Maybe it's contagious?

This is turning into an epidemic. The only possible explanation is these guys were all infected by some vector at the last Republican National Convention. Or they all listened to Elton John.

Guitar Hero 3?

I'm assuming Dan will be buying GH3 today. I'm not so sure about Gary. As for myself, I am still far too busy with Halo 3 to be worrying about other games. In fact, it is hard for me to imagine a time when I will not be too busy with Halo 3. I may never need to buy another game... unless of course there is a Halo 4 in the future.
Anyway, let us know how it is.

Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold

I received my copy of Avenged Sevenfold's new self-titled CD in the mail Friday a few days ahead of the street release date. I wasn't quite sure what to expect because this is a band with a constantly evolving sound and the band had already hinted that this album would be no exception. If their sound changed as much as it did between the last two albums (Waking the Fallen and City of Evil), the result could be anything. All I knew was I was very excited.
The first listen through was a bit of a shock. My initial reaction was "Okaaaaaayyyyy.... what... uh.. what's this?" I withheld judgement (as I always do on the first listen of anything) and realized that the least I could say was they have reached the pinnacle of their creativity. They are all over the place from powerful metal on Critical Acclaim and Almost Easy, to the eight minute Tim Burtonesque (not surprising after learning that two former Boingo members collaborated) mini rock opera A Little Piece of Heaven, to the country inspired final track Dear God. The biggest shocker.... Niki liked it.
I just finished listening to the entire album for the second time. This time I was able to put aside my preconceptions and actually hear it. I may be a bit premature in saying this but I think the third listen through is going to blow my f'ing mind.
Update: Mind blown.

6 Foods You Will Never Find Aaron Eating

aka The 6 Most Terrifying Foods in the World. Sure, you've probably all heard of Balut by now but what about Casu Marzu? They forget to mention Fafaru, Hákarl, Durian, and worst of all, Easy Cheese.

Scary

Here is a picture (stolen from LA Times) of a fire currently raging in Foothill Ranch. Our old apartment is (hopfully still is) a couple hundred yard behind that JoAnn Fabric store from the point of view of the photographer.
More importantly, Dan and Emily's house is not too far from there and dangerously close to a fire that is only 30% contained and is not expected to improve today. They are currently evacuating. Hopefully everything will be ok.

Death by monkey

A Delhi politician has been killed by marauding monkeys. He probably had it coming. The monkeys know.

For those who are about to rock...

... this game salutes you. What little has been revealed about Brutal Legend looks awesome. The music in the trailer is Black Sabbath's The Mob Rules.

Stupidest product ever?

The diet fork.

Weasel Stomping Day

As a former ferret owner, I can't help but find this video a bit disturbing. But it's funny.

Parents claiming religious exemption to avoid vaccinating children

Read the details here. This story pisses me off on several levels. That means it is time for a rant.
1 - Parents obviously can't be trusted to make sensible, well informed decisions on scientific issues. Otherwise, we wouldn't see the conflict over teaching evolution in schools. Any parent who did more than ten minutes research would see the evidence that autism is not caused by childhood vaccinations.
Denmark banned the use of thimerosal (the mercury based vaccine additive at the center of the controversy) in 1992 but continues to see rising autism rates. In the US, thimerosal was completely removed or reduced to trace levels in vaccines in 2001 yet we have seen no change in autism diagnosis. The increase of autism has been seen in children too young to have been exposed to vaccinations. There have been many studies by the WHO and CDC that show no statistical correlation.
Yearly diagnosis of autism continues to rise but it is clear that there is no link to childhood vaccinations.
2 - Have they forgotten how many children died or were crippled by terrible diseases like polio, measles, mumps, diphtheria, tetanus, meningitis, etc. before the invention of childhood immunizations? Thanks to a growing number of idiots like this, some of these diseases that were considered all but eradicated in the US are on a comeback tour.
3 - Why should there be a religious exemption? This is not a matter of personal preference. It's a matter of public health! An unvaccinated child effects every person they come in contact with. Can I get out of a DUI by claiming my religion demands it? No. Why? Because it endangers the lives of others! I see no difference at all.

