yet another vid!

xD

check out this vid i found on the fiat 500

Mercedes completes Brawn buyout

Mercedes GP Formula 1 team is now fully owned by the car manufacturer after its parent company bought remaining shares from former Brawn GP team management
Daimler AG and Aabar acquired the final 24.9% from Ross Brawn and his management partners, whose F1 team was taken over by Mercedes in 2009
Brawn, now the Mercedes GP team principal, says the move is positive
"It's a further step in strengthening for the future," he said. "I remain fully committed for the long term
He added: "Motor racing, particularly F1, is a very specialised industry and we are privileged to have such strong and understanding partners as Daimler and Aabar to support our joint ambitions
from bbc sport

Going All The Way Episode 1: Jumpstart 1st Grade Review

This is gonna be boring.

But, please watch it so I can know how to improve.

Poetry Monday |12| In the Valley

Through the San Joaquin
blanketed in the rain of night

Incandescent light, casting an amber glow
Way high, above the fields, on the clouds
It shows that grey quilt in all its glory

Lazy mist settles at my feet, on my head
Lowering itself like a sheet of silver to
Cover and warm the sacred Earth beneath

On my way across the plains, at night
Mighty stars and brighter disks go unseen
Even Luna herself cannot shine through

Baked in the furnace of California sun
All but ninety million miles away
Clouds of Ocean drape the sky in stead
Kindly cooling the Earth again

The Week Ahead: February 28 - March 5

This week we leave Mr. Record-Setting February and enter what is sure to be a ridiculously busy yet fun and productive month, March. Here at the blog we have big plans and longterms goals coming to fruition. I hope you all enjoy.

Autobots, roll out.

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Sunday, February 27, 2011: Jeffrey Horn has a special Sunday-evening post regarding certain old computer games designed for children. This should be interesting.

Monday, February 28, 2011: Poetry Monday strikes again for a twelth installment. The current unnamed saga of secrets continues. I like this little thing I've done. If only you knew what I was even talking about... you probably do.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011: One of my new co-writers, Norman West, should be writing about something today. He hasn't indicated anything to me as of now, but he has the day locked up so... let's hope for the best.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011: Holy crap I have another blogcast with Anthony Morocco. If you thought the last one was good this one will be amazing. If you thought the last one was horrible then this one will be bearable to say the least. In other words, it's improved. By the way, it has a title now, The Anthony Morocco Show.

Thursday, March 3, 2011: Something special man! Something about movie-dogs and total Noblesaur collaboration. Do you like Quentin Tarantino? So do we... so do we.

Friday, March 4, 2011: I'll probably be discussing the future of America as I see it, and how we're going to end up like 20th Century Germany. That's right, World War III antagonist? Yeah, that's us.

Saturday, March 5, 2011: Jeffrey Horn should be supplying you with some badassery today. He does have the day reserved for his own awesome antics. It'll probably be something music related. We all love Jeffrey's music don't we? That's right... we do.

---

Lastly, I stumbled upon a few other fun blogs. They're pretty good reads, for entirely different reasons, so check them out.

thegamegrid.blogspot.com

imjustsridiculous.blogspot.com

Armac's Shameless Plugging 6 (Track 10)

So, its been too long since I posted and I give up.

I tried to make just one new and better version of "The Awakening" but I can't. I tried three separate times, and here they are, along with the original. I'll try again next week with the next song.

I'm sorry guys.

I may have similar failures with the next two songs. By Devil's Pact I'll be back in the swing of things. Until then, here the the four failed versions of the song (including the original):

Original:

Try 1:

Try 2:

Try 3:

I'm also giving you some other things I've done lately. First off, here are two riffs I recorded. I may use them at some point in the future, who knows:

1) - Kill

This one is fairly simple, but I like the way it sounds.

2) - Developmental

This one is more worked out, though the recording is kinda messy. I might use it as some sort of precursor to "The Awakening" actually, as they have similar notes.

Next up is this song I did based on someones facebook post.

It is called "Smother You With Lovin'" and it is currently my number two most listened to song.

So why not listen to it:

So thats whats been happening.

Yea.

Look tomorrow for the first installment of "Going All the Way" This will be a weekly video game review/completion video series. The games I play will be for little kids. First up this week "Jump Start 1st Grade Review"

Enjoy.

Armac.

P.S. Here's Chloe too:

Welcome to my Blog!

Hello and welcome to my blog!
here i will be regularly updating you with the latest info from the world of formula one and motorsport in general.
i hope to update this blog daily depending on what happens every day.
Shaun 

Film Review || Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Hello readers! Today Jeffrey and I are splitting duties; I'll post this for the first half of the day, and he will post something that I'm sure we'll all enjoy for the second half.

---

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a 2004 film starring, amongst other big shots, Jim Carrey as Joel Barish and Kate Winslet as Clementine Kruczynski. An odd "opposites-attract" couple who awkwardly meet on a vacant train platform. The surreal and fascinating tale that weaves, confusing at first, becomes an enjoyable and charming breakdown of a relationship.

For what is now almost seven years I've hardly heard of this movie. After finally seeing the film I am both grateful and furious about this.

My anger stems from one simple and gnawing question, "Where the fuck has this movie been all this time, and why hasn't anyone told me about it." After doing some research I found that the movie apparently has an immense cult following. It also has so many accolades that it has it's own fairly sizable page dedicated to them on Wikipedia. Rotten Tomatoes has it certified fresh with a 93% approval rating. For God's sake, Roger Ebert said it was amazing! But why haven't I heard of it?

I think the answer to my question lies in the very reason why I am grateful that I hadn't heard of this movie until recently.

The movie is astoundingly cerebral, pun very much intended. How better to understand the mind of man than to literally take it apart, piece by piece. 2010's Inception does this astoundingly well. Showing the depths of human thought and emotion with literal scenes. I was very surprised to see that another film beat Inception to the punch. However, where Inception is the story of attempting to create an idea at the deepest levels, Eternal Sunshine is essentially the opposite story of the attempt to destroy an idea or memory.

Just as with Inception, I found myself having to stop and recall small but key ideas and points throughout Eternal Sunshine. Connecting all the hidden dots is simple, the only hard part is finding them to begin with. The key device in hiding these way-points just out of view is the nonlinear format. It confuses at times, but it's a satisfying confusion; a feeling so awesomely relieved and replaced by what I can only describe as utter joy as you slowly start to see the bigger picture.

At the end of the movie, it simply begs you to spend the credits ordering another round to sit and watch one more time. It's definitely necessary to give this film multiple screenings, but not in a bad way. The labyrinth of the mind as written by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich) is a hard one to solve; watching the film a second, third, or fourth time will surely bring a whole new, but equally enjoyable, experience.

Had I seen this film in my preteen years, I would have likely been turned off by the confusing elements of the story. Eternal Sunshine demands attention and it requires the viewer to have a knack for picking up subtle themes and motifs. It keeps the truth at the very tip of your tongue, just enough to taste, but also just past your nose, just out of sight. That being said, there is an unavoidable and prominent key idea, love.

Although it's easy to be lost in the science fiction and fantasy, one theme is very clear; the idea that love cannot be erased. Eternal Sunshine leaves a smile on your face and perhaps a tear on your cheek; more importantly, it leaves the viewer thinking. The statement, "I don't know why, in my right mind, I love you; but I do" takes on new, literal meaning. It connects with the viewer with subtleties in a way that only a masterful film can. A viewer's confusion and awkward tension that is felt during the opening of the movie, initially a turn off, makes perfect sense by the end. The conveying mechanism of characters emotions to our emotions is practically perfected with Eternal Sunshine.

I'll be sitting down to watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind again very soon and I would recommend it to anyone at all.

