16 August 2007

A sad sign of Corporate America gone wrong

Regarding the "Rock the Bells" hip-hop concert tour with a sold-out San Francisco show this saturday the 18th:
"Sunday - August 19th - Sacramento, CA - Sleep Train Amphitheatre - Cancelled
Refunds available at original point of purchase.

The Rock the Bells Festival date scheduled for Sunday, August 19 at the Sleep Train Pavilion near Sacramento, CA has unfortunately been cancelled due to slow ticket sales. Fans will be able to receive full refunds at their original point of purchase. The tour will be in the Northern California area on Saturday, August 18 for a sojavascript:void(0)
Publish Postld out show at McCovey’s Cove in San Francisco.

Festival founder Chang Weisberg from promoter Guerilla Union adds, 'I am disappointed that we weren't able to sell enough tickets to bring the full Rock The Bells experience to Sacramento this year. Unfortunately our San Francisco show was too popular. We know that over 4,000 people are coming from the Sacramento area based on our online ticket sales info. We kinda hurt ourselves with our own ambition to play Sacramento this year. We hope to bring Rock The Bells back to this area very soon.'"

:(

Well, I feel sorry for all the fans of good hip-hop residing in the Central Valley who have to drive another 90 minutes just to get to cold San Francisco. The Bay Area is big enough that there's actually "nonconformist" hip-hop fans like me who can look beyond the corporate monsters of Wild 94.9, BET, and MTV to listen to underrated hip-hop MC's who don't get much media exposure. Well, you have exceptions like Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco, but we can't totally rely on big corporate media to give us the new stuff from talented MC's like Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, Redman, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, etc. We have to suffer all the terrible derivative mindless pop-rap from G-Unot, Ugly Ricky, DTP, etc on the corporate media. The cancellation of the Rock the Bells show in Sacramento due to poor sales shows just how corporate America with its media consolidation can affect "smaller" markets like Sacramento and silence the voices of new and upcoming artists.

Media consolidation has been a big issue among the Creative Voices of America since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 relaxed rules on media consolidation. Nowadays, we have only a few big media corporations giving us what we hear on radio, responsible for influencing music sales, so let's have a look at how the radio is owned, shall we??
Clear Channel Communications owns these radio stations locally, in the San Francisco Bay Area:
- KSJO-FM "92.3 La Preciosa" (Mexican oldies)
- KYLD-FM "Wild 94.9" (hip-hop)
- KUFX "98.5 KFOX" (classic rock)
- KIOI 101.3 (pop)
- KDON 102.5 (hip-hop)
- KKSF 103.7 (jazz)
- KCNL 104.9 (alternative rock)
- KMEL 106.1 (hip-hop, with a more "open-to-the-underground" playlist than 94.9)
- KNEW-AM 910 (conservative talk)
- KKGN-AM 960 (liberal talk)
Empire broadcasting owns these local stations:
- KRTY 95.3 (country)
- KLIV-AM 1590 (news)
CBS Corporation:
- KITS 105.3 "Live 105" (alternative rock, but their playlist is more open to indie acts than does the over-corporate KCNL)
- KCBS-AM 740 (news)
Cumulus broadcasting:
- KFFG 97.7 (San Jose)/KFOG 104.5 (San Francisco) - adult album alternative
- KSAN-FM "107.7 the Bone" (hard rock)
- KNBR-AM 680/KTCT-AM 1050 (both stations run under "KNBR" banner, sports format)
The Walt Disney Company:
- KSFO-AM "Hot Talk 560" (conservative talk)
- KGO-AM "News Talk 810" (news & talk)
- KMKY-AM 1310 "Radio Disney" (children's)
Bonneville:
- KOIT 96.5 (light pop)
- KDFC 102.1 (classical)
Now, these are perhaps the most well-known stations in the area! The rest of the stations are owned by smaller companies, NPR, or local colleges. (Don't even get me started on "pirate" radio!) Luckily, because San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose is a big, profitable market, while there is room for the "conformist" music fans who get their music & information off the radio, there's also room for the "nonconformist" listeners who get their music off Live 105 or indie outlets or their news off the "alternative press". I fit somewhere between these two categories: While I get not all of my music and news off the radio, I do not consider myself 100% "anti-mainstream". Thus, the only music stations I really listen to are 104.5, 105.3, 106.1, and 107.7, as most bands I feel have true talent do not get much media exposure. (Look at my Last.fm and you'll see. Luckily, the programmers at local college radio stations 90.1 (KZSU, Stanford), 90.5 (KSJS, San Jose State), and 103.3 (KSCU, Santa Clara U.), are brave enough to play "indie" rap and rock that seldom get played on my fave corporate stations.

This story is easy enough to be viable in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Unfortunately, in the smaller Sacramento market, even a higher percentage of well-known radio stations are corporatized! Now, here's the logic: smaller market + larger corporate media ownership = less room for "unknown" talent to be heard. According to Wikipedia's list of Sacramento-area stations, Entercom, Clear Channel, CBS, Entravision, etc. have stakes on numerous FM stations, leaving less room for "indie" radio like KDEE 97.7 or KXJZ or whatever. I've been to Sacramento before, in 2005 when I was still a "corporate-possessed music junkie", to attend a clasical music concert, and the radio stations there are oh so corporate now that I know the dangers of media consolidation! So the conclusion?

Big media caused Rock the Bells, a concert tour with mostly unknown hip-hop acts, to be cancelled in Sacramento.

This is just one of the consequences of big media. Tomorrow or soon, I shall explore the dangers of media consolidation on TV.-

08 August 2007

It's been two weeks, dang!

In the past two weeks, I've been incredibly busy with AP English Literature, studying for the last few days of summer math analysis, and other things that distracted me from this blog. Hey, that happens to everyone, I guess. I can't believe it's already August, almost the end of the summer! On 8/17 I'll be getting my ID picture taken. On 8/23 I'll be picking up my schedule. In 5 days I will start my junior year of high school, with three confirmed AP Classes: Calculus AB, English Literature, and United States History. In addition, I'll also be taking Biology, Spanish 3, and...BAND!! Yes, I initially decided to drop it, but later kept it because my friend Tom convinced me that percussion won't be a bad instrument for me given that I already play piano. Oh well, it'll be exciting, I guess.

Also, I recently saw the video for Killswitch Engage's cover of the old 1980s Dio song "Holy Diver". The video is awesome, and KsE pwns Dio! This song will be included in the re-release of KsE's "As Daylight Dies", originally released November 2006, on 8/28/2007 (coincidentially the first day of school for many of us). I, having already dl'ed "As Daylight Dies", hope to find the song from a friend or somewhere. Check out the video right here, courtesy KsE's official myspace page:

22 July 2007

Summer TV

For most American TV viewers, summer is the time to go to the movies to avoid the networks' schedule of reruns and garbage reality shows. That perhaps explains why movies make so much money if they're released in the summer.

I, on the other hand, an advanced placement & honors student at school and piano player, am too busy to catch most of the "first-run" TV episodes from the regular TV season. During the 2006-2007 TV season, the only TV shows I watched regularly were both on NBC (a.k.a. The Last-Place Network): Heroes and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, as well as occasional Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien.

After the AP World History exam - where i got a 4 out of the 5 scale if you don't know already - i began watching more shows since I had more free time. I began watching syndicated CSI: Miami, The Shield, and The Simpsons reruns from the local CW station. Because I do not have cable/satellite at home, and the local Fox and CBS receptions have been terrible since summer 2006, then I am basically shut off from receiving new episodes of these of my favorite shows:

- 24

- 60 Minutes

- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

- CSI: Miami

- Family Guy

- MLB coverage on Fox

- NFL coverage on CBS/Fox :o these are pretty much the only local channels that even show FOOTBALL locally

- The Shield (on FX, the Fox cable channel for those who want an alternative to "The O'Reilly Factor")

- The Simpsons
With the exception of "60 Minutes" and sports, all these TV shows I discovered through syndication (thank goodness) or DVD. However, I occasionally watch FG/Simpsons on my parents' HDTV upstairs, otherwise, I'm shut off from CBS and Fox.

Also, I have been watching "Saturday Night Live" since around AP exam time. I see why that show has been continuously running since 1975: its format appeals to the masses, with the funny skits and all. However, the SNL season ended on 5/19/2007, so this summer I have had to watch SNL reruns with "dated" references - especially the weekend update, which was intended to cover the news around the time the episode was to originally air. But at least I'm not too bored. And speaking of SNL, I recently taped two episodes that might spark some controversy.

The first taped episode I just watched a week ago was a rerun of the 11/11/2006 episode with Alec Baldwin (host) and Christina Aguilera (music), aired on NBC 6/16/2007. Now the reason why that's "controversial" is because back around the winter I tried starting a campaign to cancel her concert from my hometown, but shelved it at request of my friends. I was basing my conclusions of Aguilera based on faulty evidence, such as this biased column written by our best friend, L. Brent "Bozo" Bozell III, the founder of TV's worst enemy, known as the "Parents Television Council". I have now learned that Aguilera is indeed a good live performer, but for now I'm not rushing to download her songs. Still, she is a good live performer, especially with "Hurt" and the duet with Tony Bennett, "Steppin' Out With My Baby".

