All Gumm, All the Time

Feel Free to Judge Me (this is the internet's main purpose after all)

2009-02-22T15:52:00.002-05:00

Much as familiarity breeds contempt, procrastination breeds rip-off blog posts....

Number of Songs: 19,456
Number of Albums: 2862
Most Recently Played Song: Lord Send Me Angel - The White Stripes
Most Played Song: Gone Gone Gone - Robert Plant & Allison Krauss
Most Recently Added Album: Incredibad - The Lonely Planet

First Song Alphabetically: A-Punk - Vampire Weekend
Last Song Alphabetically: 2112 Overture - Rush
Smallest Song Numerically: #1 Zero - Audioslave
Largest Song Numerically: 100 Billion Watts - Smalltown Poets

Shortest Song: Good Intentions - My Morning Jacket (:05)
Longest Song: Better Man - Oasis (38:03)

First Album Alphabetically: Abbey Road - The Beatles
Last Album Alphabetically: () - Sigur Ros
First Band Alphabetically: A.A. Bondy
Last Band Alphabetically: ZZ Top

First 25 Songs That Pop Up On Shuffle:
My Father's Gun - Elton John
Take You There - G. Love and Special Sauce
He Works - DC Talk
Nothin' But A G Thang - Dr. Dre
(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding
Move On Up - Curtis Mayfield
I Want Some - Beastie Boys
Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead
Kick-Off - Relient K
Dance Inside - All American Rejects
A Love Supreme Part II (Resolution) - John Coltrane Quartet
So Mysterious - Common Children
Shine On - Peter Frampton
Most of the Time - Bob Dylan
Good - Better Than Ezra
Flowers - Brad Paisley
A Lack of Color - Death Cab for Cutie
A Certain Shade Of Green - Incubus
Cells - The Servant
Lullaby (acoustic version) - The Cure
Try A Little Tenderness - Frank Sinatra
Green Chimneys - Thelonious Monk
Before You 'Cuse Me - Eric Clapton
Questions Must Be Asked - David Forbes
Lord, I'm Discouraged - The Hold Steady

test post

2009-01-10T18:10:00.000-05:00

Testing an app. Feel free to ignore.

Mobile Blogging from here.

Melodic Reductionism

2008-12-30T13:23:00.001-05:00

Thoreau once said "Never look back unless you are planning on going that way." I, however, think he may have been a little out of touch in his tiny Walden cabin so I don't plan on taking his transcendental advice*. This is why I plan to engage in that time-honored tradition of encapsulating an entire year of things into a series of brief lists.

Today's topic will be music and since I am not a professional music critic**, I don't receive every album made in the past year and as such this will consist of music I actually possess and have listened to. We'll start with a playlist for those of you with those iTunes*** gift cards burning a whole in your pocket. In no particular order....

Hiphopopatamus vs. Rhymenocerus – Flight of the Conchords
A-Punk – Vampire Weekend
Cath... - Death Cab for Cutie
1,000,000 – Nine Inch Nails
Constructive Summer – The Hold Steady
Violet Hill – Coldplay
No One Like You – Al Green
Same Old Thing – The Black Keys
I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance – The Black Kids
Furr – Blitzen Trapper
White Winter Hymnal – Fleet Foxes
Give Me A Beat – Girl Talk
Who's Gonna Save My Soul – Gnarls Barkley
Some are Lakes – Land of Talk
Wake Up – Leeland
I'm Gonna DJ – REM
Turn on the Lights – Sanctus Real
Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - She and Him
Gobbledigook – Sigur Ros
Everybody Get Dangerous – Weezer
Great DJ – The Ting Tings
Never Going to Back to OK – The Afters
Tyrants – Black Mountain
My Only Offer – Mates of State
Hang Them All – Tapes 'N Tapes
Skinny Love – Bon Iver
The Resistance – Anberlin
Wisdom – Gran Ronde
Rattlin' Bones – Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson
Cheep and Cheerful – The Kills
Human – The Killers

Coming soon will be albums and songs I can't musically defend but are really catchy. As always, the entire point of the internet is to connect and pass information so please let me know your favorites, what I missed, why I am awful, etc.

*plus he seems like a total jerk
**I don't have quite enough self-loathing or the great equalizer of a substance abuse problem
***I prefer the amazon store if I must buy digitally (256kbps, no DRM) size

Bullet Points, Quick Hits, Sloppy Writing (call it what you will)

2008-11-02T17:18:00.002-05:00

- Wednesday should be a national holiday. The most anticipated day in quite sometime. The end of political calls. We've had Barack, Johnny Mc, Hank Williams Jr., Bill Clinton, Sarah Palikn, Jimmy Hoffa, dozens of volunteers "calling on behalf of the state (RNC or DNC)", pollsters, Santa Claus, and a couple of local yokels that I've never heard of bombarding our phone lines like it is the Tet offensive of '08. Please make it stop!

