If I hear Iio's "Rapture" in any sort of form, remixed or otherwise, on the radio I'm going to flip out. Damnit people! That song is two years old, get over it. It's not even that good. Fuck it, I'm going to bed. Lots of stuff to do tomorrow (today).

Night.

Besides the movie, I've been just doing some laundry and some homework. I've got two comic book pages to finish by Monday. I've also got to order my photo supplies and pay my rent. Tomorrow we're planning on going to church, it being Easter and all. Afterwards Lauren's planned a little picnic in the park which should be fun.

Thats about it. Later.

Well, it's Saturday. I would have updated sooner, but there wasn't really much going on. Last night however, we check out "Death to Smoochy" a hilarious and dark comedy starting Robin Williams and Edward Norton, Directed by Danny DeVito. I had been looking forward to this one for about a month and I wasn't let down. The basic story line is that a kids TV show host, Rainbow Randolph (Williams), is fired for taking bribes and is replaced by a more ethically centered character (Norton) named Smoochy the Rhino. Randolph takes it rather personally and tries to get back at Smoochy. There's a decent supporting cast that includes Danny DaVito, Jon Stewart and Harvey Fierstein. The supporting cast was probably the one minor drawbacks that I could see. Their roll was rather uninspired and lack-luster. It's sad that no one writes decent rolls for Jon Stewart, I don't think he's been funny in a movie yet. He's very funny on the Daily Show, but unfortunatly no here. All in all, this is a dark little comedy that had me laughing outright. The "Step-Dad Song" was definatly a highlight. The upsides of this one definatly outweigh any downsides. It was a little thick on the profanities and the supporting cast was a little weak, but it was definatly worth the trip. Go see it.

8.8 / 10

My brain hurts. 9am History classes tend to do that to you. But now I'm home and I think it's about time for some food and Counter-Strike.

I was also frightened to learn that B&H, my most trusted photo supplier, is closed until the end of passover. I guess they're Jewish. That kinda of sucks for me since I needed supplies by Monday. However, I've talked to my professor (who was also waiting on supplies for B&H) and he said just to buy the absolute bare nessesities in town and that we'd be able to get by until B&H reopened and shipped our orders. This semester will be a biggie too. Atleast $500-$600 dollars worth, and that's just to get started. There's no size requirement for our prints in this class but if they're larger than 16x20 we don't have to window matte them later on. So, of course I want to avoid matting things, so I'll be ordering very large paper. Which, while being expensive, wouldn't be as expensive as matting 30 prints durring finals. So, it's a trade off.

Oh well. Back to the grind.

Smegs. This semester will suck. A lot. But I've got my girl and my friends to help me through it. At the very least, I've got a lot of studying to do. My "History of 20th Century Photography" is really going to kick my ass. Advanced Color should be fun, and Intro to Sequential Art will be interesting to say the least. I've never given "real comics" a try. I guess we'll see how it comes out. Ok, sleepy time. I didn't get any sleep last night, so now I'm having to make up for it.

'Night.

Another semester begins. This time with less fanfair and slightly more aggrivation. More acuratly, more pressure. As it is for all Spring Semesters, it's job hunting time. This year I actually have hopes of finding something nice. First choice is something nice in Boston, maybe a photographers assistant or as an intern at a design firm (who usually have in-house photographers). Second choice would be something here in Savannah. Third choice is anything else. Not that summers at Electronics Boutique weren't fun, they certainly were, but I think it's time to shoot a little higher. My portfolio is 75% complete, needing only color and studio work added and my resume is more or less typed. I'm also thinking about printing "photo-cards" which are kind of like a photographer's buisness card. They have an example of a photographers work on them and are generally used to show off or as "extras" when sending out resumes, but they're nice to have.

Ok, I think it's time to hit the sack. I have yet another 9am class this semester, and it's a history class to boot. Fun.

Later.

Well. I got 90% done with a design for BlogProject. I might even make a splash page. We'll see. You guys can check it out if you like. It's in the same place, only now it's "interface.jpg". Also, if you guys have any creative ideas, please pass'em on.

Today is also the day that my sweetheart gets home. Yah! I'm leaving around 4:30 to pick her up. I figure I'll stop at the car wash while I'm at it. I parked her car under a tree and it has an inch thick layer of pollen on it. I doubt she's be pleased if I returned it to her in that condition.

I figure I'll make some dinner when we get back from the airport so I moved some chicken from the freezer to the fridge to thaw a little. She'll probably be fairly tired after traveling all day so that'll probably be about it for activity.

Still no call from the Bursars Office regarding my paperwork. I need the paperwork to get my loans, I need my loans to buy photo supplies, I need photo supplies to finish my portfolio, I need a portfolio to get a job, I need the job to help pay off school loans. What a vicious cycle.

That is all.

oooooohhh. I've got a much better idea. Guys, forget about whats up there (at BP). I've got myself an idea. hehehe. It might take a week or two, it's involved, but if I can pull it off, it'll look cool. more later.

Whoops. Forgot to link'em.

http://anarchos.xs.mw/fade.phtml

Later.

Hopefully the links on this page now "fade" thanks to a nifty script over at Anarchos. I didn't quite know what color to have the links fade to, so I made left it as "grayish blue." The time it take to complete the fade is also a little funky, but whatever. I also added it to the "links" page. Enjoy.

Chip & Chris. Take a gander at the new directory at BP.com. There's a random design in there. It's probably best to open it in some sort of HTML editor to get the full idea of the table layouts and such. Input would be good. I don't know where to go with this one, or even if I like it yet. Lemme know. Bare in mind that the content would go down the strip in the middle and try to imagine the layout with buttons and such instead of merely text. I'm gonna go take a nap now.

Well, tonight Sandra Collins will be spinning at Liquified in Atlanta and I'm not going. Both Nagle and I aren't feeling 100% so we decided it probably wouldn't be the best idea to go. Its unfortunate since Collins is quite the DJ and I haven't done much in the way of "excitement" this spring break. Not that I don't appreciate sitting on my ass for a week, but after a while it starts to lean towards borring.

Today I'm working on a design for Blog Project. I'm keeping it simple while trying to make it "nifty". It needs to be simple enough to design around and obviously easy to use, but I'm trying to stear away from the "table and left-hand column" routine. At the moment I'm workin on the header and navigation. I don't quite know what the links in the navigation bar will be, so I'll just leave them as blank buttons for the time being. I'm also going with my favorite "blue & gray" color scheme with splashes of color in the header and the columns. I'd like a posting system that allows for "author icons" so I'm leaving plenty of room for that. In case Chris and Chip are interested, I'll put the stuff I'm working on in a temp directory on BP when I finish for the day.

