Please, Listen to this Music.

I'm back! With some other stuff - music in this case. 

Pass this on. More people need to know about more, wonderful music, but only people who care. Give it to fellow music buffs, people who are interested in expanding their horizons.

This will hopefully have multiple parts.

My goal here is to tell people about great music that not enough people know about.

I refuse to categorize by genre because people, being people, will see one genre or another and say, "Oh, jazz? I don't like that." Or the same with any genre. I used to do that and I'm doing my best to break that habit. I will be organizing in no particular order.

A general layout will be:

   Artist/Album(s)

   Description

   Download link

So let's get started. But first, I've got a few more things to say...

1) The vast majority of these are both free and legal. Assume that an album or song is unless I say otherwise.

2) Not all of this is something you'll like. It's an enormous variety of genres, styles and artists, with a particular (and accidental) focus on hip-hop that I've come to love.

3) Please, pass this on. Leave me suggestions. I'd love to see this blossom.

4) The main focus will be less-noticed, or less "mainstream", artists, songs and albums. You won't be seeing anything you hear on the radio (any more) on here.

5) The majority of these are by some obscure artists that you've probably never heard of.

So! Here we go.

PROF

   Albums - I recommend them all, myself. Some take a bit of time for them to grow on you, but when they do they're fantastic.

   Prof is a local (Minneapolis) rapper - and a joker at that -  that a shamefully small amount of people know about. Sure, he can sell out shows, but they're at smaller venues and he's not exactly a household name. As far as I know, I'm possibly one of the only people at my school that actively listens to his stuff. It's fantastic - songs' topics vary from depression to booze to having a huge ego to about everything else. It's also very well-made music. The tunes still haven't bored me, and there's something to be said for that given how long I've been listening to them. Almost all of his albums are on his label's website for free digital downloads, and they're all great. He's still active - his last full-length album - 16 tracks in this case - was released in August.

(Yes, he's white. So what? He can still rap.)

Pick up his music at:

http://tinyurl.com/6hvavvy and http://tinyurl.com/ybnof8n.

(The latter is a collaboration with St. Paul Slim, another fantastic local rap artist.)

BOB OSTERTAG

   Albums - I can't say a ton on this, as I haven't gotten to listen to his older stuff as of yet, but "Motormouth" is fantastic.

   Bob Ostertag does music that I'm struggling to describe. He does a lot of synthesizer work - for example, all of "Motormouth" was done on a single synthesizer. His music is very stereo, with totally different things happening in each ear most of the time. It's electronic music that's quieter than most and very experimental. It's overall really cool stuff, and give it a listen if nothing else.

All seven of his albums have been released for free at:

http://tinyurl.com/3jk84gp

EMERALD PARK

  Albums - I recently picked up "For Tomorrow", which I recommend heartily.

  Emerald Park is an indie-rock group with a very crisp sound and production. Their music is very professional-sounding, with killer harmonies and catchy licks to boot. The album "For Tomorrow" covers a great span of ideas and sounds, from "Lights of Sunday"'s quieter singing and acoustic guitars to "Ume"'s more traditional rock beat and feeling - until the vocals and maracas come in. It's very high-quality music, and there is absolutely no reason for you to not pick this up right now.

They also released "Slow", a four-track album that takes a total U-turn from what "For Tomorrow" is like but manages to maintain its brilliance. These two albums often split fans on which album is better, but they're both fabulous.

Grab Emerald Park's "For Tomorrow" and "Slow", respectively, here:

http://tinyurl.com/3pccbo8 and http://tinyurl.com/3whwnc8

WAX

   Albums - Check out "Scrublife"  

   Another fantastic rapper, this man's got something unique going for him - his rhythms. He often extends words further than you think they should be and it works better than you'd think. He also has a fantastic voice and makes very intense tunes, which works very well for him.

He's got some particularly great songs on this album - "Red" is a great starter which shows you how his music works and is a fantastic song in its own right, "Two Wheels" is an interesting take on bicycle-riding with some fantastic rhymes in there, not to mention "Old Ways" and "Mary", both of which are harrowing songs that you just can't stop listening to.

