Category: hmm interesting

all about me, flickr, hmm interesting, photography

simplicity

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hibiscus
waking up
brushing teeth
taking pills
driving
talking
eating
leaving
sleeping

simple tasks
completed each day

happening so fast
without thought
without drive
without change

simple tasks
distract from the world around
buzzing
whirring around me

I am caught in slow motion
everything seems at a standstill
or I am moving so quickly
that it only seems to have slowed around

I am too caught in my flow
to notice the simplicity
the beauty
the difference

I am too caught in the flow
to just stop
and live for the moment

and sometimes
that is what scares me most of all

all about me, blog on blog, hmm interesting, is it just me?, well?

did the aggregator kill the commentors?

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I’ll openly admit, that I know that I comment less because of how easily it is to digest blogs through the easy to use aggregator format (netvibes for me). In fact, many times, I find that I do more skimming, and find myself back to bored quicker than ever because of aggregators. However, my reliance on them is like that of my cell phone, I can remember what life was like without it, but I wouldn’t want to go back, now that I have become accustomed to using it.

Yet, it does make me wonder… is the aggregator doing the same thing to comments as the music video was supposedly doing to radio stars (see the Buggles video for this reference)? Does the aggregator format kill your desire to comment? Let me know what you think… I can’t be the only one that wonders where the majority of the comments went.

Perhaps I just don’t post as much flaming material anymore… who knows. Either way, it is just one of those “oh… maybe this is because of this” thoughts that I was thinking of today.

Also, in a totally unrelated note, I am happy as a pig in shit this morning. I checked my grades, and as many of you know, I was really worried that I wasn’t going to be able to pull my lab grade up to at least a C. Well, I did one better! I ended up with a B in the lab and the anatomy lecture, and an A in abnormal psychology. I feel awesome right now, because I worried myself silly about these damn classes, and now they are done, AND I got all A’s and B’s!!!!

Summer is going to ROCK.

happenings, hmm interesting, is it just me?, venting, well?, wtf?!

you’ll need to pour that out, or face a fine

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This weekend had two main features; the first was my Anatomy final. I put it off as long as I could, and finally took it late Saturday afternoon. I did well (got a B), but I just can’t tell you how glad I am finished with it. Whew!!!

On Sunday, we packed up the cars and the boat and headed north for a day on the lake. We have been going to the same public boat dock every time we have gone to lake Lanier, so we went back, expecting to have a good time again. What we didn’t know, seriously, is that they didn’t allow alcohol at the dock. No big deal; if we had known that, we would have adjusted ourselves accordingly (flask, concealing it, or just going without).

About 2 hours into our day, a park ranger came out to our little tent and told us that there had been a report of us having Jack Daniels (the bottle was sitting in plain view next to our cooler), and that we had two options: 1) pour it out, or 2) get a ticket and have to leave the park. Well, it really pissed us off that we had to pour out a huge bottle of liquor (we actually had another one that he saw and made us pour out as well), but I think more so, the main thing that pissed us off, was that we were “reported”. We didn’t know that we couldn’t have alcohol, so we made no attempt to hide the fact that we had it. When we asked if we could just put it in the car, he repeated our two options, and we ended up pouring it out to avoid a fine of an unknown amount.

What really got us angry, is that seriously, we weren’t bothering anyone at all, the place where we had set up our tent was under a tree, and no one was around us. We were not being rowdy, nor were we being loud or disorderly. Someone had just called in to a park ranger because we simply had alcohol (again, we seriously didn’t know… and upon leaving, we did notice the 3inX5in sign saying no alcohol). I guess some people just aren’t content on letting you just enjoy your day without having to ruin it with getting “law enforcement” involved.

Whatever. If you turned us in, you suck dude, because seriously, we weren’t hurting anyone. Now, we know that when we come back, we will conceal our booze. This state has some serious issues with alcohol if you ask me.

civil rights, hmm interesting, is it just me?, politics, that is so gay, venting, well?

repealing don’t ask don’t tell… hmmm how should I put this…

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Let me just start by saying that I am sure that what I am going to say about this will make some people mad. That being said, if you don’t like my opinion, realize that it is just my opinion, and then get over it.

I read an article today talking about how Obama would do what he could to get don’t ask don’t tell repealed if he were elected president. I ask myself, seriously, why this is an issue that he would be concerned with, and perhaps more importantly, why this is being used as a method of placating the gay community for their vote? I mean, repealing this archaic policy is not going to end homophobia and the dangers associated with the anti-gay sentiments running very lively through the current military, so I don’t see a need in getting rid of it. The only important point made in the article is the only thing that Obama should be touting, and reinforcing that he is really for:

He said he’s frequently spoken out against homophobia and in support of gay rights.

