[ music | Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek ]

I just can not keep from sharing this. Imogen Heap is absolutely the most brilliant artist I've found in a long time. She's like the best of Tori Amos fused with the best of Depeche Mode, with a little bit of suger stirred in for good measure. The latest album, Speak for Yourself, is just astoundingly awesome. I can not give it high enough marks. The track "Hide and Seek" is the best use of gang voices and a vocoder in history, bar none. The fact they also use Antares Auto-Tune in this track does not bother me at all, because they use the effect brilliantly, unlike the nerve-grating "Believe" by Cher a few years back. Check out I Megaphone too, it's almost as good, but still a 9. If you're a completist, check out the band Frou Frou for more of her. Incredible.

[ music | Liz Phair - Conversation Overheard Between Two Bouncers ]

I walked out my front door today, and saw these on the front of my apartment building:

My building is being sold in a Sheriff's Sale on September 1st. No, I can't sue the landlord because I've been on a month to month "lease" for ages. No, I can't buy the building. And that's my deadline (and dead is the key word here), September 1. So, I'm even further down the stream without any propulsion implements than I previously thought. So I again post my appeal, help me Reboot My Life! Please!

And in that vein, I'm even offering something for sale: Permanent ad placement on my site. For as long as your site or organization is around, you'll be able to have an advertisement here on my site. Either a skyscraper like you see to the right, a button like to the left, or we can work out some other format and placement. The only caveats are that the ad may not be Java-based, really annoying Flash ads, advertising illegal content, blatantly false, or incredibly offensive. I determine if the ad falls under these terms, but I'm very flexible and we can work something out. What's the cost for a lifetime of ad space? $5,000.00, which whill go to Rebooting my life. It will actually enable me to end that campaign entirely. The good karma you'll be buying is priceless. :)

grey (at) burntelectrons.org

[ music | Liz Phair - Conversation Overheard Between Two Bouncers ]

What a way to start a post. A smashing headache, and a horrible pun. "Pun?" you say. Yes, a pun! You see, I am obviously speaking of Indie Tits, the web comic, not Liz Phair's breasts (which are also fantastic). I'm a huge fan of Questionable Content, which is having another guest-artist week, so this is kind of a bad week to jump in, so skip back a few weeks to take a look. Anyway, J. Jacques also does Indie Tits, and maybe it's the splitting headache with which I am currently afflicted, but it's hilarious. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Not Ghey
• Cancer Babies (not a candy)
• Rush Hour
• Apathy is indie
• One of them is a girl, I swear
• Everyone loves a boobie
• Proletariat versus Bourgeois is ALWAYS funny

I am now going to take four aspirin and lie down. That is all.

[ music | Digable Planets - Cool Like That ]

Ok, I'm sure everyone has seen this interview with Asa on ZDNet. It's actually an interesting interview too, not just another fluff piece. Well, on page three of the interview, I read the classiest thing I've seen in a long time. ZDNet asked Asa the following:

Opera recently said it is unfair that it is criticised for putting ads in its browser, as they "don't have a rich sugar daddy like the Mozilla Foundation." What is your response to this comment?

Now, that's quite a baiting question, it's a question about a crackpot comment from a competitor. It's a softball intended to get a really biting quote. Asa didn't take the bait, but he did hit a smash homerun. Before he talks about putting the user first, he makes a quick but direct reply about Opera in an extremely classy way:

When you don't have to worry about monetising the browser, you can think about user. As we're a non-profit, our goal is merely to sustain ourselves. I agree that Opera need to be profitable, but to do that they have had to make their user experience a little bit worse. Luckily, we can just focus on being sustainable.

I'm not given to being gushy, but well done, Asa. Well done.

[ music | Nine Inch Nails - A Warm Place ]

Well, I'll let everyone else determine it's art value, but I will say I love exactly how it turned out. This is actually a rewrite, something I so rarely do that it's truly an occasion. But this is what I needed it to say, as opposed to what it said before. I haven't been this exhausted after writing in years. I feel wrung out, drained, but good; like I've just sobbed out a heartache all night and woken up the next morning. I've missed this, too. Believe it or not, I've actually been at this for hours. It doesn't feel like it, but it's been hours. I'm going to go sleep now, or try to at least.

