Category: wtf?!

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beer fests and marta

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So yesterday, Brody invited me up to the Dunwoody beer festival, and I decided that the best, and most responsible thing to do, would be to ride Marta up, and then catch a ride home with James later on in the evening. I was to meet Brody around 2pm, but being in the hurry I was, I forgot my ticket for the festival, so I had to go home and get it. Well, it only set me back a little bit, so I should have still been there around 2:30. No worries. Well, I got to Marta about 2, thinking it would take about 30 minutes MAX to ride up to Dunwoody. Well, I waited at 5 points for literally, over 40 minutes, while no less than 3 trains (15-20 minutes apart) for Doraville came through. Finally, I got on the last Doraville train, and changed trains at Lindbergh. It turns out, that this is the new way they do things; you get your transfer train to North Springs at Lindbergh, and not 5 points, as it has been in the past. WTF? Marta, you get a huge dose of FAIL, not only for having trains only come once every 20 minutes (seriously unacceptable), but for not indicating to riders the necessary information they need to actually get from A to B successfully.

I can definitely say that I will think long and hard before I get on Marta again. It is bad enough that our city has a sub-par AT BEST transit system, but to find out that even that is unreliable, and at best filled with fault and flaws galore, that it really makes one shake their head. Why can so many cities master the city transit system, but Atlanta just can’t seem to do anything right? Ugh… frustration is all I seem to get from Marta these days, and it is frustration that I can thankfully all but avoid entirely.

After I finally got my destination a full HOUR after I set off on my journey, I had a blast hanging out with Brody, Dave, and other assorted members of their kick ball team. It was a pretty fun day. I can’t say that I drank $30 worth of booze (the price of the ticket), but I did find a new potential favorite beer in Warsteiner’s Cola beer. Holy shit! That stuff is insanely good, and very refreshing. I never though I would like a cola flavored beer, but it is damn good. I am going to be consuming lots of it this summer, I can feel it.

Either way, it all turned out to be a fun day with friends and booze, but it began with a big dose of FAIL, ala Marta style. Boo Marta… yay booze and friends.

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you’ll need to pour that out, or face a fine

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This weekend had two main features; the first was my Anatomy final. I put it off as long as I could, and finally took it late Saturday afternoon. I did well (got a B), but I just can’t tell you how glad I am finished with it. Whew!!!

On Sunday, we packed up the cars and the boat and headed north for a day on the lake. We have been going to the same public boat dock every time we have gone to lake Lanier, so we went back, expecting to have a good time again. What we didn’t know, seriously, is that they didn’t allow alcohol at the dock. No big deal; if we had known that, we would have adjusted ourselves accordingly (flask, concealing it, or just going without).

About 2 hours into our day, a park ranger came out to our little tent and told us that there had been a report of us having Jack Daniels (the bottle was sitting in plain view next to our cooler), and that we had two options: 1) pour it out, or 2) get a ticket and have to leave the park. Well, it really pissed us off that we had to pour out a huge bottle of liquor (we actually had another one that he saw and made us pour out as well), but I think more so, the main thing that pissed us off, was that we were “reported”. We didn’t know that we couldn’t have alcohol, so we made no attempt to hide the fact that we had it. When we asked if we could just put it in the car, he repeated our two options, and we ended up pouring it out to avoid a fine of an unknown amount.

What really got us angry, is that seriously, we weren’t bothering anyone at all, the place where we had set up our tent was under a tree, and no one was around us. We were not being rowdy, nor were we being loud or disorderly. Someone had just called in to a park ranger because we simply had alcohol (again, we seriously didn’t know… and upon leaving, we did notice the 3inX5in sign saying no alcohol). I guess some people just aren’t content on letting you just enjoy your day without having to ruin it with getting “law enforcement” involved.

Whatever. If you turned us in, you suck dude, because seriously, we weren’t hurting anyone. Now, we know that when we come back, we will conceal our booze. This state has some serious issues with alcohol if you ask me.

