Saturday, June 11, 2011

Music

So I had some spare time today, and decided to catalogue some music.  So here's the list of important things in my iTunes.  Basically it's either bands/artists that I would actively say I'm a fan of, or bands/artists that I listen to at least somewhat-regularly.

Oh, and I haven't undertaken the task of being more specific with a lot of the genres - especially in my very very vague 'Metal/hardcore' catagory.


10,000 Maniacs Alternative
Anberlin Alternative
Billy Corgan Alternative
Cake Alternative
Chris Cornell Alternative
Cobbler Alternative
Dashboard Confessional Alternative
Embrace Alternative
Further Seems Forever Alternative
Guster Alternative
Hoobastank Alternative
Incubus Alternative
Jars of Clay Alternative
Jimmie's Chicken Shack Alternative
Jimmy Chamberlin Complex Alternative
Kings of Leon Alternative
Lifehouse Alternative
Lucerin Blue Alternative
Monday In London Alternative
Morningwood Alternative
Pearl Jam Alternative
Queens of the Stone Age Alternative
R.E.M. Alternative
Spin Doctors Alternative
Sublime Alternative
Switchfoot Alternative
Taking Back Sunday Alternative
The Academy Is... Alternative
The Almost Alternative
The Apex Theory (now Mt. Helium) Alternative
The Juliana Theory Alternative
Three Dog Night Alternative
Weezer Alternative
A Perfect Circle Alternative > art rock
Radiohead Alternative > art rock
The Smashing Pumpkins Alternative > art rock
Thom Yorke Alternative > art rock
Zwan Alternative > art rock
Morphine Alternative > jazz fusion
Electric Six Alternative > new wave
Coheed & Cambria Alternative > progressive
Muse Alternative > progressive
Phish Alternative > psychedelia
The Flaming Lips Alternative > psychedelia
Tiger Army Alternative > punk
The O.C. Supertones Alternative > ska
Jeff Buckley Alternative, folk
Dave Horton/Novus/Old Machines (haha) Alternative, hard rock
Gorillaz Alternative, hip-hop
Eve 6 Alternative, pop
Panic! At the Disco Alternative, pop
Paramore Alternative, pop
Say Anything Alternative, pop
The Shins Alternative, pop
Yellowcard Alternative, pop
Morrissey Alternative, pop rock
The Smiths Alternative, pop rock
Five Iron Frenzy Alternative, ska
Alison Krauss & Union Station Bluegrass, folk
Christopher O'Riley Classical, Instrumental
Twelve Girls Band Classical, Instrumental
Taylor Swift Country, pop
Aphex Twin Electronica
Daft Punk Electronica
Dieselboy Electronica > drum & bass
Serart Experimental rock
Madison Greene Folk
Neil Young Folk
Mumford & Sons Folk rock
Tom Waits Folk rock
Ben Harper (& the Innocent Criminals) Folk, alternative
City & Colour Folk, alternative
Jake Shimabukuro Folk, jazz
Bob Dylan (& the Band) Folk, rock
Grateful Dead Folk, rock
Iron & Wine Folk, rock
Bootsy's Rubber Band Funk
Fishbone Funk
George Clinton (& the Parliament Funkadelic) Funk
30 Seconds to Mars Hard rock
Bush Hard rock
Chevelle Hard rock
Dead Poetic Hard rock
Deftones Hard rock
H.I.M. Hard rock
Stabbing Westward Hard rock > industrial
1000 Clowns Hip-hop
B.o.B. Hip-hop
Blackalicious Hip-hop
Bruno Mars Hip-hop
Busta Rhymes Hip-hop
DMX Hip-hop
Eminem Hip-hop
Gym Class Heroes Hip-hop
Kanye West Hip-hop
Lil' Jon Hip-hop
LL Cool J Hip-hop
Ludacris Hip-hop
Lupe Fiasco Hip-hop
Mac Miller Hip-hop
Master P Hip-hop
Mo Thugs (Family) Hip-hop
Mystikal Hip-hop
N.W.A. Hip-hop
Outkast Hip-hop
The Streets Hip-hop
Timbaland Hip-hop
