Kurt Vonnegut that is... Jr.... Not his dad....
Just got reading Slaughterhouse Five and I thoroughly enjoyed it.... I think I had read it earlier in life (in high school perhaps.... I can remember reading Breakfast of Champions). I read it basically in two sittings... One Saturday morning at Moid's house, and one Monday afternoon when I got back from Chicago...
What I love about Vonnegut is the way he mixes the absurd with the frighteningly real... In the case of Slaughterhouse Five, it's World War II mixed with alien abduction... Brilliant...
I also love the tone of irony that permeates from everything he writes... You might even say every word in his books are ironic...
Five is an anti-war book, and now, more than ever, we need anti-war books... Although the madness it describes is set in WWII, it is relevant to this day...
Check it out!
5.29.2007
5.24.2007
Come in For Din-Din!
You know how sometimes you just stumble upon a song you really like? I just stumbled onto one... I "Autofilled" my Shuffle (iPod Shuffle, as it's formally known... 'Lil Clippy is what I call him) the other day before my bike ride, and, like most people with large iTunes libraries, I have hundreds of songs that I have never heard...
Why? I get music from people who tell me it's good, and it takes a while for me to get around to listening to it...
But it makes for fun discoveries, such as my recent one, "Supper's Ready" by Genesis...
You might be thinking, "Alright, Phil Collins is cool... I guess...? Is it the B-side to 'I Can't Dance'?"
But no, Genesis was a band before 1986... Well before actually... And also, Peter Gabriel existed before "Sledgehammer"... And believe it or not, both of these things existed as ONE...
It's a fairly obvious fact, but there are those who are oblivious to it...
Anywayssssssss.... "Supper's Ready" is an epic song... Clocks in at just under 24 minutes. Yep. 24. I didn't mistype that...
You see, there are those who like multi-sectioned odd-measured instrumentally-charged pretentious Prog-Art-Nerd-Rock... Namely me... And "Supper's Ready" delights in all those facets...
It goes through a ton of musical changes, has cool solos, uses crazy odd time signatures, and generally has esoteric and nerdy lyrics...
GOOD STUFF!
I highly recommend you give it a listen...
Why? I get music from people who tell me it's good, and it takes a while for me to get around to listening to it...
But it makes for fun discoveries, such as my recent one, "Supper's Ready" by Genesis...
You might be thinking, "Alright, Phil Collins is cool... I guess...? Is it the B-side to 'I Can't Dance'?"
But no, Genesis was a band before 1986... Well before actually... And also, Peter Gabriel existed before "Sledgehammer"... And believe it or not, both of these things existed as ONE...
It's a fairly obvious fact, but there are those who are oblivious to it...
Anywayssssssss.... "Supper's Ready" is an epic song... Clocks in at just under 24 minutes. Yep. 24. I didn't mistype that...
You see, there are those who like multi-sectioned odd-measured instrumentally-charged pretentious Prog-Art-Nerd-Rock... Namely me... And "Supper's Ready" delights in all those facets...
It goes through a ton of musical changes, has cool solos, uses crazy odd time signatures, and generally has esoteric and nerdy lyrics...
GOOD STUFF!
I highly recommend you give it a listen...
5.21.2007
Where Have the Drinking Fountains Gone?
Is it just Minneapolis, or have all cities and towns done away with public drinking fountains? Or am I wrong in thinking that if I go to a city park that somewhere amongst the picnic tables and benches there should be a place where water flows out at the push of a button?
As I went on my semi-usual after-school bike ride today (Yes, picture me skidding out on a BMX and making a ramp out of a brick and scrap plywood found in an alley, using it to jump over my Ninja Turtle action figures) I realized that I forgot my water bottle.
"No problem, if I get thirsty I'll stop at one of the many city parks I ride through and get a drink at what must surely be innumerable water fountains contained therein..." I thought to myself, drunk on confidence in the public drinking facilities of Minneapolis.
Oh oh OH was I in for a treat... None. Nada. Zero.
I literally do not *exit* a city park on my bike rides. I start in one, continue through one, and end in one... Where oh where are the drinking fountains?
