Wednesday, June 30, 2004
I never said it was your fault... I just said you were getting the blame.
Now then.
I'd like to send everyone over to an item I just saw on Boing Boing. Something about the Great Mighty POTUS* being interviewed by a journalist and having some "difficulty" answering her questions. I haven't listened to the interview since I am at work and don't have RealPlayer (or it's equivalent - I don't have RealPlayer at home either, but I have the codecs and can view them), so I will refrain from commenting further.
* I have decided that this is one of my preferred ways of referring** to the President of the United States.
** Preferred and referred seem to be based from the same root word of "ferring". Is that even a word? How do you fer? Or have I I already ferred and not known it?***
*** I also think I like footnotes. Recursive ones are even better.
What fun people can have when their bosses are pop culture newbies.
Humourous posting about a silly new gizmo.
Get Fuzzy is good today.
I would so watch this show.
Duuuuuuuuuuude. I want one.
Sometimes, I just love my country. We have judges that have a clue.
Right.
I have heard a couple of good new albums in the past couple of days and wish to comment on them. First up is The Gathering's latest studio release Souvenirs. Now you might have heard that The Gathering are a metal band. This is no longer the case. I don't know what exactly they play, but it isn't heavy metal. This is not a bad thing. Basically, ever since Anneke Van Giersbergen joined the band, they have evolved substantially. On every album they have gotten further and further away from being a "heavy metal band", and Souvenirs plants them firmly outside that genre. The general sound of the album is essentially the next step from If_Then_Else - more ethereal, more focussed around Ms. Van Giersbergen's* voice. The result is somewhat difficult to describe - too heavy for pop, yet too light for metal. Kudos to the band for developing a style that is utterly their own, albeit at the risk of alienating fans that might not like the way they've developed. (It really is radically different compared to what they were doing a couple of albums ago.)
* An experiment in writing style - not assuming familiarity with one's subjects. It bugs me when telemarketers start calling at suppertime and address you like you're their friend of several years. I don't know if this will stick or not, but I'm giving it a go for this entry at least.
Secondly, and ironically the one that I'm writing first, is Avril Lavigne's new album, Under My Skin. I should note up front that there is a caveat to what follows, as I'm writing based on the first 9 tracks of this disc and not the whole thing*. That being said, Ms. Lavigne** has put together a pretty decent second album, and considering that "the second album" has arguably the highest chance of being horrible, I'm rather impressed. The album isn't perfect, but it really shows some of the potential that Ms. Lavigne has, especially in some tracks like Forgotten, which is one of my favorites on the record. To be sure, Under My Skin is a progression from Let Go - it has moved on in some areas, but still sounds very similar to her last stuff. I think the biggest thing holding this album back is the fact that Ms. Lavigne still sounds like Top 40 radio - probably the result of being pressured by the major label she's under so that she can sell more records, but that's pure speculation on my part. If she could maybe go off in a more progressive direction though, with some standout instrumentation to back up her already-pretty-good singing, she could be part of an incredible music project. Regardless, if you liked Let Go, then you'll probably like Under My Skin.
* I couldn't fit both Souvenirs and Under My Skin on my MuVo at once. Pity, that.
I also recently got a copy of Transmissions From The Satellite Heart, by the Flaming Lips, but I don't have a copy with me, and I prefer to have the album playing while I write about it. So I will move on to other things, most predominantly of which, being the bug.
The bug is itching. I knew this time would come, but I didn't think it would be for a while yet. No, I am feeling the silly compulsion to install Linux again. My bout with Gentoo was a failure, but I am thinking of jumping back into the ring with Mandrake again. I installed it before, it went quite smoothly and I can do it again. The tricksy bit this time will be Cedega and getting City of Heroes running. Sorry, getting too far ahead - I'll back up. Transgaming recently released the newly-dubbed Cedega, previously known as WineX 4.0. This means it plays Windows games on Linux. Transgaming says in the press release that MMOGs work, of which City of Heroes is listed at the forefront, along with Worlds of Warcraft. This got me very intrigued, since City of Heroes would be forefront in my reasons not to use Linux on a regular basis. Most if not all of my other apps have analogues in *nix, but not my games. So that was when the bug was planted. Last night, however, I got together with some peeps to watch the Battlestar Galactica pilot movie*. Before the movie started though, our host was playing Worlds of Warcraft on Linux. This is significant not because the game isn't released yet, but because it was being run on Linux with Cedega, on a computer slightly less powerful than mine own, and it ran better than City of Heroes runs on my system with Windows. The bug that was planted suddenly activated and started making my brain itch. IT MUST BE MINE! My plan of action is therefore to 1) get Cedega going in Knoppix and attempt to install City of Heroes. If this works (and works well enough), then I shall 2) procure a new hard drive. I needed one anyways. On this new drive, I will 3) install Mandrake 10.0 Download Edition, since I am cheap and don't want to pay for the bundles they have. Once turnover is complete, there will be a time where I will lament Windows and keep it around, before 4) wiping my NTFS drive and revelling in having all those gigs available for music and movies and such. Whether or not things will go according to plan remains to be seen. (Ah, who am I kidding? They never do.)
* It's really not bad. They address some of the science issues that plague some other sci-fi series (like zero-G physics, non-networked ship means everything has wires, lots of throwbacks, innovative FTL travel), while at the same time offering a decent plot, cool villains (new Cylons are quite sweet), nods to the last series (or so I'm told) and some rather nice eye-candy (Starbuck, the "hottie" Cylon model). I wouldn't object to watching this one if it becomes a series.
