CD Shuffleathon

One of the Blogs I regularly read, SwissToni's Place, has run a "CD Shuffleathon." Essentially, anyone interested would burn a disc of 12 songs, draw another person on the list, and send it to them. Me being the music fanatic that I am, jumped at the chance. Thirty people signed up, who live basically all over the world.

My hopes were that I would draw someone from England, or pretty much anywhere far away. I wanted to get exposure to something new and differant than the music that I am used to hearing. I did get that lucky, as yesterday I received an envelope brought via Royal mail from England, courtesy of Bedshaped at Some Guy On A Journey.

Now, my final task of the exchange, listen to and post a review. So here it is, my review of the CD.

1. Leave (Life Less Ordinary Remix) by REM - Amazing. Whoever remixed this needs to be bowed to. The backing music does an amazing job of finding a balance of keeping the song moving, but keeping the focus on Michael Stipes vocals.
2. The Red by Chevelle - This is one of Chevelle's better songs, but I've never been able to get into them. Like many bands, I was introduced to with a song that sounded too much like someone else I have listened to. In the case of Chevelle, it was one of my favorite bands all time, Tool. Good song, but hampered by my music snobbery/bias... not sure exactly what to call it.
3. Useless (Remix) by Depeche Mode - Good song, but the remix seemed a bit dragged out. Could have been timing though, as in listening to it while I'm halfway through with my morning coffee (wired on caffeine) instead of tired after a long day and settleing down with a drink.
4. Dry the Rain by The Beta Band - Really like this one. Totally "British" as I can hear a bit of the accent poke through on the vocals. Fit my mood well at the time I was listening to it. It started out bleak and slowly built and added layers to the sound of the song.
5. Orange Crush covered by The Editors - I'm a cover fanatic. From the outragious humorous one to the serious one. This is a good cover of the REM classic. Its true to the original, but the band lets its own voice and style be heard throughout the song.
   
6. Centrefolds by Placebo - Love the lyrics. This one makes me think of a few songs that were just a bit too personal for me to include on my disc (I'm secretive, what can I say?). I know this is the type of song that will grow even further on me with more listens. Definately a keeper.
7. Crazy Baby by Joan Osborne - I couldn't get into this one. I'm known for being extremely picky when it comes to female vocalists, as a good 90% of my music collection has male vocals.
8. Give It by X-press 2 - I'd describe this one as poetry over music. Like the lyrics and most of the backing music but... the bass drum thump was a turn off for me. I'm more of a rock/metal fanatic, and the bass drum conjured up memories of being dragged to bad bars with night at the roxbury style music blaring.
9. Charlie Big Potato by Skunk Anansie - mmm... dirty guitar. Then, really clean female vocals over said dirty guitar. This song was an instant draw for me, as it was a bit more in my regular music listening. Plus I really like her voice. This one is definately getting put on the iPod.
10. Juneau by Funeral for a Friend - overall, this is a good song -but- this one calls out my musical snobbery just like chevelle. The song made me instantly think of another band, Incubus, who were once one of my favorite bands till I got bored with the sound. I literally liked them so much I outplayed them.
    
11. Hundred Mile High City by Ocean Color Scene - This is a good jam. Really enjoyed listening to it. The band sounds like they're pretty tight. I can imagine them putting on an amazing live show.
12. Wake Up by The Walkmen - this one just isn't me. I couldn't get into it. That's the nature of music though. It reaches all of us differently.
    

And that concludes my review. I really enjoyed listening to this disc. There are several bands/groups on here that I am going to have to investigate further. I'd like to thank Bedshaped, SwissToni, and Yoko (who originally came up with the CD Shuffleathon idea).

The Miami Seven

A set of guys who had aspirations of waging a full ground war, when one had lived near the Sears tower. They used the teachings of the bible for their motif.

The World Champion English

(link stoldid from Jose)

The English are amazing the Germans at their prowess. No one in the world can match them it seems. What sport are we talking about? The greatest sport in all the world. The sport I myself still enjoy having a few rounds of.

Drinking.

Apparantly the English love of a good pint has amazed the German's during the World cup. They are drinking at such a rate, they are closing down bars by drinking them dry. There is even fear that by the finals, there will be no more beer.

To this, I raise a pint of Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout in salute to the mighty English.

