Michelle Malkin’s site has two pieces about a disturbing Obama rap performed by children in New Jersey. As if you parents needed another reason to homeschool.
Personally, if I had kids, I’d teach ‘em this ditty right here:
(The "Obamination" video comes to us, by the way, courtesy of SilenceDogood1978).
I just checked my e-mail. The last professor acknowledged receipt of the last paper that I had to electronically submit. What does this mean? School’s out for summer, baby! YEAAAAAAAAAH!
I am all for buying music, or at least legally obtaining used CDs. However, I'm not going to complain when an artist- and industry-approved source of legally-free downloads pops up - not unless there's some sort of major problem with the service, anyway.
Lately, I've been grabbing music from SpiralFrog: a service that's completely free because it's ad supported. There are pros and cons to this site, so you'll want to know a little about that before you go sign up, I'm sure.
The Pros:
Legally-free music. SpiralFrog has a huge catalog. They're constantly adding new and old releases alike, giving me plenty of choices. Not every artist is represented, of course. Metallica is, naturally, absent, because they're a bunch of silly men who don't understand that they could be MAKING MONEY off this service. The Beatles aren't represented, either, and you're going to have a bit of a tough time finding independent artists here.
The advertisements are embedded on the Web site. You don't have to interact with them at all unless you choose to do so. They don't pop up (if you use FireFox, anyway - I've never visited this site with another browser, so I could be wrong here), and you don't have to click on them to start your downloads.
The search function is actually pretty decent. It's not too difficult to find what I want, if the site has it available at least.
The Cons:
The audio quality is not as good as what you would get on CD. If you're particular about your music, this might not work for you. But if you really don't care, it's worth it.
You can download only one song at a time. This stinks if you have a super-mega-fast Internet connection. I for one would love to be able to grab three or four songs at a time.
The files are copy protected. This lockdown prevents Microsoft's Zune and Apple's iPod from recognizing, much less playing, your files. This is stupid. This is pointless, because you fulfilled your end of the bargain (having the ads on the Web site while you browse and download) and, therefore, have paid up. This is also easily fixed for less than twenty bucks courtesy of a wonderful little program called TuneBite. It's well worth the investment. Trust me.
You have to log in at least once every thirty days and download a song file. Otherwise, your already-downloaded files expire. You can reclaim them, without downloading again, by logging in later. This isn't a big deal, because I imagine that most of us will show up once a month to download a song or two. However, the licensing agreements that require this are just, well, stupid. This goes back to that whole "dude, I paid up, so to speak" argument.
You do have to download a small piece of software to make SpiralFrog work on your PC. There is not, the last time I checked, a Mac version, meaning that you Apple-kissing, self-righteous snobs will just have to keep using the iTunes store at .99 a pop, plus tax, to satisfy your elitist cravings. Boo-hoo.
Overall, SpiralFrog is well worth the time. Free downloads that the artists and RIAA support? Sweet.
Also: there are other, similar sites out there, that attempt to do the same thing. One site - and I can't remember which one, sorry - embeds ads either before or after the song. So, every time you play the song that you've legally downloaded, you get to listen to an ad. Yeah, that sounds like fun, doesn't it? SpiralFrog's idea is way better.
So, um, you remember how it was back in the day, when Brody and the rest of The Distillers were tearin' up the punk scene and all that good stuff? And, uh, do you still get all excited when your media player of choice is in shuffle mode, and suddenly picks up "Beat Your Heart Out" or, well, pretty much any other track from Coral Fang? Yeah, me too.
If you missed Brody tons and tons, you're going to want to go to Spinnerette's Web site and download their new EP, Ghetto Love. This is Brody's new band, and they've finally produced something that we can buy and enjoy!
It's only five bucks. Really, folks, that's a fair price to pay for four awesome tracks, plus digital copies of the EP's artwork and some videos.
Edit: I just found the EP at SpiralFrog. This is a legal, free download site. I don't know why I didn't check there first, seeing as I've been a SpiralFrog user for a few months or so now. Oh, well. The purchased downloads are higher quality than the SpiralFrog downloads, so I did get something good for my money.
However, this is not "The Distillers, Part 2: The Reunion." Spinnerette has a pop-tinted rock sound that The Distillers never quite achieved, even when they cranked out their last album. Spinnerette shows us a Brody who's still angry, and who can still bash out hardcore lyrics...but she's more controlled, and the backing music isn't quite what you would expect. As long as you're down with an artist growing and changing, without losing any of the talent and uniqueness that made her so awesome, you'll probably dig the new work.
