I dumped some photos off of my camera today. Some of them dated back to August. I'm over photography as much as I'm over LiveJournal it appears. Just more things in the long list of interests which I get really excited about then takes a back seat to newer, shinier things. My penchant for novelty is one of the main reasons I never pursued any formal career or discipline of study, at least one that I couldn't get into quickly and easily without much forethought or investment. I don't really miss trying to capture every single little thing with a camera all the time. I'm sure I was insufferable to a lot of people and in the end, I feel I was detached from a lot of the actual experiences. On the other hand, I miss having almost no photos of my life from the past couple of years. I need to strike some sort of balance between the two. Maybe sometime in the coming days I'll put some of these random photos online for an LJ entry.
So, I'm not on LiveJournal as much and I'm sure as hell not on Twitter and FaceBook doesn't really do much for me. So where the hell am I these days? Mostly I play Kingdom of Loathing or a Carcasonne clone at Aso Brain Games called Toulouse. It's typical of my "online life" I guess. First it was e-socializing via the BBS community for a few years, then it was gaming on MUDs for a few years, then back to socializing on IRC for a few years, then more gaming via Hearts and Chess at the old MSN Game Zone, then back to socializing on LJ for a few years. I guess you can find me at one of those two places for the next couple of years until the next e-socializing sensation captures my attention. I'll still be around here, but it's obvious it's not like it used to be, and probably never will again.
I had a dream last weekend that I slept for 49 years. Freaked my shit right out.
As a youngster, I cut my musical teeth on classic hard rock from the 60s and 70s. Lately, I've come full circle and have been revisiting a lot of the music from that era. I've been exploring full albums and the repertoire of artists largely unfamiliar to me outside of mainstream AOR programming, but definitely in the larger mainstream vein. A lot of Deep Purple has been in my ears. Lynyrd Skynyrd's first record. Some early ZZ Top. Ted Nugent. Also for the first time, I watched the Woodstock movie. Jimi Hendrix was an early rock hero of mine and watching his performance at Woodstock reminded me of how amazing he really was. I mean, it doesn't even look like a guitar in his hands when he's playing. As a result I've lined-up some more Hendrix related documentaries, biopics, and performance films to watch in the coming months. I've often wondered if Hendrix experienced the phenomena known as synesthesia, and many have certainly speculated it. I read once that he often spoke of sound in terms of color and texture. The end result is what leads me to the conclusion though. The thing I notice the most when listening to Hendrix is how rich, robust, and varied his tone was. I think it's what made Hendrix The Great One. The way I see it, there are three primary components to rock guitar: technical ability, tone, and soul. You can make a career out of any one of the three. You can be one of the greats if you can master two. You nail all three and you're a legend. Hendrix not only nailed all three, but he did them all better than anyone and died before he had a chance to suck.
For me it still beats anything else out there... I just seem to be over the idea of the regular sharing of my life with an audience, in as much as I ever really did. I still do like having the platform there, I just don't feel the need to use it as often as I once did.
i can't believe you hadn't seen "woodstock" till now. the hendrix experience alone is monumental. i saw it 20 years ago, and then again maybe five years ago? and the performances are just so moving and genuine...dated, yes. but, fucking venerable.
i heard andy summers recently refer to hendrix as, "the fucking mountain to which we all dreamed we were mohamed."
yeah. what i'm sayin'.
the first guitar move i taught my (then) 10 year-old nephew on 'guitar hero' was the "hendrix burn." he thought i was some kind of god/aunt. which, of course, i am.
Actually, I'm kinda surprised it took me this long to get around to seeing it, too.
As for Mitchell, not only was he a great drummer... but the way the drums sounded on the Experience recordings is superb, especially on Axis: Bold As Love. They were tight and crisp; not full of reverb and mushy.
dude, Kingdom of Loathing? yes, i know it's funny, but people there end up being just as creepy and scary as anybody else engaged in long-range RPGs. i had fun with it for an afternoon, then looked into the forums, and i've spent the last three years trying to get the heebie-jeebies off of myself.
for my own part, i've been over on Reddit a lot lately. it's certainly not ideal, but in a post-LJ age, it's the closest thing i've found to a place to discuss dumb ideas at great length for one's own amusement. a "conversational cloud," if you will. like most such things, finding the signal for the noise can occasionally be difficult, and i'm disturbed by the distinct impression that the average Redditor is about 9 years my junior. but there are still a lot of us old farts about, and interesting discussions to be had. i'm queso_quest over there if you ever come a'lookin'.
