Thursday, November 17, 2005
Give me umption for my gumption, let me function function function.
Part of the reason I don't have things to write about here is because I tell them to Catrina via email or on the telephone. She's the main person I want to tell things to anyway. I'm not normally the kind of person to talk about stuff with people. It's not that I'm closed off or anything. Anybody who knows me even slightly can tell that. I'm easy going and often talktative. I make a point to make eye contact with people and put myself and others at ease in conversation. I can talk about touchy-feely things without feeling unmanly. I like to whine and bitch and complain and gossip. But if it comes to a personal crisis or loss or something that's really bothering me, the last thing I want to do is talk about it. Except maybe with my significant other. And I don't know where that stems from.
This week, for example, was kind of shitty for me. With lingering shittiness to follow. I really just wanted a do-over. If I could dial back time and redo it I would, even though I'd have to redo everything and it'd feel all deja vu-ish and redundant and boring (wouldn't that suck?).
People that I work with or people that I see and talk to outside of work would ask me what was wrong and whatnot, but I had absolutely no interest in talking about it. Just talking about things that frustrate me can frustrate me further.. especially if what's bothering me is something involving my own mental error. Making mental errors brings me back to my last nerve, wich I seem to subconsciously stand on. And I don't need anyone else's weight on that nerve in addition to my own. Except Cat's. Cause she's light. :-p
There are things that keep me sane though. The superb things in life. Freedom and money (sorry to be shallow, but money brings independance, and independance is a wonderful thing) and my co-worker Dianne Archer and xbox and Scrubs season 2 and The Offspring and ibuprofin and Jesus and toilet paper and the fact that I'll soon be home driving in my own car and, last but not least, my sexy/cute/gorgeous/intelligent/understanding/patient girlfriend.
Oh, and speaking of which, Thanksgiving is coming up. And I'll tell you what I'm NOT thankful for: The need for war, lack of turkey drumsticks, distance between me and my main squeeze, muddy roads, lack of privacy, my flabby bits, selfish people, early mornings, peanut butter, humvees that break while you're driving them, cigarette butts, songs ripped off by Tina Turner, ugly shirts, etc.
In other words, there's not that much to be UNthankful for. So I'm not doing too bad. Plenty of good things around. I know, I have a twisted way of looking at things. You see, the glass isn't half full or half empty.. the glass is just two times bigger than is truly necessary. Gives the wine some room to breathe.
Yeah, I'm eeeeh.. retarded. *clicks "publish post" button*
This week, for example, was kind of shitty for me. With lingering shittiness to follow. I really just wanted a do-over. If I could dial back time and redo it I would, even though I'd have to redo everything and it'd feel all deja vu-ish and redundant and boring (wouldn't that suck?).
People that I work with or people that I see and talk to outside of work would ask me what was wrong and whatnot, but I had absolutely no interest in talking about it. Just talking about things that frustrate me can frustrate me further.. especially if what's bothering me is something involving my own mental error. Making mental errors brings me back to my last nerve, wich I seem to subconsciously stand on. And I don't need anyone else's weight on that nerve in addition to my own. Except Cat's. Cause she's light. :-p
There are things that keep me sane though. The superb things in life. Freedom and money (sorry to be shallow, but money brings independance, and independance is a wonderful thing) and my co-worker Dianne Archer and xbox and Scrubs season 2 and The Offspring and ibuprofin and Jesus and toilet paper and the fact that I'll soon be home driving in my own car and, last but not least, my sexy/cute/gorgeous/intelligent/understanding/patient girlfriend.
Oh, and speaking of which, Thanksgiving is coming up. And I'll tell you what I'm NOT thankful for: The need for war, lack of turkey drumsticks, distance between me and my main squeeze, muddy roads, lack of privacy, my flabby bits, selfish people, early mornings, peanut butter, humvees that break while you're driving them, cigarette butts, songs ripped off by Tina Turner, ugly shirts, etc.
In other words, there's not that much to be UNthankful for. So I'm not doing too bad. Plenty of good things around. I know, I have a twisted way of looking at things. You see, the glass isn't half full or half empty.. the glass is just two times bigger than is truly necessary. Gives the wine some room to breathe.
Yeah, I'm eeeeh.. retarded. *clicks "publish post" button*
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
I'm like the girl in the movie that gets mad at the guy before he can tell her his perfectly reasonable explanation.
Okay, so apparently Switchfoot doesn't like the CD protection either, but it's being implimented for all new CD's on their label. Cat found this for me, I assume somewhere on their website:
Hello friends,
my heart is heavy with this whole copy-protection thing. Many PC users have posted problems that they have had importing the new songs (regular disc only, not the dual disc) into programs such as Itunes. Let me first say that as a musician AND as a music fan, I agree with the frustration that has been expressed. We were horrified when we first heard about the new copy-protection policy that is being implemented by most major labels, including Sony (ours), and immediately looked into all of our options for removing this from our new album. Unfortunately, this is the new policy for all new major releases from these record companies. It is heartbreaking to see our blood, sweat, and tears over the past 2 years blurred by the confusion and frustration surrounding this new technology. It is also unfortunate when bands such as ourselves, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, etc... (just a few of the new releases with copy protection) are the target of this criticism, when there is no possible way to avoid this new industry policy.
