Alternate.org

Remember the good virus? Turns out it wasn’t so good after all:

Systems infected with Max’s worm downloaded a software patch and automatically repaired the security hole that would have allowed the malicious worm to comprise the system. That’s a good thing.

But Max’s worm, which he developed by reprogramming the malicious worm, also left a secret backdoor in all the systems it penetrated. That’s the bad part.

The hacker who developed it is now in prison. Who’dathunk.

Did no one see this? New Apple 17-inch flat-panel displays. At just under a grand, they ain’t cheap, but still pretty rad.

There’s a new Alternateling on the block today. Her name is Anika Michelle, born at 12:28 PM, May 19, at 8 pounds, 15 ounces. She says hi. Or more acurately, something closer to ‘gurgle.’ 🙂

Tonight, I did something remarkably high-school-eque: I turned off the lights, put the new Tool disc in, plugged in my headphones, turned the volume up loud, and just absorbed. Something I admittedly haven’t done since Aenima came out my senior year.

What I noticed while in that private world was interesting to me. For the first 5 songs, every single riff or chorus or bridge or verse is in odd meters. Just about without fail. (For those of you confused, 4/4 is the most-used, mass-music making meter that most pop is written in… very digestable, instantly hook-grabbing.. odd meters, 5/4, 9/8, 3/4, are more traditionally used in classical music and jazz). So anyway. The first 5 songs are exceptionally composed and breathtakingly complex and tense. Lots of emotion and anger, with the time signature often acting as a separate instrument almost, guiding everything and keeping the tension high. Song 6 (Parabol) is intricate, slow, quiet and extremely delicate. Maynard does an extraordinary job of luring you in, and surprisingly enough, you can tell what he’s saying (wouldn’t you know, the first album with online-published lyrics before its release, and you can tell what he’s saying). Then it melds seamlessly with #7 (Parabola) in a perfect, radio-friendly 4/4 time. Which surprised me, until I realized that this serves to break the tension that you don’t realize has been building up for 25 minutes (or longer) now. With a cool Soundgarden-esque sound (who were quite fond of odd time signatures themselves), it’s the first song that just totally rocks-the-fuck-out. Schism, the first single, rocks as well as the other songs contained in the first 5, but Parabola just kicks fucking shit. Which is why I’m a little surprised that Parabola wasn’t chosen as the first release. After that, most of the songs have a refreshingly Opiate-ish energy, while skillfully maintaining a clean break from strict palm-muted and oppressive Undertow-style emotion. But, to be sure, this album is cohesive, wonderful, and without a song to ignore, as most great albums tend to be (The Cure’s Disintegration comes to mind). With Aenima, we saw some fuckings-around (Message to Harry Manback, Die Eier Von Satan) that quite honestly, the album could have been better without. I understand Tool’s sense of humor (‘I had a friend once… who pissed on my lighter…’), but honestly, ‘the eggs of satan?’ Lateralus has no such trappings, minus a strange hidden track, but at least we’ve come to expect an ecelectic hidden track by now, haven’t we?

Just thought I’d share.

I recently just checked the newest poll results, and was surprised to find that (of the people that voted) 31% of the people who read this site are outside the US, something I would never have guessed (call it American ignorance). If you’re an international reader, please drop me a line or add a comment to this post and let me know where you are. I’m really interested in this.

I’d also like to take this time to issue an apology to readers in the South, an area of the US I totally forgot to put into the survey. I don’t think any less of you (not that you care), but I’ve been to the South, and let’s be honest, it ain’t Silicon Valley.