Last night, I finished my ambitious project of pulling favored tracks off of my CD collection and into the ever-popular MP3 format in iTunes. A quick data CD burn and a lengthy journey to work later, I now have about 110 more tracks on my playlist than I did last week!
I also removed stuff I wasn't really into anymore. I realized that the "no justifications" and "no ommissions" rules only applied to stuff you like but might be embarrased about. So most of (but not all of) Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville is out of the loop now (but I did add some of her later stuff, so there hasn't been a Phair purge or anything).
And now, some items of note:
* They've done a remake of The Omen, with Julia Stiles finally reaching the stage in her career where she starts playing mothers (she's Damien's mom in this movie, as you could well surmise). The movie will be released on June 6 of this year. Being a superstitious sort of fella, I won't spell it out any further and leave it to you, faithful reader, to figure out the significance of that date.
* The exercise routine is moving along pretty well. I skipped the gym on Tuesday, but I made up for it by going in last night, a night I usually take off so I won't miss Survivor. The diet could be better. The Easter candy is still around, my boss's wife is always bringing boxes of candy into the office, and it's hard to find time to cook healthy stuff when you get home from work at six-frickin'-thirty and then have to go to the gym. There's a Subway on the way to and from the gym, but I got tired of Subway a long, long time ago. Last night, we were in such a hurry to get back home and settled in to watch Survivor that we ordered a pizza. I'm hoping the exercise is outweighing the diet decisions.
iTunes Time!
1. "Pulling Teeth" - Green Day
2. "I'll Be There" - Escape Club
3. "Voices Carry" - Til Tuesday
4. "Now I Can Die" - Nina Gordon
5. "I'm A Believer" - The Monkees
6. "I Wanna Be Bad" - Willa Ford
7. "Time Capsule" - Matthew Sweet
8. "Take Me Out" - Franz Ferdinand
9. "Only Time Will Tell" - Asia
10. "Vasoline" - Stone Temple Pilots
11. "Where The Streets Have No Name" - U2
12. "Beast of Burden" - The Rolling Stones
13. "Walking Contradiction" - Green Day
14. "Take It Off" - The Donnas
15. "I Palidrome I" - They Might Be Giants
16. "Take It On The Run" - REO Speedwagon
17. "I've Told Every Little Star" - Linda Scott
18. "A New Day" - Gemma Hayes
19. "Jumping Jack Flash" - The Rolling Stones
20. "Breathe" - Prodigy
21. "Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair) - Sheena Easton
* "Time Capsule" remains, to this day, one of my favorite songs. Can't put my finger on why. I just like it.
* I was happy to get some They Might Be Giants into the mix. I once had the Apollo 18 CD almost memorized, I listened to it so much.
* I had a feeling The Stones would be coming up a few times. I added almost all of their Greatest Hits double album to the list. I added a lot of Green Day too.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Friday, April 21, 2006
New Speakers = Better iTunes!
I post today from a slightly rearranged and slightly improved desk area. About a half-hour after my last self-indulgent rambling, my desk at work got rearranged to accommodate a new printer, and in the process, I got the speakers a now former co-worker had been using. It's a brave new world, iTuneswise.
Before we get to the weekly list, here are some random thoughts/news.
* We're starting to get serious about working out and dieting now. I've even started training myself to accept diet soda as something worth putting in my mouth. Of course, the recent Easter holiday has resulted in an abundance of temptations. Stupid bunny.
* They've always said that you shouldn't put metal in a microwave, but until today I had never seen an effective demonstration why not. I was making myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when I noted that I was working with refrigerated PB and a plastic knife, a combination that tends to result in broken knives. So I put the jar of PB, minus the lid, which I think was plastic anyway, in the microwave with a paper towel on top in case any splatter occurred. I fired up the microwave, and about 5 seconds later there was a very bright flash. As fate would have it, I had failed to remove all of the safety foil from the jar when I first opened it a week or two ago, and that had sparked and ignited the paper towel. It proved to be an easy enough situation to correct, and I learned a valuable lesson about foil removal. Happily, 5 seconds was enough to soften the peanut butter sufficiently.
* "The Last DJ" by Tom Petty got some notoriety a few years back for being a song so anti-corporate radio, bemoaning the disappearance of DJs that play whatever they want, that no radio station would play it. But now our local JACK-FM station is playing it. Their gimmick is that they play whatever they want, but they also don't have any DJs. It's just music, commercials, and a pre-recorded station ID (albeit with comments that at least try to be clever) between the two. So I think the station is playing a song that's actually against what they are.
Anyway, here's this week's iTunes list:
1. "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" - The Beatles
2. "That's Entertainment" - The Jam
3. "Log Blues" - Ren and Stimpy
4. "Mary Ann" - Ray Charles
5. "The Look of Love" - Susanna Hoffs
6. "Breaking The Girl" - Red Hot Chili Peppers
7. "Hole In The River" - Crowded House
8. "What A Wonderful World" - Joey Ramone
9. "She's Right On Time" - Billy Joel
10. "It's Only Natural" - Crowded House
11. "Walking On Sunshine" - Katrina and The Waves
12. "Wolf" - Veruca Salt
13. "I Wanna Rock" - Twisted Sister
14. "Rio" - Duran Duran
15. "Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I)" - Ray Charles
16. "We Are All Made Of Stars" - Moby
17. "Bitchin' Camaro" - Dead Milkmen
18. "Hot For Teacher" - Van Halen
19. "Hey Ya" - Outkast
20. "Caroline" - Fleetwood Mac
21. "Dangerous Girl" - Vitamin C
"Log Blues" does not actually feature Ren and Stimpy, but it was on Ren and Stimpy's "You Eediot!" album. It's a commercial for the International Log (there's a blues bass background playing, thus the title). It speaks Five Foreign Tongues! It's better than bad - it's good! Yes sir, I like it!
Katrina and The Waves have kinda lost some of their popularity in the Trackrick household. You can imagine why.
While going through my CDs last night, I noticed how many bands and songs that I was into in the mid to late 90's just don't do it for me anymore. Veruca Salt, happily, is not one of them. Though the band totally sucked after Nina Gordon left the group and took all the talent with her.
Speaking of going through my CDs, I need to get more MP3s for my computer here. Apparently 382 songs is not enough to avoid repeats from week to week. Not that I have a problem with "Bitchin' Camaro" or anything.
One of the rules for this iTunes exercise is to list everything, including the embarrassing stuff. Vitamin C falls into that category.
Before we get to the weekly list, here are some random thoughts/news.
* We're starting to get serious about working out and dieting now. I've even started training myself to accept diet soda as something worth putting in my mouth. Of course, the recent Easter holiday has resulted in an abundance of temptations. Stupid bunny.
* They've always said that you shouldn't put metal in a microwave, but until today I had never seen an effective demonstration why not. I was making myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when I noted that I was working with refrigerated PB and a plastic knife, a combination that tends to result in broken knives. So I put the jar of PB, minus the lid, which I think was plastic anyway, in the microwave with a paper towel on top in case any splatter occurred. I fired up the microwave, and about 5 seconds later there was a very bright flash. As fate would have it, I had failed to remove all of the safety foil from the jar when I first opened it a week or two ago, and that had sparked and ignited the paper towel. It proved to be an easy enough situation to correct, and I learned a valuable lesson about foil removal. Happily, 5 seconds was enough to soften the peanut butter sufficiently.
* "The Last DJ" by Tom Petty got some notoriety a few years back for being a song so anti-corporate radio, bemoaning the disappearance of DJs that play whatever they want, that no radio station would play it. But now our local JACK-FM station is playing it. Their gimmick is that they play whatever they want, but they also don't have any DJs. It's just music, commercials, and a pre-recorded station ID (albeit with comments that at least try to be clever) between the two. So I think the station is playing a song that's actually against what they are.