On the other hand, I watched another SNL rerun from last night - the 12/16/2006 episode hosted by everyone's (but not my) favorite celebrity - JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE!!! Sure, Justin Timberlake makes a good amateur Dane Cook - heck, Cook ain't even that talented at comedy! However, TimberFAKE's live performances were just lame jokes. Timberlake's high-pitched singing was bad enough on his performance of "My Love", and it got even worse when he relied on his backing vocalists for most of the choruses on both "My Love" and "What Comes Around" - proving that most pop artists can't even hold performances with their own voices. OK, dissers, I know Timberhick even played piano on his "What Comes Around" performance, but hey! Ever heard of Jordan Rudess? I bet you haven't. So Jokin' Timberfake is nothing really more than a contemporary Hollywood celebrity whose fame will end up in the bargain bin/garage sales once I graduate high school in 2009.

Next school year will prove really really busy for me, as I plan on being more involved in school & stuff next year and will take three Advanced Placement courses: American History, English Literature, and (possibly) Calculus AB. Therefore, I doubt I'll be able to catch much good TV next year besides my weekly showing of the second season of Heroes as well as the news & occasional "Jay Leno". Besides, isn't summer supposed to be the opportunity to have as much fun as possible? Therefore, I am using the summer to catch up on as much TV as I can before the earth tilts on its axis, leading way for the rain and cold.

TV I'm regularly watching @ the moment:
- "24" (season 1, DVD)
- "CSI: Miami" (Season 1, syndicated/CW 44)
- "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" (online, ComedyCentral.com)
- "Family Guy" (reruns, Fox 2)
- "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (Fridays for "Unnecessary Censorship", ABC 7)
- "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (NBC 11 after Leno)
- "Nightline" (Fridays before Jimmy, ABC 7)
- "Saturday Night Live" (2006/2007, rerun/NBC 11)
- "The Shield" (Season 4, synd/CW 44)
- "The Simpsons" (various reruns from synd/CW 44 and sometimes Fox 2)
- "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (NBC 11)

16 July 2007

12 July 2007

Sharon Osbourne wanted the fees for CHARITY, huh?

According to LiveNation.com, which is selling Ozzfest tickets for the 7/19 concert at Mountain View's Shoreline Amphitheatre:

"A portion of the proceeds generated by Premium Seat sales will benefit the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center"

So the "free ticket" thing was pulled simply because Ozzy's wife desperately needed some cash for charity? Geez. Why didn't she come up with this to begin with? That's pretty much the same darned thing as Sharon Osbourne announcing straight-up at an Ozzfest concert in 2004 near Philadelphia (Camden, NJ to be exact) that Rob Halford (the fag who sings for Judas Priest) would substitute for Ozzy Osbourne as Black Sabbath vox just MINUTES before Sabbath was set to perform. In that concert, some fans brought expen$ive front row seats just to see the original Black Sabbath up close. However, due to Rob Halford's unexpected appearance and the "no refund" policy, that pissed off the Sabbath fans. And Sharon Osbourne's done some "Last minute" B.S. again! Geez, how greedy can Ozzy & Sharon get anyways?

And, I'll keep updateing this post to display even MORE evidence that this "freefest" thing was a scam:

More evidence of the Free Ozzfest Ticket scam

(you need to click the image to see the whole thing)


Woo hoo, so those in Seattle who wanted free tickets had to go out-of-town to pick up free tickets - to miss the Second Stage acts and be possibly late to the Main Stage. What a joke. Get your tickets for free and miss practically half the concert. If you've seen my Myspace page lately, if you see the "SCREW YOU OZZY OSBOURNE" thing, you know what i mean. I think we need to file class action lawsuit against Ozzy & his greedy War Pigs. In fact, this isn't the FIRST time Ozzy's been involved in crap. Tommorrow, possibly, I'll blog about all of Ozzy Osbourne's controversies.

But I've seen the Ozzfest Seattle photo gallery, and I guess that the Seattle metalheads must've gone out of their minds just to get tickets. Maybe they got them through promotions by Ozzy Osbourne's new cd "Black Rain", buying Monster Energy drinks, or going on Stubhub. I don't know. Certainly I'm not going to the Mountain View ozzfest, as I'm pretty sure that Live Nation will mistreat me and the other fans as they did to Seattle.

The "free Ozzfest" thing seemed too good to be true at first. And now we've all realized that we were right of our first impression. It's not fair that untalented mainstream "recording artists" like Justin Timberlake or "tours" like Wild 94.9 Bomb (Chris Brown, T-Pain, Bow Wow, Danity Kane, and all sorts of pseudo-hip-pop rappers) or Project Revolution (emo/poser rock like Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, H.I.M.), can organize well, yet tours of REAL recording artists like Ozzfest can't serve their fans well. I hope that Ozzy goes to rehab and makes a better Ozzfest 2008. I'd rather pay for tickets and get good seats than get "free" tickets for a crappy seat right before show time or halfway into the concert.

11 July 2007

To the Ozzfesters in Seattle...

Oh yeah, Ozzfest.com has reported that the first Ozzfest show this year will be held tomorrow in the Seattle, Washington area. Now, my problem with LiveNation.com doesn't just apply for me & the other fans living in my local San Francisco Bay Area, it applies EVERYWHERE ELSE...I've looked up the Live Nation listings for the other American Ozzfest shows, and whether you live in Seattle, Boston, New York City, Detroit, Chicago, Miami, or anywhere else Ozzfest stops this year, you'll run into the same problem as I did. Since the first Ozzfest show happens in less than 12 hour from now (9:30 PM Pacific Time as I speak), I wonder how filled will each theater be? That's gonna be a big mystery, given that it was so hard to obtain tickets for Ozzfest this year by any reasonable means. Hmm...

No ozzfest or rock the bells for me :[

Bad news:
- I have two big math tests tomorrow.
- Rock the Bells, the hip-hop concert tour that'll be in San Francisco on Saturday 8/18, sold out by last week.
- After a month of the free Ozzfest 2007 tickets being offline for unknown reasons, LiveNation.com suddenly put up $75 premium seats tickets online! That's what happened when I visited Livenation.com/ozzfest (where I should have redeemed my free ticket code that I was emailed on my request) and then when I clicked "special offers available" to try to get my ticket, it took me to a page to "buy premium seats", and then I was lead to LiveNation.com, where tickets cost $75. So the "FreeFest" ticket thing was pretty much a joke, I conclude, unless Live Nation changes their mind real quick.

So I'm stuck this summer with Math Analysis and AP work. Oh well, at least I can spend the night of July 19 doing homework while all the hardcore fans are breaking their eardrums and jumping around. At least I have plenty of hip-hop and heavy metal music in my MP3 player and hard drive.

To be clear about the Ozzfest tickets, here's what happened. Earlier this year, tour organizers Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne announced that Ozzfest 2007 would be free in response to the ever-increasing ticket prices for most major musical concert tours. June 12 was when they'd start giving out free tickets, requiring fans to register on Ozzfest.com for a secret code to redeem online so that they could print out their tix from home. I did that on June 12, discovering oddly that the codes weren't redeemable at the time. So the rest of the month, I waited patiently. When July came, they still weren't available free, yet "VIP" packages were on sale. Finally, today was when the ticket prices were increased $75. I suppose this is the last straw. Now through July 19 is not enough for me to arrange transportation and stuff to Mountain View after summer school on 7/19 to see Ozzfest. It was a great opportunity to do so, as I don't have math class Fridays. I don't know who to blame more: myself for not signing up for free tix on time, Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne for being greedy, or what else? Maybe they added the $75 because their budget was getting maxed out? What happened?

Regarding Rock the Bells, since most of the featured artists I haven't heard of or I've frequently listen to before, I don't care about going to that concert. Same with Ozzfest - the only Ozzfest '07 bands I currently like are Static-X, Hatebreed, Lamb of God, Nile, and Ozzy Osbourne. I despise 3 Inches of Blood for ripping off Iron Maiden, and the rest of the bands I've never even heard of. But Chtonic is particularly special, as they are from Taiwan; I'll try finding their music this weekend. Through TicketMaster.com I have confirmed: Rock the Bells 2007 in San Francisco is SOLD OUT as of right now. Darn. Now I gotta go study for my math tests.

07 July 2007

A busy Saturday out of town, Live Earth, concert tix


Friday, July 6
Woke up at 9AM to go to school to pick up my American History textbook. Why it wasn't available before the last day was beyond me. Then I went home, took a little siesta, played piano, and did math homework. In the evening, I tried getting Ozzfest tickets, but the Live Nation site still doesn't have 'em available, and now they're still not available! Grr! And now Rock the Bells tix to San Francisco are all sold out! So I'm out of luck going to the best concerts I was anticipating this summer.

Saturday, July 7 - the lucky "777" day
In the morning, I returned some library books and Went to a bar mitzvah of a family friend over in Fremont, then had lunch there. Then I went boating and walking at Central Park in Fremont. Went to FYE at Fremont's Newpark Mall and sampled hip-hop and metal music while my parents wandered around the mall. Then had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and got home to watch Live Earth on NBC.

