Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Uhm...
I guess it's an alternate universe where Mr. Potato Head is Spider-Man, and Peter Parker never got bit by that special spider. Peter Parker makes a much more convincing superhero (IMO).
Saturday, May 26, 2012
The Hell I Do
Time is ticking out, it's all gonna end
The good news is that life will go on, in a different way
What way? I need to understand
No, I don't. I need to prepare
How?
Obey. What am I doing wrong?
Love. How? What is love??
I guess if I waste all my days away, the drain leads to the same place anyway.....
The good news is that life will go on, in a different way
What way? I need to understand
No, I don't. I need to prepare
How?
Obey. What am I doing wrong?
Love. How? What is love??
I guess if I waste all my days away, the drain leads to the same place anyway.....
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Lists of goodness - out of order...
Chicago - GREATEST HITS 1982-1989
A truly one of a kind CD. Ultra-nostalgic, not just for its 80's values, but also its reminder of my final years in California, (1995-1997) when I became more like a man and less like a boy...And the music is top notch, a must have for any fan of sappy love songs. The thing is nobody pulled those off quite like Chicago. They were tender and moving, unabashedly romantic, yet also had a "rock" edge, thunderous guitars and drums, as well as what some might call "avant-garde" - i.e.: the horn section; apparently some DID consider that to be too "artsy" b/c after Columbia Records fired them and before they got another contract with Warner Bros., they were offered a contract on the grounds that they ditch the horn section, which thankfully Chicago refused.
OINGO BOINGO - SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET: THE BEST OF OINGO BOINGO
I LOVE EVERYTHING about this CD. The music is awesome, but the print on the disc, the color of the disc surface - which many might mistake for a simple "clear", but it's actually a...um..."Off-clear"? I don't know if there's a word that specifically describes it. But the cover-art is a no-brainer - freakin' classic - scary, cheesy, classy...my word!! Even the copyright info looks just...perfect...
Sometimes I think of this CD and the first time I saw this album cover, around the time it came out, me and my father & Mom (and I think Danielle, my sister, was there too), were walking through this music store in the mall and they still sold CDs in long boxes back then, and I saw that and NOTHING TO FEAR, which was almost as awesome as the SKELETONS... CD cover, but not quite...I also noticed DEAD MAN'S PARTY, which I was ga-ga over at the time but now I think it just looks cheesy (DEAD MAN'S PARTY, along with BOI-NGO, are my least favorite OB CDs BTW, although I like BOI-NGO a little more, just wish Elfman could get off his high horse and quit bashing Christianity - i.e.: "New Generation").
But as I was saying - I think of the time I first saw this album cover and a whirlwind of other images come into mind, like the cover-art for movies like MONKEY SHINES (1988), EVIL DEAD 2 (1987), FRIDAY THE 13TH, FRIDAY THE 13TH Part 2, 3 & 4, as well as 7 & 8 (JASON GOES TO HELL was not around at this timeframe & Pt V & 6 are kinda bland looking, although at the time I embraced them as well).
I have the GHOSTBUSTERS: ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ALBUM Audio CD, the original release, b/c I like the cover-art; the basic imagery for it is the same as the 2006 re-issue, but the "Compact Digital Audio Disc" logo has been removed, the no-ghost insignia is not as "thick" looking anymore, the red is a different shade, and the back cover art now has a bunch of clutter surrounding it.
I would just have GHOSTBUSTERS on VHS, the cover-art is just as good, and you get the movie, which is much better than "just" The soundtrack, but VHS, like it or not, is dead. It was never destined for great things, there was SOOO much room for improvement - thanks DVD! - that most people never thought about. DVDs/Blu rays are much better - i.e.: with VHS, you have a constant countdown in deterioration, that gradually builds to a climax. You can literally see the destruction take place with each viewing. With DVDs/BDs, if the disc wears out, it'll do so ONCE - there will be a day when you wake up to play your favorite movie and the disc won't play. Most people don't face this problem b/c DVDs/CDs/BDs... are designed to play a certain number of times - it's a huge #, and look at the time! DVDs had only been around 10 years and they already rolled out a new format for us to get excited about! By the time my DVD of THE GOLDEN CHILD would be set to wear out, it'll be impossible, because DVD players will be non-existent and I will have already upgraded to Blu ray or some future format...of course, humans only live to be 85 years on avg, that number will probably go up 5 or 10 years by the time I reach what is currently considered the "average life span" and even so, I seriously doubt my DVD copy of THE GOLDEN CHILD, supposing DVD players still existed, would be in any danger of wearing out, b/c I simply don't watch the same movie that many times.
