Friday, July 25, 2003

This is the funniest thing I've ever seen. Most of them are pretty ridiculous but there's a few that crack me up.

Here's my #1 favorite reason to Hate The Matrix (And No I don't lol):

You've worked as a policeman your whole life, protecting the innocent, enforcing the law. You retire with honors, then take a job as a security guard, working the metal detector on the ground floor of a skyscraper in order to help pay for your wife's arthritis medication. You're sitting there, on a slow day, reading your newspaper, when a girl walks in wearing a trenchcoat. She issues no demands, no warnings, no "freeze" or "drop your gun." She just tears you in half with a spray of machine-gun fire, then does cartwheels along the walls while killing all your friends.

Here's a close runner up:

You are a hard-working single mother, making ends meet by doing time as a secretary in an office building during the day, a drug-store clerk in the evenings. You are on the office phone with the babysitter one quiet Wednesday afternoon, telling her how to calm little Dakota down, to get her to stop crying her eyes out asking why Mommy is never home, telling her that you'll be there soon, honey.

A split-second later your head is severed by a shattered helicopter rotor blade, the skull bouncing off a nearby wall, leaving a spray of arterial blood on a motivational poster. Your eyes bulge wide, your brain inside remaining alive just long enough to recognize the horror of your fate. Aviation fuel splashes in through the shattered windows and ignites, incinerating mothers, husbands, fathers, best friends.

And somewhere, a theater full of young, chubby males cheers because Trinity made it out before the crash.

That someone even took the time to write that totally speaks for the youth of America. We are the youth of the nation? God help us all.
Yikes! Stripes! Fruit Striped Gum!

Anbody remember THAT stuff? Geesh...we had some weird products in our childhood I'll tell ya. If you're feeling nostalgic try visiting Yesterdayland , it's a website devoted to the past liek 60-70 decades. Everything you remember having, playing with, watching, and doing is pretty well summarized there.

Well this week sure has gone fast. This summer hasn't been so bad concerning the Mundays. I haven't really been unhappy to go to work on a Monday yet. Last summer by this point I was just aching to get back to school and stop working. Now I'm enjoying going to work. This time next year I might be here as a hired employee! I'll be receiving salary...woah...weird!

Guess it's a good sign to be enjoying my work, I guess it shows that I'm prepared to enter the "REAL WORLD" OOOOOOOOOOH AHHHHHHHHHH EEEEEEEK. I never really get that. I mean yeah a lot of us will be graduating this year, but I mean come on, we'll most likely still be living with our families for a year at least. You won't be completely independant and out there on your own JUST yet lol. I know I plan on staying home for at least 2 years to get myself a bit settled. I think I'm going to work my ass off on overtime next spring/summer and get my loans paid off as fast as I can. God bless my grandmother, God rest her soul, for what she left me in her will. I had never known but apparently I was her favorite grandchild out of like the 32 of us. I do bear the name of her husband, and I did see her quite frequently. I pray none of you ever has to have a loved one living at their house their last dying days. Last dying days...she was with us for 2 years ::sigh:: That seems like so long ago now, but it was 1993. Things were so much different then... My sister didn't have ANY kids; I was just a kid myself. Every winter when Mother wears that fur coat, I can't help but remember it was my grandmother's coat too. Memories of rides to Christmas Eve mass in the backseat of the car rush back in. I hope that she's happy though, and with all those that left before her.

I always get to wondering if I'll meet all of the grandparents I never knew. My Mother's mother was the only grandparent I ever had. Being born late has its advantages. Sure I don't get cracked down on as hard as my brother and sister were. Any mistakes my parents made with them aren't made on me either lol. I've got like a second set of parents in Fred and Doreen, and I'm lucky enough to be an uncle to two wonderful kids. I hope I'm as good a parent as my sister one day. Then again I can rest assured that my kids will have a wonderful aunt. That's so weird to think about even. My sister and brother will be my children's aunt and uncle. It's like taking the whole generation we have right now, (my immediate nuclear family) and shifting it down a generation. Can I even see Peter in 10 years? Who will he be with? Where will he work? Live? But he's only 21, and he can't see that far into the future.

