I've seen 129 out of 239 films

Got this from a friends blog, who got it from someone elses and on and on.... :)

Interesting list. I would have thought on a list like this I would have seen more, but I guess I am more discriminating that I though on movies.

There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list to your blog and paste this as a note. Then, put x's next to the films you've seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click post at the bottom.

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
() Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club
() Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane
Total: 8

(x) The Princess Bride
() Anchorman
() Napoleon Dynamite
(x) Labyrinth
() Saw
() Saw II
() White Noise
() White Oleander
() Anger Management
() 50 First Dates
(x) The Princess Diaries
(x) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far: 12

(x) Scream
(x) Scream 2
(x) Scream 3
() Scary Movie
() Scary Movie 2
() Scary Movie 3
() Scary Movie 4
() American Pie
() American Pie 2
() American Wedding
() American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 15

(x) Harry Potter 1
(x) Harry Potter 2
(x) Harry Potter 3
(x) Harry Potter 4
(x) Resident Evil 1
(x) Resident Evil 2
() The Wedding Singer
() Little Black Book
(x) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch
Total so far: 23

() Finding Nemo
() Finding Neverland
(x) Signs
(x) The Grinch
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
() White Chicks
(x) Butterfly Effect
(x) 13 Going on 30
(x) I, Robot
(x) Robots
Total so far: 29

() Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
(x) Universal Soldier
() Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
() Along Came Polly
(x) Deep Impact
() KingPin
() Never Been Kissed
() Meet The Parents
() Meet the Fockers
() Eight Crazy Nights
() Joe Dirt
(x) KING KONG
Total so far: 32

(x) A Cinderella Story
() The Terminal
() The Lizzie McGuire Movie
() Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
(x) Dumber & Dumberer
(x) Final Destination
() Final Destination 2
() Final Destination 3
(x) Halloween
(x) The Ring
() The Ring 2
() Surviving X-MAS
(x) Flubber
Total so far: 39

() Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
() Practical Magic
() Chicago
() Ghost Ship
(x) From Hell
(x) Hellboy
(x) Secret Window
() I Am Sam
(x) The Whole Nine Yards
() The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far: 43

(x) The Day After Tomorrow
(x) Child's Play
() Seed of Chucky
(x) Bride of Chucky
() 10 Things I Hate About You
() Just Married
(x) Gothika
(x) Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
(x) Remember the Titans
(x) Coach Carter
() The Grudge
()The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
(x) Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 53

(x) Bad Boys
(x) Bad Boys 2
() Joy Ride
() Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean's Eleven
(x) Ocean's Twelve
(x) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremecy
() Lone Star
(x) Bedazzled
(x) Predator I
(x) Predator II
(x) The Fog
(x) Ice Age
() Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
() Curious George
Total so far: 64

(x) Independence Day
(x) Cujo
() A Bronx Tale
() Darkness Falls
(x) Christine
(x) ET
(x) Children of the Corn
() My Bosses Daughter
() Maid in Manhattan
(x) War of the Worlds
(x) Rush Hour
(x) Rush Hour 2
Total so far: 72

() Best Bet
() How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
() She's All That
() Calendar Girls
() Sideways
() Mars Attacks
(x) Event Horizon
(x) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
(x) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
() The Terminator 3
Total so far: 79

(x) X-Men
(x) X-2
(x) X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
(x) Sky High
() Jeepers Creepers
() Jeepers Creepers 2
() Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x) Freaky Friday
(x) Reign of Fire
(x) The Skulls
() Cruel Intentions
() Cruel Intentions 2
() The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total so far: 91

() Swimfan
(x) Miracle on 34th street
() Old School
() The Notebook
(x) K-Pax
() Krippendorf's Tribe
() A Walk to Remember
() Ice Castles
() Boogeyman
() The 40-year-old Virgin
Total so far: 93

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total so far: 99

() Baseketball
() Hostel
() Waiting for Guffman
() House of 1000 Corpses
() Devils Rejects
(x) Elf
(x) Highlander
() Mothman Prophecies
() American History X
() Three
Total so Far: 101

() The Jacket
(x) Kung Fu Hustle
(x) Shaolin Soccer
() Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
() Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(x) Shaun Of the Dead
(x) Willard
Total so far: 107

() High Tension
() Club Dread
(x) Hulk
(x) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
(x) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
() 28 days later
() Orgazmo
(x) Phantasm
(x) Waterworld
Total so far: 113

() Kill Bill vol 1
() Kill Bill vol 2
(x) Mortal Kombat
() Wolf Creek
(x) Kingdom of Heaven
() the Hills Have Eyes
() I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
() The Last House on the Left
() Re-Animator
(x) Army of Darkness
Total so far: 116

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x)Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
() Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
() Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far: 122

(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
(x) The Matrix Revolutions
(x)Animatrix
(x) Evil Dead
(x) Evil Dead 2
() Team America: World Police
() Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
() Hannibal
Total so far: 129

Now Add them up and...

Put "I've seen ... out of 239 films" in the subject line and repost it.

Holiday Greetings: How it should work

From the Hero Board by Input.Jack, posted by permission:

I keep hearing people getting mad at each other because person A didnt use the "correct" holiday greeting for person B's religious beliefs.

As a public service, I present to you how it SHOULD work:


Vondy, Prodigy Duck, and I are all walking down the street, when we happen to converge on an intersection at the same time. Its the holiday season, and all three of us are in a pretty good mood.

"Merry Christmas!" I say, with a smile and a wave.

Vondy nods and smiles, and says "Happy Hannukha!"

ProdigyDuck waves at us both and adds "Joyous Festivus!"

And we all go on our way, having shared our good cheer with one another, and basking in the goodwill of our fellow human beans.


Here's how its NOT supposed to work:

I approach another corner, where I see someone I dont know, but Im still in a good mood, so I wave and say "Merry Christmas!"

"I DONT CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS YOU ARROGANT PUSHY OBNOXIIOUS RELIGIOUS FANATIC!" Stranger Bob screams. "I CANT BELIEVE YOUD TRY TO PUSH YOUR RELIGION ON ME LIKE THAT!" *Hits me with a brick*.

Once I wake up, I stagger to my feet, make sure the bleeding has stopped, and try to remember which way "home" is.

As I approach another corner, I see someone who smiles and waves. Not wishing to offend (or take another brick to the head) I say the more neutral "Happy Holidays!"

"OMG ITS SUPPOSED TO BE MERRY CHRISTMAS! YOURE TRYING TO TAKE AWAY MY RELIGION!" she screams, pelting me with rocks as I run off into the darkness.

As I huddle in the shadows, I wonder what the heck happened. When did people suddenly start expecting everyone ELSE to somehow be telepathic, and know -exactly- what flavor of holiday they celebrate?

When did people start taking offense at other people trying to NOT be offensive, and using a more neutral expression?

For that matter, when did people start assuming that freedom OF religion means freedom FROM other peoples' religions? I thought that tolerance and understanding were what this country was supposed to be all about!

As I ponder all of these things, I am lifted from my reverie (and possible concussion) by a gentle voice and helpful hand, from a kind man who helps me get to my feet.

"Thank you" I say.

He asks, "What happened?"

I explain how my day has gone, and he looks concerned and sympathetic.

"What holiday is this for you?" I inquire.

"I am Muslim, so it is nearing Eid ul-Adha, this year."

"Well, happy Eid ul-Adha to you, then." I say.

"And merry Christmas to you." he replies. I thank him again for his help, and we part ways, both smiling.

Now, in the above examples, who was truly in the spirit of the holidays, and who wasnt?

Bottom line: If someone expresses a friendly greeting and hopes that you have hapy holidays, I hope you all will do them the courtesy of understanding that they mean well, and try not to overreact because they werent telepathic and omniscient and didnt know the -exact- brand of holiday you prefer. Just accept the happy greeting in the spirit its been given and reply in kind, and spread a little goodwill

Splurging today

From the Music Memiors

Top 5 reasons you splurge on a purchase of music.

This one should be interesting.. I had to think about this one. I think of splurge as at least 3 or more CDs at the same time (I don't buy digital music much).

1) - New Artist. I have a quirky taste in music, which crosses many genres, as any long term reader of this blog knows. When I find an artist/group I really like I really get into them.. because it doesn't happen that often. When it does, I'll buy one album, and if that is a hit, I'll go get the rest of the stuff from them. This happened recently with Brad Paisley - I got his 5th album, loved it, then bought the rest.

2) - New Genre / exploring a genre. Similar to above, I find a new style of music I like and just go nuts getting single albums from bands to survey the genre. I did this with Europowermetal (I likely have 50 CDs of that stuff now), Modern Progressive Rock in 1999/2000. Neoswing. And most recently Goth/Metal (and/or Beauty and the Beast) bands. I'm getting the urge to do something similar with country music of the last 15 years, something I never really listened to, but really like now. I sense a lot of greatest hits collections in my future.

3) - Freaking out the store clerk - Yeah this one is silly, but I do it occasionally. I have money I have earmarked for music, because I want some new music dang it! But no real idea what stuff I want, so I'll go to the CD shop and get 5 or 8 CDs (usually used) that span as many genres. I remember one time I picked up some that had Janet Jackson, k d lang, some fusion Jazz, and a heavy metal cd. The clerk asked if I wanted any of them gift wrapped. :)

4) - The wife likes it. I tend to control the music in the house. If we hear something the wife enjoys, I tend to get it in a hurry to add it to the collection so she has more options she likes.

