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RANTS-N-RAVES
The World According to Scott
This is the section of my site that is strictly reserved for my opinions, my beliefs, and whatever I feel like talking about at the moment. It's updated generally on an almost daily basis, so check back to see what the most recent things on my mind are.
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We rented the movie Traffic this week. I thought it was really well done & both of us enjoyed it. We watched it over a two night period, & in some ways, that made it a little harder to follow. Both Kathryn & I agreed that it would be better to watch it again all in one sitting to really, fully absorb it all at once. That having been said, it was a good movie. I thought that it portrayed the so-called "War on Drugs" in exactly the hopeless, infinitely futile reality that it truly exists in. We're never going to stop drug abuse in this country, simply for the reason that there are too many people that are making astronomical profits from it. And if you think that the only people that are making money off of drugs are the dealers & distributors, you're only fooling yourself. Anyway, the film showed how drug distribution & use affects people on every level possible. I thought one of the most thought provoking lines from the movie was when Michael Douglas' character who'd recently been appointed the new Drug Czar in the War on Drugs in our country said, "If there is a war on drugs, then many of our family members are the enemy. And I don't know how you wage war on your own family." (This coming from a character who had just recently learned that his straight-A student daughter is a crack addict.) Benicio del Toro gives an excellent performance as a Mexican state policeman (but then again he always does, he's a great actor & I've been a fan of his since The Usual Suspects). I've read some different reviews & some of the User Comments on IMDB, & I'd say I disagree with a lot of what some people said about the film. I don't think this film was poorly done in any way, nor do I think that the ending was "happy," or "cheesy." (I won't go into specifics if you haven't seen the movie yet.) This is a good movie for everyone to see, not just those who liked movies like Requiem for a Dream, Trainspotting or Drugstore Cowboy, to name a few. This movie has a broader, more mainstream appeal, & personally, I think that's what's needed to get the point across here. See this movie, it's message is worth hearing..
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Speaking of Requiem for a Dream, we saw it this past spring here on campus. Have to admit, I was somewhat surprised that an independent, non-rated film like this never made it to Ithaca. Anyway, this is certainly not a film for the squeamish. Unlike Traffic, this film was not searching for any mass appeal of any kind. This movie is an unapologetic & honest portrayal of addiction. It's based on the Hubert Selby book of the same name (he also wrote the screen play). Directed in a very artistic fashion by Darren Aronofsky, the movie shows the downward spiral of four people into the depths of addiction & the results of their choices. I would not recommend this movie to everyone, but if you are curious, check it out. It's a pretty unflinching look at how some people choose to live their lives, only to find out that eventually, those choices are no longer their own & are being made for them by their addictions. I read the book first & was fairly disturbed by the time I got to the end. It wrings you out emotionally & the film is the same way.
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Now here's a new way to market a product aimed at dog owners - put up posters that are dog urine scented. In London, Birmingham & Glasgow, advertising posters for the Animal Planet tv channel will be posted at "dog level," & have a dog urine scent to them, in hopes that dogs will drag their owners to them, where there will be another poster at "human level" for their masters to read. This seems somehow unappealing to me.
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The Crystal Method will be releasing a new album at the end of July. Their first album, "Vegas," was fantastic. If you're a fan of good techno, this album is a must have. If their follow up effort is even half as good as their first album, we're in for a treat.
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Now here's a clever marketing ploy - a group of Swedish entrepreneurs want to increase the popularity of the bible among the 15-30 year old demographic. The answer? Include slick, glossy photos of supermodels depicting scenes from the bible (there is talk of Claudia Schiffer as one of the models). Now, the really interesting part is "...there will be some nudity because the Bible is very sensual and we are going to exploit that. We want to take the Bible off the dusty back shelf and put it on coffee tables," according to the article. So, here's my question: if this version of the bible contains nudity, will it require a Parental Advisory sticker on its cover & not be available for sale to minors similar to popular music with "questionable" content?
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Trey Anastasio of Phish, speaks of the band's decision to take in indefinite break. Sounds like if there's any future left for Phish, this time spent apart was just what the band members needed. Anastasio says that while he & his fellow bandmates speak regularly, no one is currently talking about getting back together any time soon. Each member of the band is currently involved in their own side projects that are keeping them busy. Anastasio's project looks pretty interesting- he's just finished recording an album with Les Claypool (of Primus fame) & Stewart Copeland (former drummer for The Police) under the name of Oysterhead. Considering the musicianship of these three guys alone, I would expect this album to really be something worth listening to. From a few things I've read here & there, it sounds like this was originally a one-off kind of project, that turned into several gigs, that has now become an album. It also looks like Oysterhead will hit the road this fall, so hopefully they'll come somewhere near Ithaca.