TLC Hip-hop
Travie Mccoy Hip-hop
Tupac Shakur (2Pac) Hip-hop
Twista Hip-hop
Warren G Hip-hop
Wyclef Jean Hip-hop
Cee-lo Hip-hop > neo-soul
Common Hip-hop > neo-soul
Gnarls Barkley Hip-hop > neo-soul
Mos Def Hip-hop > neo-soul
The Roots Hip-hop > neo-soul
N.E.R.D. Hip-hop, alternative
Craig David Hip-hop, R&B
Drake Hip-hop, R&B
Jamie Foxx Hip-hop, R&B
John Legend Hip-hop, R&B
Ne-Yo Hip-hop, R&B
Usher Hip-hop, R&B
Sean Paul Hip-hop, reggae
Animal Collective Indie
Arcade Fire Indie
Bad Books Indie
Band of Horses Indie
Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution Indie
Battles Indie
Belle & Sebastian Indie
Black Kids Indie
Broken Bells Indie
Broken Social Scene Indie
Circa Survive Indie
Craig Owens Indie
Deerhoof Indie
Dressy Bessy Indie
Fun. Indie
Jenny Reeve Indie
Klaxons Indie
MGMT Indie
Minus the Bear Indie
of Montreal Indie
Pedro the Lion Indie
Rilo Kiley Indie
Silversun Pickups Indie
Sufjan Stevens Indie
Tattle Tale Indie
The Bravery Indie
The Divine Comedy Indie
The Domesticated Indie
The Good Life Indie
The Murmurs Indie
The Pierces Indie
The Temper Trap Indie
The Violet Burning Indie
The xx Indie
Tony Bullard Indie
Travis Indie
Twothirtyeight Indie
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Indie
Hot Chip Indie > electronica
Psalters Indie > folk punk
Chairlift Indie > pop
Cinematic Sunrise Indie > pop
Eisley Indie > pop
Element 101 Indie > pop
Florence + The Machine Indie > pop
Pomplamoose Indie > pop
Reverie Sound Revue Indie > pop
Tegan and Sara Indie > pop
The Early November Indie > pop
The Format Indie > pop
The Ting Tings Indie > pop
Under the Influence of Giants Indie > pop
Do Make Say Think Indie > post-rock
Explosions in the Sky Indie > post-rock
Godspeed You Black Emperor! Indie > post-rock
Mogwai Indie > post-rock
Sigur Ros Indie > post-rock
The Polyphonic Spree Indie > psychedelia
AWOLNATION Indie, alternative
Brandtson Indie, alternative
Cool Hand Luke Indie, alternative
Copeland Indie, alternative
Death Cab for Cutie Indie, alternative
Dustin Kensrue Indie, alternative
Eels Indie, alternative
Jimmy Eat World Indie, alternative
Mae Indie, alternative
Manchester Orchestra Indie, alternative
Modest Mouse Indie, alternative
Moros Eros Indie, alternative
Mute Math Indie, alternative
Big Sir Indie, electronica
Cursive Indie, post-hardcore
Miles Davis Jazz
Nina Simone Jazz
Thelonious Monk Jazz
Holy Blood Metal > black, celtic
Dragonforce Metal > power
Galneryus Metal > power, japanese
Syu (of Galneryus) Metal > power, japanese
Dream Theater Metal > power, progressive
Queensryche Metal > progressive
Tool Metal > progressive
A Skylit Drive Metal/hardcore
Alesana Metal/hardcore
Alexisonfire Metal/hardcore
Arch Enemy Metal/hardcore
As Blood Runs Black Metal/hardcore
As I Lay Dying Metal/hardcore
Atreyu Metal/hardcore
August Burns Red Metal/hardcore
Beauty to Ashes Metal/hardcore
Becoming the Archetype Metal/hardcore
Before Their Eyes Metal/hardcore
Beloved (US) Metal/hardcore
Blindside Metal/hardcore
Bring Me the Horizon Metal/hardcore
Cadaveria Metal/hardcore
Chiodos Metal/hardcore
D.R.U.G.S. (Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows) Metal/hardcore
Dance Gavin Dance Metal/hardcore
Demon Hunter Metal/hardcore
Destroy the Runner Metal/hardcore
Dimmu Borgir Metal/hardcore
East West Metal/hardcore
Emarosa Metal/hardcore
Emery Metal/hardcore