NBC included the Black Eyed Peas' performance of "Where is the Love" in their coverage. The original version featured (cough urrgh) JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE...but the Live Earth performance had female BEP member Fergie (known for such boring songs like "London Bridge", "Fergalicious", "Glamorous", and "Big Girls Don't Cry") singing the hook. Well, I'd like to move on, but first a warning. IF YOU ARE A JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE FAN, MOST PARTS OF THE REST OF THIS POST MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR EYES. PLEASE THINK TWICE BEFORE MOVING ON. STARTING RIGHT NOW, THIS AIN'T JT-FRIENDLY TERRITORY!!!!!! If you want to read the rest, skip the rest of this bolded text. I REPEAT, IF YOU ARE A JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE FAN, MOST PARTS OF THE REST OF THIS POST MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR EYES. PLEASE THINK TWICE BEFORE MOVING ON. STARTING RIGHT NOW, THIS AIN'T JT-FRIENDLY TERRITORY!!!!!! And for a third time, IF YOU ARE A JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE FAN, MOST PARTS OF THE REST OF THIS POST MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR EYES. PLEASE THINK TWICE BEFORE MOVING ON. STARTING RIGHT NOW, THIS AIN'T JT-FRIENDLY TERRITORY!!!!!! OK...here we go now...

You see, Justin Timberlake is a very greedy, rich white man. From 1998 to 2002 he sold millions and millions of records and attracted millions of screaming teenage girls when he performed with the fake, bubblegum pop boy band N'Sync (seriously, how the heck do they spell their name?) Then after the band broke up, he got attention for his affairs with Britney Spears and a solo album in 2003, "Unjustified". In early 2004, as you might recall, you might've known that JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE was the man who during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show tore off part of co-performer Janet Jackson's wardrobe to expose her right breast for 2 seconds. That led to a national debate over decency, so the FCC fined Super Bowl broadcaster CBS over half a million $$$, began the era of "Not-so-quite-live" TV (in plain English, all live broadcast TV shows must have a 5-15 second delay to prevent the broadcast of any obscenities), and led "moral panic" to lead the conservative Christian voters of America to vote for the worst excuse for an American president, GEORGE W. BUSH!!! Conclusion? Justin Timberlake supports President Bush!! What a cockface!

Then, you might've known that Timberlake is a bestselling singer despite the fact that his only "talent" is singing with an annoyingly high voice that rips off other TOLERABLE "high-pitched" singers like Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden), Ronnie James Dio (1980s-era Black Sabbath, Dio), Prince, Michael Jackson (yes I can stand MJ despite the "child molesting" thing), Axl Rose (Guns n' Roses), you name it. In 2006, his music polluted the national music scene once against with "SexyBack", "My Love", etc. on his NEW Cd, "Future Sex and Love Sounds". The album was a #1 album with several #1 hits, while after the Super Bowl thing Janet Jackson was treated like the SUSPECT (although it was really Justin's fault) so Jackson's sales faultered, despite the fact she's actually tolerable. So, while misogynistic, greedy ol' Timberlake gets nonstop radio and MTV airplay, you actually have to go BUY Janet Jackson's new CD's (post-"Damita Jo") just to even HEAR them...new Janet Jackson gets as much airplay on terrestrial radio as Howard Stern. (And do you know where "The Howard Stern Show" is broadcast now? XM Sattelite Radio!) So what's our lesson here? Misogyny (defamation of women) is acceptable! In fact, on "Entertainment Tonight" the day after the Super Bowl halftime show or so, JT said that the exposure was "fun". FUN? Excuse me? When mainstream music is filled with rappers overuseing the words "b-tch" and "h-" and girls are having unprotected sex? So Justin Timberlake is teaching America that is it totally acceptable to disrespect women.

And how many times have you heard Justin Timberlake participating in any humanitarian work or efforts to reform the world? None, compared to actions by Michael Jackson, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Sum 41, Jay-Z, and even gangsta rappers like David Banner and T.I.! But what was JT doing all that time? Well, Justin Timberlake was wallowing in all his riches he got from NSync and "Unjustified" and "Future Sex and Love Sounds", while jerking off to his archived video of his performance at the Super Bowl 2004 halftime show with Janet Jackson's exposed breast. So, with little justification, I go to a school where intelligent teenage girls who claim to be "moral" supporting a man who supports an incompetent president, misogyny, and materialism, just because he's "cute". Wow. Well this is all the truth about why I loathe JT and wish he should be shot. Why didn't the UK car bombers target the Justin Timberlake concerts that were taking place in the UK this week? Geez, what dumbasses. If you're a JT fan who read all this, be shocked and prepared to destroy all your NSYNC/JT garbage.

And finally for my fellow anti-JT people, here's some fuel for your laughs:

- MTV, Video Music Awards, 2003: this year's host Chris Rock, known for his profane comedic routine that included monologues like "N__gas vs. Black People", mentioned Timberlake in his intro monologue:


- CBS, The Late Show with David Letterman, 2/8/2007 - Christina Aguilera was reading the Top Ten list tonight. Watch for item #6 for Timberlake. Also, #7 is pretty funny, but it's not JT-related. Watch on Real Player
- CBS, The Late Show with David Letterman, 2/9/2007: Another top ten list. Watch for #2 for your anti-JT joke. Watch on RealPlayer

06 July 2007

Math analysis and other stuff

So far I've been takin' the Precalculus and Trigonometry math courses at Evergreen Valley College four days a week, four hours a day. So far I'm getting A's in both classes, haveing gotten A's in all exams taken in those clases so far. In those classes, I get to see my friends from evhs Tom, Jamie, and Jagbir. I also got to see some girls I knew from Chaboya back in 8th grade, they went to Silver Creek or otherplaces. In my Precalculus class, Kunal drops in to socialize, even though he doesn't take class at that time. Wow.

Also, I've seen a few of the Japanese acts from Live Earth, courtesy streaming coverage from CFTO 9 (CTV affiliate of Toronto, Canada and MSN. On CTV, I got to see only part of the set by Japanese metal band Rize before they switched to the Sydney, Australia concert with all these light pop bands I could care less for. Thus, I switched to MSN, where I heard Ayaka and Ai Otsuka. I enjoyed them.

However, tommorrow I've got to go to a friend's bar mitzvah, so I'll be asleep the rest of the Asian concerts (That includes Tokyo, Shanghai, and Kyoto). Also, I'll miss the Hamburg concert, where Chris Cornell (of Soundgarden) and Snoop Dogg will perform, and since I'll be gone tomorrow from 10 A.M. to the afternoon I suppose, I'll have to watch tape-delayed coverage on NBC from 8P.M. to 11P.M. that day.

Also, this morning, I picked up my AP United States History textbook. That reminds me: Start notes on the first 5 chapters. Given that I took AP World History last school year, those notes shouldn't be too much trouble, compared to the AP English Lit and Calculus homework. Ooh...

24 June 2007

Live Earth

On Saturday, July 7, a series of concerts is to be held around the world called Live Earth to raise awareness of global warming, continuing the trend of mass media awareness of global warming spurred by the Al Gore documentary film from 2006, "An Inconvenient Truth". It will be held in pretty much every continent except Antarctica. The event will be held for 24 hours from a single time-zone point of view, given that the globe has 24 time zones. I went to liveearth.msn.com to find out who'd be playing each country. Thank goodness there's no Justin Timberlake! Ha, that must mean Justin Timberlake enjoys polluting teenage girls' minds AND the enviornment with his polluting lyrics and concerts! :p

As far as watching the event goes, the only way I personally can watch it is through condensed coverage on NBC on the evening of July 7 because I don't have cable TV. Zap2It.com reports for NBC's coverage: "Scheduled performances include Madonna, the Police, Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Kelly Clarkson, Melissa Etheridge, Faith Hill, Fall Out Boy, Enrique Iglesias and the Red Hot Chili Peppers." Hmm, I'd tune in to watch RHCP and Clarkson. If I'm lucky, NBC might televise other American acts playing LE like Dave Matthews Band, Smashing Pumpkins, the Police, AFI, Roger Waters (formerly of the Who), Kanye West, and Alicia Keys. If not, then I'm sure some local radio stations will carry the event live with these artists.

And then I hope that NBC might carry some performances from outside the U.S., as some of my fave artists are playing internationally. For example, in Germany, the two American acts there will be Chris Cornell (formerly of Soundgarden) and rapper Snoop Dogg. Other American acts will perform in the UK: Beastie Boys, Black Eyed Peas, Foo Fighters, John Legend, and...let's hope they can still play well after that horrible "St. Anger" CD from 2003...METALLICA!!! RHCP and Madonna are playing the UK, so I see that NBC will televise a few international performances.

However, since I'm Chinese and enjoy Asian cultures very much, I've taken to finding streaming TV and radio stations from outside the USA that'll carry the Chinese and Japanese legs of the Live Earth event. I've seen the 12 Girls Band, who'll play Live Earth from Shanghai, on PBS before, and look forward to finding out more about them. Given that I've been a fan of Asian music since 2004, I will keep trying to find out if there's any streaming Asian TV channels that can carry Live Earth online. Or at least if not TV, then streaming radio. And then, there's Youtube, and possibly I can find LE on DVD/CD later on.

Finally, I've looked over the Australian and South African performance lists for Live Earth, and I've decided not to waste my time watching live performances from a jumbo of international musicians I've never heard of. I have more important things to get to like my summer homework and stuff like that.

And finally, Justin Timberlake doesn't care about the environment, just as Kanye West asserted after Hurricane Katrina that "George [W.] Bush doesn't care about black people".