Download "Scrublife":

http://tinyurl.com/4666xsq

WASARU

   Albums - "Prisoner of State", "Undefinable Scenes", "Fragments of Stories", and "Imperceptible Memories" are a great. In other words, I love all of it.

   Wasaru does strange stuff. It's very slow and minimal electronic music, so any beats or notes placed matter quite a bit. Many of the songs, especially on "Imperceptible Memories", my personal favorite, have strange vocal harmonies. Don't make the mistake of thinking the vocals have meaning, though - they're more instruments than transmitters of meaning. All four albums are varied just enough while maintaining a style throughout. This artist is definitely not for everyone, but I didn't say you'd like everything! Please, check it out.

Download "Prisoner of State": http://tinyurl.com/3r899bs

 Download "Undefinable Scenes": http://tinyurl.com/3fk4ymu

Download "Fragments of Stories": http://tinyurl.com/44fro8d

Download "Imperceptible Memories": http://tinyurl.com/3mn3aoa 

GIRL TALK

  Albums - "All Day", "Night Ripper", and "Feed the Animals" are particularly grand.

 Girl Talk has been going for quite a few years. He's a mashup artist, which means he combines songs already made - a lick here, a chorus there - to make one epic, long song. His stuff is a lot of hip-hop and rap combined with, often, '60s-'80s guitar licks and beats. Very few of his albums are bad, but they all take a bit of time to grow on you - but when they do, they're unbeatable.

Download Girl Talk's music under a pay-what-you-want model (Including $0.00) here:

http://tinyurl.com/3jh4ase

DUBMOOD

  Albums - "C'etait Mieux en RDA Vol. 2" is a good starter - it was released for free, unlike most of his music. This one's a happy exception, though.

  Dubmood is a french chiptune artist. Chiptunes, for the uninformed, are songs styled to sound like older-style video games, like the stereotypical "bleep bloops" of said games. He makes fantastic stuff, even if it is quite niche - not everyone will like it. I find it to be fantastic, as because of the limited access to different sounds, a chiptune composer has to be really, really good musically.

Download "C'etait Mieux en RDA Vol. 2" here:

http://tinyurl.com/3tlvw83

BI-POLAR BEAR

 Albums - "Today I Found Happy" is a great choice.

  Bi-Polar Bear, is, unlike what you might think, two people. They're a small hip-hop group with fascinating pieces - "NPFJ" is a particular highlight of theirs. They have intelligent lyrics and their beats are fantastically minimalistic - some of them, that is. The album starts of with "Fuck Her", a three-minute long bashing not unlike "Fuck You" by Cee Lo Green. It plays almost like a parody of hip-hop, with an excessively large amount of DJ scratches. It's fantastic, somehow, and sets the album off on the right foot. Check Bi-Polar Bear out, please. 

Snatch it up - all but one song is free, and the last one is roughly a dollar - here:

http://rollwiththebear.bandcamp.com/

Out for now.

Horrible and Great Popular Weapons of TF2 Part 1: Scout

It's been a while, really, but I've only been playing the game for three quarters of a year at most. Even at that, I can tell what a huge influence weapons have on gameplay. Having or not having a certain weapon can almost make or break gameplay in certain cases. Sure, Robin Walker and his gang of developers need some cash, but forcing it out of people to pay for weapons (I say this because certain ones elude me; I only recently got the Loch-N-Load from a drop) is just wrong. As oink will be saying/has said in his TF2 art post, the game used to be more dependent on shadowing.


I suppose I'll start off with the ridiculously horrible weapons, the ones that people use just because they see others doing it. They never even bother to check the buffs or penalties of using such a weapon, and more often than not, the weapon's penalties far outweighs the buffs.


Then I'll take a look at the buffs and give it a verdict.

Scout
Primary Weapons

Scattergun: Typical run-of-the-mill weapon. By far the best one, so it doesn't really need to be covered at all.


Force-A-Nature: Taking the Scout's Scattergun and reducing the bullets from six to two, but adding a larger kick to it when it hits enemies. It seems great, doesn't it?