I give it a 5 out of 5. Easily one of my favorite movies of all time.

Fanmail! (sort of)

I recently received a few emails from friends/readers of mine/the blog regarding recent updates to Noblesaur. In order to protect their identities, we'll call them Karmenita Noerei (Noerei! Noerei! Noerei!) and Tim Ogburn Pott (Pott! Pott! Pott!). They both want me to post the emails so that's what do...

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Hello Joe,
I hope you are doing well. Basically, I wrote something. Noblesaur is your blog and you do not have to post it at all; I would be completely not offended :). Have a great day!

So now there are three regular contributors to noblesaur, my favorite blog. When I found this out, two thoughts ran through my head. The first was “that’s kinda awesome”, but the second thought was more my mind cringing at all the cynicism it might soon be facing. Now, the three contributors are great people, but they all seem to criticize the world, or at least parts of it. For example, Joe likes to say things about the government that aren’t always the nicest. I concede that perhaps our government isn’t always the best, but combined with Jeffrey’s recent music industry bashing post, and what I imagine to be at least one forthcoming movie complaint by Norman, the negativity conveyed might just overwhelm. So, as I reread a poem for class today I decided it should be shared. Here it is:

When I heard the learn’d astronomer;
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
-Walt Whitman

Honestly, after reading it, I first felt proud of myself for at least thinking I may have understood it. Then I was in awe, because I’d like to do that. I’d like to take a minute and not pay attention to all I have to do and just think about the beauty that surrounds us. This beauty is found in the people we often interact with: in their smiles, in their words, perhaps even in humanity; also, it is found in nature. I challenge anyone who reads this to take fifteen minutes and just contemplate something genuinely beautiful. Let it make you smile. By no means am I saying that I am always the best at finding beauty in people, but when I do try the rewards are great. Humanity often really isn’t that bad. :).

Thanks Karmenita!

---

this shit is awesome

and i keep having cool dreams, so there's more where that came from

in my dream:

it begins with me somehow knowing that there's treasure buried below one of the old buildings in the old west town of tombstone, arizona. i know instantly that i must go there and find it. so, rather than taking a car or anything, i fucking WALK to tombstone like a badass. i walk over deserts, mountains, etc., for like hundreds of miles like it's nothing with the one goal of getting there and digging up that treasure. after some time walking, i see tombstone on the horizon. but instead of seeing an old west town, i see a town that has become an urban development, with wal-marts and starbuckses. i decide to snoop around to see if there's like, an old timey sector or something. in the town, i first pass by a stocky muscular man in a green shirt, i don't even care. then i pass by two lines of school-kids on a field trip, not too much younger than myself. one of them asks me "ARE YOU AT MY SCHOOL TRIP AND ARE YOU A SCHOOL KID?" i reply "back the fuck off"like a badass and push him into the dirt. i move along until i reach a hotel. i see the green shirted man again, i couldn't care less. i ask the concierge of the hotel for help finding the old sector. that bitch was useless. i leave the hotel to keep looking. then i round the corner and from the top of a grassy hill comes a skinny, shifty-looking dude who says "HEY THE GOVERNMENT IS TRANSPORTING 5.2 BILLION DOLLARS RIGHT NOW IF YOU COME WITH ME WE CAN INTERCEPT THEM AND SPLIT THE CASH WHAT DO YOU-" i cut him off like a badass: "what kind of scam you runnin here, mcgee? back the fuck off. i ain't gonna take your shit, i'll call 9-1-1 on your ass" and he runs off like a little scared rat. i keep going, and i finally find an old looking set of spiral stairs heading down below an old building. i'm like, "this is it." but then i see the green shirted man again and i say "it can't be. it was you this whole time!" he lifts up his shirt and his chest turns into the face of the balrog from lord of the rings: the fellowship of the ring, and his face turns into the exact same mouth that is on his chest. he replies in a demon voice "YES THIS WAS A TRAP NOW YOU ARE DEAD" i run up the stairs to the roof of the building and he follows me up there. suddenly it turns into a boss battle a la zelda: twilight princess, where i'm link as a wolf, and the demon turns into some weird lady-goddess floating above the roof. on the roof there's tons of drumsticks, like the kind you use for playing drums, and a bunch of fruit. in order to defeat the lady-goddess, i have to chuck drumsticks at her before she has a chance to compile the fruit together into a tower and make a sword out of it. then when i'm out of drumsticks, i have to grab her braids with my teeth and whip them back at her to inflict damage. i assume i win the battle, because of how badass i was the whole time, but at this point i wake up.

the moral of the story: BE A BADASS ALL THE TIME

Thanks Tim!

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This month has been groundbreaking for Noblesaur to say the least. It was only three weeks ago that we reached the 1,000 pageview milestone, and now we've added more than 600 on top of that!

This is the shortest month of the year (and it's not even over) and it is still currently the most active month on record. Thanks guys!

I added a new member to the Noblesaur team and we have big and fun things in store. So tell your friends, share the blog across the internets, and give us feedback. Any and all posts by readers and friends of the blog are always welcomed!

Thanks again,
Cheers!

Warm Welcome

Pleasure to meet you. Norman West here, and I am the newest contributor to this blog known as Noblesaur. I enjoy cinema, music of several genres, and various world cultures. Favorites include Fight Club, Pink Floyd, 90’s alternative, and Japan.

My space here shall be reserved for whatever I feel is appropriate. If I feel like reviewing a movie, I’ll review a movie. If I feel like reviewing an album, I’ll review an album. If I’m feeling opinionated about something, I’ll rant about it. If I have a creative breakthrough, you’d best bet it’ll be seen here.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Until next week.

Later,

-Norman West

Blogcast |Episode 1| True Grit (Pilot)

My brother and I sat down and disastrously attempted to create a podcast. I hope you have twenty minutes and a shit-ton of patience; because we're new at this, we can hardly stay on topic, and we're using the microphone from our Xbox 360 headset. It's fun though, really...

Podcast Episode 1| True Grit (Pilot) by Noblesaur

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As you all probably noticed, I recently updated this-here blog to make it more flat-out balls-to-the-walls awesome. There is a "Contributors" page where you can see the authors (under construction) and the area where the blog posts actually are is now much more roomy!

Underneath each post, I've added a little rating option so that you can tell which posts are Fail, which posts are Meh, and which ones are Win! If you give it a Win please follow up by telling some people about it. Post it on Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Digg, whatever... I'm sure there must be more people out there who would like to read this shit.

Lastly, I sold out; there are now ads along the side bar and at the very bottom of every page. Scroll your pointer over them every once in a while, and click them if they look interesting or something. You know, whatever, make me a few pennies. I'm fucking poor. Most of the ads are legit and half-relevant. So you know, refresh the page a lot or something.

Oscar Predictions, Picks, Thoughts 2011, yo!

Heya! I'm Erickh. I'm new here. For my first contribution, I'll give you my Oscar commentary. So lets-a get started! Smaller awards first, bigger ones last. Not gonna do all of 'em. Go!

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Visual Effects:
Prediction: Inception
Personal pick: Scott Pilgrim or Tron Legacy
Personal pick from the actual list of nominees: Inception

Now, even if Scott Pilgrim or Tron Legacy WERE nominated, this is Inception's year. I LOVED Inception's visual effects, but as the same weirdo who thought District 9 had better effects than Avatar, I'd say that both Scott Pilgrim AND Tron Legacy had better effects than Inception. Inception altered an already existing world with it's visual effects. Tron MADE THEIR OWN WORLD. I also seem to be in a minority of people who actually thought the motion-captured Young Kevin Flynn/Clu looked pretty good. As for Scott Pilgrim, the effects are both in-your-face AND subtle to make the film look and feel like a comic book and a video game. Inception's effects were great, but they were only taken advantage of in a few scenes, and they were too in-your-face.

