Giving Us "The Slip"

Well, there's finally an album that's "100% free".

On the early hours of May 5th, Nine Inch Nails gave the world "The Slip", a 10 track album acting "as a thank you to our fans for your continued support, we are giving away the new nine inch nails album one hundred percent free, exclusively via nin.com."

Unlike that other band that released a "free" album last year (folks, it's not completely free), "The Slip" seems like a more considerate and better served album than "In Rainbows". For one, there are several options with the quality of the tracks, and all of them are high-quality. There's artwork included in a PDF, shoot, they even give you the lyrics embalmed in the songs, so no need to purchase a CD for better quality or artwork of the album. And it's released under Creative Commons, so you can remix it and use it freely for noncommercial usage. The music ain't bad either: it's a blend of noise and melodies, music ranges from pretty piano ("Lights in the Sky"), to sullen ambient ("Corona Radiata").

And Reznor also offers the hard copy in CD form in July too, so that's good news for those of us that likes to have a physical copy.

Reznor's activities and antics lately brings contrast to another band that are credited with so much fanfare and "innovation": Radiohead. It was quite funny that the press will say a band has "pulled a Radiohead" whenever someone distributes music online. Sure, Radiohead was the first major artist to do this kind of online distribution, and they should be acknowledged. But it seems like that they're not completely comfortable with online distribution, and has no plans of further developing their method of online distribution.
The Thom Yorke said that "In Rainbows" was just a "one-off". Certainly, I was disappointed when I heard the news, but not surprised. I was a bit irritated that to remix "Nude", you have to pay for its stems, I mean, Radiohead has the potential and talent to be trail-blazers in this new digital world, but they don't want to reiterate themselves into the "In Raibows" world again. But who knows, Thom Yorke and Co. might try their hands on other interesting methods.

Oh well, there's still Reznor. He's fully believed in the whole concept of "digital distribution is the future", and has become a true innovator. The times are a-changing, and Reznor is taking his place as one of the first leader.

Oh My God, It’s Ghosts!

My Story

A week ago at around 9:00 PM, I was among the many NIN fans that screamed “oh my God!” into their computer screens. That’s right, Nine Inch Nails actually released an album, I mean, albums, online last Sunday.


Reznor had been hinting on something big for a couple of weeks prior to the release of Ghosts I-IV. At around 7:10 PM on March 2nd, he posted “2 hours” on his blog, I was expecting something by the 9’0 clock hour, but not something this big.

When I connected to www.nin.com at about 9:00 PM, the site changed pretty drastically. And more importantly, there was the text that said “Ghosts I-IV is available RIGHT NOW” on my computer screen.

I froze for a second to take it all in, but then I immediately went to the fan forum, and of course, people exploded. I typed in some inane comments about how excited I was and went straight to nin.com to get my hands on Ghosts.

But alas, it was not that easy.

I was able to cruise past the options page that listed all the editions that you can choose from. I clicked on the $10.00, 2 CD option and tried to proceed, but the pages after that couldn’t even load. Apparently most of the people have the same problem as me, because the site was so congested with people trying to order. The early birds that did get their order through reported that they have trouble downloading the files. It was chaos and confusion.

Then we came to the conclusion that we broke the NINternet , LOL.

However, I did managed to listen to the few selected tracks at AinR, and I was delighted with new music. After I calmed down a bit, I read more into the release: it is a 36 tracks instrumental album described as “music for daydream”.

Dude, that’s trippy.

I had the burning desire to own the album, to listen to it, so I went over to Amazon to buy the album for $5.00. Loaded it into my iPod, and I was amazed at the variety, the texture, and the depth.

I was able to get my order through the next day after one failed attempt. But problems didn’t end there, even though I received my receipt, my download link is nowhere to be seen (as I’m writing this, I still don’t have the download link). But I let that go, because I already got a MP3 version and managed to snatch the Apple Lossless version that I wanted from somewhere else. I got what I paid for, even though it wasn’t from the download link.

Here Comes the Analytical Stuff
The first thing that the press said about this release was that NIN pulled a “Radiohead”. While it is an acceptable analogy, there are some significant differences.

One, this is not a pay-what-you-want method. Even though there are variety of options for the customers to choose form, Ghosts have a set price. It’s offering different packages too, and this distribution method seemed more well-thought out than In Rainbows.

In Rainbows seemed more about donation, Ghosts seemed more about business.

Reznor is not giving the whole thing away for free (theoretically), instead, he used the method of free-samples to get people to buy it. he offered 9 songs for the free (through BitTorrent, no less) to build interests. He seemed more cautious after Niggy Tardust , and takes the mind of a businessman.

