Don't let anyone know you are in IT and can "fix" computers.

With my wonderful parents being the sole exception and with the horrific experiences it has brought thus far, I have learned to never let anyone know I have professional level knowledge with computers or anything technology related. This funny link to a comic shows you exactly why. It's too perfect.


Click Here For Article - The Oatmeal

The Great Divide

The Great Divide

I saw the city burn all night long (in the great divide)

Who would’ve thought we would here that song (hear it so many times)

All along I knew you would know

Searching for truth as we’re dyeing slow (in a toxic head of smoke)

No one could forget that sound

Glued to the TV now every night

Suits all keep talking but something’s not right (and I’m tired of all these lies)

Watching our future just crash to the ground

The age of innocence took a taxi out of town (in white powder and ashes)

No one could forget that sound

Lining your pockets with every last breath

You think that it’s over but we never forget (no we never forget)

Sinking so deep now and the secrets are kept

Sinking so deep until nothing is left (except a barbed wire fence)

No one could forget that sound

It’s a death roll

It’s a final blow

 They rush to bury it all

Because they want your eyes closed

The first human to live to 1000 years old is alive today.

Due to the explosion of technology and science in the last 30 years, a lot of new doors have opened for the future. A few of the most important sciences right now happen to be nanotechnology, biotechnology, and gene therapy. Many scientists believe at the rate they are going, in 1-4 decades we will have the ability live for multiple centuries, and maybe even forever. Or until we do something stupid to kill ourselves. To me this is an amazing possibility.  Then again, to anyone that has any intelligence this is an amazing possibility. Although it's quite the contrary to certain religious groups that retain serious power in our current world. It is against their best interests and they will do anything they can to disrupt these breakthroughs from happening. Remember Bush and Stem Cell Research?  The reason is obvious, most religions need death and sickness to be necessary, and lets face it, fear of death, poor health, and lower economic conditions are 90 percent of their fan base. Without these situations, they would have a real marketing problem.  As science and technology figures out how to rid us of these problems get ready because there will be a big divide happening in the near future. In one corner the religious right, a primitive people that doesn't believe in the "unnatural advancement of humanity," and in the other corner the people who will get to outlive those morons by 900 years. It's obvious to me what side I'm going to be on. How about you?

Click Here For Article - The Daily Galaxy

Hello Helicopter

Hello helicopter
You can take me far away
I know you’re a monster
But I love you anyway
You take all the credit
Then abruptly fade away
I wish you’d stay

Hello helicopter
Let me grab on and fly away
This is my final offer
Though I’ll change it anyway
You put me on credit
Help me fix all of my mistakes
I wish you’d stay

Cosmosis

The leaves they fall
And disintegrate
Sometimes life is just
Wrapped up in a cake

Round and round
The spinning cycle goes
Like your favorite shirt
Or a rodeo

Drops of rain
That shirt gets old and frayed
The earth gets wet
A simple serenade

Your demons packed in a box
It’s best if no one got hurt
The best ones all get away
One day we’ll all turn to dirt

Just like those leaves did before
And that box will open back up
Into the universe we know
Infinite miles we join the unified glow

if my body is the shell of a book
my heart beats the pages
life's collection of phrases
conscious graduation space station

if my body is a shell
set me free
take my soul
plant it like a seed

Mid Atlantic Freeze Out

Atlantic Freeze Out

Stuck in this fog
Conversations with god
If you keep me safe tonight
I’ll sing a different song
Sing a different song


The swells on the rise
Cold wet the sea is unkind
No one left to tell our sons
No one will hear our cries
No one will hear our cries

Think of your friends
Cause I am too young to let
Us all leave this world too soon
I know you’ll soon forget

Yells from the crew
In this ungodly place
Caps never seen a storm like this
A storm like this

Think of your life
Like a flash in the dark
Your heart is like an engine now
It’s just waiting for a spark
Just waiting for a spark

As we all just sink down
As it all gets so dark

Yells from the crew
In this ungodly place
Caps never seen a storm like this
A storm like this

