Comment Hell on Blogspot

Captcha.. user ID, password, wash, rinse, repeat

I follow a decent amount of blogs that use Blogger.com (Google’s Blogspot). To leave comments on any of them, I need to use my Google account [or OpenID is another choice] on top of also entering a captcha. While I understand the need to keep spammers out, it’s a mind-numbing process to leave a comment most of the time, having me enter my Google user name and password, clicking on Preview. Then entering the captcha, then entering my password again, hitting Preview, then once I’m logged in and verifying my comment is there, then hitting Publish.

So why do I have to do that each and every time I visit? Because it seems that after a few days, Google logs me out from that particular blog, for security reasons. So when I go to leave a comment on a post, there is no captcha phrase showing. In order for one to be generated, you must be logged in.

Once I get logged in, then a captcha phrase shows up. But then my password is blanked out. So I must then login again in order for it to keep my credentials. My reason to hit Preview each time is so that I don’t lose my comment [which has happened many times] throughout the several logins.

Am I doing this wrong or are there others who experience this same crazy process?

Bear With Me Here

Thumbs way down for this brand

Both my wife and I love those cinnamon bears that are like jelly candies. So good. And we normally get them at the local grocery store, most often picking up the generic brand. They are pretty damn tasty.

In my pre-Valentine’s shopping, I had some trouble finding the heart-shaped ones, and even more trouble finding the brand we normally get. So I found something that looked good.

BLECH! Horrible. They had a stale taste to them, hardly any cinnamon bite and were just plain bad.

Reminder: never get the Sweet brand ever again. Best to try another store.

Windows 7

Original image found on Addictive Tips

It’s been the better part of a year since I started using Windows 7 on my MacBook Pro under VMware Fusion. I’ve had to since some of the remote users at my day job have bought new computers and I needed something to help me help them when they need to get connected to our network. I have to admit, as a die hard Mac user, that it’s not bad. It seems Microsoft didn’t want round two of the hated OS known as Vista. And from what I’ve found, they left pretty much all of it behind. Sure, there’s new ways of doing things when compared to Windows XP, but moving forward was never without roadblocks.

But, I disgres. It wasn’t until the beginning of January when my work actually purchased any computers that could run Windows 7 [all previous systems would choke trying to run anything greater than Windows XP]. In fact, we weren’t even given a choice to run Windows XP. The systems only came with Windows 7.

Some of those new systems are also running Windows 7 Pro 64-bit. It’s been a small challenge getting some our legacy apps we use around here to run under 64-bit. Which means, we find work arounds. Such is the life in the IT world.

Any Windows 7 users out there? How are you liking it? Any stories to tell?

Daylight Saving Time

Original image from Primer Magazine

Simply put, we need to, as an entire nation, do away with Daylight Saving. While I understand it’s original purpose and it does allow summer nights to stay light past 8pm, the myriad of steps to go through the changes – even those that are automated – are too much. Settings on each device, phone and computer have updated without issue MOST of the time [alarms on an iPhone are this year's "ooops" moment]. In this day and age with modern electronics, and with all of the software algorithms and settings, it’s a lot to keep on top of.

Arizona and Hawaii seem to go on without the twice yearly change and I certainly think it’s time we did away with it.

Proactive, not Reactive

I was reading about an upcoming change at all US airports on Monday (that’s tomorrow) that bans all ink and toner printer cartridges. Let’s see… where have I seen these actions before…. hmmmm…..

Oh I remember. A shoe bomber gets on a plane and now we all have to remove our shoes and have them scanned. A London terrorist plot is failed due to liquid explosives and now we can only take 3 oz liquid containers that all fit into a quart size Ziplock bag. Not to mention nail clippers [which are now allowed], box cutters, screwdrivers and anything else that some bad guy used on a plane. All banned.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m all about being protected and I certainly understand not wanting to enable the copycats that want their fame and recognition. But can’t we find a way to be more proactive about this? I mean, we’ve got some smart people out there that could find better and easier ways to offer protection for those of us that are just trying to get from one place to another without having to feel like we should have left everything but a t-shirt, jeans and boxers at home. I think enough of us are just wanting to see some smart decisions made, not just “another item on the banned list” memo because of recent acts. Then maybe the TSA will be taken a lot more seriously when it comes to airport security and safety.

