Music Review: Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
Foreword
Porcupine Tree : Fear of a Blank Planet
- Released: April 24, 2007.
- Tracks: 6
- Format: Audio CD
- Label: Atlantic / Wea
- Avg. Barnes & Noble User Rating: 4 / 5
- Modest Opinions Rating: 4 / 5
If there’s one thing I both love and hate, it’s discovering that a great band has flown completely under my radar. I discovered Porcupine Tree when I was looking at the Amazon.com listing for Rush’s Snakes & Arrows disc [review], to see what other people were saying about it. I noticed that Amazon recommended buying Fear of a Blank Planet along with Snakes & Arrows for a discount, and that the "People who bought this item also bought" list included the album - above other Rush material.
Art That Doesn’t Suck - May 25, 2007
Regretfully, the artwork previously featured here is no longer available for viewing or purchase. Should the status change, the review will be reinstated.
Music Genres Out of Control
I’ve been into music for as long as I can remember. In my youth, I spent more time memorizing the names of the members of Aerosmith than I did memorizing the names of the presidents in History class. That would come back to bite me later, but let’s just say I really loved music (and I could draw the Van Halen logo better than most art students, but again, focus with me here). Let’s just say I really loved music. I know what you’re thinking. You’re wondering what kind of music, because anytime someone says they like music, the natural question is "what kind?" That’s a good question.
Top 5 Ways Affiliate Programs Suck
I’m not a professional affiliate marketer. I’m a user of several networks, but it’s not my goal to be the top dog in that industry. Obviously, I’ve got advertising on my little site here. It’s pretty minimal really, compared to some. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s being beaten about the head and shoulders with ads when I visit a website, but I do recognize the need for monetization. Site owners shouldn’t be made to feel like scumbags for trying to make a few bucks to support their sites (or their vacations). So, yeah, I have a few ads that will hopefully bring in a few bucks.
That leads into other ways to monetize - you like that word? That’s a fancy way of saying "other ways to make money with" but it sounds better. Professional online money makers Read more
Art That Doesn’t Suck - May 18, 2007
Regretfully, the artwork previously featured here is no longer available for viewing or purchase. Should the status change, the review will be reinstated.
Six Stupid Things a Wordpress Theme Maker Can Do
Modest Opinions isn’t the only blog I’ve got going on. You can see in my sidebar over there that I recommend checking out Hectic Studios and The Big Book of Spam; those are two of my other sites. Another that I’m working on isn’t ready to be announced yet, but suffice to say, it’s running on Wordpress also, and running on Wordpress means working with themes.
Now, I’m not a theme creator myself. I don’t have the time or energy to devote to creating really tight code, not like I used to. These days, I’m about writing words. I need themes that don’t require a lot of heavy lifting, because although I can fix things, I don’t want to have to, you know? Give me a theme that’s easy to move things around on, easy to customize the colors, and that uses images in an intelligent way. This other blog I’m working on now… the theme I love, I just discovered doesn’t use images in an intelligent way. That prompted this - my list of six stupid things a Wordpress theme maker can do, from a user standpoint.
The Big Book of Spam
Hate spam? I don’t. I love spam. I love spam so much that I’m writing a book about it! Yep, my latest book project is The Big Book of Spam, and you can read more about it at the official site, www.thebigbookofspam.com - oh, and you can contribute! Forward any spam you get to bbos@thebigbookofspam.com. Look! I’m not even protecting the address behind a script or anything! It’s wide open! Use that address to fill in web forms that you know to belong to spammers. Spam me, baby!
For more information, please visit the official site. I’d rather not get any porn, thanks, but most other kinds of spam are welcome. Porn spam simply won’t work for the book as I won’t be able to publish it! Well… not in normal bookstores, anyway.
I’m working on the book as we speak, and I expect it to be ready for purhase in early 2008.
