As some of you know, in September I started a scam, called "The Scam Of The Century". It took about three months, and included a number of stores, including FYE, Moviestop, Gamestop, and Amazon.com.
What I did was use sales/trade-in opportunities in conjunction with eachother, and without going through every step that I did, I will say this: Gamestop had a big sale, 75% off, plus my 10% off card, which brought all their DVDs to a price of 85% off. Of course, their DVD section was incredibly small and many people were buying (as this sale was very crazy). I used this in conjunction with many other sales/deals and, after three months, I will now tell you what I have gained from this scam, and finally, how much I spent on the entire thing.
What I Now Have: - 2 two-disc special edition DVD pre-orders (Pineapple Express, Step Brothers) - 1 two-disc special edition blu-ray pre-order (Dark Knight) - 1 two-disc blu-ray (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) - 15 DVD seasons - 152 DVDs - And on top of all that, I have $400 more in credit at FYE and Moviestop ($179/FYE and $221/Moviestop)
30 Days Season 1 American Dad Vol 1 Chappelle's Show Season 2 (donated to the B Lau missing-disc fund) Ellen Show Series Family Guy Vol 1 Family Guy Vol 2 Family Guy Vol 3 Family Guy Vol 4 Family Guy Vol 5 Family Guy Vol 6 Family Guy Collectible Stewie Head (holds all seasons and DVDs) Friends Season 2 Jamie Kennedy's Blowin Up King Of The Hill Season 5 King Of Queens Season 9 Wildboyz Season 3 + 4
(All DVD's are special/unrated/two-disc edition if available) 28 Days Later 3 Ninjas 50 First Dates Aladdin American Pie 2 American Pimp American Wedding Amityville Horror Analyze That Anchorman Before Sunset Benny and Joon Big Daddy The Big Easy The Big Hit Boondock Saints Boys Don't Cry Breach Can't Hardly Wait Capote Care Bears Nutcracker Carlos Mencia: No Strings Attached The Cell Charlie And the Chocolate Factory Child's Play City By The Sea City Hall Club Dread Corky Romano Coyote Ugly Cruel Intentions Cry Wolf Dane Cook: Rough Around The Edges Dane Cook: Vicious Circle Darkman II Dave Chappelle's Block Party Dave Chappelle: Killin Em Softly Dazed and Confused Departed Desperado Dickie Roberts Dirty Rotten Scoundrels El Mariachi Elektra Elf Entrapment Erin Brockovich Ernest Scared Stupid Exorcism Of Emily Rose Family Guy: Blue Harvest Family Guy: Stewie Griffin Untold Story FMW: Legend Daws FMW: Ring Of Torture FMW: Torn To Shreds FMW: Total Carnage FMW: War Of Attrition Forever Hardcore Freedomland Frequency Gangs Of New York Get Rich Or Die Tryin Girls Next Door Gladiator Good WIll Hunting Home Alone I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry The Incredibles Indiana Jones: Kingdom Of The Crystle Skull (Blu-ray) Indiana Jones: Last Crusade Indiana Jones: Raiders Of The Lost Ark Indiana Jones: Temple Of Doom Inside Man Interview With A Vampire James and the Giant Peach Jungle Book Kill Bill Kill Bill 2 King Kong Kiss Of The Dragon Kung Fu Panda Kung Fu Panda: Legend Of The Furious Five Labyrinth Lion King Little Nicky Malibu's Most Wanted Mallrats The Man Who Wasnt There Matrix Minority Report Mission Impossible Mission Impossible 2 Mr. Deeds Murder By Numbers Nacho Libre Never Die Alone Nightmare Before Christmas O Brother Where Art Thou Ocean's Twelve Once Upon A Time In Mexico Pauly Shore Is Dead Peter Pan Pirates Of The Carribean: Curse Of The Black Pearl Pirates Of The Carribean: Dead Man's Chest The Pixies: Live In Newport, RI Planet Terror Producers Punch Drunk Love The Replacements Reservoir Dogs 15th Anniversary (Gas Canister Tin) Rudolph The Reindeer Running Scared Scary Movie Scary Movie 2 Schindler's List Shark Tale Shaun Of The Dead Silent Hill Sin City Sixth Sense Slackers Sleepwalkers Slums Of Beverly Hills Smokin Aces Star Wars Episode I Star Wars Episode II Star Wars Episode IV Star Wars Episode V Star Wars Episode VI Stargate Steve-O Vol 1: Don't Try This At Home Stigmata Summer of Sam Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Three Stooges: Four Pack TNA: Best Of The X-Division Vol 2 Toy Story Twister Wedding Singer The Whole Nine Yards The Whole Ten Yards Vanilla Sky Varsity Blues V For Vendetta WWE Best Of Raw WWE Ladder Match WWE Road Warriors X-Men The Last Stand XPW: Damage Inc. XPW: Liberty Or Death You Me And Dupree Zoolander Total Spent: $416
So I basically still have (in credit) just as much as I spent in the first place.
Or (if you completely take the credit out of the picture) I spent $2.21 on each DVD, and $4.42 on each season/blu-ray. But then, of course, I DO have $400 more dollars in credit.
Let's give it up for the cheapest man in the world.
It's been a long time. I apologize - let's get it started in here! I'm trying to adopt a new format, in which my "Categories" (television, movies, etc etc) will collapse into text. This will make for simple blog updates, with all those categories as links. You just click on the Category you want to read, and the text drops-down so you can read it.
Okay I'm not actually talking about any of those four people (and Art Linkletter was a famous television host, not a politician). So the election is over. Barack Obama won, as many people, including myself, suspected. But I wasn't sure. I was sure that George Bush would lose the election in 2004, and I was wrong, so this time, I wasn't sure. But hey, we won. And by we, I mean the rational people in America, for the first time in three consecutive elections. I am an Obama supporter. But I will say this: I'm not one of those people who got crazy over Barack Obama and thought he was the next coming of Christ. My personal opinion is that all of a sudden we had a presidential candidate who was saying "I care more about the regular person than the richest person, and I want to do things rationally. I want to do what is best for the majority of the country." So in my head, I was sort of saying, "....isn't that supposed to be what happens?!?!?!" If "garbageman" was something you voted for, and a potential garbagial (pronounced gar-bah-gee-al) candidate came up to you and was like "My name's Tim. I'm running for garbageman, and if I get elected garbageman, I promise that I will come to your house and collect your trash, week after week!", you'd say "Uh...yeah....that's what garbagemen do...." I'm not trying to take anything away from Barack Obama and I do think we have a great new president. I guess I just wish that things hadn't gotten to the point where everyone is incredibly impressed that someone wants to handle things in the way they should have been handled in the first place. I also wanted to say - I cannot jump on the "I hate Sarah Palin" bandwagon. Everyone says she's inexperienced and can't name the magazines she reads, but I'll be honest, I'm not exactly "up" on the history of vice presidential candidates. I don't know how inexperienced she is compared to former VPs and to be honest, I just don't know much about her policies (seeing as she wasn't running for president) to judge her. Does she seem pretty dumb? Yeah, I guess, but I can't just get behind that. Oh, and if any of this makes you wonder if I was really behind Obama, I think you should check out this graph - which I consider to be extremely tell-tale and not at all surprising. And just for fun - check out this one too (it's the same thing, but of the Bush/Kerry election).
My friend Brian Lau and I have had possibly our largest disagreement lately. I told him that during the run of the popular television show Family Matters, there existed a character named the Urk-bot, which, of course, is a robot version of the beloved (and socially revered) Steve Urkel. Brian (affectionately known as B Lau) disputed the existance of said robot. I immediately searched for any trace of the Urk-bot online. Alas, there was nothing to be found. Finally, in a last ditch effort, I typed "Urkel-bot" into the search menu, and voila, not only did the Urkel-bot rear his metallic head, but he was also referred to as the "Urk-bot" by others (my girlfriend called me an asshole at this point, because I remembered his name as Urk-bot instead of Urkel-bot at first - I found it a little harsh at the time, but now understand the need for such strong language when dealing with such an important discussion). Brian Lau, defeated, asked me if I remembered how ridiculous the storylines on Family Matters got, as we were currently watching an episode where Steve Urkel and Carl Winslow were not only continually time-traveling, but popping in and out of time periods in front of other family members, who were seemingly un-fazed by the complete disregard for the space-time continuum. I told young Brian that it got fairly ridiculous. Steve Urkel, the Urk-Bot and Stefan UrKel were three different versions of the original Steve Urkel, and I believe that Larry Johnson played a grandmother on the show (which did originally derive from other NBA merchandising). Additionally, not only did Urkel create a love potion, a robot, and continually travel through time, but I remember he showed up on the show Full House to convince Stephanie to wear glasses, and then at some point invented a jetpack and flew to the home of the characters on Step-By-Step, apparently to bring some "Urkel-ry" (B Lau invented this word) to Patrick Duffy. Brian and I pondered and theorized until the morning light, at the exploits of Urkel. One of the more interesting moments was when we realized we only had passing memories of Urkel (who started his antics when Brian and I were only five) and if we remembered him doing all these things and it's been so long since we've really followed the Urkel story, he must have undoubtably created many more characters, inventions, and cross-overs. And wouldn't you know it - as I write this blog now, I am watching another episode of Family Matters, where it seems that Urkel's cousin, Myrtle (who is also played by Jaleel White - a fourth Urkel!), is ruining some sort of fashion show - AND THEN at the end of the episode, Steve Urkel gets a chain letter and remarks, "I'm going to send this to my friend Cory Matthews in Philadelphia!" - of course, he is speaking of Cory Matthews of the popular ABC sitcom, Boy Meets World (which, yes, takes place in Philadelphia), and of course, as everyone knows, Cory's brother Eric Matthews grew up to cross-over into the SAW movie series, becoming the prominently tortured detective (no relation to detective Tom Wells, who is Nicolas Cage's character in 8 MM). Someday I will sit down and watch the entire run of Family Matters, and create a an intricately-detailed fansite for the show, complete with a full character rundowns and cross-overs, plot timelines (including alternate timelines to accomodate the frivolous time-traveling), and an inventions list. Family Matters (as well as most of the ABC sitcoms and T.G.I.F.) was one of my favorite shows growing up and I hope it continues to be so on DVD (I don't think it's been released yet). For a great, well-written and hilarious take on Family Matters, click here. In current television, Celebrity Rehab has started up again. I gotta say, I love VH1 reality shows. If you think differently, you're either a dick or you're Brian Lau. I never was really into reality TV when those type of things started out. I never got into Real World or Road Rules. I got mono a few years back from a dubious sexual encounter and during the weeks where I was bed-ridden, I did get into one season of the Real World. The historic season featuring Trishelle and the weird first-episode-hot-tub threesome. Magical. I never watched the Real World after that. I never watched shows like American Idol, or Dancing With The Idols, or Who Wants To Marry An Idol (God really wasn't happy about that third one). I did watch the Surreal Life for a while, which is like the Real World, but with minor celebrities - including the aforementioned Trishelle. There have been 6 seasons (different cast each year), of which I've only watched two (I know, I'm dissappointed in myself as well). So eventually, for some unknown reason, Lou, Tom Wells, Alyssa, Sousa, and myself started watching Rock Of Love (Bret Michaels trying to find a woman), Celebrity Rehab (minor celebrities try to stop being addicted to things), and the Pick Up Artist (geeks/nerds who are devoid of female affection, get taught by women-bedding-experts how to pick them up). Since then I also got into Hogan Knows Best (Hulk Hogan and his family..uh...live), My Fair Brady (Christopher Knight - Peter Brady - and Adrianne Curry - a model, fall in love and get married - this was a spin-off from Surreal Life), and I Love New York (the most dramatic and - hopefully - the most ignorant girl from Flavor Flav got her own show to find a man - brought to my attention thanks to my girlfriend). Sousa and I also fell prey to the 16 week-long oddysey that was Paradise Hotel 2 (for those of you keeping score - that's FOUR months), which was simply about people being slutty. That was the guiltiest of the guilty pleasures. So currently, I'm watching Rock Of Love Charm School (the bitchiest idiots from Rock Of Love are taught by Sharon Osbourne and Ricky Rattman - I do not care about spelling his name correctly - to stop being idiotic and bitchy). Celebrity Rehab 2 (more celebrity addicts) is at the very top of my reality list right now, alongside The Pick Up Artist 2 (more non-celebrity nerds). Believe it or not, But the question to me, is why do I enjoy these shows? I really can't quite put my finger on it. When it comes to film and normal, scripted television, it's easy to talk about how well things were shot, how well dialogue was written, how well it was executed, interesting plot points...etc etc etc. When