He’s never seen
He’s never seen

Could I find you there on a wave
Could I find you there (waiting)
Could I find you there on a wave
Could I find you there (waiting)

As it all gets dark
As it all goes numb
You understand how it all begun
What we all could be
And what we all become
It’s such a fucking shame
I can’t go and tell anyone
As it all gets dark
As my body gets numb
I see the truth now
but I can't tell anyone
I think I’ll close my eyes now
I think I’ll close my eyes now
I think I’ll close my eyes now
And say goodbye

The Lonely Ghost

The Lonely Ghost

Running far away
I can’t change
Everything I hate
Stays the same
All my dreams are gone
Laid to waste

Please don’t ask me I can’t leave now
I just want to stay for a while
Please don’t call me I can’t leave now
I just want to play like a child

Stuck in between
This all seems
Like a mountain of dreams
That was taken from me
With my body left behind
There’s no end or time
Wish I could touch you again
And just say goodbye

Truth just sinks in like the ocean into sand
Maybe one day I’ll be human again
Maybe one day you would give me new life
Until then I’ll just watch you and float on by

Please don’t ask me I can’t leave now
I just want to stay for a while
Please don’t call me I can’t leave now
I just want to play like a child

The Giants are Finished

As a Giants fan the prospect of the G-Men playing a game on Thanksgiving is a dream come true. After sucking down piles of great food and drink, and chatting up the good times with your family, you can sit back and end the day with you favorite team on the tube. Everyone thought it would be a good game, competitive, hard hitting, and exiting to say the least. After witnessing this poor excuse for a pigskin showdown, there is only one word to describe theses men in blue we call are own. UNWATCHABLE. Barring a few terrific passes from Eli Manning to Mario Manningham and Steve Smith, this game was just downright awe full. I have a few observations that I must express. The first and foremost, the offensive play calling is just horrendous. This is really a big part of why the Giants have such a hard time scoring. The calls are just killing this team. They don't know when to go big, and when to tuck it under their arm and drive it up the gut. There is no feel for a rhythm here, and this is the most important part of any offense. Rhythm. The play calling is so limited, unimaginative, boring, and predictable. First things first. Fire Gilbride immediately. This guy is completely clueless and needs to go. Do not even wait until the end of this dreadful season. Fire him right now. Anyone who is running the ball with 5 minutes on the clock down by two touchdowns either wants his team to lose, or is too stupid to realize how fucking stupid he is. Second, there is something seriously wrong with the O line this year. Whether the play calling is bad or not, this team should be able to move the ball much better then they have on the ground and in the air. They have some really talented players that never get used to their full potential because the play calling, and the offensive line are doing everything in their power to fuck it up. This line has been an outright abomination at run and pass blocking. Only giving Jacobs a hole a mouse couldn't fit through on their best days. Don't get me wrong Jacobs has been an outright disappointment this year, but much of that is due to a pathetic bunch of O linemen that can't get out of their own way. Furthermore, their lack of pass blocking has caused Eli to be running all over the place like a madman barefoot on hot coal. This line is just so frustrating to watch, and something big has to be done. Clean house. Show these fat bastards that if they continue to perform like this, they will be working at Burger King in no time. Shake em up, and wake em up. I can witness this pathetic performance no longer, something must be done now.
Now that the despicable offensive problems are out of the way. Let's move on to the defense. I have to honest here, this secondary fucking BLOWS. I'm so tired of watching corner backs standing around like clueless fucking morons every game. Huge coverages are blown all the time and they just stand there like a bunch of fucking momos. What the fuck are they doing here? It really looks like the secondary just gives up late in the game every game. Maybe the talent just isn't there and by being outplayed so badly it makes it look like they aren't trying. I don't know, I can only tell you what I see. I'm not in their heads or in the locker room. What I do know is, they are up there with the worst in the league right now and are absolutely the worst in the red zone. I really think the grace period after winning the super bowl is absolutely over. The defensive line is not much better either.
No one has an excuse anymore. It is now time to demand better a performance or begin kicking some of these worthless pieces of shit out the door and begin restructuring pronto. This is not the Giants anyone could watch and root for. This is a disgrace on wheels. Someone better send out a wake up call or this slowly sinking ship will quickly become a graveyard and home for the fish.

