mustang84

Happy birthday dude!

I got a guy at my work to buy a Fusion after he was initially going to buy an Accord. He was skeptical about buying a domestic but I told him the least he can do is check it out since it was all new. He ended up buying a blue FWD SEL. And now he just raves about how great of a car it is. Word-of-mouth is what will save GM and Ford.

Bits of info on the new Metallica album:

It'd been a while since I watched the vids for those two new songs, and I remember originally not really liking or disliking them...but now they've kind of grown on me. I like the melody of James' voice on the second one (woooooah woah-oo) and I like the part on the first one where it breaks down and goes into the solo (and the "I've been a rambler..." part). It'll be interesting to hear what the finished product sounds like. Also, I don't know about others but I get so god damn annoyed by the Megadeth twerps that go around talking $h! about Metallica and how they sold out after Lightning or whatever bs they come out with. I like both Megadeth and Metallica...each has its own unique qualities and talent. Why is it so hard to like both bands? It's all heavy metal.

Yeah, there are so many trolls that run rampant on that site. I get tired of the same old drivel they push every day. Certain ones have a habit of making outrageous claims that members later point out were flat-out wrong, then they backpeddle and try to make it look like that isn't what they meant. Negatards is what they are called now...pretty fitting name, IMO.

Well, since I'm not old enough to have a long list of my own cars...I'll include the family's as well (bold is current) Mine: '94 Lumina - 6 '90 Lumina - 6 Family: '04 Explorer - 6 '96 Windstar - 6 '97 Monte Carlo - 6 '92 Eighty-Eight - 6 '93 Villager - 6 '90 Grand Marquis - 8 '88 Colt - 4 '88 Cutlass Ciera - 6 '87 Golf - 4 (diesel) '86 Cutlass Supreme - 8 '84 Cutlass Ciera - 6 '83 Rabbit - 4 '78 Corvette - 8 '68 Corvette - 8 '78 Dodge Warlock - 8 '79 Mark VI - 8 Total today: 40 Total over a 30 year span: 182

Great album, btw. The roots of the whole genre. My sister used to be more emo, but she's slowly getting over that phase. She even told me she went into my CD collection last weekend and burned a some onto her laptop, which I don't mind. I got her into Guns N' Roses and Metallica at least. She's also starting to get into Swedish metal more. What is it with emos and malls? It seems like they congregate there a lot, and they only travel in packs.

Generation Y here, although I fall pretty close to Gen X. I wonder what they're going to call the Generation after Y...Z? Edit: Man, I didn't do the poll right and I don't know how to edit it...could someone with turn the Silent Generation into a poll option?

I've seen a whole whopping 2 '07 Tundras here in Iowa, both of them in Des Moines (and I have done a ton of driving back and forth between home lately).

I agree...I've been listening to Soilwork's "Natural Born Chaos"...I think they are a Swedish band and the album kicks ass. It sounds far above any beyond most music put out today. The guys actually have talent and the vocalist has one hell of a voice. It's more progressive metal, but it's good and gives me hope that there are more people out there with the same metal spirit. I may have to give those other two you mentioned a try! I hope you're right. I think Bob did ok on producing the Black album and the 'Loads, but St. Anger was just too extreme for my taste. I did like that they brought back the double bass...I was missing it. A-freaking-men about the business part. That's all it is these days. Get a couple vids on MTV, get a couple chart toppers, recycle the same look and sound that every other band has, fill albums with songs that all sound the same and show no creative energy. All the emo bands that say they are anti-establishment and don't care about record deals are lying. They're just hopping the bandwagon like everyone else. That's what the music biz is these days...a bunch of bandwagon hoppers with no balls. They are either too lazy to create their own image or too scared because they might not maximize their sales. F' that.I'm tired of all the self-centered emo kids that are crawling out from under all kinds of rocks. They expect everything to be handed to them and if it doesn't, they cry. It's all ME ME ME. Go back to your middle-income split-level home and get a life.

I was driving by the Des Moines airport the other day and the Hertz lot had quite a few Corollas...hmm.... How else would a car that hasn't had a significant update since 2002 increase 4,000 units for the month at the end of its lifespan? I think there's more going on than just "Toyota magic."

