Saturday, December 31, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Herrrooo!
Herrro. Dis is speciarl message from Kim Jong Un. My fazah is verrry dead now but our stah-ving pe-o-ple have a taste so as to be not hunga.. not hunr.. .. (frustrated) CAIO MING SE DO MAI.. .. hungarrrly. Some of da pe-o-ples eat-a gran-pa jurky with-a sesame es vellly good. Canirabarism not so bad with a sesame.. CHING CHOW! My ah peopulz learn to make-ah do wit less. Rook how fat day are.
My fazah make-a da miss-yle called a "Type O Dong" es verrly clevah miss-yle. Type-O Dong shoot up in sky can come smash down on-a top-a yo-ah head ... DONNNG! Ver-ly good miss-yle.
Den, my fa-zah make a verly clevah missile an a trick-ah contractors too. He say, "Make-ah me a miss-yle called a NO Dong wit stearlth tech-ah-norogy. Den a dah contractahs make a miss-yle called a No-Dong and-ah presented-ah miss-yle to ah my faz-ah. Day say, "Here-ah miss-yle." Dad say, "Velly good, wassah miss-yle name?" Day say, "Ess-ah No-Dong." Dadda say, "Hey, you make-ah no miss-yle, der'es no Dong! I no pay you for no-Dong!" Den fazah had dem executed and dah people had tasty soylent green for-ah suppah in Egg-Foo-Young Happy Meal wit toy suh-prize. Dad a verly clevah.
Stealth ah tech-norology verly good. Miss-yle come and enemy ask, "What kind-ah miss-yle ah coming?" Enemy work-ah say, "It's-ah No-Dong." Den enemy boss say, "It's-ah no dong? Den dare nuting to worrly about. We just a sit-ah back and ah-drink Koolr Aid." Den, a next-ah thing you know? A DONG! Right on HEAD! DOONNNNNNG! Verly clevah miss-yle. Den he make a miss-yle carled a Rong-Dong shaped ah- aftah his a pee-pee but it too small so he renamed it a Ro-Dong so as to not get too anagry and a people get a bad ideas.
Well, now I a new supah-supreme pizza-boss and I make-ah new miss-yle. I call it ah " ". See dat? No name to miss-yle so no one can ah-say anyting. Day ask, "What kinda miss-yle coming in?" Den day can't say noth-ing so den ah next ting you know it's a DONG! I verly clevah new kid-pizza-boss-supreme wit a pep-ah-ronis.
CHING Y CHOW!
Oh, a verly good. Day got ah dah LASERS attached to dair heads. You on my reft. You go in an try it out. CHING CHOW! No, serirousry. You go in. Ha ha ha!
Frack you, Kim Jong Un, you bastard and your dead dad too. For all the evil atrocities you've committed on your people, all the kidnapping and murder and torture to the Japanese and Americans. For all the times you strut around fat as a cat while your people starve and are forced to eat their dead relatives. For all the times you starve your military and refuse them medicine. All these things we've seen with our methods and you're a bastard and will die a painful, horrible death. CHING CHOW!
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
The SuperFriends MOVIE 1979
Someone alerted me of my 9-year-old past where there was a LIVE ACTION Superfriends movie (made for TV) staring Adam West as Batman and Frank Gorshin as the Riddler!!! There is a Legion of Doom though, and.. Black Canary? Sorry, no WonderTwins.. but in episode 2.. Ghetto Man?!!!
Luckily, it's a complete comedy, complete with laugh-track which is amazing in itself.
Intro is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljmw1DYGdcU&feature=related
Sharing is disabled, so part 2 is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lg3FYBWq90&feature=related
Amazing. Solomon Grundy pwns Adam West.
Luckily, it's a complete comedy, complete with laugh-track which is amazing in itself.
Intro is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljmw1DYGdcU&feature=related
Sharing is disabled, so part 2 is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lg3FYBWq90&feature=related
Amazing. Solomon Grundy pwns Adam West.
Customer Disservice
What is it with automated customer service? It costs a bundle, barely more than humans' wages and barely works. What's with the, "Did you know you could go online and do (such and such)?" Yeah, I know that. It's obvious your web-designers were overpaid because their coding they "borrowed" from 2600.com stinks. These coders also lack vision or skill, and your company was gay enough to actually pay them to steal code and it doesn't work, their search-engine routine borrowed form AltaVista circa 1999.
So eventually we get to the infamous, "Contact Us" link. Sometimes clicking it brings you to an ante-room pre-page indicating, "Hey, we spent way too much money on unoriginal programmers who steal other bad code who don't even have the class enough to change the variable names because they're inept at coding in the first place and voted Obama and want their free stuff and think they're clever so would you like to read our FAQ first? We'd rather you not call us." After bypassing that, because yes, I read your pathetic FAQ, you get a nice 1-800 style number.
Upon dialing you're always presented with a sad, fake-sounding, impersonal pre-recorded greeting that grates on the nerves because you know who you called and you just want to get something fixed that their company screwed-up. After enduring sometimes up to a full minute of greetings and, "Did you know you can go ONLINE and.. " ugh.. You get to a menu.
I don't mind phone-button menus, though I'm annoyed with the "Para Espaniol numero nuevo" part that's slow and delayed, and allows a 10 second gap for the reh'tards. So you get by the first wave of menu options and into a second, and sometimes a third. What really irks me is the "I'm listening now. Please say what you'd like." Voice-activated menus. Verbal menus are still infantile in technology and are purposely made to make the caller give-up. If a company can get you to go away, they win. Sometimes the voice-options are hidden behind dial button options. When the robot says things like, "You can.. make a payment, hear your balance or.. more options. I'm listening now." You can sometimes press 1 or 2 or whatever on your phone to not have to repeat yourself ad infinatum. It's not hard to speak without an accent. I can sound like I'm from Ohio just like anyone else despite my Boston, Colorado fusion-accent. Usually, however, you cannot press a button, so you have to guess what might be a good response. Encoded is rarely what you need, and often "Speak to a representative" is not an option until you go deep into several "More Options" menus.
Eventually you graduate to the "Speak to a representative" option because all the menu options are already online anyway, and yes I've been to your website and have it so memorized I know the bugs in the Java script coding because you got it from such-and-such a website and it's easy to exploit and would you like me to fix it for you for half the price you paid your lousy web designer from Russia?
Unfortunately, the "Speak to a representative" option takes you 'round the world to India. Now, I have nothing against India. The girls are all pretty attractive and the men are pleasant and polite enough, though they all seem to seethe the scent of curry powder (they say we smell like cheddar cheese, I guess it's why we're called Yankees worldwide.) You always talk to some guy named "George" or "John" when it's really "Himanshu Patel" or some such alien name. It's their job to get you off the phone. Sometimes they use passive-aggressive behavior, such as having you put on-hold and then disconnecting you. Uh-huh. Suuuure. NEVER let them do that. NEVER be put on-hold or you'll likely have to start over from square negative zero. There's the annoying language barrier that you have to decipher a bit (though they do quite a fine job if you think about it, speaking English and dealing with Southerners and what not, all the American dialects).
Ultimately, they can't help you. Ever. They just re-iterate what you see on their website. Speaking to a supervisor usually leads to hang-ups. Once in a great while they'll transfer you BACK to the good old US of A and you can make some headway.. sometimes.. rarely.
All that effort, all that money outsourced to India and Russian programmers and they could have saved millions by hiring 3 smart kids with some computer skills and good patients with customers here in the USA who know better than to read a script, ".. so is your computer power turned on?"
Wake-up, companies. You're drowning, and a good part of it is your customer disservice.
So eventually we get to the infamous, "Contact Us" link. Sometimes clicking it brings you to an ante-room pre-page indicating, "Hey, we spent way too much money on unoriginal programmers who steal other bad code who don't even have the class enough to change the variable names because they're inept at coding in the first place and voted Obama and want their free stuff and think they're clever so would you like to read our FAQ first? We'd rather you not call us." After bypassing that, because yes, I read your pathetic FAQ, you get a nice 1-800 style number.
Upon dialing you're always presented with a sad, fake-sounding, impersonal pre-recorded greeting that grates on the nerves because you know who you called and you just want to get something fixed that their company screwed-up. After enduring sometimes up to a full minute of greetings and, "Did you know you can go ONLINE and.. " ugh.. You get to a menu.
I don't mind phone-button menus, though I'm annoyed with the "Para Espaniol numero nuevo" part that's slow and delayed, and allows a 10 second gap for the reh'tards. So you get by the first wave of menu options and into a second, and sometimes a third. What really irks me is the "I'm listening now. Please say what you'd like." Voice-activated menus. Verbal menus are still infantile in technology and are purposely made to make the caller give-up. If a company can get you to go away, they win. Sometimes the voice-options are hidden behind dial button options. When the robot says things like, "You can.. make a payment, hear your balance or.. more options. I'm listening now." You can sometimes press 1 or 2 or whatever on your phone to not have to repeat yourself ad infinatum. It's not hard to speak without an accent. I can sound like I'm from Ohio just like anyone else despite my Boston, Colorado fusion-accent. Usually, however, you cannot press a button, so you have to guess what might be a good response. Encoded is rarely what you need, and often "Speak to a representative" is not an option until you go deep into several "More Options" menus.
Eventually you graduate to the "Speak to a representative" option because all the menu options are already online anyway, and yes I've been to your website and have it so memorized I know the bugs in the Java script coding because you got it from such-and-such a website and it's easy to exploit and would you like me to fix it for you for half the price you paid your lousy web designer from Russia?