Sometimes I envy my brother and sister. They knew our grandparents. Not for too long, but they have a memory of them at all. I hope I one day meet my great grandfather. Apparently he's the one I take after the most. I've seen a picture of him where it's the entire family sitting at a picnic somewhere in Brooklyn. It's strange the locale seems so out of place; they're in some kind of grotto of foilage. There's everyone else, pretty miniscule in size, and the one man, massive and distinguished. I definitely get my size from him. Everyone else are short in stature. I wonder if they look down on me, and what advice they'd offer, could I speak to them.

Went to Cryan's last night. What a great place that is. It's like a mini-high school reunion every time we go. Found a new and amazing drink (well new to me anyways.) Dr. Pepper. No, not the soda. Those will definitely help me get on my way this Saturday night ;P Which is the eve of Andrew's next Rutgers party. Whoooo. Tonight we're hittin' up Clydes, this awesome Martini bar in New Brunswick. Can't wait for that. Today couldn't go faster :D I'm really enjoying the middle to tail-end of this summer. It's ridiculous how little time I have to myself really but I dont' think I'd have it any other way. I'm definitely not getting a surplus of sleep this summer, but as a matter of fact that doesn't bother me. I'm really looking forward to Lindsay's in August. She has us down to her shore house every year the first weekend in August. It's like a relaxing weekend for me and a chance to start up a base tan for our week down the shore. LBI I can hear you calling already. We're going to Atlantic City the night before to visit Tammy since she's only 20 mins away from Lindsay's. I've never been, should be fun.

Ugh I think these phones here need relative voice volume control. The last guy who called was definitely screaming. "HEWWOO INEED HEWP WITH MY COMPUTERRRRRRRR!"

WOAH WOAH WOAH EASY on the EARS there Chewbacca! I'm bleeding from the ears Pachino! Although I think it annoys me more when they speak too softly. I feel like I'm being molested via telephone. I think I'll go put in a harassment claim now.

Thursday, July 24, 2003

You know this morning I went and grabbed an egg-McMuffin for breakfast since I hadn't had one in forever and was running late. I said thank you to the guy, and he said to me "You know you're the first person who's said thank you in a month." Saying thank you for an egg-Mcmuffin...What is America coming to? :(
This poor scientist!

Wednesday, July 23, 2003

Well my worst fears are realized. CyberLife went out of business a few years back :L I got nostalgic today during a slow couple of hours at work and started looking up thing about Creatures 1, 2, and 3. Creatures was a revolutionary kind of game. It wasn't a game at all initially. With 2, 3, and Creature Adventures it got more kitschy and more fun-oriented, although C3 was the most complex artificial life system I've ever seen created, especially for home useage!

Creatures was created by CyberLife in the 90s and released 1997. I remember the first time I saw advertisements for it in a gaming magazine. Must have been around the time they were making Diablo cuz I was on the prowl for that game too. All I saw was a few eggs and a weird looking creature standing next to it with a big grin on it's face and saucer-plate eyes. It was the cutest thing ever, and the only words on the otherwise black page was "Their life is in your hands..." I had no idea what this was for as not even the game title was there. These truly were teaser ads at their best! I kept looking for new ones in the months to come. I finally found a more detailed ad a few months later detailing the first accurate artificial life system. These creatures had their own set of drives and needs and they had an AI unlike any I'd seen before. Yeah Tamagotchi's were the craze eh? I had one, and those were gay. Very gay. I wanted something that really was capable of AI. Creatures answer the call of my plea. The creatures would roam around their world, Albia, and the goal was to breed as many as you could and pass along genetic traits and genes. There was a villain of course the Grendel. These green baddy's could beat the heck out of your norn and even kill them! They spread disease, germs, and many a bad joke. And this was the first emergence I'd seen of a huge widespread internet fanbase. Remember this is a time when the internet was just gaining popularity for the common American. People created COBs, (objects you could import into Albia such as food machines, Grendel traps etc sky was the limit!), and traded Norns online to eachother by exporting and importing them.