GOP In The House

Original image found over on True News From ChangeNYC.org

So last week was election day. And the House side of Congress has now shifted to a Republican majority. The Tea Party cheered this victory. So what can we except? What should we expect?

From what history has told us about what we can expect, big business will continue to get bigger. Their tax cuts will continue to increase, yet job creation will be minimal. Mostly still being blamed on the economy. Wall Street and the banking industry will find themselves with less restrictions on how they can make money. Tax cuts for those that only know how to count in billions will make their comeback. And the stock market will get cautious and see it’s 40% percent climb in the last 23 months revert to a downward slide.

What should we expect? Big businesses should be using their extended tax cuts to hire more people, filling the jobs that they cut during the bad parts of the economy. The economy has improved, not a lot, but enough that these large corporations should be willing to beef up their staff as they make smarter decisions.

Fiscal responsibility should be the GOP’s number 1 task. But given how much money the publicly-silent Koch Brothers dumped into both winning and losing candidates – not to mention how much personal money was spent [Meg Whitman parting with some of her eBay nest egg], will this congress know how to manage the money? And how much of the payback will be to these multi-billionaires that are expecting something in return when it comes to passing bills or rolling back changes that affect their business?

I honestly would love to see this GOP-led congress make some changes. Instead of “Hate Obama” and riding the coattails of division, I want to see them turn this economy around in less than 2 years. It was one of their mantras during the campaign season, turning people against a Democratic-controlled Congress for not being able to. I say we should expect it from these guys. They were mad as hell and wanted to take their country back [err.. preferably forward]. C’mon GOP/Tea Party… prove all of us liberals wrong and you might gain some legitimate fans, not just a bunch of spelling-challenged mouth breathers to put you in office.

Video Streaming Problems

This last weekend, I decided to finally upgrade this blog from WordPress 2.6.5 to WordPress 2.8. I normally will wait on new versions of WordPress for a long time before upgrading, hence still being on an older release.

Most of the move was smooth and caused very few problems, namely the SEO plugin and some formatting with the display of comments [it was showing each comment twice: both 2.8 compatible comments and legacy comments].

But, I also noticed something else. The most recent Scooter Sunday video was taking forever and a day to load up in the background. What normally would take less than 20 seconds is now taking at least three minutes or longer to load up.

For anyone that’s been experiencing problems trying to watch the videos, this is resulting in the video stopping while it’s playing, which means you need to click play to start it again, which can sometimes restart the video from the beginning. Frustrating, I know.

the highlighted area above is the progress bar, showing the video downloading

In order for the video to play smoothly from start to finish, the video needs to download itself completely. From most broadband connections, this should take under 30 seconds. To tell when the video is loaded all the way, the above picture shows the highlighted progress bar. When it’s all “filled in”, it’s ready to be played. Alternatively, you can also start playing the video right away and it will should load up and play at the same time, with no need to make sure it’s loaded all the way first.

When I brought up this slowness issue to my ISP, 1and1, the support staff informed me that steaming video was not allowed and that 30mb videos were “too much traffic that infringes on the other users that are hosted on the same server.”

Um, excuse me, but my monthly hosting plan allows for up to 1.2Tb of transfer. Last month, I only used 2% of that. Logically, I could use another 98% of that and still not go over my monthly allotment. I have Scooter Sunday fans that need their videos – unedited and containing the music that goes with each episode. For now, I’ve resolved the issue by moving the videos to another server I have [coincidentally with the same ISP] and they are back to the speedy loading videos they were before.

But if for some reason, if any of you experience slow down again [or any other issues], shoot me an email via the Contact form.

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Review: Marilyn Manson “The High End of Low”

I make no apologies for being a big fan of Marilyn Manson, the band, even if the artist known as Marilyn Manson can be a mixed bag at times. But musically, I think the former Brian Warner and his collective pool of dual-named participants have made some incredible and impacting music starting in the mid 90′s and continuing into the new decade. And while I have my favorite albums – “Antichrist Superstar” “Holy Wood” and “Mechanical Animals” – I also like the band’s newer albums. But even after many listens, these new albums still don’t grab me completely. Such is the case with “The High End of Low“.

