| 10 BUMP THAT SHIT / 20 GOTO 10 |
[Jan. 21st, 2010|12:16 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | Totally f**king nerdcore | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | What do you think | ] |
Remember when I was talking about how much I like Lady Gaga, even though I don't usually go for pop music so much? Of course you don't. I've discovered that I like this other person called Kesha more than I like Miss Gaga. She's got that saccharine, lyrics-that-say-nothing style that I love even though I won't admit it, but the beats are totally chiptune and they got hella vocoder up in that thing.
I love the fact that someone is so popular whose distinct sound relies on 8-bit-esque music and deliberate electronic overproduction of vocals. To me, it shows how thoroughly geek culture has pervaded the mainstream. It would be easy to adopt an "I liked it before it was cool" mentality about it, but instead I'm just happy to have more people appreciating this stuff!
I don't talk about games and computers all the time to defend my nerdy reputation. I talk about games and computers because I love them! I'm not exactly an expert in most things computer, and I'm really not even that good at video games in general (don't tell anyone!), but I just love technology and all that. I don't have a point. I'm blathering. Stop blathering, Anthony. Okay.
Here's the single even though you've probably definitely already heard it.
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 9th, 2009|11:20 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Lady Gaga - Paparazzi | ] |
I guess I'm a little late on this bandwagon, but I've just discovered that I find Lady Gaga very interesting. The music is catchy, but it's her apparent personality and image that really get my attention. After a bit of Wiki-ing, I've decided that I think she's a respectable artist; that is to say that she appears to be one of the rare ultra-successful pop musicians who retains a good deal of artistic integrity.
Again, it's not so much the musical content on her CD that makes me say that; it's the tremendously colorful persona built around that music, and the character she's made herself into. At least, I assume it's her doing; if it's PR people dressing her up in those awesome outfits, they certainly do a damn good job making it look like it's all part of her personality, at least compared to other "divas" like Gwen Stefani or Beyonce who, talented as they may be, are clearly the product of a marketing executive.
Excuse me for this relatively content-free digression. I guess working at Newbury again has got me paying more attention to the music I hear. I'll leave you with this:
I guess all it takes to make me like an artist is for them to dress up like a sexy broken robot. Free prize to whoever can get this song out of my head. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 25th, 2009|12:37 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Supercommuter - 10th Generation | ] |
I just started playing this old NES RPG called Mother. And man, those old school RPGs are really hard to play.
I don't mean that it's especially challenging to accomplish the goals set out for the player. I mean it's actually difficult to navigate the clunky, antiquated interface that was the standard when RPGs were a new thing. Game's still fun, though. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 4th, 2009|03:16 am] |
Just a few days ago, I bought and set up a real nice condenser mic to record my demos. I've got all my equipment set up just how I think I want it, and I have about five songs that are more or less ready for proper recording. Each song should take two or three attempts at recording, which would add up to about 15 minutes or so. But I'm so absurdly particular about the way I sound in recordings, that it takes me closer to two hours to successfully spit out three minutes of acceptable vocals. I guess that's good for the final product, but it makes finding time to record a pain in the ass. I have to sit down, refresh myself on whatever lyrics I'm about to record, give it a practice or two, and then record fifteen cuts that I throw out before I finally record the one I want to keep. Then I get to play around with converting it from this audio format to that one, so on and so forth. Music is a lot more work than I expected it to be (and this is just to make a demo), but at least I'm enjoying myself. There'd be no point if I weren't.
The fact that I need so much time is a problem because A) I'm distractable, and B) I've been spending almost all of my time either at work or out with friends. That's not necessarily a bad thing—making money and socializing are generally held to be acceptable ways for a dude to spend his time—but I'm actually getting kind of frustrated that I haven't gotten as much done as I'd have wanted to at this point.