[ music | Aerosmith - Dude Looks Like A Lady ]

Well, according to this article, "– Det verkar som om webbstället Spread Firefox hackades i ett försök att skicka ut spam, säger Asa Dotzler, taleskvinna till IDG News." which translates to: "- It seemes as if the site was hacked in an attempt to send out spam, says spokeswoman Asa Dotzler to IDG News." And all this time I thought HE was the QA lead. Thanks to Dunderklumpen for the translation and link.

[ music | Alanis Morissette - Hand In My Pocket ]

I can not even imagine being paid to write about this stuff. Where can I sign up?

[ music | Nine Inch Nails - Starfuckers Inc. ]

Ahh yes, I should have known it was too good to be true. Every night I check my AdSense reports to see what progress I've made. The vast majority of money I've earned so far was from Google ads, a little over $100. They don't send you a check until you hit that $100 mark either. I went to check my AdSense account, and got this message:

Yeah, this thrilled me. I had to read it three times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. "Oh shit, now what's going on?" It's been two solid days of bad news and fuckups, with a few hours of fun friday night for contrast. So I go over to my GMail account to see what's up. I just had to agree to the updated TOS yesterday, so I assumed I'd not jumped through all the hoops for that. I see this:

So, I let them run ads on my site for weeks, finally am about to get a check cut, and they decide to cancel my acocunt without warning or inquiry, and take back the moeny they would have had to pay me. Now. I guarantee I have in no way "cheated" the system, run click-bots, nor hired a room of people in Bangalore to click my page ads. It took me WEEKS just to make that measley $100 as it was. So, all I can think of is that if you, my loyal readership, have been clicking my ads, which is supposedly what they want, that's apparently a bad thing. I guess I should just be happy to show their ads for them, and not get paid. Needless to say, I'm less than happy, and have requested some accounting for these actions. We'll see how long that takes.

If I could find some kind of contact information for Yahoo's Overture division, I'd switch to their ads, but all I can find is ways to advertise with them, not carry any ads. So for now it's just the Amazon block there.

[ music | Depeche Mode - Songs of Faith and Devotion ]

It was a really crappy day most of the day. Once my obligations were taken care of, I came back, sat down, read some email, and opened up Photoshop. The greatest program of all time, even eclipsing my beloved Mozilla. Then I decided to spin up Depeche Mode's "Songs of Faith and Devotion". Oh god, this is exactly what I needed. It's got the same black sensuality of "Violator" but with a much rougher sound, not nearly as polished and clean sounding. Tonight this is what soothes this savage breast. Delicious.

And with DM putting out a new album and tour this fall, I can grab a few DM shirts while I'm at the concert. The last DM concerts I went to were in '92 or '93 (or around there). They swung through Pittsburgh once in the summer, but added a second date in that November, both of which I attended. I sadly have neither shirt after all these years, just a few photos. Come hell or high water, I'll be at the Boston shows if I have to sell a kidney.

You can help me get there and help Reboot My Life too. ;)

[ music | Monty Python - The Money Song ]

Well, I just checked my Dreamhost account for no particular reason, but I'm glad I did. Not one but TWO people signed up for Dreamhost accounts through my link in one day. I know who one of you is (thanks, kid! ;), but the second name isn't quite as easily recognized. Whoever you may be, thanks! That's another $194.00 that will eventually reach the coffers in 96 days, or October 17th. I'm not complaining though, don't get me wrong. :)

[ music | Elvis Presley - A Little Less Conversation ]

Ahh, but in temper, we sometimes say that which we cannot with level heads. Indeed...

[ music | Duran Duran - Too Much Information ]

Ok folks, to continue my effort to Reboot My Life, I've written up a review of web hosting companies I've used throughout the years. Dreamhost comes out on top, but there's a solid second choice there too. Plus, all ad-revenue goes to my Reboot My Life fund, which is always appreciated. :)

[ music | Michael Buble - How Sweet It Is ]

I'm telling you people, you must buy this album, Michael Buble - It's Time. This is guy is amazing. He's got the same kick that Frank had, with a smooth soulful voice that melts into whatever style or emotion of song he's singing. This guy's going places.