Am I looking the wrong places? Yes? Maybe? I don't know... It seems like there should be drinking fountains, or at the very least a well-spigot-typey-thing, anytime a group of 2 or more picnic tables exist.
Is this a new thing? Is this a big city thing?
I can remember many many a day riding my bike around the Webster City greater metropolis, and having ample opportunities to drink water. There was a fountain at each of the city parks...
Is this a small town thing?
If it is, what about big cities creates an environment where drinking fountains cannot thrive?
Hmm...
As I went on my semi-usual after-school bike ride today (Yes, picture me skidding out on a BMX and making a ramp out of a brick and scrap plywood found in an alley, using it to jump over my Ninja Turtle action figures) I realized that I forgot my water bottle.
"No problem, if I get thirsty I'll stop at one of the many city parks I ride through and get a drink at what must surely be innumerable water fountains contained therein..." I thought to myself, drunk on confidence in the public drinking facilities of Minneapolis.
Oh oh OH was I in for a treat... None. Nada. Zero.
I literally do not *exit* a city park on my bike rides. I start in one, continue through one, and end in one... Where oh where are the drinking fountains?
Am I looking the wrong places? Yes? Maybe? I don't know... It seems like there should be drinking fountains, or at the very least a well-spigot-typey-thing, anytime a group of 2 or more picnic tables exist.
Is this a new thing? Is this a big city thing?
I can remember many many a day riding my bike around the Webster City greater metropolis, and having ample opportunities to drink water. There was a fountain at each of the city parks...
Is this a small town thing?
If it is, what about big cities creates an environment where drinking fountains cannot thrive?
Hmm...
5.17.2007
V8 Fusion = Brilliant!
So I recently discovered a product called V-8 Fusion...
Yes, the same V-8 that does the "Shudda'hadda V-8" commercials...
Yes, the terrible tasting tomato-with-splash-of-carrot juice...
But! They finally got it right... I think they realized something about most people, and that is people do not like the taste of tomato and carrot juice. This seems like a fairly easy conclusion to come to, but alas, it's taken the V-8 people (The Campbell's people?) a while to realize that... Emails must have circulated many a day at the Campbell's corporate offices with Re:re:re:RE: Tomato Juice Gross?? in the subject line...
Until my recent discovery, I passed the V-8 shelf at the grocery store without a second thought, much like all of us who aren't either a) Making Bloody Marys all the time, or b) 80 years old... Having worked at a grocery store for many of my formative years, I can honestly say the large cans of V-8 on the shelf went untouched many a day...
But to my surprise, and to my delight, the V-8 Fusion is delicious! What is even more amazing is that it not only contains fruit juice, but vegetable juice as well...
And here's the best part, a single glass has a serving of fruit and vegetables in it...
What's that? I can drink delicious, fruity tasting vegetables? Why yes, yes I think I will do that...
Why? Because if a tomato can taste like an orange it should.
Good stuff...
Yes, the same V-8 that does the "Shudda'hadda V-8" commercials...
Yes, the terrible tasting tomato-with-splash-of-carrot juice...
But! They finally got it right... I think they realized something about most people, and that is people do not like the taste of tomato and carrot juice. This seems like a fairly easy conclusion to come to, but alas, it's taken the V-8 people (The Campbell's people?) a while to realize that... Emails must have circulated many a day at the Campbell's corporate offices with Re:re:re:RE: Tomato Juice Gross?? in the subject line...
Until my recent discovery, I passed the V-8 shelf at the grocery store without a second thought, much like all of us who aren't either a) Making Bloody Marys all the time, or b) 80 years old... Having worked at a grocery store for many of my formative years, I can honestly say the large cans of V-8 on the shelf went untouched many a day...
But to my surprise, and to my delight, the V-8 Fusion is delicious! What is even more amazing is that it not only contains fruit juice, but vegetable juice as well...
And here's the best part, a single glass has a serving of fruit and vegetables in it...
What's that? I can drink delicious, fruity tasting vegetables? Why yes, yes I think I will do that...
Why? Because if a tomato can taste like an orange it should.
Good stuff...