Enter Shakari Metal/hardcore
Escape the Fate Metal/hardcore
Extol Metal/hardcore
Finch Metal/hardcore
From Autumn to Ashes Metal/hardcore
Haste the Day Metal/hardcore
He Is Legend Metal/hardcore
Hopesfall Metal/hardcore
I Killed the Prom Queen Metal/hardcore
In Flames Metal/hardcore
Isles & Glaciers Metal/hardcore
Iwrestledabearonce Metal/hardcore
Kekal Metal/hardcore
Killswitch Engage Metal/hardcore
Krallice Metal/hardcore
likeDavid Metal/hardcore
Living Sacrifice Metal/hardcore
Maylene & the Sons of Disaster Metal/hardcore
My Chemical Romance Metal/hardcore
Narcissus Metal/hardcore
Nightwish Metal/hardcore
Nodes of Ranvier Metal/hardcore
Norma Jean/Luti-kriss Metal/hardcore
Of Mice & Men Metal/hardcore
Oh, Sleeper Metal/hardcore
Opeth Metal/hardcore
Pantera Metal/hardcore
Pierce the Veil Metal/hardcore
Poison the Well Metal/hardcore
Project 86 Metal/hardcore
Remission Metal/hardcore
Scary Kids Scaring Kids Metal/hardcore
Serj Tankian Metal/hardcore
Showbread Metal/hardcore
Silverstein Metal/hardcore
Sky Eats Airplane Metal/hardcore
Soilwork Metal/hardcore
Spoken Metal/hardcore
System of a Down Metal/hardcore
The Agony Scene Metal/hardcore
The Beautiful Mistake Metal/hardcore
The Bled Metal/hardcore
The Number 12 Looks Like You Metal/hardcore
The Used Metal/hardcore
The Word Alive Metal/hardcore
Training for Utopia Metal/hardcore
Underoath Metal/hardcore
Virgin Black Metal/hardcore
Zao Metal/hardcore
Beanbag Metal/hardcore (later alternative)
Embodyment Metal/hardcore (later alternative)
Rites of Spring Metal/hardcore > emo (original usage)
Rise Against Metal/hardcore > hardcore punk
Ministry Metal/hardcore > industrial
mewithoutYou Metal/hardcore > post-hardcore
Receiving End of Sirens Metal/hardcore > post-hardcore
Saosin Metal/hardcore > post-hardcore
The Cinematic Orchestra Indie > post-rock
Thursday Metal/hardcore > post-hardcore
Thrice Metal/hardcore > post-punk
(hed) P.E. Metal/hardcore > rap-metal
Flight of the Conchords Musical comedy
Stephen Lynch Musical comedy
Tenacious D Musical comedy
3Oh!3 Pop
Avril Lavigne Pop
Ben Folds (Five) Pop
Cobra Starship Pop
Fall Out Boy Pop
George Michael Pop
Hall & Oates Pop
Jason Mraz Pop
Katy Perry Pop
Ke$ha Pop
Lily Allen Pop
Metro Station Pop
No Doubt Pop
Owl City Pop
Scissor Sisters Pop
The Cure Pop
The Higher Pop
The Hush Sound Pop
The Killers Pop
Shiny Toy Guns Pop > electronica
Tears for Fears Pop rock
Barenaked Ladies Pop, alternative
Clinic Pop, alternative
Counting Crows Pop, alternative
Maroon 5 Pop, alternative
AFI Pop, punk
Dogwood Pop, punk
Against Me! Punk
The Buzzcocks Punk
The Clash Punk
Jesse Powell R&B
Justin Timberlake R&B
Prince R&B
Bob Marley (& the Wailers) Reggae
Matisyahu Reggae
Bruce Springsteen Rock
Creedence Clearwater Revival Rock
Fleetwood Mac Rock
Jefferson Airplane/Starship Rock
Jimi Hendrix (Experience) Rock
Led Zeppelin Rock
Pink Floyd Rock
Styx Rock
The Beatles Rock
The Black Keys Rock
The Doors Rock
The Rolling Stones Rock
The Who Rock
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Rock
Frank Zappa Rock > progressive
The Mars Volta Rock > progressive
The Moody Blues Rock > progressive
Uriah Heep Rock > progressive
Depeche Mode Rock, electronica
Elvis Costello (& the Attractions) Rock, punk, indie
Billy Paul Soul
Jonny Craig Soul, alternative
Earth, Wind, & Fire Soul, funk
Joss Stone Soul, R&B