He took time to make this a worthy and fair purchase also: for $5.00, you get 36 songs, a PDF, and DRM-free, high quality files in the format that you want. One of In Rainbows’s complaints were bad quality, well, Reznor’s effort solves that.

Reznor is a vocal advocate for online distribution, and he’s a good man for taking a step. While he is not the first one to try online distribution (no, the first one is NOT Radiohead, they’re the first big act to do that), I think that he offered the best method so far. Business-wise. That is not to say that his method this time is perfect: the servers didn’t do their jobs right.

Of course, due to high volume of downloads, their site crushed, and people started screaming that their downloads doesn’t work. Perhaps it was poor-planning on their part, or perhaps they underestimated their fanbase.

But he fact that the site crushed and that they sold out their $300 edition under 2 days is a good sign, this means that they have business. People are coming in and giving him money. The downloads of Ghosts were ranked high in torrent sites, even if they didn’t get people’s money, they got their ears.

And here’s a larger question: will this method work for others? Yes and no. for big and well established bands, I think this plan would work fine. There’s your cheap and worthy download at a low price for the poor and the casual fans, and there’s your expensive deluxe edition for the hardcore.

For unknown and the smaller bands, I think the Radiohead method works better. The donation-esque method is not as imposing. Even a low set-price may drive away customers because they don’t know the band and are not familiar with the music, a $5.00 may sounds outrageous to them for an unknown band, I would think it’s better for them to donate according to their own will. Donating and buying is two different things. You also don’t need extra accessories like quality and PDF to satisfy your customer (but it would be nice), since the general expectation is lower for things like that with a smaller band. They don’t have the fanbase for deluxe editions either (at least not for $300), a simple release should be able to do the trick.

But who knows what the future holds? More well-known artists have to participate in order for us to imagine how things will be.

A Few Words on the Saul Williams Stats

As said before,in October Trent Reznor announced that the Saul Williams album Niggy Tardust will be a digital release, which you can get it for free or "donate" five bucks. Well, unlike Radiohead, who is all secretive about the stats of their In Rainbows "experiment", Trent Reznor announced the stats on the Niggy Tardust album. To quote:

"Saul’s previous record was released in 2004 and has sold 33,897 copies.

As of 1/2/08,
154,449 people chose to download Saul’s new record.
28,322 of those people chose to pay $5 for it, meaning:
18.3% chose to pay.

Of those paying,

3220 chose 192kbps MP3
19,764 chose 320kbps MP3
5338 chose FLAC"

These data at first disheartened me a bit, since I paid $5.00 without any considerations and couldn't quite fathom why 81.7 % of people chose to pay nothing. Does people really see no value in music anymore in the age of piracy? I even posted on a messageboard about whether musicians should even consider the "free" option.

BUT, after reading other people's thinking and thinking it a bit myself, I guess my first reaction was wrong. People are going to get it for free if they want to, it's getting easier and being justified more and more and there is no point anymore in trying to make people pay for music anymore. While 18% is a bit low in my opinions, others said that it's still making a good profit. Yes, they make more than $140,000 on this so far, but you have to take into account the expenses involved with making a record. According to Reznor, this record didn't sound like it's made in a cheap studio with some cheap engineers. Then there is the point of "well, this record gain Williams more fanbase than he ever had"(with Reznor acknowledged at the end of his post). While I do agree this may be a long-term investment, but I guess the essence of Reznor's post was about what others can expect from a distribution method like this, and how much cash they can make from it.

And I guess these statistics will not apply to ALL the others that will come after them. The Saul Williams situation is a bit unique: He is an obscure artist, with a major artist backing him. I would expect that most of the people who downloaded this album (like myself) are NIN fans, and didn't want to risk $5.00 for something that they don't know if they will like or not, because hey, they want that $5.00 to buy a cup of Starbucks coffee, goddamnit.

There are some many more factors contributed to the results as it is. Just scroll around messagboards and comment sections and you will see the whole convention of people discussing it. Do these stats say alot? I don't know, I guess we will have to see more stats from different artists. But it's laudable that Reznor posted his stats and shared it with people. It's not clear how much Saul Williams and Reznor had make on this record, but the record is still online, and there will still be people downloading it and (maybe) pay for it.

But whatever distribution method figure out in the future, it seems that you should expect the majority of the people to get it for free, and a minority of them to pay for it.

Early-Internet Life Crisis

The Internet, a tool and space that is integral part of modern life. A data base so vast and great that it contains unlimited knowledge. A space open for everyone and anyone to share everything and anything. It's great, but with every great thing, there's a downside.

Because people can seal their identities and face, they can take on a alternate personality of sort, and just exploit the potential of being anonymous.Trolls, internet bullies, stalkers, you know it. There are gossip boards and message boards where rumors flies. People can prowl into other people's lives. The net is infested with all sorts of people.

