Posted January 31, 2009 at 6:52 pm by Severed Head
So I was looking over the list of things to do before I die when I realized that things like “Master the guitar” are very vague! I decided that I’d make a checklist kind of thing. That is, once I finish this list, I will have in my mind, effectively mastered the guitar. I separated all twenty songs into ten categories, since there is much more than just shredding that I’d like to do. Also, I didn’t include classical guitar, because I feel that, once I can play “Recuerdos de la Alhambra” by Tarrega, I will have mastered it. For every song that I learn, I will write about it and how it contributes to the idea of mastering the guitar. I have only learned a bit of each of these songs, specifically, Little Wing, Scarified, and Day at the Beach… I am really excited about this list, so wish me luck!
Shred (scales/speed):
Bumblefoot-Some Other Guy (Abnormal)
Paul Gilbert-I Feel Love (Burning Organ)
Arpeggios (specifically, string-skipping and sweep arpeggios):
Racer X-Scit Scat Wah (Live Extreme, Volume 1)
Racer X-Scarified (Second Heat)
Tapping)
Paul Gilbert-Get Out of My Yard (Get Out of My Yard)
Joe Satriaini-Day at the Beach (Flying in a Blue Dream)
“Soft” (phrasing and dynamics):
Paul Gilbert-Suide Modale (Silence Followed by a Deafening Roar)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience-1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be) (Electric Ladyland)
Harmony:
Queen-Good Company (A Night at the Opera)
Queen-Dreamers Ball (Jazz)
Acoustic:
Paul Gilbert-The Second Loudest Guitar in the World (Acoustic Samurai)
Queen-’39 (A Night at the Opera)
“Soul” (phrasing and vibrato):
Paul Gilbert-I Cannot Tell a Lie (Silence Followed by a Deafening Roar)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience-Little Wing (Axis: Bold as Love)
Pinch harmonics:
Mattias IA Eklundh-Smoke on the Water (Freak Guitar: The Road Less Traveled)
Mattias IA Eklundh-The Road Less Traveled (Freak Guitar: The Road Less Traveled)
Various (phrasing, speed, and arpeggios, mostly):
Yellow Matter Custard-While My Guitar Gently Weeps (One Night in New York City)
Skwisgaar Skwigelf-Crush My Battle Opponent’s Balls (Metalocalypse: Season 1)
Misc. (slide guitar and tone, specifically):
Queen-White Queen (As It Began) (Queen II)
Muse-Invincible (Black Holes and Revelations)
I don't care what anyone says, fuck nationalism
Posted January 13, 2009 at 2:39 am by Severed Head
Found on boingboing.net in the comments:
In fourteen hundred and ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue
But thirteen thousand years before,
The first American came ashore.
Posted January 5, 2009 at 8:12 am by Crumb Bandit
“The age of discovery is not over,” says Jesse Ausubel, in an article about 10 foot Jurassic shrimp found near the Australian coast due to the marine life census which should be completed in 2010. This gives me hope for more exciting adventures during my lifetime. Perhaps in Australia.
Everyone should be able to discover something new at least once in their life, eh?
My favorite part of this blog article was the last one, the mantis shrimp. “Whenever they get into any type of situation, they smash things. You can’t pick these up. They’re really great animals to have around.” – Tom Cronin
Click here for creepy old animals.
Posted January 4, 2009 at 2:05 pm by Severed Head
Coming soon to you hard and fast in the new future:
Direct Metal Index-Endless Power EP
I’m working on it as we speak.
Conspiracies, Life, Limb, Lists, Pissed off rants
Posted January 3, 2009 at 12:33 am by Severed Head
August – Present: Our dishwasher has had a few inches of water in it since the first time it was used. This wasn’t noticed until much later, when there were more pressing maintenance issues to address, and since then, it has been a string of issues, so a maintenance request was not put in, as this was not as important to us, and with the delayed reaction the maintenance staff seems to have, we figured we could live with this, moreso than the other things.
