Fender...Guitar??

I have been spending some money on music. Went to a music store in downtown Normal yesterday and bought two CDs - "Stunt" by Barenaked Ladies and "The Silver Lining" by Soul Asylum. Even in this digital age where people download songs and entire albums to save physical space in their rooms, I prefer to buy CDs and collect them. More so because I "bought" a song from Yahoo! Music once, and for some reason unknown to me, it plays only on my computer, not even on my damn cool Philips "Windows Media Ready" MP3 player.

Well that is what this post is NOT about. Today I decided to listen to the Soul Asylum album on my discman, and I also decided to replace the headset that I got with it with the one that I got with my electric guitar. I was a little apprehensive because the reviews that I had read online about the "Fender" headset were not really good. Of course, it is meant to be used with the guitar, but still it has the same pin that any standard headset would have. Anyway, I plugged it into the jack of my CD player and started listening - and boy, was I impressed! Man, the audio quality is so damn good, so amazingly crisp. The bass that it offers is very very impressive. Also, you can seriously listen to all the instruments used on the song. And considering the fact that it was a part of an electric guitar package which was $200 ( the guitar, a 15 watt amp, extra strings, 3 picks, an electric tuner, tremelo bar, and this fantastic headset), it is a steal! I wonder how much it would cost if you go to get just the headset.

If you have any plans of getting headgear for your audio player, try Fender. Some AAA shit this is.

Year Zero

Heard the Nine Inch Nails's new album recently. Too good. It will give you the "The Downward Spiral" feeling as soon as you start listening to it. Just like TDS, this one has a lot of electronica too, but I felt that the last few songs in this album are kind of soft (maybe like TDS, whose grand finale was a nice rendition of Johnny Cash's Hurt).

Listen to Year Zero here.

Dr. Robert Ballard

Got a chance to meet Dr. Robert Ballard a few days ago. In case you are wondering who he is - he is the guy who discovered RMS Titanic's wreck. He is an oceanographer, and has discovered more than a 100 wrecks in his lifetime. He said that the Titanic has been his most interesting discovery, but not his biggest one. During the question answer session he said that he would want 51% of the questions to be non titanic based.Funny.

Read more about him here. Audiocast.

Today's class got over at 7 instead of the usual 9, and like always, Axel was ready to give me a ride back home. I was surprised when he asked where the closest pub was the moment we sat in his car. We ended up going to Foul Shots, a typical frat bar where kids watch football and basketball games and drink till their souls are satisfied. Apparently, while chatting we discovered that we both share a common interest, something that is very very dear to us.

Gaming.

It was kind of funny when Axel was trying to explain a concept and could not recall the exact word for it. He said to me,"there is a word for it", and I go,"respawn", and he says," you really play games"..lol!!

Barenaked Ladies

Watched a few Barenaked ladies videos on youtube today while working - felt that the band is grossly underrated. Their music is different, and all their songs give you a unique feeling - a kind of "this song's making me happy" feeling. I have always liked "call and answer", and the video looks like a mix of R.E.M.'s Everybody hurts and The Truman Show. Wind It Up is an amazing song, kind of mid 80's popish rock and rollish.

Check out some of the bathroom sessions they have on youtube.

Now that I have heard a couple of their songs, I want to watch them live. Apparently, they are performing in Cleveland, OH on 06/17/2007.

Radioman