Wednesday, July 13. 2005
shorts. ah.
These are several short review I wrote a couple of months back, but never got published.
Yo! yo! yo! This be short reviews of some albums that I recently got.
Audioslave - Out of Exile. There's one thing that make me fancy Audioslave - Chris Cornell's vocals. His is probably the second best after Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder to ever materialize from the grunge scene of the 90s. Out of Exile is better than their first album, methinks, simply because of Cornell's somehow soothing voice in all of the songs. 7/10.
Nine Inch Nail - With Teeth. For such an ambitious album title, I'd say this album sucks. Big time. Heard of the latest Metallica single? Yanno, the one where their lead singer screams and wails liek, yanno, uh... Linkun Park? And, yanno, the music sounds like, yanno, Limp Biscuits? It's liek that, yanno, but worst, and I was liek, yanno, oh-my-fawking-gawd, is this Nine Inch Nail? And I kept asking myself and Alphademon what teh fruit happening to all the good bands. It's sad, yanno. Liek, I dunno. Oh wait. The only good thing about this album is Dave Grohl. 1/10.
Gorillaz - Demon Days. Or Damon Days? OK here's the story: one rich motherfruiter decided to embark on an ambitious solo project, so he asked his comic-artist friend to create some fancy anime-like characters that are just way too cool for Keanu Reeves' whoas. So Gorillaz was born. And it was great. Just too good. And for once, I found cartoon characters that sing and play hip-hop better than The Chipmunks. I even wanted to be like Noodle. Then came time for the second album - and everything falls apart. There's no Gorillaz - Demon Days is just like a drone from a broken gas pipe (can anybody give me a better metaphor for suck? thanks). The whole album is an experiment gone awry. No originality, and the avid listeners will be able to detect samples from Damon Albarn's b-sides. Ugh. At least Feel Good Inc. is catchy enough for my stereo. 3/10.
System of a Down - Mesmerize. Whoaaarr... hardcore. I like hardcore. Hardcore is good. I wanna be hardcore. I'm a hardcoder. I have only a few words for System of a Down, and regardless of which album of theirs that I listen to - they are the most creative fusion of hardcore and rap (?) since Rage Against the Machine. Gwarrrrr!!!! 8/10.
Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane. Any grasshead worth his Jamaican black will surely go 'Whoa... Songs about Jane... respect!" Unfortunately, it's not that Jane. It's the other Jane - lead singer Adam Levine's ex-girlfriend. It was said that Songs About Jane is a break album. Another sad fact for the grasshead - it was said during an interview that most of the hit songs in Songs about Jane were written while the bandmates were high on grass. But still, that does not do justice for Jane (you know who). Anyways, back to the album, and Maroon 5 in particular. Theirs is a catchy, rock-and-roll jazzy and R&B kinda music - something that I haven't heard in the radio for a long time. I kinda like it - the music I mean. It is very seldom that I get to hear a blend of R&B, funk, jazz and rock and roll. The more I listened and the more I like Maroon 5, but then I realized - I've heard better tunes and better music before - Ben Folds Five! But anyways, at least the Maroon 5 got their numbers right. 7/10.
Listening to: Stomp - Ripper Sole
Yo! yo! yo! This be short reviews of some albums that I recently got.
Audioslave - Out of Exile. There's one thing that make me fancy Audioslave - Chris Cornell's vocals. His is probably the second best after Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder to ever materialize from the grunge scene of the 90s. Out of Exile is better than their first album, methinks, simply because of Cornell's somehow soothing voice in all of the songs. 7/10.Nine Inch Nail - With Teeth. For such an ambitious album title, I'd say this album sucks. Big time. Heard of the latest Metallica single? Yanno, the one where their lead singer screams and wails liek, yanno, uh... Linkun Park? And, yanno, the music sounds like, yanno, Limp Biscuits? It's liek that, yanno, but worst, and I was liek, yanno, oh-my-fawking-gawd, is this Nine Inch Nail? And I kept asking myself and Alphademon what teh fruit happening to all the good bands. It's sad, yanno. Liek, I dunno. Oh wait. The only good thing about this album is Dave Grohl. 1/10.Gorillaz - Demon Days. Or Damon Days? OK here's the story: one rich motherfruiter decided to embark on an ambitious solo project, so he asked his comic-artist friend to create some fancy anime-like characters that are just way too cool for Keanu Reeves' whoas. So Gorillaz was born. And it was great. Just too good. And for once, I found cartoon characters that sing and play hip-hop better than The Chipmunks. I even wanted to be like Noodle. Then came time for the second album - and everything falls apart. There's no Gorillaz - Demon Days is just like a drone from a broken gas pipe (can anybody give me a better metaphor for suck? thanks). The whole album is an experiment gone awry. No originality, and the avid listeners will be able to detect samples from Damon Albarn's b-sides. Ugh. At least Feel Good Inc. is catchy enough for my stereo. 