Fall, Glimmer, Sparkle and Fade

:: Sunday, August 31, 2003 ::

Yea, so the comments are being a pain in the ass. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. YACCS swears they'll be up and running after the holiday. We'll see how that works. When the comments aren't working, send me an IM with any suggestions.

:: Ryan 8:02 AM [+] ::
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I was talking to D a little while ago and we both decided that I didn't post nearly enough on this site. She suggested I write more about my life, but I don't think that would be interesting to anyone so that was out. Plus I've been putting most of my focus on my sports site, which doesn't do it for people like D (read "cool people"). If I was to keep this site going it really had to be more interactive so that anyone visiting can be a part of what's being written. So after a random comment on her blog (which is amazing by the way) about a few of the lists I have written up in the past, I thought maybe I could post all kinds of different lists. Instead of just the big end of year 'Top 20 Albums' there could be lists for anything. Depending on how in depth I can go the list could be Top 3, 5 or 10. The best part, which would make the site so much more interactive, is you -- the reader -- would click on the comment button and suggest a list you'd like to see my opinion on. Then you -- still the reader -- can post a response with your own Top 5/10 and where you dis/agree with mine.

It might not win any awards, but it's head and shoulders better than anything I've been doing with this lately (Phoe's interview not withstanding). So think up something you'd like to see a Top 3/5/10 for and leave it in the comments section. Don't forget to head over to D's site and leave a comment thanking her for helping this site not suck anymore.

Or at the very least suck less.

:: Ryan 2:22 AM [+] ::
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Interview meme. These are the rules
1. Leave a comment in this post saying you want to be interviewed.
2. I'll give you your questions in the same thread.
3. You post the questions in your own Blog/LJ/whatever, along with their answers, as well as this message.
4. People reply to your post asking to be interviewed, and you give them questions of your own.
5. Rinse and repeat.
These questions were asked of me by Phoe of Hastily Prepared.

1. What is your favorite Everclear song, and why? If you can't narrow it down, I'll grudgingly accept the title of your favorite Everclear album.

I could probably go on for hours about which ones I like best, but for the few people that read this I’ll try to make it short but just picking one favorite and a few that are close behind. With any artist, it probably changes with my moods, but there’s a song off their first album called “Nervous and Weird” which is at the top of my list pretty consistently. There’s one lyric that always sticks with me: ‘I think I’m better now than how I used to be.’ That summed up my high school years and so while everyone else was quoting Shakespeare or Frost in the yearbook, I was quoting Alexakis. A close second is a B-Side called “For Pete’s Sake”. Rounding out the top five are “Strawberry”, “Sparkle” and “Summerland”. As a bonus, my favorite record is easily Sparkle and Fade. Although I’m sure the title of the site told you that much. I can pinpoint the time in my life where my passion for music changed and it was when I bought that album.

2. Okay, you've heard of EVERY band I've ever mentioned to you, however obscure, plus you know about all these other bands I've never heard of. Where do you get the time to listen to all this music?

Ever since early in high school, my life has completely revolved around music. In high school all of my money went to buying CDs, concert tickets and anything else music related. Then in college I was surrounded by even more music as a DJ (all 4 years) and then eventually Music Director (3 years) at the on campus radio station. Also, I got to work for Sony Music for 3 years which exposed me to a ton of new music and really gave me a new passion for music. Just from working with the Sony artists I got to see literally hundreds of other non-Sony bands who happened to be on the same bill. While I no longer have much desire to work in the record industry, I cannot fully explain how lucky I feel to have been able to work for Sony Music. So to make a long story longer, I haven’t really had to find or ‘get’ time to listen to new music, it’s just constantly been a part of my life and I couldn’t be happier about it.

3. Who is your favorite A-Team character and why?

I was always a fan of Face because he was what guys wanted to be like. He always drove a sweet car, got any girl he wanted, and could kick some major ass. No matter what the situation, Face would always exude confidence. Guns in his face? Confidence. Girl playing hard to get? Confidence. The man trying to hold him down? Confidence.

