FilteringCraig

I don’t like the Friday Five this week, so here is my own. This week was inspired by my brother Mark.

1. What is your favorite movie quote?

“Who’s your favorite New Kid? Call me Donny. Ooh Call me Joey. Please don’t go girl. Please don’t go.” - Ben Affleck in Mallrats

2. What makes it so memorable?

After seeing this, my highschool friends and I quoted it for months. And if you have seen the movie you know what Affleck is doing during this scene. Subsequently we had a secret code to talk about something that should never be referenced while in a highschool class room.

3. What movie are you dying to see? Theaters or DVD

Adaptation - This is a movie by the same people who did Being John Malkovich and it stars Nicholas Cage as twins. Enough said.

4. What is the most disturbing movie you have ever seen? Why?

American History X - Where do I begin? The graphic violence? The abrasive racism? The prison version of deliverance? All the above. Edward Norton is amazing in this movie, but I can’t even watch it anymore. My memories are enough.

5. What is the funniest movie you have ever seen? Why?

Well if I can go outside the boundaries of real movies, I will say Jackass the movie. It wasn’t really a movie, but it was hilarious. When the guy takes a dump in the floor model toilet in a hardware store (IE not connected to any pipes) I almost peed myself.

If I have to choose a movie with an actual plot, I will say Mallrats. It doesn’t make me laugh like it used to because I have seen it about 1000 times, but I can still remember sitting watching it for the first time with my younger brother and being hysterical for about an hour and a half. Classic.

I have had the worst time dealing with a company who provides web-hosting service. In case you are wondering, it is not my website hosting company. I deal with ICDSoft and I like the service so far. (KNOCK ON WOOD) I have been dealing with another company that hosts my dad�s company email and website (even though there is no site yet). Let�s call them �F-Minus Dot Net.�

A couple months ago, the email stopped working at my dad�s office and we called and dealt with it. According to the oh-so helpful customer (non)service representative in her English as a second language in a job requiring good communication skills accent, �there was a billing problem, there is no billing problem now and it is back to normal.�

OH! That makes all the sense in the world. At least now I understand what the problem was (not really). And on top of that, I feel very confident that it will never happen again. After that illogical drivel, I feel like its money in the bank. HOW DOES A BILLING PROBLEM SHUT THE WHOLE THING DOWN WHEN YOU AUTOMATICALLY BILL A CREDIT CARD MONTHLY?!?!??

Fine, email is back working and Craig is feeling� OK. Then this week the email stops working again. Something about when we upgraded service packages to get more email addresses it stopped working. Oh, and by the way, while all this was happening we also let your domain name registration lapse. So now we (F-Minus Dot Net) want you to pay us, the service provider, $240 to get your hosting back up and running, and we are going to have to bill you an additional $135 to get your domain name back from VeriSign.

NO. Flat out FU**ING NO! If this $135 is going to have to be paid to VeriSign and we are going to have to wait another few days for the whole thing to propagate back through the internet, you bet your sweet A$$ it will be with a different hosting company. So, goodbye �F-Minus Dot Net.� Your customer service is a joke. You messed up automatic monthly billing. And you expected the customer to pay more money because you screwed up. I hope your company is purchased and liquidated. I hope it is so swift and horrible that you pee right through your Aeron chair. I am going to laugh.

Last night I went to an open mic night with my friend Todd at a local coffee shop. What a way to break up your week. I was planning on playing my two songs and I took a long time deciding whether to bring my acoustic or electric guitar. Eventually I decided on my electric because it is much easier to play and I haven�t played in front of people since I started playing guitar 8 months ago. We get there and the guitar amplifier wasn’t working. I wasn�t nervous until I knew that I wouldn�t be able to use my own guitar.

A few people went up there and played. They were all pretty good. Then Todd went up and played a few songs by the band Jets to Brazil, who you should definitely check out. Anyway, Todd performed them well. I was impressed because I never heard him sing before.

I went next using Todd�s acoustic guitar, which he graciously allowed me to use. It was easier to play than any of my own guitars. I was slightly worried because I am getting over a cold, but I think it went ok. I played �One Last Time Forever� and �On and Even Keel.� There weren�t enough people there to judge my performance on applause or anything, but that wasn�t the point. I haven�t performed in front of people in years. It was so great to play in front of people again. Now I really want to get to the point that I can play an entire show.

