I’ve been using iTunes for a few years now, since mid-2006, and have a wide variety of musical compositions stored within my library. I uploaded the Peter Gabriel song “Mercy Street” soon afterwords (despite the fact that iTunes says it was added in August of 2007, my collection of songs was lost due to a computer crash and registry cleaning mistake).

You can listen to the song before bed, in the car, while you finish schoolwork, or during just about any other task you can think of. For some reason though, it’s one of his lesser known songs, but being at the top of my iTunes play counter, it reigns supreme on my ‘favorites’ playlist.

Everything about this song kicks ass, from the deep lyrics to the soothing melody, you won’t be disappointed after listening to it. I’d definitely picking up the album Mercy Street is contained on, So.

And for those curious about the lyrics (or those that are just to lazy to search for them), here they are:

looking down on empty streets, all she can see
are the dreams all made solid
are the dreams all made real

all of the buildings, all of those cars
were once just a dream
in somebody’s head

she pictures the broken glass, she pictures the steam
she pictures a soul
with no leak at the seam

let’s take the boat out
wait until darkness
let’s take the boat out
wait until darkness comes

nowhere in the corridors of pale green and grey
nowhere in the suburbs
in the cold light of day

there in the midst of it so alive and alone
words support like bone

dreaming of mercy street
wear your inside out
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy’s arms again
dreaming of mercy street
swear they moved that sign
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy’s arms

pulling out the papers from the drawers that slide smooth
tugging at the darkness, word upon word

confessing all the secret things in the warm velvet box
to the priest-he’s the doctor
he can handle the shocks

dreaming of the tenderness-the tremble in the hips
of kissing Mary’s lips

dreaming of mercy street
wear your insides out
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy’s arms again
dreaming of mercy street
swear they moved that sign
looking for mercy
in your daddy’s arms

mercy, mercy, looking for mercy
mercy, mercy, looking for mercy

Anne, with her father is out in the boat
riding the water
riding the waves on the sea

Then the commercials came on. They didn’t seem much different than a regular season game’s advertisements.

The quality of humorous and memorable Super Bowl Ads have really gone down in the past few years. Bud Light and FedEx Shipping are the only two services worth mentioning out of the entire lineup off-hand. The large birds delivering packages from last years big game along with Budweiser’s smart-cracking, male-oriented television spots seem to be all that’s left of this once-famed media spectacular.

The collection of 2009 commercials doesn’t exactly hype up the anticipation for next year, nor give us much to look forward to when that time comes around.

At least Anheiser-Busch’s marketing division (along with Federal Express’s) can still present a product and get a message across that’s actually worth the $3 Million pricetag.

Ever since the turn of the millennium, all we’ve had playing on the radio is crap music like Britney Spears, Simple Plan, or the new Rap and Hip-Hop Genres, where all they sing about is killing their mothers, bitches this and hoes that. When was the last time we’ve had bands following in the veins of greats like Metallica, Pink Floyd, or even as far back as the Beatles?

Commercialized music this past decade is probably best described as decrepit aural garbage that makes you glad you have your music player’s volume on the highest interval so it showers you with a curtain of deafness over your ears which in-turn offers solace from the everyday bullshit ambiance society has come to known as modern-day “Music”.

Then there’s the kids who think that by dressing up as and acting like their favorite music idols somehow provides them with a heightened sense of significance and worth. You’ve probably seen them at your local mall, or movie theater, they’re the same ones who can’t stop bitching about how their “totally uncool” parents won’t let them have a sleepover, despite the fact they obviously have some freedom given by their parents (hence their presence in public places with their peers).

You’re not a 21 year old, skanked-up slut who’s just discovered what PMS is. Find a new role model.

And you’re not rebellious, hip, nor does “Look at me, I talk as though I’m unfamiliar with third grade grammar, and walk as if I was born with Cerebral Palsy” properly describe your attitude enough. Just stop, dumbass.

A New Music Revolution?

I think it’s about time we’ve had one. The Music Industry has become too commercialized these days, only concerning themselves with earning profits and culturalizing our youth into their predefined sense of what’s “cool” or not. I cannot think of a single extraordinary artist or song that has been released over the past few years.

