(61st)post-it

and i'm writing my novel
on post-it notes
i feel wasted, worn and closed
i'm writing my novel
on post-it notes

(60th) "Phrase from nearest book" meme

Not too much have I been touched by these memes and tagging in my blog. Neither have I done it before :D.

But since I found this from http://agiletesting.blogspot.com/, I could not resist, especially knowing my closest book:

• Grab the nearest book.
• Open it to page 56.
• Find the fifth sentence.
• Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
• Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

And here's mine, from Jesse Liberty and Bradley Jones:
"A char can be interpreted as a small number (0-255) or as a member of the ASCII set."

(59th)Chrome on Linux

I read something promising from the Lifehacker Feed today. I've been waiting for quite awhile for this brilliant lightweight browser to appear on other operating systems than on windows. It would be really nice to e.g. write this post in Chrome instead of Firefox. Which is a great browser, but lacks one thing, the simplicity, like I've mentioned previously.
The reason for this post is just the thing, that Google has some sort of Open Source-ish reputation and still the work that they do in the first place is with Windows. Is that because they'd like to dig a hole beneath the slow feet of Internet Explorer and by that get a bigger piece of cake? Or is this the fact (like it seems to me) that most of he Google application development is done above windows anyway. What is Googles open source strategy? Do they even have one?
I have my doubts and opinions, of course. As far as I can understand, Google is a company, which main purpose is to make profit by creating solutions and innovations, I suppose that is the reason for the lack of Linux -support in their product catalogue. At least I sincerely hope so, since the other possibility is that they haven't even thought about it, and if so, it's not that magic and innovative company to play with. Might be that it still isn't, since the lack of openness.

(58th) Social connectivity

Just had a sneak peak on Soocial, a hassle-free ( so they keep telling me) contact management system, which synchronises my contacts between different applications and devices. Finally, something at least distantly useful.

Anyhow, I've got something more on my mind. Or have had this for few months. What if you would have only one application to communicate with other people who have a Facebook, twitter, Gmail, MSN Live messenger,  AOL Instant Messenger, Mobile phone and an e-mail account. An application that would bind this all together and all you would have to do is maintain your contact list and send messages, which then would be transferred to your friend/relative/the-person-you-want-to-contact-with in appropriate format regarding on the recipients current online-status. And even the contact information maintaining would be at least semi-automatic, so you would not have to bother too much about that one, either.

What I mean here is the fact that it would be great to have just one application and just one list of contacts for communicating. And the application could then use all the available means of communication (even the snail-mail, huh?) when delivering the message to the recipient. I see that nowadays this sort of application could be able to develop and release in a uite a short time. I would not consider myself as a frontline developer, I'm a test professional (re-learning my C++ anyhow), but this idea is worth of trying. To be honest, I have some sort of design, requirements list and plan done for this sort of application and I have a clear vision on how it should work, on functionality level, so if you're interested on collaborating in this sort of open source solution either with development or GUI -implementation -skills, I'd be more than happy to start working on this sort of subject. So, don't hesitate to contact :D

And last, but not least, the application should be able to be easily ported on any operating system, including the mobile ones. And really intuitive and surprisingly easy to use.

(57th) my lunatic cow

my lunatic cow


moo!
said the spaceman
and rode the ship
there i was
in the meteormist
searching for needle
from eternal hay
i turned again
and saw you lay
and there you slept
slept like a baby


the tides of flares wash me now
when time and place are lost somehow
enormous space touches
and i wave gently
as i turn
my lunatic cow


i can see you babe
and almost touch
the carnival smile
among the lust
i can hear you babe
i can feel your joy
this big fat kettle
is turning too slow
and there you sleep
sleep like a baby


the tides of flares wash me now
when time and place are lost somehow
enormous space touches
and i wave gently
as i turn
my lunatic cow


the darkness sneaks in
when i float above the moon
if i slip and fall
the soft cell of darkness
will take care of me
just arrange myself
just arrange myself
arrange myself and
sleep like a baby


the tides of flares wash me now
when time and place are lost somehow
enormous space touches
and i wave gently
as i turn
my lunatic cow


if i ever reach
the other side again
if i could touch you
and ease your pain
if i could ever be
awake like you
i'd bring the stars
to greet you too
and then i'd sleep
sleep like my baby


the tides of flares wash me now
when time and place are lost somehow
enormous space touches
and i wave gently
as i turn
my lunatic cow

(56th) Metallica - Master of Puppets (1986)

Obviously, this is a classic of early trash-metal combinated with
more symphonic song structures. Despite the fact that it was a
milestone back then in the 80's, I somehow managed to skip
it. Not totally, but it did not hit me that hard at all.
Welcome Home (Sanitarium) was of course the song I learned to play, but anyhow, back in those days it was more or less Kill 'em All and
Ride The Lighnting, which made my days to go. I did not like the sound of
the album, it was a bit too soft for me. And it still is. Compared to the previous ones.
Because of that it lacked the raw energy, while it seems, nowadays, be built upon the more complex way of playing and arranging. Still, I have to admit, that this keeps on being a classic and a definite milestone in metal music.

