Captain Harlock

Okay one at a time... Why Sweden? I needed a vacation and it was there! The temp. there is about 51 degrees right now. When I was there there were a few chilly days but on the whole it was pretty nice. The temp. when I was there was about 55 degrees. It did get up to over 65 on a couple of days though. And no, I didn't come back with a wife. I did meet a nice girl from Israel though.

Hey everyone. Well as some of you know I had a bit of an adventure a couple of weeks ago. I went to (drum roll) Stockholm, Sweden! It was very interesting and a lot of fun. Here's a picture of me on the water taxi to Djurdsgarden. On the water taxi to Djurdsgarden There's more to come.

You know something, I saw Sonic Youth back in 1993 here in New Haven at the now shuttered Palace Theater ("downtown revival" my ass!!). I got free tickets and at the end of the night I STILL wanted my money back. Sonic Youth seems to be more interested in making all kinds of stupid noises with their instruments rather than PLAYING MUSIC with them. And people are way too forgiving of that. I remember looking around saying "are you not hearing this? Why aren't you throwing things at them?". They benefitted from the whole "you shouldn't say anything bad about anyone" thing back in the mid 90's. But I can honestly say that they have ZERO talent and even less musical ability.

Anglo, we don't have the same amount of taxes on gasoline that you have in the UK.

We wouldn't be turning it into the Soviet Union. We'd be turning it into Norway. You want a reason to vote for Obama? Here's probably the only one you need. Be afraid. Be VERY afraid... McCain\'s Nomination Acceptance Speech, where have we heard this before?

At the moment, no. I've been thinking of getting one for a while though. Not sure what kind though. Ultimately I'd love to get a Gibson J160. I played one in a store once and it was hands down on of the best guitars I've ever played. Of course the only hang up right now is the price.

1981 Cherry Red Les Paul Standard 2002 Epiphone Casino (again in Cherry Red) 2007 Hamer Standard Black (thinking of making this one a project because I got pretty cheap and because of the crappy finish)

This has been making the rounds on Myspace about Sarah Palin. Who is Sarah Palin, McCains VP choice? Here's some basic background: * She was elected Alaska 's governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. She has no foreign policy experience. 1* Palin is strongly anti-choice(pro-life), opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest. 2* She supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for president in 2000. 3* Palin thinks creationism should be taught in public schools. 4* She's doesn't think humans are the cause of climate change. 5* She's solidly in line with John McCain's "Big Oil first" energy policy. She's pushed hard for more oil drilling and says renewables won't be ready for years. She also sued the Bush administration for listing polar bears as an endangered species—she was worried it would interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska. 6* How closely did John McCain vet this choice? He met Sarah Palin once at a meeting. They spoke a second time, last Sunday, when he called her about being vice-president. Then he offered her the position. 7*This is information the American people need to see. We also asked Alaska MoveOn members what the rest of us should know about their governor. The response was striking. Here's a sample: She is really just a mayor from a small town outside Anchorage who has been a governor for only 1.5 years, and has ZERO national and international experience. I shudder to think that she could be the person taking that 3AM call on the White House hotline, and the one who could potentially be charged with leading the US in the volatile international scene that exists today. —Rose M. , Fairbanks, AK She is VERY, VERY conservative, and far from perfect. She's a hunter and fisherwoman, but votes against the environment again and again. She ran on ethics reform, but is currently under investigation for several charges involving hiring and firing of state officials. She has NO experience beyond Alaska. —Christine B. , Denali Park, AK As an Alaskan and a feminist, I am beyond words at this announcement. Palin is not a feminist, and she is not the reformer she claims to be. —Karen L. , Anchorage, AK Alaskans, collectively, are just as stunned as the rest of the nation. She is doing well running our State, but is totally inexperienced on the national level, and very much unequipped to run the nation, if it came to that. She is as far right as one can get, which has already been communicated on the news. In our office of thirty employees (dems, republicans, and nonpartisans), not one person feels she is ready for the V.P. position.—Sherry C. , Anchorage, AK She's vehemently anti-choice and doesn't care about protecting our natural resources, even though she has worked as a fisherman. McCain chose her to pick up the Hillary voters, but Palin is no Hillary. —Marina L. , Juneau, AK I think she's far too inexperienced to be in this position. I'm all for a woman in the White House, but not one who hasn't done anything to deserve it. There are far many other women who have worked their way up and have much more experience that would have been better choices. This is a patronizing decision on John McCain's part- and insulting to females everywhere that he would assume he'll get our vote by putting "A Woman" in that position.—Jennifer M. , Anchorage, AK So Governor Palin is a staunch anti-choice religious conservative. She's a global warming denier who shares John McCain's commitment to Big Oil. And she's dramatically inexperienced. In picking Sarah Palin, John McCain has made the religious right very happy. And he's made a very dangerous decision for our country. In the next few days, many Americans will be wondering what McCain's vice-presidential choice means. Please pass this information along to your friends and family..

