I’ve added some more art to my gallery under illustrations. These are a series of digital paintings I created for a self-promotional presentation for Ajenda Interactive Media. Here are some shortcuts to each of the images: Start, Approach, Profile, Strength, Experience and Next Steps.
Pictured to the right is the spectacular meal that I ate the other day. When I took the picture, I was going to have something hilarious to say about how different it looked from the image on the box. But, now that I look at it, it really isn’t that far off.
As quickie lunches go, it wasn’t all that bad. I found it a rather enjoyable forty seconds of eating. Now I know this will send the tongues of my foodie friends into a death spin (with their organic-fair-trade-free-range tomatoes, decimal place free menus and their fancy square plates), but when considering Italian food, I think the difference in quality between a five star dinner and a can of Chef Boyardee isn’t all that huge. You can take that as either a slap in the face of Italian cooking or praise for the awesomeness of all things Italiano. I’ll go with the latter.
I’m pretty sure I am only only person who has subscribed to my RSS feed, but, in any event, there’s trouble brewing with the feed. I want to reorganize the home page a little and that means I need to change the RSS script at Feed43. The problem is that I lost my password when I moved to the new computer and they don’t have a password recovery service. SO, if you are a subscriber and don’t hear from me for a while, please check this page occasionally to see if I have updated my RSS service.
I’ve kicked up the geekery a few notches this week by building a desktop computer from parts rather than by ordering from Dell or Compaq. It has gone rather smoothly considering all the articles I read on the Internet that warned of of the potential headaches that accompany such an endeavor.
As you can see from the photo, the new rig (that’s what us über nerds call our computers these days) uses a Rosewill Conquerer case with a fancy transparent side panel and moody blue interior lights. I bought the case and all the parts from Newegg.com for around $750. No sales tax and about $18 to ship it. I felt even better about the price when I was perusing the Apple Store down on Michigan avenue this afternoon and saw comparable systems going to two or three times that price (and that price doesn’t include the heart break one feels when they realize you can’t really run Team Fortress 2 very well on a Mac).
Anyhow here the complete stats in case you are interested:
The only thing missing is a decent audio card. The on-board sound of the motherboard can’t really handle ASIO and live music recording very well. My old Audigy 2 ZS can handle it, but the pins don’t match the connector ont case’s from audio ports.
This is becoming the Robert’s CD collection blog these days. Oh well, gives me something to do. I’m considering going a little more typical-bloggy with this site. We shall see.
The Hi-Fives – Get Down!
One or two great songs, but the majority of this is by-the-numbers pop punk.
Sol Hoopii – Master of the Hawaiian Guitar Vol. 1
If you only buy one Hawaiian slide guitar album ever, buy this one. If you buy two, consider volume 2.
Sol Hoopii – Master of the Hawaiian Guitar Vol. 2
Along with volume 1, some of the best Hawaiian music ever.
Hotshot Satellite – Canvas
Fellow MoonRocker, John Burgess’s band from a few years ago. Catchy rock songs with Ukulele!
Husker Du – Zen Arcade
A great record, albeit a tad too long and, at times, you can’t tell one song from the next. Some of Husker Du’s best songs are on this disc, although in hindsight, I think New Day Rising is a better album.
Husker Du – New Day Rising
This is Husker Du’s best, in my opinion. Some of the spazztic energy has been toned down, which allows the songiness to come through, but no so much so that you would accuse this of not being a punk rock record.
Husker Du –Eight Mile High
Excellent single from the best period in Husker Du’s career.
Husker Du – Flip Your Wig
Almost as good as New Day Rising. If you prefer the more jangly/poppy Husker Du, this will probably be your favorite record in their catalog.
Husker Du – Candy Apple Grey
Except for the opening track, this is a very toned-down Husker Du record. Shockingly clean production compared to their indy releases (although they still crank the drowning reverb on the drums). There are several good songs here, but, as a whole, doesn’t stand up to their previous efforts.
I, Crime – Get the Knife
A very nice little EP from these Detroit-ers. I prefer the more rocking songs over the almost folksy milder numbers.
Impala – El Rancho Reverbo
This is one of my favorite records of the 90s surf revival. Soulful and sultry.
