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How To Handle A Faulty HD & The Loss Of Your Music With Your iPod

Ok, that might be a bit of a long name, but it's important... if you don't want to loose as much time and music as I have when you run into a similar situation!

I'm not sure how but in the last couple weeks, after taking my Mac Mini computer with me on a trip to California, I've lost a fair amount of data on my hard drive.

I'm aware that my Hard Drive was corrupted before my trip so it might not be entirely on how my baggage was handled to and from California.

But in California when I would select some of the songs that went missing in my iTunes playlist or library, I would always encounter the annoying spinning beachball pointer, or the swirling torrent of colors...

While in California I didn't want to hassle with trying to fix it because there was enough things there I was busy doing... or should have been doing.

I had all my music synced on my iPod, so all I had to do was somehow find a way to get the music from my iPod back into my iTunes directory somehow.

So when I got back from California, being fed-up with the tracks that were no longer on my HD and subsequently causing my iPod to take forever to sync and making it impossible to browse my iTunes music directory, I downloaded and installed Super Remove Dead Tracks from Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes.

That was the absolutely wrong script to use at the time, because it didn't do anything for the core problem of my corrupt Hard Drive and erased the mp3 files from my iPod the next time it was synced.

Though I'm glad that it was only 55 tracks of not-so important stuff (though I will try to get it back again somehow anyways).

If you don't really care about the music that you've lost then it might be just fine to use that script.

Since I knew that I was going to try to upgrade from Tiger to Leopard... or actually install them both on the same HD... I knew I was going to have to repair the HD.

So I popped in the Tiger install disks that came with my Mac Mini, and used the Disk Repair Utility to repair my corrupted Hard Disk.

As one should expect several files, mostly my music though, went missing in the process; but after repairing the HD I was able to browse the iTunes directory and click on dead tracks in my iTunes library without getting the beachball cursor or the swirling torrent of colors cursor!

That solved that problem....

But as a result more music went missing. This time it was 100 tracks with a lot of good stuff, so I really want to get it back in the easiest way possible.

I first downloaded and installed iLinkPod to see what I could get from the music files on my iPod.

Realizing how much time it would take to manually identify each individual or even a group of files to pick out the ones that went missing I soon went looking for another alternative.

Then I eventually found and tried out Ollie's iPod Extractor - but I had no luck with it... I kept getting an AppleScript error indicating to big of a parameter string or something.

Here's How To Get Your Music Off Your iPod And Into iTunes Again...

I kept searching until I found the Show iPod Song Files script on Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes site.

NOTE: to use this script you must have the "Manually manage music (and videos)" checkbox on your iPod's setting checked.

Install it in your iTunes Scripts folder.

Select a song (or songs) in your iPod's library or one of it's playlists and then click on the scripts icon in the menubar (left of the "Help" menubar item) and choose the Show iPod Song Files option.

This will then open up a window in the finder with the music file highlighted.

As long as you have the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" checkbox selected in your iTunes Preferences' "Advanced" settings all you have to do is double-click or open the highlighted file and it will add it to your iTunes Library and folder in the right spot!

Sure that might be a little more work than what Ollie's iPod Extractor is supposed to do but if you don't have too much music missing (or have the time) and Ollie's iPod Extractor doesn't work for you, then you can use the Show iPod Song Files script from Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes site.

Which is exactly what I will be using to recover my files!

Recently I just heard about PodWorks, but I don't think it checks to see if any of the mp3 files (listed in the iTunes Library file) are missing from your iTunes folder to copy them over.... it looks like it just will transfer the mp3 files that aren't listed in the iTunes Library file.

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

New Blog Design

Today I finally was able to work through and put together phase two of my site design, and that was of redesigning this blog's site template.

I made the site template of this blog much like the template of my website at www.benjaminvanscoter.com, by taking the template and style that I was using and modifying it to fit within the template I have on my site.

Sure, it might not be perfect or all that glamorous... (as I think of that terrible PCD or whoever sings it song)... but it looks good and will do the job for the time being.

Now I can work on posting about a lot of the stuff that I've been holding off on!

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

My New Website

Yesterday I finally finished up the the last few pieces of my new website at http://www.benjaminvanscoter.com/.

This isn't the very first upload of my site, and in fact was a complete overhaul of what I put there originally. (I didn't post about my original upload because I didn't come around to it, but if you might have seen the link on the sidebar of this blog when I first loaded my original content.)

If you never saw my original site, then you won't notice how different and totally sweet the new design and flow is of my newly updated website.

I made several changes to the template structure, and colors... perhaps most noticeable right away would be the new header image and background to the menu bar on the top.

Also I made some file-structure changes so that it isn't so flat and complicated to edit.

As starters I changed the Home page to be more of an overview of my skills and qualifications where you can then check out what you are most interested in.

You might particularly notice that the About page isn't just one page loaded with tons of information but is more of a landing-page where you can pick and choose to check out whatever your interested in.

Also, I changed the Portfolio and Services pages to be more expandable and more like landing-pages as well.

I've also added a bunch more content from my experiences with Underachieving and learning from the Rich Dad Series as well as my education

My Resume though remains almost entirely the same, but with the addition of file icons at the bottom.

Now my website will be more suitable as a means for me to let people know what I'm doing or involved in and am interested in as well as for others to learn about me and what I can do.

I even have a Resources section where I keep a list of some of the resources I use and others could benefit from.