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Well, as I predicted earlier, the reviews of Pearl Harbor are starting to come in, & it doesn't look that good. Check out what Roger Ebert, the New York Post, Variety, the Associated Press, CNN (here & here) & the NewCityChicago.com site have to say about it & you'll see what I mean. Like I'd said before, it seems like the bigger the movie, the bigger target it is for criticism. And if you read any of these reviews, you'll see there are many common threads among them- terrible script, one-dimensional acting, & that the move itself is too long. Seems like the only part of the film even worth watching is the forty minute battle sequence of the actual bombing of Pearl Harbor. So what effect will reviews like this have on how much money this movie is going to rake in? Absolutely nothing. People will throw down their hard-earned cash without batting an eye, because this movie has been hyped as THE summer blockbuster & people will think they're missing something if don't go see it. Just goes to show you what a good ad campaign can do. The real test of this movie, will be if it breaks even, or possibly turns a profit. I'm certain the opening weekend will be huge, but I'm curious to see where it's going to go from there on. Personally, I think I might sit this one out until it hits video.
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Gene Simmons of the mighty Kiss has signed a book deal to write his autobiography. The title of the book will be "Kiss & Make Up." It's supposed to be released next January. Should make for an interesting read. I was lucky enough to catch Kiss twice on their farewell North American tour last year - at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga, NY, in June & at the Onondaga County War Memorial in Syracuse, NY in September. Both shows were absolutely great. I posted my review of the second show on the Kiss site. (If for some reason you feel the burning desire to read what I wrote, go here, select the "1999/2000 Farewell Tour in the US and More" link, then select the "September" link, the select the "9/16/00 Syracuse, NY" link. Mine is the 11th entry on the page when you scroll down.)
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Les Claypool, bassist extraordinaire for Primus, has a side project called Frog Brigade. They're going to be releasing their second album in July called "Live Frogs - Set 2." The really cool thing about this, is that this album will be entirely devoted to the Frogs' live rendition of their version of Pink Floyd's album "Animals." Now just how cool is that??? On one of Primus' earlier EPs (called "Miscellaneous Debris"), they had done an excellent version of Floyd's classic "Have a Cigar," from the "Wish You Were Here" album.
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Ran across something interesting - here's an article that clearly shows the liberal bias of some of the major media newscasters: Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, & Peter Jennings. This is an intriguing point of view on this subject. I've never really stopped to think about it like this, but it does seem to be true that the news you are fed from the big three nightly news programs on the major networks, DO tend to lean slightly more towards the left. While I tend to agree more with this point of view, it does suggest that there is a less than objective bias when it comes to how the news is presented to the American public. It's kind of ironic that the newscasters who would be the first to champion the 1st Amendment, as well as free speech, at the drop of a hat, are actually the same people who may not necessarily be giving their viewers an objective point of view. Even though I would more than likely agree with the liberal bias slant of the news, it's odd to see that not everyone is being equally represented, don't you think?
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Happy 60th Birthday to Bob Dylan - 5-24-01!!!
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Some excellent news - Chris Cornell (ex-vocalist for Soundgarden) & the remaining members of Rage Against the Machine are "officially" in the studio together recording again. And to make things even better, Rick Rubin is set to produce! This should be great!
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For the second time in the last year, we had another garage sale. Even in the all the years I put in doing retail & inside sales, I have NEVER come across cheaper people anywhere. It's amazing that people will haggle with you over something that cost $.50. We did meet some really nice people that genuinely seemed pleased with what they bought, & they certainly made it worthwhile. But, some people were just plain cheap & rude. I have also learned that randomly using the phrase "trigger-happy gun-toting nuts" is liable to provoke a negative reaction in some people.
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I mowed my lawn myself for the first time since I broke my foot doing so last summer. Happily, there were no casualties to report this time.
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Congratulations to Bono & his wife Ali for giving birth to a healthy baby boy. Their new son will be their fourth child.
