To The Metal

Musician Jeff Healey dies of cancer

First caught on to Healey back in the late 80’s/early 90’s.  The track Angel Eyes was big then, so I picked up a couple of his albums and was immediately hooked.  Rest in peace dude.

I’m listening to this song on Sirius this morning, could swear it is Poppa Roach.

Turns out it is Atreyu – Becoming The Bull.

When I can’t tell the difference between pop and a band that used to pump out some really great Metal… it’s truly a sad day.

Every time I see a successful artist embrace the Internet as a storefront, independently of Big Music – I have to chuckle.

NIN has made its new album, 36 tracks of instrumental – available for download.  A minimum of $5 will get you the complete album, whereas there are other – more expensive options – for those who want a little more flash in the package.

This shouldn’t be working!  Well, if I was a record industry executive, that’s what I’d still be saying nearly 10 years after the original Napster showed us all the value in instant musical gratification.  Imagine where we’d be if the industry – instead of attacking the consumer, embraced the new technology?

Good, now get that vile thought out of your head.  Big music is composed of old farts who still think the Rolling Stones are viable and CD’s should cost $18.  If they’d had a 10 year head start with online music, it would have only accelerated their demise.  Forget $.99 tracks, you’d see single songs going for at least $5 with full albums for anywhere from $15 to $25 as they perpetuate the failed CD/Cassette/Record model of music distribution and maximize the profit based on minimal cost.

The best thing that can continue to happen is where artists like NIN and others make their music available without the crochety old middle man who smells like cheddar and mothballs.  Will big music ever completely go away?  I doubt it, but you will see a consolidation – you will see old names bought up by those who understand and embrace technology – and the concept of a fair price for the product.

Frankly I hope I see the day where Apple buys Geffen and burns the f**ker’s house down.  A man can dream.

I had some errands to run this morning, so I found myself in downtown Warwick. They’ve made some changes around Stanley-Deming park, ala cutting the speed limit to 25mph as well as making the nearby cross-street a 4 way stop. Anyhow, I’m not in the best of moods this morning, there’s a lot of crap going on in my life at the moment and generally speaking – it’s given me a rather short fuse.

So I’m on South Street, heading towards town, and this ponce in a green CRV runs the stop signs by the park and speeds off. I catch up to him further down South Street only to see him run the stop sign pulling on to Main St. So I’m still behind the guy, and by the post office he pulls hard right, I pass, then he pulls hard left right behind me. I shake my head looking into the rearview and he mouths something at me.

Parking brake goes on.

Seatbelt comes off.

Door opens.

I walk back to the guy and I don’t shout – I simply state that he “ran two stop signs, one down by the park in the 25mph zone.” He says “What? I didn’t hear you.” So I repeat. “Is that why you were following me?” he asked…

“I wasn’t following you, but you did annoy the shit out of me.”

On my way out of town he stayed FAR back from me. I honestly wasn’t going to make a deal out of it, I wasn’t tailgating him, but once he started to play games with me I honestly didn’t feel like having some jerk on a power trip ruin my morning commute.

Back story – I got hit by a car down there when I was 13 because some dickhead was in a rush, and then they ran off while all the Police were focused on the parade going through the town. So when it comes to bolting through stop signs or speeding through the park – I’M A LITTLE SENSITIVE TO THE ISSUE.

Damn if I don’t feel fucking great right now though. 🙂

<dukewk_> marlin: most ridiculous is that getting out of your car isnow considered an act of road rage
<dukewk_> even if you just get out and stand there… and the currentlaws now have road rage now one notch better than hate crime
<Jim_> marlin: in a word, awesome
<dukewk_> which i never understood anyway… one guy beats another guy half to death – not a problem when they’re the same race, but a HUGE problem if they aren’t
<dukewk_> marlin: but you expect more from mini-suv drivers?
<marlin> well i just wasn’t going to let this continue to escalate
<marlin> cos if he started playing more games i was going to lose my temper
<marlin> so i just made it abundantly clear that he’s a paranoid asshole, and he shouldn’t play games with big men in volkswagens
* Jim_/#chat thinks “road rage? no officer, I was going to give him a
citizans arrest for multiple infractions on the law, but I decided
to let him off with a warning”.

I’m looking to sell my 2005 Volkswagen GTI.  It’s the 1.8T 5-speed model with 43,000 miles and gets a steady 29mpg.  There’s a small scratch on the driver’s door, but besides that it is in perfect condition.  Monsoon sound system, airbags, alloy rims, no rust, bone stock – nothing has been modified.  I’m looking to get bought out of it, so I’m asking $15,000.  That will cover my cost of paying it off.  I’ll have pictures up soon.  If you’re interested, drop me a line at s.stanaitis@gmail.com.

Not a bad weekend all in all, Friday night I ended up taking the 4×4 down to the Vernon Inn for a beer and some wings.  As usual, NY did a crap job on the roads, and in NJ you could barely tell we had a major snowstorm.  At the Inn, the lot was filled with 4×4’s, inside where plow drivers and the like – and we all watched in disbelief the show “My Big Redneck Wedding” on CMT.  Not to mention, “Trick my Truck” aka Pimp my Ride for tractor trailers.  I was only out for a little bit, but it was enough to shake off the cabin fever and clear my head.

