Dec
28
2006
I was sitting here working, listening to 3 Inches of Blood and decided to start this list of some of the coolest first lines/phrases in music. I wish there was a better way to present these but I don’t think there is. They’re in no particular order, but tend to be loosely grouped by artist.
Bolded lines are the ones where I _really_ like the song itself or the line.
How many do you know? Did I miss any wicked awesome songs?
In the year four thousand fifty five, Wykydtron came to life
Just a small town girl, livin in a lonely world, She took the midnight train goin anywhere
Mama take this badge from me, I can’t use it anymore
Here in your bedroom, I can turn my head off
Im broke but Im happy, Im poor but Im kind
I want you to know that Im happy for you, I wish nothing but the best for you both
On the floor of Tokyo, Or down in London town to go, go
Hey little sister what have you done, Hey little sister who’s the only one
Continue reading
2 comments | tags: music | posted in music
Dec
27
2006
Read
Metal Council Convenes To Discuss ‘Metal Hand Sign’ Abuse
The Problem:
“We have all heard the reports of people using it to greet their in-laws, or after starting their lawn mowers with a single pull,” Butler said. “But recently it was brought to our attention that someone used the gesture in a Texas convenience store after snagging the last box of carrot cakes. This simply won’t do.”
The Criteria:
“If your head is neither banging nor thrashing, you should not be throwing the sign,” Butler said. “It’s that simple.”
1 comment | tags: metal, music | posted in asides, music
Dec
26
2006
Listen
I’m a big Vendetta Red fan and was bummed that they broke up right after releasing the amazing Sisters of the Red Death album. Well, the good news is that some of them got back together as Sirens Sister and now they have their first album out called Echos from the Ocean Floor. Buy it now.
no comments | tags: music, review, rock | posted in asides
Dec
26
2006
The art of covering a song is complex. Just singing the same song is boring, you have to make it yours. Here are some of my favorite covers, (parentheticals show the original artist).
These five covers I like better than the version from the original artist.
Cake – I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor)
The original version of this song is just so… boring. Cake’s rendition is catchy, and though it is pretty much word-for-word the same, changing one little word in there totally gives this cover so much more emotion than Gloria Gaynor did. If I’m in this situation, I’m not gonna change the “stupid lock”, I’m gonna change the “Fucking lock” (with a capital F).
Marilyn Manson – Tainted Love (Soft Cell)
When I first heard this cover, coupled with the music video, I was totally sold on it. I’m not a huge Marilyn Manson fan – I like Sweet Dreams, The Beautiful People, and Disposable Teens – but this cover really makes the song so much more _real_. In the same way that Cake sells I Will Survive, I really believe that Marilyn Manson knows all about Tainted Love.
Continue reading
2 comments | tags: music, rock | posted in music
Dec
26
2006
Sometime in 2003 I changed. Previously I was just like all of my Georgia Tech classmates and I would use a variety of post-Napster software tools to procure any music that I wanted (and plenty that I didn’t really want, but it was free, so why not download it??). At that time, how many gigs of music you had was really more important than how many songs and it was definitely more important than whether the music was any good or not.
Sure, I owned some actual CDs but those were from my pre-Internet2-connection days at Tech. Looking back, I didn’t think anybody saw downloading music as “illegal”. The excuses for downloading music instead of buying it – “I don’t want all the whole album, just one track”, “$16 CDs are way overpriced and I’m not going to pay that much” – were more like explanations since there wasn’t anything wrong with it. Certainly it wasn’t like pirating software – that was bad and even though everyone did it, pirating a $600 copy of Photoshop just felt different than downloading a song.
So what changed? I discovered the value of Intellectual Property and I realized why copyright law was kind of a big deal… thanks to photography.
Continue reading
1 comment | tags: copyright, essay, music | posted in music
Dec
26
2006
I’ve heard a bunch of covers in my time, some of which were really good (Gary Jules’ cover of Mad World by Tears for Fears comes to mind). This cover of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit sort of defies classification… but I liked it. If only for the ridiculousness of the whole thing.
no comments | tags: music, video | posted in asides
Dec
26
2006
We all know that inkjet printer ink is expensive when we pay $10-$30 for a cartridge at Office Depot, but if you do the math you’re paying $10,788 per gallon (for HP magenta ink which holds the most-expensive crown). I can’t think of any liquid that is more expensive – definitely nothing that’s as readily available as inkjet ink – anyone got any ideas?
2 comments | posted in asides
Dec
25
2006
Bugs fixed in this release:
- All-Day events now are imported onto the correct day (instead of a day early)
- Non @gmail.com usernames are accepted. If you use “thegooley” it will assume “thegooley@gmail.com”, but you can also use “thegooley@hotmail.com” by providing your entire email address
- The FAILED error message has been modified to display the actual error text, so please report what it says when you post about a problem
- Error log file changed from ApplicationDataGCalSyncGCalSyncErrors.xml to GCalSyncErrors.txt (it was never actually an XML file, but was named that due to an oversight by me)
Download after the jump
Continue reading
16 comments | tags: free, gcalsync, mobile, source | posted in software
Dec
25
2006
Continuing on the topic of atheism, I ran across this article in the LA Times which debunks ten misconceptions about atheism. Prompted by a poll that reported only 37% of Americans would vote for an “otherwise qualified” atheist presidential candidate, it is a short but interesting read.
no comments | tags: article | posted in asides
Dec
24
2006
This is a very well-stated NPR monologue by Penn Jillette – half of the genius team Penn & Teller. It’s not new, I happen across it every now and then, but every time I read it I agree with him more. Make sure you listen to it instead of just reading, because that is how it was intended.
no comments | tags: athesim, npr | posted in asides