Tuesday, November 28, 2006
What Jory is really trying to say....
Thanks Jory for the introduction. I hope I can bring some interesting topics to this blog without to many geek/drunk rants. In the future look for some tech reviews from me and maybe a slice of the video game pie. From time to time expect some music and politics mixed in. Feel free to comment on our posts and if you have any suggestions or anything you would like to know about, we love the internet and will be able to cook something clever up.
hi patrick!
We have a new contributor here at woah patrol....patrick!
It is also his birthday today but his membership does NOT count as my present.
Patrick's specialty is somewhat geared toward tech/computer topics as well as a good take on most things music/media/art so definitely keep an eye out.
Welcome to the patrol patrick!
Sunday, November 26, 2006
called in sick...
The first time I actually promise something in terms of a post - I fail!
Thursday night I came down with something that I can only describe as a 48-hour sinus infection, which prevented me from going into the madness on Black Friday. If you care, consumerist.com has pretty decent coverage of some madness, and you can find some hi jinx on youtube no doubt.
I did end up venturing out after I felt rested up well enough (appx 11:30am) and surprise surprise - every single awesome thing I wanted (I had compiled a list of several things at a few different stores), was GONE! So there really are advantages to getting up early in this town.
I did however find a wonderful external DVD burner at Office Max for $50.00 and an inexpensive pack of 50 blank DVDs. Now, I am a little behind on this technology and wasn't completely sure which format of discs to buy at first (DVD+R or DVD-R), Ben helped me, saying most modern players should be able to play both, but thats about as much as he knew for sure about it as well.
SO in case anyone else needs to know the difference, I did some research and here it is:
The difference between -R and +R are actually driven by the manufacturers of the players.
DVD+R is supported by Philips, Sony, HP, Dell, Yamaha (and others)
It allows writing to a disc a single time, it is permanent, and cannot be recorded onto again.
DVD-R is supported by Panasonic, Toshiba, Apple, Hitachi, NEC, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp (and others)
It too allows writing to a disc a single time, permanent data, and cannot be recorded onto again.
If you add a 'W' to either (DVD-RW, DVD+RW) it will allow you to write over the data multiple times.
BOTH DVD+R and DVD-R should play properly in *most* commercial DVD players. (Ben was correct).
In short, there really doesn't seem to be a discernible difference between the two that I could find, other than who funded their development. On the packaging of my particular player however I notice it claims it can write to DVD+R twice as fast as DVD-R, 16x and 8x respectively. However, I know for a fact I am writing to my DVD-R discs at 16x, and they work great.
Thursday night I came down with something that I can only describe as a 48-hour sinus infection, which prevented me from going into the madness on Black Friday. If you care, consumerist.com has pretty decent coverage of some madness, and you can find some hi jinx on youtube no doubt.
I did end up venturing out after I felt rested up well enough (appx 11:30am) and surprise surprise - every single awesome thing I wanted (I had compiled a list of several things at a few different stores), was GONE! So there really are advantages to getting up early in this town.
I did however find a wonderful external DVD burner at Office Max for $50.00 and an inexpensive pack of 50 blank DVDs. Now, I am a little behind on this technology and wasn't completely sure which format of discs to buy at first (DVD+R or DVD-R), Ben helped me, saying most modern players should be able to play both, but thats about as much as he knew for sure about it as well.
SO in case anyone else needs to know the difference, I did some research and here it is:
The difference between -R and +R are actually driven by the manufacturers of the players.
DVD+R is supported by Philips, Sony, HP, Dell, Yamaha (and others)
It allows writing to a disc a single time, it is permanent, and cannot be recorded onto again.
DVD-R is supported by Panasonic, Toshiba, Apple, Hitachi, NEC, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp (and others)
It too allows writing to a disc a single time, permanent data, and cannot be recorded onto again.
If you add a 'W' to either (DVD-RW, DVD+RW) it will allow you to write over the data multiple times.
BOTH DVD+R and DVD-R should play properly in *most* commercial DVD players. (Ben was correct).
In short, there really doesn't seem to be a discernible difference between the two that I could find, other than who funded their development. On the packaging of my particular player however I notice it claims it can write to DVD+R twice as fast as DVD-R, 16x and 8x respectively. However, I know for a fact I am writing to my DVD-R discs at 16x, and they work great.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
black cats NO black dice HECKNO, black friday !YES!
I must admit I am sorta getting caught up in the Black Friday hooplah going around. There are some pretty decent deals, and exciting things going on...but I think the more interesting thing is that fact that I am all about Black Friday not because of what I can purchase for other people, but because of what I can purchase for MYSELF. Selfish? Maybe.
These two deals from Best Buy are ones I will be waking up early/staying up all night for:
Toshiba Satellite Notebook with Intel Celeron M Processor 420: $249.99
Samsung 19" WS LCD Monitor: $129.99
If the laptops are gone, I would sure love to replace my nasty CRT.
