69 Love Songs

I've been listening to the Magnetic Fields' box set 69 Love Songs recently. I highly recommend that you check it out.



The songs are short (23 per disc), poppy gems that feature both great lyrics and beautiful music. (As with any collection of this size, there are hits and misses. But the misses are easily excused by the quality of the good songs.)

The musical style varies from song to song, as the Fields borrow from electronic, rock, folk, and country in their compositions. However, whatever the genre, each song shares the common characteristics of lush melodies and creative progressions. While the music has a pop sound, beneath the burnished surface is very deep, creative music.

However, it's the lyrics that really set this collection apart. The songs are alternately quirky, sweet, brooding, and dark -- often simultaneously. The word-play in many songs is clever and engaging, conveying the raw (and often conflicting) emotions triggered by romantic relationships.

The sparse production of the backing music allows the vocals (which alternate between a male and female singer) to shine through. The soulful voices of the singers make it seem that a friend is simply pouring out their feelings.

Give the Magnetic Fields a listen and let them share their feelings with you.

Irrationally Exuberant Quote of the Day

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), on Democrats who may vote against the John Roberts nomination:

"If being intelligent, brilliant, a superb lawyer, the greatest legal mind of your generation and well qualified is not enough, what is?"

Certainly, Judge Roberts is intelligent and a superb lawyer. Even brilliant, perhaps. But "the greatest legal mind of [his] generation"? Get real. That's just pure irrationally. He may possibly be one of the great legal minds of his generation. But there are others, and frankly we won't know who is "greatest" (a completely subjective standard anyway) until years from now.

It's that kind of exaggeration that is going to set up your opponents to fight you even harder, Sen. Graham. Of course, Lindsey Graham is no asset to the Senate, so I guess I'm not surprised to hear this from him.

And we wonder why our legislatures fail

I'm finding endlessly interesting things to blog about tonight. By chance, I happened to find an article about a state rep in Tennessee who caused a stir by demanding to join the legislative black caucus, but was rebuffed due to his race (he's white).

In response, he declared that the KKK is more open and less racist than the black caucus. Now that's a special kind of stupid.

But it gets better. The news article had a link to his blog, so I checked it out. It's pretty clear that either this guy was last in line when they were handing out brains in school or else he fell out of the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down. He seems to be unable to write a sentence without a spelling or grammatical error, and putting together coherent thoughts is a skill he apparently never developed.

And we wonder why our government is so incompetent. It's probably because we "leaders" like this who are absolutely idiotic on every intellectual and social level making decisions.

Supreme Court is keeping busy

I'm so happy to hear that the Supreme Court is finding ways to keep themselves busy. Apparently, the have granted cert in Anna Nicole Smith's estate case.

To boil the case down to the basics, Anna Nicole was a total gold-digger, marrying some 79-year-old multi-millionaire who was about to kick the bucket. The multi-millionaire's son, who of course wants all daddy's money for himself, has fought her through multiple courts at multiple levels.

I'm sure there are valid legal issues in this case, but does the High Court really need to waste its time on a squabble between a gold-digger and some other heirs? At its core, this is a pretty boring, mundane case that never would have seen the light of day were Anna Nicole not a famous, augmented woman who might get a few hundred million dollars if the case goes her way.

Oh well. Maybe the justices were just hoping that Ms. Smith would show up in court, giving them something more interesting than usual to look at.

I think someone's trying to send a message

I was just on Friendster, and on every page, there was a message at the top of the screen:
"Attract women, without rejection. Click here for details."

Ahem....are they trying to tell me something? *sob!*

Hide your food, because I'm coming after it

I don't know what my deal is, but I am crushing the food tonight. In addition to my VP2 (granted, I only ate half of it, but the portions are huge), I drank orange juice and ate a brownie when I got home.

