highfireDANGER!

incendiary wit from a perpetually curious techfemme... and the crap I find on the interwebs.

internet dating etiquette: halp!


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this is how excited i am

so i'm online dating
(bounce rate 100% ha!
Google anal-ytics joke)

and i'm wondering
about the ethics of said practice.
it's going alright so far
by alright i mean i'm going to cancel
any payments i've made to any sites.

but i want to ask everyone
what do you think
about how i should be handling responses?

most sites have a preliminary
minimal commitment form of contacting members
often a way of contacting another for free
if you cheapskates want to contact people without subscribing
emails are a different story and you have to pay money
in order to get more harshly rejected
er, i mean
get to know another more deeply.

so this is what i've come up with:
i am morally allowed to ignore the preliminary,
minimal commitment overtures
but i try to reply to the DECENT emails
those that aren't gross or just so cursory as to merit an ignore.

hmmm
whatchu guys/girls think?
and do you have anyone you'd like to set me up with?

i'm pretty cool...

it just LOOKS like i haven't posted...

but i really have
HERE.
And also read
THESE.
or this will happen to your soul:
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photo property of icanhazcheezburger.com

sigur ros: music that freaks out my cats, makes my soul purr

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this is tricky.  he says "sigur ros?  mow mow?"

so,
my girl,
rhythmforcedmelody
wrote this great post
about sigur ros
and i was so inspired by it
i put them on
and my cats started to swivel their ears
questionmark helicopter style
my littlest one meowed eerily
in the same key as the song playing
so sigur ros: awesome
and freaking out cats since 1994

go read.
it won't freak you out.
you'll like it!


 


 you just can't say no to her:
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Leopard: purr, roar? discuss.

firstly,
Overheard in New York,
(blog compilation of conversations
you guessed it,
overheard in NY, NY!)
makes me laugh
because of things like this:

No More Montessori School for You, Young Lady

Mom, about man on train with flowers:
Awww, he has flowers. They're probably for his girlfriend.
Eight-year-old daughter:
Mom, you never know! They could be for a boy.
--LIRR

and this:

You Have Measured Out Your Life in Baby-Food Spoons
Five-year-old girl: Mommy, come on. This is not your time.
Mommy: When is my time?
Five-year-old girl: Never!

--Barnes & Noble, Chelsea


the ones from kids are the best.

second of all, i "installed" Leopard.
it's in quotes because
it gave me an error message
and a heart attack
that it couldn't complete the install
before it restarted my computer
but then proceeded to work anyway
yeah i have no idea what that was about

besides having issues with iTunes libraries
which is an endless battle that i seem to lose endlessly
and the Backup program for Tiger being full of suck
and that finally working only after about two hours of futzing with it
everything is operational!

YAY.

my iTunes are back to normal
so now my soul is back to normal
(music is really that important to my inner life)
and iChat has TABBED CHATS
that's right
TABBED CHATS
so now my eight hundred IM windows
are in ONE window
glorious.

however,
the iPhoto backgrounds SUCK
as in
they don't work at all
because i do have a whole hand
and a whole head
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but maybe i don't
and apple is actually right about everything.

what do you guys think??
not about that photo of me
(terrible hahaha)
but about Le Leopard?!

new moon.

you know what's annoying?
that there really isn't a great music hosting service
for blogs
so i can't just embed this track i want you to listen to
into this post
you have to go find it on the internet
or go to an external link
which, face it
you're unlikely to do
because we're lazy internet users
i'm totally guilty, too.

but if you feel like it
go listen to
cave in's 'new moon (piano version)'
it's spare and beautiful
like the moon
on a really cold night
where you're looking up at the sky
and all you see is the ghostly vapor of your breath
against a black starless sky
like i said

quite nice.

seeing as my arm is falling off...

i am busy converting this blog
to this new one
hosted by iggli
consequently,
my arm is twitching
and there is pain
in muscles i didn't know existed
this posting is going to be all short
and non-existent.

lol
sorry.
i bought a rad desk
and chair
for my home office though.
yay?

go listen to charlotte martin!
gosh darnit!

here's the new page

http://www.iggli.com:8080/roller/
that's the new address of the home page for the new iggli blog
mine is
http://www.iggli.com:8080/roller/highfiredanger/
bookmarkles!!

new saul williams is DRM-Free, straight from him, free or 5 dollar optional donation!

new Saul Williams album
november 1st
produced by Trent Reznor
sold on his website
the title is niggy tardust
hmmm david bowie
ziggy stardust
worldplaymuch?
should be REALLY interesting
to see what's on that album.
Saul Williams is one of the most profound artists out there
whether you agree with him or not.
SO EXCITED!

changes, changes

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so, iggli
the rad company this blog was set up for
ugh horrible sentence structure
is setting up their own blog platform
so someday soon
this blog will be found at another address
i know, scary, scary changes!

for now i will keep posting to this one
and for awhile after that
i'll post to both of them at the same time
so as to make the transition all friendly-like.
because i love my readers.
and wouldn't want them to get lost

xoxo
happy thursday, lovers!

stop stalking me, flixster!


ENOUGH!

goodness gracious, flixster.
and all other facebook apps that i don't have.

thing is,
if you don't have a certain app
and a friend in your cadre does
then, whenever they do something
with that app
facebook feels like they have to tell you about it
because you're not complete
if you don't have that app.

it's gettin' real annoying.
can't we turn off that feature, globally?
the stalking slash advertising feature?
what's that, satan facebook?
no?
i hate you and love myspace better
i love you anyway!

not your sister's ghostwritten chick music.

