Too Goofy For Words (Halo 3 related)

I WOULD Echo This Sentiment...

but I'd be lying. I'm too cheap!

Bounty On Tom Brady's Knees!

(Hat tip to Jeanne over at Vox's blog for the link!)

This one goes out to Dave & Jay!

For the record, I'm really worried about this next game. I hope the Colts pull it off, but the Patsies are looking f'in tough.

Michael Mangini On Drums!

Michael Mangini is a technical genius on the drums. He wrote two "Rhythm Knowledge" books, one of which has a technical exercise that I swear expanded my brain power just by doing it slowly and badly!

He's also a super-nice guy. I met him for the first time in 1999 after a Steve Vai concert. The second time, two days later on the same tour, he spent a good amount of time explaining his one-handed snare drum roll to me.

He's also really short and has an outrageous Boston accent. This first clip is him playing along with a Nuno Bettencourt guitar track from the band Extreme.



BEYOND Ridiculous: (go to 1:30 on this next one for some INSANITY!)


I believe those are just super-fast doubles, but I could be wrong. It goes by pretty dang quick!

One more just for fun, him playing along to a Steve Vai track (one of my faves from the Fire Garden CD):


Oops! I love YouTube. Just found this one:


ONE audible stick click on the rim at the end? How sick is that?

In The "Good Riddance" Category...

From HERE.

"Man in wheelchair fatally shoots home intruder"

While this is good news indeed... can we reflect on the UTTER incompetence of the intruder? Like the side of my blog says...

Too bad this jackass didn't die:
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=7265

This second one really rocks! A BLIND man nearly waxed this punk.

I love this Mr. Kameg: ""If you commit crime, you CAN get hurt!". I hope he gets paid a lot for his brilliance too...

Good One!

http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=7271

I wish our local news was this good...

1-0! 1st inning!

WOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Amazing Analysis...

Fox's broadcast team for the World Series just said both teams are going to try and win tonight.

I hope they're paid TONS of dough for such brilliance.

I Have No Doubts That This Is True...

Okay, I'm tanked. I'm happy and game four of the World Series is getting started momentarily...

But I bet THIS is true: We had Osama in our sights, and didn't pull the trigger.

Bush is a pussy-ass bitch. And a traitor, as he's selling us out to the NAU ASAFP.

Hanging is too good for him and most of the assholes in DC.

I Love Shane M. White, Esquire

He's a cool dude. Kind of a dick sometimes, but overall... wait a second...

Eh... he's okay. Mostly cuz he lent me a copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the X-Box 360.

But the Colts won and the Red Sox are ready to finish up the World Series. So because I'm in a good mood, Shane's cool.

I love you, Shane. Sure, I'm drunk. But I still love you.

Not gay sex kind of love, but love nonetheless.

Visit his blog sometime. It's good for laughs, anyway.

I'm Sorry...

Thank You Taco Bell!

NOT for the painful gas and cramping from my 2am binge this weekend... NO!

I am thanking Taco Bell for their free taco giveaway promoted during the World Series. They're saying if anyone steals a base, everyone in the country gets a free taco.

I could care less about the taco, but it's inspired some funny shit tonight on the broadcast.

First was the announcers debating if the balk by Rockies pitcher qualifies for anything.

"So do we get something for the balk?"
"No."
"No guacamole? No chips?"
"No."

There seem a bit of panic in the 2nd guy's voice, as though he was desperate to avoid a lawsuit filed by Taco Bell's legal department.

Then the two Boston players talking about the giveaway in the dugout... great stuff.

And Like Hawt Lesbians...

I don't believe female Rush fans exist. (I type as I just choked / coughed up a mucous ball on my monitor... EWWWWWWWWW!!!)

You hear legends about them. But it's always "I know a guy that dates one."

But you just never meet them in person. Very strange.

You do see girls at Rush shows. Like the one standing in front of us in Cinci. She was with a guy, looking around, bored out of her mind. With the greatest bass player on the planet time well within spitting distance.

Similarly, I noticed a few hot girls by themselves at Steve Vai's show in Chicago last month. Turns out they were friends of the rhythm guitarist.

Vai even made fun of the lack of girls at his show in '99. He said you can hear the ones dragged there by their boyfriend whining "I wanna see Ricky Martin!" from the stage, drowning out his guitar.

Too true... too damn true.

GREAT! More CDs To Buy...

I'm such a sad fanboy... the soundtracks for Halo 3 and Gear of War are coming out soon. I'm going to buy both, I just know it.

And I do actually listen to the two previous Halo STs all the time.

Okay, I Did Miss Out At Least A Little On The Last Rush Tour:

I Guess I Held My Fire On This One...