- Only slightly less annoying have been the ridiculous attack ads that are popping up this weekend (since it is too late to debunk rumors at this point). The local races have been especially ludicrous.

"Candiate A wants you to believe that he is the best candidate for county recorder, but the facts show that all he wants to record is your elderly mother in the shower! (picture changes from color to black and white then show 5 newspaper article scans with evil sounding words enlarged) Candidate A has proven time and again that his recording skills are the worst since the (scary, awful, scandalous) event! (now that we are sufficiently outraged) Candidate B will stop Candidate A from his nefarious ways. (Cue soft gentle, major key music) Candidate B will protect your elderly mother from hidden cameras while holding babies and having a picnic with his family. Candidate B will bring you all of your lives desires through keeping your legal documents in an orderly fashion. Vote for Candidate B, recording you can believe in. I'm Candidate B and I approved this message. (of course they approved it, what are we idiots)

- Speaking of attack ads

and

- I love the song "Bones" by The Forms.

- I was a little too excited for the Bengals 1st win today. Probably left over excitement from Texas losing yesterday.

- It's NOT great, to be, a Michigan Wolverine this year but Bo Schembechler and Lloyd Carr's love child working in tandem with Vince Lombardi couldn't have gotten much out of this years team

- I love the winter months of the baseball season (aka "Hot Stove" season) as I am fascinated by all of the front office moves and free agent signings. 2K Sports is releasing a baseball GM game next year that may put me over the edge to getting an XBOX 360. (probably not, but maybe) I love playing Madden in Owner Mode and MLB 2K8 I do the same. Yes I am a large nerd.

The Autumn of Our Discontent

2008-10-07T13:17:00.002-04:00

I hate election season. Not only is there a lack of true ideas being bandied about, but also people tend to be ridiculously uncivil towards each other. On the web (facebook status') to TV (the evil Bills, Maher and O'Reilly) people say some ridiculous things.

I encourage people to read this article before posting any snide comments or "engaging" in an angry debate with your fellow citizens.

Levity

2008-09-29T14:53:00.001-04:00

I'm pretty sure that this was the Bard's original outline.

Seriously

2008-09-25T18:09:00.002-04:00

This link came across the wire the other day and I was dumbfounded. The story says that according to recent polls 18% of Americans don't know who they are going to vote for.

Now I can understand if you are unsure if you approve of the candidate that represents your normal party(I'm right there my friend, Ron Paul anyone?), but the majority of these people are waiting to see which candidate will benefit them economically. Are we really that selfish of a group of people that nothing in a candidates platform matters unless it provides an "economic boost" to our bank accounts?

I'm not telling anyone who to vote for but if you can't come away with anything deeper than, "I think I candidate X is elected, I can stay deep in debt with no worries", please don't even bother heading to the polls.

A View to a Weeze

2008-05-29T12:55:00.002-04:00

I love Weezer, they make incredible music videos. Here is the latest.

Feel free to search youtube for more. Some may involve the muppets!

Rhymenocerous

2008-04-11T16:55:00.000-04:00

An interesting take on blogging.

Put me in coach!

2008-04-01T16:40:00.004-04:00

No I'm not begging for a seat downgrade, it is baseball time. As my favorite sport, I do my best to keep up with all the news I can possibly squeeze in, so to give you a chance to keep up, here are some baseball links that I like/use/recommend.

BallBug

Ballbug is fantastic page that collects/collates/aggregates all the baseball news you can handle.

Baseball Reference

Exactly what you think. Stats, data, standings. Easy to navigate and easier to burn a few hours in a hurry.

Though ESPN or SI may have game recaps on their sites, by far the best way to keep up with your team is with one (or more) of their beat writers. These guys are at everything, have access, and provide great insights. Here are of my favs.

Yankees

Pete Abraham
Tyler Kepner

Reds

Hal McCoy
John Fay

Other great sources are independant team specific blogs. These can cover much of the same ground as the beat reporters (and many times use them as sources) though there are some solid insights out there. These are just a couple of the many solid ones.

River Ave. Blues Redleg Nation

All of these sites offer RSS feeds for easy access. They really help when you don't have time (or money) to watch every game. Many of the major sites (Yahoo, et. al) have team specific feeds that you can subscribe too that offer more general/basic coverage if you're not a hardcore fan yet.

What sites do you get info from?

To the so-called Commander in Chief, wherever he is

2008-03-29T12:33:00.004-04:00

Thursday, President Bushes committed the most heinous of crimes. Driven by financial motives, purposely ignoring the common citizen, and wasting tax payer dollars.