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usually i'm so-so
when it comes to cover albums.
but lovers, let me tell you
charlotte martin's
reproductions
is a stellar achievement.

i cannot get over the tone of her voice.
it's sick!
i saw her in concert two weeks ago
(review pending, obvs)
and she's spectacular live.

songs i love from reproductions
in particular:
pearl jam's
elderly woman behind the counter in a small town
sinead o'connor's
i am stretched out on your grave.
i get chills during that second one.

i am so sure
that my neighbors
can hear me belting them through the walls.
all i have to say about that
is GET USED TO IT PEOPLE!
IT'S THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY.
I AM SO ALLOWED.

reproductions
comes out november 6 on iTunes
i got it early because it was available on her tour.
http://www.myspace.com/charlottemartin
go listen!

in the mean time
buy stromata
i love that album!
the instrumentation is really different
from what a lot of female singers are doing right now.
this ain't no brit brit, kiddies.
in content nor in form.

you won't be disappointed.

the gap between him and him.

okay, so i like boys.
irrelevant to this blog?
hardly.

many, many times they are not in my life.
mostly this is fine.
i am a fairly independent lady
and i like me to myself
after all,
i can listen to my own music in the car
i do hate compromising on the important things!

so what is are some good soundtracks and songs for the gaps between beating hearts?

grace - jeff buckley
twentysomething - jamie cullum
homogenic - bjork
white ladder - david gray
transatlanticism - death cab for cutie
kid a - radiohead
selected sad songs, really.
charlotte martin songs...
i love her, generally.

hmmm, i'll surely put up a list
of songs
for A Samantha in Love
when my luck changes!
wish me good things.
xoxo.

a quick side note...

it's 23 degrees Fahrenheit outside!!
(a clarification for those of you who are Celsius people)
whaaa!?!
no wait wait
BRRRR!!

lull-a-hello.

i went to an awesome wedding this weekend
hence the lack of blogs!
wow i know you were all so so so sad
to not hear from me.
it was so much fun!
congratulations to the newlyweds!
and bam margera's dad
don vito
spelling, who knows
but i don't think it's worth googling
frankly!
was on my plane flight home to denver
how strange is that?
i'm tired!
on topic stuff tomorrow.
xoxo

genre (hip) hopping: the first in a series of genre swaps by the iggli blog team.

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gotta love tonedeff.

i’m not sure why i never got into hip hop and why it never got into me.

i can’t blame it on living in the suburbs, or my WASPY catatonia (lol), because those are currently prerequisites for many hip hop lovers in America. in my formative years, artists like Nine Inch Nails or Tool or Tori Amos always stole my attention away. but recently i’ve realized it’s short-sighted to think hip hop is not a part of my life.

for example, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails recently toured with Saul Williams, collaborated with El-P, and compared his creative process of his most recent album Year Zero to Public Enemy’s; Tori Amos reinterpreted an Eminem song , and Wu Tang Clan just got the rights to the Beatles’ “My Guitar Gently Weeps.” okay, i don’t like the Beatles, but i’m just saying that hip hop intersects the alternative genre where i locate the majority of my taste.

thus, it was time for me to pay homage and I found the perfect opportunity!

Reed, a friend and iggli colleague of mine, suggested a genre-swap – to go and experience a type of music that is far outside of one’s normal tastes and then write about it. lucky for both of us, he’s a promoter with Nancy Drew Presents, and was one of the masterminds behind the incredibly successful october 6 show at the Fox Theater. the bill was Cunnin Lynguists, PackFM, Sleep of Chicarones, Zelly Rock, Whiskey Blanket, tonedeff, and audible audities.

i got to see it from upstairs, downstairs, back stage side stage... lucky me! it was truly an experience.

would you like to know one main conclusion from the evening?

people are wrong!
the accusations you hear about hip hop do not apply wholesale.
the acts that I saw had a ridiculous amount of skill, linguistically and physically.
i always hear in the media, that hip hop is a useless bunch of soulless thugs.
these were some of the nicest, most polite people i have ever met. they are also some of the smartest and well-spoken.

kids, turn off fox news!

another remarkable thing about the evening was the energy. the conviction in the room, the love for the artists was unbelievable. even for the opening acts, the appreciation and attention was intense. now, these aren’t acts you’d yet see on the billboard charts, but it was as though they were the greatest in the world at that moment. their interaction with the crowd was indicative with their impeccable showmanship and the crowd showed their appreciation endlessly. i was very impressed that even the openers got so much attention, as a lot of the rock shows i’ve been, the openers usually get little to no attention. i’m not sure why this is, and why this show was different, and if this is generally a trend in hip hop (i can’t say since this was only my first show) but it was an interesting observation!

i was also lucky enough to sit in on an interview with the headliners of the show, Cunnin Lynguists, conducted chiefly by out tha box television. they were very fascinated with the fact that i had never been to a hip hop show, and i was grateful that they let such an amateur like myself be a part of it! i asked, what seemed to me, like fairly informed questions: what do you think about the state of hip hop?; what do you think about the push to remove certain words from hip hop altogether? i will certainly post the interview when it is up.

my second and final conclusion is this: it is worth it to go and experience a completely alien form of music. keep your mind open and you might find a new artist. at the very least, if you work for iggli, you can write off the ticket in your taxes.


Cunnin Lynguists - Fox Theatre 10.06.07

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look that at that CROWD!