it comes to reality TV, it's not. My friend B Lau is someone who doesn't like reality TV at all. I'm sure he doesn't have a passionate hatred for it, and he has select things he does like that are reality-based. He likes "Windy City Heat" (a movie that is just one big prank on a very stupid man by his very mean friends - I will have to write about it at some point soon - without a doubt one of the most unique and enjoyable comedies I've ever seen) which is definitely reality-based. I believe also he likes some Jackass stuff (he's not into anything graphic, bloody or excessively violent), MTV's True Life, My Sweet 16 (which blows my mind), and the movie "King Of Kong", which is my favorite documentary. But I do wonder what draws people to these shows. I've always been a believer in the idea that true stories have a different type of beauty than fictional stories do. Fictional stories, no matter how interestingly written, how endearing or how well-executed, are still created by a person or people. The stories, while uplifting or inspiring, are tailored to be so. You can't compare a pool to a lake, or a painting to the beauty of a night sky. Yes, I just compared The Pick Up Artist to the beauty of a night sky. I'm not neccessarily talking about reality TV when I say this, but I do find a certain allure in a story shaped by experience and the nature of a person. The journey that a specific person makes and how other people, places, ideas and events shape that journey. Everyone has that inside them, and of course you can find uninteresting journeys as often as interesting journeys. But I feel like you can shape and focus on different aspects of every person's journey and present a compelling or at least interesting story. In the case of Ozzy Osbourne, a multi-platinum selling artist, one of the most popular things about him was a reality TV show starring his foul-mouthed family and his feeble self. Regardless of whether or not you liked it (I actually have not watched it, although I own all the seasons), you must admit that many people did. I'm not saying that popular opinion is a great judge of relevance or merit, but there's something to be said for anything that millions of people continually enjoy. This argument has possibly been misleading. I don't think that most or even a quarter of reality television has the beauty I speak of when I talk about people's individual journeys. But to be fair, I don't think all film/television does either. I do, however, say this: What makes Karen from "Will and Grace" a better bitch than Lacey, the awful asshole from Rock Of Love? My argument is that Lacey is a MORE interesting character! While Karen is well-acted and well-written as a character, she's also created exactly for that reason, and exists only on page and film. Lacey from Rock Of Love EXISTS! VH1 did a casting call and FOUND this person! She was walking the earth before the show existed, and will CONTINUE to do so well after it ends! Isn't the real person infinitely more interesting? She was shaped by events, and her back story is 100% true! Imagine if you could talk to Kramer's mother, or have a conversation with Ross from Friends, about what was going through his head when he realized he slept with the hot copy girl and thus, ended his relationship with Rachel (for a good 6 years at least)! And if you think that reality TV shows are also "tailored" to create characters and personas - I say that is slightly true, but not overtly so. I can't make a reality TV show about Tom Wells depicting him as a racist (no matter how much I'd like to). You can't present what isn't there, and although I feel that producers angle what they show to create storylines, those storylines do exist (albeit on a possibly smaller or larger level), and so do the people in them. I suppose what I'm saying is that although reality TV is superficial, not well-written (or written at all), the people are usually fake and, most of the time, douchebags - isn't that closer to real life than the things you see on television? Maybe you'll never be in an "Elimination Ceremony" in real life (which exists in many competition-based reality shows), but you're a lot more likely to deal with a stupid, fake, hot, bitchy girl than you are to deal with anything from "Heroes", "24", "The Sopranos", or "The Wire" - and like I said, all the people you see on reality TV will continue as they are, long after you press the "Power" button. Just to be clear, I'm not saying that a direct connection to the events in a work of film is the only measure of how enjoyable it is, but I am saying that it can easily influence interest. I'm also saying that when you're someone (like me) who appreciates many differents kinds of art/entertainment, and understands that they all have different purposes, you can find enjoyment in a lot of different types of presentations. I truly believe that people like Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, as well as countless bands and artists, all create these films and songs that are without a doubt, fiction but are also loved in a different way than a lot of fiction, and for a very specific reason. These works are close to people's hearts because they feel a connection not just to the song, but they get to feel the connection between the artist and the art when they know the real person behind it. When I see that Kevin Smith has been dealing with creating an early work that was overpraised (Clerks) and then a work that was overcritized (Mallrats), and he turns that into the background of Holden McNeil (the lead in Chasing Amy, who did essentially the same thing, but as a fictional comic book artist), it DOES make me like it more. When Mark Hoppus (blink 182 and +44 bassist) writes "No It Isn't" which on the page appears to be a break-up song, but is obviously (and he has stated that it is) about the break up of blink 182 at the hands of Tom Delonge, it's infinitely more captivating. It has more depth and more reality, in the same way I'm talking about here. It's the same, true-life strengthening bond. Also, so that I don't look quite AS stupid, Celebrity Rehab specifically has been well-reviewed and revered as being endearing as well as, if not exactly inspiring, very much true and sad. It's certainly more serious than 90% of reality television. There's nothing manufactured here, and the picture is painted as accurately depressing as the celebrities' addictions (and anyone's addictions) are. Although, the New York times did refer to VH1 as "the nation's #1 enabler," and I will not disagree. Exploitation is an odd thing. Then again - is it exploitive if I write a depressing song about something that actually happenned to me? I would think that's up to me. Maybe I find it healing. And how is that different than when Jeff Conaway decides to go to a rehab center that will be nationally televised? Maybe it's exploitation, or maybe Jeff Conaway feels that the pressure of being on television this way will give him more pressure to get sober, or that seeing himself all fucked up on film will be a sobering experience in itself. In my opinion, it's much more about how the exploitee (for lack of a better term) feels, than how the New York Times does. That being said, I, again, do understand that most reality shows aren't as serious. But I still want to punch Lacey from "Rock Of Love" in the face more than I do Darth Vader.
One of the (many) reasons I started this blog was to record how I felt about many different types of art (books, film, television, etc.). Since I've last posted, I've watched many many movies and I'm going to try to remember them all here. Good luck to me. I really was disappointed in Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Kevin Smith is great, Seth Rogen is great... I just thought there was a lot of dirty stuff that wasn't that funny. Not to say there weren't many good jokes in it, but I feel like the ratio of flat-time to laugh-time was pretty small. Zack and Miri were also hard to care about, as I feel there wasn't much background to the film, and the only relationship I bought was that between Zack and Miri themselves, 75% into the movie. Then again, I've gone on record about how I didn't think that 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up were too great (although I have agreed that I will watch them both again before stating a final opinion), so maybe that kind of humor is "in" and I'm just one of the people who don't like it. Comedy/film is subjective. But Seth Rogen is a great comedian, and Kevin Smith is a great writer/director, and I do expect to see many more projects from them both that I enjoy immensely. I saw Guy Ritchie's new film, RocknRolla, which I thought was really, really, really good. I just love how it pulls you in EVERY direction during the film, but gives you such a great feeling at the end. Awesome movie. Best new movie I've seen in two or three months. I also watched Fargo. Pretty good. Atmosphere was good, really enjoyed the characters. The plot/story left a little to be desired but there were awesome turns/scenes/acting in it peppered throughout, and it really kept me interested (as opposed to Burn After Reading, the newest Coen Brothers' film). Although, I will say that I think independant/small-budget films made during the early-to-mid-nineties sometimes got a little more recognition than they deserved because of the fact that I feel newer and more unique ideas were getting made at that time. I don't know if I think that more risks were neccessarily being taken, but I definitely think that new screenplays and films were being greenlit, at a variety of different budgets, and I think this was very possibly a new thing at the time, and movies like Clerks and Fargo were appreciated more during that point in time because there wasn't such diversity in film. That's not a good thing or a bad thing. It's just a thing. I discussed it with my associate B Lau tonight and I couldn't tell if he agreed or disagreed. I think it's a possibility. I watched all the extras on Clerks X recently. Clerks X is the ten-year anniversary DVD release of Clerks, with the final cut of the film, the original cut of the film, the deleted scenes (I believe), a re-created scene (in Clerks cartoon-style animation) that wasn't originally shot, tons of other extras, including a 90-minute documentary about the making of Clerks. Clerks is a movie I haven't seen in about three years. I basically thought that the dialogue was good, the ideas were funny, and that although I didn't find it as stimulating as I had hoped, understood why it was looked at as a turning point in independant film. After watching the documentary (which I did find ridiculously stimulating) I am planning on watching Clerks again soon, and looking forward to it. I watched The Rock recently, the Nicolas Cage/Ed Harris/Sean Connery/Michael Bay affair - simply, awesome. It was the special extender edition, and each of those 130 minutes were great. Michael Bay finds these great action plots that are pretty ridiculous and really drives them hard, and seriously, with great actors and great action sequences. Roger Ebert wrote a great piece on it - this is one of my favorite movie reviews ever. Although - Roger Ebert says Michael Bay stole some things from Quentin Tarantino, who (little know fact) did an uncredited re-write on the Rock. Ebert still rocks. Sort of. I watched Max Payne recently and thought it was really, really bad. Just bad. How bad? Well, I'll say this - bad. Don't see it. It was bad. On Halloween, we watched Dead Silence. Very frightening to me (ventriloquist dummies coming alive is extremely scary, especially when they seem to be more focused on killing people than adapting to society). Not quite as frightening with 6 or 7 people who are talking and eating candy the entire time. I watched Hard Candy with Alyssa and B Lau soon after (originally a candidate for our Halloween movie) and it held up extremely well since the last three times I saw it. Except this time, not only was it awesome, tense, and extremely interesting for (essentially) a movie about two people in a house, but also amazingly well-shot. Unbelievably good. Go get it immediately - Ellen Page is awesome in it (but not hot at all, like she is in Juno - not that I find pregnant women hot - I find pregnant 16 year olds hot). We watched Tenacious D: The Pick Of Destiny. Definitely good - love the cameos from Ben Stiller and Tim Robbins. I think the musical stuff in this was awesome, but every time I see it I feel like the ending should have been better, and there should have been a better final struggle. Definitely funny and Jack Black BLEEDS Jack Black in this movie. You dig? Watched an odd, interesting doc on Warped Tour '98. They have totally public urinals in Europe. Middle of the field. Go up to it, stick in your dick, and pee, while you're totally outside. Fuck that. Interesting documentary, NOFX comes onstage and says it's the worst venue they ever played (the venue, not the tour) and throws all the money they were getting paid for it back into the crowd. NOFX continually murders. Tom and I always see more and more similarities between S*D and NOFX, but maybe that's just wishful thinking. Me and the lady watched Grease, which was really good. I totally dug all the songs and Sandy was pretty attractive, I must say. Travolta also rocked, but Travolta always rocks. That guy has a sickeningly versatile resume. Awesome movie. Can't believe how sexual it is - the girls will cream for Greased Lightening? Really? It was also awesome to see Jeff Conaway before he was fucked up on painkillers on Celebrity Rehab. I have to reiterate though - blown away by the sexual content in such a family film. If you really watch it, it's basically about a bunch of high school guys that are pretty much ready to rape any girls around, but the girls are just slutty enough to fuck them anyways. Believe me - in my fanfiction script, "Grease: Some Things Can't Be Un-Greased", all the girls turn down the guys and it gets real ugly, real fast. Seriously though, watch it again and read the lyrics. Dirty shit, especially for 1978. I also watched "Disorder In The Court" which is possibly my favorite Three Stooges short film. The physical comedy is SO funny to me. SO SO SO SO funny. Like, I literally cried from laughing so hard about four different times during it. There was also a commercial on the DVD where they hit a MONKEY in the face with a pie. A MONKEY! DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW HUMOROUS THAT IS IN 2008?!?! PETA hasn't let a monkey get hit in the face with ANYTHING on film in the past 40 years, so this was a real treat for me. I also noticed how funny I think their dialogue is, which is surprising to me. There were at least three lines that I just thought were great. Seriously, I highly, highly recommend it. Finally, my all-around favorite new DVD that I've gotten is without a doubt, Sold Out: A Three-vening with Kevin Smith. I feel like every time I write my blog, it's half about him. Anyway, for those of you who don't know, Kevin Smith goes on small tours and just stands in a room and allows people to ask questions, for hours, and he tells stories and answers them the entire time. Sound boring? It's totally, totally awesome. He is an amazing storyteller, and constantly hits all the right beats. If you get the chance, pick up one the DVD's (Three-vening is the third, and newest). It's great, even for a non-Smith fan. He has a 40-minute story about filming Die Hard 4 that is amazing. Find it. Also, check out this story. Very crazy. If you haven't seen this guy's original Batman short, check it out. The first time I saw it I freaked. Amazingly well-done (especially considering his budget).
