Month: March 2004

music industry needs change

Many surveys have been conducted on CD sales and decreasing revenues. Some of these surveys are from the RIAA to show their defense. However, a recent study by two professors at two different universities says otherwise. Their claim? Online file sharing hasn’t made much of a dent in slumping sales at all. Has there been any impact in the music industry? Absolutely! But the RIAA’s skewed results want you to believe otherwise.

What does the RIAA want? No online trading and more CD consumption. Is this possible? Absolutely not, nor should these two ideas go hand in hand. Here’s a better idea on what should happen.

So, in despite of many good ideas to implement, our government and other associations continue a tirade of idiocy against consumers.

March 30th 2004

asuh

When I began my pursuit of the domain name www.asuh.com, I didn’t realize that I was too late. Someone else registered the domain and was sitting on it, better defined as a cybersquatter.

I think I first began looking into the domain name back in the year 2000 or so. I was very new to the dot com game and had little idea what it all meant. I always knew that I wanted this domain ever since I graduated high school and became addicted to the Internet. Seriously, what other alias or name better suits me? pensive? shy? music? geek? Although they are all true to my nature, they’re too obvious. I knew the only name that I desired was asuh.

The cybersquatter who wouldn’t let go of the name probably held its title because it might have figured someone like the University of Hawaii might want to buy the domain from them for a nice penny. This was back in that day and time when dot coms were a rage. They were going for tens, hundreds and thousands of dollars. My chances of securing this domain name were nil.

I kept up with this domain, got learn-ed about the Internet, and found out that the domain name was to expire in April of 2002. You better believe that once I found that information out, I was in constant surveillance of the fate of this domain.

January, February passed. No one bought the domain.

March. Still no one. This domain was just sitting there waiting for me to grab it.

The month of April came and I was extremely excited because it looked good. Although, I wasn’t sure if anyone else besides me was also watering at the mouth for this same prize. However, I was assertively checking the expiration.

Two days, one day. Wow, no one had taken it yet. I was just amazed that my chances were increasing by the hour and minute.

Then came the day! I went to go to a place like register.com to swipe that bad boy . . . and it DENIED ME!!! I couldn’t believe it! So now what??

Well, I did the same thing the next day, and the next day, and the next day. Yeah, add this up to about another month and a half. It took me almost 2 months to FINALLY secure my domain name. I was sweating it too because I had to finish the semester out, move back to Houston for the summer, and go to college camp for U.M. A.R.M.Y.. I was super busy.

After an awesome camp, I came back home again noticing that it just wasn’t happening for me. However, a few days later after camp ended, I FINALLY was able to secure asuh.com as mine!!

And the rest is history.

March 28th 2004

TechTV merger

TechTV is being purchased by Comcast!!

For those who haven’t heard of or seen TechTV it’s a station, carried mostly by DirecTV and by some cable companies, which is dedicated to today’s technology. However, in recent years there have been so many changes trying to attract a broad base of people. I don’t think the programming has been that great, although The Screen Savers and Call for Help are my favorities and they satisfy me.

Comcast purchasing TechTV means it’s merging with a station called G4 which airs programs about gaming. I know nothing about G4 but nonetheless, I really hope that this merger helps to rid programs such as Thunderbirds, Unscrewed and Robot Wars. I think these shows are a waste of money and time but that’s just my opinion.

However, the shocker for me was initially finding out Leo Leporte is quitting the show The Screen Savers!! Supposedly, he’s working 7 days a week with two different shows and a radio show so he’s cutting back. What I also read is he’s still going to host Call for Help. So, this is a big change for the station and I hope that they shuffle the program line-up!

UPDATE 4/7/04 Leo has completely left TechTV. Who woulda thunk?

March 25th 2004

tv appearance

I don’t want to be too self-indulgent about all my television appearances that happen, however here’s my first one since I moved out here to LA. I mentioned it earlier on here but never uploaded it. So, as per request from Jonathan, enjoy watching my 2 seconds of fame!
(There’s a chance that the file might not work so please let me know if this is the case!)

Bush makes fun of himself and his staff!

March 25th 2004

Almost a month

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve already been here for almost a month. Then again, I really haven’t been doing too much for time to just get away from me like this. I will finally be trained this weekend for my job and then it’s getting the hours for the pay!

You figure I would have already visited some studios and talked to some people by now but it’s just not like that. Currently, my roommate and I are recording a song that he’s going to pitch to one of his business partners in hopes that they’ll pick it up for a movie soundtrack. I’m using software that I’ve never used (we’re recording it digitally) so there’s a learning curve but I’m getting the hang of it.