Of course I have bigger plans for this site... like implementing easy page bookmarking links and a whole bunch more information, resources and perhaps some more services... but what is currently there now will suffice for the time being.

So go ahead and check out my website!

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Invisible Person

Title: Invisible Person

You are the invisible person,
Seen only in my dreams.
Through this device you were conceived.

This communication is our secret.
Wasting the nights away;
No one needs to know about it.

Constantly caught up in drama.
Wanting so much more from life:
To be noticed and admired.

It's in the jungle of tranquility,
Between reality and desire,
You find your escape.

But in the fight to live,
wu tiger fades away:
You are the invisible person.

 

Story-line conceived 1/5/2008
First two verses & first two
    lines of third verse written:
    1/6/2007
Last line of third verse & last
    two verses written:
    1/26/2007

 

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This is 100% Original Material by Benjamin VanScoter, and is therefore:

© Coyright Benjamin VanScoter 2008. All Rights Reserved.
Use Without Prior Written And Signed Consent Is Against International And Domestic Laws.

So don't even try to use any part of this work!

If you want to refer to this work link to it using the Permalink (found below).

(This writing may or may not be based on anything factual or that has happened in Ben's life... and may be entirely fictional.)

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Re: Keith's Pathetic Comment On Thursday!

In the comments section on this post (which was referring to this post and was pretty much my review of Thursday's Kill The House Lights DVD/CD) Keith left the following comment:

Yeah, so my response, which apparently you are waiting for according to your Twitter update.

Kill the House Lights has some great content. The first three songs are awesome and definitely showcase what Thursday is capable of. Other songs seem more like throwaway scraps on a mixing room floor. As Sketch for Time's Arrow is a really weak half-song. The other demo's and live versions are great, especially for fans, but I really don't think the rougher mixed versions of well-produced songs are going to win new fans or win back those disappointed by A City by the Light Divided.

The CD does give one hope that Thursday will be able to recover and continue to thrive as a a group. Returning to Victory is great because the band is freed from the shackles of corporate rock, but Thursday's success is not guaranteed.

I am still waiting until their next CD to determine if Thursday is still alive. Too many bands have a great CD or two, but the rest of their work is lackluster (e. g. Third Eye Blind). Kill the House Lights demonstrates Thursday's potential. Now Geoff and the band has to step up and release another solid album.

Of course Keith is mainly referring to what I said about the songs on Kill The House Lights which to recap was:

1. Ladies And Gentlemen: My Brother, The Failure:    This is probably my favorite of the new songs, and is more like "old" Thursday!

2. Dead Songs:    Another amazing new track... this stuff is great!

3. Voices On A String:    This is another favorite of the new songs and is simply an outstanding display of Thursday's talents

4. Signals Over The Air (Live At Starland Ballroom):    This was on the DVD too, and is probably better than their actual studio recording!

5. How Long Is The Night (Original Intro):    The original intro is pretty cool, and if you're used to them jumping right into the lyrics - like I was - this will fool you a bit!

6. A Sketch For Time's Arrow:    A nice acoustic song, a little different but good nonetheless

7. Panic On The Streets Of Health Care City:    This was the song that Other Side Of The Crash in War All The Time came from

8. The Roar Of Far Off Black Jets:    This is cool... some of the music from the menus in the DVD - really sweet!

9. Paris In Flames (Demo):    It's Paris In Flames... it's a great song, what else needs to be said?

10. Telegraph Avenue Kiss (Rich Cotey Mix):    An interesting version of Telegraph Avenue Kiss from A City By The Light Divided

11. Wind Up (Demo):    Another great demo for another great song!

12. Music From Kill The House Lights (Demo):    Some more of the music from the menus in the DVD - really cool too!

Kill The House Lights

Naturally the first three songs are the featured songs since they are new and unreleased before... however, even though most of the last 8 songs are live or demos or alternative versions of songs from their previous albums (albeit except "A Sketch For Time's Arrow" "The Roar Of Far Off Black Jets" and "Music From 'Kill The House Lights'") shouldn't be a major detractor from the main facts of what an awesome CD this is even by itself!

I must admit that Keith's ideas about "A Sketch For Time's Arrow" are pretty accurate... but that was included as simply a "sketch"... not a full demo... just some lyrics that Geoff had come up with for song they had done a little working on!

Anyone can see how Thursday could definitely work out those lyrics into a song of the same caliber as the first three songs on this CD or the heavier stuff that we all like from Thursday!

Now about the new songs, particularly the first three on this CD, one might try to argue - "Yeah, well those are just demos" - and try to play it off like they don't count for some reason....

Well in my honest opinion they are pretty darn good demos and that whoever says that is just looking for a reason to put down the CD!!!!
(I would have said another word for 'darn' because that's what I really think... but I'm trying to keep it clean)

Kill The House Lights

I really don't think the rougher mixed versions of well-produced songs are going to win new fans or win back those disappointed by A City by the Light Divided.

I'm assuming that Keith here is referring to "Panic On The Streets Of Health Care City" and "Telegraph Avenue Kiss (The Rich Costey Mix)" and perhaps also the original intro version of "How Long Is The Night."

Regarding "Panic On The Streets Of Health Care City" - which was a B-Side of War All The Time (and a couple parts became "Other Side Of The Crash") - I still think it's still a great track that pulls together some of the songs from Full Collapse and War All The Time. It offers an interesting continuity...

Which brings me to a point I want to make about so many people's disappointment in A City By The Light Divided...