Creatures 2 expanded on the series with a whole new world that had a thriving ecological system. Not only did the creatures biosystems become more complex but the ecosystem was just as, if not more! Plants would drop seeds which would germinate, some plants required pollination from animals flying around the world. There was introduced the genetic splicer which allowed you to combine any two creatures. There was a new one as well, the Ettin, a cute little white guy with dreadlocks who liked to steal things and run away with them. The Grendel was back but this time you could teach your Norns to defend themselves, or avoid him.

Creatures 3 finally came about the time I was a sophmore in HS. This game was so complex in terms of the biosystems it really blew my mind. I got into genetics at this point and read a ton on them, and wolfing runs. Kind of my own home Darwin experiments. I'd have a wolfing run in which I'd hatch about 10-20 eggs and leave them alone for a few days with no formal teaching. After that time I'd come back and see who was weeded out. Survival of the fittest indeed! The norns now had an immune system, could develop antibodies, and genetic flaws and adaptations were inherent. Quite the interesting game. I had found out that the C3 CD had broken somehow on my move into the Red House last fall. :L It had always run so slow on my old computers, I was going to retry it after like 6 years to see if it ran beautifully on my PC now.

Today I ordered C3, unopened, still in the cellophane from Ebay's Half.com. $1.75. I also ordered the same conditioned C2. Guess how much? $.99. Now I'm starting to see how things depreciate in value over time. A hi-fi stereo from the 70s is worth next to nothing today, and I never reallyl noticed this before. When C1 came out it had to be at least $30-$40. ::sigh:: It will be a pretty unique and cool screensaver kinda thing to leave running all the time :)

Thinking of buying Creatures Adventures (a kiddier version) for my niece and nephew. I think he'd really be into that seeing how he loved Animal Crossing. Yeah yeah, I played and own Animal Crossing. It's such an amusing little game lol. Something fun about visiting your nephew's town and having him send you letters and gifts in a little virtual world. It even has a cool password mail system where I can send him something without having to transfer it from a memory card. He just enters in a password, and I assume the game calculates and decodes what it means and what item it refers too.

That game definitely too up too much time...lol
Anyone who knows me even modestly, knows that I'm a huge Michael Jackson fan. I have been for years since the early years of the 80s. In my eyes that man will always be the King of Pop. There is none higher. I don't stand there and defend everything the man does, but I can understand a good deal of it and sympathize. People wonder why he has such a fascination with childhood and children. I believe this stems from the fact that Michael never had a childhood. He was 8 and in the Jackson 5 by that time. Most children were playing and the like, but Michael was under the rule of their stern father, Joseph Jackson. Not allowed to go out and play, always required to stay close or with family, it was definitely not a normal child's life.

Jackson 5 is really about as pop as I get, considering I don't really respect other pop artists all that much. Ther's a few choice ones, but no one shines a candle to MJ and the J5. Yes there was the whole controversy in 1993 about Michael and that young fellow. While most people would stop there and continue to read the publications unfavorable to Mike, I've kept an open mind and found out as much as possible regarding that situation. That allegation was settled out of court, and later the boy admitted his parents had instructed him to lie to attorneys and police. Yeah it's easy to make somebody a scapegoat and ostricize them for things they've done, and even things they haven't. People can be really cruel by nature sometimes, and it's sad to see an individual suffer as a result. Still despite all the cruel things said about him, and all the criticism, I'm glad Mike is still around and battling it day by day.

