Sign-up FREE! View Cart Login
HyperLink
1 Online
 
 

Stavro Arrgolus's Blog

Topic: Editor's Blog- (4/10) Did I Say "Overlords"? I Meant "Protectors"

 
Stavro Arrgolus   Offline  -  Editor, MP3  -  01-18-13 01:47 PM  -  11 years ago
fiogf49gjkf0d
April 10 - 1:45 pm EDT

S o...Spring is here, life is skittles and life is beer...or something.


Since medical thingies are still happening and my vision & voice are still shot, I can't record the shows I've carefully assembled, so I went back to editing. You know, that thing I'm supposed to be doing anyway.

First, I swatted multiple spammers recently - though that's more of an admin function. You can't deduce from this that "Spring brings out the spammers" since Africa doesn't have a spring. Not the kind that generates spam and the old Nigerian scam, anyway.

I thought it improper, especially after the Glee "Baby Got Back" fracas, that we didn't have a more complete JoCo collection with filled out pages and song notations and such. I had a go at that in the last few days. A massive thanks to JoCopedia and similar sources for all the details I was looking for. Not quite done yet, but if I missed anything obvious, post it here. I didn't add any keywords as getting it all as correct as possible came first. If you like an updated song page, add a fact, write a review or at least "like" it on Facebook.

Meanwhile, I'm going to have another whack at adding the recent Mad Music Podcasts to iTunes. After much griping, I'm no longer locked out of the function, but the instruction I found on the page was rather bewildering (to me, at least). In the true FIDIM spirit, I'm going to work around it and see what happens. I can't get a response from Wayne about the instruction, but maybe if I screw with the page enough, MMP-19 and the Xmas podcasts Dave AuJus made will magically appear on iTunes. A worthy result for such effort.

When/if I recover enough to do it, the 4 types of Mad Music Shows will resume. One at a time, not all at once.

Those of you who've heard the few shows I've made (through sheer willpower alone) know that I don't announce websites on them. There's a reason for this besides saving time for more songs and a strong desire to make fewer vocal mistakes....and I'd like you to tell me whether you agree with this or not. To me, in the past few years, announcing websites has become anachronistic. These days, if you want to find a site, it's the work of a half-moment to JFGI. In the past, it was more of a sales thing to make the listener make the effort to visit another site. Now, with Google (and..cough, Bing or whatever) it's second nature to thoughtlessly find it using search engines. No goose on our part is needed now. Disagree? Tell me...

This page is becoming load-intensive, so I'll start another blog stack with the next post.


February 14 - 5:30 pm EST

I hate excuses. I hate saying, "Oh, waah! I'm in horrifying pain, so I can't do this or this." It's taking the pussy way out. I thought because I was forcibly retired and had nothing else to do, I'd become a "monster of recording" and be a super-prolific maker of shows, able to match what Wayne had done in the past. "Alackaday, and fuck my luck!"[-Vonnegut] My spine had other ideas.

How It Is

MMP-23 neared completion when I fell on icy grass in the backyard and tripled my back pain for no good reason (more excuses...grumble...). This gave me time to write the script for MMP-24. Show 23's theme asks questions and show 24 answers them...(ooh, how cute).

Mad Music Special 161 - the 3 hour concept show about the Devil taking over the show and "guest hosts" and I collectively kicking his ass - Dickie Goodman style - will be completed and posted one segment at a time when I start to feel up to it.

And don't think I've forgotten about all those holiday shows I missed. As I mentioned elsewhere, they'll be posted quietly as they're completed - by mid-spring, I hope. You know...that time of year when "outdoor fucking" starts.

All these shows are complete with concepts, scripts & playlists. When my head clears and the lower back goes on vacation, I'll seize the moment to make them. All at once, probably. Though by that time, everyone will likely be too worn out from fucking outside to listen.


February 5 - 3:45 am EST

T his weekend, I'm tentatively expecting less pain, more sleep and to be feeling better. A perfect time to make just one show. It will be a single podcast (MMP-23) and it won't be mediocre. MMS-161 will be made after I can prove I can string a few shows together.

As I mentioned elsewhere, podcasts will no longer have show-long themes. CC restrictions make it notoriously hard to do. Any implied themes will now consist of just a song or 3 - perhaps four. Only the main 3 show types will have full themes. This makes it all a bit easier.



