talk

g+

2011-10-22T16:55:33Z

Thinking about adding my g+ account as the talk page of this website. I don't have the time to do it today, so I'll cheat and put up a nifty g+ button, like so:

Tag You're It, Internet

2011-03-29T21:42:07Z

Yola web surfer. Dusting off brain cobwebs in order to start getting shit done again. Man I hate the de-motivational winter in Boston. We all have to sit inside and burn Verizon yellow page books to stay warm.

I'm currently sitting in a coffee shop, organizing project thoughts & lists and listening to listen.grooveshark.com. So far, it's treating me better than pandora and I'm impressed. I've skipped a bunch of songs, and wrote down a couple artists to seek out. It seems to have a million options, and I haven't even signed up for the service. I'm always looking for a way to hear new music, and so far this is footing the bill.

There. Internet post. Done and done.

Edit Edit Edit, all night long

2010-07-23T01:31:54Z

Obligatory Checking In

2010-05-03T23:16:06Z

Hi Internerd.

To follow up on my last post, I have in fact been creating content. A few podcasts under our belts over at brightonsocialclub.com, though none have been posted yet as we're waiting on some artwork and theme music. But I think we're getting a little more comfortable with doing them and they're getting much better. After a few more we're going to be whatever is less than a pro but more than a bumbling idiot. It's so much easier to have a conversation over a beer without a microphone in your face and a headset amplifying your own words back into your brain.

Off to start building a website.

Is This Thing On?

2010-04-06T01:11:55Z

I hate typing out content for websites. I pour over every word like what I'm writing is a tome to be discovered and studdied by future generations, and end up working way too hard on what turns out to be 3 paragraphs that no one will ever read. Yay. So, instead I'm turning to the spoken word. The podcast.

I've been working on a new project, titled Brighton Social Club, conveniently located at BrightonSocialClub.com. Soon enough there's going to be a whole internet thing going on over there. There'll be some pages, maybe some links, a couple of images. All of it.

Shake with anticipation, then go check it out.

hackintosh

2009-06-12T00:44:32Z

In the past month I've created two hackintoshes, an IBM lenovo s10 and a Dell mini9. Since the mini9 model has been removed from Dell's store, there's no reason to fully compare them. But I will say that it was a hell of a lot easier to hack the mini9 (read: run a few pre-made scripts from the interwebs), then it was to get the same result by hand on the s10.

Quick thoughts:

Mini9 downsides: 64 gig harddrive, no F-keys, small keyboard, an annoyingly stubborn trackpad and a shoddier case (not a bad case, just nowhere near the tank armor that IBM supplies).

S10 downsides: weight, low quality speakers and hardware/software issues (camera only works with some apps, no ethernet, screen wake after sleep has it's snags).

Bigger fan of the S10 (how often do you use ethernet on a laptop?) mainly because of the keyboard, trackpad and the harddrive size (it may be a netbook, but I still want 160 gigs of music and movies).

Dear Money Grubbing Corporate Theives

2009-04-15T20:38:38Z

I'm trying to figure out why I pay for info-mercials. Hear me out here.

I have a scarily high cable bill each month of around $150. Cable. No internet involved in this amount. Luckily I live with 4 other people. Still, my portion averages around $40/month.

What do I watch? Essentially things you can find on Hulu or get free over the air (House, Heroes, Scrubs, Law & Order and Local News), Sox games and movies on HBO. I also rent a movie or 2 each month at $4 each. I could replace most of this much cheaper. MLB.tv is $20/month. Netflix < $20/month. Hulu - still free. An antenna for my tv - I've got some metal coat hangers laying around.

I watch less than 7 hours of tv each week (not counting movies, but including 1/2 hour of local news every day). That's 7 of 168, or 4% of the available hours in a week. That's a lot of Billy Mays I'm missing while I'm doing whatever it is I do.

