It’s been a few weeks since I blogged anything. When I get some time–likely tomorrow–I’ll write about it. Nothing of interest really; just torn ligaments, getting jumped, fist fighting, hospital trips–no big deal really. In the meantime, enjoy what I think may possibly be the greatest love song ever recorded. I’m just in that kind of mood. Enjoy!
I give you Nick Drake – Northern sky (1970): http://youtu.be/S3jCFeCtSjk
I was with some folks today that were moving stuff into my room. The last thing to be brought upstairs was a table. The only problem was that the table was too large. It had to be taken apart. We just needed a philips screw driver to complete the task. As I began unscrewing the screws, I naturally thought, ‘righty tighty, lefty loosey’. Immediately I asked myself, ‘where the heck did that saying come from?’. I mean seriously, where did start? Did some guy in Montreal in 1932 working at Haggen’s Super Dump just blurt it out one day and now virtually every human being knows it? How does that kind of thing happen? Seriously, think about it, one day you say something no other person has ever said, and now it’s permanently in the human vocabulary. And what’s worse, you never get credit for it. In fact, where do half the friggin’ things we say comes from? And why is it bothering me so much right now? And why am I writing this in the closet? Feel free to file this in the ‘Jeremiah’s insane’ files.
-Jeremiah
Like every other audiophile, quality sound is immensely important to me. I can’t tell you how much I dislike cheap speakers or bad sound from rather pricey ones. Whether it be hearing every crackle of a fire or space battle phaser blast clear as a bell, or hearing the smallest wind instrument in the background on a jamming rock song. To me, these are very pleasurable experiences. With this said, and for a reason I cannot rationalize, I have been listening to music when I’m out and about on incredibly cheap headphones–mainly earbuds because I get them so cheap at work. I have literally gone through at least a dozen sets over the last 12 months. That was unacceptable and extreme measures needed to be taken.
I have been going into Best Buy and similar stores trying out everything they had to demo for a very long time. Most sets were simply sloppy bass driven garbage. Some had nice highs and quality midrange sound but lacked a smooth bass delivery to warrant a purchase. To date, the company that delivered closest to what I needed was Sennheiser. They truly sound fantastic. There are three basic headphone types: earbuds (which rest in the eat canal), on-ear (which rest on the ear), and over-ear (which completely cover the ear).
I had decided that I wanted over ear cans because the best sound can be reproduced with them. There is simply more room to work with and cram and cram high quality drivers into. But over ear headphones can be expensive, especially with a company like Sennheiser. They have a $1500 set for heavens sake. Thank you but not thank you. I would stay $300 was as much as I wanted to spend.
Recently, exactly what I looking for virtually fell into my lap. I work at a book store and we sell a great number of headphones. Most are cheap under $10 earbuds or $15 to $20 on-ear headphones. Even though we sell them at about half the manufacturers price, they’re still pretty low end products–Definitely not what I was looking for. That was until a few weeks ago when we received a shipment of Incase headphones. They were everything I had been looking for.
So let’s break this down, shall we?
1) Price: the Sonic’s can be purchased from Incase’s website for about $200. Their main authorized dealer is Apple which sells them for about $250. But as usual, deals can be had online. You can get them oon eBay for as low as $100. If you go the eBay route, I’d recommend only purchasing them from well established sellers to avoid defective or refurbished models (what else is new). So, even at $250, these are a steal.
I have listened extensively to other headphones in this price range and none were as balanced. None. There isn’t a thing missed in these 40mm drivers. The delivery is incredibly smooth and most important, natural. And it doesn’t matter if you listen to rap, classical, country, techno, or rock. The Sonics will deliver without missing a beat.
