Oh noes!! My trackz0rs haev been stoeled!!1

Awww, Trent's upset that his song got leaked. Of course, leave it up to a Chomskyite with a lot of money to take a cheap shot at the president.

Everybody's got their "internets" and it's everybody's right to share their files and everybody's a bedroom-critic empowered by anonymity.
(Emphasis mine)

I've always wondered what it's like to feel the need to get hung up on a person's shortcomings to make yourself feel smarter or better. Whatever.

Just a warning for you guys, Trent ruins the ending of Million Dollar Baby in his reply because he's a big baby. How very dickish, Trent. What if someone who hasn't seen the movie AND didn't listen to your little song out of respect happened across your little violin-playing rant? I know you're disappointed, because you wanted all those people who didn't like the song to end up paying for your album. Sucks doesn't it? That you'll only make 24.5 million instead of 25 million? You sound like Lars Ulrich.

And why are you getting upset that some people didn't like the song? There are 11 other tracks we haven't heard yet. Of course this isn't really going to change who's going to buy the record. I actually liked the song... it didn't ruin a first impression for me. So... thanks for ruining the ending of Million Dollar Baby for me, asshole. Even though, I sort of already knew the ending of it (because of the euthenasia debate that came up a few weeks ago).

I love all this delusions of grandeur bullshit, too, bud. I want to take down corporate America!!!11!11~!1!!1~~!!~ But wait, Mr. Rezzo, if you take down corporate America, how will we ever get to hear your music? Bye Interscope. Bye Best Buy. Bye Sony. Shit. I can't hear your music anymore. Arr! I hate corporate America! Here's a free iPod everyone, Apple's not a real big corporation. I love my GameCube and especially my X-Box. Nintendo isn't a big company and definitely not Microsoft. I'm sure Pro Tools was made by some starving Marxist in his basement out of leaves and twigs he found scattered about the cabin.

And finally, everyone knows that the leak was a marketing ploy. Next time, if you don't actually want your song leaked, here are some tips. Have a closed set. Do the shoot in takes without playing the song all the way through (like every other video shoot EVER). Better yet, use the track with the voice only and a click track. But, we obviously won't have to wait for a next time because we'll all be dead by the time you make a new album.

Don't get your goddamn panties in a bunch, pal. You're still getting phat paid.

The Hand that Feeds awaits you all...

The fans like myself have been eagerly anticipating the release of NIN's new album, With Teeth. Apparently the new single, The Hand That Feeds, was leaked (possibly--nay, probably--staged). Several radio stations around the country have reportedly played it tonight. There's a crazy-long thread over at the over-worked Echoing the Sound message boards about it. I wouldn't follow the link right now. The server is strained because of it. But I'll show you the highlights of the thread, such as the lyrics, the album cover and the 11th-hour album name-change:

Update: (before the spoilers) I blogged as it was all happening, so here's the final story... Some dude at the video shoot for The Hand That Feeds music video recorded the song on tape and sent it to a handful of radio stations around the country, and the stations that aired it and are now in trouble for doing so. Also, the single is slated to legitimately air on radio stations on March 21st, instead of the previous date which was given as April 11th. I believe this marks the first time Trent Reznor has ever moved a release date forward instead of backward. In a related story, temperatures in Hell have dipped to -13 degrees. Now on to those spoilers...

(Admiral, there be spoilers here!)

Supposedly, here are the lyrics:

you're keeping in step
in the line
got your chin held high and you feel just fine
because you do
what you're told
but inside your heart it is black and it's hollow and it's cold

just how deep do you believe?
will you bite the hand that feeds?
will you chew until it bleeds?
can you get up off your knees?
are you brave enough to see?
do you want to change it?

what if this whole crusade's
a charade
and behind it all there's a price to be paid
for the blood
on which we dine
justified in the name of the holy and the divine

just how deep do you believe?
will you bite the hand that feeds?
will you chew until it bleeds?
can you get up off your knees?
are you brave enough to see?
do you want to change it?

so naïve
to keep holding on to what I want to believe
i can see
but i keep holding on and on and on and on

will you bite the hand that feeds you?
will you stay down on your knees?

And here is the album cover art with the new album title...



(no, before you get confused and start asking me, the album title was not actually changed... but that's the real cover art...)

Stupid Random Thought

Bill Pullman played President Whitmore in Indepenence Day. For some stupid reason, I thought to myself, "what political party do you think Whitmore was?" There weren't really any issues discussed in the movie, so at first I thought it couldn't be figured out. But I figured it out. Vivica A. Fox played a black, single mother who worked as a stripper in California. Her character claimed to have "voted for the other guy." I think it's safe to assume Whitmore was a Republican.