I GOT TO SEE HYPE MACHINE LAUNCH! *CRIES*

as i said
in my last half-post
i had my browser up all day
on hype machine's page*
watching the numbers
getting counted
because the new hype machine would only launch
phoenix anew-style
spiffed from all its changes
if 10,000 people viewed the page all at once
COOL!

tangent:
you would think 10,000 people
looking at ANYTHING at once would make that thing
explode with that energy
but I GUESS NOT!
i guess 10,000 pairs of eager eyes
makes hype machine launch!

so all of the sudden around 12:30am
the hit counter all of the sudden went crazypants!:
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whoa, i say
to myself
as it goes to this:
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but the biggest difference
was THIS:
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ZOMG GETTING READY TO LAUNCH!
and then
@12:33pm MST
IT DID!
*cries*
O HAI new Hype Machine!
enough from me
go see!

http://hypem.com/

*HM is a music blog aggregator
it also allows you to preview tracks directly from its page
as a digg commenter said
with top diggs from other commenters
meaning that they agree
"i wouldn't be cool if it weren't for hype machine"
or something like that
'cause i think it was spelled incorrectly.
BUT YOU GET IT
so go GET HYPED!
(yay anthony volodkin!
awesomely awesome creator of hype machine!)

the NEW hype machine: is it launching ?!?! IS IT LAUNCHING?!?@@#@$#

i've had my browser open all day
after i heard that the new hype machine will only launch
if 10,000 people view the page simultaneously
WOW
that's just cool stuff


OMG!

IT DID IT DID!

in rainbows & i: an abusive relationship

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why do i have to love this album?!
why do i have to love this album!?
why do i have to love this album!?
i don't have to
perhaps i shouldn't,
and yet i still do...

STUPID IN RAINBOWS!
WHY DO YOU ROCK ME SO!?
even as your progenitor may so royally whomp us all
i hope there is a good explanation for THIS
eventually

but i can't deny
that all of the songs have crept into my subconscious
to the point where
i'll be doing something else in the house with no music on
and i'll get a sudden intense craving to listen to it
RIGHTNOW

i'll have to turn it on immediately
elsewise it will just play endlessly
most likely looping a part
for which the lyrics are unclear
so my mind turns this bit into sea glass
turning it over and over and over and over in my head
so you really must understand that this is serious.

i call it raddiction.
*pukes from pun-induced vertigo*
i'll just keep getting slapped around listening
because i can't stop
and hope things between us get better...

missFIRE

GET IT?

I messed up FeedBurner
and I called it
a missFIRE
FIRE because it's feed BURNER
and MISS because
my attempt was previously full of FAILURE

i saw that if you were subscribed you got flooded with posts about an hour ago
since i entered the correct thing today
which was
good AND bad to get flooded
depending upon how much you LOVE me
i think i've got it all under control.

i will stop with THE STRATEGIC CAPITALIZED WORDS
eventually
i PROMISE.

xoxo

did my new boyfriend just stick it to me?!

yeah, according to this lefsetz post
radiohead is re-releasing in rainbows
with BONUS TRACKS
thanks a bunch!

betrayal!
do i have to purchase this again?
i better be able to buy them piecemeal
and if i can't
it better be a DRM-free format
so i can steal it from my friends
with zero guilt

chris taylor warned me that
thom yorke was a jerk
is this the fruition of his instincts?
did i bedfellow with the Wrong man?

my first date with radiohead's 'in rainbows.'


a lot of music i love most
i hated at first listen.
which is dissimilar to boyfriends
whom i mostly like right away.

and well,
i didn't like 'in rainbows' at all when i first heard it
so when it comes to music,
that was actually a good sign.

and now
i can't stop hitting repeat
especially on faust arp
i cannot get ENOUGH of that SONG
*injects self with the aural heroin that is track six*
i also like 'all i need'
and 'reckoner' (which is gorillaz-esque in its vocal style)

and okay, i admit
i did love 15 step the first time i heard it
so am i liar?
or did they just compile the songs correctly
to hook those fickle lovers like myself?

so far
my first date with 'in rainbows'
is going pretty well.
and i will let you know
about the state of our relationship
as it progresses.

*kisses speakers
and readers
goodnight*

the best facebook app ever: dramatic whitespace. *claps*

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dramatic whitespace
developed by adam bildersee
is my favorite facebook app
because it's the anti-app

it's just a block of color
any old color
white, for example
it's awesome
because facebook apps
are lame
in my opinion
then again i'm completely biased
because i'd rather myspace any day.

facebook is bleh
for so many reasons
one is that it had always been the elitist one
no one wanted to let the rabble in
when it was about to go public
to those who weren't in college
to the common people
to the other people

well i say screw that
let them all in
let them put black
in their whitespace
quit your whining.
and change your privacy options.

but remember
uber-public is the new private!
when you are one in a billion everyone can ignore you
thus,
whitespace
blank space
is the new clutter.
thank you adam
for your 'apptitude'
and flippant contribution to the facebook app crazitude.

additional discussion here.

it's official: trent reznor does everything right & says goodbye to his label.

from trent's blog on the spiral
(nine inch nails official fan club):

10/08/07: big news, pt 1
Hello everyone. I've waited a LONG time to be able to make
the following announcement: as of right now Nine Inch Nails is
a totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any
label. I have been under recording contracts for 18 years and
have watched the business radically mutate from one thing to
something inherently very different and it gives me great
pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the
audience as I see fit and appropriate.
Look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008.
Exciting times, indeed.

