Why are you reading about this boring stuff?

Xmas 2009 loot drop

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:12:32 GMT

I am the lucky owner of a copy of DJ Hero for the Xbox 360 that I received from my wife and kids for Xmas this year.

But, it's not just any copy of DJ Hero you buy off the shelf. Oh no. It's one that came signed by DJ Shadow himself along with some extra goodies. Shall we take a gander at what I was so fortunate to receive this year?

There were several stickers in the box for DJ Shadow and DJ Hero. But in addition, some of the more interesting items in this package included:

A t-shirt with the DJ Hero version of DJ Shadow on the front:

A DJ Shadow 12"

A signed copy of the DJ Hero game for Xbox 360

I have been playing this as much as I can since I've received it. It is, to say the least, a LOT of fun. I did learn that I can get the best "scratching" action if I play with the buttons situated closest to the "mixer". I was having a lot of problems on some of the later "mixes" (aka game levels) because I couldn't do scratches involving the blue button very well until I figured this out.

I think my least favorite is a mix that includes Tears for Fears' "Shout" and Eric Prydz' “Pjanoo”. I am not a big fan of fast "four on the floor" songs. Combine that with "Shout" being played at a faster speed to mix better with the companion song and it turns into an annoying mess.

My favorite song so far would have to be Bell Biv Devoe's "Poison" mixed with Cameo's "Word Up!". Overall, I think they did a pretty good job of selecting tracks for the game. What's included in the game (many of which I haven't encountered yet) can be found on this Wikipedia page.

I haven't even looked into what's available for DLC yet since my 360 is currently hooked up to the TV and it's a hassle to run the long LAN cable out there. Actually, the hassle comes in having to wind the stupid cable up! I haven't thought seriously about getting a wifi adapter for the 360 since I don't play away from my office very frequently. Maybe when we upgrade to an 802.11n broadband router.

Hope everyone else reading this had a good holiday weekend, too!

Not the year end wrap-up, yet...

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:26:48 GMT

So, it's been awhile again. I blame work for being work and not allowing me to do the important stuff like finding funny and interesting things on the Internet, blogging, tweeting, posting to FB, etc. You know, the stuff that's really important. Versus the stuff that puts food on our table and a roof over our heads.

Things are wrapping up here at work for me. I'm taking my customary time off between Xmas and New Years. With the way the company's holiday schedule worked out (we're getting the 24th and 25th off as holidays along with the 1st), I'll actually be away from the office for an entire work week plus a couple days. I will be checking in from home, of course, just to make sure some things don't go completely "tango uniform" while I'm away. Also to prevent returning to work with THOUSANDS of e-mail messages (which isn't out of the realm of possibility for me).

I do wonder, though. I can barely manage a weekend at home with the kids, I'm not too sure we'll all survive me being at home for such an extended duration.

On the plus side (maybe), they are predicting a winter storm that will tickle us a bit on Tuesday but really crank up on Wednesday on through Christmas. We'll see what becomes of that. It's early enough that this could all be some sort of cruel "chicken little" tease and we'll get a mild dusting.

I started prepping an Acer Aspire One (sapphire blue) last night. This is the gift my brother, his fiancee, and my family are giving my parents for their Christmas gift. This is not the netbook we intended to give them. But, in the end, it will work out in our favor, hopefully. My brother and I had been wracking our brains to come up with a gift for them (they're really hard to buy gifts for). He mentioned recently that they were spending more time in the office watching K-dramas off the Internet. Unfortunately, the computer they were watching it on has an old 17" 4:3 LCD panel. My folks had even moved some comfortable chairs into the office to watch! Ha!

So, we decided to buy them a netbook that they could leave permanently hooked up to their Samsung panel in the living room and watch from there. We had originally opted to buying a Dell Inspiron Mini at Micro Center. I ran out of time to pick it up on Sat. and asked Shelly to order it online for in-store pickup. She would pick it up when she went out to run other errands during this past weekend. All set, right? Wrong. Apparently, "buying" the item through the website for in-store pickup doesn't mean you've actually bought it. You're just reserving it. Shelly went yesterday to pick it up and learned that they had sold out of them. Store inventory showed -1. Just great.

She was nice about the mix-up. And, to their credit, the sales guy she spoke with and the manager were very willing to make amends by offering us the Acer for the same price as the Dell ($299). Which definitely worked out in our favor. Well, except for the fact that this goofy machine is running Windows 7 Starter Edition instead of XP Home. The jury is still out for me regarding this particular version of Windows 7. I understand the reason it exists and why it comes with a reduced feature set. But, the fact that I can't make some basic configuration changes to the icons displayed on the desktop, plus the rest of the reduced feature set, makes for an ... interesting experience.

