Matthew

Anyone buy stereo equipment off ebay? Looking at the prices their, I could get a very good deal, but is it safe?

Anyone here have the Sony DVP - NC555ES sacd player? or know how it is, it seems like a good possibilty.

I enjoyed the Hoffman comments since I read the forums there on a regular basis. I really enjoyed the one about screaming Steve's name like a 12 year-old!

Well, to be a thread-pooper: back on topic... I have a stereo system (mostly NAD componets, intergrated amp, cd player, Dynaudio speakers) and I've noticed that the SACD & DVD-A cds are all multi-channel mixes, so, does that effect the sound for just plain stereo? or is there a stereo mix also?

Well, I'm thinking of getting a SACD palyer also. Is Denon the best route to go for $500 .00? I don't have a surround sound system, just a basic stero system, with Dynaudio speakers. So, is a upgrade to SACD worth it?

The one time I came closest was at a special screening that the film class I was taking at UCSD did of Ulysses. Nothing about this film was making any sense to me, and I finally made up my mind to walk out, then Joseph Strick, who directed the film, suddenly stands up a starts yelling at the projectionist "You a**hole, you have the reels out of order!!!" Whew, I thought I was losing my mind for a moment.

Thanks for the birthday wishes -- hard to believe that half my life is over

Really coming around on Black Sea, which has hooks galore, and great songs: Towers of London, Generals and Majors, and the bonus song The Somnambulist. XTC did change direction after this, but this cd is a standout.

For the true completist, someone put Vigotone's "Jewels and Binoculars" up on dime within the past year or so - a mind-boggling 26 CDs represented to be all extant live Dylan recordings from 1966! This one's gotta rank up there with Benedetti's Bird recordings for sheer obsessiveness. ← And that Jewels and Binoculars went for over $700. Ah, to have that kind of free cash on hand....

XTC: Transistor Blast

Just pre-ordered the "Complete Apple Sessions", and I'm looking forward to a great set. Always liked the music that XTC did on these cds. Now with the rights to the Apple Venus albums back with XTC, Idea is proud to announce the release of the much awaited Apple Box on 31st October 2005. The Apple Venus albums were originally intended as a double album, but much to Andy and Colins frustrations were released as seperate albums. Here, they are united as originally intended, with the bonus of their respective demo albums in a 4CD set. The box is stunningly simple, pure white, matt laminated with a peacock feather varnished on the box lid. A white matt slipcase completes the look. Inside, each CD is packaged in its own cardboard wallet with new artwork and a 64 page book contains the lyrics to all the songs for the very first time with new liner notes by Andy and Colin. Retailing for under £20.00 this set offers incredible value for money. Autographed copies will be available only from this site. Details of how to pre-order your copy will be announced shortly. A real treat for all XTC fans is the inclusion of a special content card. Each card contains a unique PIN number which will enable the user to log onto the XTC web site and with the PIN, download for FREE, 2 brand new XTC tracks, Spiral and Say It. Also on their mobile phone, with the same PIN you will be able to access, via an SMS text, a FREE XTC ‘Stupidly Happy’ ringtone. Further ringtones will be available from the XTC site very soon.

I've been averaging two e-mails a week telling me that my ebay account has been suspended until I confirm my personal information. Yeah, right....

.... and so, John Updike & Philip Roth get overlooked again.

I've been listening to a ton of My Morning Jacket, and enjoying every bit of it. Some of the songs they put out are stunning the their shear beauty. The new cd Z, is solid, creative rock. A great live concert is on their website, just click on the BONNAROO FESTIVAL, Manchester, TN, June 12th, 2004, and enjoy the bliss.

Now, THIS is really crazy.

Just listened to this again, and it's fast becoming my all-time XTC fav. Beautiful music that grows with each listen.

Just leave 'em in the vault, if you don't mind. And whoever at Verve thought of putting all those breakdowns on cd .... well, I hope you're enjoying purgatory.

none

What I'm looking for is something higher than just a word processor. I need something where I can do graphics easily. It's not a high-powered graphics need, but one for brochures, pamphelts, etc., maybe some Powerpoint stuff.

I'm taking the pluge for a laptop computer in the next couple of weeks. I've never had one before, so: What is good out there for $1.200, and what should I avoid at all costs. Is a Mac the way I should go? Any help is greatly appreciated.

C.P. Snow's series of novels: Strangers and Brothers. I found the three volume edition that he oversaw and rewrote. Very interesting, I'm a sucker for these long multi-volume novels that English writers put out. I only have about 1,500 pages to go .

Nice pre-order price -- ESP's pricing usually stinks to high heaven.

Bought all five of Bud Powell's RVGs to replace the box set I traded in. Very nice sound. Also got the Live at Birdland: 1953 Sessions. Powell whould have been 81 this month.