23 June 2007

Summer so far

So far, summer has been relaxing, but the relaxation will slowly wear away as I proceed to do the following activities this summer, among others:
1. From now until 7/27 I take summer math classes at Evergreen Valley College- Precalculus and Trigonometry - to advance to AP Calculus AB in my junior year. Passing those courses means another AP exam to study for in junior year.
2. For AP English Literature class, I will have to do analyses on selections from the Chrisitian Holy Bible and Aristotle's Poetics, as well as the novels Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and East of Eden by John Steinbeck. This will take up the majority of my summer work. All those works look pretty darn hard to me.
3. On Monday, July 2, I will go to the school bookroom to pick up my AP United States History textbook. I don't see why we didn't get to pick it up before the last day of school. That will be also the day I'll start U.S. History notings.
4. Other things to do in summer include piano, basketball, fitness, voluntterring, SAT, college research, and other stuff to enhance my college transcript.

The last week of school was a blast. I got a lot of signatures in my yearbook, especially from the class of 2007, Ruby, and Tina. Also, I had photos taken with Ruby and Tina! Now, lately I've been asking around for those photos, and I'm not gonna be so cynical as to think they've been destroyed. Oh well, there's always next year & the dances & junior prom. But schoolwork & my brain come first.

In addition, I'm enjoying summer math classes so far, but I predict they'll get harder every day. But I had gotten A's in both semester of Algebra II last year, so I predict I will not "bomb" the class, but I'll at least get grades acceptable enough to advance to APCAB in September if I study hard enough and pay attention. So far, I've been paying attention and taking notes everyday. My clases take place Monday-Thursday, with the Trigonometry course from 8:15-10:15AM and Precalculus 10:25AM-12:25PM - those two classes combined equal one year of Math Analysis @ EVHS, so I advance to AP Calculus AB passing those two classes.

I've almost finished my weekend math assignments. In the meantime, today, I had piano lessons, then came home for math, the computer, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, West Side Story, Mobb Deep, and Depeche Mode.

Tomorrow: Finish math assignments, study math, practice piano, watch Steamboy, analyse the Bible for AP English, and more.

14 June 2007

School over? Not quite....

So school ended today, and I spent a lot of time with my friends for the last time before summer, especially RubyAngela. Today, I got to have photos taken with Ruby and Tina. It was so darned hot all day that I struggled in my PE final. Luckily, since I got A's in the 4th and 5th marking periods, and I think I did very well in the softball quiz, I hope I can still get an A in PE this second semester. I also have A's in Algebra 2, Chemistry, and Spanish 2, and B's in AP World History and English 2A. Next year, my classes include (tentatively) Spanish 3, Biology, AP English Literature, and AP U.S. History. If I get at least B grades in both Precalculus and Trigonometry classes that I will take at Evergreen Valley College starting this Monday 6/18, then I can take AP Calculus AB in 2007/08. So I will still be busy until 7/27, when my summer math classes end.

Meanwhile, the recreational activities I plan to do this summer are two extreme concerts: heavy metal tour Ozzfest (7/19, Shoreline Ampitheater, Mountain View) featuring bands like Static-X, Hatebreed, Ozzy Osbourne, Lamb of God, Daath, etc. and hip-hop tour Rock the Bells (8/18, McCovey Cove, San Francisco) featuring MC's like Rage Against the Machine (rap-metal band), Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, Mos Def, Immortal Technique, and more. I registered for a redemption code for the free ozzfest tix on 6/12 and am waiting to be able to register the code online so i can download/print my free ticket. Then I need to arrange to take Caltrain to Mountain View for Ozzfest. As for Rock the Bells, if I still have piano lessons in August 18, then I can't go. I'll just wait and see.

Anyway, all have a great summer! And I love Ruby and Tina.

02 June 2007

I am watching the NBA finals this year

This year in the NBA Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. San Antonio Spurs

I say the Cavs should win. The Spurs have won enough already, while the Cavs have NEVER been to the NBA Finals in its history.

The last two weeks of school and beyond

So as I speak, the Cleveland Cavaliers are leading the Detroit Pistons by 10 points in game 6 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals held in Cleveland tonight. If Cleveland wins the East, I will watch the NBA Finals this year, otherwise i wouldn't becuase Detroit vs. San Antonio in NBA Finals this year would mean a repeat of the 2005 finals. In the meantime, I am continuing to study Algebra II, Chemistry, and Spanish for my actual finals while I watch the Cavs on a pirated stream of CCTV-5, the Chinese state-run TV station that carries the NBA in China, since I don't get cable at home. Grr! Why do all the NBA playoff games that don't air on Sunday have to be on ESPN/TNT? Just because I'm among the minority of TV viewers these days who doesn't have cable!

On the Monday following the last day of school, June 18, I will begin summer math analysis classes at Evergreen Valley College. However, I still have that class through Friday, July 20, meaning I can't go to Ozzfest this year (Ozzfest stops near San Jose in Mountain View on Thursday, July 19) At least not for the "free" promise that promoter Ozzy Osbourne has promised - as if I were really to go after summer school ended, I'd have to pay for round-trip tickets to other areas that get Ozzfest after my summer school ends, e.g. Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix (ugh not 100+ degree weather!), Detroit (haven't been there since '96), or New York! Grr! I hope some good ppl will post Ozzfest highlights on Youtube or somewhere. But if I'm good at school and in the summer, I can at least go to the San Francisco hip-hop concert Rock the Bells, which will feature Rage Against the Machine, Wu-Tang Clan, the Roots, Nas, Talib Kweli, and more. That concert will basically want Wild 94.9 fans to cry uncle.

As far as grades go, all I gotta say is that if I work hard, I'll get straight A's this semester.

26 May 2007

Remaining school & Summer Plans

With Memorial Day weekend approaching, many of you may be thinking of summer now, as there are only 14 days of school remaining. Indeed, I have a lot of cool stuff to do over the summer. They include:

1. I will take Math Analysis at Evergreen Valley College this summer, a combination of their courses "Math 21" (Precalculus) and "Math 22" (Trigonometry). If I get at least a B in both these courses, then I can take AP Calculus AB in my junior year.

2. The summer will also introduce at least two concert tours coming locally in the SF Bay Area. (Screw you, Jokin' Timberfake.) The concerts that I am especially looking forward to include, as I know right now: On Thursday 7/19 in the Shoreline Ampitheatre in Mountain View will be the FREE OzzFest 2007, the 12th annual installment of the heavy metal music tour founded by lead singer of founding heavy metal band Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne. Hopefully, I can keep my grades up this year and in summer school so I can go there. However, this will technically be considered a "school night" given that summer school will end on 7/27, so I hope maybe a delay might let me go there. If I can't go to Ozzfest, then I can attend the Rock the Bells hip-hop concert, headlined by reunited rap-metal band Rage Against the Machine and hardcore rap group Wu-Tang Clan. It will be held in the parking lot at McCovey Cove on Saturday 8/18 at noon. The focus of the concert will be on hip-hop, as most of the other headliners are alternative hip-hop acts, and the headliners are hip-hop in some way. The guests include Immortal Technique, The Roots, Cypress Hill, Public Enemy, Nas, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and many other true MC's who you might've never heard of from Wild 94.9, BET, or MTV. (106 KMEL does play mostly mainstream hip-hop, but dedicates weekend evenings to the obscure but juicier stuff) That is at least gonna keep me happy this summer if I can't go to ozzfest.

3. I should start going out more often, including for working/community service. I'm considering working for the Lunardi's at Evergreen Village Squre, and volunteering at the Evergreen Library and other places.

4. I recently read in the San Francisco Chronicle about the 40th anniversary of the "Summer of Love" of 1967 being celebrated by the "hippies" there. Thus, maybe I wanna create my own "Summer of Love", maybe i should find a girl before the end of the year and do all sortsa crazy stuff with her in the summer of 2007, 40 years after masses of young people in SF and elsewhere began freedom of social lives.


But remember, I did say there were 14 days of school left, so I need to work on my AP World History presentation where I act as Harry Truman giving a "farewell" speech to American tv viewers, and study for finals for Chemistry, Algebra 2, and Spanish. Indeed, I'm not sure if Mr West will give us an English final exam, but I will expect a final project

05 May 2007

Don Imus sues CBS Radio; Spider-Man 3; Warriors advance to Second Round; Conan O'Brien in SF

Don Imus Sues CBS Radio Over Contractual Dispute
It was announced a few days ago that radio host Don Imus, famous for his racist remarks insulting the Rutgers University women's basketball team, has sued CBS Radio, which owned the rights to his program Imus in the Morning, as CBS's contract with Imus allowed his program to be controversial and off-color. So I suppose CBS Radio deliberately wanted Imus to utter those three nasty little words just so that they could fire him? That's one of the theories behind the Imus controversy. And just recently, it was discovered that the censors at MSNBC (which used to simulcast the radio program on TV) and the radio stations had the options to BLEEP OUT those nasty words, but chose not to because of the contract! Oh geez. If Imus is still not fired, then I guess we should still deal with all those gangsta rappers whose music is even more offensive than just Imus's comments alone, with all their B-, F-, H-, and N-words!

Spider-Man 3
So far as I've read the critical reviews for the film, they seem pretty mediocre, so I might as well just wait until the DVD comes out. I might see it in theatres given these conditions:
1. The Warriors play the Utah Jazz, not the Houston Rockets, as I would go to Game 1 (Friday, 11 May) to watch Yao Ming play locally, in addition to our GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS :)
2. Regardless of #1 applying, if the Warriors get ELIMINATED from the Playoffs...
3. A significant # of my friends claim they've reasonably enjoyed it
4. I have taken both the AP World History exam and Summer Math Analysis placement exam

Golden State Warriors advanced to Second Round of the NBA Playoffs
Finally I'd like to thank the Warriors for beating the #1 team in the Western Conference, Dallas Mavericks. Depending on who wins the Rockets-Jazz game today, and as I'm typing, the score at the end of the 3rd quarter is Utah Jazz 75, Houston Rockets 67, GSW will face either the Houston Rockets or Utah Jazz. It'd definitely be worth it to go to Game 3 of the Warriors' 2nd round series if it is to be against the Rockets, as I'd be able to see Yao Ming play locally, and Yao is the greatest Chinese basketball player in the nation.