On top of that, the netbook doesn't come with a set of system recovery discs. You have to make your own set. Which is fine. A lot of computer makers have gone to this approach and I have no complaints about that. The problem is that this netbook (and probably a majority of them) also doesn't come with an optical drive (internal or USB). We have an HP USB CD burner that's old and I figured that we could use that. The problem is, there are no drivers (generic or otherwise) available for this device for Windows 7 (and probably Vista, too). So, it looks like I'll be buying a new USB one.

As for the rest of my holiday gift shopping, it's pretty much done.

I suppose that about wraps it up for now. I really wanted to talk about this netbook business more than anything at this point.

I will probably have a year-end wrap-up post of sorts once I get it all sorted for the Atomic Books folks first.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season. May it be filled with "teh mad lootz"!

It's the little things that matter most...

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:05:01 GMT

I was standing around waiting for my lunch order and watching Fox News' coverage of a high speed chase in Southern Florida earlier today. It was a white late-model Mazda 6. At one point, the crawl/caption below the live footage indicated that the car had exceeded 130 MPH. My first thought was, "I wonder if that's a 6 with the v4 or v6 engine. If it's the v4, I'm impressed it got up that high without redlining or blowing the motor."

I'm pretty sure it wasn't an MS6 because the taillight covers weren't the correct style.

Too much NPR?

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:42:03 GMT

One of the things that will happen to me occasionally as I'm reading is that I will become conscious of my internal reading voice. (Not sure if that makes much sense to anyone.)

I was recently reading an issue of the New Yorker from early-November 2008 (hey! i'm less than a year behind now!) and was reading an article about Silvio Berlusconi's political problems. As I was reading, I realized that the internal reading voice of mine was none other than Sylvia Poggioli. I'm so used to any news story about Italy being reported by her.

While reading another article in a different New Yorker about Texas BBQ the intgernal narrator was NPR's Wade Goodwyn.

I think I get 95% of my news from Minnesota Public Radio and National Public Radio. I pretty much never see TV news these days. One odd consequence of this is that I sometimes don't know what these people in the news look like.

The Beatles

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:27:33 GMT

I was lucky enough to get the recently remastered and reissued catalog by The Beatles. Mind you, I could only afford to get the stereo MP3s. As much as I wish I could have afforded the fancy big-buck box set, I just didn't have that kind of money to spend on it nor the space in my office for more stuff. But, now that I have this remastered material, I did take the opportunity to get rid of the previous CD reissues that were done nearly 20 years ago. I think I listened to the "new" stuff non-stop for about two weeks straight after getting them. They sound excellent and the remastering engineers did a great job. I'm still curious about the mono remasters but I probably won't pursue getting those.

This is probably the first time I've listened that closely to the early Beatles material (pre-"A Hard Day's Night"). I hadn't been that intrigued with the stuff from that era for some reason (that I haven't really thought much about). It's nice to have those albums, though. It's also the first time I've listened to "Abbey Road" and "Let It Be". Again, I don't know why, but I never got around to buying those final two albums on CD previously. With all of this listening I've come to appreciate Ringo's drumming more. I've also had different songs become favorites of mine, too. In particular, I really latched on to "Dig A Pony" and "I've Got a Feeling".

The material is definitely worth the price.

Glad I signed the "pain waiver" to get in!

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:43:25 GMT

I was excited to have a chance to see the current Dethklok/Mastodon metal cavalcade traveling across the country a couple of weeks ago. The show was originally slated to play at the now closed Myth. I was thankful that it got moved to Roy Wilkins Auditorium instead of getting canceled. Roy Wilkins is definitely not really suited for live music. It's a big echoing space full of bare metal rafters and concrete walls. Coincidentally, the last time I was there was for my high school graduation. That's almost 20 years. Yikes!

In any case, what follows is what I remember from the show with some blurry pics I took with my HTC Touch Pro.

The tour, for the uninitiated, is co-headlined by both Dethklok and Mastodon. Dethklok is the fictional death metal band from the [Adult Swim] series "Metalocalypse". Which is about to start its third season. Mastodon is the metal band from Atlanta, Georgia that is really having a break-out year with the release of their album "Crack the Skye". They've also brought along Converge and High on Fire. I'd seen Converge before when I also saw Mastodon for the first time when they were touring for "Blood Mountain". It was my first time seeing High on Fire and I was looking forward to it.

I went with my friend Derik. I would have gone on my own if I'd had to, but it was definitely nice to go with him since he's seen the show, too. Plus, he hadn't seen Mastodon since "Crack the Skye" came out as the band now tours with a pretty fitting video presentation in the background. Boy, was it a very ... eclectic crowd for a metal show. It definitely has to do with the TV show aspect of it, I'm sure. In any case we got there in time to check out the merchandise table. I bought a Dethklok shirt. Horns up!