Man! I missed out of the Rush Geek Week. I didn't see John-O's blog post on it and I was unaware that the Prime Mover blog even existed. But with the "better late than never attitude" (which, now that I think of it, really doesn't apply to pulling out) I put on the thinking cap and came up with my top 8 Rush albums. Just eight cuz it was too hard to decide after that! But first...

A little history on me and Rush. Since, you know, it's my blog and all...

May of 1990... Lawrence Central High School. I attended the Senior party at the school because my friend Sean Strong was going. It was winding down and someone came and grabbed me and said I'd won a prize. I don't even think I knew there WERE prizes!

But my prize was two tickets to see some band called "Rush". Rush? What the hell is THAT? Keep in mind I was getting my musical cues almost exclusively from MTV at this point: Poison, Ratt, Whitesnake, Ozzy, Twisted Sister... you get the idea. Hair Metal Bands for the most part. Except for Iron Maiden, which almost never got airplay.

But I took the tickets and asked Sean if he wanted to go. He said yes. But I still had no idea who they were.

We went. It was... weird. I didn't know a single song. I remember seeing Trees on the video screens. I remember a laser show. And I remember the inflatable bunnies. But not much else. Again, I thought it was very weird.

I think Mr. Big opened for them but I didn't dig them either at the time.

So Rush went into the "whatever" file.

A few years later, I kept hearing certain Rush songs on the radio and digging them. I am pretty sure it was Dreamline that inspired me to buy the Chronicles collection. Again, I thought it was very weird stuff, but this time it intrigued me for some reason. I started to really get into it, especially the drumming.

Neil's drum parts actually inspired me to start taking drum lessons, leading to me spending way too much money on drums. My current main kit is a Cherry Wine Tama Superstar birch kit. I actually didn't know that the Superstar line of drums was Neil's choice of kit back in the early 80's until well after I started buying the pieces on Ebay. Nice coincidence!

Then Counterparts was released in late 1993. I liked it okay, but didn't listen to it much. The one night Jason and I were hanging the Christmas garland in the living room. And we put it in. And I GOT it. I think the exact moment was the drum break late in the song Leave That Thing Alone.

I've been addicted ever since.

I took Jason to see them in early 1994. I saw them in 96 and then three times on the Vapor Trails tour (2nd row under Geddy in Cincinnati with Jason!), then on the R30 tour. (I'm trying to block out more recent Rush memories...)

Anyway, on with the show! My RUSH top eight:

# 8 - Roll The Bones - The first five songs are homeruns in my book. I love Where's My Thing especially. This was the return of the Rush instrumental, their last before this one was YYZ! That or Bravado are my favorite song.

Not as polished and treble-y as Presto, I love the production on this one. Lots of snap to Neil's snare. Probably my favorite sound of any of their CDs.


# 7 - Moving Pictures - Right off: THE Rush song as the opener. I'll hear no argument otherwise. Rush opening with it on the Vapor Trails tour was AWESOME! Totally unexpected.

Most of the first four songs (Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ and Limelight) are all very likely to be in the top ten of any Rush fan. Lush lyrical descriptions on Red Barchetta, The Camera eye and Witch Hunt. The only "off" song it the closer Vital Signs. Very Police-ish but Rush puts a neat spin on it.


# 6 - Power Windows - Funny aside, this was the last Rush CD to fill my collection when I was on the mission to buy all their stuff. I heard Territories on the Counterparts tour and didn't know what song it was. I kept buying their CDs and getting mad that THAT SONG WASN'T ON IT! So of course it had to be on the LAST one I bought.

Big Money is a great opener. Tons of energy. One of those Rush songs that just encompasses everything awesome about the band. Marathon is another great Neil Peart lyrical playground. The music and lyrics marry up just perfectly. I don't know any other band that constantly paints such lush descriptions with their lyrics and then nails the perfectly complimentary vocal part. Grand Designs is one of those songs I really love than you never hear fans talk about. The same with Emotion Detector. And a GREAT closer, Mystic Rhythms.

Not a bad song on this one.


# 5 - Presto - Very treble-y production, but I actually love that. Not as pretty as Test For Echo, but very good arrangements and production. Lots of balls in certain spots (Show Don't Tell, Scars). The closer, Available Light, is my favorite song overall.

Anagram is a great fun song lyrically. The Pass and Presto have great sadness in the vocal performances. Scars smacks of desperation to my ears. The lyrics and vocals are amazing on this one. Maybe more than any other Rush outing.