September through late November: Our A/C began leaking shortly after moving in. Shortly after putting in a maintenance request, it was fixed, but left with a large hole in our ceiling. Upon contacting the office, we were told that someone would be in to fix it over the next few days. A few weeks later, another request was put in, and a few days after that, the air conditioning was turned back on, and the hole was covered up. Within the next day, it was leaking again. Again, we told the office about this, and a few days later, the air conditioning was fixed, and, again, a hole was left in our ceiling, as we were told that someone would be back shortly to fix this. After waiting about a month, as this was not a terribly pressing issue, we called upon maintenance again, and they closed it.
October – Present: Our light in the bathroom stopped working. The issue was not a burnt out light bulb, as many working light bulbs were tried. A maintenance request was put in for this as an electrical issue, but never addressed. Approximately a week later, after tinkering with the light a bit more, I was able to fix the problem, but nobody had come. Within the last week, the light stopped working again. No request was put in for this yet, so I can understand why it hasn’t been addressed yet.
Early December: Our toilet has been clogged multiple times. Having used plungers and augers, it would still not unclog, so a maintenace request was filed online. This was not addressed until a few days later, when they did something to unclog it. Unfortunately, they did not do a good enough job, because, by the end of that day, it was clogged again. Again, plungers and augers were used, and they did not do the job. An online maintenance request was put in, and the “emergency maintenance” phone line was called, and within a few days of not having heard anything or having our toilet fixed, we put in another maintenance request online. Finally, two days later, it was fixed, and we haven’t had any problems with the toilet since.
Mid-December: One night, while cleaning dishes our kitchen sink had begun to drain slowly, so we turned on the garbage disposal, which had worked previously. It cleared the kitchen sink of water, but later, it was discovered that the water had simply moved to the bathroom sink. The bathroom sink started to flood with water and small bits of food, and the area under the sink flooded a bit as well. Eventually, the water level in the sink went back down, and a maintenance request was submitted. It kept filling up and draining for about two days, and then simply stopped, with both sinks partially flooded. After a few more days, the bathroom sink began to overflow onto the floor, and the “emergency maintenance” line was called. It was at night, and we had received no response to either of our requests so far. The next day, it began to overflow wildly, and the emergency maintenance line was called again. Someone came nearly instantly this time, and the problem was fixed.
Early November: This appeared to be a issue throughout the whole building, if not the whole complex, so I’m sure the office was aware of this, but for many days, both our air conditioning and heater were turned off. This made it difficult when, during the days, it was hot, and, during the nights, while my roommate and I were both trying to sleep, it was very cold.
Mid-October-Early January: This is not a maintenance issue, and it was never brought up to the office, so I can understand why this was not addressed. Our upstairs neighbor was playing his music very loud one night in early October, so I went upstairs to try to talk to him, trying to be as friendly as possible. After introducing myself, he snapped at me and said “So you want me to turn down the music or what?”. I said “Yes, thanks”, and he did. Since then, he had played his music very loud multiple times, but I had never confronted him about it again because, over that period of time, I overhead him screaming at whom I can only assume was his girlfriend, as well as the sound of slamming doors, and loud thumps. I had heard evidence of his anger multiple times, including him screaming at someone on the phone, and another incident of him yelling at another man to leave his apartment, calling him, as he was leaving, “A stupid f**king n***er”. The issue of him yelling at the other man happened on the 29th of December. It didn’t occur to me to notify the office about these incidents, and I apologize, but I didn’t want to get them into this as well.
Tonight, Friday the 2nd of December, he played his music particularly loud, enough so that it was shaking our apartment. After about an hour, I decided that I was fed up, and called the police to file a noise complaint at about 7. Shortly afterward, I heard him banging violently on the rails, which I have heard him do many times before. About 40 minutes later, a police officer came to talk to him. I had not been outside in a while, but the officer told me that the man upstairs had thrown a “bottle of alcohol” down onto the ground in front of our door. He said that the man definitely did not like any of his neighbors, and he told me that I should not confront him to avoid starting a fight, as he was intoxicated. I overheard a bit of the conversation, and he expressed hate toward many of his neighbors, including some racial slurs toward specfic African-Americans, as well as Hispanics who live in the area. As the officer also said, apparently, the music could be heard from the parking lot. A few minutes after talking to the officer on the phone, the man came and knocked on my door. He knocked for a few seconds, then paused for about thirty seconds, repeating this three or four times afterward, getting slightly louder each time. I did not answer the door. Eventually, he got frustrated and said very angrily under his breath “Motherf**ker!” before leaving.