Finally a candidate I can get behind!

Stephen Colbert has announced his candidacy for President. He's got my vote. Details here.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!

OK, here's my nerd moment of the day... it's a public service announcement from Georgia, where they're having a very bad drought.

http://www.athensclarkecounty.com/downloads/waterban_2web.mov

The Future Revealed

New strategy in Iraq

The mother of a soldier in Iraq has created an innovative strategy to use against insurgent forces. Bury them in novelty foam! 80,000 cans of Silly String should give us just the edge we need.
In all seriousness, more power to the people who made it happen. Hopefully it saves some lives.

Career Opportunities

Dan, ever considered self employment? Would you like to own a guitar company? Ed Roman is selling his Pearlcaster Guitars company and offering very favorable terms. Since downsizing, he isn't capable of keeping all his lines productive and must either sell Pearlcaster or let it die.
Sounds like a tantalizing (though somewhat risky) opportunity. I would do it myself but I just don't have the investment capital. You could always hire me as a consultant!

Ed Roman was not built in a day

Ed Roman is back! In fact, it barely moved. It's about a block down the same street in a smaller store (now billed as "World's Coolest" instead of "World's Largest"). Contrary to earlier rumors, more than just the custom shop has survived and a variety of brands should be available.
The gods have smiled upon Dan and given him another chance to buy a guitar from Ed Roman. It has been at least a month since the last one anyway.

Just for Jim

Since I see from your myspace page that you are interested in photography, here is where you can find some of my other photos.

Top 10 Things I Remembered That I Forgot...

After laughing (a lot) at all the in jokes and regular jokes and everything else in the archives, I present, fresh from the home office in Tulsa, Oklahoma, my Top 10 Things from the archives.

10.  Guitars

Aaron has gone nuts with guitars.  Apparently Dan was already.  And Gary has multiple basses.  I do also believe that there was a Yama reference in there somewhere?  We will need to investigate this further.

I noticed that no mention was made of my white Squier bass that's floating around somewhere.  We get a Yama reference but nobody can remember where my white bass went.  That guitar has sentimental value!  It was the one I used for every recording session, live show, encore, cameo, movie appearance, and reunion tour that Twine did.

Oops.  I said the name.  I forgot I wasn't supposed to do that until #9.

9.  The Twine Reunion "This Will Be The Last Time, We Mean It" Tour

With all the Monkeywrench reunions, I guess we first need to determine if Twine is officially broken up or not?  Otherwise there could be potentially messy and bitter legal proceedings.

8.  Sorry, Aaron, you get no sympathy over the cold weather.

7.  Or the hot weather.

6.  Or the humid weather.

5.  Lightning

Aaron does, however, get much love and respect for his lightning photos.  That's something I can deal with!

4.  Bootsy!

This needs no further explanation.

3.  Rockwall County

Well, I'm probably the only one bummed that Dan and Emily might not be moving to Dallas.  Rockwall County is hilarious though.  Teeny little county.  The estate Dan talked about purchasing out there might have been the entire county.

2.  Square Counties

In addition to the nice organization in states like Iowa and Michigan, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, and some other flat states also use square counties.  This is extraordinarily convenient for storm chasing... 

Storm Chaser #1:  "Where's the storm at?"

Storm Chaser #2:  "It's in Blahblahbiddyblah County!"

Storm Chaser #1:  "Which one's that?"

Storm Chaser #2:  "Fourth row, third from the left!"

1.  Subdivisions

Any escape might help disprove the unattractive truth that the Southards have no charms to soothe the restless dreams of youth!

What in the...

hell is wrong with you people!  I'm scared and I've only read the first two months of the archive.

You guys are great... you take weekends in Vegas.  I take weekends in Kansas City.  Not quite the same.  If it's possible, my drive to and from is even more boring.  Plus there's no hope of an oasis in eastern Kansas that matches up with the Del Taco in Barstow.  Although some of the towns might give the Bun Boy in Baker a run for its money.