5) - Rock Band. This is my primary digital music purchases. And it isn't as much splurging and a steady money drain. I've got between 2 to 8 songs a week for nearly 9 months. I have over 150 songs downloaded for the game. It can get expensive. But I love it.

Tuesday Tunes

The Meme Mistress is going to a concert tonight, so that's going to be our theme this week.

If money were no object, what band would you see in concert?
Two come to mind - Queen with Paul Rogders or Gary Numan. It would be really expensive because they tend not to tour the US.

Where were the closest seats you've ever had for a show (that was non-general admission)?
First row dress circle. Might not seem close, but it was at a Billy Joel concert, and he always puts his piano the same place on the stage. We could see his fingers on the keys.
Alternately - about 8th row back in a small ampitheater. I was less than 50 ft from from the stage. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

What type of venue do you prefer to see a show?
Small ampitheater. Intimate setting. The kind of place my wife works.

Obama Throwing his weight around

Obama made some comments on 60 minutes, and here is a presidential stand I can get behind. :)


From Here

President-elect Barack Obama pledges to throw his "weight around" to push for the creation of a college football playoff system on Sunday's night's 60 Minutes.

During Obama's interview with CBS's Steve Kroft (7 p.m. ET), he'll propose an eight-team playoff system to determine college football's national champion.

“Eight teams. That would be three rounds to determine a national champion. It would add three extra weeks to the season. You could trim back on the regular season. I don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this,” Obama tells Kroft. “So, I'm going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it's the right thing to do.”

Obama adds a playoff system is the only fair way to decide the college football championship. “If you've got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there's no clear decisive winner…We should be creating a playoff system,” he tells Kroft.

Some people are already whining that this is ignoring important stuff. Well so what. I don't know of a college sports fan that hasn't been unhappy about the bowl system. Here is a president (Elect) who listens to what the common man really feels is important.

It may be trivial, but to be honest, when was the last time that a president did something that may be trivial but was on the mind of much of the American people. So I never really thought I'd say this but "Go Obama!".

Thoughts of the Nautical

More Word Association from the Music Memiors:

Ocean: Songs of the Ocean by Star One (a project group of Arjen Anthony Lucassen, the dude that is Ayreon)
River: River of Dreams by Billy Joel
Sea: Captain / Closer to Home by Grand Funk Railroad
Sailor: Son of a Son of a Sailor by Jimmy Buffett
Ship: Wooden Ships by CSNY
Wave: Katrina and the Waves
Sand: Sandrider by Star One (see Ocean above)
Sail: Sail Away by Styx
Navy: In the Navy by the Village people
Deep: Deep Purple

Country

Top 5 on Friday from the Music Memoirs

Top 5 "Country" or "Alt-Country" songs

Walkin' After Midnight - Patsy Cline.
No list of country songs is complete without Patsy in it.

The Last Cowboy Song - The Highwaymen
The outlaw country supergroup - Johnny Cash, Kris Kristopherson, Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings. Like Patsy, no country list is complete without Johnny Cash.

Number - Cross Canadian Ragweed.
Alt country at it's finest, and the song that introduced me to the genre, and the band.

Rolling (The Ballad of Big and Rich)- Big and Rich
Upbeat, energetic, and has a rap (thanks to Cowboy Troy) - I love the music mafia trying to break down barriers of genre.

I Believe in You - Don Williams
One of the best balladeers in country.

This is a toughie to keep to five, I want to mention Antsy McClain, Mickey and the Motorcars, Brad Paisley (man can that guy play guitar), Oak Ridge Boys, Statlers, Loretta Lynne ect ect ect..

Tuesday word associations

Tuesday tunage

It's association time again :


Relax: by Frankie goes to Hollywood
Politics: Two Tribes - Also by Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Negative: Photograph - Nickleback (as in a photo negative)
Amused: Antsy McClain and the Trailer Park Troubadours
Relief: I believe in You - Don Williams (I have no idea why)
Alone: One is the loneliest number - Three Dog Night
Party: Partyman - Prince
End: This is the End - Shaw/Blades
Sick: Down with the Sickness - Disturbed (played it in Rock Band Recently)
Voice: Queen (most specifically Freddie Mercury)

Halloween Music

Top 5 On Friday - Week 197 from the Music Memiors

Happy Halloween!

Top 5 Spooky Halloween Songs

My list ... well... I don't know how "spooky" it is, but it is definitely a Haloween list. And as I really like this kind of music, I'm going for a top 10. :)

10) Sympathy for the Devil (Guns and Roses).
A creepy song about the Devil. The cover has much more atmosphere than the original.

9) Nosferatu (Aztec Jade)
Another very atmospheric piece. About the classic movie vampire.

8)Ghost Riders in the Sky (take your pick)
A great classic ghost song of warning

7) Werewolves of London (Warren Zevon)
No list would be complete without this classic about Werewoves.

6) Thriller (Micheal Jackson)
The Evil of the Thriller. Great song, great video.

5)RE: Your Brains (Jonathon Coulton)
Satire on office culture, using Zombies as a metaphor. A great zombie song, whether you pay attention to the subtest or not.

4) Why can't I see you in my Mirror (Tonio K)
A song sung by a guy who is dating a vampire, but doesn't know it.

3)Phanotm of the Opera (Night Wish)
A Semi-metal cover of the classic ALW song. And the vocalists are both really good.

2) Zombie me (No More Kings)
Another Zombie song - but who can't love a song that includes the line: "Now I speak with all the eloquence of livestock"

1) Monster Mash (Bobby "Boris" Pickett)
This had to be the top - the quintessential Halloween Song.

The Beatles in a Video Game

It was announced today that Apple Corp (the Beatles company) and the Beatles struck a deal with EA / Harmonix to do a standalone game to let people play Beatles music, and "Experience the Beatles Experience"

Due out Holiday season '09.

Details are sketchy. But all of us Rock Band fans are hoping for exportable songs for RB... but even if they aren't I'm getting this game the day it comes out.

The Beatles are arguable the most important and influential band in the history of Rock and Roll. It was really cool for them to embrace newer media formats, and not look down on video games.

With AC/DC Track pack for Rock Band, this, and Guitar Heros: Aerosmith (and upcoming) Metallica, Hendrix and maybe Van Halen, I think that single band games are going to be a staple of the music game genre (which is now the second largest genre for games, behind "action".)

Calm and relaxed

Music Memoirs' Tuesday tunes

What is the best music to chill out too?
I have three kinds of music for that purpose.
1) a collection of new age, mellow electronica and light jazz instrumental stuff. George Winston, Mannheim Steamroller, Cusco, Tangerine Dream... that sort of stuff

2) novelty and humorous music. If I need to relax, nothing helps more than a smile. The mix includes things like Jonathon Coulton, Wierd Al, Ray Stevens, Barenaked Ladies, No More Kings, Cake, They Might be Giants.

3) Paradoxically Heavy Metal can chill me out. If it is older stuff (80's era) that I listened to a lot in HS - the familiarity can help mellow me out. Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Twisted Sister, Motely Crue, Poison, Ratt, Scorpions.

What artist do you think of when you see the word "calm"?

George Winston. His solo piano works are something I can always calm down to. If you don't know his work, highly recommended.

How does music help you to become calm or more relaxed?
I answered some of that above. Familiarity breed content. Soothing music soothes. Singing stuff helps me relax as well.

This is a blogpost doing a meme from another blog about music, and specifically really long titles.

The Music Memiors' Top 5 On Friday - Week 193

Top 5 songs with really long titles

The first two that come to mind:

Several species of small furry animals, gathered together in a cave, and grooving with a Pict - Pink Floyd (Ummagumma)

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 - Antsy McClain (Trailercana)

Nothing else I can come up with are as epic as those two, but here they are:

The Lying Lies & Dirty Secrets of Miss Erica Court - Coheed and Cambria (From Fear through the Eyes of Madness)

Karn Evil Nine - First Impression - Part Two - Emerson Lake and Palmer (Brain Salad Surgery)

Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters from a Planet Near Mars - "Weird Al" Yankovic (UHF)

And Music Mistress, when you read this, could you explain why the Journey in my Tuesday thing surprised you? :)

Queenish associates.

From the Music Memiors

Word associations this week: Tell us the first, song, band/artist, album or anything music related that comes to mind when you see these words:

Space: The Cosmos Rocks (new album from Queen)
Party: Kahoggi's Ship (song by Queen from the Mircle)
Darkness: I Believe in a thing Called Love
Reading: New York Train Disaster - Bee Gees (from Reading railroad in monopoly)
Touch: Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin' Journey
New: (s) of the World
Gone: My Girl (The Gone gone gone song) - Chilliwack
Jazz: Jazz an album by Queen
Song: This is the song that sings itself - Sparks
Bag: Spoonman by Soundgarden (no idea why)

They Got it Right.

Your result for The RPG Class Test...