This is good stuff - really good. I thoroughly enjoy the new EP. It's solid, both musically and lyrically. Brody's officially back, and she's as talented and entertaining as ever.
Go. Download. Enjoy.
And if you, for some bizarre reason, do not own any Distillers albums, you can check out eMusic or Amazon to get your fix. Just saying.
In response to California residents' collective vote against gay marriage in that state, rocker Melissa Etheridge has announced that she won't pay her state income taxes until something changes on that front.
People here are talking about this, and quite a bit. As a result, I have a list of Frequently Asked Questions regarding this announcement.
Q: Who the hell is Melissa Etheridge?
A: Back in the 1980s, she was one of the coolest rock musicians we had. Her debut album was packed with ten guitar-driven, lyrically sound songs about how much love blows.
The only real problem with this was the fact that the next few Melissa Etheridge albums were also...ten-track records about how much love blows. At some point, a good number of her fans said, "Dude, what? AGAIN? I'm not paying fifteen bucks for this. If she wants my money, she can write about something else."
Q: So, um, who cares about her now?
A: A lot of people. Some of us continued to check out her releases because we were convinced that she'd eventually find something different to write about. We were correct. She did grow as a songwriter...eventually. Too bad we wasted, like, seventy-something bucks on her records before that happened, though.
Q: So, she said that she won't pay her state income taxes. What's the point?
A: She thinks that, by withholding money from the government, the voters will be very, very sorry for what they did. Somehow, I doubt that the people who voted against gay marriage will lose much sleep over the condition of their state's coffers.
Q: Isn't she just, you know, hurting herself?
A: In the short-term, no. She'll have some extra money to spend on...whatever she spends her money on. Janis Joplin's toenail clippings, recovered from her childhood bed in Port Arthur, Texas, would be my guess.
Q: What about the long-term?
A: Oh, she's boned, dude. If she doesn't pay her taxes, California will have its revenge. Apparently, she missed the news: their governor? The Terminator? Same guy.
Q: What can California do to her if she doesn't pay up?
A: Confiscate stuff. Auction off stuff. The more she doesn't pay, the more stuff she loses. SOMEBODY on eBay is BOUND to want that toenail collection, you know.
Q: Can she go to prison?
A: I dunno. That's a good question.
Q: If she does go to prison, will she do a cover of "Jailhouse Rock"?
A: Of course. It'll be part of the benefit album that a whole group of musicians will put together in an effort to save her stuff. Personally? I'm looking forward to Ellen Degeneres singing a show tune for the record. Maybe she'll do "Hard Knock Life." Oh, please, God, let it be "Hard Knock Life."
Q: Why are you such a jerk?
A: Because I find this entire protest absurd, ridiculous, and whiny. This is not going to change voters' minds at all. California will, one way or another, get its money from Etheridge, and anybody else who joins her. In fact: if they tack on penalties and other fees, the state will actually benefit from this tantrum by getting even more money. Etheridge is hurting only herself with this hissy fit, and I for one don't see the point in doing the financial equivalent of throwing a Molotov cocktail at your own feet.
One of the best Family Guy moments ever would have to be in season four's "Brian Goes Back to College."
Stewie Griffin, back in the 1960s, singing at Woodstock:
Establishment,
establishment,
You always know what's best.
[Guy] You suck!
[Stewie] Learn the rules!
---
And that, strangely, leads me to a song by The Shaggs. Oh, those rebellious teen rockers and their crazy lyrics.
My list of favorite music changes quite a bit, depending on my mood and other things. Right now, here are some of the albums I'm playing while I drive to and from school.
The Distillers - Coral Fang. Brody and company did fine jobs with their first two albums, but Coral Fang is the best if you ask me. There's more control in Brody's voice and in the songwriting. And, hey, it's fun to crank up the album and play it pretty much straight through.
P.S. Look for Spinnerette's debut album. Brody swears that it's coming. I don't quite believe her anymore. But it should be freaking awesome.
Metallica - Black Album. Every time this band unleashes another pile of fecal matter, I feel compelled to go play this album. It's a nice reminder that the band didn't always suck out loud. In fact: they were the antidote to Teh Suck back then. Maybe I should mail Lars and company a copy of this disc as a friendly reminder. 
Missy Elliott - Miss E...So Addictive. I skip about half the tracks, but the other half keep me entertained on the long drive. Unfortunately, I actually caught the video for "Get Ur Freak On" years ago. Ugh. Seriously. Who the hell does a computer rendition of a loogie going from her mouth into some guy's? Freaking nasty. That kind of ruins the song for me when I think about it too much, so I try to avoid that. Otherwise, fun stuff.
