Karaoke Party dot com

A friend just made my day yesterday by sending me this link to KaraokeParty.com. Karaoke is finally online!!!!!!! For those of you who know me, you know it's in my blood. My karaoke addiction started while in Tokyo and followed me to NYC, Holland, and now VA. Unfortunately, the American in me makes me a bad singer so I don't do karaoke bars. Instead, I go to karaoke booths with some friends or invite them over for karaoke at home. A karaoke booth usually will have a very good collection of popular songs and if you're lucky, a disco ball. They are all over Japan, and you can find some in NYC and in NoVA. At home, you can play Sing Star or Karaoke Revolution on game consoles like PlayStation and XBox. While it's better than nothing, the song choices are quite limited with these games. Another alternative is to make your in-home karaoke system. You can buy such systems, or build it free using Winamp and its karaoke plug-in. The tricky part is acquiring the media in mp3+g format. There are tons out there and now I have close to 3000 songs (tho most are ones I've never even heard of). Once you have that, connect your computer to your big screen TV, plug a microphone in, and you're in business!

Ok, now back to KaraokeParty.com - which could revolutionize karaoke in America. My theory as to why karaoke isn't as popular in the US is because most of us suck at it. I think the only reason why the Japanese are so good at it is because they do karaoke from the time they're old enough to talk. Once karaoke is popular enough in the US, we will all be born as karaoke singers! My point is, the website will bring karaoke into everyone's household - practically effortless and free. More people will begin singing, and over some generations, we will all be singing. The site doesn't have a very large collection yet, maybe ~200, but they are good songs and FREE! I suspect that once there's a following and their song collection grows, they'll resort to fee-based membership. So if you've never done karaoke, take advantage of the site now and give it a try!!

Obama: America's New Hope

My friend and I sat glued in front of the television all night today. We are both staunch Obama supporters and cringed as the polls started off with a McCain lead of 8-3. Results, however, quickly turned in our favor and we became more comfortable, yet still cautious of the possibility of an upset. We worried about a Virginia loss early on as the smaller rural precincts reported McCain wins. At the very end, Virginia finally came through blue, but by then it didn't matter. With the West coast States coming in blue, Obama won the Presidency with a landslide. An already ecstatic night was made even better with McCain's conciliatory speech, which was very gracious and moving. Unlike the ugliness of the 2000 and 2004 elections, this one was much smoother. Thank goodness, because our country really cannot afford to be divided right now. As McCain said in his speech, we need to unite to support our new President in the coming years to begin addressing the many problems we face in our nation. I am not expecting miracles out of Obama, as he faces challenges that would be difficult for any person to overcome. Yet, Obama represents new hope and inspiration for our country. I only wish we did not have to wait until January for him to take office. For tonight, I sleep looking forward to a better America.

The Vote is In

In anticipation of the large voter turn out, I decided to work from home today and go to the voting booth mid-morning. Conveniently, the elementry school where I was to vote was a 3-minute walk through the forest around the corner. Upon arriving through the back door meant to be the exit, there were 4 lines for people to get into. I got in the L-R line, unfortunately the longest. Still, I got my voting permit in like 5 minutes, and 5 minutes later I was done voting. Unlike most polling places, there didn't seem to be so many people at mine. Perhaps because of the off-peak hours, or maybe there are just too many immigrants who can't vote in my neighborhood. I do live in the ghetto afterall :P