lari

Haha. If I didn't hate the Leafs so much, I'd almost feel sorry for you leafies.

No, unless you put it online for everyone in the world to get. It's the same as with books. I've discovered quite a few bands after first borrowing a CD from the library. A CD you get from the library isn't different to an album you borrow from your friend - if you like it, you buy your own copy. If you don't, why even bother keeping it on your PC/iPod? It doesn't even mean you are obliged to buy a hundred CD's a year. Just those few you really enjoy.

If you share CD's with strangers online, that's what you are responsible for. Thousands of downloads. I was refering to people who rip a CD for their friend to sample and hear. Nothing wrong with that, in my opinion. Even if that was a crime, the damages wouldn't exceed the price of one CD. But putting an album up for anyone in the world to get at any time they want is a whole different thing. That's what I feel they should try and eliminate.

Hwaks 2-1 after first. But damn, I'm all out of beer. And I bought twelve for the night. I couldn't have drank all of them myself. My girlfriend says she didn't touch them, but I couldn't have drank them by myself. I wouldn't type like this if I did. Come out, you thief. Who was it?

Nice start for the Hawks. Bochenski rips the twine. About time he scores.

As for soccer, I loved the freekick goal the Korean Hwang Kwan Bo (or whatever his name was) scored against Spain in the 1990 World Cup. That was brilliant.

Um, I didn't mean he could score in soccer. Just that he was an amazing offensive player. Best goals in soccer can somehow be compared to the best goals scored in hockey or any other sport too, eh? Besides, I'm positive Savard can play soccer better than Ronaldinho can play hockey. I play both and can occasionally kick the soccer ball nicely, but to do what Savvy did in hockey is something else.

Best goal ever? Hello, Denis Savard. Last goal in this clip Savvy was the most amazing goal-scorer ever, no matter the sport.

I liked Frank Miller's Daredevil back in the 80's and 90's. Not a huge DD fan otherwise, as I prefered a lot of the other Marvel characters to him. But I didn't find the movie insulting in any way. I think you're safe. It had some good moments and was even quite enjoyable. It's faithful enough and has good action. Just don't go in with HUGE expectations. EDIT: didn't read the thread completely and missed how you already saw it. Anyway, to make this post worth something, I'll rank the Marvel movies I've seen: 1. X-Men 2 2. The Punisher 3. X-Men 3 4. Spider-Man 2 5. Spider-Man 6. Daredevil 7. Fantastic Four 8. X-Men Never saw Hulk or Elektra. As for comics, I was a long-time subscriber of the Spider-Man. Bought lots and lots of X-Men comics back in the Marauder and Morlock Massacre days (Chris Claremont was the shit). Loved Byrne's Fantastic Four and McFarlane's Hulk, too. I stopped buying comics in my early teens, but I still like a lot of them. The Infinity Gauntlet and the Secret Wars were pretty awesome.

Flo & Zach? I HATE that woman. The guy totally deserved all the money he got by winning, just by having to listen to that bitch. Plus, he did all the work and basically carried Flo all throughout the race. She should have just given her share of the money to him.

:pinch:

The Hawks are playing the Wild tonight, and while Minnesota is a tremendous team normally, they are without Gaborik and Demitra tonight. For the first time this season you could say the Hawks aren't necessarily the more depleted team on the ice for missing their top two forwards (Havlat and Handzus) and top defenseman (Aucoin). This should actually even up the odds. Hawks are also on a roll. I think they have a good chance tonight. But it's going to be a big fight for the two points. I'm definitely watching tonight. I still think Minnesota is the favourite, but it's as close to a coin toss as you can get in hockey.

You also have to think part of the increase in price is due to piracy. There's a certain budget and certain expectation of sales figures for each album. As sad as it is, part of the losses are covered by charging more from those who actually do buy the CD.

Chip & Kim were the greatest Amazing Race team ever.

I think the "making the biggest deal about it" part has more to do with upcoming bands not wanting to turn off their few fans by making controversial statements or becoming spokespeople for the RIAA. But obviously bands that only sell 10,000 copies suffer the most from having thousands download their album instead of buying it. And it does affect how they are going to get booked for tours or if they will get re-signed for the next album, much more so than an artists that sells 1,000,000 copies instead of 1,500,000 if all illegal downloaders bought their album. Also, not as much weight is put into the statements of small bands. When a local band says they oppose piracy, it's hardly reported in any news. But when a multimillion seller says the same thing, it's all over the internet.

I don't think CD's are too expensive. Sure I'd like it if they were cheaper, but I don't mind it really and am more afraid the quality would suffer if all new releases were $8 a piece. Remember making CD's employs more than just the band. It's a big production. And just think about it: $20 isn't much for something that brings enjoyment for the rest of your life. What's $20 - a few pints in a club? For those who say it's too much for a CD, it just means you haven't found good music yet. Obviously the hit parade stuff on MTV isn't worth a dime, but I can't say I'm unsatisfied with the CD's I've personally bought.