2) Comfort: these are hands down the most comfortable headphones I’ve ever worn. Incase used memory foam covered by a brilliant feeling suede. This is a first in the headphone industry, and it makes you wonder why no one had ever thought of it before. I cannot overstate how comfortable they are. There are no pressure points which means you can wear them for hours at a time and have zero discomfort. They also changed the shape of the cans from your typical circular design to a more logical design where the memory foam is shaped like a human ear. Again, why haven’t we been doing these things on other sets? The answer is because Incase wanted to start from scratch and re-think the entire process from the ground up. Oh, did I mention that instead of your typical cheap foam seperating the drivers from your ears, these have an amazing feeling thick microfiber? Again, first rate.
3) Design style: the Sonics are a minimalist design to say the least. There is no chrome, obnoxious writing, mega badging or a great number of other things found on most sets. This is simply a taste issue but I prefer the professional, clean look.
4) Built quality: not much to tell here. There are no cheap plastic pieces or wires hanging all about. Virtually everything is concealed. That is a sign that Incase put a great deal of work into not only the sound but how they will stand the test of time. There is no creaking or odd sounds when flexed or the driver cans are adjusted to find that perfect fit.
5) Extras: you get two high quality 3.5mm wires with every headset. One that matches the shell color, one that matches the ear microfiber color. In my case, grey and orange. The wires even disconnect from the head unit itself. You also get a larger plug hook-up for home theater use. That really made my day when I noticed it. I can’t wait to pop on my Belle & Sebastian vinyl and plug my Sonics into the home theater receiver. Glorious. And last but not least, you get a silver carrying case that looks like it came off the NASA space module. Heck, the bag is even lined with a wonderful microfiber.
What else can I say about these Incase Sonic headphones? Probably a lot. But it’s 1 am and I can barely keep my eyes open. In short: buy them and thank me later.
-Jeremiah
On January 30th 1969, something historical happened in the world of music. The Beatles decided to perform an impromptu ‘concert’ on the Apple Records rooftop. It would be last time they performed together publicly. As they started to play, passerbys began to crowd the streets only a few stories below. What has now become a legendary part of the event, people actually called the police and they were forced to stop playing. If only they knew the significance of that cloudy January day, perhaps they would have have allowed arguably the greatest band of all-time more than a mere 20 minutes to play. At least we got that. Most people have only seen a few songs from the performance. Well, I give you the entire event for your viewing pleasure. WARNING: What you are about to see is super rad.
-Jeremiah
I know it’s just a drop in the bucket to most of you folks, but this blog is just a couple of months old and I just hit 500 views. I expect it to take quite some time to get this blog right where I want it to be, but you have to start somewhere and hitting that 500 view goal is the mighty nice hurdle. I promise to keep writing, and hopefully you will continue to read. I’m finally starting to get comfortable with writing here, it took a while but I think the quality is really starting to improve. Who knows where this thing can go. Probably nowhere, but I’m an optimist so be quiet. Wait…
-Jeremiah
Let me make one thing abundantly clear: I have a preprogrammed genetic calling for doing idiotic things for peoples amusement. I could have worse faults, that’s for sure. I guess it’s better than hurting animals or throwing tires at other tires.
I was at work today and asked my boss if he could swig his giant sized Rockstar energy drink in less than 60 seconds. He made it clear as day that he couldn’t/wouldn’t. Vomiting was apparently not on his list of things to do today. That’s what makes us different. He’s a responsible adult. I on the other hand am a 38 year old clown that watches 70’s kung fu movies and consider them highbrow entertainment.
Well, like the mental giant that I am, I said I believed I could do it. My day was about to get bad, or good depending on your point of view. So, my friend and co-worker Richie grabbed his phone and started recording. It should be noted that I don’t drink anything close to energy drinks. Heck, I don’t even drink coffee. One thing is for sure, within 5 minutes after downing what can only be described as chainsaw blade cleaner with sugar, I literally felt like I could handcraft an aircraft carrier in 30 minutes with nothing but a yard stick and toilet bowl cleaner. So. Bad. For your viewing pleasure, I give you the energy drink swig-off. Enjoy!