I was also going to go see Panic Room today with Jason but I was disappointed to find out that it opens next friday and not today. Dang.

Current Music: Sum 41 - Nothing On My Back
Current Mood: less than motivated

I feel like a 3rd rate blogger. My writing is horrible and my spelling can be summed up by the word "preschooler." I've never felt so under accomplished in anything. Most of the time I struggle to better myself and somehow it works out. My photography has improved, my web skills too. My writing however, is never inspired, never informed. I feel like I'm the most un-interesting human on the planet. I know thats not true, Dick Cheney is the most uninteresting person on the planet, but still. When I read things like andrewsullivan.com and KeepTrying I'm always impressed by the ease of which the words seem to flow and the points that always make sense. I think I desperately need to take more writing classes. Either that or I need to get over my complexes and realize that some people are just simply gifted at writing and I'm not one of them. I can deal with that. I just hate not being good at something.

On the upside, I've got some links for you.

For those of you who are in desperate need of "the good word" on web design, graphic design and things generally artistic, you definatly need to check out Surf Station.

Ever wonder about commercialism and thing on the web going strait to hell. Well then, The End of Free is for you. Keep up to date with all thats wrong with the web today.

I was impressed with PseudoRoom at first glance. Then I realized its completely sliced in Photoshop and loads in one block at a time. I'm still impressed, but now more by the design than the implementation.

Lastly, but not leastly, check out my boy Nagle's kick ass wallpaper (Action in 93) over at DevArt.

That is all.

Current Music: Basement Jaxx - Where's Your Head At?
Current Mood: crappy

Finally, someone that understands. If you EVER considered getting a cable modem, read this. I hate Comcast, and it seems that so does everyone else. Damn the man.

http://www.comcastreallysucks.com/

Still not feeling good. Crap on a stick. Or something like that. I think I might hobble over to Barnes & Noble and get a magazine to read as I'm sitting here in my own sickness. The upside is that I get to sit around and do nothing. The downside is that "nothing" is about all I can do. Oh well. I've also got some ideas brewing on a BlogProject.com design. Maybe I'll get to that today too. We'll see.

Well, I'm actually not feeling very good today. I'm glad I'm on break. It's certainly the type of day that I would have skipped class on. We got up around 6:30 and took Justin to the airport. He had a plane to catch at 9:00. I think that's what threw me off. My daily "internal clock" so to speak. I've also had a splitting headache all day and a sore throat. I hope I'm not coming down with something, but it seems a bit late for that. I've tried and tried to get the creative juices flowing and get some work done, but the zeal which I had on Saturday seems to be gone. I think my best bet is to go to back to bed. Seriously. Maybe if I go back to bed now and wake up around 10:30-11, I'll be back in the right frame of mind. We'll give it a shot. Of course, there's always that possibility of sleeping strait into tomorrow, which I would really mind.

In an interesting twist of automobile fate, Pete has left for the week. Some time ago he got into a wreck with his van. It was still "working" but the accident completely decimated the rear-end, the brakes and half a dozen other things. So, it was time to get a new car. With the insurance money, I think, he folks got him a Jeep. Problem is that it's back home, in Wisconsin. So, Pete left this morning to drive the 20 hours home in order to get his new car. Safe driving Pete.

Also, it's the last day that Justin is here, so we might go out and do something. Maybe a movie. It's also come to my attention that the new Flogging Molly album came out today. If you've never heard Irish punk rock, you're missing out. Their first two albums (one studio album and one live) were great and they were equaly impressive live when we saw them here in town. Maybe I'll end up at a CD store, splurging a bit. I don't think I've purchased a non-techno CD in a very long time. This certainly deserves it however.

Thats about it. Medal of Honor is friggin awesome for those of you who have the system to run it. Go check the "used" bins, you may get lucky.

Carry on.

Triumphant indeed! I know that sounds a bit dramatic, but it's well deserved. For a mere $20 I've purchased Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. This normally priced at $50 gem was sitting in the "previously owned" pile at EB yesterday. I took it apon myself to liberate it from it's shrink wrapped existance and purchased it immediatly. Before leaving the mall I verified both the CD key and the non-scratched state of the CDs. Everything was in pristine conditions. Another case of someone buying a game, copying the contents and returning it the next day. How fortunate for me. The downside to all this is that I can't really play it at the moment. I'll have to wait until next semesters refund check goes through and I can afford to upgrade my computer to its new "UberRig" status, complete with side pannel cut out, black-light and duel fan blow-hole. But more on that later as it comes into being.

I'm not quite sure what everyone else's plans are today. I know I have to drive down to Propes Hall at some point and sign some paperwork. Beyond that I don't really have any plans. I'd like to continue my graphic design whirlwind of activity but I'm also getting rather bored. Perhaps a bad movie is in order. I've wanted to see Resident Evil since Friday. Yes, I know it's bad, probably horrible, but I like seeing movies by myself so I might do that. I think at some point Justin wanted to go downtown and walk around, that's always a possibility, and there's always Counter-Strike. Plus I have a mix ready to go, so maybe I'll "spin" myself a new set. We'll see what comes up. I don't think there's definate plans either way.

It's been fun getting the "old gang", or at least a portion of it, back together this week. The combonations of senses of humor, old jokes, that sort of thing, has been really fun. Yesterday I can't really say I did much of anything. All morning we sat around thinking of something to do, which we never acted on. Later in the afternoon, Nagle came over and Justin and Jason went to a punk show down town, which left Nagle and I "talking shop" about Photoshop and graphic design all afternoon. Before we knew it, we had each made a new desktop or two and it was 10:30. That's about it. I played a little CS, played in Photoshop a little and generally just hung out. It was fun.

I did manage to pick up the new Chemical Brothers album "Come with Us" that I had been wanting for some time. The Chems really did a great job with this one. It has a really fresh sound but is still really close to "Dig Your Own Hole." Its the type of CD that should be listening to strait through to get the whole effect. It has a "ride" sort of feel. It starts off sorta weak with the title track "Come With Us" and leads up into awesome tracks like "Star Guitar" and "Hoops" which are real gems and are boarding on progressive/trance like tracks. Then into a creepy interlude with "My Elastic Eye" and an awesome chilled out "The State We're In." Then back up to the dance floor with "Denmark" and "Pioneer Skies", finishing in vocal style with "The Test." Its all very well done and very recognizable Chem style. This one is definatly in my rotation for the next few weeks. 9/10. Missing the 1.0 due to the lack luster start and some other random "cheesyness" although they were nicely pulled off. Stll a great disk and definatly something worth listening too.

