(no subject)

The soon-to-be-outgoing neighbours began the Thursday Night Party at 10:30 -- just after I'd gone to sleep. After about an hour of deep bass, loud whoops, and general annoyance, I went downstairs, turned on the kitchen light, and -- it stopped. Fuckers.

Three things I will never understand:

Why is it so important to so many people to have music LOUD? I rarely go to clubs or live shows because the volume actually hurts my ears, and I don't need my music to be above "comfortably loud". I mean, I get turning it up a little -- but if your volume is so high that I can hear every word next door, it's too damned loud.

What is WITH the deep bass? I get that bass is important musically, but does it really have to be set so it rattles my damned bones from a block away?

What is the frelling appeal of stupid whooping during a song? I kind of get it when live -- showing appreciation and all (though I'm not partial to doing it myself), but when listening to a CD? Excuse me, but Mr. Mathers cannot hear you, fucktard.

Maybe I'm just getting old.

(no subject)

I grew up to Johnny Cash. "Ghost Riders In the Sky", "Ring of Fire", all the great -- and the not-so-great -- songs he brought to the world.

The man is gone, but his work remains important, it remains vital, and it is still loved. And that's the best tribute you can give an artist.

(no subject)

I have a preference -- nay, a fetish -- for speaking in precise, modulated tones, using somewhat outdated or archaic syntax, and playing "games" with language, using it in acceptable but uncommon ways. I don't do this all the time, but often.

How pretentious is that?

While I'm at it, I reccomend three books:

There Is No 'Zoo' in Zoology
The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations: The Ultimate Opinionated Guide for the Well-Spoken
Is There a Cow in Moscow?: More Beastly Mispronunciations and Sound Advice: Another Opinionated Guide for the Well-Spoken.
All by Charles Elster.

I don't agree with everything Elster says (I prefer to pronounce foreign words as they're pronounced in the source language (or at least as close as my atrocious accent can come, in some cases), but the books are funny and informative, if you're into linguistics and the ways pronunciations shift over time.

(no subject)

If all goes well, I will have 'net access at home again this afternoon. PLEASE go well, universe. I'm not in the mood for crap.

The Friday Five: Names

1. Is the name you have now the same name that's on your birth certificate? If not, what's changed?

No. I actually have three birth certificates, only one of which is still legally valid.

The first says my name is Michael Robert Johnston. The second, revised by my mother (and at great effort, I might add) says my name is Michael Robert Eugene Johnston (she wanted me, it says on the attached legal form, to have my father's whole name). It is this second one that makes me somewhat melancholy that I didn't take back my birth name when I was 18.

The third, and the only one still legally valid, says my name is Michael Eugene Davis, and lists the Evil One, La Vada Davis, as my mother. If I could get my hands on that, I'd burn it, bury the ashes, and salt the ground over it.

There was no new certificate made when I changed my name at 18.

2. If you could change your name (first, middle and/or last), what would it be?

I've thought about changing it again, taking back the name my parents meant me to have, Michael Robert Eugene Johnston. But they're dead and gone, and I am still here, and I've been Michael Atreides for so long that I feel it would be too much work to change it now after 15 years.

But I am considering changing it slightly so that I'm Michael Robert-Eugene Atreides instead of Michael Eugene Atreides.

3. Why were you named what you were? (Is there a story behind it? Who specifically was responsible for naming you?)

I was named Michael after my uncle and Robert-Eugene after my father. My parents made the decision together.

4. Are there any names you really hate or love? What are they and why?

I loathe Eugene. I love the names Alexander, Jacob, Jason, Elizabeth, and Talia. I just like the sounds of them, really.

5. Is the analysis of your name at kabalarians.com / triggur.org / astroexpert accurate? How or how isn't it?

Not at all. Kabalarians.com says I'm not at all inclined to make light of serious things. Bullshit.

(no subject)

I'm now back online from home. Yay.

Except for a change of email, it's great to be back. The new email is mahdi7 at comcast dot net (I'm sure you all know how to cope with that).

I MIGHT be able to get back the atreidesmre address, but I've already sent notices out to people, so why bother?