By now, you've heard of Ed Bradley's passing,

Tributes To Trailblazer Ed Bradley , Dignitaries, Ordinary TV Viewers Salute The Late CBS Newsman - CBS News

Sadly, I just found out about the passing of R & B singer Gerald Levert about an hour of so ago.
You can read about it here:

Gerald Levert, fiery R&B crooner, dies at 40 - USATODAY.com

Both of them will be greatly missed.


Technorati Tags: news, music, death

Outside of lyrics and flow, what I love about Hip Hop (and some Rap) is the music. Hip Hop was pretty much built on the foundation of sampled music. It has grown (somewhat) from that, but it still holds on to that foundation quite closely. Hell, some people have made their so called "fame" from "sampling" popular songs and calling it theirs. All they did was take a popular song, loop it and call it production, which is totally BULLSHIT and yet people praise their stupid asses for it. YEA, PUFFY, I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU!

(*Ahem*) As I said, sampling is a Hip Hop staple. Now, what I really love is that every now and then, I would come across the original song that was sampled. I still look for them so that I can add them to my collection. I love it because if you think about it, if you like the beat of a song that has a sample of another song, why would you not like the original? Ok, I could probably answer that myself, but I choose not to. It's a flimsy reason anyway. Right, so about a year or two ago, I came across a huge list of songs that had been sampled and for them most part, I have found most of them. Some are still hard to find because either whoever used them chopped them up to unrecognizable lengths, the liner notes of the album aren't clear or even mention it (Madonna - "Justify my Love" for example), or it came out before the Biz Markie incident.

So, when after I started blogging (which reminds me of something*), I figure I could do a little something something to spread the word on the original sampled material. That is where the Sample Moment posts came from. I would LOVE to do it in audio form, but I would also love NOT to get sued for doing so. But who knows, I may be able to cobble something together one day and put it out. We'll see. For the time being, check out this post from the Soulcrates blog ran by GrantLove (no relation):

SOULCRATES...your home for SOUL: SOUL SAMPLES II

The post is from earlier this year and If I didn't know any better, I'd say that he'd found the same list or been in my hard drive. :) Make sure you click the link at the bottom of the post to listen to the songs. I guarantee that you will recognize more than half the list off the bat. LOVE IT!

Peace

* - This reminded me of the fact that as of this past October, I have been blogging for a year now. It totally slipped my mind. It's a bit late to do something about that, but maybe for my 100th post. What is it with 100 being a milestone for blogging anyway? What is this, TV?


Technorati Tags: music, sample moment, hip hop

     You know, I think what I originally wrote might have be nicer than what i'm posting now, but what can you do (see bottom). Anyway, a while ago, I mentioned a nice music blog that I said I would check out and write about.  Actually, it was two sites, NetInfoWeb 2.0 "Tracking the sites, Tracking the Soul " and RIBS: Rhythms in Black Satin, an MP3blog, ran by the MAN TGrundy. I can't seem to find the post that I mentioned them in, but go with me on this. Maybe if I would get off of my ass, I would finish the post properly (and I will. it's a great site). I will say right now that RIBS has some great audio mixes (and the playlists for them) and that you should go check them out. Anyway, i've been checking the site out and commenting on a couple posts here and there. I went there earlier tonight and saw that I got a nice post written about me. Well, it's not really about me, but a post I did fairly recently.  How about this, you go check his post and you'll see what i'm talking about.

NetInfoWeb 2.0 » Roddykat… Working Hard For The Money!


     Now, I thought it was nice and and I quite possibly blushed when I saw it... well, you know, being brown and a man, it doesn't happen often. Actually, this reminded me of something that i've had on the back burner for a while now. I may try to dig some stuff out and post them. Oh, and don't get me wrong, i've been mentioned in other's post before (not that i'm anybody), but this took it to another level for me. So once again, I will say thanks to tgrundy for the post and I can't wait for the mix!

Peace!

Performancing Tip(s): 1) Save early, save often. Pretend you are in Microsoft Word and fear a crash. It does happen. 2) Unless you are 200% confident in it's delivery, don't clear the post until after it's published. Performancing is pretty good about letting you know if it wen through or not, but why risk it (unless you did #1). Firefox could possibly crash and not recover you post (don't know if the new version works for running extensions). The last tip is mainly for Blogger users because I can't tell you how many times i've posted something only and it not be there or worse. Oh wait, yes I can, it's about 5.

Ladies and Gentlemen...and lowlifes,


    I would like to introduce you to a new member of the family who's only over a week old. Trying to be gentle but I know there will be some problems as it grows older. Anyway, I would like to introduce.....





