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MFF time!   
08:13am 20/11/2008
  Well, as some of you may already know, I will be attending MFF this weekend! Jibba and I will be driving over to Chicago together today and should arrive there early this evening.

I will be in the artist alley quite often during the day to sell DVDs, including my newest release, "Yiff In Hell," which was filmed at Eurofurence in Germany. I will also be performing a comedy show on Friday night, along with my colleagues Uncle Kage and Jibba, and later that night, we'll be doing an improv together. We hope to give everyone a fun time.

I'm looking forward to experiencing MFF again, and at the new hotel! I hope to meet lots of new faces and say hello to familiar ones as well.

I'll see you all tonight!		  
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2 Sense News   
03:15pm 18/11/2008
  Here's an update about what's going on with the 2 Sense Show.

First off, no show this week. I really wanted to have one before MFF, but I've dedicated myself to working on my panels and performances there and I simply haven't had the time to put together a new show.

Originally, I thought doing the show in the middle of the week would be a good idea. I could be out of town on the weekends I performed and not have to miss doing the show. At least, that was the theory. The way it has turned out is that I'm so busy before the con that the show doesn't get done, and if I have to stay too late, the NEXT show doesn't get done either. Instead of missing fewer shows, it's hard not to miss MORE of them this way. So that's something we'll be changing.

Sadly, this season of the 2 Sense Show will be coming to an end soon. We'll probably get out another couple of shows and then we'll take a break for a few months. The good news is that we're planning a few upgrades for the show, and when we come back, we think it'll be even more fun!

Finally, for those who've asked... Yes, Jibba and I did record the live election show. The main problem is it wound up in FLV format which isn't acceptable to most online video sites and it's a bitch to convert. We will get that video to you as soon as we can figure out how to get it out there. Agent Elrond made an amazing cover for it too! But you can't see it yet. Nyaa.

Anyway, that's what is happening with the show. It's likely our next show will be next week, after MFF. We'll see you then!		  
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Flaming God Nipples.   
09:41am 15/11/2008
  Now, I don't want to start any kind of flame war here (or do I? Muahahahaha!!!), but in light of recent events in California, I have to question a few things.

No, I'm not talking about prop 8. I'm talking about the wild fires that have destroyed around 120 homes now. The fire started Thursday and has wiped out some 1200 acres at this point, including a lot of homes.

Do I feel any sympathy toward these homeowners? Sure I do. In the same way I feel sympathy for some twat-waffle that builds his home on a railroad track or the side of an active volcano. I feel sorry for them that they didn't get professional, psychological help when they obviously needed it.

If these homes were in a place where fires didn't sweep through and decimate every living thing on a yearly fucking basis, I might feel differently. And if New Orleans wasn't an entire town built on the coast, BELOW SEA LEVEL, I might have felt sorry for them too.

Human beings might be able to bend the Earth to their desires, but they can't seem to get it through their heads that they can't stop nature! Fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes are not going to say, "Whoops! Humans here. I'll just go around. Have a nice day, cuntbags!"

A bit of simple advice...

Stop building your fucking houses in the paths of natural disasters!!!! If the home you're buying is brand new because the one that was sitting there before got swallowed into the very bowels of the Earth and chewed on by Satan himself, then DON'T BUY THE FUCKING THING! What, do you keep your brain in a fucking jar?		  
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Election Thoughts and Extra Sense.   
03:23pm 13/11/2008
  You know, I keep hearing from all kinds of people about how the Republicans are taking McCain's defeat much more maturely than the Democrats did when Bush won. About how they're whining much less than the Democrats in the same situation. Well, it's true, Democrats tend to kick up a fuss when their candidates don't get elected. And Republicans usually handle it with a lot less noise.

However, there does seem to be a prevailing attitude with a lot of McCain supporters that Obama was elected because of people who were starry-eyed and hypnotized by some superstar flash and glitter quality that Obama had. They're being arrogantly magnanimous in that they don't blame these souls for voting for such an obvious joke of a candidate because the poor idiots just couldn't help but get swept up in sensationalism and walked into the voting booths so disoriented with Obama's media purchased mind-control that they accidentally slipped and filled in the wrong circle.

