A Gift from Work

One of the great things about my new job is that they have bestowed a gift of a Blackberry on me. They do this so they can send work my way 24/7, a purpose that they have used several times already. So one of the things that I decided to do with my gift was download free games and software (like Google Earth) but alas… I cannot download any software onto my gift. What a sham. After a day of having the Blackberry some of my colleagues were already wondering if I was addicted to the thing, of which I am not. I admit it is an awesome communication device and shackle to my job, but without downloading games and programs on it there is little that I can do with it.

First Week of Work

Well I have completed my first week of work at my new job this week. I had a half day of orientation, a paid-day off (due to HR paperwork mix-up), and three days of some real work. My job is to be the finance person of a two person team in the strategy department of my firm. This weekend I even brought work home, which I think is a first. Overall I'm very happy, it took some time to get a job, but everything about it was worth the wait; for example there is a Starbucks on the campus, and a fitness center which are just cool perks. It is also in the Chicagoland area, which means for those of you who roll with me here I'll be sticking around for a few years at least.

Now the next move is to do a little car shopping...

Celebrate!!

I am now employed!!

Toni Collette & the Finish

Holy Crap!!

Muriel has her own band. Toni Collette, of Muriel’s Wedding, sings with her band “The Finish”. Some people may have realized this, but this is big news. Their first album “Beautiful Awkward Pictures” is out now and I have to get it to see if it is anything like ABBA…

After acquiring the album I find that it is not like ABBA at all. She does have a real good voice and the music is light, something excellent if you want music on in the background but not something that will distract you. Her band “The Finish” does not get a real chance to shine above her. Toni is definitely in control. Toni Collette & The Finish will be playing the Live Earth festival in Sydney.

14913, Music part 3 of 5

Here is a fact for you: people listen to music for a variety of different reasons. Here is another fact for you: People listen to music for different reasons at different times. It is often a lack of understanding of this fact that causes some strange viewpoints about music, or more specifically other people’s views on music. As a Tori Amos fan I have participated in this by disposing many artists out of hand because they want to be just like Tori. In reality this is just a great thing because it only validates my viewpoint that her music is awesome because imitation is the highest form of flattery (though in the Music business it is a Weird Al parody that is the highest form of flattery). It took some time to break out of that mold and listen to a variety of different music.

Ignoring this viewpoint has also given way to some of the most horrible bands on the planet. There are a near uncountable number of horrible industrial, punk, and goth bands that are out there that have a small niche market for those fans that will buy anything from those genres. It should be pointed out that there is a correlation between that market and the market who ONLY listen to that type of music. I too went through this stage. I found myself listening to Skinny Puppy and Leather Strip over and over again and ignoring the Black Lung album that took me a month to track down. Of course the ever silly mentality of a band “selling out” when they sell more than fifty albums often takes hold because it can be difficult to fathom that other people listen you the same music as you for the same reason.

No one from my generation can see this more than in Phish, a band that I feel is just amazing that got hijacked by a group of fans who banned all others from their concerts. I know, if your were at a Madison Phish show in 1995 and saw the goth guy there; that was me. Phish is a really good band, though for me it was not a lifestyle which for many meant that I could not be a fan. This is an extreme example though, I can think of examples from a multitude bands when becoming a fan is more of a lifestyle choice than anything else (Tori Amos fans are another extreme example). Just because I do not make a lifestyle choice, or have a similar reason does not preclude me from becoming a fan. As a male Toriphille I should have related to this much sooner than I really did.

This fact also explains how I can remain a huge fan of ABBA, Tori Amos, Marilyn Manson, and the Secret Machines. Needless to say I often don’t combine the three in the same playlist but at times I’m a huge fan of each. Limiting yourself to a single band/artist or even a genre of music is nothing but a crutch. What does a Swedish Death Metal fan play when his single love of his life leaves him; or what do goth kids listen to on sunny days when they are mysteriously happy? There are a few artists that seem (for me anyway) to have music for most times (Beatles, Tori Amos, PJ Harvey), but the bottom line is that there is just so much music out there to listen to.

The Lies Told to Us

Like many people I have not lived in the 60s, but am fascinated by the changes that took place during the late 1960s. It was a time that the baby boomer generation grew up and fractured. Looking back this time can be called a “loss of innocence” or a “great awakening”. The greatest changes happened to society, and politics. Inherently what I think caused most of this change is censorship and a great feeling of betrayal.

It may be difficult to remember (not that I do) that there was a prevalent fear of communism; take for example Joseph McCarthy and the House Committee on Un-American Activities, and even the changing of the Cincinnati Reds to the Redlegs. McCarthy ran his campaign of fear for years before it collapsed, think about that for years there were people who were scared of being accused of being a communist and have their lives taken away from them. Music, Movies, and other entertainment was mostly free of references to a more complex world view. Capitalism was good, Communism was bad, they were polar opposites including the view that one was correct and the other evil. Then there was a generation that grew up and had access to education that was never available before, civil rights questions arose (self reflection about how we treated our own citizens), and most importantly a useless unjust war that our government hoaxed the country into.