We went to go see NOFX at Lupos a few weeks ago. They were amazing. It's just incredible how good they are. It's very odd too, as Fat Mike (the lead singer of NOFX/head of Fat Wreck Chords, one of the biggest independant record labels) always talks about "punk rock" and how punk rock bands are supposed to be shitty, but they are so not. Their harmonies are perfect, their instruments always sound good and full and they play them correctly, they're entertaining and they're just great musicians. They're a four-piece punk rock band (started in 1989) that just grew with the 90's punk movement, have released numerous albums as NOFX, as well as other albums featuring various members, and eventually Fat Mike started an independant record label (featuring bands such as Against Me, Lagwagon, Anti-Flag, the Descendents, Propaghandi, No Use For A Name, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, the Mad Caddies, Strung Out, Less Than Jake, Strike Anywhere, Leftover Crack, Sick Of It All, the Lawrence Arms, Snuff, Rise Against, Screeching Weasel, etc.) and is easily one of the people I admire most in the music world. NOFX's albums are of the most diverse punk rock albums I've ever heard (specifically The War On Errorism) and they have done great things (including a documentary series on Fuse this past summer that was AWESOME). So when we saw them at Lupos (only my second time seeing them) it was great. They are fast and funny and smart and good. They closed with "Theme From A NOFX Album", which is sort of like S*D's "VBW Song" except it's specifically about each person in NOFX as well as the people close to them who help them out - who were all at this show I was at, singing their parts, playing the accordian - just awesome. The band is so versatile, sometimes they'll use horns or keyboards and it's just such good, non-closed minded punk rock. I would do anything to be on Fat Wreck Chords, and that IS the label for Senior Discount to be on, without a doubt. Just great. I love them and respect them incredibly. So we're playing two shows coming up - we're opening for Girltalk on Nov 29th at Lupos. As of today the show had over 1,000 presale tickets sold, and Lupos will sell out at 1,200. We're not promoting this show (obviously, Girltalk doesn't need our help) so we're not paying attention to exactly how well the turn out will be, and to be honest, I don't have too high of expectations for the S*D boys going in. Not that I have any negative expectations, but I don't want to expect much. We're a band that no one is expecting, or has heard of (in a genre that no one is there for - Girltalk is a mash-up DJ) so I'm expecting to play early, to not many people (although it will probably be sold out, most of the crowd probably won't be there until later on, for the headlining acts), and to get a tepid response. Although I will say when we opened for Mickey Avalon, we did very well, and were the only band of the night to get an encore, besides the headliner (we were the only band - not punk band - the only BAND on an all hip-hop show). We'll see. Gregg (Girltalk) has been really super nice to us, for no reason. He saw us at the BRU RockHunt this past summer (when Kevin had quit the band less than 24 hours earlier, and the RockHunt was our third show in 24 hours) and he thought we were good and added us to his CT show immediately (although we could not play it, as Tom had to go to Florida to console a friend). Since then, when we write him, he answers us immediately, and is always nice and honest. Also, I found this article that WBRU posted about Lollapalooza - here's a paragraph from it: "I cut out of Innerparty system to go back to the media tent for a string of interviews. I talked with MGMT about animatronic bear musicians and listening to music in the future on alien spaceships, with Manchester Orchestra about how weird it is when crowds mosh at their shows, with Does It Offend You, Yeah? about The Office and conjoined lovers, and with Girl Talk about how his music isn’t good for dance parties and how he’s still in love with Senior Discount. Those interviews will be aired soon and posted as podcasts, so keep your eyes and ears open" Pretty cool. We've never talked to Gregg directly about how he feels about us (which I'm guessing is that he thought we were at least energetic and at fun - at best) but we've heard from multiple sources that he's been wicked positive about us and his decision to add us to this Lupos show (and this is the second show he's added us to) as well as the constant positive feedback, seems pretty legit to me. His album Night Sounds is also sick, and you should check it out. Go to myspace.com/girltalk to check him out, and also for links to download his newest album - which you pay what you want for it. I read an article in the Providence Phoenix recently about this very new band had gone on tour a few times and their short months together. It made me call into question again my feelings about music and bands in general. I've always felt that bands who just start up and immediately jump to the "next steps" of being in a band (touring, having a nation-wide release of their CD) aren't really giving an appropriate time to their art. I remember when we met Simple Plan. We met them on the Pop Disaster tour (which was the blink 182/Green Day tour when I was in high school). The bassist of Simple Plan came out of a tourbus to come talk to us - this was before, or during the rise of their single "I'd Do Anything" (which, while I'm not neccessarily a Simple Plan fan, is one of my favorite pop-punk songs) and they were talking to us about their first CD, which was released nation-wide. They played that day and not many people knew them. They, of course, became very successful eventually. The reason I feel like this isn't the best way to do things is because I feel that you aren't going to flourish as an artist very much when you start at the top or present your first works as, basically, what your finished product is going to be. The band has no time to shape a specific sound or work together and experiment with writing songs for very long. If you start up in your state/area, and you come out with an EP, or even a full-length album that you push around, get it to places for review, let people around you hear it or experience it, play shows where you are, spread your name out, etc. then you can sort of build a direction, rather than a finalized release. Take Monty's Fan Club for example, they started out as a ska band, and they released a 10 or 12 song release in 2000. They played continually, got better at their instruments, they lost people that didn't want to focus seriously on the band, and they moved closer to the style of music they actually wanted to produce. By 2005, things were 100% changed for them (different singer, at least three people left and a new one was added, their music style was completely different, grew as songwriters/musicians). And now, they're doing what they want. They took all the small steps that a band should take to grow into themselves. I believe this is the way to go, and that's a big reason S*D went that way. It was also convenient for us, as we were also entering college at the time the band started, which grounded us here. But I really believe that helps bands grow. I don't think Aerosmith would have changed as much over their career, or that blink 182 would have decided to grow over the course of bigger and bigger releases if they hadn't had room to move up from where they were. Which is why when I see that a band has been around for 9 months and gone on three tours, I think that it's a little foolish. Groom where you are and start up a solid fanbase. If you can draw 20 people five states away, that's great. But if you come home to where you started and do the same thing, that really sucks. Plus, alot of bands start up and are very green at being themselves, and at first, for the most part, simply imitate a specific genre or even a specific band they look up to, instead of growing to create something different. Which is fine, artists should inspire you to create art, and even influence it, but I believe that without a doubt, you grow in a more unique direction as you continually create and shape your own priorities and style within that structure. Of course, on the other hand, if anyone had offered to pay Senior Discount to record their first CD, we would have done it. The fact that people who are passionate about music also need to get paid to do it, is a difficult crossroads. You want to create the best art, and be in the best environment to do so, but you also need to feed yourself and put a roof over your head. Those two things can compromise one another. So the Bad Larry reunion show is coming up. I'd be ridiculously excited for this even if Senior Discount wasn't co-headlining. Okay, that's a lie. I'm a bitter fuck and would say "what the fuck! WE should be co-headlining that show!" if we weren't. But we are. So there's that. Bad Larry is one of my top local bands. Everyone appreciates eachother in the local scene, but it's different to really enjoy a band in general. Penrose, for example, is a band I'm sure wouldn't pay any mind or listen to Senior Discount if they didn't know us. Which is fine - people have different tastes in music, and we and Penrose both support eachother within the scene and pay attention to what the other band does and talk to them about it, because we're all friends. They wouldn't neccessarily like us even they didn't know us. But Bad Larry was a band I really liked. Many of their songs were songs I continually listen to now, and even the ones I don't listen to as often, are still good. They're just a great ska band to our punk band. I think the fact that we came up at the same time, and the fact that our music shared alot of fans, just made us a lot closer than a lot of other bands in the scene. We must have played 25 or 30 shows with them, some huge, some ridiculously small. But we all got along and hung out and it was great. When they broke up it was a super bad time in my life, and I don't think I fully got to appreciate their last show as much as I wish I had. I am extremely excited for this show (especially now that it's at Lupos). Which brings us to the unfortunate fact that the Living Room has closed. The Living Room was Providence's mid-size venue. There's Lupos (capacity 1200) and the Living Room (capacity 600 or so). That's where the small bands started up, playing to no one, and where the bands that got bigger and bigger would fill up, playing to many, many, many people. It was crazy because so many national tours came through there as well, and you really got to feel like you were first starting to taste that level of accomplishment when you played there. The Living Room is Senior Discount's home. That's true. We've had so many homeshows there, and seen so many shows there, national and local, big and small. It was just the place where everything started for SO many bands from around here, and you had this huge cast of promoters, sound guys, bartenders, bouncers, other bands, and fans filling up the place constantly. It was always a warm, familiar place for us. I remember in a magazine once I actually said "The Living Room is Senior Discount home. It's like a bridge and we are the trolls who live under it. Actually Tom is the troll. I think the rest of us are townspeople." I'm really sad about this, but I'm hoping that it will re-open. I don't know what else they would do with that building. We'll have to see. I guess I'm not really letting it sink in because I believe that it's not gone yet. Let's continue to hope.