What is this offense? What hasn't been reported in the corporately owned and accountable news? He kept myself and colleague stuck across the street from our lunch meeting destination for at least 45 minutes while returning from a fund raiser! Though on the surface this may appear a, let me explain a few things.

First, the destination was Chipotle. It is one thing to wait in the ridiculously long lines for that glorious taste of burrito but waiting to even get in, ludicrous!

Second, it was a business lunch, and the people we were meeting were on the other side. We couldn't have gone somewhere else or to another of Chipotle's many convenient locations.

Lastly, due to scheduling conflicts, the lunch was already scheduled very late in the acceptable lunch time frame. After all, where better to satisfy an extra large hunger than at Chipotle, where the burritos flow like wine (and the women like the fish of Capistrano).

When will the politicians look out for the middle class? When will my needs supersede that of the rest of country? When will the madness end? I can only hope and pray that whoever is elected this fall will hold not only myself, but the national treasure that is Chipotle in higher esteem than our current leader.

Oh, and what were the financial motives and waste of tax payer dollars you ask? He was attending a fund raiser and his motorcade had like a million 12 and 15 passenger vans. Who really needs those?

Wowee Wow wow

2008-01-17T20:02:00.000-05:00

in spite of the soundtrack, a very cool project.

Flannery O'Connor

2008-01-15T15:13:00.001-05:00

once wrote "A Good Man is Hard to Find". Fortunately that is not the case for podcasts! I've been catching up on NPR's Live concert series lately and it is a glorious find. They have full length concerts from Spoon, Jose Gonzalez, Explosions in the Sky, Iron & Wine, Rilo Kiley, Nickel Creek, Glen Hansard/Marketa Irglova, and many more.

Speaking of Glen Hansard/Marketa Irglova, they are the musician's from the movie Once. After many attempts we were finally able to see this film and it was worth the effort. Without giving to much away, the music and ending are worth it by themselves (Jules thought the middle was slow, I loved the whole thing).

There's at least two things to keep you going for a few.

Can't Tell Me Nothin'

2008-01-09T01:07:00.000-05:00

Whilst riding out my caffeine high tonight, I came across this site which had its picks for the top 25 videos of last year. I've watched only a few at this point and it really made me realize a few things.

First of all, I thoroughly enjoy a well done music vid. This is a dying medium that many would argue has run it's course, but I think there's still plenty to wring out of the dirty rag that is the music video. (see the "title" video, #12)

Secondly, do the so called "music" channels really benefit from re-airing the "latest" episode of The Hills 73 times a week more so than throwing us a few music videos every now and then. Even if I TiVo MTV or VH1 in the middle of the night to see some videos, I end up with a one or two vids per 5 commercials.

Finally, this is possibly the only medium where style over substance is fully acceptable. Who cares what the song is about if you can do a 2 min. long single take of something cool or insert other cool video trick here.

If you've seen some good videos let me know.

180

2007-12-03T14:22:00.001-05:00

I was going to post a "The Soup" vs. "Best Week Ever" bit today when I was taken aback by something else I saw.

While home for lunch I was watching ESPNews to determine how poorly my fantasy team did yesterday. I was focused solely on the bottom line for minute before I saw they were airing Sean Taylor's funeral. Initially the person speaking was the "Rev." Jesse Jackson. I completely tuned him out, biding the time until Joseph Addai's stats were shown when they introduced Joe Gibbs to the platform. I slowly turned up the volume, mildly curious to hear what was going on when Coach Gibbs gave a very heartfelt testimony of Sean's recent changes throughout his lifestyle. He attributed these to his personal relationship with Jesus Christ and went on to share the gospel and invited those present who were unsure about their future to pray with him the sinner's prayer.

I was, suffice it to say, shocked at the clear presentation laid out. Usually in those type of situations, public figures will allude to their faith and share some platitudes to help those who are grieving cope. Much like the mindless clichés and blather that Jackson was spouting forth minutes earlier.

I sincerely hope that Gibbs was able to strike a chord with someone either in person or within earshot and I applaud him for having the courage to share in that manner.

Back in that old, dusty saddle

2007-12-02T01:47:00.000-05:00

Now that we have a computer back, have pretty much reorganized our entire existence, hosted our first family holiday, survived weddings, car "issues", and (fill in all typical excuses here), things seem to be headed slowly back towards normal. This means all of you get to once again partake in the self-indulgent, vainglorious, ill-informed, sometimes readable, rants, rambles, and riffs.

There's a lot to discuss from the last, however long it has been. Including, but not limited to:
- great podcast discoveries
- new artists found
- books, books, books
- stranger than fiction incidents
- finding a fantastic little cupcake place only to later discover it was actually featured in the lazy sunday SNL video.

pretty much the usual stuff. It should be like riding a bike, though my bike currently has a flat tire and no front brakes. Hmmm.