My point: does the policy keeps out gays? No. There are gay people in the military. Does it protect gay people? No. Two words: Barry Winchell. He wasn’t even gay, but was beaten to death by a fellow soldier because he thought that he was. Don’t ask don’t tell is a stupid policy that was created by straight men in an effort to use that whole “it’s okay to be gay as long as you don’t act on it” argument in order to “allow” gay people to be in the military. Yes, there are gay people that have been kicked out of the military when it was “found out” that they were gay, but honestly, if an institution such as the military is SOOOOOO threatened by the mere presence of gay people, then I have a very hard time believing that it is JUST the DADT rule that this strong ideal comes from.

I say, that if you want to be in the military, and if you are gay, then you clearly know what you are getting into. It is a gay-fearing institution, that is chock full of overly aggressive, and in some cases, clearly unstable, men and women. Does that describe everyone in the military? NO! But you have to be aware that there may be one crazy that will be in your platoon (or whatever they call the groups you are assigned to) that would just as soon kill you just because he might think that you are gay; whether you are gay or not. My point is, that if you want to truly do something positive for gay people with regards to the military, enforce a strict anti-homophobia policy, and enact strict punishments for those that violate them.

While I think that don’t ask don’t tell is a crock of horseshit, I do have to say that I like it for one reason: it means that I will never, ever have to serve in the military. I have gay friends in the military, and I fully appreciate everything that they have given for this country, but I can’t say that I would do the same. This season on the L Word, they had this scenario were one of the characters was in the military, and was being investigated for being gay. In the end, she was put on trial, and they made her lover testify against her. Her lover refused, and turned the tables on the prosecutor; but the most important part of the whole trial happened when the accused soldier refused to just let it go. She said it plainly and simply; she was tired of having someone treat her, or someone that she loved like a criminal because of who they were, and that if this was going to be the way that the military treated them, that she didn’t feel like that was where she belonged.

While there are many that will disagree with her, I don’t. I cannot see myself supporting an organization that is so afraid of my sexuality, that they would harm me or treat my loved ones like criminals if they suspected I might be gay. Additionally, I wouldn’t want to support a system that is dead set on keeping me in second class citizen status.

There are so many issues here that need to be addressed, and I don’t think that simply repealing don’t ask don’t tell is the answer. I think that by oversimplifying this problem, Obama, and those like him, are politicking in the worst way, and are trying to wave “goodies” in the face of gay voters, hoping to earn their support.

Listen, Obama, we got you. We are going to vote for you (for the most part… Log Cabin Republicans most likely won’t). However, get it through your thick skull that trying to overturn a simple, archaic rule isn’t going to change the state of homophobia in the military, and as such, is not offering any gay person that participates in the military any more REAL protection. Until you want to put your head on the chopping block and go balls to the wall saying that you want to do everything in your power to make sure that everyone in this country is treated fairly and equally, as it says in the constitution, then please, quit the politicking, and just stick to letting us know that you have our backs.

Anything less is just annoying, and frankly, insulting to my intelligence. I don’t think that that repealing don’t ask don’t tell will really have the ramifications that you imply; and I don’t think that I am alone in that sentiment.

all about me, flickr, happenings, hmm interesting, photography, the catch-all-egory, wtf?!

first class, free drill, and a huge fucking owl!

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Recently (yesterday), I booked my flight for a trip I am taking to NYC in July, and I decided I should use those sky miles that I have been holding onto for years now. Well, I had no idea, but if you book with sky miles, you fly first class. It wouldn’t even let me choose a seat outside of first class. Sweet!! Now that was a great surprise, and I am looking forward to flying first class… for only $5!

James went to Lowes to get us a new trash can and some odds and ends, and thought he should pick up a new corded drill, because every time we need the drill we currently have, the batteries are dead. Well, when he got home, he pulled out the receipt, and noticed that the drill was not listed anywhere on it. Ladies and gents, we have ourselves a free drill, courtesy of the not-very-detail-oriented cashier at Lowes! Is it bad that the only thing I said to him, upon finding out that he didn’t pay for it, was “you know, it would only suck if we needed to take it back for some reason”? Yeah… free drills acquired through no fault of your own are pretty much a gift as far as I’m concerned.

