life in mono

Well, I've decided to just deal with having nothing but a TV & a DVD player until I can get a TV that has better sound quality. I bought a $30 boombox on Friday, and returned it last night (feel so much better with an extra $36 in my pocket!) 'cause the sound reminded me of a part of the GHOSTBUSTERS "Collector's Series" DVD menu, where it asks you what trailer(s) you'd like to watch, and there's an image of a movie-theater with 3 movie posters on it, and you can click on whatever movie poster to see the trailer for the film that movie poster is advertising...but, as I was saying, in conjunction with this imagery is a sound of the GHOSTBUSTERS theme song by Ray Parker, Jr. playing, and it sounds like its coming from a distance, like from someone's (really old) car stereo or something...ya know, retro? Old? Outdated technology? The actual movie doesn't sound anywhere near that bad, and that's what I like about the DVD itself; it's a very sleek and elegant and well put together presentation of a great film. And while thinking about this, I realized my DVD player has much better sound than the boombox that cut $36 out of my $90 "play money" portion of my budget for this month, and so I returned it. If I wanted to cough up $100 or almost or more, then I could get HALFWAY-DECENT sound reproduction, but halfway decent is as far as it would go. Like I said, I might get a better TV in a year or two from now, and maybe get a home theater system added to it (maybe that BRAVIA thing from SONY would be cool, since you can play SACDs on it...although as to where I'd get the money to pay for it, who the heck knows?). This is all way down the road, it may never even happen; but that's fine, 'cause, really, it's not about the sound quality, it's about the music itself.

a pretty amazing album cover

I don't remember what prompted me to think about this CD and its album cover, but I was actually hoping to find a poster with this image on it, 'cause I used to have this CD set back when I was in high school, and I didn't too much care for it. I guess back then I had EXTREMELY "unrealistic" expectations when it came to music. These days there's still a lot of stuff I don't like that many consider me stupid or "closed-minded" for not liking, but I've learned to pick from what's available and sort-of put up with it, so to speak...but anyway...I was listening to Disc 1 on Rhapsody (just a few or so minutes ago) and found myself strongly enjoying the sweet grooves and beats. Now I'm on disc 2 via Rhapsody and I'm thinking it's not as good as Disc 1, although I'm only on song 2...but seriously, ain't this a BEAUTIFUL image? I like the different neon(ish) colors and the desertedness of the scenery; I would make a comparison to taking a walk when the sun is coming up and there's but a few cars on the road(s), but firstly, that's a rather small scale comparison to this image, since this image is almost out-of-this-world, and 2ndly, if such things don't compell whoever may be reading this, then there's nothing I can do to make such things compell X person(s). So I guess I'll just leave it at this...

monstorous

I don't have even have 1/2 of the money it takes to get a "budget" audiophile set-up and I paid $100 for the SONY EC55 almost a month ago and that was a big purchase for me. I dropped it off at the UPS Store earlier today for return to Amazon, 'cause at $100, it just sucks. I suppose it could be worse, but why would anyone buy it, at any price, if it were? The only thing that could POSSIBLY make it worth $100 is the excess bass, which a lot of people (excluding me) apparantly go crazy for. Music is A LOT more than bass, but a lot of/most people don't seem to care. So I'm just looking for the cheapest boombox I can find that will last more than a few months (preferably 6 months minimum...) and when I settle on something, I'll just twiddle my thumbs in anticipation until I receive my Amazon refund or a notice that I did something wrong and thus they can't issue one...if that happens, I guess I'll be fine with my computer until November, when I'm not paying $40+ for a bed that I got from my sister.

perfection through silence

As I was debating weather or not I should buy the new The Academy Is... CD, there were a couple ideas I had to consider; a) it's a pop-punk CD (00's pop-punk ala The Starting Line, not 90's pop-punk ala Green Day...) and I know I've heard A BUNCH of those that I thought about buying when I first/second heard them.  The crazy thing is/was I couldn't think of anything except THE BEST cd in the freakin' world (Hidden In Plain View's RESOLUTION) which I already own, dur (or not so dur; I tend to sell just about everything eventually; but I am getting better at that, and my continued ownership of that CD is proof of that; although it was given to me by one of those "it's a gift, so you have to keep it" philosophy-types, which makes it so that even if I didn't want it, ever, I'd still have to keep it...but anyway...)...as I was saying (have you lost track yet?  I have...I'll catch up though...just a sec...).