That is why I don't have a MySpace or Facebook, nor do I expose a large portion of my personal life. But once or twice I get fed-up with the Internet, since I prowl the Internet and sees all sorts of things described above. Shoot, I can feel my integrity draining as read some of things on a gossip board. Why do people insist on tearing into the personal lives of celebrities or whatnot, and willingly talk trash and lies about a person if they have only seen their public persona and never know them in person? Why do people attack others relentlessly?

And more importantly, why did I read those things in the first place and be thinking and bothered by them? They weren't talking about me, nor do I have any interest in joining their discussion about whatever-the-fuck. Curiosity kill the cat, and sometimes I got dragged into it.

Sometimes I seriously thought I would be much happier if I don't know half the stuff I know and read.

I'm Such A Masochist

I have a habit of reading comments below articles. It's so painful to read yet somehow I can't look away. A few spots that brings out the most entertaining commentators (in no particular order):

Blabbermouth.net
Example:

COMMENT | WOO-HOO GIGANTOUR!!!posted by : MRBIGTIME
12/8/2007 5:16:17 PM

PLEASE,PLEASE LET IT BE TESTAMENT-SLAYER-METALLICA-EXODUS- OVERKILL. \M/ MEGADAVE!!! \M/

Well, this is not the worse I've read, but it's the one that I found that qualifies as over-the-top. Then there's one post where someone who posted the same comment like 40 times...But the real haters and crazies come out when a news band that is not "metal".


Youtube.com
Example:
Ramox3 (13 minutes ago) Show Hide Marked as spam
-1 Poor comment Good comment

(Reply) (Spam)
bad smell is not muslims u dumbass its Indians (some of them) muslims have to wash 5 times a day and are required to shower frequently. Mohamad PBUH said:" Hyegien is part of faith"

I don't know what to say. It's easy to find this kind of comments on YouTube. There's more posts that are more maniacal than this, but I'm too lazy to look through the 39,162 comments to find the dumbest comment.


PerezHilton.com
I don't read the site. This is only the third (or something )time I visited the site. I read the comments under this post, as it were linked to a site that I frequent, and was instantly amazed.
Example:

david-0-selznick says – reply to this
i wonder what his balls smelll like at the moment this pic was taken. I rubb mine at the gym and sniff my hand.

LOL. Then there are a whole fangirl reaction to Reznor being hot. I didn't dare to read the comments under the other posts, but do people on PerezHilton always rave about how a celebrity is hot and how they want to fuck them?


nin.com
Now, I love the blog thing that the site does now, but the comments are scary.
Example
Anonymous said...

ok. I'm going to just say it already. trent, you are coming off gay. are you trying to let us know your gay? or bi? it's ok to be bi or gay. I have bi and gay friends. anyway. first you have that video with the guy drinking from a coffee mug with a nude guy on it and now a pic of a guy siting on your sofa with your dogs. are you going to come out of the closet? I'm sure male and female fans will still like you and nin and buy your music if you admit your bi or gay.

What the fuck? Why is the comments to every post have some sort of speculation about Reznor's sexuality? Then there's the people talking about mortgages and how much that want to have sex with Reznor. God. I would not be sad if the comment section on nin.com gets removed.


And ultimately, it's my fault that I read those comments, and spent time talking about them. I still have to do my homework.

Gem of the Day: Courtney Love's Blog

When I first came across one of Courtney Love's blog postings (on moonwashrose.com), I was absolutely fascinated by it. Not by how well-written or how it resonates with people, but by how it was so incoherent and how Courtney Love posts about personal things. Her posts were just simply a rant, a long rant filled with grammatically errors and spelling mistakes.

Then I came across her post again today, that post was linked to Sputnik Music, and she talked about Radiohead. While I'm sure she has some very in-depth thoughts on the Radiohead distribution plan, I couldn't understand 1/5 of her post. This is her original post:

Originally Posted by Courtney
as for radiohead= they didcnt jump off a REAL clifff, they bungee jumped you KNOW the kamikaze pilot in me wnats to do the same dfamm thing excapt wuith my a lsit mnaterial, with the real thing- theyve made 9.7 m,illion in 3 weeks this way and its live junk-= not junk as radioheaddoesnt really amke JUNK but its live - most of it heard before( wich youve all heard liveversaionbs of things veryvery different than non live versions of things) i really think it couldf work do all my magazine covers in january - so the lead time in there kamikaze thropugh my junket my oprah my tv **** n the 2 week leaD UP and just jump of f that cliff i love doing things really first im greatful for radiohead for making the first move- id do it differentlyt -= thats why b sides are no longer b sisdes but have to be a sides to an extent-= cos theyre EXTRA TRACKS now wich can mean up to 500k to such and such sponsor coty./my space etc. ... i justthinjk offering about 10 songs but your best for "free" witha what am i worth sign not just NINs cast offs i mean yopur a sides- i don t know im percolating- i love risk and most everything ive ever done well has been because everyone said iw as crazy to do it-= thazts why words liek "risk management" and Rime management:" are4 resonating with me now.

