Monday, October 31, 2011

John Carpenter Tribute

Did this one last year.  Seems appropriate for All Hallow's Eve.  Enjoy.  Keep things spooky.  Too bad John Carpenter lost his mojo.  Great idea for a movie for him to get it back though, oh, wait, that's Austin Powers 2.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Nothin'...

Got nuthin' done today except repost my video 11teen times because something went wrong here or there.  Got the angels back where they belong (they dance nicely about the headphones now, as angels are aught to).  Watching Chad Vader Season 3 that I guess I missed somehow, then it's night night WITH THE UNDEAD!  BWAHAHAHAHA!

100 Posts!

Sorry guys, had to take down Leave That Thing Alone that I posted on YouTube earlier yesterday.  For some reason my choir of angels got lost.  I found them and shoved them back in for your enjoyment and reposted it.  NOW with CHOIR!  ;D  Laaaaa!  Oink.

http://www.mikecronis.com/our_music.html

New England dumped with snow!

My birthplace of New England (the region of the upper northeast of America, which includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and arguably Florida if you use the i before e rule and some wishful thinking) was dumped upon by an Old Testament God yesterday by way of snow.  They got about 2 feet, which is pretty good a dumping, though nothing compared to the legendary Blizzard of '78 where we got well over 5 feet.  When you're a kid, that's pretty freakin' awesome.  Still, 2.3 million folks are without power up there, which means they're using generators (if they got 'em) to read my blog.  I can see it now, hundreds huddled at town centers, trying to keep warm and power a laptop so everyone can read my blog.  I admire the cut of their jib.  Honestly, I blame O'Bama the Black Irishman for this.  I'm sure he'll give a speech about kittens or taking a point of the percentage interest rate off student loans for 2030 or something during this crisis, avoiding the issue at-hand.  I like how he doesn't dare mention or take a step into Wall Street and address the protesters whatsoever.  Probably a bed-wetter, sucking his thumb hoping the bad people will go away, and the snow.

I'd like to instead grade children on some artwork.  Since I don't have any, I can be unbiased.  I often see parents gushing over a kid's drawings when it's obvious they are favoring their kid's work over Rembrandt van Rijn or Claude Monet.   With the following segment, I can be fair and impartial and give a much-needed critical eye on the subject matter, taking into account their 5 or 6 years of drawing skill.


Let's begin, shall we?
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Entry Number 1:





Here we have a Halloween entry for the season.  What sort of shit is this?  The child is presenting "Mom" with a quartet of otherworldly deformed demons contracted from her sick, twisted mind.  It's obvious "Mom" was doing drugs when she was pregnant causing brain damage to the child who now seeks revenge ala Electra complex.  Here, we see a clouded world, a distant mist.  No sky, no earth, just a state of limbo or purgatory where a badly bondage soul on the right sadly looks on, wrapped so quickly it's apparent its right arm was desperately reaching up through the wrapping to the neck and got stuck there.  Also we see a bicolored Navi from Avatar with a blue-strawed chapeau and a see-through whore-skirt, its limbs afflicted with gangrene, it doesn't have long to live, and it's thankful for it as it's being accosted by a shit-harpy caught in-the-act of defecating on her.  On the bottom is a quadriplegic spectre with soul-less, lifeless eyes.  It's given up hope long ago, caught forever in a vacant gaze, mouth agape and empty of words.  He thought the afterlife would grant him limbs but oh was he mistaken.  He held on to that hope in the land of the living for so long until his Dia de Muertos.  So wrong.  So.. so wrong.  Now he must endure eternity limbless, and the life and hope has faded from his eyes.  Cursing God, the ultimate sin, he's trapped in this empty, empty void of purgatory with the others.  Way to go kid.  Grade: F

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Entry Number 2:



Ah, here we have the classic brainwashed George Orwellian society shoved in-the-face by idiotic schoolteachers thinking Obama was a good idea.  Pink-o communism fails, teachers.  When will you realize the only financial gain you get is when a Republican gets in office?  I know the Democrats play on that they're for schools, but look at all the funding cut during the Carter, Clinton, and Obama administrations.  Maybe you'll learn before you're dead.  Notice how parents have to pay for school supplies to stock your cabinet this year?  Look who's president.  Think about it.
Here, we see that everyone is loved.  Everyone is equal.  This is a fine rendition of a lie.  This is Armageddon in the form of the book Animal Farm for those of you who know how to read.  There's a cartoon of it for the less intelligent if you're willing to give it a go.  If not, well, you voted Obama and you won.  Enjoy that, suckers.  The Communism Propaganda here is that everyone is fair and everyone is loved, but the evil seeps through the cracks.  Molly, the center child is obviously the leader.  Tabitha is to the far left and is being attacked by deformed demons while Molly throws a rock at her.  She's been banished from the realm because she doesn't believe in Communistic dictatorship of Molly who stands above everyone else on a pedestal like Hillary Clinton.  Tabitha is also different than everyone else as she has four legs and can fly.  These traits are better than everyone else so she's banished.  A red-clad child with broken feet is obviously the worker class.  She represents Occupy Wall Street.  She's glad those with better abilities than her is cast-out of Eden so everyone can be equal, and poor.  Karen stands on the right with her death-turret and drug-laced poppies.  She's representing the military.  She's allowed her escapist drugs and glad she didn't have to fight this battle.  She's ineffectual as she's been in for 19 years and just wants to get her retirement and doesn't want to act.  Karen's been through so much, including that advancement in rank from Molly that cost her her self-esteem so many years ago.  Molly remembers.  Molly is gonna make sure she gets sloppy seconds before Karen retires.  That is if she gives her retirement pay.  May induce stop-loss and make her stay in, just a little longer.  The death-turret is broken anyway, and will likely explode when in-use, killing everyone.  Grade: F

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Entry Number 3:



It's pretty obvious the text was added later, so I'll ignore it.  Here we see Miss Sierra Paola being forced to believe that anorexia is preferred.  Some of her organs removed as well as her lower ribcage was somewhat popular at the time ala Vampira of the mid 1950s to get that slimming waist, she became popular with the Mafia.  Her legs broken and gangrened, she laments and considers her past life as she stands at the bottom of the ocean.  You see, the Mafia liked her looks because she starved herself as Society dictated.  Got in with a nice Italian guy, Lenny.  Lenny got sick of her because she gabbed on the phone too much. Way too much.  Just won't shut the frack up. One night, supper wasn't ready again for the third time.  She'd been on the phone with Gina, talking about leggings.  Lenny got fed up and him and his buds gang-banged her and threw her into the ocean after breaking her legs and ripping her arms off and stuffing them in her ears.  That'll teach her.  At 300 Atmospheres, she doesn't have long to go in the depth of the Abysmal Zone of the Pacific.  A lantern-fish looks on, considering if the meal is worth all the bones an no meat.  Grade: F

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Entry Number 4:



A butterfly you think?  Think again.  This metamorphosized caterpillar is trapped in a bobbed-wire cage with no food.  He smiles in denial, gone insane.  He just shitted a green peanut, his only source of food. Either that or the jailer has decided that this is what butterflies eat.  Butterflies eat nectar from flowers so the leaf is an ironic joke.  No nectar there.  I bet it's from a rose bush, just to add insult to injury.  His wings are fading due to lack of use lest he rip them on the razor wire.  He tried to chew the linkage, but now his mouth bleeds.  He stares, vacantly, hoping for someone to end his life.  Death will not come swift enough, and he knows it.  Little Betty thought it'd be cute to catch the butterfly as a new pet.  She put him in this cage in her room and went to bed.  The lights go out, for Betty .. and the butterfly.  Morning will be a dawning reality for Betty, that she's a murderer, and likely turn into the Black Dhalia.  Grade: F
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Hope you enjoyed my little segment.  I have a new song up on my website.  Part III of the Gangster of Boats Trilogy called Leave That Thing Alone produced originally by Rush off the album Counterparts.  Ta ta.



Friday, October 28, 2011

Can't play any longer!

Fingers are actually shaking from playing too much guitar such that I can't even produce a solo note!  Hilarious.  Been playing for about 4 hours or so but some of the chords are uncomfortable to hold.  Fingertips are completely numb.  Good day's work.  Drinking some Speyside scotch to wind down, in this case, Cardhu 12-year single malt (which is rarer than the vat blend but happily cheap at $35 for a bottle).  One of my cheapest owned whiskies but reminds me of the stormy night on the rocky coast of the Irish Sea when a friend asked me what a perfect woman was.

Coax me to sleep, oh Scottish dreams, and soothe this bard's aching and aging fingers as I relisten to my haunting melody unfinished.

http://www.mikecronis.com/our_music.html

Irving Berlin's Easter Parade

Saw the 1948 film starring Fred Astaire and Judy Garland yesterday.  At a quintessential point in the film, all-business Fred is listening to his dance partner Judy play a quiet, romantic number on the piano.  Enraptured by it's completion, Fred Astaire quietly declares, "Why, Hannah.. why didn't you tell me I was in love with you?"

Classic.

Or, I guess, I could have watched Transformers 3, as which was described by a drummer I know as, "The best movie ever made, period."