Smart Paladin

59% Combativeness, 10% Sneakiness, 68% Intellect, 69% Spirituality

Valorous! Noble! Or possibly just a self-righteous jerk (but with the brains to keep you alive!)... You are a Smart Paladin!


Paladins are holy warriors. They are valorous defenders of the light. Unfortunately, most of them are so ardent in their defense they tend to meet sticky ends faster than you can say "rampaging red dragon." Many people look up to Paladins, while others just consider them stuck up, overbearing, or self-righteous.


Fortunately for you, unlike most Paladins, you're pretty smart. Which means that you're more likely to fall into the "admired" category, rather than the "obnoxious" or "dead" categories.


Much like the crusades, you manage to combine violence and religion, though unlike the crusades, you add a healthy does of intelligence. You may be a staunch defender of the faith, a valorous champion of the weak, or the stuff that jihads are made of. Which ever one you are, just be happy that you've got the smarts to back it up and make it work.

Take The RPG Class Test at HelloQuizzy

The Summer Music Review

From the Music Memiors

Summer is officially over so let's do a recap.

Tell us your summer musical memories, whether they are a concert, an album you bought, a song that became special or a new artist you discovered.

This summer my music was dominated by one thing - Music Rhythm Video Games. Guitar Hero, and most notably Rock Band (and recently Rock Band 2). I got Rock Band sometime in late April. And it has become my most played video games.

How does this pertain to music... in multiple ways.

First it is a completely new way to experience your music. Yeah the instruments are plastic, but you feel as if you are playing the music. It's interactive, and man do you pay more attention to the music than when you just listen. It isn't playing in a band by any means, but it is more than just sitting and listening.

Second - because you are interacting with the music, you learn more about it. Since playing the drums or bass in the game, I find it much easier to pick out just the drum and bass parts in songs when I listen. I never had any musical training, but now I can see how the individual pieces make the complete sound, something I've never done before. And related to this - I've learned to keep a beat. I've never been able to do that either, but after playing the game with drums, I can now. I've also (in trying to get to notes I can't normally reach while singing) learned the very basics of singing from the diaphragm. So I have two actual musical things I've learned from playing the game.

Third - the tracklists of Rock Band, Rock Band 2, the DLC for them, and some of the Guitar Hero games are all over the place. RB 2 has sixties favorites (Spirit in the Sky by Normal Greenbaum), Rage against the Machine, Death Metal growling songs, Duran Duran, post punk pop... and more. Between just Rock Band and RB 2, I've been exposed to 20 new bands or singers that I never really listened to before. So the games are expanding my musical horizons (which are fairly broad to begin with).

And that has been my summer in music - lots of new artists, learning new musical abilities, discovering new ways to interact with my music... all from playing a game. :)

And now Live.....

Tuesday Tunes


You've seen them live:
Short list (and this is all the concerts I've ever been to):
Styx
Ratt
Judas Priest
Eurythmics (Howard Jones opening)
Billy Joel
Meat Loaf (Cheap Trick opening)
John Fogerty (Roger Clyne opening)
Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band
Rush
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Return to Forever

Tell us the following:

The best artist you've seen perform live and the worst: (from a musical standpoint)
Best... whooboy. Toss up between Rush and Return to Forever.
Worst - actually none of the performances were bad - but the lowest of the good was probably Ratt. But that being said, they were good... just not amazing. :)

The concert with the worst audience:
Judas Priest - Heavy Metal band - heavy metal audience. I had one guy ask me where to buy Speed, and another offer me Hash. I guess I had the look back then.

The most expensive concert and the least expensive:
Least - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Ryan Shupe - Got in for free.
Most Expensive - Return to Forever - the tickets were about 60 bucks. Worth it though.

Top Five on Thursday Night

Top 5 albums in your music collection right now:

Nothing new has grabbed me in the last few months - so these are the most played in my mix right now.

Fire Of Unknown Origin by Blue Oyster Cult:


The best BOC album (although Agents of Fortune comes very very close). Not a dud on the album, and it has Veteran of the Psychic Wars, Sole Survivor, Burning for You and Joan Crawford. I've recently been into this album a lot.

Butchers Ballroom by Diablo Swing Orchestra


A really odd mix of Heavy Metal, Swing with a little Avant Guard thrown in (as if mixing Metal and Swing wasn't enough). The songs and high energy and really interesting. I love music that takes chances and isn't in the mainstream. This one definitely fits.

Pat Benatar - Go


Her most recent album, and it really returns to her rockin' roots. Just like Wide Awake in Dreamland was a breath of fresh air after the few before it, Go is a really strong album. I love the chances she takes in her music with a more modern sound on a few of the tracks. The ballads are great, and the title song really rocks out.

Asia - Phoenix



My friend Mike turned me onto this album. The classic line up re-united. And the albums is good. I place it just behind their first in quality. I love Eric Norlander, and expect to really enjoy the Asia Featuring ... that has him as keyboardist and co-songwriter, but it is really nice to hear the classic Asia sound.

Nickleback - All the Right Reasons



This albums just rocks. Nickleback gets slammed in the rock press and by the internet as talentless hacks, but I don't think so. I've enjoyed just about everything they have done, and this one is their best. Photograph and Rockstar are likely know by most, but they are nowhere near the best on the albums - Animal is a lust song with a driving beat (I can't say a love song.. that really doesn't enter into it). Fight For all the Wrong Reasons is good, and I love Next Contestant - about a guy who is really tired of beating up other guys who come on to his girlfriend at the bar she works at Withe the chorus of:
s that your hand on my girlfriend?
Is that your hand?
I wish you’d do it again
I’ll watch you leave here limping
I wish you’d do it again
I’ll watch you leave here limping
There goes the next contestant
You know it's going to be a fun song.

In October I hope to have a new one - The Cosmos Rocks by Queen + Paul Rodgers comes out. Queen is my favorite band, and with Brian and Roger (John is staying retired) in the studio with Paul, writing new stuff, I am really excited about what may come.
The first single off the album C-lebrity feels like Queen. I am really enthused.

Take a listen

Tuesdays tunes

From the Music Memiors

Word associations for this week. Just tell us what artist/band/song comes to mind when you see these words:

Storm: Riders on the Storm -Doors
Rain: Have you ever Seen the Rain - Bonnie Tyler
Old: Rolling Stones
Magic: Black Magic Woman - Santan
Angst: Pearl Jam
Trust: True - Spandue Ballet (don't ask me why)
True: True Colors - Cyndi Lauper
Broken: Petra (long story there - see below)
Cheesy: Richard Cheese
Family: Statler Brothers


It was my first year of college (and at the time I was a really strong agnostic) and I had a friend who was Christian and trying to convert me. He took me to one concert/stand up comedy act that was Christian (of some Protestant stripe or another). A good deal of the focus of the thing (in a lighthearted way) was original sin, and how we are not perfect, and have to have Christ's love. I wrote a poem (I was 19, and and an English major, how else would I react) called "Are we Broken?"
This was roughly the same time someone else got me hooked on Christian Rock - notably Petra, and this correlation is the connection to the above answer.

As a note - no I don't think humans are "broken" - we are imperfect, but that is all.

Seeing things in a whole new way

A short story leading up to something new and fun for me.

The wife is going back to University. She is only a semester and a half away from her BS in English (yes BS not BA). She had to stop going to school over a decade ago due to her health issues, and her needing to work for us to make ends meet.
Well, we are in a situation that she can go back. So she is.
Meanwhile, her computer has been starting to go. Not recognizing discs, not booting properly. Mouse and/or keyboard quitting at random intervals. She wanted to get a laptop (for use in her upcoming enrollment in school). But we didn't have the money for a new computer right now.
Then at my second job (Blockbuster), they take out the laptops that have been in the store for a year or 2; they were there to facilitate access to Blockbuster Online. We are not pushing that (as a matter of fact we are trying to get away from it). So the company decided to run a sales contest and the winner got the computer.
The manager decided to have it go to whoever sold the most passes per hour worked.
I have always been the number 2 sales person at that store*. I only work 9 to 12 hours a week. I outperform full time people. The only person that sold more than I did was the manager.
Well, I went into overdrive, and won the laptop for the wife. First thing I had ever won like that.
So the wife has a laptop for school, and we pulled all the info off of her old computer and put it on an external HD. Then she put the desktop off in a corner. And she saw her monitor sitting there unused next to her laptop, and decided to try it with two monitors. And it works, and she has been doing that for the last 2 weeks. Then she comes up to me and says "You know, I don't really need a 17 inch monitor when I run two of them, why don't we swap". So this morning she and I swapped monitors (I had a 15 inch - we always gave her the bigger monitor because she uses up more screen real estate than I do when using the computer).

So all of that was to say I have a new bigger monitor!!! Woohoo!!! I never would have thought that the extra 2" would have made a difference, but they have. It allowed me to move up to the next higher resolution, and keep things roughly where I like them.

And my games look amazing. :)

* I generally don't like selling, but the things we are supposed to push at Blockbuster are different kinds of upgraded rental plans - and depending on how the person rents movies, they can save them money - so I have no qualms trying to sell something that saves them money. :)

Back on Friday

From the Music Memoirs

Top 5 TV Theme Songs

Suicide is Painless The theme song from M*A*S*H. The instrumental version for the TV show was a bit more upbeat than the original, but it is the classic TV show theme for me.