Huh? What is she talking about here? I can sort of figure out that she said she appreciates Radiohead doing their "free" download thing, and something about a-sides or b-sides, something about NIN castoffs, and something about money. But other than that, I'm not smart enough to understand her.

And after looking around, I found a generous person translated Courtney Love's post in a language that I (sort of ) understand:

Originally Posted by Courtney Love Talks Radiohead
As for Radiohead: they didn't jump off a real cliff; they bungee jumped. You know the kamikaze pilot in me wants to do the same damn thing except with my A-list material, with the real thing. They've made 9.7 million in 3 weeks this way, and it's live junk—not junk, as Radiohead doesn't really make junk, but it's live—most of it heard before (which you've all heard live versions of things very, very different than non-live versions of things).

I really think it could work—do all my magazine covers in January so the lead time is there, kamikaze through my junket, my Oprah, my TV shit in the 2 week lead-up and just jump off that cliff. I love doing things really fast, I'm grateful for Radiohead for making the first move—I'd do it differently.

That's why b-sides are no longer b-sides but have to be a-sides to an extent, 'cause they're extra tracks now which can mean up to 500k to such and such sponsor company/MySpace, etc. I just think offering about 10 songs but your best for "free" with a 'what am I worth' sign—not just NIN's castoffs, I mean your a-sides—I don't know, I'm percolating. I love risk, and most everything I've ever done well has been because everyone said I was crazy to do it. That's why words like "risk management" and "time management" are resonating with me now.

Okay Courtney. And yes, I totally bookmarked your MySpace.

RIP Demonoid

"The CRIA threatened the company renting the servers to us, and because of this it is not possible to keep the site online. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your understanding.
---From Demonoid.com
First Oink, then Demonoid. Wow.

I was never an Oink user, but I do understand the site's importance to some people. I'm also not a Demonoid member (though I did used it before), but this is too much.

The music industry's woes will not be solved by forcefully closing down torrent and file sharing sites. If you want people to buy music, lower the fucking price of the CD! Stop blaming the music piracy and think about what you did wrong, and try to find a way to embrace the Internet instead of oppressing it. The more you push it down, the harder people will rebel.

Yay, Another Way of Selling Music

The distribution method of Saul William's new album, "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggytardust!" is what I think is the best reaction of the post- In Rainbows "experiement" . Even if it's just merely a few weeks after the news that Radiohead released that shockwaved the whole industry.

It's an improvement on the In Rainbows way of paying your money, with a set price of $5.00 or choose to pay nothing. Also, you can choose 192kbps, 320kbps, or Flac files ( better quality than In-Rainbows)if you choose to pay $5.00. If you choose not to pay, fret not, you still get 192kbps. Sweet.

And, it includes artwork and lyrics. Yay, now I know what the hell they're talking about.

Now I paid my $5.00, mostly for the cause of it. Besides, Trent Reznor produced it, so it should be interesting. It should also be mentioned that Reznor himself said he would like the same method of distribution in interviews couple months back, so I guess NIN will possibly employ the same method for the future. And yes, NIN should put a physical thing out too if they use this method mentioned above, as long as they don't cost $80.00 like In Rainbows.

Also, I heard "Break" off of Niggy Tardust, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was rich and complex, has texture and depth. Much better than comtemporary hip-hop.

Radioheads are Smart Businessmen

OMG! They put the new Radiohead album on the net! For free! For download!

I pre-ordered Radiohead's new album "In Rainbows" (got to say that's a bad title, in my opinion) last night. I just have to be part of this most groundbreaking, innovative, and futuristic musical distribution event ever in the history of the Internet and download music! Plus, I like Radiohead.


I've got to admit, I do think that this method of distribution is quite clever, giving it the appearance that they're giving the album to the people for free, thus gaining them more reputation among the Internet-oriented music fans. I've also got to say that they're the first major act to openly use this method, and thinking about a solution for the selling of music in the collapsing industry. In the way, they're thinking about the future, and giving other artists the result of their "experiment" and let the others further develop a way to distribute their own music.

But really, the album is not free.


First, it's released also as a super deluxe version that costs like $40 in US dollars (or something). Second, they asked for "donations"! I would think when most of the people pre-ordering the album on downloads would feel guilty not giving them a bit of money (I gave them 2.00 in Euro, since I'm poor and charging the credit card of my father). And I assume, people who order that album are at least have some interests in Radiohead, making them more vulnerable to the "donation" tactic. And hard-core Radiohead fans? They're throwing their money in there.

