People disappear and reappear all of the time on social media channels. It's part of what makes it great. If you can't take a break from Twitter long enough to do your laundry, go shopping, and attend elocution classes, then you need to question why you are flailing your arms about to get noticed. Social media is great when you are genuine. It's better when you are grounded in who you are. It's best when you pay attention to other genuine people.

Pay attention to your stream and make an effort to periodically give people an individual shoutout. When somebody is gone for days, do you notice? It's easy to maintain friendships online. You can be a butterfly and people get that. But stop periodically and remember who these people are and what they mean to you. They are not money trees, zoo animals, or even an alternative to you doing absolutely nothing. They are people just like you and I'd like to think we all need somebody singling us out and saying "hi" to help us know we are not alone living our lives and supporting our families.

I don't ask a lot from people but I'd like to ask you today to think about who helped you in the past with an Illustrator question or didn't give you a snarky let-me-Google-that-for-you answer when you tried to figure out where to get budget numbers. Remember who retweeted something funny you wrote. Remember who put up with your self-indulgence when you went on about your good time at SXSW. Remember who live-tweeted your presentation from a conference with supportive comments. Remember those who first helped you get started in your career. Remember that your network is made up of people and don't take them for granted.

Audioslave's debut album

There was a time I was an aspiring vocalist. I took voice lessons even and sang in my high school choir. The reality was I  had a really good vocal quality but a major pitch problem. As much as I tried, I wasn't cut out to sing any place else than in my car, alone. Very alone. With the windows rolled up and with a 50 feet perimeter around the car. It's also recommended I sing in my car at night as to not look like a moron to other people at traffic lights.

All of this is completely reaffirmed by the existence of Chris Cornell. He is the kind of singer that American Idol wannabes imitate much to their own demise. Who else could take Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" and make it a serious rock song? Chris a dude with chops.

Now let's talk for a second about Rage Against the Machine. Rage is the most holy shit band I can think of. They are violently political, anarchist, offensive, and musically knee-capping. So for the brief history when Chris Cornell married Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine, I thought it was either too awesome to be true or the worst thing to happen to rock since Ween's "Push Th’ Little Daisies".

Audioslave's self-titled debut (2002) was fortunately one of the best rock albums to grace my ears in a long, long time. Audioslave was everything I could have hoped. It was a mixture of the best musicianship from Rage with one of the best vocalists to sing in modern rock. And there it was, 14 songs of pure rock and roll. It's what it's all about. The guitar riffs, the outrageous vocals, and the completely off-the-wall lyrics.

The best part of Audioslave is the appreciation you get for Cornell's journey from Soundgarden to be able to mesh with Rage Against the Machine. By the time they did their live album from Cuba, Cornell was singing old Rage songs and Audioslave was doing old Soundgarden songs and it worked.

While Audioslave is no more, get Audioslave and appreciate the fact that the cover was designed by Storm Thorgerson, best known as the guy who made so many righteous Pink Floyd album covers. Appreciate the fact the songs are all equally excellent. And finally, appreciate the fact that Audioslave is important rock history making you deaf in your car as you fail to hit Cornell's high notes.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Soundgarden is back (brooklynvegan.com)
• Soundgarden Reunion Being Planned (metalmartyr.com)
• Soundgarden Reunite, Weigh Festival Offers (stereogum.com)
• Soundgarden Reunion Takes First Good Pop Culture News of the Decade/Year/Whatever Honors [Pop Culture Aneurysm] (gawker.com)
• Shawn Amos: The Seven Deadly Sins of Reuniting Bands (huffingtonpost.com)

Heavy Metal Soundtrack at Amazon

Some people have Eraserhead. Others have The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And I think a couple of people in Denmark like Gigli. However, my favorite cult movie is Heavy Metal. I'm taken back to a time when my grandmother would take me to the grocery store with her and I would stay in the magazine isle reading Heavy Metal magazine and feeling like I was getting by with something. To be fair, this grocery store in North Little Rock, Arkansas also had Playboy out in the open too and I never once read any of the articles.

The Heavy Metal Soundtrack (1981) is the perfect soundtrack. The movie itself was nothing more than a random smattering of adolescent boy daydreams as if they jumped off the cardboard cover of a doodled spiral bound notebook. But the music tied it all together. The soundtrack from the Heavy Metal film is kick-ass arena rock and oh yeah, here are some aliens, violence, and naked warrior women to go with it.

I highly recommend driving in the middle of the night between Dallas and Little Rock with the windows down and trying to belt out Sammy Hagar's "Heavy Metal" or Nazereth's "Crazy". Not only will you stay awake, but your car will transform into a 1960 Corvette that can reenter the atmosphere.

Let's get a few things straight. I bathe daily. I am a super carnivore. I don't smoke pot. I can't normally keep a hacky sack in the air for more than one kick. Most of my clothes fit. Did I mention I bathe? With soap and shampoo? But....