The show had a pretty early start. The doors were listed for 6, I think. High on Fire was on stage by 6:30 or 6:45.

They played for about 30 or 45 minutes. I know for sure that they opened with "Fury Whip". They played stuff off "Death is this Communion". Not sure what else they played as I'm not super-familiar with the titles of their songs. For the gear heads, the lead singer/guitarist played a custom First Act 8-string most of the set. And, for some unknown reason, did a lot of spitting on the stage (though not at the crowd). Nice tight set, regardless. I was glad to have had a chance to see them live.

Next up were Converge who played for 30 minutes or so. Converge is more hardcore and punk influenced than the rest of the bands on this tour and the crowd apparently didn't care for it. In fact, in most of the comments I've seen from people who've seen this show during its tour, they really don't seem to like Converge. Which is a shame. I think they're a great live band. Lots and lots of energy. I'm not a big fan but I can definitely appreciate what they're doing. There were obviously fans there but they were probably in the minority. BTW, from all reviews I've read/heard, the new album "Axe to Fall" is a killer. Here's a link to their "Axe to Fall" video.

For the gear heads out there, one of the things that really impressed me about Converge was Kurt Ballou's guitars. When I saw them for the first time a couple years ago, he was playing a lot of guitars you don't find in your typical metal band's arsenal: mostly Fender Customer Shop Telecasters and a Rickenbacker. This time out, though, I was perplexed by what Kurt was playing. They looked like Fenders but the bodies weren't quite the right shape and were too small. The headstocks weren't quite the right shape, either. Turned out that he was playing all First Act custom "Studio for Artists" series guitars.

Mastodon took the stage next. For the most part, they played a slightly shortened (I think) version of the show I saw in May. They played "Crack the Skye" in its entirety again then played a few songs off their prior albums. This time they played "Circle of Cysquatch" (which I was hoping they would play last time). They didn't play "March of the Fire Ants" (but they did in May).

As I said previously, the sound wasn't all that great at this venue. So, that kind of marred my opinion of the performance. But, it wasn't the band's fault. For the gear heads, Brent Hinds started the night playing what looked like a clear acrylic Flying V and then alternated between that and some First Act custom guitars including an 8-string.

Last up were Dethklok. Before they hit the stage, there was a short advertisement for the new video game "Brütal Legend" which is about a heavy metal roadie named Eddie Riggs (voiced by Jack Black) who gets transported into a world heavily influenced by heavy metal imagery, etc. The commercial included Dethklok so it was very fitting (and funny).

Dethklok's set is fixed night to night because it is synchronized with videos from the TV show and specific song animation for the live show. The setlist is

I wasn't sure what to expect and was hoping it wouldn't be cheesy or anything. I was completely blown away. Not just by the spectacle of the set itself but by Brendon Small's musicianship. Very impressive. He played and did lead vocals. I was a fan of his because of "Home Movies" and "Metalocalypse" but I must say that I am an even bigger fan now because of his musical talent.

Since I only have one really sorry image of Dethklok's performance (which is saying something considering some of the junk above), I provide links to photos taken by others at other tour stops that are higher quality here and here.

Also, someone else was at the St. Paul show. LJ user kenezbian. I came across her posting on the show via the [AS] community topic for this tour. I know I saw her and her husband at the show, too. Sounds like they had a pretty cool night since they got to meet and chat with Brendon, Gene, and guys from Mastodon, too. You can find her post about that night here.

BTW, the new Dethklok album, "Dethalbum II", is excellent. Even better than the first!

"Until the Light Takes Us"

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:18:36 GMT

A brief note about the embedded trailer. Though it is in passing, there is one photograph of someone who has committed suicide and a brief sequence of someone cutting their arm with a knife.

Trailer:

"Until the Light Takes Us" screened as part of the tenth annual Sound Unseen Music and Film Festival. I found out about this showing from my friend Kathie (that's her blog that's linked here). Once I saw the above trailer, I had to see it.

"Until the Light Takes Us" is a documentary that essentially covers the early days of the Norwegian black metal scene in the early 1990s. (Those unfamiliar with "black metal" should go here for a primer of sorts.) From reading this article at Twitch this documentary may be the best of the ones that exist since it's the first to include one-on-one interviews with Varg "Count Grishnackh" Vikernes (of Burzum). After watching the movie, I hold two opinions.

