I am tired and busy. I need some time off.
Month: June 2004
i’m working
I’m currently in a stretch of days where I am working almost everyday. I have Monday off but other than that, I’m working 14 consecutive and non-consecutive days. It’s a little frustrating because I should have my weekends off but that’ll start in July. Finally!
Something you should read about. Ever heard of the Induce Act? Well, if not, read up. You’re about to be criminalized for downloading music. In fact, this is going to criminalize almost everything in the country in one form or another. We all commit copyright violation. It’s just life. Wanna see proof that even companies like Apple are vulnerable? Have a nice day.
Sources: Lessig Blog, EFF
processed music
Processed music – Music written in order to fit into a certain style regulated by music labels and corporate suits in order to produce the most financial profit from a popular artist or band.
Wanna see what I’m talking about? Thanks to justwatchthesky.com, check out this link of Nickelback’s top hits stereo interweaved.
On a side note, I have nothing personally against Nickelback and enjoy their music.
Brenham photos
I finally decided to post another photo slideshow! I was a lot more conservative this time with how many photos I posted because the first show was way too long for dial up kids. So feel free to take a long look!
take a trip down my path
A week has already passed. I just flew in to town a little while ago and here I’m already a week into my stay. I fly back to Burbank in just a couple of days.
This might be my last time to Houston for a while. I have had a reason to fly back the last couple of times but now I really don’t have a logical, economical reason to make this expensive, time consuming trip back home…well, as close to home as it can be. It’s where I really grew up from a childish boy to an adult. Although, one could still assume I was a childish boy by the way I act sometimes.
The only certainties which I can guarantee myself for the next few months is that I’m going to move all my belongings once again within the LA area. After that, I just don’t know what will happen.
My personal philosophy:
1. do that which you love; live out your passions.
2. Be around those who you care about and people who care about you.
As long as you have both of these qualities in your life, everything else will fall into place. Besides, if you don’t enjoy life, what’s the point?
I expect that life will continue to pick up. I expect that I shall find something to do which absolutely means everything. I expect that someday I will settle down more comfortably than I currently am. I expect that I should stay happy. I just hope that everyone else expects nothing of me except to be happy. Should I allow others to expect certain things of me?
Here’s to tomorrow and to whatever it shall bring.
so HUMID
YUCK.
Houston is so gross. I’ve been enjoying myself immensely since I’ve been here but this humidity is going to kill me!! It also rained on top of that so it’s been really gross. After being in a dry, hot LA for the past few months, I’m certainly not used to all this water in the air. BLAH.
I’ve had a great time so far and have been visiting with friends almost non-stop! Yay to everyone that I’ve seen and hooray for making time for me! Just a few more people for a few more days and I’ll be set!
my second concert ever
Man, I played this one smart. I thankfully had a pair of earplugs in my car and decided early on to take them. Boy, am I thankful that I did. That was one loud freakin’ concert.
We made it there just in time. The reason we ran late was because the Lakers were playing the 2nd game of the NBA finals and it was the last quarter. Because the Pistons came back to tie and eventually outscore the Lakers with five minutes to go, there was no way we were going to leave before the end of regulation. One minute left. The whole restaurant was sitting on edge waiting for the Lakers to catch up. Down 5 points. There was no way. Then they made a basket. Down 3 points… With less than 10 seconds to go, Kobe takes the ball from way outside and just sinks it in the basket to lead the Lakers into OT. Holy cow, and everyone stood up and screamed. It was one of those moments.
And so we left.
It took me FOREVER to find a parking space. Finally, five blocks away and minutes behind the others, I found a little space on the street behind a truck right beneath this lonely little light. The neighborhood wasn’t too shady looking (though I couldn’t really tell to well at night) but enough for me to feel somewhat uncomfortable. After I walked back up to Wilshire, I noticed a lot of asian insignia. Well, it wasn’t all that bad, just a tad outside my comfort zone.
By the time I got up to the Wiltern theater, the others had already entered and staked their places. With such a high noise to signal ratio, it was nearly impossible to hear where they were located when I called them. So, I stood near the back of Aisle 4, still close enough to see the faces of Scott Weiland, Slash and the rest of the band.