They simply cannot believe that anyone who actually looked at the issues Obama stands for could possibly vote for him over McCain, so they choose to believe that Obama supporters were completely uninformed about what they were voting for.

To those who have this attitude, let me clear a few things up for you.

Just because people voted for the person you're terrified of doesn't mean they're ignorant. It means they disagree with you. Perhaps most people would rather have someone who is less experienced because it means he will have new ideas when the old ones weren't working. And perhaps there is finally a majority of people out there who are less afraid of the unknown than they are of the mapped out road we're traveling now. For whatever reason people voted for a person who frightens you, it doesn't mean they didn't know what they were doing.

You want to talk about ignorance? Let's look at the people who DIDN'T vote for Obama because he is black. Or the hillbillies who think he's a terrorist trying to take over our country because of his middle name. You want to talk about mind control? Let's talk about the people who committed suicide after Obama was elected because some douchebag preacher convinced them that he is the anti-christ.

My brother works at JCPenny. The night Obama was elected, his manager called the staff together at 1:00 in the morning for an "emergency prayer vigil" to beg God not to destroy the country. THAT'S ignorance!

So, you know... Republicans do have their own brand of whining. It might not be as loud. And it might not take to the streets with signs and protests. But it is definitely whining.

*************
(In order to idiot proof my statement, I will issue the following disclaimer... Any nouns that have been previously mentioned in this post, including groups of people, are not meant to have the word "all" inserted in front of them, specifically the words, "Republican", "Democrat", "Christian", "Hillbilly" or "Drooling Cuntbag". Imagining the word "all" in front of these, or any nouns when it is not clearly written, may result in excessive whining, itchy genitals, anger, prolonged sphincter clenching, misplaced sense of righteousness, nipple hemorrhages, drama, spontaneous waaaah and death. If you believe you are experiencing the urge to imagine the word "all" in precedence to any of the nouns written above, even when the issuer of the statement himself has clearly denied the use of this word, you may be experiencing symptoms of Furry Drama Syndrome. It is recommended that you turn off your computer immediately and contact an adult at 1-800-GROW-THE-FUCK-UP.)
*************

And now... Extra Sense for show #137!

Here.
Or perhaps here.
And even possibly here!		  
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Uncle 2.   
09:36pm 11/11/2008
  Let me tell a story to the younger furries.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if an artist could make art with your computer? Not art made with a computer but art made by programming the computer?

Back in the early 90's, when computers were still powered by MSDOS and Windows was just another program that you just ran occasionally, a hacker sat down at his computer and wrote a program to show off what he could do. With his litany of hacker tricks and knowledge of processor architecture, he was able to squeeze every ounce of computing power from a processing chip. When his friends ran his program, their screens lit up with polygons, colors and 3D shapes that spun and floated around the screen, being reflected in disembodied mirrors and lit from light sources that moved and changed colors. It wasn't a game or a utility. Its sole purpose just seemed to be... art!

And some amazing art it was! The hacker was able to put graphics and effects on a computer screen that few people realized was possible in those days. Not even commercial software companies could pull of the tricks this program did. In fact, the program was so amazing and beautiful to watch that it spread... a lot. Thousands of people got their hands on this simple, free, 4k program and were running it to show their friends what their computer could do.

Well, it wasn't long before the program fell into the hands of other hackers. And the other hackers thought, "Hey! I could do this! But I know some tricks this guy doesn't!" The hackers began to get together in groups, along with digital musicians (remember those .MOD files I showed you?) and they started making new programs they called "demos". And every time a new rash of demos came out, they'd be better and more impressive than the last.

In 1992, "Assembly" was started. It was a convention where these hacker groups from all over the world would come together and show off their newest, most impressive demo code. There were contests and awards given to the most impressive demos. The groups would always program "shout-outs" to their fellow hackers in their demos.

The contests had rules. The demos had to display the hackers' knowledge of things like procedural environment mapping, particle physics and reflection algorithms. And, at first, though many of the demos did push the technology to do things no one thought it could, they were mostly just eye candy and fancy effects.

Soon though, some of the hackers realized that they could show off their programming skills and tell a story at the same time! And soon, the entire demo scene was creating true computer art that was so amazing and unique that some of it is absolutely indescribable.