I love, love, love Rusted Root's When I Woke (1994). I continually go back and play When I Woke.  It's world, pop, and rock all fused together by bodily odor and hippie lettuce. The songs take me away to a place where nobody has a job and trust funds pay for endless Taco Bell runs and protest signs. And I like it!

"Send Me On My Way" was their big single from the album and reminded me of David Byrne with hiccups, but in a good way. Like all great albums to be studied at my own personal School of Rock, all the songs matter. When I Woke is tangled mess of dreadlock goodness. From the opening "Drum Trip" your senses will be overloaded with bohemian overdrive followed by moody feelings of free love.   If you don't enjoy  "Food & Creative Love"  then you are dead inside.

Ironically, I first bought this CD at Walmart.  That is all.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Trip Out to 2009's Best Unheard Music (wired.com)
• Where Does Your Taco Come From? (neatorama.com)
• Bacon Science + Rocket Science = Bacon Rocket (geeksaresexy.net)

Metal graphic by Mat Giordano

Every decade, some music journalist somewhere declares rock and roll dead and buried. This has been going on since the '60s. You know the spiel: corporatism, prima dona artists, greedy producers, the entire industry, take your pick, are all villains.  Somehow rock and roll survives. I'm not a music expert. I'm a fan. I love music and have with a passion since my past life as a bush near the crossroads where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil so he could kick the blues' ass. Even as a young tot, there was something about rock that pulled me in. I clearly remember spinning Elton John, AC/DC, Three Dog Night, Steppenwolf, and Nazareth on my Winnie the Pooh record player. No, I'm not exaggerating and yes, Walt Disney's head is spinning in its cryogenic jar.

Pop music is what happens to good rock. Elton John, Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, and Kenny Loggins, for example, morphed from straight-up rock to light, adult-rock pussies. (Note: Phil Collins started out as one so he is not included.) "Selling out" is what people say happens to artists after a while. I don't think it's that as much as plain old burning out. Once they've burned out, it's not rock anymore.

Now that you know where I'm coming from, I'm going hypothesize that we are in the midst a musical dark age. Since everything is a formula and everything has to be about money, music has become canned, uninspired. So-called "alternative" music is just pop music with fake English accents. The hard rock radio stations play bands like Nickelback and 3 Doors Down with straight faces. It's still pop but with formulated guitar riffs and Eddie Vedder impersonators. Sure there are good rock bands, but in the big scheme of things it's a dark time. Producers and corporate suits call the shots. They are all about making music that sells. So for bands to be successful, they play by the rules and become distanced from their own fans and illiterate in the ways of true art. I'm imagining meetings where a group of suits examine a band to see if the hooks in their songs make 14 year old girls scream.

Just like the Irish saved civilization by remaining one of the last literate places on earth during the Dark Ages, metal is going to save rock. Metal is the last bastion for musicians who want to do whatever the hell they want to do and if they succeed great, if not, there are always other bands. The musicianship of bands like Gojira, Revocation, Melechesch, Suffocation, and Obscura demonstrates a new wave of serious musicians making bad ass music. While there is interesting things happening in the indie music scene, the metal scene is breaking out and leading the way for rock to follow.

As a huge fan of rock, I've become the biggest fan of metal in the past few years for the simple reason that it's just good rock music. Today's metal is the way rock is supposed to be. People talk about the quality of the bands and argue technical proficiency and lyrics and stage performance and song-writing quality. The reason people argue so fervently about those things is because it's art. Metal is connecting to fans today like no other type of music.

There's symphonic metal, death metal, thrash, hardcore, metalcore, progressive (or math) metal, folk metal, fusion metal... You get the idea. There is something for everybody. Support your local metal bands and become metal literate. Today's metal artists are blazing trails while other mainstream musicians are still trying to figure out how to get airplay for the love ballad their producer made them record.

See also: Mat Giordano's post "Happy Metal Friday", which is where I got that kick-ass graphic. Also on Twitter, start paying attention to the #metal and #metalfriday hashtags.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Elton John records album with 'musical hero' Leon Russell (guardian.co.uk)
• Press Release: Mass - Sea Of Black (2010) artwork, tracklisting and release date announced (heavymetaladdiction.com)

These are my links for 02/18/2010 through 03/05/2010:

• DandyID: Universally Portable Social Identity! -
• sketchology اسکچ industrial design sketch -
• Content Solutions -- Meeting your Content Needs! -
• tripwire magazine | handpicked goodies for Web Developers and Designers -
• RavenKult | Fine Art + Design | Horror + Macabre -
• The Whitechapel Project -
• The Seven Deadly Sins Of JavaScript Implementation - Smashing Magazine -
• Machine Age Productions -
• A Guide to Creating Professional Quality Logo Designs -
• CeeVee - quick & painless résumé management -
• Russian slang dictionary — Русский мат на английском -
• Language Digger -
• Interaction 10 Playlist « Ben Fullerton -
• Kids-In-Mind: Movie Ratings That Actually Work -
• Lastfm Love Tweet -

Related articles by Zemanta

• Review: Through the Eyes of the Dead - Skepsis (2010) (allmetalresource.com)

I've waffled for years about publicly writing about my bout with depression. This article you're reading now has resided in my drafts in some form for about two years now. My depression is there as part of me. It runs in my family and consequently I have had to learn to just deal with it. I know it helps when you meet people who have depression and they can actually function. Maybe this article will help somebody out there.