;(

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

A fine, vintage bordeaux

Sleeping 16 hours is a lot like drinking a fine, vintage Bordeaux.  A quaff to be treasured and rolled-around the tongue with, fully, enjoying the subtle notes and finish of oak, raspberry, and chocolate.

Mine was going to see a pre-screening of the Hobbit in limited and unannounced release when I bumped into Neil Peart and Geddy Lee who I explained my appreciation for their work, then went to get heavily ketchuped fries (instead of popcorn, oddly).  Stranger still, the theater had two small screens on either side of the theater showing the same thing, the seats in a Roman senate configuration, albeit red and soft as normal.  I got a somewhat odd side-seat so the movie would be playing to the right and left of me.  Unusual.

On another note, it snowed a tiny bit, covering the grass prettily, complimenting our fruit trees and aspens.

I also dreamed about a Scotsman playing a bagpipe while kicking Gaddafi's in the shin (which was a competition that Gaddafi joined in) in a crowded scene.  Unfortunately, the Scotsman's boot also had a secret stone knife in it and killed him.  To bagpipes.  Probably Gaddafi's worst nightmare.  I bet he was up late at night worried against Scotsmen and banned bagpipes altogether until that one, fateful afternoon!


Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Snooki's Love Pendant of CHR +5!

CHR +5 against Snookies!



So it shall be written, so it shall be done!



Columba the Dove? Snow and Galaxy Fest!

I've been scanning the very late night sky for Columba, The Dove constellation, south of Orion and Lepus (Lepus is the mess of stars just south of Orion's feet) (aka Night of the Leups starring DeForest Kelley).  At 41deg declination I can just make out the primary constellations of the Tropic of Capricorn, which to me is pretty exciting (such a nerd).  You can't see them from my hometown of northern Boston suburbs, except maybe in February, and just barely, but my hometown is overwhelmed with trees it makes it hard to see stars on the horizon.  Anyway, I believe I just saw it tonite at 5am which is pretty happytimes for me, as well as Puppis, Argos' ship, and Caelum the Chisel, and Pyxis the Compass, all southern constellations, albeit partially.  SCORE!

Tomorrow it's supposed to plunge into the twenties and snow up to a foot on us (which means about 1" after the hype).  Make sure you have your winter tires on, kids.  You do have winter tires, don't you?  H&H Tire in Fountain can put some cheap-o's on for you if need be for cheap.  Enjoy the winter wonderland!  I'm amused people prefer no-weather-radials.  SUVs crash insanely with their AWD as I track effortlessly across in my little snow-tire'd hatchback.  Shrug.  Paradigns.

GalaxyFest 2012 is sort of a Starfest appetizer for Colorado Springs.  This year, Robert Picardo, Denise Crosby, and Dean Haglund will be there, amongst another dozen stars, which is pretty cool.  Looks like it's $40 per person for the 3 days (you can't buy one day only so far).  Not bad, only $13 a day.  Yes, you should wear a costume, as it's a sort of free-for-all costume party.  Freakin' wear a saucepan over your head and be Joxter for Chrissake.  ;P  Oooo, Zombie Crawl!

Ciao!

Friday, October 21, 2011

End of the World reminder

Oh, by the way, tonite's the end of the world.  So long and thanks for all the fish (says the dolphin race).

Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Theme for your enjoyment as you watch the Orionids from Halley's Comet impact us tonite.  Remember your towel, friends.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

This is why it's good (and accurate for the time):
Arthur travels until he reaches a pair of peasants who are unaware he his king since it's so far out of his kingdom's reach.  Because of the far reach, they've created their own government, "anarcho-syndicalist commune" in which they "take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week."

It is likely because outside the castle walls and it's protected neighboring township, few probably realized there was a king at all.  Aside from the traveling bandits that claimed to be tax-collectors, they very likely would live all their lives not knowing a king existed, so they governed themselves loosely (and effectively) based on a light anarchistic-based system.

I suspect the small facts like this one, and others like the witch-trial accuracy of alchemical pseudo-science, or the famous "bring-out-your-dead" scene's painful accuracy fell off many's a shoulder as they're not knowledgeable of history of the time, just smiling at the absurdity of it.  Absurd?  Yes.  Accurate?  Painfully so, which makes it 1000 times better.




http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/finalripoff.htm#Peasant
(Text of the scene).

This is far more relevant now than ever before in US history.

The Goddess of all Chipmunks decrees..


















So it is written.  So let it be done.

Gaddafi is no one.