Late Night with Conan O'Brien in San Francisco
All this week, I've been taping NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien and watching them after school, as for the week of 30 April-4 May, O'brien has been basing his shows from the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, CA. All the shows have been locally themed, with O'Brien's monologue focusing on Bay area stuff (like the Bay Bridge collapse and Golden State Warriors), as well as tours of SF and vicinity. They have all been very enjoyable. "LNWCOB" has gotta be the best late-night TV show around, with "Jay Leno" and "Jimmy Kimmel" trailing. O'Brien makes the funniest monologues and skits, especially this week from SF.

03 May 2007

Scantrons...

Oh man, I've seen hella scantrons this week...from five days of CST's (California Standardised Testing) and a pseudo-AP World History exam. And then I'm gonna see more on the week of 14 May, as I have the real AP World History exam and a Math Analysis placement test. This is why this month there won't be too many updates. And for your entertainment...

MUSIC I'VE ENJOYED LATELY: Death, The Notorious B.I.G., Beneath the Massacre, Lamb of God, Pantera, Dying Fetus, Slayer, Nas, Eminem, Jagged Edge, Wyclef Jean, Korn, Jay-Z
TV I'VE WATCHED LATELY: local and national newscasts, "Heroes" (NBC), "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (NBC), "Late Night with Conan O'Brien - In San Francisco" (NBC), "24" (Fox, saw on DVD), "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (Fridays for "This Week in Unnecessary Censorship") (ABC), NBA Playoffs coverage on ABC, San Francisco Giants/Oakland A's coverage locally
Haven't seen much movies lately, but I will watch Indian film "Mangal Pandey: The Rising" (I saw part of it in AP World History)

15 April 2007

Spring break; My views on the Don Imus thing

Yikes. Ever since the Bloggergate scandal the weekend after Battle I've not written a blog in like two weeks. Over spring break, I've been studying AP World History like a mofo, memorizing my paraphrased version of Brutus' speech from William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar", and watching TV and heavy metal videos in my non-studying times. Well, I sure hope that everyone who was offended by my remarks regarding battle knows that I'm sorry and it was simply a keyboard malfunction. Okay? All that "Bloggergate" crap is just silly compared to Don Imus's remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. This brings me to the main point of this blog post: Don Imus's remarks is starting a new debate over acceptable speech. Also...


On Wednesday, April 4, a few days before spring break began for us EVHS students, Don Imus used a three-word slur on his radio program, "Imus in the Morning", which was also simulcast on cable news channel MSNBC, that insulted the women for their hairstyles and race. That drew controversy from such African-Americans as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Imus apologized on April 9, some days before both MSNBC and CBS Radio (who owns the rights to "Imus in the Morning") fired Imus. Late last week, Imus also personally met with the Rutgers players who accepted his apology. The new issue of "Time" magazine has its cover story about the Imus incident, titled "Who Can Say What?" It also compared Imus's words to other incidents with racism, such as Michael Richards dropping the N-word during his stand-up routine in November, Ludacris using the B, F, H, and N words in his song "Move B***h", and others. It claims that Imus drew the line on acceptable ethnic speech. Well, here's the thing. If Imus drops the H-word once on his radio program and later gets fired, why can't gangsta rappers like Ludacris or 50 Cent get massive protests from Jesse Jackson & Co. for using the same word Imus used, or even worse, B and N words? Kudos to L. Brent Bozell, founder of the otherwise stupidest douchebag organization in America known as the "Parents' Television Council", for pointing this out in his latest column. I remember listening to pop-rap in middle school whose language was far worse than Imus's little comments. Why can radio stations get away with playing that, yet lose a radio show over a smaller problem? That is just so hypocritical.

And as I continue typing, most new hip-hop on Wild 94.9 (NOT KMEL!!!), BET, and MTV continue to promote misogyny, sex, and defamation of women despite Imus's racist remarks. Tell you what. Why don't you go listen to THESE hip-hop artists if you don't wanna hear repetitive, vulgar uses of the B, H, or N-words? Instead of all your stupid N-word/hyphy crap like Sh*tty Cent, Chingay, Ugly Ricky, or Ludap*ss, listen to: Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, The Roots, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Rage Against the Machine (they're actually an excellent rap-rock fusion band), or any hip-hop you may find on my Last.fm page.

Besides, some people have also formed petitions to try to get Don Imus back on the air ! Mostly, they're either lazy slackers who aren't sensitive to Imus's racist remarks, or they argue that Imus just let the tongue slip and rap videos on BET and MTV are even worse. Well, now that Imus is fired, why don't we go protest BET and MTV for "running raunchy rap videos full of N-words and 'ho' references" (L. Brent Bozell, "The Incomplete Anti-Imus Lobby"? Huh? Vote for a good video like Mastodon's "Colony of Birchmen" on TRL instead of, well, Ugly Ricky!

And today on Dateline NBC, they reported on this thing. Watch from MSNBC Video the whole report for free

01 April 2007

Youtube & Copyright

If you've been paying attention to the news lately, you might have heard about Viacom, which owns TV channels like Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, or VH1, suing Youtube for copyright infringement. That meant that three videos on my Myspace page were pulled. To be precise, they were: a segment of the VH1 special 40 Greatest Metal Songs covering Korn's "Freak on a Leash", part of an episode of MTV2's Headbanger's Ball covering the death of former Pantera/Damageplan guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, and a scene from the South Park episode "Go God Go" where Ms. Garrison taught a screwed form of evolution. Well I understand why they'd remove the Korn and South Park videos. But how DARE they remove the Headbanger's Ball videos! MTV Overdrive has Headbangers Ball dating back only to December 2005, and because Dimebag Darrell died on December 2004, Youtube was pretty much the only way we Pantera/Damageplan fans could re-watch such a tragic event. Now his death is gonna be forgotten just because of corporate greed. If it weren't bad enough for Viacom to be promoting Justin Timberlake on MTV all the time despite his actions in that Super Bowl halftime show in 2004 with Janet Jackson, or removing the music videos from MTV and VH1. Sheesh! But when I was searching for HBB videos on Youtube again, to check if people re-uploaded the Dimebag Darrell videos, I found this: There is going to be a new band established as a joint between members of Pantera, Mudvayne, and Nothingface called Hellyeah. Big Vin Records posted this promo up on Youtube, LEGALLY:

Now I hope that later on they can re-post Headbangers Ball coverage of Dimebag Darrell's death.

31 March 2007

Myspace news blog & a reader's response

(I wrote this back in 4/8/2006, and I'm updating it today)

Evergreen Times - Crimes connected to MySpace have parents, police on guard - Reported by Julie Davis Barry

A-HOLE! This article is pretty ignorant of the fact that everyone's profiles under 16 are privatized. But I guess their point is that there was the option where anyone under 18 can view ur profile if ur profile is private, so a pedophile posing as a minor could get away with looking at youngster's profiles. Besides, if you go down to the last part of the story, a lot of that stuff many of my (safe) friends are doing on Myspace as I speak.

So Ms. Barry, are you trying to say that everyone on Myspace is gonna get kidnapped for posting their stuff (name, photo, school, etc) on there profile! I mean, 99.9% Myspace users have their personal photo on - including minors. And only about 1% got kidnapped. Besides, you didn't notice that Myspace has a directory of high schools from all 50 states? When you're saying that we shouldn't state what kinda school or extraciricular (sorry for the crappy spelling) activities we go to? Wow, my fellow Myspacers, welcome to Soccer Mom planet.

In my view, those things happen becuase of lack of maturity and common sense. Those girls we see on the evening news got kidnapped all because they actually decided to do talk to strangers online without the knowledge of their evil nature. A message to all my fellow Internet users: Just don't talk to strangers online, just communicate with people you truly know in real life on Myspace.

Oh yeah, one more thing about discourageing posting personal photos on Myspace: Since personal photos are the main source of identification on Myspace due to the way the site was designed, your friends won't really know it's your profile without your nagging if you don't have your photo on Myspace. So I do not discourage not putting ur photo online, yet make sure you are hard to find for pedophiles and child aductors. (added today) And now that anyone can set their profiles private, this ain't a big deal no more. News articles like this are OBSOLETE!


NBC Nightly News Video on Myspace Mobile - originally aired Friday 4/7/2006

Once again, Myspace makes controversy on the news, now that its Mobile service has been released. Heck, it's been out since I estimate February or so. NBC reported it as controversial because now that Myspace is available on mobile phones, kids are in danger because it's easier and quicker to upload pictures, comments, etc. on Myspace through a mobile phone because parents are less likely to be supervising. Currently, the service is available only to Cingular customers, according to the Mobile options page on your Account Settings. Even as a liberal, I see this as a danger because people going to schools that ban Myspace on their computers can now find a way to use Myspace on campus and get away with any wrongdoing - IF they use Cingular. So I think that schools should ban people from bringing Cingular phones on campus if they want total safety from Myspace on campus - or ban people from even brining phones with those so called "cell phone jammers" - install those throughout campus.