Where My Heart Will Take Me The theme to Enterprise. I could have listed any ST main theme, but I only wanted one, and this one won. Just a tiny bit ahead of Beyond Antares.

Heaven and Hell Vangelis. It is the theme to Cosmos a science fact PBS miniseries from years ago. The show had great music all around, and this piece just takes me back to when I was a kid listening to Carl Sagan's voice, and learning science.

Hill Street Blues Had to have a Mike Post theme here somewhere... isn't that part of the deal? I always liked the sound and atmosphere to this one.

WKRP in Cincinnati - what's not to love:

Baby, if you've ever wondered,
Wondered whatever became of me,
I'm living on the air in Cincinnati,
Cincinnati, WKRP.
Got kind of tired packing and unpacking,
Town to town and up and down the dial
Maybe you and me were never meant to be,
But baby think of me once in awhile.
I'm at WKRP in Cincinnati



Edit:
Throw out Hill Street Blues - I remembered another one I like better (well two). Barney Miller and Night Court - great jazzy with great bass on both.

Back in the Saddle again

Well.....

It's been about 2 months. Wow. I didn't expect to be gone that long. Well, I have returned. And let me explain why, then we'll get to normal stuff.

The demands on my time have lessened – I've not got any callings in my church right now, the big one I had was reshuffled to someone else, when a member of the group I was in got called to a more important position, and that always means a new group. So I was released. I've successfully limited my time on the internet. I was surfing about 6 boards a day. I've limited that to three, and I limit my time on them. I've stopped working on the RPG game that I have been working on for years (my Fantasy Hero Campaign).

Then there is the big one – the wife arranged to get herself back in school to finish her degree. She is taking 15 credit hours of 300 & 400 level classes, plus working. So she is at school, at work, or working on her homework. So I am now left with extra time, and at odds with my time – this post is being written while she is at class, as a matter of fact.

So what does that mean for this blog – well without the wife around, I find myself with much more free time. So I'll be back to music memeing, and commentary on life in general.

Hope to see you all around again.

Taking a break

This is just a quick little note to explain abscence of posts.

I've been pulling back on my internet usage. Trying to spend more time with other things (gaming, music, video games, time with the wife, church responsibilities - that sort of thing).

I've already really cut the time I spend on messageboards a lot.

Blogging is the next to go.

I'll post occasionally if something strikes me, but I need some time away from the 'net right now. I've been feeling depression set in again (I hate hate hate the summer - too hot) and I've unplugging to try and connect to more real world stuff.

To be honest I spend 8 hours a day working from home in front of my computer. I need to spend more time on work, and less on surfing (working from home on the net really makes that too easy)... and when I am off work, I've really been feeling the need to get away from the computer too.

So,
see ya 'round.

I'll be back.

Just don't know when.

10 songs to sum up the weekend.

10 songs that sum up your weekend...or were on your weekend playlist...and one picture that relates back. (oh, and if you feel like it, tell us why you picked the songs you did)

I don't normally do this particular meme. Weekends aren't WEEKENDS to me. They are just Saturday and Sunday, another couple of days of the week - given I get half of Saturday off work, and most of Sunday off (4 hours plus of Church and Meetings). So finding songs that sum up an arbitrary two days just doesn't seem like something I do - Plus I generally don't do special music things to gear up or wind down from a weekend.

However I did have something special this weekend, and the list:

White Cliffs of Dover - Eric Johnson
Sabotage - Beasty Boys
Devil Went Down to Georgia - Charlie Daniels
I Think I'm Paranoid - Garbage
Maps - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Sunshine of Your Love - Cream
Even Flow - Pearl Jam
La Grange - ZZ Top
Welcome to the Jungle - Guns 'n' Roses
Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Yes all these songs have 2 things in common:




And let me say that "Playing" White Cliffs of Diver was amazing.

Top Five on Thursday night. :)

Top 5 On Friday - Week 180

Top 5 albums that you can't stop playing lately, and tell us why you love them!

I been finding music that I first ran into playing Rock Band, and have been enjoying.

Up first - Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell.

Great solid straight ahead rock with a female vocalist. I really enjoy it.

Up Second - Garbage - Version 2.o

I never listened to Garbage before. Never heard them on the radio. So when I really liked their song in Rock Band I had to give this album a try. Again, really solid rock, female vocalist (I've been in the mood for rock females recently).

With the listening of female rockers I of course have been listening to:

This is just a classic. Not a single bad song on the album. Bitter and agry it really has strength of emotion.

My favorite beauty and the beast band recently has been Sirenia. Great Powermetal/Gothic sound. Beauty and the Beast is a type of music with a soaring female vocalist over a growly deathmetal vocalist.


And finally - with the concert not to long ago Romantic Warrior by Return to Forever is still getting a lot of airtime. One of the greatest Jazz albums of all time. Chick Corea, Al DiMeola, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White. Great Great stuff.

Tunage memes

From the Music Memoirs

Tuesday Tunes
Who is your favorite Beatle?
Paul. Lennon was too political (and Yoko is annoying). Ringo is bland, and George is # 2.

What is one of your favorite Beatle songs?
I've always loved Taxman. Revolver is my favorite album.

Best/Worst cover of a Beatles song
Worst- to many to name.
Best- Elenor Rigby by Godhead. It's an industrial cover, but the style and sound really work with the theme of isolation and loneliness in the song.

Best song by a Beatle after the breakup
I don't know any Ringo tunes, but I'll do one for each of them.
George - Devil's Radio. Song about Gossip, and I love it.
Paul - Silly love songs. A critics said "He just recorded another silly love song" and this song was the responce to that comment. Don't piss off the bard.
John - Watching the Wheels.

Top 5
Top 5 postal songs
(props if you don't use that obvious song done by a girl group in the 60s and that the Beatles covered as well as the Carpenters in your list)

I'm gonna sit right down and mail myself to Elvis. Paradoy song I heard on Dr Demento years ago.
Stealing People's Mail - Dead Kennedys.
The Check's in the Mail - Al Yankovic. Another funny one.
Another Postcard - Barenaked Ladies
Sealed with a Kiss - Paper Lace

Nerd God!!

From the Nerd Test

Not that I really expected anything different. Programming in ancient computer languages, comic book geek, book geek, video game geek...

Tuesday Tunes, on time. :)

Remember tell us the first artist/song/album etc that comes to mind when you see the following words.

Note that I saw Return to Forever (my favorite Jazz band) last Wednesday (playing together for the first time in 25 years... yes it was awesome). This will bias my resutls.

jazz: Return to Forever
cool: Miles Davis
swing: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
club: 2 Am Paradise Cafe (Barry Manilow Ablum with Sarah Vaughn and Mel Torme among others)
street: On the Street Where you live
thank: Sly and the Family Stone (no idea why)
rose: Seal
party: Funkytown
sex: I'm a (Berlin Song)
water: Take me to the River (Talking Heads)

Moving Music

There now that I exhausted myself with the quick commentaries on D&D 4E....


I had a bad thing happen. My computer failed to recognized my 500 GB external HD. It did after a bit, but when playing music, sometimes it just shut off the connection.

I'm thinking that the drive is starting to go.

This is the drive I have all my music on.

PANIC!!!!

So we looked around for cash to replace it, found enough, and off I go to Costco to replace it. They have the exact same make and model. And right next to it because of a 15 dollar instant rebate they have a 750 GB external hardrive for 5 bucks more.

So I splurged. :)

I am currently moving all the stuff from my 500 to the 750. Now the 500 wasn't full (it still had about 150 left), but now I have even more space.
Heh heh heh.

I just hope the old one lasts long enough to get everything transfered off.

D&D last.

Healing and combat

Okay. Combat runs about as fast per combat as 3.x did.... however the structure is different. There are generally more monsters/bad guys per encounter, and rounds move faster, but there are more rounds. So something that would be a 20 minute fight in 3 rounds in 3.x is a 20 minute 5 or 6 round fight in 4th.
Powers were mentioned previously – dailys are once per day, per encounter are recharged between encounters, at will can be used anytime. Magic Missile is an at will for the mage, for example. Lots of these abilities move around allies, you or enemies. Combat is very tactical (but really no more so that full on mapped Hero combat). The different classes and roles focus on different things – Paladins and Fighters move enemies, and get enemies to stay on them, whereas Ranges and Rogues move around a lot. A lot the tactics in 4th is team playing, each player working to set up team attacks, or help teammates set up for a nasty attack. It fosters teamwork.

I really like that.

Healing is really different. One of the biggest complaints about the Cleric in 3rd ed is that he couldn't do fun stuff, but had to save up for healing. 4th has a compeltely different paradigm. Hit points have always been abstracted, but they extend this out to the rest of the healing system. Every character has “Healing Surges” that heal ¼ of his hit points. A character can take a second wind and heal that every encounter. And many classes (and some races) have abilities to use a healing surge due to the power (The Orc racial lets the orc get a healing surge anytime he hits a bloodied enemy). These surges represent energy, force of will, focus or whathave. A perfect example of a healing surge in movies is Inigo Montoya shaking off the thrown knife in the Princes Bride.
Another element is Bloodied, as mentioned above. You are bloodied when you hit half hit points. A number of abilities are triggered by this as well. That is the point where actually physical damage occurs.