I never really liked GMI that much...way too many overlapping forums. If you have an article on Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, etc. you have to jump through hoops to figure out which section to post it in. Not to mention that there are so many members but hardly ever anything but speculation and hot air posted. The bickering is worse, trolls abound, advertisements engulfing the site (I hate those damn pop up windows), Google Bot, and so many fanboys.Although, Blue Oval Forums is worse when it comes to trolls...the same five or six trolls post non-stop BS and nobody ever bans them.

Reg, looks like the '08 Taurus is on lots...125 sold so far.

http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=26099 Ford: Mustang up 12% Escape up 13% Edge up 39% over April Expedition up 27% F-series down 11.7% Mercury: Mariner sales up 87% Lincoln: MKX up 20% over April MKZ up 37.7%

Beige and silver, although some cars in silver look really good. Really, it depends on the car...but I see beige and silver enough that I don't want my car to be either of those. I like black as a color (I drive a black car), but Bob is right...it's extremely hard to keep clean. You can see every scratch and swirl in the paint of my car. If I get another black car, it would probably be one that I would only drive on the weekends and keep garaged otherwise.

Interesting...let's hope so. I've been actively searching for info lately and haven't come up with anything. Do you know when the release date is?

Oh, I like Load...and Reload to an extent (although it seems like there is quite a bit of filler on there). Even 'I Disappear' is a pretty good song. But St. Anger just turned me off completely...I own all of their albums except for that one and have no plans to buy it.But I agree, they've aged and matured and can't play like they could when they were kids. I heard James also blew his voice while recorded the Black Album, part of the reason it is so weak today.

I can't explain it, but when you have 20 gigs worth of music spanning 30+ years, it's easy to notice the progression in sound over time. I can tell a 1983 song apart from a 1988 song just by the quality of the drum sound emitted. And up until the early 00s, there was still depth to music...Filter, Fuel, Incubus, Godsmack, etc...the songs sounded rich and full. It's partially due to the drum, partially due to the guitar tuning (especially bands that do drop D tuning), partially due to playing the same tired riffs, and partially lack of melodic vocals.One of the most near-perfect sounding albums is Master of Puppets...that is the ideal production sound to me. Not too over the top with reverb and delay, but not flat and dull. I've noticed most albums today lean toward brash and in-your-face sound, especially the guitars...instead of wowing you with an unique melody or riff, they try to wow you with stacked noise and lots of bass. Nu-metal is guilty of this. I have Sevendust's CD "Next"...it's a good example of what I'm talking about. I like the melodic choruses, but much of the rest of the album is generic riffs and drumming, highly repetitive rough vocals. When I play it in my car, the bass and guitar crunch overwhelms everything...being loud just to be loud. But put in Master of Puppets, each guitar was tuned for a specific sound, guitars are layered to create interesting effects, the vocals take on a recognizable melody, the drums thud with enough power not to be overbearing, and the album was recorded in a large room to give it full, rich sound. That's the key...bands used to take special care when recording and mixing albums. Def Leppard was notorious for perfecting each bit of sound. I don't hear that attention to detail by new bands today, and I have my theory. Back before grunge, bands spent absurd amounts of time trying to out-do the next guy in a riff or a guitar solo or double bass drums or whatever. Real "guitar heroes" were born during this time and it was part of the show...you had to be able to play well and wow the audience with your catchy vocals or double axe guitar solo. Then Nirvana came along, guitar solos and anything relating to the 80s became "uncool," and a whole generation of budding guitarists idolized Cobain and the like, learned how to play Smells Like Teen Spirit, and never even attempted Ride the Lightning, Round and Round, or Mr. Scary. Also in the 90s (actually starting at the tail end of the 80s with the third-rate hair bands), the music industry stopped signing bands based on talent and more on image or stage show. There's a whole slew of generic bands today that can't hold a candle in vocal capacity or guitar technique to most bands from 15+ years ago. It's why I've been hoping that one of these new bands will rediscover some of the older stuff or some musical scion will take up the guitar and show people how it's done. The old bands don't have the energy anymore (look at what Metallica has become...using Power Tools to produce St. Anger and trendy Linkin Park vocal styles). I was banking on Chinese Democracy, but it's a rehash of the same old with some guitar solos...it's like the rebellion has been sucked out of Axl. He used to be notorious for talking dirty and picking fights with Vince Neil and nobody dared mess with him and his band...now he is just another has-been rocker. Where is the Guns N' Roses for this generation? Nobody has the attitude to step up to the plate...it's all radio-friendly, Billboard-friendly generic copycat rock. Now that I think about it, the production is just skimming the surface...the real thing that bugs me is the lack of ATTITUDE with bands today. It's kinda like David Lee Roth once said...old Van Halen was about drinking beer, girls, and kicking ass...new Van Halen (with Hagar) is like drinking milk, driving a Nissan, and being in a relationship. Ok, I'm beating a dead horse and need to go to bed......

