Saturday, July 3, 2010
Missing History
In scanning the white photo album, it appears that the second half of 1975 seems to be lost. Hopefully, they'll either turn up elsewhere, or it just means there weren't much photos taken in 1975. Either way, sucks for now.
As It's Always Been
can really tell from these 1976 pictures of first day of school that I *always* hated school
Photo-scanning Progress
173 pictures in and about halfway through the first photo album. Unfortunately, it appears to be missing part of a year (1975).
Farmers' Market Cookies
cranberry-orange-raspberry oatmeal cookies rock rather hard. Good thing the woman what makes them only sells at the Friday farmers' market. Even better that we rarely go to that one.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Other Side of the Coin
I think an "unlike" button for 'things' would be at least as useful from a marketing perspective as a like button.
World Without "Studios"
A few years ago, when the RIAA started their scorched-earth campaign, I stopped buying music. Now, I still go to clubs, and such, but I find buying recordings to be problematic. Mostly, I find it problematic because I don't want to do anything that puts money in the pockets of the slimebags at RIAA.
So, for a number of years, I simply sat on my music collection. It was an ok-sized collection. Over the course of years prior to the RIAA's nonsense, I'd acquired about 700 discs. That's 700 after all of the dorm/roommate-related borrowings, trade-ins at new&used stores, etc. So, probably churned through well over 1000 CDs by the time I stopped buying (in 2000).
I've always had friends that were big into music, too. So, always had "library" access to supplement my own collection. Marrying Donna, I got permanent access to her small collection (and larger collection of muzzy MP3 rips). But, I'm an "easily bored" kinda guy. So, it was inevitable that I was going to lose interest in a relatively static collection of music.
Eventually, in all my time working on the road, I found sites like Pandora, Last.FM, etc. Ultimately, I stuck with Last.FM. I could listen to a wide variety of music. I always liked the service and wanted to help it keep afloat, so, I ponied up for a "pro" membership (cuts down on things like commercials, too, and used to get you on their "faster" servers).
Now, Last.FM (and, presumably, similar sites, as well) is kind of interesting. Absent prior knowledge, you never really know whether a performer or group is "big" or not. All you know them by is their sound. It's kind of interesting when you discover you really like someone on Last.FM, go to a show, and are like, "that's all there is to you??" as you stand there in a mostly-empty space. I mean, I guess there's just sort of assumptions that if they're on some kind of service, they're at least semi-established rather than just someone's basement/part-time project. It's just not immediately evident whether someone's big or a relative nobody. Kind of cool, that way, I think.
But, still, it makes me think. The studio-based "star" systems are primarily a psychological game/phenomena. Given enough backing and publicity (read, "throwing money at"), any piece of relatively attractive and overproducable "artist" can be turned into a self-sustaining phenomena. And, it's not a measure of how good they are, but how marketable and how well-marketed they are.
Without the marketed "stars" and the tabloid ("trainwreck TV") system to support it, would we have stars? Would anyone give a rat's ass about (e.g.) Lady Gaga? Would we have web pages dissecting what's subtext and what's pretext? Would we really be interested (would it even matter enough to register as a ghost on the cultural RADAR)? Or, is there some kind of human need for the drama (do we need to be able to watch the cycle of nothing/nobody→budding star→super star→has-been/trainwreck/fatality)?
So, for a number of years, I simply sat on my music collection. It was an ok-sized collection. Over the course of years prior to the RIAA's nonsense, I'd acquired about 700 discs. That's 700 after all of the dorm/roommate-related borrowings, trade-ins at new&used stores, etc. So, probably churned through well over 1000 CDs by the time I stopped buying (in 2000).
I've always had friends that were big into music, too. So, always had "library" access to supplement my own collection. Marrying Donna, I got permanent access to her small collection (and larger collection of muzzy MP3 rips). But, I'm an "easily bored" kinda guy. So, it was inevitable that I was going to lose interest in a relatively static collection of music.
Eventually, in all my time working on the road, I found sites like Pandora, Last.FM, etc. Ultimately, I stuck with Last.FM. I could listen to a wide variety of music. I always liked the service and wanted to help it keep afloat, so, I ponied up for a "pro" membership (cuts down on things like commercials, too, and used to get you on their "faster" servers).
Now, Last.FM (and, presumably, similar sites, as well) is kind of interesting. Absent prior knowledge, you never really know whether a performer or group is "big" or not. All you know them by is their sound. It's kind of interesting when you discover you really like someone on Last.FM, go to a show, and are like, "that's all there is to you??" as you stand there in a mostly-empty space. I mean, I guess there's just sort of assumptions that if they're on some kind of service, they're at least semi-established rather than just someone's basement/part-time project. It's just not immediately evident whether someone's big or a relative nobody. Kind of cool, that way, I think.
