Another Music-Related Post

Dude.

Chris Cornell is effing KILLING ME.

He went from being an alt-rock GOD/lead singer of Soundgarden, to something that entirely defies description. THAT'S how bad it is.

Let's take a look:

Here's CC in his badass days, screaming out two facemelters: "Jesus Christ Pose," and "Rusty Cage"...

Jesus Christ Pose


Rusty Cage


Here's Chris today:


Holy shit. Everytime I hear that song, I want to projectile vomit everywhere. You know what's crazy? CC worked with Timbaland on that album! CC + Timbaland is as bad as Little Wayne trying to do a rock album. Anyway, back to the song: Who are those pathetic sidekicks on stage?! Did he hire an adult contemporary band to back him up? Why is this song so fucking weak? Look at the crowd! They couldn't be LESS into it!

Of course, just give it a few weeks for it to get onto the radio, and then I'll have to overhear conversations like:

"Hey dude, so I'm really into that Chris Cornell guy... He's a lot like Daughtry- He's got some pipes bra."

This to me wreaks of sellout. Sellout sellout sellout. And I'm not one to just go accusing bands and singers of selling out, but this is miserable!!!!!!!!!

I'm sticking to my OLD Soundgarden stash, Pearl Jam, and the handful of other bands that are out there that still bring it with originality.

LATE BREAKING UPDATE:
I just watched another new CC video... It's even worse than the other one:

Restaurant Week- Washington, DC

In case you weren't aware, DC's restaurant week kicked off this past week. It's advertised as:

Join us this February when nearly 180 of metropolitan Washington, DC's finest restaurants offer awe-inspiring, multi-course meals prepared especially for this gourmet event.

Destination DC and the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington are proud to present the 14th Washington, DC Restaurant Week from February 16-22.

Lunch: $20.09 for a three-course fixed-price meal
Dinner: $35.09 for a three-course fixed-price meal

Because I'm not refined in any way, shape, or form, I had no idea that restaurant week was going on. BUT, my roommate did, and he had the foresight to make reservations at VIDALIA for four of us.

Anyway, the day of our reservation, I was SLAMMED at work and basically did not have time to eat through most of the day. "No big deal," I said to myself, "I'm going to restaurant week tonight! They're going to have so much food for me that I'm going to explode!"

Well, this was my "awe-inspiring" $35.09 meal:



What you see above is a decadent meal of flounder. And I hate to say it, but the way it appears on your screen (if about 17"), is actual size. This piece of shit was about 2 square inches large. Of course, they probably realized that people would not be satisfied with the portion of flounder, which is OBVIOUSLY why they complimented it with the ONE piece of asparagus. The other crap you see on the plate is a mixture of different splashes of sauces, because at a fancy restaurant, making an abstract work of art on your plate is just as important as fucking your customer on the portion-size.

Now to be fair, prior to the flounder, they did give an appetizer. I chose the snapper to be mine, but it too was two incredibly small sushi-like pieces of fish. Pathetic.

Overall, the food was good, but there was too damn little of it to make this even a remotely enjoyable experience! The whole time I was there, I was thinking about what I was going to eat as soon as I got home. In case your wondering, we stopped at 7-11 on the way back and I got taquitos.

I learned my lesson though. I should never pretend to be refined, or attempt to fit in with the fancy crowd in this city because it is all (that's right, I said 'ALL' because I am jumping to one huge conclusion off of one bad experience- it's my blog and I can do what I want) one big scam. There is no way that anybody dining at Vidalia will get more enjoyment out of there $35, .07 lb meal than I will out of a $10 Papa Johns pizza.

Sweet New Songs...

I'm in love with these songs:




Although I swear, Lil' Wayne is fucking EVERYWHERE it seems. Though this song is awesome, I am less than enthused about his new "ROCK ALBUM." If you haven't heard the song "Prom Queen" yet, it is TERRIBLE! Comically bad! Almost as bad as Kevin Federline trying to rap. Here it is for your viewing pleasure:


It makes me want to puke and laugh at the same time.

Two Awesome Songs

People come to this blog to have their mind blown. If you watch these videos, I assure you your mind will be blown with awesomeness.

Deer Hunting (with automobile)

Last week I was driving around in the middle of BFE Maryland- It was a relatively normal afternoon drive in Maryland, and the sun was shining bright. Anyway, I was out in this area a little southwest of Frederick and I was on some old country road in search of a diliapidated barn (for work). The road had a big (3-4' high) stone wall on the side of it that separated it from a giant field. Then, a deer fell out of the sky and smashed my windshield.

In actuality, I think the deer was running across the field and jumped over the wall and onto my windshield. Whatever happened, Bambi died and a lot of inconvenience followed in the form of having to get flatbedded back to work and having to pay $200.00 for a new windshield.

I worked up some signage that should be displayed with laser beams (red, for visibility) for future motorists:

Half Indian

So I'm half-Indian. As in, the country by the Indian Ocean. Not Native American.