Simulationist will generally hate this. I like it, or at least how it is handled here. I like that healing surges can be represented by any number of things in the – healing, an inspiring speech, or simple force of will.

One of the big changes the designers made is moving away from resource management. Apparently people didn't like that about older versions of D&D – so no more worrying how many spells you have for the day, or how many days you need to rest to get up to full strength. Encounter powers recharge between every fight, and one night's rest restores all daily abilities and heals all hit points, healing surges ect. So every morning you are full and ready to go.

I'm ambivalent about this, but it does make for a simpler game, and to be honest I do like that.

Encounters and adventure builders/monsters

Monster making is simple. Monsters have a role just like characters, and there is a chart in the DMG (or MM I don't recall) that gives you a basic grid of attack, defense, hits ect per role per monster level. This is for building monsters of your own – you just choose level, get numbers, add a power or two, and away you go. There are also some oddball – minions who have full attack and damage efforts, but one hit point of damage kills them. Then there are elites and solos – these are monsters that are tougher than others of their level. Every monster in the MM has a role, level and XP rating.

Each encounter is assumed to have 1 standard monster per character. An elite counts for 2 regular monsters and a solo counts for 5. Minions count for ¼. So you mix and match roles and power levels to get your encounter. Easy to build, easy to balance. It's actually a little more flexible than what I just described, but just as simple. :) (the actual mechanism using XP as a guide). There are also templates and such as well, that lay over creatures.

So it is amazingly simple to build monsters and encounters in the game, so the GMs job is much much easier. I love this as well – the reason I stopped playing 3.x is that the Wife GMed me, and it was solo play in our spare time, and once the game got to where I really enjoyed it (low teens) it took so much work to come up with encounters and adventures, we just stopped playing. Now that shouldn't be as much of a concern for us.

Final Overview
The game is limited, with very specific choices. Later books should expand that, but that will cost extra cash.
For my need, though, this game fits exactly. I've always like the trappings of D&D, so this is still a nostalgia trip for me.

Nature at work

While at work last night, rain came down over the mountain, and we had a really nifty rainbow. I pulled out the camera and got this:

Part three

Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies, and class roles.

D&D4th is really focused on you keeping your class. You base class never changes in the entire game, which runs to 30th level and then stops* However there are three distinct levels of play – Heroic (levels 1-10), Paragon (levels 11-20) and Epic (levels 21-30).

During your Heroic tier you fight monsters, but death is death, and you deal with local problems – orc infestations, or maybe a small dragon causing a problem. You get your main class abilities – and you can do some very basic multiclassing that comes through spending feats.

At Paragon levels things change. Death is something you can fix, fighters are city and region level, and you deal with all sorts of other kinds of monsters. You also gain what is known as a paragon path – this is a similar to a prestige class in D&D 3.x, but you don't take it instead of your main class it is in addition. The bonuses you get give nifty color, some cool abilities, and choices for some powers that come from the paragon path. In the PH each Paragon path only takes a page or so. It adds to your character, not overwhelms it.
You can choose to multiclass further into your class instead of taking a paragon path. What you get it slightly weaker, but it is much more versatile, you can really do stuff outside your role.
Epic Destinies are the path you take telling you where your character is going to end up for eternity – whether immortal or joining the essence of magic itself. At Epic levels you are dealing with region or world level threats, and death is a speedbump (direct quote from one of the designers). One of the powers available in an Epic destiny opens with “Once per day when you die....” Epic Destinies have some really fantastic and fun abilities.

I like the structure. It is interesting, and it allows GMs and players who want a particular feel focus on the aspect of the game they like – someone who is interesting only in “gritty” low level type adventuring might only allow Heroic play and cap level advancement at 10th. Someone who really like a big epic feel might start a game at 11th and go from there.
And.. hmm... where have I seen a game that splits different types of games into differeing levels like that... hmm... ummm... HERO? :)

Party Roles

Going all the way back to the origins of D&D “Every party is assumed to have a fighter, cleric, magic-user and thief, and adventures are written that way. If you are missing one of them your chances of finishing the adventure are made more difficult. Miss two and you might not make it through” (Paraphrased from the 1st Editition D&D).

4th has just made this a little more explicit, but expanded the idea. There are 4 party roles: Strike, Controller, Defender, Leader.

Striker deals a lot of damage, and deals it to single targets. Rangers Rogues and Warlocks. Rangers have an ability that lets them pick a single target and do an extra d6 of damage every attack. And he can switch the target of that ability.
Defenders fight, and suck up damage. Paladin, Fighter.They have better hit points, healing surges, and special abilities to keep the enemies focused on them. The paladin has an ability that targets an enemy, and if that enemy attacks someone besides the Paladin, it takes damage.
Leader have abilities to help the party members: Warlord, Cleric. They can cause extra healing surges (see healing and combat next time), they can give bonuses to allies, move enemies or allies around the mat.
Controllers deal area effect damage, and control the battlefield: Wizards. Example – Fireball, Wall of fire ect.

Monsters have their own roles too – Brute, Artillery, Soldier, Skirmisher, Lurker, Controller. All of the Monsters in the MM have these classification, to help the GM build encounters. (More on that later– building encounters and adventures)

I've got a give a take on this one – I don't especially like the roles, or having the characters pigeonholed... but it does work with the game that is designed, and with multiclassing you can get around the specifics of a role (my ranger has Fighter stuff, my Paladin does some cleric stuff ect).

What the roles do that is nice in that it give guidance for building classes. Further books (and make no mistake this game is uses the splatbook train publishing model) can have other power sources and classes that fill the role for the source. That will be interesting to see.

*I'm already planning what kind of house rules I'm going to run to play beyond that point.

Palyer's Handbook impressions part 2

Mhoram's Overview/Review Part two – Classes and sources.


Okay the way the classes work are using the unified chart for progression – and everyone gets the same base attack and defense bonuses. ½ per level. Then add other mods like ability mods, racial mods and such.

Skills are simplified – you are trained or not. All skills are at ½ your level + ability mod (just like above). If you are trained in a skill, then you gain a +5 to it. There is a skill focus feat that gives you an additional +3. Some skills have uses that only can be used if trained. Very simplified. I both like and dislike it – without all the niggly little skill points, using skills to differentiate your characters, or add to roleplaying is difficult. I like the fact it is so bloody easy. You can have the skill bonuses of a 15th level character in a matter of moments. Can't do that in 3rd (you can thumbnail close but...).

Classes each gain some class features (used to be called class abilities) at first level. Everything after that is a power. Class abilities are a lot of the specific things the class in known for – Mages get spellbooks, Clerics get Turn undead, Paladins get lay on of hands, Rogues get sneak attack. Ect. That is all front loaded at first. (check addendum of this post for multiclassing).

After that you gain powers. Every character starts with 2 at wills, 1 encounter, and 1 daily. These are written up in a precise little stat block with name, powersource (more on that in a moment) hit and miss affects and wht you hit with. The characters gain more as they progress. In the game a character gets a feat, power or ability increase every level – so no dead levels.

What is nice about the structure of the powers is that every class gets the same amount, so every class has something “cool”. Played a 18th level fighter in a group with an 18th level mage or sorcerer. Tended to get bland. This gives mechanical things for every class to do, and know. Fighters get abilities to draw attention to themselves, extra damage, cool effects like stunning and immobilization. Rogues often make opponents attack themselves or allies (just to quick). Wizards get spells as do clerics. Paladins get nifty divine stuff.

I really like the way this works – as I mentioned last time, with the same structure, each class is it's class features and it's powers. So making new classes with a new feel is really easy, and it doesn't have to be more powerful to be special.

Power sources are interesting as well. They define the source of the powers, and give them flavor. Arcane is obviously arcane magic, Divine is from the gods (whether by spell or ability), martial is from weapons skill and training. Future sources include Primal (nature), Psionic, Ki, Shadow, Elemental.

Really the power sources and Hero style special effects for the mechanics in the power. A paladin and a fighter might both have a high level daily power that gives them 7xweapon damage, but the fighter is massive raw damage (or super skilled placement) while a paladin is channeling his gods aura through his weapon. The stark mechanics of powers lend themselves to having nifty special effects for use. Those that don't think effects based (like Hero) have said it bland. I call it freeing up for the player.

And that leads to my last point – I've seen the game called a tabletop war game because there aren't rules for roleplaying (like non combat skills), but really I see it similar to Hero. You have the mechanics in place for combat, but the rest of the character is non-mechanical – the roleplaying aspects of the game are SFX of the character. If you want a character that is great at diamond cutting, he it. You don't have to buy ranks in a skill. It is roleplaying the background and ability. A very differencing approach than previous editions, but I find it refreshing in its simplicity.

Addendum :

Multiclassing – you don't actually take a level in another class. You take a feat that gives you a class skill and a class feature, and you can take a feat to get a power from another class instead of one of your own. There are three of these (and other avenues in higher level play). If you want to mulitclass really a lot, you can take all three feats, plus the initial multiclass. If you want to splash you can just take the basic feat. If you want some special skill, take one. A fighter could just use the multiclass feat to get arcane knowledge and then later spend a feat to choose a Wizard ability – boom you have a fighter with a fireball. Great color. It is more restrictive than previous editions, but it works really well with the class structure they come up with. And with further classes coming out every year in the yearly Players Handbooks, the ability to create exactly what you want grows.

