Meme-age

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
How are you today?
Doing okay so far, but I've only been up about half an hour, so we will see how the day goes.

Soup
Name 3 television shows you watch on a regular basis.
Heroes. That is the only one I watch week to week. I get the Shield, 24 and Stargate Atlantis on DVD as soon as they come out.

Salad
What’s the scariest weather situation you’ve experienced?
I've never found weather scary - I love lightning storms wind and rain. And Snow.
How about the heat wave that hit this last summer - I don't know about scary but it was sure dang irritating, and impacted my health to a small degree.

Main Course
If you could wake up tomorrow morning in another country, where would you want to be?
Canada - it would be the easiest to get back home from.
I actually have no desire to travel to see other places.

Dessert
What do you usually wear to sleep?
Undies.

Music Memoirs

Top 5 CDs That You Bought Used
I buy 80% of my music used, so that is almost the same question as "Top 5 CDs" And I'm feeling to lazy to look up the pics at amazon. :)

Antsy McClain - Trailercana
Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
Barry Manilow - 2 AM Paradise Cafe
Big and Rich - Comin' to your City
Ring of Fire - Dreamtower

The Magic Is Back

Finally got around to watching Heroes season 2 episode 1.

It is as good as any of the good shows from season one. I liked seeing the old characters in new situations, seeing new characters, and just all around watching Heroes again. The episode left me drooling for more (which is what a good pilot show should do).

So I'll be hooked, watching it week by week again this year. I lent out my box set of season one, now I can't wait to get it back and relive the glory of season one, and listen to the commentaries and behind the scenes stuff.

And as a bonus we didn't see Sylar or Niki in the first episode. Yay!!
Maybe with the actor playing Sylar going off to play Spock in the new ST movie, they will kill off the character. I hope so, I'm tired of him. Maybe he will be punked by the new bad guy, just to show how tough the new guy is (dubbed Sauron by some of fandom).

Hiro is still as wonderful as ever, and the episode really re-inforces the idea of never meeting your heroes, you will be disappointed. Ando go screen time; watching Noah and Claire was great; Matt is actually having things go his way; Suresh is actually being proactive, and smart; Nathan is all so guilt ridden, and calling his mom Evil was wonderful; Peter's reveal at the end was cool. I like the new flyer, and I can't wait to see what kind of story develops around the twins.
Great great stuff.

Tuesday Favorites

What is your favorite movie soundtrack or score? (You can tell us why if you'd like)

I'm limiting myself to scores, and only those that were written for the show (which disallows Cosmos, one of my favorites, but it is just a collection). I never count rock collection as soundtracks - they are just themed rock collections, just like those K-tel put out decades ago, with better marketing.

That is a toughie. A toss up between the original Star Wars soundtrack (the original release, not the "full movie release") by John Williams and Henry V by Patrick Doyle. Star Wars is pretty much what introduced me to orchestral music, and started a love of soundtracks and classical. Henry the V is just amazingly good, notable the battle theme, and Non Nobis Domine.
Honorable mentions to Battle Beyond the Stars by James Horner, Somewhere in Time by John Barry, and The Black Hole also by John Barry. There are too many that one one or two really good pieces, but the rest of the soundtrack is average.

What is your favorite album by your favorite artist/band?
Oblivion Days by the Rocket Scientists.
Hah, you thought it would be Queen CD didn't you? :D

What is your favorite music video?

Not having watched music videos for over a decade... Take on me by A-ha. Song is good, but I just loved the whole real world / drawn world thing.

Cutems Kitties

The Mistress of the Dark has some great pictures of her cats on her blog, and I couldn't resist Lolizing one of them.