Everyone realizes Gaddafi held no true official position as anything, right?  He decided to make a position for himself called, "Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution of Libya."  Wait a minute, he's a socialist leader, so... the Occupy Wall Street movement aka Woodstock 2011 should be outraged, no?  DOWN WITH BIG GOVERNMENT they text on their Apple iPhone 4S while drinking Starbucks coffee wearing LL.Bean.  Uh-huh.  Yeah yeah.  Sure sure.  I say we reinstate Nancy Regan's War on Drugs and Judge Dredd style eliminate drug users with manditory blood tests on-the-spot.  Well, it is the direction they're going for.  Let the government decide where all the money goes for their free stuff like on a game show and the government might possibly seep into things like gun control hyper-enforcement, food control (one type of coffee is fine for the masses), rent control (you can live here only).  Oh, wait, that's Russia right now.

You know, if they don't like it, Russia is taking applicants.  Let's give them a green-card and they can stay there.  I'm sure they'll love their one-choice on things.  The State's Choice (aka the mafia-boss Putin's choice).. dot gov. 

Yay, we WON!


Thursday, October 20, 2011

FOOLS!

We've made Gaddafi a ZOMBIE right before Halloween!!!  We're DOOOOOMED!

WallStreet fun facts ;D

Nice little video Dave Drasheff sent me (oh, he's part Russian in heritage btw..)
http://youtu.be/tuFQuEwJ5xI?hd=1
The music is a bit roll-your-eyes but it's still pretty good.  What it seems to come down to is, again, "Where's my free stuff?  I don't want to work, I just want my free stuff because other people were successfull, not me." 
Here's an example of what they want:  Mommy tells both boys to clean their room and they'll get an allowance.  Boy 1 decides not to do it so Boy 2 has to clean both rooms.  Mommy pays both boys. 

Here's some juicy CIA facts on the matter:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2172rank.html
With a grain of salt on it, it is from the CIA after all, I did not calculate the GINI coefficient, our poor vs. wealthy variance is ranked 39th worldwide.  Not that disparaging.

Some current suburbs of Cuba and Russia based on what these people want.


















Cuba surburb current.  Want to see more like this?  Click here:
http://www.yorkimages.com/CUBA/Casas-de-Cuba-Cuban-Structures/583730_5WKbv/3/33469433_nmL7R#33469433_nmL7R
All the nice archetechture is pre-1950s.  Pre-communism.

Here's some of Russia:























No one ever managed to ride the ferries wheel. It remains one of the most irradiated parts of Pripyat since the disaster, making it still dangerous today, 22 years on.”


Be advised a LOT of people still live in THIS village.

SouthPark resurrects Down-Ho My Lads!

http://goblintown.ytmnd.com/  or 
http://youtu.be/zPkqjc23yqs?t=19s

Nice for Halloween, Bilbo Baggins is nabbed by an opening in the Misty Mountains and the dwarves are chained and imprisoned by the warg-riding goblins!  South Park resurrects this song in the latest release where Lemmiwinks needs to fight his arch-nemesis with the aid of the Catatafish and the Sparrow and Frog Princes. 
Clap! Snap! The black crack!
Grip, grab! Pinch, nab!
And down down to Goblin-town
You go, my lad!

Clash, crash! Crush, smash!
Hammer and tongs! Knocker and gongs!
Pound, pound, far underground!
Ho, ho! my lad!

Swish, smack! Whip crack!
Batter and beat! Yammer and bleat!
Work, work! Nor dare to shirk,
While Goblins quaff, and Goblins laugh,
Round and round far underground
Below, my lad!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Fed up with stupid people today.

I'm so bored with Occupy Wall Street protesters, I'm apt to join them but since they're so unorganized and decentralized with no clear idea of what they actually want or how to fix it, I'm going in with a sign that reads, "Give Banks a Break!  More money FOR banks!"

Children, if you want a big company to be squelched, stop buying their products.  McDonald's can be destroyed in two months if everyone stops going, same with a bank, more or less.

I'm FOR big businesses, because unlike the government, if it gets out-of-hand, you can stop buying their products and they'll drop to their knees.  More control there, than say, a government.  Good luck with that.  Much easier not buying a McDouble than shooting at the US Marines, eh?  Well, somewhat.  Those McDoubles with jalapeno relish are tasty.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Pointing the finger

I like how Obama is hiding from Wall Street and its protesters, instead addressing the issue at-hand, he goes to a small airport in North Carolina and says the Republicans are stopping his job-plan.  Yeah?  What's that plan there, chief?  Work and then get paid?  Yeah, bud.  Why don't you point the finger at yourself.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Wall Street Protesters still at it

Well, they're still at it.  Down with money.  This is a worldwide thing (like Prestige Worldwide.. wide.. wide) with the free world.  Strange it's not hapenning in Saudi Arabia where the violently rich are lavishing in virgin-spit baths eating saffron-encrusted gems and baby alien tar-tar.  Hm.

