Tag Archives: NY

Catch Up, Not Ketchup

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Some quick notes to catch up on:

We were recently linked to on H3N2FLU.us in this article linking back to our recently posted “Oink, Oink My Good Man” article. The site is dedicated to the latest news on the H3N2 virus (the virus formerly known as “Swine Flu”) and contains a wide variety of interesting information from reputable news sources. Be sure to check it out.

Follow up, on “Paranormal Activity” the movie – I received an email this evening (told you they couldn’t resist it) letting me know the following:

Hit 1,000,000 Demands and Paranormal Activity will open nationwide in the U.S. and Canada!

In addition, Paramount is giving two lucky fans a VIP screening of Paranormal Activity in their home town with the film’s director/writer/producer Oren Peli.

One fan will be selected randomly from all Demanders. The second fan will be selected from the city with the most Demands!

So there you go– the marketing campaign worked and we’ll all get to see what the buzz is about. Go us (?).

The number once Google.com image search for digitalflood.com for the past two months is “missing milk carton”. We come up on the first page and as result you can find our infamous image all over the place:

Some examples of df.com image hack jobs can be found here, here, and here… just to name a few. Glad to know we’re popular, but it’d be nice to get a little credit every once in awhile (*sheesh*).

It was painful watching my second favorite MLB team, the Detroit Tigers, lose to the Minnesota Twins; but it was cool watching the longest regular season one game play off match ever (12 innings, 5-6). History has been made. Looks like I got to find a team to root for in the play offs (and no it won’t be the NY Yankees no matter how much you try to convince me it should be). I think it’s going to be an LA Angels post season and I’m pretty big fan already (I had most of their outfield on my fantasy baseball team this year) of their players so maybe that will work.

Our second most searched image is our “Cats, the other white meat” logo:

As such, I’d like to remind you we do have ringer tees, dog tees, girlie tees, and even coffee mugs with that logo on it. Now you can let the whole world know what a sick SOB you really are… which makes you one of us so that’s just fine with me. Rock on!

This Friday (10/9/09) at TGI Friday’s in Middletown, NY (directions here) my friend Dave will be playing a gig at 10 pm EST. If you’re looking for something to do I’d highly recommend it. Dave plays a little bit of folk, a little bit of jazz, and some rock. I think you’d enjoy it (because I know I will) so show up or something.

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My Beloved Mets & 2009

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NY MetsMathematically speaking, the NY Mets were eliminated around two weeks ago when even if they were to hypothetically win every game they had left in the year and the lead wild card team where to lose every game left there would still be no way the Mets would have more wins then that other team.

As a die hard Mets fan this did not persuade me to give up on watching my team. No, like the true fan I am I wore my orange and blue ball cap every day. Every day I tuned in for as long as possible to watch them play on TV. And every day I watched them at least try to win or even sometimes manage to win games. They lost no more than they did the rest of the year, but this week that all came to a grinding halt. Over the past three games including today‘s 7-4 embarrassment, the Mets lost to the most losing team in baseball– the Washington DC Nationals. This meant the worst team in the Major League Baseball system had swept the Mets without a blink or whimper. In all, this basically summed up the entire year in a nutshell.

Let’s put this in perspective for those of you who are not baseball fans or those of you who may not understand just how bad this is in terms of losses. The Nationals have lost 103 games this year. They have only won 55. There are only four games left in this season. That means the Nationals have a .348 win percentage. For those of you out there who are not statistics majors, that means that just below 35% of the time the Nationals will win a game. A decent team will post a win percentage of around .500 (50% chance of win) and a great team will be around .600 (60% chance of winning– the NY Yankees right now are at .646 and the winningest team in the MLB). The Mets pulled in at a mediocre .421. This is way below average and just above really bad. Any bad team’s main goal is not to get 100 losses and with 92 in the books the Mets are nearly there though they will not reach that horrible 100 loss plateau even if they lose the last four games (which they just might– they’re playing slightly better Houston Astros who are at .465).

Like I said in the beginning of this blog entry though, mathematically speaking the season ended some two weeks ago; but with some 20 games left I wanted to watch my team finish with honor, with dignity, and to see this season out. Today the season did end though not officially, but in my heart as a fan. I watched the bats come as alive as they ever have this year mustering a 4-2 lead. I then watched my team’s multi-million dollar closer (the finishing pitcher whose supposed to shut down the game) Francisco Rodriguez blow the game. He loaded the bases, proceeded to walk in a run, and then gave up a grand slam home run to a batter who was rated lackluster at best. Last year Francisco Rodriguez earned the nickname “K-rod” on the LA Angels where he had the most saves ever in a year. Rodriguez holds the MLB record for saves in a single season with 62; which he set in 2008. This year he mustered some 50% of that effort at 34 for the year. Before we get too down on Rodriguez I must point out he has six blown saves and five relief losses. Those numbers are no worse than 2008 when he saw seven blown saves and three loses. He simply had more opportunities to win with the Angels.