Now... this is a true story. The demo scene continues to thrive to this day, including the oldskool demo groups that were there when it started. These are programmers, artists and musicians who aren't paid to write music or program particle physics. They do it because it's their passion. They want to make something beautiful. What you see on your screen when the demo is playing is NOT a video. You don't play it in another program. There's no fast forward or rewind. This aren't bored gamers with Garry's Mod. The artists programmed this all themselves and it's YOUR own computer producing the graphics in REAL TIME.

I really hope that the demo scene will one day get the attention it deserves. Geniuses have been born in that scene to an art form that very few people have ever experienced.

Therefore... I would like to share some of it with you, if you'll allow me...



Go and download this file.

Unzip it. Go into the directory and click the .exe file.
Remember this was put together by hackers, so there's no customer support. It's for Windows, but it won't play on every computer. I strongly recommend selecting "windowed" mode to watch it.

Now, for those who cannot get the file to play, there is simply no substitute for the amazing resolution you'll get if your computer is generating the images. However, if you simply can't play the file, then it has been video captured. I'll embed it here.

But the point is for your own computer generate these images! So if you possibly can, download the .exe instead. Trust me, it's worth it!


Remember, these demos have been going around since 1990! There are THOUSANDS of them! If you'd like to know more about the demo scene and where to get more of these, look here...

http://www.demoscene.tv/

Enjoy!
  
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RBW 2008   
11:30pm 09/11/2008
  I have a bit of an announcement to make.

There has been some confusion as to whether or not I'll be attending RBW this year. There were flyers distributed at Eurofurence that listed me as one of the attractions. There is also a graphic on the RBW website that shows me, along with other guests of honor for this year. This evening, RBW sent out an e-mail saying that all of their GOHs were set to attend the event.

While I don't believe any false advertising is intended here, I think it might be a little bit misleading to some folks.

Earlier this year, I sent e-mails to the RBW chairman and at Eurofurence in August, I spoke with FoxB directly. He graciously invited me to attend RBW this year and I had to regretfully refuse.

My reasons for turning him down have not been what some folks have rumored them to be. I think RBW is a very professional event, run by a gracious and responsible set of furs. I have always had fun at every RBW event I have attended, and was rather disappointed that I could not make it this year.

The fact is that RBW is scheduled over the Thanksgiving holidays this year. I will likely be with my family during this time, which is why I cannot attend RBW.

I suspect there has been some miscommunication, which is why I still appear on the web site. And I would feel very bad if anyone showed up to the event expecting to see me there while I'm sitting in my mother's kitchen in Arkansas.

So I want to make it clear. I will not be attending RBW this year. Having spoken with FoxB, there is a good possibility that I will attend the 2009 event. But I will not be there this year.		  
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It happened.   
01:59pm 05/11/2008
  Some people work their whole lives to send a message, only for that message to be lost in the rhetoric, prejudices and closed-mindedness of the very people the message is aimed toward. Some great people die, never having caused the change in the world they worked for.

Medgar Evers. Rosa Parks. Malcom X. Dr. Martin Luther King.

As of today, these people and many others have no longer been lost in vain. Their lives mattered. Their messages have been realized and justified. What they worked so hard for has happened.

I know that this election is not supposed to be about race, and it shouldn't be. But like it or not, it IS an element. And that shouldn't be ignored. While I believe that Obama's job in the white house transcends race, I would like to offer the following sentiment...

As a white person to the African American community in the United States -- congratulations, from the bottom of my heart. You've taken a huge step. Forget moving to the East Side to a deluxe apartment in the sky. You're moving into the White House. It took a long time and a lot of struggling. It's long over due. But it has happened. And I think you all deserve a big high five.

I think the whole country deserves a big high five. We've looked past petty prejudices that would have prevented a man like Obama from being president just 20 years ago and we've done what we believe would be the best thing for the country.

It's been so long since I've felt it that it seems odd -- But right now, I'm very proud to be an American.		  
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Special 2 Sense Tonight!   
02:27pm 04/11/2008
  2 Sense?

Election coverage?

LIVE??

ON VIDEO??!1!