He does look quite "robust" lately. He very well could be on them to give him some extra endurance during the campaign.

I'm not getting the whole Coldplay thing either. Other guys who I think aren't particularly all that are; John Mayer Dave Matthews U2 Beastie Boys (they pulled the wool over a generations eyes I'll tell ya) Madonna ... and others who I don't have the energy to put here because it gets me really angry when I think about it!

If New Zealand wants to be a state then maybe everyone should jump off the island and push it closer!

Hey Julie, Things may be difficult now. But you will endure and emerge much stronger than you once were. As Bruce Lee once said, pray not for an easy life. Pray for the strength to endure a difficult one. Stay strong, have faith. And always look on the bright side of life...

For those of us who are Matthew Sweet fans, he has a new album coming out on the 26th of August called "Sunshine Lies". For those of us in the New York area he has a show on October 28th at Webster Hall. I haven't seen him since 1995. Toad's Place here in New Haven used to book him all the time and he always played to big crowds. Now Toad's Place just really BLOWS!!

Hey Paul. Need a guitar player?

Lew Bundles is attempting to persuade me to partake in karaoke.

As many of you know I was whacked with a vicious computer virus this past week. After a recommendation from an IT person where I work I dumped Trend Micro and I got Norton's 360 2.0. Well Norton's, to put it bluntly, SUCKS! I used to like it back in 2002, however now it just sucks up too many resources. So as it looks like right now, I'm probably going to have to keep spending until I get this right. If any of you have recommendations for a good antivirus program I'm all ears.

Sorry I haven't been around. I was engaged in an epic battle with a deadly computer virus!! Seriously everyone, beware of this virus called Antivirus XP 2008 (that's the name it goes under). It's one tough mamma jamma to get rid of! Anyway, I wish I could be there person to wish a you a happy birthday. I promise to have a drink in your honor and when I see you next the first one's on me! All the best. Robb

I got 9 of 10. The only one I missed was the cover of Live and Let Die. Hollies, the Chrissie Hynde song was in The Living Daylights.

I'll probably get in a lot of trouble for this but here's Chris Rock's take on it... Chris Rock - Men and Women Lying

I'm always going to prefer CD's but I like seeing the return of vinyl from a collectible stand point. It's just more fun to collect. CD's still have some of that collectability. But MP3's are just nondescript and sterile. There's nothing to differentiate them from each other. I brought that up with someone who was a big advocate of downloading. He tried mocking my preference by saying I enjoy that, in his words, 96khz sound. I told him it wasn't the sound it was everything else. I remember buying my first album in the dollar bin at a local store. It was Cheap Trick's "Live At Budokan" (yeah it was years later but still...). I remember the photos on the jacket, the booklet inside with lyrics, the gatefold sleeve. And years later you can pull that out of someone's collection and say "hey remember this one!". Try getting all that from an MP3 file!

He's also playing Webster Hall in New York two days before.

Hi, my name is Robb and I'm a net addict.

I got 7 out of 10. I missed the Justice League one ( I was a Marvel guy), the one about the creator of Wonder Woman inventing the lie detector, and the one about Goofy getting his own comic (never was a Disney guy, I do like some of the feature films though).

Okay gang, I need your help. I bought a video capture card, unfortunately it came sans-software. So if any of you have any experience in this area I could use some recommendations as far as video capture software go. The only prerequisite is that it has to be able to capture analog video. I'm trying to put some home movies onto DVD.

Yep, that would constitute double taxation! The kind of thing that made tell the British to "get the fudge out!". Then again I'm told the Daly's are something of a "monarchy" in the Chicagoland area.