Today I read an article on CNN concerning Michael and MP3's. While many music artists are all for the new bill that's being reviewed, Michael is quite against it and and jailing of any person who shares or downloads MP3s. This bill, if passed, would make it a FELONY to share OR download any MP3 under copyright. Mike made a statement involving this. "I am speechless about the idea of putting music fans in jail for downloading music. It is wrong to download, but the answer cannot be jail." Well spoken Mike. You've probably read my Mp3 rant below, and I couldn't agree more. This is a sloppy way of the music industry trying to clean up mistakes that they've made. It's a long hard road back from being greedy bastards! :P "Here in America we create new opportunities out of adversity, not punitive laws ...," he said. "It is the fans that drive the success of the music business; I wish this would not be forgotten." Most musicians are so quick to antagonize their fans when it is their fans who earn them all of their money. The music industry wouldn't mean jacko (no pun intended on one of MJ's nicknames lol) if there wasn't a consumer base for it. Mike ends off the statement saying that he thought the music industry and music fans should work together to figure it out. This has been the simple most intelligent idea I've heard concerning piracy in music yet. And not just because Mike said it.

I think it's a great idea to have the two mediums collaborate to find a solution. With the music industry attacking MP3 downloaders, and the downloaders just adapting and fighting back, there won't be any viable solution anytime soon. Just because you can't stop the P2P sharing services, doesn't mean you should take it out on the users. Certaintly mp3 trading is NOT a felony. There are MUCH worse crimes and certaintly offenses for which no laws prohibit yet!

Read the full article here.

Tuesday, July 22, 2003

All right, it's time for a rant. I want to talk about people who are lazy. I see it more than ever in the corporate world, as if I didn't see enough of it among my peers. I admit at times I'm lazy, but it's something I dislike, and I strive against it.

Lazy people. You know the type -- the foo-foo's who don't have an ambitious bone in their bodies but like to tell everyone otherwise. Lazy people are our civilization's procrastinators; the people who will stop us from evolving as a species if allowed to breed. Lazy people are like rotten apples; leave one rotten apple next to a healthy one and it will become rotten too. Laziness is a disease, a serious one, and it has gotten worse in our society.

It used to be that people had to work very hard to get what they wanted. Back in the day, our forefathers had to chase deer for miles to get a little supper, or they had to slave for 16 hours on farms for some fat baron just to get a piece of bread. Now, you can sit at home, watch TV, get obese, and get money for it. What the hell happened?

I'll tell you what happened. Precut carrots.

Precut carrots are the symbolic demise of our society. We can't even cut a silly, stupid, little carrot anymore, so someone had to go out and do it for us. Everything is prepackaged, preshrunk, prewrapped, precooked, preeverything, because we are too lazy to do it ourselves. And don't give me this "I don't have time anymore" crap. Just because you don't know how to plan your day like a person with half a brain, doesn't mean you should live your life with lazy shortcuts.

The worst part is that this laziness affects the amount of food in my future childrens' mouths. The disease of laziness has taken hold of corporate America, including all my legit rackets. I don't buy all this crap from fancy business magazines about productivity gains, longer work weeks, etc.

It's propaganda from other lazy people who infiltrated media. Yes, I am talking to you clowns in the media who need two weeks to write a 500-word article. Get off your lazy asses, you ignorant idiots, I don't have a fancy English lit college degree and I pump these babies out in 10 minutes.

Back to this productivity crap. When I go out on a tech call to fix some mindless problem simply solved, I'm dumbfounded by what I see. People are doing anything but the work they are supposed to do. Talking on the phone. Checking their worthless stocks. Having their 28th coffee of the day, (or their 18th bathroom break of the hour). Mindlessly looking into space for little green men. Playing with themselves. Etc., etc., etc. If cameras weren't around, I swear my Louisville Slugger would get a nice workout.

They work for two hours and hang out all day...

These mo-mo's spend about two hours of the day actually working (and I'm being kind), and they have the balls to tell my manager they are overworked. The few times they don't check out as soon as the clock strikes five and "work" an extra 30 minutes, it's because they were so lazy and stupid during the day, they needed to catch up later on.

Imagine, I think I run a tight ship and yet, I have a bordello on my hands. So what's happening, then, in the rest of Corporate America?

