First snow.
Currently: optimistic about this very site's survival
FAIR WARNING:
Don't get too cozy here just yet.
BUT, KNOW THIS:
I'd really like it to work out.
November 20, 2008
November 20, 2008
Anti-Facebot.
I had a few good days getting started on Facebook, enjoying it but freaked out by it, which was kinda the same as enjoying it. Yesterday, some folks from my AIM buddy list started hitting me up, saying they were getting mysterious IMs from a Facebook Bot with my status updates and other stupid ramblings. Out of bounds! Overboard!
A good friend in Sweden was shocked (and probably offended) to get an invite to the site on my behalf via AIM. I said to him "Weird, I must have some virus." He replied: "No, you don't have a virus, you have a Facebook. Those are the same thing."
Tons of bricks fell on my head, and I deactivated my account that very minute. I think my Swedish friend is proud!
November 19, 2008
Scotch Tape sneaks demons into houses.
I knew I had a problem.
Years earlier, when I made an attempt at bringing Michael Jackson's Thriller into the house, the directive from mom was clear: "Get that out of my house! There are demons in there!" I wrinkled my forehead, confused. I flipped open the gatefold, opened the pocket where the record was tucked away, looking for glowing eyes. I found none, but no matter; I was marched back down the cul-de-sac to my buddy Steve's house, and made to return the LP I had borrowed just minutes before.
So in 1988, when I began to hear songs from Guns N' Roses on the radio and see their videos on MTV, I knew I would need a new plan of attack. This music was going far beyond the choreographed graveyard antics of MJ, and had no chance of making it past my parental censors. The artwork alone, in particular the robotic rape scene on the inner-sleeve, would have caused minor heart attacks in our kitchen.
I dug out a cassette from my pile of sanctioned listening. The Imperials had written my favorite song as a kid, a monster of a tune titled "The Trumpet of Jesus" (see reference video below), but it was time for me to move on. I popped out the tiny plastic tabs along the top of the tape's casing and skillfully applied small pieces of Scotch Tape to cover the exposed holes. This was a fine trick for a teenager doing pre-rebellion warm-ups, and a MacGyver-styled technique I was certain my mom and dad knew nothing about and could not detect.
Back at Steve's house, we dubbed Appetite for Destruction over The Imperials, and one would assume the devil and his demons danced and rejoiced!
(reference video: The Imperials "The Trumpet of Jesus" live)
November 12, 2008
First purchases (back in the game).
On my drive to Eau Claire I listened to the entire Guns N' Roses catalog via iPod. While 85% of the Use Your Illusion records were difficult to stomach, the true horror was how poor Appetite sounded in a compressed digital format (even with the reasonably high bit rate). Couple these heady thoughts with my eye-buggin' at Justin's sick tube amp sitting next to his turntable, and suddenly I'm back in the record buying game!
I'm going to move slowly, and only buy LPs I think would end up on a "Best Albums" list of mine for now. Going to attempt to not buy new releases unless I'm 100% sure they're winners. And so, today the fun hunt begins with two albums proudly purchased at Landlocked:
November 10, 2008
3 things to do soon.
1. Pick out some wallpaper with Joy, and cover a few walls
2. Frame some silkscreened shit, and hang it up
3. Make the guest room a real place in the house where real people go
November 10, 2008
The Joynt - Eau Claire WI
Justin calls the place 'the last American bar' and while I think he's over-romancing the spot, it's an okay hang. He also gets a pass for the my parents met here at the end of the bar and conceived me shorty thereafter factor.