The spin doctors at other boards have passed the initial speechless phase and are now in "they caught it early / it's only 20 engines / Toyota will not let its reputation get hurt / Toyota cares for its customers unlike the domestics / Toyota is still more reliable than the domestics / my 1991 domestic car sucked" mode.

Nope, Oldsmobiles are few and far between in GTA. The only Oldsmobiles I have ever seen for the whole series are an '85 Cutlass sedan, '76 Cutlass Supreme, '85 Delta 88 (poorly modeled), and a '64 Starfire that looked terrible. I have the '85 Cutlass and '76 Cutlass installed right now...both are worth the download.

I think I've found my biggest beef with music today; it's the production, especially the drums. Everything sounds so flat and one-dimensional, the exact opposite of music as early as 10 years ago. I was listening to a new W.A.S.P. song today...the drums sounded like crap and they even used a damn megaphone for part of the lyrics. You'd think with all our advancing sound technology we could make music that was richer and with more depth than ever before...instead, it's in vogue to have monotone vocals and stripped music (especially indie...I can't stand songs where all they do is pluck at an acoustic guitar and whisper into the mic). Listen to any new release by an 80s band today...Ozzy, W.A.S.P., Metallica, Queensryche...and especially any nu-metal / modern rock band...they just don't have that thundering sound anymore. The only new album that seems to have avoided this is Saxon's 'Lionheart'...that's what I'm talking about when I mean depth and richness. Oh yeah, Judas Priest's album Angel of Retribution is awesome as well. Those two are worth picking up if you're a fan of 80s metal. I know back in the day bands used to record their albums in huge concrete rooms such as warehouses to give them that sound; I wonder if bands today (especially indie) just record in little booths. The new Guns N' Roses songs sound mediocre. I was hoping for something like Appetite that would wake up the rock scene, but it won't be Chinese Democracy. Metallica is my next hope, but after St. Anger I'm not anticipating much. Also, it seems like songs just aren't distinctive anymore. There are a number of 90s songs that just stood out and had a distinctive sound, you could pick them out right away on the radio. Now you have bands like Nickelback, Theory of a Deadman, and Hinder that all sound exactly alike. Or the stream of emo bands that just recycle the same garbage over and over. Marilyn Manson's song "Rock is Dead" is so true. I saw them in 2004 in Ames, IA...they put on an awesome show and even played Disposable Heroes for the first time in many years. They can still rock out to the oldies. I just wish they would put the same energy into their new albums.

Thanks for posting, I think they're clean and beautiful cars as well. The only thing I could see people not liking are the way the headlights are stacked (which I don't mind), but the rest of the car is very sleek and clean for the time.

Well, I think the table is cool...although what I want to know is how you can transfer files just by setting your camera or mp3 player on the table. I see no cables or anything. Although, I think that table is going to go for a pretty hefty penny until they begin to saturate the market. Here's an idea...make the Surface as big as a drafting table and a pen for it and I can start doing drawings and conceptual sketches without needed paper!

Wow...talk about actually living in the future. I remember when I originally saw something like this on the movie Minority Report years ago, I thought something like that wouldn't be available for another 10 years at least. Amazing how fast technology accelerates these days. http://www.microsoft.com/surface/ Also, from Sony...LCDs that are so thin they can be bent with your fingertips (remember the scene from Minority Report where they read newspapers that are similar to this that have up-to-the-minute news? Hmm... ) http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/...AF?OpenDocument

You really haven't missed much in the way of pop culture and music...same old tired stuff for the last five years or so.