Microsoft is a Company of Mental Giants

Billy G, you have built a company of genius.

The improvements you have made over the past few years have brought the most common computer OS in the world, Windows, up to levels of security and stability never before imagined.

You've also come out with other useful and innovative programs, which enrich my life daily.

So, today, when I got an E-mail on my hotmail account (another fantastic microsoft service), that the new, Windows Live messanger is ready, I had to run and download it.

so, I download the file and... Windows XP doesn't want anything to do with it because it doesn't have a signature.

Yeah jackasses, you put out software, push it on people, but don't let them download it because some idiot forgot to put YOUR OWN SIGNATURE on it.

Blocking your own software as being malicious... now that takes a mental giant.

Smokin'

That surgeon general guy and his make believe army are pushing for banning public smoking.

Now, trying to figure if this is part of the Republican or Democratic agenda is difficult.

Improve health-Democrat

Take away rights-Republican

Hurt the poor, industrious, tobacco industry-Democrat

Stop people from putting a fag to their lips and sucking-Republican

Stop people from smoking fags-Democrat

Could debate this for days. Its part of someone's agenda, so it has to be trouble. Its moments like this that I ask myself... What would Fidel do? He lives in Cigar heaven, and quit smoking for his health... and if memory serves me correct... public smoking is banned in mighty Cuba.

So yes, its a good thing. If Fidel backs it, so do I.

Ban public smoking!!!

...Oh Yeah...

Still alive.

Been busy with school, work, getting soon to be married people drunk, and tormenting other folks on peoples blogs.

I know there's some other stuff too... but I forget.

And no, I haven't been smuggling Panda's from China.

One Cover

I finally heard Mary J. Blige's cover of One by U2.

No sir, I don't like it. Its not a knock on her voice, its amazing. At times I thought she was doing a great version, but in the overall picture, she just made up her own music. Different notes all over the place. Sorry, but a cover has to have some amount of truth to the original, be it a serious one, or a joking far fetched one.

Now... a good cover of One would be this... done by the man in black himself.
(song clip deleted)

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Gnarley

So... I recently came accross a copy of Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere... now I finally understand what all the hype is about. The CD is good. Amazing even. Its a mishmash of sounds from every genre known to man. Its unlike anything you've heard before, but all you know is its great music.

So, I had to do a little research. The group is DJ/Producer Dangermouse and Cee-Lo (from Goodie Mob). Dangermouse produced the last Gorillaz CD (which is some amazing good poop in this kids book) and had the sick idea to remix the Beatles White Album with Jay-Z's Black Album to make "The Grey Album."

Takes me a while to catch onto things at times, since I haven't listened to the radio regularly in about ten years. Then again, 90% of what the radio plays is trash. I'll stick to my recommendation and sampling as it is now... its proven to be quite effective, albeit a bit late at times.

Why?

There's a good chance I'm just behind on this one, since I haven't turned a TV on in 4 months...

Why do they have to do sequals to any good movie?
Why must they do them ten years after the fact, with a different director*, and obviously missing the whole point of why the original was so great?

*sigh*

THIS sickens me.

Sad thing is... I'll end up seeing it by choice.

*oops, my bad

World Cup Viewing

The monks in Cambodia have been allowed to watch the world cup if they don't yell and scream or get to excited. So, in other words... pretend like they're American in relation to the world cup.

I love it when someone tries to talk trash about soccer (football as 90% of the world calls it). For the majority, American's just don't care about the sport. Its like insulting a guys mother in law behind her and his wives back that he can't stand-it won't bug him.

I'd be willing to make a bet that a majority of American's don't even know its going on, or are just aggravated that their normal television viewing is screwed up because of it.

Out here, the sport is low in the rankings. You have your top two, which are football (as in american football) and baseball. After that, basketball and hockey are both popular. Once you get past those, Golf, bowling, and tennis get more TV coverage than soccer. Texas hold em poker tournaments probably get higher rankings than soccer.

We just don't get it. Watching soccer on TV is about as exciting as watching golf for me. bunch of guys running around, trying to kick a ball in a goal. Once someone scores, the winning team plays keep away from the team that's behind. 3 hours later, they win 1-0.

I know its easy to throw similar insults at football. I've read that one summed down to using the wrong name, bunch of guys standing around, running into each other for three seconds, a whistle blowing, and then standing around again. Its far beyond that, as I am very sure soccer is too. I'm sure there has to be much further strategy and designed plays than my untrained eyes can see.

