The Hanging Garden
Wednesday, December 29, 2004

The Basement...

Thats the word of the day, well the last 2 days. I have been cleaning the basement, taking back recycling, clothes to Salvation Army and now back to the recycling center with old paint cans. I have also organized the workbench area and unpacked the shop vac. Ah yes, the shop vac, 1 of the 3 we got for our wedding, no duplicate toasters like normal people instead 3 shop vacs. Anyways it works great, i can't wait to go around cleaning the rest of the basement.

I also got a wine fridge for xmas which is really cool and have put that in the basement. I have it loaded with whites and some champagne, i think i will keep the reds out of it for now. The pseudo wine cellar stays cool so the reds all fine. This summer with the help of my mother-in-law be building built in shelves in the cellar for my wine.

I also got a new printer, the canon pixma i4000 so if u are in the market for a new printer i recommend this one. It has 5 ink cartridges, 1 for b&w printing and 4 for color printing. Plus the ink is about $12 a piece to replace which is much cheaper than other inks.

For those of you that are Ren & Stimpy fans, there is a DVD box set of their cartoons. I have to admit it is harder to watch than it was back in the 90s, i must be getting old. What I used to laugh at has become a bit gross. Oh well, its still fun to watch. Erika got the Fat Albert DVD box set which is very cool, its amazing how young Bill Cosby is in it.

I also got a travel speaker system for the ipod, check it out at the link below. You can find them on amazon.com and all over the internet for a good price. The sound is suprisingly good and is both battery and AC operated.
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/product_detail.asp?ProdId=ONTOUR&SerId=HMM&sCatId=

Current song on the ipod shuffle. "I'll do it anyways" by the Lemonheads with help from Juliana Hatfield. This is an excellent song and the Lemonheads are one of those bands you can go back to after not listening for years and pick right back up. You already know the words so just bob your head and sing along. I cannot think of anyone out right now that can write such catchy songs as Evan Dando.

Posted by mardenhill 12/29/2004 01:10:00 PM 1 comments    

The Tigers Have Spoken
Friday, December 24, 2004

I just wanted to let u know that Berkley is a pretty cool town, I was on my profile and clicked on Berkley and it lead to 13 other bloggers from my city. A few of them wrote some interesting blogs and were also democrats who hate bush. It makes me feel better that I am not surrounded by crazies. Over in Farmington Hills we saw on the front of a chuch a huge sign that said "God spoke to Moses thru a burning bush" with bush is big bright red letters. I feel that sign is crossing the line a bit too much, I can handle the little crosses in the ground but comeon that is overtly political. Its just a matter of time before this goes too far and the backlash starts, at least that is what I keep telling myself to stay sane.

On some happy political news, Dem Christine Gregoire has won the Washington governer race by 130 votes in the hand count. This may not be over, the republicans are planning a full scale legal attack with plans for a new election. You can read more about it at this link. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002129842_recount24m.html

Its great to see at least one race that all the votes were counted. Chalk one up to the Dems, about time they finally stepped up and played hardball. This could have ended in another stolen election but I think America is finally waking up and realizing the republicans will stop at nothing to stay or gain power.

Well I should get off the computer, people are starting to show up for the inlaws xmas party. Everyone have a merry christmas and talk to u soon.

Posted by mardenhill 12/24/2004 04:39:00 PM 2 comments    

Day Fresh Beer

I just heard a commercial for Day Fresh Beer from Bud and Bud Light and it got me thinking, is this just another scam or is it for real? They claim that the beer is no more than a day old, now what happens to the beer in the back of the cooler, does that go on clearance or just thrown out? How much Bud is consumed in the US to warrant day old fresh beer? Has our country become so homoginized that within the next year we will only be shopping at Walmart and drinking only Bud? This is the future we have to look forward to, enjoy your last days of freedom.

Last nite we watched Shrek 2 which was suprisingly good and I would recommend it. Jennifer Saunders from Ab Fab fame was the voice of the fairy god mother and both Tom Waits and Nick Cave had songs in the movie. The Nick Cave really startled me, this coming from the guy who turned down the MTV nomination back in the 90s because he didn't think his music should be judged for award shows. I guess Nick knows when there is a quick buck to be made and will just sit back and collect those royality checks.

