Winamp just randomly picked an Eminem song to play for me.

Whatever happened to this guy? Did he fuckin' drop off the face of the earth or something? Inquiring minds want to know this shit! I mean, 1999, this dude materialized out of nowhere and changed our lives forever and installed the word "shady" into our dialect. Two years and two incredibly offensive rap albums later, the shithead just dissapeared! I mean, what the hell? It's been like a year without any mention of him in the news. They used to write about him all day long, it was the big thing. Fuck those terrorists and those Enron cockbags for flooding the news with shit that matters. I want my news to be full of fluff, dammit.

Tony Vega rules. I met this chick tonight, one of Sherry's friends, who reminds me of Stephy at work, if Stephy got lambasted on Saturday nights. Cool stuff, though. Running D&D on a regular basis is fun again. I just hope I don't get tired of it.

My body clock is so so so fucked up right now.. and I don't know what to do, I know I want to go to bed right now, but I really need to start sleeping on a normal schedule. I mean, what the fuck am I doing right now you ask? I am trying to make a music cd for the car, and it has taken me 40 minutes to find 20 minutes worth of music. I find myself listening to too many of the songs, and I always have to put some annoying songs on the CD things that in some cases I can listen to, but they're the type of songs that stick in my memory so they connect me back to things in the past. So tonight I have been listening to a lot of songs that made me think about when I first discovered the song or some such.

There are a lot of mixed songs that people send me, that become real catchy in my mind (not for longer than a few days).. I'll listen to the song at least once a day for up to a week, and then I'll be sick of it and it'll be removed from my semi-static playlist.

I am not a fan of very many bands with female vocalists, yet I really enjoy listening to the female voice.. its soothing, and relaxing.. although the bubblegum stars like Britney Spears are not at all soothing. Tori Amos has a real pretty voice, I just can't listen to that much of her music at once. Jewel too has a pretty voice. Some of the most soothing female singers are country stars, but country gets irritating quickly for me, so that sort of counter-acts all the soothing qualities of the southern accent. Shania Twain is real hawt tho, although her fine body doesnt affect her quality on the radio.

My music listening skills seem to be different to other peoples, because I really can't listen to what the singer is saying.. it might as well be not in english (although, the problem with it being in german or something is the tones would then be different.. so at least english sounding makes it more comfortable to listen to). I can pick out the odd word. Even if I try to listen to a song, I can't understand.

For instance, I am going to transcribe parts of Tori Amos' 'Jackie's Strength":

Make me laugh
Say you know
You can turn
Knee in two
Sha in Sha
And Day Lah
Ick en Gee Uh
Ick en Gee Uhhhh
Hey
I got lost on my wedding day
...
Gees the dee dee
Muffled End
I pree
Make me laff (laugh)
So much I
Giz enuf
Ick en Gee Uh
..

You might be saying "Tori Amos can't actually speak", but I know other folks who can understand her, so its not that.

Okay, let's try some Jewel, how about 'Foolish Games':

It's OkyaCoodle
It stood in the rain
You're always crazy like that
Inna Wadindow
I feel I was outside, looking in
...It's always mysterious

That one was a bit easier, especially because she sings it so slowly.

Male singers are harder to understand. Let's give Weezer a go:

I get it how my feelings i will go out of my mind
... light my behind...
dont onset a drink of monica...
come on and kick me...
whoah...
come on and kick me...
whoah-oh-whoah...
...I got your problems, I got my hashpipe
You got your big jeans
I got my hash pipe
...
I get it how my boogies will go out of control
...
oh medled dont both with the taste of the teat
come on and kick me...
oohhh...
...

Maybe these three groups are just hard to understand, I dunno.

But I should get to bed, wake up early, and try to get to bed earlier tomorrow.

Here's my two cents about the mp3 thing. I think record labels and all that are way overreacting. It sucked when Napster went to shit and it's replacements are that good eaither. Audio Galaxy is probably the best now and I can still get most of what I want, but it's harder now. I don't like hard work.

Anyway, what I wanted to say was that on quite a few occasions I have heard a song by an artist I like, downloaded a few other of his or her songs, even a whole album, liked it, and then ordered the actual CD. It was only because I was able to download it for free that I then paid for it. Just based on one song, I wouldn't go out and buy someone's CD, no matter how much I liked that one song. Now, I know that I'm not talking about your type of music, for the most of you, but consider the Top 40 or whatever. A CD comes out by a new artist and the the radio plays one song from that album over and over again until it makes you want to scratch your eyes out. If I have to hear it that many times, I won't buy the CD just for spite. Example: Creed - With Arms Wide Open. I don't know how many times I heard that song, but I can't stand it now. I liked it when it first came out. But hearing it 3 times every hour on the radio RUINED it and I wouldn't buy the CD because I NEVER want to hear the song again. Anyway, what I'm saying is if I hear a song and before it can be ruined for me by the radio, I can download more songs by that artist from the album, I am MORE LIKELY to purchase the CD.

