I have kept this secret for a while now, but I did a radio edit of the new Depeche Mode single, “Wrong”!.

Click here to go to the download page, and enjoy the EXCLUSIVE mp3!

You ever wonder how a day could be wasted? I mean, you know you sat at a computer for 14 hours, and worked non-stop, yet you feel like you did nothing?

Spam. Evil crap! I almost miss the days before “social networking”. There was a HELL of a lot less spam!

If you are a spammer, please contact me. We can arrange for you to meet me at the batting cage…and I can hit you instead of the balls!

Grrr….

NIN / Janes Addiction KROQ Pre-sale.

Fine. Register an account on LiveNation. Done.

Logged in, and ready for a pre-sale.

Crap tickets keep coming up. Typical for KROQ. Ok…good tickets. Get them!

Ok. Yes, that is my address, all the info is correct. Submit. Wait…why does it keep refreshing this page?

WHAT THE FUCK! You *HAVE* to opt-in to their fucking emails in order to continue your ticket order! Fuck! Fine! I submit to your spam. Take my damn order.

Ok…yes, that is my billing info. Let’s go.

FUCK!

“Sorry! The system encountered an error”…blah blah fucking blah! Bastards! Not only did the site die on me, but it logged me out! BASTARDS!

After a few minutes of screaming, the system let me in, and I got two tickets. Now the next fun bit:

Tickets are $49.90 each. Seems ok, but the final bill is a joke. A literal copy/paste (no joke - this is straight from the email):

Tickets: $99.80
Parking Fee: $12.00
Ticket Fee: $26.00
Total Ticket Charges for Event: $137.80

***************************************
Ticket Charges: $99.80
Ticket Fees: $38.00
Delivery Fee for order: $0.00
Total Charge: $137.80

***************************************

So, explain this. First, the things says there is a parking fee and a ticket fee. Then, it’s just a ticket fee?

Why does each ticket get a $12 parking fee!?!?! WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK! EACH person/ticket pays $12 for parking? Why? We’re in the same car!

THIEVES!

FIX THIS!

An Open Letter To The Media

For years, I have suffered through local TV newscasts. “Storm Watch” when there are a grand total of five drops of precipitation. “Sweeps Week” “news” stories that are nothing more than borderline Skinemax features. “News” stories about people that are not news worthy (Paris Hilton, [any] Kardashian, et cetera). “News” exclusives that are simply free promo spots for the companies that own the TV networks (Dancing With The Stars or Disney “News” on ABC, American Idol “News” on FOX, et cetera). What I saw tonight, though, beats it all.

Nadya Suleman, “Octomom”, bringing home a few of her litter from the hospital.

I will take a moment for my disclaimers. I am not a fan of gossip crap. TMZ is not bookmarked on my web browser. I do not make time for Extra, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, or the other “Entertainment” shows. If I turn on the TV for news, I want actual news. As for Suleman, she is pure and simply a freak that is a definition “attention whore”, and is jeopardizing the lives of 14 children in the process. Is it a miracle she had eight kids? No. It is stunning that someone LET her have eight more to add to her litter of six!

Tonight, I witnessed KTLA (Channel 5), KCAL (Channel 9) and KTTV (Channel 11) all break for the “Breaking News” that a few of the Octomom litter were coming home. Now, let’s analyze this. Some psycho woman, with no job, no money (yet can afford plastic surgery), no man in her life, no proper future, and a questionable mental capacity, had eight kids. Sure, the number might be impressive, but (to state this again) she already had six kids! Now, an unmarried broke woman has 14 kids. This is not “Breaking News”. This is child endangerment. This is not “Entertainment”, unless you are the kind of person who enjoys watching trains collide. This woman is a mess. The fact that three respected local news channels chose not only to break from actual news of the day (Obama visit to SoCal on Wednesday, AIG thieves enjoying bonuses while we all starve, et cetera) to spend a sizable chunk of broadcast news time to cover the “event” of this sick woman essentially “coming home” is stunning. Why is there a need for the HD Telecopter to show me paparazzi clinging onto the side of an SUV. Why do I need to be shown “Live interviews” with the mouth breathers who elected to waste their time camping in front of a crazy lady’s house.

Why is there anything on the TV other than a newscaster simply saying “Octomom has been allowed to take a few of her children home today.” That one sentence, with a head shot of Angelin….Nadya, and that’s it. Bury that somewhere towards the end of the newscasts, for the dozen people who genuinely gives a damn.

You know what, I will make you a deal. You all can keep your “Storm Watch”. You can keep your high speed “pursuit” coverage. You can keep all the advertising crap you shovel down our throats on a daily basis that your stations owners force you to cover (”Breaking ‘Dancing With The Stars’ news next!”), but for the love of whatever you respect or worship, please stop carrying this Octomom type crap.

When you watch TV, and think that seeing Paris Hilton would be less aggravating than the crap you are being force-fed, something is definitely wrong.

For the record, after I hit three channels with this “Breaking News” crap, I left the room. I couldn’t take it.

