Recently while driving I was thumbing through my CD case and, somewhat randomly, popped in a disc that I'm pretty sure I haven't listened to in at least 2 years. The album was Dummy, by Portishead, and for several years back then it was one of my favorites. I guess I just moved on to other music for a while and kind of forgot about it.

Turns out, there's nothing like rediscovering a band you used to love and haven't heard in a while. All the giddy feelings you get when listening to music that you connect with come flooding back, and suddenly your transported back to the instant you first heard the songs and fell in love with them.

Wonderful.

I might start packing all my favorite CD's in a box and not touching them for a year or so, so that I can come back and fall for the music all over again.

---------

On a different note, the weather down here in Texas is absolutely beautiful. 70 - 80 during the day, about 55 at night. Its almost perfect. The only bad part about it is that this is March. August is gonna suck.

For those​ who didn'​t know,​ earli​er this week I embar​ked on a journ​ey of monum​ental​ propo​rtion​s with a great​ frien​d of mine,​ and we have final​ly arriv​ed!​ It was a drive​ of almos​t 1600 miles​,​ took 3 days,​ and taxed​ our menta​l forti​tude to the break​ing point​.​ I still can't believe my car survived a trip of this magnitude.

But we have made it, and now I call Georg​etown​,​ Texas​ home.​

That'​s right​,​ folks​.​ I packe​d up all my stuff​ and moved​ from Lanca​ster,​ PA acros​s the count​ry to Texas​ to try out somet​hing new and hopef​ully take advan​tage of a great​
oppor​tunit​y I have here.​

So long for now, time to unpac​k!

....and that's always a bad idea.

Anybody remember when DA was young? Like, less than 2 years old? I do. Its been a long and convoluted road that we fans have trod. Anybody remember when the big guys on the site like +ekud, `alphakx, `niteangel, `suzi9mm, $spyed, and all the other long timers were just people like us? I remember having conversations in the shoutbox with `ritzcrackaa around when he got 2000 pageviews, and that was a really big deal back then. The founders had like 25,000. Now he's like 85k or something. Anyone remember DA being a community of friends? How about stuff like the shoutbox wars, grabbing screenshots of your buddy's landmark pageviews and writing "Leet" all over it, the yellow alien anal probe? The pages spewing from the collective rectum in 0.xx seconds?

I remember when abstract explody-thing 3d wallpapers was the genre to be in. When 3dS Max was in, like, version 2.9 and having a 1600x1200 CRT monitor meant you were a baller cuz most people could only see 1024x768. Nobody even thought of making prints because no computer any of us beatniks had would process the files large enough. I remember hitting 1000 views on a piece of artwork and I was ecstatic. You'd have thought I won the lottery.

Ah well. I guess every good thing is sooner or later a victim of its own success. DA has become too large for the family and friends atmosphere it started with. This site began as an outlet for artistic minds to have a place to come together and share our artwork and our knowledge. I remember vividly having conversations with many people on an almost weekly basis about the latest Photoshop 5.5 techniques we figured out, and swapping ideas for new work. Now that a few of them are big shot designers that make their living off replicating the same work over and over again, I guess one can't expect to keep in touch with their lowly roots.

Of course, back then, we were all in high school. Still, what happened to the artist inside? What happened to the creating of art for the love of it, instead of trying to score recognition on the site, or freelance work so you can show everyone here the big companies you work for?

Granted, DA growing to such monstrous proportions is a tribute to the quality of leadership and passion of the few true artists here, and enough credit could never be give to them. It is to be expected, but this site has clearly lost its original appeal. Not lost in a bad way, I suppose, but the community has evolved. Evolved in such a way that it is now cold, impersonal, and corporate feeling. Like I said, that's not necessarily a terribly bad thing; its an expected extension of DA being one incredible art site. Its just to big to still have that close-knit community feel.

*sigh*

It seems like such a long time ago when DA was fun.

Happy birthday to me.

Whoopee.

You gotta agree, its tough being a smoker these days. At least here in the US, where constantly we are bombarded with commercials, ads and campaigns against the evils of tobacco. You can't smoke in public unless you're walking, in a restaurant while you wait for your food, or even in a bar over a pint or two. I'm not sure how it is in Europe, but I get the feeling its a bit more relaxed. Hell, in every British movie I see, everybody smokes. *shrugs*

Just tonight I was minding my own business watching Nip/Tuck, and all the sudden this commercial comes on the TV that has a bunch of people standing around and they all say the same thing. "I realized why it was so hard for me to quit. It wasn't just a habit, it was a nicotine addiction."

No. Fucking. Kidding.

Way to not take responsibility for your own decisions. Way to spin it, so that its not your fault, and someone else is to blame.

Of course cigarettes are addicting. Is this a revelation? Are angels suddenly in a heavenly chorus, and ignorant, innocent smokers are just hearing this redeeming message for the first time? No. We've all known this for SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS.

Seventy five years, my friends. Its not a habit. You can't quit whenever you want to. It takes hold of your life and you begin a downward spiral of deteriorating health and yellow teeth. You will get lung cancer, suffer incomprehensibly, and you will die for your vile choices.

At least, that's what certain people want us to think. People like that scrawny half-black guy with the Dexter's Laboratory glasses for the "whudafuxup" commercials on TV. He sits there and extols the evils of "Big Tobacco" like he's waging a personal crusade against a nefarious enemy that is actively trying to kill as many innocent individuals as it can. Makes a big scene of it too, so as many people as possible can see him stand up and bitch. Maybe half a century ago, people might not know everything about cigarettes, and they weren't aware of the dangers of tobacco. That's not a really long time, I guess a few people might not have gotten the message yet.

Even though the first FEDERALLY MANDATED WARNING LABELS were printed in 19 freakin' 66.

1966. That's over FORTY years ago. Fuck that little bastard. And his pious "Truth" dialog that does nothing but help people piss off their own responsibility and lay it at someone else's feet. Its not "Big Tobacco"'s fault that people smoke. We all know what's going on. There's not a person on the planet who doesn't know cigarettes are bad for them. We all chose to take the risk of losing self-control and getting addicted when we lit the first one.

Tobacco is a business. If the consumer didn't want what they were offering, do you really think that the companies would still be around? It has nothing to do with advertising gimmicks, dodging health laws, or any of that bullshit. What it does deal with, is people like me, and we just like to smoke. There's not much besides pepperoni pizza, that tastes as good with a lager as a half decent stick of carcinogens. And from my experience, there's an untold number of one-night-stands that wouldn't have happened without the classic "Hey, got a light?" line.

Really, people. If you are too weak to stand the hell up and quit your habit, don't blame the industry for providing you with the stuff you crave. It might take a bit of willpower, or God forbid some strength of character, but you can do it. All it takes is a little determination. YOU are the cause of your addiction, not them.

Sure, they might be enabling you, but this is like bringing a lawsuit to Beretta because they make a handgun that some unhinged crazy fuck used to kill people. Its not Beretta's fault, they just made the thing. If it weren't for guns, I'm quite sure you'll agree that people would still find some other convenient way with which to kill each other.

But, that's a different rant for a different time.