Sound Mixing:
Prediction: Inception or The Social Network
Pick: Inception

I love how subtle sound is used in Inception. Even after watching the film several times, I'll notice new things, like the "kick" being put several layers into the background noise, barely even audible.

Original Score:
Prediction: The Social Network
Pick: Tron Legacy
Pick from the nominees: The Social Network

Daft Punk has proven that they can conform their style to the requirements of a feature film phenomenally. Science fiction in particular. That being said, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' score is like nothing I've ever heard before in a film score, and it surprisingly works. You wouldn't think to mix Nine Inch Nails and the founding of Facebook, and in a way, that's kinda WHY it works. That didn't make much sense, did it? Ah well...

Documentary:
Prediction: Exit Through the Gift Shop
Pick: Exit Through the Gift Shop, though I haven't seen any of the others :/

I'm a tad disappointed Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage and Best Worst Movie weren't nominated. I guess that's karma for the gladness I have from Catfish NOT being nominated.

In many ways, Catfish and Exit Through the Gift Shop are similar, and yet polar opposites. They're both largely based around a confrontation between two people, only for one person to reveal that they are not what they seem. However, while Catfish manages to be shocking only in how surprisingly dull and true-to-life the reveal is, Exit Through the Gift Shop manages to genuinely make the audience FEEL something SURPRISING when they witness Thiery Guetta fall from a humble filmmaker to a pretentious buffoon. Exit Through the Gift Shop informs its audience about the street art scene and industry, while entertaining them with its interesting, mysterious characters.

Costume Design:
Prediction: The King's Speech or Alice in Wonderland
Pick: True Grit

It's not often that you see such detail and originality in the costumes for a western. Should go to True Grit, but since the Academy has a hard-on for English clothing from the 1700's to the mid 1900's, I'd predict a win for The King's Speech or Alice in Wonderland, even though there was only a small handful of outfits in The King's Speech that weren't just generic suits or dresses (Colin Firth's regal king outfit and just about anything Helena Bonham Carter wore), and even though many of the characters in Alice in Wonderland were just CGI animals...

Animated Film:
Prediction: Toy Story 3
Pick: Toy Story 3

Y'know, I haven't seen How To Train Your Dragon yet. I've heard it's pretty awesome.

Cinematography:
Prediction: The King's Speech or Black Swan
Pick: Black Swan

The stunning dance sequences make up for the annoying close ups of Natalie Portman walking.

Original Screenplay:
Prediction: The King's Speech
Pick: Toy Story 3
Pick from the nominees: Inception

The King's Speech was really good, and the script was better than I imagined. I wouldn't mind it winning. Even though I really liked how Inception created this new concept, along with how this new concept would work scientifically, I understand its GLARING flaws (like how it sometimes seems Ariadne's only purpose is to say anything the audience is probably thinking...).

Adapted Screenplay:
Prediction: The Social Network
Pick: Well, The Social Network, but Toy Story 3 should be up there! ^^^

WTF guys? Why the fuck is Toy Story 3 here? From what is it being adapted, exactly? Just because it's a sequel doesn't mean they didn't have to set up the dialogue from fucking SCRATCH. Goddamn. It's a shame, because it has better dialogue than anything nominated for best original screenplay.

The Social Network's script was pretty much perfect. No complaints for it winning.

Supporting Actress:
Prediction: Hailee Steinfeld
Pick: Well, Hailee Steinfeld was probably better, but it would be cool to see my two favorite actresses win an Oscar in the same night, so I'm rooting for Helena Bonham Carter.

Hailee Steinfeld was the fucking STAR of True Grit. Not Jeff Bridges. She should be up for best actress. Helena Bonham Carter was good and all, but Hailee Steinfeld ruled True Grit with an iron fist. Lol.

Lead Actress:
Prediction: Natalie Portman
Pick: Natalie Portman

To be fair, I have only seen Black Swan out of all the nominees for lead actress, but this is my list, I'm not a professional critic, Black Swan was fucking outstanding, Natalie Portman is one of my favorite actresses, and Natalie Portman was fucking awesome in Black Swan, so if you have a problem with my unprofessionalism, fuck you. :3

Supporting Actor:
Prediction: Christian Bale or Geoffrey Rush
Pick: Andrew Garfield or Justin Timberlake
Pick from the nominees: Geoffrey Rush, but I haven't seen The Fighter yet

Actually, out of all these, I've only seen The King's Speech. Derp...

Why were Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake snubbed while Jesse Eisenberg was nominated? There were moments in The Social Network where Eisenberg SUCKED. Garfield and Timberlake were fucking awesome, though. Grah.

Lead Actor:
Prediction: Colin Firth
Pick: Colin Firth

Colin Firth was surprisingly awesome in The King's Speech. From his first appearance, I could see genuine distress in his face. Actually, it was because of Firth's impressive emoting in that opening scene that I realized The King's Speech was not going to be as annoying as I had previously expected. Since he was limited in what he was able to actually SAY, it really was nice to see subtle, but telling emotion in his facial expression. That's not to say that Firth wasn't amazing when he WAS speaking. It's quite enjoyable to view his fluctuation between stammering and normal speech, as well as his fluctuation between distressed and triumphant.

Director:
Prediction: Erm...Darren Aronofsky or David Fincher
Pick: Christopher Nolan
Pick from the nominees:Raaaaaaaaaaa...Aronofsky, I guess. I dunno...

David Fincher directed my favorite movie. It would be cool for him to win another Oscar. That being said, Black Swan was REALLY good, it had MANY similarities to said favorite movie, and Fincher's already won an Oscar for directing. I guess I'm rooting for Aronofsky.

Best Picture:
Prediction: On the fence between The King's Speech and The Social Network. Hmm...The Social Network.
Personal pick that actually has a chance at winning: The Social Network
Movies that would be fucking cool if they won, but don't have much of a chance: Black Swan or Inception

The best picture of 2010: Toy Story 3

This is not an opinion. Toy Story 3 was not only my FAVORITE movie of 2010. It was the BEST. I rarely speak in absolutes, but I'll make an exception here.

Toy Story 3 had much more heart and work put into it than any of the other nominees. Every detail was rendered by hand and imagination. There was so much care put into these characters, these environments, these words, these notes. So much, that the film demands this care in return from the audience, who is willing to deliver. I've witnessed a whole theater full of people my age crying at the end of this movie. I've witnessed some of the most stoic people I know crying at the end of this movie. That, alone, is an impressive fucking feat.

To dismiss Toy Story 3's merits because it is an animated film is repugnant. Animated films have the ability to be just as effective as live-action films. It just takes more effort. Toy Story 3 puts in that effort, and then some.

---

Now that I've said my crazy shit, I'll go on to being a bit more sane, I guess...

The Social Network may not be his best film, but it was still fucking great, and I want David Fincher to win an Oscar for best picture.

While it may not be Fincher's best, The Social Network can, in many ways, be viewed as Citizen Kane with modern twists. That may seem like a hyperbole, and in many ways it is, but in many ways it's true. Both films are told in various flashbacks. Mark Zuckerberg's rise to power, only to desire his initial simplicity, parallels Charles Foster Kane's life in Citizen Kane. Hell, Mark's ex-girlfriend could practically be Rosebud.

