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It is the end of an era. Mike Portnoy is leaving Dream Theater, and with it, taking my teenage memories. Below is an archive of my Twitter/Facebook posts regarding this breaking news.
Hell froze over, pigs are flying, and my teenage years are being ripped apart: MIKE PORTNOY LEAVES DREAM THEATER http://bit.ly/aPw6AW
This is all very bitter behind the scenes. Notice the difference between this (http://bit.ly/aPw6AW) and this (http://bit.ly/dgM9DQ)
NOW is time for DT to do something truly artistic and radical.
When Schoenberg wrote atonal music for the first time, there was an uproar, and nobody liked Picasso’s paintings in his day.
DT: STOP being the typical rock band that gives its fans what they want. Instead, start being true artists – be what DT has always been about (or was at the beginning) – blazing your own trail.
Your next album needs to break all barriers of genre, expectations, instrumentation, and form.
I always found it amusing that most hardcore fans of DT say they like Dream Theater because it is “artistic” or whatever. But, in reality, this was furthest from the truth. DT has always been the same-ole orgasmic formula glazed with a sheen of artistry. I think now is DT’s chance to abandon that formula and actually do what the fans claim they are: artists.
As Henry Ford said, all people wanted was a faster horse. But he gave us the car.
All DT fans want is more epic DT-ness. But they will give us something we don’t even know we wanted.
Ironically, Dream Theater’s latest music video is a wonderful tribute to the band’s end – http://bit.ly/b6Hwog
Here are some miscellaneous tidbits from the Lost Finale I noticed:
1. Flash sideways = whispering in the woods. Since season 1, we have been intrigued by the spooky whispers in the jungle. Then couple of episodes back in season 6, the dead Michael appeared in the woods to tell one of our castaways that the whispers are those who died on the island but can’t move on to the other world. As it turns out, this is precisely what the flash sideways was. In my mind, this is a very satisfying and bold resolution of a mystery from season 1. (For some reason, a number of blogs and newspaper reviews are claiming that ALL of Lost was about characters already dead. These people are either not really watching the show, or they don’t deserve to be writing reviews for newspapers.)
2. Who was in the church? It is interesting to note the people that were NOT in the church with the main castaways. Presumably, these people are not yet ready to “move on” and still must suffer in the in-between world. One of these is Ben, who deliberately chooses to stay outside the church even though Locke forgives him, and Hurley invites him in. Noticeably missing were characters like Michael, Ana-Lucia, and Mr. Eko.
3. Hurley to Ben out side the church: “You were a great number 2.” Before Jack dies in the Jungle, Hurley assigns Ben as his true number 2 to help him protect the island. Later in the in-between world (flash sideways), Hurley tells Ben “You were a great number 2.” Presumably there is a lot of story left out here about how Hurley and Ben became the protectors of the island after Jack died.
4. Jin is the candidate. Sun was not. There was ambiguity about where “Kwon” mean Jin or Sun as Jacob’s candidate. But if you recall from season 4, when Ajira flight crashed and took most of our main character back to Dharma period, Sun conspicuously did not flash back with the other main characters. But ALL of those other characters who flashed back in time were revealed to be Jacob’s candidates. It must be that Sun is not a candidate. Other characters that remained in the present after the crash were Ben and Frank.
5. The “incident” that built the Swan Hatch is precisely the bomb exploded by Jack and crew. The show’s creators have repeatedly stated publicly that their show is a no-paradox time travel show. Furthermore, they have strongly implied that nothing can be changed in the past (as explained by Ms. Hawking to Desmond). Indeed, Jack and Juliet’s blowing-up of the H-Bomb is precisely what caused the Swan hatch to be built in the first place. The “alternate universe” as shown in the final season, wherein the crash of Oceanic Flight 816 never occurred, was revealed to be the after-life world, so that in the main time line, the crash did occur, even though the H-Bomb went off.
6. Desmond uncorking the island. And Jack replacing it. What is the significance of this to the fake Locke (man-in-block) becoming no longer invincible?
Jon Stewart’s Brother is a Stock Market Insider
Following the public grudge-match between Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer, some have speculated that the reason for Stewart’s bitterness is that he himself lost much of his savings in the recent stock market crash. Indeed, while Stewart has consistently taken on the failings on the media, his recent attack on CNBC has been unusually resentful (and not as funny).
Some have suggested that Stewart lost his shirt in the stock market, leading to his unusually bitter attack on Cramer. However, a better theory has surfaced. Jon Stewart’s brother, Larry Leibowitz, is a stock market insider, working as the head of US Markets at NYSE Euronext. This article reveals that Leibowitz prepped Stewart for the Cramer interview.
It is possible (and likely) that Leibowitz lost a ton of money in the recent economic downturn. This explains Stewart’s all-out attack on the financial world, especially the CNBC. As you can see in the video below, Stewart’s original attack on CNBC is very different in style from his usual attacks: not as funny, and more biting.
August 20th, 2008 Iphone
Just got my iPhone today! I am writing this post from the wordpress application ! It’s pretty amazing to be able to make a blog post from a phone. And this touch keyboard is actually surprisingly easy to use. I find that if I just type fast without worrying too much about typos, I get amazing accracy!
Overall I am very impressed by this phone. Quite unexpectedly though, the third party apps are mostly useless. I was expecting the app store to be the best part about this phone – not the case!
I think it is great that I have already done email, twittered, looked up directions, and made a blog post from this phone- all things I never did once on my Treo because it was such a clunker.
Translation: “You’ll eat with pleasure, and without fatigue. The good sausages of the BOUNTEOUS PIG! Sausages from Auvergne. Absolute alimentary purity.”
This poster is absolutely brilliant. It manages to provoke disgust and laughter at the same time. I don’t know what is scarier: the fact that the pig is standing on his feet, his evil and/or innocent smile, the grip with which the pig holds the knife, the surgical and clean cut of the knife, or the patterns on the meat that look like your mom’s meatloaf.
The more perplexing question is, is the pig cutting himself to please you or horrify you? And which is more disturbing? That the pig would suffer that much pain and torment just to please you, or just to disgust you?Â
And is the poster actually trying to sell ham? Or is it vegetarian propaganda? All these questions seem to be converging to create an aura that is distinctive for this poster. And while we’re on the subject of self-mutilating pigs, how about this one?:
Wow, I need to get more sleep. This week’s been rough.
Hi everyone. I guess I’m in the blogosphere now. I read somewhere that over a million blogs are created everyday. So I guess this is one of them. I hope to share my thoughts and frustrations on this blog in the future.
So I will begin by introducing myself. I am currently a sophomore at Swarthmore College. I recently declared a major in Mathematical Physics. In addition, I am planning on a music minor. My interests in math include Foundations, Axiomatic Set Theory, Point-Set Topology, and Geometry (Differential). My interests in physics include General Relativity, Newtonian Mechanics, Maxwell’s Eqations, and philosophy. In terms of music, my favorite genres are the Baroque and Progressive Metal.
I recently discovered a great artist, called Neal Morse. He is a prog-rock composer, and his concept album “?” (yes, its called question mark) is one of the greatest albums I have heard in a long time. It’s not prog-rock per se, but it uses alot of mannerisms of that genre without the heavy guitar riffs. I have been listening to it constantly. It’s quite catchy, but it a good way. Now it is a Chrisitian album, which turned me off from it a little bit. Some parts do get preachy. But then I remind myself that most of Bach’s wonderful choral music are also religious in theme!
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