But apparently, that was not enough, so I went back to the kitchen and finished off the rest of the plate of brownies. Strangely, I don't even feel like I ate too many -- instead, I feel inclined to break out the ice cream. I realize the frolf is an intense sport, but I don't think my appetite should be this out of control.

In addition, I'm really trying to watch what I eat, because I feel like I'm gaining weight (why, I'm not sure, as I've been eating less and eating healthier since school started). I really don't want to put the waist fat that I lost at the beginning of the summer back on, and I don't think that eating a plate of brownies is going to help me avoid this outcome. This sucks.

On the stoop

I got caught in a rain storm in the west village tonight. I had just gotten take-out from VP2 and was going to walk up to 18th when the downpour hit. Having no umbrella and nowhere to go, I figured there was no need to be yet, cold, AND hungry. So I sat down on a stoop that was protected from the rain and ate my mango "chicken." It tasted great, and while I was eating, the storm passed.

FROLF!

There is a new ultimate sport in town, and it's called FROLF. If I were you, I'd get into Frolf, because it is the coolest. It's an easy choice, if you ask me.

Today, S2, R2D2, and I invaded Central Park for the inaugural game of Frolf. I'm not sure that Central Park will ever be the same. The tourists who we confounded and terrified certainly won't be.

Frolf is a shortened form of of the term "frisbee golf." Now you may have heard of disc golf, a form of golf played with frisbees. Frolf is rather different than this. Sure, disc golfers like to think they are all "cool" and "hip," unlike traditional golf. But come on -- they set up courses and have a Professional Disc Golf Association. LAME-O! They might as well go join the nearest country club. They even have a "World Open Championship."

Maybe disc golf began as a way to escape the rigidity and snobbery of "real" golf, but it obviously no longer fulfills that purpose. It's time for a real alternative to golf, and that alternative is FROLF!

Frolf is a completely organic sport. One goes to a nearby open (or semi-open area) with friends and frisbees. Participants then pick a starting point and identify a target. They throw their frisbees until reaching the target. They then pick a new starting point and a new target. Score-keeping is allowed, although not strictly enforced (the main reason score is kept is for trash-talking purposes).

Today's round of frolf was one for the ages. We began on the great lawn, and wound roughly south, finishing near Columbus Circle. Along the way, we involved many trees, signs, and trash cans. Oh yeah, and the statute of the Tempest (in front of Delacourt Theater), the low wall near Swedish Cottage, the keystone of the tall bridge in the Ramble, the brick circle in the Bethesda Terrace, the Bandshell, a rock in the Sheep's meadow, the gate blocking entrance to Tavern on the Green (which borders the outdoor patio), home plate at Heckscher Playground, and finally, the base of the Maine Memorial statue at Merchant's Gate (Columbus Circle).

It was a picture-perfect 18 hole tour of the southern half of Central Park. While no score was kept, I'm pretty sure S2 won by a fairly wide margin, with R2D2 probably beating me by a little bit. We had so much freaking fun. At every turn, we were finding better and better holes.

Talk about a quality way to spend an afternoon. You should definitely go play some frolf as soon as you can.

More popular than....

I kinda-sorta administer my church’s website.  I’m kind of bad about it (I certainly spend less time on it than I devote to BRY), but I do basic updates and stuff like that.  (If I get motivated, I might totally redesign it, as I greatly dislike how it’s currently set up.)  

A few days ago, I put StatCounter on it, to try to get a handle of how much traffic it’s getting (and where that traffic is coming from).  It has been fairly uninformative so far (I think I need to tweak it, due to all the freaking frames on the page).

The important takeaway point so far, however, is that BRY is more widely read than my church.  Hallelujah!  At least I’m more popular than religion.

Dazed and confused

I think I just asked a really stupid question in class, or at least the professor thought so.  I still don’t understand what his point is.

I understand the concept of “metaphors,” but the metaphor he is making here makes no sense.  fn1.  This is all extremely simple economics, but the professor is muddling it and making it far more complicated than it needs to be.  Then, you have a bunch of people trying to prove how smart they are by adding throwing out even more complex explanations, which make even less sense.  This is not complex stuff, people.  

Of course, the fact that we have a lot of ESL LLMs here makes everything more difficult for them, which is precisely why the professor should try to express things simply.

As an added comedic aside, the other professor in the class (it’s co-taught) just had his cell phone ring in the middle of class.  He was trying to turn it off, but couldn’t figure out how.  So it kept ringing as he became increasingly frustrated.

1. Not to bore you all to death, but in brief, here’s what was being discussed.  We are talking about “free look clauses,” which allow a buyer to sign a purchase contract, inspect property, and then decide whether or not to terminate the purchase agreement based on what they find.  Usually, the buyer pays a deposit, which they forfeit if they terminate the contract.  

The reasoning for all this is rather simple.  The buyer gets to find out if the property is suitable for their intended purpose before making the whole investment.  The seller can get a higher price, because the parties negotiate the purchase price based on the assumption that the property will be suitable for the buyer’s intended purchase.  While the buyer has the potential of losing the sale if the buyer terminates, they are compensated for this through the deposit.  (As I’m writing this, I should note that we’ve now been discussing the reasoning for this for about ten minutes.  Talk about overkill.)

(Example:  A developer wants to build a shopping mall.  He finds a chunk of property, and enters into a purchase agreement.  During the free look period, he is going to get environmental approval, have his engineers make sure construction is feasible, secure leases from potential tenants, etc.  If these things fall through, he will terminate.  However, if he goes through with it, he will pay the previously negotiated price, which is going to be much higher because it was negotiated assuming that the land was suitable for his intended use.  If he were buying it without the free look clause, he would be more inclined to pay a price closer to lesser value uses, such as farm land or low density housing.)

Anyway, the professor said that the seller was paying the buyer to acquire information.  I didn’t understand why, and the professor said that it was a metaphorical payment.  This is untrue, however.  No one is paying anyone.  The buyer is paying to gather information in three ways.  First, they are shouldering the costs of any inspections they undertake during the free look period.  Second, they are risking the deposit if they decide not to purchase the property.  Third, the initially-negotiated price reflects the premium that assumed the property would be good for originally intended purpose.  I can find no rational explanation for a metaphor under which the buyer is paying the seller to collect information.  If anything, the “metaphor” cuts the other way.

Down the Drain

J1 sent me a story today about a guy who bought a $27,000 Tiffany engagement ring for his fiancé.  Three days later, she LOST it.  Three days!  After three days, most women still can’t take their eyes off their new ring.  Not this girl.  She left it in a bathroom sink in San Francisco.  

Now the story has a happy ending, as an extremely honest woman found it and returned it to Tiffany, which was able to track the owner through the serial number.  So the ring and its owner were reunited, and $27,000 avoided being washed down the drain (literally).  [Sorry, I know that’s a really bad joke.]

Now I will avoid going on a rant about two things, but I will mention them.  First, when you’re still in school, as this fellow happens to be, spending $27k on a ring is not that smart.  Don’t start throwing around money like that until you’re actually a baller.  Second, buying at Tiffany is pretty stupid as well, as they basically charge a huge price premium based on their brand name.

What I will go on a rant about is that the ring was not insured.  How do you spend as much money on a ring as most cars cost and then not insure it?  That has to be one of the most brainless things I’ve ever heard of.  You are just asking to have a painful story of loss and ruin with an that kind of decision-making.

Who wants a White Stripes ticket?

I have an extra tix to the White Stripes show on Saturday night (7:00 pm) at Keyspan Park in Brooklyn. Who wants it?

Missing Out

Pearl Jam is on tour in Canada right now, and I was checking out setlists of the dozen or so shows that they've done so far. As usual, they are playing amazing setlists.

That's the great thing about going to see PJ live. They're a great band as it is, but it's when you see them live that they just blow your mind. They have such a deep catalog that you could hear them eight nights in a row and have a completely different experience every night. Plus, there's the real rarities that they only break out occasionally that can make a show really special.

Anyway, I've seen them four times live so far. Every show has been amazing, and I've always wished I had seen more shows. The only thing that I've really missed so far is hearing Yellow Ledbetter live. It's one of my favorite PJ songs, and is great live -- a total send-up to Jimi Hendrix. For the first ten years or so that they toured, Yellow Ledbetter closed practically every show. On the last few tours (basically since 2000), they've started playing it at every other show or so (subbing Rockin in the Free World, Baba, Crazy Mary, and a few other songs as show closers). But somehow, I've always missed the nights that they played it.

So of course, with my luck, on this tour they have played it at the end of all but two shows. And of course I don't have tickets. I missed my best chance for tix (when they were playing Philly) because I was in a plane all day. I considered going to a couple of the Canadian shows, but the cost would have been prohibitive.

I'm hedging my bets, hoping that they do a full U.S. tour next year. If so, and I'm lucky (i.e. they don't hit the east coast during the bar exam or during my first month of work), I should be able to hit at least two, and maybe six or eight, shows (two in NYC, two or three in Boston, two in Philly, and maybe a couple in Jersey). We'll see how it goes, but if it works out, it would be like the best two weeks of my life. And, I should be able to hear Yellow Ledbetter at least once.

Episode I The New Tools

Well, it’s time to open up the tool shed.  The first instance of toolish behavior came out in force today in one of my classes.  

We were talking about copyright and the music industry, and the professor asked us how we encountered music in our daily lives.  It was his way of trying to engage us directly in the subject matter.

Naturally, the first person to raise their hand couldn’t just give a normal response, like “listening to my iPod.”  Oh no.  See, in my class there is this guy who was a professional opera singer before coming to law school.  Now as a stand-alone fact, I have no problem with that.  I like being surrounded by people of extraordinary and unusual skills.  I’m cool with opera singers.

Of course, he’s the type that the law school gets off on.  You know, the one who they trot out in their profiles of the incoming class so that they can say, “See, not all our students are personality-free dorks who majored in liberal arts in undergrad, never had any interesting career aspirations, worked for a year as a paralegal, and then showed up at law school.  Oh no.  They’re interesting, multi-faceted, talented people.”

Be that as it may, it’s not his fault that the law school wants to pimp him out.  He could still be a cool guy – I don’t know him.

But he couldn’t give a normal response.  That wouldn’t let everyone know just how special he was.  So in response to the question, “How do you encounter music in your daily life?” he responded, “I perform it.”

The professor was somewhat befuddled.  The student sighed, and said, “I’m an opera singer,” as if we all should have known in advance how special he was.  

Yup, it’s that time of year again.  Tool time.

Waiting for the bus

We got the wife and kids, we got the guy and his date. We all get mad, we all get late. Looks like somebody forgot about us, standing on the corner, waiting for the bus.

If someone would kindly send a bus to pick up me and my groceries before it starts raining, I'd appreciate it.

Must Stop!

Ok, no more reading “Overheard in New York” during class.  I was doing well (mostly because the quotes weren’t that funny, but then I came to this one:

Watching Just Shoot Me Until You’re Sterile

Woman1:  He had to take his cat to the vet.
Woman2:  She has to get spaded?

Then, I almost start laughing out loud.  Not good.  But this class period is moving a little bit slowly, to say the least.  We’ve spent the last 40 minutes listing ways in which the U.S. is not equal, particularly in the education area.  Listen, I think we all know there’s inequality.  Can we move on now?

Do I Smell Funny?

Apparently no one wants to sit next to me in financial statements.  For the past two nights, the three seats around me have remained conspicuously vacant.  I guess I better use more deodorant tomorrow.

Geeked Out

You know what I love?  Now that I have a camera-phone, I can theoretically take pictures in class, email them to myself, upload them to photobucket, then post them on my blog, all without leaving my email and Microsoft Word.  Ok, well, I’d also have to open up IE to upload to Photobucket.  But you get the point.

I am such a geek.

Nifty New Tool

When I logged on to Blogger today, I noticed that they have introduced a new tool: Blogger for Word.  So I am writing this post in Microsoft Word in the middle of class, appearing as if I’m doing something akin to taking class notes.  

We’ll see how it works, but at the least it looks like a convenient way to make posts.  It also allows me to save drafts when the wireless network is down, meaning that I can post more efficient.  

The end result of all of this is that I can write even more crap to bore all of you!  w00t w00t!    

Edit:  I just discovered the first drawback to the Word add-on.  It doesn’t support images, which means that you can neither edit old posts with images or make new posts containing images.  I suppose their may be a work-around to this, but I’m not sure.

Actually, it looks like there is a work-around.  Right now, I am typing in the html viewer, which allows you to see the html of your post before you send it out.  If I were to hard-code an html image tag in here, it should work.    

Edit 2:  Here’s testing the proposed work-around.  If a fire picture shows up, then it’s working.

The Tie

So for my birthday, one of my friends (who managed to stay out of any of the pictures) gave me this GREAT tie. I was talking about how great it was (and explaining in exacting detail why I liked it so much) when S1 derisively told me to "save it for my blog."

I was, of course, deeply hurt by her disinterest in what I had to say. But, just like Toyota used to say, "You asked for it, you got it." fn1. So for the enjoyment of S1, if no one else, here's why this tie is great:



First of all, it's a great color combination. It manages to combine chocolate, pink, and an almost orange shade. It's perfect for the season, as we are just heading into fall. It's also very versatile, in that it could be paired with a dark shirt and suit for fall/winter, but the tie itself is light enough that it could go with a tan or khaki suit in the middle of summer.

On a personal level, it's a great color for me because I feel like the browns and oranges are a color family which I have not explored enough in my tie collection. I have plenty of red, blue, and pink, with a nice touch of green and purple. I love these colors, but this tie is completely unique in my collection.

The other great thing about it is the way it combines formal and fashion. It's a classic repp style, which means that it's perfectly appropriate for a boardroom. Yet the colors are fresh and creative, giving it a light feel that avoids stuffiness.

Oh, did I mention that it's made out of luscious silk? It looks great, and hangs well. All in all, a perfect tie.

There, you happy now S1? ;)

1. The only reason I know this particular tag line is because of Forget Paris, a relatively funny Billy Crystal romantic comedy. It features his senile father (or maybe it was the father of his love interest), who repeats everything he sees. So they'd be driving down the road past a donut shop and he's suddenly say in a monotone, "Donuts, donuts, donuts." Pretty hilarious, but frighteningly similar to what I do when I'm riding in the car.

Happy Birthday to Me

My birthday was actually a few weeks ago, but the unfortunate passing of J1's grandfather caused the celebration to be temporarily postponed. This past Saturday night, we all got together at Acqua to do a little celebrating.

It was really a rather amazing night. I can't believe how many people came out to have dinner and celebrate my birthday. I was really touched -- it was such a great time and all the people who came were so great. I seriously had a strong emotional reaction to all of it. It just felt so good to be loved, I guess you could say.

Here are some pictures of the festivities:


Me and my beautiful date for the evening.


Me and R3, whose actual birthday was Sept. 10. So it was a little double-birthday-party action.


My law school friends: S2, S3, R2D2, R3, K2, and Avani. The only one missing is A3, who is currently in Amsterdam.


Front row: J2E, S1. Back row: Me and K1.


J1's current roommate Grace, her old roommate and longtime friend Jen, her friend from grad school, Ayako, and K1.

All in all, it was a great evening, and a big thanks to everyone to came and made my un-birthday so much fun.

