Testing

I added a sidebar to the right that includes TWEETBOARD- you can follow my tweets and have a conversation within the tweetboard that will show as a threaded conversation. So, if you have any comments, questions, whatever- use the twitter option to the side if you’d like.

Also- I’m using a new commenting system called DISQUS. Hopefully, it will resolve some issues I had with the built-in commenting system with Wordpress. I kept having the issue where comments would close after a period of time, and it would suddenly switch to disallowing comments because it said you had to register, but then didn’t allow an option to register! Still haven’t been able to figure out the cause of that, so I’m using the new commenting system due to that. Hope it works for everyone. If you have any issues with either new item, EMail me at josh@thebluesite.com or message me on facebook- www.facebook.com/joshuabozeman

I bought an iPhone about 2 months ago. I had never touched one before, I had never seen anything but some online videos and some information about the phone. My old phone was crap, had no features, couldn’t connect to the internet, and it got shitty reception in the area of my new apartment. So, I knew I had to get a phone. I thought, since I saw refurbished iPhones for $99, I’d pick one up. I like it. I like it a lot. I can do all sorts of things I could never imagine doing with my old phone.

I wanted to go with a Rhapsody-capable phone from Verizon, as I have a Rhapsody music account, and I could listen to my music anywhere. You can do the same thing with the iPhone, but iTunes is crap- when software can turn deleting music into a confusing ordeal in itself, you know you have a loser on your hands. When I sync my phone, videos and songs I deleted before get added back on. It’s an annoyance to go in and uncheck everything you don’t want synced- a nice windows-like folder layout that would, I dunno, simply show the contents of my iPhone’s storage would be MUCH too easy. (ugh)

The iPhone’s application store is nice, and it’s something you can’t get on a lot of phones. People are more apt to create all sorts of applications for this phone as opposed to many others on the market. That’s a plus.

The announcement of the new iPhone today is- well, it’s a joke. It’s an offensive joke that angers me. Steve Jobs is a not only a weird looking turtlenecked geek, he’s also a jackass. What does the new iPhone offer for $800? Well, you can record video now. Well, my $15 phone from before recorded video all day long! It can also send picture messages. My $15 phone could do that as well! They will eventually roll out the 7.2gb network that will more than double the current 3g speed. Okay, fine. But after looking over the reports today, it seems the two biggest changes are the video recording and the MMS. Apple truly has some chutzpah. Jobs and his pals decide- what the hell, let’s release a NEW iPhone, charge $800 for it, and it’ll merely do what the ORIGINAL IPHONE SHOULD HAVE DONE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!! Are you f’in kidding me turtleneck boy?!

And AT&T is no better. The monthly plans for the iPhone are absurd. I pay nearly $87 for the cheapest plan (450 anytime mins and 5, 000 nights and weekends), with the iPhone you MUST pay for a $30 data plan, and I pay $5 for 200 text messages a month. Yes, you heard that right, text messages, in the eyes of AT&T aren’t considered “data.” You get “unlimited data,” except if the data comes in the form of a text message. Even though a text message is NOTHING BUT DATA! Yes, it is, indeed, a lowlife move that is meant to do one thing- rip the consumer off. Unlimited texting for the iPhone through AT&T is $20 a month. That means their cheapest plan with the least amount of mins, the data, and the unlimited texting will run you nearly $100 a month. Imagine if you talked on the phone a lot and were forced into paying $20-40 more per month for more minutes. $140 a month for a cell phone? Ridiculous. Especially since bandwidth and cellular network prices are going down overall!

Like I said, I like my iPhone. But, I don’t doubt I’d also like any number of other phones out there. Apple is, for the most part, clueless…which is why they will never have the market share that Microsoft, for example, enjoys. Try buying a mac laptop…when you realize you can buy any number of MS-based laptops for $500 yet a macbook will cost you three times as much, you get an idea why Apple will never come close to MS. Who wants to pay three times as much for basically the same thing just to have the desktop completely backwards? Wanna close a window? Forget clicking one X, this is a mac, you’ve gotta do ten things from left to right to get it closed! Aren’t we Apple guys clever? (ick)

So, is the iPhone utlimately a great phone? I’d say, ‘no.’ It’s a good phone, but if it takes 3 tries just to get the basics right (basics that even free phones have built in), you’re either dealing with a product that isn’t all it’s cracked up to be or pure greed on the part of a confused company that tries so desperately to be “different.” Or maybe it’s a bit of both. Maybe I’m the idiot for buying an iPhone to begin with?