Personally, I found it terribly interesting. Mostly because I tend to be a sucker for documentaries about pop/rock bands and artists. Doubly so because I'm still finding my way through the world of "heavy metal" and have found myself particularly enamored with bands that are part of the US black metal scene (primarily Wolves in the Throne Room, Krallice, and Leviathan/Lurker of Chalice). So, this documentary comes as a way of filling in some historical gaps that were previously addressed only through wikipedia entries. On the other hand, I had a hard time seeing how this would find a larger audience because of its subject matter and the fact that there was a lot of background about the music and scene that wasn't really expounded on. It seemed as though it was assumed the viewer had some previous knowledge about the subject matter.

A curious thing with this documentary was that the majority of the music that plays throughout was either Boards of Canada or (assuming my hazy musical recollection serves me right) early múm. There was very little actual black metal played during the documentary. And, maybe because it wasn't as relevant to the specific subject matter at hand, they didn't really get into some of the more extreme ideologies espoused by some (National Socialism, racism, eugenics, etc.) Varg touches a bit on some of his beliefs and how it relates to the music but otherwise not much else was really said about it.

I found the entire section involving Harmony Korine to be pointless.

There were some lighter moments in the documentary too. The scene of "Frost" from Satyricon sitting on a plane to Italy next to a little boy who keeps looking at the camera crew and then looking at this mean-looking guy was pretty funny.

It was announced before our screening that this documentary has been picked up for distribution. So, if you're interested, you may get a chance to see it in a theater after November.

Uh, does this work still?

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 02:13:06 GMT

Sorry reader (LOL). It's been a long time. Mostly because (a) I've been so busy at work that I don't have time to post on here and (b) in the evenings I end up doing household chores that can't get done while the girls are up or I'm just too burned out to do more than stare blankly at the computer monitor.

But, I've also felt guilty neglecting this place. I've got a lot I want to talk about. But, much like what's going on at work, so much to blog about that I can't figure out the best place to start so nothing gets blogged about.

Let's see if I can remember what's been going on since I last posted anything...

We joined Lifetime Fitness in July. I've been going mainly to improve my cardio-vascular fitness. But, I've also been using it to do a little bit of weight training and working to strengthen my core to help with my golf game. It's only been a couple months. In order to receive a membership credit through our HMO, I've had to go a minimum of 12 times per month. When we signed up, the ramifications of this hadn't dawned on me. If I want that credit, I have to go three times a week! It actually hasn't been that difficult to do that so far. I can't say for sure if it's been helping or not. But, I will say that I feel "weird" if I miss one of my "scheduled" trips to the gym.

My beginner's golf "league" has ended for the summer. Which is sad. I will miss having a regularly scheduled golf outing every week. My friend and I were going to go this past Friday. He called me in the morning to say he couldn't make it (kid was sick). So, I went by myself (no way I'm going to let a round of golf go to waste). The forecast was for rain and I was praying that it would hold off (or at worse drizzle) during my round. With the impending bad weather, there were few people on the course. In fact, I was able to go out and play by myself! Unfortunately, about 2/3rds of the way through the first hole, it started to rain. No problem, I brought a jacket with me. Then it rained harder for about 10 minutes. Then it let up to a moderate drizzle. Then it rained hard again. Repeat over and over again. I was finishing the 10th hole when I decided I was too distracted by my pants being completely soaked to continue. Luckily, I had thought ahead and brought a change of clothes. I ordered a pair of Adidas rain pants on Friday afternoon. I don't mind golfing in the rain. I just don't like being completely soaked. I'll be ready for the next time because my friends and I seem to have a knack for choosing the days when it's going to rain (or snow) when we golf.

My birthday came and went. Also, in another sign that I am old now, it is my 15 year college reunion this weekend. I won't be attending any of the festivities. Most of the alums that I'm interested in seeing I already see on a regular basis. But, it is weird to think that it's been 15 years since I left college. It also means that my 20th high school reunion is around the corner, too. Yikes!

But, I do what I can to stay young. My interests and hobbies seem to bear that out. My wife was kind enough to allow me to purchase "The Beatles: Rock Band" for my birthday. Since I hadn't bought either Rock Band or Guitar Hero: World Tour yet and had no instruments other than my GH2 Gibson X-plorer, I bought the version of TB:RB that included the drums, Hofner bass replica and microphone (wired).

The drums

I think I'm finally getting down the drums. I'm at least scoring four stars regularly on easy. I'll move on to the next difficulty level soon enough. I definitely prefer the scale of the guitar/bass that came with this game versus the scale of the GH2 X-plorer. The guitar/bass is closer in size to a real guitar so I find it more comfortable to play. I can only assume the rest of the RB2 instruments are of this scale. Not sure I want to pay the price premium for either the replica Rickenbacker or Gretsch though I am sorely tempted. The Gretsch replica would be sweet. I had hoped these would work with GH2 and GH3. But they don't. So, I guess if I want to keep GH2 and GH3, I'll have to keep the X-plorer around. The X-plorer does work with TB:RB.