Impala – Play R & B Favorites
A collection of some of the more raunchy, saxophone-based songs from Impala.
Impala – Kings of the Strip
Another sax-heavy dose of instrumentals.
Impala – Square Jungle
More Impala. For some reason, this one is not a good to me as some of their ealier releases.
The Ink Spots – Greatest Hits
A great compilation of Ink Spots songs.
Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights
I am surprised by how much I like this. The songs are hard, catchy and have a nice driving groove to them. And you gotta love the baritone vocals. One thing though: I’m not too much of an audiophile, but this has got to be one of most horribly mastered discs I have heard. The drums are squashed beyond recognition and have no punch whatsoever. Another casualty of the “volume wars” I suppose.
Godflesh – Selfless
This album doesn’t hold my attention as much as Pure. The sound is thin compared to that record, but I still enjoy about 80% of this.
Godspeed You Black Emporer! – Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven!
After about the first fifteen minutes or so of this double CD, it’s pretty clear that Godspeed is a one-trick pony. Essentially, what they do is take four or five chords, repeat them endlessly, and gradually add more instruments until the song crescendos in a wall of sound, then begin removing sounds from the mix until they are back to quiet again. Pick new chords and repeat. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a neat trick and, despite the fact that they come from the renegade U.S. province of Canada, I do recommend this album.
The Go-Nuts – World’s Greatest Super Hero Snak Rock & Gorilla Entertainment Revue
Ok. They are a joke band. But I love shtick rock and how can you not love a band that has a song about Robert Earl Hughes?
The Go-Nuts – Dunk and Cover!
More Snak Rock! With an animated cover and the classic brand-name dropping track, “Bombay (You’re my Hostess Cupcake)”
Lesley Gore – Greatest Hits
Bubbly, infectious 60s pop that is all about being (happily) devoted to guys who treat you like crap.
Grandmaster Flash – Furious Five – Grandmaster Melle Mel – The Greatest Hits
A horribly mastered, budget bin collection of their best songs. With a painfully truncated version of “White Lines”.
Green – White Soul & Bittersweet
Early 90s, Chicago-based jangle pop? This band seemed like it was the next big thing, and then it went nowhere.
Nina Hagen – Nunsexmonkrock + Nina Hagen Band
The first part of this CD is perhaps Nina Hagen’s best record, Nunsexmonkrock. It’s at times atmospheric and at other times rockin’ but always unique and interesting. The Nina Hagen Band EP is pretty straightforward rock, and 2 of the four songs are covers.
Nina Hagen – Love
A greatest hits CD that features the German versions of all the hits we may know here in the U.S. Pretty good choices overall, but the bonus track “World Now” is awful, awful, awful.
Nina Hagen – Nina Hagen
Gone are any traces of her punk roots. This is, for the most part, a late 80s hair metal album. There are a couple of listenable tunes, but a little too cheesy for my tastes.
Bill Haley and the Comets – From The Original Master Tapes
What can you say? It’s Bill Haley and the Comets sounding great as usual.
Neil Hamburger – Inside Neil Hamburger
A decent short dose of Neil Hamburger.
Neil Hamburger – 50 States, 50 Laughs
A tour only CD release that is exactly what the title says. Pretty good.
Neil Hamburger – Laugh Out Lord
Neil Hamburger sorta jumped the shark around the time of this hit-or-miss album. This record still uses a canned audience, but the parody has worn thin and become too self-referential. The musical tracks are a nice change, but not quite enough to make me recommend this release. I think this is around when Neil began to perform live extensively. Turkington seems to be adapting the character for a live performance setting. The result is the gruff-voiced, coughing, audience-baiting Tony Clifton persona he uses today (like Clifton, I have my doubts as to whether Neil is actually being performed by Gregg Turkington anymore… that voice is just sooo different?).
Helmet – Strap It On
Loud, chunky, stop-starty rock from the early nineties. Not bad, but wears thin after a few songs. The horrible free-form guitar solos don’t help either.
Hi-Fives – Welcome to my Mind
A decent punk album. It’s on Lookout so it tends to sound like those bands, but they have hints of the British Invasion in their sound. And a few surf tunes as well.