Unfortunately, the "Speak to a representative" option takes you 'round the world to India. Now, I have nothing against India. The girls are all pretty attractive and the men are pleasant and polite enough, though they all seem to seethe the scent of curry powder (they say we smell like cheddar cheese, I guess it's why we're called Yankees worldwide.) You always talk to some guy named "George" or "John" when it's really "Himanshu Patel" or some such alien name. It's their job to get you off the phone. Sometimes they use passive-aggressive behavior, such as having you put on-hold and then disconnecting you. Uh-huh. Suuuure. NEVER let them do that. NEVER be put on-hold or you'll likely have to start over from square negative zero. There's the annoying language barrier that you have to decipher a bit (though they do quite a fine job if you think about it, speaking English and dealing with Southerners and what not, all the American dialects).
Ultimately, they can't help you. Ever. They just re-iterate what you see on their website. Speaking to a supervisor usually leads to hang-ups. Once in a great while they'll transfer you BACK to the good old US of A and you can make some headway.. sometimes.. rarely.
All that effort, all that money outsourced to India and Russian programmers and they could have saved millions by hiring 3 smart kids with some computer skills and good patients with customers here in the USA who know better than to read a script, ".. so is your computer power turned on?"
Wake-up, companies. You're drowning, and a good part of it is your customer disservice.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Bad Hotels
Some of you are staying at family homes this season. Tensions can rise and if you have the means, you'll probably move into a hotel for a few days. Before you do so, look at these "Worst Hotels" pictures. Things could be worse!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18297117/ns/travel-destination_travel/t/bad-hotels-photos/
Have you had a bad hotel experience? Let me know about it!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18297117/ns/travel-destination_travel/t/bad-hotels-photos/
Have you had a bad hotel experience? Let me know about it!
Bathtub at the infamous Carter Hotel, New York City
Nice "bathroom" in India, complete with dog.
Cliff Robertson for President 2012
--President select Cliff Robertson
(oh, wait.. he died on Sept. 2011.. sorry, nevermind)
Maybe General Zod will re-run this year?
http://www.zod2008.com/
Saturday, December 24, 2011
The Three Assasins
I've always been fascinated by "The Three Kings". No, not the restaurant (well, I'm sure there's one named that somewhere). I'm talking about the supposed Three Wise Men (aka 3 kings) that showed up at Ioshua (oh, sorry, aka Jesus') manger / birthplace in March (oh, sorry December 25th). Honestly, how can anyone take the bible seriously if all these facts are jumbled that are easy facts, nevermind the hard-to-believe ones (ie. the first 8th of the Old Testament). No wonder Muslims want to blow us up! Ah, religion. So salty and naughty.
When I was a kid, I thought it was kinda neet, three "wise men" following the "star of Bethlehem" to find Baby Jesus. These were most likely, Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar, however there are other findings of other names more "Persian" sounding that are possible. Turns out these guys were not so neet.
Later in my life I found out that they were Muslim assassins but it turns out I was mistaken .. somewhat. It seems that actually they were astronomers of a sort of which they had dealings with King Herod of Judea at the time who was concerned of a King of the Jews as since one of his favorite pastimes was killing rabbis and Jewish families and what-not for a fun-for-all, somewhat at random. Herod later died of scabies, which is a bit amusing. Anyway, Herod was concerned a King of those who he would often slaughter for fun and amusement was comin' round via prophesy so he told these traveling three astrologers (and probably a few others) that if they ever came across this Jesus fellow to let him know and/or kill the entire family.
Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar ended up meeting Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem, likely in a hollowed-out cave shrine for the Sumerian god Tammuz as the local inns were full and Mary's relatives were all like, "Yeah, no.. sorry, we're full-up." M, C, & B were so moved by the scene that they decided to give-up some of their merchant goods to the couple as they were poor and suffering of which Joseph likely hocked the next morning for some food and supplies to move-on. M, C, & B then decided to take another route as to avoid Herod and blow him off because they figured Herod was nuts.
Herod eventually got word of things, however, totally pissed-off that the astronomers had blown him off and performed the great Massacre of the Innocents (which may have been blown out-of-proportion by historical sense) were kids under the age of 2 were slaughtered for a total of 26 kids in town (Bethlehem was a small town of about 500 at the time and only a few square miles) as well as a few more outside the outlying areas. Joseph got rumor of this and he and Mary high-tailed it outa there with the money they made off the useless cologne and oil. This is all very Moses-esque. People who study Herod's life find this particular fact unlikely as Matthew when he wrote this wanted to satisfy a particular prophesy of Hosea.
Well, a guy I work with said that in his country that there's a long feast of the Three Kings where everyone is happy and gets along, etc. People all say, "Happy Three Kings!" to each other. I tried to warn him that his entire nation is duped, that the "three kings" were ultimately sent to kill Jesus. I think he thought I was kidding and got annoyed with me. I guess it's hard for people to realize their whole life is a lie.
The "magic" that Jesus made, aka "miracles" are unimportant. A lot of people grasp on to that desperately. People need magical things to justify faith. I find it ridiculous and silly. The most important thing is to remember the messages that were given, which was pretty much "Party on" and "Be excellent to each other". Jesus was about sharing and helping people who feel bad. Decent messages and worth dying for. He did, anyway.
Wyld Stallyns my dear readers, and Merry Christmas (observed).
When I was a kid, I thought it was kinda neet, three "wise men" following the "star of Bethlehem" to find Baby Jesus. These were most likely, Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar, however there are other findings of other names more "Persian" sounding that are possible. Turns out these guys were not so neet.
Later in my life I found out that they were Muslim assassins but it turns out I was mistaken .. somewhat. It seems that actually they were astronomers of a sort of which they had dealings with King Herod of Judea at the time who was concerned of a King of the Jews as since one of his favorite pastimes was killing rabbis and Jewish families and what-not for a fun-for-all, somewhat at random. Herod later died of scabies, which is a bit amusing. Anyway, Herod was concerned a King of those who he would often slaughter for fun and amusement was comin' round via prophesy so he told these traveling three astrologers (and probably a few others) that if they ever came across this Jesus fellow to let him know and/or kill the entire family.
Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar ended up meeting Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem, likely in a hollowed-out cave shrine for the Sumerian god Tammuz as the local inns were full and Mary's relatives were all like, "Yeah, no.. sorry, we're full-up." M, C, & B were so moved by the scene that they decided to give-up some of their merchant goods to the couple as they were poor and suffering of which Joseph likely hocked the next morning for some food and supplies to move-on. M, C, & B then decided to take another route as to avoid Herod and blow him off because they figured Herod was nuts.
Herod eventually got word of things, however, totally pissed-off that the astronomers had blown him off and performed the great Massacre of the Innocents (which may have been blown out-of-proportion by historical sense) were kids under the age of 2 were slaughtered for a total of 26 kids in town (Bethlehem was a small town of about 500 at the time and only a few square miles) as well as a few more outside the outlying areas. Joseph got rumor of this and he and Mary high-tailed it outa there with the money they made off the useless cologne and oil. This is all very Moses-esque. People who study Herod's life find this particular fact unlikely as Matthew when he wrote this wanted to satisfy a particular prophesy of Hosea.
Well, a guy I work with said that in his country that there's a long feast of the Three Kings where everyone is happy and gets along, etc. People all say, "Happy Three Kings!" to each other. I tried to warn him that his entire nation is duped, that the "three kings" were ultimately sent to kill Jesus. I think he thought I was kidding and got annoyed with me. I guess it's hard for people to realize their whole life is a lie.
The "magic" that Jesus made, aka "miracles" are unimportant. A lot of people grasp on to that desperately. People need magical things to justify faith. I find it ridiculous and silly. The most important thing is to remember the messages that were given, which was pretty much "Party on" and "Be excellent to each other". Jesus was about sharing and helping people who feel bad. Decent messages and worth dying for. He did, anyway.
Wyld Stallyns my dear readers, and Merry Christmas (observed).
Thursday, December 22, 2011
1.5 Million shares $$$?
I just bought 1.5 MILLION shares of micro-penny stock MMTE (Mammoth Energy Group Inc.) making me a 15% shareholder in their stock. The stock was going for $0.0004 Yep, that's right, four ten THOUSANDTHS of a penny. It's a mining company that just purchased several thousand hectares of land in Chile to get lithium for battery production in electric cars and what-not. Recent geological survey finds that the area they purchased which is within a few kilometers of a modernized town has a very large deposit of lithium based on their reports. This is a good sign for an up-and-coming mining company from Jersey. They also bought-out another company for lithium mining as well.
If you want to check out their website and such, feel free. Seems legit.
Only a few hundred bucks I could end-up a multi-millionaire if the stock suddenly rises to a penny or two (which it has in the past). The company is in the black so it's still good after purchasing all those assets. Either that or I'm out. Cheaper than Vegas (if you've been lately) and I'd warrant better odds.
If you go to http://www.sharebuilder.com/ you can have them set up a quick account (it's free) and can buy any kind of stock you like (such as Pepsi) in any denomination ($9 a transaction). For instance, you could buy $5 of MMTE and get several hundred shares. If it went up to a penny you'd make several THOUSAND dollars. Or you could play it safe and get 1/10th of a share of Pepsi stock (Sharebuilder lets you do that, unlike E*Trade where you have to buy $2000 minimum (yuck)).
Anyway, stocks'll go up eventually in the end. Great time to buy anything if you got ten bucks lying around and can afford to not buy 24 cans of Mt.Dew for a week. Just sayin'.
Ciao and good luck.
If you want to check out their website and such, feel free. Seems legit.
Only a few hundred bucks I could end-up a multi-millionaire if the stock suddenly rises to a penny or two (which it has in the past). The company is in the black so it's still good after purchasing all those assets. Either that or I'm out. Cheaper than Vegas (if you've been lately) and I'd warrant better odds.
If you go to http://www.sharebuilder.com/ you can have them set up a quick account (it's free) and can buy any kind of stock you like (such as Pepsi) in any denomination ($9 a transaction). For instance, you could buy $5 of MMTE and get several hundred shares. If it went up to a penny you'd make several THOUSAND dollars. Or you could play it safe and get 1/10th of a share of Pepsi stock (Sharebuilder lets you do that, unlike E*Trade where you have to buy $2000 minimum (yuck)).