Other than that it's been pretty borring around here. Same old jokes, same old melodrama, same old everything. I did get to talk "shop" with Nagle for a while which was good. It's funny that while 90% of the college world is having spring break, drinking, being stupid, we're sitting here being "art students" and discussing graphic design. As Nagle put it, "who cares, in 10 years they'll be working in retail and we'll be deciding what ads they see, what pictures are in them and what colors are trendy. Fuck'em"

genius, simply genius.

Hey. I just figured I'd take a break from not doing anything to check in. I came across something rather random today. We stopped by Media Play and I picked up a copy of the February issue of Mixer, and as I'm reading through it I happen apon two very interesting things. Well, interesting for my New England cohorts anyways. There was both an ad for and an article about Avalon in Boston. Apparently, without knowing it, we've been going to the new US super club. Apparently they've decided to combine forces and make Avaland x4 instead of x2, now the "superclub" encompases Avalon, Axis, Embassy and the Modern. They also plan to make Friday and Saturday nights a serious thing and book not one, or two, but three headlining DJs a night. This summer should be a damn good season. Chris, we have our answer.

Now that spring break is officially here, I can take a minute and bring you BOTH Part's 4 & 5 of my "electronic music rant." So hold on tight.

Part 4: What Techno should be

It is my opinion, in case you hadn't been paying attention, that techno music is an "art form" much in the way classical is. Sure, there's obvious and glaring differences, and I wouldn't attempt to assume techno is as great or greater in any technical "playable" (instrument) aspects. But think about it. What are the basics of those two music forms. Notes. Pure notes. On an instrument, there's often open levels of interpretation. For example, in Jazz, improvisation is key, in rock its accepted (although the cord progressions are simpler) and in most other types of modern music, it's simplified. But in classical, there's notes. Pure, resounding notes, played on instruments that are designed to give those perfect notes. Now, flip the tables. What's more perfect than a note produced electronically. Sure, there's no "life" to that note, there's no human blowing into a tube with holes in it, making that note. But they are notes non the less. The most non-vibrato, sharpest sounding, pure notes. Now, fast forward. These notes have made it onto a page of music that's to be played at a concert. Or, these notes have been recorded in a pattern to be "played" (spun) at a concert. The DJ is the conductor and the records are his orchestra. Now, this might be stretching it a bit, but it illustrates my point. That techno music is just as much of a musical art form as any other of the musical genres we have. Just because the DJ isn't using his hands to create the music doesn't mean he's not possessing skill or working just as hard as someone playing the flute in a concert hall. The point here is that techno music demands respect in the same way that any other music demands your respect. This segways into something I've already covered (idiots at shows) and I would probably go on and on about how these people aren't there for the music, don't respect the music, and should be removed from this planet. But I won't do that. We all know who they are and that they're idiots. I don't need to repeat myself.

Instead I'll continue with the other aspect of techno, it's purpose. Now that we've established that it's a music form and should be respected, we can talk about what to use it for, and that of course, is enjoyment. Just like 99.9% of all the other music in the world, techno was made to be danced to, listened to and enjoyed. I'll stress again that drinking and being an asshole ARE NOT part of "enjoyment of music" so fuck those people. I digress. Techno was made to be played in a club, that's where it started and that's where it should stay. Maybe I'm jaded by bad outdoor concert experiences, but it's club music for a reason. So we can at least "try" to keep morons and 14 year olds out. This led to the rave scene, where people that couldn't get into clubs starting trying to have club like fun. Thats all good and wonderful for those afor mentioned 14 year old idiots, but if they ever think they'll be respected as "fans" they've got a lot of waiting to do.

So, techno is for everything. It's for dancing, it's for enjoyment, it's for any situation where you'd like to tap your foot to something while you work. It's "exciting" music and has vast "energy" that can be used (or abused) to fit nearly any purpose. To me, techno is all about enjoying yourself and completely relaxing for a while. In the music you can get lost and when you concentrate on a single thing (the music) you aren't thinking about all the other crap in your life, at least for a little while. Techno music should NOT be something you put on because your friend has it and you want to be cool. It should not be something you put on to get high or drunk. It should not played on the radio (by that I mean not in heavy rotation durring the drive hours, there's obviously good points to it being played on the radio: ex: Essential mixes). It should not be stagnent (ie: don't play the same songs for 3 months, they get old, move on to newer tracks). It should not be misused as an excuse for "teen angst". The media loves that one. Techno is the new "devil worshiping hard rock" that everyone thought was terrible in the 80's and 90's. Well, it's not, so get your damn news camera out of my face and learn what it's all about. Arg.

Part 5: The point (i.e.: summing all this up)

The main reason I wrote all this is because I was pissed off. Pissed about 14 year olds "ruining the scene", pissed about the music not being taken seriously, pissed about how it's become the new trend because people don't understand it, pissed about... well, you get the idea. I hope I've gotten most of this off my chest and explained a little bit about why music is so important, why is shouldn't be ruined or taken advantage off and why I like it. To sum up: techno is an ever changing, always fresh musical genre that appeals to both the true fan and the idiot. Idiots like to get trashed and jump around, the true fans enjoy it for it's more subtle qualities and it's "presence" on the dance floor. We should all try to make sure the idiots are kicked squarely in the head and that we save this music for the people that truly enjoy it. It's something special, something new and something that shouldn't be "trendy" but respected. But, over the past week, I've said my piece. If you agree with it, that's fine, if not, that's fine too. Whatever makes you happy... and THAT IS THE POINT.

Another one bites the dust. Another semester down, a few more to go. I finished up classes yesterday with a critique in my 3:00 Studio class. It went well, the class seemed to like my work. It probably helped that the class was full of "friends" from the department. They're not nessisarily friends I would hang out with outside of class, but everyone knows each others names and we've all been in each others classes before, so we know where each other is coming from and can offer some creative critisism. Which is always good. I'm pretty sure I pulled of a solid "A" in there so that should make it 3 strait years on the Dean's List. Go me!

Today also marks the begining of spring break. Lauren is flying home tonight, Justin is flying in, and I'm gearing up for a week of absolutely nothing. With the possible exception of a concert next Friday night. There's a possibility that Nagle and I (and whoever else feels like coming) will go check out Sandra Collins in Atlanta. For those of you who haven't heard of her, she's a DJ, a rather good one. I have a few Essential Mixes and mix CD's and she's always been on my "Top 20" list.