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Truth

I used to have things to say.  I used to write; blogs, poetry, letters, words.  I'm out of words.  Literally.  Everything is just empty.  And as much as I'd love to say it's because this happened or that happened or because my childhood had this or that...  there isn't a reason.  It's just the overbearing realization that everything is meaningless.  Maybe there is substance to be had out there for the lucky few, but for most of us we're just floating in a stream of nothingness.  Brief moments of amusement aside, there is neither any sense of happiness that I've experienced nor anything to lead me to believe that any such sensation truly exists.  And at the end of it all, I'm frustrated.  I'm frustrated that ten years ago I was touched by something larger than myself and that now I can not deny the existence of the God of the Bible because that means that my only true means of escape has effectively been stolen from me.  Not looking for sympathy, not looking for anything.  I don't expect there to be substance, but I guess there's still a tiny part of me that foolishly hopes that in writing this I'll at least feel some sense of relief or lessening of my burden.  I guess I haven't completely learned better yet.  I'll have to work on that.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

We're having our first "real" snow of the season right now.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Children.

I think that if you have more than three children, you are being a irresponsible human being, and potentially a liability to the world.  The obvious exception here of course being multiple children births (such as quintuplets and whatnot) - excluding the women/couples who supposedly take treatment to increase their chances of multiple children births.  Related note, I think all of the various hundred TV shows about people with tons of kids are equally disgusting and irresponsible.  I'd say I'm sorry about feeling that way, but I'm not.  It really is irresponsible, and really exemplifies the selfish attitude of today.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Famous People Who Play(ed) D&D.

I didn't write this list up, but I've heard most of the names thrown around in D&D circles, so I have no trouble believing that it's accurate.