...Yeah, okay, nice cheesy advertising there. Seriously, though, it's not that great. Sure, it has a greater knockback, but that just prevents a Scout from being up close to the target (which is how shotguns are supposed to be used in the first place). Debatably, the damage modifier is greater, but it still does 10% less damage per shot. However, unless you're a good shot or can get up close, missing can prove deadly with only two rounds of fire before reloading for a good amount of time. It's also good to mention that reloading while one bullet is still intact makes that bullet vanish for eternity.


On the plus side, this weapon is perfect for Scout jump maps on TF2. It allows Scout to be able to have a third jump while in the air. It's a great nuisance, especially from behind. Fast shooting and knockback can knock unsuspecting victims into hazards.


Verdict: It's a nicely balanced weapon, but besides TF2 jump maps, Scatter is the way to go.


Shortstop: Taking the Scattergun and reducing six bullets to four inside of a pistol fac simile (peppergun). Only difference is that it is loaded in the primary slot.

Oh, man, that looks sweet! So, wait, what's wrong with it? To start with, it replaces the Scattergun, remember, so that limits the Scout to having two pistols and a bat. The primary pistol shares the same ammo as the secondary, so that's also a loss. Reduced ammo and no more Scattergun. It just sounds stupid and it is. There's absolutely no reason to use this crap weapon, go use the already given secondary pistol. Oh, I forgot, the class bonus. That's for another time though.


The pistol functions horribly as a primary weapon and no matter what it is in conjuction with it still sucks, regardless of whatever its name is.


Verdict: Hunk of junk; waste of space; useless.


Soda Popper: Hey! Look! It's the Force-A-Nature! Only now it has a can of Crit-a-Cola underneath and it looks like some maniac kid ripped it apart, then sloppily put it back together. Six shots are replaced with two shots again.
What are the gains over Force-A-Nature? Two; no random critical hits, no knockback, no additional damage done. All it has is faster reload and if Scout runs enough to fill the "hype" bar he will perform mini-crits. Sounds pretty bad.


The benefits of this gun are too minimal to name, so the verdict is obvious.


Verdict: ...Why was this gun even made?

Secondary Weapons

Pistol: Already given to Scout by default, so it has to be good.


Lugermorph: There isn't a difference. Just a promotional item for Sam & Max, then later for Poker Night at the Inventory.


Bonk! Atomic Punch: Who doesn't love a drink full of caffeine and sugar? I know Scout does.

This is cool because it has team colours. Not only that, but it's not half bad. In place of pistol, Scout receives a short-term invincibility boost (what we modern kids now-a-days call a "drug trip") which is useful to get past sentries, disable fire hurting for a short time or to escape certain death. The only downfall is the two-three second cutscene required for Scout to be able to use it. If this is interrupted, the can is still used but Scout does not get any effect.


While immune to damage, Scout will still experience knockback. There is a cooldown feature on this weapon to limit use and Scout cannot carry out objectives while "under the influence".


Verdict: It's a hard choice to make, considering it's very situational, but a good Scout will never need to use it.


Bonk! Crit-a-Cola: It's like the Bonk! Atomic Punches only it is purple. It could be an amalgamation of the two to show how the world would benefit by teams BLU and RED working together, or it could be just another energy drink.

Under the effect of Crit-a-Cola, Scout deals and receives min-crits on anything that hits him or his enemies. It's a very risk idea to use this weapon as a Pyro could easily incinerate Scout very quickly with mini-critical hit fire.


Same negative effects with Atomic Punch due to the cutscene when drinking it.


Verdict: Even more situational and extremely risky. Mini-critical hits really aren't worth betting on when Scout is the squishiest character out there. Stick with pistol.


Mad Milk: Of the situational weapons, this absolutely has to be the best one.

The first thing about this weapon to mention is that it's a white version of Jaraté. If Jaraté is full of Sniper's piss, then Mad Milk could only possibly be filled by Scout's...eugh...