Of course, you can put 0.00 in that donation box, and I don't really think that will be a large fraction. The album can be free, but really, it's not free.

Of course, there's people saying that "I'm going to pay nothing, then I'm not even going to listen to it". Ha ha.

Translation

Here's the translation from the poster.

"Nine Inch Nails is founded in 1989, there is only one permanent member in the band, that is its founder and brain trust Trent Reznor, he played almost all the creative, playing and production roles , the other members are just studio hands or players.

Nine Inch Nails’ style is part of the heavy music, but Reznor fits the pop sensibility perfectly into Nine Inch Nails’ unique style. NIN’s music is not just fill with artistic expression, it also created some memorable melodies. But Reznor’s songs is moving yet not stale at all, it also won the liking of the alternative and hard core rock fan base, and it pushed industrial into popularity.

Michael Trent Reznor was born in Pennsylvania’s Mercer. He started to learn piano when he was five, the same year that his parent divorced, he was raised by his grandparents. Then, eh learned saxophone and the tuba. Then he attended the Allegheny College for computer engineering, then he graduated (note: that a mistake) and moved to Cleveland. In 1989, he founded NIN, early on, he began to search for dance music, at the same time he absorbed the industrial and electronic style.

NIN’s debut alum was “Industrial Nation” (note: okay…), and won them the spot opening for Skinny Puppy, Jesus and Mary Chain, and Peter Murphy. But the album that brought NIN success was their 1990 album (note: What?) “Pretty Hate Machine” and in it was the popular song “Head Like A Hole”. This album included heavy metal’s brutality, pop song’s structure, industrial music’s volume and rich dance beats, it was on the chart or more than two years.

In 1991, NIN participated in the famous Lollapalooza music festival, and became the selling champion of T shirts. But the band’s dispute with its label delayed the second album’s release. Then Reznor founded his own label “Nothing”, and signed new bands in 1992, including Pop Will Eat Itself, Prick and the famous Marilyn Manson. The same fall, the band released “Broken”, and the record debuted on #10, its song “Wish” won a grammy for Best Metal Performance.

In the spring of 1994, NIN release their sophomore album (The Downward Spiral”, it labeled the jump to popularity for the band. Reznor also recorded with the famous singer Tori Amos in the album “Pass the Mission” (note: isn’t that a song?). TDS was advertised as a “concept album” and displayed Reznor’s inspiration of the record---70s rock and roll, in it was former King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew. This record debuted at #2 on the chart, and Reznor appeared on the cover of “Rolling Stone”, and became Playboy’s (note: Playgirl!) “ten sexiest rock star”. The band was on the 1994 Woodstock. All of this was great for all those who sang along to “I focus on the pain, the only thing that’s real”. “Even though now we’re popular, and filled the mainstream media’s channel” Reznor said, “But I felt that I’m walking on my own path>”

After the TDS, Reznor created the creative soundtrack for Oliver Stone’s controversial movie “Natural Born Killers”, the movie dialogue and the songs (including SICNH and Burn) fits together perfectly.

In 1995, NIN release their remix album “Further Down the Spiral”, and toured with their idol David Bowie. In 1996, the song “Happiness in Slavery” (The Woodstock live version) won the grammy for the best metal performance. The end of 1996, he was preparing for the new album, and wrote 3 new songs for David Lynch’s “Lost Highway”. Reznor and Lynch appeared on the 1997 Feburary edition of Rolling Stone.

In 1997 NIN release the double album “The Fragile”. Without exaggeration, “PHM” (1989), TDS (1994) and TF (1999), these NIN’s classic catalogue chronicled Reznor’s peak, and we witnessed how NIN pushed industrial music into the popularity, and became one of the rock movement in the 90s alternative scene.

In 2005 the band release their fourth album “With Teeth”, this album debuted on #1 on Billboard. Then after only after one year (note: two years), NIN released the new album “Year Zero”, and changed their habit of long gap between releases. Not only Rolling Stone gave it a four star review, AMG music gave it four and a half stars, and gave it the words “very amazing, moving the listener’s mood, and it cannot be missed”. And, Year Zero debuted on top of England’s rock chart, and the single “Survivalism” was #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock charts.

Now at its 18th year, NIN received two grammys, and was named “Greatest 90s band” by the internationally famous magazines like “Rolling Stone”, “Spin”, and “Q”, its platinum album (note: they’re talking about TDS) was also named “90s best rock album” and “200 most important album of the 20th century”. Their music influenced so many famous rock bands and rock innovators.