Image via Wikipedia

In September of 2008 one of the greatest writers of our time, David Foster Wallace, committed suicide. He hanged himself. This was a complete shock to me. I enjoyed his work before, but I was unaware of his life-long struggle with depression. Wallace was the writer's writer. He was brilliant and made me look at fiction in a totally new way. After this tragedy, articles started popping up online about the link between his brilliance as a writer and his depression. Sadly, observers are quick to make this link about creative people as if they are show ponies.

While history is full of depressed geniuses the reality is that depression is called "depression" for a reason. Depression keeps its victims from functioning. There is nothing glamorous, fun, or vogue about depression. It is a continuous struggle and those in its throes can ruin their whole lives without caring about much of anything close to a creative thought. My most creative moments have been under a deadline not from within a cloud of self-loathing. Those who think depression is a plus for any artist, writer, or scientist have not slept through life, destroyed their families, or alienated themselves from all of their friends.

In my case, I'm biologically predisposed to having depression. The fact I had a fractured family and my father was in and out of my life like trendy fashion only sealed the depression into my life for good. It came to a head in 2003 when I moved my family from Chicago to the DFW area. I remember lying on my father's couch surrounded by stuff we didn't put in storage. I don't know how long I'd been on the couch but a lot of time had passed; my phone rang and my inbox filled up. I was avoiding clients and caught a clear glimpse of reality. I found a doctor and asked, "how do you know if you have depression?" Since then I've been receiving treatment, but it took a lot to climb out of that hole. Today I realize that even when I thought I was better, I was on my way to getting better but some of the behaviors and feelings still linger.

Around 2007 I left a startup company and inadvertently burned bridges there. I took a full-time job and started my real recovery. Getting by with depression is as much about self discovery as it is about receiving medical treatment. I had to swallow the most bitter of pills: I was not meant to own and run a business. The specific stress associated with self employment pushed my buttons like nothing else. Piss-poor health care, risk taking, unstable income, and especially the sales process were triggers for my depression. After joining Sprint, a company I love more than any other I've worked for, my depression started improving. Having solid benefits and believing in my work started healing old wounds.

The second thing to happen to me was Twitter. My friend convinced me to join Twitter and jump in. Being the introvert I am, I mocked Twitter from the sidelines. However, as someone on Twitter pointed out, it was like study hall. I was connecting with professional people again, something I hadn't done since I lived in Chicago. I branched out and next thing I know I'm in the UX community. I think this is a unique community. I was used to people being protective of their knowledge and territorial with their experience. UX people aren't like that. They are a supportive lot and they encourage each other in ways that was foreign to me. They root for each other at conferences and help each other out with all sorts of problems. I felt at home. The UX movement was at a place I arrived myself, but from a different direction. I have this strange way of seeing how system interlock and I realized I was a UX'er without being called one (more on that in a future article). So Twitter fit like a glove and I've not looked back.

How do I deal with depression? Now I have a set of rules I made for myself that are based on how things should be, not how I feel. Regardless of how I feel, I must follow my rules. My rules include everything from keeping my job to adhering to a regular bedtime, all without getting caught up in the day's feelings. So it's not as easy as it sounds, but it's something I can use to keep me anchored. I know when I'm  too far away from them and I correct myself. Feelings can betray me at a moment's notice but pre-determined rules override those.

I continue to stay heavily involved on Twitter because it's an excellent way to be in a professional community without sacrificing a lot of time.  I try to keep my blog updated, but it's not how I make my living so it goes to the back of the line when necessary. It is possible to function with depression. I still have bad times that may last for days. However, it's manageable. In fact, overall I haven't felt this good, ever.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Childhood stress such as abuse or emotional neglect can result in structural brain changes (scienceblog.com)
• Acupuncture May Reduce Depression During Pregnancy (medicalnewstoday.com)
• Am I Depressed or Just Deep? (psychcentral.com)
• Andrew Witty admits defeat on "expensive, high risk" depression drugs (seroxatsecrets.wordpress.com)
• Beware the 'cure' for depression, author says (healthzone.ca)
• Why childhood depression is on the rise and what can parents do about it (parentcentral.ca)
• Benefits of Sleeping 'Early' (findmeacure.com)

These are my links for 02/04/2010 through 02/18/2010:

• 20 User Experience Books you should own | UXbyDesign.org -
• Nick’s Top User Experience Books | Blog | Nick Finck | UX/IA Pro, Speaker, and Community Cultivator. -
• UX Book Clubs - Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design -
• User Experience.UX Design Books -
• Rosenfeld Media - UX Book Index -
• Amazon.com: UX Books -
• How to use a semicolon - The Oatmeal -
• Verizon advertising says Droid is for men, Pre is for women (video) -- Engadget -
• SaveIE6: Help us save the best browser around -
• HTML-Ipsum -
• The Fiction-Writing After-Career of John Hughes (February 2010) | vanityfair.com -
• Home - Pencil Project -
• MYPROOF - THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE -
• cluetrainee's blog… -
• Top Twitter WordPress Plugin Roundup | Chicago Web Design -
• Eugene Hsu -

Queen's The Game (1980) is one of those albums I wore out until you could see through the vinyl. The Game is Queen at the beginning of a change to less experimental but still incredibly strong songs. From the opening track "Play the Game" the controlled power of Queen is on full display.

My favorite track on the whole album is "Dragon Attack". Probably the most played song from any album I've owned. Roger Taylor's outrageous drum solo makes me want to break things (in a good way).

This was one of the last albums to feature all members of Queen singing vocals on various songs. Remember after Freddie Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS and became ill, the band chose him to front most of the newer material, which is understandable. But don't forget that Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon all sang their own songs on most previous Queen albums.

While the radio overplayed "Another One Bites the Dust" (or as Southern Baptist ass wads thought it was called "Decide to Smoke Marijuana" when played backwards) or "Crazy Little Thing called Love" I had already dug into "Coming Soon", "Need Your Loving Tonight", "Sail Away Sweet Sister," and "Save Me", which still gives me chills. When I played The Game, it always received my full attention.

The School of Rock requires six hours a week with The Game until you're absolutely certain you won't try suicide, because nobody gives a damn.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Death by Power Ballad: Queen, "Sail Away Sweet Sister" (popdose.com)
• Queen brick figures to appear in LEGO Rock Band (destructoid.com)
• Rock Band Unleashes The Queen 10-Pack (wii.ign.com)
• QUEEN Guitarist Brian May - "I Think About Freddie Every Day - He Would Have Loved Our Musical" (bravewords.com)
• 89: Jellyfish - Spilt Milk (mkanderson.com)

The only reason you probably don't have Pushmonkey's self-titled album (1998) is because you weren't listening to WONC in Naperville, IL in 1998. They started playing "Caught My Mind" and I was hooked. I special ordered the CD from a music store in Austin, TX, the band's home base. This album is everything a good rock album is. While over-produced by some standards, the songs are fantastically arranged. Every song on Pushmonkey is an earworm waiting to eat your brain.

Pushmonkey is Pushmonkey's second album, but they had been around since 1994 and by the time the album was recorded, they were tight."Handslide" was the single that made some mainstream radio playlists, but I think they were a little too weird to see much success from it. But that's fine by me.

Tony Park, the lead singer, also plays trumpet. His trumpeting is showcased in "Maybe", a remake of "Sweet Caribbean Bungalow" from their debut album, Maize (1994). "Maybe" is one of those tracks I've actually put on repeat alone during one of my sociopathic song obsession episodes.

The School of Rock commands you to buy this album and listen to it until those little earworms make it to your hypothalamas, at which point you will need to put on some Metallica to kill them.

Proposed Book Cover for I Challenge You To a Douche

I have an idea for a business book, but I'm really lazy. Sending off book proposals takes time and energy and follow-up and seems so last century. However, I have a burning desire to cash in on the whole business book thingy. I suppose I could write the book on spec, but that takes away from my Wii, Twitter, and beer drinking time. So then it struck me: I'll just write an open query letter and wait for the check. So here it is:

Dear all business book publishers in the whole world:

It is apparent that anybody can write a business book of some sort and it's common knowledge that sales of business books are directly proportional to the douchiness of their authors. Lately a strong trend toward massive cultural douchebaggery in the business world indicates there is a market for unapologetic douche books. I Challenge You To a Douche will be the sort of book to lay it all out there without the messy metaphors for dick behavior and excuses hidden behind corporate altruism.

Through extensive research conducted by my own passive observations, unapologetic douches are getting away with murder. While this is presently somewhat profitable, I believe the next trend will be how-to guides on how to piss off people and alienate oneself from friends and family, all for the sake of a buck. I can extrapolate trends from political book sales. Some of the biggest douches of our time are authoring best-selling books that are nothing more than agenda-driven manifestos intended to polarize people into one of two strict philosophical camps that exist solely for best-selling douches to exploit. Current American culture has already become jaded with politics and economics, so business books must ratchet up to the next level or they'll go unnoticed.