... And that would be that A City By The Light Divided was an album they did for themselves as an end-cap of all their prior releases. And as Geoff put it, to them, it seemed like they were doing demos of their demos.

To me A City By The Light Divided definitely wasn't a great CD, but there were still some jewels in there, and perhaps can't entirely discredit it all... even though it was still pretty weak. At least they put something out and were working at it!

As for the Rich Costey Mix of "Telegraph Avenue Kiss" - I think it is a better mix than the one they actually put on A City By The Lights Divided and would rather listen to the Rich Costey Mix than the one on A City By The Lights Divided.

And about the original intro version of "How Long Is The Night" I really don't like the intro... but it's still a great song nonetheless!

Kill The House Lights

I don't even want to hear you say anything about the instrumentals they included as part of (or from) the DVD menus...

Because if I were to listen to an instrumental of any sort "The Roar Of Far Off Black Jets" and "Music From Kill The House Lights" would definitely be on top of my list!

Neither song is too slow, repetitive or brutal to listen to... which so many other bands have a tendency to do when they create instrumentals - and it sure ain't classical music either!

In either case this DVD/CD combo wasn't intended for Thursday to win over any new fans or formerly disappointed fans!

This release was intended for their current fans, even if they were disappointed; because the main feature in this release is their DVD biography of their first ten years.

Why would any new fan want that?

Kill The House Lights

And I believe that the CD is actually a bonus attached to the DVD – perhaps with the first few songs on the CD to perk any disappointed fan's interest back to Thursday!

Ok, so I've heard the argument that "This isn't recent stuff they've done?" particularly regarding the first three new songs on the CD.

Ok... let's say it isn't...

Still, this CD shows that Thursday is aware of what their market wants - and what it's interested in - by including all those demos and versions from so many great songs and albums.

Now, no one can be 100% about anything, but if that's true, then you'd think they would be producing more songs that are more like the great stuff from Full Collapse and War All The Time.

Though, no one will know for certain until they actually release their next CD of what they are really up to!

However, I still remain optimistic about Thursday and look forward to what they are going to put out next, now that A City By The Light Divided is out of their system and they've come to grips more with the happening-ons in their band... and hopefully their market!

"Keith... I chewed you to pieces and spat you out!!"

(You Got Served!)

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

The Holidays

For those of you who might not know, recently - in the last couple months - it was towards the end of November, that my parents and 3 of us boys went in and got a family plan for cell phones.

I am just getting used to thinking about using the little camera and video on my phone to capture some memories.

So in this post I will show you a little about the recent holidays using some of the images and such from my phone.

Unfortunately I don't have any images or vids from Christmas...

The closest thing to after that is a surprise birthday party for my cousin Rhett VanScoter... who I've done some work for on his website (http://www.vanscoterinsurance.com).

Rhett

This was just such a good picture I just had to post it here: (From my cousin's surprise birthday party)

My Uncle Ron (my Dad's brother-in-law)

New Year's:

Now we move on to New Year's eve, which I spent partially at the Van der Jagt's house and left there at 10:30 PM to be at work at 11:00 PM.

I got this photo of Dan Van der Jagt, but wasn't quick enough...

Dan Van der Jagt

Apparently he didn't want his picture taken.

For New Year's day we spent the evening - dinner and such - at my brother's house with his wife Becky:

Becky VanScoter (My brother Joe's wife)

Yes, Becky is eloquently displaying for us the appetizer of her choice before dinner.

Jon VanScoter (Chewing no his appetizer)

He tried to put his hand in front of the camera but was too slow - probably why there's such a dumb look on his face! (or it might be from chewing)

Sam VanScoter (Reaching for his appetizer)

Ever wonder what a post New Year's day after-dinner would look like at the VanScoter's....

Sam VanScoter (Playing with his phone)
[ I got him first! ]

... It doesn't look like much!

(I was testing the image and video quality of various settings which is why the last one doesn't look so great.)

From there we just went on to watch a movie - The Pursuit of Happyness

And if you're wondering about how Christmas was, it wasn't a whole lot different I got almost a week off of work to do nothing much, help with preparations, and hang out with family.

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

OK: Qumana = Bad Idea

So I was checking out some of the posts I had flagged on The Unofficial Apple Weblog's feed through NetNewsWire... and I came across this post about the Qumana blog editor -- that I wanted to try out and take a look at.

Because I have MarsEdit and like it a lot, but why not see what other things are out there and see what they meant by:

It's not as Mac-like as MarsEdit by a long shot, but if you'd like to try a free editor that works easily with a variety of blogging platforms then Qumana is worth a look.

Which from first glance I thought... well that's because it's a Java App.

So I downloaded Qumana - though without entering my email I just clicked on the download button for the Mac Version.

Then I unzipped the download, and moved the Application into my Applications folder.

Launched the program, and followed the prompts to load and give Qumana access to my weblogs I have under one of my accounts in Blogger.

Then I get to the main screen where it lists the Blogs I have available....

And wanting to see the posts in my blogs I click on the "Refresh Posts", which it should have been able to get the posts on my blog(s) relatively easily...

But not everything works out as you would like!

I'm greeted by a happy error message with a big bold red stop-sign with an exclamation mark in it saying:

java.lang.Exception: RPC handler object "blogger2" not found and no default handler registered

Whatever that is supposed to mean!

Isn't one of the things to do before releasing any software is to test your software under a bunch of various environments or make sure it's dead easy for people to tell if it won't work with whatever environment they might be using?

In either case....