Saturday was pretty uneventful, nearly burned the place down as my vacuum’s rotating brush jammed up, melted, and started dumping out a lot of really vile smelling smoke.  Headed out to Wal-Mart to buy a new Hoover.  I can’t believe how much crap this thing pulled out of my carpets.  I thought my old one was decent, the new is a bag-less and the debris cup was nearly filled just by vacuuming the living room and bedroom.  At this point I’m convinced my apartment just hemorages dust.  After I got that cleaning out of the way, I tore apart my bedroom to start its annual cleaning, and then moved on to work on my brownie recipe.  Added just the right amount of cayenne pepper – these are the best brownies I’ve ever made.  After all that, I found my way to QXT’s down in Newark for an evening of drunken debauchery.  That’s always tons of fun.  The fact it was closed the prior night had it packed on Saturday, plenty of people and plenty of dancing.  Just one thing though, the glow stick people, just give it up, you look stupid.

Sunday I kicked back, played some video games, and then proceeded to start shred-fest 2008.  I basically pick a day and go through all my old documents, bank statements, etc… stuff I don’t need anymore – and shred the fuck out of them.  Then spent a good couple hours cleaning my bedroom, living room and kitchen are next.   Also had to put in some hours at the office, a stack of new layer-3 switches and a few programming updates that had to be done after hours.

Not a bad weekend, but I know i’m in trouble if I’m getting choked up at the end of Buffy season 2. Hoping the foggy brain and fake laughs will take their leave this week.

Besides being one of my favorite episodes of the series “Angel” that line has been looping through my head the past couple weeks, over and over again. There’s a hole in my world. There’s a hole in me.

For a long time I’ve tried to fill it. Fill it with toys, fill it with distraction, friends, and for more than a few lucky years – love. Of course, toys and distractions are easier to obtain and keep than friends or love.

I’ve been through my share of both. It seems that just when I think I know what I’m doing, that I know what I want and I’m ready to take the next step in this funny little life of mine – the hole gets deeper, wider, and just more empty.

I’m not a generally happy person. I keep to myself for the most part and try not to affect those around me too much if I can’t. But still, I’ve got a mouth on me, and while it has the glorious ability to fill a room with laughter – it hasn’t done much to fill the hole in me.

Not much I’ve done has filled the hole, I just go on, do my own thing, and take life a day at a time. Dare to dream? I’d lie if I said I don’t have dreams, but my biggest problem is resting my trust in another person to help them come true.

Recently I was on a set track. I had a house and a wedding on the way, a few months down the road I would have found my dreams realized. Then the hole got bigger. Sadly, it was too big for both of us to handle, and it all came to an abrupt end. It happens.

Most of my peers reacted with shock, my family was shocked, I finally escaped the disbelief in time to find myself here in my little apartment, alone again, wondering what the heck this silly little world has in store for me next.

I really have no idea. Stability is not a theme in my life, either I mix it up through my own impatience or it just gets tossed into a shaker glass beyond my control. I’ve been fairly numb lately on the outside – but inside I can still hear part of me scream at this unplanned foreclosure of my latest dream.

So be it, I’m not to find satisfaction or peace just by sitting idly by and waiting for it to come along and land in my lap. Too long I’ve just taken what fate has granted without question. So here I go again, to quote my favorite singer. To anyone who’s worried – don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be alright.

I always am. I’ve still got my dreams.

I have spread my dreams under your feet. Tread softly, for you tread on my dreams.

Now I’ve always found Rolling Stone to be a fairly kookie magazine, on par with fine periodicals such as MAD and the National Inquirer.  Tonight I got my latest forced issue and the headline reads: “BRITNEY SPEARS: Inside an American Tragedy.”

Yes, this is the same magazine written by folks who think 9/11 was perpetrated by Dick Cheney as an explosives test before he personally took out the levee’s in New Orleans… calling Spears a National Tragedy.  I had no idea we were doing that well in Iraq.  I mean hell, FISA was renewed as all the major telecommunications providers were given amnesty for spying on their customers – and the big news story?  Roger Clemens lied to the NEW YORK TIMES.

I feel bad for Spears, I really do.  She’s always been a fine piece of tail and quite frankly I’d like to take her out for a good steak dinner some night.  That aside – an American Tragedy?  The real tragedy is that people actually buy this magazine, as well as advertise in it.

I really wish they’d lose the glossy paper as well, it’d save me the trouble of crinkling it up to use as toilet paper if it just had some more grip to begin with.

We’re treading on hallowed ground here folks, I grew up on Knight Rider.

That said – they pulled it off.

A few notes though…

The panoramic CG… sucked.  It was bad.  Really bad.  Maybe it was due to watching it on HD – but how hard is it to simply have a Mustang speed down a highway and shoot it from a helicopter?  This was the equivalent of the model car used in certain jump sequences in the old series.  Still, the old series started out without the final version of KITT even complete, so – I’ll take it.

I like how they gave subtle nods to the old show without allowing it to dominate – that’s key here.  We want to tread a new path without relying on 25 year old file footage.  I’d hope for more cameos though – more Knight, maybe even some Bonnie Barstow or even William Daniels.  It can be done – just don’t overdo it.

Last but not least, the commercials.  Maybe I’m spoiled as most of the television I view nowadays is on DVD – but I’ve had it with the amount of advertising… it is borderline ludicrous.  The Focus / Mustang ads were cute, but I can’t help but feel dirty watching most modern television series live.

Val Kilmer pulled off KITT as well.  It’s a new twist on a classic concept – some of the quirky know-it-all is still there and frankly when Mike told him to ‘shut up’ I nearly fell out of my chair.

All in all I’m hopeful.  But NBC needs to throttle down the advertising just a tinge.  Nearly every vehicle in the show worth looking at was Ford, I don’t need 5 minute commercial brakes that equate to the same show minus the plot.  Seriously.

Move is off for reasons I’m not blogging about, TTM isn’t going anywhere, neither am I.