The Best Of Spirits...

A dumb idea, I know; I mean, my definition of "The best" seems to change from day to day, from hour to hour......feel free to pretend this doesn't exist...

1. American Football - s/t
2. Kate Bush - The Whole Story
3. Chicago - Greatest Hits 1982-1989
4. Phil Collins - Both Sides
5. Phil Collins - No Jacket Required
6. Dashboard Confessional - The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most
7. Genesis - s/t
8. Genesis - Genesis Live
9. Genesis - Invisible Touch
10. Genesis - Live Over Europe
11. Genesis - Live/The Way We Walk Vol. Two: The Longs
12. Patty Griffin - 1000 Kisses
13. Hidden In Plain View - Resolution
14. Idlewild - The Remote Part
15. Last Winter - The Heart And The Broken Compass
16. Avril Lavigne - Let Go
17. Oingo Boingo - Dark At The End Of The Tunnel
18. Oingo Boingo - Nothing To Fear
19. Oingo Boingo - Skeletons In The Closet: The Best Of
20. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends
21. Toto - Toto IV
22. Trespassers William - Having
23. Virginwool - Open Heart Surgery

THE MAGUS

John Fowles' 1966 masterpiece THE MAGUS was revised, and not for the better according to Sean Rogan on May 12, 2002 at Amazon.  I haven't verified his testimony by reading the mammoth book and comparing it to the original, but if he's not hallucinating or deliberately telling a lie, I must say I agree with his assessment.
  Aside from the typical "oh no it's out of print" scavenger hunt I'm now on, what really ticks me off is everybody seems to be ignorant of this revision.  From what I can gather, it's the only version in print.  I have no reason to believe otherwise.  Wikipedia mentions something about THE MAGUS being awarded a place on the Modern Library 100 Best Novels.  Who is the Modern Library?  Heck if I know.  But this honor took place in 1999.  That was 20+ years after Mr. Fowles decided to ruin his classic.  And AbeBooks has sellers selling a 1998 printing labeled "Modern Library", which, like all other books, has an ISBN, which, if you click on that # @ AbeBooks, you get detailed book information.  Unfortunately, that detail is very slim in this case.  It cites critical reviews from the 1960's when the book first came out.  If you think watching Brian de Palma's CARRIE is the same as watching Kimberly Pierce's recent remake, then I guess you're confused as to what the problem with that is.  But it is my firm opinion that the specific details used to get the story told - setting, dialogue, the tone of the author's prose etc/cinematography etc - are a lot more important than the story itself.  A story can be found out in the span of less than 5 minutes by reading a synopsis.  The details are what make it a classic or a "nice try" or "utter junk"  So the fact that a 1998 pressing of a book that contains text (presumably) revised, in 1976, has critical responses from 1966 associated with the ISBN b/c AbeBooks doesn't seem to think there's anything else worth saying about the book other than a brief synopsis is just downright appalling.
  I'd send them an email, but they probably wouldn't read half of it.  I'm going to ask the Y! community about this, see if there's been any non-revised editions in print over the past 15 years.  A 20+ year old hardcover that doesn't look like junk is probably $20++.   I can get a reading copy for under $7 and I'll probably do that as soon as I'm able, but if I enjoy the book, I'm going to want it in hardcover and I'll probably buy it in hardcover if it's not going to cost me my entire disposable income to acquire it.  Technically, I shouldn't even be buying such frivileous(sp???!) nonsense, since my income will come to a screeching halt probably sometime in this upcoming decade and my sister's going to be taking care of me if she can, which means $0 rent, PROBABLY very few groceries, MAYBE some electricity if the economy manages to avoid a collapse centered around the government's inability to pay off its debt or get new loans, like some economists are predicting.

spirits of the material world [or, ways to justify obsessive materialism...]