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first class, free drill, and a huge fucking owl!

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Recently (yesterday), I booked my flight for a trip I am taking to NYC in July, and I decided I should use those sky miles that I have been holding onto for years now. Well, I had no idea, but if you book with sky miles, you fly first class. It wouldn’t even let me choose a seat outside of first class. Sweet!! Now that was a great surprise, and I am looking forward to flying first class… for only $5!

James went to Lowes to get us a new trash can and some odds and ends, and thought he should pick up a new corded drill, because every time we need the drill we currently have, the batteries are dead. Well, when he got home, he pulled out the receipt, and noticed that the drill was not listed anywhere on it. Ladies and gents, we have ourselves a free drill, courtesy of the not-very-detail-oriented cashier at Lowes! Is it bad that the only thing I said to him, upon finding out that he didn’t pay for it, was “you know, it would only suck if we needed to take it back for some reason”? Yeah… free drills acquired through no fault of your own are pretty much a gift as far as I’m concerned.

it's an owl!Finally, last night, I was playing Xbox 360, and James went out to go to the store. As soon as he gets outside, I hear him screaming my name, but since he is always over-reacting to things, I took my time to get up and see what was going on. Turns out, it wasn’t typical James shenanigans, but instead, there was a HUGE owl sitting on top of his car; which was parked about 5 feet from the house in the driveway. Now, for those that don’t know it, we have a koi point right in front of the front porch, to the left of the driveway (if you are looking from the porch to the road), and there are always squirrels and other small critters trying to nab our fish. We have a “anti-pest” net on top of the pond, but occasionally, we will see a cat or a squirrel scurry away when we come out onto the porch. Well, I can honestly say that last night was a first; the owl was sitting on the top of James’ car looking down at the water. It was freaky that it was so close to us!!! I ran inside to get my camera, and sure enough, the batteries were completely dead. Nice. Well, I managed to get the back up battery pack in, and even got a picture of the thing (which I didn’t know until today that it actually came out… click on it for a bigger version). It was so big too, and the freaky thing, was it just kept looking at us the whole time it was sitting there. It flew back and forth to the tree at the end of the yard a few times, each time, coming back to the spot on top of James’ truck. We are going to try and feed the fish at night and see if it brings the owl back, because it goes without saying that the owl encounter was pretty freaking cool… I would also like to get a better picture if I can; even though I am elated that the ONLY one I took actually came out pretty decent!

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the rock band “racket”

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Yesterday, after searching heartily on the internets, I found out that you CAN indeed use the Guitar Hero controller to play Rock Band. Excited, I ran out and got the game for my Xbox 360, because as a major fan of the Guitar Hero franchise, I reveled the chance to have some new, better songs to play.

Others like me, who have all of the Guitar Hero games (there are 4 in all), know that the most recent Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero III, has one of the weakest soundtracks of any game in the series. That is doubly disappointing too, because the next game that is slated to come out doesn’t even offer a reprieve; it is going to be a game of nothing but Aerosmith songs. So when I saw the track listing for Rock Band, I knew I had to have it… but I didn’t want to shell out almost $200 for all of the stuff needed to play it; regardless of the great soundtrack. However, after I knew I could use my Guitar Hero controller with it, I jumped at the opportunity, and was excited that I could get by with just getting the game itself.

Well, after playing the game for a while last night, I kind of think that whole Rock Band package is a rip off. See, I personally have NO DESIRE to have those drums for this game (seriously, I get annoyed watching people do it at Best Buy… there is no way I am bring that annoyance home), so all I wanted was the game, a guitar, and the mic. Well, they don’t offer the mic separately as of this writing, and since I found out I could use my Guitar Hero controller, I figured I would settle for being able to play the guitar tracks (and get a mic later when they do offer one). I also think that it is VERY important to say this: the Rock Band Guitar controller is a complete piece of crap when compared with the Guitar Hero III controller… seriously, if you like the Guitar Hero III controller, do yourself a favor and use it.