1. Stephen Colbert (also went to Gen Con (a dnd/comic/roleplaying convention))
2. Vin Diesel (Wrote the introduction to a book about DnD)
3. Mike Myers
4. Dwayne Johnson AKA The Rock
5. Matt Groening
6. Dame Judy Dench (Introduced to the game by Vin Diesal)
7. Jenny McCarthy
8. Glenn Danzig
9. Edwin McCain (Not sure if he still does but did when he was a kid)
10. Wil Wheaton (played on the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Still plays to this day)
11. Daryl Hannah
12. Robin Williams (Plays both the Online DnD Game and the Tabletop one)
13. Lexa Doig AKA Rommie and the computer AI from Andromeda
14. Ben Aflac (Forced to play by Kevin Smith on a set once and fell in love. Prefers to play Wizards over fighters.)
15. Matt Damon (Forced to play by Kevin Smith on a set once and fell in love. Prefers to play Fighters over Wizards.)
16. Matthew Lillard (Said so on G4's attack of the show then stole all of thier D&D Minatures Models)
17. Jon Stewart (He also sneaks sutile D&D jokes into his show that only us D&D nerds get to laugh at.)
18. Jim Breuer
19. Brian Warner AKA Marilyn Manson
20. John Carmack and a good portion of the original id Software crew (Some of the characters and story elements in Quake were based off of D&D session iirc)
21. Sebastian Bengtsson
22. Joakim Bengtsson
23. Robert P. Olsson
24. Björn-Erik Karlsson
25. Daniel Antonsson
26. Tommy Karlsson
27. Kevin Smith
28. Eddie Izzard
29. Johnny Vaughn
30. Michael Greco
31. Dave Gorman
32. Charles Manson (He actually ran a game in prision! That is to say until California banned the running of Tabletop RPGs in prison.(This might actually be just a rumor but I don't mind))
33. Scott Edgar (Found the actual quotes! "I also play Dungeons and Dragons with my mates, which everyone reckons is tragic, but I reckon is heaps of fun.")
34. Jon Favreau (Another one with a quote! "I'm a very lazy person by nature. I have to be really engaged, and then I go straight from lazy to obsessive. I couldn't study chemistry, but I could memorize all the books for Dungeons and Dragons. It was ridiculous.")
35. Curt Schilling from, I think, the Red Sox or at least use to be.
36. Todd Pratt from, I think, the Braves or at least use to be.
37. Jimmy Wales (One of the starters of Wikipedia)
38. Jacques Villeneuve (Use to drive race cars. Ironicly he prefers to play Monks in D&D which move faster then all other characters)
39. Rivers Cuomo from Weezer and, it is rumored at least, the rest of the band.
40. Everyone in Marcy's Playground (They even wrote a song called "A Cloak of Elvenkind" Which is a Major Magical Item in Dungeons and Dragons)
41. Everyone in Flashlight Brown (They even wrote a song called "Ready to Roll" which references 20-Sided Dice and A LOT of other D&D related things)
42. Gary Gygax (He was famous enough to play a character on Futurama(himself) so I put him on the list)
43. Seth Greene (Even made a Robot Chicken episode that refenerced THAC0 which was part of the Advance DND (or 2nd Edition) rule set)
44. Trey Parker
45. Matt Stone
46. Patton Oswalt (even talked the Reno 911 guys into doing a DnD part on the show. It was very funny)
47. Stephen King (And certain things from dnd are referenced in The Dark Tower series)
48. Steve Rune Lundin AKA Steven Erikson
49. Joss Whedon (Director of Buffy The Vampire Slayer)
50. Jack Black (He also references DND in the song "Wonderboy")
The following people stole DnD stuff from the teen choice awards. I included pictures when I could find them:
51. Ryan Cabrera
52. Nick Cannon
53. Jon Heder
54. Jesse McCartney (http://i5.tinypic.com/477z19v.jpg)
55. David Boreanaz
56. Lauren Graham (http://i4.tinypic.com/2uhq1dk.jpg)
57. Hulk Hogan (http://i7.tinypic.com/2mzlevt.jpg)
58. Metallica (At least they played Call of Cthulhu and Dungeon and Dragons before Hetfield went into rehab)
59. Conan O'Brian (Use to play at least. He has mentioned it on his show)
60. Darby Conley (though he is C-List at best)
61. Andrew W.K.
62. The band Amon Amarth (Can I get a Wha wha from all my metalheads?)
63. My Chemical Romance (They played with Thrice during the Vans Warp Tour. My Chemical Romance's lead singer Gerard Way plays a Half-Elf Ranger)
64. Thrice (Played with My Chemical Romance during the Vans Warp Tour.)
65. Alice Cooper Played D&D (And even replayed the events of a game on an episode of That 70's Show)
66. Some/All of Barenaked Ladies
67. Raymond E Feist (He Actually uses a self created world in his books that was originally created for his Dungeons and Dragons game back home)
68. Kari Byron (Played DnD and has thought about getting Adam and Jaime to play with her.)
69. Brian Posehn
70. Jason Mewes (Though when asked about it he says "DND IS FOR FAGGOTS" then turns to Kevin Smith and starts laughing)
71. Robert Jordan (And his sons which he taught how to play)
72. Weird Al Yankovic
73. Mastodon's Drum Brann Dailor
74. Neil Fallon and MAYBE the other members of Clutch (They even wrote an unreleased song called 24 Earth Years which mentioned playing AD&D back in the day)
75. David X. Cohen (In David's piece in the 30 year D&D hardback book, he says he never had time to play during Futurama, but most the writers did, and they kept D&D books in the office as "referrence" material.(He did get to play while working on The Simpsons though))
76. Alexis Cruz (He also LARPs. HAHAHA Nerd)
77. David Cross (He also mentions a group of comedians he plays with but wouldnt name them.)
78. Billy Crystal (He also plays 40K With Robin Williams)
79. R.A. Salvatore (Though I guess he would have too)
80. Some of the members of Dragonforce (And DND themes have worked their way into Dragonforce songs over and over)
81. David Duchovney (actually mentioned it on Conan O'Brien not too long ago)
82. The band Dayglo Abortions (Even wrote a song about it called Dragons)
83. Donald Faison (He plays Monks)
84. Insane Clown Posse
85. Emilio Estévez

Monday, March 8, 2010

I woke up a couple days ago. Things were different. Maybe better.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Oui, j'ai le grand poulet de un cheval.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Storyteller.