Like I said, we have a disease on our hands. As my grandmother used to say, "La gente รจ pigra" : The Lazy Pretenders.

Lazy people use little tricks to make it look like they're actually accomplishing things. They love sitting on their success until it turns to mold. We've all met someone who does something half-smart and feels he doesn't have to prove himself for the next few months. Sort of like the French soccer player who scored one big goal and assumed he should play on the national squad for four years because of it (don't ask me his name, I don't remember, if I did I would have told it you).

Among the little tricks lazy people use is taking credit for a job that was much easier than they made it out to be or seeking the easy job that could easily be exaggerated later.

No matter how smart a lazy dirt thinks he is, things eventually catch up to him. Sure, a pretender or a regular lazy person can make a nice living and have the 2.3 kids and the house, but he'll never be part of the elite.

His path to success will always be capped. You need motivation and ambition to be part of the elite, and that is the greatness of our capitalist society; the cream rises to the top. In the end, determined and self-motivated people (not always, most of the time) get ahead of pretenders. It's the go-getters that make up 1% of the population and control the other 99%. Those who know me well have heard me say this a thousand times over.

Lazy people are happy. Most of Europe operates like this, at least the bureaucracy does, and that is why I'll never live in Italy. I couldn't stand watching the dumb @!$%s taking six months to fix my driveway when they could have done it in two days. No matter how much power I could one day have in Italy from my "extended family" lol, I couldn't change things because too many pretenders are fixed in the system.

So what can we do? Simple. Do the exact opposite of lazy people. Why? Because having drive, ambition, goals, and the desire to execute these things with 100% effort will allow you to move ahead in life so that, one day, you might have the power and money to either change certain things or fire whoever isn't pulling their weight.

Whew....ALMOST DONE hang with me!

Lazy people blame others, their environment, or their tooth fairy for everything that didn't go their way. Don't be like them; take responsibility for inaction and stupidity.

If you are some kind of manager or boss of a donut shop or a large corporation, lead by example. You have a huge influence on the culture of your organization. A lazy boss who delegates everything and does nothing is the most dangerous kind of virus in an organization. Don't be that person. The worst employees are the employees who despise their customers because A) those customers have better jobs and make more, or B) they think they're above their job. If you're above your job, then get above it, or if you're in the process don't take it out on the consumer.

Don't wait for things to happen tomorrow; do them today. Do like I was told my grandfathers did, and walk five miles over broken glass to work, barefoot, there and back in the snow. Whatever you do, don't take siestas, it's the lazy person's way of reenergizing their laziness.

That's it. My rant is done. I made my peace.
And if you read all this, you've got my respect :)


Monday, July 21, 2003

Just finished watching T2: Judgement Day. That film still amazes me. I got the Extreme DVD (wow amazing sounding lol) version which comes with a ton of featurettes. It was good to see the film in its entirity for once. Whenever it's on TV, even HBO, they always cut the really cool parts that give you a little background info. Like the part where they remove the Terminator's CPU to enable his "learning" ability. Sarah Connor almost smashes it but they usually cut that part out. And a few T-1000 related scenes as well. When his feet start mimicking the floor or railings he touches. They never show that, although each effectual scene is like 4 or 5 seconds in length. What a cheap thing to cut! In a great mood today. I'm high on life as usual. Things look promising, very promising for getting hired by AIG. It's like all of a sudden people who don't even know me, but I've helped via phone etc, are putting in good words for me all over the corporate offices in NYC! W00t! Time to watch Better Off Dead.
"Summer Lovin' Had Me a Blast" (This was a post from my livejournal account. I dislike their interface, so I've switched to Blogger! Just postin' this one up cuz it was a little lengthy and I didn't want it wasted.)

Well here we are again! I always love summer. It's such a hectic time, full of so many things to do, and so many people to see that I hardly ever think I'll get to do all of what I want. And usually that's just the case. So far it's been a pretty stressful summer.

