Friday Five: 5/30

In which I blather about five songs randomly selected from my iPod playlist as I listen to them.

"Happiness Is a Warm Gun [Gun Mix]" - U2
About 20% of my playlist is comprised of U2 songs, so I guess no real surprise that they lead off. This one comes from the second disc of their Best of 1990-2000 double CD, which featured B-sides and remixes. The Edge's distortion-laden guitars give this version a much harder edge than the Beatles' original.

"Saved by Zero" - The Fixx
This one comes from one of my many best of the '80s CDs. I don't really remember ever actually hearing it in the '80s, but it is probably my favorite Fixx song. For what that is worth.

"Night and Day" - U2
More U2. This one is from Red Hot + Blue, the AIDS benefit album where everyone covered Cole Porter songs. I pretty much bought the album for this one song, but it led to me discovering a lot of cool music.

"Gloria" - Van Morrison
I think technically the song was recorded by Them, but it is from my Best of Van Morrison album, so I'll go with that. It's a shame you only ever hear the Shadows of Knight version on the radio; it's a pale imitation of the original.

"Please Don't Tell Her" - Big Head Todd & the Monsters
I was finally able to see Big Head Todd live last summer. Let me tell you, they put on an amazing show. If you like blues-inspired rock, they are definitely a band to check out.

Police Report

A couple of weeks ago, we went to see the Police in concert. I was initially on the fence about going to this show. While I enjoy their music, the $50 price tag per ticket (and that's before fees and "convenience" charges) was a bit daunting. On the other hand, this was realistically going to be the only opportunity I was ever going to have seeing them live. Plus, being that this was near the end of their tour and there had been no incidences of violence, the chance to see Stewart Copeland and Sting throwing down mid-set was too good to pass up.


Elvis Costello and the Imposters were the opening act. Now, I will freely admit that I am not fully versed in Costello's entire catalog. I like most of his music that I've heard, but there were a lot of songs that I did not really recognize. He also fell victim to the poor sound quality that seems to be endemic to the Qwest Center, especially when the organist really started cranking. All that aside, the set was filled with enough of his standards - highlighted by an energetic version of 'Watching the Detectives' back-to-back with a duet with Sting on 'Alison' - that I never lost interest.

The Police were thankfully spared most of the sound problems from earlier in the show. Opening with an acoustic version of 'Bring On the Night,' they launched into a greatest-hits laden set that hit all high points you would expect it to (with the glaring exception of "Synchroncity II'). They did, however, alter the arrangements to many of their most familiar songs, some more successfully than others. 'Don't Stand...', for instance, I thought came off as flat because the slowed tempo was not quite enough of a change. 'Wrapped Around You Finger', on the other hand, featured the percussion parts played on a variety of chimes and gongs before transitioning into the standard drum kit (and then back again) and the guitar parts played with, what sounded to my untrained ear, like a mixture of jazz, samba and Middle Eastern rhythms. The overall effect was a very cool groove to what is probably my favorite song of theirs.

Another thing I found interesting was that they used some of their lesser-known songs, 'Demolition Man' and 'So Lonely' for instance, to get their extended jam onto, which was also a joy to listen to. And despite Sting being a much better instrumentalist than I had ever given him credit for, the star of the show had to be Andy Summers on the guitar. For being older than my dad, the man can still play with amazing speed and skill. Really, words can not describe it.

So, all in all, it was a very good show. No violence (barely - I really wanted to choke spastic-dancing guy in the row in front of me, though), but I can definitely say in retrospect that I am glad to have seen Police live.

Thank You, UPS Man

Got back from lunch to discover a package had arrived for me -- Worlds of Freedom and Book of Magic for Mutants & Masterminds. Score!

I had actually tried to buy these from two different local game stores, but with no luck. At least the one offered to order it for me, but if I'm going to wait a week I might as well get 20% off and have it delivered to my door.

Guitar Zero

So I've been rocking my way through Guitar Hero 3 on the Wii, and I'm doing pretty good. I've got 4 or 5 stars on every song not titled "Raining Blood," and I have defeated Satan in the guitar battle to end all guitar battles. Of course, this is all on Easy.

Last night, I started on Medium and all of a sudden "Slow Ride" was kicking my ass. Why must you taunt me so, blue button?

Inappropriate!

Do you have a weird reference that you do? A throw-out to something nobody has ever heard of? Well, here's one of mine:

So if you've ever seen me screech "Inappropriate" then wail on an imaginary guitar and/or throw down some devil horns, now you know why.

The Obligatory Links Post

Friends:
Patrick Riley: Sinister Things
Todd Furler: An Unlikely Story

Role-Playing Games:
RPGnet
Nuke-Con (my local convention)
Mutants and Masterminds (official site)
Marvel Super Heroes RPG (pdf depository)
Eden Studios
Jeff's Gameblog

Other Games:
Board Game Geek
Heroscape (official site)
Home Poker Tourney

Geek Culture:
The Order of the Stick
Chris's Invincible Super-Blog
mightygodking
Superdickery
Something Awful

Infrequently Asked Questions

05.08.08
Q: Is your beige really that intense?
A: The title of this blog shares its name with a song by the Judybats, whom you've probably never heard of (and I probably wouldn't have either, if it hadn't been for this one girl; but that's another story). I happened to be going through my music collection at about the same time I was trying to come up with pithy domain names. For some reason the imagery of concentrated blandness really seemed to fit where I was in my life at the time. Since then, it's kind of grown on me as I've come to realize that I prefer my quiet little life in a mid-sized Midwestern city to whatever grandoise, glamorous plans for myself in high school. Plus, the song is pretty damn catchy.

05.15.08
Q: Are you the Matt Helms?
A: Probably not.

10.10.08
Q: What was that about a girl?
A: It's even less interesting than it sounds.

I Am Not That Guy

To whom it may concern:


For the record, I am not this guy (he is a fictional character) :


I am not this guy, either (although he is all too real):


Also, I do not write for the Detroit Free Press.

And even though I do post at RPGnet, I am not this guy either.



Thank you for your consideration in this matter,

Some other guy.

Hello World

I've had this domain registered for a couple of years now. Until now, it has festered while I waited for some grand inspiration to strike on what to do with it. It still hasn't arrived yet.

So, in lieu of something really mind blowing, I now present you with random opinions on whatever happens to catch my attention. Because if the internet has taught me anything, it is that you are entitled to my opinions.

Enjoy!