Football Sunday Score: Commercials 27 Football 3

Football Sunday. A day most sports fans cherish, and look forward to. It is such a special day to fans we even try to work our busy schedules around it. Shitloads of friends, food, beer, weed, and if you get really fucking lucky your friend stops by with 4 percasets with your name on them. What a day it is. Your favorite team on the tube, a beer in one hand and a broad on the other. You just can't beat it. Well, actually there is a big problem here that has grown to make me want to throw a coffee table at my wall. Furthermore between stuffing my face and sucking back brews I have gotten a little peak through the fog and I think there is quite a conspiracy going on here. That's right and you know what? I think somehow our stupid asses have been slowly brainwashed. Over the years, very slowly, the corporate world has slowly cranked up the heat on the marketing oven. It has tip toed up behind us and today finally kicked me right in the nuts. Think about it, back when you were young it was so pure and innocent. You look up at your television and you see the game, the score on the screen, and the two team names. Simple, straightforward and all we needed to be happy. It has gotten to the point where if Eli Manning had a Hyundai logo on his genitals I wouldn't be surprised. I'm so accustomed to being bent over and fucked in the ass by commercials all day, it barely fazes me. There is something really wrong about this. I am positive that over the years commercials get longer and longer, and here is the real kick in the groin, louder and LOUDER. Tell you haven't experienced scenario this too. You're sitting on the couch watching TV at like 10 at night. You know got work in the morning, and your girlfriend/boyfriend is snoring next to you. All you want is to watch a little of the tube and conk out to recharge for another work day. So you turn the TV up a little so you can hear the dialogue better and it's just right. Loud enough where you can clearly hear the people talking, but not too loud so not to wake your better half and get into a fight and wind up throwing your remote through your LCD. Everything seems to be going just dandy and then a fucking Budwieser commercial comes on and blasts the covers off of your bed and knocks you into a wall head first with sound waves. When did all these shitty commercials become so ridiculously loud? What the fuck are they trying to do market beer to Himalayan mountain climbers from my apartment in West Orange, New Jersey? Jesus fucking Christ, there has to be a law against this somewhere. Oh wait that would never happen because corporations make all the decisions for us and our Government is a bunch of sock smelling spineless douche bags with dollar bills in their eyes 24 hours a day. I realize commercials are an integral part of the money making machine of visual and audio entertainment. But do they really have to skull fuck us with nauseating commercials every fifteen god damn minutes to accomplish their goal? I guess they do. So the Giants won today and the Jets lost as usual (god they suck). Football Sunday has come to a close but I still have commercials zipping around my head like a god damn game of laser tag (I'm 30 and I may be showing it with a laser tag reference). After opening my eyes to this issue I feel like I was visually raped all day by Corporate scum and I need a cold shower. Thus I have a sad score of my own: Commercials 27, Football 3.

Ebay: Buying, selling, and punching a hole through your wall.

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The Ticket Nazi

originally written on 3/31/06

The last check is filled out. With utter disgust running through my veins, I slap the parking ticket and 35 dollars into an envelope and seal it up. At this moment in time I really want to throw up on my self. This is the fourth ticket this month, all parking. I could start my own god damn business by now with all the fucking money Nassau county has relentlessly sucked out of my wallet through the years. As I drive to the post office to drop off the payments of these tickets, I have half a mind to bang a right turn down to the courthouse and randomly kick someone in the throat. This is complete and utter bullshit. Someone please tell me how is it possible that with all the money we cough up to this town, village, state, country and whoever the fuck else, I can’t even park in front of MY OWN HOUSE without getting ass fucked by the town for 35 bucks. Give me a god damn break.

