Land of the "Free"

Ok..so a couple things have gotten me riled lately.

!-- begin rant here

#1. From G.W. talk in Israel - source is the L.A. Times:

In a speech to Israel's Knesset marking the 60th anniversary of that country's independence, Bush said, "Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along."

"We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

WTF?! So he uses Israel's 60th Birthday Party as a platform to blast a presidential candidate? Nice work asshole. It's like when Phil Leotardo on "The Sopranos" goes off in the bar at the family event about his last name. Great timing. I'm sick of this shit.

#2. People saying if Obama is chosen as the Democratic candidate, they'll vote for McCain or not vote.

Those people are assholes. Nice work on the party divide. Now, generally speaking I try to be on the socialist side of things, while coming to the realization that you have to work with what you have in this country. I think Obama will make a great president. "But, he has no experience." Oh yeah, Bush had tons of experience and look what he did.

So to all you dicks who will vote McCain if Hillary is not on the ballot, seriously, find a cliff and jump. Make sure it's high enough that you explode when you hit the ground. If Hillary wins, yeah, I'll vote for her. Voting for McCain is basically saying, "we want 4 more years of awesome. And by awesome, I mean hell."

#3. California's Supreme Court overturning the state's ban on gay marriage.

Finally, California, you're doing something right. I was reading a bit from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an article about Libertarian Bob Barr, and the comments on that page were damn hilarious. "God this", "god that". "God thinks you should ban gay marriage."...ok not actual quotes, but pretty close. The majority of people who posted are fucking idiots.

Saying gay marriage is going to ruin the institution of marriage is like saying bathing in hydrochloric acid is good for the skin. I can't believe as a nation who said whites and blacks can't get married and should have separate facilities in the early-mid 1900's are actually still having debates on issues like this. You'd think we've evolved and learned.

Oh and to the people who say it's in the bible, find the one that wasn't written by a King named James and let me know what you find. I saw in a H.P. Lovecraft book onetime that the Old Ones live beneath the sea. I'm not looking for Cthulu. Although, Cthulu is probably more real.

!-- end rant here

Ned's Atomic Dustbin

Sorry for the long absence from the blogging circuit, but I really haven't had much to say or much time to say what I needed to. Which it actually turns out was nothing.

Sorry to Joe for not posting more music. I'll put more up as I delve into my collection to post oldies but goodies.

Edit: OK, so I decided to do it now. Here's a band that I got into in the early 90's due to Dave Peters. He had this album and apparently his parents (who I think were Jehovah's Witnesses at the time..maybe still are) didn't think the song "Kill Your Television" was appropriate for their young son.

Fortunately, Dave shared this with me first. It's that 90's Brit-Rock-Grunge-Pop sort of sound that I've come full-circle to listening to again. "God Fodder" as an album still holds up pretty well with catchy songs and general all around good song writing. I'm not familiar much with their later stuff, as I may have had some of it, but can't remember.

So, here's the track:

Kill Your Television

Check it out. You can now find this on Amazon.com for about $2, so I say go for it.

Back in the saddle again...I'M BAACK

I had half of my final last night which was the one-on-one. Basically, you have 30 minutes to prove your proficiency using Pro Tools to route signal to the mixing console, through the master link and monitor from the master link. Then you had to use EQ and panning on 2 channels. Also had to prove you could use the patchbay/AUX loops to send signal to the reverb unit and back. Then you had to use Compression on one channel.

So the run down: I used EQ on 12 channels. Panning on 12 channels. Compression on 3 channels and reverb on 12 channels. I actually think I did a pretty good mix for 25 minutes. It helped that the recorded material was really good and clean. Nick had ended up cleaning up the toms really good.

Oh, if you are a solid rock band and need a great recording, head over to Nick Eipers Web site and check him out. I know it's counter-productive to sell other's services, but let's face it, he has 15+ years experience.

Now wait for next week and the written test.

I'll post more music this week. Maybe it'll be a Friday thing.

Jon Stewart for me