Farewell, Blue & Gold - RTOTD #863

Day 863

Turns out my Blockbuster story from last week had great timing. The company announced yesterday that they were closing their remaining 300-ish stores around the country.

Man, this is just the next step as media stores all die.

First it was the record stores in the 90's and early 00's. Places that were dedicated record shops? They didn't last. The places that managed to transition from the record to the cassette to the cd didn't realize that the end-result of that evolution of music delivery was going to be the one that didn't include them. Digital. Big box stores like Best Buy that used media as loss-leaders to sell you a tv or a stereo were the first step. Napster and shit really put a beating on the record store even when 56k and DSL were the high-end of data delivery. The iPod and iTunes put another nail into them. Amazon and other non-traditional options for physical media really hurt them. And once we were all putting thousands of songs on our phones instead of needing to carry a 2nd device for music? That's when it was just a matter of shoveling the dirt back into the grave. It was dead.

And in a lot of ways? That's really quite sad. Obscure music becomes harder to find when you aren't thumbing through a row of import albums or checking out labels and release charts. Or in my case, checking the stuff out as I stocked the shelves in highschool. That kinda always made it easier. And as a consumer now? Finding "that guy" at the record store that knew every new album out and would recommend you this new thing that nobody else has heard about (like I spent most of late 99 and early 2000 doing with MUSE) and it would be killer? That guy doesn't exist anymore. You can't get that from iTunes. They don't have a "the record store guy" app or whatever to recommend shit. They just have their typical label shills that pay for ad space.

It was only a matter of time before it happened to movies. No, streaming hasn't yet reached the quality or market availability yet to truly be a viable alternative. There's far too many portions of the country that are missing the infrastructure and data speed yet to really replace dvds and blurays with streaming entirely. And while Redbox is great, it just doesn't replace a Blockbuster or whatever for old movies. A Redbox has no selection at all if the movie isn't under 2 months old. And adding games to them now just gives it less space for movies.

Good luck if you wanna watch Star Wars tonight and don't own it. Redbox doesn't have it. Netflix will give it to you in 3 days, but that's not tonight. None of the streaming services have it (amazon, Netflix, etc) and the only way you can buy it online is in the "all of the movies" bundle on iTunes and the like. At least before, if you wanted to watch Star Wars or Indiana Jones, you could head out the trusty Blockbuster and rent it.

So I guess those of you that want to rent it can pirate it and delete it. And those of you that live in the sticks and it'll take 4 days to download it from a torrent site? I guess you can make a trip to Walmart and buy it. But that kinda defeats the purpose of "renting it for $3 for 3 nights" thing. But that's about it for your choices.

So RIP Blockbuster. Your lack of a porn section and constant need to impulse sell candy and DirecTV will not be missed, but your ability allow us to watch some random 80's comedy or bad Wesley Snipes 90's action movie at our leisure will certainly be. Farewell, original blue & gold signage that BestBuy kinda stole. You will maybe sorta be missed. But you could always just make your not-Redbox machines at Sheetz like 3x the size and give us all of that selection again. We won't complain.

Yet another step down the road to a virtual-media only future where nothing is manufactured and all media is consumed and stored digitally. But if you people fuck with bookstores & comic book stores and make them disappear too, I'm going to start hunting people down. Books and comics are still infinitely better when consumed in physical format. I can sacrifice a tiny bit of audio or video quality to never have to wipe down another CD or DVD or get up to change discs. But if you think I'm going to live with not being able to file my comics in long boxes ore look at my bookshelf and hold and smell and see a real book with real pages and ink on them, well you've got another thing coming, fuckers!

Today's Playlist - RTOTD #857

Day 857

I haven't done a "What am I listening to right now" thing recently. So I figured I'd give you a taste. A tiny bit of obscure. A little bit of a mix of genres. But all-in-all, it mixes together well.

Never Walk Alone - Megadeth

Conquistador - Thirty Seconds to Mars

Cereal Killer - Method Man & Redman

Sweat - David Guetta vs Snoop Dogg

Wide Awake - Gravity Kills

Candy-O (Cover) - Powerman 5000

Pour Me Another - Atmosphere

Arma-Goddamn-Motherfuckin-Geddon (Teddy Bears Remix) - Marilyn Manson

The Preacher - Brother Ali

Numb/Encore - Jay-Z & Linkin Park

Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown - Rob Zombie

Second to None - Styles of Beyond

Acid Wolfpack - Coyote Kisses

A Freak Gasoline Fight Accident - Zebrahead

The Outsider (Apocalypse Mix) - A Perfect Circle

The Phoenix - Fall Out Boy

Mz Hyde - Halestorm

Street Fighting Man - Rage Against the Machine

I Came to Party - Deuce

Behemoth - Static-X

Pool of Booze, Booze, Booza - Volbeat

Big Man with a Gun - Nine Inch Nails

Meet the Creeper (Pink Pussy Mix) - Rob Zombie
Holdin' On (Skrillex & Nero Remix) - Monsta

Frankenstein - DMX

Parabola - TOOL

 

 

I have no idea if any of these embedded videos work because my damn phone won't show them and YouTube is blocked in my office. So I can't test them until I get home later. So if they don't work... well... tough? I guess?

Bring The Boom - RTOTD #826

Day 826

Do you know the one aspect of being in that 17-20 range that I miss? Having a stereo system that could rattle your teeth but not the trunk.