Songs that are finding their way into my favorites list are “Pretty As a ($)”, “Leave A Scar” “Running To The Edge of the World” and “Blank and White” Both musically and lyrically, these songs are catchy and have a lasting connection with what I’ve grown to like in the construction of Marilyn Manson songs.

Then there’s songs like “We’re From America” which is very clever with lines like “We don’t believe in credibility/Because we’re know that we’re fucking incredible” but with a musical tone that tends to wear out it’s welcome after a few listens. Waiting a while and going back to re-listen to the song produces a new appreciation followed by a need to give it another rest.

As for what doesn’t grab me, it’s lines like “I wanna fuck you like a foreign film/and there’s no subtitles to get you through this” from the song “I Want To Kill You Like They Do In the Movies” It’s not only cheesy, but very much over the top. I get the idea of the story here, but for me, it’s reaching in the art of songwriting, even for Manson. Same with the song “WOW” which falls apart early on, both in word and in tune. Bringing it back to the hard edge, “Wight Spider” works out the creativity by proclaiming “I’ll possess you but I don’t need you to be another one of my possessions“

I’ve played the album from start to finish at least ten times since it’s release and it’s certainly not horrible or unlistenable. It’s got a more polished finish than “Eat Me, Drink Me” has, but less of a shine than “The Golden Age Of Grotesque” played to the Manson fan more consistently. I still always go back to the song “(s)AINT” at least once a week. Hard to resist that leading-up-to-the-chorus line “I’ve got an F and a C and I’ve got a K, too/and the only thing that’s missing is a bitch like you“

So if you are already a big fan of Marilyn Manson, this album will eventually work it’s way into your playlists. And while it’s no “Antichrist Superstar”, it’s a good effort that’s worthy of welcoming Twiggy Ramirez back to the fold.

” *** “

I give it 3 out of 5 stars

Contest # 1 Winners

About a month ago, I had a contest that had you pick your three favorite Snowy Sunday episodes. I bet some of you were thinking, “His blogging has been hit and miss lately and he forgot.” I did not forget and here are the list of winners:

• Kim from ilaxStudio.com
• Kevin from kapgar.com
• Kevin from kevinspencer.org

To those that won, I will be sending an email to you, asking for your mailing address so I can send your prize to you. If you’ve forgotten what the prize was, then you don’t deserve to win…. ha ha… just kidding. Seriously, it was a $10 iTunes gift card.

These were all randomly picked by myself, using one of those ziploc bags with all of the names of those that entered the contest printed on little strips of a paper, folded in triplicate. Thank you for watching my silly mug trudge through the cold and snow this last winter.

Free KFC on Oprah

On Monday’s Oprah show, she announced that she was paying for every family in America to get a free 2-piece meal of the new grilled chicken.

I’m not a big fan of chicken for many reasons [mostly due to the less-than-detailed cooking methods that most places use to make chicken], but I thought I would take an opportunity to get a freebie out of one of the wealthiest women on television.

I went over today around 11:45am, beating the lunch rush. While I was eating, the line formed quickly and ended up out of the door. I would guess there was at least 50 people there, both waiting and eating.

As for the chicken, it was ok. I thought it was less greasy than their other chicken. But I normally remove the skin before eating it. But it had a good flavor to it. I still enjoy their cole slaw and mashed potatoes. And the biscuit is ok if you add enough butter and honey to it. I also purchased a frosty glass of root beer [the KFC I went to is one of those combo restaurants with an A&W] to show my support for getting something for free.

Here’s the link to printing your own coupon: UnthinkKFC.com. If you missed out on that link, hit me up in the comments if you are interested in getting a coupon. I may be able to help you out.

Nothing like a post of random subjects before I head out on vacation for the next 9 days [8 of those in Hawaii]

O’ReilLY, Rush

Sorry Rush fans, not the band, but the mouth-breathing entertainer of the right.