As for The King's Speech, well, I liked it more than I thought I would. I'm very glad to say that. In fact, it was very refreshing, entertaining, well-crafted, and, more importantly, enjoyable. I cynically walked into the theater expecting to end up comparing it to Avatar. "Extremely cliched, making no attempt to hide its cliches, but at least it has a redeeming quality, so meh". Walking out of the theater, I ended up comparing it more to District 9. "Cliched, but everything it does right makes up for it." That all being said, it was still too cliched to be the best of the year. The King's Speech's one and only flaw was its lack of originality or imagination. Unfortunately, this is kind of a big flaw.

Too many Oscar nominees feature the British monarchy. Too many have Nazis. Too many feature disabilities. Too many feature class struggle. Unless we're going to do something unique with one of these elements (Like, say, what Inglourious Basterds did), I request a moratorium.

That's all from me. Thanks for reading my ramblings. I may edit them if I change my mind...

Poetry Monday |11| continued...

Elisha
and the Bears

Another perfect example, so pristine
Not without a hint of condoned insanity
Distressed? Disturbed?
On this point of view, thousands of years distant
No, I can't tell so clearly

Lost, your faith shaken
Your leader has forsaken
You and everything you do for Him
Outside, you feel outside
Unappreciated, remember all He's taken

The Week Ahead: February 21-26

I figure giving previews to coming posts at the beginning of each week will help boost readership, or something. Now that I'm really thinking about it I can't find any logical reason why this little plan would work, but okay. This is something new, let's see how it works, be gentle.

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Monday, February 21: The eleventh installment of Poetry Mondays will invade your computer screens. In case you haven't noticed; the last few have been connected by a half-hidden and common theme, this one is no exception.

Tuesday, February 22: We've got a new part-time member of the Noblesaur team posting! Hopefully he'll decide to stay on board and frequently fill our (currently open) Tuesday and Thursday slots. His pilot post will be about the Oscars! This guy likes film and he knows what he's talking about. I think he's even studying it.

Wednesday, February 23: I'm seeing True Grit with my brother on the 20th, so I'll be posting a review about it for sure. It may or may not be in a new and particularly fun format.

Friday, February 25: I can guarantee that if Wednesday's post isn't in a new and particularly fun format that Friday's will be. If it's a standard old post, I'm almost positive it'll pertain to the revolutionary climate of the world at the moment.

Saturday, February 26: As always the week will be rounded off with a post from my good friend Armac. I don't know what he's posting, but I hope it's an update to his acoustic remake project because I think I speak for everyone when I say I'm getting fucking antsy. That's right Taylor, we're getting fucking antsy!

Armac's Shameless Bickering #1

I'm not a huge fan of the music industry.

That's not to say that I don't like music, because I do, alot. It's an integral part of my life. But the industry is continually making itself look like a fool.

I've written an essay and done an Original Oratory about this, and now, I'm writing a blog post. Since none of you have seen or read my essay and oratory, they are posted at the bottom of this if you should like to read them.

First, however, is my current trifle with the music industry: It makes the fans stupid. I've complained in the past that it is going about piracy wrong (OO and Essay) and that it continually makes asinine decisions based on the current forms of music distribution, ways to make music profitable, and dealing with protection of the music.

Now, after perusing the website "Who Is Arcade Fire?" it is apparent that the current form of the music industry leads to people getting all the wrong ideas about music and talent. The website chronicles the outburst of angry and confused music listeners who watched the Grammy's and didn't know who The Arcade Fire is (they won Album of the year). I don't care that people don't know who they are, although it is a tad surprising. The bigger issue is what people as a whole seem to think about music and its "goodness".

---

Now I'm going to go through a couple of my least favorite posts in no specific order, then I'll summarize everything bad here.

1. Link

"The Grammy's are fixed, like straight up; how are all these nobodys[sic] winning? And why is everyone from Arcade Fire Hideously ugly? #appalled"
-DeannaEffiinMack

My biggest problem with this is the notion that attractiveness should have anything to do with talent. I trust that no one who will read this thinks that, as that is one of the most mind-numbingly stupid things to think.

The other issue is Ms. EffinMack's logic. If the Grammy's were to be fixed, why wouldn't they choose a more profitable band? Or perhaps she means that they're fixed in that the most talented choice wins. Obviously that is a travest of some sort.

She also, like so many others, wonders how "all these nobodys" can win. Popularity does not equate with talent. They can coincide, but they are separate entities.

2. Link

"Nowt[sic] on TV so gonna listen to The Suburbs brand new, un-deserved[sic] Grammy winning album Arcade Fire. Bet it isn't as good as Gaga!!!!"
-The Leroy

Lady Gaga is cool and all, I guess, but her overblown popularity shouldn't be a basis for which other things are ranked. Her performance-art music videos, bizarre fashion, and other acts of attention-grabbing are more what she is known for at this point than her music. A google new search for Ms. Gaga gives more results for fashion and Egg related things than anything musical.

I'm not trying to deny that she is talented, but people should not default to "she should win" before ever hearing the other music.

3. Link

"I can not believe that unknown artists will earn a world-renowned artists like justin and lady gaga for that reason cease to believe in the legality of prizes"[sic]
-Mr. N

I didn't realize how broken that English was until I transcribed it just now. I believe what Mr. N (his name was blurred out) is trying to say is that he is baffled when musicians that he (being an incredibly informed individual) has never heard of are victorious over the "world-renowned" artists like Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. Because of this he has lost his faith in the Grammy Awards.

I've already discussed how popularity or renown should not be a basis for merit, so Imma interpret renown as "acclaim".

Now, lets compare the Metacritic (A critic aggregate website. Basically they score something based on the average scores given by a multitude of critics) scores for the albums up for the Grammy for Best album:

Source

As you can see, of the albums up for Best Album, the most "renowned" is that of The Arcade Fire, beating Lady Gaga by 10 points. Eminem's album "Recovery" did beat it in terms of user rating and number of weeks at the #1 spot, those are both based on normal run-of-the-mill people, the majority of whom are not particularly cultured.

As for Mr. N's claim that "justin [Bieber]" is also more "renowned" than Esperanza Spalding. While Justin Bieber is indeed more renowned in the real meaning of the word, acclaim wise(which is again how I'm interpreting it) his albums on Metacritic garnered a 65 and 68, neither of which are bad, but they aren't spectacular. He got a movie that idolizes him, and tours where he has to be protected by overzealous fans. He has a team of writers helping him create pop music, and on his first album, he was only responsible for four of nine songs.

Esperanza Spalding, though far less renowned, is far more acclaimed. She was specifically selected by President Obama to perform at the Noble Peace Prize Ceremony, she was chosen to close the first night at a prestigious Jazz festival, and was featured in a tribute to Prince that also featured Patti LaBelle, Alicia Keys, and Janelle Monae, all well-respected R&B artists. She composes or arranges all of her own work, and taught herself how to play the violin by the age of 5 and since then learned how to play at least four other instruments. She was given a scholarship to a prestigious arts high school, and has been featured on albums by five other artists since 2001.

Which of those sounds like the worthier choice?

4. Link

Man 1: "Arcade Fire? Really?"
Man 2: "I seriously just heard of the for the first time when that guy announced that they were performing. Anyone who wins album of the year should be known by EVERYONE!"

To Man 1's credit, at least he didn't call them "RK Fire" or "The Suburbs" like so many others.

Man 2 is the one I have the issue with. He claims that "Anyone who wins album of the year should be known by EVERYONE!" This is another example of renown vs. acclaim. While I agree that anyone who wins should be known by everyone, it should be because they win that everyone knows them, notthat they win because everyone knows them.

5. Link

"How can this group get album of the year when they didn't even have as many top 10 as Gaga. Did this group even have a number 1 hit?"
-paulguynj

To answer Mr. Guynj's question: No, the Arcade Fire did not have a number 1 hit. That has so little to do with it winning album of the year it's almost silly. Even if they won song of the year without it being a number 1 hit, that would be fine, but the fact that their album won without it is completely sensical.