OK. This post is getting a tad lengthy, I've got more to talk about but I think I'll save it for a post talking about the music I've been listening to lately instead.

Soon! I promise!

Lucky Egg (Qee)

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:02:42 GMT

This year is the fifth anniversary of ROBOTlove in Minneapolis. I swung by their store a few Saturday's ago to see what was up. Sadly, even though I have access to such a great little shop in town, it's not often that I find my way over there. Mostly due to a general lack of disposable income and time.

In any case, after spending quite a bit of time looking at all of the awesome stuff that I wanted to have, but couldn't justify actually needing, I settled on a couple items:

Burgermenos Egg Qee by Jon Burgerman:

blog post

first

New Skateboard Graphics by J. Namdev Hardisty:

While I was in the store, I also had a chance to see the Mark Ryden "YHWH" vinyl figure in person. I was on the fence about this one because I had only seen it in pictures on websites (and the e-mailed updates I get from Porterhouse). But, I definitely wanted it as soon as I saw it. Unfortunately, that piece was out of my meager price range. Oh well.

Feel the Burn!

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 03:38:40 GMT

A few Sundays ago, we had promised to take the girls over to Lake Calhoun to check out the events that were being staged there during Minneapolis' Aquatennial Celebration. So my brother came over (we hadn't seen him since he had returned from a brief visit to Korea), Shelly packed a nice picnic lunch, and we all bicycled down the Midtown Greenway to the lake. The Greenway is excellent. One of the best things that was constructed to make bicycling in this city much more manageable. This was the first time I had ridden my bike since last year. It probably took about 30 minutes to get from our house to the lake.

Shelly pulled the trailer with the girls in it on the way to the lake. Julie is definitely too big to be riding in there. She's nowhere near ready to go on long rides, though. She can't make it halfway around our block before complaining that she's tired. We've previously discussed getting one of those ride-along trailer bike contraptions. It would be a good compromise between forcing Julie into the trailer and not going on bike rides at all.

In any case, we got to the lake (it was a gorgeous day) and there were a lot of people. Lots of good people watching. We caught the last milk carton boat race of the day between a team made up of representatives from the Aquatennial committee and a team representing the St. Paul Winter Carnival committee. I don't remember who won. They had a bunch of those inflatable bouncy things set up and Julie wanted to go on one. Just as we were standing in line to buy tickets to do that, someone offered us their wristband as they were leaving. So, Julie got to go on the ride for free! I think Sophie wasn't interested so she hung out with Shelly and they watched Julie from the side.

Here's the view from Thomas Beach (where the stuff was going on)...

The stuff in the foreground was for the sand castle/sculpture competition. There were a few nice looking ones and what looked like a lot of "no shows". Unfortunate.

For the ride back, I pulled the kids in the trailer and Shelly chatted with my brother. We made one brief stop on the ride back but made it back home without any problems (well aside from all of my huffing and wheezing and the sore legs). All in all, it was a nice way to spend the day.

Awesome.

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:13:35 GMT

Original came across this one in a post on the Mobtown Shank.

Now I wish I had a theremin.

Eight ... is not enough.

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:19:33 GMT

Eight years ago today, Shelly and I got married.

I can't believe it's been eight years already.

Happy anniversary, sweetie!

More Camera Obscura "live"

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 02:26:35 GMT

Apparently, Camera Obscura performed "live" in the studios of Minnesota Public Radio's The Current. They performed "Honey In The Sun," "French Navy," and "Tougher Than The Rest."

I can't seem to get the embed code to work in LJ, so you'll just have to do with the above link.

Camera Obscura at the Cedar Cultural Center 05/30/2009 (Minneapolis, MN)

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:52:25 GMT

In a wonderful change to the usual, a few acts have come through town that I've been very interested in seeing. The first was Mastodon. The second was Wolves in the Throne Room. The most recent was Camera Obscura at the Cedar Cultural Center.

I got into Camera Obscura after their previous album, "Let's Get Out of This Country", came out. I don't recall if I was into them the last time they came through the Twin Cities. So when I saw that they were coming to the Cedar Cultural Center, I knew I had to see them.