TONIGHT!?!?!?!11/!?!1/?!???!!79Q3Q

Yes folks, it's true. Jibba and I have found a solution to our problem of how we can keep up with the election and do a show at the same time. We will do a live election coverage. And we're going to do it on video. Four hours of live, video 2 Sense election coverage... and liquor. And it's happening tonight.

We'll be starting up the webcast tonight at somewhere between 6pm and 9pm Eastern time, depending on when the polls start closing, and we well go until the votes are in for the lower 48.

The address is http://www.ustream.tv/channel/2-Sense

And I will also embed the video window here in this LJ.

Keep in mind, this is a rush job. We went from "no show today" to "Live 4 Hour Video Show" in just five hours. Don't expect a really professional looking production this time. We're just throwing this together to have fun, to keep you guys informed of the election and to test our equipment to see if we can polish it and send the 2 Sense Show to video soon!

So, we hope you have fun. We're going to try our best. We'll be reading this week's Dear 2 Letters and keeping you up to date on election results too.

Live Broadcasting by Ustream

P.S. Please excuse us if you see us goofing with the video. We're still testing things.		  
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Late Sense   
03:50am 04/11/2008
  Ladies and gentlemen,

The 2 Sense Show will be late this week due to the elections. Preparing for 2 Sense is an all-day affair, and both Jibba and I have to go out to vote, where we'll likely be in a line for awhile. And you can bet my eyeballs are going to be stuck on election coverage for the rest of the night.

I will be getting drunk. If Obama wins, I will be having a celebration. If McCain wins, I will be getting drunk to keep from killing people instead.

So we will be seeing you a day or so late. Remember to make the furry vote count!		  
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Is it just me?   
07:13am 02/11/2008
  Here is a video of me performing at AnthroCon 2005! This was put up by the AnthroCon Youtube channel.

Enjoy!



P.S... DRAGONY! Send me an e-mail. I wanna talk to you about something.		  
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England Trip And Extra Sense!   
10:09am 30/10/2008
  I have returned home from England! It was a very interesting (and relaxing, actually) trip!

The first day -- The first cool thing was that they were playing "Hancock" on the plane, a movie I'd wanted to see. The initial idea of the movie was delightful! I really was intrigued with the story, how it was being told and how it would play out. Then, after about half the movie, the story took a turn for crap and I didn't like it anymore. Three golden gryphon eggs.

Rapido picked me up from Heathrow airport and drove me to Southampton where I was shown my room in an extremely homey and delightful inn called the Spinnaker. Quaint and charming bedrooms upstairs... pub downstairs. I knew I'd be comfortable there. :) After that, I spent a lot of the day catching up from jet lag, though I did go to Rapido's house for dinner and got to meet his delightful boyfriend, Stuart. After dinner we sat and talked for a bit.

Second Day -- London! I always like London and I doubt there's anything that could sour me on it. We went to the pub where the furmeet was taking place and I got to spend a while talking to lots of nice furs. I got a piece of artwork and hugs from some very cute fursuiters. Rapido and I slipped away to Gordon's -- my favorite place in the world to get cheese and relax. Then we went to the after-party, which was in a different pub. I met even more cool furs (one of them, a black guy who was at a furmeet for the first time and didn't know anyone. I tried to introduce him around. I hope he wound up having fun.) I was in good spirits when I got up to do my show... and for the rest of the night, see past posts.

Third Day - Unfortunately, most of this day was spent in bed and being rather ill. Though I did get a good sample of BBC programming. It only took me one showing to get addicted to Golden Ball. :) But by that evening, I was feeling a bit better and had dinner with Rapido, once again. This time, roast beef with grilled carrots and asparagus, fried potatoes, stuffing and Yorkshire pudding, all slathered in brown gravy. And it was all home cooked. The nom was incredible!

Fourth Day - Rapido and I intended to go out and see some old things. When I go to England, I love seeing old things. However, after lunch at another one of my favorite places called "Fisher's Pond", I felt a bit sleepy and wanted to get a nap. So he brought me back to the inn, and we rejoined later that evening.

Fifth Day - Stu, Rapido and I went out to see some old things! We saw the ruins of an Abbey that was built in 1200-something-fuck-forever-ago! Sometimes it's amazing how long the things people build will stay around. Looking at stones and bricks that someone put together almost a thousand years ago is just very emotional for me. After the Abbey, we went to an old, World War 2 military hospital, complete with museum. Extremely fascinating. That night, Rapido ordered out for dinner. Indian food! Chicken Tika Marsala. God, I love that stuff.