Anyway, stocks'll go up eventually in the end. Great time to buy anything if you got ten bucks lying around and can afford to not buy 24 cans of Mt.Dew for a week. Just sayin'.
Ciao and good luck.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Versa Vibe
Alex Lifeson of Rush will be using a new pedal the Versa Vibe, an analog vibrato effects pedal (rather pricey for $279). A demo of it is here:
http://www.dlseffects.com/sounds.php
He's also using a lot of gear I already bought. Is he trying to study under me? Yes sir, yes I think so!
http://www.dlseffects.com/sounds.php
He's also using a lot of gear I already bought. Is he trying to study under me? Yes sir, yes I think so!
The convenience of shit
Americans love shit. It's a 350 million Americans and One Cup free-for-all. Lower the quality the better, as long as it's cheap and convenient. I'm to blame here too, buying WalMart Chinese-made "polo" shirts for $1.99 with a thread-count similar to burlap. McDonald's has thinned their meat to the point a "slider" from White Castle has more. Even the BK Lounge is to blame to some degree. Instead of raising the price and maintaining size and quality the meat is almost gone. Eventually the patties will be 1 molecule thick. Nano-burgers at 60% fat. Yep, 40/60 beef. It is important to note that "beef" is the same as cow/steer/etc. and anything attached to said animal at the time of Cuisninarting, such as mud, hay in the stomach, the stomach, mostly digested hay, hooves, mud on the hooves, horns, eyes, etc. All 100% BEEF! Yum!
Same goes for media. Look at the CD. Proponents of fidelity complained of their lack. Ian Anderson was particularly surprised Americans took up this thin aluminium and polycarbonate disc, the resolution is so poor. Amazingly, people ate it up and now digital media is preferred in its ultra-lowest quality. People went out and bought MP3 players (later devolving to iPods as the popular medium which are even lower quality audio) using cheap earbud headphones that make a kettle drum sound like a pencil hitting a piece of paper. Lady Gaga is popular for music as it fits that medium nicely in the same way shit looks nice on burlap in a dark room with Buffalo Bill whispering lotion smearing desires in your ear.
Same goes for media. Look at the CD. Proponents of fidelity complained of their lack. Ian Anderson was particularly surprised Americans took up this thin aluminium and polycarbonate disc, the resolution is so poor. Amazingly, people ate it up and now digital media is preferred in its ultra-lowest quality. People went out and bought MP3 players (later devolving to iPods as the popular medium which are even lower quality audio) using cheap earbud headphones that make a kettle drum sound like a pencil hitting a piece of paper. Lady Gaga is popular for music as it fits that medium nicely in the same way shit looks nice on burlap in a dark room with Buffalo Bill whispering lotion smearing desires in your ear.
Photo image of the new iRecord iPlayer version i.
It pains me to see people using such devices. My biggest problem is the wireless (Bluetooth or otherwise) streaming audio. Even audiophile Denon is guilty of this, caving-in to peer pressure, their latest offerings having streaming Pandora and i-Devices capable audio. Horrible. I've heard the best Bluetooth headphones money can buy and it was worse than telephone quality audio. Reminded me of that "megaphone" into a "microphone" sound. Dry and soul-less, like the empty, lifeless husks that America has become, allowing the government to take care of them instead of earning the right to success through hard work and determination.
Dance and pop music will always be popular, (hense "Pop" aka "Popular" music, ahem). I miss the '70s when "popular" might have been Emerson Lake & Palmer or The Marshall Tucker Band. These folks could actually play an instrument in its organic sense with time signature not derived with "style" settings on clock-drifting keyboards via Casio or Yamaha (thanks, Japan [or Taiwan as the case is now]).
It all seems pretty bleak. I bought more analog equipment on-the-cheap for my guitar rig in defiance. It bothers me people dance to robotic beats, their own movements robotic in themselves. Ironically the dance "the robot" and its variations were often done to analog keyboards. This is no more. Emotionless children trying to mimic love by way of hook-ups and texting each other via Twitter and Facebook with one-liners like some Henny Youngman punchline reading woeful 3-frame comic strips to robot-music through tin-sounding soul-less headphones from the most soul-less factories of Asia eating microwaved, store-bought cardboard-tasting nothing (fortified with essential lab-made vitamins) perpetuating the matter on their A to B cars. Empty, without character.
America is in more than one winter this holiday season. Let's see if the tide changes.
The TV show LOST was a letdown for America
Honestly, I think the TV show LOST actually affected the American economy (designed secretly by Obama). The whole thing ends with them in purgatory and the whole reason for Jacob is a magic rock-thing with no explanation of Jacob's step-mom except maybe she's immortal for no reason. Most of the "answers" and cryptic uselessness ended up being.. yep.. magic. Pretty gay (in a bad way.. and yes, there's good gay).
Here's how it should have ended:
Here's how it should have ended:
Obama cancelled Christmas
Recently, Obama was direly quoted as saying, "My kids will succeed even if America doesn't." This is not one of those "out of context" speeches. This is direct. Please look it up online everywhere. Even if you're a rabid and blind commie-lover, you can't help but agree how fracked up this sounds. You can see his kids squirming at the evil of it in the photo above. They don't want to be a part of this. Also, Sasha's heart has fallen (on the right). Malia (on the left) is like, "Aw, shit. He didn't just say that?! My dad is killing America." She's probably also thinking, "My dad just cancelled Christmas!"
There are tons of people who don't have health insurance, because the current Obama Care doesn't cover them, and standard insurance has quadrupled in the last few months in preparation for the devastating blow that will cripple our nation. You see, my mother doesn't work any more, but she makes too much money to receive free medical now. Zero dollars is too much. It turns out, you need $-33,000/yr. to receive free medical (it has to be in monthly checks of negative dollars).
Currently, there's a battle against the Repubs to increase taxes on everyone's payroll. If your household makes a rather good $50,000 a year, your taxes will go up 10%. This includes miltary members. Also, unemployment benefits will be made smaller (they're pretty small right now) and Medicare will be cut in half. Repubs are trying to stop this but it's a stalemate. Default of a stalemate is that it goes through.
Here's what Republican Mitt Romney had to say about things in New Hampshire recently:
Reuters--
Mitt Romney, in a speech last night that his campaign billed as his “closing argument’’ before Republican voters start selecting their nominee, focused almost exclusively on President Obama and cast the election as “a battle for America’s soul.’’
“This is an election not to replace a president but to save a vision of America,’’ Romney said before a crowd of about 150 at the Bedford Town Hall. “It’s a choice between two destinies.’’
Romney used particularly sharp rhetoric, casting Obama as divisive, someone who, instead of lifting the country up, uses “the invisible boot of government to bring us all down.’’
“I have a vision of a very different America, an America united not by our limits but by our ambitions, our hopes, and our shared dreams,’’ Romney said, wearing jeans and an open-collared shirt and reading from a prompter. “I am tired of a president who wakes up every day, looks out across America, and is proud to announce, ‘It could be worse.’ It could be worse? Is that what it means to be an American? It could be worse?’’
As he has in recent days, Romney accused Obama of creating “an entitlement society’’ where Americans are too reliant on government.It's true, every word of it. The rich pay 70% of all of America's taxes and often pay over 60% of their income. Why not a flat tax? Isn't that fair and even? I'd like to think so. I wonder if Cain's mistresses were paid-off to stop such nonsense? At least he had a business plan.
Sometimes I wonder if Republicans aren't on some other non-economic agenda. Personally, all I care about is economic growth of the US and a strong military to protect us against foreign invaders. Everything else is pretty much pointless to me, though several Repubs really are for anti-abortion laws and gun-freedom. I see a lot of Dems voting for personal rights of gay-marriage/rights. Sometimes I see rather intelligent folks voting for only those reasons, as it's their soul agenda. Since gun-freedom is a liberal point of view, wouldn't Dems back-up that? If that was the case, would Repubs swing over suddenly? I don't think these 3 issues listed should be involved in picking a governments. Since the issues are too polarizing, they should be dropped. By doing this, people could focus on what matters as a government and not what matters as a religious or personal freedom. I say we leave it to the families to decide those 3 things and move on, then maybe we could get some intellectual voting (or more than likely, no one would vote because then it wouldn't matter to them). Silly issues, those 3. Waste of time. Leave it to the States to decide, so if you don't like it you can move to another State and still be an American. Shrug.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Over the Rainbow
When Wizard of Oz was filmed in 1939, there was a scene just after The Witch of the West had imprisoned Dorothy in a tower and had locked the doors with a promise of a 30 minute death-sentence. Dorothy, trying the locks comes to the realization that her dreams of adventure have a dark side, and she's in over her head: that her childhood dreams were merely whimsy and is about to cause several she just met a death sentence including herself.
Too emotionally charged, the producers removed the short scene. Judy Garland delivers this darker reprise of Over the Rainbow, the original film footage supposedly rotting at the bottom of the Pacific. Bootleg copies of this short reprise exist, and one was grudgingly allowed to be copied onto the 70th Anniversary edition of the BluRay re-release of the film.
Here's what Wiki has to say about it:
In that extremely intense and fear-filled rendition, Dorothy weeps her way through it, unable to finish, concluding with a tear-filled, "I'm frightened, Auntie Em – I'm frightened!" This phrase was retained in the film and is followed immediately by Aunt Em's brief appearance in the witch's crystal, where she is soon replaced by the visage of the witch, mocking and taunting Dorothy before turning toward the camera to cackle.
Here 'tis:
Okay, if after this, you're ballin' your eyes out, here's a reprieve:
Too emotionally charged, the producers removed the short scene. Judy Garland delivers this darker reprise of Over the Rainbow, the original film footage supposedly rotting at the bottom of the Pacific. Bootleg copies of this short reprise exist, and one was grudgingly allowed to be copied onto the 70th Anniversary edition of the BluRay re-release of the film.