WTF????? You mean to tell me a major city that is on the coast, below see level, and no one in FEMA thought a levee breach could take place? Chertoff: Katrina scenario did not exist However, experts for years had warned of threat to New Orleans Sunday, September 4, 2005; Posted: 8:49 a.m. EDT (12:49 GMT) WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Defending the U.S. government's response to Hurricane Katrina, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff argued Saturday that government planners did not predict such a disaster ever could occur. But in fact, government officials, scientists and journalists have warned of such a scenario for years. Chertoff, fielding questions from reporters, said government officials did not expect both a powerful hurricane and a breach of levees that would flood the city of New Orleans. "That 'perfect storm' of a combination of catastrophes exceeded the foresight of the planners, and maybe anybody's foresight," Chertoff said. He called the disaster "breathtaking in its surprise." But engineers say the levees preventing this below-sea-level city from being turned into a swamp were built to withstand only Category 3 hurricanes. And officials have warned for years that a Category 4 could cause the levees to fail. (See video of why the levee's breech was devastating -- 1:53) Katrina was a Category 4 hurricane when it struck the Gulf Coast on September 29. Last week, Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told CNN his agency had recently planned for a Category 5 hurricane hitting New Orleans. Speaking to "Larry King Live" on August 31, in the wake of Katrina, Brown said, "That Category 4 hurricane caused the same kind of damage that we anticipated. So we planned for it two years ago. Last year, we exercised it. And unfortunately this year, we're implementing it." Brown suggested FEMA -- part of the Department of Homeland Security -- was carrying out a prepared plan, rather than having to suddenly create a new one. Chertoff argued that authorities actually had assumed that "there would be overflow from the levee, maybe a small break in the levee. The collapse of a significant portion of the levee leading to the very fast flooding of the city was not envisioned." He added: "There will be plenty of time to go back and say we should hypothesize evermore apocalyptic combinations of catastrophes. Be that as it may, I'm telling you this is what the planners had in front of them. They were confronted with a second wave that they did not have built into the plan, but using the tools they had, we have to move forward and adapt." But New Orleans, state and federal officials have long painted a very different picture. "We certainly understood the potential impact of a Category 4 or 5 hurricane" on New Orleans, Lt. General Carl Strock, chief of engineers for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said Thursday, Cox News Service reported. Reuters reported that in 2004, more than 40 state, local and volunteer organizations practiced a scenario in which a massive hurricane struck and levees were breached, allowing water to flood New Orleans. Under the simulation, called "Hurricane Pam," the officials "had to deal with an imaginary storm that destroyed more than half a million buildings in New Orleans and forced the evacuation of a million residents," the Reuters report said. In 2002 the New Orleans Times-Picayune ran a five-part series exploring the vulnerability of the city. The newspaper, and other news media as well, specifically addressed the possibility of massive floods drowning residents, destroying homes and releasing toxic chemicals throughout the city. (Read: "Times-Picayune" Special Report: Washing awayexternal link) Scientists long have discussed this possibility as a sort of doomsday scenario. On Sunday, a day before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, Ivor van Heerden, director of the Louisiana State University Public Health Research Center in Baton Rouge, said, "This is what we've been saying has been going to happen for years." "Unfortunately, it's coming true," he said, adding that New Orleans "is definitely going to flood." Also on Sunday, Placquemines Parish Sheriff Jeff Hingle referred back to Hurricane Betsy -- a Category 2 hurricane that struck in 1965 -- and said, "After Betsy these levees were designed for a Category 3." He added, "These levees will not hold the water back." But Chertoff seemed unaware of all the warnings. "This is really one which I think was breathtaking in its surprise," Chertoff said. "There has been, over the last few years, some specific planning for the possibility of a significant hurricane in New Orleans with a lot of rainfall, with water rising in the levees and water overflowing the levees," he told reporters Saturday. That alone would be "a very catastrophic scenario," Chertoff said. "And although the planning was not complete, a lot of work had been done. But there were two problems here. First of all, it's as if someone took that plan and dropped an atomic bomb simply to make it more difficult. We didn't merely have the overflow, we actually had the break in the wall. And I will tell you that, really, that perfect storm of combination of catastrophes exceeded the foresight of the planners, and maybe anybody's foresight." Chertoff also argued that authorities did not have much notice that the storm would be so powerful and could make a direct hit on New Orleans. "It wasn't until comparatively late, shortly before -- a day, maybe a day and a half, before landfall -- that it became clear that this was going to be a Category 4 or 5 hurricane headed for the New Orleans area." As far back as Friday, August 26, the National Hurricane Center was predicting the storm could be a Category 4 hurricane at landfall, with New Orleans directly in its path. Still, storms do change paths, so the possibility existed that it might not hit the city. But the National Weather Service prediction proved almost perfect. Katrina made landfall on Monday, August 29. Tens of thousands of people in New Orleans who did not or could not heed the mandatory evacuation orders issued the day before the storm made landfall were left in dire straits. "I think we have discovered over the last few days that with all the tremendous effort using the existing resources and the traditional frameworks of the National Guard, the unusual set of challenges of conducting a massive evacuation in the context of a still dangerous flood requires us to basically break the traditional model and create a new model -- one for what you might call kind of an ultracatastrophe," Chertoff said. He vowed that the United States "is going to move heaven and earth" to rescue those in need.