Funnily enough, Arcade Fire's album that won spent one week at the top of the charts, while Lady Gaga's spent a whopping zero, only reaching number 5.

This has absolutely no bearing on Arcade Fire's victory, but Mr. Guynj fails by his own faulty logic.

6. Link

"Who the he'll [sic] is that Fire who ?"
-DogBountyHunter

I don't know what Mr. Dog is asking so I'll just answer "No."

7. Link

"WHAT. THE. HELL. WHO IS ARCADE FIRE????????? AND WHY DID THEY STEAL EMINEM/LADY GAGA's AWARD????!!!!!! Like. Is this real life....??????"
-MollyMoney

First of all, please don't yell, Ms. Money.

Second of all, there is no 'stealing' involved. Arcade Fire was just a more talented band.

Third, how can you say that the award is both Eminem's and Lady Gaga's? Right there you're saying that the award can be owned by more than one artist, which is false. Just as false as the existance of the ability to "steal" awards.

Fourth, Ms. Money, you should get some sort of psychological help if you doubt the existance of reality simply because Arcade Fire won a Grammy.

8. Link

"Who is Arcade Fire and why did they win album of the year? Esperanza Spalding? WHO THE FUCK? Grammys have something against famous people."
-xNachoSpears

Answers:
They are a Canadian seven-piece indie rock band, and they won because they had the best album this year.

I'm confused as to what you are asking by saying "Esperanza Spalding?" so no answer is given

Ah, now I see. Esperanza Spalding is a 21 year old jazz bassist who has been the target of much acclaim, as detailed above.

As for your statement that the Grammys have something against famous people, might I direct your attention to the other nominee's, the winners of Record and Song of the year, and pretty much all the other nominees and winners.

It's not some sort of insult to be nominated, Ms. Nacho.

To summarize all this:

• Famous/renowned =/= talented.
• The most talented people won.
  
• The Grammys have been around 53 years, and somehow I doubt that they don't know what they're doing.

---

I blame this mindset on the Music Industry's current format: pushing single's down your throat until you cannot breathe. Shoving "popular" musicians/bands in your face until nothing else is visible. Don't get me wrong, there can be good singles and some popular acts are good, but they are not the only important songs or artists, and are certainly not always the best.

People like singles, and focus more on those than anything else. Like Mr.Guynj said earlier, "How can [Arcade Fire] get album of the year when they didn't even have as many top 10 as Gaga?" Well, they can by not relying on singles or booster-tracks.

The way to be popular and really monetize money for a band is to make an ultra-popular single and sell it by itself or with some other songs. People may buy the album if they like the single enough.

However, due to digital music, people can just buy the single. Or, since its justonesong, they can pirate it.

I'll say this again: in a time where piracy runs rampant, the concept of a physical album, cd or vinyl or tape or 8-track or whatever, should be re-popularized. That way, there is an incentive to pay for and own the whole album.

I might only speak for myself, but I thoroughly enjoy having a physical cd to open, to read the insert, to see what the CD itself looks like. Its exciting for me, and thats why I continue to purchase CD's as opposed to digital music.

I want to support bands, and I want to get something tangible out of it.
Purchasing digital music nowadays is essentially just donating money to bands. You aren't getting something you couldn't get elsewhere. Tangible forms of music distribution should be what the music industry uses to boost their profits in a time of digital piracy.

The Arcade Fire outrage is an example of the mainstream mindset when it comes to music now: "Everyone knows this song so it is good. I should buy it." No one tries to find good music or expose themselves to "nobodies" like Arcade Fire.

There is still hope though, and as more and more people continue to pirate music, and thereby expose themselves to more music, maybe unheard of but still great bands can get the exposure they need to become recognized.

That being said, please go to TheNoodleMinions.Bandcamp where every album is free. Song by song will cost you though.

The decision is yours.

References:

• Who Is Arcade Fire
• Metacritic
• Wikipedia

---

Here be the Original Oratory and Essay:

Oratory
There is a plague promulgating in our society.
A new form of disobedience that is becoming less and less considered so.
You may ask yourself, what is this plague, what is this growing problem, this infiltrating monstrosity.

Well, let me give you an image.

A man walks down the street, he is bobbing his head listening to the Black Eyed Peas or Radiohead. You don't know who he is, or what kind of person he is, but there is a 36% chance that he has been taken by this nonchalant attitude, this new idealogy that avaliability equals ownership. There is a 36% chance that this song wasn't paid for, it was illegally pirated. See, nowadays, piracy is a growing problem, one of the most prominently committed acts of illegality.

With the average teenagers mp3 player having 800 pirated songs, what is to be done?

Well, the answer, dear people, is not as simple as it seems. Many of the problems associated with this illegality are seemingly bad, such as this 36%, more than a third of people, downloading music. The average teenager's music device holding 800 illegally downloaded songs. 95% of downloads considered illegal.

These all sound like awful things, but in reality, only 10% of all illegal downloads are actually considered a loss in profit. The problem is that illegally downloading music is not a cut-and-dry as it seems.
the main methods and reasoning behind the attacking and halting this piracy are flawed.

Attempting to halt illegal music downloading is not fruitful for the following three reasons: many methods for stopping this are non-functional and not exclusive to the piraters, music piraters on the whole are more interested in music, and pirating music has re-instilled appreciation of music that is good, and that isn't mainstream.

The methods for halting piracy usually involve either attacking the piraters through suing or other such legal ramifications, changing the files to become unshareable, or changing the way the files are used.

____-The problem with suing is that the downloading can only be discovered through IP addresses, which means people can easily be declared at fault for something they couldn't possibly have done. The RIAA, which is the recording industry association of america, a leading distributor in music, and therefore a leading attacker of piracy, understandably, often sue without considering the obvious. THere was a case in which the RIAA sued people that could not have done it, including a dead woman, and a family without a computer.

____-changing files to be unsharable usually involves rules for the file, a leading example being DRM or digital rights management. THis is a set of 'rules' for a file that makes it more difficult to share. Apple computer's 'fairplay' is an example of DRM software. It prevents the user from having the file on more than five computers, which is a shortcoming for people with many computers, as they do own the music. It also locks the user into using an iPod brand device, as opposed to any mp3 player of their choosing.

____-Changing the ways the files are used is the third most prevalent way to attack piracy. An example of this is Sony's copy prevention software. This software installed a rootkit on the computer which ended up allowing malware, or malicious software, onto the computer. It also used a large amount of the computer's system resources and often led to computer crashes.

The next problem with halting music piracy is that music piraters are on the whole more interested in music. There was a poll taken by The Independant, a british newspaper, that found that 1 in 10 people admit to pirating music, and on average the people who had pirated also paid more money on music than the nonpirates. they paid $77 on average while the others paid $33 on average. There are also studies in which it was shown that they buy more cd's, bootlegs, and talk about music more.

The final problem is that music piracy has actually been reinstilling a need for quality in the musical world. People that pirate music are not as interested in the attractiveness of the performer as they are how it sounds, how good it is. If people were doing it for any reason other than quality of music they would probably be buying the music as a form of stature societally. They would want to appear to like the music rather than actually like it. Pirating music also allows for a try-before-buy idea, which means, essentially, people would listen to this music before actually purchasing it, so as to make certain that they will enjoy it. This weeds out many of the shoddier musicians and groups, leaving only what the majority considers to be, on the whole, quality music. This allows for bands and other musical acts that may not have the exposure or money GET the listener support they need, as the internet is quite a place to tell everyone, and if the music is readily avaliable, well then, there you go. Preventing piracy will not only cut sales, and annoy and alienate listeners, but it will also make it far more likely that only the over-exposed bands get listens, only the mass-produced popular same-old stuff.