So, after dealing with the nightmare people at the CVS Pharmacy (on Hollywood Way, here in Burbank) on the phone a few weeks back, I finally got my prescriptions. On Thursday, February 12th, I picked up the three medications. Two topical items, and a liquid form of Erythromycin (because I can’t swallow a pill - I suck). The Erythromycin was in the form of two bottles, each with a week’s supply inside. Remember that…

Now, the fun kicked in…

I was to take the Erythromycin four times a day. Simple instructions: shake the hell out of the bottle, and take the dose. So, I took a dose on Thursday night, four doses on Friday, and one dose on Saturday. I go to take the seventh dose, and there isn’t any more liquid. There’s just some sludge at the bottom of the bottle.

I go to grab the second bottle, and start to pour out a dose. The medicine RUSHED out. I found this odd, since the first bottle poured out like thick syrup. I had already been feeling pain in my stomach since starting to take the crap, and now I had a new feeling…panic.

I called the pharmacy. They were no help whatsoever. “Did you shake the bottle?”

I called my doctor, who then called the pharmacy and ripped them a new ass. It turns out that due to poor mixing on the part of CVS, I essentially took near a week’s worth of Erythromycin in 36 hours. Not good. FAR from good. I already suffer from a bad stomach, but - wow - this was stuff I’ve never experienced. My stomach made sounds of hunger, yet I just ate. I was constipated, yet I was shooting out liquid.

Following the doctor’s orders, I drank a river’s worth of water, and after a few days, the shaking, dizziness and bad stomach hell was gone.

According to the pharmacy manager, they are “investigating” the matter.

Must be an involved investigation. I have yet to receive another call on the matter.

This is a public service announcement. Never, never, NEVER use the pharmacy at the CVS at 511 North Hollywood Way, in Burbank. For years, I went to them for my Mom’s meds when she was in the end phase of her Liver Cancer/Melanoma hell. It was never a good experience. I should have learned then. I know now.

Avoid incompetence! DO NOT GO THERE! You have been alerted!

Worst. Pharmacy. Ever!

I am currently in the nightmare which is video capturing. For one of my clients, I am completely upgrading their Video area (just the Music Videos for now) with new high quality videos.

The workflow: Get source (DVD / DV / Laserdisc / VHS) to the computer. Save. Save a copy as an Uncompressed 8bit 4:2:2 QuickTime file. Drag that to Final Cut, slap some titles on the start and end, then save again as an Uncompressed 8bit 4:2:2 video. Finally, take the result, and compress down to a 480×360 MPEG4 video file. Each video takes up to 90 minutes (!!!). Why go through all the Uncompressed steps? If you just take a DV25 encoded clip (which is all the quality I am able to capture at on my laptop), and compress that down, it will look like crap, pure and simple.

Now, if all the video was digital already, this would be great. Ripping a MPEG2 DVD file, and doing “the workflow” is workable, if a bit time consuming. The issue is that there are close to two dozen videos that have never been released, or are on very old formats (PAL VHS). This becomes the start of the nightmare.

Below, we have two identical frames from the Depeche Mode video “A Question Of Time”. One is from a NTSC laserdisc (the Strange home video was only released on VHS and Laserdisc formats), and the other is from a PAL DVD rip of The Best Of Depeche Mode, Volume 1. Note the lack of detail on the Laserdisc. Lack of detail going into the process means that the final product will be washed out and dull. Fun!

You ask yourself, “Self, why would he even bother to capture something that is already on DVD?”

Good question. The answer? Anton Corbijn (the director) did a slight edit (a different shot) for two seconds in the middle of the video. I am trying to be complete, hence I am featuring all of the videos, with all variation.

Yes, that was the 4:32pm train that just went by. You can tell because it has orange stripes instead of blue stripes. (British people reading that are laughing right now)

I wish I was making this up…

So, apparently I am not as 100% cancer-free as I thought. I have one final thing that needs to be dealt with.

After leaving the doctor’s office today with prescriptions for two topical creams and an antibiotic, I went (through crap traffic) to CVS. Here comes the fun…

I drop off the scripts. The lady behind the counter at CVS tells me that my creams will be $89 and $18 (generic! DAMN!), and she needs to call for the antibiotic. Ok. Kill 20 minutes. I can do that.

20 minutes later:

CVS “Sir, we need to fax your doctor the old prescription, in order to get a new one, since that antibiotic isn’t made anymore.”
Me “Ummm…ok. Can you call me when the script is ready.”
CVS “Oh, no sir. We don’t do that. You have to call us.”
Me “Seriously? You’d rather have me call over and over, checking, than just call me once, when it is done?”
CVS “OK, I will take your number down.”

