Shawn

The Affair. Excellent series, Ruth Wilson is mesmerizing to watch, she's a TALENT.

You can have an ALAC file as the source, but they are converted to lossy when you sync (you can chose from several bitrates (128, 192 or 256). If you WANT them down-converted they will be converted, it's a selectable setting. iPods are 100% compatible with lossless ALAC files. Really? I had no idea. I will have to figure this out ... OK, is it as simple as unchecking the "Convert higher bit songs to ..." box when you are copying an ALAC file? Yes.

You can have an ALAC file as the source, but they are converted to lossy when you sync (you can chose from several bitrates (128, 192 or 256). If you WANT them down-converted they will be converted, it's a selectable setting. iPods are 100% compatible with lossless ALAC files.

The music industry is one of the primary culprits in the death of the music industry.

Oh yeah, this old "let's bash on rock musician thread", I had almost forgotten about it. A shame it was revived.

Megan Boone is just "average hot" for television, you can find much hotter out there.

I think The Blacklist is mildly entertaining garbage. I like Spader (sometimes) and it kept me interested enough for 1 season, but I tuned in for the first episode this year and asked myself "why I'm I watching this crap?" and turned it off. I would rather watch a show completely based in fantasy, something like Sleepy Hollow (which deals with demons, witches, curses, pacts with Satan, etc), than to watch a "pretending to be reality show" like The Blacklist or Criminal Minds or any of the terrible shows based around letters; CSI, NCIS, etc. Sleepy Hollow is a silly show, but it's an intentionally silly show, a knowing nudge-nudge-wink-wink kind of affair. That I'm fine with. Buffy The Vampire Slayer was probably the perfect version of that, a show about vampires/witches/demons that wasn't really about those things at all, just metaphors for the hell that was high school. In the series the writer literally put the entrance to hell underneath the high school. When I'm in the mood for an intelligent, realistic series I'll watch something British. If I want fast-food entertainment I'll watch American TV.

Anyone that actually watched Honey Boo Boo isn't smart enough to know better.

Sorkin's dialogue isn't that far removed from screwball comedy writing, His Girl Friday style mile-a-minute banter. He does it exceptionally well. And I absolutely LOVE that style. The characters may be smarter than most actual people you'll meet, but life would be a lot more entertaining if the average joe did speak that way. P.S. - Fuck reality. I watch TV and movies to escape it, not be reminded of it.

Emily Mortimer is always worth watching. I also became a big fan of Olivia Munn due to this show, she is so much fun to watch.

It's amazing how many people hate this show, at least in the US. Of course the political views have something to do with that, but there seems to be a good deal of ire thrown Sorkin's way whenever possible. In reality, I think a lot of the people that don't like it aren't intelligent enough to follow it. I think it's an incredibly intelligent and well-made series that holds up to repeated viewings.

Queen Queens Of The Stone Age

Tonight it's Purson, a killer psychedelic/prog band from the UK making their US concert debut at The Viper Room on the Sunset Strip.

I run lights, sound and video for Mexican parties frequently, the DJs are always playing this stuff. After several hours I want to run screaming from the room.

Astral Traveling is da bomb.

My favorite later Sanders album: Fantastic record.

That gig with Hutcherson and Tyner is one of the best I've ever seen, those guys were accessing some serious telepathy that night.

I saw Bobby Hutcherson sit in with the McCoy Tyner Trio around '98 or so, he did use 4 mallets on a couple songs that evening.

There is a slight possibility we could get some rain here in Los Angeles tonight or tomorrow, however they have downgraded the chances about 60% since yesterday. It hasn't rained here for like 8 months.

That period of time is what interests me most now. Late 60s to early 70s was always my favorite era of rock, but it's also become my favorite era of jazz.

Monk & Johnny Griffin. My favorite tenor partner with Monk.

I just discovered this album for the first time this afternoon. Outward leaning post bop, a few of the tracks are trio (acoustic bass, sax, drums), the others add John McLaughlin. Here's a live performance by the trio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrmAqHL6Rh8