Taking it to the Max
Website takes some heavy swings at web celeb Tucker Max
Anthony Augustine


Tucker Max is a Douchebag—www.tuckermaxdoucebag.blogspot.com — A drunken bet with some friends that he could use his website to hook up with girls has turned former Duke student Tucker Max from a bored aspiring lawyer to one of the leading celebrities on the web. Since launching a basic dating application form, Max has parlayed the success of the site and his drunken tales of debauchery into a full-time writing job, a growing new media company, a New York Times bestseller and even a test pilot for the Comedy Network, but not everyone thinks Max’s brand of ‘fratire’ is especially funny. While Max has had his fair share of detractors on his own message board, this blog attempts to systematically pull apart the mystic of the permanent partier. Some of the points on this site seem to ring true, but I would rather sit back and get ‘Tucker Max drunk’ than worry if his stories are legit or not.

100 Mile Manitoba Diet—100milemanitoba.blogspot.com — If you spend any time watching Food TV, you’ll see that most top chefs advocate using local or organic ingredients to ensure the highest quality. Considering the wealth of local food producers in Manitoba, it isn’t much of a stretch to start thinking about where your food comes from. Is it better to buy something locally in season or is it better to have it trucked in from Florida? Should you change your eating habits depending on what season it is? What effects do your food choices have on the environment and your local economy? The goal of the 100 Mile Manitoba Diet is to get people to answer these tough questions and start thinking about food in a different way. With more and more North American families relying on heavily processed meals and fast food, this is an interesting experiment in how eating locally can become a part of your everyday lifestyle. If you think this is something you can handle, contact the organizers for more information on their upcoming local diet project.

Swervedriver Downloads— www.swervedriver.com/downloads.asp — Along with groups such as Ride and My Bloody Valentine, Oxford’s Swervedriver was part of the shoegazer movement in the ’90s. Influencing bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins, M83, Sianspheric and Mico, Swervedriver was never elevated above cult band status in North America, but their impact on modern music is undeniable. Gathering live cuts from all four albums, this fan-created, band-approved collection of tracks varies in sound quality from song to song but is still a great addition to your digital music collection. Now if only more bands would be as accommodating as Swervedriver and not worry about losing sales to downloads...

Anthony Augustine is a freelance music, technology and pop culture writer. He can be heard every Tuesday morning at 9:00am on Hot 103 discussing the web. Got a site you think he should see? E-mail him at anthony.alloneword@gmail.com.