O-MY-GOD!!!!! I’ve just discovered iTunes. This little program is the bomb kid! I downloaded Quicktime 6.5 and ITunes 4 came bundled with it. This was a fact that I begrudgingly acknowledged at first but now that I’ve actually started using it I’m very happy. I was planning on going to sleep some time soon but it’s now obvious that I’m going to have stay up several more hours playing with this wonderful gift to the world.
Jackson Prosecutors Eye Old Allegations : I haven’t spoken about my feelings towards Michael Jackson and the allegations he’s facing before but I will now. I think it’s sad. We are witnessing the public dissentegration of a man right before our eyes. It’s been happening for the better part of 30 years. I love Michael’s music. I will always be a fan of his music but if the allegations are proven true in a court of law I will be forced to view him as a dispicable human being. Most people wrote him off years ago but I’ve strived to stick him through the good and the bad. I am choosing to reserve judgement of him until after he has his day in court instead of jumping to conclusions and openly condemning him. It’s obvious that he has a number of personal issues. He needs some serious help I’ll admit but in my heart I sincerely hope that he isn’t guilty of what he’s being accused of. If he is guilty then he’s wronger than wrong and should be thrown under the jail. Harming innocent children is terrible. All I can say is that I hope he really didn’t do it. I honestly don’t believe the case is going to go to trial. I forsee him taking a plea bargain to some lesser charge and being released on parole. We’ll just have to wait and see how it all turns out I guess.
Autopsy: Rapper O.D.B. Had Drug Overdose : This makes a little more sense. It’s not often that you hear of a 35 year old man dying of natural causes like it was first reported. But an overdose I’m sad to say seems more par for the course for ODB aka Old Dirty Bastard, aka Big Baby Jesus, aka Dirt McGirt. He always seemed to be high on something and I’m not talking about life. This last time it just happened to kill him.
U2 – How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
I’m liking this album so far. I bought it on Sunday and have listened to it all the way through a couple of times. I really wasn’t absolutely blown away by any of the songs but I liked all of them. I’m sure this album will grow on me the more I listen to it.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra – The Lost Christmas Eve
Didn’t really like this one. I’m giving it another listen as I type this but for the time being I’ve got to give it a thumbs down. When it comes to Christmas music I guess I’m a purist or traditionalist I should say. There are only a select number of songs that I include in my Christmas cannon. I don’t like it when groups release Christmas albums with a bunch of new fangled wanna-be Christmas songs. Stick to what works people! Anyway this entire CD is filled with a bunch of songs that kinda sorta sound Christmasy but aren’t. It’s hard to describe. My friend Aaron has an earlier CD of theirs that I really liked. It has a lot more traditional Christmas songs/hymns as I recall. I’m looking to get that one because this one is a definite dissappointment.
Blindside – Silence
I’ll give these dudes from Sweden one thing, they’re enthusiastic. I can’t understand a darn word they’re saying but they sure say it with gusto. I got to hear them last year when they came through Memphis. They were one of the opening acts for one of my favorite bands, Linkin Park. This CD really rocks out. The riffs are relentless, crunchy, and plentiful. I’m not sure I like the CD yet. I just bought it today so it may take a while before I can really appreciate it. My initial impressions are leaning towards wanting to like but not really liking at the moment. I felt like I couldn’t take a breath while listending to this CD. It’s not very melodic. The wall of sound borders on noise at times. There are only a couple of slow or mid tempo songs on the whole album. I’ll give it a couple more listens before banishing it to the back of my CD collection. They sounded really cool in concert which is why I bought the CD. The album was only 10 bucks so I can’t complain too much. It may grow on me yet.
Cake – Pressure Chief
I have mixed feelings for the album as a whole but I absolutely love the first (and possibly only) single. When I heard No Phone on the radio for the first time I was completely blown away. The beat, the synths, the electronic music influence completely floored me. To my slight dissappointment the rest of the CD doesn’t sound anything like No Phone. Most of the songs have a nice beat and catchy lyrics but none of them really grab me like No Phone. I’ve liked all of Cakes previous radio singles but in my opinion No Phone is the best. I really wish the rest of the CD was more of the same but alas we can’t have everything we want. It’s not a bad CD at all. There’s only really one song out of the 11 song set that absolutely I don’t like. It’s a song about Carbon-Monoxide. They drop the F-bomb several times in the chorus. When I first heard the song I said, “Now why did they have to go and do that?” Take It All is a standout track. The mariachi style trumpet riffs are pretty cool. How can you not like a band that features a trumpet? There’s a remake of The Guitar Man by a group called Bread. I’ve never heard the original but they remake is pretty cool. End of The Movie is another neat song. I really like the lyrics and the banjo pickin’ in the background. The album is pretty short clocking in at a shade under 37 minutes. That’s bordering on Linkin Park style brevity.