I'm still playing Guitar Hero World Tour, as well as Saints Row 2 (which just continually gets better - even after 47 hours of playing time). I got the new Tetris Party game for the Wii, and I have to say - it is awesome. If you're a Tetris fan, this is probably the ultimate Tetris title. I urge you to get it immediately. Here's a video of co-op play - you and a friend have a window as wide as two Tetris windows and you have to collectively form lines all the way across. It's just awesome. Besides that, I started playing Gears Of War 2 co-op with my girlfriend. I could not get into Gears Of War 1 (I will give it another chance at some point) but I certainly seem to be getting into this one. Alyssa's favorite games are the Guitar Hero and Gears Of War series. I also got the new James Bond game, Quantum Of Solace...played it for about five minutes. Nothing bad but nothing great, I'll play it more probably. What I'm extremely excited for is Left 4 Dead, the new zombie game (which I've got my hands on the demo for but haven't played yet). I also got the AC/DC Rock Band game, which I'm sure will not surprise me in the least, but I'll still enjoy playing "Highway To Hell" and a few others. Nothing new/noteworthy really this week in video game terms for me, but I did find this article really interesting. Are Video Games Art?
I'm waiting for stereo bluetooth to be standard in music players. Stereo bluetooth would mean that you have a Zune or iPod (preferrably Zune) and a pair of headphones with no wires, and the two would connect like that. You, of course, would have a headphone input on the Zune (and possibly on the headphones) for when the headphones aren't charged. The quality of bluetooth so far isn't CD quality - but apparently it will be very soon. I believe things will go the way I described. We'll have to see.
I love my new phone, the G1, so I'm dedicating a whole category to it. Features I Have Gotten In The Past Few Weeks Since I Last Wrote (Specifically, Ones I Actually Use): - I can use my G1 as a portable hard drive - Notepad - Pretty simple notepad app. Neccessary! - aReader - App that lets me read e-books on my phone (e-books are regular books - novels, graphic novels, etc - transcribed to electronic format to read on electronic devices) - My Google Calendar - so I can always remember when Sousa is ovulating - BlueBrush - it's basically Microsoft Paint, except I can send my drawing to the Teej after through a picture message (that is, if his iPhone had picture messaging...ouch) - White Pages Caller ID - this is caller ID that states phone number, name, and adress when people call you (even people not in your contacts list) - Dial Zero - this app allows me to call any customer service lines without having to talk to recordings/robots first - I go right to a person. Fucking crazy, huh? - DroidRecord - simple soundrecorder (and you can send it to phones or email adresses) - Gmail - to stay in touch with my G's - Email - to stay in touch with my E's (that means my work email) - Fast Local Search - wherever you are, this app has a bunch of buttons (Food, Shops, Grocery, Fitness, Nightlife, Hotels, Arts, Taxi, Professionals, Medical, Auto, Schools, etc) and it finds the closest thing to you in the specific category you choose - for when you're somewhere you're unfamiliar with - or when you want to find a new place to go - LangtoLang dictionary - translate any sentence in one language to any other language. As you would have guessed, I use this constantly - Locale/Locations/GoogleMaps - just keeps track of all my locations, gives me directions to other locations, lets me search for locations and get all their info (adress, phone number, etc) without having to use 411 - Newsreader - this is for all my RSS Feeds (AbsolutePunk.net, Joystiq, Digg Movies, E! Online, Punknews,org, Gamespot, IGN, etc) - Rock On Altitude - this is really odd. It's all videos, and it's music news, newest music videos, videos of new live performances, interviews, etc. Deals with very mainstream artists. All for the G1. It's really awesome and cool. It's free on the G1, and of course, costs money on the iPhone. - Restaurant Search - this is a restaurant search fueled by your GPS to tell you restuarants near you and ratings on those restaurants. - My To Do List - self-explanatory. - dgMoney - Budget app that just keeps track of seperate lists of money. As Tom Wells says, I'm "made of money" so I really have no limit on money, but I still like to keep track of my spending in different places (checking account, credit cards, paypal, etc) - Barcode Scanner - scan a barcode with the phone and it will tell you where to buy the product the cheapest - really sick - there are three so far - my favorite is ShopSavvy - you can check it out here - the coolest thing is that you can actually save a product, pick a price you are willing to pay for it, and when the product reaches that price at any store, it will email you. Hell yes. - Awesome Movie App - You start it up, it takes your location (from the GPS) and figures out all the movies near you, and you click on a movie, where it tells you all the theatres near and the times playing - awesome. - Gasbot - finds the cheapest gas near you (searches by GPS, obviously) - Modem Tethering - I can hook up the USB port on my G1 to my laptop in a car (or anywhere) and connect to the internet. Not too shabby. I also have search stuff - Wikipedia, Google Search, Yellowpages, Youtube, Dictionary - as programs on the phone that are specifically designed for the G1 so that everything is instantaneous and utilized for my phone, as well as, of course, text messaging, picture messaging, all instant message services, Myspace, Facebook, Email, Voice dialing, bluetooth, call forwarding, bleh bleh bleh. Plus the music player, camera, and video player. They also have stuff that's like streaming radio (you pick an artist, and it streams random songs, or you pick a genre and it streams random songs), and little things that you may only use once (a level, a stopwatch, flashlight, etc) but also make any situation where you need something like that make the G1 look like the best and most-equipped pal you ever had.
By the way - yes, all that stuff is free.
Stuff I Need That Has Not Been Released Yet! - Touch-screen keypad for the entire phone, like a typical T9 set-up. See, I like the keyboard for smartphones, but when I'm driving and want to type a quick message, I want an onscreen number-pad keyboard to type with one hand to respond to a text or whatever. So far they have released this for dialing, to let you search for a name, but I need it for the rest of the phone. - Wish they would allow you to set ringtone for a whole group, so if people are in that group it gives them that ringtone by default. - Chuck Staton Barcode Scanner - I want a barcode scanner that searches for a product (like the Iron Man 2-Disc Blu-ray) on half.com, ebay, Gamestop, FYE, etc in the used sections. As of right now, it only scans for new products, therefore finding answers like "Best Buy - $42.00" when you could get the same title at FYE for $21.00 (and they're usually having a sale on top of that). - The AIM on the phone is not great - I mentioned this in my review. There's a lot of things wrong with it. I don't really use AIM on my phone but I'd like the option to do so. - PDF reader (This has been released but still has too many bugs to be considered adequate) - Audio recorder that records phone calls (This has supposedly been released but I haven't found it yet) - Flash (not available on the G1 or iPhone yet) - Real-time, turn-by-turn GPS (This has supposedly been released but I haven't had the chance to test it yet) - Guitar tuner - Free restaurant calorie count encyclopedia (a third party company has released this app for $9.99) - GoogleDocs - Better Myspace client (the one currently out does not alert you when you get new messages/comments/etc) - Stereo Bluetooth - Visual Voicemail (tells you who left you a voicemail before you check it) - the ability to stream music directly from my home Zune library - Emulators. They've released a Gameboy emulator that I don't like (but it's good that the wave has started), but I want Gameboy, NES, SNES and Sega on this phone!! They have some for iPhone and they suck ass.
New Stuff That I Don't Use But Is Pretty Sick Okay I was originally also going to do a little list of stuff that's cool on the G1 but that I don't really use at all. But I can't. The list is too huge. They've added like 250 applications to it already and I'm not going to list another 50 on here. There's no comprehensive list online but when there is one, I'll post it here.
I love to argue when I'm right, and I only argue when I'm right. Therefore - I love to argue. Here's a rundown of my biggest argument recently. So here's the deal. I got a Sidekick 3, and then a while later, upgraded to a Sidekick LX. Four months after that, I wanted to upgrade again to a G1, which was being advertised as costing $179.99 for existing users. I went to upgrade, and was told I'd be charged $300 instead, as I had not waited the appropriate amount of time to upgrade - which is 22 months (understandable). So I called T-Mobile to make sure I couldn't upgrade. The lady on the phone told me to upgrade for $300 (which she claimed to be a mistake on the website), and that she'd credit me back the $120 (she apparently had not realized I wasn't eligible for the $179 price). I asked her to make to note my account with this conversation, to make sure it happenned. A few weeks later (before I received my G1) I called T-Mobile to see when I would get the $120 credit. On the phone, the lady told me she saw the note on my account, but that she couldn't credit me back because I had not yet been charged for the phone in the first place (understandable). When I finally received my G1, I called T-Mobile to get the credit back, and the first woman I talked to told me pleasantly that I was not eligible for the $179 upgrade, and therefore would not be getting the credit back. I asked to speak to her supervisor, as this was unacceptable. The first person I talked to, a month prior, assured me I was buying the phone for $179, end of story. If she made a mistake, that is a mistake on T-Mobile's part, and two other people have already confirmed that this conversation did happen, that she did tell me this, and that it all was noted on my account. So I talk to the supervisor. It eventually becomes a yelling match. She first says "Sorry". I tell her there's no reason to apologize, as she didn't make any mistakes. Later, she says she willl not confirm whether or not the original person told me I'd get the phone for $179 or that it was noted on my account (which was already confirmed by two T-Mobile employees). I tell her she's acting like I made a mistake somewhere, when T-Mobile did and should be apologizing to me. She says she tried to say she was sorry but I told her not to apologize. I countered with "If you won't admit that it happenned, then what the fuck are you apologizing for?" This, of course, elicits silence, because, of course, there is no explanation. She tells me I can return the phone for my $300 back because it's within the 7-day "Buyer's Remorse" period, but I tell her I already sold my previous phone, the Sidekick (I didn't actually sell it yet, but hey, I COULD have), as I upgraded to the G1, and had no use for both phones; if I returned the G1, I would be phoneless. Eventually, I got it out of her that her department can't credit refunds like that, and that I need to speak to a particular different department. I decided to wait the 7-day "Buyer's Remorse" period out, as that way I wouldn't be offered the option to return the phone, and T-Mobile would be more cornered. When I went to call back, I couldn't remember the name of the new department, so I called the regular T-Mobile Help number once more, to try my luck again. This lady saw the note on my account, and credited me back the $120 then and there. "Have a good day Mr. Staton" "Oh, believe me, I will." Chuck Staton - 1 T-Mobile - 0
Working on the new website, waiting for the new web guy to get back to me. Trying to book bar shows and out-of-state shows, playing with Girltalk, and of course, gearing up for the Bad Larry reunion. Doing all the promo we can. If you need tickets, IM me, message me, email me, call me, or respond here with a comment. Also, if you'd like to help promote Click to here to download the full-page flyer Click to here to download the quarter-page flyers (four to a page, cut them out) Put 'em EVERYWHERE. Playing Lupo's is a huge responsibility and we really want to knock it out of the park. This is not a show to miss. Recorded drums for the new EP, still waiting to do vocals/guitar stuff. Waiting for White Noise to mix the new song (yes, still waiting).