With social media on the rise, douchebaggery is at an all-time high. Business authors must be willing to whore themselves out to any and every conference, speaking engagement, presser, and influential cougar. Naturally as a yet unpublished author, I'm not running in those circles yet, but am willing to make an ass out of myself if it means I won't dry-rot in a cubicle until I deplete my half-life. I am more than willing to do press junkets, book tours, and even appear as a Fox News commentator (please provide details of mental health insurance coverage). I'll even do lesser known venues like PBS or MSNBC. Again, me=whore.

As for marketing the book, I am probably not the best model to put on the cover. My balding, bulbous head may confuse people into thinking the book is about the Death Star. I suggest  you ask Sean Hannity to model for me. Not only is he one of the biggest douchebags in modern society, but his hair somehow mesmerizes the wallet. His mountain of cash and over-saturation in all forms of media are a testament to his hypnotic do.

I have prepared an outline for the chapters to be included in I Challenge You to a Douche:

• Introduction by Bernie Madoff
• Chapter 1: Seven Habits To Make You Highly Affected
• Chapter 2: Getting Things Done is for Schmucks
• Chapter 3: The Toyota Way: 14 Ways to Cover-Up Mistakes
• Chapter 4: The Filth Discipline
• Chapter 5: Unleashing the Idea Anti-Virus
• Chapter 6: I Poisoned My Cheese and Left It For You to Find
• Chapter 7: Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Red Dad, Dead Dad
• Chapter 8: Beyond Baked Solid
• Chapter 9: The Tip of Your Point: How Little Things Can Be Mocked
• Chapter 10: What the Dog Humped

Like most modern business books, all research will be non-scientific and subjective to suit whatever point I'm trying to make. In addition the text of I Challenge You to a Douche will be laced with arrogant business jargon, meaningless graphs and charts, and anecdotes from my own experience that can't possibly apply to any other situation. However, upon completion the reader will feel good about being a douche and will shell out for my follow-up book: I Know Where Your Children Sleep: A Guide To Motivating People.

Please contact me if you feel you can rescue me from my Dilbert-esque existence. Checks must be in US dollars and contain lots of zeros.

You're Welcome,

MK Anderson

Ah the 1980s. AOR ruled the airwaves and mullets were acceptable. People actually drank beer from cans and cruised in muscle cars up and down streets in order to demonstrate who coud play Dokken louder from their Fieros, 280 ZXs, and barely bolted together American muscle cars. Before our culture circled a drain of stoner burn out rock, one band came down from the heavens to show us how music didn't need to be all about Sweet Connie or boys coming back to town.

Rock takes on many forms and The Smiths' Louder than Bombs (1987) is required listening at my School of Rock. American angst in rock took a nose dive in the mid-80s and if it wasn't for Enlish new wave, then Warrant's Cherrie Pie might be the only contribution from that time.

The Smiths brought rock back to its core of guitar-oriented rock framed around angsty lyrics written with a sense of humor.

Louder than Bombs is a compilation album originally intended for American distribution but was so popular, it eventually became available in the UK. The Smiths set the gold standard for alternative bands who wanted to wright about more than drinking and boobies. Even today, Louder Than Bombs stands out as a finely crafted collection of masterful songs that don't take themselves too seriously.

Your assignment is to listen to Louder than Bombs and identify The Smith's influence in about every performer playing complaint rock since the late 80s. They're still the best. Get your angst from the source and forget Blur and James.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Wine & Music: Morrissey and Jezebel (underthegrapetree.blogspot.com)
• "Protect Your Chicken From Dokken" (metalsucks.net)

This pick has nothing to do with Molly Ringwald or Emilio Estevez or any '80s teen coming of age movie. This pick is based purely on the incredible song writing included in Simple Mind's Once Upon a Time (1985). Simple Minds really came together to form a tight band with great songs. Once Upon a Time is one of those albums from the '80s that transcends the pop synthesizers and that high-pitched screech of my particular version of the cassette. It was many years later through magic of digital music I wold discover that "Ghost Dancing" had no deafening screech interlude.

My crazy friend, Kelly, introduced me to this band at a time in high school when I had burned out on classic rock. Bob Segar and Thin Lizzy can only carry you so far. He said you have to listen to this tape. He let me borrow it and I wish to apologize here to Kelly: I don't think you'll be getting your tape back as I think I left it in my Camaro when I sold it. Also I always thought you had the best blond mullet I've ever seen.

Simple Minds, overall, is prolific band with 15 studio albums and a incredible library of solid, Irish flavored rock. Their chemistry is held together by Jim Kerr's vocals and Charlie Burchill's elegant guitar work. Since One Upon a Time Simple Minds has continually evolved with a contemporary sound and solid song writing.

Your School of Rock assignment is to listen to Once Upon a Time for a full week straight, right before finals. Afterward dig deeper into Simple Minds' catalog and give  yourself a chance to become a fan.n Molly will be glad you did.