For mac users these songs should import seamlessly. We are told that itunes is coming out with a new version for PC users in early November that will be compatible with all of these new CD's but in the meantime it's frustrating for all of us. That said, there are a number of solutions (as is always the case with these types of things) for importing the CD into your itunes and ipod. We have compiled some of the easier ways below. I feel like as a band and as listeners, we've all been through a lot together over the past ten years, and we refuse to allow corporate policy to taint the family we've developed together. We deeply regret that there exists the need for any of our listeners to spend more than 30 seconds importing our music, but we're asking as friends and partners in this journey together to spend the extra 10 minutes that it takes to import these songs, which we think you'll agree to be our finest collection of songs yet. As a band, we've always been known for having the best fans in the world and I know that will continue for years to come. A month from now, I hope to be singing these songs together at a show, and the extra time spent importing the music will perhaps be forgotten, or at least forgiven. Thank you for your understanding and the continued kindness that you have always shown for five dreamers from San Diego, we love you guys,
-tim foreman
It goes on to give step-by-step intructions for getting around the problem. They're not good solutions, but they'll do for now. I'm still glad I filled out the Sony records survey thing about the content protection though. Hopefully they'll get enough negative feedback that they'll knock it off.
So props to Switchfoot for their response and integrity! Woohoo! You rock, Switchfellas.
Hello friends,
my heart is heavy with this whole copy-protection thing. Many PC users have posted problems that they have had importing the new songs (regular disc only, not the dual disc) into programs such as Itunes. Let me first say that as a musician AND as a music fan, I agree with the frustration that has been expressed. We were horrified when we first heard about the new copy-protection policy that is being implemented by most major labels, including Sony (ours), and immediately looked into all of our options for removing this from our new album. Unfortunately, this is the new policy for all new major releases from these record companies. It is heartbreaking to see our blood, sweat, and tears over the past 2 years blurred by the confusion and frustration surrounding this new technology. It is also unfortunate when bands such as ourselves, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, etc... (just a few of the new releases with copy protection) are the target of this criticism, when there is no possible way to avoid this new industry policy.
For mac users these songs should import seamlessly. We are told that itunes is coming out with a new version for PC users in early November that will be compatible with all of these new CD's but in the meantime it's frustrating for all of us. That said, there are a number of solutions (as is always the case with these types of things) for importing the CD into your itunes and ipod. We have compiled some of the easier ways below. I feel like as a band and as listeners, we've all been through a lot together over the past ten years, and we refuse to allow corporate policy to taint the family we've developed together. We deeply regret that there exists the need for any of our listeners to spend more than 30 seconds importing our music, but we're asking as friends and partners in this journey together to spend the extra 10 minutes that it takes to import these songs, which we think you'll agree to be our finest collection of songs yet. As a band, we've always been known for having the best fans in the world and I know that will continue for years to come. A month from now, I hope to be singing these songs together at a show, and the extra time spent importing the music will perhaps be forgotten, or at least forgiven. Thank you for your understanding and the continued kindness that you have always shown for five dreamers from San Diego, we love you guys,
-tim foreman
It goes on to give step-by-step intructions for getting around the problem. They're not good solutions, but they'll do for now. I'm still glad I filled out the Sony records survey thing about the content protection though. Hopefully they'll get enough negative feedback that they'll knock it off.
So props to Switchfoot for their response and integrity! Woohoo! You rock, Switchfellas.
Monday, November 07, 2005
Et tu, Switchfoot?
I am.. beyond disappointed with Switchfoot. Switchfoot is my favorite band. I love their sound and their lyrics and their attitude and their originality. I even like their album art and T-shirts and such. And really I do like their new album. Not quite as much as the last one yet, but I tend to like Switchfoot albums more and more as I listen to it. I usually end up liking each new album slightly more than the last.
So, what's the problem? The CD is what they call "content protected". The idea, I suppose, is to absolutely and completely keep anyone from stealing their music. I must admit, they did a very thorough job. I didn't even know you could BE this anal retentive with a CD. Now, it's that I think they don't have the right to protect their interests, but this CD's protection causes some collateral to my enjoymment and my bank acount. Here's the rundown:
You put the CD into your computer.
You must read and agree to the end-user license agreement.
You may then play the songs on the little interactive media player that comes with the disk.
At this point you're wondering, "Well.. how do I pull the tracks from the CD?"
You can actually see them if you explore the CD's context in windows, but they are greyed out and you can do nothing with them. (If you examine the properties, it will tell you that it is content protected.)
On the music player interface that comes with the disk there is an option to save the tracks to your computer.
It works, even if it does take forever to save them.
You try to add the tracks to iTunes only to find out that you can't.