My diet has given me a 15 pound decrease so far, which is dissappointing for being 2 months in. Although, I have not started excersizing yet. Or should I say, I had not started excersizing when that weight loss was calculated. As of this week, I started walking an hour a day. Originally I was going to keep my laptop at Tom's house, walk there (half hour), grab my laptop, go across the street to the Metro Diner, drink coffee, do all my S*D work, then when I'm done, put my laptop back at Tom's and walk the half hour home. Unfortunately, this proved pretty uncomfortabe. No outlets or wi-fi at the Metro, and it was generally uncomfortable just sitting there drinking coffee. The folks were nice I just didn't feel the area. So, now my plan is different. The Coffee Depot downtown is my new spot (outlets and wi-fi galore, relaxed setting) but is an hour (walk) away. I don't know if I'm down to walk a half hour to Tom's grab my 20 pound laptop (17 inch screen on it, and the laptop's in a steel case) then walk another half hour downtown, then do it all again on the way back. So my plan is now to drive to Tom's, pick up his (extremely smaller) laptop (if he allows it - he's been fighting me) and walk downtown with that. Hour of walking still, except with a laptop on my back. He should allow me to do it, as we tend to help eachother out alot (he helps me find the best deals for things at FYE, allows me access to his house to keep my laptop there, and other, non-postable tasks - not sex - and I help him out by letting him borrow money when he needs to, supplying him with dinners, and other non-postable tasks - yes, sex this time.) And recently I gave him a $20 gift card to Shaw's (to get lobster bisque or other lunches - it's right next to his work) for being cool about helping me out with that kind of stuff. This really works out for me, as at my house I am extremely distracted (Alyssa always wants to cuddle, have sex, play video games and watch movies - all of which I am easily persuaded into doing with her) and I never get the amount of promotion/booking/etc done that I plan on doing. Also, walking to a place helps me. When I walk for an hour around an area and back to my house, I feel like I have no drive to do it. So starting this week, I am spending a few hours each day at the Coffee Depot. I really really enjoy it. It gives me a chance to correspond by email with Lou, Arcello and Brad, as well as work on my blog, and all the S*D stuff I mentioned. Plus I get to lisen to music through headphones on the walk there, and while I'm writing - I never listen to music through headphones and it is undoubtable the best way. I've also started keeping a daily log of all the things I do. I know I've already created this blog, but my log is only for me, as it chronicles exactly what I do (and unlike my blog, doesn't talk at all about how I feel about things - it's like the "minutes" of my life), just so I can always recount exactly what was happenning in my life or what I did, at any point in time. Unfortunately, recently, I've been really bummed out. I have been the happiest in my relationship than I ever have been in a relationship. That drives me most of the time. But I also am really unhappy with the fact that my friends seem to be so far gone, and the old times we used to have just don't seem to exist anymore. Honestly, one of the reasons we have done any video stuff recently (and why I've been uninterested in them for a while) is because they used to be produced differently. Sousa and I used to hang out constantly, so the jokes in the video used to come from things that happenned to us, and in general the humor (and some specific jokes) would grow in this way between constantly dealing with eachother, discussing our opinions on things, and experiencing normal and abnormal situations together. It came from this common viewpoint and experience together. Now, that doesn't exist. I only really see Sousa now when it's time to practice or otherwise work on something (like when we wrote his Comedy Bonanza last June, or the video in August), or when he wants to see a specific movie. It's just completely different, and I feel like getting together to write the videos is the only time we think about them, instead of having them grow, like they used to. It really turns me off to doing them and that's why I haven't been. The amount of work that S*D now has, in conjunction with my friends not really being around anymore, is also becoming a huge strain on me in conjunction with the band in general. There is so much going on right now and I feel like I'm supposed to handle it all alone.
These are the tasks that I'm tackling alone: - We have to finish "polishing" the songs Explode RI, That Bitch, Caley's Song, Ataxia (bluegrass), and I'm Crazy (this means make sure they are all as good as we want them to be for recording). This is done by recording the entire song, all parts, all instruments, re-doing any parts that need improvement, adding guitar/bass parts, harmonies, lyrics chances, etc. - I have to tab out the new violin parts I've written for Caley's Song, and talk to a guy that Christian knows, teach him the song, and get it down with him. - We have to build the new website, in general. I am designing it and we are getting a graphic designer to make those ideas happen. Also, we had found a guy to build it for us, and now, he is probably pulling out of doing it, and hasn't done anything with the initial designs I sent him five weeks ago. So now a new guy must be found. - The artwork for the new EP must be created. - We have to figure out how to promote the release of new website/EP, and figure out all the outlets that will allow us to release our free EP on them (iTunes, mp3.com, etc). - We need to post HTML bulletins on myspace every day, constantly, to get people to know about the Bad Larry show. - If we want new shirts and stickers (as we had planned) we have to design them and figure out where to get the money to make them. - We have to figure out how to implement the 50% off sale we're planning on doing at the end of this month online.
These are the tasks that the band is doing is a whole: - Practicing twice a week (obviously) - We're trying to figure out promotional dates to promote for Bad Larry (most likely I will be at 100% of them, then Tom will be at 75% of them, Christian at 50%, and Sousa at maybe one or two) - I'd love to go to the malls every Friday and Saturday to promote, on top of the four or five shows we're planning on, but I can't do it alone, which is what looks like the schedule will be - We have to promote ticket sales online (Tom commented all the band's myspaces - I dont think he's finished yet, Alyssa commented specific fans, and I have to do the 70+ new friend requests we have and sort out the bands for later promo) - We (Tom, hopefully) have to figure out our contract with White Noise, as it basically dictates whether or not we will be doing a new album (at all) any time in the near future - We have to actually SELL THE TICKETS for the Bad Larry show. People are not buying from us, even though we are the cheapest outlet (stores sell them for at least $12, you can buy them online from Bad Larry for $12, we're selling for $10) - We have to talk to BRU, Motif, the Phoenix, WHJY, 92 ProFM, all about promoting for the Bad Larry show (I am guessing I will complete four of these and Tom will do one) - Finally - we're supposed to be booking bar shows (and out-of-state shows in general) so we can pay my Grandmother off the $5,000 we owe her (from when we bought the new van) by Christmas. It looks by then that we will have paid her $2,000. We just have not worked on this.
Building the website and demoing/re-writing all the songs are the two hugest obstacles. I'm trying to tackle them alone (and I don't expect the rest of the band to have to do these, as I've always done them) so I would really hope the band would do the rest of the stuff, but of course, I am doing 90% of all the work. You know. I realized recently how love I much to produce film, music and in general, entertainment and art. It's what I deeply care about and believe in and I love the feeling of creating something great - the new S*D line-up is so good. We are so much better than before, and the new song (which is being mixed) is coming out so, so good. Our best recorded song to-date, byfar. I think we have such a great talent/attitude now. So much better than than we were, and I so wish we were all working on furthering it. Tom used to shoulder alot more of the "technical" end (booking shows, html promo, selling tickets) and that was really helpful, but he stopped doing that around the time he got his promotion, so now he works 44 hours a week, and it really is more than that, as he leaves an hour before wor and returns 45 minutes after he's out, plus he's constantly tired, as he has to get up early. It has completely changed the way we work and we have been so much less (financially) productive since then, which is even worse as we added the cost of the van, plus a monthly rental of our practice space. On top of this, in two weeks, he will be working six days a week instead of five, until the new year. I know I shouldn't put it all on Tom, but he is the one who was doing a certain amount of work, and then drastically reduced it, which really made things hard on me. We need to re-group and split it more evenly. I think this will be easier when Sousa gets out of school in a month or so. I've been urging Tom to get a new job so he doesn't have to work so much but he doesn't seem to be really following up on his leads, because he is comfortable where he is. Honestly, I don't know if you can be the manager of a store who's time is taken up so much, and still expect to move forward as an artist. The truth is, I don't know much longer I can swing all the work, especially when I just feel like I have my friends around so much less. Sometimes I look at my life and all the things I want to do, and I seriously consider packing up all my stuff and moving away with Alyssa. Giving up on any sort of emblance of being an artist/entertainer as Chuck Staton or with Senior Discount, and just getting a regular job and concentrating on saving money and...getting old. I don't ever do things without discussing them with people or thinking about them thoroughly, but I do feel closer to doing that than I ever have before. Speak for yourself, and don't pray for me, chuckstaton PS - I stole that "use a line from a song to sign off when writing" thing from Brad. This is the one time I will credit that to him.
The G1: First off, this is like a pre-review. The launch for the T-Mobile G1 phone is set for Wednesday, Oct 22nd. I started using mine on Monday, Oct 20th because Google wanted to allow me to post a review in my blog for the launch date for promotion. Or maybe mine just arrived a little early. I prefer to believe the former. But what I'm saying is - this isn't the G1 at launch - when there may be many more apps available (I got it Monday morning and the amount of apps available almost tripled in the fist 24 hours I had the phone). Also - Apps are the meat and potatoes of this phone so that's a big deal. Example: My phone currently has no video player at all - but there will be an App for it at launch. Which also invites you to remember - any problem (whatsoever) may be fixed with with an app. Example: If I'm a douchebag who wants to edit this tiny, meaningless thing in the phone, and the phone won't let me - chances are an app will come out to right any wrongs and allow in options to exist. Also, because they are user-generated and not regulated by the company - ANY app can come out and fix things. Meaning - if you have a video player on your G1 that doesn't play a specific filetype, a developer can just produce one that does, and bam - you're set. You really have to think of in terms of a computer, rather than an electronic device regulated by a company (like an iPhone or an Xbox 360). Anything someone wants will get made. So here we go!