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Well, the season finale of The Sopranos has come & gone. I have to admit, I thought the show was pretty boring for the most part. It was obvious that Jackie Jr. was going to get whacked, no surprises there. And that was the overall problem with the show- no surprises at all. No cliffhanger ending, no nothing. And even the foreshadowing of what's to come next season (Paulie possibly going behind Tony's back, Meadow developing a drinking problem, Anthony Jr.'s ongoing school hassles) wasn't anything all that interesting. And after watching every episode for a whole season, what are we left with? Having to watch Uncle Junior lip synch (& not even doing a very convincing job of it I might add) while everyone stands around looking thoughtful. Pretty disappointing. But then again, I thought the season premiere was dull too. Now we have to wait until next March of April to see what happens next. There's been talk of the show not going on past a fourth season. I think that'd probably be a good idea. Tony Soprano's family & crew are slowly starting to dissolve. Maybe it's time to call it day for these New Jersey mobsters & move on. We got interested in the show after watching the first season on video tape when it was released around Christmas time this past year. We thought every episode was great & we were hooked, even to the point of subscribing to HBO, just so we could keep up with the show. We caught the repeats of the second season, & they were still pretty good. I thought the third season has been fairly disappointing since the beginning. Oh well, it's still a good show. It's just hard to not be critical of it when the first shows were so good, & then it's slowly started to go downhill. I guess it's just like everything else on tv these days- it starts out good, it gets people hooked, & then they don't have to try so hard any more, because they know people will watch it anyway. Too bad, really.
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It would appear that things don't look so good for the movie Pearl Harbor at this point anyway. I read two separate things here & here that both said the storyline & dialogue is weak. With a $135 million budget to make the film, they're going to have to make a $250 million profit, just to break even. Sounds like a risky venture to me. But, people love an easy target, especially one this big. Because of the hype & all the money spent on this production, the beforehand speculation of how well the film will do is considerably high, & from how it appears so far, not that good. The filmmakers are even being criticized for spending over $5 million on the premiere of the film alone, which is also receiving additional flak due to the fact that it was held on a US Navy Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carrier, the John C. Stennis. I thought the trailer for this one looked pretty good, but then again, it's very easy to create a great two & a half minute trailer & something completely different to make a movie that's two hours & forty-five minutes long that holds your complete attention from start to finish. The movie opens this weekend, & it's going to be interesting to see what happens.
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It would appear that Bill Clinton had egg on his face (almost literally) during his most recent visit to Poland. Clinton was doing a walking tour of the Old Town District in Warsaw, & an anti-capitalist protester saw fit to drill him with a raw egg. Just goes to show that even though he may be out of office these days, it doesn't make him any less of a target for abuse. It's a good thing that there were Secret Service Agents on hand to immediately wrestle this 19 year old kid to the ground & arrest him. He was probably getting ready to throw some fatal hashbrowns & toast to go along with the egg.
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So the crew that had flown the now famous spy plane over China are going to be rewarded with medals? For what? Spying over & above the call of duty? Am I missing the point here, since it doesn't seem to me that our country has owned up to the fact that we shouldn't have been in China's airspace in the first place. I mean, come on already, it as a SPY PLANE & we were SPYING on China!! We're somewhere where we shouldn't be, a Chinese pilot pretty much attacks the plane, dies, & then China is at fault? How does this work??? Has anyone stopped to consider just how this scenario would have played out, if the roles had been reversed? If there had been a Chinese SPY PLANE flying over American airspace, & one of our jets had engaged it, & the pilot crashed & died, the American people would be saying we should be going to war with China, not just asking for an apology. You think I'm wrong? I'm willing to bet I'm not. I just don't get it- we were somewhere we should have never been, we refuse to own up to that fact, someone dies because of it, & we give the crew of the plane medals. Where is the logic throughout any of this?
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Here's a good one- O.J. Simpson offering advice to Robert Blake on how to deal with being accused of murdering his wife. I don't think I have to really say anything about this one that you're not probably thinking yourself already.
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The Sheriffs' Department in Littleton, CO released their report on the shootings in Columbine High School. Even now, over two years & multiple copycat incidents in other schools later, it's still hard to believe these things have really happened. I read a very interesting commentary on this that raised some valid issues about how what happened at Columbine & other schools that followed, possibly could have been avoided. I agree with the author, that while it's easy to place blame on local law enforcement for possibly not following up on warnings given to them about the potential of violence in some of these kids, it's not completely them that is at fault. His point is more that he wants to "to help others resist the denial that often precedes predictable violence." I don't think anyone can honestly point a finger at any one group of people here- parents, law enforcement, or school officials. Of course, while hindsight is 20/20, looking back when the evidence is presented, you can see that there were signs of the things that came to be, previous to them actually happening. But then again, who would EVER have expected teenage boys to go on a killing spree in their local high school? And then, to have so many other young kids follow suit? I guess that's one of the reasons why these things did happen- no one ever would have guessed that they would. And that has proven to be a sad & tragic mistake in judgment on everyone's part.