I write songs. Frequently in fact. Many of them are actually good - quite good to be honest. But you see, the problem is that I do not actually write them. The most common place I put these songs together is in the shower. Typically they start as a sort of stream-of-consciousness bit of nonsense thought I engage in while waking up, but eventually a thought here or a line there will stick out and I'll spend the rest of the shower refining, polishing, and eventually singing that little piece into a full song (or at least the majority of one). It's a fun mindless activity that helps me keep my mind stimulated and off of the various other pressures and disappointments that could otherwise occupy my thoughts. Unfortunately though, I almost never actually write the lyrics down or otherwise record them, so an hour or two later I find myself humming an otherwise unfamiliar tune with only broken fragments in place where lyrics once fit. Yesterday morning I wrote a song in the shower that wasn't just good, it was utterly epic. I had the lyrics, the vocal arrangement, even the vast majority of the instrumentation down perfectly... but as I write this today, all that remains is a couple of lines (and only estimations of what they once were) and the general melody of the chorus. It's very, very frustrating.

....maybe if I can ever learn to stand the sound of my own voice, I'll pick up one of those portable voice recorders to remedy the situation.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Culinary Discovery

So inspired by Alton Brown and his some-what scary weight loss, I decided to try some canned sardines. Turns out, sardines are pretty damn tasty. They're basically like really good canned tuna. Boring post, I know. But still.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Food Networking.

For some reason I can't sign up for an account from where I am now... but soon as I'm home I'll be signing up at grouprecipes.com. What a cute little idea, myspace meets allrecipes.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Following up pt 1.

Since I've been on hiatus for so long (and sadly, probably will be again), I thought it would be nice to do some updates to my previous posts. Since there have been a somewhat decent number, this will probably be a multi-part series. That said, here is the first:

Let's Talk Politics!
My philosophy has actually changed here, to be honest. While I still do support the need for a legitimate third party option, I no longer view the Republican and Democrat parties as interchangeable. To be clear though, I think it is the parties themselves that have changed, not my perception of them, but that's mostly irrelevant. The major change is this: until Republicans can learn to play fair, I cannot support them, and will actively vote against them. I still don't even really disagree with them on "the issues" across the board, but the way the Republican party as a whole conducts itself is frankly appalling. Misinformation, deception, and praying upon paranoid/undereducated/naive. It's disgusting. When they're ready to act like grownups, I'll be ready to listen to them. (Just to be clear, I do not have issues with voters that vote for or consider themselves Republicans. The issue is with the party and its leaders.)

Webcomic Drama!
Well, simply put I stopped reading Websnark shortly after this post, and the number of webcomics that I read has been slowly dwindling ever since as well. Now, I pretty much read Questionable Content and Penny-Arcade regularly, and occasionally drop in and read a bit of Least I Could Do, Girls with Slingshots, VG Cats, Xkcd, and Dueling Analogs. Once every couple of months I check and see if SMBC or The Perry Bible Fellowship have had any worthwhile updates, but that's about it.

Forget the Lights and Camera, Let's Get Down to the Action!
Apparently none of my readers had anything to contribute. That's mostly what I expected though, since I'm pretty sure I have less than 10 readers. Still have the same concept rolling around in my head though, and maybe someday it will see the light in some incarnation. I don't think I described it well the first time around though... in re-reading the idea sounded much more "light-hearted" than intended.

"We Don't Have a Cow, We Have a Bull."
Nothing to really updaet here, I just still like looking at the cute pictures of my now 3yr old niece back when she was a baby. So cute!


Those are the updates for now, more to follow later.

Starting off the New Year with a bang.

Bacon explosion, it's coming.

If all goes according to plan, I shall be making this for dinner on New Year's Eve. If by chance not, I may have to adjust and serve it on New Year's Day instead. What better way to ring in the new year than with a gut-busting, artery-clogging, fat-coma-inducing send off to the previous (and let's be honest, after the hell of a year that 2009 was, we all deserve some serious indulgence)?

Side note, due to a recent discovery, this blog may suddenly be getting updated more often. Of course, I have said that time and time again in the past... so don't hold your breath.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Broke hiatus for this Healer Survey thing.

Post this questionnaire, with your answers, on your blog. Pick the healing class you know most about (or is the focus of your blog) for the questionnaire, and then send it over to another healing blogger you know and love who heals with a DIFFERENT class. Include a link to the blogger who sent you the questionnaire, as well as a link to the blogger to whom you are sending it.

