coxy's blog

I can smell something weird; it could be the butter in my beard.

BAM!

I consulted the 8-Ball yesterday; it told me to wait.

What is this?! A fucking shambles, that's what! Five characters minimum on Facebook Usernames? Well there's http://www.facebook.com/coxy down the pan... I had to settle for http://www.facebook.com/mattcoxonline

Outrage! FU Facebook!

A while ago I posted about thesixtyone and didn't really go into much detail about the site - but that's because I hadn't been using it much. More recently, I've become addicted to the site. Forget Spotify, move over Last.fm Radio, I'm playing the game.

thesixtyone turns listening to music into a game; the more you listen to and 'heart' music, the more reputation you gain. The more rep you gain, the more you level up. The more you level up, the more you can do with the site and the better you look. You see how it's addictive?

When you first arrive at thesixtyone, I can't say it's obvious how you navigate around the site; but if you stick to it, you'll soon get used to it and find that you're zooming around the site to find the music you want to play and the music you need to listen to.

I say 'need' because thesixtyone isn't about merely listening to music that you want to hear - there's the game element - and if you're playing the game, listening isn't the fastest way to increase your level; you can complete quests - and this is where the site becomes a whole lot of fun.

This Just In
Listen to seven songs on the first pages of the recently posted section of the home page.
Award: 10 reputation, 2 hearts

'This Just In' is one example of a daily quest and is a way of earning frequent rep and hearts. There are Main Quests too which are sometimes a little more complex, but score larger rewards. Discovering a song before fellow users will gain you rep on a daily basis too and you'll here audio confirmation that you're the first to discover that track (which is a really neat feature).

N' Sync
Get four listeners who you've invited to listen to the same artist at the same time.
Award: 50 reputation, 5 hearts

A massive advantage to thesixtyone is that by playing the game you're allowing the site to take you on a journey of undiscovered music - there are many 'unsigned acts' on the site and you'll find yourself listening to artists and genres that you wouldn't usually listen to.

I think the best way to get into thesixtyone and to fully understand what I'm babbling on about, is to check it out for yourself. The site integrates well with Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm - so there's no excuses not to get social about it.

Sign up for free - remember that you were referred by coxy - and get playing.

Tomorrow, 4th June 2009, people across the United Kingdom can vote to elect 72 members of the European Parliament via the Local Elections polling that will take place between the hours of 7am and 10pm. Discussing politics and elections can go either way; usually resulting in an interesting and intelligent discussion, or just ignored. This post will probably go the latter, though I'd rather it didn't - so I'm keeping it brief.

Basically, if you have the ability to, get out to your local polling station and vote. If you're already registered to vote, you should have received a polling card through your door directing you to your nearest polling station. If you haven't, you won't be able to vote in this election, but can register for future elections by visiting aboutmyvote.co.uk

If you've never voted before - I'd encourage you to do it. People over the years have died fighting for the right to vote regardless of their gender, age or social class and to dismiss your opportunity to vote would be a wasted vote. In the UK, less than 100 years ago, people were killed during their struggles to get the vote for women. In South Africa, not until the end of apartheid in 1994 were black people able to vote for the first time.

For those that don't know what they're voting for, the European Elections give the Parliament Members a say on issues which will effect all countries in the EU, namely; animal rights, consumer rights, the environment, international trade, regional economic development and workers' rights. You choose the Parliament Members. And, if you're not sure who to vote for, the BBC have a Party-by-Party Guide and you can always refer to the party's individual website for a more detailed run-down of that party's policies, or take a look at the leaflets that you're more than likely to have received through your door.

So basically, get down to your local polling station and put a cross in one of the boxes. Preferably not the British National Party box - but it's your choice - and that's the point of all this... you have the opportunity to make a choice. Take it.