**special notice** if you're reading this on myspace and for some odd reason you want to see future posts, you'll need to go to one of the other spaces.

Euphoria

2007-07-27T19:26:00.000-04:00

What could bring my lazy behind out of a blogging slump? How about a serious of euphoric moments.

EM #1 - Witnessing Ken Griffey Jr. homer in person. It was glorious in every possible way.

EM #2 - Purchasing gas for $2.44/gallon. If you had a 20 gallon tank, you would be feeling it too.

EM #3 - Parting ways with the silver bullet. RIP 1993 - 2007.

EM #4 - Montgomery Inn Ribs.

I've been in a book mode lately, hence the lack of the usual movie/tv blather. Check out the facebook iread application and try not to get addicted. I dare you.

Holy Crap!

2007-06-12T11:23:00.000-04:00

MuteMath is doing the theme for TRANSFORMERS!

One of my favorite childhood things is merging with one of my favorite adulthood things.

zzzzzzzzzzzz..................

2007-05-11T13:11:00.001-04:00

A funny note for Office fans, "28 Days" and "28 Days Later" were on at the same time last night.

The Funniest Movie That I Have Seen In A Theater......

2007-04-25T15:25:00.000-04:00

Hot Fuzz is one of the funniest movies I have seen period. I was crying and out of breath from laughing so hard. For total enjoyment you must have seen Bad Boys II and Point Break though if you haven't, they sufficiently explain things. I'm not even really sure how to describe the film. You all must see it immediately! I won't really say much else at this point because I'm expecting it to take awhile for everyone to see. Instant classic!

Addendum

2007-04-21T23:39:00.001-04:00

Sounds like a crappy indie movie or something....

So in my haste to post that last ridiculously long post, I forgot to add a few things.

First, I was going to link everytime I typed "noreaster".

Secondly, I was going to mention some of the cool things about XM (sorry to my friend that invests in Sirius, I'm sure it is neat). They had a show with Pete Yorn where he was being interviewed and discussing his songs and then playing them. Lots of cool info there. There was another special where they had Corinne Bailey Rae do Celebrity Playlist type of thing but she was able to talk about why she picked them for more than a sentence. I hate this about iTunes by the way.

Lastly I was going to elaborate on driving in NYC but lets face it, no one is still reading by this point so I will end with a quote from the great Chazz Michael Michaels,

"My victory in Boston was as sweet as the cream pie from the city it's named after."

Beantown

2007-04-20T14:08:00.001-04:00

Here's what I've been recovering from........
So last weekend Julie had to stay overnight in Boston for work. Being the good hubby that I am, I figured that I could get to the airport after working Saturday just in time to catch a flight and get back Sunday night. The situation looked good so I pulled the trigger.
I got there Saturday at around 5ish with my plane full of marathoners in spite of a near death experience on the landing. (I love when planes cut each other off on the runway!) We ended up having a fantastic evening in a really cool city. Boston is an odd mix of historical sights and modern buildings. We ate, cruised around town, saw the sights etc. It was great. The next morning, she had to leave before me, I got up and was at the airport, through security in less than 15 minutes from leaving the hotel. (this is a grand accomplishment) Everything was going along so smooth and leisurely.
**Here's where I need to mention that because of work and a few other activities, I had not seen the news all week.
I get to the gate and see a mass of less than ecstatic looking people. Apparently a "Noreaster" was on the loose and had been well publicized. Flights were being canceled and delayed like the apocalypse had occurred. After waiting around for awhile it is confirmed by a gate agent that I will not be leaving Boston by plane today because though the flight I was supposed to be on was being used to re-route all the other people who got canceled. Cincinnati is a Delta hub so you can get pretty anywhere from there.
Normally I would have just gotten a hotel, called off work, and waited until the next day, but one of our guys was at a conference and I was the only one who could fill in for him. After this sinks in, I pay the $8 to get online and looked up getting a car. It said it was a 14 hr. drive so I pulled the trigger on a one way rental. What the 14hrs didn't inlcude was the fact that I would be driving in a "Noreaster".
Long story short (actually less long), leave Boston at 12:30pm-ish --- arrive at Cincy airport 7am-ish -- get to Cedarville just in time to shower and get to work. Here are some of the highlights (and lowlights) of the trip.
Highlights
- Got upgraded to an Impala with XM radio (Ethel is the best station, really) and GPS
- Got to check another state off of my list of states visited (Connecticut)
- Got to drive through NYC thanks to a little GPS glitch
- learned that there is a shorter distance AND a shorter time option on the GPS
- leared that XM is ridiculously awesome and I wish there was someway I could afford justifiying it
- got to see Stamford (for you office fans), it is pretty much what you would expect it to be.
- listening to the Yankees game on the XM Baseball Stations
Lowlights
- Got to drive through NYC thanks to a little GPS glitch
- didn't get to check off Rhode Island (though very close)
- Jersey highways
- Many inches of standing water on the road forcing ridiculously slow driving conditions, well that and the absolutely insane amount of driving rain. Cedarville has nothing on a "noreaster"
- temporarily picking up that crazy accent after 2 partial days!!!
- Driving from 12:30pm to 8:45am by myself
- listening to Rivera blow a save on the XM Baseball stations
Thankfully I was able to stay conscious until I got home at 6pm that night. What a weekend!