Speaking of Essential Mixes. I've been going a little nutty trying to find some lately. I think I've made it my next "collection" project. I found a nifty little server that records the show each weekend and so I can always get the new ones, but the real quest is for the old ones. No one seems to have any that date further back than 2000. Which is kind of disappointing since there were some really awesome mixes from people like Seb Fontaine, Tony DeVit, and other DJs that were really working the "1s & 2s" back in the 90's.

Anyway. I'm justing hanging out today until Lauren gives me a call that she's out of class. Then I'm going to be driving her and a friend to the airport for her flight at 6. I'm really going to miss her this week. I know I won't be doing much around here, but it would still be nice to have my girl to sit around and not do much with me. I hope she has fun back home and that her Dad's doing well (he broke his leg). I'll miss her.

That is all.

Current Music: Essential Mix - 03-03-2002 - Gordon Kaye

2 down, 1 to go. Yesterday I finished up my last History of Jazz class. Technically I'm supposed to go on Thursday but I don't plan on it. I'm not in danger of having to many absenses, so I'm going to take Lauren to the airport instead. Something I'd much rather do than sit in a class room counting the seconds until I could leave. So, History of Jazz is "finished" and so is my Digital II class. All that leaves is Studio Photography at 3:00. All I have to do for that is show up. I finished the last assignment up a couple of days ago so all I have to do is turn it in.

So, what are my plans for spring break? Nothing. Pure and simple and wonderful, nothing. Most of the time I'll be hanging around here, playing Counter-Strike, eating pizza, watching DVDs, that sort of thing. Our friend from freshman year, Justin, is flying down from NH and will be here tomorrow, so we'll probably all be hanging out with him this week. Other than that, I really don't have any plans. I'm not sure what we're going to be doing to "entertain" Justin, but probably nothing that involves leaving the city limits. I might go see Sandra Colins in Atlanta next Friday as well, but that's still very unofficial.

So, that's about it. Tonight, Lauren, Brittney and myself will head out for a "belated multiple 21st birthday celebration." Which basically means we're just going to go get a Mudslide and then go home. But it should be fun anyway. I hope Lauren isn't to stressed from her final last night. I stayed over her place for a good portion of the evening trying to help out with one of her projects. I hope I was more of a help then a hindrence. I believe in her and I know she did an awesome job on her finals. I'll give her a call after class today and maybe I can convince her to let me buy her dinner as well as a drink.

Later.

Quote of the moment:

"I'm a giant waffle cone! Fear me!!!"

1 down, 2 to go. Classes that is. I have Studio at 3 and hopefully I can turn in my final portfolio today so I won't have to come to class on Wednesday. That would be cool. Then all I have left is History of Jazz tomorrow and Thursday. I'm going to try my best to get out of Jazz on Thursday because I want to be with Lauren when she goes to the airport. Her plane leaves at 6 and I have class until 5:30. I'll probably tell the teacher that I'm the one leaving at 6, so I can probably leave early.

Digital class went well. Everyone liked the Flash stuff. I'm probably going to take the intro animation down when I get a spare minute since I really don't like it very much. But, the critique went well and so I'm fairly sure I did fine grade wise in there. The only things really left to do as far as the site is concerned is the portfolio sections. When I get a spare second I'll scan in more color and studio work and that'll be that.

That's about it as far as whats going on around here. Tonight I'm going to go see Lauren and see if I can do anything to help with one of her projects. Other than that I just have to make a little colage in Photoshop tonight and I'll be done.

Oh, last thing, if you can find it, download a copy of Deep Dish's Essential Mix. They've done two although Tracklistings.org seem to think otherwise. The older one is from 12-07-98 and the newer one I have isn't labeled. But they're both friggin fierce! If you need some techno to get you moving, find these. Find them now.

Carry on.

Well kids. There's Flash galore around here tonight. Check out the downloads page for the new cartoon and check out the main entrance for the new intro. I really don't like the intro very much, so after tomorrows class, it'll probably be taken down, so better check it out soon. (I'll probably put it on the downloads page afterwards incase anyone's interested in seeing it).

In other interesting news. Chris is back from spring break and gave me a call tonight. We had a chance to catch up and there's a bunch of stuff going on.

On the top of the "breaking news" list is the fact that Jeff is getting married. I don't know any date specifics but he's apparently met a nice girl and after only a month or so they've decided to get married this summer. Apparently they want to do it in Ibiza which would add a reason to Chris and I going, rather than just a vacation. Chris has also played the "test drive" game and seems to have settled on a car that he likes. I'll let him tell you more about all that once he updates his page.

We also tossed out ideas about the summer. This is actually a coinsidence because Lauren and I were having a similar discussion last night. It's nearing the end of school for all of us (a bit closer for Chris) and it's time to figure out what exactly we want to do with the rest of our lives.

My plans for this summer involve working and... um... working. Mainly to save up for a ring for the finger of my wonderful Lauren. (there's a lot of talk about marriage huh?). But, Chris wants to break in the new car he'll be getting so maybe we can swing a little road trip in there. I've always wanted to explore the country a bit. And doing so with one of my best buds would be even better. This all of course depends on the flexability of a summer job. Summer jobs usually aren't very flexable and so all of this day-dreaming is probably never going to happen, but hey, it never hurts to dream.

After college my general plan involves life with Lauren, life in Boston and a life in Photography. The specifics of towns and job locations obviously are still a little blurry. All I know is that I want a life with my girl on one shoulder and my camera on the other. I don't think thats too much to ask.

Anyway, time to get everything finished up for tomorrow and get some sleep. Later.

Interesting article over at AV. Where the hell is Nintendo?

Bored with CS? Try Existence. It's nifty.

That is all.

PART THREE: Candy Ravers, X-users and fucking Oakenfold Fans

(also known as: the reason the music industry sucks)

The main problem as I see it is that there's a general lack of regard for anyone elses enjoyment of music these days. Everything is about "me" and not the music. Candy ravers don't fall into this category but the others do. I'll get to them in a minute.