Sixth Day - Time to go home. I waved goodbye at Rapido and Stu and England and hopped on my plane. There had been good times, good noms, good friends and good booze -- and what else can you possibly ask in a trip? I hope I'll be able to go over there again soon.

And now, since there was no 2 Sense this week... Extra Sense! Just for your faces! This is the Extras for Show #136.

Pick a mirror...

Bawk
Bawk
Bawk
  
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Roofied... final thoughts.   
11:17am 27/10/2008
  Over the past couple of posts, I've explained what happened on Saturday night. But I don't think I've been very effective at making it clear how I feel about the whole thing. I've had a lot of well-wishings from folks, and I thank you very much for that. Reading these really did help me feel better.

However, I want everyone to know that I'm just not taking this too seriously. And this is something I want to say before the barrage of "OMG, 2 got totally drugged and pwned!" comments come out (if they already haven't).

The only thing that I have really found myself a bit upset over is some of the London Furs complete denial of the event. They're going to completely dismiss this situation unless they have what they believe is hard evidence... which of course, there's not a chance of getting.

Guys... three and a half beers and a shot of tequila. That's it. Dare I say that thousands of people have seen me drink twice that much right in front of them. My last show in Germany, I drank two PITCHERS of beer and a half a pitcher of mead in front of the whole convention and was just fine. I downed at least half a dozen shots that furs bought for me at the last RBW *during* my show... and that was after I'd already had several beers.

I'm a functional alcoholic. Three and a half pints of beer and a shot is not going to send me into a medical emergency. I drink more than that just watching TV in the morning! (Ask Jibba. I'm not bullshitting.) I've drank FIVE pints of beer and TWO shots of vodka just TODAY! Just before I made this post!

Besides that, you have the opinions of medical services and two different police departments saying that I'd had something slipped in my drink. I really think you should consider the idea that you may simply want to throw this situation into ambiguity because you don't want to have the responsibility of dealing with it.

However... I'm going to defeat my own purpose here, if I'm not careful. Because what I'm here to say is that I really haven't been disgruntled or "injured" by this situation. And I really don't want anyone else to become too emotional about it.

When someone gets a punch in the face or a stubbed toe and runs around whining about it, what do I always say? "Grow a fucking spine." Well, it's easy to say that when it happens to someone else. And this is how I walk the talk. I got roofied. I spent a day sick. And you know what? ...So what? It's not the end of the world. In some ways, part of me is saying, "Dude, you got roofied. That's fucking hilarious."

I want people to understand the dangers of this and I would like them to be careful in regards to drinking at events like this. But when it comes to me, I have already started writing jokes about it that I'm going to tell on stage! I was being reckless, I got my ass handed to me and I'm willing to laugh about it. I don't want anyone starting lynch mobs. I consider this to be a punch in the face from a dumbass drunk. I would have probably fallen down and laughed about it.

So, while I want everyone to be aware of the dangers, I don't want to start some kind of "crusade". Just be careful. Don't drink in an unsafe way, and when it comes to me... laugh! That's what I'm here for, right?

**UPDATE**

Eight pints of beer I've had at this point. EIGHT pints. Still coherant. Nyaa.		  
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More details about last night.   
01:32pm 26/10/2008
  So, now that I'm finally regaining my coherence, I'll start at the beginning. And I think this is something that everyone should pay attention to because it's something that is affecting the whole fur fandom...

I went to the furmeet in London, where I had a couple of beers. Afterwards, I went to the place the after party and my performance was to take place. I ordered another beer and drank it slowly, leaving it unattended on more than one occasion and coming back to it later.

At time for my performance, I felt coherant and ready for the show, pleasantly buzzed because of the beer. I started my material. Someone brought up two shots that other people had gotten for me and I drank them.

That is the last thing I remember about the evening. I don't remember doing my show, getting off stage, travelling back to my hotel or getting into bed. I went from being coherant to being nearly comatose in a span of twenty minutes.