Fred's Rules of ....

2007-04-11T15:06:00.000-04:00

I'm stuck in the studio recording crappy tracks at the moment so I thought to myself "I should put something out in the ether". I know the first rule of blogging is to have a point and make it quick. Today I will destroy that rule. I don't necessarily have anything in mind or a strong point to make.

Rule #2 is to use short paragraphs and I will follow that one. Basically I've been sick and working lately. That's about it. Everyone feels the need to have some sort of poorly planned, ridiculous event this time of year which makes my life real enjoyable.

We haven't even been able to keep up on TV. We did watch 3 episodes of 24 last week so we're only 2 behind now.

I went on a whirlwind road trip to Florida to help Kev move to Jacksonville and then got to ride from J-ville to Ft. Myers to catch a flight back. (those are only about 5 hrs away) At least I got to party with Faro on the ride down which included stops at our favorite places in Orlando and Tampa.

I'm very excited about baseball being back. Julie is not. (the free preview of the Extra Innings Package was more enjoyable for me than her)

Thanks to the video iPod I have been able to start watching Friday Night Lights, which is a great show so far, while on planes and such.

I haven't been hitting any new music lately because we've been putting all our cds on iTunes and I've been listening to them. Common Children is awesome by the way.

As for books, movies, and other media, I've got nothing to report due to the aforementioned busyness.

The Eight Samurai?????

2007-03-20T23:05:00.000-04:00

Where to begin, where tooooooo begin. We just got back from an afternoon that involved my first court appointment of the week, looking a random vehicle (since the silver bullet is DEED), and hanging out with the long lost Beckley's. Good times, though my head kills now.

Side note, if I post a media item on the blog is because I am actually reading, watching, listening to it.

I can't wait until opening day!

This book is a great read for any Christian who likes to think they are the least bit creative. The author is the son of Francis Schaeffer and though he is very solid in this book, it seems that he has since let his "intellectualism" overtake his spirituality, which is very sad. It is a very quick read.

For Your Consideration.......

2007-03-05T13:23:00.000-05:00

was not a great movie. If you enjoy hilariously ad-libbed scenes, however, you must watch it for the first 2 acts. There are some great lines from Ricky Gervais and John Michael Higgins (aka Jennifer Aniston's singing brother in The Break-Up) in addition to the usual Christopher Guest crowd. The story kinda dies off at the end though making it a not great movie with a lot of quotables.

Music happenings: Silversun Pickups, Youth Group, David Grey, Anthony Hamilton, Anberlin

TV Happenings: I'm way behind on most shows right now so nothing to report here.

Books: The Blind Side by Michael Lews was fantastic. Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel is very good as well even though I'm being forced to read and write about it. I had a second book to add here but I've totally blanked.

Games: MLB 2K7 is glorious. The GM mode has me completely addicted. Also Lego Star Wars II had Jules and I up until the wee hours on Friday night.

Life: Nothing I can post on the internet................

but it has electrolytes......

2007-02-17T02:55:00.000-05:00

I've been reading a lot about art lately. I don't have a specific reason why but the topic has piqued my interest. I think what has got my mind going is comparing the backgrounds and lifestyles of the artists that history looks back on and comparing them to the "artists" of today and how they might be remembered in a few hundred years. It seems that the ones who are revered and remembered most were not only masters of their technique, but they also poured their heart, soul, and mind into most of their work. For instance, Michelangelo was a devout Christ follower, but he apparently struggled with homosexuality. He thought this would damn him though he may have never acted on it. Many of his works involve judgment and he even shows himself in one painting being refused heaven. I can hardly think of anyone who puts their self into their art that whole heartedly. I'm not suggesting that we should all place every detail of our life on canvas, film, or tape, however I do wonder if/how what I do would be remembered here. I know that the most important thing is how it is remembered in eternity, but it would be great to be able to influence great amounts of people for hundreds or thousands of years after I am gone from this world.