For most of this argument there's two distinct faults that I can see. A: Stereotypes and B: Idiots. The stereotypes come into play by people who don't know what any musical culture is about. For example, if I called Rap music a "black thing" then I'd be using and reinforcing a stereotype. Most of the time, you want to avoid stereotypes. For the moment, I'm going to embrace them and bash "Candy Ravers." Otherwise know as the people your parents see on TV when they hear all about the evils of techno music and clubs. These people are the costumed football fans of electronic music. Poster children for stupidity. They can typically be found at raves and clubs wearing bright neon-colored clothes, excessive amount of beads, carrying useless knick-knacks that get in the way, sucking on infant pacifiers and most of the time carrying something that glows, blinks or is generally annoying to everyone else. Now, there's nothing wrong with enjoying the music in your own way, but when your candy necklace breaks and shoots across the room, or you hit someone in the head with a glow-stick, it's time to stop. You can enjoy techno and the "club scene" without looking like an idiot. This goes double for the people wearing next to nothing. You don't need to wear just a bra in order to have a good time. You don't need neon green quadruple cargo pocket pants either.

The second group in our list of people who are idiots would have to be the substance users (and frequently abusers). This wonderfully diverse group is a prime example of what doesn't need to be done in order to enjoy music. If you don't need to get hammered to watch TV, you don't need to get wasted to listen to music. These are also the people who need to stay out and drink till 4am on a Wednesday. The same type of people who wonder out onto the dance floor holding two overflowing cups of domestic beer and proceed to spill it in anyone within reach. YOU CAN'T DANCE HOLDING A CUP! The sheer physics of that seem to escape people. It goes to say that you don't need pills, weed, booze or anything else to "heighten your enjoyment." If you do, then you obviously aren't there for the right reasons, so get the fuck out of my club. Another annoying person is the dancing chain smoker. They also fit in this category. Have you ever been burnt by a cigarette? If you have then you'll want to punch these people every time they start dancing and flailing around on the dance floor with a lit cancer stick in they're hand. They've been smoking for so long that they're no longer aware of the lit end of that little killer so they don't mind running into you with it. I honestly wish there were smoke free clubs. Yes. Smoke free clubs, with a dress code and a 21+ age limit. That would be fantastic.

The last category is filled with people I personally love to hate. Oakenfold fans. You see, Oakenfold has done with best to be a world renowned DJ. That's a good thing. More and more people should hear techno music, I think they'd like it. But the problem is that the only people who are getting exposed are the 15 year old MTV generation morons. They've only seen "raves" in movies, are pimply faced, rude, incompetent and generally get in the way of any normal person enjoying a show. You know who I'm talking about. You've sat in front of them in movie before. I know you have. They're the same kids who A: don't understand the movie your seeing and B: talk through it with they're friends beside them. Then, when you turn around and tell them to be quite, they give you a sneer like you're some 45 year old hasbin would wouldn't beat the living crap out of them if need be. Well, I'm done taking crap from these kind of kids and you should be too. I refuse to go to shows that have 16+ age restrictions or no age restrictions at all. I had to wait until I was 18, they can too. Infact, I'd like to see if we could raise door ages to 21+ EVERYWHERE. Fuck'em. I guess the best explanation for my hatred for these morons was written about 7 months ago. I had gone to the Area One Festival with Chris and seen Oakenfold for myself. Let's just say that I wasn't completely thrilled with the evenings events. Here's an exsurp from that post.

"The Bad: As soon as the main stage took a break (sometime after Carl Cox was playing in the tent) the tent was flooded to capacity since everyone knew Oakenfold would be up soon. The number of people in the tent went from 1000 people enjoying the show to 2000 people trying to kill each other. Let me be very clear when I say this: Techno is not a fucking rock concert! You DO NOT shove and push and MOSH! And you certainly don't try and pull people away from their spots in order to be nearer to the front. With in 15 minutes of Paul Oakenfold taking the stage, I had already been kicked, punched and roughed up more than I?ve ever been at a punk show. EVER! I had had enough and took off for the back of the tent. I purchased an over-priced water and cooled off, trying to restrain myself from physically hurting the retards that refused to let me enjoy my show. I had waited 5 years to see Oakenfold, and I'd be fucked if I was going to let them ruin it. I was still super pissed so I left the tent leaving Chris inside. I walked up the exit ramp and sat near the merchandise stand at the top, thinking, if Chris left, he'd have to come this way since he had wanted to buy a t-shirt. Little did I know that after I left, Chris decided he'd had enough as well and went looking for me. We missed each other somewhere along the line and after missing a full hour of Oakenfolds set, I returned to the tent to find Chris, which I couldn't. For some reason, the last half was very enjoyable. Why you ask? Because all of the idiots had cleared out since they couldn?t take more than 10 minutes of actual dancing which left only us, the people who were truly there for the music.

Sincerely,
M.Perry "

So, as you can see, there are quite a few people who can ruin a perfectly good concert or club night. My advise to you would be to go in a group and stay together. Dance as a group and try to to be bothered by the people surrounding your little group. You're at a club, you have to expect smoke, booze, idiots and combinations of all three.

pla.

I've been bad about getting around to write Part Three of my little essay. I've just had to much stuff going on. It is finals week and all. I've been working rather hard on not one but two Flash pieces. I think you'll like'em. The first is a VERY cheesy motion graphics piece. It's mostly blurs, text effects and so on. It's pretty standard. The second is a hand drawn and hand animated cartoon featuring Jason, myself and some Counter-Strike fustrations. Both of those will be in final form tomorrow, so you'll be able to check those out. Ok, I just wanted to say that I hadn't forgotten about stuff, I'm just busy.

But just to keep you what I'm sure is the edge of your seat, here's a still from the cartoon.

Later.

What a friggin' ordeal it was this morning. Well, it wasn't "that" bad but it did take far longer than it should have. Yesterday I found out that my film (if it was even mine) didn't come out so today with Jason's help, I reshot my assignment. We got downtown around 9:30 and headed into Burgen. Apparently the lab monitors desided it would be a good day to be really late and didn't show up until 10:15. Which is rediculous since they're supposed to be there at 9:00 when the building opens. So, after getting equipment checked out the shoot actually went well and it only took about 40-45 minutes. Which is really good considering 20 minutes of that was setting up and taking down equipment. Just as I'm leaving, the lab monitor asked me if I had found my film (I forgot it on Wednesday) and I said yes. She then held up a roll of film which was the exact same type and speed that I had been using and said "oh, well, someone found this on Wednesday, I thought I might have been yours." I said it probably was and took it, feeling rather sheepish. So, on my way home I dropped off the film to be developed and so if the roll I lost was actually the roll I got back today and my reshoot was for nothing, I'll mock myself openly. Although, I wouldn't have "found" it if I hadn't gone and done the reshoot. I guess life just works in funny ways like that. So, best case scenerio I have two rolls of film instead of one. Worst case scenerio, I only have the reshoot roll and the other was just someone elses. Either way I covered my ass.

