the music scene

Last week, I was told that the music industry is in quite the dire state. Barely ever signing new artists, it has taken to reinventing its older names. This, naturally, concerns me. I understand that business has gone down since the recent boom in pirating, but what else is going on. Two friends of mine were ignored by labels until they were selling enough independent albums to be individually noted on iTunes as ‘Artists to Watch.’ Why the reluctance from the labels? What is going on? Anybody? Bueller?

A Crusade... Anrejevic brought this on himself

In my opinion, iSpy should go. Although the text did bring up very valid and debatable points, the means in which it went about doing so were a little farfetched. The language Andrejevic used was in a high English academic style – It was not right-brained in the least.

I would recommend finding a text similar, or taking excerpts from Andrejevic’s text. As a whole, this book was quite the headache.

i googled me

I sat at my computer staring at the screen. “That’s it?” I thought to myself. “I really need to create a personal webpage so my name gives better Google results. What if somebody else does this? I can’t have some random person thinking that the extent of my online existence is a couple YouTube videos, and a list of a couple shows I’ve done. I mean, shoot… There has to be something else.” I spent the next 20 minutes clicking the ‘Next page’ button. Nothing new, though. Say for one thing. I was brought up in a friend’s Zanga about 3 years ago. I apparently had lunch with her on March 22, 2005. Good to know.

One thing that amazed me after I sat back and thought about it all was how concerned I was over my Google results. We live in a logged on age. And this stuff is becoming a part of the ‘image’ we hold

Online Politics? DIE!!!

Oh, how my head hurts. So, the long and short of it is that political blogs give me a headache. I feel as if there is no behavioral standard in the online world, and people use that as an excuse to take things to an extreme limit. I’ve been browsing around Pam’s House Blend for about 30 minutes now, and it’s hard to find a truly interesting post–comment discussion.

I think my friends at Red vs. Blue got it best with that video. (ignore the sections besides the politics one)

My side of the coin reads... Wait, what?

From day one, I was raised with an ‘open political mind.’ So, thanks Mom and Dad. They didn’t believe in party biases. They were history buffs who would take a critical look at the country, and decide what it needed accordingly. In my personal opinion, this always seemed like the healthy course of action, and it is why I have adopted the same sort of system.

At the moment, I am very open to say that I feel the Republican Party has been destroyed by our most recent political figure, and that our country’s next and best hope lies with a brilliant senator from Illinois.

on the subject of retirement...

At ninety. I would hope that I would feel satisfied. That I would feel accomplished. At the point I am at in my life now, I see the rest of the time I have here as time to achieve all the goals I have for myself now and may have in the future. At ninety, I would like to be able to look back on the world I was a part of, and feel as if I impacted that world in my own way. I want to be able to look at my wife, my kids, and my family, and feel an indescribable sense of love that I found.

Time has an unwanted tendency to slip away. And I hope that throughout the course of my life, time can slip away from me as I hold a smile. What may I accomplish? Good question. Life happens. And my wants and needs could change in a heartbeat depending on what life throws my way.

around my neck

I held my necklace in my hands. It couldn’t have been that expensive. It looks to be steel, or some other silver metal. There is no hook in the back, there is just enough space to fit the necklace over my head to my neck. At the end of the necklace, there is a small cross, very intricately designed. My brother gave me the necklace years ago. It was a gift for no particular occasion, just a brotherly love.

Holding it in my hands brings two immediate thoughts to my mind. First, is my faith. It is a constant reminder of what it is I live by, which, in my world, is quite necessary. It is a reminder that there are things I can believe in and agree with, and there are other things that I feel I must make my own decisions on. Secondly, I do think about my brother.

I realized recently how uncomfortable I get if I happen to forget to put on my cross. I feel as if Jesus has suddenly left the building, and I am susceptible to bad luck. It’s strange how, as people, we attach such strong emotions to the objects around us.