If you are not a democrat, voting in Chicago can be very disheartening. Usually the ballot consists of the federal races, about 200+ judicial retention choices, and a few dozen uncontested Democrats in local “races.” This year it’s even worse. Polls show that hometown candidate Obama has an insurmountable lead in the state, and any other vote is more-or-less statistically irrelevant.
This is all somewhat besides the point. ActualIy, can’t really stand by any of the other names on the ballot either.
Though I like his personality (McCain seems at least to have a genuine sense of humor unlike Obama’s detached, scripted-feeling delivery) and liked way he’s campaigned for the most part (the McCain Internet ads were aesthetically superior, funny and much more to the point in my opinion), McCain never emerged as anything other than a big-government republican. Sure he highlighted his anti-pork positions, but when the other shoe dropped during the height of the financial crisis, he sided with the majority of pro-bailout welfare statists. Obama just remained the legislative non-entity he has been for the past four years.
Normally in a situation like this, I would turn to the Libertarian Party, but Bob Barr is an opportunist tool—where’s Harry Browne when we need him… dead, as a matter of fact. The rest of the choices were even nuttier than the Libertarians. I’m tired of voting for the lesser of two evils. I had made up my mind a while ago that maybe this is a good year to stay on the sidelines.
Last night, however, I had a better idea. In some ways it was inspired by Penn Jillette’s no-ink temporary tattoo. Penn, rather than wimp out with a paint-on temporary tattoo, got a real tattoo. However, the artist did not use any ink. He went through all the hours of pain in getting a tattoo—which, really, is the macho cool part of tattoos—without the embarrassing permanent stain that he’d have to live with for the rest of his life.
Here’s was my idea: I went to my polling place, waited my turn, signed in, was shown how to use the ballot, went to the booth, and turned in an empty ballot. This way I went through the whole painful process, and yet could say, “none of the above” without being accused of being an apathetic slacker (which, nonetheless, I am. But that’s besides the point). This is about as close to being a performance artist that I am going to get, folks.
Before making my ultimate decision, I stood in the booth, I staring at the ballot and beginning to have second thoughts. The lure of voting just for that satisfaction of “pulling the lever” is very great. In the end, I’m glad I took that deep breath and stuck with my plan. Walking away from the polling place, I felt a sense of relief. I didn’t accomplish anything other than increase the molarity of the vote pool, but at least I didn’t waste my vote. In the words of the aforementioned Penn Jillette, “The only way to waste your vote, is to vote.”
Now, I’ve lied a little bit. I did actually vote in the three voter referendums that were on the ballot. Also, I voted to retain the judge that happened to be presiding when I got myself out of a ticket a few years ago. But, these were votes I could make that were not some sort of compromise or a lesser-of-two-evils choice.
Thank goodness all this crap will be over soon and maybe in 2012 a more individualist, liberty-minded candidate will emerge, but, until then, I am not holding my breath.
And now we my choice of a song for Obama. There aren’t many songs with “Obama” in the lyrics that aren’t sung by a chorus of creepy showbiz wannabe kids. Instead, I have gone with a more opinionated, thematic choice. The song is I Can’t Believe That You Would Fall For All The Crap In This Song by Sparks. If you read an Obama stump speech it soon becomes clear that, between the aspirations of hope and change, is an ever expanding laundry list ridiculous, undeliverable goodies to lure various voting blocks. Now, a couple of days before the election, the Obama campaign is spinning to try to curb the expectations of his minions. Well, I suppose if you think about it, he is promising change.
I have decided to add my own soundtrack to the final days of the Election. We will start with my choice for McCain’s theme song. This is La Ballata Di Hank McCain by Ennio Morricone from the film Gli Intoccabili. I kinda want McCain to win simply so I can get four more years of mileage out of this track. I can’t believe this song wasn’t picked up by some McCain supporter and made into a glowing YouTube video. Oh, well. Enjoy!
Stay tuned, my pick for Obama is coming tomorrow.
My first in a series of posts about Election 2008. Your choice this year: a huge government liberal or a big government conservative—neither of which showed an ounce of leadership skill during the bailout crisis.