Creepy. The Obama cult members sure would love this one.

Does Chris Matthews realize that he’s officially a joke of extreme magnitude? I bet he got a massive thrill up his leg when Thomas compared him to God!

I was listening to the new Dave Matthews Band CD- Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King. Not loving it really. It’s okay, but there aren’t any really catchy tunes. Which is really what I’m all about with DMB. Been a fan since high school.

Picked up Under The Table and Dreaming and listened to it a million times on my CD player on bus trips to marching band contests. Ants Marching is my favorite from that album, and it’s probably my favorite Dave Matthews Band song overall. I remember the first time I saw the video- I remember being a sophomore in high school, I got up early for once, my mom was getting ready for work, and the video came on MTV. I was feeling good all day thanks to that wake up. It’s catchy, it’s really light and whimsical, and it’s just plain fun.

What Would You Say? (also a very fun video) from the same CD was their big radio hit, and I like it a lot. The Best of What’s Around is fun and catchy, but nowhere near as fun to listen to as #34 which is nothing but an all instrumental track and is dominated by what I assume is Leroi Moore on saxophone. It’s fairly slow, and slow is what I never liked about the band, but this one works being mostly sax and not the slow folksy guitar stuff Dave does. On the actual CD, it is an odd addition- it’s actually on track 34…so I didn’t realize it even existed my first few listens. Not until I left the CD player go through tracks 11-33.

Remember Two Things has a slow live version of Ants Marching. It’s an extended cut, which is nice, but it’s way too slow to enjoy too much. The snappy and quick Beauford backbeat just isn’t there at this slow speed. The CD also has a live cut of Tripping Billies, which was anoither favorite.

Their five track CD, Recently, has the interesting song Recently on it. I could do without the rest of it.

Their next album, Crash (after Dreaming), has the great tracks (and radio hits), Too Much and Tripping Billies…as well as the funky So Much to Say. I remember first seeing the video for Too Much on MTV at Ethan Jones’ house and loving it. Had to record it the very next time it came on. #41 starts out with instrumentals, but Dave’s smooth vocals join the party pretty quickly. It’s a nice track, but it can’t even touch Too Much and Tripping Billies- the latter track is infused with latin sounding percussion, bluegrass-laden fiddle, and the soulful Moore sax. Beauford’s drumming is filled with lots of staccato crash cymbals and snappy hi-hat. This is one of the songs I could get into with just the percussion track by itself. Crach Into Me was a big radio hit, but it was too slow for me. The video had some original visuals, but outside of that, I’m sort of just, ‘eh.’

I have the Best of Red Rocks 2 disc set, and it’s okay, but the tempo and tone of some of the live tracks just differ too greatly from the studio versions I came to love so much. I do love the very funky #36 from this one (mainly Carter’s intro solo, not so much the almost drunk-sounding vocals from Matthews), and Ants Marching here is good. The tempo is actually a bit faster than the studio version, and it’s very full with Tinsley’s violin and Moore’s sax in the beginning. Carter gets extra time on the drums as the song seems to almost start over when Matthews thanks the crowd for coming out.

Before These Crowded Streets was their next album, and the intro Panatala Naga Pampa (41 seconds long) alsways sounded tropical/african-inspired to me. Rapunzel is light and quick, but the best track on the CD is Stay (Wasting Time). The intro guitar, the bass backing, and the lyics here are all just happy and laid back.

Listener Supported, another live album had a nice version of Too Much (what I’d call the ‘funk’ version). Most of the rest of it is just average- Dave’s live vocals are just too weird for me most of the time. His pitch, his inflection, and his odd pronunciations sound mostly like drunk nonsense. On most of the tracks, if you even make out half the words, you’re already doing much better than me.

At this point in the band’s history, I pretty much checked out. They had no really memorable tracks after this, seemed to do nothing but live CDs every other year or so, Dave went solo and got all dark. The band did a nice live version of the aforementioned instrumental track #34 on their CD Weekend On the Rocks.

