Housekeeping geekery: I have, I think, dismantled the instantRSS feed. Or at least I've taken the code out. Blogger have now improved the atom feed so that I can restrict it to a partial summary and atom has become standard enough to be useful. I've emailed LJ asking them to change the syndication but that can take a week.

Prompted by a newsforge article spotted on del.icio.us (the online public bookmark system) which talked about how to tie together del.icio.us, flickr and bloglines, I reactivated my bloglines account and intergrated things. My blogroll may vanish entirely since even LJ has working feeds now (although the atom feed seems slightly better than the RSS).

My worst new online hobby is mp3blog browsing. I'm not great at seeking out new music all on my own. I need people like A to say "you'll like these!", or DJs on Radio 2 who don't follow a industry-dictated playlist, or the handy musicplasma site which maps artists by similarity in a "like cheese? like peas? you'll love cheesey peas!" way. Mp3 blogs feed the desire for new music with the handy advice element. The principle is that the tracks are only up for a few days so if you miss one, tough. And there are a couple of albums I may now buy having heard sample tracks via the blogs. So far this week I've got:

• Oh Baby It Ain't No Lie by Elizabeth Cotton (via Honey, Where You Been So Long?)
• I Wish I Had an Evil Twin by the Magnetic Fields (rather Neil Hannon-esque - via Scenesters)
• Good by Pizzicato 5 (a slice of J-pop which sounds like something from a kitschy 1960s telefantasy show, also via Scenesters)
• a cover of She's Leaving Home by Syreeta (damn strange, like someone got carried away with vocorders and the wahwah peddle, via The Number 1 songs in Heaven)
• What's the Matter Baby by Timi Yuro and Stoney Love by Laura Nyro (fabulously rough cut Motown, via The Number 1 songs in Heaven again)
• a cover of Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime by Beck (from the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind soundtrack, via The Suburbs Are Killing Us)
• The delightful Don't Let Him Waste Your Time by Nancy Sinatra (written by Jarvis Cocker, got via Spoilt Victorian Child)

Best of all though I got Summer Wine by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood. I first heard this on Jonathan Ross a couple of months back (when he had the lady in question in as a guest) and I was stunned by the smoky sensuality of it. I've clearly been making too many playlists with Tarantino-esque music as I'm having a passing fad for this sort of music. Having now got a copy (but I can't find where from - argh!), I'm convinced I need to buy Nancy's new album.