My condition was apparently so obviously wrong that Rapido called the police and an ambulance from just observing me. The opinions of both departments was that I had been intentionally poisoned, possibly by a date rape drug or other kind of "roofie".

Some people have written to me, concerned that I looked a bit depressed or sad after the show I gave. They figure I was disappointed in the audience. The fact is, I have no idea. I simply don't remember. However, what you were probably seeing was the effects of the drug someone slipped me.

Now... this is the part I want to make clear.

Yes, whoever did this is a douchbag. But a good part of what happened is MY fault. *I* was being a dumbass. I was accepting drinks from people I didn't know and I was leaving my drinks unattended, open for anyone to do anything to them. I fell into the mistake of being too trusting to people I didn't know. This isn't the fandom that it used to be. It's a mistake to simply trust someone who calls themself a fur these days. Furries can be just as mean, hateful and cruel as anyone else. And I think this is an important thing to remember.

As it happens, today I also learned that there was a con in the US -- Oklacon -- where a friend of mine and another person also got roofied and dangerously ill. It happened on the same night it happened to me. There was also a similar incident at this past AnthroCon.

It's important to realize that if this can happen to me, it can happen to any of you. It's becoming a real problem in the fandom, and is probably a result of the gay and raver night club scenes converging into the fandom. It's a problem that I believe needs to be addressed by con staffs and kept in the mind of furries everywhere.

However, there is a simple solution. This kind of thing could never happen if you do the thing I DIDN'T do and just be sensible. Don't accept drinks from people you don't know. Be safe and use your head. If what happened to me has any value at all, it's a good example of what can happen to you if you're reckless and unsafe when at any event of this kind. Don't let this kind of thing ruin your good time. Be sensible and safe.

This has not caused me any bad feelings toward England or the Brit furs at all. What I said about not coming back again... I was just very angry at the time. I'll return if the furs want me here again.

In short, the the fact is I was being stupid and I had this coming. I was
practically asking for it. I'm so used to accepting drinks from people I don't know that it's a miracle this didn't happen to me a long time ago. So don't be angry with the person who did it. It was really my own lack of responsibility that caused it and it was a big wake up call for me.

However, I shall continue to go to cons and furmeets and entertain where I can. If I were to let this scare me into stopping, then the bastard would have won. I will have a few new rules about drinking at these events, but other than that, nothing will change.		  
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I can't believe....   
12:44am 26/10/2008
  Folks, I have performed in a lot of places. I've done shows in the shadiest, stinking pits of redneck bars in the southern US. I've performed in some of the roughest large cities on the east and west coasts of America. But no one has ever tried to poison me... until now.

My condition at the fur party actually prompted Rapido to call the police and an ambulance. Though I didn't wind up using them, they both felt from the description Rapido gave, that I'd been purposely alcohol poisoned, likely by someone I accepted a drink from.

Now, I'm sure someone out there is snickering with a friend or two, thinking "Oh, I so pwned him." To this person, whomever he is... you have no idea how close you came to being investigated for murder. You hadn't considered the fact that I'd already had a bit to drink earlier in the night. When *I* called police myself after I returned to my hotel, they tested me and said my blood alcohol level was 0.41. That is above the dosage of alcohol that is considered lethal. They said there was no way I could have naturally gained that alcohol level from the few beers and couple of shots I drank over the evening. They also said that if I hadn't just happened to be someone who drinks practically all the time, I would most probably be dead right now. Okay, let that sink in for a minute. Dead.

So, thank you very much, whoever-you-are. I'm going to be spending at least a day of my trip to England recovering from this. And unless someone does it for me, the only possibility of me coming back to one of your furmeets is if I find out who you are, because I WILL stuff about half your teeth down your throat.

To everyone else, I sincerely apologize for the terrible quality of my performance. I was trying my best to do it while alcohol poisoned and I'm sure I stank pretty bad.		  
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Yay for England.   
05:36am 25/10/2008
  British furs!

Guess what. I will be at your furmeet in London today! I will see you there!

And beer!		  
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2 Sense #138   
10:43pm 22/10/2008
  I have to apologize folks. It seems that some of the 2 Sense mirrors are having trouble tonight, so not every server will have the new show. They're there, you may just have to surf around a little.