Next time Paragon and Epic Paths.

D&D is back - Players handbook review/overview part one

D&D 4th edition is here, and I like it!! Here are some thoughts about the PH - I plan on doing a piece of a review/overview each day or two.

My D&D PH review Part 1:

The basic structure of the characters.

All classes have the same advancement chart – It tells you when you gain a level, and what you get: Feat, new Power, Ability score increases. Hit bonuses and defense bonuses are the same for every class - ½ your level + Ability mod. The defenses are AC and what used to be saving throws.

I like this for two reasons.

One - Simplicity. Everyone works off the same chart, and it's pretty easy to remember.

Two – Growth in the game. One of the design goals for D&D 4th was class equity (i.e. Everyone gets to do fun stuff, and everyone gets to do about the same amount of fun stuff at the same level) that works well. And it puts into place a framework for characters presented in later books to not be too powerful, the bane of the splatbook train model of publishing everywhere. Classes are very tight in focus, so introducing new stuff by changing color and flavor instead of powerlevel is good.

Some basic note –
Feats are gained every other level, and are somewhat less powerful than in 3.x
Class features (as opposed to powers) are all front loaded at 1st level. As the multiclassing system is very different (you actually don't get a level in another class) that works well. You get your class stuff at first, and everything after is powers. Skills are asigned at first level and there you go – although feats allow extra skills.
Ability score increase you get +1 to two Ability scores every 4 levels, and +1 to all of them at 11th and 21st.

Characters are in three “tiers” of ability – Heroic, Paragon and Epic. Thing Heroic, superheroic and high powered superheroic in Hero terms. Each one covers 10 levels. Paragon takes on 11-20, Epic 21-30. The advancement stops there (I already have in mind house rules to go beyond that).

I really like that, it gives a nice character story arc. And some of the Epic abilities start with phrases like “Once per day when you die....”.

Characters gain powers as they go up. For a mage this is their spells, Clerics are their prayers, Fighters get special fighting techniques ect. From someone coming from hero, this works well – the mechanics are the same (gain a power) but the Special effects of what it does is different depending on class. And it really lets rogues and fighters keep up with the mages in the “Cool things I can do” department. In general I didn't see a lot of overlap in the powers, although there were a few.

It is a simple basic structure that allows for modular plug ins (new classes) that because of the framework can allow future classes to not up-power (I know I said this, but I wanted to repeat it). I really like that.

Overall creating a character is a breeze. I made three in about an hour and a half, and that was learning how to create a charater. Once I have the system down, I could likely create a character in 10 or 15 minutes. And said character will have 2 at wills, one encounter, and one daily powers, in addition to any class features he gets. It is a lot like a character beginning with a multipower with 5 or 6 slots – you get a lot of stuff you get to do right away at first level.

Next time I'll cover classes more specifically.

Catching up on the Music Memes

From The Music Memiors

Going from most recent back....


Top 5 On Friday - Week 177

Top 5 songs about work or are work related:

Working Man - Rush
Working for the Weekend - Loverboy
Take This Job and Shove it - Johnny Paycheck
Working in a Coal Mine - Devo
Why Don't you Get a Job - Offspring


Tuesday Tunes: Week 34

Another word association week. Remember name the first song/artist/album etc that you think of when you see these 10 words.

Country: k d lang
Patriotic: Presidents of the United States of America
Summer: Hot Town, Summer in city - Nick Guilder
Heat: Heat Wave - Linda Rosnstadt
Fun: Barenaked Ladies (The band not nessisarily the concept)
Beach: Boys
Surf: Little Dead Surfer Girl - Marillion
Park: Peaches and Cream (don't ask me why)
Live: Live
South: Phil Harris Orcestra

Tuesday Tunes - Week 33

This week is word association week and it's all in colors! I'll give you a color and you tell me the first song/artist/album that comes to mind when you see it.

Pink: Pink
Purple: Donny Osmond, Prince
Blue: Elvis Presley (the album for the Moody Blues album was made on blue vinyl)
White: Queen (the cover of Night at the Opera is White with the logo)
Gold: Sold Gold Hits of the '70s (a K-tel record series that we had a number of when I was growing up)
Silver: Bob Seeger & the Silver Bullet Band
Green: Rock on - David Essex (it mentions Green Lantern)
Yellow: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
Red: Arcadia (the album is So Red as Rose)
Brown: Mr Brownstone - Guns and Roses

Following the leader

A meme thing from Mike


A - Attached or single: Attached
B - Best Friend: The Wife.
C - Cake or Pie: Cake all the way. Never was a big fan of pie.
D - Day of Choice: Sunday. Church in the morning, and complete relaxing in the afternoon.
E - Essential Item: Computer. 5ER rulebook.
F - Favorite Color: Red (followed by Black)
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: I don't eat candy with the texture of flavored snot.
H - Hometown: Nyssa Oregon
I - Indulgence(s): Video Games
J - January or July: January. I hate the heat, plus my birthday is in that month.
K - Kids: Not yet, but hoping.
L - Life is incomplete without: The wife.
M - Marriage Date: Feb 2nd, 1989.
N - Number of Siblings: Zip. I'm an only child
O - Oranges or Apples: Oranges.
P - Phobias or Fears: Heights.
Q - Quote(s):
R - Reason to Smile: A happy wife. Getting things finished on my Fantasy Campaign.
S - Season: Winter.
T - Tag Eight: No thanks - Mike got most of the ones I would have.
U - Unknown Fact About Me: When I was very little, I left my bedroom in the middle of the night, and went out to the doghouse to sleep with the dog. I was 4 or so. Only time we ever had a dog actually.
V - Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Opressor of Animals? I don't oppress them, I have thme killed and eat them.
W - Worst Habit: Pulling into an emotional shell.
Y - Your Favorite Food: A good steak, extra well done. Or a really well put together Pizza.
Z - Zodiac: Capricorn. But we are earthy types that don't cotton to mystic mumbo jumbo.

Music back three

Music Memoirs

Top 5 Albums from 5 Consecutive Years (forward or backwards, starting with the year you were born, the year you graduated from high school, or whatever)

Married in 1989:
89 - Eric Clapton : Journeyman
90 - They Might Be Giants: Flood
91 - Harry Connick Jr: Red Light Blue Light
92 - Mary Chapin Carpenter: Come On Come On
93 - Crash Test Dummies: God Shuffled His Feet


What's the worst song you've heard in the past week?
Still haven't found what I am looking for - U2.
This song was so freaking overplayed, I wouldn't care if I never heard another U2 song as long as I live.

Have you ever bought an album thinking you'd love it, only to hate it? What was it?
Amon Amarth - from what I could tell the CD was a decent Europowermetal - But the vocals were annoying deathmetal Growl. Ick.

Are there any artists that you used to like but wish would just go away now?

I sorta liked a couple of Rolling Stone songs when I was younger, but as an adult I generally can't stand anything they do.

Top 5 break up songs
Don't You want me Baby - Human League
Tainted Love - Soft Cell
These two have a funny story. My first girlfriend dumped me (freshman in HS), and my Mom picked me up from school, and these two songs played back to back, while I was crying my eyes out.
Breaking up is hard to do - Neil Sedaka
Goodbye Earl - Dixie Chicks (well it's sort of a breakup song)
You're Breaking my Heart - Harry Nilson
Link to Youtube video that someone did - warning NSFW language

That is it exactly

Found this on a messageboard, who found it on a blog (so I don't really have an attribution).

It does sum up my thoughts exactly.



I've been getting back into reading comics after a while off... and I used to have a fairly even split of comics. About 40% DC, 30% marvel 30% indy (or sub imprints).
Now in my reading list, I don't have a single Mainstream Marvel title.

Joe Q is to Editor in Chiefing as Rob Liefeld is to Art.

For reference this is my reading list:
All-Star Superman
Green Lantern
Green Lantern Corps
JLA
JSA
Legion of Super-Heroes

Ultimate FF
Ultimate X-Men
Ultimate Spider-Man
Ultimates

Astro City
Fables
Godland
Invincible
PS#238
Squadron Supreme (if it ever starts coming out again)

And yeah, I only buy in Trade paperbacks these days, and with the rate the stuff I read comes out, that comes to about 1 a month, plus a few extras (for mini series or whatnot).

C is for Champions that's good enough for me.

Taking Mike's ABC Challenge:

A Armor
B Brick
C Champions
D Dr Destroyer
E Energy Blast
F FREd
G Growth
H Hunted
I Inches
J Jack of All Trades
K Killing Attack
L Long, Steve
M Martial Arts
N No Normal Defense
O Oculon
P Powers
Q Questonite
R Range Mod
S Shapeshift
T Talents
U Ultimate books
V Variable Power Pool
W Weapon Familiarity
X X-Ray Vision
Y Yengtao Temple
Z Zero Phase Action


I had to look up two. Both of which I probably could have come up with, but needed to get back to work.

