dan.

A month or two back, my band’s guitarist was telling me about how he was getting rid of an iMac that he got for free as a surplus from work. I convinced him to sell me it for around forty bucks, and he agreed. It turned out to be a 20″ 2006 iMac G5, the iSight version. It’s got wifi and bluetooth, is in perfect working order, and in great shape cosmetically as well. I got the newest Apple aluminum keyboard and a Mighty Mouse with it as well. I installed Leopard on it, and it works beautifully. I use it as a work computer, for making calls via Skype, for writing (big monitor + full keyboard is great for that), for watching movies, and as a backup in case my laptop decides to fail. Moral of the story is that if you can score a used Mac for cheap, do it. Sure it may not run the latest and greatest software, but it’ll serve you well for years to come.

Listen to pretty much any album nowadays, and you’ll be met with some stupid interlude, or with songs that serve no real purpose. That, ladies and gentlemen, is called filler. It’s when a musician has a tight recording schedule and is too lazy to have prewritten songs, so instead they include a bunch of filler tracks to take up time on the album. That’s how you end up with a “full length” album that has maybe like 5 actual songs. It’s sold as a full length, even though it has as much actual material as an EP. It’s a scam for the listeners and buyers of these “albums.” I don’t feel bad downloading an album if it’s priced at like $14.99 and has like 4 real songs, that’s just a ripoff and I refuse to pay for that. One or two interludes are okay, especially if they’re well-done and actually serve some purpose in the course of the album, rather than being like brick walls that stop the flow of the album. I enjoy albums that have consistently good songs and some thought behind them, rather than a bunch of singles thrown together with some filler to tie it all together.

Musicians, please just take the time to write at least 10 actual songs before you get to recording an album. I don’t care if I have to wait a little longer for it to come out, it’s worth it in the end. Or just release an EP, it’s cheaper for everyone and fans won’t feel ripped off. And labels, don’t let artists get away with this, they’re cheating you too, by using filler interludes to get to the 10-song minimum.

People just love to complain about ads. They’ll express vehement criticism whenever a website announces more ads, and they’ll swear to never use the site again (but they’ll still use it). In this case, it was Facebook which announced it would add “sponsored stories” to the news feeds of users. Basically, ads.

Continue reading →

In 2012, the internet has an abundance of music streaming options. Rdio, Pandora, Spotify, and Grooveshark are some of the more popular options for streaming music. The idea is simple, you pay a monthly fee (or put up with ads + limits) and stream music by whatever artist you like, for as long as you like. I’m not a huge fan of this approach though. I listen to music on the subway a lot, where there’s no internet connection. Yes, some services offer offline options, but that usually only comes with a paid plan. Plus if you happen to end up underground without any music stored offline, then you’ve got nothing to listen to. I like having my music available 24/7/365, and in full 320kbps quality. And streaming tends to eat up data plans pretty quickly. Also, most streaming services don’t have the more obscure metalcore I listen to. They’ll have a couple popular bands but nothing too new or unknown. Flash memory is pretty cheap, so I think I’ll stick to having my music on my mp3 player instead of streaming it.

Plus, if the streaming site of your choice has a server issue or shuts down, you’re left with nothing but the money you wasted on the subscription.

Gasoline-independence, complete silence, instant acceleration, super-cheap to refuel. Those are just a couple of the advantages electric cars have over their internal combustion counterparts. On paper, they’re a great idea, and they’re becoming increasingly practical for the real world as well. The only caveats they have is range, price, and marketing. Range and price will improve over the years without a doubt, but the marketing is what’s killing them before they even get too popular. Continue reading →

Yesterday was my two-year anniversary with my lovely girlfriend, as well as Valentine’s Day. Pretty convenient, two days rolled into one. We went to The Cheesecake Factory in Long Island, the food was pretty awesome, as expected. Then we went to go see Star Wars Episode I in 3D.

The movie itself was exactly the same, except seeing it now I noticed all of the terribly cheesy lines. The “3D” part of it added a little extra dimension, but nothing was that insane, probably because the movie wasn’t shot as a 3D movie, just converted to one. Some scenes were left as is, it was mostly the battle/race scenes that got the 3D treatment. Essentially, it’s just George Lucas milking more money out of the series, but I still enjoyed it. The fact that I saw it for free with an Optimum Rewards card made me feel less ripped off, haha. Overall it was a pretty good day.