That aside, this weapon is brilliant. It can put out fire on Scout or a teammate, as well as indicate a Spy's presence. Unlike Jaraté's critical function, Mad Milk returns 60% of damage done to an enemy back to Scout in the form of health. This can be quite useful.


Verdict: Situational, but a legitimate choice to make based on how many Pyros are in play and if the Scout in question often takes too much damage.


Winger: Like the pistol, this is a good choice as a farther-ranged weapon.

The clip size is reduced from twelve to five and there is a fifteen percent damage boost. Not that big of a boost for such a huge clip reduction. That's all there is to this weapon.


Verdict: Same as pistol but requires more reloading. Stay away unless looking for set bonus.

Tertiary Weapons/Melee

Bat: Just a traditional aluminium bat.


Sandman: Fairly interesting weapon choice. Wooden bat, not aluminium.

It gives the Scout the ability to hit a baseball with M2 and damage or stun (if far enough away). The effect increases the longer the shot is. The baseball has a cooldown as well. Besides that, the bat decreases a Scout's health by fifteen, which really isn't good. Scout is squishy enough as it is and the Sandman only makes it easier to kill one.


Verdict: If that Scout is good enough, this might be okay. Stunning is valuable, but life is more important.


Holy Mackerel: Just a fish in newspaper that does the same damage is the bat. Only difference is that the fish gives off the death notice "FISHKILL!" Fish are also better than bats, this is obviously the better choice.


Candy Cane: Surprisingly useful for a Christmas-themed item.

Besides looking pretty, the candy cane drops a small health pack for Scout on any enemy kill, regardless of what was used to kill the enemy. Additionally, the candy cane decreases Scout's defense against explosions by 25%, which is not good if Demomen or Soldiers are around.


Verdict: Quite useful, really. Makes the healing powers of Mad Milk look a bit worse.


The Boston Basher: Well, Scout does come from Boston. Gotta represent.

This weapon is different than anything else so far. Scout can either hit an enemy and make them bleed for five seconds or miss, hit himself and bleed for five seconds. Sounds like a creepy BDSM tool to me. Anyway, it's insanely useful on jump maps as damage in mid-air allows Scout to almost glide when constantly regenerating. Not so great otherwise.


Verdict: Depends if the Scout is a masochist.


Sun-on-a-Stick: A promotional item for RIFT which isn't that good.

This weapon deals 25% less damage but 100% guarantees a critical hit if hitting a burning enemy. Not useful unless paired with a Pyro.


Verdict: Not really a practical weapon. Most Pyros can handle burning opponents themselves and 25% less damage really sucks.


Fan O'War: Again, a promotional item from Total War: SHOGUN 2 that sucks.

This looks pretty snazzy and in reality it isn't even worth using. 90% of damage decrease over the regular bat for a fifteen second effect that every subsequent hit on that person will be mini-critical hits. Useful mostly on Medieval Degroot Keep maps.


Verdict: Keep it away unless it's on the Medieval map.


Three Rune Blade: Lazy Robin Walker is lazy. Identical stats to Boston Basher.


Saxxy: Distributed to the most popular replays in TF2. Turns target into a gold statue on their death and has no other effect.


Atomizer: A cool new aluminium bat to try out.

More team colours! Woo! Also, this bat is useful on jump maps in that in can help Scout perform a third jump at the cost of ten health. However, bat speed is dropped by 30% and damage dealt is dropped by 20% so it's not a great choice outside jump maps.


Verdict: Keep it to the jump maps.

Closing and Recommendations

Ultimately, it's up to you what goes in your loadout, but based on this article, I would recommend:


Primary Slot: Scattergun 

Secondary Slot: Pistol/Mad Milk
Tertiary/Melee Slot: Candy Cane I hope you enjoyed this review and I hope to do more in the future!

So, It's Been Four Months...

...and I've got some things I'd like for you to look at.


But first, what have I been up to? What have I been doing?


Well, in July I was a Junior Counselor at a YMCA day camp for four weeks. Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Anywhere from three-to-eleven-year-olds.
Children are exhausting things, you know that?