I'm going to dive into the archives again.  I have a lot of catching up to do.  Although I'm getting a big kick out of the buildup to the 2006 Western Conference Finals.  I'm sure I'll be back to do some yelling (and to receive some too) later tonight.  Woot.

By the way, thanks to all of you for finding my contact info, sharing it with the right people, and inviting me to join in!  I hope everyone is well.  More later.

Coulter says something shocking... big surprise!

From Donny Deutsch's CNBC show "The Big Idea."

DEUTSCH: That isn't what I said, but you said I should not — we should just throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians, then, or —

COULTER: Yeah.

THe best part of the interview:

DEUTSCH: Wow, you didn't really say that, did you?

Full transcript here.

Retraction

I goofed. The Queensryche show is on Feb. 20 (a Wednesday), not Feb. 2. All bets are off. Sorry to get you all excited. I still think you guys should come out for a jam session and we don't have to wait for February.

Gary's Schecter Bass

Gary wanted me to post this picture for him but his post-production skills suck so it doesn't look too good. He described the bass as a Stiletto Deluxe-4 but the color and inlays look a lot more like the Stiletto Custom-4 with Vampire Red Satin finish seen here but with the black "Diamond Series" headstock. I'm not sure what to make of it. It looks like a Frankenstein put together from discarded parts. If those are EMG pickups, he got a great deal.

Who's with me?

Queensryche is playing at the Vegas HOB on Feb.2 with Don Dokken (solo acoustic) opening. Tickets go on sale Oct. 13. Anybody interested?

If you thought the toe tapping phenomenon was odd...

You have to read about the circumstances surrounding the death of Rev. Gary Aldridge, Alabama pastor and friend of Jerry Falwell. It's priceless. Make sure you read the Evidence of Injury on page 2 of the autopsy report.

Do all republicans have a wide poop stance!?!?

Republican Senate hopeful Joey DiFatta has been caught doing the men's room toe-tap a la Larry Craig. This is just bizarre. When will they learn? How is the GOP going to regain control of the House and Senate if they keep dropping like flies in gay sex and corruption scandals? Can't say it bothers me.

Deep Thoughts by Aaron Kinsman

I learned an important life lesson today. I was driving by an animal hospital at about 10:45am and saw a flock of pigeons at least 100 strong. An old man was throwing them some bird seed which they gratefully pecked away at. A thought occurred to me. They say the early bird gets the worm. However, it would appear that a bird who sleeps in a bit can get a much easier meal. And who wants to eat worms anyway?

The Tony Show

Queensryche was great. They played a 45-50 minute set that included a good mix of the old and new. It would have been nice if they played longer but it wasn't bad for an opening act. We even saw Mike Stone greeting fans at the exit on the way out.
Heaven and hell sounded great but I only knew two of the songs they played. I figured they would play a mix of Sabbath and Dio songs. Unfortunately, they only played Dio era Sabbath songs, no Ozzy era Sabbath or Dio solo stuff. That was very disappointing but I did like what I heard. Dio looked like a frail little old man and it was hilarious watching him prance around on stage. Not exactly the intimidating stage presence I had imagined.
The star of the show, to me anyway, had to be Tony Iommi. I was awed by his competence and the apparent ease with which he was able to create an amazing sound. I imagined that, in the event of his head being separated from his body, what remained would continue playing unperturbed. I have a new god and his name is Tony.

Sounds like Heaven

Niki just informed me that she has procured tickets to see Heaven and Hell with special guest Queensryche at the Pearl on Friday. That should be an awesome show. I have never seen Dio in concert so I am very excited. Just fair warning... I will start a riot if Dio doesn't perform The Chase with Queensryche.

My name is Legion, for Wii are many

Niki got a Wii while she was in Cali last week and I finally got it hooked up last night. So far it seems pretty cool but I haven't had much time to play with it.
It has a feature called Virtual Console that lets you download and play classic games from old consoles including NES, Super Nintendo, N64, Turbographix, and Genesis. One of the games currently available for download is... drum roll please.... Tecmo Bowl. The old school NES Hockey is also out there but, sadly, no sign of RBI Baseball or Side Pocket yet.

The most informative Power Point presentation to date