# 4 - Counterparts - My sentimental favorite and the first Rush CD I really got into. The first three are killer songs, esp. Cut To The Chase. I also love Double Agent, Cold Fire and Everyday Glory. And, of course, the instrumental Leave That Thing Alone.


# 3 - Test For Echo - This is Rush's prettiest CD. And I don't mean that in any feminine or wimpish way. It has a lightness and fine polish to it. There are songs with tons o' balls (Driven, Time and Motion) and a great instrumental (Limbo). And maybe some of Rush's most singalong-able lyrics ever. But overall there is just something... airy about the overall feel of this one that I love. I'm not conveying my point well... maybe an artistry? Who knows. It's just a great CD.


# 2 - Permanent Waves - The opening three songs (The Spirit of Radio, Freewill and Jacob's Ladder) would put this one high on my list, but the closer Natural Science is the best song on the CD, a whirlwind of musical badassedness.


# 1 - Vapor Trails - (should have been named "Vapour Trails" if you ask me... no one did)
Great songs. Total BALLS! Heavy tones, heavy chunkin' rhythms, heavy lyrics. The intro song is just a musical kick to the crotch. I don't like the heavily amplified production / mastering on this one though. It distorts the louder notes and totally screws the overall sound. (Interesting analysis on that HERE.)

But the songwriting and sheer attitude of this one outweigh any deficits by far. It was an amazing way for the band to come back from a long absence and say "Check us out. We're not done. Not even close."

Of course, then comes Snakes & Arrows...

I Don't Think I'm Normal...

as a sports fan. The Red Sox are going back to the World Series and I feel it's bittersweet. We won by nine runs, but I can't help but keep thinking of the blown call on Kenny Lofton at 2nd base. The replay showed him safe. But they called him out. I don't even really blame the ref because of how close it was. And Manny made a great play off of the wall.

But it still feels wrong to celebrate somehow. I am so weird.

Must Be A Muslim Squirrel...

Animal Jihad Fever! Catch it!

Now THAT's A Set Of...

Yes. I am very juvenile.

Some Goofy Crap (I know... HERE???)

Two of my favorite TV moments ever:





Scrubs-related and just weird:



Just some seriously f'd up crap:

What Is WRONG With People?

I was reading Bill Simmons' article and blanked on what Pam Oliver (Fox Sports chick) looks like.

So I went over to IceRocket.com's image section, put in her name and this was the #2 picture:


I'm honestly drawing a blank on comments...

Another Copyright Violation?

From Bill Simmons' game 4 diary here: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/071016

If you don't read his column, you're cheating yourself.

My favorite samples:

9:00: Just checked my reader e-mails and here was the latest one, from Mike in Boston: "J.D. Drew has completely ruined my Red Sox experience. I can't believe we have four more years of him. I can honestly say if I had the money, I would give the Red Sox the $60 million they STILL owe Drew, if they, in turn, would drop him. Do you think we could start a fund? You have the means to reach more people. Start it up. I swear I'll send the first $1,000 and $25 per week. The sad part is, I don't think I'm kidding!"

(Let's just say the J.D. Drew signing hasn't gone over too well.)

9:08: You know what I noticed? Fox isn't using its "Fox Trax" feature as much tonight (in which replays a pitch to see if it cracked the strike zone or not). Maybe the umpires threatened to go on strike after what happened Monday night, when Fox Trax made the Game 3 umpire come off like a drunker version of Frank Drebin in "The Naked Gun."

9:56: Shot of Dice-K staring mournfully from the dugout as Wake desperately tries to fend off the Tribe. After six months under the Boston microscope, poor Dice looks like he's constantly filming his own hostage video. But, hey, you can't possibly expect to get a sure thing for $103 million these days.

10:05: I might not be able to describe what McCarver just told us without you thinking I made it up, but let's try: Over the span of 45 seconds, he just explained that a leadoff home run leads to more multirun innings than a leadoff walk, only he made it sound like this was some sort of remarkable revelation or something. Did we just watch a sketch for Joe Buck's late-night show? That just happened, right?

(Rewinding game on TiVo.)

10:06: Yup, it just happened. So if you're keeping track at home, multirun innings happen more often when they're started off by a home run instead of a walk. Thank you, Tim McCarver.

[Me: I'm really glad he wrote that. It sort of hurt my brain trying to follow what he was saying last night. I'm so glad I'm not the only one.]

11:18: Mark from Philly offers an inspiring defense for Manny's home run preening: "When Manny went deep, my first thought was, 'Quit posing, Manny, we're still down 7-3.' Then it dawned on me that Manny probably had no idea what the score was. In fact, he probably isn't aware that baseball games are determined by which team scores more runs. Manny's only point of differentiation comes when, after hitting a home run, he sees his teammates waiting for him at home plate -- it's at that point he knows it's time to go to the strip club."