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Check this out- it's me!
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Read something interesting today- Dave Grohl (of Nirvana & Foo Fighters fame) directly addressed Kurt Cobain's death. That's something that I've yet to see or hear so far, since Kurt Cobain took his own life roughly seven years ago. I remember the day I heard about it. It was a Friday afternoon in early April of 1994 & it was when I still managing Spectrum Records (an independent record store in Syracuse, that has since closed). On first hearing the news, I felt angry & even said something along the lines of "What a loser." One of the kids working in the store at the time then made some sarcastic comment about always being able to depend on me sympathy & compassion. As the day wore on, I went from feeling angry to just feeling sad. What a waste, you know? It's weird to think that a band like Nirvana had such a dramatic impact. When you think of the album "Nevermind," now you can classify it along with other albums that changed the face of "alternative" (for lack of a better word) music forever, like The Ramones' self-titled debut, or The Sex Pistols' "Never Mind the Bollocks." I remember that Kathryn bought me "Nevermind" for my birthday in the first week of November in 1991. (I had to check to find this out, but the album had been released on September 24, 1991.) I had seen the video for "Smells like teen spirit" on MTV (remember when the "M" stood for music, & they actually played real videos??? Or am I just dating myself? It's hard to tell these days...) & had instantly liked the song. If you had told me then that less than two months later, every kid in America would be listening to that song & album, I wouldn't have believed it. A band like Nirvana was never supposed to be that big, & I'm still not really sure how it happened. I can only begin to imagine how it all must have felt for Kurt Cobain. The one guy who never intended to be a rock star, became everything that he had never wanted to be. It's strange to think that there's kids like my sixteen year old brother-in-law Nathan, who loves Nirvana's music, that have never known a time when that band didn't exist.
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So Michael Stipe, lead vocalist for R.E.M., has decided to come out & say that he's gay now, huh? Although I give him a lot of credit for having the courage to do so, I don't see it as a big surprise. He's been ambiguous in regards to his sexuality for years now, so this doesn't come as a big shock to me. I do think that it's somewhat self-serving & not at all coincidental that he's chosen to come out in a national publication like Time magazine right about the same time R.E.M. is releasing their latest album.
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Does anyone besides me find it strange that VH1 has become so much cooler than MTV? Of course, the most ironic thing about both of these supposed "video music channels," is that neither of them feature music videos any more!! VH1 certainly kicks MTV's ass hands down, if only for the fact that the shows that they showcase are about, or at the very least, feature music. MTV has regressed so far these days, that I find the fact that they still make such a big deal out of their Video Music Awards show a complete & utter farce. If it's not on Total Request Live, YOU DON'T SEE IT!!! If I was an executive at a record company right now, I wouldn't have bands make videos any more- they're a waste of money because there's no outlet for them to be seen any more. I know that I'm dating myself again here, but I was there to watch MTV from it's infancy back in August of 1981 when they didn't even have enough videos to show & they had to show stupid things like rockets taking off, & other useless filler just to fill the gaps. Now, if it's not the Real World, Jackass, or any of the other absolutely pointless & ridiculous shows that they have chosen to feature, it doesn't even get on the channel. It's ironic that back when MTV first came on the air, the very first video they ever played was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles, & now, you could realistically say that MTV has killed the video star. The irony is so thick you could cut with a knife...
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The season finale of The West Wing was pretty great, huh? I read something about today that was cool, because it translated what Martin Sheen's character said in Latin during the scene in the cathedral. I truly believe this is far & away the best show on tv right now. I don't care if Aaron Sorkin is on mushrooms or not, he still knows how to write good tv. There is a severe lack of quality shows on tv right now, & it gives me hope that some people are still actually attempting to stretch the boundaries of creativity instead of just re-hashing the same old tired crap that we are given to choose from.
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Kathryn & I have been searching for a house to buy since around March or so of this year. We've had a few bad experiences, but it's taught us quite a bit. Let me say this much- if you find yourself looking for a house, & you have even the slightest inkling that you're unhappy with your real estate agent, consider finding a new one. We ended up wasting time & effort with someone that basically ignored us. We have since moved on & are still looking for a house as we speak. I will keep posting regular updates about this subject. ALSO- make certain that when you do look into buying a house, you GET IT INSPECTED RIGHT AWAY!! You really never know just what kind of fun surprises can come to light that aren't very apparent to the average person looking at a house.
