-Although I am drawn to aged audio equipment – like the pornography featured here – my frustration with it is mounting, for although it is totally beautiful, it is apparently designed to never actually work. Or, at least, to work for long periods of time.
-I have rediscovered music in recent months. That isn’t to say I hadn’t been listening but rather I’ve started trying to listen more often to a wider variety of stuff. That exploration has been thrilling, frankly, and I’ve been able to discover music that I’d either long ago abandoned or perpetually refused to listen to. Part of this process has been the use of a stereo system assembled in the way that I frequently assemble things: half-assedly. I could be one of those guys who drops hundreds on audio components bought on EBay but I’m not and never will be. I fully expect that it is possible to cheaply assemble things that will work, will do so reliably, and will last for a considerable period of time. Imagine my frustration this past weekend when my Sanyo setup’s right channel suddenly died. Despite my best attempts to fix the damned thing by hitting it really hard, nothing.
-I am nervous about patting myself on the back. It isn’t something I’m fond of. But I have to say that walking away from the utter cesspool that is journalism was a good idea. After a terrible three weeks spent interning with a group of individuals who can only be described as rabid sycophants, the idea that I would have spent a lifetime slavishly kissing asses repulses me. For example, many of the people I quickly learned to despite aspired to jobs at places like Washington Post. I’ll guarantee you that those same people, whose names I’ve long since forgotten, continue to believe that the Washington Post is an important media source, worthy of the nation’s time and attention. So good on me for realizing what was possibly ahead of me and changing course when I did.
-Seriously, I paid $10 for that thing at a nearby yardsale, and it did solid yeoman’s work for only six weeks? I even fixed the included turntable, successfully building a counterweight out of drywall screws to replace the one that had long ago been lost. For all of that effort, I get a right channel that dies overnight? If I, or more likely one of my children, had spilled something that killed the right channel, that’d be one thing, but to wake up and discover it gone? I don’t even remotely approve. One of life’s great pleasures is getting home from work and listening to music
-Breaking Bad is an obscenely good television show. I’m tempted to say it’s the best show to have ever appeared on cable television, ever. and by “tempted” I mean that’s exactly what I’m saying: it’s the best show ever on cable television. Them’s fighting words, I know, especially for those who love something like The Shield, but I have serious doubts that any show so consistently achieves such intense levels of tension as does Breaking Bad. More soon on it.