I'm back at my internship again, American International Group, and American International Underwriters. Such a great internship. I get paid to do things that I love. I work half the time in Parsippany here in NJ, and the other half I'm in the corporate offices on Wall St. Most everyone remembered me from last summer and it was quite a warm welcome from all who did. If things go well I'll probably get a job right out of college with them. I can't tell you how grateful I'd be. It was nice because the internship didn't start until June 3rd so I had about a month to relax after this hectic semester. Speaking of which this semester went amazingly. First time I've ever pulled straight A's and made Dean's List. Guess all those consecutive all nighters paid off eh? Got 3 certifications this year too, and at the rate I'm going I could start off with a very healthy entry salary. One can only hope...

Had plenty of time to hang out with my niece and nephew and that was something sorely missed this year. The more time I spend at college with friends, the more I realize how important my friends and family really are to me. Dad just recently had a serious surgery. He had found out a few clusters of major arteries were 80% blocked so he had the major aortae worked on. He's still got another one coming in a month for another group. I really hope it solves some of his health problems.

Went camping over the 4th of July. What a great weekend with the exception of one person who came ::sigh::. Got to know everyone a lot better which is hard to believe there's still so much to them after I've known them all for so long. We scaled this huge mountain from down in the valley, crawling under electrified wires, and ending up on top of a huge railroad bridge going through the valley. Breathtaking. I've been working like a madman this summer which is part of the reason I haven't gotten to do everything I've really wanted to. Big things on my list this summer were:

1) Go see Rent in NYC
2) Linkin' Park Concert, or Lollapalooze (Or Dream Theater!)
3) Beach
4) Road trip to AC
5) Get an Ipod

So 2 out of 5 isn't bad for so far, with 2 more planned.

Otherwise summer's a little different this year, it's weird that friends of mine have just graduated from college. Seems like yesterday that we were all still in hs and they were graduating as seniors there. Junior year really did fly, but I had so much fun, and for the first time I really look forward to going back to Syracuse. I had thought the prospect of seeing my ex would be bothersome, but I could really care less because after seeing her multiple times this spring in passing I found it really had no effect on me. Figures since I've seen her fiance just about every day this school year lol. La vie boheme hehehe. As I always say: Today for you, tommorrow for me. Dating scene's been awesome this summer, record numbers flying in all over the place lol. Meeting so many new people, and I'm glad I'm not tied down in that relationship anymore. Can't wait to get down to LBI in August. Some girls I met there from 3 years ago are going to be down the same week. Boo-yah. :) Time for a shower, lifting makes Pete sore, and a sore Pete is a grumpy Pete.

Take these broken wings
And learn to fly again
Learn to live so free
When we hear the voices sing
The book of love will open up
And let us in
Take these broken wings...
Ok here's my little shameless promotion for Macintosh. I read recently this article about Microsoft and their ever digging into a grave. Microsoft is on the down, and it's sad to say but they will never be as great as they once were. I agree almost completely with that article. Microsoft is the master of desktop OS. Now they're trying to diversify too much. I bet if we asked Bill Gates what he thought about all the periphereals they've got going, he'd bitch slape me like Shiva.

I used to be really anti Macintosh. I had used Macs in elementary, middle and highschool. They were fun in the former two, but by the latter I had gotten so used to Windows and their successors as well as the Microsoft Office package that Macs just got to be annoying. Anyone who went to my HS will most likely agree that when you went to the writing lab, you RAN for a PC if you were smart. Even if it was just so you didn't have to hear that annoying 'DOOO' sound. So yes, I was very anti Mac. I accepted the GUI was easy to use, and the build was very solid. Ok whatever I liked windows lol. I'd learned DOS from a young age, and once I hit Win 3.11x I was sold.

