Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The Machine footage from Saturday night
some quick footage shot in front of the stage, somewhat shaky but pretty cool.
kudos to Magenta for this (and other) Machine footage.
Celestial Voices
When the Tigers Broke Free
High Hopes
{unsolicited plug}
if you get a chance to see The Machine, it is well worth it. ticket prices have always been reasonable ($17.50 for 2 1/2 hours of music) so you get a ton of bang for your buck. clicky click for The Machine tour dates
{/unsolicited plug}
Sunday, April 26, 2009
a fun evening with The Machine
last night M&i headed to Patriot Place for dinner and a show and it was a lot of fun. had dinner at Tastings Wine Bar & Bistro which was ok, but overpriced. kind of a tapas idea to dining, but slightly larger portions with a larger price. they do have wine flights which is nice as you can try 3 different wines within a style.
after dinner, we wandered briefly before heading down to the show. after some looking around, we managed to find a pair of seats on the floor where we stayed seated for the first set and part of the second set. M didn't want to stand for the entire show and i was there more for the music so i didn't mind.
very good show (better than the last time i saw them) with a pretty good setlist. was hoping they'd play Childhood's End, but they played it the night before i discovered this morning, which would explain its absence. oh well. highlights were Celestial Voices (which had me wonder if we'd get Dark Side of the Moon, but realized they didn't play On The Run between Breathe/Time so they wouldn't), Matilda Mother and When The Tigers Broke Free (chillingly beautiful).
we did get nearly all of Wish You Were Here (missing Shine On 1-5), strong Comfy Numb to end the first set. Brick 2 and Wish You Were Here were both big sing alongs. all in all it was a very strong performance by the band, and they looked like they were having a good time. the crowd was pretty good, altho near us during the 2nd set was a silicone barbie (M: "she looks like she has pomelos on her chest") and friends who were shitfaced and seemed to get great glee taking drunken pictures of each other. (no flash photography please) unfortunately security didn't escort them out, but fortunately at least one of them lost it in the ladies room. and what a surprise, when the others heard that, they didn't do anything other than start taking more pictures.
drunk women aside, we both had a good time. hopefully they will be back soon.
The Machine
4/25/09
Showcase Live
Foxboro, MA
Set 1: (~820p - 920p)
Welcome To the Machine
Sorrow
Speak To Me
Breathe
Time/Breathe (Reprise)
Celestial Voices
Signs Of Life
Learning To Fly
Pigs (Three Different Ones)
Matilda Mother
Comfortably Numb
Set 2: (~950p - 1105p)
Pigs On the Wing (Part 1)
Dogs
When the Tigers Broke Free
The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
Another Brick In the Wall (Part 2)
High Hopes
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 6-8)
Wish You Were Here
Astronomy Domine
Have A Cigar
Encore: (~1106p - 1115p)
Any Colour You Like
Brain Damage
Eclipse
Thursday, April 02, 2009
WIN!
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The 10/31 Project | ||||
| ||||
Read More......
Thursday, March 26, 2009
and again....
the other day i told you the tale of Poorly Educated Dumb Fuck. well, tonight, THEY CALLED BACK!
i got all excited as i grabbed a piece of paper and a pen as i was going to be the uber-friendly person to see just how much information i got get out of them.
and dammit, wouldn't you know. i couldn't get more than a SINGLE question out.
Another Poorly Educated Dumb Fuck: Hello? This is client services.
me: {uber-chipper mode} HI! What company is this? {/uber-chipper mode}
Another Poorly Educated Dumb Fuck: *CLICK*
me: {rejected & dejected mode} dammit {/rejected & dejected mode}
part of me is pleased that i managed to get Another Poorly Educated Dumb Fuck off the phone with a single question (an improvement over last time where i repeated the same question, technically a single question, but it took two pitches). but part of me was looking forward to stringing Another Poorly Educated Dumb Fuck along. i guess i'll have to take the concerned and frightened tact next time.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
you IDIOTS
this morning NRP had a quick blurb on how 3 families from MA were heading to new york today to ask a judge to declassify documents related to the security at logan airport on 9/11, but the government is citing national security (blanket) as why they don't want to. any time that i hear someone blaming security at logan airport relating to 9/11, i get annoyed.
first, like many people, especially in the northeast, the events of 9/11 affected me deeply. but when details started coming out about how the events unfolded, everyone seems to forget one SIGNIFICANT detail. not all of the fucktards who were responsible for flying the planes into the towers started their day in boston.