I also remembered to save the Poloroid test shots from this one. Mainly because it's not a half-bad picture of Jason. Actually, it's rather funny. He's making the "I'm mocking you" face. If you know Jason, you'll probably enjoy that. At any rate, it gives you a good idea of my lighting set up. The actual shots themselves involve his face being wrapped up like the Invisable Man, but I'll have to wait to share those until I get the negatives back. Anyway, check this out and enjoy.

Jason's picture

Click to enlarge...

Thanks to Nagle, now I'm addicted to SurfStation. It's an odd mix of design, news and links showcasing some amazing graphic design, flash and web work. There's enough links floating around this site to keep you (and me) busy for days. Thanks Nagle.

I'd like to thank Chip for pointing me in the direction of Games Fusion. A funky little site covering anything FPS related. Especially cool are the Counter-Strike packs. These little beauties feature 50 Mbs worth of replacement models, sounds, sprites and anything else you could think of needing. I had been looking for the perfect replacements for my CS stuff and apparently someone has collected all my favorites in one place. Huzah. Go down load them here, and do so NOW!

Today should be fairly busy. I have to run downtown and drop off some film and a cd of digital stuff to be processed. The film will be ready in 2 hours, the digital stuff is another matter. You see, we have this really nifty $20,000 digital back for our RZ-67s (a sweet camera) and it takes some great shots. I think the smallest resolution on that baby is 3063x2040 @ 24bpp and it only goes UP from there. So, I took some shots with it the other day and they turned out really well. Now, the point of taking a picture with that kind of resolution is that you get them outputted through a film recorder. Which is also another amazing piece of equipment we happen to have. The downside is that it takes forever for the thing to print and the turn around time is about 3-4 days. Now, that wouldn't be so bad if this was the begining of the semester and everyone wasn't trying to use it. Oh, did I mention it's broken? Yah, someone broke the film recorder and now the department isn't sure if they can have it fixed in time to be useful. So, our teacher told us if they didn't have it fixed we could just make a nice ink-jet/laser print of it and she'd accept those. So, I have to drive downtown to see if it's fixed (because apparently no one likes to answer the damn phone). If it's not, I'm heading to Office Max to buy a print cartridge and some nice photo paper. What a day.

Oh, and PART 3 will probably be written this afternoon as well. Just to let you know.

Carry on.

PART TWO: The shelf life of tracks

Tracks, singles, anthems, or anything else you feel like calling them, are the bread and butter along with the bane of the music industry. We're not talking exclusively electronic music here. Have you listened to the radio at any point in the past few years? The repetitive nature of music has gotten to the point where you can turn on the radio for 15 minutes today, and then 15 minutes tomorrow and you could probably hear the same song playing. Here's how it all comes to be in the world of techno. A DJ, on a regular day if he's good, will get tons of records in the mail. Records (vinyl) that only have one or two tracks on them, I'm not talking about free CDs here. These records come from record companies, promoters, agents, fans, or anyone else that's made a cool sounding song and thinks it would be good to play. So, let's say the DJ is going through his pile of records and pulls out a new one for his gig that night. We'll call it Record A. That night the DJ puts Record A on the turntable and the crowd loves it. The DJ then keeps record A in his permanent record bag and uses it whenever he feels the need. Eventually someone asks him what that record is, or he does an interview and mentions the songs he's been recently playing, or he informs the record company of how much he likes it, something like that. To put it another way, "the word is out" about Record A. Other DJs find copies and start playing it, other DJs remix it and start playing those copies. Eventually Record A is recognizable to club goers and fans alike. At this point, most records are replaced by a newer track and the cycle repeats itself. This keeps the club scene fresh and new. Sometimes, just sometimes, the media gets a hold of a record and its popularity explodes. Despite what you may think, this is a very very bad thing. I point your attention to anything made by Fat Boy Slim. How long did it take for you to get sick of hearing those songs on the radio? Now, think about how long those tracks had actually been being used. Yup, those of you who hear "Praise You" two years before the CD hit are cursing the radio to this day. A more recent example is Iio's "Rapture." A great track, lots of emotion, it was really fun to listen to... a year ago when I heard it in Avalon in Boston. Now it all over the radio and my roommate is listening to it non-stop. I suppose because it's played at the club he goes to. That in itself is kind of sad. That the DJ of that club either just found it, or that they're still playing it, take your pick.

You see, the whole idea behind music like this is that it's supposed to change. It changes with the season, it changes with the ebbs and tides of tastes, it changes depending on what club you're at and what DJ is spinning. DJs very rarely have a set, written down, to the minute, planned out, before the hit the decks. It doesn't work that way. 10 minutes before they start playing, the DJ usually has no idea what he's going to play an hour from then. They may have tracks that they want to include, and probably a "last track" of the night, but that's about it.

Just remember, if you hear a techno-ish, dance-ish track on the radio, it's probably been remixed, retouched, reedited and replayed for at least a year. And while its not a bad thing to listen to those tracks, since most of the time it's has to be a good track in order to have the longevity to make it that far, they do get old fast. Especially to people that have hear them before. For those of you who are just finding techno and all you know of it are the things you've heard on the radio or once of twice at a club, cheer up, all is not lost. I would suggest that they check out magazines and websites that do nothing but inform people about new, good tracks. Especially British import magazines and websites for record shops in Europe. They know what's hot and what's already old and tired months before it reaches US soil. They're not dictating what hot or not, they're just informing people of what's selling. Chances are, if you hear someone from a record store say that they can't keep copies of the new Coast to Coast single on their shelves, it might be a good one.

Lastly, remember that it's a much bigger thrill to find a song no one's heard of and be listening to it when it gets popular than to be the "last one into the pool." So, go find your own damn music and avoid the radio at all costs.

Resources you might like to check out:
Digitally Imported Radio - a great streaming web radio site with news and always fresh tracks
DJ Mixes 2k - a random little site with whole DJ sets to download... and more importantly, the track lists.
TranceAddict - kinda sketchy, but always full of the freshest stuff. great site.
Radio 1 - you can't get more direct than this. The official site for the UKs BBC Radio 1.
BedRock and Vandit - two record companies from two of my favorite DJs. See what new tracks the companies are putting out this month.
MixMag and Mixer - two nifty magazines with a bunch of info.
KISS online - a club, a festival, a promotional tool... and music info too.

