"IT'S THE MONEY..." or WHY DJ SHADOW SUCKS IN '06
Dj shadow's new release, The Outsider, was released last week. It's really disappointing. It sounds like the popular hip-hop played on the radio now. I don't mean he progressed the sound he established, it's more like he dropped it completely. wtf...
Current Robot Audio Report:
The Flaming Lips' album
Yoshima battles the Pink Robots.
The Deftones' new single on itunes, Hole in the Earth.
300
Frank Miller's 300 trailer
hereand wikipedia has an entry about the
Battle of Thermopylae.
Stimulus Lateralus
My response to R&R's
response to my rant about
Tool...
Right, though on a seperate point, I disagree that we don’t want heroes. We like winners. We like Alpha-Monkeys. Who watches football games with the intent to celebrate their teams’ loss? I think we want heroes and martyrs.
I was expressing my dismay that some fans hold Tool to a nebulous standard of behavior that they never promised to live up to in the first place.
FIRST BIONIC WOMAN
FROM YAHOO:>
hereexcerpt:
It's the stuff of science fiction: a prosthetic arm that can be moved just by thinking about it and that can feel heat and the pressure of a handshake.
The bionic arm is controlled by rerouting nerves in Mitchell's shoulder to healthy muscles in her chest. This targeted muscle reinnervation directs the signals once sent to the amputated arm to the robotic arm via surface electrodes that respond to Mitchell's thoughts.
A former football player who lost both his limbs, Jesse Sullivan was the first person to undergo the experimental nerve-transfer procedure for the purpose of improving prosthetic control in 2005.
Mitchell read about Sullivan in Popular Science magazine a few months after her accident and contacted the institute to see if she could receive a bionic arm as well. She underwent the surgery on her 25th birthday and has spent the past year learning how to control the bionic arm.
One year later, she can peel an orange.
Retail Pavlov
I didn't even ask...
RP: Hello, ma'am.
Ma'am: Good.
TOOL
saw Tool live at the American Airlines Center.
setlist as best as I can remember.
UPDATE: found two bootlegs on youtube from the concert and they're more listenable than being there. fuck.
Stinkfist (Extended Version) check it
hereThe Pot
46+2 (honestly, Adam, ten years, and you still can't nail that part over the drums solo, wtf?)
Jambi
Voice of God
Lost Keys
Rosetta Stoned (of what was discernable, good performance)
here with footage from the quay brothers' City of CrocodilesSchism
Wings for Marie
10,000 Days
---intermission---
Lateralus
Vicarious
Aenima
Between each song were little jams...sounds like they've been listening to Aphex Twin and Radioio.com/ambient. It was so loud, I couldn't hear it, it was mostly noise. The guitar washed over everything, plus I had some tool fans screaming every lyric, off key and off time, to my right and front. These fans were such fans that when the girl scratches her ass all the way through Schism, it's not scratching her ass, it has a deeper meaning.
I think the kid next to me almost achieved pure energy (he of tonedeaf and no time), if he didn't have to stop to repeatedly apologize for slamming into me.
I get more out of watching bootlegs from cellphones on Youtube.
and here's a rant to no one in particular...
It bores the shit out of me to hear "Tool is greedy", "Tool is bullshit", "Tool won't fight Ticketmaster". (but it doesn't bore to rant about people who say such things) You go fight Ticketmaster, you're the consumer, get active. I guess spending tons of money on lasers, and synchronized videos is greedy. I guess it is selling out to sell an album every five years, to have the songs be no less than 6 minutes long and to be in multiple time signatures(Rosetta Stoned goes from 4/4 to 5/4 to 11/8 and back again). I really hate seeing Tool on Saturday Night Live, at every fucking MTV award show, on Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, and at the Grammy's every year, it sucks, why don't they give it a rest? Honestly, how many times can you have Lorne Micheals do his saxophone solo during H live? Ridiculous.