Discography. "

There's some mistake on there, and I noted it in parentheses.


Here's the translation of the letter on nin.com

"Trent wrote to the Chinese fans:
I want to thank the Chinese Nine Inch Nails fans. We felt very excited and honored about this trip to China. Because we want you to further understand our band, we prepared the following information about our band.

Nine Inch Nails is looking forward to the music festival.

In this period, following the fans who decided to go online and “steal” music and not go buy a CD, the Western music industry is experiencing a rough time. These fans, because of whatever reason, felt that this was reasonable, and I’m not completely oppose to their thinking.

Because of China’s special situation, it’s not an easy task to obtain Western music by official means, so I’ll suggest to my fans the following: if you can buy a official release of our album, I appreciate your support. If you can’t buy it, I think that illegal downloading from the web is desirable way to get it. Our music is very easy to get on the web, and you can find most of our music easily. If you like what you heard, please share it with your friend. I’ve put all my effort into my music, so I truly hope I can let more people share it.

Trent Reznor"

Didn't translate the blip about Year Zero because I didn't see it at the first place, and upon reading it, it's exaggerating and have some mistake on it. Also, I have enough translating already.

Something That Can Make Me Cringe

In a desperate attempt to find something to read, I stumbled upon real-person fiction. Actually, I was reading the Nine Inch Nails' Encyclopedia Dramatica entry, and I followed the link to a fanfiction. And hola.

Actually, what really made me cringe about that fiction was that it was a slash fiction. You know, with two guys doing it (or something, I didn't really read the Wikipedia entry on that). Without going into details, that fiction was about Trent Reznor and Christian Bale.

While I admit that the writership was rather good, the plot itself was...I don't know, I was cringing while reading it.

I have no problem with homosexuality, but what I don't quite get was why some people fancy about gay sex so much. Is it more exciting? Is it because it's more stimulating? And especially with real person fiction, it gets a bit invasive. I wonder what the celebrities think about it when they read a story about them fucking so-and-so.

Anyway, I went on an extented research on these real person fiction area just to see what's there, I found that there is a lot of them on Livejournal, there's a few sites that specializes in My Chemical Romance slash , (which I thought sadistically was a good thing). There's a few sites that's for band fictions (type that in Google), all of which I believe is mostly slash.

There's a lot of people that enjoy slash, I guess. But to me, it gets creepy afterwards.

Things I Learned From Reading Fanfictions

I found myself reading fanfictions. Again.

From time to time, through my endless "stumbling into stuff", I would find that my interest peaks at some particular subject, be it books, movies, whatever. Sometimes that interest will lead me to read fanfictions (no, I DO NOT write them, as a personal rule, becuase I'm weird about it).

Perhaps it was me just me wanting to know the characters in interest to a greater extend, perhaps it was me trying to envision the characters in a different setting with the help of the stories, perhaps it was pure entertainment, perhaps I'm just weird.

Anywhoo, I do gathered some stuff from reading those wonderful fanfictions:

1. Like all things, there's some very good, some are very bad. (Duh)

2.Some authors have no idea a what a "paragraph" is.

3.People often times pick shitty songs for songfics...Like the ones using Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend"...oh well, what do I know?

4.Lots of people cannot correctly use :"to", "too", "then", "than"

5.People really do like their characters to be gay, do they?

6.Rated M fictions makes me twitch at times, now I just gave up on them.

7.Usually those with a lot of reviews is a good indication that that story is good.

8.Almost all stories of the same genre have the same plot, just with different characters and different settings.

9.I like ambiguous characters, the bad guys that are actually good.

10. I found that I have no desire to write a fanfiction. I would rather just read them.

On a side note, my email inbox is now full of spam. Damn it.

Various News Roundup

Marilyn Manson is Angry
Marilyn Manson said that Gerard Way is ripping off his style. Okay Manson, when are you going to apologize to David Bowie and Alice Cooper then? I don't like My Chemical Romance either, but this just makes me dislike Manson more, what a way of the pot calling the kettle black. I can rant on and on about Manson's attempt at grabbing attention (dating a 19 year old (now 20) and his publicized divorce). But whatever.

Paris Hilton Goes Back to Jail
Most of the time I like playing devil's avocate, but this time, I'm happy about this news item like everyone else. I was quite angry when I heard about her getting out of jail just after 3 days, and that proves that money can get you out of anything. I was pissed. But now she have to serve her full sentence, so suck it Paris.

Here's some real news:

Global Warming at G8 Summit
It's a good thing that the leaders finally address this issue and actually attempt to do something about it. It's a step, and we may take a long time to be able to walk, but it's a step.