The skull's headgear really should be different colors for different shows. I need more Photoshop practice - after I make a few shows.

News? Bah! I've given up on trying to make the shows topical. I'm never up to making them and then the events just pass me by. Screw it! I'm sticking to Mad Music and mayhem! Lots of shouting and zapping interloping fictional creatures with electricity - or dumping buckets of realistic sounding diarrhea on them. Yes, that cheesy lot of second-hand electric donkey bottom biters are going to get a good taunting this time! Daffy English kannnnig-its! I don't even have to move from the chair to do that. It's just as well.


February 1 - 1:30 am EST

I t's 1 in the morning, so the time of night for new blog entries and/or site/show updates has arrived. So here goes.

Some days ago, I ran out of the pain-go-bye-bye pills that make living tolerable and I can't get more until the 8th. I ran out of sleeping pills yesterday, so I'm going to be awake non-stop for a few days. I might as well make a blog entry. ...Like I have a choice now.

Naturally, no sleep + agonizing back pain = internet shows are "no fun any more" to make. Oddly enough, trailing off on an entirely different med has started to give me my motivation back. I did some dishes today that had sat there filthily (is that a word?) since before Thanksgiving. Now my back hurts more. It's going to take a couple of days to finish the rest of the pile, but I just might feel like doing it again soon.


Which brings me to the state of the shows. Until I can sleep and be relatively agony-free (the 8th), there's unlikely to be shows from this end. Good thing we have so many. The first Mad Music Special (MMS-161) is actually a very good show with clashing concepts (cleanliness and the Devil) that go disastrously together, making for a really good mayhem-filled show....and as soon as the fucking agony in my back stops and I can sleep again, I'm going to finish making it.

It's going to take some effort, though. And in my present state, I can only go and rest in bed (because aspirin isn't all that effective for damaged spinal discs). Aren't we supposed to have legalized medical marijuana in Massachusetts now? I'm a cancer patient - where's my wacky weed, you state bastards?!

Ok, I saved the question until the end, in case anyone's still reading this bitchy dreck. Should I wait until I feel better to finish the show or should I do what I mentioned before somewhere and slap together a mediocre podcast just to have something to release? Just wondering.


January 24 - 1:45 pm EST

P unch the air and sing, "Christmas, My Arse!"


Can't get that song out of my head. It's been extremely painful this week and I'm going to run out of meds (drugs are bad, mmmkay?) for my back before too long. Knowing all this last week, I decided that if it was going to be too cold to go anywhere (still below zero) and pain and tinnitus would be my constant companions, this week would be really good for sitting on my ass, looking at the arctic horror outside and making some podcasts - or putting them together, anyway and releasing at least one.

That's what I've been doing this week. I changed the title of the new podcast to 'Time The Avenger' (an old favorite Pretenders song) because around my birthday last month, something cranked time up to 'I Love Lucy' speed. Now every hour lasts three minutes. The good news is, for me, Spring is scheduled for sometime next week.

I grew a snazzy white beard in what seems like a few days ago and with minor trimming, it looks considerably more distinguished than I actually am. In more recent times, I was worried that I'd be mistaken for a terrorist if I grew one again. I used to have one when I was a kid - when terrorism was an unfamiliar concept. No one questions your age when you have a full beard, so beer & Yukon Jack were easy to get back then. The meds won't let me drink now (I'd be SO much fatter now if I did), so I'll fill this day with making a show instead.


Elixir of (my) youth. Just don't drive anywhere.

Some years ago, my beard grew in white shocking the hell out of me - the rest of my hair was still (mostly) its natural color, so I had a Kenny Rogers thing going on. The mustache already adds years to me so the white beard added 20 more. I said, "to hell with this". These days it doesn't bother me any more. After all the cancer, operations and radiation, I now look my age, if not more so. A white beard is now of no consequence. Though the first jackoff who sees my beard and says, "Osama's back!" is getting kicked squarely in the nuts.

My cat is sitting on my PC tower and getting some sun - he was frightened away by Satan's voice a while ago. He's always been a real pussy cat if you know what I mean, nudge nudge. He's sunning himself while the starving coyotes who would gladly eat him are safely outside milling about in the white hell of the arctic tundra. I saw a scraggly one a while back. At least this latest snow isn't deep enough to shovel....