Well, much to my surprise (and delight), I discovered that you can use the free Xbox 360 headset that came with my Xbox 36; thereby eliminating a need for the mic that comes with the bundle as well! It has been sitting in the box ever since I got it, and I pulled it out, and low and behold, it works perfectly. As I said last night, you will just have to be a little more like Britney or Janet in concert, and use a headset as opposed to a hand-held mic. So basically, I had all of the peripherals that I needed already at home… so what was I waiting on before getting this VERY fun game??

Well, there was not much on the internet about these two discoveries that I made. I didn’t see anything about the mic, and I really had to search to get a clear word about if the Guitar Hero controller really would work with Rock Band. I guess I wanted to write this post, to let anyone out there with an Xbox 360, who also has Guitar Hero (II or III), and wants the save some money and still get Rock Band, that you don’t need to buy the overpriced bundle (unless you just want a new guitar, and you of course, want the drums and a mic). You can “make due” with the Guitar Hero controller, and the headset is actually better in my opinion… in my searching, I saw that all of the Rock Band bundles have CORDED peripherals. I prefer my cordless guitar and headset over that shit any day. Also, the drums are now sold separately if you really need them… but again, that just isn’t on my interests list.

I see this as a huge win; even though I had to jump through many hoops to get to this point. And… I don’t have to chuck those annoying ass drums out on the street. I wish I had gotten the game sooner, because it really is awesome (even if it is almost the exact same as Guitar Hero), and the songs are great. However, at least I was able to find out the right information, and save a bundle… by skipping the bundle and just getting the game. If you find yourself in my position, make sure you do yourself a favor and get the game; it is well worth the price of the disc, and I am just glad that I don’t have to have ANOTHER guitar peripheral laying around!

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there’s similar, and then there’s the SAME!

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Okay, just last week, I was sort of ranting about the similarity between two songs, and low and behold it has happened again. However, this time, there is one key exception: I have heard two songs that not only sound similar, but I swear, they are the same damn song!!!

I was riding with James the other night, and when we ride in his car, we are almost always listening to the radio (which I don’t usually do), and they announced that the number one song of the day was coming up. Well, it was a song by Chris Brown, which I had never heard, but when they started playing it, I thought to myself, “hey, self, I HAVE heard this before… when it was called Irreplaceable!”. Now, while I like Irreplaceable by Beyonce, I think that it is a total crock of shit that you can take a song and completely re-release it, with different lyrics a year later, and STILL TOP THE CHARTS!!!

WTF people? Seriously. This is one of the problems with music today: People are just eat whatever they are fed. In this case, two practically identical songs have been fed to the masses, and what have you done? You have eaten it up, and propelled both songs to the top of the charts! I just don’t get it. There is so much amazing music out there, that it is practically inexcusable to have two practically identical songs make it so high on the charts; especially when so little time has past since Beyonce’s version hit!

But don’t take my word for it: listen to each one yourself, so you can really see how similar they are: (on the left, you have Irreplaceable by Beyonce and on the right you have With You by Chris Brown… neither of which is the real video because of how stupid music companies are with you tube stuff, however, the Beyonce video is quite hilarious to me)

After doing a little investigation myself, I see that it is indeed the same producer for each track; which really begs me to question if one (or both) of these stars didn’t get ripped off. I mean, they are paying for production, and the producer just shills out the same damn song for both of them. I would be infuriated!! Well, I am a little irate, but that is because of what this does to music in my opinion. It just solidifies the fact that people are not open to innovation, and true talent. Bands and artists with enormous amounts of talent will continue to be “one hit wonders”, and will always be overlooked because of cookie-cutter shit like this, and it pisses me off, because I tend to prefer the former.

What is even more ridiculous to me, is that if you take an amazing band, one that may not be as popular as Beyonce (but is popular in their own realm of the music world), and listen to their take on Irreplaceable, that it becomes a totally different song; even though it isn’t! Chris Brown’s “different song” is more like Irreplaceable than Sugarland covering Irreplaceable. Freaky stuff man. It’s just frustrating when you constantly see that this music industry is full of such crazy, crazy shit. I just wish that the talented and overlooked people could get half of what those Chris Brown’s out there get; both in fame, and in fortune. Hearing the same old songs and making them both best sellers just isn’t right.

Sigh. Now I will go back to my music that isn’t so radio-friendly… but at least it is genuine, and dare I say it, different.

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imitation, the sincerest form of flattery?

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I was reading one of my many music blogs this afternoon, when I happened upon the following music clip (via discopop directory):


After listening for about 20 seconds, I had this sneaking suspicion that I had heard this song before… Hmmm, where have I heard that same drumming, same guitar riff, and same distortion effect? That’s right… Muse’s Knights of Cydonia:

Well, I guess if you are going to copy a song, at least copy an amazing one, right? What I don’t get, is that I have never seen the amazing allure that the Arctic Monkeys have to them, and this just makes me question it even more… And I am not really familiar with the Rascals as of this writing. Oh well, perhaps they meant it as an homage to Muse, who are in their own right, a truly amazing band. I just wonder why they had to make it so damn similar, you know? The similarity was instantly recognizable to me, and I am sure that I am not alone in that sentiment.

What are your thoughts? What do you think when you hear an amazing song rehashed by a group that may be more commercially popular, but not necessarily any “better”, as far as you concerned? How does it make you feel when said “copied” group is a group that you really enjoy, but the other isn’t, and you know that they will have more success with their clone?

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another wacko religious fanatic gets the mic…

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I don’t know if you have all heard about this Republican representative named Sally Kern, and the speech that she gave about her views on homosexuality, but it is apparently all over the interwebs. I heard about it last week, but didn’t really feel a need to shine a light on yet another hateful rant that someone felt the need to give showing their bigoted views against homosexuality. However, after seeing the following clip, I felt compelled to say something:


First things first, I honestly feel that Sally Kern has every right to say whatever she wants; that is her right as a citizen of this country. However, as a state elected politician, there is a time and a place for everything. She represents people as a leader, and as such, she should keep her personal religious beliefs restricted to her religion. If she disagrees with homosexuality, that is fine, but speaking out, as a politician and a leader, and saying that homosexuality is worse than terrorism and that our “agenda” is to indoctrinate 2 year olds and to infiltrate our schools in spreading homosexuality, is spreading not only hate speech, but blatant lies as well.

Clearly, she is confused. Clearly, she has her facts wrong, and it becomes rapidly apparent when you hear just how deluded she is in stating the aforementioned items as fact. Yet, again, she has the right to say it. However, as a public figure, and as a representative, it isn’t her place to preach such hate. If she wants to open up her own church and spread as much religious fanaticism as she wants, so be it, but there is no place for elected people to be spreading such misinformation, and passing it off as fact.

I am frustrated by this woman, mostly because of the video above. She clearly has been called out, yet refuses to acknowledge that what she has done is spread misinformation, while representing herself as an elected public figure. I just think there should be some boundaries, and she clearly doesn’t agree. I personally hope that this is the, as she put it, “death knell” in the coffin of her public service career. Nutjobs like this belong in backwoods churches and not public office. Unfortunately, it is this type of message that leads to the killing of gays and lesbians, like the young boy who was murdered for wanting his classmate to be his valentine. It is sickening to be reminded by little things like this, that we live in a country where the people that hate us so vehemently don’t just live outside of our borders.

I personally think that it is sad that people have such little value in living their own lives, that they must find reasons to attack others. That they must find so much hate inside themselves, that they feel compelled to spread lies and further hateful ideas about certain people that they don’t “agree” with. I feel sorry for people like Sally. It must be difficult to live in a world where you are so clouded by the religious beliefs that you have chosen to use in shrouding you from truth, so much so, that you really and truly believe such ridiculous things as she said. Furthermore, I think that other Christians, more than we gays, should be (and probably are) completely ashamed that someone so clearly deranged is speaking out and representing them. It is just incredibly frustrating that people can wrap themselves in the Bible, and then become the biggest possible hypocrite in the world, by calling you a faggot at the same time. Where’s the love that your religion preaches Sally? Clearly, it isn’t in you.

Sally, you are worse than we. We don’t harm America; people like you do. Your speech shows an inability to learn or grow, and a mindset that fuels the very terrorism that you are so against. People like you are, and will remain, one of the biggest problems that plagues this nation. I sincerely hope that this is the last time that you are given the mic, and that soon, you will no longer be representing your religious fanaticism as an elected official.

In order to lighten the mood a bit, here’s a lovely clip from Ellen, who called Sally:


I love Ellen so much… she makes me proud to be a part of the gay community. I wonder how many Christians would say the same about Sally.

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really… are people really this stupid?

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I saw this on towleroad this morning, and it seriously pissed me the fuck off:

Last night on Big Brother 9’s live feed, gay housemate Joshuah attempted to educate James, Chelsia, and Sharon on the ins and outs (so to speak) of gay sex. He also spreads some misinformation about protecting oneself from HIV:

“I do bareback with my boyfriend. We’ve both been tested for HIV and we’re both negative so it’s cool. I only do that with my boyfriend. I don’t do that on a random one night stand. That’s too risky. If you’re a top it’s okay because you can’t really get HIV from being the top because you’re penetrating them…”

I just want to know; are people really as stupid as this, or is this dumb ass alone in his thinking? Well, clearly, he isn’t alone, as the rates of infection continue to increase amongst gay men, which is not only disheartening, but it is disturbing. Yet, I still cannot even fathom why people are still this moronic about something as HUGE as HIV! Why on earth are people stupid enough to believe that you can’t get HIV if you are a top? Where did this moronic idea come from, and why is it, that gay men STILL believe it?!?!

It blows my mind. I have worked in HIV prevention for many years, and hearing shit like this just sends me over the edge. A part of me wants to say, “people just CAN’T believe that, because clearly, people are smarter than that… aren’t they?”, but I know that people really are this stupid. What has to happen to you for you to get it? Do you have to get IT? I just don’t understand how something as serious as HIV is taken so lightly, especially after it has been around for so very long. It is baffling.

So I’m going to put this out there, for all the morons: YES Virginia, you CAN get HIV if you are a top. Wear a condom you idiot, because clearly, you aren’t smart enough to know better. Wake the fuck up, and realize that this thing is called a goddamned epidemic for a reason.

/rant

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for some, believing clearly isn’t enough…

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Let me start this post by saying that I generally love the UK’s X-factor; after all, they gave me one of the loves of my life, Mr. Shayne Ward. Not only that, they followed him with the amazing Leona Lewis, who’s Bleeding Love is a song that I still have in heavy rotation; months after I initially heard it. However, with all that good, there too can come some bad. Even though I heard that this year’s winner Leon Jackson was to cover When You Believe, the amazing song from the Prince of Egypt that was originally sung by none other than the divas Mariah and Whitney, I had somehow avoided hearing his version, that is, until recently. It came on U-Pop the other day, and I listened, in order to hear the magnificence that the UK had chosen to win X-Factor. Instead of being impressed, I was horrified.

Not only does he clearly lack the same level of talent that Shayne and Leona possess, but his singing voice doesn’t even seem to be at a level higher than amateur. Not to be mean to the poor kid, but seriously, this is just a bad cover of an otherwise great song.