Update: Oh yeah, Jewish people typically vote for Democrats, and Jeff Goldblum's character, who's Jewish, punched Whitmore. I know. It's a stretch.

I Pity Da Foo!

Another one bites the dust

Today, UPN announced the cancellation of Star Trek Enterprise. This is some bull mother-fucking shit. I want to send a heart-felt, "Thanks a fucking lot" to all these moronic pseudo-reality shows that are eating up the airwaves. As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best television shows still in production. And because they air it on Friday nights (when, contrary to popular belief, even Trekkie's are out doing things), they get lower ratings, and thus it's getting cancelled. Wow, UPN... just looking at your website... your line-up is going to be looking really fucking top shelf. Keep up the good work, dickheads. Think I'm a nerd for getting upset that the show has been cancelled and I can't even see the final season without driving to the cities? Fuck you. TV sucks donkey nuts right now, and they keep cancelling all the good shows. Let's have another season of The Apprentice. Yeah, that's great entertainment right there. Sounds good to me. How about another season of Survivor? You got it. Fear Factor? No problem. I can see all the CSI's getting cancelled, too, because they require more thought than your drooling, reality-show fans can squeeze out of their seven brain cells. Way to go, television industry. I hope you're fucking proud of yourselves for all this garbage wasting the airwaves.

Update: I calmed down a half-notch when I discovered that they do still air Enterprise in the middle of the fucking night here in Rochester. So I actually can watch the final season of this show. And any Trekkies who happen across my blog, and think I'm an idiot because you think Berman and Braga suck at Star Trek, let me just say this... "Fuck TOS." (And forgive my language, I'm still fairly angry.)

American Chopper

I have to admit, though I despise reality TV and I'm not a gear head with a hard-on for motor vehicles, this show is really cool. My theory is that I really like the artistic aspect of building the bikes. The arguing is fun sometimes, too. Now, I'll be the first to tell you that it's sick that people have such a morbid fascination with watching people be evil to each other in all the other pseudo-reality shows, but you know what's different about this show? The guys who are arguing are really real. They aren't beautiful people that auditioned for the show, who are treating each other like shit because they might win $10,000 (and $10,000 can't even buy a car, you depraved weirdos). These guys are family, and at the end of the day they really love each other. I don't know; I'm getting sappy. But that's my rationale and I'm sticking to it. I really do like seeing the evolution of the bikes, though. It's just a cool show. Watch it... or I'll stab you in the face with a soldering iron.

Update: I'm finding it rather ironic that I went on a tirade about reality television in the blog entry immediately following this one. My opinion still stands, however. I would be content to see someone take every piece of media that bears the name of any reality show that's ever been made and dump it all into a huge incinerator, save this show and Cops.

Ever get the feeling that you suck at life?

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Oh yeah...

So I decided to set up two other blogs.

Political Pornography
A new blog that I'm going to make my place for posting my thoughts that come to me while I'm listening to talk radio or watching news analysis shows. Just tonight, I posted my thoughts on the supposed shortage of Oscar nominations for The Passion of the Christ.

Armageddon Clock
Completely satirical. I'll have to see how far I'll go with it.

This blog is staying the same, but more of the national and world political stuff that the pundits chat about will be at my other blog.

I gots brains.

I meant to post this a few weeks ago. I got an e-mail from a guy who visited www.moorelies.com and wanted to save a copy of a message I posted there. I said fine, and now I thought I'd post it here. Tell me if I'm an idiot or not.

It was a two-part post, replying to two different people. The first person said I sounded like a moderate guy, and the second person was a typical Michael Moore zealot asking what's wrong with Moore for telling the "truth." Here's what I had to say...

[person 1]: I like to consider myself a moderate. I do have some right-leanings, which tend to show more than the left ones. Mainly because I run into more far-left people than far-right ones. I really didn't mind Clinton, and I do wish that he hadn't perjured himself and allowed the whole impeachment debacle to happen. I honestly don't think Bush should have won the 2000 election, but I also believe that you can't change the rules if you lose the game (which is basically what the Dems wanted). I also don't think he is as bad as the far left really wants to think. I wouldn't have minded at all if Kerry had won, but I didn't vote for him because I had no idea what he really stood for (yeah, I guess the flip-flopping bothered me). All in all, unity is what will get us all through, and I don't think extremism from either side helps anyone, anywhere, anytime.

[person 2]: I'm still trying to find the truth that every Moore fan insists exists. Guess what? If you want to say that the overall point of Bowling for Columbine was that the attitude about guns is different in America than most other nations, then yes, I agree. If the point of Fahrenheit 9/11 was that the media needs to be more accountable for what it reports on, and we need to ask questions of our government, then yes, I agree. However, neither movie were really up-front about either hypothesis, and never drew any conclusion about them, except to demonize conservative/traditional Republicans. The methods he uses to drive his point home are highly questionable and unethical, all the while leaving undiscerning viewers with extreme ideas about conspiracy theories and revisionist history lessons that simply aren't true. The only people I've come across that believe Moore's word as gospel truth and defend him, haven't fact-checked anything he shows the viewer. I have several friends who were devout Moore fans, but after many a long night of open-minded discussion (something I have a hard time finding among extremists, not just on the right), I was able to convince them that he's not the noble crusader for the little guy that he portrays himself as. One of them was a Chomsky-reading, self-proclaimed Marxist, believe it or not. He no longer defends Moore any time his name comes up in conversation. Just looking at the money Moore makes, the apartment in Manhattan and the "cabin" in Michigan should be enough to convince most reasonable people that he is living the American dream that he claims doesn't exist. Moore fans like to point out how 60% of the profits of Fahrenheit 9/11 went to charity, but they conveniently forget that he was contractually obligated to do so in order to get his movie distributed. Now, if you want to talk to a few Kerry-voters who despise Michael Moore, I can point you in their direction. If you want one-sided, closed-minded "discussion," go to the DU. If you want intelligent discourse, I'm right here, friend.

Sorry, Derek, but I have to use you as an example every time I talk politics with people. I still suggest you quit reading Chomsky, though.

State of the State

Governor Tim Pawlenty was in Rochester today to deliver the State of the State address. One of the things he mentioned was working on putting a 4-year university here. I don't have a source to cite, but I was told once that Rochester is the biggest city in the United States without a 4-year college. Basically, Rochester sucks because we're a medium-sized city that wants all the conveniences of a large city, all the pleasantries of a small city, and the negatives of neither. That's what we want, but what we have is a medium-sized city that really has no conveniences of a large city because we're still too small, has outgrown all the pleasantries of a small city, and has a mixture of negatives of both. Ok, really, it's all speculation on my part. And I don't really like this city. At all. But I kind of think a 4-year college will make this town better. Hey, if anything, it will make it less of a black hole town like it already is.

Rrrrrrr....

Ok... I just made a crazy long post... and it didn't post it. So I'll think about posting it later. Or, if you feel like some human interaction, ask me about my day at Full Sail, and I'll tell you about it. That's pretty much what the post was about.

In other news... Darkness, is still a terrible movie.

I think I'm staying

Well, I can't... but I should. I at least need my computers and my car. And my TV... and this lamp... and this ashtray... We went to Titusville and Daytona Beach and ate at a nice place called Shells. I'm not a huge seafood fanboy and I had the only non-seafood dinner item on the menu, chicken tenders, BUT it was a good place. I'd recommend it. We went to Kennedy Space Center right after the place closed, but we might go back again on Monday. It depends. We leave Orlando on Monday, and the Space Center is a bit out of the way, and we're thinking we might go try to find the Cartoon Network place in Atlanta. Maybe stalk Dave Willis. Show him my Meatwad impression. Get escorted from the property. Then stay in Marietta. Try again the next day. Later, foos.

What a difference 15 degrees latitude makes...

I'm now in Orlando, sitting in a hotel. It's 79 degrees, bitches. Do I have to come back? Hmmm...

Florida or Bust

T minus 3 hours, 39 minutes... I can't sleep. This is stupid. I should go to bed. I'll see if I can post with Mike's laptop wherever we're at. Have fun in Crotchester. (I wouldn't)

Oh yeah, and Happy Birthday, Brian Warner. (Better known as Marilyn Manson)

Almost forgot

Should have posted this yesterday, and I was so scared I wasn't going to get the chance, because of the Rapture. It's been two months now. The world hasn't ended yet. Just thought you'd like to be reminded.

I'm thinking about starting a website, called the "End of the World Blog." To watch the end of the world, live, as it happens, over the course of Bush's next term in office. It would be updated regularly with information about the impending Armageddon. I really think I can do this, because look at when I last updated my personal site.

Happy f***ing New Year!

No... SERIOUSLY... HAPPY NEW YEAR!

WITH TEETH IS FINISHED
THE BAND IS REHEARSING
I CAN'T WAIT TO PRESENT THIS MUSIC TO YOU -
ON YOUR STEREO AND IN YOUR TOWN
HAPPY NEW YEAR -
TR
12.31.04

F***ing finally...