  
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Extra Sense #135   
09:59pm 15/10/2008
 

Well, as you folks know, today is normally 2 Sense day. However, there is no new show. Usually, this would mean that there would be nothing at all to download from me.

But, as I'd talked about recently, Jibba and I have been recording our drunken, after-show talks. We're going to call them "Extra Sense" and start putting them up on the weeks that 2 Sense doesn't air.

So, here's the deal...

Every time it is possible, I will put a new Extra Sense up on the net every week that there is no show. The files will be numbered according to the 2 Sense Show they came from. (Example: Extra Sense #135 is from 2 Sense #135.)

Extra Sense will not be archived. At least not by me. They will go onto the 2 Sense mirrors and I will give you the links here. The files will stay there for one week and then be taken down when the next show comes up. So if you want to save these files, you'll have to do it while they're up there. They won't stay forever, and they won't come back.

We will not be accepting "Extra Sense Letters" to read on the files. We do read some of the Dear 2 Letters we couldn't get to in the 2 Sense Show, but we won't be reading anything specifically regarding Extra Sense. The same goes for segments.

The reason for this is because Extra Sense is nothing more than Jibba and I hanging out and bullshitting like we normally do after the show, just with microphones. And we want to keep it that way. We don't want to turn it into another show. Some 2 Sense Shows will have extras, others will not, depending on if we feel like sitting around and talking afterward. The Extras don't have a format or a set time. Some of them will be an hour, some will be fifteen minutes. Some Extras might be funny to listen to, others might be depressing, some might be downright boring. The point of the Extras is that Jibba and I aren't trying to entertain. We're just hanging out. The 2 Sense Show is for entertaining you guys, and we love doing it! But the Extras are Jibba and I entertaining ourselves when we're drunk. Nothing more.

So, without further delay...

EXTRA SENSE #135
mirror 1
mirror 2
mirror 3

  
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The Prodigal Song   
06:19am 12/10/2008
  Guess what has found its way back to me after twelve years? A song! I wrote it, decided I didn't like it, and I eventually deleted it off my computer after uploading it to a MOD archive. It surfed on the waves of the internet all this time until an e-mail from an anonymous person delivered it back into my computer! That's pretty cool! Thank you, anonymous guy!

Well, this got me thinking. I'll show you the song, but first -- a little background. Some of you may know about this stuff, but I'm willing to bet that some of you younger folks don't. And I'm hoping that at least a few out there will find it to be something you really dig and I can pass on a really cool art form that should truly be remembered fondly.

See, the song is an XM file.

Picture this... it's in the past. Your computer has a 300 meg hard drive. You might have 16 megs of RAM if your system is really up to date. You have a VGA video card to make sure you get the full array of 256 colors. Your internet connection is very likely 14.4 kps phone modem. Downloading 1 meg would take hours. MP3s? What the heck is an MP3? Didn't have them. No Winamp, no Napster, no Ipods, no file sharing.

If you wanted to listen to music on your computer, you had two choices. Either General Midi (which is basically original Super Mario quality), or modules. XM files were the most popular kind of module files around.

A module is basically programmed music. However, instead of telling the computer to generate the tones, you would input several small .wav samples, like a bass note, a scratchy synth sound, a snare drum. Then you would tell the computer what to do with it. You would insert your sample sounds, then sit down and program the computer when to play them, how long to play them for, and how fast or slow to play them, so you could change the frequency and get different notes. And let me tell you, the trackers used to program the songs did nothing for you. You had to program everything. Every little note bend, vibrato, the sound levels of each note. If you wanted echo, you had to tell the computer to play the same sample slightly later at a lower volume.

It was tedious, but fun! And the result was a song that you had *absolute* control over. Not a single bit of sound went by that you didn't intend because you had to put it all there. It also meant that a person could play a whole song on his computer at a file size that's still significantly smaller than today's mp3s.

So, in mp3 format, here is the song that came back to me. My goal was to see if I could put vocals in a module and have it work. The lyrics are grainy and the song is crappy, but it worked! I made a little furry love song.

www.ranting-gryphon.com/Music/2-animal.mp3

MP3s are great, but nothing can replace the experience of listening to a module in its intended form. In a module player, you actually get to see the programming whizzing by and see o-scopes for each track. It's pretty and a hell of a lot better than a Winamp visual plug in.

