File under WTF?

I'm a pretty big Star Wars fan. The prequels... Umm... well, mediocre at best. Great eye candy, sucky writing. I know good ole George likes his creative control, but damn. "I don't like sand. Sand is rough". What? Did Darth Vader actually say that? What kind of dialogue is that? Any way, that's not the WTF part. The thing that makes me go WTF is the fact that Madonna may be part of a live action Star Wars tv show. I'm expecting "Hello Larry" in space if Lucas does the writing. But still, Madonna? Can't she go away and take Paris Hilton with her? Well, whatever. I'm not buying any more DVDs. I bought the original Star Wars trilogy no less than 3 time. I'm done. Instead, I'll spend my hard earned credits on The Gilmore Girls.

I’m Glad I Didn’t Get the Tattoo

CD Review - Queensryche Operation Mindcrime II
My buddies and I saw Queensryche twice on their Empire tour; once in Chattanooga, TN and the second time in Knoxville, TN. We were in nirvana. We all had our own copies of Empire and Operation Mindcrime. Those of us who were completely obsessed had the EP, Warning and Rage for Order as well. We were stoked. Twice in one year we got to hear Operation Mindcrime live in all its progressive, ahead of its time, conceptual glory. I even bought a T-Shirt for that tour. We were all excited about the show. We even contemplated driving to Kentucky or some other point a few hours away to see them a third time. We were so mesmerized we even considered getting the Tri-Ryche symbol tattooed on our left shoulders. We refrained. Our lament was "what if they put out an album that sucks?" Well...

Operation Mindcrime II came out just yesterday. I promptly went to Circuit City on my lunch break hoping to get it for 9.99 as I was under the impression that is what they charged for new releases. I guess I got there before they put the sale stickers on. I paid 14 something after tax. Anyway, I'm not saying it sucks but it is definitely less than stellar. It's forced. The mix is thin. Vocal and guitar harmonies sound as if they were all recorded with the Antares Vocal Producer. There is no punch in the drums. The only thing that hit me in the face was how sophomoric the writing came across. The lyrics are forced and melodically parts sound as if they were written and sung by an aspiring songwriter ("choppin' brocc-o-lee") not an accomplished one. I'm one of the first ones to sing Geoff Tate's praises when it comes to vocal performances. I think he's got an incredible voice. He just falls flat on this one. As far as I'm conerned, the only two good tracks on this one are "The Hands" and "Fear City Slide". Both are clearly quoting musical ideas heard in the original Mindcrime.

I wanted to like it. It'll go on my Zen. I doubt very seriously it will even grow on me as Promised Land did. I have the utmost respect for Geoff and the boys. It was a very ballsy move to record this CD. I was okay not really knowing what happened to Mary and Nikki. In the words of Nigel Tufnel "best left unsolved." I think this is the last time I buy a Queensryche record without listening to it first. As for the tour, I *might* go see them live. They are going to do both Mindcrimes with live actors. That should be worthy of another blog entry. I'll save my money on the T-Shirt though.

Back in the Studio This Weekend

After a brief hiatus, I'll be back at it this weekend. I'm hoping to get some of my software functioning with my external controllers. In particular, I'll be focusing on the Korg Karma Triton software with my UC33e. For those of you not "in the know" that software version essentially turns my Triton le into a Korg Karma so I have access to all that algorithmic goodness.

I've got an idea for a couple of tunes that are more downtempo in nature. Plus I'll be *hopefully* finalizing the mix of "Deep Thought I" which is the newest track going on my forthcoming "War Machine" CD. Once the mix is finalized, it's off to mastering. I thought about doing a package deal for production but I think I'm going to do about 200 or so "hand-made" CDs where I'll send them out as ordered. If demand seems to be there, I'll most likely see about doing a Mass run of 1000 or so. I'm really hoping the digital distribution will take off work better than selling the physical CDs.

Once in a Forever

Take a look at the posting time for this little diddy. See it? It was posted at exactly 01:02:03 04/05/06. That will never happen again. Ever. Unless God pushes the reset button, this is a once in a forever deal. Far be it from me to not exploit something that only happens once.

ATTN: Internet Explorer Users: Switch to FireFox

This site works best in Firefox. There appear to be few bugs with the stylesheets and layout in IE. I'm working to resolve these issues. If you are in IE and you are looking for the right hand menu, scroll to the bottom. That's where it is.  Sometimes browsers are Stoopid. I recommend using Mozilla FireFox. It's smart. Apparently IE doesn't want to play nice and is currently riding the short bus to this site. That's okay, I'll fix IE's little red wagon tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Don’t Be Defined by Your Bumper Sticker(s)

I'm glad I'm not defined by my bumper stickers. I have none. On my way into work I passed a car with at least 1, 2, 3, okay 15 bumper stickers. Traffic wasn't too bad today so I was only able to read maybe two of them. Here are the ones I read: "My Goddess Gave Birth to Your God" and "I found Jesus. He was behind the sofa the whole time." Oh, and the license tag was IAMXENA. Okay I surmised two, nay, three things. Xena Warrior Commuter is more than likely an angry agnostic/atheist femo-nazi and the only reason she wasn't wearing her Live Action Role Playing costume was because she was going to work, it was being dry cleaned or it was being re-forged by Vulcan (Hephaestus for you Greeks). Oh, and maybe she's Greek or Roman. She apparently has a goddess.

What makes people put more than one or two bumper stickers on their cars any way? Is it to cover up the bondo or their insecurities. It's like they are saying "I've got something to say and since I can't articulate it myself, I'll let me car speak for me. Car, tell people how I feel about the world I live in."

Granted, all this may be a hasty generalization. My gut tells me probably not. If you don't want complete strangers finding out who you might be or profess to be, leave the stickers off your cars and SUVs. People are more apt to make a judgement call on your character by what you stick on your ride.

By the way... the most clever vanity play I ever saw was on a Corvette drive by a hot chick that read "WAS HIS".

The French Get Something Right?

I never thought I would utter these words but I actually agree with the French on this. The land of wine and stinky cheese won't be surrendering to the iTunes blitzkrieg any time soon. Accorinding to an article by John C. Dvorak over at Fox News, the French think that the proprietary structure of the iPod and iTunes is a load crap. I, for one, happen to agree. Don't make it difficult for me to buy music and enjoy it on my Zen Touch. Take my 18 hours of battery life and kiss my non iPod havin' hind quarters. I didn't get an iPod based on the fact that the battery life is less than grand. That and the fact that I had already ripped almost all my CDs to 192kbps wma files. C'est la vie.