The "I" in team

Over at the Hero boards, the question was asked of what kind of team your characters would consist of. Because I have so many, I went with currently active character and this is what was the result. I loved the idea, and posted it here as well:

The team would be:
Terminal Velocity 400 pts. Teen speedster, male, always cheerful, no matter how badly things go. He would end up movement specialist, and secondary offense.
Sift 481 pts. Supermage with a small (10 pt) cosmic pool, female, Can be a minibrick, martial artist, but is primarily a spell based energy projector, very versatile. Would find Terminal Velocity cute. Support, and secondary offense.
Smokeater 448 pts. Classic Energy Projector, male, fire, and a "professional superhero", second in command. Primary offensive.
Meeb 489 Pts. Shape-shifting/stretching based mini-brick (high D, 50 STR), no gender. Like most other shape-shifters, the team comedian. Primary offense, and good at taking out massed agents.
Shadowolf 360 pts. Ch'i trained martial artist,male, back from the dead. Desolid, Invisibility, and Teleport. Secondary offense, infiltration, and recon. Is 50 years old, and a grandpa, although no one knows that, he wears a full body costume.
Blackcat 942 pts. Team Leader, female, and damage dealing powerhouse. Tactician, team trainer and all around impressive character. Has 4 or 5 pts of CV and Damage Classes on the rest of the team. Mid 30's. Is also just discovering mental abilities.

Most of them would get along, the more serious character (Smokeater, Black Cat and Shadowolf) might be a little annoyed by Meeb's flippancy. They would also take TV under their wing.

I find it interesting that my current characters actually make a solid team, with every niche filled except for mentalist, and Cat and Sift are both strong defensively there.

That friday thing

Appetizer
What is your favorite type of art?

Ehh... I don't have a favorite. I guess whatever it is that is Dali, Munch and Van Gogh. I enjoy realistic comic book art too. :)

Soup
When was the last time you got a free lunch (or breakfast or dinner)? Who paid for it?

I honestly can't remember. It's been more than 10 years.

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how emotional are you?

7 or 8.

Main Course
Approximately how long do you spend each day responding to emails?

Emails- maybe 10 minutes. But add in message boards and it is likely an hour. :)

Dessert
To what temperature do you usually set your home’s thermostat?

68 degree in the winter. Don't have air conditioning so whatever it gets to in the summer- with fans.

Top 5 songs that could be your personal theme song.

Depends on mood - Somedays it could be Masters of the Universe by Queen, others it could be Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd. Throw in Manic Depression by Hendrix (I have Depression, hence the wide variety of mood swings), Alive by Pearl Jam* and Feeling way to Damn Good by Nickleback** pretty much sum it up.

* "I Hurt / I'm still Alive" - the idea that you know you are live because you are in pain, becaust that is what you know most being the approriate concept here.
"Something's gotta go wrong, because I'm feeling Way to Damn Good" - knowing that when things are great, something is going to screw it up, because it has every other time is the reason for that one.

Sidebar update 1

I've decided that when I update my music sidebar, I'll post about it, and comment on my choices.

Lifetime music awards gained two new Powermetal choices this week. Rhapsody - Symphony for enchanted lands. Now this is the first Rhapsody I ever heard, and was completely impressed. After I heard a few others, I realized that they all sound fairly samey, but this was the first. The opening two tracks, a short intro piece, and the full song* just blew me away. Opens with a classical feel, and a male chorus, and then the song proper kicks in with great thrash guitars, and the male chorus stayed. I love the mix of the hard rock and the orchestral.

Also added there is Krypteria. I've only had this one a few months, but it is an album I go back to often. Most of the female led powermetal bands have a goth type feel to them, but this one is pure strait ahead powermetal. I love it. :)

Music of the week:
Feeling in a powermetal mood, and looking for female vocalists I bought a number of new CDs. Two of which are listed here. Goth/Powermetal stuff with female vocalist. Each album has at least one "beauty and the beast"** song. Leaves' Eyes EP I got is my favorite, I will be getting more from them in the near future.

The other is Antsy McClain - Trailercana. Alt country with a sense of humor. The song that sold me on the CD was "I was just flipped off by a silver haired old lady with a honk if you love Jesus sticker on the bumper of her car". Great stuff, slices of trailer park America with a very nice mood to it.