I am working on my best of list for 2004 and will try to have it posted by the end of the weekend. I was just listening to Woxy and they had played the new Mercury Rev and Kings of Leon on their Air Checks show and stated how both cds are not out and don't have domestic releases for another few months. Well for those of u who are interested, they are floating out in cyberspace as we speak no need to wait for those "Official" realease dates. Now I am trying to get my hands on the new Doves which has proven to be a bit more difficult but I will do my best so keep your fingers crossed.

I talked to my mom today and she filled me in on how great the Clay Aiken show last nite was. If I had to listen to her review I think u should also be tortured. She said Clay walked around thru the crowd and sang like an angel. There was a HS choir that only had 2 hrs of practice since the booked choir was snowed in but they sounded very good. She loved her seats which was nice seeing that it was either those are the last row in the balcony left when we got the tix.

I do not like xmas music and I hate it even more when ostentatious indie rockers try to write some slacker anti xmas song as with The Long Winter's "Christmas with you is the Best". This song just oozes pretention with the hipster persona it paints for you. I am not sure if I have their cd but if I do I am deleting it just for the sole reason that their xmas song SUCKS!!!! All the radio stations are playing it and it is driving me nuts. John Roderick is the man behind the band and has help from Built to Spill and Death Cab on his record. I guess the whole Death Cab connection explains a lot "sorry Kathy" but this is just another crap indie rock band that will poison our youth. Btw, the song can be found on the latest OC soundtrack, now isn't that ironic.

Posted by mardenhill 12/24/2004 03:45:00 PM 2 comments    

TOO MANY FORMATS!!!!
Tuesday, December 21, 2004

I'm am going crazy here, I just noticed that the cds that I ripped with itunes on my mac when imported into musicmatch on the pc are all jacked. The tags don't come across and u cannot edit them until u change the id3 status on the tracks. I imported the tracks into winamp, windows media player plus itunes on the pc and all of them can read the tracks and tags correctly, its just musicmatch.

So I have decided to rip with musicmatch, that way all the jukeboxes can read them but it just pisses me off. I don't know what jukebox people will be using and if i make cds for people full of mp3s I want the tags to be correct. I haved just tested rips with musicmatch and all players work. This is the way it will be then, rip with musicmatch in mp3 at 192 and use itunes or whatever jukebox u want.

That is my exciting news for the day, too many formats and no universal answer.

Posted by mardenhill 12/21/2004 01:07:00 PM 3 comments    

Hitting the "Next" Button
Sunday, December 19, 2004

I am just sitting here ripping cds, listening to Woxy and decided to try the "Next Blog" button at the top of the page. It is quite interesting, it just randomly selects another blog to read about. I do have to admit that I have skipped more blogs than I have read but when all that come up are sad, 18 year old girls pages, I have not patience. Its all the same, i'm sad, this boy doesn't like me, i'm fighting with mom, i need to clean my room bull over and over. I have come across a few interesting ones tho, like http://teambildo.blogspot.com/ and http://gunmagiant.blogspot.com/ where the guy talks about getting his girlfriend's bass out of the pawn shop for her birthday. What a guy, thats all I have to say.

Ok, I have grown bored of the blog surfing, there are more blogs from Singapore and Ohio out there than anywhere else. I did get some good ideas for sprucing up my page, now I need to figure out how to do it.

Today it was 4 degrees out with a windchill of -14 degress!!!! If u didn't make it outside today good for u, because it was one of those stay inside all day. Of course I went out 3x today and froze my ass off.

Well its time to run so I will post again tomorrow, maybe then I will have something more interesting to write about. I could go on about the 3 holiday parties I went to this weekend but I will spare you.

BTW, Rumsfield is still a jackass, besides everything else he has screwed up in the last 4 years he hasn't even been signing the letters to families of fallen soldiers in Iraq. He has an automated signature setup instead so he doesn't have to waste his time signing his name. He got called out on the internet and Sunday morning talkshows and that was awesome to watch. Rummy now claims that he will personally sign each letter, glad to see that he cares now after being embarrassed the last couple weeks.

Posted by mardenhill 12/19/2004 08:47:00 PM 2 comments    

Bela Lugosi's Dead
Monday, December 13, 2004

Well I am sitting around listening to the Left Of The Dial box set and just heard Bauhaus, Siouxsie, Minor Threat, Beat Happening, The The and The Pixies. I tell ya, it doesn't get better than that. I am currently waiting for the Matador 10th anniversary to finish, once that is done, if anyone wants a copy let me know. Ok "World Shut Your Mouth" is currently on, that is such a great song and had an awesome video. Julian Cope on the other hand is to a strung out, art hippie that only had moments of greatness. Unlike Ian McCulloch who went on to form Echo and The Bunnymen after the Teardrop Eplodes brok up, Julian never really got it together.