nin is my favorite band
for more reasons than just music!
SEE ABOVE FOR DETAILS!

like radiohead, other bands allow fans to determine albums' purchase prices. FTW!


the band v record company
struggle for monetary power
is beginning to look a lot like this:
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because now
other bands
are following radiohead's
"in rainbows" lead
aka fan-determined pricing for the album
which comes out tomorrow!
and it's not just little bands!

at long last
appropriately,
the industry is reacting.
well.
one dude.

guy hands
yes, it's a NAME
GUY HANDS
HAS
GUY HANDS
i'm done

at his private equity company
Terra Firma
which bought EMI two months ago
he sent an email to employees
communicating that the "industray"
(that's my word)
is bass ackwards
and must change
to save itself.
YAY!
go guy hands
way to be perceptive!
JAZZ HANDS!
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moral of the post:
hey music business
you better change
because bands and fans
are rearranging things for you!

moby for the lulz on the not so lulz RIAA v. jammie thomas lawsuit.

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the following is an excerpt from moby's journal:
last week a woman named jammie(or maybe it's jamie?)*thomas was found guilty of illegally downloading music and fined $220,000.
she's a single mother making $36,000 and she's being fined $220,000 for downloading a few dozen songs??
and this is how the record companies are trying to get people on their side?
so let's see, republicans oppose health care for poor and middle class children, and the record companies sue single mothers for file-sharing...
who exactly is giving the republicans and the record companies advice?
beelzebub?
how about a punishment that fits the crime?
this woman's crime was downloading music.
so maybe her punishment should be to pay $1 for every song she illegally downloaded?
which would lead to a fine of around $40?
i understand that the record labels are all suffering, but this is not the way to endear themselves to the general public...
i just feel badly for this poor woman, that she's a single mom on limited income and suddenly she's faced with high legal bills and a potentially disastrous settlement.
were the record company representatives all wearing black top hats and twiddlling their long, black, waxy mustaches when the verdict was reached?**
file sharing is hurting the record companies, there's no doubt about that.
but sueing a single mom who's making $36,000 a year for $220,000 is not the answer to the record companies woes.

-moby

* it's seriously jammie.
** my emphasis, for the lulz.

moby makes a salient point:
how is this, at all,
going to make people want to have any relationship
with record companies aka the riaa?
huge conglomerates suing your mom
for money she doesn't have?
very un-lulz
very beelzebubz
being that the punishment
doesn't seem to fit the crime
it's bad for a business
that's already mid-floosh

(and come on, did they pick her as their flagship case
partly because of her name?
so they could make jokes like
"i guess she's not jammin' now!"
whilst engaging in another fit
of raucous puppy kicking?)

and now i present the very rare i-am-very-human-with-very-strong-feelings post. verily.


do you know
the noise your breath makes
when you blow over the top of a bottle?
the deeper the sound
the bigger the space
the more empty the vessel

i know this.

yesterday the wind had begun to pick up
like it does before any cold front comes over the mountains
i had stopped at a red light
my windows were wide open
i glanced toward the mountains and the air blew
so forcefully into my face
blew my hair flat
it muted the stereo

and it shocked me.

it was disturbing
to feel how the seat next to me
was as desolate
and empty
as an ice floe on some screaming cold arctic sea

i could hear that noise more than i ever have
that empty space bottle blow
it was deep and long
it was loud to me
even if my expression merely seeped what was
behind sunglasses
they were meant to shield my eyes
but i felt open and exposed and

blown away.

..........
*SIGH*
i KNOW!
what can i say?
there IS a soul in there
and it needs company!

xoxo everyone
hug your loved ones for me.

dos fotos from the fox show last night

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tonedeff and his fans going nuts
cell phones in hands!
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myself in the green room bathroom
because i had to!
vanity compels me!
it's a sickness.
ps-those are totally camera phone photographs.
yay for LG.

and i promise i'm writing!

look ma, no-hands hip hop!

i went to my first hip hop show last night
with one of my good friends
a promoter from nancy drew presents
a fantastically successful
and incredibly fun show
i am working on a review
reflection
whatever
of the experience
that i will post later.
but i had soooo much fun
in case anyone wondered.
;)

this is how you say it.

the word
is
nuclear
and it's pronounced
nuuuuuuuuuuu
cleeeeeeeeeear.

not nukeyuhluhr.
so
stop
FAILING.


i'm just saying.

Home Video: a soundtrack by which
to count street lights.


i love car rides.
at night,
especially.

i love watching the street lights
run over
the hood of the car
under the moonlight
with some wonderful music
almost the same rhythm
as say,
your windshield wipers
if indeed it's raining.

this is the album cover for Home Video's
No Certain Night or Morning
and it is certainly right
for those twinights
or gloamornings.

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for fans of:
radiohead
bjork
depeche mode
vhs or beta
tv on the radio
the junior boys
girl and the sea
shearwater
sound team

BRITNEY IS BIPOLAR.

IT IS SO OBVIOUS!

and it's the disorder most likely to occur with a secondary diagnosis--like drug addiction.

guys, it's not just the drugs making her act in the most puzzling ways imaginable.

drugs are often a bipolar person's attempt to self-medicate.

and her behavior is not puzzling if you know what you're looking at.

COME ON!

