I recorded a new Muzak For Cybernetics Mixtape over the weekend, which is a music podcast I’ve been doing on a pseudo-monthly basis, sometimes with co-hosts, sometimes without. It’s kind of a fun way to get back to what we used to do on our old radio show on the Brock University radio station — quite simply, kick out a bunch of cool tunes and share them with others. There’s definitely a weird sort of art to it; you want to pick songs that connect and complement each other in some way. You need a killer intro and a memorable finale, and you need some variety in there too — some peaks and valleys to make the journey worthwhile. Yes indeed, even though cassette tapes are obsolete, the art of the mixtape is alive and well here in 2007.

The Muzak podcast is akin to the experience of creating a real mixtape, which is something I used to love doing when I was younger. This is why I prefer to record the podcast live, rather than just splicing a bunch of MP3s together into Adobe Audition. Ever since I started buying music (my first album ever purchased was Young MC’s Stone Cold Rhymin’), I would sit down and create mixes of my favourite songs. It was more about the process of creating the mix than it was about having a compilation of favourite songs to listen to afterwards. I’m sure I’m not alone in that regard, but I still have an old tape I made when I was probably 11 or 12 years old featuring a “rap countdown”, complete with faux DJ interludes where I personally introduce each song. (Yes, I really was a huge nerd even then.)

When I got a bit older I used to exchange mixtapes with my cousin Simon, who lives in New Jersey, because we were both into punk rock and ska. He introduced me to bands like Bad Religion, The Descendents, and Less Than Jake and I introduced him to Canadian stuff like Chixdiggit, The Planet Smashers and gob. Of course, you can’t talk about mixtapes without mentioning their importance as a dating ritual too (Nick Hornby, author of High Fidelity, would be none too pleased). Alicia and I also made mixtapes for each other over the years… obviously my mixtape-making abilities are the main reason she married me.

For those interested in keeping the mixtape alive, I found this cool site for people to exchange mixes called The Art of the Mix. Unfortunately it looks like the site is mostly just track listings without the actual music files… and I suppose that’s because it would legally require paying some ridiculous royalty rates. (For more on the current situation that is crippling the future of internet radio, read Wil Wheaton’s Geek in Review article from last week.)

So it seems that when Alicia and I purchased our new furniture from Sears last week, we also qualified for a special deal giving us free air fare to the England sometime this year. We had already been discussing taking a trip somewhere, and I’ve really wanted to see the U.K. for a while now, so we might just take advantage of the offer. All we have to do is pay the tax for the plane tickets… not too shabby. Does anyone have any recommendations for undertaking such a trip? What places should we visit if we’re only going to be there for a week or two? I’d really like to see Scotland and Ireland too but I don’t know if that’s going to be possible (Scotland is probably a little more feasible than Ireland).

A couple months back it was announced that Fox would be teaming up with 7-Eleven stores for a special campaign to promote The Simpsons Movie. The basic idea was that certain 7-Eleven locations would be temporarily transformed into Kwik-E-Mart stores complete with Krusty O’s and Iced Squishees. Well I am embarassed to admit that I didn’t even know there was already a Kwik-E-Mart in my own backyard (Niagara Falls, to be exact). Check out the proof over at fjetsam.

Hey remember Darth Tater? Well, now prepare to meet his buddy… Optimash Prime! I’m not making this up. Seriously, though how can you resist buying something like this? You can’t. Someone keep me away from Toys R Us. (via Kung Fu Rodeo)

They’re remaking the Commodore 64 classic Impossible Mission for the Wii? How awesome is that? Joystiq reports that it will be the first Wii Virtual Console title that doesn’t actually run on a virtual console. I’m curious to see what their new take on the game will be, but I sure hope they keep the same creepy synthesized voice effect. Man that seriously gave me nightmares when I was a kid.

And in case you were one of the few people not near a movie theatre this past weekend watching Spider-Man 3, your local cinema might have a wicked stand up display of the Silver Surfer from the upcoming Fantastic Four movie in the lobby. I snapped a blurry pic on the ol’ cell phone camera below: