Turn Off Your TV

Finding life outside of the traditional media influence.

[toytv]

A Walk Around Downtown Raleigh

I took a walk around downtown Raleigh a few weeks ago. I captured these shots.

[caption id="attachment_1194" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Click for photo album.[/caption]

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[toytv]

Raven Rock

So in my middle school or early high school years a science teacher would take my class and several other classes to what has become one of my favorite parks in the state, Raven Rock. If you're ever in the Lillington or Campbell University area, make some time to hike a few of the park's trails to visit the eroded ledges along the Cape Fear river or the relaxing rapids. The shot below is from a recent visit.

[caption id="attachment_1160" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Raven Rock Ledges - Small Pic - Click to Enlarge[/caption]

Here's a link to a larger version if you're interested.

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[toytv]

Sunset on Monstrosity

[caption id="attachment_1152" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Click to enlarge - Sunset on Monstrosity "][/caption]

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[toytv]

Recycled Light

I made one of those recycled light bulb art hangy things tonight. Was a fun project. Hope it doesn't crash and dump its special red liquid (Gatorade) onto my carpet.

[caption id="attachment_1142" align="aligncenter" width="292" caption="Click for more images"][/caption]

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[toytv]

Growth

[caption id="attachment_1134" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Growing - Click to Enlarge"][/caption]

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[toytv]

Meetings

When I'm "not paying attention", I am. In meetings my brain, stuck in infinite multitasking mode, can't dedicate itself just to the auditory sense. Doodles must be drawn. This day must have been a binary one mixed with the usual jaggy skulls.

Doodle? Use that camera on your phone and share.

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[toytv]

I'm a Visual Guy

I'm such a visual person I had to create a graphic for myself so that I could understand how my visual thought processing works. I think this has to do with right brain personalities. As usual, Wikipedia has some good info here.

[caption id="attachment_1119" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Click to Enlarge"][/caption]

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[toytv]

Geeks will be...

Hanging with my cousin.

Since he'd just picked up the Space Quest Collection on the cheap we got the wise idea to tag team some adventure gaming like the ole days.

[caption id="attachment_1097" align="aligncenter" width="209" caption="Click to learn what the hell Space Quest is."][/caption]

Thing is, since the old games used DOSBOX the colors were not rendering properly on his Windows 7 machines, so we were left to play SQ on his microscopic Dell netbook running XP.

[caption id="attachment_1100" align="aligncenter" width="128" caption="What is DOSBOX? It makes old things work. Click to learn more."][/caption]

I'm close to my cousin, but neither of us could get comfortable with the idea of the two of us snuggled in around the 11" netbook screen trying to figure out what the next move should be on our space adventure. Sooo, I got the wise idea to use his big screen TV that was more or less saying, "Hey look at me!! I'm over here! You can use me!". We had to get a little creative with the connectivity, but in the end...victory.

[caption id="attachment_1103" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Click to Enlarge - Netbook turned into a video game adapter."][/caption]

The speaker you see in the image, it is something special. When I say special, I mean it in almost every way imaginable. This link has the details if you're even remotely interested (it is ok not to be, it is not thaaat special).

So with everything connected, loaded, and configured, we managed to get our space pod off the mother ship and get the adventure rolling. Maybe hooking all this up was part of the adventure.

[caption id="attachment_1106" align="aligncenter" width="188" caption="Click to Enlarge - The whole setup"][/caption]

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[toytv]

Grow

[caption id="attachment_1086" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Click to enlarge"][/caption]

Just watched Dragonslayer, listening to Best Coast and The Oh Sees, oh and stuffing seeds in jars.

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[toytv]

Hit by a quadriplegic

While out for a run this morning I was almost hit by a quadriplegic who was out for a walk. The scene looked something like this:

[caption id="attachment_1079" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Click to enlarge"][/caption]

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[toytv]

Like a Good Friend...

...Cradle of Filth is there.

Turn the clock back to the late 90's early 2000's and remember how things "used to be". The economy was booming, your house had its value, and you'd just boxed up all but one of those Bon Jovi tapes you'd sworn off. You peer out your front window to a view that appears as if it would have been at home in the opening of Blue Velvet. In this picturesque reality, you ask yourself, "Self, what could make the world better?"