SHE.
IS.
BIPOLAR!
and it sucks to go through this at all
let alone with everyone watching
pointing and laughing!

good luck
to everyone who's touched by this.

poetry, via viagra.

has anyone ever looked at these strange nonsensical prose poems that come in your junk mail?
here is one that came in some viagara spam today:

For any part of them we can make out
Père and Mère Chose could be in conversation
In realms of dingy gloom and deep crevasse
marked with a dark stroke from the left, encroached
Centimeters—that the height of the canvas
Only a fox whose den I cannot find.
Like an old soldier, wakeful, in his tent!
In a single floral stroke,
Comes up with as a means to its own end.
Life, or only joy, that stands out
and preening, dancing on the basepaths,
Among us, only Alberti, then Sangallo,
To pick up even the quickening of wind
To a higher level of appearance.
That desire has ever built, have approached
for a few weeks, statistics won't seem
Reshaping magnified, each risen flake
Before those virile women!


WHAT THE CRAP IS THAT?!?!

they come in all the spam emails I've ever gotten.
is there a reason for them?
like, a meta-tag kind of reason?
that sort of thing?
or is it just a way to use ten euphemisms for erections
just so the people sending the emails can entertain themselves?

SO WEIRD!

jean paul sartre's "the gaze," anyone?

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jps = hunk

why is it
that everyone says
oh i finally BROKE DOWN
and joined
"insert social network of choice here"

what is so wrong with being available to others?
accessible?
i don't understand the reticence to uninhibited self promotion.

are we seriously still pretending
we don't care what others think?

because i care.
i care a lot.
but i don't see this as a personal fault.

i carefully construct my persona
online and elsewhere
ALTHOUGH
this does not mutually exclude
my ability to love and attend to others
and their feelings.
it really is possible to balance a love/sense of self
and a love/sense for others.

so stop acting like you don't care!
because you probably do!

and i love you anyway gosh darnit!

the case for under-functionality and one painfully terrible pun involving meat.


so these days
all the companies are all like
on our phones we've got
texts pix movies games internets musics!
and i'm all like
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am i the only person that doesn't want to look
at the internet in a space that is 3"x3"?

i like having a phone that is just a phone.
a 17" computer just for the internet.
an iPod that just plays music.
an Xbox that is only for games.
a DVD player for movies.

therefore,
i doubt i will ever buy an iPhone.
if i did, i'd only make calls on it!
(blasphemy!)
i am definitely a Macophile,
but it makes no sense to me.
it does not speak to me.
because separation appeals to me.

it's sort of like
when i eat dinner
i don't swirl all the food together in one big mess
i like beef in one corner
taters in another
veggies in yet another.

so there you have it.
separation of starch and steak,
a.k.a. stop combining EVERYTHING!
some things are better served alone.

a series of cohesions.

the internet is a funny thing,
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and according to senator ted stevens, it's also a series of tubes.

but like anything invented by people it is a multifaceted thing:

bad, good, other.

bad:
online bullying; pedophiles having access to children and taking advantage of it; some would say pornography. i would half kid and lament the breakdown of the knowledge of grammar and spelling for the sake of speed and convenience, although i do love a good LOL every once in awhile.

good:
others would say pornography;
amazon.com's free super saver shipping,
the expression of alternate voices and views,
and for the purpose of this post,
i will highlight internet-based COHESION.

other:
4chan.org

but back to cohesion.

people can connect easily in this digital world,
around the common and the obscure.

pets.
mothers.
musicians.
sports fans.
political causes.
support groups.
followers of a religion.
even lolcats!:
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postsecret.
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(PostSecret is an ongoing community art project
where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.)
um,
then there's 4chan.:
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but you know what one of the strongest pulls comes from?

music!

i have personally been moved to tears at a concert,
turned to my right and left, and seen the exact same thing.
i'd have confidence that i could go online
and at least fourteen other people would have also had my experience.

so again, whether good, bad, or other:
the internet allows for greater access to people (freaks, normal, other)
just like you
who cry at concerts
laugh at lolcats
and love a good postsecret.

i sure would love a good social network whose locus is music, though.
*wink*

a question from the godhead:
what would radiohead do?


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many people agree that radiohead
is as close to Godliness as a band can be.
some people don't agree at all.

whether the lyrics, the syncopation,
thom yorke's voice, or the instrumentation,
there is something either magical
or irritating about them.

people adore them or hate them.
which is often the way people see God.
but, as most would admit
nay or yay
like God,
there is nothing quite like them.

but for now,
profundity aside,
this post is only about radiohead,
so let me make one thing clear:

I LOVE THEM.

and today, i have come to respect them even more.

earlier,
i heard from a good friend
that they are selling their new album,
in rainbows,
straight from the website
with no outside regulation
no label
starting october 10th as a drm-free download.
you may also purchase a boxed set,
which begins shipping in december.

so i go to the website to buy the download,
get to the pay page and see this:

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the price is blank.

we decide what to pay for this album.

which begs the obvious question:

what do you pay the artist,
when it goes directly to them,
for the music that you love so deeply?
what is it worth to you?