This month I haven't had a lot going on. On Saturday I'm going up to Grand Marais for the week and I'm extremely excited for that.
I've been doing Cross-Country at my high school again. Early morning practices are tiring but I'm loving it so far.


What have I been watching? What have I been listening to?


I saw Inception for the first time a few weeks ago. It blew my mind and kind of creeped me out. My mind re-blew when I learned that the opera song that plays so the dreamers know to leave is the only song in the soundtrack - the really slow, boomy, dramatic music is just the previously mentioned song slowed down by about four times.
What, don't believe me?

I've also been listening to a lot of:

Right Said Fred - Dance/Pop.

The Prodigy - Electronic.

Dubmood - Chiptunes.

Dave Brubeck - Jazz.

Boards of Canada - Electronic. Look at Pete Standing Alone. I just found it today!

Recession Music - Hip-hop. It's a free album that's actually decent rap. "Rocketman" is a particular favorite of mine. I love how he speaks in his tunes.

Random things that catch my eye

I've also got some Youtube videos I think you should watch.

First, some fantastic Team Fortress 2 clips from consistently great editors:

bang bang... [by p1nkytf2]

Coming Home [By siN]

SPY FACE [By siN]

And, of course, just some darn good gameplays/low-edited frag videos:

Youtube channel - Alecandstuff

Point people there if anyone tells you that the Pyro is a horrible class and that you simply can't go above noobish with it.

And here's my channel -

Shameless self-promotion, ahoy!

What have I been playing? What silly games have I been keeping myself busy with nowadays?

Monopoly. Quoridor.

Frozen Synapse.

(I'm going to try to get a few screenshots throughout a game and try to explain what I'm thinking, so expect me to elaborate on this later.)

It's a mind-blowing squad-based, turn-based top-down shooter in which, since people die extremely quickly, thinking is far more important than firepower. It's gotten rave reviews and fully deserves them all. It's made by mode7 games, and you can pick it up here (The official website) or here (Though Steam). Their official website can be found here. Keep in mind that you can only buy two-packs, but that's all for the better - the multiplayer is wonderful and this guarantees you a partner - or nemesis. 

 Green's in trouble unless they can get behind cover and fast.

                                                   Out for PC and Mac. 
Team Fortress 2.

I love the game, which is why it infuriates me so often - I don't like where it's going and am a stron believer in change though complaining construcive critisism. Expect rants on this fantastic, tooth-grinding game within the next few weeks.

Damn right he's that intimidating.

Out for PC and Mac.

From Dust.

Or at least I've been trying to. Every time I try to launch it I get this extremely vague message:
"From_Dust.exe has encountered an error and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvienence."
I'm working on fixing it and may need to contact support. I'd love to play the game and I really want to enjoy it - but enjoying it involves playing it and that's not happening.

And its DRM makes me cry. Read about the port and all its failures here, since I can't go into detail quite yet.

A PC gamer's reaction to the game's port.

Out for PC.

Proun.

Where am I supposed to start with this? It's an abstract racing game that does a fantastic job of instilling a sense of speed. Its soundtrack is phenomenal. It has single-player and multiplayer. It has gorgeous art (in the form of the tracks). You can make your own maps, given you have the tools for it. You can install custom tracks and mods (making up for its meager offerings of four or five tracks.) 

Its slowest speed is "Fast" and its fastest is "Speed of Light".

It's free. Or not. It's out now, and you can pay what you want.

Since an image wouldn't do it justice, here's the trailer:

Go download it now.

Out for PC.

And here's the website.

Expect updates on all previously mentioned items within the next few weeks. I'm going to Grand Marais for a few days tomorrow, though. I'll be back on the 25th of August and I'll do my best to hit the keys while I'm there, but I'm not making any promises.

Out.

So, look what I found.

All it needs is a bloody save/share function.


http://seawitchery.tumblr.com/post/4070384205/i-started-out-clicking-strategically-and-by-the

Some other Updates

Hello! It's, uh, me again. First, to get these out of the way:

http://www.skop.com/brucelee/

A Bruce Lee song maker that's just as awesome as it sounds.

http://www.tomscott.com/weather/starwars/

You plug in a location and it grabs its weather. Take that, compare it to a Star Wars planet... Boom!

