This is Epth Nation

Epth is a state of mind, not a place. Reading this will give you a virtual drivers license in that state, but you'll still need to be 21 to purchase alcohol. And you can't get any there anyway, so stop asking.

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Community Quick Hits, Part Whatever

The Milwaukee Bucks are 6-16. This is starting to kill me.

It snowed in Dallas yesterday, which is a very odd thing to have happened. Thankfully it did not really stick to the roads, because they have a tendency to get Death Slick, like slicker than your roads wherever you are, which causes even more car accidents than usual here. There's this feeling of dread in the air whenever it gets cold down here, especially when it snows. People go crazy, I'm telling you. It's not the same as up north, and I don't think it can be totally attributed to the fact that it only happens twice or thrice a year. There's actual fear out there now, as if the freeze was going to "get them" or something. It's hard to explain, and I failed.

My theory on the ratio of sane to insane (S/I) and how that relates to a quality of life in a city is coming soon.

I think Mischa Barton is kinda ugly. Not that I'm any better(maybe that goes without saying), but I still just don't get it.

So I've been thinking about advertising for this blog, but I (as always) find my well of marketing knowledge as empty as Gnosticism. Here are my (bad) ideas: Spamming usenet, doing Google AdSense or Yahoo's equivalent. That's it. Those are my ideas. I thank everyone who has told other people about this blog, because that's my only advertising right now. I'm getting driven to succeed, but need for something to happen right now to get this some play. I would like to make that happen somehow. We'll see.

I'm in a CD exchange again this Christmas, even though last year's was rife with no-shows and disappointed people (nothing ruins a CD exchange more than someone going, "I still don't have my CD" every 5 minutes). Here are my ideas for CD's:

My wife's idea, which is to take one song of the last 15-or-whatever CD's she's bought (a problem: 5 of them would be from wacky Milwaukee DJ's "Bob and Brian" -- something my subject would not appreciate).

Songs of the Destitute and Insane (I think I could come up with a few of these. It might get hard to listen to after a while though. And when you think about it, don't most songs fall in to this category?)

Super-Long Jam Band Songs (A good idea, I think, for this person. Also reduces the number of songs I need).

Pink Floyd's Greatest Songs (Everybody needs a CD like this).

The 15 Songs I Hate The Most (A bit troublesome to compile since I would either have to only use the songs from mine and my wife's CD's or illegally download them via P2P. Speaking of P2P, well, later).

Mellow Mood Music (involving things like the LOTR soundtrack and Enya. Did you know that Enya is one of the few artists that exists in the middle part of mine and my wife's musical taste Ven Diagram? Everybody likes Enya)

Christmas Plan: Due to preventable circumstances I managed to not prevent, I am stuck here over Christmas again. At least today it looks and feels like Christmas. My plan for Christmas Eve is to work both jobs and get home at 9pm and not open presents because we're buying them after Christmas this year. Nevertheless, I spend that night with my wife and the Christmas Dog (My Dog Allie with a red bow stuck to her head. Very festive) and some chocolate pie, and maybe go to Church. Christmas morning we definitely go to church, and then go see The Life Aquatic. Then we'll probably end up watching Kobe vs. Shaq and Pistons vs. Pacers. Ho Ho Fricking Ho.

Finally, and most importantly, little-known site suprnova.org shut down this week due to pressure from the motion picture industry. This would not be important, except for the fact that in lieu of VHS videotaping Arrested Development on Sunday nights I had been using suprnova.org to find and download that episode when I got home from work. Last Sunday night I was obviously not able to do this. This made me very upset. I had to use my "methods", and that took three days. The more important point in all this is that Suprnova.org was like Napster in its heyday (not in structure, but in function) in that it allowed you to search for and find a large quantity of movies (and TV shows, and games, and apps, and music, and whatever else exists online) and download it using the P2P program bittorrent. I would go into depth about what makes bittorrent different and better (and scarier to the MPAA), but that's not my point. My point is, I was just downloading this so I could watch it the next day, and then delete it or keep it, like a VHS tape. I was "time-shifting". The method I was using to do it was probably illegal, but I was doing nothing wrong. I'm tired of the representatives of the Entertainment Cabals suing and threatening to keep P2P down. It's not affecting them, no matter what they say. And I am an innocent victim in all this, having to go out and locate another source for my Arrested Development episodes. Maybe now I'll think twice about doing something really wrong, like not buying the Arrested Development Second Season DVD when it comes out. They clearly have enough money if they can waste it one frivilous lawsuits. What it comes down to is the MPAA is declaring war on their own customers, just like the RIAA did with music. You see how well it worked for them, don't you? The MPAA is on the verge of destroying its industry, just like music did. I can't wait.







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