I have to be among the first people to see this. nin.com is set as my homepage, and I opened IE immediately after starting up my computer. I just checked my history, and I went to Yahoo mail at 7:55 which was the first thing I did after I started IE, so that's when I saw nin.com and it still said December 10th on the front page. I just opened the browser again, not 20 minutes later and there it was. However... though I'm still engrossed in the initial excitement of this news, there is still a small bit of pessimistic doubt in my mind. The font used for this announcement and for the date on the front page is completely different than the monospaced, typewriter font they've been using since the website changed. This leads me to think that maybe, just maybe, this might actually be a hoax, and that someone hacked the site and did that. However, I'm sticking with the happy thoughts that the album will be in my hands in the next month or two.

Happy New Year and stuff.

Update: It appears that it isn't a hoax, because the post is still up there, and it's been almost a week now. F***in' right, dude.

Have a Political Christmas.

I got Fahrenheit 9/11 for Christmas. It was an accident; my aunt got mixed up as to which movie I asked for, which was Michael Moore Hates America. I just found out tonight, though, that the movie isn't actually out yet, as it was delayed. Originally, it was supposed to come out in mid-December, but it appears to have been pushed back a month. So, I just have to go exchange Fahrenheit 9/11 for something non-fiction, like Highlander.

My immediate family does our gift-giving on Christmas Eve, because we do the big family thing on Christmas Day. So last night, my brother Scott gave me The Political Machine. It's a sim about presidential elections. For my first game, I made my own candidate, myself, and ran against Hillary Clinton. I lost, but I got the hang of the game and ran again against Mister Cardboard-Cut-Out himself, Al Gore. I won with like 300-some electoral votes. Of course, that was with a random setting. You can have the electoral map randomized, so all the states have different electoral vote values, different populations of liberals and conservatives, and so on. But I smoked him, because I convinced the masses that he was for Government-Run TV and that I was against Backyard Oil Drilling (The issues were also randomized). It's a pretty fun game. Matter of fact, I think I'm going to go play another campaign. Let's see how I fair against John Kerry.

Oh, other phat l3wtz was a DVD Burner (Dual Format including Dual Layer), The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (12-hour, 12-disc, ubernerd edition), a sweet pedal for my guitar that does all sorts of nifty shiznit, a copy of my friend Dave's movie "Exquisite Corpse," some clothing, some money, some gift certificates. Well, everyone have a happy week of limbo between Christmas and New Years.

Happy Holidays

Happy Christmas... Happy Hanukkah (even if it's already over)... Happy Kwanza (even if it hasn't started yet)... Happy Free-Day-Off Day, to the athiests... Happy... whatever those scientologist weirdos do around this time of year... Happy Tet (whenever that one is)... Ramadan is over (I learned the Muslim calendar is based on the lunar phases, so Ramadan actually moves throughout the year, so it isn't exactly a set, winter holiday like the others...), but I hope it was happy as well... Whoever I'm forgetting... Happy whatever-you're-doing-today. And to everyone a happy whatever-you're-doing-tomorrow.

Washington only wishes it could be Florida

Those pesky votes are always in the last place you look.

(CNN) -- Unofficial results from a manual recount of ballots in King County have tilted the result of the unsettled Washington governor's race for the first time to Democrat Christine Gregoire.

Republican governor-elect Dino Rossi now faces the prospect of losing a race he led after two previous ballot counts.

Except...

King County, which includes Seattle, is a Democratic stronghold where Gregoire won 58 percent of the vote to Rossi's 40 percent.

So... we had a manual recount in a Democratic safe-haven that pushed her over the edge. Let's start the manual recount in a couple big Republican strongholds and just see where it leads them. If this were the other way around, I'd say the same thing. I'm just mentioning this story once, and leaving it at that. Except maybe an update if one of them finally wins. I don't live in WA, so I'm not going to stick my nose in other people's business, you know, like Jesse Jackson in Ohio. What I do find interesting is how, now that they've manually recounted one county that was likely to give Gregoire an edge, the Dems are calling on Rossi to concede.

No blood for a remedying a humanitarian crisis!!1

If anyone wants to read about the quagmire in Iraq, Opinion Journal is the place to be. I really want to support our troops, but when I hear that we're rebuilding Iraqi schools, improving their power grid, and on the brink of providing thousands with clean water... I just... It just makes me sick. (/sarcasm off)

Seriously... It's a huge article (no, seriously... it's a huge article) about the underreported good things that are happening in Saddam's old stomping ground.