Goodbye Qumana

You Stink!!!!

MarsEdit... You ROCK!!!

So don't mess around with Qumana unless you're willing to have bugs like that!

By the way I'm still operating in Mac OSX 10.4 - maybe they designed it for Mac OSX 10.5 - I dunno.

I didn't upgrade, yet -- but you will hear about my upgrade experience soon.

In either case... MarsEdit is still probably the best blog editor for me - since HTML doesn't scare me and I love all the keyboard shortcuts!

I've even just opened a new MarsEdit post just to write up some long lists to do the markup faster than I would just typing it all regularly in a text editor and just copy and paste all the HTML into my page.

However, I have yet to purchase an upgrade to MarsEdit 2.x -- but I know I will be doing that soon!

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Mascara Poem

Title: Mascara Poem

She's dyeing this time,
And draws the lines
Around her eyes.

Her hair's different,
A new color;
And new makeup.

She changes her look
To hide from it
And sneak away.

Hoping all this pain
Won't recognize
Her anymore.

As she stops to think
What she became;
"How can it be?"

What she used to be
Was better then -
With bigger dreams.

After it's all lost
She tries so hard
To get it back;

But it's just so hard,
And nothing works -
Not even this!

She's drawing more lines,
This is her voice -
Letters and words.

Expressing it all,
Writing it down
For all to read

Not even these words
Say it as well
As those black spots

When the mascara
Runs down her face
Onto this page.

She posts it online,
Medievalluck,
And hides this pain.

 

Story-line conceived 12/14/2007
Written and finalized 12/16/2007

 

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This is 100% Original Material by Benjamin VanScoter, and is therefore:

© Coyright Benjamin VanScoter 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Use Without Prior Written And Signed Consent Is Against International And Domestic Laws.

So don't even try to use any part of this work!

If you want to refer to this work link to it using the Permalink (found below).

(This writing may or may not be based on anything factual or that has happened in Ben's life... and may be entirely fictional.)

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

New Thursday Post

I wrote this post on 12/15/2007 but post dated to 11/09/2007 to keep it with the other post in the archives you can read the full post here.

I'm finally making this post after a long time since I posted my last post about Thursday and their Kill The House Lights DVD/CD they put out.

I must be honest and say that I've made some big mistakes in that post and believed too much about what Keith said regarding Kill The House Lights. And I must say that he was so totally wrong about it!!

I stopped at Best Buy the other week and picked it up just to see what it was all about... and - quite frankly - to support Thursday, because I want them to stick around... (And to follow my own advice in my other post)

....

READ THE FULL POST HERE!!!

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Burning Pictures

Title: Burning Pictures

You told me to let it go
I did and now you wonder how
I made a three-sixty recovery
All because it was pointless

It's rather-simple psychology
Since it was all in my head
Nothing said and nothing done
But the simple thought

Imagine it once, imagine it twice
However many times it takes
Memories and pictures in my mind
Light them all on fire

That's all you need to do
Is take all those thoughts
And with the lighter in your mind
Turn them into burning pictures

Set them on fire 'til they blaze
And you hear the screams of pain
Satisfaction for you soul
Now you feel - retribution

 

Written 12/11/2007
Verses written before the title

 

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This is 100% Original Material by Benjamin VanScoter, and is therefore:

© Coyright Benjamin VanScoter 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Use Without Prior Written And Signed Consent Is Against International And Domestic Laws.

So don't even try to use any part of this work!

If you want to refer to this work link to it using the Permalink (found below).

(This writing may or may not be based on anything factual or that has happened in Ben's life... and may be entirely fictional.)

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

A Tragic End

Title: A Tragic End

You've carried that rock all your life
Dropped a few lines just for the fun of it
But you never realized it before
That rock was your gravestone

You wanted to live life to the fullest
But you never knew what that was
Now you've got no time left
And you're buried with these regrets

You're nothing but a tragedy
A lost soul in this poor world
You can't hold on any longer
When it all comes to an end

You never stopped to ask why
Or wondered what's the point
You always thought things were just fine
And nothing would ever go wrong

You always looked in the wrong places
Trying to find something that you lost
Even though it was right in front of your eyes
All those things that made you blind

You're nothing but a tragedy
A lost soul in this poor world
You can't hold on any longer
When it all comes to an end

After it's all said and done
In the end you realize it all too late
These addictions were your lies,
Lies when all you needed was Truth

You failed to embrace it -
You ignored all the signs
And now you seem so surprised
When He says "I never knew this man!"

You're nothing but a tragedy
A lost soul in this poor world
You can't hold on any longer
When it all comes to an end

There's nothing you can do now
His mind is made up
Final judgment is passed
And to the depths your soul is cast

 

Written 12/11/2007
Verses written first then refrain then title

 

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This is 100% Original Material by Benjamin VanScoter, and is therefore:

© Coyright Benjamin VanScoter 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Use Without Prior Written And Signed Consent Is Against International And Domestic Laws.

So don't even try to use any part of this work!

If you want to refer to this work link to it using the Permalink (found below).

(This writing may or may not be based on anything factual or that has happened in Ben's life... and may be entirely fictional.)

