Dusty Chalk

Okay, Billy, go away.

That's bullshit. Everything else sounds par for the course -- and one of the reasons I hate buying retail. The good thing about the economy going down the toilet is that I've noticed that customer service has actually improved. Yeah, that was fun. Alestorm was pirate metal -- even their ballad was "Nancy the Tavern Wench". Epica sounded fucking tight and played all the tracks I wanted them to. My only regret (besides missing Insomnium) is -- no end-of-tour shenanigans!

You know, you can do that. I mean later, when you're sober.

I think you of all people would want comedy/tragedy, perhaps replacing comedy with the Guy Fawkes mask.

In 4.5 hours, this goes on sale.

That was vaguely new-beat-ish. (a good thing)

I will def check out the Disperse album, meant to mention that. I have no idea whether or not you'd like Antimatter, but they are like pure distilled 180 proof atmosphere -- they're not even metal any more.

That reminds me -- I heard today that Gangnam Style is now the most viewed video on YouTube, surpassing the previous record holder, Justin Bieber. This made me happy. Very very happy.

ANOTHER NEW ONE -- FUCKING SWALLOW THE SUN, FUCKING EMERALD FOREST AND THE BLACKBIRD \mmm/ (three-handed devil horns -- something I saw at the Epica concert tonight) EDIT: WOWZERS, THIS IS DIFFERENT -- TAKE OFF THOSE TWO 'FUCKING's.

Yeah, you know, I agree with you that they sort of went through a lull with REM, although I lump SLS in with REM. Not bad, per se, just not as good as their best work. You don't like Hyperactive? That's one of my favourite tracks -- I just love that sound of being on the verge of chaos. I guess that's just a good indicator that we will never completely agree...and that's okay. And Forgotten Land (last track on Memories in My Head) is my favourite track off that album. It's funny that you should mention ambience and atmosphere, because I think this EP excels in exactly that regard. Just goes to show, we can agree on things, and still come to individual conclusions. I love the patience in the songwriting on that one. It's probably 2nd after ADHD. Also, there might additionally be something else going on here. I have a friend that when I met, we thought we'd agree on everything, and instead, we've polarized our musical tastes. He's decided he hates goth metal (probably because I play it too much) and I still love it . I suspect my unabashed love of minor chords and melodrama is the differentiating factor in that case. For example. That said, I do appreciate you revisiting it on my behalf -- I suspect a lot of people are perpetuating the lull to more recent albums unfairly. I will continue to revisit Riverside, because space prog is still >> christmas store music.

Actually, things like that make me go, "wait, what?" usually are a good indication to me. Me: Antimatter, Fear of a Unique Identity -- new! Didn't realize they had something out. Fab, without being particularly better than anything they've done in the past.

The laptop I pointed at last night only went down to US$330, so just as well that you went to bed.

Actually, just about anything will help, since you're having so much luck with EQ. I'm fond of HRT, but others here like NuForce. But if you're happy with it, just sit back, relax, and enjoy the beautiful beautiful music.

EQ is fun. And yes, I'm a little drunk. No, seriously, T50rp needs zoads of amplification, your EQ is probably making up for an inferior amp.

This goes on sale in 1 hour and 9 minutes, probably for less than $300, but it'll probably be sold out in 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Also, why laptop? It might be better to get her a desktop, that way her parent or guardian will always know where she is and would be able to monitor. If you have an old monitor lying around (most of us do, I think), you could just get a headless one.

Srsly.

Happy Birthday! (party favour noise)

They already have it, actually.

Intel or AMD are both fine. Try to get something at least a little modern -- i3, i5, i7, AMD A-series -- not a Pentium anything. Although looking at newegg right now, that may not be possible -- I only see one in-stock choice, and it's an open box. You can always up the performance a little bit by adding memory, to make up for the CPU. My next laptop is going to have mSATA. You might consider a Chromebook. Don't know about brands -- I prefer Dell, Toshiba, HP, MSI, and Sony, myself, but most of them are decent.

I would just go Windows 7 until they iron it out, Windows 8 is still too new. Either get one of the Windows 8 computers with the option to backgrade, or get a Windows 7 computer with the upgrade-to-Windows-8 option that you can install later when you feel better about it. And by all means, there are plenty under $300. Pretty much any new computer for sale at NewEgg or MicroCenter should be sufficient. Open Box is probably fine, too.

Getting an extra pair for myself. They're still one of my favourite monitoring cans at any price.

Well the 3A/16 combination is a different thing -- it's not one vs. the other, really. I would start smaller -- just get the (freqphased) 13's, if anything. IMHO, the DSP box has been rendered moot by the freqphase technology, if I understand it correctly. And go back and read some of Mike's (tyrion) troubles with customer service, you may not want to do business with them at all. Just get a pair of Ety's and be done with it.

They're too busy selling more of them?

It just dawned on me -- if any of y'all want a Shure SRH1840 for $550 plus shipping, Hello Music is selling them, and then you'll need the coupon code, THANKS50, to get $50 off $500 or more. (There's also a THANKS30 and THANKS100.)