Category: English

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Looking For A Stereo System

It’s strange that a person like me, who enjoys music so much, has a very poor way of listening to it at home – I’m ashamed to say that I currently use my computer’s speakers to listen to music.

But that’s all about to change. I’ve started the hunt for a proper stereo system. At first I wanted a receiver that will fit a home theater (for “the future” when I get a TV) but quickly learned that if I care only for music I better get a dedicated stereo amplifier. I also learned that I would have to spend about double the amount I had in mind to get decent sound. It took me a day or so to get used to the thought of spending so much money but now I’m OK with it.

I went to a stereo shop and in a week I’ll go there again to get a tailor-made 2-hour demonstration of different speakers. After listening to what the sales manager at the shop told me I’m actually looking forward to it – I get to bring my own music and listen to it like never before. Should be fun.

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The Prodigy At Rock Am Ring Germany 2009 (Videos)

It’s pretty hard to find quality recordings of The Prodigy live bt these videos from the Rock Am Ring Festival in Germany are very good. I love seeing the crowd go crazy. Check out everyone jumping when Smack My Bitch Up starts (at the end of the second video.)

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The Mars Volta – Cotopaxi (Video)

Cotopaxi is one of the first singles from Octahedron, the next album from The Mars Volta. The video is very strange – on the forums some of the fans say it’s trying to show how much the band doesn’t care about videos. Some say there’s more to it. I just don’t get it but the music, as always, is great.

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Trying Anonymous Comments

To avoid comment spam I’ve previously disallowed anonymous comments on this blog. I would like to see if allowing anonymous comments can work without this blog filling up with huge amounts of spam.

I still prefer that users register and comment, but now you can just blurt out whatever it is on your mind without revealing who you are.

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The Israeli Movie Naming Gods Screwed Me

Yesterday a friend invited me to see a movie after work. The movie’s name in Israel is “The Prophecy.” As we’re waiting for the movie to start he asks me “so when was the last time you went to the movies?” I said it was on the trip, where I saw “Watchmen” and another movie I forgot. When the first frame of the movie showed on screen I said to him “I remember which movie it was. This one.”

Turns out the movie naming gods in Israel decided to translate “Knowing”, which I saw on day 78 of the trip, to “The Prophecy.” And on top of that it’s a mystery movie. So you can imagine my surprise when the kid says “I see dead people” the second time around.

Just kidding. The kid dies about half way through the movie.

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Anger Management

I don’t deal well with anger, neither my own nor others’. I think it’s relatively hard to get me upset but it can happen. And I don’t mean work-under-pressure kind of upset because this sometimes happens and it’s OK – it’s just an indication that I care about what I’m doing.

What I do mean is the kind of anger where you are really upset at one person and you’re about to say nasty things to him/her. That’s basically when I shut down. I learned that when I’m saying things out of anger I’m always sorry for it later. So I just shut up and take whatever it is the other person has to say to me. Unfortunately, shutting up isn’t a well-received response by people. It looks very much like indifference. If they only knew what I was about to say, they would probably prefer the silence.

Lately a friend of mine got angry at me. She criticized me for something I did. I think she was partially right but she was also very judgmental and blunt saying what she had to say. Not being the judgmental type myself, I don’t appreciate being judged. I didn’t want to hurt her so I ended the call (luckily, it was on the phone) and haven’t talked to her since. I’m too angry at her for saying the things she said and I have a feeling she won’t accept my criticism well and if she keeps talking the way she did it will just get me even more upset.

I think it’s time to review my relationships with some of my friends. I’m less willing to accept judgement and anger than I used to in the past.

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Mood Fitting Songs (#1, I Guess)

You know how sometimes when you’re in a certain mood, songs seem to be written exactly for you, reflecting the way you feel? Separate Ways by Teddy Thompson from the soundtrack for My Best Friend’s Girl is kind of speaking to me right now:

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Old Rave Footage

Two thoughts occured to me as I was watching this video:

The first thought was “I wish I was there.”

And right after came “wow… I’m old.”

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The Resistance Is The Next Album By Muse

Muse announced that the name of their next (fifth) studio album, expected to be released September this year, will be named “The Resistance.” The album will be “symphonic” and will have a “full collaboration with an orchestra.”

For me, Muse never managed to recreate the masterpiece that was “Origin Of Symmetry”, their second album that I’m more than willing to listen to anytime. That’s not to say that the following two albums were bad. I just got tired of them after a while. I’m hoping for the best with The Resistance.

Anyway, you know it’s a good year for me when each of my three favorite bands releases an album: The Prodigy in March, The Mars Volta in June and Muse in September.

Good times :)

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First DreamHost Let Down

Yesterday the blog went offline for about 12 hours. It started with an “Internal Server Error” around 11am Israel time. I was about to comment on one of my posts when it happened, immediately opened a ticket with DreamHost’s ticket system and was happy to see it being treated promptly – it moved from “unverified” to “verified” to “resolved.”

But the issue was not resolved – the website was still down so I opened another ticket, this time telling them that it’s not OK to set the status of a ticket to “resolved” if the website is still down. What I got in return were offers on how to improve the speed of my blog. Considering that it serves 7 readers, I told them this could hardly be the reason. And I haven’t changed the code in a while, so it’s not supposed to break just like that. I still tried what they offered (disabling WordPress plugins) which of course didn’t help.

So I replied to their email and after 12 hours someone at DreamHost’s support (thanks, Jason) decided to actually look into the issue, agreed with me that the problem was on their end and fixed it.

I hope it’s a one time thing and not an indication of things to come. It’s a real hassle to switch hosts and I wouldn’t want to do it again.