This brings me to my other gripe: Whomever chose When You Believe as the song that the winner would sing is either a sadist, or just an asshole; because if you are going to do a song that Mariah and Whitney did beautifully, the only way to do it successfully, is to do it better (which that, in and of itself, would be a difficult task indeed). Even without the powerhouse divas singing the original, what on earth were they thinking handing this enormous song to an “undiscovered talent”? Wow. To me, this is just a recipe for disaster, and makes a situation that only sheer luck could bail them out of. Unfortunately, the likable, and in my opinion, much more talented brother-sister group Same Difference did NOT win X-Factor, so we cannot know whether or not their version of the song would be superior to Leon’s; but one thing I do know, is that his version is almost un-listenable. But don’t just take my word for it, see (or rather, hear) for yourself.

First, I give you the Mariah and Whitney version; which is in my opinion, a flawless pop song. It is well written, and their voices compliment each other beautifully. Also, need I even mention that it is fucking Mariah and Whitney, which again, begs to question why one would ever try to cover something that big, unless they KNOW for certain they can do it better?


Now, check out Leon’s version of When You Believe (sorry, but the real video can’t be embedded). I can’t believe they went there, to be honest. I guess it is a little like Leona’s version of A Moment Like This (which is quite terrible as well, but she has managed to distance herself from it quite well), if you have heard a superior version of the song several years in advance of some practical nobody doing a sub-par version of it, what is the fucking point of them doing it at all? There are TONS of songs out there he could have covered; so why this one?


Oh well, we can never know what prompts these producers to rehash the same pop trinkets on other shores, but I can hope that future incarnations of shows like X-Factor, and even the dwindling American Idol, can manage to pull out some better songs, suited for the potential winners. If they are going to stick with sending these poor singers out there with rehashed, sub-par covers, can they at least pick some songs that they would be better suited for? Clearly, in this case, that did not happen at all. I just don’t think that we should have more tragedies like this one, littering the airwaves, and making my ears cringe when I hear them. Clearly, believing that you can sing the song better does not mean that you actually can. Poor Leon…

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“family” woe and health concerns

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Yesterday I got a call that NO ONE wants to get: my Grandma is in the hospital. I had spoken to her earlier in the week, and knew that she was having some adverse reactions to a new blood pressure medication, but I didn’t realize it was bad enough for her to need emergency transport and a hospital stay. I just talked with her, and she is feeling really good (other than having to deal with freezing hospital temperatures, and long wait times), and apparently, all of her tests are coming back normal. Whew. That makes me feel good to know that she is doing well, and it is probably that medication, as we were talking about the other day. Now, she can get a new medication (and a new doctor, IMHO), and hopefully, get back to feeling right as rain soon.

UPDATE: I just got the news that she is about to go home. YAY! I just hope that she is feeling good ASAP.

As I desperately tried to get in touch with someone who would have information after my cousin called me with that news last night (who totally came through for me, and has always been there amazingly… thanks cuz!), I was troubled that I hadn’t heard anything, and couldn’t get any information from the hospital as to her condition. After several phone calls, I finally got to talk with my Grandma around 9:30, only to find out that she was at the hospital by herself.

As of this moment, I haven’t heard a single word from either of my parents. What the fuck? As those of you that have read this blog may know, I clearly have family woes when it comes to my parents, but this just reinforces something frighteningly clear to me: the distance between us is not only geographical, and it doesn’t only apply to me. I was so angry when I talked with my Grandma, and found out that my sister’s husband was one of the people that came in the ambulance that brought my Grandma to the hospital. I was angry, because that means that not only do my parents have to know that she is in the hospital, that they neither saw it important enough to check in on her, nor alert me to her being there in the first place… and they wonder why I am “so distant”.

Care or don’t care, that is up to you, but it is glaringly clear to me what is truly important in the minds of some of my family members, and it truly makes me sad. I also wish that whole “why don’t you ever visit” mind game would stop; you KNOW why. I wish things could be different, but apparently, they are not going to get any better, and I have to deal with that. I have to deal with it, because they aren’t going to. I just hope my Grandma knows that I care, and that I am here for her; she is one of the only people that has consistently been there for me in return, and in my “family”, that is a very, very rare thing.