I arrived to find that the show had sold out. So, I was glad I took the extra effort to pick up a ticket earlier in the week. I found my way up to the front so I could meet up with a friend, Kathie. I have to say, that it's been a long time since I took the effort to get up to the front near the stage at a show. In my advancing years, I've taken to preferring a seat or standing in a location that afforded a better view of the stage that didn't require the possibility of being trampled. But, unlike a metal show, I didn't really have to worry about a mosh pit. So, I was safe. We were off to the right side of the stage where Gavin (Bass) and Kenny (Guitar) were situated. One nice thing about being right up at the stage (and a low-rise stage at that) was that I got a perfect view of the set list for the evening:

My Maudlin Career

Swans

The Sweetest Thing

Tears for Affairs

Teenager

Let's Get Out of the Country

Eighties Fan

James

Away With Murder

Honey in the Sun

French Navy

Books Written for Girls

If Looks Could Kill

Lloyd I'm Ready to be Heartbroken (encore)

Razzle Dazzle Rose (encore)

The two encore pieces weren't on the set list. But, it's hard to miss "Lloyd I'm Ready to be Heartbroken" since it was the big hit off their previous album. "Razzle Dazzle Rose" closed out the same album.

I also took one picture from the show. So, you get a relatively blurry look at Tracyanne...

The band sounded great. Though, based on some of the gestures various band members were making, I think some specific instrument levels either in the house sound or in the monitors wasn't quite loud enough. I didn't notice it. Tracyanne dropped a verse during one song, though I can't recall which one now. She apologized and said some were giving her the "evil eye". Oh well, live show, things happen. Big whoop. Move on.

In any case, if you like these guys and they're headed your way, SEE THEM. I hope I'll get future chances to see them play again.

One last story... While I was waiting for the opening act to finish, I was standing toward the back corner of the room near one of the doors to the "green room". At some point, this woman came out to watch. I looked back and wondered which band member she was. I thought it looked like Tracyanne but wasn't 100% sure. Of course, it turned out to be her. Had I realized it at that time, I probably would have done my best to not devolve to "gushing fanboy" mode. If I were really on my toes, I probably would have asked politely if they could play "Knee Deep at the NPL" for me. That is probably my favorite song by this band. It's off the "Underachievers Please Try Harder" album.

Won't ghost ride this whip...

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:24:57 GMT

So, back in October of 2007, we purchased a "pre-owned" 2004 Honda Odyssey. At that time, we ended up donating the 1995 VW Jetta III that I had been driving (it had 185K miles on it). I began driving Shelly's 1993 Honda Civic LX

Overall, it was in pretty good condition considering its age. It had been through a major hail storm in the late-90s and so was dimpled. But, in comparison to my Jetta, it had fewer miles on it, maintenance costs for it would be considerably lower, and it had an AT so Shelly could drive it when necessary. So it made sense at the time to get rid of the Jetta and keep the Civic.

I drove it with relatively minimal complaining or griping (Shelly might disagree). One problem that seems to be common to Civics of this generation is that the points where the rear bumper cover attaches to the rear quarter panel is prone to rusting. You can see where it's separating in the above photo on the driver's side. We had that fixed once a couple years ago. It held up but recently started coming apart again. We asked the dealership to try and fix it again. They did, but it fell apart the same night I drove it home from the dealer's parking lot. I think they knew how futile an attempt it was that they didn't even charge us for that work.

We decided that it was time to replace the Civic. So, this past Saturday, we purchased a 2007 Nissan Altima 3.5 SE

Shiny. Pretty. Overall, it's in very nice condition. Seems to have been relatively well maintained. A couple of minor dings on the bumper (that I'll cover up with some touch-up paint) are the biggest cosmetic blemishes. It's much quieter on the inside than the Civic was, too. I feel very lucky to have gotten a replacement for the Civic. It's not the G35x that I was aiming for, but this fits in our budget.

Not entirely sure what we're going to do with the Civic yet. We had planned on donating it, like we did with the Jetta, to the Newgate Education Center. But, Shelly informed me last night that someone may be interested in buying it from us.

More metal...

Thu, 28 May 2009 02:25:28 GMT

So, on May 15th, I had the pleasure of catching Wolves in the Throne Room with Krallice, Zebulon Pike, and Empires at the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis.

Unlike the Mastodon show a couple of weeks previous to this one, this show turned out to be a very very very late night. And unlike that show, I went with a friend of mine. We met up in the bar and enjoyed a couple beers (Surly's of course) in the bar/restaurant side before heading over to the other side for the show. We also traded CDs. I received Altar of Plagues new album "White Tomb". I gave him the new Isis album "Wavering Radiant". Both are very good albums. Worth checking out if you're so inclined.

We ended up missing Empires, but got there in time to catch the rest of the show starting with Krallice. I haven't been able to find a set list for this show but my friend said that they only played a couple songs off their self-titled album (which is amazing) and the rest was new material. I think they played about 5 songs. Turns out that there is a new album due out later this year. Not entirely sure how long they played but I thought it was a great set. I think I spent most of it watching the drummer play.

