Vampire Weekend

I downloaded Vampire Weekend’s self-titled album a couple months ago and it soon reached heavy rotation in iTunes. Then I started this CD ripping project and I completely forgot about it. Last night I found a lossless copy of it and it sparked my interest again. I imported it and made MP3s after sticking the lossless files away for future reference. And then I thoughts, “Why not share this?” So here we go.

It’s light and poppy, with a distinctly Police-y sound. I’ve read reviews which compare it to Graceland, that obscure 1986 album by Art Garfunkle’s former partner, but honestly, I don’t get that so much. If you’re just going to try one or two tracks, I’d recommend Oxford Comma, M79 and The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance, but honestly they’re all quite good. Definitely worth a test listen if nothing else.

The files will be there for one week. Share and enjoy, and I guess if you like it you should consider buying the album. I’m going to when I have money enough for that kind of purchase.

Do-over?

Well spit. I’ve been listening to the CDs I’ve ripped with the DVD burner and there’s static in them. So it looks like I might need to start the CD ripping project over again. On the one hand, it’s good that I found out now, rather than, say, halfway through the “V”s, but on the other hand why couldn’t my burner have held out just a little longer? Since I’ll be forced to use my PC for this I might as well go whole-hog and use EAC as my ripper. I can carry on using LAME, since EAC can call LAME after it’s done ripping. At that point it’s just a matter of getting the files to my Mac so I can import them into iTunes and get them cleaned up and properly tagged. Agh! So much work!

Dream 2008.04.02

Grace and I were cleaning my room back at my parents’ house (and it really was their house, and my room this time). I had arranged some crystals on the floor, and Grace accidentally vacuumed them up. We spent a few minutes going through the debris from the vacuum getting the crystals out. They were important to me, but not valuable in and of themselves.

Nine Years

In June or July of 1999 I got a job at Earthlink. Being as we were all a bunch of geeks in close proximity, it was inevitable that we'd share our favourite sites with one another. One such site was Sluggy Freelance, then a new web comic. It was amusing, it was unusual and it was creative.

Here it is, nearly ten years after I started reading the strip, and Pete started yet another Harry Potter parody. And I come to realise...he's not being very creative anymore. It's the same thing he's done several times already. Sure, the particulars have changed, but it's been done. And I realised something else: I don't CARE about the comic anymore. So I give up. I actually quit reading a couple weeks back, and had in fact FORGOTTEN about the strip (which shows you how much I care about it after nine years reading it!) until I was looking through some old bookmarks.

I wonder...if I stopped reading PVP Online, how long would it take me to forget it exists? And I wonder which I would choose to keep if I were told I could only read five web comics? Sinfest has to stay. But then I'd've said that about Sluggy if you'd asked me last year. Megatokyo? Phil Foglio’s Girl Genius? Penny Arade? The only one I can say with certainty is Schlock Mercenary. Howard (howardtayler) never fails to amuse. I mean, that’s five. I know I can live without strips like Girls With Slingshots and Questionable Content, but what about XKCD or the daily insanity of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal?

Wait...why the hell am I getting all serious over cartoons? I sound like one of those obsessive comic book nerds! AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

A meme before sleeping

I’m REALLY tired but this is how much I, Bruce Anderson, love you, (INSERT DEVOTED MINON’S NAME HERE). I’m doing a meme JUST FOR YOU. No truer sign of my devotion could I give you without puncturing an artery or two.

Oh yeah...copied from travspence.

1. My username is _____ because ____.
My username is bwanderson because it’s my username. Whenever I try to be imaginative it ends badly. So I just stick with something simple. I’m not “fannish” at all, so I don’t care for that kind of username (although when I was at Ball State my Unix username was spock - something I sometimes use to this day).

2. My name is _____ because ______.
Bruce Willard Anderson because my parents thought, “Gee, let’s give him a name nobody can make fun of!” and then proceeded to name me Bruce, a name EVERYONE (including my own MOTHER, damn her eyes) makes fun of. Still, it’s better than Allis Chalmers. My dad is a big tractor buff, you see, and Allis Chalmers was the name of a farm equipment manufacturer. Thank GOD Mom put her foot down. I cannot imagine what life would have been life for me. Still, “Al” would have been an acceptable name. Willard comes from my father’s first name, and his father’s name.

3. My journal is titled ____ because ____.
Blue Canary In the Outlet By the Lightswitch because I like They Might Be Giants. Don’t you like They Might Be Giants? What are you, some kind of communist?

4. My friends page is called ____ because ____.
Countless Screaming Argonauts because it’s from the same song as my journal title (Birdhouse In Your Soul, as if you needed to be told because OBVIOUSLY you’re a TMBG fan. Unless you’re a COMMIE!).

5. My default userpic is ____ because ____.
Me, taken with Photo Booth and a distortion filter because it accurately captures how I feel most of the time. Square.

And now? TO BED!