Yeah, but you can't use 'piracy helps promote bands' as an argument. Bands do have promotion and they do give out songs and such in mp3 format for free that they want spread out as much as possible. Thing is, THEY pick the songs, and 99 percent of the time opt not to give out the whole album for free. If they did, then fine, they won't make money but they get the promotion. It's their call. A lot of bands have videos and such available too. That is all good for promotion, no doubt about it. But is promotion enough to make a living off of? It should be up to the bands/management to decide what they put out for free. It's not your call to decide if something should be free or not.

The Hawks own the Predators. Season series 3-0. Suddenly the team isn't that far from 8th seed again. Savard seems to be on a roll with the team.

I think a more effective way to fight piracy is to authorise international police to catch those who infringe copyrights on a large scale, no matter where they are located. I don't really like all these anti-copying gizmos inserted in today's electronic devices - often times it hurts the functionality of the product and people who have paid for it would mostly just copy products for their own use anyway. Problem is online file-sharing, fake video games sold on streets in Asia (and poor countries) and things like that that are massive enough to hurt the industry. It's not hard to find out who is doing something illegal - you can just browse the internet and different file-sharing programs and see who is sharing what and where and if it's legal or not. With the co-operation of ISP's, it's also not a problem to find out who is behind these activities. Problem is, there's a lot of third world countries where people upload copyrighted material with no fear of getting caught. And they also have servers located in these countries. But if the authorities had the right to check out all these online forums and sites and sharing communities and catch everyone who uploads illegal stuff, it'd be easy to tone down piracy. Just like the international police now has the right to go after pedophiles based on their internet activity. It's not hard to locate and arrest people who are involved in these kind of activities. Problem is the bureacracy that makes it hard to touch them. I wouldn't mind seeing a change in the future. No-one downloads or uploads copyrighted material by accident.

Sport Awards * Game of the Year - First, complete homer choices, but I'm thinking the 06-07 season opener between the Blackhawks and Predators was great. Hawks won 7-5. National Hockey League, of course. This October in the American Hockey League, the Norfolk Admirals beat the Philadelphia Phantoms 6-5 in OT in Norfolk. Fraser had a good fight in that one. Third one is Finland beating USA in the Olympic game quarter finals. * Team of the Year - The Swedish national hockey team for winning the olympic gold, the Carolina Hurricanes for winning the Stanley Cup and the Hershey Bears for winning the Calder Cup. * Male Athlete of the Year - Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks. Hart Trophy. Nikolai Valuev, World Boxing Association heavyweight champion. * Female Athlete of the Year - The Korean speed skater who won three gold metals at the olympics. Whatever her name was. Jin something. *sees wikipedia* Jin Sun-Yu * Coach/Manager of the Year - Lindy Ruff, Buffalo Sabres. * Rookie of the Year - Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins. Derek Boogaard, Minnesota Wild. * Play of the Year - Martin Havlat scoring early in the game against the Montreal Canadiens. This October. Marco Materazzi diving in the soccer World Cup final. Video Game Awards I don't think I've played a new video games all year. Pass. Music Awards * Group/Artist of the Year - Iron Maiden released the best album of their long career and had a tour where they played it in full. Awesome. Another one, Axxis for being awesome all the time (and releasing another killer album). * Album of the Year - "A Matter of Life and Death" by Iron Maiden. * Song of the Year - "Burden of Truth" by Circle II Circle. For the Greater Good of God by Iron Maiden. * Best New Group/Artist - I don't think I own any debut albums released in 2006. I have some bands' demos, but I'd hesitate to put those in as 'the best'. Pass. * Best Soundtrack - Haven't heard any. * Video of the Year - Eh, I don't know if I've seen anything that I especially like. I'm going to say "The Hands" by Queensryche. Country Pass. Pop Pass. Rap Pass. Rock Do I have to repeat my answers here? I'm going with Maiden, Burden of Truth and A Matter of Life and Death, if it wasn't obvious. * Best Rock Group/Artist * Best Rock Song * Best Rock Album Television Awards Crap. Don't really watch telly. I honestly only watch hockey, wrestling and Lost, on occasion. It can be turned off for five days at a time. Now if I'd only keep the PC off that long... * Best Drama - Lost * Best Comedy - Late Night with Conan O'Brien * Best Mini-Series or Made for TV Movie - Pass * Best Actor - Kurt Angle? * Best Actress - Pass. * Best Supporting Actor - Dominic Monaghan, Lost * Best Supporting Actress - Pass. Film Awards * Best Picture - I must have not seen more than two or three films all year. I'm going to go with X-Men 3, though it wasn't even such a good film. On second thought, screw that. I'm voting blank. And I'm just going to pass on this whole category. I only go see movies with my girlfriend and she gets to pick them. I don't really know what's happening anyway. I think I only saw the DaVinci Code and a bunch of sappy movies all year. That's why the X-Men stood out. I also rented Miami Vice the other day, but didn't really pay attention at all. I'm more into going to concerts and hockey games than to movies. EDITED for being an idiot and not reading the "nominate up to three" in each category part. I added a couple nominations. Mostly for sports though. I just realized how out of touch I am with TV and movies. Not to mention video games. And I used to be a big gamer back in the NES days.