Seems he’s some sort of hero with the Republican party. Well, Jon Stewart from The Daily Show summarizes Rush’s latest public spectacle at the CPAC and takes to task Bill O’Reilly on using his own words against himself.

Favorite line from Jon Stewart about Rush: “… who believes so strongly in the sanctity of marriage, he’s completed three of them… start to finish!”

CORRECTED:Thanks to Ginger at Ginger Snaps for first posting this and for me finding it over at Clearly Crystal. this made me laugh so much, I wanted this on my blog, too.

Oh yes, I know… you don’t have to tell me that Democrats have had their own slew of faux pas moments. So here’s a link for all of you that are so focused on getting Obama removed from office. Enjoy!

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Reading Material

While I’m not the best at reading books from other people or writing my own novels, I am excited when someone I know gets published. Winter, a.k.a. Lex Valentine, has had not one, but TWO books released today.

Shifting Winds

To Purchase, click on the graphic above

Hot Water

To Purchase, click on the graphic above

Or if you want both books [you know you do, they are part of a series], just purchase the Bundle Pack and get both for a bit cheaper than the price of two individually.

Both books are e-books and come in different formats like PDF, eReader (Palm OS), Microsoft Reader and HTML.

I am taking these with me on the plane to read. I hope to at least get through the first novella. My hat goes off to Winter for her dedication in writing. I hope to someday be announcing my own works being published. But for now, the spotlight is on her. Congrats, Winter.

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And I’m Off

And with that, I’m off on a flight tomorrow at noon, bound for Hawaii. Once again, I’ve got guest bloggers coming to make this place exciting. Here’s the schedule once more:

• March 8th – Karl from Secondhand Tryptophan
• March 10th – Catherine from Seventh Notebook
• March 12th – Catherine from Seventh Notebook – yes, a 2nd post
• March 15th – Hilly from Snackie’s World

New Baby

“Hey… I’m hungry… and that steak mom had the other day has already come and gone!”

To those of you that follow me on Twitter and Facebook will know that we recently [yesterday] welcomed a new addition to our “extended family” this week. River Brandt Evans, the son of Justin Evans and Betty Brandt came in at 10 pounds, 1 oz… A BIG BOY!

To those of you that assumed it was my child, well… I can forgive your assumed connection, given my excitement in the Twitter and Facebook updates I provided. I now live through other people’s children, which means I can either visit them often or send them home with their parent(s). My daughter is my only child, unless I find myself in Tony Randall mode at the age of 80 and still have some good swimmers left in me…. nope.. NOPE. Not going to happen.

Wendover

Wendover Will Welcomes you to spend all your money
- Lifted from Flickr user BentGuy [who lifted it from someone else]

Now that the baby has arrived, we are heading to Wendover this coming weekend… more specifically, West Wendover, NV.

As the above linked Wiki page mentions, Wendover is split into two towns – a Utah side and a Nevada side. On the Utah side, you have 3 gas stations, a few motels and an almost non-existent economy. The Nevada side has 5 casinos, several drinking establishments, a concert hall, a couple of strip clubs and an established flow of money into their economy. Most of that money is coming from Utah residents. It’s about a two-hour drive from Salt Lake, passing by the Bonneville Salt Flats. If you don’t want to drive, there’s a couple of charter bus lines that charge $15 for a round trip ride, netting you a free dinner buffet and $5 cash back. Sweet!

We go about twice a year, normally on a day where we can use our free room coupon at the Wendover Nugget, which is only good on Sunday – Thursday nights [the weekends are premium rates]. Free room means no extra money spent on lodging and a place to stumble walk to if we get tired. My wife and I do a bit of gambling, but we are small timers compared to some that drop hundreds in one night. I like to find a penny or nickel slot machine and get free drinks all night, while my wife likes the quarter machines and coming to find me when she runs out of money.

I normally come back with a couple of $20 bills – sometimes more if I get daring and do well at the roulette table. But anymore than twice a year and it gets old. We much prefer Mesquite, NV since there is more to do there than just gamble and it’s close to a ton of major landmarks and wonderful landscapes. Plus, in the winter time, Wendover is pretty damn cold. It’s not like we are heading south to get warmer. But for 24 hours of fun and only 2 hours away, you can’t beat it. Wish us luck.