So there’s not much to talk about right now about my life personally. I’ve been to Hollywood a few times, I’ve driven to a few other places, beaches and such. But nothing out of the ordinary so far . . . . Wait, this is all out of the ordinary! When everything picks up, I’ll be sure to let you know what happens.

March 24th 2004

pop music :the exceptions

I believe pop music has gone way down hill since the 90s. I’m sure my feelings are pursuaded by the fact that I’m different than I was when I left high school. I say high school because that’s just about the end of okay pop music and the beginning of listening to more alternative sources of music. However, through all the crap (N’Stynk, Backs#!+ Kids, etc.), there have been personal exceptions that I have made.

Here’s a short list of people and songs (guilty pleasures) that I have enjoyed.

Vanessa C – A Thousand Miles
Ivy – Edge of the Ocean
Britney S – Baby One more Time
Avril L – I’m With You
No Doubt – Running
No Doubt – Simple Kind of Life
Dido – White Flag
Evanescence – Bring me to Life
Black Eyed Peas – Where is the Love
Baby Bash – Suga Suga

Why Britney?? Only for that VERY first song will I make this exception. When it came out, that tune and her sex appeal was unstoppable. I, as well as the rest of America’s youth, knew she was here to stay. After that song, however, it was ALL downhill for her vocally.

There are a few other songs that I could include in this list but it’s not that big of a deal to me. I think, however, that about 95% of the rest of the music from 1997 to now has just been 90% crap. I won’t diss 100% of any song because there’s always a groundbreaking quality about many songs. But I would always rather listen to alternative sources of music than most of the crappy pop artists during that time period.

So what’s a nice alternative selection of contemporary music to listen to these days? Man, there are plenty, however I’ll list just a few of my favorites.

Nickle Creek – When You Come Back Down
Norah Jones – Sunrise
Nichole Nordeman – Legacy
Andrew Peterson – The Chasing Song
Coldplay – Amsterdam

Feel free to list your favorites if you are so inclined. This world could use some better alternatives to Justin T. and Hilary D.

March 22nd 2004

insomnia

I should be asleep right now. I have insomnia. Although, my sleeping pattern has shifted to california time now so I stay up until 2am and wake up around noon, which I dare say is my normal sleeping pattern anyway. But don’t I have a new job?? Lol… certainly! However, I’m waiting to get trained. Even after being trained I’m not guaranteed more than 20 hours of work anyway. I really just want this job to be part time anyway, enough to pay for bills, food, and more bills. The rest of my time needs to be spent in studios working and going somewhere with my life.

I finally finished the trilogy this afternoon/evening. I went to ArcLight Cinemas to see the Lord of the Rings – Return of the King. I would have seen it after it came out this Christmas except all my friends went without me!! :o( It was well worth the wait, however, because this theater has become my focal point for watching movies. Every theater has THX surround sound and the picture and quality is the best anywhere. They actually have assigned seating, the ushers welcome you before the movie starts and they stay through the trailers to make sure that the sound and picture are the best that they can be. If you are out here and want to see a movie in the best setting ever, be sure to hit me up!

I hope to make some tiny layout changes on my website this weekend before many of you will see it next week. I have also updated my Who am I page and have been working to get a photo gallery up and running. Oh yeah, at the bottom of most of the pages I have added a nice little graphic that I believe is extremely appropriate knowing what I’ve been doing this past year.

March 20th 2004

Jesus in THX :The Passion

I finally got to see The Passion of the Christ this week. I think that I can only describe this movie in my opinion in two different ways.

Theatrically, this movie was extremely violent, very intense, and very solemn. There were a lot of amazing special effects to bring the realism of this event to a new level. It was exceedingly graphic and detailed when showing the climatic scenes and very emotional the rest of the time. It’s not like most movies that I watch in the theaters.

Religiously, this movie was unbelieveable. I sat there during the whole thing thinking about what I had read and what I know (this coming from someone who hasn’t brushed up on that event in a while) and everything happened as I remember from teachings in Sunday School or Bible Studies. There were also many words and actions which I remember being discussed when talking about the Catholics.

If you remember the stations of the cross, this movie was pretty much a long visual explanation of these events. Most of those things which I didn’t know could have been a Catholic teaching that I never studied being that this was derived from a Catholic man . . . except, that is, if I didn’t remember everything because of my spotty knowledge of the Bible anyway.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie on a similar level that I enjoyed Shindler’s List. It’s not a movie that you want to see every day because of its intensity but something that you’ll always remember about the event of which is vehemently portrayed.