Related articles by Zemanta

• R.I.P. John Hughes (hermenaut.org)
• Molly Ringwald On The Death Of John Hughes (mediabistro.com)

If you've ever been to a local music store guitar solo contest, you know when it comes. You hear the first chord and know you're about to hear yet another sixteen-year-old grind out "Eruption" in hopes of winning the free guitar. No guitar solo contest would be complete without "Eruption" rehashed by too much testosterone.

Another scenario: at some point in your life, you've substituted one your friend's names for Jamie's name in "Jamie's Cryin'", especially your overly dramatic friend named Jamie. How can you not? Here's a fun fact: the one-second drum intro at the beginning of "Jamie's Cryin'" is one of the most sampled pieces of music. Ever.

Van Halen's first and self-titled album (1979) is, without a doubt, one of the most influential rock albums of all time. Just forget for a minute that David Lee Roth has an IQ of 55 and Eddie Van Halen has thrown away nearly every good thing he had for the sake of his own ego. Also forget that Sammy Hagar added a much needed element to Van Halen that, at least to me, made them a perfect band. (Please let's not argue Roth versus Hagar; it's about as pointless as Apple versus Windows.) Van Halen is required listening at the School of Rock. You cannot pass without basic Van Halen 101.

Like a lot of things that get ruined by too much exposure, you may not appreciate Van Halen. Think of it like Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". You know the story because it's been imitated, remade, rehashed, brutalized, butchered, taped back together, and overplayed. However, if you clear your mind and go back read the actual "A Christmas Carol" story without all of the current pop culture associations, one thing is clear: it's a damn good story. Van Halen is a damn good album.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Ten Fingers on Five Frets in Guitar Hero: Van Halen [Guitar Hero] (kotaku.com)
• Activision Practically Giving Away Guitar Hero Van Halen [Deals] (kotaku.com)
• Chickenfoot - s/t (2009) (heavymetaladdiction.com)

Gojira is a more recent discovery for me, but their sound wiped its feet in part of my brain I didn't know I had. I've never heard anything like them until a friend sent me a link to a video of theirs. Gojira's The Way of All Flesh (2008) is a must have. Gojira a French progressive death metal band. Yeah, I know but just go with me on this because they kick serious ass and do things a little differently than most death metal bands. While other death metal bands relish in the blood and guts of cats, dogs, people, and cattle Gojira's death descriptions are about the Earth.

You see Gojira is an environmental death metal band. Again, just keep going with me on this. They describe in vivid detail the destruction of the earth by mankind and it's refreshing. Their songs are serious and they have the musical chops to back it all up. It's progressive death metal that is tighter than anything I've heard. The guitar is insane with melodies that fry my brain.

The Way of All Flesh is their fourth album and my favorite. From the School of Rock perspective this is required listening. If you've never heard Gojira, then your assignment is to listen to it a minimum of five times in different situations: the car, at work, at your mom's house, while cutting the grass with your grass-blood-soaked lawnmower, and finally while on Ambien. Note: if you still live in your mom's house get a job and move out so you can complete the whole assignment.

Check out the video for "All the Tears". It's probably my favorite ever.

Related articles by Zemanta

• the French Metal Invasion (metalsucks.net)
• GOJIRA: New Video Interview With JOSEPH DUPLANTIER Available (idiomag.com)
• Move Over, Gojira: Last Poem Is Now France's Best Metal Band (metalsucks.net)
• Kruger Work With Gojira's Joe Duplantier and Converge's Kurt Ballou (noisecreep.com)

These are my links for 01/15/2010 through 02/04/2010:

• Designing Social Interfaces -
• Blog: Two Rivers Flowing -
• http://www.yalit.com/ -
• Screenpresso -
• typewar -
• KABBALA'zine official website -
• The Usability Corner -
• IntelFusion -
• Shiba Inu Puppy Cam -
• 25 Most Wanted WordPress Tutorials [Videos]Technomesh -
• stacia l. brown -
• Brevity is the Soul of WitStream -
• Your logo is a winner. Make it an award winner. | Mediabistro Logo Awards -
• YouTube - Bully Suicide Project PSA -
• Campus Harmony Inc. -
• The future of UI will be boring « Scott Berkun -

These are my links for 12/12/2009 through 01/06/2010:

• DISQUS Comments | Powering Discussion on the Web -
• Networking Reconsidered - John Hagel III and John Seely Brown - Harvard Business Review -
• Michael Ian Black -
• When I had braces... -
• Growing up Heroes -
• That Will Buff Out -
• NetFlix Origami - Recycle Paper -
• My Mom, The Style Icon -
• Lamebook – Facebook Fails, Wins, LOLs and More -
• Lovely Listing – Odd Finds in Real Estate Listings -
• Paste Magazine :: The Best New Music, Movies, TV, Games, and Books :: Music and Movie News, Reviews, Features, Videos, MP3s and More -
• Official Blog of Eddy Webb - [Review] Sherlock Holmes (2009) -
• Doing It Different Might Be Doing It Right -
• How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell - The Oatmeal -
• Fix Wordpress 2.7 Missed Schedule « What's Up? -

When I need to clean out some cobwebs and get some work done, I have some go-to albums. Static-X Wisconsin Death Trip (1999) does the trick. This is best-in-class industrial metal that makes White/Rob Zombie sound like kids banging on trash cans (which I think is how those recording sessions go for him).

