The "Yesssss" Person and a Concert Review

So I caught the Iron & Wine / Swell Season show at the Rialto Theatre in Tucson last night. Before I get to the show, I wanted to talk about my nearby company at said show. Last night I quickly realized I was standing in front of one of my favorite types of people at the concert: the "yessssss" person.

The "yessssss" person is someone who buys a ticket to a concert, goes to said concert and then reacts as if each song on the set list was chosen by a higher power for him/her personally. And they continue to feel this way for just about every song on the set list.

It goes like this:

• Iron and Wine starts playing "Sodom, South Georgia" - "Yessssssssssssssss"
• Swell Season starts playing "Falling Slowly" - "Yessssssssssssssssssss"
  
• Journey starts playing "Don't Start Believin'" - "Yesssssssssssssssssss"
• Prince starts playing "Purple Rain" - "Yessssssssssssss"
• F'ing Wang Chung starts playing f'ing "Everybody Wang Chung Tonight" - "Yessssssssss"

Guess what, over-exciteable? Every song that you said "yessssssssssss" to ... they play those songs every night. That's why they're on tour. They're on tour to play their best songs ... which are all the songs you're "yesssss"ing to.

Also, sometimes the "yessssssss" is followed by "I LOVE this song". Really? You love the song of the band you paid money to see tonight? Allow me to say it: no s. We get it. You like this song and you like this band. Guess what? So do I. That's why I bought the ticket and came to the same show you're at.

How 'bout you just enjoy wearing your t-shirt of the band you're currently seeing and cheer when the song starts like everyone else? Okay? Great.

Onto an abbreviated concert review of Iron & Wine and Swell Season at the Rialto Theatre in Tucson, AZ.

Sam opened with Trapeze Swinger and then moved onto Woman King, Naked As We Came, House By The Sea, Resurrection Fern and Sodom, South Georgia among others. His buddy Ron accompanied him and played piano, slide guitar, accordian and just about every instrument known to man. Eventually, the lead dude from Calexico (Tucson's own) came out and the three of them did "Prison on Route 41". Then Salvador Duran made it a quartet and they did "He Lays In The Reins". I could have handled a longer set, but obviously I have no complaints.

After the break, Glen Hansard came out all by himself and played Say It To Me Now completely unplugged. It was fantastic. Marketa then came out for Falling Slowly which was a little bumpy because (in Glen's words) Glen's guitar just didn't know where it was. I enjoyed the mid-song guitar switch out. It felt like I was watching them in the movie. Then the band came out and they did The Moon, When Your Mind's Made Up, Happiness, Low Rising, and People All Get Ready among others. Marketa took the microphone for a couple tunes. I like her a lot. She's just like she is in the movie. Glen also took some time on his own in the middle of the set to do Leave which was fantastic. Also, Glen went guitarless for the slow-builder Happiness which was really good. They ended the night with an Irish tune about a guy in the prison on the Royal Canal in Dublin. Good times.

Also worth noting: sounds like Glen and the band really took to Tucson. They stayed at Hotel Congress and seemed to love it here since they mentioned enjoying Tucson throughout the show. Here's to Tucson ...

... and to the "yesssssss" person. Yessssssssssssssssssss.

Pick pockets, take note ...

You remember that iPhone test where the guy put his phone into a plastic bag with keys and other junk and then shook it around to test how easily the screen would scratch? No? Well I do. And that's because it pained me almost as bad as that Olympic weight lifter that broke his arm (note: I can't even bare to link directly to that footage. Find it yourself if you want to squirm). The iPhone test had me squirming because after a nice shake of the bag don't scratch the screen, he took the keys and ... well, keyed his iPhone! Good gravy, man! Anyway I bring all this up to say ... Who the hell keeps their phone in the same pocket as their keys?

I don't know about you but my personal pocket real estate was zoned out long long ago. Here it is (copy this next part down, pick pockets) ...

• Left front pocket: phone ... and only phone ... with the screen facing towards my thigh ... you know just in case I walk directly into a running power drill sitting on a counter.
  
• Right front pocket: wallet (and sometimes keys when the back pocket won't work).
• Back right pocket: keys preferably.
• Back left pocket: wild card! Oh the excitement! Could be a concert ticket stub. Could be a candy wrapper. Maybe even a cell phone. Ah ha! Got you, didn't I? It can't be a cell phone. That's the whole point of this pointless blog entry: the application and execution of pocket rules! But seriously ... this pocket is usually empty and/or paper that can go straight to the trash when possible.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who has a pocket mapping like this. Can I really be expected to just reach into a random pocket with no idea of what I'll find? We need rules, people. We need order. And if we can't find it in our pockets, then where can we?

iTunes 8 - Build Genius Into Your Smart Playlist

As you may know, I've put a lot of time into making "the ultimate iTunes playlist" in an effort to get the most out of my massive iTunes library.

Today, Apple released iTunes 8 and their new "Genius" feature. The Genius playlists by themselves are pretty good, but I found it was pulling 1-star songs and, according to the rules of my library, I have no need for such songs.

So, thanks to some help from Berg, here's the best use of the Genius feature that I've found so far: a Genius smart playlist.



You set the playlist to "Genius" and then you can adjust everything else ...

• Date added in the last year
• Rating of a certain level
• Last skipped or last played in a given range
• Size of playlist
• Selected according to most often played, least often played, least recently played, etc.

Have fun, kids.

Flight Attendant + Imagination = Fun

So I was on a flight where the flight attendant took a really long period to explain how to turn on the light for your seat. I then began imagining how she possibly could have given her instructions using more words. Here's what I came up with ...