at least 2 of the fucktards flew out of the airport in portland maine. they took a commuter flight from portland to boston. they then met up with the other fucktards who parked a car at logan airport and then boarded one of the two flights that ultimately took the towers down.
has it ever occured to ANYONE (aside from me thus prompting my annoyance) that the two fucktards who started in PORTLAND were the ones who carried the box cutters through security? the airport in portland is a small airport compared to logan, and the footage of the fucktards walking through security is everywhere. they BREEZED through security at a SMALL airport.
now, assuming that they breezed through security in portland, carrying the box cutters, they boarded their flight which landed in boston. when you are flying a multi-airport flight, once you have landed at the next airport (in this case logan), you DON'T HAVE TO GO THROUGH SECURITY. the assumption is that you were screened at your originating airport and anything questionable would have been stopped there.
THEREFORE, the fucktards originating in portland, breezing through security, carrying box cutters NEVER WENT THROUGH SECURITY IN BOSTON. how is this a failure of security at logan? based on my own experiences flying before the events of 9/11, security in logan was MUCH more restrictive than it was when i flew out of an airport that is probably comparible in size to portland. and do you know what? i've carried a leatherman type multitool on my belt for years. and i ALWAYS carried it through security when flying. i never packed it, even when i flew to and from ENGLAND.
and guess what? when i flew to atlanta on 9/9 (two days before the events of 9/11), i carried my leatherman through security at logan airport and they didn't say anything. as i had in the past, i took it out, placed it in the little plastic basket to be x-rayed, stepped through the metal detectors, retrieved my bag and plastic basket which contained my leatherman and headed towards the gate to wait for my flight.
i have done this in boston, new york, atlanta, chicago, washington DC, newburgh, memphis, charleston, albany, syracuse, manchester and london. and the only time i was stopped was when i had it in my backpack (not on my hip) flying out of london. and the security officer there took one look at it and handed it back to me without batting an eye.
so these three families want to blame security at logan? the problem isn't with the security arrangement at logan on the 11th, it was how security at ALL airports was handled (which is why i think the government is crying national security). they didn't have orders to prevent knives and sharp objects though security. they only stopped people who were carrying something that was larger than a pocket knife or illegal. and do you want to know something else? prior to 9/11, i have also breezed through security with a box cutter. no one every said anything to me about it. so even if the fucktards who flew to boston from portland didn't carry the box cutters through security, the fucktards in boston could have carried them through security without much difficulty (which is what i'm sure these families believe and why they have their panties in a twist).
i'm sorry you lost family members on 9/11. but you need to understand that the fucktards who orchestrated this took advantage of security at multiple airports. they preyed on the fact that airport security wouldn't question knives over a designated size and used that to their advantage.
what did we learn? a lot. i no longer fly with my leatherman (checked or otherwise). and if there is a chance i won't be checking anything, i won't even bring a pocket knife, even my little swiss army knife. going through security now is a pain in the ass, and i understand that. but the security measures that were implemented as a result of 9/11 should have been in place years prior. but look at where the airline industry was in 2001, where it was when it was regulated, what changed when it was de-regulated. taking all of this into account, security may have been relaxed in an attempt to encourage people to fly. no one likes going through security, and i'm sure a percentage of people would cite that as a reason for not flying. but if security is a breeze to get through, then why not fly?
in the end, it doesn't change anything. on 9/11, the fucktards struck a blow that affected us all. you lost family members. you aren't the only ones who lost family members. thousands of people were directly affected by the events, so what makes your claim any better than anyone elses? what do you want the government to say? they fucked up? the reality of the situation is they don't have all of the answers. and i doubt that any answers you think are in those documents will give you any solace. but your insistence on not looking at the reality of the situation, only validates their belief that they won that day.
you still lost. you still lose.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
you dumb fuck
had a call just as i sat down to dinner. some unknown entity is calling and leaving messages on my answering machine about the interest rate on my credit card. i'm on the federal no call list, but that doesn't seem to stop them. and i don't believe i have done business with them before, nor are they a political party, therefore they should be fined for calling me. the problem is i'm never home when they call so i just get irritated and delete the message.
so tonight i figured i'd try and talk to someone so the call went along the line of this:
poorly educated dumb fuck: i'm calling regarding the interest rate on your credit card.
me: which credit card are you calling about?
poorly educated dumb fuck: i work for both master card and visa
me: which of my credit cards are you calling about?
poorly educated dumb fuck: oh god *click*
yes, he was a poorly educated dumb fuck.
fortunately, i was able to get back to my lovely corned beef dinner (leftovers from last night. yummy.) before it cooled off. the only thing i should have done is asked for the company before then tearing into him. but not too shabby - i asked the same question twice and got a hang up. i wonder what it would take to do it in one question....