So, go get Skale Tracker... http://www.scene.org/file.php?file=%2Fresources%2Fmusic%2Ftrackers%2Fskale081.zip&fileinfo
It's small and it doesn't even install anything. You just run it.

Now, I was good at tracking, but there were people who were much better. The first time I fired up a tracker and hit play, and the patterns started going by and the scopes lit up, I nearly shit my brain. I instantly wanted to make these things too. And that first song was...

Ambient Light by Triton.

Download it (at a whopping 220K), load it in, listen and be amazed. It's still my most favorite module ever.

After you do that, here are some of the modules I've made.

Jaunt
White Hunter
Secret Dance

There are MP3s of these on my site, so some of you may have heard them already, but now you can listen to them in their original format and actually SEE them.

A WORD OF WARNING --
These trackers are old programs. Be CAREFUL with what buttons you push. If you hit the "delete file" key and then accidentally select your root directory, or the whole hard drive, the program WILL delete your whole hard drive, no questions asked! None of this "Are you sure?" crap. It'll just do it!

Also, the patterns going by can generate some very rhythmic flashing. I wouldn't recommend it to people who have epilepsy.

Oh, and one more thing... once you start the program, go into the "config" and turn OFF the damned interpolation. That thing is so shitty.

Anyway, have fun!

  
     Read 52 - Post
 
DOW = Den Of Whining.   
02:40pm 11/10/2008
  This is 2, The Centrist Gryphon.

That's right. Centrist. I'm not a Democrat, like many people believe. I'm certainly not a Republican. I sit right in the middle. I support intelligent ideas, no matter which side they come from. Most people think I'm a Democrat because it so happens that more of the ideas I believe are intelligent come from the Democratic side.

As a Centrist, I'm becoming disturbed by the social backlash I'm seeing from the economic crisis. The Democrats are pissed at the Republicans for ruining the economy. The Republicans are starting to get pissed at the Democrats because their candidate is ahead in the poles. Both sides are acting like idiots. It's sad to see the Democrats almost religiously blaming the entire Republican party for breaking everything without even being able to explain how. And it's infuriating to watch the Republicans basically lying through their teeth in order to invent reasons the Democrats are going to send us all straight to Hell.

"George Bush sent all the jobs away, that's why we're in the shape we're in!"
"But the Democrats loosened restrictions on Fanny and Freddie!"
"But Republicans are giving them OUR money to fix it!"

And the fingers keep pointing across that partisan line and nothing gets done. It's one of the only times I've seen where both sides are being morons. People are losing friends over this!

The fact is, there is NO WAY that one, single political party could have caused the wreck this country is turning into by itself. It took all of them making stupid little decisions here and there to amount to one big fuck-up. This is something that everyone needs to realize right now. A political party is an intangible thing. It's a classification for people with like-minded political ideals. A political party did not ruin the economy.

So, since I know it's the big talk right now, and since I can see everyone really wants something to blame, why not put the blame where it belongs.

Greedy human beings.

It doesn't matter who supported what bills, actions and restrictions on whichever side. The people who are at fault here are the folks that sent junk mail to your house saying, "What? Have no credit? Bad credit? Bankruptcy? No money? No job? Lots of debts? We'll give you credit anyway! Just sign this paper!"

No matter what restrictions were or weren't put in place, the banks were the ones who ultimately made the decision to give credit to people whom they ABSOLUTELY KNEW could not pay it back in order to get a nation full of minimum payment slaves, locked into coughing up interest to these bastards for the next thirty years. The banks wanted people who could barely afford the payments because they siphon more money out of them in the long run. They were trying to prey on the weak and it came back to bite everyone on the ass.

So if you find yourself pissed off at the situation with the economy right now, whether it be because your stock value is falling or that you're paying for other people's mistakes -- why don't you stop and think for a minute about where that anger should really be directed instead of lashing out at a political party that made just as many mistakes as yours did.		  
     Read 84 - Post
 
2 Sense #137   
11:58pm 08/10/2008
  Spazfox guest co-hosts on the new show!

  
     Read 25 - Post
 
 
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