A look into the private journal of the Batman:

Man, I am so f*cking tired. The Penguin shot me with one of his sh*tty poisons tonight and I swear I’m going to punch him in his fat face the next time I see him. What is it with that guy and the stupid poisons he shoots out of that queer umbrella? He’s like some kind of overdressed junkie, like Queer Eye for the Meth Head.

So now I’m all jacked-up on Penguin juice and Bruce Wayne has a goddamn board meeting at the office in an hour. Why in the hell do I do this to myself? This double-life crap sucks. I should just go in there as Batman and kick the Board of Directors in the teeth. “I got your corporate merger right HERE!” Ha! That would be kick ass! F*ck those guys. They don’t have to put up with the pyscho-nutjobs I have to deal with night after night.

Alfred says that f*cking Penguin juice will wear off in time but I am just SO flaming tired right now. This sucks. That’s it, I’m not going out on patrol tonight. F*ck that. I’m just going to stay in, grab a pint of Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, chill the f*ck out and watch Ugly Betty re-runs. I love that goddamn show, I don’t care what that ass-hat Alfred says. More later.

5 songs running through my iPod this week:

• “Temptation of Salvation” - Miss Midori & The Jazz Inquisition
• “Mood Indigo” - Miss Midori & The Jazz Inquisition
• “Guaranteed” - Eddie Vedder
• “Superstar” - Sonic Youth
• “I Melt With You” - Nouvelle Vague

Interesting article in Seattle Weekly:

Can Indie Acts Give It Away?

Life in the post-In Rainbows music business.

By Karla Starr

Earlier this year, Radiohead released its new album, In Rainbows, on its Web site using a pay-what-you-wish model. A few months later, Nine Inch Nails released Ghosts I-IV employing a similar scheme with more business savvy: There was a tiered scale with prices ranging from free (low-quality digital audio files) to $300 (which included a Blu-ray slide show). Did that strategy work? In Rainbows debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts when released in the physical format. NIN’s extra-deluxe package sold out.

This approach makes sense for bands with followings as large as Radiohead’s and NIN’s; not only do their releases have built-in audiences, but self-releasing brings an artist 100 percent of the revenue. Smaller musicians face a different set of obstacles. Though recording is now dirt-cheap, they may lack the management to recoup funds from pressing the record. But since when have small bands made tons of cash anyway? Read the rest of this entry »

A look into the private journal of the Batman:

Woke up this morning still in my Batsuit. Man, I was wasted last night. I don’t even know how I got back into the Batcave. I’m sure Alfred had something to do with it. I really don’t want to hear his guilt-trip bullsh*t this morning. Especially after all the times I’ve caught him smashed off his ass on “cooking sherry” in the kitchen.

This goddamn Batcowl is killing me. I really need to invest in something that doesn’t make my head feel like it’s wrapped in a lead peanut shell. What the hell was I thinking when I came up with this stupid thing? Of course Catwoman was making fun of it last night at the party. She is never going to leave me alone about the pointy ears things. She kept trying to stick frickin’ hors d’oeuvers on them all night. I must have walked around for 20 goddamned minutes before someone told me I had a crab puff stuck on the tip of my left bat ear. Whatta b*tch! Robin thought it was hilarious of course. What the hell is wrong with that kid? He better not go villain on me or I swear I will kick his ass all the way to Metropolis.

I gotta get me a couple more Batsuits anyway. This one is all wrinkled and stained with what I think is champagne… it better f*ckin’ be champagne! My other suit is still getting repaired from my last fight with the Riddler. When is that guy going to come out of the closet anyway? I bet he wouldn’t do half the crazy sh*t he does if he would just finally admit it. I mean who does he really think he’s fooling with that skin-tight bright green leotard he’s always wearing? He looks like a gay irish ballet dancer. F*ckin’ ridiculous. I hope he keeps his crazy on a leash today ‘cuz I know he’s just going to make fun of this wrinkled Batsuit if I have to face off with him again. Now that I think about it, maybe him and the Joker should hook up. Together they’d be like a super-villian gay pride parade. Jesus christ, why do I always get the crazy flamboyant queens? Superman doesn’t have this problem, the arrogant pr*ck.