These problems and flaws with halting music piracy show why simply stopping music piracy is a) not as easy as it sounds, and b) more misguided than can be successful. Because the current methods for removing piracy have unintended and alienating sideeffects, piraters are more inclined towards music than most and do in fact buy more than the average person, and piracy has been helping the musical culture, as a whole, stopping music piracy cannot be as good an idea as is to be believed, and in fact may be more debilitating to the music industry, an indeed the music world as a whole. So maybe, this growing plague, this infiltrating monstrossity is merely an as of yet undiagnosed form of superiority, of ever-strengthening, of perfection. Maybe this illegality will bring about musical promise for the future.

*The above is a basic idea of what I would have said, it's not very polished or structured.

Essay
The music industry has existed in some form or another since the 18 th century, starting by selling printed works of music. Now that printing was an relatively easy and widespread thing to do, it was very obvious to commercialize the written form of music, and the industry thrived. When the advent of recordings came about in the late 19th century, the music industry soon picked up on the potential of this situation. Radio airplay started to become very popular, and suddenly musicians and bands did not need to perform to become popular or well-known. Now, they could be heard on the radio all across the country, or on recordings purchasable on record or tape. In both of these situations, new technology and new ideas were used to bring music to the masses. More obscure musicians could break out of that label. The music industry back then learned from the times and adapted to give themselves the best possible scenario. If only the current incarnation of it would do such a thing. Nowadays, the music industry has so many faults that it is taking the slow process of becoming irrelevant and speeding it up. It is misunderstanding the current times to an extreme that is benefiting no one. They are set in their ways and are fighting against the current. The music industry is slowly but surely killing itself. It is misunderstanding the current trend, resisting change, and raising prices to unbelievably high prices. All that, and to top it all off, the advances in digital music are removing the need for physical products.

One of the ways the music industry is m isunderstanding the current time is by ignoring the plethora of new ways artists can make themselves heard. It is true that getting signed to a major label and getting all the benefits of that will probably make an artist heard, but the amount of bands and artists that get that privilege is low. Now, with websites like Bandcamp or Youtube, anyone with an instrument, a voice, and some talent can be heard. Bandcamp allows any user to upload their music and sell it at any price, including nothing. This allows bypassing labels and any part of the mainstream music industry. Why would anyone go to something more mainstream like iTunes, when Bandcamp offers higher quality music and less restrictive extensions and no annoying rules associated with the files (Bandcamp)? The music industry still rarely offers higher-quality digital music that is universally accessible. Youtube is another alternative form of outreach that has become popular. Anyone can record themselves singing a song or advertise any new music they have for sale. While it is true that the music industry has used Youtube to its advantage, the unlabeled musician has used it with much more success (Youtube). Another issue with this is that anyone who has ever had an issue with a label or a distributor will want freedom to do what they want.

An example of this occurring is with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. He had many issues with record labels proving to be more of a hindrance than a help. This culminated with Reznor failing to follow through with a project he wanted to do due to record label misguiding. The moment his contract ran out, he released an album for free and more people downloaded and have that music than many of his previous records. He also released a special edition physical package of the album, which had items included that could not be digitally downloaded. It was also made worthwhile because it was a limited edition pressing (NIN.com). A similar ploy by Thom Yorke of Radiohead, in which their album In Rainbows was released for a limited time as a pay-what-you-want album. The album managed to make number one on the charts in the US and UK despite three months of essentially free availability. These experiments in selling music both show that people still buy music even if they have the music for free. This is usually not viewed as a problem if it is sanctioned by the artist, but in the case of music piracy, it is viewed as a completely different and detrimental issue.

The music industry is taking the worst possible steps towards the growing issue of music piracy. One of the most common methods of removal is DRM, or digital rights management. DRM is a set of extra rules that is imbued on a form of digital media. Some forms of it include limiting what people can do with their purchased music. DRM sometimes even specifies that people do not own the music they purchase. There was a case where Sony installed a rootkit onto peoples computers. This rootkit was a form of malware that actually attacked the users computers (Sony Suit). Standard DRM, like Apple's Fair Play, adds rules to the music. Fair Play prevents the owner of the music from putting the music on too many computers, or put the music on a non-Apple music player. These DRM issues are not only annoying to pirates, who can rather easily counteract them, but it annoys and alienates those who have legitimately purchased the music. In fact, if one pirates the music, they will not have the annoyances of DRM. This pushes people away from purchasing music legitimately, and right back into the follies of pirating (What is DRM?).

Another method to deal with music pirates is to sue them. This is intended to make an example of the pirate and to prevent others from doing so because they are too scared. This method was less than effective, however, because most people pity those being sued by the labels. In many cases, the record labels bully the ones being sued into settling for exorbitantly high prices and they never recover financially (Some Strange...). The other issue comes with the methods used for tracking pirates. See, the labels track based on IP addresses, which are scarcely exact, and cause confusion and misguided lawsuits. There have been cases where people who do not even have a computer have been sued. For example, there was a case where an 83 year old woman who had been dead for months was sued for music piracy. The RIAA, or Recording Industry Association of America, initially refused to believe that the woman was dead, but after media coverage of the incident, dropped charges. On top of her being deceased, the woman never knew how to use a computer anyway (RIAA sues dead...). Situations like this lead to a loss of respect for the RIAA and any other similar distributors. To illustrate that point, there is another article, this time a fictitious one, entitled “RIAA Sues Family Dog” which is a parody of real accounts where the RIAA has sued those who cannot possibly have pirated music (RIAA Sues Family...). The music industry is putting their customers in bankruptcy and embittering everyone against them. This leads to a stronger resentment towards the music industry, instead of keeping everyone in line.

The music industry is resistant to change, this much has been evident as of late. The music industry has only advanced in the last century in terms of format, going from open-reel tapes to vinyl to cassette to CD to digital music. Other than that, very little has changed. The music industry does not do anything to change the way a format is used, only what format is used. Now that they are in the digital age of music, they fight as hard as they can to make no changes to it. When pirates come and try to give it away, they attack them, as previously mentioned. The concept of the album, that is, a set of a dozen or so songs grouped together in one coherent release, is dying out. Purchasing one song instead of an album is a burden financially, because albums are costly to produce and when only one twelfth of the album is purchased, there will be a loss in revenue. That is what was great about non-digital media, there was no way to pick and choose. Now that digital music is available, the picking and choosing runs rampant, and for the most part, only independent online retailers, like Bandcamp are allowing users to decide if they want to sell single tracks (Bandcamp). Albums are going to die as a concept, and with it, deep tracks, and albums that are a work of art in themselves. Singles used to be intended to promote the album, not as an alternative to it. People would listen to singles and decide whether or not they liked that band or artist, and then elect to purchase the album or not. Now, the music industry is pushing people towards single-track purchases, which slowly kills a profitable section of the music industry.