this is old news; feel free to look away.  Just me being my same old obsessive imaginary self

 these aren't albums I LOVE, just ones I have been known to listen to actively and have highly enjoyed on numerous occasions....I probably won't ever buy these, at least not in the future, I mean...I've owned most of these at one point or another in the past, but not all at once.  If I had money falling into my pockets like some [a lot of] people do, I could snatch these up in one swoop...
also, I'm almost certain there's stuff missing from this list; it's hard to recollect every high point in a almost 20 year span of music listening.  [technically I've listened to music all my life, since I got out of the hospital after birth, maybe even before then b/c I had a skin infection and had to stay a few days after my birth but there may have been some right-sided brain stimulation as a result of whatever elevator music was playing in the hallways of the hospital that treated my skin infection]
Plus, there's the usual discrimination factor; do I put some album I listened to a lot when I was 14 and found myself enjoying at some point in my early-mid 20's on here?  These are not albums I used to enjoy, these are albums I still have room in my heart and mind for and thus wish I could buy.  I actually probably could buy these later, piece by piece as the months by months go on and on, and turn into years, and then I could keep 'em on display in my house that no one visits, but due to financial constraints, I'd probably be better off not buying [again].  Also, I probably WILL NOT buy Manson's ANTICHRIST SUPERSTAR, because the guy's already gotten rich by denouncing God, I do not feel comfortable letting that kind of stuff into my heart and mind.  I'm not for censorship, but that doesn't mean I need to approve of blasphemy on steroids.  Nevertheless, there's times I feel tempted to abandon all notions of spirituality and religion/theology and just embrace the dark side.  For a super-dark album that's more melancholy than depressing, pull up ANTICHRIST SUPERSTAR.  Or if you like being scared by horror movies and aren't too detached from your own spirituality yet aren't too serious about it, you may find time on Halloween night to listen to it.

On to the list:

1. American Football - s/t
2. Anberlin - Cities
3. Armor For Sleep - Dream To Make Believe
4. Blink 182 - s/t
5. Brand New - Deja Entendu
6. Kate Bush - The Whole Story
7. The Cars - Candy-O
8. Cartel - Chroma
9. The Chameleons - Script Of The Bridge
10. Chicago - Greatest Hits 1982-1989
11. Phil Collins - Both Sides
12. Phil Collins - No Jacket Required
13. The Cranberries - Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?
14. Crash Test Dummies - God Shuffled His Feet
15. The Cure - Staring At The Sea: The Singles
16. Dashboard Confessional - The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most
17. Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism
18. Depeche Mode - A Broken Frame
19. The Fray - How To Save A Life
20. Frou Frou - Details
21. Peter Gabriel - s/t #3
22. Peter Gabriel - Up
23. Genesis - s/t
24. Genesis - Invisible Touch
25. Genesis - Live Over Europe
26. Genesis - Live/The Way We Walk Vol. 1: The Shorts
27. Genesis - Live/The Way We Walk Vol. 2: The Longs
28. The Get Up Kids - Something To Write Home About
29. The Goo Goo Dolls - A Boy Named Goo
30. David Gray - White Ladder
31. Patty Griffin - 1000 Kisses
32. George Harrison - Cloud 9
33. Hidden In Plain View - Resolution
34. Hootie & The Blowfish - Cracked Rear View
35. Idlewild - The Remote Part
36. Michael Jackson - Bad
37. Michael Jackson - Dangerous
38. Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American
39. Jimmy Eat World - Futures
40. Last Winter - The Heart And The Broken Compass
41. Last Winter - Under The Silver Of Machines
42. Avril Lavigne - Let Go
43. Live - Throwing Copper
44. Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm
45. Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar
46. Matchbox 20 - Yourself Or Someone Like You
47. Metallica - Master Of Puppets
48. Mineral - The Power Of Failing
49. A Moment's Worth - Start Where You Are
50. New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed, Too
51. Nickelback - The Best Of, Volume 1
52. Number One Fan - Compromises
53. Oingo Boingo - Dark At The End Of The Tunnel
54. Oingo Boingo - Nothing To Fear
55. Oingo Boingo - Skeletons In The Closet: The Best Of
56. Owl City - Ocean Eyes
57. Paramore - Riot
58. The Psychedelic Furs - World Outside
59. R.E.M. - Fables Of The Reconstruction
60. R.E.M. - Murmur
61. Rush - Power Windows
62. Saves The Day - Stay What You Are
63. Senses Fail - Life Is Not A Waiting Room
64. Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends
65. Rick Springfield - Working Class Dog
66. Starship - Knee Deep In The Hoopla
67. The Starting Line - Say It Like You Mean It
68. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends
69. Tears For Fears - Shout: The Very Best Of
70. Third Eye Blind - s/t
71. Toad The Wet Sprocket - Pale
72. Toto - Toto IV
73. Trespassers William - Having
74. Various - Teaching Mrs. Tingle soundtrack
75. Virginwool - Open Heart Surgery
76. Waking Ashland - Composure
77. The Wallflowers - Bringing Down The Horse
78. "Weird Al" Yankovic - Even Worse
79. The Who - Who's Next
80. Steve Winwood - Back In The High Life

I can hear it...in the air...

