Sad Kermit covers Hurt

Freaking hilarious. The best part for me is seeing Kermit doing line off a copy of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I recently purchased that book but haven't gotten around to reading it. I got it at the same time as I Am Legend which I read first.

300

300 was very entertaining in a violent, bloody kind of way. As long as you aren't looking for realism or historical accuracy, it's great. Gerard Butler was perfect as King Leonidas. I have been a fan of Butler, who is cast to play Snake Plisken in the upcoming Escape from New York remake, since I saw him play Beowulf in Beowulf and Grendel.
I was planning on seeing it eventually but it was a dealer at the Cannery who convinced me to see it opening week (Yeah, it took me a while to post a review. You got a problem with that punk?). He told me he almost got right back in line after seeing it the first time. He also said two days after seeing it he still wanted to stick a spear through somebody's neck. I was a little reluctant to take his advice because this was the same guy who called Iron Maiden glam rock. In the end, I relented and watched 300 the next day. He's not always wrong.
I recommend this movie to anybody who doesn't plan to bring their severely mentally disabled relative. The retard behind me kept hooting and moaning whenever there was anything sexual or extremely violent (most of the movie) on the screen. At first it started out slow and I thought the low moaning meant somebody was getting a happy ending in the row behind me. I obviously didn't want to turn around for fear of getting shot in the eye. It eventually got louder and weirder and became obvious that something much more sinister was afoot. Who brings a person like this to a movie theater?!?! Have they ever heard of DVD?!?!? Bastards!

TGIT

In terms of vacation/personal day, moving to Vegas has greatly improved my job. I have tomorrow off (personal day) which is amazing because tomorrow is a Friday. When I tried to schedule my time off last year, I got NONE of my first choices. I got my second choices for vacation weeks and all my personal days ended up on Wednesdays and Thursdays (I obviously requested Fridays and Mondays). In Vegas, I got everything I asked for except for the 2nd week of a two week vacation. That worked out for the best anyway. We had planned on visiting Hawaii this year so I requested a 2 week stretch in June but that's not going to happen now. Since Niki is a temp, she doesn't get vacation until the end of the year.
Anyway, there will be much guitar playing and TV watching tomorrow. Incidently, I also have April 27th off so I will be free to cause trouble with Dan.

Spamalot

Monty Python's Spamalot is finally coming to Vegas starting this weekend. For those who don't know, it's a musical based on Monty Python and The Holy Grail. That's pretty much all I needed to hear. The original Broadway version featured Tim Curry, David Hyde Pierce, and Hank Azaria and won a Tony for Best Musical. I don't know much about the Vegas cast except John O'Hurley (Mr. Peterman from Seinfeld) stars as King Arthur. I think Eric Idle may play a role too.
I can't wait to see it.

Wrote a little song about it. Like to hear it? Here it go.

It took me a while to figure it out but I finally realized who the singer of Killswitch Engage sounds like. I knew he reminded me of somebody but I couldn't put my finger on it. David Alan Grier. If you have ever heard him appear on Lovelines or the Adam Carolla Show, you have heard him sing. Listen to the chorus of My Curse and I think you will agree.
Personally, I liked his work as Calhoun Tubbs better.

A world of difference

I absolutely love the new Crate. The sound is so much better than the Fender in every way. It's nice to be able to turn on a light in the room or plug in my laptop without introducing a nasty buzz. It'll take a while to figure out all the controls completely but I was able to get a tone I loved a couple minutes out of the box. The foot switch rules too.
I think I'm making good progress on the guitar. I have added the beginning of Smoke on the Water to my repertoire. It's really hard to pick just the middle two strings but I pull it off once in a while. I have also been doing a terrible injustice to the first few notes of Silent Lucidity. It sounds awful and eats at my soul but I keep trying because I think it is excellent practice for my rhythm and picking skills.

Because a dancing midget is just funny

We saw Carlos Mencia this weekend at the Pearl. Something about him rubs me the wrong way but there were a few good laughs. I laughed harder during the opening acts. The star of the show in my mind was Jo Koy. I had seen him on TV and I think he is hilarious. One of the openers was Mind of Mencia's shortest regular. That's right... a midget. His act was funny but nothing compares to watching him dance and frolic. I really need to save some money so I can buy one.
This was the first live comedy show and I didn't care for it. Seeing it live didn't do anything to heighten the experience unlike live music. Unless you are seated close to the stage, you can't see the comedian's facial expressions and you often can't hear over the crowd. I would rather just watch it on TV. I would still go see Jerry Seinfeld or Eddy Izzard but that is about it.
I was very impressed with the Pearl. Everything is state of the art, the acoustics are great, and the seating layout is very good. It is connected to a recording studio and all electronics in the venue are prewired for recording. There is a good chance that any concert you see there is being recorded for a live CD/DVD. I heard Chevelle recorded their upcoming album in the studio there. Tool was originally scheduled to be the first act to play there but that didn't end up happening for some reason. Evanescence and Chevelle got the honor of opening it. I am really looking forward to seeing a concert there.

