Tag: Music

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iPhone 3G: Seven Impossible Days

The title to this post has nothing to do with anything other than iPhone 3G will be released in seven days. “Seven Impossible Days” is a song recorded by Mr. Big.

It is the Fourth of July celebration for people in The United States, and Friday for the rest of the world.

In the meantime, MacNN reports that iPhone 3G starts forming at Apple Store Fifth Ave. in New York. I gotta say that these people are crazy. That’s “Seven Impossible Days” for me to wait in line for the iPhone 3G.

OK, at least I tried making sense of the title to this post to the content, even though no one might get it.

For all of our Canadian friends, unfortunately you’re no longer at the top of “Oh noes, our wireless data plans are ripping us off” list. Our Norwegian friends seems to be getting a more expensive plan.

what else?

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Slipknot: “All Hope Is Gone” Free Download

Slipknot‘s “All Hope Is Gone” is available as free download at Roadrunner Records for 24 hours (ending at midnight EST June 20th, 2008).

“All Hope Is Gone” is the title track to Slipknot’s follow up to “Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)” which was released in 2004. The single will be available for purchase on June 24 at digital download store such as iTunes, Napster and Amazon MP3. Slipknot’s new album “All Hope Is Gone” is scheduled for release on August 26th, 2008 via Roadrunner Records.

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Metallica turns the Internet into 13-year-olds.

Love ’em or hate ’em, the mere mentions of “Metallica” turns the series of tubes into two giant 13-year-olds.

Take a look at the comments from Digg and Reddit, Metallica is still hated by many for whatever the reason is. On the other side, some diehard Metallica fans would defend their idols to the death.

It is obvious that Metallica had made some unpopular move in the past. They did the wrong thing for the right reason. Wait a minute, they did the right thing for the wrong reasons. OK, that’s a bit confusing. The point is that Metallica became the enemy when they sued Napster and their own fans (who used Napster to download Metallica songs). The original Napster got shutdown, but the apparent victim of this event was none other than Metallica’s reputations.

Metallica has taken a lot of heat since the release of “Metallica” a.k.a. “The Black Album” in 1991. Sad but true, many Metallica’s haters were not even born in 1991. The ultra-diehard Metallica fans didn’t like the radio-friendly Metallica, they wanted another “Master of Puppets”. Even though “The Black Album” put Metallica and Metal into the mainstream. Metallica gained humongous amount of fans after the release of “The Black Album”, only to be harshly criticized during the Load/ReLoad era. The departure from Metallica’s classic sound brought the band into the court of public opinion whether or not they were being a sell-out. Despite all of the criticism, Metallica still managed to draw the crowds to fill up arena and stadiums only a few bands in the world could.

Fast forward to “St. Anger”. The trash-can-like snare drum sounds, repetitive riffs and lyrics, and the absence of guitar solos, Metallica managed to bust tons of eardrums. Many fans were turned off by “St. Anger” and many would give Metallica one last chance.

“Death Magnetic”, Metallica’s ninth studio album is slated for release in September 2008. Metallica held a special listening party previewing the work in progress in London to select journalists/bloggers (Kerrang, Metal Hammer, The Quietus). Along came another controversy. Apparently, somebody at QPrime demanded the preview/early reviews to be taken down without Metallica’s consent.

Once again, the series of tubes turned into giant 13-year-olds. Comments on sites like Digg and Reddit clearly shows that Metallica is still hated. CNET’s own Don Reisinger who seems to be wearing bright red lipstick, posted some psycho babble about the fiasco by quoting Ars Technica which was quoting a blog that quoted the original source.

After the official statement from Metallica, Ars Technica corrected their article and removed the picture of Cliff Burton which was inappropriately used. Seriously, what Ars Technica did was tasteless and factually wrong. Cliff Burton has nothing to do with whatever Ars Technica wanted to say.

Metallica, one of the greatest band in the history, will grace the music world with “Death Magnetic”. The early reviews have been positive, and many of us are hopeful. Comes September, Metallica will have to prove that they are indeed still the mighty one that brought “Kill ‘Em All” and “Master of Puppets”. Based on what I heard so far, it is indeed the Metallica I remembered. For those who hates Metallica, please put down the keyboard and stop reading anything Metallica-related.