There's something exciting about knowing that good/great music is being instilled on the general public.  I heard someone caddy corner of my house listening to "Fireflies" by Owl City while waiting for their car to warm up a couple winters ago.  I caught a whiff of someone listening to one of the 10 gems from WHAT SEPARATES ME FROM YOU by A Day To Remember (don't remember which one) while walking by their house, don't remember where...and you know a song is making an impression on folks when you keep hearing it on TV ads - "How To Save A Life" by The Fray.  "Everything You Want" by Vertical Horizon is still one of the greatest songs ever and it was all over radio and TV etc. for at least a year.  Of course, The Fray and Vertical Horizon are both history.  And A Day To Remember and Owl City are recent, but not new.  As for 2013, nothing is coming to mind.  I'm sure there's good music that's making waves, but I'm totally clueless as I am now freed from annoying 5 minute car advertisements inserted between 15 minutes of music (much of which is varying degrees of pretty good but is rendered useless after 20 plays daily times however many days the song(s) have been recent enough to be considered "new"). [This radio slam courtesy of the good vibes coming from my computer courtesy of Pandora Internet Radio]
So...uh...hmm...I think I'm finished here...not sure what I'm talking about...idk...

Albums That Are Freakin' Awesome+++ and some that I don't disagree with their status as uber-definitive

1. American Football - s/t
2. Boston - s/t
3. Chicago - Greatest Hits 1982-1989
4. Collins, Phil - Both Sides
5. Genesis - Invisible Touch
6. Hidden In Plain View - Resolution
7. Last Winter - The Heart And The Broken Compass
8. Lavigne, Avril - Let Go
9. Oingo Boingo - Skeletons In The Closet: The Best Of
10. Duncan Sheik - s/t
11. Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends
12. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends
13. Toto - Toto IV
14. The Who - Who's Next

Songs You Might Have Almost Forgotten but probably would be better off not cutting yourself off entirely...

1. Everything You Want - Vertical Horizon
2. If You Could Only See - Tonic
3. The Freshmen - The Verve Pipe
4. Interstate Love Song - Stone Temple Pilots
5. Crazy - Aerosmith
6. Everlong - Foo Fighters
7. The Sound Of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel
8. Hold On Loosely - .38 Special
9. Caught Up In You - .38 Special
10. Rikki Don't Lose My Number - Steely Dan
11. These Eyes - The Guess Who
12. Don't Stop Believing - Journey

I Think I'll Disappear Now...my thoughts on RIVER'S EDGE (1986)

I saw the first 17 minutes or so.

It was touted as a highly disturbing film.  It wasn't.  The premise was bone chilling and full of promise.  As it turned out, the setting was drab, the cinematography was equally so, the script was equal parts slow and plodding and rushed.  I saw slow and plodding because it isn't concise in its presentation.  The parts of the screenplay that were key to the story only lasted like 2 seconds apiece.  Aside from the possibility of telling the story in a way that would look and feel compelling on a screen, there's the issue of character development; granted, this is a movie and if the characters and their relationship to each other were well established, as well as their mentality, I'd still find this film to be better suited for the page than wasting thousands upon thousands of dollars and man hours trying to film it for illiterates.

  Keanu Reeves appears to have a conscience early on in the film, but you don't see why he hangs out with the creeps he hangs out with.  You don't see why he's friends with the guy who killed his girlfriend for no good reason.  Perhaps the stone cold killer was more sane early on in his life?  You don't see or hear any of that.  Crispen Glover is also shown to be a little off his rocker, talking about how "exciting" it'll be to have to keep his knowledge of the dead girl's murderer's identity a secret and how loyalty is the reason it will remain secret.  It appears that Keanu Reeves and his cohorts are only connected by their love of illegal drugs.  Maybe I'm just too picky in my choice of relationships to have any sympathy for a guy who picks such screwed up friends.  But then again, maybe the murderer and his loyal friend weren't Keanu Reeve's character's friends?  Maybe the fact that Keanu Reeves was into the druggie lifestyle forced them to cross paths and he, like me, was too easy to get along with and therefore Crispen Glover and the murderer just thought they were friends with him b/c "well, we're not enemies..." 