- General: Okay, this is just like a computer. Set your background wallpaper (in-phone editor, letting you crop any picture to perfection for it), and set your shortcuts on the desktop. This means I can put a shortcut to any program on the phone, a link to a specific webpage, specific Gmail mail lists(like all conversations between me and Lou), a link to a specific contact (ie: to have a place to click to directly call Tom Wells), or a folder (which cant contain more links/contacts/whatever) wherever I want on the desktop (Those aren't all the options of what you can add, just the ones I've come across). I specifically have a weblink shortcut to my online DVD collection, so when I find a sweet movie deal at Newbury Comics, I can check my collection and make sure I don't already have it! Also - at the time I started writing this review (20 minutes ago) I couldn't set it to directly call someone with a one-touch shortcut - but by this time a new App has been released that allows you to do that and anything else whatsoever on the phone. You can scroll through all this stuff (you have three seperate homescreens) with your finger, or with the trackball. You have a little tab at the bottom of the screen to pull up a list of every program on your phone as well (think of "Start>Programs" in Windows) so everything is always easy to get to.
- Ringtones: Upon seeing this, I was so super sold on this device (as I should be, since I pre-ordered it a month before it came out). You can put any Mp3 onto the phone (just plug into the computer and drag-and-drop) and use it as a ringtone. For free. No more buying ringtones. Ever. Eeeeeeever. This is a short sentence blurb but that is a big deal. Read it again.
- Phone/Contacts List: The contact list is exactly like any phones (I think that technology has pretty much got that part figured out) except it links all contacts to ALL their info - my "Tom Wells" contact has his phone number for texts/calling, his email adress, his AIM name, his physical adress, spots for any amount (and I do mean any amount) of other numbers (work, home, truckstop bathroom), facts about him, or anything to reach him by. ("Facts about him" may be used for one of the many many people in bands I meet and forget about). *SUPER FEATURE* - It also gives you the option to make it so that when a specific contact calls you, it sends them right to voicemail - this for annoying dicks you want to avoid (did someone just say the name "Brad Rorher"?) but don't want to hurt their feelings. This is awesome. One thing (that is typical of T-Mobile) that stinks is that you can't assign a ringtone to a Group. Meaning if I put Arcello and Ben Chauvin into my "Idiots" group, it will show them together when I display the group, but if I want to assign them both a specific ringtone to indicate Idiots are calling, I have to assign them individually. Small inconvenience, but I want this review to be unbiased. I don't want anyone to think I'm just against iPhone-Bin-Laden and Apple-Quaida (pronounced app - al - kie - dah).
- Communications (GMail, Email, IMs, Myspace, etc): The Gmail app is perfect. That's all. If you have GMail on your computer, think of a mobile version of that, with all the options. Email is good (used for a secondary or non-Gmail email adress) too. I use it for my job, and it's simple and works well. Instant Messenger is okay. I don't like the fact that it forces your Categories in Buddy Lists to be in alphabetical order. I have my AIM set up with my girlfriend at the top, then the VBW, then Girls I know, and then Guys I know (with different, and politically incorrect group names). This changes it to display them in alphabetical order. Another small inconvenience. Myspace application is great - I'm waiting for a Facebook one. *SUPER FEATURE* - All communications applications send alerts right to the homescreen of your phone on the top left side, so you never have to open the programs just to check if you have anything new. You can also slide the "Alerts Bar" down and see all the previous alerts you've gotten - like if you were sleeping - and clear them as you see fit - meaning if you want to remember to respond to an email or a text, you can just keep that alert there until you don't need it.
- Connectivity - The G1 works on the Edge network (normal mobile phone internet), as well as the 3G network (the new, much higher-speed mobile internet), and wi-fi. The 3G coverage isn't great yet (or so I've heard - I have it here in Warren, RI with no problem for some reason), but T-Mobile is supposed to have it nationwide by the end of November. The wi-fi is also great. It finds a network and asks if you want to connect, and you can set it to automatically connect. Download speeds are great, even with no wi-fi. I think I've waited for about 15 seconds at the most to download any of the Apps so far, and email, calender, etc updates have been absolutely instantaneous with my computer. Also, the internet, Google search (direct app), WikiMobile (direct app) and Youtube mobile (direct app) have also been unbelievably fast, on the 3G network.
- GPS - Google Maps is built in, and I've downloaded "Locale" and "Locations". These three features make up the GPS usage. You see your own location, as well as set it as a location in your phone - like "Home", "Recording Studio", "Truckstop Bathroom", etc. You can set the phone to change settings when you get to that location - like when you get to the movies, your phone automatically goes on silent. Or if you're dating four girls at once, you can set it so the background on your phone is a picture of them whenever you get close to where they live. You can also set it so that when you're home, it forwards all your incoming cell phone calls to your home phone (or any number). This is great if you have a home phone and you don't want to use your minutes. You can (obviously) find directions from location to location. You can look at it all with satellite view (what the earth really looks like), map view (the way your location looks on a map) or streetview (which is a view from the street around a location - which is also retardedly cool - go look up Google Streetview to see it). Streetview is in limited areas, but is all over Providence. GPS also lets you look up what business are close to you, and gives you all their info (name, address, phone number, website), making 411 pretty unneccessary.
- Multimedia - The phone has Amazon Mp3 (a DRM-free downloading service - the Senior Discount CD is on there for $8.99) which downloads directly to phone, over wi-fi or 3G, as well as an Mp3 player. Pretty sweet, especially compared to the iPhone's iTunes B.S. smothered-in-DRM-downloads that can only be accessed over wi-fi. The phone does not come with a video player, but an app has already been released to play videos (it will be available on the launch date). It also has a 3 Megapixel camera and a picture viewer. No video camera capabilities yet, but I'm sure it will be coming - my Sidekick LX was also launched without that ability, but soon got an update that allowed it.
Battery Life - First off, the battery is replaceable - meaning that if your battery shits out, you get to keep your phone (and all your specific settings) and just get the battery replaced (as opposed to the iPhone, which has a built-in battery - if it goes, you have to replace the whole phone). As for the life - the battery is supposed to be great on this phone. I have not had that experience yet. I haven't had it die on me, but I charged it when I got it yesterday for about four hours, then used it for about 6 and it was almost dying. I will admit, I read afterwards that you're supposed to charge it to 100% and I certainly didn't, and I also have kept 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, and everything else on 100% of the time, as well as set up the entire phone (all contacts, all ringtones, backgrounds, apps, updates, downloads) during that point in time, so I was really giving it a harsh run the entire time it was on. So I'm going to have to keep experiencing it to see when it dies. I gave it a full charge last night and we'll see how it holds up. *UPDATE* Okay, so, like I said, I charged it all last night, woke up at 9:30 AM and unplugged it for a battery test today. I kept the 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, updater, and everything else on the entire time, and for the beginning of the day (while writing this blog) I was playing with the phone alot. Starting around noon I started using it more normally (not on it constantly, but doing texts, calls, and emails on and off all through the day). So it lasted under all those conditions from 9:30 AM - 12:30 AM. 15 hours, and at that point is when the phone was at 15% battery, which told me to plug it in (meaning I don't know how much longer it will last after that - the Zune has QUITE a battery life after it gets to the "critical" point) - so this device has a very nice battery life on it (even with EVERYTHING on). At this point I must point out - the G1 is a multitasking phone, and there is no way to turn off an app. The previous six programs you used on it are continually open all the time.
- Normal features - the phone has everything I can think of from a normal phone - Alarm Clocks, Calculator, Voice Dialing, Call Forwarding, Bluetooth, etc.
- Miscellaneous (Google Calendar, Apps) - Calendar is awesome, works perfectly. I'm waiting on other Google Apps (like Google Docs and others) to get released. They sync and are displayed so well. Other Apps I've downloaded so far are ShopSavy/Compare Anywhere. These are two barcode scanning apps that give you the best prices on any product AND how close you can buy them. They sound pretty cool, but the things I usually shop for are DVD's/books/video games, which I always buy from Half.com, Ebay or used from Amazon, FYE, and Gamestop (in conjunction with their specific sales). It would be impossible to really hunt for a good deal like that unless you're a person so it just gives retailer prices (Best Buy, etc) which aren't any help to me specifically. But, if you are looking for something specific that's not media (like a specific mouse you use, or DVD-R's, a PC, a flatscreen monitor, etc) than this could be a big help. It also lets you store a product, enter in a price you're willing to buy it at, and it will alert you if any retailer sells it for that price. Not too many Apps have been released yet (around 30) and I'm sure it will jump at launch, and then jump again after the public has had it long enough to figure it out and make their own apps.
Pricing (Thanks Brad for suggesting this) - If you're comparing it to the iPhone, the iPhone is more expensive (in every way - and I'll explain that). Here's the iPhone's pricing - the phone is $200 (8 GB) with a two year service plan. The plan itself is $95 a month (700 minutes, unlimited texts, internet, etc). That's basically the "unlimited" plan. Music downloads are $1, and it's ANOTHER $1 if you want to use them as ringtones. Or you can just buy ringtones from AT&T (iPhone's carrier). AT&T also has wi-fi hotspots but you have to pay to use those too. With the G1, the phone is $179.99 (expandable memory - has an SD card reader inside) with a two year service plan, and you have two (or so) options when it comes to plans. One (mine) is $40 (high-end voiceplan) + $35 (unlimited text, internet, etc, and 600 minutes per month for the G1), so that's $75 for the comparable plan (both are represented here without taxes). And you don't have to pay for ringtones, and T-Mobile also has wi-fi hotspots, but unlike the iPhone's, they are free. You can change your normal T-Mobile plan to a basic voiceplan to $30 a month (300 minutes, unlimited nights and weekends), and your G1 plan t0 $25 a month (400 texts, unsure on internet usage) so that's $55 a month total. On my sidekick I also had insurance on it, which was another $5.99 a month. I find T-Mobile to have the best pricing for smartphones, as I've been a sidekick user for some time - by the way, the Sidekicks do not compare at ALL to the G1.
Overall, I give the phone 4.75 stars out of 5. It's just great - best phone I've ever dealt with by far, and completely kills the competitor. I can't see one advantage the competitor has and things can only get better with the new apps. I've also only had it for a little less than 24 hours, so I will possibly add some updates to this blog as I figure out more stuff - I really am trying to display the flaws as well as the great things about it, and they will perhaps rear their ugly heads as I use it more. - chuckstaton
Okay! It's been a little time since I last posted. I feel like a dick! I'll try not to let it happen again. What has happenned since then? I've watch a bunch of movies, played a bunch of video games, listened to a bunch of music, and made fun of a bunch of Teej's (actually just one, but I made fun of him ALOT). I've been working on more S*D stuff as well. So let's get started.