Thing is... I'm oversaturated in sports already. I've got my World Champion White Sox and my wait till next year Bears. I'm content with that.

Bestest Friends In the Whole Wide World

The police stop a man and question him about some stolen property, so he runs off with his dog.

Pan over to the high speed chase down a country road. Loud speed banjo style country music plays in the background. Squad cars with lights blazing and sirens blaring behind the dust of a faded red old pick-up truck. In the drivers seat sits the suspected theif, and in the passangers seat, his faithful companion, his pet pit-bull.

As he drives to get away, his canine pal gets thrown around on the bumpy road, getting bumped into windows. Eventually the dog gets angry, and... bites the guys nose off.

Chase ends. Dude goes to hospital, then jail. Doggy goes to shelter.

The End.

Just So You All Know...

I have no intentions of ever wearing high heels.

I think anyone who does is insane... potentially sexy, but insane.

Thank you, drive thru.

Where Have You Been?

Alas, I am returneth...

Had a bit of a long weekend. I'll sum it up.

Friday - wedding rehearsal and dinner.
Saturday - wedding, where i am forced to wear clothing of the Bride and Grooms choosing, that being a black tux with baby blue tie and vest, along with the most painful shoes ever. I still believe these shoes are for foot binding, stage one.
Sunday - limp around house for a bit, relax, then go to work.
Monday - School AM, Work PM.

Excellent wedding I might add.

Maybe now I can get caught up on peoples blogs, and actually post something here, besides this drivel.

What I'm Musically Addicted to Right Now

Song	Artist	Album	Genre	Time	Year
Crazy Bitch	Buckcherry	15	Rock	3:22	2006
	Recently, a friend of mine had this song as the song on their MySpace. I have since become completely addicted to the song. Its dirty. Its fun. Its something I need to do karaoke.
One Better	Les Claypool	Of Whales and Woe	(Les Claypool?)	5:58	2006
	Best track off the new Les Claypool disk. Insane bassline, lots of saxaphone thanks to Skerek (he's a great compliment to Les's bass.) Lyrically its good too. Only Les could write a song with the first verse about some guy named "Silk Johnson" (I LOVE that name) and have the second verse about Kruschev, Sputnik, and Eisenhower... and have it make sense.
Vicarious	Tool	10,000 Days	Metal	7:06	2006
	The new Tool CD is stuck to me like gum. Like, extra sugar added gum. This song is the first one on the disc, one of the mid length ones at only 7 minutes, and just flat out amazing. This song goes to show why Maynard and his many bands are my addictions.
Black Rain	Ben Harper	Both Sides of the Gun	Funk/Folk/Reggae/Rock	2:57	2006
	You'd think this song was done by Marvin Gaye or Stevie Wonder in the 1970's. More of an RnB funk sound to it. Plus it has the same political edge many songs of that time had. You realize this at the first line "You left them swimmin for their lives, down in New Orleans..." Just one of many good songs off of the double disc.
A Song For You	Willie Nelson, Ray Charles, and Leon Russell	Willie Nelson and Friends: Live and Kickin'	Country	5:22	2003
	Willie is the greatest country singer ever. He doesn't have the best voice, or the greatest musicianship, but he has the whole package. He can write, sing, and play. This song is off of a disc of his 70th birthday party. Just amazing. Song was written by Leon Russell, who has a voice similar to Bob Dylan. Yeah... The real star of this one though is Ray Charles. He owns this song.

The Return of Dan... er... Ann Coulter

Everyones favorite pre-operative transexual (D)Ann Coulter is in the news again.

She has another book out, written at the third grade level (WTG Ann Coulter, soon you'll be writing like big people).

In this book, she takes the brave stance of attacking widows from people killed on 9/11, because they called for investigations into it. She claims they did it to make a political point.

And, Mr.. er... Ms. Ann Coulter, why do you attack widows? Oh, for a political point and monetary gain, that's right. Why do you call anyone who has a differing opinion of yours on a political level Godless? Oh, for a misinformed political point and monetary gain, that's right.

For such bravery and integrity, I would like to award you, Ms. Ann Coulter, with, the finger.

Happy 6-6-6!!!