Review: Apple Mighty Mouse (Bluetooth)
I have always had very few demands of any computer mouse. It has to be two button. It has to have a scrollwheel. It has to have at least one side button, and it has to be on the inside for someone who’s right-handed. That’s all. I’ve never needed anything fancy - and I don’t need to spend $150 on a frickin’ mouse.
Now, though… now, I’m on a Mac. I’m on a MacBook Pro, to be precise. A couple of months ago, I started really looking into getting a wireless mouse. I decided first thing that I didn’t want a wireless laser mouse or any other technology that required a USB port for a receiver. Being much like the PCM/CIA cards of old that I would routinely snap off because I would forget to remove it before travel, I didn’t want a little stubby thing hanging off the side of the machine. That means Bluetooth, and that means a dearth of full-size mice. I’m six feet tall, I’m a big guy. I need a full-size mouse! All those tiny little "notebook mice" aren’t worth the plastic they’re made of.
So, I went and picked up an Apple Mighty Mouse at CompUSA, and this is what I think of it after owning it for about a month.
Responsiveness
It’s not a slow responder, I’ll give it that. I could use it for gaming, but I’m still attached to my wired mouse for that. For everyday work, the Mighty Mouse is just fine. I do have an issue though, with the speed. My wired mouse moves at one consistent speed that I can control. I want to go from corner-to-corner by covering a certain distance with my mouse. The Mighty Mouse is inconsistent - it starts up slow, speeds up, then slows down. Presumably, this is to help users to avoid overrunning their destination and having to back up. Make a short movement, like, say, placing the cursor from one line of text to one below it, and the mouse just crawls. If there is a setting to change this behavior in the Mighty Mouse, I’m not aware of it. If you’re aware of it, please, for the love of all that is good and pure, let me know in the comments below.
Comfort
The Mighty Mouse, despite being "full size" is still rather smaller than I’m used to. I would like to see the next version of the mouse have an arch to it. I’m still not completely comfortable with a flat mouse, and I find myself arching my hand over the device. That means that instead of using the top-palm of my hand to manipulate the mouse, I’m using my thumb and pinky on the sides of the mouse. It’s not… totally… uncomfortable, but it does feel strange.
The side button… is a disaster. You have to actually squeeze the mouse on both sides to activate it, which, for someone who moves the mouse by the sides like I do, is extremely inconvenient. The most comfortable position for me is to hold the mouse at a bit of an angle, with my thumb positioned over the inside button, and my pinky positioned just behind the outside button. I can’t move my pinky "up" without altering the angle that I hold the mouse with, so the squeeze-button function is completely useless to me. Not only that, but the button doesn’t click or give any indication (other than what you expect to happen on-screen) that the function was activated.
Overall
As far as I can tell, the battery consumption is just fine - if you remember to turn the mouse off when you’re not using it. I’ve not been inconvenienced in the least.
I never find myself control-clicking for a context menu (a complaint I’ve heard from many a Mac user), but I believe that’s simply because I’m not a long-time Mac user. I’ve been right-clicking for far too long! At first, I had a little trouble with finger placement, but it didn’t take long before all my left-clicks and right-clicks were correctly recognized.
The scrollwheel, actually, trackball, is amazing. It’s practically worth the price of admission, to be honest. It’s feels very natural and responsive.
Several times (okay, more often than not) I had to set the mouse up manually after shutting it off and turning it back on. I don’t know why this happens, but it’s not often automatically recognized.
So, overall, I’m fairly happy with Apple’s wireless Bluetooth Mighty Mouse. For a star rating… I’ll go with 3 out of 5. Not terrible, not fantastic, just kinda average. For the price though? You should probably shop around and get some other opinions about other mice.
Rush - Snakes and Arrows MVI (DVD-Album) Delay
It’s already been delayed once, but now the Snakes & Arrows "special edition" MVI (DVD-Album) has been delayed again - to June 5th. Like I said in my previous article, I’m a Rush fan going back nearly 20 years, so naturally, I bought the standard CD version and pre-ordered the MVI (DVD-Album) version. Hey, what can I say - the pre-ordered MVI (through Rush.com) will ship with a t-shirt… how could I possibly pass that up?