But as I was saying - it just seems weird to think of all the kickass eye candy out there that I could buy but w/o reason. If I had some kind of display stand to put some of my favorite images (VHS covers, CD covers for albums that I don't really like, vinyl etc....) then that would be cool, but so far I haven't even bought a book shelf to put my DVDs and books on - I finally got a CD rack (at a yard sale for a buck!), so those are sitting on the table that my BD player & my Gramma's TV (on loan) are on, but I have nowhere to put my DVDs. My 1988 VHS copy of E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL is on a high up shelf in my closet where my books and DVDs are currently at. That shelf space is very minimal though and half of it is not visible with the closet door all wanky - the latches of it are broken so you have to grab it and move it (thankfully the other door is a total goner, or else I'd have absolutely nowhere to put my DVDs...or would I?.........).
I never watched THE JETSONS that I can recall, at least not in large qtys. I think one of my babysitters had that playing on her TV and I watched, mildly entertained. But sometimes when I think of 1981-1983 - the years that immediately preceded my birth, i.e.: the year my parents got married until the time of my inevitable birth - I think of the cover-art for Crosby Stills & Nash's DAYLIGHT AGAIN (1982) and then I imagine the inside of those saucers and I think Look! The Jetsons! You'd think STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION would have more to do with my idea of the would-bes of the saucer inhabitants, but that was AFTER I was born. I mean, I literally remember (however vaguely) watching that repeatedly with my mother and it has a definite 80's metallic look to it, but The Jetsons is a thing of the SCHOOL HOUSE ROCK variety, and although The Jetsons may not have actually been around in the '70's, it's more '70's-like than 80's (I'd say the same about THE SMURFS, too. I guess that explains why THE LAST UNICORN (1982) feels so much like a memory from a hypnosis session, since it's kind of a merging of the 70's and 80's animation styles; that on top of the fact that it's a deliberately "weird" film, almost "not a kid's film"....).
A truly one of a kind CD. Ultra-nostalgic, not just for its 80's values, but also its reminder of my final years in California, (1995-1997) when I became more like a man and less like a boy...And the music is top notch, a must have for any fan of sappy love songs. The thing is nobody pulled those off quite like Chicago. They were tender and moving, unabashedly romantic, yet also had a "rock" edge, thunderous guitars and drums, as well as what some might call "avant-garde" - i.e.: the horn section; apparently some DID consider that to be too "artsy" b/c after Columbia Records fired them and before they got another contract with Warner Bros., they were offered a contract on the grounds that they ditch the horn section, which thankfully Chicago refused.
OINGO BOINGO - SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET: THE BEST OF OINGO BOINGO
I LOVE EVERYTHING about this CD. The music is awesome, but the print on the disc, the color of the disc surface - which many might mistake for a simple "clear", but it's actually a...um..."Off-clear"? I don't know if there's a word that specifically describes it. But the cover-art is a no-brainer - freakin' classic - scary, cheesy, classy...my word!! Even the copyright info looks just...perfect...
Sometimes I think of this CD and the first time I saw this album cover, around the time it came out, me and my father & Mom (and I think Danielle, my sister, was there too), were walking through this music store in the mall and they still sold CDs in long boxes back then, and I saw that and NOTHING TO FEAR, which was almost as awesome as the SKELETONS... CD cover, but not quite...I also noticed DEAD MAN'S PARTY, which I was ga-ga over at the time but now I think it just looks cheesy (DEAD MAN'S PARTY, along with BOI-NGO, are my least favorite OB CDs BTW, although I like BOI-NGO a little more, just wish Elfman could get off his high horse and quit bashing Christianity - i.e.: "New Generation").
But as I was saying - I think of the time I first saw this album cover and a whirlwind of other images come into mind, like the cover-art for movies like MONKEY SHINES (1988), EVIL DEAD 2 (1987), FRIDAY THE 13TH, FRIDAY THE 13TH Part 2, 3 & 4, as well as 7 & 8 (JASON GOES TO HELL was not around at this timeframe & Pt V & 6 are kinda bland looking, although at the time I embraced them as well).