In other stuff:
I just saw the Pride Parade, lots of drag queens, biker chicks, half-naked dudes, and a bunch of bears. Good times. I saw couples that were together for many years and were just recently married, it's quite heart-warming. Now the bible thumpers wanted to put an option of banning gay marriage on the ballot in 2008, and if it does, I don't think there's enough people that will vote "no" on banning. There's lot more conservatives in America than you think, and they're the powerful ones.

Collective Thoughts

www.myxertones.com is awesome.

Now that the school year is almost over, all the final tests are coming in. YEE-HAW.

Sideline Commentary

I am a big Internet person; there is an unlimited amount of information and entertainment. Almost every bit of information that you need and want is within your fingertips, and you can watch some obscure 80s television ads on YouTube (no, I didn’t watch them).

Aside from researching information about otters for biology class, forcing myself to watch that horrible video(and song) “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne (that’s got to be a song written for 13 year olds, and I only watched it after hearing some mumbling about it), and reading some weird blogs, an integral part of my venture is reading comments that people leave at various sites (this includes message boards to blogs).
One thing that’s great (or sometimes bad) about the Internet is that it brings out all kinds of people from all kinds of places. This is the clash o cultures, personalities, tastes, and views. Take a Rolling Stone article for example, whenever there’s a post about a modern star of choice, the commentaries below the article will bring out the best and the worst of everyone. This is actually the most entertaining and most frustrating part, you usually get a few laughs out of it, and there’s bound to be comments that make you want to spit at the person who wrote it. Take the above Avril Lavigne “Girlfriend” video on YouTube, there’s tons of comments on that thing. It ranges from “elle est troooo belle et jkiff tro sa chanson “, to “I <3 THIS VIDEO!!! IT ROCKS!!!!” to “that was the stupidest thing i have ever seen i thought the bitch was annoying before but now its just sad n the rest of you idiots who think avril is so punk you need to be shot in the face” and these are just a few of them.

Yes, I actually spent more time reading those than watching the video. There were a lot of times when I questioned my sanity after I found myself reading the comments time after time. I had nodded my head to plenty of them, yet more often than not I found myself frowning, or worse, being upset by it. There was always a sick feeling after some guy insulted your favorite band/singer/book/whatever.

But there’s a lesson that’s hidden in these brilliant, infantile, thorough, incoherent ramblings: no matter how great something is, there will be its haters, and no matter how atrocious something is, there will be its lovers. And more importantly, it’s hard, borderline impossible to change the views of some people.

I figured this out a few years ago when I was younger, and I sometimes have to constantly remind myself of this:
Your opinion sucks, and so does mine.

We all have our own opinions and views, and we need a venue of venting somewhere, and what’s better than the Internet? You may remain anonymous, take on a double life with a completely different personality, and throw out you opinion at any topic any time. I often see vicious slews and just complete assholes on the Internet giving out their view, and there’s a large population of them, and why is that? This is the time for them to shine. Everything seems to be boasted bigger and more malicious on the Internet because it allows people to be protected.
But really, does these comments that I see on message boards matters? Does it contribute to my benefit? Does opinions make something better or worse for you? And what is good or bad?

Of course, the “this sucks ass”, “they’re awesome” and “fuck you” are going their everlasting life on the Internet. I’ll continue reading comments and shake my head at the immature and iniquitous fucks that are clearly idiots, their opinions suck, and the funny thing is, my opinions suck too.

MySpace

There are some very incoherent and just plain inane posts on MySpace, I mean, more than any other message boards or whatever.

I can feel my IQ being lower while reading those posts.

My Favorite Pitchfork Reviews

Pitchfork Media is of course one of the most important music site on the planet as we know, and no, I don't constantly read their reviews. But, known also for their pretentious ranting about indie bands and bloated reviews that leaves you scratching your head, here are some of my favorites:

Autechre
Untilted
[Warp; 2005]
Rating: 7.4

This review is not a review, but instead a play. It involves a conversation between the Tortoise and Achilles about the Autechre record. What better way to review a record than this memorable way? Somebody put this on Broadway.

Audioslave
Out of Exile
[Interscope; 2005]
Rating: 6.8

This one is awesome and it makes me laugh. In the author's own words, the review is about "Fresh out of exile, Chris Cornell is trying to re-adjust to the real world. Cornell has one problem, though: He only communicates using Audioslave lyrics". Really, it's funny. Here's a sample:

"Chris Cornell at the eye doctor:

Eye Doctor: So what's wrong, Mr. Cornell?

Chris Cornell: I've stared straight into the sun.

Eye Doctor: You can't see anything?

Chris Cornell: I've seen 50,000 names all engraved on a stone.

Eye Doctor: So you see some things, but not other things.

Chris Cornell: Send my soul away.

Innovative indeed.