* Having an extended intro piece, then the song is a staple of Powermetal. I usually make them one track when I make the MP3s of the stuff.

** Two vocalist - one a guy doing the growling nu-metal stuff (which I genreally don't like), and a second female vocalist doing soaring operatic vocals. The contrast just makes her voice sound that much better.

Lyrical impetus

~ How important are the lyrics to you when it comes to a song.

Extremely important. They are as much, or more, important that the music iteslf.

~ Tell us some lyrical wisdom.
One from Fridays' mems:
When I was a child I spoke as a child,
I wish I could remember what I said.

~ Who writes the best lyrics and why?
Neil Pert, Brian May, Eric Norlander, Arjen Lucassen and........ They write songs with meaning, and/or story (I love rock operas). None of this sex, drugs, rock and roll crud - songs about Science fiction, or mythology, or exploring human nature.

A Very Nice Article

From The Australian

Read the whole thing here highly recommended.

Excerpts:


You can argue about the surge. The evidence is encouraging that the increased US military effort, together with a change in tactics, has reduced the violence in Iraq. On the other hand there are legitimate questions about the long-term viability of the strategy. But if the US is to emerge from Iraq with a renewed sense of its global role, you shouldn't really debase the motives of those who lead US forces there. Because, in the end, what they are doing is deeply honourable -- fighting to destroy an enemy that delights in killing women and children; rebuilding a nation ruined by rapine and savagery; trying to bridge sectarian divides that have caused more misery in the world than the US could manage if it lasted a thousand years.

It is helpful to think about Iraq this way. Imagine if the US had never been there; and that this sectarian strife had broken out in any case -- as, one day it surely would. What would we in the West think about it? What would we think of as our responsibilities?

There would be some who would want to wash their hands of it. There would be others who would think that UN resolutions and diplomatic initiatives would be enough to salve our consciences, if not to stop the slaughter. But many of us surely would think we should do something about it -- as we did in the Balkans more than a decade ago -- and as, infamously, we failed to do in Africa at the same time.

And we would know that, for all our high ideals and our soaring rhetoric, there would be only one country with the historical commitment to make massive sacrifices in the defence of the lives and liberty of others, the leadership to mobilise efforts to relieve the suffering and, above all, the economic and military wherewithal to make it happen.

Seen in passing

“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things,” observed the British philosopher John Stuart Mill. “The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.”

I got to do it Friiiii-day

(with apologies to Frank Sinatra for the title).


Friday's Feast

Appetizer
When was the last time you visited a hospital?

I was in one a few months ago, because that was where my wife get's her allergy shots, but to actually visit the hospital part... about 4 or 5 years ago, when my mom was in there.

Soup
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how ambitious are you?

Ambiton, what's that. I'd probably say a 3 or so.

Salad

Make a sentence using the letters of a body part. (Example: (mouth) My other ukelele tings healthily.)

Kill? No, Educate, Enlighten. (okay not really a sentence, but I liked it)

Main Course
If you were to start a club, what would the subject matter be, and what would you name it?

Society for the Associated Gamers Elite (SAGE). It would be a roleplaying club. :)

Dessert
What color is the carpet/flooring in your home?

Is Ugly a color? An old and dirty brown, that was likely a golden color in the 70s.

The Music Memiors

Top 5 depressing songs.

'39 by Queen - Night at the Opera.
A bright and shiny tune about a spaceship full of people who go looking for a planet to colonize because Earth is dieing. The ships hits relativistic speeds, and they come back a year later their time, but 100 years have passed on Earth. The end of the song is a man meeting his progeny, and missing his wife.

But my love this cannot be
Oh so many years have gone
Though I'm older than a year
Your mothers eyes from your eyes cry to me

Write your letters in the sand
For the day Ill take your hand
In the land that our grand-children knew

All your letters in the sand
Cannot heal me like your hand
For my life still ahead pity me

Kayleigh by Marillion - Misplaced Childhood (which with Floyd's the Wall is one of the most depressing alubms ever made).