Also, Remember FIRST again? So we had the North Star regional last weekendish and won the finals. Underdogs, GO! Our team was totally awesome. Mad props to the Robettes in particular.

An excerpt from an e-mail they sent us:

    "Next, to our alliance members (3278, 2549) - You guys were awesome out there. After talking with our drive team, I really want to make sure you guys know what sort of affect you had on us. The amount of respect and team work both of you offered really meant a lot, and it's not something we always get. At some past events (I'm not going to list years/events), the drive team has come back (both from quals and elims) to tell us that their alliance members were condescending and refusing to listen to anything our team had to say - you guys were different. For once, the drive team truly felt like equals on the alliance, not like "that girls team"."

We're 2549, by the way.

Out.

A Bit of a Robotics Update, and Some Other Loose Ends

So! I'm back, and stuff.

Remember FIRST? Well, our first competition is in a week and a half, and I'm super-duper excited. Not much else as happened recently, though.

Except for track! I'm running with my team (110 people... wow!) this Spring, and it's my first season, much like how last Fall was my first Cross-Country Running season. I'm probably going to be running Mid-Distance (One mile), although my coach may say otherwise, telling me to do Long (Two miles) and I won't have much say in the matter.

Oh, and check out Hyperbole and a Half if you haven't already. The posts are about as frequent as mine (...hooray?) but they're utterly hilarious, with MSPaint-y images to match. I've been getting many chuckles through that recently.

Oh, and if you're in to Team Fortress 2 and have been living under a rock, congratulations! I presume you've crawled out; start your adventure by heading over to Ubercharged. It's a community blog with tons of Team Fortress 2, with all sorts of rants, guides, rants, tips, rants, and random videos. (Toast!)

Out.

It's Like Old Friends Meeting, but we've Probably Never met in Real Life

So.
Uh, hi.
I haven't been posting much recently, have I?
Well! Here we go. 
What's been keeping me so horribly busy recently, you ask? Well...


1) Camp Kici Yapi 
It's a YMCA camp that I help JC (Junior Counselor) in. It's strictly a volunteer business, at least at this level. That went throughout weekdays in August of 2011. I mainly dealt with kids, aged anywhere from 4-8 years old. I find that the 7-8 year-olds are the worst - they're old enough to get that you have authority, but young enough to not understand the concept that sometimes it's a great idea to listen to orde- I mean requests. 
        Lots of fun; I basically help run a day camp. Looks great on a college application as well, I imagine. I plan on doing my second year of that this summer. Interview on March 1st - wish me luck!


2) High School
That pesky, pesky thing. Of course, I couldn't just run the 8:30 to 3:00 hours like everyone else. I did Cross-Country running (Fall) and hope to do Track this spring. I also did Seussical (A musical inspired in large part by Dr. Seuss's works) and robotics, but more on that later. 


3) Driver's Ed
Why is everyone so impressed that I have my permit now? I finished Behind-the-Wheel today and I'm now working on getting ready for the road test.


4) FIRST Robotics
So FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is this big but sinfully unknown and wonderful organization. It does a lot of stuff with - all together now! - Science and technology. Its goal is basically to train a future generation of engineers. They, essentially, "Train students to tackle problems that haven't formed yet with technology that hasn't been invented yet in ways that haven't been thought of yet." 
Pretty lofty stuff, I know.
So! FIRST, every year, does a robotics competition. This is a big deal; while most people may think of this as being a largely-in-the-United-States sort of a thing, we've got teams all over. Israel and Brazil, in addition to the United States, are various examples. Every year, FIRST hosts a game for teams to build robots to compete in. They're remote-controlled and wireless; and much larger than you'd think. 
I'd love to explain this year's game to you, but I'll let a video do the talking...

So we built a robot. I haven't got any pictures of it on hand, but it uses a single-joint arm and a three-prong grip similar to a claw. I think it's going to do well, even if I haven't any idea how the mini-bot's doing. We shipped two days ago (2/22/11) and our first competition (Minnesota North Star Regional) is in early March. I'm extremely excited for all this.

