So Mitzi forwarded me a page on how to improve YouTube quality just by adding a small string to your embed code. Well it WORKS! Check out the difference below…
Without the hack:
With the hack:
I don’t know what kind of impact this has on the YouTube servers, if at all. But it really makes the YT experience considerably better I think!
Just a quick post to say that I upgraded the database on the forum and freshened up the design. I did not migrate the old data over so it’s a clean slate this time. Things were pretty much dead on the Random Interaction forum for months so I felt it was time for a change. The forum’s focus is now back to Rush like it was originally almost 9 years ago. If you’re a Rush fan at all, please register and join us!
Jem Godfrey and his sense of humor simply make my day. If I was in a band with Jem I would never get anything done because I’d be in tears from laughing all the time. His latest entry from yesterday on “View From The Cube” included the below “Experiments In Mass Appeal” bonus DVD excerpt. (Get yours ordered here or here.) I especially love the bit where he tells all the progheads online that complain about songs not being 25mins long to “SHUT UP!” It’s all brilliant…
Last night Mitzi, Allison and I (Peter and Sam met us there) went to see Opeth here in Baltimore. By the time we made it in the venue, Baroness was already playing. They actually turned out to be pretty good. They had some good tunes that included some nice, textured instrumental sections. The second band, called High On Fire, was just awful and their set wouldn’t end quick enough. One volume with no dynamic changes to speak of and horrible vocals. How they got on tour with Opeth boggles the mind.
Once Opeth finally hit the stage I was SO ready. We ended up hanging out at one of the bars off to the side as to avoid the crowd of smelly metalheads. The view was actually pretty good and we could see almost everyone except the keyboard player. I took these photos with my phone so please pardon the quality:
And for what we couldn’t see from there, we just had to look above the bar at the big LCD monitor:
A couple of times I took a walk around for some more views:
And I’ve never seen a keyboard player rock out like Per Wiberg did. It was fantastic:
After one encore the band took their bow. This was the last show of the tour so I am sure they were ready to head back to Sweden:
After the place cleared out, I took a minute to watch the crew tearing down the gear:
Opeth was just amazing live and I am very thankful we went to see them. Mikael Ã…kerfeldt has got to be the best vocalist in metal, hands down. The new members of the band, Martin Axenrot on drums and Fredrik Ã…kesson on guitar did a brilliant job indeed. It was a very inspirational show for me and I’ve got nothing but respect for those guys.
I also have a new favorite hoodie, just in time for the cool weather!
I cannot believe how many AWESOME new things are being released next month! They must have chosen November because of my birthday, I am sure of it. ;) So here goes:
Frost* - “Experiments In Mass Appeal” (November 17th) http://www.frostmusic.net/
Tomb Raider - “Underworld” (November 18th) http://www.tombraider.com/
Lord of the Rings Online - “Mines of Moria” (November 18th) http://moria.lotro.com/
Rush - “Snakes & Arrows Live” DVD (November 25th) http://www.rush.com/
Steven Wilson - “Insurgentes” CD/DVD (Late November) http://swhq.co.uk/
And to top it all off, Alli and I are spending a WEEK in Disney World for thanksgiving with the Giovetti family! So much FUN OMG CRAZINESS!