But, still, it makes me think. The studio-based "star" systems are primarily a psychological game/phenomena. Given enough backing and publicity (read, "throwing money at"), any piece of relatively attractive and overproducable "artist" can be turned into a self-sustaining phenomena. And, it's not a measure of how good they are, but how marketable and how well-marketed they are.
Without the marketed "stars" and the tabloid ("trainwreck TV") system to support it, would we have stars? Would anyone give a rat's ass about (e.g.) Lady Gaga? Would we have web pages dissecting what's subtext and what's pretext? Would we really be interested (would it even matter enough to register as a ghost on the cultural RADAR)? Or, is there some kind of human need for the drama (do we need to be able to watch the cycle of nothing/nobody→budding star→super star→has-been/trainwreck/fatality)?
Foot-dragging
I'm dragging my feet on restarting the family photo project. On one hand, I want to get it done; on the other, I fear the emotional toll.
Windows WTF of the Day:
Projecting 16hrs to delete 20.1MB (1200 files) from C: drive. Gotta love how fast a modern filesystem is.
Yay for BB Trillian!
Now I can save some memory on my BlackBerry by ditching the individual IM apps and just using Trillian. w00t!
How (Not) to Start the Day
nothing like starting the day with the smell of freshly-raked clumpable cat litter :p
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Link-hell
I wanna kill 2leep and other linked-to sites that require clicking multiple links and opening multiple tabs just to see the hinted-at content. Fuckers. What's wrong with just taking me to the content I want to see without all the jumping through hoops and extra windows. It's almost as bad as early 2000s porn sites and their bajillion popups.
Bleary Eyes (II)
then again, this morning, i thought Donna's bottle of coconut scrub said "cock scrub"
Icecream Music
it's amazing, what with how creepy the music is, that parents let children anywhere near icecream trucks
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Fun Names for Horrible Things
oubliette: you gotta wonder how something so horrible can have such a fun name
Photo Management Niftiness
cool: a couple of the photo sites I've evaled can hoover all your FB-posted photos out
Kings Dominion 2010
Took a (very) few photos of this past weekend's trip to King's Dominion for FreakDay 2010.
It was ungodly hot - as Virginia Summers are wont to be - which likely played into the relatively small turnout. Wasn't just the Freaks that were semi-scarce, though, as the park, as a whole, was relatively empty. Made getting on rides a lot less of a chore than they've been in many prior visits.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
When The Time Comes
Given our relative healths (mostly basing on underlying chronic conditions) I am anticipating that, absent "misadventure", I am going to outlive Donna - possibly by quite a bit. Now, obviously, I'm hoping that the mortality-based parting of ways won't happen for quite some time.
That said, I do sort of have plans for what to do should that eventuality come to pass. Overall, I'm not a "home"-oriented person. In my entire life, I've never felt any kind of real attachment to a place: not the place I was born, not the place(s) I grew up, not where I went to college, not any place I've lived my adult life. While my job currently has me working "local", my work history has afforded me the opportunity to travel for a combined eight years. Given my feeling of rootlessness, this was always a good fit.
Much of my job choices have been centered around supporting my personal responsibilities - family (wife and pets), servicing my debts and maintaining my skills set (and thus my future employability). Once I am alone, my responsibilities will, essentially, be reduced to just maintaining myself. I figure, with this limited set of responsibilities, I will be able to afford a more simplified lifestyle. I'll sell the house, liquidate any other assets I have available, and just "drop out". Depending on any pets I might have, I may either wait for them to pass (to drop out) or may opt to take them with me.
One thing's for sure: "dropping out" will be my farewell tour. I'll travel to wherever the road takes me. That's where I'll die, too. Dunno if I'll go full hobo. Doubtful. It's easy enough to ensure that you don't have to.
That said, I do sort of have plans for what to do should that eventuality come to pass. Overall, I'm not a "home"-oriented person. In my entire life, I've never felt any kind of real attachment to a place: not the place I was born, not the place(s) I grew up, not where I went to college, not any place I've lived my adult life. While my job currently has me working "local", my work history has afforded me the opportunity to travel for a combined eight years. Given my feeling of rootlessness, this was always a good fit.
Much of my job choices have been centered around supporting my personal responsibilities - family (wife and pets), servicing my debts and maintaining my skills set (and thus my future employability). Once I am alone, my responsibilities will, essentially, be reduced to just maintaining myself. I figure, with this limited set of responsibilities, I will be able to afford a more simplified lifestyle. I'll sell the house, liquidate any other assets I have available, and just "drop out". Depending on any pets I might have, I may either wait for them to pass (to drop out) or may opt to take them with me.
One thing's for sure: "dropping out" will be my farewell tour. I'll travel to wherever the road takes me. That's where I'll die, too. Dunno if I'll go full hobo. Doubtful. It's easy enough to ensure that you don't have to.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)