judges:
Judge
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Top three albums of all time:
1. Weezer – Blue Album
2. Sigur Ros – ( )
3. The Album Leaf – In a Safe Place
Top three artists or bands of all time:
1. Weezer
2. Bright Eyes
3. Death Cab for Cutie
Two most overrated bands of all time:
1. The Beatles
2. John Mellencamp
Two most underrated bands of all time:
1. Jeff Buckley
2. SubPar
Single worst song of all time: Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy
The most recent song this judge has listened to: Sun Kill Moon’s “Si Paloma”
The most recent CD this judge has purchased or pirated: Beth Orton’s “Comfort of Strangers”
Bands that this judge is listening to right about now: The New Amsterdams and Taking Back Sunday
To me, the perfect mixtape is one that... “makes me want to pause the tape and lay down on the floor to continue listening.”

Judge 2
Age: 24
Occupation: Teacher
Top three albums of all time:
1. The Beatles – Abby Road
2. Ben Folds Five – Whatever and Ever Amen
3. Stan Getz – Getz/Gilberto
Top three artists or bands of all time:
1. Bill Evans Trio
2. Ben Folds
3. Ella Fitzgerald
Two most overrated bands or artists of all time:
1. Coldplay
2. Britney Spears
Two most underrated bands or artists of all time:
1. Guster
2. Rufus Wainwright
Single wost song of all time: “From a Distance” as sung by Bette Midler
The most recent song that this judge has listened to: Etta James’ “At Last”
The most recent CD this judge has purchased or pirated: KT Tunsall
Bands that this judge is listening to right about now: Diana Krall, Sufjan Stevens, Postal Service
To me, the perfect mixtape is one that... “seamlessly combines different genres and styles with some sort of evolving theme.”

Judge 3
Age: 25
Occupation: Hack writer
Top three albums of all time:
1. Whiskeytown – Stranger’s Almanac
2. Social Distortion – Self Titled
3. Old 97s – Wreck Your Life
(All albums that generally get played in this judge’s car on a long drive)
Top three bands or artists of all time:
1. Johnny Cash
2. Bob Dylan
3. I can’t really think of another for the top three
Two most overrated bands or artists of all time:
1. Led Zeppelin
2. Korn
Two most underrated bands of all time:
I don’t know.
Single worst song of all time: “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”
The most recent song this judge has listened to: My Morning Jacket’s “One Big Holiday”
The most recent CD this judge has purchased or pirated: Silver Jews’ “Tanglewood Numbers”
Bands that this judge is listening to right about now: Bright Eyes, Bob Dylan, Paul Westberg
To me, the perfect mixtape is one that... “flows. I hate it when mix tapes have songs that don’t fit together. Also, bonus points for songs that don’t seem to fit together, like Buddy Holly back –to-back with The Velvet Underground.”