I'm sitting here questioning this crappy script and recording a somewhat punched up version. There'll be at least one podcast for you to chew on before the week is out if not more. And if they sound a little medicated, tough shit, I was amused for awhile making it. I'm seeing strange things outside - "Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn" while making the show. Ooh, a little CCR there, can't be bad. I'll release it when it's damn good and ready. And after I have some lunch (fish fillets - Mercury poisoning! Yay!) and a nap. Can't have that many meds for this much pain without a nap in there somewhere. Wonder if this expired tartar sauce is ok to eat...

Mercury poisoning + expired tartar sauce

At some point, I'm going to call Wayne's 1-800 number and complain that the newer admin powers he gave me aren't helping get the podcasts onto iTunes. They're only good for generating more errors. A call ought to get his attention. He isn't answering my e-mails so I'm going to try a more direct approach.

Keep warm out there.


January 18 - 2:15 pm EST

T oday, I got up at noon, went outside for some air and got a good blast of it - a below zero poke directly from the wind emanating from Satan's tingly toilet parts. A gentle reminder from Mother Fucker...er, Nature and all her little demons that January is here and all the website editors who overdid it during the holidays should stay the hell inside and write blog entries and compile podcast playlists.

I'm going to take her advice and do just that. Hopefully, Mad Music Podcast #23 will appear before too long. There'll be songs, surprises and everything else you can get away with when everything has to be CC compliant. Just as soon as I can get out of this bed and move around. This is one of those times I'm glad I stock up on groceries for months at a time.

The Great January Exodus is underway again this year and as I type this, we've lost exactly 100 active members in just a couple of weeks (479 down to 379). Back when we had thousands of members, this wasn't a problem, but 100 is now a quarter of our membership, so that blows goats. As always, I remind those who leave that we have loads of free comedy shows every week made by those who, unlike me, actually know what they're doing. There's more to dementia than Xmas music and it's worth it to check in every week, hear all the new shows and participate in the discussions/zaniness in the forums. And there is zaniness in the forums. I see to that.

While I'm thinking about it, a quick site rule:

Blogs can be about anything and one can use bad language, discuss felching, merkins, Dirty Sanchezes and Cleveland Steamers and such, and generally be raucous and vile if the spirit moves one.

BUT, when using the forums, a bit of decorum should be used and bad language should be curtailed - usually. You've got to pick your moment wisely. I don't have to tell you internet veterans how this works. Try to stick to the topic and be civil. This site has always been magical somehow in that it polices itself and little more than swatting the occasional spammer is all we admins need do. This is our oasis, our "treasure island", if you will, in a sea of boiling shit.

So, everyone keep up the good work and your editor will do his mightiest in this new year not to be a hypocritical asshole and swear in the forums as I've done in the past.

Member Comments:

Tim P. Ryan   Offline  -  Participant, MP3  -  04-10-13 10:04 PM  -  10 years ago
fiogf49gjkf0d
I was allready not saying all web page address, but instead mentioned in the show that the show listing leads to individual song and artist pages, where the information can be found. If artists think this site is valueable to them, then they can update the links on pages.
Even though as a fan or researcher, I have done hundreds myself.
So no worries about give addresses real or web for each song, each the talk to keeping the show moving.
Stavro Arrgolus   Offline  -  Editor, MP3  -  04-10-13 01:40 PM  -  10 years ago
fiogf49gjkf0d
Doubt the rating programming took mobile devices in mind when Wayne installed it. If I can get a response from him, we'll see if this is fixable.

And I need to make a new blog stack soon.
peterpuck9   Offline  -  Participant  -  04-10-13 12:56 AM  -  10 years ago
fiogf49gjkf0d
Today I tried to rate a song from my BlackBerry and it gave the song a rating of -17.2 stars. I was able to fix the error by rating it on my regular computer. Just an FYI if anyone has seen this error and to make sure that your rating is what you intended.
Stavro Arrgolus   Offline  -  Editor, MP3  -  02-14-13 04:42 PM  -  11 years ago
fiogf49gjkf0d
Yesterday when I woke up (2:30 pm - damn insomnia!), I saw some foreign spam on the site posted 5 hours previous when I was "sleeping".

At around 2:45, I erased the spam, suspended the foreign spammer (to whom a warning in English would mean nothing), and looked for more of his spam. Finding none, I noticed that zapping spam is erasing evidence that justifies the actions taken.

