OK, so I did a Garbage / Chris Isaak mashup (”Wicked Game” vs “Stupid Girl”). It sucked. I removed it from my site, yet it is all over the net when I do a Google search.

Watch the video…

I’ve mixed for many years. DJ sets, full mixes, mashups, pretty much everything.

With absolute honesty, and without any artificial boasting, I feel this is the best mashup I have ever done.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope you enjoy the mash….

The Cure vs The Commodores - Easy Heaven

UPDATE: Wired Magazine’s Music Blog has written up the mashup!

To quote Bernie Mac, “’nuff said”!

I am going to give you the best advice you will receive this week.

When dealing with situations where you are about to burst with stress, find a way to escape, and go to a batting cage.

$9. 90 pitches. 90 little yellow balls ready to save you from risking possible jail time.

Aah…the cage. Screw yoga.

Wall-E came out today, in both DVD and Blu-Ray flavors. Great movie + Pixar + high quality computer animation = 3 disc Blu-Ray edition. No brainer.

Went to Best Buy at 9am. Oops. They don’t open until 10am. No big. Go home. Come back. Walk in at 10:02am…

Best Buy: FAIL!
“Sorry, sir. We received 196 of the DVD version, but only 15 of the Blu-Ray.”

They have big store displays for Wall-E. Big “Blu-Ray” signs everywhere. They are playing a fucking copy of the Blu-Ray on their HDTV setup. None in stock. Nope. Only got 15. Way to think ahead, Best Buy. Fine. I’ll go to the other side of the Burbank Empire Center to Target. They’ll have it…

Target: FAIL!
“Sorry, sir. We only got six of the Blu-Ray 3 disc versions according to the computer.” “OK, Where are they? Did it sell out?” “No, sir, we can’t find the box they were shipped in.”

Seriously? WT-Fucking-F!?! They only got six!?! The Blu-Ray selection at Target “Greatlands” is almost larger than the DVD section, yet they only had the presence of mind to order six copies of the deluxe edition!?!?!?! Fine. Fuck it. I’ll go around the block to CostCo. They won’t let me down…

CostCo: FAIL!
“Sorry, sir. We only carry the two disc version.”

Fuck! Fine. Let me now go for the joke, and go to Circuit City. They still have a store in Burbank.

Circuit City: FAIL!
“Sorry, sir. We only carry the two disc version. We’ve already had a few people looking for the three disc version, but we don’t seem to be selling it.”

Best Buy. Target. CostCo. Circuit City. Leaving out Wal-Mart, those are some of the largest fucking retailers in the USA! Best Buy and Circuit City had huge posters, banners and displays, yet no product! All four stores had employees that were rather surprised that they even had to say that they did not have the damn thing in stock!

Who do you blame? Is it the recession? All of these stores are pushing Blu-Ray, yet they don’t stock the shit? Are the stores bordering on failure? Is it Disney’s fault? This city is the HOME of Disney, and you can’t find a damn copy of their BIG CHRISTMAS release in stores? It’s not like the stores sold out of hundreds of copies. Two don’t carry the deluxe version, and the other two ordered a combined total of 21 copies! Fuck.

What is the moral of this story? Big box retailers suck. They have huge sale prices, but they never have the items in stock. They don’t sell out of the item; they just don’t have them to begin with (I have asked some various store employees, on the down-low, what the hell is the deal, and they have told me the “real” story). Instead, they figure “well, we’re sorry that we are sold out of Item X, but while you are here, you want to buy a new TV, or some Monster Cable?”

Who is the savior in this story? A mom-and-pop retailer! I paid almost full retail fucking price, but at least the people had it! I called, and got helpful people on the phone, happy to hold a copy for me for 48 hours!

AMOEBA: FTW! (”for the win”, for those of you not up on your ‘net jargon)
Had what I needed. Very helpful (as always). Sadly, never have good prices on new items, but - fuck - at least they had the damn thing.

If you have stock in Best Buy, CostCo, Circuit City, Target or Disney, sell!