11:33: Crisp lines out to first. Three outs. Our final score: Cleveland 7, Boston 3.

I'm not willing to wave the white flag yet, but we're damned close. The reason Cleveland deserves to advance to the World Series is the same reason Colorado advanced: The baseball playoffs aren't like the NBA playoffs, in which you can keep advancing with three or four big guns carrying you. For a championship baseball team, everyone chips in from Player No. 1 to Player No. 25. You have three or four heroes per game, everyone seems like they're loose and having fun, and when you're looking back afterward, sometimes you can't even figure out which guy should have been the MVP. That's how the Red Sox won in 2004, and that's how the Indians and Rockies are winning in 2007. There's nothing more to say.

[I am totally in agreement with this one.]

Dumbasses...

My work is blocking the comments on my blog.

Stupid bastards.

They block my music web sites and blog comments. But they leave fucking EBAY, ESPN, SI.com, NFL.com, MLB.com wide open for unlimited surfing.

MY stuff is "entertainment".

I guess sports just ain't entertaining.

Again: Dumbasses.

The Red Sox Are Cockteases...

I was giving up in the 6th.

Then Youkilis and Ortiz knock out back to back homers.

Now I have to keep watching (it's a commercial now).

I fucking hate sports.

EDIT: Man... this sucks. 7th inning stretch and even back to back to back homers can't seem to help us much.

I'm ready to cry like Shane White reading about the next Pacers player being arrested.

More Stupidity...

Derek: So, I just got my handwriting analyzed and apparently I'm going to be a serial killer.
Random Girl: Hah, uh...cool...
Derek: Yeah, I mean I guess it's better than being some things, like a serial killee?


Mike: ...Besides, babe, you're extremely hot.
Erin: I knew you only liked me for my body.
Mike: That's a lie, I love you for your money, too.
Erin: Right.
Mike: You're like an ATM with a really great rack.


Jace: I want the chicken nuggets
McDonald's Worker: How would you like your nuggets?
Jace: ...Umm.....in a bag.


"You know, being stoned would be the perfect time to have a slave."
-Troy, feeling abnormally lazy


Blair: I'm older than you so everything I do has greater significance.
Kate: ...Yeah? Well I have tits.


Joe: I can't find the right hole.
Mario: That's what she said!!
Joe: Actually, that is what she said...


Billy: It smells like sex in here.
Jack: But I just washed my hands!


(Talking after Jon walked out of his room with an erection at 3am to get the pizza he ordered)
Winston: Can you imagine being that pizza guy and someone answers the door with a boner?
Nick: I answer the door like that all the time, but...I just love pizza.


Chris: Did I miss anything?
Rob: Just the strippers and cheeseburgers.
Chris: There were cheeseburgers?


Emily: ESB is my new favorite beer, it has my initials!
Dan: What, Easy Stupid Bitch?
Emily: I may be easy but you are the one that has trouble staying hard!
Dan: We were on our third round!
Emily: Well if you had done it right the first time you wouldn't have had to try again.
Dan: Easy Stupid Bitch...


Jake: Dude they got different flavored popcorn salt now. Check this out, it's jalapeno-flavored popcorn salt!
Chris: This stuff smells go-- OH FUCK!


"The hot dogs?! You threw them away? But that's like throwing away food!!"
-Shauna, on the other use of hot dogs?
(Lips and hooves, right? -- Mike)


This is disturbing:
Erin: It was so weird...I was sitting there talking to you and I thought you were just listening with your eyes closed since you were still drinking your beer... then I noticed you were sleeping.
Mike: I was sleeping and drinking at the same time?
Erin: Yeah!!
Mike: That can't be a good sign.


This too:
"Someone come hold me up so I can take another shot!"
-Lazza, on the floor hugging the garbage, still trying to reach the tequila


and my favorite:
"I don't understand why women say it is so hard to orgasm. If someone told me there was a special tooth in my mouth that if I pressed it could make me orgasm, I would be sitting there, poking around my mouth until I fucking found it."
-Trevor, on the mystery of the O


http://www.pointsincase.com/quotes

Cleveland Played Good Ball Tonight

although I do hate that awful strike call on Manny. He shoulda gotten a walk.

Instead he gets a horrific called strike.

It very well may have changed the outcome of the game.

Dang it.

Such be sports.

I Think I Must Agree With This:

An argument for Dr. Ron Paul's NOT accepting federal matching funds HERE.