Velvet Revolver came out just in time to start jamming really loudly and quickly after I made a tardy entrance. There really was no let down in volume or speed throughout the whole concert. Scott is insane on the stage. He shakes his body like it’s a piece of taffy that someone is chewing. He seems to have a fun time singing to everyone. Many times, he grabbed a megaphone and used it to talk into his microphone. Partly for effect, partly for volume. Then there’s Slash. It was great to see Slash for the first time, much of my rememberance of him being from his Guns and Roses days. He rocks exactly like you see him rocking on MTV or his music videos. And he wore his tophat!!
They played about 3 sets, the first one being the longest. And by the second set, all the front men had their shirts off. Rock and roll, baby! Their show was about and hour and a half or two long. With all the lighting, effects and heavy, adrenaline pumping music, it was a pretty memorable concert all in all.
So now I’m back home, about to fly out in a few hours, my ears are feeling great, and it’s time to hit the sack.
internet safety
I HATE pop-up ads. These things infect your computer, your browser, your mainstay of your computer usage. It’s annoying, it’s irritating, it’s simply just a horrible way to attract a customer. It’s just as bad a business practice as suing people for downloading music. It won’t accomplish anything positive, it makes you look like an ass, and there’s no need for something so drastic to advertise and protect your products.
Well, I want to warn all y’all PC suckers of some bad practices around the Internet. Have you ever downloaded something from download.com? Whether it was winzip, kazaa, or something you think might work just as well, be warned right now that you’re probably downloading more ad and spy software than you think. I know download.com has less control over everything they allow to be downloaded, but hopefully you can be smart enough to know how to avoid this crap.
I downloaded a little program a few minutes ago that would rip Audio CDs to MP3s. It looked like a nice program to use and simple and quick. Well, upon downloading and installation, I caught that it was also attaching some “money saving” spyware, bonzai buddy, gator, and other imfamously TRASHY and ANNOYING software. Well, now I have these pop up ads on this computer every now and then. I use software like adaware and spybot to try to destroy this junk. If you don’t run one or both of these, do it now! You have absolutely nothing to lose and uninterrupted Internet browsing to gain. In fact, I’ll be in Houston and if anyone wants computer help (for some kind of compensation), let me know and I’ll be happy to help!
Be careful of what you download. If you are not sure, ASK! Ask anyone who has a clue, like me!
and so, the sun has set . . .
One of the most honorable presidents of our time. Goodbye President Reagan.
what’s your passion?
If you could anything you wanted to for the rest of your life, what would it be?
This question haunts me. I’m sure it haunts MANY people. Who wants to do ONE thing for the rest of his or her life? But it’s a question that’s important to be able to answer. Why? Because the majority of Americans with some sort of education are facing this everyday of their adult lives. Many deny it, many defer it, many settle elsewhere. What’s the point?
I am in LA trying to start something big for my life. Trying to break into the industry. I have an internship with a music supervisor, whose only job is to find music for soundtracks of movies. It’s a glamorous job with so many fringe benefits. And you get to work with directors, actors, musicians, etc. on a daily basis. There’s a lot of technical work involved with music labels, publishers, copyright holders, money, lawyers, and so many other people. But overall, you’re eventually going to determine the songs which you hear for a particular movie, thus affecting the audience and viewers who also watch and hear the same. It will affect emotions, it will inspire, it will provoke, it will make you smile, it will make you angry. It’s a huge job with a huge responsibility. It’s a job that I could possibly see myself doing down the road.
But my true passion with movie soundtracks has always been with the instrumentals involved. I’m talking about the original soundtrack composed by one of hundreds and thousands of people. Music that you listen to and completely adds an atmosphere to a scene.
I’m talking about that scene where Darth Vader is introduced in Star Wars, walking to the beat of a brass ensemble march. I’m talking about the scene in Jurassic Park where Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler see dinosaurs walking the earth for the first time in their lives, the orchestra melodically defining the adrenaline rush felt by these characters. I’m talking about the scene where the kids discover the Pan is alive in Peter Banning, a soft, whistful melody which keeps you watching, almost choking you up with some tears (Hook). I could easily go on and on with examples but you get the picture.
I am not guaranteed any job by working this internship. It just doesn’t work that way with the industry. But, this is experience that will hopefully send me along to my next job or internship with the same or another company for a similar experience and job.
If I could do one thing for the rest of my life, and it had to be one thing, I’d want to work directly with composers as they compose and score music for soundtracks of films. Part music supervisor, part music editor. That would make me happy.