5.15.2007
The Power of Forums
Something that an overwhelmingly large majority of consumers overlook is the power of a good internet forum. I myself didn't realize the vast amount of knowledge contained within good online forums until I joined the Mac community. By no means is the Mac community the only online community, as there are forums for basically anything you could ever imagine...
Forums are where a wealth of information on the Internet is. You can ask a question (of course searching the forums beforehand to see if someone asked the same question already) and have answers from people who have actual real world experience.
Obviously you are going to get a lot of crappy forums, and even within a good forum you are going to get a lot of crappy posts and topics (Witness the ridiculous arguments that insue after any Mac announcement on any Mac forum), but after weeding through the bad, you will be left with a large amount of priceless information.
Forums contain a lot of information that isn't available anywhere else...
Example: My wife's factory car stereo broke. When replacing it with a junkyard stereo, the new factory stereo thought it was stolen, so it wouldn't play CD's. (A feature known as Theftlock) Now, we could have obviously taken it to a dealer, and had them reset the stereo. But at what cost? And at what loss of precious time?
Enter the Google search. This led her brother and I to a forum. In the forum a consumer asked the same question we had, "How do I reset the stereo?" In the forum was a response from a forum member who had firsthand knowledge. He layed out step by step instructions, and it was a few minutes later that we had an unlocked, working stereo.
Could such knowledge be used by theives? Quite possibly... (Although a thief stealing factory stereos is missing the point of being a thief...) But any knowledge could be used as such...
Forums contain a ton of valuable knowledge.
Forums are where a wealth of information on the Internet is. You can ask a question (of course searching the forums beforehand to see if someone asked the same question already) and have answers from people who have actual real world experience.
Obviously you are going to get a lot of crappy forums, and even within a good forum you are going to get a lot of crappy posts and topics (Witness the ridiculous arguments that insue after any Mac announcement on any Mac forum), but after weeding through the bad, you will be left with a large amount of priceless information.
Forums contain a lot of information that isn't available anywhere else...
Example: My wife's factory car stereo broke. When replacing it with a junkyard stereo, the new factory stereo thought it was stolen, so it wouldn't play CD's. (A feature known as Theftlock) Now, we could have obviously taken it to a dealer, and had them reset the stereo. But at what cost? And at what loss of precious time?
Enter the Google search. This led her brother and I to a forum. In the forum a consumer asked the same question we had, "How do I reset the stereo?" In the forum was a response from a forum member who had firsthand knowledge. He layed out step by step instructions, and it was a few minutes later that we had an unlocked, working stereo.
Could such knowledge be used by theives? Quite possibly... (Although a thief stealing factory stereos is missing the point of being a thief...) But any knowledge could be used as such...
Forums contain a ton of valuable knowledge.
5.13.2007
Cell Phones are Ruining Our Lives: Part 2
So besides low quality music, the glut of cell phones in the world are also inundating us with other low quality media, namely photos and video...
People will use their cell phones to capture photos at terrible quality, or, heaven forbid, video at Holocaustic quality...
But again, they think it's great... In fact, they cannot wait to show it off to you! Or post it on YouTube!
"Hey, check it out!" they say as they show you the screen of their cell phone, showing the image of what appears to be a pixelated Little Goomba covered in digital vomit...
Or worse yet, a video of slightly animated digital vomit with aforementioned bat-sex audio...
Horrendous...
Obviously there are constraints on the quality of the video and audio in such small device, and no one wants to pay hundreds of dollars for a cell phone just so they can have a 6 megapixel camera inside it, but I think the troubling thing is that many people see the terrible quality as acceptable...
What are you going to do with these pictures and video? Nothing... You look at them a couple times, show them to your friends, then dispose of them. And I think the disposableness is the real problem...
If people only document their memories with the disposable media, then their memories become disposable...
I'm certainly not positing that HD video and/or 29 mexapixel cameras are the only true way to capture your life, nor am I saying that people have to carry a stand-alone camera with them at all times.
The idea is that people shouldn't allow their cell phones to dictate what they document or don't document... The decision shouldn't be made by the device, but rather by the person...
Open Apple Q
People will use their cell phones to capture photos at terrible quality, or, heaven forbid, video at Holocaustic quality...
But again, they think it's great... In fact, they cannot wait to show it off to you! Or post it on YouTube!