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is this the future of music?
are they the saviors or harbingers
of the music industry that is dying at your feet?
and what do you think about THAT?

something old, something new,
something poe, something true.

i spent many days alone in my room when i was younger,
listening to poe.
i'm really not sure what it was,
but she always haunted me.
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even as my music taste changes, i remember her fondly.

so today, when i pulled out my CDs for the first time
in a billion years
because they are almost like dinosaurs now
so antiquated are they
compared to those spry, young mp3s
'cause i needed to re-burn some of my favorites
since iTunes
insists on losing my music files
RANDOMLY
which makes me
INSANE
and i consider myself computer literate
and i have no idea why it does this inane thing to me
if anyone can tell me
i would appreciate it.

it's a good thing that i back up my stuff.

so anyway.
turns out poe released a new album in 2000 and i didn't know about it.
wtf, i know.
i hope it's great.
i haven't found out.
because of more iTunes difficulties.
*wrings hands.*

i'm one of the few people who still buys their music on iTunes.
i am not sure why
but i suppose i like doing things legally
and having it synch up with my iPod
and not having to deal with torrents and guilt complexes
i don't know.
there has to be a better solution people!
i am not sure it's streaming though
i really like my music to be portable
i like ownership.
i just do.

who can offer me what i want?
am i missing something?
a cheaper, more reliable
more directly beneficial to the artist
option?
meanwhile
i will wait until my new poe downloads
and i will still enjoy it
even if i am down ten dollars.

if you ask me, the mosquitos won.

happy saturday!

sorry about the delayed slash skimpy posting--
i will have some better content up later in the day.

the reason for the neglect
is that i am currently exausted from playing with
BlackLight Company Team Paintball.
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woohoo!

they are sooo much fun!

i know, such an emaciated little post; i even disappoint myself.

but i promise you more hot stuff later.

meanwhile, off to the bat cave!

OkCupid! is for Lovers... On a Budget.

if you are like myself, you've tried online dating sites.
...aaaand quit them as hastily as you signed up.

reasons?

could have been the money:
EESH. more than 10 dollars a month
for anything that isn't definite is too much.
that eHarmony in particular is STEEP.

could have been the selection:
no amount of cute graphics or fun features
can make people who are wrong for you right.
it's also not your fault that you don't live near
one hundred men who look like jake gyllenhaal, have IQs over 135,
and a sense of moral and emotional accountability.
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oh yeah. brains are the number one priority here.

therefore, i love free sites.
and not only is
OkCupid! free,
it's sooo easy to love.
if you have facebook you can try out
their app.
it's their introductory quiz,
which is a blast to take.

i heart OkCupid because:
the whole site is tongue-in-cheek and takes itself only half seriously.
love should be whimsical.
it is based on some intense matching system that uses
statistics to improve your match scores
as you answer more and more questions.
therefore, you can obsess about your identity while you weed out the crazies that don't match up with
your personal, endearing (hopefully) brand of crazy.
love should teach you about yourself.
the matching system was
thought up by some Harvard grads,
is impressive and genius, but what's more fun than explaining that are the cute quizzes, the many ways to interact with people and the fact that it's
SOOO FREEEEE...
the site is also pretty!
and who doesn't like things that are pleasing to view?
love should be pleasant.
plus it's easy to use.
love doesn't need to be more difficult than it is!

here's my result for the first quiz you'd take as an OkCupid member,
to give you an idea of the tone of the site:

You are
THE MAID OF HONOR.
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Deliberate Gentle Love Master (DGLM)

Appreciated for your kindness and envied for all your experience,
you are The Maid of Honor.

Charismatic, affectionate, and terrific in relationships, you are what many guys would call a "perfect catch"--and you probably have many admirers, each wishing to capture your long-term love. You're careful, extra careful, because the last thing you want is to hurt anyone. Especially some poor boy whose only crime was liking you.

We've deduced you're fully capable of a dirty fling, but you do feel that post-coital attachment after hooking up. So, conscientious person that you are, you do your best to reserve physical affection for those you respect...so you can respect yourself.

Your biggest negative is the byproduct of your careful nature: indecision. You're just as slow rejecting someone as you are accepting them.

take the test yourself!

my conclusions?

love should be fun, love sites should be free.
because movies are like, 9 dollars a shot and dinner for one date is up to 50 bucks, which is more than one month of dating sites. you shouldn't be penalized for being good to your potential love interest.
so click here to okcupid yourself silly!

maybe you'll find love.

if not, you won't be any less in debt than when you started.

advertising goes crunch munch munch...

it starts out in the dead of night.
soothing music starts in the background... "la la la la..."

using light, some young people draw progressively changing shapes, which metamorphose again and again into new forms as a narrator describes the process...

"imagine all that you could create and have and connect to..."
i barely notice what the voice says, because the visuals are so cool!
there's a house, a sun, all manners of prettiness.
...and then all light goes into a mobile phone.

OH.

LAME!

the art is suddenly less cool because it's selling something.
it's been stripped of its authenticity.

advertising killed it for me!
stupid sprint!

how can we keep consumerism from killing everything we love?!

will consumerism eventually consume every bit of us all?

i have to say no, for the sake of preserving my optimism,
because i believe we won't lose ourselves completely.
but how can we start to make peace with the crunch munch beast?

in the mean time, keep drawing...

dearest (enabler) facebook,

this is one of the many letters i will be writing to you in this blog.

today, i ask you:

why are you only blue and white?

i have nothing against these colors.

after all, i really like what God has done with clouds and the sky.
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very nice.

it's just that, as a friend (stalker) of yours for what seems to be a lifetime,

i am sick of staring at you.

alternately, i can make my myspace puke green and neon pink if i want my eyes to bleed from exposure to fug, but instead, dear fb, i am bored to catatnoia by a lack of color options that leaves me instead with your endless spew of sterile blue and white.