I have the GHOSTBUSTERS: ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ALBUM Audio CD, the original release, b/c I like the cover-art; the basic imagery for it is the same as the 2006 re-issue, but the "Compact Digital Audio Disc" logo has been removed, the no-ghost insignia is not as "thick" looking anymore, the red is a different shade, and the back cover art now has a bunch of clutter surrounding it.
I would just have GHOSTBUSTERS on VHS, the cover-art is just as good, and you get the movie, which is much better than "just" The soundtrack, but VHS, like it or not, is dead. It was never destined for great things, there was SOOO much room for improvement - thanks DVD! - that most people never thought about. DVDs/Blu rays are much better - i.e.: with VHS, you have a constant countdown in deterioration, that gradually builds to a climax. You can literally see the destruction take place with each viewing. With DVDs/BDs, if the disc wears out, it'll do so ONCE - there will be a day when you wake up to play your favorite movie and the disc won't play. Most people don't face this problem b/c DVDs/CDs/BDs... are designed to play a certain number of times - it's a huge #, and look at the time! DVDs had only been around 10 years and they already rolled out a new format for us to get excited about! By the time my DVD of THE GOLDEN CHILD would be set to wear out, it'll be impossible, because DVD players will be non-existent and I will have already upgraded to Blu ray or some future format...of course, humans only live to be 85 years on avg, that number will probably go up 5 or 10 years by the time I reach what is currently considered the "average life span" and even so, I seriously doubt my DVD copy of THE GOLDEN CHILD, supposing DVD players still existed, would be in any danger of wearing out, b/c I simply don't watch the same movie that many times.
But as I was saying - it just seems weird to think of all the kickass eye candy out there that I could buy but w/o reason. If I had some kind of display stand to put some of my favorite images (VHS covers, CD covers for albums that I don't really like, vinyl etc....) then that would be cool, but so far I haven't even bought a book shelf to put my DVDs and books on - I finally got a CD rack (at a yard sale for a buck!), so those are sitting on the table that my BD player & my Gramma's TV (on loan) are on, but I have nowhere to put my DVDs. My 1988 VHS copy of E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL is on a high up shelf in my closet where my books and DVDs are currently at. That shelf space is very minimal though and half of it is not visible with the closet door all wanky - the latches of it are broken so you have to grab it and move it (thankfully the other door is a total goner, or else I'd have absolutely nowhere to put my DVDs...or would I?.........).
I never watched THE JETSONS that I can recall, at least not in large qtys. I think one of my babysitters had that playing on her TV and I watched, mildly entertained. But sometimes when I think of 1981-1983 - the years that immediately preceded my birth, i.e.: the year my parents got married until the time of my inevitable birth - I think of the cover-art for Crosby Stills & Nash's DAYLIGHT AGAIN (1982) and then I imagine the inside of those saucers and I think Look! The Jetsons! You'd think STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION would have more to do with my idea of the would-bes of the saucer inhabitants, but that was AFTER I was born. I mean, I literally remember (however vaguely) watching that repeatedly with my mother and it has a definite 80's metallic look to it, but The Jetsons is a thing of the SCHOOL HOUSE ROCK variety, and although The Jetsons may not have actually been around in the '70's, it's more '70's-like than 80's (I'd say the same about THE SMURFS, too. I guess that explains why THE LAST UNICORN (1982) feels so much like a memory from a hypnosis session, since it's kind of a merging of the 70's and 80's animation styles; that on top of the fact that it's a deliberately "weird" film, almost "not a kid's film"....).
...a terrible pain in the leg...
I need to watch STRANGER THAN PARADISE
I need to watch STRANGER THAN PARADISE
I need to watch STRANGER THAN PARADISE
Maybe I should get off of this chair and go watch it? Ok, let me see...AH, CRAMP - my leg!....
I need to take a shower
I need to take a shower
It's the leg, I tell you!
Nope. I just don't want to...well, I have a stronger desire to see STRANGER THAN PARADISE than I do of taking a shower, but...how can someone be compelled to watch any movie (that they haven't seen before) when all the movies they've seen just don't do any good for them? Most people don't have this problem, so of course when I say "they" I mean "me"....ugh...so much to do, so much time...so much malicious intent...
I need to watch STRANGER THAN PARADISE
I need to watch STRANGER THAN PARADISE
Maybe I should get off of this chair and go watch it? Ok, let me see...AH, CRAMP - my leg!....
I need to take a shower
I need to take a shower
It's the leg, I tell you!