And the step-by-step frustration goes on. Basically they come in wma format. You can burn them to CD's for various reasons up to 3 times. That part seems reasonable to me. But you can't convert the files to mp3 or aac and you can't synchronize the files and you can't upload them to your iPod. I believe you can put them on an mp3 player as long as it supports the wma format. But people.. iTunes is the wave of the future. More people have iPods than discmans these days and more and more people are being converted. I myself am a recent convert.
So yeah, now I have all of my music in one place except for this one freaking CD. Why did it have to be my favorite band that did this to me? GAH. Soooo.. now if I want these songs on my iPod I have to buy them again on iTunes. If they'd told me about the bullshit before I bought the CD.. I would have just waited till I got home to the states and downloaded the album from the iTunes music store. So for all their anti-piracy messages about "illegally downloading or copying music is stealing", they're ripping off the little man (heretofor referred to as "me").
Last night I couldn't even listen to the CD I was so frustrated with it. I'll probably listen to it a lot this week in my computer at work and then that'll be it until I can re-buy it on iTunes later. -_- I can always give the CD to someone in my family I guess.
For a more positive note on the whole music thing, I caught an episode of Rock Star INXS the other day. I really enjoyed it! Most of the singers were very talented and they sang really great, classic rock songs (such as "Hard to Handle" and "All of the Day and All of the Night"). The show was like American Idol without the fruitiness. I also thought it was really cool that they were auditioning both men and women. The winner gets to be the new lead singer of INXS, which is already a well-established, popular band. People are used to hearing the band with a male singer, so it could totally change their sound. I'm not a big fan of theirs, but I do like them. I just.. don't have any of their music and coudln't name any of their songs. :-p
Anyway, it was also good because it reminded me of some songs that I needed to download off of iTunes. I don't remember music that I really love until it's brought back to my attention sadly. There's already so much great music out there that I'll never get to hear and when you add to that the music I've listened to and loved and forgotten about and you've got a bonafide tragedy on your hands.
Here's my new Switchfoot (those dirty bastards) shirt!
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/reykas/Miscellaneous/switchshirt.jpg
So, what's the problem? The CD is what they call "content protected". The idea, I suppose, is to absolutely and completely keep anyone from stealing their music. I must admit, they did a very thorough job. I didn't even know you could BE this anal retentive with a CD. Now, it's that I think they don't have the right to protect their interests, but this CD's protection causes some collateral to my enjoymment and my bank acount. Here's the rundown:
You put the CD into your computer.
You must read and agree to the end-user license agreement.
You may then play the songs on the little interactive media player that comes with the disk.
At this point you're wondering, "Well.. how do I pull the tracks from the CD?"
You can actually see them if you explore the CD's context in windows, but they are greyed out and you can do nothing with them. (If you examine the properties, it will tell you that it is content protected.)
On the music player interface that comes with the disk there is an option to save the tracks to your computer.
It works, even if it does take forever to save them.
You try to add the tracks to iTunes only to find out that you can't.
And the step-by-step frustration goes on. Basically they come in wma format. You can burn them to CD's for various reasons up to 3 times. That part seems reasonable to me. But you can't convert the files to mp3 or aac and you can't synchronize the files and you can't upload them to your iPod. I believe you can put them on an mp3 player as long as it supports the wma format. But people.. iTunes is the wave of the future. More people have iPods than discmans these days and more and more people are being converted. I myself am a recent convert.
So yeah, now I have all of my music in one place except for this one freaking CD. Why did it have to be my favorite band that did this to me? GAH. Soooo.. now if I want these songs on my iPod I have to buy them again on iTunes. If they'd told me about the bullshit before I bought the CD.. I would have just waited till I got home to the states and downloaded the album from the iTunes music store. So for all their anti-piracy messages about "illegally downloading or copying music is stealing", they're ripping off the little man (heretofor referred to as "me").
Last night I couldn't even listen to the CD I was so frustrated with it. I'll probably listen to it a lot this week in my computer at work and then that'll be it until I can re-buy it on iTunes later. -_- I can always give the CD to someone in my family I guess.
For a more positive note on the whole music thing, I caught an episode of Rock Star INXS the other day. I really enjoyed it! Most of the singers were very talented and they sang really great, classic rock songs (such as "Hard to Handle" and "All of the Day and All of the Night"). The show was like American Idol without the fruitiness. I also thought it was really cool that they were auditioning both men and women. The winner gets to be the new lead singer of INXS, which is already a well-established, popular band. People are used to hearing the band with a male singer, so it could totally change their sound. I'm not a big fan of theirs, but I do like them. I just.. don't have any of their music and coudln't name any of their songs. :-p
Anyway, it was also good because it reminded me of some songs that I needed to download off of iTunes. I don't remember music that I really love until it's brought back to my attention sadly. There's already so much great music out there that I'll never get to hear and when you add to that the music I've listened to and loved and forgotten about and you've got a bonafide tragedy on your hands.
Here's my new Switchfoot (those dirty bastards) shirt!
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/reykas/Miscellaneous/switchshirt.jpg
