Anxiety and being featured.

Welp. This is it. From now until July 1st there is a shit load of things I must do in order to graduate.

I first must do well in my current classes, clear up some bullshit with transfered class I've taken and take a couple of exams to test out of spanish and math. Also I have to plan on moving out of Buffalo.

Hopefully I won't buckle under the pressure.

Now also last week I got featured on youtube. I did a video asking a simple question, "What do you want to do?" Whether or not if someone was in school or in an established career, I wanted to know. Unfortunately a lot of people had to point out in the comments that I wore a Mets hat or feebly attempt to insult me with the poorest excuse for grammar I've ever seen.

It really didn't surprise me one bit to see that. Most of the nation is being affected by the disease of stupidity and the inability to think critically. I'd expected that people would call me dumb and use colorful racial slurs, but of course a few people decided not to even TRY to have a real serious discussion. Because of this I think we as a society are doomed.

We are basically squandering our opportunities like using youtube as an agent for change and discussion. I am fortunate for having many actual intelligent subscribers and other who DID provided good advice and insight, but sadly they were not in the majority. Being featured wasn't as bad as I thought, but people who basically did not listen to my message just made me disappointed in society.

Because of a continued culture of stupid they (or their parents) will probably vote in McCain or Clinton and that will ensure that this country will remain fucked up for years to come. Yeah I went there. Yeah I did!

Why the LiveJournal "content" strike was a complete and utter failure.

As a refugee from LiveJournal (well I still have an account, but just for communities like the great indiefucks) I know fully well that a small but annoying vocal minority bitches and moans about any small change the site does.




Is it because they are bored and have no other cause in their pathetic lives to be passionate about?

Is it because numerous LJers act like adolescents in their twenties?

Or is it because many of the said "wankers" have zero knowledge of how a business is supposed to be run.

In any case its the same story over and over again. LJ makes a change to save their ass legally or something to still generate revenue on a rapidly declining site and a group of people, mainly from the "fandom" (Not that all people in the "fandom" are bad) and other abnormal sects of fan-fiction complain about the same shit in clockwork fashion.

Of course in their course of logical thought they decided NOT posting on LJ for a day would do such a thing. Now if it were for lets say....forever, it would have been really effective. Unfortunately it wasn't.

The LJ "strike" managed to do the following:
Make the complainers even look more childish.

Encouraged people who didn't give a shit about LJ to post as much nonsense as possible.

Piss off people who actually have STRUCK for something more worthwhile in the past.

Let me say this. A private entity like Livejournal, Inc can do what ever it pleases. In this case they were not making enough money. Even with "paid accounts" there are not enough people paying for it for the business to sustain itself. The deletion of ad free basic accounts was going to happen sooner or later.

Making a comparison to the protests lead by civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King jr and saying the word "strike" are a total insult and slap to the face to people who died or got arrested over something a lot more important than the right to post yaoi slash fiction.

There is no such thing of free of speech unless you own the servers and pay the bills.
I'm hosted on blogger and they can pull my site if they wanted to tomorrow for no reason at all, so quit whining about "freedom of speech".

Please do society and Livejournal a favour and just leave for good. The more temper tantrums you all throw (like the immature man or women children you are), the more you are making yourself all look like fools.

Veska Toskla: EPIC FAIL

Toskla is the EFG of NHL goalies.

Even after he let in this goal, THE LEAFS STILL FUCKING WON.

(Thank god, as I ranger fan it is my duty to hate the Fishsticks)

Album Review: Be your own pet: Get Awkward

In my late twenties I shouldn't be listening to something that is meant for "scene" kids 10 years younger than me. But rules are meant to be broken.

I got addicted to the greatness that is Be Your Own Pet when I saw them play on Conan one random night. From there I got their self title album and many of their songs from it have been a mainstay in my ipod/itunes playlist for over the course of two years.

From the album the song "Bunk Skunk Trunk" comes to mind with the opening lyric by lead singer Jemina Pearl:

"I'm an independent motherfucker
And I'm here to take your money
I'm wicked, rad, and I'm here
To steal away your virginity "

It has stayed in my facebook favourite quotes box ever since.



The rest of that album has served a soundtrack for many drunken nights out. After listening to it over and over again, I saw them live at Mohawk Place in September of 2006. The crowd was your usual show up late, "I'm too cool for buffalo" scenester crowd. I wasn't the oldest guy there, but I was probably the most enthusiastic. I fondly remember getting squirted by mustard from the band at the end of their energetic set. After the show I thanked the singer Ms Pearl and her drummer (who had replaced Jonas). I told her I supported the band and got all of their EPs and even a shirt. (Which surprisingly fits my fat ass, considering most band shirts are made for AIDS patients)

That shirt got me laid twice, but thats beside the point. When I learned this summer that they were recording a follow up called "Get Awkward", I patiently waited for the day it would be leaked online the release date.

I got it a month ago and I've been listening to it ever since. (Of course I do plan on buying the album to support the artist. ;) ) While not as epic as the first album, Get Awkward beats the Sophomore Slump.

Jemima and her band mates sound a bit mature and a little more confident versus a few years ago. While some fans bemoan this, I prefer an evolution of their style rather than the exact same album. Still they are considered kids, but to me their music has more of an edge.