The real kick in the ball bag here is the puttz giving out the tickets in my town has a name for himself. I have a few names for him as well, but they aren’t nearly as nice. I must warn you, this is so idiotic and retarded I suspect you are not going to believe what I am about to say. He calls himself “The Ticket Nazi.” Forget the fact that he is pathetic enough to make up a nickname for himself. That is bad enough, but on top of that he actually calls himself a nazi. Oh god. No you can’t make this shit up. I’m about to track this punk down and leg drop his candy ass after swiftly kicking him right in the bunt. “But only girls have bunts right?!” most of you just said to yourself. Well there you go; you just answered your own question. So the self proclaimed ticket Nazi is running rapid around the town ticketing everyone and everything in site like a fucking lunatic, the real pathetic part is the fact that the majority of violations are absolutely asinine. No…. you couldn’t make this up if you tried. For instance in front of my house there is a no parking from 3-5 in the morning (this violation makes a lot of sense doesn’t it? WHAT THE FUCK IS ANYONE DOING FROM 3-5 IN THE MORNING THAT MAKES THIS TICKET OR SIGN AT ALL RELEVANT!!!??? The answer is nothing. The street sweepers and garbage men are all still snoring and beer farting on their wives unshaven legs at this point), and if I forget one night because I’m drunk off my ass passed out on my couch with some girls lipstick tattooed on my genitals, this guy is such an out of control pole smoker that garunteed he will have a ticket on my car by 3:01. What a fucking ass clown this guy is. If I ever catch him on the street out of uniform I will not hesitate to fire him head first into a fucking brick wall and violate those tickets up his candy ass. Get a life dude please, if not you’re going to get hurt.

You know the ticketing system in general is a major grade a fuck up if you ask me. Just look at the new sign I have up in front of my house right next to the other 15 titled “2 hour parking Monday through Friday bla say fucking bla.” This sign is obviously put up because I happen to live a few blocks from the train station and dick heads park their ugly cars in front of other people’s houses causing the home owners to complain to the town. By the way it’s mostly old ladies complaining because everyone else is at fucking work and doesn’t have the time to bitch and moan to the town about some lime green Monty Carlo from 1982 ruining the view of their bird fountains. Well because of these complaints the town then turned around a put this sign up to keep this from continuing, but what these fucking ignoramuses didn’t realize was this would dick all the home owners over not allowing anyone to park in front of their own dam houses. You see if the town had anyone of semi intelligence working for them, what they would do is simply give out stickers with your home address on them. You put the sticker on your window and the police can see if you are parked in front of your own home or not. If you and your ugly ass car don’t belong their then sure enforce the 2 hour parking, BUT If you do belong and life their and so forth, I think I speak for everyone when I say we should be left the fuck alone! Fuck off.

Match dot com or money all gone?

originally written on 8/14/06

About a year ago a friend recommended I try this singles website. Being that I was fresh out of a three year roller coaster of a fucked up relationship, I said what the hell.

A mere 30 bucks to get my feet wet again and quickly patch a battered ego? Not a bad deal. Besides I am saving myself for Rachel McAdams anyway, and until she drops the restraining order and realizes I am the only one for her, I have some time to kill. So I filled out the stupid little profile attempting to be somewhat interesting but yet exiting (career: violinist for cannibal corpse), posted a few pics, punched in my credit card number and away I went. My headline was originally “who wants a good donkey punch?” But friends tipped me off that I was coming on a little strong. So I toned it down a little bit. After eating a large quantity of mushrooms one night I came up with the much more subtle “bi- women welcome, as long as I can participate.” I know, what can I say I’m one of the last true romantics left today. As you can imagine, the responses starting piling up immediately, and why wouldn’t they? I’m freakin’ amazing. After a week of talking to a few great candidates (women desperate for the sex and verbal abuse), I finally lined up my first encounter.