I suggest to any Myspace Mobile user out there to be careful when using it - use the same safety procedures as you would online. Don't post too much personal info, such as your phone # or home address, don't say anything if you can't say anything nice at all, you know the drill. :-)


Regarding the "ban": and old friend named Paul commented: "These blanket bans won't work. Just like teaching abstinence doesn't work.".

30 March 2007

From Battle to Better Things

Well, I'm obviously not going to Battle of the Classes, given the time and date of the publication of this blog entry. That was because all the tickets were sold out by the time I wanted some. So after I finished my spot on the "First Annual Battle of the Classes Pre-Show" today during lunchtime, battle hype was over. All I can say now is that the class of 2009 should at least have done a good job. Hopefully someone will put this thing up on Youtube or somewhere. Now that Battle hype is over to me I can move on to better things like: a chemistry test involving pH and titration (3 April), the upcoming AP World History Exam (17 May), the Summer Math Analysis Placement Test (????), and the SAT's (????) April will pretty much be my time off fun and stuff like that so that I can get on more studying.

In other news, Myspace has recently sued spammer Sanford Wallace for causing all this spam bulletin/comment havoc on the site. Yay! No more bothersome spam for all the worst products America could offer! If I were to refer to those as humor, I'd rather just watch funny web and ad junk featured on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" or "Late Night with Conan O'Brien".

Please, PLEASE don't vote for Sanjaya Malakar on American Idol. He's such a bad singer that even Justin Timberlake sounds better than him! (AND JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE SUCKS!)

28 March 2007

Battle of the Classes: Two Days Left

Man, my life will be so darned busy the next two days...especially when I want to go to Battle of the Classes and a World History quiz coming up. And now I need to pay $10 for a ticket now that Leadership cut out Intermission from Battle due to time constraints. That also means that the "Unity" skit sponsored by the Hip-Hop Club in which I will participate will be performed during lunchtime on Friday 30 March. With temperatures in San Jose climbing into the mid-70s with sun and light eastern winds from the Central Valley, that means back to basketball shorts the next two days...I've been wearing long pants since the weather got colder on Monday.

I would also like to remind Live 105 that Good Charlotte is NOT alternative rock! I was listening to some good alternative music this afternoon on that station when reading today's San Jose Mercury News and I heard an advertisement promoting a Good Charlotte concert! I have loathed that band ever since I quit pop punk back in 2005 and now they want to release another album when pretty much no one cares about them anymore. Benji Madden and his group of clowns should get jobs at their local Hot Topic store or somewhere.

Today when doing Spanish homework and such I watched/listened to "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" (Conan was on repeat from 11/1/2006, according to NBC schedule). Darn yesterday's "Tonight Show" was funny! The "Jaywalking" skit, where Leno interviewed women at Universal Studios Anaheim regarding women in history, shows how ignorant today's society is, given that "Jaywalking" is not scripted. Also, comedian/TV host Jeff Foxworthy appeared on the program describing his new show on Fox "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader". I fast-forwarded to "Conan" afterwards, which was a repeat from 1 November 2006, and it had a funny moment with Sasha Baron Cohen promoting "Borat" as he was messing around with Conan and even sang a parody song about Pamela Anderson! Finally, Mastodon, one of my favourite metal bands at the moment, played "Colony of Birchmen" to end the program.

24 March 2007

Unexcusable Stupidities of America #3: "San Jose: Home of the Most Untalented Music"

U.S.A. (Unexcusable Stupidities of America)
Stupidity #3 - "San Jose: Home of the Most Untalented Music Ever!"
Originally written: 1 December 2006
Updated: today, as the original version I accidentally mistyped as "#2" which I wrote back in July!!!

It's bad enough that my hometown of San Jose and its vicinity must be laden with all sorts of low-life citizens who plague the city. Some of those citizens decided to take up careers in music. The earliest SJ low-life butt-clown who took up a musical career was Frank Feranna, Jr., which most rock fans (except me!) associate as Nikki Sixx, bassist of fake glam-metal band Motley Crue. Then, did you know that Smash Mouth, the band that created the most overrated, overplayed rock song ever, "All Star", come from San Jose?? Yikes. Plus, ever tuned locally to 104.9 (before it became spanish) or 105.3 or 107.7 and heard, "back off, I'll take you on, headstrong, i'll take on anyone, i know that you are wrong"? Well, that band was Trapt, from Los Gatos in the vicinity. And now, guess what, we've got more untalented hack "musicians" who are coming to play in San Jose. I found out about two of them from articles in the thursday edition of the san jose mercury news, and so here they are.

The All-American Rejects
"Hardcore rockers earn All-American status" ~ Shay Quillen
The All-American Rejects were a pop-punkrock band formed in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in 2001. Their self titled 2002 debut album got them a hit single, "Swing, Swing", which I just downright dislike. Until their followup 2005 CD Move Along, they were considered a one-hit wonder. In late 2004, I borrowed their self-titled CD from the library, and I didn't like it. When "Dirty Little Secret" began getting overplayed on radio and Myspace, I became even more hateful toward the band. Things got worse when I saw the video for "Move Along" on KTSF. When I read the article on the SJMN and noticed Quillen labeled these guys "hardcore", I was downright furious. Look, you can logiclaly label AAR hardcore if you read this:

"It's an odd mix: [drummer Chris] Gaylor and [vocalist Mike] Kennerty still play hard-core punk in a side project called These Enzymes." Hmm, that's what I call hardcore! So, do NOT listen to the Mercury News whne they say AAR are hardcore! AAR are only ripoffs of Good Charlotte/Simple Plan/New Found Glory/every other queer pop punk band out there. And these morons are performing with Motion City Soundtrack, The Format, and Boys Like Girls at the Event Centre at San Jose State University this Monday night. Hmm, just got off iTunes, those other bands are also untalent butt-holes like AAR, that's why they get to play with them.

Panic! at the Disco
"Stars Straight Out of High School" ~ Yoshi Kato
I'm not giving out the background of these untalented butt-holes, whose debut album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out is basically an experience as says in the title. I first heard this band's music in July on Live 105 (KITS-FM 105.3) with "The Only Difference...", and I was dissatisfied. Few months later, "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" hit MTV and radio, and that song sucked balls! I went on iTunes to hear the rest of the CD, and now I realised that PATD were yet another crappy Fallout Boy/emo ripoff to screw up our youth! And then, thye're coming to SJ at the HP Pavilion this Tuesday night, with anotehr untalented butt band, Cobra Starship, and a somehow listenabl band, Jack's Mannequin. I'm listening to their album, Everything in Transit, in iTunes now, and I'm just so sad that this talented band would tour with some untalented chili eaters.

Please, support good punk rock and look for these good punk CD's:
- Henry ~ These Enzymes
- Loud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits ~ The Ramones
- Dookie ~ Green Day
- Everything in Transit ~ Jack's Mannequin

Justin Timberlake
I first heard that he was coming to San Jose back around Veterans Day, his concert on 11 January 2007 in HP Pavilion was sponsored by garbage music station Wild 94.9, which I've first liked in 1998 and trashed in September of this very year. Gosh, JT is so bad that he makes the All-American Rejects sound talented! JT has been a joke since his entry into the music industry with the boy band N'Sync in 1998, 'til their breakup following three instantly forgettable albums in 2002. You thought he was gone for good? EEHH! His solo CD Justified sounded more UN-justified when its release in 2003, when news with his love with another untalented c_nt named Britney Spears spread ad naseum across the country.

By the summer of 2004, we all forgot about Justified and JT-Britney, as they broke up from their engagement. Two years later...

"I'm bringing sexy back, yup, them motherf__kers don't know how to act..."

When I first heard "Sexyback" on the radio in August, I said, "Oh sh*t, JT is back to haunt us all again!" That was one reason I quit listening to wild 94.9, it plays too much BS music like "Sexyback". And now he's gonna come to San Jose, which we should all be boycotting. This leads to my other point

Where have all the talented bands gone?
I mean, Disturbed came to Mountain View back in winter 2005-spring 2006 I believe, not too far away from where I live! And now, with untalented butt-holes All-American Rejects, Panic at the Disco, and Justin Timberlake coming to town, I shall announce also that perhaps the programme directors of the major music venues of San Jose are probably drunk butt-holes too, or the tour managers of the good bands are too lazy, or both, explaining why I could not find any TALENTED bands coming to the South Bay anytime soon. Look at the tour page on GNR's official site! Their last Bay Area stop for the Chinese Democracy tour is 15 December in Oakland! THey already played SF back in the weekend of 15-16 September, and I'm not happy that whoever f*gg*t was scheduling the Chinese Democracy tour didn't include San Jose, who's already got all the untalented music coming to town! Hmm, let's find other talented bands who are currently active in the music scene. Trivium...last played in Bay 27 October in San Francisco, sponsored by 107.7 the Bone. Killswitch Engage - bummer, no Bay shows! Hmm, since I'm forcusing on bands coming to San Jose, i'll just go on hppsj.com, the official site of the hp pavilion, to look up what's coming up. Tommorrow, opera singer Andre Rieu comes to town, and evne though I could care less for opera, I'd rather listen to that than pop punk. In February 2007, Disney on Ice takes over. Most other events are the San Jose Sharks. Then 10 March 2007, is Christina Aguilera, all of her albums are unoriginal forgettable jokes! 28 March 2007: Josh Groban, who's music is boring, but better & more intelligent than Justin Timbleake or Aguilera or Panic! The Event Centre in SJSU is mostly SJSU Basketball games, their oly music is monday w/all american rejects. What other fav music? Hmm, Jay-Z, no Kingdom Come tour yet. Neither did Diddy. Darn, I missed the Who's SJ date from 8 November! So with Lacuna Coil, but they were in Santa Cruz in 30 November! What about Nas, whose song "Hip-Hop is Dead" I'm now hearing on KMEL! Hmm, he kicks it off in New York and Philly in the weekend of 22-23 December...more dates TBD...Hmm, thinking thinking, so overall...here's our overall conclusion...