Thing is, I can think of at least a couple pop-punk ala today that I did actually think about buying; but I KNOW I don't want to buy them anymore, and I know why; the stuff is catchy, toe-tapping, happy-go-super-lucky music, but it gets SICKENING after 2 or 3 listens.  WE THE KINGS self titled album - perfect example.  It's the only one I can think of right this moment.  Oh wait, yeah, Forever The Sickest Kids - UNDERDOG ALMA MATTER, which I was listening to at about the same time.  In all honesty, if I wanted to hear a bunch of jock-ish macho music with lots of full-of-it lyrics, I probably wouldn't mind hearing FTSK again.

But, really...ALL music, more or less, is like that with me.  Last night I heard LET GO by Avril Lavigne and really dug it.  I even found myself enjoying one of the songs I used to not care for a whole lot ("Too Much To Ask For" or something like that...), and I actually felt like I was plunged deep into a dark, brooding diary entry (perhaps Avril Lavigne's?); it was like a dark homage to that time not so long ago that at the same time seems so far away...ya know; that time?  Spring/summer 2002, when I had-just/was-about-to graduate high school and "Complicated" was fast picking up steam on the radio...and then I finally did graduate and my mother got me digital cable and I was able to witness the middle part of the pop-punk & emo underground overflow on my TV screen...my emotional state was also elevated by a HUMONGOUS crush on this girl I took biology class with, who for a short time sat next to me...and I had an aquaintence(sp?)/friend who, although kind of dumb (dumb to the point of psychosis, it seemed...he was EXTREMELY homophobic and he'd make up facts to "prove" how rightfully homophobic he was/is...) was really encouraging of my feelings toward/of her...

but as I was saying...I tried listening to the Avril CD this morning and was SOOOO not interested in it.  So why spend $4 on it at Amazon?  And, for that matter, why pay $14 (or almost...) for the new Academy Is... CD?  Perhaps I should mention, so you quit thinking I illegally downloaded these CDs I mention above, that I heard these CDs on a very valuable music subscription service called Rhapsody, where you can listen to as much music as Rhapsody can possibly give you, within the time available to you, for $13 a month.  And I use that service quite frequently.

so...basically my point in all of this is that I feel like I should quit trying to have the "ultimate" CD collection; there's no such thing, and if there were, it would be a never ending quest that would cost more money than its worth; take the Avril Lavigne CD referenced above for example; when's the last time I bothered listening to that prior to last night?  6 months ago at least...I think...it just isn't worth it.  and it's not like I've been listening to Rhapsody all my life either.  All throughout my teens and even now-a-days, I have bought CDs IN DROVES; I used to consume music like it was a race!  Now that I know the budget, I'm more hesitant to buy any CD, and the last few++++ days, that has increased quite some.  When I DO buy a CD, it's usually something I feel "cool" for buying; and I don't mean "cool" as in "everyone else is jumping off the cliff, so...", I mean "cool" as in...novelty I guess...some CDs, certain editions thereof, just strike me as...kind of a novelty.  The ones that don't fit under "novelty" are usually CDs I buy without thinking about it a whole lot, then by the time I ask for a refund it's too late, they've already shipped it, so I'd have to pay $2 to return it AND put up with wasting $3 on the S&H...not worth the time, and in many cases not even worth the refund itself (depending on how much the CD cost'd...).

But anyhoo...IF I buy a CD in Sept (I'm currently out of dough) it'll be American Football by American Football (an emo CD from 1999...).  It's a fantastic emotional trip, but: I've bought it b4 ($11 at Go Hastings dot com) and Rhapsody has it...I bought it, paid my dues to the artist, and there's no reason I need to own it again.