"I'm with Stupid" is one of my favorite songs ever, but the whole album is serious web development music. I've tested it and it's passed the VIM, PHP, mySQL yes-this-is-a-production-server-but-oh-well, on-the-fly,  overnight test on many marathon sessions since 1999. So I can vouch for its productivity enhancing ass kickery.

Metal.

Seeds of Change by Kerry Livgren

Kerry Livgren of Kansas is probably one of the greatest rock song writers of the twentieth century. If you look at the library of Kansas' music alone, his signature progressive rock sounds make up the best of their music. Around 1978 Livgren began to have issues with personal faith and there was a conflict within the band. Lead vocalist, Steve Walsh walked away from Kansas while Livgren was working on a solo project and pressing the band to update their sound. Most Kansas fans are familiar with the two efforts Vinyl Confessions and Drastic Measures with singer John Elefante that followed this period.

Before those releases, Livgren produced a solo album named Seeds of Change (1980). This was an important album because Livgren created songs that didn't sound like Kansas. If you go to the Amazon link, you'll see the CD is already a high-priced collector's item. Of the few LPs I kept, this is one of them.

Livgren pulled together some of the best musicians he knew. Various members of Kansas performed on the album, of course. Even Steve Walsh did vocals on "How Can You Live". But my favorite tracks are sang by Ronnie James Dio. Yes, you read that right. "Mask of the Great Deceiver" and "To Live for the King" are fantastic tracks and Dio kills on the vocals. Also of note are the songs "Whiskey Seed" where Livgren actually sang (I believe it's the only time) a duet with Mylon LeFevre and "Ground Zero" sang by David Pack of Ambrosia.

You can go on a quest for Seeds of Change and maybe pick up a used CD on eBay. Also the album is included in a compilation CD by Livgren called Decade released on a Christian label. Included are cuts from other post-Kansas efforts and they aren't bad at all. In addition, on Livgren's website he has pulled a George Lucas and has remixed and re-recorded the Seeds of Change album, which I find strange, but it's his prerogative. I haven't listened to it, but I'm kind of a purist with albums and think it stands on its own.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Death by Power Ballad: John Elefante, "O Come All Ye Faithful" (popdose.com)
• Mark Joseph: Rocker Kerry Livgren of Kansas Suffers Massive Stroke (huffingtonpost.com)

I find myself quoting songs from Cake's Fashion Nugget (1996) quite a bit. There is something about that album Cake hasn't quite recreated since. Fashion Nugget is a finely crafted album of art rock with poetic vision and catchy pop and rock hooks. It's solid from the opening track, "Frank Sinatra" to the bizarre, introspective "Sad Songs and Waltzes".

As I write this I'm listening to the album again and thinking how Cake is so beatnik. I want to snap my fingers and say "yeah man" in a mellow, luded out voice. I don't know any other group that could have pulled off a cover of "I Will Survive" and still be taken seriously.

Then there is my favorite track of all on Fashion Nugget: "Nugget". There have been so many people I have wanted to dedicate this song to. I'd probably have it as a ringtone if I didn't have young children.

Yeah man.

I was going to put this album in my list next week, but with the passing of The Rev today, I thought I would dedicate this post to him. Avenged Sevenfold's City of Evil (2005) has been one of my favorites since I heard it four years ago. It is the perfect example of a good band becoming great. I was familiar with their previous two albums, but City of Evil was above and beyond them in both maturity and musicianship.

M Shadows' vocal coaching was the best thing to happen to them. While I like some good metalcore, I don't think most metalcore bands can pull it off and the results are usually mediocre. Avenged Sevenfold's first two albums were okay and more palpable than most new metalcore efforts. There was good song writing and arrangement. However City of Evil demonstrated that Avenged Sevenfold wanted to grow up and be a serious metal band.

While their self-titled follow-up is a good album and I like it a lot, City of Evil is a great album which I never tire of hearing. Avenged Sevenfold found their sound and pace and it may be their peak album. "Bat Country" is obviously a great song, but "Burn It Down", "Sidewinder", and "The Wicked End" are just as good and the other tracks hold the album together as a consistent rock masterpiece.

Obviously their future is uncertain with The Rev's death, but Avenged Sevenfold is a great band and City of Evil is a worthy addition to your collection.

Related articles by Zemanta

• R.i.p. James Owen "The Rev" Sullivan (metalsucks.net)
• Rest in Peace JIMMY "THE REV" SULLIVAN (hardrockhideout.com)
• Avenged Sevenfold's Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan Dead at 28 (rollingstone.com)

Sadly, this is the last year I will be an Society for Technical Communication (STC) member after more than 15 years. This was a really tough decision for me to make, highly emotional. Because it was emotional I realized my continuing annual renewal was coming from a place of sentimentality and it was time to question the basics.