Acquiesce

2007-01-26T20:12:00.000-05:00

I don't know how I missed the whole reserve online spectacle of our library. Even if something is at our local branch, you can "request" it and they'll have it at the counter for you to pick up. This is a significant boost to my music intake especially since I can't afford to buy CD's right now. I did quickly discover a limit of 50 items though. They have a suprising amount of indie releases but they still need some work. Hopefully I'll have some thoughtful reviews on something soon.

I've been TiVo'ing The Wire and The Sopranos in syndication but haven't had much to watch either yet. The first 2 eps of The Wire are pretty good though.

Quick rant for the evening. I hate how some TV shows now show half a season in the summer and don't air the next season until the next May. Now they have the audacity to sell 1/2 seasons on DVD for the same price as the whole season. Is this too much to ask?! Are that many people buying into this?! Can I use anymore exclamation/question marks?!

3 for the price of 0

2007-01-19T10:45:00.000-05:00

Lookout, this post actually has a bit of text. First thing, if you haven’t already seen it, go to you tube and search for Nobody’s Watching Pilot. Make sure you’ve got the pilot (it’s in three parts) watch and enjoy. This is show from the creator of Scrubs and some writers from Family Guy. There’s a great wikipedia article to catch you up on the background of the show if you desire. Keep in mind this is a pilot that was turned down by multiple networks but is now back in development thanks to the internet.

Secondly, 24. What else would you rather watch? I can’t even express my continued joy at one of life’s greatest pleasures (and I finally can see Jack Bauer kill people in HD). The casting, however, is always random though. They wouldn’t let Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Aniston, or Ben Stiller be in this season because they are recognizable but they hired the guy from Ally McBeal and the girl from Vegas Vacation who I thought was Ferris Bueller’s girlfriend.

Now some advice for any of you 6 readers who is delusional enough to try out for Amercian Idol.

1. DO NOT under any circumstances, sing a song from any of the follwing artists: Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Josh Groban, Queen, et. al. Their vocal ranges is at least 3.5x wider than yours and you cannot look good singing their songs. It is impossible. Take this from someone who compulsively sings to all songs from all genres all the time.
2. If you are a guy and your “friends” told you to come out for the audition, you should NOT come out for the audition. Every group has a friend who has an overblown self-esteem and some delusions of grandeur and we will abuse that knowledge. Don’t be that guy.
3. Lastly (for now), DO NOT sing a song that is popular only because of the amount of skin in the music video. If it sucks after a professional engineer has pitch corrected the artists voice(s) then it isn’t a good idea for you to try live, accappella.

This part of idol always drives me nuts so I have to be doing something else while it is on.

2006-12-22T11:33:00.000-05:00

The Decade of Our Birth

2006-12-14T15:06:00.000-05:00

It seems like the subject of 80's music has been coming up a TON this week. It's been featured on blogs, at work, radio, blogs and all over the place. So to procrastinate, I have made a list of some good 80's albums that remain to this day, good discs you should have. Yes there are many good songs from the decade (even the gimmick ones) but these had to meet full album standards here. Obviously it is not exhaustive, but a decent listing I hope.

Paul Simon - Graceland. You've gotta love an album that was blacklisted by the UN.

The Cure - Disintegration. The Cure is one of the groups that you should check out all their albums

Rush - Moving Pictures. Don't let the short track listing fool you. This album is full of some of the best drumming, bass playing ever from Neil Peart and Geddy Lee. Also check out Permanent Waves which made it into the 80's as well.

AC/DC - Back In Black. I don't really need to describe much about this one. Angus Young provides one of the most recognizable (and awesome) guitar riffs ever! Another nugget, it's the first AC/DC album with Brian Johnson on vocals. You can google what happened to Bon Scott if you must know.

U2 - The Joshua Tree. This is always labeled as the seminal U2 album and it is one of their best. You can't go wrong with any 80's U2 album though.

Dire Straits - Money for Nothing. There is just some great guitar playing here.

Peter Gabriel - So. Though it is missing my favorite Peter Gabriel song "Solsbury Hill", this is
still some solidly produced stuff.

REM - Document. Admittedly I only know a few songs on this album and I don't have it yet, but I'm still throwing it down on here.

Journey - Greatest Hits. Yes the Greatest Hits was released in the 80's. Simply put, you must have this.

Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes. These songs still get so much airplay that is hard to believe it came out when I was 2 yrs old. Gordon Gando is also a great name for a frontman.

They Might Be Giants - Flood. Okay it came out in Jan. 1990. The music was made in the 80's though.

Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever. His first album w/o the Heartbreakers is Legend.... wait for it......... ary.

Don Henley - Building The Perfect Beast or The End Of The Innocence. Pretty much a toss up here. Check'em both out.

INXS - Kick. This is obviously before the reality whoring out of the band. This album is chock full of rockin tunes.

RUN-DMC - Raisin Hell. Old School at its finest.