So starting now (only because my head is clear enough to think of it now), I'll note in this blog thread whenever a spammer is zapped or worse, when the Chinese & Russians/Eastern Europeans decide to attack the site again.
Stavro Arrgolus   Offline  -  Editor, MP3  -  02-09-13 02:56 AM  -  11 years ago
fiogf49gjkf0d
The state (Massachusetts) Politburo has decreed cars are banned from the roads due to the blizzard. Defy the Commie state and spend a year in jail?! Screw that. On rare occasions, it's good to be forcibly retired and not have to drive anywhere.

Just typing this so I'll remember that this happened when July comes around.
Stavro Arrgolus   Offline  -  Editor, MP3  -  02-05-13 03:35 AM  -  11 years ago
fiogf49gjkf0d
Well there's something positive. Before I was forced into retirement, state income tax here was murderous - I imagine it still is. All that money for education and for what? So Taxachusetts can suck more out of me.

I should have saved the money I wasted on college and bought a house that's less drafty in February.

---
MarlinsGirl:

I forgot one more thing that's positive about Florida, No State Income Tax.
MarlinsGirl   Offline  -  Participant  -  02-01-13 05:55 PM  -  11 years ago
fiogf49gjkf0d
I forgot one more thing that's positive about Florida, No State Income Tax.

---
Stavro Arrgolus:

Good. It thought it might be a bit unreadable.

No HOAs up here either. Which is worse - Blizzards or HOAs?

Nothing stops blizzards, but with the right kind of shotgun.....

---
MarlinsGirl:

the only positive thing about Florida, there's No SNOW.

Terri M.

I can see the words on your avatar just fine.
Stavro Arrgolus   Offline  -  Editor, MP3  -  02-01-13 01:32 AM  -  11 years ago
fiogf49gjkf0d
Good. It thought it might be a bit unreadable.

No HOAs up here either. Which is worse - Blizzards or HOAs?

Nothing stops blizzards, but with the right kind of shotgun.....

---
MarlinsGirl:

the only positive thing about Florida, there's No SNOW.

Terri M.

I can see the words on your avatar just fine.
MarlinsGirl   Offline  -  Participant  -  01-21-13 06:29 PM  -  11 years ago
fiogf49gjkf0d
the only positive thing about Florida, there's No SNOW.

Terri M.

I can see the words on your avatar just fine.
Stavro Arrgolus   Offline  -  Editor, MP3  -  01-21-13 04:38 AM  -  11 years ago
fiogf49gjkf0d
This week, it's predicted that January will live up to its reputation and unlike last week, this week will be colder than Andrea Dworkin's size 50 granny panties.

Below zero wind chills with howling gales and drifting snow and getting frostbite with 20 seconds of exposure and other such things await those unfortunate enough to have to go outside. Thankfully, I stocked up on food, so I'm not one of them.

At the end of the '60s, my father planned to move us all to Florida. Then the cancer got him (he smoked). Considering the things I'm always hearing about Florida, I get the impression I'm better off staying here and shoveling the damn snow.
Perhaps Terri can tell us what's so great about Florida. I'd like to hear a positive Florida story for once.

Where was I going with this?....Oh, yes...

This week, since it'll be too cold to go anywhere, I'm going to make a Herculean effort to get out of this bed and go downstairs and make a show. At this point, I don't particularly care which kind it is, but I'll try to make a show from one of the many completed scripts I have. No compiling or writing is necessary. Just recording. And I'll try very hard not to sound as medicated as I did in the 3rd segment of show 159.

Lastly, are the words on my avatar too small to see? Just wondering.
Stavro Arrgolus   Offline  -  Editor, MP3  -  01-19-13 01:02 AM  -  11 years ago
fiogf49gjkf0d
Rule three: NO POOFTERS!

I've written up a proper rule with Wayne's approval and sent it to him. It'll be posted on the help page when he gets to it.
peterpuck9   Offline  -  Participant  -  01-19-13 12:57 AM  -  11 years ago
fiogf49gjkf0d
Also, this term, I don't want to catch anyone not drinking......

Home - News - Forums - Features - Shows - Songs - Artists - About - Friends - Blogs - Search - Help
© 2004-2024 Mad Music Productions, LLC, all rights reserved. Portions are Copyright by their respective copyright holders.