So anyway, I spend my days wondering if the Indian half of me is more like this:



or this:


I think I'm equally intrigued by both superheroes and zombies so... I'm torn...

What a pain in the ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111

I've been inactive for a while.

My computer decided to get infested with Spyware, Malware, Silverware, every type of "-ware" imaginable and the 40+ hours or so it took trying to get and getting my system back on track was so very very painful! I was incredibly close to saying "Fuck it all!" and heading to the Apple store down the road to get a new laptop. But, $2000.00 is a lot to drop so I decided to try and fix my computer... Here's what transpired... my general thoughts throughout this hellish joureney are in blue:

1) Sometime around Black Friday, I was trying to buy something on the Internet through Firefox but the website wouldn't load properly. So, I opened up Internet Explorer (a cardinal sin...). Next thing I know, I start getting a silly amount of pop-ups and Windows Security Updates telling me that my system is at risk, yada, yada, yada. Do I have some crazy virus?

2) The pop-ups begin to drive me mad as they make the internet a nightmare to use. It gets to the point where I'm looking at something in Firefox when all of a sudden some commercial starts playing over my speakers. Then, the pop-up window for the commercial finally shows up a minute later. Shit like this begins to happen once every few minutes. I definitely have a virus or some shit.

3) I start Googling the problems I'm experiencing, and holy shit, seems like half of America is having similar issues! Why? Because Windows is a shitty product with shitty security features and Internet Explorer is 10X as shitty as Windows. Anyway, the web research (being performed on my work laptop because my infected computer is driving me batshit bonkers) reveals that I have spyware out the wazu. I don't have time for this! I should just throw this goddamn worthless box out the fucking window.

4) I visit approximately 3,000 sites that all suggest different Spyware software and procedures to use that will allegedly solve my spyware infestation. I spend about $100 on various software meant to clean my system... I run all the new spyware-destroying, virus-scanning-and-eliminating software, and all indicators say that my system is clean... BUTTTTTTTTTT, I somehow am still getting pop-ups every few minutes, but they're just blank screens. At this point though, I'm willing to live with this just so I can have the Internet again...

5) AFTER FINALLY "FIXING" THE SPYWARE ISSUES, WINDOWS DECIDES TO AUTOMATICALLY INSTALL SOME NEW UPDATE THAT COMPLETLY CUTS OUT MY INTERNET CONNECTION. This is unbelievable. I should really just buy a Mac. I want to rip my eyes out. Microsoft can burn in hell.

6) After trying for about a week to get my Internet back, I come to the conclusion that nothing is going to work. Instead of buying a new computer, I decide to wipe Windows clean, reformat my hard drive, and reinstall Windows XP. Okay Steve- you can do this. Just think, you're saving $2000 that would otherwise be spent on a new computer.

7) I begin my Windows reinstallation journey one cold December night. Everything goes surprisingly smoothly and a few hours later, I reboot my computer and welcomed with a clean slate! BUT, then I realize that I have no: sound, correct video settings, internet, CD drive recognition, etc. I love this. I really do. This is so fun. I want to die.

8) To get my system back on track, I realize that I need all the drivers for my sound card, video card, internet adapter, cd drive, etc- But, because I have no internet, I have to constantly look up the drivers on my work laptop, and then shuttle them to my desktop via flash drive. It's a pain in the ass, and after installing new drivers, NOTHING WORKS! ...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

9) I identify the Internet issue. Turns out, Linksys cannot make a USB wireless internet adapter to save their fucking lives. I owned one already, but because I thought it was defective, I bought another for $50 only to realize that they're not defective, they just SUCK ASS. SO THEN, because the Linksys adapter refuses to cooperate, I have to order a new wireless internet card to actually install in the back of my computer. Another $30 and a nice 4 day wait for delivery. Awesome. This is a bottomless pit of money spending that is not solving anything.

10) The new wireless internet card comes, I install it, and (SHOCKER) it WORKS LIKE A CHARM! I HAVE INTERNET! The same day, I go on a downloading spree of new drivers, etc for my sound card, but still no luck. I do a couple hours of research and random downloading, and it turns out that all I needed were a few "plug-ins." I install the plug-ins, and VOILA! I HAVE SOUND TOO NOW! I work late into the evening downloading all my old programs: Winamp, iTunes, Opera, Flickr Uploader, Soulseek, etc. Finally finally finally, it looks like I'm back on track!

REALIZATIONS:
- I am a huge nerd. I depend on my computer way too much. I am obsessed with the Internet, and even more obsessed with my music collection.
- Microsoft and Windows SUCK. They are worthless. They can work flawlessly for a long period of time but IT IS A GIVEN THAT YOU WILL BE FUCKED BY THEM WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT!
- If Apple truly can stay resistant to spyware, malware, and viruses, it's definitely going to be my next computer.
- After spending about $200 to get through this little fiasco, maybe I should have just cut my losses and gone with a new computer anyhow! Oh well... In my mind, I'm still telling my self I saved $2000.00