Life was no longer black and white, it was complicated. A sense of social and economic justice (which are communist ideas) spread and entrenched themselves in American society. Most importantly there was media shows about these topics (MASH is an excellent example). This is not saying the earlier generations did not understand that the world was a complicated place, though there was some of that too, but I think that there was a hope that the world is a complicated place.

There is an easy comparison today, a group that views the world as black and white is put in charge when there is a new enemy against America. The use of fear was used to justify an assault on civil liberties and racism (sorry the PC term is racial profiling) and to bring us into an unjust war. There is some media crying against what our government is doing; but ultimately the so called “culture wars” is a battle between world views; one simple and black and white and another that has almost nothing but shades of gray.

As someone who understands how complex the world is I sometimes think that I am like many people in my father’s generation who feel betrayed that a simple world view is responsible for actions taken in my name to justify things that I oppose. When the president takes actions in the name of “The American People,” he includes without my consent. That really pisses me off. People who see the world in shades of gray don’t always agree (in fact they almost never agree) but what those shades of gray do is leave room for debate and compromise.

I dislike it when people say that history repeats itself. History is not repeating itself now, but it is telling us that by looking into it once and a while there can be something learned.

Cocktail Parties and Video Games

I have been taking a break from playing intense video games, and trying to only play to let off a little steam during the day (about a half-hour every other day or so). I have found this to be particularly difficult because of the present situation with my favorite baseball team, the continuing job search (that is starting to reach its inevitable conclusion), and my complete lack of interest in reading lately.

Two excellent RTS computer games have been released lately, Supreme Commander and Command and Conquer 3. Both of these games are excellent and I can recommend both of them, but it definitely shows the fragmentation of the genre.

Supreme commander (SC) is excellent in having large battles. The single player campaign is dismal but provides enough training to learn how to play effectively. The biggest benefits to Supreme commander are primarily the zooming map and the logistics system. You can zoom the map in to view individual battles or zoom out to see the entire battle field, I find myself using this function enough that I was annoyed that C&C3 did not have this feature. The logistics are also excellent, you can build factories, then build transports to automatically transport units to the front line. I am also impressed that the large units are not game breakers (as they appeared to be before the game was released) and each super-weapon has a counter. The economic system is also innovative and excellent, though I spend more time micromanaging it than focusing on the battles.

What is not good about SC is the lack of infantry and the lack of urban combat. this was a real bummer, yes the maps can be up to 81 km square, but buildings having buildings and bunkers to block line of site would be a huge bonus.

C&C3 is much better at have tactical battles. The single player campaign is awesome and tells a cheesy story using real actors (go SIX!!). It does fall apart in showing me how to use all the features, such as moving in reverse and armor facings. The multiplayer is slightly better than SC, the maps have more to look at, there is urban combat, and infantry. The three sides are different enough but also seem well balanced. There are more options per unit as well, for example you can use your snipers to spot a target for artillery; or sneak a commando in the rear of an enemy base. In SC each unit (usually) has a single function which overall makes for less tactics; you build a combined force of units and send it off to fight, there becomes a more micromanaging of the economy and not the battles. In C&C there is more micro managing of a battle and it is easy to set up an economy.

There is no zoom map though, this should become a standard of all RTS games from now on. The economy is also a little too simple, only one resource. The biggest flaw is that Mammoth tanks are too powerful because they are able to take out air and ground units; this allow them to rush easily.

Neither is a perfect game, though C&C3 is slightly better and may be one of the best games that I have played. Someone needs to combine these two games to make a perfect RTS game; urban combat, infantry, zoom map, deep economics, and epic battles. Fans of RTS should get both games.

Sports season is a go!

My sports season has officially started both baseball and F1 racing seasons have officially started. The last two years the Chicago Cubs have sucked goat balls, but I continue to remain optimistic about their future. They lost opening day and I would like to see the silver (lets make it gold) lining because the Cubs have been very successful on opening day the last two years with horrible seasons. Opinion about the Cubs seems mixed this year, some think that it is almost sure that they will make the playoffs (at least), and others have shrugged them off again. I’m in the former camp, though I don’t see it as being easy. The Cubs have put together an excellent team that I’m excited about seeing in action.

F1 is a little different matter; Renault will have a difficult time to win the constructor championship. I like their new cars, who knew that orange and yellow could look so great on an open wheeled car? I’m still cheering for Alonso too, and the competition between him and Räikkönen looks to make a great season. BMW showed up and could make the competition even better. Also I’m looking forward to Fuji speedway, the new Japan tack.

Overall it looks to be an excellent year for sports.

Boogie Star Wars

Even in my advanced age I check out YouTube from time to time, and here is Boogie Nights in Star Wars. Sharing is caring!!

14189 - Music, part 2 of 5

The moment when I started considering myself “old” was in 2001. I went with a friend to see a 90’s cover band. It was 2001 and I was listening to a band that was covering Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains; what made this band suck though was that they covered Hootie and the Blowfish, Dave Matthews Band, and Counting Crows. I’m not a huge fan of the later three bands and they do not sound good when played after hearing “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. It was a good thing they didn’t try to cover Dr. Dre as well. What a mishmash of different styles the 90s were, from the downfall of “hair-metal”, to the “alternative” scene, rap, hip hop, and the beginnings of teen pop. I think MTV even played music back when I was going through high school.