RPGs / MUDs creep me out just generally. for many they are addictive and reality-warping as smack, but without any of the cool factor. i knew people who dropped out of college due to compulsive MUD use and i've had students whose careers were wrecked by WoW.
if KoL was a mere parody of those things it wouldn't be creepy; the issue is that it gives the appearance of being a parody of those things while simultaneously being that which it mocks. like i said, it wasn't until i went into the forums and started encountering lifers that i ran away screaming.
Hmmm. Well, I guess I'll try it out. I've never tried one before. But if it starts to get too time consuming I'll have to drop it. I just don't have the time for a big commitment.
I don't think you'll find it overly addictive or time consuming. For one, it's turn based, so you can only do so much on a daily basis, unless you start making multiple characters to develop. For two, those turns carry-over if you don't use them, so you don't feel like you HAVE to play daily... if life is busy and you miss a day or two, it's no big deal.
If you've ever played any text adventures or RPGs, you'll find it amusing at best. If you dig pop culture references, especially music and movies, and word-play, you'll like it even more. Ultimately though, it is just a text-based RPG, and if you've spent any amount of time playing them in the past, you won't find anything incredibly new about the game play and probably grow tired of it in time.
I don't interact with the community all that much; the design of the game doesn't really allow for it "in game" and I don't go to the forums. Like you, I find most hardcore RPGers weird and creepy. As for the game, I don't really view it as true RPG. The inability to interact with the other people playing, like in a MUD or WoW, prevents that. I just find it amusing and largely mindless fun. Solving the quests provides some entertainment but in the long run I know I'll grow tired of it and move on. I had my fill of text-based adventuring when I played MUDs in college. It'll grow old quick.
Ronnie Van Zant was Lynyrd Skynryd. Ergo, Lynyrd Skynyrd was awesome.
Personally, I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd, but I sure saw Molly Hatchet. With .38 Special and the Johnny Van Zant Band. And I sure saw Ozzy Osbourne with Randy Rhoades in '82 just before that plane crash. And I sure saw AC/DC with Bon Scott singing "let there be rock."
soopageek
Miss you and Erin. Hope you guys are well... really do miss you.
i heard andy summers recently refer to hendrix as, "the fucking mountain to which we all dreamed we were mohamed."
yeah. what i'm sayin'.
the first guitar move i taught my (then) 10 year-old nephew on 'guitar hero' was the "hendrix burn." he thought i was some kind of god/aunt. which, of course, i am.
As for Mitchell, not only was he a great drummer... but the way the drums sounded on the Experience recordings is superb, especially on Axis: Bold As Love. They were tight and crisp; not full of reverb and mushy.
for my own part, i've been over on Reddit a lot lately. it's certainly not ideal, but in a post-LJ age, it's the closest thing i've found to a place to discuss dumb ideas at great length for one's own amusement. a "conversational cloud," if you will. like most such things, finding the signal for the noise can occasionally be difficult, and i'm disturbed by the distinct impression that the average Redditor is about 9 years my junior. but there are still a lot of us old farts about, and interesting discussions to be had. i'm queso_quest over there if you ever come a'lookin'.
if KoL was a mere parody of those things it wouldn't be creepy; the issue is that it gives the appearance of being a parody of those things while simultaneously being that which it mocks. like i said, it wasn't until i went into the forums and started encountering lifers that i ran away screaming.
If you've ever played any text adventures or RPGs, you'll find it amusing at best. If you dig pop culture references, especially music and movies, and word-play, you'll like it even more. Ultimately though, it is just a text-based RPG, and if you've spent any amount of time playing them in the past, you won't find anything incredibly new about the game play and probably grow tired of it in time.
Cartersville, Ga is not.
Drive-By Truckers, who sound like Skynyrd and operate out of Athens, GA, are.
I don't know that I'd go as far as to say Lynyrd Skynyrd was awesome... Ronnie Van Zant was definitely awesome though, that's for sure.
Personally, I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd, but I sure saw Molly Hatchet. With .38 Special and the Johnny Van Zant Band. And I sure saw Ozzy Osbourne with Randy Rhoades in '82 just before that plane crash. And I sure saw AC/DC with Bon Scott singing "let there be rock."