It's funny to me that Tool's main message is "figure it out for yourself", yet fans hear this and go "WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?! PLEASE EXPLAIN!" It's not bullshit, they've told you what it is. As Danny puts its, (paraphrasing here) "four musicians in a room and the music is the result of our chemistry". As simple as that. They're not going to dictate the meaning or lead the way, that's your job, not theirs. I don't "get Tool", but I get my own personal sense of satsifaction out of it. Yet alot of the fans don't listen. This rant was for my own selfish need to blather about things that don't matter. Hey, there's still a war on, and W is still president
, wtf?
ODDS AND ENDS
saw an old man's car with the custom license plate, IMTHRU, and a creepy van with tinted windows that had MASTER on it's plate.
the same day I made the piece below titled LOTUS, i saw a car at whole foods with the license plate LOTUS.
ASSHOLE GUY
Saturday, Theresa and I went to Toyota of Plano. I asked her to come along and assist me in the purchase of the car, specifically when it came to the negotiating the finance part. I'm really glad I did. The finance manager, Danny Cantu, starts his extended warranty speech. He's drawing diagrams and asking leading questions. As Il DR had warned, he try to pull a bunch of psychological crap, make you feel stupid and cheap for not buying the warranty. It's one thing to try and sell something, it's another to pull dishonest shit like this...
..here's Theresa's recollection....After being ignored by a group of salesmen congratulating each other on the size of their cocks, we finally got a manager Darrick to help us. He was nice.
The finance mgr gave the long shpeil about gap insurance and extended warranty. (Shock and awe tactic). I ask him to get to the point. (I have little patience for mind games.) He rambled on further and without as so much asking if you wanted it or saying that he was adding it, his next statement was "and your payments are going to be ...."
Me: Does that include the gap insurance & extended warranty?
Finance Guy: Yes
Me: Bill, do you want that?
Bill: No
Finance Guy: Ok. Your payments will now be $X. Now all I need is your $7K deposit.
Me: Wait. Is the deal done? Does he get the car?
FG: No. We need to wait for credit approval.
Me: So why does he need to put down the $7K now if he's not getting anything?
FG: Well when he's approved, we'll close the deal. This is how we do it.
Me: Can I see an itemized receipt of the final total?
FG: Why?
Me: Well, I just want to see the details to make sure that extras weren't added that didn't need to be on there?
FG: What extras? What do you mean?
Me: Well you added the gap ins and ext warranty without asking Bill if he wanted it. I just want to make sure that nothing else made it onto the total.
FG: I asked him.
Me: No you didn't. You explained what it was and said "and your payments will be..."
FG: (Prints itemized list). You know what, you don't have to put down the $7K right now. This isn't how we do business here. Once your application is approved, I'll give you a call. Thank you Bill. (Doesn't acknowledge me.)
Bill: Thanks.
Me: Thanks Dan. (I wanted him to know that I noticed.)
He was angry. Theresa really cockblocked him. After lunch, I kept thinking what happened and I was over the XB. I decide to go to Toyota of Richardson. I'm sitting down with Sanjay, telling him what I want and about Plano. I inform him I'm willing to "put X% down and I don't want any bullshit." His eyes are bugging out of his head. He goes and gets someone else. The rest was great, we went back and forth till we came up with a good deal and you've seen the result in the previous post. In a way, I'm glad Danny screwed it up because I found a better car and a better deal at Richarson. Both the saleman and finance guy were professional and courteous, and I left happy.
Danny calls me Monday morning. Here's our conversation.
D: The bank didn't approve your loan Mr. Hood, but I can put you on with our Special Finance department. (also known as the "Let's-Jack-Up-The-Interest-Rate-Department")
Me: That isn't necessary.
D: Why is that?
Me: Because I already bought a new car Saturday afternoon. I went to Toyota of Richardson and they took care of me.
D: Oh...Why didn't you come back to Toyota of Plano?
Me: Because I didn't like the way you treated me and Theresa...
D: (interrupting) I'm sorry Toyota of Plano left a bad taste in your mouth. I hope when you buy your next car, you consider Toyota of Plano.
Me: Not a chance.
GOODBYE MUSTANG LIFESTYLE...
2007 TOYOTA MATRIX
LOTUS