However in the past few years, especially since I've been at college, I've been coming to respect Macs more and more. They're excellend for video editing and when I was working on my animation films, jumping in was next to nothing. Their software packages are solid and just as easy to use. My brother created a resume and online portfolio of his work within 2 days. Impressive. Then came our favorite (or mine if you saw my last post) thing, MP3s. I had only bought one MP3 player up until my Ipod. I had a Rio mp3 player, and that thing annoyed me. It could hold like 10 songs at 194 bitrate, or maybe 30 mins of music. That was definitely pebbles compared to what I lug with me now. Ironic how I say lug, yet the slightly larger Ipod, with storage that VASTLY dwarfs other MP3 players, is lighter than any of them. Even the so-called "stick" players!

The Ipod was extremely easy to set up and it hasn't stop amazing me yet. It's like an mp3 player coupled with a minimal PDA, for people who don't WANT to have a PDA. I can put in appointments and things on a calendar via MS Outlook, and put text files on there such as a shopping list, or to do. You can even put in people's info like your cellphone, but actually their home addresses and email addresses now. I never thought there'd come a day where I could have my entire Michael Jackson collection with me. That day has come, oh yes. So easy to set up, even easier to use, it feels like the piece of technology I've waited for, for years! If you have the means I totally reccomend getting one. the 5GB ones are VERY cheap and worth every penny. T

hese 3rd gen models are thin, battery life is great (I get about 10 hours of a full charge!), and the 5GB would serve you well. Most peoples collections are just about that big, usually smaller. Of course I'm the guy with over 10,000 files, over 45GB lol. Oh well, maybe one day they'll be a 50GB Ipod hehehe. Until then the 30GB will be my trustworthy companion.
This was an email to a friend, but I found it myself getting so passionate over it, and the content so rich, it had to go up here Enjoy! :P

I’ve been reading the news on the web for the last hour or so. The whole RIAA deal is really pissing me off. If you don’t know about it, which I’m guessing you do, cuz most people besides me wouldn’t lol, I’ll tell you. You share MP3’s, and you download em. Simple enough right? Napster went down about 2/3 years ago now. Morpheus, Kazaa, Limewire, and Imesh sprung up in it’s place. Well that’s all well and good. Napster was attacked because it was the music industry’s only means of lashing out. Well they nailed napster, but Kazaa and Morpheus run on something called Peer to Peer sharing or connecting (P2P). This allows for downloading of files from other peoples’ computers, and not just from an online database or a physical hard drive server somewhere. Before when you used Napster, it actually would upload your mp3s over time to a server and offer them there. Of course the problem being if that server went down you were screwed and SOL. So now that the recording industry can’t attack file sharing networks, I mean Napster went down and within WEEKS 38 sprung up, they’re going after the users, and pissing us all off MORE.

I don’t know if I’ve ever discussed MP3’s or pirated music/software with you, but I’m pretty firm on my stance that Music is for everyone. I don’t think it’s cool to steal or rip off the artists, so my philosophy is usually that when I download things, or an album persay, if I really like it, I’d go and buy it. Case in point, Linkin Park Meteora. I bought that a day after dl the new album. But it’s the industry’s fault for being greedy bastards. When you buy a CD do you know how much of that money goes to record artists? Less than 2%. That’s a pretty shitty deal for them. Now 90% of artist income comes from concerts and venues etc. So if I support a band I go see em in concert I can be confident they’re getting my money.

I think it’s very unfair that if an album only has like one hit or a even a few good songs I should have to buy the album loaded with 10-15 songs of filler crap. When I think about it, I used to switch CDs when listening in the car etc VERY often. This only changed when I started burning my own CDs because I was making the mixes I wanted, with the songs I wanted to hear. But take the first Third Eye Blind album. I’d listed to Narcolepsy, Semi-Charmed Life, I Want You, Jumper, and Graduate. Ok lol, bad example. But then again this was a time period when albums were good as a whole. You know the whole put in a CD and listen to the whole thing? That’s so rare it’s like a bleeding live cow on a plate. Last album I found like that, you got it LP’s Meteora again. I mean I could listen to Live’s Throwing Copper, Blind Melon (self titled), and any Stone Temple Pilots album straight through and like every song. Back then an album represented a collective whole from a group. Like a snapshot of who they were at that point in time. This is what artists are whining about now lol. RHCP actually made a statement to the same effect. The problem is, artists aren’t giving us good snapshots lol. Bands tend to get wussier over time, and it’s evident everywhere. Take Stone Temple Pilots, for example, Loved their first 2 albums. 3rd album was good, still a little rockin’ hard. Their 4th effort… Sadly Sour Girl wasn’t that good to me. They got softer as time went on. But hey that’s what new bands are for. :P

