Track of the Week: Cooler Than Me by Mike Posner

This week’s track is Cooler Than Me by Mike Posner, off of the A Matter of Time mixtape. Somewhat unusual for a TOTW, I first heard this song off the radio, then found it again when it showed up on the Hype Machine’s popular charts.

It kicks off with an old school overdub sound over an electric guitar, but less than a minute a the modern electropop sound kicks in that carries it through the rest of the track. While the production is catchy on it’s own, it’s fairly minimal and Mike Posner’s scratchy voice and the fun / interesting / amusing lyrics give you something to sing along to. Espically amusing is the lines he borrows from Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain, which is quite apt given the overall story of the song.

You got designer shades
just to hide your face and
you wear them around like
you’re cooler than me.

151 Words

Short Trip to Asia, Starting in Beijing

I’m in Beijing at the moment, typing away on my laptop tethered via my Blackberry to the CHN-CUGSM 3G network. Technology is something, isn’t it?

We got in to Beijing last night for two customer meetings we have today, then we’re off to Korea this evening for a workshop with another customer of ours on Thursday. Beijing is an exceptionally short trip as we kind of tacked it on in front of our meetings in Korea. Since we got in last night we did a quick run through of Tian’anmen Square and then had a fantastic dinner of northern food (including some great knife cut noodles and some amazing jao zi).

I miss China a bunch. The sights, sounds, people and everything about it makes me think back to the times I lived in Shanghai. What I don’t miss is the pollution. I’ve only been to Beijing once before and I don’t recall it being this hazy and, well, gross.

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