So I bought my mom and her boyfriend tickets for xmas to see Clay Aiken who is playing a concert with the Detroit Symphonic Orchestra at the Masonic Theatre. I am convinced that I am now going to indierock hell where I will be forced to listen to Clay and Celine on repeat for the rest of my life. I had to though, I could not figure out what to get them and my mom is a big Clay fan. I tell ya, that was the hardest thing to do, to speak out loud "i would like 2 tickets to Clay Aiken with the DSO..." I want you to stop reading this and repeat those words not to yourself but out loud and see how it feels.

While I am on the subject, the 2 worst things in life, Celine Dion and Anne Geddes have merged together for a CD and a book. I am convinced that this the 1st sign of the apocalypse, Anne is the most cherished child abuser with her pictures of helpless babies in gruesome poses and Celine, well we all know contribution to modern history. How can anyone in their right mind support these 2 individuals, they should be locked up for what they have done to our society. Now every mother around the country will have this displayed on their coffee table and u will be forced to look thru it on the holidays.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0740746960/qid=1102984756/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/102-9929771-6334510?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Just to stick that knife a little deeper, Clay Aiken is the new Barry Manilow and will be around for years to come. We will never escape his clutches and this 1st xmas album is not the last. Clay may not have won the American Idol but he did win the hearts of all our mothers and sappy women tuned into easy listening stations across the country.

Well now that I have completely depressed you, enjoy the remainder of your day.

Posted by mardenhill 12/13/2004 07:04:00 PM 1 comments    

Interstate Traffic
Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Well the supreme court is deciding the fate of buying wine over the internet vs going thru distributers and michigan is one of the states this will affect. I really hope they rule for the winerys i am sick and tired of not being able to order directly from the vineyard. The distributers argue that they need to regulate the flow of alcohol and keep it out of the hands of minors but when u think about it, they are just trying to save the butloads of money they make. They argue that there is a huge selection of wine that you can buy in stores but thats not the point, up and coming and small wineries do not get distributed and the only way you can get the wine is at the vineyard. Now if you decide to order michigan wine over the internet you can have it sent to u, but if u want one from oregon or cali you are out of luck. The whole minor argument is crap, what underage kid is going to order a boutique wine to get drunk? You still have to sign for it and that is not what kids are willing to drink. The wineries are arguing that the ammendment that allows for commerce to flow between states trumps the prohibition laws that give states the right to regulate.

The interesting thing with this is that Kenneth Starr is one of the lawyers arguing for the wineries and Robert Bork is arguing for the distributers. I never thought Kenny boy and I would be on the same side.

Well gotta run, will update more about this when a ruling comes out. Keep your fingers crossed so that we can finally visit a wine's website and place an order just like half the other states around the country.

Posted by mardenhill 12/07/2004 11:03:00 PM 4 comments    

Rock Star

Yesterday I had to take a printer up to the Palace of Auburn Hills and for those of you who do not know what that is, its where the Detroit Pistons play and well fight. Anyways, Chrysler is doing a show there today and I needed to setup a printer for our shows and presentations team. The cool part about the story is that I got to walk out onto the arena floor while they were setting up. I tell ya its very wierd looking around at all the seats while down on the floor. I also got to see 3 concept that hopefully will be at the auto show. I have been ice skating at the Joe so now all I need is to make it onto the floor of Ford Field and then Comerica.

Well it looks like they may be voting on the intelligence bill afterall, they claim to have worked out an agreement. Now Bush will try to take credit for this even though he had nothing to do with it. We need to stand up and revolt like they are doing over in Ukraine and demand a new prez.

And for the conspiracy buffs out there, check out http://www.rawstory.com they have a sworn affidavit of a computer programmer who was instructed to write hacking software for voting machines in florida. Whether or not this software was used, it makes u wonder when it will finally come out that Bush cheated yet again.