  I probably could have watched the entire film.  But gosh, I was expecting something so much more than this swamp fest.

  

PALMS - PALMS (2013)

PALMS by the band Palms features the vocalist for Deftones and doesn't star a jagged lineup of smashed guitars.  Yet it has almost 5/5 stars on Amazon.  Wow.  You'd think in a world where mainstream rock listeners are all blaring their mp3 players in a pursuit to show off their lack of wussiness and pop listeners (and most mainstream rock) gets spat on by "indie" music lovers and then mainstream and alternative rock gets weird looks from pop music listeners that you'd see a bunch of posts on Amazon saying "Palms is lame, not what I would expect from Chino" or "Palms are a bunch of wussies" or "Palms isn't real rock, it's just lightweight pop fluff".
It's good to see a bunch of open minded folk, but at the same time, it's kind of creepy...

Monthly Money Mega-ness

I finally bought AMERICAN FOOTBALL on CD, for what I hope is the last time.  It's not graced with the most striking cover-art (although it fits the music quite well), and it's not something I Need to have, given how rarely I listen to it and the fact that I have it on mp3, but having CDs seems rather silly without this in my collection...it's one of the best albums ever, and it's not there for all to see.  Not like anyone ever comes into the space where I keep my CDs, but, ya know, ***IF*** they did, they'd get an erroneous impression of my musical tastebuds...not that they'd give a damn, but, ya know ****IF**** they did.....uh....

I also bought THE HEART AND THE BROKEN COMPASS on CD, a very good album, I did already buy half the album on mp3 @ Amazon, but, again, if someone were to visit me in my abode.......

I was at Target yesterday and saw they re-issued 1976's CARRIE on DVD and Blu ray with the most kick-asst cover-art!  I can't get to Target to buy it, but Amazon has their primary listing of CARRIE for $4.99.  The listing doesn't give any indication that I will receive the revamped cover-art DVD, but if I don't, I'll just return it and leave it at that.  I now have $8 and some change to spare for what may come for the rest of the month.  If I return the DVD, that'll bring it down to $6apprx.  As indicated, I don't know if I'll need to do that, but, ya know...

The weather has been miserable since Sept 30th.  I've taken at least three showers so far this week, I don't remember if I took one Monday, I know I didn't take one on Sunday, but today yesterday and the day before I was absolutely drenched in sweat and couldn't help but want to take a shower.  It hasn't been very hot, but the humidity is relentless.
Last time I went for a walk was Monday.  I had a chocolate muffin yesterday and like 5 or 6 slices of "deluxe" pizza from Sam's Club.  What is that, 2K calories in one fell swoop?  I've consumed 1,600 calories today, maybe 100 less, it's hard to keep track of how many glasses of hot chocolate I drink.  It's 6pm where I live, so that's not ***too*** bad.  I probably would have done myself a big favor by not having 600 of those calories...
Over the past couple weeks, I've missed apprx 10 hours of sleep.  Today I made up for 3 of those hours and I'm still tired.  WTTT!?

Paste and go - DV62si

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006JPDI/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=8LLBKRGJ8M9S&coliid=I1NFB4P6K8J9K