-Jeremiah
There are so many reasons to see this movie. And a few not to. We’ll start with the first good thing: Darren Aronofsky is directing it. He’s made a few so-so movies you may have heard of: Pi, The Wrestler, Black Swan, the very underrated The Fountain, Requiem For A Dream to name a few. Yeah, and by so-so, I mean excellent. If he directs something, (to use an overused internet cliche) just take my money. It’s not an overstatement to say he’s arguably one of the top ten directors working today.
Second on the list is Russell Crowe. He plays this Noah guy, I think he was in Moby Dick. You may have heard of Russell. He’s the guy that throws vintage typewriters at children because the air conditioning isn’t working at his hotel. Okay, I made that up. He understands the value of a vintage typewriter. He just uses his ozzie fists. Okay, I made that up too. Back to the movie. Crowe is as a consistent actor as there is. Even if he’s in a bad movie, here gives his all in every performance. Watch The Insider or A Beautiful Mind and tell me I’m wrong. He seems like the type of guy you could sit down and have a cold one with–as long as you don’t mind a typewriter in your teeth.
Next would be Jennifer Connelly who plays Naameh. I could give You a dozen reasons why this is a great addition to the cast, but what it boils down to is that if you don’t like her, I can’t be your friend. Sorry, but them’s the rules.
Let’s not forget about this Anthony Hopkins up and commer who plays Methuzelah. I think if he nails this role, he could become a house hold name or something. Call it a gut feeling, but from the trailer it looks like he can act. I predict that 50 years from now, he’ll be considered one of the greats. I did some research and apparently he hasn’t been in anything noteworthy. But I trust my gut. You heard it hear first.
So there are a few of the reasons to see it. How about the not so good. First of all, it’s a biblical epic. Hollywood consistently takes what could be brilliant source material and either panders to Christian moviegoers by watering down the whole product (Son Of God), makes blood porn pictures (Passion Of The Christ anyone), or takes only the names used in the bible and spins the story so hard, you don’t know which way is up or down (The Last Temptation Of Christ). Folks, just tell the story as it was written. They are incredible stories to begin with. Just make a movie with that in mind.
And I really hope I don’t have to elaborate on what the movie is about. I’m pretty sure every person already knows, but just in case: God makes world. People are terrible to one another on said world. God warns everyone to stop their ways on the world. People don’t stop on their bad bad ways on the world. God tells Noah to make a really really big boat to save the righteous on world. God keeps warning everyone that they had better change or the world is going to get really wet. Lots of people go for a permaswim. I didn’t put world in the last sentence. I figured you understood by that point.
So, without further adieu, here is the trailer for Noah which is released March 28th. Let me know what you think.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_OSaJE2rqxU
-Jeremiah
If you are one of those few people out there that deal with long term or chronic pain, I understand what you’re going through. I don’t mean having sore muscles or the occasional headache–I’m not trying to dismiss what you’re experiencing as I’m sure it’s not the funnest thing in the world–but I’m addressing pain on an entirely different level. Pain that can only be described with one word:crippling. It not only destroys the body, but more importantly it destroys the mind. It makes people do things the would otherwise never even think about doing.
It’s very difficult to convey what it’s like to people that simply have never gone through what you’re going through. For that specific reason, I hardly ever bring it up to people . Its not simply because I don’t want people to think me a hypochondriac, but it’s because I don’t want to bring other people down. They generally don’t understand regardless so what’s the point, right? Well, not really. There is a point: we are social creatures that require both sympathy and empathy to get through the horrible times. The key is not to complain about it 24/7. No one can handle that regardless of how much they want to help. People have their own lives to deal with.
The key is to find one or two people to discuss the issue with but there has to be a limit. By nature people will abandon others that won’t stop ‘bringing them down’. It’s not their fault, we’re just hardwired that way. In short, be selective who you talk to and limit how often you do it. In my estimation, this will be the most effective way to talk about your problems. In fact, I would argue these rules cover a number of other areas as well. No matter how much you need a shoulder to lean on, just remember, people are just people. We (they) can only do so much. With all of this said, don’t for a second give up. Just try to be as logical as possible.