First off - there's a deal right now on SecondSpin.com - 25% off everything. It's really good - www.secondspin.com - the coupon code is 25OCT16 - apply it at checkout (deal ends TODAY, October 16th) - I got the Chris Rock Show: Seasons 1 & 2 for $9, and 12 other DVD's. Total shipping was $9 for 13 DVDs (and 3 of them were seasons). Secondspin has the cheapest DVD's for the most part, and very cheap shipping. So 25% can really help - they have CDs and blu-rays as well.
I watched the Family Guy movie (the one that came out after they got cancelled, and then came back - it's called "Stewie Griffin The Untold Story") yesterday when I got the DVD. I haven't watched it in years, and I believe I judged it a little too harshly when I first watched it. It had such a big build-up though. So I watched it again - not bad. I think alot of other episodes are better. Although I did get REALLY super bummed out - there was a joke in a DVD-only part of the episode (I had previously seen it on television) and it was an exact joke I did in our movie. I'm talking virtually word-for-word here. In "VBW Attack", during the credits, it says "First and foremost, I'd like to thank the VBW" then it goes onto list all my friends, and the last one says "and Tom Wells (Hey man, I had sex with your sister. I'm really sorry. I thought this was the most appropriate place to tell you.)" Now, before the Family Guy movie begins they have a little extra part on the red carpet, and the Griffins go into the theatre, show some parody previews, and then finally, on the movies creen they're watching it all on, it (basically) says "And now, our Feature Presentation. Hey Ken, listen, I slept with Darlene. I'm sorry. I thought this was the most appropriate place to tell you. I'll see you at karaoke." Shitty. It came out before "VBW Attack" did but it doesn't really matter who came up with it first, because they were seperate ideas. By the way - this is not the first time we have done the exact same joke as Family Guy (and most of the time we do them first - specifically a joke we did with me playing with a flashlight on the wall to get Christian to chase it like a cat - Family Guy did a few years later when they brought on the character of Brian's girlfriend). I have to say I think it's pretty odd how often South Park and Family Guy (and to a lesser extent, the Simpsons) come out with DVDs - check this out. South Park has released 11 of their 13 season on DVD. Minimal extras (4 minute commentary on each episode, and maybe 1 or documentaries over the course of all 11 seasons). But they also release like, special DVD's. They released one called "South Park: The Greatest Hits" and it's another two-disc set, with episodes that have all been released on DVD - the only new thing is a 5 minute cartoon! Who buys these things?! I think South Park has about 4 of these (one came out this week). Family Guy, I think, is worse about it. First off, they release HALF seasons. They release Family Guy Volume 3 - which is Family Guy Season 4, Part 1. It's 13 episodes long. Then they release Family Guy Volume 4 - Family Guy Season 4, Part 2. They both cost between $30 and $40. Now, what's worse, is that last year they released a "Series" set. Meaning they released ALL the seasons together in a collectible package, that costs around $150. They did this last year in October, releasing seasons 1 - 5 (technically, the first half of season 5). Now they're doing it AGAIN this year, with DIFFERENT collectible packaging, and all they're adding is the SECOND HALF OF SEASON 5! Again, costing $150. I actually did some research and that will make the FIFTH "Complete Collection" Family Guy has released (And I'm not counting the first one they released - Seasons 1 through 3 - it doesn't really count, as Family Guy was cancelled and actually believed that the release was the complete collection). Now, worst of all, this season, Family Guy is releasing a DVD that is one Christmas episode of Family Guy, that aired in 2002, and has been available on DVD for the past five years, in a DVD set. It also contains a "Bonus" episode of American Dad and THAT'S ALL. This "new" DVD costs $12 ($10 on sale right now). Like I said, Simpsons does it once in a while (they actually have about 5 out, including two Christmas DVDs with four episodes on each, a Valentine's day one, a Halloween one, and something else). Simpsons and Family Guy are way better about releasing good DVD Extras than South Park is. But I'm a huge nerd so I'm the only person who notices that. The new South Park was GREAT this week. I loved it. I thought last season was kind of lackluster so I was superhappy with this first new episode. I also checked out the Sarah Silverman show's first episode this season. I like her alot. Or "liked" her alot. I think she's really funny sometimes, and when her show came out I was all excited, but I really thought the first season was "meh". Brian Posehn and Steve Agee are great on it, but are side characters. So I watched the first episode of the second season, and I have to say, it was a step-up. Not "Amazing!" but defintiely funnier, and a big step-up directorially. I bought a few seasons of television from Amazon.com. I checked on there and told myself I'd buy any season I wanted that were $4 or less. Lo and behold, there were about 15 (including Simpsons Season 2, South Park season 3, and Chappelle's Show Season 1, 2 and the Lost Episodes). I only bought about six or seven, as the shipping raises the price. A new show I've been watching is MTV's "Sex With Mom and Dad". It's about slutty teenagers wanting to talk to their parents about sex, or their parents wanting to talk to them about sex. Dr. Drew (Loveline, Celebrity Rehab) is their therapist. It's a pretty entertaining show, as a gay 18 year old guy had to discuss with his mom what kind of dicks she prefers. It's really funny, and sometimes the slutty 16 year old girls are really hot. 2. Technology (Apple, Google, Media Man) My pants are still tight for the G1 phone I'm getting. That's all I have to say. I'm still waiting on it and becoming more and more antsy. I have been looking into Google more now that I've been reading so much about the G1 (it's a Google-based operating system on the phone). Google is a lot cooler than I thought. My friends Lou and Arcello have been longtime Google supporters like me, so I gave them the first word about this stuff but I found some cool stuff on it this week. I was reading how it will sync automatically with all your Google apps (obviously the GoogleMaps, Youtube and Gmail stuff) and so I started looking into other stuff run by Google. First is Google Calendar. It's really awesome. It's ridiculously simple and awesomely customizeable (alerts can come through text or email, and you can make your calendar public or private). You can even make more than one Calendar. I have a Senior Discount one and a Chuck Staton one (the link I just gave was both combined). Also, iGoogle - http://www.google.com/ig - it has your email and tons of other things you might want in a home page (I put the S*D myspace, my Facebook, my Google Calendar, and a local movietimes search in it - check out this image of my iGoogle) Another great thing is GoogleReader (which is your personal collection of unlimited RSS feeds). Also, GoogleDocs (Document saver - HTML and all Word Docs), Photos (basically the same as Photobucket), and other stuff on Google. They also have Google alerts, which is really crazy. It will continually search the Web for specific topics and email you when it gets something new. Ridiculous! There's also 1-800-Goog-411 which is a free 411 service (for any phone) where you not only can get 411, but you can just search by typing in your zip code (or saying the city and state) and saying what type of business you're looking for (Pizza Delivery, Mall, etc). I was recently realizing that Google and Apple (because I was comparing the G1 and iPhone) are sort of similar companies. But, while I do find Google and Ipod to be have similar approaches (and innovations) when it comes to technology - there's a lot of obvious different attitudes towards it as well. All of Google's online applications are pretty much free. They're open-source, they even have Google Labs, which is a "technology playground" and an open-source code search engine. They obviously have one of the best mapping systems (and with GoogleStreetview, one of the the sickest). They're doing this new G1 phone with allowing third party applications to be made with no restrictions. On the opposite side, Apple makes products that are top-notch, yet extremely limiting, with the idea that there is one way to do everything. Their Macs and laptops run well, but are also ridiculously restrictive on programs that are produced for them, and extremely expensive. The iPod is the exact same thing. You can link your iPod to ONE library. Meaning if my friend Bradley wants to come over and drag a Senior Discount song from my library onto his iPod - he has to erase his iPod to do it, or not do it. Everything about them is money-hungry and restrictive. You can download a song from iTunes, but you can only burn it to a disc three times EVER. You can download a song from your iTunes and make it your ringtone on your iPhone, but you have to pay a dollar to make it work as a ringtone on top of the first dollar you spent on buying the goddamn song. Also - I want to introduce everyone to Media Man. I catalog my DVDs (as you may have guessed, since I have thousands of them, and obsessive compulsive disorder). I used to just keep a text file of them, so I could look up what I have, but Media Man is this great program that catalogs whatever you want - this is what the Media Man screen looks like (you can do DVDs, Blu Rays, Music, Video Games, Books - anything you want, since you create the categories - you can even make any image/file link to any file on your hard drive and open with the appropriate program), and it has a built-in Amazon search engine to find your products (or you can enter all details - including images - manually. You can view that way that I just showed you, or you can tag stuff in different groups. Like some of my DVDs are seperated into categories (Blu rays, Seasons, Movies, unreleased Documentaries) but they are all tagged "DVD" so I have the option to view them all together. Check out this image of all my video games together under the tag "Video Games". And finally, you can output your list (by any categories or views - meaning collection or tags) to any format - I prefer this: all-text HTML. Click on that, and that's my entire movie collection. You can click on each individual title and it will give you the cover, and all the info from the DVD. I only started buying DVD's about a month ago, and these are the ones I've garnished in the past four weeks or so. I can change the view of the main page of that list too (sorting it by whatever categories I want - there's like 200 categories to use to sort). So yeah, it's awesome. You can get it by Googling "Media Man". Organization gets me off big time, brothers.