For me personally STC was of great benefit when I was living in Chicago and growing as a technical writer. Somewhere along the way having an STC membership became less of a relevant issue when finding work. I was no longer asked if I was a member when interviewing and being the Chicago chapter's membership manager burned me out as a volunteer. When I relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth area I needed some personal time for health issues and to find my next career move. (Side note: my move was in 2003 during the telecom recession and I couldn't find work with benefits in Chicago.)

By the time health issues were dealt with and I had gainful employment again, a few years had passed. I attended a couple of STC meetings here and there. The Lone Star chapter is a great chapter with friendly people, but I presentations covered things I already knew from reading or previous conferences and chapter meetings in Chicago.

Now I'm not claiming I know everything. I'm actually kind of  a generalist. However, my career has evolved to such a point that technical writing was a skill I used to help me perform other functions not covered by the STC umbrella. I am doing user-experience (UX) projects. This realization and introduction to the UX community was my career's second wind.

2009 was a tough year on STC. I know none of the decisions made by the STC leadership to save the organization has been easy. I also criticized STC's value overall. Sarah O'Keefe's "A Mercenary View of STC" is a great article defending the decision to remain in STC in spite of current issues. But I'm not an independent consultant anymore and her reasons don't apply to my situation.

The "value" I want is local interaction and to learn UX. The UX community in D/FW is fantastic and I have so much to learn. You probably know the 2010 STC Conference is in Dallas. I wanted to get back out and start speaking again, like my good-old Chicago days. So I submitted two proposals and told myself if I can speak at the conference and have the cost of the conference covered, I'll give STC the chance in 2010.

As it turns out my proposals were not accepted. Looking at the cost of the conference and the dues increase, I can't justify membership any longer. The Big Design Conference in 2010 is where I will volunteer and focus my attention as I get to know more people in the D/FW creative community. For me, it's about going in a new direction and redirecting career growth funds toward a place where I can get more in return for my investment.

My tiny pool of disposable income won't get any bigger this year and I've already raided my kids' piggy banks.  So to STC I want to say thanks for years of helping me learn. I hope the organization survives 2010 better and stronger. I also hope the conference in Dallas is one of the best in the country for 2010. If somehow I can swing registration through some sort of cash windfall I will be there.

To other STC members, thanks for your friendships over the years. I will continue to be involved in the technical writing community but I will also be increasing my network to related fields who are doing the work I love so much. Let's all learn from each other.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Technical Writers in the Corporate Structure (tc.eserver.org)
• The Value of The Society for Technical Communication (tc.eserver.org)

Admit it: you like Def Leppard's Pyromania (1983) as much as everybody else in the world. Yes their newer stuff is embarrassing and they can't pull off the old stuff like they did the first time. However, Pyromania was that one defining moment some bands have where they have relevance. They created a sound that ushered in a new era of rock, the one we now refer to collectively has hair rock.

Pyromania is as playable today as it was in the 80s, even if you play it in your rusting 2000 Ford Focus instead of, say, your freshly tuned up and restored 1976 Camaro. I can also attest to the album being enjoyable if you no longer have feathered hair or any hair for that matter.

There's a lot of power in Pyromania. My favorite tracks happen to be "Action Not Words" and "Foolin'". But I will turn up the radio for "Photograph" and "Rock of Ages". Unlike other rock that suffers from severe overplay, the songs of Pyromania never bore me like the songs from other DL albums like Hysteria or Adrenalize.

Personal Note: I did see Def Leppard in Dallas at Reunion Arena in 1987 on their Hysteria (a.k.a. "hey our drummer my have one arm but he can still play) Tour. Tesla opened up for them and, while Def Leppard was good, Tesla ruled.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Unsolicited Career Advice for ... Def Leppard (popdose.com)
• Defklok (metalsucks.net)
• Def Leppard Cancels Tour For 'Personal Matters' (huffingtonpost.com)

- Hey Jack, what's happenin'?

- I don't know.

- Well, rumour around town says you might be thinking about going down to the shore.

- Uh, yeah, I think I'm gonna go down to the shore.

- What are you gonna do down there?

- Uh, I don't know, play some video games, buy some Def Leppard t-shirts.

- Don't forget your Motley Crue t-shirt; you know all proceeds go to get their lead singer out of jail.

- Uh huh.

I first heard those words at a little place called Arkansas Record Exchange in 1985. The owner was a very cool but strange guy who went out of his way to obtain and sell music that didn't make it to most records stores in the Little Rock area. I was immediatly hooked on The Deadmilkmen's Big Lizard in My Backyard (1985).

It's punk, it's funny, and it's now a classic.

By the way, I had my very own 1976 Bitchin' Camaro.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Unsolicited Career Advice for ... Def Leppard (popdose.com)