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Killer / Kill-Her

Title: Killer / Kill-Her

You always keep a knife in your pocket
Much to his ignorance
He tries to keep this alive
Everytime you stab him in the back
You push him too far he's gonna snap

You are the killer
He did everything for you
But now there's nothing left to do
Other than for him to kill her

You had no clue how much he loved you
Because you always pushed him away
He'd bottle it all up for your love
You never knew the pain he went through
Now it's over and he's the one who lost

You are the killer
He did everything for you
But now there's nothing left to do
Other than for him to kill her

Slowly you were killing him
You destroyed his soul piece-by-piece
Yet you want to be forgiven by him
And still want to be friends when it ends
But there's nothing left for you when it's done

You are the killer
He did everything for you
But now there's nothing left to do
Other than for him to kill her

 

Verses written 12/10/2007
Last verse edited 12/11/2007
  - Changed 'when he's dead' to 'when it's done'
Refrain & title written 12/11/2007

 

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This is 100% Original Material by Benjamin VanScoter, and is therefore:

© Coyright Benjamin VanScoter 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Use Without Prior Written And Signed Consent Is Against International And Domestic Laws.

So don't even try to use any part of this work!

If you want to refer to this work link to it using the Permalink (found below).

(This writing may or may not be based on anything factual or that has happened in Ben's life... and may be entirely fictional.)

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Shadow Of A Person

Title: Shadow Of A Person

You will never know what it's like to live
You just do what everyone tells you
You have no life of your own
To call your own
So long as you listen to what they say

You're nothing but a shadow
The shadow of a person
Someone you wish you could be

You think you know what you want
But there is nothing that you want
You just do what they tell you to do
You are no individual
You're a slave to what they say

You're nothing but a shadow
The shadow of a person
Someone you wish you could be

I thought I knew who you were
But that was all in my head
And now I realize all too late
That it was never worth the fight
You were never worth the time

Because...

You're nothing but a shadow
The shadow of a person
Someone you wish you could be

 

First two verses written 12/09/2007
Last verse written 12/10/2007
Refrain & title written 12/11/2007

 

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This is 100% Original Material by Benjamin VanScoter, and is therefore:

© Coyright Benjamin VanScoter 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Use Without Prior Written And Signed Consent Is Against International And Domestic Laws.

So don't even try to use any part of this work!

If you want to refer to this work link to it using the Permalink (found below).

(This writing may or may not be based on anything factual or that has happened in Ben's life... and may be entirely fictional.)

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Original Material

I'm going to start to post some of my Original Material....

Stuff that I wrote myself, that is my own and doesn't belong to anyone else.

This is various writing and stuff, though I hate to use the word poetry, because that's a little sissy.

I'm a guy, so none of this stupid crap will be about rainbows and butterflies!

Much to the contrary, it will probably be dark and heavy stuff.

All my Original Material will be placed in my... you guessed it... 'Original Material' category on this blog.

I am retaining all the rights to my Original Material and don't want to see any part of my Original Material to be found anywhere else... So don't even think of using it!!

If I see anyone using any of Original Material without signed prior written consent there's gonna be a whole lot of trouble going on.

Given this, it's all fair warning to everyone!

Plus, on all my Original Materials I will be placing a blatant statement of the reservation of all rights.

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Thursday Kills The House Lights!

Written on 12/15/2007 but post dated to 11/09/2007 to keep it with the other post in the archives.

I'm finally making this post after a long time since I posted my last post about Thursday and their Kill The House Lights DVD/CD they put out.

I must be honest and say that I've made some big mistakes in that post and believed too much about what Keith said regarding Kill The House Lights. And I must say that he was so totally wrong about it!!

I stopped at Best Buy the other week and picked it up just to see what it was all about... and - quite frankly - to support Thursday, because I want them to stick around... (And to follow my own advice in my other post)

If you didn't take my advice to get Thursday's Kill The House Lights DVD/CD then you better go and get it right now!

Kill The House Lights

This release highlights all the best of Thursday, and is well deserved of the respect given in the title - Kill The House Lights... and is well worth the twenty bucks or whatever it will cost you!

If the new songs are proper indicators of what Thursday is now up to, then it is great to know that the Thursday we all know from War All The Time and before is back!

That's right Thursday's back! And their new stuff is amazing!!

Since Thursday has a higher regard for their fans than their bottom line:

They are more concerned with what the fan wants and less concerned about the bottom line or the constraints of the modern day music business.

And they're currently working on their next CD:

Once the DVD and CD are complete, we will be starting work on a new album soon after...

Though, having watched the DVD, you kidna gotta feel a little sorry for Thursday being kicked around so much by their labels, abandoning them on touring - pulling their touring support.

And it really stinks for those of you fans who got the raw end of the deal if you were planning on seeing Thursday after they cancelled their dates...

But Thursday isn't quitting anytime soon, they won't stop for anyone!

They'll be back in your town soon enough!

And I hope that I can see them again when they start touring again.

Seriously, if you haven't got Kill The House Lights... You should!

I would've probably spent the money just to get the new CD, it's that good. But you get a whole DVD about their first 10 years... Officially:

Kill The House Lights

The release... consist[s] of a full length feature DVD and a full length Album. The DVD will tell Thursday's 10 year career story from the beginning to the present. It will contain interviews with the band and their team, archived show and behind the scenes footage spanning the band's career to date and hints to the band's future. The DVD will feature enhanced menus, a "Making of the song" and "The Making of Full Collapse" featurettes, the original version of "How Long Is The Night" with visuals, an audio-enhanced photo gallery, laminate gallery and more. The CD will contain three, brand new and unreleased songs along with a collection of live tracks and b-sides.

That's a whole lot of bang for the buck!

