Strange Beeping in Dumpster

Last night Amanda and I were in bed when we noticed what sounded like a beeping coming from above us, or to the north in one of the other apartments. It sounded like a smoke detector, but it was far less predictable a beeping to be coming from a fire-alarming smoke detector. I threw a long-sleeve on and wandered out into the hallway/lobby? of the apartment complex trying to pinpoint where it was coming from.

Of course, if it was a smoke-detector, and it was in one of the currently unoccupied apartments, then I was going to pinpoint where it was and call DTN. Nothing could be pinpointed from inside...I stepped outside and noticed it was far louder.

I came back in to the apartment and grabbed my keys and headed back out into the rain to see if I could get an exact placement of this strange beeping. I walked around the side of the building and the beeping was far more pronounced and I assumed maybe it was coming from an alarm going off in a transformer, or meter or something. As I got close, no...it was coming from INSIDE THE DUMPSTER. The dumpster's top was open, but the sliding panels were closed. As I headed for the door I saw another resident from our complex asking what that noise was and I told him I didn't know but I was going to call somebody.

I came back in and informed Amanda of my discovery and we immediately became far more suspicious then we already were. We decided the most logical thing to do would be to call the police, even if it ended up being nothing...a strange semi-consistent beeping coming from a dumpster could mean it was time to call the bomb squad. Of course, as adults, we knew it probably was nothing, and we would be wasting a police officer's time, but we couldn't bring ourselves to make that decision without the help of local law enforcement. I called LPD and they sent out an officer. By the time he arrived, which was only about 4-5 minutes, wouldn't you know it, the beeping had stopped.

I explained everything and took him outside to the dumpster, and we started looking around. Immediately I noticed that the sliding door panels were now open. On the ground outside of the giant green receptacle was a small personal fire-detector, like the kind you'd buy at Walmart or Kmart, and it was sitting rather painfully on the ground with no battery attached looking like somebody may have beaten it some.

Our guess is that some resident couldn't handle the beeping either and rummaged through the trash and either took the battery out or just smashed the thing on the sidewalk. I suppose it could've been the person who brought the detector out to the trash in the first place and upon hearing the beeping realized he/she hadn't taken out the battery. Either way, this discovery left me quite relieved, the officer too, who was very nice the entire time despite my goofy paranoia.

He was on his way and I went inside to relax. Amanda and I tried to laugh it off, and eventually we went to bed.

Another night in Lansing.

Radiohead's new sales strategy

I hate to say this because nobody is going to believe me, but this whole concept of asking people to pay what they want...I had been thinking of doing that for a while.  I know you won't believe me, but I swear.  I agree with them though, music should be worth something, but what it's worth should be based on the listener's personal attitude of what it is worth.  It's kind of lofty and just a tad bit idealistic...but I think it makes sense; so way to go for Radiohead.

This isn't the first time the band has stolen ideas from me (note sarcasm).   Back when they released Hail to Theif, my then-girlfriend, now wife, Amanda pointed out that Wolf at the Door's intro sounded a lot like the opening guitar part from Turning Point, the big long track in the middle of 451, the record Matt and I did back in 2001.   When I played the track Radiohead for Matt, he literally got pissed.  OBVIOUSLY Greenwood and Co didn't rip it off...it's just a coincidence.  Still, lesser-known (or unknown in our case) bands have to put up with that kind of junk all the time.  "That sounds just like that Radiohead song!"

So, now they've stolen my idea for selling records too. I tell ya, if I didn't know better I'd start to think famous bands are spying on me.

My case is a coincidence.

…

They're not always meaningful.

Yeah, it's meaningful

Meaningful how?

That's what I want you to find out.

About your life.

Yeah, about my life. And about the whole thing.  About the universe, you know? The big one. I mean, should I keep doing what I'm doing? Is it hopeless?