*sniff*

you've just let yourself go...

in this age where the consumer revels in customization,
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whether for good or evil...

instead of throwing a cupcake at my friend in Australia,
or giving another an egg that hatches into a penguin,

can a girl just get some pink or red or purple
to match her gender construct?


please think about what i've said.

sincerely,

HFD.

chris taylor: keep your eye on this star.

ifyoucan.
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i am so fortunate to know so many talented musicians.

all of them are very good.

so, not only do i get entertained, do i get to collaborate with other talent, i never have to lie to them and say that they're good when they're not. 'cause they really are!

i'm just kidding.

but this person is awesome:
















go here or here if the player isn't working.

that's my old friend chris taylor.

UGH, LISTEN TO THAT VOICE. GORGEOUS.

he's currently in the popular philly cover band, the rockets. i mean, seriously popular. he's the lead singer and anyone who gets to hear him is lucky! i just love listening to him perform and he is just incredible live. i've even had the honor of playing with him. his talent is immense and i can't wait to hear more.

what is adorable for me is that i was there when he first started learning guitar. we were in a band together for a little bit and now lookit where this kid is.

remember this name. keep your eye on this star.

but in the short term, wish upon another star tonight that he makes more music so that i can put something up that wasn't recorded in 2005!

it will make all of our lives a little brighter.

click here to listen to the rest and to harass him to make more!

not what i promised, but still awesome...

okay, so it's not la salle high school in pasadena, but it's still glorious.

The Hand That Feeds, by Nine Inch Nails, by the Washington Court House Senior High School Marching Band.
go blue lions!

CAVE IN : FLAWLESS.


it's my goal to share with you all of the bands i encounter who are incredible live performers.

it's a testament to their TRUE skill because the live performance, to me, is where real talent is.

oh, cave in are perfect, they are perfect.

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beautiful son (quieter of the two, acoustic):
Beautiful Son by Cave-In

seafrost (rock, but spacy and mellow, starts out slowly):
Seafrost by Cave-In


if you want to listen to more, antenna is my favorite, jupiter is next, then moons of jupiter, creative eclipses & tides of tomorrow. the latter three are small eps but they are often my favorite parts of a band's body of work!

a majority of the rest (like perfect pitch black and until your heart stops) is metalcore and contains a lot of screaming, which the lead singer does well, but i can't get into it as much as i try! although my friends who like screamage says he's good at it. ;) happy listening!

cave in myspace.

girls, boys & their (virtual) guns

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oooh halo 3...


if i got together, in one gigantic rhetorical room, all of the people who are excited about halo 3 coming out on tuesday, it would be millions of gamers.

mi-lli-ons.

the gender composition of that room, however, would be overwhelmingly male.

how intriguing.

i play halo online with my brother, and accordingly, i rarely get matched up with other women. when i do, it's this little victory for us! we acknowledge each other, we virtually wink at each other: like it's a party we've adeptly crashed with skills other than sex appeal and we're crafty for doing this.

additionally, the men are usually angry when a female beats them at a game, as though a woman winning somehow violates something sacred, something uniquely male.

is gaming uniquely male? obviously not, since women do play. but it is mostly a male past-time. why is this?

boys, why is this? what is it about gaming that you like? why don't you like it, ladies? or, why do you?

another interesting thing is the overuse of the fa-word: that obscene, unnecessary slur for homosexuality. i won't waste your time by saying it because you hear it enough, even if it's one time. this is meant as a subversion of another's masculinity, as an attempt to dominate another, to break down another, and i think it's really crude. but i hear it all the time.

what is going on with that?

in my opinion, this is an example of how closely males are expected to police each other's masculinity. it's like: don't you dare let each other slip into something other than your very stiff gender constructs!

as marginalized as women still are, (lack of equal pay, for example), we can get away with a wider range of emotions. though, we're usually called 'hysterical' or 'weak' for it, we can get away with it and from woman to woman, we see it as normal, and actually, as an advantage. being socially aware and adept is VERY useful. but i digress.

so, is gaming just another place to reify and police and define and redefine masculinity?

hmm, is that the sound of most boys *shushing* me as their eyes glaze over as they stare at the screen and tap their codes that make them win...? am i just interrupting their games or could i be on to something?

what i'm saying is this: it's okay, guys. it's okay. you can totally cry when i beat you at a game.* ;)

but i could do without the fa- word.

unless you're talking about this:
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or you're british, and you're talking about these:
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*seriously, lots of gender constructs are oppressing and you have my permission to make up your own!

dancin' with the girls

this band is FUN!

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better than any contrived pop album out there!

meet, the girls!

band geek for LIFE!

according to the nine inch nails hotline, the la salle high school marching band in pasadena, ca is going to do an arrangement of 'the hand that feeds' by nine inch nails at halftime tomorrow!

holy awesomeness, batman!

maybe it will sound like this?

the original hand that feeds video:


the actual la salle video as soon as it hits youtube because how cool are those kids!?!

ticketsbest.

a. today i got my tickets in the mail for the october 12th ken andrews/charlotte martin show in denver!

b. YAY. i am so glad to be able to see them. they are two of my favorite artists in the world. i thought a wedding i was going to was that weekend, but i marked my calendar incorrectly so *ZING* i can go!

c. how in the world were they $12? i'm obviously not complaining.

d. why can't all tickets be that cheap?