De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising. You may recognize songs from NCAA 06. This another one that I don't have the album yet but what I know from it is good.

Beastie Boys - License to Ill. I was shocked to find out this came out in 1986. It totally sounds like it, but for some reason I was not expecting it.

Michael Jackson - Thriller. This is before he let us in on how extemely screwed up he was. Although the title of track 2 is a little more disturbing now.

That's all for now. Let me know what I forgot to include.

Wholly Crap?

2006-11-16T16:37:00.000-05:00

Lot's happening today. Happy 23rd b-day to the lovely Carrie Gumm!

I checked out the new Jay-Z album today. There are some good beats on it but I'm pretty uninspired so far. I'm not a big rap music guy but I do appreciate the good stuff. I've been all over the map lately with the tunes. I'm not sure what I'm searching for or if the iPod is getting me used to tunes all the time and I'm trying out new stuff because of the sheer amount of tunes I am able to listen to now. Who knows?

I'm stoked for new Bond movie. (not as much as Jules though). I think I'm more interested because Paul Haggis is one of the screenwriters.

This page cracked me up. Oh the days of legos.

I can't believe it is already December. What? It's not December? Then why the !#%!@^ is Wal-Mart playing Christmas music!!??

I snuck "Hail to the Victors" in to the Pre-Chapel music today. There were about 5 cheers and a bunch of boos. It was glorious. It was the last song played before Chapel began and it totally flustered Pastor Rohm. GO BLUE!

Rollercoaster

2006-11-11T07:23:00.000-05:00

What a Friday night. We went to C-bus for the Mutemath concert and were promptly denied at the door. (Sold Out) Instead of ruining our evening we walked over to the Arena Grand and watched Stranger Than Fiction. This movie was fantastic in every sense. After we leave the Theater we head back to the car which was parked over at the Basement/LC lot. The band is rockin pretty hard and we could hear them walking by on the side walk. We went down by the back door to listen in for a few minutes before heading home and one of the guys from Jonezetta comes out for a smoke break. Following a brief chat he let us in and we got to see almost all of Mutemath's set! I have yet to hear any of Jonezetta's music but I'm going to buy one of their CD's as soon as possible. After the show we then drove home and had to be up again in 3 hrs but it was all worth it.

Last Second Swap

2006-11-08T20:26:00.000-05:00

I had a long rant filled post all ready to drop on you but then I saw this and it made laugh off all the Ohio driver, election day, and people in general suck feelings.

Word's Cannot Explain

2006-10-25T16:32:00.000-04:00

I can't even comment on this. The sheer humor of this becomes outweighed by the message contained. Wow. ?

Twisted Christmas Jukebox

2006-10-24T15:36:00.000-04:00

First, go to http://www.twistedsister.com/ and listen to their Christmas album (the first part of the first track is a farce so you've got to listen past that). Also doing the Christmas thing this year is WHAM! (assuming George Michael stays of jail). I'm not providing links for that but you can google it if you don't believe me.

I'm sick of people using the red state/blue state analogy. While it is true that people in New York/LA are typically more liberal than people in Omaha or Topeka, people forget that most red states were only red by a few percentage points. Not all conservative people are a product of corn-fed, ignorant, red-necks. (not that there's anything wrong with that). Just like not all liberal people were born to Berkely alum hippie parents. The "heartland" is not just some simple bastion of conservatism. Enough of that rant. (I'm really going for the parentheses today, jeeze).

The Killers Sam's Town Bonus Disc has 2 rocking tracks on it.

When we got out of The Prestige Friday night I waited for our group outside of the bathroom. About 15% of people coming out the movie said that it was dumb or that they felt dumber for having seen it. My response to them was "you just didn't get it". The movie is really for people who enjoy writing, acting, and film subtleties. The point of the movie is not to "trick" people at the ending. That is all I'm saying about that for now.

I would like to take this moment to have a moment of silence for Jeff. Jeff has the second highest overall point total in our Fantasy Football League but is only 2-5 on the season. (.................)

Since when do you have to pay for ecards? This is ridiculous!

I found out last week that I have been a fugitive from justice for the last 6 months. Without informing me, the Ohio BMV (bureau not dept. for those of you from the other 49 states) suspended my license for not showing proof of insurance (I actually did show proof of insurance though). I'm glad I didn't try to rent a car and that I haven't been pulled over in the many speed traps in our area of the world or I would have been arrested. Yikes.

Burst Transmission

2006-10-17T11:40:00.000-04:00

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh blog it!

Jeff and I had a sweet round of 18 on Sunday where I had a driver for the first time in years. Glorious.

All Christian characters on TV are either caricatures or hypocrites since the show Wanted was canceled. Every time you think a real Christian might be portrayed, they do something ridiculous with the character. Somebody in Hollywood has to know a "real" Christian right? Right???