Probably most people don't operate this way. The more they get for free, the more they want to pay for something. No, maybe it does't make sense. BUT, I know I'm not the only one who does this. Plus, there is a lot of crap mp3s out there -- pops, skips, scratches, whatever. For $10 or $15, it's nice to have a quality reliable recording. I don't so much care about the cover art or whatever.

Yeah, so as far as I'm concerned, mp3s do not hurt the artist. For the people that steal, there are people like me that buy BECAUSE of the mp3s.

Also, it's interesting because artist's reaction to this whole thing has also influenced my buying habits. Metallica, for example, had one of the biggest problems with Napster. I'll never buy another Metallica album. Courtney Love promoted Napster. If I liked Courtney Love, I'd buy her stuff. There are others, those are just a few examples.

1212 Out.

Well... I've been having some luck downloading Full MP3 albums lately, which is nice. Since napster went down, I've had no good way of getting my hands on full albums which didn't require uploading for like 3 hours to some assholes computer on fucking crappy @home service. Then, half the time the fucking server got fucked up, or I got disconnected some how and lost all my credits. Anyhow, I've downloaded a few albums, and it's nice to have some new music.

I don't follow all the self-rightous talk that is bantered about about downloading games, or music, or software, or whatever rather than buying it. Like there is some inherent "goodness" in paying for the things you use. I think it all comes down to personal preference.. Maybe you like to have the big fucking cardboard box and documentation with the software you get, maybe you like the case art on the dvd or cd, and that's important to you. What I don't agree with is the hard line that people take, like it actually makes a difference what I do. I see one of two possibilities happening:

1. I download and use or listen to the thing I download, and don't pay for it.
2. Don't download or use this thing, and likewise don't pay for it.

Where is the issue here? It's not as if I have enough money to actually buy the things that I Steal, and yes, I admit, it's stealing. Who cares. So, where do people get off on this self-rightous tangent about how I'm personally killing the gaming industry, movie industry, [insert your industry here] industry? I don't fucking follow, maybe someone here who takes that hard line can interject.

Anyway, so I downloaded the new busta rhymes and de la soul albums. I don't think either of them are out yet... I think the busta rhymes album is pretty good, I'm not blown away by the de la soul album. Maybe it's just because I expected a lot, and was looking forward to hearing it. I also grabbed the Outkast album, which I heard alot of in Vermont, and knew I liked to a certain degree already.

I also downloaded NBA2k2 and NFL2k2 this weekend.. I've only gotten to play NBA2k2.. which I must say looks great and plays great. It's kinda hard to play with lots of people, since each game takes 20 minutes, but I still like it.

I wish they would release super monkey ball for the dreamcast, so I could DOWNLOAD and PLAY it.

There's still a bunch of fucking albums I want and cant find.. Pink Floyd Echoes and a few others come to mind... I wish I knew what CDs everyone else had, so that I could get some copy lovin.. Then again, I bet I'd get a whole bunch of fucking crap about how copying is bad and I'm personally going to put kid rock out of business, and how horrid that would be. Please note that this is just an example, as the only reason I would download a kid rock album is if it actually contributed to kid rock being hurt in some way, financially or otherwise.

One thing that's for sure is that there is a *ton* of garbage music out there right now.. The amount of songs sampling songs that I recognize as recent songs is bothering me.

I saw pork rinds at cumerland farms just the other day in North Branford, I think.

JW

Fuck you, man - look, you and I both know that Kid Rock sucks, technically, as a rapper. Britney Spears' songs could be about PBR and Impalas instead of being about how she wants to E-Mail you her heart, and she'd still be a shitty singer.

The songs are fucking terrible. I agree that he talks about things that are cool, and sometimes he's even funny (although not clever), but, jesus christ, couldn't he mix up the tempo a little bit, or something:

The K-K-Kid Rock, that is my name
And if you ask me again, I'll tell you the same
Who's to blame...I don't really know
But my game's so tight I think I'm gonna go pro
So here we go...here here we go
I'm gonna rock it up high, then rock it down low
From the floor to the ceiling to the living room
'Cause people like to hear my bass go boom...boom...boom ba boom boom

Whatever the beat is in that song, it doesn't matter - because the rhyme doesn't interact with the beat at all. Stress the middle word and the last word in each line, write couplets, and talk about as much white trash Middle America stuff as you can. It doesn't change based on how the beat changes, it's not interesting to listen to, it's not clever, or anything else.