musical confusion
the other day i posted a linky linky to molecast volume 1. here's a linky linky to molecast volume 2.
explanation time. volume 1 was a semi-random experiment. volumes 2-4 are a more random experiement.
volume 1 was born out of hearing Song of Seraphim on Top Gear. so i decided to see how quickly i could throw together a mix. i just grabbed a stack of songs and tossed them into the blender and that turned into volume 1.
volumes 2-4 was done differently, using my original idea. load a boatload of MP3s into Winamp, hit shuffle and the order in which Winamp picked 15 songs is what now makes up volumes 2-4.
no major editing (maybe a little fine tuning, boost volume, etc). 15 tracks. mashed into a single 160k MP3. tag it and throw it to the world. the only criteria is no artist can have more than 1 song on there.
why 15 songs? most songs average out to ~4 mins, so it should run ~1 hour. long enough to enjoy, short enough you don't get bored and turn it off.
why so random? why not and maybe i'll find or rediscover something. i'm not looking to censor anything, so be prepared to hear some weird shit. altho i must say that volumes 2-4 aren't that crazy.
unlike volume 1, i don't plan to post the songlist, but you want me to identify a particular song, feel free to ask.
i have 4 volumes so far. i may do more. i may not. i don't plan on keeping things posted for too long, so grab them while you can.
to quote Front 242:
W.Y.H.I.W.Y.G
what you hear is what you get.
molecast volume 1
molecast volume 2
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
an experiment
just an experiment i've had in mind. if it works, great, if not, no matter. explanation to come later.
volume 1 is a little different than plans for later volumes should this work. similar concept, but later volumes will be different. feedback is welcome, good or bad, preferably after you listen.
Clicky Clicky
~90mb, 76 mins.
not safe for the easily offended.
i will expire the link in a week or two.
fin.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
and where do i go?
received the following email from microsoft and it confuses me (not that difficult i guess)
From: Windows Live for Mobile
Sent: Mon 3/02/09 8:11 PM
Subject: New mobile services from Window Live
Stay connected while hanging with the guys
Windows Live goes mobile. Stay in sync from the road on your web-enabled mobile device with the all-new Windows Live™ for mobile services!
Windows Live Homepage
Your online life, at a glance.
- View and update your personal message
- See what's new in your network of friends
- View your pending friends requests
- See how many unread emails you have
Windows Live Photos
Save, share and view photos wherever you're online – right from your phone
- You can upload new pics on the go
- Create albums and name your pics
- Even leave comments for your friends!
Windows Live Hotmail®
Get your email on the go and stay connected
- Send & receive emails
- Access your contact list
- Manage your folders
now this is all fine and good, however i have copied the exact content of the email, including any and all links that were included with the email.
i don't see any links or any information to tell me what to plug into my web-enabled phone. not a single shred of information. so, thanks for telling me, but as you neglected to tell me WHERE to look or WHERE to go, i guess you'll just have to miss out on my using your services as i don't know WHERE to to tell my phone to go.
sure i could look it up and figure it out, but you know what? like most people, i'm lazy and have to be told where to go. therefore, this is nothing short of a FAIL.
Monday, February 16, 2009
ain't technology grand?
this weekend i bought me a new TV. it's been in my budget for a while now and on saturday afternoon, i bit and bought a nice little 46" sony LCD. now i'm in the midst of trying to figure it out.
upgraded my cable service and swapped my cable box for an HD cable box (there was a difference) and i can say that the channels that are in HD, look pretty good. but i've discovered that it really depends on what is airing at any given moment in time varies in what i see. with the HD channels, i get a full 16:9 picture. some commercials are in 4:3 ratio (standard non-widescreen tv) so i'll see the black bars on the left/right sides. then some commercials (watchmen trailer just aired and did this) and it is widescreen, but scaled to fit within the 4:3 ratio, not my full 16:9.
now, my new cable box will switch between various settings depending on the channel (480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i) but my tv doesn't seem to understand when to use what scaling. typically, both 720p & 1080i (tv supports 1080p, so i'm good there) will display in widescreen. but if i goto a SD (480i/480p) channel, the tv will stretch the 4:3 screen to 16:9. so, with a few quick flips of a button on the TV remote, i can put it back into 4:3, but i haven't figured out yet how to tell the TV to use the proper aspect ratio depending on the channel.