You can see some photos worldwide wide..wide..wide (echo) here:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/16/us/occupy-wall-street/
Pay particular attention to photo number 10, which is "down with banks" motif.  So... you don't like your money protected or gaining interest.. or borrowing any, ever.  Well, you can simply put it in your mattress or buy gold bullion if you like, son.  It's your option.  There's no crime to own wads of cash or bullion or lemon-soaked-napkins or whatever you want.  Banks are clearly and simply an option.  Lending is also clearly an option.  No one is going to stop you from saving up and putting your money into physical gold and storing bricks under your bed or burying it in your back yard, then converting that to cash to buy a car or house.  Less safe that way, sure sure, but you can consider a safety deposit box at a post office if you must avoid banks.  Sheesh.

Strange call for an equality of socialism here.  Just because Ray Kroc did well selling cheap-ass hamburgers over his lifetime doesn't mean he's a criminal.  McDonald's is also a choice.  Don't eat there if you don't want to.  Also, should be punish him for starting small and doing well? 

What about Starbucks?  Small Seattle-based coffee shop selling burnt beans (making them homogenized for the mass-production so it all tastes the same worldwide (wide wide)).  You buy the stuff.  You drink it.  Why punish those who knew how to market it with candy-flavored high-fructose syrup that girls crave, thinking they're drinking something more healthy than 5 Pepsis?  Oh, wait.  They got the low-fat milk.  That counters the 9000 calories of corn syrup that was dumped into the burnt-bean coffee.  Who's idea was it to put carmel-flavored corn-syrup into a machiatto?  That's a horrible choice of flavoring in a machiatto in my opinion.  Maybe a teaspoon of vanilla-bean extract perhaps but a machiatto stands well on its own.  And whipped cream?  Please, children.  Grow the frak up.

Ultimately, people are doing poorly because they aren't working or willing to work a shite job.  They want to thumb their phones and play Angry Birds or Plants vs. Zombies all the freakin' day.  This does not get you food or heat.  People are laughingly willing to spend upwards of $100 a month for phone service.  I pay quite a small sum for mine through T-Mobile, like $19 with free internet service, but only for emergencies.  Blackberries and IPhones pay a premium. Is your life really that important?  More so than mine?  I fracking doubt it unless you're military (and not day-staff support or support in general, losers) or a doctor (not lawyers, bloodsucking opportunists) not a priest (the hope you give is estranged as you don't live a real life) or maybe an assassin or something bad-ass like that.  You're all useless zombies unless you do something significant.  I suggest you reconsider your life and put your phone down.  At least cut some hair or something.  Mullets can change the world.  Insist on them.

Sigh.  Well, not everyone's useless.  I'm just annoyed with those who are self-important to have a digital toy but don't feed their kids, etc.  Maybe it gives them a little joy, a little distraction from their empty lives I guess.  Maybe a little break like what a cigarette would do 20 years ago.  Or heroin.  Just as long as they can put it down and focus on now.

These protesters are focusing on the top 1% of the rich being leaders.  So what?  They got that way through cleverness.  You don't become rich easily.  You need some sort of skill or craftiness.  What about the bottom 1%?  Let's focus on them!  Odds are they're criminals and should be put behind bars or executed for their failure to contribute to society!  Yeah!  Let's kill them!  See how the reverse postulate is insane?  Is it their fault for being poor?  Well, probably.  Should we gas the ghettos of the world?  So Nazi-esque.  Same holds true for the rich.  See?  Inhuman.

I don't see why rich should be punished for doing well just like the poor shouldn't be punished for doing poorly.  If you can manipulate a market in your favor and the masses are duped and buy bad cars, etc. then it's the masses' fault, not the rich.  Manipulating stupid people is the way of the world for thousands of years.  Look at the evil jihadists.  Using folks to think the Koran is a key to murder.  It isn't, nor is it evil.  Stupid people are manipulated all the time.  Look at those who think Starbucks is good.  Dumb.

Should we force the rich to have a wealth-cap?  Why allow the football players of the NFL to get millions of dollars?  Why aren't we not going to football games?  Boycott 'em.  Don't go.  Ever.  Let them play for free.  Let them play for the love of the sport.  Why go to movies?  Same deal.  You're all stupid.  YOU pay them their wealth.  Willingly.  Stupidly.  If you don't want them wealthy it takes 30 days to collapse Apple, or New Line Cinema, or the NFL.  Don't buy Halo Eleventeen.  Don't buy a new cellphone.  Canel yours.  Stop paying $100 a month for shite.  Fine, you want results?  Do it.  Don't pay them.  Stop.  Don't get a loan anymore.  Don't save money in an account.  Solved.  Idiots.