"The main cabin lights will be turned off soon. If you are reading or knitting or have plans of staring intently at the back of the seat in front of you, you're going to want to turn on your own personal light. To do so, push the light bulb above you. Well, don't push the bulb itself. Push the button that looks like a light bulb. Actually, if I could be perfectly accurate, push the button that looks like a picture of a light bulb. Come to think of it, it's not a picture of a light bulb. It's a drawing of a light bulb. It is a drawing of sorts that looks like a wavy cylinder that leads into a semi circle. Outside of the semi circle are horizontal lines jutting outward. These lines are meant to represent the light that the light bulb will provide you.

...

SO. If you would like to counter-act the dark that will soon fill the cabin with your own personal illumination for your seat that you can use to do ... well, any number of things that require light, reach up above you and push the button that looks like a drawing of a light bulb and the light it provides. This will provide your eyes with what they need to do what you might want to do. Assuming you want to do something like that.

...

Oh yeah. And push it up. That button I mentioned before ... you'll need to push it up ... because it's on the ceiling, you really can't push it down. Push the light bulb button up. But again don't even look at the actual bulb itself cuz that'll get you nowhere. Got all that?

...

Let me sum up. For light -- button that looks like a drawing of a light bulb ... uppey town. Not down. Light bulb itself -- no touchy.

...

Okay, just to make sure we're all on the same page once and for all ... Push the light bulb button to turn on the light bulb. Okie dokes? Okay then.

Fannnnnntastic.

Or you know, don't do that ... If like you want to sleep ... In the dark. And avoid the light.

...

Wow. I am so sorry for all this. I am out of hand. I mean who the hell hasn't been on a plane before? Or moreover who the hell has never turned on a light before?

I'm an idiot.

Just push the button for light. Okay bye."

(for the sake of reference, she really did mention pushing the button up, not pushing the light bulb itself and pushing the button that looks like a picture of a light bulb. Holy crap, right? Shut up already. I'm trying to sleep.)

People like a cat eating spaghetti

This pic I posted on Flickr got posted on Neatorama.com (whatever that is) and got tons of traffic as a result.



Oh and booyah ...

One giant leap for nerdery

So I'm about to get real nerdy. I'll be getting nerdy in 2 ways. 1) I'll be getting nerdy because I'll be discussing the idea of villains and even super villains. And 2) I'll be getting nerdy in that I'll by analyzing a hypothetical question inside of an already hypothetical universes like Middle Earth and Hogwarts.

So you know how just about every fantasy type movie has that ultimate villain? Lord of the Rings had Sauron, a once very big person (at least that's how he looked) who then later was re-born as a giant eyeball mounted on top of a tower. How a turns into b ... well, I don't think anyone knows that.



Voldemort is Harry Potter's version of the super villain. He looks a lot like Ralph Fiennes with a weird nose.



And my favorite Superman super villain is a guy named Zod that wore a badass patent leather jump suit and was awarded the title of General based on nothing at all. I like people that grant themselves titles.



He was also a big fan of the V neck. Huge fan.

Okay, anyway, enough examples. What all super villains have in common is that they want to win. Sauron wants his ring back. Voldemort wants to kill Harry Potter. Zod wants everyone to kneel before him. This makes sense to me. The desire for victory makes sense to me. Most good guys in movies and books have the same desire to win. But their idea of victory is usually a little more one-sided. They just want to beat the bad guy so they can go about their business. If the bad guys weren't around, the heroes would just be doing their thing. If Sauron never existed, The hobbits would be getting drunk in the shire. If Voldemort wasn't around, Harry'd be going to school and living with his parents. And if Zod didn't come down from his planet, Superman would be bumbling around as Clark Kent trying to score with Lois.

So this brings me to my question. What if the heroes weren't around and the villains were? What if the villains won? What exactly would they do?

Let's assume Sauron gets his ring back and then kills off all the humans and dwarves and elves. And then he gets his human form back. And then what? It's just him and a whole load of orcs hanging out at Mount Doom with lava flowing everywhere. Does he take up architecture and build moderately priced housing for all the orcs where Minas Tirath and Rivendale used to be? Weekly poker game with a few lucky chosen orcs?

Or let's imagine that Voldemort kills Harry and then blows up all the wizarding schools and kills off all the muggles. Then what? Does he start up a space program in order to attempt to dominate other planets? Or maye he takes up re-building old cars?

And what happens if Zod kills Superman and then everyone kneels before him? Does he and what's her face start up a family? Do they use their heat vision to become expert arc welders?

None of the above scenarios seem likely to me. I just can't imagine any of these villains knowing how to mind their own business once their lifelong objective (complete global domination) has been achieved. If they were to win, it seems like they'd just pull a Conan.



They'd just sit on their throne til they died of boredom. Maybe that, in the end is what drove them to be super villains. Maybe it wasn't being picked on as a kid or insecurity which led to bullying. Maybe they just sucked at entertaining themselves and made sure to pick an objective that would either take their whole lives to achieve or it would kill them in the process. With that objective in hand, Zod can say "well, it doesn't seem likely that I'll ever be able to defeat Kal-El with his super strength and flying ability and all, but at least I'll never be bored again."

The moral of the story as always is that idle hands are the devil's tools. Oh man, we never even considered what Beelzebub would do if we won out. Let's just be happy that us good guys developed Tivo and the Internet in order to stave off boredom.

(Of course the other moral is that I have way too much time on my hands ... which is a given.)

John Mayer at Cricket Pavilion in Phoenix

Click here or above for my pics.

Click here for my full review.