Nope. I just don't want to...well, I have a stronger desire to see STRANGER THAN PARADISE than I do of taking a shower, but...how can someone be compelled to watch any movie (that they haven't seen before) when all the movies they've seen just don't do any good for them? Most people don't have this problem, so of course when I say "they" I mean "me"....ugh...so much to do, so much time...so much malicious intent...
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
navigating the future
January ?, 2013
chromebook arrives in mail
TV arrives in mail
Unpack/set-up chromebook
go to Rdio for playlists etc... - no need to save them to hard disk, maybe buy some of the songs I hear from Amazon's MP3 store.
Listen to music until ???
check email sporadically
Come evening:
watch GHOSTBUSTERS or whatever I want to watch via my TV/BD player
DAY TWO
repeat.
ACCESSORIES (maybe) NEEDED:
headphones
um....I guess that's it.
The only difference between this and yesterday is I won't have a bunch of pretentious b.s. CDs & "superior" sound quality...
My receiver turned off in the midst of playback earlier today. It's not worth the trouble. The sound being better is nice, but the device is almost useless. I hardly ever use it for anything - I mean, I use it, but I have no reason to. My life has not been "enriched" with it. As long as the TV I get has a headphone jack, I will be AOK. I can get a fairly good-quality TV @ Tiger Direct for $140 total, although come January 2013, that price will probably increase to close(r) to $200...
~JWC
chromebook arrives in mail
TV arrives in mail
Unpack/set-up chromebook
go to Rdio for playlists etc... - no need to save them to hard disk, maybe buy some of the songs I hear from Amazon's MP3 store.
Listen to music until ???
check email sporadically
Come evening:
watch GHOSTBUSTERS or whatever I want to watch via my TV/BD player
DAY TWO
repeat.
ACCESSORIES (maybe) NEEDED:
headphones
um....I guess that's it.
The only difference between this and yesterday is I won't have a bunch of pretentious b.s. CDs & "superior" sound quality...
My receiver turned off in the midst of playback earlier today. It's not worth the trouble. The sound being better is nice, but the device is almost useless. I hardly ever use it for anything - I mean, I use it, but I have no reason to. My life has not been "enriched" with it. As long as the TV I get has a headphone jack, I will be AOK. I can get a fairly good-quality TV @ Tiger Direct for $140 total, although come January 2013, that price will probably increase to close(r) to $200...
~JWC
Friday, May 4, 2012
and then it occurs to me - I'm never gonna leave this bed
I went to bed around 10:30pm last night - woke up before 6am today. The spell is broken! Nice morning, too(!). Not really looking forward to anything, listening to Maroon 5's HANDS ALL OVER. I can't believe it's already 2 years old (ish). They have an even newer one coming out! I heard "Never Gonna Leave This Bed" like 3 times (at least) on Pandora before I realized how good it was...the CD is OK, I still prefer "Never Gonna Leave This Bed"...idk...track 3 and 4 are kinda weak...the first one is pretty good+...I can't remember how good track 2 is. I don't get any new mail until the 7th at the soonest. I have $10 in Amazon credit, don't have any worthwhile ideas for how to spend it...guess I can get something for my mom's birthday coming in a couple months...that actually makes sense, I'm probably going to need to reschedule my hygenist appt for the 2nd or 3rd time...I have a 2nd Dentist appt in June, that's gonna be $39, I'll probably need to go back in Jan/Feb '13 if I get another Circuit Breaker check at that time b/c I just can't seem to get in the habit of brushing my teeth. I did it yesterday, but there was like a 3 day break before then. Maybe it's just a phase, I haven't been taking showers as frequently as I should either, took one...yesterday? It might have been the day before that...and my cholesterol is too high - go figure! I don't know what I could do differently to change all this - I'm eating plenty of fiber & protein, not too many calories...I might be going over my 25(?) limit of fat grams...well...I am not exorcising as much as I should...the day before yesterday I walked to a convenience store that was located practically a block away from my house...probably took 40 mins tops to walk to and from...and no, I didn't buy a big gulp at the store, I was buying a money order for my sister since she used her x payment method to pay for our mom's Mother's Day gift and since we live in different states and wiring money costs five-whopping-dollars, a money order made the most sense. I am NOT paying $20 for ANY number of checks. I probably haven't even bought $20 worth of money orders since I started buying them almost 10 years ago and that's counting the numerous non-PayPal transactions on eBay...I mean, it MIGHT have gone past $20, but that's just it - I pay by mail so infrequently a box of checks is a total waste of money. And I don't know why people write checks still - it's a waste of time and resources. All the industrialism of recent times probably wouldn't have such harmful effects if 75% of the world's trees hadn't been wiped off the face of the Earth.