That sound be enough to hold you over. Tomorrow, Part Three: Fucking Candy Ravers and the 15-year-old Oakenfold Fans. Till then.

Well, the word has come down from the mountain that my loan did indeed get approved for next semester. I might even have a little extra. The best plan I had for that extra was the essential computer upgrade. I'm torn between just starting a whole new system or just upgrading basic components in this one. Lemme give you a list and you can tell me what you think:

Current System:
AMD K63 - 450mhz
Asus P5A Mobo
392Mb of PC133 Ram
Creative Labs GeForce 2 GTS
Maxtor 10G HD
Maxtor 20G HD
Soundblaster PCI 128
Plextor 32x SCSI CD-Rom drive
Yamaha 6x6x16 SCSI CD burner
+the usually extras (network card, floppy drive etc)

So, that's what I go. Pretty sad huh?

I want to get something fairly new so I won't have to upgrade for another 3 years (like I did with this one). I think 3 years is a good shelf life for a PC. Plus I won't just throw this away, I have every intention of slapping a few network cards into it and making it my little server/router bitch.

I'd like to get something along these lines:

New case w/300w+ power
motherboard: either the Soyo SY-K7V or the Gigabyte GA-7VTXE
Athlon 1800+ or faster
PC2100 DDR memory
GeForce3 Ti 500 (LeadTek WinFast maybe?)
DVD Drive

So, now the question is... sound I keep all the stuff I have that's useful (HD's, soundcard, CD drives, etc) or should I go full boat and pick up something like one of the new WD1200 hard drives and a SoundBlaster Audigy X-gamer. Should I go back to IDE or stick with SCSI? See, these are the decisions I can't make. I also realize that SCSI items would be twice the price of IDE stuff. So there's cost to consider. I don't know. What do you guys think?

Also, PART 2 of the music essay is on its way tonight. Later.

PART ONE:

American "Dance" vs. European "Electronic Music":

I'm going to stick to traditional analogies and say that if these are like "apples and oranges" then the entire electronic music category is one big fucking fruit salad. Not to sound "anti-American" but we're cocky when it comes to music and this is yet again another example of the uninformed thinking we invented techno. We did not. The British invented electronic music as we know it, so get over it. American "Dance" music should, in my opinion, be wiped from the face of the earth entirely. American "Dance", and I am making a distinction between American and English, has primarily evolved from hip-hop and disco with some minor European influences. It's the kind of thing that C&C Music Factory was doing in the 80's, the kind of thing that Linda Ronstat was doing in the 80's. It was our first baby step away from disco. It took disco lyrics, hip-hop beats, made it all steady and played it. American "Dance" today can be exemplified in tunes like Madonna's "Music" and Pink's "I'm coming up." They have a steady beat, repetitive vocals and a general "club" feel. American clubs that is. This is another music attribute that American's seem to think they've invented.

Now for the other side of the pond. European "electronic music" has so many sub categories that I unfortunately have to lump them together under the banner of "Techno." There's just as many types of Techno as there are types of Jazz, but rest assured that I do fully realize the importance of the different genres but for the sake of this argument, we really don't need to pick them apart. "Techno" as a whole in Europe is taken as more of an art form. There seems to be perfection in the spinning of a record on a turntable. It's music to not only be danced to, but also listened to and enjoyed. The "experience" is different. To often American's see Techno music as Dance music and think that it should be automatically associated with "clubbing" or drinking or taking drugs. It's almost as if we only got half the gossip. Use this metaphor: A young British kid is calling his American friend one day and trying to explain about this cool new music he's heard. "It's all played on records and it's all made electronically," he says. The American is intrigued. He's heard things sort of like this coming out of clubs in his near by city. The British kid then proceeds to tell him about all the weird things that he saw at the club. "There's people dressed up in weird costumes, drinking and whatnot," he says. The British kid then runs out of time on his phone card and is disconnected. So, now the only view the American has of "Dance" music is that it has a beat and people get trashed in order to listen to it. The British kid never had time to tell him about the DJ who was playing, that not everyone was under the influence of something, about all the different songs the DJ played, that the music had a crescendo and that it was almost like listening to a classical composer. All of this is lost on the American audience.

American "Dance" music is based on an entirely different ideal, and I'll mention this more in the "Fucking Oakenfold Fans" section of the essay.

To continue with the European music description, we'll need to understand that this isn't just music to our friends across the pond. The culture has so ingrained their way of life that it IS almost like classical music. Almost as if they're in a renaissance and this is just the music of the times. There are DJs who play music with no catchy vocals, no bouncing bass beats and yet everyone still enjoys it and dances to it. The difference is that American "Dance" music has been created, marketed and sold to the MTV generation solely for profit. European music is created to be played, in a club, for the enjoyment of the listeners. 9 out of 10 times, the record that's being played doesn't have a label on it, the person who made that record isn't getting boat loads of cash, or even famous. They made the record to be played, not to be sold to the highest bidder.

I've delicately decided not to go into a deep explanation of what European music sounds like. This is on purpose. The field is so diverse that I wouldn't do it all justice and my descriptions would be solely based on what I enjoy listening to and why. And that wouldn't be a fair explanation of the genres. For example, I'd probably elaborately describe Trance and Progressive music for it's beautiful uplifting qualities but then I'd describe Drum & Base as "simple and full of beats" which it is, but isn't really a fair assessment.

I should also mention that I'm lumping all of the MTV generation, 15 year old, Brittany Spear wannabe's into one giant mass. The term "American public" doesn't include American techno pioneers like Frankie Bones, Moby, Tony Devit and others. Nor does it include people who understand and more importantly accept that the "club scene" IS NOT about being drunk and "partying." It does not include college age techno coinsures such as Chris and myself. If you enjoy techno music, and can understand the basics of it and can appreciate it's subtleties, then congratulations, you're not in the "idiot" category anymore. If you just finished watching TRL and are going to put on your Oakenfold CD's, then fuck you.

Tomorrow I'll rant a little more about specific music tracks, CD's, they're "staying power" and why the American radio feels the need to take the worst remixes of a particular song and play them over and over and over again on the radio until they're no longer able to be listened to and enjoyed.

There will be an essay tomorrow (or today rather). Promise. Matt's sleepy at the moment.

Electronic Music Essay:

Part One: American "Dance" verses European "Electronic Music"
Part Two: The Shelf Life of Tracks
Part Three: Fucking Candy Ravers and the 15-year-old Oakenfold Fans
Part Four: What Techno Should Be
Part Five: The Point of All This

The inspiration for this extremely long rant came from the radio strangely enough. Driving home one evening I was interested to hear both Darude's "Sandstorm" and Iio's "Rapture" on a local radio station. This started me thinking about the American attitude towards electronic music as a whole. Or at the very least my opinions about electronic music.

