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A while ago I set myself on a personal mission to learn Flex. I know myself around HTML, CSS, and Javascript like a pro -- but to be honest I've never been a fan of overly "strict" programming environments like Flex. Actionscript 3 is a strongly-typed language, and the the rest of Flex is all XML files. It was a hard transition to me (being a huge fan of loosely typed languages like Ruby). As a result, I was having an increasingly difficult time picking up Flex — so I opted to pick up a book.

On July 10, the Smashing Pumpkins released the first album they've released in what feels like decades (oh, wait...). I desperately wanted to see them play with the opening tour, but despite the fact that they played for eleven days straight in San Francisco, the tickets still sold out within a few minutes and I missed my window. Show or no show, I picked up the CD the day it came out and overall I've been very pleased.

I first saw The Used play at the Boardwalk in Sacramento around the summer of 2000. It was one of the most memorable concerts of my life: a small club, tons of girls, three inches from the speaker and the stage, and a lineup that was unbelievably badass. At the time, The Used were just the third opening band of the night. NobodyZero (now defunct), some unmemorable band, The Used, and then finally Fenix TX headlining.

Almost a year ago The roots came out with Game Theory – which in my opinion has quickly become one of the best hip-hop records of all time. I'm not a huge hip-hop fan, and I don't claim to know the full extent of the scene. But I do know good music when I hear it, and this is damn good music.

The Shape of Punk to Come is a revolutionary album. Not only is it truly genre-bending, but it's a damn good album to listen to. I must admit, the first time I heard the album I was a skeptic. I just thought it was a bunch of crap thrown onto a CD. My mistake was listening to songs, and not the album as a whole.

I know I'm a sucker when it comes to the latest-and-greatest- screamo/emo/punk/whatever band, but every once in a while there comes along a CD in this genre that sticks for more that just a couple of weeks. Underoath's _They're only chasing safety_ is a great example of one of those albums. It's a short, 10 song album with songs weighing in around 3-4 minutes - luckily every song's worth listening to.

Imperial Earth is a short novel about a young man named Duncan Makenzie, a resident of Titan who takes his first and last journey to Earth. The vast majority of the book is dealing with an outsider's point of view of earth and its many lifeforms and complexities. The rest of the book deals with a myriad of struggles Duncan is forced to deal with while on Earth to give a speech in Washinton DC for the United State's Quincentennial celebration in 2276.

If you're as big of a sucker for epic-like science fiction stories as I am, you'll definately enjoy The Stars, Like Dust. It rings true to Isaac Asimov's writing style with a story that just keeps sucking you back in. I found myself discarding homework and delaying sleep just to finish this delightfully short read.

Slightly Stoopid are driven by two guys that were in essence, godchildren of Sublime. They've got that So-Cal, mellowed out feel combined with some hypnotic hip-hop sounds. This full length includes full instrumentation, although most of the beats are computer-generated, they work well for the style. While listening to this CD I almost feel as though the room starts to fill up with smoke and everyone in the room gets a fat smile on their face.