I for one am looking forward to “Death Magnetic” and would call it as I hear it.

Head over to Metallica.com and MissionMetallica.com for more Metallica.

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Metallica: Death Magnetic

Update:
If you’re looking for any leaks of the recording, get in line and head to Mission: Metallica for the next best thing.

The internet most hated band, Metallica has revealed the titled their yet to be finished albums. “Death Magnetic” is the title the band’s new album, a follow up to the 2003 sonic abortion titled “St. Anger”.

Grab some “Death Magnetic” Wallpaper from Metallica.com.

Metallica became the internet most hated band when the ill-advised Lars Ulrich declared war against Napster and its users back in 2000 Under the guidance of Howard King who also represented Dr. Dre and Red Hot Chili Pepper, Ulrich paved the warpath against Napster and its users. Such move became the catalyst to the birth of anti-Metallica movement, solidify the band’s title as internet most hated band.

Metallica once was the mightiest band in the world with seminal records such as “Kill ‘Em All” and “Master of Puppets”, became the end of many jokes. Camp Chaos enjoyed huge success for parodying the Metallica v. Napster fiasco. Metallica seems to have lost their edge, especially after releasing “Load” and “ReLoad” in 1996 and 1997 respectively. Shortly after Napster fiasco, Metallica lost Jason Newsted who had been with the band since 1987. The end of Metallica seemed to be inevitable.

In 2003, Metallica re-emerge with “St. Anger”, dubbed as one of the worst sounding recording ever, especially with the drums. Metallica still managed to draw phenomenally large crowd on their tour all around the world. Metallica stayed in the public eye for the now infamous documentary “Some Kind Of Monster” in 2004. The documentary showed the turmoils within the band’s life. How could the world’s biggest band be in such situation. They couldn’t even write decent songs. Many diehard fans could only hope that the addition of Robert Trujillo would revive Metallica and once again deliver the music to love.

Here we are five years after “St. Anger”, Metallica announced their ninth studio album titled “Death Magnetic”. The first album written and recorded with Robert Trujillo as a member. This time Metallica tapped Rick Rubin as their producer. Yet, once again, Metallica couldn’t stay away from controversy even when the band themselves didn’t do anything. In June 2008, Metallica was accused of bullying some bloggers to take down reviews of their unfinished songs. Upon the news, the internet once again crowned Metallica as their most hated band. Shortly after, the band revealed that they were shocked by this allegation, and found out that the band’s own management, Q-Prime was acting without their consent. As usual, the damage is done. This somehow proves that it is easy to start controversy on the internet. Metallica is yet still the internet most hated band.

Despite of all the negativity, no one would be able to deny the legacy of Metallica. The year 2008 marks the 25 year anniversary to “Kill ‘Em All”, Metallica’s official debut album. This means Metallica is eligible for “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” starting this year. Unfortunately, they are yet to be nominated to receive the honor.

“Death Magnetic” is tentatively scheduled for release in September 2008. Would Metallica be able to regain the respect they once had? I guess for those who care have to wait until September. So far, the reviews have been good for Metallica. The way it goes right now, we all be treated to a great album from a legendary band named Metallica.

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Apple releases more updates. Enter Logic Express and Digital Camera Raw Update

Apple has been a busy company on this Wednesday, May the 28th, 2008.

After releasing the much predicted Mac OS X 10.5.3 update, Apple also releases Logic Express 8.0.2 and Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 2.1.

Get it from Apple Software Update or Apple Support Downloads site.

05/28/2008
Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 2.1 – 2.4MB
This update extends RAW file compatibility for Aperture 2 and iPhoto ’08 for some cameras.

Logic Express Update 8.0.2 – 73.7MB
Logic Pro 8.0.2 addresses specific customer and compatibility issues of Logic Express 8.0.

Somewhat Related Update:

05/20/2008
Logic Pro 8.0.2 – 139MB
This update addresses specific customer and compatibility issues of Logic Pro 8.0.

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Tech Analyst Wanted, Brain is Not Required.