The only way I see this happening is if either A) Consumers stop purchasing the fecal-smelling, aural noise the that passes for music these days, thus causing the Music Industry Advertisers and Businessmen to take their heads out of their asses and reevaluate their marketing strategies. Or B) People take a stand against the record labels and radio stations, and demand to hear the music that they’ll actually enjoy listening to in the car ride home, and doesn’t sound like crap.

I don’t understand why there hasn’t been one yet. Don’t executives realize it’s a win-win situation? Not only do we get tons of great options to choose from, but all the great albums and singles would lead to larger profits for the Music industrialists. Just bury the crap that’s on store shelves and bring the heart and soul back to the recording studio, it’s not that hard to do. There’s probably tons of no-name artists out there with 100 times more talent than this mainstream bullshit.

Aren’t there any Positives?

Admittedly though, there are a few good listens, but they’re nowhere near the frequency as past decades. Just take a listen to the Classical Performance group “Gregorian” for example. While they are a cover group, they still perform some spectacular renditions of classical rock songs. My favorites are Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters, R.E.M.’s Losing My Religion, and their personal best, in my opinion, is their remake of the Phil Collins hit In the Air Tonight.

Then there’s always the music that isn’t necessarily held in the same light as vocal and choral renditions. The Video Game’s Music Industry is exactly what I am thinking about here, with the Halo 3 Soundtrack at the genre’s focal point. If you haven’t heard it yet, you don’t know what you’re missing out on.

Sometimes you have to open your mind and consider trying new genres to listen to. That is of course, as long as you’re not a socially insecure, “what-will-my-peers-think-of-me”, pansy-ass bitch.

Technology

How did I find this great music, you ask?

Not only can it be a pain in the ass searching for alternative music (online or offline), but chances are you won’t find what you’re looking for in the stores like Best Buy or on iTunes. I probably spent an hour digging through hundreds of CDs hoping I “might” come across what I’m looking for. But to my surprise (sarcasm), the albums were nowhere to be found. Nice selection of Music to choose from, dipshits.

Thankfully the Audio Search Engine Mp3gle exists, they truly are the Google of Music and Audio. I was able to find rare songs instantaneously using their technology. It linked directly to the audio files too, so you could listen to the files from various websites right then and there, no pussyfooting around with finding each individual website which only has one good song on embedded within it. The internet can be a great tool if you know how to use it properly.

Does all the mainstream horse manure still appeal to you?

When the MTV Crowd and the people who fund them (aka greedy corporate bastards) finally wake up, maybe there’ll be a shred of decency brought upon this dying art form. Here’s an experiment to try, just ask any rapper or pop-wannabe if they can name one “instrumental” in their respective genre. Don’t be surprised if they stare back for awhile and their only response contains a blank expression on their face.

At least no matter what the outcome is in the end, we still have our own favorite musical preferences from the past and present that we can listen to and enjoy whenever we wish, right? Oh, wait.

No matter how vigorously you attempt to escape
Your feelings betray you.

As the delusions rot away within your soul
You become a prisoner of your own regrets.

Jealousy seethes to the surface
Despite lingering in the shadows of your own mind.

For those who do not receive proper closure
Insanity eats them alive like a virus.

The dreams of happiness between the two of you
Die a slow and painful death.

Conscious knowledge that there will never be love exists
As the trust in others has been eliminated.

All that remains of your being
Is an empty shell devoid of emotion and love.

Trapped in a coffin of doom
As she unknowingly buries you alive.

Those close to you can no longer tell
Once the transformation is completed.

Acknowledging permanent isolation is a necessity
Which results in walking the Earth as a living corpse.

Perhaps the key to freedom
Is through the contemplation of controlling your death

Is there really any difference between Life and Hell?

You can find this Kool-Aid in many flavors such as PR, Alexa, and Link Exchange. And there’s also the primary Kool-Aid stores to avoid consider (Digital Point, V7n, etc.).

If you don’t believe me, allow me to debunk the flavors for you:

PageRank is NOT Important

Alexa Stats are Useless

Link Exchanges are NOT Important

Now that you’ve read these pages, and considering the fact that most SEO’s still follow this logic, what do you have to say about it?