Now remember kiddies to sacrifice a goat for Lucifer today.

And remember, he's giving incentives out to the first 666 people who sell their souls to him.

The first 13 also get a free Milli Vanilli Greatest Hits CD.

Pre-Emptive Strike is Necessary

I've just realized, the biggest threat to global security isn't key in the middle east.

Not North Korea either.

Venezuela? Still wrong.

Its the Swiss.

They've had it planned out for practically a century, with their so called "neutrality." It's allowed them to amass a fortune in their banks that all the rich people use, along with their sales of chocolate. They've built an empire because of it.

They've also managed to get their soldiers to be welcome occupants of a very powerful nation: Vatican City.

I have reason to believe, the Swiss are going to spearhead a Coup De'tat in the Vatican, and replace the Pope with a puppet one. By doing so, they will take control of the entire Roman Catholic population on the planet.

The Catholics will then begin to overthrow every nation on the planet. We will all be forced under the tyranical reign of the Swiss.

This is why we should have a joint pre-emptive strike on Switzerland and the Vatican. We will have to go through Italy to attack either. If they don't allow us, we'll attack them, because you are either with us or against us.

If they want proof, isn't this plan enough? I mean, c'mon... its as plain as day. The Swiss have positioned themselves to do so.

Be prepared my fellow American's for a long struggle, as the Swiss army with their poofy hats are a force to be reckoned with.

New Political Party

There is a new political party forming in Amsterdam. They have quite the platform their party is based on. Lets take a looksy, shall we?

• Age of being legal to have sex dropped from 16 to 12, and eventually scrap the limit.
  
• Possession of child pornography to be legal
• Pornography to be broadcast on television, with violent pornography late at night.
• Toddlers given sex education.
• Youths aged 16+ should be able to be prostitutes or star in pornographic films.
• Sex with animals should also be legal.
• Public Nudity should be legal.
• All hard and soft drugs should be legal.
  
• Free train travel

Now if THAT isn't a political platform, I don't know what is. I really hope we get a bunch of sicko's out here to band together to form a party such as. I can't see anyone calling a pro-choice Democrat immoral, when we'd have a political party that promote sex with babies.

Of course, they do have a wide platform there, besides the lewd sex acts. I mean, who wouldn't vote for them with that free train thing. The question is though... can you have concentual sex with your cocker spaniel on the train?

You've Been Juiced

Direct to DVD, the show that will make Dave Chappelle look PC.

O.J. Simpson going around the country, pulling pranks and trying to sell a white Ford Bronco with a bullethole... that the man autographed himself.

Of course, once a prank has been pulled, your not "punk'd"...

You've just been JUICED!!!

This has to be one of the greatest ideas ever. I really miss OJ. He was classic as Nordberg in The Naked Gun movies.

Dusty Old Cat

There she is. Pic taken today. My dusty old cat, who this month turned 19 years old. Really difficult to get a cat to look at you while taking its picture. It's even worse when said cat is also deaf.

Now... On to the embarassing baby pictures.


Here she is engaged in battle with her best friend, arch enemy, and littermate the Foo Fighter (R.I.P. - b.1987, d.2005). Was daily routine. Sisters are known to have the occasional spat...



Eventually though, the fire of battle would wear them out.



Or the larger FooFighter would prevail. My dusty old kitty was more of the cuddler than the fighter, although she was known to attack and bite my older brother's legs if they were messing with me. Yes, my little kitty used to defend me.



Of course they didn't always fight. Much love between the sisters too.



Always the pretty kitty, seemed like she was posing for the camera nonstop.



Might have even thought she was some sort of a model.



Eventually, she met and made a new friend. My other brother's cat, the wily and ferocious Meeshcat.



Brought out the youth in the dusty old one, and she quickly turned back to her instincts of battle.



Of course as age progressed, she became less prim and proper, and learned to just pass out and be comfortable.



She doesn't have any feline buddies left in the house, as the Meesh moved out years ago. She now likes to poke me in the arm while I'm on the computer wanting attention, yelling MEOW at my mom for food, or attention, or water, or to be let into wherever I am, or just to try to figure out where she is since Dusty Old Cat's are senile. She's also good at waking my dad up for work every morning at 5AM... too bad he doesn't need that service since he retired.



Happy birthday birthmonth Dusty Old Cat.