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I've just posted another BME update — this time it's about a thousand images in BME/extreme (and e2 as well). Mainstream stuff will start getting added tomorrow. Thanks to Brian0icu812 for being the cover model and of course everyone else who helped out as well.
The upload took a little longer than expected so I'm going to ramble for a while. Let's see what else I can talk about… Allen just posted a list of his “five favorite bands from highschool”, and I was just talking to Rachel about the same list a couple days ago, so I thought I'd post my own, in no particular order:
- Skinny Puppy — Bites and Remission are literally the first albums I ever bought (on the same day).
- Throbbing Gristle — does it surprise you that small record stores in rural communities carried most of their extensive catalog? It surprised me.
- Yngwie Malmsteen — yeah, laugh it up. Don't laugh too hard though, or I'll unleash the fucking fury. I still listen to this stuff when I'm programming.
- Pink Floyd — No surprise there.
- Guns'n'Roses — Mostly because I was in a GNR cover band, Appetite For Destruction era.
I should do another list some time of the music I listened to after highschool (which is pretty similar to what I listen to now). The day music changed for me was the very first time I did acid, and walked into a strangers room just as the first burst of Slowdive's Losing Today started to play.
I feel I really should mention that tomorrow, January 6th, is the day that Bush in theory is confirmed again as President of the United States of America. Rep. John Conyers has been trying to fight it and get the truth about the fraudulent election out, but he's being blocked by both big business (who are refusing access to exit polling data among other things) and the White House.
It really blows my mind that Americans won't tolerate a rigged election in the Ukraine (with far less “evidence” of that than there have been stateside) and were instrumental in getting a new election, but won't do the same in their own country. Very very strange. But I guess it's easier to admit that there's something wrong with someone else than acknowledge it in yourself.
But let me point out a number: The cost of having a second election is less than being in Iraq for a day. Ah, priorities. But let me explain how the price of a US could be brought to almost nothing, if you think elections are something you should try and cut costs on:
ATMs can double as voting machines.
(note: I've seen others propose variants on this also; it's not just my idea)The ATM banking network is increibly secure. It confirms identity as well as any voting station does. It provides a paper trail, and high-speed electronic tabultion. The network is already in place — all it would take is the five biggest banks agreeing on a method.
It wouldn't be universal of course since not everyone has a bank account or credit card, but it would massively reduce the problems, simplify things, and secure them.
But it won't happen, because at their core, the average person (not just in America) doesn't really care all that much about democracy as long as they've got food in their belly and a roof over their heads. We're herd animals, us humans, and only a small percentage of us want to have freedom — the rest are actually much happier as slaves (as long as we're not actually forced to admit that we're slaves).
So we've got Kid Rock playing the Bush inauguration “youth party”. Let's sample some lyrics:
Pimp of the Nation, I could be it
As a matter of a fact, I for see it
But only pimpin hoes with the big tush
While you be left pimpin Barbra Bush
What's up granny
First name Annie
Dried up cunt and a saggin fannyI screw hoe's from Shamiqua down to curly Sue
You think i'm jokin, i'm pokin your girl, she lovin me
Sugar walls to my balls that how i'm shovin it
Wham bam thank you mam a dirty nigger wrote
And if your man wanna trip i'll let the trigger go
Pop, pop, pop, pop, now watch that nigger drophey faggot where's your friends
cause you know that you can't hide alone
you know you're shit
so hit him in the face, in the face
come on do it again
in the face, in the face
That's just some random picks, it's far from the most “offensive” stuff in his roster, but you get the picture. Now, I'm not saying that should be censored or even that I particularly have a problem with it — I'm 100% cool with Kid “all I do is curse and fuck” Rock being on the market. Hell, if you come down for BMEfest, I encourage you to bang the girls gone wild Bush twins in Los Cabos. But I do question that “American Bad Ass” is the kind of thing that should define a Presidency. But if that's what Bush wants to endorse, I suppose you either tolerate it or go to prison.
I was thinking a little bit more about the tsunami numbers, and this story got me wondering… It's interesting to note that civil war has killed as many people in Sri Lanka — and far more in Indonesia, although not as recently — as the tsunami did. Sri Lanka was known as “The Island of Death” long before the big wave struck, and its violence overflowed around the world (we certainly had Tamil Tiger gangs in Toronto when I was living there).
Saw this via MeFi; I'm not really much of a fan of “hipsters” (or of Bill Murray, not that I have a problem with him or anything), so I got a kick out of the intro (and extro) to this review of The Life Aquatic.
What will the hipsters be remembered for? The last few months I have raised this question in Brooklyn, on the sagging couches of its Brownstones and over the din of the glowing jukeboxes in its dives. The most common answer is "Nothing." New York Rock? So much retread. The hipsters' championing of vintage clothing? Sorry, you can't be remembered for remembering. The embrace of white-trash chic — trucker hats and so on? Interesting but evil. Though not authentically evil. The hippies had Charles Manson, one friend noted. "We haven't even produced a decent serial killer."[snip] The failure of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou may just be a sign — along with last year's dud Belle and Sebastian album — that the Age of Twee is finally over in hipsterdom. Come to think of it, I've been seeing a new breed of male around Brooklyn lately. He's put on some weight, gotten burlier, more menacing, and grown a beard. He drinks harder and he's been stealing the pretty girls from the effete indie boys. The trucker hat is gone, and his hair's starting to thin. He looks, well, sort of like Charles Manson.
At a couple of the BME BBQs particularly “hip” folks have occasionally come, although the wonderful irony is that at least around here, the freaks and geeks crowd fits in perfectly. It's kind of funny to watch the hipsters, because they sit by themselves in a small group in the corner, well-dressed and scowling at all the unfashionable folks enjoying themselves. If only they could watch themselves from the top of the suspension tower.
Finally, there's a very good quote from my father in the Whatever forum;
“I NEVER LOST what I LEARNT near death hence I am unable to rejoin the living.”
I know that there are enough people reading this that have skirted very close to death, some even having crossed the line and come back. I wish there was a way to explain life without having to ask a person to experience death, but it's the only way to get the big picture.
The story I am about to tell you is true.
An old friend of mine that is in a very specialized high end job (I'm sorry, that's all I'm willing to say, so don't bother asking about it) requiring a great deal of loyalty and trust had to commit suicide to get that job. Surrounded by doctors, they held him under freezing water until both his breathing and his heart had stopped — to get the job, he had to be able to control himself to the point where he confronted death without a struggle. Once he had died, they revived him, and he was reborn.
I kid you not.
Enjoy the nightmares.
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