Spent most of my day off reading other people's blogs about "retro stuff," like TV shows, movies and advertisements from the '70s and '80s. This got me thinking about the random things I've kept from when I was a kid... not the toys and such, which are still mostly packed away at my parents' house, but the other stuff.
For instance, I still have two green plastic bag clips that advertise Keebler's Cheez 'N Chips. All I remember about these cheese flavored snacks is that the two bags my mom bought came with their own clip to reseal the bag with. (There's an ad for them at the 8:48 mark at the link, in glorious VHS-o-vision) Even after watching that ad, I still don't remember eating them, or even if they were any good! However, the clips were made well enough to last through umpteen years of junk food consumption, despite a springless design.
I've held onto a collection of pocketknives and lighters, even though I only ever carry one of the smallest knives to work and no longer smoke. I just like keeping this stuff...
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
update
still going through books... unfortunately, many of the ones I have are ones I can't sell since the 99-centers on eBay and Half.com have taken the profit out of it. Oddly enough, I've seen many listings on Half (by the same few sellers) that are priced astronomically high. I couldn't imagine anyone paying $120 or so for any book or movie unless it was both rare and signed... or some special limited item like that Stooges box set, or those early Beck records with the painted covers.
My guess is either these sellers listed the stuff back when they were the only one that had the item, or else they really don't want to sell them in the first place.
I have found a possible solution for those books and CDs that are too common to sell or trade in elsewhere... there's a couple of sites for swapping paperbacks and CDs that sound almost too good to be true. The same people have another one for DVDs, but I haven't bothered with that one since I don't have a ton of movies just sitting around. So far, both sites have only a few "catches" that I can see. Everything you post to your account has to have a UPC and be in their system... which some of my older books and random CDs aren't. If other people want stuff you've posted, you pay shipping to mail it to them. That part isn't that big of a deal since I've gotten used to mailing stuff on eBay... I'll update this once I get the few items I've requested through these sites.
My guess is either these sellers listed the stuff back when they were the only one that had the item, or else they really don't want to sell them in the first place.
I have found a possible solution for those books and CDs that are too common to sell or trade in elsewhere... there's a couple of sites for swapping paperbacks and CDs that sound almost too good to be true. The same people have another one for DVDs, but I haven't bothered with that one since I don't have a ton of movies just sitting around. So far, both sites have only a few "catches" that I can see. Everything you post to your account has to have a UPC and be in their system... which some of my older books and random CDs aren't. If other people want stuff you've posted, you pay shipping to mail it to them. That part isn't that big of a deal since I've gotten used to mailing stuff on eBay... I'll update this once I get the few items I've requested through these sites.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
too much time/not enough time
...for what I have to do/for what I want to do...
Not much to report... attempting to clear out/reorganize stuff with the goal of making room for the scanner. Next, learning to use scanner and imaging program so I can finally add images of the artwork of any music posted here. Plan to have more written in days to come.
Unrelated: Turned in the empty crushed cans I was saving for scrap... got enough back to pay for a pack of cigs (if using mfr coupon). Am limited since have no garage to store them in, so stuck with what will fit in car's trunk while leaving room for other stuff (groceries + whatnot). Feels better than just throwing away, anyway...
I'll probably write more on here if I don't try to make everything perfect... while I can't understand the appeal of "twitter"-style constant updates since my life is not exciting or eventful, I remember reading somewhere that the way to become a good writer is to write, not to obsess over every word and scrap everything b/c you hate it later - all you get with that is blank pages (or no posts, in this case).
Not much to report... attempting to clear out/reorganize stuff with the goal of making room for the scanner. Next, learning to use scanner and imaging program so I can finally add images of the artwork of any music posted here. Plan to have more written in days to come.
Unrelated: Turned in the empty crushed cans I was saving for scrap... got enough back to pay for a pack of cigs (if using mfr coupon). Am limited since have no garage to store them in, so stuck with what will fit in car's trunk while leaving room for other stuff (groceries + whatnot). Feels better than just throwing away, anyway...
I'll probably write more on here if I don't try to make everything perfect... while I can't understand the appeal of "twitter"-style constant updates since my life is not exciting or eventful, I remember reading somewhere that the way to become a good writer is to write, not to obsess over every word and scrap everything b/c you hate it later - all you get with that is blank pages (or no posts, in this case).
Friday, August 21, 2009
"Johnny was a joker..." (Bird Dog demo(?))
...popped in my old CD of Sex Pistols' "Never Mind the Bollocks..." It's funny how something that was so controversial at the time it was released now sounds like classic rock. Speaking of, the first time I heard anything by this band was on a radio station that usually played oldies/rock. I still remember having to explain to my mom (at age 14 or so) that part of the reason the band was called "the Sex Pistols" was to perplex and outrage people like her! "Well, it got your attention, didn't it?" Yeah, I don't think going into the details about Malcolm McLaren/Vivienne Westwood's little shop would've helped my cause any, either. I still like this album... keepin' it.
OK, I promised some more unknown-type stuff, so here goes. These songs come from a tape entitled "Bird Dog 3 Song," Bird Dog seems to be the name of the band. There was a folded-up piece of paper with a name and address on it for Bill Santen, from Portland, Oregon. Could be the artist, could've just been left in the tape case by someone else. No dates on the tape, but it's on a TDK C-60 that looks to be from the early-to-mid '90s. Enjoy, and comment if you d/l.
Update! Did some searchin' and found a coupla archived pages about this group! While the record label seems to be defunct now, I was able to determine that Bill Santen was indeed the main artist behind this tape. Oddly, it's not listed on the discography.