Here's a list of famous places and their condition: Beloved icons still standing By Colleen Long The Associated Press In New Orleans, winding streets where revelers meandered, listening to jazz in the sticky heat, are flooded with murky water. Some businesses and landmarks are submerged or damaged; others escaped the water but were ravaged by looters. Rescue workers are combing the waters in search of survivors, but a different kind of reckoning also is becoming clear. New Orleans is one of the most iconic cities in America, and some of the places and pieces that make it unique could be lost or looted. Here is a list of famous spots in the city, and how they are faring, although the full extent of the damage won't be known for some time: • The French Quarter: This historic district is full of wrought-iron balconies and ornate colonial architecture, but also was a playground for adults who could roam the streets with cocktails in tow, listen to jazz and, during Mardi Gras, grab beads and go wild. The area escaped much of the flooding. • Bourbon Street: A hedonistic strip in the Quarter bursting with bars such as Pat O'Brien's, Molly's on the Market and Jean Laffite's Blacksmith Shop. The latter, a piano bar, supposedly was the in-town headquarters of pirate Jean Laffite, who owned more than 10 vessels and raided American, British and Spanish ships in the early 1800s. Located in the French Quarter, the area escaped flooding but remains closed. • Café du Monde: Established in 1862, this coffee shop on Decatur Street in the French Quarter was best known for its café au lait, made with hearty New Orleans-style coffee, blended with chicory, and beignets — crispy, square doughnuts. Still standing. • Galatoire's: Nearly a century old, the tiled and mirrored restaurant was famous for not taking reservations. The tuxedo-clad wait staff served Creole classics such as shrimp remoulade and crab-meat maison. Also located in the French Quarter. Still standing. • Acme Oyster House: Built more than 90 years ago at the gateway to the French Quarter, it had a menu including raw oysters and traditional po' boys, or fried oyster sandwiches. On the edge of the Quarter, it should have escaped much of the flooding. • U.S. Mint: The building housed Confederate soldiers during the Civil War and produced money for the federal government until 1909. It later became home to jazz, Mardi Gras exhibits and the streetcar immortalized in Tennessee Williams' play "A Streetcar Named Desire." The mint is standing. The fate of the streetcar is unknown. • Preservation Hall: In an unassuming building originally built as a private residence in 1750, this famed jazz club was once a tavern, inn, photo studio and art gallery. Fate unknown; it is in the middle of the Quarter and should be unaffected unless looters have trashed it. • Anne Rice's home: Tourists and fans of the "Vampire Chronicles" books would visit the Garden District home of author Anne Rice. She also has helped create several "haunted tours" of the city. The area was battered by high winds that knocked down trees. Rice no longer lives there, although that hasn't stopped tourists from stopping by. • St. Louis Cathedral: Located in Jackson Square and consecrated in 1794, it was said to be the oldest continuously active cathedral in the country. Still standing. • St. Charles Avenue in the Garden District: The St. Charles Streetcar ran down the historic street, and the area was shaded by majestic oak trees layered in Spanish moss. The Garden District was named for the collection of mansions and sprawling gardens, but Victorian homes built later became a well-known part of the neighborhood. Much wind damage; many trees splintered. • Commander's Palace: A restaurant built in 1880 in the stately Garden District, frequented by everyone from wealthy elite to riverboat captains and charlatans. Known for its turtle soup and turquoise-and-white facade, which was heavily damaged. • Fair grounds: In the northeast section of the city, the fair grounds is best known as the home of the New Orleans Jazz Festival, but is also famous for its racetrack, built in 1852. The roof was torn off. Little is known about other landmarks located in the flood area, including St. Louis Cemetery No. 2, one of the larger cemeteries known as "cities of the dead," with narrow paths, rusty ironwork and sun-bleached tombs built above ground because the water table was so high that caskets occasionally would float away if buried underground; Mid-City Lanes Rock 'N Bowl Nightclub, a bar near Xavier University which has bowling lanes, live Cajun, blues and jazz music plus a full bowling alley and dancing; and Maple Leaf Bar, a smallish place uptown on Oak Street with a hammered-on tin ceiling, an institution for local music. Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company