See, this is a perfectly rational argument for me to QUIT BUYING cds, but...in all honesty, I feel kinda hopeless and suffocated saying all this; it's like giving up foods that are bad for you (which I'm also trying to do, more or less...); sometimes its hard to let go and...move forward.

CURRENT LISTENING

I got a refund for a CD that I bought and then changed my mind about paying $6 to have...

I had asked the seller like 3 days before he shipped the item to refund the payment before he shipped the item/cancel the transaction...he did not respond; and I had emailed him several times...

After I'd figured he'd shipped the item, I asked him when he shipped it, since I hadn't gotten it yet and it'd been almost a week since I got the item.

He didn't respond.

So I got the item (in stated condition) and decided to damage his feedback.  I mean, heck, there's NO excuse for treating customers (or non-customers) like that.  If someone doesn't want an item, what grounds does a seller have to ship it to that "someone"?  I mean, yeah, I bought it, but, ya know, I bought it on Amazon, not eBay.  eBay purchases are legally binding contracts that you HAVE to follow through with.  Amazon purchases are the COMPLETE opposite.

So I left neutral feedback, and he emailed me a couple hours later telling me he hadn't got my emails and that he was sorry for the mix up or whatever and thus he would be refunding my money.  And me being a righteous dude, deleted my feedback (you can't modify feedback on Amazon, but it can be removed...).

But it turns out the CD is nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be.  It's called RELAYER by Yes; came out in 1974, way before they did that stupid song "Owner of a Lonely Heart"...

I've also been listening to Trespassers William's HAVING (2006).  Track #8, "My Hands Up" is SO deep!

I got Hawthorne Height's new CD FRAGILE FUTURE in the mail on Thursday (I think...mighta been Friday...).  It's pretty darn good, although I've gotten tired of it.

Later-

SONY EC55

Had I not told you "all" (yeah, right; like anyone's reading this except my mom...) that I got that CD player I'd been drooling over for the last few months on Friday?  No, not the Friday that we most recently experienced, but the Friday before that.  I got the EC55 via UPS around noon on the 1st of August.  The sound quality could be better, but it's still an improvement over my computer sound...I'm not sure if it uses less energy than my computer, 'cause it puts out 130 watts of power.  Guess I'll have to wait & see.  I'm just glad to have it.  I get scared just using my computer for EVERYTHING.  Music, movies, reading etc... (I don't read books most of the time, I just read various online pieces; product reviews, news articles, etc....).  It seems pointless, glutenous, boring...I mean, what's in a life anyway?  Ya know?  Ok, maybe you don't...but anyway...

More cool beans; the following Tuesday I got some matching CD-Rs to make CDs I can't afford with - SONY!!!!!!  Ya hear that?  SONY!!!!!!!

Oh, and some more recenter good news is that Amazon now has the GHOSTBUSTERS 1 & 2 (non Blu-Ray; Blu-Ray's are a bit out of my price range to say the least...) boxed gift set for pre-order.  It comes out in late October.  For some dumb reason I had sold my GB2 DVD that I bought with my grampa's WalMart gift card that he gave me for Xmas (I sold it like in the spring I think...) a few months before hearing about the GB1&2 boxed gift set - oh, you're telling me there was ALREADY a GB1&2 gift set?  Oh, you don't know the half of it...THIS one has a STAY PUFT MARSHMALLOW MAN figurine PLUS some trading cards AND a bag of SLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME!!!!!  You hear that?  SLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, I'm mixing everything together, who cares?  As I was saying, I'd heard this was coming out via protoncharging (dot coooooooooooooooooom!) a month or so ago, around the same time I started feeling remorse for having sold my GB2 DVD...Iiiiiiiiii'll just wait...juuuuuuuust waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait...it wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiill be miiiiiiiiiiiine...it WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILL BE MINE!!!  THE SOW IS MINE!!!

Ok, I guess I'm hyper 'cause I haven't taken my pills yet...

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