Next we have Jet, again, it's not a review, but a Youtube video:

Jet
Shine On
[Elektra; 2006]
Rating:

I would think that this was rated 0.0. Since the video was about a chimp reliving himself.

Next:
Tool
Lateralus
[Volcano]
Rating: 1.9

This "review" was written in the perspective of a Tool fan. Basically it was the fan talking how good music comes in the cycle of every 16 years. it brings out the stereotype of Tool fans likes doing math and that kind of shit. Did the reviewer even listen to the record? I didn't see any straight-forward description of what the music on the disc sounded like. You can't blame them, since major label artists suck (in the eye of Pitchfork), right?

Why not another Tool review?
Tool
10,000 Days
[Volcano; 2006]
Rating: 5.9

The reviewer was not a Tool fan to begin with, because: "At 28, I'd feel funny mocking 15-year-olds still finding their place in the world. And as for taking them seriously-- well, I take Tool about as seriously as I do black metal or Lil Jon or the films of Tsui Hark. Which is to say, not very."

How can a review be fair if you already dislike Tool to begin with? Even if all the reviews are subjective, let's not make it this fucking obvious.

"If only the music had one-tenth of the Public Image Limited song's power. Instead I find myself in the awkward position of trying to sell you on the merits of a deeply uncool band by telling you to go buy their last album instead.
I guess the more opinionated, the better. No, I'm not that big of a Tool fan and I don't think 10,000 Days is a great record, but that review was just so subjective and predictable.

At last but not least:
Nine Inch Nails
The Fragile
[Nothing/Interscope]
Rating: 2.0

The reviewer complained about the record being bloated and predictable, but the irony is the review itself is bloated and predictable. I don't even know long the review itself it, but it just rant on about how much Nine Inch Nails is stupid and Trent Reznor sucks. It critized The Fragile being not concised enough, and the review itself was not concise itself.

And yeah, let me point this out:
" 1:49am: "Even Deeper," a track mixed by Dr. Dre, spits aluminum riffs into my headphones. The entire concept of pairing of Dr. Dre and Nine Inch Nails, a match ,maid in Kornboy heaven (or most likely the Interscope commissary) is laughable."

It's "made", not "maid".

Of course Pitchfork Media has its legion of haters, and I would think that reviews like that contributes to it.

Jesus Reigns on the Internet

The Lord Jesus Christ is always looking upon us, even on this fascinating place that is the Internet. There's a few catergories of these sites, and I'm blogging about it because I'm weird.

1. The God Loves You
Who is Jesus ?This one has some pretty comprehensive Q & A about our Lord Jesus Christ. There's also some very important information about God and man, like:

Okay.

Oh, How I Love Jesus! I just found this while I googled "love Jesus", it's yet to be set up right now. Oh well.

Wow, this one is for the kids! Everything on there is written for the kids, so you know, it's in kiddie language. Such as:
" Jesus Loves You
Jesus loves you this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong, they are weak but he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves you, yes, Jesus loves you, yes Jesus loves you, the Bible tells me so!"

2. The Jesus Sucks
a last.fm group about how Jesus sucks

An article about how Jesus sucks It's interesting. The author listed some pretty to the point reasons:

I've only read half of Luke -- after which I couldn't stomach any more -- so I may be missing some important things. However, from what I've seen, the whole "do unto others as you'd have them do unto you", "do not judge", etc. is, like, one thing he said once. The majority of the time, Jesus is busy doing one of the following:
Showing off.
Telling people how great he is.
Judging people.
Warning people how fucked they're going to be if they don't do what he says.


Funny that there's lot more love for Jesus than hate. Or maybe I didn't look hard enough.

3. The Presence of Jesus in Their Title
What would Jesus blog? Good question, never asked myself that question until now.

i think the dude is trying to be funny

The Hollywood Jesus Dressup This is just creepy .

Jesus Tattoos I Found on the Internet

Doesn't Jesus look nice on your arm? (or leg, or whatever?)


How long does this tattoo takes to make? That's gonna hurt. But hey, Jesus suffered for you so you should suffer for him, I guess.

Praise our Lord, indeed.


************************************************************************************
I'm wrapping up just because I'm bored now. I think I'm losing my mind.

Am I Annoying?

Here's something interesting:
Am I Annoying?

Now I can find out how annoying I am! Fortunately after I took the quiz, they said:
"Quiz Results
Points: 29
Our experts are please to report that you are a tolerable, if not pleasant. You should be proud of your annoyance rating (unless you lied on your quiz, then you're a complete bastard!)
Time Spent: 12:54"

Sometimes I am pleasant to the point of weak.

Future Rock Hall

Future Rock Hall
Something that I can poke around with, though I was surprised at some artist's induction chances.