The Polyphonic Beatles?

Yesterday, I was listening to the single for "Soldier Girl," by the Polyphonic Spree, on my iPod. Not a bad disc, featuring four well-composed pop/rock songs.

But am I the only one who thinks the Spree sounds a LOT like the Sgt. Pepper's-era Beatles? Featuring a lush, orchestral sound, multi-multi-track recording, and the use of many different instruments, particularly percussion, the Spree create a dream-like sound, which seems to harken back to the height of the Beatles' psychodelic period.

Not that this is a bad thing, necessarily. It's just interesting, so to speak.

Die spammers die!

Stupid spammers seem to think that the comments section of my blog is an appropriate forum for their pointless spam.

I've turned on the "word identification" function which will force people to type out a word displayed in graphic form before posting a comment. If the spammers are bots, this should stop them. If they are people who have nothing better to do with their time than sully my blog, then we'll have to institute more serious measures.

Security Check

You know what really annoys me? Well, a lot of things do, but the annoyance de jour is used record stores that do not disable anti-theft devices in discs that you buy.

Today, J1 and I ended up going into Academy Records and CDs. (It's on West 18th, between 5th and 6th, near Cupcake Cafe, which has some really good cupcakes.) It's not a bad store, although it's arranged poorly, making browsing difficult. fn1.

Anyway, I bought a few CDs (including the Flaming Lips single for "Fight Test" with the "Thank You Jack White (for the Fiber-Optic Jesus You Gave Me)" B-side) and a DVD. One of the discs had an active anti-theft tag. I realized this as soon as I walked into TJ Maxx and the alarm went off. Of course, I knew I would catch hell when I left.

Not surprisingly, the pissy security guard yelled at me when I left. I handed her the paper bag and walked back through the detectors to prove that it was the bag that was triggering it. Fortunately, she was reasonable enough to figure out that there was no problem and let me go.

But this hilights a common problem with used CD stores. They often sell punchouts or other "new" discs that still have anti-theft devices, but they don't demagnitize them. Consequently, you set off the theft detectors in every store you enter afterwards. Not particularly convenient.

So this is a memo to all used CD store owners. Just get the freaking demagnitizer. Run CDs over it. Save your customers a crapload of hassle.

1. This reminds me of another pet peeve, specifically about used record stores. CDs should be placed spine up, so that you can read the artist/album title. It speeds browsing by about 150%, and allows the bins to be packed much more tightly. Looking at the top of a CD case tells me nothing.

Quote of the Day

J1, trying to write a new Friendster profile:

"I love music, and I like to think that it loves me back. In five years, if I've been forced to leave the City because of bankruptcy, I'll realize that it didn't."

Unfortunately, this bit of hilarity, which I said was pure comedy gold, was rejected as "too dark." Go figure.

Fresh Cream

Just found out that the Cream reunion (which yielded four shows at London's Royal Albert Hall a month or so ago) is coming to MSG. Apparently, the three night gig in late September will be their only shows in the U.S.

Obviously, I'd love to be there. There are two major problems. First, tickets START at $65 and top out north of $350. The larger problem is that there is a presale limited to American Express Gold Card holders that runs from September 12 to September 18. On Sept. 18, tickets go on sale to the general public. Unfortunately, at that point I have to think that there aren't going to be any tickets left.

I can't really afford the fees on a gold card just to get tickets for this show, not to mention that I'd be unlikely to be approved given my current income situation. So I'm resigning myself to being on the outside of this once-in-a-lifetime concert.

Reality Check

I think it's always good to have some form of reality check so that just when you think you're pretty cool or smart, you realize that you're not so great.

In the world of Zoolander, it's one of those times when someone tells you, "You think you're too cool for school....but you are-n't."

One such check would be R2D2's most recent post on his blog. I mean, I like to think I know about computers, but I understood about 3% of that post. I might know the theory of what's being talked about, but as far as any real knowledge....no way!

R2, you're too smart for your own good.

I'm back (in black)

Continuing with the AC/DC theme, I am in fact back. And since this is Black Red Yellow, I'm back in black. Oh hell yes. I am so clever!

I have to apologize to you all for being so spotty on the posting over the last couple weeks. Well, actually I think it's been longer than two weeks....I think I pretty much fell off the wagon when I finished work a month ago. Between traveling and starting school, I've been ignoring the blog. Which is too bad because I have had plenty of interesting things to blog about. And by interesting, I mean no more boring than the sh*t I typically write about.

I started classes on Tuesday. My schedule is still somewhat in flux. I am not particularly happy because it is my last year of law school and I still can't get all the classes I want, which is just bullshit. I'm paying $40,000+ in tuition. Why the hell can't I at least take classes I want?

But of course, there are a few classes which are massively oversubscribed, and then some no one wants to take because the professors are horrible. What it comes down to is that the law school is trying to force us to take as many large classes as possible so they won't have to pay for more professors. Cheap bastards. Once again, where is all my money going?

The positive thing is that I've gotten at least four classes I want: Deals, Deals Workshop (a seminar), Financial Statement Analysis, and Law and the Music Industry (another seminar).

The wildcard is whether I can get into the Private Investment Funds seminar. The professors are really good (I went to the first class on Wednesday), the topic is something I'm somewhat interested in, and increasingly, private investment funds are becoming the main movers and shakers in deals, etc. Not to mention that there's a ton of money there. So it's a good field in which to have background.

If I get that seminar, I'll be happy. Otherwise, I think I'll have to take European Law or Corporate Finance, neither of which are particularly interesting to me. Plus it will put me at 15 credits, which is more than I need. And I have no interest in taking more credits than I need to graduate.

In addition to trying to figure out my schedule, I've been trying to unpack and get caught up here in NYC after my two and a half weeks on the road.

Fortunately, I've had the chance to hang with J2E, K1, S1, A1, and lots of other friends over the past couple nights. This weekend, I should see even more people at my belated birthday party Saturday night. So if you're my friend and haven't yet gotten the invite, consider yourself invited. 8 pm on 9/10 at Acqua (96 and Amsterdam). I ran into R3 on the street today, and it turns out that's his birthday too, so hopefully he'll stop by and we'll make it a little double birthday party action.

Ok, that's all I have time for now. Laundry is crying out from the dryers in the basement.

I know it's only rock and roll, but I like it

While I was out in Cali, I ordered a bunch of CDs from BMG. fn1. They started coming in yesterday.

Tonight, I came home and popped in AC/DC's Back in Black, one of the best rock albums of all time. Can I just say that it is SO refreshing to hear some real rock?

Pretty much top to bottom, this album is solid hits. Hell's Bells, Shoot to Thrill, Back in Black, You Shook Me All Night Long, Have a Drink on Me, Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution....we're talking about some of the greatest hard rock songs ever, all packed onto one album. No filler here, folks.

This is the nice 2003 remaster edition, with great linear notes by David Fricke, one of the best rock critics out there. Great package, great album -- great music.

Rock and roll ain't noise pollution/ rock and roll will never die!

1. They were running a special where if you bought one CD at full price, you got all other CDs for $1.99. I got 11 albums for an average price of around $6.95.

New Names

While we were out in Cali, J1 and I hung out with a few of her friends, including Irene and Maggie. We got talking about blogs, as Maggie has a Xanga site and I of course have this here blog thingie. Turns out Irene had never heard of blogs before, and so she always thought that the word was says "b-log." Kind of funny, but also
cute.

I decided that it has a good ring to it. But it could be expanded, maybe to Bee Log. Not only interesting, but also has the sound of something a bee might expel after a long day of eating polin. hahahaha.

So I hereby christen my blog as "Black Red Yellow: A Bee Log on t3h Interweb!"