"On July 6, 1996, in Harry [Browne, former Libertarian candidate for President]'s acceptance speech at the Libertarian Party Convention, he stated, "I don't believe in welfare – not for individuals, not for corporations, and certainly not for politicians. So I'm the first Presidential candidate in American history to qualify for matching funds and refuse to take them. Now, if I won't take the 30 pieces of silver to get elected, you know I'm not going to sell out once I'm safely in office."

Look at the guys in the crowd on this video HERE.

Women Need To Dress Like Women.

Dresses and skirts need to make a huge comeback. They really do. Looking at the various dresses the ladies wore at the wedding this weekend just puts the point in proper perspective.

Women just look better. They look feminine. And we need as much of that as possible.

If I ever find a woman loony enough to become my wife I'm gonna have a few rules.

Dresses and skirts and no panties.

How Many Faux Pas Can I Commit In One Day?

My little brother got married on Saturday. I was the best man.
(Pics to follow as I get them.)

But - of course - I couldn't make it through the day without goofing up a few things.

I forgot to tell the bride she looked beautiful all day.

I forgot to make the toast during my best man speech AND got choked up. Badly. Luckily, Deb the main of honour made the toast for me.

I guess three mini goofs ain't TOO bad, but they're more than enough.

On the plus side: It was a very nice ceremony. And a perfectly beautiful day.

A wonderful start to their new life together.

Letha and Jay: you're in my prayers. And be excellent to one another.

Dave Chappelle Rocks.

Hillary The Douche: Felon

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7007109937779036019

She's an alleged lesbo (yet another ugly one to boot), a congenital liar, a douche and a criminal. She should be rotting in a cell. Instead she'll get the White House next year.

Pathetic.

More here:
http://www.peterfpaul.com/

Not only is she a lying lesbo criminal douche, she somehow had:
1) the Bush administration's Department of Justice conceal the videotape evidence for her
2) an obviously biased judge trying the case
3) and prosecutors not bothering to object to the judge's immoral, illegal and unethical conduct in the trial

All of this strongly suggests that everyone involved wanted her name cleared. The whole system's corrupt.

I really hope a meteor takes DC out. Soon.

Brilliant Analysis!

"I did figure out why Belicheat thought it was ok to tape the defensive signals. He thought that the Patriot Act applied to them and he labeled his opponents as enemy combatants." ---- equus pallidus over at Vox's blog.

Yeah, This About Sums It Up:

"Watching the faces of young Red Sox fans, loyally hanging in until 1:30 only to be treated to the comedic stylings of Gagne, was like seeing the family dog attack and devour a group of cute baby rabbits. Talk about a lack of return on investment; it’s difficult to imagine a worse way to drop $1,500. You just spent a grand and a half to be accused of child abuse by obnoxious, equally tired fans sitting on their couches at home, wondering how you could do this to your child. I’d say those families are in serious danger of missing church today."

Looks About Right...

An Intellectual Examination of Strippers!

Any excuse to read about strippers, I guess. Even though it pertains to economics. Very odd article HERE.

Religious Pick-Up Lines

6. “God may be the bread of life, but you are the butter.”

From HERE. The link says lines "NOT to use" but I like some of them quite a bit. They'd be great for a laugh at least.

Nice To See Racism Ain't A Problem In South Africa Anymore...

OOPS!

From HERE.

"White farmers in court for growing crops"

I guess they should be happy they haven't been gunned down, eh?

I wonder how long Bono, Bishop Tutu and the other Communist dipshits will take to decry this racist bullshit.

Actually, no. I won't. Because it won't happen. Has 60 Minutes touched this? Dateline?

Why? Because African blacks being racists and/or murdering folks just ain't news. It's just them being the savages that they are.

And that's why I don't give a damn when I hear about blacks starving in Africa. Cuz they allow themselves to be ruled by idiot barbarians.

Arm The Students?

In this case, I have a much better idea: MOVE!!!

From HERE.

"Students on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard aren't allowed to leave their village without a shotgun and ammunition. That's because hungry polar bears can be behind every swing on the island."

I do wonder what "Arctic Weather" study entails. "Yup. Still f'in' cold!"

It sure is nice to see students treated like the adults they are and being encouraged to protect themselves, though.

Neat Article On Violins...

HERE.

I really found this article interesting. It reflects old world craftsmanship that has a certain appeal, beyond CNC production. That handcrafted personal approach to musical instruments that costs so much and seem increasingly rare.

I'm not a nostalgia freak. I don't pine for the days without computers. But certain things tug at the heartstrings. Real orchestral music. Homemade baked goods with real butter and other stuff the health Nazis say are bad for you. And slowly and hand-crafted musical instruments.