All Done

So, a new baby amongst us, sitting in front of a one-arm bandit and lots and lots of links [more than I planned on using]. Another Random Leakage has leaked out.

Happy Holidays

This is what a foot of snow looks like, dumped overnight – 12/26/08

I hope everyone had a good holiday, regardless of which one(s) you celebrate. I wanted to post this on Christmas Eve, but with a family party to prepare for [I made three cheese scalloped potatoes, a spinach artichoke dip and played bartender all night], the packed schedule of Christmas day and getting a nasty-ass cold/flu like crap on Friday, it took me offline for the most part. But now it’s Saturday, we have an extra foot of snow here in Salt Lake, I’m feeling a bit better and I actually have some time to sit down and do some writing/blogging.

As I get older, Christmas has changed. Instead of hoping for the perfect gift, I’m now giving the perfect gift. Instead of getting all excited for Christmas morning, I’m casually getting up and having a cup of coffee before opening gifts. The holiday still has meaning to me, just more focused on family, and not the religious aspect.

Being non-religious, I spend this time reflecting on everything that’s happened during the first 11.8 months of the year. Then as I try to squeeze in a few days off, I like to make time for family and friends and enjoy the company. But just because I don’t celebrate the religious part of Christmas, I still wish people a “Merry Christmas” without issue. People say it back to me without me becoming offended. For me, there’s no “War on Christmas” Over 95% of all retail establishments are closed this day. People everywhere respect this time with their families. Regardless of anything related to Jesus, Christmas is a time of the year when people should put aside their biases, forced religious views and any elitist mindsets and just let people celebrate the day how they want, even if that means no celebration at all.

Five Questions

The latest blogging fad…. started by… who knows? This set of 5 Q’s was sent to me by Kapgar.

1. As I’ve stated in my Google Reader Notes, you are ridiculously talented and it makes me ill (just kidding). If you had the ability to bottle up that talent and share it with the world, would you do it or horde it all for yourself? If the former, can I be in on the test marketing?

I could never horde my talent. If I can find the right avenue, I would bottle it up and share it with anyone and everyone. I’m hoping to do more than just videos, as I have some writing that I’d like to post for all the world to judge see. As for test marketing this talent, you’ll be on the list, towards the top.

2. Now that gas prices have gone way down, can we still expect the same quality and frequency from Scooter Sundays that we’ve come to expect? Any hints as to what might be forthcoming in season two?

Regardless of how low or high gas prices go, the scooter is here to stay. The quality of videos and posts will actually go up, at least that’s my plan. Using highly technical and scientific methods [upgrading video production software and hardware], Scooter Sundays will be transformed into a world-wide phenomenon that will over take the global market for….. oh, who am I kidding…. the videos will be a weekly fun-filled multitude of visuals once Scooter Sundays make their grand return at the end of March 2009. The part above about upgrading my video production is true, though. I am moving to Final Cut Express 4.0 this winter, which will allow me to do all sorts of cool effects.

As for any hints into the second season, I share nothing… you will have to wait in anticipation.

3. When the heck are the T-shirts happening????

As the 20 or so millions of Scooter Sunday fans know, t-shirts are a great way to spread the love of all things scooter. I am planning on having T-shirts available to order before the first episode hits.

Also, as Penelope suggested in the comments of this post, there will be a contest to name the scooter. I will post more details on this in the coming weeks and months.

4. What upcoming blogger meetups are you hoping to partake in?

I’ve been to two (2) blogger meetups, both involving Dave from Blogography and myself. [my wife attended the first Dave Lake City, back in April 2008] As for future blogger meetups here locally in Salt Lake, I would like to get together with some local bloggers, which I have yet to meet any. There is one who is very big-time [who I seriously doubt would want to meetup with any of us "small-time bloggers"], but other than her, I really don’t know any. I guess that means I need to scour the blog search pages to see who is blogging here in Utah.