BFADS.net is an awesome resource for Black Friday action going on around the retail sphere.
What are you doing for Black Friday? Anything you can't live without? Too good to pass up?
Expect a report from '5am mayhem' in Cedar Rapids.
These two deals from Best Buy are ones I will be waking up early/staying up all night for:
Toshiba Satellite Notebook with Intel Celeron M Processor 420: $249.99
Samsung 19" WS LCD Monitor: $129.99
If the laptops are gone, I would sure love to replace my nasty CRT.
BFADS.net is an awesome resource for Black Friday action going on around the retail sphere.
What are you doing for Black Friday? Anything you can't live without? Too good to pass up?
Expect a report from '5am mayhem' in Cedar Rapids.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Classical Ass
So-called “Guitar legend” Esteban was stripped of his legendary status this week when it was discovered that he is an entirely fictional character created specifically to sell pressboard guitars in infomercials. Allan Holdsworth, guitar legend and president of “Real Guitar Legends For Truth” released a statement on Wednesday calling for the immediate cessation of all applications of the appellation “Guitar legend” to the television character known as “Esteban”. According to the statement, “Esteban is a fictional character created by L.A. session guitarist Dan Fernaueu for the express purpose of marketing a cheap, poorly constructed guitar-like instrument on the Home Shopping Channel.”
The scandal intensified when the Recording Academy revealed that claims that “Esteban” had won “several Grammys” were false. These charges come on the heels of last month’s statement from the Musical Instrument Manufacturers Association that the “Esteban” guitar could not, in fact, be classified as an actual guitar due to the fact that it is constructed out of reclaimed materials such as discarded telephone directories and medical waste. The MIMA demanded that the instrument be classified as a toy.
The scandal intensified when the Recording Academy revealed that claims that “Esteban” had won “several Grammys” were false. These charges come on the heels of last month’s statement from the Musical Instrument Manufacturers Association that the “Esteban” guitar could not, in fact, be classified as an actual guitar due to the fact that it is constructed out of reclaimed materials such as discarded telephone directories and medical waste. The MIMA demanded that the instrument be classified as a toy.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Beaver Trilogy
I'm an avid Crispin Glover fanatic and I had until the other day had no knowledge of the movie titled "the Beaver Trilogy" which stars Crispin Glover as Groovin' Larry and is directed by Trent Harris who also directed Rubin & Ed. The movie has no commercial release, and isnt distributed at all. It is only available from Trent Harris himself on his official website: http://www.echocave.net. Anyways, the reason I am posting this is because there is an interesting story on This American Life regarding the movie. You can stream the whole episode for free here.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Review of Blut Aus Nord - "Mort"
I like to think of Blut Aus Nord as a monstrous creature living beneath the surface of a blackened lagoon. Each time it rears its head at the surface we see an even more decayed, bloated, pallid and disfigured being, going back down to the depths to further erode what was never a holy being. The last time Blut Aus Nord reared its head we were blessed with "The Work Which Transforms God," a ghastly album of black metal with strange bending and contorted riffing coupled with percussive fury and eerie enigmatic vocals. "The Work Which Transforms God" is almost a pre-requisite to "Mort." If you picked up "Mort" without ever hearing black metal, it would be like sending a blind child into a dark cave to look for a dead bobcat made out of clouds.
"Mort" is a vague and complex menagerie of asymmetrical tones, discordant tangents and constantly diverting elements whirling about. There are no stable or solidified elements here. Lazy drum patterns pan from the every direction while unfamiliar vocals noises emerge from beneath your cerebral cortex. The loose fitting textures and almost serene anti-harmonies weave one of the most intricate and spacial listening experiences I have ever witnessed with an other-worldly authority. Each track on this album could be described as an instance of conversion. Non-chalant guitar noodling, unmusical ,all too unhuman percussion, and ghastly vocals float about in your mind until they converge in one axis causing the aural havoc that is "Mort."
"Mort" is an album that you need to prepare for in order to truly digest it. Actually I'm not so sure that it is you who does the digesting, this album has digested me every time I have listened to it.
"Mort" is a vague and complex menagerie of asymmetrical tones, discordant tangents and constantly diverting elements whirling about. There are no stable or solidified elements here. Lazy drum patterns pan from the every direction while unfamiliar vocals noises emerge from beneath your cerebral cortex. The loose fitting textures and almost serene anti-harmonies weave one of the most intricate and spacial listening experiences I have ever witnessed with an other-worldly authority. Each track on this album could be described as an instance of conversion. Non-chalant guitar noodling, unmusical ,all too unhuman percussion, and ghastly vocals float about in your mind until they converge in one axis causing the aural havoc that is "Mort."
"Mort" is an album that you need to prepare for in order to truly digest it. Actually I'm not so sure that it is you who does the digesting, this album has digested me every time I have listened to it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