SAN JOSE DOESN"T REALLY GET ANY TALENTED MUSIC TO COME TO TOWN, WHILE SAN FRANCISCO/OAKLAND/EVERYWHERE ELSE GETS TO, OR THE BANDS SKIP THE BAY! WAHH!!

Well what can you do about it? Convince the organisers of HP Pavilion and Event Centre that their musicians coming to town suck and you want better music! How? Request them on local radio! Write letters to the bands requesting a stop to the South Bay! Do whatever it takes to get a good band to come to San Jose, who's already got too much bad music around here! If you wanna request song on radio: here's some radio station numbers
KMEL 106.1 (hip-hop/R&B) 1-800-955-KMEL (5635)
KSAN 107.7 "The Bone" (hard rock) 1-888-303-BONE (2663)
KITS 105.3 "Live 105" (alternative/modern rock) 1-800-696-LIVE (5483)
Or, write to the HP Pavilion or Event Centre. Well, I've gotta run, as I'll go headbang to the Metalzone on 107.7 the Bone now!

New Year's Resolutions So Far...

Here were some New Year's Resolutions I established around 12/23/2006. If "[x]" is there, it's been passed. If it's been crossed out, it's either failed or modified.
[x] Stop being closed-minded toward certain taboo issues like the civil rights for disabled people and hunger
[x] Stop making up lame excuses not to participate in certain things/hide stuff
[x] Be more socially active as trevor suggested
- Get straight A's both semesters the 2nd semester and beyond
- Get a 5 on the AP World History Exam and Calculus AB exam
- Get enrolled in the AP Calculus BC in 11th grade if i follow what tom told me
[x] Quit being radical toward certain issues and understand that Animal Farm was correct about socialism.
- Become Class of 2009 President, or at least join Leadership
- Become more involved in community service
[x] Become nicer to girls/other ppl in general
- Become the boyfriend to the girl i love right now
- Become better in speaking Mandarin Chinese
- Figure out my job/college choices
- Get a job
Now for my wishes in 2007:
- Before his scheduled concert in 2007, Justin Timberlake will die.
- Ditto for Christina Aguilera and any other untalented knucklehead musical acts

- Nas will come to San Jose or nearby, at least Palo Alto (he'll be in San Francisco in May..darnit!)
- Ditto for In Flames, Slayer, any band on Headbanger's Ball
- Marriage will be defined as only between a man and woman. As for same-sex lovers...well, some other word like "autistic idiots"...
- MTV should start playing real music as opposed to the pop junk theyre playing now and they should drop theyre reality shows
- She will be my girlfriend for life
- We will find out if Tupac really died
- I will get to Calc BC AB by 11th grade

The demise & resurrection of Channel 104.9

Today in 2006 at 9:00 AM Pacific Standard Time, KCNL-FM "Channel 104.9", the alternative rock station of San Jose and the southern San Francisco Bay Area, switched to Spanish adult contemporary. Think of it as the pop music stars of Mexico and Latin America in the styles of artists you could hear on 94.5 or 101.3 locally. This was a heartbreak for numerous alt-rock fans in the San Jose area, who were forced to other local rock stations KITS-FM "Live 105", which also played alt-rock but was based from San Francisco, and KSAN-FM "107.7 the Bone", which focused more on classic rock and hard rock, with their alternative focused mainly on punk or grunge. Now a year later, rock music appears to be dying. Now that the pop stations play less rock in favor of more dance-pop and hip-hop, the alt-rock stations are forced to play "poser" rock bands. Gee whiz, ever since the demise of 104.9, music has sunk into a new low, with Live 105 having to play poser pop-rock bands like Evanescence, Angels & Airwaves, Plus 44, and Panic at the Disco, which I do not consider alternative rock at all. Shouldn't those bands be played only on top-40 stations like 101.3 or 106.5 or 97.3 instead of good rock stations that are suppoed to play only the GOOD alternative artists? After all, 105.3 would never play Good Charlotte or Simple Plan, because we all see them as pop rock, not alt-rock, so why would they play Evanescence, who made money and popularity only from ripping off Lacuna Coil, a TRUE goth band. Gee whiz, what a society we live in today. Hey, at least 105.3 still plays good alternative bands like Silversun Pickups, Plain White T's, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Audioslave, you name it! And they've got a new morning show replacing Howard Stern, called "the Morning Music Co-Op", which features talk, interviews, and songs rarely played on 105.3.

Channel 104.9 I began listening to in summer of 2005. That station introduced me to Nirvana, Queens of the Stone Age, My Chemical Romance, the Ramones, and other real grunge/punk rock bands. The first song I remember hearing on 104.9 was Gorillaz' "Feel Good Inc", and the last song I heard on the station, at 1/1/06 at 1:00 AM, was Gorillaz' "Clint Eastwood". Then nine hours later, I was disappointed to hear Spanish songs on the station, meaning I had to go elsewhere to listen to modern rock. I began listening to 105.3 and 107.7. 2006 was also when I started listening to the New Wave of American Heavy Metal Music, thanks to the Internet and the Friday Night Metal Zone on 107.7, as well as the ocasional metal song on 105.3. Whatever it is, I credit Channel 104.9 for introducing me to real alternative rock away from posers like Simple Plan or Good Charlotte, and getting me into real rock in general.

And I think the demise was planned, contrary to a report on the San Jose Mercury News on 1/3/06 that no one knew until it was too late, as two days after 104.9 changed to Spanish, 105.3 had in a planned manner change it's Howard Stern Morning Show to the Morning Music Co Op, as they'd announced back a week before Christmas. That's what I think, remembering what 104.9/105.3 announced around December 2005, but it's gonna be awhile ti'll we know for sure what happened.

(UPDATE 24/3/2007): On the late afternoon of Feb. 27, 2007, KCNL-FM 104.9 switched back to alternative rock under "Channel 104.9" once again, playing less commercials than Live 105, but apparantly they've now started playing more mainstream rock. Is it just me or is it a sudden corruption in Clear Channel? Right now I'm listening to 105.3 more than 104.9, depending on which songs these stations play. Good thing 104.9 doesn't play poser bands like Fall Out Boy or Panic at the Disco, but I don't understand why they'd play The Fray or Hinder. Those are far too mainstream/untalented/poppy for alternative rock!

R.I.P. Channel 104.9, 1/15/2001-1/1/2006

Welcome back Channel 104.9, 2/27/2007-forever

My First "Real" Blogging Experience

Wow...my first blog entry outside of my regular Myspace account. Wow. I hope that more people will take my blogging seriously if I post here, as one of my friends recommended me to. So now it's a Saturday in late March, after I've done piano lessons, the library, dentist, and dinner, and I don't feel like really doing anything now. I hope you enjoy reading my blogs, which I do post if anything remotely interesting happens in my life or current events now, and I hope I'll have fun as well.

Now, regarding Myspace, I began using it in the middle of my freshman year in high school after I heard a lot of my friends were using it. I used to be a total addict to it, using it like every day infinitely, but nowadays I use it just to keep in touch with friends in the simplest manner possible, not to do all that other [...] like surveys, hardcore designing, attention grabbing, etc. I have a lot of other [...] to deal with in life given that I have to take the AP World History Exam in 17 May and may take Math Analysis this summer. However, as technology continues advancing as time goes on, I began noticing weird [...] in the bulletins and comments section in MySpace. At first, I thought people were doing that [...] on purpose, but then I learned that it was all done by hackers. That had been going on since at least August 2006. Spam on bulletins and comments promoting the most perverted [...] on Earth: pornography, fake free gift cards, fake free iPods/electronics, you name whatever junk you can find on the Web these days. It starts when people seeking free enhancements for their Myspace profiles encounter "Myspace login pages" that are outside the actual Myspace site, and people think it's for real, so they log in with that, and that's how spam gets transmitted. And then some other clowns believe the spam is true and thus their profile gets corrupted as well. Today, when I logged in Myspace, finally, the admin stepped forward with this:
"
Latest Update: Mar 24, 2007 3:00pm, PST

I know a lot of you are seeing spam comments on your page. sorry about that! The super nasty ones block your other comments. They also may not be easy to delete. Here's how to get rid of them: from your home page, click "edit profile," then click "safe edit mode" in the top right corner of the edit page. next, click the "comments" tab. from here you'll be able to delete the comments individually.

just fyi, we are in the process of taking legal action against the losers behind this comment spam. bad news is that's going to take awhile because courts are slow, good news is we won some recent cases which is going to make it easy to punish the beejesus out of them. also, we're working on a filter that will stop it from happening altogether.. that should be done in a few days."

Wow, I hope when all this is over with I'm sure at least 95% of the spam on Myspace will disappear.

In other news, find me in Battle of the Classes on Friday 30 March during intermission. You will be surprised.