3. Movies (Superbad, The Happenning, Choke, Blindness, Iron Man, 11:14, laws concering DVD copying) So first off - if you have the Superbad two-disc edition (which you should, because it was one of the most original comedies to come out in the past couple years), go to the special features and watch "Jonah and the animals" (or something similar to that). It's Jonah after getting his wisdom teeth out, and Judd Apatow goes to his house and brings these animal experts who bring cockroaches, snakes and awful animals and he flips out. Sooooo funny and good. I really really enjoy Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Judd Apatow (most of time ... some of the time). Jonah Hill and Michael Cera are such great new talents. Check out this if you enjoy them:
So this weekend and last weekend I saw "Choke" and "Blindness". First off, "Choke" was an adaptation of one of my favorite novels. It's by Chuck Palahniuk, who wrote "Fight Club", which was a ridiculously awesome movie. So, everyone who was a true "Fight Club" fan, has been waiting for another Palahniuk movie since then. When the trailers for "Choke" came out, I was preeeeeetty weary. It looked pretty low-budget (I do not discriminate against low-budget films, but Fight Club needed to be relatively big-budget to work) and I was wondering how much time/pre-production went into it in the first place. But then I saw all this promo, all these myspace ads, a re-release of the book Choke, etc. and I was like "Alright, maybe this will be good." I thought the lead seemed like a smart choice as well. So I went to see it. How dissappointed I was. It wasn't horrible, but it was pretty bad. And taking a story from "AWESOME AND RIDICULOUSLY ORIGINAL" to "pretty bad" is quite a leap. One of the big things is that Chuck Palahniuk writes these very layered, very metaphor-ridden stories. They have all these smaller things going on, and it's just crazy to even believe that you can squeeze into a two or two-and-a-half hour movie. Choke was only 84 minutes. Everything felt so rushed, important plotpoints were just completely run past - it just made the entire thing pretty uneffective. I don't know how anyone who didn't read the book would really be into the movie during it. Also, the love interest was a total robot. One expression, one way to deliver. I was very dissappointed. Truthfully, it's a HUGE thing to adapt a novel that long and deep, so I get that it's hard. But "Fight Club" was masterfully done (so much so that I consider the movie and book to be companion pieces) - but that proves it CAN BE done. So that is that. I saw "Blindness" as well. My friend B Lau is someone who I see almost all movies with. I consider him a well-versed scholar of film like myself. He is very frightened of scary movies. I am as well, but he is as well, so much that he doesn't enjoy seeing them. I try to get him to watch them with me, and occasionally succeed. So B Lau and I, along with Sousa, Queso (Sousa's cheese-loving girlfriend), Alyssa (my cheese-loving girlfriend), Tom, and maybe some others went to see "The Happenning". I thought it was horrible. I like M Night Shabam-Shabam. I understand that The Village and some of his other stuff is really good for the first viewing, when the end surprises you. I think Unbreakable was great, I like the Sixth Sense. So we all went to see the "The Happenning", which was billed as M Night's first "R-Rated Movie!" and had a couple violent teaser moments in the trailer. The movie sucked ass. The whole thing is ridiculous. Mark Wahlberg totally overacts the whole time (seemingly on purpose, as he's usually great), and all the exciting moments are in the trailer. The movie (and the characters) just wander(s) the entire time. People just stop in their tracks and kill themselves (that's the story). You find in 45 minutes that it's...plants. Plants are making them do it. I don't care if that spoiled the movie for you. That's how bad I thought it sucked. B Lau and Sousa thought it was pretty good. I don't want to overstate that. They didn't love it, but they both definitely found it "passable", and, in conjunction with that, I now find them "commitable". I bring this up because "Blindness" seemed a little similar (trailer-wise) to "The Happenning". It's people going blind for no reason. So the trailer looked good (to me). So the same group (minus Queso and Sousa, which is basically how the group is now) went to go see Blindness. B Lau actually went because I entered a contest under Tom's name. Tom won two free tickets and I gave mine to B Lau, to get him to come with us. Blindness was about this douchebag who loses his sight suddenly, and so do others. When the government in Australia decides to quarantine all the "blindies", the douchebag's wife lies and goes with him to the quarantine. So in the quarantine, more and more people come, the government doesn't want to get blind, so they never give medical supplies or adequate food to the quarantined. So the wife is the only person with sight (she lied to go with her husband, remember?) and basically it turns into Lord Of The Flies, with alot more (sort of willing) women getting raped. The whole movie is boring and shitty and is the CLOSEST I've ever been to walking out of a movie. I'm really bummed, as the last few movie outings I've had (Blindness, Choke, Righteous Kill, Eagle Eye, My Best Friend's Girl, Burn After Reading, Hamlet 2) have been bad - exceptions: Eagle Eye had okay action sequences but very forgettable, and My Best Friend's Girl was better than I thought it'd be, but still not too good. I have not seen a GOOD movie in the theatre since Tropic Thunder (which I thought was pretty good, like a B-). Very dissappointing. Watched the Iron Man DVD (blu-ray, actually!) and the extras confirmed my belief - Jon Favreau (director) was kind of looking at Spiderman and bringing his own commentary/opposite viewpoint of superhero movies when doing Iron Man. That made me happy. Me, Alyssa, and B Lau watched "11:14" this week as well. It's an independant that I really like (and actually stars the director of Choke, as well as Colin Hanks, superhot Rachel Leigh Cooke, and Hilary Swank). I really find it to be an interesting idea and well-executed. B Lau found it to be okay I think. I don't think he was too into it but respected the originality of the idea. I also got the Reservoir Dogs 15th Anniversary blu-ray this week, and the the Clockwork Orange blu-ray. I'm not going to become a blu-ray slut, but I have a select list of blu-rays that I do want to get, because I feel they are visually stimulating, as opposed to something like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which was great, but you don't need to see it on blu-ray. I haven't watch them yet but I'm interested in doing so soon. So - my plan for owning DVD's is that I want to legitimately own all the DVD's I can (truthfully - there are some television specials and documentaries and such that have never been released to buy and I will continue to own "illegitimate" copies of them, as there are no "legitimate" copies). But I also, I think, intelligently, want to own a copy of each legitimate DVD I own. I want to go out, purchase the "Fight Club" special edition DVD, come home, burn a copy of it, and keep a copy of it in the case with the original DVD. This way, I can play the copy so the original doesn't get scratched (or lost). Also, when we go on tour/play shows far away, and we want to bring DVD's to watch in our tourvan, I can take a box of the copies I have, with these really thin DVD cases, so we can fit many in a small box. And if they get scratched or lost, I have the original at home still. So my friend B Lau and I were talking about the legality of this. I knew of the "Fair Use" law and assured him it had to be legal to have a copy of something you own, but he was skeptical. And rightly so. Upon looking up the legality, Fair Use Law says that you can make a back-up copy of any digital media you own (VHS tape, cassette, CD, DVD). BUT later on, a law came out, that prevents any consumer from "tampering with" any anti-piracy techniques, which are on EVERY DVD.. So, under the "Fair Use" law, it's legal to copy DVD's, and under the second law, it's simply illegal to do so, even if you own it. No one has been brought to court for making one copy of a DVD they own to have a back-up, and (hopefully) no one probably ever will be. But I just thought this technicality was ridiculous. George Bush signed a new "controversial" law recently as well. It seems like it's more about counterfeit products than copied DVDs to me, though. Judge for yourself.
4. Music (Lights, Fallout Boy, Green Day, iLike, iTunes Killed The Album, Ben Folds - sort of) Okay, Ben Folds is going to release accapella (spelled wrong) versions of his songs. This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. Here's to poor artists not being able to do what they want, and then seemingly copying others if they ever get to! Green Day is finally doing another album. I have no idea how they would follow American Idiot but I'm sure they can. Fallout Boy have announced a slew of guest stars for their next album. I'm not really into Fallout Boy. I like some singles, dislike some singles, and haven't given them a listen beyond that, because Pete Wentz is as self-infatuated as I am, and also superfamous. That combination is shitty. When I get there, I will be twice as shitty. But check out the guests on their album: Pharell, Blondie, Lil Wayne, and Elvis Costello. I'm interested. Not because I think it will be good, but because it's weird. So, Lights. This is a girl from Canada. She has one song that I absolutely love called "The Last Thing On Your Mind". Go to her myspace and listen to it. I'm not sure her set-up (whether she plays live with a band) and I haven't seen anything of her live. I do highly suspect that alot of her popularity is sex appeal (note her sweet nips). I think she was/is on tour with our friends in Boys Like Girls. So iLike is a sick thing you can add to your iGoogle homepage, that gives you all concert listings in your area. I say add it to your iGoogle (and if you don't have iGoogle, suck an ass). So there's this article that came out last week that I read about iTunes killing the album, and how a lot of bands feel that they don't want to sell their CD's track-by-track. Until I read this article, I was unaware (or perhaps didn't give the concept any thought) of the fact that you can't choose how iTunes, one of the biggest and most popular music distribution sites there is, distributes your music. I mean, we're on iTunes, as well as Rhapsody, mp3.com, CDBaby, Snocap, Bitmunk, Amazon.com (digital download), Payplay.fm, Musicishere.com, Interpunk, and countless other Mp3 service sites, (Isn't that weird?) and I think our first (and so far, only) album is suitable to be sold track-by-track. In fact, I think we're probably always going to feature our music like that and feel that it's an appropriate way to do it. But I feel that OF COURSE the artist should be able to dictate how they want to sell/release their music. I think there are definitely albums out there that should be sold as one (Green Day's Insomniac, Lawrence Arms' The Greatest Story Ever Told, some live albums) and I think it's ridiculous that Apple is producing another way to limit their consumers to what they believe they should be exposed to, and to only present art the way they think it should be presented. I also think that this does hurt the album. Even if Blink 182 specifically released "Feeling This", "Down", "Always", and "I Miss You" as singles from their final album, it was definitely meant to push the album as a whole, not to just release single catchy songs. You're supposed to get a taste of what the band might offer from the single, so you can make a decision whether or not to check them out, as opposed to simply downloading "The Black Parade" from My Chemical Romance without giving the rest of their album a chance. I do feel like there is an unspoken understanding that the single is a sampling. If a band releases a single CD with one song on it - then that's different. But when a band releases a single that's only available on the CD, they want you to make a decision whether or not to check out the CD from that. By the way - when we release our free EP (coming soon) we want to released it everywhere we can. I don't think iTunes features free releases, but if anyone knows any places that do promote and feature free releases, let us know so we can get our stuff there. (BTW - iTunes DOES have some free releases, but I don't know how to get the tracks to them. This is a job for....!!!! ... Tom.)
5. Video Games (Saints Row 2, Stranglehold, Fracture, Silent Hill Homecoming) Okay. I've been playing Stranglehold (360) again and it is awesome. I had to stop though, as I got an early copy of SAINTS ROW 2 (360). It came out yesterday or the day before, and I've had it for about three weeks. The original Saints Row is like, one of my top games ever. Ever since the last game ended (when I played it like two years ago) I have been waiting for the new game. It is awesome. I loved GTA IV (it's direct competition) and they are both amazing games. I have been playing it way too much in the past week. I can't plug it enough. Get it. I also got Fracture (360) and Silent Hill: Homecoming (360). I didn't get into either, but I'll admit I didn't play Fracture very much at all, and Silent Hill was too goddamn frightening for me.
8. Chuck Staton updates Diet is going pretty well. I lost between 12 and 14 lb.s so far. That's fun. Went to the Melting Pot, this fondue restaurant that just opened in Providence. It's hella expensive. The cheese fondue was awesome and the chocolate fondue was awesome, and their salad was awesome. Not so sure about the main meats. It takes too long! My (lack of) wisdom teeth have been acting up. I guess sometimes this happens about a month after surgery. There's a big hole in your jawbone, so it takes a while to heal. B Lau had an awful experience, and Michael Cera did as well (that resulted in him not being ever able to open his mouth all the way again). I went to my doctor today (awesome guy) and he gave me some antibiotics that he hoped didn't give me any "gnarly" side effects. I can chew fine, but I'm all swollen on one side and I can't touch the cheek near it. And I also can't open my mouth that big. I still have my Vicodin from when I first got the surgery so I'm taking that. I hope it's all done soon. The doc said he might have to "go back in". I did not ask exactly what he meant, possibly because I didn't want to know. So - in the biggest news. I have finally goddamn graduated college, officially. I took a CLEP test the other day that gave me the final 3 elective credits I need to graduate, and they've gone through. I'm done. Here's my transcript to prove it. I graduated with a 2.1 GPA. I just looked it at and noticed that, with the exception of one semester, I didn't take more than TWO classes at a time from Spring 2004 to Spring 2007, and then never did again after that! My project is complete and was a success. You CAN get a college degree with general knowledge.
...if you're as clever and witty and brilliant as me, of course. - chuckstaton