The Songs That Changed My Life Europe - The Final Countdown Really the first song I can remember liking lots as a kid. It was a big hit and got airplay everywhere at the time. 80's were full of catchy pop tunes, but for some reason it wasn't until I heard the keyboard and guitar melodies of the Final Countdown that I became interested in music. At the time I was too small to start buying tapes or vinyls, but the effect of the song did remain to the day I started building my record collection and must have had something to do with me beginning to like heavy metal. I can't say Europe is my cup of tea anymore, but the song still has a special place in my heart. Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water I don't know when I first heard it, but it was what turned me into a rock and metal fan. I was in junior high when I was thinking of what kind of music I actually wanted to hear (before that it was mostly crappy stuff that got played on MTV). I must have known Deep Purple and this song, but I believe it was one occasion when I heard it on the radio just at the right time when I was in the mood for some music. It left an everlasting impression on me and I desperately wanted to hear more music with loud, heavy guitars and big choruses. We're talking about the early 90's here, so obviously stuff like that (heavy metal) was not popular at the time so I couldn't just go out and buy heavy metal CD's, t-shirts and concert tickets without getting shunned by all my grunge and alt rock loving friends. So I didn't go directly to the music I love now, but since image was so important at that time in my life, I began with bands like Megadeth and such that were metal, but still acceptable. Only later did I actually involve my love for metal guitars AND big choruses and melodic vocals in the vein of Europe. I'm way past Europe (second time I said it), but still like some glam to this day. But it also made me discover more 'mature' heavy metal bands like Savatage and all their countless side projects such as Circle II Circle, Doctor Butcher, Chris Caffery, Jon Oliva's Pain and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast Okay, another song that turned me into a metal fan. Except this one REALLY made me into one. Long hair, bad attitude and you know, the stuff. I was a casual listener of a small number of heavy metal groups at the time. This song was played on TV or radio (the situation escapes me) and I was really intrigued: there is a band that has songs THIS good? I MUST hear more. As it happens my friend had some Maiden discs, and I borrowed Number of the Beast (duh) and it blew me away. One unbelievable heavy metal record. I go and buy Fear of the Dark (the latest Maiden album at that time) and just like that I'm a big fan. After that there was no turning back. I would never be able to listen to normal rock or pop music and be satisfied anymore. Queen - Show Must Go On This one is real personal. And quite recent, even though I've owned some Queen discs for quite some time now. Show Must Go On was the favourite song of my best friend. He played it and sang it whenever he could. He was my best friend since we met in elementary school. After tragic events, he died of alcohol poisoning last winter. I was out of the country at the time, but it was suspected he committed suicide. It's hard for me to listen to this song and not feel touched. I always think of him. He was one great dude. Genesis - No Son of Mine This one is personal too and is all about the lyrics. Goes back to my childhood really, as you can imagine. Broken home and never knowing my biological father. Blind Guardian - A Past and Future Secret This is a song with what Blind Guardian caught my attention. The time I got into power metal, late 90's, there were plenty of bands. So many, in fact, that I just didn't have enough time to check out all of them. Iced Earth was one of the bands I got into during that time. Stratovarius, too. Gamma Ray. But there were also quite a few misses - CD's that I bought and ended up hating, like the Hammerfall, Rhapsody and Wizzard discs I got to name a few. But this song, A Past and Future Secret, has this medieval folky acoustic feel to it that is just unheard of in metal. I mean, obviously I like some folk metal like Skyclad (awesome band), but even they don't do stuff like this. Eventually, I found out Blind Guardian had made some absolute killer albums and I became a huge fan. Imaginations from the other Side remains one of my favourite CD's of all time. Rainbow - Temple of the King This is a little harder. I could have chosen several other songs instead of this, but I was thinking back and remember liking this song a lot ever since I first heard it. Ritchie Blackmore's involvement was what first got my attention. But this song is what made me get into Rainbow fully. Nowadays my opinion is that Rainbow is better than what Deep Purple ever was. And Rainbow served as a bridge into a lot more awesome 70's heavy metal groups such as Uriah Heep, Blue Öyster Cult and so on. And of course Dio and Black Sabbath. Anyway, a tremendous ballad. One of my all-time favourites. Hearing Angel Dust's cover version helped me discover them - and now Angel Dust are also