Ah hell, I better get out of bed and pretend I have a life. This Batsuit stinks like a wet car tire. More later.

Sketch by Midori. Thank U.

Another Saturday and here I am in a new cafe. This one is called Caffe Vita in Fremont. I have had their coffee before at work where someone had brought in a pound or two. I am not too picky about my coffee. I like it, I drink it, no muss, no fuss. So in that sense I am easy to please. But of course I could make coffee at home. I come out to get some fresh air, see some of the city, and enjoy the free wireless that seems to be ubiquitous here in Seattle. The atmosphere is very nice, mellow, not crowded at all, not too big, not too small. Just what I’m looking for.

Sammy J. rockin’ high school. This photo was taken by my classmate, Kyle. It looks to me like it’s senior year, 1989.

Photo by Rob. It’s an interesting phenomena that happens where people all go out together to be social and wind up spending a big chunk of their time txt’ing and checking email on these happy devices. Maybe life is easier to handle through a digital buffer zone. However, meatspace has cocktails!

I think you need some therapy.

5 songs running through my iPod this week:

• “Wake Up” - Arcade Fire
• “Across The Ocean” - Azure Ray
• “Gotta Have You” - The Weepies
• “These Arms Of Mine” - Otis Redding
• “You Belong To Me” - Patsy Cline

Always up late. The night is quiet and the world is shut down. No one walking past my door, no one calling my phone.

5 songs running through my iPod this week:

• “Samson” - Regina Spektor
• “On Our Own” - The Verve
• “Nobody Knows Me At All” - The Weepies
• “Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side” - Magnetic Fields
• “Sea of Love” - Cat Power

MacGruber!

I’m writing an essay on the death of physical media, and I came across this article on 6 dead technologies. Let’s take a look.

• Phone books. Who uses phone books any more? The over 70 crowd? Wasteful.
• MP3 Players. Your phone is going to do it all, at least until the robot takeover.
• DVDs. More useless plastic. Digital delivery is better in every way.
• Magazines, Catalogs and Newspapers. By the time something gets printed up on dead trees, it’s already been digested a million times online. The world is moving faster than the printed word. And shopping from a catalog these days just encourages the piles and piles of junk mail that comes every day. More waste.
• Video Games on Disc. Again, it’s a digital delivery world. Useless plastic is pointless.
• Cash. Dirty paper. More waste.

Read the full article.

Another weekend, another Seattle cafe. This time I went to Verite in Ballard. Free wireless is of course what brought me in, that is essential. But I wasn’t so crazy about this cafe. It was very loud and crowded. I think that was mostly due to the cupcakes they were selling, which I guess are very popular so there were lines out the door.

“I got some cupcakes for ya! I got your cupcakes right HERE!”

I got my first pair of glasses today. Things have been rather out of focus and it has been hard to read things from a distance. So I went and got my eyes checked, like one is often told to do. And sure enough, the doctor showed me that I could see A LOT better if I had some glasses. I did it, I got them, I’m wearing them to try and get used to them. I haven’t decided whether I’ll wear them all the time or not. But I am glad to have them.

So many things changing this year.

The Sour Grapes Rant:

So-called reality shows are being handed out like lattes at Starbucks. It seems like every washed-up actress or wannabee that’s desperate for some quick cash is being handed a cheap and boring reality show that’s not reality or a show.

Kim Kardashian. Who is she? Why the hell would anyone want to watch her acting like an idiot with her idiot sisters? Every show feels staged, like their boring-ass life just doesn’t cut it so they need to fake it. They just bounce around from one mindless situation to another, making up fake drama, pretending people actually give a sh*t about who they are, and making the rich even more loathsome in the eyes of the world. Read the rest of this entry »

5 songs running through my iPod this week:

• “Paper Planes” - M.I.A.
• “That’s Not My Name” - The Tings Tings
• “Secret Separation” - The Fixx
• “Only The Lonely” - The Motels
• “Chinese Translation” - M.Ward