After a long and calculated pause, self replies in the only way it can.....with Midian

If you're not familiar with Cradle of Filth, you've got a little catching up to do, and dare I say some excellent music in your future. Don't cheat and go watching a bunch of Youtube videos as they may only bring you down since they all seem to paint a bleak picture. Fire up Pandora and listen to their tracks or launch the Youtube play list in the background and listen in as you go about boring office work. It'll keep the rift raft away while surely opening your mind up to symphonic metal grooves that just may have you thinking, "Hmm, that non existent bad guy deity might be pretty cool after all".

So, When everyone else is rocking the latest pop hits at the stoplight this summer, advance your CD changer from that New Jersey album to something a little less trendy and a little more thought provoking like Dusk... and Her Embrace and remember the good times.

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[toytv]

I Ate The Twins

So on while fixing the awesome scramblers you see in the top of the shot below, I cracked an egg that contained two yolks. [caption id="attachment_1062" align="aligncenter" width="623" caption="Top: Breakfast - Bottom: Two eggs cracked, 3 yolks"][/caption] In the bottom half of the picture, I've only cracked two eggs at this point and have three yolks. This may happen all the time, I dunno, but I've never seen it before.

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[toytv]

2012-05-18 - Animals as Leaders - Cat's Cradle NC

May 18th, 2012 Animals as Leaders opened up for Thrice at the Cat's Cradle in North Carolina. The band played a killer set that started off with Wave of Babies. Check out that opening tune below:

They guys from AAL were amazingly nice, and seemed more than happy to spend some time with the fans. We got a few shots of their show as well. Click the image below to see some of the visuals from what was a lesson in master musicianship.

[caption id="attachment_1056" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Click to see more shots of Animals as Leaders at the Cat’s Cradle"][/caption]

There's a bit of a back story to how I got to know of Animals as Leaders, but I'll save that for a future post. For now, enjoy the photos and video.

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[toytv]

Mastodon at the Myrtle Beach House of Blues

Mastodon put on a great show this past Saturday at the Myrtle Beach House of Blues. The band was tight, the sound quality was unbelievable, and the lights were perfect. Check out a few of the shots I snagged from the show here. Enjoy.

[caption id="attachment_994" align="alignright" width="600" caption="Click the Image for More Mastodon Images from the House of Blues"][/caption]

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[toytv]

Paul Turns Off the Internet

Paul, he's a bit of the (conservative) misfit over at The Verge but I like him well enough because he usually has valid points, good writing, tends to make me laugh, and on their podcast....he's the dude that speaks most like me. Long pauses, umm's, and a lot of thinking before he speaks.

He's quitting the Internet.

Read Paul's parting message and watch his parting video.

The video is pretty awesome, and well done. May have to bump the quality down a bit on a slow connection.

Reminds me a bit of turning off the TV, but this may be much more difficult.

Original Article

[toytv]

How Did We Survive?

You know with all the safety measures kids have to adhere to now days; helmets, knee pads, etc. Well, sometimes even best safety measures don't prevent kids from bringing one of these home:

[caption id="attachment_882" align="alignleft" width="257" caption="Click the link for a few more pics"][/caption]

UPDATED: I was corrected, and upon further inspection it is a "black snake" or what some call a "rat snake". Funny, they're not black when they're juveniles. I think it is a juvenile water moccasin. Regardless of what species it is, it is dead now. I didn't get the details of how it was captured, but I don't think I really want to know.

Original Article

[toytv]

Divebar, Raleigh - Man Will Destroy Himself, Mutilation Rites, Palkoski

Friday, April 20th, 2012 an important day for some. For me and CJ (from Hold the Pickle), it was an evening of loud and intense metal. Did I mention loud? The Divebar of Raleigh, was the host of the evening's auditory masochists and well worth a visit if you're into uncovering rising talent.

The evening started with the very metallic yet punk emissions of Man Will Destroy Himself. [caption id="attachment_854" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Click to View - Man Will Destroy Himself Gallery"][/caption]

The real ear bleeding got started when Mutilation Rites took the stage and made everyone audibly pay for what we'd all thought was a free show. [caption id="attachment_859" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Click to View Gallery - Mutilation Rites"][/caption]

Finally, the last act the curfew would allow us to see was the unique three piece known as Palkoski. Youtube is your friend. [caption id="attachment_864" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Click to View Gallery - Palkoski"][/caption]

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