If networks like HBO, Cinemax, ESPN, etc. would offer a la cart streaming internet packages, I'm not sure we would need cable companies at all, except to pipe us our precious internet bits. Seems like this is only natural; better viewer counts, controlled targetted ads, more viewing devices.

I wonder if I should factor in the cost of the beer it will take to convince my roomates.

the lines are your friend

2008-02-22T16:28:29Z

Stay within the lines, Damnit. There are many times that classifications are bad. Especially oversimplified classifications and sweeping generalizations. Usually this has to do with stereotypes; ethnicity, jobs, synthetic fibers, granola bars, etc. But sometimes we rely on classifications. Sometimes they are good things; animal species, stages of balding men, how spicy my burrito is going to be, etc. Now, most people (read artists/musicians) are going to disagree with me on my next point, but please take some time to think about it before you leave flaming bags of poo on my doorstep. Here goes:

[Bands/record stores/media moguls/iTunes] should stop classifying music as Rock & Pop (for example) and get much more granular and specific.

Yes, I'm picturing record stores with with sections named "SynthPop-Dance with a hint of Gregorian Chant". I don't mean that literally, but something close and I'm going to try and make my case in a few simple points.

People are currently forced to buy music based on general classifications, which don't necessarily apply to the album or artist. My "wicked local" music store currently has "Ultra Dance 9" listed in their top 25 Indie cds.
People buy their music from exposure (internet advertising, radio, tv, movies, commercials). Live venues and word of mouth come in last in this warped footrace. Unfortunately, internet, radio, tv, movies and commercials are usually force feeding us music based on $$, not popularity.
Previews of music online often give you only a clip of a song. That's definitely not enough time to know if you like a song. Think of Bohemian Rhapsody; would a 20 second clip ever do it justice?
Buying (atleast listening) habits would increase as people could pick out styles or sounds they like on songs and albums. Instead of waiting to hear something new, they could actively seek these styles when they want music.

I dare to dream of a world where getting music you like is as easy as ordering coffee. I'd like some punk mixed with complex vocal harmonies, a double shot of organ, some rap and give me some horns on the side. I might want to add them in later. Haven't decided yet. This idea simultaneously excites and terrifies me, as it has a much more practical application for online stores (and I love owning a tangible physical cd). In no way do I want to sink the little mom&pop records stores, don't get me wrong. I'm just thinking of ways of expanding my ever growing library or music, while getting less duds.

Ice Nine Kills

2007-11-05T16:26:57Z

Just received an email that local band Ice Nine Kills has posted some new stuff to their myspace page in anticipation of a new ep. I remember liking the first album "Last Chance to Make Amends". Check out their new stuff http://www.myspace.com/IceNineKills while I dust off their last album and give it a proper review. Just a heads up that they're described as Emo/Post-Hardcore/Punk/Pop.

(X)P

2007-11-01T18:07:39Z

Ever wonder what the difference is between an LP and an EP? If you said yes, you probably don't own many records (yes, those black shiny disc shaped things that your grandpa wouldn't let you use to learn to scratch). I think I have 3. And no record player. So you see why I was asking this question. Let's start with some definitions. LP stands for LongPlay. EP for ExtendedPlay. To me, these both say the exact same thing, but what do I know. An ExtendedPlay record was actually the shorter of the 2, lasting typically between 15 and 25 minutes. An LP was originally longer than an EP, up to 52 minutes, which was the limitation of the medium. Today an LP lasts up to 80 minutes, due to the limitation of cds. These lengths are actually more like guidelines; there have been a number of albums called EPs that are near or more than 30 minutes and I'm sure viceversa, though I don't have an example in front of me. If you know anything about record companies, you know that they're greedy. So there are different pricing schemes/contracts based on the type of album created by an artist. Because of this, most bands will attempt to stretch out an album to get it over the 30 minute mark. According to a post on wikipedia, this was particularly hard for punk bands (due to the short nature of their songs) and thus they favored the 7" and even split discs over LPs. And thus, your Queers Webelos 7" was born.