[ music | Queen - Under Pressure ]

I swear to God, if I hear that phrase one more time from one more parent I am going to go completely batshit. Why the hell do almost ALL the parents like me so damn much? No, actually, the only parents who haven't liked me were parents of my male friends. Ever damn girl I've dated or befriended, her folks love me. You'd think this was a good thing. Let me tell you, it is not always a good thing. You want to add a little pressure to a situation? Tell your daughter's friend/boyfriend that little quote up top. I find someone who's cool to hang with from time to time, who is astoundingly intellectual and articulate for her age group, has good taste in music, and who has no long term goals for this little friendship, and once again I get the parental nod of approval, and The Nudge. This Nudge is not physical, but it feels like you're being shoved out of a plane, and you're not sure your chute is working right.

And this is really twisted. This is the exact kind of situation parents are supposed to be wary of. No, I'm not a creep, nor do I have unseemly goals here, but how the hell do they know this? Do I radiate some kind of friendly glow, like little smiley-face neutrons? I really need a mind-scrubbing... Or a drink...

All I'd need is a laugh track and my life could be a sitcom sometimes...

[ music | Nelly Furtado - Powerless ]

So, today Chewie[] has started to discover a very important life lesson. It's quite an experience to see people say or think things exactly as you did at that same age. Specifically, he said "I really didn’t like what she was becoming. I just wanted her to remain her own, beautiful self." I laughed, but not in a derisive manner, but in a completely understanding one, and appreciating the naiveté of the statement. I can remember on a few occasions thinking the exact same thing. But the lesson he will learn is two-fold. Change is inescapable, you can not stop change any more than you can hold back the tide. And the second, and probably more important in this particular situation is you can only control yourself. You are powerless to change other people, and if you should try to change other people, it will NEVER EVER WORK. It always ends in disaster. I do not want to even attempt to count the times I have seen it nor do I wish to recount the few times I've tried it. It will blow up in your face every time. The best case scenario is discussing the situation with the other person, and bringing the problem to light. The caveat with that is if there is no actual problem, if you have a personal issue with what a person is becoming, especially as they grow up and find their own identity, there is nothing you can do, and nothing you should do except deal with it. It's a hard fact of life to learn, some people never learn it. But it is an extremely valuable one which you will find useful through your entire life. With friends, lovers, spouses, children, and parents, you will find them no longer adhereing to your plans for them, but you need to remember that no one said your plan was best.

It's still interesting to see someone wrestle with this, however. A wry irony. We're all so smart, but we're all still so dumb. Chewie[], you are a drop in the ocean, but the rest of us are also drops, and together we make up that ocean. As much as you may feel it at times, you are not alone in those feelings. :)

[ music | Depeche Mode - A Question of Lust ]

It is the east, and Storm Trooper 78,443 is the sun.

I swear he looks like he's going to cry. "This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!" All I want to know is where they sell low-rise codpieces...

[ music | Cake - Nugget ]

I'm spending the day with relatives... The song summarizes my internal monologues for the day...

[ music | Tori Amos - Silent All These Years ]

Long ago, I used to write, a lot. Some of the best stuff (and a few of the not-so-best but fun) is over in The Museum, if you've never been. I wrote pen on paper. I have to use paper for some things, or it comes out flat. I saved every one of those papers (and a few more...) Well, I stopped writing a while later, when I buried my passions. During those long, cold years, when I was someone else I didn't like, I don't remember writing much of anything. Certainly nothing of value. I know I wrote many things I immediately discarded.

I began writing again recently, when I began singing again, when I let me out of my cage. I just went looking for some of those new things, and found a few things from those silent times, tiny sparks in the dark, only embers now, but enough to see that that fire was always there. I think I'll put them in The Museum soon. But two I had to share now. They're not my best, but they show a little promise... There's hope for me yet. ;)