Thoughts, Raves & Outright Beatings

When I was a young kid, I was also into books about magic and children battling evil sorcerers and such. Now that I’m older, I’ve put away such childish things, and gasp in dismay at all the hype surrounding the latest (and last) release by gasping adults.

Seriously, the ending, even a fake one, is not worth dying over, people!

I haven’t seen the international press work themselves into so much of a frothy frenzy since the days of Princess Di. Somewhere, my girl of Wales is smiling. Granted I haven’t read the books. At some point, when the din has died down, I may start from the Deathly Hollows and work my way back. In the mean time, I’ve had more immediately pressing concerns cross my desk lately, such as…

Out of “I can’t believe you actually spend time thinking about this” department: Who’s going to win the VH1’s current rockstar/dating reality catfight “Rock of Love”? Granted, I was NOT a fan of Poison back in the day (my collection of Depeche Mode tapes would not stand for it). However, for a diabetic who’s pushed past 50, Bret Michaels has worn his age quite well…

I frankly liked the baby mammas from the hood cast in Flavor of Love better than the helium-voiced bubbleheads populating this brouhaha (though I’m personally pulling for Rodeo to win Bret’s heart; she seems the least bitchy and the most real of all of them kittens). But, if someone put a gun to my head and forced me to choose, I’d pick Mr. Michaels over Flava Flav in a heartbeat.

No disrespect to Mr. Flav, but, seriously, dude, you left your credibility when you left Chuck D to fend for himself. Your time as a reality star is up. Go get your clock and head back to doing what you do best.

Don’t believe the hype and bring the noise, yo!

Another pressing concern…

My blue beastie was laid to rest a couple of weeks. I bought it from my mom, and the girl served me well for three years. But, upon research of this model online, I discovered that the engine starts to self-destruct after about 80K. Sure enough, at 79K, the old lady started rattling and shaking. Mechanic said it needed a new air conditioner, but the one that was in there worked just fine. One and a half years and another 15K miles later, the electrical finally gave out. Power windows, of which only two worked, ALL gave out; radio failed, air conditioner shot out hot air, and, most importantly, the ignition wouldn’t say on unless I gassed. I looked at my options in terms of repair and decided it was time to play taps.

Blue Beastie, 1992 - 2007.

One week, $1,000, a car loan and a couple of aborted deals later, I ended up with this:

A 2003 Hyundai Elantra with about 55K on it, and with everything in great condition except that it needs a bit of a wheel alignment (well, I got for below retail blue book value; of course there had to be some work done). Anyway, it’s not my dream car, but it will probably be the closest I get to ever owning a luxury vehicle. While I’ll probably be as poor as a church mouse until I pay it off (I plan to kick it off my debts’ list in less than a year), it’s just nice to drive a car that was actually built in this century, let alone this decade. I’ve had my friends tell me that I deserve it, and, frankly, I’d have to agree.

Anyway, to celebrate the arrival of my new pride and joy, I’ve put together a soundtrack to the happy naked pagan dance I did in my mind as I handed over my deposit and loan check to the dealership and drove off with my new honey.

Up on EZarchive for 7 days (and boy, was this thing hard to upload!) is the following:

• Justice - D.A.N.C.E: The singing on this track has got to be some of the worst I’ve ever heard (and I include myself on some of my stroppy demos). But hey! Can’t stop the divas in training, especially on 70’s inspired disco bump.
• Mark Ronson f. Daniel Merriweather - Stop Me: If you’ve seen the vid on VH1, this is a techno remix.
• Teenage Bad Girl - Ghosthouse: Atypical dreamy French disco…ahh….
• Groove Armada - Song 4 Mutya: Remember Yaz (or Yazoo for our British counterparts)? Apparently so do they!
• FannyPack - NuNu: Some 80’s type dance funk…speaking of which…
• Calvin Harris - Acceptable in the ’80’s: This guy claims he “created disco”, but this sounds more “New Romantic” to me…
• New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream: that annoying song from the Intel core adverts is back…
• Feist - 1234 (Van She Technologic remix) I went hunting for the original on elbo.ws recently and found this posted everywhere. It sounds French, but the remixer is based out of Australia
• Scissor Sisters - I Don’t Feel Like Dancing (Dirty Girl remix): Oh, you will after hearing this…
• Simian Mobile Disco - Hotdog: yeah, baby…
• Spoon - I Turn The Camera On: for all the dorky white kids who like to move…in any which way possible
• Muse vs. Justin Timberlake - Sexymassive Black Hole: I had to decide-Muse or Justin, Muse or Justin; eh, why not put them BOTH in at the same time. BTW, Muse is number 18 on this chart this week. I’m tellin’ ya, peeps, like it or not, this song’s going to break them here in the US. Once again, let’s er..well…you know…
• Kings of Convenience - Gold In The Air of Summer: Bars closing, kids. drink up.

I’ve split the preview into two listening files, as my ISP doesn’t seem to mind me uploading 25 MB Ogg files, but is throwing a fit over me doing the same with mp3 files.

Part one:

Part two:

This is why Ogg Vorbis rocks my world, people…

As per usual (these days), the oggcast is up as long as I feel like keeping it up. It may be a week or a month before I put together another one so get it while it’s hot, chillun…

P.S. Congratulations to the aforementioned Justin Timberlake. Our man obtained an Emmy nod for concocting this finely tuned, delicately orchestrated, and high minded piece of artistry.

I’m serious as a heart attack, people…

P.P.S. Anyone wanna share my tracks on piratebay.org? Por favor?

D-Tags: Music, Ogg, Oggcast, Ogg_Vorbis, Podcast, Downloads, MP3, Video