I should also mention at this point that this entire series of posts is purely based on my opinions and in no way should be taken as "expert" or as offensive towards any group, style of music or country I may mention. So, starting tomorrow? look for an entire week or ranting and raving about raving and ranting.

Sorry for the bad pun.

Carry on.

Well, it's Sunday, hense forth known as National College Student Laundry Day. It seems like I'm always doing laundry on Sundays. I can't quite explain it. At least it's productive.

To bad it's about 90 degrees out today. It was forcasted to be around 50, but I guess that just goes to show what a bullshit job weather men have.

So, I'm just waiting for the dryer to finish so I can get in the shower and get dressed. Afterwards I'm probably going to take a stab at a design for blogproject.com. Or maybe a little CS. At some point I wanted to finish reading my new book as well.

"Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin': The Way You Wear Your Hat." Actually its one of the best books I've read. It's main focus is obviously Sinatra, but it's written from the perspective of a "style guide" for men. For example, there's a chapter on mixing drinks, a chapter on what color suits to buy, that sort of thing.

Not much else going on I'm sorry to say...

When the man tries to fuck with you... fuck'em back. Actually, Comcast did the oldest, easiest thing in the book. They simply changed all their bizarre server addresses back to the "normal" ones. Things like smtp.comcast.net, or POP3. I can't believe I didn't think of that sooner. I knew I put to much stock in them. I should have never thought that they'd be able to pull off something like host names. Oh well. Their loss. My gain. Damn the man and all that jazz.

Elsewhere on the field of the bizzare. I found my watch. It seemed to appear out of no where but it may have been wrapped up in some clothes that I moved. At any rate, it "appeared" on my floor last night as I was going to bed. I did a little dance and shared my jubilation with the world... or rather with my roommates. But anyway.

So, that leaves me with nothing left to "damn the man" for, at least for the time being. What ever will I do. Well, it's a rainy Saturday, I'll do what any good geek would do. I'll play a little CS, maybe take a nap, tinker a bit with Flash and the rest is still up in the air.

That is all... for the moment.

Final Comcast post for the day:

You know what's funny? I can't give myself permission to check my mail. Isn't that neat? The cable bill is in Pete's name, so Pete needs to install the software, update our account, use HIS username and password to do so and then ALLOW Jason and I to have access to the mail server. WTF?

I'm now done ranting about Comcast today. I think I'm going to play some CS and try to forget why my ping time sucks donkey balls.

Carry on.

I find this very frightening...

(part of) Comcasts Customer Agreement:

(b) Posting of Content. Comcast assumes no obligation to monitor transmissions made on the Service. However, Customer acknowledges and agrees that Comcast and its Underlying Providers shall have the right to monitor such transmissions from time to time and to disclose the same in accordance with applicable laws, regulations or governmental requests and to operate the Service properly. Comcast and its Underlying Providers reserve the right to refuse to post or to remove any information or materials, in whole or in part, that in their sole discretion are unacceptable, undesirable or in violation of this Agreement.

Ah... the 1st ammendment... who needs it?

As a SLIGHT and I mean VERY SLIGHT upside to Comcast being assholes... we get TechTV now. They added 2 channels when they "upped" the price. I guess that makes me slightly happier... but the rest of this still sucks. Fuck Comcast.

The bullshit that is Comcast.

The amount of crap that we've had to endure at the hands of this brainless cable provider has reached all time highs. For the past two months, following the collapse of Excite and Excite@Home, Comcast hass been transitioning users to their "high-speed" internet service. It's not labeled as DSL, it's not labeled as Cable, no one's really sure what it is... besides bullshit that is. Before the new year, our connection was capable of speeds in excess of 500k/sec+. That's not half bad for a cable modem. True, it was uncapped, but it was impressive non-the-less. Currently, the modems best efforts are typically a miserable 100k/sec tops. Thats a fairly signifigant drop in service. Why? Because they've decided to implement bandwidth restrictions both upstream and down. That was merely the begining. As of last night (2/28/02) Comcast has instituted new requirements for connecting to their network. For the time being, the connection to the web seems mildly stable, but that won't last for long. Users are now REQUIRED to download and install Comcast's software package in order to check email, newsgroups or to have access to their web space.

Not only are users required to use Comcast bug-ladden and ill-conceived software, they practically have to ask permission to do so. Here's a clip from their new instructions on how to reconnect to your newsgroups:

Comcast now has a newsgroup service available to replace your @Home Newsgroups. If you are interested in signing up for newsgroups, please follow the steps below:
1- Go to http://www.comcast.net
2- Log on to your primary comcast.net account
3- Go to the Member Services section from the Comcast High-Speed Internet home page
4- Click on the Manage My Account section, and click on the Access Newsgroups link (you will only be able to access the newsgroup sign up screen from Comcast's network)
5- From the newsgroup sign up screen, enter your full name
6- Enter your primary comcast.net user name/login (your primary e-mail address without "@comcast.net").
7- Review the "Terms and Policies" and click Yes to accept
8- Click the Enable Account button, and then click the Finish button on the "Congratulations Welcome" screen
9- Within 24 hours, your primary comcast.net e-mail account should receive an e-mail containing your newsgroup ID and password.

I shout "conspiracy" in their general direction! This is rediculous. I'm already looking into alternatives for service providers. Oh, and did I mention that they RAISED the price of their "service" by $5. Yup. A shitty, bandwidth restricted connection, monitored newsgroups, unsecure email, it can all be yours for the low low price of $49.99 a month. Is there no end to the crap that consumers are forced to deal with. We get pushed around so much that we think it's ok. Well, it's not. I'm sure there's other that feel the same way. I for one, will not longer be a comcast customer as soon as I can find an alternative. I don't care if it costs more, I just don't want to have anything to do with these people ever again.

I've decided to seriously evaluate my writting abilities. Personally, I'm begining to think that I have a distinct lack of "professionalism." Not that I'm striving towards being a professional writer by any stretch of the imagination, just that I sound more and more "amature" every day. I've fallen into the rut of "this is my daily life, these are interesting links." I had tried to avoid that but sometimes it's hard. So, hopefully, with motivation you can start to expect posts about actual topics instead of "I had a shitty day" ramblings. Not that those will go away, I could never abandon my favorite hobby: complaining.