Um...anyway...
So...I'm not going "GREAT[!]", but I'm not doing too bad either...glad you asked!
Um...anyway...
So...I'm not going "GREAT[!]", but I'm not doing too bad either...glad you asked!
Thursday, May 3, 2012
PLUS'N ME OFF
Uh...wuuh...looks different here...am I dead?..............
Freakin' hekk, it's been a long time since my last post. Have I neglected to share any real information here? Uh...no. Nothing's changed...well, a couple days ago my cholesterol doctor discovered I need more "umph" to my cholesterol medicine, so she added Trilipix. Guess that's a shroom-extract...idk...sounds like a wicked hallucinogenic...weather has brought HEAT (1995)...ugh...um...today it's the fan, tomorrow it's the A/C...maybe, idk...I went to bed really late sometime...a week ago? Maybe less...or not...so I woke up late the next day and it's been escalating since...today I woke up at noon and still didn't quite get enough sleep...I had an appt with my case worker, she turned water into.. err...she was on time - and I slept through it!! I usually wake up way earlier than necessary when I have appt(s)...my subconscious weaponry was no match for my enormous load of irresponsibility...
I've already spent over $75 and I don't even know how I did it. $32 of that was for a couple book club purchases, which will probably be reduced to $18 after the club rec's the book I intend to return. I thought I was going to sell it and get over half of the total I paid back, but after doing the math, I found even with the money I'd get back from the introductory purchase, I still would be losing $5. And the club has some books I would like to buy. I don't think I gave Neil Gaiman's THE SANDMAN a real chance. I've been wanting to re-buy it, but just haven't got around to it...it's usually almost $10 or more and books just aren't something I spend a lot of time with...I read a little over 10 pages of Jim Crace's QUARANTINE and it was a nice read, but I haven't picked it up again in like...2 weeks? It's due back at the library on the 8th...well, it was, I renewed it earlier today...
So...in case you're wondering why I joined a book club if I don't give a rat's ass about books, here's the reason: I was promised $10USD spendable via Amazon in the form of Swagbucks points (book club>Swagbucks>Amazon gift card>shopping(!))
Wow...I've talked so much just about the last two days! See how much of your time I waste? Aren't you GLAD I post this infrequently?
Freakin' hekk, it's been a long time since my last post. Have I neglected to share any real information here? Uh...no. Nothing's changed...well, a couple days ago my cholesterol doctor discovered I need more "umph" to my cholesterol medicine, so she added Trilipix. Guess that's a shroom-extract...idk...sounds like a wicked hallucinogenic...weather has brought HEAT (1995)...ugh...um...today it's the fan, tomorrow it's the A/C...maybe, idk...I went to bed really late sometime...a week ago? Maybe less...or not...so I woke up late the next day and it's been escalating since...today I woke up at noon and still didn't quite get enough sleep...I had an appt with my case worker, she turned water into.. err...she was on time - and I slept through it!! I usually wake up way earlier than necessary when I have appt(s)...my subconscious weaponry was no match for my enormous load of irresponsibility...
I've already spent over $75 and I don't even know how I did it. $32 of that was for a couple book club purchases, which will probably be reduced to $18 after the club rec's the book I intend to return. I thought I was going to sell it and get over half of the total I paid back, but after doing the math, I found even with the money I'd get back from the introductory purchase, I still would be losing $5. And the club has some books I would like to buy. I don't think I gave Neil Gaiman's THE SANDMAN a real chance. I've been wanting to re-buy it, but just haven't got around to it...it's usually almost $10 or more and books just aren't something I spend a lot of time with...I read a little over 10 pages of Jim Crace's QUARANTINE and it was a nice read, but I haven't picked it up again in like...2 weeks? It's due back at the library on the 8th...well, it was, I renewed it earlier today...
So...in case you're wondering why I joined a book club if I don't give a rat's ass about books, here's the reason: I was promised $10USD spendable via Amazon in the form of Swagbucks points (book club>Swagbucks>Amazon gift card>shopping(!))
Wow...I've talked so much just about the last two days! See how much of your time I waste? Aren't you GLAD I post this infrequently?
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