Mr. Markovski, we see a lot of people in here who claim they want to know the ultimate truth about reality. They want to peer under the surface at the big everything...but this can be a very painful process full of surprises.  It can dismantle the world as you know it. That's why most people prefer to remain on the surface of things. Maybe you should go home.  Let sleeping dogs lie.  Take it easy. What do you say?

I say don't give me the brush-off. Please. I want to know. This is big.

Have you ever transcended space and time?

Yes...No...Uh, time not space.... O, I don't know what you're talking about.


I Heart Huckabees

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Boo loses a baby tooth!

Tonight at 8:50 pm, our cat Boo has lost one of his baby teeth. Lucky for him, the tooth fairy will come tonight and buy him more kitty litter...21 pounds of it.

Strange Week

The weather has been strange this week. The weak have been strange this "whether or not" talk...it gets to me... Apathy and criminal nature seem integrated indefinitely and for those who face it, the outcome is always the same. The same looks, the same disgust, the same fears.

The weather has been strange this week. 90 on Monday. 50 today. That's 40 degrees in between. 6 degrees times 6 plus a hand-full more. I was told today that I was thought to be thirty-four years of age. He said I looked the part. I suggested it was the tie, probably. A hand-full more days and I'll be doing push ups, perhaps or maybe I mean possibly.

The weather has been strange this week. I'm getting more congested but don't have any of the usual symptoms; not yet at least. Busy life tends to breed crash and reflect moments. Crashing and burning... The nervous glances...getting tired way too early...wishing I had something a little more revealing to say.

The weather has been strange this week. I write more and more and think less and less and read to escape silent moments when I get the feeling somebody is judging me somewhere. We all judge way too much. We tell on each other. Maybe not in the outright way, but we do. It's all there. School is turned into this special non-human place by the time you get out and do the "complete process." School is turned into something elevated when you come out all ivory tower and professorial. But we forget how logical school was. Nothing knew under the sun.

Every rose is covered with dew. And while the world is waiting for the sunrise, in my heart; it's calling for you. The weather has been strange this week.

DetroitAtHome.com Review of the record!

Review Link here.

Mike Vasas and the Beats of Burden By: Brian Campbell

Apparently, Detroit is a hot bed for solid acts who make good music. This is something I am quickly realizing each time I pop in a record from a band out of the Motor City. The latest – Mike Vasas and the Beasts of Burden and their self titled record. Vasas and company, with their self titled release, really showcases some down home, bluesy, rootsy, Midwest Americana through eleven tracks.

Vasas combines a lot of different guitar looks with a wide vocal range, along with some other instruments, like piano and harmonica to craft his sound. New Regime is a song I like particularly well because it is one of the more rocking songs of the outing, but still a song like Bread Beard Read has its charm as well. This song is one of the more Americana sounding tracks, lending itself to the more roots/blues side of things. One Day is a smart, introspective look into Vasas' songwriting abilities, and it is also a song that displays his ability to storytell through his music, which is really something that he does throughout this self titled album, but I think it is most evident here. Another strong track, and possibly the best vocal track on the entire record is Selfish Circles. It is also one of the more heartfelt tracks on the album. That's sounds odd to me because I'm sure that all of these songs are very heartfelt since that seems to be what type of songwriter Vasas is, but still. Oddly enough, I think my favorite song on the record is the albums closing track, Shells, clocking in at over ten minutes. This finds Vasas flexing the muscles of his endearing voice, amidst a collage of piano, synth, etc. the entire song is ambient and lofty, and I can help but wonder if they have played this song live, because I sure it would go over pretty well.

One thing is for sure – Mike Vasas has a great voice. It is pretty obvious that in order to succeed in playing this style of music, you need a strong vocalist, and Vasas sure is one of them. I think I would happy with just Vasas singing with an acoustic guitar, but I'll take this release too. Vasas and the Beasts of Burden have to be one of the more quality indie/folk acts I have heard from Detroit, and believe you me; I have sure heard my share.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I'm going to talk a little bit about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The foursome of mutant misfits, led by a wise rodent and assisted by a news reporter and a hockey-loving loner, fought shredder in two movies and then decided to hitch a ride to the past.

