You could let your conscience be your guide, but that doesn't sound like very much fun at all. Plus LA Weekly's new and improved Smartphone app is going to do a much better job, especially since it's just been technologically bedazzled and is now ready for your downloading and upgrading pleasure.

Wherever you are and whatever you're into, you'll find something within the app that you can use right now. With just a few thumb swipes, you can:

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piermario/Flickr

The march of progress continues apace here at LA Weekly, meaning we've got a brand new commenting system in place. What does it mean for our readers?

Real Time Conversations

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Talk to Your Social Network

When conversation is happening about an article on Facebook or Twitter, you can now see that conversation within the commenting thread. You can also tag and import your friends from Twitter and Facebook within the comment stream yourself.

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To get started with our new commenting section, just click "Sign in" in the new comments section. You can sign up with Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Google or email.

Remember about a decade ago when every rapper had to have his own clothing line? And then remember about four years ago when every rapper had to have his own social networking site? Surprisingly, it turns out that artists from all across the musical spectrum have been impersonating Mark Zuckerberg for years, to varying degrees of success. Here are the five most bizarre examples.

Prince
NPG Music Club
Date launched: January 14, 2001
Before declaring his disdain for music on the internet, Prince was among the first to use the medium to bring himself directly to listeners, sending exclusive music and videos to fans for the low price of $7.77 a month. In July of 2006, however, the site mysteriously shut down. It's unclear why; some speculate it had to do with a trademark dispute with science textbook manufacturers Nature Publishing Group (a different NPG), but Prince's lawyer said that was not the case.

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Rebecca Haithcoat

They still make these?!?

"I grew up collecting and listening to cassette tapes and records," said Phil Shaheen, drummer for Los Angeles indie band Tijuana Panthers. "I like the fact that cassettes are in again and that cool little labels are putting them out." The band released its album, Max Baker, as a limited-edition tape through Kill/Hurt, a Hollywood cassette-only label.

It's true, cassettes seem a little ridiculous at first. They're bulky, you have to flip them in the middle of an album, and cassette players aren't widely available. But cassettes provide benefits digital media can't, and they're back.

At 70 cents a tape, an artist can get small batches of music in the public's hands for less money than a CD or vinyl record. Michael McKinney, president of M2 Communications, a Pasadena duplication company, puts out between 6,000 and 10,000 tapes each month. Orders have picked up, mostly due to indie bands.

Several record producers in L.A. provide cassette releases. Chris Jahnle and his girlfriend Kat Bouza, founders of Kill/Hurt, started the company dubbing small batches of noise-rock cassettes with a giant grey duplicator they snagged for $200 from eBay. Cassettes naturally have hiss, treble, and distortion, qualities that go along with the mood of garage, punk and other noisy genres, said Bouza.

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Maker Studios

In 1981, MTV pushed music videos to the forefront of pop culture. In 1999, Napster made mp3s more popular than porn. Now, in 2012, L.A.-based Maker Studios is revolutionizing YouTube.

Created by viral video sensation Danny Zappin, Lisa Donovan and her brother Ben, the crew was frustrated with the Hollywood system. By embracing YouTube's unfiltered worldwide access, they now operate over 200 channels, producing hundreds of original videos a month for 32 million subscribers. You might know them from Tyler, the Creator's "She" video, as well as their "Epic Rap Battles of History" series, which pits guys dressed in costumes of folks like Einstein and Stephen Hawking against each other. It's quite clever.

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