Wow, let me tell you. In the year long experiment I have conducted on this thing, I have met some real grade A fucking loons. Everyone is a little crazy so this harsh accusation really puts in perspective the level of maniac we are dealing with here. They were Very VERY crazy indeed. I must admit sometimes I enjoyed it, but at the same time it does take a lot of energy to consistently beat a girl senseless with a raw steak while chasing her in an Easter bunny suit. Especially when you’re both on large quantities on MDMA and she’s naked doing figure eights on a tricycle. I mean it gets crazy hot in that god damn suit. Thank god I only wore the top half of it with my snake skinned cowboy boots really pulling it all together….Yea I know, thinking back I guess they really did have good reason to ban us from Eisenhower park. But hey at least the kids on the school trip seemed to enjoy it so I have no regrets. Anyway it took me a while to finally realize why these nut jobs are on this site in the first place. Because no one in real life could deal with their shit so they took their insanity to this little nutty slice of cyber space. Kind of like me. I’m not even talking sexually for the most part I had no problem with that. I mean their crazy and annoying ridiculous attitudes. I mean why is it such a big deal to bring me dinner every night in a Nazi uniform with roller-blades on? I don’t ask for much for Christ sake, what a bunch of cry babies. These women were really hard to deal with. Although I must admit there are a select few on there that are actually fun to hang out with and surprisingly good looking. Unfortunately there are only about 5 of them in there from New York. It’s kind of like hitting the lottery for one of those chicks to stumble upon your profile and actually write back. Although it has happened to me because I’m so god damn good looking (and I tell them I’m a CIA agent), but it’s rare. The problem with these hot buckets of love is they consistently have 19 guys lined up for them always, and you need to be a fucking magician to work your way in there. Waaaaay too much work for me. So unless you want to pull your hair out searching for a supermodel, you must settle for somewhat of a less caliber. Sure I know any woman reading this could turn around and say “You are complaining about the selection of women on here?!? Well guess what buddy take a look at yourself, all guys look for on here is to get laid!” You may very well be right and point taken, but at the same time it’s like comparing apples and oranges. You see most woman can get just about anyone or anything she wants because she has this very powerful thing betwixt her legs. I’ll bet you’ve heard of it or felt the power of it, because for god’s sake this is no new phenomenon. If you have this power, unless you let yourself become a complete slob and the stock of your meat locker drops faster than Enron, you shouldn’t have any trouble meeting a guy just about anywhere and at the time of your choosing. If you offered sex, not many straight guys out there would even think twice before settling the tab and getting your ass home with the quickness of Jose Reyes in a suicide squeeze. What the fuck does any normal chick need match.com for? Any decent chick walks out of her house and has 50 guys pummeling each other in a royal rumble with grenade launchers for their shot at the gold at the end of the rainbow. It’s like Halo 3 for these bitches for Christ sake. You see girls attacking for dudes like that? Except for an elite few guys that are just 6 foot plus vagina magnets, (women can start to play dirty over this species), let’s face it the rest of us are in a violent world war 3 of sausage fests trying to fight over the left over table scraps. Especially on Long Island where anywhere you go there are 8 obnoxious and desperately sex crazed guys to every chick. Even mediocre chicks are put on such a high pedestal around here it fucking amazes me. Some are so bitchy I think that they really believe that gold bricks fall out of there pussies every morning or something. And what makes it worse is when you finally get close to scoring with one these broads, 9 times out of 10 you know the fat ugly friend is going to step in and ruin it. Let’s face it guys unless you have money, or you are insanely good looking, in this day in age you are pretty much proper fucked. Because while you’re in your buddies shitty apartment with a bunch of dudes having that Madden 2006 tournament on Friday night, some investment banker is high as a kite driving 90 miles an hour while getting road head from a Victoria secret model in his Mercedes SL500. Yea I know, it sucks but that’s life.

