I realize we're
in California. I dare not bitch about the
heat...but our apartment has easily hit
120 in the past week and I would venture
to say, at it's hottest moment it was
nearing 130. These are oven temperatures.
I think maybe MARS hits those
temperatures. Heat so hot, it's actually
funny. You walk in the room and you're so
shocked that you start to laugh. It's like
a COSI exhibit. You know? Where you stand
somewhere and they subject you to
different temperatures and you're in it
for about 10 seconds and then you can move
on. It's quite incredible.
J-Dog
has taken shelter in the
bathroom. Poor
guy, misery has been a way of life for him
the past few weeks.
YouTube
link added
02.13.09
Now outside, it's fine. Like 95 -
100 and happy. Obviously 95 here is a very dry heat
and completely enjoyable. Our apartment though...it
really is amazing. We have an air conditioner in the
bedroom that keeps the room quite nice. Maybe
85-90...very comfortable. That room gets no direct
sunlight. The living room on the other hand does, and
just today we find our blinds have melted and formed
into anything but straight blinds.
I mean good GOD, have you ever
heard of someone's blinds in their apartment MELTING?
Watch them make us pay for it when we leave. Oh and
we're in that mode now. Trying to fix everything up
because we leave in 3 days. I shant recount our fixes
in case the apartment people ever read this. But some
good sleuth work on your part may let you find it
earlier in the journey.
So how did you like the The
Patriot - Movie Minded? I'll throw in a reaction link
at the bottom of the page for you to hit. Been awhile
since I've done that. The episodes are finally up on
isyndicate.com (the syndication company selling Movie
Minded), which means it is up for sale. We now kind of
just wait until we get some bites and we're off. I'm
still on the confused side of internet syndication.
Then again, all advertising in radio and tv and other
mediums have been utterly insane to me. All these
franchises built on promises, that if the promises
don't work...no big deal...you can change some small
thing and resell it. And to gauge
everything...weighted arbitron diaries... How defunct
is that? At least with the internet you can get actual
hits from different computers. That's cool. But it
ain't my business to worry 'bout that none. LOL - I
just get to be creative. Very cool. This all reminds
me of the BEST parts of radio. And not having to deal
with salespeople is a godsent.
SPEAKING OF SALESPEOPLE:
(BIG ASS RANT COMING UP)
So I needed a new monitor.
Mine has about a 14 inch viewable area and has some
magnetic thingees goin on and lines and well...even
though it's a sony trinitron, I got it in 1995 -
and as a video editor, I NEED SPACE. You gotta be
able to put stuff everywhere....In fact the day
I can do the dual monitor thing will be a happy
day. So I see a 19 inch for $229 in the paper.
For any comparion's sake, 2 years ago a 19 inch was
over $1200. It can't be that great of a monitor but
for $229 and a service plan, I should be cool. So I go
into Fry's (a west coast chain) and find it. Go to the
salesman and said: "I want that one." He says, and I
quote: "Are you sure? Look at this one..." He points
me to one for $369. I looked at him and smiled. "Nope,
I want that one." He looks at me like I'm a
moron. So I turn around and walk
away.
Find salesman #2. "I want that
one..." "No you don't...what about this model."
I swear to you, the man said
NO YOU DONT to me. I look for a third
salesman and the same damn thing happned. Before
I WALKED OUT OF THE STORE...I
asked yet another guy: "what the hell's wrong with the
cheap one..." He explained the subtle
differences...and actually the increased resolution
will help my video editing applications. So
I picked out the monitor they were pushing
because the resolution suited my needs and was finally
off. Then comes the service plan ASS REAMING
events that are now par for the course. I was all
about the plan until I had to pay more for the
monitor, and now I didn't want it. Again, more looks
from the salepeople like I'm on CRACK. I almost lost
it....seriously. I've never truly "lost it" in a store
before, but in my mind I said this: "Listen
fuck-up, if you ask me one more time for a full
service warranty, I'll full-service
KICK YOU IN THE NUTS (Cartman
voice)" - But I was cool. I politely said
"no". As I'm leaving the area, I noticed that the
monitor is REFURBISHED. Oh man. I freaked. The
F-word was ready to come out man. After all this
they're pushing me to USED MONITORS. I went
back to salemen #2 I think, and said - I want a
NEW MONITOR please. "Oh I'll see if we have
any left" - Oh my God I was so pissed. I watched
him go through the stack in the back and after much
searching he found one. Glad I
asked...bastard.
Then I get to the checkout
and I hear the two guys commenting on all the
celebrities they've seen have to come back and return
their stuff because it was all broken. "Yeah, Yasmeen
Bleeth (not her, but some famous chick) had to come
back 3 times because we kept selling her a bad cable
for her printer...." GREAT. Just what I needed to
hear. Why the hell would they say this in front of me?
My mind went into overtime and I figured they were
doing this on purpose to SCARE me into getting
the service plan. I was wise to their little act.
I promptly said no as they asked AGAIN if
I wanted a service plan. They again looked at me
like I was a moron. I was starting to
believe them.