The most important point to be made here is that medicine is advancing a break neck speed. It may take a while but massive pain relief if not outright cures ARE coming. This is not speculation. This is fact. So hang in there. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter by the day my friend. Don’t give up for hope is by far the most powerful force in the human psyche. Fight the good fight. You will get your life back.
-Jeremiah
Well, I just saw one of the strangest ever. I’m riding the city bus and it’s making it’s stops as usual. That’s until it makes the stop of stops. The door opens and in walks this mid-twenties Hispanic woman. She enters, stops, takes about 10 seconds to look at everyone riding, then procedes to bend to one knee, reach for holy water that isn’t there and gives herself the biggest Catholic chest cross I’ve ever seen. Maybe she knows something I don’t? Yeah, I think it’s time to get off the bus–faster than the popemobile can accelerate in fact. Later!
While the rest of humanity is sound asleep in their beds, an up and coming artist out of Marysville, Washington is scourging her fingers almost daily, and nearly burning up her living room all to express herself through the passion for her art. If you were to see her in person, it would come as no surprise that she’s the artistic type; her arms bountifully covered in very personal tattoos, centerpieced by a brilliant Bride of Frankenstein tat adorning her upper chest. But truthfully, it goes far beyond that.
If you sat down and chatted with her for 5 minutes, you’d immediately notice that she is an intelligent, outgoing, sometimes gregarious, sometimes incredibly personal, funny, and witty. But for the sake of this article, most importantly she’s artistic both behaviourly and in vision. Her name is Tiffany Law. I would recommend making a mental note of that name because this writer believes in his heart of hearts, she’s going to be a force to be reckoned within the art world sooner than later.
Tiffany has been an artist for a very long time, but only until recently has she found a niche for herself in woodburning. That’s not to say she isn’t an excellent painter, sculptor, and a number of other things, because she is. But when you find your comfort zone in something you’re passionate about, you run with it. I knew very little about this art form until recently, and that’s too bad because it is hands down one of the coolest ones out there. So much so that I have a few pieces of my very own and plan to get many more in the future.
Not only is she one of the best woodburners out there, but she is improving her craft it seems daily. I thought they were brilliant to begin with, now they’re scary good. Here are a few pieces from the last few months. You can notice the increased quality in shading, depth, detail, and ultimately realism. These are hand carved/burned and one of a kind. No two pieces will ever be the same.
These are the two works I have and I can honestly say, I couldn’t be more pleased. They are well worth double, triple, or even 72 times their selling prices! They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If that’s the case, I can’t tell you how many words they’re worth when you’re actually holding them in your hands. They are breathtaking.
Here are a few other examples of her recent work. WARNING: If you are a geek of any kind, I recommend you put on your seatbelt. I don’t want you to hurt yourself in any way freaking out and injuring yourself in the same fashion I did when I got these bad boys.
Now, as you catch your breath, keep in mind that these are simply the tip’o the iceberg. She has plenty where these came from. She’s done virtually the entire cast of Supernatural, Sherlock, and a number of other movies, television series, and a musical icon or two. Yeah, cool isn’t it?
Now here’s the best part: they are incredibly affordable even though they are of the highest quality, and shipping it’s actually very reasonable considering what most Etsy sellers charge. She also does custom work. Yes, that’s right, you send her what you want done and she’ll give you a quote. I’ve seen similar woodburnings on Etsy for generally three to four times the price. That’s one of the real benefits of buying from serious up and coming artists. These prices are sure to go up as her work becomes more known. You owe it to yourself to take 60 second and check out her Etsy shop. Just keep in mind that not everything is up yet.
Pertinent information:
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SurlyCephalopod?ref=pr_shop_more
Twitter: Twitter.com/SurlyCephalopod
– Jeremiah
D Students Unite 