Month: January 2008


Cool New Music


Another Animal. Most likely you never heard of them, but I was home last weekend and heard one of the songs on a Music Choice channel and something just clicked. It sounded like Godsmack and had some Alice in Chains elements in it. Not very original, but still good music. To explain this easier, I’ll quote wikipedia:

During the writing sessions of IV by Godsmack, lead singer Sully Erna encountered writer’s block so Tony Rombola, Shannon Larkin, and Robbie Merill (the musical section of the band) went to the studio and recorded music. After writing almost 40 songs, only 14 were used (Two being bonus songs). The left-over songs were then recycled by the members after they recruited Whitfield Crane of Ugly Kid Joe and Another Animal was born

So I get a copy of the album and listen to it. Some songs aren’t that great and some are average, but I have three below that are just awesome. The songs have are the most morbid and depressing lyrics that I’ve heard in a long time, and sadly they kind of apply to my life. Listen:

EDIT: Music and Player removed. Go listen somewhere else.

Broken Again is the main single that was released and sounds exactly like Godsmack with one Alice In Chains type guitar solo. Left Behind also has miserable lyrics and an even more distinctive Alice In Chains copying guitar solo. I like it better than Broken Again. Fade away is the most mild of these three. The guitar solo is acoustic and kind of sounds like it could be Weather Chanel music if it were played on a piano or some brass instrument. There are some other good songs that were on the album but I’m not going to post them all.

I’m done blabbering. Sorry if this post sucked, I’m not a professional music review writer.

Hello from Iona


Welcome to the Portfolioso.com coverage of the Iona vs. Fairfield game, reporting live delayed from the Hines Athletic Center. Don’t make fun of me, I am not a trained sportswriter and am not affiliated with anything. I also make poor travel decisions: an evening trip to Westchester, only to go back to school later and then come back to Westchester again the next day. Then Fairfield again the day after that… But that’s not the point.

Few game/ campus notes: The campus security cars went around nonstop with annoying flickering yellow lights that almost gave me a seizure – very unnecessary. The dance team had some Led Zeppelin in their performance which was impressive, but they also had some weird kind of bubbleboy contest. Iona’s old man pep band was interesting and played the Super Mario theme, Family Guy theme and other interesting songs (hint to Fairfield’s pep band – learn new material, it’s getting old hearing Impression 20 times). The stands were a little empty since Iona is still on break until Monday. A few hecklers were picking on Han calling out “blowout” and “Yeager Bombs” (Watch “my new haircut” on Youtube). Although last year, my aunt (a Gaels fan) gave Han shit about his appearance. Now that I’m off topic, this is why I don’t write for the Mirror. Anyway…

The Stags had a decent first quarter: the lead changed 8 times and they were only down by 4. In the second half, it all went downhill for the Stags. Cooley was pissed, the jacket came off and he got ejected. This kid Prodanovic kept hitting 3 pointers and the Stags ended up losing 67-52. 21 turnovers for the Stags. This is terrible coverage by the way – you should check out Keith’s game summary – he knows what he’s talking about, unlike me.

Then we left and went to McDonalds, and Eric L. doesn’t believe that New Rochelle High School is huge and has its own lake/pond. Until next time (actually probably not this was a special treat).

Jersey Tolls


“New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine on Tuesday asked legislators to act quickly to tackle chronic state fiscal woes by increasing tolls on some of the nation’s busiest highways every four years starting in 2010. Corzine unveiled a proposal during his Tuesday State of the State address to the Legislature to increase tolls 50 percent in 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022.

The increases would be used to help cut state debt and pay for transportation work, and include adjustments to reflect inflation in the years tolls weren’t hiked. After 2022, tolls would increase every four years to also reflect inflation.” -AP

This is a very, very, very bad move. As a resident of New York, I should not be paying for New Jersey’s budget problems with exponential toll increases. Yes, I am using your roads and do understand a toll, but the fares should not be increased by 50% every 4 years. This is horrible for the economy because increasing tolls affect other businesses, such as common carriers. Also, with the weak dollar and inflation, people will be paying more for tolls, but in 2022, the dollar will be worth even less – so this would be an even more devastating impact. Corzine suggested that if tolls are not increased, a 30% sales tax would be an alternative. So this means little kids without jobs buying video games now need to be extorted?

Two possible solutions, and you don’t need to be a politician to figure them out: If you cut spending enough, that should solve the problem without increasing anything. Another solution would be to increase the gasoline tax. It is not right that Jersey gets to have gas that is 30-50 cents cheaper than the rest of the country. If anyone needs to make up for the budget deficit, it should be the Jersey residents who are getting a nice break on gas, while every other state resident is getting taxed up the ass.

Tolls go up, that is understandable – and even if it increases to adjust for inflation, that is fine. But this proposed plan is outrageous.


Facebook App Abuse


Some applications are great, some are terrible, others are pointless. Many people complained that Facebook has become cluttered with applications. True, but this doesn’t bother me – you do not have to use them. What does annoy me is applications that resemble spam utilities or social viruses and do not function without people spreading them.

Take the “Are you stupid” application, for example. I get an invite to it and want to check it out – only to find out that you can’t even use it unless you invite 20 people. If you press “skip” it’s like “OMG you didn’t like invite 20 people, die!” Suppose I don’t want to invite 20 people? This isn’t right and is complete abuse of the open programming API, to generate more popularity for someone’s app. If you make a good application, it will become popular. Take Jetman, for instance – that was the biggest application success I’ve seen. You don’t see its creators forcing you to invite people before you can play. This new concept is nonsense and must be stopped, before it becomes a precedent for all new applications. This concept is no different than a virus – but it uses people to spread and function. I guarantee you that someone will exploit these applications in the near future to hijack Facebook profiles and and mess with people.

Another application which is really annoying is the Movie one. I keep getting 500 notifications that “Person X” (who I don’t talk to or even care about) has just scored 90% on the horror movie quiz, and I should challenge them. I’m pretty sure the person had absolutely no intention to send that message to people he or she has not spoken to in years, nor do I want to receive it. But apparently, whenever you do something on that application – it automatically sends spam to promote its use.