3/10.System of a Down - Mesmerize. Whoaaarr... hardcore. I like hardcore. Hardcore is good. I wanna be hardcore. I'm a hardcoder. I have only a few words for System of a Down, and regardless of which album of theirs that I listen to - they are the most creative fusion of hardcore and rap (?) since Rage Against the Machine. Gwarrrrr!!!! 8/10.Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane. Any grasshead worth his Jamaican black will surely go 'Whoa... Songs about Jane... respect!" Unfortunately, it's not that Jane. It's the other Jane - lead singer Adam Levine's ex-girlfriend. It was said that Songs About Jane is a break album. Another sad fact for the grasshead - it was said during an interview that most of the hit songs in Songs about Jane were written while the bandmates were high on grass. But still, that does not do justice for Jane (you know who). Anyways, back to the album, and Maroon 5 in particular. Theirs is a catchy, rock-and-roll jazzy and R&B kinda music - something that I haven't heard in the radio for a long time. I kinda like it - the music I mean. It is very seldom that I get to hear a blend of R&B, funk, jazz and rock and roll. The more I listened and the more I like Maroon 5, but then I realized - I've heard better tunes and better music before - Ben Folds Five! But anyways, at least the Maroon 5 got their numbers right. 7/10.Listening to: Stomp - Ripper Sole
Tuesday, July 12. 2005
tremble, for i is the butt shak3r
5 Career Alternatives That I Might Consider If I Don't Make It Big Here
5 Career Alternatives I Might Consider if I don't Make It Big Here1. Dance extras in one of the many Bollywood films
2. Nasi lemak peddler in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
3. DVD peddler in SS2, Petaling Jaya
4. Kitchen crew in one of the oil tankers that belong to Athina Onassis
5. Sumo wrestler's personal assistant in Osaka, Japan
Listening to: The Decemberists - On The Bus Mall
Monday, July 11. 2005
so i have a new notebook. big deal.
Got my Dell Inspiron 700m a few weeks back. Nice little machine, liking it. Anyways:
- I didn't get the extended battery. The 4-cell Li-Ion battery lasts
3.5 hours - Gentoo Linux runs just fine
- ipw2200 just works
- The built-in ALSA driver sucks, so I compile the modules instead
which is much better - i855resolution needs to be run before starting X server
- Software suspend works, but not properly when suspending from X windows. It just screws up (i.e. you're back to the login screen) and resolution was off. So, I just set RestartServices local xdm when resuming, and perform suspend from the console. local contains the code that runs 855resolution
- ACPI can't detect the fan, even after BIOS upgrade. I use i8kutil instead, but it gives wrong reading on everything! It can detect the and control the fan, but can't read its revolution. But it works!
- fbsplash works
- torsmo does not detect the temperatures and battery status but this is easy to fix by editing the torsmo source code but i am a lazy ass
Specs
- Pentium-M 1.6 GHz
- 512 MB RAM
- 60 GB HDD
- CDRW/DVD ROM Combo
- 2 USB slot, 1 SD slot, 1 PCI slot, internal modem, integrated Ethernet
- 12" super wide screen
I'm dual-booting Windows XP and Proton Gentoo Linux on it, using gentoo-sources-2.6.12-gentoo-r4. Desktop of choice is of course fluxibox. Other software installed: gimpy, firefoxer, thundercat, xchatto, gaimer, ooo-ah 2 beta, xiner, mplayah, beep-media-playah, ideska (heh), azzoreus.
I've also installed Oracle 9i (work, don't ask) on the Windows partition, and surprisingly, the notebook is able to handle the load from the resource intensive Oracle Enterprise Manager.
Anyways, it came in a nice Dell box, which has been the main ingredient for cardboard soup, fried cardboard in oyster sauce, and barbequed cardboard ala Thai - definitely good food for the financially challenged. Next in my experimental food recipe will be Dell manual with pasta sauce.
Listening to: Dream Theater - The Root of All Evil
Sunday, July 10. 2005
Boom Boom Satellites
Does anyone has any of the Boom Boom Satellites album above? They are: Photon, Out Loud, and Full of Elevating Pleasures. If you do, a few things can be arranged:
- I will buy the albums from you
- I will gladly exchange the MP3s with you
- If the above is not to your liking, then I'll exchange the MP3s for Starbucks.
How's that? If you do have the albums, please let me know.
Listening to: Kaiser Chiefs - Modern Way
About
This is the personal blog of Mel Mudin (spoonfork). All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes and on an as-is basis.
This weblog does not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my employers. It is solely my opinion and views as a kambing biri-biri.
Feel free to challenge me, disagree with me, or even tell me that I am a kambing biri-biri wannabee in the comment section of each blog entry.
This weblog does not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my employers. It is solely my opinion and views as a kambing biri-biri.
Feel free to challenge me, disagree with me, or even tell me that I am a kambing biri-biri wannabee in the comment section of each blog entry.