I have probably met upwards of about 20 women since I began this bizarre and interesting internet journey. To my surprise a few were really cool, but of course I always figured out ways to fuck a good thing up. It never failed. But for good reason (I told you about my girl Rachel)! All in all be prepared to do a little damage to your wallet, which is no different when you’re meeting chicks anywhere else, but still you need to be smart about it. For instance around the 10^th girl I met I promised myself I wouldn’t do dinner on the first date anymore because it was really taking a toll on my funds. I don’t know why it took me so long to realize that this wasn’t necessary but it did. I mean take her out to eat on the first date?!…For what?!? So you could never see her again? What a moron. Most of them are so wasted by the time dinner is served, they have absolutely no idea what the fuck was being shoveling in their mouths anyway. More than once it was my penis covered in barbeque sauce topped off with an alfalfa sprout garnish (didn’t always get the response I had hoped for).

So my good friends, after hundreds of dollars, a restraining order, and 4 illegitimate children my tour of duty with dating sites is finally over. Thank god I made it out alive. On a serious note for once in my life, sure I would love to find a nice broad to spend some time with but the internet definitely isn’t the place to do it. And if learned anything after this experience it’s that women for the most part don’t like it when you pull your tool out in a 5 star restaurant and to her surprise have it dressed up in a little tuxedo with a top hat like the alien in Spaceballs. I thought it was a nice touch for the first date but go figure, shows how much I know. Hey good luck to all the single guys out there, I most definitely feel your pain. It’s a tough business to be in, I now know that first hand. Speaking of hands, that’s another friend you will learn to love while you are on your quest. Just be careful, don’t make the same mistakes I did (it’s not meant to fit in a shampoo bottle). More importantly, if they want dinner on the first date, take their fat asses through the McDonald’s drive through. If they don’t like it, kick them out of your moving car and watch them tumble through traffic. Save that money for good use like gambling, good drugs, and strippers. That is all for now my young soldiers. Onward to victory.

HALO 3: ODST - REVIEW Part I

We all have our own personal things that give us joy in life. It may be as simple as going for a jog, watching a movie, or listening to your favorite band to unwind after work. Everyone is different and your pleasure may not line up with mine and thats ok. It could also be as complicated as doing quatum physics at 3 in the morning trying to figure out what the fuck existed before the big bang. I think I'm closer to the dude watching the news drooling on himself at 11pm. Seriously though for me, Halo has been an entity that has been a part of my life for going on 9 years now. An entity that has given me much pleasure. Although I must stress, throughout this time it has faded in a out on my importance meter several reasons. For one Bungie takes milleniums to put out new titles drives you fucking nuts waiting for new games, and well I actually like to get laid once in a while. From the first minute I ever popped the fist Halo into my first xbox i know I had found my fix. Lets face it, being it's one of the highest selling video games of all time, I'm sure I am not alone with this opinion. Whether you like Halo or not, and believe me there is no in between. You either love the shit out of this game or despise it. You will never meet a gamer who is like yea Halo is "ok." It's either a gamer's bible, or they are discusted by it. The latter I can't even imagine who could think this way but thats just me. Regardless, whether you love or hate this game you can not deny it's importance to the history of 1st Person Shooters, and video games in general. It has single handedly changed video games as we know it. The smooth graphics, the smoother controls, the exiting plots many blockbuster movies don't even come close to. The first time I played this game christmas time 2001. I knew it was something special. So here we are 8 years and 3 record breaking games later and we finally have Halo 3: ODST. Now being I am a Halo lover and also a journalist. I must keep a level head and fight through my bias and really review this game fairly from anothers perspective. This is something I take very seriously and promise to do. So here we go. Lets start with the graphics. Right in line with previous games this Halo has hit my high level of expectation yet again. Smooth, vibrant, and colorfull this game is real easy on the eyes. Halo has a cartoony realism and beauty that many games have tried to match over the years but few have been able to pull off. When the first Halo first arrived on shelves they were light years ahead of everyone else in the visual department. The Bungie team was smart in keeping the attitude of "if it's not broke don't fix it" but yet they have also tweaked and tweaked along the way making the game look better and better. My only complaint is the enviornments playability. This is one place where Halo falls short. In this day in age we are used to being able to shoot up enviornments and destroy cars and shoot bullets into buildings, knock down stuff and just basically fuck shit up. In ODST there isn't much of anything besides your enemies you are able to destroy. If you are anything like me you want to be able to somewhat alter your enviornments, it just gives you that addes realism to the overal experiance. On the other hand you are so busy fighting covenant all over the place, you barely even miss it. Which brings me to gameplay. Bungie took a step to the next level with their AI. You learn early on that just walzing into the middle of the street in a firefight will leave you dead real quick. You need a plan of attack and some aiming skills or your going to restart at checkpoints until you smash your controller into a wall.