Well, I recieved an email from MusicToday, who handled the pre-ordering.
Hey Rush Fans,
Thanks so much for all of your support. The charts came out this week and the CD debuted at Number 3!
IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
Atlantic Records has changed the release date for the MVI (formerly DVD-Album) version of "Snakes & Arrows". It will now be released on June 5. Your order will ship to you on or around Friday, June 1. Your original shipping method will still apply. No one will be receiving this special release prior to this date. Any order containing the MVI version will not ship until this date. Please note that the nature of pre-order sales prohibits cancellations or modifications.
For more information on the MVI please visit Rush.com
Well, all I can say is: a big Colbert-style wag of my finger to Atlantic Records. According to Rush.com, the reason given by Atlantic is "production issues". At this late stage? The album was completed months ago. I know that MVI is a new technology (sort of), but to me, that does not excuse this delay or the one prior. Besides, Linkin Park’s MVI is coming out in less than a week (on time by the way). If they weren’t on separate labels, I’d point my finger at pushing Rush’s disc back just so that Linkin Park’s could be first to market.
What is MVI (DVD-ALBUM)?
According to the summary at Amazon.com:
What Is MVI? With a higher storage capacity than a standard CD, the Music Video Interactive Disc (MVI) contains new interactive features including, superior sound quality, a wide range of video features, and interactive digital content. MVI discs play in all standard DVD players, computers, and game consoles with DVD drives but do not play in conventional CD players. Digital music files are compatible with all MP3 devices.
At Barnes & Noble, it’s described thusly:
MVI stands for Music Video Interactive. These DVD albums include a wide range of video and interactive content. The DVD/MVI plays in standard DVD players, computers, and game consoles with DVD drives. It does NOT play in CD players.
Yet another contender for the "I’m gonna replace CD’s!" crown, it’ll play in your various DVD players, computers - anything with a standard DVD drive. What then, do they mean by being compatible with all MP3 devices? Since the high-quality song tracks are protected and can’t be ripped (yet… just wait), the MVI also includes down-mixed versions of all the songs in a standard (what they call "pre-ripped) format. You can copy those tracks to your iPod, yes - but you can’t copy the super-duper 5.1 surround-sound 96kHz/24-bit audio tracks.
So why are the labels calling this MVI instead of DVD-Album now? My opinion is that they felt as if "DVD-Album" would be either confusing to consumers (as there has been a "DVD-Audio" format failing in the marketplace for some years) or that consumers would be confused as to why a hour’s worth of music would need to be on a DVD (not realizing that there would be extras on the disc just like a movie DVD). Best, they probably thought, to make up a new acronym to make it stand out and avoid any confusion. MVI sums it up quite well - Music Video Interactive. Well… I guess "interactive" might be a stretch, but movie makers have called putting web links on a movie DVD "interactive" for years, so I suppose it should be tolerated.
Art That Doesn’t Suck - May 11, 2007
This week’s featured art is Bejeweled Celtic Shield by Kristen Fox
Kristen Fox is one of my favorite artists, and I had the pleasure of spending a little time with her and her husband over a weekend last year during a conference in San Francisco. She is as pleasant and affable in person as she is online. Her talent for creating stunning celtic artwork is extraordinary. Bejeweled Celtic Shield is but one piece in her online gallery, and I heartily encourage everyone to view the entire collection.
The choice of framing and matting matches well, especially the frame. The intricate frame really does justice to the art. The matting… I think it would benefit from a green matte rather than blue (keep the texture and brightness, just move to green), but that’s purely a personal choice. Like any art at Imagekind though, the matting and framing can be customized by the buyer. Feel free to click the image to learn more about it or to perhaps purchase a print for yourself.
Prices for Bejeweled Celtic Shield begin at $25.47, subject to change.
New art featured weekly, courtesy of the artists at Imagekind.
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