Ultimately YOU voted wrong for your leader.  You were suckered into buying into a good-looking guy without considering the ramifications or what he stood for.  You thought with the wrong part of the brain.  Yay we won?  Indeed.  A prize every time.

I'm a fan of the 9/9/9 plan, despite it's infinite uncharted possible results.  Everyone pays 9% federal income tax.  Flipping it makes it not evil.  Nero was that number.  It's proven by a thousand scholars and theologists when he was feeding Christians to the lions.  Already done so get over it.  Look it up.  Get a book and read.  This would make my 41% taxes I paid last year go down which I'm a fan of.  Most people pay about 28% total taxes state and federal.  Federal is usually about 20% or more of that figure.  More money for all and no loopholes for charity or what not (though I suspect this will be affected as it no longer buys tax breaks).  No more tax breaks for people having 1000 kids.  Just 9%.  Still fair.  Should be a constitutional amendment that it cannot change.  Win.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

A modern interview with Zap Rowsdower of the movie The Final Sacrifice


Impressively, the movie cost $1500 to make.  Zap Rowsdower can save the world.  Zap Rowsdower can save us all!


Song is up

Part IV of the Gangster of Boats Trilogy by Rush from the album Roll the Bones is up on my website.  You can see it here:

http://www.mikecronis.com/our_music.html

Friday, October 14, 2011

Immigration problem solved!

Thanks, Obama!  Mexicans are now no longer coming over the boarder, because America's economy is so bad that it's shittier living in America than Mexico!  Indeed, it's quite the opposite now.  Americans are running to Mexico for jobs.  Good job!  All riiiight!  High fiiiiive!

Finally...

A few days off to sculpt that rough-draft song!  Wonder how the bass sounds I just got?  I like ice cream.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

The Gangster of Boats

Been working on Rush's "Where's My Thing? (Part IV of the Gangster of Boats Trilogy)"  Rather an epic song with some odd funk in there.  Anyway, my demo pre-release version is available on my website under My Music if you're interested to listen.  The original song is included here that I based it on for comparison:


My version is still missing keyboards and a solo.  The basswork I've considered adding, as I just got by new bass guitar in this morning.  It's some tricky basswork but I think I can manage it.  This version is mostly MIDI at my website, but all the guitarwork (minus the main mini solo) is on there.  Enjoy.

www.mikecronis.com

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

The state of affairs

Sometimes you just get in the dumps for no reason.  Maybe in touch with my animus side, I had to watch MST3K's version of The Final Sacrifice.  The movie cost $1500 US dollars to make.  Literally.  Fifteen hundred bucks.  Helps me deal with the Obamination and the economy.  The economy: it's really bad, you know?  People are pointing at Wall Street, capitalism, Casey Anthony (donate now), December 21st, 2012, the guy next door.  Ultimately it's themselves who voted Obama in.  Can't consider that now, can we, folks?  Yep, you got suckered.

What America needs now is Rowsdower.  Even though he's unerringly Canadian, he can save us all.  He can save the world. 


Rowsdower...

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Metallica is officially dead.

The band Metallica has finished a duet with Lou Reed of Velvet Underground called Lulu a bit ago.  A snippit has been released.. it's difficult to listen to.  Really.. really bad.  Like epic-bad.  Like Queensryche's Dedicated to Chaos bad.  Metallica is now unrecognizable.  Here's the clip:


It's interesting that it sounds like Murray Head of the play Chess of the song One Night in Bangkok seems to have an influence here.  I am the brute?  Indeed.  Yuck.

Alas, Hitler of World War II did not appreciate it either:


The movie from this parodied clip is actually quite good and is about Hitler's last days called Downfall that came out in 2004.  It's on Netflix and I recommend it strongly.  It's in German, so you'll have to read (awww).  Unintelligent people won't want to watch it because of the following reasons:
  1. It's an old movie about an old event
  2. You have to read and reading's for nerds
  3. It's got no CGI
  4. It isn't by JJ Abrams or Michael Bay
My review of  it:
Downfall:
Zombies: D-
Comic book fans: A
Everybody else: A+

Lulu:
Zombies: D-
Metallica fans: D
Everybody Else: N+

Incidentally, this creature is also, Lulu from the brilliant TV series, Land of the Lost in season 3:
Jump to 0:23 to 0:30 and you'll see the two-headed mutant serpant, Lulu:

Monday, October 10, 2011

The 11th Hour

Sometimes you just try your best and it doesn't work.  Right before a 12 hour shift a small thing broke yesterday at work.  Well, it's my job to deal with such matters to defend the free world so I had at it.  A minor issue, like a bulb on a car.  After trying all my tricks and charms it still remained broke, and by no-dark-hundred I had to bow-out for changeover, leaving the presumably very small mess to the oncoming crew of 2 with a third augmenting.  Turns out it was quite a more serious issue and hadn't been fixed by the afternoon, but I'm on my break of a few days now, though Becky was able to fill me in with some unclass info.