And the live songs are simply amazing... maybe even better than their recorded stuff:

Everyone always says we're much better live than on record -- now you can decide.

Here's what I think about everything:

The DVD is a total must have and a must-watch for any hardcore Thursday fan... lots of great stuff to learn about how they formed their band and made it to where they are!

The music and songs... all of it on the CD is awesome - like I said before.

Now here's some thoughts on each song:

1. Ladies And Gentlemen: My Brother, The Failure:    This is probably my favorite of the new songs, and is more like "old" Thursday!

2. Dead Songs:    Another amazing new track... this stuff is great!

3. Voices On A String:    This is another favorite of the new songs and is simply an outstanding display of Thursday's talents

4. Signals Over The Air (Live At Starland Ballroom):    This was on the DVD too, and is probably better than their actual studio recording!

5. How Long Is The Night (Original Intro):    The original intro is pretty cool, and if you're used to them jumping right into the lyrics - like I was - this will fool you a bit!

6. A Sketch For Time's Arrow:    A nice acoustic song, a little different but good nonetheless

7. Panic On The Streets Of Health Care City:    This was the song that Other Side Of The Crash in War All The Time came from

8. The Roar Of Far Off Black Jets:    This is cool... some of the music from the menus in the DVD - really sweet!

9. Paris In Flames (Demo):    It's Paris In Flames... it's a great song, what else needs to be said?

10. Telegraph Avenue Kiss (Rich Cotey Mix):    An interesting version of Telegraph Avenue Kiss from A City By The Light Divided

11. Wind Up (Demo):    Another great demo for another great song!

12. Music From Kill The House Lights (Demo):    Some more of the music from the menus in the DVD - really cool too!

I haven't checked out the demo disk that's included with the Kill The House Lights DVD/CD, but Keith said there were some pretty decent names on there...

I'll have to see for myself soon since Keith totally bombed on what he told me about Kill The House Lights before.

Kill The House Lights

Oh, by the way the quotes were from Thursday's and Victory's press release on Kill The House Lights dated June 29, 2007.

Why not... Here it is in full:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 29, 2007

Victory Announces New Thursday Release

"Words cannot describe how excited I am to have the opportunity to work with Thursday again. Thursday is a band that people believe in. They are innovators. They are the voice of a generation. Some bands simply make songs that people like. Other bands thrive on gimmicks. The true artists create something that changes people's lives. Thursday are true artists. They have a very special and unique magnetism. They are a band that you can believe in at a time when there is not a surplus of bands with any real substance or meaning. 'Full Collapse' is an album that has influenced so many bands as well as spearheading an entire musical movement. Working with the band on that pivotal and significant album was magical. Thursday and Victory have done great things together. I am so happy and honored that tradition will continue. Some people might want to call this a sort of homecoming. I simply see it as a reunion of passionate people that have done great things in the past getting the opportunity to do them again. This is something that people can feel good about. And to me, that is the best karma for any relationship," said Victory Owner Tony Brummel.

The release, as of yet untitled, will consist of a full length feature DVD and a full length Album. The DVD will tell Thursday's 10 year career story from the beginning to the present. It will contain interviews with the band and their team, archived show and behind the scenes footage spanning the band's career to date and hints to the band's future. The DVD will feature enhanced menus, a "Making of the song" and "The Making of Full Collapse" featurettes, the original version of "How Long Is The Night" with visuals, an audio-enhanced photo gallery, laminate gallery and more. The CD will contain three, brand new and unreleased songs along with a collection of live tracks and b-sides.

The band's long time manager Dave "Rev" Ciancio had the following to say, "February 9th, 2001 - A date that changed my life. It was the first time I ever saw Thursday perform live. I had never seen anything like it. Raw, intense, sincere, driven rock music rooted deep in hardcore but with progressive song structures and melodies. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing. I grabbed the band as they walked off stage and begged them to let me and my company, The Syndicate, professionally manage their career. Thankfully, they did take the meeting and I learned what an intelligent, passionate and innovative group of guys were behind the music. It's been six some years since then and a lot of crazy things have happened. And now - three labels, two publishers, several world tours and three records later - the guys are going back to Victory Records. I thought it would never happen but to be honest, Tony and the Victory staff have proven time and time again that they care about music; They are more concerned with what the fan wants and less concerned about the bottom line or the constraints of the modern day music business. I speak for everyone at The Syndicate when I say we are honored to be working with the band and excited about working again with Victory on this DVD/CD."

Most importantly here is the band's message:

Friends!!!

We have some exciting news!!! We know that everyone is wondering what is next for us (New Label? New Record? Touring? Breaking up?). We're proud to announce that we will be releasing a DVD/CD on our former label, Victory Records. Surprise! A lot of the footage from this DVD was taken during the time we spent on Victory and we thought it was appropriate to release it with them. On a more personal note, many of you know that our parting with Victory was bitter on both sides and we're taking this chance to put that behind us. That label really helped us get to where we are and we helped them to establish themselves as well... "coming full circle" and "making amends" are some of the phrases that we could throw around here but we think you get the picture already. Tony's passion for this project and his continued support of the band after all these years has helped to make this an easy decision.

We're really looking forward to this release. The DVD will be a retrospective of our band's career so far(footage from the last nine years) with a ton of live stuff. Everyone always says we're much better live than on record- - now you can decide. The CD will have several new tracks(!) and some alternate versions and demos of older songs.

Once the DVD and CD are complete, we will be starting work on a new album soon after and the home for that has yet to be determined.