"Hey, check it out!" they say as they show you the screen of their cell phone, showing the image of what appears to be a pixelated Little Goomba covered in digital vomit...
Or worse yet, a video of slightly animated digital vomit with aforementioned bat-sex audio...
Horrendous...
Obviously there are constraints on the quality of the video and audio in such small device, and no one wants to pay hundreds of dollars for a cell phone just so they can have a 6 megapixel camera inside it, but I think the troubling thing is that many people see the terrible quality as acceptable...
What are you going to do with these pictures and video? Nothing... You look at them a couple times, show them to your friends, then dispose of them. And I think the disposableness is the real problem...
If people only document their memories with the disposable media, then their memories become disposable...
I'm certainly not positing that HD video and/or 29 mexapixel cameras are the only true way to capture your life, nor am I saying that people have to carry a stand-alone camera with them at all times.
The idea is that people shouldn't allow their cell phones to dictate what they document or don't document... The decision shouldn't be made by the device, but rather by the person...
Open Apple Q
5.11.2007
Cell Phones are Ruining Our Lives: Part 1
But not in the way you might think I mean...
Sure, there is something about an obnoxiously loud cell phone enthusiast lip-smackering their inane conversation about who did or did not "Say shit to them" into the quiet solitude of a post office line that can make one loathe the entirety of the human race, that's a given...
I'm talking about the ruining of our lives in two respects: Music and Photos.
Cell Phones are ruining music. Not the music itself; that is being ruined by near-sighted record executives and Nickelback...
I'm talking about the actual sound quality of music... Or of, at least, the music that people are consuming more and more through and by cell phones...
I'm no Audiophile, and I am not railing against the mp3 format, in fact I greatly enjoy the format... What I'm focusing on is the way that people enjoy it...
I see tons of teenagers and college students using their cell phone's mp3 playing capabilities to listen to a majority of their music. Many times they buy the songs over the cell phone network or just like to listen to their ring tones over and over...
Have you ever heard music played through a cell phone or bought on a cell phone?
It literally sounds like what I imagine two bats having sex on top of a pile of continuously crumpling paper would sound like... Which, to my ears, is an unpleasant sound.
But here's the terrifying part... The purchasers greatly enjoy it.
They gladly shell out $2.99 for a horribly compressed song on their cell phones, and listen to it repeatedly as if that is what the song should sound like.
Hmm... More on this later
Sure, there is something about an obnoxiously loud cell phone enthusiast lip-smackering their inane conversation about who did or did not "Say shit to them" into the quiet solitude of a post office line that can make one loathe the entirety of the human race, that's a given...
I'm talking about the ruining of our lives in two respects: Music and Photos.
Cell Phones are ruining music. Not the music itself; that is being ruined by near-sighted record executives and Nickelback...
I'm talking about the actual sound quality of music... Or of, at least, the music that people are consuming more and more through and by cell phones...
I'm no Audiophile, and I am not railing against the mp3 format, in fact I greatly enjoy the format... What I'm focusing on is the way that people enjoy it...
I see tons of teenagers and college students using their cell phone's mp3 playing capabilities to listen to a majority of their music. Many times they buy the songs over the cell phone network or just like to listen to their ring tones over and over...
Have you ever heard music played through a cell phone or bought on a cell phone?
It literally sounds like what I imagine two bats having sex on top of a pile of continuously crumpling paper would sound like... Which, to my ears, is an unpleasant sound.
But here's the terrifying part... The purchasers greatly enjoy it.
They gladly shell out $2.99 for a horribly compressed song on their cell phones, and listen to it repeatedly as if that is what the song should sound like.
Hmm... More on this later
5.10.2007
Is it going to be all Rush?
2/3rds of all my blog entries have been about Rush...
Now 3/4ths!
Does that mean it's going to be all about Rush?
Nope.
In fact, I was thinking about a very non-Rush topic today. I was sitting and I was thinking. The thinking had nothing to do with Rush. And now that I think of it, the sitting didn't have anything to do with Rush either. I was sitting because I didn't want to stand.
Aversion to standing has nothing to do with Rush.
