Sweedish chefs, suede futons. Thanks for the ride, IKEA

First time visiting IKEA ... it's like a maze. I half expected ABBA to pop out of one of the demos and ask me to take a chance on some sleekly designed chair, or couch. This is the kind of place that could induce one hell of a panic attack in a person, only to drive you forward, deeper into the labrynth and make you strain every muscle in your body lifting heavy objects from the self-serve furniture warehouse. Because that's what happened to me. Minus the panic attack.

I did get a pretty sweet bed and dresser in the process. Hopefully all of the pieces are there and nothings broken. More on that in a few days when I get around to actually putting this all together.

For my next trick ...

I stumbled upon what could be the most amazing site on the internet a few minutes ago:

http://www.themagicclassifieds.com/

Go ahead, click the link. It's worth it.

That's right, magic classified ads. Need a new apprentice? Got 'em. Did your rabbit scamper away causing awkward silence at your last birthday party booking? We can get you a gently used rodent for less. Harry Potter feeling lonely on another holiday break from Hogwarts? Check out our enchanting missed connections. Well ... there are no missed connections on that page, but I'm guessing a missed connection for a magical type would be more like putting a pretty lady in the box and having her actually disappear, not just fake disappear:

m4w

Magic show last night. I was performing and put you in a box. Was going to fake-saw you in half, but you were already gone. Would love to charm you by pulling many scarves from my left sleeve. Let's meet up.

Anyway ... imagine my disappointment when I discovered that there is nothing on this page for sale. And not 'nothing' in a way that there's nothing cool. There is quite literally nothing there. The one link to a book that is supposedly for sale doesn't even work.

I was pretty dejected until a friend pointed out that the operator of this magic website had, in a fantastic feat of sorcery, probably just made it all disappear.

Impending doom: record labels and music vendors aren't on your side

I have been using Lala.com for almost a year now. Its clean interface and offering of millions of songs for streaming and purchasing make it, to me, the only music site or application worth using. No iTunes for me.

Well, not any more. According to TechCrunch, Apple has acquired Lala.com. So, what does this mean? Well, since Lala's *stream anything once for free* model doesn't really jive with iTunes much more pitiful 30 second clip method of letting you preview a song, I'm sure that'll be gone. Albums for $7.49? See ya later ... Buying online-only versions of songs that you kind of like, but aren't ready to commit to? No way.

I really hope Apple takes a lesson from the guys at Lala and keeps some of this functionality in tact. In my opinion, forward-thinking ideas for how music is disseminated are the only thing that will turn the industry around. We've already seen studies that show that illegal downloaders are more interested and more active purchasers than those who play by the rules. This should tell the labels something ... but has it?

Voicing my opinions on the music industry as a whole is something for another day, but I can assure you, the loss of a service like Lala.com is not a good sign of the times.