Darth Drabek

Anthrax - Antisocial

Which of these things is not like the other.... Quitcha ill-associatin, rude boy! Note: I am not disrespecting your opinion that any of the above genres of music are in fact, crap. I was just curious why ska is lumped in there. I never mentally catalogued those ska kids and their shiny shoes with those other genres.

Not Capt. Hazel "Hank" Murphy? "I'd be an Adrian Barbot-bot, with laser beam eyes, and big chainsaw hands! BZZZZZZZ! BZZZZZ!"

Let's see... rap is not my primary genre of music, but I have managed to find some really cool stuff out there. I dig the Deltron 3030 album that Del the Funkee Homosapien made with Dan the Automator. I've found just about anything the Automator touches ends up being pretty good. He had a mixtape album of sorts called "Wanna Buy a Monkey?" that had a a lot of remixed or reproduced songs with other awesome artists he's worked with, like De La Soul, Gorillaz and Lovage . I also like Quality Control and Power in Numbers by Jurassic 5, and NWA before they lost Ice Cube and Dre. Also, I felt an obligation to listen to some Public Enemy to "get myself educated," so to speak, and I've come away with the conclusion that Chuck D is a genius. Yo Lare - Is Dalek on Ipecac Records, Mike Patton's label? I'm asking because I think I saw them open up for the Melvins and Tomahawk a year or so ago.

Cake - Jolene Jolene unlocked the thick breezeway door Like she'd done one hundred times before Jolene smoothed her dark hair in the mirror She folded the towel carefully and put it back in place

I'll check the boards or make a short post while procrastinating at work, or write something lengthier from the local library. I don't have the internets at home. Who needs it, right?

I love the smell of napalm in the morning! You know, I loved the movie, so I was very hyped to finally read Heart of Darkness. I thought it was disappointing. While we're on the subject of great war movies: The Bridge on the River Kwai = fantastic.

Yes. Yes it is. The surf influence is one of my favorite things about the pixies.

Seems like pixies is working his way through Surfer Rosa. Joe Jackson - One to One I agree with what you say But I don

The music industry just wants to make money. And play the latest by-the-numbers Nickelback song three times an hour. "This is how you remind me that she's just a woman and look at this photograph...." Terrible. Between that and the "crunk" revolution, I've stopped listening to the radio. Indie labels are the way to go! Like this one, although they don't have too much going on anymore.

Seymores - First Lady of Delaware Sort of reminds me of a less nerdy and desperate version of Nerf Herder.

What's the difference though? I mean when does sampling stop being a rip-off and start being creative? I'm not having a go at rap here, I am rather partial to it. Hell, one of the best live shows I've been to was a hip-hop show. I also saw the Beasties at a festival last year and they are still phenominal. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I guess the "difference" in my mind is how clever the piece is, and how much they are doing with the sample. Are they using the sample as a crutch or as a platform to get to something greater? I can dig someone hearing a particular riff and saying "Man, I wanna take a ride in THAT car, I've got some siiiick ideas," but I don't know about basing your hit single off a repetitive slice of a hit single from 20 years ago. That's another thing. In my book, the more obscure the sample, the better. If it's unexpected, or out of left field I can appreciate it more. That Jessica Simpson song from a while back that "sampled" Ventura Highway by America is a double offender. Not only was it a huge hit in the 70s, but she pegged the whole damn song on that guitar riff. It's just pounding you over the head with it! I thought the Beasties using "When the Levee Breaks" on "Rhyming and Stealing" was cool, because 1) they messed with it a little so it wasn't quite the same beat you were used to, and 2) it wasn't like they were sampling "Stairway." I also thought the Gray album was a brilliant idea because the samples DJ Danger Mouse chose were totally out there. I mean, meshing Jay-Z's The Black Album with the Beatles' White Album had to present a huge challenge, but he pulled it off with aplomb. And although he used "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Helter Skelter," he also sampled "Julia" and "Piggies," two of the more obscure songs he could have picked, and made them work with the Jay-Z material. I never said rap wasn't music. At its best, it can truly move people. Witness the guy that destroys that Kanye West song "Never Let Me Down," with some seriously amazing rhyme and flow. I've heard it's Saul Williams, but I guess there's some debate over whether it's him or not.

And here I thought this was going to be a thread about the ethical implications of "sampling" and how rap musicians are nothing but musical vultures, scavenging any decent riff they can find and financing their Lexuses (Lexii?) with the hard work of "real" musicians. I *am* being sarcastic, but only about 85 percent. Jay-Z and Danger Mouse create The Gray Album = good. Jimmy Page sells his soul and plays Kashmir for Diddy's mediocre rhymes = bad I'm all for creativity, and some rappers have that. Others... not so much.

Smoooooooth. Afghan Whigs - My Curse

Yep. Games are art. Look at all those people at E3 or the other gaming expos. They're like museum openings where all the artists show off their newest creations. The gamers can appreciate the art the devs make by playing it, but playing the game is not an art. Now, a modder, that's somebody who's got the tools of the trade, but they're aren't a pro. But that's why modding is such a big step - it lets the masses create their own art.

Yes. And also, haven't there been several artists who have created art based on the fact that people would interact with it? My memory is hazy (my last art appreciation class was at 8 a.m. a few years ago), but I remember some avant-garde dude who inserted himself in a cube of some sort and became part of the exhibit. Capturing the reactions of the people was part of the reason he did it. You can make the argument that walking through a sculpture exhibit is "interaction." Just perceiving art differently than the person next to you makes that piece of art interactive. Is a screenplay considered art? What about a landscape designed by an artist fluent in a certain type of graphics software? Sure they are, so why wouldn't a combination of the two be considered art? So, again: yes.

Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With Him?

Gypsy Kings - Hotel California

I..I can't post just one! Teenage Fanclub - Alcoholiday Fountains of Wayne - Radiation Vibe Elvis Costello and the Attractions - No Action

I agree with Enoch about the time management issue. Yeah, the Seahawks got a couple of tough breaks on the calls, but Hasselbeck made some very poor decisions at the end of the half and at the end of the game. I say Hasselbeck, and not the O Coordinator because he pretty much took the game out of the coach's hands by calling audibles on the line. That's fine, that's what a QB has to do, but you can't throw it over the middle with no timeouts on third down, if you're short of the first down.

Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)

pixies, I wish your camera didn't suck. I'd love to see a close-up of that 1940s Martin.

Here's a pic of my electric. I used to play a white Squire Strat, but I upgraded that sucker when I got the money and the skills to justify it. You can also see my bass, which our bassist was using that day. This photo is of my short-lived (but earth-shatteringly awesome) punk rock band The Vice Presidents, the only band I've done "frontman" duties in.

L to R: My Ibanez Soundgear bass, my 1960s-era Gibson acoustic (inherited from my grandfather, who taught me the basics), and my Alvarez Regent acoustic. My Gibson SG is not at my current location, but I'll find a picture of that baby pretty soon.

For the "shader" thing.... Check to see if your graphics card supports Shader Model 3.0, which I believe is the newest one out there and it comes with Direct X 9.0. I ran Bloodlines with a integrated GeForce 4, 512 MB of RAM (even though the video card was stealing 64 of it) and a 2 ghz processor. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but it installed and ran correctly when I used all the fixes on the vampireplanet forums. I don't think you need top-notch Shader support (b/c that integrated card sure didn't have it), but you might need some sort of support.