Here's another bit:

I'm like a train I roll hard...lettin' off much steam
In the Carhart flannel and dusty jeans baby
I never was cool with James Dean
But I be hanging tough with my man Jim Beam

Same thing as the last example, except this time he actually interrupts the endless plodding with a "baby!". But, he name-checks Carhartt, which makes him down to earth, and he doesn't like James Dean, but he likes whiskey.

My name is Kid Rock, and you got to understand
I'm down to earth, I play in an American band
I come from Detroit, I am White Trash
I don't like Axl, but I'll rock with Slash
I'll TALK about BEAM, I like TO get DRUNK
I'll still sell 10 mil even if my rhymes stink like skunk
The kids like my rhymes because I talk about hos
They don't know shit, but they'll still come to my shows

He must not spend more than an hour writing all of the lyrics to a sixty-minute long album.

What Britney Spears is to girls who like pop music, Kid Rock is to people who like ROCK AND ROLL and think it's funny when rappers talk about whores, money, and weed. They each have huge sales power, they're about as interesting as each other, they're the same damn thing.

And, look, I'm not going to begrudge little girls the right to listen to Britney Spears any more than I'm going to begrudge you the right to listen to Kid Rock - the little kids like the "doo doo doo doo doo" beats, that they can sing along with her, the fact that she's soooooo pretty, and like, positive and stuff, good for them.

My specific dislike of Kid Rock isn't, in itself, any more elitist than my dislike of Britney Spears.

Stone

Man, Kid Rock rulez. I mean, I'm sorry he doesn't reach your hip hop snob standards, but I have a great appreciation for his music. You have to have love for a man who's all about cheap beer, cheap ho's and goin' down an said ho's. You're just playa hatin' because for you to like a band they have to have sold less copies of their albums than I can do push ups... And power ballad rule to. Go fuck yourself.

popular music is on an up swing, i think at least. i know most people on this fucking site hate popular music just because its main stream but whatever, im tired of not likeing something because too many people like it, fuck you. take these bands, puddle of mud, seven channels, pod, and hoobastank. now, all of these bands have been around for at leat 5 years, and only now are enjoying success. pod, probly the band that has changed the least to meet success is an interesting mix of rapcore and rock, with a positive message weather you belive in god or not, something we dont see in music alot, very cool. seven channels and puddle of mud, both ex-hardcore bands that really dident change anything except how there vocalists sang from screaming to singing, i like them both alot. hoobastank is interesting cs there a ska band for the most part but have these two singles that are kinda emo kinda jimmy eat world kinda stuff, its cool though and there album rocks, they have taken a page from incubus but its the S.C.I.E.N.C.E. era incubus so its really dope. speaking of jimmy eat world, theyve been around a while and i dont claim to have like them befor tj played some stuff for me a while ago, they seem to be making a chagre to the maistreem also with a little help from tvs very own carson daily. unfortunaly A New Found Glory has been droping back into the underground, there really good, another band intoduces to me through tj.

enough of this editorial on music im out

948 out

I like Boston a lot, too. I still regret leaving Brandeis, for all but one or two reasons. I think the public transportation system, though, is what really makes the town. The whole place seems so unified, everything in Boston so reachable, that it's almost like a small town. I like the people, too, and the area.

I dunno if I'd live there, later, though, live in the city, but I'd like to work there. Hopefully, I'll be going to school in Boston as well, once I graduate from CU.

Good beer, good history, pretty, near the water, good schools.

A lot of the suburbs around Boston are also remarkably nice.

STO

are you sad about not being with someone you love? far away from that special person in your life? well heres something to make you even sadder. if insult dident suck so much i would have posted a downloadable link for this song, but oh well fuck it right here are the lyrics i strongly suggest getting the song though.

From "Dashboard Confessional" of his album "Swiss Army Romance"
A Plain Morning

It's yet to be determined,
But the air is thick,
And my hope is feeling worn.
I'm missing home,
I'm glad you're not a part of this,
There are parts of me that will be missed.
And the phone is always dead to me,
So I can't tell you the temperature is dropping
And it feels like
It's colder than it ought to be in March
And I still have a day or two ahead of me
Till I'll be heading home,
Into your arms again.
And the people here are asking after you.
It doesn't make it easier.
It doesn't make it easier to be away.