On the surface, a great song like "Becky" (which is nearing the top of my last.fm list) may sound juvenile, but the lyrical work is clever. It almost sounds like a murderous version of the "localmotion".

"What does it matter anyway, cause I'm gonna find a new best friend OK. Me and her, will kick your ass, we'll wait with knifes after class!"

From those lyrics in the chorus it is arguably the best song on the album.

Another song, "The Kelly Affair", is a tale about wanton sex and drugs consumption in seedy Los Angeles. If the song it self wasn't so freaky, the video is even creepier!

The rest of the album, however isn't that spectacular as the first...but its not bad either. If you are new to BYOP I strongly suggest you listen to their first album a few times and THEN listen to Get Awkward.

Don't shoot me, this is my first music review. I'm sorry if it doesn't sound pretentious like the dreck on pitchfork

edit: 3.23.08
It has come to my attention Universal took out 3 songs in the US release because they deemed it "too violent". (Which is hilarious because the SAME label releases a shit load of "violent" rap music). One of those songs are "Becky" which i'm extremely disappointed and frankly I think this is fucking bullshit. I urge all BYOP fans to boycott the American release and support the band by buying the UK version (that has ALL of the tracks).

This is just yet another reason why supporting the RIAA is supporting their evil practices such as censorship.

The greatest idea in the world!

I think this is fake, but imagine if it were actually plugged in?

Did Elliot's whore SPITZER or swallow?

I consider myself a liberal but I really hate politics. Aside from the only fresh air like Barack, most politicians are totally full of shit. No matter what affiliation Democrat, Republican, Liberal, Conservative, Libertarian or whatever I'm tired of the same tired lies and promises they all give.

They sound all the same and try act like they are all upstanding citizens. They never sound honest because they have either speech writers or advisers telling them what to say or not say. Of course we all know that Bush defines corruption. So do the Clintons (i.e. WhiteWater, Monicagate and Hillary's tax returns...or lack of them).

Elliot Spizter did actually do a lot of things when he was AG versus saying he would. Of course in the process he managed to piss off a ton of people. This lead him going into his brief Governorship with an already chilly reception in Albany.

Most notably he really wanted to let illegal immigrants HAVE DRIVERS LICENSES. This was so unpopular that most NYDMV clerks would have refused to give them if he made it law.

Going back to his time as Attorney General he busted a ring of prostitutes and led the charge to have NY state to have the toughest anti-prostitution legislation in the country.

Of course given the current events, its another politcian becoming a hypocrite! Usually the reTHUGlicans lead this department, but he should have learned from Mark Foley or Bob Allen on the why whatever a politico says is totally ironic.

For those who are living in a cave, the governor of New York State was caught in a prostitution ring.

He was allegedly said to use embezzled tax money to pay $45,000 to have tryst with "call girls" from the Emperors club. FIRST MISTAKE.

He even paid $5k to boink "Kristen".



I'm not sure about you, but I wouldn't pay $5 to take her to lunch and my standards aren't that high to begin with!

He also used his cell phone and personal office phone to call said whores. SECOND MISTAKE.

If I were wanting to get a call girl, I would not ever use my real name and I would stay anon.
Especially if were a powerful person like he was.

I guess guys like him think the power also extends his penis. It doesn't go that way. Unfortunately it continues to repeat the same old song. Politico gets power, goes to his head, he gets busted and the cycle continues.

Now because all of this, prostitution will still be illegal in the USA. It should be legal considering all of the hoops guys go through to get laid for free.

Thank god I'm not seeking a career in politics. I have enough skeletons in my closet to fill a funeral home.

Here is my youtube video on this.



And Lewis Black does a BRILLIANT take on this on The Daily Show

LOL WUT

;)

Wow! Regarding my Rant.

I just feel so overwhelmed and humbled by the mostly positive feedback I've gotten on my Rant on youtube celebs.

the video in question

my clarification



My subs are steadily rising and I finally feel that its worth it to participate in the Youtube community after leaving for a while.

Some people have misinterpreted my rant as hate. It is not hate. I'm just offering valid criticism. I don't like those people's vids and they should cease uploading them on YouTube.

That is all. I have nothing personally against these vloggers. I do not know them in real life, so I can't really judge them as people.

But I can judge them for their video making and how their influence may effect newer youtubers. They may assume its OK to upload a video with a breast thumbnail or charge for collabs like SxePhil "allegedly" did. They may think its cute to do almost nothing on cam like Magibon or XgogobeanX. They may think its acceptable to bash religion like the TAA. If we give people like Blunty or Boh3m3 popularity we are saying that E-begging is ok.

Now doing this rant took me a very long time to even consider doing. Once upon a time I was actually concerned with what people said about me on youtube. I think Roger's (The boring dispatcher) passing fully reminded me that you should be vocal and not worry about what people say or think about you. Its only the internet for crying out loud. I should lose sleep over negative comments, bad ratings or other crap?

I think the older I get the less I give a shit about things like that. When you put things in perspective, does it really matter? There are things out there that are much worse.

On that note, I have to get the fuck to bed. If I get more subs, I'm going to have to hire a secretary or intern. :)