Zebulon Pike played next. They were more on the psychedelic and prog side of metal in comparison to the other bands. That's my take based on the few things I've heard of them. I spent part of their set wondering who was responsible for this line-up. I could see where ZP could fit in with the rest of the bands. But, on this particular night, they opted to play material that didn't really fit in, IMO. It seemed a big lull in the proceedings. It probably didn't help that by the time they were coming on, I was usually in bed.

By the time Wolves in the Throne Room came on, I'm guessing it was close to one a.m. I was doing my best to suppress my yawns. (Man, I am a geezer!) I do have a set list for Wolves, though...

Ahrimanic Trance

Vastness and Sorrow

Crystal Ammunition

Queen of the Borrowed Light

It was an amazing set. Only four songs, but they were amazing to hear live. Actually, after the third song, the band left the stage for a few minutes. They came back on and played the last number. Then, they left the stage again. By this time, I was so tired that part of me was hoping they were going to play more while another part of me wanted to go bed right then and there. It turned out they were done.

I got home by 2:30. I stopped to get gas and something to eat (convenience store monster burrito). I was starving. I didn't get to bed until 3am. Shelly let me sleep in and I did until 1pm! I was still cranky from lack of sleep for the remainder of the weekend.

The Streets keeps up on current events...

Tue, 05 May 2009 20:42:11 GMT

Hey, look! A video involving zombies AND H1N1...

Where has the time gone...

Tue, 05 May 2009 05:10:52 GMT

Well, just so you know, I at least think about making LJ updates on a regular basis. The execution, on the other hand, leaves a crap-load to be desired. But, hey! I'm here to make an update!

So, what's new? Hmm... I'm nearly done reading "World War Z". It's been a very enjoyable read thus far. But, it's good that I'm about done with it, I need to get back to reading my back issues of the New Yorker. And, lucky me, issue 59 of Giant Robot magazine arrived in the mail today. I've said it (elsewhere) before and I'll say it again, it's been great ever since they went to bimonthly issues! This issue appears to be another great one. Great cover artist as usual, that's for sure.

Last Wednesday night, I went to see Mastodon perform at the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis. Opening bands were Intronaut and Kylesa.

I hadn't heard Intronaut before, but I enjoyed them well enough. They played a rather short set, 30 minutes or so. To my untrained metal ears, they kind of reminded me of Pelican in some ways. That comparison may be way off. If you have suggestions on who they sound closer to, I'm interested in knowing.

Kylesa were relatively new to me, too. But, I did pick up their latest album, "Static Tensions", based on a promising review by Pitchfork. It also just happened that their album popped up on eMusic so I was happy to take a flier on it. I was not disappointed. And with that, you get to see one of the few pictures I took from the concert...

Kylesa played for about 40 or 45 minutes, I think. They sounded great. Unfortunately, because of the height of the stage (well, lack thereof) and where I was standing (towards the back on the main floor), I didn't get any looks at the two drummers. Yes, they have two drummers. Works great, sounds great. Couldn't see much of the lead singer/guitarist, Laura, or her two cohorts on either side. Which annoyed me because a big part of the enjoyment I get from going to shows is watching the musicians actually playing their instruments.

Then Mastodon came on. I would guess shortly after 9pm. As you can see in the picture from Kylesa's set, there was a screen behind the band. Mastodon, on this current "mini tour", are playing their new album, "Crack the Skye", in its entirety live with some video stuff playing behind them to complement the new material. It was all very cool to see together. They sounded great live. One minor change was the addition of a keyboard player to add some of the texture live that was on the album. The band played through the new album. Afterward, they took a couple minutes break on stage and then proceeded to play even more stuff from their prior albums. For this portion of the show, the video screen showed an image related to the album artwork related to the song they were playing. For example, during one of the songs off "Leviathan", they showed this...

Basically an image related to the album artwork, except the sky was in motion. Either moving stars or other stuff floating across the sky. Similar for material off "Blood Mountain" and "Remission".

In the end, I think Mastodon ended up playing nearly two hours all told. Set list for the evening (courtesy of setlist.fm):

Oblivion
Divinations
Quintessence
The Czar
Ghost Of Karelia
Crack The Skye
The Last Baron

Bladecatcher
Colony Of Birchmen
The Wolf Is Loose
Crystal Skull
Capillarian Crest
Megalodon
Seabeast
Iron Tusk
March Of The Fire Ants
Hearts Alive

I really wanted to hear "Circle of the Cysquatch". Well, maybe the next time around. All in all, it was a great show. I was glad I went even though Ticket Master gouged me for about $10 in fees (grrr!). I didn't really mind going by myself either. And, I was home before midnight! Perfect for a geezer like me.

