The Music, The Music, The Music [UPDATED]

You have to read that title aloud, in a certain tone of voice, and with a differing declension every time the phrase is repeated, to get how I'm trying to say that. Kinda like 'Location, location, location' - but without the emphatic stress.

(I could write an entire entry on the inadequacy of the written word, but that'll have to take a pass for the moment.)

I'm trying to figure out a way to display on my site the current music tracks that are cycling through iTunes (now available for Windows). LiveJournal has a nifty feature that allows you to tag each post with a different song, but that's not really what I'm looking for. Or maybe it is. Truth be told, I'm not sure.

I've been thinking for a while about including what I'm reading on this site, and the inclusion of what I'm listening to seems to go hand in hand with that. I guess I figure it'll help you folks figure out more exactly where I'm coming from at a given moment. Or maybe I'm just a 'closet' exhibitionist? Freaky thought.

But isn't that what blogging is really all about? Seriously - even the sharing of ideas is a 'look at me' action. People like Jeff Jarvis, Glenn Reynolds, Donald Sensing, etc. are putting their minds and ears before us with very little filtration, and only the 'veil' of the Internet between our minds and theirs. Heck, James Lileks does way more than that - he practically invites us to join him in his hobbies.

And I love it. I love every second of it. I find sometimes that I cannot write to an empty reader. That is, if no one is going to read what I'm writing, then I can't write. I get stuck staring at the blank Word file for minutes, sometimes even hours, before I give up, or force something out, because I know (or believe) that no one is going to read what I write there. But on this blog? People are reading, so I can write. And it's usually about rather foolish subject matter, too. If I can't do something unless other people are 'watching,' does that make me exhibitionistic? If I enjoy writing more because people are going to read it, am I bordering on a mental disfunction?

People say 'Do what you love.' Well, I love being read more than I love writing - which is saying something, because I love to write. But I can't exactly 'do' being read, can I?

So I guess wanting you to know what I'm listening to and what I'm reading is all a part of that 'psychosis,' huh? Ah well - it makes me happy anyway. So, who knows of a good javascript that'll grab the track listing off of iTunes?

I'm having an incredible urge to listen to Dashboard's Swiss Army Romance. Ahhh...that hits the spot.

I have discovered a way to accomplish the task of displaying my current music on this site. It's a marriage of this nifty RSS viewer and a site called AudioScrobbler. Trouble is that the AudioScrobbler site seems to be having difficulties taking new submissions at the moment - so until they're up and running again, the task is delayed.
-- posted by Austin @ 11:15 PM (PermaLink/Comment) ¶