Oh, well. I've vented, so I'm good. I just need to sit down sometime soon and rap the hell out of everything that needs to get rapped. I feel like I'm getting a little better at it and a little more comfortable in my own voice each time I come back to it, so I think things are coming along nicely for Anthony and Virtualboy. Demos will get posted as they're ready, so stay tuned. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 25th, 2009|04:08 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Jonathan Coulton - Re: Your Brains | ] |
So, I went to a Jonathan Coulton concert tonight. It was awesome. Well, it was probably awesome. I got stuck in ridiculous traffic and we got there just as the set ended, so I wouldn't have any way to know. I got a t-shirt, though, so it wasn't a total wash. I'm going to wear that t-shirt so hard.
We stayed for the next band, who were some guys from New York who I'd never heard of, but they were really good. It was very danceable music, and I decided that I'm going to teach myself to do the Robot.
The way home was not awesome. About forty minutes away from home, I got this tingling in my arm that quickly developed into a searing, crippling pain in my shoulder. I have no idea what caused it, but I'm happy to report that as of press time it hasn't killed me. I got home and took some painkillers and muscle relaxants that I got some time ago for a different problem but never ended up using.
And my god, did they do their job. The pain was promptly killed and the muscles thoroughly relaxed. While I can't say I was too fond of the starting point, going from debilitating pain to super relaxed in about half an hour is pretty alright with me.
Painkillers and muscle relaxants, you're alright in my book. |
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| Legit! |
[Sep. 23rd, 2009|10:34 pm] |
Like many of the things I type into the Internet, the communication herein contained regards video games. Part of it does, anyway (hint: the first part).
Today is September 23, which is the anniversary of the day Nintendo Koppai was founded in Japan in 1889. That makes Nintendo one year old for each star in Super Mario 64. Hooray for...that, I guess. I played some Smash Bros. this morning and (kind of) taught myself how to play Hanafuda, the card game that was Nintendo's first product. Plus, I listened exclusively to Mario tunes while I was driving, so I'm cool that way too.
I also did a different thing today, which is potentially a more interesting thing than the other stuff I said.
As anyone who reads this junk likely knows, I've taken up the habit of making rap songs. I have a handful of low-quality demos, which I think are pretty good, and I've decided to do something with them. I'm going to record some studio-quality tracks and have them mastered, and publish my own album. From the research I've done, it seems that it's a ton of work, but not overly complicated or capital-intensive to do that. At least, not on the scale I'm aspiring to. So today, I took the first step towards that goal by filing for a business license.
This is basically how it went.
As of today, I am the owner of Armcannon Entertainment. I've ordered some studio-quality recording equipment and sometime in the next couple of weeks, I'll have some professional-sounding demos of my terrible rap music. You are hereby ordered to look forward to it.
So, that was my day. I feel pretty good about it.
-----Anthony
P.S. If it's your birthday today, then Happy Birthday. I know there are some people who have a birthday which is today. |
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| New Rammstein! |
[Sep. 17th, 2009|02:36 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Rammstein - Pussy | ] |
Finally! Rammstein's got a new album, called "Liebe ist für alle da", coming out in October, which will be their first new album since 2005. I don't know if anyone who reads my nonsense actually cares about Rammstein, but if you do, they have a video for their first single off of the new album.
It can be viewed here. Careful, though. It's NSFW to the max. As in, hardcore pornography-style NSFW. Enjoy! |
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| 09/09/09 |
[Sep. 9th, 2009|11:10 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 9th Floor | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | Nineful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Sonic Adventure 2 - Escape From the City | ] |
Today is a significant date. I consider the number nine to be an auspicious number, though there's no logical reason behind it*.
Today marks be the last time this century that the date can be written as three single digits, i.e. 9/9/9.
It's also (get ready!) the tenth anniversary of the US release of the SEGA DreamCast. I couldn't find my DreamCast, so I'm playing Sonic Adventure 2 on the GameCube, which is the same game more or less. I'm pretending it's a DreamCast, just for today.
September 9th also has some significance to me for personal reasons, which none of you are likely to find as interesting as my blathering about the DreamCast, so I will not tell them to you.
Happy 9/9/9, y'all!