This was my second time seeing them. But, it sounded a million times better because of the custom earplugs I bought over Xmas-time. More about those in another post. In any case, I only have a few complaints about the show. First, I wish I had stood upstairs instead of on the main floor, I probably would have had a better view of the bands. Second, I wish this show had been at First Avenue (no slight intended toward the Fine Line). But, First Ave probably could have put up a bigger screen to make the video part of this show more immersive. Secondly, there would have been more places to stand with better views of the stage.

Next up will be seeing Wolves in the Throne Room with Zebulon Pike and Krallice at the Triple Rock Social Club in a week and a half. I can't wait to see Wolves. Their latest album, "Black Cascade", is just more of their awesome stuff. I'm really looking forward to seeing Krallice too. Krallice's self-titled album is highly recommended.

To round out the month of concerts, I need to remember to pick up a ticket for the upcoming Camera Obscura concert. Their new album, "My Maudlin Career", just builds on the great stuff they put out with "Let's Get Out of This Country".

Where did she get THAT smile?

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:05:39 GMT

2009 03 19 007
Originally uploaded by shellykang.

Kids, go figure.

It's been awhile, no?

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:38:17 GMT

Hello to the few of you who might actually read this. ^_^

Yes, it's been awhile. A long while. As usual, things have been too busy at work to do more than push out updates through my Twitter account. At least I've connected my tweeting to my Facebook account so my tweeting substitutes for FB status updates. Now, if I could figure out someway to connect my tweeting to LJ... If anyone has any suggestions for a Windows XP user, I'm listening. Preferably something that doesn't require yet another account on another website...

It is finally Spring in Minnesota. While it's still within the realm of possibility that we could see snow (a coworker is up north at his lake home and said they might have snow up his way this weekend), I'm pretty sure we won't. We are supposed to see some rain. So, I'm going to try and get the lawn raked and put down some all-natural pre-emergent weed control and fertilizer since it's supposed to rain today or tomorrow. That way, I won't have to water the lawn myself.

I recently got the urge to do some reading that involved something more than working through my pile of New Yorker magazines (I'm stuck somewhere in April of 2008). One year behind is actually not all that bad. I tend to skip over most of the stories on the presidential race unless it's a story that deals with background on a candidate or something else I might find interesting. So, that can make the reading go faster.

Anyway, I got tired of reading New Yorkers so I decided to read through some Neal Stephenson books that Shelly had read way back when that I hadn't got to yet. At this point, I'd read "Cryptonomicon" first and then "Snow Crash". Not quite in published chronological order. So, I read "The Diamond Age".

Very entertaining. I don't recall how long it took me to read it considering I read about 30 minutes to an hour at a stretch. Maybe a week and a half. Pretty quick pace all things considered.After finishing "The Diamond Age", I started reading the first book in his "Baroque Cycle" trilogy, "Quicksilver". I am really enjoying this book, too.

But, I've had to stop reading this book, because Shelly brought home "World War Z" from the public library. She reserved it for me and it finally became available. So, I'm reading that now instead of "Quicksilver". I'm enjoying this too. And, I didn't realize it until I was searching on Google for something else related to this book, but there's a movie adaptation in the works. (Brad Pitt is producing?!? Hrm...)

I think this will stop here. The kids are gathering in my office and it's making me nervous and suspicious.

Transmission out...

ROFLWAFFLE

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:34:32 GMT

Stuntin'

Quality TV Drama

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 04:10:11 GMT

I was turned onto this when I read this entry over on the always entertaining DannyChoo.com.

The Japanese live action "Spiderman" TV series is being streamed by Marvel.com with english subs. I just finished watching the first episode:

All that can be said about it is "awesome".

Moms...

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:27:15 GMT

Happy birthday to my mom today (no foolin')!

No she won't see this.

I think her birthday is really April 1st on the Lunar calendar. But, much like the metric system, the Lunar calendar just don't fly in the US of A. So, we've adapted.

We had a nice little family dinner at Olive Garden.

Back home. Time to grab some more video off tapes for work, clean the litter boxes, and then hang out in The Pitt some more.

I suppose I should seriously get started on our taxes, too.

Dreading doing that.

w00t!

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:21:51 GMT

New Tortoise album in June!

http://pitchfork.com/news/34908-tortoise-announce-new-album-details/

Another milestone on the horizon...

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 03:37:17 GMT

Tonight, we went to "Kindergarten Roundup" at the school that Julie will be attending in the Fall. We basically submitted the paper work and stuff. Then the parents listened to the principal speak briefly while the prospective students went off for a brief taste of what kindergarten will be like.

KINDERGARTEN.

KINDERGARTEN.

KINDERGARTEN.

I can't believe it's already come to this.