An hour later. The doctor’s office calls me, telling me the pharmacy situation is straightened out. Cool. I call CVS (since they NEVER called). I swear, I am not making this next part up:

CVS “Hello.”
Me “Hi. I’m checking on my prescriptions. Are they ready?”
CVS “Just a second.” “Sir? Yes, your two prescriptions are ready.”
Me “Umm…no. There are three.”
CVS “Oh, sorry sir. Just one moment.” “Sir? Yes. Your two prescriptions are ready.”
Me “Excuse me?”
CVS “Your two prescriptions are ready.”
Me “When you put me on hold, I told you it was three, not two.”
CVS “Oh…hold on, sir.” “Sir, we only have two prescriptions here.”
Me “Look. I was just there not more than 2 hours ago, with THREE prescriptions in my hand. The doctor’s office just called me, saying they talked to CVS, and this was all straightened out!”
CVS “Oh…one moment sir.” “Sir? Yes, your three prescriptions are here.”
Me “So I can pick them up now?”
CVS “Oh, no sir. We are busy for the next hour or so at least.”
Me “But you just said they were ready now.”
CVS “Well…hold on, sir.” “Sir? Yes, please come down in one hour for your two prescriptions.”
Me “Three! You mean three, right?”
CVS “Oh (laughs). Yes, sir. Three. We will see you in an hour.”

Shoot me.

Pepperoni Pizza Cracker Combos. Not the Pretzel flavor, like you can find everywhere in Los Angeles, but the Cracker variety. A simple snack. A tasty snack. Let’s be honest…fattening as fuck.

Every time I take a road trip to San Francisco or Las Vegas, I always see these in the roadside Kwik-E-Mart type places. They are always horribly overpriced, but I still buy a dozen or so. Why? You can’t get them in Los Angeles!

To prove my point, I was “that guy”, and contacted Mars Incorporated through the Combos web site, stating how I only find these damn things when I drive over 250 miles from my house, and why doesn’t the local 7-11 have “the good Combos” (screw “cheddar cheese”, and forget your damn “pretzel”)? A few days later, I received an email with links to a Product Locator, as well as an Online Distribution Center.

The product locator confirmed what I said:
Searching for “Single” size on the product locator page generated this:
Albertsons 4421 E Bonanza Rd Las Vegas NV 89110 702 453.6501 230.7 miles

Searching for the “Medium” size got me this:
K Mart 491 Tres Pinos Rd Hollister CA 95023 831 637.5730 252.2 miles

The product is not even available on the Liberty Distribution page, period.

Fail. Epic fail.

True, I could hit up Amazon or Costco to find these, but - dude, seriously - it’s just a snack. They have every other flavor locally, so why not the one good one? I should be able to just walk into my local shop, and get these artery clogging masterpieces of fake Pizza flavoring.

I’ll go so far as to say it’s a sign of a crap economy and business plan. More and more shops are closing, or converting to “online only”. Brick and mortar is dying. I don’t know about you, but I prefer actually walking into a shop than “pointing and clicking”. I’m already going to get fat as fuck from the damn snack. At least let me burn a few calories to get the stupid thing!

I am baffled by the “news” entry I just saw on The Tripwire, regarding Coldplay going back in the studio with Brian Eno:

“Though Eno received some slack for his last go with Coldplay, fans and critics most likely won’t be crying this time around, after the news of Coldplay’s seven Grammy nominations and 4 BRIT nominations for their work with Eno on Viva.”

Are you kidding me? What the hell does a Grammy award have to do with the enjoyment of an album?

I have never been in a record store, deciding if I want to buy a record, and been swayed in ANY way by a “Grammy Award Winner” sticker. Awards don’t make music better. “Wow, that album sucked, but it did win a Grammy, so maybe my untrained ears don’t realize that this crap is actually good music…”

Give me a break!

I’m a fan of Coldplay. Been a fan since their Fierce Panda days, but their last album was WEAK! I still bought it, hoping it would grow on me. Nope. Nothing. Yet their over-hyped crap sells.

Another example of the dumbing down of the general public. Look, this song is being used to sell a product on TV. Look…we won awards! Look…people mention us in all news publications. So what? If your song sucks, a statue is not going to distract me from not liking your crap!

UGH!

Hell (to go off on a side rant), look at all the clearance sales from the businesses closing down. You know they are a scam, right? Circuit City has everything 10 to 30% off! Big deal! That’s 10 to 30% off of FULL manufacturer’s list price! You know what? Circuit City’s prices, before this clearance, were CHEAPER! Most of the items you can find “on sale” and “marked down” at Circuit City you can find in any other store for less!

Lesson learned from these examples? Read! Learn! Educate yourself! Stop taking things at face value! Don’t believe an album is good because it has been nominated for an award! Don’t believe the sticker price! Don’t believe me! Learn for yourself! WAKE UP!

If you are a reader of my blog (and according to my stats, there are a surprising large number of you), you know about my Mom. We are almost at the three year anniversary of her passing (summary: liver cancer, melanoma, and complications from bad medical care).

Knowing that the trigger for my Mom’s descent into cancer hell was a mole, I decided to do something about a number of moles on my face, and a head cyst (again, readers of the blog will know some of this already).

I can report, so far, that all the biopsy tests have come back clear - no cancer.

Yay.

The price for this, though, is (currently) a very painful nose. I had five moles “shaved” (you don’t want to know). I will say this…you know when you go to the dentist, and the dentist sticks that novocaine needle into your gums? Well, imagine that needle going multiple times into your nose. OUCH! And that is just to numb you up!

My nose is much smoother (yay), but DAMN it still hurts…and I look like I lost a fight.

One more biopsy report, and this is behind me.

Would have been nice to have medical insurance to pay for this.