Here's what Wiki has to say about it:
In that extremely intense and fear-filled rendition, Dorothy weeps her way through it, unable to finish, concluding with a tear-filled, "I'm frightened, Auntie Em – I'm frightened!" This phrase was retained in the film and is followed immediately by Aunt Em's brief appearance in the witch's crystal, where she is soon replaced by the visage of the witch, mocking and taunting Dorothy before turning toward the camera to cackle.
Here 'tis:
Okay, if after this, you're ballin' your eyes out, here's a reprieve:
Paul McCartney is dead!
It all started years ago, when The Beatles were a worldwide super-hit. People would literally die to go see the band, and often did. In 1969, The Beatles were featured in a magazine that offered, "Is Paul dead?" In 1970 the band broke-up. Immediate worldwide search began on all the album covers and "clues" to see if he really was dead.
Back in 1978, I was eight years old and my elementary school music teacher introduced us to concepts of music and its worldwide cultural significance, starting with the ending to the rather pretty song, Strawberry Fields. The end of the song starts a horrifying, off-key carnival bit, back-masked (in reverse) like some sort of evil clown nightmare, merging into dangerously scary and inappropriate weirder sounds, followed by a backwards-sounding "I buried.. Paul." Scary as all hell in its demonic tongue (you don't need to play the single backwards to hear it) she explained there were several "clues" that Paul was indeed dead. She pointed out quite a few, to include the rather pop-culture now-popular age-28 death of musicians thing on the album Abbey Road which had a Volkswagen Bug's license plate reading, "28-IF" (If he had lived he would have been 28 years old). Things get wilder and even more scary.Of course, the "Walrus" in Magical Mystery Tour symbolizes Death in most cultures. Rumor has it a guy took his place when Paul crashed his car while looking at a meter-maid named Rita.
Honestly, I thought everyone knew about all this, but everyone I talk to hasn't an idea, mostly because people think media started in 2005 or something. Heck, I remember in 1978 hundreds of people were trampled daily just to get in to see the movie Star Wars and that Iraq was lobbing chemical weapons back and forth against Iran who followed suit. Guess Iraq gave-up such an effective offense measure because it was too mean? Yeah, Saddam wasn't a meanie. He'd never resort to those kind of tactics! It's.. why.. it's too inhumane! (smirk).
The Beatles utterly deny such claims, but some of them are downright amazing that it wasn't planned and all pure coincidence. You can decide if it's all balderdash.. or if there's something really going on.
Paul is dead Visual Clues.
Paul is dead Audio Clues.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Recant
I put Doro Pesch's album Love Me in Black as part of the top 10 most epic albums of all time, which was a mistake. Albeit a very good album, like Metallica's Black Album, neither is "epic". Very well engineered, engaging, interesting, fresh, yes. Epic? No. Sometimes you get your mind in a fix where you start typing up all these albums you really like at random and it's unfair. A 5th album will be listed, as well as an additional five that are all pre-1980.
I've been working quite a few hours and am all upside-down and my sleep schedule is fubar'ed so there'll be a new, goodly post within the next 24. I recommend reading my rate kids' drawings post a few days back for humor, even though it's a bit morbid now that I look back at it.
I haven't even touched my guitars at all the last week, just mopey (which'll pent-up and translate well into some work). I've been seriously considering re-doing my first song, Ala Baeg which I orchestrated (badly) in 1991. A fresh approach at the opus is worthwhile as most people haven't heard it (on cassette no less). Ala Baeg is, "An Amish Lad in the Antarctic, Being Attacked by an Electric Guitar". Yeah.... that's it.
I'm not going to comment on that Korean Hitler being dead either. We had a good hoot for that on-crew, huzzah, but as Johnny mentioned, "Nothing changes on New Years' Day". True enough with his whack-job son, "Fatty McFatty Pants McFatFat". Ching CHOW.
I've been working quite a few hours and am all upside-down and my sleep schedule is fubar'ed so there'll be a new, goodly post within the next 24. I recommend reading my rate kids' drawings post a few days back for humor, even though it's a bit morbid now that I look back at it.
I haven't even touched my guitars at all the last week, just mopey (which'll pent-up and translate well into some work). I've been seriously considering re-doing my first song, Ala Baeg which I orchestrated (badly) in 1991. A fresh approach at the opus is worthwhile as most people haven't heard it (on cassette no less). Ala Baeg is, "An Amish Lad in the Antarctic, Being Attacked by an Electric Guitar". Yeah.... that's it.
I'm not going to comment on that Korean Hitler being dead either. We had a good hoot for that on-crew, huzzah, but as Johnny mentioned, "Nothing changes on New Years' Day". True enough with his whack-job son, "Fatty McFatty Pants McFatFat". Ching CHOW.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Madonna at the SuperBowl halftime show!
Madonna is going to perform at the SuperBowl half-time show! Yeah! All RIGHT! Because that's what we all love for music! All football fans buy Madonna albums! All RIGHT!!! We WON!
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luckily, I don't watch the SuperBowl, because it's fixed, like MMA, and every other sport (except jai-alai.. you just can't fake that shite.)
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luckily, I don't watch the SuperBowl, because it's fixed, like MMA, and every other sport (except jai-alai.. you just can't fake that shite.)
Jai Alai. Dos Equis' Most Interesting Man. from Dave Arnold on Vimeo.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Stunted growth of the soul
I see a lot of folks "set in their ways" by their mid-20s in the USAF. Lots of Staff Sergeants and the like are common in my neck of the "Space Command" woods, so it's common to see mid-to-late 20-somethings, usually with new kids and new wives, dealing with basic issues like money and not getting along and that it's not all Utopian prince / princess dream-promises mommy and daddy lied about through their teeth as they tried not to strangle each-other. I find it all cute, as it's all a learning-process of one's self. They're forced to evolve and share.
Once that process is complete to a point of equilibrium with their spouse, normally they then become dictators with their kids which often translates into shoddy leadership at work, strong-arming folks near their age into abominational duties. I think that's how we got through WW-II, as bad parents perpetuate deep-seeded resentments onto their kids, now finally free to voice their hurt without realizing it. Nurtured in darkness, subdued and beaten-down into that stifled, dark place where the seed can thrive and grow.
One of the problems of this is that people get to a point in life and stop growing as an individual. I myself am aware of this danger and constantly, though casually experience new things. Becky and I are sure to carefully explore the world and our selves within, both our own strengths and weaknesses, and other nations and environs. We're lucky to do so, in both levels as we have the means to do so in a way that's not completely safe but safe enough. Take Belize for instance. We couldn't afford a presidential-like visit, but we did bus it across the country and take a flat-boat across a piranha-infested river (all enjoying the few silver coins I tossed overboard in fervor). We were deposited in a jungle for a while (there's no such thing as a rain-forest, it's a "jungle". I suspect a dozen years from now we'll call it something equally as gay, like an "eco-structure" or some other bullshit, it's a "jungle".) At least we could experience the locals to a degree, mildly supervised on the boarder of Nicaragua by gunpoint, as in Jamaica, but not hostilely, just.. cautiously. Fair enough. I accept.
EXPLORE the world and get out of your shell, people. Once you stop learning you're dying.
Once that process is complete to a point of equilibrium with their spouse, normally they then become dictators with their kids which often translates into shoddy leadership at work, strong-arming folks near their age into abominational duties. I think that's how we got through WW-II, as bad parents perpetuate deep-seeded resentments onto their kids, now finally free to voice their hurt without realizing it. Nurtured in darkness, subdued and beaten-down into that stifled, dark place where the seed can thrive and grow.
One of the problems of this is that people get to a point in life and stop growing as an individual. I myself am aware of this danger and constantly, though casually experience new things. Becky and I are sure to carefully explore the world and our selves within, both our own strengths and weaknesses, and other nations and environs. We're lucky to do so, in both levels as we have the means to do so in a way that's not completely safe but safe enough. Take Belize for instance. We couldn't afford a presidential-like visit, but we did bus it across the country and take a flat-boat across a piranha-infested river (all enjoying the few silver coins I tossed overboard in fervor). We were deposited in a jungle for a while (there's no such thing as a rain-forest, it's a "jungle". I suspect a dozen years from now we'll call it something equally as gay, like an "eco-structure" or some other bullshit, it's a "jungle".) At least we could experience the locals to a degree, mildly supervised on the boarder of Nicaragua by gunpoint, as in Jamaica, but not hostilely, just.. cautiously. Fair enough. I accept.
People I meet do not grow as individuals. A big part of that is having kids. Such a trauma, being thrust into that sleepless role I suspect they grasp onto whatever they've learned to that point and just go with it, for good or bad. Pretty sad, really, but it's the nature of things. It's important to try to continue to be progressive and learn as a person. New musics are a start, though scream-o leaves something to be desired, and I never could wrap my head around narcissistic-rap, "This is why I'm hot." Uh-huh. Yeah, sure. Not convinced, buddy. I doubt even you are, else as a man you wouldn't announce it over and over.
Growing and trying new things is important. Trying new music, like Zydeco's rich culture fusion of French bluegrass, or a whole genre of movies like Film Noir of the 1940's really branches one's soul to grow. I'm not saying try it. I'm saying bathe in it fully. Consider a different religion, not to embrace but to learn a different concept, a different region's point-of-view. Don't worry, you are not forced to subscribe to it. Sheesh, people, grow-up. Just understand what they're thinking about. Consider only eating a region's food for 1 month, like Caribbean food only. Rather good, actually. Consider a movie style for 1 month only, or buy a scooter and drive that for 1 month only. I figure 1 month is the required minimum time to begin to understand something. Try a new band, from it's first to last album and only listen to those for a month in sequential order. Led Zeppelin is pretty safe. Be brave and try Genesis or The Alen Parson's Project. Braver still, try some band that only existed from 1940 to 1955.