This next one wasn’t purchased this week but it was recent so I’m including it.
MTV’s Ultimate Mashups – Linkin Park + Jay Z – Collision Course
This CD/DVD combo is buckwild! I don’t listen to much hip hop these days but I’ve always respected Jay Z. His tracks are always hot. Linkin Park, well what more can I say about them that I haven’t already said? I love those guys. When I heard the two were doing a project together I was ecstatic. I hope they do a full album of new material together some time in the future. That would be tight. Mike Shinoda the Linkin Park mastermind is an excellent producer. He worked his magic on this project again. This isn’t simply a collection the two groups songs tacked together. There was actual time and effort put in to the production in order to make the songs and lyrics meld seamlessly. The two best examples of this are Numb/Encore and Izzo/In The End. Izzo is my favorite track. I just wish it was longer. It clocks in at a paltry 2:44. Give me more fellas! Jay Z drops many wordy derds throughout the album but I give him a pass because the project is so cool. Mike says a few choice words himself on Points of Authority/99 Problems/One Step Closer which is a little dissappointing but if I give Jay Z a pass I guess have to give Mike one too. I’m not bumping this CD constantly mainly because of the curse words but Izzo/In The End will definitely be ripped and put in heavy rotation within the old MP3 collection.
My roommate bought this game for me as an early Christmas present. I was floored. MGS 3 is amazing. The attention to detail, the cinematic look and feel and the shear depth of the gameplay combine to make a mind blowing experience. I’ve been playing non stop since Friday night. I’ve got the next 3 days off from work so I figure to be getting some major game playing time in between now and Monday. After fumbling around in the dark with the game for a couple of days I did what I usually do when I acquire a new game of this magnitude. I went out and bought the Official Brady Games Strategy Guide. Some folks would call this cheating or cheapening the gaming experience. I call it getting my money’s worth (or Patrick’s as it were). With a game this exspansive there’s no way to find every little secret there is without some help. I’m simply unafraid of asking for that help. MGS 3 is addictive. One of the coolest things about the game it the fact that the sound is encoded in Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound which sounds exquisite on brand spankin’ new home theater system. The sound envelops you and makes it seem like you’re right there inside the game. This game combined with my sound system is making for an incredible gaming experience. I haven’t played much PS2 lately but this game has brought me back to the console. Patrick and I will probably be fighting over who gets to use the PS2 now. I’m thinking about buying one of the sleek new thin PS2s that just came out so that we can have one in the living room and I can have one in my bedroom. I like the smaller form factor and the fact that it’s supposedly more powerful. Since the PS3 isn’t scheduled to debut until late in 2006 I’d definetly get my money’s worth out of the new system. The new lower price ($149) makes it even more attractive.
I just finished up many hours of reading my girl Rachel’s blog. I had to catch up on all the months I’ve been away. I think I’m getting my Internet groove back. It helps having 5 out of the next 10 days business days off. I’m up to date on Greg’s blog (I’ve got it bookmarked at work so I’ve kept up with it pretty well during my web hiatus.) My goal here is to post enough to get that plus back next to my name Greg. The video for Baby It’s Alright by Ray Charles just came on VH1 Insomniac Music Theater. They used the scene from the movie Ray (If you haven’t already seen it please do yourself a favor and watch it. I’ve already seen it twice. It’s wonderful.) where Jamie Foxx performed it. How cool is it to hear Ray Charles on VH1? Well they’re playing John Mayer’s Daughters (A song I love by the way.) for the second time in 45 minutes which is probably a good signal that I need to hit the hay. I promised myself that I’d wake up at a decent time tomorrow (today) and get some (hopefully lots) of cleaning and washing done. Ta Ta for now.
I miss Mariah a lot. We’ve been broken up for 5 months. Sometimes it feels longer than that. Other times is feels like we were going out just yesterday. I don’t know why I can’t move on. Maybe it’s the fact that me having a girlfriend is such a rare occurrence. If past experience holds to form it will be another 3 or 4 years before I have another girlfriend. I try not to think that way but that’s all I have to go on.
I really thought Mariah was the one. I pictured us getting married, settling down and having a family together, the whole 9 yards. I’ve never thought or felt that way about a girl before. I still feel giddy when I get to see her but there’s hurt there too so I generally shy away. The fact that she doesn’t feel the same way about me as I feel about her bewilders me. It’s hard to wrap my mind around. I want to move on with my life like she appears to have done but I’m stuck. Why can’t I get her out of my head?
Mariah has had several more boyfriends than I’ve had girlfriends so the whole having an amicable relationship with your ex after the fact seems to come a lot more easily to her. When I see her and talk to her my brain turns into an emotional blob. I find myself wanting to blurt out:
ILOVEYOUPLEASETAKEMEBACKCANIHOLDYOURHANDANDLOOKINTOYOUREYESILOVEYOUREYESWEWEREGOODTOGETHERPLEASETAKEMEBACK!!!
It’s sad I know but that’s progress I promise. For months there I totally disengaged from just about everything. I stopped going to church. I called in sick to work a bunch and when I did go in it was a major chore just to get through the day. With the breakup and the emotional strain of my brother’s illness all coming to a head at the same time I was completely spent. I didn’t want to have anything to do with the world. I said I give up. No Mas!!! I wanted to (and literally did a couple of times) curl up into a ball, cover my ears to block the world out and ball my eyes out. To say I was an emotional reck is the understatement of the decade. I’m starting to come out of that now finally which is nice but it’s still hard. I’m to the point now where I think I’m actually coming to grips and dealing with things again. That last week or two in July I became emotionally overloaded. It was like my emotional circuit breakers took as much as they could stand and when the current became too great they switched to off. I couldn’t muster the strength to turn them back on until a month or two ago.
We had our first real talk since the breakup the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. It was nice. I got some things off my chest and she did as well. Mariah cried which if you knew her you’d know that is rare. It’s strange but on some level I took heart in that because it showed me that the depth of emotion that I still feel towards her is still there on her part at least to some extent. On the other hand, I felt like I made her cry which is something I promised to never do. All in all it was a good talk though. I apologized for being distant and not talking to her. I explained in part where I was coming from emotionally and why I found it difficult to be around her thus choosing not to be around her at all. It was cathartic. She explained that she still thinks about ‘us’ daily and how she’s still not over me and won’t be for a while contrary to the appearance otherwise. Now this may have all just been ex-girlfriend speak (I don’t know) but it sure was nice to hear. In my heart of hearts I believe it was sincere.
So where to go from here? Well we’ve got a standing coffee date (I mean appointment) that will be had sometime in the hopefully near future. I’m talking to her a bit more. We’ve talked on the phone a couple of times since Thanksgiving. We see each other at church and exchange words in passing now that I’m actually going to church again. Tonight we sat together at the Christmas Holiday Dinner at church in addition to singing together in a choral group that provided part of the entertainment for the evening. We’re friends which is good. We were friends before we started going out and we’re friends after so all in all I guess I’ve come out ahead. True friends are hard to come by in this life and to have one who knows me as well as she does is rare indeed. I don’t know if I’ll ever completely get over the hope that some how, some way we’ll end up back together when it’s all said and done. If that day comes I’ll welcome it with open arms but if it doesn’t life goes on and I’ll be stronger because if it. (I hope) I’ve slipped into cliches which is a definite sign that it’s time to close. It’s good to be back. I’ll have to try to do this blog thing more often. (Yet another cliche.) I’m gone. Good Night.
Can Your Hands Do This? : I had a friend in middle school and high school named John Hall who could do stuff like this but he was nowhere near as good as these guys. The speed at which they’re performing the tricks is amazing. Based on the the web address and the credits at the end of the clip I think the people in it are Korean. Since we only get to see their hands though I guess they could be from anywhere. This is the age of the Internet afterall. John taught the most basic move a long time ago. I’m proud to say I can still do it. I’ve got a long way to go to be as good as those guys though. Good thing I’ve got tons of time to practice at work in my cube.
Random Thoughts and Utterances Are The Norm