It seems though even he has gotten caught up in the injuries, management problems, and general malaise that has taken over the Mets this year. And with that the season ends for me– what happens in the next four games will not make these past three games any better; nor the 92 other losses disappear. With still many starting players on the injured list and Jose Reyes (the staring short stop) looking like his injury may last until Spring Training next year this one is done. And with it– goes the hopes and dreams of another year.

I think SNY‘s Bob Ojeda (himself a former Mets all star pitcher) said it best during the post game wrap up, “You can blame the coaches and the players somewhat. The real person you have to hold responsible is the team’s manager. You can think about firing the whole team, but realistically the manager is who needs to be held accountable.” I could not have echoed any better sentiments. How much longer can Jerry Manuel stay? I’m not sure, but I do sure as Hell miss Willy Randolph. The Mets may have swooned in the post-season with him; but at least they made it past October 4th and worse yet– I didn’t stop watching before October 1st.

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Test Drives

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2010 Ford Taurs SHOIt’s been a rather interesting weekend. Went out with a few friends last night to GW’s in Chester, NY and got to drink a few nice cold pints of Guinness. It’s been 250 years since Sir Arthur Guinness founded the brewery in St. James Gate; which is in the city of Dublin in Ireland and brewed his first stout that would eventually evolve into the drink we consume today. To mark the anniversary of this momentous occasion we drank a few pints, told a few stories, and debated about music. Due to health reasons, I have restrict my alcohol drinking amount and that added a bit of extra air to the event. I feel that you always enjoy a good beer more when you consume it in moderation. This being a good example of why I feel that way. We ended the night appropriately enough with the infamous Chickenette sandwich at the Monroe Diner in Monroe, NY. A good time was had by all needless to say.

Skow and I managed to skip over to Washingtonville, NY and catch the Casket Architects as well during the course of the night. They were playing as the opening act for another band’s record release party. As usual, they were absolutely amazing live. We made sure to pick up their new album “Future Wounds”.

Today the local Ford dealer, Leo Kaytes, participated in the Ford Education Donation program call “Drive 4UR School” where you get a chance to test drive a Ford vehicle. Every test drive netted a $20 donation to the local school system in Warwick, NY from Ford and helps support the sports program. It’s a worthy cause (have to support the youth and help keep those kids fit) and how you can you go wrong with getting a chance to drive a Ford of your choice? I choose the brand new 2010 Ford Taurus SHO. Over 350bhp flows from a 3.5 liter direct injection dual turbo v6 engine to 19″ tires driven with AWD. The power delivery is smooth (I easily nailed 50 mph in about 4 seconds) though a six speed automatic. The roar of the engine is meaty and reminded me of my 2006 v6 Mustang on steroids in engine note. I was overall very impressed. So five minutes of incredible driving fun in a car that isn’t even available for sale yet, $20 to the school, and a win-win for everybody.

I also stopped by to watch my oldest daughter’s soccer game this afternoon along with my wife and youngest daughter, as well as, M’Weezy. She got to play goalie for the first time and made two nice saves. Her team lost 3-0, but overall they did pretty good (they won last week 2-0). The other team was a bit older and more seasoned. This is my daughter’s first year playing soccer and only her second game so she’s still a bit green, but she is learning fast. I noticed her defense skills were getting better and she actually played the whole game end to end without any rest (God knows I wouldn’t last 60 minutes). We’re all really proud of her in my family and I think it’s great she’s trying something new. She seems to really enjoy the game and is having a good time (which is the most important thing of all).

My youngest daughter has randomly (and seemingly out of nowhere) started saying the phrase “I’m nuts”. She must have picked it up on Noggin (she really watches nothing else). Nevertheless it was slightly funny to randomly hear her blurt it out without warning.

My wife, youngest daughter, and myself joined Skow, DJ SlipK, Aeryn Heather, and another friend at Cheryl’s Fried Fish and Soul Food in Middletown, NY. This was my first time up there, but Skow and SlipK have been raving about it for months. We were not disappointed. I had smothered pork chops, beans & rice, and potato salad. My wife had fried pork chops, mac & cheese, and beans & rice. My youngest daughter had the mac & cheese. The side orders filled a whole plate. Our pork chops were both huge. The food overall was amazing. The mac & cheese is the best I’ve had since my Mom’s homemade take on it. Outstanding. Definitely recommend it if you’re ever in the area.

M’Weezy stopped in today. We briefly talked about Pirate Radio. We’ll be lining up recording soon and starting to hash out a guest list. What’s holding us up is my orthopedist visit tomorrow. I want to know roughly how my schedule is going to look for surgery before I line a bunch of things up. Once I understand that time line I can start working on staging production around my downtime.

And that was my mundane, but very satisfying weekend in a nut shell.

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Shameless Promotion: New Casket Architects CD

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Casket Architects "Future Wounds" CDThis past weekend the Casket Architects released their new CD “Future Wounds” to much accolades during their CD release party at the Tuscan Cafe in Warwick, NY. I’m not one to pimp out the “scene” any longer (cause frankly the scene died about ten years ago a fiery painful and much under documented death), but it is noteworthy for a few reasons:

1. They are arguably one of the best live bands from Orange County, NY actively performing (if not THE best).

2. They are a sonic mind trip and a half– listening to their first two albums (“Dance on the Death Nerve” and “Skull Persuasion”) was like some sick late night mash up of Skinny Puppy and Napalm Death… this album takes it another step further.