Elliott Smith - From a Basement on a Hill - Listenotation vol. 1

I don't know why buy do you ever think of certain people when you are partaking in a specific act? It's like certain people in your life are connected to certain things you do and those thoughts come out when you engage in those specific activities. Connections of the mind if you will. As I write this I listen to Elliott Smith - From a Basement on a Hill. I think of certain people in my life for some reason. Almost like I must do this justice for their sake, make them proud. Even though either way they would not care at all. To me it's a big deal, to my mind...because of that connection of thoughts and memories that all make one big state of individual consciousness. It's just the way the human mind works, for better or worse. This album I listen to right at this moment evokes several feelings throughout. Sadness; yea I know Elliott Smith evoking sadness!?!? How could that be! Loss; being it a posthumous release you can't help but think about death and how he died. Which brings you to Morbidity; As you think about his death your mind can't help but drift along to the specifics of it, (a knife through the heart) and just how ironic and terrible his end was. After you get all of that out of the way and actually listen to the album you are finally free to really explore this amazing piece music and everything it stands for or doesn't without any preconceived notions. Before I start let me stress this is all in good fun and Elliott is a musical genius and really who am I to critique that? Well whether I am worthy or not I am going to give my honest opinion and if you have a problem with that you can lay down on the Cross Bronx during rush hour and count to 1000.
We begin our journey with Coast To Coast. The first thing you notice by about the 2nd measure is there is a ton of production on this song. Now there is no way for us to know whether this is what Elliott wanted (supposedly he left detailed notes behind on how he wanted the rest of the album mixed after he was gone). To me the amount of chorus on his voice and all the effects takes away from the song. My personal opinion of Elliott Smith and all music in general is the least production the better. This is why I loved his earlier albums so much. It was just a man and his guiter. Music at its purest form and most innocent. You are just naked to the audience and every chord and every vibration of every word from you mouth is heard as it was supposed to be. This is ruined on Coast to Coast by a shitload of chorus, reverb, and distortion. The song itself is ok, but I can't get over him sounding like an alien from 1960 in the chorus. It just bothers me. Ok not a good start. Lets go to track 2 and see what happens.
Ah yes! He's back! Vintage Elliott Smith at his finest. Lets get Lost takes you right back to why you loved Elliott in the first place. Everything I just mentioned above and more. The song is mixed very tastefully, no Alien Elliott in the chorus. Just a beautifully done song with a great hook; "Burning every bridge that I cross, to find some beautiful place to get lost." The reason why his music is so powerful is his uncanny knack of making you feel like you are almost getting a sneak peak into his soul. Whether you like him or not, Kurt Cobain had a similar talent. Lets get Lost is one of those very intimate songs short and sweet and to the point. Love it, Love it, Love it. I want more.
Pretty (Ugly Before) is song 3. Another wonderful song. This builds upon Lets get Lost and picks up the pace a bit. Adding piano, electric guitar, bass, and drums, you see the other side of Elliott songs, full band mode almost like a super evolved Heatmiser song from the days of old. As when Elliott songs really impact the listener his lyrics bleed honesty and intimacy but are perfectly balanced with a sweet melodic melody. In this respect, this song hits on all cylinders. With lyrics like "I felt so ugly before, I didn't know what to do," with a simple yet tasteful piano topping. You almost feel like he was on an upswing (lifting his depression)and maybe things wouldn't end the way they did. We will never know.

To Be Continued!