- THURSDAY
The DVD/Album package will be in stores October 30, 2007.

Thursday is: Geoff Rickly – Vocals; Tom Keeley – Guitar; Andrew Everding - Keys; Steve Pedulla – Guitar; Tim Payne - Bass; and Tucker Rule – Dr

Kill The House Lights

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Thursday Isn't Dead!! (Yet)

No I'm not talking about the day Thursday, but the kicking sweet band Thursday!

A while back when Keith and I were checking some of the sites for many of the bands we liked to see what was going on we took a look at Thursdays band site and saw that they had cancelled their tour dates for 2007.

By the post left on their site it was unknown exactly what was going on and if Thursday was going to break-up or what was going to happen to their band!

This really sorta stunk because Thursday has a bit of sentimental value to me....

Not to mention I love their music, even though they've gotten a little softer in their last CD A City By The Light Divided... though I like their previous stuff (especially War All The Time) and the harder stuff on A City By The Light Divided.

Other than their music, when Thursday came to Rochester in the beginning of the year, they were the first rock concert I had really been to...

And that concert left such a positive impression on me that I have been to many concerts since then.

It was quite disheartening to wonder what was going to happen to Thursday.

But now it looks like their band is really on the verge of trouble... at least with their record label.

Even though they released a new CD, I was informed that the type of CD they've released is usually used by record companies to test the market's responsiveness to the band!

By the way their new CD is called Kill The House Lights...

Kill The House Lights

It would be a real shame for Thursday to die... so go and buy Kill The House Lights so they keep their label, otherwise it might be the end of Thursday!

Or at the very least it will mean that it will take them quite a while longer to get a new label and put out a new CD!

So if you're like me and don't want Thursday to die yet, be sure you get a copy of Kill The House Lights

If you've got any comments about Thursday or their new CD Kill The House Lights please let me know by making a comment on this post... I'd be interested to hear what others think about it!

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Stat Tracking On OPCRochester.org

It's been a while since I last made my church's website opcrochester.org active again.

But before that it had been down for a long time... which I might say was mostly due to a web-host that I bought a reseller package through and had the my church's - Covenant Orthodox Presbyterian Church's - website hosted on totally disappearing out of the ether!

But for the most part it was mostly in part my laziness that didn't get it back up despite the pastor & his wife and other people in my church asking me about it from time to time for one reason or another.

Now I have done one more thing with the Covenant Presbyterian Church website to enhance it a little more, and that is to add Google's Analytics tool to it.

Of course it isn't something that anyone looking at Covenant Orthodox Presbyterian Church's website would notice, but will give and anyone at the church who might be interested in such a better idea of the usage and usefulness of the website.

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Browser Oddities... Going Insane

Today I was working on creating a template for the new site I'm creating for my cousin's insurance company, VanScoter Insurance, LLC.

But there were several things about CSS and various browser oddities that were quite simply driving me insane to try to get the stuff to display correctly!

The first thing that was bothering me was figuring out how the heck to get Internet Explorer to center a container "div" tag... a <div id="container"> that encompassed all the of the pages contents.

Obviously <div id="container"> was inside the <body> tag

Through a ton of trial and error and examining other style sheets I finally figured out what was required to get the container to center in the window.... using css:

body {
    /* whatever params */
    text-align: center;
    /* any other params */
}

#container {
    /* whatever params */
    text-align: left; /* for inheritance purposes */
    margin: [top] auto [bottom?];
    /* any other params */
}

The left and right margins can be centered on Mozilla engines using auto... but for some reason Internet Explorer needs to have the text-align: center; property set in the body (which really isn't technically the right use or interpretation of the property).

Also, because of inheritance in CSS, if you don't want everything on your page to be centered you'll need to redefine text-align to be left or whatever else when defining your container id's properties.

I was glad when I figured that out... cause it was a problem that I hadn't been able to figure out since I started re-doing my cousin's website.

The second thing that was bugging the heck out of me was how the CSS float property was interpreted in the Mozilla engine... particularly with nested elements.

Mozilla does a really strange thing when interpreting the nested divs when floating them, take a look...

Here's the basic HTML background:

<div id="container">

<div id="sidebar">
<p>Many</p>
<p>....</p>
<p>Many</p>
<p>Lines</p>
<p>of</p>
<p>Contents</p>
</div>

<div id="main">
<p>Not as many lines</p>
<p>of contents.</p>
</div>

</div>

Now if you do something like this in CSS:

#sidebar {
    /* whatever params */
    float: left;
    /* any other params */
}

As long as there are more lines in the <div id="sidebar"> tag, you will wind up with something that like this when rendered in the Mozilla engine:

As you can see the <div id="container"> doesn't continue to the bottom of the <div id="sidebar">, but merely just ends wherever the <div id="main"> ends.

Thanks to this forum thread / post by Variable, I got the solution to this problem.

All it takes is an extra line or two to get it to work!

Here's the new HTML (changes bolded):

<div id="container">

<div id="sidebar">
<p>Many</p>
<p>....</p>
<p>Many</p>
<p>Lines</p>
<p>of</p>
<p>Contents</p>
</div>

<div id="main">
<p>Not as many lines</p>
<p>of contents.</p>
</div>

<div id="fillcontainer"></div>

</div>

And here's the new CSS (changes bolded):

#sidebar {
    /* whatever params */
    float: left;
    /* any other params */
}

#fillcontainer {
    /* whatever params */
    clear: both;
    /* any other params */
}

And now you will correctly have something that looks like it should:

Internet Explorer would render it like the above picture without the addition of the <div id="fillcontainer"> and the extra CSS code.