Here's our not very fleshed-out site.

So that's what's been keeping me.

What am I doing right now? 

1] Well, I'm in love with Wired Magazine, for one. Their last two issues have been delightfully off-putting in their topics (The flesh/organ markets, Apple factories in China and the related suicides, etc.)

Some articles to check out:

A Man Walked Into a Bank with a Bomb Locked Around His Neck

       It's a tale about this man that was tricked - or forced, take your pick - into robbing a bank. But it gets much deeper than that. This article is pretty crime-science heavy.

The Cover of this Month's Issue

       I'd love to show you the article about the Apple factories in China and the situation surrounding it, but they haven't uploaded this month's issue on to their website yet. Get back to you on that one.

I do, however, have one other link:

Inside the Business of Selling Human Body Parts

       It's slightly twisted, but I love this article. It covers all you need to know if you want to buy, say, some skin. (I hope a situation like that doesn't come up, however!)

2] Music and Related Topics

Why Music Matters - Jack Stamp

A very clever and smart speaking on the place of music in schools. It's pretty funny to boot.

The New Pornographers

They're simply an amazing band, and I don't get why I didn't pick anything by them up earlier.

Canadian, too!

3] Cleverbot

This is pretty old, but I just now got into it. I know how it works, as I know someone who has a friend that helped made it. 

Dont' know what it is? It's a conversation website in which you're talking with an AI, and you have a fairly normal conversation.

[SPOILERS AHEAD, SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH UNLESS YOU DON'T MIND SPOILERS]

Okay, so here's how it really works.

You get hooked up with a random person that is also using Cleverbot. You're supposed to make your speech formal and not give it away, and the other person does the same. If your conversation stops for too long, you get hooked up to a different person. This can result in some hilarious conversations:

[END SPOILERS]

Cleverbot: You should always remember that people love to hear the sound of their own names.
User: Mine's difficult to remember.
Cleverbot: How do you define Artificial Intelligence?
User: Intellilgence that's artificial.
Cleverbot: I mean self sufficient artificial intelligence.
User: What do you mean by that?
Cleverbot: All time is fleeting.
User: Of course!
Cleverbot: I asked you who's the horde king.
User: I AM.
Cleverbot: You are what?
User: THE HORDE KING.
Cleverbot: Oh, alliance.
User: I will eat your nose.
Cleverbot: You are already desiring me. You can't help it.
User: You're too much of a ROBOT for me to desire you.
Cleverbot: No greater truth.
User: The ships hung in the sky much in the way bricks don't.
Cleverbot: Oh, the pirates, yes they rob us!
User: No, your cat does.
Cleverbot: I don't have a cat.
User: WELL, GET ONE.
Cleverbot: Do you like to sing?
User: Yes.
Cleverbot: Will you sing for me now?
User: I'm sorry, I don't think I can do that.

Aaaand...

Cleverbot: Its something you wear.
User: Like my watch?
Cleverbot: Watch what?
User: Watch the watch, watch-wearing watching watchman.
Cleverbot: I want to, but I don't have time.

Aaaand...

Cleverbot: ): Insomnia?
User: Yes.
Cleverbot: I hear going to support groups where others have worse problems can help.
User: Such as?
Cleverbot: One Love - Bob Marley, Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles. There are others as well.
User: Those are songs, not support groups.
Cleverbot: I know they are songs, I said they were songs.
User: You're an insomniac, aren't you?
Cleverbot: Yes. Humans are animals.

Aaaand...

User: My sister petrified me.
Cleverbot: You should stab her in the face.

Last one.

User: Aer you clinically insane?

Cleverbot: I noticed that.

User: So, tell me all your problems. Be detailed.

Cleverbot: I don't believe in god.

User: God? The band?

Cleverbot: Yes

[Note: God isn't a band. I just did that to see how people reacted. Or, maybe God is a band. I haven't checked, after all!]

So yeah. 

What have you been up to?

That's what I've been doing.