Anyway, here's this week's iTunes list:
1. "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" - The Beatles
2. "That's Entertainment" - The Jam
3. "Log Blues" - Ren and Stimpy
4. "Mary Ann" - Ray Charles
5. "The Look of Love" - Susanna Hoffs
6. "Breaking The Girl" - Red Hot Chili Peppers
7. "Hole In The River" - Crowded House
8. "What A Wonderful World" - Joey Ramone
9. "She's Right On Time" - Billy Joel
10. "It's Only Natural" - Crowded House
11. "Walking On Sunshine" - Katrina and The Waves
12. "Wolf" - Veruca Salt
13. "I Wanna Rock" - Twisted Sister
14. "Rio" - Duran Duran
15. "Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I)" - Ray Charles
16. "We Are All Made Of Stars" - Moby
17. "Bitchin' Camaro" - Dead Milkmen
18. "Hot For Teacher" - Van Halen
19. "Hey Ya" - Outkast
20. "Caroline" - Fleetwood Mac
21. "Dangerous Girl" - Vitamin C
"Log Blues" does not actually feature Ren and Stimpy, but it was on Ren and Stimpy's "You Eediot!" album. It's a commercial for the International Log (there's a blues bass background playing, thus the title). It speaks Five Foreign Tongues! It's better than bad - it's good! Yes sir, I like it!
Katrina and The Waves have kinda lost some of their popularity in the Trackrick household. You can imagine why.
While going through my CDs last night, I noticed how many bands and songs that I was into in the mid to late 90's just don't do it for me anymore. Veruca Salt, happily, is not one of them. Though the band totally sucked after Nina Gordon left the group and took all the talent with her.
Speaking of going through my CDs, I need to get more MP3s for my computer here. Apparently 382 songs is not enough to avoid repeats from week to week. Not that I have a problem with "Bitchin' Camaro" or anything.
One of the rules for this iTunes exercise is to list everything, including the embarrassing stuff. Vitamin C falls into that category.
Friday, April 14, 2006
A Taste of Evil and iTunes
About a week ago, I was running late to work, but I needed to stop by somewhere to pick up cereal and milk for breakfast (I eat my breakfast at work, due to my being a big fan of sleeping in as late as it is humanly possible). Since every minute counted, I passed up all supermarkets and Quickimarts that deviated at all from my usual 60-mile journey from home to work, and I went to the BP station right by work, right along the road.
I tend not to go there, because the first time I went in, there was a small fluffy dog (a kickdog, if you will) in there that apparently belonged to the cashier and that wanted to start a torrid love affair with my left leg. Happily the dog was not there this time, and I was able to conduct my search for milk and cereal unmolested.
The milk was easy enough to find - coolers are good navigational aids for that sort of thing - but finding the cereal proved to be problematic. I was about to give up when I found a small selection of cereals on the bottom row of a corner aisle. It was readily apparent that these cereals weren't going to be top-notch quality, as there was not a Kelloggs, Post or GM among them. They weren't even Malt-o-Meal. Instead, they were of a brand I had never seen before, with box art that appeared to have been made in Illustrator by someone with a passing knowledge of the program. I almost conceded defeat and went somewhere else, sealing my tardiness fate, but decided that it couldn't be all that bad and went with the corn flakes.
As it turned out, I still had enough cereal at work to get a decent breakfast, so I didn't discover the horrible truth about my corn flakes until the next morning. My first clue was when I opened the box to find that the "flakes" were, in fact, almost uniformly oval. This was enough to get me to investigate the ingredients. They all seemed to be natural (no sodium benzochloridiferroushydroginate to be found), so that eased my mind, though the "Made in Egypt" below the ingredients kinda uneased it back a bit. Still, how was I to know if I liked it or not it I didn't try it? So I tried it.
The box said it was corn flakes, the ovals in the box had a corn flake color, but they sure didn't taste like corn flakes.
To paraphrase Phoebe on Friends, now I know what evil tastes like.
I got about 3 or 4 bites down and then decided that starving until lunch would be preferable. Happily, a fellow worker let me have some of his Kashi, and all ended well.