I haven't got to watch Heroes from last night yet but here is an interesting nugget about the asian guy.

We saw the Departed last week and loved it!

Irish/Celtic punk rock gets stuck in your head easily.

The Bengals were robbed blind Sunday. I mean they were really screwed.

2006-10-12T16:10:00.000-04:00

Since it is getting to the time when we have to heat our wonderfully lacking in insulation home, I was looking up info on space heaters. We saw a few at Lowe's that we thought would meet our needs but I wanted to check for reviews online and all that. What I didn't know is that apparently you will die if you use one.
Home appliances have never been so scary.

Back to Ohio

2006-10-12T15:56:00.000-04:00

I almost posted Monday about how fantastic the unseasonably warm weather here in the big O had been. Today I am being punished for those thoughts. It was SNOWING today!!!! Unbe-freaking-lievable! (can you double hyphenate a word?) On a positive note, ...... I don't really have much there for now.

Random Bits

2006-10-06T15:51:00.000-04:00

The last post about the killers didn't mean to be a negative review. I like it, love it in fact. I think it explores new territory w/o ruining what they had going. Interesting article about it here. Finally found the new Mute Math disc at Wal-Mart of all places. It is ridiculous (in a good way). The Office was definitely awesome last night. Too many people are hating on the show so far. Hug it out B*!! Classic Ari Gold. So many great lines and scenes. Some people just don't like to think for humors sake. No one uses the camera for humor better than the Office.

You can be in charge of the women!

Jury Is Still Out

2006-10-04T11:40:00.000-04:00

I got the new killers disc yesterday and I at least like it a lot but I'm not yet sure to what degree. I was ticked that Best Buy did not have the new Mute Math disc. By the way they'll be in Columbus next month and we must get a group together and rock this! Are you with me?! It's been too long since I've been to a sweet show.

Timing is Everything

2006-09-29T14:51:00.000-04:00

This afternoon after we have just finished eating lunch at a certain establishment, I notice a guy writing stuff on a clipboard. I'm waiting for the Mrs. and am intrigued so I went to get a refill/closer look at what he was doing. I see his ID badge which reads "Clark County Health Inspector". He then goes up to ask for a manager. When said manager arrives, he says and I quote "Hi, I'm the county health inspector and we have a big problem here." Needless to say I had no desire to hear the ensuing discussion since we had already eaten there and some things are just better left unsaid.

2006-09-28T22:10:00.000-04:00

My music tastes have always been defined as, well let's say eclectic. Basically I'm pretty much all over the place. Today alone I have had a alterna-folk, blues, soul, top 40 pop, straight up old school rock, and some new new-wavey type stuff. (we need to figure out a better title for that genre since "new wave" is 20 years old now). All this to say, it is sometimes hard to use the now listening to features on the various blogs and web communities. This is also why I don't list artists in the about me or info sections of anything (I just don't have enough time to type it all out). I think I would have trouble narrowing down a celebrity playlist for iTunes. Good thing I'm not a celebrity.

2006-09-19T16:06:00.001-04:00

"Make This Go On Forever" by Snow Patrol from the album Eyes Open has been in my head for an hour now. I freakin love it!

2006-08-14T14:11:00.000-04:00

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_blogs/sioncampus/vent/2006/08/your-next-national-champion-is.html

wtf?

2006-03-25T12:41:00.000-05:00

hey blogger world. been awhile. what you been up to? really? you don't say. that's hot man. i'm glad we had this time to catch up. see you sometime.

Wow!

2005-09-13T14:27:00.000-04:00

I really like this blog that I haven't been to in awhile. It looks pretty good. I wish more people I knew were on blogger so I could use this more often. It's got dots. That's pretty sweet.

Business Folks

2005-06-17T17:12:00.000-04:00

My Xanga is being updated or something so I will blog these thoughts down here. I am currently working at an unnamed business conference. The purpose is to help Christians in business. It is driving me crazy because they only have super rich successful people telling others how to do business. It is mostly a we followed the Bible and got rich. Some of them even say that money is not important but the only people that get to talk are the ones who have lots of money. If they really wanted to show that business is not all about profit, they should have some moderately successful business people who have great respect in the community and are affecting peoples lives. Most of the sessions are trying to get people to buy their companies services. There are some good ideas behind the seminar but instead it seems that there are more egos than testimonies here. They talk about how important it is to listen and learn but they will not apply their principles to their dealings with other people. Not all of the people involved seem like overzealous used car salesmen but a lot of them do. I thought I'd share since I'm here for 11 hours listening to this!

Genesis of a Blog

2005-05-10T00:06:00.000-04:00

For now this is just to post comments on others blogs. But that is how is all begins...........