08 February 2007

"non block day" Thursday

Pretty darn weird "regular day" as opposed to its regular block day. Felt a bit better than those block days where the classes stretch out to near two hours. I've got a substitute for English today and tommorrow. I hope that Mr West (my regular English teacher) has a good time at Camp Everytown. The weekend begins tommorrow, woo hoo!

Also for those of you who suffer from insomnia or have extra space in your VCR/DVR/TiVo, KNTV (NBC 11) will be replaying last late Thursday's episode of The Tonight Show With Jay Leno at 3:05 AM, with the untalented white trash rapper Kevin Federline performing! I'm not taping it. Instead, stay up late (or tape/TiVo) the Tonight Show insomniac rerun for EARLY SATURDAY at 3:05 AM, when Miss USA Tara Conner will be interviewed, and a TRUE MC "The Game" will perform his current radio single "Wouldn't Get Far". That episode actually aired on last Friday, 2/2/2007. I missed that because I would be taping Jimmy Kimmel Live instead, and JKL runs in the middle of Tonight Show. Anyway, last late Friday/early Saturday on JKL, Nas & Chrisette Michelle performed "Can't Forget About You" (also being played steadily on KMEL 106.1)...here is their live performance...

07 February 2007

Back to normal

Well, the stupidly easy California High School Exit Exam is over with. My life at school can come back to normal. Of course, I either do this correctly on time or will not get my high school diploma. Anyway, the English portion of the test was all right, nothing way too easy, as all the questions were reasonably at my level, given I've taken honors english all in high school. However, the math portion goes just all the way up to Algebra I/Geometry, and given that in both days I was testing with my AP World History class, we were pretty much out of control the last hour of the testing session, so the teacher who was supervising us had to keep telling us to be quiet.

Tommorrow, Thursday, is not the block day as usual given the exit exam schedules. Now I can see all my classmates from all my classes the next two days.

Oh yeah, it's almost Valentine's Day, so I need to find a way to get her to love me.

12 January 2007

boring friday

So here's what happened at school today:
Algebra II - Just some boring review of absolute value equations for the finals that're coming on Wendesday. Wee.
Chemistry - The last 10 mins of that boring Nova Einstein docu-narrated-drama AGAIN, and then a worksheet reviewing scientific notation and stoiciometry.
AP World History - Presentation on the French Revolution
English - Drafted the last real-world parallel of my final exam/essay, this time for Lord of the Flies. Surprisingly, Mr West let us listen to MP3 Players/iPods in class, which reminded me that I shoulda bough my Sansa E350 with me so Rachel woudn't hafta force me to listen to F**kin' Timberfake (Justin Timberlake properly). So that Rachel wouldn't hafta torture me again, I had to let Tina sit in my seat while I sat in the corner of the room near the exit. Anyway, how'd she torture me perhaps? (first) she put the earbud near me so I heard two seconds of "Sexy Back", (second) she showed me a full sheet of paper in green: "I [heart] Justin Timberlake". In the back, I wrote a pledge to the late Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell - whose music we all treasure and love - and told her "Pantera pwns Mr Timberfake". Geez, why didn't Nathan Gale get his head checked and come to San jose to shoot Timberfake? In fact, how did Timberfake get away with exposing Janet Jackson's you-know-what in the Super Bowl XXXVIII hafltime show back in 2004, hurting the sales of Jackson's new CD's? Wow, what a crappy society we live in!
PE - Basketball in the large gym.
Spanish - I got to check my answers to the 175-question final exam I took yesterday, and I began memorizing my script to the vidoe project I'm doing with Brian, shooting will take place this sunday.

Now, in case you haven't heard, after I'm done with the chemistry final on Thursday, I'll start outlineing a book that I'm titling: The Conspiracy Behind Justin. I'm imagining the cover art to look sonething like those "Future Sex & Love Sounds Tour" promo, except it's gonna show JT's back and in big letters: CONSPIRACY. "The", "Behind Justin" will be smaller. The book will basically explore how the heezy that JT got a record deal with a major label in the first place, how he sold out N'Sync (who cares if i spell it wrong), how he got away with the Super Bowl 2004 controversy to get "Sexy Back" and "My Love" to be #1 hits in recent months, and much more sith about Timberfake! If you want some good music, look just below, or listen to the bands that are on the Last.fm charts in the music section of my main Myspace profile page. Now, excuse me while I go study some math.

11 January 2007

today

Chemistry class: Watched a boring Nova DVD about the scientists who influenced/were influenced by Albert Einstein, and we had to take notes about what each scientist discovered and when. Gee whiz, how much filler did there hafta be? English: Went to the school library to research/start our final essays that'll take the place of a final exam. We had to parallel the major themes of the novels we read to current events/issues. Wow, how exciting. Spanish: took a 175-question multiple choice final exam. Thus, this leaves the final block scheudle days with only three real final exams: Algebra II (Wendesday) and Chemistry/PE (Thursday)!! Friday is practically a kick-back day as I've oberserved, as in English we'll be presenting PowerPoints & essays all class, and Spanish we'll be watching our final video projects. All day today, people at school, especially the girls, were hyping about the Justin Timberlake concert. I'm excited about that because I hope someone will break in the HP Pavilion to shoot JT. Wow, what an untalented Hollywood hack he is. When the Summer Olympics come to Beijing, China in 2008, I doubt anyone will even like JT's music anymore. In the meantime, during lunch today I heard from a girl that Killswitch Engage is just noise. Well, I'm sorry, but she judged from the raw stuff that KsE did back in 2000-2002. Now is 2006, their new album As Daylight Dies has cleaner production and has former Blood Has Been Shed vocalist Howard Jones on vocals. Howard Jones is a great singer, with a strong vocal range, as shown in the video for "My Curse" (it's on my main profile page, music section). KsE isn't all screaming, at least if you listen to their Howard Jones-era stuff. They have their softer, more melodic parts, unlike you preps who shop at Abercrombie and stereotype heavy metal based on the posers like Limp Bizkit or Deicide.

Justin Timberlake:
You need to die tonight.
~ ALP

05 January 2007

Rock news

After Channel 104.9 became a Spanish station, the new modern rock station for those in teh Santa Cruz/Monterey area became KMBY-FM "X 103.9". Their website is x1039fm.com, still under construction, they have a link for there myspace page there. However, those living in Santa Clara County south of the Coyote Creek Golf Course in south San Jose are now left with a crappy signal of Live 105 to listen to. True. I was coming back home from the southwest on vacation back 12/30, and Live 105's signal started showing up on my MP3 player radio when the bus got to Gilroy. For some reason, the Coyote Creek Golf Course in south SJ serves as the "border" begween the reception area of the stations of the SF Bay and the stations of the Monterey Bay. Cool, huh?

Also, a few days ago i was reading the 2007 in music article on Wikipedia. It lists all the new preditions and music releases for 2007. It reported that on Feb. 20, Virgin Records, the new record lable for Korn since their horendous 2005 CD See You on the Other Side, will release an MTV Unplugged album for Korn. The article stated: "Their performance took set in MTV studios in Times Square, New York City on December 9, 2006 to a crowd of literally, 60 people [citation needed]. It marks Korn's second ever televised acoustic performance, with the first being on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live in July." Wow...either no one relly likes an acoustic performance of a heavy metal band or maybe MTV provided a tiny studio for Korn to perform in. I mean, it coudn't have been an arena or formal concert hall, as Alicia Keys recorded her Unplugged album in the Brooklyn Academy of Music in July 2005 (to be televised & released to CD in September) that has a capacity of about 2,000. Thus, don't expect too much "audience noise" in the album.

Now, what's my view on a hard rock band releasing an acoustic album? Well, it depends if they do it right and not like a pop-rock cd like Maroon 5's Songs About Jane. I've heard the Unplugged albums of Nirvana and Alice in Chains. They sound pretty good, with some execptions in Nirvana's, as Kurt Cobain's vocals in the acoustic rendition of "Come as you Are" were a bit off-key. Also, some songs sound better acoustic then electric. Compare the two versions of "All Apologies"...notice how the Unplugged version sounds so much cleaner? Alice in Chains' Unplugged album is pretty solid as far as I've heard. Godsmack's 2004 studio (not live) acoustic album, The Other Side, was a bit tad disapointing. They were better in the ages of Godsmack and Awake.

Meanwhile, on the WIkipedia article for Korn's unplugged album, it mentioned that Amy Lee, lead singer for poser goth metal band Evanescence, performed with Korn for the acoustic version of "Freak on a Leash". I've seen the video online several times and heard it on the radio, and the electric version kicks hella ass, but I'm gonna puke if I ever hear that song performed ACOUSTIC WITH A SELLOUT POSER VOCALIST!!! GRR!! It was bad enough that Korn sold out with Issues back in 1999 and now with See You on the Other Side! I've heard their acoustic vers. of "Coming Undone" on iTunes, and it wasn't that great. Sometimes, electric guitar bands wern't meant for acoustic. Given that most of Korn's musical spirit comes off the electric guitar, as a majority of their songs are fast-paced and brutal, chances are pretty slim that I'm even gonna listen to the Unplugged CD or watch it (I don't even get cable TV). I'm sorry Korn. You've disappointed me enough. I'm not buying any merchandise from you sellouts anymore, instead I'll buy stuff from GOOD bands like Shadows Fall, Napalm Death, Fear Factory, Hatebreed, and other under-rated hard rock bands. You have enough money already. So if you don't want to disapoint us REAL metal fans, come up with something new already. We don't need to hear the same nu-metal sound in every single one of your albums from 1994 to now. Sorry.