Dusty Chalk

The following are pretty "safe" in terms of recordings and performances: Living Stereo -- especially the SACD series, but not limited to that, even the redbook layers are usually just damn fine Mercury Living Presence -- ditto I'm also pretty safe in terms of performance of anything by Heifetz, with orchestra, without, whatever. I'm also partial to Hilary Hahn. I have yet to hear anything by either of these artists that I didn't repeatedly enjoy. Follows are some of my favourite recordings: Helene Grimaud wolf box -- 4 out of 5 of the disks are solo piano recordings, but are imminently listenable Dmitriev -- piano sonatas by Prokofiev -- all solo piano recordings, I would call the style "post-romantic", since it's not as dissonant as other stuff in the same style Carmina Burana by Orff a la Thielemann -- this was the first version of this large scale orchestra and choir work that I "got" from beginning to end, and for that reason, remains the definitive version of this piece for me. More later.

Such a great picture that they chose for Wikipedia.

Me too.

This one: ...and don't get me wrong, I'm not sorry -- it's a very good set, I just don't have anything else to compare it to. Yet. And it looks like it's the 1960-1975 set that's being put out on SACD -- see the above link in my post to sa-cd.net. You definitely need a version of his second piano concerto. I like the Byron Janis on Mercury Living Presence and Living Stereo with Van Cliburn. I also like Helene Grimaud's reading of his Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor paired with a Chopin Piano Sonata. (For that matter, I also enjoy her reading of his 2nd piano concerto.) I think those two would be a good place to start.

You think you're joking? You know they've already done just that with Gould's version of Bach's Goldberg Variations? Oh, and: that's not what TheSloth said. He told me to get a different version. So: lpppt. I forget which version is coming out on SACD, but I think it's that one (the one you posted, not the one I have -- which is fine, because I could use multiple versions). I'm still trying to get into Mahler. Don't get me wrong, I like him, I just don't count him amongst my favorite composers...yet. I love Rachmaninov and Liszt, however, I have no idea what you're talking about there. Of course, in my case, it's in the (russkie) blood -- perhaps you'd like a transfusion? I sell you a pint, cheap.

Goddamn stupid fucking timeout. Can we at least raise it to 6 minutes? Well, just for the record, it ain't Buffy. There's more soap opera to it than that. But it's still good. I've heard good things about Veronica Mars. Joss Whedon liked it. Haven't seen it myself yet. Also, going back a bit for a completely different show, I really liked Sports Night. Just superb writing. Just from a "good shows to watch" perspective. And if you want to go way back, Max Headroom.

Well, just for the record, it ain't Buffy. There's more soap opera than that.

Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin Mexican Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin...

My favourite budget cable (non-DIY) is Monster XP. Beyond that, I'd go Pure Silver Sound, White Zombie, or Anti Cables, I think. DIY, not too familiar with the options. My favourite insane cable is Cardas Neutral Reference.

Singlepower Dragon.

Bell & Ross have been listening to my requests, apparently. They have been coming out with this color combination they call "phantom", which is pretty much straight up my alley. Alas, they're still in the >US$1K range, and limited, so I doubt I'll ever own these either.

Yeah, I have to admit, it's a great concept, and if I ever become a big famous rock star, I will probably do something "eventful" like that. Maybe side projects as tribute bands.

Okay, how about "no, because that was a cover?", even if of a whole album. That would be like me asking of my string quartet tribute version of DSOTM counts as DSOTM. It doesn't. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that Is There Anybody Out There? does not count as The Wall. They (Les Claypool, et al) didn't play the riff right in "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" -- they didn't even bother to play that whole grace note thingy, IIRC (I only listened to it once). On the other hand, Out Of Phase's version of Animals ("Animals 2001") is freakin' inspired. As is the reggae version of DSOTM -- they even matched the beats on that one, so that you could still do the Wizard of Oz thing if you wanted.

No, because that version sucked.

Yeah, I have to admit to being underwhelmed by their Remain in Light gig. Their original material I enjoy, but for some reason, don't dig their covers. Same as Gov't Mule. No idea why. Which reminds me: multiple Talking Heads stuff; also, NIN and Tori Amos. EDIT: Also: Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Gary Numan.

Yeah, but which MFSL version? I have both. And why do you have the Japanese SACD and not the domestic SACD? I mean, I understand the other way around, but not the way you did it. Do you have a bootleg of the Halloween concert at which Phish performed the whole thing, though? I'm guessing your response will be "multiple versions".

This is going to be hard for me, as I grew up on vinyl and never got rid of any of it (I had over 2K records at last count), and replaced much of it on CD. Now I'm doing the same with SACD and DVD-A, but at anywhere near the same rate. And yes, that includes a truckload of Depeche Mode, New Order, Mike Oldfield, Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk, Rush, Yes, some Skinny Puppy (had mostly fallen for CD by then), Art of Noise, and so on.

Why don't you just stick with the 300B monoblocks? It just seems that if you're trying to drive earspeakers (AKG's term for the K1000's) with a headphone amp, it's like trying to stick a square peg into a round hole. Sorry if I'm repeating myself, it's a pet peeve of mine -- people keep wanting to drive all their headphones and their K1000's with their headphone amp, but only their speakers with their speaker amp, when it really should be "all their headphones with their headphone amp, and their speakers and their K1000's with their speaker amp(s)". If not the 300B monoblocks, something else then.

Hmmm... You know, just because you say, "I don't do this", doesn't mean that you don't actually do this, it just means either (a) you're an idiot and you don't know what you're doing, or ( you're a double-talking slimeball. Not that it matters which you are, but I suspect you're not an idiot. You just like to play one when it's convenient.

Sometimes emails get lost -- try sending him another message through eBay, and also politely but assertively include a deadline to at least respond (I usually give 3 days), after which you should start the process of "no communication from seller" or whatnot. Check your deadlines, make sure you don't miss them. Also, check your spam -- sometimes the seller's email to you gets lost, too.

Whether or not it was initially on purpose, (a) it is something you should have known would happen, and ( you still responded in a certain way -- a way that most people would not have responded. The backlash was warranted, you should have known it, quit whining, and take it like a man. Billy, the backlash wasn't even directed at you, but you still seem to ask for it. What sort of fucked up personality craves backlash, so much that they would crave someone else's backlash? And it's not "ganging up" as I already explained. There's no conspiracy. When you post the way you do, or the way he does, everyone has this disease called "I bet I can explain it to him in a way that will make him understand", so you get multiple people responding with various degrees of vehemence. If you can't take it, log off now. Or just go back to lurking.

I don't know, somehow that shouldn't be in a thread called "slow forum", it's kind of spastic.

Don't give me this holier-than-thou bullshit. Practice what you fucking preach, show us how superior leading said lifestyle is, and I'll consider it. Oh, wait, not when it's inconvenient for you to hold it in. Ah, well then, them's the breaks.

Awesome. Left-handed people are so creative.