"It's horrible, I love It, what is it?"

[swashbuckler332]

Today was a weird day. Not really bad, but certainly not all that wonderful either. I was in something of a foul mood for most of it, mostly because yesterday's update of the company's BlackBerry software is so insanely glitch-ridden that it actually was more of an impediment to being able to do my job rather than just an annoyance. I'll be honest, it made me want to put on a hockey mask and terrorize the 56th Street central office with a machete.
One must be wary when dealing with lattice of coincidences that one doesn't inaccurately apply that description to something which it probably does not warrant, this one is a bona-fide, confirmed plate of shrimp moment:

My grandmother and I had dinner last night. Afterwards, she gave me a box of stuff that was mine to go through. Among the items in the box were old mix tapes, including, amazingly, my old Led Zeppelin two tape set. Now, I don't really have much use for these anymore, but I know somebody who does, so I went through all of the unlabeled cassettes to see what was on them (I rarely used to label my own tapes because I always kept them in their cases, which were labeled).

Today I was at a job site and I spied a piece of stereo equipment in a dumpster. My interest was naturally piqued, and so I checked it out. It was a tape deck, which in and of itself is not such a big deal. But it was my tape deck, the exact model.



I use my tape deck once every couple of months, if that. That I should do so (for, I should add, unexpected reasons) and then the next day randomly happen upon its doppelgänger... eerie...

"Yeah, you guessed it. Time machines."
Okay, so I've been going through the tapes and some old CDs. I've made some really weird mixes, but I've also made some pretty straightforward ones. These are two that I recently made, designed to first and foremost to be mix tapes for a friend of mine who only has a tape deck in her car (neither does her boyfriend; I wonder if that was part of the attraction). I made them as I would any other mix today except that I applied dynamic compression to the tracks to make them a more uniform volume throughout than I would ever for my CDs. And they are both two discs that hover around the 45 minute mark in order to fit on one side of a 90 minute cassette. I would have just discarded the masters for these after I was done with them except that I kind of like them.

RIVERS ALWAYS REACH THE SEA

Side A (45:18)
1. BOB DYLAN: Tangled Up in Blue (5:37)
2. THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE: 1983... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) (13:35)
3. THE ROLLING STONES: Monkey Man (4:06)
4. SOUNDGARDEN: Blow Up the Outside World (5:41)
5. U2: Out of Control (4:09)
6. THE BEATLES: Hey Bulldog (3:06)
7. ...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD: The Lost City of Refuge (3:46)
8. SIMON AND GARFUNKEL: America (3:33)
9. CAT STEVENS: The Wind (1:39)

Side B (45:24)
1. ALICE IN CHAINS: Nutshell (4:08)
2. BUTTHOLE SURFERS: Whatever (I Had a Dream) (3:53)
3. RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS: Don't Forget Me (4:35)
4. NEIL YOUNG AND CRAZY HORSE: Cortez the Killer (7:24)
5. MAD SEASON: The River of Deceit (5:00)
6. LED ZEPPELIN: Ten Years Gone (6:25)
7. DAVID CROSBY: Laughing (5:17)
8. JIMI HENDRIX: Hey Baby (New Rising Sun) (6:00)
9. THE BEATLES: With a Little Help from My Friends (2:35)

HOLLOW SKY

Side A (45:42)
1. THE DOORS: Peace Frog (2:50)
2. THE POLICE: Bring on the Night (4:00)
3. IGGY POP: The Passenger (4:33)
4. DIRE STRAITS: Six Blade Knife (4:01)
5. THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE: Castles Made of Sand (2:41)
6. THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND: Whipping Post (Live) (22:41)
7. BOB DYLAN: Just Like a Woman (4:50)

Side B (45:16)
1. LED ZEPPELIN: Black Country Woman (4:21)
2. RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS: Funky Monks (5:14)
3. JIMI HENDRIX: Drifter's Escape (3:02)
4. BLACK SABBATH: Jack the Stripper; Fairies Wear Boots (6:05)
5. ALICE IN CHAINS: Brother (4:24)
6. NEIL YOUNG AND CRAZY HORSE: Cowgirl in the Sand (9:56)
7. THE STOOGES: T.V. Eye (4:15)
8. THE ROLLING STONES: Ventilator Blues (3:16)
9. LED ZEPPELIN: Trampled Under Foot (5:36)

This is a cut of the trailer for The Dark Knight that I hadn't yet seen:

WORK SAFE