What seemed to be a turn signal bulb burnt-out on a car it ended up being the entire electronic control unit computer on the whole car.  Not something you'd expect from a bad blinker bulb, and not something you'd physically replace.  Certainly, you start with the bulb, move on the fuse and what-not.  Standard procedure but still.. ugh.. needs a new catalyzer?

"Sometimes a thing gets broke, can't be fixed."
 -Kaylee of Firefly from the episode Out of Gas
(my favorite episode btw)




Thursday, October 6, 2011

Eye exam

So I went to my first non-USAF eye exam in my life today.  Rather violent an experience that may or may not have involved horses, hoops, balls of bears, elephants and balrogs. (SING with me!)

My eye:

Dad, DAD what IS that?!  God help us!
Clown:
It's Circus Fun right in your bowl,
and you're gonna wanna come fun.
For horses n' hoops, balls of bears, elephants and balrogs!  WHAT?!
Horses n' hoops, balls of bears, elephants.. and BALROGS!  (RAWRL!)

Look dad, horses!  Hoops!  Balls of Bears!  Elephants!
AND BALROGS! doom
I don't get why they have to pour this junk in your eyes to make you dilate like an anime character.















Still, overall a rather rude experience with a 2 hour delay (they were behind that day).  What, did they install Sony Optic Eyes ala cyberpunk that morning?  Sheesh.  Pathetic.  Read some charts, had my eyes drowned in anime juice, I kept fidgeting during the glaucoma test (she was taking way too long, isn't 4 minutes a LOT for one eye without blinking?) so the nurse finally gave up.  No lollipop for me.





















So she says the doc'll do it.  So I'm put aside in the waiting room for another hour, which is ridiculous, and then I'm hurried into a tiny room where I wait another 20 minutes.  Young doc that looks a lot like Peter North shows up (to my mild concern).  Reads my nurses-generated hand-written chart (so 1940's) and tells me I have 20/20 vision.  Checks my now hyper-dilated eyes (everything's blurry and aural) with what seems to be a scanning laser (well at least we're in the 60s now) with a strap-on head-unit he puts on himself (wait a minute, bud).  Then tells me everything's perfectly fine.

Now my problem is that my vision far away and super close up is blurry (more so now that my eyes have been anime'ted) but he says it's normal for someone my age, that the retna tends to lose its elasticity over time.  I asked for a solution to that and he says there is none.  I no longer have 20/11 vision and he won't correct it further than 20/20.  He recommends going to the Dollar General store and getting some cheap-o reading glasses.  Uh huh.

I guess 20/20 is okay.  I'm just used to far superior vision and it's noticeable by almost 50%.  To fix the elasticity he says science hasn't got that far yet and doesn't know how to fix it.  There's no known cure for this.  Most people get it around age 40 (yep).  Sigh.  Science better hurry up.  I'm unimpressed.  I miss Boston for this.  At least they were smart.

Good heavens Miss Yakamoto, you're beautiful!!!

The Bushmen of the Serengeti use telepathy?!

South Park Studios

Still gets a laugh.  New episode up as of yesterday.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Garbage fans

Apparently, Shirley Manson of Garbage got bored and made several songs on a solo album that was never released because, as she said, they were too noir.  Oui?  Here are three of the demos, you decide:

Pretty Horses:


In the Snow:





Film noir indeed.  Dark stuff, really.  Reminds me of a bit of her album Angelfish without the rock element, with a touch of The World is Not Enough James Bond single.  Guess it's hard when you're a T-1000.