Early Tuesday Tunes

Word Association on Music Memiors


Drum: Sandy Nelson
River: Wide River (Steve Miller)
Sea: Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon (Queen)
Sand: Margaritaville - Jimmy Buffett
Travel: Living in the USA (Steve Miller) Because of the video.
Time: Fly Like an Eagle (Steve Miller)
Journey: well Duh. :)
Number: Cat Stevens (because of his concept album Numbers)
Theme: John Williams
Magic: Olivia Newton John

Steve Miller on the brain today.

Obama Quote

"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. ... And they fell through the Clinton administration and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate, and they have not," Obama said.

"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," Obama said.

Reported Here

If that is Obama's view on religion, he's lost any chance I'll vote for him.

C'mon Hurry up and do it already

From the Music Memoirs

Top 5 artists you wish would record a new album. (Tell us a bit about why you want them to go back into the studio too)

Well... Obviously the main one is Queen, but with Freddie gone, that ain't gonna happen so the top two will be:

Brian May.
Queens guitarist, and has done two solo albums, that I really love. May is one of the main reasons I like Queen. A long time ago I made a "greatest hits" tape of my own, and I was writing down the song names and writing credits, and all but 2 of them were Brian May songs. His solo albums are amazing, and I like them as much (if not more) that all but the best couple from Queen themselves. I wish he would go back into the studio and do another one. It's been 10 years since his last one.

Roger Taylor
Now I may not like his solo stuff as much as Brian's but I do really like it.

Rocket Scientists
From '93 to '06 they only put out 4 CDs. And with Eric Norlander one of the main creative members of the band producing his wife's stuff, and having recently joining Asia (the second version) as a Keyboardist, it's less than likely we will get a new one soon. One hopes.

Shaw / Blades
2 CDs in how many years, and the second is a cover album? I love the stuff, but I want more more more. Another Proggish band (Styx) where I really loved the stuff the guitarist did. I love the Shaw solo but, these two guys harmonize like you wouldn't believe and have a really great songwriting vibe. I want more from them.

Star One
This is one of Arjen Lucassen's side projects (he's the force behind Ayreon and founded Stream of Passion). Now I love the Ayreon stuff (and we just had a new CD there very recently) but Star One has a more solid sound (it could be said to be a bit samey actually) but I really like the sound on that album - there is obvious Arjen sound to it, but it has a different flavor than Ayreon and is overall a heavier sound. Fun fun stuff.

Edit - After reading Mike's Blog it reminded me of another one - only this is more a "do a first album together" than another one. Mark Knopfler and John Fogerty. They do one song together on Fogerty's last album (Nobody's Here Anymore off of Deja Vu all Over Again) and their guitar styles melded so well, and I can just imagine what kind of songs we'd get if the wrote songs together, as well as vocals.

From the Music Memoirs:

What music related tv shows do you or have you watched?
I haven't watched television in years (no reception where I am at, and we don't pay for cable or sattalite). So I have to think back..

Name that Tune
Friday Night Videos
American Bandstand occasionally
MTV when they actually played music back in the '80s
Behind the Music on VH1 back when we had it.


Have you ever gone to see a movie just for the music?
Not really. The closest is Amadeus.

Edit - upon further thought I do remember one. Stop Making Sense. Only concert film I've ever seen in the theater. :)

What is you favorite music related movie?
That thing you do. A fun little pleasent movie. A favorite to put on and have in the background.

a couple of music memes

Tuesday Word Association from Music Memiors


Camera: Centerfold by the J Geils Band
Married: Lana Lane and Eric Norlander
Lost: Jimmy Barnes (great song on the Lost Boys soundtrack)
Grin: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (don't ask me why)
Rest: Enya
Environment: Kill the Poor (Dead Kennedys - all about using the Nuetron Bomb, the Environmentally friendly nuclear weapon)
Hippie: Jefferson Airplane
Betrayal: John Lennon (and Yoko)
Emotion: High on Emotions (Chris DeBurgh)
Dream: Theater. :)

And I missed Last Fridays meme as well which is:
Top 5 songs that you've loved the longest.

The first one is easy - The Prohphet's Song by Queen. It has a middle piece with Freddie doing vocals that overlap (using Brians timed echo boxes) that is recorded in stereok, with the echoes moving around the speakers. It was the first rock song I ever truly fell in love with (back in '77 I was 10). And is still one of my favorites today. The first actual music album I bought (as opposed to things like disney micky mouse albums and such) was Queen's a Night at the Opera, because of this song.

Taxman by the Beatles. My parents had Revolver, and I always loved this song. Revovler is still my favorite Beatles album.
So Long Frank Lloyd Wright - Simon and Garfunkle. Another one my parents had. I love the vocal quality on this song, and melody is beautiful.
Paradise by the Dashboard Light - Meat Loaf. First song I loved off the album way back when. Really great, and still a favorite.
G Major Toccatta - Mannheim Steamroller. A really energetic piece played on Pipe Organ. My Favorite Mannheim Steamroller song, and possibly my favorite "new age" piece of all time.

Another Political Digression

Interesting tidbit I found at CNN.

According to a Gallup Poll taken March 7-22, about one in five Obama supporters -- or 19 percent -- said they will vote for McCain if Clinton is the Democratic nominee.

If Obama's the nominee, more than one in four Clinton supporters -- or 28 percent -- said they'd vote for McCain.

So all I have to say is I hope the democratic race lasts until the convention and has a huge fight there. All the better for McCain. :)

Tuesday Music

Tuesday's Memes

What is the most unusal band/artist's name that you can think of?
Jimmy Eat World
The Mars Volta (what does that Mean)
? and the Mysterions
The Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash

Can you name any songs that have an actual person's name in the title?
Riding with James Dean - Joan Jett
Hey Bo Didly - Animals
Abraham, Martin and John - Dion

A lot of artists have stage names, can you name at least one artist's real name? (You can do as many as you like.

Vincent Furnier - Alice Cooper
Farrokh Bulsara - Freddie Mercury

Back wtih a meme

Been away for a bit, but had to do this Friday's meme from the Music Memoirs.

Top 5 Cover Songs or Covers Albums

Hurt by Johnny Cash (NIN)

The original was good, but his is perfect to the song. The fact it was recorded shortly after his wife's death just makes it all the more powerful. I can't watch the video to this without crying.

Elenor Rigby by Godhead (Beatles).

Not something you think would work - an industrial cover of a Beatles song. But the instrumentation and arrangement really highlight the concepts of isolation that are what this song is about. Very very good.

One Hand in My Pocket by The Dino Martinis (Alannis Morisette)

A fun swing cover of the original. And the delivery of the "And one hand is holding a cigarette" line is just to funny. Completely deadpan, and sounding a little annoyed. Two Vocalists, a female for most of it, a male that does all the "And one hand is...".

Somebody to Love - Geoff Tate (Queen).

The vocalist to Queensryche has one of the most impressive voices in rock and roll. Amazing control and amazing range. Now Freddie (if you include his falsetto) was one of the 5 octave freaks that can do anything. When I've heard covers of this song there is one part near the end (and you all know just what I'm talking about) when the line is "Find me somebody to-ooo love" and Freddie just goes for the stratosphere on "To-ooo." Most covers don't try for the full range, by pulling down that note. Some try and fail miserable. Tate hit it, and earned my undying respect. :)

Welcome to the Machine - Rocket Scientist (Pink Floyd).

I enjoy Pink Floyd, but I love the Rocket Scientists, and this cover on their first album was amazing. I enjoy this one more than the original.


Edit - I do these without looking at other peoples responses so as not to influence my own. I saw a Dylan song on one list - I don't consider Dylan covers as covers. Dylan is a great songwriter, but he can't sing worth beans. :) His songs are just "holding tracks" until somebody real can sing them.

Catching up on the memes

From the Music Memoirs

First Word Association

Fast: Fast Car - Tracy Chapman
Doctor: Doctor my Eyes - Jackson Brown
Hurt: by Johnny Cash
New: Diablo Swing Orchestra
Sexy: Pat Benatar (I've always thought she was hot)
Long: Short Skirt Long Jacket - Cake
Ball: I lost my Lucky Ball and Chain - They Might Be Giants
Ship: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Geek: Devo in general
Sleep: Who Needs Sleep - Barenaked Ladies


Top 5 On Friday

In the spirit of the Oscars:

Top 5 songs from the movies

I'm going rock songs that I know from movies - No Score (which leaves out my first pick, Chariots of Fire).

Ziplock by Lit - Replacements.
Veteran of a Psychic War - Heavy Metal (only the greatest rock soundtrack in existance)
Du Hast - The Matrix (The second greatest)
That thing you do - That Thing You do.
Nobody does it better - Carly Simon (The best Bond song, in my opinion, and there had to be a Bond song on the list)

A political Digression

I don't really like any of the candidates, and I sometimes thought about voting in the direction of Obama.. but something a friend mentioned on his blog really has turned me away from that direction, and that is this

Six of the nine Supreme Court justices will be over age sixty-eight when the next president takes office in January '09.

I really don't care what the executive or legislative branch do in the next 4 to 8 years, but I want that court packed with conservatives. It has been too liberal for far too long.

So I'm going McCain for '08 - for the court.