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ken andrews.
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charlotte martin's album cover for 'stromata'.


e. i am going to get to the bottom of how tickets west could offer this show for so little money...

f. the rest of you distributors? no excuses!!

a license to snub?


i have this friend.

he's lovely. and charming. and that's not sarcasm, because he really is my friend.

but, as with all people including myself, he has faults:

when it comes to music, he compltely forgets subjectivity.

for instance, when muse came out with black holes and revelations, i thought it was great, and comparable in quality to previous albums, such as my former fave, absolution. i imagine, if they released it, they thought it was as good as, if not an improvement upon, their past work. i would think this is what most bands believe when they release new material.

this friend, however, said about black holes and revelations:

"oh, no. i don't like the new one. it's clearly inferior to their former releases."

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yeah, i brought the owl.
clear to everyone or just to you?

so: at which point does someone's opinion count as THE opinion?

this is why i have trouble believing negative reviews about albums. i really don't put much stock into them because sometimes i really like stuff that no one else does.

and you know what?

i am okay with that.

call me miss positive contrarian, but i like it this way.

march to your own 'crappy' beat, darnit.

even if it's mel c. ;)
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close your eyes and guess this artist...


yeah. i wouldn't have been able to, either.
it's sporty spice! melanie c!
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i can't say it's my style, but it's not too bad.
what do you think?

"someone rescue that dog" or, the award for creepiest myspace band photo.

The winner?!
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MENOMENA!
http://www.myspace.com/menomena

show love: muse @ red rocks, sept 18 2007



nothing can prepare you to see muse live.Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
matthew bellamy (vocals, guitar, piano); chris wolstenholme (bass, vocals);
dominic howard (drums).


not church. or cds. or therapy. nothing!
i like them better than i did before. i am inspired to behave erratically: i need to see them again. soon. i might fly to vegas to see them at vegoose in october. this would be a substantial cost but it proves my point:

muse + live = addiction.

set under the clear colorado stars, it was a perfect night for perfect performances.

okay, so it wasn't all perfect...

nicolle and i bought these tickets long ago, and when printed they said 8th row! um, ecstasy!
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not this kind. i hate drugs.

so, as is usual with assigned seats, we took our time getting there. nicolle had class, after all, so we ate some good time burgers, drove behind the slowest people ever, and ambled downward toward our seats. joyfully, we approached row eight, seats 29 and 30, only to find some people were sitting in them. ever the polite person i am, i told them nicely that they are in our seats.

the hipster sneered at us "we're not in your seats, this is general admission."

oh man! FAIL!

shocked out of our reveries, nicolle and i scooted to the end of the row, embarassed and upset; what were we going to do?! we didn't want to sit ALL THE WAY UP THERE (oh, the travesty!). we stammered incoherently between the two of us, scanning the crowd to find a place to sit. we were there pretty late, so we weren't going to be shown any mercy if we tried to squeeze somewhere.

THERE!

there was a small space all the way at the end of the fourth row. why wasn't it taken? it had to be taken! as the security guard started to yell at us to FIND A SEAT we made our dash. we plopped down and waited to be shooed by the guy next to us. he only smiled. sweet! it wasn't taken and our formerly sad little behinds felt loved and accepted! phew.

now came the next hardest part of the evening: sitting through the openers. i did like the first band: immigrant. they reminded me a little bit of cave in (on 'antenna'), crossed with bono's vocals. but i don't like to watch bands i am not excited about, especially if they stand in between my muse and i. but i will probably buy their music, and that says a lot since i am rarely converted to fandom from a live performance.

they finished and i waited out the silence: is muse coming out soon? are they? ARE THEY?! we'd run into some people we knew, and while we chatted them up the second opener came on. i didn't realize there was a second opener.

i could have done without them, too. frankly.

i had no clue who they were as they took the stage. a familiar-sounding janis joplin-esque female voice started winding its way through the crowd. i couldn't place the vocals... and she looked familiar, too...

WAIT.
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is that juliette lewis? as in, oliver stone natural born killers juliette lewis?? and what is she wearing?

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i texted a few of my friends: "you'll never believe who's in this band..."

aaaaand once i overcame the excitement of it being juliette lewis, i was no longer interested. i don't think it was the fault of juliette and the licks, i just didn't like the style. it was too rolling stones. yes, i know that's like kicking a puppy to some of you, but i don't like the rolling stones. try not to judge me too harshly! ;)

SO OMG MUSE!

they FINALLY came on stage.

every negative experience of that night, plus a few hundred nights previous, was instantaneosly erased. i have never heard any band this good live (except for nine inch nails. from now on, just assume that i leave them out of it since they are above everyone else). but SERIOUSLY.

it was a great show for lots of reasons. the following is an informal list.

1. matthew bellamy's vocals are flawless.
2. matthew bellamy's falsetto is flawless.
3. matthew bellamy's piano and guitar skills are flawless.
4. chris wolstenholme's vocals are the perfect compliment; his bass lines are dense and tight.
5. dominic howard's fearless drumming is what i want in every band i listen to.
6. did i mention matthew bellamy's vocals were flawless?

i make such a huge deal out of the vocals because that's what hooks me or repels me when it comes to bands. if i can't deal with their singer, i just can't listen to it.

thank you, matthew bellamy.
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'you're welcome.'

there needs to be more bands like muse. muse is three people for goodness sake's, and they made more perfectly honed noise than a full orchestra. there also needs to be more bands who use full-size grand pianos onstage.

so, beside the requisite beer soak of nicolle's bag, juliette, and the seat misunderstanding, the show was incredible.

vegoose here i come!

here is 'map of the problematique' from the show itself, pointed out to me by aaroneous stoneous:



'take a bow' from another show :



muse official site