She speaks:
"I had taken some of my solo music into the record label. They didn't really care for the direction I was moving in and I found it really disheartening. They wanted a pop hit, which I understand in terms of making money. I get that. But what they were going to ask of me was something I wasn't prepared to deliver and I felt kind of trapped. I just stopped writing. I just stopped. It was stifling". -- Shirley Manson

Monday, October 3, 2011

One last consideration

About SuckerPunch.  Consider this:  BabyDoll and SweetPea are the same person.  Both lost a little sister.  BabyDoll escapes her haunting memories (father, Blue's acts during the 5 days which are probably bad by considering the brothel/caberet-coping unreality, her dead sister and mother) by way of lobotomy, her last vision is another escape by way of "Paradise" (notice the sign at the bus station) in the self-guise of SweetPea (remember, they're the same person, but SweetPea is her confident side in her own mind).  A give-away is the bus driver and the soldier boy who only existed in her other adventures during the caberet layer and the battle layer.

The events of the map,key,fire, etc. did happen by way of Gorsky's agreement at the end, and it's likely someone did escape for real, doing some good in the end, but we never get to meet that escapee.  Rocket and Blondie weren't real either.

Enjoy.

Tomorrow Never Knows

Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the Beatles song, Tomorrow Never Knows so brilliantly done, John Lennon is resurrected with a woody.  The imagry during the song is astonishing from the movie SuckerPunch.

Quality full version of the original soundtrack:
http://youtu.be/sHw4QFAKxRE?hd=1

..and here's the video from the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKFc0Tpn1BI

Who's with me?


 

Amazing selection of art photos

Clever stuff (some not work friendly...)

http://yourhappyplace.yuku.com/topic/50333/Randomness-again

Alex in the studio.

Alex Lifeson of Rush in the studio.  Clockwork Angels album coming soon.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Pike's Peak Paved

Well, they finally did it.  The entire road up to the top of Pike's Peak is now paved with asphalt.  The Sierra Club sued Colorado in 1999 because the dirt and gravel-paved road got washed out one rather rainy weekend and caused some washback into the local rivers and what-not which caused an eco non-disaster. 

The state exploded parts of the mountain with dynamite to expand the road wider and to add a drainage and verify two lanes all the way up.  Having been up there in the late 90's, I can attest of a few narrow locations without guard-rails, particularly near the area called, "Devil's Playground" where lightning dances from rock to rock naturally, and sometimes zaps bighorn sheep.

I have mixed feelings about this.  Obama-ites will dance with glee.  The environment is "saved" (though the runoff from the oil of the asphalt is pure death, the worker's vehicles created gobs of pollution, struggling at high-altitude and emitting huge plumes of carbon stank, dynamiting the mountain to widen it caused more debris, and runoff exists from the mountain anyway, regardless of our replacing gravel or not, costing Colorado taxpayers several dozen million dollars).  My biggest problem is now the Pike's Peak Race is now changed forever.  Cars were designed to traverse the half-paved half-gravel'ed / dirt road as a legendary ability, requiring great skill from falling off the 2000-foot straight-down drop.  Great Rally-Car racing skills were required to navigate the changing road conditions with specialized tires and aerodynamics.  This is all gone now.  Now that it's paved, Dodge Vipers and Camaros can easily compete against Subaru WRX STIs and Mitsubishi EVO IX cars.  Not the same, really.  Skill factor is decreased, or at least altered.  This is sort of like regular Poker from Texas Hold-'Em.  Regular poker requires a lot more skill because of the discard option where Texas Hold-'Em is one-dimensional.  You "bet".  That's it.  Regular poker adds the complexity of the changing of cards which can indicate a good or bad hand maybe.  This adds a level of complexity to the "bluff" option.  Same is the half-gravel track of the Pike's Peak Race-To-The-Top that has happened every 4th of July weekend since 1901.  That's 110 years of racing now gone forever.  Ah, shucks.

Well, losers, go get your Texas Hold-'Em cards ready.  It's a race to the top with your McDonald's in your minivan with your 5 kids because you couldn't buy a condom on your generic 4th of July with no fireworks 3 years running (thanks to Obama) after you buy your fluorescent light bulbs (thanks to Obama, we can't even buy incandescent light bulbs) using $5/gallon gasoline at ultra-low octane.  Don't worry if you crash, Obama-care will take care of you at everyone's expense.  Your kids learned about it when you had to donate school supplies at $200 because Obama (who is so FOR schools) dropped funding on almost all schools nationwide on all fronts (oh, but school teachers vote for the Democratic party even though historically that party has removed funding for the last 100 years for schools, and lowered teacher's paychecks and benefits).  We won!  We voted Obama and we WON!  Well, you all won anyway.  Detroit is burning, folks.  You voted for a villain and we're all suffering for it.  Notice you're unemployed?  Guess you won.

Casey Anthony is free and it's your fault.  You killed America.

Look at what's gone forever now, because of you:
http://www.usacracing.com/ppihc

and this:

http://youtu.be/_R-FZsysQNw?t=32s