I don’t understand the outrage from a few reviewers, especially Eric Harrison of the Houston Chronicle. Out of the five ratings to give this movie, he chose an F. I think this movie was much better than an F. An F movie describes Batman and Robin, which I turned off after a few minutes. I call other movies an F but I haven’t bothered watching too many other F movies. Batman and Robin compared to the Passion? Hardly.

According to Eric, this movie “speaks solely to the converted”; then why is there a lot more talk of religious based movies?

If I were to criticize anything about this movie, I’d agree with Eric that the torture was overly graphic. It seemed like those guys beating Jesus decided that He was a piece of clay that they could mold with their sticks and whips. Almost vomit inducing at times.

The Passion, in my opinion, gives a nice understanding of what His sacrifice was to humankind. The point was made very clearly.

March 16th 2004

amazing

He invented the lightbulb, the phonograph, and the battery. He held over 900 patents during this time. He spent his life with two leading ladies. He was a director, producer, and executive producer, and he starred in his own film. He was the jack of all trades. His name? Thomas Edison.

Wait, did I just say director, producer and actor? What the heck? Yesterday, while walking on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with Leigh (younger brother) and his friend Callie, we walked over so many unfamiliar names. However, one name sorta caught my eye. Thomas A. Edison. It couldn’t have been the Thomas Edison, right??
Dude's gotta star!
I got home to look on us.imdb.com and found out that, undeniably, Thomas Alva Edison was in the entertainment industry. However, probably not like you’d think. But sure enough, out of all the stars who you walk over on Hollywood Blvd., Thomas Edison was one of them. I never would have guessed in a million years.

So, as I previously stated, I took a walk on the hall of fame actually looking at the stars and taking a few photos of just a couple of the stars. It really wasn’t all that glamorous but I was just going along with the flow. It’s not really that much fun unless you know most of the people, and everyone who is more than a few blocks from hollywood and highlands is pretty much outdated to me. No offense to those people but I didn’t recognize 95% of the stars.

March 15th 2004 2 replies

blog?

I’ve never really addressed this before but I guess now is as good a time as any. What I own and maintain here at asuh.com is called a blog. What exactly is a blog?

Blog is a short abbreviated word otherwise known as weblog. It’s like saying bike instead of bicycle or cell instead of cell phone. I own a domain name with some web space from a web provider where I keep my blog.

A blog is a journal, a collection of thoughts, or a record of personal experiences or reflections expressed with links to other websites. Blogs survive by linking to other website’s content. Communities have formed around the idea of blogging. More websites every year are formed to supply the growing demand of owning/creating/using a weblog. This phenomenon is still mostly underground but is soon to rise in the public eye in the next few years.

To each blog user, blogging has its own meaning.

A blog is a diary where he or she can express his or her personal thoughts and feelings. A blog is another means of communication, a way to spread an agenda. A blog means a source of information or accountability. There are too many ways to describe a blog on here but you get the picture.

I decided to start blogging back in October of 2002 after viewing Andrea’s website a few times. I knew it was a great way to keep others informed of my being and happenings as it was just as enjoyable to me to know what is and was happening with her. I was appealed to read her site because I personally know her and enjoy what she has to say. Not everyone will read my site because it has only a certain value to certain people. Thus, my site really hasn’t taken on much of a life because of lack of design and purpose… until now.

I am more than 1500 miles away from most everyone I know and this website is gonna be the greatest and best way for me to update everyone and keep in touch with personal experiences and thoughts. I don’t plan on this becoming a diary where my very personal thoughts are expressed because I’d like to keep it semi-public. However, I shall give my thoughts and feelings about many subjects as well as insights to experiences and daily happenings. I have no specific agenda to relay nor do I really want one. I find this purely entertaining and fun. I will promote those things which I enjoy or by which I am intrigued. I won’t use this to bad mouth anyone personally because I firmly believe that all problems should be solved actively rather than passively.

I hope that more people I know are able to start their own weblog in the future. However, I surely wouldn’t want everyone to have one. Blogging is very time consuming and survival is dependant on continual updating and adaptability. Blogging is here for those who wish to broadcast to others but it requires a certain writing ability, one which I sometimes lack but decide to use anyway. If there is anyone who wants a blog, feel free to contact me and I’ll do what I can to help you.

March 14th 2004 2 replies