What if...

From the Music Memiors

A little what if music style this week:

What if you had a $100 gift card to the music store of your choice, what would you buy?

Amazon.com - I'd be buying some Bonepony, some Mel Torme, a Leave's Eyes CD, the new Ayreon CD.

What if you had the chance to see your favorite band play anywhere in the world, what band would it be, and where would you be seeing them?

That would be the Rocket Scientist - and I'd love to see them at the Ed Kenly Amphitheater. A small intimate amphitheater that sits about 2000 and is only a 15 minute drive from home. I love how close you are to the band in this place.

What if you had a chance to have a job in the music industry, what job would it be and why did you choose it?

Toughie - Rockstar is out I assume.... :) so I'd say producer. It is something I think I could do well, and still put me in a creative position.

Tell 'em off

From the Music Memiors

Top 5 songs that "tell someone off" or you'd like to dedicate to someone you'd like to tell off.

Well, I don't really have anyone I want to tell off, I'll just go with Telling off songs.

5) I will survive - Gloria Gaynor

First I was afraid
I was petrified
Kept thinking I could never live
without you by my side
But I spent so many nights
thinking how you did me wrong
I grew strong
I learned how to carry on
and so you're back
from outer space
I just walked in to find you here
with that sad look upon your face
I should have changed my stupid lock
I should have made you leave your key
If I had known for just one second
you'd be back to bother me

Go on now go walk out the door
just turn around now
'cause you're not welcome anymore

4) You're breaking my Heart - Harry Nilson
The first two line sum this one up nicely (language warning)

You're breakin' my heart
You're tearing it apart so fuck you

3) Death on Two Legs - Queen

A song dedicated by the band to a previous business manager:

You suck my blood like a leech
You break the law and you preach
Screw my brain till it hurts
You've taken all my money
And you want more

Death on two legs
You're tearing me apart
Death on two legs
You've never had a heart of your own
But now you can kiss my ass goodbye

2) Kiss off - Violent Femmes

A fun song of rebellion:

You can all just kiss off into the air
Behind my back I can see them stare
Theyll hurt me bad but I wont mind
Theyll hurt me bad they do it all the time

1) Animal - Pearl Jam
I don't think you can get much more insulting than this:

Id rather be...
Id rather be with...
Id rather be with an animal

ch-ch-ch-changes

Yep - the blog has a new name, to better reflect what it is about - and that is music. I do still plan to post life posts, but I tend to do mostly music here. Music Memoirs memes, talking about music in my life, and the sidebar is dominated by muisc with Pandora station, my music of the week and lifetime achievement awards. So a new title, and, finally, a sidebar update.

The only other subject I feel the need to vent about frequently is video games, a topic covered by my other blog (who's link is in the sidebar - if that is something you do, feel free to stop by and comment).

Word Association Valentines day style

From the Music Memiors

A special Valentine's Day word association since everyone likes them so much. As always, tell us the first song, album, artist, band that comes to mind when you see these 10 words.


Well mine are fairly bland – most of them are just songs with that word in the title, but hey it's what I thought of.

Hearts: Barracuda (Heart)
Flowers: Where have all the flowers gone (Kingston Trio)
Broken: Broken Lady (Larry Gatlin)
Wedding: When the World Falls Down (David Bowie) Yes there is a sory there*
Heartbreak: Don't You want me Baby (Human League) Tainted Love (Soft Cell) – Story there too **
Bitter: Jagged Little Pill (Allanis Morrisette)
Chocolate: Chocolate Rain (Zonday)
Candy: I want Candy (Bow Wow Wow)
Alcohol: Daddy Don't be Drunk this Christmas (John Denver)
Toy: Marvelous Toy (Chad Mitchell Trio)

* This was the song that was our first dance (just bride and groom) at our wedding reception. Labyrinth was our first date. :)

** When my first girlfriend dumped me (this was in 9th grade), I was devastated and heartbroken. When my mom picked me up to drive me home, I was in the back seat bawling my eyes out, and on the radio those two songs played back to back.

Musical love

From the Music Memoirs:

Top 5 songs that best say "I Love You":

I Just called to say "I love you" - Stevie Wonder

No New Year's day to celebrate
No chocolate covered candy hearts to give away
No first of spring
No song to sing
In fact here's just another ordinary day
I just called to say I love you
I just called to say how much I care

I have to say "I love you" in a song - Jim Croce

Well, I know it's kind of late
I hope I didn't wake you
But what I got to say can't wait
I know you'd understand
Ev'ry time I tried to tell you
The words just came out wrong
So I'll have to say I love you in a song

You're My best Friend - Queen

Oh, you're the best friend
That I ever had
I've been with you such a long time
You're my sunshine
And I want you to know
That my feelings are true
I really love you
(Ooh) Oh, you're my best friend

Hello I love you - The Doors :)

She's walking down the street
Blind to every eye she meets
Do you think you'll be the guy
To make the queen of the angels sigh?

Hello, I love you
Won't you tell me your name?

And some Disco
Can't get enough of your love - Barry White

Tell me, what can I say?
What am I gonna do?
How should I feel when everything is you?
What kind of love is this that you're givin' me?
Is it in your kiss or just because you're sweet?


Darling, I can't get enough of your love babe
Girl, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know why
I can't get enough of your love babe
Oh no, babe

My Life in Music

This is something I've been thinking about doing for a while. Those of you who want to do this, go for, just post in the comments.

Start with your birth year, and pick one album per year that you really like - preferable what would be the "Album of the Year" for you for that year. What follows in my list. (I actually have a secondary one - I made these into a playlist on my portable MP3 player). Each list was about 1.75 Gig. :)

1967 Disraeli Gears - Cream
1968 White Album - Beatles
1969 Willy and the Poor Boys
1970 Tea for the Tillerman - Cat Stevens
1971 Tapestry - Carol King
1972 Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
1973 Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
1974 The Butterfly Ball - Roger Glover and Friens
1975 A Night at the Opera - Queen
1976 Beautiful Noise - Neil Diamond
1977 Bat Out Of Hell - Meat Loaf
1978 Life in the Food Chain - Tokio K
1979 Replicas - Gary Numan / Tubeway Army
1980 Back In Black - Ac/DC
1981 Fire Of Unknown Origin - Blue Oyster Cult
1982 Friend Or Foe - Adam Ant
1983 Piece of Mind - Iron Maiden
1984 Purple Rain - Prince
1985 Pink World - Planet P
1986 The Bridge - Billy Joel
1987 Appetite for Destruction - Guns 'n' Roses
1988 Shadowland - k d lang
1989 Journeyman - Eric Clapton
1990 Flood - They Might Be Giants
1991 Blue Light, Red Light - Harry Connick Jr
1992 Come On Come On - Mary Chapin-Carpenter
1993 God Shuffled His Feet - Crash Test Dummies
1994 Songs For The Daily Planet - Todd Snider
1995 Stomp Revival - Bone Pony
1996 Brutal Architecture - Rocket Scientist
1997 Come On Over - Shania Twain
1998 5 - Lenny Kravitz
1999 Raingods with Zippos - Fish
2000 Flight of the Migrator - Ayreon
2001 Weathered - Creed
2002 Audioslave - Audioslave
2003 Permission To Land - The Darkness
2004 Americano! - Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers
2005 Loco Motive - Coboy Troy
2006 Furia Ignea - Alabarda
2007 Bloodangel's Cry - Krypteria

Play an instrument day

Music Memiors
a favorite song or artist that plays or features that instrument.

guitar: Lots but today I'll say Tony McAlpine
piano: Billy Joel
mandolin: David Grisman, notably Hot Dawg
drums: Max Roach
bass: Another One Bites the Dust
harmonica: Blues Traveller
flute: Ian Anderson

Bonus:

Cowbell! - Don't Fear the Reaper - of course. We need more Cowbell.

Another blog for me :)

I have a second blog - one devoted to my comments on video games. It will have my views of the industry, first glance reviews, in depth reviews, and anything else I think fits.

Come take a look at Confessions of a Casual Video Gamer

Perk me up songs

From the Music Memiors
Top 5 songs that "perk" you up when you hear them.

I have a playlist that I call "Groovebeat" that I listen to when I need to perk up. This are on that list, and are among my top list. :) This stuff is not the kind of music I listen to all the time. :)
Crabbukit - K-OS


Can't stop the Rock - Apollo 440


Dragon Attack - Queen


Chicken with the Train - Cowboy Troy


Du Hast - Rammstein

Tuesday Tunage - Used CDs

Do you ever buy CDs used? If so, where?
Yes. I get many more used than new, to tell the truth. Where? Greywhale, Hastings, FYE, Amazon.com, Second Spin.com..... Pretty much anywhere that sells them

Have you ever sold your CDs back at a used shop or a place like Half.com?
Not really. When my mom passed away, and I inherited her music collection, I sold chunks of it back.

Have you ever been surprised to find a certain CD @ a used CD store?
All the time. I'll see CDs I think are amazing and think "Why is this here, the person that had it must have no taste". :)

What has been your best find @ a used CD store.
Hastings was having a clearance sale on used CDs, and I found Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd (as if anyone didn't already know it was Pink Floyd), the anniversary edition for 2 bucks. :)