Anyways, a friend sent me a link to a recent Nightline debate about the existence of God. On one side were two "Street Evangelists" one of whom was Kirk Cameron, who screams credibility as he was on a show with a character named Boner.
On the other side were two "Internet Atheists" which consisted of a loafy guy and a lady with a huge rack who have an Internetty-type site where people can post videos of themselves denouncing the Holy Spirit and doing other blasphemous-ily delicious things.
We were promised scientific proof of God's existence from the Street Evangelist side, but sadly we got a preachy re-make of a Cicero proof from 100 B.C.E.
We were promised rebuttal of said scientific proof from the Internet Atheist side, but we got a loafy guy and a lady with a huge rack.
In the end, no one was closer or farther to a scientific explanation of the existence of God. We basically got a debate over the definition of science.
Meh.
Science is neither Kirk Cameron or huge racks... Although it does help explain one of them...
Open Apple Q
Now 3/4ths!
Does that mean it's going to be all about Rush?
Nope.
In fact, I was thinking about a very non-Rush topic today. I was sitting and I was thinking. The thinking had nothing to do with Rush. And now that I think of it, the sitting didn't have anything to do with Rush either. I was sitting because I didn't want to stand.
Aversion to standing has nothing to do with Rush.
Anyways, a friend sent me a link to a recent Nightline debate about the existence of God. On one side were two "Street Evangelists" one of whom was Kirk Cameron, who screams credibility as he was on a show with a character named Boner.
On the other side were two "Internet Atheists" which consisted of a loafy guy and a lady with a huge rack who have an Internetty-type site where people can post videos of themselves denouncing the Holy Spirit and doing other blasphemous-ily delicious things.
We were promised scientific proof of God's existence from the Street Evangelist side, but sadly we got a preachy re-make of a Cicero proof from 100 B.C.E.
We were promised rebuttal of said scientific proof from the Internet Atheist side, but we got a loafy guy and a lady with a huge rack.
In the end, no one was closer or farther to a scientific explanation of the existence of God. We basically got a debate over the definition of science.
Meh.
Science is neither Kirk Cameron or huge racks... Although it does help explain one of them...
Open Apple Q
Snakes and Arrows and Thoughts
So I've had Rush's new album Snakes and Arrows for almost a month now...
"But Willard," you say, "it came out May 1st... Wha'happan?"
Yes. Yes it did. And I bought it May 1st. And I also have ordered the limited edition DVD (or MVI or DVDMI or MDIVD or whatever they choose to call it next week) version directly from Rush.com...
But... The Internet is a wonderful thing...Wonderful *and* dangerous, yes, but wonderful nonetheless... So I've had it for about a month now.
My first thoughts:
Favorite Track (Currently): "Armor and Sword" - What I greatly like about the song is the verse riff when it's just the acoustic guitar, then the bass and drums come in. The feel is sweet. Sounds more odd time-signatured then 3/4, but it isn't. The entire song should just be this riff for 5 minutes... But, alas, it isn't so that's why I have to listen to it over and over.
Least Favorite Track (Currently): "Good News First" - It's a bit disjointed... I don't mind the effect on the vocals during the verse... It's just I think the "bridge-y-quasi-chorus" with the acoustic guitar near the middle of the track is so out of place... It should have been it's own separate song.
I think sometimes (especially on TFE, VT, and S&A) they try to cram too many song ideas into one song. They'll have an awesome riff, then another, then another, then a different chorus...
Example: "One Little Victory" - Thunderous drum intro, then screaming guitar riff. Awesome. Then the verse. Wha? Different, less rocking riff? But where did my 1st riff go? I think there were two songs there. When the opening riff comes back in the song, it's too late and too weak...
I think that same problem happens with "Good News First", and it darn near does with "The Way the Wind Blows"... With that we go from "The Body Electric" type opening drum riff to blues to riffy rock to acoustic-y rock and back again... Again, perhaps the blues could have been its own song... Just Alex ripping it up for 3 minutes on a blues progression...
Anyway....
Just my first thoughts... I'll be back with more
Open Apple Q
"But Willard," you say, "it came out May 1st... Wha'happan?"