Another huge problem is the rise in prices. Music prices have been rising and everyone is bothered by it. There is no sense in raising the price on something people were willing to steal at a lower one. If people would rather steal an album than pay ten dollars, they will also be sure to steal one that costs seventeen. This is also true of single-track purchases. Those are much more likely to occur if the albums cost a lot. Consumers are not the only people getting annoyed at this. Trent Reznor, who was mentioned earlier, voiced his outrage at the exorbitant prices on his 2007 album Year Zero at a concert in Australia. He encouraged his fans to “steal it” because the Australian distributors were ignoring the outcry to lower prices (Trent Reznor Tells...). This is a widespread issue with few advocates. The labels seem to be oblivious to the fact that high-priced albums are not going to be bought when piracy or single-track purchases are options. They need to instead lower their prices so people will start buying them again.
The simplest solution would be to charge subscription packages or buffet-style music programs, similar to the Zune pass, which allows unlimited plays from an unlimited amount of music for a monthly or yearly charge (Zune.net). The issue in all of this is that the music industry is dealing in nonexistent goods now. Digital music is not something real, per se, but is a bit of electronic data that can be infinitely copied with no cost to anyone. Supply and demand has no meaning here, because there is infinite supply. The demand can be literally any value ever, and the music will still be essentially worthless. The music industry is fictionalizing the supply issue, and by doing so is clinging to the last strands of a dying empire (Wong). If they focused on physical products or physical events, then they might be able to salvage what is left, but as it stands, the music industry is selling smoke, it cannot be much longer before everyone demands fire.

References:

"Bandcamp." Bandcamp. Web. 17 Dec. 2010. http://bandcamp.com/.

Bridis, Ted. "Some Strange Twists in Music Piracy Lawsuits." RedOrbit. 23 Aug. 2004. Web. 06 Dec. 2010. .

Brown, Peter. "What Is DRM?" Defective by Design. 2007. Web. 5 Dec. 2010. .

"The Facts." Christian Music Trade Association (CMTA). 2004. Web. 06 Dec. 2010. .

Masnick, Mike. "Pirate Bay Loses A Lawsuit; Entertainment Industry Loses An Opportunity." Techdirt. 17 Apr. 2009. Web. 06 Dec. 2010. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090417/0129274535.shtml.

“NIN.com” NIN.com 17 Dec. 2010.

O'Brien, Terrence. "Trent Reznor Tells Fans to Steal Music." Switched. 18 Sept. 2007. Web. 06 Dec. 2010. .

"RIAA Sues Dead Women, Refuses to Believe She’s Dead." My Consumer Electronics. 26 Apr. 2006. Web. 06 Dec. 2010. .

"RIAA Sues Family Dog; Yet Another Botched Lawsuit." Associated Content from Yahoo! - Associatedcontent.com. 9 Jan. 2008. Web. 06 Dec. 2010. .

Shields, Rachel. "Illegal Downloaders 'spend the Most on Music', Says Poll." The Independent. 1 Nov. 2009. Web. 06 Dec. 2010. .

"Sony Suit" Sony Suit. Web. 06 Dec. 2010. http://www.sonysuit.com/.

Van Buskirk, Eliot. "Labels: Lower Music Prices And Increase Your Profits, Study Says." Wired.com. 29 Jan. 2010. Web. 06 Dec. 2010. http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/01/labels-lower-music-prices-and-increase-your-profits-study-says/.

Warner Chappell Reveals Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’ Pot of Gold." Music Ally. 15 Oct. 2008. Web. 17 Dec. 2010. http://musically.com/blog/2008/10/15/exclusive-warner-chappell-reveals-radioheads-in-rainbows-pot-of-gold/.

Wong, David. "5 Reasons The Future Will Be Ruled By B.S." Cracked. 18 Oct. 2010. Web. 06 Dec. 2010. http://www.cracked.com/article_18817_5-reasons-future-will-be-ruled-by-b.s..html.

"YouTube." YouTube. Web. 17 Dec. 2010. http://www.youtube.com/.

"Zune.net." Zune.net. Web. 17 Dec. 2010. http://zune.net/en-US/.

---

This essay was submitted and I got an A, so it can't be too, too bad. Shrugs. Fuck.

Friday of the Poem

Move Along
How we lose ourselves, even at the slowest pace of time.

Time's a slow moving beast
Originating somewhere, long forgot
Move along
Escape the gravity of everything

I yearn for that era
Long ago, when the world was just, simpler
Only as complicated as we would let it be
Virgin, innocent

Each day we move away
Yesteryear, tomorrow, time begins to blur;
Or,
Undone, we all fall down.

A Few Crazy Days

I've had a few crazy days. I'm cutting down on a few things, I feel... depressed I guess.

See you tomorrow.

Rundown

I didn't post yesterday at all because this weekend was a clusterfuck; it was a fun and surprising, but still a clusterfuck. That means that my Monday post will officially be this one. Also, instead of Poetry Monday, my next expose of crappy lyric will be this Friday, a rare Friday of the Poem.

So... this counts as my Monday post and Friday is of the Poem.

---

Today I remembered why I used to hate Valentines Day. I'm not going to sit here and complain, but all day I've had a steadily growing feeling that I'm going to be forever alone. I was going to get someone something but they said they didn't want me to. I guess I kind of rolled with it at first and only now is the emotional impact of that sinking in.

I wanted to get her something...

I considered doing it anyways. I mean shit, it's Valentines day, and actually I probably still could if I could scrounge together money as was originally planned, but she seemed to have had a really good day. I don't want to complicate and ruin things.

That's the right thing to do right?

---

This morning I overheard that President Obama released his 2012 Budget Proposal. My first thoughts were inquisitive. What would he propose to be cut, to be spent, to be fossilized?

However those were soon replaced with worrying how Fox News would likely spin the budget proposal. Then I realized that my news media source of choice, MSNBC, would do the exact same thing. The longer I thought about it the more I realized that this budget proposal would likely have many proponents and many more opponents, and therefore many arguments.

How would I know what was true and what wasn't?

Read the damn thing myself.

So I found and downloaded the .pdf. I wrote up a few words as to why I decided to download and read the entire budget proposal. Just so people might actually do the same.

Then I remembered Reddit.

I posted the exact same thing onto /r/politics and people started to like it. Before I knew it my link submission was on the front page and my karma had gone from 25 to 900+. I found myself defending my position, as many people apparently disagree with me. In particular, I noticed an annoying influx of absolute haters.

I didn't want the karma. In fact I still feel it's undeserved. I almost feel bad for it. I feel like I stole it in a way. I even felt like this before haters were heckling me.

Now I'm afraid to ever be awesome ever again.

LOL JK. FUCK THAT SHIT, HATERS GONNA HATE!!

Armac's Music Jamboree Episode One

This is an experiment.

I don't know how unbearable this will be, but here it is, the inaugural episode of my Music Jamboree.

In this episode, Armac will record a cover of Be Prepared from the Lion King.

Heres the preview with the final song:

And here is the full hour-long video:

Here is the bandcamp for the song:

In future episodes, I might tell stories about my music, maybe review music, maybe have acoustic performances, or do what I did in this one.

I'm open to suggestions as to what to do in the future.

Thanks,

Armac

A Scanner Darkly

I was surfing around that plethora of cable movie channels today when I came across an interesting sight on Cinemax. It was nothing less than a rotoscoped Keanu Reeves wearing some sort of gown. If you don't know what rotscoping is, just think of those cool-yet-unnecessary, Charles Schwab commercials.

Well... obviously... I was intrigued.

I pressed the info button on my remote control to find that it was a movie called A Scanner Darkly and that it was about drugs. I immediately figured that the movie was only rotoscoped for this, or other particular scenes where the protagonist was high.

Imagine my astonishment when I looked at the time and realized I had been watching rotoscoped actors such as Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson, and Robert Downey Jr. for an hour.

As it turns out, the entire damn movie is rotoscoped and it's fucking awesome.

Beyond the fact that the cast is just freaking amazing and totally fun to watch as they trip balls and suffer from hilarious paranoia, the movie is pretty deep (like Cthulu's kingdom deep).

Basically the premise is that America lost the war on drugs, and the government is handling it horribly. One in five people are addicted to a powerful narcotic, Substance D (better name than unobtainium), and narcotics officers hide behind, quite literally, visual clusterfucks.