Posted by mardenhill 12/07/2004 02:13:00 PM 1 comments    

le Garbage
Monday, December 06, 2004

Our beloved speaker of the house Dennis " i'm a fat ass, sleaze ball" Hassert refuses to bring to a vote the intelligence reform. The reason, he does not have the votes to pass it solely by republicans. The bill will pass with democratic support but Hassert only wants his party to pass it. So instead of putting the safety of the nation as a top priority Hassert is using his power as speaker to make sure his buddies are taken care of. Bush claims to support the reform but if you go back in time, he saw no reason for the commission, didn't agree with their findings but somehow supports their recommendations. Either Bush is lying or he is a flip flopper. Bush could easily call Hassert to have this put to a vote but he will not, he doesn't want to upset one of his remaining cabinet members Rummy who will lose some funding and control over the Pentagon. Just more corruption this administration brings forth that people continue to ignore.

Check out the link below for the latest republican outing courtsey of Hustler magazine.

http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=468

Posted by mardenhill 12/06/2004 09:46:00 AM 1 comments    

Peel Slowly And See
Sunday, December 05, 2004

If you don't own the Velvet Underground - Peel Slowly and See Box Set, you are missing out on the of the best things ever recorded. It is a 5 cd box set with about 70 songs some live, some demos and original recordings. If you don't feel like spending the money on it, let me know I can make u a copy becasue I think everyone should have this.

Another good box set is Echo And The Bunnymen - Crystal Days 79-99, this is a 4 disc set with live, demos and originals. I am currently ripping my box sets so I am on my soapbox on which ones are good and what people should have. Right now I am working on The Police - Message In A Box which is also an excellent choice. Alice In Chains - Music Box is very cool along with Ken Burns Jazz.

I spent the last 2 days reorganizing my mp3s, I had come up with a bit of a different scheme and needed to make changes to my files. I have just about everything the way I want it, I just need to finish ripping the rest of the cds.

For those of you that are Bright Eyes fans may know that they are releasing 2 cds on Jan 25th. If you are interested in hearing them, let me know cuz I just scored copies of them. I am not a big fan and I find them ok, but if you cannot get enough of Conner Oberst you will love them.

We are putting up our xmas tree today, I guess its time seeing that we only have 20 days left. A few years ago, our mr. kitty decided to see what the string of lights tasted like and bit into one while they were on. Since then we do not have a problem with any ornaments or the cat messing with the tree. I felt bad for him but thats the only way he learns to stay away from things.

I have decided to add another coffee tip for all of u, if you havn't had the Starbucks Holiday Blend, I highly recommend it. I picked it up yesterday and according to the coffee barista this years blend is the best they have had in years. Its like wine, if u have crappy weather u don't get a good crop. Anyways, check out the beans, they are very good.

Posted by mardenhill 12/05/2004 04:15:00 PM 2 comments    

Steady As Starlight
Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Next Year the whole Pee Wee's Playhouse all 5 seasons will be put together in a DVD box set. Right now you can buy most of it in separate DVDs, but I think I will wait to get the bonus footage and cool box that it should come in. You can check out the interview on NPR at this link.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4190544

RYAN ADAMS has released a new limited edition single through his official website.
‘Now That You’re Gone’ is the first new track to be released from the star since he broke his wrist at the start of the year falling off stage in Liverpool.
The song, out on vinyl, comes backed with ‘If I’m A Stranger’ and is available through ryan-adams.com.
The release has fuelled speculation that Adams is working on the follow-up to this year’s album ‘Love Is Hell’.
The singer has recently completed a string of US live dates with his new band The Cardinals.

If you have followed Ryan Adam's website, he likes to keep it clutter free. It started when Friends ended and he pulled everything off and said it was a tribute to the end of the show. Since then, about every 2 months Ryan will change the page and add little things back on but there is usually just a link to his merch site and tour dates if they are available.

In file sharing news, Kaaza just got hit with another lawsuit and I think this one will stick. I recommend anyone out on Kaaza stop downloading, cuz they will be coming to get you. Plus Kaaza has been labeled the spyware king of the P2P world, a title that was taken from Groekster. I was surfing around emusic last nite and discovered some more interesting music to download. My list is growing on that site and for the price I think its worth it.

If you havn't heard, Nirvana's box set has finally surfaced and you can find it at Costco for about $40. I think it should be pretty cool, its not just all their cds repackaged, most of the songs are alt takes, demos, live or non released songs to give the listener new music to listen to.

Posted by mardenhill 12/01/2004 09:27:00 AM 0 comments