*Anthony Explains: I was entrant #9 in the first Smash tournament I played, and decided I would make 9 my lucky number even though I lost. It just kind of stuck, as I am a little bit crazy. |
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| Goodness... |
[Aug. 27th, 2009|12:54 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Katamari on the Rocks | ] |
I had a few too many glasses of wine last night. And by "glasses" I mean "bottles", and by "too many" I mean "one entire". Drunken post stays up because I think it's funny.
On a completely different note, I don't think I like mc chris's last two releases as much as the rest of his discography. It just seems like half of his rhymes are about blowjobs, and the other half are there to give context to the rhymes about blowjobs. That sort of thing is okay to a degree, but I can only hear about a dude's junk so many times before it ceases to be inspiring. |
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| Dear ex-girlfriend: |
[Aug. 27th, 2009|05:17 am] |
It blows my mind that you were able to get 120 stars on Super Mario 64 when I, the avid gamer, still fail to earn more than 80 on the same game 13 years after its release and with a more responsive controller.
Maybe I've been spoiled by how easy recent games have become? Or maybe I'm just not as good at games as I like to imagine. I never could keep up in Katamari.
Anyway. Come on, Mario. You've gotten so much of my money. The least you could do in return is jump proper for me from platform to platform and get me the damned star. You know that's what I want; I don't understand why you've got to be difficult about it. |
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| Important Notice |
[Jun. 30th, 2009|03:52 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | This awesome remix | ] |
As long as I'm wasting your time with Youtube videos, I might as well drop this one on you:
Enjoy that one, if you haven't seen it already. |
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| I brought you this lolcat |
[Jun. 30th, 2009|03:46 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | YTCracker - I am a Pirate | ] |
It's hard to pinpoint exactly when the Internet transitioned from "medium for communication" to "kitten image repository" but I think both are equally good.
This video made me hungry. |
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| Anthony: Squirrel Hero |
[May. 24th, 2009|08:58 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | MC Frontalot - Livin' at the Corner of Dude & Catastrophe | ] |
I'm at my mom's house this weekend for my brother's birthday, and earlier today my sister found a young squirrel in the back yard. At first we gathered around it to look at it, assuming it would scurry away fairly quickly, but it didn't. It seemed curious to examine us, and it started crawling on my shoes and attempting to climb my pants. It was still there a few hours later, and it seemed like it might have been hurt plus it had fleas on it, so we brought it to the Grafton Wildlife Clinic.
There we learned that it was a girl in relatively good health, but was dehydrated and hungry. They gave her a bath for the fleas and a shot to replenish her fluids, and gave her some food. The vet who helped us suggested that we put her somewhere safe near where we found her in hopes that Mama Squirrel would come along and bring her back home. We put our sleepy squirrel friend, now named Ogla (not Olga) into a shallow flower pot along with some leaves, sticks and pine needles and left the whole deal by the bushes where we found her.
We hadn't even gotten the little girl situated yet when my cousin noticed, "Hey! Another squirrel!" Sure enough, there was another little squirrel right where we found the first one. This one, however, was soaking wet, indicating that it had fallen into the pool. Very luckily, though, there was a hose hanging into the pool that the little guy could use to climb out. I tried to offer him a piece of walnut, but he jumped right past the nut and tried to climb my arm. I decreed that he would be known as Ronaldo.
We grabbed a small cardboard box, dropped in some nest supplies, and gave him the same "safe waiting zone" treatment as Ogla. We decided not to put them in the same box, just in case they were from different squirrel families. About an hour later, though, I came to check on them and discovered that Ronaldo had crawled over into the flower pot and snuggled up with Ogla, so I think it's a safe bet that they knew each other.
They're currently sleeping, curled up in a ball together in a big fluffy nest of leaves and dried pine needles, inside a fenced-off part of the yard to protect from predators. There's a yard-furniture end table protecting them from rain, and some nuts, crackers and bits of fruit to eat. They'll be all set until Mama Squirrel comes by to bring them back to the nest.