it's an owl!Finally, last night, I was playing Xbox 360, and James went out to go to the store. As soon as he gets outside, I hear him screaming my name, but since he is always over-reacting to things, I took my time to get up and see what was going on. Turns out, it wasn’t typical James shenanigans, but instead, there was a HUGE owl sitting on top of his car; which was parked about 5 feet from the house in the driveway. Now, for those that don’t know it, we have a koi point right in front of the front porch, to the left of the driveway (if you are looking from the porch to the road), and there are always squirrels and other small critters trying to nab our fish. We have a “anti-pest” net on top of the pond, but occasionally, we will see a cat or a squirrel scurry away when we come out onto the porch. Well, I can honestly say that last night was a first; the owl was sitting on the top of James’ car looking down at the water. It was freaky that it was so close to us!!! I ran inside to get my camera, and sure enough, the batteries were completely dead. Nice. Well, I managed to get the back up battery pack in, and even got a picture of the thing (which I didn’t know until today that it actually came out… click on it for a bigger version). It was so big too, and the freaky thing, was it just kept looking at us the whole time it was sitting there. It flew back and forth to the tree at the end of the yard a few times, each time, coming back to the spot on top of James’ truck. We are going to try and feed the fish at night and see if it brings the owl back, because it goes without saying that the owl encounter was pretty freaking cool… I would also like to get a better picture if I can; even though I am elated that the ONLY one I took actually came out pretty decent!

hmm interesting, is it just me?, mixed media, wtf?!

the rock band “racket”

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Yesterday, after searching heartily on the internets, I found out that you CAN indeed use the Guitar Hero controller to play Rock Band. Excited, I ran out and got the game for my Xbox 360, because as a major fan of the Guitar Hero franchise, I reveled the chance to have some new, better songs to play.

Others like me, who have all of the Guitar Hero games (there are 4 in all), know that the most recent Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero III, has one of the weakest soundtracks of any game in the series. That is doubly disappointing too, because the next game that is slated to come out doesn’t even offer a reprieve; it is going to be a game of nothing but Aerosmith songs. So when I saw the track listing for Rock Band, I knew I had to have it… but I didn’t want to shell out almost $200 for all of the stuff needed to play it; regardless of the great soundtrack. However, after I knew I could use my Guitar Hero controller with it, I jumped at the opportunity, and was excited that I could get by with just getting the game itself.

Well, after playing the game for a while last night, I kind of think that whole Rock Band package is a rip off. See, I personally have NO DESIRE to have those drums for this game (seriously, I get annoyed watching people do it at Best Buy… there is no way I am bring that annoyance home), so all I wanted was the game, a guitar, and the mic. Well, they don’t offer the mic separately as of this writing, and since I found out I could use my Guitar Hero controller, I figured I would settle for being able to play the guitar tracks (and get a mic later when they do offer one). I also think that it is VERY important to say this: the Rock Band Guitar controller is a complete piece of crap when compared with the Guitar Hero III controller… seriously, if you like the Guitar Hero III controller, do yourself a favor and use it.

Well, much to my surprise (and delight), I discovered that you can use the free Xbox 360 headset that came with my Xbox 36; thereby eliminating a need for the mic that comes with the bundle as well! It has been sitting in the box ever since I got it, and I pulled it out, and low and behold, it works perfectly. As I said last night, you will just have to be a little more like Britney or Janet in concert, and use a headset as opposed to a hand-held mic. So basically, I had all of the peripherals that I needed already at home… so what was I waiting on before getting this VERY fun game??

Well, there was not much on the internet about these two discoveries that I made. I didn’t see anything about the mic, and I really had to search to get a clear word about if the Guitar Hero controller really would work with Rock Band. I guess I wanted to write this post, to let anyone out there with an Xbox 360, who also has Guitar Hero (II or III), and wants the save some money and still get Rock Band, that you don’t need to buy the overpriced bundle (unless you just want a new guitar, and you of course, want the drums and a mic). You can “make due” with the Guitar Hero controller, and the headset is actually better in my opinion… in my searching, I saw that all of the Rock Band bundles have CORDED peripherals. I prefer my cordless guitar and headset over that shit any day. Also, the drums are now sold separately if you really need them… but again, that just isn’t on my interests list.

I see this as a huge win; even though I had to jump through many hoops to get to this point. And… I don’t have to chuck those annoying ass drums out on the street. I wish I had gotten the game sooner, because it really is awesome (even if it is almost the exact same as Guitar Hero), and the songs are great. However, at least I was able to find out the right information, and save a bundle… by skipping the bundle and just getting the game. If you find yourself in my position, make sure you do yourself a favor and get the game; it is well worth the price of the disc, and I am just glad that I don’t have to have ANOTHER guitar peripheral laying around!

hmm interesting, is it just me?, listen up!, mixed media, music musings, music suggestion, venting, well?, wtf?!

there’s similar, and then there’s the SAME!

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Okay, just last week, I was sort of ranting about the similarity between two songs, and low and behold it has happened again. However, this time, there is one key exception: I have heard two songs that not only sound similar, but I swear, they are the same damn song!!!

I was riding with James the other night, and when we ride in his car, we are almost always listening to the radio (which I don’t usually do), and they announced that the number one song of the day was coming up. Well, it was a song by Chris Brown, which I had never heard, but when they started playing it, I thought to myself, “hey, self, I HAVE heard this before… when it was called Irreplaceable!”. Now, while I like Irreplaceable by Beyonce, I think that it is a total crock of shit that you can take a song and completely re-release it, with different lyrics a year later, and STILL TOP THE CHARTS!!!