ooo...lobotomies
Friday, January 30, 2009
parking
back on the 19th of december, i posted a series of pictures of our first snow storm that fell upon us on the previous day. well, according to one of the local weather people (i forget who) made the comment that in the boston area, we are on track to surpass last years total which was over 100" of the fluffy white shit that is the bane of us all. currently, we are just over 70" total snowfall, so there is a good chance as the metorological 'winter' season ends at the end of february this will come true. so as a matter of curiosity, i present the following:
taken on 12/19/08, ~700am
taken on 1/29/09, ~715am
you can clearly see where i was parked in december vs. where i am now parked (assuming i pull forward) in january, 5 weeks later.
we've had a fair amount of snow. and stinky's daughter (and sperm donor) seem to be upset by this. so to the two of you, i have the following to say:
FUCK YOU
look at stinky's renter agreement which i'm sure looks like mine and you'll discover that you don't have a legal leg to stand on. our landlord has to provide written consent (which i have in my renters agreement) to parking, so if stinky doesn't have it (which would delight me to no end), you have no legal recourse.
i, as a renter, have no right unless defined by the landlord to parking. your tirade the other day where you thought (being the operative word) that stinky was legally entitled to parking is in a single word, wrong.
so, i shall repeat because you may not have understood what i said a moment ago.
FUCK YOU
if you don't like it, talk to our landlord.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
the glasses situation
not that anyone cares, but here's what happened - tuesday night M&i were at the gym. i was on the treadmill listening to music, and rather than stare eyelessly at the tv, i'll sometimes take my glasses off and put them in the little holder thing. this way i can stare eyelessly at pretty much anything and it will be a pleasant blur.
while i have shitty eyesight, i can make out shapes and recognize people if i know what blurred colors to look for. i spotted M moving across the gym and decided to see what machine she was headed for to determine how soon she would finish relative to how much time i had left on the treadmill. so i grab my glasses and flip open the right temple (as i have done countless times in my life) and *pop* goes my temple. thankfully i didn't drop my glasses out of surprise and promptly step on them.
so a quick stop the treadmill, survey the situation, recover the temple and off to find M i go. we wrap things up and head home. thankfully, i had suggested she pick me up rather than meeting her at the gym, so after dropping me off, quick shower, in go my contacts and out the door i go.
fortunately, 13 minutes later i pull into the parking lot of the pearle express i had bought them from originally and i walk in. there isn't anything they can do at that time and i discover (to my dismay) that the maker of my frames last year made some changes to the way the sunglasses connect magnetically which means they may not have the parts to fix mine. so i leave them for someone to look at the following day and after lunch i call to find out what the skinny is.
he had just been called and told that parts for my frames were not in the warehouse (somewhere in the west coast time zone - he couldn't call until 11a as they weren't open) which left me with a single option. fortunately, the lenses i have will fit into the 2008 model of my frames (that wasn't redesigned - just the temples/magnet bits) so the only thing i could do was order a set of replacement frames. i was hoping that they would come in yesterday, but no call was made to me, so i have to wait until next week.
the upside is that my eyes have adjusted to full time contact wearing (which is a good thing) so i'll actually wear my contacts more now. usually in the winter i'll back off wearing them as it is really dry, but the last few days haven't been as bad as i had expected. today could be interesting as it started out at 39 degrees (according to my little weather station) and is expected to fall into the teens with wind. recipe for eye clawing.
and the other week when i flipped rooms in my apartment, i found my previous pair of glasses and last night i figured i would see how they work, knowing they aren't my current prescription, but they seem to do ok. they work better if they are on the end of my nose which isn't comfortable, and i won't drive with them (unless absolute emergency and no time to put my contacts in) but for the moment, i can actually see. closer is easier, farther away isn't as good, but for milling about w/o my contacts in, they help.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
tv shows
right now my two favorite tv shows are:
Battlestar Galactica
Burn Notice
thankfully, new episodes are on tv right now.
w00t!
Monday, January 19, 2009
changing of the guard
well, tomorrow comes one of the most anticipated changing of the guards in a long time. i can't say that i'm sad to see our Monkey Führer departing, but i can't say that i quite knew how to describe what my thoughts were on the incoming administration. i've made now real bones about how i'm not thrilled with the incoming, and how a lot of it has to do with the cult of personality (i do believe he is a charismatic person, but he is a politician) so i've been trying to find the words to describe what my thoughts are on the subject.
thankfully, someone i respect has the answer.
"I haven't had this kind of hope, bliss, and anticipation for change since . . . New Coke."
- Penn Jillette (on twitter)
bravo. that sums up my feelings quite nicely. i tip my hat to you sir. thank you.
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