What Would You Say (one of my favorite DMB songs) made it on their live CD Live At Piedmont Park. It’s decent, but it’s nothing to get too excited about. The vocals aren’t all that great, and there are too many muddled instruments in the background (some weird guitar riffs that sounds almost Woodstock-esque to me.)

Onto another live CD (or 4 or 5 or 20), and we’re back to Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King. Maybe I’ll listen to it some more, and I’ll find a song (or a few) that get stuck in my head, but I don’t hold out tons of hope. The last original song that did that to me was from These Crowded Streets, and since then it’s just been a rehash of live versions of the songs I loved from before, but none pulled off anywhere near as well as the originals.

So, 16 years worth of CDs, a bunch of cherished songs both in the studio and in various live performances. Not too shabby overall. Even if I don’t find another new catchy Dave Matthews Band song, I’ve got a whole cache to play with already. I think I’m okay with that.

Obama and other liberal “progressives” (anything goes morality is “progressive” apparently) made a fool of himself today in Cairo with his sometimes ridiculous and sometimes downright offensive speech there. Here is a section I take umbrage with:

“The U.S. government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would deny it.”

Yes, we know that women in islam are second class citizens. The koran itself states that women are lesser than men. Thank goodness they have the “right” to be second class and allow men to dominate them like this.

“I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal, but I do believe that a woman who is denied an education is denied equality. And it is no coincidence that countries where women are well-educated are far more likely to be prosperous.”

Huh? Why is it okay to support some arbitrary misogynist rule to cover your head and face because it’s a religious idea, but it’s not okay to support the religious idea of denying women education? Why is one somehow okay but not the other? This is the why liberals are nancies. They refuse to take a firm ideological stand on anything…for fear of not having every single person and every single thing be “equal,” no matter how little right something has of ever being “equal” to logical and reasonable traditions.

“Now let me be clear: issues of women’s equality are by no means simply an issue for Islam. In Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, we have seen Muslim-majority countries elect a woman to lead. Meanwhile, the struggle for women’s equality continues in many aspects of American life, and in countries around the world.”

Does it? Women in the US ARE equal. You just finished a campaign that included a woman in the number 2 spot of the dem nomination! Enough of this bullshit that women are still fighting for equality in the US, it’s just not true, and to compare the US to muslim-majority nations where women are raped, beaten, and stoned to death for merely not having a penis, is absurd and offensive.

“Our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons, and our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity - men and women - to reach their full potential. I do not believe that women must make the same choices as men in order to be equal, and I respect those women who choose to live their lives in traditional roles. But it should be their choice. That is why the United States will partner with any Muslim-majority country to support expanded literacy for girls, and to help young women pursue employment through micro-financing that helps people live their dreams.”

Pipe dream. There’s no evidence that most muslim-majority nations hold anything but extreme contempt for their mothers and daughters, so let’s stop with the idiotic platitudes about how islam is so great and so wonderful, and by-golly it’s a great place for women to succeed.

Obama and most other progressives are wimps. You’ll never change the horrible situation for most women in the muslim world unless you man up, grow a pair, and start being honest. Not all religions are equal, and not all religious demands are equal. Just as not all nations are equal. Don’t you dare compare this land of freedom to any muslim-dominated nation, Mr. President, and don’t dare try to fool anyone into thinking islam is anything but a big bag of suck for women of all ages. It’s stupid, it’s pointless, and it’s just the pattern of liberal nonsense that never makes any true progress. The rights of women is an issue that needs to see progress in the muslim world. Unfortunately, when you follow a religion started by a mass murdering madman, that progress is sort of hard to come by. Obama would be wise to stand up and say so.

UPDATE: Pundette over at HotAir.com notices the absurd nature of Obama’s comments as well.

I recently had the opportunity to take part in a conference call with Bruce Campbell, who plays Sam Axe on USA Network’s Burn Notice. Bruce gave us some insight on Sam’s character as well as what we could expect of his character and the rest of the gang in this new season (starting tomorrow night- June 4 @ 9PM/8PM Central on USA).

Here are the two questions I asked Bruce during the call (the call took place June 1, 2009):

Moderator Thank you, and next we go to the line of Josh Bozeman with Thebluesite.com. Please go ahead.

J. Bozeman: Bruce, good to talk to you. Thanks for taking the call.

B. Campbell: You bet.

J. Bozeman: What is it like playing the comical one to Michael’s kind of straight man? It’s kind of a pattern here, you’ve got Jack Stiles and Brisco, you didn’t really have anyone to play off there, you were the main character, the main guy. What is it like playing off of him?