I'm not saying give up what you love, just try new things. It doesn't have to be costly. By all means, go on the cheap! Someone should recommend something for me to try. I'm game.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
I grade your kids' drawings again!
Yay, it's December, and it's time for me to grade some kids' drawings again! HooRAY! Yay! Okay, let's see what we have here first...
Oh, how pretty. We have a wonderful drawing entitled, Singing in the Rain. Nice it's titled, as it gives reference to Gene Kelley's masterpiece film? No. As you can see here, the hailstorm is confusing the victim as the male, with knife in left-hand (and therefore a south-paw and therefore an undesirable evil man by some cultures) has just murdered the flat-chested girl with short hair for not shaving her pelvic region by slicing open her throat. He grins in victory. He's been waiting for this for so long. Behind him, the voices in purple are calling out to him, but he can't hear them now with the falling hailstones. She tried to defend herself with a pair of scissors but it was too late. The melting hailstones will wash away the blood of her failure to him, for the last time. Grade: F.
This one's called, Snowman Eyelashes for some reason. Five onlooking, naked and erect Buffalo Bills from Silence of the Lambs have just murdered a small boy, the leader with dagger in-hand looks on, approvingly of his work. The parents had described the yellow lines on their faces as "teeth". We all know it's the hidden, defiant smiles within their souls giving themselves away. I'm not sure why they killed the boy. Probably because it failed to put lotion in the basket. Notice the bloody stumps for feet. They hated their feet and cut them off long ago, but the scars never healed. I think I hear the police outside. Grade: F
One might think this is a pleasant scene in the titled work, A Peace of Serenity. It is not. The earth's sky has inverted such that clouds are now blue and the sky is white. The Earth has become a greenhouse in this dystopian future and the sun has swollen and is burned-off all animal life. A solar flare is visible, barely through the white cloud-cover in brown, it's deadly energy soon to take-out the last of life. Mountains have heaved into impossible angles, and a tree has cancer from it with a black spot prevalent. Carnivorous tulips are thriving for now, however. Such a dim outlook. Grade: F
Untitled work here, a family of legless snowmen, doubtful of reality with no mouths, they can't enjoy the gifts bestowed of candy-canes. There's only 3 candy-canes but 5 of them. Luckily, there's seemingly 5 presents, all Glocks to shoot themselves in the head with. The father has a hat behind is head and merely wants happiness, but it never comes. Mom's hat is also stuck to the back of her head and is very dubious of her wish as well. Peace will never come. Another, younger male wants no homework and does want "fun" whatever that might be. The second-youngest child wants cakes and sweets, the youngest wants not just a present, but lots of presents. One isn't enough. The elders here want only to be happy and left alone, but the kids want a selfish existence. Peace will not come of this. They also don't want to educate themselves or earn anything. This reminds me heavily of the Occupiers creed on Wall Street: to be uneducated and get free stuff. This Obama-based communism can only lead to destruction. I like to think the 3 candy-canes are also guns to trick the younger ones into shooting their own heads off supplied by mom and dad. The presents are empty decoy boxes. At least it'd give the rational adults peace (and happiness). Grade: F
I got nothing for this one, though mommy should ask her daughter if Uncle Jimmy has been a good babysitter or not. Grade: F
Why Rush concerts are great...
Last year at the Time Machine tour...
2113 at 3:05.. wizard costumes!
Alex Lifeson, the guitarist, made a few "Tiki" videos on his website with the help of some of his nerdy friends (for real). Here's him meeting KISS.
2113 at 3:05.. wizard costumes!
Alex Lifeson, the guitarist, made a few "Tiki" videos on his website with the help of some of his nerdy friends (for real). Here's him meeting KISS.
Top 10 epic albums (part 1 of 2)
It's a dead concept, epic albums. Probably died-off around 1988 or so. Huge masterpieces that span the entire length of the album. Huge story-arcs on a grand scale. Sure, there's a few weak attempts, such as R.Kelly's over-repetitive, Trapped in the Closet in 22 painful chapters, or Coheed and Cambria's rather pretentious, relationship-based Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV tetralogy are throwbacks to early opuses of days gone yore, but there's a good 20 years of it beforehand. Both of these did not inspire thousands. People didn't kill themselves over them, or become president of anything. Weak shadows of epic, life-moving albums gone past.
I'd like to note that this top-10 is not my favorite album list, just ones that I have noticed have a huge impact on society as a whole on a grandiose scale. Listed is in no particular order. I'm going to start with Rush to get it out of the way.
Rush: 2112 - Farewell To Kings - Hemispheres 3-disk story-arc
I'd like to note that this top-10 is not my favorite album list, just ones that I have noticed have a huge impact on society as a whole on a grandiose scale. Listed is in no particular order. I'm going to start with Rush to get it out of the way.
Rush: 2112 - Farewell To Kings - Hemispheres 3-disk story-arc
Rush was in their progressive-metal prime during these 3 albums, heavily based on Ayn Rand's dystopian society, particularly with 2112, the story arcs are vaguely related to each other. 2112's first half (side 1, back in the day) is a science-fiction anti-government piece in 7, 2-minute chapters, ending with the song, Grand Finale, "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation: We have assumed control." in the last 20 seconds is pretty awe-inspiring. The guitar work for 1976 when it came out was inspired also lightly by the 1812 Overture with cannons and other interesting bits placed throughout the album. Truly an experiment in musicmanship for its time, and incredibly heavy guitar-work and drumming. The 2nd half explores drug use and other AC/DC-like riffs. Continuing with the story of the Temples of Syrinx, A Farewell to Kings explores the failure of government as a whole, particularly with monarchies (as in the album cover showing a marionette king in a destroyed land taken-over by technology) and finishing off with the glorious opus of the song, Cygnus X-1 Book I about a voyage into a black-hole. The trilogy codas at the album, Cygnus X-1 Book II, Hemispheres about a planet being dominated by two demigods, Dionysus and Apollo reeking havoc over the inhabitants. Second side of Hemispheres has one of the best instrumentals ever performed, in one take, La Villa Strangiato in 11 parts. Truly amazing musicmanship that other bands only stare, slack-jawed in awe. Neil Peart and Geddy Lee are year-after-year praised even still for these 3 works, and both still receive drummer and bass-player of-the-year awards even after 35 years of playing and have never lost their edge. Oh, and well, I just like Alex too, though he never wins jack-squat.
Joe Satriani: Surfing with the Alien
Released in 1987, Joe Satriani single-handedly defined rock guitaring to it's best, most tasteful degree. This guy taught Steve Vai (the devil's champion in the film, Crossroads) is quintessential solo metal work. There is no better before or after. Eddie Van Halen is shamed as an amateur in comparison. The style had thousands running to their guitars to learn bits of each lick. Few come even close today. Every song on the album is epic and inspiring instrumental work and has affected guitarists worldwide. There are no real guitarists who don't know who Joe Satriani is, because of this album. Here's a clip eponymous of the first song.
Dream Theater's: Images and Words
Last of the hold-outs of math-rock where time signatures on sheet music look like algebraic equations, Dream Theater manages to make melody out of mayhem as if their music represents string-theory aligning all the four forces of nature together with ease. A few popular hits like Pull Me Under and Take the Time made radio-play as an excuse to get their message out. Each member schooled at Berklee College of Music, this band thinly hides Christianity behind their work. Every song an opus in itself inspiring tragedy and victory, the whole makes for an unjoined rock opera of insanely epic proportions. The guitarist, Petrucci, like Satriani, has his own line of guitars, and has been rated the second best guitarist of all time. Each song has dips, dives, and triumphant rises throughout for a roller-coaster of adventure and awesomeness, inspiring the most devout in it's clean production perfection. Dream Theater is a religion of music on it's own, and the stuff of legends.
Blind Guardian: Twist in the Myth
Blind Guardian backed-off on this release to a more melodic metal. Known affectionately as "Hobbit Metal" as Hansi Kürsch will layer his vocals on a track sometimes 36 times over to create a medieval group sing-along in a tavern effect like a hobbit-bard. Most of Blind Guardian's work involves Lord of the Rings material, such as parts from The Silmarillion stories, the one ring, etc. This album strays from Tolkien's work a little, and some of the songs have been featured in movies as credits-rolling music, such as in the surprisingly not-horrible, Jason Statham movie, Dungeon Siege. Blind Guardian has also been recently featured in certain MMO video games as well. Music-wise the material is very exceptional and each song inspires epic, grand awesomeness, urging the listener to grab the Goblet of Metal each spin.
Final in this instalment of 10 is:
Doro Pesch: Love Me in Black
Everyone loves girls that rock. Doro of the now-defunct band Warlock went solo and her stuff is hardcore as all hell like Shirley Manson on Jack and cocaine. Each song a smack in the head, "Do you like it in your head; do you like it on the phone? You must, 'cuz you're all alone." Excellent change-ups in songs like, "Poison Arrow" and sings with Lemme of Motorhead on a few tracks as he admires her very much. Each song puts a highlight on the darker side of relationships, along with the eponymous track.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_vDYcn0ci0
Friday, December 9, 2011
Wishy washy?
I take a look back at the years. This kind of weather does it for me. There's a few passages in time I barely remember, like when I lived briefly in Plaistow, NH, or at least I think I lived there for a few months. It was right after I left Fremont, NH. I moved in with a couple of older guys who I didn't know who they were who needed a townhome-mate. I was working as a temp doing data entry for a few months in the summer and I was 21 and going absolutely nowhere. I remember getting my first Yamaha guitar upgrade (from a previous entry-level model second-hand) for a few hundred bucks since the one I got off of an old friend and bass player Scott Blondin had been stepped-on by some other roommates in Fremont to my infinite angst, the neck broken in twain. Repair was more than a new guitar. I tried to keep the body and slap-on a different neck, but a Horner electric neck doesn't fit onto a Yamaha's, so I sawed the neck to get it to fit. This ended up in failure despite my best efforts at the time, resulting in a new Yamaha guitar. I think I ended up trading that one at the Citadel Mall guitar-shop in Colorado Springs in 1993 for a brand new Ibanez Custom Saber for $1300 that took me half a year to pay for on lay-away when I was making $220 a week and had no car back in the USAF, learning about GPS. With respect for the difficulty of getting it, I still have it.