3. There are few truly creative bands out there. Casket Architects manages to really cross musical boundaries, do something original, and be pretty darn melodic without being a Pop sell out in any sense. We call that “win-win-win”.

I’m not close with the band (so there’s no incentive for me to give props) though Skow admittedly knows them, but he didn’t ask me to pimp them either. I just feel they deserve the shout out and if you like digitalflood’s stuff it’s certainly worth checking out their new CD (which can conveniently be purchased through their new Merch shop).

Give it a listen and drop back to let me know what you think. You can (even maybe more conveniently) find the Casket Architects featured in the digitalflood Pirate Radio “Palindrome Remix” episode if you want a sneak peak at their earlier work. You can also listen to Skow and I babble about nonsensical metal ramblings, as well as, food during that same episode in case you’re into that sort of thing.

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DF Pirate Radio – Cliffnotes (2006 Season)

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Cliff Notes – 2006 Season

* The audio clips between songs for Pirate Radio are actually DJ Digitalflood’s voice altered via computer software.

* The original advertisements for the various Pirate Radio episodes can be found in the Graphic Art section.

* An annual event since 1999, the Digitalflood Party takes place usually the first weekend of June. The first DF Party was held in 1999 and was completely non-alcoholic. After 2004 the party moved to a local tavern called GW’s. The beverages shortly there after were no longer non-alcoholic.

* It’s important you watch the Strongbad Metal episode at Homestar Runner in order to understand Vol. 2 Episode 5. Specifically the phrases “Summon orbs!” and “OMG! Wanna join my Guild?”.

* Recording a Pirate Radio show in a 20×20′ room with six people results in the temperature easily hitting 85ºF even on the coldest winter days as the crew would come to find out. Fans couldn’t be run (or AC for that matter) because it would have messed up recording, which only made things more challenging.

* Pirate Radio monologues have no script or set agenda. In general, the crew is told a topic and everybody kicks the idea around from there in realtime while recording. Sometimes you find comedy nuggets; other times you find jokes you wish that nobody managed to hear you say. Song mixing was also improvised as the guests get to choose the order of the tracks leaving DJ Digitalflood on his own to figure out in post-production how to make them flow.

* You can email Pirate Radio show ideas and song requests to DJ Digitalflood via the Contact form on this web site. Who knows, we might actually play it for you and give you the mandatory shout out.

* DJ Digitalflood does all his mixing on virtual turn tables and audio production software. He began doing computer based audio engineering in 1996 including formal training during High School and College on audio production.

* DJ Digitalflood’s dubbed his audio mixing style “Cut Like Crack”. The style is completely home brewed and developed by DJ Digitalflood himself. The term was first used by DJ Digitalflood in a bar conversation in 2005 when some people asked him what his music sounded like. The reponse: Like it was cut with crack.

* You can keep up to date on DF Pirate Radio by using the RSS Feed function in most audio management programs such as iTunes and Winamp. When a new episode comes out the program will automatically download it.

* MC Mary @ The Disco! played lacrosse through out all of High School and is a fourth degree black belt in Tae Kwan Do.

* A mysterious hum appeared in the monolouges during the middle of Volume 2 that DJ Digitalflood could not explain. It wasn’t until recording some mix tracks after the end of the season that DJ Digitalflood discovered the cause– the computer fans and hard drives would spin up during recording causing the desk that the unit was on to vibrate. The microphone (which also sat on that desk) in turn would pick up that vibration as a low tone hum. The result was the sound you hear during the silence buzzing along in the background oh so annoyingly.

* The Chickenette is a real sandwich consisting of a hard roll filled with three deep fried chicken tenders, a slice of fried honey ham, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and Swiss cheese. It comes with a pickle, coleslaw, and a side of fries (which are best with honey mustard). The calorie count is around 1,600 per serving. You can order it at the Monroe Diner in Monroe, NY.

* The sound clips used during Pirate Radio are collected via the Internet and include many popular movies including “Anchor Man”, “Napolean Dynamite”, “Tron”, and “Meet the Parents”. There’s also a lot of “The Simpsons” clips. The sound effects are also off the Internet from various freebie sites.

* Despite all the talk about drinking it is intresting to note that DJ Digitalflood was Straight Edge (including no caffeine, alcohol, or drugs) between 1994 and 2004.

* DJ Digitalflood went on hiatus beween April 2006 and November 2007 to focus on his new wife and later on helping out with their newborn daughter.

* Early in May 2006 My Space deleted DJ Digitalflood’s public musician account for “copyright violation” complaints. At the time of deletion, DF Pirate Radio had close to 4,000 friends. Today Digitalflood’s private profile is friends only and limited to those he knows in real life. The profile was one the top ten most popular artists within Orange County, NY for over four months.

* Digitalflood MP3s can be found all over the Net and have been distributed by other sites throughout the world. This includes the Pirate Radio shows.

* DF Pirate Radio accepts artist submissions for the show. Use the Contact page to find out how you can be featured on an episode of the show.

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