For me? I’m personally conflicted on the subject. One the one hand you have Marketing wannabes selling their scammy services to guarantee number one search rank positions and the like. But on the other, website owners actually spend money on this stuff, believing the SEO Experts are actually telling the truth. So it’s a toss up to me.

Why not make your voice heard? And respond to the poll

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

So this is why I’ve decided to add a new “Battle of the Month” Category. Some of the battles will be serious, while others will be just absurd. For example, I’ll probably compare a politician or media icon to a piece of food, or even compare things like countries to digestive actions, etc. There’s so many possibilities with this new idea of mine.

I won’t complete my first installment until I find all the requirements I need. I’ll need to learn to configure the image options, find a way to post the things side by side, and I’ll probably search for some table plugin so I can post my facts and comparisons about each right next to each other.

I have plenty of ideas for this new category, just need to learn exactly how I’m going to want to do this.

Now, I know that spam is cold to begin with, but if we were to place it in a really cold place, how long would it survive for?

I think that if we somehow freeze the spammers capabilities of creating spam itself, then we could put an end to it. I realize this is a huge undertaking, and am not exactly sure what would be required do perform such a daunting task.

I leave those thoughts up to you

I know I’m surely not a coding expert (at this present time). This would probably require a whole new web browser system, heck, maybe even a whole new markup language to function properly.

I could see the first phase of this project involving just adding new HTML attributes (such as “depth”), and HTML elements which could contain different “sides” of the 3D projection (like the north side “title tag” or maybe they would ad an X,Y,Z “grid position”).

One other important revolutionary function I feel would be adding a brand new “Navigation System” to the website (which could end up replacing hyperlinks, well at least internally). You’d navigate by the ways of keyboard arrows (along with four more keys to navigate vertically, and much like the ways you control character in a first-person shooter videogame. But you’d still use your mouse to click whichever links, page elements, etc. are visible.

Potential Advantages I can see:

• Much more space to store, view and access information
• It Gives users a whole new perspective (current 2D sites seem a bit plain and boring now, don’t they?)
• Number of options are greatly increased, more freedom to choose what and how you want to design your site
• It would be on the “Cutting-Edge” of technology
• More business opportunities are created (like new advertising venues and fresh ways to communicate with one another)

Disadvantages of this Design concept:

• Very difficult to code and design (from a web developer’s standpoint, but hey, everyone can learn, right?)
• Choosing just how to implement this sort of idea will result in many conflicting ideas (Consistency is important)
• Probably tons of wasted space (if we’re designing in a cube format), most probably won’t need everything a 3D Website has to offer
• Navigation may seem difficult and unnatural for the first few months (or years) of use, new browser applications and improvements would have to be created for them to run properly

I realize this idea is kind of “out there”, but I still think they’d be a cool thing to see.

Lets Examine the Evidence:

• There have been many sightings of large dinosaur-like monsters throughout history.

• Stories about modern dragons can be traced to as recent as modern-day Great Britain. Not to mention the various stories that have been told near Scottish Highlands, some even have evidence of their encounter:

• The Bible claims the Earth is only 6,000 years old or so (with the Book of Genesis). Yet we still find dinosaur bones lying buried in various fossil digging sites all around the world, such as the Badlands in Montana and the Flaming Cliffs in Mongolia, being two of the larger ones.

• On a side-note, there have also been many Japanese sightings of a very large, amphibious monster, devastating Tokyo and nearby communities. Here is the photograph to prove it:

(OK, maybe not so much that last point.) But still, mounds of evidence support the claim that Dinosaurs DO STILL EXIST and probably walk among us this very day.

Search Engines like Google still seem to index the very sites that are out there teaching webmasters how to manipulate them.

The reasons I can think of why they would choose NOT to ban them include the fact that they are not human-run, and that the Search Engine Companies still feel that it would be bad business to put those sites on the shelf.

But even if this were true, wouldn’t it be better for them in the long run? As the SE’s wouldn’t have to change their algorithms as often; and they’d be making money in a cleaner way. Well, actually whether money is “clean” or not doesn’t really matter in the business field much, IMO.

Interesting food for thought.