I was so unfocused then. My mind wandered around pointlessly and there was no future pre-USAF. I had no drive for anything and I felt the world owed me a career. Work, sleep, messing around with that Yamaha replacement (for a Yamaha) on ultra-low volume on a white, fuzzy Fender amp that hissed like bacon. I was worse than "Any way the wind blows" because I was more a "leaf" than a "bird". I couldn't ride the currents, I was pushed by them, eventually being thrown into some leaf-pile to rot like so many who thought getting a local-town gas-station job was a good idea. Dead-ends everywhere.
I kind of like my focus now. I can get things done pretty easily. Today, however, I feel a bit brain-dead. Graveyard shifts on-end can do that to you. Mountain Dew helps ease it, but I don't have any right now. I'll probably fetch some "Mountain Dewiage" before the night is over. My vision's gone a bit. I used to have 20/10 vision but now it's a mere 20/20. Small things are blurry as are distant things. My shoulder aches from motorcycling so viciously over the years, the last few I've backed-off my insanity considerably. Whiskey is a consolation for the aches in the weather-changes.
Blah blah blah, who cares? What's the point of all this?
Well, I found direction and dedication and focus through the USAF. It was a nice gift. No, I take it back, it was a nice trade for my time and a bit of my soul. I try to hook-up with other bands but to them, a hobby is something to be dropped. There's no love in it. No passion. Maybe fleetingly, but it fades for others. Not me though, and I'm frustrated with it. With them. With everyone else I meet as musicians. Lazy folk, the lot. Under-dedicated. Drives me crazy.
I had an opportunity recently to be in a band that played soft piano stuff, my role would be infinitely diminutive, but I had my job to do as a USAF contractor and it conflicted a bit. I requested 24-hour notice for show-times but that was dismissed and unrespected. I chose a steady, conservative paycheck over an unsure, not-my-style near-dream of being in a band. Over several days I weighed it, my heart vs. my mind. I played it safe and requested a re-show and reiterated I needed 24-hours of notice. Well, it's 36-hours out from a suspected possible re-show and I've received no notice. I figure it's dead, sadly. It's like an ugly chick that wants to go out with you that has nothing in common with you. Sure, haven't been on a date in whatever number of years, but then the girl calls you at like 2am after you've been up 36 hours and just went to sleep. Is it worth it, or is it empty? Well, it'd get the "haven't had a girlfriend in many years stink" off you, sure, but...
Ah, life.
I was so unfocused then. My mind wandered around pointlessly and there was no future pre-USAF. I had no drive for anything and I felt the world owed me a career. Work, sleep, messing around with that Yamaha replacement (for a Yamaha) on ultra-low volume on a white, fuzzy Fender amp that hissed like bacon. I was worse than "Any way the wind blows" because I was more a "leaf" than a "bird". I couldn't ride the currents, I was pushed by them, eventually being thrown into some leaf-pile to rot like so many who thought getting a local-town gas-station job was a good idea. Dead-ends everywhere.
I kind of like my focus now. I can get things done pretty easily. Today, however, I feel a bit brain-dead. Graveyard shifts on-end can do that to you. Mountain Dew helps ease it, but I don't have any right now. I'll probably fetch some "Mountain Dewiage" before the night is over. My vision's gone a bit. I used to have 20/10 vision but now it's a mere 20/20. Small things are blurry as are distant things. My shoulder aches from motorcycling so viciously over the years, the last few I've backed-off my insanity considerably. Whiskey is a consolation for the aches in the weather-changes.
Blah blah blah, who cares? What's the point of all this?
Well, I found direction and dedication and focus through the USAF. It was a nice gift. No, I take it back, it was a nice trade for my time and a bit of my soul. I try to hook-up with other bands but to them, a hobby is something to be dropped. There's no love in it. No passion. Maybe fleetingly, but it fades for others. Not me though, and I'm frustrated with it. With them. With everyone else I meet as musicians. Lazy folk, the lot. Under-dedicated. Drives me crazy.
I had an opportunity recently to be in a band that played soft piano stuff, my role would be infinitely diminutive, but I had my job to do as a USAF contractor and it conflicted a bit. I requested 24-hour notice for show-times but that was dismissed and unrespected. I chose a steady, conservative paycheck over an unsure, not-my-style near-dream of being in a band. Over several days I weighed it, my heart vs. my mind. I played it safe and requested a re-show and reiterated I needed 24-hours of notice. Well, it's 36-hours out from a suspected possible re-show and I've received no notice. I figure it's dead, sadly. It's like an ugly chick that wants to go out with you that has nothing in common with you. Sure, haven't been on a date in whatever number of years, but then the girl calls you at like 2am after you've been up 36 hours and just went to sleep. Is it worth it, or is it empty? Well, it'd get the "haven't had a girlfriend in many years stink" off you, sure, but...
Ah, life.
Do I have an oven?
Odd conversation today went like this:
Old Timer: "Mike, do you have an electric oven?"
Me (initially pausing, confused): "Yes."
Old Timer: "Can I borrow it?"
Me (still a bit confused): "Um.. okay?"
Old Timer: "Can you bring it in tomorrow?"
Me (horrified): "What? The whole oven?! It weighs like 300 pounds!"
Old Timer: "No it doesn't!"
(awkward pause)
Me: "You want me to bring in a whole electric oven?"
Old Timer: "Yes."
Me: "You realize it's like 4 feet squared."
Old Timer (annoyed): "No no no. A portable oven."
Me: "You mean like a toaster-oven?"
Old Timer (more annoyed): "No."
(more awkward pause)
Old Timer: "You know, with the lid on top of it."
Me: "Like a glass lid?"
Old Timer: "Yes."
Me (thinking I understand now): "Oh, you mean a crock-pot?" (solved for sure)
Old Timer: "No." (showing the motion of removing a lid)
(more awkward pause to the hilarity of the crew, now mildly interested)
Me: (rubbing head, confused)
Old Timer: (showing dimensions of 4 feet by 1 foot with his hands) "An electric oven."
Me: (still confused) "Not a toaster-oven?"
Old Timer: "You don't get out much, do you?"
Me: "There's some kind of oven you can buy that's 1/4th the size of a normal oven with a lid on the top?"
Old Timer: "Yes, you don't have one of those? Everybody has one of those."
Me (annoyed): "No they don't!"
Old Timer: "Yes they do."
Me (angrily accosting the 6 closest people around me): "Do YOU have one of those? You? You?.."
Me (to 3 more folks): "You? How about you? Or you?" (back to Old Timer) "NO one has one of those!"
Old Timer: "Well why didn't you say so?"
That was my night.
Old Timer: "Mike, do you have an electric oven?"
Me (initially pausing, confused): "Yes."
Old Timer: "Can I borrow it?"
Me (still a bit confused): "Um.. okay?"
Old Timer: "Can you bring it in tomorrow?"
Me (horrified): "What? The whole oven?! It weighs like 300 pounds!"
Old Timer: "No it doesn't!"
(awkward pause)
Me: "You want me to bring in a whole electric oven?"
Old Timer: "Yes."
Me: "You realize it's like 4 feet squared."
Old Timer (annoyed): "No no no. A portable oven."
Me: "You mean like a toaster-oven?"
Old Timer (more annoyed): "No."
(more awkward pause)
Old Timer: "You know, with the lid on top of it."
Me: "Like a glass lid?"
Old Timer: "Yes."
Me (thinking I understand now): "Oh, you mean a crock-pot?" (solved for sure)
Old Timer: "No." (showing the motion of removing a lid)
(more awkward pause to the hilarity of the crew, now mildly interested)
Me: (rubbing head, confused)
Old Timer: (showing dimensions of 4 feet by 1 foot with his hands) "An electric oven."
Me: (still confused) "Not a toaster-oven?"
Old Timer: "You don't get out much, do you?"
Me: "There's some kind of oven you can buy that's 1/4th the size of a normal oven with a lid on the top?"
Old Timer: "Yes, you don't have one of those? Everybody has one of those."
Me (annoyed): "No they don't!"
Old Timer: "Yes they do."
Me (angrily accosting the 6 closest people around me): "Do YOU have one of those? You? You?.."
Me (to 3 more folks): "You? How about you? Or you?" (back to Old Timer) "NO one has one of those!"
Old Timer: "Well why didn't you say so?"
That was my night.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
The most difficult accoustic song to play
This is unarguably the most difficult acoustic guitar song to play all the way through. If you survive playing it, you summon 1000 Fire Salamanders that are immortal and do your bidding for all eternity.
Bard skill requirement: Level 29
Bard skill requirement: Level 29
Boss PH-1r Pedal Demo
Posted a demo of a few of my pedals on YouTube, primarily focusing on the Boss PH-1r (rare 1983 Japanese version). HD version is here: http://youtu.be/2qYEvZIYAio?hd=1
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Pissed off at everything
Why is it YouTubers are shoving advertisements in your face? Really? You think you're gonna make a few bucks by selling-out and irritating us all? Guess what? The minute I see a "Your video will start in 0:05 after this advertisement" bullshit, I'm gonna NOT watch it. I search a non-whore posting of the same video. Also, chumps are shoving in-video advertisements as well. Pretty slutty. What, you can't post something pure? You have to contaminate it with your greed? Just shows that you have no morals and you're a greedy emmer-effer. Nice display of character, you scab-ass bitch. Enjoy your lonely pennies. Hope you wreck and your near-dead body is raped by ice-weasles.