¶ 2:10 p.m.
Now then.
I'd like to send everyone over to an item I just saw on Boing Boing. Something about the Great Mighty POTUS* being interviewed by a journalist and having some "difficulty" answering her questions. I haven't listened to the interview since I am at work and don't have RealPlayer (or it's equivalent - I don't have RealPlayer at home either, but I have the codecs and can view them), so I will refrain from commenting further.
* I have decided that this is one of my preferred ways of referring** to the President of the United States.
** Preferred and referred seem to be based from the same root word of "ferring". Is that even a word? How do you fer? Or have I I already ferred and not known it?***
*** I also think I like footnotes. Recursive ones are even better.
What fun people can have when their bosses are pop culture newbies.
Humourous posting about a silly new gizmo.
Get Fuzzy is good today.
I would so watch this show.
Duuuuuuuuuuude. I want one.
Sometimes, I just love my country. We have judges that have a clue.
Right.
I have heard a couple of good new albums in the past couple of days and wish to comment on them. First up is The Gathering's latest studio release Souvenirs. Now you might have heard that The Gathering are a metal band. This is no longer the case. I don't know what exactly they play, but it isn't heavy metal. This is not a bad thing. Basically, ever since Anneke Van Giersbergen joined the band, they have evolved substantially. On every album they have gotten further and further away from being a "heavy metal band", and Souvenirs plants them firmly outside that genre. The general sound of the album is essentially the next step from If_Then_Else - more ethereal, more focussed around Ms. Van Giersbergen's* voice. The result is somewhat difficult to describe - too heavy for pop, yet too light for metal. Kudos to the band for developing a style that is utterly their own, albeit at the risk of alienating fans that might not like the way they've developed. (It really is radically different compared to what they were doing a couple of albums ago.)
* An experiment in writing style - not assuming familiarity with one's subjects. It bugs me when telemarketers start calling at suppertime and address you like you're their friend of several years. I don't know if this will stick or not, but I'm giving it a go for this entry at least.
Secondly, and ironically the one that I'm writing first, is Avril Lavigne's new album, Under My Skin. I should note up front that there is a caveat to what follows, as I'm writing based on the first 9 tracks of this disc and not the whole thing*. That being said, Ms. Lavigne** has put together a pretty decent second album, and considering that "the second album" has arguably the highest chance of being horrible, I'm rather impressed. The album isn't perfect, but it really shows some of the potential that Ms. Lavigne has, especially in some tracks like Forgotten, which is one of my favorites on the record. To be sure, Under My Skin is a progression from Let Go - it has moved on in some areas, but still sounds very similar to her last stuff. I think the biggest thing holding this album back is the fact that Ms. Lavigne still sounds like Top 40 radio - probably the result of being pressured by the major label she's under so that she can sell more records, but that's pure speculation on my part. If she could maybe go off in a more progressive direction though, with some standout instrumentation to back up her already-pretty-good singing, she could be part of an incredible music project. Regardless, if you liked Let Go, then you'll probably like Under My Skin.
* I couldn't fit both Souvenirs and Under My Skin on my MuVo at once. Pity, that.
I also recently got a copy of Transmissions From The Satellite Heart, by the Flaming Lips, but I don't have a copy with me, and I prefer to have the album playing while I write about it. So I will move on to other things, most predominantly of which, being the bug.
The bug is itching. I knew this time would come, but I didn't think it would be for a while yet. No, I am feeling the silly compulsion to install Linux again. My bout with Gentoo was a failure, but I am thinking of jumping back into the ring with Mandrake again. I installed it before, it went quite smoothly and I can do it again. The tricksy bit this time will be Cedega and getting City of Heroes running. Sorry, getting too far ahead - I'll back up. Transgaming recently released the newly-dubbed Cedega, previously known as WineX 4.0. This means it plays Windows games on Linux. Transgaming says in the press release that MMOGs work, of which City of Heroes is listed at the forefront, along with Worlds of Warcraft. This got me very intrigued, since City of Heroes would be forefront in my reasons not to use Linux on a regular basis. Most if not all of my other apps have analogues in *nix, but not my games. So that was when the bug was planted. Last night, however, I got together with some peeps to watch the Battlestar Galactica pilot movie*. Before the movie started though, our host was playing Worlds of Warcraft on Linux. This is significant not because the game isn't released yet, but because it was being run on Linux with Cedega, on a computer slightly less powerful than mine own, and it ran better than City of Heroes runs on my system with Windows. The bug that was planted suddenly activated and started making my brain itch. IT MUST BE MINE! My plan of action is therefore to 1) get Cedega going in Knoppix and attempt to install City of Heroes. If this works (and works well enough), then I shall 2) procure a new hard drive. I needed one anyways. On this new drive, I will 3) install Mandrake 10.0 Download Edition, since I am cheap and don't want to pay for the bundles they have. Once turnover is complete, there will be a time where I will lament Windows and keep it around, before 4) wiping my NTFS drive and revelling in having all those gigs available for music and movies and such. Whether or not things will go according to plan remains to be seen. (Ah, who am I kidding? They never do.)
* It's really not bad. They address some of the science issues that plague some other sci-fi series (like zero-G physics, non-networked ship means everything has wires, lots of throwbacks, innovative FTL travel), while at the same time offering a decent plot, cool villains (new Cylons are quite sweet), nods to the last series (or so I'm told) and some rather nice eye-candy (Starbuck, the "hottie" Cylon model). I wouldn't object to watching this one if it becomes a series.
¶ 2:10 p.m.