My wife's new laptop.... What? What did you think it was?

Anyway, nice, isn't it?

It's a Gateway MK series (because I can't remember the model even if I THOUGHT you'd care).
2.0Ghz processor, 100GB hard drive with XP Media Center Edition. That last last part aside, it a good computer. It also means 3 things of importance:

1) I have Tech Support duty on another computer (no complaint).

2) My wife has a faster computer than I do which means...

3) I am scrambling to build me a new computer because the geek in me demands that there is no way in HELL that number 2 should be the case!

All she does is surf the net and some word processing. The reason why I broke down for it was so that she could get off of mine. Selfish? I don't think so. At any case, she's loving it, and I am a case and some ram away from another system. Then i'm another system away from building a new for myself. The system i'm gathering parts for now is going to be a place for us to store our files, which means i'm still on the old computer now. The one that the laptop is replacing will probably be taken out back and shot. Yep, it was just that old.

Anyway, I can't wait until I can build me a new system. I pretty much know what I want, but I don't have the money to do it. That part sucks. But when it's on, it will be on!

Now that i've geeked out, I feel a bit better. I now return you to your other randomness.

This geek out was unofficially sponsored by:

BestValueMarketplace.com

Go here for a good buy. The Holidays are coming you know....

Right now, I should be at work but I took the week off. Today (thursday), starts my 7 days off. This means that when it's all said and done, I will have been off for 2 weeks. I'm not bragging at all, because in 4 weeks, I will have to work 7 straight days. Keep in mind that I work 12 hours a night. Why am I telling you this? I don't know, but people can't seem to keep my schedule straight (sometimes a good thing). Plus, I've been asked a couple of times if my schedule was legal. I am here to say, yes.

     Normal people, that means day walkers, supposedly work 5 days at 8 hours for 40 hours. I say supposedly because I know some of you all aren't actually working for 8 hours (as you are reading this now). That's alright, love for coming by. I, on the other hand, work 3 days a week (Mondays - Wednesdays) at the aforementioned 12 hours a night. Yes, I did say night again. When I work weekends (Thursdays - Sundays), I can (and usually do) work up to 4 days at the same 12 hours.

Why is this legal? If you've been keeping score, I am working the legal 40 hours max. Ok, Technically, I'm working 36 hours during the week, but that's another issue. On weekends, 48 hours unless I take a day off. As you may know, any time over 40 is overtime. Hence why I work all weekend. This little setup allows me to have time off unlike "normal" folk, who onlyget 2 days off a week. Again, not bragging. The only time I really need to take off is when I max out my leave time (which happens quite often), like now. That's why I took the week off.

Again, why am I telling you this? Who knows, this only exciting to my HR people and THEY don't care, I wager. Someone did ask.... plus it give me the opportunity to do something and rationalize it.
What is that, you ask? Well, I made up a Google calendar of my work schedule (just to play with it). I, of course, also tried the previously mentioned Google Gadget (or widget if you know it by those) for said calendar and may post it hear on the site. For know, I will just put it in this post. Those who care can check it out.



     Incidently, You will have noticed that I tend to post around the time of Hell Week (the 7 days straight I have to work). Why, it helps keep me sane. Those who think I have a good schedule may not realize that just like those in a regular 9 to 5, I have to deal with the same people every night. Some of you don't like doing it for 8 hours. Don't lie, I read your blogs. It doesn't sound like it averages out, but it does.

Later.

P.S.
Now, that i've had a couple days, maybe i'll have some more frequent postings....doubt it.

From the pages of the web productivity site, Lifehacker, comes this story.

Google Gadgets open for all web pages - Lifehacker


That's right you, yes you website slash blogger, can add even more stuff to your site(s). Not from any old place, oh no, but from the mighty Google empire! Games, news, weather, horoscopes, calendar, it's all there, plus more! And you, yes you, can select any number of "gadgets" (as it's being referred to) to compliment pimp out your already off the hook well populated website or blog to the highest of pimptivity. This is what you've been waiting for. It's Google,  It's you. It's Google with you making as much whoopie as you can finally stand! How can you do this? Check the link above...if you dare!


The views expressed in this post are not in any way sarcastic, but meant to be slightly humorous, though the content is real. If, said post was taken out of context (read: someone thought I was trippin'), please proceed to get a life and laugh a little. Or, just dont get it because it might not have been as funny as I believe it to be. This really is cool. All right now. I'm ready to go home and i'm threatening to fire up MSN and play UNO, which is far less distracting than what I am doing as opposed to what i'm doing now.