And now, here comes the music:
1. "The Red" - Chevelle
2. "Ugly On The Outside" - The Judybats
3. "Throne Room March" - John Williams
4. "Glory" - Liz Phair
***At this point, I changed the sorting from "Time" to "Artist" so that all the Liz Phair and Crowded House and such could be grouped together, and decrease the odds of getting the same artist more than once on a random shuffle.***
5. "Do You Realize" - The Flaming Lips
6. "I Got You" - Split Enz (the proto-Crowded House)
7. "The Old Man Down The Road" - John Fogerty
8. "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" - Elvis Presley
9. "Jukebox (Don't Put Another Dime)" - The Flirts
10. "Shock The Monkey" - Peter Gabriel
11. "Canary" - Liz Phair (so much for the re-sorting strategy)
12. "What's Up" - 4 Non-Blondes
13. "Vienna" - Billy Joel
14. "Hey You" - Pink Floyd (in a repeat appearance from last week)
15. "Sadie Hawkins Day" - Mary Prankster
16. "Stand Back" - Stevie Nicks
17. "I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone" - The Monkees
18. "Now You're A Man" - DVDA
19. "A Matter of Trust" - Billy Joel
20. "That's Entertainment" - The Jam
21. "The Reflex" - Duran Duran
#3 is the music that was playing at the end of the first Star Wars movie, when Luke and Han (but not Chewie) get their medals. It is also the music that played as the recessional at my wedding. So that song reminds me of two good things now. What's noteworthy about this copy is that it does not go directly into the End Credits music, as it does on the soundtrack. My brother edited the extra music out for a friend for his wedding recessional (the friend that also played the Darth Vader theme for the bridesmaids' processional) so there was a recessional-ready version at my disposal.
There are 382 songs in my iTunes library here, only 18 of which are by Liz Phair. Yet I manage to get at least two Liz Phair songs every time I do this. Go figure. I wouldn't mind so much if I was still into Liz Phair, but I've kinda cooled on her in the decade since I got Exile in Guyville, from which all these songs are coming.
Of course, I didn't complain when Billy Joel came up a second time.
I'd have to say that, overall, this is the best list I've had so far!
I tend not to go there, because the first time I went in, there was a small fluffy dog (a kickdog, if you will) in there that apparently belonged to the cashier and that wanted to start a torrid love affair with my left leg. Happily the dog was not there this time, and I was able to conduct my search for milk and cereal unmolested.
The milk was easy enough to find - coolers are good navigational aids for that sort of thing - but finding the cereal proved to be problematic. I was about to give up when I found a small selection of cereals on the bottom row of a corner aisle. It was readily apparent that these cereals weren't going to be top-notch quality, as there was not a Kelloggs, Post or GM among them. They weren't even Malt-o-Meal. Instead, they were of a brand I had never seen before, with box art that appeared to have been made in Illustrator by someone with a passing knowledge of the program. I almost conceded defeat and went somewhere else, sealing my tardiness fate, but decided that it couldn't be all that bad and went with the corn flakes.
As it turned out, I still had enough cereal at work to get a decent breakfast, so I didn't discover the horrible truth about my corn flakes until the next morning. My first clue was when I opened the box to find that the "flakes" were, in fact, almost uniformly oval. This was enough to get me to investigate the ingredients. They all seemed to be natural (no sodium benzochloridiferroushydroginate to be found), so that eased my mind, though the "Made in Egypt" below the ingredients kinda uneased it back a bit. Still, how was I to know if I liked it or not it I didn't try it? So I tried it.
The box said it was corn flakes, the ovals in the box had a corn flake color, but they sure didn't taste like corn flakes.
To paraphrase Phoebe on Friends, now I know what evil tastes like.
I got about 3 or 4 bites down and then decided that starving until lunch would be preferable. Happily, a fellow worker let me have some of his Kashi, and all ended well.
And now, here comes the music:
1. "The Red" - Chevelle
2. "Ugly On The Outside" - The Judybats
3. "Throne Room March" - John Williams
4. "Glory" - Liz Phair
***At this point, I changed the sorting from "Time" to "Artist" so that all the Liz Phair and Crowded House and such could be grouped together, and decrease the odds of getting the same artist more than once on a random shuffle.***
5. "Do You Realize" - The Flaming Lips
6. "I Got You" - Split Enz (the proto-Crowded House)
7. "The Old Man Down The Road" - John Fogerty
8. "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" - Elvis Presley
9. "Jukebox (Don't Put Another Dime)" - The Flirts
10. "Shock The Monkey" - Peter Gabriel
11. "Canary" - Liz Phair (so much for the re-sorting strategy)
12. "What's Up" - 4 Non-Blondes
13. "Vienna" - Billy Joel
14. "Hey You" - Pink Floyd (in a repeat appearance from last week)
15. "Sadie Hawkins Day" - Mary Prankster
16. "Stand Back" - Stevie Nicks
17. "I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone" - The Monkees
18. "Now You're A Man" - DVDA
19. "A Matter of Trust" - Billy Joel
20. "That's Entertainment" - The Jam
21. "The Reflex" - Duran Duran
#3 is the music that was playing at the end of the first Star Wars movie, when Luke and Han (but not Chewie) get their medals. It is also the music that played as the recessional at my wedding. So that song reminds me of two good things now. What's noteworthy about this copy is that it does not go directly into the End Credits music, as it does on the soundtrack. My brother edited the extra music out for a friend for his wedding recessional (the friend that also played the Darth Vader theme for the bridesmaids' processional) so there was a recessional-ready version at my disposal.