Oh, and the “FAIL” picture at the top was perfect for the day. As I went to park at Amoeba (quick, easy across-the-street parking), I was going to feed the meter, when I saw it flashing “FAIL”. Summed up the fucking day quite nicely!

In the Video area, I have created a new section, entitled “I Ain’t Putting This On YouTube“. Why that name for the area? Simple. If I uploaded these clips to YouTube, I’d get my account deleted for violations. If I put the clips here, I’m just streaming a few clips for a few friends.

I am starting the MAMMOTH task of mastering and archiving all of my thousands of VHS tapes (all types of rare TV stuff, dating back to around 1985). Carson, Arsenio, SNL, MTV, all the good stuff.

In the piles of tapes are other treats as well, including loads of VHS screeners from record labels. This first tape I picked for the remastering process is actually a friends tape that I have had possession of for years now (been waiting for the mastering equipment for a few years now). Oingo Boingo, live from 1986. Rare as hell, clean, and uploaded for your enjoyment!

For those who are curious, here is the process:

JVC HM-DH30000U D-VCR (using s-video out) -> DataVideo TBC-1000 Time Base Corrector (using s-video out) -> an old video mixer (using s-video out) -> Sony DVMC-DA2 Media Converter (using s-video out) -> Final Cut Pro

I do all the video image “tweaking” in the analog stage, before the video gets digitized. From experience, trying to digitally clean up DV25 format video is not a fun process, and lends itself to loads of additional digital artifacts.

Even compressed for the web, and at half-TV resolution, you can’t beat how good the clip looks. More to come…

I am starting a new feature: “Wisdom From The Mouth Of Nora”. Here is entry #1:

On receiving notification that she would be receiving her MoveOn.org Obey Obama sticker in 5 to 7 weeks, Nora offered this wisdom:

“I want my obama sticker so that my car can get scratched and bumped by an evil Republican.”

Yep. That’s my girlfriend.

These people did.

A few days ago, I mentioned how crappy the United States Postal Service tracking service was.

I can now elaborate. They SSSSSSSSUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKKKK!!!!!!

I bought a video mixer from eBay. The guy shipped it via USPS Priority Mail, from Seattle, and gave me a tracking number. Using that number, I could see that it took two days (!!!) just for the USPS to enter the package into their system. Then two (!!!) more days later, it finally came to my door…after a tease.

A copy/paste:

Processed, November 07, 2008, 1:10 am, SANTA CLARITA, CA 91383
Processed, November 05, 2008, 6:13 pm, KENT, WA 98032
Electronic Shipping Info Received, November 03, 2008

The postal lady came, and dropped off the usual crap mail. Nothing else. No package. Anger coursing through my veins, I made a pointless call to 1-800-ASK-USPS (which is not easy to dial on a BlackBerry Pearl, since the letters are not matched up the normal way on the keypad!). The automated system sent me through loop after loop. After entering the long-ass tracking number, I was told I could not talk to a service representative (despite the fact that I kept screaming “OPERATOR”, and hitting “0″), and then the damn thing hung up on me!

After I was hung up on, the postal lady did a faint knock on my front door (again, ignoring as always the sign on my door that begs for all delivery people to RING THE BELL, which is RIGHT NEXT TO the sign!), and left the crumpled mess of poorly taped cardboard you see in the above image.

Four days for expensive 2-day express shipping. Fuck.

Never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never use the USPS for ANYTHING!

Six Terabytes! SIX!

That’s a lot of room for pr0…err…music.

I received my first (of two) Lacie 4big Pro Raid systems today (the other one gets here on Monday). I am one of the first people to get one! OOOOOO!!!!!!

One is for all of my music (yes, I really have that many CDs, vinyl, DATs, et cetera, that I need that much space for proper 44.1k 16bit high quality rips). The other is for all things Depeche Mode (again, yes, there is that much video, audio and images that need proper storage).

An unboxing is to follow later…

And…no…while my computer room is “like an oven”, I will not be storing the 4big on an actual oven. I just needed a place to open the thing up. It is damn heavy!