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Some new & exciting news - as of 5/11/01, Kathryn accepted an offer to begin working for Cornell Information Technologies (more commonly referred to on campus as CIT). She will be the new Student Training Coordinator. In a nutshell, she will coordinating the software training of students & staff. She will be getting the chance to learn a whole bunch of new software & programs herself, & get to work with the latest in cutting edge technology. This is a great move for her, as well as an excellent step forward in her career here at Cornell. Congratulations to my beautiful wife on the fantastic accomplishment!! If this is news to you, drop her a line at kec24@cornell.edu to say congrats yourself!
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This past spring, I became somewhat obsessed with the album "Mer de Noms" from the band A Perfect Circle. If you've read any of the press on this band, you'd see that they are being regarded as somewhat of a side project for lead vocalist Maynard James Keenan, who normally fronts Tool. This is one of the first albums by a new band that I have gotten this excited about in a VERY long time. I'd downloaded the song "Judith" off of Napster & liked it right off. I downloaded the remaining tracks to see what the rest of the album was like & started listening to it. At first, some of the songs were hard to get into ("The Rose" being one of them). But, after a few repeated listenings, I became obsessed with this entire album. It's an excellent mix of heavy metal, goth, & mixed-meter progressive music, that is a fairly unique hybrid of each of the different styles. It's rare to come across an entire album that catches my attention like this one did. Some standout tracks are "3 Libras," "Magdalena," "Thinking of You," "The Hollow," & "Orestes." Keenan's vocal style is very interesting. He can scream, & he can sing a beautiful melody as well, sometimes within the framework of the same song. The instrumentation on this album is excellent. Each musician compliments every single song. I've read the reviews of their winter tour posted on their web site by fans who attended their shows, & was continually impressed with what I read. The closest they came to Ithaca was Buffalo, NY, so needless to say, I missed them on tour. I do regret that. The new Tool album was just released this month, & will be followed by their tour. Admittedly, I don't know as much about them. I plan to make a point to listen to some of their stuff to see what it's all about. What I have heard, I thought was pretty good. There's so very little good heavy music out there right now. It's nice to see that someone is still making an effort to be creative. Check "Mer de Noms," & you won't be disappointed.
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Have you heard the song "Drops of Jupiter" by a band called Train? It's GREAT! The vocals remind me a lot of Chris Robinson from the Black Crowes, which was what caught my attention in the first place. I knew the Crowes were releasing a new album this spring (it's out now by the way) so I thought it was them. Needless to say, I fairly surprised to find out this was a new band. I thought it was odd that Train are being classified as a Modern Rock band. Funny, it's a good song, but I'd say it's more of a nod to classic rock than anything. In any case, give it a listen, it's a good song.
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This last year has proved to be somewhat interesting, to say the very least. I began my current position here in the Cornell Electrical Engineering Department as Graduate Field Coordinator on 7/14/00. Less than two weeks after that, while on vacation mind you, I broke my foot. The fifth metatarsal to be exact (you can bet that I will NEVER forget that one particular bone). How did I manage such an amazing feat, you may ask? I broke my foot while mowing a steep hill in my stupid backyard. Can you believe that??? I had to spend four very long months on crutches, & didn't even have a good story to answer the question "How did you break your foot?" Do you have ANY idea how many times I was asked that question over a four month period??? So in addition to starting a brand new job, I also was on crutches for the first four months of it. It was a laugh a minute, let me tell you. In any case, I have now been in my current job for roughly about ten months now, & it's going very well. I like what I do, & where I do it, so I'm pretty happy about that.
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All right, all right... I have solved my little FTP dilemma, & now have gotten it through my thick, Cro-Magnon man skull how to transfer files correctly, & how to delete those that I did not need, in order to make the necessary room for everything that I DID want to transfer. FINALLY, after almost an entire year, I am back, & ready to rant-n-rave once again.
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So... where the HELL have I been for the last year??? Well, when I took my current job here in the ECE department last July, I had to leave behind the original version of the Soapbox due to the fact that the site had been hosted through my previous job in the CS department. Now I have my site hosted directly through Cornell, so I'm good to go. Also, I had a small mental block with working through the whole FTP thing, since I was used to using the "Publish" feature on Microsoft Frontpage. I'm still using Frontpage, and hope to be taking an HTML class this fall, so that will help me jazz things up a bit. I have MISSED having my own forum to run my mouth about whatever's on my mind. Now that I'm back online, I hope to be publishing updates on a daily basis again. I'm sure you've all missed me, right? I toyed with the idea of using the framework of the previous version of the Soapbox, but decided to just build a new one from the ground up, but still keep some of the same pictures, graphics, and odd bits of text here and there. Come back often and see what I'm going off about.
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