B. Campbell: It’s great, because he carries the show. I’m just hiding behind him, cracking jokes and getting out of there. So it’s fine to actually be the guy who doesn’t, you know, Sam can be a little snotty, he can be a little snide, he’s sort of a naysayer, and he always second guesses things that these guys do to make sure it’s safe or tactical, whereas Michael gets involved from a passionate level. He’s got to help these people, whereas Sam’s like, no, you don’t, no you don’t. So sometimes he’s the voice of reason. But it’s nice to have that difference between the characters, and Michael does have kind of his funny wit, a lot of it comes out in the voiceover that he does, but someone’s got to be the straight guy, and fortunately, it’s Michael Westen.

J. Bozeman: Good to talk to you again, Bruce. The big series you’re known for, Jack of All Trades and Brisco County, Jr., and now Burn Notice, they’re very cinematic. They’re something that you didn’t see. I know Jack of All Trades and Brisco, back in the day, you didn’t see anything like that. They were more movies than they were TV shows. Are you attracted to that sort of thing, or is it just a coincidence?

B. Campbell: It’s just the subject matter. Jack of All Trades was just kind of a pretty looking show with big props and drama, and Brisco being a western. Westerns, I’m always, I’m still looking for another western today. It’s a genre that every actor wishes they could do, and it was a really enjoyable year, running around, playing with horses, shooting guns, kissing the ladies. And some jobs are the cliché job, and that’s one of them. But every actor wants to be in a western, and so, I’m definitely attracted to certain types of material.

Now, if you recall from the end of season 2, Sam and Michael’s mother, Madeline, were trapped in Madeline’s house by a pack of goons. Sam, having little other choice, used explosives to keep the bad guys at bay and escaped intact. Turns out, this season, he’s living in a room at Madeline’s, and the house is still a wreck.

Bruce says he’d like to direct again, but you probably won’t ever see him directing an episode of Burn Notice. When asked about this by Stefan Blitz of ForcesOfGeek.com, Bruce said this:

S. Blitz Hey, Bruce. Do you plan on directing again soon, and would you possibly want to direct Burn Notice?

B. Campbell Yes, I’d like to direct another movie one day. Movies are more my bag. I’ve directed television in the past. I’ve done Hercules and Xena episodes, and even a couple of VIPs with Pamela Anderson, but I don’t think directing Burn Notice is in the cards for me because it changes the dynamics of all the actors. Directors and actors have much different, I guess, motives and goals, and I don’t want any of my directing skills to impact my relationship with the actors, which is currently very good. So I don’t really want to boss anybody around, because I think it’ll change something, so I don’t think I’m going to go there.

He also doesn’t think his good friend Sam Raimi would ever direct an episode of Burn Notice.

Emma Loggins (of Fanbolt.com): Hi again. Do you think there is any chance that Sam Raimi would ever direct an episode of the series?

B. Campbell Sam Raimi will never direct an episode of Burn Notice because it’s done too quickly. Sam is used to shooting these big, big, big, big, big movies, and it takes 100 days or more to film a two-hour piece of entertainment. We film these shows in seven days, so it’s a real different mentality of features versus television. So I wouldn’t wish that on Sam, because it’s actually a difficult challenge every week to pull these shows off, not that Spider-Man 3 isn’t, but we have a little bit of a different circumstance here.

And what can Bruce tell us about his character Sam Axe that no one else knows (not even the writers?) Back to Stefan Blitz from ForcesOfGeek.com for that one…

B. Campbell About Mr. Sam Axe? That he reads a lot. He reads fiction, because it takes away from the reality; and that his favorite book is Wuthering Heights. That Sam is a secret romantic. That’s all I can reveal. I’ll have to kill you if I tell you more.

For some reason, when Bruce Campbell says he’d tell you more but he’d have to kill you, I believe him.

Catch Bruce as good ol’ Sam Axe in the 3rd season of Burn Notice, premiers tomorrow night on USA. 9PM/8PM Central.

JEFFREY DONOVAN (Michael Westen in Burn Notice) will appear on Regis & Kelly tomorrow morning!

Below (after the cut) are a few other questions from the Q&A:

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