I plug in my monitor and it's all
wavy and blurry. I fixed the blurring problem, but at
any resolution over 800x600 the screen would flicker
and wave. (sigh) I promptly boxed it up and took
it back the following morning.
I also have yet to rant on the
lack of english out here, but it's really starting to
annoy me. If you can't speak the language, at least
try to be POLITE? Please don't act like it's my fault.
I hate to be this
REPUBLICAN NAZI CONSERVATIVE, but would you
even dream of moving to another country without being
respectful to their language and customs? You don't
even have to be fluent...just be NICE.
ANYWAY:
"What's wrong" - Assuming the lady
was asking about my monitor and not my well-being, I
stated that the monitor was flickering and waving. So
they ask me to put it on the counter. Quite a task.
This thing is rather huge. But I got it up there,
and then 2 guys had to put on the floor behind the
desk. For some reason their counter is
REALLY high. So they're looking for something to
open it, and I said that I already tore the tape
and she could just pull it off. But she ignored me and
searched for a knife. Ok. They proceed to open it,
I assumed to make sure all the parts were in
there...I was wrong. They put it on the counter
and begin to plug it in. (sigh) There's a huge line of
angry people not enjoying this at all. A graphic
comes up on the screen and she says: "Nothing
wrong...looks fine" Proceeds to put it back in box and
throw it at me. I stopped her as I tried to explain
that it had to be at a higher resolution to see the
problem, I was ignored. She asks the manager to
come by and him and 2 other employees look at the
screen and say: "It does look a little dark..." "The
color is a little off..." What a bunch of retards, you
can change the BRIGHTNESS. I finally got their
attention and explained that the max resolution was
1600x1200 and even on 1280x1040 it wouldn't work. If
they would kindly bring up a desktop and change the
settings they could see the problem. Well that
apparently confused them and they gave me my money
back. Amazing.
Here's the truly amazing part. So
I go online and do some research and price scans
and found an amzing deal on a highly rated monitor
with FREE SHIPPING at onvia.com. I finally
purchased it at 1 AM Wednesday morning. It arrived at
NOON on Thursday. How's that for incredible. It looks
great, works fine, and comes with a nice 3 year
factory warranty. I think we're beginning to see the
end of the ol' brick and mortar stores. I already
swore off stores for buying DVDs last year once I saw
how incredibly cheap they were online, and now that
places are offering free shipping for a 60 pound
package...I'm tellin ya, Going through the hassle of
those bastards at Fry's is a thing of the past. What's
even better is you can find so much great literature
on whatever you're buying. Reviews, testimonials...you
can know everything about your product, buy it...even
track where the package is getting SCANNED....in a few
mouse clicks. I absolutely love the 21st
Century.
My GOD, could this be any longer?
Do you guys actually read this? Do you even give a
shit? HA. That's the good thing about this. I do
these entries for my personal diary, and you guys can
poke in and read what you want, or none whatsoever. I
don't mind.
So there you go, I'm a bit bummin'
lately because there's been no free-lance work for
Hollywood Screentest, but I've needed the time to get
prepared for the move and the wedding. Man, Two weeks
away. As lester told me last time, "You're about to
slit your throat at 21!" Well, now I'll be closer to
25, but the throat is still happily being slit. Ain't
love grand? What an eventful 25 years I've
lead.
Oh, by the way, I had a show
last week! Forgot to even mention it....here's
why:
Saturday,
July 22nd, 2000 - 8-10
PM
LULU'S BEEHIVE
6
THE PERFORMANCE
& REACTION
SET
1:
HARRY
- RHYTHM - LOVE - PARODY
2
SET
2:
LIFE
- PARODY 2 - ABBEY - RHYTHM -
LOVE
This
has gotta stop. GOTTA. I'd rather not play at
all. Again, everyone comes at the end, then
I tear down, and on top of no one
hearing me,l I don't even have time to
make tips. Guy asked me to get off at 10 PM,
even though the full audience was watching
and enjoying. THe show was fine, having a
great time...enjoying myself, and then that.
I was gonna be hella-mad, but he ended
up apologizing to me at the end of my tear
down saying I should call lulu and talk to
her, and say that he suggested I play later.
Well maybe that'll help. I got a whole
$1. Part of me is starting to wonder how long
this will go. I love 4tvs so much, but
I'm starting to wonder about the price of
keeping 4tvs going. I could sell
everything including my trailer, get a
smaller car...all of this and would really be
doing great...but I keep it all for...?
I hate to think like this, but the worth
of the project seems to be little at this
point. Of course if HST falls through and
there's no one buying Movie Minded,
I guess I'll need it....but then...how
would I afford it? I don't know. It
certainly seems like 4tvs is fading. But part
of me KNOWS...just KNOWS there are more
opportunities to be had with that act. It's
hard to close up shop...because reopening is
so expensive. Ya know, burning a
DVD with all my stuff might be worth the
investment now. 2 DVDs burnt and a new DVD
player would be about $400. Then there'd be
no tape involved...instant access..it'd be a
lot more fun. I'll keep thinking about
it.
More later, from a new cooler
apartment...get ready for some funny moving videos.
That piano's gotta get down those stairs somehow.
WHERE'S THE MOOSE!