WTF people? Seriously. This is one of the problems with music today: People are just eat whatever they are fed. In this case, two practically identical songs have been fed to the masses, and what have you done? You have eaten it up, and propelled both songs to the top of the charts! I just don’t get it. There is so much amazing music out there, that it is practically inexcusable to have two practically identical songs make it so high on the charts; especially when so little time has past since Beyonce’s version hit!

But don’t take my word for it: listen to each one yourself, so you can really see how similar they are: (on the left, you have Irreplaceable by Beyonce and on the right you have With You by Chris Brown… neither of which is the real video because of how stupid music companies are with you tube stuff, however, the Beyonce video is quite hilarious to me)

After doing a little investigation myself, I see that it is indeed the same producer for each track; which really begs me to question if one (or both) of these stars didn’t get ripped off. I mean, they are paying for production, and the producer just shills out the same damn song for both of them. I would be infuriated!! Well, I am a little irate, but that is because of what this does to music in my opinion. It just solidifies the fact that people are not open to innovation, and true talent. Bands and artists with enormous amounts of talent will continue to be “one hit wonders”, and will always be overlooked because of cookie-cutter shit like this, and it pisses me off, because I tend to prefer the former.

What is even more ridiculous to me, is that if you take an amazing band, one that may not be as popular as Beyonce (but is popular in their own realm of the music world), and listen to their take on Irreplaceable, that it becomes a totally different song; even though it isn’t! Chris Brown’s “different song” is more like Irreplaceable than Sugarland covering Irreplaceable. Freaky stuff man. It’s just frustrating when you constantly see that this music industry is full of such crazy, crazy shit. I just wish that the talented and overlooked people could get half of what those Chris Brown’s out there get; both in fame, and in fortune. Hearing the same old songs and making them both best sellers just isn’t right.

Sigh. Now I will go back to my music that isn’t so radio-friendly… but at least it is genuine, and dare I say it, different.

hmm interesting, is it just me?, listen up!, mixed media, music musings, wtf?!

imitation, the sincerest form of flattery?

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I was reading one of my many music blogs this afternoon, when I happened upon the following music clip (via discopop directory):


After listening for about 20 seconds, I had this sneaking suspicion that I had heard this song before… Hmmm, where have I heard that same drumming, same guitar riff, and same distortion effect? That’s right… Muse’s Knights of Cydonia:

Well, I guess if you are going to copy a song, at least copy an amazing one, right? What I don’t get, is that I have never seen the amazing allure that the Arctic Monkeys have to them, and this just makes me question it even more… And I am not really familiar with the Rascals as of this writing. Oh well, perhaps they meant it as an homage to Muse, who are in their own right, a truly amazing band. I just wonder why they had to make it so damn similar, you know? The similarity was instantly recognizable to me, and I am sure that I am not alone in that sentiment.

What are your thoughts? What do you think when you hear an amazing song rehashed by a group that may be more commercially popular, but not necessarily any “better”, as far as you concerned? How does it make you feel when said “copied” group is a group that you really enjoy, but the other isn’t, and you know that they will have more success with their clone?

hmm interesting, hotness, mixed media, movie musings, pegg and frost, show the love

region free is the way to be

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A couple of months ago, I decided it was time to upgrade our DVD player to a HD upconversion unit, and I managed to get a great deal in the process. One of the other requirements I had for the unit, was that it not be Sony, because I wanted to see if I could unlock it, and make it region free. Being a lover of British shows and lots of British things, I wanted the opportunity available to get region 2 DVDs if I should so desire.

Well, as I wrote about some time in the past, I have had a great time watching shows like Spaced and Hyperdrive; both of which are only available on region 2 DVDs. Well, my most recent exciting region 2 goodness comes in the form owning the movie that is just hitting US theaters this week: Run Fatboy Run.

Now, my love for Simon Pegg may be a little bit on the verge of “I’m ready to walk down the aisle with this sexy man and have his babies”, so it should be no surprise that I jumped at the opportunity to get this DVD; even though it was like $35 (damn conversion rates and shitty US dollars!). Well, it was a good purchase, because the movie is actually quite cute, and definitely enjoyable. I am debating on whether or not to see it in theaters, but I probably won’t, because a) I paid so much for the DVD, and b) I hate going to the movies, and if I can sit home, I would rather do that.

Either way, I am definitely a believer that being region free is the way to be. Having a region free DVD player has given me the opportunity to relish all of the amazing material that my dream lover Simon Pegg and sexy bear Nick Frost have done overseas; some of which is brilliant. Either way, here’s to consumerism, right?!