Until that happens, I wait for Dave Lake City 3. Oh, and TequilaCon ’09 [Whenever that gets announced]

5. How did you get your start in blogging?

Back in February 2002, I signed up for a Blogger.com account and posted my first entry [I moved and consolidated all of the previous entries to here]. My frequency in blogging was pretty dismal, at best, although I do have a smattering of posts that document parts of my life from 2002 to when I started Banal Leakage in April 2008.

The big push with this blog was to get me started back into writing professionally. Back in the mid-90′s, I did a lot of freelance work for several publications, but various life decisions halted that for a time. My skills have gotten better since I started putting out my words, pictures and videos for all the world to see. I will be adding other places I blog on in the future. But for now, Banal Leakage is my blogging home.

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Want to be part of it? Follow these instructions:
Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

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The End Is Near

This ends another segment of Random Leakage. Watch for my year end post next week. Until then, have fun and be safe.

Nokia E71

As with Kapgar, I also received a Nokia E71 for review from WOM World. Here are my thoughts on the two weeks that I’ve used this device.

It’s been sometime since I last used a Nokia phone. I was with AT&T then [before they became Cingular and morphed back into the AT&T they are now]. The phone used the older TDMA protocol and I was all excited about being able to text and send an actual email message from it. That was over five years ago. For the last 2 1/2 years, I’ve been using a Treo smartphone. So sending email and texting is kids play now. But one of my biggest complaints about my phone is the size, specifically the thickness of the phone. The Nokia E71 is not thick at all. It’s very svelte and it lives by the statement “Thin Is In!”

Thin and Shiny…. very nice.

I enjoyed carrying around the E71 and it felt good in my hands. Call clarity was great as was the ease of use in making calls and accessing my list of contacts on my AT&T prepaid SIM card. Data-wise, it was very nice to have a phone that was 3G capable. Even nicer was to have a phone that also had WiFi on it. After connecting up to the free wireless access at Starbucks [I get 2 hours a month before getting charged], I was able to browse the web at nice broadband speeds. Typing on the tactile keyboard was very comfortable, with only a few mistyped words – even when texting at fast speeds. The keys felt good on my fingers and it wasn’t awkward at all.

Battery life was very good. I could go almost three days on a charge. The charger that came with the phone was European, so I had to use an adapter to plug into the 120V U.S. plugs. Charging took under 4 hours, which is about average. The screen was set to dim every minute or so, requiring a key press to bring it back to life. After a few minutes of no use, the keys would lock, which is nice if you have the phone without a case in your pocket, not accidently calling someone while you are walking around.

There were some beefs I had with the phone. The biggest and most glaring is not being able to charge it from USB. I am a firm believer that any phone that is made today needs to be able to charge when it’s plugged into a USB port. I can’t tell you how many times over the years that phone chargers got left behind in the hotel room. On the usability side, the browser was awkward to use, taking me several times to remember where the GO TO URL setting was. Bookmarking a site was also a bit cumbersome, but I got to know that route after several sites.

Overall, I liked the phone and it was made very well, had great voice quality, speedy data on both 3G and WiFi and the keyboard was very adaptable. All Nokia needs to do is add USB charging and update some of the usability of it’s web browser and they’ve got a winner on their hands. Thanks to WOM World for allowing me to test and use this phone. I hope to have a Nokia N97 to use sometime in the near future. [very BIG hint]

Chinese Democracy

When a band takes 17 years to release an album of new material, you are expecting some sort of masterpiece to hit the stores and every single man, woman and child will flock en masse to plunk down their $13 to experience this astonishing work of brilliance. Instead, we were given an album of 14 new tracks that vaguely sound like the Guns N’ Roses we knew from 1991, with some over-produced melodies and tongue-in-cheek references by the lead vocalist in his struggles to release a new album.

If it wasn’t out of pure curiosity, I would have given up on this after the last four promises of a release date. But thanks to my curious musical mindset, I wanted to hear what this had to offer. First, I had to erase any expectation of hearing the riffs of Slash. Slash has left the building. Instead, we have multiple guitarists [Richard Fortus, Bumblefoot, Buckethead, Robin Finck] filling in with their axe work to help make this epic album something worth listening to. And to be perfectly honest, the work is noticed. And it’s not bad, almost expert in execution. Even if over-production took over, so be it. Musically, this album isn’t bad. Vocally, it’s lacking and sometimes in a big way.

