More gooder

I am by no means a music junkie, but I do like to 'rock out' now and then. This does not mean that I dance around the house in my skivies like Tom Cruise. Indeed that is a sight no one wants to see. But when I do hear a tune I like I want it NOW.
When some ditty catches my fancy I first track it down via the internets. Once I have a band name and song title I may wander through i-tunes. But 99 cents? Good heavens I'm no Rockefeller. I'm just an average Joe with limited moolah just like you. So chances are I'll cruise over to Allodmp3.com where I can download non DRM tunage waaaaaay cheap. And it's completely legal.

In Russia.

Maybe.

In any case I have been using the service for like a year now with no problems. To speed up the searching process they had a standalone music browser called the explorer. Each time you run the program it updates its catalog and allows you to search for and stream music before downloading your selections. Alas, this piece of software suffers from major usability issues. It works, but its no i-tunes. Well, imitation is the sincerest for of flattery and now allofmp3.com has a nice program called alltunes. It's in beta, but what isn't these days? I downloaded it and it is a far sight better than the explorer. Much cleaner interface, easier searching. Nicer layout, fewer dialog boxes when you decide to buy.

So go forth my flying monkeys! Go and seek the music you desire. Save you money for gasoline and liquor.

Goths to the Left of me...

Went back to New Orleans last weekend. This time it was all business. Convergence 12 is a large goth event. I've never done it before and was a bit apprehensive. The last goth event we did in New Orleans was fairly crappy. The hotel was crappy, the event was crappy, the location was crappy, sales...well you get the point. So I was a bit shocked when I arrived at the Hotel Monteleone and found it to be a nice place, very nice in fact. Maybe too nice. How could goths afford this place? Load in went pretty smooth and the dealers room was good sized. There were maybe three other corset companies or people selling corsets. Was I worried? In short, no. Saturday was a goddamn corset feeding frenzy. It was like I was the only dealer in a town of crack addicts.

Wait, did I just compare my product to crack?

Anyway, we kicked major ass, mostly because we were our usual pushy selves. We forced people to try stuff on. There was a booth near us and I could tell that they flew in, they shipped in their grid wall displays. They looked pretty spiffy, nice looking product. Too bad they then stuck tables in front of it all so people couldn't come up and touch. I don;t think I saw one person try one on all weekend. There were some pretties there and it was hard not to buy buy buy. Rossana did get a stunning hat, very Victorian.

Voltaire was there and even did a short acoustic number in the dealers room. Because goths do not do morning we had a chance to have a late breakfast and walk the French Quarter a little bit. Here and there you would see our black clad friends. But they looked oddly out of place because it was sunny and warm. I imagine that all that velvet and pvc was pretty hot. Even so the French Quarter is like Disneyland for Goths and it seems they had a good time. I didn't attend any of the evening concerts even though I recognized some of the names on the bill. I leave that for the young. Two good events in a row? What gives? I am vaguely suspicious.

Back at home now and we are faced with the very daunting tasks of working on the grounds and painting the above ground parts of our home. For a home that is entirely underground there is a lot of stuff to paint. My Mom is coming over tomorrow to 'help out'. I'm not sure what tasks I can safely give her. While Rossana has been dealing with green things I have been involved with grunt work, which involves moving heavy things from one place to another and hanging off of ladders with semi-dangerous equipment.

I can't see how this can possibly go wrong.