Bad Breakup, but the poetry and music of Fish and the Guys just take it to higher levels of pain.

Please excuse me, I never meant to break your heart.
So sorry I never meant to break your heart.
But you broke mine.
Kayleigh is it too late to say I'm sorry.
Kayleigh could we get it together again.
I can't go on pretending that it came to a natural end.
Kayleigh I never thought I'd miss you,
and Kayleigh I'd hoped that we'd always be friends.
We said our love would last forever,
so how did it come to this bitter end.

Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd - The Wall.
There are so many to pick from, but I went with this one.

There is no pain, you are receding.
A distant ships smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I cant hear what youre sayin.
When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse,
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone.
I cannot put my finger on it now.
The child is grown, the dream is gone.
I have become comfortably numb.

The last two are more songs of longing and loss that strait depression, but to me that fits:

I spoke as a Child - Todd Snider - Songs for the Daily Planet
Longing for peace and simplicity of youth.

When I was a child I spoke as a child,
I wish I could remember what I said.
I'd like to find that old time feelin',
Somewhere in between what I've become,
Somewhere down the line it must have seemed appealing,
So I suppose that it must work for some,
But I wanna go back to going crazy,
Believing every word that I was told,
You know sometimes growing up I think I'm getting wiser
And then other times I think I'm getting old.

When I was a child I spoke as a child,
But all I heard was how I should get ahead.
Now growing up it ain't anything but all this
Indecision with these debts and doubts and
Worries hangin' over my head.
When I was a child I spoke as a child,
I wish I could remember what I said.

Somewhere over the Rainbow - Judy Garland - Wizard of Oz.

This one really needs no explination, but... a song of longing for happy and simple things, things that the singer does not have.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

Back at the memes

Friday's Feast:

Appetizer
Using only one word, how does grocery shopping make you feel?

Tired

Soup
What is your favorite part about the season of Autumn?

The Temperature. It isn't so hot anymore. I detest the heat of summer. If I never had to live with temps over 80 degrees again I'd be happy.

Pretty smart that I live in a desert huh?

Salad
Have you ever had any bad experiences online?

Surprisingly no.

Main Course
Name three things that make you happy daily.

The wife, my music, and out kitties. :)

Dessert
What one household cleansing or organizing item would you not want to be without?

Washer/Dryer. I could sweep without a vacuum, or shake out the rugs. I could dishes by hand, but I never want to set foot in a laundromat again.

And Music Memoirs
Top 5 albums with unusual titles

with the "top 5 albums with" I'm going for the best albums with unusual titles, I know some other unusual album titles where the album isn't so good (You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish from REO Speedwagon for instance).

Days of Future Past - Moody Blues
Great album, but the fist time I heard the name I though "What the?"

Dream of the Blue Turtles - Sting
That one in just for odd imagery.

Zoot Allures - Frank Zappa
I could have picked 5 from Zappa by himself, but this is my favorite of his. Honorable mention to "Ship arriving too late to save a drowning witch"

Son of Schmilsson - Harry Nilson
It makes more sense if you know that his last album was called "Nilson Schmilson"

My favorite Headache - Geddy Lee
He has a favorite headache?

The bad guys

I watch a lot of science fiction, and there are some great bad guys - the Sith, Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, The Gu'ald, the Ori, Cylons, The Shadows and their offspring ect...

But I still have to admit the scariest bad guys in SF-dom (at least by concept) are from Andromeda.

A race whose entire culture is built a mix of the philosphies of Friedrich Nietzsche and Ayn Rand.

Now that is scary.

Some music musings

Now that I have come through my timecrunch, I am updating my sidebar with new stuff. It's overdue.

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Looking over the obsession post really made me notice that I do have a wide range of musical tastes. Now I often do things to further that, or to show that on purpose, but everything I put in that last post was instinct, just what I thought of, and there is a nice wide range there. As related to me by a friend, a comment from Bobby McFerrin when he performed with the local symphony... "I like to think of each type of music I listen to as a room in your house. If you spend you life listening to one kind of music, it's like spending all your time in the bathroom." A sentiment I agree with wholeheartedly.