Well, I have posession of my new house as of this morning. I will have to post some pictures sometime soon. It is minty green at the moment (I will paint it white in the spring). It has 4 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms a basement, a 2 car attached garage, and a big back porch. Incidentally, one half of the basement is finished and is about to become my home recording studio.

ROCK!

“I swear if you hit me with one more snowball, my daddy’s going to kill you.”
It is completely unbelieveable to me how some people can let things escalate.
I leave you with a quote from one of the most profound figures ever written into any movie.

“Lighten up Franicis” - Sgt. Hulka (AKA the big toe)

I have been very hard on Fred Durst. I have called him a joke, an embarrassment to rock music, a wannabe, an idiot and about 100 other profanity laced descriptions. I liked Limp Bizkit�s first album. I can�t deny it. Then, the summer that I went to see Tool on Ozzfest, Limp Bizkit played in the afternoon, where they proceeded to get on stage via a 30 foot tall toilet complete with the noises that will complete any associated bodily emission. This is when I wrote them off completely and I haven�t looked back since.

Then Fred Durst makes a comment at the Grammy�s protesting the war, but he used the word �agreeance.� Actually it isn�t a word at all. And I am sitting back saying, �See? See? He is an idiot. A moron. A giant waste of human flesh. So fake that he went out with Britney after singing with Christina. He may have brought us Staind, but he also gave us Puddle of Mudd. Ha Ha� Wait, what is this?�

No sooner had I permanently written Fred Durst off, than he decides even though he is stupid, hasn�t made a good record since his first (although I liked the song �Boiler�) he is going to do something classy. He has decided to do something to help aid the families of the Rhode Island club disaster. (I think it will probably be a benefit show or something.) While this can�t completely redeem Fred Durst for being a tool, it is one step in the right direction.

Sure, it could also be viewed as a good PR move for Sh*t Bizkit who has another presumably horrible album coming out soon, but�.

Well, it is a little early, but I am letting everyone know about the show going on this weekend, Saturday March 1st. Come to the Grog Shop in Coventry and see COINMONSTER, playing with Leo and Xela. If you dig Indie/Emo/ whatever…. if you dig ROCK MUSIC, you will like this show. Leo rocks hard and have amazing vocals. I have been following Coinmonster for a VERY long time and they just jam, with some of the greatest musicianship I have ever seen. I have only seen Xela once, but they play a cool jazzy, funky, rock that I have never heard before.

Come check it out. Come have a beer with the Filtered One. (nobody took me up on this offer the last time I sent it out there.)

I have been searching through MP3.com lately looking for good bands. So I went through and searched based on the different people’s listed influences. I was searching for Death Cab for Cutie and The Gloria Record and then downloaded about 44 songs. The better bands that I found were:

This is the most complete dialect survey I have seen. Since I have been giving my sister a very hard time about picking up the really really flat Cleveland accent, which incidentally is thicker in certain areas around Cleveland, say PARMA, I figured I would share this link. If you don’t know what the accent in Cleveland is like, think of Chicago only less harsh. Some of the questions were really interesting because I didn’t know anyone said some of these things.

Dialect Survey Maps

I know I have been talking a lot about music lately, but here is another music post. I made a mix CD this weekend of oldies that make me happy. When you listen to a lot of the music I listen to, it is important to know which types of music will make you happy. I was raised on a lot of different types of music, but my dad has always been a BIG fan of Motown. Also, for better or worse, Lionel Richie was a big time favorite when I was around age 5-9. I always seem to come back to a large portion of the Motown though. Even the songs with sad lyrics make me feel good.

Here is the track list of the Happy Oldies mix that I made.

(Artist - Song Title)

1. Blood Sweat and Tears - Spinning Wheel
2. Jackson 5 - ABC
3. Four Tops - Can’t Help Myself
4. Temptations - My Girl
5. Gladys Knight and the Pips - Midnight Train to Georgia
6. Junior Walker and the Allstars - Shotgun
7. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles - Tears of a Clown
8. Diana Ross and the Supremes - You Can’t Hurry Love
9. Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell - Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
10. Stevie Wonder - Isn’t She Lovely
11. The Commodores - Easy

Any others that should have made the mix?
The definition of “oldies” is pretty loose so give it a shot.