You know what else pisses me off? Non-callbacks via email or otherwise. Cowards. "Hey, can we reschedule?" Silence. Is that trendy or cool? Nope. It's el-lame-o. Not gonna get far that way, folks. Step-up and reply back, even if it's a "no thanks". Have some frackin' balls.
People who steal other people's programming code is shitty too, especially when they take credit for it. Yep, plagiarism. Fine if you ask first. Crappy if you steal it and prance about saying, "Look what I created!" without any acknowledgement of the original programmer. Pretty much pure evil. A lot of programmers create nice libraries of functions for others to use. Why not make a few of your own? Not savvy enough? Take the freakin' 5 seconds to learn how to do it from scratch first. Reminds me of rap artists using fragments of other songs to build their own. Scavengers. At least they pay-out the royalties, so it ain't all that bad. If there were no copyrights on it, they'd rob everyone blind on the stuff. Glad it's not as popular as it used to be: sorry Sean Combs. I see this on a corporate level in Lockheed, this corporate espionage. I could easily blackmail a few folks I know who do this to one-up the others for significant raises. Desperate little scrap-dog bitches shivering in the cold air not worthy of being pissed-on, lying about fun stuff so that other people like them, "Yeah.. uh, I drink Jack Daniel's Gold all the time! It's my favorite whiskey." Really? Jack Daniel's Gold? Every bar has this? A quick Google (as he did when caught and got back to me a bit later scamper-scamper style, the little bitch) indicates there's a "Gold Medal 1954" for a few hundred bucks in extreme limited quantities. If he orders it all the time I'm sure he'd be let down, as it's hard to find a bar that doesn't consider regular Jack Daniel's as a top-shelf item, nevermind some rarity like that. Even a local watering hole Jack Quinn's Irish Bar barely has 18-year scotch which is extremely rare for this low-life, un-cultured town of shit. Nice try, bitch. Fail, liar.
I also get mad when people think Republicans take away freedoms when the Socialist, oh, I mean Democratic party (yeah, it's become that) has slowly taken away our freedoms for years. Incandescent light bulbs are a thing of the past now. Remember those? Decent flushing toilets for water conservation (the most abundant thing on the Earth, water). More control of things. More forced control. Mandated emission standards on vehicles by year 2014. No choice. We will tell you what is right and good. How is that not taking away one's freedoms? Democratic no-thinkers shrug off these accusations, staring vacantly at CNN dot com with glee, "Everything's fine. The economy isn't that bad." Yeah, we won.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/12/barack-obama-my-kids-will-succeed-even-if-usa-doesnt/
You know what else pisses me off? Non-callbacks via email or otherwise. Cowards. "Hey, can we reschedule?" Silence. Is that trendy or cool? Nope. It's el-lame-o. Not gonna get far that way, folks. Step-up and reply back, even if it's a "no thanks". Have some frackin' balls.
People who steal other people's programming code is shitty too, especially when they take credit for it. Yep, plagiarism. Fine if you ask first. Crappy if you steal it and prance about saying, "Look what I created!" without any acknowledgement of the original programmer. Pretty much pure evil. A lot of programmers create nice libraries of functions for others to use. Why not make a few of your own? Not savvy enough? Take the freakin' 5 seconds to learn how to do it from scratch first. Reminds me of rap artists using fragments of other songs to build their own. Scavengers. At least they pay-out the royalties, so it ain't all that bad. If there were no copyrights on it, they'd rob everyone blind on the stuff. Glad it's not as popular as it used to be: sorry Sean Combs. I see this on a corporate level in Lockheed, this corporate espionage. I could easily blackmail a few folks I know who do this to one-up the others for significant raises. Desperate little scrap-dog bitches shivering in the cold air not worthy of being pissed-on, lying about fun stuff so that other people like them, "Yeah.. uh, I drink Jack Daniel's Gold all the time! It's my favorite whiskey." Really? Jack Daniel's Gold? Every bar has this? A quick Google (as he did when caught and got back to me a bit later scamper-scamper style, the little bitch) indicates there's a "Gold Medal 1954" for a few hundred bucks in extreme limited quantities. If he orders it all the time I'm sure he'd be let down, as it's hard to find a bar that doesn't consider regular Jack Daniel's as a top-shelf item, nevermind some rarity like that. Even a local watering hole Jack Quinn's Irish Bar barely has 18-year scotch which is extremely rare for this low-life, un-cultured town of shit. Nice try, bitch. Fail, liar.
I also get mad when people think Republicans take away freedoms when the Socialist, oh, I mean Democratic party (yeah, it's become that) has slowly taken away our freedoms for years. Incandescent light bulbs are a thing of the past now. Remember those? Decent flushing toilets for water conservation (the most abundant thing on the Earth, water). More control of things. More forced control. Mandated emission standards on vehicles by year 2014. No choice. We will tell you what is right and good. How is that not taking away one's freedoms? Democratic no-thinkers shrug off these accusations, staring vacantly at CNN dot com with glee, "Everything's fine. The economy isn't that bad." Yeah, we won.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/12/barack-obama-my-kids-will-succeed-even-if-usa-doesnt/
No response
I had requested that Abagail Geddey's "mom/manager" give me 24-hours notice for a re-audition, but I only got a 6 hour notice in between my mid shifts so I had to request a re-schedule, but I've received no response so I figure that whole thing is dead. I had to work that afternoon (another 12 hour shift) leaving me with a total of 2.5 hours of sleep in 24 and having to be hyper-alert due to "events". A bit unprofessional to leave me hanging with no, "You're right, Mike. Sorry about that, here, we'll reschedule" but whatever. Not all bands are "professional". Guess I'll keep looking for a rock band in need of awesomeness.
Freezin' cold today at minus 7. Courtney is sick so I can't get a much-needed haircut. Guess I'll be hunted as a werewolf a little longer.
I finally get a day off though, (well, a night anyway) which is good. Saved a satellite last night which is freakin' awesome. (Insert Queen's Princes of the Universe here).
Freezin' cold today at minus 7. Courtney is sick so I can't get a much-needed haircut. Guess I'll be hunted as a werewolf a little longer.
I finally get a day off though, (well, a night anyway) which is good. Saved a satellite last night which is freakin' awesome. (Insert Queen's Princes of the Universe here).
Glad I could save the planet on that one. Awesome-o. I figure I'll plug some pedals in and maybe work on Limbo tonite. We'll see how that goes.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Wonderful new guitar pedals
In the last few days I've been working some heavy hours, but in the mail came some wonderful guitar pedals. I got a rather rare Boss PH-1r Phaser finally, in rather beat-up shape and reeked of ozone (not a good sign). I'm timid to power it up. I need to open 'er up and see if there's any burnt bits beforehand. My schedule's been .. shall we say, "busy" lately with the Middle-East (vs. the Middle-West as it were) and, of course, Russia, so I haven't had time to play (or sleep much).
Also, Behringer has a great deal on some very inexpensive pedals ($9 each). The Analog Delay Vintage is quite nice, and there's a GEQ 7-band pedal that'll round things out nicely at the end of my pedal chain and back into my Digitech 2112 multi-effects processor and BBE Sonic Maximizer. I think I have about all the sweet-tone options now that exist. There's rumor that the Boss PH-1r is not as good as a MXR Phase 90 or Electric-Mistress "Small Stone" but that's a matter of taste. I wouldn't mind a "Blue Box" MXR Fuzz distortion as it makes guitar sound like an Atari 2600 which is pretty insane/cool. Maybe I can snag a cheap one on eBay under $50 after Christmas.
In any case, my new song will be "space" related I think, and sound a lot like the band Ardor in style guitar-wise but more layered and textural. I'll probably pull out all the stops on it and use all my tricks and heavy change-ups, but I still want to cover Limbo first (once I get a freakin' day off!)
Cheers and keep warm! It's cold outside!
Also, Behringer has a great deal on some very inexpensive pedals ($9 each). The Analog Delay Vintage is quite nice, and there's a GEQ 7-band pedal that'll round things out nicely at the end of my pedal chain and back into my Digitech 2112 multi-effects processor and BBE Sonic Maximizer. I think I have about all the sweet-tone options now that exist. There's rumor that the Boss PH-1r is not as good as a MXR Phase 90 or Electric-Mistress "Small Stone" but that's a matter of taste. I wouldn't mind a "Blue Box" MXR Fuzz distortion as it makes guitar sound like an Atari 2600 which is pretty insane/cool. Maybe I can snag a cheap one on eBay under $50 after Christmas.
In any case, my new song will be "space" related I think, and sound a lot like the band Ardor in style guitar-wise but more layered and textural. I'll probably pull out all the stops on it and use all my tricks and heavy change-ups, but I still want to cover Limbo first (once I get a freakin' day off!)
Cheers and keep warm! It's cold outside!
Friday, December 2, 2011
Fritz the Cat - A synopsis / analysis
Netflix offered it streaming so I gave it a whirl. I've watched Bakshi's other masterpieces in animation, Heavy Traffic, American Pop, and The Lord of the Rings (animated). There was huge rumor that Fritz the Cat was animated pornography, but Ralph Bakshi doesn't do nudity for nudity's sake, instead, obscenity is a reflection of society as a whole.
Disney damned the production, stating it was an era of cartoon pornography and that it was abhorrent and vulgar.
Fritz the Cat has a good amount of sex and nudity in it, but not more than some college comedies popular today. I figured I was old enough to not be overwhelmed by it, such as I'm mature enough to endure the movie Bruno without having to go to confession.
Basically, it's about anamorphic animal characters, generally Jewish, during the 1960's trying to find the answers to life in short-sighted fashion. Focusing primarily on Fritz, he swindles his way into getting drugs and sex without having any responsibility. Eventually he meets up with anarchists who con him into destroying a power-plant in the desert in which he blows himself up in the process. Miraculously, he survives. You think he'd change his ways by this point but in his dying breath still cons some visiting girls using emotional blackmail into performing group.. well.. you get the idea.