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I wanted some comfort music today, and I put on the first album (and CD later) I ever purchased. A Night at the Opera by Queen, and really listened to it, which I haven't in a long time. Familiarity breeds contempt as they say, and I had forgotten just how good this album is.

Obsessiveness

From the Music Memiors


Are you a completeist when it comes to your favorite recording artists? (Meaning do you have to have everything they release even if its another best of compilation or something of that nature)
I am a completist - although I don't buy compilations if I own every song, and I generally avoid live albums (I generally detest recorded live music). On some bands, I go so far as to buy every solo album from every member of the band (Queen and Styx are like that for me). I spend 35 bucks for a japanese CD single of Brian May (Queen's Guitarist) for 3 songs.

Have you ever bought more than one copy of a certain album? If you did, tell us why.
In general, I am not counting replacing records with CDs (I don't count cassettes, I only ever had about 4 store bought cassettes - I jumped from vinyl to CD).
Night at the Opera by Queen - I bought it on vinyl and wore it out, bought another copy ( and a new needle). Then it was the first CD I bought, then I bought the anniversary version that had some bonus tracks. I've thought about buying the DVD audio version but with my sound system, I doubt I would notice any quality difference from the CD.
Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell - had it on 8-track (go ahead mock me), then on record then on CD.

Which bands make up the majority of your collection? How many CDs, Lps, cassettes etc?
No one makes up a majority of my collection - I have 1500 CDs and a like number of albums. I have complete collections of many many artists - I'll pick one a letter :)
Abba, Pat Benatar, Harry Connick Jr., Chris DeBurgh, Eurythmics, Flower Kings, Gandalf, Jeff Healey, Iron Maiden, Billy Joel, Diana Krall, Lana Lane, Metallica, Gary Numan, Ozric Tentacles, Pendragon, Queen, Rush (or the Rocket Scientists), Joe Satriani, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Wall of Voodoo, Yes (or the Young Dubliners). I have more.

The band I have the most by (if you include extras) is Queen - all 14 studio, 4 live, 3 rarities discs, 1 GH (it had a song on it I needed), the Flash Soundtrack, 3 from Freddie, 4 from Brian, 7 from Roger, and another movie album Brian did. - 37 from them. I think that is the single largest grouping.

What makes up the majority of my music by style is Euro Power Metal - I have over 100 bands (and about 150 CDs) of that kind of stuff. Bands like (and these are guys I have complete collections of too) - Helloween, Rhapsody, Stratovarius, Ayreon, Axenstar, and others.

Do you buy an album from a band just because you like them or do you wait until you've heard it before making the purchase?
If it is an artist whose music I like completely, I will buy unheard definatly - to be honest about 1/2 of my purchases are "Get the next CD from these guys, love em" - This summer I got (all at once) the new CDs from Cowboy Troy, Big and Rich, and Gretchen Wilson. I hadn't heard a single song off on any of the CDs.

Busy Weekend

Haven't posted much recently - days have been busy. The weekends are when I work my second job - doing 12 hour shifts every Friday, and full shifts on Saturday.

This week I filled in for the Gospel Doctrine (Sunday school) teacher at our Ward. First time in my life, taught a class of about 40 people. In attendance two previous Bishops, and members of the Stake High Council (who's day it was to visit our ward).. so no pressure. :) Then we had a no call no show at Blockbuster, and being the nice guy that I am worked an extra 5 hour shift after Church (don't like to work on Sundays, and will never be scheduled them, but I will fill in in emergencies.

So here it is the end of the weekend, and I've been able to just kick back and relax today - watching a bunch of movies.

Number 23 starring Jim Carrey is highly recommended. Joel Schumacher* directed in what I think as one of his best films - taut, gripping and intense. Great movie.

* When he is off his game he sucks (his two batman movies) but when he is on, he is great (Flatliners, Falling Down, Lost Boys).