My Ruin - The Horror of Beauty. I loathe PJ Harvey, but My Ruin's cover of "Rid of Me" requires full volume. This is the sort of shrieking, hard-hitting, crazy-metal type of album that gets you through the traffic jam on the highway; the frustration of knowing that you're about to walk into a pop quiz in one of your classes, and the insatiable need to shriek just because you can.
So, there you are: the stuff that's seeing heavy rotation in my MP3 player right now. And while we're on the subject of music: I picked up most of these CDs by trading (legally!) online at SwapaCD.com. It's a pretty good place to grab CDs, and get rid of the crappy ones you never should have bought in the first place. Like 50 Cent's latest atrocity. Sigh. Why I grabbed that is beyond me. I should have known better after his second commercial album.
Dear Britain:
What happened, man? You all used to be so cool. After we kicked your butts for trying to tell us what to do on this side of the pond, you settled down. We were such great friends for a while there. We even became allies - and still are today.
Then, you started sending us the best that you had to offer. We got The Beatles here, which was truly amazing. I'm still thankful to you for that. Thank you. Those four guys were probably the best gift you could ever offer to the Yanks.
And you sent us the best punk, too. You started the whole genre, exported some of your greatest acts, and didn't get too pissed off when some of the dumber Yanks got the idea that we started punk in New York. Thanks for the Sex Pistols in particular, guys. You rock.
Elton John, despite being very weird (especially that pink-sunglasses bit - eh?) is great too. Thanks, guys, for sharing him with us. Especially "Yellow Brick Road." Excellent.
We returned the favors, too. We've sent you tons of music from our side. You've experienced everything from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Billy Joel. We love you guys, so we share.
In a few cases, you've even embraced talents that we mostly overlook. My Ruin gives you guys the best recordings because you welcome Miss B. and her band with open arms. I'm okay with that, though. You love 'em, so you get the best of them. Fair is fair.
But lately, you've been pissing us off. What did we do to you? Why did you suddenly decide to start shipping your unwanted garbage our way, Britain? What did we do to make you want to inflict this on us?
Specifically, I'm talking about:
Coldplay. Seriously, guys, that's not funny. "Clocks" is an okay song, but the rest of the catalog is just...wow. No wonder you guys are depressed all the time, if you have to listen to this drivel. For years, I just thought that the recurring fog and/or rain was responsible for your low moods. Now, I find out that it's the music scene.
P.J. Harvey. Really, Britain? Really? Why can't you keep this screeching demon on your side of the pond? The only thing that I like about this whole problem is the fact that My Ruin did a great cover of "Rid Of Me." But then again...we didn't have to get P.J. Harvey to get that great cover song. You could have kept her. Really. Sometimes, sharing isn't the nicest thing to do.
Amy Winehouse. WHY? WHY, Britain, do you HATE us? If we wanted a top-40 single about rehab by somebody who really, truly needs rehab, we'd just buy an Aerosmith record. Please, gag Ms. Winehouse and drag her back to Britain. Please. If you have even one shred of love for the Yanks, you'll take her back.
I don't even expect any apologies for any of this. You don't have to say that you're sorry for trying to murder our eardrums and kill our stomachs with the repetitive vomiting after hearing and seeing your exported trash. But please...just stop. Now. Please. Remember what happened the last time you sent uninvited people here to see us? Please don't make us do that again.
Because of the bursitis flareup, the physician's assistant banned me from my drums. And knitting. And pretty much everything else that I do on a regular basis. Typing, however, was an exception because I explained to him that I'm a freelance writer. Unless he's willing to write a prescription for voice-dictation software, I have to type if I want to earn my monthly pittance. (He is not, incidentally, willing to write said prescription. Oh, well.)
So today, I picked up the drum sticks (Pro-Mark Japanese Oak, incidentally - quite possibly the finest sticks ever made) and beat on the snare for all of five minutes. I went through a few rudiments, just to make sure that I still remember how the single-stroke goes. Yeah, I remember. It hasn't been THAT long. But it's still nice to remind myself that what little I know about playing drums is still there.
And then my shoulder started to hurt again. Wonderful.
The good news, however, is that some Japanese company creates this lovely patch. Said patch is full of NSAIDs (non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs). It's like, Motrin on crack or something like that. You peel off the plastic backing, slap that sucker right over the painful area, and enjoy approximately twelve hours of relief.
Brilliant. Absolutely, fantastically brilliant.
So I'm wearing one of the patches right now and, yep, I feel better.
But I'll have to continue with the exercises and stretches for a while before I try to pick up the sticks again. That, or stop being so...enthusiastic...on the snare.