I had one in my Jeep that I spent a shitload of time and energy making sure didn't sound like 99% of the other "teenager with a loud ass car stereo" out there. I mounted the speakers right. I balanced them even better. The insall job was CLEAN, hidden and based on the type of box and speakers that I installed, and the way that Jeeps are built, I didn't get a single bit of that obnoxious license plate rattle that 99% of everyone else ended up with.

You know what I'm talking about. When you're sitting at a red light and some kid in a souped up Honda Civic pulls up next to you and has an exhaust that sounds like a back-firing lawnmower and then all of a sudden, his stereo starts playing and it's so loud that you can FEEL it. And while his choice of music is shit, because 95% of all music made after 2003 is complete garbage and he's 17 so that's all he knows, it wouldn't even be that bad if 1) you could hear the treble. At all. Hell, even if the mid-range gets lost in the shuffle, being able to hear the highs even a bit would be good. and 2) the entire back half of his car didn't sound like someone stuck a coffee can filled with pennies in a paint mixing machine and set it on high. Fuck, even wobble bass wouldn't be intolerable if you weren't concerned that his bumper might fall off and cause an accident if he somehow ends up in front of you. And he will, because even if it's bumper to bumper traffic, he's going to put his foot on the floor as soon as the light turns green so that he can show how fast his car is. And to justify that spoiler that's taller than the roof of his car on a front wheel drive car.

See, that's the downside of putting in a stereo system. Asshats like that that give car audio enthusiasts, or music enthusiasts that happen to spend a lot of time in their car, a bad name. They make people that put time and energy into putting together an exceptional sounding, rattle-free stereo system look like assholes too. Granted, most of us are. We're non-consensually shoving our music preferences on your ears at every red light, on every street, every highway, and every heavy stream of stop & go traffic. We're dicks like that. We make talking on your cellphone while driving difficult. But I prefer to look at it like we're doing a public service and a health service all at once. First, you shouldn't be talking on the phone will driving anyway. That radio car commercial lady that's always  talking to some guy named Larry, who'se stuck in a ditch is, constantly telling us that. And second, we're saving you from brain cancer. We're helpful like that.

Granted, the policeman sometimes doesn't see it that way, but fuck him. People with loud stereos are providing a vital community service.

I miss that. I mean, I don't mind the more "normal" stock stereos from cars today. The quality of the stock stuff is a million times better than it was in the late 90's, but it's still not the same. You get much above 50% volume and the stock stereos start to crackle and pop because they just can't handle the type of power that aftermarket equipment can. I had 2 high-end 10" subwoofers each getting 130 watts from an qaulity amp, a decent set of mid-range components, and some great mid-highs and highs in the front. I even still have the 3-way plate speakers that I had in my dashboard. It was balanced in a way that could make you feel like you were having a heart attack from the bass fucking with your heartrate, but you could still clearly hear the high-end and mid range in a way that most people never expected when they first sat down in the car. The distortion was virtually non-existent and it scared deer away from a mile in every direction. It was fucking awesome.

And as I said, I miss that. I think I need to do that again. I want that rolling disturbing the peace violation back. Because while "racecar" is certainly a worthwhile objective, so is being able to listen to some sick music while annoying the general public and being the envy of 17 year old kids with a 1996 Buick Skylark everywhere.

Or maybe I just want something that sounds better than stock. Mostly because I'm like half deaf at this point and want to get myself the rest of the way there. That way I have an excuse when I just entirely ignore 95% of the conversations that people try to have with me unless it involves a girl taking off her clothes.

Growing HATE - RTOTD #779

Day 779

Because I don't find a way to confuse you fuckers often enough, after some discussion with @CarmelizedGinger, I realized that HATE needed to grow.

For those of you that aren't local or are just readers that don't really know me, HATE is the annual UnValentine's Day party that I came up with last year and my roomies and I throw. I know it's kinda cliche to throw an anti-valentine's day party because fuck Hallmark, but it's still fun. And while I'm certainly a contrarian to the Nth degree, sometimes doing something cliche is just plain easier.

Long story short was that last year was the innaugural HATE party. It was killer. And we wanted to do it again. The problem was that the weekend before, there was already a birthday party scheduled that a number of my friends had already planned on going to. So I was left with the weekend after.

That's when it got complicated. I powered up the laptop and was about to get to making the event on Fet when I see that not 15 minutes prior, another birthday party had been scheduled. For the same night that I wanted to throw HATE. I was bummed.

After a little discussion, we decided that they could host HATE this year. We would combine the birthday party with the HATE party and hold them together at the same venue. A party within a party, if you will.

The problem was that we didn't anticipate the kind of interest that HATE had. Everyone that wasn't already going to Winter Fire in DC wanted to come. Ruh Roh! We were going to need to turn people away. And well, that's just generally not my style. When I throw a party, I want to go big. I always want to go big. Bigger than last time. Bigger than what other people do. Just. Plain. Big.

So while the idea of turning some people away and scaling back HATE was really the only option because of space requirements, I came up with a better solution. Make it BIGGER. Don't mess with the plans for Saturday night, but fuck it... we have a whole WEEKEND to spread and celebrated HATE.

So the solution was actually pretty simple. Make it into a whole weekend-long event. But split the venues up. One party Friday. One party Saturday. Keep the Saturday plans the same and limit how many people could come, but throw ANOTHER party on Friday to get the HATE started sooner. And my roomies & I would handle hosting duties for the Friday portion of the party.

Now, let's just see how many people can figure this shit out without getting it fucked up and going to the wrong place on the wrong night.

So let this be a lesson to you when you want to throw a party or event

There are no obstacles, only challenges.