Back when music was helping form my identity there was no internet downloading of music, American Idol, or hit bands doing the opening theme for shows. There also was making cassette tapes for friends, and loaning CDs (and inevitably losing them) to others. Automobiles had cassette players in them and for many playing a CD meant having to make a tape, or get one of those tape shaped adaptors.

Back to my original point though; every generation has some musical influence upon them that stays with them and will always seem better than “whatever is out now”. Once in 1992 (or 1991) I was wearing a Nine Inch Nails shirt to a family gathering (Christmas I think) and someone said “Who is NIN?” At that point NIN had not left my CD player for about a year now. To some of my associates that were older Motley Crue and Poison were the musical influence; whatever I was listening to could not compare. Now that I have gotten over caring about how commercial a band is; Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Nine Inch Nails were those bands for me, simply better than anything out there because they are part of my musical identity. There are bands/performers that are so good that I just don’t compare their work with anyone else’s; this would be the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Rush, and Tori Amos.

Am I old because Nirvana is better than Fall Out Boy? I think that this is a big part of it. There are a few new musical acts that I really like (The Dresden Dolls) but they do not provoke the same reaction in me that older bands do. This goes to albums too, the new Pearl Jam and Tool albums are great, but it takes much more than great to beat “Ten”, and “Undertow”. October 19^th, 1993 I went across the street to “Sound Warehouse” where I bought “Vs.” the new album by Pearl Jam and “Counterparts” the new album by Rush, with a friend of mine. The store manger pointed out to me that Pearl Jam will never be as big as Rush, they were just a fad. Their second album was to fail and they would fad to obscurity. This point of view was preposterous at the time, I have come closer to this line of thinking by making it too difficult for a new band to be a modern classic.

13,889 - Music, part 1 of 5

I was reminded of something that happened in my life over ten years ago recently from two sources. This family member was talking about how she bought a new album on iTunes; which in all fairness is a resource that I use too. The second was Adam Sander from the movie Reign Over Me (which incidentally I highly recommend), his character is a collector of vinyl. Now there is me, someone who buys almost no CDs anymore but instead utilizes places like iTunes and eMusic to get my music; but I still buy CDs for artists that I really like (Tori Amos gets a semiannual pilgrimage, and recently Dresden Dolls) and to me it has become strange for people who exclusively buys CDs. Cassie’s brother does this, never downloads only buys CDs. Ten years ago I didn’t understand people who obsessed over vinyl who were not DJs. I think I understand now though.

January 22^nd, 1996 in Whitewater Wisconsin there was a heavy snowstorm, it was also the day that God’s (aka Tori Amos) third CD was being released Boys for Pele. I had already seen the video for Caught a Light Sneeze on 120 minutes (I miss Matt Pinfield) and was convinced that it was the greatest video ever (still excellent). UW Whitewater had a parking problem at that time and the snow plows trapped my car in so I decided to hoof it, about a mile, through the snowstorm so I could buy Tori’s new CD. In a strange way this was also an example to my devotion to Tori Amos’ music, I walked a mile in a blizzard to buy her CD. After the purchase I ran back to my dorm room and listened to it.

It was an awesome experience, really, and one that has never been duplicated and one that never will. iTunes is great and I love my iPod (makes it easy to switch between Tori, PJ, and Bjork), but I feel that one snow covered day I had to work for my music which is something that seems much more difficult now.

That was just braving the elements though, that is nothing to say about bands like My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Leather Strip, Christian Death, Swans, and many more that if you lived in the suburbs meant a trip into the city just to shop for record albums. I had a hell of a time finding some Swans CDs, and once it took a drive to another city to do so. That happened more than once too. This is not saying that the current situation isn’t bad, it has been awesome because now I can fill in the gaps of my Coil collection from albums that I could never find; and a few others too (but dammit I worked hard to complete some collections).

So on May 1^st Tori has a new album coming out, and I’ll travel (by motorized vehicle) to the local record store and physically buy the CD even though I may not need to.

To be continued…

300 Rocks

I love reading movie reviews, and video game reviews. I like how movie reviewers express their opinions and especially like it when they completely pan a movie. This does not mean that movie reviewers express the same opinion as me, though I think that certain reviewers are much better than all the rest.

I have gone to see the movie 300 twice and loved it, and some reviewers have panned this movie and I have a problem with that because I think that they missed the point. 300 is a violent fictional depiction of a real event; therefore some reviewers should excuse themselves from reviewing it if they say that it is too violent, or object to the excessive Computer generated backgrounds because that is what the movie is. There has also been criticism about the meaning of 300 and the war on terror, and pro-America. WHO CARES? Movies are an art form and are supposed to be interpreted by the viewer. Finally some reviewers need to get off their high llama because of the historical inaccuracies in the movie… they are supposed to be there, it is a fictional retelling.

If you have not seen 300, and don’t mind ultra-violent movies, then watch this movie because it is just amazing.