One scene was rather clever when inner-city blacks that are portrayed as crows are killed in a mass riot. At the end of it, you see white sea-gulls flying off and upwards, their spirits finally free in death. Fritz is represented as the "white man" as a whole. When he tries to help-out he only ruins things, not completely understanding the whole surrounding karma. The crows are doomed to be trapped. Despite their wings Fritz can't understand why they don't fly away from the city. It's their own galactic fate that traps them.
The movie punctuates by a notice that it's 1972 and rated X (no one under 16 admitted). I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone under 35, personally.
It's a dark reflection of humanity. All of Ralph Bakshi's work usually is pessimistic of people's souls as a whole, that they cannot change and that people are generally wicked and selfish and that society rewards this nature of Neutral Evil, though sometimes Chaotic Evil or Lawful Evil. There is not goodness anywhere in his world. At best, goodness is naivete, only waiting to be corrupted eventually. There's no escaping it anywhere, in any town, in any place. Characters are demanded to be evil and if they're not, they'll be violated and destroyed utterly until they become so themselves. It reminds me of Mother Nature; it almost smacks of True Neutral that things exist without conscious, only hunger. If a wolf devours a rabbit violently, is the wolf evil or just surviving? It's hard to tell. I think Bakshai makes these same parallels in inner-city life. Deep stuff, and worth a watch.
Disney damned the production, stating it was an era of cartoon pornography and that it was abhorrent and vulgar.
Fritz the Cat has a good amount of sex and nudity in it, but not more than some college comedies popular today. I figured I was old enough to not be overwhelmed by it, such as I'm mature enough to endure the movie Bruno without having to go to confession.
Basically, it's about anamorphic animal characters, generally Jewish, during the 1960's trying to find the answers to life in short-sighted fashion. Focusing primarily on Fritz, he swindles his way into getting drugs and sex without having any responsibility. Eventually he meets up with anarchists who con him into destroying a power-plant in the desert in which he blows himself up in the process. Miraculously, he survives. You think he'd change his ways by this point but in his dying breath still cons some visiting girls using emotional blackmail into performing group.. well.. you get the idea.
One scene was rather clever when inner-city blacks that are portrayed as crows are killed in a mass riot. At the end of it, you see white sea-gulls flying off and upwards, their spirits finally free in death. Fritz is represented as the "white man" as a whole. When he tries to help-out he only ruins things, not completely understanding the whole surrounding karma. The crows are doomed to be trapped. Despite their wings Fritz can't understand why they don't fly away from the city. It's their own galactic fate that traps them.
The movie punctuates by a notice that it's 1972 and rated X (no one under 16 admitted). I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone under 35, personally.
It's a dark reflection of humanity. All of Ralph Bakshi's work usually is pessimistic of people's souls as a whole, that they cannot change and that people are generally wicked and selfish and that society rewards this nature of Neutral Evil, though sometimes Chaotic Evil or Lawful Evil. There is not goodness anywhere in his world. At best, goodness is naivete, only waiting to be corrupted eventually. There's no escaping it anywhere, in any town, in any place. Characters are demanded to be evil and if they're not, they'll be violated and destroyed utterly until they become so themselves. It reminds me of Mother Nature; it almost smacks of True Neutral that things exist without conscious, only hunger. If a wolf devours a rabbit violently, is the wolf evil or just surviving? It's hard to tell. I think Bakshai makes these same parallels in inner-city life. Deep stuff, and worth a watch.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Guess I made the cut
Well, it looks like I made the cut for the band now temporarily known as Abagail Geddyes. It's very contemporary Amy Grant stuff, but it's a start. I have to be well-dressed at concerts and the like. No blue hair for now.
While talking to the tyke, she expressed a furvor for the up-and-coming band Ardor. I gave a few listens and this is much more my cup-of-tea guitar-wise (albeit some scream-core sections which are.. well.. the kids like it I guess). I might be able to suggest using my gloves of CHR +4 to maybe do a few of those songs. With Abagail's pipes being so unusually strong, I think she could manage it pretty easily.
Here's a sample of Ardor... to escape the "Cookie Monster" singing, go to 0:55...
Abagail even looks similar except that she's blonde. I think it'd sell better. More flash than light piano.
While talking to the tyke, she expressed a furvor for the up-and-coming band Ardor. I gave a few listens and this is much more my cup-of-tea guitar-wise (albeit some scream-core sections which are.. well.. the kids like it I guess). I might be able to suggest using my gloves of CHR +4 to maybe do a few of those songs. With Abagail's pipes being so unusually strong, I think she could manage it pretty easily.
Here's a sample of Ardor... to escape the "Cookie Monster" singing, go to 0:55...
Abagail even looks similar except that she's blonde. I think it'd sell better. More flash than light piano.
A view of the 1%'ers and Participation Trophies
Dave Drasheff sent me this one. It's quite a good listen. Enjoy:
*Warning (explicit language)
*Warning (explicit language)
Obama funds AIDS research!
Wow, that's so great! He directed $50M towards AIDS research in America! Out of the $15T spending this year he gave .00033% of the budget towards that. $535B for Solyndra in 2009 to 3 campaign contributors though (3.5% of the budget), and $46B towards funding for Egypt this year.
Let's put it in better perspective.
3 cents towards HIV medical studies.
$350,000 for Soyndra
$30,600 for Egypt.
Oh, you got AIDS? Here, have 3 pennies. I gotta give Egypt some cizza$h. POW! At least both Bush administrations made sure there was $200M annually, though that's only a dollar (based on the budget at that time).. at least you can buy a McDouble with that.
Yay, we won.
Let's put it in better perspective.
3 cents towards HIV medical studies.
$350,000 for Soyndra
$30,600 for Egypt.
Oh, you got AIDS? Here, have 3 pennies. I gotta give Egypt some cizza$h. POW! At least both Bush administrations made sure there was $200M annually, though that's only a dollar (based on the budget at that time).. at least you can buy a McDouble with that.
Yay, we won.
New bill being passed: Directive 17.
There's an interesting new bill being passed in the Senate right now. I love how the majority of senators are not present to vote with stacks of the bill just sitting at vacant desks.
Here's the presentation video for it:
Here's the presentation video for it:
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Audition update.
Dressed up like going to work with khakis and a polo, hair el-perfecto (as usual). Got there 10 minutes early to drag my gear in and set up.
Played with bass player, named, "Some call me.. Tim?" It's weird to not audition for a rock band, to play something backed-off and mellow for a 15 year old girl, but the kid had pipes that'd knock yer socks off and played piano with great dynamics which was wonderful. I was able to add my own guitar parts, backing off as necessary (which is again, weird but okay).
Got there and set up my mini-rig and then was presented some sheet music to play with off-the-cuff. I'm pretty sure I got most of the chords at the right timing. Rather good for a first time. Got to play it a second time with Tim, both times with Abagail. Came out rather pretty I think. No drummer this time 'round. Got minimal feedback from her manager, "Mom, aka Jackie" (who's interestingly my age), though second song was a Lady GaGa piece I had never heard of. Got to play it through once as well. I requested I add a solo during the "Hey Jude" portion that was injected into it ala bluesy.
I had to make up the guitar parts as we went, given only the chords and having seen them the first time ever just then. I got to hear the song once.. theeeeen.... GO.
Overall pretty good, but I got the "We'll call you" bit. I think I don't have any competition though, plus I'm pretty awesome for rocking out off-the-cuff. Mom let me play a few riffs of Tom Sawyer. Tim had never heard of it as I explained the notes as we went along. I cut it short right before the solo. Didn't get any "wows" or jaw-drops, just nods as Jackie took notes down and explained contracts and what-not.
Man, I was so sleepy after working a few mids. You think I'd be spot-on but I just didn't have that vibe tonite, playing so quiet and all in a living room sitting on a nice couch. My mind was all fuzzy for some reason. Probably the Russians zapping me with their outer-space lazer-rays and I didn't have my tinfoil helmet on.
Very fun regardless and Abagail has some talent to be sure.
Hm. I guess we'll see then.
Played with bass player, named, "Some call me.. Tim?" It's weird to not audition for a rock band, to play something backed-off and mellow for a 15 year old girl, but the kid had pipes that'd knock yer socks off and played piano with great dynamics which was wonderful. I was able to add my own guitar parts, backing off as necessary (which is again, weird but okay).
Got there and set up my mini-rig and then was presented some sheet music to play with off-the-cuff. I'm pretty sure I got most of the chords at the right timing. Rather good for a first time. Got to play it a second time with Tim, both times with Abagail. Came out rather pretty I think. No drummer this time 'round. Got minimal feedback from her manager, "Mom, aka Jackie" (who's interestingly my age), though second song was a Lady GaGa piece I had never heard of. Got to play it through once as well. I requested I add a solo during the "Hey Jude" portion that was injected into it ala bluesy.
I had to make up the guitar parts as we went, given only the chords and having seen them the first time ever just then. I got to hear the song once.. theeeeen.... GO.
Overall pretty good, but I got the "We'll call you" bit. I think I don't have any competition though, plus I'm pretty awesome for rocking out off-the-cuff. Mom let me play a few riffs of Tom Sawyer. Tim had never heard of it as I explained the notes as we went along. I cut it short right before the solo. Didn't get any "wows" or jaw-drops, just nods as Jackie took notes down and explained contracts and what-not.
Man, I was so sleepy after working a few mids. You think I'd be spot-on but I just didn't have that vibe tonite, playing so quiet and all in a living room sitting on a nice couch. My mind was all fuzzy for some reason. Probably the Russians zapping me with their outer-space lazer-rays and I didn't have my tinfoil helmet on.
Very fun regardless and Abagail has some talent to be sure.
Hm. I guess we'll see then.