The turtles were one of the last of the big cartoon shows before live-action surrealism destroyed what was left of traditional moving ink. Computers then stepped in to do the animation, and now we're somewhere else I guess. I know nothing about the history of animation so I'll stop this thread where it is.

But the turtles were more than just the typical continuation of hero myths. They weren't just outcasts from normal society making good. They weren't just outcasts making good while all others seemed to give up. Sure, that is the typical myth. when other people try to forget, delivery man remembers and saves the day! The turtles movies certainly had that element. Especially the first movie which not only emphasized the courageous actions of the turtles and that of Casey Jones, but also emphasized the apathy and inability to act on the part of April O'Neil's boss, Chief Stern, and the rest of the "authority"

But as I said, the turtles always represented more. There was an attempt to emotionalize the foursome with their individual interests and social expertise. For instance, long before Spiderman got all angsty about his vocation, Raphael huffed and puffed his way around the city only to eventually get the shell kicked out of him from a bunch of feet.

Michelangelo of course was the least interested in anything serious while Leonardo was the big brother/sister character always trying to look out for what was best for the siblings. Donatello, my personal favorite, was the geeky hipster of the foursome, a snot, but an intelligent one at that.

Even though "kid"-ed down for younger viewers, the first movie in particular tackles some truly adolescent issues through Raphael's angst, the loss of their mentor/father figure, questions about revenge, anger at "the man," family, respect of the past, violence etc.

The turtles movies discussed what it was like to make choices in the world...through the singular lens of adolescence. Making a good choice is the most important responsibility a respectable citizen can have, and I think the way most of the choices in this movie play out really help kids to understand that. Unfortunately, as a kids movie, adults miss how this really can adapt well to their life. I think a lot of adults fail to make good choices and I think a lot more adults don't even think about choices.

The movie purposely emphasized desperadoes doing the fighting against evil, because after all, in many adult's minds doing good just means ignoring bad. And somebody fighting evil out front tends to draw attention to it. Most adults want to spend their time eye-balling this or that person, wondering what their problem is, who does he think he is. Making up evil in their heads. There are only two ways somebody sees evil anyway. Actual evil is happening one way or the other, it's just a question of where does the idea come from. You could be imagining evil by way of your own dark inspiration, or you may be physically seeing evil.

I suggest most of the time the type of evil we are tempted into seeing is the former, not the latter. When real evil happens, and it happens all the time, it's easier to just look away and go on like Cheif Stern.

Luckily, Ninja Rap rewrote the seriousness of the first movie and made sure there was a heavy dose of humor, goofy humor in II, The Secret of the Ooze. The messages and characters were a little less set in stone, the plot was definitely up for grabs, but I think the overall character message is the same through all three.

Sometimes the messages are a bit forced, that's true. I don't think Raphael really needed to repeatedly point out to the audience how he was telling little Yoshi to "watch his temper." I think subtlety could have worked too. But keep in mind the end goal, the target audience for these films was adolescents. Some people say adolescents need these messages bashed over their heads over and over again so that they think about it. I fall victim to this myself with my bellwork assignments, I suppose. I guess I've always looked at it that adolescents appreciate not-so-subtle messages because they ARE thinking about this stuff on a regular basis. They ponder ethical and moral dilemmas all the time although never in such a stodgy philosophical-course-in-college kind of a way. I think adolescents ponder this stuff far more than adults do.

So adults want the subtly not because they have refined their philosophies, and they are better off then adolescents, but on the contrary, I think many adults want subtlety in messages and opinions because they don't want to have to think about it too much. They've gone to high school, some to college, they have their job, they have their family. And nobody's going to tell them what to do or how to do it.

Adolescents are much more open to ponder arguments of ethical and moral positions because the whole process is new them. They're developing their logic and argument skills as we speak, where many adults are counting their blessings when they don't have to go to that office party or neighbor party and sit near that one dude who can't stop pontificating about how culturally significant the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies are.