* What is the name, class, and spec of your primary healer?
Beladin, Holy Paladin/
* What is your primary group healing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)
10 mans & heroics at this point (same guild - 25 mans are left to Pugging)
* What is your favorite healing spell for your class and why?
Beacon beacon beacon. This spell alone makes Pallys an incredible choice for tank heals. Just beacon the tank and heal the rest of the raid as needed (or yourself) and the tank will constantly be getting showered in delicious heals.
* What healing spell do you use least for your class and why?
Well I use most of my spells pretty often - but I guess Flash of Light would be the least used. Pallys really shine with the big meaty heals of Holy Light, and when glyphed it provides us with out only real aoe heal... so most of my time is spent casting that instead of the weaker FoL.
* What do you feel is the biggest strength of your healing class and why?
Big meaty heals. Pallys are probably the best choice for tank healers. And thanks to beacon - we can even be assigned to heal two tanks in the same encounter so long as they're within range.
* What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your healing class and why?
Aoe healing. With the exception of the less than stellar Holy Light glyphed, we simply don't have aoe healing... so being put "on raid duty" is pretty rough.
* In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best healing assignment for you?
Tank healing, definitely.
* What healing class do you enjoy healing with most and why?
I don't really have a preference so long as they're able to handle the raid heals.
* What healing class do you enjoy healing with least and why?
Paladins. While raiding, we really need somebody with aoe healing (and HoTs are nice too). Aside from that, occasionally healing with a priest can be frustrating because some priests automatically assume they should be on tank heals and I should raid heal... which is wrong. lol.
* What is your worst habit as a healer?
Getting too close to mobs so I can start beating on them with Seal of Wisdom for mana regen. I'm trying to get better about staying back UNTIL I need to regen, and THEN moving into to swing.
* What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while healing?
Tanks that either over-estimate how many mobs they can *really* take at once, or rush from fight to fight and keep me close to being out of mana all the damn time.
* Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other healers for PvE healing?
I absolutely think we have our place, yeah. I would like to see a real aoe heal spell brought into our arsenal, but honestly for balance sake I don't think it should be a very powerful one (if our aoe was as good as the other classes, we'd be way too overpowered) - just a tiny little thing we can drop every so often for moderate healing.
* What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a healer?
"First thing's first, I check to make sure no one is dead. That's the best indicator of healer skill!" The original poster of this survey has it right. That's the most important item by far. Secondly though, I *do* check the various healing section of Recount... but I ignore overhealing for the most part. Why? Because I always have the tank beaconed... but if I'm healing somebody else while his life is full - that's a TON of overheal, but the heal on the target was still necessary.
* What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your healing class?
Hmm.... I guess the idea that Pallys should be "backup" heals for in case you can't find a disc priest - but to be honest that doesn't come up too often.
* What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new healers of your class to learn?
You don't need to heal the tank. Beacon the tank. Honestly, the key to healing this class is beacon - so you really need to learn to maximize it. Aside from that - mana management is a bit rough, but I'm sure it's the same story for all healers (haven't played any other healing classes in the end-game, so that's just an assumption).
* If someone were to try to evaluate your performance as a healer via recount, what sort of patterns would they see (i.e. lots of overhealing, low healing output, etc)?
A pretty high chunk of overhealing - for the reasons specified above. Aside from that, they'd likely see me very high in the other heal stats.
* Haste or Crit and why?
Balance of course, but I'm a haste-monkey. I want my heals to be FAST. My little Flash of Light doesn't do quite enough to justify being used that often, so I really try to shave down the casting time of my Holy Light as much as possible so I can still use it as a good reactionary spell.
* What healing class do you feel you understand least?
Resto Shammies by far. Hell, aside from chain heal I don't even know what spells they use. That being said - shaman is the only class that I've tried that I'm not good at and don't enjoy playing... so I may be biased.
* What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in healing?
Grid+Clique. I'd tried Healbot, but I keep getting a strange bug with it that nobody else in the world seems to. I'm pretty happy with Grid+Clique though, so it's no big deal.
* Do you strive primarily for balance between your healing stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why?
I do tend to focus pretty heavily on Int and Haste. Aside from the crit bonus from Int, the larger my mana pool the better... Divine Plea restores 25% of my mana instead of a fixed amount - so the more I have, the more efficient the restoration is.