one of my favourites. Guilty Pleasure Eminem - Brain Damage This was real hard. At first I thought I'd leave this empty since nowadays I am not embarrassed about anything I listen to. I'm way past the phase where I cared what others think of my taste in music. But I just thought it's a good chance to bring up a controversial favourite. And even if I ain't really embarrassed, it would still be the favourite I am more ashamed of than the others. And seeing how my CD collection has lots of stuff like Cinderella, Dokken and such, it's going to take a lot for me to find something truly controversial. But hey, then my eyes met the two Eminem CD's I own (Slim Shady LP and Marshall Mathers LP). I sort of enjoy the first of the two discs and Brain Damage always was a favourite of sorts. I admit, when I got it, I figured it was some sort of humour music. Now Eminem is all serious artist and all, and while I may have opinions about that, I will keep them to myself for now. Point is, it's a good song and a ton of fun. The whole album brings me back to my teenage years (I was 19 when the debut came out) and I must say I'd lie if I claimed pot didn't play a part in my life during that time and before. So it felt like a good purchase and quickly found it a good, fun listen when with friends. I have no idea why I picked up the follow-up disc. I wasn't really interested in the music in the first CD anyway, and the second CD flat out sucked. I must have thought Eminem was a flash-in-the-pan and it would be awesome to own both releases of his short music career. Much like when I get a CD of an old, retired band and find out it sucks, I still may go "well, they only made two albums, might as well get the other one too. Why not?". It makes no sense, but that's what I do. I'm nuts. That's why I own hundreds of CD's. Songs I Currently Like/Are So Hot Right Now I tend to listen to full albums only, so picking single songs is tricky, but I think I nailed the songs I like a lot at this moment. Circle II Circle - Burden of Truth The new Circle II Circle release is certainly heavier than the last two, but it's been a slow grower. Sounds a bit like Iced Earth's the Glorious Burden. I am not usually into big walls of guitar distortion in the Pantera vein (man, does "Sentenced" sound like Cemetary Gates). The songs are also mostly mid-tempo whereas I like my music fast and furious, but there's lots of nice melodies and of course this track has the trademark Savatage counter-point vocals. I really like the atmosphere set up by the vocals. Blind Guardian - Otherland From the new Blind Guardian album, A Twist in the Myth. A real back to the roots song. Sounds like it was taken off of Imaginations from the Other Side. Love it. Iron Maiden - For the Greater Good of God I find the new Maiden album to be the best they ever recorded. And this is the absolute highlight in it. An unbelievable, epic track. Instrumentation is encaptivating, vocals powerful and the lyrics challenging. About world religions, of course. Chris Caffery - Abandoned From Caffery's debut solo album, Faces. The album is awesome - it already came out in 2004, but this is one of the slow growers. Nice, heavy guitars and again, trademark Savatage counter-point vocals to finish it off. Savatage - On the Sun From the 1983 'Sirens' album. Been listening to it a lot lately, and this one just came to mind. The whole album is really raw and absolutely PUNISHING. From the early era 'Tage discs, I always loved the Dungeons Are Calling more and prefered it to this one, but after this week I'm not so sure anymore. Axxis - Flashback Radio Ah, Axxis. My new favourite band. Never, EVER listen to them, they will devour your soul with their songs. As cheesy and catchy as any band you can name or think of. Given Axxis's style to write songs, someone could easily turn all these songs into pop hits that would dominate the charts (if accompanied with a video featuring a 'chestly gifted' teenage diva). Anyway, Axxis are borderling guilty pleasure, but damn, do they make catchy songs. The giant choruses, melodies and vocal harmonies are totally out of this world. I would compare them to Scorpions, Pink Cream 69 and Edguy, but I don't know if even that is fair - for one, Axxis doesn't really write much body to their songs and the verses seriously lack anything interesting, and they heavily, HEAVILY rely on the choruses and all songs are based around it so much so that they feel the need to repeat it to no end. By the end of a song you may feel the need to break the disc because of the hooks and melodies that will haunt you forever, but you cannot deny the genius. I have the limited edition digipak version of this album (just bought it this week) - and to add insult to injury, Axxis thought it was a good idea to throw in a cover of "Na na, Hey Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye". Having that song there covered by the vocal harmony stylings of Axxis just goes over-the-top in any scale of anthemic stadium rock. Flashback Radio is one of the least insulting songs on the disc and it's a pleasure to listen to it. But the chorus is still huge... and I've been humming it all weekend now. I can see myself in an asylum a month from now.