Okay, so my americanisation continues.

Yesterday I bought a grill (notice, the BBQ is called a grill, but you don't have a GRILL in the oven... wtf!). I then got Tarang, Ben & Keith to come around and grilled some steaks. Nothing like a hot day (~23 degrees, but better than normal), some mates, some beer, and some steaks frying on the BBQ.

Today, we went for wings at lunch time. Okay, I admit, I had no idea what people were talking about when they refered to 'Buffalo Wings' (I was assuming that the buffalo here did not have wings). Now I know, they are chicken wings in a spicy sauce (the name buffalo came from the fact these are a staple dish in the city of Buffalo). We only had mild temperatute ones, which was good, because they almost killed me. The hot ones would have burnt right through me.

So, Tool have a new albumn coming out on May 2nd. They are also playing at the Paramount theater here in Seattle the same night. Tickets for this show went on sale at 10am saturday morning... 10:02am, they were sold out.

In 120 seconds, 2800 seats had been sold... legititmatly.... uhhh, no, I don't think so.

Even if we remove seats that are dedicated to band/promotions/all that other stuff. Lets assume 800 seats. Leaving 2000 seats available to the general public (this is an assumption, I don't know real figures here). That means that 16.67 seats PER SECOND were being sold (even assuming 2 seats purchsed per transaction, thats 8 txns per second). Again, uhhhh, no, I don't think so.

What makes things even WORSE, is that tickets are now available on ebay for US$700+. Ontop of this, some of these auctions were set up BEFORE the tickets went on sale. How the hell do the sellers know they are going to get the tickets for certain ?

Sure, I can think of technical solutions to this problem. Automated programs to try and buy tickets for me (don't even bother mentioning that crappy 'what word is this' solution, that can be defeated algorithmically). A program, combined with a botnet, would allow you to have 1000's of clients trying to buy tickets all at the same time. This might work (I have just started thinking about this, so I am sure there will some sort of flaw/larger problem that I would need to work around).

I think the human factor is more likely here however. Unethical people selling tickets to friends/for profit, before the tickets officially go on sale.

Either way, the ticketmaster system needs to be overhauled. The current system is flawed, and unfair to the genuine fans who just want to buy a ticket at face value and support a band they enjoy.

And no, I did not get a ticket. I am hopefull that Tool will return for a stadium show where I have more chance of getting a ticket.

Until then, the new single is great, and I am really looking forward to the CD.

Oh, and I am seeing the Yeah Yeah Yeah's tomorrow night, so that will offset some of the pain :-)

7:35am - Wake Up
8:30am - Leave house.
8:36am - Arrive at work
Extra $200p/m in rent - Priceless.

In 6 minutes I would not even have been able to leave the island, let alone get anywhere close to work.

Tomorrow (assuming the forcast is correct, and it does not rain), I am going to ride my bike to work.

This daylight saving is really starting to mess with my head. I just went out to get some dinner (about 7:30pm), the sky is still as bright as about 3pm. My body felt like it was still mid afternoon, even though my head knows it's early evening.

The other night, when I was going to see the Strokes, going into the club, it was still daylight outside. I swear if it gets the point when it's still light when I am coming OUT of the club, then I am moving back home (and no it dosn't count if it's 6am and I am leaving ;-) ).

I've been reading a bunch of musical biographies recently. It started with Henry Rollins Broken Summers', the Marilyn Manson's 'Long Hard Road Out of Hell', Dee Dee Ramones 'Lobotamy : Surviving the Ramones' and now 'Come as You Are' a Nirvana biography.

It's strange to read Mansons biography and think, 'Well his childhood was a bit fucked up, but that does not really explain who he became[1]'. Then to read Dee Dee Ramones biography, and think 'okay his childhood was really fucked up, and it's suprising he made is as long as he did without killing himself earlier'.

Rollins book was a very different thing. He writes very much like he talks, straight and too the point. You got from his writing that he is the kind of person, who does not exist unless he is performing. His entire life can be summarised as two stages, preparing for the road, and on the road. He is living the Bushuto male existance. Rock On!

His writing also inspired me to learn more about the West Memphins Three. Henry believes them to be inocent, I believe I don't know enough about the case to make that sort of call, however the case does ask more questions than it answers.

[1] I respect Manson for what he has done. He identified a void in the modern music scene, and filled it. I don't know how much of how he comes across is real, and how much of it is just him being a showman.