When you watch the film from start to finish, it's a cynical experience. It leaves a knot in your chest. It's kind of sad that this comic-esque representation may be so close to what we as Americans actually live in. It's almost a slap in the face telling us that we're not so far off from that world. All we need is a Substance D.

Although the rotoscoping is rough on the eyes and distracting at first, it very quickly falls to the back of your mind.

I can see a whole host of reasons as to why people wouldn't like this film, but I'm going to suggest it anyways because I enjoyed the shit out of it.

I give it 4 stars out of 5.

Bacon, Dinosaurs, and Valentines Day!

I asked my ridiculous amount of Facebook friends what I should post about today, I got a few answers. I chose the suggestion of an old schoolmate, we'll call her Johannathan Thome (THOME! THOME! THOME!) in order to protect her identity.

She said, "dinosaurs and bacon. and the retardedness of the upcoming holiday valentines day" and I thought that was pretty R****t.

Autobots, roll out.

---

Bacon: Fuck man, bacon is amazing. There is nothing better than adding bacon to everything you eat. You can put bacon bits in your pasta. You can put little pieces of bacon in the bread you eat. Bacon goes good with eggs. Bacon goes good on almost any sandwich, I'm sorry, I meant bacon goes good on all sandwiches. When God created the universe he outlined the creation of bacon. It goes good on pizza, it goes good with wine, it goes good with everything. Fuck, I love bacon.

Alright I admit, that was a bit over the top. But it doesn't change the fact that bacon is one of the greatest foods around, even the Canadian kind.

---

Dinosaurs: Dinosaurs... honestly, I have mixed feelings about the great reptiles of old.

I mean, I wish they were around today, but I am also so thankful that they aren't, because if they were; we wouldn't be the kings of the Earth, they would.

The velociraptor is the most over rated dinosaur of all. The thing was the size of turkey, no big deal. You're probably like "hey hey woah woah hey... velociraptors are like as tall as a human and as long as a Mini Cooper. Fuck you, you're wrong.

The velociraptor we all know is apparently, actually called Deinonychus. I know, I checked, online.

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Valentines Day: Well I used to resent Singles Awareness Day. In fact, I still do. Bad shit happens on or right before it. Fuck it, not worth my time.

Well that's Wednesday. Thanks for reading.

Cheers!

Poetry Monday |10|

The Board
Survival is not an option; fear is a fading commodity.

Jest at night with my Brothers,
Untried, convicted, tortured -- together.
Survival is our one true intent.

To the plank we go, one by one.
Lie back, take the sock, whatever it is,
Ingest the simplest vitriol, water.

Stand trial like the man I once was;
Tearing misconceptions from the walls.
Every one of my Brothers is here.
Not one of us shall survive, but all.

JOE BATTLE and JEFFREY HORN are...

QUANELL IX

We don't always get to see the Sunrise.

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Sometimes our positivity and hope for dry roads and clear skies are just not going to materialise into reality.Ignoring the weather forecast the night before an early morning blat is the first step, convincing yourself that it's not really that cloudy at 6am on the actual morning, it's just dark , is the final vain hope of the ambitious blatter.


6.45am on a February Saturday morning under another low pressure system tracking right across the country is only ever going to be presented in hues of monochrome. Perhaps the headlights can be viewed as to add a cheery brightness to the steely reflection of cold asphalt?

 The like minded Southern Kit Car Clubbists are enthusiastic enough at the morning's RV to encourage all 11 cars to not head straight home to our still 'fragrant' beds.The majority of this dedicated team of blattists have again seen the best part of 80 miles of their mornings on the road before this outing has even begun... so it'd be a long haul back to the pit for them!

Eventually it becomes all too evident that the dark is in fact cloud and the wet stuff in the air is rain.

'Wrought iron trees against a tear stained sky' is the dominant and lasting image at times like this...I convince myself that it counts as payment in advance, an investment, for blats to come. However, the Basingstoke ring road and it's 5th roundabout add to ingredients that still fall short of a celebration cake that is likely rise any time soon.

But open roads are that key ingredient, add 11 other self convincing individuals in their 7even(esque) cars and it's not long before the rooster tail of spray and jack-in-the-box surprise moments of unnoticed feeble brake lights are adding to the adrenal slice of morning entertainment! Head north of Newbury, point towards Wantage and the rollercoaster road over the downs quickly negates the previous 30 mins amongst the early morning migration to Newbury, at sub 40mph, all the way from Basingstoke... why are all these people driving so slowly, going to whatever, at 7.30 in the morning? I'm going to conduct a road block questionnaire one day just to find out what's going on.Years ago I was warned to watch for any one wearing a hat in a closed car, and to afford them a few extra metres of clearance as they helm their vehicles vaguely towards a now forgotten destination. Most of the other cars out this morning were indeed hat wearers.

Sat nav shows a kink,naaa, open the taps and go for the horizon!!

Once the traffic clears, and any OCD fears for the previously shiny aluminium body work have streamed into the wake turbulence, the day's business can begin... a hunter spots his quarry, or, a photographer his sunset , but to say a driver 'anticipates the road ahead' doesn't really capture it does it? It's just a road for goodness sake, but in the hands of a driver accessing it's possibilities via the interface of a 7, even wet Oxfordshire tarmac on a cross wind blasted February morning can deliver nuggets of gold after an hour's panning in the spoil...

The sense of movement is enhanced by the the wet conditions and soon the rooster tails of ejected water and streaming goggles become part of that day's requirement in finding the gold. A spray trailing 7 at 60mph is a thing of dynamic pace when viewed from a similar viewpoint:

An eventual rest break and the chance to swap for some dry clothing is always welcome.Like a wet day on the piste, there's the rummaging in rucksacks, checking of cameras, recounts of 'who did what and when and got away with its' trailing off with the eventual realisation that the kidneys had been busily provoked in the harsh response to modern road texture, and, a choice tree or fence would make for a timely moment's personal contemplation amongst the steam.

With sat nav's re aligned it's eventually time for the departing do-nut expression session and off into Sat nav disparity. Groups would follow their leader and his trusty Tom Tom version of the itinery route file, so carefully prepared for the day, but slowly their trust would fail in his leadership skills.Smaller breakaway factions would follow their new leader with the same eventual outcome with the Garmin version of the day's trip. From opposite points of the compass we would arrive at a roundabout on cue, circle and take off in one group for a while before the attrition effect would again have its insidious way! Closed roads and missed junctions not withstanding, the cafe at Blackbush airport would eventually receive most of the day's participants for the post blat chatter and jabber and for the final hiatus of fried plates of stuff.

                                     

As previously blogged, the aeroplane people again spoke to the seated steaming drivists, probably in sympathy of our earth tied exploits. In their uniformed stripes of importance and with pilot cases of organisation, I wondered what their 'expression session' upon departure would include, what is the aeronautical version of a do-nut in a Cessna 152? Perhaps there is something really exciting in those pilot cases after all?

Blatfast at the airport cafe was good and the tea was hot.The kidneys approved of the new facilities and all was well with the world, although, I am going to have to get a new chamois leather on the way home to clean up that aluminium..... but not until I've had another cup of tea.

Cheers to Ian H for sharing the wing man duties today and for believing in the free form navigation experience of the latter part of the blat! Thumbs up to Mark and the SKCC again, thanks for having us along, and catch you again soon... if we could just get the weather right next time.

-------77777777777-------

You Must Be A Republican

This is a funny little wisecracking story I found on Reddit.

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A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude."

"She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be an Obama Democrat."

"I am," replied the man. "How did you know?"

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me."

The man smiled and responded, "You must be a Republican."

"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"

"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You've risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it's my fault."