There are 382 songs in my iTunes library here, only 18 of which are by Liz Phair. Yet I manage to get at least two Liz Phair songs every time I do this. Go figure. I wouldn't mind so much if I was still into Liz Phair, but I've kinda cooled on her in the decade since I got Exile in Guyville, from which all these songs are coming.
Of course, I didn't complain when Billy Joel came up a second time.
I'd have to say that, overall, this is the best list I've had so far!
Friday, April 07, 2006
This Week's Musical Randomness
And away we go!
1. "Where Do The Children Go" - The Hooters (in this version, Patti Smyth is singing along!)
2. "Mess Around" - Ray Charles
3. "Apology" - The Go-Go's (from the album they made when they reunited a few years back)
4. "Rockin' Robin" - Bobby Day
5. "Bitchin' Camaro" - The Dead Milkmen
6. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" - The Rolling Stones
7. "Something So Strong" - Crowded House
8. "Student Loan" - Mary Prankster
9. "20th Century Boy" - T-Rex
10. "Too Late For Love" - Def Leppard
11. "Intuition" - Jewel
12. "Fuck and Run" - Liz Phair
13. "Panama" - Van Halen
14. "Never Said" - Liz Phair
15. "Molly" - Sponge
16. "Hey You" - Pink Floyd
17. "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" - Shania Twain (Blue (Asian) version, as opposed to the Red (Pop) or Green (Country) versions)
18. "Sign Your Name" - Terrence Trent D'Arby
19. "Simple Man" - Lynard Skynard
20. "Symphony No. 25 in G Minor, 1st Movement" - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
21. "6 Underground" - Sneaker Pimps
Now this was an eclectic mix. Throwing Mozart in with Van Halen, Shania Twain, Ray Charles and The Dead Milkmen will do that.
382 songs, and I manage to get the same Rolling Stones song two weeks in a row.
The Mozart song was played at the beginning of the movie Amadeus. There was also a video for it on MTV at the time (1984), wherein they interspersed footage of rock n' rollers and clips from the movie. The one sequence I really remember is footage of Gene Simmons with his tongue hanging out, followed by a clip of the Austrian emperor looking somewhat perplexed.
1. "Where Do The Children Go" - The Hooters (in this version, Patti Smyth is singing along!)
2. "Mess Around" - Ray Charles
3. "Apology" - The Go-Go's (from the album they made when they reunited a few years back)
4. "Rockin' Robin" - Bobby Day
5. "Bitchin' Camaro" - The Dead Milkmen
6. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" - The Rolling Stones
7. "Something So Strong" - Crowded House
8. "Student Loan" - Mary Prankster
9. "20th Century Boy" - T-Rex
10. "Too Late For Love" - Def Leppard
11. "Intuition" - Jewel
12. "Fuck and Run" - Liz Phair
13. "Panama" - Van Halen
14. "Never Said" - Liz Phair
15. "Molly" - Sponge
16. "Hey You" - Pink Floyd
17. "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" - Shania Twain (Blue (Asian) version, as opposed to the Red (Pop) or Green (Country) versions)
18. "Sign Your Name" - Terrence Trent D'Arby
19. "Simple Man" - Lynard Skynard
20. "Symphony No. 25 in G Minor, 1st Movement" - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
21. "6 Underground" - Sneaker Pimps
Now this was an eclectic mix. Throwing Mozart in with Van Halen, Shania Twain, Ray Charles and The Dead Milkmen will do that.
382 songs, and I manage to get the same Rolling Stones song two weeks in a row.
The Mozart song was played at the beginning of the movie Amadeus. There was also a video for it on MTV at the time (1984), wherein they interspersed footage of rock n' rollers and clips from the movie. The one sequence I really remember is footage of Gene Simmons with his tongue hanging out, followed by a clip of the Austrian emperor looking somewhat perplexed.
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