Goodbye Fender

I wasn't planning on buying an amp just yet but I found an offer I couldn't pass up. It's a Crate GLX212 that was marked down to $250 plus $10 shipping. Most places are selling it for $450-500. I was also able to pay in 3 installments (very important cuz I have already spent way too much this month). It sounded too good to be true but the retailer is reputable.
It has 2 12" speakers powered by a 120 watt amplifier, 3 channels, 16 effects, and all the bells and whistles. The specs don't mention it but I have heard it comes with a 3 button pedal for controlling the effects too. I'm guessing this is an older model that is getting cleared out but thats fine by me. Is this the one you have Dan? I had my eye on a Line 6 with similar specs but cost $400.
The Fender was getting on my nerves. It produces a nasty hiss even at low volume and jumps in and out of distortion mode at will. I was just going to grit my teeth and bear it for a while but this deal was too good to pass up.

My apologies to Paul Gilbert

I originally scoffed at the idea of a former Mr. Big guitarist playing G3. I now know how wrong I was. From what I saw on youtube, he is a VERY talented guitarist. Now the question is.... why the hell was he in Mr. Big?!?!?

Ouch

My left index finger tip feels like a giant blister. It looks fine but I get an uncomfortable reminder whenever I touch anything. The middle and ring fingers are sensitive too but not to the same extent. I hope my fingers toughen up soon. I don't think I will be able to practice much if at all tonight.
I have been practicing chord transitions (A,D,E) and, when that gets old, I try to play the first few lines of Metallica's One. Then it's back to chord transitions. I don't feel like taking (or paying for) formal lessons so I have been getting instruction at justinguitar.com. I came across some of this guy's videos on Youtube and liked his teaching methods. The best parts is the price... free!

Taming the beast

I thought my guitar was pretty close to tuned right out of the box. I monkeyed with the fine tuners for a while until I got it to what I thought was perfect. Then I realized that one of the strings was tuned perfectly.... to the wrong key. There wasn't enough play on the fine tuner to get it right so I ended up retuning from scratch. It's not what I consider fun but it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. Once I got started with the complete retune, it only took me about 45 minutes. It would have only taken about 30-35 but one of the locking nuts was jammed in position and I had to gently pry it out. Whoever did the original set-up did a piss poor job.
I feel a lot better now that I got through my first tuning. I read MANY horror stories about people (even experience guitarists) who took several hours and broke multiple strings the first time they tuned a Floyd Rose. As long as you use the right technique, it's a piece of cake. I put together the best parts of several online tutorial (no individual covered the topic to my satisfaction) along with a little common sense ad lib into a solid process.
Then I started to play. It quickly became apparent that my left hand is no longer connected to my brain in any useful way. My fingers refused to cooperate. Anything that requires fingers on more than one fret is simply out of the question. There was no mirror around but I suspect I looked like a total retard when I tried to play some chords. It sounded even worse.
I'm starting to remember why I gave up the first time but I'm a lot more responsible now and committed to soldiering on. Giving up the first time is one of my biggest regrets so failure is not an option. I'm going to master guitar if it kills me.

Mr. Diety

If you haven't seen Mr. Diety before, here is episode 1 to give you an idea what it's all about. I think it's hilarious. If you like this one, check out the other seven episodes here.

The longest day

My Schecter arrives today but I'm stuck here at work. Fortunately, Jenny is staying with us this week so there is somebody home to sign for it. I didn't realize until I got the tracking info that a signature is required for delivery. I would have been screwed if we didn't have a house guest.
I have already informed Niki that I will be useless tonight and probably tomorrow. I may come out of the office long enough to eat dinner. Then it's back to the guitar. Niki will be taking Jenny to Cali this weekend so I will have nothing to do but sleep and practice until my fingers bleed.
My goal is to be able to play one complete song by Monday. This may seem like a lofty goal but I wont start with Dragonforce. I'm thinking about Jesus of Suburbia since it's incredibly easy. If that fails, there's always Mary Had A Little Lamb. For a little variety, I'll throw in some Blind Melon.

Shennanigans!

I ordered my guitar late Thursday night. When I called Friday, I was told it was being packed at that very moment and would be shipped Saturday. They also said I would be emailed a tracking number. When I hadn't received a tracking number by Tuesday, I got a little worried. I tried sending an email during the day and called at night. They didn't answer the phone during business hours (they always answered quickly before) and I know they have caller ID because they knew my name without me telling them before. I was starting to get the feeling I was getting the runaround! Well, I finally got an email late yesterday with the tracking number. They didn't ship it until yesterday! I had been very happy with their service until this. I have heard so many horror stories about online retailers I was starting to think they never even had the guitar in stock in the first place. At least it's finally on it's way with an expected delivery date of next Wednesday.
My guitar case and tuner will arrive today. It was ordered days later but was shipped promptly (score one for Guitar Center) and didn't have to travel as far. Imagine how sad I will look playing with my new case and tuner and no guitar.

Tool concert follow up

I had mentioned to Gary this weekend that I heard about a Tool concert coming up in Vegas. I just checked their web site and found out they are playing March 15 and 16 here in Vegas and March 20 in San Diego. No love for the LA/OC area.

A bass for Gary

But seriously... there are a lot of basses available in the $200 range. There are a few Deans avialable in the Metalman series (like this one) that are much more "metal" than the Squire. Also, for a little more (but less then $300), the ESP Viper 104 looks pretty good. I just want you to know you have options.
I can totally see Gary with the Bootsy Collins bass. The glasses too.