Wunderbar!

Well, my DVD player took a dive. That makes Number 3. The past two were in the last two years. Both were about $50 each. You get what you pay for.

Of course, the upshot of this is I get to shop for electronics. YES! I spent way too long poring over the internet trying to compare this and that one. Of course, I was ALSO trying to find one that the local stores had as well. Seriously, look on Cnet or something like that and you see all their top rated products, shiny and new - taunting, then go look for where to get them. hmmm.... crutchfield MAYBE. great order over the internet. not good, I need INSTANT gratification. I want to spend money and have the product in my grubby paws, not sitting in some warehouse somewhere.
Anyway, I had my laundry list of features I would prefer: HiDef upconversion, OPTICAL audio out (this was suprisingly difficult to find), and SACD. That last part was very important to me. I NEED SACD. Sound processed to the greatest fidelity, then forced to buzz around my head throughout the room? Give me a minute, I can't stand up.

So anyway, looks like the mean price of my new piece of technology will be in the $200 range. ouch. Oh, well, I guess I can eat tuna for two weeks... but wait! I stop by the local Best Buy looking for those damn Candi Staton and Betty Swann CDs and just HAPPEN to look at what they have on their shelves, DVD-wise. There in the corner (MAYBE surrounded by a dream-like mist?) is a DVD player on CLEARANCE! A Samsung. For $99. With Upconversion. With Optical (and Coaxial) audio. DTS. And, eyes go wide, SACD! Ok, sold. but wait, the only two boxes have tape on them? Oh, I guess I get $10 off for open box. (Ok, I hate open box items, but what the hell). I didn't hear Angelic voices, or see any great line of white light, so I suppose sometime in the future a troll will cross my path demanding my first-born for delivering me such technological goodness. Oh well, I hope the child has a good life, or at least makes a good meal.

SO, take it home, unwrap it - giddy as hell - have a hell of a time hooking the damn thing up. (It's actually an easy hook-up, I just am damn color blind and can't get the colors right on the component video. I have never done this correctly the first try. NEVER.) Insert the Pink Floyd "Dark Side Of The Moon" SACD (forgot to mention I bought this, and is the reason I wanted SACD). Turn it on, and AM drowned in the most awesome sounds ever beheld by mortal ears. TOTALLY AWESOME.

So yeah, the point is, I like me some SACD.

Jealousy!

What a great song by Liz Phair. I envision one of my ex-girlfriends finding a box full of photos, still life of the good times we shared thorugh a haze of green and malt. She looks over the photos, one by one, going quiet and introspective, dead to the real world around, trapped in a world of yesterday that wasn't quite as sweet as it could have been. As she continues through the pile, she begins to frown, gentle fondness gives way to bitterness and anger as she thinks about all the intimate times we shared cheapen as I turned away and walked out of her life. These photos full of smiles betray the truth, a truth of hurt.
In a flash of rage and acid she grabs scissors, lighter fluid, the Liz Phair CD. Blaring "Jealousy"she lets the music wash the memories away as the fire spreads and removes all remains of these still-life smiles.

Unfortunatly, that's not what this post is about. Nope. Today Weitzel sent me a link to a website, (www.brokenfrontiers.com) in which a friend of his - an acqauintance of mine - is writing reviews of recent comic books. Now, don't get me wrong, I think this is really fucking awesome. I mean, he's reading comic books and sharing his opinions. for others to read. excellent.
However, that's where the jealousy kicks in. I want to be sharing my opinions. I want people to value my opinions. No, wait, I don't know that that's right. I mean, of course, I like people to think I have some sort of taste, but that's not where this feeling is coming from. It's that he's being PUBLISHED. Someone, somewhere took the words he formulated inside of his mind, accepted them, and put them on their sight. "Here, world, are the words of a fellow mortal."
I mean, hot damn, what an accomplishment. What a beautiful dream. And here I am stuck mouthing off to no one in an unread, self-publshed blog.
well, shit.

Of course, having just read "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand, I should be wary of my attitude towards publishing. According to Ms. Rand's take on Objectivism, I should not care what people think, but rather care that I am doing at all. I am better for publishing whether by my hand or anothers. hmmm..... breath of air, smack of lips... tastes like poop.