Now Axl Rose has a very distinctive voice. It’s one of those voices and styles that stand out. But as with Slash on guitar, don’t be expecting the vocals that made Appetite for Destruction the debut smash it was. Oh, this is Axl… there’s no mistaking that. But his vocals are beyond raw. They are trying to do different things that shouldn’t have been done. Don’t expect to hear “Night Train” Instead, expect a few train wrecks like “Catcher In The Rye”, “Scrapped” and “Madagascar”, just to name a few. Embarrassing is the best way to define these over-produced messes of music.

Not all is lost. There are some bright moments mixed in here: the title track, “Better” “Street Of Dreams”, “There Was A Time” and “I.R.S” sound good and well put together. Axl and his collection of randomly put-togethers figured out how to make some decent tracks.

I’m not saying I hate this album. I actually think it may grow on me over time, but after the first ten spins, it’s still not grabbing me the way their original efforts did. If you are curious in the least bit, go out and give Axl and Geffen some money. Otherwise, spend it on another artist.

Sirius and XM: Together

I’ve been a Sirius subscriber for almost three years now. My wife bought me a radio and gave it to me before Christmas in 2005, making sure I was ready for Howard Stern when he moved from restrictions of terrestrial radio to the uncensored airwaves of satellite radio. XM wasn’t even an option for me.

Fast forward to present day. Sirius and XM have merged together, creating a single company [still operating on two different satellite systems] with almost 20 million subscribers. As was to be expected, there’s some duplication in programming. You know this is going to change stuff. And it did, with both good and bad results.

The Good

Most of the Sirius channels didn’t change their names. Familiar still are channels like Classic Vinyl, Classic Rewind, 1st Wave, Alt Nation and Hair Nation. This was good because I never understood the XM channel names. Ethyl, Fred and Lucy were confusing to know what kind of music they played. I’m glad they did not make the cut [sorry loyal XM fans]. Some channels did get renamed and it works very well. Channels 4-9 are what I call the decade channels. 40′s on 4, 50′s on 5, 60′s on 6, 70′s on 7, 80′s on 8 and 90′s on 9 are all great efforts in covering six decades of music. I changed my presets to start at 40′s on 4 and then added another preset for Classic Vinyl, so I can channel surf my way through rock and alternative stations while driving. This is a nice change.

The Bad

There’s not too much bad, in my opinion. First on the list is the heavy metal channel on Sirius that was called Hard Attack. It took on the XM name of Liquid Metal. A cheesy name, but at least you know what kind of music you are going to hear. Then there’s all of these specialty channels that got lumped together on different channels. Sirius had the AC/DC and Led Zeppelin channels, which are not bad, but they replaced the Punk channel, which I hope makes a return soon. XM brought over Bob Dylan and Tom Petty, which are ok, but you can hear most of their music on the Classic Vinyl channel. Then there was Left of Center, which was Sirius’ independent artist channel. It took on an XM merged name and is now called Sirius XM U. If you didn’t already know what kind of music they played, this would be a station I would have skipped over. It’s the same music as Left of Center and the same DJs, so at least they didn’t fuck with that. But I still think the name is odd.

Howard is still at channels 100 and 101. Playboy Radio moved from channel 198 to 98, which actually is nice that it’s one over from Howard 100. [there is no channel 99] Sirius subscribers can get the Best of XM, which includes The Virus [Opie and Anthony] Oprah, Bob Edwards and other channels. XM subscribers can get the Best of Sirius, which includes Martha Steward, NFL, NBA and other channels. Howard 100 and 101 are $6.99 a month extra on XM. Ouch! A bit much, but if you only have XM and you like Howard Stern, then you get a lot of programming for that $7 a month.

I am remaining a Sirius subscriber for the long haul, mostly because I enjoy the commercial-free music and the Howard Stern channels. I pay by the year for two radios, which comes out to be around $220. That’s a lot if you compare it to free radio you get on the FM dial, but I think it’s worth it to pay for all of the programming you get.

This Is The End….

… of another edition of Random Leakage. Thanks for visiting and we’ll see you all next time.