It is too obvious that many “Tech Analysts” are simply spewing gibberish and trying to present them as facts. One year soon will pass to the iPhone day, June 29th, 2008. In the meantime, the “interweb” is filled with more of the same things over and over again. In essence, one site is quoting the other while many bloggers simply did the “cut and paste” plus some personalization to the non-story. Some well known tech-blogs are simply making stuff up based on the available informations.

“The iPhone 2.0 is coming, The iPhone 2.0 is coming!”

Eventually, the “iPhone 2.0” will be released. It is the question of exactly when. Let’s make up a news item right now.

  • The iPhone was originally released on June 29th, 2007.
  • In general, 1 year is a good “round number” between product revisions.
  • This year Apple WWDC will be held in June; June 9th to 13th to be precise.
  • Steve Jobs said that iPhone SDK will be officially released sometimes in June 2008, including the iPhone Apps store.
  • Apparently the iPhone is not available in the Apple Store (Online and Retail locations).
  • People are claiming that they’ve found iPhone 2.0 proof more than Elvis sighting.

“Captain Obvious is calling!”

It doesn’t take genius to put together all the “signs” and come up with some crazy speculations that many people would believe.

In addition to that, there are some “tech-analysts” making some stupid statements regarding the product that does not officially exist yet.

Déjà vu!

It’s June 2007 all over again.

One particular idiotic “tech-analyst” was talking about the iPhone which he didn’t even have. Criticizing the iPhone for its material. Don’t you think that Apple engineers know more than you, Mr. “tech-analyst” extraordinaire. You haven’t had one logically sound statement since the day you called yourself a tech-analyst. In addition to that you are completely biased to the point where the masses believe that you are taking payola from companies. Please shut the ASDF up and get yourself a job at your local fast food establishment.

Then, there’s one or two or more “journalists” who are suffering from the “I know more than you because I’m always right” syndrome. We all know that you are in the pocket of certain corporations, even if you’re actually volunteering yourself to them. How can you say that everyone else is wrong and you know exactly what those companies are thinking. You always bragging that you got all the “internal for-your-eyes-only” memo. You are working for them, and please stop calling yourself a journalist. Call yourself as you are; spokeperson of that particular company.

The other type of “tech-journalist” that should stop whatever they’re doing right now are the ones don’t know anything about technology but pretending that hey do. Because you have some journalism degree? That doesn’t mean a thing. You have been contradicting yourself on record, and still won’t admit it. Being a journalist, you should have been taking a non-partisan stance when it comes to reporting the news. We don’t want to hear your opinions. You admitted that almost everything you touch (use) are somewhat having problems because you generate some kind of magnetic field that disrupts electronic devices. Even with such admissions, you singled out certain products (from certain companies) for being “turd” (pardon the language). You had not even use or even see it in person. Then, after you’re actually using it, you complained that the product was always broken because it’s simply “crappy”. Don’t you remember you said that you are the cause of all the failures in the electronic device you’re using? Please shut the ASDF up. I hope the big company who acquired your employer would fire you.

This rant is getting longer, and I still have a lot more ranting to do. To the point!

Just because you used to work for a huge technology-based company, doesn’t mean that you know everything. You’re a shill! I am not reading your blog, or anything that you’re saying. Please get a real job and stop thinking that you are so important.

I should end this rant because I need to get some sleep. Before that, let me say something that is completely made up:

The second generation iPhone is going on sale on June 27th 2008.

There I said it.

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Bad Religion Tonight

I’m heading off to see Bad Religion again tonight, last night show was great. Tonight show is the last show of their Spring 2008 US tour.

After the show, lots of people walking backstage and it turned out to be some kind of mini High School reunion for Greg Hetson. Meanwhile, Bret Gurewitz quickly disappeared from the venue, taking out his gear and never came back. I didn’t see him for the rest of the night. Greg Graffin spent considerable amount of time with  fans, posing for pictures, etcetera, etcetera. Brooks Wackerman was talking to fans and somewhat packing his stuff. Jay Bentley was seen hanging out with the crews during the stage break-down. Brian Baker was “caught” using his iPhone while talking to some fans. One funny moment when one of the band’s acquaintances was caught taking the pizza that was supposed to be for the crew only.

That was the quick summary of what’s going on backstage with Bad Religion.