I want these speakers.  But I can't imagine anything good from coming out of $150 that is meant to enhance the sound of music - music I get bored with so easily.  Then onto the next CD.  I would get those Sennheiser HD 202 II headphones, but I don't know squat about the quality of my computer's sound card.  WOULD it make the music any more enjoyable?  It's hard for me to say.  Someone said don't bother trying out pop music on an audiophile set up b/c pop sounds good on anything.  I have a TV with only one audio jack, meaning one channel, which means one half of the sound comes through.  I don't know if most major label recordings put most of the sound in both channels or if my TV just does a good+ job at simulating stereo, but either way, I'm able to hear over half of what I normally hear on Oingo Boingo's SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET: THE BEST OF and aside from some muffling and lack of punch, Genesis' INVISIBLE TOUCH sounds very good too, probably 85% of the stereo recording comes through my "standard" definition oldskool style TV (a hammedown from my gramma).  I'm sure there's room for growth given my pathetic listening set-up, but I can live without it.  I'll be at the mercy of my sis to keep from being homeless circa 2025 unless the gov't actually does something to keep welfare from running itself dry, and the deficit problem, if not taken care of, will result in countries ceasing to loan us $, and the taxpayers are going to have to deal with it.  According to what I've read, electricity and groceries will become almost impossible to afford unless you're in the upper-lower class or higher, and even those in the upper-lower class will still have a difficult time paying their bills.  My sis is making a modest sum of $ right now, which will probably grow into a modestly high sum of $, and since the economy is in a rut right now, it looks like she probably won't see very much increase in her salary after she gets her first salary increase demanded by her college graduate status, which is still about a year away.  I mean, I could be wrong.  If she maintains what she's earning when the economy hits the fan, and she's working in St. Louis instead of Georgia, she might find herself appreciated and needed enough to keep her job.  Weather they'll cut her pay is another story, but the cost of living in Georgia is higher anyway, but I don't know what I'm talking about b/c I don't really know the specifics of how everything will pan out.  It probably depends on what kind of company my sis is working for.  While in Cape Gr., she was working for this recently launched employer-screening assistant, and I don't even know if that company is still around.  Last I heard, he was really struggling.  This was around 2008 or 2009, before the gov't declared we were no longer in a recession.
  I got my $ today.  I spent $11 of it all at once, out of $90, $32 of which I owe my sister for, so I could have these shoes I'm currently wearing.  I bought two pairs during Payless' BOGO1/2OFF sale.  $32 was the cost of a gift card valued at $40 via the great ABCGiftCards.com.  Beyond the $40 GC, my mom put in $3.76 or something like that (I never can be sure of the exact amount...).  And having never shopped at Payless.com (I used the ship to store option, free!), Payless offered a 20% off coupon, and between the gift card's discounted price & the 20% off, I saved my ass $22, bringing the cost from $56 to $34.  Yeah, you were thinking "oh, $22, so what"  Sounds a bit different when it takes the price of two pairs of shoes already discounted into a whole 'nother price range doesn't it?  FOOAH!
Anyway.
I also owe my mom $11 in groceries, and I owe my bank $2.25 and I owe Amazon $1.44.  I do still have $16+ to spend on other stupid stuff.  The $11 I already spent was really stupid.  I bought a grilled cheese and two chocolate covered rice-crispy treats.  I also bought a bottle of Starbucks.  If I'd have not gotten the Starbucks and left it at ONE CCRCT, I'd have spent $5 less.  The cashier tried explaining I'd have a $0.50 surcharge for buying less than $5, but I didn't know what he was saying b/c I wasn't listening carefully enough.  And after I bought a 2nd rice chocolate crispy whatchcallit, to avoid the inability to buy the 1st one, I was then informed of a grilled cheese sandwich.  I could have saved myself $5.50, if I'd known that was on the inventory/menu since that would have brought the total to over $5 and circumvented the need to spend $2.50apprx to avoid a stupid $0.50 surcharge.  I thought he was saying there was a $0.50 surcharge ON TOP of the $5.  Frrr.  Of course, by the time I figured that out, I'd already made up my mind.  Brrg!!
Ok, happy thoughts...: I still have $16.  I plan to send at least $8 of that to my sister on top of the $32 debt paid.  that will be used to buy groceries or whatever higher need might come when I'm at her mercy.  Hopefully I'll be able to settle into one meal a day.  I sure as hell won't be able to be gazing at the pantry whenever I get bored and making myself cream of what or sandwiches at a whim's notice.

It's HLV because it can't be HIV

Swagbucks made me enter a code before granting me 29 whopping Swagbucks at once.  The code was "HLV".  They do this to ensure it's me searching and not some software I hired to do it for me.  They think they were being sensitive making me enter h L v instead of h I v, but really, how dumb do they think I am?  I mean, what if I DID have HIV?  How would this make me feel?  "Oh, I'm not REMINDED that I have HIV b/c it doesn't SAY HIV, it says HLV, so no biggie".  My gosh.  Insensitive bactards.

Giant

Giants among us, subtly towering over all of me, with their thick skin and thicker heads
Giants get their way, whatever they want, all is well
Giants stomp their feet and keep Mother Earth turning properly
They leave me here to bleed until I grow in size
I die before the ambulance can get here