Yes. Yes it did. And I bought it May 1st. And I also have ordered the limited edition DVD (or MVI or DVDMI or MDIVD or whatever they choose to call it next week) version directly from Rush.com...
But... The Internet is a wonderful thing...Wonderful *and* dangerous, yes, but wonderful nonetheless... So I've had it for about a month now.
My first thoughts:
Favorite Track (Currently): "Armor and Sword" - What I greatly like about the song is the verse riff when it's just the acoustic guitar, then the bass and drums come in. The feel is sweet. Sounds more odd time-signatured then 3/4, but it isn't. The entire song should just be this riff for 5 minutes... But, alas, it isn't so that's why I have to listen to it over and over.
Least Favorite Track (Currently): "Good News First" - It's a bit disjointed... I don't mind the effect on the vocals during the verse... It's just I think the "bridge-y-quasi-chorus" with the acoustic guitar near the middle of the track is so out of place... It should have been it's own separate song.
I think sometimes (especially on TFE, VT, and S&A) they try to cram too many song ideas into one song. They'll have an awesome riff, then another, then another, then a different chorus...
Example: "One Little Victory" - Thunderous drum intro, then screaming guitar riff. Awesome. Then the verse. Wha? Different, less rocking riff? But where did my 1st riff go? I think there were two songs there. When the opening riff comes back in the song, it's too late and too weak...
I think that same problem happens with "Good News First", and it darn near does with "The Way the Wind Blows"... With that we go from "The Body Electric" type opening drum riff to blues to riffy rock to acoustic-y rock and back again... Again, perhaps the blues could have been its own song... Just Alex ripping it up for 3 minutes on a blues progression...
Anyway....
Just my first thoughts... I'll be back with more
Open Apple Q
5.09.2007
Red Sector A
*is* a good Rush song... Not one of my flavo-rites, but good nonetheless... A highlight is the solo section, with its whammy-barred harmonics and sparse drum smackery...
The best part of the song, however, is the lyrics, which, because of their close relation to the Holocaust, give me, a teacher, an English teacher at that, license to use it in the classroom, my classroom, as supplemental, extraneous even, material no less, or more, when teaching the book Night, a Holocaust memoir, to my 10th graders.
We read the lyrics and listen to the song... Watch it actually... I use the Rush in Rio DVD version, as I prefer the more "up-to-date" sounding version of the song. Plus the students laugh too much at Geddy's hair in the Grace Under Pressure video and the point is lost...
Rule #1 about studying the Holocaust:
Never laugh about 80's hair when you're supposed to be studying the Holocaust.
That is all
Open Apple Q
The best part of the song, however, is the lyrics, which, because of their close relation to the Holocaust, give me, a teacher, an English teacher at that, license to use it in the classroom, my classroom, as supplemental, extraneous even, material no less, or more, when teaching the book Night, a Holocaust memoir, to my 10th graders.
We read the lyrics and listen to the song... Watch it actually... I use the Rush in Rio DVD version, as I prefer the more "up-to-date" sounding version of the song. Plus the students laugh too much at Geddy's hair in the Grace Under Pressure video and the point is lost...
Rule #1 about studying the Holocaust:
Never laugh about 80's hair when you're supposed to be studying the Holocaust.
That is all
Open Apple Q
It Begins
So here I am... Blog post numero uno... Two sentences so far and I have already used two ellipses... Now three... Wait... Will it continue? Only time will tell...
So what will I be writing about, you ask? Man, I dunno... I envision writing insightful, witty, and brilliantly ironic posts about the minutae of life... But in reality It'll pry just be me yelling about things I hate... Which is entertaining in it's own right...
Well, before I start writing too much and then hit the wrong button since it's my first post and erase it all and then try to remember what it was that I wrote the first time, I'll end this post now.
End
Quit
Exit
Open Apple Q
So what will I be writing about, you ask? Man, I dunno... I envision writing insightful, witty, and brilliantly ironic posts about the minutae of life... But in reality It'll pry just be me yelling about things I hate... Which is entertaining in it's own right...
Well, before I start writing too much and then hit the wrong button since it's my first post and erase it all and then try to remember what it was that I wrote the first time, I'll end this post now.
End
Quit
Exit
Open Apple Q
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