The title song, and the riff especially is something way too obvious to be left out of every guitar player's musical vocabulary. Like ususally, I've enjoyed the song more than playing it. This comes from the fact that back then, when I had the enthousiasm to learn it, I was lacking the skills (the teacher and the notes/tabs too!) and now when I suppose I've got the skills I lack the enthusiasm totally. The song itself is complex and partly progressive in a familiar way. Like most of the Metallica songs, it evolves more or less naturally from part to another.

Overall the album is like most of the songs, a dark description of our time. I even find myself liking the chorus/phaser/flanger -effect on the clean guitars. James Hetfield could not sing back then, at least compared to the latest album releases, but the voice is brilliantly fit to match the songs themselves. The soundscape is strange mix between soft and dirty, I myself would've liked the guitars to be in more dominating role. And the Bass. And the drums. The sound  is a bit too 80.s in my ears, still. It was back then, and it still is. And the instruments,  especially mr Burton's bass is mixed somewhere there in between the other mushmush. So actually, it's not the songs, it's the mixdown that does NOT kick my ass :D

Overall, I could give this statement, that this is a good album, but not THAT good, so it will
receive a 'nice' rating, 4 capital J:s plus 1 small one. Despite the fact that the sound and the
song quality is only kind of ok in my books, the album itself has been fighting against the time
really well, unlike any of the Anthrax -ablum from the same era. It still is not a complete cup of tea for me :D.


JJJJj

PS. Wikipedia has a good description about the album

(55th) Michael Jackson - Thriller (1982)

I remember listening this album back in 1983. For a week I sat in the library and listened Thriller and Hanoi Rocks' first (Bangkock Shocks, Saigon Shakes). Needless to say that the pure rock made the victory then. As it does now, too.



The album starts lamely. The first three songs are not that good, at least they don't kick. The Duet (Girl is Mine) with Paul McCartney is just weak. Until the title track steps in. The next three songs, Thriller, Beat It and Billie Jean are great songs measured by any possible standard. Even I have to admit it. But that's only three songs out of nine, which is not too good, then.



My judgement for this legendary album is that it is more or less ok, a classic maybe, at least what comes to the selling figures, yes. But I wouldn't give more than 3½ j:s to this.



jjjj

(54th )Clash - London Calling (1979)

Blast off. And blast it again. A definite, high-end scream and hail to the band. Period. The start of the album and the title track is what I'd call a perfect kick rock -start. Guitars, drums and the percussive bassline is kicking me to somewhere I haven't been in ages. And the next song is a brilliant rip-off of the renegades -era 60's twanging rock. Besides that the sounds are great and the band rocks, there's also the nice counter-fighting message in the lyrics.

The 3rd one, Jimmy Jazz, is more mellow, but I find it myself kicking against the bricks of comfortable jazz-lovers. Or comfortablity lovers, forget the jazz ;)

The complete album keeps on rolling from song to another, with rude rock attitude in whatever the style of the song is originally made of. The sound and touch of the band can be heard. There's a taste of reggae, ska and pure punk rock in every single song in the album.

London Calling, Cadillac, Spanish Bombs and The Guns of Brixton seem to get my feet kicking the most. Anyhow, this album gets the 5/5 Capital J:s.



JJJJJ

(53th) T.REX - Electric Warrior (1971)

And the question that has been popped out likewise zillion times. Who sucked the influences here; Bowie or Bolan? I assume that both, but who cares! The sounds on this record are just great! Vocals are 'sweet' - more whispering than blasting or tearing up the vocal chords. Even the screams are sighed. A pleasant surprise, I'd say.

Especially Cosmic dancer touches the same tonal and soundlike special interior than Ziggy & the spiders on THAT album. The sounds of vocals and other instruments is alltheway tender and tempting, calling the audience to join the mystical and sensuell revolution of electric rock.

The record is on it's best minimalistic, good and entertaining. But it's still missing the kick, it is definitely way too mellow on my taste. It is OK and really great for awhile, but after the 3rd song (the Jeepster) it's really getting boring.

Until 'Bang A Gong (Get it On)' comes marching on! The song is a definitive masterpiece, it is not actually blasting, but it really works. Seems that it is the peak of the record, which otherwise would be just a lazy image of a post-hippie folk nonsense mixed to glam -rock era's soundscape. sad to say, but the few good songs (Bang a Gong, Life's a Gas) won't make this more than worth of three j:s. Without those songs it would be worth only two j:s. It just does not seem to rock tightly enough to meet my standards. Which seem to be quite weird ones, as you can see from this blog's reviews :D.



jjj