I got this survey directly from the source, and I'm not linking to anyone's blog (I'll email the healers I know though). Track the result of the survey here!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Wine

...is delicious.

Friday, February 1, 2008

A quick post on Foie Gras.

Let's talk liver. For those unfamiliar with foie gras, wikipedia describes it accurately as: "the liver of a duck or a goose that has been specially fattened by gavage (as defined by French law)."
Basically it is the swollen, decadent liver of a force-fed duck or goose. It is one of the most popular French delicacies, as well as one of the oldest (the ancient Egyptians were creating similar items more than two millennium ago). Foie gras is in danger though. Many US cities/states are looking into passing bans on the sale and production of foie. California has already passed a law that will ban the dish starting in 2012. Chicago has already passed a ban on selling the food, complete with a $250-$500 fine for breaching said ban. Trouble is brewing overseas for the dish as well. France (which produces almost 80% of the world's foie gras) is equally under attack by various animal rights groups who view the force-feeding process as inhumane. The European Union has already disallowed production of foie gras in any country that isn't already producing it.

You can read more on the issue here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foie_gras_controversy



Anyway, I'm curious what everyone else's opinion on this topic is.
Me personally? I hate to sound cruel, but I don't see the problem with it. We're just a part of the food chain, eating a critter lower than us on the chain. Maybe it's not the most humane of conditions, but honestly I'm not bothered. But, I am very interested in this topic as I have not yet had a chance to try this legendary dish. So my new mission in life is finding a good place that offers foie and getting my fill while I still can.


Thoughts on the topic or even on foie gras itself?

Thursday, January 17, 2008

I promise someday I'll have a full-sized entry again.

My friend Danny is a rockstar. He upgraded his computer massively so recently, and was nice enough to give me his old RAM - which I was in desperate need of. Upgraded my computer thus from 512 worth of RAM to 1GB. Between this and the new video card I put in, I feel like I'm finally caught up. Well, caught up with 2004 at least.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

I should update more often.

I don't really have a lot of time right now to say much, but I thought it was worth mentioning that the more I read and hear about republican candidate Ron Paul, the more I like him. Of course doesn't align with all of my views perfectly, but I don't think I'll ever find a candidate that will. He's probably as close to total agreement as I've seen yet though - and that says something.

More on the upcoming election later - hopefully including a concise breakdown of the candidates positions on key issues.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Hottie of the Month - December

Continuing the tradition I started last month with my post on Lucy Pinder, it's time for the December Hottie of the Month! This month we have one of my favorite actresses from one of my old 'guilty pleasure' TV shows. Best known from the O.C. where she played the complicated and high-strung Taylor Townsend, it's the beautiful Autumn Reeser.







Autumn Reeser is sadly a still fairly unknown actress in Hollywood. Aside from her role as one of the four leads in the final season of the O.C., she has starred in a only a small number of low budget and/or indie films and had the occasional small role on various other TV shows. She's a phenomenal actress though, and easily the strongest actor of the O.C. younger group. She's just about the total package - she's smart, she's playful, she's funny, and she's drop dead gorgeous. Her figure is fantastic, but honestly everything that sets her apart is in her face. Autumn might just have the perfect face - her hair is always incredible, her eyes are as deep and inviting as any could be, her lips are just full enough and let her beautiful teeth show through while smiling, and even seemingly smaller things like ears and neckline are somehow incredible attractive on Autumn. I look forward to seeing her in bigger and better things in the future, but for the time being I highly recommend watching the third and fourth season of the O.C. to check this girl out. You won't be disappointed in the show, and you certainly won't be disappointed in the girl.










(click the pictures for larger versions)


...Unfortunately I spent way too much time tracking down interesting pictures of Autumn that I didn't leave much time to find decent videos... But here's a little taste of her playing her O.C. character Taylor Townsend:




As always, I hope you guys enjoyed this entry as much as I did - and let's all keep hoping the girlfriend never starts remembering to check my blog!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Disgusting.

I learned something new today: Coca-cola mixed with cream soda tastes like ass.

Dirty ass.


Powered by ScribeFire.