Leave me out of your regifting

Have you ever gotten so many useless items for the holidays, that nothing surprises you anymore? Me, I'm tired of the constant re-gift. The trash one person doesn't want, but thinks you'd consider it 24 karat gold; cherishing it always, never once imagining hocking it.

I've people that think I'm this technophile, wham, bam, thank you m'am, all around geek for anything that deals with spare parts.

I've made it known, quite a few times, that I don't own anything more technical than my Canon Rebel SLR camera and a portable CD player. I don't want an iPod, iPad, iWhatever. I have no use for them because I choose to use materials that are still in good standing. I.e. my camera, although one can barely find 35mm film anymore, works wonders. I've got clearer pictures from that 6 year old contraption, than the new Nikon Coolpix my mother purchased for herself two years ago. She took her camera to Spain and Italy, I took mine to England. Guess who came home with top quality snapshots. Me. I choose not to monkey over a screen. I like the element of a surprised "oops" photo op sometimes. I walk around with a tape player. Yes, I have cassette tapes. I have a portable CD player that was hooked up to my previous car. My current has a tape and CD player. I like my vinyl records because it's much more softer and enjoyable a sound. Not that I find the means of music circa 1990 and beyond terribly bad, but wax is more homey. I don't use public transportation to warrant the iCrap. My laptop stays home and I've no need to be on anything electronical for more than a few minutes at a time when I'm outside. My mobile is 5 years old, and I don't text. I read books made of paper, not pixels. In fact, I'm waiting for 24 January, so I can buy book 12 of the Cirque Du Freak manga series. In the store. Come May, I'll be back in the local to buy the fourth (and final) book of the Saga of Larten Crepsley series. I don't Nook, Kindle, e-Read or squint over letters if they're not in paperback or hardcover form. I like things the way they are. One may be so inclined to refer to me as some sort of neo-Luddite.

That being said, I received my yearly holiday present from some family members. Every year, they send me something that I surely have no use for, but they gift it based on the fact that it was free for them, and they, sure as the day is long, don't need it. One year was a gift card to a music store. Yeah, thanks, I don't have access to those machines that it's intended for. The next year, it was a docking station for the materials that they know I don't have. Okay, thanks again; I'll be sure to use it... if I ever end up buying the machine (meanwhile, I think it's in a box somewhere, deep in storage, collecting dust). This year, it was a pen and calculator set, circa 1995. No lie. I've seen this set before, and I think they sent a similar one to me in 1997. The thing comes free with a big purchase of office supplies. It cost more to mail than it did to make.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not spoiled, nor am I an ungrateful bitch. I just feel that, if you're going to take the time to give someone a "thoughtful" gift, please spend the time to get to know what they're interested in, and perhaps ask them what they'd like for the holidays. Don't just send your day old (unwanted) trash.

Happy Holidays, y'all.


Cheers,

Stop Censorship vol. 2

I've censored the following, in protest of a bill that gives any corporation and the US government the power to censor the internet--a bill that could pass THIS WEEK. To see the uncensored text, and to stop internet censorship, visit: http://americancensorship.org/posts/15954/uncensor


████ is ██████! We are a ██████ who ████ on the ███████ to █████ ███████████. By █████████ our ███████████, we █████ ███████. ██████ do a ██████ by not ███████ ████ ████!

They call this a remix?

I belong to a music service that pushes new singles into the email inbox of your choosing. The site is for people in the music / radio industry, in hopes the track gets played on a local station. Usually, the song is the luck of the draw; meaning, sometimes it's good, sometimes it's so horrendous, you want to know why it's streaming.

I got the latter part a couple days ago.

I checked my main business account to find the "new" Amy Winehouse megamix sitting pretty, waiting to be played. I let it stay on my account, locally, until today, where I was just floored by the crap job someone did to it.

I am not linking to any site that has it up and running because I want readers to find it. It honestly does not deserve to be linked.

I mean no disrespect to anyone; Winehouse, her label and people, the person who mixed the song, but fucking hell. It sounds like the artist (if you want to call it that) wasn't even paying attention to what he (or she) was stringing together. The only thing that was kept consistent was they dropped a beat or two between tracks. This main track, in essence, is being described as the culmination of Winehouse's work - her best singles. Yea, four minutes later, I just want to flush my ears out with TNT and pray an explosion happens. I've mixed better songs together and had it sound more clear and concise than this song even portrays Amy Winehouse to be. I'm not saying I am a top mixer, because I find most of my tracks to be worthy of automatic gutters, but I think I found something to compare to!

Sorry, Ms. Winehouse, but a track linking itself to Lioness: Hidden Treasures does not deserve whatever credibility you have worked so diligently for. Although I'm interested in hearing this posthumous album, the megamix turned me off.


Cheers,