So the answer? I download MP3s. I steal music, yes, and I’m proud of it. Lol. Some people collect stamps. Some people collect dildos, and I hope I never meet those people lol. I collect mp3s. There’s some kind of pride that goes with having every MJ song ever done. Something about being able to carry 1,865 songs with me (yeah that’s how many are on my Ipod RIGHT this minute lol). Music is such a favorite thing of mine, I wouldn’t have it any other way. But like I said the record industry is now going after the users themselves. What a great way to piss us all off more and make us more stubborn! Yaaaaaay! They’re issuing subpoenas now to people sharing files. They’re supposed to be targeting people with large collections (like a thousand songs and up), but they’ve got after people with as little as 10 songs shared. Who knows if they’re trying to make an example or if they’re trying to be full in their suing coverage. Now listen to the repercussions: Any given song that is copyrighted can cost you $300 (ok…) to $150,000. (Ahh!)!!!!!!!!!!!! Ridiculous. Take ME, for example. I’ve got 45 GB worth of MP3s. That’s over 11,000 files. Let’s do the math!

11,000 (approx) X $150,000 (as a max) = $1,650,000,000.

Woah….That’s not million, that’s one billion, six hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Just rape me with a dildo of thorns. It might be preferable to that ass raping. Now of course no one could ever pay that much. And there are people out there with LARGER music collections than me. Scary eh? If you don’t use Kazaa++ or Kazaa Lite, I suggest you switch immediately. And don’t give yourself a user name. Be anonymous as a user. They’re actually busting people for this. I’ve known people already. Ridiculous, but better to be safe than sorry. The attorneys have said they’re “open to settlement.” In layman’s term that means we’ll take all you’ve got if you don’t have as much as we’re suing for. Sad, sad world. Anyways that’s my stance on MP3s and all. I think the industry are idiots, and that MP3 and illegal file sharing will never be stopped. You physically can’t. It’s like weed, you can’t stop it, but you want to make yourselves look busy like you’re trying to do something. It’s like SMOKING. You can put all the warnings you want on the pack, you can make the entire pack the warning and people will STILL smoke. You could make it a black pack with a skull and crossbones and call them Tumors and people would still smoke. Why? Cause it’s a drug and they’re addicted lol. But people will do what they want to do most of the time. So in my opinion what they SHOULD focus on is smart ideas like ITunes. Or BuyMusic.com (hasn’t launched yet but it’s Buy.com’s answer to the legal dls of music.) ITunes offers $.99 downloads per song. A full album for $9.99. Not bad eh? Considering all the music I listen to is either

A) On my Ipod
B) On my computer (Winamp etc)
C) On burned CDs
D) Very rarely old CDs (and only if I haven’t ripped them to MP3 which IS legal if you own the CD)

I’d be willing to pay for MP3’s at .99 each. That I can understand. However obscure shit like Jackson 5 songs from the 70s that no one gives a shit about except for probably me lol, those I’ll get free thank you very much. I’ll sample favorite artists before buying their album to see how much of their album has become filler crap, and if they are any worthy songs on there that make me happy one of my favorite bands came out with a new album. Digital music is the future, but the industry is too ignorant to accept their losses. Lars Ulrich should have just kept his mouth shut (You know who he is right?) and realized that Metallica got their start from illegal bootlegged tapes. Some artists know the deal and they’re smartening up. Pearl Jam releases all their live concerts on CD for like $5.99. That’s more reasonable than $18-$23 right?