4. What do you find most appealing about working in radio?

Yikes. Another one I could go on for hours about. But again, I’ll try to think of the few people reading and make it as short as possible. The most appealing aspect of working in radio for me is that I enjoy everything I do. I feel very lucky to be able to say that about my career. Sure, I’m far from getting rich but I’d rather look forward to going to work everyday than make twice the money and dread getting in the car every morning.

5. What's the square root of pi over cosine theta?

That isn’t a completely answerable question, but I’ll give the closest thing to an answer that the rules of math allow. This is the basic theory: .EQ e sup x = 1 + x + x sup 2 over 2! + x sup 3 over 3! + x sup 4 over 4! + x sup 5 over 5! + x sup 6 over 6! + x sup 7 over 7! + ... .EN .EQ sin( theta ) = theta - theta sup 3 over 3! + theta sup 5 over 5! - theta sup 7 over 7! + ... .EN .EQ cos( theta ) = 1 - theta sup 2 over 2! + theta sup 4 over 4! - theta sup 6 over 6! + ... .EN Letting $x = i theta$, Euler's formula becomes obvious to the most casual observer: .EQ e sup x = mark 1 + x + x sup 2 over 2! + x sup 3 over 3! + x sup 4 over 4! + x sup 5 over 5! + x sup 6 over 6! + x sup 7 over 7! + ... .EN .EQ define y % { ( i theta ) } % = lineup mark 1 + y + y sup 2 over 2! + y sup 3 over 3! + y sup 4 over 4! + y sup 5 over 5! + y sup 6 over 6! + y sup 7 over 7! + ... .EN .EQ = lineup 1 - theta sup 2 over 2! + theta sup 4 over 4! - theta sup 6 over 6! + ... + i ( theta - theta sup 3 over 3! + theta sup 5 over 5! - theta sup 7 over 7! + ...) .EN which looks surprisingly like .EQ e sup { i theta } = cos( theta ) + i ~ sin( theta ) .EN

:: Ryan 8:07 PM [+] ::
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The Best of Fall, Glimmer, Sparkle and Fade Part 2
Posted July 16, 2002.


I was reading an interview on ESPN.com with Kevin Garnett and thought some of it was worth sharing. You can read the entire thing here. The interview was filmed for a future And 1 commercial, but all the answers were completely unscripted. Here's part of what the 26 year-old whose present contract is worth $126,006,000 had to say:

Question: Are you overpaid?
KG: Hell no. If anything I'm underpaid, with everything I do. That's a ridiculous question. I have to do everything for this team.

Q: Word on the street is that you're soft in the fourth quarter.
KG: Fuck you talkin' about? That's not what I hear.

Q: What do you hear?
KG: That KG is the motherfucking shit. N----s know. My peers in the league know what I'm about.

Q: What have you learned about the fourth quarter?
KG: To not pass the ball if we're losing.

Q: Has Kobe ever dunked on you?
KG: That's a stupid question. No. Kobe has never dunked on me in his life.

Q: Why did you skip college?
KG: At the time I felt like going pro was the only way I was going to make something of my life. Besides, college ain't shit. It's like slavery, they're trying to fuck the kids. You gotta get your education but I made a decision for me.
I've never heard college compared to slavery before. Money can buy a lot of things, but it obviously can't buy intelligence.

:: Ryan 3:09 AM [+] ::
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Okay, so oddly enough, the day after I re-post my A-Team movie thoughts I read that it's in pre-production and two actors have already signed on to do it. Now to say I'm disappointed with the early choices in an understatment. Owen Wilson has reportedly been cast to play Murdoch. This is the one character I wasn't able to come up with an actor for, so I guess I can't completely blame the producers for coming up with Wilson if I couldn't come up with anyone. The second name is the one that makes no sense whatsoever. Brendan Fraser as Face. How in good God's name does Brendan Fraser get this role? If this movie is going to be successful, you would figure they're gonna need bigger names than Owen Wilson and Brendan Fraser.

I stumbled across some other random sites suggesting Mel Gibson play Hannibal. This is the type of star they would need in this film, although there hasn't been any mentions of him in over a year. Oh well. The other name I saw floating around the first time this movie was trying to get off the ground was Taye Diggs as BA. Casting Diggs would be almost as bad as Fraser as Face.

Any ideas?

:: Ryan 9:37 PM [+] ::
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