Gimme your rhythm, and none of your blues

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One of those little things that lurks behind all the gaming stuff I do is my taste in music. I'll say it now, it's eclectic. I like anything that sounds good to me, and what sounds good to me crosses into every genre and subgenre that I've ever come across. Except elevator music.

Anyway, I've been chatting off and on about music with a friend of mine, who happens to host a show at Bassdrive.com. Been listening to their stream since 2am this morning, and felt very at home - I'd left the drums and bass behind in my teenage years.

Little known fact about me these days: in my teenage years, I was a huge fanatic over drum and bass. Rhythm was in my soul, even if I didn't feel like I could dance. I've been a musician all my life (yep, really!) and even though I was performing choral music, I was determined to pick up drums or bass.

Now drums were pretty much out of the question; too expensive, no room to put them, and no way my parents were going to put up with them. But bass - bass I really hoped to play. I finally pleaded a guitar as a birthday present.

The catch - as I left to go guitar shopping - was that I wasn't allowed to buy a bass guitar.

Yes, that's right - I was going to (supposedly) learn how to play bass by, well, not playing bass. See, my dad insisted that I get a 6 string acoustic. He insisted that I couldn't learn to play bass without learning to play 6 string first.

Now, I've loved my guitars through the years. I have a beautiful guitar I still ponder selling because it goes to waste. But I've got double jointed pinkies, which don't want to ever seem to cooperate with playing chords, and while I've dabbled a bit in Spanish/Flamenco style, I got further and further away from my rhythm roots.

I was also discouraged from playing bass for another reason: I wouldn't have anyone to play with. I had no intentions of joining a band (still don't); I'd have no accompanying musician. It'd just be me and the bass. Me and four strings.

"Well, that's stupid and boring. Play something you can play alone."

This incident, of course, really killed my musician side. I stopped caring about the discipline to learn a new instrument, stopped caring about making music. Within the next two years, I was also turned down to two choral groups: my high school choral group because I didn't have professional voice training (public school!), and a future college's because I was nervous and blew my chance.

There went my singing, too.

But there you have it, anyway - there's a little musician hiding behind this gamer chick, wishing and wanting to make the beat happen again.

At least I've got online radio.

try^d . . . a must listen.

Tryad via last.fm

I admit it: I've been addicted to a band lately. And that band is try^d (you might have to hit the search engines with Tryad). try^d is ... well, open source music is one way of thinking of it. A band of international artists, collaborating online, to make hauntingly beautiful, hip music.

I'm no expert on music, so I'll just direct you to where you can listen and download for free.

Check them out!

Burton's Alice could marry McGee?

Here's Wired's sneak peek at what Alice in Wonderland - ala Tim Burton - is going to look like. It's due in March 2010. Looks like something American McGee inspired, doesn't it? Too bad we know it's not going to be that grotesque or awkward - it's still a Disney film.

I love the Alice series. It is superbly wicked, strange, and intriguing. It's also highly intellectual. If you haven't read it as an adult, go do it. It's free on the internet.

The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was, "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?"
"Come, we shall have some fun now!" thought Alice. "I'm glad they've begun asking riddles. — I believe I can guess that," she added aloud.
"Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?" said the March Hare.
"Exactly so," said Alice.
"Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on.
"I do," Alice hastily replied; "at least--at least I mean what I say--that's the same thing, you know."
"Not the same thing a bit!" said the Hatter. "You might just as well say that 'I see what I eat' is the same thing as 'I eat what I see'!"
"You might just as well say," added the March Hare, "that 'I like what I get' is the same thing as 'I get what I like'!"
"You might just as well say," added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, "that 'I breathe when I sleep' is the same thing as 'I sleep when I breathe'!"

Beam Me Up, Hotties

Beam Me Up, Hotties - Watch more Funny Videos

Friend shared this with me. It was hilarious. Had to share!

I just can't look away.

Image by Jason DeRusha via Flickr

Thanks to StumbleUpon, I found a new addiction for my foodie senses: FoodPornDaily. This is, I swear, the site for people who love drooling over gorgeous food. Full screen pictures of macro shots of food, and just click for the next when you've recovered for the first.

While the site doesn't define food porn for you, it certain does fulfill your need for it.