OK, I promised some more unknown-type stuff, so here goes. These songs come from a tape entitled "Bird Dog 3 Song," Bird Dog seems to be the name of the band. There was a folded-up piece of paper with a name and address on it for Bill Santen, from Portland, Oregon. Could be the artist, could've just been left in the tape case by someone else. No dates on the tape, but it's on a TDK C-60 that looks to be from the early-to-mid '90s. Enjoy, and comment if you d/l.
Update! Did some searchin' and found a coupla archived pages about this group! While the record label seems to be defunct now, I was able to determine that Bill Santen was indeed the main artist behind this tape. Oddly, it's not listed on the discography.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
"I'm a lazy sod"
I can't believe it's partway through August already. It really seems like time passes more quickly the older you get. As the years go by do you decide to give up on your dreams, or do you keep putting them off until one day you wake up and realize you're out of time, too old, whatever?
I've got more tapes and stuff to post here, coming up. Thank goodness I don't write for a living, I'd be out on my ass.
If anyone is interested, the CassetteCulture forums are up. If you like these "underground" tapes that people are posting on their blogs, you might want to join up there. It's not just for the musicians or bands that were involved, and if everyone that knows about a little bit of the "scene" adds the info they know, eventually we'll all be able to say more than just "hey, this is a band from such-and-such, or at least that's the address on the tape." Even though these tapes were traded for free back in the 80s-90s, the people that were involved probably would like some credit, especially if we want this music to live on past the life of the tapes!
I've got more tapes and stuff to post here, coming up. Thank goodness I don't write for a living, I'd be out on my ass.
If anyone is interested, the CassetteCulture forums are up. If you like these "underground" tapes that people are posting on their blogs, you might want to join up there. It's not just for the musicians or bands that were involved, and if everyone that knows about a little bit of the "scene" adds the info they know, eventually we'll all be able to say more than just "hey, this is a band from such-and-such, or at least that's the address on the tape." Even though these tapes were traded for free back in the 80s-90s, the people that were involved probably would like some credit, especially if we want this music to live on past the life of the tapes!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
dusting more crap off...
The GF is at work, so I can actually get away with listening to Led Zeppelin without hearing her bitch about it. I haven't actually heard anything from them for a while, since while she likes to listen to the radio in the car, she'll switch the station as soon as she recognizes a snippet of one of their songs.
Led Zeppelin III. I bought the CD of this back in high school. After re-listening, I've discovered that there are two good reasons to keep this. Firstly, Immigrant Song! This was why I picked it up in the first place, and I still love that song. The second reason, which you purists should appreciate, is to learn Atlantic Records' preferred alignment of the spinning part of the vinyl version. The black star should be just slightly off-center in the top hole next to the zeppelin's tail fins. Yes, I'm enough of a dork that I just did that to my copy.
Led Zeppelin IV. One of the first tapes I ever had was a cassette of this album that I'd found back when I was 11 or 12 at a rummage sale. I listened to it constantly on my Walkman. Eventually the tape broke, but I got the CD later on. Listening to it now, I realize that an awful lot of people have sampled the beats from the intro to "When The Levee Breaks"... I knew that sounded familiar.
Notes of interest? Both these discs are the first remasters... got 'em cheap when the so-called "digital remasters" came out in the '90s. They sound fine to my tin ears.
Led Zeppelin III. I bought the CD of this back in high school. After re-listening, I've discovered that there are two good reasons to keep this. Firstly, Immigrant Song! This was why I picked it up in the first place, and I still love that song. The second reason, which you purists should appreciate, is to learn Atlantic Records' preferred alignment of the spinning part of the vinyl version. The black star should be just slightly off-center in the top hole next to the zeppelin's tail fins. Yes, I'm enough of a dork that I just did that to my copy.
Led Zeppelin IV. One of the first tapes I ever had was a cassette of this album that I'd found back when I was 11 or 12 at a rummage sale. I listened to it constantly on my Walkman. Eventually the tape broke, but I got the CD later on. Listening to it now, I realize that an awful lot of people have sampled the beats from the intro to "When The Levee Breaks"... I knew that sounded familiar.
Notes of interest? Both these discs are the first remasters... got 'em cheap when the so-called "digital remasters" came out in the '90s. They sound fine to my tin ears.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Foetus - Limb
Just got this the other day. This is a good example of how to do packaging right. If you're a fan of J.G. Thirlwell's red, white, gray and black artwork, you get a slipcase and booklet full of it. Some of the music on this CD was previously released, but that doesn't bother me since I only had one of the songs already from the bonus record that came with my copy of Hole. The liner notes go into great detail about the songs and how they were created, which is something else I enjoy in CDs. Sick of buying CDs that are only half-full of music? There's a 20-minute Mp3 as a bonus, bringing the total time to 71 minutes and some change! There's also a DVD with a documentary on it (will edit here once I've watched it).
Granted, all this good content comes with a price - but it's a reasonable price when you consider that most major record labels would have you fork over that much just for a DVD of a band. Besides, this way the money actually goes to the artist. I've bought the last few Foetus/Manorexia/Steroid Maximus discs from foetus.org and have been extremely happy with the service, shipping time and cost, packaging, etc.
Hear some of Limb here.
Granted, all this good content comes with a price - but it's a reasonable price when you consider that most major record labels would have you fork over that much just for a DVD of a band. Besides, this way the money actually goes to the artist. I've bought the last few Foetus/Manorexia/Steroid Maximus discs from foetus.org and have been extremely happy with the service, shipping time and cost, packaging, etc.
Hear some of Limb here.
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