Squirrels have entertained me for years with their Antics, so it's nice to have a chance to do a little bit to return the favor. Gotta get up in the morning to check on those guys.
-----Anthony
P.S. That whole deal about the mother not taking them back if they have a human's scent on them isn't true. It's mostly just birds who are like that. I asked. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 3rd, 2009|02:00 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | the same song from Earthbound that's been stuck in my head for days | ] |
Lately, I've been going out a couple times a week to a state park in Framingham called Callahan. It's been way too long since I've made a habit of getting outside, so it's a good change. They've got some awesome woods and I like to try and walk until I don't know where I am, but I seem to have mostly learned my way around.
I make sure to spend at least two hours walking when I'm there, so it's good exercise too. Can I please not be fat now? |
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| I AM FAMOUS AND THIS IS IMPORTANT |
[May. 1st, 2009|01:42 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | mc chris - mcchrisownz | ] |
So, does anyone here read Kotaku? It's a gaming blog, and arguably the best one around.
Anyway, a couple times a year they hold contests where the winner gets a free game. Presently, exactly that is happening. They're giving out a prize to whomever submits the best photo of "red things".
Check out this article and scroll down a bit. You will see a picture of an awesome person who is me. Yes, there's presently a photo of me on Kotaku.
Sometime soon (I think next week) they are going to be taking votes to see who wins the contest. I will annoy you all again at that time. It is crucial that you vote for me (you can login using your Facebook account) so that I win that game. Here's why it is of the utmost importance that you vote for me and help me win a copy of a game:
I NEED THAT GAME SO I CAN SELL IT AND BUY FOOD BECAUSE I AM A POOR PERSON RIGHT NOW
That is all. America, do your part. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 24th, 2009|02:34 am] |
Back when I was working at Newbury Comics, they were selling these neat little Pikmin toys for about $5. We kept them next to the counter, so I often found myself thinking, "these are cool. I should buy one," but in my attempts to be frugal, I never did.
I was poking around eBay just for fun, and saw those very same Pikmin toys selling for $40 each.
Dammit! |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 21st, 2009|06:40 pm] |
The neighbors' cat has been hanging around my car all day. Earlier when I looked out the window, he was chilling underneath it, and just a few minutes ago he was walking around on the hood.
I tried to take a picture of it, but it left before I could. Which is a shame, because the Internet really needs more pictures of cats. |
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| We've got to get back...to the future! |
[Apr. 18th, 2009|04:17 am] |
Tonight, I watched all three Back to the Future films. Previously I had only seen the first one, and that was probably more than a decade ago.
I'm really shocked at how good they are! They're campy in an old-school sci-fi way, but also really enjoyable movies with plots that, while somewhat absurd, are actually really engaging.
Honestly, I can't recall seeing any movie trilogy (besides Star Wars, of course) as cohesive as Back to the Future. And before you say anything, Lord of the Rings doesn't count because it was boring.
Keeping in mind that these movies were made between 1985 and 1989, one of my favorite parts is when they travel to the far-off year of 2015. Apparently, half the technology we'll have in 2015 is ridiculously beyond what's possible today, and the other half was obsolete in 1996.
So, yeah. I've got some new favorite movies. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 14th, 2009|10:48 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | Insanely furious | ] |
Fucking tax websites.
Hrblock won't let me file my federal taxes because they lost my information from last year. Their "24-hour" phone help line is closed right now, because it's after hours.
The Massachussetts website won't let me file, because they tell me I didn't have health insurance this year. There was a two-week period when I did not have health insurance because Masshealth (whose sole raison d'être is to ensure that everyone has health insurance) failed to mail me the necessary documents, and I had to call them about it. Twice.
I looked on irs.gov for help and ran into three 404's.
This sort of shit makes me want to tear someone's head off with my bare hands. Preferably someone important at one of these entities. No, make that everyone important at those entities.
...
I'm not trying to impress anyone, so I see no reason why I should pretend I'm not furious all the time. |
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