Archives for June, 2005
TheFutureEmbrace
Posted on June 21st, 2005 @ 8:54 PM EST
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Billy Corgan’s debut solo album “TheFutureEmbrace” was released today. It contains 11 songs that were written by Billy as well as a cover of the pre-disco Bee Gees classic “To Love Somebody” with Robert Smith of the Cure on backing vocals. Jimmy Chamberlin, the former drummer of the Smashing Pumpkins and Zwan, also adds electronic percussion to the song “DIA” and it’s good to see that they are still working together.
The album contains a nice mix of songs that are similar to the Smashing Pumpkins, which is no surprise since he was the driving musical force behind the band. The majority of the songs have a futuristic, electronic style and a few are sing-songy melodies. My favorites are Pretty, Pretty Star, All Things Change, The CameraEye, and Walking Shade. I especially like Walking Shade which was the first single from the album. This song has a lot of meaning because he sings about how his old bandmates from Zwan used him and how he was a “shade” or helping hand for them.
Billy’s really done a lot to help promote his new album. He had a contest which gave away a pair of tickets to any one of his shows on his North American tour for the person who refers the most amount of visitors to his website; he played “Mina Loy (M.O.H.)” on the Late Show with David Letterman last night; he appeared on WGN Morning News this morning; he had a release party for TheFutureEmbrace at the Alder Planetarium in Chicago tonight; and he also ran a full-page ad in today’s Chicago Tribune.
The Smashing Pumpkins have been my favorite band for the past 12 years ever since they released Siamese Dream, which is my favorite album of all-time. I was really disappointed when they broke up back in 2000 then when I heard Billy was putting together a new band, Zwan, I had high hopes for them. They didn’t really come close to the Smashing Pumpkins and had only released one album before they broke up. It’s great to see that Billy is back again and on his own (at least for now). In his ad in the Chicago Tribune today, he stated that he’s made plans to revive the Smashing Pumpkins and is breathing new life into an old dream. What great news!!!
For a year now I have walked around with a secret, a secret I chose to keep. But now I want you to be the first to know that I have made plans to renew and revive The Smashing Pumpkins. I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams. In this desire I feel I have come home again.
This was a bit of a shocker since he was quoted as saying “you won’t see the four Smashing Pumpkins onstage again” to MTV news about two months ago. Way to go Billy! I could not be happier with his decision and I really look forward to what the future beholds of the Smashing Pumpkins.
Link to this entry • Posted in Music •
Swirve Personality Test
Posted on June 14th, 2005 @ 2:25 PM EST
If you’re bored and would like to kill some time take the Swirve Personality Test to get your personality rating. You can see if we’re compatable by adding jeff [at] xhtmled dot com to your friends list. My results are listed below which are for the most part, quite accurate.
The Protector
You’re a cold-hearted bastard, plain-and-simple. You always jump into everyone elses’ lives and try to “save” them, whatever that means. OK, that’s not true at all, but that is how many others see Protectors. Sucks, but true.
First off, you’re not at all cold-hearted. Sure, you’re not the most outgoing of people, but those close to you know a much more outgoing, fun side of you. You also don’t try to “save” people. You just worry about others and want to make sure people are taken care of. You’re big on safety and security. It would be nice to get more credit for the good you do, but you know there’s more to it than the attention and glory.
You’re big on work — hard work and commitment. Understandable, given that taking care of people is not something to be taken lightly. Others might see you as a bit of a bore though. I say screw them. You know what’s important, and you should stick to it. Just don’t judge others for not having that same ethic.. it’s not a common thing, and you’ll be happier if you accept that flaw in others.
Possible Careers: Doctor, Insurance Agent, Conservationist
Link to this entry • Posted in Internet •
Power Mac G5 Arrived Today!
Posted on June 2nd, 2005 @ 7:43 PM EST
;)
My new Power Mac G5 (a.k.a. the 50 lb beast) arrived today after placing the order two weeks ago. One thing you really have to love about Apple is their first class packaging and design. You can see some photos that I took under Apple in the photographs section.
I went with the dual 2.0GHz model and decided to beef it up a bit. Here are the specs:
- Dual 2.0GHz PowerPC G5
- 1GB DDR400 SDRAM
- 250GB Serial ATA - 7200rpm
- 16x SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD+RW/CD-RW)
- ATI Radeon 9650 w/256MB DDR SDRAM
- Airport Extreme Card
- Internal BlueTooth Module
- 56k V.92 Internal Modem
- Apple Wireless Keyboard & Mouse
- Mac OS X version 10.4 Tiger
Before hooking it up, I took off the side panel to add a second hard drive and was in silent awe for about a minute. It’s amazing just how clean and elegant the design is especially with all of the wires and parts that are inside. The two heat sinks are massive and take up about 25% of the case. The panel came off with ease after simply lifting the latch which is quite the opposite with most of the PCs I’ve worked on. It’s amazing how there’s only one company that builds machines for the Mac O/S and all of their equipment is years ahead of any of the PC manufacturers. You’d think it would be the other way around since there’s so many companies competing with one another to build a better PC, but I guess that just goes to show what kind of company Apple is.
This thing has incredible speed. Most of the apps that I’ve launched load so quick that the icons barely even bounce in the dock. Photoshop took just a few seconds to load and came up just like I turned on a light switch. Incredible! Another thing that I am really impressed with is how little noise the machine makes. Every once in a while I can hear a slight noise when the fans turn on, but it usually only lasts for about ten seconds.
Using this new machine really makes me wonder how I ever coped with my last one. I am in heaven!
I’m selling a mint condition FireWire LaCie 16x d2 DVD+RW Drive that also includes Toast 6 Titanium in case anybody is interested. The G5 has a double-layer DVD burner so I no longer have a use for the d2. For more information, please drop me an email.
Update (June 3rd, 2005)
I was just reading about the Power Mac’s design on Apple’s website and noticed something funny. The PC that is used next to the G5 as a comparison to show how little clutter the G5 has is the exact same one (Gateway Professional S) that I was using as my main workstation before I got the G5. Here’s a photo of mine, which I think would have been better to use as it looks even more cluttered than the one they used. What are the odds of that especially since it’s a few years old?
Link to this entry • Posted in Apple • Comments (2)
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