I'd like to hire a plane.
I'd see you in the morning,
When the day is fresh.
I'm coming home again,
I'm coming home again,
I'm coming home again,
When the day is fresh, I'm coming home again,
It's warmer where you're waiting.
It feels more like July.
There's pillows in their cases
And one of those is mine.

You wrote the words I love you,
And sprayed it with perfume.
It's better than the fire is
To heat this lonely room.
It is warmer where you're waiting
It feels more like July.
It feels more like July.

It's yet to be determined,
But the air is thick,
And my hope is feeling worn.
I'm missing home,
I'm glad you're not a part of this
There are parts of me that will be missed.
And the phone is always dead to me,
So I can't tell you the temperature is dropping
And it feels like

It's colder than it ought to be in March
And I still have a day or two ahead of me
Till I'll be heading home,
Into your arms again.
And the people here are asking after you.
It doesn't make it easier.
It doesn't make it easier to be away.
I'd like to hire a plane.
I'd see you in the morning,
When the day is fresh.
I'm coming home again

this is all dedicated to someone very special, you know who you are :) im ok i promise.

these songs i think can sum up alot of different feeling for people.

Fade to black:

Life it seems, will fade away
Drifting further every day
Getting lost within myself
Nothing matters no one else
I have lost the will to live
Simply nothing more to give
There is nothing more for me
Need the end to set me free

Things are not what they used to be
Missing one inside of me
Deathly lost, this can't be real
Cannot stand this hell I feel
Emptiness is filing me
To the point of agony
Growing darkness taking dawn
I was me, but now He's gone

No one but me can save myself, but it to late
Now I can't think, think why I should even try

Yesterday seems as though it never existed
Death Greets me warm, now I will just say good-bye

Fight fire with fire:

Do unto others as they have done unto you
But what in the hell is this world coming to?

Blow the universe into nothingness
Nuclear warfare shall lay us to rest

Fight fire with fire
Ending is near
Fight fire with fire
Bursting with fear

We shall die
Time is like a fuse, short and burning fast
Armageddon is here, like said in the past

Fight fire with fire
Ending is near
Fight fire with fire
Bursting with fear

Soon to fill our lungs the hot winds of death
The gods are laughing, so take your last breath

Fight fire with fire
Ending is near
Fight fire with fire
Bursting with fear

Fight fire with fire

The four horseman:

By the last breath of the fourth winds blow
Better raise your ears
The sound of hooves knocks at your door
Lock up your wife and children now
It's time to wield the blade
For now you have got some company

The Horsemen are drawing nearer
On the leather steeds they ride
They have come to take your life
On through the dead of night
With the four Horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die

You have been dying since the day
You were born
You know it has all been planned
The quartet of deliverance rides
A sinner once a sinner twice
No need for confession now
Cause now you have got the fight of your life

The Horsemen are drawing nearer
On the leather steeds they ride
They have come to take your life
On through the dead of night
With the four Horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die

Time
has taken its toll on you
The lines that crack your face
Famine
Your body it has torn through
Withered in every place
Pestilence
For what you have had to endure
And what you have put others through
Death
Deliverance for you for sure
There is nothing you can do

So gather round young warriors now
And saddle up your steeds
Killing scores with demon swords
Now is the death of doers of wrong
Swing the judgment hammer down
Safely inside armor blood guts and sweat

The Horsemen are drawing nearer
On the leather steeds they ride
They have come to take your life
On through the dead of night
With the four Horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die

Metal militia:

Thunder and lightning the gods take revenge
Senseless destruction
Victims of fury are cowardly now
Running for safety
Stabbing the harlot to pay for her sins
Leaving the virgin
Suicide running as if it were free
Ripping and tearing

On through the mist and the madness
We are trying to get the message to you
Metal Militia
Metal Militia
Metal Militia

Chained and shadowed to be left behind
Nine and one thousand
Metal militia for your sacrifice
Iron clad soldiers
Join or be conquered the law of the land
What will befall you
The metallization of your inner soul
Twisting and turning

On through the mist and the madness
We are trying to get the message to you
Metal Militia
Metal Militia
Metal Militia

We are as one as we all are the same
Fighting for one cause
Leather and metal are our uniforms
Protecting what we are
Joining together to take on the world
With our heavy metal
Spreading the message to everyone here
Come let yourself go

On through the mist and the madness
We are trying to get the message to you
Metal Militia
Metal Militia
Metal Militia