At least Internet Explorer correctly nests div tags when they're floated, unlike Mozilla... which is the only one thing I can think of that Microsoft has ever done right!

It might be simple, but you want everyone to see the website you create the same no matter what browser they use -- and it's stupid little browser oddities like this that drive people like me insane!

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

My iPod

So, the other day I finally got my iPod in the mail...

Yes! I finally had the money to buy myself an iPod after paying off all my credit card bills.

Plus, my iRiver had hit rock bottom as far as barely being useful... though I will still keep it around for doing miscellaneous recording and what-not.

  &  
iPod Video                       MicroMemo

I got myself the 80 GB Generation 5.5 iPod video in the color black. And for it I also got the XtremeMac MicroMemo Voice Recorder also in the color black, which I got Tuesday.

Both of these should serve me well for what I intend to use them for as long as they stand up to the quality any Apple product should stand up to!

I got the previous generation of the iPod Video and not the iPod Classic because Apple is being too much of a monger by going to a tightly knit closed system on all its electronic devices not allowing most prior third party devices work on their new devices.

So to take advantage of being able to use the most third party devices I got the previous generation iPod Video.

Even though Apple is being a bit of a monger with their current closed system for their devices I still think that what they do and create is just as sexy as.... well... this picture:

So when I got my iPod was busy uploading all my music onto it and checking out all the extras that came with and how to use all those cool little functions.

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.

Underoath Concert in Buffalo

Underoath

There's probably only a few words that can be used to describe the Underoath concert that Keith and I went to on Tuesday night... and that is that it was totally INSANE!!!

The place was totally packed out, and it wasn't even a small venue at all.

It got so hot and humid quickly from all the people packed in the place and all the sweat, that my glasses quickly fogged up if there wasn't enough airflow.

Keith and I were at the front and by the time the second opener for Underoath was playing we were already soaked with sweat.... it was like we just went swimming in our clothes!

So let's start with the first opener...

Maylene + the Sons of Disaster [myspace | PureVolume | Amazon] as I had suspected these guys were just OK for the most part... not too original of a sound and were alright live.

Maylene + the Sons of Disaster we're fairly entertaining live, but definitely not I band I really foresee myself really getting into a whole lot. Though were several people that were into them at the concert.

Up next was...

Poison the Well [myspace | PureVolume | Amazon] and I thought they were pretty good. They would definitely be a band that would be interested in looking into further. I probably set some pretty high expectations of these guys when checking them out when I was looking into the opening bands before the concert... and they didn't really let me down!

I actually bought one of their t-shirts... which is actually a limited edition shirt that I happened to think was pretty cool looking.

These guys actually managed to get several crowd surfers up on the crowd... which was really cool too! Pushing them up towards the front to security. (I don't think that Maylene + the Sons of Disaster had any crowd surfers for their set.... and if they did they didn't have a lot!)

The next band in line was then...

Everytime I Die [myspace | PureVolume | Amazon], and man was I a little off on my initial perception of what these guys were like.

Maybe it was because they were live, or the crowd, I dunno. But they played a pretty amazing set and definitely cranked it up at that place!

Though they might not have been the most original band with the most original sound but everyone there seemed to love these guys... but maybe it was because they were playing in their hometown.

There were tons of people that crowd surfed during their set!

Maybe because the lead singer said they wanted them to because there was 'amazing security there' in the front -- which all of the security at the front rolled their eyes... like 'here we go!'

Even though I might not be as into Everytime I Die, they sure did put on a pretty mean live show... and they said that they were trying to put on the best show in their hometown, Buffalo.

It was great to actually see the bass player dive into the crowd... even if he made a couple of the girls at the very front have to be taken out crying!

I left the front in the third to last song because I was becoming a little too hydrated and the pressure from everyone pushing forward wasn't helping... and trying to push at least half a dozen crowd surfers along was tiring me out plus, not to mention, all the crowd surfers that kept hitting my head... it just became a little too much... so I stepped out for a breather!

Which would then bring us back to...

Underoath [myspace | PureVolume | Amazon] who was simply amazing, and surprised me with their set in a couple things...

I loved how they opened with the video on the backdrop playing Salmarnir as they came on stage... that was an amazing entrance! I probably won't ever listen to that song differently...

And then how from there they broke into playing In Regards to Myself... which I was expecting to be the first song they played... but this entrance was probably better!

After those two songs I jumped back into the crowd pushing my way through the moshpit and towards the front on the right side of the stage.

I pretty much stayed up there until towards the end when some punk kid wasn't paying attention to the crowd surfers and fell back bumping the back of his head in to my mouth giving me a sore lip...

Then I pushed my way back the back left where it wasn't as crowded and I could still see Underoath on stage from a decent vantage point.

The back definitely isn't as fun though... not anyone there really knew the songs or moved around nearly as much!

I was probably the only one back there singing along and head-banging to the music!

This concert was probably ten times better than the Nightwish concert that I might otherwise have gone to see...

Though I will still get their new CD Dark Passion Play sometime of which I would like to get their 2 Disk Edition [Discography].

The Underoath concert didn't let me down on its promise to be a good concert... In fact it was so much more fun and awesome than I thought it was going to be!

It definitely was well worth it all to see all of these bands play!!

Click Here To Read The Full Article By Itself.